The International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP; also known as the 2½ International or the Vienna International; german: Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialistischer Parteien, IASP) was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties.

History

The IWUSP was founded on February 27, 1921, at a conference in Vienna, Austria, by ten parties, including the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

(SFIO), the Independent Labour Party (ILP), the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SPS), the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ), and the Federation of Romanian Socialist Parties (FPSR, created by splinter groups of the Socialist Party of Romania). In April 1921, it was joined by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. The Maximalist faction of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) also joined.

Members

The secretary of the IWUSP was the Austrian Friedrich Adler of the SPÖ; other prominent members were Otto Bauer and

Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the closes ...

. The group was heavily influenced by Austromarxism. It published ''Nachrichten der Internationalen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialistischer Parteien'' ("News of the IWUSP"). Poale Zion ( labour Zionist) leaders David Ben-Gurion and Shlomo Kaplansky were active in the movement behind the Two and a Half International.

Ideology

The founders of the IWUSP were parties that saw neither the reformist Second International nor the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and pro- Soviet Third International as alternatives for affiliation. The IWUSP criticized the other two Internationals for what it perceived to be dogmatism, and advocated that more consideration should be given to the particularities of the political situation in each country. It worked for the unification of the Second and Third Internationals. From April 2 to April 5 1922 the Conference of the Three Internationals was held in Berlin with delegations from the three different international bodies to discuss a merger, but unity was not achieved and the Comintern withdrew from the talks.

Dissolution

In Germany on September 24, 1922, the USPD, one of the main components of the IWUSP, merged with the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

(SPD), a member of the

Berne International The Berne International was a Socialist International formed in Berne, Switzerland 3–9 February 1919. Its goal was to re-establish the Second International. However it did not support world revolution and rejected involvement with the Commun ...

. Discouraged by the intransigent position of the Third International, the Second International and the IWUSP merged to form the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI; german: Sozialistische Arbeiter-Internationale, label=German, SAI) was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a me ...

(LSI) at a joint congress in Hamburg in May 1923. Some, such as the FPSR, refused to join the new body. In the 1930s, a similar effort was made to create an international between the reformism of the Second and the

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

of the Third, as the London Bureau of left-wing socialist parties. Sometimes called the "Three-and-a-Half International", it involved many of the same parties.

References

External links

Archive of the International Working Union of Socialist Parties
* ttps://archive.org/details/TheSecondAndThirdInternationalsAndTheViennaUnion ''The Second and Third Internationals and the Vienna Union'' The proceedings of the Berlin conference {{Authority control Socialism History of socialism Left-wing internationals Political parties established in 1921 1923 disestablishments