Background The
International Workingmen's Association (IWA), commonly known as the First International, was an international association of trade unionist and socialist political activists which attempted to coordinate labour activities across national boundaries. The organisation is remembered for the active participation of many pioneer leaders of the modern
socialist and
anarchist movements, including
Karl Marx and
Mikhail Bakunin. Membership in the IWA was numerically small, its funding inadequate, and its institutional life short — lasting a mere 8 years from its establishment in 1864 until its termination at the
Hague Congress of 1872. Establishment of the IWA was related to ongoing efforts to coordinate the activities of the trade union movements in Great Britain and France, a project begun in connection with the
1862 London World's Fair. Economic crisis had led the imperial French government to concede the right to French workers to elect a delegation of 750 to the London exhibition. The IWA first met in international session in the Swiss city of
Geneva in September 1866 in an event remembered to history as the
Geneva Congress.
Convocation The Lausannne Congress was called to order on 2 September 1867 in
Lausanne,
Switzerland. There were 71 delegates in attendance, of whom the majority (38) were affiliated with the local Swiss labour movement. Also in attendance were 18 representatives of the French labour movement, including Tolain and Karl Marx's future son-in-law
Charles Longuet; 6 German delegates, including medical doctor
Louis Kugelmann and philosopher
Ludwig Büchner; 2 delegates each from Great Britain and Italy, and one from Belgium. Many of those participating derived their basic political ideas from the writings of French mutualist
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
Decisions The gathering dealt with the organisational structure of the IWA and approved a uniform rate of dues of one English penny per capita, to be paid quarterly to the General Council in London. The IWA, an international association of trade unionists from its creation, moved towards socialist advocacy at the Lausanne Congress, adopting a resolution calling for state ownership of transportation and exchange in order to break the hold of large companies on these institutions. This represented the first time that the organisation had formally supported the principle of collective ownership. ==Footnotes==