APPENDIXES

Dutch Resolution on General Strike Against War (1891)

Counterresolution presented by Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, for the Dutch delegation, to the resolution on militarism adopted by the BrusselsCongress.

The Congress:

Considering that national divergences are never in the interests of proletarians, but rather of their oppressors;

Considering that all modern wars, provoked exclusively by the capitalist class, are intended in the hands of that class to break the power of the revolutionary movement and to consolidate the supremacy of the bourgeoisie through the continuation of the most shameful exploitation;

Considering that at present European governments cannot invoke the excuse of having been provoked to war, on account of war being the result of the international will of capitalism:

The Socialist International Congress of Brussels decides that socialists of all countries will oppose to the proclamation of war an appeal for the people to strike.

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FRENCH GENERAL STRIKE RESOLUTION (1896)

Below is the minority report and motion from the Economic and Industrial Commission of the London Congress, put forward by Eugène Guérard of the French rail workers’ union. It was rejected by a large majority of the congress.

Seeing that at several French national congresses—Marseilles (1892), Paris (1893), Nantes (1894), and Limoges (1895)—the trade unionists have declared in favor of a general strike in all trades as a method of emancipation;

That in Belgium a general strike, even though imperfectly organized, had a great effect in obtaining the suffrage from the bourgeoisie.^[1]

That Sweden and Austria in their fight to obtain this same right have adopted the same means;

That if a priori the general international strike seems to be impossible, it may be very different with a general national strike;

But that, as a matter of fact, the question of a national strike has not been sufficiently investigated in the different countries;

Therefore the Congress invites the workers of all nations, and in particular the trade unionists, to study this important question, which may be decided at the next congress.

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GUESDE-FERRI RESOLUTION (1900)

The text below was put forward at the Paris Congress by Jules Guesde and Enrico Ferri in opposition to the Kautsky resolution on “Socialists in Public Office and Alliances with Bourgeois Parties.” In the congress plenary, the Guesde-Ferri resolution was defeated by a vote of 29 to 9. But its conclusions were largely incorporated in the Dresden-Amsterdam resolution approved by the 1904 congress.

The Fifth International Congress, meeting in Paris, declares again that the conquest of public power refers to the political expropriation of the capitalist class, whether this expropriation takes place peacefully or violently.

As a result, under the capitalist system, it allows only for the occupation of elected positions that the [Socialist] Party can capture by means of its own forces, that is, workers organized in a class party. It thereby prohibits any socialist participation in bourgeois governments, against which socialists must remain in irreconcilable opposition.

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ADLER-VANDERVELDE RESOLUTION (1904)

The following was put forward at the Amsterdam Congress by Victor Adler and Émile Vandervelde as a counterresolution to the Dresden-Amsterdam resolution on tactics. The main thrust of the resolution was to endorse the “exceptional cases” clause of the 1900 Kautsky resolution that left open the possibility of socialist participation in capitalist governments. In the commission taking up the question, the Vandervelde-Adler resolution was rejected by a vote of 24 to 16. Following the debate in the congress plenary, it failed to obtain a majority in a tie vote of 21 to 21.

The Congress affirms in the most strenuous way the necessity of maintaining unwaveringly our tried and glorious tactics based on the class war and shall never allow that the conquest of the political power in the teeth of the bourgeoisie shall be replaced by a policy of concession to the established order.

The result of this policy of concession would be to change a party that pursues the swiftest possible transformation of bourgeois society into a socialist society—consequently revolutionary in the best sense of the word—into a party that contents itself with reforming bourgeois society.

For this reason, the Congress, persuaded that class antagonisms, far from diminishing, increase continually, states:

1. That the party declines all responsibility whatsoever for the political and economic conditions based on capitalist production and consequently cannot approve of any means that tend to maintain in power the dominant class;

2. That the Social Democracy, in regard to the dangers and the inconveniences of the participation in the government in bourgeois society, brings to mind and confirms the Kautsky resolution, passed at the International Congress of Paris in 1900.

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IMMIGRATION COMMISSION RESOLUTIONS (1904)

The following two counterposed resolutions from the Amsterdam Congress Commission on Emigration and Immigration were laid before the congress plenary. The majority resolution was presented to the congress by Manuel Ugarte of Argentina. The minority resolution was submitted by Hendrick Van Kol, Morris Hillquit, Claude Thompson, Hermann Schlüter, Algernon Lee, and P. Verdorst. After some discussion, a motion by Keir Hardie was adopted to not vote on the resolutions due to shortness of time, and to hold the question over until the next congress. The Stuttgart Congress of 1907 essentially approved the perspective of the majority resolution.

MAJORITY RESOLUTION

The Congress declares that immigrant workers are the victims of the capitalist system, which often forces them to emigrate so as to painfully secure their existence and liberty.

Immigrant workers are often used to replace workers on strike, resulting occasionally in bloody conflicts between workers of different nationalities.

The Congress condemns all legislation designed to prevent emigration.

It declares that propaganda to enlighten emigrants attracted artificially by capitalist entrepreneurs, through often-false information, is absolutely essential.

It is convinced that, owing to socialist propaganda and workers’ organization, immigrants will, after a time, be won to the side of the organized workers of the countries of emigration and will demand legal wages.

The Congress further declares that it is useful for socialist representatives in parliament to demand that through tight and effective measures, governments seek to control the numerous abuses that immigration gives rise to. Socialists in parliament should also propose legislative reforms so that migrant workers acquire political and civil rights in countries of emigration as rapidly as possible, with their rights restored as soon as they return to their countries of origin, or that the various countries ensure immigrants the same rights through reciprocity agreements.

The Congress urges socialist parties and trade union federations to work more vigorously than they have done thus far to spread propaganda among the immigrant workers concerning the organization of workers and international solidarity.

MINORITY RESOLUTION

Fully considering the dangers connected with the immigration of foreign workingmen, inasmuch as it brings on a reduction of wages and furnishes the material for strikebreakers, occasionally also for bloody conflicts between workingmen, the Congress declares:

That under the influence and agitation from socialist and trade union quarters, the immigrants will gradually rank themselves on the side of the native workers and demand the same wages that the latter demand.

Therefore, the Congress condemns all legislative enactment that forbids or hinders the immigration of foreign workingmen whom misery forces to emigrate.

In further consideration of the fact that workers of backward races (Chinese, Negroes, etc.) are often imported by capitalists in order to keep down the native workers by means of cheap labor, and that this cheap labor, which constitutes a willing object of exploitation, lives in an ill-concealed state of slavery, the Congress declares that the Social Democracy is bound to combat with all its energy the application of this means, which serves to destroy the organization of labor, and thereby to hamper the progress and the eventual realization of socialism.

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DUTCH COLONIAL RESOLUTION (1904)

This resolution, submitted by the Dutch party for discussion at the Amsterdam Congress and presumably drafted by Hendrick Van Kol, was circulated to all parties prior to the congress. It presents the “socialist colonialism” perspective that Van Kol had begun to promote. However, no discussion of this resolution appears in the official record of the deliberations of the Amsterdam Congress’s commission on the colonial question nor in the plenary itself.

The International Socialist Congress at Amsterdam declares that Social Democrats are obliged to define their position regarding colonial policy for the following reasons:

1. Historical development has given to several countries colonies, economically bound by close ties to their mother country, politically unaccustomed to self-government, so that it would be impossible to leave them to themselves, if only from the point of view of international relations.

2. Modern capitalism is pushing civilized countries on to continuous expansion, both to open new outlets for their products and to find fields for the easy increase of their capital. This policy of conquest—often joined with crimes and pillage, having no other aim than to quench the capitalists’ insatiable thirst for gold, and forcing ever greater expenditures for the increase of militarism—must be opposed implacably. It is this that leads nations along the road of protectionism and of chauvinism, constituting a perpetual menace of international conflicts, and above all, aggravating the crushing burden on the proletariat, and retarding its emancipation.

3. The new wants that will make themselves felt after the victory of the working class and from the time of its economic emancipation, will make necessary, even under the socialist system of the future, the possession of colonies. Modern countries can no longer dispense with countries furnishing certain raw materials and tropical products indispensable to the industry and the needs of humanity, until such time as these can be produced by the exchange of the products of home industry and commerce.

The Social Democratic Party, which has economic development and the class struggle as the foundations of its political action, and which, in conformity with its principles, its aims, and its tendencies, severely condemns all exploitation and oppression of individuals, classes, and nations, accepts the following rules to define its colonial policy:

Capitalism being an inevitable stage of economic evolution that the colonies also must traverse, it will be necessary to make room for the development of industrial capitalism, even by sacrificing, if necessary, the old forms of property (communal or feudal).

But at the same time, the Social Democracy should struggle with all its strength against the degenerating influence of this capitalist development upon the colonial proletariat, and so much the more because it may be foreseen that the latter will not be capable of struggling for itself.

With a view to improving the condition of the laborers, as well as to prevent all the profits being taken away from the colonies, thus impoverishing them, the operation by the state of suitable industries will be useful or necessary, in conjunction with the operation of others by private parties. This will serve alike to hasten the process of capitalist development and to improve the social status of the native laborer.

It will then be the duty of the Social Democracy to favor the organization of the modern proletariat in all countries where it shall arise, to increase its strength of resistance in its struggle against capitalism, and, by raising its wages, to avert for the old capitalist countries the dangers of the murderous competition of the cheap labor of these primitive peoples.

To lift up the natives with a view to democratic self-government should be the supreme aim of our colonial policy, the details of which will be elaborated in a national program for each particular colonial group.

In view of these considerations, the Amsterdam Congress holds that it is the duty of the socialist parties of all countries:

1. To oppose by all means in their power the policy of capitalist conquest.

2. To formulate in a program the rules to be followed in their colonial policy, based on the principles enunciated in this resolution.

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COLONIAL COMMISSION MAJORITY RESOLUTION (1907)

Resolution of the Colonial Commission majority, which was rejected by the Stuttgart Congress.

The Congress while pointing out that in general the usefulness or necessity of colonies, especially in the working class, is greatly exaggerated, does not condemn in principle and for all time every colonial policy which under a socialist regime may become a work of civilization.

In reaffirmation of the Paris (1900) and Amsterdam (1904) resolutions, the Congress repudiates colonization, as at present carried on, since being of a capitalist character, it has no other aim but to conquer new countries, and to subjugate their populations in order to exploit them mercilessly for the benefit of an insignificant minority, while increasing the burden on the proletariat at home.

The Congress, as an enemy of all exploitation of man by man, and the defender of all oppressed without distinction of race, condemns this policy of robbery and conquest, this shameless application of the right of the strong trampling underfoot the rights of the vanquished races; and further states that this colonial system increases the danger of international complications and war, thus making heavier the financial burdens for navy and army.

From the financial point of view, the colonial expenses—both those that arise from imperialism and those that are necessary to further the economic evolution of the colonies—must be borne by those who profit from the spoliation of the colonies and derive their wealth therefrom.

The Congress declares finally that it is the duty of the socialist members of parliament to oppose without compromise in their respective parliaments the regime of exploitation and serfdom that prevails in all colonies of today, to exact reforms for the amelioration of the condition of the natives, to safeguard their rights by preventing their exploitation and enslavement, and to work with every means at their disposal for the education of these races to independence.

To this effect the socialist members of parliament must propose to their governments to create an international understanding, with a view to establish an international agreement for the protection of the right of the aborigines, the execution of which shall be mutually guaranteed by the contracting countries.

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AMERICAN SP RESOLUTION ON IMMIGRATION (1907)

The following resolution of the American Socialist Party, which had been submitted to the Stuttgart Congress, was defended at Stuttgart by Morris Hillquit. The decisive part of the resolution is point 3, with its implied support for immigration restrictions.

It is the duty of socialists and organized workers of all countries:

1. To advise and assist the bona fide workingmen immigrants in their first struggles on the new soil; to educate them to the principles of socialism and trade unionism; to receive them in their respective organizations; and to enlist them in the labor movement of the country of their adoption as speedily as possible.

2. To counteract the efforts of misleading representations of capitalist promoters by the publication and wide circulation of truthful reports on the labor conditions of their respective countries, especially through the medium of the International Bureau.

3. To combat with all means at their command the willful importation of cheap foreign labor calculated to destroy labor organizations, to lower the standard of living of the working class, and to retard the ultimate realization of socialism.

4. To seek to procure and protect for all residents in the United States, regardless of race or nativity, full and equal civil and political rights, including the right to naturalization for all and admission on equal terms to the benefits of the schools and other public institutions;

5. To promote the enrollment of workers of alien race or nativity in the political and industrial organization of the working class and the cultivation of a mutual good understanding and fraternal relations between them and the mass of native white workers.

6. By all means to further the assimilation of all such alien elements on a basis of common interest as wageworkers and to rebuke all appeals to racial, national, or religious prejudice against or among them.

The Congress calls upon the socialist representatives in the parliaments of the various countries to introduce legislation along the general lines laid down in this resolution, as well as legislation tending to secure to immigrated workingmen full civil and political rights in the countries of their adoption as speedily as possible. The Congress leaves it to the various national organizations to apply the principles herein announced to the specific needs and conditions of their respective countries.

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LUXEMBURG-LENIN-MARTOV AMENDMENTS TO MILITARISM RESOLUTION (1907)

The underlined passages below indicate amendments made by Rosa Luxemburg, V. I. Lenin, and Julius Martov that were incorporated into the resolution on militarism and international conflicts approved by the Stuttgart Congress of 1907. On these amendments, Lenin later wrote, “I remember very well that the final drafting of this amendment was preceded by prolonged negotiations between ourselves and Bebel. The first draft made a much more straightforward statement about revolutionary agitation and revolutionary action. When we showed it to Bebel, he replied: ‘I cannot accept it, because then the Public Prosecutor will dissolve our party organizations, and we can’t have that, as there are no serious developments as yet.’ After consultation with legal specialists and numerous redraftings of the text in order to give legal expression to the same idea, a final formula was found which Bebel agreed to accept.”^[2]

The Congress reaffirms the resolutions passed by previous international congresses against militarism and imperialism, and it again declares that the fight against militarism cannot be separated from the socialist class struggle as a whole. Wars between capitalist states are as a rule the consequence of their competition in the world market, for every state is eager not only to preserve its markets but also to conquer new ones, principally by the subjugation of foreign nations and the confiscation of their lands. These wars are further engendered by the unceasing and ever-increasing armaments of militarism, which is one of the principal instruments for maintaining bourgeois class rule and for subjugating the working classes politically and economically. The outbreak of wars is further promoted by the national prejudices systematically cultivated in the interest of the ruling classes, in order to divert the masses of the proletariat from their class duties and international solidarity.

Wars are therefore essential to capitalism; they will not cease until the capitalist system has been done away with, or until the sacrifices in men and money required by the technical development of the military system and the rejection of the armaments race have become so great as to compel the nations to abandon this system.

The working class especially, from which the soldiers are chiefly recruited, and which has to bear the greater part of the financial burdens, is by nature opposed to war, because war is irreconcilable with its aim: the creation of a new economic system founded on a socialist basis and realizing the solidarity of nations.

The Congress therefore considers it to be the duty of the working class, and especially of its parliamentary representatives, to fight with all their might against military and naval armaments, not to grant any money for such purposes, pointing out at the same time the class character of bourgeois society and the real motives for maintaining national antagonisms, and further, to imbue working-class youth with the socialist spirit of universal brotherhood and developing their class consciousness.

The Congress considers that the democratic organization of national defense, by replacing the standing army with the armed people, will prove an effective means for making aggressive wars impossible, and for overcoming national antagonisms.

The International cannot lay down rigid formulas for action by the working class against militarism, as this action must of necessity differ according to the time and conditions of the various national parties. But it is the duty of the International to intensify and coordinate, as much as possible, the efforts of the working class against militarism and war.

In fact, since the Brussels Congress [of 1891], the proletariat in its untiring fight against militarism, by refusing to grant the expenses for military and naval armaments, by democratizing the army, has had recourse, with increasing vigor and success, to the most varied methods of action in order to prevent the outbreak of wars, or to end them, or to make use of the social convulsions caused by war for the emancipation of the working class: as for instance the understanding arrived at between the British and French trade unions after the Fashoda crisis, which served to assure peace and to reestablish friendly relations between Britain and France; the action of the socialist parties in the German and French parliaments during the Morocco crisis: the public demonstrations organized for the same purpose by the French and German socialists; the common action of the Austrian and Italian socialists who met at Trieste in order to ward off a conflict between the two states; further, the vigorous intervention of the socialist workers of Sweden in order to prevent an attack against Norway; and lastly, the heroic sacrifices and fights of the masses of socialist workers and peasants of Russia and Poland rising against the war provoked by the government of the tsar, in order to put an end to it and to make use of the crisis for the emancipation of their country and of the working class. All these efforts show the growing power of the proletariat and its increasing desire to maintain peace by its energetic intervention.

The action of the working classes will be the more successful, the more the mind of the people has been prepared by an unceasing propaganda, and the more the labor parties of the different countries have been spurred on and coordinated by the International.

The Congress further expresses its conviction that under the pressure exerted by the proletariat, the practice of honest arbitration in all disputes will replace the futile attempts of the bourgeois governments, and that in this way the people will be assured of the benefits of universal disarmament, which will allow the enormous resources of energy and money, wasted by armaments and wars, to be applied to the progress of civilization.

In case of war being imminent, the working class and its parliamentary representatives in the countries concerned shall be bound, with the assistance of the International Socialist Bureau, to do all they can to prevent the outbreak of war, using for this purpose the means that appear to them the most effective, and which must naturally vary according to the acuteness of the class struggle and to the general political conditions.

In case war should break out notwithstanding, they shall be bound to intervene for its speedy termination, and to employ all their forces to utilize the economic and political crisis created by the war in order to rouse the masses of the people and thereby hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule.

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LENIN’S RESOLUTION ON COOPERATIVES (1910)

The following “Draft Resolution of the Social-Democratic Delegation of Russia” was submitted by V. I. Lenin, a member of the Copenhagen Congress’s First Commission. The text is not found in the official congress proceedings, and has been taken from Lenin’s article, “The Question of Co-Operative Societies at the International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen.”^[3]

The Congress is of the opinion:

1. That proletarian consumers’ societies improve the situation of the working class in that they reduce the amount of exploitation by all kinds of commercial middlemen, influence the labor conditions of the workers employed by the supplying firms, and improve the situation of their own employees.

2. That these societies can assume great importance for the economic and political mass struggle of the proletariat by supporting the workers during strikes, lockouts, political persecution, etc.

On the other hand the Congress points out:

1. That the improvements that can be achieved with the help of the consumers’ societies can only be very inconsiderable as long as the means of production remain in the hands of the class without whose expropriation socialism cannot be attained;

2. That consumers’ societies are not organizations for direct struggle against capital and exist alongside similar bodies organized by other classes, which could give rise to the illusion that these organizations are a means by which the social question may be solved without class struggle and the expropriation of the bourgeoisie.

The Congress calls on the workers of all countries:

(a) To join the proletarian consumers’ societies and to promote their development in every way, at the same time upholding the democratic character of these organizations;

(b) By untiring socialist propaganda in the consumers’ societies, to spread the ideas of class struggle and socialism among the workers;

The Congress also points out that producers’ cooperatives can be of importance for the struggle of the working class only if they are a component part of consumers’ societies.

Footnotes

A general strike in Belgium April 12–18, 1893, called by the Belgian Workers Party under pressure from miners, was observed by 200,000 workers. Fearing a full-scale revolution, the government sent in the military and a number of strikers were killed. Eventually caving in to the pressure, the Belgian parliament introduced numerous electoral reforms that led to the establishment of universal male suffrage. ↑
Lenin, “On the Amendment to Bebel’s Resolution at the Stuttgart Congress,” in Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 36, p. 415. ↑
Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 16, pp. 278–79. ↑