The defeat of the revolutions in France , Germany and Italy was followed by a period of reaction . But the working class was no longer the former unconscious and unorganised class and did not want to be led by the bourgeoisie which betrayed it at every opportunity . The leaders of the proletariat – Marx and Engels and their adherents – learned serious lessons from the defeats of the revolutions of 1848. The experience of the struggle of the proletariat confirmed the correctness of the theoretical conclusion drawn in the Mani festo of the Communist Party on the necessity of uniting the workers of all lands . For this purpose Marx and Engels organised the International ( September 28 , 1864 ) , the first international association of workers based on the Union of Communists founded as early as 1847. The Constituent Manifesto and Rules ( drawn up by Marx ) of the International Association of Workers , as the International was initially called , contained the basic propositions of Marxism on the working class and its main mission of winning political power by common efforts and of building a new society . The International was organised on principles of democratic centralism , i.e. , elec tion of all bodies from top to bottom and subordination of the lower bodies to the higher bodies . The International was divided into national sections which were supposed to pursue the single line of the International . The very first steps of the International showed the workers its usefulness ; if a strike was organised in one place or one country , the workers of other countries sup ported the strikers , kept strikebreakers away from there , etc. The International grew increasingly more popular with each passing day . But the International also encountered quite a few difficulties in its activities . Many participants of the working class movement did not understand scientific communism and were under the influence of various petty – bourgeois theories . For example , the workers were considerably influenced by the theories of Proudhon and Lassalle who advocated only an economic struggle against the bourgeoisie . Marx and Engels showed that a purely economic struggle of the working class might bring only temporary success , but could not change the conditions of the workers , could not bolish exploitation . Only the assumption of power by the working class and abolition of private property is the yoke of capitalism . However , Marx did not in any way deny the importance of the economic struggle of the constituent element of the class struggle of the proletariat .He never advocated only violent revolutions , as it is incorrectly ascribed to him in the West , but held that with the existence of democratic liberties the working class could also assume power peacefully . Marx’s adherents in the Inter national therefore always strove to maintain close relations with trade unions and other organisations of the working class . The importance of the International was enormous . It played an important role in linking socialism with the working – class movement and in elaborating common tactics of the proletariat in its struggle for emancipation . The principle of proletarian internationalism is one of the foundations of the modern working – class movement . Within the framework of the International Marxism prevailed upon all the petty – bourgeois trends in socialism . The International paved the way for the creation of mass working – class socialist parties on the basis of national states .