Second International

International joint organization of socialist parties and workers' groups in various countries established after the First International. Headquartered in Brussels.

On July 14, 1889, at the 100th anniversary of the French people’s conquest of Bastille prison, with the great contribution of Engels, representatives of socialist political parties and unionists from Germany and France convened the “International Socialist Workers’ Congress” in Paris. 393 delegates from 22 countries participated in the conference and elected a 27-member Bureau of the Congress, including Wilhelm Liebknecht, August Bebel, Paul Lafargue, and Édouard Vaillant. The Congress discussed the international labor conditions legislation and the tasks of the political and economic struggle of the working class, and adopted the “Labor Bill” and the “May Day Bill”. The Congress also proclaimed the establishment of the Second International.

The Second International was founded during the transition period from free competition to monopoly capitalism, i.e. imperialism, which appeared after a period of peaceful development of capitalism. The working classes in Europe and America were committed to building political parties on the scale of the nation-state, gathering and training the strength of their class, and their activities were mainly based on legal struggle. In order to adapt to the characteristics of this historical period, the central organ of the Second International was not organized as a body to lead the parties of all countries, it mainly concluded decisions by holding regular international congresses and free discussions among the parties on the basis of equal footing. In 1900, the Standing Committee of the International Bureau of Socialist Parties (by 1905, the name was changed to as the Executive Committee of the International Bureau of Socialist Parties) was established at the Paris Congress, which consisted of one (later two) representative entrusted by the political Parties of various countries. It was only in 1907 that the International Socialist Congress at the Stuttgart congress the formal constitution of the organization was adopted.

The activities of the Second International are generally divided into the early stage and the later stage, i.e., the period before and after 1900. In the early stage of the establishment of the Second International, under the guidance and care of Engels, fundamentally the Marxist line was carried out. The second (Brussels, 1891), the third (Zurich, 1893) and the fourth (London, 1896) Congresses adopted resolutions on labor wages, working hours and labor protection laws, political and economic struggles, abolition of the standing army and the introduction of universal armament by the whole people, issued resolutions that opposed to war and militarism, colonialism and colonial wars, implementation of national self-determination, and also resolutions on trade unions, peasant and land issues, and women, so forth. In particular, the resolution of the organization on May 1st International Labor Day promoted the development of the workers’ movement in Europe and the United States, promoted the legal struggles of socialist political parties in Europe and the United States and the international solidarity of trade unions in various countries, and helped the dissemination of Marxism more widely.

The Paris Congress in September 1900, the Amsterdam Congress in August 1904, the Stuttgart Congress in August 1907, the Copenhagen Congress in August 1910, and the Basle Congress in November 1912 adopted resolutions on the conquest of political power, participation at bourgeois-led governments, the international unity of the working classes, international co-operation among the trade unions and co-operatives, and anti-colonial policies and also resolutions against militarism and imperialist war. In particular, the anti-militarist resolution adopted by the Stuttgart Congress and the anti-war declaration of the Basle Congress have played a great role in mobilizing the peace struggle of the working class in Europe and the United States.

After Engels’ death in 1895, due to the rapid growth of opportunism within the Social Democrat parties of various countries, the ranks of the Second International gradually split into three groups: the left represented by Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht in Germany; the right faction led by Bernstein, which obviously “revised” Marxism; and the middle-roader group led by Kautsky, dressed under the cloak of “orthodox” Marxism, which supported the right and opposed the left. The revisionists led by Bernstein and Kautsky usurped the leadership of the Second International and pursued the revisionist lines and policies. The Russian Bolshevik Party headed by Lenin united the left-wing forces within the socialist parties of all countries, held high the banner of Marxism and proletarian internationalism, and fought against the revisionism within the Second International.

The Second International promoted the development of the international socialist movement, helped the passage of the socialist movement to the whole world, from Western Europe and North America to Eastern Europe, Latin America and East Asia. The socialist parties of the Second International in various countries realized diverse achievements including the widespread dissemination of Marxism, carrying out legal economic and political struggles, safeguarding the vital interests of the workers, as well as achievements in opposing internal “Left” and Right erroneous tendencies. However, in the period of the Second International, due to the inadequacy and deficiency its fight against opportunist trends, reformism, and revisionism have fermented and gained upper hand in the leadership organs of some major political parties. With the outbreak of World War I, most of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party of the Second International degenerated into social chauvinists and actively supported the imperialist war, stood at the side of their own governments. Apart from Liebknecht’s vote against the military budget when it was deliberated by the German Parliament in December 1914, opportunist leaders in all countries voted in favor of the military budgets and war funding demanded by their governments, even some leaders served as the ministers of the bourgeois governments, consequently Second International finally went bankrupt. In 1923, the Second International was reorganized as the Labor and Socialist International, which was dissolved in 1940.