Summary Information
International Workingmen's Association Records
1871-1877
- International Workingmen's Association
U.S. Mss 1A; Micro 247
1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes) and 2 reels of microfilm (35mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of the International Workingmen's Association, an international union. Included is a letter book of the Central Committee of which F. A. Sorge, New York, was corresponding secretary, 1871-1876, containing also some letters of the International Labor Union; correspondence, receipts, clippings, and other papers of the General Council, 1871-1876, including some unbound papers of Philadelphia Section Number 26, and St. Louis Section Number 1; and bound records of the Philadelphia Section, 1871-1873, with minutes of meetings, lists of members, and financial accounts.
English, German, French
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us00001a ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Although spanning only the years 1869 to 1876, American participation in the International Workingmen's Association marks one of the most important attempts of the workingmen of the United States to meet the problems of labor on an international level.
On September 28, 1864, Henry L. Tolain and George L. Ogden sponsored a mass meeting of European trade unionists in London which organized the International Workingmen's Association--the First International. Well known among European radicals as the author of The Communist Manifesto (1848), Karl Marx was elected to the General Council even though he was not present at the meeting. Marx apparently assumed leadership of the council almost immediately because he wrote the “Inaugural Address,” which set forth the preliminary rules and program for the IWA. It proclaimed that political movements must be subordinate to economic emancipation of the worker.
To establish the International as a propaganda vehicle for international socialism, Marx organized it as a highly centralized body composed of national federations and local sections. Representatives of the federal councils met as the General Council and, using a system of foreign language secretaries, exercised ultimate authority for determining ideology, recognizing local sections, distributing funds, and disciplining members.
Until about 1869 the International concentrated on organizing trade unions. It encouraged independent workingmen's parties, promoted international cooperation among unionists, and assisted strikes by collecting funds and discouraging the importation of international strike breakers.
From this interest in the regulation of immigration came the IWA's initial interest in the United States. It was based on Georg Hegel's theory that labor in the United States could never participate in Marx's historical dialectic until sources of cheap, immigrant labor were cut off and the frontier closed. During the 1860's the Marxists tried to affiliate with the National Labor Union of William H. Sylvis, but the affiliation never took place because Sylvis died in 1869 and the NLU gradually adopted a policy advocating political action.
However, the International did receive strong support in the United States from immigrant radicals, particularly Germans, and from middle class reformers. The primary exponents of Marxism among the German population were Joseph Weydemeyer and Friedrich Sorge, both of whom had immigrated to the United States following the political upheavals of 1848. During the 1850's Weydemeyer published several unsuccessful socialist newspapers in New York City and formed the first Marxist organization in the United States, the General Workingmen's Alliance. Sorge, as the leader of the Communist Club, an educational discussion society in New York, was more a materialist-intellectual than a labor radical. However, the Six Weeks' War of 1866 between Prussia and Austria imbued both Sorge and the club with a revolutionary outlook. In 1867 the club declared its affiliation with the IWA, and about the same time it merged with the General Workingmen's Alliance, which in 1869 declared itself Section 1 of the International. Joined by other sections in the area in December, 1870, Section 1 organized a provisional central committee for the North American Federal Council. The following July the General Council recognized its authority over all sections in the United States.
The second strain of support for the International Workingmen's Association in the United States came from native-born members of the middle class who had been active in the reform movement of the 1840's. In 1869 several of these individuals, including feminists Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, and veteran labor leaders William West and Stephen Pearl Andrews, organized a socialist group known as the New Democracy or Political Commonwealth. In 1871 the New Democracy reorganized itself in New York as Sections 9 and 12 of the International.
Within this two-fold support for the International lay the roots of a serious division among American socialists. Although in part a power struggle, the division also self-consciously reflected the ideological split among European socialists. Orthodox Marxist doctrine stated that economic organization had to precede and provide a basis for political action. However, the followers of Ferdinand Lassalle rejected Marx's class analysis and strict party discipline and felt that political action was the only way to solve the problems of labor. In the United States, the Germans led by Sorge accepted the Marxist philosophy. The middle class reformers of Section 12, led by Victoria Woodhull, favored the philosophy of Lassalle and concerned themselves with broad areas of political reform, such as currency, education, and feminism.
Shortly after Section 12 joined the International in July, 1871, it complained to the General Council about Sorge's despotic control of the North American Federal Council. The Sorge faction countered that Section 12 was attempting to dilute the workers' cause with its bourgeois ideas of feminism and free love. As the internal division became more severe, both sides appealed to the General Council for support and finally decided to let the central committee expire under its statutory limitation. In March, 1872, the General Council expelled the dissenters of Section 12 and ruled that each section must be at least two-thirds workers to maintain the proletarian composition of the International. In the meantime, Sorge's faction had reorganized the federal council, and was in due course recognized by the General Council. The Woodhull faction also continued to function independently as a federal council, known variously as the Spring Street or Prince Street Federal Council, but it was never officially recognized.
In 1872 both factions held national conventions, the Sorge council in New York on July 8 and thirteen English-speaking sections in Philadelphia on July 9. The Philadelphia group formally reorganized itself as the American Confederation of the International Workingmen's Association and declared its right of self-regulation. Both factions also elected delegates to the IWA conference at The Hague in September, 1872. The confederation elected William West as its representative, and the federal council sent Sorge.
The Hague conference was an important one for the International, and one in which Americans played a key role. The General Council met strong dissatisfaction with Marx's tight control from the followers of Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, but Marx was able to stave off the attack. Packed with Sorge's friends, the council was also able to overcome an attack from the American Lassalleans and it refused to seat West. Perhaps the most important action, however, was the council's vote to move its headquarters to New York City to escape the unfavorable political conditions in Europe. Sorge became the new general secretary, and neither Marx nor Engels made the move to New York. Thus control of the International subsequently fell to the Americans.
The expulsion of the Bakuninist sections and the unfavorable political situation contributed to the rapid disintegration of the International in Europe. In the United States, however, it remained alive for several more years under the vigorous leadership of Sorge.
Sorge's federal council and the rival confederation restored peace momentarily in 1875, but dissension continued. A conflict over the operation of the New York City local council resulted in the abolition of the North American Federal Council on April 11, 1874, and the assumption of its duties by the General Council. The question of political action also continued to plague the International. In 1873 many members urged it to harmonize its objectives with those of non-socialist workers, but the German-born Marxists refused. Neither would they relent on the question of a socialist political party, and at the 1873 conference they categorically rejected all cooperation with existing political parties.
Eventually, however, declining membership and a strong internal push forced the German leadership to join in forming a national, socialist party in the United States. In July of 1876, delegates from nineteen sections dissolved the International and joined members of the Social Democratic Workingmen's Party of North America, the Labor Party of Illinois, and the Sociopolitical Labor Union of Cincinnati in launching the Workingmen's Party of the United States. The next year this group reorganized as the Socialist Labor Party, thus completing the transformation of the IWA.
Selected Bibliography
The most frequently cited sources on the history of the International were written by participants in the early socialist movement. They include Herman Schlueter's Die Internationale in Amerika: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten (1918), an article by Friedrich Sorge in Neue Zeit entitled “Die Arbeiterbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten” (1890), and Morris Hillquit's History of Socialism in the United States (1910). Volumes considering the International in the perspective of American labor history are John R. Common's History of Labour in the United States (1918) and Philip S. Foner's History of the Labor Movement in the United States (1947). The Forging of American Socialism (1953) by Howard Quint, Socialism and American Life (1952) by Stow Persons and Donald Egbert, and American Disciples of Marx (1967) by David Herreshoff are more concerned with the evolution of socialism and socialist thought than with the relationship of the International to unionism. G. M. Stekloff in History of the First International (1928) and Hans Gerth in the First International: Minutes of The Hague Congress of 1872 (1958) consider the International in both the United States and Europe. Among the few books dealing with individuals prominent in the American International are Emanie Sachs' The Terrible Siren, Victoria Woodhull (1928) and Karl Obermann's Joseph Weydemeyer: Pioneer of American Socialism (1947). Unfortunately, there is no full length biography of Friedrich Sorge.
The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has several manuscript collections which supplement the papers of the International Workingmen's Association. Most important are the records of its successors, the Workingmen's Party of the United States and the Socialist Labor Party. The records of the Workingmen's Party are fragmentary, consisting of two financial notebooks and a brief historical sketch; but the records of the Socialist Labor Party, which also are available on microfilm, give a good picture of the party's organization, activity, and influence. The Union Cooperative Association Papers and miscellaneous biographical materials document the career of Thomas Phillips, who was active in Section 26 (Philadelphia). In addition, the Society holds the papers of Stephen Pearl Andrews, who was active in the Woodhull faction of the International.
Provenance
In cooperation with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin library, Professor Richard T. Ely established the American Bureau of Industrial Research in 1904. During the next few years Ely and his collaborators, John R. Commons, John B. Andrews, and Helen L. Sumner, collected vast amounts of printed manuscript material on the history of the labor movement in the United States. The most significant collector in labor history to that date, the bureau then presented its material to the Society and the University library for preservation and scholarly research.
In 1908 the bureau acquired the library of Herman Schlueter, editor of the socialist New York Volkszeitung and several books on the labor movement. His library contained unusually complete documentation of the socialist movement in Germany and the German labor movement in the United States, including papers relating to the history of the International Workingmen's Association. Apparently Schlueter acquired these papers from an unknown source for his book, Die Internationale in Amerika: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten (1907). The bureau subsequently supplemented the IWA papers in the Schlueter library with transcriptions of documents which were either deteriorating or owned by other institutions.
Scope and Content Note
The records of the International Workingmen's Association, covering the years 1868-1877, are available both in paper form and as a microfilm publication. They are divided into series corresponding to the main units of its organizational hierarchy:
- I. Records of the General Council, 1871-1874.
- II. Records of the Central Committee, North American Federal Council, 1868-1877.
- III. Records of Section 26 (Philadelphia), 1871-1876.
- IV. Records of Section 1 (St. Louis), 1870-1877.
Since the type of material, depth of documentation, and time covered vary considerably, each series is described separately below. However, the researcher is cautioned that the divisions are not mutually exclusive. There is, for example, much information on the North American Federal Council in the records of the two local sections and information on the General Council in the records of the federal council.
I. Records of the General Council, 1871-1874
The General Council was the governing body of the International Workingmen's Association. From its organization in 1864 until 1872 the Council met in London, exercising its authority through a system of secretaries under the leadership of Karl Marx, who made it a clearinghouse for the propagation of the socialist movement. In 1872, hoping to escape the unfavorable political climate of Europe, the International moved its headquarters to New York. The records of the General Council in this collection consist almost entirely of papers from the American period.
Correspondence, 1872-1874
This section contains a handwritten copy of the letterbook of the General Council, 1872-1874, written by Friedrich Sorge, general secretary of the International. The letters are addressed to the remaining European federal councils, and, as the General Council gradually absorbed the function of the North American Federal Council, to local sections in the United States. The main topics are Friedrich Engel's financial responsibility for the International and the progressively independent behavior of the Jurassian (Swiss), Italian, and Spanish federal councils. Only one letter, dated December 30, 1872, is addressed to Marx.
Preceding the letterbook is a typescript calendar, apparently prepared by the American Bureau of Industrial Research. The bureau also prepared the two sections of typed extracts from the letterbook filmed in this section. The first consists of letters originally written in French and English, the second of those in German.
Convention Material, 1871
This section contains the circular issued by the General Council on the rules and proceedings of the September, 1871, conference in London. Unfortunately the collection contains no information relating directly to either The Hague conference of September, 1872, or the Geneva conference of September, 1873.
II. Records of the North American Federal Council, 1868-1877
The central committee of the North American Federal Council served the same function for the sections in the United States that the General Council performed for the federal council--keeping the local sections informed through circulars and letters.
Some difficulty in identifying these records arises from the split between American socialists and the existence of two federal councils from 1872 to 1874. It is not clear in all cases, but most of the material in this series refers to the German faction of the North American Federal Council. A further complication in identification develops from the fact that Friedrich Sorge was the leader of both the American socialists and the General Council, which led to considerable blurring of hierarchical lines. After April, 1874, the General Council formally took over the North American Federal Council. Thus the researcher will find information in the letterbooks of the General Council which really concerns the federal council.
Correspondence, 1871-1877
Most significant in the correspondence section is the 500-page letterbook of the federal council, 1871-1877. Unfortunately, the letters are written on onionskin paper and many of them are faded and almost illegible. They relate to the Sorge faction of the federal council and are signed by secretaries Sorge, Praitsching, Bolte, and Spayer. Generally they comment on the varying activities of the local sections, discuss the labor situation, and inform the sections of the International's policy.
At the beginning of the section are typed extracts that the Ely researchers made of reports in the letterbook which the federal council sent to the General Council and the American sections.
Convention Resolutions and Proceedings, 1870-1876
The material on the conventions of the federal councils of both the Sorge and Woodhull factions is arranged in chronological order. The Coopers Union meeting of November 19, 1870, to protest the Franco-Prussian War was not an International conference. However, members of New York Section 1, the only section then existing in the United States, and future members of the International were among those who sponsored the meeting. Also included are German and English copies of the rules and regulations of the First Annual Congress held by the Sorge faction on July 6-8, 1872, in New York, and by the Woodhull faction in Philadelphia on July 9-10. There is a typed report of a congress held April 11-13, 1874, but the sponsor of this meeting is unclear. A circular and typed minutes of the meeting of July 15, 1876, discuss the reasons for dissolving the International.
Clippings, 1870-1873
The clippings file provides an excellent source of secondary information on the early years of the federal council and also indicates how the contemporary press viewed the International.
Broadsides, 1871-1876
This section consists of handwritten drafts and printed copies of broadsides and circulars in English and German. The federal council used these to alert non-socialist workers to the activities of the International.
Miscellany, 1868, undated
This section includes a handwritten German and English notebook dated 1868, which is early for the IWA in the United States, as well as the undated rules of the Worker Publishing Company.
III. Records of Section 26 (Philadelphia), 1871-1876
The records of this local section are complete for the years 1871-1873 and include incoming correspondence, minutes, financial records, membership records, and advertising materials. Thomas Phillips and Isaac Rehn, both active in the labor movement in Philadelphia, organized Section 26 in October, 1871. Although workers constituted the majority of the section, its native American composition and strong spiritualist strain put the group in sympathy with the Woodhull faction. There is no material to indicate the history of the section after 1876.
Correspondence, Incoming, 1871-1876.
Correspondence from the section's representatives on the federal council to Isaac Rehn, John Mills, and John Shedden constitutes most of this part. The early correspondence mentions dissatisfaction in 1871 that Sorge's Section 1 dominated the federal council. Of greater interest is Mills' correspondence from William West, delegate to The Hague conference, regarding events there. In one letter West commented that the Marxists refused to seat him, not because he represented a bourgeois section, but because of the despotism of “Pope” Karl Marx.
Minutes, 1871-1873
The records of the meetings of the Philadelphia section consist of two volumes. Volume 1 indicates an earlier organizational meeting than the incoming correspondence, for it also includes reports to Rehn on the operation of the federal council dated as early as January 1, 1871. The minutes of the last meeting recorded in Volume 2 imply some inclination among the membership to disband the section; however, nothing was decided, and further history of the section is unknown.
Membership Roll, 1871-1873
This volumes lists members in the order in which they joined the section and includes ages, occupations, and addresses.
Financial Records, 1871-1873
The account book and supplementary receipts and balance sheets in this section indicate that the bulk of the section's meager funds went for rent and newspaper advertising.
Clippings, 1872-1876
These clippings deal largely with the Eight-Hour Movement in Philadelphia, which the section supported. There is little information on the section's own history.
Broadsides, undated
The broadsides printed by Section 26 were mainly advertising for its meetings.
Miscellany, undated
The miscellany includes a hand-lettered obituary of a deceased member and an undated report on a constitutional convention.
IV. Records of Section 1 (St. Louis), 1870-1877
Although much more fragmentary than the records of the Philadelphia section, those of the St. Louis section are interesting because its leader was Otto Weydemeyer, one of the organizers of the Socialist Labor Party and the son of Joseph Weydemeyer. German immigrants made up this section, which consequently remained close to the Sorge faction of the North American Federal Council.
Correspondence, 1870-1877
Most significant is the incoming correspondence, written mainly in German script. It is noteworthy because Sorge and Weydemeyer were the main correspondents, and because most of the letters were written from 1874 to 1876, late in the history of the International Workingmen's Association. Also included are some almost illegible pages torn from a letterbook of outgoing correspondence.
Financial Records, 1874-1876 Sixteen items.
Broadsides, undated Three items.
Miscellany, 1872, 1874 Two items.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Parts presented by Louis Walter and by the American Bureau of Industrial Research.
Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1972.
Contents List
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Series: I. Records of the General Council, 1871-1874
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Correspondence
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Box/Folder
1/1
Reel
1
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Letterbook, Descriptive Index
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Box/Folder
1/2
Reel
1
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Letterbook, 1872, Oct. 20 - 1874, August 5
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Box/Folder
1/3
Reel
1
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Letterbook, Typescript Extracts in French and English, 1872, Oct. 20 - 1874, August 5
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Box/Folder
1/4
Reel
1
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Letterbook, Typescript Extracts in German, 1872, Nov. 5 - 1874, July 29
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Box/Folder
1/5
Reel
1
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Convention Resolutions and Proceedings, 1871, Sept. 17-23
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Series: II. Records of the North American Federal Council, 1868-1877
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Correspondence
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Box/Folder
1/6
Reel
1
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Letterbook, 1871, April 2 - 1877, June 6
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Box/Folder
1/7
Reel
1
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Letterbook, Typescript Extracts, Reports, 1871, April 2 - 1876, June 25
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Box/Folder
1/8
Reel
1
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Convention Resolutions and Proceedings, 1870, Nov. - 1876, July 15
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Box/Folder
1/9
Reel
1
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Clippings, 1870, April 23 - 1873, August 16
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Box/Folder
1/10
Reel
1
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Broadsides, [1857, Oct.], 1871, Jan. - 1876, July
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Box/Folder
1/11
Reel
1
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Miscellany, undated
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Series: III. Records of Section 26 (Philadelphia), 1871-1876
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Box/Folder
2/1
Reel
2
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Correspondence, Incoming, 1871, Jan. 1 - 1876, April 26
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Minutes
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Box/Folder
2/2
Reel
2
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Vol. 1, 1871, Oct. 9 - 1873, March 10
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Box/Folder
2/3
Reel
2
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Vol. 2, 1873, March 17 - Sept. 23
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Box/Folder
2/4
Reel
2
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Membership Roll, 1871, Oct. 9 - 1873, August
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Financial Records
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Box/Folder
2/5
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2
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Account Book, 1871, Oct. 9 - 1873, Sept. 29
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Box/Folder
2/6
Reel
2
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Receipts, 1871, Oct. 29 - 1873, Sept. 29
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Box/Folder
2/7
Reel
2
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Balance Sheets, 1872, Jan. - 1873, March
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Box/Folder
2/8
Reel
2
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Clippings, 1872, May 18 - 1876, April 26
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Box/Folder
2/9
Reel
2
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Broadsides, undated
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Box/Folder
2/10
Reel
2
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Miscellany, undated
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Series: IV. Records of Section 1 (St. Louis), 1870-1877
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Correspondence
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Box/Folder
3/1
Reel
2
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Letterbook Extracts, circa 1872-circa 1876
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Box/Folder
3/2
Reel
2
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Incoming Correspondence, circa 1870 - 1877, July 21
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Box/Folder
3/3
Reel
2
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Financial Records, 1874, July - 1876, May 26
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Box/Folder
3/4
Reel
2
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Broadsides, undated
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Box/Folder
3/5
Reel
2
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Miscellany, 1872, 1874
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