Fourth London Congress of the Second International 1896

Congress of the Second International held July 27 to August 1, 1896 in London, England. The Congress was attended by 535 delegates from 18 countries. The main agenda of the congress was the political and economic struggle of the working class. The resolution of the congress on the “political action of the working class”, in which the struggle for universal suffrage and participation in the legislative and executive activities of the state organs were mentioned as important means of fighting for their own emancipation, reflected the superstitious belief of the majority party in bourgeois democracy and parliamentary elections.

In the light of the frantic division of the world by the capitalist powers, the Congress took up the question of colonies in a timely manner and adopted a resolution condemning colonialism, pointing out that “whatever the pretext—whether it be religious or in the interests of so-called civilization—colonial extension is only another name for the extension of the area of capitalist exploitation in the exclusive interests of the capitalist class.” It declared that socialists are “in favor of the full autonomy of all nationalities”, and called on the workers of all countries (including colonized peoples) to unite in the struggle to defeat international capitalism and achieve the goals of the Social Democratic Party.

In its resolution on the economic struggle of the working class, the Congress, anticipating the adverse effects of the growth of monopolies on the proletariat, put forward the struggle of the working masses for the communization of the means of production and called upon workers all over the world to “urge definite measures of socialization, nationalization, and communization in their respective countries”. This “can only be achieved if the working the working class is the dominating political power”. The Congress discussed the agrarian question in the light of the resolution of the Zurich Congress. It stated that the growing catastrophe brought by capitalism to the peasants would be finally eliminated only in a socialist society, but did not deal with attitudes and policies on how to deal with the question of the peasants.

From the discussions and resolutions adopted at this Congress, it is clear that the right-leaning opportunist tendencies hidden within the Second International have begun to rise.