Book launch: The Politics of Solidarity: The International Working Men’s Association 1873.

Autonomy Now present the launch of a new book from Merlin Press exploring the infamous arguments and split within the International Working Men’s Association. The disagreements, which gravitated between the two positions of Mikhail Bakunin’s horizontalist anarchism and Karl Marx’s hierarchical communism, have repercussions which reverberate to this day.

Join author Anthony Zurbrugg to discuss this infamous historical moment.
There will be an illustrated presentation by the author, outlining the scope and activities of the First International as it worked through difficulties in the aftermath of the Paris Commune of 1871, The book addresses issues of class, gender, authority and ethnicity within labour and progressive movements in in Europe and in the Americas.

The book will be available at a special launch price of £20, down from its list price of £25. Entry to the event is free but please register via RSVP ticket link below, or optional £5 solidarity ticket

“The First International was founded with high ideals: ‘every individual or society joining it, will recognise morality, justice and truth as the basis of their conduct toward to all men, without distinction of nationality, creed, or colour.’ By September 1873 it had split.

Six regional federations supported one congress, a few local sections and a Council in New York, supported another. The congresses, both meeting in Geneva, brought together persons inspired by contrasting forms of organisation, one federalist and mainly based on workplace organisation, the other centralist, supporting national electoral parties.

Reports and newspaper articles (some translated for the first time) present rival perspectives, influenced by Bakunin and Marx. These texts review issues of class, gender, authority and ethnicity within labour and progressive movements in Europe and the USA. ‘The congress of Geneva of 1873 has reset our Association on its true path, working people have had enough of chiefs and bosses, they want to take the management of their affairs into their own hands.’”