The organization is remembered for the active participation of many pioneer leaders of the modern socialist and anarchist movements, including Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin.
Membership in the IWA was numerically small, its funding inadequate, and its institutional life short — lasting a mere 8 years from its establishment in 1864 until its termination at the Hague Congress of 1872.
[1] Establishment of the IWA was related to ongoing efforts to coordinate the activities of the trade union movements in Great Britain and France, a project begun in connection with the 1862 London World's Fair.
[6] The gathering dealt with the organizational structure of the IWA and approved a uniform rate of dues of one English penny per capita, to be paid quarterly to the General Council in London.
[7] The IWA, an international association of trade unionists from its creation, moved towards socialist advocacy at the Lausanne Congress, adopting a resolution calling for state ownership of transportation and exchange in order to break the hold of large companies on these institutions.