First International

Emblema of the Federal Council of Spain of the IWA.

The International Workers Association (AIT) or First International was an organization founded in London in 1864 that initially brought together English trade unionists French and Italian Republicans, anarchists and socialists. Its aims were the political organization of the proletariat in Europe and the rest of the world, as well as a forum to examine common problems and propose lines of action. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Mikhail Bakunin collaborated on it.

The great tensions, the result of the existing programmatic differences between Marx and the supporters of socialism, on the one hand, and Bakunin and the supporters of collectivist anarchism, on the other hand, led to a split between both sectors: the Marxists proposed the formation of an international of strongly centralized workers' parties, with a minimum program based on the struggle for concrete social and labor conquests, and one of maximums based on the struggle for the social revolution through the conquest of state power, while the anarchists postulated a revolutionary model based on the associative-cooperative organization (federalism) that proclaims the power of decision through consensus.

In 1872 the General Council of the AIT moved from London, where it had been located since its inception, to New York, officially dissolving in 1876. In 1889 the Second International was established, of a social democratic nature, as the successor in its aims political, and that will last until 1916, and in 1922 the International Association of Workers appears, an anarcho-syndicalist organization that intends to pick up the baton from the libertarian wing and that reaches the present day.

The First International was considered one of the factors that led to the creation of the Paris Commune of 1871. Although this idea is disputed, Marx wrote a paper in relation to the defense of the Commune, published under the title of The civil war in France (1871), brings together the first (July 1879) and second manifesto (September 1870) of the General Council of the AIT and the manifesto of June 1871, written by Marx.

History

Origin

Postal seal of the disappeared German Democratic Republic commemorating the centenary of the founding of the IWA that appears the stamp of the General Council based in London.

First Congress of the International Workers Association (1864).

Created as a response to the exploitation suffered by workers as a consequence of the industrial revolution. Its goal is to achieve a fairer and more egalitarian social order by fighting against capitalism. It is a symbol of international solidarity among workers across borders.

In 1862, English (from the Trade Unions) and French trade union leaders met in London for an international exhibition. There he hatched the idea of an international labor organization. Two years later, in 1864, meeting in Saint Martin's Hall, they formed a committee whose mission was to draw up a program and statutes for an International Workers Association that, later, was known by the name First International.

The statutes by which it is formally constituted define it as "a center of cooperation and communication between workers from different countries", governed by a general council "composed of workers belonging to the countries represented", were approved in 1866. It did not achieve a massive endorsement, in fact it was hardly known until the events of the Paris commune, although in France it did achieve great implantation thanks to Henri Tolain, who although a disciple of Proudhon, was in favor of a formal organization (he formed part of the committee). In Spain it had no repercussions until the arrival of Fanelli, sent by the anarchist section of the International, who achieved a very modest establishment in Barcelona. The Marxist section was introduced in Spain by Lafargue, managing to establish itself in Madrid and later in the Cantabrian Coast, although with an equally modest affiliation. The subsequent split will also manifest itself in Spain, with the anarchist position being the majority.

Excision

At the V Congress of the AIT (1872), in The Hague, there was a split between Marxists and anarcho-collectivists, this being the first major split produced within the labor movement. The fundamental points of the confrontation between Marx and Bakunin were the following:

• Different conception of A.I.T.: Bakunin intended that the International be a coordinator of autonomous social-revolutionary movements and without a body of common direction. For Marx, on the other hand, the International must have a centralizing, unifying and leading role in the workers' movement.
• Paris Commune Failure
• Vision of History: the Marxist historical conception is based on historical materialism, which poses history as a class struggle throughout history between owners of the means of production and non-owners, between exploiters and exploited. This struggle is exemplified throughout history in the opposition between: slaves and latifundists in the Classical Antiquity, feudal servants and lords in the Middle Ages and proletariat and bourgeoisie in capitalism. Bakunin focuses his attention on the concrete man and his freedom, whom he considers capable of overcoming the forces of history.

• Conflict between anarchy and dictatorship of the proletariat: the Marxist doctrine postulated a transitional situation: the dictatorship of the proletariat (i.e., a workers' state), for Marx socialism must be the consequence of a well advanced capitalism and a mature and organized working class that under the leadership of a party would achieve the revolutionary victory. Bakunin's opposition to any authority or authoritarianism, even if it is provisional, leads him to reject any kind of state, including one governed in the name of the proletariat. He believed in the immediate and spontaneous revolution; to carry it out he trusted the working masses as a whole, without attributeing a leading role to the industrial proletariat. Like Louis Auguste Blanqui defended the armed insurrection, considering that any social change should not be the conquest of power but the destruction of it and of every state. However, the dictatorship of the proletariat has implied, for Marx, the idea of provisional strengthening of the power of the state, which will gradually disappear to give way to classless society, communist society.

• Political intervention: the acceptance of the Marxists of the political game (electoral participation) implied the participation (where possible) in the elections, premise is rejected by Bakunin, who does not accept participation in the bourgeois political game, proposing the creation of trade unions instead of political parties.

Conferences and Congresses held by the AIT

• 

  Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx at the Hague Congress (1872).
  Preliminary conference in London, United Kingdom, 25-29 September 1865. Preparatory work for the First Congress.
• I Geneva, Switzerland, 3-8 September 1866.
• II Congress of Lausanne, Switzerland, 2-8 September 1867.
• III Brussels Congress (Belgium), September 1868.
• IV Basel Congress, Switzerland, September 1869.
• London Conference, United Kingdom, 7-23 September 1871. Called for the impossibility of holding the respective annual congress by the Franco Prussian War and the Paris Commune in 1870 and 1871
• Fifth Hague Congress, Netherlands, 2-7 September 1872.
• VI Congress of July 1876. Solve dissolve the IWA.

Political movements that arose from the First International

Bakunin speaking to IWA members at the Basel Congress (1869).

The international revolutionary labor movement that emerged from the AIT put the discrepancies between the supporters of Mikhail Bakunin and Karl Marx from the outset. The supporters of the first, were organized in what was called anarchism as an organized international movement. The supporters of the second gave to a group of ideological currents called Marxism.

Anarchism

The anarchist wing of the AIT formed the Saint-Imier International, an organization that lasted until 1877. Two major main trends arose: anarcho-collectivism and anarcho-communism, which, synthesized with revolutionary syndicalism, gave rise to anarcho-syndicalism. There were also, and continue to be, other less important anarchist currents and subcurrents throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

It is worth mentioning that, between December 25, 1922 and January 2, 1923, various anarcho-syndicalist groups refounded the AIT in Berlin, tracing its origins to the First International (1864-1876) and considering its continuity.

Marxism

Marxism gave rise to two great political currents that were taking shape from the Second, Third and Fourth International: Marxist socialism and social democracy.

Marxist socialism has as its main successor communism itself, with ideas contributed by Lenin (Leninism). Within the communist ideologies there has been an evolution and adaptation of Marxism to different times and national realities. Thus one can also speak of Trotskyism, Stalinism, Maoism and Eurocommunism.

Main points discussed in the First International

• Need for a united action of the proletariat, and the organization of the working class.
• Fight for economic emancipation and the abolition of class society.
• Abolition of child exploitation and improvement of the working conditions of women.
• International workers' solidarity.
• Recognition of the importance of the trade union movement.
• Strike as a fighting instrument.
• Abolition of private ownership of production goods and permanent armies.