He had just completed a term of imprisonment before coming to the United States.

Here, he was received as a hero; a great mass meeting in his honor was held in Cooper Union, New York, in December, 1882; and when he toured the country he everywhere addressed large meetings.
In October 1883, a convention of social revolutionists and anarchists was held in Chicago, at which a national organization was formed called the International Working People's Association.

The new organization grew much faster than the Socialist party itself, which now almost disappeared.

Two years later, the International had a party press consisting of seven German, two Bohemian, and only two English papers.
Like the Socialist party, it was, therefore, mainly foreign in its membership.

It was strongest in and about Chicago, where it included twenty groups with three thousand enrolled members.