Heterogeneity of Ideas in Organized International Labor Movement

Abstract

Examined are the elements within the Social Democratic movement that, although still in their rudimentary phase, already indicated its internal rift. A condition sine qua non for a deeper understanding of the movement, they concern a number of topics: heterogeneity of principal ideas within the First International; clarification of different ideas in German Social Democracy; organizational differences within the labor movement during the First and the Second Internationals; understanding of the concept of internationalism; and revision (“the crisis”) of “official” Marxism at the end of the 19th century. This deep upheaval commenced a heated theoretical debate on whether the best way to attain socialism was by revolution or, perhaps, by thorough reform, and paved the way to the differentiation of the entire concept of the social democratic movement on national as well as international levels. The result was the birth of three separate political fractions, the right, the left, and the center.