Fifth International Explained

The phrase Fifth International refers to the efforts made by groups of socialists and communists to create a new workers' international.

Previous internationals

There have been several previous international workers' organisations, and the call for a Fifth International presupposes the recognition of four in particular, each of which regarded itself as the successor to the previous ones:

1. The "First International", known as the "International Workingmen's Association", founded in London in 1864.
2. The "Second International", founded in 1889 after the expulsion of anarchists from the First International, worked until its subsequent dissolution in 1916. The Second International was a direct ancestor of the Socialist International, an international organization of mainstream social democratic political parties.
3. The "Third International", known as the Communist International or "Comintern", founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1919 after the failure of the Second International at the start of World War I. The group was dissolved in 1943.
4. The "Fourth International", founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky in opposition to Stalinism. Trotsky considered the Comintern to be irreformable and to have crossed over to counter-revolution under the control of a bureaucratic elite in the Soviet Union.

Although it still exists, the fragmentation of Trotskyism has resulted in the call for a fifth international.

Calls for a Fifth International

In November 1938, two months after the founding congress of the Fourth International, seven members of the Spanish Workers' Party of Marxist Unification on trial in Barcelona declared their support for a "fighting Fifth International".^[1] The Argentine Trotskyist called for a Fifth International when he broke from Trotskyism in 1941.^[2] Another call for a Fifth International was made by Lyndon LaRouche after leaving the Spartacist League in 1965.^[3] Later, a "Fifth International of Communists" was founded in 1994 by several small former Trotskyist groups around the Movement for a Socialist Future.

League for the Fifth International

In 2003, the League for a Revolutionary Communist International called for the formation of the Fifth International "as soon as possible – not in the distant future but in the months and years ahead".^[4] The group became the League for the Fifth International (L5I), which as of 2010 has sections in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (the Socialist Party of Sri Lanka), Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is "an organization of communists and Trotskyists".^[4] The League for the Fifth International campaigns in the European Social Forum and the international labour movement for the formation of a new International. Splinter group the Communist Workers' Group in New Zealand also argues for a Fifth International.

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez announced in 2007 that he would seek to create a new international: "2008 could be a good time to convoke a meeting of left parties in Latin America to organise a new international, an organisation of parties and movements of the left in Latin America and the Caribbean".^{[5] [6]}

The League for the Fifth International critically supported the proposal.^[7]

In popular culture

Poet Allen Ginsberg mentions a Fifth International in "Footnote to Howl", the final part of his poem "Howl".^[8]

The card game Illuminati by Steve Jackson Games features the Fifth International as a "communist" and "conservative" group.^{[9] [10]}

In the novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein while discussing the different political ideologies of Professor de la Paz, Wyoming Knott, and Manuel O'Kelly-Davis as they attempted to design a revolution that would work to free Luna from Luna Authority control. The character Wyoming Knott identified herself as a Fifth Internationalist but stated she was "no Marxist".

See also

• International Communist Seminar
• International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
• São Paulo Forum

Left-wing InternationalsChronologically by ideology:

United left wing

• International Workingmen's Association, the First International (1864–1876)

Anarchist

• International Anarchist Congresses: at first with the 1st International; followed by:
  • International Working People's Association, sometimes known as the "Black" International (1881-1887); anarchist
  • International Workers' Association – Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores IWA–AIT (est. 1922) and the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA; est. 1968), with several spin-offs: Libertarian Communist International (est. 1954), Anarchist International Conference (est. 1958), International Libertarian Solidarity (SIL/ILS) network (est. 2001)

Socialist & labour

• Second International (1889–1916), socialist and labour
• Berne International (est. 1919), socialist
• International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP), aka 2½ International or Vienna International, founded by Austro-Marxists (1921-1923)
• Labour and Socialist International (1923-1940), created by merger of Vienna and Berne Internationals

Communist

• Communist International, aka Third International or Comintern (1919-1943)

Trotskyist

• Fourth International (1938-1953 schism) led by the International Secretariat (ISFI); followed by Trotskyist internationals.
• Fourth International (post-reunification) (since 1963), by reunification of ISFI and parts of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

Democratic socialism

• Socialist International (est. 1951)

Reunification efforts

• Fifth International, phrase referring to socialist and communist groups aspiring to create a new workers' international

Notes and References

1. During the trial Poum defendants stressed that, while they 'admired Trotsky,' they regarded his Fourth International as too academic and favored a fighting Fifth International. . Foreign News: Trotskyists Liquidated . https://web.archive.org/web/20071001003237/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788849,00.html . 1 October 2007 . . 7 November 1938.
2. Argentine Trotskyism, Part III - RH . 2 March 2016 . . 2 . 2 . Summer 1989.
3. Web site: A '60's Socialist Takes a Hard Right . PublicEye.org . Tim . Wohlforth . Tim Wohlforth . 2 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210125020518/http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/Wohlforth.html . 25 January 2021 . live.
4. Web site: Arbetarmakt - LFI: Forward to the Fifth International . 28 July 2024. https://archive.today/20130117061405/http://www.arbetarmakt.com/english.php . 17 January 2013 . live.
5. Venezuela's Revolution . Federico . Fuentes . 2 September 2007 . . 11 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071110233915/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13687 . 10 November 2007 . dead.
6. Web site: Chávez Proposes International of Left Parties . Yoshie . Furuhashi . 27 August 2007 . 2 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210323132745/https://mronline.org/2007/08/27/chavez270807-html/ . 23 March 2021 . live.
7. Web site: Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez calls for Fifth International . League for the Fifth International . 25 November 2009 . 2 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210126195843/https://fifthinternational.org/content/venezuelas-president-hugo-chavez-calls-fifth-international . 26 January 2021 . live.
8. Web site: Footnote to Howl by Allen Ginsberg . 11 October 2017 . Poetry Foundation . 11 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210323201959/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54163/footnote-to-howl . 23 March 2021 . live.
9. Web site: Steve Jackson Games Forum Discussion of Illuminati Expansion Set Cards . 17 August 2009 . Steve Jackson Games . 21 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200807163240/http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=61624 . 7 August 2020 . live.
10. Web site: Steve Jackson Games Forum Discussion of Illuminati Deluxe Set Cards . 22 October 2005 . Steve Jackson Games . 21 October 2017 . dead . 3 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220103223633/http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=8693 .