392 socialism worker had a stake in the system rather than a desire to overthrow it It did not help that capitalism became more adept at producing cheap and abundant-if-inferior goods and brought about a higher standard of living Most workers in the second half of the 19th century were living better than their parents Revolutions did break out in 1848, but they were not socialist The International Working Men’s Association (the First International) came into being only in 1864 Strongly Marxist, it was dominant in European socialism Marx’s International Workingmen’s Association had its first meeting at Geneva in 1866 This was the first major international socialist meeting It reflected the general socialist tendency to disagree on strategy Marx and Engels and British and exiled continental labor leaders created the International Workingmen’s Association in 1864 It was a committee, and about as effective as committees normally are—it included British reformists, continentals of more radical persuasion, and anarchists of several types Marx relocated headquarters to New York to strip away the anarchists The IWA dissolved in 1876 By century’s end, Marxist socialism was the leading ideology of working-class parties in all but the Britain and the United States Socialism rose from a small intellectual movement to a large mass working-class political movement coincident with the industrialization of Europe, particularly between 1870 and 1890, which created the great proletariat The centenary of the French Revolution in 1889 was the occasion for socialists and social democrats to meet in Paris and form the Second International The Second International was a confederation of centralized national parties The approach was popularized by Engels, August Bebel of the German Social Democratic Party, and Karl Kautsky Socialism had a shining moment from March 18 to May 28, 1871, when the Paris Commune arose in the aftermath of France’s loss to Prussia and the collapse of the Second Empire The city’s citizens elected a radical government composed of old Jacobins from 1789 and Proudhonites Communes arose in Toulouse, Marseille, Saint-Etienne, and Lyon but were suppressed quickly The Versailles government sent the army against Paris and repressed the Commune The Commune accomplished little but became a symbol remarked on by Marx; it was evidence to many socialists that the working class was ready for the revolution AMERICAN SOCIALISM The U.S Socialist Labor Party of America came into being in 1877 Already small, it fragmented in the 1890s In 1901 the Socialist Labor Party’s moderate faction and the Social Democratic Party and Eugene V Debs put together the Socialist Party of America American socialism differed from European and British socialisms because Americans’ experiences were not those of the old countries The American labor movement struggled in the 19th century, even later when industrialism was rampant and highly exploitive, because American workers were slow to acknowledge that they were no longer free agents, self-employed craftsmen and entrepeneurs in the making Socialism’s emphasis on cooperation rather than rugged individualism seemed un-American Socialism’s American beginnings were imported, primarily from Germany It remained strongly influenced by immigrants—Milwaukee’s gas and water socialist Victor Berger, the leadership of the anarchist Industrial Workers of the World, and many of the national party leaders Where socialism had native roots, it tended to arise from populist farmers whose socialism tracked more closely with their Christianity than with any imported European ideas When Oklahoma voted for socialists before World War I, it did so because of agricultural conditions in Oklahoma, not out of commitment to the Second International EUROPEAN SOCIALISM Eduard Bernstein and the social democrats Vladimir dominated the Second International in 1889 in Paris Vladimir Lenin and Germany’s Rosa Luxemburg led the radicals Karl Kautsky led a smaller faction The anarchists were left out and split from the socialist movement In 1884 British middle-class intellectuals formed the Fabian Society, which laid the basis for the Labour Party in 1906 Jean Jaurốs founded the Section Franỗaise de lInternationale Ouvriốre in 1905 Under Juarès and later Léon Blum the SFIO kept Marxist theory while in practice becoming reformist In Germany, Ferdinand Lassalle advocated voluntary worker cooperatives rather than Marx’s revolution Marx was scornful, but Lassalle’s cooperatives were the beginnings of today’s credit unions, mutual insurance companies, food cooperatives, and similar institutions They have never altered capitalism but have found a niche within it The German Social Democratic Party, founded on the ideas of Marx and Lassalle, was for decades the world’s leading socialist organization By 1891 it had a million and a half members and was beginning to enjoy reasonable electoral success Although Karl Kautsky kept the German Social Democratic Workers’ Party Marxist in doctrine, in practice the party became