The International Socialist Bureau (French: Bureau Socialiste International) 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 uniform name. The host party of the next congress was charged with organizing it.
After the International Socialist Congress of Paris of 1900, a permanent Bureau was established which met periodically in between congresses. A permanent secretariat was also established in Brussels. There were in all 16 plenary meetings of the Bureau.
The membership of the bureau was fluid from meeting to meeting, each country sending one to three representatives at a time. Many illustrious figures of the socialist movement, and several future heads of state or government were members at one time or another.
All this information is taken from La Deuxième Internationale, 1889-1914: étude critique des sources, essai bibliographique by Georges Haupt [1]
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Arg. | Austria |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Serwy | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Jean Jaurès; Bracke | Henry Hyndman; Sam Woods | Paul Singer | Cesarine Wojnarowska; B.A. Jedrychovski | B. N. Krichevsky; B. A. Guinzburg | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Alfred Léon Gérault-Richard | Victor Adler |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | USA | Arg. | Den. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Serwy | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant | Henry Hyndman; Hunter Watts | Wilhelm Pfankuch; Richard Fischer | Cesarine Wojnarowska | B. A. Guinzburg | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Gaylord Wiltshire | Patroni | Peter Christian Knudsen |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Arg. | Austria |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Serwy | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Bracke; Amilcare Cipriani | Henry Hyndman; Harry Quelch | Karl Kautsky; Paul Singer | Rosa Luxemburg; Henryk Walecki | Georgi Plekhanov | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Achille Cambier | Victor Adler |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | USA | Arg. | Austria | Den. | Italy | Nor. | Boh. | Jp. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Serwy | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Bracke; Amilcare Cipriani | Henry Hyndman; Ernest Belfort Bax | Karl Kautsky | Rosa Luxemburg; Walecki | Georgi Plekhanov | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Morris Hillquit | Achille Cambier; Manuel Ugarte | Engelbert Perner-storfer | P. Knudsen | Enrico Ferri | Olav Kringen | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Sen Katayama |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Arg. | Austria | Lux. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Serwy | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Bracke; Amilcare Cipriani; Jean Longuet | Henry Hyndman | Karl Kautsky; August Bebel | Rosa Luxemburg | Pavel Axelrod; Roubanovitch | Achille Cambier | Victor Adler | Michel Welter |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Arg. | Lux. | Boh. | Swiss | Hung. | Fin. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Jean Jaurès | Henry Hyndman; J. Keir Hardie | Karl Kautsky; August Bebel | Jozef Kwiatek | Roubanovitch | Manuel Ugarte | Michel Welter | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Jean Sigg | Mano Buchinger | Yrjo Sirola |
Consultative members: Garske of the Workers party of Latvia and Lew of the Socialist Party of Armenia
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. SRs | Rus. RSDRP | Boh. | Sweden | Hungary |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele | Édouard Vaillant | Henry Hyndman; J. Keir Hardie | Paul Singer; August Bebel | Hermann Diamand | Roubanovitch | Georgi Plekhanov; Angelica Balabanov | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Hjalmar Branting | Jacob Weltner; Max Grossmann |
Consultative members Stanislas Kurski; Leo Bergman of the General Jewish Labour Bund; O. Braun of the Latvian Social Democrats
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. SRs | Rus. RSDRP | Boh. | Ne. | Lux. | Austria | Den. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Jean Jaurès; Jean Longuet | Henry Hyndman; Bruce Glasier | Paul Singer; August Bebel | Hermann Diamand | Roubanovitch | Martov; Angelica Balabanov | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Michel Welter | Victor Adler | C. M. Olsen |
Consultative members Stanislas Kurski; Leo Bergman of the General Jewish Labour Bund; O. Braun of the Latvian Social Democrats
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Austria | Pol. | Rus. SRs | Rus. RSDRP | Rus. "SERP" | Rus. "URP" | Boh. | Ne. | Sweden | Italy | Den. | Hung. | Bulg. | Arm. | Lat. | Bund. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Leon Furnemont; Louis de Brouckere | Édouard Vaillant; Angele Roussel; Jean Longuet | Henry Hyndman; Bruce Glasier | Hermann Molkenbuhr | Victor Adler | Hermann Diamand; Karl Kautsky | Roubanovitch | Lenin | Chaim Zhitlowsky | Pereverzev | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Hendrick Van Kol | Hjalmar Branting | Garatti | Thorvald Stauning | Mano Buchinger | Avramoff | Varandian | K. Sutte | B. Nelin; G. Borski |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Boh. | Ne. | Lux. | Austria | Den. | Hu. | USA | Arg. | Swed. | Bulg. | Sp. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde | Édouard Vaillant; Jules Guesde; Jean Longuet | Keir Hardie; Harry Quelch; G. H. Roberts | Paul Singer; Hermann Molkenbuhr | Hermann Diamand; Adolf Warski; Wronsky | Roubanovitch; Lenin; C. Sutte | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Michel Welter | Victor Adler | P. Knudsen; Thorvald Stauning | Ernő Garami | Victor Berger; Kretlow | Achille Cambier | Hjalmar Branting | Breitko Loukov | Fabra Ribas |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Boh. | Ne. | Austria | Den. | Hu. | USA | Swed. | Bulg. | Rom. | Serb. | Turk. | Fin. | Nor. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde; Leon Furnemont | Édouard Vaillant; Guesde; Jean Jaurès; Angele Roussel | Ramsay MacDonald | Friedrich Ebert; Hermann Molkenbuhr | Hermann Diamand; Karl Kautsky | Roubanovitch; Lenin; T. Medem | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Hendrick Van Kol; Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Victor Adler; Engelbert Perner-storfer; Engelbert; Ferdinand Skaret | P. Knudsen; Thorvald Stauning | Mano Buchinger | Daniel De Leon; Morris Hillquit; Victor Berger | Hjalmar Branting; CGT Wickman | Yanko Sakazov; Georgi Kirkov | Racovsky | Tucovic | Varandian | Yrjo Sirola; Vaino Tanner | Einar Li; Magnus Nilssen |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Swiss. | Austria | Serb. | Italy | Hung. | Boh. | Turk. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde; Leon Furnemont | Édouard Vaillant; Angele Roussel; Jean Longuet | Harry Quelch | Hermann Molkenbuhr; August Bebel | Rosa Luxemburg; Hermann Diamand | Georgi Plekhanov; Lenin | Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Sgragen; Karl Moor; Bruestein | Victor Adler | Tucovic | Pompeo Ciotti | Mano Buchinger | Franc Soukup; Anton Nemec | Saul Nahum |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Swiss. | Austria | Rom. | Italy | Hung. | Boh. | Turk. | Swiss. | Sw. | Den. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde; Leon Furnemont | Édouard Vaillant; Angele Roussel; Jean Longuet | Harry Quelch; Bruce Glasier; F. W. Goldstone | Hermann Molkenbuhr; Karl Kautsky; Hugo Haase | Rosa Luxemburg; Hermann Diamand | Georgi Plekhanov; Roubanovitch; Merkel | Pieter Jelles Troelstra | Sgragen; Karl Moor; Bruestein | Victor Adler | Racovsky | G. Agnini; Angelica Balabanov | E. Garami; J. Weltner | Franc Soukup; B Kolar | Saul Nahum | Fritz Stunder | Branting | Carl Madsen; Thorvald Stauning |
Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Swiss. | Austria | Rom. | Italy | Hung. | Boh. | USA | Sw. | Den. | Nor. | Arg. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde; Camille Huysmans; Louis Bertrand | Édouard Vaillant; Jean Jaurès; Jean Longuet | "a large delegation from the British...parties" | Hermann Molkenbuhr; Karl Kautsky; Friedrich Ebert | Rosa Luxemburg; Hermann Diamand; Lapinski | Tcheidze; Roubanovitch; Litvinov | Vliegen | Fritz Stunder | Victor Adler | Racovsky | G. Agnini; Angelica Balabanov | Mano Buchinger | Franc Soukup; B Kolar | Kate Richards O'Hare | Branting | Thorvald Stauning | Jacob Vidnes | Ramon Saint-Marie |
Sec. | Bel. | Fr. | Br. | Ger. | Pol. | Rus. | Ne. | Swiss. | Austria | Rom. | Italy | Hung. | Boh. | Sw. | Den. | Arg. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camille Huysmans | Edward Anseele; Emile Vandervelde; Louis Bertrand | Édouard Vaillant; Jean Jaurès; Jean Longuet; Jules Guesde; Marcel Sembat | Keir Hardie; Bruce Glasier; Dan Irving | Hugo Haase; Karl Kautsky; Rosa Luxemburg | Walecki | Pavel Axelrod; Roubanovitch; Winter; O. Braun | Troelstra | R. Grimm; Karl Moor | Victor Adler; Friedrich Adler | Racovsky | Angelica Balabanov; Oddino Morgari | Mano Buchinger | Bohumil Nemec | Branting | Thorvald Stauning | Fabras; Corales |
In autumn 1914, shortly after the occupation of most of Belgium by German troops, the executive committee decided to move the headquarters from Brussels to the Hague, with the approval of the Belgian Labor Party. [2] The all Belgian Executive Committee also unanimously decided to expand itself by adding three Dutch members, Troelstra, Van Kol and Albarda, with Vleigen and Wibaut as alternates. [3] Camille Huysmans, a Belgian, remained Secretary. This arrangement was approved by all of the affiliated parties, except the French party which decline to vote, believing that the International should have stayed "where it was and what it was". [4]
In the early months of the war the Executive Committee resisted efforts to call a full meeting of the Bureau, feeling that it would have been impossible to get delegates from certain countries together and feeling that an unrepresentative meeting might mean the dissolution of the International altogether. [5] In January and February 1915 the BSI attempted to hold a series of separate, one-on-one meetings with representatives of the parties in belligerent nations. The French refused to send a delegation to the Hague. The British were at first willing, but opted out after Arthur Henderson became a member of the War Cabinet. The Belgians were the first to send a delegation, and the German party met with the executive twice. [6] [7]
The BSI was pointedly hostile to the Zimmerwald Conference. At a speech to the congress of the Dutch party Huysmans ridiculed the Zimmerwaldians for their impatience, as well as for the unrepresentative and "amateur" nature of the conference. [8] Huysmans later reportedly made special trips to Britain and France to dissuade socialists in those countries from attending the Kienthal Conference. [9] Partly in response to Zimmerwald and Kienthal, though, the Bureau arranged for a meeting of socialists from the neutral countries. Originally scheduled for June 23, 1916 this conference finally met at the Hague on July 30-August 2, 1916. [10] Consisting of nine delegates from Argentina, the United States (Algernon Lee), the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, the conference passed a resolution expressing confidence in the Executive Committee and deprecating any effort to break up the official International [11]
In April 1917, after the March Revolution in Russia, Stauning of Denmark wrote to the BSI stating that if they were unable to summon a general conference of Socialist parties, it would be organized without them. Upon getting this appeal the Dutch members of the Executive Committee left for Stockholm. Huysmans soon joined them setting up the secretariat of the Bureau at the Trade Union House of the Swedish Socialist Party. On May 2 Huysmans and Engberg became the Secretariats representative in a new organization, the Dutch-Scandinavian Committee which attempted to convene a general socialist conference at Stockholm for the remainder of 1917, without success. [12]
In November 1918 Huysmans worked in concert with the committee appoint by the fourth Inter-Allied Socialist Conference for the convening of a socialist conference of the formerly belligerent nations. The final result of this was the Berne Conference of 1919. [13]
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism, and which was led and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress in 1920 to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the dissolution of the Second International in 1916. Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin were all honorary presidents of the Communist International.
The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. In 1912, the party formally split, and the predecessor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union became a distinct entity. Its history since then can roughly be divided into the following periods:
The Kienthal Conference was held in the Swiss village of Kienthal, between April 24 and 30, 1916. Like its 1915 predecessor, the Zimmerwald Conference, it was an international conference of socialists who opposed the First World War.
During the First World War there were three conferences of the Socialist parties of the non-belligerent countries.
During the period of the Second International several International Socialist Women's Conferences were held by the representatives of the women organizations of the affiliated Socialist parties. The first two were held in conjunction with the main International Congresses of the Second International, while the third was held in Bern in 1915. The Conferences were notable for popularizing International Women's Day and were forerunners of groups like the Socialist International Women and the Women's International Democratic Federation.
The Third Zimmerwald Conference or the Stockholm Conference of 1917 was the third and final of the anti-war socialist conferences that had included Zimmerwald (1915) and Kienthal (1916). It was held in Stockholm on September 5–12, 1917.
During the First World War there were a number of conferences of the socialist parties of the Entente or Allied powers.
The central committee is designated as the highest organ of a communist party between congresses. Per the principles of democratic centralism and unified power, the central committee is empowered to deal with any issue that falls under the party's purview. While formally retaining this role in socialist states, commonly referred to as communist states by outside observers, in practice, it delegates this authority to numerous smaller internal organs due to the infrequency of its meetings. The term of a central committee of a ruling communist party is usually five years. The party congress elects individuals to the central committee and holds it accountable. At the first central committee session held immediately after a congress, it elects the party leader, an office usually titled general secretary of the central committee, a political organ, commonly known as the politburo, and an executive organ, customarily named the secretariat.
The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 to 8, 1915. It was the first of three international socialist conferences convened by anti-militarist socialist parties from countries that were originally neutral during World War I. Forty-two individuals and eleven organizations participated. Those participating in this and subsequent conferences held at Kienthal and Stockholm are known jointly as the Zimmerwald movement.
The International Socialist Commission, also known as the International Socialist Committee or the Berne International was a coordinating committee of socialists parties that adhered to the idea of the Zimmerwald Conference of 1915.
The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne International, and was the forerunner of the present-day Socialist International.
Alphonse Adolphe Merrheim was a French copper smith and trade union leader.
Alexandre Marius Henri Blanc was a French schoolteacher, socialist and national deputy. He belonged to the left wing of the socialist party, and during World War I was pacifist. After the war he was one of the founders of the French Communist Party.
Pierre Brizon was a French teacher, national deputy, internationalist and pacifist. He was subject to violent attacks in the press and parliament for speaking out against the fighting during World War I.
Albert Henri Bourderon was a French cooper and syndicalist who became a leading socialist. During World War I he supported a pacifist position in line with internationalist principles.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the highest organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between two congresses. According to party statutes, the committee directed all party and governmental activities. The Party Congress elected its members.
The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued the work of the dissolved First International, though excluding the powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement. While the international had initially declared its opposition to all warfare between European powers, most of the major European parties ultimately chose to support their respective states in World War I. After splitting into pro-Allied, pro-Central Powers, and antimilitarist factions, the international ceased to function. After the war, the remaining factions of the international went on to found the Labour and Socialist International, the International Working Union of Socialist Parties, and the Communist International.
The International Workingmen's Association, often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist and anarchist groups and trade unions that were based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded in 1864 in a workmen's meeting held in St. Martin's Hall, London. Its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.
The Central Committee (CC) composition was elected by the 10th Congress, and sat from 16 March 1921 until 2 April 1922. The CC 1st Plenary Session renewed the composition of the Politburo, Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau (OB) of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
Jan Antonovich Berzin was a Latvian village teacher, later Bolshevik revolutionary, journalist and Soviet diplomat. He was Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Austria between 1925 and 1927. He was executed during the Great Purge and posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.