KARL MARX

*
SEVEN
The International
The International belonged to the period of the Second Empire
during which the oppression reigning throughout Europe prescribed
unity and abstention from all internal polemics to the workers' movement,
then just reawakening.
Engels to Sorge (1874), MESC, p. 288
I. ORIGINS OF THE INTERNATIONAL
One of the main reasons why Volume One of Capital was so long in
appearing and why the subsequent volumes never appeared at all is that
Marx's time was taken up by the work forced on him as the leading figure
in the International.
After the dissolution of the Communist League in 1852, Marx had
carefully avoided any party political commitment; for one thing, the 1850s
were a period of reaction and left-wing activism was inopportune. But by
the early 1860s political and economic conditions were encouraging a
revival of working-class activity in Europe. In England the successful
struggle of the building workers for a nine-hour day encouraged the
growth of organised trade unions and the establishment in i860 of
the London Trades Council. In France, Napoleon III had begun to
relax the anti-trade union laws in the hope of using the workers as a
counterweight to the increasing liberal opposition. As for Central Europe,
Lassalle (who died just a few weeks before the founding of the
International) had 'reawakened the working-class movement in Germany
after a sleep of fifteen years'.'
This revival coincided with a growing spirit of internationalism, particularly
strong in England. The cause of Italian independence had long
been popular among the British working class; Garibaldi was feted when
he came to London and Mazzini was personally known to many of the
working-class leaders. Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery rallied
trade unionists to the side of the North in the Civil War and Marx was
very impressed by the 'monster meeting' organised by the trade unions