First International Syndicalist Congress - Results

Results

In the end, only two out of the nine topics on the agenda, were discussed, the declaration of principles and the creation of an international body. Yet, all participants of the 1913 congress in London considered it a success, with the notable exception of the Italian Alceste De Ambris. He criticized the voting system and the choice for the Netherlands as the seat of the Information Bureau. The others unanimously applauded the congress's results. Christiaan Cornelissen was confident this was the first step to a new labor International. The German Einigkeit noted that the congress had accomplished the tasks set out in Fritz Kater's opening address. The Spanish delegate and Guy Bowman both viewed the meeting as a historic event. Mans of the syndicalists viewed the formation of the Bureau as the biggest accomplishment, some even claiming that there was no real difference between it and an International. The Argentinian FORA even named it a "purely worker and antistatist" International.

The French syndicalists and the reformists were more critical of the congress. The British Socialist Party's journal Justice labeled the declaration of principles "a strange mixture of Socialism and Anarchism", while the organ of the German Free Trade Unions claimed it "contains nothing but trite phrases". The congress itself, the German socialists declared, was "unquestionably a complete fiasco". Meanwhile, in his report for La Vie Ouvrière, Alfred Rosmer said the declaration of principles lacked clarity, predicted only the Germans, Dutch, and Swedish would truly adhere to the Information Bureau, and attributed the failure of the congress to both its poor preparation and to the different views between the delegates.

In early 1914, the Dutch group established a permanent committee for the International Syndicalist Information Bureau. On March 22, Cornelissen terminated his own publication of the Bulletin international du mouvement syndicaliste. From there on, it was published in the Bureau's name, though Cornelissen continued to take care of most of the editorial duties. However, neither the Bureau nor the periodical lasted for long. After World War I broke out in August 1914, both had to be canceled.

After the First World War, the goal of a syndicalist International was indeed realized. The International Working Men's Association was formed in 1923. Its founding congress in Berlin made reference to the 1913 First International Syndicalist Congress as its predecessor. Though all major British newspapers reported on the First International Syndicalist Congress at the time, it has received little treatment since.