I consider it very important, even urgently necessary, that intellectual workers unite to defend their own economic position as well as to secure political influence of a more general nature. 
With respect to the economic aspect first mentioned, laborers can serve us as a model in that they have managed to defend their economic interests, at least to some extent. We can also learn from these workers how this problem can be solved organizationally. We also learn from them that the greatest danger that one must try to avoid is weakness through division. For, once division has occurred, cooperation is then difficult and conflict among the individual organizations becomes unavoidable.
From laborers we can also learn, however, that focus on immediate economic goals, excluding political objectives and influence, does not suffice. Workers in this country are just starting to make progress in this regard. With the continuing centralization of all production, it is unavoidable that economic and political conflict will become increasingly tightly interwoven, whereby the political factor is gaining ever more importance. For the time being, as a consequence of lack of organization, intellectual workers are less protected against caprice and exploitation than any other professional class. 
A union for the intellectual workers is important not just for their own economic interest, however; it is no less in everyone’s interest. For, the fragmentation  
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of intellectuals is partly responsible for the fact that the capability and experience to be found within the ranks of this class have hitherto been made so little use of for political goals, such that profit-seeking and political ambition almost exclusively determine what happens, instead of judgment based on expertise and objective thinking.
An organization of intellectual workers can provide the greatest benefit to the general public by influencing public opinion through education and publications. Its mission is to defend academic freedom, without which healthy development in a democratic country is impossible.
An especially important task of an organization of intellectual workers at the present time is fighting for the establishment of a supranational political power to protect against new offensive wars. It seems to me that the development, or selection, of a particular plan for an international government should not be our main goal at the present moment. For, if there were a definite will among the majority of citizens to establish such a supranational safeguard, the technicalities of implementing such an institution would not pose an overly difficult problem. What is missing among the majority is the conviction, based on clear thinking, that in the long run no other means exist to prevent catastrophes like the ones we have now. As I see it, the most important public service that an organization of intellectual workers can offer at this moment in history is the organization and dissemination of information on this issue. Only through tackling such a mission energetically can an organization such as the one envisioned here acquire inner strength and external influence.