Socialist International

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Socialist International is the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist and labor parties. There are 170 political parties and organizations from all continents in Socialist International. Democratic Socialists of America is a member of Socialist International.[1]

Origins

The Socialist International, whose origins go back to the early international organisations of the labour movement, has existed in its present form since 1951, when it was re-established at the Frankfurt Congress. Since then it has been increasingly active and grown considerably in membership, more than doubling the number of its members in recent years. Labour, social democratic and socialist parties are now a major political force in democracies around the world, with numerous member parties of the International leading governments or representing the main opposition force. Close to 50 member parties of the International are currently in government.[2]

Communist ties

Ever since its inception in 1951, the Socialist International has made cosmetic efforts to distance itself from communist socialists. It continues to do so, sprinkling its calls for socialism and global governance with assurances of support for “democratic” principles.

"During the Cold War, the SI aligned itself with communist terrorist Yasir Arafat and the PLO, the Soviet Union’s premier terror master. It was also comfortable maintaining close fraternal relations with the communist dictatorships of the Warsaw Pact, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Nicaragua’s Sandinista regimes were SI favorites.

When Gunther Guillaume, companion and closest aide to West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, was exposed as a communist agent of the Soviet KGB/East German Stasi, Brandt was forced to resign as Chancellor. But Brandt’s KGB revelations didn’t phase the SI leadership, who allowed him to continue in office as the longest-serving president of the SI.

“Reformed” communists and communist parties are welcomed with open arms and hold top posts in the SI. The SI's Commission for a Sustainable World Society is a case in point. Its members include Aleksander Kwasniewski, the former President of Poland, who was a die-hard Communist Party member until it became expedient to switch to the “reform” label. Likewise for CSWS member Sergei Mironov, who was an apparatchik in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and remains a stalwart supporter of Russia’s top KGB man, Prime Minister – Vladimir Putin.

Another SI official was Sergei Stanishev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria and chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (formerly called the Bulgarian Communist Party). Still another was Ayaz Mütallibov, the former communist dictator of Soviet Azerbaijan. Also, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, since his communist Sandinista regime has some special SI connections.[3]

Leadership

The supreme decision-making bodies of the International are the Congress, which meets every three to four years, and the Council, which includes all member parties and organisations and which meets twice a year.

George A. Papandreou, President of PASOK, the organisation's member party in Greece, is President of the Socialist International, first elected in January 2006, and re-elected at the XXIII Congress. Luis Ayala (Chile) is the Secretary General, re-elected at the last Congress. The Vice-Presidents, who are also elected by the Congress, together with the President and the Secretary General, make up the Presidium of the International, the leadership of the organisation.

From 1976 to 1992 the late Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of Germany and winner of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize, was President of the Socialist International. Pierre Mauroy, former Prime Minister of France, served as President from 1992 to 1999, and António Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal, from 1999 to 2005. Former Presidents and Secretaries General of the organisation

The secretariat of the Socialist International is located in London and coordinates the activities and initiatives of the International, convenes its meetings and conferences, issues statements and press releases and produces its publications.[4]

Global and regional work of the Socialist International

The Socialist International works intensely throughout the year to strengthen and develop social democratic policies in the world, including through the activities of its thematic and regional Committees, the SI Commission for a Sustainable World Society and the SI Commission on Global Financial Issues.

At the Council of Socialist International held in Mexico on 17-18 November 2008, the International established for this inter-Congress period, in addition to the statutory Ethics Committee and Committee for Finance and Administration, the organisation’s thematic and regional Committees.[5]

Thematic Committees

With the purpose of deepening, broadening and promoting particular areas of global policy, the current thematic Committees of the Socialist International are the Committee on Economic Policy, Labour and National Resources; the Committee on Social Cohesion, Poverty and HIV/AIDS; the Committee on Disarmament; the Committee on Local Authorities; the Committee on Migration; and the Committee on Peace. Each Committee sets a specific programme of activities and meets regularly.[6]

Regional Committees

The regional Committees define and inform the work of the Socialist International with regard to their respective regions, and generate input from their national and regional perspectives to the common global policies of the organisation. The regional Committees of the Socialist International are the Africa Committee; the Committee for Asia and the Pacific; the Committee for the CIS, the Caucasus and the Black Sea; the Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean; the Mediterranean Committee; the Middle East Committee; and the Committee for South Eastern Europe.[7]

Commission for a Sustainable World Society

The SI Commission for a Sustainable World Society was established by the Socialist International to articulate from the world of progressive politics a way forward to address global environmental concerns, climate change and the issues of governance required to deal with these common challenges. The Commission brings together leading personalities, among them serving and former heads of state and government ministers from different continents, to set out recommendations to tackle these fundamental issues, with a particular focus currently on supporting and contributing to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences and the global effort to reduce global warming.[8]

Commission on Global Financial Issues

The SI Commission on Global Financial Issues was established by the Socialist International to address from a social democratic perspective the ongoing global financial crisis. The Commission brings together political leaders, ministers and noted experts from all continents who are working to formulate a global progressive response to the crisis based on the principles of democratic due process and full transparency and consistent with the values of social justice and social solidarity.[9]

Missions and delegations

The Socialist International frequently sends missions and delegations to various countries and regions to help promote peaceful resolutions of conflicts and to support the strengthening of democracy, including through the observation of elections. In recent years such missions and delegations have visited on many occasions the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe.[10]

Consultative status with the United Nations

As a non-governmental organisation, the Socialist International has consultative status (Category I) with the United Nations, and works internationally with a large number of other organisations.[11]

Member parties

As of May 2013;[12]

Full Member Parties

Consultative parties

Observer parties

Fraternal organisations

Associated organisations

External links

References

  1. ↑ About
  2. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  3. ↑ [http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/forcing-change/010/11-socialist-international.htm The Grasp of Socialist International (SI) By William F. Jasper Forcing Change, Volume 4, Issue 11, January 11, 2011]
  4. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  5. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  6. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  7. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  8. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  9. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  10. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  11. ↑ SI About page, accessed May 1, 2013
  12. ↑ MEMBER PARTIES of the SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, May 2013
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