Part of a series on Socialism
Currents Marxist Socialism Scientific socialism Democratic socialism Libertarian socialism– Mutualism Market socialism – State socialism Utopian socialism– Communism Socialist anarchism– Syndicalism Social democracy Revolutionary socialism Green socialism– Guild socialism 21st century socialism Agrarian socialism
Key topics and issues Types History Economics State Criticisms
Concepts Economic planning– Free association Equality of opportunity Direct democracy Adhocracy– Technocracy Autogestion– Economic democracy Public ownership– Common ownership Social dividend– Basic income Production for use Calculation in kind– Labour voucher
People Charles Hall– Henri de Saint-Simon Robert Owen– Charles Fourier William Thompson Thomas Hodgskin – Louis Blanc – Moses Hess– Karl Marx Friedrich Engels– William Morris– Mary Harris Jones Daniel De Leon– Eugene V. Debs John Dewey – Ben Tillett Bertrand Russell – Josip Broz Tito
Organizations First International (International Workingmen's Association) Second International Third International (Comintern) Fourth International Socialist International World Federation of Democratic Youth International Union of Socialist Youth World Socialist Movement
Religious socialism Buddhist– Christian Islamic– Jewish left
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Related topics Class struggle– Democracy Dictatorship of the proletariat Egalitarianism– Equality of outcome Impossibilism– Internationalism State-owned enterprise Left-wing politics– Marxism Mixed economy– Nationalization Socialization of production– Planned economy Proletarian revolution Reformism– Socialism in One Country Socialist market economy Post-capitalism– Trade union Mode of production
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The Second International (1889–1916) was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated.^[1] It continued the work of the dissolved First International, though excluding the still-powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement and unions, and was in existence until 1916.

Among the Second International's famous actions were its (1889) declaration of May 1 as International Workers' Day and its (1910) declaration of March 8 as International Women's Day. It initiated the international campaign for the 8-hour working day.^[2]

The International's permanent executive and information body was the International Socialist Bureau (ISB), based in Brussels and formed after the International's Paris Congress of 1900. Emile Vandervelde and Camille Huysmans of the Belgian Labour Party were its chair and secretary. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a member from 1905.

The Second International dissolved during World War I, in 1916, as the separate national parties that composed it did not maintain a unified front against the war, instead generally supporting their respective nations' role. French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) leader Jean Jaurs's assassination, a few days before the beginning of the war, symbolized the failure of the antimilitarist doctrine of the Second International. In 1915, at the Zimmerwald Conference, anti-war socialists attempted to maintain international unity against the social patriotism of the social democratic leaders. The International continued in skeleton form in neutral Switzerland through the war, as the Berne International.

In 1920, the defunct Second International was reorganized. However, some European socialist parties refused to join the reorganized international, and decided instead to form the International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP) ("Second and a half International" or "Two-and-a-half International"), heavily influenced by Austromarxism. In 1923, IWUSP and the Second International merged to form the social democratic Labour and Socialist International. This international continued to exist until 1940. After World War II, the Socialist International was formed to continue the policies of the Labour and Socialist International, and it continues to this day.

[edit] Congresses of the Second International

1. 1889: International Workers Congresses of Paris, 1889
2. 1891: International Socialist Labor Congress of Brussels, 1891
3. 1893: Zurich Socialist and Labor Congress, 1893
4. 1896: International Socialist Workers and Trade Union Congress, London 1896
5. 1900: International Socialist Congress, Paris 1900
6. 1904: International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904
7. 1907: International Socialist Congress, Stuttgart 1907
8. 1910: Copenhagen
9. 1912: Basel (Extraordinary Congress)

[edit] Prominent members of the Second International by country

[edit] Latin America

In Latin America, the International had two affiliates; the Socialist Party of Argentina and the Socialist Party of Uruguay.^[3]

[edit] See also

• First International
• Socialist International
• International Working Union of Socialist Parties ("Second and a half international"/"Two-and-a-half International")
• Third International (Comintern)
• Fourth International and Trotskyist internationals
• Section Franaise de l'Internationale Ouvrire (SFIO, the French section of the Second International)
• Fifth International

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Second International, at Marxists.org
• History of the Second International (in French and English)
• German social-democratic party and the Second International by Fractal-vortex