Born into a wealthy family as Peter Fox André, he became an atheist and married a working-class woman.
[1][2] Fox was a founding member of the International Workingmen's Association (IWMA) in 1864, serving on its general council continuously, and acting as its press representative from 1865 onwards.
He threw himself into the task, writing to a large number of leaders of working-class movements in the country, and had particular success with William Jessup, vice president of the National Labor Union, who led his union into sympathy with the IWMA.
Fox was the only council member who could take over at short notice, and so he filled the post until November, when Cremer briefly returned.
Fox proposed that the headquarters of the IWMA be moved to Geneva, as he knew that Marx had less support there than in other centres of the movement, but the council rejected this plan.