The congress had difficulty agreeing on many issues, the main source of conflict being whether further schisms in the European labor movement (as had occurred in Germany and the Netherlands) should be risked.
Under kongressen dök ett antal oenigheter mellan organisationerna upp till ytan; huvudkonflikten rörde huruvida man var villig att riskera fler schismer inom den europeiska arbetarrörelsen (som de som inträffat i Tyskland och Nederländerna).