Second Brussels Congress of the Second International in 1891

The Second Congress of the Second International, held August 16–22, 1891, in Brussels, Belgium. Attended by 380 delegates from 15 countries, the theme of the Congress remained the programme of action and tactics of the workers' movement, after thwarting another attempt by the Possibilists to usurp the leadership of the Second International.

The Congress first discussed the question of labor legislation, which had been the subject of a resolution at the previous Congress, and since no government had met the demands of the working class in accordance with labor legislation for two years, the Brussels Congress once again put forward the demands for the introduction of labor legislation, and called upon the proletariat in all countries to fight for the realization of the resolution of the 1889 Paris Congress.

Another central question discussed at the Congress was that of militarism, which was already looming on the horizon. Wilhelm Liebknecht made a long speech at the Congress, which adopted a corresponding resolution, pointed out that “militarism is directly connected with the capitalist system” and called on “to protest, by means of unceasing agitation, against all desires for war and against the alliances that favor such, and to hasten, by the development of the international organization of the proletariat, the triumph of socialism”. The Congress also discussed the question of the First of May, International Labor Day, the question of anti-Semitism, the woman question, the question of piecework, the question of strikes and boycotts, and the question of the organization of seafaring workers, etc., and made a number of valuable resolutions reflecting the tendency of the Second International at that time to focus on the economic struggle.

Engels wrote several times to Lafargue, suggesting that he should attend the congress in person to put the initiative in the hands of the Marxists, and commented positively on the outcome of the congress: This time, “in matters of principle as of tactics the Marxists have been victorious all along the line”.