First International

First International
Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · source
Name	International Workingmen's Association
Native name	International Association of Workers
Founded	28 September 1864
Dissolved	1876 (practical); 1872 (split)
Founder	Karl Marx, George Odger, Hermann Jung
Headquarters	London
Key people	Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mikhail Bakunin, James Guillaume, Eugène Varlin
Ideology	Marxism, Anarchism, Socialism, Internationalism
Area served	International (Europe, Americas, British Empire)

First International

The First International was the common name for the International Workingmen's Association, an umbrella organization of 19th‑century labor, socialist, and radical movements that sought to coordinate struggles across United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and other polities. Founded in London in 1864, it brought together trade unionists, socialists, cooperative activists, and republicans including Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin and became a focal point for debates among Marxism, Anarchism, and parliamentary socialists. The association organized congresses, corresponded with associations across continents, and influenced labor legislation, strikes, and revolutionary movements into the 1870s.

History

The genesis of the association began with meetings at the St. Martin's Hall and initiatives by figures linked to the London Trades Council, Rugby radicals, and emigrant networks from Paris and Geneva. Delegates from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, and trade societies attended the founding conference convened by George Odger, with important contributions by Edwin Chadwick-era reformers and continental exiles from the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848. The organization's General Council, initially based in London, included Karl Marx as a leading theoretician and polemicist; his interventions through the journal became central during disputes with the anti-authoritarian wing led by Mikhail Bakunin and federative activists from Italy and Spain. Internal tensions culminated in the split at the Hague Congress where Bakunin's supporters were expelled, leading to parallel organizations such as the St. Imier International. The association's decline accelerated after the Paris Commune reprisals, suppression of trade unions in several states, and shifting political priorities toward national labor parties in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Ideology and Objectives

From the outset the association encompassed diverse currents: proponents of Karl Marx's class analysis and theories of the proletarian revolution, advocates of Mikhail Bakunin's anti‑statist federalism, and syndicalist-leaning trade unionists from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and the International Working Men's Association's rank-and-file. Shared objectives included solidarity among workers across borders, mutual aid for imprisoned or exiled activists, coordination of strikes and boycotts such as actions inspired by the Cotton Famine, and campaigns for legal reforms championed by delegates from the International Workingmen's Association's constituent associations. Debates addressed the role of political action versus direct economic struggle championed by activists linked to Proudhon-influenced groups, the national question as raised by representatives from Poland and Ireland, and the relationship between cooperative production promoted by theorists connected to the Rochdale Society and revolutionary insurrection advocated by radical republicans from Italy and Spain.

Organization and Membership

The association's structure combined a General Council headquartered in London with national sections and local branches in cities such as Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Milan, Barcelona, New York City, and Buenos Aires. Membership included trade unions like the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, artisan societies, immigrant circles from Germany and Italy, and politically oriented clubs with links to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and mutual aid societies. Key organs included the journal published to disseminate resolutions and the correspondence network coordinated by secretaries such as Hermann Jung and Friedrich Engels's epistolary aides. Voting procedures at congresses and the authority of the General Council provoked disputes over mandates from national delegations, with the Hague vote exposing fractures between centralizing currents associated with Karl Marx and federalist currents associated with Mikhail Bakunin and James Guillaume.

Major Activities and Conferences

The association convened international congresses at Basel (1869), The Hague (1872), and other assemblies that produced resolutions on strike tactics, the eight-hour day championed by delegates from the International Workingmen's Association's Australian affiliates, and solidarity actions for causes such as petitions against the repression following the Paris Commune. Campaigns coordinated aid to political prisoners in Naples, Madrid, and St. Petersburg and supported the establishment of cooperative enterprises inspired by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. The association organized international workers' days, public lectures featuring speakers like Eugène Varlin and Adolph Fischer-linked activists, and campaigns that intersected with movements in the United States involving labor organizations in New York City and the National Labor Union.

Influence and Legacy

Although it disbanded as a cohesive body by the mid-1870s, the association left durable legacies: the consolidation of an internationalist vocabulary for workers' rights taken up by later bodies such as the Second International and labor parties in Germany and the United Kingdom; the diffusion of cooperative ideas toward institutions like the Rochdale Society's successors; and the theoretical canon shaped by exchanges between Karl Marx and other radicals that influenced later works including Das Kapital and debates at the International Socialist Congress. The anti-authoritarian split produced the St. Imier International and contributed to the development of Anarchism in Spain and Italy, informing syndicalist currents that would reappear in the 20th century labour movement. Monuments, archives in London and Geneva, and historiography—from liberal chroniclers to Marxist scholars—have continued to assess the association's role in shaping trade unionism, transnational political networks, and revolutionary theory.

Category:International socialist organizations