The Second International dates from the Paris Socialist Conference of 1889, but was not constituted in its later form of a Central International Socialist Bureau until 1913. In 1914, it included twenty-seven countries with a membership of twelve millions; to it the Labour Party was affiliated. It naturally fell into a state of suspended animation during the war. Unsuccessful attempts were made at Zimmerwald (1915), Kienthal (1916), and at Stockholm (1917), to revive the Second International. Later, a Conference with the same object in view was held at Berne in February 1919, where various Socialist and Labour bodies assembled to further its revival and also to deal with a number of political and industrial questions. This Conference was promoted by Messrs. Arthur Henderson, Emile Vandervelde and Albert Thomas. It passed an important resolution on “Democracy and Dictatorship,” part of which was in the following terms:
“The Conference hails the great political revolutions which, in Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany, have destroyed the old regimes of imperialism and militarism and overthrown their Governments.
“The Conference urges the workers and Socialists of these countries to develop democratic and republican institutions which will enable them to bring about the great Socialist transformation. In these momentous times, when the problem of the Socialist reconstruction of the world is more than ever before a burning question, the working-classes should make up their minds, unanimously and unmistakably, about the method of their emancipation.
“In full agreement with all previous Congresses of the International, the Berne Conference firmly adheres to the principles of Democracy. A reorganized society more and more permeated with Socialism, cannot be realized, much less permanently established, unless it rests upon triumphs of Democracy and is rooted in the principles of liberty.
“Those institutions which constitute Democracy—freedom of speech and of the press, the right of assembly, universal suffrage, a government responsible to Parliament, with arrangements guaranteeing popular co-operation, and respect for the wishes of the people, the right of association, etc., these also provide the working-classes with the means of carrying on the class-struggle.
“Owing to certain recent events, the Conference desires to make absolutely clear the constructive character of the Socialist programme. True socialization implies methodical development in the different branches of economic activity under the control of the democracy. The arbitrary taking over of a few concerns by small groups of workers is not Socialism, it is merely Capitalism with numerous shareholders.
“Since, in the opinion of the Conference, effective Socialist development is only possible under democratic law, it is essential to eliminate at once any method of socialization which has no prospect of gaining the support of the majority of the people.
“A dictatorship of this character would be all the more dangerous if it were based upon the support of only one section of the working-class. The inevitable consequence of such a regime would be the paralysis of working-class strength through fratricidal war. The inevitable end would be the dictatorship of reaction....
“It calls upon Socialists throughout the world to close their ranks, not to deliver up the peoples to international reaction, but to do their utmost to ensure that Socialism and Democracy, which are inseparable, shall triumph everywhere.”