The General Council, formed on October 5…

The General Council, formed on October 5 with co-opted additional members representing other nationalities, is based at the headquarters of the Universal League for the Material Elevation of the Industrious Classes at 18 Greek Street.

Different groups offer proposals for the organization: Louis Wolff (Mazzini's secretary) offers a proposal based on the rules and constitution of the Italian Workingmen’s Association (a Mazzinist organization).

Wolff leaves for Italy, and Lubez rewrites it in a way that appalls Marx.

Through deft manipulation of the subcommittee, Marx is left with all the papers, and sets about writing the Address to the Working Classes to which is attached a simplified set of rules.

At its founding, the International Workingmen's Association is an alliance of people from diverse groups, including French Mutualists, Blanquists, English Owenites, Italian republicans, such American proponents of individualist anarchism as Stephen Pearl Andrews and William B. Greene, followers of Mazzini, and other socialists of various persuasions.

Over its short life, it will grew into a major movement, with local federations in many countries developing strong bases of working class activism.

Karl Marx is a constant, and leading, figure from the start—he will be elected to every succeeding General Council of the association.