International Working Union of Socialist Parties
The International Working Union of Socialist Parties (also known as 2½ International or the Vienna International) was an international organization for cooperation of socialists. IWUSP was founded on February 27 1921 at a conference in Vienna, Austria by ten parties (including USPD, SFIO, Independent Labour Party (Britain), Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, Independent Socialist Party (Romania), and SPÖ). The founders of IWUSP were parties that saw neither the 2nd nor the 3rd International as alternatives for affiliation. In April 1921 the Spanish PSOE joined IWUSP.
IWUSP criticized the other two Internationals for what it perceived to be dogmatism, and meant that more consideration should be given to the particularities of the political situation in each country. IWUSP was heavily influenced by Austromarxism.
IWUSP worked for the unification of the 2nd and 3rd Internationals, something which eventually failed. In 1922 a meeting was held with delegations from the three different international bodies to discuss a merger, but unity could not be achieved and the ComIntern withdrew from the talks. In Germany in the fall of 1922, the USPD, one of the main components of IWUSP, merged with the SPD, a member of the Second International. In the spring of 1923 IWUSP merged with the Second International to form the Labour and Socialist International. Some, such as the Independent Socialist Party (Romania) refused to join the new body.
The secretary of IWUSP was the Austrian Friedrich Adler of the SPÖ. IWUSP published Nachrichten der Internationalen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialistischen Parteien (News of IWUSP).
Official names of IWUSP in major languages:
- Union des Partis Socialistes pour l'Action Internationale (French)
- Unione dei Partiti Socialisti per l'Azione Internazionale (Italian)
- Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialistischer Parteien (German)
Since IWUSP was heavily dominated by Germanic parties, the German abbreviation IASP was commonly used.