Ture Nerman - World War I and Zimmerwald

World War I and Zimmerwald

In November 1912, Nerman attended the special emergency convention of the Socialist International, which had been summoned to Basel in Switzerland, due to the outbreak of the Balkan Wars. At the convention, the leaders of all the European Socialist parties agreed to stand together internationally to prevent any future wars. With a united international working class, they stated, there could be no more wars.

Therefore, the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and the collapse of the Socialist International, came as a shock to Ture Nerman. Almost all the leaders of the European Socialist Parties suddenly sided with their bourgeoisie governments in support of the war, and turned against their former Socialist allies. Workers were killing workers on the battlefields.

But there were exceptions. His friend Karl Liebknecht stood alone in the Berlin Reichstag, and against 110 of his own Party members, when he voted against German war credits. Learning of Liebknecht's action, Ture Nerman knew which side he was on.

Together with his friend Zeth Höglund, Ture Nerman represented the Swedish-Norwegian members of the Zimmerwald Conference. It united the remaining international socialist anti-war movement, whose more prominent leaders were Vladimir Lenin, Grigory Zinoviev and Leon Trotsky from Russia, Robert Grimm from Switzerland, and Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht from Germany. Those two could not participate, but sent their greetings and support. Luxemburg was in jail for anti-war propaganda, while Liebknecht had been mobilized by the German military to dig trenches on the frontline. Returning to Sweden, Zeth Höglund was also sentenced to jail for his activities in the international anti-war movement, even though Sweden didn’t participate in the World War.