International Group of Democratic Socialists


International Group of Democratic Socialists was a Stockholm-based discussion group and study circle of social democrats, active from 1942 to 1945. Participants included Willy Brandt, Alva Myrdal, Gunnar Myrdal and Bruno Kreisky. The group focused largely on discussions of rebuilding post-war Europe.

Formative stage

Foreign citizens were not allowed to engage in political activities in Sweden. However, in June 1942 a group of Norwegian exiles set up their study group in Stockholm. By October 1942 the couple Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal had joined the group. During its existence the International Group of Democratic Socialists gathered participants from 14 countries. As of 1942, it had some sixty members from different socialist parties from Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary. A working committee consisting of Hilding Färm, Inge Scheflo, Fritz Tarnow and Ernst Paul organized the meetings of the study group.

Peace committee

In November 1942 a committee was set up to elaborate a common peace plan for post-war Europe. Paul was the chairman of the committee, Brandt its secretary. Other members of the committee were Gunnar Myrdal, Ole Jödahl, Martin Tranmæl, Tarnow, Vilmos Böhm, István Szende, Jiří Jakerle, Maurycy Karniol, Jules Guesde and Bruno Kreisky. The International Group of Democratic Socialists hoped that peace in Europe would be achieved in different ways that the Treaty of Versailles, seeking to strengthen cooperation in post-war Europe.

Legacy

Through the participation in the study group Myrdal became a political mentor of sorts to Brandt and Kreisky, who went on to lead governments in Germany and Austria respectively.