Abstract
A hundred years ago, from 24 to 25 November 1912, an extraordinary congress was convened in Basel at short notice by the Socialist International, during which the discussion was focussed entirely on the risk of world war triggered by the First Balkan War. This was the last final, joint peace demonstration of the international workers’ movement before the First World War, and has remained so until the present day. Although the workers’ movement was disproportionately stronger than the more traditionalist bourgeois-aristocratic peace movement, the influence of which was largely separate, in August 1914, it proved to be powerless not only against the governments and military apparatuses, but also against the enthusiasm for war among large parts of the population and in the social organisations, which supported national policies of expansion and the use of force.
Of more importance than the weakness of the workers’ and peace movements were the incompatibility of their visions and strategies for peace, which in essence remains the case today. On the one hand, the socialists regarded the abolition of capitalism as a requirement for a durable peace, while on the other, they already wanted to prevent war in the existing society. In this regard, there were six instruments available as an option: anti-war propaganda, mass demonstrations, refusal of war loans, general strikes, military strikes, and uprising.
Responsible for the political and moral bankruptcy of the Socialist International at the start of the war in 1914 are the discrepancy between internationalist rhetoric and the retention of the right to wage war in the case of supposed national defence and for relative progress in society, as well as the asymmetric strength of the workers’ movement. The socialists also believed that governments could be prevented from waging war with warnings of a socialist revolution that would come about as a result of the imminent war-induced misery. Ultimately, many felt that the degree to which the global economy had become interweaved at that time constituted an interest among capitalists in maintaining world peace. The predominant confidence that peace would prevail stood in contrast to the simultaneous attestation of the fact that there was a risk of world war.
Their knowledge of the alliance constellation could have enabled the socialists to foresee their national-patriotic behaviour at the outbreak of the war, and to reach agreements regarding a shared policy on ending the war and on a peace without annexations and contributions in accordance with the anticipated change of mood among the population. This would perhaps have made it possible to prevent the split within the workers’ movement and its disastrous consequences: peace accords that sowed the seed for new wars, and communist and fascist dictatorships.
Lecture given on 3.12.2012.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The figure cannot be reliably quoted, since the first names of the congress delegates are not always listed whose names are recorded in the French congress protocol: Bulletin périodique du Bureau socialiste internationale No. 12, 1912, pp. 56–60. After the congress, a large socialist women’s gathering took place, see Mayoraz (2012).
- 2.
Due to the brief period during which the congress convened, only delegates from European states could attend. Of the 21 territorial states in Europe that existed in November 1912, the only countries that were currently at war from which delegates did not come were Greece, the Ottoman Empire, Montenegro and Serbia. Six countries without their own independent statehood sent delegations of their own: Bohemia, Bosnia, Finland, Croatia, Poland and Hungary, see Außerordentlicher Internationaler Sozialisten-Kongreß (1912, p. 55).
- 3.
- 4.
Außerordentlicher Internationaler Sozialisten-Kongreß (1912, p. 52).
- 5.
Aside from Europeans, only US American and Argentine socialists were represented in the International Socialist Bureau. Otherwise, in 1914 there were even stronger socialist parties in Australia and Japan, as well as weaker ones in several Latin American countries, in China and in Persia.
- 6.
According to my own compilation of data from many different sources. In the week following the Basel Congress, Albania was a further state to proclaim its independence.
- 7.
Haupt (1967, p. 22).
- 8.
On the decision and on the implementation of the May demonstration in connection with the debate on a political general strike, see Braunthal (1974, pp. 254–257).
- 9.
- 10.
Haupt (1967, p. 105).
- 11.
Subok (1983, p. 336).
- 12.
- 13.
Braunthal (1974, p. 370).
- 14.
On the points of contact, see in detail Holl (1988, pp. 89–94).
- 15.
Renner (1918, p. 2 of the preamble).
- 16.
Humbert-Droz (1964, p. 17 et seq).
- 17.
In greater detail on this subject, see Grunenberg (1970).
- 18.
On the establishment and the function of this ideological overhang, see Boll (1980, pp. 31–64).
- 19.
Humbert-Droz (1964, p. 158).
- 20.
Humbert-Droz (1964, p. 220).
- 21.
Humbert-Droz (1964, p. 205).
- 22.
At different times, and in different countries, they were also called extreme, absolute or integral pacifists. For Ceadel, they alone are real pacifists, so that he called the pacifists who reserved a limited support for war “pacificists”, with the original, linguistically correct expression for those who wished to pacem facere or pacificare, see Ceadel (1980, p. 3).
Later, pacifism became the commonly used short form for both unconditional and conditional “friends of peace”, as the promoters of peace were still known in the nineteenth century. A supporter of Ceadel’s choice of terms is Grotefeld (2007, p. 102).
- 23.
- 24.
- 25.
See e.g. Liebknecht (1907, pp. 247–256).
- 26.
Alfred Vagts (1967, p. 17) regarded the term “bellicism” as being the actual counter-term to pacifism, while he mentioned “civilism” as a counter-term to militarism, although he did not describe them in greater detail. On the attempt to introduce “civilism” as a comprehensive term for a non-violent social policy, see Jahn (2009).
- 27.
Quoted from Haupt (1967, p. 67).
- 28.
Luxemburg (2000, pp. 20–32).
- 29.
On the alleged reversal of opinion and its explanations, see e.g. in Haupt (1967, p. 172).
- 30.
For a differentiated analysis of the enthusiasm for war, see Verhey (2000).
- 31.
On the difficult examination of the frequently contradictory moods among the German social democrat party members, see Boll (1980, pp. 110–116).
- 32.
Cf. Wette (1971, p. 83, 87 et seq).
- 33.
Haupt (1967, p. 132).
- 34.
In Great Britain, 16,500 conscientious objectors during the First World War, and 60,000 during the Second World War, most of whom were not punished. Only the small number of total objectors were severely punished, see Ceadel (1980, p. 31, 301 et seq).
- 35.
- 36.
In the Basel Manifesto, in Außerordentlicher Internationaler Sozialisten-Kongreß (1912, p. 26).
- 37.
Engels (1972, p. 350 et seq.).
- 38.
Kautsky (1914).
- 39.
- 40.
Mitrany (1966). The eponymous essay was already published in 1943.
- 41.
However, it has still not been fully clarified until this day whether the degree of compaction of the European and global capitalist network and mutual dependency really was significantly less in 1914 than it was after 1945.
- 42.
References
Außerordentlicher Internationaler Sozialisten-Kongreß am 24. und 25 (November 1912) Vorwärts Paul Singer, Berlin
Bartel W (1958) Die Linken in der deutschen Sozialdemokratie im Kampf gegen Militarismus und Krieg. Dietz, Berlin
Boll F (1980) Frieden ohne Revolution? Friedensstrategien der deutschen Sozialdemokraten vom Erfurter Programm 1891 bis zur Revolution 1918. Neue Gesellschaft, Bonn
Braunthal J (1974) Geschichte der Internationale, vol 1, 2nd edn. Dietz, Berlin/Bonn-Bad Godesberg
Brock P (1972) Pacifism in Europe to 1914. Princeton, Princeton University Press
Ceadel M (1980) Pacifism in Britain 1914–1945. The defining of a faith. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Degen B et al (eds) (2012) Gegen den Krieg. Der Basler Friedenskongress 1912 und seine Aktualität. Christoph Merian, Basel
Engels F (1972) Einleitung zu Sigismund Borkheims Broschüre‚ Zur Erinnerung für die deutschen Mordspatrioten 1806-1807 (1887). In: Marx Engels Werke, vol 21, Dietz, Berlin, pp. 346–351
Fried AH (1911/1913) Handbuch der Friedensbewegung, 2 vols, 2nd edn. Verlag der Friedenswarte, Berlin/Leipzig
Grotefeld S (2007) Pazifismus oder Pazifizismus. Replik auf Wolfgang Lienemann. In: Strub J-D, Grotefeld S (eds) Der gerechte Friede zwischen Pazifismus und gerechtem Krieg. Paradigmen der Friedensethik im Diskurs. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
Grunenberg A (ed) (1970) Die Massenstreikdebatte. Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt
Haupt G (1967) Der Kongreß fand nicht statt. Die Sozialistische Internationale 1914. Europa-Verlag, Vienna/Frankfurt/Zürich
Holl K (1988) Pazifismus in Deutschland. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt
Humbert-Droz J (1964) Der Krieg und die Internationale. Die Konferenzen von Zimmerwald und Kienthal. Europa-Verlag, Vienna/Cologne/Stuttgart/Zürich
Ingram N (1991) The politics of dissent. Pacifism in France 1919-1939. Clarendon, Oxford
Jahn E (2009) Zivilismus – Ein Projekt zur Zivilisierung des Konflikts in der menschlichen Gesellschaft. In: Baumann MM et al (eds) Friedensforschung und Friedenspraxis. Ermutigung zur Arbeit an der Utopie. Brandes & Apsel, Frankfurt, pp. 18–22
Jochheim G (1986) Länger leben als die Gewalt. Der Zivilismus als Idee und Aktion. Weitbrecht, Stuttgart
Kautsky K (1914) Der Imperialismus. Die Neue Zeit 32(2):908–922
Krippendorff E (ed) (1986) Pazifismus in den USA, 2 vols. Freie Universität, Berlin
Liebknecht K (1907) Militarismus und Antimilitarismus. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der internationalen Jugendbewegung, Leipzig, reprinted in: idem 1958: Gesammelte Reden und Schriften, Vol 1, Dietz, Berlin
Luxemburg R (2000) Der Wiederaufbau der Internationale (1915), in: idem: Gesammelte Schriften, Vol 4, 6th edn. Dietz, Berlin
Mayoraz S (2012) Frauen am Kongress und die Frauenversammlung im Bernouillanum. In: Degen B et al (eds) Gegen den Krieg. Der Basler Friedenskongress 1912 und seine Aktualität. Christoph Merian, Basel, pp. 56–68
Mitrany D (1966) A working peace system. Quadrangle, Chicago
Renner K (1918) Das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Nationen in besonderer Anwendung auf Österreich, Section 1. Nation und Staat, Leipzig/ Vienna: Deuticke
Riesenberger D (1985) Geschichte der Friedensbewegung in Deutschland. Von den Anfängen bis 1933. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen
Subok LI (ed) (1983) Die Geschichte der Zweiten Internationale, vol 2. Progress, Moscow
Vagts A (1967) A history of militarism, civilian and military. Meridien, New York
Verhey J (2000) Der ‘Geist von 1914’ und die Erfindung der Volksgemeinschaft. Hamburger Edition, Hamburg
Wette W (1971) Kriegstheorien deutscher Sozialisten. Marx, Engels, Lassalle, Bernstein, Kautsky, Luxemburg. Ein Beitrag zur Friedensforschung. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart/Berlin/ Cologne/Mainz
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jahn, E. (2015). The Peace Congress of the Socialist International in Basel, November 24–25, 1912. In: World Political Challenges. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47912-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47912-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47911-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47912-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)