Neutral Socialist Conferences during the First World War

Attendees included Giacinto Menotti Serrati, Angelica Balabanoff, Oddino Morgari, Costantino Lazzari, Filippo Turati, Elia Musatti, Giuseppe Modigliani, Dominico Armuzzi, Giuseppe de Falco, Celestino Ratti for the Italians and Josef Albisser, Mario Ferri, Hermann Greulich, Paul Pfluger, Anton Rimathe, Hans Schenkel, Robert Grimm and Charles Naine for the Swiss Party.

[1][2]: 263 The resolution adopted by the conference declared that the war was caused by "the imperialist policy of the Great Powers", the competition for markets, and the attempt to suppress the proletariat and Social democracy.

Some time between October 11 and November 1914, the headquarters of the ISB were moved to the Hague and three Dutch members were added to the executive committee with the consent of its secretary, Camille Huysmans, and all the other affiliated parties, with the exception of the French.

The proposed program of the conference, which excluded discussion of the causes of the war and the standpoints of the belligerents alienated the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, who declined to attend.

[2]: 259 When the conference did finally assemble on January 17–18, 1915, it consisted of sixteen delegates, four from the Netherlands (Troelsta, Henri van Kol, Vliegen and Wibaut) and four each from the Scandinavian countries (at least: Sweden – Branting; Denmark – Staunding and Borgbjerg; Norway – Nilssen and Ole Z. Lian).

Recalling the resolution passed at the 1910 Copenhagen Congress, it called on socialist parliamentarians to struggle for the introduction compulsory arbitration courts for international disputes; reduction of armaments, with complete disarmament as the ultimate aim; abolition of secret diplomacy, making foreign affairs a parliamentary responsibility; and recognition of the right of national self-determination.

Finally they reminded the workers that the world war was only possible because the capitalists were in control of the governments and "consequently, the conference urges the laboring class to make every effort to seize political power in order that imperialism may be crushed and international Social Democracy may accomplish its mission of emancipating the peoples."

The conference also passed resolutions urging the parties in neutral countries to persuade their governments to offer their services to mediate an end to the war and protesting the arrest of socialist members of the Fourth Duma.