Workers Unite!

The International 150 Years Later

By: Marcello Musto (Editor)

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Paperback | 18 December 2014 | Edition Number 1

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336 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 1.75

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Major political and economic shifts have marked the turn into the 21st century: the collapse of the Soviet bloc; the rise to prominence of ecological issues; social changes generated by globalization; and, most recently, one of the worst world financial crises ever. These developments compel us to examine the capitalist system with a critical eye and to reflect on the need for alternatives.

The 150th anniversary of the birth of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) (1864-2014) offers an important opportunity to compare present mainstream paradigms and the political platform developed by the IWA in order to better address our contemporary [crisis?] and theorize solutions.

This sourcebook introduces and contextualizes the most valuable notes and proceedings from these legendary meetings, and includes letters and commentary surrounding the events themselves, many appearing for the first time in English. The carefully compiled materials reach beyond Marx's writings through the history of the IWA to include the cooperative movement, trade union reformism, collectivism, and anarchism. In his introductions to these texts, acclaimed scholar Marcello Musto provides accessible critical evaluations and explanations. The text also highlights how certain themes-self-emancipation of the working class versus communist vanguardism and the taking of political power to achieve social ends versus oppressive Soviet-style state control-find sharp discontinuity between Marx's thought as a political leader of the IWA and the tradition of Soviet Marxism.

Carefully selected and painstakingly translated, this volume is an invaluable resource for all those interested in the foundations of modern political and labor history.

Industry 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 which-sadly enough-are 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 didn't 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 *

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