Jurassic Federation

Origins

The call for the unification of workers from different countries, made in London in 1864 at the foundation of the First International, contributed to the development of the labor movement , including in Switzerland, where the local section of the MTP began to take shape in 1866. Particularly active were the sections in Le Locle and Sonvilliers , led by James Guillaume and Adhemar Schwitzgebel , respectively. The members of this organization were mostly watchmakers, engravers. Subsequently, many political immigrants, participants in the Paris Commune and Russian revolutionaries, among whom was Mikhail Bakunin, joined this section.

The members of this organization were supporters of anarchist collectivism , which implied the transfer of the means of production to the collective use of workers and the union of individual production and territorial collectives in the federation. They opposed parliamentarism, in connection with which they clashed with other West Swiss sections. This position contributed to the expansion of the influence of the collectivist section in Switzerland.

The emergence of the Jurassic Federation

The Jurassic Federation was founded in Sonviye on November 12, 1871. The federation united most of the Western Swiss groups, standing on anti-statistical federalist principles, whose ideology was anarchist collectivism. They opposed the decisions of the 1871 London Conference. As a result of the conflict with the General Council, the Jurassic Federation, as well as other anarchist sections, were expelled from the MTP at the Hague Congress in 1872.

It is worth noting that it was the anarchists from the Jurassic Federation, in particular James Guillaume, who played an important role in the arrival of Peter Alekseevich Kropotkin to anarchism. In his memoirs, the Russian revolutionary described his impressions of meeting the members of the Jurassic Federation in 1872:

the consciousness of the complete equality of all members of the federation, the independence of judgments and the ways of expressing them that I noticed among these workers , as well as their selfless devotion to the common cause, further impressed my feelings. And when, after spending a week among the watchmakers, I left the mountains, my view of socialism was finally established. I became an anarchist ^[1] .

Anti-authoritarian International Center

The groups excluded from the First International held a congress on September 15-17, 1872, during which the Saint-Imienne Anarchist International was founded (the congress was held in Saint-Imienne), however, they continued to call themselves the International Workers' Association. Together with the Swiss section, it included the federations of Belgium , England , Holland , Italy and Spain , as well as part of the French Federation (later Lassalians from Germany joined) ^[2] . During the existence of this International, 4 congresses were held: in 1873 in Geneva , in 1874 in Brussels , in 1876 in Bern and in 1877 in Verrier (Belgium). Its press organ was Bulletin de la Fédération jurassienne de l'Association internationale des travailleurs , published from 1872 to 1878, and had about 600 subscribers in about 10 countries.

In the years 1873-1874, about 300-400 activists were in the Jurassic Federation, consisting of two dozen sections located in Western Switzerland.

Decline

There were several reasons for the decline of the Jurassic Federation. Among them were a split within the anarchist International between moderates and radicals, a restructuring of the watch industry, and the move of James Guillaume to Paris in 1878. The Federation held its last congress in 1880.

• Anarcho-collectivism
• Saint-Imienne Anarchist International
• International Workers' Partnership