International Workingmen's Association

This article is about the socialist international. For the anarchist international, see International Working People's Association. For international anarcho-syndicalist union federation IWA-AIT, see IWA–AIT.
"First International" redirects here. For other uses, see First International (disambiguation).
International Workingmen's Association
AbbreviationIWA
PredecessorInternational Association
SuccessorSecond International
(not legal successor), International Working People's Association (claimed)
Formation28 September 1864; 160 years ago (1864-09-28)
FoundersGeorge Odger, Henri Tolain, Edward Spencer Beesly
DissolvedJuly 1876; 148 years ago (1876-07) [1]
Legal statusDefunct
Purpose
HeadquartersSt James's Hall, Regent Street, West End
Location
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
5–8 million
Key people
Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mikhail Bakunin, Louis Auguste Blanqui, Giuseppe Garibaldi
Main organ
Congress of the First International

The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist[2] and anarchist groups and trade unions that were based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded in 1864 in a workmen's meeting held in St. Martin's Hall, London. Its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.

In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread Revolutions of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the IWA in 1864. At its peak, the IWA reported having 8 million members[3] while police reported 5 million.[4] In 1872, it split in two over conflicts between statist and anarchist factions and dissolved in 1876. The Second International was founded in 1889.

  1. ^ Quint, Howard H. The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement. 2nd ed. The American Heritage Series. (Indianapolis, New York & Kansas City: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1964), 13, https://archive.org/details/forgingofamerica0000quin.
  2. ^ "Dictionary of politics: selected American and foreign political and legal terms". Walter John Raymond. p. 85. Brunswick Publishing Corp. 1992. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
  3. ^ Testut, Oscar (May 29, 1871). "Association International des Travailleurs". Journal Officiel (in French): 1152.
  4. ^ Payne, Robert (1968). "Marx: A Biography". Simon and Schuster: New York. p. 372.