The International Socialist Bureau (French: ''Bureau Socialiste International'') was the permanent organization of the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) 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 th ...
, 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
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. 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
Georges Haupt (January 18 , 1928–1978) was a historian of socialism.
Further reading
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1928 births
1978 deaths
Historians of socialism
{{historian-stub ...
Plenary meetings
1st. Brussels; December 30, 1901
2nd. Brussels; December 29, 1902
3rd. Brussels; July 20, 1903
4th. Brussels; February 7, 1904
5th Amsterdam; August 15, 1904
6th. Brussels; January 15, 1905
7th. Brussels; March 4–5, 1906
Consultative members:
Garske of the Workers party of Latvia and Lew of the Socialist Party of Armenia
8th. Brussels; November 10, 1906
Consultative members
Stanislas Kurski;
Leo Bergman
Leo or Léo may refer to:
Acronyms
* Law enforcement officer
* Law enforcement organisation
* '' Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky
* Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity
Arts a ...
of the
General Jewish Labour Bund;
O. Braun of the Latvian Social Democrats
9th. Brussels; June 9, 1907
Consultative members Stanislas Kurski; Leo Bergman of the General Jewish Labour Bund; O. Braun of the Latvian Social Democrats
10th. Brussels; October 10, 1908
11th. Brussels; November 7, 1909
12th. Copenhagen; August 26–31, September 2–3, 1910
13th. Zurich; September 23–24, 1911
14th. Brussels; October 28–29, 1912
15th. London; December 13–14, 1913
16th. Brussels; July 29–30, 1914
First World War
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. 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. 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".
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. 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
A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...
. The Belgians were the first to send a delegation, and the German party met with the executive twice.
The BSI was pointedly hostile to the
Zimmerwald Conference
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 ...
. 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. Huysmans later reportedly made special trips to Britain and France to dissuade socialists in those countries from attending the
Kienthal Conference The Kienthal Conference (also known as the Second Zimmerwald Conference) was held, in the Switzerland, Swiss village of Kienthal, between April 24 and 30, 1916. Like its 1915 predecessor, the Zimmerwald Conference, it was an international conference ...
. 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. 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
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.
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.
[Fainsod p.197]
See also
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Neutral Socialist Conferences during the First World War During 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 ...
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International Socialist Commission
:
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.
Early hist ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Christine Collette "The Second International and its Bureau, 1900-1905"
History of socialism
Second International