© françois jarrige, ���8 | doi �0.��63/978900433546�_007 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc License. chapter 6 The iwma, Workers and the Machinery Question (1864-1874) François Jarrige Translated by Constance Bantman "Factory nigger, Mine slave, Field vassal, Powerful people, rise up! Worker, seize the machine, Take the land, peasant!" Charles Keller, "Le Droit du travailleur", then "La Jurassienne" [1870]. ∵ In October 1864, soon after British

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... and French workers declared their wish to create an international labour association with sections in all European countries, temporary statutes and a statement of principles were adopted. In this "inaugural address," written by Karl Marx, several paradoxes stood out from the start: the organized labour movement, in spite of the waves of repression which had followed the failed 1848 revolutions, was being slowly revived, strikes were on the increase and the cooperative movement was spreading. However, "the misery of the working masses has not diminished," even as Europe was experiencing "an unheard of development of industry, and an unheard of expansion of imports and exports".1 This paradox -greater wealth 1 Written by Karl Marx between 21 and 27 October 1864 and published in the booklet Address and Provisional Rules of the Working Men's International Association, Established September 28, 1894, at a Public Meeting held at St. Martin's Hall, in London, in November 1864. A French translation was published in the Journal de l' Association internationale des travailleurs, * I would like to thank Fabrice Bensimon, Quentin Deluermoz and Jeanne Moisand for encouraging me to write this text in spite of my initial reluctance, and Michel Cordillot for his close reading and highly valuable feedback.