On this day, 28 September 1864, the International Workingmen’s Association was formed in London. Often referred to as the First International, it was a gathering of socialist, anarchist and trade union organisations from around the world dedicated to the emancipation of the working class. However initially it was exclusively male, and women were not permitted entry until 1865, although it remained male-dominated until the organisation’s demise in 1876 when the Marxist (red) and anarchist (black) factions definitively split. The authoritarian German aristocrat and chancellor Otto von Bismarck remarked upon hearing of the split “Crowned heads, wealth and privilege may well tremble should ever again the Black and Red unite!” https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1221635081354973/?type=3
