History of the Second International (original) (raw)

International Socialist Congresses

1. 1889
1889 is generally considered as the first year of the Second International, though participants were split between two Congresses. There is a separate page for the two Congresses and the debates around them. One outcome was that May Day was declared as an international working-class holiday.

2. 1891 (Brussels)
The Marxist organising committee eventually decided to join the Possibilists in Brussels for the 1891 Congress. Eleanor Marx wrote the report for the British.

3. 1893 (Zürich) Engels was elected honorary president of International Socialist Congress, but died in 1895. The Congress established the International Metalworkers Federation, uniting metalworkers across the world to this day.

Report from Great Britain and Ireland by Eleanor Marx

4. 1896 (London) affirmed right of nations to self-determination and opposition to colonialism.

5. September 1900 (Paris) Established a standing International Socialist Bureau composed of representatives of the socialist parties of all countries, its secretariat to be in Brussels. At this Congress, there was a split within the 28-strong Russian delegation. Lenin cast his vote for Plekhanov as the Russian delegate to the International, against Krichevsky, one of the editors of Rabocheye Dyelo.

Some Reflections on the Paris Congress by E. Belfort Bax
A report in the International Socialist Review
Some Questions at the Paris Congress by Job Harriman
The first meeting of the International Socialist Committee, Brussels, December 30, 1901

In 1903, the Russian party split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
See the Stenographic Record of the Second Congress of the RSDLP.

6. 1904 (Amsterdam)

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago in June 1905, and over the next few years, the Social Democrats were active in a struggle against Anarcho-Syndicalism within the IWW.

7. August 1907 (Stuttgart), there were 884 delegates from 25 nations including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, the USA and one delegate from South Africa. The First International Conference of Socialist Women was held just prior to the opening of the Congress.

Resolution on Militarism
The International Socialist Women's Conference, Gerd Callesen [external link]
The First International Conference of Socialist Women, Alexandra Kollontai
Ruin of India by British Rule, Henry Hyndman
Emigration and Immigration, Boris Frumkin
Recent Progress of the Socialist and Labor Movements in the United States, Morris Hillquit [external link]
The Stuttgart Congress, A. M. Simons
Immigration at Stuttgart, Louis B. Boudin

The Fourth convention of the IWW in 1908 resulted in a split between “political actionists”, led by Daniel DeLeon of the SLP, and “direct actionists”, led by Vincent St. John and J.H. Walsh. DeLeon set up a rival “Detroit” IWW in opposition to the “Chicago” IWW who were opposed to participation in Parliament.

8. August 1910 (Copenhagen). Second International Conference of Socialist Women held prior to opening of Congress, set International Women's Day for March 8 every year.

The International Socialist Congress and the International Socialist Women's Conference (minutes and resolutions) [external link]
Report of Socialist Party of the United States [external link]
The Copenhagen Congress, Justice, 23 July 1910
The International Conference, Justice, 3 September 1910
The Copenhagen Congress, Harry Quelch, Justice, 10 September 1910
The Eighth International Socialist Congress, Emil Stultz and William E. Bohm

November 1912 Extraordinary Congress (Basel).

Manifesto (alternate translation)
The Basel Congress, J.H.W., Justice, 30 November 1912

1914 The final session of the International Socialist Bureau was held at Brussels on July 29, 1914 and “resolved unanimously that it shall be the duty of the workers of all nations concerned not only to continue but to further intensify their demonstrations against the war, for peace, and for the settlement of the Austro-Serbian conflict by international arbitration.” (the whole resolution)

10th International Socialist Congress in Vienna (cancelled). The congress was planned for the days between the 23 and 29 August 1914, but in July the Austrian Social Democratic Party had realized that because the threat of war had become imminent and because of the risk this would entail for the participants the congress could not be held in Vienna. Therefore the party suggested that the congress be held in another country. But the congress was never held as a result of the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914.

Imperialism and Arbitration Courts, report by Hugo Haase
Other documents (in German, French and English)

The Socialists and the War by William English Walling, 1915

1915 September (Zimmerwald, near Berne, Switzerland) organised opposition to the War.

1916 April (Kienthal) follow-up to Zimmerwald Conference.

1917 July-August (Stockholm) did not convene due to delegates being prevented from attending. Final meeting of Zimmerwald group at Stockholm.

1920 July-August 6th (Geneva), International Labour Office Report, October 14th, 1920

1922 April 2 The Second AND Third Internationals AND The Vienna Union, Official Report of the Conference between the Executives, held at the Reichstag, Berlin, on the 2nd April, 1922 and following days.