Neutral Socialist Conferences during the First World War
Encyclopedia
During the First World War there were three conferences of the Socialist parties of the non-belligerent countries.
at Lugano on September 27, 1914. Attendees included Giacinto Menotti Serrati
, Angelica Balabanoff
, Oddino Morgari
, Constantino Lazzari Filippo Turati
, Elia Musatti, Giuseppe Modigliani, Dominico Armuzzi, Giuseppe de Falco, Celestino Ratti for the Italians and Josef Albisser, Mario Ferri, Hermann Greulich
, Paul Pfluger, Anton Rimathe, Hans Schenkel, Robert Grimm
and Charles Naine for the Swiss Party.
The resolution adopted by the conference declared that the war was caused by "the imperialist policy of the Great Powers", the competition for markets, and the attempt to suppress the proletariat and Social democracy. It claimed that the Central Powers
could not claim this as a fight against Czarism to protect high culture, as they suppressed it in their own lands, and that the Entente
could not claim to be fighting for self-determination
, as the war was not being fought to free the nations from "capitalist oppression" and their Alliance with Russia only increased oppression and hindered the growth of high culture. The resolution further stated that the capitalists had stirred parts of the working class into a chauvinist frenzy and made portions of it believe it was fighting for a noble cause. The conference called on the parties of the neutral countries to demand that their states stay out of the war, and that the war should be brought to a speedy end by diplomatic negotiations.
, Fredrik Ström
and Hermann Linquist represented the Swedish Social Democratic Party
, Jakob Vidnes, Magnus Nilssen
and Ole Lian represented the Labour Party (Norway) and Frederick Borgbjerg, Thorvald Stauning
and Carl Madsen for the Danish Social Democrats. Troelstra
of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)
also attended. Among the topics discussed was a proposed by the Dutch that the headquarters of the International Socialist Bureau
be moved from occupied Brussels to Amsterdam and its affairs be put in charge of the Dutch party. It was decided that a conference of all the parties affiliated to the ISB should be called to decide on the issue. The French rebuffed this offer, and it was soon decided to call a conference just of the parties of neutral countries. Some time between October 11 and November 1914, the headquarters of the ISB were moved to the Hague and three Dutch members were added to the Executive Committee with the consent of its Secretary, Camille Huysmans
, and all the other affiliated parties, with the exception of the French.
Meanwhile, attempts to line up delegations from other neutral countries were not very successful. The proposed program of the conference, which excluded discussion of the causes of the war
and the standpoints of the belligerents alienated the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
, who declined to attend. The Swiss party was more intent on a conference along the lines of the Lugano resolution, and by December 19 they had decided not to attend. When Hilquit learned that the scope of the conference had narrowed down to four countries in a "localized" region of Europe, he felt the US would be out of place there and decided not to attend. The Italian Modigliani did not attend "rather from accident than for any other reason", according the Angelica Balabanov.
When the conference did finally assemble on January 17-18, 1915, it consisted of sixteen delegates, four from the Netherlands (Troelsta, Hendrik van Kol, Fliechek and Wibaut) and four each from the Scandinavian countries (at least: Sweden- Branting; Denmark- Staunding and Borgbjerg; Norway-- Nilssen and Ole Z. Lian
). The representatives of the Jewish Bund and the editor of Het Volk
, the central Dutch organ were admitted as guests. Greetings or declarations were received by the conference from the French Socialist Party, Social Democratic Party of Germany
, Swiss Social Democratic Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Independent Labour Party
, the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), the Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Menshevik)
, the Nasha Zarya group
(who submitted a report advocating German victory), Camille Huysmans (who claimed he could not attend because the Germans would not grant him a passport), several Swedish trade unions and Bund.
The conferences main resolution was drafted by a commission of Stauning, Troelsta, Nilssen and Branting. It blamed capitalism "in its imperialist form", growth of armaments, secret diplomacy and expansionism as the cause of the war. Recalling the resolution passed at the 1910 Copenhagen Congress, it called on socialist parliamentarians to struggle for the introduction compulsory arbitration courts for international disputes; reduction of armaments, with complete disarmament as the ultimate aim; abolition of secret diplomacy, making foreign affairs a parliamentary responsibility; and recognition of the right of national self determination. It further suggested that socialist parties should elaborate peace terms that would not be the basis for a future war, called for a full meeting of the International Socialist Bureau "as soon as is deemed convient", and a full congress of the international at the time of the peace negotiations. Finally they reminded the workers that the world war was only possible because the capitalists were in control of the governments and "consequently, the conference urges the laboring class to make every effort to seize political power in order that imperialism may be crushed and international Social Democracy may accomplish its mission of emancipating the peoples." The conference also passed resolutions urging the parties in neutral countries to persuade their governments to offer their services to mediate an end to the war and protesting the arrest of socialist members of the Fourth Duma.
, the International Socialist Bureau
arranged to have a meeting of socialist from neutral countries convene under its auspices. Originally scheduled for June 26, 1916, it finally met at the Hague on July 31. The conference was attended by nine delegates: Argentina- Repetto
; Denmark- Thorvald Staunning; the Netherlands- Troelstra. Albarda, van Kol, Wibaut, Vleigen, van Zutphen, Edo Fimmen and Bruns
; Sweden- Hjamar Branting; and the United States-- Algernon Lee
. Representatives from Norway, Switzerland and Luxemburg tried to attend but the German authorities would not allow them to pass through their territory to get to the Netherlands. Vladimir Lenin
and Alexandra Kollontai
, a Bolshevik residing in Norway had attempted to get a Zimmerwald Left
representative from Norway sent to the conference, possibly Martin Tranmæl
. Other delegates from the Social Democratic Youth League
, the Romanian Social Democratic Party
and the Netherlands who might have been sympathetic to the Zimmerwald Left were also prevented from attending for various reasons. The conference adopted resolutions declaring capitalism to be the cause of the war; condemned "economic warfare
"; advocated free trade
; declared that the conditions were right for peace negotiations to begin on the basis of national self-determination; for the re-establishment of Belgium and Serbia; autonomy for Poland; and negotiations between German and French socialists on the Alsace Lorraine question. The conference also protested the jailing of Karl Liebknecht
and the execution of Battisti
. Finally it approved of the work of the executive committee efforts to re-establish relations between the various parties and favor the early convening of the full International Socialist Bureau.
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 Socialist PartyItalian 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...
at Lugano on September 27, 1914. Attendees included Giacinto Menotti Serrati
Giacinto Menotti Serrati
Giacinto Menotti Serrati was an Italian communist politician. He was born in Spotorno, near Savona and died in Asso, near Como....
, Angelica Balabanoff
Angelica Balabanoff
Angelica Balabanoff was a Jewish-Italian communist and social democratic activist.-Revolutionary activities:...
, Oddino Morgari
Oddino Morgari
Oddino Morgari was an Italian socialist journalist and politician.-Early life:Initially a Mazzinian radical, he became a member of the Italian Socialist Party in 1891, and was elected leader of its local section in Turin the following year...
, Constantino Lazzari Filippo Turati
Filippo Turati
Filippo Turati was an Italian sociologist, poet and Socialist politician.-Early life:Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and participated in the Scapigliatura movement with the most important artists of the period in Milan, publishing poetry...
, Elia Musatti, Giuseppe Modigliani, Dominico Armuzzi, Giuseppe de Falco, Celestino Ratti for the Italians and Josef Albisser, Mario Ferri, Hermann Greulich
Hermann Greulich
Hermann Greulich , was a Swiss socialist politician. Greulich was a pioneer of the international socialist movement. He worked side by side with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the First International, and was later active in the Second International.Greulich died 1925 in Zürich....
, Paul Pfluger, Anton Rimathe, Hans Schenkel, Robert Grimm
Robert Grimm
Robert Grimm was the leading Swiss Socialist politician during the first half of the 20th century.As a leading member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland he opposed the First World War. Grimm was the main organiser of the Zimmerwald Movement and the chairman of the International...
and Charles Naine for the Swiss Party.
The resolution adopted by the conference declared that the war was caused by "the imperialist policy of the Great Powers", the competition for markets, and the attempt to suppress the proletariat and Social democracy. It claimed that the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
could not claim this as a fight against Czarism to protect high culture, as they suppressed it in their own lands, and that the Entente
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...
could not claim to be fighting for self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, as the war was not being fought to free the nations from "capitalist oppression" and their Alliance with Russia only increased oppression and hindered the growth of high culture. The resolution further stated that the capitalists had stirred parts of the working class into a chauvinist frenzy and made portions of it believe it was fighting for a noble cause. The conference called on the parties of the neutral countries to demand that their states stay out of the war, and that the war should be brought to a speedy end by diplomatic negotiations.
Copenhagen, 1915
A joint meeting of the socialist parties of the Scandinavian countries was held on October 11 at Stockholm. Hjalmar BrantingHjalmar Branting
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party , and Prime Minister during three separate periods . When Branting came to power in 1920, he was the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden...
, Fredrik Ström
Fredrik Ström
Fredrik Ström was a Swedish Socialist politician and a prolific writer. He held a seat in the Riksdag from 1916 - 1921, and from 1930 - 1938....
and Hermann Linquist represented the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
, Jakob Vidnes, Magnus Nilssen
Magnus Nilssen
Magnus Nilssen was Norwegian politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties.He was born in Lillehammer as a son of shoemaker Mathias Nilssen and his wife Eline Pedersen . He was a first cousin of Marcus Halfdan Kastrud. He finished his appreniceship as a goldsmith in 1889, and...
and Ole Lian represented the Labour Party (Norway) and Frederick Borgbjerg, Thorvald Stauning
Thorvald Stauning
Thorvald August Marinus Stauning was the first social democratic Prime Minister of Denmark. He served as Prime Minister from 1924 to 1926 and again from 1929 until his death in 1942....
and Carl Madsen for the Danish Social Democrats. Troelstra
Troelstra
Troelstra is the surname of:* Pieter Jelles Troelstra , Dutch socialist politician* Anne Sjerp Troelstra , Dutch mathematician...
of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)
The Social Democratic Workers' Party was a Dutch socialist political party and a predecessor of the social-democratic PvdA.-1893-1904:...
also attended. Among the topics discussed was a proposed by the Dutch that the headquarters of the International Socialist Bureau
International 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...
be moved from occupied Brussels to Amsterdam and its affairs be put in charge of the Dutch party. It was decided that a conference of all the parties affiliated to the ISB should be called to decide on the issue. The French rebuffed this offer, and it was soon decided to call a conference just of the parties of neutral countries. Some time between October 11 and November 1914, the headquarters of the ISB were moved to the Hague and three Dutch members were added to the Executive Committee with the consent of its Secretary, 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 all the other affiliated parties, with the exception of the French.
Meanwhile, attempts to line up delegations from other neutral countries were not very successful. The proposed program of the conference, which excluded discussion of the causes of the war
Causes of World War I
The causes of World War I, which began in central Europe in July 1914, included many intertwined factors, such as the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading up to the war. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict as well...
and the standpoints of the belligerents alienated the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
, who declined to attend. The Swiss party was more intent on a conference along the lines of the Lugano resolution, and by December 19 they had decided not to attend. When Hilquit learned that the scope of the conference had narrowed down to four countries in a "localized" region of Europe, he felt the US would be out of place there and decided not to attend. The Italian Modigliani did not attend "rather from accident than for any other reason", according the Angelica Balabanov.
When the conference did finally assemble on January 17-18, 1915, it consisted of sixteen delegates, four from the Netherlands (Troelsta, Hendrik van Kol, Fliechek and Wibaut) and four each from the Scandinavian countries (at least: Sweden- Branting; Denmark- Staunding and Borgbjerg; Norway-- Nilssen and Ole Z. Lian
Lian
Lian may refer to:*Gao Lian , a character in the Water Margin series of novels*Jia Lian, a character in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber*Lian, Batangas, Philippines*Lian, Norway*Lian , a given name...
). The representatives of the Jewish Bund and the editor of Het Volk
Het Volk
Het Volk may refer to:*Het Volk , Flanders, Belgium*Het Volk, also called Omloop Het Volk, a semi-classic one-day bicycle race in Flanders, Belgium, sponsored by the newspaper*Het Volk , Transvaal political party...
, the central Dutch organ were admitted as guests. Greetings or declarations were received by the conference from the French Socialist Party, Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, Swiss Social Democratic Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Independent Labour Party
Independent 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...
, the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), the Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Menshevik)
Menshevik
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...
, the Nasha Zarya group
Nasha Zarya
Nasha Zarya was a legal Menshevik monthly, published in St. Petersburg, Russia from 1910 to 1914. Lenin described it as 'the liquidators' centre in Russia'....
(who submitted a report advocating German victory), Camille Huysmans (who claimed he could not attend because the Germans would not grant him a passport), several Swedish trade unions and Bund.
The conferences main resolution was drafted by a commission of Stauning, Troelsta, Nilssen and Branting. It blamed capitalism "in its imperialist form", growth of armaments, secret diplomacy and expansionism as the cause of the war. Recalling the resolution passed at the 1910 Copenhagen Congress, it called on socialist parliamentarians to struggle for the introduction compulsory arbitration courts for international disputes; reduction of armaments, with complete disarmament as the ultimate aim; abolition of secret diplomacy, making foreign affairs a parliamentary responsibility; and recognition of the right of national self determination. It further suggested that socialist parties should elaborate peace terms that would not be the basis for a future war, called for a full meeting of the International Socialist Bureau "as soon as is deemed convient", and a full congress of the international at the time of the peace negotiations. Finally they reminded the workers that the world war was only possible because the capitalists were in control of the governments and "consequently, the conference urges the laboring class to make every effort to seize political power in order that imperialism may be crushed and international Social Democracy may accomplish its mission of emancipating the peoples." The conference also passed resolutions urging the parties in neutral countries to persuade their governments to offer their services to mediate an end to the war and protesting the arrest of socialist members of the Fourth Duma.
Hague, 1916
After the Zimmerwald ConferenceZimmerwald Conference
The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 through September 8, 1915. It was an international socialist conference, which saw the beginning of the end of the coalition between revolutionary socialists and reformist socialists in the Second International.-...
, the International Socialist Bureau
International 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...
arranged to have a meeting of socialist from neutral countries convene under its auspices. Originally scheduled for June 26, 1916, it finally met at the Hague on July 31. The conference was attended by nine delegates: Argentina- Repetto
Repetto
Repetto is a French ballet shoes company. Created in 1947 by Rose Repetto, at the request of her son dancer and choreographer Roland Petit. Customers are claimed to include Maurice Béjart, Rudolf Nureyev, Serge Gainsbourg, Carolyn Carlson, Éric Vu-An and Kirov...
; Denmark- Thorvald Staunning; the Netherlands- Troelstra. Albarda, van Kol, Wibaut, Vleigen, van Zutphen, Edo Fimmen and Bruns
Bruns
Bruns is a surname, and may refer to:* Dmitri Bruns , Estonian architect and architecture theorist* Franklin Richard Bruns Jr. , of Maryland* George Bruns , American music composer...
; Sweden- Hjamar Branting; and the United States-- Algernon Lee
Algernon Lee
Algernon H. Lee was an American socialist politician and educator, best known as the Director of Education at the Rand School of Social Science for 35 years.-Early years:...
. Representatives from Norway, Switzerland and Luxemburg tried to attend but the German authorities would not allow them to pass through their territory to get to the Netherlands. Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
and Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik. In 1919 she became the first female government minister in Europe...
, a Bolshevik residing in Norway had attempted to get a Zimmerwald Left
Zimmerwald Left
The Zimmerwald Left was a revolutionary minority fraction at the Zimmerwald Peace Conference of 1915, headed by Lenin. The Left of the Zimmerwald Congress was made up of eight out of 38 people: Lenin, Zinoviev , Jānis K. Bērziņš , Karl Radek , Julian Borchardt , Fritz Platten , Zeth Höglund and...
representative from Norway sent to the conference, possibly Martin Tranmæl
Martin Tranmæl
Martin Olsen Tranmæl was a radical Norwegian socialist leader.-Biography:Martin Tranmæl grew up in a middle-sized farm in Melhus, in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. He started working as a painter and construction worker. In the early 20th century, Tranmæl lived for a while in the USA where he came...
. Other delegates from the Social Democratic Youth League
Young Left (Sweden)
Young Left is the youth organization of the Swedish Left Party.-Ideology:It is an organization that organizes the youth of today to fight for socialist and feminist social change. Young Left is a youth organization developed out of the labour movement, with influences from environmentalism, the...
, the Romanian Social Democratic Party
Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)
The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...
and the Netherlands who might have been sympathetic to the Zimmerwald Left were also prevented from attending for various reasons. The conference adopted resolutions declaring capitalism to be the cause of the war; condemned "economic warfare
Economic warfare
Economic warfare is the term for economic policies followed as a part of military operations during wartime.The purpose of economic warfare is to capture critical economic resources so that the military can operate at full efficiency and/or deprive the enemy forces of those resources so that they...
"; advocated free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
; declared that the conditions were right for peace negotiations to begin on the basis of national self-determination; for the re-establishment of Belgium and Serbia; autonomy for Poland; and negotiations between German and French socialists on the Alsace Lorraine question. The conference also protested the jailing of Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
and the execution of Battisti
Battisti
Battisti is a surname of Italian origin. The name refers to:*Carlo Battisti , Italian linguist and actor*Cesare Battisti , Italian writer, former member of Armed Proletarians for Communism, also a convicted murderer in Italy, currently a refugee in Brazil*Cesare Battisti , Italian-Austrian...
. Finally it approved of the work of the executive committee efforts to re-establish relations between the various parties and favor the early convening of the full International Socialist Bureau.
See Also
- Inter-Allied Socialist Conferences of World War IInter-Allied Socialist Conferences of World War IDuring the First World War there were a number of conferences of the socialist parties of the Entente or Allied powers.- London, Feb. 1915 :The first conference was held in London February 14, 1915...
- 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....