1941: Socialism

Stressing the evolutionary character of the transition from the present economic order to a future Socialism, and therein differing from Communism, Socialism believes that this aim can only be achieved under maintenance of the forms and the spirit of democracy. Therefore Socialism is frequently called Social Democracy, an attempt to apply the principles of democracy not only in the political, but also in the economic field. In the years of strong Fascist ascendency the Socialist parties suffered the same loss of prestige as the democratic parties did. But with the new growth of democratic sentiment and with the newly awakened strength of the democratic will to resistance under Fascist aggression, the cause of Socialism also gained. In the European countries where Social Democracy was still allowed to function, as in Sweden and Switzerland, the Socialist parties not only continued their activities, but maintained or increased their strength. In Sweden the Socialist party formed the majority in the government, in Switzerland the year 1941 saw frequent discussions about drawing the Socialist Party into active cooperation within the government in its struggle for maintaining a democratic island within a Europe dominated by National Socialism. In Great Britain the Labour Party, which represents their Social Democracy, shared the burden of government with all other parties, and its members took a prominent part in the Churchill Cabinet. Some of the British Dominions showed great strength in Socialism, as in the Commonwealth of Australia, where Labour had a majority in the Parliament. This was also true of some of the Australian states, like Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania, and in New Zealand where the Socialists number about two thirds of the members of the House of Representatives and form the Cabinet.

Socialism shows less strength in Canada and in the United States. The Canadian Parliament includes only eight members of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, which may be regarded as a Socialist party, while there are no Socialist representatives in the American Congress. The Socialist Party in the United States, though numerically weak, was divided on the issue of the character of the present war, one group under Norman Thomas believing the wars in Europe and Asia 'imperialist wars' which did not concern the safety and the future of the United States or the future of democracy, while a growing number of Socialists in the United States saw in the present war a world-wide pattern of conquest directed against democracy, and especially against Social Democracy, everywhere, and threatening the security of the United States.

While the activities of the Socialist International were practically at a standstill, the meetings of the International Labor Office, which were held in New York at Columbia University in November 1941, gave an opportunity to Socialists and labor leaders from all over the world to meet and to discuss the role of labor in the present world struggle and its significance for the survival and growth of Socialism. Most Socialists associated themselves with the various plans drawn up for a more cooperative world order after the present war, which would insure peace and thereby a possible concentration on the task of building a better economic order after the achievement of victory by the democratic powers. See also COMMUNISM; FASCISM; NEW WORLD ORDER.

1940: Socialism

Norway, Belgium, Denmark.

The Socialist movement suffered considerably during 1940, because some of its strongholds in Europe were destroyed by the successful invasion of their countries by National Socialist Germany. The Socialist movement and the trade unions organizations have been especially strong in Norway, Belgium and The Netherlands. In Norway and in Belgium the Socialists participated in the government, and in Norway the Norwegian Labor party had formed the Cabinet since March 1935. With the occupation of their countries by the National Socialists, the Socialist parties in these countries were dissolved, the trade unions put under National Socialist control, and many of the Socialist leaders were imprisoned or forced to flee. The German occupation of Denmark put Socialism there under a very heavy strain, and although the Socialists in the Danish Cabinet continued and the trade union movement remained outwardly intact, its manifestations were severely curtailed and it was obliged to adapt itself to the new dominating spirit of Fascism. The defeat of France and the ensuing coming into power of a pro-Fascist government put an end to the existence and activity of Socialist parties and brought about the dissolution of the once powerful French trade union movement, the Confédération Générale de Travail. In the Fascist countries, Germany, Italy, Spain, all Socialist activities and organizations were strictly forbidden.

The executive committee of the Socialist International, the so-called Second International, met in Brussels at the end of February. Camille Huymans, the mayor of Antwerp, was elected president in place of the Dutchman J. W. Alberda, who had entered the Dutch Cabinet as Minister for Communications and Public Works.

Sweden.

In the countries which remained free of Fascist domination, the Socialist parties did not lose, but rather gained in influence. Thus in the elections which were held in September 1940, in Sweden, the Swedish Labor party and the Socialist Premier, Per Albin Hansson, received an overwhelming vote of confidence. While all other parties in the elections for a new Swedish House of Representatives lost seats, the Social Democrats gained nineteen new ones. The Communists lost two of their seats, and the extreme Socialists, a very minor faction, were unable to gain even one. In the new House of Representatives the Social Democrats will enjoy an absolute majority. In spite of the fact that after the occupation of Norway and Denmark by Fascist Germany Sweden found herself entirely isolated, the Social Democrats, the party most hated by the Fascists, were able to increase their vote and to gain a clear majority, while the National Socialists were unable to gain a single seat.

British Empire.

In the same way, the influence of the Socialists increased in Great Britain with the process of democratization which the war brought with it. The conservative government of Neville Chamberlain was forced to resign in May 1940, and was followed by a coalition under Winston Churchill in which the British Labor party under Ernest Bevin, Major Clement Attlee, and Herbert Morrison played an important role. During the war the Labor party also maintained its strength and influence in Australia and New Zealand.

United States.

In the United States the different Socialist groups were strictly divided in their attitude towards the European war. The official Socialist Party under the leadership of Norman Thomas was out-and-out isolationist. As a result, it suffered in the presidential election of 1940, and the number of votes which Mr. Thomas received showed very clearly the heavy decline of the influence of that trend of Socialist opinion on the American electorate. Mr. Thomas received only 116,796 votes, as against 187,720 in 1936 and 884,781 in 1932. The wing of the Socialist party in America which takes an anti-isolationist point of view and emphasizes its sympathy with the European Socialist parties in their fight against Fascism, and its representative organ, the New York weekly New Leader, cast their votes for Mr. Roosevelt. This wing of the Socialist party in America was organized in New York State as the American Labor party, which received 417,418 votes as against 274,924 in 1936.

International Federation of Trade Unions.

The International Federation of Trade Unions, whose chairman is Sir Walter Citrine, held its last executive meeting in Paris on May 7. Although the occupation of the continental democracies in Europe by Germany destroyed the trade union movements in these countries, the International Federation still counts powerful and numerous affiliates in Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States of America, Mexico, Canada, Argentine and South Africa. The Trade Unions International upholds the rights of the workers to choose their own organization and their own leaders as against the Fascist way in which organizations are forced and leaders imposed upon the workers from above.

1939: Socialism

The Socialist movement in 1939 maintained its former strength without any considerable losses or gains. The movement was, of course, forbidden in Germany, Italy, Japan, the Soviet Union, and, after General Franco's final victory at the end of March 1939, also in Spain. The rift produced in the working class movements twenty years ago by the emergence of Communism, and partly healed since then in some countries by the so-called Popular Front movement of cooperation of all labor and radical forces, was reopened and even widened by the attitude adopted by the Soviet Union, and, following her example, by all Communist parties after August 1939. The General Council of the International Federation of Trade Unions which met in Zurich, Switzerland, early in July, refused by a large majority to open negotiations with the trade unions of the Soviet Union with the intention of inviting them to join the International Federation. At the same meeting, the delegate of the American Federation of Labor insisted that the peace resolution of the meeting should be based upon the collaboration of all the democratic nations in the world, rather than on hopes for a British-French-Russian mutual assistance agreement, as suggested by the French Confederation of Labor.

In several elections held during 1939 in European countries, the Socialist parties were able to hold their own. The elections held in Denmark in April decreased the representation of the Socialists from 68 deputies to 64, but maintained its position as by far the strongest single party in the Danish lower chamber, whereas in the election for the upper chamber the Social Democrats were able to increase considerably the number of their voters. The elections on March 19 in the Swiss canton of Zurich resulted in considerable gains for the Social Democrats, who are by far the strongest single party in the cantonal council. In Poland also, the elections of May 21 brought unexpected gains for the Social Democratic Party in a number of Polish cities where in many cases they had the majority in the municipal councils.

The Norwegian Labor Party, which has formed the Cabinet in Norway since March 1935, could point to a steady growth in membership, showing an increase from 104,514 in 1934, to 170,889 in 1939. The Norwegian Labor Party controls forty-four periodicals, of which twenty-nine are dailies. The parliamentary elections in Finland on July 1 and 3 brought a marked increase in the votes cast for the Social Democratic party, and also for the two other progressive parties which together with the Social Democratic Party formed the Cabinet. The Socialists, who in 1930 had received 385,820 votes, increased this number at the elections of 1933 to 412,759, in 1936 to 452,751, and in 1939 gathered as many as 515,799 votes, or about 40 per cent of the total number of votes cast. The Social Democrats formed the largest single party in the Finnish Parliament. It should be pointed out that this gain of the Socialists was accompanied with a parallel decrease in the votes cast for the Finnish Fascists, who in the new Parliament of 1939 occupied only eight seats out of a total of two hundred. In the Netherlands the Social Democratic Party entered the Cabinet for the first time. The new ministry which was formed on Aug. 9 under de Geer, includes two Social Democrats, the Minister for Communications and Public Works, and the Minister of Social Affairs. The first of the two, J. W. Albarda, had been the Chairman of the Socialist Workingmen's International. Successes similar to those in many European countries were also achieved in Australia.

The European War which broke out in September found most of the Socialist parties actively supporting the democracies in their fight against Fascist aggression. The British Labor Party supported the Conservative Government in its war policy, but maintained its position as a critical opposition party, jealously watching over the preservation of all democratic liberties and safeguarding the interests of the working class under wartime conditions. The Labor parties in Australia and New Zealand were largely responsible for the enthusiasm with which their countries joined Great Britain in the war. The Socialist Party in France loyally supported the Government. The newly reconstructed Polish government in exile in France was formed with the participation of the Polish Socialists. The sympathies of the Socialist parties in the European countries were entirely with Great Britain, France and Finland in their fight against German and Soviet Russian aggression.

In the United States the wartime sympathies of the Socialists were divided. One group under the leadership of Norman Thomas, several times Socialist candidate for the Presidency of the United States, took a strictly isolationist view. Another group which was chiefly represented by the Social Democratic Federation and its weekly, New Leader, supported the European democracies in their struggle against National Socialist Germany and Communism, generally following the lines taken by the Socialist parties in the European countries and in the British dominions.

1938: Socialism

The year 1938 saw in some countries in which Fascist or pro-Fascist tendencies had become victorious a weakening of the Social-Democratic movement, but in many democratic countries, especially in the Scandinavian countries and in New Zealand, the Socialist movement preserved its vitality and registered some appreciable gains. Likewise in some of the semi-Fascist countries, as in Hungary and Poland, where at least the facade of democracy and the party system was preserved, the Social-Democratic Parties continued to function and even as in Poland, to expand.

In Great Britain and France.

At the beginning of 1938 the Labor Party in Great Britain found itself numerically a definite minority in the British House of Commons, but its influence in the country was much larger than the number of seats occupied would indicate. The dispute about the foreign policy in Great Britain in connection with the Prime Minister's friendly attitude towards the Fascist dictatorships revitalized the Labor Party to a certain extent, and the by-election held in Great Britain in the latter part of the year generally showed a strengthening of the Socialist vote. But the Labor Party declined all offers of closer cooperation in a united front with those liberals and conservative elements who were in opposition to the Government's foreign policy.

In France at the beginning of 1938 the Socialists found themselves the leading party of the Government coalition of the so-called Popular Front, which consisted of the bourgeois liberal Radical Socialists, the Social Democrats and the Communists. The events in the field of international relations in September 1938 led to a weakening of the Socialist position in France, to a dislocation of the Popular Front and to a realignment of parties which put the Socialists into opposition and created a new Governmental majority embracing the parties of the Right and the Radical Socialists. In November the loss of the general strike which had been proclaimed by the General Labor Confederation of France and had been supported by the Socialist Party further weakened the position of the Socialists in France.

In Czechoslovakia and Belgium.

The defeat of democracy as evidenced by the Pact of Munich at the end of September had also a destructive influence upon Socialism in Czechoslovakia. In the rump state which remained after the cession of territory to Germany, Hungary and Poland, the Social Democratic Party, which formerly in Czechoslovakia had formed part of the Governmental majority, had to declare its withdrawal from the Socialist International. In Slovakia the Social Democratic Party and all its publications and activities were completely prohibited, whereas in the Czech part of the country the Party was transformed into a National Worker's Party which was allowed to form an opposition to the dominating right wing and semi-Fascist party of National Unity.

The Socialist Party in Belgium found itself during 1938 in the throes of a transformation of its political and ideological outlook. The Socialists formed part of the Governmental majority and of the Cabinet and a Socialist, Paul Spaak, was Prime Minister during most of 1938. In the autumn of 1938 Premier Spaak decided to take up diplomatic relations with the insurgent government of Spain. He was opposed by the majority of the Socialist Party under the leadership of the old guard, Vandervelde and De Broucker, but he carried his proposal through Parliament. Most of the Socialists voted against him, but some, especially from the Flemish parts of Belgium, voted for him. A deep-seated rift in the Socialist Party of Belgium seemed unavoidable, one tendency within the Party favoring a pro-Fascist orientation in international politics, the other and apparently larger one, clinging to traditional democratic policy in the international field as well as in domestic policy.

Netherlands.

In most of the smaller democratic countries and even in some of the pro-Fascist countries the Socialists were generally successful in strengthening their position. This trend had been already manifested in the elections of May 1937, in the Netherlands, where the Dutch National Socialists who had organized under the influence of Nazi Germany suffered a crushing defeat and saw their votes reduced to about half of those polled in 1935. On the other hand the Social Democrats increased the number of their votes by about 100,000 and received in the new Chamber 23 mandates instead of 22 as of the previous Chamber.

Sweden.

In all three Scandinavian countries the Socialists formed a Government or participated in its formation. At the elections which were held for all the municipal councils of Sweden in September 1938 the Socialist Party won one of its greatest election victories, increasing its vote throughout the country from 883,900 to 1,305,800, and gaining a clear majority in the municipal council of Stockholm. In the Swedish Parliament the Socialists gained for the first time the majority of the seats of the First Chamber and the control of this House, whereas in the Lower House they acquired exactly half of the seats. The Socialists in Sweden have continued their alliance with the smaller Farmer's Party. Their chief objective is to utilize the increased resources of the country and safeguard the liberty and democracy of the Swedish people by a resolute policy of improved social services, including better housing in town and country, the eight-hour day for shop assistants, cheap tours and vacation arrangements for the two weeks vacation with pay of the workers, rest and vacational arrangements for housewives, measures to raise standards of agricultural workers to the level of industrial workers, and more land for small holders. While the Socialists gained in Sweden, the Swedish Nazi Party was practically wiped out and lost the only two seats they had previously held in Sweden.

Denmark.

A similar victory was achieved in Denmark by the Socialist Party and by the allied Radical Peasant Party which jointly form the Government. Here the large increase in the votes for the Socialists was also accompanied by a complete rout of the Nazis.

Poland, Bulgaria.

Even in semi-Fascist countries where the political influence of the Pact of Munich did not make itself felt directly, the Socialists registered some gains at the expense of the Fascist parties. This was the case at the elections in Bulgaria where a number of Socialist candidates were successful, and in Poland, where in 1937 the elections for the municipal council of the large city of Lodz had resulted in Socialists capturing the majority of the seats. The Polish Socialist Party increased the number of its votes from 22,284 in 1934 to 95,111 in 1937, and the number of its seats from 5 to 34. Elections held in Poland on Dec. 18, 1938, brought similar victories to the democratic forces and to the Socialists. In the city council of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, the Socialist Party won 27 out of 100 seats. Similarly in Lodz, and in Cracow the Socialists were victorious.

New Zealand.

Outside of Europe, Socialism made little if any headway. However, it increased its hold over New Zealand under the leadership of Michael Joseph Savage.

Necrology.

The Socialist movement suffered in 1938 the death of two of its prominent veteran leaders, Karl Kautsky and Emil Vandervelde.