On the 150th anniversary of the 1st International
- By Heiko Khoo
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 30, 2014
The International Working Men's Association was formed 150 years ago on Sept. 28, 1864. Revolutionaries from six countries gathered at St. Martin's Hall in London to call attention to the struggles of the workers of the world and to unify their demands and actions as a single body. Karl Marx became its de-facto leader, although he did not speak at the inaugural meeting. At Marx's funeral, Friedrich Engels described the formation of the International as the crowning achievement of Marx's revolutionary work.
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Marx addresses the inaugural meeting of the First International [File photo] |
The founding meeting brought together radicals and revolutionaries from England, France, Ireland, Poland, Italy and Germany. They were united in seeking social and political change even though their ideals and aspirations differed. The organization united nationalists, democrats, reformists, revolutionary socialists and trade unionists. It was Marx who penned the inaugural address of the International, which examined the dynamic development of British capitalism - exposing how the immense profits of the capitalists, bankers and landlords corresponded with starvation, child labor and immense poverty amongst the workers producing the wealth of society. Marx described how the political economy of labor challenged the political economy of property by means of the workers' struggles to win legislation mandating a maximum ten-hour working day. This encroachment against capitalism went even further in cooperative factories. Marx believed that,
"The value of these great social experiments cannot be overrated. By deed instead of by argument, they have shown that production on a large scale, and in accord with the behests of modern science, may be carried on without the existence of a class of masters employing a class of hands; that to bear fruit, the means of labor need not be monopolized as a means of dominion over, and of extortion against, the laboring man himself; and that, like slave labor, like serf labor, hired labor is but a transitory and inferior form, destined to disappear before associated labor plying its toil with a willing hand, a ready mind, and a joyous heart."
But Marx explained that "co-operative labor ought to be developed to national dimensions, and, consequently, to be fostered by national means."
Thus, for Marx, the transformation to a socialist economic system pre-supposed public ownership of the rights to control the economy and land, which required the conquest of political power. This therefore became the main task of the organizations of the International.
Marx encouraged the International to establish contact with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln by sending him a letter of congratulations on his re-election in 1864. The International pledged its support to the struggle against slavery in the United States in a letter written by Marx, which said,
"From the commencement of the titanic American strife, the workingmen of Europe felt instinctively that the star-spangled banner carried the destiny of their class."
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