The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 was not of much interest to Tsereteli initially. However, much like the rest of the population in the region he regularly read updates in the newspapers, and tried to ascertain what type of opposition to the war was occurring internationally; though most mentions of opposition movements was censored, Tsereteli concluded that something had to exist, and felt that the Second International, a Paris-based organization of socialist and labour parties, could play some role in ending the war. Tsereteli also engaged in discussion with other Social Democrats in the Irkutsk region on his views towards the war; they would all publish their thoughts in journals, Tsereteli including his ideas in a journal that he edited, "Siberian Journal" ("Сибирский Журнал", in Russian), later replaced by the "Siberian Review" ("Сибирское Обозрение"). This group would later be referred to as the Siberian Zimmerwaldists, a reference to the 1915 Zimmerwald Conference of international socialist groups.