- Also called:
- Socialist International
- Date:
- 1889 - c. 1914
- Headquarters:
- Brussels
- Areas Of Involvement:
- organized labour
- Socialism
- trade union
Second International
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What was the Second International?
The Second International was an organization of socialist parties and trade unions that greatly influenced the labor movement in Europe from the late 19th century to the start of World War I. Founded in Paris in 1889, it differed from the First International by being a federation of national parties and trade unions, rather than a centralized body.
The Second International advocated for parliamentary democracy, opposed cooperation with nonsocialist parties, and reaffirmed the Marxist doctrine of class struggle. While it aimed to prevent a general European war, the International ultimately fractured when socialist parties in belligerent countries chose to support their national war efforts. After attempts to revive the Second International failed, those who remained loyal formed the Labour and Socialist International in 1923.
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When and why was the Second International founded?
The Second International was founded in Paris in 1889 at a congress intending to revive the International Working Men’s Association. It was a federation of socialist parties and trade unions that greatly influenced the ideology, policy, and methods of the European labour movement from the last decade of the 19th century to the beginning of World War I.
Unlike the First International, the Second International was based on the membership of national parties and trade unions only. It stood for parliamentary democracy, and, at its London Congress in 1896, it expelled the anarchists who opposed it. The International ultimately split when the socialist parties in belligerent countries supported their respective countries' war efforts during World War I.
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Which groups or countries were involved in the Second International?
The Second International, established in Paris in 1889, was a federation of socialist parties and trade unions that significantly shaped the European labor movement. Unlike the First International, membership was based on national parties and trade unions.
By 1912, the Second International included socialist and social democratic parties from all European countries, the United States, Canada, and Japan, representing nearly nine million voters. While it lacked mandatory power, member parties recognized it as their highest moral authority. The International stood for parliamentary democracy, excluding anarchists in 1896.
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What goals did the Second International aim to achieve?
The Second International, a federation of socialist parties and trade unions founded in Paris in 1889, aimed to influence the European labor movement's ideology, policy, and methods. It stood for parliamentary democracy, but expelled anarchists who opposed it. Despite rejecting the gradual achievement of socialism and cooperation with nonsocialist parties, the Second International reaffirmed the Marxist doctrine of class struggle and the inevitability of revolution. Its main concern was preventing a general European war, advocating for compulsory arbitration courts and disarmament. However, the power groupings in World War I presented a dilemma as socialist parties in belligerent countries supported their respective countries' war efforts, which split the International.
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How did the Second International influence workers’ rights and labor laws?
The Second International significantly shaped workers’ rights and labor laws by influencing the European labor movement's ideology, methods, and policies from the late 19th century to the start of World War I. Founded in Paris in 1889, it united socialist parties and trade unions, advocating for parliamentary democracy.
Although the Second International lacked mandatory power, it held moral authority among member parties. It reaffirmed the Marxist doctrine of class struggle, prioritized preventing a European war, pushed for compulsory arbitration courts, sought arms reduction, and, as stated in the resolution at the Stuttgart Congress of 1907, it urged parties in warring countries to leverage crises to promote social revolution.
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Why did the Second International eventually split or dissolve?
The Second International, a federation of socialist parties and trade unions, dissolved due to disagreements over World War I. While the International aimed to prevent a general European war, socialist parties in belligerent countries, with few exceptions, supported their nations' war efforts, leading to a split.
Those who remained loyal to the Second International joined with several national socialist parties in 1923 to form the Labour and Socialist International (LSI). However, the rise of Adolf Hitler and his subsequent conquests in 1940 destroyed most of its foundation in Europe, causing it to cease operations.
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Second International, federation of socialist parties and trade unions that greatly influenced the ideology, policy, and methods of the European labour movement from the last decade of the 19th century to the beginning of World War I.
The Second International was founded at a congress in Paris in 1889. Unlike the First International, it was based on the membership of national parties and trade unions only. It was not a centralized organization, like the first, but rather a loose federation that did not set up an executive body, the International Socialist Bureau, until 11 years after its foundation. Its headquarters was in Brussels, where the second congress of the International met in 1891. The congresses met in a number of cities at various intervals, not on a yearly basis. By 1912 the Second International represented the socialist and social democratic parties of all European countries, the United States, Canada, and Japan, with a voting strength of nearly nine million. Although it had no mandatory power, it was recognized by its member parties as their highest moral authority.
The Second International stood for parliamentary democracy and finally, at its London Congress in 1896, expelled from its ranks the anarchists, who opposed it. Yet, after much debate, the Second International rejected the theory of the gradual achievement of socialism and cooperation with nonsocialist parties in office, and it reaffirmed the Marxist doctrine of the class struggle and the inevitability of revolution. Its main concern, however, was the prevention of a general European war. After extended debate it rejected the use of a general strike to ward off the imminent danger of a general European war. It demanded the introduction of compulsory courts of arbitration for the settlement of disputes between nations; and the reduction of armaments with total disarmament as the ultimate aim. In a resolution drafted by Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, and L. Martov and adopted by its Stuttgart Congress in 1907, however, the International pledged its member parties in belligerent countries to use the social and economic crisis brought about by war to promote social revolution.
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The power groupings in World War I confronted the socialist parties in the belligerent countries with a dilemma. With the exception of the Serbian and Russian socialists, all such parties supported the war efforts of their respective countries. This situation split the International: a growing minority within these parties rebuked the majority for its desertion of the antiwar principles of the Second International. At a conference held in Zimmerwald, Switz., in 1915, these “Internationalists” called for an immediate cessation of the war and for peace negotiations based on the principle of “no annexations, no indemnities.” The minority socialists opposed to the war were themselves divided, however; a “left” group led by Lenin urged an effort to transform the imperialist war into a transnational class war and opposed a revival of the Second International, which had by then ceased to function.
In an attempt to reconstruct the Second International after the war, a commission of socialist leaders in the Allied countries convened a congress of the International at Geneva in 1920. When this congress met, however, only a small fraction of the prewar membership of the Second International attended. The rift in the international socialist movement, produced by dissensions over the war policy pursued by the majority of the socialist parties, and their hostility to the Bolshevik Revolution, which had aroused the sympathy of many workers, had destroyed the common ground for the reinstitution of the Second International.
In 1923 those who had remained loyal to the Second International joined with several national socialist parties to form the Labour and Socialist International (q.v.). This union of socialists opposed to the Soviet-dominated Third International (or Comintern) never attained the power and influence of the Second International, however, and Adolf Hitler’s conquests in 1940 destroyed most of its basis in Europe. After World War II the Socialist International (q.v.) was reinstituted in gradual stages culminating in its first postwar congress in 1951, in Frankfurt am Main, Ger.