Second International

The Second International (1889–1916) was an organization created on July 14, 1889, by socialist and labour parties who wanted to work together for international socialism. It continued the work of the First International, which stopped being an organization in 1886. However, it did not include the still-powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement and trade unions.

Among the Second International's most famous actions were its 1889 declaration of May 1 as International Labor Day and its 1910 declaration of March 8 as International Women's Day.

The International's permanent executive and information body was the International Socialist Bureau (ISB). It was located 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 Lenin was a member from 1905. Dadabhai Nauroji attended its Paris commune in 1906.

Second International Media

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  Édouard Vaillant, Communard turned Socialist Deputee.

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  Seated portrait of the Marxist theorist Georgi Plekhanov, circa 1900s

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  The Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes in Paris, site of the founding congress of the Second International

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  Members of the International at the 1893 Zurich Congress, including Clara Zetkin, Friedrich Engels, August Bebel, and Eduard Bernstein

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  Delegates at the Amsterdam Congress of 1904

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  Austrian Social-Democrat Victor Adler (1852-1918)

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  Portrait of Rosa Luxemburg.

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  Delegates at the 1907 Stuttgart Congress

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  Portrait bust of Keir Hardie, a Scottish trade unionist and a founder of the UK Labour Party. Glass negative, 8 x 10 in. *Text on image (all capitals in original, removed from restoration) [Upper left]: Keir Hardie*Copyright 1909 by*Geo. Grantham Bain*[Upper right]: 211-2*[Lower left]: Copyright 1909 by*Geo. Grantham Bain