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 Genva on September 1, 1873, but the anarchist followers of Bakunin had established an alternative anarchist International in 1872 at St Imier in Switzerland.
1868 General Council Statement on the Alliance
General Council Letter to Alliance 1869
First International from a Marxist perspective
IWMA Archive
U.S. Branch IWA 1871 Call to Action
Founding of the Worker's International, M. Bakunin
The Organization of the Internattional, M. Bakunin
Radio4all Bakunin on IWA
Stekloff, I.M. (1928). History of the First International. Translated from the Russian by E. & C. Paul. New York: International.
First International and Bakunin Conflict
Encarta entry on First International
Infoplease entry on First International
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