International Association of Workers: History & Legacy

The International Association of Workers (1864-1876)

The International Association of Workers (IAW), also known as the First International, was the first major organization that sought to unite workers from different countries.

Foundation and Key Figures

Founded in London in 1864, it initially brought together British trade unionists, French anarchists and socialists, and Italian Republicans. Its purposes were the political organization of the proletariat in Europe and around the world, as well as providing a forum to discuss common problems and propose courses of action. Key figures who collaborated included Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Mikhail Bakunin.

Ideological Tensions and Split

Significant tensions arose due to programmatic differences between Marx and his supporters of scientific socialism, and Bakunin and his supporters of collectivist anarchism. This led to a split between the two sectors: Marxists and Bakuninists. Marxists considered Bakunin's proposed organizational model and program surpassed, favoring the formation of strongly centralized international socialist labor parties. These parties would have a minimum program based on the struggle for concrete social achievements and work, and a maximum program based on the struggle for social revolution through the conquest of political power by the proletariat.

Dissolution and Successors

In 1872, the General Council of the IAW relocated from London, where it had been located since its inception, to New York. It was officially dissolved in 1876. In 1889, the Second International, a social democratic organization, was established as the successor to its political ends. It operated until 1916. In 1922, the International Workers' Association, an anarcho-syndicalist organization, was formed, claiming to carry the torch of the libertarian wing and continuing to this day.

Influence on the Paris Commune

The First International was considered one of the major factors that led to the creation of the Paris Commune of 1871. Although this idea is disputed, Marx made a statement regarding the defense of the Commune. Published as The Civil War in France (1871), it compiles the first (July 1870) and second (September 1870) manifestos of the General Council of the IAW and the manifesto of June 1871, written by Marx.