ABSTRACT
Few French political movements have had as impressive a heritage as socialism. The official Socialist party at the present time is only the latest of many socialist political movements dating back to the First International. If one looks carefully, one can find socialists long before the establishment of the International. As far back as the early nineteenth century, writers such as Babeuf, Saint-Simon, and Fourier were laying the foundations. The French socialist movement from its earliest days was closely tied to the International Working Men's Association—the First International. A group of French workers, along with their English counterparts, organized the International at Saint-Martin's Hall in London on September 28, 1864, and the French socialist movement was always its strongest single element. The disunity and resultant weakness of the Socialists in France was glaringly obvious to other European Socialists, who soon put pressure on their French comrades to stop squabbling.
