Kienthal Conference
[5] A Lithuanian group around the magazine Social-Democratas in London tried to affiliate with the Zimmerwald Left and authorized Jan Antonovich Berzin to sign a draft manifesto of left-wing delegates for them, but he had already transferred his mandate to Zinoviev and their vote was "lost".
[8] Portuguese delegate Edmondo Peluso gave a very detailed account: The spacious dining room of the Hotel Baren was transformed into conference chamber.
Finally, he declared that he would vote against all war credits - which brought forth a great applause - and then added "but only once hostile troops leave France" which resulted in the second of the aforementioned assault attempts.
The resolution further stated that the International could recover its political power only if it liberated itself from imperialist and chauvinist influences and resumed class struggle and mass action.
If a plenum of the ISB should be called those Zimmerwaldist parties participating had to use the opportunity to expose the real intentions of the social patriots, while reaffirming the fundamental principles of the International.
Two annexes provided for a meeting of the Enlarged Committee of the ISC should a plenary session of the ISB be called, to discuss joint action by the Zimmerwaldists.
The conferences official report states that three resolutions were presented: those of Robert Grimm, of the Zimmerwald Left and the German Internationale group.
[20] In any event the "Left Zimmerwald" draft was endorsed by Lenin, Zinoviev and Armand on behalf of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, as well as Radek, Bronski and Dobrowski of Poland, "one delegate from town X" of the German Opposition, Platten, Nobs, Robmann, Kaclerovic, and Serrati.
Because there was fundamental agreement on most issue and the delegates felt an exhaustive debate over every detail was unnecessary a resolution based on the Grimm draft was then unanimously adopted.
[23] The commission also received a lengthy and ponderous draft manifesto submitted by Axelrod, Martov and Lapinski on behalf of the Mensheviks and the Polish Socialist Party - Left which mostly dealt with post-war plans for supranational government schemes and why bourgeois attempts would continue the regime of imperialism while a "complete economic and political unification of all civilized nations" should be the chief tasks of socialists once the proletariat had taken power and abolished private property.
[24] The resolution finally adopted stated categorically that the war was a consequence of bourgeois property relations which had produced a series of imperialist antagonisms.
Schemes such as courts of international arbitration, disarmament and the democratization of foreign policy could not end wars, as long as the capitalist system existed.
On the basis of the Stuttgart, Copenhagen and Basel resolutions the delegates declared that it is a vital commandment to raise a call for an immediate truce and peace negotiations.
The workers would succeed in hastening the end of the war and influencing the nature of the peace only to the extent that this call finds a response within the international proletariat and led them to "forceful action directed toward overthrowing the capitalist class."
Socialists did not oppose annexations in order to return to the pre-1914 borders but because "...socialism strives to eliminate all national oppression by means of an economic and political unification of the peoples on a democratic basis, something which cannot be realized within the limits of capitalist states."
So long as socialism has not achieved this, the proletariat's duty was still to oppose national oppression, attacks on weaker states, war indemnities, support the protection of minorities, and the autonomy of peoples on a "basis of real democracy".
