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Second International 1914-1918 - The Great War

The collapse of the International at the outbreak of war in 1914 came as more of a surprise to those outside the International than to those acquainted with it. The International, despite its imposing aspirations, was in reality no more than a loose federation of political parties with no strong central authority. In the words of M. Camille Huysmans, the International secretary, describing it as he found it when he took office in 1904, it was "no more than a letter-box and a postal address, a mere medium of communication, without power and without real influence "; and he goes on to describe how efforts to improve this position met with little encouragement.

The outbreak, of the Great War revealed that the national sections were stronger than the International. It is true that in Serbia, the country first affected by invasion, the Socialist party stood by the International and voted against the war credits; but their example was not followed. The most important national sections affected (with the exception of Russia), Britain, France, Belgium and Germany, rallied to the support of what they felt to be a war of national defence. Opposition was expressed only by minorities in each of these countries, consisting of extreme revolutionary socialists or of pacifist socialists.

The effect of the war was, accordingly, to break up the International into two sections, pro-war and anti-war. The International Secretariat was transferred to Holland; and substitute members were taken on to the Executive from the Dutch section. There followed a period of sectional conferences. In Jan. 1915, the neutral socialists met at Copenhagen and issued an appeal to the belligerent socialists to act to stop the war. In Feb. 1915, the Allied socialists met in London and passed a resolution emphasizing the necessity of continuing the war. In April 1915, the Central Powers socialists met at Vienna and passed resolutions dealing chiefly with relations after the war.

All these conferences were held with the knowledge and sanction of the International Executive, which was endeavoring by negotiation to pave the way for a full congress. But in September 1915, the anti-war socialists took matters into their own hands, and held an unofficial socialist conference at Zimmcrwald in Switzerland. This conference set up a permanent International Socialist Commission, which was henceforth in tacit, though not at first intended, rivalry with the official bureau. This rivalry became Intensified when a second conference was held under the auspices of the commission at Kienthal in April 1916, and the revolutionary section of the anti-war socialists began to play a more dominant part.

The situation was brought to a head by the Russian Revolution of March 1917. An invitation for a full International Socialist Conference to be held at Stockholm was issued by the Petrograd Soviet in conjunction with the Dutch-Scandinavian committee which had been formed to act for the bureau. The invitation was accepted by all the principal sections, including the British Labour party, the French Socialist party, and the German and Austrian socialists. But after a protracted crisis the refusal of passports by the British and French Governments led to the failure of the project. It was at this stage that the Zimmerwald Commission held a separate meeting at Stockholm and finally decided on founding a new International.

In March 191S, an Inter-Allied Socialist and Labour Conference was held, which drew up a statement of war aims and communicated it to the socialist parties of the Central Powers. The replies of the latter were received during the summer of 1918, and negotiations were proceeding on these lines when the Armistice came.