Great Britain 1864

Synopsis

On 28 September 1864 the International Working Men's Association (IWMA) was established in London. The organization, later known as the "First International," consisted of skilled workers, artisans, and intellectuals and comprised trade unions, cooperatives, and educational associations. It thrived during the years before 1872. In 1876 the organization disbanded, although efforts to revive it continued for decades. The IWMA was the first organization to achieve fairly systematic material labor solidarity across national borders. In addition to its chapters in Great Britain, the organization operated in many countries in Continental Europe, in the United States, and in parts of South America. Within the organization the followers of Mikhail Bakunin, Karl Marx, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon engaged in heated debates.

Timeline

• 1844: Samuel Laing, in a prize-winning essay on Britain's "National Distress," describes conditions in a nation convulsed by the early Industrial Revolution. A third of the population, according to Laing...