16/06/2026
अडियो छलफल ४४: पहिलो इन्टरनेसनल र मजदुर आन्दोलनको इतिहास
International Working Men's Association (aka The First International)
Written by: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (as the primary authors of the addresses, rules, and reports contained in this collection)
Written date: 1864 – 1874 (representing the chronological span of the documents and primary records)
Organization detail: The International Working Men's Association (IWMA) was established on September 28, 1864, at a mass meeting in St. Martin's Hall, London. It was designed to serve as a "central medium of communication and co-operation" between workingmen's societies in various countries—including England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium—aiming for the "complete emancipation of the working classes".
The organization was governed by a General Council (initially called the Central Council) based in London, which was composed of workers from different nations and diverse trades, such as tailors, carpenters, weavers, and shoemakers. This Council met weekly to coordinate international labor efforts and prepare the agenda for annual General Congresses. Under the intellectual guidance of Karl Marx, the Association established that the struggle for emancipation was not for class privileges but for "the abolition of all class rule".
Throughout its most active decade, the International provided scientific and strategic clarity to labor movements, supported historic strikes across Europe, and defended the Paris Commune of 1871 as the first historical example of a workers' government. Following a major ideological struggle against the anarchist faction led by Mikhail Bakunin, the organization voted at the 1872 Hague Congress to move the seat of the General Council to New York to protect the Association from both external governmental reaction and internal sectarian intrigue
