Socialist International

▪ European history [1951]

      association of national socialist parties that advocates a democratic form of socialism.

      After World War II the reinstitution of an international federation of working-class parties took place in gradual stages. First, an information and liaison office was established at the first postwar international conference, held in England in 1946. The following year this office was transformed into a consultative committee that became a more representative body called the Committee of the International Socialist Conference, or Comisco. In 1951 it decided to reconstitute the International. (See also International, Second; International, Third.)

      This reconstitution took place at a congress held in Frankfurt am Main, W.Ger., in July 1951. The new organization assumed the name Socialist International and established its headquarters in London. Its statutes require the consent of all member parties for resolutions to be passed, and one vote is allocated to each member party, regardless of the size of its membership. Its supreme body is the congress, which meets every other year and proclaims the organization's principles and determines its statutes and membership. A smaller body, the council, which assembles yearly and is composed of representatives from each member party, formulates the attitude of the SI toward current political issues, elects the president and secretary, and fixes affiliation fees. Finally, the bureau, composed of delegates from 12 countries and meeting according to requirements, is charged with the supervision of the secretary's activities.

      In its declaration of principles, the SI put chief emphasis upon the political aspects of socialism, notably democracy and civil liberty. SI policy has been anticommunist and was generally anti-Soviet. The SI not only rejected the communist system as irreconcilable with socialist principles but also supported the North Atlantic alliance against the Soviet Union. Yet it supported the policy of peaceful coexistence and détente with the Soviet Union and general disarmament under international supervision.

      The SI supported the United Nations and demanded the admission of the People's Republic of China. It called for the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam and urged a settlement that would enable the peoples of both parts of the country to determine their future and ensure its neutrality. It affirmed the right of the state of Israel to exist and called for negotiations between the Arabs and Israelis to find a permanent solution of the existing problems on the basis of their independence and sovereignty. The SI denounced the fascist regimes in Spain, Portugal, and Greece and the system of apartheid in South Africa. It declared its support of the colonial and dependent peoples' struggle for self-determination. Considering the economic plight of the industrially underdeveloped countries as a major humanitarian as well as a political problem, it adopted a detailed “World Plan for Mutual Aid” and pledged its member parties to arouse world opinion to induce the governments to carry it out through UN agencies.

      The SI supports the economic unity of Europe, and the relevant European member parties participate in the activities of the European parliamentary assemblies: the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the European Coal and Steel Community.

      In the late 20th century the SI consisted of more than 60 socialist parties in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Western Hemisphere.

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