The Second Congress of the Communist League

The second congress of the Communist League that took place at the conference hall of the German Workers’ Educational Association in London, England, from November 29 to December 8, 1847. The Congress was attended by delegates from Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Belgium among others. Marx and Engels represented the League organizations in Brussels and Paris, respectively, and Karl Schapper was elected chairman of the Congress, and Engels its secretary.

The main task of the Congress was to discuss and revise the theoretical programme of the Communist League. The Congress also approved the new constitution, Rules of the Communist League, as revised by Marx. Article 1 stated: “The aim of the league is the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the rule of the proletariat, the abolition of the old bourgeois society which rests on the antagonism of classes, and the foundation of a new society without classes and without private property.” The constitution stipulated the “conditions of membership” and “the organizational structure of the League”, thus establishing the League as an “advanced communist party” in embryonic form.

The important topic of the Congress was the formulation of the League programme. Prior to this, Marx and Engels had conducted many studies on the guiding ideas, central contents and basic framework of the programme. At this Congress, they further elaborated a series of basic views on scientific socialism, which won the approval of the majority of the delegates present. The Congress discussed Engels’ The Principles of Communism and commissioned Marx and Engels to jointly draw up a programmatic document ready for public release. Marx and Engels assimilated the basic theses of the The Principles of Communism and wrote The Communist Manifesto. In February 1848, this programme was published in London, in German under the title Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei.

As the official programme of the Communists, The Communist Manifesto is the first programmatic document of scientific socialism and the first “detailed theoretical and practical programme” of the international communist movement. The establishment of the Communist League and the publication of The Communist Manifesto marked the rise of the international communist movement and the official birth of Marxism.