| History of the International Workingmen's Association Founded in London, September 23, 1864, the constitution of the International Workingmen's Association was adopted at the first congress convened in Geneva, September 3-8, 1866.  The second congress was held in Lausanne during September 1867 and the third congress took place in Brussels during 1868.  The fourth general congress of the International took place September 6-12, 1869 in Basel.  "Instead of a general congress of the International, the General Council, controlled by Marx and his friend Engels, in September 1871 convened a secret conference in London, attended almost entirely by partisans of Marx.  The conference adopted resolutions destroying the autonomy of the sections and federations of the International and giving the General Council powers that violated the fundamental statutes of the International and the conference." (Guillaume, J. "Michael Bakunin: A Biographical Sketch", in Dolgoff, Bakunin on Anarchism, p.44.)  The General Council convened a general congress in September, 1872, held in the Hague.  The sixth congress of the International opened in Geneva on September 1, 1873, but the anarchist followers of Bakunin had established an alternative anarchist International in 1872 at St Imier in Switzerland.  L'Internationale Documents et Souvenirs (1864-1878) [pdf] Stekloff, I.M. (1928). History of the First International. Translated from the Russian by E. & C. Paul. New York: International. History of the International, Translated from the French of Edmond Villetard, Editor of the Journal des Débais, by SUSAN M. DAY. With an introduction by Henry N. Day, Author of "Aesthetics," "Logic," "Rhetoric," etc., NEW HAVEN, CONN.; GEORGE H. RICHMOND & CO., 1874. Minutes of the the London 1865 meeting of the First International  1868 General Council Statement on the Alliance   General Council Letter to Alliance 1869   Fictitious Splits in the Interntional   The International Anarchist Congress, Amsterdam, 1907   First International from a Marxist perspective   IWMA Archive   Founding of the Worker's International, M. Bakunin  The Organization of the Internattional, M. Bakunin  Radio4all Bakunin on IWA   Infoplease entry on First International   Encyclopedia Brittanica on the First International    Robertson, Ann "The Philosophical Roots of the Marx-Bakunin Conflict"  Anarchopedia on the Firsty International  Excerpt form Brian Morris,"Bakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom" on Decline and Fall of the First International  |