[scorchedCCCP]

... and the Third, or Communist, International was created by him (Lenin) primarily for the purpose of keeping out those whom he considered traitors to the cause of Marxism. Ever since then, socialism and communism have existed as seperate and hostile branches of Marxism, each accusing the other of having destroyed the unity of the world's proletariat.

Just a little food for thought.

[Erik of NKP]

The creation of the Third International was absolutely neccessary as the old 2nd International had failed in its objectives and because it had stagnated to become a social democratic union, not prepared to take on the fight for socialist revolution.

I must admit that I do not know alot about the 2nd International, but I do know that it failed in one of it's most important objective, namley that of hindering war. It was agreed that if nations threatened each other with war the workers of the conflicting nations would go on general strike and paralyze the plans of war. If the parties and organizations of the 2nd International had succeeded in this it would be extremely difficult, or quite certainly impossible, for WW 1 to break out. No production and no soldiers make fighting quite difficult

Unfortunately the 2nd International and most of it's parties, the social democrats, had lost their progressive tendencies and decided to prioritze nationalism (by supporting their governments and nations) rather than proletarian internationalism (supporting eachother) and therefore the war broke out.

There are probably many other faults that can be pointed out, but I think that this failure alone is proof enough to show that something had to be done.

[The Red Goblin]

True; the Second International flopped when put to the test for opposing the war. According to Theory, Workingmen had no country. Yet when the time came the vast majority of Social Democratic candidates voted for war credits to slaughter "other" nations workers.

The Third International was a historical need to replace it. Sadly, it became a historical cast-off as Stalin desolved it to appease Churchill and FDR during WWII. The Fourth International, founded by Trotsky still exists today as an internet presence, at least. I believe their website is:

http://www.wsws.org/