Zimmerwald Conference
Encyclopedia
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
(communists
) and reformist
socialists (social democrats) in the Second International
.
be convened and that an international conference of neutral socialists be summoned. On April 19 he met with Emile Vandervelde
, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the ISB and a representative of the French Socialist Party. His proposals were flatly rejected. On May 15–16 the Party executive met in Bologna to hear Morgari's report. He stated that the official parties were recalcitrant, but that there were minorities in both Great Britain and France who were receptive. The party decided to call a conference of all socialist parties and workers groups that were opposed to civil peace
, adhered to the class struggle
and were willing to work against the war.
The Italian and Swiss socialist parties arranged for a preliminary meeting at Berne on July 11. Attending were Gregory Zinoviev of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks); Pavel Axelrod
of the Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Mensheviks); Angelica Balabanoff
and Odino Morgari of the Italian Socialist Party; Adolf Warski
of the Main Presidum of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania
; Maksymilian Horwitz of the Polish Socialist Party – Left; and Robert Grimm
of the Swiss Social Democratic Party. Little concrete was decided at this preliminary meeting, though it was clear that a wide array of groups would be invited to the conference and not just the "lefts", as defined by Zinoviev and the Bolsheviks. A second preliminary meeting was supposed to assemble that was supposed to resolve the issue, but never met.
From neutral countries
From Western Allied countries:
From the Russian Empire
Germany
in Berne on September 5, 1915. From there they left in four coaches for the small town of Zimmerwald
some ten kilometers (6.21 miles) away. The conference began by reading communications from people and organizations who could not be present, such as a letter from Karl Leibknecht whose name could not even be printed in the official report of the conference. Then the various delegations gave reports of the situations in their respective countries. The Germans had resorted to engaging in illegal activity, such as distributing illegal leaflets. Ledebour mentioned that Germany may be headed for revolution. In France the workers were said to be in a state of disillusionment and had been corrupted by years of anarchist and Herveist thinking. Kolarov gave an extended discussion on his party's resistance to the Second Balkan War
. He discussed the policy of advocating fraternization in the trenches
and socialist concern for socialist prisoners of war
, which had prevented enmity between the Serb and Bulgarian Social Democratic parties. He also spoke about the division of the Narrow and Broad socialist in his country. A Balken Socialist Federation had been formed as social democratic parties in Rumania, Serbia and Greece, but did not include the broads. The Italians reported that socialists had been persecuted since Italys entrance into the war. This was accompanied with strikes and street demonstrations; the Italian workers had their martyrs and wounded. Rakovsky shared an humerus anecdote about the Rumanian Foreign ministry
notifing him as soon as they learned of the German parties endorsement of the declaration of war on August 4, 1914. Finally Roland-Holst described the factional activity within the Dutch movement and described the activities of the majority party under Troelstra as "disgraceful".
Chernov made the report on behalf of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. According to a hostile source, he gave a false impression of the SRs internationalism, while ignoring the fact that half of its delegation to the London Inter-Allied congress had taken a pro-war stand, while the other half abstained, that the SRs had participated in a pro-war conference with the Trudoviks
and Popular Socialists
or that their press was carrying patriotic articles. Pavel Axelrod gave the report for the Mensheviks and, according to the same hostile source, minimized his parties pro-war stance.
Lenin had been busy preparing for the conference for several months, attempting to rally "left" elements and drafting documents. He wrote a "draft declaration" which he shared with Alexandra Kollontai
as early as July 1915. Kollantai apparently criticized this draft for not distinguishing between imperialist wars, wars of national liberation and civil wars. Lenin also corresponded with Radek. Both of them wrote "draft resolutions" for the Conference. Lenin criticized Radeks original draft for not criticizing the social chauvinists
and opportunists within the socialist movement or advocating means to combat them. Radek then wrote an "amended draft resolution". Both of these drafts were presented to a caucus meeting of left wing delegates at the Volkshaus shortly before the opening of the conference. This group consisted of Lenin, Zinoviev, Radek, Berzin, Hoglund, Nerman, Platten and Borchart as well as "some others, including Trotsky". The first eight of these became a tight knit left wing bloc during the proceedings of the conference and could sometimes expand to include up to eleven members. This caucus voted down Lenins original resolution in favor of Radeks.
The draft resolution, bearing the signature of the eight above mentioned delegates, was then presented to the conference for referral to a drafting commission. However, this was refused by a vote of 19-12. Trotsky, Roland-Holst, Chernov and Natanson had voted in favor of the resolutions.
When the commission met it decided only to draft a "manifesto" and not a supplementary "resolution". Three draft manifestos were presented to it, one from the Right within the German party, one written by Leon Trotsky on behalf of the Nashe Slovo group and one presented by the so called Zimmerwald Left
. The commission consisted of Grimm, Ledebour, Lenin, Trotsky, Merrheim, Rackovsky and Modigliani. The final text most closely followed Trotskys draft and was written by Trotsky and Grimm. The German delegates insisted that parliamentary demands, such as voting against war credits and withdrawal from ministries be excluded from the text. When the text was presented to the conference it met with some hostility from Chernov and Morgari. Chernov was upset that the manifesto did not explicitly denounce czarism and said nothing about agrarian socialism, while Morgari was upset that the manifesto did not state that France did not share responsibility for the war. However these two delegates were convinced to vote for the manifesto so that it could be passed unanimously. On the motion of the French and German delegations, it was decided that each country have a delegate sign the manifesto personally.
Signatures of the Zimmerwald Manifesto:
Several addenda were added to the manifesto by the delegates. A statement that the manifesto did not give complete satisfaction because it did not repudiate opportunism or advance a clear method of struggling against the war was added by Lenin, Zinoviev, Radek, Hoglund, Nerman and Berzin. It also stated that the undersigned had nevertheless endorsed the manifesto because they wish to "march side by side with the other sections of the international" and that this cavaet be published with the official report. The eight delegates who introduced the Left Zimmerwald draft resolution, along with Roland-Holst and Trotsky tried to add an amendment stating that the proposal to mention war credits had to be excised from the manifesto and that Ledebours statement that the "manifesto contains all that is implied [in such a] proposal". Ledebour protested that he would not sign the manifesto if that was added was included and the amendment was withdrawn.
Various other documents were submitted to the conference, only one of which, a joint declaration by the three Polish parties present was included in the ISCs Bulletin.
Finally, the delegates adopted one last document. On the motion of a French delegate it unanimously passed a resolution of sympathy for the victims of the war, and of persecution by the belligerent governments. Specifically it mentioned the fate of the Poles
, Belgians
, Armenians
and Jewish peoples, the exiled Duma members, Karl Liebknecht
, Klara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg
, Pierre Monatte
. The resolution also honored the memory of Jean Jaurès
("the first victim of the war") and socialists who had died in the war such as Amadeo Catanesi and Dimitrije Tucović
.
Zimmerwald
Zimmerwald was until 31 December 2003 an independent municipality in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is located on a hill in the proximity of the city of Bern in the Bernese Mittelland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 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
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
(communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
) and reformist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
socialists (social democrats) in 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...
.
Preliminaries
The origins of the conference lay in the mission of Italian deputy Odino Morgari on behalf of the Italian Socialist Party (with the concurrence of the Swiss Social Democratic Party) to the socialists of the Allied countries in April 1915. His immediate objective was to have 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...
be convened and that an international conference of neutral socialists be summoned. On April 19 he met with 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...
, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the ISB and a representative of the French Socialist Party. His proposals were flatly rejected. On May 15–16 the Party executive met in Bologna to hear Morgari's report. He stated that the official parties were recalcitrant, but that there were minorities in both Great Britain and France who were receptive. The party decided to call a conference of all socialist parties and workers groups that were opposed to civil peace
Civil Peace
"Civil Peace" is a 1971 short story by Chinua Achebe. It is about the effects of the Nigerian Civil War on the people, and the "civil peace" that followed.- Plot Summary :...
, adhered to the class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
and were willing to work against the war.
The Italian and Swiss socialist parties arranged for a preliminary meeting at Berne on July 11. Attending were Gregory Zinoviev of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks); Pavel Axelrod
Pavel Axelrod
Pavel Borisovich Axelrod was a Russian Menshevik.- Early life and career :Born Pinches Borutsch in Potscheff near Chernigov and raised to Shklov, a small provincial town in and Mogilev, the biggest town of the three in the Russian Empire , Axelrod was the son of a Jewish innkeeper.In 1875 in...
of the Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Mensheviks); Angelica Balabanoff
Angelica Balabanoff
Angelica Balabanoff was a Jewish-Italian communist and social democratic activist.-Revolutionary activities:...
and Odino Morgari of the Italian Socialist Party; Adolf Warski
Adolf Warski
Adolf Warski, born Jerzy Adolf Warszawski , was a leader and theoretician of the Polish communist movement....
of the Main Presidum of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania
Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania
The Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania was a Marxist political party founded in 1893. Its original name was the "Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland" and it eventually became part of the Communist Workers Party of Poland...
; Maksymilian Horwitz of the Polish Socialist Party – Left; and 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...
of the Swiss Social Democratic Party. Little concrete was decided at this preliminary meeting, though it was clear that a wide array of groups would be invited to the conference and not just the "lefts", as defined by Zinoviev and the Bolsheviks. A second preliminary meeting was supposed to assemble that was supposed to resolve the issue, but never met.
Delegates
The delegates attending were as follows:From neutral countries
- Balkan Socialist Federation sent Christian RakovskyChristian RakovskyChristian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...
of the Romanian Social Democratic Party and Vasil KolarovVasil KolarovVasil Petrov Kolarov was a Bulgarian communist political leader and leading functionary in the Communist International.-Early years:Kolarov was born in Shumen, Bulgaria on 16 July 1877, the son of a shoemaker...
of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (NarrowBulgarian Communist PartyThe Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
) - Netherlands: Henriette Roland HolstHenriette Roland HolstHenriette Roland Holst Goverdine Anna van der Schalk was a Dutch poet and socialist.The poet Adriaan Roland Holst , nicknamed "the Dutch Prince of Poets", was the nephew of her husband.-Early life:...
of the Social-Democratic PartyCommunist Party of the NetherlandsThe Communist Party of the Netherlands was a Dutch communist political party. The CPN is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft.- Foundation :... - Sweden and Norway: Carl Hoglund and Ture NermanTure NermanTure Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...
of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party as well as the Norwegian youth movement; - Switzerland: Robert Grimm, Charles Naine, Fritz Platten, and Ernest Graber attended as "private delegates"
From Western Allied countries:
- France: Arthur Merrheim of Federation of Metal Workers and Albert Bourderon of the French Coopers UnionCoopersCoopers may refer to:* Coopers, California, former name of Cooper, Monterey County, California* Coopers' Company and Coborn School in Upminster, UK* plural of cooper...
- Italy: Balabanoff, Morgari, Giuseppe Modigliani, Constantio LazzariLazzariLazzari is an Italian surname and may refer to the following people:*Andrea Lazzari , Italian footballer*Flavio Lazzari , Italian footballer*Silvio Lazzari, French composer...
and Giacinto SerratiGiacinto Menotti SerratiGiacinto Menotti Serrati was an Italian communist politician. He was born in Spotorno, near Savona and died in Asso, near Como....
of the Italian Socialist Party - United Kingdom: Bruce Glasier and Frederick JowettJowettJowett was a manufacturer of light cars and light commercial vehicles in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England from 1906 to 1954.-Early history:Jowett was founded in 1901 by brothers Benjamin and William Jowett with Arthur V Lamb. They started in the cycle business and went on to make V-twin engines...
of the Independent Labour PartyIndependent Labour PartyThe 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...
and Edwin Fairchild of the British Socialist PartyBritish Socialist PartyThe 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...
were prevented from attending because they were denied passports, but sent letters expressing their sympathies with the goals of the conference.
From the Russian Empire
- Bolsheviks: Zinoviev and Vladimir LeninVladimir LeninVladimir 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...
- Mensheviks: Axelrod and Julius MartovJulius MartovJulius Martov or L. Martov was born in Constantinople in 1873...
- Social Revolutionaries: Viktor ChernovViktor ChernovViktor 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:...
and Mark NatansonMark NatansonMark Andreyevich Natanson was a Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Circle of Tchaikovsky, Land and Liberty, and the Socialist-Revolutionary Party... - Social-Democracy of the Lettish Territory: Jan Berzin
- Main Presidium of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania - Adolf Warski
- Regional Presidium of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania - Karl RadekKarl RadekKarl Bernhardovic Radek was a socialist active in the Polish and German movements before World War I and an international Communist leader after the Russian Revolution....
- Polish Socialist Party – Left - Paweł Lewinson
- General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia - "Lemansky", observer
- Nashe Slovo group - Leon TrotskyLeon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
Germany
- Georg Ledebour
- Adolf Hoffman
- Julian BorchardtJulian BorchardtJulian Borchardt was a socialist activist and participant in the Zimmerwald Left.Borchardt was born in Bromberg, Prussia in 1868. He became a socialist journalist and writer, serving as editor on Social Democrat newspapers from 1901 to 1906. He was appointed as a lecturer to the SPD central...
- Bertha Thalheimer
- Ernest Meyer and five others unnamed others.
The Conference Assembles
The delegates assembled at the VolkshausVolkshaus
The Volkshaus is a building in Zürich, Switzerland.New Order performed at the venue during a European tour on April 2, 1984. The concert was entirely broadcast on DMS3-FM radio....
in Berne on September 5, 1915. From there they left in four coaches for the small town of Zimmerwald
Zimmerwald
Zimmerwald was until 31 December 2003 an independent municipality in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is located on a hill in the proximity of the city of Bern in the Bernese Mittelland...
some ten kilometers (6.21 miles) away. The conference began by reading communications from people and organizations who could not be present, such as a letter from Karl Leibknecht whose name could not even be printed in the official report of the conference. Then the various delegations gave reports of the situations in their respective countries. The Germans had resorted to engaging in illegal activity, such as distributing illegal leaflets. Ledebour mentioned that Germany may be headed for revolution. In France the workers were said to be in a state of disillusionment and had been corrupted by years of anarchist and Herveist thinking. Kolarov gave an extended discussion on his party's resistance to the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
. He discussed the policy of advocating fraternization in the trenches
Fraternization
Fraternization is "turning people into brothers"—conducting social relations with people who are actually unrelated and/or of a different class as though they were siblings, family members, personal friends or lovers....
and socialist concern for socialist prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, which had prevented enmity between the Serb and Bulgarian Social Democratic parties. He also spoke about the division of the Narrow and Broad socialist in his country. A Balken Socialist Federation had been formed as social democratic parties in Rumania, Serbia and Greece, but did not include the broads. The Italians reported that socialists had been persecuted since Italys entrance into the war. This was accompanied with strikes and street demonstrations; the Italian workers had their martyrs and wounded. Rakovsky shared an humerus anecdote about the Rumanian Foreign ministry
Foreign relations of Romania
-Europe: European Union :Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. Romania also declared its public support for Turkey and Croatia joining the European Union. Romania shares a privileged economic relation with Turkey...
notifing him as soon as they learned of the German parties endorsement of the declaration of war on August 4, 1914. Finally Roland-Holst described the factional activity within the Dutch movement and described the activities of the majority party under Troelstra as "disgraceful".
Chernov made the report on behalf of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. According to a hostile source, he gave a false impression of the SRs internationalism, while ignoring the fact that half of its delegation to the London Inter-Allied congress had taken a pro-war stand, while the other half abstained, that the SRs had participated in a pro-war conference with the Trudoviks
Trudoviks
The Trudoviks were a moderate Labour party in early 20th Century Russia...
and Popular Socialists
Popular Socialists (Russia)
The Popular Socialist Party emerged in Russia in the early twentieth century.- History :The roots of the Popular Socialist Party lay in the 'Legal Populist' movement of the 1890s, and its founders looked upon N.K. Mikhailovsky and Alexander Herzen as ideological forerunners...
or that their press was carrying patriotic articles. Pavel Axelrod gave the report for the Mensheviks and, according to the same hostile source, minimized his parties pro-war stance.
Manifesto and resolutions
The first document produced by the conference was a joint declaration by the French and German delegations. This statement declared that World War I was not their war, that it was caused by the imperialist and colonial policy of all governments and advocated the restoration of Belgium and a peace with out annexations or "economic incorporation" based on the self determination of the people involved. To that end they pledged to end the policy of civil peace and renew the class struggle within their respective countries in order to force their governments to end the war. The declaration was signed by Ledebour and Hoffman for Germany and Merrheim and Bouderon for France.Lenin had been busy preparing for the conference for several months, attempting to rally "left" elements and drafting documents. He wrote a "draft declaration" which he shared with 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...
as early as July 1915. Kollantai apparently criticized this draft for not distinguishing between imperialist wars, wars of national liberation and civil wars. Lenin also corresponded with Radek. Both of them wrote "draft resolutions" for the Conference. Lenin criticized Radeks original draft for not criticizing the social chauvinists
Social chauvinism
Social chauvinism can be described as aggressive or fanatical patriotism, particularly during time of war, in support of one's own nation versus other nation, displayed by those who are socialists or social democrats. During World War I, most left-of-centre political parties took a...
and opportunists within the socialist movement or advocating means to combat them. Radek then wrote an "amended draft resolution". Both of these drafts were presented to a caucus meeting of left wing delegates at the Volkshaus shortly before the opening of the conference. This group consisted of Lenin, Zinoviev, Radek, Berzin, Hoglund, Nerman, Platten and Borchart as well as "some others, including Trotsky". The first eight of these became a tight knit left wing bloc during the proceedings of the conference and could sometimes expand to include up to eleven members. This caucus voted down Lenins original resolution in favor of Radeks.
The draft resolution, bearing the signature of the eight above mentioned delegates, was then presented to the conference for referral to a drafting commission. However, this was refused by a vote of 19-12. Trotsky, Roland-Holst, Chernov and Natanson had voted in favor of the resolutions.
When the commission met it decided only to draft a "manifesto" and not a supplementary "resolution". Three draft manifestos were presented to it, one from the Right within the German party, one written by Leon Trotsky on behalf of the Nashe Slovo group and one presented by the so called 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...
. The commission consisted of Grimm, Ledebour, Lenin, Trotsky, Merrheim, Rackovsky and Modigliani. The final text most closely followed Trotskys draft and was written by Trotsky and Grimm. The German delegates insisted that parliamentary demands, such as voting against war credits and withdrawal from ministries be excluded from the text. When the text was presented to the conference it met with some hostility from Chernov and Morgari. Chernov was upset that the manifesto did not explicitly denounce czarism and said nothing about agrarian socialism, while Morgari was upset that the manifesto did not state that France did not share responsibility for the war. However these two delegates were convinced to vote for the manifesto so that it could be passed unanimously. On the motion of the French and German delegations, it was decided that each country have a delegate sign the manifesto personally.
Signatures of the Zimmerwald Manifesto:
- Germany: Ledebour, Hoffman
- France: Bouderon, Merrheim
- Italy: Modigiani, Lazzari
- Russia: Lenin, Axelrod, Bobrov (a pseudonym for Natanson)
- Poland: Lapinsky, Warski, Hanecki
- Balkan Socialist Federation: Rakovsky (Rumania), Kolarov (Bulgaria)
- Sweden and Norway: Hoglund, Nerman
- Netherlands: Roland-Holst
- Switzerland" Grimm
Several addenda were added to the manifesto by the delegates. A statement that the manifesto did not give complete satisfaction because it did not repudiate opportunism or advance a clear method of struggling against the war was added by Lenin, Zinoviev, Radek, Hoglund, Nerman and Berzin. It also stated that the undersigned had nevertheless endorsed the manifesto because they wish to "march side by side with the other sections of the international" and that this cavaet be published with the official report. The eight delegates who introduced the Left Zimmerwald draft resolution, along with Roland-Holst and Trotsky tried to add an amendment stating that the proposal to mention war credits had to be excised from the manifesto and that Ledebours statement that the "manifesto contains all that is implied [in such a] proposal". Ledebour protested that he would not sign the manifesto if that was added was included and the amendment was withdrawn.
Various other documents were submitted to the conference, only one of which, a joint declaration by the three Polish parties present was included in the ISCs Bulletin.
Finally, the delegates adopted one last document. On the motion of a French delegate it unanimously passed a resolution of sympathy for the victims of the war, and of persecution by the belligerent governments. Specifically it mentioned the fate of the Poles
Poland during World War I
While Poland did not exist as an independent state during World War I, its geographical position between the fighting powers had meant that much fighting and terrific human and material losses occurred on the Polish lands between 1914 and 1918....
, Belgians
General Governorate of Belgium
The Imperial German General Governorate of Belgium was a German military government established in occupied Belgium during the First World War. The governorate was set up on 26 August 1914, when Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz was appointed the military governor of Belgium...
, Armenians
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
and Jewish peoples, the exiled Duma members, 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...
, Klara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
, Pierre Monatte
Pierre Monatte
Pierre Monatte was a French trade unionist who worked in the printing industry . He was the responsible of the Confédération générale du travail at the beginning of the 20th century, and founded its journal La Vie ouvrière on 5 October 1909...
. The resolution also honored the memory of Jean Jaurès
Jean Jaurès
Jean Léon Jaurès was a French Socialist leader. Initially an Opportunist Republican, he evolved into one of the first social democrats, becoming the leader, in 1902, of the French Socialist Party, which opposed Jules Guesde's revolutionary Socialist Party of France. Both parties merged in 1905 in...
("the first victim of the war") and socialists who had died in the war such as Amadeo Catanesi and Dimitrije Tucović
Dimitrije Tucovic
Dimitrije Tucović was a prominent leader and theorist of the socialist movement in the Kingdom of Serbia...
.
Establishing the ISC
At the end of the conference an International Socialist Commission, sometimes known as the International Socialist Committee was formed with a mandate to establish a "temporary secretariat" in Berne that would act as an intermediary of the affiliated groups and begin to publish a Bulletin containing the manifesto and proceedings of the conference. The members of the Commission were Robert Grimm, chairman, Oddino Morgari, Charles Naine and Angelica Balabanoff, who was to act as interpreter.See also
- Kienthal ConferenceKienthal ConferenceThe Kienthal Conference was held from April 24 to 30, 1916. Like its 1915 predecessor in Zimmerwald, it was an international conference of socialists who opposed the First World War.- Background :...
- Third Zimmerwald ConferenceThird Zimmerwald ConferenceThe Third Zimmerwald Conference or the Stockholm Conference of 1917 was the third and final of the anti-war socialist conferences that had included Zimmerwald and Kienthal .- Background :...
- Second InternationalSecond InternationalThe 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...
- 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...
- 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....
External links
- Archive of the Zimmerwald Conference located in the History of the Second InternationalSecond InternationalThe 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...
on the Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
. Retrieved March 11, 2006.