Workers Unite!: The International 150 Years Later

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This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Major political and economic shifts have succeeded one another over the past twenty-five years. The rise to prominence of ecological issues, social changes generated by neoliberal globalization, and - most recently - one of the worst world economic crises ever, compels us to reflect urgently on the need for alternatives to the capitalist system. In its brief life, the International Working Mens Association (IWMA) became the symbol of class struggle and influenced the ideas of millions of workers all over the planet. The 150th anniversary of its birth (1864-2014) offers an important opportunity to reread their resolutions, to learn from the experiences of its protagonists, and to better theorize solutions to our contemporary issues. This sourcebook includes the most valuable documents (30 appearing for the first time in English) of all the currents of the IWMA, and, in his introduction, acclaimed scholar Marcello Musto provides critical evaluations to the texts and to their historical context. Carefully selected and translated, this volume is an invaluable resource for all those interested in the foundations of labor movement historys as well as in the critique of capitalism.

Reviews

...An incredible collection. * Noam Chomsky *
A wide-ranging and interesting selection [of documents] . . . Musto provides sufficient historical context to engage and inform specialists and general readers and, in this sense, he has managed to revive the IWMA from relative obscurity -- Dr. Gordon Bannerman * LSE Review of Books *
The value of the sourcebook is considerable for those interested in the philosophical development and historical practice of the IWMA. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *
By presenting these original documents, the book provides a fascinating introduction to the first steps of the autonomous organization of the workers: what it was like and what kind of learning processes they went through. The experiences of the First International are again relevant in the present epoch of globalization. -- Vesa Oittinen, Research Cheif at University of Helsinki & Interviewer * Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine *
Workers Unite! may be the most important piece of wisdom we will ever hear. In this book, the founding of the International Working Man's Association, receives a 150 birthday salute worthy of one of humanity's greatest, albeit least known, accomplishments. An extraordinary collection, often surprising, never dull, and full of insights and arguments, most of whichsadly enoughare still relevant. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to everyone young enough in mind to learn something truly new from what appears to be old and over. * Bertell Ollman, Professor of Politics, New York University, US, and author of Alienation: Marx's Conception Of Man In Capitalist Society and Dance Of The Dialectic *
This wonderful book by Musto responds to the question: What does it mean to construct a revolution In the decade before and after the Paris Commune communists discovered what that meant, and they proposed a non-utopian project: they didnt just imagine the impossible but demonstrated how to realize it. With the foundation of the International, the working class asserted its political realism. * Antonio Negri, Philosopher *

Author Bio

Marcello Musto is Assistant Professor of Sociological Theory at York University, Toronto, Canada. He has edited and authored numerous publications on Marx and Marxisms including Karl Marxs Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy 150 Years Later (2008) and Marx for Today (2012). His work has been published worldwide in 16 languages.