Organizational and Ideological and Political Changes in the International Labour Movement Before and During the First World War

Abstract

The features of the creation and activities of international left associations in the first third of the XXth century are analyzed, the features of the activities of the Second International on the eve andduring the First World War are clarified, the ideological contradictions between the Social Democratic parties in this period are characterized. The reasons for the splits in the Second International are highlighted; the processes that preceded the formation of the Third International (Communist International) and the Workers’ Socialist International are characterized. The reasons for the separation in the Second International, the processes of the formation of the Third International (Communist International) and the Workers’ Socialist International are investigated, and the organizational structures of the Comintern and the Workers’ Socialist International are compared. It is noted that after the October Revolution in Russia, the Bolsheviks increasingly influenced the world left movement. Promoting the ideas of the socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, at the initiative of V. Lenin, they formed the Third International, uniting the communist parties. After the formation of the Comintern, a number of left-wing socialist parties severed relations with the International. The centrist parties rejected the conditions of the Bolsheviks, since the mid-1920s. They united around two centers: the Second International (London) and the Vienna 2½ International.