International of Anarchist Federations

The International of Anarchist Federations (IAF) is an international anarchist organization founded by the Carrara Congress (1968). It is based on the principle of anarchist synthesis, which means it seeks to unite all tendencies of anarchism within the same organization. It is subdivided into anarchist federations at the national, regional, or local level, which in turn participate in the International.

The IAF organizes congresses every four years which serve as a gathering and a place of expression for the anarchist movement. It is one of the principal anarchist organizations at the beginning of the 21st century.

History

Context

Birth of anarchism and first organizations

In the 19th century, the development of capitalism saw the formation of several opposing political ideologies and movements, particularly anarchism, Marxism, and socialism.Template:Sfn Anarchists advocate for the struggle against all forms of domination perceived as unjust, among which is economic domination, with the development of capitalism.Template:Sfn They are particularly opposed to the State, viewed as the institution enabling the endorsement of many of these dominations through its police, army, and propaganda.Template:Sfn They want to replace the State and capitalism by equalitarian, voluntary, stateless societies.Template:Sfn

During the 1880s, the Anti-authoritarian International, a foundational organisation in anarchist history—which brought together a major part of the anarchists and provided important theoretical foundations for the movement—disappeared.Template:Sfn It was replaced by other systems of organisation among anarchists, notably companionship and, later, anarcho-syndicalism.Template:Sfn

Birth and spread of the anarchist synthesis

From the 1920s until approximately the 1940s, intense debates traversed anarchist circles regarding their modes of organisation.Template:Sfn Two positions emerged and opposed each other: on the one hand, Platformism, promoted by Nestor Makhno, argued that anarchists should gather in an organisation with a clear and restricted political line; on the other hand, Synthesis, promoted by Errico Malatesta, Volin or Sébastien Faure, considered that to unite all anarchist tendencies in one organisation, it must be open to and inclusively gather all these currents.Template:Sfn

Within the framework of these theoretical oppositions, and in response to the reformism of the CNT in the late 1920s, the first anarchist federation of the Synthesis line was born: the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), founded in 1927.Template:Sfn The Francophone Anarchist Federation (FAF) was founded in 1937, and other similar organisations spread throughout the world, in Japan or Korea, for example.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Founding of the IAF and subsequent history

File:St. Imier Anarchy 2023 camping.jpg

Main camping location of Anarchy 2023, one of the largest anarchist gatherings of the 21st century

In 1968, the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF) was established at the congress of Carrara, building on the previously established international network at the initiative of the FAF, the FAI, the FAIt and the Bulgarian Federation in exile.

Established along synthesist lines, the IAF brought together anarchist federations from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Bulgaria, Cuba, France, Germany, Greece, Iberia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.Template:Sfn The IAF affirmed its commitment to the principles of anarcho-communism at its second congress in 1971, but soon lost its Cuban section due to its soft line on the Castro government. Nevertheless, the IAF managed to develop further links in Hong Kong and Vietnam and made contact with other anarchist federations in Europe and South America.Template:Sfn

According to the historian Ruth Kinna, the organization is part of the tradition of the First International and adopts principles of decentralized federation and group autonomy to strengthen local struggles.Template:Sfn She writes that their goal is:Template:Sfn

The abolition of all forms of authority, whether economical, political, social, religious, cultural or sexual, the construction of a free society, without classes or States or frontiers, founded on anarchist federalism and mutual aid.

Congresses and gatherings

The IAF holds congresses every 4 years. The last ones were the following:

• Congress of Besançon, France, 2004
• 8th Congress of Carrara, Italy, 2008
• Congress of Saint-Imier, Switzerland, 2012
• Congress of Frankfurt, Germany, 2016
• Congress of Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2019
• Congress of Massenzatico, Italy, 2023

The IAF was also involved, especially through the FAF, in organizing Anarchy 2023, to celebrate the 150 years since the founding of the Anti-authoritarian International. This was arguably the biggest anarchist gathering of the 21st century, uniting more than 5,000 of them.

Members

As of 2026, the groups and federations which are members of the IAF are as follows:

Zone	Name	Acronym	Publications	Website
Template:Flagicon Argentina	Federación Libertaria Argentina	FLA	El Libertario	?
Template:Flagicon Belgium Template:Flagicon France Template:Flagicon Switzerland	Francophone Anarchist Federation	FA/FAF	Le Monde libertaire	[1]
Template:Flagicon Brazil	Iniciativa Federalista Anarquista no Brasil	IFAb	?	[2]
Template:Flagicon Britain Template:Flagicon Ireland Template:Flagicon Scotland	Anarchist Federation	AF / AFed	Organise! and Resistance	?
Template:Flagicon Bulgaria	Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria	ФАБ / FAKB	Template:Interlanguage link	[3]
Template:Flagicon Croatia Template:Flagicon Slovenia	Federation for Anarchist Organizing	FAO	Avtonomija, Anarhistka, Stavka and Društvo otpora	[4]
Template:Flagicon Czech Republic Template:Flagicon Slovakia	Anarchistická federace	AF	Existence, Klíčení, Zdola and A3	[5]
Template:Flagicon Germany Template:Flagicon Switzerland	Federation of German-speaking Anarchists	FdA	Gǎi Dào	[6]
Template:Flagicon Greece	Anarchist Political Organisation	APO / ΑΠΟ	?	[7]
Template:Flagicon Italy	Italian Anarchist Federation	FAI/FAIt	Umanità Nova	[8]
Template:Flagicon Kurdistan	Kurdush Anarchist Forum	KAF	?	?
Template:Flagicon Mexico	Federation of Anarchists in Mexico	FAM	?	[9]
Template:Flagicon Portugal Template:Flagicon Spain	Iberian Anarchist Federation	FAI	Tierra y Libertad	[10]
Template:Flagicon Sicily	Sicilian Anarchist Federation	FAS	?	[11]