Second International

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Second International

Founded 14 July 1889
Dissolved 1916
Preceded by International Workingmen's Association
Succeeded by Communist International (internationalists)
Labour and Socialist International (opportunists)
Political orientation Socialism
Marxism
Revisionism (later)
Social-imperialism (later)
Opportunism (later)
Social-chauvinism (later)

The Second International was an international organization founded in 1889 which was initially composed of socialist and workers' parties. It succeeded the International Workingmen's Association following its split and dissolution. The Second International would fall under revisionist and social-imperialist influence by the beginning of the First World War in 1914, when multiple member parties betrayed internationalist principles and supported the imperialist aggression of their home countries along with adopting reformist stances.[1]

The remaining revolutionary and anti-imperialist parties within the International, under the guidance of the Bolsheviks, organized and held what would become known as the Zimmerwald Conference in 1915. The attending parties of the Zimmerwald Conference called for opposition to the imperialist war and slaughter of workers, yet were opposed by the social-chauvinist and revisionist organizations of the International. By 1916, the Second International had collapsed following a split between the internationalists and social-chauvinists and the revolutionary parties would go on the form the Communist International in 1919.[2]

See also

References

  1. Vladimir Lenin (1914). The Position and Tasks of the Socialist International. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.
  2. Vladimir Lenin (1915). The Collapse of the Second International. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.