Fifth Paris Congress of the Second International in 1900

Congress of the Second International held September 23–27, 1900 in Paris, France. It was attended by 791 delegates from 21 countries. The congress had as many as 12 items on its agenda, but the participation of the French Socialist Millerand in the bourgeois government (“Millerand Affair”) was the center of discussion. The congress centered on a heated debate about how socialists should treat bourgeois governments. The Leftists, led by Guesde, advocated condemning and sanctioning Millerand's treason and forbidding participation in a bourgeois government. The Rightists, led by Jaurès, advocated cooperation between the Socialist Party and the bourgeois parties, and defended Millerand's entry into the Cabinet as a tactic of class cooperation and “peaceful” “conquest of political power”. On the other hand, the centrists, led by Kautsky, took a conciliatory stance. In the resolution drafted by Kautsky (known as the “Kautschuk Resolution” [“Rubber Resolution”]), he claimed that Millerand's entry into the Cabinet was a question of tactics and not of principle, and that there was no need to discuss it at the International Congress. By adopting Kautsky's resolution by a vote (29:9), the Congress practically condoned treason against the working class and lent credence to the anti-Marxist activities of revisionists.

The Congress also adopted a resolution on “municipal socialism”, which carried over Bernstein's notes into the theoretical foundations of socialism, and moved closer to the bourgeoisie in economic policy. After the Congress, revisionism began to dominate the Second International. The Congress also discussed the question of world peace and militarism and adopted the corresponding resolution on the basis of Rosa Luxemburg's report, inheriting the correct position of the previous congresses on this question. The Congress also discussed the organization of the Second International and decided to set up an International Socialist Bureau (ISB) as the supreme organizational organ of the International. However, the International Socialist Bureau was only a “mailbox” type of organization and did not play a leading role in the international workers' movement.