Zurich Resolution (1893)
취리히 결의 (1893)
The resolution on conditions of admission adopted by the Zurich congress of the Second International in 1893. It admitted all trade unions and only those socialist parties that "recognize the necessity of the organization of the workers and of political action", in effect excluding anarchists, who rejected political action. The London congress of 1896 reaffirmed it.
In depth
The organisers of the Brussels congress of 1891 had already invited only parties that recognised political action, yet anarchists and German Social Democratic dissidents still turned up and disrupted proceedings. Right after the Zurich congress opened in August 1893, before deliberations began, it voted on the conditions of admission on the motion of August Bebel. The resolution defined political action as using political rights and the legislative machinery to advance the interests of the proletariat and to conquer political power. After angry debate Gustav Landauer and other German anarchist delegates were removed by force.
The London congress of 1896 reaffirmed the resolution at its opening session by a vote of national delegations: seventeen for, France (57 to 56) and the Netherlands (9 to 5) against, Italy abstaining. Keir Hardie and Tom Mann of the British Independent Labour Party opposed it as pushing out socialists who put action outside parliament first. The congress laid down that the next congress would invite only organisations accepting legislative and parliamentary action, and that "consequently anarchists are excluded." With that, socialism and anarchism parted completely as organisations.