The Socialist International

Riunione d’urgenza del Presidium mondiale dell’Internazionale Socialista sulle tensioni nei rapporti russo-ucraini. Alla riunione hanno partecipato Il Presidente dell’Internazionale Giorgos Papandreu, già primo ministro di Grecia e presidente del Partito Socialista Pan-ellenico, Luis Ayala, Segretario generale dell’Internazionale, membro del Partito Radical Socialista Cileno, il presidente del governo di Spagna Pedro Sánchez segretario del Partito Socialista Operaio Spagnolo, l’ex presidentessa della Repubblica di Finlandia, ministro della giustizia e degli esteri Tarja Halonen, in rappresentanza del Partito Socialdemocratico Finlandese, attualmente alla guida della Repubblica con la giovane presidentessa socialdemocratica operaia Sanna Marin, Pia Locatelli, presidentessa onoraria dell’Internazionale socialista Donne in quota Partito Socialista Italiano, il parlamentare russo Sergej Mironov, segretario di Russia Giusta (Spravedlivaja Rossija – za pravdu, lett. “Russia eguale per la verità”), partito socialdemocratico (7,5%) membro dell’Internazionale Socialista e terzo per numero di parlamentari in Russia, dopo Russia Unita di Dimitrij Medvedev (47,8%) e il Partito Comunista della Federazione russa (20%) guidato di Gennadij Zjuganov; la romeno-israeliana Colette Avital, in rappresentanza del partito israeliano Meretz, membro dell’Internazionale insieme al Partito Laburista Israeliano; Ünal Çeviköz, rappresentante del partito Repubblicano di Turchia, associato al PSE ed erede della tradizione kemalista e socialdemocratica e Shazia Marri, la giovane femminista socialista, promessa politica dell’Asia centrale, già più volte eletta nell’assemblea nazionale del Pakistan nel Partito del Popolo di ispirazione socialdemocratica, progressista e laica.

This article analyzes the different positions adopted by political parties, members of Socialist International, in the Anglo-Argentine conflict around the Falklands Islands/Malvinas Islands. The war generated an unbridgeable rupture between Latin American and European leaders, which affected Socialist International’s plans, at the time under the leadership of Willy Brandt. The article shows a more comprehensive picture of international politics of the time, emphasizing transnational actors that are understudied in this regard: political parties.

In establishing the Socialist Women‘s International (SWI) within the Second International in 1907, Clara Zetkin sought to bring together delegates from the women’s socialist movement from around Europe and beyond. In the case of Britain, women from the Indepedent Labour Party (ILP), the Women’s Labour League (WLL) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) attended SWI conferences. But, although the SDP was relatively marginal in the British socialist women’s movement (the ILP prepoderated and the WLL represented many millions in the trade union movement), Zetkin’s patronage ensured Dora Montefiore, the leading socialist woman in the SDP, stood out on the international stage as the spokeperson for British socialist women.
Zetkin first came to Montefiore’s attention through her publications in the SDP’s journal, Justice (from 1899), and her initial meeting with Zetkin at the 1907 SWI conference in Stuttgart led to an ideological bond which lasted into the 1920s when both women joined their countries‘ respective Communist Parties. Indeed, Zetkin and Montefiore’s personal bond was so strikingly immediate that in 1909 the latter arranged an official visit to London by Zetkin, hosting Zetkin in her own home and arranging a series of events at which Zetkin was guest of honour. In 1910, when the second SWI conference occurred in Copenhagen, Montefiore was again welcomed by Zetkin, and again spoke on behalf of the British socialist women. Two years later, at the Extraordinary International Socialist Peace Congress in Basel, Montefiore attended as official reporter for the British Daily Herald, marching in the procession between Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, and writing of Zetkin’s leadership of the women’s contingent in her articles.
The favourtism shown to Montefiore at the 1907 and 1910 SWI conferences led to disputes (both personal and ideological) within the British socialist women’s movement (including an en masse conference walk-out by ILP delegates in 1910) and resulted in the SWI adopting policy with ‘official‘ British endorsement which did not represent the strength of feeling of British socialist women and, indeed, was disregarded by them when campaigning back home. (Such policies included calls for full universal suffrage – as against gradual democratisation in the suffrage – and the refusal of socialist women to collaboarate with ‘bourgeois feminists‘ in joint campaigns.) Indeed, although Montefiore retained Zetkin’s patronage during this period, she was marginalised from 1910 within the British socialist women’s movement precisely because she was seen as misrepresenting the British movement on the international stage!
This paper will discuss the relationship between Zetkin and Montefiore in the context of the latter’s position in the British socialist women’s movement. It will consider the British resistence to Zetkin’s patronage of Montefiore (and the policies which resulted from it at the SWI conferences) and discuss the coup which saw international socialist influence wrestled from Montefiore by socialist women in the ILP and WLL (two organisations with common ideological foundations). Ultimately, Montefiore became a noted socialist woman on the international stage whilst simultaneously losing her political voice in the British domestic movement – an ironic turn of events created largely by the distorting factor of Montefiore’s personal relationship with the SWI’s leader, Clara Zetkin.

This article shows a different approach on the Malvinas/Falklands War issue that faced off Argentina and England in 1982. The war has been studied, mainly, from the warlike point of view or by the impact it generated in the disputing countries. However, the consequences of the military conflict between two western block countries have been wider and not properly tackled.

L’Internazionale Socialista, della quale il PSI è l’unico partito membro in Italia,
ha seguito da vicino gli sviluppi a Glasgow durante la conferenza “COP26”,
che si è concentrato su questioni cruciali che sono state a lungo al centro
dell’agenda globale. Molti dei membri della famiglia politica dell’internazionale
erano tra le delegazioni nazionali che partecipavano alla conferenza, ed era
presente Luis Ayala, Segretario Generale dell’Internazionale, che ha tenuto
una lunga relazione il lavoro globale dei socialisti per elaborare un’agenda
politica in grado di contrastare i cambiamenti climatici in atto.
L’obiettivo più importante del vertice era quello di spingere i Paesi e i leader
globali ad assumere impegni vincolanti per la riduzione delle emissioni che
offrissero una possibilità realistica di raggiungere l’obiettivo concordato a Parigi
di limitare il riscaldamento globale a 1,5°C. Mantenere “l’obiettivo 1,5°C”
richiede però, come minimo, una riduzione del 45% delle emissioni globali
entro il 2030.

The aim of this article is to show some results from an investigation about an issue that has not been much analyzed: the role played by the European socialdemocracy and its main transnational organization, the Socialist International (SI), during the transitional periods towards democracy in Latin America’s “third wave”.
At the same time, this issue is inscribed within a broader one, which has not been broadly discussed either: the transnational strategies of Latin American political parties during the years of dictatorships, revolutions and several authoritarian regimes.

This book describes how, after the Second World War, the Labour Party assumed leadership of the International Socialist Movement, thanks to the achievements of the Attlee Government. International Secretary Denis Healey guided the reconstruction of the Socialist International through the early Cold War, making the British vision for socialist internationalism prevail over the French and Belgian. At first, the provisional Socialist International (International Socialist Conference and Comisco) supported cohabitation with pro-communist socialists and the USSR, but with the Sovietisation of Eastern Europe it committed to militant anti-communism. Ambiguity between the Labour Party and Labour Government influenced British policy in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy and Poland, while the characterization and stereotypes of Eastern and Southern Europe shaped the language and actions of the British. Furthermore, the book shows how international contacts and the British and Swedish model encouraged the transition of socialist parties to responsible government parties fully embracing Western democracy and prepared the ideological revision of the 1950s.

El artículo busca revitalizar la discusión sobre el papel de las dimensiones internacionales en los procesos de democratización reciente en América Latina. En primer lugar se presenta una serie de argumentos teóricos para ampliar las metodologías de estudio poniendo énfasis en la interacción de los actores de distintas nacionalidades. En segundo se avanzará en los resultados de una investigación sobre la importancia de la red construida en torno a la Internacional Socialista y la forma en que impactaron en la política de la época. Finalmente se presenta una agenda de investigación sobre las posibilidades de una historia reciente de las transiciones.

Este trabajo trata sobre una red trasnacional de partidos políticos, la Internacional Socialista y su accionar en uno de los casos latinoamericanos de cambio de régimen: la revolución en la isla de Granada (1979-1983).A través de una investigación histórica con archivos desclasificados, se verá como los actores nacionales (partidos políticos y sus dirigentes) buscaban cumplir sus objetivos participando también en redes trasnacionales donde se observa la flexibilización de programas e ideologías que a priori, parecían más dogmáticas.Palabras clave: Granada; Internacional Socialista; Democratización

ÖZET
Demokratik sosyalizm ve sosyal demokrasi çoğu zaman benzer anlamlarda kullanılan siyasi kavramlardır. Sosyal demokratik düşünce Fransız Devrimi'nin "eşitlik, özgürlük, kardeşlik" ideallerinin nasıl toplumsallaşabileceğine dair sorular sormuştur. 19. Yüzyılda doğan, 20. Yüzyılın şekillenmesinde çok etkin olan demokratik sosyalizm (sosyal demokrasi) günümüzde güncel bir siyasi ideoloji ve akımdır. Sosyalizmin özgürlük ve demokrasi algısı eleştirel, dönüştürücü ve değiştirici bir toplumsal tahayyül sunar. Sosyalist Enternasyonal tüm dünyadaki sosyal demokrat partilerin bir araya geldiği bir uluslararası organizasyondur. Bu makalede SE'nin temsil ettiği özgürlük ve toplumsal adalet anlayışının ana hatları tartışılacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: sosyalizm, toplumsal özgürlük, demokratik sosyalizm, sosyal demokrasi, CHP, Sosyalist Enternasyonal.

ABSTRACT
Democratic socialism and social democracy are political notions which are used often with similar meanings. Social democratic thought has asked questions about how French Revolution's "freedom, equality, fraternity" ideals can be further socialized. Democratic socialism (social democracy) is an actual political ideology and movement today which was born in 19th century, had been very influential in shaping 20th century. The freedom and democracy perception of socialism provides a transforming and reforming social imagination. Socialist International is the international organization where social democratic parties around the World take place. In this article freedom and social justice conception represented by SI will be discussed in its main lines.

RESUMEN: Este artículo se inscribe dentro de la tradición de estudios sobre la democratiza-ción en América Latina, poniendo énfasis en la acción de los políticos y los partidos en tanto acto-res trasnacionales, considerando que la interconexión entre los diferentes planos (local, nacional e internacional) fue uno de los principales recursos con los que contaban los políticos en los contex-tos de democratización y que mediante ellos generaron redes de relaciones personales trasnacio-nales como una estrategia determinante para la acumulación de poder, prestigio y otros recursos. Se abordará el caso de las misiones de la Internacional Socialista como ejemplo de una forma de acción política poco considerada por la literatura especializada, pero muy influyente en la época.
Palabras clave: actores trasnacionales; partidos políticos; democratización; Internacional So-cialista; redes.

En este artículo nos proponemos acercarnos al
estudio de las teorías del imperialismo y las
características del marxismo en el Socialismo
Francés temprano, a través del estudio de un autor
particular: Paul Louis (1872-1948), militante de
origen Blanquista que desarrolló una vasta obra
escrita a lo largo de su vida política. Nuestro
primer problema es cuáles son las características
específicas de sus análisis del
colonialismo/imperialismo: los fundamentos
económicos del fenómeno, su caracterización de
los distintos países imperialistas y sus
conclusiones políticas; vinculado a esto,
analizamos su posición frente a algunos debates
generales del socialismo de la época: sus
posiciones frente al revisionismo y la
participación ministerial de los socialistas, la
huelga general, la Revolución Rusa de 1905, y la
forma de gobierno republicana. Este análisis
interno de la producción de Paul Louis será
explicado también en el marco de los debates
sobre estos tópicos que atravesaron el socialismo
francés como un todo, así como las
organizaciones políticas en que participó y la
Segunda Internacional, para ser capaces de
establecer con qué otras posiciones tenían
afinidad, y cómo se situaban las mismas en el
marco de la disputa de fracciones a nivel tanto
nacional como internacional. Nuestra hipótesis es
que Paul Louis articuló una visión original del
imperialismo vinculado estrechamente a los
cambios políticos de su tiempo, desde unos
análisis tempranos más vinculados a una serie de
herencias republicanas, pasando por un análisis
riguroso del imperialismo como fase del
capitalismo que influyó en Lenin, hasta una fase
final donde se convirtió en una suerte de portavoz
partidario sobre el tema, volviendo a una posición
más propagandística. A su vez, a partir de 1905
articuló una visión propia del Marxismo que
cuestionó varios aspectos de la ortodoxia del
Guesdismo, la corriente marxista predominante
del Socialismo Francés.

This paper traces the process by which it was forming the basis programmatic discourse that
supported the various European social democratic party organizations. In particular, between the end of World
War II and the two subsequent decades. The aim of these organizations was to occupy an intermediate place in
the polarization between the capitalist West and communist East. They sought to survive politically without the
need to adhere to "exclusively" to any of the dominant poles. To meet the objective proposed in this paper, we
analyze the debates and programmatic changes that resulted in the European socialist party organizations. This
will be both individually and collectively, through the main tool with which counted on the geopolitical stage:
The Socialist International.

Desde los setenta se asistió a una intensificación de los vínculos de la Internacional Socialista (IS) con organizaciones afines de América Latina. La ola dictatorial, que evocaba los recuerdos del fascismo, despertó la solidaridad y el interés por lo que ocurría al otro lado del Atlántico. Igualmente, esos fueron años en los que la IS creó una serie de enunciados en materia inter- nacional, los cuales fueron puestos en práctica por el Gobierno de Felipe González. Bajo su mandato, España definió una nueva política exterior frente América Latina, pero cuyos postulados económicos iniciales tuvieron que variar por la adhesión a la Comunidad Económica Europea (CEE). Esta historia, poco estudiada, resulta muy importante porque constituye uno de los principales fundamentos sobre los cuales se ha construido el andamiaje que gobierna las relaciones europeo-latinoamericanas hasta el presente.

The international socialist conference of Zimmerwald 1915 is still often presented as a step towards the historical split in the international labour movement. Based on an extensive study of the sources and the relevant litterature, this talk argues, that the large majority of "Zimmerwalders" had the aim to re-unite and not to divide the international labour movement.

This article explains the wider background of the forms of tran-snational political organisations on the political left that have passed a long way since the 19th century Socialist International and order to foster cooperation and communication at an international level. In recent years, we are seeing three divergent proce-the global level, the split within the Socialist International and the creation of the Progressive Alliance. Second, the functioning of the European Parliament and its impact on the work of parties in Europe and their cooperation in the European context. Finally , the crisis situation in Europe where a visible change of approach of the electorate towards the mainstream political parties is having a heavy toll on the functioning of a number of traditional parties and their positioning in the European and international scene. This creates a very interesting political situation which transforms the way how the international political associations are perceived in their form and content.

Summary: The aim of this paper is to present the strategies of the Socialist International to extend her influence in Latin America. It will show the changes, continuities and major players in this process occurred within the international arena of the Cold War.

Between 1948 and 1950 Comisco, the provisional Socialist International, and the British foreign office intervened in Italian politics to help the social democrats form a united party. The British Labour party came into conflict with the foreign office and the Dutch Labour party, as they disagreed over which Italian faction to support. The episode revealed the difference between the two parties' political cultures and strategic choices, particularly on the issue of coalition government with centrist parties. The narrative of the intervention is followed by an appraisal of its success, the obstacles which limited it, and its short-and long-term effects.

This presentation is the result of research already completed and which main outcome was a book.  The research was conducted with the files of the International Institute of Social History, The Mario Soares Foundation and various files, such as Humberto Maiztegui´s in Montevideo. But what is interesting for me is how international and trasnational actors influenced these processes; precisely the issues that we address in this seminar.

El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar algunas de las estrategias de las organizaciones socialdemócratas frente a los nuevos desafíos que surgieron con la crisis del petróleo y la aparición de los llamados valores posmateriales. Se profundizará en una de las principales: el aumento de la actividad política trasnacional y la creación de comisiones que trabajaron aspectos relacionados al desarrollo, la seguridad, el armamentismo nuclear y el medio ambiente. Estas comisiones, no sólo constituyeron un importante cambio frente a  las tradiciones precedentes, también influyeron significativamente los desarrollos posteriores en dichas materias.

Rusya'da sosyalistler (o günkü adıyla, sosyal-demokratlar) yirminci yüzyıla umutlu ama dağınık giriyorlardı. 1898'de yapılan Rusya Sosyal-Demokrat İşçi Partisi (RSDİP) kongresi istenen sonucu vermemiş, Rusya'daki istibdat rejiminin alamet-i farikası olan baskı ve tutuklama dalgası tüm parti üyelerinin hemen tutuklanmasına ve dolayısıyla merkezî düzeyde işleyen parti kurumlarının yerleştirilememesine yol açmıştı.
Lenin Sibirya'daki sürgün dönemi biter bitmez bu dağınıklığa bir son vermek ve 150 milyondan fazla insanın yaşadığı Rusya'nın farklı köşelerinde aynı amaçla ama birbirinden yalıtık halde faaliyet yürüten devrimcileri birleştirmek için harekete geçti. Lenin'e göre bunu sağlayacak araç ("organ") gazeteydi.
...
İskra'nın Lenin açısından esas önemi kabaca birkaç başlık altında değerlendirilebilir. Birincisi, Lenin bir örgütçü olarak Rusya'daki diğer tüm sosyalistlerden ayrıldığını bu projede gösterme imkanı bulmuştu. Lenin sadece düşünsel anlamda üretken değildi (çok sık yazı yazıyordu); işin "hamaliye" olarak görülen kısmında da ön plandaydı. Lenin yurtdışında İskra ile yatıyor İskra ile kalıyordu.
Diğer yandan, Lenin'in İskra yazılarında ifade ettiği görüşler kendisinin ölümünden çok sonra efsane haline gelecek kitabı Ne Yapmalı?'daki görüşlerinin, deyim yerindeyse, eskizidir. Lenin'in bu kitabıyla ilgili mitleri burada ele almak mümkün olmasa da, en azından bir tanesine özellikle değinmek zorunludur: Lenin'in Ne Yapmalı?'da Rusya'daki diğer sosyalistlere tamamen ters gelen düşünceler sarf ettiği doğru olsaydı, bu görüşlerin ilk kez yazıya döküldüğü İskra'da diğer sosyalistlerle (Plehanov ve Martov'la) sürtüşme yaşaması gerekirdi. Oysa böyle bir sürtüşmenin olmadığını, Lenin'in reddedilmeyen temel doğruları dile getirdiğini ve böyle algılandığını görürüz.
...
http://agorakitapligi.com/nereden-baslamali/

The aim of this article is to show some results from an investigation about an issue that has not been much analyzed: the role played by the European socialdemocracy and its main transnational organization, the Socialist International (SI), during the transitional periods towards democracy in Latin America’s “third wave”. At the same time, this issue is inscribed within a broader one, which has not been broadly discussed either: the transnational strategies of Latin American political parties during the years of dictatorships, revolutions and several authoritarian regimes.

This chapter deals with the attitude displayed by the Socialist International (SI) towards German reunification shortly before and after it was achieved. Still, three preliminary caveats are necessary. First, the very nature of the SI, a loose forum of debate and coordination among sovereign and heterogeneous parties, makes it pointless—if not impossible—to chart the day-to-day evolution of its political approach to the events of 1989–1990.1 Rather, this study will focus on the occasions when the most intense debates and exchanges of opinions occurred among the SI leaders and members, and especially its congresses summoned in 1986, 1989, and 1992.
Second, the article will prove how the charismatic leadership of President Willy Brandt impressed on the SI activities a shift in focus from direct involvement in the transition of each East European state to the broader goals of building a continental system of peaceful relations and on facilitating the “reunification” of Europe after the divisions imposed by the Cold War. Within this framework, social democracy largely failed to assert itself as a leading force of German reunification and more generally of the transition in Eastern Europe, unlike it had occurred during the emancipation of three Southern European countries (notably Portugal, Greece, and Spain), from dictatorship and their adhesion to the Western values of freedom and pluralism during the 1970s. Against this background, it is more productive to take into consideration the interests of the SI in the whole process of “European reunification” as a consequence of the events of 1989, instead of focusing exclusively on the peculiarities of the German question.
Third, although the article will ascribe the scant influence exerted by the SI on the Eastern European transition to the developments occurred since after the late 1970s, a complementary line of interpretation could rely on longer-term analyses. The birth (or rebirth) of the SI in Frankfurt in 1951 was the result of a complex process that had begun soon after the end of World War II. During this long preparatory phase, a considerable degree of disagreement had emerged among the brother parties about specific questions left unsolved by the conflict (above all the future of Germany) and complicated by the new Cold War scenario; and about the future of Western Europe as a whole, of its economic and political integration process and of its relations with the United States. Because of the inability to work out a common definition of the tasks of European social democracy, the SI member parties diverted their efforts toward the creation of a “world socialist agreement” which was motivated by the assumption that “the tasks facing the international socialism in the European area [were] only one of the immediate aspects of its mission.” Thus, if the Frankfurt meeting “can be considered as the (symbolic) starting point of a genuine process of globalization” for the new SI, this was also the result of the failure to establish a detailed European agenda. When more binding forms of socialist cooperation emerged slowly within the European space during the late 1950s, the institutional basis of cooperation and integration had been laid down by someone else, mostly Christian-Democratic-led governments. The opportunity to develop a coherent social democratic project for Europe was overtaken by the need to find a pragmatic approach to the existing institutional framework: significantly, the cooperation among socialist parties at the European level tightened considerably only after the EC summit held in The Hague in 1969 resolved to hold direct elections for the European Parliament. Thus, the later disposition of the SI toward a global approach was not only the result of a genuine push to abandon the traditional Eurocentric view but also of the failure to deal effectively with the European regional level.

Vom 5. bis 8. September 1915 trafen sich mitten im Ersten Weltkrieg Sozialistinnen und Sozialisten aus diversen europäischen Ländern in
Zimmerwald. Nach teilweise kontroversen Diskussionen verabschiedeten sie einstimmig ein Manifest, das zum Kampf für den Frieden ohne Annexionen aufrief

Die italienische Kleinstadt Molinella rückte nach der Machtübernahme Mussolinis im Oktober 1922 wiederholt in den Fokus der nationalen und europäischen Öffentlichkeit, da sich die dortigen Landarbeiter besonders resolut gegen den Gleichschaltungsdruck des faschistischen Regimes zur Wehr setzten. Auf diese Weise erlangte Molinella einen doppelten Symbolcharakter: aus Sicht des Regimes als roter Schandfleck, aus der Perspektive der Sozialisten als Lichtblick. Den Arbeiterfamilien sollte die geballte Aufmerksamkeit letztlich zum Verhängnis werden, führte sie doch dazu, dass die Faschisten Ende 1926 zur Deportation der verbliebenen Sozialisten übergingen. Die Sozialistische Arbeiterinternationale bemühte sich darum, diese Repressionsmaßnahmen bekannt zu machen, die, wie Manuel Mork darlegt, Aufschluss über die Natur des italienischen Faschismus geben.

Both World Wars interrupted the activities of the international labour movement but in very different ways. In World War I trade unions and social democrats on both sides supported the war effort, while significant and growing minorities within these organisations opposed the war. In World War II the labour movement supported the defence against the axis powers.
Based on up to now rarely used sources from the international organizations of the labour movement, mainly the International Trade Secretariats (ITS), the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and the Labour and Socialist International (LSI), this paper reconsiders the (in-) activity of the international labour movement during the two world wars.