The ARF’s relations with the Socialist International go back as far when the ARF initiated the propagation of the Armenian Question in the European circles, that is, around the mid 1890’s.
In 1896, ARF-Dashnaktsutiune’s Western Bureau1 forwarded to the Socialist International its first report-memorandum expounding the organization’s structure, ideological principles and activities. It should be noted that the ARF was founded 1890, a year after the establishment of the Socialist International.
The campaign for “European Propaganda” by Kristapor Mikayelian2, organized in 1900, intensified the rapport and cooperation between the Socialist International and the ARF.
In 1907, the ARF Fourth World Congress submitted, along with the new party program, an application of membership to the Socialist International Bureau in Brussels. The same year, the ARF Eastern Bureau3 region participated in the Socialist Congress of Stuttgart as a member of the Pan-Russian section, and presented a report on the ARF’s activities since its founding.
The Stuttgart Congress avoided the creation of a separate Armenian section, and instead provided for the participation of the ARF within the Pan-Russian section. At the same Congress, the ARF Western region’s participation was also raised and a decision was postponed.
Later that year, the International’s Bureau decided, that instead of a separate Armenian section within the International, the ARF would act as the representative of the Transcaucasian (Eastern) Armenian national section, at the same time it would also become the representative of the Western Armenian subsection.
NOTES
1 Responsible for the ARF organization in the Ottoman Empire.
2 One of the main founders of the ARF
3 Responsible for the ARF organization in the Transcaucasus.
ARF News
May 1996, Volume 1.3(3)
