Internationalism in the interwar era carried different meaning for different groups. A Nordic school for adult education, with the aim of raising the "international citizenship proficiency" of the Nordic peoples, was established in Geneva in 1931, through cooperation between representatives of international organisations and adult educationists. Both groups harboured an intense passion for internationalism, but whereas the officials understood the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization to represent true internationalism, the educationists took a critical stance. Internationalism was for them related to nationalism and Nordism, and an expansion of the power of the small and neutral European states. This article examines the establishment of the Nordic school in the interwar period and analyses the ideological controversies surrounding its internationalism. (Contains 1 table and 76 footnotes.)