Quiz: Inaugural Address of the International Working Men’s Association

10 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. Where was the first General Working Men’s Congress to meet in 1865, according to the Rules? England Switzerland Belgium France
2. What kind of problem do the Rules say the emancipation of labour is? A purely English problem, arising from the early growth of the factory system A national question, to be solved by each country separately through its own laws Neither local nor national, but social, embracing all countries of modern society A moral and religious problem, to be solved by the reform of individual character
3. What “great fact” opens the Address? Pauperism in England vanished from 1848 to 1864, just as the free-traders had foretold Working-class misery did not diminish from 1848 to 1864, despite unrivalled industrial growth Wages in England doubled from 1848 to 1864, keeping pace with the growth of trade and industry English industry declined from 1848 to 1864, while foreign competitors overtook it in every market
4. Which group does the Children’s Employment Commission of 1863 call “a much degenerated population, both physically and mentally”? The smiths The miners The dyers The potters
5. How does the Address ironically describe the period when these reports were published? The millennium of free trade The age of revolution The golden age of English labour The dark age of modern industry
6. If there had been no solidarity of action between British and continental workers, what was there, according to the Address? Complete indifference A solidarity of defeat Open hostility A solidarity of hope
7. What do the Income and Property Tax returns show when the Address “reverses the medal”? About 3,000 persons share more income than all England’s agricultural labourers The rich paid the greater part of the taxes, sparing the labourers any burden Incomes grew more equal, as labourers’ earnings rose faster than those of the rich The number of persons with very large incomes fell from year to year after the year 1853
8. What did a British middle-class paper predict in 1850? That if English trade rose 50 per cent, pauperism would sink to zero That wages would fall by half if the Ten Hours’ Bill passed That the Chartists would soon win the vote for every working man in England That free trade would ruin English agriculture within a single decade
9. What does the Address say hired labour is, like slave and serf labour? The highest form of labour yet reached, since it rests on a free contract The natural and permanent form of labour in every advanced industrial society A passing form found only in England, where the land was taken from the peasants A transitory and inferior form, destined to disappear before associated labour
10. What did some formerly active British workers become, caught by the temporary bribe of more work and wages? “Political blacks” Chartist leaders Capitalists Factory overseers

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