International Working People's Association
Encyclopedia
Albert Parsons
Albert Richard Parsons was a pioneer American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist...
, August Spies
August Spies
August Vincent Theodore Spies was an anarchist labor activist who was found guilty of conspiracy and hanged following a bomb attack on police at the Haymarket affair.-Background:...
, and other anarchist leaders prosecuted in the wake of the 1886 Haymarket bombing
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
in Chicago.
Origins
The slow pace of progress and limited results managed by the Socialist Labor Party of AmericaSocialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
(organized as the "Workingmen's Party" in 1876) during its first years proved frustrating and demoralizing for many Sections of the organization. Absent of significant electoral success, many Sections of the SLP began to debate the question of armed struggle and to organize paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
Lehr-und-Wehr Vereine (Education and Defense Societies). This movement was particularly strong in the tough industrial center of Chicago, populated by a large number of German-speaking immigrants cognizant of the European revolutionary movement and its German-based propaganda literature.
Anarchists
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
and revolutionary socialists
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
(who in the vernacular of the day called themselves "Social Revolutionists") were united by their disdain with electoral politics and piecemeal ameliorative reform. Such tepid changes such as currency reform
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
, civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
reform, state ownership of public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
, and reduction of the tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
were dismissed as inconsequential. Only through the application of armed force would revolutionary transformation of American society and economy be possible, some believed. Various independent revolutionary clubs were formed.
In 1881, a congress of anarchist and social revolutionary clubs was held in London, England aiming to establish a new international organization to succeed the International Workingmen's Association
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class...
, the so-called "First International" dominated by supporters of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and from which anarchists headed by Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
had been expelled. This new organization, the International Working People's Association (later known as the "Black International") was intended to provide rallying point around which various national groups could organize themselves.
The London gathering was attended by a New York social revolutionary group, which upon returning to America called for a gathering of American revolutionary groups in Chicago. The 1881 Chicago convention which followed adopted for itself the name Revolutionary Socialist Party and approved a platform urging the formation of trade unions on "communistic" principles and urging that support only be lent to unions of a "progressive" character. The platform also denounced use of the ballot as a vehicle for revolutionary social change, declaring instead that elections were "an invention of the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
to fool the workers." Instead, it would be "armed organizations of workingmen who stand ready with the gun to resist encroachment upon their rights" which were pivotal, the platform declared.
The IWPA in America
A key turning-point came in December 1882 with the arrival in America of Johann MostJohann Most
Johann Joseph Most was a German-American politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "Propaganda of the deed". His grandson was Boston Celtics radio play-by-play man Johnny Most...
, a former parliamentary representative of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
who had turned to anarchism. Most had just finished up an 16-month term of imprisonment for having glorified the assassination of Russian Tsar Alexander II and urged its emulation in his newspaper, Freiheit (Freedom). A popular orator and brilliant journalist in the German language, Most's arrival was celebrated by an enthusiastic crowd in the great hall of the Cooper Union Institute in New York City. A tour of the principle industrial cities of America by Most followed in early 1883, a successful venture which lead to the formation of a number of new local anarchist "groups."
Further aiding the anarchist cause, Most brought with him to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
his newspaper, Freiheit (Freedom), which uncompromisingly advocated struggle against state authority, widening the gap between the electorally-oriented socialists of the Socialist Labor Party and the burgeoning movement of "Social Revolutionists."
The split between the SLP and the social revolutionists and anarchist was formalized in 1883, when the groups held separate conventions, in Baltimore, Maryland and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, respectively. The October 1883 convention of the anarchists and revolutionary socialists held in Pittsburgh was attended by representatives of groups in 26 cities, including among them Johann Most, August Spies, and Albert R. Parsons.
It was the Pittsburgh conclave which formally launched the International Working People's Association in America. The convention adopted a manifesto known as the Pittsburgh Proclamation, declaring the organization for "destruction of the existing class rule by all means" and for the establishment of an economic system based upon "free contracts between the autonomous (independent) communes and associations, resting upon a federalistic basis." An "Information Bureau" in Chicago was established to coordinate the activity of the "loose-knit federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
of autonomous groups" declaring allegiance to the organization.
Delegates to the Pittsburgh convention agreed in the efficacy of armed force, but differed as to its function. Eastern delegates surrounding Johann Most argued in favor of the "propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed is a concept that refers to specific political actions meant to be exemplary to others...
" — individualistic acts of terrorism which would win alienated workers to the anarchist cause through the power of example. Western-based delegates such as Spies and Parsons argued instead for a primary emphasis on work in trade unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
as the vehicle for revolutionary change, dismissing the labor movement's obsessive concern with immediate demands but insisting that the direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
of unions would be key in establishing the embryonic production groups of the new society. This mixture of anarchism and syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
would be known as the "Chicago Idea."
Growth and decline
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The circulation of Most's newspaper, Freiheit, increased handsomely, while some important German-language newspapers transferred their loyalties from the SLP to the new organization.
Meanwhile, the Socialist Labor Party withered on the vine, with its membership plummeting to just 1,500 and its National Secretary, Philip Van Patten, leaving a mysterious suicide note and disappearing, only to reemerge later in another city as a government employee. At its December 1883 Baltimore convention, the SLP took the extraordinary, albeit short-lived, step of abolishing the role of National Secretary altogether and adopting a particularly radical program in hopes of cobbling together some sort of organizational unity with the so-called "Internationalists" of the IWPA. Ultimately, however, the SLP determined that the difference over the question of violence between itself and the IWPA made unification impossible and a polemic war against anarchism was launched.
In the aftermath of the 1886 Haymarket bombing and the repression launched against prominent leaders of the American anarchist movement such as English-language newspaper editor Albert Parsons
Albert Parsons
Albert Richard Parsons was a pioneer American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist...
and German-language newspaper editor August Spies
August Spies
August Vincent Theodore Spies was an anarchist labor activist who was found guilty of conspiracy and hanged following a bomb attack on police at the Haymarket affair.-Background:...
, American sections of the IWPA began to disintegrate rapidly. At least a portion of the American anarchist movement, at least one historian believes, came over to the more moderate Socialist Labor Party in the aftermath of the Chicago debacle.
The anarchist movement dissipated severely following the execution of the Haymarket leaders in 1887. Although The Alarm continued to be published in Chicago for a time, sympathizers and advertisers were scared off by the harsh repression and public approbation meted out to the anarchist leaders. A few small anarchist groups survived, however, notably those surrounding Johann Most and Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
and their respective newspapers, Freiheit and Liberty, published in New York and Boston.
Later revivals
The International Working People's Association (the so-called "Black International") is not to be confused with the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) established by Burnette G. Haskell and others on July 15, 1881, which borrowed its name from the First International. While discussions were held regarding a merger of these two organizations, talks came to naught. Haskell's IWMA (known informally as the "Red International") disappeared at the end of the 1890s.An effort was made to revive the International Working People's Association by a convention of anarchists held in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 1907, but the organization was essentially stillborn.
A final move to relaunch the IWPA, more successful than the 1907 effort, was made in December 1921 at another convention of international anarchists held in Berlin.
A short-lived effort to establish an umbrella group of anti-revisionist
Anti-Revisionist
In the Marxist–Leninist movement, anti-revisionism refers to a doctrine which upholds the line of theory and practice associated with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and usually either Mao Zedong or Enver Hoxha as well...
communists called the International Working People's Association was made in 2005. The organization was based in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
and included four small constituent organizations: the Detroit Working People's Association, the Communist League, a New York City-based group called the Free People's Movement (with a youth section called Revolutionary Youth), and a British organization called International Weekly Group. The organization was terminated in 2006 due to factional disagreements.
Key members
- Samuel FieldenSamuel FieldenSamuel Fielden was a socialist, anarchist and labor activist who was one of eight convicted in the 1886 Haymarket bombing.-Early life:...
- Johann MostJohann MostJohann Joseph Most was a German-American politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "Propaganda of the deed". His grandson was Boston Celtics radio play-by-play man Johnny Most...
- Albert ParsonsAlbert ParsonsAlbert Richard Parsons was a pioneer American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist...
- Michael SchwabMichael SchwabMichael Schwab was a German-American labor organizer and one of the defendants in the Haymarket Square incident.-Early years:...
- August SpiesAugust SpiesAugust Vincent Theodore Spies was an anarchist labor activist who was found guilty of conspiracy and hanged following a bomb attack on police at the Haymarket affair.-Background:...
American newspapers associated with the IWPA
- The Alarm, Chicago, October 1884-December 1888?.
- Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung (Chicago Workers' News), Chicago, June 1874-1924? (Anarchist: 1880-1886).
- The Labor Enquirer, Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, 1882-1888. - Die Fackel (The Torch), Chicago, May 1879-October 1919 (Anarchist: 1880-1886).
- Freedom, Chicago, November 1890-May 1892.
- Freiheit (Freedom), London, Berlin, Exeter, New York, Chicago, HobokenHoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, and BuffaloBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, January 1879-August 1910. - LibertyBenjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
, Boston, August 1881-April 1908. - Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, Valley Falls, KansasValley Falls, KansasValley Falls is a city in Jefferson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,192. Valley Falls is part of the Topeka, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, TopekaTopeka, KansasTopeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, and Chicago, 1883-June 1907. - Truth: A Journal for the Poor, San Francisco, 1881-December 1884.
- Der Vorbote (The Harbinger), Chicago, February 1874-April 1924 (Anarchist: 1880-1886).
- Sources: Richard T. Ely, Recent American Socialism, pp. 31, 32, 36. Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; Volume 3, pp. 389-390, 407-408, 411-413.
Pamphlet literature
- "'To the Workingmen of America."' Chicago: International Working People's Association, 1883. 4-page leaflet.
- Victor Hugo! His Two Messages: One to the Rich, the Other to the Poor. Chicago?: International Working People's Association, n.d. [1880s].
- William J. Gorsuch, Revolt! An American to Americans... Allegheny, PA: [IWPA] Group No. 1, 1885.
Further reading
- International Working People's Association, "The Pittsburgh Proclamation." Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2006.
- Albert R. Parsons, Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis as Defined by Some of its Apostles. Chicago: Mrs. A.R. Parsons, 1887.
- Life of Albert R. Parsons, with Brief History of the Labor Movement in America. Chicago: Lucy E. Parsons, 1889.
- Frederic Trautmann, The Voice of Terror: A Biography of Johann Most. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.
External links
- Alan Dawley, "The International Working People's Association, The Lucy Parsons Project. Retrieved May 28, 2010.