© 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. 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 i wma 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 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. * 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. Fabrice Bensimon, Deluermoz Quentin and Jeanne Moisand - 9789004335462 Downloaded from PubFactory at 10/12/2018 08:48:07AM via free access