International Workingmen's Association

International Workingmen's Association
Logo first used by the Spanish IWA.
Abbreviation	IWA
Predecessor	Communist League
Successor	Second International (not legal successor)
Formation	28 September 1864; 159 years ago (1864-09-28)
Founders	George Odger, Henri Tolain, Edward Spencer Beesly
Dissolved	July 1876; 147 years ago (1876-07) ^[1]
Legal status	Defunct
Purpose	Defense of the working class Class struggle against capitalism Establishment of a socialist society
Headquarters	St James's Hall, Regent Street, West End
Location	London (1864–1873) New York City (1873–1876)
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	5–8 million
Key people	Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mikhail Bakunin, Louis Auguste Blanqui, Giuseppe Garibaldi
Main organ	Congress of the First International

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The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist^[2] and anarchist groups and trade unions that were based on the working class and class struggle. It was founded in 1864 in a workmen's meeting held in St. Martin's Hall, London. Its first congress was held in 1866 in Geneva.

In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread Revolutions of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the IWA in 1864. At its peak, the IWA reported having 8 million members^[3] while police reported 5 million.^[4] In 1872, it split in two over conflicts between statist and anarchist factions and dissolved in 1876. The Second International was founded in 1889.

^ Quint, Howard H. The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement. 2nd ed. The American Heritage Series. (Indianapolis, New York & Kansas City: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1964), 13, https://archive.org/details/forgingofamerica0000quin.
^ "Dictionary of politics: selected American and foreign political and legal terms". Walter John Raymond. p. 85. Brunswick Publishing Corp. 1992. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
^ "Journal Officiel", May 29, 1871 (official journal of IWA).
^ Payne, Robert (1968). "Marx: A Biography". Simon and Schuster: New York. p. 372.