Socialist International Meets
SENIGALLIA, SILVIO F.
Problems of German unity and nuclear armaments dominate Hamburg parley Socialist International Meets By Silvio F. Senigallia HAMBURG THE DELEGATES OF 38 countries—representing 11 million...
...The document that emerged stated merely that Democratic Socialism will continue its fight against all forms of exploitation of man by man and against all forms of colonialist and capitalist operation...
...The most articulate opposition came from the French, who rejected the demilitarization of Germany and who stated that after reunification the German people should have the right to join whatever military alliance they want—which, of course, means NATO...
...Their interest was focused on three major issues: the future of Germany, the problems of nuclear armament, and the relations between developed and underdeveloped countries...
...While the West German Socialists, as well as most other delegations, voiced support of this position, some delegates from NATO countries did not...
...According to the manifesto, the only solution of the Berlin problem lies in the reunification of Germany as a free and democratic nation...
...Gait skell argued that this proviso, which would bar a united Germany from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, would be the best way to achieve the actual reunification of the two Germanys, the paramount goal of the Western world...
...As to the future relations of a unified Germany with the rest of Europe, however, there was no unanimous agreement...
...The Congress' resolution on relations between developed and underdeveloped countries was couched in very general terms, since the French would agree to no resolution which attacked their position in Algeria...
...And Pollak was not alone in warning the Congress that today's Socialist fight against capitalism is not the fight of 50 years ago, and that new goals and new methods must be found in order to carry out this fight successfully...
...He urged that the manufacture and possession of nuclear weapons be limited to the United States and the Soviet Union, and that in order to avoid the spread of atomic weapons and their use by irresponsible dictators of small countries, a "non-nuclear club" of all the other countries should be formed...
...Again, the French Socialists opposed this position, possibly because France's first A-bomb is about to be completed and the prestige its possession entails is deeply felt among the French people...
...No resolution of this disagreement emerged...
...Problems of German unity and nuclear armaments dominate Hamburg parley Socialist International Meets By Silvio F. Senigallia HAMBURG THE DELEGATES OF 38 countries—representing 11 million Socialist party members—met in this city last month for the annual Congress of the Socialist International...
...Hugh Gaitskell...
...A clear picture of the future of the Socialists was given by Oscar Pollak...
...The best the French delegation could offer, in order to meet Gaitskell half way, was a ban on nuclear tests for a two-year period, at the end of which individual countries should be free to return to their own initiative on atomic arms if no general agreement on disarmament had been reached...
...leader of Britain's Labor party, suggested that the Western powers and West Germany itself should accept a "non-alignment policy" for a unified Germany...
...In what was probably the most important speech delivered at the Congress...
...The final issue of the conference also featured the opposition of the French delegates...
...The timing of this declaration is interesting to note, for it came at the very moment the Geneva negotiations were about to be resumed and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was on his way to an official visit to Poland...
...who analyzed what he called "the disappointment of achievement...
...The many gains made by the workers in the past 50 years and the almost incredible improvement of their economic and social standard of living in many Western countries, he said, have dimmed their enthusiasm and faith in Socialism...
...On the first issue, the Hamburg delegates issued a manifesto indicating unanimous opposition to any appeasement of the Soviet Union and a refusal to yield to Russian demands in Berlin...
...Gaitskell also figured importantly in the discussion of nuclear armaments...
Vol. 42 • August 1959 • No. 30
