Forging Socialist Internationalism: The Adler-Vandervelde Dynamic of the Second International, 1900–1907

Abstract Historians of the Second International have researched extensively the differences among and within member parties in terms of tactics, ideology, and national circumstances. This article illustrates the practice of socialist internationalism by examining how Austrian Victor Adler and Belgian Emile Vandervelde were able to mediate those differences through carefully crafted congress resolutions on three of the most important issues – ministerialism, socialist revisionism, and international conflicts – at the 1900 Paris, 1904 Amsterdam, and 1907 Stuttgart international socialist congresses. Both leaders played vital and complementary roles – the Adler-Vandervelde dynamic – elevating their effectiveness in forging socialist unity primarily between French and German socialism.