Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

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Friday 14 April 2023 16.30 - 18.30
F-12 LAB18 Socialism and Internationalism: Old and New Perspectives on the History of the Second International
B24
Networks: Labour , Politics, Citizenship, and Nations Chairs: Elisa Marcobelli, Lucas Poy
Organizers: Elisa Marcobelli, Lucas Poy Discussants: -
Natalie Behrends : The Riddle: the Second International and Jewish (Inter?)Nationalism
As the field of Second International history reawakens, an old specter raises its head: the ever-present issue of nationalist politics and nation-state structures in the rise and fall of this landmark socialist network, and in the shaping of its long legacy. Scholars have approached this tangled issue from several vantage ... (Show more)
As the field of Second International history reawakens, an old specter raises its head: the ever-present issue of nationalist politics and nation-state structures in the rise and fall of this landmark socialist network, and in the shaping of its long legacy. Scholars have approached this tangled issue from several vantage points, most notably that of militarism and the socialist anti-war movement, and as the field continues to grow, so do the possibilities for new approaches and new perspectives on socialism and nationalism in the Second International.
This paper examines the possibilities, challenges, and pitfalls of a deeper engagement in Second International history with scholarship on European migratory peripheries, and more specifically, on the various Jewish-oriented socialist and nationalist movements that existed on Europe’s fringes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is a deep literature in Jewish Studies on labor organization as well as a distinct but no less vital literature on Jewish nationalism in this early period; however, these two areas of interest struggle to communicate with each other, much less with the history of the Second International.
Any scholar of labor history or socialism is doubtless familiar with the robust body of work on Jewish labor organizations, not least of which was the formidable General Jewish Labor Bund. But beyond the Bund, there is a whole constellation of Jewish organizations that mixed socialism with nationalism to create unique ideologies of transnational nationhood, socialist self-determination, and separatist solidarity that profoundly influenced some of the Second International’s most important thinkers. What are historians of the Second International to make, for example, of Po’alei Zion, the diasporic Polish Jewish socialist territorialist party that united among its members Morris Hillquit, leader of the Socialist Party of America, with a young David Ben-Gurion? How do we explain the partnership between Labor Zionists and the Polish nationalist Polish Socialist Party in Russian and Austrian Poland, to the exclusion of Rosa Luxemburg’s Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania? What does the expansive Yiddish socialist press in the Americas, Europe, and Asia have to tell us about the spread of socialism in diasporic immigrant communities?
These issues and more present a vibrant frontier in the history of the Second International, as our understanding of this socialist network expand into areas previously neglected by scholars and introduces new variables into the history of socialism at the turn of the century. (Show less)

Kevin J. Callahan : The Practice of International Socialism: the Example of Austrian Socialist Victor Adler during the Second International, 1889-1914
Recent studies on the Second International (1889-1914) have moved away from the traditional historiography focused on socialist ideology and putative movement ineffectiveness and dysfunction. Instead, scholars have reassessed these claims, spotlighting how international socialism was able to forge at times an impressive social and cultural movement across Europe. ... (Show more)
Recent studies on the Second International (1889-1914) have moved away from the traditional historiography focused on socialist ideology and putative movement ineffectiveness and dysfunction. Instead, scholars have reassessed these claims, spotlighting how international socialism was able to forge at times an impressive social and cultural movement across Europe. This paper contributes to this trend by examining the practice of socialist internationalism as illustrated by the actions and speeches of the leader of Austrian socialism, Victor Adler.

Adler was unquestionably one of the most significant leaders of international socialism during the Second International. Yet, his role has been understudied and overshadowed by more well known individuals like August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, Jean Jaurès, Vladimir Lenin, Keir Hardie and the political theorists of Austro-Marxism.

This paper will reconstruct and analyze Adler’s activities at some of the most important sites where socialist internationalism was practiced and performed: international socialist congresses, the conferences of the International Socialist Bureau, and possibly other locations (for example, national party congresses, funerals, international demonstrations). As the leader of the multi-national Austrian social democratic party for over two decades (often dubbed the “Little International”), Adler was able to transfer his diplomatic skills in domestic politics to the international level. While sometimes expressing privately skepticism of the utility of international socialist events, Adler nonetheless championed the cause of socialist unity publicly.

Adler made indispensable contributions to the practice of socialist internationalism in multiple ways. Through his skill as a diplomat and mediator of ideological disputes, Adler was integral to the crafting of many of the Second International’s most important resolutions. As an effective spokesperson for international socialist solidarity, Adler delivered impactful speeches at socialist congresses and other international venues. Even amid centripetal forces within the Austrian social democratic party, Adler and his compatriots embraced the honor and responsibility to host the 10th international socialist congress scheduled for Vienna during the summer of 1914. In sum, the paper will show that Victor Adler was one of the Second International’s principal architects. (Show less)

Lorenzo Costaguta : Race, Colonialism and the Global Second International
For long, Eurocentrism has characterised the historiography of the Second International. Maintaining their focus on its main national actors and obsessing about specific historiographical riddles such as the alleged failure of the organisation in 1914, historians of the “golden age” of Second International literature ended up relegating large swathes of ... (Show more)
For long, Eurocentrism has characterised the historiography of the Second International. Maintaining their focus on its main national actors and obsessing about specific historiographical riddles such as the alleged failure of the organisation in 1914, historians of the “golden age” of Second International literature ended up relegating large swathes of the world to the fringes of their historiographical enquiry.

Incorporating global history and cultural studies approaches in the study of the Second International, a new wave of scholars is leaving the Eurocentric framework behind. My paper will contribute to this trend by critically reflecting on the use of the category of “race” to understanding the global spread of the Second International. Socialists rarely talked about race in itself. Instead, their racial ideologies filtered through in conversation on cognate issues, such as immigration, international politics and colonialism. Starting from an analysis of socialist debates on colonialism at the General Congresses of the International, my paper will contextualise socialist racial ideologies within the broader conversation on race of the period and will evaluate their impact in shaping the political trajectory of the International beyond Europe.
(Show less)

Jean-Numa Ducange : A Transnational Approach to French Socialism: the Case of Jean Jaurès (1859-1914)
In the history of the Second International, some great orators stand out. Among them we can mention Jean Jaurès, one of the great figures of French socialism. Jaurès has been much studied by French historians since the 1980s. But he has been mostly considered in a national framework, through the ... (Show more)
In the history of the Second International, some great orators stand out. Among them we can mention Jean Jaurès, one of the great figures of French socialism. Jaurès has been much studied by French historians since the 1980s. But he has been mostly considered in a national framework, through the prism of issues related to French politics without taking into account - or too little - the multiple interactions between Jaurès and international socialism.
We will show the way in which Jaurès, while being very much anchored in French republicanism, developed a socialist thought and practice that resulted from multiple transnational interactions. Among the points addressed, we will notably deal with his relations with the multiple European socialists (in particular with the German-speaking countries). We will first reconstruct his international networks, especially the correspondents of his newspaper L'Humanité (a study that has never been done before). We will then compare Jaurès with other international networks (notably with those of Jules Guesde, the introducer of Marxism
in France, or Edouard Vaillant, a former member of the Paris Commune). Particular attention will be paid to colonial and imperial questions, which were of increasing concern to international socialism between 1905 and 1913. We will also return to the original attempt to define a "French-style Marxism" (« marxisme à la française ») that deeply marked the French left. We will conclude our paper with a broader reflection on the international anchorage of French socialism and its particularities (heritage of the French revolution, impregnation of German and then Russian Marxism, mutations of republicanism). (Show less)



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