Breton’s preface for the “Second Manifesto of Surrealism” describes the cultural context that led to his belief that an updated manifesto was necessary. Writing in 1946, 16 years after he published the second manifesto, he describes the uneasy state of European politics in 1930: “A few unfettered souls began to perceive the imminent, ineluctable return of world catastrophe” (113). Although Surrealism was a major art movement throughout the 1920s, Breton reports that he believed a new, more precise manifesto was necessary to protect the fragile movement from destruction in the face of rising political problems worldwide. He reflects on the nervousness that undergirds the second manifesto but concludes that his accurate assumptions about the trajectory of history prove that Surrealist thought is a valuable means of interpreting the world. He also addresses the increasing tension within the Surrealist movement and believes that such arguments are inevitable; the movement must be kept flexible enough to allow them without self-destructing.

The “Second Manifesto of Surrealism” is a refinement of the ideas put forth in the original manifesto, an analysis of Surrealism’s place in the world, and a criticism of artists whom Breton sees as undeserving of the Surrealist title.