Abstract
An important strand in the basic ideology of the Social Democrats of Europe is their belief in peace. They have, over the years, presented themselves by and large as the natural opponents of war and militarism. Many important Socialist thinkers, including Karl Marx, have viewed war as an instrument of imperialism. They hold that the major reason for armed conflict is the incessant competition between the capitalist countries either for capturing new markets or for ensuring guaranteed access to raw materials. However, prior to the establishment of the Second International all wars were either national wars or wars between two nations. That pattern changed drastically in the period after the establishment of the Second International, when war began to be viewed and pursued in a much wider context. It may be mentioned in this context that militarism was an important issue discussed at the Socialist Congress held in Paris in 1889. The programme the Socialist International adopted at this Congress said that peace was the foremost and indispensable prerequisite for the liberation of the working class.1
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Notes
The issue of war and peace first came up for discussion before the First International at its Brussels Congress in 1868 — in the context of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which sowed the seeds of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The First International considered what attitude the working class should take in the event of a war breaking out between two or more great powers — in particular, the policy to be adopted towards ‘the originator [of the war]’. For more details, see Julius Braunthal, History of the International (London, 1966), pp. 320–5.
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For details see Finland, Social Democratic Party, Foreign Policy Document: Adopted at the XXXII Party Congress, Pori, June 3–7, 1981 (Helsinki, 1981).
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Denmark, Social Democratic Party, Solidarity, Equality and Human Welfare (Copenhagen, 1977), p. 14.
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See speech by Franz Vranitzky, Chancellor of Austria, at the Party Congress on 27–29 October 1987 at Vienna. See Austria, Socialist Party, Social Democratic News from Austria (Vienna, 1987), pp. 12–14.
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The Greek Socialist Party’s perceptions on peace and disarmament may be found in Andreas Papandreou’s Speeches. See, Greece, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greece in the European Community: Speeches of the Prime Minister Mr. A. Papandreou (Athens, 1988).
For the perceptions of the Portuguese Socialist Party, see Mario Soares, Portugal’s New Foreign Policy (Lisbon, 1974).
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For details, See Eva Nordland, ‘Millions Support Call for Banning Nuclear Weapons’, New Perspectives (Helsinki), 1981, no. 6, p. 9.
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Kalevi Sorsa, Former Prime Minister of Finland, in an interview with the author on 14 September 1989 in Helsinki. It may be noted that in his book, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World, published in 1987, Gorbachev explicitly referred to the Brandt Commission Report and said; ‘We have adopted many ideas developed by social democrats and the Socialist International and worked out by the Brandt and Palme Commissions.’ See Willy Brandt, My Life in Politics (Memoirs) (London, 1992), p. 370.
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Kalevi Sorsa, ‘Our Fate Cannot Be left to the Superpowers’, Socialist Affairs, 3/1986, p. 11.
Radomir Luza, History of the International Socialist Youth Movement (Leiden, 1970), p. 163.
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Willy Brandt, The Ordeal of Coexistence (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), pp. 35–6 and 60.
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Willy Brandt’s Olof Palme Memorial Lecture, 1987, on ‘Security and Disarmament: Change and Visions’, in SIPRI Yearbook, 1988: World Armaments and Disarmament (Oxford, 1988), pp. 539–47.
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Bruno Kreisky, Is There a Chance for a New and Global Detente? (Laxenburg, Austria, 1984), p. 9.
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© 1997 B. Vivekanandan
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Vivekanandan, B. (1997). International Peace and Security. In: International Concerns of European Social Democrats. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25773-7_3
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