Anti-Authoritarian International | |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 1872 (1872-09) |
| Dissolved | September 1877 (1877-09) |
| Split from | International Workingmen's Association |
| Preceded by | International Alliance of Socialist Democracy |
| Succeeded by | International Working People's Association |
| Headquarters | St. Imier |
| Ideology | Anarchism Collectivist anarchism Anti-authoritarianism |
| Political position | Far-left |
TheAnti-Authoritarian International (also known as theAnarchist International of St. Imier) was an international workers'organization formed in 1872 after the split in theFirst International between theanarchists and theMarxists. This followed the 'expulsions' ofMikhail Bakunin andJames Guillaume from theFirst International at theHague Congress.[1] It attracted some affiliates of theFirst International, repudiated the Hague resolutions, and adopted a Bakuninist programme, and lasted until 1877.
The Anti-Authoritarian International was created when theSwissJura Federation, the most important anarchist section of the oldInternational Workingmen's Association (IWA), sent a proposal to the other sections, several of which then assembled atSt. Imier to create a new anti-authoritarian organization. The organization was made up of various national federations of workers' societies, mainly the Italian,Spanish, Belgian,American, French and French-speaking Swiss federations, together with other individual organizations which all opposedKarl Marx's control of the General Council and favoured the autonomy of national sections from centralized control.[1]
TheHague Congress decided to expelMikhail Bakunin andJames Guillaume from the International for not having dissolved theInternational Alliance of Socialist Democracy, which caused the delegates from theJurassic,Belgian andSpanish federations, together with aDutch and aSwiss delegate, to sign a manifesto showing their disagreement. All of them, includingGiuseppe Fanelli andErrico Malatesta, decided to meet inSaint-Imier to hold aseparate Congress in which they rejected the expulsion of Bakunin and Guillaume, did not recognize the General Council appointed inThe Hague and approved a resolution that included the anarchist theses and that contradicted the policy defended by the IWA.[2] The resolution on the political action of the proletariat said:[3]
1st, that the destruction of all political power is the first duty of the proletariat; 2nd, that any organization of a provisional and revolutionary political power intended to bring about this destruction cannot be more than a deception and would be as dangerous for the proletariat as all the governments that exist today; 3rd, that having rejected any commitment to achieve the realization of thesocial revolution, the proletarians of all countries must establish, outside of all bourgeois politics, the solidarity of revolutionary action.
The Congress, held on 15–16 September 1872, also approved the so-called "Pact of Friendship, Solidarity, and Mutual Defense between Free Federations" (also known asSaint-Imier Pact) in which it was said that:[4]
considering that within the International there is a tendency, openly manifested at the Hague Congress by theauthoritarian party, to substitute with the predominance and power of the heads of theGerman communist party the free development and spontaneous organization of the proletariat [...] the delegates of theSpanish,Italian,Jurassic,French andAmerican federations, meeting at this congress establish this Pact:
- The federations will maintain regular communication with each other.
- When any of the federations "is attacked in its freedom by the majority of a general congress or by the government of the Federal Council [...] all the other federations and sections will declare themselves in solidarity with it."
- The Pact's purpose is to safeguard the unity of the International which "the ambition of the authoritarian party has endangered."
The delegates also proclaimed:[1]
[t]hat the aspirations of the proletariat can have no other aim than the creation of an absolutely free economic organisation and federation based upon work and equality and wholly independent of any political government, and that such an organisation or federation can only come into being through the spontaneous action of the proletariat itself, through its trade societies, and through self-governing communes.
In September 1873 the International held its Second Congress in Geneva (officially theSixth General Congress since it was considered the legitimate heir to the IWA founded in London in 1864). It coincided with the Congress held by theMarxists in the same city, although theirs was a failure since only a small number of regional federations participated and the General Council could not attend due to lack of funds. On the other hand, the Anarchist Congress, inaugurated on September 1, was attended by delegates fromBritain,Switzerland,France, theNetherlands,Belgium andSpain. Afederation from theUnited States also announced its accession.[5]
Congress agreed to the dissolution of the General Council and it was proposed that the next Congress be held in Spain, but the Spanish delegateJosé García Viñas opposed it because he thought that within a year "Spain will be in full social revolution or in full reaction." Regarding the issues that were debated, he highlighted thegeneral strike issue, with which, according to the proposal, "the revolutionary solidarity between the different localities and regions would be effective; understanding that the workers should be ready to go on strike to prevent the concentration of the forces of the bourgeoisie on the points or regions where a revolutionary movement would break out."[6] On this subject Congress agreed as follows:[7]
[Seen] the very serious inconveniences that the organization of a general strike has in itself, more than anything, due to the obstacles presented by the workers who, having not yet taken charge of their position [...] become instruments of the bourgeoisie, lacking the duty of solidarity with the other exploited [...] [it was decided] to recommend to the sections that they renounce as much as possible the partial strike [...] that they do so that the resistance movements [...] are by Federations ex officio, and that they seek to promote the organization for the struggle not only in the field of economic solidarity against capital, but also in the field of revolutionary solidarity against all kinds of exploitation [sic].
The next two congresses were held inBrussels between September 7 and 13, 1874[8] and inBern in October 1876. In the latter a proposal was debated to open the following congress to delegates from non-anarchist organizations, which was opposed by the representatives of the Italian andSpanish federations if the following principle was not accepted:[9] "The International is the only existing organization that truly representspopular socialism; therefore we believe that our Association should be represented in the socialist congress, not to merge into a new organization, but only to defend its principles and its means of action and try to attract the workers' organizations that have not yet entered its ranks." Once this was approved, a comprehensive Congress was convened to be held in September 1877 inGhent, although shortly before that Anti-Authoritarian International would meet inVerviers.[10] Regarding the convocation of the comprehensive congress in Ghent from which "a new International could result," a clandestine Spanish anarchist newspaper warned that "such a thing would be tantamount to supposing that the congress, forgetting the lofty mission entrusted to it, would occupy itself with such perfectly superfluous things as how to claim the formation of a new International, since it exists, it has its magnificent organization and its circle is wide enough to accommodate all men of good will and all workers' organizations that aspire to the complete emancipation of the proletariat."[11]
The Congresses of Verviers and Ghent held between September 6 and 8, 1877, the first, and then the second, were the last of Anti-Authoritarian International since "they failed to obtain the attendance of many representatives of the workers' societies".[12] In Verviers, the radicalization of the anarchist movement was observed, increasingly inclined towards positions favorable to the use ofviolence under the influence ofRussian populism andnihilism,[13] and which took shape in the approval of the policy of "propaganda of the deed".[14] Hence, the congress showed its "sympathy and solidarity" with the attacks inSaint Petersburg and with the Italianinsurrection in Benevento.[12]
On the other hand, in the Congress of Verviers for the first time debate was raised betweencollectivist anarchism, the dominant doctrine until then in the anarchist movement - and which was based on the writings of Bakunin, who had died the previous year - andanarcho-communism defended by a new anarchist generation, including the RussianPeter Kropotkin, the ItalianErrico Malatesta and the FrenchÉlisée Reclus. Thus, while the collectivists defended the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his work", anarcho-communists proposed the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". In the Congress it was agreed after an intense debate that each Regional Federation would decide which option to follow.[15] The Spanish Regional Federation, for example, remained faithful to collectivist anarchism, but anarcho-communism began to spread between certain federations and sections, especially inAndalusia.[16]
The Spanish anarchistAnselmo Lorenzo wrote years later:[17]
TheInternational Workingmen's Association ceased to exist materially in the Congress of Verviers [...] It was so dead in fact [...] that the Spanish Federal Commission could not exchange a single letter with the entity in charge of the international office.
The Anti-Authoritarian International lasted until 1877, while the Marxist International had already dissolved a year earlier. In July 1881, anarchists would initiate theInternational Working People's Association (IWPA), or "Black International", which remained active until the late 1880s. A further attempt to create a lasting international organization was made inAmsterdam in 1907 by anInternational Anarchist Congress, though this would have an even briefer life than the IWPA.
Contemporary anarchist internationals include the anarcho-syndicalistInternational Workers' Association (established 1922), theInternational of Anarchist Federations (est. 1968), and Black Bridge International (est. 2001). The Anarkismo.net project (est. 2005) is not an international, but provides a means of increasing cooperation between organisations in theplatformist andespecifismo traditions.
In August 2012, theInternational Anarchism Gathering took place in St. Imier, partly as a commemoration of the 1872 St. Imier congress.[18] Another congress took place in 2023 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first St. Imier Congress.[19]
