Labor and Socialist International

an international organization of Social Democratic parties. Founded in 1923, the international fell apart during World War II. It was formed at the congress of May 1923 in Hamburg as the union of the Bern International and the Second-and-a-Half International. Its ideological orientation and practical policies were defined by the reformist theories of “organized capitalism” and “economic democracy” and the rejection of the dictatorship of the proletariat under the guise of a struggle for “pure democracy.”

The right-wing leaders of the Labor and Socialist International were to a considerable extent guided by anticommunist and anti-Soviet principles. The international declined proposals of the Comintern for joint action in support of the Spanish antifascists and against fascism and the unleashing of world war. The organization effectively ceased to function after the outbreak of World War II and the fascist German occupation of a number of European countries, including Belgium. (The headquarters of the international had been located in Brussels from 1935.)