Second London Conference of Delegates of the First International in 1871

Secret conference of delegates of the International, held September 17–23, 1871 in London. After the defeat of the Paris Commune Uprising, the reactionaries in various countries started a counter-current of attacks against the International, and there were retreats and defections within the International. The Bakuninist elements intensified their conspiratorial activities against the International. In this emergency situation, the International could not hold a public congress and held a secret conference of delegates on the proposal of Engels.

The conference was attended by a total of 23 delegates from the General Council and from Belgium, Switzerland and Spain. Marx and Engels attended the meeting as corresponding secretaries for Germany and Italy, and Engels was elected secretary in charge of drawing up and translating the resolutions. The meeting mainly discussed the questions of political action and organization of the working class, and adopted the Resolution on Working Class Political Action drafted by Marx and Engels. Drawing on the experience of the Paris Commune, the resolution emphasized that the working class, in order to achieve the great mission of social revolution and abolition of classes, cannot act, as a class, except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opposed to, all old parties formed by the propertied classes. The conference also set forth the task of building (nation-state) proletarian parties. This conference had an important place in the history of Marxist party building and was of great significance in the international communist movement.

The Second London Conference of Delegates of the International also adopted resolutions on strengthening the organization and centralization of the International, condemned the conspiracy of the Bakunin group in Russia and dealt a severe blow to the separatist activities of the Bakuninists.