272 THE CLASS STRUGGLE MARX AND THE INTERNATIONAL 273 publish it in hamlet, in town, from country to country, from nation to nation: that there is no hope for the sons of labor until those whose interests are identical with theirs, have an equal right to decide what laws shall be passed, what plans shall be made to rule this country justly.
And another appeal to the working class of America, issued by the same organization in the fall of 1837, begins with the words: We turn to you in a spirit of fraternity, as is fitting among workers in all countries of the world.
The same thought is expressed in an appeal to the European working class, when it says: Producers of all wealth: we see that our oppressors are united. Why should not we, too, have our bands of brotherhood, our Holy Alliance?
life at that time. At great mass demonstrations they gave voice, in speeches and resolutions, to their solidarity with the revolutionists of Paris, they supported its fighters and its victims, held memorial demonstrations, and were permeated with a feeling of solidarity with the revolutionists.
As they saw more and more clearly the differences that existed between the various classes of society, the workers realized that they, as workingmen, had interests that were in opposition to those of their exploiters and oppressors, that human solidarity must include, first of all, the members of the same class of society. The idea spread that the workers of all nations belong together, that they must unite their forces for the more effective pursuit of their interests against the ruling classes of all nations. And it is astonishing, how clearly this thought of international working class solidarity in all countries was expressed, at that time, at the beginning of the thirties of the last century, at a time when the labor movement was just coming into existence.
Thus, for instance, the Socialist cooperative movement of England, in 1832, sent delegates to Franoe, to the St. Simons and to the United States of America in order to emphasize there, the unity of interests of the workers of all nations. French workmen at Nantes sent an address to English labor declaring: The workers of all countries are brothers. Let us form a union that neither seas and rivers nor state boundaries can divide. Let us all come together, all the cities and the industrial centers of the world.
In a message to the workers of America an English Cooperative Congress emphasized that the working class must transform, entirely, existing social and political conditions. English Trade Unionists called to French workmen: We agree with you most heartily that the workers of all nations are brothers, In The London Workingmen Association, where the Charter that later became the program of the Chartist movement, was first drawn up, this internationalist tendency was particularly apparent.
In an appeal to the workers of the countries issued by this organization we read: If you feel with us, then you will tell of it in your shops, you will preach it in your organizations, you will When, in November 1836, The London Workingmen Association sent an address to the laboring class of Belgium in which national differences were condemned as foolish, the Belgians answered in a similar tone. In an address to the working class of America we read: The tyrants of the world are strong because we, the toiling millions, are divided. And in an appeal to the workers of France: We turn to you, because we believe that the interests of our class, the world over, are identical.
Thus the international solidarity of the proletariat played an important role at the earliest awakening of the labor movement, and everywhere, in the labor organizations, found suitable expression on all occasions. But there were also organizations that made the propagation of this thought their foremost duty, that tried to bring together workers of various nationalities for the sake of uniting them for the furtherance of the mutual interests of the working class in all countries.
In the middle of the 40 London had become the haven for countless refugees from the different countries of the European continent. Among these men, at the end of 1844, the idea of forming an international organization, which was to be the meeting place of the Democrats of all nations first took root.