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The Iwma and Its Precursors in London, C. 1830–1860

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The Iwma and Its Precursors in London, C. 1830–1860 chapter � The iwma and Its Precursors in London, c. 1830–1860 Fabrice Bensimon The discussion of the origins of the International Working Men's Association (iwma) is as old as the Association itself. Right from its beginnings, the founding members defined what they saw as its origins. Since then, and in particu- lar with the development of a scientific study of the iwma in the twentieth century, several questions have been raised. The first is the militant origins in the various steps to the founding of the association on 28 September 1864. Who were these activists? Did the scheme of an international association of workers originate long before, or just recently? Was it a linear or rather a pro- tracted progress? What were the meanings that were given to “international- ism”? Another question relates to the longer-term assessment of the growth of working-class internationalism: did it exist, and if it did, according to what patterns did it develop? A possible third question is the study of its fortune: why was the iwma so different from previous attempts? Two broad approaches have been used. The “internal” one, best exempli- fied by the work of Arthur Lehning, has been the minute research on indi- viduals, on the small groups of refugees, trade unionists and political activists whose ideas and commitments led to the creation of the iwma.1 A more “ex- ternal” approach has consisted in addressing the issue of why this association in particular was so successful, while others had failed before: were economic circumstances different? Had labour markets changed? Had working-class practices been transformed in Britain and on the continent? And so on. In a paper given at the 1985 conference in Amsterdam for the 50th anniversary of the International Institute of Social history (iish), Marcel van der Linden thus offered a “structural” interpretation for the rise and fall of the iwma.2 “Whereas * This paper has benefited from the readings and advice of Michel Cordillot, Quentin Deluer- moz, Jürgen Herres, Detlev Mares, Jeanne Moisand and Iorwerth Prothero, who are warmly thanked here. 1 Arthur Lehning, From Buonarotti to Bakunin. Studies in International Socialism (Leiden, 1970). 2 Marcel van der Linden, “The rise and fall of the First International: an Interpretation”, in Frits Van Holthoon and Marcel van der Linden (eds), Internationalism in the Labour movement, 1830–1940, 2 vols (Leiden, 1988), 1, pp. 323–335. © fabrice bensimon, ���8 | doi �0.��63/978900433546�_003 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc License.Fabrice Bensimon - 9789004335462 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 02:19:12AM via free access <UN> �� Bensimon hitherto the rise and fall of this organization was usually and to a large extent accounted for in terms of contingent factors, and ‘voluntarist’ choices made by its leaders”, he wished “to stress the more or less anonymous forces that played a role in this process.”3 Namely, in the economic sphere, the dramatic growth of industrial output and of world trade; the formation of nation-states; and the making of national organizations, trade unions in particular. These two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and combining the two helps shed light on a number of issues. While other contributions insist on the context of the making of the iwma and on the reasons for its relative success, this paper focuses on its internal pre-history. In particular it tries to address the protracted question of what defined internationalism, and in particular what made it different from cosmopolitanism and from the international solidarity, e.g. with Poland, which existed before. The reference to London does not imply that there were no origins of the iwma elsewhere – had it come solely from London, the iwma would not have proved as influential among workers inter- nationally. This simply means that the focus is London and Britain, which hap- pened to be the birthplace of the iwma, though its parent organisations came from various places. It seems that the amount of novel work concerning the late 1850s has been rather limited since Lehning’s 1938 text. This will be rather briefly discussed after a longer and more detailed analysis of the pre-1848 pe- riod and the Fraternal Democrats in particular. Exiles, Migrants and Internationalism in London before 1848 Why did London play a key part in the origins and the making of the iwma? Above all, because it was the capital of political exile. If we compare the state of research today with 1964, we can say that on this point several significant works have supplemented our knowledge. Bernard Porter has studied how London became, especially after 1848, the main centre for political asylum in the world.4 Although Britain did nothing to smoothe the exile of republicans and socialists, it was a liberal country, where many people felt attached to this policy of hosting the victims of foreign tyrannies – at a time when British radi- cals were proud of the liberties granted by the constitution of their country. It was also a powerful state, which made it easier than for countries such as Belgium or Switzerland to resist the pressure of France, Austria, Prussia or whatever regime was unhappy with the activities of its unruly subjects on Brit- ish soil. Our knowledge of the lives of the refugees has now much improved. 3 Ibid., p. 323. 4 Bernard Porter, The Refugee Question in mid-Victorian Politics (Cambridge, 1979). Fabrice Bensimon - 9789004335462 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 02:19:12AM via free access <UN> The iwma and Its Precursors in London �3 Several monographs and edited volumes have tackled the social history of groups of exiles, in particular Sylvie Aprile and Thomas C. Jones on the French, Rosemary Ashton and Christine Lattek on the Germans, Juan Luis Simal on the Spanish and Maurizio Isabella on Italians.5 Miles Taylor and Margot Finn have referred to the interactions between various refugees and groups and for- mer Chartists, and they have shown how the latter’s presence contributed to redefine British radicalism. These works document the rich associational life of exiles, including their lesser known members, as well as the interactions be- tween the members of various groups. The bulk of this research focuses on the post-1848 era, when thousands went to Britain following the 1848–1849 revo- lutions. But from the 1820s, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Frenchmen or Poles found refuge in Switzerland, Belgium, France and above all Britain.6 Another dimension was the circulation of ideas. Early socialist thinkers, like Charles Fourier, Saint-Simon, Robert Owen and later Étienne Cabet conceived systems that relied on universal brotherhood. Gregory Claeys has argued that Owenism played a significant part in the genesis of internationalism, in par- ticular in the 1840s with the Owenite Association of All Classes of All Nations (founded in 1835), which had branches in the United States and correspon- dence with France, Belgium and Germany.7 Under the incentive of some of their followers, several texts were translated which facilitated the diffusion of radical and socialist thought, e.g. Bronterre O’Brien’s translation of Buonar- roti’s History of Babeuf’s Conspiracy for Equality (1828) in 1836.8 5 Sylvie Aprile, Le Siècle des Exilés. Bannis et proscrits de 1789 à la Commune (Paris, 2010); Thom- as C. Jones, “French republican exiles in Britain, 1848–1870” (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 2010); Thomas C. Jones and Robert Tombs, “The French left in exile: quarante-huitards and communards in London, 1848–80”, in Debra Kelly and Martyn Cornick (eds), A History of the French in London: liberty, equality, opportunity (London, 2013), pp. 165–191; Rosemary Ashton, Little Germany: exile and asylum in Victorian England (Oxford, 1986); Juan Luis Simal, Emigra- dos. España y el exilio internacional, 1814–1834 (Madrid, 2012); Christine Lattek, Revolutionary Refugees: German Socialism in Britain, 1840–1860 (London, 2005); Sabine Freitag (ed.), Exiles from European Revolutions, Refugees in Mid-Victorian England (New York, 2003). 6 Bernard Porter, The Refugee Question; Delphine Diaz, Un asile pour tous les peuples ? Exilés et réfugiés étrangers dans la France du premier xixe siècle (Paris, 2014). 7 Gregory Claeys, “Reciprocal dependence, virtue and progress: some sources of early social- ist cosmopolitanism and internationalism in Britain, 1750–1850”, in Frits Van Holthoon and Marcel van der Linden, Internationalism in the Labour movement, 1830–1940, 2 vols (Leiden, 1988), i, pp. 235–258. 8 Filippo Michele Buonarroti, Buonarroti’s History of Babeuf’s Conspiracy for Equality; with the author’s reflections on the causes and character of the French Revolution. Translated by Bron- terre [James Bronterre O’Brien] (London, 1836). Fabrice Bensimon - 9789004335462 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 02:19:12AM via free access <UN> �4 Bensimon Lehning identified the 1830s as a primary period of intercourse, when some working-class newspapers started reporting on foreign labour movements, e.g. L’Écho de la fabrique in Lyon (1831–1834), The Poor Man’s Guardian in London (1831–1835). In 1836 William Lovett’s “London Working Men’s Association” drafted an Address to the Belgian Working Classes which may have been the first written statement of working-class internationalism, starting: “Fellow Producers of Wealth –, We are of opinion that those who produce the real wealth of any country (by which terms we mean the food, clothing, habita- tions, and all the great essentials of human happiness) have in reality but one great interest”.9 Similar addresses sent in the following years to the “workers” of various nations testified not only to the concern of setting up connections between organizations, but also to existing contacts.
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