The First International
How Marx built the International Working Men's Association into the first global workers' organization, navigating rivalries with anarchists, trade unionists, and national factions.
Workers of the World, Organizing
The International Working Men's Association — later known as the First International — was founded in London on September 28, 1864, at a meeting of English and French workers at St. Martin's Hall. The immediate catalyst was solidarity: English trade unionists wanted to prevent employers from importing foreign strikebreakers, and French workers sought international cooperation after being inspired by the Polish uprising of 1863.
Marx, who attended the founding meeting, was elected to the General Council and quickly became its intellectual leader. He drafted the Inaugural Address and the Rules of the Association, documents that had to appeal to a broad coalition: English trade unionists focused on practical reforms, French Proudhonists who opposed centralized authority, Italian followers of Mazzini committed to national liberation, and German socialists of various stripes. Marx's genius was drafting documents radical enough to advance working-class consciousness while vague enough to hold the coalition together.
At its peak, the International claimed hundreds of thousands of affiliated members across Europe and the Americas, though its organizational capacity was always weaker than its reputation suggested. It coordinated strike support, campaigned for the eight-hour day, and debated fundamental questions of political strategy.
