International Workingmen's Association in Portugal (1871-1873)

Abstract

The International Working Men's Association appears late in Portugal. It is only in 1871 that the International contacts occurs with the Portuguese socialists, therefore, at a time when internal differences within the International were intense. The political struggles felt within the First International will be constantly present in the building of the International in Portugal. This article proposes to make clear how a peripheral country, like Portugal, played an important role in the internal battles of the First International, and explore the contacts made by the Alliance of Socialist Democracy of Mikhail Bakunin, as well as by the General Council of the International through Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. These sensitivities were intended to win the control of Portuguese socialism and, in fact, the Portuguese Socialists will be receptible to the two political fields of internationalism.

Keywords

• workers movement
• international workingmen's association
• working class
• socialism