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New amendments to our Constitution and Byelaws will be proposed and put to the vote during the forthcoming Business Meeting which will take place during the London Congress in July, 1975. These amendments take into account what has been discussed during the previous meeting in Paris. The Association's Executive Council having proposed them, they have been prepared and drawn up by the Committee on the Constitution and Byelaws, chaired by Dr W. H. Gillespie, and whose members are Pearl King and Burness Moore. Dr Gillespie explains carefully the meaning of each of these modifications in the letter below.
It is normal that we should try thus to adapt our Statutes to the evolution which characterizes the life of our institution. At this juncture, we must clearly define the rôle that the International Association plays within each of the Component Organizations and in regard to each of its members. It could be thought that its only task is the organization of international Congresses and the provision of links. On the contrary, we think that, more than ever, the International psychoanalytic community must devote itself to common reflection about its identity and its aims.
Some of the proposed amendments deal with the procedures followed by the Business Meeting and tend towards a better preparation for the decisions that must be taken by that Meeting and thus will give more weight and efficacity to its proceedings.
Other amendments deal with a crucial problem, namely the link that unites the Component Organizations in matters of training. To be a member of the International Association is to share a certain idea about psychoanalytic training. This obviously implies variants, even divergencies which might be the result of local conditions or of new experiences. The adaptation to particular situations, the variations stemming from different traditions, the testing of new formulae are nevertheless not outside the legitimate concern of the entire International Associatio