International Workingmen's Association

The International Workingmen's Association, commonly known as the First International, was a political international that aimed to unite left-wing groups and trade unions of the working class. It was founded at a meeting of some 2,000 workers in St Martin's Hall, London, on 28 September 1864, and Karl Marx drafted its Inaugural Address and Provisional Rules. Conflict between Marx's supporters and the anarchists around Mikhail Bakunin led to a split at the Hague Congress of 1872, which expelled Bakunin and moved the General Council to New York. The International was formally disbanded in 1876.