Inter-Allied Socialist Conferences of World War I
Encyclopedia
During the First World War there were a number of conferences of the socialist parties of the Entente or Allied powers
.
(Kier Hardie, Ramsey MacDonald, Bruce Glasier and William Anderson
), British Socialist Party
, Fabian Society
, Labour Party
; the Belgian Workers Party (Emile Vandervelde
, Camille Huysmans
and Henri La Fontaine
); the French Section of the Workers' International and the General Confederation of Labour - Marcel Sembat
, Jean Longuet
, Édouard Vaillant
, Albert Thomas
, Adéodat Compère-Morel, Léon Jouhaux
, Merrheim and others; from the Russian Empire :Socialist-Revolutionary Party
- Rubanovich, Viktor Chernov
, Bobrov
, Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party - Maxim Litvinov
, Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party- Ivan Maisky
The ILP had tried to include the German and Austrian parties, but the French said they would not This conference was initiated by Vandervelde and presided over by Keir Hardie. Both Litvinov and Maisky attempted to attend the conference and transmit declarations. Litvinov was unable to finish reading his at the conference, but he was subsequently able to have it published in the March 1915 issue of the Socialist Standard
of the Socialist Party of Great Britain
Reports were made by Vailant, Vandervelde and one of the Social Revolutionaries enthusiastically supporting the war. The British apparently abstained from making a report. There was apparently much debate in the drafting commission and the subsequent plenary session on the war responsibility of the Central Powers and the position of Belgium and Serbia. The Belgian and French delegates are reported as taking a harder line on this point than their British comrades. The attitude of the Russians is difficult to ascertain because of contradicting primary sources.
The resolution adopted by the conference claimed that the war was the product of the antagonisms produced by capitalist society, imperialism and colonial rivalry in which every country had a share of responsibility. Given the invasion of Belgium and France, a victory in the war for Germany would extinguish liberty, national independence and faith in treaties. Therefore the workers of the Allied countries are fighting a defensive war against the German and Austrian governments, not against the German and Austrian people, and would resist attempts to turn this into a war of conquests. The resolution specifically demanded the restoration of Belgium, autonomy or independence for Poland, and the resolution of all the national problems of Europe from Alsace-Lorraine
to the Balkans
on the basis of national self-determination. After the war they hoped from an end to secret diplomacy, the "interest of armaments makers" and international compulsory arbitration
.
At the end of the resolution the conference condemned the repression against socialist newspapers and parliamentarians in Russia, as well as the national oppression of Finns, Jews and Russian and German Poles.
and votes were to be allotted according to the Second International
s formula. The proposed conference was set to meet in Paris in March, 1917. The organizers of the conference began to have second thoughts, though, when they saw that anti-war socialists might predominate at the conference. They decided to give one of the British Socialist Parties four votes to Henry Hyndman
s National Socialist Party
and one of the Italian Socialist Party's
votes to Benito Mussolini
s Fascio
. The Italian party then withdrew its decision to participate and called on the International Socialist Commission to give its opinion of the purposed conference. The ISC was fo abstaining, but felt it would be useful to call a conference of Entente Zimmerwaldists in order to outline a common policy toward the Paris conference. However, only exile groups in Switzerland, the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, Polish Socialist Party - Left, General Jewish Labour Bund and the group around Vie Ouvrere were able to attend, and they had already declared their opposition to the conference. The meeting of Zimmerwaldists adopted a non-binding resolution recommending abstinence from the Paris conference. The ILP and BSP were still willing, but when the British Labour Party decided to withdraw a few days before the conference was to open, the meeting was cancelled.
The Second Inter-Allied Socialist Conference took place in London August 28–29, 1917. Britain was represented by 41 delegates, France by 12, Russia and Italy 4 apiece, Belgium and Portugal 2 apiece and Greece and South Africa by 1 each. Votes were allotted according to the Second Internationals precedent: France, Great Britain and Russia each had 20 votes, Belgium 12, Italy 10, Portugal 2, Greece and South Africa 1 each. No full membership list seems to be available, but some of the known delegates included Emile Vandervelde and Louis de Brouckere of Belgium, Felicia Scratcherd for Greece, Pierre Renaudel, Albert Thomas
, Edgar Milhaud, Poisson, Bracke and L. Dubreuilh, and Arthur Henderson
, Ramsey MacDonald, Henry Hyndman, Sidney Webb, Hunter Watts
, Frederick Gorle, J. Jones and Bernard Shaw
.
Two commissions were elected at the conference, one on the purposed Stockholm congress, the other Allied war aims. The commissions met early the next day and presented their reports to the conference that afternoon. The commission on Stockholm could not come to a unanimous decision, but the majority report as presented by Ramsey MacDonald which welcomed the convening of the Stockholm conference and particularly supported the seating of minorities. On a motion by Bernard Shaw
this was amended to include a condemnation of the refusal of passports by the Allied governments. This resolution, as amended, passed 48-13, with the Belgian, South African and Greek delegates voting against and the British Trade Union Congress and the majority French socialists not voting.
The report of the commission on war aims presented by Sidney Webb simply stated that no unanimity could be reached as the commission was presented with six or seven different statements on war aims: a Franco-Belgian statement, a Russian statement, a Portuguese statement, one from the British Socialist Party, a Labour Party statement with an additional memorandum by the ILP and statements of the Italians. The commission recommended that the conference appoint a standing committee of Allied Socialist Parties with a view to arranging another conference. This decision was narrowly approved by the majority of the conference, with each country being allowed two representatives. The second commission also suggested sending either a deputation or a letter to President Woodrow Wilson
, but this was withdrawn after strong opposition. There was also a suggestion that the congress be allowed to continue a third day but the conference divided equally on the proposal 21-21 and the chair ruled the proposal not carried.
. War aims statements then made by the Prime Minister and President Wilson were approved "as far as they agreed with the memorandum" by the Nottingham conference of the Labour Party on January 23, 1918 which also urged the convening of another Inter-Allied conference and an eventual general conference to assemble in a neutral country, preferably Switzerland.
The French, meanwhile, corresponded with Henderson on the question of future conferences and based their peace term on the answers to the Dutch-Scandinavian questionnaire and the declaration of the first Inter-Allied conference. At the Nottingham conference, Paul Reynauld informally agreed that the draft memorandum on peace terms would be submitted to the National Council of the French Party and CGT on February 17, and that continuous talks on the details of the memorandum should continue in Paris. He also stated that the Belgian Party would be able to adhere to the main lines of the memorandum and every effort should be used to secure the concurrence of other allied labor groups.
The conference met in London from February 20–24, 1918. The organization represented at the conference included: the British Labour Party and Trade Union Congress; the Belgian Workers Party; the French Socialist Party - SFIO and General Confederation of Labor; Italian Reform Socialist Party
and Italian Socialist Party. Consultative delegates were present from South Africa, Romania and the "South Slav organizations". Messages of support came in from groups in New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, South Africa and the Russian Social Revolutionary Party. Camille Huysmans read a communication from delegates of the Menshevik and Social Revolutionary Parties stating that they had been refused passports by the Bolshevik government.
The conference was opened by Ogden of the TUC Parliamentary committee. At the opening session Albert Thomas announced that the French Party and C.G.T. had endorsed the British draft memorandum almost unanimously. Capeta, on behalf of the Italian reformists, stated that he had held informal talks with the Yugoslav delegation and they had come to an agreement over amendments to the memorandum affecting their frontiers. The conference formed five commissions: on a League of Nations
(Renaudel, chairman, MacDonald, secretary); Territories (Sidney Webb, Jean Longuet, ditto); Publicity and Drafting (Thomas, G. H. Stuart-Bunning, ditto); the International Conference (Henderson, de Brouckere) and Economic conditions (J.H. Thomas).
The conference adopted a detailed memorandum on war aims. After endorsing and quoting in full the resolution of the first Inter-Allied Socialist conference, the memorandum post war plans from a "supernational authority" in the form of a League of Nations
, which would have the power to enforce the decisions of an World Court
regarding international disputes and conduct elections for the purpose of national self-determination. There would also be an International Legislature in which each "civilised state would have their alloted share" that would pass binding international law. This implied a complete democratisation of all existing states including removal of "arbitrary powers", elected parliaments, publication of all treaties, abolition of secret diplomacy and the responsibility of foreign policy to the legislature. Other elements included the abolition of compulsory military service in all countries, concerted disarmament and the nationalization of defense industries.
A long list of specific territorial goals was also drawn up, including the restoration of Belgium, the settlement of the question of Alsace-Loraine by popular vote, a Balkan Federation
, settlement of the differences between Italy on the basis of mutual respect and popular sovereignty and restoration of Poland. Palestine was to be put under temporary international control and opened to Jewish immigration, the other former Turkish territory and Africa "north of the Zambezi
and south of the Sahara
" were likewise to by international protectorates until their populations were ready for self-government and the Dardanelles
made a neutral zone
.
The memorandum finally called for a halt to economic warfare and protectionism, while also also recognizing the right of countries to create their own trade laws, international action to prevent famine and other dislocations caused by the end of the war, restitution for victims of the war and punishment of war crimes. The final portion of the memorandum included a call for a new general conference of labor and socialist parties of all countries to be held concurrently with the peace conference and for the representation of labor at the peace conference.
trades unions like the AFL and TLC to take part. Delegates came from a variety of countries, some of which had not been represented at war time socialist conferences yet. Serbia was represented by Dušan Popović
of the Serbian Social Democratic Party; Greece by Petridis of the General Labor Federation of the Piraeus;from the United States, representing the American Federation of Labor
were Samuel Gompers
, John P. Frey
, William Bowen, Edgar Wallace
and Charles Baine; the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
sent a single delegate; Romania and Transylvania were represented by a "National committee" which appointed two delegates whom the credentials committee gave consultative status; the Italians were represented by three delegates from the Socialist Union, one from Italian Union of Labor and five from the Democratia Sociale Irredenta, a group of pro-Allied Italian socialists in Austrian Tyrol
, who were given consultative status; Great Britain had the largest delegations, with 24 delegates from the Labour Party and 18 from the Trade Union Congress, including Ramsey MacDonald, Sidney Webb, Arthur Henderson; France supplied six each from the SFIO and the CGT; there were six representatives of the Belgian Workers Party and two from the Union of Belgian Workers in France, which included Huysmans, de Broukere and Vandervelde. The status of the Russian delegation was the subject of some dispute on the first day of the conference. Some believed that those delegates, should they arrive, not be seated because Russia had left the Allies, while others believed that no Russian party should be seated because knowledge of conditions there was so unreliable. In any case the Soviet authorities would not let the representatives of the Mensheviks or Social Revolutionaries attend the conference but two communications were received, one from Roubanovich, the other from Axelrod, Gavronsky, Rousanoff and Soukholine. Alexander Kerensky
was seated as a "guest".
The first day was taken up with electing commissions. First were the credential and procedures commissions, which reported that day and then commissions on war aims, international relations and for drafting a final statement were elected. There was some debate over what method of voting would be used, Longuet objecting to the use of the allotment used in Socialist congresses because of the absence of the American Socialist Party as well as the official Italian party and CGT, but the issue was not resolved. The second day was taken up largely with the presentation of British and American draft war aims proposals and introduction of resolutions to be sent to the various commissions.
The third meeting received the reports of the commission on international relations. A report on the Peace Note was adopted unanimously, albeit after reservations were made by several delegates. The report on the situation in Russia was more controversial. Two reports came out of the Commission, both of which condemned the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
and asked the post war peace conference to "secure the complete freedom of the Russian people", however the majority report condemned the Allied intervention
, while the minority supported it. The minority report was signed by two Americans, Blaine and Wallace, while the majority was signed by Henderson, Hill, Huysmans, Vandervelde, Longuet, Renaudel, Rosoni, Rossetti and Popovitch. Debate on this raged through the afternoon session of September 19, and included a speech by Kerensky in which he pleaded for western socialists to support the anti-Bolshevik governments in Russia. It was finally decided to send the matter back to the committee. On the final day of the conference a compromise resolution was turned in, repeating the first two paragraphs of both resolutions and adding a new third paragraph which stated that the allied intervention should be carried out in conformity with article 6 of the 14 points and should have as its object only the restoration of peace and democracy to Russia. This compromise resolution passed 25-20, on a show of hands. Popovitch and Longuet attempted to deliver statements on their opposition to the resolution, but were overruled. This led to great consternation on the part of the French delegates who then demanded that voting be on the basis of former Socialist conferences with the US awarded 20 votes. It was decided that if any delegate objected to a vote by a show of hands, they would use the former system.
The commission on war aims adopted a statement that combined elements of the British and American proposals and the fourteen points. There was opposition to this report by Popovitch and Kneeshaw, who did not regard the war necessarily as one between freedom and despotism, and two amendments were offered to change the wording over the circumstances in which they would meet representatives of the German SPD, both of which were voted down. On the final vote of the war aims statement was then held
FOR the full text
Total..57
Against the full text
Total..10
Abstaining
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
.
London, Feb. 1915
The first conference was held in London February 14, 1915. The official minutes were not published, but among the approximately 40 delegates were representatives from the Independent Labour PartyIndependent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
(Kier Hardie, Ramsey MacDonald, Bruce Glasier and William Anderson
William Crawford Anderson
William Crawford Anderson was a British socialist politician.Born on 13 February 1877 at Findon, Aberdeenshire, the name Crawford in fact does not appear on his birth certificate. His father Francis Anderson was a blacksmith, who married in 1868, Barbara Cruickshank, an ardent radical; she being...
), British Socialist Party
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...
, Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
; the Belgian Workers Party (Emile Vandervelde
Emile Vandervelde
thumb|upright|Emile VanderveldeEmile Vandervelde was a Belgian statesman, born at Ixelles. He studied law at the Free University of Brussels and became doctor of laws in 1885 and doctor of social science in 1888.-Activities:Vandervelde became a member of the Parti Ouvrier...
, Camille Huysmans
Camille Huysmans
Jean Joseph Camille Huysmans was a Belgian politician.Huymans studied German philology at the University of Liège. He was a teacher from 1893 until 1897...
and Henri La Fontaine
Henri La Fontaine
Henri La Fontaine , was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913.-Biography:...
); the French Section of the Workers' International and the General Confederation of Labour - Marcel Sembat
Marcel Sembat (Paris Metro)
Marcel Sembat is a station of the Paris Métro. The station opened on 3 February 1934 with the extension from Porte de Saint-Cloud. It is situated in the Place Marcel Sembat, named after the journalist Marcel Sembat who was a director of the socialist review the Petite République from 1890 to 1897...
, Jean Longuet
Jean Longuet
Jean-Laurent-Frederick Longuet was a French socialist and Karl Marx's grandson.Son of Charles and Jenny Longuet. French lawyer and Socialist who in the First World War held a pacifist position but invariably voted for war credits. Founder and editor of the newspaper Le Populaire...
, Édouard Vaillant
Édouard Vaillant
Marie Édouard Vaillant was a French politician.Born in Vierzon, Cher, son of a lawyer, Édouard Vaillant studied engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, graduating in 1862, and then law at the Sorbonne. In Paris he knew Charles Longuet, Louis-Auguste Rogeard, and Jules Vallès...
, Albert Thomas
Albert Thomas (minister)
Albert Thomas was a prominent French Socialist and the first Minister of Armament for the French Third Republic during World War I. Following the Treaty of Versailles, he was nominated as the first Director General of the International Labour Office, a position he held until his death in 1932.-...
, Adéodat Compère-Morel, Léon Jouhaux
Léon Jouhaux
Léon Jouhaux was a French trade union leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951.Jouhaux's father worked in a match factory in Aubervilliers. His secondary schooling ended when his father's earnings were stopped by a strike. He gained employment at the factory at age sixteen and immediately...
, Merrheim and others; from the Russian Empire :Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
- Rubanovich, Viktor Chernov
Viktor Chernov
Viktor Mikhailovich Chernov was a Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He was the primary party theoretician or the 'brain' of the party, and was more analyst than political leader.-Early years:...
, Bobrov
Mark Natanson
Mark Andreyevich Natanson was a Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Circle of Tchaikovsky, Land and Liberty, and the Socialist-Revolutionary Party...
, Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party - Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat.- Early life and first exile :...
, Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party- Ivan Maisky
The ILP had tried to include the German and Austrian parties, but the French said they would not This conference was initiated by Vandervelde and presided over by Keir Hardie. Both Litvinov and Maisky attempted to attend the conference and transmit declarations. Litvinov was unable to finish reading his at the conference, but he was subsequently able to have it published in the March 1915 issue of the Socialist Standard
Socialist Standard
The Socialist Standard is a monthly socialist magazine published without interruption since 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain. The magazine is written in a simple, direct style and focuses mainly on socialist advocacy and Marxian analysis of current events, particularly those affecting...
of the Socialist Party of Great Britain
Socialist Party of Great Britain
The Socialist Party of Great Britain , is a small Marxist political party within the impossibilist tradition. It is best known for its advocacy of using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes; opposition to reformism; and its early adoption of the theory of state capitalism to describe the...
Reports were made by Vailant, Vandervelde and one of the Social Revolutionaries enthusiastically supporting the war. The British apparently abstained from making a report. There was apparently much debate in the drafting commission and the subsequent plenary session on the war responsibility of the Central Powers and the position of Belgium and Serbia. The Belgian and French delegates are reported as taking a harder line on this point than their British comrades. The attitude of the Russians is difficult to ascertain because of contradicting primary sources.
The resolution adopted by the conference claimed that the war was the product of the antagonisms produced by capitalist society, imperialism and colonial rivalry in which every country had a share of responsibility. Given the invasion of Belgium and France, a victory in the war for Germany would extinguish liberty, national independence and faith in treaties. Therefore the workers of the Allied countries are fighting a defensive war against the German and Austrian governments, not against the German and Austrian people, and would resist attempts to turn this into a war of conquests. The resolution specifically demanded the restoration of Belgium, autonomy or independence for Poland, and the resolution of all the national problems of Europe from Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
to the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
on the basis of national self-determination. After the war they hoped from an end to secret diplomacy, the "interest of armaments makers" and international compulsory arbitration
Compulsory arbitration
Compulsory arbitration. In labor disputes, some laws of some communities force the two sides labor and management, to undergo arbitration. These laws mostly apply when the possibility of a strike seriously affects the public interest...
.
The victory of the Allied Powers must be a victory for popularliberty, for unity, for independence, and autonomy of nations in the peaceful federation of the United States of Europe and the world
At the end of the resolution the conference condemned the repression against socialist newspapers and parliamentarians in Russia, as well as the national oppression of Finns, Jews and Russian and German Poles.
Paris, March 1917 (cancelled)
The French Socialist party called for another meeting of the Entente socialists on August 7, 1916 by a vote of 1,937 to 2, 997 not voting. The purpose of the conference was to focus opinion against annexation and conquest, for the establishment of international agreements for the maintenance of peace after the war and for an economic policy that would not be based on exploitation or contain the germs of a new war. The proposal was endorsed by the Executive Committee of the International Socialist BureauInternational Socialist Bureau
The International Socialist Bureau was the permanent organization of the Second International, established at the Paris congress of 1900. Before this there was no organizational infrastructure to the "Second International" beyond a series of periodical congresses, which weren't even given a...
and votes were to be allotted according to the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
s formula. The proposed conference was set to meet in Paris in March, 1917. The organizers of the conference began to have second thoughts, though, when they saw that anti-war socialists might predominate at the conference. They decided to give one of the British Socialist Parties four votes to Henry Hyndman
Henry Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman was an English writer and politician, and the founder of the Social Democratic Federation and the National Socialist Party.-Early years:...
s National Socialist Party
National Socialist Party (UK)
The National Socialist Party was a small political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1916. It originated as a minority group within the British Socialist Party who supported British participation in World War I; while historically linked with the Marxist left, the party grew more moderate...
and one of the Italian Socialist Party's
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
votes to Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
s Fascio
Fascio
Fascio, plural -sci /'faʃʃo, ʃi/ is an Italian word literally meaning "a bundle" or "a sheaf", and figuratively league, and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different orientations...
. The Italian party then withdrew its decision to participate and called on the International Socialist Commission to give its opinion of the purposed conference. The ISC was fo abstaining, but felt it would be useful to call a conference of Entente Zimmerwaldists in order to outline a common policy toward the Paris conference. However, only exile groups in Switzerland, the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, Polish Socialist Party - Left, General Jewish Labour Bund and the group around Vie Ouvrere were able to attend, and they had already declared their opposition to the conference. The meeting of Zimmerwaldists adopted a non-binding resolution recommending abstinence from the Paris conference. The ILP and BSP were still willing, but when the British Labour Party decided to withdraw a few days before the conference was to open, the meeting was cancelled.
London, Aug. 1917
The second London conference of Entente socialists was called by the British Labour Party in May 1917 in response to calls began for the convocation of a general socialist congress at Stockholm. After the Council of Soviets had joined the call for the purposed Stockholm conference and made a tour of Allied capitals to make the case, the necessity of convening an Inter-Allied Socialist Conference before the Stockholm one was seated became more imperative, and the final date was set at a meeting of representatives of the French Socialist Party, the British Labour Party and the Soviets at a meeting in Paris on July 20–30.The Second Inter-Allied Socialist Conference took place in London August 28–29, 1917. Britain was represented by 41 delegates, France by 12, Russia and Italy 4 apiece, Belgium and Portugal 2 apiece and Greece and South Africa by 1 each. Votes were allotted according to the Second Internationals precedent: France, Great Britain and Russia each had 20 votes, Belgium 12, Italy 10, Portugal 2, Greece and South Africa 1 each. No full membership list seems to be available, but some of the known delegates included Emile Vandervelde and Louis de Brouckere of Belgium, Felicia Scratcherd for Greece, Pierre Renaudel, Albert Thomas
Albert Thomas (minister)
Albert Thomas was a prominent French Socialist and the first Minister of Armament for the French Third Republic during World War I. Following the Treaty of Versailles, he was nominated as the first Director General of the International Labour Office, a position he held until his death in 1932.-...
, Edgar Milhaud, Poisson, Bracke and L. Dubreuilh, and Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and he served three short terms as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1908–1910, 1914–1917 and 1931-1932....
, Ramsey MacDonald, Henry Hyndman, Sidney Webb, Hunter Watts
Hunter Watts
John Hunter Watts , known as Hunter Watts, was a British socialist activist.Based in Manchester, Watts was an active secularist before joining the Social Democratic Federation . While he was friendly with William Morris, he remained with the SDF when Morris left to found the Socialist League in 1885...
, Frederick Gorle, J. Jones and Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
.
Two commissions were elected at the conference, one on the purposed Stockholm congress, the other Allied war aims. The commissions met early the next day and presented their reports to the conference that afternoon. The commission on Stockholm could not come to a unanimous decision, but the majority report as presented by Ramsey MacDonald which welcomed the convening of the Stockholm conference and particularly supported the seating of minorities. On a motion by Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
this was amended to include a condemnation of the refusal of passports by the Allied governments. This resolution, as amended, passed 48-13, with the Belgian, South African and Greek delegates voting against and the British Trade Union Congress and the majority French socialists not voting.
The report of the commission on war aims presented by Sidney Webb simply stated that no unanimity could be reached as the commission was presented with six or seven different statements on war aims: a Franco-Belgian statement, a Russian statement, a Portuguese statement, one from the British Socialist Party, a Labour Party statement with an additional memorandum by the ILP and statements of the Italians. The commission recommended that the conference appoint a standing committee of Allied Socialist Parties with a view to arranging another conference. This decision was narrowly approved by the majority of the conference, with each country being allowed two representatives. The second commission also suggested sending either a deputation or a letter to President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, but this was withdrawn after strong opposition. There was also a suggestion that the congress be allowed to continue a third day but the conference divided equally on the proposal 21-21 and the chair ruled the proposal not carried.
London, Feb. 1918
Discussion among the Entente socialist parties on war aims continued through February 1918. The issue was tackled in party conferences, memorandums, and informal talks. On September 20 the Blackpool congress of the British TUC passed a resolution stating that the Stockholm conference would not mean successful at this time, but called on their Parliamentary Committee to take steps for an agreement on war aims among the allied workers and that an eventual general congress should be called on the basis of the agreed war aims. A sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee and the Labour Party executive met and worked out a memorandum of war aims which was ratified at a meeting of societies affiliated with the TUC and Labour Party in London on December 28, 1917 and presented to Prime Minister David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
. War aims statements then made by the Prime Minister and President Wilson were approved "as far as they agreed with the memorandum" by the Nottingham conference of the Labour Party on January 23, 1918 which also urged the convening of another Inter-Allied conference and an eventual general conference to assemble in a neutral country, preferably Switzerland.
The French, meanwhile, corresponded with Henderson on the question of future conferences and based their peace term on the answers to the Dutch-Scandinavian questionnaire and the declaration of the first Inter-Allied conference. At the Nottingham conference, Paul Reynauld informally agreed that the draft memorandum on peace terms would be submitted to the National Council of the French Party and CGT on February 17, and that continuous talks on the details of the memorandum should continue in Paris. He also stated that the Belgian Party would be able to adhere to the main lines of the memorandum and every effort should be used to secure the concurrence of other allied labor groups.
The conference met in London from February 20–24, 1918. The organization represented at the conference included: the British Labour Party and Trade Union Congress; the Belgian Workers Party; the French Socialist Party - SFIO and General Confederation of Labor; Italian Reform Socialist Party
Italian Reform Socialist Party
The Italian Reform Socialist Party was a social-democratic political party in Italy.It was formed in 1912 by those leading reformists who had been expelled from the Italian Socialist Party because of their desire of entering in the majority supporting Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti...
and Italian Socialist Party. Consultative delegates were present from South Africa, Romania and the "South Slav organizations". Messages of support came in from groups in New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, South Africa and the Russian Social Revolutionary Party. Camille Huysmans read a communication from delegates of the Menshevik and Social Revolutionary Parties stating that they had been refused passports by the Bolshevik government.
The conference was opened by Ogden of the TUC Parliamentary committee. At the opening session Albert Thomas announced that the French Party and C.G.T. had endorsed the British draft memorandum almost unanimously. Capeta, on behalf of the Italian reformists, stated that he had held informal talks with the Yugoslav delegation and they had come to an agreement over amendments to the memorandum affecting their frontiers. The conference formed five commissions: on a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
(Renaudel, chairman, MacDonald, secretary); Territories (Sidney Webb, Jean Longuet, ditto); Publicity and Drafting (Thomas, G. H. Stuart-Bunning, ditto); the International Conference (Henderson, de Brouckere) and Economic conditions (J.H. Thomas).
The conference adopted a detailed memorandum on war aims. After endorsing and quoting in full the resolution of the first Inter-Allied Socialist conference, the memorandum post war plans from a "supernational authority" in the form of a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, which would have the power to enforce the decisions of an World Court
World Court
* any of the international courts located in The Hague:**the International Court of Justice , a UN court that settles disputes between nations...
regarding international disputes and conduct elections for the purpose of national self-determination. There would also be an International Legislature in which each "civilised state would have their alloted share" that would pass binding international law. This implied a complete democratisation of all existing states including removal of "arbitrary powers", elected parliaments, publication of all treaties, abolition of secret diplomacy and the responsibility of foreign policy to the legislature. Other elements included the abolition of compulsory military service in all countries, concerted disarmament and the nationalization of defense industries.
A long list of specific territorial goals was also drawn up, including the restoration of Belgium, the settlement of the question of Alsace-Loraine by popular vote, a Balkan Federation
Balkan Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
, settlement of the differences between Italy on the basis of mutual respect and popular sovereignty and restoration of Poland. Palestine was to be put under temporary international control and opened to Jewish immigration, the other former Turkish territory and Africa "north of the Zambezi
Zambezi
The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is , slightly less than half that of the Nile...
and south of the Sahara
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
" were likewise to by international protectorates until their populations were ready for self-government and the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
made a neutral zone
Demilitarized zone
In military terms, a demilitarized zone is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more military powers , where military activity is not permitted, usually by peace treaty, armistice, or other bilateral or multilateral agreement...
.
The memorandum finally called for a halt to economic warfare and protectionism, while also also recognizing the right of countries to create their own trade laws, international action to prevent famine and other dislocations caused by the end of the war, restitution for victims of the war and punishment of war crimes. The final portion of the memorandum included a call for a new general conference of labor and socialist parties of all countries to be held concurrently with the peace conference and for the representation of labor at the peace conference.
London, Sept. 1918
The final conference met in London September 17–19, 1918. The credentials committee received 86 credentials, 74 of which were accepted as full delegates. The conference was pointedly billed as a Socialist and Labor Conference, allowing pure and simplePure and Simple
"Pure and Simple" is a popular song, released as the debut single by Hear'Say, the original winners of the UK version of Popstars. It was released as a double A-side with "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which was a fan favourite at the live shows....
trades unions like the AFL and TLC to take part. Delegates came from a variety of countries, some of which had not been represented at war time socialist conferences yet. Serbia was represented by Dušan Popović
Dušan Popovic
Dušan Popović is a Serbian footballer.He was on loan to Admira Wacker Mödling of Austrian Bundesliga in January 2004, from Serbia and Montenegro second division side FK Timok Zaječar. In summer 2004, he moved to Volyn Lutsk.-External links:...
of the Serbian Social Democratic Party; Greece by Petridis of the General Labor Federation of the Piraeus;from the United States, representing the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
were Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers was an English-born American cigar maker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor , and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924...
, John P. Frey
John P. Frey
John P. Frey was a labor activist and president of the American Federation of Labor's Metal Trades Department during a crucial period in American labor history.-Early life:...
, William Bowen, Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
and Charles Baine; the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1883 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor...
sent a single delegate; Romania and Transylvania were represented by a "National committee" which appointed two delegates whom the credentials committee gave consultative status; the Italians were represented by three delegates from the Socialist Union, one from Italian Union of Labor and five from the Democratia Sociale Irredenta, a group of pro-Allied Italian socialists in Austrian Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
, who were given consultative status; Great Britain had the largest delegations, with 24 delegates from the Labour Party and 18 from the Trade Union Congress, including Ramsey MacDonald, Sidney Webb, Arthur Henderson; France supplied six each from the SFIO and the CGT; there were six representatives of the Belgian Workers Party and two from the Union of Belgian Workers in France, which included Huysmans, de Broukere and Vandervelde. The status of the Russian delegation was the subject of some dispute on the first day of the conference. Some believed that those delegates, should they arrive, not be seated because Russia had left the Allies, while others believed that no Russian party should be seated because knowledge of conditions there was so unreliable. In any case the Soviet authorities would not let the representatives of the Mensheviks or Social Revolutionaries attend the conference but two communications were received, one from Roubanovich, the other from Axelrod, Gavronsky, Rousanoff and Soukholine. Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
was seated as a "guest".
The first day was taken up with electing commissions. First were the credential and procedures commissions, which reported that day and then commissions on war aims, international relations and for drafting a final statement were elected. There was some debate over what method of voting would be used, Longuet objecting to the use of the allotment used in Socialist congresses because of the absence of the American Socialist Party as well as the official Italian party and CGT, but the issue was not resolved. The second day was taken up largely with the presentation of British and American draft war aims proposals and introduction of resolutions to be sent to the various commissions.
The third meeting received the reports of the commission on international relations. A report on the Peace Note was adopted unanimously, albeit after reservations were made by several delegates. The report on the situation in Russia was more controversial. Two reports came out of the Commission, both of which condemned the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
and asked the post war peace conference to "secure the complete freedom of the Russian people", however the majority report condemned the Allied intervention
Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...
, while the minority supported it. The minority report was signed by two Americans, Blaine and Wallace, while the majority was signed by Henderson, Hill, Huysmans, Vandervelde, Longuet, Renaudel, Rosoni, Rossetti and Popovitch. Debate on this raged through the afternoon session of September 19, and included a speech by Kerensky in which he pleaded for western socialists to support the anti-Bolshevik governments in Russia. It was finally decided to send the matter back to the committee. On the final day of the conference a compromise resolution was turned in, repeating the first two paragraphs of both resolutions and adding a new third paragraph which stated that the allied intervention should be carried out in conformity with article 6 of the 14 points and should have as its object only the restoration of peace and democracy to Russia. This compromise resolution passed 25-20, on a show of hands. Popovitch and Longuet attempted to deliver statements on their opposition to the resolution, but were overruled. This led to great consternation on the part of the French delegates who then demanded that voting be on the basis of former Socialist conferences with the US awarded 20 votes. It was decided that if any delegate objected to a vote by a show of hands, they would use the former system.
The commission on war aims adopted a statement that combined elements of the British and American proposals and the fourteen points. There was opposition to this report by Popovitch and Kneeshaw, who did not regard the war necessarily as one between freedom and despotism, and two amendments were offered to change the wording over the circumstances in which they would meet representatives of the German SPD, both of which were voted down. On the final vote of the war aims statement was then held
FOR the full text
- Italy....7
- Belgium.12
- France..18
- Britain.20
Total..57
Against the full text
- Serbia....7
- Greece...12
- France....2
Total..10
Abstaining
- American Federation of Labor
- Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
See also
- Vienna Socialist Conference of 1915Vienna Socialist Conference of 1915The Vienna Socialist Conference of 1915 gathered representatives from the Socialist parties of Germany, Austria and Hungary to the only meeting of the pro-war socialist parties of the Central Powers during World War I....
- Neutral Socialist Conferences during the First World WarNeutral Socialist Conferences during the First World WarDuring the First World War there were three conferences of the Socialist parties of the non-belligerent countries.- Lugano, 1914 :The first joint meeting of any of the socialist parties after the out break of the war was held by representatives of the Swiss Social Democratic Party and the Italian...