Second International

The Second International was an association of socialist and labor parties founded in Paris in 1889. It coordinated international congresses and campaigns before splitting over World War I.

First International: The International Workingmen's Association, founded in 1864, brought together labor and socialist organizations across national borders. Its dissolution in 1876 left a gap that socialist organizers sought to fill.
International socialist congress: A gathering of socialist organizations from multiple countries to debate shared aims and coordinate political action. These congresses were the International's principal forum for debate and resolutions.
Clara Zetkin: A German socialist feminist, journalist, and organizer who advanced women's participation in the labor movement. She organized socialist women internationally and advocated women's suffrage and labor rights.
Reformism: A political strategy that seeks substantial social change through gradual reforms within existing institutions. Reformists favored parliamentary gains, provoking disputes with revolutionaries over the movement's aims.
World War I: A global war fought from 1914 to 1918, primarily between the Allied and Central Powers. Most major socialist parties supported wartime credits, breaking the International's commitment to oppose war.
Paris Congress of 1889: A socialist congress held in Paris in 1889, conventionally regarded as the founding congress of the Second International. Delegates established the organization during the centenary year of the French Revolution.
May Day: An annual workers' holiday observed on May 1, associated with labor rights and international solidarity. The International adopted May 1 as a day for coordinated demonstrations and the eight-hour-day campaign.
Rosa Luxemburg: A Polish-German Marxist theorist and revolutionary who opposed imperialism and criticized reformist gradualism. Her disputes with reformists and her opposition to the war exposed deep divisions in the movement.
Revolutionary socialism: A socialist tradition that seeks to replace capitalism through a fundamental political and social transformation. Its proponents rejected the gradual strategies favored by some member parties.
Zimmerwald Conference: A 1915 gathering of antiwar socialists in Switzerland who opposed the First World War. Its delegates sought international socialist cooperation after the Second International fractured.

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