Workers of All Countries, Unitel
[2]INSTITUTE OF MARXISM-LENINISM OF THE C.C., C.P.S.U.
DOCUMENTS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL
Progress Publishers Moscow
[3]INSTITUTE OF MARXISM-LENINISM OF THE C.C., C.l'.S.U.
__TITLE__ THE HAGUE CONGRESS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONALProgress Publishers Moscow
[4]Translated by Richard Dixon and Alex Miller Designed by Vladimir Yeryomin
KOHFPECC IIEPBOrO HHTEPHAHHOHAJIA 2-7 CCHT. 1872
H flOKyMeHThl Ha
© Translation into English, Progress Publishers 1976 Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
= 10104--000 ^^1^^ = = 014(01)76~^^66^^~^^75^^
[5]CONTENTS
Preface ........................ 13
GENERAL COUNCIL'S RESOLUTION ON THE CONVOCATION
AND ORDER OF THE DAY OF THE HAGUE CONGRESS .... 23
THE HAGUE CONGRESS
OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION
September 2-7, 1872
I. THE CONGRESS SITTINGS. MINUTES
BENJAMIN LE MOUSSU. MINUTES............... 29
Third Sitting, September 3............ 29
Fourth Sitting, September 3............ 36
Fifth Sitting, September 4............. 46
Sixth Sitting, September 4............. 53
Seventh Sitting, September 5............ 58
Eighth Sitting, September 5............ 61
Ninth Sitting, September 5............. 64
Tenth Sitting, September 6............. 69
Eleventh Sitting, September 6............ 82
Twelfth Sitting, September 7............ 86
Thirteenth Sitting, September 7........... 96
Fourteenth Sitting, September 7........... 100
Fifteenth Sitting, September 7........... 100
FRIEDRICH SORGE. MINUTES ................ 108
Preliminary Meeting, September I.......... 109
First Sitting, September 2............. 110
Second Sitting, September 2............ 112
Third Sitting, September 3............. 117
6Fourth Sitting, September 3............ 123
Fifth Sitting, September 4............. 132
Sixth Sitting, September 4............. 139
Seventh Sitting, September 5............ 143
Eighth Sitting, September 5............ 145
Ninth Sitting, September 5............. 147
Tenth Sitting, September 6............. 150
Eleventh Sitting, September 6............ 158
7No. 29 No. 30 No. 31 No. 32 No. 33 No. 34 No. 35 No. 36 No. 37 No. 38 No. 39 No. 40 No. 41 No. 42
195 195 195 196 196 196 197 198 198 198 198 199 201 201
Twelfth Sitting, September 7 Thirteenth Sitting, September 7
Fourteenth Sitting, September 7.........
Fifteenth Sitting, September 7 STATEMENTS AND PROPOSALS ...............
163 167 169 170 178 178 178 179 180 181 181 181 182 183 185 185 186 187 188 188 189 189 190 190 191 191 192 192 193 193 194 194 194
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
APPENDICES ......................... 202
Minutes Recorded by N. Zhukovsky......... 202
Walter to Le Moussu............... 205
P. Lefebvre-Roncier to Karl Marx......... 206
11. DOCUMENTS OF THE CONGRESS
REPORT OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL TO THE FIFTH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION, HELD AT THE HAGUE, FROM THE 2ND TO THE 7TH
SEPTEMBER, 1872 ....................... 211
INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION. SUMMARY OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL'S FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION IN
1871/72 ................................... 220
REPORT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FEDERAL COUNCIL TO
THE HAGUE CONGRESS .................... 224
MODIFICATIONS TO THE GENERAL RULES PROPOSED BY THE
FERRE SECTION ....................... 228
NARBONNE SECTION. MESSAGE TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS 231 DECLARATION OF THE PARIS SECTIONS TO THE DELEGATES OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ASSEMBLED IN CONGRESS ............................. 233
THE FERRfi SECTION TO THE DELEGATES OF THE HAGUE
CONGRESS........................... 237
PARIS SECTION OF WORKERS' RIGHTS TO THE MEMBERS OF
THE HAGUE CONGRESS.................... 242
REPORT OF THE ROUEN FEDERATION ............ 249
REPORT OF THE PORTUGUESE FEDERAL COUNCIL..... 257
MESSAGE FROM THE PORTO MAURIZIO (ITALY) SECTION 265 REPORT OF THE BASLE SECTION............. 268
8THE CONGRESS OF THE GENEVA FEDERATION TO THE CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION AT THE HAGUE ............
271 272 9IMPERATIVE MANDATE OF THE PORTUGUESE FEDERATION
TO ITS DELEGATE AT THE HAGUE CONGRESS ......
IMPERATIVE MANDATE GIVEN TO THE JURA DELEGATES
FOR THE HAGUE CONGRESS .................
IMPERATIVE MANDATE GIVEN BY THE SPANISH FEDERATION TO ITS DELEGATES TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS .............................
NOMINAL LIST OF DELEGATES ...............
323 324325 330
337348 361
363366 366 370 376 383 387 389 396 402 409 415
424 429 435 436
437 439
443 444 450 456 456
MESSAGE OF GREETINGS FROM FRANCOIS OSTYN .....
THE NEW MADRID FEDERATION TO THE INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS ASSEMBLED AT THE HAGUE ...........
INVITATION TO THE CONGRESS DELEGATES TO VISIT THE
GRAVE OF A. BARBES IN THE HAGUE ............
ADDRESS OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL OF HOLLAND .....
270277 278
280 281
GREETING FROM THE AMSTERDAM MEMBERS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL........................
STATEMENTS BY RUDOLF SCHRAMM ............
GREETINGS TELEGRAM FROM CASSEL, MEMBER OF THE
INTERNATIONAL........................
NOTE OF THE CONTENTS OF SEPARATE MESSAGES RECEIVED BY THE CONGRESS...............
IV. COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLIANCE
COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLIANCE......
REPORT ON THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY PRESENTED IN THE NAME OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL TO THE
CONGRESS AT THE HAGUE..................
STATEMENT BY JOSE MESA ON THE ALLIANCE IN SPAIN
BUREAU OF FOREIGN AGENTS OF THE PEOPLE'S JUDGMENT
SOCIETY TO LYUBAVIN....................
REPORT OF N. UTIN TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION .........
I ......................
II ......................
III ......................
IV ......................
V ......................
VI ......................
VII ......................
VIII ......................
IX. X. XI.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE GENERAL CONGRESS HELD AT THE HAGUE FROM THE 2ND TO THE 7TH SEPTEMBER, 1872 . . .
III. MANDATE COMMISSION
REPORT OF THE MANDATE COMMISSION TO THE HAGUE
CONGRESS...........................
MANDATES OF C. ALERINI ..................
MANDATES OP J. PH. BECKER ................
MANDATE OF A. HEFNER...................
MANDATE OF V. DAVE ....................
MANDATE OF N. ZHUKOVSKY................
TELEGRAM OF THE REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST PROPAGANDA SECTION........................
MANDATES OF TH. CUNO ...................
MANDATE OF HARRIET LAW ..................
MANDATE OF J. P. MACDONNELL ...............
MANDATE OF K. MARX ...................
MANDATE OF N. MARSELAU .................
MANDATE OF T. MORAGO ...................
MANDATE OF H. OBERWINDER ...............
MANDATE OF POTEL ........... ..........
MANDATE OF TH. ROACH ..................
MANDATE OF A. SAUVA ....................
MANDATE OF W. WEST ....................
MANDATE OF R. FARGA PELLICER .............
MANDATE OF P. FLUSE ...................
MANDATES OF F. ENGELS ...........
295 300 302 307 307 308
311 312 313 315 315 317 318 318 310 319 320 320 321 321 322Its Vengeance ...............
XII. Assassination................
XIII. The Flight. Bakunin's Example.......
XIV. Bakunin's Responsibility..........
XV. The Role of Women According to Bakunin and Nechayev .................
XVI. The People's Judgment No. 2.........
XVII. Bakunin's Signature. Apologia of All That Has Been Said, Signed by Bakunin......
CONCLUSION..........................
APPENDIX. EXCERPTS FROM LAWYER SPASOVICH'S SPEECH APPENDIX ..........................
I. Bakunin's Escape...............
10II. Bakunin's Revolutionary Propaganda in London III. Romanov, Pugachev or Pestel? The People's Cause,
1862.....................
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE ALLIANCE SOCIETY ........................
CUNO'S MANDATE TO VICHARD ................
460 464
481 484
485 493
11Karl Marx. OUTLINE FOR THE REPORT OF THE GENERAL
COUNCIL TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS ............
Frederick Engelt. TRANSLATION OF AN EXCERPT FROM TO-
KARZEWICZ'S LETTER.....................
Frederick Engels. SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND GENERAL BALANCE OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL FOR 1871/72 ...................
Frederick Engelt. MOTION FOR THE PROCEDURE OF DEBATE ON THE GENERAL RULES AND ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS Frederick Engels. NOTES ON HEFNER'S SPEECH AT THE EVENING SITTING, SEPTEMBER 6 ................
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. APPENDICES TO N. UTIN'S
REPORT ............................
Karl Marx. MISCELLANEOUS, CONCERNING THE CONGRESS Karl Marx. CONTRIBUTIONS AND STATISTICS OF THE SECTIONS
Karl Marx. ALLIANCE .....................
Karl Marx. OTHER CONGRESS MATERIAL...........
Karl Marx. ON THE CREDENTIALS COMMISSION .......
Karl Marx. COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY .............
Frederick Engels. MATERIAL FOR THE PAMPHLET THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING
MEN'S ASSOCIATION...........................
Frederick Engels. NOTES ON DENTRAYGUES AND GUESDE . . Frederick Engels. LIST OF DOCUMENTS FOR THE PAMPHLET THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION...............
657 658
659 66t> 667
668 669 670 672 673 674 675
676 682 684691 732 746 752
A. SERRAILLIER. EXTRACTS FROM
LETTERS CONCERNING
BOUSQUET, MARCHAND, ETC. . . .
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S
ASSOCIATION .........................
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION NOMINATED BY THE DELEGATES OF THE HAGUE CONGRESS ON THE PROPOSAL OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION IN ORDER TO DISCLOSE THE ACTIVITIES
OF THE SECRET SOCIETY KNOWN AS THE ALLIANCE.....
STATEMENT BY P. VICHARD .................
THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION ..........
I. Introduction ................
II. The Secret Alliance .............
III. The Alliance in Switzerland.........
IV. The Alliance in Spain............
V. The Alliance in Italy............
VI. The Alliance in France............
VII. The Alliance after the Hague Congress.....
VIII. The Alliance in Russia............
IX. Conclusion .................
X. Appendix ..................
1. Bakunin's Hegira.............
2. Bakunin's Pan-Slav Manifesto.......
3. Bakunin and the Tsar...........
XI. Documents .................
1. The Secret Statutes of the Alliance.....
2. Programme and Regulations of the Puhlic Alliance.................
495 504
505 505 508 521 537 548 557 561 567 610 612 612 614 617 624 624
635 637
Notes ................
Name Index..............
Index of Periodicals..........
Index of Geographical Names and Addresses
3. Letter from Bakunin to Francisco Mora in Madrid.......
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF KARL MARX AND FREDERICK ENGELS
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels..EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL ........
643 655
Karl Marx. EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL..............
[12]
Karl Marx
[13]
__ALPHA_LVL1__
PREFACE
The Hague Congress of the International Working Men's Association (Fifth Congress of the First International), which was held from September 2 to 7, 1872, has a special place in history. It was in fact the last congress of the International. It crowned the many years' struggle} waged by Marx, Engels, and the advanced representatives of the working class of various countries to assert the programme and organisational principles of Marxism in the international working-class movement. It marked the victory of scientific communism over anarchism and other anti-Marxist trends in the International.
The Congress met a little more than a year after the defeat of the Paris Commune---the first proletarian State in history, when counter-revolution was triumphant and the organisations and leaders of the International were suffering persecution.
The task of the Congress was to sum up the activity of the International Working Men's Association since the time of the Basle Congress of 1869 and to outline the programme of action in the new conditions. It was necessary to reflect the experience of the Paris Commune in the International's programme documents, to improve the organisation of the Association, to preserve and strengthen the international ties established between the various contingents of the working class, and to put an end to the disorganising and splitting activity of the Bakuninists.
14Great hopes were consequently pinned on the Congress. The Paris members of the International wrote to the delegates at The Hague: "Citizens, never was a congress more solemn and more important than the one whose sittings bring you together in The Hague. What indeed will be discussed there will not be this or that insignificant question of form, this or that trite article of the Regulations, but the very life of the Association" (p. 238).
The General Council and the local organisations prepared for the Congress with great care. The best, most tested in battle members of the International---Marx, Engels, Serraillier, Dupont, Lafargue, Hepner, Sorge, Lessner, Longuet and others---were sent as delegates to The Hague.
The Hague Congress was the most representative congress of the Association: 15 countries were represented by 65 delegates, many of whom were themselves workers (see p. 108). The public sittings of the Congress were specially scheduled for the evenings so that many Dutch workers could attend them.
The biggest newspapers in the world, from working-class to avowedly reactionary ones, sent their correspondents to The Hague. The accounts given by the bourgeois journalists contained a lot of calumny against the I.W.A. and its leaders, but even these correspondents could not but report favourably on the work of the Congress.
The present volume contains all the extant official documents directly reflecting the work of the Congress and its commissions. The materials published are of exceptional historical interest. At the same time they embody experience which is of indisputable value also for the practice of the working-class and communist movement today.
Section I contains the authentic minutes of the proceedings of the Congress sittings and separate notes, statements relating to them, etc. These materials were preserved in the Marx archives and they carry numerous annotations, underscorings and notes in the margins, bearing witness to the work done by the editorial commission elected by the Congress to publish the minutes, including that done by Marx and Engels.
The secretarial notes written in French by the officially elected secretary, Benjamin Le Moussu, begin only with 15 the third sitting (morning of September 3, 1872). The work of the first sittings, as of all the following ones, is reflected in the detailed notes of the North American Federation's delegate Friedrich Sorge, of which two slightly differing manuscript copies are extant. One copy, made by delegate Theodor Friedrich Cuno and initialled by Sorge, is published in English for the first time in this volume. The other copy, neither initialled nor signed, is preserved in the University of Wisconsin, USA, and was published as a facsimile in The First International. Minutes of the Hague Congress of 1872 with Related Documents. Edited and Translated by Hans Gerth. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1958. The present volume gives the main of the different readings of these two documents in footnotes.
Moreover, the work of the first and second and the beginning of the third sittings (September 2 and 3, 1872) is reflected in the partially extant notes, made by Nikolai Zhukovsky, who went to The Hague as a delegate of the Geneva Propaganda and Revolutionary Socialist Action Section. As can be seen from the documents published in this volume, his mandate was not declared valid by the Mandate Commission. Zhukovsky apparently made detailed notes of all sittings of the Congress, but only a few pages have reached us.
Section I contains two letters directly related to the minutes: one written by Walter to Le Moussu on September 16, 1872, and one dated November 14, 1872, written by Lefebvre-Roncier, who attended the Congress and on Marx's request and on the basis of his detailed notes of the Congress sittings gave a more circumstantial account of one of the episodes of the fifteenth sitting, September 7, 1872.
The minutes are followed in Section I by proposals, amendments, statements and delegates' notes submitted in writing to the bureau of the Congress (42 documents in all), most of which were read out at the Congress. Only a few of these documents are reproduced in full in the minutes, most of them being only mentioned or named, sometimes with a reference to the written text. Arranged in chronological order according to the date of their writing or reading out to the Congress, these documents form an appreciable supplement to the minutes of the Congress.
16Section II consists of the general and financial reports of the General Council, the local reports of the North American Federal Council, a number of French federations and sections, the Basle] Section and the Italian Section at Porto Maurizio, the Portuguese Federal Council and others, and also messages, statements, greetings, and so on, sent to the Congress by local congresses, federations, sections and individuals. As the minutes show, only a few of these documents were read out at the Congress. Owing to lack of time most of them were passed on to a specially elected commission, which was to submit a consolidated report to the Congress. This, however, was not done.
These documents, varying in character, contain extensive material on the work of the International and on the working-class movement in individual countries. They testify to the widespread influence of the International and to the efforts of its members in the localities to strengthen their ties with the General Council as the authoritative leading body of the international proletarian organisation. These documents reflect the support given to the General Council by the local sections in its consistent struggle against the opponents of an independent proletarian movement. Most of them provide evidence of the true feeling of proletarian internationalism bred in the members of the International during the eight years of its versatile activity.
The detailed report drawn up by Engels on the financial administration of the General Council since the time of the London Conference (1871) and the general balance of its income and expenses refute the calumny levelled by the bourgeois press and by the Bakuninists against the leading members of the General Council .alleging their irresponsibility in spending the funds collected by the workers. Marx observed that "whereas, as the accounts show, individual members of the General Council were emptying their pockets and purses for the organisation, it was mendaciously said that they were living on the pennies of the workers!" (P. 167.) The Congress delegates censured the Bakuninist calumniators on the staff of the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne.
Proposals aimed at perfecting the organisation of the International were sent to the Congress by Paris sections 17 (the Ferre and the Workers' Rights sections), the Narbonne and other French sections. The proposals made by the Portuguese and the North American federations concerned strengthening the leading role of the General Council, demanded a stricter approach to the admission of new members and to the approval of new sections, and emphasised the importance of centralising the proletariat's forces, of strengthening its unity and its ideological cohesion based on the principles of the International.
The Paris, Narbonne and Rouen sections noted the success achieved by the working-class movement, duly recognised the merits of the General Council in respect of the working class and demanded that the Council should be given wider powers to fight against splitters within the Association and against international reaction.
The Portuguese workers, who were the victims of particularly cruel exploitation and had only recently taken the path of independent political activity, wrote in their address to the Congress that the organisation of the working class was an indispensable condition for its emancipation "and that the existence of the General Council, which has been discussed so much, is indispensable, and if there were no General Council it would have to be created" (p. 264).
The New Madrid Federation saw the main task of the Congress in strengthening and extending the organisation, reorganising "it so that it can better achieve its aim ... so that it ... may be practically effective" (p. 273). Discerning a serious danger in the secret intrigues of the Bakuninist Alliance and calling for the expulsion of sectarians from the International, the Spaniards appealed to the Association's General Congress delegates for energetic action.
From Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Spain and other countries letters and telegrams arrived at the Congress containing greetings and expressions of solidarity with the delegates and calling for a courageous and persistent struggle to achieve working-class unity. "Long live the Congress! Proletarians of all countries, unite! Lay asidediscord. Unity is strength!" says one of the telegrams from Germany (p. 280). Nearly all the documents in Section II are published according to the originals preserved in the Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C., C.P.S.U.
2--0960
18 This section ends with the Congress resolutions, which were prepared for printing by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and published in London in October 1872 (pp. 282--91).Sections III and IV comprise materials of the two commissions of the Congress, the mandate commission and the commission of inquiry into the Alliance case.
The documents of the mandate commission include the manuscript of its report signed personally by its members; it lists all the mandates found valid and also states the reasons why nine mandates were not declared valid. Included also are the nominal list of the delegates published during the Congress, and individual mandates of a number of delegates (unfortunately not all the mandates are extant). Besides there are three collective imperative mandates which were issued to the delegates of the Portuguese, Jura and Spanish federations; these were published at the time in newspapers or in the form of leaflets.
Many mandates contained instructions to the delegates. For instance, New York Section No. 1 instructed its delegate Karl Marx to uphold "taut organisation and above all centralisation" against the intrigues of the Bakuninists "who obviously intend to decentralise the International Working Men's Association" (p. 316). The Workers' Educational Society in Geneva instructed the veteran of the working-class movement Johann Philipp Becker in his mandate to vote for the preservation of the General Council. The Diisseldorf Section instructed Theodor Friedrich Cuno to vote against the Bakuninist Alliance. The Central Section of Working Women in Geneva suggested in the mandate issued to Harriet Law, a prominent figure in the atheist movement, to aim at achieving for women equal working conditions and equal pay with men. The Bakuninist sections, for their part, demanded decentralisation of forces, the transformation of the General Council into a mere correspondence centre, and so on.
Section IV comprises the materials of the commission of inquiry into the case of the Alliance. These include the minutes of the commission's sittings, the report presented by it to the Congress, and various materials considered at these sittings: the General Council's report on the Alliance, the statement made by J. Mesa y Leompart on the Alliance's 19 activity in Spain, the extensive report by Nikolai Utin on (he Alliance's activity in Switzerland and its connections with the Nechayev case, and a number of documents reflecting the commission's work after the Congress (these include extracts from letters sent by French correspondents to the General Council over 1871 and 1872 and the more detailed report drawn up by the commission of inquiry at the end of 1872 together with its address to the members of the International Working Men's Association). The section ends with the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association, which was drawn up, in accordance with a decision of the Hague Congress, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels with the participation of Paul Lafargue and published in London in August 1873.
Section V, "From the Manuscripts of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels'', contains various comments and notes made by Marx and Engels in the summer of 1872 during and after the Congress. The section also includes extracts from the minutes of the General Council's meetings from September 1869 to April 1872 concerning the postponement of the Congress in 1870, the convening of the London Conference of 1871, the seat of the General Council and other matters, the text of Engels' motion for the procedure of debate on the General Rules, his notes on the speech made by delegate Adolf Hepner on the political action of the working class, Engels' draft of the General Council's financial accounts, several versions of the list of the documents of the Congress and its commissions, and material for the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association.
These manuscripts give an idea of the work done by Marx and Engels during the preparation for the Congress, while it was going on and after it was over to publish its documents.
__*_*_*__ __NOTE__ "* * *" not centered (left justified).All the work of the Hague Congress was carried out under the sign of the Paris Commune. Gabriel Ranvier, as delegate of the Paris Section named after the Communard Ferre, who had been executed by a firing squad, was unanimously
2*
20 elected chairman of the Congress. In his speech he honoured the memory of those who had fallen for the cause of the Paris Commune; he called himself and other delegates representatives of the Commune, expressed admiration for the heroic struggle of the Paris proletariat and branded the butchers of the Commune, traitors and murderers.Among many other delegates, Edouard Vaillant, Charles Longuet, Paul Lafargue and Friedrich Adolf Sorge stressed the direct link between the Paris Commune and the International Working Men's Association and the former's influence on the destiny of the international working-class movement. The great events of the Paris Commune, Sorge noted in the introduction to his account of the Congress, "have not failed to influence the internal life of the Association. These points must be constantly borne in mind in judging the work of this, the Fifth Congress" (p. 108).
The documents of the Hague Congress show that the main lesson of the Commune---the necessity for an organisationally and ideologically united and independent proletarian party in every country---was correctly understood by the progressive workers united in the International. Charles Longuet, one of those who had fought for the Commune, stated at the Congress that if the programme of the International had contained a clause on the independent political organisation of the proletariat "we would have been armed for the struggle" (p. 85).
The delegates attributed the defeat of the Commune to the absence of a political party of the proletariat in Paris. Had the workers been better organised on September 4, 1870, Longuet said, the treacherous bourgeoisie would not have found itself at the helm of state and the revolution would have been victorious not in Paris alone but in Berlin, Vienna and London too (pp. 85 and 163).
The members of the International spoke of the lessons of the Paris Commune in their messages to the Congress. The Paris members of the International boldly declared support for its principles and at the same time warned the workers against revolutionary adventurism, premature, unprepared actions "until the cadres of the International in Paris have been reformed, until the working-class forces have grouped, until each and every member of the 21 International in Paris has become penetrated with social principles" (p. 233).
Referring to the experience of the Commune, Emile Aubry, the leader of the Rouen Federation, wrote that the workers had shown by their deeds that they possessed the ability to govern the state (p. 253).
The most important proposition of Marxism on the decisive role of the political party for the emancipation struggle of the working class, a proposition which was advanced by the founders of Marxism as early as the middle of the 1840s and confirmed by the experience of the Paris Commune, had now become the patrimony of the international proletariat. It had already been recorded at the London Conference of the International (September 1871) in Resolution IX on the political action of the working class. It was precisely around this basic question that the struggle waged by Marx and his supporters against anarchist sectarianism and pettybourgeois reformism developed at the Hague Congress. The inclusion in the General Rules of Clause 7a on the proletarian party and the dictatorship of the proletariat signified the victory of the principles of Marxism in the programme of the International.
I. Hepner, Vaillant, Longuet, Lafargue and other delegates to the Congress condemned the anarchist preaching of abstention from political activity (abstentionism and political indifference), the attacks of the Bakuninists on the authority of the General Council under the false slogan of "anti-- authoritarianism''. "How can one object to authority after the Commune?" said Hepner. "We German workers at least are convinced that the Commune fell largely because it did not exercise enough authority!" (P. 161.)
An indispensable condition for the fighting capability of the proletarian party was seen by the delegates to the Congress in the ideological and organisational strengthening of its ranks. "We demand discipline,'' Sorge said, "we demand subordination not to some person, committee or council, but to the principle, to the organisation" (p. 49). The majority of the delegates realised the necessity for preserving and extending the powers of the Association's leading body, the General Council.
22The new wordings of Articles 2 and 6 of the General Rules adopted by the Hague Congress stressed that the General Council was a body answerable to all the members of the Association. In motivating the necessity to widen the powers of the General Council Marx pointed out that the main strength of the Council lay in the confidence placed in it by the whole organisation: the General Council would always be powerless if it lost that confidence (pp. 73--74, 153--54).
__*_*_*__The texts of the minutes and documents are reproduced or translated according to the originals or their photostats preserved in the Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C., C.P.S.U. in Moscow. Most of them were first published in Russian in 1970 in the book 'TaarcKHH Konrpecc IlepBoro HHTepHaiiHonajia. 2-7 cenTH6pfl 1872 r. HpoTOKOJiH H flOKyiweHTu" (The Hague Congress of the First International. September 2-7, 1872. Minutes and Documents), prepared for publication by Irene Bach, Antonina Koroteyeva and Tatyana Vasilyeva of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, under the general editorship of Irene Bach.
The English edition has been prepared for publication by Natalia Karmanova, Margarita Lopukhina, Maria Shcheglova and Ludgarda Zubrilovaj (editors of the Progress Publishers).
Institute of Marxism-Leninism,
C.C., C.P.S.U.
1. Considering the resolution of the Basle Congress fixing the seat of the next Congress at Paris, also the resolution of the General Council dated July 12th, 1870, by which, it being then impossible to hold a Congress at Paris, and conformably with Article 4 of the General Rules, the Congress was convoked to meet at Mayence. Considering further that up to this day the government prosecutions directed against the International in France as well as in Germany, render impossible the meeting of a Congress either in Paris or in Mayence. Conformably with Art. 4 of the General Rules which confers upon the General Council the rights of changing, in case of need, the place of meeting of the Congress, the General Council convokes the next Congress of the I.W.M.A. for Monday, September 2nd, at The Hague, Holland.
2. Considering that the questions contained in the programme of the Congress which was to be held at Mayence on the 5th September 1870, do not correspond with the present wants of the International, these wants having been profoundly affected by the great historic events which have taken place since then. That numerous sections and federations belonging to various countries have proposed that the next Congress should occupy itself with the revision of the General Rules and Regulations. That the persecutions to which the International finds itself exposed at this moment in almost all the European countries, impose upon it the duty of 24 strengthening its organisation. The General Council, while reserving to itself the faculty of drawing up hereafter a more extensive programme, to be completed by the propositions of the sections and federations, places on the order of the day, as the most important questions to be discussed by the Congress of The Hague, the revision of the General Rules and Regulations.
Written by Engels on June 18, 1872
Published in the newspapers
The International Herald
No. 13, June 29, 1872;
Der Volksstaat No. 53, July 3, 1872;
L'Egalitt No. 14, July 7, "1872;
La Emancipation No. 57, July 13, 1872;
La Liberte No. 28, July 14, 1872
Reprinted from The International Herald
[25]Opening at 0930 hrs.
Chairman: Van den Abeele^^**^^ Secretaries'.
Le Moussu French Hepner** German Roach English Van der Hout** DutchEngels moves:
1. that in the discussion on the mandates the delegate disputing the mandate should be heard first, then the one whose mandate is disputed; then two speakers, one for, the other against, and that a vote be taken immediately.
2. No speaker shall speak more than five minutes. Ranvier, reporter for the Commission, acknowledges receipt of a mandate for Fluse; a second mandate has arrived from France for Serraillier, a third from Flanders^^***^^ for Duval.
Duval's admission is voted unanimously.
_-_-_^^*^^ The minutes are written in the hand of Le Moussu, temporary secretary.---Ed.
^^**^^ This name was added in another handwriting. ---Ed.
^^***^^ A writer's mistake: Duval received his mandate from the Romance Federal Council of Geneva. See p. 117 of this volume.---Ed.
30Sauva opposes Engels' motion: he asks for ten minutes for each speaker and says that to refuse to grant this time would be to deprive him and those who have long motives to set forth of the possibility to explain their views.
Dereure replies that this inconvenience exists for Sauva's opponents as well as for him and that it is improper to say that this is a tactical move.
Duval says that five minutes for each mandate will give Sauva, who has three mandates, fifteen minutes.
Lafargue and Sauva ask for ten minutes for the one who attacks and if he is attacked and five minutes for the others.^^*^^
Sauva and Fluse accept the limitation of the time to he granted, but not that of the number of speakers.
Amendment by Sauva-Lafargue rejected: 24 votes to 24.
Amendment by Sauva-Fluse equally rejected.
Motion by Engels adopted.
Vaillant's mandate opposed by Schwitzguebel.
Schwitzguebel says that the Section does not exist at La Chaux-de-Fonds, but that it belongs to the Romance Federation; it is a question of form.
Vaillant does not grasp the sense of the objection. He accepted this imperative mandate against the Jura Federation, which abstains in matters of politics, something which seems fatal to him.
Guillaume says that the mandate arrived blank; that the Chaux-de-Fonds Section comprises Elzingre and four or five members only, men without principles, allies of the Royalists and of all the reaction.
Vaillant's mandate is unanimously declared valid.
Serraillier moves not to go into general questions concerning the regularisation of mandates.
Sauva is against the mandate for Dereure. He only demands that the protestations received from Section No. 2 be read out. He then protests in the name of Section No. 2, saying that the New York Congress made a two-stage election and decided moreover that its two delegates would choose five others from the General Council to represent it at the Congress.---Besides, according to Article 6 of the Regulations, Dereure and Sorge cannot be admitted inasmuch as the _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "they accept" are struck out.---Ed.
31 New York Congress represented less than 1,000 members of the International.---He reads out a protestation of Section No. 42 against the authoritarianism of the New York Congress.^^3^^The Chairman says that the file submitted by Sauva is bulky. Its reading is rejected.
Dereure regrets this, but it will be returned to. He does not fear to have to defend too much his mandate or that of Sorge.^^*^^ 1. The delegates of the General Council and of the federal councils, if the matter is considered, are elected by a two-stage election, and half of the delegates would have to withdraw if Sauva's argument were accepted. 2. The number of delegates to be elected was on the order of the day of the New York Congress, which represented 18 sections, and the General Congress will appreciate it if the two mandates from this representation are not given more value than that of Sauva, which comes from a single section not even recognised by the New York Federal Council.
Brismee agrees with Dereure's arguments.
The mandate is declared valid by all delegates except Sauva.
Sauva repeats the same attacks against Serge's mandate~^^**^^
Sorge replies in respect of the contestation of the right of the Congress to elect two delegates that if Citizen Sauva knew the Regulations he would be aware that we had the right to elect at least six delegates from it. Section No. 42 protests against 55 = cents^^4^^ because it is either unwilling or unable to pay; by the way, this section has been unfindable since the American Congress. What election can be more valid than that made by the general congress of a country?^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Here a sentence is struck out: "The Association must abide by the Rules."---.Ed.
^^**^^ Here there is in the margin an insertion sign followed in pencil by: "See continuation after Lafargue's speech'', and the following is crossed out: "Sorge replies that Dereure received no mandate to elect five members of the General Council, the Congress only called on the sections to delegate friends well known in Europe; the order of the day included only the nomination of two delegates. Section No. 42 took part in the Congress, its delegate participated in the election.--- This section is not willing to abdicate its sovereignty, etc., etc.'' The insertion, with a corrected record of Sorge's intervention, is given in pencil on a separate sheet after Lafargue's speech.---Ed.
^^***^^ The end of the page is left blank.---Ed.
32Sorge's mandate is declared valid by all the delegates except Sauva.
Sorge opposes Sauva's mandates. He objects to them not out of caprice, but the mandate from Section No. 29 has no validity, since this section is not recognised by the Federal Council.^^*^^ This is a rather good little section, but it does not belong to the federation and did not take part in the Congress. The Rules say that groups must be represented on the central councils, and Section No. 29 gives no reason to justify its indifference.---Section No. 42 is in rebellion against the Congress, to which it refuses payment after taking part in it. It wishes to preserve its sovereignty. Let it do so, but it cannot be represented here.
Sauva replies that Section No. 29 has paid its subscriptions to the General Council and that Section No. 42 paid to the New York Congress.
Le Moussu says that Section No. 29, not being in order with the New York Federal Council,^^**^^ is equally not in order with the General Council, and that delegate Sauva admitted to him that he had surprised the treasurer by hastening to bring him the subscriptions before^^***^^ the treasurer could be informed.
Frankel is for concentrating forces; nevertheless, for the time being, the two sections being in order with the General Council, he favours validating the two mandates.
Sauva reproaches Le Moussu with making use of what he told him in confidence, and says that it is not for Section No. 29, but for Section No. 2 that he does that; it was only three days after his arrival that he paid the subscriptions of Section No. 29.
Le Moussu replies that the fact of payment which took place three days later nevertheless remains; and that he rejects the reproach made to him by saying that questions of general interest are above personal considerations for him.
Marx recalls that Sauva interpreted the Regulations incorrectly and that the section has not had itself recognised _-_-_
^^*^^ Here "Section No. 29" is crossed out.---Ed,
^^**^^ Here the following words are struck out: "despite the recommendations of the General Council".---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the following words are struck out: "the treasurer could become prejudiced against the section".---Ed.
LEADERS
OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL,
DELEGATES
TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS
Johanu Pliilipp Becker
Knedrich Adoll' Surge
Theodor Fricdrich''Cuno
Paul Lai'argno
Ludwig Kugolmann
Kriodricli Lessner
Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray
Charles Loiig
Leo Frankcl
Joliann Goorg Kocarius
33 as an independent section, the two ways of doing this being recognition by the Federal Council or by the General Council.---As for the payment, the Council has not been informed, and the fact of the treasurer's surprise outside the Council does not constitute recognition of the section. He does not speak of Section No. 2, since the commission proposes to invalidate its mandate.Dereure moves that Sauva be admitted to represent Section No. 42 on condition that the three sections which he represents recognise the resolutions of the General Congress.
Sauva accepts no conditions; let them expel him if they wish. He adds that Section No. 29 has remained outside the two congresses because it was waiting for the decisions of the Congress whose authority it recognises; furthermore Sections No. 29 and No. 42 have been acknowledged in order by the Commission.
The reporter replies that as regards the question of subscriptions that is so, but on other points objections have been raised.
The mandates from Sections No. 29 and No. 42 are recognised valid by 32 votes to 20.
Alerini is against Lafargue's mandate. The powers of the Madrid^^*^^ Federation are disputable. The editorial board of La Emancipation, expelled from the federation, asked to be recognised as a section by the Madrid Federal Council, which refused; then they addressed themselves to the General Council, which recognised = them~^^6^^ and entered into correspondence with them without beforehand consulting the Regional Council. Consequently, Alerini opposes the representation of this group. Lafargue is the delegate of another section, Alcala, has he brought the subscriptions? Is this section in order with the Regional Council? Lafargue has moreover a mandate from Portugal. He begins by asking.^^**^^
Lafargue begins by asking Morago, a delegate of the Spanish Federation, whether the foundation members of the New Madrid Federation were expelled because they had _-_-_
^^*^^ The original has by mistake ``magdalaine'' instead of ``Madrid''.--- Ed.
^^**^^ The end of the page is left blank. There follows an insertion in Lafargue's handwriting on a separate sheet.---Ed.
3---0960
34 published in La Emancipation an article heating the title "Revolutionary Investigation".Morago admits that it was indeed this article which provided the motive for the expulsion of the foundation members of the New Federation.
Lafargue: We have been expelled and declared traitors because of the following article which I shall now translate to you. This article says that in view of the thefts committed by the men in power it was suggested that the revolutionaries, instead of wasting their time to prove that they were stealing, should occupy themselves with an investigation of the state of the fortune of the politicians at the present time and the fortune they had when they rose to power.
Lafargue appeals to the members of the Commune present; he asks them whether this investigation is not a revolutionary one, and says it is for that reason that the men who have been in Spain the creators of the International have been expelled and declared traitors. Here now is the way their expulsion proceeded. Their expulsion was accomplished at a sitting of only fifteen members; and that without the expelled having been warned as required by Article 24 of the section rules. The expelled then formed a new federation and asked to be accepted by the Federal Council, which refused on the pretext that it had to respect the autonomy of sections; but the Federal Council was forgetting that in this case there was an arbitrary act committed by fifteen individuals who had placed themselves outside all rules of the Spanish Federation which they had been charged with having respected by every section of the International in Spain. And now, if you want to know who expelled us, one of those men is here, it is Morago who twice betrayed the International; the first time, when the Federal Council had taken refuge in Portugal, he deserted it, proposing to throw the International's papers into the sea; the second time, after the Sagasta = circular,^^6^^ which outlawed the International, he resigned from the local Madrid council. The true cause of our expulsion was that we had denounced the Alliance,---then we asked the General Council for admission, which recognised us as an independent section.^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The insertion ends here. What follows is in Le Moussu's handwriting. ---Ed.
35The Madrid new section has the right to name a delegate to the Congress.
Morago is not surprised that there is a diversion from the subject to discuss incidentals.---The question is: Is the section legally constituted? They are reproached with not having heard the members of this section; but since it knew that we assembled on Saturdays, did we need to convene it? The General Council^^*^^ is not infallible, it considers the facts as it sees fit and had not the right to recognise this section.---All these questions cannot be exhaustively considered -by the Congress. If the question of the expulsion of Lafargue and his friends were on the order of the day, the Congress would speak about it. These individuals have been expelled twice. They had been re-admitted, but the arrival of new personages has disturbed the order in the section, the decision had to be executed. No individual questions. Is the section in order, or is it not?
Engels: The question is important: we are going to vote on the question whether the International must obey a coterie in a secret society. Here there are six members of that society, they have admitted it: Guillaume and the Spanish delegates. He will prove it moreover in the general discussion. First of all it is admitted that the expulsion is unlawful. Morago said earlier that a convocation was not necessary, but the Regulations, on the contrary, demand the nomination of a jury.---Morago says besides that it was an internal question not concerning the Congress. By the fact that the section addressed itself to the Council it is no longer an internal matter.---The Council has taken the responsibility of violating the Regulations because it is a matter of saving the International in Spain. The secret society whose aim is to disorganise the International has obtained five seats out of eight on the Federal Council. They have proposed a secret ballot for the whole of Spain in which the secret society alone could be active. It was important for the General Council to have at the Congress a Spanish delegate not belonging to this clique and it has taken the responsibility for this act in the interest of the Association.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the following words are struck out: "had no right to recognise the section".---Ed.
3»
36Johannard moves a proposal concerning the order of tlie day the purpose of which is to hear the Spaniards without regard for the Regulations so that, being defeated, they will not be able to say that the Congress has treated them with partiality.
Frankel says that it is a matter only of a single delegate; the time will come when it will be possible to hear all the Spanish delegates.
Johannard's motion is rejected.
Lafargue's powers are declared valid by 40 votes without any opposition.^^*^^
A break in the sitting is requested from 1330 hrs. to 1530 hrs.
Marx makes a communication proposing the expulsion of the Alliance. As there are many documents relating to this society, he proposes that a commission should be nominated.^^**^^
Cuno has an imperative mandate to expel all those who do not belong to the International, but the time has not come, first the validation of powers must be completed.
Marx will return to this question this evening.
The sitting is adjourned at 1340 hrs. for two hours.
FOURTH SITTING
September 3, 1872, Tuesday evening
The roll-call at 1600 hrs. reveals 22 absences.
Cuno says that the chairman was to have opened the sitting at 1540 hrs.
Ranvier says that those whose mandates are contested and who make us waste time through their absence deserve to be censured.
A second roll-call takes place---13 absent.^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The margin of the original bears the sign + made by Marx in brown pencil.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the following words are struck out: "to examine them .--- Ed.
^^***^^ From here the minutes are written in ink on sheets torn out of an account-book.---Ed.
37Marx announces that a letter has been received from Porto Maurizio addressed to the Congress by a new section and signed Ricci, Filippo.^^*^^
MacDonnell replaces the absent English secretary.
Sauva says that Section No. 3 of Chicago is already represented by Sorge and Dereure and would be represented twice if Barry were admitted.
Sorge: Are we going to waste our time like this morning? It is said that Section No. 3 is already represented by the American Federation; but does not Section No. 42, which is represented by Sauva, belong to the same federation, are not several delegates in the same case?---Can you deny the right of a section to give a mandate? If you do not uphold this, I have nothing more to say.---As for regularity, if it is attacked I will defend it.
Mottershead does not wish to object but finds it surprising that a citizen who is not regarded in London as a representative of the working class represents a German section here.
Marx replies that that has nothing to do with the validation of Barry's mandate and that Barry does not represent here a clique of English leaders more or less sold to Dilke and his like, but a German working-class section. As for his expulsion from the British Federal Council, that is the result of his refusal to serve the intrigues of Mr. Hales in the interest of which the latter has had more or less bad elements introduced into the Federal Council.
The validation is voted by 39 for to 3 against.
Validation of Duval's mandate---unanimous.
The Chairman announces the arrival of a mandate from Dublin for MacDonnell, who is already a delegate.
Marx has received a new mandate from Leipzig for Lessner.
The commission knows only that the section is not in order with the General Council; it proposes to hear the corresponding secretary for explanations.
Serraillier does not know about the existence of this _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 265--67 of this volume.---Ed.
38 section in Marseilles.---The Council lias not received its subscriptions as required by Article 4 of the Rules.---He will prove later that sections have been 1'ormed in view of this Congress, and thai, is why he insists on their delegates not being admitted.---It would be creating a bad precedent. Alerini renounces this mandate, it is enough for him thai the Marseilles workers have adhered to the International movement.---He speaks of the unfortunate London Conference, of the General Council's famous circular and of the manoeuvres being made at the Congress witli the aim of carrying out a kind of purge in the International and leaving it in the hands of a few.Serraillier demands that the errors on which the attacks on the General Council or its secretaries are based should be pointed out so that the Congress should not make an incorrect judgment.
This motion concerning the order of the day is approved unanimously.
Duval says that last September, in the absence of Ferret, a delegate of the conference, he had correspondence with Mazzio who had been expelled from the self-styled section of La Ciotat. A trustworthy citizen having a perfect knowledge of this would-be section states that it cannot subsist and numbers three or four members at the most; that it is not in order with the General Council and cannot be represented at, the Congress.---As for the Marseilles workers, they have all our sympathy, equally with that of Citizen Alerini.
Cyrllle believes that Serraillier is mistaken when he says that sections which have not paid their subscriptions do not exist.---He states that there are sections in the South of France which will adhere if they have not done so.
Alerini asks for the floor to give an explanation.
Sorge says that it has been decided that the General Council will reply, but that this does not imply infinite discussion.
Alerini says that Combe's^^*^^ mandate was made out by the Marseilles Federation and only shortage of money prevented Combe from coming.---He says that Bastelica had written offering money to some delegates, etc.
_-_-_^^*^^ The original has mistakenly ``Courbes''.---Ed.
39Serraillier requests the Congress to take note of this statement, as the General Council never instructed Bastelica to write to Marseilles and to make proposals of the kind.---This will be of great importance in the coming discussion.
Alerini withdraws his mandate.
Frankel objects to this, he wishes it to be put to the vote.
Frankel's motion is adopted.
Serraillier abstains; while objecting to the mandate, he believes Alerini has been duped.
Invalidation is pronounced by 38 votes with 14 abstentions.
The reporter jar the Commission says that the section is in Switzerland and is recognised neither by the Swiss Federal Council nor by the General Council.
Zhukovsky replies that the Revolutionary Propaganda Section founded on September 6, 1871, wrote to the General Council, which did not = reply.^^7^^---The General Council based its refusal of admission on Article 4 of the Rules, which refers to the = Congress.^^8^^ He asks the General Council to set forth its reasons.
Duval says that this section had its origin in the Alliance and pronounced in favour of the Democratic Alliance; that it lias not been recognised by the Federal Council and the General Council and cannot be recognised by the Congress because it does not belong to the international movement.^^*^^
Brismee does not find these reasons sufficient.---If this group has principles opposed to ours, it can be refused admission; but he first asks the General Council to supply explanations.
Marx replies that the Alliance had been recognised in Geneva, because it was not known to be a secret society--- this will be dealt with later. At the time of the conference it became known; the Alliance declared itself dissolved. The conference took note of this; but the Revolutionary Society was the successor of the Alliance.
He does not condemn secret societies, he has participated in them; but this one plots against the International. The _-_-_
^^*^^ The record is inexact. See p. 126 of this volume.---Ed,
40 General Council first consulted the Romance Federal Council, which is against recognition.Brismee says that different action was taken in respect of the independent French section of Brussels. The Council said that it was consulting the Belgian Council; and the latter having replied that there was a danger, the Council directly recognised this section.
Guillaume wishes to complete what Zhukovsky has said.
Engels objects to this waste of time.
Guillaume's motion is put to the vote and rejected.
Zhukovsky says that the section applied not to the Federal Council but to the General Council. Every federation is made up of sections whose mission is to carry on propaganda.--- When the refugees arrived in Geneva, they did not know, with the exception of Malon and Lefrancais, whether they should join the Central Geneva Section; others did not wish to do so, because the section conducted propaganda and was not prepared to break with the remnants of the French sections.---It remained aloof from the affairs of the Geneva Federation and applied to the Jura Federation because it wanted to leave its fate to be decided by the Congress.--- It has nothing in common with the Alliance, to which only one of its members has belonged, and not to the secret Alliance, to which all the members of the section are opposed, as the London refugees can ascertain by writing to their friends, the refugees of the section. Consequently he requests the admission of the section.
The reporter for the Commission asks for a temporary postponement until a decision has been taken as regards the Alliance, then it will be easier to judge.
Adopted unanimously.
The reporter on the mandates of Pellicer, Morago, Alerini and Marselau says that the reason in respect of these four is the same: they have not entered into relations with the General Council and have not paid.---He says that the discussion will clear up the question of Zhukovsky's mandate and asks that the whole thing be deferred until after the discussion on the Alliance.
Farga Pellicer is surprised at Ranvier's proposal: yesterday there was only the matter of the subscriptions, today the question of the Alliance is raised.---It would have been 41 better to make things clear.---As for the subscriptions, he will explain: the situation was difficult, they had to fight the bourgeoisie, and almost all the workers belong to trade unions.---They aim at uniting all the workers against capital.---The International is making great progress in Spain, but the struggle is costly.---They have not paid their subscriptions, but they will do so.
Engels, secretary for Spain, finds it strange that the delegates arrive with money in their pockets and have not yet paid.---At the London Conference all the delegates settled up immediately, and the Spaniards should have done the same here, for this was indispensable for the validation of their mandates.---They are surprised to be confused with the Alliance? That has been manifest since yesterday.--- In consequence Engels proposes postponement, as for Zhukovsky's mandate, until the question of the Alliance has been cleared up and they have paid.---There has been talk of development of the International in Spain, but precisely that coincides with the presence of the expelled men on the Federal Council.
Marselau replies that the facts advanced are not exact.--- The money was in Spanish currency and had to be changed. Those who held it never had the intention of taking it back and they reject Engels' suspicions.---The Spanish delegates are surprised at the new objection raised against their mandate.---They feel honoured to belong to the Alliance because it is by it and not by the General Council that the International was founded in Spain.---The members of the Alliance have given proof of all possible zeal and devotion, as for him, he can be expelled. He has suffered for the cause and he does not want to pass for a traitor. He wants truth at the price of death!---The presence of a certain personage in Spain has broken the union.---There are prejudices about the Alliance, which was perfect to begin with. Now it has been dissolved.---Its members had to have secret agreements and therefore suffered a lot.... Nevertheless they are going to be excommunicated by this authority which cannot be recognised.---The Spanish delegates demand the whole truth from the General Council and the Commission. They will then withdraw with the conscience of men who have fulfilled their duty.
42The reporter says that llio discussion lias spread to the question of the Alliance. He requests the Spaniards to reserve their reasons.---Clarity has not heen achieved as regards the subscriptions they are advised to pay. He is impartial and appeals to them to wait for the discussion. Then their time will not be limited and they will have the opportunity to clarify tilings to us.
Coenen regrets that the question of the Alliance lias heen raised.---If the delegates pay their subscriptions they must be admitted immediately, in the event of the contrary his imperative mandate would command him to leave the Congress.
Guillaume makes a similar statement. Ranvier asks for deferment; he does not agree with the question of confidence posed by Guillaume and the preceding speaker and aimed at preventing frank explanations. Morago believes there is a wish to throw them out.--- The whole Spanish Federation knows that they are members of the Alliance for a certain police has denounced them to the government: Mr. Lafargue has exposed them publicly as a secret = society^^9^^ and the government persecutes them as such.
Lafargue interrupts: The translation of what Morago says is incorrect!
[Morago:} The Congress' has to see if the mandates are in order, not if the men are bad, and that is what you will do if you have not got the intentions ascribed to you.
Lafargue protests against the accusation levelled at him by the Alliance secret society that he denounced it to the police, as this society does not engage at all in politics and is not at all hostile to the government.---As for traitors, they exist in the ranks of the Alliance and he is prepared to give their names.
Marselau replies that it is a sophism to say that the government is not hostile to them because the Alliance disregards political questions.---As for the traitors whom Lafargue could name, he does not believe he is one of them.
Splingard does not understand how the discussion can thus be allowed to go astray. The two principal questions are:
\. whether the mandates are in order;
432. Marx's motion aimed at expelling the Alliance.
Let the admission be finished with first, the members of the Alliance will be expelled afterwards if the latter is condemned.
The Chairman^^*^^ observes that the Spanish delegates defend their mandates in the terms which they think fit.
Ranvier moves that the question of the Alliance be dealt with after the validation; but he objects to validation as long as the Spaniards have not paid their subscriptions to the General Council.
Farga Pellicer remits the subscriptions except for the last quarter, for which they have not been received.
Ranvier moves that they should proceed with the agenda.---The Spanish delegates have been wrong to suppose that there was a wish to expel them when on the contrary the Commission has in view only the observance of the Regulations in the most exact sense.---He therefore proposes the validation of the mandates.
The validation is adopted unanimously.
Vaillant and his friends abstained because the Spanish delegates have not stated whether they are against the Conference's resolution in respect of political action.
The Commission proposes invalidation, this section having been excluded by the New York Federal Council.
Ranvier adds that it has never shown a sign of life to the General Council.
Sauva is going to reveal what this section is.---First of all, it has paid its subscriptions.---It has been in existence two years and numbers 169 members.---It has given rise to sections Nos. 14, 17, 15, 29, 43, 10, 22, and 36.-It was represented on the Central Committee and separated from it when this Committee had been transformed.---It then formed with sixteen sections the Spring Street = Council,^^10^^ which organised the procession of March 18.---Section No. 1 protested against this demonstration.---When Section No. 12 was suspended, Section No. 2 withdrew from the Spring Street Council out of respect for the decision of the General Council, whose authority it recognises; the second motive _-_-_
^^*^^ Van den Abeele.---Ed.
44 for its withdrawal lay in the political intrigues aimed at nominating Mrs. Woodhull for the presidency of the United States.After withdrawal from the two New York councils, Section No. 2 fulfilled its duties toward the General Council and sent delegates to the New York Congress, but with the imperative mandate to protest against the nomination of the two delegates. They abstained.---We have refused the 55 cents demanded by the Federal Council to cover the expenses of the Congress, and this was the motive for the expulsion of our section.---We demand justice against this authoritarian act.
[i Dereure says that the section withdrew from Spring Street because of the conduct of the latter.---He asks whether, when a section has recognised a congress, its order of the day, it has the right to oppose the decisions of that congress.
Sorge protests against the calumny directed at Section No. 1 and invented by a bourgeois paper.---He defies anybody to provide proof of the fact advanced.---On the contrary,, this section took part in the demonstration. He does not wish to answer the rest.
Marx does not think that a section loses in this way its character of a section of the International. It may be an independent section, recognised by the General Council.--- If the latter condition is not fulfilled, the section no longer exists, but its members remain Internationals.
Herman wants no questions of majority in the International and is of the opinion that the delegate of Section No. 2 may be admitted.
Dereure has been misunderstood.---He asked whether the section had preserved its character as a section of the International when it opposed the decisions of a congress, at which it was represented.
Brisme'e moves that the remainder of the sitting be devoted to this question so that he, and also some comrades, may be heard, for this is not a small matter: he wants to save mankind.
Sorge says that Dereure has posed the question of confidence, that was his right.---This matter must be cleared up. When the question of Section No. 12 comes up it will be seen what harm they have done to the development of 45 the working-class movement in America.---This explains the question of confidence posed by Dereure.
Dereure's proposal conceived in these terms is read out:^^*^^
Frankel finds that this proposal is not clear. Let the vote be taken on validation.---He is impartial, but he will vote against the mandate of an autonomous section which, according to its whims, separates from the Central Council, puts out posters as it pleases, as has been done by certain members of the Commune whom he does not wish to name because they are absent.---Such a precedent would draw the International onto a slope which would lead it to ruin.
Eccarius says that the number 2 indicates an old section and he maintains that it is probable that Section No. 1 opposed the demonstration of March 18.
Barry asks that the Regulations should be adhered to so that time is not spent in empty quarrels.
Sauva says that if the Congress were to confirm the decision of the American Council it would thereby violate the Regulations of the International which allow a section the right to have itself represented at the Congress once it has paid its subscriptions to the General Council, which has been done.
Ranvier is of the opinion that the Regulations are being made into a toy.---Section No. 2 has separated from the Federal Council, has fallen into lethargy, and, [at the approach of the world congress, has wished to be represented at it and to protest there against those who have been active.---How^by the way, has this section regularised its position with the General Council? It only paid its subscriptions on August 26. Such conduct borders on comedy and is intolerable.---These petty coteries, these sects, these groups independent of one another and having no common ties, resemble freemasonry and cannot be tolerated in the International.
An account is read out of the motives of the New York Federal Committee relating to the expulsion of Section No. = 2.^^11^^---The committee refers the matter to the Congress for a final decision.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the original has an insertion sign. Dereure's proposal does not figure among the materials of the Congress. ---Ed.
46Ranvier adds that this precedent would authorise all sections to act in various directions and to rnin the Association.
Vote on validation:
against 38
for 9
abstentions 11
Brismee motivates his abstention saying that Sanva has paid his subscriptions to the General Council.
Ranvier recalls that Sauva should have applied to the General Council, not to the treasurer outside the Council.
Section No. 12
Invalidation is proposed by the Commission, whose mouthpiece is Marx.
The delegate of Section No. 12^^*^^ asks for the question to be deferred till tomorrow.
The Commission seconds this motion, in view of the importance of the question.---This evening questions of form with a view to tomorrow's public sitting can be decided. Marx will tomorrow propose a commission to inquire into the matter of the Alliance.---He considers it necessary to state that the Spanish delegates have groundlessly interpreted the threat of their expulsion from the International when it is only a question of expelling the Alliance.
The Chairman recalls the vote concerning the roll-call and the censure which will be inflicted on those absent. The sitting is adjourned at 2200 hrs.
FIFTH SITTING
Sitting of Wednesday, September 4, 0900 hr*.
Roll-call: 36 absent.
Order of the day: Section No. 12 of New York. Reporter: Marx.
The French Section No. 3 of San Francisco has just addressed a mandate to Vaillant.
_-_-_^^*^^ W. West.---Ed.
47Sauva moves that the five minutes regulation should not be observed in the discussion on Section No. 12.
Serraillier disputes Zhukovsky's right to vote until his mandate has been validated.
Guillaume does not agree Ilial the Congress should be deprived of the vote of a delegate.
Serraillier requests the Chairman to apply the rule which bars Zhukovsky from voting.
The ending of the discussion is voted by 38 to 5, and Serraillier's motion is adopted by 2G to 10.
Morago says that the Spanish delegates have been instructed to abstain until the present manner of voting is abolished.---He therefore wishes this question to be discussed immediately after the validation of the mandates.
Marx announces two new mandates sent to Becker: from the Rorschach Section and the Zurich Section.^^*^^
Marx, in the name of the Commission, moves that West's mandate be invalidated:
1. The section has been suspended, and this decision has not been revoked.
2. West was a member of the Philadelphia Congress, which did not recognise the authority of the General Council and passed the Apollo Hall = convention.^^12^^
3. He was a member of the Prince Street Council, which withdrew from the General Council and has not paid its subscriptions.
Marx then gives an account of the composition of Section No. 12, its aims, etc. The refusal to pay the subscriptions and even for objects asked for by the section from the General Council corresponded to the advice given by the Jura Federation, which said that if both America and Europe refused to pay subscriptions the General Council would fall of its own accord.
The two American councils have made appeals to the General Council, one for and one against Section No. 12, and the Council has decided on suspension.---Consequently the Commission proposes = invalidation.^^13^^
West having spoken for half an hour, Brismee demands that no more time be spent on the case of a section which _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 304--05 of this volume.---Ed.
48 has not paid and refuses to pay its subscriptions and whose conduct is contrary to the principles of the Association.West fears that there are prejudices, his long journey must be taken into consideration. The chief reason is the suspension of the section for its refusal to pay subscriptions and to recognise the authority of the General Council.--- Suspension ceases in the presence of the supreme judge, the Congress, and the Association's future depends on the resolution which is going to be adopted. The section has not been informed of its suspension and must be presumed innocent.---He reads out a manifesto aiming to prove that the formalities required for suspension have not been carried out. What Marx calls'a resolution is only a proposal that has been under discussion for three days ... and then moreover the Council has no right to discuss the principles of a section.---He admits the authority of the Congress, but he must be heard and judged impartially.---Section No. 12 wants the emancipation of men and women---it engages in politics to achieve this aim.---Man and woman are slaves of each other, and if West practises free love that is his business alone.--- There are spiritualists among them. They want to put an end to marriage.---Their objective is to achieve bourgeois status, which is excellent and to which they wish to bring all men, including the savages, and the women too.---They have not repudiated the Council; he reads out a resolution in corroboration ofj this statement.---But the suspension has not been announced to them; and as for the resolution concerning the composition of the section, the Council did not have the right to pass it.---This Council is tyrannical and centralisationist.---Section No.~12^^*^^ is against centralisation. As for the subscriptions, they were sent by the Spring Street Council, he swears to that!
Sorge:^^**^^ Section No. 12 was admitted under false pretences, West having declared that it consisted for the majority of wage-workers.---The Prince Street Council was informed of the proposals of the Forsyth Street Council for a scission at the beginning of December. The General Council _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "is hostile to" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ The end of the page is blank. The text of Serge's speech was written by the speaker himself on a sheet of the same paper affixed to the original.---Ed.
49 has not made a new rule, it has only made a recommendation (concerning = the~^^2^^/g wage-workers).---Mrs. Woodhull was pursuing personal aims, as West himself stated. We have not opposed their freedom of thinking or of opinion, we have simply refused to accept the introduction of their particular ideas into the organisation. Our opponents have shamefully violated Article XVII of the resolutions of the London Conference, taking great pleasure in displaying all differences before the = public.^^14^^ They have not paid for the year 1871/1872. They have seized with enthusiasm on the reports of those who were intriguing against the Association. Behind the back of the Central Committee, the other sections, etc., they have been asking the General Council to grant them the leadership of the organisation in America, intriguing against their comrades who were unfortunate enough to have been born in another part of the world---a striking proof that they are not Internationals.At their meetings they have often been speaking with disdain about the members of the French Commune and about the German atheists, whom they wanted to get rid of--- and these statements have been published with their consent. We demand discipline, we demand subordination not to some person, committee or council, but to the principle, to the organisation.
The working class in America consists in the first place of Irishmen, then of Germans, then of Negroes, and in the fourth place of American-borns, since the Americans prefer to speculate, lounge about in offices, etc. We therefore need the Irish to create a good organisation, and the Irish have declared and are always declaring that their fellow-- countrymen will never affiliate with the Association as long as Woodhull, Claflin and their adherents play a role in it.
The Association must therefore be purified so that we may extend and develop the organisation.^^*^^
Sauva says that this section did a lot for the members of the Commune who lost their lives. Mrs. Woodhull paid 100 dollars for the = procession.^^15^^
Sorge: Not a sou for the living Commune members! [Sauva:] And yet he is against Section No. 12. But the _-_-_
^^*^^ From here the record is in Le Moussu's handwriting.---Ed.
4--0960
50 suspension has been condemned by some and is considered as arbitrary.---West may have sent money, and since he swears he has it must not be doubted---it must have gone astray.---The Spring Street Council has not repudiated responsibility for the actions of the Commune, at least it denies that it has.---Sauva thanks the Congress for having given West a hearing.Guillaume says that,^^*^^ contrary to the Commission's assertion, the Jura Federation never wrote to America and did not urge that payment of subscriptions should be refused.---Only one letter was written by it and it merely said: You are making a mess, etc.---I owe you information on the sections.---The Council has been authoritarian.---He gives the answer concerning the coup carried out by the friends of Karl Marx in the composition of the new Council.--- The bureau was constituted beforehand, the opponents were thrown out.---Then comes a criticism of the various sections, and from this Guillaume concludes as to the impartiality of the signatory, to which Sorge replies: Except toward himself!
Sorge says that the Jura Federation published in the latest issue of its bulletin an infamous letter against the Association and the = Council.^^16^^ He asks for a certified copy of the letter read out by Guillaume, as he intends to reply to its author.---All the accusations it contains are lies.--- Elliott had come out with the most infamous calumnies against my section and me; not being able to impugn the principles he insulted the men.^^**^^---In order to prove the falseness of the Spring Street Council I proposed in the same publication a court of honour; he did not answer my request.
Le Moussu reads from the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne a reproduction of a letter addressed to him by the Spring Street Council in reply to the order suspending Section No. 12 and to the decision of the General Council regulating the composition of sections.---This letter, he first of all recalls, informed the General Council of a _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the following words are struck out: "Marx states that".---Ed.
^^**^^ See p. 137 of this volume.---Ed.
51 resolution adopted by the said Federal Council, based on absurd considerations and concluding in favour of the formation of anew Association by uniting dissident elements in Spain, Switzerland, and London.---Thus, not content with disregarding the authority which the General Council holds from Congress and instead of deferring their grievances, as the Rules lay down, until today, these individuals, intending to found a new society, openly break with the International.---This fact alone demands the invalidation of Section No. 12's mandate.---To return to the document in question, the Jura Federation has removed from it certain passages which compromise it, and has shamefully falsified other passages.---Le Moussu draws the attention^^*^^ of the Congress to the coincidence between the attacks on the General Council and its members made by the Jura Federation's bulletin and those made by its sister La Federation published by Messrs. Vesinier and Landeck, the latter paper having been exposed as a mouthpiece of the police and its editors expelled as police agents from the Refugees' Society of the Commune in London.The aim of this falsification is to represent the Commune members on the General Council as admirers of the Bonapartist regime, while the other members, these wretches keep on insinuating, are Bismarckists.... As if the real Bonapartists and Bismarckists were not those who, like all these hack-writers of all the various federations, trail along behind the bloodhounds of all governments to insult the true champions of the proletariat.....That is why I say to these vile insulters: You are worthy henchmen of the Bismarckist, Bonapartist and Thierist police.---You are forgers!
Motion by Brismee:
The Congress, basing itself on the principle of the abolition of classes, cannot admit the delegate of a bourgeois section.
Serraillier moves a vote by roll-call in view of the fact that it is a question of principle.^^**^^
Voted against: Arnaud, Becker, Brismee, Barry, Cournet, _-_-_
^^*^^ The record of Le Moussu's speech continues on the back of the affixed sheet containing Sorge's speech.---Ed.
^^**^^ The vote by roll-call on Brismee's motion is missing from the minutes; the vote by roll-call recorded below was on West's mandate. See p. 137 of this volume.-Ed.
4*
52Coenen, Dupont, Dave, Duval, Dereure, Eberhardt, FJuse, Farkas, Friedlander, Frankel, Gerhard, Herman, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Marx, Kugelmann and Lessner, Lucain, Lafargue,^^*^^ Le Moussu, Milke, Pilil, Ranvier, Swarm, Sauva, Sorge, Scheu, Serraillier, Sexton, Schumacher, Rocli Splingard, Walter, Wroblewski, Van der Hout, Van deri Abeele, Vaillant, Vichard, Dietzgen, Dumont, MacDonnell, Wilmot.
Absent: Longuet and Engels, motivated; others absent: Bernard,^^**^^ Cyrille, Gilkens, Hales, Rittinghausen; abstentions: the four Spaniards, Eccarius, Guillaume, Harcourt, Mottershead, Schwitzguebel and Roach.
Mandate 12 is invalidated.^^***^^
The Spaniards abstained by virtue of their mandate, but they approve this measure.
Harcourt abstained because he did not understand the formulation of the question.
Eccarius because he had connections with Section No. 12 and has been accused of intriguing against the General Council. On the question of principle he abstained because it prejudged the matter of the mandate.
Mottershead voted for on the question of principle and abstained on the validation because yesterday Barry was admitted, and he was in the same case.
Roach abstained because to agree with such a decision would render necessary the expulsion of half the members of the Council and of the sections.
Guillaume voted for on the question of principle and abstained on the question of fact, believing himself insufficiently informed.
Schwitzguebel---the same reasons as Guillaume.
A proposal bearing twenty signatures and asking for the nomination of a commission on the question of the Alliance.^^****^^
Guillaume protests against the Congress investigating a secret society.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here ``Longuet'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Apparently Bernhard Becker.---Ed.
^^***^^ This sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next page.---Ed.
^^****^^ See Document No. 2.---Ed.
53Serraillier moves to defer the nomination of the commission till this evening and the public sitting till tomorrow.
It is 1440 hrs. The sitting is adjourned. Assembly at 1900 hrs.
35 votes to 18.
SIXTH SITTING
September 4, 1872, Wednesday
EVENING SITTING
Sorge says that the mandates having been validated a bureau must be finally named.
Dupont asks for the minutes to be read out.
The Chairman objects that this would take time.
Sorge asks that the final formation of the bureau be considered an urgent matter.
Adopted unanimously.
Ranvier reports that a mandate has been received from the Mulhouse Section for the Jura = Federation.^^17^^
Sorge demands the immediate nomination of the bureau.
Lafargue moves five minutes' adjournment for lists to be drawn up.
Frankel moves that there should be a simultaneous and majority vote election.
Ranvier gets 36 votes Gerhard 27
Dupont 27
Brismee 26
Sorge 25
Becker 6
Frankel 3
Abeele 4
Johannard 1
Sexton 1, etc.
Ranvier is elected chairman.
Dupont withdraws in favour of Brismee. Thus there will be one Frenchman, one Belgian and one Dutchman.
Brismee is not elected, he refuses.
Sorge is put to the vote and elected unanimously.
Kugelmann moves a vote of thanks to Van den Abeele.
Ranvier thanks him in the name of the Congress.
Van den Abeele has done all he could, he is moved by this proof of appreciation.
54Ranvier thanks the Congress in the name of the section named after the glorious martyr Ferre who fell in the camp of Satory.^^*^^
SITTING
of September 4 (Wednesday), 1900 hrs.
Election of the final bureau.
Ranvier is elected chairman.
Sorge and Gerhard are elected assessors.
The Chairman thanks the Congress for the honour shown to the delegate of the section named after Ferre, the glorious martyr who fell on the plain of Satory; he thanks it in the name of the Paris Commune of whom we are the representatives here.
Nomination of translators;
Eccarius and Wilmot for English Frankel and Cuno German Van den Abeele and Dave Flemish Marselau and Alerini SpanishSecretaries:
Le Moussu for French MacDonnell English Hepner German Van der Hout Dutch Marselau SpanishAnnouncement
Van den Abeele, with the agreement of a number of delegates, has informed members of the press of tomorrow's public sitting.
_-_-_^^*^^ The end of the page is left blank. A note in Le Moussu's handwriting says: "Continued from page 1 (in pencil).'' Then begins the record by Le Moussu, elected as French secretary in the final composition of the Bureau; it is written in pencil in an account-book with pages numbered from 1 to 36 and then 22 pages with no numbering.--- Ed.
55Gerhard reads out a letter by which the Federal Council of Amsterdam invites the Congress to come and hold a sitting in their city once its work is over.^^*^^
Johannard wants the sitting to be prolonged this evening or to begin at 0800 hrs. tomorrow so that we can be ready for the opening of the public sitting. He would like measures to be taken to avoid the hall being crowded with inquisitive people.
Van der Hout expresses the desire of the Hague section that the Congress should be open to the public as much as possible.---He speaks of admission cards^^**^^ in order to prevent overcrowding.
Eccarius moves that the Commission should take these steps and that they should proceed with the order of the day.
A motion to proceed with the order of the day is adopted unanimously.
Sorge reads out the following proposal:
Considering that the German and Austrian delegates have to go to the Mayence = Congress^^18^^ and that some Danish and French delegates are returning home, consequently the formalities must be carried out as quickly as possible, the question of the General Council should be dealt with after that and finally the date and place of the next congress.
The revision of the Rules will be done afterwards.
Signed: Frankel, Lafargue, Cuno, Becker, etc.
Sauva thinks that in the first place the report of the General Council should be heard, that its actions should be discussed and a] re-election held.
Lafargue says that the question of the General Council must be raised immediately in the interest of the delegates who cannot wait; that the re-election of the Council should be held in the last place. Sauva has raised no valid objection to his proposal.
Scheu says that the annual congress of Germany demands their presence and opens in two days. He therefore wants the most important questions to be dealt with in the first place: the powers to be given to the new Council, its seat, _-_-_
^^*^^ See the text of the invitation on p. 276 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the following words are struck out: "aa a measure to help maintain order''.---Ed.
56 etc.---He would regret to be obliged to leave our Congress and would be equally annoyed not to be present at that of Mayence, for which he and his friends have mandates from Austria, Hungary and Germany.Brismee does not understand what is meant by the powers to be given to the Council.
Lafargue explains this to him.
Brismee wants in the first place the revision of the Rules, which could well lead to the suppression of the General Council, as has already been proposed by the Belgians at = their congress,^^19^^ and has been deferred only on condition that the Council's claws be trimmed and its fangs drawn.---If it were to be otherwise, the Belgians would separate from the rest of the International and ally themselves with the Swiss, Spanish and American dissidents.
Becker says there is prejudice on this point: Scheu has given good reasons; finally, as regards the powers of the future Council, they will be defined by the Congress.
Morago complains that he has been deprived of his turn to speak.
The Chairman says he did not put his name down.
Guillaume demands that Morago should be allowed to speak---he has his name down now.
Hepner says that those who attack the proposition do not understand it. He adds that several members of the Congress have complained of authoritarianism on the part of the General Council, that the discussion on this matter will be too interesting for the delegates who have to leave not to be able to hear it.
Adjournment is adopted by 42 votes with no opposition.
The motion is adopted by 41 votes with no opposition.
The Spaniards are compelled to abstain because of their imperative mandate; they move the immediate revision of the manner of voting so as not to be tied down any longer.^^*^^
Morago says that it is a sad thing to see them abstain; but the Spanish region thinks that the present manner of voting is not democratic; it is not fair that the mandate _-_-_
^^*^^ See Document No. 4.---Ed.
57 of a large number should not have more weight than that of a small one.Engels says that the time of the Congress has been well utilised; that the questions which had worried the International have been exhausted during the validation of mandates; these questions, no offence meant to Brismee, have been exhausted entirely to the benefit of the General Council.
The manner of voting suggested by the Spaniards is practised in Germany and, as a = pan-Germanist,^^20^^ he claims priority for the Germans. But that will come in due time.--- The Spaniards have received an imperative mandate from their Federal Council and they remain bound by that mandate until the turn comes for discussion of the relevant article. Finally, he repeats, if this matter is decided in their favour, the victory will be on the side of pan-Germanism.
Herman asks for an immediate revision of this article. What the Spaniards are asking for is practised also in Belgium. The present manner of voting gives rise to injustice which he will bring out when the time comes.
Hepner insists that the discussion must follow its course and moves order.
Wilmart says that the revision demanded by the Spaniards if carried out will not even be applicable to this Congress, for if the delegates of less numerous sections had foreseen this case they would have taken the relevant measures. He quotes instances in support of this.
The proposal of the Spaniards is put to the vote and rejected.
Guillaume protests saying that the Jura delegates will also abstain.
The Chairman replies that their conduct is unimaginable, for what they attack so lightly is the work neither of the General Council nor of the present Congress, it is the Rules of the International Working Men's Association.
The sitting is adjourned at midnight.
Tomorrow's closed sitting will be at 0800 hrs., and the public sitting at 1000 hrs.
The Secretary Le MOUSSU
58SEVENTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday morning
LIST OF DELEGATES
Arnaud, AntoineSITTING
of Thursday, September 5
First roll-call made at 0820 hrs.
Absent:
Barry, Dave, Fluse, Frankel, Hepner, Roach, Swarm, Sexton, Van den Abeele, Vaillant, Eccarius.^^**^^
The Chairman moves to put off the reading of the minutes so that we may be ready for the public sitting at 1000 hrs.
Adopted.
Guillaume asks for the appointment of a commission and the publication in the newspaper he edits of the original letter of Laugrand which has been verified by a commission to prove that Laugrand, and not he, Guillaume, was the author of the falsification.^^***^^
Marx asks for publication of the letter read out by Guillaume, which is a tissue of falsifications and infamy.
Le Moussu does not favour the appointment of such a commission on the grounds that the original letter itself is false and outrageous and that those who reproduced it are equally responsible with the author. Moreover, the marked _-_-_
^^*^^ The end of this page and the next (p. 5) are left blank. See the list of delegates on pp. 330--33 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here "Harco...'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 6.---Ed.
59 bad faith which dictated these falsifications may very well be ascribed to complicity between Guillaume and Laugrand.Marx, Johannard and Lafargue (Commission)
The Socialist Revolutionary Propaganda Section has cabled to the Congress that if Zhukovsky tries to pass as their delegate it is without any right.^^*^^
The Chairman draws the attention of the Congress to the fact that West should not be among the delegates.
Sauva says that he is hard of hearing and would not be able to hear from the gallery.
Engels objects to the requested favour because at that rate all deaf people would have the right to be among us; moreover West has boasted that he will get into the Congress through the window if not through the door.
West goes up to the gallery.
Zhukovsky replies that the people who signed the cable casting suspicion on him do not belong to the section.
Dereure knows Mich on, one of those who signed, and Lacord who signed the cable: he has no hesitation in believing the latter.
Walter says that Lacord recently committed a dishonourable act and that information should first be sought.
Lafargue moves to proceed with the order of the day while waiting for the letter announced in the cable.
The order of the day calls for the appointment of a commission on the question of the Alliance.
Sorge moves a commission of five members and asks for a five minutes' break to elect them.^^**^^
Marx warns that the General Council's report does not touch on internal matters because: 1. Its public reading would discredit the International in the countries where it is banned. 2. The federations have not carried out the obligations stipulated by the past congresses and have not sent their reports to the Council. 3. It was therefore impossible to draw up such a report even irrespective of the danger which its publication would constitute.
Marx moves that the closed and the public sittings be fixed first.^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the cable on p. 311 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the following words are struck out: "Scheu says".---Ed.
^^***^^ The record is not exact. See p. 144 of this volume. ---Ed.
60Guillaume demands that the minority against whom accusations are made be allowed themselves to appoint one of the five members of the commission.
Sauva sees neither majority nor minority here, but all those who are interested must be excluded from the commission, both members of the General Council and members of the Alliance.
Jokannard recalls that Marx tabled that very proposal yesterday = morning.^^*^^
Marx moves to elect preferably delegates conversant with the French language to save time; he adds that it is a matter of investigating not individuals but the Alliance and that all friends of = truth^^**^^ will be impartial in this investigation.
Guillaume is not satisfied with Marx's explanation because names have been given.
Marx continues: But you denied.
A five minutes' break for nominating candidates.
There are 57 members present and 50 ballot papers.
Serraillier 1 Dupont 1 Engels \ 1 blank ballot paper Splingard 31, elected Walter 29, elected Lucain 24, elected Sauva 15 Swarm 11 Frankel 13] Marselau 1 Heim 1 Sorge [3] Pihl 1 Dereure 12] Guillaume 1 Ranvier 1 Scheu Dumont Brismee Dave Cuno Vichard 17 [12] 17 [15] 33, elected 20, electedCommission: Cuno, Splingard, Vichard, Walter and Lucain.
Alerini and Guillaume want a commission of five members to judge certain acts of the General Council and the underhand intrigues of some of its members.
Sorge asks whether Eccarius is among the members of the Council alluded to; in that case he will have a lot to say.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here ``Duval'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here "united in the search for truth" is struck out.---Ed.
61Marx moves that the accusers themselves should appoint their commission.
Alerini and Guillaume propose that the commission which is to investigate the Alliance should also investigate the General Council.
Cuno says let those who are childish enough to accuse the General Council appoint their own commission.
The commission entrusted to investigate the Alliance will check the accusations of Alerini and = Guillaume.^^21^^
EIGHTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday morning
PUBLIC SITTING
Roll-call: those who do not answer this first roll-call will be considered absent.
Before the roll-call Ranvier says: Events prevented the assembly of the Congress last year---protestations have been raised on this account---the Internationals were under persecution from the Versaillais.
The persecutions have increased our strength, the calumnies are ceasing, victory is approaching, we shall achieve it, despite all^^*^^ persecutions. The Conference^^**^^ has had an excellent effect: the agricultural workers are coming over to us---all the workers will wish to contribute to the cause of their emancipation,' to the work of the so outrageously calumniated International.
He thanks Holland for having known how to have liberty respected by offering us hospitality.---Infamous ministers have dared to demand that "the incendiaries" be rebutted; the speaker gives strategic reasons to explain the incendiarism---our crime is that we were defeated by those who betrayed France and the republic.
Switzerland has caused the right of asylum to be respected. England was the first to declare that we were politicians _-_-_
^^*^^ Here ``attacks'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ The London Conference of 1871.---Ed.
62 and that the land which gave asylum to Bonaparte could not be closed to the defeated members of the Commune.---He says that Jules Favre and Trochu---those traitors and assassins, have dared to denounce us as brigands, honest men as they think they are.The errors which have split the International will be dissipated by the light shed by the Congress and all Internationals will march together along the road of progress for humanity, in the name of which they demand the emancipation of labour and the abolition of the classes.
Roll-call:
Absent: Cyrille, Hepner, Harcourt and Hales for valid reasons.
READING
OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL'S REPORT
Gerhard reads out a letter of invitation from the Dutch Federal Council to a friendly meeting in Amsterdam once the work of the Congress is over.^^*^^
Noted.
Lafargue says that this proposal is referred to the closed sitting.
Doctor Sexton reads out the General Council's Report in English.
Longuet reads it out in French.
Marx reads it out in German.
Van den Abeele reads it out in Flemish.^^**^^
A motion to adopt the report is put to the vote and adopted unanimously.
The Chairman notes that the delegates who abstain are bound by an imperative mandate.
The following motion is adopted by unanimous acclamation:
The Congress of the International Working Men's Association assembled in The Hague expresses in the name of the world proletariat its admiration for the heroic champions _-_-_
^^*^^ See the text of the invitation on p. 276 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ See the text of the report on pp. 211--19 of this volume.---Ed.
63 of the cause of the emancipation of labour who fell victims to their devotion and sends a fraternal and sympathetic greeting to all those who are at this moment persecuted by bourgeois reaction in France, in Germany, in Denmark and in the whole world.Signed: Schwitzguebel, Sauva, Brismee, Eberhardt, Dave, Cuno, Morago, Lafargue, etc.
Brismee moves that public sittings will be held in the evening so that the workers may attend them. Voted by acclamation.
Sorge moves adjournment for a quarter of an hour, then a closed meeting and a public meeting at 1900 hrs.
Jokannard says he is not made of iron and asks that the meeting be adjourned, resumed at 1600 hrs., the closed meeting ending at 1900 hrs, and followed by the public meeting.
Sorge sets forth his proposal: a quarter of an hour's rest, sitting until 1500 hrs. and public sitting to start at 1900 hrs. Brismee seconds Sorge's motion.
Amendment by Johannard: end the public meeting immediately and resume at 1600 hrs. so as to end by 1900 hrs. Adopted by 27 votes to 19.
Cuno asks whether Herr Schramm, German Imperial Consul, is present, and asks him to come to him at the end of the meeting if he does not wish to be called a coward and a swindler.
THE GENEVA FEDERATION TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS
Citizens,
The Congress of the Geneva Federation assembled at the Temple Unique sends you its warmest sympathy and hopes that our Association will emerge greater from your deliberations.
Fraternal greetings.
Long live the International Association!
On behalf of the Congress: Chairman Ferret, Secretaries Reymond, Delorme.
Roll-call. Absent: Hepner.
64Ostyn sends fraternal greetings to his friends of the Commune present at the Congress.^^*^^ Sitting adjourned at 1400 hrs.
The Secretary Le Moussu
NINTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday evening
SITTING
of Thursday, September 5, 1615 hrs. (public)
Absent: Cyrille, Friedlander, Guillaurne, Kugelmann, Splingard, Alerini.
Sorge makes an announcement: Citizen Dietzgen^^**^^ is obliged to leave the Congress on urgent business.
The Chairman^^***^^ makes an announcement in the name of the Ferre = Section.^^22^^
Wilmart says that it is a letter from a section to its delegate and that if we were to read all the documents of this kind we would never finish.
Guillaume notes the attack contained in the letter from the Ferre Section linking the honourable names of Bakunin and Malon with the infamous names of Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc.
Longuet protests against Wilmart's proposal not to take note. This is perhaps not the time to read the letter out, but it will be good for the discussion to return to it, leaving out the names.
Longuet moves that the part read out should be translated.
A motion for order is put to the vote.
Announcement of motions by Vaillant, Ranvier and others.^^****^^
Dupont demands the appointment of a commission to examine cables, letters and reports in order to save time.
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the greetings on p. 272 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The original has by mistake Zikenski.---Ed.
^^***^^ Ranvier.---Ed.
^^****^^ See Document No. 9.---Ed.
65Lissagaray requests the Chairman to see that order is maintained in the galleries.
The Chairman asks those gentlemen who wish to laugh and amuse themselves to seek amusement elsewhere.
Frankel, Dereure, Lafargue, Hepner, Dupont and Brismee are nominated to form the proposed commission.---They are = elected.^^28^^
ORDER OF THE 'DAY
Discussion on the General Council and its functions.
Herman says that in various countries the question has been raised whether the Council should not be done away with. In Switzerland it is thought that we are organised well enough to do without a central bureau.---In Belgium they think differently but wish to withdraw its authority and think it should be composed of representatives of all countries without the right to co-opt other members.---We have as our objective the abolition of wage labour by all possible means: strikes, associations, etc., but let each country^^*^^ fight freely, independently of the authority of a General Council.
Lafargue says that the oral communication made by Herman concerned the Commission as much as did the written communications, that if he, Lafargue, wanted to speak of his mandates, he would need a long time.---The first question which appears on the order of the day is that of the existence of the General Council.
Dave objects to the agenda proposed by Lafargue.--- Herman has posed the question correctly. The speaker has a mandate similar to his.
Longuet says that Lafargue is mistaken, that Herman has started the general discussion on the agenda.---He only moves that the number of speakers on each question should be limited.
Dupont wants the agenda to be adhered to.---The number of speakers may not be limited---let their names be put _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "fight for emancipation differently... according to the conditions... without submitting to the authority of a Council are struck out.---Ed.
5--0960
66 down for and against alternatively, and when the meeting decides that the question is clear the vote will be taken.Ranvier asks that the author of a motion be given ten minutes, and five minutes if he wishes to return to it--- each speaker will not speak more than twice on each question.
The meeting proceeds with the agenda.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Lafargue gives a general account of the wishes expressed in his mandates: Abolition of the classes---Labour is the basis of the new society---Common ownership---All the instruments of labour in the hands of the workers' societies--- Education. Means: Constitution of the working class by separation from its enemies, from the throne, the altar and capital.
Replacement of philosophical, political and religious struggle by the great struggle for the abolition of the classes.
The General Council must unite the members of the Association in all countries, its functions must be maintained, but the Federal Council is responsible for its sections to the General Council, which is itself answerable to the Congress.--- His Lisbon mandate is the same in substance^^*^^; there they consider the Council invested with powers indispensable, it is the only tie between all the federations; and without it the barriers established by the bourgeoisie to separate us would remain standing.---If the General Council did not exist, we would create it.
Guillaume replies: Two trends of ideas in the International: one which admits the existence of a group of men whose mission is exclusively to spread the social doctrines and which thinks that without the existence of this central group the unity would disappear.
Others think that the International is the product of the economic conditions in each country---capitalist exploitation has aroused identical interests in the whole world, it is not therefore a particular conception. The identity, if _-_-_
^^*^^ See the text of Lafargue's mandate from the Portuguese Federation on pp. 323--24 of this volume.---Ed.
67 it exists, forms the tie between the federations; if it did not exist a General Council would be necessary.The mandate of the Jura Federation.---It has had ground for complaint against the authority of the Council invested with powers which the members of the federation were wrong in contributing to grant. Experience has shown them this danger, they wish to remedy it. The Council has respected the liberty of the Belgian International and has violated theirs.
We have formulated our arguments against the Council in a = circular,^^24^^ this idea has made headway. The federal council has no authority, the General Council must not have it either.
They did not^^*^^ have the idea of suppressing it, they saw the Belgians had raised this question, and it has been resolved in the sense of a central bureau of correspondence and statistics.
Is a strong authority at the centre necessary? The International maintains that the economic struggle and the political struggle are inseparable. The latter---and Guillaume holds it is bad---is expressed in working-class candidatures or revolutions and in this aspect the General Council can do nothing and has done nothing: nothing in the strikes, nothing in the political struggles, no slogans from London! It is said that the General Council must lead the International to the barricades and to the general strike, must be the head of the big body---we don't need it.
Sorge: Guillaume is relying on the experimental method, it would be curious to hear their experience.... Ours makes us think just the opposite.---They are said not to have had any authority, these Jura people with their childish publications! And the General Council did not organise anything! What about Newcastle? What about the strike of the bronze workers in Paris? And what about the New York sewingmachine makers who had recourse to intervention by = the Council?^^26^^ If the Council is not the general of the international army, it is the general staff which organises the cadres.
Does the Association need a head? A negative answer _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "at first" are struck out.---Ed.
5*
68 reduces us to the level of the lowest animals.---Yes, we need a head, and a head full of brains. ?They have experience. I could tell you a'big story about their jokes with autonomy, etc.---The American Congress asserts: We need centralisation, without which we would be powerless in face of the ruling classes.---We therefore need a General Council; and if the Council has not donej enough it is because it has not enough powers.---These powers we want to give to it.
Motion for order.
Longuet says: Splingard may not have heard, but those who demand a diminution of powers are against. We, for our part, ask for an increase of powers.
Guillaume says that Morago must go to a commission and asks Van den Abeele to give him the floor.
Morago says that on the question of the General Council he can say no more than his imperative mandate instructs, he wants the suppression of the General Council.
His mandate demands that the Council should have no power over the federations, it will only be the mediator and the centre of correspondence and statistics.---The workers have only known the despotism of kings---we need none in the International and we would be criminals to create that authority---to substitute our tyranny for that of the kings. The number of members in the Council matters little to him.---If the Congress were to continue, and still more to increase the powers of the Council, Spain would not submit to this; they want their liberty and their autonomy.
Their imperative mandate demands the abolition of the Council; however, they are willing to have a centre for correspondence and statistics. The Spaniards only want friendly relations with all, they will accept a Council in this sense. Otherwise, if the Congress preserves for the Council this despotism, its supporters will bear all the burden of it.^^*^^
Serraillier and Dupont ask that the discussion should be postponed till the public sitting which will take place tomorrow evening at 1800 hrs.
The order of speakers who have their names down will be preserved.
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 10.---Ed.
69Closed sitting tomorrow at 0900 hrs.
The commission is assembling and needs to question the delegates, so that the closed sitting this evening cannot be held.
Final roll-call. Absent: Eccarius, Kugelmann.
The sitting is adjourned.
TENTH SITTING
September 6, 1872, Friday morning
SITTING
of Friday, September 6 at 0930 hrs.
Absent: Dereure, Eccarius, Farkas, Friedlander,^^*^^ Rittinghausen, Vichard (ill).^^**^^
Motion to begin immediately the discussion on the Rules.^^***^^
1. Two speakers for, and two against. 2. Each speaker will be given not more than five minutes.^^****^^
Dave asks for the minutes to be read out; what has been said must be preserved.
The Chairman says thafthe secretaries have not had time to prepare this work.
Dupont moves that a closed sitting be held for the reading of the = minutes.^^28^^
Van den Abeele says that before proceeding with the discussion of the Rules, the question of the General Council must be clarified.
Vaillant says that the International is waiting for the revision of the Rules and that the Congress would have failed in what the sections expect if instead of acting it _-_-_
^^*^^ Here ``Guillaume'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the words "Walter asks in the name of the commission that its members be allowed to withdraw to get on with their work; their votes will be taken into account" are struck out.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the words "in the following order: one speaker for, one against" are struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ Here the following is crossed out: "Signed: Duval, Sorge, Becker, Hepner, Lafargue, Pihl, Schumacher, Heim, Eberhardt, Le Moussu''. See Document No. 11.---Ed.
70 was content with making speeches---we cannot therefore....Dupont holds that two speakers is not enough and the number of speakers must not be limited.
The motion is adopted by 34 votes to 4.
This motion concerns the closed sittings.
Motion: 1. We ask the Congress to open immediately the discussion on the following articles:
Art. 2.---The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions, and to take care that in every country the principles and the General Rules and Regulations of the International are strictly observed.
Art. 6.---The General Council has also the right to suspend Branches, Sections, Federal Councils or committees, and federations of the International, till the meeting of the next Congress.
Nevertheless, in the case of sections belonging to a federation, the General Council will exercise this right only after having consulted the respective Federal Council.
In the case of the dissolution of a Federal Council, the General Council shall, at the same time, call upon the Sections of the respective Federation to elect a new Federal Council within 30 days at most.
In the case of the suspension of an entire federation, the General Council shall immediately inform thereof the whole of the federations. If the majority of them demand it, the General Council shall convoke an extraordinary conference, composed of one delegate for each nationality, which shall meet within one month and finally decide upon the question.
Nevertheless, it is well understood that the countries where the International is prohibited shall exercise the same rights as the regular federations."
Signed: Sorge, Becker, Duval, Hepner, Lafargue, Pihl, Milke, Becker, Le Moussu, Schumacher, Heim, Gustav Ludwig.
Becker says that a little reflection would have 'made the discussion useless, since it was a matter of discussing the powers of the General Council^^*^^; time is being wasted.--- _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the following is struck out: "objections have been raised to make us waste...".---Ed.
71 He says our funds do not allow us to wait and that we must not disperse without having done anything.Vaillant says that the motion on the immediate discussion of the Rules extends to the public sittings.---He says that after the question of the Council has been resolved they must immediately deal with including in the Rules the article on political action and must fix the subscriptions. When that is done the International can go ahead.
Vaillant hands in his motion.^^*^^
Brismee says that the motion aims at increasing the powers, whereas he wants to diminish them---it is a question of principle---the people is sovereign.---The Council must be only an information bureau. (Applause from the Jura delegates.)
Longuet replies that Fluse is more logical than Brismee. Correspondence could be maintained without the correspondence bureau they speak of. He says that the federal councils are the leading bodies of the federations.---In the same way the General Council must have the means of acting on the federations to have the resolutions of the Congress fulfilled. What they speak about is the work of a clerk.
Guillaume says that the minority has expressed its opinions, and the majority has agreed on the expression of its, we are indeed wasting time. You have made up your mind beforehand to vote for all the articles of your proposal, it is therefore useless to discuss them. It is sufficient to vote on them all as a whole.
Serraillier says he rejects all preconceived ideas and that he turns Guillaume's words against himself and against all those who have an imperative mandate.---For our part we came here as free and conscientious men. Guillaume interrupts me saying that we represent only ourselves.---I reply to himi and my correspondence is there to prove it, we represent thirty departments. It is more extensive than at the time when under the empire it was in the hands of the abstentionists.
It is voted with five votes against to close the discussion.^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 13.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the words "Sauva wants everybody to be able to...'' are struck out.---Ed.
72Voting on the articles contained in the proposal.
Article 2.
Morago says that according to this article the Council would be free to interpret the resolutions of the Congress, he is certain that this latitude could be fatal, be used for tyrannical strivings.---He repeats that his mandate orders him to oppose authoritarianism.
Lafargue replies that if the Council did not have this mission everybody would have it, even the police sections--- when there is agreement there must be a representation to maintain it. Morago speaks of the tyranny of the Council, but is it not Morago himself who wants to impose on the Congress the tyranny of his mandate. When one comes to participate in a Congress one must submit^^*^^ to its decisions.
Article 2 is put to a vote by roll-call and adopted by 40 votes for, 5^^**^^ against and 11 abstentions.
For
Arnaud Becker, Philipp Barry Becker, Bernhard Cournet Cuno Dupont Duval Dereure En gels Farkas ier h m a Abstentions Coenen Dave Eberhardt Guillaume Herman Schwitzguebel Van den Abeele Farga Pellicer Morago Marselau Alerini Against Fluse Gerhard Splingard Van der Hout Absent Cyrille Eccarius Mottershead Rittinghausen Sorge Friedlander Scheu Frankel Hepner Heim Johannard Serraillier Sexton^ Schumacher Walter Wroblewski Marx Kugelmann Vaillant Lessner Vichard _-_-_^^*^^ Here the words "to the decisions of the majority" are struck ont.-Ed.
^^**^^ Sic in the original.---Ed.
73 Lucain Dumont Lafargue MacDonnell^^*^^ Longuet Le Moussu Milke 40 for 4 against 11 abstentions 4 absentVan der Hout regrets the two opposite tendencies that are manifested: a majority which votes for on all questions. He is surprised above all that citizens have come here tied by an imperative mandate which imposes abstention on them.
Article 6.
Sauva says that the American Federation has been represented as though it were resolved to increase the powers of the General Council.---His mandatories want the Council to be preserved, but first of all they want it to have no rights and that this sovereign should not have the right to give orders to its servants. (Laughter.) His mandate wants the Congress to foresee the cases when the Council may suspend sections. In indeterminate cases the Council will not have the right of suspension.
Longuet moves that the regulation should be overlooked to satisfy the opponents of the proposal and one of them allowed to speak.
Herman says that in the Belgian Federation there can be no abuse of powers because it is composed of delegates who are answerable to their mandatories.---If in this case the Federal Council were suspended by the General Council, it would be the Belgian International that would be suspended.
Marx says that in discussing the powers of the Council it is not the former one which is meant, it is therefore not us, but the institution.---Marx has stated that he would rather vote for the abolition of the Council than for a council which would be only a letter-box. This would fall into the hands of the journalists, it would be a danger _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the names Wilmot and Ludwig are struck out.---Ed.
74 for the International. We are responsible, those Messrs, journalists would not be.---Cases cannot be foreseen as Sauva wishes.Thus in London a police section has been formed under cover of the Rules.---There is the case of Section No.12 of New York, the spiritualists, etc.---I do not understand why the Jura people, instead of fighting the bourgeois, have up to a certain point made common cause with them.Moreover, the powers asked for are contained approximately in the Rules. Instead of leaving the Council absolute rights the article sets up control.
Over all these years the Council has had experience of attempts made by the police and the bourgeois to infiltrate the International in Austria, in France, where a chief of police wanted to found a section, it therefore had to = be suspended.^^27^^ Vesinier and Landeck declare in favour of the Jura people just as the bourgeois of Section No. 12 form a [whole].---No federal council has been criticised more by the workers under it than the Belgian Federal Council. It has been reproached for authoritarianism as much as the General Council.---The French find them too nationalistic for Internationals.
There was a case for suspending a federal council in New York; it may be that in other countries secret societies wish to get influence over federal councils, they must be suspended.---As for the facility to form federations freely, as Vesinier, Landeck and a German police informer did, it cannot exist.
Monsieur Thiers makes himself the lackey of all governments against the International, and the Council must have the power to remove all corrupt!ve elements.
Now the proposal makes reserves. The former Council only had in view the interests of the Association and suspended only Section No. 12. The federal councils have not enough powers, as was stated in respect of Section No. 12 by a member of the American Council in the presence of Jung and Le Moussu.
Moreover, a federal council can reject the appeal to sections to elect another---this is in favour of the federation; and if the General Council dared to take a measure without due consideration, the conference of federations would censure it.
75The countries in which the International is persecuted are the best and must have the same rights. Your expressions of anxiety are only tricks, because you belong to those societies which act in secret and are the most authoritarian. ---The General Council has neither army nor budget, it has only its moral force, and if you withdraw its powers you would only be a fictitious force.
Lafargue wants to know how the Dutch delegates vote, for they voted against the first proposal. It was therefore wrongly that the opponents of the Council accused it of having prepared the ground in Holland.
Dave replies that it is calumny to have made this accusation against the Council, that of having chosen Holland. It is nonetheless true that it is not a central point.
Marx says that the minutes are available and that the Belgians suggested Holland as being the most favourable place.^^*^^
Guillaume states that Marx spoke of the irresponsibility of newspaper editors, and that this does not apply to the editorial board of the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne, which is responsible to the Federation.
Article 6 is put to a vote by roll-call:
For Against Abstained Arnaud Becker Barry Becker Cournet Cuno Dupont Duval Dereure En gels Farkas Friedlander Lessner Lafargue Longuet Le Moussu Milke Pihl Ranvier Swarm Sorge Serraillief Sexton Schumacher Brismee Coenen Fluse Herman Sauva Splingard 6 against 36 for 6 against 16 abstention Cyrille Dave Eberhardt Guillaume Lucain Mottershead Roach Schwitzguebel Van der Hout Van den Abeele Dumont Farga Pellicer; _-_-_^^*^^ See Marx's extracts from the minutes of the General Council's sittings on pp. 655--56 of this volume.---Ed.
76 FrankelProtest from the English delegates because they are deprived of the possibility of expounding their ideas for lack of courteousness on the part of delegates speaking several languages.^^*^^
Sexton says that they understand but cannot get permission to speak. The French are livelier and stand up in front of the Chairman and speak all the same and it is no reason because the English are less noisy that they should not be given their turn.
The Chairman says that the English have most often asked to speak when the discussion has been well advanced and the order of the day required the ending of the debate before their turn to speak came.
Barry says that the French and the Germans are more skilful and that they always get permission to speak on pretext of personal facts, motions for order, etc. He therefore asks that English should be spoken in the first place as much as possible so that they may put their names down in time.
Motion by Vaillant, Cournet and Arnaud asking that they now proceed to discuss the inclusion of the article concerning political action in the Rules and the fixing of the subscriptions.^^**^^
Longuet says that he agrees as to the importance of these two questions and precisely for that reason asks that they be discussed at the public sitting this evening.
Vaillant agrees to Longuet's proposal if that discussion is to begin as soon as the public sitting opens.
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 14.---Ed.
^^**^^ See Document No, 15.---Ed.
77The Prussian Consul^^*^^ appears to protest against the death sentence alleged to have been pronounced on him by the Congress. He asks for a commission to examine the accusations.
Frankel says that this is a matter between him and Cuno and has nothing to do with the Congress.
The Chairman says that this incident should not have taken place at the Congress.
Schwitzguebel asks that the question of the manner of voting be discussed after the motion by Vaillant, Cournet and Arnaud.^^**^^
Engels moves that the General Council be transferred to New York for the year 1872--73 and composed of the following members of the New York Federal Council for North America: Kavanagh, Saint-Glair, Cetti,^^***^^ Leviele, Laurel, Bertrand, Bolte and K. Carl^^****^^; they will have the right of co-option, but the number of members must not exceed 15.
Signed: Marx, Engels, Sexton, Wroblewski, Longuet, MacDonnell, Lessner, Le Moussu, Dupontj Serraillier, Barry.
The Hague, September 6, 1872.^^*****^^
Johannard remarks that it is not the first proposal of this kind and that he signed a similar one.
A motion is adopted to begin this evening the discussion on the inclusion in the Rules of the articles on political action and on subscriptions.
Engels: This motion is based on the following motives: The Council has always been in London for these two reasons:
1. the international character of the Council; it included representatives of 10 nationalities;
2. it offered us all necessary guarantees in respect of our documents.
_-_-_^^*^^ Rudolf Schramm.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the following is struck out: "Engels says that SchwitzguSbel is right insofar as to go over to discussion of the political question would be a deviation from the actual order of the day."---Ed.
^^***^^ The original has by mistake ``Letti''.---Ed.
^^****^^ The original has by mistake "L. Carl".---Ed.
^^*****^^ See Document No. 16.---Ed.
78In 1870, when the-Congress was made impossible by the war, the Council suggested Brussels to all the federations; it was rejected unanimously and London was maintained; in New York we shall have two Frenchmen, two Germans, one Swede, one Englishman, two Italians, and so on, so the question of representation of nationalities is resolved; there will be security for the documents.---As for the limitation of the number of members to 15 at the most, this results from the inconvenience presented by a numerous assembly as we experienced with the Council in London. We need twelve corresponding secretaries, one treasurer, and two members to replace those who are absent. So many reproaches have been made to the General Council that most of its members would not agree to re-election, and if London remained the seat, the Council would have to be composed of men who are unknown and do not offer the same guarantees as the citizens proposed for the General Council in New York.
He adds that it is an advantage that New York is far away from Europe, that the federations will develop freely and the inconvenience resulting from the time required for correspondence can be remedied by the Council through the appointment of delegations in Europe.
Vaillant says that this proposal is unacceptable. From the point of view of freedom, yes, but the International is divided there, bourgeois intrigues have been manifest among it. There will be rivalry between the federal councils and the General Council.---He does not understand why the Council is being transferred so far away from the main body of the army, which is in Europe.---The latter will be obliged to find another head for itself and we shall see a federal council take its place in Europe.---It has been said that the best fields of action for the International are the countries where it is persecuted, so the Council must be close to them, it must be in London. It is regrettable that members of the Council who have rendered services are resigning, but nevertheless the seat of the General Council must be maintained in London.
Sauva asks that the three American delegates be given a hearing.---His mandate proposes: 1. Modification of the Council's powers. 2. A change of the composition because of 79 the reproaches made to it. However, he would prefer to see it in New York rather than in London. He rejects the right of co-option, of which there has been abuse.
The motion names men who have done harm to the Association and who would co-opt dangerous men.---Therefore, if the Council is transferred to New York its members must not be appointed.---Section No. 2 and Section No. 12 are more impartial than the Federal Council which it is desired to transform into a General Council and which has been authoritarian and would be so, as that of London has been.--- Sauva proposes also names.
An end to the discussion is demanded.
Johannard objects that the meeting is not clear on the question.
25 for ending, 19 against.
The discussion is declared ended.
Serraillier moves that a vote should be taken: 1. on the change of seat; 2. on the choice of place; 3. on the election of members.
Wilmart moves an immediate vote on the place of the seat.
This amendment is rejected.
Vote on the change of the Council's seat.
For
Becker
Brismee
Barry
Cuno
Coenen
Dupont
Dave
Engels
Johannard
Marx
Kugelmann
Lessner
Lafargue
Longuet
Le Moussu
Roach
Abstentions
Cyrille
Eberhardt
Fluse
Guillaume
Schwitzguebel
Farga Pellicer
Morago
Marselau
Alerini
Against
Arnaud
Becker, Bern.
Cournet
Duval
Dereure
Farkas
Friedlander
Frankel
Gerhard
Herman
Hepner
Heim
Lucain
Milke
Pihl
Ranvier
It is observed that the Spaniards have a mandate to transfer the Council and that they abstain in the vote on this question.
Marselau says that it is wrong to laugh when they abstain, that this is not fraternal, the more so since they have a reason---their mandate.
The Chairman says that their mandate means that the Congress must submit to them and that it is the mandate and not them that the laughter is directed at.
Alerini says that they accepted their mandate with full knowledge of the facts and that if the Congress had wished to be revolutionary and to release them from it they could vote.
Eberhardt tables a motion demanding transfer to Madrid since Spain is a country of freedom and the International has several press organs there and a large number of adher ents.^^*^^
The Spaniards, with the exception of Lafargue, propose Brussels: the Belgian Federal Council would surrender its powers to the General Council.
1st motion New York 2nd motion Madrid 3rd motion Brussels
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 17.---Ed.
81Brism\'ee says that the General Council would not be in safety in Belgium and that besides the Belgian Federal Council is anti-authoritarian and would refuse to apply the principle of authority recognised by the Congress.
Johannard says that in face of the persecution by the European governments it could be believed that the Council's transfer to New York resembles a flight.
26 for 23 against 9 abstentions
London^^*^^
New York^^**^^
Abstained^^***^^
Arnaud Becker Lucain Cyrille Cournet Brismee Laf argue Sauva Duval Bernard^^****^^ Longuet Eberhardt Dereure Cuno Le Moussu Guillaume Frankel Coenen Pihl Gerhard Hepner Dupont Roach Johan-- nard^^*****^^ Heim Dave Swarm Milke Engels Serraillier Sorge Banvier Fluse Sexton Schwitz- Schumacher Farkas Splingard guebel Walter Friendlander Wroblewski Van der Hout Vaillant Herman Van den Farga Pel- Wilmart Marx Abeele licer Ludwig 14 Kugelmann Vichard Morago Lassner Dumont Alerini MacDonnell 30 Marselau 13NEW YORK
It is proposed to nominate members by national federations to examine the financial report of the Council.^^*)^^
Roll-call: absent.
_-_-_^^*^^ Hero "New York" is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here ``Madrid'' is struck out---Ed.
^^***^^ Here ``Brussels'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ Bernhard Becker.---Ed.
^^*****^^ Here ``Rittinghausen'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^*)^^ Here the following is struck out: "Ranvier proposes refutation of the calumnies against the General Council."---I'd.
82ELEVENTH SITTING
September 6, 1872, Friday evening
PUBLIC SITTING
Friday, September 6, 1990 hrs.
Roll-call: absent: Friedlander, Wroblewski.
Vaillant, Cournet and Arnaud move that the discussion on the General Council be closed, being useless after the resolutions voted this morning.
Hepner asks whether, if the discussion is to be closed, the speakers who put their names down yesterday will have the right to reply.
The Chairman says that it is sufficient to read the motions voted this morning to show that discussion is useless.
Helm believes that the occasion to answer what was said yesterday will come in connection with the discussion on the article about political action of the working class.
Van der Hout expresses indignation at the editor of the newspaper Dagblad, who describes us as blood-thirsty Communards. Van der Hout relates this editor's biography, not even taking the trouble to translate, for we have better things to do than to bother with such filth.
The Chairman says that we came here with the intention of submitting to the laws of the country. In our time the spirit of justice is breaking forth in all the peoples and the Dutch people has done us justice despite an infamous journalist.---The Congress thanks the Dutch for this manifestation of sympathy.
Regarding the incident at yesterday's public sitting.--- The Chairman, not understanding German, was unable....
Cuno says that yesterday he attacked the German Consul and the Dutch papers reported the incident.---This morning the Consul turned up at the closed sitting and I admitted that I had confused things. As a result of explanations he wrote me the following letter: "The shameful persecutions which Monsieur Cuno has been subjected to by the Consul in question justify his anger against that individual. For my part, I ceased serving Prussian policy in 1866 and handed 83 in my resignation'', etc. Cuno expressed regret to this gentleman for having confused him with his enemy.
Guillaume says it had been agreed that we would discuss the manner of voting immediately after the functions of the Council.---The Spanish delegates must be given freedom of action.
Johannard says that the manner of voting must be settled at a public sitting as it has been agreed. He calls for order.
The article on political action of the working class (an article of the resolutions of the Conference) is read out; it is moved that it be included in the Rules.(See Art. IX of the Resolutions of the = Conference.)^^28^^
Vaillant says there is no need to prove the necessity for political action after the massacres of Versailles.^^*^^
Hepner says that abstention has had regrettable success in Germany---they have had enough of it---the party being Lassalleans with a mingling of policemen. In 1870 the abstentionist workers were chauvinists and attacked the true Internationals---abstentionism is a cause of the workers' political ignorance.---He has never been able to understand the special teaching of the abstentionists. The General Council's publications have been approved by the German workers, the Manifesto on civil war had a sale of 15 thousand copies in Germany.
He does not like useless authority or the cult of personalities, but this is necessary at the present time to unite the revolutionary forces.---He asks the members of the Commune who are present whether it was authority or the contrary which led to their ruin.
Guillaume says that in his opinion and that of several others there are misunderstandings among us on this subject. ---In 1869, however, the abstentionists developed their ideas. Some papers stated that the International was indifferent to the policy of the governments but did not want to become involved in the underhand work of the governments. We are preparing to crush the governments. We were wrong not to state that we pursued the policy of negation, the one which aims at destroying bourgeois politics.
_-_-_^^*^^ Two lines are struck out here. The end of this page (30) and the following one (31) are left blank.---Ed.
6*
84Hepner is wrong to call us political abstainers. Hepuer said that the General Council did not impose its policy; its policy conforms to the ideas current in Germany, but not to those of other countries.
It is wrong to say as Vaillant did that one must obey a political programme in order to belong to the International. ---Hepner says that the Commune was not revolutionary enough.---I put this question also to the members of the Commune. Hepner insinuates that abstentionists are informers. The Proudhonists are also abstentionists---ask Longuet. It is better to pursue politics in a certain sense like the socalled abstentionists than to do it like some who discredit themselves by coming to terms with the bourgeois.---We have contested the General Council's power to establish an Inquisition over the International---not the power to call strikes.
As for Resolution IX of the Conference, conclusions may be drawn in the sense of positive politics and the negative.--- But the considerations prove that it is positive politics: to capture political power. The party which put this resolution to the vote is the same which published a communist manifesto in 1848.^^*^^ Compare the ten points of this pro- gramme.^^29^^
1.....
2.^^**^^
We find in this programme the sense of the political victory of the working class---that is to say, working-class power substituted for bourgeois power.
When the classes are suppressed there is no longer any State, but with centralisation, an authority, industrial armies with a general staff, there will be authorities.
That is what Resolution IX leads up to.
We are federalists and not centralisationists, we want to make the State disappear, that is why we are opposed to Resolution IX.
Longuete Guillaume says there is a misunderstanding--- the misunderstanding is in his mind. Guillaume^^***^^ adds that I have sometimes been a supporter of Proudhonist _-_-_
^^*^^ The original mistakenly gives 1849.---Ed.
^^**^^ Fifteen lines are here left blank for insertions.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here two lines are struck out.---Ed.
85 abstention, but he has neither read nor understood Proudhon and the other socialists with whom he crosses swords every day. Here is how we have sometimes been abstentionists.The Empire had restored the June butchers to popularity, the danger lay in those men whom the proletariat, ignorant of politics, was supporting. Proudhon naively believed that it was necessary to abstain from the election struggle, that the only possible policy was to constitute a political party and to fight with guns. We had no working-class candidates, Guillaume would say.
If we had had a working-class political organisation on September 4, the International constituted at Corderie on September 5 would have been the core of the = Commune.^^30^^ With organisation the Commune, the invasion beaten off, would have been established in Paris and Berlin. The Commune fell through lack of the organisation of which I have spoken. If we had had Article IX in our programme, we would have been armed for the struggle.
Guillaume does not look for the interpretation of this resolution in the terrible lesson we have just received, he goes back to a manifesto of 1848^^*^^ in which abolition of inheritance is demanded. But he, Guillaume, voted for that abolition at the Basle = Congress.^^31^^ The speaker does not understand Guillaume's collectivism. To hear his criticism of the communist programme you would think he is a bourgeois economist in disguise. Guillaume and his teacher Bakunin speak of suppressing the State in terms which show them up as enemies of the International.---We want the organisation of the economic forces and the political party without which political centralisation would crush it.
The working class must also get rid of some leaders who have neither head nor compass and whose good intentions would be fatal to the cause of the workers they claim to serve.
Johannard objects to adjournment in terms which draw reproaches from the Chairman.^^**^^
The sitting is adjourned.
_-_-_^^*^^ The original mistakenly gives 1849.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here several words are struck out.---Ed,
86TWELFTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Saturday morniny
CLOSED SITTING
Saturday, September 7, 0930 hrs.
Rarwier apologises for having to leave.
The Vice-Chairman asks the assembly to replace the Chairman.
Sorge is elected chairman.
Roll-call.
Absent: Cuno,^^*^^ Frankel, Hepner, Lessner,^^**^^ Wroblewski, Van den Abeele, absence unmotivated.
Vaillant, Cournet and Ranvier apologise for leaving.--- They ask for their vote to be recorded in favour of political action and increased subscriptions.^^***^^
Bernhard Becker, having to leave, gives the names of the members who, according to him, should make up the new Council---he asks that his vote should be recorded for them.^^****^^
Barry has left and has also recorded his vote for a list of members of the future General Council.
Sexton states that he is leaving.^^*****^^
Lessner regrets that he is obliged to leave and hopes that the final result will pave the way for the triumph of our = cause.^^*)^^ __NOTE__ Missing ")" in "*)"
Gustav Ludwig from Mayence votes in favour of a list of names for the new Council.^^**)^^
Dumont asks to be allowed to give his opinion on the political question and, as a delegate from Paris, thinks it is his right and duty to voice the opinion of Paris, which, _-_-_
^^*^^ The name of Fluse is struck out here.---Ed.
^^**^^ The names of Lafargue, Longuet and Swarm are struck out here.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 20.---Ed.
^^****^^ See Document No. 21.---Ed.
^^*****^^ See Document No. 22.---Ed.
^^*)^^ See Document No. 23.---Ed.
^^**)^^ See Document No. 24.---Ed.
87 according to what was said yesterday at the Congress, is not shared by all the delegates.Morago yesterday tabled an amendment which the Chairman was to allow him to motivate after the opening of the sitting.
The Chairman says that he will be allowed to speak in due time but for the present they must proceed with the order of the day, with the composition of the new General Council.
Dumont, a Paris delegate, is given the floor (25 votes to 5). He reads out a statement in the name of the Paris sections (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 appended to the minutes).^^*^^
The Paris International, more than anybody, pays tribute to Blanqui's devotedness; its reproaches are directed at the Blanquist ringleaders.
Arnaud announces his departure and records his vote in favour of political action and increased subscriptions.^^**^^
Pihl from Denmark has not had the occasion to speak on the political question.---Denmark has a large number of members.---In their name he supports political action and the granting of powers to the General Council.^^***^^
Lucain, in the name of the refugees in Belgium, supports Dumont's programme.^^****^^
Engels moves:
1. To fix first of all the number of members of the General Council.^^*****^^
2. To nominate those to be proposed to the Congress.
3. ^^*)^^
Alerini wants each federation to nominate its delegates.
Marx moves that first of all the American Federal Council^^**)^^ should be elected and entrusted with bringing the Council up to strength. Its members were elected by its _-_-_
^^*^^ In the margin there is an insertion sign; for the text see pp. 233--36 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ See Document No. 25.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 26.---Ed.
^^****^^ See Document No. 28.---Ed.
^^*****^^ End of page 36. The following pages are not numbered. In places the record resembles a rough draft with numerous errors, corrections and deletions.---Ed.
^^*)^^ A line is omitted.---Ed.
^^**)^^ The original has "the American Federation".---Ed.
88 federation and that gives us a guarantee which we otherwise would not have.Engels withdraws his motion in favour of Marx's.
Alerini moves that the General Council be nominated (2 members from each federation with right of recall). He is surprised that the General Council and the corresponding secretary know nothing about the sentiment of the Spanish Internationals; to remedy this shortcoming and the numerous inexactitudes in the General Council's circulars, they prefer to nominate their own delegates themselves, they will know them better. The Council has included among its members people who are alien to the International and have engaged it on a new road which the Spaniards do not want to take.
Serraillier says that we are bound to elect the Council^^*^^ now (Art. 3 of the Rules). Therefore there can be no question of having the General Council nominated by the federal councils. If this latter method is adopted, Spain, Switzerland and other small countries in which the International is free, would have more representatives than big countries like France and Germany, which would be unfair, besides being a violation of the Rules.
Engels has been accused by Alerini of not knowing some things about Spain; this is true, but he has had correspondence with two federal councils with which Alerini had no connections. He agreed with the first of them. He wrote only formal letters to the second, and as regards its private circular, it shows that he knew more about things in Spain than these gentlemen would have liked.
Alerini's motion is put to the vote by roll-call.
Against Becker^^*^^ The original has "the Congress".---Ed.
^^**^^ The original has ``Mil''.---Ed.
89 Engels Farkas Frankel Hepner Heim Johannard Marx Kugelmann Lucain Lafargue Sauva 4 Spaniards Serraillier abst. Van der Hout Van den Abeele 9 votes Vi chard 8 Dumont MacDonnell Wilmart Ludwig 29Motion rejected by 29 votes to 9 with 8 abstentions.
Marx recalls the meaning of his motion.
Sauva objects that the American Congress which elected the proposed federal council represented only 23 sections out of 42.---Some split off in favour of Spring Street, others, the wiser, abstained.
In America there are three elements: German, American and French. The last remained neutral and are not represented on' the present federal council, which would be more authoritarian than the London one. As regards the names that I can give you, you will have to rely on me. My mandate demands that the Congress should appoint all the members without leaving the Council the right to co-opt.
Sorge does not wisli to reply to the insinuations. Sauva spoke about a German majority in the federal council; he reads out the names: the first is Irish, the second is Irish, the third is Swedish, the fourth Italian, the fifth French, the sixth French; out of 9 names the seventh was one of our opponents. Total: 2 Germans out of 9---so I was right in saying that the statement was false.
[Marx:] Sauva spoke of three parties; Marx says that there are: the workers' party, the bourgeois party, and the prudent party, represented by Sauva, which abstains during the great struggles and mixes with the intriguers and spoils everything.
Sauva has changed his opinion since London. As regards authority, at London he was for the authority of the General Council and against that of the federal councils---here he has defended the opposite.
90The alliance between Dereure and him astonishes me, for the former had said that if Sauva was admitted for Section No. 2, he would withdraw from the Council. If I trust the judgment of Dereure, that of a man like Sauva who changes his opinion continually does not inspire me with any confidence. The sections represented by Sauva are sections led by Republicans of 1848 and by people who are such that Sauva can be said not to represent anybody at the Congress.
The right of co-option is based on the Rules, which have been cited by delegates here. Do you want to support the workers, the bourgeois, or prudent men who are neither for one side nor for the other, like Sauva?
Marx's motion is to elect first of all the Federal Council of New York, which includes 9 members; the American Federation will elect the other six members.
Vote by roll-call.
For Backer Becker Cuno Engels Farkas Hepner Heim Marx Kugelmann Lafargue Longuet Le Moussu Pihl Swarm Sorge Serraillier MacDonnell Ludwig Against Dereure Eccarius Mottershead Sauva Abst. Coenen Dupont Dave Duval Eberhardt Fluse Frankel Guillaume Gerhard Herman Johannard Lucain Splingard Walter Van der Hout Vi chard Dumont 4 Spaniards Wilmart 1919^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Sic in the original,---Ed.
91Frankel voted against changing the Council and against its establishment in New York.
Dupont abstained because the name he proposed to add was not accepted.
Dave says that the abstentions will weaken the vote but do not count.
Guillaume says that for a vote to be valid it must get half the votes plus one. By the way there was a precedent in relation to the vote on inheritance at the Basle Congress.
Marx says that the abstentionists waited for the departure of a certain number of delegates to demand that the abstentions should count.
Dupont and Wilmart say that their abstention is not formal and that they accepted the election of the federal council.
Eccarius says that on the question of inheritance at Basle there were 68 voters: 32 for, 23 against and 13 abstentions--- the move was rejected.
The Chairman puts to the vote the question of taking the abstentions into account.
13 vote in favour of the abstentions counting.
15 vote against.
Marx says that the vote is valid; but to avoid the new General Council being contested he moves that another vote should be taken.
The motion is adopted.
Marx proposes that the motion should be divided and the vote taken first on the acceptance of the Federal Council in the formation of the new Council.---He will maintain the second part as it stands.
Dereure says that yesterday he was not allowed to speak. He asks to be heard today on the composition.
Sorge remarks that he also would have a lot to say on the subject.
Dereure accepts the election of the Federal Council with the exception of Cetti; David has resigned, there remain only 7 members, who would appoint 8. He proposes 12 members who would choose 3. His proposal satisfies the two extreme parties.
Citizen Marx notes that they have waited for the departure of the German delegates to carry through this intrigue.
Sorge says that the working-class elements ought to 92 have been consulted, that 4 Frenchmen ought not to have been nominated, and only 3 Germans.
Then Sauva has been proposed, who supported theories contrary to the true working-class movement in America, who spoke for but voted against. I oppose the nomination to the General Council of a man who acts in that way. Let Dereure replace Sauva's name by the name of a German, and then there can be agreement.---He'adds that the Federal Council has not claimed the honour that is bestowed on it and that he, personally, only learned about it at the moment when the motion was tabled.
Lafargue proposes 12 members with the right to co-opt a further three; he asks for five minutes' adjournment to draw up the list.
Voting:
46 voters, 5 abstentions
41 ballot papers, 5 blank
Kavanagh - 29 1)^^*^^ Saint-Glair---29 2) Fornaccieri---25 10) Sauva---8 Pillon---12 Simon---1 Feltman---2 Pandastre---2 Sorge---5 Cetti ---7 Marx---1 Sexton---1 Walter^^**^^ - 1 Esterhau---1 Belman** Laurel -29 5) Leviele -28 6) Dereure -26 8) David -26 9) Bertrand -29 3) Bolte -29 4) Carl -28 7) Ward -22 12) Speyer -23 11) 12 electedHerman says that the Belgians have voted for 3 names, having the mission to nominate only 3 representatives for Belgium.
After a remark bylVichard CitizenjDave is appointed translator from Flemish instead of Van den Abeele, who translates badly.
_-_-_^^*^^ The numbering from 1 to 12 is in Marx's hand.---Ed.
^^**^^ In the original this name is struck out.---Ed,
93Nominations are made for a commission to ^audit the accounts of the Council, composed of one member from each federation.
Nominated: 1)" Alerini 9) Farkas
10) Lafargue 4) Cuno
5^ Dumont 2) Brismee
6) Duval 8) Dave
12) Schwitzguebel 11) Pihl 3) B. Becker 7) Dereure
Serraillier proposes to annul the powers granted by the General Council or by the federations to members of the International in countries where the International is banned. The new Council alone will have the right to give these powers.^^*^^
Voted unanimously.
The order of the day calls for discussion on the inclusion of the article relating to working-class political action.
Brismee protests.---Dave has his name down and wishes to express his opinion publicly on this question. Three speakers have spoken in favour, only one against. The discussion is stopped.
The sitting is adjourned because of noise, the vote was to take place yesterday evening, the delegates not able to wait having also the right to vote.
For Arnaud Becker, B. Becker Cournet Dupont Duval Dereure Eccarius Engels Farkas inclusion Kugelmann Lafargue Longuet Le Moussu Mottershead Pihl Ranvier Swarm Sorge Serraillier Abstentions Against Cyrille 1)^^**^^ 1) Brismee Dave 2) 2) Coenen Eberhardt 3) 3) Gerhard Fluse 4) 4) Schwitzguebel Guillaume 5) 5) Van der Hout Herman 6) 5 votes Sauva Marselau 8 abst. _-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 30.---Ed.
^^**^^ The number in is in Marx's hand.--- Ed.
94 Friedlander Vaillant] Frankel MacDonnell Hepner Wilmart Heim Dumont Johannard 29 Cyrille and Dumont motivate, the first....^^*^^ AdoptedSerraillier draws attention to the fact that several members are busy in commissions. Considering the importance of the question they will have to vote. The votes of the commission members and of those leaving must be added.
Federation of Portugal and of Madrid---(No. 1).^^**^^
Adopted by 22 votes without opposition.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Brismee is in favour of diminishing the subscriptions because the workers have to pay to their section, to the federal council and it is very burdensome for them to give ten centimes a year to the General Council. He moves that the subscription should be 5 centimes, so that, counting 1,000,000 adherents, the General Council will have 50,000 francs, and that is enough.
Frankel reads out his mandate proposing 50 cent, a year for sending emissaries to the towns and the countryside and for the publication of cheap pamphlets.---Frankel himself is a wage-worker and precisely he thinks that in the interest of the International the subscriptions absolutely must be increased.---There are federations which only pay at the last minute and as little as possible.---The Council hasn't a sou in the treasury.---It is not very sincere to say that 5 centimes per member with 1,000,000 members gives 50,000.
Frankel is of the opinion that with the means of propaganda which an increase of subscriptions will allow the divisions in the International would cease, and they would not exist today if the General Council had been able to send _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "by haste" are struck out. See Documents Nos. 31 and 32.---Ed.
^^**^^ See Document No. 35.---Ed.
95 its emissaries to the different countries where these dissensions occurred.Dupont says that it is one of the most important questions, that the condition for affiliation is largely based on the moderateness of the subscription, it is the big workers' associations which make our strength. If you increase the subscriptions you will be repulsing them.---As for the pamphlets, the General Council has only to have the decisions of the Congress carried out. The federal councils put out their pamphlets = themselves.^^32^^
If the General Council asks for 6 centimes, what will the federal council ask for?
Frankel says he has been misunderstood, he meant that the federal councils would put out pamphlets but that the General Council could publish what it thought most useful in the different languages.
Vote by roll-call on an increase of subscriptions
Against Becker Brismee Coenen Cyrille Dupont Duval Eberhardt Eccarius Fluse Farkas Gerhard Herman Hepner Swarm Sorge Serraillier Wilmart 17 against [Abstentions] Dave Dereure Guillaume Schwitzguebel 4 Spaniards For 2) Engels Friedlander Frankel Heim Johannard Lucain Lafargue Longuet Le Moussu Pihl Sauva 1) Dumont MacDonnell^^*^^ Arnaud 13^^**^^ for _-_-_^^*^^ Here the names "Vaillant, Longuet, Ranvier" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Sic in the original,---Ed.
96The Giessen (Germany) Section of the International expresses its sympathy and wishes by telegram.^^*^^
Vichard draws attention to the fact that he voted against, being on the commission.^^**^^
For the maintenance of the subscription at 10 centimes, 18 votes to 8.
Lafargue says that the first thing to do is to give money to the Council (Basle Congress resolution on this = subject^^33^^ recommended to the General Council).^^***^^
The sitting is adjourned.
It is decidedto accede to the invitation^by Amsterdam.^^****^^
THIRTEENTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening
CLOSED SITTING at 1730 hrs., Saturday
Engels says it has been impossible to assemble all the members of the auditing commission at once.---The members have audited the accounts in pairs, 8 delegates have already signed them, only two remain.
Engels says that West is no longer a member of the Association, and that he will not read the report in his presence.
Here are the accounts of the General Council^^*****^^:
1871--70 England 5 12 3 Subscrip-- Federation~^^*)^^ 2 11 tions Belgium 4 8 Spain 12 « Total 19 15 8 _-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the telegram on p. 280 of this volume.---/?rf.
^^**^^ This sentence is added in Engels' hand.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the sentence "Longuet proposes admission cards for journalists is struck out.---.Ed.
^^****^^ See p. 276 of this volume.---Ed.
^^*****^^ The record is incorrect. The report isgiven on PD 220--23 of this volume.---Ed.
^^*)^^ The Romance Federation.---Ed.
97 £ 8. d. 1871--72 North America 4 10 2 Holland 16 8 Italy 1 4 4 Austria and Hungary 3 14 1 Switzerland (German section) 11 Jura Federation 17 8 Germany 2 18 4 France 7 18 1 Total, less 7s. lost in exchange, etc., etc. 22 3 4 Pamphlets Individual subscriptions £100 14s. 6d. Grand total Expenditures: Salary of secretary, £160 19s. 5 weeks at 10s. £2 10s. for 43 weeks £32 5s. Conference^^*^^ £ 34 15 s. £14 12s. Premises in Holland £3 Total £17 12s. Advances to London Refugee Fund Printing expenses Postage of letters and journals £47 7s. 2d. £29 12s. 2d. Total expenditure Remainder in treasury £166 13s. 4d. £4 6s. 9 1/2d Debt to printer of Civil War Rules (English edition) £7 10s. £12 £ s. d. Printing of Rules (German) remains due £3 18s. Debt to a member of General Council for printing of Civil War in French £9 10s. 4d. _-_-_^^*^^ The London Conference of 1871.---Ed.
__PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7---0960 98 Total: Received from the Spaniards Received from Lisbon Madrid Federation From a Prussian delegate Austria 353 frs. 40 cent. 28 frs. 2 frs. 70 cent. 5 talersThe report is adopted unanimously.
Marx observes that whereas the members of the Council have been advancing their own money to pay the expenses of the International, calumniators have accused those members of living on the Council.
Lafargue^^*^^ says that the Jura Federation has been one of the mouthpieces of those calumnies.
Dereure and Lafargue demand that the editors of that slanderous paper should be expelled from the Association.
Johannard says that the people of the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne, who have insulted us, are despicable.
Alerini says that Guillaume is accused of baseness when he is absent, and this being the case he demands also the expulsion of those who signed the last circular letter of the Council on the splits.^^**^^---Since this is the position he regrets he approved the accounts of the Council.
The Chairman.
Longuet says that a man who, after approving the accounts, expresses regret for having done so is capable of any kind of calumny and that anything can be expected from him. The same calumnies have been seized on by the newspaper of the police spies Landeck and Vesinier^^***^^ after being started by the Jura Federation.
Alerini says Landeck is an honourable man. Longuet and Le Moussu reply that this honourable man has been expelled as a police spy by the refugees of the Commune in London.
Guillaume says let them read out the article in the Federation jurassienne and that he will not answer before that.
_-_-_^^*^^ In the original Lafargue's name is written over that of Dereure, which is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Fictitious Splits in the International.---Ed.
^^***^^ La Federation.---Ed.
99Lafargue says that a letter signed ``Claris'' alleges that in the General Council there are rascals who live on the workers' money.
Longuet is happy to recall that article, for it said that one could not understand how honourable people like Ranvier, Cournet and Longuet remained side by side = with thieves^^34^^; as an honourable man recognised as such by the federation, he is glad to tell Guillaume today what he thinks of him.
Guillaume replies that having received the General Council's private circular letter by accident, because, indignant at the attacks made on them, they were hiding it, the Jura Federalists decided to reply in their own name and on their own responsibility; those who thought it fit to publish calumnies in our paper....
Duval interrupts: You belong to the same lot as Gaspard Blanc. Duval says that Guillaume at Neuchatel, Perron at Geneva, and Albert Richard and Robin at Lyons were the four calumniators in the Romance Federation---their bulletin said that the Romance members were thieves. Lyons was suppressed by the fault of Blanc and Richard, who were then in contact with men like Zhukovsky and Guillaume and all the Bakunin = band.^^36^^ Blanc and Zhukovsky printed the names of the members of the action committee at night without warning it---the bills were to be pasted up. Blanc allowed himself to be arrested and handed over the bills.
To calumniate members of the International in a way which made the bourgeois papers, whose vile inspirers they are, blush with shame, that is what they call appealing to the workers to unite.---He does not withdraw what he said to Guillaume: You belong to the same lot as Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc.
Guillaume says he is accused of belonging to the band of Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc. I demand an explanation from Duval, for the federation has branded men like Richard and Blanc.
Duval confines himself to saying---You have been their friends and you continue their work.
Guillaume says in connection with the letter signed ``Claris''^^*^^: We leave the responsibility to him, and our _-_-_
^^*^^ The original has ``Barry'' by mistake.---Ed.
__PRINTERS_P_99_COMMENT__ 7* 100 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/199.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ columns are open to the General Council for a reply. As for the accusation of theft levelled against the Romance Council, it is only said that there were cases of fiddling in the Council, but the Council was not accused.The place of assembly of the next congress:
5 vote for London, 15 for Switzerland, 1 for Chicago, 1 for Spain.
Commission to edit the minutes: Marx, Engels, Dupont, Serraillier, Frankel and Le Moussu.
By 13 votes to 7 it is decided that the public sitting will not take place this evening.
FOURTEENTH = SITTING^^36^^
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening PUBLIC SITTING
The Chairman announces confirmation of the location of the new Council and gives the names of its members.
Longuet says that one newspaper distorted certain passages in the report of the GeneralCouncil.lt alleged that Bismarck had been called the chief of the Prussian imperial police and Jules Favre a scoundrel.---We only say that he is a worthy representative of property and the family.
Dave and Van der ffout take the floor.
The public sitting ends at 2130 hrs.
FIFTEENTH = SITTING^^3^^'
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening
CLOSED SITTING
of September 7, 2200 hrs.
Alerini says he wants the method of voting changed. The Chairman replies that the useless speeches of his friends have taken up time.
101It is decided by vote that the report of the commission to inquire into the Alliance....^^*^^
The reporter reads out a letter from one of the members, Walter, who has withdrawn, thinking he will not have the time required.---At the moment of his withdrawal he could not make up his mind; however, Guillaume's refusal to reply to certain questions aroused in him certain presumptions.*
Walter says he is a supporter of the General Council, but that he withdrew, thinking he would not have the time, etc.
Reading of the report: the existence of the Alliance is proved.
Conclusion: expulsion from the International of Bakuiiin, Guillaume, Malon, Louis Marchand and Bousquet.--- The four Spanish delegates, having promised not to maintain any more contacts with the Alliance, are exonerated, as is also Zhukovsky.
Splingard, a member of the commission, objects to this decision.^^**^^
Cuno, chairman of the commission, says: All those who have been heard against the initiators of the Alliance acknowledge that it is a dangerous society whose weapons are bad faith and calumny.---We conclude that its organisers should be expelled.
Alerini says that people are being condemned in their absence and that no one dares to advance considerations in support of the condemnation. You have only moral proofs. He belonged to the Alliance. It was the Alliance which made the Spanish International. It has ceased to exist because traitors have foully denounced it. You have no right to prevent me from being a member of secret societies. If you do so, I will say that it is a coterie, a church, a holy inquisition. I shall remain in the service of the Social Revolution while being a member of secret societies if I think proper.
Johannard asks if the commission has done its duty properly: Walter withdraws, hesitates. Splingard does not think he is clear enough about things. Johannard has made _-_-_
^^*^^ The sentence breaks off ---Ed.
^^**^^ Here a few words are struck out.---Ed.
102 up his mind about several among them, but he cannot let Malon, who was his intimate friend, be expelled, and the reproaches he could address to him would not deserve the penalty that they wish to inflict on him. As for the others, Bakunin, Guillaume and others, they have always seemed to him to be our enemies, with calumny as their weapon; he has told them the truth, he is not defending them, he is abandoning them. However, if the commission has against Malon proofs as conclusive as those which exist against the others, he will vote for his expulsion.Splingard demands that the accuser who moves expulsion should give some information.---If the Alliance is prosecuted as a secret society, how have the documents been obtained? by traitors?---They cannot be accepted.---Marx has only adduced statements.---It must be proved that the Alliance exists, and secondly that the citizens whom it is desired to punish are members of it.---The Alliance existed before the International.---It must be proved that it exists at present: it no longer exists. It is a phantom that you don't know and cannot know except through traitors. I deplore to see you strike a man who, like Bakunin, has consecrated himself to the Bevolution.
Marx sees that Splingard speaks as the counsel for the accused and not as an examining magistrate. He appeals to the commission to prove that he has adduced documents and that it is false to say that he has only adduced statements. I have proved the existence of the Alliance, etc., etc.
As for the secret papers, we didn't ask for them, they exist---the documents which I communicated were not secret.---I^^*^^ alluded to the trial of Nechayev, I had a right to do so.
Lucain: Alerini finds it strange that he has not been called: he has been exonerated. Does Splingard think that we have not weighed up everything; we are prepared to accept all responsibility for the decision which is proposed to you. Splingard acknowledges that Mr. Bakunin has tried to found a secret society.---Is it not therefore enough to found a society whose purpose is to disorganise the Association, and do not the authors of such projects---even should they not _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the word ``moreover'' is struck out.---Ed.
103 succeed in ensuring their triumph---deserve to be expelled from the International?Serralllier: Alerini said: If the Alliance had not been denounced by traitors I would still be a member of it. Therefore it exists.
Morago says Cuno stated he had admitted that the Alliance was dangerous.---Morago had said: There are dangerous men.^^*^^ He is proud to have been a member of the Alliance.--- Before the commission he condemned an Alliance of another character if it existed.^^**^^
Guillaume says Splingard expounded his point of view, his argumentation is irrefutable. It is tendentious process you are instituting against us.---We discussed in a public sitting the two questions dividing us. I was courteously allowed to speak, my friends have not been heard--- yesterday I was made to speak without hearing them.---The intention was therefore to have the opinions of the minority expounded by a citizen who was to be expelled on Saturday.---It was intended to condemn our federalist doctrines in the person of their mouthpiece.---A certain number of honourable persons were mentioned in the report, and alongside them a police commissariat secretary whom the speaker does not know.---He would not like to offend the commission, but their condemnation resembles that of the Paris Commune led to the scaffold side by side with thieves.
Schwitzguebel saw himself condemned in advance. Johannard and Guno wanted to cast a slur on our morality. My conduct is unimpeachable and if you expel me I shall nevertheless remain faithful to the International. I am returning with a clear conscience. If you condemn us you will be condemned in your turn by the workers, although you say that we do not represent them.
Vichard turns against Splingard the accusations levelled against the commission by Guillaume.---Walter said he was withdrawing from the commission because he was on the point of leaving.---It is not with a glad heart that condemnation was proposed. There are several shades in the Alliance. Alerini'. Prove it.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the sentence "They intended to found the Alliance in Lisbon" is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the word ``But'' is struck out.---Ed,
104[Vichard'.} The report suffered from lack of time, the discussion leaves us no doubt.---Guillaume threatens to produce a document---let him produce it.
Dave is going to produce it, but he first declares that the minority has not been given a fair investigation.---The minority had gatherings. Here is the result of our deliberations in private gatherings.
We, supporters of autonomy and....^^*^^
Serraillier^^**^^ says that these people claim to represent^^***^^ France and that they represent nothing at all.
Splingard says that he drew up the report of the majority although he protested.---An accusation of swindling is contained in it against Bakunin. Here is Zhukovsky's explanation: Bakunin received the £1,200. They say that he sent no more than two or three pages of the work.^^****^^ Bakunin owes money, that is = all.^^38^^
Marx did not want to give information about this letter in connection with the report. But if people misuse the name of a secret society in order to arrange their own affairs by means of threats, they deserve no consideration.
It is decided to end the debate.
Marselau says that an investigation has been opened in Spain to find out whether our conduct was correct.---If I was mistaken I am not guilty.
EXPULSION OF BAKUNIN^^*****^^
For Abstained Against Becker 3) Cuno 4) Dereure Dupont Longuet Lucain 1) MacDonnell Marx Alerini Guillaume Morago Marselau 1) Brismee 5) Coenen 2) Dave*) 3) Fluse _-_-_^^*^^ In the original there is a blank here. See the statement of the minority in Document No. 40.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the words "move for order" are struck out.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the words "the workers" are struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ Here the following words are struck out: "He was warned to lose no time."---Ed.
^^*****^^ The numbering in the lists is in Marx's hand.---Ed. *' Here the name of Dereure is struck out.---Ed.
105 Duval Pihl Engels Serraillier Farkas Sorge Frankel Swarm Heim Vichard Hepner Walter Johannard Wr6blewski Kugelmann Wilmart I) Lafargue Dumont Sauva 4) Herman Splingard 6) Van den Schwitzguebel Abeele 7 abst. 7^^*^^ against 27 for, 7 against and 7 abst. Bakunin is expelled 2) Le Moussu 27 for GUILLAUME For [Abstained] Against Becker Lucain Alerini 1) Brismee Guno Lafargue Dereure 6) Coenen Dumont Longuet Farga Pellicer 2) Cyrille Dupont Le Moussu Friedlander 3) Dave Duval Pihl Guillaume 4) Fluse Engels Swarm Morago 5) Herman Farkas Sorge Marselau Sauva Frankel Serraillier MacDonnell Splingard Hepner Walter Van den Abeele Heim Wr6blewski 8 q Johannard Vichard t7 Marx Wilmot TCiinrnlTnflnn 25 Guillaume declares that he is still a member of the International. Lafargue demanded expulsion but his statement was that of an honest fellow. _-_-_^^*^^ Sic in the original.---Ed.
106SCHWITZGUEBEL
For
Becker
Cuno
Dumont
Engels
Farkas
Hepner
Marx
Kugelmann
Pihl
Le Moussu
Splingard
Walter
Wroblewski
Vichard
~T5
[Abstained]
Alerini
Duval
Pellicer
Lucain
Laf argue
Morago
Marselau
MacDormcll
[Against]
Brismee
Coenen
Cyrille
Dupont]
Dave
Dereure
Fluse
Frankel
Herman
Johannard
Longuet
Swarm
Sauva
Serraillier
Van den Abeele
Wilmot
Engels moves that no other expulsions be made, these suffice as an example.
Walter reads out a statement (Document No. 2)^^*^^ and says that he regrets the decision that was taken in respect of Malon and which can lead to the disorganisation of the International in France.---One of the delegates of the Alliance had the'effrontery to propose to Walter to break with the General Council and to contribute to the work of the Jura Federation.^^**^^
A decision is adopted to publish the documents relating to the Alliance.
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 39.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the words "The Chairman regrets that...'' are struck out.---Ed.
107A memo has been received from Aubry and it will be appended to the report.^^*^^
Serraillier made an accusation against Landeck, he undertook to communicate it to the Congress: Lachaud's uncle writes that Landeck proposed the candidature of Lachaud.
A delegate of the Hague Section reads out a communication (Document No. = 3)^^**^^^^39^^:
I believe I am acting in the spirit of the Hague Section in sending the citizen delegates hearty greetings before they depart, which I do in the name of the said section.
I would like to add that on the one hand it was a great joy for usHhat the Congress assembled in our city, and that on the other hand we regret that our welcome could not be such as we wished. However we hardly need to apologise for that.
You have been able to see for yourselves how backward our country still is, and you will agree that one cannot deny the courage of the few men who have grouped under our banner considering the opposition they have to face; therefore, myself a foreigner familiar with the situation here, I must pay tribute to that small group, and I call on you: be courageous, small group, always be vigilant and on the alert; even if our sun declines, it will rise again soon.
Citizen delegates, I must ask you to be lenient if the Hague Section could not offer you a better welcome; only a rogue gives more than he has; with this I think I have told you everything, but I ask you moreover not to forget your duty and to do all in your power to help this country. One must always give assistance where it is most needed; at the same time I send you hearty greetings in the name of the Hague Section; do not forget that you found here a group of pioneers who are firmly resolved to hold out till the end.^^***^^
The Congress disperses to cries of "Long live the International Working Men's Association!"
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ See pp. 249--56 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The insertion follows on a separate sheet.---Ed.
^^***^^ End of the insertion.---Ed.
[108] __ALPHA_LVL2__ MINUTES(Copy)
__NOTE__ "(Copy)" goes above LVL2. __NOTE__ The following footnote is in LVL2 and LVL2 has just "*":
AT THE HAGUE, SEPTEMBER 1872^^*^^
This Congress is faced, after an interval of three years, with the task of tightening the somewhat slackened organisation and strengthening it against internal and external attacks. During the three years which have passed since the last congress, many views of different kinds have naturally been manifested and attempts of diverse kinds have been made to weaken the Association, to split it, to destroy it or to divert it from its purpose. Great historical events have taken place and have not failed to influence the internal life of the Association. These points must be constantly borne in mind in judging the work of this, the Fifth Congress, an account of which will now be given.
There were present at the Congress 65 delegates, of whom 18 were Frenchmen, 15 Germans, 7 Belgians, 5 Englishmen, 5 Spaniards, 4 Dutchmen, 4 Swiss, 2 Austrians, 1 Dane, 1 Hungarian, 1 Australian, 1 Irishman, and 1 Pole.
They had 95 mandates, of which Belgium had sent 17, Germany 15, France 14, Switzerland 11, America 7, the General Council 6, Spain 5, England 5, Holland 4, Denmark 2, Ireland 2, Hungary 2, Portugal 1, Poland Jl, Austria 1, Australia 1.
Among the delegates there were 5 tailors, 4 printers, 4 teachers, 4 writers, 3 shoemakers, 3 doctors, 2 draughtsmen, 2 joiners, 2 tanners, 2 machinists, 1 chemist, 1 _-_-_
^^*^^ The copy in Cuno's handwriting contains 48 pages.---Ed.
109 brushmaker, 1 merchant, 1 musical instrument maker, 1 weaver, 1 jeweller, 1 lithographer, 1 gold-digger, 1 artificial flower maker, 1 porcelain painter, 1 engraver, 2 engineers, 1 bootcloser; the trade of about 20 delegates was not given.The proceedings were conducted mostly in French, but translations were constantly made in 2, 3, and even 4 languages. The fact that French was the dominant nationality imparted to the Congress a very and sometimes unpleasantly lively character.
PRELIMINARY TEETING
September 1, 1872, Sunday evening
The first sitting, called preliminary meeting, took place on Sunday, September 1, at 1900 hrs. The delegates had to make their way through gaping crowds into the hall, which was neither well situated nor otherwise convenient.
A committee of the Dutch Federal Council was present and opened the meeting. Non-members were asked to leave the hall.
Gerhard, from the Dutch Federal Council, greeted the delegates, heartily welcomed them and stressed that we were enjoying the hospitality of Holland not "by favour" but on the basis of the country's laws, and that a departure from these laws on the part of the authorities would provoke the most vehement opposition of all parties. He asks what we should begin with.
Eccarius says that according to the practice of earlier congresses these preliminary meetings are merely of a social nature, that tomorrow the commission to check the mandates must be appointed and then the work will begin.
Longuet asks that the order of the day for tomorrow should be fixed.
Engels asks that the delegates should hand in their names.
Frankel demands that the mandate commission be nominated immediately and that the delegates should not be obliged to reveal the seat of their sections, since this would create a danger for members coming from countries where 110 the International Working Men's Association is banned and we are surrounded by spies.
Sorge claims for such delegates the right to adopt other names.
Both these proposals are adopted as a matter of course.
Ranvier proposes that the sitting should open on Monday at 0900 hrs. under the chairmanship of the Dutch Federal Council so that a commission to check the mandates may be immediately appointed, etc.
Marx adds to this that the sitting must be a closed one except for the members of the Hague Section.
Hales demands that all members of the International Working Men's Association be admitted.
Marx accepts this addition with the provision that membership must be proved.
The proposals of Ranvier, Marx, and Hales are unanimously adopted, whereupon the meeting adjourns until Monday at 0900 hrs.
The delegates then disperse to their lodgings, constantly followed and surrounded by a crowd of idlers who gape at them as though they were strange animals and monsters
FIRST SITTING
September 2, 1872, Monday morning
On Monday, September 2, at 0930 hrs. the first sitting of the Congress opens.
Engels demands that no newspaper correspondents be allowed to report on the closed sittings (this applies to delegates who are simultaneously acting as reporters for newspapers).
Dupont demands that all non-delegates leave the hall and that if they are members of the I.W.A. they should go to the gallery.
Guillaume asks for the appointment of official translators.
Dupont, Frankel and Eccarius are appointed translators.
Longuet objects to the admission of any newspaper correspondents to the Congress.
Ranvier demands a decision on this point.
111A rather lengthy debate takes place on correspondents, etc.
A decision is adopted that all those who are not delegates must leave the hall---two votes against.
Engels then moves that a commission of seven be appointed to check the mandates.^^*^^
Sauva tables another motion, namely that one (1) member from each federation be appointed for this purpose.
Vaillant proposes that the commission should be of five (5) persons only, and that the mandates from countries where the I.W.A. is banned should be destroyed.
Sauva demands the right to expound and defend his proposal, and this is granted to him. He says no occasion must be provided for suspicion that only^^**^^ supporters of the General Council are sitting on the commission, and therefore a member from each federation should be elected to the commission.
Engels' motion is adopted unanimously (a commission of 7 to check the mandates).
Sauva again submits his proposal and demands that it be put to the vote.^^***^^
The commission is empowered to come to an understanding with the delegates from countries where the I.W.A. is banned.^^****^^
Guillaume, like Sauva, asks for 1 member from each federation.
Serraillier objects to this: We have more than 7 federations, and in some countries there are several, in others none, and so on. There cannot therefore be election by federations.
Longuet, after Serraillier's explanations, is against Sauva's proposal, but does not want only supporters of the General Council to be included in the commission, although he himself defends the latter.
Guillaume says that the I.W.A. is made up of federations, and therefore these federations must be represented on the _-_-_
^^*^^ This passage is underscored by Marx.---Ed,
^^**^^ Here the word ``members'' is struck out.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the words "disregarded by the Chairman" are struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has the words "and persecuted".---Ed.
112 commission. He regrets that Longuet intends to represent the General Council, he (the speaker) represents the International.Dupont declares that we are representatives of the workingclass movement, and not of any single country.
A motion to end the debate is carried.
Serraillier's motion---to elect the members of the commission from those present at the meeting without discrimination, is thereupon adopted by 48 votes to 9 and 4 abstentions.
Morago states that the delegates from Spain have received definite instructions to abstain from voting until voting is carried out according to the number of electors represented by each delegate.
Lafargue states that although he is a delegate from Spain, he has not received such instructions.
There is a break of ten minutes for the ballot papers to
be prepared.
When the sitting is resumed it is decided, on JohannarcTs motion, that a relative majority will be considered sufficient for this vote.
The counting of the ballot papers begins. 58 have been returned and 3 (Spaniards) have abstained.
Elected:
Marx (41 votes), Ranvier (44), Roach (41), MacDonnell (39), Dereure (36), Gerhard (50) and Frankel (22).
On Sorge's proposal the commission is asked to withdraw and begin its work immediately while the Congress adjourns until 1900 hrs. when it will hear the report of the commission.
Dereure wants all proposals to be handed in in writing and also the delegates to give their names, profession and place of residence to the mandate commission.
The sitting is adjourned at 1500 hrs.
SECOND SITTING
September 2, 1872, Monday evening
The evening sitting does not begin until 2030 hrs. because the mandate commission does not appear before then.
The Chairman since this morning has been Van den Abeele, a delegate from Ghent (Beligium).
113The mandate commission reports that the following are in order with the General Council and are entitled to a seat and a vote in the Congress^^*^^:
Swarm for one of the French sections Lucainl " " " " Longuet Johannard Ranvier Vaillant Frankel Walter Vichard Wilmot^^*^^ For the text of the report see |ip. 2l).>-300 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ Gouy. ---Ed.
8---0960
114 Pihl for Denmark Gerhard for the Dutch Federal Council Roach for the British Federal Council and the Stratford Section G. Schumacher for the Solingen Section Eberhardt for the Belgian Federal Council, the Brussels painters, shoemakers, etc. Lafargue for the New Madrid Federation `` `` a Spanish Section `` `` the Lisbon Section! Dr. Kugelmann for the sections of Celle and Hanover Dietzgen for the Dresden Section A. Hepner for Section No. 8, New York Cournet for the Danish Federal Council General Council Dupont Arnaud `` Wroblewski Carouge Section Polish sections in London General Council Van der Hout Har court Barry Serraillier Hales Brismee F. Engels ?7 Milke] Gilkens Mottershead Amsterdam Section Section of Victoria ( Australia) Section No. 3, Chicago a French Section and the General Council j the Hackney Road Section " Brussels " Breslau Section No. 6, New York a Berlin Section and the Crimmitschau Section the lithographers in Amsterdam " Betlmal Green Section in London^^*^^ Cuno for the sections in Diisseldorf and Stuttgart Eccarius for the section of bootclosers in London Coenen for the Antwerp Section J. Ph. Becker for the sections in Basle, Geneva,~ _-_-_^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "Lessner for the German section at London".---Ed.
115 Lucerne, etc.,and the Romance Federal Council Van den Aheele for the Ghent Section Friedlander for the Zurich Section Herman for the Federal Council in LiegeThe commission reports further that Fluse appeared as delegate for the Vesdre valley (Verviers) but is not in possession of the correct mandate; that there are accusations against V. Dave, the delegate for the Hague Section, which must first be cleared up; that Alerini is not admitted as delegate for Marseilles, nor is Zhukovsky as delegate for the Propaganda and Revolutionary Action Section of Geneva; the admission of Morago, Marselau, Farga Pellicer and Alerini as delegates for the Spanish Federation must be deferred until these have put themselves in order with the General Council; the mandate from Section No. 2 in New York should be annulled since that section has been expelled by the American Federal Council and is not up to date with its subscriptions; and finally the mandate of W. West is to be rejected because he belonged and still belongs to the suspended Section No. 12 and was a member of the Philadelphia Congress and the Prince Street Federal = Council.^^41^^
Meanwhile another mandate arrives for J. Ph. Becker and also several from Belgium for Herman.
Splingard takes back what he said about V. Dave and Fluse gives Dave a good recommendation.
Ranvier proposes that the uncontested mandates should be put to the vote.
Schwitzguebel asks for a second reading out of the list and admission of all those against whom no objections have been raised; the others should be rejected.
Eccarius and Sorge object to this.
The commission, having heard the explanations given by various Belgian delegates, recognises the mandates of Dave and Fluse.
Engels supports Schwitzguebel's proposal.
Sauva also supports it and demands an immediate decision.
Ranvier wants the vote to be a vote of confidence in the mandate commission and asks for the proceedings to be speeded up as we shall otherwise not have finished with the mandates by Wednesday and no time will be left for other work.
8*
116Lafargue is lor Schwitzguebel's proposal and for an immediate vote.
Alerini wants all the mandates to be handed over toamember of the commission so that everybody will be able to examine them.
Barry asks what in that case was the purpose of appointing the commission.
Marx says that the commission had to investigate two points only: 1. whether the mandate had been correctly issued; 2. whether the section issuing it was in order with the General Council, i.e., had the right to issue it.
Schwitzguebel's proposal, seconded by Sauva, Lafargue and others, to reject all contested mandates and to recognise all the others en bloc after another reading of the list,^is adopted with Alerini and Sorge voting against.
The list is read again.
Farga Pellicer wants to know, after the first^names of delegates of French sections have been read, whether they have paid their subscriptions.
Ranvier replies that that was precisely what the commission had to check.
Pellicer only wanted to know whether the commission had acted in the same way towards all.
During the reading first Vaillant's^^*^^ mandate is contested by Schwitzguebel, Dereure's* and Sorge's* by Sauva, Sauva's* by Sorge, Lafargue's* by Alerini, Barry's* by Hales, and the mandates of the General Council's delegates by Guillaume.
All the other mandates, numbering 51, are recognised at once, including those of the General Council's delegates, although Brismee demands that the latter be discussed later.
Lafargue demands that those who have been rejected should go to the back of the hall.
The Chairman^^**^^ proposes that the Bureau should now be elected, at which Sorge and Dereure protest.
Hales contests Sorge's right to speak.
Fluse does the same.
The sitting is adjourned at 2130 hrs.
_-_-_^^*^^ These names are underscored in the original by Cuno and Marx.---.Ed.
^^**^^ Van den Abeole.---Ed.
117THIRD SITTING
September 3, 187%, Tuesday morning
(September 3) on Tuesday morning at 0930 hrs. the sitting is reopened and the Chairman expresses regret that so many members are absent.
It is decided to elect four secretaries: Le Moussu for French, Hepner for German, Roach for English, and Van der Hout for Dutch.
Engels moves that two speakers be'heard for and two against in each case, each speaker being allowed 5 minutes, and then the vote be taken.
The mandate committee then introduces mandates, from Belgium for Fluse, from France for Serraillier and from the Romance Federal Council in Geneva for Duval, which are accepted.
Ranvier wants Vaillant's case to be discussed.
Schwitzguebel protests against this.
Sauva is against 5 minutes and demands 10 minutes in order to be able to set forth all protests (of which he has 4). He regards the motion as a tactical manoeuvre and a trick on the part of his opponents for the purpose of muzzlinghim.
Dereure considers this an insult: we get 5 minutes just as you do.
Duval cannot understand Sauva.
Eberhardt sees this as a stratagem and predicts that it will have evil consequences.
Sauva and Lafargue propose an amendment: that the first two speakers be given 10 minutes.
Guillaume, Schwitzguebel and Sauva propose a further amendment: to give 10 minutes to each speaker and not to limit the number of speakers.
The" amendment of Sauva and Lafargue is rejected by 24 votes to 24.
The amendment of Guillaume, Schwitzguedel and Sauva is also rejected.
Engels' initial proposal is carried^^*^^ against 6 votes.
Schwitzguebel, in respect of Vaillant's mandate from La Chaux-de-Fonds, explains that this is not a French section but merely belongs to the Romance Federation.
_-_-_^^*^^ Hero the Wisconsin copy has: "with a great majority".---Ed,
118Vaillant has been instructed to defend the Romance Federation against the Jura Federation, in which some leaders have set up principles which can only split the I.W.A.
Guillaume opposes Vaillant's mandate because Vaillant's name has been inserted on the mandate in another hand and at a different time. He says La Chaux-de-Fonds Section is allied with the reactionaries and old Royalists of the Neuchatel = canton.^^42^^ They side with the Royalists just as those of Geneva do with the Radicals; they both side and vote with the bourgeois. He says Elzingre^^*^^ was elected with the help of the Royalists and Grosselin with that of the Radicals.
Vaillant's mandate is recognised.^^**^^
Serraillier wants individual cases, not general principles to be discussed.
Sauva says in connection with Dereure's mandate that he has many protests but no time to read them out and he therefore merely hands them in to the Bureau. Section No. 2 is of the opinion that the American Congress was badly inspired in proceeding with the election of delegates in violation of the Rules. This was a two-stage election; besides, Sorge and Dereure had been empowered by the American Congress to choose 5 members of the General Council and give them mandates. Moreover the American Congress had not the right to elect two delegates, since it does not represent 1,000 members; one of them must therefore be rejected. But which one? Section No. 42 protests against the election by the American Congress as against an arbitrary ( authoritarian) act; it refuses to renounce its sovereignty and protests also against the tax of 55 cents, which the American Federal Council had no right to impose, since the Rules lay down only 15 = cents.^^43^^
The Chairman asks whether he must read out all the papers submitted to him.
The Congress answers in the negative.
Dereure regrets this decision, as well as the limitation of the discussion by the adoption of Serraillier's proposal, for here it is mainly a matter of principle; if recognition of _-_-_
^^*^^ The original has a misprint: ``Elsengel''.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Wisconsin copy adds: "by the Congress almost unanimously".---Ed.
119 indirect elections is here refused the majority of the delegates will have to withdraw.The American Congress was convened for the express purpose of electing delegates and therefore the sections which participated in it must conform.Brismee says that this argument is decisive for him.
Dereure's mandate is recognised with only Sauva voting against.
Sauva contests also Sorge's mandate on the grounds of | insufficient membership. He says there were less than 1,000 electors.
Sorge replies that the correct interpretation of the Rules gives him a right to far more members, he then asks which election is more direct than that carried out by a Congress expressly convened for the purpose. Which mandate is more valid than that issued by a General Congress? Sauva's assertion that Dereure and Sorge were also to elect 5 members of the General Council is false, for the decision of the American Congress says: The Congress elects two delegates and pays for their journey out of the general account and individual sections are asked to send mandates to reliable Party comrades. He recognises the sovereignty of Section No. 42 but contests its right to oppose decisions taken with its participation; he finds it comprehensible that Section No. 42 protests against the 55 cents because it has arrears and does not wish to pay. It would be a different matter if it could not pay; it should act openly and not furtively.
Sorge's mandate is recognised with Sauva alone voting against.
S or ge contests Sauva's mandate issued by sections No. 29 and No. 42. He says that Section No. 29 has no connections with any organisation, that it has not paid its subscriptions and that Section No. 42 could not be found (was introuvable) since the American Congress, that it made no contribution to the costs of the General Congress and that its mandate was issued in a secret and furtive manner so as to smuggle Sauva into the Congress because it foresaw that the mandate from Section No. 2 would be rejected. The whole thing is only a cleverly arranged manoeuvre.
Sauva says that sections exist in the United States of America which have not adhered to any organisation because of constant internal disputes and which strive to maintain 120 their independence, and thai Section No. 29 is one of these. It is slander to assert that Section No. 42 is in opposition hecause of the 55 cents; it is in opposition because the American Congress wants to change the Rules. Moreover sections No. 29 and No. 42 are in order with the General Council.
Le Moussu says that sections No. 29 and No.42knewqnite wull that only the Federal Council at 10 Ward Hotel, New York was recognised by the General Council, they should therefore have paid through the Federal Council. Moreover Sauva himself told him that he had hurried to Treasurer Jung in London to forestall such objections, and this shows that he himself acknowledged his false situation and that he had tried furtively to slip into the Congress.
Frankel says he would regret if such incidents as that with Sauva were to occur in the future, and yet he could not but vote for the admission of Sauva because the Rules now unfortunately allow the existence of sections outside the federations.
(Le Moussu's statement was not translated either by Frankel or by Eccarius.)
Sativasajs that Le Moussu has committed a regrettable abuse of confidence and that he will beware of communicating anything to him in the future.
Le Moussti says that for him the general interests are above private ones.
Marx explains that sections must either belong to the national federations or be recognised by the General Council. Section No. 29 fulfils neither of these conditions. Independent sections are extremely useful in certain cases hut must be recognised by the General Council and maintain direct correspondence with it. He is decidedly opposed to Sauva's admission.
Dereure is in favour of admitting Sauva as a delegate of Section No. 42 if sections No. 29 and No. 42 undertake to recognise the proceedings and decisions of the American and the General Congress and to act accordingly.
Marx agrees to this.
Sauva will accept no compromise for Section No. 29 is only waiting for the result of the Hague Congress to make it the guide-line for its future conduct.
121Dereure withdraws his proposal.
Tin gels in reply to the question whether these sections are in order,^^*^^ explains that neither of the two^^**^^ is in order.
The vote is taken amidst considerable confusion and Sauva is admitted as delegate of sections No. 29 and No. 42 by 30 votes to 20.
Cuno moves that the Chairman be censured for allowing too many delegates to speak.
The Chairman retorts that he was in his right because two mandates were being dealt with.
Alerini contests Lafargue's mandate from the Madrid and another Spanish Federation on the grounds that the editors of La Emancipacion formed new sections and federations without recognition on the part of the Spanish Federal Council, and that these sections then applied to the General Council, which recognised them and explained that it was absurd to ask for the opinion of a Federal Council the majority of whose members belonged to a secret society hostile to the I.W.A. The Spanish Federal Council protests against the New Madrid Federation because the General Council admitted it in violation of the Rules. The other Spanish Federation, which Lafarguo represents, is in the same position as the whole Spanish Federation, which has not yet paid its subscriptions to the General Council.
Guiltaume corrects a mistake made in the German translation.
Lafarf/ue reads out an article from La Emancipacion which (as Morago acknowledges) provided the occasion for the expulsion of the editors of this paper. (The article draws lively applause from the majority of the Congress.) The expulsion was decided by only 15 (out of 130) members without the accused having the slightest chance to defend themselves.
The Spanish Federal Council approved this unlawful expulsion and that was why the new Federation had to apply directly to the General Council. Morago has already twice betrayed the I.W.A.---when he fled to Lisbon and when ho turned his back on the International after the _-_-_
^^*^^ Hero the Wisconsin copy has: "with the General Council".---Ed.
^^**^^ After this,the words "has paid" are struck out.---Ed.
122 Sagasta decree. Those 15 men constantly feign love for autonomy hut are extraordinarily authoritarian when it suits them. The motives for their conduct are quite different from what they claim, it is their hatred of him because he attacked their secret Alliance in La Liberte.^^44^^Morayo says that the decision of the General Council was taken in violation of all the rules and laws on purely imaginary grounds. For the Spanish Federal Council has nothing to do with the internal matters of the sections; the expulsion was conform to the rules, since the Rules of the sections prescribe regular meetings whose decisions the members must obey if they are not present, whether they are adopted by 5, 15 or 50 votes. The Spanish Federation is the most militant of all the Federations, and all the strife and discord in Spain appeared only after the arrival and interference of this one individual. They stand on the positions of the Rules, which the General Council has no right to violate. They want no disputes over personal matters but a decision at the next Spanish Congress whether the expulsion was justified or not.
Engels says: We must decide whether the I.W.A. is to continue to be managed on a democratic basis or ruled by a clique (cries and protests at the word ``clique'') organised secretly and in violation of the Rules. There are 6 persons present here who belong to this secret society: the 4 Spaniards, Schwitzguebel, and Guillaume.
Guillaume interrupts the speaker shouting "That is false!"
Engels moves his hand towards his pocket,^^*^^ out of which he takes a letter and says: "Here are the proofs.'' Engels also draws attention to the unlawfulness of the arbitrary expulsion, the court of honour demanded by the Rules not having been appointed. The new Federation only availed itself of its right by breaking with the Federal Council and applying directly to the General Council. The General Council, indeed,transgressed against the Rules, but consciously and with the intention of thus saving the International Working Men's Association in Spain. The Alliance^^**^^ is working in Spain with the money of the I.W.A. and the _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "Guillaume withdraws in confusion" are struck out. The correction is made by Sorge.---Ed.
^^**^^ Cuno's copy as a rule gives the word ``Alliance'' in quotes.---Ed.
123 Spanish Federal Council has among its 8 members 5 "brothers of the Alliance''. The General Council was quite conscious of what it was doing but had to do it.(Marselau says "Yes, oh, yes!" when Engels states that the present Spanish delegates belong to the Alliance.)
Johannard wants the discussion to be continued and the Spaniards given full freedom of speech in order to avoid reproaches that they have not been allowed to speak.
Frankel objects on the grounds that the question will be discussed again later.
Continuation of the discussion is rejected.
Lafargue is admitted to the Congress as a delegate of the New Madrid Federation by 40 votes to 0.
Marx moves the expulsion of the Alliance from the I.W.A. and demands the appointment of a commission to investigate the documents and the whole matter.
The sitting is adjourned for two hours.
FOURTH SITTING
September, 3, 1872, Tuesday evening
The sitting is resumed at 1600 hrs.
Roll-call: 22 absent.
Cuno reproaches the Chairman because the sitting has not started punctually.
Duval proposes another fifteen minutes wait.
The Chairman speaks for rather a long time and thus evokes a general protest; then he reads out the list for the second time.
Marx informs the Congress of a congratulatory message received from a section of Porto Maurizio near Genoa.^^*^^
MacDonnell is appointed English secretary instead of Roach, who has left.
Lafargue's proposal to note at the beginning of each sitting which delegates are absent and to inform their electors of the fact is adopted.
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the letter on pp. 265--67 of this volume.---Ed.
124Barry's mandate is contested by Hales, but as the latter lias left, Sauva obliges by taking upon himself the role of con tester.^^*^^
Sorge asks on what grounds and whether anyone disputes the relevant section's right to issue a mandate. Since no reply is given and no grounds for the attack are provided, Sauva has no right to make any more attacks; the speaker holds this man responsible for the waste of time that he is causing to the Working Men's Congress; the workers will call such men to account for such a waste of time since they hinder our discussion of the working-class question and their interests.^^**^^
M otter shead asks why Barry, who is not one of the leaders in England and carries no weight, has nevertheless been delegated to the Congress by a German section.
Marx says that it has nothing to do with anybody who is elected by a section, and moreover it does credit to Barry that he is not one of the so-called leaders of the English workers, since these men are more or less bribed by the bourgeoisie and the government; attacks are made on Barry only because he refuses to be a tool in the hands of Hales.^^45^^
Barry's mandate is recognised valid with Sauva and Mottershead voting against.
The mandate commission reports the arrival and recommends recognition of further mandates for Duval from Switzerland, for MacDonnell from Dublin, and for Hepner from Regensburg.
No objections.
Alerini's mandate issued by a Marseilles section is contested by the mandate commission.
Ranvier wants Serraillier to explain.
Serraillier explains that he has never had any news'from Marseilles or any subscriptions either and that therefore the mandate is inadmissible. Moreover he has been informed that sections have recently been formed for the purpose of sending delegates to the Congress.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "not producing, however, a single argument''.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "He especially attacks Sauva".--- Ed.
125Alerini says he is ``pained'' to hear of such things at a time when the Marseilles people state that they belong to the revolutionary workers' party. However he refuses the mandate because he is of the opinion that there are manoeuvres being made here now to carry out a kind of purge in the Association and to deliver it into the hands of a small group. Last year the General Council wanted to send the Marseilles people money for their delegate's journey to the London Conference but refrained from doing so as they refused to sing the right song.
Serraillier moves that it should be allowed to reply immediately to such accusations.
Adopted.
Serraillier then states as secretary fo^France that during the whole period mentioned he neither wrote a single letter to Marseilles nor received any letters from there, so that Alerini's accusation falls through.
Duval reports that letters were written from Marseilles to Geneva to get in touch with the Romance Federation; a member of the Romance Federal Council recently went to Marseilles and he was told that it was impossible to form a section there.
Cyrille assumes that sections could exist without being in touch with the General Council.
Alerini asks, amid loud noise in the hall, to be allowed to speak again.
Sorge asks whether it is allowed to discuss questions not on the order of the day.
Alerini says Combe's mandate from Marseilles had already been issued and Bastelica had had correspondence with Marseilles in the name of the General Council.
Serraillier asks that it be registered in the minutes that Bastelica promised the Marseilles people money and that he never had the right to write even a single letter in the name of the General Council.
Frankel asks for a vote on whether the MarseillesJSection exists or not.
A vote is decided on.
Serraillier says he will abstain from voting so as not to assert that Alerini produced a false mandate, since Alerini himself was perhaps deceived.
126Alerini protests against any suggestion of deception.
Alerini's mandate from Marseilles is rejected by 38 votes to 14 abstentions.
The mandate commission contests Zhukovsky's mandate from the Propaganda and Socialist Revolutionary Action Section in Geneva.
Ranvier, the commission chairman, explains that there are federations in Switzerland, but that the section represented by Zhukovsky neither belongs to a federation nor is recognised by the General Council.
Zhukovsky explains that his section did indeed apply to the General Council but was rejected and that it therefore appeals to the Congress, demanding that the General Council motivate its rejection.
Duval then relates how the French refugees in Geneva tried to seize control of the Egalite editorial board, how many of them joined the Alliance and when the latter^^*^^ was dissolved immediately before the London Conference, the same people from the Alliance formed the propaganda section in question but did not finally adhere to any organisation.
Brismee objects to the French appearing as sections in Geneva, Brussels and other places. They should unite only as groups and pay their subscriptions. They probably did not join the existing federations and sections because, for example, in Belgium the conduct and morality of applicants are examined to prevent the penetration of harmful elements.
Marx says that the Alliance was recognised because in the beginning its secret character was not known; the General Council did indeed know that the Alliance, despite its official declaration of dissolution on August 6, 1871, continued to exist, but the London Conference was unable to do anything else than to adopt the known decisions; he is not speaking against secret societies as such---he himself has belonged to such societies---but against secret societies which are hostile and harmful to the I.W.A. The Romance Federal Council protested strongly against the admission of the Section in question and as a result the General Council rejected it in accordance with the Rules. The situation in Brussels is different. The French Section there wrote _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "on August &'.---Ed.
127 to the General Council that the Belgian Federal Council took the view that its admission to the Belgian organisation would betray the latter to the police and therefore the General Council could not but recognise this Section as an independent one and take the same action also in respect of the second French Section also existing in Brussels. Cruillauine asks to be allowed to speak after Zhukovsky. Engels objects to Guillaume's being allowed to speak because that would violate the accepted procedure.Guillaume's demand is rejected.
Zhukovsky admits that his section never applied to the Romance Federal Council. In Geneva there is a Central Section for the purpose of propaganda in the canton. The French refugees did not at first know where to apply. That is why some of them joined the Central Section. But as they wanted to carry on propaganda not in the Geneva canton, but in France, they formed the Section in question, which has nothing at all in common with the Alliance, to which hardly a single one of its members has belonged; he himself was indeed a member, but he knew nothing of its being a secret society. The members of his section always avoided having anything to do with the affairs of the Alliance and now demand admission as a section of the I.W.A.
Kanvier proposes that this matter be deferred until Marx's motion against the Alliance is dealt with.
Adopted.
The commission contests the mandates of Morago, Marselau, Farga Pellicer and Alerini because the Spanish Federation has not paid its subscriptions.
Ranvier demands that the decision on this matter be deferred until the question of the Alliance is settled.
Farga Pellicer says that their sections are somewhat in arrears with payments partly because they are very poor, as the Congress will well understand; he asks for delay in respect of the last three months.^^*^^ He is greatly astonished at Ranvier's proposal, for he and his three colleagues are contested only because of unpaid subscriptions; the Spanish Federation should not be hampered in its energetic progress _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "hecause they themselves have not yet received them".---Ed.
128 since il is the only one which at the present has any prospects of success in the light against capital.^^*^^Enyels finds it extremely strange that the Spaniards should keep their money in their pockets instead of handing it in immediately with their mandates as is always done and should be done at congresses; the Spaniards are astonished at the desire to implicate them in Ihe affair of the Alliance and yet they themselves have admitted that they are members of the Alliance. Marselau and the 3 others affirm that they formerly belonged to the Alliance but have now withdrawn from it. Engels suggests that they arc still in the Alliance, but under another name. If they refer Lo the flourishing of the I.W.A. in Spain they must bear in mind that this growth was achieved by the former Federal Council (which was expelled at Madrid).
Marselau is of the opinion that Engels is inaccurate: they did not want to keep the money in their pockets but to exchange their Spanish money first, which they only managed to do yesterday evening. They had of course been delayed somewhat when this unexpected opposition to their mandates occurred. He himself was a member of the Alliance and the latter had founded and promoted the I.W.A. in Spain. The members of the Alliance are reliable Party members and genuine soldiers of the revolution. He will not complain if he is thrown out, he knows that this question has been decided in advance. "I speak the truth and do not fear death for it. Our dissensions date only to the time of the arrival of one single individual. We members of the Alliance have done and suffered more for the cause than all the members of the General Council and those who want to excommunicate us. Tell us frankly^ that we are to be thrown out and we shall go and leave you the money which belongs to you. The Alliance was dissolved at the Saragossa Congress when it had accomplished its propaganda work and become superfluous. Before that it was necessary because in Spain we had no right of assembly."
Ranvier points out that the question of the Alliance appears everywhere and therefore must first be settled before _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "The Spanish sections are very active in the fight against capital; they hope to put an end to it soon."--- Ed.
129 the Spaniards' case can be pronounced upon. He said in confidence yesterday to the Spaniards that they should pay in order at least to remove that obstacle. He insists on the question of the Alliance being dealt with.Coenen is for admitting the Spaniards to the Congress if they are recognised by the General Council and pay their subscriptions. His mandate obliges him to leave the hall if the Spaniards are not recognised.
Banvier protests against the threat made by Splingard, Guillaume and others to leave the hall, which only proves that it is they and not we who have pronounced in advance on the question under discussion; he wishes all the police agents in the world would thus take their departure.
Morago points out that they are delegates of the Spanish Federation, not of the Alliance, and consequently have nothing to do with the latter. The whole Spanish Federation would be destroyed by such a violation of justice. "Is it a question now of the Alliance, of authority, of secret societies? It was the Alliance that founded, raised and spread the I.W.A., all our electors knew that we belonged to the Alliance (for it was reported to the police). You have only to investigate whether our mandates are in order, nothing else. We are representatives of the Spanish Federation and the intention here is to expel us from the I.W.A. at any cost; but your rights extend only to checking the stamp, the payment of subscriptions, etc."
Lafargue defends himself against the assertion that he is in touch with the Spanish police because he attacked the Alliance; the Alliance has nothing to fear from denunciation to the police since its rules say that it shall not engage in any politics^^*^^ and the police wants nothing better.
Marselau says that Lafargue founded La Emancipation only for his denunciation purposes and that he has only now thought up the sophisms just heard; when Lafargue speaks of = traitors^^46^^ he cannot mean him, Marselau.
Lafargue agrees with this: he meant others.
Splingard thought we had to deal only with the mandates, not with the Alliance, but in any case we owe the Alliance gratitude for its energetic propaganda in Spain.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the following sentence is struck out: "Its purpose is only the destruction of the International Working Men's Association."---Ed.
9---0960
130Interruptions on all sides because the discussion is lasting too long.
Bern wer objects to the vote being taken before the Spaniards have paid their subscriptions and the question of the Alliance has been settled.
Farga Pellicer finally rises and hands to the Chairman the treasury accounts and the subscriptions from the Spanish Federation except for the last quarter.
Ranvier is now for the admission of the Spaniards.^^*^^
The voting shows all in favour of the Spaniards' admission with one abstention.
Vaillant gives as the motive of his abstention the fact that although the Spaniards have stated that they no longer belong to the Alliance, they have not declared their recognition of Article IX of the London Conference Resolu- = tions^^47^^ and their intention to abide by it.
The commission declares the mandate of Section No. 2 in New York non-valid because this Section has no connections, does not belong to any organisation.
Sauva is perplexed by the decisions adopted this morning. Section No. 2 has paid its subscriptions, numbers 169 members, formerly 235.^^**^^ The contrary decision would have serious consequences for the American Federation: after the "coup d'etat" (Eccarius applauds^^***^^) it joined the Prince Street Council and organised a funeral procession against which Section No. 1 protested, but it later turned against this council because it opposed the General Council and was implicated in the Apollo Hall = business.^^48^^
Eccarius translates, adding his own .remarks.
Sorge reproves him for this.
Dereure asks whether a section can evade the decisions of a congress adopted with its own participation.
Sorge rejects the accusation made against Section No. 1, quoting facts.
_-_-_^^*^^ The Wisconsin copy has: "Ranvier proposes that this reservation be agreed to and they should be admitted now, without waiting for the question of the Alliance to be settled."---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "it has founded sections at St. Louis, Baltimore, Springfield, Chicago, and so on".---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the words "highly satisfied" are struck out.---Ed.
131Marx says(lhat for us Section No. 2 does not exist at all since it has not maintained correspondence with the General Council as an independent section.
Herman says that the Belgian Congress also adopted resolutions by a majority but could not because of that expel the minority. "No majority may rule in the I.W.A. and therefore it may not in America either."
Dereure says that the American Federation delegates intend to withdraw if Section No. 2 is admitted.
Brismee tells how they proceed with such recalcitrant sections in Belgium by not only suspending them but striking them out altogettierl
Sorge says that he would not have posed the question of confidence raised by Dereure until Section No. 12 was discussed and then he would show what enormous harm can be done to the working class and its movement in America by such elements.
Frankel is decidedly against admitting Section No. 2 and refers to events in the Commune, where individual sections also intrigued against the Federal Council by means of posters, etc. He also speaks in favour of centralisation against so-called autonomy, i.e., vanity. Opposition to every decision may no longer be tolerated and discipline must be maintained.
Eccarius says that Section No. 2 is one of the oldest in the United States and that Section No. 1 showed a by no means friendly attitude towards the procession, as he knows from his correspondence.
Barry protests against the violation of the order of the day.
Ranvier speaks against the admission of Section No. 2, which disavowed all the others, its own family and now, all at once, in order to be able to send delegates to the Congress, secretly paid the subscriptions to the Treasurer on August 26, when the General Council hardly existed legally any longer.~^^*^^ If such conduct is allowed in the future the I.W.A. will have no right to exist any more. It would be better then t,o indulge in freemasonry, in which one can have as many sects as one pleases.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "This was a mere hollow pretext and a trick."---Ed.
9*
132 tfohannard demands that the document submitted by Sauva be read out and insists on this in a lively and energetic fashion.Enyels reads it out---it is Bolte's letter of August 4 to Section No. = 2.^^49^^
Banvier speaks most resolutely in the name of the mandate commission against the admission of Section No. 2.
The voting shows 39 votes against, 9 for and 11 abstentions in respect of the admission of Section No. 2.
Marx informs the Congress that West wishes the discussion of the question of Section No. 12 in New York to be deferred till tomorrow and that the commission agrees to this. He reminds the Congress of the forthcoming discussion of the Alliance question and states that he proposed the expulsion of the Alliance only, not of the Spanish delegates.
The sitting is adjourned at 2200 hrs.
FIFTH SITTING
September 4, 1872, Wednesday morning
Wednesday, September 4. At 0915 hrs. the sitting begins and rather a large number of delegates are absent.
Wilmot asks for smoking to be prohibited in the hall since there is one delegate suffering from a lung = disease.^^1^^;
Guillaume seconds this.
Barry and Sexton object.
Smoking is prohibited by 15 votes to 13.
Lafargue moves to censure Hales for leaving the Congress but withdraws his motion after explanations by the English delegates.
The Congress is informed of the arrival of a mandate for Vaillant from San Francisco, approves it, and then proceeds to discuss the mandate from Section No. 12 for W. West.
Sauva asks for the regulation^^*^^,limiting the time of speaking and the number of speakers to be lifted for this occasion.
The proposal is adopted by 31 votes to 8.
_-_-_^^*^^ The end of the sentence is in Sorge's handwriting.---Ed.
133Serraillier opposes Zhukovsky's right to vote.
Guillaume is for that right.
The Congress decides by 26 votes to 10 and 6 abstentions that Zhukovsky is not entitled to vote.
Morago demands that the ma~nner of voting be changed---according to the number of members represented--- since the Spaniards have been instructed not to vote before this question is settled.
There are prolonged exchanges between the Chairman^^*^^ Van den Abeele and the delegates Johannard, Ranvier and others.
Two new mandates have been received for Marx.^^**^^
Marx proposes in the name of the committee the invalidation of West's mandate because he 1) is a member of the suspended Section No. 12; 2) was a member of the Philadelphia Congress, and 3) was a member of the Prince Street Council. Moreover, West's mandate is signed by Victoria Woodhull, who has been intriguing for years already to become president of the United States, is president of the spiritualists, preaches free love, has a banking business, etc. Section No. 12 founded by V. Woodhull consisted in the beginning almost entirely of bourgeois, agitated mainly for women's franchise and issued the notorious appeal to the English-speaking citizens of the United States in which all sorts of nonsense were ascribed to the I.W.A. and on the basis of which various similar sections were formed in the country. Among other things the appeal mentioned personal freedom, social freedom (free love), manner of dressing, women's franchise, a world language, etc. They declared on October = 28^^50^^ that "the emancipation of the working class by the working class itself" meant only that the emancipation of the working class must not be accomplished against the will of the workers themselves. They place the women's question before the workers' question and refuse to recognise that the I.W.A. is a workers' organisation. Section No. 1 protested against this conduct of Section No. 12 and demanded that every section should be composed of at = least 2/3 wage-- _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the following words are struck out: "who is conducting the sitting most unskilfully".---Ed.
^^**^^ This is incorrect. Marx spoke of two mandates for J. Ph. Becker.---Ed.
134 workers, because so far every working-class movement has in America been exploited by the bourgeoisie. Section No. 12 opposed = the~^^2^^/3 wage-worker composition, asking sardonically whether it is a crime to be free and not a wageslave. Both parties then appealed to the General Council for a decision, and the General Council gave this decision on March 5 and 12 by suspending Section No. 12.On these grounds West cannot be admitted. Section No. 12 did not recognise the General Council's decision. West was also a member of the Philadelphia Congress and the Prince Street Council, which refused to recognise the General Council and maintained connections with the Jura Federation; the latter, according to newspaper reports, advised it not to pay subscriptions to the General Council and thus put it on the rocks.
W. West speaks for about 1V2 hours and says that sentence has already been pronounced on him in advance and yet he has come 4,000 miles to do his duty towards his electors. He says he will dwell only on throe points of the report and not on the other unproven accusations. "Yes, I am a member of Section No. 12" (4 seconds'pause). With feeling: "/ am proud of it!" (8 seconds' pause.) Section No. 12 has founded many English sections and here demands judgment against false accusations and calumnies.^^*^^ The suspension was unlawful for it was at once accusation, sentence and punishment without the accused being heard. Section No. 12 is as innocent as a new-born babe and remains innocent until the contrary has been proved. That is why "my friend" Eccarius refused to send off the = sentence.^^51^^ You must know that there is not a word of truth in the first motivation of the suspension: Section No. 12 never took such a decision, but only discussed it. Section No. 12 even wanted to recognise the General Council^^**^^ if it had been given a fair hearing and judgment. The second motivation is equally false for we have neither done nor said anything contrary to the Rules and the Congress resolutions. The workers' question is also a women's question and the emancipation of women must precede the emancipation of the _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "which were spread by the opposing party by letter".---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "as arbiter".---Ed.
135 workers. (Great animation.) Mrs. Woodhull and others are spiritualists and "free lovers''; have you the right to forbid that? Can you order love where there is none? (Loud laughter.) It is not your business! We have strictly conformed to the Rules. We are human beings first, before we are workers or bourgeois. The development and solution of the social question is as follows: first man is a slave, then he becomes a wage-worker, then a middle-class man, and finally, through the higher intelligence of man who has raised himself to be a bourgeois, he enters into universal co-- operation, i.e., there is substitution of society for individual labour. The bourgeoisie have and acquire ttio necessary experience and intelligence which we require in our movement.It is true that I was a member of the Philadelphia Congress, but that congress took no decision against the General Council. And by the way you recognised yesterday a mandate from a section (No. 29) which was also represented at that congress. I admit also that I was a member of the Prince Street Council, but I withdrew in accordance with its demand.---We have the sacred right to rise up against any despotism, and the General Council has twice^^*^^ acted despotically; if we did not have that right the General Council would be able to do as it liked with us! = The~^^2^^/3 wageworker demand cannot be implemented in America. We do not want other people's brains to think for us or the General Council to lay down any rules for us Americans. We are for the Commune, universal (for women) franchise and direct legislation. We find that our republic is a failure and therefore we want to found another. If you wish to be consistent, then expel also the Swiss since they want to introduce a referendum and other political rights. Section No. 12 certainly paid the first year's subscriptions, as Sorge will confirm, and I am ready to swear that it paid the second year too. Then he speaks about Sorge's party and West's party.
Sorge protests against his name being linked with West's.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "violated its duty. The Americans cannot recognise the V? principle. If we do not have the right to rise up, the General Council will be able to do as it likes."---Ed.
136The Congress begins to lose patience and many nonEnglish speaking delegates leave the hall.
Brismee repeatedly and loudly shows dissatisfaction over West's wasting of time.
West ends his speech amidst a general uproar.
Sorge replies to West and says his task is easy because he has not much to reply to. Section No. 12 was admitted under false pretences since West stated untruly that the section consisted mostly of wage-workers; the section was sufficiently informed of the demands of the opposing side and = the~^^2^^/3 wage-worker rule was not decreed but only recommended by the Federal Council. Mrs. Woodhull is pursuing personal aims in intervening in our affairs, as West himself told him. Their right to have their particular views on the women's question, religion, free love, etc., has not been disputed, what was disputed was the right to make the I.W.A. responsible for this. Section No.~12^^*^^ received the correspondence of the Jura Federation and the Universal Federalist Council in = London^^52^^ with the greatest pleasure. Section No. 12 was always carrying on intrigues furtively and importuning^^**^^ to obtain the supreme leadership of the I.W.A.,^^***^^ it even published and interpreted to its own benefit the General Council's decisions which were not in its = favour.^^83^^ Lastly it excommunicated the Fredch Communists and German atheists. "Here we demand discipline and submission not to persons, but to the principle, to the organisation; to win over America we absolutely need the Irish and they will never be on our side if we do not break off all connections with Section No. 12 and the 'free lovers'. The working class in America consists of 1) Irishmen, 2) Germans, 3) Negroes and 4) Americans. Free us from elements which are harmful to us and thus give us a free field of action and free play so that we can make something decent out of the International in America!"
Sauva has no intention of defending Section No. 12 but is ready to break a lance for the services and good qualities _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "and its supporters have shamelessly paraded all disagreements in public, it has not paid its members' subscriptions this year, it".---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "the General Council''. ---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "in America''. ---Ed.
137 of Mrs. Woodhull, who contributed 100 dollars for the mourning = procession.^^54^^ Mrs. Woodhull is a great orator, she defended the Commune, founded many sections, etc. Section No. 2 holds that the General Council acted too hastily in suspending Section No. 12, which has certainly paid its subscriptions. The excommunication of the French Communists and German atheists was not official.Guillaume affirms that the Jura Federation never wrote to America, but that he, Guillaume, wrote a private letter to Vespillier in New York on the occasion of contradictory information on the American split in order to ask for information on the state of affairs. Vespillier sent him the following private letter in reply. He reads out the letter, which contains accusations against Sorge, "Marx's right hand'', and his creatures, and says that his section (No. 18) could never join those who were the instigators of all the splits and had carried out the "coup d'etat" about which Sorge had informed only his creatures, etc., etc. The letter was dated August 4.
Sorge demands a copy of Vespillier's letter in order to call its author in America to account; it shows that the enemy always resorts to calumny localise he believes that something will stick. This he illustrates with an example from Elliott's letter to the Star of December 9, 1871, in which he could not refute a word of Sorge's reply offering to prove before any selected committee that Elliott had lied.
Guillaume promises to hand the letter in to the secretariat for a copy to be = made.^^55^^
Tif Moussu protests against Laugrand's letter, which was published in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne and was full of lies and = outrages.^^58^^ (General animation and shouting.)
Brismee proposes, after order has been restored, that the I.W.A. should not recognise any section composed of bourgeois members.
West asks to be allowed to speak on this proposal.
Hereupon there is much noise, during which Citizen Cyrille puts his hat on, and, gesticulating wildly with his arms and legs, leaves the hall.
flerraillier proposes a vote by roll-call.
138Votes in favour of Brismee's proposal:
Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, Brismee, Barry, Cournet, Guno, Coenen, Dupont, Dave, Duval, Dereure, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Friedlander, Frankel, Guillaume, Gerhard, Herman, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Marx, Kugelmann, Lessner, Lucain, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Milke, Mottershead, Pihl, Ranvier, Swarm, Sauva, Sorge, Scheu, Serraillier, Sexton, Schumacher, Splingard, Walter, Wroblewski, Van den Abeele, Vaillant, Vichard, Dietzgen, Wilmot.
Abstentions:
Eccarius, Harconrt, Roach, Schwitzguebel, Van der Hout, Farga Pellicer, Morago, Alerini, Marselau.^^*^^
6 delegates are absent.
In the vote on West's mandate the following voted against: Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, Brismee, Barry, Cournet, Cuno, Coenen, Dupont, Dave, Duval, Dereure, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Friedlander, Frankel, Gerhard, Herman, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Marx, Kugelmann, Lessner, Lucain, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Roach, Swarm, Sauva, Sorge, Scheu, Serraillier, Sexton, Schumacher, Splingard, Waller, Wroblewski, Van der Hout, Van den Abeele, Vaillant, Vichard, Dietzgen, Dumont, MacDonnell, and Wilmot.
Abstentions:
Eccarius, Guillaume, Harcourt, Mottershead, Schwitzguebel, Farga Pellicer, Morago, Alerini, Marselau.
Thus West's mandate is rejected by 49 votes with 9 abstentions.
The Spaniards again state that they will abstain from voting until the manner of voting is regulated.
Harcourt does not understand the question because of faulty translating into English by Eccarius.
Eccarius explains his abstention from voting by his business connections with the secessionists; he says lie himself is accused in this affair, and the letters addressed to the General Council are lies. Sorge accused him in Germany of intriguing, and yet Sorge is the initiator of the whole dispute, as he, Eccarius, would willingly prove.
_-_-_^^*^^ In the original numerals from one to nine corresponding to their alphabetical order are placed in Marx's hand after each of the names.--- Ed.
139Mottershead abstained from voting because of Barry's mandate.
Roach, because if Brismee's proposal was accepted half of the General Council would have to resign.
Guillaume, because West was not allowed to speak a second time, and moreover the statement made by Eccarius satisfied him.
Schwitzguebel is not yet clear enough about the case.
A motion is submitted that the question of the Alliance be submitted to a special commission and discussed at a closed sitting.
On a motion by Serraillier it is decided that this question will be dealt with this evening. The evening sitting will be at 1900 hrs., a public sitting will be held tomorrow.
The sitting is adjourned at about 1600 hrs.
SIXTH SITTING
September 4, 1872, Wednesday evening
The evening sitting is opened at 1930 hrs.
The roll-call reveals that 13 delegates are absent.
Sorge proposes to proceed immediately with the election of a bureau.
Dupont demands that the minutes be read out.
The Chairman^^*^^ thinks this is superfluous: he declares that West has not the right to attend the sitting.
Sorge demands an urgent decision on his motion.
Adopted unanimously.
The mandate committee reports that a mandate has arrived for the delegates of the Jura Federation.
Sorge insists on the immediate election of a bureau.
Herman suggests the candidatures of Gerhard, Brismee I and Dupont.
Hepner nominates Ranvier, Sorge and Gerhard.
Gerhard declines.
Wilmot demands that each of the three chairmen be elected separately.
_-_-_^^*^^ Van den Abeele.---Ed.
140Franfeel proposes that the three" be elected simultaneously.
Frankel's proposal is adopted.
As a result of the voting Ranvier is elected chairman and Gerhard and Dupont vice-chairmen.
Dupont declines in favour of Brismee.
Brismee does not agree.
Then Sorge is elected vice-chairman unanimously.
In accordance with the proposal submitted by Kngelmann the Chairman^^*^^ expresses thanks to the preceding chairman^^**^^ for his hard work and then assumes the chairmanship as an honour not for him, but for the Ferre Section, the city of Paris and the Commune.
As translators into the various languages the following are appointed: Cuno, Frankel, Eccarius, Wilmot, Dave, Van den Abeele, Marselau, and Alerini.
On Sorge's proposal the delegates who have so far been acting as secretaries are confirmed by acclamation with the exception of Roach, whose place MacDonnell has taken for English, and Marselau becomes secretary for Spanish.
Van den Abeele informs the press that there will be a public sitting tomorrow atlOOOhrs., and that places will be reserved for reporters.
The Congress approves these measures.
The Dutch Federal Council invites the delegates to Amsterdam after the proceedings are over.^^***^^
The discussion on this is deferred till later.
Johannard asks that a closed sitting be held at 0800 hrs. and that entrance cards be issued to avoid disorder.
Van der Hout observes that various communications have been received from the ``authority''.
Gerhard proposes that 1 florin be charged for admittance.
Friedlander protests against this.
Eccarius is of the opinion that the whole matter should be left to the Hague Party comrades.
It is decided to proceed with the order of the day.
_-_-_^^*^^ Ranvier.---Ed.
^^**^^ Van den Abeele.---Ed.
^^***^^ See the text of the invitation on p. 276 of this volume.---Ed.
141J. fh. Becker and his comrades propose that the General Council's powers, its seat, the convening of the next Congress and the review of the Rules be discussed immediately.
Sauva wants to hear the General Council's report first so as to be able to put questions to it; moreover he also favours the election of a new General Council.
Lafargue seconds Becker's proposal, questions should be asked at a closed sitting, and the Germans, who are leaving for = Mayence,^^57^^ should be given the opportunity to take part in the most important debates.
Scheu, who signed the proposal, says that their desire is perfectly legitimate, for the German Working Men's Congress is important and the Social-Democratic Workers' Party in Germany is a branch of the I.W.A. "Give us the opportunity to fulfil our mandate!"
Brismee wants the Rules to be discussed first, because it is possible there might not be a General Council any more and therefore no powers would be needed for it. The Belgians want no extension of the General Council's powers, on the contrary, they came here to take away from it the crown which it usurped. It is true that the General Council has not interfered in Belgian affairs and the Belgians cannot complain about it, but what has happened in America, Spain and Italy has shown that the General Council has too much power and that in the future it must be prevented from interfering in the internal affairs of the federations and sections.
J. Ph. Becker concurs with Scheu but is of the opinion that many false assumptions are being made. Sauva's demand relative to the report is justified, but the most urgent work is to define the position of the General Council and this must be settled first. Already at two previous congresses this procedure was adopted. He hopes that the Congress will be moved by this proposal to make haste. The arguments are therefore absolutely irrefutable and, besides, nearly all the German delegates present must go to the Mayence Congress---a fact which must assuredly be taken into consideration.
Morago protests most vehemently at not being allowed to speak.
142Guillaume supports Morago.
Hepner explains the proposal and demands that what is most urgent be done first; the opponents are precisely the ones who should be in favour of this so that they may put forward their ``complaints'' against the General Council as soon as possible; they have been grumbling the whole year and now we should like to hear what they actually want.
The debate is closed.
Becker's proposal is adopted with a big majority (41 votes).
A proposal is put forward by the Spaniards demanding that in the future the voting in the Congress be carried out according to the number of members represented.^^*^^
Morago defends this "truly revolutionary reform"^^**^^ and explains that he and his colleagues have been instructed not to vote before this proposal has been adopted as a decision, the Spaniards being of the opinion that a delegate who represents 100 electors cannot have the same power as one who represents 2,000.
Engels objects to this proposal because its immediate implementation at this Congress would be contrary to the Rules and would be very disadvantageous to both the English and the Germans; if it were to be done the Germans and the English should have voted and elected their delegates quite differently in order to be able to oppose the Spaniards. As a ``pan-Germanist'', by the way, he is very much in favour of this, for in this way Germany and England would have a definite majority. It is not our fault that the Spaniards are in the sad position of not being able to vote, nor is it the fault of the Spanish workers but of the Spanish Federal Council, which is composed of members of the Alliance.
Herman states that the Belgians agree entirely with the Spaniards.^^***^^
Hepner draws attention to the fact that the Congress has just decided to proceed with the definition of the General Council's powers and that therefore the proposal of Morago _-_-_
^^*^^ See Document No. k.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Wisconsin copy has: "this alteration of the manner of voting in the spirit of democracy".---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 5.---Ed.
143 and his comrades must be abandoned in favour of the order of the day.Wilmot objects to this.
The Chairman slates that as it is late (2330 hrs.) the hall must be cleared.
The urgency of Morago's proposal is rejected by an enormous majority against 7 votes.
Guillaume announces that from now on the Jura Federation will no longer take part in the voting.
The Chairman explains that the Rules were made not by the General Council or by individual persons but by the I.W.A. and its congresses, and that therefore anyone who attacks the Rules is attacking the I.W.A. and its existence!
A closed sitting is scheduled for tomorrow at 0800 hrs.
The sitting is adjourned after midnight.
SEVENTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday morning
Thursday, September 5
The sitting cannot be opened at 0800 hrs. because the previous chairman, Van den Abeele, took the list of delegates home and will not appear in the hall before 1000 hrs.
After a considerable time the Congress gets down to work.
The Chairman reads out the order of the day of the public sitting and letters which have been received.
Guillaume asks for the appointment of a commission to compare the original of Laugrand's letter with the text published in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne^^*^^
Marx points out that the letter in question contains nothing but lies and abuse.
Le Moussu objects to the appointment of such a commission because by publishing that letter the Jura people made themselves accomplices in that lying and abuse.
Nevertheless, finally, after the disturbance has subsided, Marx, Johannard, and Lafargue are appointed members of the commission = demanded.^^68^^
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 6.---Ed.
144A telegram^^*^^ is received from Geneva contesting the authenticity of Zhukovsky's mandate, a letter is to follow.
Zhukovsky maintains that the senders of the telegram are not members of his section.
Enyels protests against the presence of West and reports words of this man to the effect that if the doors of the hall were closed to him he would get in through the window, and if this were impossible, through the chimney.
West is made to withdraw to the gallery.
Loud cries are heard demanding the appointment of a commission to investigate the Alliance.
Sorge proposes the appointment of 5 members to this commission and an intermission of 5 minutes for their election.
Marx informs the Congress that the General Council's report is intended for publication, and as the General Council could not report on various national organisations either publicly or confidentially, and as, moreover, several federations, e.g., the Jura and Belgian federations, had not fulfilled their obligations in respect of correspondence, the report is only a general one.^^**^^ The reporter praises the American Federation because it is the only one which has met all its obligations in respect of correspondence and subscriptions. He expresses the wish that steps will be taken to fix the order of the day for the public and closed sittings.
G-uillaume observes in connection with Sorge's proposal that the minority has so far not a single member on a commission and demands that the ``former'' members of the Alliance be allowed to appoint one member of the investigation commission.
The proposal is".taken into account.
GrUillaume, after consulting the Spaniards, states that they nominate Splingard.
Marx observes that in order to avoid time-wasting translations only delegates who can speak French should be elected to the commission.
Cuno, Walter, Lucain, Vichard and Roche Splingard are elected to the commission.
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the telegram on p. 311 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Wisconsin copy has: "The General Council could not make a more developed report."---Ed.
145Alerini and Guillaume propose that 5 impartial members should be appointed as a commission to investigate the accusations against the General Council and its "underground intrigues".^^*^^
8orge declares in favour of this^.proposal if the investigation is extended to include Eccarius.
Marx^^**^^ expresses the wish that the commission to investigate the accusations against the General Council should not be elected but appointed by the accusers themselves.
Guillaume's proposal that this work should be entrusted to Alliance commission (i.e., to Cuno and the others) is adopted by 14 votes to = 4.^^59^^
There is then an intermission to prepare for the public sitting.
EIGHTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday morning
Soon after 1000 hrs. the public sitting begins.
A numerous public fills the places reserved for it and the galleries are occupied by reporters from the biggest newspapers in the world.
The roll-call shows that only 3 delegates are absent.
The Chairman addresses the assembly, stating first the reasons why no Congress has been held in the past 2 years; then he proceeds to expound the attitude of the I.W.A. to the Commune. He defends the Commune against the widespread attacks resulting from ignorance of the state of affairs and points out that all these reproaches and accusations are the work of the Versailles "bandits of the party of order" and praises the countries which offered asylum to the Commune refugees and gave a fitting rebuff to the infamous Jules Favre's base requests for extradition. He includes Holland among these countries and ends with cheers for the I.W.A. _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "(the Leipzig treason process)".--- Ed.
^^**^^ The Wisconsin copy has "Le Moussu" instead of ``Marx''; see p. 61 of this volume.---Ed.
10---0960
146The invitation extended by the Dutch Federal Council to visit Amsterdam is read out.^^*^^
On Lafargue's proposal the reply to this offer is postponed to the closed sitting.
Dr. Sexton then reads out the report of the General Council in English, Longuet in French, and Mora: in German,^^**^^ after which Van den Abeele translates^^***^^ it into Dutch.
The report pays special attention to the persecutions the I.W.A. was subjected to everywhere and still is, especially in Austria, the Don Quixote of reaction, in France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, and Italy; to the fact that the existence of the I.W.A. is considered as incompatible with the present social institutions in all countries and for that reason it is regarded and prosecuted as high treason; how these persecutions began in Vienna and spread over the whole Continent; how the I.W.A., the representative of labour, grew all the stronger as persecutions increased and how it has recently taken root especially in Ireland, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, and^^****^^ Brazil. What great progress the proletarian movement has made can be seen in particular from the fact that whereas it took years for the workers in various countries to understand the June 1848 struggle, the workers of all countries immediately acclaimed the Commune.
The report is frequently interrupted by applause from the delegates and the public.
Finally the report is adopted unanimously.^^*****^^
One French delegate (who?) tables the proposal (or was it a telegram?) to express our sympathy with.the persecuted members of the workers' party in all countries and our fraternal greetings to all our suffering friends.^^*)^^
The proposal is adopted unanimously.^^**)^^
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the invitation on p. 276 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ See the text of the report on pp. 211--19 of this volume.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the words "very slowly and inaccurately" are struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "in Buenos Aires".---Ed.
^^*****^^ Here the phrase "with the usual abstention by the Spaniards and the Jura Federation" is struck out.---Ed.
^^*)^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "in France, Germany, and so on''. See the text of the greeting on pp. 181--82 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**)^^ Here the phrase "again the Spaniards and the Jura people abstain!" is struck out.---Ed.
147On a motion by Brlamee it is decided that the closed sittings will be held during the daytime and the public ones in the evening to give the Hague workers the opportunity to attend.
Sorge proposes a 15 minutes intermission.
Johannard is of the opinion that after such strenuous work at least an hour's rest is necessary.
Brismee seconds Sorge's proposal.
JohannarcTs amendment is adopted.
Cuno makes in Italian a personal statement against the Prussian Consul in Milan, Schramm.^^*^^
A greetings telegram is received from the Geneva Federation and best wishes to the comrades of the Commune from Ostyn.^^**^^
The list is read out and the sitting is closed at about 1500 hrs.
NINTH SITTING
September 5, 1872, Thursday evening
At 1615 hrs. the public sitting is resumed with a roll-call of delegates.
Dietzgen informs in writing of his departure.^^***^^ Scheu has also left.
Ranvier reads out part of a memorandum from the Ferre Section in Paris inveighing against Napoleon, Bakunin, Malon, Richard, Gaspard Blanc,^^****^^ etc. and also against the federation composed of such elements and so on.^^*****^^
Wilmot protests^^*)^^ against this letter.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the following sentence is struck out: "He is asked to translate this statement, which he does only after some hesitation saying: 'If by chance or intentionally the Consul in Milan, Schramm, happens to be in the hall I challenge him to meet me after the sitting if he does not wish me to call him a cowardly thief."---Ed.
^^**^^ See pp. 271--72 of this volume.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 8.---Ed.
^^****^^ The original has by mistake: "Gaspard, Richard, Blanc".---Ed.
^^*****^^ See the text of the memorandum on pp. 237--41 of this volume.---Ed.
^^*)^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "against the reading out of this letter".---Ed.
10*
148Guillaume protests at such ``honourable'' names as Bakunin and Malon being linked with those of wretched people such as Napoleon, Richard, Blanc, and so on.
Longuet objects to Wilmot's opinion.
The Congress proceeds with the order of the day.
A proposal is tabled by Arnaud, Cournet, Dereure, Le Moussu, Ranvier, and Vaillant censuring abstention from political activity and demanding that the question of the militant organisation of the proletariat's revolutionary forces and of the political struggle be placed on the order of the day for the next Congress and that the General Council be instructed to present the next Congress with a comprehensive report thereon.^^*^^
On a proposal by Dupont it is decided to appoint a commission to examine all material handed in to the Congress and to report on it. The following are elected to the commission: Dupont, Hepner, Frankel, Dereure, Lafargue, = Brismee.^^80^^
Herman speaks on the order of the day, the discussion on the General Council's powers, and expounds the views of most of the Belgians, who, while wishing to retain a General Council, nevertheless want to divest it of all powers.
Lafargue in reply to Herman's exposition demands that a vote be taken at first as to whether the General Council is to continue to exist or not.
Dave speaks against Lafargue and for Herman.
Longuet wants a general discussion first, with two speakers for the motion and two against and then a discussion of special points.
Dupont proposes to proceed simply with the order of the day, which is agreed upon.
Lafargue then speaks in favour of the institution of the General Council, endeavouring to prove its necessity by the economic conditions of society. He concludes with the _-_-_
^^*^^ See Document No. 9. Here follow the signatures: "Hoboken, October 1, 1872. Certified true copy: Th. F. Cuno, F. A. Sorge.'' Thus ends the first part of Cuno's copy, which numbers 36 pages. Sorge sent it to Marx without waiting for the end of the copy. The continuation occupies 12 pages (3 double sheets) on ruled paper bearing a stamp (the Capitol building in Washington). The notes are close-written, without spacing, in another kind of ink.---Ed.
149 statement of the Portuguese: "If we did not have a General Council, we would immediately institute it."^^*^^Guillaume takes the floor and says that two big ideas are asserting themselves in the movement, that of centralisation in the hands of a few men and that of a free federation of those whom equality of economic conditions in each country unites in the single idea of the interests of all countries. The movement cannot be the conception of a single mind. No General Council vested with authority is required for leadership of the movement. "We want no authority, and we in the Jura Federation have none. We rely upon experience. Do we need the General Council in the economic struggle (strikes, etc.)? Has it ever once organised a strike^^**^^? Do we need a General Council for the political struggle? Has the General Council ever put up barricades, or will it ever put up any? Of what use has it been here or there? If one asks, 'Does the I.W.A. need a head?' we answer 'No!'"
Sorge replies to Guillaume: We also have experience and would like to see what the Jura people have achieved with their ideas. What have they to show? Guillaume says they have no authority in their federation. If only they had had no authority to publish Laugrand's lying, infamous letter! If the General Council has been of no use in uprisings, he (Sorge) points out the case of the Paris bronze-workers, of the English engineers, of the New York sewing-machine makers, who quickly grasped how useful such an international union = was.^^61^^ The General Council may not be a general, but it must be a general staff which forms and organises the cadres.
When Guillaume wants to have the I.W.A. without a head he is debasing it to the lowest animal organism. We want not only a head, but a head full of brains, and when our enemies fire with cannon we don't want to reply with peas or pellets!
Morago says that he favours the abolition of the General Council and the retention of only a correspondence and statistics centre. The Spanish Federation is completely _-_-_
^^*^^ See p. 264 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Wisconsin copy has here: "at least one strike".---Ed.
150 autonomous and demands a true, free, autonomous I.W.A. The General Council must have no power at all, either over sections or over federations. The number of members in the General Council matters little to them. If the Congress wants to give the General Council still more power the Spanish Federation will not allow anything to be imposed or foisted on it, for it is free and autonomous and refuses to be ruled in any way. Those who want to increase the power of the General Council will have to bear the consequences.Serraillier and Dupont move that the public sitting should be postponed till tomorrow evening at 1800 hrs. This is carried.
The sitting is adjourned at 2300 hrs.
TENTH SITTING
September 6, 1872, Friday morning
Friday, September 6
The sitting begins at 0900 hrs. with the roll-call which shows that 7 delegates are absent.
Walter requests permission for the commission on the Alliance to withdraw and begin its work.
Adopted.
Sorge, Becker and other comrades urgently move that the discussion of the Rules on the powers of the General Council begin immediately, 5 minutes each being allowed to one speaker for and one against and a vote then taken.^^*^^
Dave asks for the minutes to be read out.
Dupont asks for a closed sitting for this purpose.
Van den Abeele objects to the motion of Sorge and his comrades.
Vaillant is for the motion; he says that we came here to improve the organisation, and therefore we must get to work.
The motion of Sorge and his comrades is adopted by 34 votes to 4.
_-_-_^^*^^ See Document No. 12.---Ed.
151Discussion then begins on the following urgent motion made by the same delegates: General Regulations. General Council---Article 2.
``The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions, and to take care that in every country the principles and the General Rules and Regulations of the International are strictly observed.
``Article 6.---The General Council has also the right to suspend Branches, Sections, Federal Councils or committees, and federations of the International, till the meeting of the next Congress.
``Nevertheless, in the case of sections belonging to a federation, the General Council will exercise this right only after having consulted the respective Federal Council.
``In the case of the dissolution of a Federal Council, the General Council shall, at the same time, call upon the Sections of the respective Federation to elect a new Federal Council within 30 days at most.
``In the case of the suspension of an entire federation, the General Council shall immediately inform thereof the whole of the federations. If the majority of them demand it, the General Council shall convoke an extraordinary conference, composed of one delegate for each nationality, which shall meet within one month and finally decide upon the question.
``Nevertheless, it is well understood that the countries where the International is prohibited shall exercise the same rights as the regular federations."
/. Ph. Becker is for immediate consideration and says that properly speaking we should not need to speak any more about this, since we decided exactly the same thing earlier; we should feel pricks of conscience for not having decided or implemented anything by the 5th day; even the so-called opposition cannot be blamed for opposing us for the pleasure of opposing. The question under discussion is the principal one, if this were settled we should very quickly have finished with the rest. We all feel the need to go home soon, our purse strongly reminds us of this.
Vaillant also favours this: we must work and not merely make speeches; the principal questions must first be settled
152 and then we can go on to settle the question of politics and an increase of the subscription.Brismee says it is quite useless to discuss the powers of the General Council, the Belgians do not want the General Council to have any powers, therefore this is a question of principle on which all the Belgians are unanimous. The delegates of the Vesdre valley even demanded the complete abolition of the General Council, and we demand that the General Council should be only the clerk of the I.W.A. and should not interfere in the internal affairs of a country.
Longuet is of the opinion that the people cannot be everywhere, it must therefore have representatives who carry out certain work which not everybody can do. Fluse, who demands the abolition of the General Council, is more logical than Brismee, for no General Council is required to do the work which Brismee demands of the General Council and which could quite well be done without it.
Guillaume says: We have already set forth our views and will not discuss such proposals; I therefore propose an immediate vote; let the majority have the courage to come forward in full strength; he believes, by the way, that many delegates among the majority have not the backing of any electors.
Serraillier says that he is not tied down here like Guillaume and his comrades, who have already made up their minds about everything in advance since they have accepted imperative mandates which oblige them to vote in a certain way or to withdraw. He therefore turns Guillaume's words against Guillaume himself. He affirms, and he has the proof of it in his pocket, that the French delegates represent 30 departements and that at present the I.W.A. is better organised in France than under the Empire, and that the French members of the International entirely approve the Conference decisions on = politics^^82^^ and the actions of the General Council!
A proposal to end the debate is adopted by all but 5 votes.
Sauva thinks that one speaker for and one against cannot be representative of all opinions.
Article 2 now comes up for discussion.
Morago argues that the General Council can interpret 153 the Congress decisions, the Rules, etc., in its own way and that there is no means of countering that; he therefore asks what guarantee is provided against possible abuse of power by the General Council. The Spaniards hold that it would be dangerous to accept Article 2 and are against any granting of powers to the General Council, none of them want to be ruled.
Lafargue argues that what Morago says against the General Council's powers could also be said against individual sections which, in countries where the I.W.A. is banned, are sometimes composed of spies and police agents. If Morago says so much about possible despotism on the part of the General Council, he must realise that his and his comrades' way of speaking is most tyrannical since they want to force us to yield to them under the threat of their breaking away.
Article 2 is read out and is adopted by 40 votes to 5 with 11 abstentions.
Dupont demands a censure for those who are leaving.
Van der Hout objects to the imperative mandates and expresses the wish that the minority will make concessions to the majority.
Article 6 comes up for discussion.
Sauva says that it has been erroneously affirmed here (by Sorge) that the French sections in the United States favour an increase of the General Council's powers. They are for the retention of the General Council; his mandate says that the General Council has the right to suspend sections and federations only in the cases defined by the Congress, not otherwise.
Herman tries to cite examples to show that thejright of suspension has unpleasant consequences.
Marx says: "We demand these powers not for us, but for the future General Council. We would rather abolish the General Council than make it a letter-box according to Brismee's ideas; in such a case journalists, i.e., non-workers,, would lay their hands on the leadership of the Association."
He wonders how the Jura Federation and the other abstentionists could support Section No. 12 since this section wanted to make the I.W.A. a means for supporting bourgeois policies.
Anyone who smiles sceptically at the mention of police 154 sections must know that such sections were formed in France, Austria and elsewhere, and the General Council received a request from Austria not to recognise any section which was not founded by delegates of the General Council or the organisation there.
Vesinier and his comrades, whom the French refugees recently expelled, are naturally for the Jura Federation. The General Council has received such bitter accusations against the Belgian Federal Council for abuse of power, arbitrariness and nepotism as have never been made against any other federal council, and this indeed from the Belgian workers, as the letters prove. Individuals like Vesinier, Landeck and others, in my opinion, form first a federal council, and then a federation and sections; agents of Bismarck could do the same, therefore the General Council must have the right to dissolve or suspend a federal council or a federation, then there can be an appeal to the sections, which can sometimes be most appropriate in order to decide by popular vote whether a federal council still expresses the will of the people. In Austria, bawlers, Ultramontanes, Radicals and provocateurs form sections in order to discredit the I.W.A.; in France a police commissary formed a section; despite this, the organisation is best where the I.W.A. is banned, because persecution always has this result.
EVen now the General Council could suspend a whole federation by suspending one section after another. In the event of suspension of a federal council or a federation the General Council exposes itself to a reproof or a censure and will therefore use the right of suspension only in extreme cases. But whether we grant the General Council the rights of a Negro prince or of the Russian tsar, its power is illusory as soon as the General Council ceases to express the will of the majority of the I.W.A. The General Council has no army, no budget, it is only a moral force and it will always be powerless if it lias not the support of the whole Association.
Lafargue says that the General Council has been reproached with convening the Congress in The Hague in order to assure itself a majority. Now, seeing how the Dutch and Ihe Belgians always vole against the General Council, one can tell what preparations the General Council made.
155Dave asks why the Congress was convened in The Hague.
Marx informs the Congress that this was done on the proposal of the Belgians.
Brismee confirms this.
Guillaume states that the Jura Federal Council is at the same time the editorial committee of the Bulletin^^*^^ and is therefore responsible to the Federation.
The vote is taken and Article 6 is adopted by 36 votes to 6 and 15 abstentions.
Vaillant, Arnaud, and Cournet propose that the article on political action of the working class and the question of raising the subscription be discussed.
The English delegates make a joint protest against the disregard for their right to speak and reproach the French delegates for monopolising the right of discussion by constantly preventing them from speaking as a result of their liveliness and vehemence.^^**^^
Chairman Ranvier says that they are themselves to blame because they constantly ask to speak too late; however he promises to have the English translation always given first in future.
The English delegates declare themselves satisfied with this.
Longuet asks for the article on the political action of the working class to be placed on the order of the day for the public sitting.
Consul Schramm from Milan appears and causes a great disturbance by his protests until Cuno goes out with him.
Schwitzguebel demands discussion of the Spanish proposal on a change in the manner of voting.
Engels, Marx, and nine other members of the hitherto existing General Council propose that the General Council for 1872--1873 be transferred to New York and be composed of the following members of the American Federal Council: Kavanagh, Saint-Glair, Cetti, Leviele, Laurel, Bertrand, Bolte, and Carl, with the right to bring their number up to 15.^^***^^
Johannard is against London as the future seat of the _-_-_
^^*^^ Bulletin de la Federation jurasstenne.---Ed.
^^**^^ See Document No. 14.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document^No. 16.---Ed.
156 General Council. But Engels' proposal is no better; he [Johannardl has not yet made up his mind where the General Council should be moved to.Ranvier proposes the following order of the day for the public sitting: ending of yesterday's debate, manner of voting, and 3rd, the political action of the working class.
This is adopted.
Engels speaks in favour of his proposal for the General Council to be transferred to New York. The General Council has so far always been in London because only there could it be international and its papers and members could be in safety. But in New York our papers are as safe as in London whereas they are not safe in any place on the Continent, not even in Brussels or Geneva, as can be seen from the police incidents that have taken place there. The party dissensions have become so sharp in London that the seat must be changed.
Besides, the accusations against the General Council have become so vehement and continuous that the majority of the previous members are tired of it and resolved not to accept a seat on it any more. He can say this quite definitely in respect of Marx and himself. Moreover the previous General Council has never by any means been unanimous, as can be testified by all the members. The General Council has now been in the same place for eight years, there must be a change at last to avoid a feared ossification. Marx already proposed on this ground in 1870 that the General Council should be moved to Brussels, but at the time all the federations pronounced in favour of it remaining in London. Where should the General Council be moved to now? To Brussels? The Belgians themselves declare that this is not appropriate, because there are no guarantees of safety for either persons or papers. To Geneva? The Genevans are resolutely opposed, partly for the same reasons as the Belgians, and refer to the confiscation of the Utin papers.
So there is no other place left but New York. There our papers will be in safety, we have a new, strong organisation there and our party is genuinely international there as in no other place in the world. Look at the New York Federal Council. It is composed of Irish, French, Italian, Swedish, German^ and soon also American members. The objection 157 that New York is too far away is not tenable, for that will be of a certain advantage for European federations, which are jealous of any interference of the General Council in their internal affairs, for the considerable distance itself makes such interference difficult and will prevent individual federations from obtaining too great an influence in the General Council,- moreover, the General Council has the right and even the duty to appoint special representatives in Europe in certain cases and in respect of certain countries as it has always done so far.
Vaillant objects to the transfer of the General Council to New York, admits that New York is the best place after London, but the dissensions at present in America are too great and some of the organisations are even in the service of bourgeois politics. New York is too far from the field of action and from the countries where the I.W.A. is banned.^^*^^
He regrets it very much and it is a great pity that many tested men withdraw and will no longer devote their strength to the General Council, but there are enough good Internationals in London for a General Council to be formed with ease.
Sauva favours a change in the seat and composition of the General Council but has not yet himself made up his mind whether New York is the best place; however he prefers New York to London. He is also against the General Council itself bringing its membership up to 15; the Congress should elect the whole General Council and not trust a supplementary election to people who, despite very good intentions (he repeats this), have done much harm. With the best intentions in the world the North American Federal Council cannot overcome personal factors and represents authoritarianism just as much if not more than the previous General^^**^^ Council,
A proposal to close the debate is adopted.
Serralllier proposes that Engels' proposal be divided into three parts: 1. Should the General Council be moved? 2. Where to? 3. Election of the members of the General Council.
_-_-_^^*^^ The Wisconsin copy adds: "and for that reason is in the best condition (in Austria, Hungary, France, Germany)."---Ed.
^^**^^ The original has ``Federal'' by mistake instead of ``General''.---Ed.
158Wilmut is for dividing il into two parts only.
SerrailHer's proposal is adopted.
The first question is decided in Hie affirmative by 26 votes to 23.
Marselau complains about delegates laughing when he and his comrades abstain from voting. They have definite instructions to that effect.
f-
Ranvier has no objection to these delegates themselves, but only to their mandate, which places them in this peculiar situation.
Alerini explains that they accepted the mandate of their own free will and that they entirely approve of it.
Farga Pellicer and Alerini propose that the General Council be moved to Brussels and that it be composed of two representatives of each federation designated by the federation itself.^^*^^
The result of the vote on the second question is: 31 votes for New York, 14 for London, 1 for Barcelona, 11 abstentions.
Cuno hands in a statement by the former consul in Milan Schramm, in which the consul apologises and says that he does not consider Cuno's words as an insult, since he is not the person meant by Cuno.^^**^^
Engels asks for the appointment of a commission to audit the books of the General Council, to consist of one person from each federation.
This is postponed to the public sitting and the sitting is adjourned until 1800 hrs.
ELEVENTH SITTING
September 6, 1872, Friday evening
At 1800 hrs. the public sitting begins.
The roll-call shows that 2 delegates are absent.
Vaillant proposes that the debate on the General Council be closed, since it is quite useless after the decisions taken at the closed sitting.
_-_-_^^*^^ The Wisconsin copy adds: "and responsible to it alone".---Ed.
^^**^^ See p. 278 of this volume.---Ed.
159Hepner asks whether this means that no objection can be made to what was said yesterday. He and Heim ask to speak for that purpose.
Van der Hout makes a speech to the public in which he refutes with great heat the lies and calumnies of the Hague newspaper Dagblad.
The Chairman then reads out the decisions concerning the General Council adopted at the morning silting.
Cuno reads out the letter of apology written by Consul Schramm^^*^^ and publicly withdraws his statement made against him yesterday.
Guillaume demands that the manner of voting be discussed.
Johannard proposes that this be done at a closed sitting.
The Congress adopts Johannard's proposal and proceeds to discuss the new article of the Rules on the political action of the working class.
The article to be inserted between Articles 7 and 8 of the General Rules reads:
``In its struggle against the collective power of the propertied classes, the working class cannot act as a class except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opposed to all old parties formed by the propertied classes.
``This constitution of the working class into a political party is indispensable in order to insure the triumph of the social revolution, and of its ultimate end, the abolition of classes.
``The combination of forces which the working class has already effected by its economical struggles ought, at the same time, to serve as a lever for its struggles against the political power of landlords and capitalists.
``The lords of land and the lords of capital will always use their political privileges for the defence and perpetuation of their economical monopolies, and for the enslavement of labour. The conquest of political power has thereore become the great duty of the working class."
Vaillant speaks in favour of including this decision in the Rules. Force is used against us, and force can be opposed only by force. Economic struggle must be inseparable from _-_-_
^^*^^ See the text of Sehramm's letter on pp. 278--79 of this volume.---Ed.
160 political struggle and the abolition of class rule must be carried through in the revolutionary process by means of the dictatorship of the proletariat. We have against us two kinds of abstentionists: 1. Abstentionists through ignorance, and 2. Abstentionists by policy, who live by politics, raise a hue and cry, and are today sitting in Versailles; by the way, France is not the only place where there is a Versailles. We must form our own party in opposition to all the parties of the ruling and property-owning classes, without any connection with the bourgeois classes. The Inaugural Address already recommended political action by the proletariat and the General Council has never failed in its duty in this respect. The London Conference understood very well the necessity for this article, it assumed the responsibility for the Commune and the proletarians in all countries did the same.Hepner says he always believed that alltjmembers of the International were unanimous on this point. Yesterday evening two great ideas were mentioned: centralisation and federation. The latter expressed itself in abstention, but this abstention from all political activity leads to the police station, of which we have experience in Germany. The Bakuninist party in Germany was the General Association of German Workers under Schweitzer, and the latter was finally unmasked as a police = agent.^^63^^ At the outbreak of the war these people were extremely patriotic in their mood, whereas our party behaved in a completely neutral manner and shouted not only "Down with Napoleon!" but also "Down with Bismarck!" The Schwietzerians abused us and broke our windows! Those were the results of the abstention policy. Only after the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine did these people realise their mistake and become conscious of their chauvinism.
To what, then, does political abstention lead? To calmly looking on with one's hands in one's pockets when a revolution breaks out in France, political coup d'etat takes place? The International movement knows no abstention. There has been talk of imposing certain doctrines. No doctrines were forced on us. Name at least one! If you cannot give an answer it means that you are simply seeking a conflict. The General Council has occasionally put out manifestos 161 and circulars, and who among us did not welcome them with joy? After we had distributed more than 4,000 copies of the address on the Civil War in France and spread it also by the newspaper Volksstaat we ordered over 8,000 more separate copies. The German workers welcome such manifestos written by experienced and tested party comrades.
Here we have talk against authority: we also are against excesses of any kind but a certain authority, a certain prestige will always be necessary to provide cohesion in the party. It is logical that such anti-authoritarians have to abolish also the federal councils, the federations, the committees and even the sections, because authority is exercised to a greater or lesser degree by all of them; they must establish absolute anarchy everywhere, that is, they must turn the militant International into a petty-bourgeois party in a dressing-gown and slippers. How can one object to authority after the Commune? We German workers at least are convinced that the Commune fell largely because it did not exercise enough authority!
And yet, how strange is the logic of these anti-- authoritarians! Guillaume, for instance, accuses the General Council of having done nothing either in the economic or the political struggle, of not having asserted its authority, and in the same breath he demands the abolition of the General Council for using its authority too harshly. The absurdity of the anti-authoritarians is brilliantly manifested here. The General Council is further reproached with not having organised any revolution, not having built any barricades! Are these poor people so ignorant that they think the revolution can be madel Do they not yet know that revolutions will arise only in a natural way, that they are consequences of historical development? Have they not yet been through the stage of barricadology?
During the translation of this speech into the different languages the public grows impatient and begins to make a noise.
Guillaume demands that the hall be cleared. (There are calls of "Too authoritarian" addressed Lo him.)
Sorge moves that the silling be interrupted until the hall is cleared.
It is quiet again for a while and Guillaume answers: 162 ``There is a misunderstanding between us, and in my name and that of my comrades I wish to clear it up. There was already talk of this in = Basle.^^64^^ We hold the view which Hins put forward in Brussels when he declared: We do not want to interfere in the present government systems, in parliamentarianism, because we want to overthrow all governments (aplatir). We have unfortunately allowed ourselves to be called abstentionists---an expression very badly chosen by Proudhon. We are supporters of a definite policy---that of social liquidation,^^*^^ the destruction of bourgeois politics, of the state. Hepner spoke of the German workers' attachment to the General Council and its manifestos. This is very natural, for in them the views of the German socialist party, and not of other countries' parties were represented.
To the reproach that the Commune was too little authoritarian the Communards themselves can reply by saying that abstention was preached in France by Proudhon and Longuet. (Shouts of "Gaspard Blanc and Richard!'')
The speaker replies to Hepner's reproach that the abstentionists in Germany are chauvinists by saying that in Switzerland the supporters of political activity hurried to the elections to the Grossrat and flirted with the bourgeoisie and are very nationalist and patriotic-minded. He wishes to speak about this in greater detail later. In the proposals submitted there are sentences which are based on the Communist Manifesto of 1848; he reads out the ten demands of the latter and asks whether this is not the same thing as was demanded in = Basle^^66^^? (Shouts of "Read on!'') In that he sees the basis for winning political power, the seizure of political power in order oneself to become bourgeois! We reject the seizure of political power in the state and demand, on the contrary, the complete destruction of the state as the expression of political power.
Marx addresses reproaches to the Flemish translator Van den Abeele.
Longuet says that Guillaume has never read Proudhon and many other socialists whom he attacks every day. Then he describes the condition of the Paris proletariat at the _-_-_
^^*^^ The Wisconsin copy has: ``revolution''. ---Ed.
163 time when Proudhon returned to Paris; the proletariat had no political organisation, but was only the plaything of bourgeois intriguers. That was why it happened that on September 4, 1870, power fell into the hands of the June butchers, of the incorrigible bourgeois; that was why in 1863 Proudhon had to preach abstention from politics to the workers, because the only correct policy would have been to take up arms. Later the I.W.A. gave them the possibility to discuss the economic question; if they had been better organised in a political party, Jules Favre and Co. would not have come to power and the Commune would not have been proclaimed in Paris alone, but in Berlin, Vienna and London and would have been victorious. But Hepner is mistaken when he sees lack of authority as one of the grounds for the fall of the Commune; the Commune fell through lack of political organisation! What is Bakunin's and Guillaume's collectivism without centralisation of forces? For political struggle the workers must organise in a political party, otherwise nothing remains of the International. But Guillaume and his teacher and master, Bakunin, cannot belong to the I.W.A. if they have such views!There is noise again in the hall during the translating. A general vote on the new articles of the Rules is called for.
Johannard makes a noise and the disturbances are so great that the Chairman closes the sitting at 2300 hrs.
TWELFTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Satiirday morning
Saturday, September 7. At 0930 hrs. the sitting begins.
A letter is read out from the Chairman, Ranvier, in which he informs the Congress of his departure owing to urgent circumstances.^^*^^
By decision of the Congress the chairmanship is assumed by Sorge. First of all he reads letters written by B. Becker, Schumacher, Arnaud, Barry, Cournet, Heim, Lessner, Sexton, Vaillant, informing of their departure and nearly _-_-_
^^*^^ See Document No. 20.---Ed.
1~1*
164 all expressing the wish that their vote be recorded in the minutes for the new articles of the Rules, the election of the new General Council, etc.^^*^^A telegram of greetings is received from Giessen.^^**^^
The Congress proceeds to the 3rd point of Serraillier's proposal adopted in part yesterday, i.e., to the election of the new General Council.
Sauva objects to the proposal to elect eight members of the American Federal Council as the General Council, repeats his previous statements on this point and asserts that the majority of that Federal Council are Germans.
Sorge interrupts him shouting: "That is untrue!" He hands over the chairmanship to J. Ph. Becker, and proves by Sauva's and Dereure's own words that the American Federal Council includes only 3 Germans and in all only 2 members of the old Provisional Federal Council which sat at 10 Ward Hotel. He shows by Sauva's conduct what value the assertions of the opponents have. However he does not wish to say any more about this in order not to waste precious time.
Marx describes the three parties existing in the International in America: 1) the genuine workers' parly; 2) the bourgeois or petty-bourgeois humbug party; and 3) the party of "wise men" who never know to whom they adhere and therefore do the most harm. They include Sauva, who goes through remarkable transformations: in the beginning in London he placed himself wholly on the side of the General Council, but now fraternises with the federalists, the Jura people, and the members of the Alliance. As far as Dereure's deal with Sauva is concerned, he regrets that Dereure agreed to this; Sauva's judgment on this question is of no value to him, although he would attach more importance to Dereure's opinion.
After this the original proposal on the election to the General Council of Kavanagh, Saint-Glair, Cetti, Laurel, Leviele, Bertrand, Bolte, and Carl with the right to bring their number up to 15 members, is adopted by 19 votes to 4 with 19 abstentions.
Heated objections are raised to the lawfulness of this _-_-_
^^*^^ See Documents Nos. 21--25.---Ed.
^^**^^ See p. 280 of this volume.---Ed.
165 vote because the majority of those who voted were not in favour of the proposal. Various proposals are tabled for regulating the situation.Dupont and Serraillier demand the insertion of Pillon's name in the list of the Council members.
Marx dispels the confusion by a proposal to reconsider the question.
Marx's proposal is adopted.
The proposal of the Spanish delegation for the election of the General Council by individual federations (two members from each) is rejected.
On a motion by Lafargue it is decided to elect 12 members of the new General Council with the right to bring the number up to 15, and to make a break of 5 minutes to prepare for the voting.
Sorgfi declares that ho has nothing to do with the deal between Dereure and Sauva and draws Dereure's attention to the impropriety of including four Frenchmen and only three Germans in the list which he [Dereure] and Sauva jointly drew up. He declares himself in favour of Dereure's election but by no means in favour of Sauva's and demands that at least one more German be included. He decidedly rejects his own candidature and informs the delegates that the move of the General Council to New York has come unexpectedly for him and for the New Yorkers, that it would be imposing on the New Yorkers a heavy burden which should not be made heavier by placing at their side men with whom they could not work well.^^*^^
At the voting the following are elected to the General Council for 1872--1873, with the right to bring the number of members up to 15:
Kavanagh, E. P. Saint-Glair, Fornaccieri, Laurel, Leviele, David, Dereure, Carl, Bolte, Bertrand, Speyer, and Ward.
It is decided to appoint one delegate per federation to audit the accounts of the General Council.
Then the vote is held which was interrupted yesterday, on the inclusion in the Bules of the article on the political action of the working class.
_-_-_^^*^^ These last words are written in Sorge's hand instead of "who would hinder all their work".---Ed.
166The article is adopted by 27 votes to 4 with 9 abstentions.^^*^^
Then the proposal to raise the subscriptions is discussed.
Brismee explains how impracticable and unreasonable this would be. A decrease would be more appropriate.
Frankel supports an increase of the subscriptions and points out that the General Council needs more money to carry out its work: it would be able to do considerably more if its treasury were better provided.
Dupont makes an objection to Frankel.
It is then decided by a big majority to leave the subscription at its present level.
Serraillier tables the motion:
``All the powers granted by the former General Council to persons, committees, sections, etc., shall be withdrawn and cancelled, and the General Council in New York will be empowered to issue new powers."
The motion is carried unanimously.
Lafargue, Sorge and others table the motion:
``The General Council will take into its hands the formation of international trade unions, make a report on it within a month, have it translated into the various languages and send it to all trade unions in all countries with which it can correspond for the purpose of obtaining their approval, collate and compare the approvals received, have a vote taken on the result and give the whole matter to the next General Congress to be finally approved and adopted."
The motion is carried without any objections.
A statement arrives from the Paris sections against sectarianism, particularly against the so-called Blanquists, although the sections have and express the greatest respect for Blanqui himself.^^**^^
The Congress decides to go to Amsterdam tomorrow Sunday morning at 0900 hrs. in acceptance of the invitation from the Dutch Federal Council.
Pihl from Copenhagen reads out a statement by the Danish party comrades in support of the General Council.^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the Wisconsin copy has: "and thereby becomes a lawful article of the Rules".---Ed.
^^**^^ See the text of the statement on pp. 233--36of this volume.---Ed.
^^***^^ See Document No. 26.---Ed.
167It is decided that the next closed sitting will begin at 1700 hrs. and that then will be a public sitting from 1900 to 2100 hrs. at which Dutch will be the main language spoken. After 2100 hrs. another closed sitting will be held.
The sitting is adjourned at 1530 hrs.
THIRTEENTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening
The public sitting begins at 1730 hrs.
Engels reports that the auditing commission has not yet finished its work, but representatives of eight federations, having examined the books, have already found the General Council's finance report correct and signed it. In compliance with demands he reads out the General Council's detailed accounts, which show that the Association still owes individual members of the General Council and others a sum of over £25.^^*^^
Eccarlus refers to the financial accounts to prove how careful we must be in fixing and collecting subscriptions and that we cannot think of increasing them if we do not wish to alienate all trade unions. It can also be seen from the accounts how few fulfil their obligations, for it shows that only Spain (?), France (and America) have entirely fulfilled their duty.
Marx draws attention to the fact that whereas, as the accounts show, individual members of the General Council were emptying their pockets and purses for the organisation, it was mendaciously said that they were living on the pennies of the workers!
The finance report is carried unanimously.
Dereure asks for a severe censure against the slanderous newspapers.
Laf argue proposes that their editors be expelled.
Johannard describes as cowards those who spread such slander but have not the courage to make their accusations openly. If we are Marx's lackeys, as these persons say, they deserve to be whipped like dogs.
_-_-_^^*^^ See the text of the accounts on pp. 220--23of this volume.---Ed.
168Alerini defends his friend Guillaume who is accused in his absence. If expulsions are demanded he proposes in the first place the expulsion of the initiators and authors of the infamous pamphlet Les pretendues scissions; he attacks Longuet personally.
Lafargue and Longuet read out the attacks and accusations made against the General Council and individual members published at the time in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne.^^66^^ (Indignant cries on all sides over the contents of the article in question.)
Alerini says that he signed the finance report in good faith, but would perhaps have found something if he had examined it more closely.
Guillaume says that after the publication of the Scissions, which they could obtain only with great difficulty, the editorial board of the Bulletin opened its pages to those attacked in the pamphlet so that they could make statements for which the editors assumed no responsibility, but could only express their readiness to publish replies; they agreed, moreover, to withdraw their accusations if they were proved groundless.
Longuet and Duval engage in a heated discussion with Guillaume.
Duval gives an account of the attempted uprising in Lyons which was greatly to the discredit of Bakunin, Zhukovsky, Richard, Gaspard Blanc^^*^^ and others, he includes Guillaume with them as their friend and defender, making him share responsibility for the events of the = time.^^67^^
Guillaume rejects all responsibility, observing that as soon as they saw through Richard and Blanc they themselves branded them as spies and therefore cannot be made responsible for their machinations.
In answer to this they are told that it was they who fostered these people.
On a motion by Sorge it is decided that the next General Congress will be held in Switzerland, the General Council being charged with naming the venue.
Dereure tabled the motion:
_-_-_^^*^^ The original has: "Gaspard Richard, Blanc".---Ed,
169``To appoint a commission of 5 persons resident in London to examine and translate the minutes, and also to hand over the papers and documents to the new General Council."
The motion is carried unanimously and the following are appointed to the commission: Marx, Engels, Serraillier, Dupont, and = Frankel.^^68^^
Sorge submits to the secretary proposals made by the American Federation concerning regulation of the representation at the Congress, and simplification of the names of societies adhering to the Association.
As it is already 1900 hrs., a ten minutes break is made lo prepare for the public sitting.
During the break two collections are made among the delegates: 1) to compensate some Hague party comrades for their loss of time; 2) to cover the costs of printing the list of delegates.
FOURTEENTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening
At 1930 hrs. the public sitting begins.
Dave, Van der Hout, Van den Abeele, and Brismee take the floor in succession and speak of the aims and tasks of the International Working Men's Association. The first three speak in Dutch, the fourth in French.^^*^^
Brismee's speech is accompanied by cries of approval when he condemns the cruelty of the Belgian bourgeoisie towards the workers and points out that so-called public opinion slanderously called the defenders of Paris murderers, incendiaries and bandits and did not address the slightest reproach to the bourgeois incendiaries of 1831.^^**^^
At 2100 hrs. the public sitting ends and a break is declared to allow the hall to be cleared.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here follows an insertion in Sorge's hand on a separate sheet numbered ``I''.---Ed.
^^**^^Eud of the insertion.---Ed.
170FIFTEENTH SITTING
September 7, 1872, Saturday evening
The closed sitting begins at 2200 hrs. with the roll-call.
A report is made on the collections.
The Congress then decides to hear and discuss the report of the commission on the Alliance.
Before the report Walter gives orally and in writing his resignation from the investigation commission because ho realises that there is not enough time for a thorough investigation and Guillaume has refused to answer certain questions.^^*^^
Lucain then reads out the report, which is as follows: (See the text of the report in the documents).^^**^^
After Lucain Cuno speaks and says: It is absolutely indisputable that there have been intrigues inside the Association; lies, calumny and treachery have been proved, the commission has carried out a superhuman job, having sat for 13 hours running today. Now it seeks a vote of confidence by the acceptance of the demands set forth in the report. As the time allotted is too short for a detailed account of the whole investigation we have been obliged to limit ourselves to the results which the report sets forth.
Alerini is of the opinion that the commission has only moral convictions and no material proofs; he was a member of the Alliance and is proud of it, for it was the Alliance that founded and strengthened the I.W.A. in Spain as a result of which there are now 84 federations in existence in Spain. But you are a Holy Inquisition; we demand a public investigation and conclusive, tangible proofs!
Johannard is entirely convinced of the correctness of the commission's report but thinks that Malon should not be expelled; if he deserves reproaches it is only for his political line. In respect of Bakunin, Guillaume, Sehwitzguebel and the others he trusts the report entirely and only hopes that the commission proceeded with the utmost caution, for _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 198--99 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ See pp. 481--82 of this volume.---Ed.
171 expulsion from the I.W.A. is the worst and most dishonouring sentence that can be passed on a man; such a man could never belong to an honourable society again.After Serraillier's explanations in respect of Malon Johannard also favours the expulsion of Malon.
Splingard wants more detailed information, desiring to know how Marx obtained the documents written by Bakunin, there must be something fishy there. Engels has, it is true, given proof of actions not to Bakunin's credit, but Marx had only made assertions. Bakunin failed to keep a promise to translate a work by Marx only because he was advised against = it.^^69^^ The Alliance existed in Spain before the International and the Alliance in Geneva was even recognised by the General Council. The fact that the Alliance still exists must be proved by minutes and reports of sittings, not by rules, letters and the like.
Marx (continually and improperly interrupted by Splingard) says that Splingard behaved in the commission like the advocate of the Alliance, not as an impartial judge. Splingard asserts falsely (Marx corrects himself: incorrectly) that he (Marx) provided no proofs, although he knows quite well that Marx gave all those documents to Engels. The Spanish Federal Council itself provided proofs and he (Marx) adduced others from Russia but cannot divulge the name of the sender; in this matter in general the commission has given its word of honour not to divulge anything of what is dealt with, in particular any names; its decision on this question is unshakable. Splingard may think otherwise, but the documents were obtained in the most honest of ways, to be exact they were sent without any request for them.
Lucain asks Splingard whether the majority of the commission was not as conscientious and considerate as he himself; he asks whether they must wait until the Alliance has disrupted and disorganised the International and then come forward with proofs. But we refuse to wait so long, we attack evil where we see it because such is our duty.
Morago makes a long speech in Spanish in defence of the Alliance and against the decisions of the commission, etc.
It is late, close on midnight.
172Van den Abeele informs the Chairman^^*^^ that the hall must be cleared, and so on.
The Congress dispenses with a translation of Morago's speech, the more so as he and his comrades are not accused.
It is then decided to hear only Guillaume and Schwitzguebel before voting.
Guillaume defends himself: Splingard's attitude to the matter is the only right one, the whole process is a tendentious one and the idea is to kill the so-called minority, in reality the majority; I have been brought to the fore all the time in the discussion these days and been allowed to speak to show by my expulsion on Saturday that it is the federalist principle that is condemned here. (Cries of No! No!)
Schwitzguebel says he is convinced that his condemnation has been decided in advance; he declares that he will always be loyal to the workers' party, fight for its cause, and always belong to the International despite his expulsion.
Vichard speaks against Splingard and Walter's peculiar conduct in having withdrawn because of his departure and yet he is still here.
Waiter explains this and sides entirely with the commission, making still further revelations about the agent Mechnikov who was sent by the Jura Federation and tried to get the Paris sections to break entirely with the General Council.
Dave comes out into the middle of the hall with a paper in his hand and says that they, the so-called minority, have observed well how the so-called majority have proceeded and consequently have often gathered together in private and the result of their deliberations is the following statement.^^**^^
(See in the = documents.)^^70^^
In reply to the so-called opposition Dereure informs the Congress that hardly an hour pearlier Alerini told him that he (Alerini) was an intimate friend of Landeck, who was known as a police spy in London. Other things said by Alerini are also quoted.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the words "there is fear of disorder in the street" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here follows an insertion in Sorgc's hand on a separate sheet numbered ``II''.---Ed.
173Guillaume hands to I lie Chairman a written message from ...Cafiero asking also to be accused; this is rejected by the Chairman, upon which Guillaume takes back Cafiero's message.^^*^^
Before the vote on the proposals made by the commission TV. A. Marselau submits the following = statement^^71^^:
I beg to say to the Congress that an investigation has been commenced in most of the federations of Spain in order to ascertain, whether our conduct has been right or wrong. I declare that this is my warmest desire because I have acted rightly and because if I have been cheated or made an instrument of somebody I wish to condemn the guilty.
Nicola AlonsoMarselau^^**^^
The Hague, September 7, 1872
After Dave has read out the statement a vote by roll-call is held on the commission's proposals and the following decisions are adopted:
Expulsion of Bakunin from the International Working Men's Association: carried by 29 votes to 7 with 8 abstentions;
Expulsion of Guillaume: carried by 25 votes to 9 with 9 abstentions;
Guillaume leaves the hall declaring that though he is expelled he remains loyal to the International.
Expulsion of Schwitzguebel: rejected by 16 votes to 15 with 10 abstentions.^^***^^
On a motion by Engels the Congress decides not to put any more proposals for expulsion (point, 3 of the commission's proposal) to the vole but to adopt the remaining points.^^****^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Here follows on the same sheet in Sorgo's hand the note: "III. Marselau's statement should come after No. II.'' There the insertion ends.---Ed.
^^**^^ End of the insertion.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the following is struck out: "There are then protests at Bakunin and others being placed on the same footing as spies such as Malon and others, resulting in loud noise.
``Engels then moves that point 3 of the commission's proposals be omitted and point 4 and the following voted on."---Ed.
^^****^^ Here the following is struck out: "Engels' proposal is adopted unanimously."---Ed.
174Sauva^^*^^ submits various proposals and communications from his electors.
On the Chairman's proposal the Congress ends its work by instructing the new General Council to deal with all unfinished affairs.
The Chairman states that though he has lost his voice (has grown hoarse) he has not lost his faith in the cause (J'ai perdu ma voix, mats non pas ma foi). At 0030 hrs. he closes the fifth General Congress of the International Working Men's Association with cheers for Labour.
Sorge ditto ditto Serraillier ditto Splingard Walter ditto ditto Wroblewski ditto ditto Vichard ditto ditto Wilmart ditto Voted against expulsion: [Of Bakunin] [Of Guillaume] [Of Schwitzguebel] ditto^^*^^ Here the following is struck out: "hands to the Chairman".---Ed.
^^**^^ Under the heading ``Guillaume'' ``departed'' is crossed out opposite Friedlander's name.---Ed.
175 Of Schwitzguebel ditto ditto Brismee Coenen Cyrille Dave Fluse Herman ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto Sauva Splingard Van den Abeele ditto ditto ditto A bstentions: A lerini, Spaniards Sauva Splingard Guillaume and Schwitzguebel Dereure Cuno Duval Friedlander ditto Lucain Laf argue MacDonnell ditto 176 Voted for the powers of the General Council: Article 2 Article 6 Article 2 Article 6 Arnaud ditto Le Moussu B. Becker ditto Milke J. Ph. Becker ditto Pihl rtf ditto Barry ditto Ranvier Cournet ditto Roach Cuno ditto Swarm ditto Dupont ditto Sauva Duval ditto Sorge Dereure ditto Serraillier Engels ditto Sexton Farkas ditto Schumacher ditto Friedlander ditto Walter Frankel ditto Wroblewski Hepner ditto Vaillant, Vi-- Heim ditto chard Johannard ditto Dumorit Marx ditto MacDonnell Kugelmann ditto Ludwig ditto Lessner ditto Wilmot Lucain Laf argue ditto Longuet ditto Against 177 Abstentions Art. 2 Art. 6 Art. 2 Art. (5 Brismee ditto Coenen Gyrille Fluse ditto Dave ditto Gerhard Coenen Eberhardt Dumont Herman Guillaume ditto Splingard ditto Herman ditto Van der Flout Sauva Van den Abe-- Van der ele Houl, Schwit/gnebel ditto Lncain Abstentions Art. 2 Art. 6 Motters-- head Roach Wilmot Farga Pellicer Morago Marselau ditto AleriniVoted for transfer of seat of the General Council to New York: B. Becker, J. Ph. Becker, Brismee, Barry, Cuno, Coenen, Dupont, Dave, Fluse, Farkas, Friedlander, Engels, Herman, Lucain, Marx, Kugelmann, Lessner, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Pihl, Roach, Swarm, Splingard, Serraillier, Sexton, Wroblewski, Van den Abeele, Vichard, Dumont, MacDonnell.^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German according to Cuno's copy ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The Wisconsin copy adds: "On Sunday, September 8, at 0910 hrs. most of the delegates set out 1'or Amsterdam. They were warmly welcomed by the local party comrades and took part in a popular meeting; ardent speeches on the tasks and aims of the International Working Men's Association, on the work of the Congress which had just ended and on the future of the Association were delivered by Marx, J. Ph. Becker, Duval, Wroblewski, Lafargue, Dupont, Sorge and Van der Hout."---Ed.
12---0960
[178] __ALPHA_LVL2__ STATEMENTS AND PROPOSALS __NUMERIC_LVL3__ No. 1 __ALPHA_LVL3__ PRELIMINARY AND URGENT PROPOSALWe request that the Congress, inspired by the principle of justice, should decide that previous to anything else it will discuss the manner of voting, in view of the fact that during the whole checking of the delegates' mandates the delegation of the Spanish Federation has been deprived of the possibility to take part in the voting.
T. Gonzales Morago, Farga Pellicer, Alerini
To the General Congress at The Hague September 4, 1872^^*^^
Submitted to the fifth sitting, September 4, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 2
Considering the loss of time [caused by the checking of the mandates and the personal questions hindering all useful discussion,~
Considering the importance of the order of the day,~
We demand that the question of the Alliance be submitted _-_-_
^^*^^ The document is written and signed by Morago, with the respective signatures of the others.---Ed.
179 to a commission nominated by the Congress and discussed in a closed sitting and that the order of the day be immediately proceeded with.^^*^^Ranvier, Alfred Herman, A. Sauva, J. Van der Hout, Rock Splingard, D. Brismee, Dupont, H. Gerhard, P. de Fluse, Ph. Coenen, J. Johannard, Victor Dave
I sign, protesting against investigation of a secret society by the Congress. /. Guillaume
Farga Pellicer, Marselau, T. Gonzales Morago, N. Eberhardt. H. Van den Abeele, J. George Eccarius, Dumont, Th. Mottershead, Cuno
Submitted to the fifth sitting, September 4, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
No. 3
Considering that the delegates of Germany, Austria and Hungary have to go to a workers' congress opening on the 7th inst. in Mayence, that the delegates of Switzerland and Denmark have to return to their countries, and a certain number of French delegates to go to London,~
the undersigned move that after the most indispensable formalities have been carried out the Congress should proceed immediately to discuss the powers of the General Council, its seat and the place of assembly of the next congress, after which the Congress will immediately go on to the revision of the General Rules.
Ludwig ffeim,^^**^^ Lafargue, P. Wilmot, Th. Duval^^***^^
Submitted lo the sixth sitting, September 4, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written by Ranvier, followed by the respective signatures and the addition is written by Guillaume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The document is written by Heim and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^***^^ The signatures of Lafargue and Duval are in pencil. ---Ed.
12*
180No. 4
Tlie delegates of the Spanish Regional Federation, obeying the imperative mandate imposed on them, submit the following proposal to the Congress:
Considering that the procedure followed up to the present at International congresses of adopting decisions by the majority of the delegates present is not equitable,
The delegation of the Spanish Federation proposes:
1. That the votes be evaluated proportionally to the number of members of the International represented by the delegates provided with an imperative mandate, in which mandate the number of these members must be stated.
2. That the votes of members not provided with an imperative mandate will not count until the sections or federations represented by them have discussed and voted on the questions debated at the Congress.
In order to make this ruling practicable and so that the resolutions of the Congress will be the true expression of the thought of the International Working Men s Association, the resolutions adopted will come into force only two months after the = Congress^^1^^, During this time the sections which had not provided their delegates with an imperative mandate on the questions discussed and also those which have been unable to send delegates will express their votes by publishing them in the newspapers of the International and informing the Federal Council which will be designated and charged with counting the votes and announcing the result.^^*^^
The Congress of The Hague, September 4, 1872
Alerini, Morago, Marselau, Farga Pellicer
Submitted to the sixth sitting, September 4, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written by Alerini and the date added by Morago, followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
181No. 5
We have the imperative mandate to demand vote by national federations on administrative questions.
The Belgian delegates^^*^^: Alfred Herman, Rock \Splingard, P. Fluse, N. Eberhardt, Brismee, Ph. Coenen
Submitted to the sixth sitting, September 4, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 6
I request the Chairman to agree to the nomination of a commission consisting of three members to compare the manuscript text of the Spring Street Council's letter with the text printed in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne in order to ascertain whether there was on the part of the Jura Federation the falsification mentioned by Citizen Le Moussu.
J.~Guillaume
Submitted to the seventh sitting, September 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No.~7^^**^^
The Congress of the International Working [Men's Association, assembled at The Hague, expresses in the name of the world proletariat its admiration for the heroic fighters _-_-_
^^*^^ Then come the signatures, that of Fluse in ink, the others in pencil. The second half of the page bears in pencil: Vaillant, Sauva, Johannard, Eberhardt, Dave, Alerini, Serraillier (for the manner of voting on the motion by Engels), Hepner, Sorge.---Ed.
^^**^^ The text of the message and the signatures of Schwitzguebel and Morago are in red ink, the rest is in pencil.---Ed.
182 for the emancipation of labour who fell victims of their devotion, and sends fraternal and sympathetic greetings to all those who are at present persecuted by bourgeois reaction in France, Germany, Denmark and the entire world.Adhemar Schwitzguebel, delegate of the Jura Federation, A. Sauva, delegate of the 2 American sections, D. Brismee, N. Eberhardt, Belgian delegates, Victor Dave, delegate of The Hague, Cuno, Germany, Ph. Coenen, T. Gonzales Morago, delegado de la federacion regional espanol.
Submitted to the eighth sitting, September 5, 1872
Published in the newspaper La Liberte No. 37, September 15, 1872 and the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 17--18, September 15-- October 1, 1872
Translated from tho French original ~
No. 8
I hereby inform the bureau of the Congress of the International Working Men's Association assembled here that urgent circumstances demand my return. I expect and request of my party comrades at the Congress that they will take over my share of the work and carry the business of the Association to a successful end.
The Hague, September 5, 1872
Submitted to the ninth sitting, September 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
/. Dietzgen
Translated from the German original ~
183 __NUMERIC_LVL3__ No. 9 __ALPHA_LVL3__ TO THE GENERAL CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION SITTING IN THE HAGUE, HOLLANDCitizens,
For the first time since the fall of the Commune, the delegates of the proletariat which was massacred in Paris, is persecuted everywhere and everywhere oppressed, have assembled at an international congress. Therefore all eyes are turned at this moment towards The Hague---our enemies expecting an admission of weakness or fearing a challenge which would provide proof of the impotence of their furious reaction. For its part, the people expects from those in whom it sees its representatives: a word of hope, the promise of energetic efforts in view of imminent revenge, of early and final victory.
Therefore, in the assurance that, conscious of its duty, the Congress will not fail in it, we, Communards, delegates to the Congress, come in the name of the machine-gunned, deported, proscribed people, in the name of the suffering people, to ask of you that word of hope which you will not refuse to it, because it will be the contract which will prove to it that you are worthy of its confidence.
In face of the repression, which is as savage as it is senseless, on the part of the victorious bourgeoisie against the defeated proletariat,
In face of the necessity to organise the proletarian forces disorganised by defeat in view of more energetic action,
In face of the weakness towards the bourgeois powers shown by certain groups of the International Association which cover up their desertion of the people's cause with the pernicious doctrine of abstention in political matters or betray this cause by alliance or compromise with bourgeois parties whatever be their name,
Considering that the social revolution can no more be enclosed in formulas than it can be resolved by petty 184 measures and that it must be approached as a whole and in its totality if it is to he achieved,
That the destruction of every capitalist property regime,
That the abolition of the classes, the social revolution, can be achieved only by mustering all the energy of the revolutionary forces,
That abstention from political action is the negation of the first duty of the working class: the conquest of political power for the purpose of sweeping away the old society and creating the elements of the new by the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat,
That any alliance with a bourgeois party whichever shade it belongs to, under any pretext whatever, is desertion of the proletariat's cause on the part of any individual or group guilty of it,
That if the formation of societies of resistance, their federation, beginning the organisation of the working class, provides it with the weapons to fight capitalist oppression,
That if the strike is one means of revolutionary action, the barricade is another, and the most powerful of all,
The Congress declares:
1. The organisation of the proletariat's revolutionary forces and of the political struggle is placed on the order of the day of the next congress.
The General Council is instructed to submit a project for this organisation.
2. Any individual or group claiming to belong to the International who is proved to have by weakness, cowardice or doctrinarian stupidity deserted the cause of the revolutionaryjjproletariat will no longer be allowed to remain in the International Association.
The General Council will have the power to exclude such individuals or groups from the International pending a final decision by the Congress.
Ant. Arnaud, F. Cournet, Dereure, = Le~Moussu,^^*^^ Ranvier, Ed. Vaillant^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the name of Lafargue is heavily, struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ The addition is by Ed. Vaillant.---Ed.
185The citizens submitting this proposal request the Congress to place its discussion on the order of the day immediately after the revision of the General Rules.
Submitted to the ninth sitting, September 5, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
Published in La Liberte No. 37, September 15, 1872
No. 10
Amendment
The General Council has no power over the sections and federations. Its functions will be those of an intermediary between the different regional federations; its activity will be limited to that of a correspondence and statistics centre with full freedom of initiative to propose to the different regions or to the congress the decisions which it finds most appropriate taking into account the data obtained by means of correspondence and statistics.
Tomds Gonzales Morago
Submitted to the ninth sitting, September 5, 1872
Translated from the Spanish original ~
First published in Russian No. 11
We propose that the Congress should immediately proceed with the discussion of the Rules.
2. That only two speakers speak for, and two against.
3. That each speaker should speak for no more than five minutes.^^*^^
T. Duval, F. A. Sorge, Adolf Hepner, S. Pihl, Joh. Ph. Becker, P.K Lafargue, Fr. Milke, Bernhard Becker, Georg Schumacher, Ludwig Heim, Gustav Ludwig, Le~Moussu^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written by Duval, followed by the respective signatures. The signatures of Lafargue, Pihl, B. Becker, and Milke are in pencil, the others in ink. In the left-hand corner is the date: September 6.---Ed.
^^**^^ Then comes an amendment written in another hand and the respective signatures.---Ed.
186Amendment to point 2.
2. That only one speaker speaks for and one against.
F. Cournet, Ant. Arnaud, Ed. Vaillant, Ranvier, L. Kugelmann, Dr.
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 12^^*^^
We request the Congress to open immediately the discussion on the following articles:
Art. 2.---The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions, and to take care that in every country the principles and the General Rules and Regulations of the International are strictly observed.
Art. 6.---The General Council has also the right to suspend Branches, Sections, Federal Councils or committees, and federations of the International, till the meeting of the next Congress.
Nevertheless, in the case of sections belonging to a federation, the General Council will exercise this right only after having consulted the respective Federal Council.
In the case of the suspension of an entire federation, the General Council shall immediately inform thereof the whole of the federations. If the majority of them demand it, the General Council shall convoke an extraordinary conference, composed of one delegate for each nationality, which shall meet within one month and finally decide upon the question.
Nevertheless, it is well understood that the countries where _-_-_
^^*^^ The document was copied out in Cuno's hand together with a statement by the Congress minority (see Document No. 40).---Ed.
187 the International is prohibited shall exercise the same rights as the regular federations.F. A. Sorge, Joh. Ph. Becker, T. Duval, Adolf Hepner, P. Lafargue, S. Pihl, Fr. Milke, Bernhard Becker, Le Moussu, Georg Schumacher, Ludwig Heim, Gustav Ludwig
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
Published in La Liberte No. 37, September 15, 1872
Translated from the French according to Cuno's copy ~
No. 13
Proposal
The undersigned citizens request that the order of the day of public sittings of the Congress be regulated as follows.
As soon as the articles of the Rules and Regulations relating to the General Council have been voted, the Congress will examine:
1. The proposal to include in the Rules the resolution of the London Conference on political action of the working class as an article of the General Rules.
2. The proposal of citizens Ant. Arnaud, Cournet, Dereure,^^*^^ Le Moussu, Ranvier, and Ed. Vaillant on the organisation of the proletariat's revolutionary forces.
3. The chapter of the Administrative Regulations relating to the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council.
4. After this the Congress will proceed to discuss all articles of the Rules and Regulations which have not yet been discussed, examining them in the order in which they are included in the latest edition of the Rules.^^**^^
Ed. Vaillant, Ant. Arnaud, F. Cournet, Ranvier, Le Moussu
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the name of Lafargue is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ The document is written by Vaillant and is followed by the espective signatures.---Ed.
188No. 14^^*^^
To the Chairman of the Congress ~
We, the undersigned members of the Congress, protest against the way in which the majority of the members of the Congress who speak other languages disregard the elementary rights of those who only speak English. The difficulty, amounting almost to impossibility to know what is going on or even to be heard on any question, makes our delegation insignificant and our presence a joke.
Signed: Barry, Mottershead, Roach, Sexton, MacDonnell
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
No. 15
Immediately after the discussion of the two proposals concerning the duty of the General Council to see to the strict observance in all countries of the fundamental principles of the Association and watch over the relations of the General Council with the federations, we ask for the question of the inclusion of the resolution of the Conference on political action of the working class in the General Rules and for the question of the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council to put on the order of the day.^^**^^
Ed. Vaillant, Ant. Arnaud, F. Cournet
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The text is written on the back of the sheet containing a statement by A. Herman, R. Splingard and others (see Document No. 5).--- Ed.
^^**^^ The document is written by Vaillant and followed by the signatures of Arnaud and Cournet. On the back is the name of Ranvier.---Ed.
189No. 16^^72^^
We propose that for the year 1872/73 the seat of the General Council be transferred to New York and that the Council be composed of the following members of the Federal Council of North America: Kavanagh, Saint-Clair, Cetti, Leviele, Laurel, F. J. Bertrand, F. Bolte, and C. Carl. They shall have the right of co-option but the total number of members of the General Council shall never exceed 15.^^*^^
Karl Marx, F. Engels, Walery Wroblewski, Ch. Longuet, A. Serraillier, MacDonnell, Eugene Dupont, F. Lessner, Le Moussu, M. Maltman Barry
The Hague, September 6, 1872^^**^^
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
Translated from the French according to Cuno's copy ~
No. 17
Considering that Spain has the largest number of socialist newspapers; that consequently the socialist organisation there is stronger than anywhere else; that freedom of assembly exists there; that meetings have a larger attendance there than anywhere else;
Considering that we can obtain clarity only through discussion, that the discussion which has been taking place in London since 1869 is almost nil;
I propose Madrid or Barcelona as the seat of the General Council.
N.B. The distance is no longer an obstacle for the telegraph.^^***^^
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
_-_-_^^*^^ This document is a copy written by Cuno.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here follows: "Certified true copy. Th. F. Cuno, London, September 11, 1872."---Ed.
^^***^^ Page 4 carries the name N. Eberhardt.---Ed.
190No. 18^^*^^ Proposal
In the name of the Spanish Regional Federation we propose:
1. That the General Council should include two representatives from each federation, elected directly by them and subject to revoke only by them.
That the General Council should have its seat in Belgium. That the Belgian Federal Council be instructed to transfer its powers to the General Council which will be elected.
No. 19
We demand that before the end of this evening's sitting the debate be closed and a vote taken on the inclusion as an article in the General Rules of the resolution of the Conference on political action of the working class.^^**^^
F, Cournet, Ed. Vaillant, S. Dereure
Submitted to the eleventh sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from tho French original
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written on blue squared paper by Farga Pellicer and signed by him and Alerini. There are notes in pencil.---Ed.
^^**^^ The document is written by Cournet and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
191No. 20
Citizens,
Being compelled to return to London, we ask youjto kindly excuse our departure and our absence from the last sittings of the Congress.^^*^^
Greetings and Fraternity. F. Cournet, Ranvier, Ed. Vaillant^^**^^
The above-named being in no way disinterested, despite their departure, in the questions to be debated, wish to leave their vole on the question of politics discussed yesterday, on which they vote for.
They also vote for an increase of the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council.
Ranvier
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
R. Farga Pellicer, Alerini
Translated from the French original ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
No. 21
To the Bureau of the International Congress ~
As I have to leave immediately, I am herewith placing the names of those for whom I wish to vote in the election of the General Council on the office table, so that I do not lose my vote through being unable to stay on to the end of today's silting. I vote for the citizens indicated on the enclosed note.^^***^^
Bernhard Becker, delegate for Brunswick,
Chemnitz and Bielefeld
The Hague, September 7, 1872^^****^^
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
Translated from the Gorman original ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written by Cournet and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^**^^ The addition which follows is written by Ranvier.---Ed.
^^***^^ The note with the names of the candidates to the General Council is not extant.---Ed.
^^****^^ Page 4 bears in Becker's hand: "To the Bureau of the Congress (handed in personally)."---Ed.
192No. 22
I respectfully heg permission to retire from the Congress after this sitting, having urgent professional business that requires my presence in London.
Sexton
5.8.72^^*^^
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original ~
No. 23
The Hague, Sept. 7th,^^**^^ 1872
TO THE PRESIDENT OF
THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S CONGRESS
Dear Citizen,
I regret that I am compelled by necessity to ^ave- The Hague this morning for London. I wish you therefore to inform the Congress that only actual necessity would make me forego the pleasure and the duty of remaining until the termination of the proceedings.
I sincerely hope that the further action of the Congress may be guided by wisdom---that unanimity and good feeling may characterise its proceedings and that its result may be a glorious triumph for the cause of the Universal Proletariat.
I am, Citizen,
~ ~ ~ fraternally yours,
~ ~ ~ ~ F. Lessner, delegate,
~ ~ ~ ~ German Section, London
^^*^^ This is an obvious slip of the pen.---Ed.
^^**^^ A slip of the pen in the original: 8.---Ed.
193No. 24
To the Chairman ~
As I am compelled to depart today I herewith depose my ballot paper for the election of the members of the General Council.^^*^^
Gustav Ludwig, delegate for Mainz ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
No. 25
The Hague, September 7, 1872 To the Citizen Members of the Congress ~
Obliged as a result of news received from London yesterday evening to leave The Hague, I request the Congress kindly to excuse me if I do not take part in its work today, but as I could not wait until Tuesday morning, I find myself obliged to leave today.
It is with regret that I leave you, perhaps we shall meet again in happier circumstances.
I avail myself of this occasion to inform you that I vote for the inclusion in the Rules of our proposition on the policy of the working class; and for an increase of the subscription.
Greetings and equality.
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Ant. Arnaud
Translated from the French original ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The text of the ballot paper is not extant.---Ed.
13---0960
194No. 26
As it was not possible for me to speak yesterday on the political question, I hereby beg the Chairman of the Congress to tell that although I am the only delegate from Denmark here, the membership in Denmark is very large and that in the name of the Danish branch I adhere to the policy of the General Council. And we shall regret very much if it should happen that the General Council were composed of members such as we could not adhere to.
S. Pihl
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
No. 27
My mandate instructs me to defend energetically Article IX (political action of the working class) and its inclusion in the Rules.
I therefore demand a final decision.
Swarm, Duval
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 28
On behalf of the section of political refugees of X, which I represent at the Congress, I adhere to the programme expounded by Citizen Dumont for the Paris sections.
Lucain
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
195No. 29
I propose that 12 persons should be nominated and that they should be given the right to co-opt three others, and that the sitting be adjourned for five minutes.
P. Lafargue
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. = 30^^73^^
I propose that all powers granted by the General Council, the councils, committees, sections in the countries where the International is banned should be cancelled and that the new General Council alone should have the right to nominate representatives in those countries.
A.~Serraillier,^^*^^ Dumont, Paris sections, Lucain, French delegate, Paul Vichard, French delegate, Eugene Dupont, Swarm (French sections), /. Johannard, Ch. Longuet, French delegate ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 31
I abstain---because on this question I should have explained my imperative mandate and have not been able to do so, the discussion having been ended before time.
Victor Cyrille [France]
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written by Serraillier and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
13*
196No. 32^^*^^
I vote for declaration IX but I protest in the name of the legality of the vote because the opponents of the declaration have not been allowed to speak.
Dumont, Paris sections ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 33
We propose that the subscription should remain as fixed by the General Rules.^^**^^
Dupont, A. Serraillier, J. G. Eccarius, Thomas Mottershead
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 34
I propose that payments should be spread out and take place every three months.^^***^^
P. Lafargue, Swarm, French sections, H. Wilmot, Th. Duval, Dumont^^****^^
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears on the top the words "Danish delegate in black ink and ``Peel'' (for Pihl) in pencil, in an unknown hand.---Ed-
^^**^^ The document is written by Dupont and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^***^^ The document is written by Lafargue and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^****^^ The document bears on the back the list of candidates for the new General Council: "Kavanagh, Saint-Glair, Laurel, Fornaccieri, David, Lcviele, Bertrand, Bolte, Carl, Ward, Dereure, Speyer."---Ed.
197No. 35^^*^^
Proposal
On behalf of the Portuguese Federation and the New Madrid Federation I propose:
That the new General Council bo charged with the special mission of organising international trade unions.
For this purpose it will, within the month following this Congress, draw up a circular which shall be translated and published in all languages, and forwarded to all trades' societies whose addresses are known, whether they are affiliated to the International or not.
In this circular every Union shall be called upon to enter into an International union of its respective trade.
Every Union shall be invited to fix itself the conditions under which it proposes to enter the International Union of its trade.
The General Council shall, from the conditions fixed by the Unions, adopting the idea of International union, draw up a general plan, and submit it to the provisional acceptance of the Societies.
The next Congress will finally settle the fundamental treaty for the International trades unions.^^**^^
Paul Lafargue seconded by F. A. Sorge, on behalf of the American Federation, Bernhard Becker, Fr. Milke, printer, delegate from Berlin, S. Pihl, Copenhagen, Swarm, France, E. Vaillant (France), Leo Frankel (France), Joh. Ph. Becker, Th. Duval, Romance Federation, Brismee, F. Cournet (Denmark), Ant. Arnaud (Switzerland), Adolf Hepner (Leipzig), Walter, S. Dereure (America), Lucain, France, Dumont, French section ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
Published in La Emancipacion No. 65, September 14, 1872 and La Liberte No. 37, September 15, 1872
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is marked in pencil: "No. 1".---Ed.
^^**^^ The document is written by Lafargue and followed by the respective signatures.---Ed,
198No. 36^^*^^
Cuno's vote: on Article IX (on political action)---For. Increase of subscriptions: For.
Cuno
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is written in red pencil by Cuno; Vichard's note (see next document) is on the same sheet in ordinary pencil.---Ed,
199 moment, besides my personal conviction, I had strong presumptions, which, as a result of subsequent evidence, would perhaps have been transformed into certainty. Fully trusting the commission's loyalty, I would in any case have supported its conclusions and voted for expulsion, but under the influence of a few words which escaped Citizen Alerini I am sufficiently clear on the situation, the more so since Citizen Guillaume defended Bakunin's honesty and integrity before the whole Congress and in front of me, then a member of the commission, whereas authentic and irrefutable documents prove his infamy and the swindle perpetrated by him to the prejudice of a St. Petersburg publisher.Walter The Hague, September 7, 1872
Submitted to the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
No. 37
Vichard is for Article IX. Against increase of subscriptions.
Translated from the French original ~
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
Translated from the French original ~
September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
No. 38
Sorge on behalf of tbe American Federation tables:
1. a proposal relating to the questionnaire on statistics;
2. a proposal relating to representation at congresses;
3. a proposal aimed at simplifying the designation of the societies, etc. adhering to the International Working Men's Association;
4. the resolutions of the American congress on the position of the General Council and the accusations levelled against it, expressing energetic support of the General Council and demanding complete centralisation of our forces.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 40
We the undersigned, members of the minority at the Hague Congress, supporters of the autonomy and federation of groups of working men, faced with a vote on decisions which seem to us to be contrary to the principles recognised by the countries we represented at the preceding congress, but desiring to avoid any kind of split within the International Working Men's Association, take the following decision, which we shall submit for approval to the sections which delegated us:
1. We shall continue our administrative relations with the General Council in the matter of payment of subscriptions, correspondence and labour statistics.
2. The federations which we represent will establish direct and permanent relations between themselves and all regularly constituted branches of the Association.
3. In the event of the General Council wishing to interfere in the internal affairs of a federation, the federations represented by the undersigned undertake jointly to maintain their autonomy as long as the federations do not engage on a path directly opposed to the General Rules of the International approved at the Geneva Congress.
Submitted to tbe thirteenth sitting,
Translated from the French original ~
September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
No. 39
I consider it necessary to state publicly that my letter does not imply that the commission has acted without due consideration and made conclusions without proof. I would point out that I withdrew yesterday evening and that at that 200 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/299.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.06) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+
4. We call on all the federations and sections to prepare between now and the next general congress for the triumph within the International of the principles of federative autonomy as the basis of the organisation of labour.
5. We resolutely reject any connection whatever with the so-called London World Federalist = Council^^74^^ and with any similar organisation alien to the International.
P. Fluse, delegate of the Vesdre Valley Federation, Tomds Gonzales Morago, delegate of the Spanish Regional Federation, Alerini, delegate of Spain, Adhemar Schwitzguebel, delegate of the Jura Federation, James Guillaume, delegate of the Jura Federation, H. Van den Abeele, delegate of Ghent (Belgium) section, Ph. Coenen, delegate of Antwerp, N. Eberhardt, delegate of Brussels, H. Gerhard, delegate of the Federal Committee of Holland, D. Brismee, Brussels section, /. Van der Hout, delegate of Amsterdam, Victor Dave, delegate of The Hague, N. Alonso Marselau, Spanish delegate, R. Farga Pellicer, delegate of the Spanish Federation, Sauva, delegate of sections No. 22 and 42 of North America, Roch Splingard (Belgium), A. Herman (Belgium)^^*^^
The Hague, September 7, 1872
Submitted to the fifteenth sitting, September 7, 1872
Published in La Liberte No. 37,
September 15, 1872;
Bulletin de la Federation
jurassienne No. 17--18,
September 15-October 1, 1872;
L'Internationale No. 191,
September 29, 1872; Memoire
presente par la Federation
jurassienne. Sonvillier,
1873, pp. 277--78
Translated from the
French according to
Cuno's copy
^^*^^ Here the following is struck out: "I sign to declare that the Congress of The Hague has been but a mystification, that social science has derived no profit from it, Victor Cyrille, French delegate."---Ed,
201No. 41
1. I propose that the World Congress in session at The Hague should invite the American Federation to assemble in a national congress on the first Sunday in March 1873 for the purpose of settling the differences dividing that federation,---the congress will be open only to delegates of sections which are in order with the General Council as regards subscriptions. The General Council is instructed to name the place where the congress will be held.
2. That the World Congress should reverse the expulsion decision which it took against Section No. 2 of New York.
3. That the Congress should take note of the memorandum of Section No. 10 of New York.^^*^^
Submitted to the fifteenth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
No. 42^^**^^
Considering that the emancipation of the working people can be achieved only by the working people themselves,~
that all their efforts must be aimed at asserting and acquiring their capability without any influence of political and capitalist patronage, which by its very nature could only lead to the abortion of their attempts at emancipation, the Congress declares that any society or individual adhering to the Association recognises no other rule of conduct than the principles expounded in the Rules and undertakes to conform to them.
Dupont
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ On the back of the original the following is struck out: "I propose: 1. that the World Congress in session at The Hague should convene a congress; 4---that the delegates of the Congress of The Hague take into consideration the critical situation of the London refugees and take measures to initiate subscriptions in their favour."---Ed.
^^**^^ On the back of the document is the rough draft in pencil.---Ed.
202Appendices
MINUTES RECORDED BY N. ZHUKOVSKY^^78^^
FIRST SITTING^^*^^
September 2, 1872, Monday morning
... among us, the delegates themselves. Let us leave these idle questions and proceed with the nomination of the commission.
The Blanquists continue to support Marx's proposal.
Two hours are wasted discussing this.
To the vote! At last.
By a majority, with two votes against, the journalists are cleared from the hall.
The delegates of Spain, seconded by the Belgians and the Jura representatives, demand a vote by federations. The commission is to be composed of representatives of all the federations.
Marx (supported by all the Blanquists and all the Germans) says that such a manner of voting is contrary to the Rules of the Association; every section, he says, has the right to be represented, and its delegate has the right = to vote.^^78^^
Longuet states that although he is a member of the General Council he represents a section in the South of France; it is isolated but its representative has the right to vote nevertheless. I came here to defend the General Council, to ask for an extension of its powers. The opponents of the General Council have a mandate to vote against; that is their business---but the federations cannot prevent an isolated section from expounding its point of view and from voting.
Johannard seconds Longuet.
The Spanish delegates ask to be heard.
There is noise in the hall; the majority demand that the vote be taken.
For voting by federations---11 For voting by delegates---48 Abstentions ---3
_-_-_^^*^^ The Minutes are in N. Zhukovsky's hand on four small-sized sheets. The beginning is missing.---Ed.
203Morago (Spain) explains why his federation demands voting by federations. It is the only correct, the only fair manner of voting, he says. Five comrades representing 30 members could always in spite of everything get the better of the one who represents 5,000 working people organised in a union and paying their subscription. The Spanish region demands that the Congress discuss this question before any other, for its delegates have an imperative mandate to abstain as long as the old manner of voting is maintained by the Congress.
Lafargue (from the guilefully organised Madrid Federation and the Lisbon Federation) states that he has a mandate contrary to that of the other delegates from Spain. He is strongly supported by the majority, who insistently shout "To the vote! To the vote!"
Elected: Gerhard (Amsterdam), Marx (General Council), Ranvier (General Council), Roach (England), MacDonnell (Ireland), Dereure (America), Frankel (General Council)
SECOND SITTING
September 2, 1872, Monday evening
Monday, evening sitting
Ranvier, reporter for the mandate commission, reads out the list of mandates which have not been contested, and also presents the list of those which the commission believes it must reject.
The latter are the following:
1. Dave. The Brussels people must provide explanations.
2. Alerini. From Marseilles, contested by Serraillier.
3. Zhukovsky. From Geneva---by the General Council.
4. Morago »
B' M^elau } SPain- Subscriptions not paid.
7. Alerini J
8. Sauva. Section No. 2 of New York not recognised by the General Council.
9. West. Section No. 12, Philadelphia section, Spring Street Council, America.
204Ranvier asks for a block vote on the mandates recognised.
Schwitzguebel proposes that the observations on all the mandates be heard.
Eccarius seconds the motion....^^*^^
Engels seconds the motion---*
\Ranvier] asks for a vote of confidence.
Lafargue: Let us lay aside the mandates which have been contested; let us take a block vote on the others and later discuss the contested mandates.
The Spaniards ask for modifications of the manner of voting.
Marx: We cannol change the existing Rules.
Cries of Adjourn! Adjourn!
30 for.
12 against.
The Scbramm incident.
Brismee: Must the General Council vote? 1 think we should do here on a big scale what is done on a small scale in our country. The members of the Belgian Federal Council....^^**^^
Marx: We must conform to the Rules; they are not opposed to members of the General Council representing sections; so they may and must vote.
Strongly supported by the majority.
THIRD SITTING
September 3, 1872, Tuesday morning
Sitting of September 3, 1000 hrs.
Nomination of secretaries: Le Moussu, Hepner, Roach.
Engels: For every mandate there are four speakers, which already comes to an hour for each mandate; the number of speakers must therefore not exceed four per mandate.
Adopted by a large majority. The Spaniards abstain.^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The text is illegible.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the sentence breaks off. The rest of the page is blank. Marx's words are on a new page.---Ed.
^^***^^ The continuation is not extant.---Ed.
205WALTER TO LE MOUSSU
Paris, September 16, 1872
Dear Citizen,
In accordance with the desire you expressed to me I am sending you the few words I said before and after the reading out of the declaration I made on the subject of the vote of expulsion against Bakunin and Guillaume.
Here they are:
``Citizens, the letter by which I resigned as member of the commission to investigate the Alliance having been misunderstood by some and falsely interpreted by others, I believe it is my duty to make a written statement which will be appended to the minutes of the sitting and will restore the facts in all their clarity."
Then comes the passage in question....
``I shall add that it was with profound regret that I saw the Congress except Citizen Malon from the measure taken against citizens Bakunin and Guillaume and wait until later to give a ruling on his expulsion. Malon is, in my opinion, the most dangerous enemy of the International. His doctrines are spreading and winning adherents; they have gained a footing in Avignon, where they are disorganising the sections founded at the price of costly efforts. Lately again, my correspondent in that town, feeling himself weakening and unable to continue the unequal and disproportionate struggle, called on me to help and pointed out to me the danger.
``I shall end by declaring that a few weeks ago the Jura Federation sent to me as its envoy Citizen Mechnikov to propose that I break with the General Council and draw all the French sections with me in that rupture."
That, approximately, is what I said. Citizen Serraillier will forward it to you, for I do not know your address.
Greetings and fraternity
Walter^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The envelope bears in the author's writing: "Very urgent. Citizen Le Moussu" and in Marx's hand the names: Cuno, Lucain, Marx, Viehard, Wroblewski, Walter.---Ed.
206P. LEFEBVRE-RONCIER TO KARL MARX"
18, Huntley Street, Gower Street, November 14, 1872
Dear Citizen,
I am very late in sending you a summary of my notes. It is not through negligence, but I am certain that you will understand that the times are such that they excuse all the running about in search of a publisher. I think I have found somebody to do the publishing in English and I have had to part with my manuscripts for too long already.
I have looked through my notes and am sending you a summary of them:
The closed sitting of Saturday, September 7, began with the reading out by Lucain of the unfortunate report of the investigation commission. Splingard then took the floor and gave the reason for his protest:
``I protest against the report of the commission investigating the Alliance and reserve for myself the right to expound my reasons to the Congress. One thing only, in my opinion, was established during the discussion; that was Mr. Bakunin's attempt to organise a secret society within the International.
``As for the expulsions proposed by the majority of the investigation commission, I declare I cannot give my opinion as a member of the said commission, having received no mandate in this respect and intending to fight this decision at the Congress."
Citizen Johannard pronounced himself in favour of the Congress adopting the proposals contained in the report:
``It was proved, according to him, that Bakunin had organised a secret society within the Association, a society spreading opinions and principles opposed to the basic rules of the Association and directed against it. This society still existed and was the centre from which originated all the dissensions rending the International. However, if it appeared necessary to him to expel citizens Bakunin, Guillaume, Schwitzguebel, Bousquet and Marchand, it seemed to him that the Congress should except Citizen Malon from this measure. Malon is an ex-member of the Paris Commune 207 and one of the oldest members of the Association. No doubt, Johannard continued, for a year Malon has not followed the straight path and seems to have made an alliance with our enemies, but there are grounds for hoping that the decision of the Congress will make things clear to him and that he will renounce his errors, which his old friends are sorry to see him pursuing."
The Congress, on the motion of Johannard, declared Citizen Malon exonerated.
Citizen Guillaume then took the floor and said that lie had decided not to defend himself:
``He now understands the tactics of which he and his friends have been victims. They have been made to attend the whole of this Congress; they have been provoked into discussions on questions of principle; they revealed their theories and their good faith, little aware of the tendentious process that was in store for them.
``Nobody, by the way, will be deceived. Those who are in the majority at this Congress are in the minority in the Association, and in speaking as he has spoken and acting as he has acted, he is conscious that he remains in community of ideas and sentiments with those who delegated him."
Citizen Schwitzguebel said that, himself a working man, he represents the workers of his country, that they are all working for the social and political emancipation of their class. That if there are any divergences of opinion on the most suitable means for ensuring that emancipation, the aim is the same; and that, no matter what results from the decisions of the Congress, he will remain attached as in the past to the ideas and doctrines of the International Working Men's Association.
You know better than I do the documents which were read out at the Congress at the end of the sitting: the statement of the minority, the communication of the Hague section, etc.
I have copied out in full for you what concerns Guillaume and Schwitzguebel. I thought indeed that was what you were most interested in, the more so since, if I remember well, the Jura Federation questioned the words attributed to Schwitzguebel.
208I propose to visit yon in the near future, although my time is more and more occupied, and I shall always be glad, if you think it useful, to communicate to you what you think is necessary for the Council or yourself concerning the Hague Congress.
Are there any grounds for hoping that your work will soon be published? I have the greatest desire to study its continuation.
I remain, dear citizen, your devoted
P. Lefebvre-Roncier
Would you kindly present my respects to the ladies and my greetings to Citizen Lafargue.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
[209] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ II __ALPHA_LVL1__ DOCUMENTS OF THE CONGRESS __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF THE GENERAL COUNCILCitizens,^^*^^
Since our last Congress at Basle, two great wars have changed the face of Europe: the Franco-German War and the Civil War in France. Both of these wars were preceded, accompanied, and followed by a third war---the war against the International Working Men's Association.
The Paris members^^**^^ of the International had told the French people publicly and emphatically, that voting the plebiscite was voting despotism at home and war abroad. Under the pretext of having participated in a plot for the assassination of Louis Bonaparte, they were arrested on the eve of the plebiscite, the 23rd of April, = 1870.^^79^^ Simultaneous arrests of Internationalists took place at Lyons, Rouen, Marseilles, Brest, and other towns. In its declaration of May 3rd, 1870, the General Council = stated^^80^^:
``This last plot will worthily range with its two predecessors of grotesque memory. The noisy and violent measures against our French sections are exclusively intended to serve one single purpose---the manipulation of the plebiscite."^^***^^
In point of fact, after the downfall of the December empire its governmental successors published documentary evidence to the effect that this last plot had been fabricated by the _-_-_
^^*^^ The leaflet and Der Volksstaat have "working men" here.---Ed.
^^**^^ In L'Internationale, La Liberte and other newspapers this sentence begins as follows: "When the empire demanded that France should sanctify its existence with a new plebiscite, the Paris members__"---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the leaflet and Der Volksstaat have: "We were right."---Ed.
14*
212Bonapartist police = itself,^^81^^ and that on the eve of the plebiscite, Ollivier. in a private circular, directly told his subordinates,
``The leaders of the International must be arrested or else the voting of the plebiscite could not be satisfactorily proceeded with."
The plebiscitary farce once over, the members of the Paris Federal Council were indeed condemned, on the 8th of July, by Louis Bonaparte's own judges, but for the simple crime of belonging to the International and not for any participation in the sham = plot.^^82^^ Thus the Bonapartist government considered it necessary to initiate the most ruinous war that was ever brought down upon France, by a preliminary campaign against the French sections of the International Working Men's Association. Let us not forget that the working class in France rose like one man to reject the plebiscite. Let us no more forget that
``the stock-exchanges, the cabinets, the ruling classes, and the press of Europe celebrated the plebiscite as a signal victory of the French emperor over the French working class."---(Address of General Council on the Franco-Prussian War, 23rd July, = 1870.)^^83^^
A few weeks after the plebiscite, when the imperialist press commenced to fan the warlike passions amongst the French people, the Paris Internationalists, nothing daunted by the government persecutions, issued their appeal of the 12th of July, "to the workmen of all nations'', denounced the intended war as a "criminal absurdity'', telling their "brothers of Germany'', that
their "division would only result in the complete triumph of despotism on both sides of the Rhine'', and declaring that "we, the members of the International Association, know of no = frontiers."^^84^^
Their appeal met with an enthusiastic echo from Germany, so that the General Council was entitled to state,
``The very fact that while official France and Germany are rushing into a fratricidal feud, the workmen of France and Germany send each other messages of peace and good will---this great fact, unparalleled in the history of the past---opens the vista of a brighter future. It proves that in contrast to old society with its economical miseries and its political delirium, a new society is springing up whose 213 international rule will be peace, because its national ruler will be everywhere the same---Labour. The pioneer of that new society is the Inter.national Working Men's Association."---(Address of July 23rd, 1870.)
Up to the proclamation of the Republic, the members of the Paris Federal Council remained in prison, while the other members of the Association were daily denounced to the mob as traitors acting in the pay of Prussia.
With the capitulation of Sedan, when the second empire ended as it began, by a parody, the Franco-German War entered upon its second phase. It became war against the French people. After her repeated solemn declarations to take up arms for the sole purpose of repelling foreign aggression, Prussia now dropped the mask and proclaimed a war of conquest. From that moment she found herself compelled not only to. fight the Republic in France, but simultaneously the International in Germany. We can here but hint at a few incidents of that conflict.
Inunediately after the declaration of war, the greater part of I he teiritory of the North German Confederation, Hanover. Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Brunswick, SchleswigHolslein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and the province of Prussia, were placed in a state of siege, and handed over to the tender mercies of General Vogel von Falkenstein. This state of siege, proclaimed as a safeguard against the threatening foreign invasion, was at once turned into a state of war against the German Internationals.
The day after the proclamation of the Republic at Paris, the Brunswick Central Committee of the German Democratic Socialist Working Men's Party, which forms a section of the International within the limits imposed by the law of the country, issued a manifesto (5th September) calling upon the working class to oppose by all means in their power the dismemberment of France, to claim a peace honourable for that country, and to agitate for the recognition of the = French Republic.^^85^^ The manifesto denounced the proposed annexation of Alsace and Lorraine as a crime tending to transform all Germany into a Prussian barracks, and to establish war as a permanent European institution. On the 9th September, Vogel von Falkenstein had the members of the Brunswick Committee arrested, and marched off in chains, a distance 214 of 600 miles, to Loetzen, a Prussian fortress, on the Russian frontier, where their ignominious treatment was to serve as a foil to the ostentatious feasting of the Imperial guest at Wilhelmshohe.^^*^^ As arrests, the hunting of workmen from one German state to another, suppression of proletarian papers, military brutality, and police-chicane in all forms, did not prevent the International vanguard of the German working class from acting up to the Brunswick manifesto, Vogel von Falkenstein, by an ukase of September 21st,^^**^^ interdicted all meetings of the Democratic Socialist party. That interdict was cancelled by another ukase of October 5th wherein he naively commands the police spies
``to denounce to him personally all individuals who, by public demonstrations, shall encourage France in her resistance against the conditions of peace imposed by Germany, so as to enable him to render such individuals innocuous during the continuance of the war".
Leaving the cares of the war abroad to Moltke, the King of Prussia contrived to give a new turn to the war at home. By his personal order of the 17th October, Vogel von Falkensteiu was to lend his Loetzen captives to the Brunswick District Tribunal, the which, on its part, was either to find grounds for their legal durance, or else return them to the safe keeping of the dread general.
Vogel von Falkenstein's proceedings were, of course, imitated throughout Germany, while Bismarck, in a diplomatic circular, mocked Europe by standing forth as the indignant champion of the right of free utterance of opinion, free press, and free meetings, on the part of the peace party in France. At the very same time that he demanded a freelyelected National Assembly for France, in Germany he had Bebel and Liebknecht imprisoned for having, in opposition to him, represented the International in the German Parliament, and in order to get them out of the way during the impending general = elections.^^86^^ His master, William the Conqueror, supported him, by a decree from Versailles, prolonging the state of siege, that is to say, the suspension of all civil law, for the whole period of the elections. In _-_-_
^^*^^ Castle of the Prussian kings where Napoleon III, former Emperor of France, was held prisoner by the Prussians from September 5, 1870 to March 19, 1871.---Erf.
^^**^^ 1870.---Ed.
215 fact, the King did not allow the state of siege to be raised in Germany until two months after the conclusion of peace with France. The stubbornness with which he was insisting upon the state of war at home, and his repeated personal meddling with his own German captives, prove the awe in which he, amidst the din of victorious arms and the frantic cheers of the whole middle class, held the rising party of the proletariat. It was the involuntary homage paid by physical force to moral power.If the war against the International had been localised, first in France, from the days of the plebiscite to the downfall of the Empire, then in Germany during the whole period of the resistance of the Republic against Prussia, it became general since the rise, and after the fall, of the Paris Commune.
On the 6th of June, 1871, Jules Favre issued his circular to the Foreign Powers demanding the extradition of the refugees^^*^^ of the Commune as common criminals, and a general crusade against the International as the enemy of family, religion, order, and property, so adequately represented in his own = person.^^87^^ Austria and Hungary caught the cue at once. On the 13th June, a raid was made on the reputed leaders of the Pesth Working Men's Union, their papers were seized, their persons sequestered, and proceedings were instituted against them for high = treason.^^88^^ Several delegates of the Vienna International, happening to be on a visit to Pesth, were carried off to Vienna, there to undergo a similar treatment. Beust asked and received from his parliament a supplementary vote of £ 30,000,
``on behalf of expenses for political information that had become more than ever indispensable through the dangerous spread of the International all over Europe".
Since that time a true reign of terror against the working class has set in in Austria and Hungary. In its last agonies the Austrian Government seems still anxiously to cling to its old privilege of playing the Don Quixote of European reaction.
A few weeks after Jules Favre's circular, Dufaure proposed to his rurals a law which is now in = force,^^89^^ and punishes as _-_-_
^^*^^ The leaflet and Der Volksstaat have ``members'' here.---Ed.
216 a crime the mere fact of belonging to the International Working Men's Association, or of sharing its principles. As a witness before the rural committee of enquiry on Dufaure's Bill, Thiers boasted that it was the offspring of his own ingenious brains, and that lie had been the first to discover the infallible panacea of treating the Internationals as the Spanish Inquisition had treated the heretics. But even on this point he can lay no claim to originality. Long before his appointment as saviour of society, the true law which the Internationals deserve at the hands of the ruling classes had been laid down by the Vienna courts.On the 26th July, 1870, the most prominent men of the Austrian proletarian party were found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to years of penal servitude, with one fast day in every month. The law laid down was this:---
The prisoners, as they themselves confess, have accepted and acted according to the programme of the German Working Men's Congress of Eisenach (1869). This programme embodies the programme of the International. The International is established for the emancipation of the working class from the rule of the propertied class, and from political dependence. That emancipation is incompatible with the existing institutions of the Austrian state. Hence, whoever accepts and propagates the principles of the International programme, commits preparatory acts for the overthrow of the Austrian Government, and is consequently guilty of high treason.
On the 27th November, 1871, judgment was passed upon the members of the Brunswick Committee. They were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment. The court expressly referred, as to a precedent, to the law laid down at Vienna.
At Pestli, the prisoners belonging to the Working Men's Union, after having undergone for nearly a year a treatment as infamous as that inflicted upon the Fenians Ly the British Government, were brought up for judgment on the 22nd April, 1872. The public prosecutor, here also, called upon the court to apply to them the law laid down at Vienna. They were, however, acquitted.
At Leipzig, on the 27th March, 1872, Bebel and Licbknecht were sentenced to two years imprisonment in a fortress for attempted high treason upon the strength of the law as laid down at Vienna. The only distinctive feature of this case is that the law laid down by a Vienna judge was sanctioned by a Saxon jury.
217At Copenhagen the three members of the Central Committee of the International, Brix, Pio, and Geleff, were thrown into prison on the 5th of May^^*^^ because they had declared their firm resolve to hold an open air meeting in the teeth of a police order forbidding it. Once in prison they were told that the accusation against them was extended, that the socialist ideas in themselves were incompatible with the existence of the Danish state, and that consequently the mere act of propagating them constituted a crime against the Danish constitution. Again the law as laid down in Vienna! The accused are still in prison awaiting their trial.
The Belgian government, distinguished by its sympathetic reply to Jules Favre's demand of extradition, made haste to propose, through Malou, a hypocritical counterfeit of Dufaure's law.
His Holiness Pope Pius IX gave vent to his feelings in an allocation to a deputation of Swiss Catholics.
``Your government,'' said he, "which is republican, thinks itself bound to make a heavy sacrifice for what is called liberty. It affords an asylum to a goodly number of individuals of the worst character. It tolerates that sect of the International which desires to treat all Europe as it has treated Paris. These gentlemen of the International who are no gentlemen, are to be feared because they work for the account of the everlasting enemy of God and mankind. What is to be gained by protecting them! One must pray for them."
Hang them first and pray for them afterwards!
Supported by Bismarck, Beust, and Slieber, the Prussian spy-in-chief, the Emperors of Austria and Germany met at Salzburg in the beginning of September, 1871, for the ostensible purpose of founding a holy alliance against the International Working Men's Association.
``Such^a European Alliance,'' declared the North German Gazette,^^**^^ Bismarck's private Moniteur,^^***^^ "is the only possible salvation of state, church, property, civilisation, in one word, of everything that constitutes European states."
Bismarck's real object, of course, was to prepare alliances for an impending war with Russia and the International was held up to Austria as a piece of red cloth is held up to a bull.
_-_-_^^*^^ 1872.-£J.
^^**^^ Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.---Ed.
^^***^^ Herald.---Ed.
218Lanza suppressed the International in Italy by simple decree. Sagasta declared it an outlaw in = Spain,^^90^^ probably with a view to curry favour with the English stock exchange. The Russian government which, since the emancipation of the serfs, has been driven to the dangerous expedient of making timid concessions to popular claims today, and withdrawing them tomorrow, found in the general hue and cry against the International a pretext for a recrudescence of reaction at home. Abroad, with the intention of prying into the secrets of our Association, it succeeded in inducing a Swiss judge to search, in presence of a Russian spy, the house of Outine, a Russian International, and the editor of the Geneva Egalite, the organ of our Romance Federa- tion.^^91^^ The republican government of Switzerland has only been prevented by the agitation of the Swiss Internationals from handing up to Thiers refugees of the Commune.
Finally, the government of Mr. Gladstone, unable to act in Great Britain, at least set forth its good intentions by the police terrorism exercised in Ireland against our sections then in course of formation, and by ordering its representatives abroad to collect information with respect to the International Working Men's Association.
But all the measures of repression which the combined government intellect of Europe was capable of devising, vanish into nothing before the war of calumny undertaken by the lying power of the civilised world. Apocryphal histories and mysteries of the International, shameless forgeries of public documents and private letters, sensational telegrams, followed each other in rapid succession; all the sluices of slander at the disposal of the venal respectable press were opened at once to set free a deluge of infamy in which to drown the execrated foe. This war of calumny iinds no parallel in history for the truly international area over which it has spread, and for the complete accord in which it has been carried on by all shades of ruling class opinion. When the great conflagration took place at Chicago, the telegraph round the world announced it as the infernal deed of the International; and it is really wonderful that to its demoniacal agency has not been attributed the hurricane ravaging the West Indies.
In its former annual reports, the General Council used 219 to give a review of the progress of the Association since the meeting of the preceding Congress. You will appreciate, citizens,^^*^^ the motives which induce us to abstain from that course upon this occasion. Moreover, the reports of the delegates from the various countries, who know best how far their discretion may extend, will in a measure make up for this deficiency. We confine ourselves to the statement that since the Congress at Basle, and chiefly since the London Conference of September 1871, the International has been extended to the Irish in England and to Ireland itself, to Holland, Denmark, and Portugal, that it has been (irmly organised in the United States, and that it has established ramifications in Buenos Aires, Australia, and New Zealand.
The difference between a working class without an International, and a working class with an International, becomes most evident if we look back to the period of 1848. Years were required for the working class itself to recognise the Insurrection of June, 1848, as the work of its own vanguard. The Paris Commune was at once acclaimed by the universal proletariat.
You, the delegates of the working class, meet to strengthen the militant organisation of a society aiming at the emancipation of labour and the extinction of national feuds. Almost at the same moment, there meet at Berlin the crowned dignitaries of the old world in order to forge new chains and to hatch new = wars.^^92^^
Long life to the International Working Men's Association!
Written by Marx in late August 1872
Published according to The International Herald
Published as a leaflet: OjfizieUer Bericht
des Lour/oner Ceneralratu, verlesen in
iiljrntlicher Silzung des I ideritalioiialen
KuitRn-ss, Braunschweig 1872, and in the
newspapers: Der Volksslaat No. 75,
September 18, 1872; La Libert/; No. 39,
September 29, 1872; L' Internationale
No. 195, October 6, 1872; La Emancipation
Nos. 08 and 69, October 5 and 13, 1872;
The International Herald Nos. 27, 28 and
29, October 5, 12 arid 19, 1872
^^*^^ The leaflet and Der Volksstaat have "working men" here.---Ed.
[220] __ALPHA_LVL2__ INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATIONReceipts £ s. d.
1 . Balance from last year 5 4 8 2. Subscriptions from branches and affiliated societies:
a. England: Basket Makers ---17 (j Alliance Cabinet-Makers 121 West-End Boot-Closers ---0--- Swiss Section, London 1------ National Reform League ---5---
British Federal Council 218 5 12 3
b. Other countries: Subscriptions for preceding year: Switzerland: Romance Federation 2 16---
Jura Federation ---11 8
Belgium 48---
Spain 12---- £ 19 15 8
Subscriptions for 1871/72
America 4 10 2
221 Receipts £ s. d. Holland --- 16 8 Italy (Turin and Milan) 1 4 4 Austria and Hungary 3 14 1 Switzerland: German Section in Geneva --- 11 --- Jura Federation --- 17 8 Germany 2 18 4 France (including German Section) [7 18 1 Less loss on exchange (Total subscriptions 3. Sale of publications (of which £586 from America) 4. Individual subscriptions £22 10 4 ---7--- £47 11 3) £22 3 4 100 14 6 l/2 Expenditures 1. Salary of secretary Total receipts £160 19 = I^^1^^ /2 5 weeks at 10/-- £2 10 43 weeks at 15/-- £32 5 34 15 2. London Conference £14 12 The Hague Congress £3 17 12 3. Rent 12 7 -4. Advances to refugees 19 --- r>. Printing costs paid 47 7 0. Petty expenses, postage, newspapers, etc. 25 12 2 £156 13 4 Balance in Treasury £4 6 9'/2 222GENERAL BALANCE of the General Council's Financial Administration for the year 1871/72 £30 12--- £158 17 5Vz 223 French subscriptions expended by secretary for postage, etc., etc. £4 0 7 German subscriptions reckoned against printing costs of Rules in German £2 jg 4 To Marx money advanced to pay printing of the Civil War in France still to be paid £11 12--- Total about £35------ Received after closing of accounts as above: Subscriptions from British Federal Council £2 1 8 £165 16 4>/2 1871 Receipts Expenditures Sept. 1 Balance £5 4 8 September £1 14 4 September £2 13 2V2 October £74 3 6 October £29 6 5','a November £7 7 3 November £31 17 10V2 December £36 17 7 December £26 --- 7Va 1872 January £10 6 10'/2 January £13 (i lOl/o February £1 15 1 February £9 12 6Va March --- 12 6 March £5 10 9Va April £8 13 8 April £4 19 7V, May --- 17 9 May £6 4 2V2 June --- 8 ---. June £7 19 10 July £3 10 8 July £4 12 3V2 August £43 2 3 August £48 4 --- Balance in Treasury £4 5 9'/2 constituting real receipts of General Council from Sept. 1, 1871 to Aug. 21, 1872 Approved by the Commission appointed by the Congress E. Faillet for France Alerini for Spain Carl Farkas for Austria and Hungary D. Brismee for the Brussels Federation S. Dereure for the American Federation S. F. Pihl, Denmark P. La/argue, delegate for the New Madrid Federation and Portugal Joh. Ph. Becker, Theodore Duval, delegate of the Swiss Romance Federation Adhemar Schwitzguebel, delegate of the Jura Federation £194 14 Real receipts 1871 IT2 Total as above £194 14 1V2 Less balance August 31, 1872 £548 IV* £194 14 1V2 Debts to be paid Truelove for printing the Civil War still to be paid approximately Ditto for Rules in English approximately The Volksstaat for Rules in German still to bo paid approximately £7 10--- £189 9 5»/2 Less advances paid since: Marx £15 7--- Engels £15 5 £12-------- £3 18---
The Hague, September 7, 1872
Published in part in Chap. 62 of M. Nettlau's lithographed publication Michael Bakuuiii. Eiue raphie 1896--1898. L.---N.Y.
Translated from the French according to Engels' manuscript signed by the members of the Auditing Commission
[224] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF THE NORTH AMERICANAMERICA^^91^^
In the spring of 1867 a German Section was formed in New York out of the old Club of = Communists.^^95^^ This Section only had a nominal existence for a year or more, when its most active and zealous members joined and reorganised the General German Workingmen's = Society^^96^^ with the principal aim of organising and centralising the different Trades and Labor Societies. Through its agency was formed the first central body of German Trades Unions in New York city. It was connected on one side with the National Labor Union of the United = States^^97^^ and on the other side with the I.W.A. by upholding a regular correspondence with the G.C. at London and with the German Central Committee at Geneva, and also sent an address and report to the Congress at Basle. Mainly to the influence of the same General German Workingmen's Society, then also known as Labor Union No. 5 of New York, was due the sending of a delegate (A. C. Cameron) to the Basle Congress by the American National Labor Congress at = Philadelphia.^^98^^
In the beginning of December 1869 the above-named General German Workingmen's Society---Labor Union No. 5--- formally declared its adhesion to the I.W.A. and constituted itself as German Section in New York city, showing great activity in propaganda (Address to the Fenians, answer to Gen. Cluseret,'' etc., etc.). In the fall of 1870 a Frenchspeaking Section was formed out of the Union = republicaine^^100^^ and soon a lively intercourse was existing between the two, 225 leading in the lirst place to the issue of a Manifesto about the French-German war then raging and in the second place to the holding of the great Anti-War meeting on November 19th in the Cooper = Institute.^^101^^
Urged on from all sides to provide a central agency of the more advanced Labor associations a Central Committee of the I.W.A. for North America was instituted on the 1st of December 1870 for one year by the above-named German, French and a Czechian Section newly formed. Two German Sections from Chicago at once affiliated and the General Council in a letter dated March 14th 1871 formally recognised the Central Committee and expressed its satisfaction with its proceedings. New Sections sprang up all over the country and with the arrival of the Irish exiles and their reception by the Central Committee an opportunity presented itself to approach the Irish workingmen, by far the most numerous of the American working class. An Irish Section was formed, very promising connections made with Irish workingmen at different points, when Section 12 of the City of New York, of which Mesdames Woodhull and Claflin were the most prominent members, entered the organisation under false pretenses and by its intrigues, fantastical bearing and astonishing audacity in contriving rules and regulations provoked a bitter strife and prevented notoriously the spread of the I.W.A. in American Workingmen's circles.'
On the 16th or 17th of September Section 12 published a ludicrous appeal to the English-speaking citizens. On the 15th of October protest was entered against Section 12 proceedings and a dispute arose leading to the final adjournment [of] its last regular statutory meeting day, by a vote of 19 against 5. Fourteen delegates of the 19 immediately formed a provisional Federal Council and took precautions against similar attempts of intrusion into the International by bogus reformers and shopkeepers. The opposition, after vainly trying to break up the provisional F.C., took leave and organised a Counter-Council. On the 5th and 12th of March, 1872, the General Council passed resolutions on the American split, mainly vindicating the course taken by the provisional F.C. The Counter-Council refused to acknowledge the decision of the G.C. and formally seceded from the G.C., when the G.C. was obliged to declare the
15--0960
226 provisional F.G. at the 10 Ward Hotel to be the only regular and recognised central body of the I.W.A. in America.A Congress of all the Workingmen's Sections acknowledging the decision and authority of the G.C. was convoked for July 6th^^*^^ at the 10 Ward Hotel at New York city, where il met and continued its meetings till July 8lh incl. The business of the Congress was
1. To establish a definite F.C.;
2. To lay down rules and regulations for the organisation in America;
3. To define the position of the'I.W.A. in America towards the existing political parties;
4. To provide for a delegation or memorandum to the General Congress at The Hague.
There were present 23 delegates representing 22 Sections as follows: 9 Sections from New York city, 1 from Brooklyn, 1 from West Hoboken, 2 from Philadelphia, 1 from Baltimore, 3 from Chicago, 2 from St. Louis, 3 from San Francisco = 22. Amongst them 12 were of German, 4 of French, 3 of American (or English-speaking) [as well as Irish and Italian] descent, with an inscribed number of about one thousand (1,000) members. A definite Federal Council of nine (9) members, with power to add five more to its own number, was elected, a Constitution adopted, opposition against all old parties proclaimed, strong resolutions in favor of the G.C. passed and two delegates chosen to represent the North American Federation at The Hague. A complete statistical formula was adopted and will also be admitted to the General Congress for adoption. Four more Sections had already demanded admission by the 4th of August and there is no doubt of a great increase in numbers after this---the presidential election---year, if the Federation succeeds in keeping aloof from the former disturbing elements. It is equally certain, that the Irish---by far the most numerous and important of the component parts of the American working classes---will never affiliate with a party tainted by their connection with such an incongruous body of intriguers, petty _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "at 5 o'clock p.m.'' are struck out in the manucript.---Ed.
227 politicians, used up reformers and talkers as were and are caged up in the Counter-Council.The organisation will have to keep its own this year and, freed from the incubus above mentioned, it will make certain and great progress after this.
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
15*
[228] __ALPHA_LVL2__ MODIFICATIONS TO THE GENERAL RULES PROPOSED BY THE FERRE SECTION^^102^^Article 6
The General Council shall form an international agency between the different national and local groups of the Association, so that the working men in one country be constantly informed of the movements of their class in every other country; that an inquiry, etc., etc.
Whenever it seems opportune, the General Council shall take the initiative of proposals to be laid before the different national or local societies.
To facilitate, etc..., etc.... Article 7
Since the success of the working men's movement ... the members f the International ^Association shall use their utmost efforts to
Article 6
The General Council shall form an international agency between the different national groups of the Association, so that the working men in one country be constantly informed of the movements of their class in every other country; that an inquiry, etc., etc.
Whenever it seems opportune, the General Council shall take the initiative of proposals to be laid before the national societies.
To facilitate, etc..., etc....
Article 7
Since the success of the working men's movement etc.... consequently, considering that a centre of action guiding the working-- 229 combine the disconnected working men's societies of their respective countries into national bodies, represented by central' national organs.
It is self-understood, however, lhat the appliance of this rule will depend upon the peculiar laws of each country, and that, apart from legal obstacles, no independent local society shall be precluded from directly corresponding with the General Council.
class movement of each country would facilitate communications between the different groups of the Association, a Central Committee 'will be formed in each country and it alone will maintain direct links with the General Council.
However, in case of obstacles caused by the law or by dissension with the Central Committee, the sections will be authorised to correspond with the General Council, which in the latter case will decide the issue.^^*^^!
Article eight in place of the old one, which is suppressed by the preceding article:
In countries where the laws are not opposed to this, the Central Committee will be elected by all the sections of the country.
In those countries where the laws prevent this, the Central Committee will be appointed by the General Council according to the proposals of the sections.
The Central Committee will be renewed after each congress.
It is understood that this committee, being only a centre of information, direction and supervision, cannot in any way interfere with the autonomy of the sections.
The sections will defray the general expenses of the Central Committee.
The Central Committee will draw up regulations denning its relations with the sections in the country and its powers.
These regulationsVill be'previously submitted for approval to the sections.
The General Council shall establish links between the central committees of the different countries.
_-_-_^^*^^ At the end of_'the text is written: "Continued overleaf.'' In the margin we read: "Paris. Lithographic printshop of the Ferr6 section."---Ed,
230MODIFICATIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS I. The General Congress
3. Each delegate has but one vote in the Congress.
3. The number of votes granted to each delegate shall be equal to the number of sections which he represents at the Congress.
II. The General Council
4. Every new branch or society intending to join the International, is bound immediately to announce its adhesion to the General Council.
4. Every new branch or society intending to join the International, is bound immediately to announce its adhesion to the Centra^ Committee, or, if it should not know the seat of the latter, to the General Council.
6. The General Council may not suspend a section except on a report of the Central Committee and only pending the next Congress.
6. The General Council has also the right of suspending, till the meeting of next Congress, any branch of the International.
Voted at the sitting of August 8, 1872
Published as a lithographed leaflet: Modifications aux Statuts Generaux proposees par la section Ferre.---Modifications aux Reglements administratifs,
Paris, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
[231] __ALPHA_LVL2__ FRENCH SECTIONSFRENCH BRANCH. NARBONNE SECTION. MESSAGE TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS^^103^^
Workers of the world, members of the International Association of all countries, your brothers in France send you their fraternal greetings.
We want to bring to your knowledge the views and methods proposed by sections not represented at the Congress for the flourishing of the International Working Men's Association.
To remain within the order of the day and faced with the spectacle provided to the bourgeoisie by the split provoked by certain ambitious persons (refugees in Geneva) and to put an end to these machinations, which, ridiculous though they are, may jeopardise the existence of the Association, the sections propose:
1. That the present Congress should renew the powers of the General Council by means of an election and declare that it has deserved well of the working people.
2. That the powers of the Council be extended and that the widest powers be vested in it so that the efforts of the mercantile and bourgeois reaction, which is as hideous as it is bloody, should be broken against the might which the Congress will give its delegates.
3. In view of the secrecy of correspondence so outrageously violated by the agents of the Versailles assassins, we propose that a modification be made to Article 8 of the General Rules, replacing the words "has the right to appoint its own secretary corresponding with the General Council" 232 by "every section has the right to appoint its corresponding secretaries with the federal council of the relevant country. Only the federal council has the right to correspond with the General Council".
The section of the International has no grounds to complain of the restrictive measures decreed against the Association by the Versailles hangmen. The Dufaure = law^^104^^ resulted mainly in the creation of our section. This means that the law of intimidation has but encouraged our efforts.
We subscribe to all the decisions the Congress takes.^^*^^
We applaud the progress made by the working class in recent times. The work whose energetic defenders we have the honour to be has henceforth nothing in common with the Versailles Left, which is incapable and cowardly and which was not able to rise en masse and leave the tribune from which orders for the shooting of the purest republicans are issued every day.
Justice! against the assassination of Ferre, Raoul Rigault, Cerizier. Justice for the summary shooting and the murders committed by the Versailles troopers. Justice, we wait for your hour.
Our convicts, our prisoners and our exiles call on you. Hurry, hasten, and the radiant day which will witness your appearance will find us at your side, implacable in executing your decisions.
Long live the democratic and social Republic!
Discussed at an extraordinary session on August 12, 1872 at Narbonne^^**^^ (France).
On behalf and by order of the section
The Secretary^^***^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the words ``energetically censure the fuddling splitters of Geneva and maintain our confidence in the General Council" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ In the original "at Narbonne" is here struck out in pencil.---Ed.
^^***^^ The document bears the stamp: Association Internationale des Travailleurs. Comit6 Federal. Bordeaux.---Ed.
[233] __ALPHA_LVL2__ DECLARATION OF THE PARIS SECTIONS TO THE DELEGATES OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ASSEMBLED IN CONGRESS^^105^^Citizens,
We do not intend to run after new adventures. Moreover our ranks have been thinned, our best soldiers exiled or shot. We must not forget it. That is why we come to declare formally and absolutely that we have no interest in any material and violent demonstration until the cadres of the International in Paris have been reformed, until the workingclass forces have grouped, until each and every member of the International in Paris has become penetrated with social principles.
We reject and repulse at any price all compromise whatever with a purely political party. We do not want to be transformed into a secret society, neither do we want to sink in the bog of purely economic evolution. Because a secret society leads to adventures in which the people is always the victim, because purely economic evolution would lead to the creation of a new class, and this contradicts the spirit of the International.
We consider, claim and declare that we are and will remain the International. In our opinion, the General Rules into which we have inserted the resolution of the London Conference clearly and energetically call for political revolution. In our opinion, the'General Regulations constitute a mechanism sufncient^for"maintaining the balance between individual and collective action, and that is the solution of the political, economic and social problem.
Does that mean, citizens, that we do not admit any change in the Rules, in the Regulations? No!
234Does it mean that we reject the Basle resolutions and those of the London Conference? No!
Quite the contrary, we preserve in the General Council everything that ensures it the necessary action, although we take away from it all that threatens, in germ or in fact, the autonomy of groups and federations.
We go further: we congratulate the General Council and the members of the Conference on having, the day after the defeat of the Commune, outlined the new road which the International must take under penalty of betraying its principles, its tendencies, the Revolution, of which henceforth it is the expression.
We repeat that we remain within the spirit of the Rules and we wish to preserve our autonomy while accepting, of course, solidarity and control.
But we pray the Congress to trust to the good sense of the Paris proletariat to give us the opportunity to reassemble our forces until the day when we shall be able to re-establish our former relations with the General Council. We ask of you this proof of confidence at a time above all when this reserve is imposed upon us by terrible and exceptional circumstances.
Here is our opinion in respect of the Council:
First of all, must it preserve the powers which it has at present? Must it be simply a correspondence centre as it has been, instituted by the founders of the Association? To those who support this latter opinion we say that to wish to reduce the Council to its first and simple function means not to take into account that at the beginnings of the Association the Council could only be a correspondence centre and that from the time when the International began to spread the necessity arose to give the Council new powers. It means to underestimate the very character of the International, a character which is expressed in the following two paragraphs of the Provisional Rules:
``All effors aiming at that great end have hitherto failed from the want of solidarity between the manifold divisions of labour in each country, and from the absence of a fraternal bond of union between the working classes of different counries;
``The emancipation of labour is neither a local nor a national, but a social problem, embracing all countries in which modern 235 society exists, and depending for its solution on the concurrence, practical and theoretical, of the most advanced countries."
If you claim that the Council is a useless body, that the federations could do without it by corresponding among themselves, you thereby invite the sections to use the same language by virtue of the same argument---and then the International Association is dislocated. The proletariat goes back to the period of the corporations.
Like the latter, you will have no more concern for the interests of your brothers and it will matter little to you that in one nation or another they are bowed down under the yoke of exploitation, provided you have snatched some scrap from feudalism in your country.
Well, we Parisians declare that we have not shed our blood in floods at every generation for the satisfaction of parochial interests.
We declare that you have understood nothing at all about the character and the mission of the International Association.
You will object: And autonomy? Is not the right of the individual superior and anterior to the right of the collective?
Let us say then that we are thinking of autonomy and concentration.
Citizens, the Central Committee and the Commune gave the Paris proletariat a painful but fruitful experience.
Indeed, it has experienced all that is disastrous in individual and group autonomy when the group and the individual flounder between the centralising tradition which is, so to speak, in the very marrow of the modern individual's bones and the concept of autonomy which is in his mind in the state of abstraction, of pure theory.
However, citizens, autonomy is the saving principle for modern society. But on the express and absolute condition that its exercise is regulated by consciousness of rights and duties. Otherwise, how could that exercise lead to anything but confusion and ruin when the individuals enjoying it are not conscious of rights and duties when they have to fight enemies disciplined by authority?
We must, we must at all costs, citizens, abandon the regions of pure theory, we must forget ourselves and think that the masses are ignorant, obstinate and inert owing 236 to their mass of prejudices. And it is their education, their transformation, their emancipation, in the final account, that the International Association has the mission to accomplish.
Federation derives from autonomy; and autonomy can offer no social and political guarantee unless it is based on the notion of rights and duties.
And the International Association is a superior conception because, posing the principle of reciprocity---"no duties without rights, no rights without duties"---it determines the point of departure of social transformation---the individual.
To succeed in this task requires a central organisation which disciplines working-class action and distributes it everywhere. The General Council must therefore be an agency for spreading the general principles and the general wills of the proletariat.
We do not want the Council to be a head, a guidance. A thousand times no! That would result, necessarily and fatally, in dictatorship.
That is the dream of the Jacobins who have penetrated into the General Council. They hope that that dream will become a reality. Then they will transform the General Council into an executive directorate of the Association. That is in their tradition, in their very blood. Whatever they say, whatever they wish. But as for us, we prefer to be nothing rather than to serve such designs!
To sum up:
We want revolution everywhere, and if possible at the same time---because the need is for a general political revolution, the serious guarantee and the only guarantee of a general social revolution.
We have therefore decided not to accomplish a single material political action until our forces have become disciplined, conscious of the aim. The work is difficult and delicate, but it can be accomplished more quickly than is thought---with the method of perseverance, patience and rigorous selection of the combatants.
Read out at the twelfth sitting of the Congress, September 7, 1872
Published in La Liberte No. 37, September 15, 1872
Translated from the French text ~
[237] __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE PARIS MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATIONUNITED IN THE FERRE SECTIONTO THE DELEGATES OF THE HAGUE CONGRESS^^106^^Citizens,
Penetrated with the importance of the impending Congress, we would have been happy to delegate one of our members to it. Circumstances do not allow us to do so and oblige us to substitute an indirect mandate and to trust the care of our interests to a citizen^^*^^ whom the sad liberty of exile protects against the violence of the reactionaries.
It is certainly not without regret that we have resigned ourselves to this painful subterfuge, but if, resolved to brave all dangers, disdainful of all threats, we accept the sacrifices imposed by the fulfilment of duty, we understand that certain sacrifices would be inopportune and criminal and that after the frightful massacres which accompanied the victories of the Versailles assassins like a bloody procession, the party of the proletariat has been too sorely tried to have the right to waste with imprudence these forces which are all the more precious as they have been more weakened. The executions, the prison-ships, deportation and exile have horribly thinned the ranks of our army; we therefore had to be sparing with it, while noting with very legitimate pride that less than a year after the gloomy events of May it has been reforming its ranks and that the painful gaps have been filled with a truly prodigious devotedness and enthusiasm.
The hour has not yet struck when we can descend openly into the arena and satisfy! by unmasking ourselves, the _-_-_
^^*^^ Ranvier.---Ed.
238 fierce curiosity of our enemies who are always searching for a pretext to overcrowd their dungeons and overload their floating prisons. We like the light of day and the brilliance of the sun, but since we are forced to remain in the shadow we shall know how to profit by its discretion in order to keep watch, invisible but present, over the brazen manoeuvres of the throne and the altar.Such are, citizens, the serious motives which decided us not to send a member of our section to your midst. There was no lack of people of good will, but we imposed silence on them, keeping their ardour in reserve for better occasions. One thing, by the way, consoles us for this setback, and that is the knowledge that we shall be represented at the Congress by Citizen Ranvier, who, we are already now certain, will prove to be a worthy and valiant envoy of the heroic Paris which he defended with such energy.
Citizens, never was a congress more solemn and more important than the one whose sittings bring you together in The Hague. What indeed will be discussed there will not be this or that insignificant question of form, this or that trite article of the Regulations, but the very life of the Association.
Impure hands stained with Republican blood have been trying for a long time to sow among us a discord which would be profitable only to the most criminal of monsters, Louis Bonaparte; intriguers expelled with shame from our midst---the Bakunins, Malons, Gaspard Blancs and Richards---are trying to found we know not what kind of ridiculous federation intended in their ambitious projects to crush the Association. Well, citizens, it is this germ of discord, grotesque in its arrogant designs, but dangerous in its daring manoeuvres, which must be annihilated at all costs. Its life is incompatible with ours and we rely on your pitiless energy to achieve a decisive and brilliant success. Be without pity, strike without hesitation, for should you retreat, should you weaken, you would be responsible not only for the disaster suffered by the Association, but moreover for the terrible consequences which this would lead to for the cause of the proletariat.
In order to achieve this aim, citizens, and to remain masters of the field in this battle which reaction and jealous 239 rivalry are waging against us, we must make a serious study of the modifications which events dictate to our organisation. And, by the way, the members of the General Council have understood this so well that they have introduced as the principal question on the order of the day the revision of the Rules.
We shall therefore get down immediately to the crux of the matter and shed light by a preliminary discussion on the resolutions which the envoy of our section will be instructed to defend in proper time and place.
There is one question, citizens, which, though it was already raised at preceding congresses, has not yet been settled, important as it is. We mean the creation of central committees in each country. This creation, useful in ordinary times, has become an indisputable necessity today. The lessons of the past and the present circumstances imperiously demand it.
We are surely aware that certain minds will at first be opposed to the existence of these committees, seeing in them a source of jealousy and intriguing, and despotic manoeuvres, but we are firmly convinced that this prejudice will fall before the strength of our arguments.
Let us begin, however, in order to divert all suspicion of ambitious scheming, by noting that these committees would be obliged to operate according to regulations fixing the limits of their powers, making impossible all infringement of the sections' autonomy, regulations which, moreover, would have to be submitted, in order to be valid, to consideration by those sections and to sanction by their vote.
This having been said in passing, let us make a rapid examination of the principal advantages of this institution.
In these dismal times of reaction and Versailles repression, of bourgeois terror and the black cabinet, the multiplication of external relations with numerous internal centres constitutes serious difficulties for the development of the Association and menacing dangers for the liberty of its members. The work will be done with greater expedition and correspondence will be carried on with greater safety, we believe, if, instead of having to satisfy numerous correspondents, the secretaries of the General Council have to be in contact with only one in the respective countries. 240 Through the channel of the central committeesv communications relating to the functioning of the Association would be transmitted with irreproachable regularity, and if, as a result of events which we must foresee and be prepared for, a slogan---always so necessary for success in battlecould be the sign for a general rising, the committees would be there to issue it on all sides.
Were it to offer only these advantages, this institution should be set up urgently; it offers many others, but we think we would be wasting precious time in presenting other arguments here and in dwelling at greater length on a subject which our representative will know how to defend .and expound in the course of the general discussion.
However, we do not want to pass on to another point without saying that if the delegates of other countries think themselves obliged to reject this proposal as far as it concerns them, we maintain it energetically and demand that it should be applied specially for France.
Article 6 of the Rules imposes on the General Council the obligation to publish a periodical bulletin. Citizen Varlin already expressed regret at the Lausanne Congress, noting that this formality had not been complied with. We repeat that regret today. This bulletin is too precious, it constitutes too powerful a means of propaganda for its publication to be neglected. The members of the General Council must understand this as well as we do, and therefore we think that there must have been serious hindrances to stay the fulfilment of this important resolution, and we rely on plausible and explicit explanations being given and demand them in the interest of the entire Association.
We could submit to you a number of observations on the revision of the Rules and on the reorganisation in France, but these observations will be more to the point when called for by the order of the day; given here they would uselessly delay the opening of the discussion. Our valiant delegate will be able to choose the propitious moment to table them and submit them to the appreciation of your votes.
Citizens, the International Working Men's Association, beaten but not downhearted, is recovering day by day in Paris the redoubtable might which makes its adversaries tremble, hidden away amidst their guns and their hired 241 assassins. And we, who, full of the hopes of a bright future, have ranged ourselves under the folds of its immortal banner, send you our oath of unshakable loyalty. We said to you in our manifesto of March = 18^^107^^ and we repeat now that our sublime cause cannot perish; like the sun it has its temporary eclipses, but like the sun too, it reappears still more resplendent to illumine the peoples with its generous and vivifying rays.
Our courage, energy, devotedness and self-sacrifice will not fail us, for we are proud to fight for the noble principles of the Paris Commune. Nothing will stop us in our resolute march, nothing will make us hesitate and we will brave reaction even in its ignoble and hideous triumph. At the cost of any sacrifices, at the cost of our liberty, of our very life if necessary, we shall preserve intact the deposit which has been placed in our hands, we shall defend to the last drop of our blood the post of honour which has been entrusted to our staunchness. And if some of us perish in the struggle, they will have at least the consolation of succumbing with glory and the satisfaction of knowing that friends remain to avenge them and continue their sacred work.
Citizens, we are going through a period of sorrows and bitterness, some in a gloomy exile, full of afflictions and misery, others in an ungrateful home country among compatriots who, instead of being brothers to them, are spies and hangmen. The stern trials will not discourage or weary us. Accustomed to all sorts of injustices, prepared for all kinds of misfortunes, we will not be demoralised and will preserve deeply rooted in our hearts the hope of imminent and final victory, for we know that all soldiers of the proletariat have on their side not only numbers and courage, but also two invincible weapons, two weapons against which the most desperate efforts of our enemies will be smashed: RIGHT and WILL.
Long live the world social and democratic republic!
Long live the International Working Men's Association!
Paris, August 23, 1872
Read out at the ninth sitting of the Congress, September 5, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
First published in Russian ~
16---0960
[242] __ALPHA_LVL2__ INTERNATIONALTO THE MEMBERS OF THE HAGUE CONGRESS
Comrade,
At this solemn hour when the Fifth Congress of our great Association is assembling, your Paris brothers, prevented by an iniquitous law from having themselves represented in the regular way in your midst, nevertheless consider it their sacred duty to raise their voices in the name of the socialist principles, in the name of the oppressed class of which we are all the children and the defenders, and to send you an energetic appeal.
Comrades,
Be on your guard against the bourgeois, they are watching you, they are encircling you, they are trying to infiltrate among us! among you.
Nay, they have already infiltrated, ami their pernicious influence has already borne its fruit.
Every being obeys its nature, the jackal and the hyena like the bee and the ant. The bourgeois also obeys his nature, which is to live on the sweat and the blood of the workers.
This dangerous family is divided into several species, all maleficent, but some less to be feared than others. If there is the cynical enemy, the industrialist, the merchant, the doctrinarian, who exploit and grind us in broad daylight, as the barons of the Middle Ages formerly oppressed their fathers and ours, there are also hypocritical, liberal and _-_-_
^^*^^ Before the text there is a pencil note in an unknown hand: ``Documents'', ``I'' and the stamp: "Cooperative Bakery. Verviers and District."---Ed.
243 liberalising, republican, democratic, demagogic, anarchist, collectivist and communist and all kinds of other bourgeois! The name is of little importance to them so long as they can perceive at the end of all their confessions of faith the possibility to have their day of power. And when that day comes, if we dare to move, if we dare to demand even peacefully the fulfilment of the promises they made when we were the steps by which they ascended, bang!... rifles and machine guns achieve marvels, and our friends of yesterday shoot us with greater gusto and ferocity than any monarch by divine right.Comrades,
It is these bourgeois that we call on you to be on your guard against, it is they that we urge you to reject from your midst; for they have already infiltrated your ranks.
This calls for an explanation.
You know, at least in part, the history of the latest events which have taken place in our country; you know how old provokers of revolution treated us when it was a matter of defending their ministerial portfolio or merely their seat as deputy; you learned to your stupor that human blood had flowed in the gutter and that "/or eight days and eight nights" they turned "the Paris of the Revolution into an immense human slaughterhouse'', and you have been able to see once again what concern the bourgeois show for the demands of the oppressed proletariat when they have come to power.
Comrades,
We must tell you everything; the Versaillais were not the only culprits, they were not the only bourgeois whose dupes and victims we were.
What were the leaders of the Commune? Workers? No! Most of them were only bourgeoisifying bourgeois. The most honest among them many a time denied even the existence of a social question, they defended and rehashed to surfeit the principles of authoritarian Jacobinism. If these men came to place themselves at the head of a movement which was socialist by its origin and federalist by its consequences, it was only to seize a dictatorial power, which, we know full well now, they would have abused very soon to drive back into the deepest social abyss the aspirations of the real working classes.
16*
244By their forgetfulness when they had come to supreme power one can judge what would have been their line of action following their triumph.
Did they have any concern for social reforms? Did they decree the slightest socialist measure? Did they begin to lay the foundations of social liquidation? Did they at least declare that in the social state which they wished to establish the worker would be ensured against starvation and being abandoned at the corner of the opulent boulevards of the revolutionary city?
No, they did nothing! They stipulated nothing for those who were dying under their orders. They were in power, that had to suffice. And how many among them had long been the shame of our party? Bar-loungers, guzzlers of absinth, with no' avowable means of subsistence, former agents provocateurs of the Empire, all kinds of infamy had found refuge in this group, for which one quality was sufficient: to be a bourgeois!
The real workers who became members of the revolutionary government of Paris, too ignorant and too weak, and above all too timorous, let themselves be carried away by the loud-mouthed bourgeois, who, far more numerous, incapable of doing anything themselves, would let nothing be done without them.
Comrades,
That is the truth about the Paris Commune, and if anybody dared to try to disprove us, we would reply with names and facts. And yet it is these men that our General Council welcomed with open arms, after the struggle, without any discrimination, approved all their actions, in a word, made common cause with them, thus inconsiderately committing the whole International Working Men's Association!
Comrades,
It did not suit us immediately after the defeat to deprive them, by warning you, of the assistance to which every exile has a right. And then, where were we ourselves! In the cellars of Versailles, at Satory, on the prison-ships.
But today, when sufficient time has passed, today, when after having recovered ourselves and checked our impressions one against the other, we have come to a conviction; today at last, when we see these men, after having struck a 245 terrible blow at the cause of the workers in France, preparing to continue their treacherous work in other countries with the support of their like in every race and every language, today, comrades, we come to say to you: Beware of the bourgeois! Beware of the aristocrats!
Comrades,
The International is divided, the International is in danger of dislocation, if not of death; germs of discord have appeared in the midst of our fraternal Association. On whom must we lay the responsibility? Is it the workers who felt the need to resurrect the antagonism of races? Is it the workers who, burning with the desire to create a pontificate for themselves, did not fear to provoke violent enmities? Are they workers, those who, always mouthing such words as the emancipation of the proletariat, wax fat on the labour of slaves, white or black, flaunt before the world their bourgeois leisures? No, they are not workers!
And yet there are men of that condition among us, their names are on all your lips. But there is worse still: by our weakness we have allowed such bourgeois, their coteries, their henchmen, their cliques, to incarnate in some way our great Association and to be regarded by the whole world as the grand masters of the International.
Comrades,
We protest with the most violent indignation in the name of those who died in defence of social ideas, against this sacrilege and this usurpation.
You will not allow this state of affairs to persist.
How can we achieve this?
By a return to principles.
This situation is the natural consequence of a fault, a violation of the principles of the basic agreement. This fault and this violation were committed at the Geneva Congress in 1866 by the adoption of Article 8 of the Rules, which is worded as follows!
``Everybody who acknowledges and defends the principles of the Association is eligible to become a member."
True, the article adds:
246"but on the responsibility of the section which admits him".
This responsibility is illusory, as factsHiave'well proved, since it is owing to this Article 8 that the enemy has infiltrated our ranks, that he has seized the direction of our army and tried to turn it to the profit of his ambitions, his ideas, and his bourgeois and aristocratic rancour.
Another fault has been not to have regulated the composition of sections, which could have been done without prejudice to the autonomy of these constituent groups of our society, an autonomy which is as dear to us as to anybody else.
The character of the bourgeois, like that of every decadent class, is individualistic, egoistic; once it has attained its aims, the bourgeoisie can understand only one thing: enjoyment!
The worker's nature, on the contrary, inclines him to group, to the Association.
But the Association is not an arbitrary fact taking place at the caprice of hazard; on the contrary, it is subject like everything else to the laws of nature. The first of these laws is community of interests, the prime sotirce of the feeling of solidarity.
Under the influence of this feeling workers of the same trade group and associate for the purpose of collective defence; they later unite with those who, in the same town, practise other trades; then they league up with their brothers in other towns; then, there finally comes the great International Working Men's Association, which extends its emancipatory action to the whole world.
But it is not absolutely like this, as we kiiow, that things happened. It was necessary, at a certain moment, to found the International Association, although there were as yet only very few corporative societies founded. The oppressed, too much inclined to despair, had to be inspired with courage and confidence. But that could not destroy the natural law of which we have spoken, according to which the great Association represents the general interest, and the small associations represent the particular interests of groups. And the natural groups in our society are the corporative groups.
That, comrades, is what has brought us to the opinion, henceforth firmly rooted in our minds, that in not making 247 the corporative group the basis of the International Working Men's Association the Geneva Congress committed a grave error.
Comrades,
This error must be corrected as soon as possible.
Consequently, after due deliberation, the Paris Section of Workers' Rights voted the following resolutions to be conveyed to the General Congress being held at The Hague on September 2:
1. Considering:
that the International Association constituted in London on September 28, 1864 has as its purpose "the emancipation of the working classes by the working classes themselves'';
that in keeping with this declaration no person who is not a worker should be able to be admitted to the said Association to cooperate in the aim it pursues;
that consequently Article 8 of the General Rules voted at the Geneva Congress contradicts the first declaration of principles;
it is important, when the germs of dissolution are felt within the Association, that the latter should return to the principles on which it is based and which make its strength;
The Section of Workers' Rights is of the opinion that Article 8 must be annulled and replaced by another which could be formulated as follows:
``No person shall be able to become a member of the Association or be admitted as such by a section if he is not a real worker practising a trade and living on the product of his work."
2. Considering:~
that the International Association has as its purpose the defence of the material and moral interests of the workers;~
that these interests are subdivided not only territorially according to the countries, provinces, communes inhabited by the workers, but also according to the corporative groups; P the Paris Section of Workers' Rights thinks it appropriate to introduce into the General Rules a new article which could be formulated as follows:
``It will be obligatory for sections to be composed of workers of one and the same trade, actually practising that trade and living on the product of that practice.
248``Nobody will be allowed, if he is not an active member of a section, to be called to any function within that section, or to be delegated by it to any congress, local, national or general.'' Comrades,
By adopting this project, and by it alone, you will put an end to the evils threatening our society, for you will root out the infamous and ignoble bourgeois spirit from our midst for ever.
Greetings and labour for all!
The Paris Section of the Workers' Rights
Paris Chairman: Voyez, 15, Rue de Puebla, gilder Vice-Chairman: Werner, 47, Rue de Charenton, cabinet-maker \ Vice-Chairman: Dupuis, Aubervilliers, leather dresser (Secretary: J.'Caron, 8, Rue Larrey, bookbinderSubmitted to the Congress at the ninth sitting, September 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
[249] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF THE ROUEN FEDERATION^^109^^ FRENCH SECTIONDear comrades,
The terrible events which marked the recent battles of the proletariat since the Basle Congress have imposed silence on the defeated members of the Paris Commune who in their enthusiasm neglected the simplest lessons of history, which teaches us that in order to triumph over the obstacles to its advance humanity is by no means accustomed to revive the old traditions of the past.
Used to thinking only through others, the valiant people of Paris was wrong to trust the defence of its rights, which are those of humanity, to men most of whom were of good faith but too much imbibed with the political prejudices which have caused the abortion of all attempts at revolution since 1789.
The time has not yet come to judge impartially the acts of the short period when socialism was in power.
We can only express regret and sympathy for the memorable struggle of labour against the coalition of those who enjoy the privileges of capital.
The situation in which we have been placed since our defeat deprives us of the possibility to have the Normandy Federation represented directly and to bring you our modest contribution to the eminently civilising work which you are going to continue. Prudence and the very interest of our cause force us to remain on the ground of the revolution until public opinion has done justice to the ignoble calumny 250 so outrageously spread against the principles and the cause which our common Association defends.
Insistently advised by those who place their trust in me not to expose my freedom and the existence of my family uselessly, I have been authorised to choose a representative entrusted with conveying to you in my name and that of the Normandy members of the Association a summary of our desiderata: }
The relations I had with Citizen~F.^^*^^ during my brief stay in Brussels have determined me to choose him as our representative.
We rely on your devotedness and your kindness to give him a good welcome and to accept from him the following few lines.
Time and circumstances have not allowed us to send you a more detailed exposition of the principles which we have always professed, and which, being already known to you, would probably be superfluous.
Comrade F. will supplement with the energy of his convictions and his devotedness the omissions which our wishes contain owing to the fact that we have been unable to obtain the order of the questions to be discussed at our Congress~
__<*_*_*__In face of the attacks of which the International Working Men's Association has been the object, above all in France since the events of the Commune, and attacked, if not struck down, by the drastic law^^**^^ voted by the representatives of the bourgeois at Versailles under the influence of hatred and fear, we believe the Congress must try to raise the banner of the proletariat again by affirming the principle of internationality which our adversaries cannot attack without risk for themselves, so that the oppressed may know that they have always the right to join hands across the frontiers.
Our federation would be pleased to see the Congress work out a clear and precise programme of the principles of our _-_-_
^^*^^ Faillet.---Ed.
^^**^^ Dufaure's law.---Ed,
251 Association so as to prove to the ignorant that we are indeed the true representatives of Liberty, Property, Family and Country in accordance with the progress achieved by modern science.The undersigned has already had the honour, which he would have liked to share also today, to submit to former congresses in the name of the Rouen Federation his opinions on the questions cited above.
We have affirmed, comrades, individual property, communal and national autonomy.
As regards the family, we have always pronounced in favour of its maintenance, without which we cannot conceive civilisation.
Freedom of conscience has always been the supreme law of our line of conduct.
We persist in affirming our principles, and we are convinced that the triumph of the proletariat, which we do not separate from the International, cannot be achieved without recognition of the said principles.
From the purely economic standpoint we continue likewise to deny any allowance for capital, which we regard as the source of all our misery.
We shall only consider the people as emancipated when Capital recognises that it is the fruit of Labour.
As for politics, we continue to affirm that they will not be true and profitable for all until the ballot or some fateful event has placed Labour at the head of the administration of the Commune, that is to say until power is in the hands of the working classes. In practice we are convinced that Labour will triumph only by implementing solidarity on a large scale because it alone is capable of achieving the desideratum of the International, "the emancipation of the working classes by the working classes themselves".
Unfortunately, the obstacles which the bourgeoisie will raise to the development of solidarity will appear to delay the progress of justice and make us fear that the triumph will one day be the result of a brutal clash of interests.
However, after the struggles which socialism maintained under the Empire and for the past two years, it is absolutely necessary that the courageous and enlightened men who are to be found in all the social strata should seek and offer means 252 to overcome ignorance, our [common enemy, so that the transition should be more certain and less painful.
The ruling classes, as they call themselves, far from striving to make the advancement of the people easy and peaceful as the most elementary moral laws require, declare on the contrary that they will make use of everything to perpetuate modern slavery; never, they declare, will wage labour be abolished: it is indispensable for civilisation! Thus argued the slave-owners of antiquity!
The idea that the proletariat will soon emancipate itself bewilders that section of the people which, it claims, achieved success by the sole power of its intelligence, and makes it advance the movement.
Profoundly ignorant of the causes which are hastening society's ruin, that section of the people persists in accelerating the movement instead of slowing it down by a few sacrifices.
Supported by the ignorance of a large portion of our class, the bourgeoisie, more prepared to increase its enjoyment than to decrease it, rushes head down to destruction.
Cupidity makes it increase the debt and the power of monopoly to a point where the already considerable disorder in the organisation of its degenerate economy increases incessantly.
To make matters worse, through the intermediary of him who personifies its hatred of all reforms which could advance the transformation, it has just blindly voted taxes on what it foolishly calls raw materials.
Thus the movement, somewhat suspended by the material victory, will resume with greater intensity, helped by those who have most supported privileges.]
That is why we said above that socialism only appears to be delayed in its advance.
The moral disorder reigning everywhere confirms the imminence of our triumph, because it is the harbinger of transformation and because the crassest ignorance dominates all the economic measures our adversaries will take; they seem to have made a pact with contradiction to hasten the disintegration of the social atoms.
Observation of historical facts shows that humanity is moving incessantly towards the implementation of an 253 ideal which ensures a greater jsum jof moral and amaterial well-being.
This same observation teaches us that the classes which guide humanity towards these conquests disappear when they no longer grasp the moral significance of the upward movement.
According to the study of social science and of history in recent years, everything proves that the bourgeoisie has not only ceased to understand the moral significance of the human movement, but "that moreover it has become an obstacle to the development of the discoveries humanity has made by science, which it seeks to apply only for the purpose of its own exclusive enjoyment.
And again according to these same ^observations, it is an incontestable fact that the castes which have become decrepit must disappear to be superseded by classes which have greater respect for morality and for justice.
The dissolution of morals in the class which achieved emancipation before us has reached such a degree that it is high time to put an end to it, and as labour alone is capable of infusing morality, because it demands an application of intelligence and a sustained occupation which diverts the mind from the material sensualism inherent in sloth, it is labour which must take the helm.
The only objection is this: does the worker possess the qualities necessary to administer society? We believe, after the short period of his activity in the Commune, that the worker can today, without fear of creating chaos, take the place of those who really ^constitute the disorder in all branches of society; to become convinced of this it is sufficient to consider the votes of the Versailles Assembly. We know that it will be further objected that the fact that we have been defeated is proof that we have not the requisite qualities to direct a society such as we understand it.
To this we shall reply that labour is the antipode of war, it defends itself only in producing, and if it was defeated the reason was that it was naive enough to entrust its battalions to those who said that, being specialists in defence, they ensured its future victory, and because labour, with its habitual trust, believed what these men said to ingratiate themselves with its rising power.
254And then, does not the future belong to production? After the great clash, will destruction be anything else than the consumption of the products feeding exchange?
No, our adversaries' argument is inadmissible, and they admit this themselves: they affirm that the workers today possess all that is necessary to administer themselves, for what makes us different from our predecessors is that we lay no claim to governing others.
We only take care of our own affairs, that is the whole solution. ;
Our federation relies on you, comrades, to assert the political and economic ability of our class by a clear and definitive programme declaring to the whole world that it is we who want order, the family and property.
We ask you in the name of liberty and justice, the fruit of our immortal year 89, to proclaim loudly to everybody that the proletariat will consider itself emancipated only on condition:
1. That the individual ownership of the product is available to all those who work, and is not a privilege granted to those who produce nothing.
2. That property which cannot be divided without violating social harmony is placed under the control of the corporation, commune, canton, the departments or zone and of the national administration.
By collective property we mean the railways, roads and waterways linking the commune with the canton and the zone, and all the territorial divisions.
The post, telegraph and all public services as well as the equipment, on condition, of course, that each of these properties is under the control of the respective authorities.
For example, the equipment which plays the biggest role in social organisation must belong to the corporations or working-class companies which use it to work up materials.
3. That all private and collective interests are protected by the application of federative principles.
4. That authority based on centralisation is mercilessly eliminated as the most brutal and shameless expression of the communism against which the Revolution in France has been fighting for 80 = years.^^110^^
2555. That all the monopolies without exception are abolished, including that on education.
6. That the working-class associations are charged everywhere with carrying out public works according to corporate tariffs sanctioned by the trade federations sitting in the capitals of states or nations.
7. That the greatest liberty is granted to all jreligions except when they are an impediment to science.
8. That the inviolability of the family is formally declared and respected for the civil emancipation of woman.
9. Finally the proletariat will be emancipated only when labour can determine freely the relative value of its products according to a standard adopted by the national federations and when capital is truly only the accumulation of savings or products without any allowances under any pretext whatever.
10. As the synthesis of its emancipation the proletariat declares that it bases the equality of producers, without distinction of race, on mutuality in the etymological meaning, that is, reciprocity of loans, synonymous with the noble motto of the International Association:
No duties without rights, no rights without duties.
If, as we do not doubt, the Congress draws up the programme of the organic principles of society's economic transformation, we hope that it will present it in the sense which our federation has just had the honour to submit to it.
We are convinced that this programme, perhaps with a clearer exposition, will contribute to refute the calumnies which our enemies heap on us and will facilitate an increase in the number of those who adhere to our principles.
It will also have the immense advantage of destroying the drastic law made to frighten the timid by destroying entirely the considerations which led to the law and which attribute to us ideas the majority of the members of the International have never had.
From the point of view of the general administration of the Association, we desire that the General Council should only be, as it is said in our Rules, the executor of the will of the Congress, and that the principle of authority should be eliminated more and more from its midst.
256Let the regional federal committees have control over the activities of the sections so that these will not violate the federal pact, and let them equally have the right to suspend a delinquent section pending the assembly of the Congress, which will take the final decision.
The spirit of conciliation which will inspire the members of the Congress is for us a certain guarantee that all difficulties will be smoothed out and that the Congress will have at heart to devote the greater part of its sittings to working out a programme which will make all honest men who are still hesitant to give us their enlightened cooperation energetic and devoted adherents.
We leave to Comrade Faillet the defence of our interests in the discussion of unforeseen issues.
Penetrated with the importance of this Congress, we send all the members our sincere sympathy and remain their devoted comrades.
On behalf of the Normandy Federation
H. R^^*^^
Submitted to the Congress at the fifteenth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Henri Riccard, pseudonym of Emile Aubry.---Ed.
[257] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORTThe workers of Portugal greet their comrades in work and poverty; we pray you to receive those who love you; we have the same aspirations as you, we bear the same labours, we are bowed down under the same yoke, we are with you.
Allow us, overcoming our anxiety at the thought of the great work you are going to undertake and at the memories of the sacrifices you have made for the cause of oppressed Humanity and for the triumph of justice, to set forth to you what we believe must interest you.
__<*_*_*__This region numbers nearly 4 million inhabitants, and its area is about 9 million hectares. The economists divide it into four agricultural regions: Northern, Central, Southern and mountainous. The ciiltivated part extends to 2 million hectares; 1,400,000 are devoted to the cultivation of cereals and 600,000 to other crops.
The Northern region has an area of 1,892,836 hectares and has 1,850,197 inhabitants; it consists more of mountains than of plains. Millet and wheat are the most common crops. Small properties and small farming dominate in this region, with the small metayage system. Practically all the landed property is mortgaged; the real proprietors are the usurers; they lay their hands on almost all the profits _-_-_
^^*^^ The original is marked ``II''. The right-hand corner bears the sign "---" in blue pencil.---Ed.
17--0960
258 from the labour of the peasants, who are very hard-working and frugal. Some time ago stockhreeding was introduced into the country.The Central region measures 1,770,394 hectares in area and numbers 836,166 inhabitants. It consists of plains more than of mountains. Rice growing dominates here. The land is very fertile. Big estates and fanning exist here but the land is cultivated without intelligence or care.
The Southern region measures 2,979,574 hectares in area and numbers 528,000 inhabitants. It is not considerably mountainous. The main crops are fruit-bearing plants ( figtrees, almond-trees), etc. Big estates with big and small farming.
The mountainous region measures 2,311,206 hectares in area and has 769,000 inhabitants. Small property, small farming. Cultivation of cereals and stockbreeding for wool.
At harvest time there is immigration of Spanish labourers in the Northern region. They leave when the harvest is over. In the south there is periodical immigration of peasants from all parts of the country. At certain times there are agglomerations of 30,000 peasants in this region.
We cannot give you exact statistics on property, but basing our calculations on works relative to the tax on landed property we obtain the following table:
In the Northern region there is 1 landowner per 8 hectares.
In the Central region there is 1 landowner per 28 hectares.
In the Southern region there is 1 landowner per 102 hectares.
In the mountainous region there is 1 landowner per 20 hectares.
Proportionally to the total area there is one landowner per 21 hectares.
Proportionally to the area 1 landowner cultivates 4.7 hectares.
Proportionally to the population 9 landowners cultivate 100 hectares.
The rural population is divided as follows:
Landowners 419,000
Rentiers 139,000
Servants, shepherds, farm-hands, etc. 105,000
Day-labourers 210,000
On the average the last-named provide by their agricultural labour for a family of 4 persons.
The general condition of the rural population is very miserable, especially that of the class of day-labourers. Their food consists almost exclusively of millet bread, vegetables, cod-fish and salted sardines. Their dwellings are unhealthy, the richer and better cultivated districts being no exception. It is calculated that in Portugal there are about 40,000 beggars. The children abandoned and left exposed on the roads are counted by the thousands. The number of prostitutes is very considerable. At the end of the year 1871 there were 1,359 prostitutes registered with the police in Lisbon out of a population of less than 200,000, and how many are not registered.
Under the specious pretext of remedying social poverty, there are numerous religious institutions (orders of nuns and friars): some of them, which are very rich, maintain hospitals and charitable institutions. This generosity is used to develop religious feeling. The exploitation of this feeling has the most harmful effects on public morality and on productive Kvork, which is replaced by fanaticism and prejudice.
The capital of Portugal has no industrial or agricultural activity. Big properties are the worst cultivated of all. The chief object of exploitation is the working class, which is the source of the biggest profits for the landowners. There are agricultural companies which have properties worth more than two million francs and the workers there are among the most miserable.
Big agricultural property consists especially of vineyards, the produce of which is exported to a value of about 44 million francs. There is pig, beef and sheep rearing, the lands are arable, and in the woods there are olive-trees, almondtrees and fig-trees. Small property does not iproduce for export.
__<*_*_*__You can obtain a better idea of our industry from the table of imports and exports.
__PRINTERS_P_259_COMMENT__ 17* 260 Year 1866. Imports 9,000,000 frsThe coastal population is very numerous, especially that part of it which lives on the fishing industry, but very poor, as you can judge by the value of the fish imported. The coastal property system is very onerous for the workers, who moreover suffer severely from taxation, which is pitiless. Alongour coasts there are populations engaged entirely in fishing. In some places the ownership of the fishing gear is perfectly collectivised, since the usufruct belongs to the commune and the product is divided equally among the workers. Almost all the coastal population practises a sort of cooperative organisation which gives good results and can easily be modified.
__<*_*_*__The manufacturing industry demonstrates the incapacity of capital and the ignorance and stupidity of the owner. In these branches of industry, as in the others, the exploitation weighs particularly on the workers. Portuguese _-_-_
^^*^^ Sic in the original. ---Ed.
261 industrialist does not and cannot exploit the material itself, he is the perfect type of parasite. The exploitation which the ruling class engages in today is the same as that which it has always practised. You know what it did in Africa and America as the conquering class. Today the source of the big families' fortunes is still the slave trade.The only industry in which they are past masters is the cultivation of the Negro. Many Portuguese traders have estates (rocas) in Brazil with hundreds of slaves. All the customs of industry still bear the mark of the slave traders' habits.
The manufacturing industry is quite primitive. All the primary materials with the exception of flax and wool are imported. In order to have a market and make big profits the manufacturers rob the worker by paying him far less than the value of his work. In a district of the mountainous region where about 10,000 persons (men, women and children) work up the wool, they earn only 35--45 centimes a day. Only a few hundred of them have a wage of 1 fr. 50. The highest wage is 2 frs. 50.
With the exception of this manufacturing district, industry is concentrated in two cities: Lisbon and Porto. The most considerable industries are building, food and the iron industries. These two cities also have important mills for spinning and weaving cotton and big tobacco factories. Almost everywhere the working day varies from twelve to sixteen hours; wages are beggarly in all branches of industry except the iron industry, where they are slightly higher.
__<*_*_*__These general figures permit you to form an idea of the country s economic condition. The political condition is the image of the economic. Although the property qualification for franchise is very low (555 frs.), political life does not exist for the working class. The landowners and manufacturers encounter no obstacles to their domination. The small proprietors are passive tools in the hands of the usurers, the farmers in the hands of the landowners, the agricultural day-labourers in th e h an ds of the farmers and landowners, and the urban proletarians in the hands of the manu-
262 facturers and persons of influence.In politics tbe working class is but a herd, and though it has a profound aversion for anything concerning politics it lets itself be carried away by the first charlatan who indoctrinates it. The personal influence of the first comer who has a social position, however low, is felt at every moment. The first work to be done would be to separate the working class from all the political parties and to destroy its prejudices concerning the bourgeois politicians and the profits to be obtained by helping them to rise to political power.
Public education is practically inexistent; technical knowledge is a forbidden fruit for the working class. There are two industrial schools, one in Lisbon and the other in Porto, established by the government, which, however, expressly prohibits attendance of the courses. The rules of the Naval Arsenal contain the following prescription:
``Article 221. It is not allowed to grant apprentices permission to attend public classes in the Arsenal's working hours."
Charlatanism is the essential condition of our political, moral and industrial existence. Over and above economic exploitation we have political and religious exploitation. From our allegedly liberal political constitution the working class draws no profit, we have not even freedom of assembly. We have two sorts of socialist school, one called popular, which preaches the socialism of the bourgeois economists and wanted to inspire us with admiration for the working-class institutions created by the philanthropists in other countries. The working class sets no store by this school. The other is that of the political socialists, who want to achieve an economic revolution by means of parliamentary evolution. This school has no influence among the working masses. So that the working class has no serious conviction and no interest created by the ruling class. It hardly has an outlook, and what it has changes from day to day.
In the month of October 1871 there was formed in Lisbon a small group of Internationalists, as they were disparagingly called, composed almost exclusively of working people, and it kept on growing until January this year. In January this group decided to found a resistance society, as one of the 263 best means of developing solidarity and fraternity among the workers. In February, the Association which we created numbered scarcely 400 members, in March 700, in April 1,000, in May 1,200, in June 1,800, in July 2,200 and at present close on 3,000 members. Other societies have been established after the model of this one in the Lisbon neighbourhood and all along the Tagus.
These associations have a total membership of over 4,000 and are all dominated by the spirit of the International.
We have a newspaper, O Pensamento Social, which spreads the teachings of the International. It was established by a dozen persons and has recently been recognised as the organ of the resistance societies.
__<*_*_*__Brothers, you are going to deal with very important and very complex questions. One of them, the organisation of the working class, is perhaps of the most imperative necessity at the present time and the only condition for success.
We consider it our duty to express our opinion on this question and to tell you how we conceive organisation:
For the basis of our organisation we need the local trades section represented by a committee composed of delegates of the sections. From this individual federation we arrive at the regional federation, and from this at the international federation, represented respectively by a regional council and an international council. These councils and these committees all have a similar organisation and distinct functions: technical, statistic, correspondence and administrative.
Out of simple bodies we form composite bodies, uniting correlated trades locally, regionally and internationally, represented like the sections and similarly organised. Out of the trade unions we form the federation of local, regional and international trade unions similarly represented. This is the natural constitution for us, since it depends on the relations of labour and is the consequence of the economic organisation.
Side by side with this organisation of labour, but derived from it, subordinate to it and depending on it, we conceive 264 a social constitution, derived from relations other than those of labour and the economic facts, such as public administration and social institutions. By the election of a small number of members, every trade section takes part in this social institution, which is composed of the local, regional and international federal councils. All these councils today carry out temporary functions, those of organisation, propaganda and economic resistance.
We therefore deem that the existence of the General Council, which has been discussed so much, is indispensable, and if there were no General Council it would have to be created, according to the new conception of society which we have....
Comrade delegates, the world proletariat have their eyes fixed on you; you are going to tighten the bonds which unite us and to perfect our international organisation....
The Portuguese workers could not remain indifferent to the feelings and strivings of the contemporary proletariat: if they have not all joined you it is because not all of them know you yet, but soon they will learn to know you and will march at your side, for we all wish to be men, to vindicate our rights and fulfil our duties.
The Portuguese sections of the International send their fraternal greetings to their brothers assembled in Congress at The Hague.
By the order and in the name of the Federal Council of Lisbon~
The Secretary, /. C. Nobre-Franqa
Lisbon, August 15, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
[265] __ALPHA_LVL2__ MESSAGEPorto Maurizio, August 26, 1872
Citizen Delegates,
A young man, unknown and uneducated, but an internationalist by his principles, even before the mighty Association has laid the foundations of its organisation in Europe, dares to address himself with confidence to you, citizens, representatives of the world proletariat,to that exalted Congress to which, since it is a matter of their salvation, the eyes of all those are turned who are suffering under the yoke of a privileged caste to tell you of the miserable condition of the working class of Western Liguria, of that small but valiant nucleus of the great family of workers which the life-giving breath of the principles of the International Association has not yet been able to reach to reveal the new destinies of this poor and oppressed part of Humanity which sweats from morning till night to fatten a handful of gilded idlers.
In this province of ours, which has a population of some ten to twelve thousand workers and agricultural labourers, there are a few mutual aid societies which live a life of stagnation, evading social questions and blindly allowing themselves to be guided exclusively by the big bourgeoisie, which has made of them obedient tools bound to its will. Such a fact would seem absurd if it did not reflect the predicament in which our workers live of seeing themselves lose their job if they should raise their voice in presence of their employers to speak of the rights of those who work. And the capitalists, who are by no means ignorant of this 266 deplorable state of affairs, profit by it to strengthen their odious moral and economic tyranny over this class of pariahs.
Thus every spark of dignity is extinguished in the hearts of the great majority of our workers, who, in order not to die of hunger, are forced to bless the hand which strikes them. Deplorable spectacle! In industrial centres of any importance the frequent strikes against the capitalist bosses at least show them that the workers are conscious of the injustice which they suffer against their will, compelled only by the imperative logic of force of this so-called constitutional society. But here all protest is ignored: here the word strike has no meaning, and, as I have said, the worker groans and is silent for he does not yet know the most elementary principles of the might created by the work of his hands or the political and social conditions of his brothers in the whole of Europe. This, and nothing else, is the only reason for his apathy, for under the blouse of our Ligurian workers beats a heart capable of giving support to the most energetic measures for the emancipation of their destitute class.
With such a state of affairs the wages of the workers are so low that they are insufficient for their subsistence. Two examples suffice to demonstrate the truth of this assertion. Shoemakers, though they work 12--14 hours a day, do not earn ten lire in a week!
I shall not speak of the peasants who sweat from dawn till sunset over their plots rented from the rich landowners like helots tied to the land and cannot earn more than one lira and twenty centesimi a day!
Such, briefly, citizens, is the miserable condition of the workers of Liguria: may the great International Association cast its eye on the unfortunate land, may its teachings break through the darkness to shed a ray of hope in the hearts of our suffering workers.
Porto Maurizio, the seat of a Royal Prefect and the capital of the province of the same name, is the most important city in Western Liguria, and has the most favourable conditions for becoming the leading centre of the Ligurian workers' movement. The undersigned, penetrated with these principles, has already gathered a phalanx of workers in all trades round the banner of the disinherited people to 267 establish a section of the great Association and requests Citizen Karl Marx, the General Secretary, to represent it at the General Congress.
Confident that you, illustrious citizens, will give due consideration to this information and will see fit to remember and make note of the nucleus of workers of the New Faith in this city, entering into direct correspondence with it and acknowledging receipt of this communication, we ask you for the time being to accept a handshake and a fraternal greeting.
To the exalted representatives of world proletariat at The Hague.
For the section of the International in formation,~
the delegate
Ricci Filippo
Submitted to the Congress at the fourth sitting, September 3, 1872
Published in La Corrispondenza
di (1848--1895), Marx e Engels con
italiani
Milano, 1964, pp. 243--45
Translated from the Italian according to a photostat of the original ~
[268] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF THE BASLE SECTIONWe begin our report with a survey of the Fourth Congress, which took place in this city,^^*^^ and we avoid personal questions as much as possible.
__<*_*_*__One can hardly believe that the section here has melted down so much since it had the honour to give hospitality to the representatives of the workers of all countries. At that time there existed in Basle 14 trades sections totalling all together from 350 to 400 members, a figure which could have been increased with tactful leadership, but this did not happen, the chairman at that time, A. Bruhin, having dissolved the trades sections and begun to hatch selfish plans. The so-called mother section maintained its autonomy in face of these manoeuvres. Several attempts at a union failed owing to the obstinacy of the above-named A. Bruhin who stubbornly clung to the chairmanship^which we wanted to have abolished. Probably the whole Party would have dissolved into a kind of amateur theatre company if the direction had been less energetic than was the case. About New Year 1871 saw the complete dissolution of the so-called Bruhin faction, but soon afterwards the section here was constituted anew, the remaining members of the Bruhin faction uniting with the mother section under the name of "Basle Section''; since then the name of "mother section" _-_-_
^^*^^ The Basle Congress in 1869.---Ed.
269 has no longer existed, and the Basle Section is, as far as we know, the only one to be considered here, and in any case the only legitimate one.Guided by experience and knowing that after-this unpleasant disintegration process, which naturally was no secret to the public, cast discredit on the whole principle and alienated many members from us, agitation would remain fruitless for some time, to begin with, a section library of socialist writings was established in order to prepare for more planned agitation. The section had, especially in the beginning, great difficulty in maintaining itself here, for one thing because the workers, having become distrustful of the former leaders because of past mistakes, were no longer resolute, and on the other hand the movement of 1868--69 had negatively improved social conditions = here.^^113^^ It is notable also that the silk ribbon manufacturers arranged outings with refreshments for their workers in the summer to slow down the further development of the International, which however did not prevent a strike from breaking out in the Horandt & Sons factory before all the expressions of devoted gratitude had died down in the public newspapers. The cause of the strike was an attempt made by these gentlemen to obtain compensation for the outings by reducing, that is to say, falsifying the so-called wage rolls. To ensure themselves the sympathy of the citizenship the strikers stated that they did not belong to the International but they were all sentenced to 5 frs. fine or 24 hours imprisonment by the police court. In 1868 and 1869 not a single one of the strikers who were members of the International was prosecuted. The section here used the troubles to found a society under the name of "Social-Democratic Workers' Society'', which, though it is not affiliated to the Association, is nevertheless entirely guided and influenced by the section of the International. Thus the strivings of the liberal bourgeoisie are held in check.
If we noted above that the social conditions had been ``negatively'' improved, this is to be understood in the sense that the working day in some factories has been reduced from 12 to 11 or 10V2 hours with a wage rise of 10 per cent on the average. These improvements were obtained without great efforts on the part of the workers and are to be put 270 down more to the present circumstances and to Ilie employers' fear of a recurrence of the workers' movement since the movement has been lively in other Swiss towns. Actually the prices of foodstuffs and rents have risen so much that further social disturbances are to be expected in the not distant future.
If the Basle Section has no great results of its activity to show, this is to be explained, in addition to the inner dissension of 1871 already mentioned, especially by the fact that, as a result of the organisation having grown looser in the German-speaking groups, the section has become rather isolated. We hope, however, that after the final constitution of the Swiss Federation, towards which we have all worked according to our abilities, we shall gain new strength in order to take an energetic part in the struggle for the emancipation of the working class by the working class itself.
For the rest we instruct our representatives to vote for the resolutions of the London Conference and also to declare in our name for the maintenance of the General Council.
Our Social-Republican greeting and handshake to the workers of all countries!
On behalf and by order of the Basle Section:
The Commission: A. Hartmann C. Schiirmann C. FahBasle, August 30, 1872^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears an oval stamp with the inscription: " International Working Men's Association, Basle Section."---Ed.
[271] __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE CONGRESS OF THE GENEVA FEDERATIONCitizens,
The Congress of the Geneva Federation assembled at the Temple Unique sends you its warmest sympathy and hopes that our Association will emerge greater from your deliberations.
Fraternal greetings.
Long live the International Association!
On behalf of the Congress^^**^^:
The Chairman H. Ferret Secretaries Raymond Charles Emmanuel Delorme Geneva, September 1, 1872^^***^^
Submitted to the Congress at the eighth sitting. September 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ In the left-hand corner there is a note in pencil: "To be read out".---Ed.
^^**^^ Here follow the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^***^^ The envelope is addressed: "Monsieur Theodore Duval, Congress of the International Working Men's Association, The Hague Holland."---Ed.
[272] __ALPHA_LVL2__ MESSAGE OF GREETINGS FROM FRANCOIS OSTYNCitizen Ostyn sends fraternal embraces to the friends of the Paris Commune.
Ostyn, member of the Geneva CongressRead out at the eighth sitting of the Congress, September 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
[273] __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE NEW MADRID FEDERATION TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED AT THE HAGUE* ...ASSEMBLED AT THE HAGUE^^*^^Comrade Delegates,
Great as is the duty which we all have to work with all our strength so that the proletariat, of which we form a part, will triumph in the struggle against those who usurp property and the fruit of its labour; great as is the duty, we repeat, which we all have to expose and frustrate the manoeuvres of those who are bent on destroying the might of our organisation by all means at their disposal, much greater is the duty which you have, you who have the eminent honour to be the representatives of a large part of the proletariat fighting in the revolutionary ranks of our Association.
If, as we do not doubt, you have the character, if you have the courage, if, finally, you have the determination, to leave aside sympathies and antipathies (which, in the final account, are petty if you consider the mission with which you have been entrusted) to go straight to the main objective, which is to make our organisation greater and greater, to reorganise it so that it can better achieve its aim and while giving us immense strength it may also be practically effective---a condition without which we shall have accomplished nothing---then we shall say that you have fulfilled your duty and have fulfilled it with credit.
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears the stamp: "The International Working Men's Association. Local Council of the New Madrid Federation".---Ed.
18---0960
274At present, one of the most dangerous things for our dear Association is the so-called Alliance of Socialist Democracy: by its secret manoeuvres as much as hy its public calumny; by the efforts it has made to divide us as much as by the intrigues it has used.
For this reason you must have sufficient energy, taking into account the facts and proofs which you have against it, to expel from our midst those who inspire it, that hand of sectarians who have infiltrated into our Association to disorganise and vilify it, utilising for this men with great influence, the most active elements in all countries, who up to the present time have been their accomplices, sometimes without even knowing it.
It is not contemplation, comrades, it is energy, great energy, that is necessary to come to a decision, for on this depends the future of the International.
Accept fraternal salutations, dear comrades, from this New Madrid Federation, which wishes you success and social liquidation and concludes with the call:
Long live the International Working Men's Association!
In the name of the New Madrid Federation,~
The secretary for external affairs
~ ~ ~ Victor Pages
Madrid, September 1, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
[275] __ALPHA_LVL2__ INVITATION TO THE CONGRESS DELEGATES TO VISIT THE GRAVE OF A. BARBES IN THE HAGUEAmsterdam, September 3
To Mr. Karl Marx, The Hague ~
Fraternal greetings!
Dear Sir,
For the closing of the Congress of our Association nothing can be more appropriate than for all members of our Association to visit together the grave of our friend and brother, the great citizen and man of the people, Barbes, who lies buried in The Hague in the Eik en Duin cemetery.
With ardent greetings,
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Henri Timmer,
~ ~ ~ member of the Central Council of Holland ~
Happiness and fraternal greetings.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Dutch original ~
18*
[276] __ALPHA_LVL2__ ADDRESSTo the General Council ~
Gentlemen, Delegates of the International,
The Federal Council of Holland addresses to you a friendly request to be present on the ending of the Congress at the assembly of the members in Amsterdam.
In the name of the Council,
~ ~ ~ Calshoven
P.S. If you agree to our request, let us have your reply as soon as possible so that we can take all the necessary measures. Our address: Gilkens, Nes a 46.
Read out at the sixth and eighth sittings of the Congress, September 4 and 5, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated according to the original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ In the left-hand corner is the oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association, Amsterdam."---Ed.
[277] __ALPHA_LVL2__ GREETINGAmsterdam, September 5, 1872 Dear Brothers,
Not having the possibility to be among you, we nevertheless do not wish to miss the occasion to send you our most ardent greetings.
How moved we are by the knowledge that at the present moment there are assembled quite close to us people who have come from afar to seek the means to improve the living conditions of and to emancipate our working class, which is still dominated by the State and the Church.
We appeal to you to work courageously and persistently and are your devoted brothers in arms in the great struggle which social democracy is conducting.
A. Raft, G. Hoogstraten, W. G. Daal, J. P. Pulen, L. A. van Heerde, W. Arising, "All together sons of Cain"^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated according to the original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ This is followed by the translation of the document from Dutch into French.---Ed.
[278] __ALPHA_LVL2__ STATEMENTS BY RUDOLF SCHRAMM^^114^^After hearing Mr. Cuno's account of the treatment lie had to put up with in Italy, I find his anger against those responsible for this treatment justified, and, assuming that the facts he told me are true and that the Consul, David Mack, has received his letters, I shall certainly take the view that M. Mack is incapable and unworthy of representing the German Empire in Italy. I have not the slightest desire to be involved with this person, and I consider it very bad that they have just castigated me, instead of first ascertaining who I am and who M. Mack is.
R. Schramm
Submitted to the Congress at the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
On March 22, 1866 I wrote to the Prussian Ambassador Count d'Usedom in Florence that in view of the political situation in Europe my honour did not permit me any longer to act as Austrian Consul.
_-_-_^^*^^ On the last page there are calculations in Marx's hand and a note in an unknown hand: "Schramm's statement to Cuno".---Ed.
279I have never received a letter from Mr. Cuno, either from Milan, from Diisseldorf or from Liege---probably they were delivered to Mr. David Mack, the present Consul of the German Empire. It seems to me that Mr. Cuno addressed his letters rather to the representative of Germany than to me personally. However, it seems to me that Mr. Mack should have informed me of the letters in question if he received them himself. I do not think that these letters have been seized by the Italian police, but that they duly reached Mr. Mack. I shall write to Mr. Mack for an explanation.
Rudolf Schramm
The Hague, September 6, 1872
I resigned as Consul-General of Prussia in September 1866 and my resignation was accepted by the Minister in the same month. Since then I have had nothing to do with the business of the Prussian Consulate. Before 1866 the Prussian consuls were the Austrian charges d'affaires in all places where there was no Austrian consul.
Submitted to the Congress at the eleventh sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
[280] __ALPHA_LVL2__ GREETINGS TELEGRAM FROM CASSEL, MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONALGlessen, Sept. 7, [1872] 1150 hrs~
To the Congress
of the International Working Men's Association,
The Hague ~
Long live the Congress! Proletarians of all countries, xinite!
Lay aside discord. Unity is strength. Cassel^^*^^
Submitted to the Congress at the twelfth sitting, September 7, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the telegram form in German ~
_-_-_^^*^^ On the telegram form is written in German: "Received at The Hague, September 7, 1872 at 12.49p.m.'' Then follow the translations into French in Friedrich Sorge's hand (in pencil) and into Dutch in an unknown hand (in ink).---Ed.
[281] __ALPHA_LVL2__ NOTE OF THE CONTENTS OF SEPARATE MESSAGES RECEIVED BY THE CONGRESS "51) Fraternal greetings to the Congress from the Geneva Federation.^^*^^
2) A French section makes several proposal?, which were discussed and voted on by the Congress, and ends with the following proposal:
The Manchester delegate heing unwell^^**^^ could not come to the Congress and sends his fraternal greetings to the members assembled here.
The Solingen productive association sends the Congress a memorandum on the constitution and the aim of its organisation. The memorandum is extremely long.^^***^^
The section of the International has no grounds to complain of the restrictive measures decreed against the Association by the Versailles hangmen. The Dufaure law resulted mainly in the creation of our section. This means that the law of intimidation has but encouraged our efforts. We subscribe to all the decisions the Congress takes, we applaud the progress made by the working class.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the following is struck out: "A paper sent by a Paris society. Not to be read out''. See text of greeting on p. 271.---Ed.
^^**^^ The delegate elected by the Manchester sections was Edward Jones. --Ed.
^^***^^ The Dutch translation of this text follows in ink. The note following is an extract from the "Message of the Narbonne Section to the Congress''. See p. 232 of this volume.---Ed.
[282] __ALPHA_LVL2__ RESOLUTIONS OF THE GENERAL CONGRESSThe following article which resumes the contents of Resolution IX of the Conference of London (September 1871) to he inserted in the Rules after Article 7, viz.:---
Article 7a---In its struggle against the collective power of the propertied classes, the working class cannot act as a class except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opposed to all old parties formed by the propertied classes.
This constitution of the working class into a political party is indispensable in order to insure the triumph of the social revolution, and of its ultimate end, the abolition of classes.
The combination of forces which the working class has already effected by its economical struggles ought, at the same time, to serve as a lever for its struggles against the political power of landlords and capitalists.
The lords of land and the lords of capital will always use their political privileges for the defence and perpetuation of their economical monopolies, and for the enslavement of labour. The conquest of political power has therefore become the great duty of the working class.
Adopted by 29 votes against 5, and 8 abstentions.^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Eccarius, Engels, Farkas, Friedlander, Frankel, Hepner. Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Longuet, __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 283. 283
1. Powers of the General Council.
Articles II, 2 and 6 have been replaced by the following articles:---
``Article 2.---The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions, and to take care that in every country the principles and the General Rules and Regulations of the International are strictly observed.
``Article 6.---The General Council has also the right to suspend Branches, Sections, Federal Councils or committees, and federations of the International, till the meeting of the next Congress.
``Nevertheless, in the case of sections belonging to a federation, the General Council will exercise this right only after having consulted the respective Federal Council.
``In the case of the dissolution of a Federal Council, the General Council shall, at the same time, call upon the Sections of the respective Federation to elect a new Federal Council within 30 days at most.
``In the case of the suspension of an entire federation, the General Council shall immediately inform thereof the whole of the federations. If the majority of them demand it, the General Council shall convoke an extraordinary conference, composed of one delegate for each nationality, which shall meet within one month and finally decide upon the question.
__-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 282. Le Moussu, Mottershead, Pihl, Ranvier, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vaillant, Wilmot, MacDonnell.Voted against: Brismee, Coenen, Gerhard, Schwitzguebel, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Van den Abeele, Dave, Eberhardt, Fluse, Guillaume, Herman, Sauva, Marselau.
The Congress officially decided to recognise as valid the votes of the delegates who could not attend the sitting because of their work in commissions.
The following delegates voted for: Cuno, Lucain, Marx, Vichard, Walter, Wroblewski; 6 in all. Not a vote against.
In Engels' manuscript the following passage has been deleted: "As the resolution obtained more than two-thirds of the votes, according to Article 12 of the General Rules, it henceforth becomes part of the General Rules."---Ed,
284``Nevertheless, it is well understood tliat the countries where the International is prohibited shall exercise the same rights as the regular federations."
Article 2 was adopted by 40 votes against 4; abstentions, 11.^^*^^
2. Contributions to be paid to the General Council:--- With regard to the proposal, on the one hand to raise, on the other to reduce, the amount of their contributions, the Congress had to decide whether the actual amount of Id. per annum, should be altered or not. The Congress maintained the penny by 17 votes against 12, and 8 abstentions.^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Arnaud, Barry, J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Cuno, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Friedlander, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell,' Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Roach, Sauva, Scheu, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Schumacher, Vaillant, Vichard, Walter, Wr6blewski.
Voted against: Fluse, Gerhard, Splingard, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Alerini, Coenen, Dave, Eberhardt, Guillaume, Herman, Morago, Marselau, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzgue'bel, Van den Abeele.
Article 6---adopted by 36 votes against 6, abstentions, 16.
Voted for: Arnaud, Barry, .T. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Cuno, Dereure, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Friedlander, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Ludwig, MacDonnell, Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Serraillier, Schumacher, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Vaillant, Vichard, Walter, Wr6blewski.
Voted against: Brisrnee, Coenen, Fluso, Herman, Sauva, Splingard.
Abstained: Alerini, Cyrille, Dave, Dumont, Eberhardt, Guillaume, Lucain, Marselau, Morago, Mottersbead, Farga Pellicer, Roach, Schwitzguebel, Van den Abeele, Van der Hout, Wilmot.---Ed.
^^**^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted against the contribution being altered: J. Ph. Becker, Brismee, Coenen, Cyrille, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Eccarius, Farkas, Fluse, Gerhard, Herman, Hepner, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Wilmot.
Voted for the contribution being altered: Dumont, Engels, Frankel, Heim, Johannard, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Pihl, Sauva.
Abstained: Alerini, Dave, Dereure, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguebel.
The following delegates, obliged to leave The Hague before this question was discussed, handed in their vote in writing for the raising of the contribution: Arnaud, Cournet, Ranvier, Vaillant.---Ed.
285The new General Council is entrusted with the special mission to establish International trades unions.
For this purpose it will, within the month following this Congress, draw up a circular which shall be translated and published in all languages, and forwarded to all trades' societies whose addresses are known, whether they are affiliated to the International or not.
In this circular every Union shall be called upon to enter into an International union of its respective trade.*'
Every Union shall be invited to fix itself the conditions under which it proposes to enter the International Unior of its trade.
The General Council shall, from the conditions fixed by the^Unions, adopting the idea of International union, draw up a general plan, and submit it to the provisional acceptance of the Societies.
The next Congress will finally settle the fundamental treaty for the International trades unions.
(Voted unanimously minus a few abstentions, the number of which has not been stated in the minutes.)
1. Section 2 (New York, French) of the North American Federation.---This Section had been excluded by the American Federal Council. On the other hand, it had not been recognised as an independent Section by the General Council. It was not admitted by the Congress. Voted against the admission, 38; for, 9; abstained, 11.
2. Section 12 (New York, American) of the North American Federation.---Suspended by the General Council.
_-_-_^^*^^ The French text reads: Admission and Exclusion of Sections.
The Mandate Commission was composed as follows: Gerhard (50 votes), Ranvier (44), Roach (41), Marx (41), MacDonnell (39), Dereure (36), Frankel (22).---Ed.
286In the course of the debate on the credentials of Section 12, the following resolution was adopted by 47 votes against 0; abstentions, 9:
The International Working Men's Association, based upon the principle of the abolition of classes, cannot admit any middle class Sections.^^*^^
Section 12 was excluded by 49 votes against 0; abstentions, 9.^^**^^
3. Section of Marseilles.---This Section, quite unknown to the General Council, and to the French Sections in correspondence with the latter, is not admitted. Against the admission, 38; for, 0; abstentions, 14.
4. Section of Propaganda and Revolutionary Action, at Geneva.---This Section, which is but the resurrection of the (public) "Alliance de la Democratique Socialiste'', of Geneva, dissolved in August 1871, had been recognised neither by the Romance Federal Committee nor by the General Council, which, indeed, had returned its contributions when sent by the Jurassian Federal Committee. The Congress resolved to suspend it till after the debate on the second^^***^^ Alliance. The suspension was voted unanimously, less a few abstentions not counted.
_-_-_^^*^^ After this the French text of the resolutions has:
Voted for: Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, Barry, Brismee, Cournet, Cuno, Coenen, Dave, Dereure, Dietzgen, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Frankel, Friedlander, Guillaume, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Lessner, Lucain, Marx, Milke, Mottershead, Pihl, Ranvier, Sauva, Scheu, Schumacher, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Splingard, Swarm, Vaillant, Vichard, Wilmot, Wroblewski, Walter, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Eccarius, Harcourt, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Roach, Schwitzguebel, Van der Hout.---Ed.
^^**^^ After this the French text of the resolutions has:
Voted for the exclusion: Arnaud, Barry, J. Ph. Becker, Brismee, Cournet, Coenen, Cuno, Dave, Dereure, Dietzgen, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Frankel, Friedlander, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Lessner, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Roach, Sauva, Scheu, Schumacher, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Splingard, Swarm, Vaillant, Van den Abeele, Van der Hout, Vichard, Wilmot, Wroblewski, Walter.
Abstained: Alerini, Eccarius, Guillaume, Harcourt, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Mottershead, Schwitzguebel.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the French text has ``secret''.---Ed.
2875. New Federation of Madrid.---The new Federation of Madrid was formed by the members of the previous Spanish Federal Council, after the old Federation of Madrid, in flagrant breach of the rules then in force, had expelled them for having denounced the conspiracy of the secret alliance against the International Working Men's Association. They addressed themselves, in the first instance, to the Spanish Federal Council, which refused to affiliate the new Federation. They then addressed themselves to the General Council,^^*^^ which took upon itself the responsibility of recognising it without consulting the Spanish Council, amongst whose eight members not less than five belonged to the Alliance,
The Congress admitted this Federation by 40 votes against 0; the few abstentions were not counted.
The Committee appointed by the Congress for the auditing of the accounts of the General Council for the year 1871--72, was composed of the following citizens:---Dumont, for France; Alerini, for Spain; Farkas, for Austria and Hungary; Brismee, for Belgium; Lafargue, for the new Federation of Madrid and for Portugal; Pihl, for Denmark; J. Ph. Becker, for German Switzerland; Duval, for the Romance Swiss Federation; Schwitzguebel, for the Jurassian Swiss Federation; Dave, for Holland; Dereure, for America; and Cuno, for Germany.
The accounts submitted to this Committee were approved and signed by all its members excepting Dave, absent.
The accounts having been read, the Congress approved of them by a unanimous vote.
_-_-_^^*^^ In Engels' manuscript the following passage has been deleted: "which recognised it without first asking the Spanish Federal Council, as is laid down in the Administrative Rules. In this case, the General Council was acting on its own responsibility and in despite of the Regulations, because the Spanish Federal Council had at least 5 secret Alliance members amongst its 8 members. It was for disclosing this conspiracy against the International Working Men's Association that they wanted to ban the New Madrid Federation."---Ed.
288The Congress resolved, "To annul all powers issued, as well by the General Council as by any of the Federal Councils, to members of the International in such countries where the Association is prohibited, and to reserve to the new General Council the exclusive right of appointing, in those countries, the plenipotentiaries of the International Working Men's Association."
Adopted unanimously, less a few abstentions not specially counted.
The Committee charged with the inquiry regarding the (second)^^*^^ Alliance of Social Democracy, consisted of the citizens---Cuno (33 votes), Lucain (24), Splingard (31), Vichard (30), and Walter (29).
In its report to the Congress, the majority of this Committee declared that "the secret Alliance was established with rules entirely opposed to those of the International.'' It proposed:---
``To exclude from the International Michael Bakounine, as founder of the Alliance, and for a personal affair.
``To exclude Guillaume and Schwitzguebel, as members of the Alliance. 1
``To exclude B. Malon, Bousquet^^**^^ (Secretary ofbPolice at Beziers, France), and Louis Marchand, as convicted of acts aiming at the disorganisation of the International Working Men's Association.
``To withdraw the charges against Alerini, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, and Joukowski, upon their formal declaration that they no longer belong to the Alliance.
``To authorise the Committee to publish the documents upon which their conclusions were based."
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the French text has ``secret''.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Committee was not acquainted with the fact that M. Bousquet, upon the demands of his Section, had already been excluded by a formal vote of the General Council.
289The Congress resolved---
``1. To exclude Michael Bakounine. Voted for, 27; against, 6; abstentions, 7.^^*^^
``2. To exclude Guillaume. 25 for, 9 against, 8 abstentions.^^**^^
``3. Not to exclude Schwitzguebel. For exclusion 15; against 16; abstentions, 7.^^***^^
``4. To refrain from voting upon the other exclusions proposed by the Committee. Adopted unanimously, minus some few abstentions.
``5. To publish the documents relating to the Alliance. Adopted unanimously, minus some few abstentions."
It is to be noted that these votes upon the Alliance were taken after a great number of French^^****^^ and German delegates had been obliged to leave.
_-_-_^^*^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Heim, Hepner, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Pihl, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Wilmot, Walter, Wroblewski.
Voted against: Brismee, Dave, Fluse, Herman, Coenen, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Sauva, Splingard, Schwitzguebel.---Ed.
^^**^^ The French text o{ the resolutions has here:
Voted for: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Heim, Hepner, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, Marx, Pihl, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Walter, Wilmot, Wroblewski.
Voted against: Brismee, Cyrillc, Dave, Fluse, Herman, Coenen, Sauva, Splingard, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Dereure, Friedlander, MacDonnell, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguebel.---Ed.
^^***^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for the exclusion: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dumont, Engels, Farkas, Heim, Hepner, Kugelmann, Le Moussu, Marx, Pihl, Splingard, Walter, Vichard, Wroblewski.
Voted against: Brismee, Coenen, Cyrille, Dave, Dereure, Dupont, Fluse, Frankel, Herman, Johannard, Longuet, Sauva, Serraillier, Swarm, Wilmot, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Duval, Lafargue, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer.---Ed.
^^****^^ Engels' manuscript has here "French, English."---Erf.
19---0960
2901. Vote upon the change of residence of the General Council. Voted for the change, 26; against, 23; abstentions, 9.^^*^^
2. The seat of the General Council has been transferred to New York, by 30 votes against 14, for London, and 12 abstentions.^^**^^
[3. The Congress resolved to appoint twelve members, residing in New York, to the General Council, with the faculty of adding them to that number. The following were elected:---
Bertrand (German)
Bolte (German)
Laurel (Swede)
Kavanagh (Irish)
Saint Glair (Irish)
Leviele (French^
Votes
29
29
29
29
29
28
Carl (German)
David (French)
Dereure (French)
Fornaccieri (Italian)
Speyer (German)
Ward (American)
Votes
28
26
26
25
23
22
^^*^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Barry, J. Ph. Becker, Brisme'e, Cuno, Dave, Dumom, Dupont, Engels, Harcourt, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, MacDonnell, Marx, Roach, Sauva, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Van den Abeele, Wr6blewski.
Voted against: Arnaud, B. Becker, Cournet, Dereure, Duval, Farkas, Frankel, Friedlander, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Lucain, Ludwig, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Schumacher, Splingard, Vaillant, Wilmot, Walter, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Cyrille, Eberhardt, Fluse, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguebel, Alerini.---Ed.
^^**^^ The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for New York: J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Brismee, Cuno, Coenen, Dave, Dumont, Dupont, Engels, Farkas, Fluse, Friedlander, Herman, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Pihl, Roach, Serraillier, Sexton, Splingard, Swarm, Vichard, Van den Abeele, Wr6blewski.
Voted for London: Arnaud, Cournet, Dereure, Duval, Frankel, Heim, Hepner, Ludwig, Milke, Ranvier, Schumacher, Vaillant, Wilmot, Walter.
Abstained: Cyrille, Eberhardt, Gerhard, Guillaume, Johannard, Alerini, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Sorge, Schwitzguebel, Van der Hout.---Ed.
291IX.---PLACE OF MEETING OF NEXT CONGRESS
The proposition that the new Congress should meet in Switzerland, and that the new General Council should determine in what town, was adopted. There voted for Switzerland 15, for London 5, for Chicago 1, and for Spain 1.
The following were appointed, without opposition:--- Dupont, Engels, Frankel, Le Moussu, Marx and Serraillier.
( E, Dupont, F. Engels, Leo Frankel, Committees Le Moussu, Karl Marx, I Augusts Serraillier
London, 21st October, 1872
Drawn up by Marx and Engels ~
Published as a pamphlet Resolutions du congres general tenu a la Haye du 2 au 7 septembre 1872, Londres, 1872, and in the newspapers La Emancipation No. 72, November 2, 1872, and The International Herald No. 37, December 14, 1872
Printed according to The International Herald
19*
[292] ~ [293] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ III __ALPHA_LVL1__ MANDATE COMMISSION CONGRESS __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF THE MANDATE COMMISSIONHere are the names of the delegates whose mandates are acknowledged in order as originating from sections which have fulfilled all the formalities relating to the Rules of the General Council.
No. 1. Mandate from a French section for Citizen Swarm No. 2. A French section represented by Citizen Lucain The same delegate has also received mandates from several other French sections. No. 3. A French Section Longuet No. 4. A French Section Jchannard No. 5. The Ferre Section, France Ranvier No. 6. A French Section Vaillant No. 7. A French Section Frankel No. 8. A French Section Walter No. 9. A French Section Vichard No. 10. A French Section Wilmart No. 11. A French Section of Brussels Cyrille 296 No. 12. A French section without a delegate but which has sent a letter that the corresponding secretary is to read to the Congress after the verification No. 13. American section of the Federation represented by No. 14. For the New York Congress No. 15. Section No. 1, New York Mandate from the General Council Leipzig Mayenco 16.^^*^^ Jura Federation Dercare _-_-_^^*^^ In this and other places in the original the numbering is altered: No. 15 (see above) gives 4 mandates for Marx.---Ed.
297 19. 2 sections of Pest Citizen Carl Farkas 19. A section of Bohemia Heim 20. Irish Section MacDonnell 21. Brunswick Section Bernhard Becker 22. 2nd mandate from Chem-- nitz Bernhard Becker 23. French-speaking Section, London Le Moussu 24. General Council Doctor Sexton 25. Charleroi Section Citizen Roch Splin- Sorge Marx Courcelles Section, Belgium Gouy Section 2(5. Federal Council, England Federal Council, Stratford Branch 27. Solingen, Rhenish Prussia 28. From the Brussels Federal Council The same delegate represents the following corporations: leather workers, bootclosers, tailors, joiners, painters, hide dyers, marble workers 29. Madrid Federation 2nd mandate from Alcala de Hen ares 3rd mandate from the Federal Council, Lisbon 30. Celle Section 31. Dresden Section 32. Section No. 8, New York 33. Central Council of Copenhagen 2nd mandate from the General Council Roch Splingard Roch Splingard Thomas Roach Thomas Roach Georg^^*^^ Schumacher Eberhardt Marx James Guillaume and Adhemar Schwitzgue- bel Heinrlch Scheu 17. German section of Eszlingen 2nd mandate as representative of Austria 3rd mandate for Konigsberg 18. Sections No. 29 and No. 42 of America For the same delegate a mandate from Section No. 2, which the commission feels bound to ask you to nullify, this section having no powers to delegate a representative to the Congress Citizen Lafargue Lafargue i? K ugelmann Dietzgen Adolf Hepner Cournet Cournet Citizen Sauva _-_-_^^*^^ The original has Gustav.---Ed,
298 34. From the General Council 35. French Section of La Chaux-de-Fonds 36. Carouge Section 37. Polish Section, London 2nd mandate from the General Council 38. Amsterdam Section 39. Lukes Section, Victoria, Australia 40. Section No. 3, Chicago 41. General Council 2nd mandate from French Section of Montpellier 42. Hackney Road Branch Section, London 43. Brussels Section 44. Breslau, Prussia 2nd mandate from New York 45. Berlin 2nd mandate from Crimmitschau, Saxony 46. The Amsterdam lithogra-- phers 47. Bethnal Green Branch, London 48. German Section, London 49. Diisseldorf Section, Prussia Stuttgart Section, Wurttemberg 50. Moulders' Section, London 51. Moulders' Section, Antwerp 52. Basle Section 2nd mandate from the Swiss Romance Federal Committee 3rd mandate from another Basle Section E. Dupont Vaillant Ant. Arnaud Wroblewski Wroblewski S. Van der Hout E. Harcourt Barry Serralllier 299 4th mandate from the German Section, Geneva Zug (Switzerland) Lucerne ``() 53. Ghent Section 54. Copenhagen Section 55. Federal Council of Holland 56. Zurich 57. Herman delegated for the Liege Basin Federation by the mechanicians, the Union of Trades, the united joiners, the united marble workers and the united sculptors 58. = Rittinghausen,^^118^^ Munich Section^^*^^ 60. Victor Dave, delegate of the Hague Section ( Holland) 61. Fluse, delegate of the Vesdre Federation (Belgium) 62. Duval, Theodore, joiner, delegateof the Swiss Romance Federal Committee Van den Abeele Pihl Gerhard Hugo Friedlander Hales Desire Brismee Fred. Engels Fred. Engels Milke Milke Gilkens Mottershead Lessner Cuno Cuno Eccarius Coenen J. Ph. BeckerThe commission proposes suspension of the mandate of Citizen Dave pending explanations to be given by the Brussels sections; this citizen is delegated by a section of The Hague (Holland).
It proposes suspension of the mandate of Citizen Alerini as delegate of the Marseilles Section pending explanations by the General Secretary for France.
The commission proposes that Citizen Zhukovsky, delegate of the Section of Propaganda and Socialist, Revolutionary Action in Geneva should not be admitted, this _-_-_
^^*^^ Munich is substituted for Cologne, which is crossed out. Following this the entry "59. German Section of Geneva, J. Ph. Becker" is also struck out.---Ed.
300 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/399.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.07) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ section not having been admitted either by the Romance Federal Committee or by the General Council.The commission proposes that the following Spanish delegates---Alerini, Morago, Marselau, and Pellicer---should not be admitted until the subscriptions owing by the Federation to the General Council have been paid.
The commission proposes to annul the delegation of Seclion No. 2, New York, this section having been expelled by the New York Federal Council.
The commission proposes to annul the delegation of Section No. 12, New York, represented by Citizen West for the following reasons:
1. Citizen West is the delegate of a suspended section whose suspension has not been lifted by the General Congress .
2. Citizen West was a member of the Philadelphia Congress, which declared that it did not recognise the General Council.
3. Citizen West is a member of the Spring Street Federation, which declared that it did not wish to pay the subscriptions to the General Council.
The commission invites the delegates to take back their mandates and to communicate the instructions of their electors to the Congress.
The Mandate Commission^^*^^: S. Dereure, Leo Frankel, J. P. MacDonnell,Karl Marx, Gerhard, Thomas Roach, Ranvier
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATES OF C. ALERINII certify that Comrade Carlos Alerini, teacher, has been appointed by the Barcelona Federation as a delegate to the _-_-_
^^*^^ Here follow the respective signatures. ---Ed.
^^**^^ The mandate bears the round stamp: "The! International Working Men's Association. Spanish Federal Council".---Ed.
301 International Congress and also that in his conduct he must be guided in everything by the imperative mandate of the Spanish Federation. In confirmation of this we issue him the present document.In the name and by the agreement of the Federal Council,~
The General Secretary for Internal Affairs,
Francisco Tomds^^*^^
Comrade Carlos Alerini, teacher.
Valencia, August 25, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
We, members of the International of Marseilles, and of the commission, delegate Citizen Alerini to the Congress of The Hague as our representative.
Signed by the delegates^^**^^
Achard, J. Baptiste Duan,
Jose Parmias, Jose Capare^^***^^
Marseilles, August 22, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The back of the mandate bears the following pencil note in Spanish: "Carlos Alerini, worker and teacher, chemist, Rue Mercadere, 42, Barcelona (Spain)."---Ed.
^^**^^ Here follow the respective signatures.---Ed.
^^***^^ The document bears the following note in Spanish: "The stamp has not been placed on this document because it has been detained. Noting this, we hope it will 1>P taken into consideration."---Ed.
302 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATES OF J. PH. BECKERBasle, August 29, 1872^^*^^
MANDATE
From the German Workers' Educational Society, Basle for Citizen Job. Ph. Becker ~
The German Workers' Educational Society in Basle has decided at an extraordinary sitting on August 20, 1872 in accordance with the proposal of the Geneva Society to send Citizen Joh. Ph. Becker as delegate to the International Congress in The Hague;
Certified in the name of the Society with Social-- Democratic greetings to all the party comrades at The Hague.
The Chairman Jak Spetzmann The Secretary Konig Georg
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
MANDATE^^**^^
We hereby empower Citizen Joh. Philipp Becker to represent our Society at the International Congress at The Hague.
The delegate is obliged to vote for the maintenance in principle of the General Council.
The annual subscription for 150 members has been paid.
By order of the Society:
The Chairman: C. May The Treasurer: K. Mohrle The Secretary: J. Munch
Geneva, August 28, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The mandate is on blue squared paper with the embossed stamp: "German Workers' Educational Society in Basle'', and an oval stamp with the same words.---Ed.
^^**^^ The mandate bears the oval stamp: "Workers' Educational Society in Geneva".---Ed.
303III^^*^^
The German Section of the International Working Men's Association in Geneva has elected Citizen Becker (John. Ph.) as its representative at the International Workers' Congress at The Hague on September 2, 1872 and hereby issues him its mandate.
For the German Section
of the International Working Men's Association, Geneva
The Chairman: C. May
The Treasurer: S. Kannenberg
Geneva, August 28, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
MANDATE
We hereby empower Citizen J. Ph. Becker to represent the Basle Section at the General Congress at The Hague and to vote in its name.
In the name and by the order of the Basle Section The Treasurer: H. Hoffmann, A. Hartmann The Secretary: /. Dumas, C. Schtirmann, C. Fah
Basle, August 28, 1872
The undersigned hereby certifies that the Basle Section has paid its annual subscription for 22 members to the General Council. The money was forwarded with other subscriptions through the Zurich Section to the General Council.
In the name of the Zurich Section The Correspondent: Herman Greulich
Zurich, August 27, 1872
First published in Russian
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The mandate bears the oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association, Geneva Branch".---Ed.
^^**^^ The document bears two oval stamps: "International Working Men's Association. Basle Section" and "International Working Men's Association. Zurich Section''. ---Ed.
304MANDATE
We hereby empower Citizen J. Ph. Becker to represent the Uster Section at the General Congress at The Hague and to vote in its name.
In the name of the Uster Section
The Correspondent: Pr. Hege
The Treasurer: Hr. R. Sean
Uster, August 1872
The undersigned hereby certifies that the Uster Section has paid the annual subscriptions for 20 members to the General Council. The money was forwarded with other subscriptions through the Zurich Section to the General Council.
In the name of the Zurich Section
The Correspondent: Herman Greulich
Zurich, August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the
German original ~
MANDATE
We hereby empower Citizen J. Ph. Becker lo represent the Rorschach Section at the General Congress at The Hague and to vote in its name.
In the name and by the order of the Rorschach Section
Vul. Federer, Chairman
John. Graf, Secretary
Reinh. Ringger, Treasurer
Rorschach, August 1872
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears the oval stamp: ``International Working Men's Association. Zurich Section".---Ed.
^^**^^ The document bears the oval stamps: "International Working Men's Association. Zurich Section" and "International Working Men's Association. Rorschach Section".---Ed.
305The undersigned hereby certifies that the Rorschach Section has paid its annual subscriptions for 52 members to the General Council. The money was forwarded with other subscriptions through the Zurich Section to the General Council.
In the name of the Zurich Section
The Correspondent: Herman Greulich
Zurich, August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
MANDATE^^*^^
The Society named below hereby empowers Citizen Joh. Ph. Becker in Geneva to represent it at the Congress of the International Working Men's Association.
In the name of the German Workers' Educational
Society Concordia in Zug
The Treasurer: /. Sachse
The Secretary: Dietzschold
The Chairman: C. Gernert
Zug, August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears the oval stamp: "Concordia, Zug."---Ed.
20---0960
306CREDENTIALS^^*^^
The Society named below empowers Mr. J. Ph. Becker in Geneva to attend the International Congress at The Hague to represent its social-democratic principles.
In the name of the German Society
The Chairman: B. Moje
The Secretary: J. Rossner
Lucerne, August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Gorman original ~
TO THE CONGRESS
OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION
AT THE HAGUE^^**^^
Citizens,
The Romance Federal Committee at its last sitting appointed Citizen J. P. Becker to represent it at the Congress: we ask you to consider him as our mandatary, whom we trust to defend our principles and our ideas.
Please accept our fraternal greetings.
In the name of the Romance Federal Committee,
The General Secretary, H. Ferret
Geneva, August 29, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document bears the oval stamp: "German Workers' Society in Lucerne".---Ed.
^^**^^ The document bears the oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association. Romance Federal Committee".---Ed.
307 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF A. HEFNERThe members of the local International Working Men's Association assembled on August 25 have appointed Citizen Adolf Hepner in Leipzig to be their representative at the Congress which is to take place on September 2 at The Hague.
The Chairman of the sitting: C. F. Rick The Secretary. W. Hock
Regensburg, September 1, 1872
Published in the collection: Die I. Internationale in Deutschland, Berlin, 1964, p. 673
Translated from the German original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF V. DAVEThe Hague Section of the International Working Men's Association at their sitting today have empowered Citizen Victor Dave to represent the section at the Congress of the International Working Men's Association at The Hague beginning on September~2.
The Corresponding Secretary of the above-mentioned Section,
Bruno Lieberse
The Hague, September 1, 1872^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Here follows a pencil note in F. Engels' hand: "Victor Dave, teacher, rue Libotte 4, Liege (Belgium)."---Ed.
20*
308 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF N. ZHUKOVSKY^^119^^International Working Men's Association^^*^^
Geneva Propaganda and Socialist Revolutionary Action Section
Sitting of August 30, 1872
The Geneva Propaganda, etc. Section at its sitting of August 30 charged Citizen Zhukovsky, a member of the section, to represent it at the Hague Congress with the following imperative mandate:
Considering that the principle of autonomy, which excludes any idea of authoritarianism, was accepted as a basis of the organisation of the International Working Men's Association at the First Congress of the Association, held at Geneva in 186G;
Considering that as a result of administrative dispositions taken by subsequent congresses this fundamental principle has been disregarded by the London General Council, which has permitted itself to change our Rules and to publish an official edition of them whereas this right belongs only to the general congresses;
Considering that this fact has caused disorganisation in the whole of the Association at the very moment when the fall of the Paris Commune should have moved us to rally all the Association's forces from the point of view of propaganda and action;
Considering that such an order of things paralyses the Association's forces,
The Propaganda and Socialist Revolutionary Action Section accedes to the proposal of the General Council which places a revision of the Rules on the agenda.
I. The Section declares, moreover, that the federative principle should serve as the basis of the organisation of the International Working Men's Association, which consists _-_-_
^^*^^ Seven out of the eight pages of the document bear a round stamp: "International Working Men a Association. Propaganda and Socialist Revolutionary Action Section. No duties without rights and no rights without duties. Liberty, equality, solidarity. Geneva".---Ed.
309 of autonomous sections in the federations and of autonomous federations in the Association.The sections should organise by trades according to all the various branches of production, but it is absolutely necessary that alongside these corporative sections there should be sections of study and of propaganda which take names and titles according to their convenience.
The sections of study and propaganda are indispensable for the following reason: the corporative sections are obliged to devote all their time to matters of their trade, that is, to organising resistance to Capital. Questions of principle are necessarily neglected by them and this is the reason why the workers belonging to the Association are often ignorant of its aim and principle and disregard entirely the principal resolutions of the congresses. Every man who is forced to earn his living by work which exhausts him without sufficiently providing for his needs is revolutionary and socialist by instinct, but in order to change the face of things instinct must be transformed into consciousness, which can be done only by study.
II. The sections should federate freely from the double point of view of resistance to capital by industrial regions and resistance to the political power of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy by nations.
The sections' link between themselves is the Federal Committee, whose functions are those of a simple correspondence and statistics bureau. The regional federal committee has the right to suspend a section until the next regional congress, which is the only judge in the matter.
The federal committees may well correspond with one another, but a central statistics bureau for the whole Association is indispensable and, considering that the General Council, which was initially useful, has become not only useless, but harmful, the delegate of the Section will have to demand:
1. The abolition of the said General Council;
2. The organisation of a central correspondence and statistics bureau, appointed no longer by the congress, but by the regional federations on the basis of from one to three members of each federation. This bureau will keep a register of the sections and will publish a bulletin of the 310 Association, a subscription of ten francs a year per member being paid into Ibe treasury of tbe bureau. Tbose sections whicb do not make this payment before February 1 of eacli year will be deprived of the right of representation at the following congress.
The bulletin of the Association shall contain only an exact account of the working-class movement, without ever dealing with the disagreements between the sections and federations and without ever touching on questions of principle, these questions having to be dealt with by the federations themselves in their newspapers.
One copy of this bulletin will be sent free of charge to every section of the International.
III. The congress will name in advance two towns where the next congress will be held, the first town named having priority; in case of some hindrance as regards this town, the central bureau will name another one after consulting the federations. It goes without saying that the place of assembly of the congress must as far as possible be the most central point in Europe.
IV. The delegate of the Section shall protest:
1. Against the General Council's choice of the place of assembly of the present Congress.
2. Against the private circular which the said General Council permitted itself to publish whereas no International congress has given it the right to launch manifestos.
V. In order to ensure success of the work of the Congress, that is to say, to bring back to the International Working Men's Association the unity which it is losing, the delegate shall:
1. Support all proposals tending to give the Association institutions sanctioning the most complete autonomy ol groups by excluding all power and authoritarian dispositions.
2. Insist that all discussions of persons be absolutely and rigorously excluded from the deliberations of the Congress.
VI. In the event of questions of principle being placed on the agenda of the Hague Congress, the delegate of the section of propaganda and socialist revolutionary action shall develop them from the following triple point of view:
311Abolition of the State by a Federation of Communes.
Abolition of property by the collective force of the workers organised in groups according to production and collectively possessing the instruments of labour.
Abolition of the Churches, religions and religious congregations and also of all associations connected with them by integrated education.
Adopted at the General Assembly of the Geneva Section on August 30, 1872.
The Committee of the Section:
~ ~ ~ The Secretary, L. Decraille
~ ~ ~ The Chairman, A. Claris
~ ~ ~ Treasurer^^*^^ A. Michon
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE HAGUE, HOLLANDThe Revolutionary Socialist Propaganda Section is not represented at the Congress. If any one appears his mandate is not valid. Letter will follow after sitting.
For a group of section members:
Lacord, member of Commune Ceiitral Committee
Ledroit, Elpidin, section members ~
Submitted to the Congress
at the seventh sitting,
September 5, 1872
Translated from the telegram in French ~
First published in Russian ~
_-_-_^^*^^ Here is added in'pencil: "N. Zhukovsky, teacher, Geneva, Terrassiere, maison Treiber."---Ed.
^^**^^ The text is preceded by: Telegram No. 7/92. Sent from Geneva, 4/1X 1872,1150 hrs. Received at The Hague 5/IX 1872, 0148 brs.---Ed.
312 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATES OF TH. CUNOMANDATE^^*^^
In the name of the members of the International Working Men's Association assembled here (50 in number) we entrust Citizen Th. Cuno in Brussels to represent us at the Hague Congress.
By order:
Th. Burckhardt, G. Kriill, Fr. Mayer, W. Umland,
Fr. Heber, secretary Theodor Burckhardt, wood
engraver ...bergstrasse,^^**^^ 18
Stuttgart, August 26, 1872
First published in Russian Translated from the German original
On Monday, August 26,1872, a section of the International Working Men's Association was formed in Diisseldorf consisting of ten members. The section charges Citizen Th. F. Cuno to inform the General Council of its formation and to convey the subscription of ten Silbergroschen. At the same time at the Congress in The Hague from September 2 till the end Cuno is charged to defend the existing Rules most energetically and to oppose the intrigues of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy led by Bakunin.
By order: Ernst Reichel, Neustrasse l/II, Th. Becker, V. Redemann, A. Dreiser, Kreuzstrasse 14, H. Nellershem, Friedr. Mau^^***^^
Dusseldorf, August 29, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The mandate bears in the right-hand corner a note made in 1932 in Cuno's handwriting in English: "My own credential.'' In the lefthand corner is written: "Cuno, engineer, of no fixed residence, is leaving Europe. The Hague, September 2, 1872. Cuno."---Ed.
^^**^^ The name of the street is partly illegible.---Ed.
^^***^^ At the top of the document is an inscription in Cuno's __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 313. 313 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF HARRIET LAW
Geneva, August 30, 1872^^*^^
Mademoiselle,
The Central Section of Working Women requests you to accept its thanks for your obliging offer to represent it at the Hague Congress. In accepting your good offices it knows, Mademoiselle,, that it cannot confide its cause to an advocate more worthy of defending it and more capable of ensuring its triumph.
Greetings and solidarity.
In the name of the Section, the Secretary, V. Tinayre
To Mile Harriet Law^^**^^
Hereby the Central Section of Working Women empowers Mademoiselle Harriet Law to represent it at the General Congress at The Hague.
This mandate is imperative. Mademoiselle Law will not be free to depart from the terms in which it is conceived (in her capacity as representative of the Section). The givers of the mandate protest in advance against anything which the holder might say or do outside^^***^^ that which is prescribed to her herein.
Mademoiselle Law will make known to the Congress and in case of need develop the following wishes:
Considering, first:
That the working woman's needs are equal to those of the working man and that the pay for her work is much less,~ __-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 312. handwriting: "My Dusseldorf credential instructing me to vote against Bakunin."---Ed.
^^*^^ The left-hand corner bears an oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association, Geneva. Central Section of Working Women"---Ed.
^^**^^ The left-hand corner bears an oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association, Geneva. Central Section of Working Women".---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the word ``all'' is crossed out.---Ed.
314The Central Section of Working Women requests the Congress to include in its resolutions that henceforth ~
Agreements reached hetween employers and strikers of a trade in which women are employed will stipulate the same advantages for them as for men as this has been adopted by the Congress of the Romance Federation held this year at Vevey.^^120^^
Considering, secondly:
That the more different groups of opinion there are on the ways of achieving the same aim, the emancipation of labour, the easier it is to generalise the working-class movement without losing any of the forces (even the most widely diverging) to concur in the final result;
That it is advisable to leave to individuals, within the principles of the International, the right to group according to their tastes and their opinions.
Consequently:
The Working Women of the Central Section demand:
That the General Council shall not have the power to reject any section, whatever particular purpose it proposes, whatever its principles, provided that purpose and principles are not capable of harming those of the International Working Men's Association and are compatible with the General Rules.
Done at Geneva, August 30, 1872
In the name of the Section, the General Secretary,
V. Tinayre
The minute hereof was signed by Mesdames:
Lutz (Marie) Rapp Andignoux Lutz (Lina) Pignier Lavalette Sattler Voitet Vitoux Frey Bernard Boulanger Giullaume Brodt MosieV. T.
One word herein has been struck out.
V. Tinayre
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
315 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF J. P. MACDONNELL Ireland
Dublin Branch ~
Extract of the minutes of the meeting held the 28th of August 1872.
It was unanimously adopted that Mr. J. P. MacDonnell will be appointed to represent the Dublin Branch at the General Congress of 1872.
Dublin the 28 of Aug. 72.
The Secretary, Wery
28 Lower Pembroke St.
Dublin^^*^^
First published, in Russian ~
Printed according to the original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF K. MARXNew York, July 30, 1872
Section No. 1, International Working Men's Association, North America, 10 Ward Hotel ~
To Karl Marx in London ~
Dear Comrade,
I have to inform you that at the sitting of July 28 you were appointed delegate of the above-named section to _-_-_
^^*^^ On the back of the mandate is written:
28 Lower Pembroke St.
Dublin ~
Friend MacDonnell,
Do your best tor us, we trust you.
Yours truly
Wery.-£d.
Your mandate will be sent to you through one of our delegates to Congress, on their arrival in Europe.
According to a decision at the same sitting, July 28, your instructions for the Hague Congress are that, in common with our delegate going out direct from here, you will have strictly to support the Congress decisions of the North American Federation, which, in substance, aim at a taut organisation and above all centralisation in the fullest sense of the word, and are directed against the machinations of Bakunin, Guillaume and their associates, who intend to decentralise the International Working Men's Association in order to gain more elbow room for their personal intrigues and to cripple our movement.
Section No. 1 of New York was prevented this time by the Congress of our Federation from asserting its view on the need for a revision of the General Rules in the form of decisions, and we therefore leave it to you to act according to your own judgment in this matter at the Hague Congress as well as in all other matters that are discussed or decided at this Congress.
Section No. 1 of New York is fully aware that, in appointing you as their delegate, they carry the responsibility for any expenses you may incur, but I must explain to you that at the moment our funds are completely exhausted and even the smallest expenditure is impossible.
The importance of the Hague Congress demands despite this fact that we be directly represented, and we hope you will find ways and means of achieving this even without our help.
With fraternal greetings
C. Speyer, corresponding secretary ~
Address of the corresponding secretary C. Speyer 76 South 5th Ave New York ~
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
317MANDATE
The bearer of the present, Karl Marx, was elected at the sitting of the above-named section on July 28, 1872 as its representative at the General Congress at The Hague and is the representative of Section No. 1 of New York empowered to cast his decisive vote for the latter.
Corresponding Secretary C. Speyer Chairman of the sitting F. A. Sorge
July 28, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF N. MARSELAU** ... OF N. MARSELAU^^**^^By direct vote you have been elected delegate for the Spanish Federation to the International Congress of our beloved International Working Men's Association; I inform you that in your conduct you must conform in everything to the imperative mandate granted by the Regional Federation. Authorised by the latter we issue you this mandate.
Greeting and social liquidation.
In the name and by the agreement of the Federal Council, The General Secretary for Internal Affairs,
Francisco Tomds
To Comrade Nicolas Alonso Marselau, Member of the Seville Federation^^***^^
Valencia, August 25, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The mandate bears an oval stamp: ``North American Federal Council of the International Working Men's Association''.---Ed.
^^**^^ The mandate bears a round stamp: "International Working Men's Association, Spanish Federal Council''. ---Ed.
^^***^^ In the margin is written: "Writer and apprentice silk weaver, (address) Caldereros 14".---Ed.
318 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF T. MORAGO* ... OF T. MORAGO^^*^^By direct vote you have been elected delegate for the Spanish Federation to the international Congress of our beloved International Working Men's Association; I inform you 111 at in your conduct you must conform in everything to the imperative mandate granted by the Regional Federation. Authorised by the latter we issue you this mandate.
Greeting and social liquidation.
In the name and by the agreement of the Federal Council, The General Secretary for Internal Affairs,
Francisco Tomas
To Comrade Tomas Gonzales Morago, engraver, member of the Madrid Federation^^**^^
Valencia, August 25, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF H. OBERWINDER*** ... OF H. OBERWINDER^^***^^CREDENTIALS
Citizen Oberwindcr of Vienna is hereby empowered to represent our interests at the Congress of the International at The Hague.
The Chairman, Louis Hugo
Reichenherg, August 30, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the
German original ~
^^*^^ The mandate bears a round stamp: ``International Working Men's Association, Spanish Federal Council".---Ed.
^^**^^ In the margin is written: "Tomas Gonzales Morago, Calle de Caballero de Gracia 8, Madrid, Spain".---Ed.
^^***^^ Affixed to the mandate is a stamp showing payment of member's dues with the words: "International Working Men's Association. General Council. 1871--1872''. The text is preceded by a note in Frankel's handwriting: "Not to be published. Austria".---Ed.
319 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF POTEL (LUCAIN)Brussels, August 31, 1872
The undersigned citizens, refugees in Brussels, having formed a section recognised by 1he General Council in London...^^*^^ delegate Citizen Pole! lo the Congress of the International Working Men's Association at The Hague.
C. E. Riduet, G. Mondet
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF TH. ROACH
7 Red Lion Court, [London,]
August 29, 1872^^**^^
This is to certify that Citizen Thomas Roach was duly elected as Delegate to represent the above Council at the ensuing General Congress of the Association, which assembles at The Hague on the first Monday in September 1872.
Signed:
~ ~ ~ Charles Arthur Wyatt, Chairman
~ ~ ~ Edmund Hills, Secretary ~
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ A space is left here for the date. At the bottom of the page is a note: "Document to be filed".---Ed.
^^**^^ The mandate is on a printed form ol the International Working Men's Association. British Federal Council.---Ed.
320 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF A. SAUVAInternational Working Men's Association American Branch^^*^^
At its sitting of August 4, 1872 Section No. 2 of New York, the United States, appointed Citizen Arsene Sauva to be its delegate to the world congress which is to open at The Hague on the first Monday in September 1872.
The Chairman of the sitting, H. Charnier The Cashier, T. Millot The Secretary of the sitting, E. Godon The Corresponding Secretary, Jeandru G. The Treasurer, A. Sauva
New York, August 4, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF W. WESTNew York, August 13, 1872
A special meeting of Section "12" of the I.W.A. of the U.S. of America was held Thursday evening August 8th 1872 at 48 Broad St. The object of the meeting was stated to be the election of a Delegate to represent the section in the General Congress of the I.W.A. to be held at The Hague, Holland, on the first Monday in September.
Citizen William West was duly elected as said Delegate and charged with the duty of defending the section against any charges that may have been preferred against it from any source; and also of securing the revocation of the unjust decree of suspension by the General Council at London, England.
Victoria C. Woodhull, Chairman John Little, Recording Secretary ~
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to
the original ~
^^*^^ The mandate bears an oval stamp: "International Working Men's Association. Section No. 2 of New York''. In the margin is written in pencil: "169 members".---Ed.
321 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF R. FARGA PELUCER* OF R. FARGA PELUCER^^*^^I certify that Comrade Rafael Farga Pellicer, printer, has been appointed by the Barcelona Federation as delegate to the international Congress; that in his conduct he must be guided entirely by the imperative mandate of the Spanish Federation. For which purpose we issue him the present mandate.
In the name and by the agreement of the Federal Council,
The General Secretary for Internal Affairs,
~ ~ ~ Francisco Tomds
To Comrade Rafael Farga Pellicer, printer
Valencia, August 25, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
__ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATE OF P. FLUSEWe, Belgian delegates, certify that Comrade Fluse has been delegated to the Congress of The Hague by the Vesdre Valley Federation.^^**^^
Roch Splingard^^***^^, D. Brismee, Alfred Herman, Ph. Coenen, N. Eberhardt, H. Van den Abeele^^****^^
The undersigned, member of the Verviers Section, attended the Federal Congress which delegated Comrade Fluse to the Congress of The Hague.
Victor Dave
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The mandate bears a round stamp: "International Working Men's Association. Spanish Federal Council''. Page 4 bears in blue pencil: "R. Farga Pellicer, printer, Rue Carretas, 63, 1°. Barcelona (Spain).'' Pages 2 and 3 are blank.---Ed.
^^**^^ The signatures follow in the handwriting of the Belgian delegates.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here the name Victor Dave is struck out.---Ed.
^^****^^ The text following is in Victor Dave's handwriting. ---Ed.
21---0960
322 __ALPHA_LVL2__ MANDATES OF F. ENGELS ICREDENTIALS
The Breslau members of the International Working Men's Association charge Mr. Frederick Engels in London to represent them at the Congress of the International Working Men's Association on September 2 this year at The Hague.
~ ~ ~ Heinrich Oehme, Paul Bock,
~ ~ ~ Hermann Kriemichen
Breslau, August 19, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the
German original ~
II
This is to certify that Mr. Frederick Engels of London is duly elected to represent section six of the I.W.A. of New York, North America, in the General Congress which is to be held at Hague from the 2 of September 1872.
Fr. J. Bertrand, Chairman pro temp. John Stock, Secretary
New York, August 8, 1872
To certify the genuineness of the above credentials I affix hereunto the seal of the Federal Council T.W.A. for North America and my signature.
F. Bolte, General Secretary of the Federal Council, International Working Men's Association, North America^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to
the original ~
^^*^^ The mandate bears an oval stamp: "North American Federal Council of the International Working Men's Association".---Ed.
323 __ALPHA_LVL2__ IMPERATIVE MANDATEThe undersigned, delegates of the various sections of the International Working Men's Association assembled at a meeting of the local Lisbon Council,
Being informed by the newspapers of the polemics which have been publicly raised by the members of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy in different countries;
Considering that the conduct of the Alliance has produced lamentable consequences for the prestige of the International Working Men's Association;
That its purpose is to dominate and disorganise our Association and to direct the working class towards a particular aim;
That if there is a reason for accusing the General Council this accusation should have been submitted to the consideration of the sections, resolved within their framework and sanctioned by the Congress;
Considering also that the conduct of the Italian sections is contrary to the letter and the spirit of the General Rules of the International;
Thai the said sections have committed an act of despotism by arrogating the authority to convene a General Congress, thus violating the basic principle of the Statute;
For all these reasons we propose:
1. In respect of the Alliance:
That it be declared a society dangerous and highly prejudicial to the economic emancipation of the working class and thai the Congress must act with energy against it.
2. In respect of the Italian sections:
That their resolution relative to the convening of a _-_-_
^^*^^ The delegate of the Portuguese Federation was P. Lafargue. ---Ed.
__PRINTERS_P_323_COMMENT__ 21* 324 General Congress lie considered as a violation of the basic principle of the Statute which unites all the members of the International.Daniel Alves, Chairman of the sitting, Jose Almeida y Santos, Jose da Silva, Jose Pereira, Raimundo Luba, Santos Leite Celestino Aspro, Secretary Nobre Franca, Secretary
Lisbon, August 23, 1872
Published in the newspaper La Emancipation No. (55, September 14, 1872
Translated from the Spanish text of the newspaper
__ALPHA_LVL2__ IMPERATIVE MANDATEThe delegates of the Jura Federation are given an imperative mandate to present to the Congress of The Hague the following principles as the basis of the organisation of the International.
Any group of workers which adheres to the programme of the International as it has been denned by the preamble to the General Rules voted at the Geneva Congress, and which undertakes to observe economic solidarity in respect of all the workers and groups of workers in the struggle against monopoly capital is a section of the International enjoying full rights.
The federative principle being the basis of the organisation of the International, the sections federate freely among themselves and the federations federate freely among themselves with full autonomy, setting up according to their needs all the organs of correspondence, statistics bureaus, etc., which they judge to be suitable.
The Jura Federation sees as a consequence of the abovementioned principles the abolition of the General Council and the suppression of all authority in the International.
The Jura delegates must act in complete solidarity with the Spanish, Italian and French delegates and all those who protest frankly and broadly against the authoritarian 325 principle. Consequently, refusal to admit a delegate of these federations must lead to the immediate withdrawal of the Jura delegates.
Similarly, if the Congress does not accept the organisational bases of the International set forth above, the delegates will have to withdraw in agreement with the delegates of the anti-authoritarian federations.
As far as will he possible, the Jura delegates will eliminate all personal questions and will hold discussion in that field only when they are forced to do so, proposing to the Congress oblivion of the past and for the future the election of courts of honour, which will have to take a decision every time an accusation is levelled against a member of the International. Any accuser not supporting his accusations with positive proofs will be excluded from the Association as a slanderer.
First published in the Bulletin de la Federation jurasienne Nos. 15--16, August 15-- September 1, 1872
Translated from the French text of the Bulletin
__ALPHA_LVL2__ IMPERATIVE MANDATE GIVEN BY THE SPANISH FEDERATION1) We have seen with profound bitterness that the General Council has named the place of assembly of the Congress without consulting the different regional federations;~
We have seen with regret that it has named The Hague for the assembly of the Congress, because it is thus impossible for various regions to send the number of representatives they would have been able to send had a more central place been named;~
And because tendencies opposed to the General Council have been manifested in the southern regions of Europe, it appears there has been a deliberate intention of causing these regions to have the smallest possible number of representatives at this Congress;~
326Because of all this the delegates must demonstrate to the Congress that the General Council has violated the principles of justice.
2) Not considering as equitable the principle observed up to the present International Congress of voting according to the number of delegates, we request: that the votes be counted according to the number of those represented by the delegates holding an imperative mandate, which must show the number of individuals who are represented; that the votes of those represented by delegates not provided with an imperative mandate will not count until the sections or federations which they represent have discussed and voted on the questions debated at the Congress.
In order to ensure the implementation of the said principle and that the resolutions of the Congress shall be the true expression of the will of the International Working Men's Association, these resolutions shall not enter into force before two months have elapsed, in which time the sections or federations which have not provided their delegates with an imperative mandate on the questions discussed and also those which have not been able to send delegates will express their vote by publishing it in the newspapers of the International and by taking part in the Regional Council which will be entrusted with this mission.
In the event of the Congress persisting in the traditional system of voting, our delegates will take part in the discussion, but will abstain from voting.
The Belgian Federal Council will be entrusted with counting the votes of the different sections or federations which, because they have not empowered a delegate or have not provided him with an imperative mandate on the questions debated, have to express their opinion.
3) Only the administrative resolutions of the Congresses, sanctioned by the vote of the sections or federations, will be obliging for all members of the International. There will be voting on questions of principle only to show which opinion is so far most accepted; but resolutions on these questions will not be binding.
4) The General Council has no authority whatsoever over 327 the sections and federations. As it is today it should be abolished; its functions shall be those of an intermediary between the different regional federations; for which its activity shall be limited to that of a mere correspondence and statistics centre, leaving it full freedom of initiative to propose to the different regions or to the Congress the solutions which it finds most suitable by reason of the data acquired through correspondence and statistics.
5) The General Council should be located in Brussels until the next Congress.
The Belgian Federal Council will be charged with: Counting the votes of the different sections and federations which, because they have not sent delegates or because they have not provided them with an imperative mandate on the questions debated, have to express their opinion.
Installing in its functions, after two months have elapsed since the Congress, the General Council which will be elected.
6) The General Council will be composed of two members for each regional federation, who will be nominated directly by the respective federations and can be recalled only by them.
7) The responsibility for our Italian brothers' break with the General Council rests with the latter exclusively; if the Italian members of the International despite this send their delegates to the Congress of The Hague we declare that our delegates will always be on their side so long as they support the banner of revolution as at present.
In the event of the Italians persisting in holding the Congress which they have convened in Neuchatel either at the same time as, or after the termination of, the Congress of The Hague, our delegates, once they have ended their mission at the Congress, will pass through Neuchatel in order to take part in the said Congress or to obtain all the necessary data to render an account on their return of all that can be of interest to us concerning this grand and transcendental question.
8) Our delegates shall by all possible means accessible to them secure the unity of the International; but without 328 renouncing in any way any one of the revolutionary principles proclaimed by our Conference and regional congresses.
For this purpose our delegates must come to an agreement with the delegates of the Italian and Jura regions to defend in common the principles which inspire both the regions, inasmuch as they are identical, inasmuch as they are the same.
9) The delegates of the Spanish Federation will procure a copy of the minutes of the sittings of the Congress of The Hague, as also of that of Neuchatel, so that all the local federations may acquaint themselves with them.
10) They will also procure a copy of the list of subscriptions made to the General Council by all the regional federations, and especially those made by the Spanish Federation, showing all the data and the growth from the time of the Basle Congress until today.
11) Our delegates will bear in mind the following:
It would be desirable to concretise the agenda of the Congress on the different points which are to be debated; because the subject of the revision of the General Rules and Regulations can contain so many and so complicated questions, we point out to them that on all points not foreseen, for the reason already given, in this mandate they must keep to the col leetivistic, decentralising, anarchistic and anti-authoritarian criterion, which is the standard for members of the International in our Region, expressed by the congresses of Barcelona and Saragossa and the Conference of Valencia. They must bear in mind the formula adopted by the Conference of uniting Humanity in a free world federation of free associations of agricultural and industrial workers.
12) The delegates of the Spanish Region will observe this mandate in everything and on their return will render an exact account of what they have done, the first two to this Federal Council so that it can in turn pass it on to all the local federations, and the two nominated directly by the Barcelona Federation at the general meeting of the same which will be convened for the purpose, without neglecting to give a written account of their conduct to this Federal Council.
32913) The activists of the Federation who have paid their subscription in the course of this month number more than fifteen thousand members of the International.
In the name and by the agreement of the Spanish Regional Federation,
The Federal Council:
The Treasurer, Vicente Rosell, silk weaver
The Cashier, Vicente Torres, bookseller
The Financial Secretary, Vicente Asensi,
~ ~ joiner
Corresponding Secretary for the North,
~ ~ Peregrin Afontoro, silk weaver
Corresponding Secretary for the South,
~ ~ Severino Albarracin, primary school
~ ~ teacher
General Secretary for Internal Affairs and
~ ~ Corresponding Secretary for the West,
~ ~ Francisco Tomas, stone mason
Corresponding Secretary for the East,
~ ~ Cayetano Marti, quarry man
Corresponding Secretary for the Centre,
~ ~ Franco Martinez, dyer
Valencia, August 22, 1872
Published as a leaflet in 1872: Asociacion International de los Trabajadores. Federation Regional Espanola. Circular [August 22, 1872]
Translated from the Spanish
[330]1. Arnaud (Antoine), chemist, delegate of the Section of Carouge, Geneva (Switzerland)
2. Alerini, delegate of the Spanish Federation
3. Becker (Philipp), brushmaker, delegate of the Romance Federal Council, of two Basle sections, the Zug Section, the Lucerne Section, the German Section of Geneva (Switzerland)
4. Barry, shoemaker, delegate of a Chicago Section (North America)
5. Becker (Bernhard), man of letters, delegate of the Section of Brunswick (Prussia)
6. Brismee (Desire), printer, delegate of the Brussels Section (Belgium)
7. Cournet (Frederic), teacher, delegate of the General Council of London and of the Central Committee of Copenhagen (Denmark)
8. Cuno, delegate of the Diisseldorf Section (Prussian Rhineland) and the Section of Stuttgart (Wiirttemberg)
9. Coenen, shoemaker, delegate of the Section of Antwerp (Belgium)
10. Cyrille, business clerk, delegate of the French Section of Brussels (Belgium)
11. Dumont, delegate of the French Section of Paris and of Rouen
12. Dietzgen, tanner, delegate of the Section of Dresden (Saxony)
33113. Dupont (Eugene), musical instrument maker, delegate of the General Council of London
14. Dave (Victor), delegate of the sections of The Hague (Holland)
15. Duval, joiner, delegate of the Romance Federal Council, Geneva (Switzerland)
16. Dereure (Simon), shoemaker, delegate of the New York Congress (North America)
17. Eberhardt, tailor, delegate of the sections of leather workers, bootclosers, tailors, joiners, painters, hide dyers and marble workers of Brussels (Belgium)
18. Eccarius, tailor, delegate of the section of moulders of London
19. Engels (Frederick), man of letters, delegate of the Section of Breslau, Prussia, and Section No. 6 of New York (North America)
20. Farga Pellicer, printer, delegate of the Spanish Federation
21. Fluse, weaver, delegate of the Federation of La Vesdre (Belgium)
22. Farkas (Carl), mechanician, delegate of two sections of Pest (Hungary)
23. Friedlander (Hugo), delegate of the Section of Zurich (Switzerland)
24. Frankel (Leo), jeweller, delegate of the French Section (France)
25. Guillaume (James), printer, delegate of the Congress of Neuchatel (Switzerland)
26. Gerhard, tailor, delegate of the Federal Council of Amsterdam (Holland)
27. Gilkens, lithographer, section of lithographers, Amsterdam (Holland)
28. Harcourt (Edwell), gold-miner, delegate of the Section of Victoria (Australia)
29. Herman, delegate of the Federation of Liege of the mechanicians, trade unions, united joiners, marble workers and sculptors (Belgium)
30. Hepner (Adolf), journalist, delegate of Section No. 8 of New York (North America)
31. Hales (John), delegate of the Hackney Road Branch, London
33232. Heim, delegate of the Section of Bohemia (Austria)
33. Johannard, artificial flower maker, delegate of the French Section (France)
34. Karl Marx, man of letters, delegate of the General Council, of Section No. 1, New York, of the Leipzig Section and of the Mayence Section (Prussia)
35. Kugelmann, Doctor of Medicine, delegate of the Celle Section (Hanover)
36. Lucain, delegate of the French Section (France)
37. Lessner, tailor, delegate of the German Section of London
38. Lafargue (Paul), Doctor of Medicine, delegate of the New Madrid Federation and of the Federation of Lishon (Portugal)
39. Longuet (Charles), teacher, delegate of the French Section (France)
40. Le Moussu, draughtsman, delegate of the French Section of London (England)
41. Milke, printer, delegate of the Section of Berlin ( Prussia)
42. Morago, delegate of the Spanish Federation
43. Marselau, delegate of the Spanish Federation
44. Mottershead, delegate of the Bethnal Green Branch, London
45. MacDonnell, delegate of the Irish Section of London and of the Dublin Section
46. Pihl (S.F.), delegate of the Copenhagen Section ( Denmark)
47. Ranvier, porcelain painter, delegate of the Ferre Section of Paris (France)
48. Roach (Thomas), delegate of the Federal Council of London (England)
49. Rittinghausen, man of letters, delegate of the Munich Section
50. Swarm, draughtsman, delegate of the French Section (France)
51. Sauva (Arsene), tailor, delegate of Sections Nos. 29 and 42, Hoboken and Paterson, New York (North America)
52. Sexton (George), physician, delegate of the General Council of London
33353. Schumacher (Georg^^*^^), tanner, delegate of the Section of Solingen (Rhenish Prussia)
54. Splingard (Roch), delegate of the group of Charleroi [ (Belgium)
55. Sorge (F. A.), schoolteacher, delegate of the Congress of New York (North America)
56. Schwitzguebel, engraver, delegate oi' the Congress of Neuchatel (Switzerland)
57. Serraillier, moulder, delegate of the General Council and of the French Section
58. Scheu (Heinrich), delegate of the Section of Es/lingcn (Wiirttemberg)
59. Walter, delegate of the French Section (France)
60. Wroblewski, teacher, delegate of the Polish Section of London and of the General Council
61. Hout (van der), delegate of the Section of Amsterdam (Holland)
62. Abeele (van den), delegate of the Section of Ghent ( Belgium)
63. Vaillant, civil engineer, delegate of the Section of La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), of the French Section (France) and of the Section of San Francisco (North America)
64. Vichard, delegate of the French Section (France)
65. Wilmot, delegate of the French Section (France)
Printed as a leaflet between
September 5 and 9, 1872 at
the printshop of T. A. D. Visscher,
Amsterdam ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The original has Gustav.---Ed.
[334] ~ [335] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ IV __ALPHA_LVL1__ COMMISSION[SITTING OF SEPTEMBER 5, 1872]^^*^^
1) Engels reads out the General Council's report on the Alliance^^**^^ and at the same time produces letters from Spain confirming what is stated in the report. (Letter from Perron, Geneva, June 22, 1869.)
2) General Rules of the International Working Men's Association after the Geneva Congress, 1866.
Guillaume explains that the Alliance which sent the letter mentioned in 1) is a different one, i.e., a public Alliance.
The dissolution of the Alliance in Spain was reported in La Emancipation of June 2, 1872.
3) Reading of the rules of, the Alliance which was dissolved in 1869; in the main these rules coincide with those of the Alliance dissolved in 1872 (La Federation No. 155) but they contain an article saying: No means not leading directly to the triumph of the working-class cause may be used in our struggle.
4) In the rules of the Madrid oficios varios*** there is also an article which reads literally the same as other articles in the rules of dissolved Geneva Alliance.
5) Article 1 of the Alliance dissolved in 1872 is very ambiguous; it reads literally: The Alliance of; Socialist _-_-_
^^*^^ In the original the heading is preceded by "Record of Interrogation of Witnesses" in pencil, instead of "Minutes of 5/IX 1872" which is struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ See pp. 348--60.-£<i. ***---various professions.---Ed.
__PRINTERS_P_337_COMMENT__ 22--0960 338 Democracy is composed of members of the International and has the aim of spreading the principles of its programme. The ``its'' here is too equivocal.Article 2 says that the Alliance is completely secret.
Article 9 says that any member may be expelled without any reason being given.
The results of the agitation conducted by the Alliance were:
1. that many Spanish workers believed that its rules were identical with those of the International;
2. that serious disagreements arose between the Spanish Federal Council and the working masses.
6) The Saragossa Congress brought these matters to light and posed the alternative between the Alliance and = the International.^^123^^
The whole investigation prompts the conclusion that the Alliance recognises two classes in the International, one which is clever and the other which is stupid; the former uses the latter for its special ends.
7) A resolution was adopted by 21 pretended sections in Italy to break entirely with the General Council and to assemble an anti-authoritarian = congress^^124^^ in Neuchatel; but the congress in Neuchatel has not yet taken place.
Engels, asked what relation exists between the Spaniards and the Italians, replies that he does not know for certain, but that he was told by somebody whom he cannot name that this had been said. A counterorder came from Bakunin in respect of the congress in Neuchatel. As regards the relation between Spain and Italy and also as regards the counterorder, Jose Mesa wrote to Engels but he cannot state whether it is really true.
The decision of the Congress at Rimini is open revolt against the General Rules.
8) It is noted that there are differences between the rules of the Alliance in Spain (secret) and those in Switzerland, for instance on atheism and on the right of inheritance.
9)^^*^^ Bakunin's letter to Mora, i.e., to a Spanish friend on April 5, 1872 from Locarno.
_-_-_^^*^^ In the margin opposite point 9 is written in Cuno's hand: " Documents written in Bakunin's own hand''. See the text of this letter on pp. 637--39 of this volume.---Ed.
339``Dear member oj the Alliance and Comrade, our Alliance comrades" etc., notes that persons who have done much for the International are now behaving in a dictatorial and authoritarian manner, one wishes to tolerate these people in the Inlernational but to render their influence harmless. Bakunin believes it would be difficult now to hold a congress on the Continent (and yet he reproaches the General Council for not holding a congress in 1871, although that was within a far shorter time of the fall of the Commune). He places his grcates thope in Spain and Italy because of the ardour of its youth struggle.^^*^^ He speaks everywhere only of the Rules and Programme of the Alliance as of those of the Inlernational. The letter notes further the presence of members of the Alliance in Italy, Spain and Switzerland. In Italy Caiiero, the editors of the Campana, the Gazzettino Rosa, and Martello, in Switzerland Guillaume, Neuchatel, 5, rue de la Place d'Armes, Adhemar Schwitsf/uebel, engraver. Engels observes that hence in any case either Guillaume's statement that he is not a member of the Alliance is a lie or Bakunin's letter is not true.
10) The Spanish Alliance dissolved itself according to La Federacion No. 155 because its existence had been revealed. That was also the reason for the publication of the rules.
11) The organisation of the Alliance within the International has three grades: 1. International Brethren. 2. National Brethren. 3. A half-secret organisation. It is obvious from the whole organisation that there are three different grades, some of which lead the others by the nose. The whole affair seems to be so exalted and eccentric that the whole Commission is constantly rolling with mirth. This kind of mysticism is generally considered as insanity. The greatest absolutism is manifested in the whole organisation. The most reckless, most untimely nonsense is apparent in the whole business. The idea of the whole business is domination over the International.---Russian Social-- Democracy.
It is proposed to declare the writings of the organisation, _-_-_
^^*^^ In the margin is written "Frere Morago".---Ed.
22*
340 of which Bakunin is recognised as the author, to be either insane or two centuries behind the times.12) Farga answers to the nickname of Rajar.^^*^^
SITTING OF SEPTEMBER 6, 1872]
__NOTE__ Why orphaned "]" in original?Lafargue says that the founding of the Alliance in Madrid was inspired from Barcelona and he published its whole history in Madrid on June 27, = 1872.^^125^^ His pamphlet was neither attacked nor refuted by the people of the Alliance.
It is proved in this pamphlet that the Alliance did not found the International in Spain but that it appeared after the International. The Alliance has been established in eight places and has done much for the movement.
He maintains that it has never been dissolved in Spain. Mora and others demanded its dissolution, but the Saragossa Congress did not comply with this demand.
The best proof of this is the Madrid circular of June 2, 1872 signed: Mesa, Pages, Francisco Mora, Paulino^^**^^ Iglesias, Innocente Galleja, Valentin Saenz, Angel Mora, Luis Castillon, Hipolito Pauly.
The Cadiz Section alone replied to that circular.
As proof of this he quotes the statement published in La Emancipation that the dissolution had not been accepted, a statement which nobody refuted.
Lafargue, Mora and others were expelled from the Spanish Federation for denouncing members of the Alliance; and he [Lafargue] believes this because there was no other ground. Lafargue considered this denunciation to be his duty because an article in the Spanish rules drawn up at the Valencia Conference forbids any other organisation within the International.
Lafargue knows Bakunin's handwriting and knows also of a letter written by Bakunin to a member of the International in Lisbon which was published in La Emancipation on _-_-_
^^*^^ This sentence is written in pencil; in the margin on p. 8 of the original is the note: "Morago and Guillaume, who maintained regular correspondence with Farga Pellicer, know nobody by the name of Raiar. Pellicer admits that this was his pseudonym."---Ed.
^^**^^ Pablo.---Ed.
341 August 10, 1872 and has never been refuted. The letter attacked the General Council, but the Portuguese did not consider it worthy of a reply.The Alliance published in Barcelona a statement about its dissolution and its Rules, but Lafargue believes it has never yet been dissolved there either, because the Barcelona members supported the convening of the Neuchatel Congress.
Schwitzguebel
Cuno asks Schwitzguebel whether he was ever a member of the secret society known as the Alliance. He gives an answer in writing (see No. 1, p.~~~~).^^*^^
In respect of the second question: Do you think that society still exists? (see No. 2, p. ).
To the first question Schwitzguebel answered neither yes nor no because it is a "question of principle".
Asked whether he thought Bakunin could lie---(see" No. 3, p. ).
Fourth question: If Bakunin named you as being a member of the secret Alliance, would you accept his assertion? (see No. 4, p.
).
Fifth question: Bakunin mentions you in a letter as being a member of the secret Alliance: what have you to answer? (see No. 5, p.
).
Guillaume affirms that he never belonged to the open Alliance and refuses to give any information on the secret Alliance.^^**^^
Marselau affirms that the Alliance dissolved itself after the Saragossa Congress. He was in prison during the Saragossa Congress. He was told that the Alliance had been dissolved; the Madrid members who had signed the circular of June 2, 1872 informed him of this there and he replied that this Alliance did not exist as far as he was concerned because it held no sittings. He doesn't know whether any other section besides that of Cadiz replied to the circular in question.
He never corresponded with anybody in the Alliance, either in Switzerland or elsewhere.
_-_-_^^*^^ See p. 498 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The text is followed on page 4 by the signature: Th. F. Cuno, Chairman of the Investigation Commission, The Hague, 6.9.72.---Ed.
342The Alliance in Seville was organised before the International in Spain; to be precise, the International in Seville was founded on May 28, 1871.
He was sent from Barcelona a membership card of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy for 1870. In 1871 he was told about the dissolution of the Alliance.
Soriano tried to persuade him and others to found a section of the International without having or knowing its programme. Only in Seville did he get to know any members of the Alliance. He cannot prove that he was in the International before 1871.
Lafargue and Mora were expelled before the question of the Alliance arose, because of an article in La Emancipation and this was announced in the paper of the Madrid Federation.
He knows nothing about the dissolution of the Alliance in Barcelona.
Does he know about a letter written by Bakunin? He recognised the Programme of the Alliance, and in that feels himself honoured.
Guillaume. The Barcelonians never welcomed the Rimini proposals, for these were nonsense in view of the small number of Italians, and he has in his possession the official despatches of the Italians to the Jura people and the Spaniards not to go to Neuchatel, he persists in the statement which he made to Cuno in person.
He will not answer any of the five questions and to the third he answers that Bakunin cannot lie.
Cafiero affirms that he was never a member of the public Alliance. He will not answer questions about the secret Alliance or in general any questions about secret societies; lie will answer when he is asked questions about a society which is contrary to the principles of the International.
He admits white lies but does not think Bakunin capable of a deliberate lie.
Walter retires from the commission because there are no proofs against the accused. See document W.
Wroblewski does not know Bakunin's handwriting, nor does he know who provided the General Council with evidence on the secret society of the Alliance. He is morally convinced that the Alliance exists and also that Bakunin 343 is its leader. Bakunin is also a member of a "Comite Rouge" which has set itself the aim of revolutionising Europe. He has no proofs or evidence in his possession. He is convinced that the secret Alliance was founded after the Commune everywhere. He does not wish to reveal the moral and material proofs which he has and will not do so. He does not know the rules of the Alliance.
(Splingard does not regard this as moral proof.)
Marx can supply no proof that the Alliance has not been dissolved in Spain.
The secret rules which have been printed are not the true rules. He confirms what Lafargue said.
There is collusion between the members of the Rimini Congress and the Barcelonians, in respect of the latest publications in La Federation. He is of the opinion that Cafiero is morally a member of the Alliance.
The rules of the Alliance in the various countries have appeared in different forms but they all have the aim of misusing the International.
He cites the official proofs of the existence of this secret society which have been published by the Russian court of justice.
The Geneva Alliance has never received the General Council's agreement to its reconstitution.
The Alliance has been dissolved three times.
Before the reading of the following document Marx says that Bakunin made Russian translations of Capital.
This information was given to Marx personally and it is a matter of not allowing certain misdeeds to become public.
Bakunin sent only two sheets of translation.
A letter, probably written by Nechayev, is read out.
Threats against a student belonging to the secret society if he continues to work for Bakunin. Bureau des Agents Strangers de la Societe revolutionnaire russe: Justice du Peuple, 25/13 1870 No. 73. The letter contains threats and is definitely a document of a secret society to which Bakunin personally belongs. Address of the letter:
Herrn Lyubavin
Fandgasse 16, c/o Widow Wald
Heidelberg
Morago says he cannot say whether more sections besides that of Cadiz replied to the circular of Mora, etc. He had belonged to the Alliance before the Saragossa Congress, but he withdrew earlier still because his companions did not consider the further existence of the Alliance advisable, since the members of the Alliance were not such as they had been at the beginning and instead of dominating the International as the rules prescribed the Alliance was dominated by the International.
He cannot say whether the Alliance still exists in Spain.
The reason for his leaving the Alliance was that Mora and the others were not really the men he had taken them for.
In reply to question 3, whether Bakunin was capable of lying, he says that he does not know Bakunin sufficiently well.
In reply"to question 4, is it true or not when Bakunin says that he is a member of the Alliance, he answers: decidedly not!
He does not know what Bakunin means by ``Frere'' and he earnestly wishes to learn the truth about Bakunin.
Zhukovsky says that Bakunin was negotiating with a student and a bookseller to translate Marx's Capital. The outbreak of the Nechayev conspiracy took place at the same time. He agreed with Bakunin on payment for the translation of Capital but he heard that the deal could not materialise because Nechayev threatened the translator; but he does not think Bakunin capable of making use of a secret society to force somebody to do something. But it is a fact that Capital was translated by someone he does not know.
He has no relations with Bakunin. In reply to question 3 he can only give the same answer as Schwitzgue"bel and Guillaume.
Every conspirator is sometimes forced to lie.^^*^^
Dupont can say nothing about the existence of the Alliance, either materially or morally.
_-_-_^^*^^ The text on p. 8 is followed by the signature: Th. F. Cuno, Chairman of the Investigation Commission, The Hague, 7/9.72.---Ed.
345Serraillier, after reading a letter of 1.9.72 to Cher Lalagarde signed A. Goltz, replies:
He believes in the existence of the secret Alliance, is morally convinced of it and bases this conviction on the documents produced by Engels.
He knows the rules of the Alliance dissolved in Spain.
He sees the same persons in the Alliance in Geneva and in Spain. In respect of the third Alliance he has documents which do not however directly prove that anybody is a member of this society.
The documents which he has do not contain the expressions allie'', frere, etc.
To question 3 he answers that Bakunin is capable of lying.
He knows two different handwritings of Bakunin, one with big letters and one with small ones.
He does not know the draft organisation of a secret society drawn up by Bakunin.
He knows people who have made attempts against our organisation. La Emancipation of Toulouse published a number of articles against our organisation signed by Razoua and the two documents signed by Malon.
Dupont states:
If Bakunin is involved in the third Alliance, then the first and the second as well as the third are a series of conspiracies against our Association, led by Bakunin.
1st proof: In Paris he knew several members of the International who invited him to a sitting at Bedouge's in the Faubourg du Temple. Here the propaganda of the Alliance was to be finally determined (end of 1868); but he did not go there.
Six weeks after the Basle Congress a circular was already sent to all the countries where the International existed to bring about the founding of this society and offices were already established everywhere.
In Lyons Bakunin held a conference with Guillaume, Bastelica and Varlin, at which the Federation was to be founded in France. The General Council received official information about this conference as well as the rules and other information.
Serraillier. In La Emancipation of November 29, 1871 a report was published pointing out that the International 346 was split into two parlies, only one of which was genuine; the reply was extracted from the Revolution Sociale of the Jura people by Razoua.
In the issue of December 19, 1871 he replied: Which are the elements the General Council expelled because they were too intelligent?---Bousquet, secretary to the Central Police Commissioner of Beziers.
Letter from Beziers dated November 13, 1871. It demands the expulsion from the International of Police Commissioner Bousquet.
Nevertheless the same Bousquet was given full powers by the Jura Committee and the relevant document was signed by the Beziers Committee (Comite = d^^1^^ Action rcvolutionnaire).
A letter dated Narbonne, July 24, 1872 confirmed that this police spy was a member of the Alliance (see document W).
A letter dated Toulouse, 14.7.72 from ``Swarm'' corroborated the story about Bousquet.
Letter about Louis Marchand. Bordeaux 24.11.71 showed him, also a member of the Alliance, to be guilty of spying and treachery.
Charles Daussac confirms the last letter:
``...That is the same Marchand who is now secretary of the society of refugees at Geneva''. Bordeaux, November 22, 1871.
A Russian, member of the Alliance, came to Paris straight to Walter to ask him about his breaking away from the General Council.
Paris, 14.8.72. Letter from Walter.
Letter from Avignon, August 24, 1872, from Eduard
Chamoux, in which a certain St. Martin, a member of the
Alliance, is accused and convicted of being bought by
the bourgeois. =
~
Letter from Walter (see document W). He demands that the Jura members be expelled from the International (see document W).
Malon signed mandates in the name of the Jura people and he is convicted of being a venal traitor.
Swarm says about Bousquet that he is police commissioner in Beziers and came to an agreement with the Versaillais. 347 He works for the Jura people and for Bakunin. The proofs are based on his correspondence. He is one of the leaders who initiated the agitation against the organisation of the International.^^*^^
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The text on p.~12 is followed by the signature: Th. Curio, Chairman of the Investigation Commission, The Hague, 7.9.72.---Ed.
[348] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT ON THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY PRESENTED IN THE NAME OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL TO THE CONGRESS AT THE HAGUE^^126^^The Alliance of Socialist Democracy was founded by M. Bakunin towards the end of 1868. It was an international society claiming to function, at the same time, both within and without the International Working Men's Association. Composed of members of the Association, who demanded the right to take part in all meetings of the International's members, this society, nevertheless, wished to retain the right to organise its own local groups, national federations and congresses alongside and in addition to the Congresses of the International. Thus, right from the onset, the Alliance claimed to form a kind of aristocracy within our Association, or elite with its own programme and possessing special privileges.'
The letters which were exchanged between the Central Committee of the Alliance and our General Council at that time are reproduced on pp. 7-9 of the circular "Fictitious Splits in the International" (appendix No. 1). The General Council refused to admit the Alliance as long as it retained its distinct international character; it promised to admit the Alliance only on the condition that the latter would dissolve its special international organisation, that its sections would become ordinary sections of our Association, and that the Council should be informed of the seat and numerical strength of each new section formed.
The following is the reply dated June 22, 1869, to these demands received from the Central Committee of the Alliance, 349 which^^*^^ has henceforth become known as the "Geneva Section of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy" in its relations with the General Council.
``As agreed between your Council and the Central Committee of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, we have consulted the various groups of the Alliance^on the question of its dissolution as an organisation outside the International Working Men's Association.... We are pleased to inform you that a great majority of the groups share the views of the Central Committee which intends to announce the dissolution of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy. The question of dissolution has today been decided. In communicating this decision to the various groups of the Alliance, we have invited them to follow our example and constitute themselves into sections of the International Working Men's Association, and seek recognition as such either from you or from the Federal Councils of the Association in their respective countries. Confirming receipt of your letter addressed to the former Central Committee of the Alliance, we are sending today for your perusal the rules of our section, and hereby request your official recognition of it as a section of the International Working Men's Association....'' (Signed) Acting Secretary, C. Perron (appendix No. 2).
A copy of these rules of the Alliance may be found among appendices No. 3.
The Geneva section proved to be the only one to request admission to the International. Nothing was heard about other allegedly existing sections of the Alliance. Nevertheless, in spite of the constant intrigues of the Alliancists who sought to impose their special programme on the entire International and gain control of our Association, one was bound to accept that the Alliance had kept its word and disbanded itself. The General Council, however,^^**^^ has received fairly clear indications which forced it to conclude that the Alliance was not even contemplating dissolution and that, in spite of its solemn undertaking, it existed and was continuing to function as a secret society, using this underground organisation to realise its original aim---the securing of complete control. Its existence, particularly in Spain, became increasingly apparent as a result of discord _-_-_
^^*^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "which changed its name for the occasion".---Ed.
^^**^^ __NOTE__ "*" in original. Further the words ``from May of this year" are crossed out in the MS.---.Ed.
350 within the Alliance itself, an account of which is given below. For the moment, suffice it to say that a circular drawn up by members of the old Spanish Federal Council, who were at the same time members of the Central Committee of the Alliance in Spain (see Emancipation No. 61, p. 3, column 2, appendix = No.~4^^127^^), exposed the existence of the Alliance.^^*^^ [Earlier] the circular, dated June 2, 1872 and published in Emancipation (No. 59, appendix No. 5), informed all the sections of the Alliance in Spain that the signatories had dissolved themselves as a section of the Alliance and invited other sections to follow their = example.^^128^^The publication of this circular caused the Alliance newspaper, the Barcelona Federation (No. 155, August 4, 1872), to publish the rules of the Alliance (appendix No. 6), thus putting the existence of this society beyond question.
A comparison of the rules of the secret society with the rules presented by the Geneva section of the Alliance to the General Council shows, firstly, that the introductory programme to the first document is identical to that of the second. There are merely a few changes in wording, as a result of which Bakunin's special programme is given more succinct expression in the secret rules.
Below is an exact table of:
Geneva Secret rules rules Art. 1 corresponds literally to Art. 5 Art. 2 corresponds generally to Art. 1 Art. 3 corresponds literally to Art. 2 Arts. 4 & 5 correspond generally to Art. 3 Art. 6 corresponds generally to Art. 4The secret rules themselves are based on the Geneva rules. Thus, Article 4 of the secret rules corresponds literally to Article 3 of the Geneva rules; Articles 8 and 9 in the Geneva rules correspond in abbreviated form to Article 10 of the secret rules, as do the Geneva Articles 15--20 to Article 3 of the secret rules.
_-_-_^^*^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: ``finding it impossible to reconcile their duties within the International with their position as members of a secret society within its ranks, on June 2 they addressed''.---Ed.
351Contrary to the actual practice of the Alliancists, the Geneva Article 7 advocates the "strong organisation" of the International and binds all members of the Alliance to "uphold ... the dicisions of the Congresses and the authority of the General Council". This article is not to be found in the secret rules, but evidence of its original inclusion in these rules is provided by the fact that it is reproduced almost word for word in Article 15 of the regulations of the Madrid section de oficios varios^^*^^ (appendix No. 7) which also includes the programme of the Alliance.
It is, therefore, clear that we are dealing with one and the same society and not with two separate societies. At the same time as the Geneva Central Committee was assuring the General Council that the Alliance had been disbanded, and was admitted as a section of the International on the basis of this assurance, the ringleaders of this Central Committee led by Mr. Bakunin were strengthening the organisation of this same Alliance, turning it into a secret society and preserving that very international character which they had undertaken to abolish. The good faith of the General Council and of the whole International, to whom the correspondence had been submitted, was betrayed in a most disgraceful manner. Having once committed such a deception, these men were no longer held back by any scruples from their machinations to subordinate the International, or, if this were unsuccessful, to disorganise it.
Below we quote the main articles of the secret rules:
``1) The Alliance of Socialist Democracy shall consist oj members oj the International Working Mens Association and has as its aim the propaganda and development of the principles of its programme, and the study of all means suited to advance direct and immediate emancipation of the working class.
``2) In order to achieve the best possible results and not to compromise the development of social organisation, the Alliance shall be entirely secret.
``4) No person shall be admitted to membership if he has not accepted beforehand the principles of the programme completely and sincerely.
``5) The Alliance shall do its utmost to exert from within its influence on the local workers' federation in order to prevent the latter from embarking on a reactionary or anti-revolutionary course.
_-_-_^^*^^ Section combining various types of professions.---Ed.
352``9) __NOTE__ Should be "6)" Any member may be dismissed from membership of ike Alliance on a majority decision without any reason being given."
Thus, the Alliance is a secret society formed within the International itself, having a programme of its own differing widely from that of the International, a society which has as its aim the propaganda of that programme which it considers to be the only true revolutionary one. The society binds its members to act in such a way inside the local federation of the International as to ^prevent it from embarking on a reactionary or anti-revolutionary course, i.e., the slightest deviation from the programme of the Alliance. In other words, the aim of the Alliance is to impose its sectarian programme on the whole International by means of its secret organisation. This can be t most effectively achieved by taking over the local and Federal Councils and the General Council, using the power of a secret organisation to elect members of the Alliance to these bodies. This was precisely what the Alliance did in cases where it felt that it had a good chance of success, as we shall see below.
Clearly no one would wish to hold it against the Alliancists for propagating^^*^^ their own programme. The International is composed of socialists of the most various shades of opinion. Its programme is sufficiently broad to accommodate all of them: the Bakunin sect was admitted on the same conditions as all the others. The charge levelled against jit is precisely its violation of these conditions.
The secret nature of the Alliance, however, is an entirely different matter. The International cannot ignore the fact that in many countries, Poland, France and Ireland among them, secret organisations are a legitimate means of defence against government persecution. However, at its London Conference the International stated that it wished to remain completely dissociated from these societies and would not, consequently, recognise them as sections. Moreover, and this is the crucial point, we are dealing here with a secret society created for the purpose of combatting not a government, but the International itself.
The organisation of a secret society of this kind is a _-_-_
^^*^^ Further the word ``openly'' is crossed out in the MS.---Ed.
353 blatant violation, not only of the contractual obligations to the International, but also of the letter and spirit of our General Rules.^^*^^ Our Rules know only one kind of members of the International with equal rights and duties for all. The Alliance separates them into two castes: the initiated and the uninitiated, the aristocracy and the plebs, the latter destined to be led by the first by means of an organisation whose very existence is unknown to them. The International demands of its members that they should acknowledge Truth, Justice and Morality as the basis of their conduct; the Alliance imposes upon its adepts, as their first duty, mendacity, dissimulation and imposture, by ordering them to deceive the uninitiated members of the International as to the existence of the secret organisation and to the motives and aims of their words and actions. The founders of the Alliance knew only too well that the vast majority of uninitiated members of the International would never consciously submit to such an organisation were they aware of its existence. This is why they made it "completely secret''. For it is essential to emphasise that the secret nature of this Alliance is not aimed at eluding government vigilance, otherwise it would not have begun its existence as a public society; this secret nature^^**^^ had as its sole aim the deception of the uninitiated members of the International, proof of which is the base way in which the Alliance deceived the General Council. Thus we are dealing with a genuine conspiracy against the International. For the first time in the history of the working-class struggle, we stumble upon a secret conspiracy plotted in the midst of the working class, and intended to undermine, not the existing exploiting regime, but the very Association in which that regime finds its fiercest opponent.Moreover, it would be ludicrous to assert that a society has made itself secret in order to protect itself from the persecution of existing governments, when that same society is everywhere advocating the emasculating doctrine of _-_-_
^^*^^ Further the words ``and Regulations'' are crossed out in the MS.---Ed.
^^**^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "as the facts have shown".---Ed.
23---0960
354 complete abstention from political action and states in its programme (Article 3, preamble to the secret rules) that it``rejects any revolutionary action which does not have as its immediate and direct aim the triumph of the workers' cause over capital".
How then lias this secret society acted within the International?
The reply to this question is already given in part in the private circular of the General Council entitled '''Fictitious Splits, etc.". But due to the fact that the General Council was not yet at that time aware of the actual size of the secret organisation, and in view of the many important events which have taken place subsequently, this reply can be regarded only as most incomplete.
Let it be said right from the start the activities of the Alliance fall into two distinct phases. The iirst is characterised by the assumption that it would be successful in gaining control of the General Council and thereby securing supreme direction of our Association. It was at this stage that the Alliance urged its adherents to uphold the "strong organisation" of the International and, above all,~
``the authority of the General Council and of the Federal Councils and Central Committees'';
\thinspaceand it was at this stage that gentlemen of the Alliance demanded at the Basle Congress that the General Council be invested with those wide powers which they later rejected with such horror as being authoritarian.
The Basle Congress destroyed, for the time being at least, the hopes nourished by the Alliance.^^*^^ Since that time it has carried on the intrigues referred to in the "Fictitious Splits'''; in the Jura district of Switzerland, in Italy and in Spain it has not ceased to push forward its special programme in place of that of the International. The London Conference put an end to this misunderstanding with its resolutions on working-class policy and sectarian sections. The Alliance _-_-_
^^*^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "whose activities were reduced to local intrigue. It remained fairly quiet until the point ... when the London Conference re-affirmed the original programme of the International as opposed to that of the Alliance with its resolutions on working-class policy and sectarian sections."---- Ed.
355 immediately went into action again. The Jura Federation, the stronghold of the Alliance in Switzerland, issued its Sonvillier circular against the General Council, in which the strong organisation, the authority of the General Council and the Basle resolutions, both proposed and voted for by the very people who were signatories to the circular, were denounced as authoritarian---& definition that, apparently, sufficed to condemn them out of hand; in which mention was made of "war, the open war that has broken out in our ranks''; in which it was demanded that the International should assume the form of an organisation adapted, not to the struggle in hand, but to some vague ideal of a future society, etc. From this point onwards tactics changed. An order was issued. Wherever the Alliance had its branches, in Italy and particularly in Spain the authoritarian resolutions of the Basle Congress and the London Conference, as also the authoritarianism of the General Council, were subjected to the most violent attacks. Now there was nothing but talk of the autonomy of sections, free federated groups, anarchy, etc. This is quite understandable. The influence of the secret society within the International would naturally increase as the public organisation of the International weakened. The most serious obstacle in the path of the Alliance was the General Council, and this was consequently the body which came in for the most bitter attacks, although, as we shall see, the Federal Councils also received the same treatment whenever a suitable opportunity presented itself.The Jura circular had no effect whatsoever, except in those countries where the International was more or less influenced by the Alliance, namely, in Italy and Spain. In the latter the Alliance and the International were founded simultaneously immediately after the Basle Congress. Even the most devoted members of the International in Spain were led to believe that the programme of the Alliance was identical to that of the International, that this secret organisation existed everywhere and that it was almost the duty of all to belong to it. This illusion was destroyed by the London Conference, where the Spanish delegate,^^*^^ himself a member _-_-_
^^*^^ Anselmo Lorenzo.---Ed.
23*
356 of the Central Committee of the Alliance in his country, could convince himself that the contrary was the fact, and also by the Jura circular itself, whose bitter attacks and lies against the Conference and the General Council were immediately taken up by all the organs of the Alliance. The first result of the Jura circular in Spain was the emergence of disagreements within the Spanish Alliance itself between those who were first and foremost members of the International and those who would not recognise it, since it had not come under Alliance control. The struggle, at first carried on in private, soon flared up in public at meetings of the International. When the Federal Council which had been elected by the Valencia Conference = (September 1871)^^129^^ demonstrated by its actions that it preferred the International to the Alliance, a majority of its members was expelled from the local Madrid Federation, where the Alliance was in = control.^^130^^ They were reinstated by the Saragossa Congress and two of them,^^*^^ Mora and Lorenzo, were re-elected to the new Federal Council,^^**^^ in spite of the fact that all the members of the old Council had previously announced that they would not recognise them as members.^^***^^The Saragossa = Congress^^131^^ gave rise to fears on the part of the ringleaders of the Alliance that Spain might slip out of their hands. The Alliance immediately began a campaign against the authority of the Spanish Federal Council, similar to that which the Jura circular had directed against the so-called authoritarian powers of the General Council. A thoroughly democratic and at the same time coherent form of organisation had been worked out in Spain by the _-_-_
^^*^^ Furthers the following is crossed out in the MS: "its most active members".----Ed.
^^**^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "meeting in Valencia".---Ed.
^^***^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "The Congress had chosen Valencia for the seat of the Federal Council in the hope that it would prove to be neutral territory and that these disagreements would not break out afresh. However, three of the five members of the new Federal Council were henchmen of the Alliance and, as a result of co-option, their number increased to at least five.'' -Ed.
357 Barcelona = Congress^^132^^ and the Valencia Conference. Thanks to the activity of the Federal Council elected in Valencia (activity which was approved by a special vote of the Congress), this organisation achieved the outstanding successes referred to in the general report.^^*^^ Morago, the leading light of the Alliance in Spain, declared at Saragossa that the powers conferred on the Federal Council in the Spanish organisation were authoritarian, that it was essential to restrict them, and to deprive the Council of the right to accept or reject new sections and decide whether their rules were in accordance with the rules of the federation, in short, to reduce its role to that of a mere correspondence and statistics bureau. After rejecting Morago's proposals, the Congress resolved to preserve the existing authoritarian form of organisation (see Extracts from the Papers of the Second Workers' Congress, etc., pp. 109 and 110, appendix No. 8.^^133^^ The evidence given by Citizen Lafargue, a delegate to the Saragossa Congress, will be of great importance in this connection).In order to isolate the new Federal Council from the disagreements, which had arisen in Madrid, the Congress transferred it to Valencia. However, the cause of the disagreements, namely, the antagonism, which had begun to develop between the Alliance and the International, was not of a local nature. Unaware of the existence of the Alliance, the Congress set up a new Council composed entirely of members of that society, with the result that two of them, Mora and Lorenzo, opposed it and Mora refused a seat on the Council. The General Council's circular "Fictitious Splits'', which was a reply to the Jura circular, obliged all members of the International to make an open statement of their allegiance either to the International or to the Alliance. The polemics between Emancipacion on the one hand and the Alliance newspapers, the Barcelona Federation and the Seville Razon, on the other became increasingly virulent. Finally, on June 2 the members of the former Federal Council---the editors of Emancipation and members of the Spanish Central Committee of the Alliance decided to address a circular to all the Spanish sections of _-_-_
^^*^^See pp. 211--19 of this volume.---Ed.
358 the Alliance, in which they announced their dissolution as a section of the secret society and called on other sections to follow their example. Vengeance followed swiftly. They were immediately expelled again from the local Madrid Federation in flagrant violation of the existing regulations. Following this, they reorganised themselves into a new Madrid Federation and requested recognition from the Federal Council.However, in the meantime the Alliancist element in the Council, strengthened by co-option, had gained complete control, causing Lorenzo to resign. The request of the New Madrid Federation met with a blank refusal on the part of the Federal Council, which was already concentrating all its efforts on ensuring the election of Alliance candidates to the Congress at The Hague. To this end the Council sent a private circular to local federations dated July 7, in which, repeating the slanderous remarks of Federation concerning the General Council, it proposed that the Federations should send to the Congress a single delegation from the whole of Spain elected by a majority vote, the list of those elected to be drawn up by the Council itself. ( Appendices No. 9.) It is obvious to anyone familiar with the secret society existing within the International in Spain that such a procedure would have meant the election of Alliance men to attend the Congress on funds provided by members of the International. As soon as the General Council, which was not sent a copy of the circular, got to know of these facts,^^*^^ it addressed a letter dated July 24 to the Spanish Federal Council, which is attached as an appendix (No. 10). The Federal Council^^**^^ replied on August 1 to the effect that it would require time in order to translate our letter which had been written in French, and on August 3 it addressed an evasive reply to the General Council published in Federation (appendix No. 11). In this reply it sided with the Alliance. On receipt of the letter of August 1, _-_-_
^^*^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "this was the very moment when it received the first irrefutable evidence of the existence of the secret organisation".---Ed.
^^**^^ Further the following is crossed out in the MS: "at first trying to gain time under the pretext".---Ed.
359 the General Council had already published the correspondence in Emancipation.It must be added that as soon as the secret organisation was discovered it was claimed that the Alliance had already been dissolved at the Saragossa Congress. The Central Committee had not, however, been informed to this effect ( appendix No. 4).
The New Madrid Federation denies this, and it should have known. In general, the claim that the Spanish section of an international society such as the Alliance could dissolve itself without first consulting the other national sections is patently absurd.
Immediately after this the Alliance attempted a coup d'etat. Realising that it would not be able to secure itself an artificial majority at the Hague Congress by means of the same manoeuvres employed at Basle and La = Chaux-- deFonds,^^134^^ the Alliance took advantage of the Conference held at Rimini by the self-styled Italian Federation in order to make a public announcement of the split. The Conference delegates passed a unanimous resolution (see appendix No. 12). Thus the Congress of the Alliance stood in opposition to that of the International. However, it was soon realised that this plan had no chance of success. It was abandoned, and the decision was taken to go to The Hague, with the very same Italian sections, of which only one out of twenty-one belongs to our Association, having the audacity to send their delegates to the Hague Congress which they had already rejected.
Considering:
1) That the Alliance (the main organ of which is the Central Committee of the Jura Federation),* founded and led by M. Bakunin, is a society hostile to the International, insofar as it aims at dominating or disorganising the latter;
2) That as a consequence of the foregoing the International and the Alliance are incompatible.
The Congress resolves:
1) That M. Bakunin and all the present members of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy be expelled from the International Working Men's Association and be granted readmission to it only after a public renunciation of all connections with this secret society;~
3602) That the Jura Federation be expelled as such from the International.
Drawn up by Engels in French at the end of August 1872 Submitted to the Commission on September 5, 1872
Translated from the French ~
Printed according to The General Council of the First International. 1871--72, Moscow, 1968, pp. 505--18
[361] __ALPHA_LVL2__ STATEMENT BY JOSE MESA ON THE ALLIANCE IN SPAINStatement^^135^^
To the delegates of the International Congress of The Hague ~
Comrades,
In view of the conspiracy hatched against the International by the members of the secret society of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, a conspiracy which you will have to reveal and render harmless, I would believe that I was failing in a great duty of conscience or betraying the cause of the proletariat endangered by the machinations of the Alliance if I did not contribute as far as I can to clear up the facts and help to arrive at a precise decision in the most grave matter which you are called to resolve.
Consequently and for the purpose mentioned I declare:~
That at the end of January of this year Citizen Tomas Gonzales Morago, a member of the old Madrid Federation and a delegate to this Congress, came to visit me and proposed to assemble all our friends (the members of the Madrid Alliance) to hear the accusations that he intended to make against Francisco Mora for having failed in his duties as a member of the Alliance. In order to demonstrate to me the arguments on which he based his accusation the said Citizen Morago expounded to me all the theories of the Alliance that you are familiar with and gave me to read a letter of Mikhail Bakunin in which was developed a whole 362
COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLIANCE
Machiavellian plan to establish domination over the working class. This plan was more or less the following:the Alliance must appear to exist within the International, but in reality at a certain distance from it in order better to observe it and more easily to direct it. For this reason the members who belong to the Councils, committees of sections, etc., must always be in the minority in the Alliance sections.
This basis, the foundation of the accusation which Morago levelled against Mora was that he initiated all the members of the former Regional Federal Council in the secret of the Alliance; in this way the members of the International who could be considered as active formed the majority in the Madrid Section of the Alliance and thus the Council could not be dominated or disorganised, which was the mission of the Alliance according to the admission of Citizen Morago.
The same individual showed me a card or certificate of membership of the Alliance sent from Geneva, but I do not remember on what date.
All this I declare to be true on my word of honour.
Jose Mesa
Madrid, September 1, 1872^^*^^
First published in full in Russian ~
Translated from the Spanish original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The document is marked "No. 15" in Engels' hand.---Ed.
[363] __ALPHA_LVL2__ BUREAU OF FOREIGN AGENTSTo the Russian student Lyubavin, resident in Heidelberg^^*^^
Dear Sir,
On the instructions of the Bureau I have the honour to inform you of the following:
We have received from Russia from the Committee a paper which, incidentally, concerns you. Here are the passages which refer to you:
``It has come to the knowledge of the Committee that some of the young Russian gentlemen resident abroad, liberal dilettantes, are beginning to exploit the forces arid knowledge of people of a certain trend, profiting by their straitened situation. Precious personalities, burdened with unskilled labour by dilettante kulaks, are deprived of the possibility to work for the emancipation of mankind. Among others, a certain Lyubavin (c/o Widow Wald, 16 Fandgasse, Heidelberg) recruited the well-known Bakunin to work on a translation of a book by Marx and, like a true bourgeois kulak, profiting by his desperate financial situation, paid him an advance and, on the strength of it, made him undertake not to abandon the work before it was finished. Thus, thanks to this young gentleman Lyubavin who uses others to show his zeal for Russian enlightenment, Bakunin is deprived of the possibility to take part in the genuine, urgent cause of the _-_-_
^^*^^ The letter is written on paper bearing the stamp: Bureau of foreign agents of the Russian revolutionary society The People s Judgment. Above the text of the letter on the left is the date: 25/13 February 1870, and on the right: No. 73.---Ed.
364 Russian people, his participation in which is indispensable.... It is obvious to anybody who is not a scoundrel how abominable, bourgeois and immoral such an attitude of Lyubavin and his like to the cause of the people's emancipation and those who work for it is, and how little it differs from the tricks,of the police....``The Committee instructs the 'Foreign Bureau to declare to Lyubavin:
``1) that if he and parasites like him consider a translation of Marx useful to Russia at the present time, let them devote their own precious efforts to it instead of studying chemistry and preparing for themselves a lucrative situation as professor at the public expense.
``2) that he (Lyubavin) should immediately inform Bakunin that he frees him from all moral obligation to continue the translation in consequence of the Russian revolutionary Committee's demand."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Then follow points which we consider premature to inform you of, relying in part on your perspicacity and prudence.
So, dear Sir, fully assured that you, understanding with whom you are dealing, will be so obliging as to free us from the regrettable necessity to address ourselves to you a second time by less civilised means.
We suggest to you:
1) Immediately on receipt of this message to telegraph Bakunin that you release him from the moral obligation to continue the translation.
2) Immediately to send him a detailed letter enclosing this document and the envelope in which you have received it.
3) Immediately to send a letter to our nearest agents (if only at the Geneva address you know) in which you will inform them that you have received the Bureau's suggestion No. so-and-so and carried it out.
Strictly punctilious in our relations with others, we have reckoned the day on which you will receive this letter; we suggest that in your turn you be no less punctilious and do not delay carrying it out so as not to force us to resort to extraordinary and therefore somewhat rough measures.
We make bold to assure you, dear Sir, that our attention to you and your actions will henceforth be far more correct.
365 And it depends on you yourself that our friendly relations should grow stronger, and should not be changed into inimical ones.I have the honour to be, dear Sir, your devoted servant~
Secretary of the Bureau of Agents ~
Read out at the sitting of the investigation commission on September 6, 1872
Translated from the Russian original ~
[366] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORT OF N. UTINTo the Fifth Congress
__NOTE__ "To the Fifth Congress" is above LVL2.(Confidential)^^*^^
The London Conference of 1871 had hardly ended when the Committee and the newspaper of the Jura Federation^^**^^ loudly demanded the immediate convocation of a General Congress to save the International Working Men's Association from the omnipotence of the General Council directed by Bismarckian brains, to chastise the traitors and judge the disagreement between the two federations in Switzerland.
This agitation of the Jura members, which was accompanied by personal insults and public scandals, did not succeed: the Congress was not convened. From then on the public attacks and the hidden machinations did not cease. To comply with the desire expressed by a large number of sections and of whole federations, the General Council found itself obliged to reveal certain intrigues in the Private Circular.^^***^^
In reply to this Circular the Jura Committee published a triple issue of its Bulletin of which it has filled 24 columns, in the form of letters, with direct and personal accusations, against the members of the General Council and of the Geneva and Madrid = federations.^^138^^ In one of those letters, Bakunin, a member of the Jura Federation (and we do not _-_-_
^^*^^ Words underlined once by Utin are given here in italics, those underlined twice are in bold italics.---Ed.
^^**^^ The Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne.---Kd.
^^***^^ Fictitious Splits in the International.---Ed.
367 know of which section), addressing his "dear comrades in disgrace" declared:``I have always reserved the right to bring all my calumniators before a jury of honour, which the next General Congress will doubtless not refuse mo."
On its side, the editorial hoard of the Bulletin (in its supplement to No. 13) formulated its programme for the Congress as follows:
``The situation has changed, and as the Barcelona Federacion correctly says, the result of all this has been a higher struggle, a struggle of principles, which today divides the International into two camps; it is the struggle between the principle of federation and autonomy on the one hand, and the principle of authority <m the other. And now that this struggle has taken the form of an acute crisis, we cannot without betrayal abdicate and renounce the defence of our principles. Let us have an explanation first, let us resolve the big questions which divide us, let us cast aside the intriguers, the traitors and thieves---we will embrace afterwards."
So according to these declarations it is evident that the Congress will ho condemned to deal with questions of persons, among others the person of Bakunin, who demands a jury. It will then be led to decide who are the intriguers, the traitors, the thieves, since the Jura Committee declares that they exist and they must be cast aside.
It is therefore also evident that it is the duty of every member more or less devoted to our Association to contribute his testimony and his information in a matter of such great gravity for the International; although certainly there will be nothing sadder in the annals of our Congresses than the sight of these intestine struggles, of personal quarrels, forcing the Congress to deal with them and to devote to them a large part of its time which should be used to discuss the more thorough, more broad arid more effective development of the workers' organisation.
For my part, I venture to add that I do not even believe that a Congress can appoint within itself a jury which could decide all these personal questions,^^*^^ while the Congress is in session. For that a jury would have to be appointed which would come and sit for a few weeks in Geneva, the first centre of operations chosen by "the traitors and intriguers''; this _-_-_
^^*^^ In the margin are the letters NB.---Ed.
368 jury would have to examine from beginning to end the newspapers and the documents of these two parties, to hear the witnesses for these parties---then, indeed, it could pronounce its verdict with full knowledge of the case.This is only my personal opinion, which surely would not affect the state of affairs, since the Jura Committee^^*^^ and some members of that Federation demand that the Congress should resolve this "acute crisis''', and since Bakunin insists on a "jury of honour which the Congress will doubtless not refuse him".
__<*_*_*__In these conditions it will, no doubt, be good and useful for us to know once and for all where the adherents of the principle of federation in our organisation are and who are the individuals who have attempted against autonomy and have wished to subordinate the Working Men's Association to the principle of authority incarnate in certain personages. Where are the "secret manoeuvres" which the editorial board of the Bulletin points out; who are the ``agents'' who, in order to ensure their ``power'', are carrying out "underground work" in all countries for the purpose of seizing the " direction of all the federations"??
To discover all this the Bulletin's editorial board declares that it has in its possession documents which it will produce in due time (the time of the Congress, no doubt) to prove the reality of the conspiracy__For his part Bakunin assures that~
|||
``if only this jury offers me all the guarantees of an impartial and serious trial I shall be able to reveal to it in the necessary details all the facts, both political and personal, without fearing the inconveniences and dangers of an indiscreet disclosure."
We see from this statement on what ground Bakunin and his Jura friends deem it necessary to place the proceedings before the jury or the Congress; they want everything to be disclosed and explained there with all the necessary details; they want to produce documentary proofs, more or less private documents.
_-_-_^^*^^ P. 36 of "Reply of Some Jura Members of the International (published as a separate pamphlet).---Author's note.
369All the more do they thus impose on every honest member of the Association the duty to come and give evidence before this Congress jury, all the documents, all the proofs, all the necessary details concerning the conspiracy, the underground work, the secret intrigues and the calumny,
``without fearing the inconveniences and dangers of an indiscreet disclosure''.
That is what 1 also will endeavour to do for my part, the more so as this duty, as we shall see in the next chapter, is imposed on me in a way by the unanimous wish of the delegates from different countries.
Here I shall confine myself to two preliminary observations: first, my evidence will be long and I shall be obliged to request my listeners to be patient; this length depends not on my will, but on the fact that my testimony covers three long years of incessant intrigues and machinations carried out over a vast field of several countries; I can assure you that my subject will remain far from exhausted in all these details and I shall be forced to limit myself to the characteristic features and the most striking proofs of this long conspiracy.
Then some expressions in my evidence may shock even those---and above all those---who every day call us brigands, thieves, liars, traitors, etc. Last year at the Conference I saw that the most sensitive men as far as expressions are concerned were precisely Messrs. Robin and Bastelica, the two sole supporters of this Jura Committee which has not ceased for two years to heap on the Geneva members of the International and the General Council all the coarsest insults which are rarely encountered even in papers such as the Figaro or the Gaulois.
I shall manage to constrain my indignation, I shall manage not to show my disgust, but I must call things by their names and if these names sound harshly that only proves what the nature of those facts is which need such expressions to describe them.
Let the blame be laid not on my expressions, but on the things or those responsible for them.
24---0960
370In September 1871, the London Conference entrusted me with presenting to the General Council a brief report on the obscure affair known as the "Nechayev affair'" so that the General Council could check it (this at my own request and despite the protestations of trust made by Mr. Bastelica) and afterwards publish it.
This affair, indeed, concerns the International Association too closely for the latter to be indifferent to it: reduced to its simplest expression this affair is a miserable tragi-comedy in which lies, frauds, thefts and assassinations appear in their most hideous and most cynical forms and are carried out for the glory of the Social Revolution, in the name of our Association.
When one studies this affair one asks oneself with fear who these individuals are who have dared to profane our principles in this manner and to misuse the great name of our Association to drive the naive and ignorant Russian students to commit absurd acts^^*^^ and crimes, to cause themselves to be thrown into dungeons and deported to Siberia, to provoke reactionary terror and to halt again for a long time the march of progress as we see it, which this country needs so much.
Surely it was the most absolute duty of the Conference, and it is the duty of the General Council, and of the Congress at this moment, to ensure that the name, the principles and the organisation of the International are not allowed to be used to criminally deprive a country of an element of its progressive force and to make innocent victims owing to the influence which crafty individuals guided by personal motives, men who respect neither faith nor law can exert over uneducated minds by fascinating them with the name of our Association and deceiving them as to its character and practice.
Surely it is the duty of the General Council and the Congress to examine whether in reality there has been such misuse and if there has, to brand the culprits by denouncing them _-_-_
^^*^^ The words ``absurd acts'' are inserted in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
371 as meriting the scorn of all sincere adherents of our Association.This duty becomes still more imperative and demands other measures when it is irrefutably disclosed that the author of such a heinous crime did not confine himself to limited aims, did not have in view just one country (in relation to which, in order to carry out his pernicious attempts to accomplish the social revolution, he would have wished to make use of the exceptional situation of this country!), but thai he sought to extend to all olher counlries his sinister plan
__NOTE__ "|" along right margin of this recto page. 1) of diverting the International completely from its true purpose proclaimed by the Rules and the Congresses;
2) of seizing the whole of the Association by means of his handful of acolytes and introducing into il a secret supreme leadership Ihrough a conspiracy;
3) of distorting Ihe nature of the Association's Congresses by composing them of people acting strictly according to the orders of the secret leadership;
4) of substituting for our Association's programme another which is as fantastic as it is impracticable and is intended to make our Association a laughing stock and to alienate the working masses from it;
5) to substitute for^^*^^ the action of the working masses uniled and organised in the Internalional Associalion Ihe action of a small band of conspirators carrying oul a revolution in the name of the people.
What I am staling here I must prove and will prove later with documentary evidence.
These documenls are hardly secret. Several members of the Internalional must be in possession of them as far as I know. I mean the programme and the bases of the secret organisalion of the Alliance written by Bakunin and distributed by him first of all to his principal collaborators (we shall see what category of revolutionaries these collaborators belonged lo), and Ihen to all ihose who wished lo adhere to the conspiracy or to Ihose whom he hoped to bring to adhere to his conspiracy by revealing his splendid programme.^^**^^ _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "for the programme" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ The words "by revealing his splendid programme" are inserted in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
24*
372 I pray you to note and to pay attention to the fact that I am speaking here of the programme and the organisation which have never yet been published (in a language intelligible to Ihe members of the Congress); which were written by Bakunin first in French and which are still unknown to the great majority of the delegates. Therefore the secret Alliance must not here be confused with the one whose rules may have come to their knowledge. As for the printed publication of this programme, it is to be found (with some reserves replaced by other absurdities) in the Russian documents published by Bakunin and Nechayev in Geneva during the comedy that they caused to be played in Russia by the young students. __<*_*_*__Before going on to the documents and the proofs of Bakunin's conspiracy directed against and to the prejudice of the International, I must here make a very important personal admission.
When I had collected all the documents which will be mentioned in my report, and when I had established, in agreement with several other persons and in a way which admitted of no doubt, that the documents written in French had not been invented by anybody to play a trick in bad taste but were really written by Bakunin himself, when afterwards I had compared the content of those documents with all those printed in Russian and also originating from Bakunin, and with the public testimony given by the victims of Bakunin's fraud, before the court of justice in St. Petersburg, I paused in the fulfilment of the task I had been charged with by the Conference.
This task had come to appear to me too painful and too
thankless: by exposing publicly the turpitudes of a weaver of
plots, in which bad faith often gives way to the burlesque,
in which the craving for noisy fame unites with thirst for the
blood of all the revolutionaries who would not bow down
before personal infallibility of this weaver, in which almost
sentimental hallucinations cannot conceal the personal ferocity
of this unique undertaker of "the bloody destruction of all
existing order'', in a word, by making myself thus the histo-
373
rian of the
But there was something more serious which stopped me publishing my report. This was that it could provoke against the International yet another Jesuitical campaign on the part of the reactionary press whose bad faith would go far enough to declare that the baneful work of a single member of our Association was the work of the whole Association; and that since the pupil and the intimate friend of that member was committing, at his master's inspiration, the thefts and assassinations preached openly in Bakunin's Russian works, the thefts and assassinations were committed by all the members of our Association! And when we wanted to deny energetically such solidarity, the reactionary pressrightly this time---would ask us why such a man had not only not been expelled from our Association, but was ostensibly one of best loved and most respected by the organ of one of our federations (the Jura Federation).
__<*_*_*__Such were the reflections which prompted me to modify (at my own risk) the assignment I had received from the Conference.
I resolved to wait till the present Congress and to let it first of all judge the affair in camera and then take upon itself the responsibility of deciding to make a public and detailed revelation of the long and obscure conspiracy against the International. I resolved therefore to place the Congress in possession of my confidential report. But the drawing up
_-_-_^^*^^ Here the words "the weakness" are struck out.---Ed.
374 of this report, the translation of all the documents and the coordination of all the facts relating to Bakunin's machinations required assiduous and very long work which my occupations in Geneva did not permit to carry out. I therefore wanted to avail myself of my temporary absence from Geneva to devote all my time to this report. It was with this intention that I came to Zurich; but hardly arrived here I became the victim of an attempt at assassination which failed thanks to some young men who hastened to my assistance; nevertheless it deprived me of the possibility to draw up my report in the way I should have wished.My attackers succeeded in throwing some large stones at my head and my eye, which, permanently damaging my eye, deprived me of normal sight for a long time and only these last days have I been able, with great difficulty, to resume writing and dictating. This report will therefore be very incomplete in the sense that I could have supported^^*^^ with whole notebooks of conclusive documentary proofs what I here certify to be a strictly true account.
In any case, the mention made by me here of the attempt to assassinate me is not quite extraneous to the content of my report; for this attempt was only one of Bakunin's feats, only one of the loyal applications of the revolutionary principles which he preaches in his pamphlets and his Catechism against all those who do not obey him; ultimately it was only a practical expression of the "great struggle of great principles" as understood by Bakunin's supporters. What I state here is not a hypothesis, but a certitude, and if I were not afraid of occupying the Congress with my person I would give here irrefutable proofs what kind of men my attackers are. But there is something more than my person: my report is more closely connected with my attempted assassination: after the appearance of the General Council's Private Circular^^**^^ Bakunin and his adherents found out that the idea of publishing a report on their exploits in Russia had not been abandoned, but that on the contrary the General Council promised that it would soon appear. To prevent this report from being published before _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "all that I have said" are struck out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Fictitious Splits in the International.---Ed.
375 the Congress so that they could appear there different from what they are in reality---since they knew that the revelation of their true theoretical and practical programme could only ruin them in the eyes of our Association whereas they aim on the contrary at becoming its supreme chiefs^^*^^---to prevent this publication was therefore the principal aim of the assassins who attacked me, eight in number and at night, some of whom are well known to me as Bakunin's adherents and friends. For the rest, Bakunin was not long in coming to Zurich after this and strutting triumphantly along the streets surrounded by a large number of young people, Slavs, among whom, to their shame, were my attackers!Let the Congress therefore judge what kind of struggle the Bakuninists promise the devoted members of the International, and how the very great principles of Bakunin and his allies are translated into practice!
Let the Congress decide with full knowledge of the facts either for preservation of the International Association or for abdication of its organisation and its principles to the benefit of Bakunin and his allies.
On that firm and categorical decision of the Congress depends our existence, no more and no less.
If the Bakuninists are victorious, that is the end of the International such as it has been and must remain in order to ensure the working class's political and economic emancipation.
If, on the contrary, the secret machinations and the public exploits of the Bakuninists receive their just punishment, some of us will perhaps fall victim to the ferocious vengeance of a few assassins who will then be able to claim the price of their brigandage from one government or another, but these personal sacrifices will be generously compensated by the service we shall have rendered the Working Men's Association in preserving it from the dictatorship of the bourgeois Herostratus which could only stamp the great workingclass movement, the International Association, with infamy and disgust while awaiting its destruction.
_-_-_^^*^^ This I shall prove later despite and precisely because of the fact that they are loudly demanding the abolition of the General Council. This I say without any allusion to the free and voluntary exchange of opinion on this subject by the Belgian delegates at their regional congresses.---Author's note.
376What is the cause of the split in the International?
Who provoked it?
Who are those responsible for it?
Anybody who knows anything about the history and the development of our Association is well aware that before the Romance Congress of La Chaux-de-Fonds in April 1870 there was no split in our Association and neither the bourgeois press nor the bourgeois world were ever able to gloat over our disagreements in public.
In Germany there was the struggle between the true Internationals and the blind followers of Schweizer, but that struggle did not go beyond the borders of Germany, and the members of the International in all countries soon condemned that Prussian government agent, though at first he was well masked and seemed to be a great = revolutionary.^^139^^
In Belgium an attempt to misuse and exploit our Association was made by a certain Mr. Coudray, who also seemed at first to be an influential member, highly devoted to our cause, but in the end turned out to be nothing but a schemer whom the Belgian Federal Council and sections soon dealt with despite the important role which he had managed to assume.
With the exception of this fleeting incident the International was progressing like a real family of brothers animated by the same strivings and having no time to waste in idle and personal disputes.
All of a sudden a call for intestine war was raised inside the International itself; this call was made by La Solidarite in its first issue.^^*^^ It was accompanied by the most grave public accusations against the Geneva sections, and against their Federal Committee, which was accused of having sold itself to one member who was little known up to then, and against one of the editors of L'Egalite, Citizen Waehry.... In the same issue La Solidarite foretold that there would soon be a profound split between the reactionaries (the Geneva _-_-_
^^*^^ It must be noted that this issue appeared before L'Egalite. In this first issue La Solidarite usurped the title of organ of the Romance Federation, which belonged to L'Egalite.---Author's note. The last line is struck out.---Ed.
377 delegates to the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress) and several members of the Geneva Building Workers' Section. At the same time posters appeared on the walls in Geneva signed by Chevalley, Cognon, Ileng, and Charles Perron, announcing that the undersigned^^*^^ had arrived as delegates from Neuchatel to reveal to the Geneva members of the International the truth about the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress. This was logically equivalent to a public accusation against all the Geneva delegates, who were thus treated as liars hiding the truth from the members of the International.The Swiss bourgeois newspapers then announced to the world that there was a split in the International.
The obvious cause of this split was the struggle at the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress for the acceptance or rejection of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy as a section of the Geneva Federation and hence for the admission or rejection of its delegates to the Romance Congress. What then is this Alliance"?
How could the acceptance or rejection of a mere section have led to a split which has lasted more than two years and now threatens the very existence of the International Association?
That is what must be precisely established and examined. Established in Switzerland in 1866, the International Association developed there peacefully and naturally: it existed first in Geneva in the form of a Central Section ( Muttersection), a mixed section accepting members of all trades; later, as the number of its adherents increased, members of the same trade grouped themselves in trade sections, which did not prevent a large number of them from remaining members of the Central Section for the purpose of _-_-_
^^*^^ Of the four undersigned, Chevalley and Cognon were nominated by the congress of the Alliance members to their Federal Committee and two months later these were reported as thieves in the same Solidarite, having indeed stolen from the cooperative association of the Chaux-de-Fonds tailors. At the same time Ch. Perron was expelled from the Central Section of Geneva for his machinations which contributed to bring about the split and because he could not remain a member of the Central Section of Geneva and at the same time insult the Geneva members of the International in his capacity as corresponding editor of La Solidarite.---Author's note.
378 intensifying propaganda^^*^^ of the principles of our Association. Thus the Central Section naturally became the centre of propaganda and organisation; it united all those who had participated in the birth and the development of the Association in Switzerland, and workers of all trades came to it with their advice and their opinions; its door was open to everybody and never a complaint came to sow discord among the members of the Geneva sections.In January 1869 L'Egalite was published in Geneva,, replacing the Voix de VAvenir of La Chaux-de-Fonds, and all the French-speaking sections in Switzerland constituted themselves the Romance Federation.
But in December 1868 the Alliance of Socialist Democracy had just been formed in Geneva and declared itself a section of the International Working Men's Association. This new section asked three times in fifteen months for admission to the group of Geneva sections, and three times was refused, first by the Central Council of all the Geneva sections and then by the Romance Federal Committee. In September 1869, Bakunin, the founder of the Alliance, was defeated at Geneva when he stood as candidate for the delegation to the Basle Congress, and his candidature was rejected, the Geneva members appointing Grosselin as their delegate. The discussions begun then at the Temple Unique (where the meetings of the International took place) by Bakunin's supporters led by himself to force Grosselin to resign and give place to Bakunin---these discussions must have convinced Bakunin that Geneva was not a favourable place for his scheming. At their meetings the Geneva workers did not conceal their dissatisfaction, their scorn for his high-sounding words.--- This fact---together with other Russian matters^^**^^---provided the motive for Bakunin's voluntary departure from Geneva.---Nevertheless, L'Egalite, the Romance Federation's newspaper, remained in the hands of an editorial board on which the Bakuninists were in the majority and Perron and Robin, friends and acolytes of Bakunin, ruled as masters. The result of their management was that on the one _-_-_
^^*^^ The following is here struck out: "and of organisation; it united all those who participated in the birth and development".---Ed.
^^**^^ The words "together with other Russian matters" are inserted in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
379 hand the members of the International, dissatisfied with certain articles by Bakunin (for instance those in which he took pleasure in warring against his former brothers of the League of Peace) abandoned the newspaper en masse; on the other hand, there were enormous debts for a newspaper as small as this (which later made the suspension of the paper necessary for its debts to be paid off).It was at this period that Perron and Robin began in L'Egalit\'e^^140^^ their public attacks on the General Council (among other reasons because the General Council dared to protest against the British government's infamous treatment of the Fenians); the Locle Progres followed L'Egalite in this and hastened to reprint its attacks. At the same time Robin told me that a memorandum against the London General Council was being drawn up^^*^^ and asked me if I would sign it, since it was to be covered with signatures collected in all countries. Naturally, although I was then still a novice in the International, I refused to associate myself with such destructive work for which there was no justification. While Robin was thus preparing to carry out a campaign against the General Council in public and in secret, he received a letter from H i n s replying to his invitation to excite the working-class press against the General Council that this campaign should be abandoned because it would fail against the general opinion in the International. Robin read this letter to me and said: "You are right, our Belgians give me the same advice.'' I mention this here although I am resolved to abstain from acting like the Bakuninists, who publish even conversations, true or invented, which were absolutely private; I mention it first of all because the Belgians can certify whether it is true or not and then because this fact shows clearly when the campaign to disorganise our Association dates back to.
From the very outset the Federal Committee opposed all these attacks; moreover a member of the editorial board _-_-_
^^*^^ The words emphasised by both Marx and Utin are given in bold type and underlined with a wavy line; those emphasised by Marx and doubly emphasised by Utin are given in bold type underlined with a straight line; those emphasised by Utin and doubly emphasised by Marx are given in bold type, spaced and underlined with a wavy line.---Ed.
380 greatly embarrassed the Bakuninists by his continual presence on the Council---he was old man Waehry, an old fighter in the cause and a journeyman tailor; the Bakuninists demanded his removal from the editorial board without giving any ground or reason, threatening that they would quit .the newspaper if the Federal Council refused to do this. To their great astonishment the Federal Council replied that, having been elected by the Romance Congress, Waehry could be removed only by the Congress; Robin and Perron submitted the whole affair to the Central Section, who censured them most severely, after which they were forced to leave the editorial board in reality.Then to the Bakuninists' or separatists' grievance against the Geneva sections for their refusal to admit the Alliance to membership was added a second one---for the Federal Committee's disobedience to their orders to expel old man Waehry, and for having, as a result of this, placed them in the necessity to let the newspaper slip out of their hands. These two questions were to determine the disruption of the old Romance Federation.^^*^^ Robin and Perron then went to Neuchatel to have false documents printed there and to reach an agreement with Guillaume and Co. on the moving of the Federal Committee and the newspaper of the Romance Federation to Neuchatel, which was to be arranged at the Romance Congress.^^**^^ These gentlemen were so sure of _-_-_
^^*^^ It would take too long to speak here of all that Robin and Perron did in this affair: they went so far as to forge signatures, making use of people's names without their consent. The Federal Committee must have communicated these documents to the General Council at the time. Later Robin left for Paris. Indignant at his conduct and knowing that he called himself a friend of our Belgian brothers, for whom I have a great esteem, I wrote to Hins to ask De Paepe and Brismee through him for their opinion of Robin's conduct. Hins replied: We all strongly approve your work in L'Egalite; you are right when you say that the International would be ruined the day parties were introduced into it with their petty struggles. Robin was wrong in this.--- A uthor's note.
^^**^^ The minutes of the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress contain revelations by some delegates on the proposals made by Guillaume and Schwitzguebel to move the Federal Committee and the newspaper to Neuchatel, where Guillaume was to be its editor-in-chief. When he was leaving for Paris Robin also asked me to support Guillaume, Perron and Co. in carrying out this project.---Author's note.
381 victory that at the time of the Congress Perron made no bones of addressing a complaint against the Federal Committee, and not to the Bureau of the Congress, but directly to the members of the Alliance; and hardly had the Congress split into two camps when the congress of the Alliance members was dealing, as a supreme court, with Perron's complaint.So the Alliance members went to the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress with a double intention:
1) to force the Geneva sections, by the authority of the Congress, to admit the Alliance;
2) to take the Federal Committee and the editorial board of the newspaper away from Geneva in order Lo compose them of their own men at Neuchatel.
It is necessary to read the detailed minutes of the Chauxde-Fonds Congress in order to form an idea of the struggle between the Alliance sections of the mountains and the members of the International.^^*^^ For my part, I cannot dwell on those discussions. I will only note---and the minutes bear this out---Ihat the Congress was infamously wrecked by the members of the Alliance; instead of letting the delegates deal with the questions on the agenda and despite the Geneva delegates insisting that the matter of the Alliance should be left to the end of the Congress, the members of the Alliance would listen to nothing outside that question; all the other questions on the agenda did not interest them in the least. This is understandable: the Romance Federation, its existence and its prosperity were only important in their eyes inasmuch as the Alliance had a place in it legally and officially; this is so true that when during the discussions at the Congress all the Geneva delegates stated that they had an imperative mandate from their sections not to admit the Alliance and to withdraw rather than to consent to have this section in their group "in view of the intrigues, the machinations and the tendencies towards domination of the men of the Alliance'', and that hence the admission of the Alliance _-_-_
^^*^^ These minutes were published in L'Sgalite in 1870 (Nos. 16, 17 and 18). La Solidarite declared they were but a base tissue of lies and a filthy invention thought up by the Geneva people, and that the members of the Alliance were going to publish a truthful account in order to confound the liars of Geneva; this truthful account was never published.---Author's note.
382 by a majority oi' delegates of the small sections from outside would be equivalent to voting in all conscience for the break-up of the Romance Federation, Guillaume and Schwitzguebel shouted thai they would not be intimidated by all that, thai they still engaged the delegates to vote for the Alliance. The voting took place, and Ihc Congress was split into two camps: all the Geneva delegates (on the proposal sent by telegraph from all the Geneva sections, who were immediately consulted on this point), all the delegates of La Chaux-de-Fonds^^*^^ and one Neuchatel delegate continued to hold sittings in the Workers' Club, whereas the members of the Alliance moved to a cafe and immediately took the title of Congress of the Romance Federation; this Congress hastened to appoint its own Romance Federal Committee (including the two thieves, Chevalloy and Cognon) and instructed Guillaume to publish La Solidarite, which assumed the title of: "organ of the Romance Federation" which belonged to L'Egalite.In this way the members of the Alliance violated the
Rules of that same Federation, for under Articles 53 and 55 any serious decision taken by the Congress must, in order to be binding, be adopted by two-thirds of the Romance sections (and the sections of Geneva and of La Chaux-de-Fonds, in deciding against the Alliance, constituted together more than two-thirds of the Romance sections, as was well known to the members of the Alliance). Moreover, Article 54 says:
_-_-_``Any decision of the Congress bearing on the principles of the Association must be sanctioned by the General Council which, in case of need, may suspend its execution pending a final decision by the General Congress."^^**^^
^^*^^ It is to be noted that the Bakuninists never succeeded in having sections in the big industrial centres of Switzerland. For,instance, at La Chaux-de-Fonds all the sections are most hostile to Bakunin, Guillaume and Co. and not a single section supported them or belongs to them. Guillaume will doubtless say that this is because the workers are bourgeois and reactionary but he will find a formal refutal of this in his own newspaper the Progres, written on the eve of the Congress.--- Note in Utins handwriting.
^^**^^ It is curious that, as in the case of the Basle = Regulation,^^141^^ the members of the Alliance also took the principal part in drawing up the Rules of the Romance Federation (in January 1869) and these Rules were signed by F. Heng and Ad. Schwitzguebel among others.--- Author's note.
383Certainly nobody will^deny^thaljlhe queslion'of the Alliance had a bearing on the principles of the Association, for as the Geneva delegates affirmed at the Congress of La Chaux-- deFonds, it was a matter of deciding whether the Association wished to remain a federation of working men's societies, aiming at the emancipation of the workers by the workers themselves, or whether it wished to abandon its programme in the face of a plot formed by a few bourgeois with the evident aim of seizing the leadership of the Association by means of its public organs and its secret conspiracies...
It is this question, this question of principles, which is actually the object of the struggle conducted by the members of the Alliance against the International, as is proved by documents.
Why is it, however, that the admission of the Alliance was so highly important for Bakunin's supporters? And that its non-acceptance by the Geneva sections let loose on the International such a storm, provoked within it such destructive agitation that the Congress now finds itself in the necessity to carry out a purge in order not to come to a real scission among the workers themselves?
The answer to these questions brings us first to say a few words about the origin of the Alliance, and then to examine these documents; this answer can be resumed as follows:
It was of essential importance for the Bakuninists that the Alliance should be officially recognised above all by the Geneva sections because otherwise its exclusion from the Romance and the Geneva Federation and as a result of this its necessary and obvious isolation in Geneva would prove to all the members of the International in other places that there was something abnormal about the Alliance, something which did not suit the members of the International of that locality, who were in the best position to judge of its value, and this would naturally undermine, paralyse the ``prestige'' that the founder of the Alliance was dreaming of _-_-_
^^*^^ This is written over a struck-out III.---Ed.
384 for his creature and the influence which it was lo exert above all outside Geneva, as we shall see later.On the other hand, if it was a nucleus recognised and accepted by the Geneva and Romance group, the Alliance could, according to its founder's plans, usurp the right to speak in the name of the whole of the Romance Federation, which would necessarily give il great weight outside Switzerland. We shall see later whether the founder of the Alliance and his supporters would have stopped at such a usurpation of a name, when we know how little they were embarrassed at misusing not only the name of the Romance Federation, but even that of the whole Association. As for the choice of Geneva as the centre of the open operations of the Alliance, this was due to the fact that Bakunin thought he enjoyed greater safety in Switzerland than anywhere else, and that in general Geneva, alongside with Brussels, has acquired the reputation of one of the main centres of the International on the Continent (I mean the centres openly tolerated by the governments).
This explains the fact that the members of the Alliance were prepared to sacrifice everything and did not hesitate to break away from the Romance Federation, to calumniate it publicly and to apply later the same tactics to the whole of the Association. For them the vital question boiled down to this: either the Alliance will seize power over the International and will direct and exploit it according to its, the Alliance's, own programme, or, if not, it will consider the Association (again according to its own programme) as being of no value and even as hostile to it (which is perfectly correct) and therefore an enemy to be destroyed.
Is this true? And what need is there to speak of that now that the Jura Committee has publicly declared that the Alliance "was purely and simply a section of the International with its seat and its adherents in Geneva'', that "all its actions were open" and that "it will soon be a year since it dissolved itself."^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ But why did it dissolve itself shortly before the London Conference? Why, when alter the break at La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Geneva delegates were proposing to the two big assemblies in Geneva, to the unanimous applause of all the members of the International, that the Alliance should withdraw only its claim to enter our Federation, that __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 385. 385
Yes, the open Alliance declared itself dissolved, but what about the secret Alliance?
Or perhaps there was no secret one??
Somebody must be telling the truth, and somebody must be lying.
How, by whom and for what purpose was the Alliance founded? The General Council's Private Circular^^*^^ gives an answer to these questions, but certain details must still be added to that answer.
The Alliance was founded by Bakunin after his defeat at the Congress of the League of Peace and Freedom at Berne. The fact is that for a whole year (from September 1867 to September 1868) Bakunin was one of the most active and untiring members of the Committee of the League of Peace. It could be said in a way that he was the soul of that committee, with Mr. Barni, now a deputy at Versailles. Thus he intended to publish a work called Le Federalisme, le Socialisme et V Antitheologisme under the auspices of the " Committee of the League of Peace'', as the subheading said.^^**^^ Later it was he who insisted on sending an invitation to the __-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 384. __NOTE__ Missing bold below: it should remain what it wanted to be outside our ranks, and a fraternal reconciliation would take place; why, when after that some of its disillusioned members, before leaving it, suggested at a sitting of the Alliance to declare it dissolved, would Bakunin not hear of this, persisting in retaining it with some of his acolytes for more than a year, and why did it suddenly declare itself dissolved shortly before the Conference? Did it not feel its guilt and did it not fear an investigation of its activity by the Conference and hope by its voluntary dissolution to avoid an investigation of its past? And was not this dissolution in its turn a lie, since the official report of the Jura Committee (still calling itself the^Romance Federal Committee) dated November 12,1871, itself unmasked the manoeuvre of the Alliance which consisted in changing its name: "the section of the Alliance has dissolved itself, ... a new section has been constituted at Geneva and is composed of the old members of the Alliance and some of the French refugees residing in Geneva; it bears the name of Section of Socialist Revolutionary Propaganda and Action" (see Revolution Sociale No. 5). So the separatist camp still remained opposed to the camp of the members of the International in Geneva, only it was changing its name and the old members of the Alliance were taking some French refugees under their protection.---Author's note.
^^*^^ Fictitious Splits in the International.---Ed.
^^**^^ The printing of this work had begun and was held up after three sheets -"waiting for copy"', these three sheets were distributed by Bakunin to his acquaintances.---Author's note.
25---09IH)
386 Brussels Congress for the purpose of achieving the union of the two great Associations.^^*^^ He explains how he understood this union in a confidential circular of invitation to the Peace Congress written by hint and signed not by him but by the chairman and the secretary of the League's Bureau. This confidential circular, which was distributed by Bakunin to all his acquaintances,^^**^^ was addressed to all``with the firm assurance that you will wish to contribute all your efforts and all your means to the complete success of this Second Congress". "The urgency,'' Bakunin said further, "of the work undertaken by this League in the present circumstances and dangers of all kinds which threaten to destroy for a long time the liberty, the peace and the prosperity of Europe will doubtless be more obvious to you than ever.'' "The Congress will aim at awakening in the peoples the feeling of their strength and the consciousness of their duties and their rights.'' "It is clear that if they remain separated the peoples will not have the power to resist, etc...."
In these passages Bakunin seems to ignore the International, or else he refuses to understand that it is the only serious Association which unites peoples and brings them the power to resist; according to him the peoples will remain separated as long as he does not intervene with his own organisation, and indeed he exclaims:
``To the fatal Alliance of the oppressors we must oppose the A lliance of the peoples, the Alliance of the Workers."
So this Alliance of the Workers, according to Bakunin, was to emerge from the League, and the International Association was still out of the question.
The work of the League was to be "an eminently popular work". "We shall only have a future,'' Bakunin wrote, again in that confidential invitation,~
_-_-_``and we shall be able to become something only inasmuch as we are willing to be the sincere and serious representatives of the thousands of workers who create wealth and civilisation, but who, excluded from enjoying them, have so far participated only by their immense and daily sacrifices."
^^*^^ He was admitted to membership of the International in July 1868 on the recommendation of Elpidin to the Geneva Central Section.---Author's note.
^^**^^ Appended is a copy with the address written in Bakunin's hand.---Author's note.
387Here, it seems to me, the invitation ought to have ended. A bourgeois society which wishes to be the benefactor of the thousands of workers, which aspires to entertain itself with "an eminently popular work'', which continues, exactly as at its first Congress, to profess the most absolute scorn for, and the most complete oblivion of the true International Working Men's Association, or which, as is more probable, smugly aspires to snatch the poor workers from the pernicious influence of our Association,---such a society is easy to understand, as we have seen and still see every day: did not the anti-Commune bourgeois dream but recently of founding in Paris a society to encourage honest workers!
But we would be very much mistaken if we imagined that the League indeed wished to confine itself to that. No. It, or rather he, Bakunin, is not forgetting the International Working Men's Association; quite the contrary, he loves the Association and he insists on endowing it with a supreme Parliament of bourgeois who will guide it in politics.
Bakunin's confidential invitation contains indeed yet a last passage which he keeps as a tit-bit:
``In order to become a beneficial and real power our League must become the pure political expression of the great economic and social interests and principles which are triumphantly developed and propagated today by the great International Association of the Workers of Europe and America."
The Brussels Congress took place. It dared to reject the invitation of the League. Great were Bakunin's astonishment and wrath: on the one hand, the Association was slipping out of his protecting hands, not wanting any of his "pure political expression''; on the other hand, the League's chairman, Professor Gustav Vogt, gave him a good dressing down and demanded in the name of the Committee that he should explain the enigma:
``Either you were not sure of the effect of our invitation" (Mr. Gustav Vogt wrote to Bakunin, and I quote him almost word for word), "in which case you have compromised our League, using our good faith, our confidence in your positive assertions; or you knew beforehand what a surprise your friends of the International had in store for us, in which case you have most infamously deceived us, and I ask you: What are we going to tell our Congress?"
25*
388To this dilemma in question form Bakunin replied with a letter which he himself read out to a large number of his acquaintances^^*^^ and I heard it several times. In it he wrote:
``No, I could not have foreseen that the Congress of the International would reply with an insult as gross as it was pretentious; but I know what this is due to; it is the intrigues of a certain clique of Germans who direct everything and detest the Russians (!) and everybody" except themselves (thereupon he explained to his audience that it was Marx's cliquel). You ask me what we are going to do? I ask the Committee for permission to reply to that gross insult myself in the Committee's name from the platform of our Congress."
Let Bakunin now try to deny a single one of these passages ---it will not be difficult to ask Professor G. Vogt (now resident in Zurich) for a copy of that letter, for it is very important, as can be judged from what I quote from it: it proves that it is to that time, if not earlier, that Bakunin's calumnies date, against Citizen Marx, against the Germans, and against the whole of the International, which was already accused then, and a priori---since Bakunin had no knowledge at that time either of the organisation or of the activity of the Association---of being a blind tool in the hands of Citizen Marx, of the German clique (later distorted by Bakunin's supporters into an authoritarian clique of Bismarckian minds); to that time also dates Bakunin's rancorous hatred of the General Council and above all of certain of its members.
Nevertheless Bakunin did not risk replying at the Berne Congress of the League to the "gross insult" of the International members: he contented himself with hurling coarse words at the Germans in general, accusing them, I think, of exploiting Russia (see his speech in Herzen's Kolokol and in a pamphlet printed in = Geneva).^^142^^ He took quite a different line of conduct: he wanted to have the Congress accept "the great principle of equalisation of classes and individuals''; he protested energetically against communism, and at the same time he entreated the Congress to declare that the land must belong to the peasants and the instruments of labour to the workers.
Was he hoping thereby to preserve the prestige of which he dreamed for the League, or did he know in advance that _-_-_
^^*^^ Here the words "I was also among them" are struck out.---Ed.
389 the League could not at its own risk undertake his " equalisation" and was he looking for a roundabout way, for reasons justifying his pompous withdrawal from the League, whose claims had been rejected by the workers so that in his eyes it had lost its value as the future centre of supreme leadership? The fact is that he withdrew from the League and went and settled in Geneva to found there another Alliance of the peoples which he had promised in his confidential invitation and which he called this time "the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy". The visible tendencies and programme of this Alliance remained identical with those of the Alliance of the peoples (of the confidential invitation); it vaunted also its special mission of studying"political and philosophical questions"....The General Council's Private Circular contains some explanations and documents concerning this matter (pp. 6 and 99), but there it is only a question of the published programme of the public Alliance. It is now time to quote the secret documents of the secret Alliance.
As I said at the beginning of my report, these secret documents cannot in any way be denied either by Bakunin or by his supporters---they are there, and they are irrefutable. And when a little later we come to speak of the Alliance affair in Russia, the proofs of Bakunin's conspiracy against the International will be still more strikingly confirmed.
``The International Alliance of Socialist Democracy" was only an open branch of the real Alliance within the "secret organisation of the Alliance of the International Brethren'', divided into "three grades": 1. the International Brethren; 2. the National Brethren; 3. the half-secret, half-public organisation of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy.
I cannot quote here the whole of the bulky document written by Bakunin in French and distributed by him to his agents and supporters according to the three grades. I shall only call attention to a few points which outline sufficiently the principal features of the conspiracy.
Chapter II bears the title: "II. Secret Organisation of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy".
390In Para. 2 of this chapter we see that alongside the open section of the Alliance which was asking for admission and whose rejection gave rise to such wretched wrangling on the part of the Bakuninisls, alongside this open section intended solely to mask the conspiracy, there must have been another which usurped the title of Central Geneva Section.^^*^^
``The Geneva Central Section is the permanent delegation of the permanent Central Committee."
So the supporters of autonomy rejected authority to such a point that in fact they suppressed all authority of the section reducing the latter to a mere delegation of the Committee.
Moreover, according to the regulations it was closed to the uninitiated:
``It is composed of all the members of the Central Bureau and of all those of the Supervisory Committee, who must always be members of the permanent Central Committee."
This Central Section "will be the supreme Executive Council of the Alliance". Besides this Executive Council there will be an "executive power" called the Central Bureau and composed of 3-5 members^^**^^ who must always be simultaneously members of the permanent Central Committee. This Bureau also "will be a secret organisation" and "it will pass on its communications, not to say its orders, to all the National Committees"....
This same secret Central Bureau became the "executive directorate of the public Alliance".
``As such it shall be on more or less private or public terms, according to country and circumstances, with all the National Bureaus, from which it shall receive reports once a month."
Then the functions of this Bureau are formulated and described in a general way by this simple definition:
`` Its ostensible form of government will be that of a presidency in a federative republic."
_-_-_^^*^^ At the Chaux-de-Fonds Congress Guillaume admitted that the Alliance was to supplant the Central Geneva Section, because according to the members of the Alliance this Central Section did not correspond to the true principles of the International.---Author's note.
^^**^^ In the margin is a note by Engels underlined by Marx: " Combault.'' Combault held the documents of the section in question.---Ed.
391As there are only two federative republics in the world at the present time, and as Switzerland has no presidency, it must be concluded that the functions of this Bureaugovernment are equivalent to those of the President of the United States.... But when one examines more closely the rules of the secret Alliance and compares them with the Russian documents, one sees that the President of the United States has much less power than the Bureau of the Alliance! Everything in every field leads up to this Bureau; the National Committees, the Regional Centres, the National Brethren, the International Brethren, all report to it and receive their orders from it. Besides, this Bureau
``shall be composed entirely of members of the permanent Central Committee, shall always be a direct emanation of this Committee".
This Bureau was to have the title of
``provisional Central Bureau" until the Basle Congress, "until the first public General Assembly" which, according to Art. 7 of the open regulations, was to "meet as a branch of the International Working Men's Axnociatton at the next workers' congress".^^*^^
Here we must concentrate all our attention on the following few lines, which shine with the most absolute respect for the liberty'and independence of elections and delegations:
``It goes without saying,'' we read in the regulations, "that the members of the new Central Bureau must be appointed by that Assembly (the open General Assembly at the Basle Congress). But, as it is urgent that the Central Bureau should be composed only of members of the permanent Central Committee, the latter, through the organ of its National Committees, will take care to organise and direct all the local groups in such a way that they will delegate to this Assembly only members of the permanent Central Committee or, {ailing them, men absolutely devoted to the leadership of their respective National Committees, so that the permanent Central Committee shall always have the upper hand in the entire organisation of the Alliance."
That was written not by any Bonapartist minister or prefect on the eve of elections to protect the official candidatures, it was written by Bakunin, who understood in this way free expression of the intelligence of the workers through delegates freely elected by their autonomous sections!
_-_-_^^*^^ See p. 637 of this volume.---Ed.
392Two paragraphs further on, in Para. 5, he orders the National Committees to organise the Alliance in their countries "in such a way that it shall always he dominated and represented at the Congresses hy members of the permanent Central Committee". He also orders them "to recognise no other head than the Central Bureau" in organising "in their countries the national group, both open and secret, of the Alliance" as well as in their other relations....
In thus setting up the camp of the Alliance against that of the International, Bakunin was careful, as we see, to guarantee its committees and its national groups against all governmental contact with the federal committees and the General Council of our Association.
Thus authoritarianism was of no account in the organisation, both open and secret, or rather "lialf-open and halfsecret of the Alliance'', and autonomy was respected most scrupulously. Thus the National Bureaus are obliged to submit the rules of their local groups for approval to the Central Bureau, failing which the local groups cannot form part of the Alliance.
These National Committees have the right to " admit a new member'', but his name must immediately be communicated to the Central Bureau for confirmation. The National Bureaus, the National Committees (for the formation of which three national members are sufficient in a country!) are composed exclusively of the members of the permanent Central Committee, which seems to be the highest grade in the organisation but in reality has above it the supreme authority of the Central Bureau. But after all, who constitutes the permanent Central Committee? And above all, how is the almighty Central Bureau formed, which directs everything, all the Committees and all the countries, from December 1868 until the Basle Congress, according to the Regulations quoted, and which in reality has always remained the same up to the present?
We must note first of all that the names permanent Central Committee, Central Bureau, and National Committees already existed in the League of Peace and Freedom. Indeed the secret Rules admit without any embarrassment that the permanent Central Committee is composed of "all the founder members of the Alliance". And these founders are "the 393 former members of the Berne Congress'', called "the socialist minority''. So these founders were to elect from among themselves the Central Bureau with its seat in Geneva. But as not one of them, with the single exception of Bakunin, resided in Geneva, the secret Rules explain the composition and nomination of this Bureau in the following admirably ingenious way:
``The provisional Central Bureau will now be presented to the Geneva initiating group as provisionally elected by all the foundermembers of the Alliance, of whom the majority, former participants of the Berne Congress, have returned to their countries after delegating their powers to = Citizen~B."!^^*^^
The matter is clear enough now: the founders returned to their countries, delegated their powers to B and B was appointed, "as having been elected by all the members'', the Central Bureau---Executive Directorate of the open Alliance, government-Presidency of the Federative Republic of the secret Alliance; in recompense for which he conferred on his fictitious electors the right to form in all their countries National Committees---obedient servants of B, who calls himself the Central Bureau!
To the credit of several former members of the Berne Congress I must observe here that the absurdity and odium of this Great Mogul's conspiracy does not fall on all the members of the socialist minority; I am sure that several of them left the Berne Congress accepting in good faith the Alliance's open programme and knowing nothing about the existence of a programme and a secret society thought out and directed by Bakunin; they were duped by him, it's up to them to see what they should think of it.
\ Bakunin, on the other hand, sought and found proselytes in Switzerland and elsewhere and himself consecrated them International Brethren---the higher grade of his adherents and unknown to all the others; the National Brethren, for example,~
``must not even suspect the existence of an International organisation (Art. 15).
``The International Brethren'', that is the "great lever of the social revolution''; they know "no homeland other than the world revolution, _-_-_
^^*^^ Here Utin has written in pencil: Bakunin.---Ed.
394 no other foreign countries and no other enemies than reaction" (Art. 1).For them "there must be no business, no interest, no duty more serious and more sacred than the service of the revolution and of our secret Association which must serve it" (Art. 6).
``He accomplishes no action and accepts no public post without the consent or the order of his Committee" (Art. 8).
And it is with the consent of his Committee that he must become the spy of the government of the Alliance in order to satisfy Bakunin's curiosity; a spy not to know what goes on in governmental spheres, hut to spy on the revolutionary societies, for Article 9 of Bakunin's code says:
``No International Brother may belong to any secret society whatever without the positive consent of his Committee and, if necessary, should the latter so demand, without that of the Central Committee. Nor may he belong to such a society except on condition that he reveals to them all the secrets which could interest them directly or indirectly."
I That is what Bakunin called " transparency" \\
One must not wonder at these close and spying relations that Bakunin had with the revolutionaries who refused to bow down before the dream of his almighty autocracy; we shall see later that he recommends, that he religiously prescribes to his supporters to discredit, to denounce, to ruin those revolutionaries who do not accept his programme in its entirety, for
``only he may become an International Brother who accepts sincerely all the programme in all its consequences, theoretical and practical" etc., etc. (See Art. 5).
One must also read what he preaches against the Jacobins and the Blanquists, and that as early as 1869, under Bonaparte's empire; he accuses them, he, Bakunin, of dreaming of a bloody dictatorship:
``It is quite natural,'' he preaches, "that not wishing to carry out a radical revolution against things, the Jacobins and Blanquists dream of a bloody revolution against men ... but ... the triumph of the Jacobins or the Blanquists would mean the death of the revolution.... We are the natural enemies of these revolutionaries---future dictators, regulators and tutors of the revolution" ... etc., etc. (Programme and objectives of the revolutionary organisation of the International Brethren, Art. 3 & 4).
He proclaims anarchy, but one would be cruelly mistaken in assuming that it is an-archy in the serious meaning of the 395 term which is meant here; no. by anarchy he understands
``the unleashing of what today are called evil passions'', "the complete manifestation of thn people's life unfettered" (Art. 5)
``but'',
and this is the biggest but that has ever reconciled the most irreconcilable things---
``it is necessary that in the midst of popular anarchy, which will constitute the very life and energy of the revolution, unity of thought (which thought? whose thought?) and revolutionary action should find an organ."^^*^^
This is necessary "for the very establishment of this revolutionary Alliance and for the triumph of the Revolution over Reaction'',---and this organ---will it be the International Association? No, read:
``This organ must be the secret and world Association of the International Brethren."^^**^^
This does not prevent Bakunin from declaring again and again that revolutions
``are prepared in the depths of the instinctive consciousness of the popular masses, but it is up to the well-organised secret association to assist in the birth of a revolution"
(we shall see in a moment that these passages are to be found unchanged in the signed and anonymous Russian proclamations, and there those aids to birth are called midwives of the Revolution)
``by spreading among the masses ideas corresponding to their instincts, and to organise, not the army of the revolution---the army must always be the people---but a sort of revolutionary general staff"
(that is also to be found word for word in his Russian proclamations!)
_-_-_``composed of individuals who are devoted, energetic, intelligent, and above all sincere, neither ambitious, nor vain friends of the people, capable of serving as intermediaries between the revolutionary idea and the popular instincts."
^^*^^ Here Utin wrote in pencil: "I shall send the end tomorrow, the copy is not yet ready.'' The end of this page and the next two are left blank.---Ed.
^^**^^ In the margin at the end of this paragraph Utin wrote: "End of p. 31 before 'Conspiracy of the Alliance in Russia.'"---Ed.
396On the one hand---all the masses with their instinctive consciousness, and on the other the organised general staff of the non-organised army; who will carry out the revolution? The masses without the general staff, or the general staff without these masses? And in the latter case what an immense number of individuals will make up this general staff? Will that number not be almost equivalent to the whole masses?
Art. 11, the last, gives the categorical answer to this:
``Art. 11. The number of these individuals should not, therefore, be too large. For the international organisation in the whole of Europe 100 firmly and seriously united revolutionaries would be sufficient. Two, or three hundred revolutionaries would be enough for the national organisation of the biggest country."
Let us stop here. It is useless to go farther into this metaphysical world; let us return from this imaginary world to the real one where Bakunin is carrying out his secret organisation.^^*^^
In July 1871 for the first time in Russia a political trial took place in public in the court of justice at St. Petersburg.
In the dock were more than 80 accused^^***^^ surrounded by the best Russian lawyers known for their honesty and civic independence. With very few exceptions the accused, men and women, belonged to the student youth and had been dragged from the benches of the Academy of Medicine, the University, the Technological Institute, the Forestry School and especially the Agricultural Academy in Moscow. They had been brought before the court after preliminary detention in the cells of the St. Petersburg fortress from the end of November 1869 to July 1871. And now they were brought out of their cells, leaving there two of their comrades dead and _-_-_
^^*^^ The end of the page is left blank.---Ed.
^^**^^ A note in pencil by Utin reads: "VII. Russia. Nechayev-- Bakunin affair."---Ed.
^^***^^ A footnote in pencil by Utin reads: "87. There were ... young people who had been arrested and released and then banished."---Ed.
397 more than one suffering either from mental disease or a completely shattered health. They were coming out to hear their sentence, to exchange their cells for the Siberian mines, forced labour or detention in fortresses or prisons for 15, 12, 10, 7 or 2 years. 'Those of the accused who were acquitted by the public court were banished by the administrative measures, and banishment to the remote provinces or simply being condemned to police surveillance was equivalent in most cases in Russia to hunger and slow and cruel death as a result of all the persecutions and privations. This picture has been described with harrowing eloquence by several of the accused, and neither the court, the judges nor the public prosecutor dared to interrupt or contradict them....What had these young people done to^be thus snatched away from studies and life?
Their crime was a very grave one: they had been members of a secret society, they had wished to provoke the most bloody and the most frightful revolution, they had been in touch with people abroad, with the Revolutionary Committee, with the International, they had read the Rules of the International and had ended by committing several swindles and even an assassination in compliance with the orders of the Committee, the principles of the Revolutionary Programme and the Rules of the Society.
None of them had ever seen any member of the Committee or known where that Committee had its seat, but they had been in touch with an emissary of the International Revolutionary Committee. This emissary had been provided with mandates bearing the stamp of the International Association and of the Revolutionary Committee; he had distributed these mandates to others to have them pass as extraordinary delegate? of the Committee of the Association, assuring them that being provided with these mandates and thus becoming members of the International Association they could gain entrance to secret meetings. By virtue of the same mandate and of the quality of delegate of the Committee, the same emissary from Geneva ordered his supporters to commit a police swindle to extort a bill for 6,000 rubles from a young man; and finally, making use of an order given by the Committee he forced them to help him carry out the 398 assassination of one of the most influential and active members of the society. After the assassination, the emissary, foreseeing the consequences, hastened to make arrangements to flee, leaving his accomplices to answer for the assassination. It was not long before thi's happened, for the assassination led to the discovery of the secret society^^*^^ and all its members were arrested. At the same time searches were carried out and led to the seizure of all the documents. It is remarkable that the police showed such perspicacity in carrying out the searches that one could assume that they had previous and very detailed information.
I do not intend to relate here all the details of the trial--- that would not fit into the more or less limited framework of my report, for it alone would take up a whole volume. I shall confine myself to two points only: 1. to show the result of this conspiracy, and 2. to prove where this secret society came from, who promoted and organised it, by whose orders these actions were carried out, what propaganda it was which had such pernicious results and how the International was involved in it.
It will be necessary for me to pass briefly over the first point, for otherwise I should have to retrace here the moving and tragical history of the oppositional and revolutionary movement of the students from the year 1859, when the first persecutions of university youth began in the present reign. It will be sufficient to know the highly important fact that in 1861, in reply to fiscal measures which were intended to deprive all indigent young people of higher education, and to disciplinary measures aimed at submitting the students to the arbitrary rule of police agents in the University itself, the students staged energetic and unanimous demonstrations which were carried from their meetings out to the streets and turned into imposing demonstrations. The St. Petersburg University was then closed for a time, and students were thrown into prison or banished. As a result of these government measures a whole phalanx of university _-_-_
^^*^^ Side by side with this there is something vague in the trial and in the indictment about the discovery of the secret society by the police and one cannot help suspecting that there must have been spying and that in general the emissary's role in this is very ambiguous.--- Author's note. In the margin Utin wrote in pencil: NB.---Ed.
399 youth, deprived oi' instruction and of the means of subsistence, joined the revolutionary society. A large number of members of this society later died in banishment, in prison or in Siberia.But despite all this, the young people preserved the same desire: to obtain higher education, the only means for poor young people to make their way in life, to be useful to the people and to support in their old age their parents, who had often sacrificed everything to give their sons the possibility to enter the University. But to acquire this education poor students had to subsist during the time of their studies, and this could only be achieved by means of the mutual aid societies. And as the administration of these societies required the cooperation of all the students, a necessary condition was the right of assembly. Now the government has always obstinately forbidden meetings and mutual aid societies and this prohibition has always given rise to periodical conflicts, agitation and brutal repression of these natural needs of young people. In the end the most serious of the students decided not to give the government any more pretexts for thus dispersing or repressing Russia's young intellectual forces. They had no intention to give up their aid society but they took measures to organise it in such a way that its administration was effected by small separate meetings instead of the big general assembly---the government's red spectre!
This tendency was prevalent in recent years to such a point that those who in the winter of 1869 wanted to act more ``radically'', that is to say, to carry out demonstrations, no longer found more than a limited number of supporters, and some who tried to speak of "revolutionary resistance" (certainly impossible and leading only to useless and hasty banishments) were ridiculed by the general mass of the students.
This reserved line of conduct was suggested in turn to the youth by another aspiration which has in recent years become stronger and stronger. Young people were keen on acquiring scientific knowledge in order to apply it in their relations with the working masses and to find with its help some activity which would put them directly in touch with the people while at the same time assuring them their means 400 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/499.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.10) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ of subsistence. It is evident from many statements^^*^^ that already in the winter of 1868 the students often discussed the possibility and the best means of founding agricultural and industrial associations to ease the people's poverty. Many of them intended after completing their studies to find means to go to^^**^^ Europe and study there the cooperative production associations for the purpose of introducing them in Russia on a large scale.
The example of the ``West'' played a considerable role in this: they had read in the newspapers that associations were being formed in Europe, that the workers were trying to fight the capitalists by the principle of association and they wanted to apply it to the condition of the workers in Russia, the more so as they saw in the artel a precious element for working out and developing the cooperative principle. The idea had thus grown and one no longer thought of the small student associations which had occupied young people's minds in 1863--66, when bookbinders', translators' and dressmakers' and other associations had been formed; preparations were being made to attempt to apply this principle seriously and scientifically among the people. At the same time the young people again devoted their spare time, as in 1861--62, to the instruction of the working class, taking steps to establish popular schools; among others the students of the Agricultural Academy devoted themselves to this instruction with real passion. Thus propaganda was carried on and the students---I mean precisely those who were brought before the tribunal---did all in their power for the instruction of their comrades, by mutual aid first of all, and then for the instruction of the people, preparing to take part in the real organisation of the working class through cooperative associations.
And then all of a sudden all their plans were shattered and their life was smashed by imprisonments and deportations! All of a sudden some of them sunk to be assassins of their own comrade, and one of the best. Others appear to _-_-_
^^*^^ See among others Nos. 198, 199, 200, 204, 227 of St. Petersburg Gazette for 1871, which contain the court records and of which I make use in this report.---Author's note.
^^**^^ The words "find means to go to" are added in pencil by Utin.--- Ed.
401 us to be naive and undeveloped children, when threatened with being accused of high treason, not knowing really what attitude to adopt before the court which is trying to prove that they are real conspirators whereas their crime has been but a fatal error---that of believing a fantastic story, of not offering enough resistance to an impostor who had no respect for faith or law, some because they attached no importance to him, others because they knew little about him and took their own delusion and desire for reality, believing or wishing to believe that there really was already a great and powerful secret organisation which was soon going to change the order of things in Russia and that they only had to adhere to the general movement. Others again because they could not imagine so much bad faith and villainy in the emissary who was the mainspring of this parody of a plot or in those who had sent him; they wanted to see good faith where there was only swindling. And all of them, finally, more or less trusted the emissary because he came as the extraordinary ambassador of the great Association whose name rings throughout the whole world, not excepting Russia; and the young people, having no means to know the truth and to distinguish lies let themselves be persuaded without criticism and accepted in good faith whatever precepts the emissary preached to them, since they thought these came from the great International Association and they knew that in Europe the International Association expressed the most serious and truest of the working-class aspirations and the surest road to its emancipation.All that I have stated here, every fact, every expression, I can prove by the documents of that notorious trial and I declare that anybody who would try to give me the lie would only be an impudent liar and I would put him to silence with irrefutable proofs. Here it is not a matter of giving a dramatic account of thrilling interest; I cannot even take on the task of properly coordinating the statements of all the accused; but my report is not intended for the public, it is for the Congress only, whose members will themselves coordinate the facts which I am now going to relate and will then pass judgment on the matter.
402In January 1869 disorders broke out in the St. Petersburg high schools. In March a young man arrived in Geneva from St. Petersburg and, without any explanation, tried to ingratiate himself with all the Russian emigrants as well as in the Russian printshops, saying that he was a delegate of the St. Petersburg students. To some he gave one name and to others a different one. Some of the emigrants knew definitely that no delegate had been sent from St. Petersburg, others, after talking with this delegate, took him for a spy. Finally he identified himself: he said that his name was Nechayev, that he had left St. Petersburg after escaping from the fortress, where he had been imprisoned for taking part in the student movement as one of its chief leaders. The writer of these lines and several of his comrades^^*^^ had been detained for a long time in the St. Petersburg fortress. As our sad experience had taught us that it was impossible to escape from it^^**^^ we knew very well that Nechayev was lying, just as much as when he spoke about his revolutionary activity as one of the leaders of the movement, since the newspapers and letters which we received, though they named several of the students persecuted by the government, never mentioned anybody named Nechayev.
__NOTE__ Missing a lot of BOLD markup.However, after only a few days Bakunin vehemently took up Nechayev's defence, proclaiming to everybody everywhere that he was "an envoy extraordinary of the great secret organisation existing and active in Russia".
Only one request was made of Bakunin then; this was that he would not reveal to this shady character the names of any of his acquaintances whom he could compromise. Bakunin promised this but did not keep his word, as is proved by the documents of the trial.^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The words "and several of his comrades" are added in pencil by Utin.---Ed.
^^**^^ To escape not only from the fortress, but also from Siberia, is almost impossible. The only famous escape, and the one who effected it was very proud, was that of Bakunin, but in the appendices we shall show that this was a simulated escape encouraged by the government!!---A uthor's note. The word "government!!" is added in pencil by Utin.---Ed.
^^***^^ Utin has written in pencil in the margin: "NB. See below."-^.
403During a conversation which Nechayev managed to have with one of the emigrants^^*^^ he was cornered by the latter's proofs and was obliged to admit that he was not a delegate of any secret organisation, but that he had comrades and acquaintances whom he wanted to organise and that meanwhile he had to get hold of some old emigrants to influence the young people by their names and get their printshop and money.^^**^^ As his interlocutor refused categorically to cooperate in this plan and repeatedly advised him to abandon this fantastic project, the conversation ended. Soon after this Bakunin's and Nechayev's Words addressed to students = appeared.^^143^^
In it Nechayev repeated the lies about his escape from the fortress and called on the youth to devote themselves to the revolutionary struggle. Bakunin discovered in the student unrest "an all-destroying spirit opposed to the state"^^***^^ which has emerged from the very depths of the people's life,^^****^^ and congratulated his young] brethren on their revolutionary tendencies....
``This means that the end is in sight of this infamous Empire of all the Russiasl" he exclaims.
Later in his Word he manages in passing to accuse the Poles "of dreaming of a new slavery for their people" and declares that if they succeeded in organising their state
_-_-_``they would become our enemies as much as the oppressors of their own people."^^*****^^
^^*^^ Utin has written in pencil in the margin: "N. Utin."---Ed.
^^**^^ In the margin in Utin's hand: "See below."---Ed.
^^***^^ See Documents: No. 2.---Author's note. No. 2 is written in pencil.---Ed.
^^****^^ It must be noted that Bakunin published his Word at the very time of the trial and the prosecution, when the youth were doing everything possible to justify their movement, proving to the government and society the peaceful character of their demands. ---A uthor's note.
^^*****^^ During the Polish uprising the official Russian press made no accusations against the Polish revolutionaries except that they "oppress their people''. What Poles is Bakunin talking about? The Polish nobility perhaps? But is the latter any more an enemy of its people than any other nobility---the Russian, for example?---A uthor's note.
__PRINTERS_P_403_COMMENT__ 26* 404He then declares that "the true meaning of the present movement, which in appearance is innocent enough" (it is always during persecutions that he discovers this truth, impelled as he is by the destructiveness of youth), lies in the fact that "Stenka Razin (sic) who embodied in his single person the whole strength of the rebellious masses, will be replaced by the legion of declasse young men without a name who already now live the life of the people."
But if they already now live the life of the people when students, it would seem that studies do not prevent them from becoming atoms of Stenka Razin} But no: he continues:
``Therefore, friends, abandon with all speed this world doomed to destruction. Leave those universities, those academies, those schools. Go among the people" ...not to become ``masters'' or ``dictators'' of the people, "but only the midwife of its self-emancipation, the uniter and the organiser of their forces and efforts''. Such is the role with which Bakunin recompenses "educated youth" for its "all-destroying spirit opposed to the state."
``Do not bother at this moment either with learning in the name of which they would bind you, castrate you, that official learning which must perish with the world which it expresses and which it serves,"~
~he said to the young people. And to make himself more convincing he claimed to base himself on "the belief of the finest men in the West" and undertook to address an invitation to the youth on behalf of the workers of Europe and America:
``Such is the belief of the finest men in the West, where, as also in Russia, the old world of the state founded on religion, on metaphysics, on jurisprudence, in a word on bourgeois civilisation with its necessary complement---the right of inheritance and that of the family, is tottering, about to give place to an international and freely organised world of workers.
``Organising for this struggle and joining hands across the frontiers of all states, the world of the workers of Europe and America calls us to a fraternal alliance."
We see that Bakunin was already presenting himself to Russian youth as the representative of the workers, and he backed all that he preached to them with the irresistible argument that such are also the principles and the convictions 405 of the workers.---I have quoted this proclamation rather at length because it plays a very important role in the conspiracy of the Alliance in Russia: every student who was to be initiated heard the reading of these---evangelical Words.
Simultaneously with these Words other publications = were printed^^144^^: 1) The Setting of the Revolutionary Question, 2) The Principles of Revolution, and finally 3) Publications of the "People's Judgment" Society No. 1, summer 1869, Moscow.^^*^^
The first of these pamphlets, The Setting of the Revolutionary Question,~^^**^^ immediately betrays its authors: we find in it the same phrases, the same expressions as in the Words\ of Bakunin and Nechayev, only the "all-destroying spirit opposed to the state" is proportionally intensified. We read: "Not only the state must be destroyed but also state and cabinet revolutionaries" (that is, those who deal scientifically in their study with revolutionary questions and recognise the term "popular state'', ``Volksstaat''); this because
``all the exploiters, those who profit in one way or another by existence, by prosperity, or by the power of the state, that is, by the sufferings of the people, are for the state.'' "We are certainly for the People."
Who are those ``we''? Here Bakunin, according to the anarchistic law of assimilation, assimilates himself to the "educated youth'', to "his young brethren":
``The government itself shows us the road we must follow to attain our goal, that is to say, the goal of the people. It [the government] _-_-_
^^*^^ Some time later, in the winter of 1870, all these publications were on sale in the Geneva bookshops; all of them carried on the first page the words: Imprime en Russie, Gedruckt in Russland. (Printed in Russia.) There are only two explanations for these words: either they were to show the great resources of the society which could so freely print pamphlets in Russia not only for the needs of propaganda but also for those travelling abroad, or to burden the young people already arrested with yet another crime. One does not preclude the other. In reality all these publications were naturally prepared in Geneva and the gentlemen who produced them did not take the trouble even to change the cover or the type, so that some editions of Bakunin and of Ogarev appeared in the same cover, the same size and with the same features, typographical as well as moral, as the frightful publications of the secret society's Committee.---Author's note.
^^**^^ Opposite this in the margin in Utin's hand is: "The Russian original of this document is in my possession. N. Utin."---Ed.
406 drives us (!) out of the universities, the academies, the schools--- We are grateful to it for having thus put us on such glorious and firm ground. Now we have ground under our feet, now we can do things. "And what are we going to do? Teach the people? That would be stupid. The people know themselves, and better than we do, what they need.... Our task is not to teach the people, but to rouse them."It is true, the anonymous^^*^^ authors (Bakunin and Nechayev) say further on, the people rebel themselves, but
``they have always rebelled in vain, because they have rebelled separately.... We can render them only one, but extremely valuable assistance; we can give them what they have lacked so far, what has been the principal cause of all their defeats: we can give them the unity of universal movement by rallying^^**^^ (splocheniya) their own forces in revolt, which have up to the present remained disunited."
We see that the Alliance's doctrine of anarchy from below and discipline from above appears again here in all its splendour; it is again, as we have already seen (pp. ...), at first anarchy, "the unleashing of what today are called evil passions" in the form of revolt, and again "it is necessary that in the midst of the popular anarchy which will constitute the very life and all the energy of the revolution the unity of revolutionary thought and action should find an organ". But in view of the circumstances the socialist minority of the Berne Congress members is transformed here into "the educated youth" and this organ will be the branch of the World Alliance, Russian Section, the Society of the People's
Judgment.
Further on the authors explain why it is necessary to participate in every partial revolt: ``fraternity'' with the people "is possible only in action and only in seeing us in its action will it recognise us as being its. And when it has recognised us we shall be almighty.'' And finally the author points out who in Russia are the true International Brethren, the true revolutionaries, and the "collective Stenka Razin" is no longer enough for him, the "educated youth" seems no longer to inspire him with faith in its transformation into a collective Stenka Razin; he now needs multiple Stenka Ra- _-_-_
^^*^^ The word ``anonymous'' is written between the lines in Utin's hand in pencil.---Ed.
^^**^^ The original has the word ``rallying'' in Russian.---Ed.
407 zins and he calls to the banner of his Alliance, Russian Section, all the brigands:``Brigandage is one of the most honourable forms of the Russian people's life.... The brigand is a hero, a protector, a people's avenger; the irreconcilable enemy of the state and of all social and civil order established by the state, a fighter to the death against the whole civilisation of the civil servants, the nobles, the priests and the crown.^^*^^ He who fails to understand brigandage understands nothing of Russian popular history. He who is not in sympathy with it, cannot be in sympathy with Russian popular life, and has no heart for the measureless, age-long sufferings of the people. He belongs to the enemy camp, among the supporters of the state.... In brigandage lies the sole proof of the vitality, the passion and the strength of the People__The brigand in Russia is the true and only revolutionary, a revolutionary not in words and bookish rhetoric, an indefatigable revolutionary, irreconcilable and irresistible in action, a popular and social revolutionary, not a political or class^^**^^ revolutionary.... The brigands in the forests, in the towns, and in the villages scattered all over Russia, and the brigands held in the countless gaols of the Empire make up a single, indivisible, close-knit world---the world of the Russian revolution. It is here, and here alone, that the real revolutionary conspiracy has long existed.
``He who wants to undertake real conspiracy in Russia, who wants a people's revolution, must go into this world__ In what then does our Task consist?
``Following the road pointed out to us by the government, which drives us from the academies, the universities and the schools, let us throw ourselves, brethren, among the People, into the people's movement, into the brigand and peasant rebellion and, maintaining a true and firm friendship among ourselves, let us unite all these scattered outbursts of the muzhiks (peasants)^^***^^ into a people's revolution, meaningful but pitiless."
In the second leaflet The Principles of Revolution, the author develops the same accusation and in the same terms against the supporters of the state (gosudarstvenniki)^^****^^ as is contained in the Alliance's secret programme against the Jacobins and the Blanquists: the supporters of the state are accused of having erected the scaffolds and the gallows on which they executed the revolutionary brethren: "A true _-_-_
^^*^^ In the margin opposite this paragraph is a note in pencil in an unknown hand: "that is where the police recruits its spies and the prostitutes their pimps."---Ed.
^^**^^ This is how Utin translates the word soslovny which occurs in the Russian text of The Setting of the Revolutionary Question.---Ed.
^^***^^ This word is given in Russian in the French original.---Ed.
^^****^^ This word is in Russian in the French original.---Ed.
408 revolution the peoples have not yet had.'' And again he returns to "the organ" of discipline from above, to the Alliance's providential conspiracy to accomplish at last a true revolution:``A real revolution does not need individuals standing at the head of the crowd and commanding it, but men hidden invisibly among the crowd itself and forming an invisible link between one crowd and another and thus invisibly giving one and the same direction, one spirit and character to the movement. This is the sole purpose of bringing in a secret preparatory organisation and to this extent is it necessary."
That is what holy anarchy is! The autonomy not only of the sections, but of the revolution itself!
He then preaches to youth the destruction, the abolition of highly-placed persons, which must begin by actions, that is by individual assassinations.
It is a matter of destroying all the present fortunes, all that exists, and for the men of practical revolutionary activity he declares that all argument about the future is "criminal because it hinders pure destruction and hampers the advent of the beginning of the revolution".
``We believe only in those who show their devotion to the cause of revolution by deeds, without fear of torture or imprisonment, and we renounce all words that are not immediately followed by deeds. We have no further use for aimless propaganda that does not set itself a definite time and place for realisation of the aims of revolution! What is more, it stands in our way and we shall make every effort to combat it! We want only business to be spoken now!... We shall silence by force the chatterers who refuse to understand this!"
These threats and these insults were addressed to all those among the Russian refugees whom Bakunin called doctrinarian revolutionaries (I had the honour to belong to them; we shall see later how he denounced them to the policel) because they would have nothing to do with his vain personality which was discrediting the revolution in Russia. Also he made his threats and allusions still more precise:
``We break all ties with the political emigrants who refuse to return to their country"
(That was exactly what the Russian government demanded, and many spies were coming to Geneva and proposing to the emigrants under the pretext of a revolutionary con- 409 spiracy to return to their country, even offering them a false passport and money!)
``to join our ranks, and until these ranks become evident, with all those who refuse to work for their public emergence on the scene of Russian life. We make exception for the emigrants who have already declared themselves workers of the European Revolution."
(This amnesty was given by Bakunin and Nechayev to Bakunin in his capacity as worker of the European Revolution, and to the late Herzen---in respect of this last we shall see why.)
``We shall make no more repetitions or appeals. He who has ears and eyes will hear and see the men of action, and if he does not join them his destruction will be no fault of ours, just as it will be no fault of ours if all who hide behind the scenes out of fear or cowardice are coldbloodedly and pitilessly destroyed along with the scenery that hides them. Not recognising any other activity than that of destruction, we agree that the forms under which that activity must be expressed may be extremely varied. Poison, knife (dagger), noose, etc.! The revolution sanctifies everything without distinction in this struggle. So, the field is open.... We know that no honest man in the whole of Europe can cast a reproach at us without violating justice....'' "So let all young and healthy minds undertake at once the sacred work of destroying evil, of purging and enlightening the land of Russia, by fire and sword, uniting fraternally with those who will do the same thing throughout Europe."
The third publication claims to be the newspaper of the society of "The People's Judgment".^^*^^
THE PEOPLE'S JUDGMENT^^**^^
The authors of the pamphlets we have just examined did not keep their promise when they gave assurances that they _-_-_
^^*^^ In the manuscript follows a pencil note by Utin: "I shall send you an analysis of and excerpts from it tomorrow morning. N. Utin.'' "Then comes X. N[echayev]'s activity in Russia. XI. Proofs of Bakunin's initiative and supreme leadership in all Nechayev's conduct. XII. Bakunin's Russian agitation in Europe. XIII. Conclusion. XIV. Appendix. Bakunin, organiser of the Slav Empire. Bakunin, Apostle of the'Romanov Dynasty---will be sent tomorrow, is ready."--- Ed.
^^**^^ Above this is a note in Utin's hand: "The Russian Afjair."---Ed.
410 no longer had the time to write and that they would publish no more warnings or threats.We have in front of us a new "publication of the Society of The People's Judgment (Narodnaya Rasprava, the word ``rasprava'' does not at all mean justice as Bakunin has translated it for friendly journals in the French language; even the word ``judgment'' does not quite render its meaning, it is rather ``vengeance'' or ``revenge'').
It is a whole journal of 16 pages with the date-line: No. 1, Summer 1869, Moscow (the authors might just as well have written Peking once they found it necessary to re-christen Geneva where these publications were put out as I have described above).
To produce a more terroristic effect, or perhaps to show more obviously the colour of their principles and their sentiments, the authors had a certain number of copies printed in red ink on transparent paper.
The pamphlet proclaims first of all that "the general uprising of the Russian people is imminent and close at hand".
``We, that is to say that part of the popular youth which have reached a certain stage of development" (? they do not mention the nature of this development? the Russian language entitles us to assume that it is intellectual development), we "must clear the way for it; that is to say, we must eliminate all the obstacles that may hinder it, and prepare favourable conditions for it.
``In view of this imminence" (of the uprising)
``we deem it necessary to unite into a single indissoluble whole all t e revolutionary efforts scattered all over Russia; that is why we have decided to publish on behalf of the Revolutionary Centre" (!) "leaflets in which every one of our coreligionaries scattered all over Russia, every one of the workers for the sacred cause of regeneration"
(the language of this pamphlet is more Tatar than Russian and makes the whole thing still more obscure and absurd. Thus, probably wishing to say regeneration, the authors use renovation without any further specification),
``although unknown to us, will always see what we want^and where we are going".
So now we shall know better what the authors want and where they are going.
411First of all they declare:
``Thought has value for us only inasmuch as it serves the great cause of universal pan-destruction (povsyudnogo vsyerazrusheniya). He who studies revolution in books will always remain a worthless revolutionary.... We have no longer faith in words: the word has value for us only when it is followed by action. But not all is action which is given the name. For example, the modest and too circumspect organisation of secret societies which have no external practical manifestation is, in our view, nothing but ridiculous and disgusting child's play. By practical manifestations, wo mean only a series of acts positively destroying something: a person, a thing, a relationship which obstructs popular emancipation."
``Without sparing life" (they forget to specify: the life of others, not theirs) "without stopping before any threat, any obstacle, any danger'', etc., etc., we
``must by a series of audacious, yes! arrogant attempts, burst into the life of the people and, inspiring them with faith in us and in themselves, faith in their own powers, awaken them, rally them and urge them towards the solemn realisation of their own cause.'' ,
Why these we, why this breaking m? How can we conciliate the pompous assurance that the insurrection is going to break out without delay and this imperative invitation to youth to go and rouse the people, who consequently seems to be sleeping?---All this is generously left by the authors to be guessed by---the autonomy of their coreligionist readers. Then all of a sudden this revolutionary programme becomes a sort of literary bulletin; but the literature which they engage in is in any case imperative, a literature which imposes itself by threats. Thus, for no reason whatever the authors beginjhere to launch the shafts of their wrath against the editors'of The People's Cause, a Russian journal which was published in Geneva for the purpose of making known the programme, principles and organisation of the International Association. Intending to commit the most infamous fraud and to pass off in Russia his own programme for that of the International, Bakunin was bound to try by all means to paralyse the effect of a journal devoted to spreading the principles of the International Association. We shall see later that not having succeeded in this by stupid threats, he will try to achieve his aim by direct denunciation to the Russian police in one of his signed pamphlets. In the meantime issue No. 1 of The People's Judgment said:
412``If this newspaper continues in the same fashion, we shall not hesitate to express and demonstrate to it" (by action) "our attitude to it__ We are convinced that all serious men will now lay aside all theory, and the more so all doctrinairism. We can prevent the publication of writings which, though sincere, are nevertheless contrary to our banner, by various practical means at our disposal"....
``Among the leaflets lately published abroad, we recommend almost without any reserve Bakunin's appeal to the declasse student youth"---
``Bakunin is right when he advises to leave the academies, the universities, and the schools and to go among the people"---
After making himself this compliment and presenting himself with a certificate of infallibility, the anonymous author of The People's Judgment expresses his hope that "now all honest and active Russian emigrants,
``viz. Bakunin and the editors of the Kolokol (Herzen and Ogarev),
``forming a cohesive and harmonious body, will begin to work hand in hand for the Russian movement".
The second article of the "Russian Revolutionary Committee" is entitled: "A glimpse at the past and present notions of the cause" (the revolutionary cause, probably) and has as its epigraph a few lines of Russian poetry. This article is indeed remarkable. A few revolutionary phrases hardly conceal the ignoble purpose of this review, which is to discredit, to insult, to ridicule all the revolutionary movements which took place in Russia in the past. The first to be insulted are the Decembrists, then Chernyshevsky, that teacher loved and respected by all the Russian youth, that revolutionary writer, that bold agitator, full of devotion and self-denial, at present suffering in Siberia amid all imaginable torments for his devotion to the people's cause. It is he and all the phalange of revolutionaries who surrounded him, and who also paid by sentences of death'and forced labour for their aspirations towards a better order of things. They are the ones who are ignobly insulted by Nechayev and Rakunin; these two "great revolutionaries" have by far exceeded the paid agents of the Russian press in dragging in the mud the whole of revolutionary tradition and its fervent adherents in Russia. Let them come and say why if they dare and if they can find reasons to justify their ignominy!...
413Like the paid press, the two authors adopt attitudes of ultra-democrats in attacking the true revolutionaries; they make the Russian peasant the ideal of Rakunin's socialist and exclaim:
``Certainly the peasants have never engaged in imagining forms of the future social order; nevertheless, after the elimination of all obstructions (that is, after the pan-destructive revolution, which is the first thing to be accomplished, and consequently the most important one for us), they will be able to arrange their lives with more sense and much better than anything which can emerge from the theories and projects of the doctrinarian socialists who want to impose themselves on the people as teachers, and what even worse, directors. In the eyes of people not spoiled by the spectacles of civilisation, the tendencies of these unwanted teachers are only too obvious, namely to prepare for themselves and their like cosy little niches in their projects under the cover of science, the arts, etc. Even if these strivings were disinterested and naive, if they were only the inevitable attribute of every man imbued with the present civilisation---the people would gain nothing by them. The ideal aim of social equality was incomparably better implemented in Cossack society organised by Vasily Us in Astrakhan after the departure of Stenka Razin than in Fourier's phalansteries, in the institutes of Cabet, Louis Blanc and other socialist scholars, better than in Chernyshcvnky'fs associations,"
So Chernyshevsky, that doctrinarian socialist, is accused of having wished to impose himself on the people as a teacher and a director, and that in order to prepare himself "a cosy little niche". Yes, indeed, that cosy little niche he has prepared for himself is well worthy of envy, that black dungeon in the most desolate and most remote desert of Siberia! I shall not lower myself so far as to defend my precious friend, my beloved teacher, against the filthy invectives of these police revolutionaries: I shall merely affirm that never in the thickest of the struggle did the notoriously paid press dare to insult Chernyshevsky by suspecting him of corruption. Only now, when the government rigorously forbids the mention of even Chernyshevsky's name in the press, does Rakunin alone dare to profane in this way the memory of the greatest martyr of the people's cause in Russia!
Further (page 13) a whole page is filled with disgusting invectives against Chernyshevsky and his comrades. If all these comrades, of whom I was one, were present here, I am sure they would say as I do that they would prefer to expose 414 themselves to the bullets of the government which has condemned us to death than to he in the ranks of those selfstyled revolutionaries who are profaning our cause.
I hasten to finish the analysis of this ultra-popular confession of faith by Bakunin and Nechayev.
After having outraged all the past, threatened with death at the present all the revolutionaries who disdain to ally themselves with them, they state that
"We undertake to demolish this rotten social edifice'', "we come from the people,with our skins rent by the teeth" (1) "of the existing order; we come guided by hatred for all that is not oi the people, having no notion of moral obligation or of any kind of honesty towards this world which we hate and of which we expect nothing but evil. We have but one single, invariable and negative plan---that of merciless destruction. We categorically renounce the elaboration of future conditions of life, this task being incompatible with our activities, and for that reason we regard as futile all purely theoretical brain work. We undertake exclusively the destruction of the existing social order; to create is not our business, it is the business of those who will come after us."
Realising at last that youth will take them for what they are if they insult all Russian revolutionaries without exception the authors have second thoughts and declare:
``Our sacred work was begun on April 4, 1866" by Karakozov (who fired at the Emperor)....
``Only since that time has the consciousness of their revolutionary powers been stirring to life among the young people....'' "It was an example, a deed! No propaganda can be of such great significance."
``The imposing images of the companions of Ishutin^^*^^ are engraved in the minds of the youth and have become models for them."
After all that the least we can expect is that they will announce to us the death of the Russian emperor, executed by their faithful adherents!!
In actual fact they draw up a long list of the victims, designated in advance, of those creatures who, they say, will immediately be put to death, several of them even "having their tongue torn out"... but...~
_-_-_^^*^^ Organiser of the secret society from which Karakozov broke away and, unknown to the others, went and fired a pistol at the Emperor. It must be noted that Ishutin only wished to continue the work of the revolutionary society of 1861--62, which was interrupted by unprecedented terror and by mass banishments of young people; at the same time, he and his comrades were plotting to carry off Chernyshevsky from Siberia.---Author's note.
415``We shall nol lunch the tsar ... we shall save him for the judgment of the people, of the peasants; this right belongs to all the people"....
``So let our executioner live until the moment of the popular storm...'' etc.
The Russian tsar must be very grateful to these great destroyers for their magnanimity---they declare that they are going to destroy everything on the spot as the preliminary and preparatory act of the pan-destructive revolution: things, persons, everything, absolutely everything, writers, statesmen, rich people, doctrinarians, authoritarian revolutionaries---everything will be a prey to their rope, their poison, their daggers, to the bullets of their revolvers--- everybody except the tsar....
In reality they will do nothing, they will not touch anybody, they will only assassinate the most intelligent and most devoted revolutionaries of Russian youth.^^*^^
Promoted by Bakunin to the rank of organiser of the revolutionary world in Russia, the impostrous representative of the ``educated'' youth, that future midwife of brigandage, Nechayev sent letters from Geneva to St. Petersburg, Kiev and elsewhere.
On April 7 he wrote to St. Petersburg to Mrs. Tomilova, the wife of a colonel (who later died of grief after the arrest of his wife), saying that "there is an enormous amount to be done in Geneva''; he insisted on her sending a serious man there to come to an agreement with him.... It is obvious that Bakunin needed a second representative, for indeed it was a question of arranging not only Russian affairs, but also the affairs of the whole of Europe.
``The cause on which we must take counsel,'' Nechayev wrote, "does not concern only our trade" (a conventional term meaning revolutionary matters), "but that of all Europe.... Things are in ferment here. There's a soup boiling up that _-_-_
^^*^^ The end of the page is left blank.---Ed.
416 Europe will never manage to swallow. So make haste, friends."^^*^^ This was followed by the Geneva address.He sent telegrams to the same address.... Since letters are opened by the secret police in Russia, how could I3 akunin and Nechayev seriously suppose that proclamations could be sent to Russia in envelopes to persons, known or unknown, on the one hand without compromising those persons and on the other without risking running up against a spy?
That is what in fact happened:
1) A large number of people were arrested in Russia because of this cowardly abuse of confidence by a man who was running no risks in sending these letters from his good city of Geneva in spite of the warnings and entreaties to him from Russia.
``For mercy's sake,'' one person wrote to me whose devotion to the people's cause Bakunin must have known,~
``for mercy's sake let Bakunin know that if he holds anything sacred in the revolution, he must stop sending his lunatic proclamations, which are leading to searches in several cities and to arrests, and are paralysing all serious work."
Despite my repugnance to have anything to do with this man, I asked a person (whom I can name if necessary and who will confirm this) to convey this to him without delay. In reply we were told that nothing of the sort had happened and that Nechayev had left for America! As we shall see later from his secret rules, these rules laid down that he should compromise as many persons as possible.
2) As for the spies, Bakunin maintained close relations with an agent of the secret police, and in the following manner.^^**^^ Mavritsky, a student of the Kiev Academy, received proclamations from Geneva addressed to him. He immediately handed them over to the authorities and the governor of Kiev profited by them to send a trusted man, i.e., a police spy, to Geneva. Bakunin and Nechayev hastened to _-_-_
^^*^^ No. 187 of the St. Petersburg Gazette. This letter naturally did not reach its destination; it was seized in the post by the secret police and was the cause of the arrest of Mrs. Tomilova. It was not shown to her until her interrogation.---Author's note.
^^**^^ St. Petersburg Gazette No. 187.---Author's note.
417 enter into close relations with this delegate of the South of Russia, supplied him with proclamations and the addresses of persons whom Nechayev claimed to know in Russia, and also with a confidential letter of introduction.Judgment must be passed whether that way of appointing international brethren, delegates, plenipotentiaries of the international revolutionary committee can be considered as an act of stupidity or as something else.
__<*_*_*__After sending to Russia this delegate, and letters, telegrams and proclamations, the two friends---Bakunin, the General Committee of the World Revolutionary Alliance, and Nechayev, the Russian branch of that Alliance---parted; the Committee remained in Europe "as having distinguished itself in the capacity of worker of the revolution" to prepare---according to Nechayev's expression---such "a soup that Europe will never manage to swallow''; the Russian branch departed---to Russia.
On September 3, 1869, Nechayev presented himself in Moscow to a young man by the name of Uspensky whom he had known a little before going abroad; he introduced himself as an emissary (delegate) of the World Revolutionary Committee in Geneva sent to raise a "popular uprising" in Russia and for that purpose to "organise a secret society among the student youth".
We see that this mission corresponds entirely to Bakunin's Word and his two other, unsigned, proclamations.
He was in possession of a certificate-mandate worded as follows: "The bearer of this certificate is one of the authorised representatives of the Russian branch of the World Revolutionary Alliance. No. 2771.'' The certificate carried: 1) the stamp in French: "Alliance revolutionnaire europeenne. Comite general''; 2) the date, May 12, 1869, and 3) the signature: Michael Bakounine.^^*^^
Nechayev explained to Uspensky that the emissaries of the European Revolutionary Committee would come provided with similar credentials.
On Uspensky's recommendation Nechayev went to the Agricultural Academy, which is situated in a rather distant _-_-_
^^*^^ St. Petersburg Gazette Nos. 180, 181, 187, etc.---A uthor's note.
418 part of the city, to look for lodgings, and applied to Ivanou, who was known to all the students of the Academy as one of the most devoted to the interests of youth and the people.From that time the Agricultural Academy became the principal centre of Nechayev's organisation. He introduced himself, first under a false name, explained that he had travelled widely in Russia, that the people everywhere were ready to rise up and would have done so long ago had they not been held back by revolutionaries, who advised them to be patient for a while to give them time to complete their great and powerful organisation binding together all the revolutionary forces in Russia. He pressed Ivanov and the others to adhere to this organisation as soon as possible; it had an all-powerful committee, everything was done by its orders, and its composition and seat must remain unknown to rank-and-file members. By the way, he said, this Committee and this organisation formed the Russian branch of the World Union, of the Revolutionary Alliance, of the International Working Men's Association.
Here it is necessary to explain something which is difficult for my colleagues of the International to understand but is of extreme importance in order to be in a position to judge of all the bad faith that has been brought into play on the one hand to misuse the reputation of the International and on the other to take advantage of the ignorance of Russian youth. The fact of the matter is that the words " Association'', ``Alliance'' and ``Union'' may all be translated by the same word in Russian (soyuz) and in the Russian press our Association is often called the Alliance or the Union. In the same way the words ``Association'' and ``Society'' are used without distinction^ (obshchestvo, tovarishchestvo), and finally the words World and International are mostly confused in the Russian press and in conversation; in speaking of our Association the epithet world (vsemirnaya) is often used.
Such is the philological and linguistic subtlety made use of by Bakunin and Nechayev to exploit and ruin more than a hundred young people!---Irrefutable proofs of this are given in the Minutes and I shall quote some of them later. Now I want to complete the account of the conspiracy.
419To inspire these young people with devotion and selfdenial Nechayev begins by giving them the two Words (his proclamation and that of Bakunin quoted earlier): from these proclamations they can see that the famous revolutionary of 1848, the man who escaped from Siberia and plays a great role, at least the role of chief plenipotentiary among the workers (as is borne out by his proclamation, confirmed, no doubt, by Nechayev's accounts), who signs the mandates of the General Committee of the World Association, this man advises them to abandon their studies, etc., etc.
To give them a striking example of devotion Nechayev reads out to them Ogarev's poem printed in leaflet form, entitled The Student and dedicated "to my young friend Nechayev".^^145^^ In it Nechayev is shown as the ideal student; he is praised as an indefatigable fighter since childhood. Further it relates how scientific work helped him bear the torments of his youth, how his dedication to the people grew and became stronger and how, "pursued by the vengeance of the tsar and the fear of the boyards, he took to a life of wandering (skitanye)'', appealing to the people and calling to the peasants "from east to west: Assemble together, rise up courageously brother for brother'', so that "the whole people" will win their "land and their liberty''. Thus he ended his life in forced labour in the snows of Siberia; "but his whole life long, without hypocrisy (!) he remained true to the struggle till his last breath and repeated in his exile: the whole people must conquer their land and liberty!"
This poem was written and printed in the spring of 1869, when Nechayev was in Geneva, and was sent to Russia with other proclamations. But it appears that the mere process of copying out this poem had the property to inspire neophytes with dedication and self-denial, for Nechayev, by order of the Committee, had it copied out by every new initiate and distributed.^^*^^
Condemning to pan-destruction all the arts as being a product of bourgeois civilisation and the occupation of idlers, the Committee (that is, in Russia, Nechayev himself) at the same time apparently instructed Nechayev to resort to the help of revolutionary music to intensify propaganda. In any _-_-_
^^*^^ Testimony of several accused.---Author's note.
27*
420 case Nechayev tried to Ihid a musical tune for the poem so that the youth would be able to sing his tragic death.^^*^^This legend of the student's [that is, Nechayev's] death did not prevent the latter from sometimes speaking of himself as of somebody alive and even telling as a secret that Nechayev was living in the Urals as a worker and had founded working men's associations there.^^**^^ This he told to those who "were good for nothing'', that is, who dreamed of founding associations, in order to inspire them with admiration for this fabulous hero. And when at last the fairy tales about his imaginary escape from a fortress and then about his poetical death in Siberia had sufficiently prepared minds and the initiated could be considered his faithful apostles, he was resuscitated in evangelical fashion and revealed that he himself was the very Nechayevl But now he was no longer the former Nechayev whom the St. Petersburg students had made fun of and despised at the time of the university disorders (as is confirmed by the evidence of witnesses and accused and by our own information); the miracle was performed by Bakunin and the transformation was complete: Nechayev came as plenipotentiary delegate of the World Revolutionary Committee. This title was not given to him for nothing; no, he also had to pass through the revolutionary school and he fulfilled the condition demanded by the rules of the organisation which he now lays down for the students: "He distinguished himself by actions known and appreciated by the Committee." In particular, being in Brussels he organised an important strike of the members of the International. It was probably in recognition of his great talents as an organiser that the Belgian Committee sent him as a delegate to the International of Geneva, where, he said, he met Bakunin. In Geneva he also lived as a factory worker. The truth would have required him to say "worker of the revolution" but, as he put it, "he disliked resting on his laurels'', and he judged it necessary to return to Russia to begin the "revolutionary activities''. He also gave assurances that he had arrived with a whole general staff composed of 16 Russian refugees (no _-_-_
^^*^^ Speech of lawyer Spasovich, No. 190.---Author's note.
^^**^^ St. Petersburg Gazette No. 202.---A uthor's note.
421 Russian refugees have re-entered Russia, and one would not find 16 Russian political refugees in the whole of Europe).On arriving in Moscow he tried, as we have seen, to form a revolutionary nucleus among the students; two of these above all seem to inspire him with confidence, namely Uspensky and Ivanov; if to these two we add another 4 or 6 young people, that is all he was able to ``organise'' in Moscow. He charged 4 of these initiates with recruiting new adherents and forming out of them circles or small sections. We shall not describe here the form or plan of this organisation. This plan is also to be found in the documents of the trial and it conforms in almost everything to that of the secret organisation of the Alliance.
Here I shall quote only a few paragraphs of the General Rules of the organisation, for these are recognised as authentic by the authors of The People's Judgment No. 2 (that is, by Bakunin and Nechayev. I could have quoted this document as a whole, for all the accused heard it read out and nobody among the principal initiates has denied its authenticity).
__<*_*_*__``§. The Organisation is based on trust in the individual (the person).
``§. No member knows to which grade he belongs, that is, whether he is far from or near the centre.
``§. Absolute obedience, without any objection (besprekoslovnoye) to the orders of the Committee.
``§. Renunciation of all property, which is handed over for the disposal of the Committee.
``§. A member who has recruited a certain number of proselytes to our cause, who has proved by actions the degree of his strength and his abilities, may make himself acquainted with the regulations and later more or less with the Rules of the Society. The degree of strength and abilities is assessed by the Committee."
In order to inspire the Moscow youth with confidence, Nechayev would tell them that the organisation was already extensive in St. Petersburg, although in fact there was not a single group or circle there. In a moment of frankness he cried out in presence of a Moscow initiate: "In St. Petersburg they have been faithless to me like women and they have betrayed me like slaves.'' Nevertheless, when trying to 422 win some recruits in St. Petersburg, he would give assurances that all was beautifully organised in Moscow.
One day, needing to intimidate the Muscovites, he invited a young officer^^*^^ from St. Petersburg who was interested in the student movement to come to Moscow with him, promising him to show him his circles. The young man accepted and on the way Nechayev made him an extraordinary delegate of the committee of the International Association of Geneva: "You could not be admitted to the meeting'', he said to him, "if you were not a member, but here is a mandate certifying that you are a member of the International Association, and as such you will be admitted.'' The mandate bore a French stamp and said: "The bearer of this mandate is the plenipotentiary representative of the International Association.'' The other accused testified that Nechayev informed them very seriously that this unknown person was "the true agent of the Revolutionary Committee of Geneva''. (Evidence of the accused in Nos. 226 and 225 of the St. Petersburg Gazette.)
Others, Dolgov, for instance, one of the most intelligent among the accused and a close friend of Ivanov, testified before the court that "when speaking of the secret society organised with the aim of supporting the people in the event of an uprising and of directing them in such a manner as to attain a good result'', Nechayev also mentioned the International Association, saying that Bakunin acted as their link with the International (No. 198).
Another, Ripman, gave evidence to the court that in order to divert his thoughts from the co-operative associations Nechayev told him that abroad (in Europe) there existed the International Working Men's Association, and that in Russia they could
``attain the same goal as that pursued by the International; for that it sufficed to join the Association, a section of which already existed in Moscow" (ibid).
Later in the same evidence we see (as by the way was to be expected, since Nechayev was known to be passing off his circle as a section of the International) that in general he presented the International Association as a secret society.
_-_-_^^*^^ Shimanovsky.---Ed,
423He used to assure the initiates that their Moscow section was to proceed by the same means as the International Association, that is, by strikes and associations on a large scale.
When the accused Ripman asked him about the programme of the society, Nechayev read to him a few passages from a leaflet in French on the purpose of the society. The accused took it to be the programme of the International and he remarked to the court: "Since there has been a lot of talk about this society (the International) in the Russian press, I did not see anything very criminal in Nechayev's proposition."
It was this leaflet in French which Nechayev passed off as the programme of the International Association. One of the principal accused, by the name of Kuznetsov, also said: "Nechayev read to me the programme of the International Association" (Evidence No. 181) and his brother^^*^^ testified that "at his brother's he had seen a French leaflet being copied out which must have been the society's programme" (No. 202).---The accused Klimin informed the court that they had read to him "the programme of the International Association with a few lines written as a postscript by Bakunin'', "but,'' he added, "as far as I remember, this programme was couched in very vague terms, so that it said nothing about the means of achieving the aim, but spoke only of universal equality" and so on (No. 199).^^**^^
The accused Gavrishev explained that the "French leaflet, insofar as it was possible to grasp its meaning, contained an exposition of the principles held by the representatives of socialism who had had their congress at Geneva" (No. 200).
Does not this statement contain a vague allusion to the socialist minority at Berne, who delegated all their powers, and consequently the expression of their principles, to the Central Bureau---to Bakunin?
So that there could be no doubt about this, the accused Svyatsky testified as follows (No. 230): at the time of the search at his place, a hand-written leaflet in French was found entitled Programme de VAlliance Internationale de la Democratic socialiste. "In the newspapers,'' the accused said, _-_-_
^^*^^ Semyon Kuznetsov.---Ed.
^^**^^ See Bakunin's secret programme.---Author's note.
424 ``a lot has boon said about the International Association and I was interested to know its programme for purely theoretical purposes."It cannot he denied, in view of these proofs, that the secret programme of the A lliance, hand-written, and with a few lines by Bakunin, was presented as the programme of the International Association and that there was therefore speculation on the interest and sympathy inspired by the International in young people to make them blind servants of Nechayev and Bakunin!!
Since it was the programme of the Alliance, was not the organisation that attempts were being made to introduce among the young also that of the secret Alliance, and since Bakunin was the Central Bureau of the Alliance, was he not at the same time the Central Bureau, the General Committee of the Russian branch of his international Alliance?
In fact, no revolutionary committee existed in Russia. Nechayev alone personified the fictitious committee, but the Committee existed in Geneva in the person of Bakunin; thus, the principal accused, Uspensky, used to collect all the minutes of their circle's meetings in order to send an account of them to Bakunin in Geneva. According to the evidence given by Pryzhov, another of the principal accused, Nechayev demanded that he should go to Geneva with an account for Bakunin; and we shall see later the statements concerning Bakunin's share in this matter made not by the public prosecutor, not by the act of indictment, but by lawyers whose names are such that Bakunin himself dare not treat them as agents of the Russian government in order to deny irrefutable facts, worthy indeed of an agent of the Russian or another government.
I shall now have to be more brief, for if I were to follow step by step all Ihe vicissitudes of this trial, to mention here nothing but the lies, the absurdities, the frauds and _-_-_
^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
425 the brutalities of this agent and at the same time Russian Committee by the name of Nechayev during the short period from September 3 to November 26, I should fill a whole volume. Should this prove to be necessary later, should there be people who dare to deny a single one of my assertions, I declare that I am prepared to do that work and to furnish still more proofs. But now I wish to sum up rapidly once more some striking features, according to the same testimony of the accused and the irrefutable evidence which came out at the trial.Nechayev would read out to his associates---and they to the other initiates---some Regulations of which we have seen a sample and the French leaflet. With these exceptions, everything was a secret to them; for instance, when Dolgov objected to Nechayev that
``before joining this society he would have liked to know its organisation and means, Nechayev replied that that wax a secret and that he would get to know it later" (No. 198).
When the members wanted to know something he would tell them that according to the rules nobody had the right to know anything before having distinguished himself in some manner. He would also repeat on every occasion that the end justifies the means (No. 199).
``As soon as we gave our consent to become members of the society,'' one of the accused^^*^^ stated publicly, "Nechayev began to terrorise us with the power and the might of the Committee, which, according to him, existed and directed us.'' He would say that, "the Committee had its police" and that "if anybody was not true to his word or acted contrary to the orders of individuals who were more highly placed than our circle, the Committee" would resort to '''vengeance". The accused admitted that having noticed Nechayev's frauds he declared that he wished to withdraw from the whole affair and to go to the Caucasus to restore his health. Whereupon Nechayev declared that that was impossible, and gave him to understand that the Committee might punish him with death for having left the society (which existed only in Nechayev's imagination and bad faith). Then he ordered him to go to a meeting and to speak about the secret society there in order _-_-_
^^*^^ Ripmau.---Ed.
426 to recruit adherents and to read the poem about Nechayev's death; when the accused refused to do this, Nechayev threatened him: "You have no business to argue,'' he shouted, "you have to obey the Committee's orders without any objections" (No. 198).Were this but an isolated incident, the great conspirator could have denied the exploits of his plenipotentiary Russian branch, but the fact is that several accused of different categories and without any possibility of agreeing among themselves gave exactly the same testimony.
Thus another of the accused stated in his turn that the members of the circle had soon noticed that they were being deceived and wished to leave the society, but they did not dare do so for fear oithe Committee's vengeance (No. 198).
One witness,^^*^^ speaking about his friend sitting in the dock, gave exactly the same evidence; the accused Florinsky did not know how to free himself from Nechayev, who was preventing him from working; the witness advised him to leave Moscow and go to St. Petersburg, but Florinsky objected that Nechayev would go and find him in St. Petersburg just as well as in Moscow, and that, for the rest, Nechayev was doing violence to the convictions of a large number of young people by terrorising them; what Florinsky seemed to fear above all was a denunciation by Nechayev. It was said, and I heard it myself, Likhutin testified (No. 186),
``that Nechayev was sending very violent letters from abroad to his acquaintances wishing thus to compromise them so that they would be arrested".
This kind of action was a feature of his character (No. 186).
Nevertheless, not one of all those young people believed he had the right to assassinate Nechayev as a vile informer, as an agent, despite the fact that some of them, for instance Yenisherlov, were beginning to consider him as a government agent, not of the government of the Alliance, but of that of the Russian empire. Nobody dreamt of "getting rid" of him because he had deceived them, nobody even countenanced the idea of prostituting the cause of the revolution by resorting to assassination, which Nechayev did, as we shall see presently.
_-_-_^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting. ---Ed.
427So the Committee-Nechayev infamously deceived his comrades. At a meeting of a small group, Klimin (No. 199), one of the members, replying to an unknown man whohad come to attend the meeting as an emissary of the Committee and expressed dissatisfaction on the part of the latter, told the emissary that they also were dissatisfied, that initially recruits had been told that each "circle would be allowed to act more or less independently'', "without any absolute obedience" being demanded of its members, but then things were quite different and the Committee reduced them to the position "of slaves".
All the facts related here took place, by the way, strictly in conformity with the principles laid down in the revolutionary catechism with which we shall presently be acquainted.
In order to terrorise, command and order in the name of the Committee, Nechayev made himself a stamp bearing the inscription: "Russian Section of the World Revolutionary Alliance.'' "Stamp for the Public."
With this stamp or seal he used to stamp slips of paper on which he would write: "The Committee orders you (to do this or that); it suggests to you (which was synonymous to an order) to do such a thing, to go to such a place, etc., etc.'' Provided with these symbols of his power he behaved as absolute master....
But it is time at last for me to go on to Nechayev's two ultimate, or rather penultimate, exploits.
A young officer, being disillusioned, wanted to withdraw from the society. He wished to free himself from Nechayev, not by assassination, but in an amicable way. Nechayev appeared to consent but demanded a ransom: the young officer had to get a bill for 6,000 rubles (about twenty thousand francs) for him from another young man, and for this Nechayev ordered him to perform the following exploit. The young man in question---his name was Kolachevsky---had been compromised politically in 1866 at the time of the _-_-_
^^*^^ Likhutin.---Ed.
428 Karakozov affair (an attempt on the tsar's life) and imprisoned for a long term; his two sisters^^*^^ suffered the same fate; one of them was again in prison for a political affair at the time of the events related here. It was therefore obvious and generally known that the whole family was under strict police surveillance and the young man could expect to be arrested again at any moment. Nechayev decided to profit by this situation. On his orders the young officer referred to above invited Kolachevsky to his house under a false pretext, engaged in conversation with him and gave him a few proclamations, which the other accepted out of curiosity. He had hardly left the house when he was approached by an officer, who ordered him to follow him, saying that he was an official of the Third Department (secret police), and that he knew Kolachevsky to be in possession of seditious proclamations. Now such possession alone is more than sufficient for a man to be subjected to preventive detention for years with the risk of forced labour later. The ``agent'' of the Third Department invited Kolachevsky to step into a carriage and there he suggested that he should ransom himself by immediately signing a bill for 6,000 rubles. ( Kolachevsky had the reputation of a rich man.) There was no hesitating between this proposition and the prospect of Siberia, the bargain was struck and the bill signed. When on the next day another young man named Negreskul heard of this, he at once suspected that Nechayev had a hand in it and immediately went to the bogus Third Department agent to ask for an explanation. The officer denied everything, saying that he knew nothing about it. Meanwhile the bill was hidden away and was not found till later during a search. The discovery of the conspiracy and Nechayev's flight made it impossible for him finally to steal this sum of money from Kolachevsky.As for Negreskul, his suspicions were aroused by another fraud committed by Nechayev. When Negreskul was passing through Geneva---where he met Bakunin, who attempted to recruit him---Nechayev stole a frock-coat from him for the purpose of keeping him permanently in his power (No. 230). Still later he extorted 100 rubles from this same Negreskul. _-_-_
^^*^^ Anna and Ludmila Kolachevsky.---Ed,
429 Nechayev succeeded in the end in compromising Negreskul (although the latter detested him with all his soul; and thought him capable of any villainy) to such an extent that he was arrested and put in prison, where he died, regretted by his friends who knew how dedicated he was. Fraud was followed by assassination.Several times already we have come across the name of Ivanov. He was a student of the Moscow Agricultural Academy and was most influential among his comrades. He devoted all his efforts to improving their condition, organising their mutual aid society, and arranging a canteen, which was of great importance for those students who had no means of subsistence, for first of all this canteen fed needy students free of charge and moreover served also as a pretext for meetings and literary evenings at which social questions could be discussed. Besides, Ivanov devoted his free time to teaching the children of the peasants in the neighbourhood of the Academy; his comrades testify that he passionately devoted himself to this, expending his last penny on it and oflen enough going without hot meals; they also testify to the general esteem which he won at the Academy. .... ,Nechayev got to know him in the circumstances mentioned above and a short time later suggested that he should join the great secret association whose purpose was to relieve the poor, etc., etc. Ivanov accepted, but soon disagreements began to arise between them. Ivanov could show no sympathy for Nechayev's and Bakunin's stupid though terroristic proclamations; he could not understand by what motives the Committee was guided in giving orders to spread such proclamations as those of Bakunin and Nechayev, or the song about Nechayev's death, The People's Judgment, and finally the appeal to the Russian = nobility.^^146^^
This last proclamation is a thing which must astound any judge who is impartial in this matter. I cite excerpts from this proclamation in the appendices = (No.~3).^^147^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
430To appeal to youth and the people to rise and carry out an all-destructive revolution and at the same time to call on the nobility in the name of the descendants of Rurik (the first Russian prince) and in the name of a committee of nobles having its seat in Brussels, urging them to claim their violated rights to govern the people as its masters, etc., etc., spicing all this, it is true, with so-called revolutionary expressions against the German tsar who is unworthy to occupy the Russian throne---all this monstrous contradiction in organising a ``revolutionary'' movement on the part of the people and the student youth against the empire and the privileged classes on one hand, and of the empire and the privileged classes against the people, the republicans and the socialists on the other hand---all that, I say, has often been seen in the manoeuvres of agents provocateurs. Rut apart from this hypothesis it would be very instructive to hear how this new method of propaganda is explained by its authors!
In the meantime, I return to the epilogue of this comedy, which is beginning to turn into a tragedy, and I note that this proclamation to the Russian nobility was being spread at the same time and with the same zeal as all the others!!
The orders of the Committee, in the form of papers stamped with the seal mentioned above, were showered on some of Nechayev's adherents.---For his part, Ivanov was beginning to lose patience and to ask: where then is the Committee? What is it doing? What is this Committee which invariably and without delay declares Nechayev and his absurdities to be right and always condemns as wrong the practical and logical arguments of the other members? He expressed the desire to see somebody on the Committee; he had acquired this right, since Nechayev had raised him to a higher grade (equivalent in the secret organisation of the Alliance to that of member of the bureau of a national committee); then Nechayev staged the comedy of the emissary of the International of Geneva, which he fabricated as described above....
Nevertheless, Ivanov was beginning to suspect the abuse Nechayev was making of their good faith. One day Nechayev demanded that on his formal order the Committee should be paid the money destined for the students' mutual aid 431 society; Ivanov protested, and a quarrel ensued; other comrades, above all Ivanov's friend Kuznetsov, urged him to submit to the Committee's decision since they had all adhered to the rules prescribing such submission. Ivanov yielded to their entreaties and once more obeyed orders. Rut from then on Nechayev began to think over a plan to get rid of this man, whom he probably considered to be a doctrinaire revolutionary, that is, deserving to be destroyed. So Nechayev engaged with Uspensky in "theoretical conversations on the punishment, the destruction of disloyal members who by their rebellion could compromise and ruin all the immense secret organisation".
For his part, Ivanov began to express doubts about the very existence of the Committee; as his doubts increased, his faith in the powerful and vast organisation also dwindled; he feared to see emptiness, to realise that as regards organisation there was only the absurd exploitation and the monstrous lie created by Nechayev. Rut once launched on revolutionary work, Ivanov did not wish to abandon it, did not want to renounce the hope of accelerating the popular revolution by a preparatory organisation, and secretly, in whispers, he told his close comrades and colleagues in the conspiracy that if the matter continued to drag on in this way, if they had to continue receiving Nechayev's absurd orders and the whole affair was reduced to stupidities, he wished to break away from Nechayev and try to establish a good organisation himself.
It must be noted that indeed Nechayev was keeping his circles busy with stupidities; they had to hold regular meetings to look up in the registers of the Academy the names of all their comrades and mark those whom they thought deserving to be recruited, to seek means of procuring money; among these means was the use of subscription lists, allegedly "for students who have suffered" (that is to say, who had been expelled and banished by administrative measures); the proceeds from this went straight to the treasury of the Committee---to Nechayev; they also engaged in procuring all sorts of clothing which was deposited in a safe place---to be used as a disguise for Nechayev himself.... And finally their main occupation was to copy out the Song of Death of the student and the proclamations listed above. They 432 had also to write down most precisely everything that was said at their meetings; if they dared to conceal anything Nechayev threatened them that the Committee had its informers everywhere. Each one of them had to bring to the circle written reports on all he did in the intervals between meetings. Although all this chancellory of minutes had been established to prepare accounts which had to be sent to Bakunin, nevertheless it must be observed, taking into account what is known of the history and organisation of secret societies, that everywhere and always one of the dogmas, one of the most absolute revolutionary precepts, has been to banish all writing from the use of the conspirators, and that everywhere and always only informers and agents provocateurs seek to provide themselves with written documents. I do not mean that the clerical character of this conspiracy by itself unmasks its authors as informers and agents provocateurs; I am only saying that this way of acting corresponded exactly to the known wishes of the secret police agents.
__<*_*_*__In the meantime Nechayev carried out another decisive measure: he gave orders to paste up on the walls of the students' canteen---his proclamations.
At the time Ivanov saw in this measure a threat to all that the students had achieved and won at so dear a price from the direction of the Academy and the government. The pasting up of the proclamations would be the ruin of all that; the canteens would be closed, the literary evenings would be forbidden, the mutual aid society would be closed down, the best of the students would be dispersed (that is what indeed took place---the students' canteen was closed and all the members elected to administer it were banishedl). A quarrel broke out over this.... Nechayev repeated his stock phrase: "It's an order of the Committee...".
Ivanov's despair knew no bounds. On November 20 (1869) he called upon Pryzhov, one of the members of the section, and declared to him that he no longer wished to remain in the society, that he was leaving it. Pryzhov passed this on to Uspensky, who, in turn, hastened to inform Ne- 433 chayev, and a few hours later the three of them met at Kuznetsov's, where Nikolayev also had his lodgings.
There Nechayev declared that Ivanov had to be punished, that they had to get rid of him because he had disobeyed the Committee and so that he could not harm them. Kuznetsov, Ivanov's close friend, seemed not to understand Nechayev's intention, so the latter specified his decision to kill Ivanov; Kuznetsov raised some objections; Pryzhov, turning to Kuznetsov, shouted: "Nechayev is mad! He wants to kill Ivanov! We must prevent him!"
Nechayev put an end to these hesitations with his usual retort: "Do you too want to rebel against the Committee's orders'^" They had to bow before these magic words, the more so as Nechayev became furious. "If he cannot be killed otherwise,'' he shouted, "well, I'll go to his room tonight with Nikolayev and we will smother himl" Suddenly a brilliant idea came to the mind of this Nero-conspirator: there was a grotto in the Academy park; they would go there at night and tell Ivanov as if nothing had happened to come with them and dig out a printing press which had been hidden there a long time. Once there, they would get rid of him....
Thus, even at this decisive moment Nechayev himself again paid Ivanov his due for his dedication: he was sure that despite his having resigned Ivanov would readily go and help dig out the printing press. He knew quite well that Ivanov was not capable of denouncing him, of betraying him, for if he had the intention to do so he would have taken the necessary steps before making known his determination to leave the society or immediately after; and still even at this last moment, if Nechayev had had any fear of Ivanov denouncing him, he would certainly have thought that nothing would be easier for Ivanov than( to let the police know that they were going to dig out a printing press and have the conspirators caught red-handed.
But far from that, Ivanov was so dedicated that he was happy to find at last one real proof of the existence of the organisation of which he was beginning to doubt, one palpable proof that this organisation possessed some means of action, even if it was only printing type, and forgetting all Nechayev's so often reiterated threats against those who were disloyal, he hurried away from his friend, with whom
28---0960
434 __NOTE__ "443" (transposition error) in original. he was taking tea and to whom Nikolayev came to fetch him on Nechayev's order, not having'.found him at the Academy. Ivanov hastened to answer the call, not suspecting the slightest danger.Meanwhile he was being condemned to death by Nechayev, and four assistants were to take part in the execution, although those assistants knew perfectly well that Ivanov was not capable of betraying, of denouncing the Committee, and that he could not even have denounced anything since, like them all, he knew absolutely nothing.... Nechayev knew besides that there was nothing to denounce except his own sacred person; he knew that it was he who, encouraged and indoctrinated by Bakunin, had invented all that scaffolding of lies, that no committee existed outside his own ambitious imagination....
In the dark of the night Ivanov goes without a care towards the grotto, takes another step forward and suddenly a shout rings out, somebody falls on him from behind, a terrible struggle begins and nothing is heard but Nechayev's roaring and the groans of his victim whom he strangles with his own hands; then a shot lights up the scene for a second, the victim is no longer heard, the revolver bullet has entered his head!
``Quick, ropes, stones!" roars Nechayev, and they proceed with the revolutionary burial. Ropes are passed round the corpse, stones are tied to the feet and it is dragged towards the pond. Before hurling it in, Nechayev searches the pockets to take out any papers and money.... Carrier's shadow, his drownings and his revolutionary weddings pale in comparison with this revolutionary justice of a Tartar villain!
Returning to Kuznetsov's they took steps to cover up the traces of the murder; while engaged in burning Nechayev's blood-stained shirt the accomplices were gloomy and dismayed; all of a sudden a second revolver shot was heard and a bullet passed close to the ear of Pryzhov, one of the four. Nechayev apologised that he wanted to show Nikolayev how the revolver worked. The witnesses testified unanimously that this was a new attempted murder. Nechayev had tried to kill Pryzhov because that morning he dared to protest against the murder of Ivanov.
Fury let loose was thirsting for blood!...
435Immediately after this Nechayev leaves Moscow in a hurry and sets out for St. Petersburg with Kuznetsov, leaving Uspensky to carry on in Moscow. In St. Petersburg he feigns to be still busy with his organisation, but Kuznetsov notes to his great surprise that there is still less of this organisation in St. Petersburg than in Moscow. He then dares to question Nechayev: "Where is the Committee then? Perhaps you yourself are it?" Nechayev again denies and assures hinAhat the Committee exists. But he has other things to do than to show off, he must prepare his flight.
First he flees to Moscow, where he admits to Nikolayev that, Uspensky having already been arrested, all the others will soon be too and that he no longer knows what he must do. Only then does Nikolayev, the most loyal of all his followers, also make up his mind to ask him whether the famous Committee exists in reality or whether Nechayev himself is its only incarnation.
``Without giving a positive reply to this question he told me that all means are permissible for drawing people into such a cause, that this rule is practised also abroad, that it is followed by Bakunin just as by others, and that if such men submit to this rule it is quite natural that Nechayev too could act in the same manner" (No. 181).
Nechayev then again ordered Nikolayev to go to Tula with Pryzhov to obtain by fraud a passport he needed from a working man, a former friend of Nikolayev's. Later he himself was to go to Tula and get a certain woman^^**^^ to accompany him to Geneva. He wanted this woman to go with him first of all to escort him and then---we shall see why.
So while the blind tools, the victims of his exploits, not having any means of ensuring their safety, were allowing themselves to be arrested and going to pay the penalty for their faith in him by two years' imprisonment and years of forced labour, he himself, according to his own admission claimed the right to follow Bakunin's rule and fled to Geneva to give an account of the conscientious accomplishment of _-_-_
^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
^^**^^ Alexandrovskaya.---Ed.
28*
436 his mandate to the General Committee of the Alliance---to the initiator of all these heinous crimes, to Bakunin. =Instead of long commentaries I shall permit myself to insert here an excerpt from the speech made by the old professor of our university, who is loved and esteemed by all the university youth, of the lawyer whose name is deservedly famous and honoured by the whole of Russia and who has always been one of the most ardent defenders of youth--- the words of the lawyer Spasovich, whose political integrity and critical independence are above any shadow of suspicion.^^*^^
Here some very important questions arise:
1) Will Bakunin remain jointly responsible for this crime, for this cowardly and odious assassination of one of the most devoted revolutionaries among Russian youth, for this infamous act which was to result in the moral death of a whole phalanx of young people in the casemates, in forced labour, in Siberia, in banishment?---Yes!
2) Did Bakunin give Nechayev the right to rely on him in his criminal activities? Yes\
3) Will Bakunin after all this publicly deny any participation in such undertakings of revolutionary anarchy? Will he cease his conspiracy of the Alliance in = Russia? W^^7^^ill he not admit what he would like perhaps to call his terrible ``mistake'' and will he not publicly beg mercy of those young people whom he has deceived and ruined forever? Of this International which he has exploited and profaned to the point of using its name to cover up a murder with the prestige of our principles? Nol He will remain what he has been, he will continue his scheming and will eagerly sign in public with his hand, stained with the blood of _-_-_
^^*^^ The translation of the excerpts will be forwarded tomorrow without fail.---Author's note. See pp. 450--56 of this volume. This paragraph is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
^^**^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting. ---Ed.
437 an innocent man, his approval of all the acts and doings of Nechayev.In asserting this I must base myself not on my own inner conviction, but on proofs, on obvious proofs signed by himself.
1) Among the documents of the trial, as we have seen from the speech quoted,^^*^^ there is the Revolutionary Catechism brought to Moscow by Nechayev and, according to all the evidence and the obvious proofs furnished by the lawyers, written by = = Bakunin.^^148^^ But even if we were not as certain of this as we are, it would suffice to read the secret programme of the Alliance and doubt would be impossible. Excerpts cannot be made from this catechism; it is cast in one piece, and here is the translation of the whole (see Revolutionary Catechism, Appendix No. 2).
THE HOLE OF WOMEN
ACCORDING TO BAKUNIN AND NECHAYEV^^**^^
It is useless and impossible to comment on this product of anarchist delirium. Here I shall mention only one fact which shows in a frightful light the relations of these revolutionaries with those persons for whom they profess the greatest esteem. You have seen what the catechism says about women: the odious speculation seems to respect at least "the women who are entirely dedicated" and recommends that they should be considered as society's most precious treasure. Now in the trial there figured three women (not to mention a fourth, who had nothing to do with Nechayev, Mme. Dementieva-Tkacheva); those three women are Mmes. Tomilova, Belayeva and Alexandrovskaya.
1) The first of them was arrested because Nechayev (who out of gratitude for the hospitality this lady extended to him presented her with a scarf, assuring her that he had it from a famous chief of brigands) bombarded her with telegrams and letters from Geneva until she was finally arrested after sending him her last hundred rubles and as a result of those letters, of which we have seen a specimen.
_-_-_^^*^^ See p. 453 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
4382) The second, Mile. Belayeva, is quite a young lady, who lives by her work and seeks means to obtain education. Nechayev met her and, as she naively admitted at the trial, promised her work and assured her that as soon as she joined the society all its members would be obliged to procure work for her; dreaming only of this she obeyed him, went to St. Petersburg on his order and called on a person according to his instructions; but there instead of work she was offered a little money for nothing, which she refused, not wishing to accept alms. Revolted, she returned to Moscow and told Nechayev of her feelings. He assured her that it was stupid of her, that he himself lived at the expense of the secret society and that she had the right to do the same, and he once more won her over. He soon raised her to a superior grade and made her a member of the most highly placed circle. The poor child believed his fairy-tales, and being tired of a life of misery and suffering was willing to believe that it would change soon, immediately, that a new life was going to open up for the people on the ruins of the present order of things, that a powerful and terrible organisation held in its hands the happiness of the people; for sure she wished to participate in the glorious task of .contributing to her people's emancipation; she ended by becoming attached to this individual. Her sister gave evidence before the court that she loved Nechayev and was prepared to suffer anything for him (No. 204). And see, how did he reply to this devotion? How did he behave towards this sister in the revolution? He acted as ordered by Bakunin's catechism. The accused Pryzhov testified that when Nechayev insisted on his going to Geneva to present to Bakunin the detailed account of the society, Nechayev wanted Mile. Belayeva to go with him and ordered Pryzhov "to abandon her if she let herself get caught; she was to know nothing, neither where she was going nor why. On arriving in Geneva she was to be locked in a room and never allowed out" (No. 203). Instead of Geneva, Nechayev succeeded in having her shut up in the St. Petersburg Fortress! That is what was meant by "the complete equalisation of women's political and social rights with those of men"---words contained in the programme of Russian Socialist Democracy which Bakunin quotes in the secret programme of the Alliance!---And that is why the 439 woman delegated by the Geneva section of workers to the congress of La Chaux-de-Fonds was right in replying to M. Guillaume when he tried to prove to her the special concern which the Alliance entertained for the question of women: "The women of Geneva want their emancipation, but not through the Alliance\"^^149^^
3) As for the journey to Geneva, it was the third, Mme. Alexandrovskaya, who had the honour to make it and to be presented to the big chiefs. Nechayev went to fetch her in Tula and requested her to accompany him to Geneva, saying that this was absolutely necessary for him.
The astonishing thing in this matter is that this lady had been already very badly compromised at the time of the disorders in 1861--62; she had been detained in prison (where her conduct left much to be desired---notably, in a fit of frankness she wrote a confession to her judges which naturally compromised many people) and had been since then confined to a provincial town under police surveillance. She noted herself that she doubted she would obtain a passport, that nevertheless Nechayev procured one for her. How is it-^ that Nechayev purposely went to get as his escort a compromised woman when her position alone could have sufficed to have him nabbed? Perhaps the continuation of this account will partially give us the key to this enigma. However that may be, Nechayev arrived in Geneva with Mme. Alexandrovskaya. There they quickly made up the second issue of The People's Judgment, date-lined also Moscow. It was this issue, together with other Bakuninist contraptions, that Mme. Alexandrovskaya was entrusted to take into Russia.
Issue No. 2 of The People's Judgment should be translated entirely; it is so filled with magnificent maxims and famous axioms by Bakunin and Nechayev.
The first article contains another song about the death of Nechayev---in poetical prose. This time the revolutionary _-_-_
^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed,
440 artist is himself strangled by the gendarmes on the road to Siberia, where he was being taken as a political (!) convict. When he was arrested at Tambov, dressed as a working man of course, and in a tavern to complete the picture, there was great agitation and at the governor's chancellory there was talk of nothing but "Nechayev disguised ... agitation ... denunciation ... secret society, Bakuninists... Revolution''. The song of death ended logically with Nechayev's death; on this occasion the governor of Perm sent a telegram to St. Petersburg (this is quoted textually); another telegram was despatched directly to the Third Department (also quoted textually); it is even known that: "Having received this telegram, the chief of police jumped in his chair and the whole of the evening he smiled an evil smile."Such was Nechayev's last tragic death before his second trip to Geneva; it is with this poetry that the second issue of The People's Judgment opens.
Then follows an admission of the murder of Ivanov which is called "the vengeance of the society" (personified by Nechayev)
``on a member for any deviation from his duties__ The stern logic of true workers of the cause must not stop at any act leading to the success of the cause, much less at acts which may save the cause and avert its ruin"!!__
We have seen how the murder of Ivanov "saved the cause"\ They call that "the success of the cause".
The second article is entitled: "He who is not for us is against us." It contains a philosophical justification of Ivanov's assassination (without naming him), and threatens with the same fate all revolutionaries who do not adhere to the Russianised Alliance.
441``The critical moment has come ... military (!) operations between the two camps have commenced.... One can no longer remain neutral, to keep to the golden mean is a thing which cannot be done now. That would mean to remain between two hostile forces which are exchanging shots and at the moment when the shots are being fired; it would mean exposing oneself to death for nothing, to fall under the grapeshot of one side or the other while being deprived of the possibility of counteracting (of defending oneself) by any means; it means smarting under the rods and tortures of the Third Department or falling under the bullets of our revolvers."
In this way Bakunin and Nechayev at last admit that their aim, as regards the revolutionaries, and the aim of the Third Department come to the same thing, are identical: revolutionaries outside the pale of Bakunin's infallibility or outside the police must perish!---The article then conveys gratitude, ironical in appearance, to the Russian government for "its cooperation in the development and the rapid advance of our work, which is speedily approaching its much-desired goal!!"
is
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When that was being written (lie end had already arrived ---all the members of the so-called organisation had been arrested, and that is what the two heroes were thanking the government for; that was what they called "the much- desired goal"!!
They then make new appeals to join their ranks, quickly, quickly: their "arms are open to all fresh, honest forces'', who are warned that once they have been enclosed in those embraces they must submit to all the demands of the brotherhood, "that afterwards any renunciation, any withdrawal from the society, made knowingly through shaken faith in the truth and justice of certain principles, will lead to their being struck off the list of the living".
The holy Inquisition did not speak otherwise; and the Catholic Church was more modest than the two heroes when they announced that they considered as "sacred commandments, the means and the rules which they acknowledged to be the safest and the quickest".
He who is not for us is against us! The same arguments are repeated again: outside of them there is no salvation! They mock at all those who have been arrested: they are only petty liberals, the true members of the organisation are protected by the secret society, which will not let them be caught---we have seen how!
The third article is entitled "The principal bases of the social order of the future''; we can put that off to the future, for otherwise we would never have finished. It will suffice to mention for us profane that: "The way out of the existing social order can be found and the renewal of life by the new principles can be carried out only along the path of concentrating all the means of social existence in the hands of our Committee" ``(and by proclamation of the universal 442 obligation of physical labour'').---The Committee will fix a certain number of days for carrying out the revolution and will order each artel (association) to appoint its valuer (exactly as at the pawnshop); the Committee will also point out in which part of the country this or that industry inu-st be carried on, and then comes an endless series of regulations] Here is a new form---pending the last---of anarchy and autonomy preached by the famous Herostratus!
With all these papers and many others Geneva sends Mme. Alexandrovskaya, a woman suspect and under surveillance of the Third Department,... to Russia. What was surprising then in the fact that with the help of spying Mme. Alexandrovskaya was met at the border by an official of the Third Department, who arrested her, confiscated her bundle of papers, and to whom ... she handed over a note bearing the names of persons who could have been known to Bakunin alone\ Why did she have those names? What had she to do with them? From whom did the order to betray them in this way come??
One of the accused---of those closest to Nechayev--- admitted to the court that he "formerly regarded Bakunin as an honest man" and could not understand how he and others had been able to expose "a woman in such a craven way to the danger of arrest".
The enigma is explained---she had to go to Geneva because being a woman she did not represent any value and they needed either to spread through her their stupid and infamous productions or to have her arrested, so that the newspapers would make a fuss about their conspiracy and thus it would have a greater effect.^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---.Ed.
^^**^^ Herostratus desires above all to be spoken about; he was so happy at the Journal de Geneve speaking about the conspiracy and attributing it to him, to Bakunin, that forgetting that his paper, People's Judgment, was supposed to be published in Moscow he inserted in it a whole page of that article from the Journal de Geneve---in French\\---Author's note.
443 BAKUNIN'S SIGNATURE.
APOLOGIA OF ALL THAT HAS BEEN SAID,
SIGNED BY BAKUNIN^^*^^
All the same, knowing Bakunin and his followers, I am almost certain that they will have the effrontery to wish to deny all that I have just said, to wish to prove that nothing of the kind has ever been done to Bakunin's knowledge---in that case the whole of this report would be of no avail and would prove nothing ... if ... if there were not still another document, one single document, but one which confirms everything and leaves no loopholes either for lies or for denying one's own deeds---tactical manoeuvres very often resorted to.^^**^^
This document is a pamphlet signed with the full name of Mikhail Bakunin and date-lined January 1870, Geneva. Consequently, it was written after all that had happened in Russia and was obviously designed to deceive the world again, to try to find out whether there still remained in Russia young people who could be won over by terrorism, later to be ruined.
This pamphlet gives the official sanction of Bakunin's General Committee for all that its Russian branch, Nechayev, did in Russia. To wish after that to deny not only joint responsibility but direct and personal responsibility for all the odious crimes committed in Russia is impossible unless "one knave can treat all other men as idiots".
JThis pamphlet also should be translated entirely; it is neither possible nor useful to comment on it, every sentence speaks for itself. I append a small notebook of excerpts without adding anything. It will be seen that it begins by declaring first of all in January 1870 that the hour is near (this hour was to strike, according to him, in the spring of 1870) of the struggle between the Tartar-German yoke and broad Slav libertyl
See appended a small notebook of excerpts from this pamphlet (Appendix = No.~4).^^150^^
_-_-_^^*^^ The heading is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here the following is struck out: See "Appeal to the Officers of the Russian Army" signed by Bakunin.---Ed.
444This report could he made much longer, many other things could be told and other facts revealed concerning this man who here in Europe has sown discord in the International Association and in Russia has caused so many crimes and infamies to be committed which compromised our Association. I do not know whether I shall have time to add in the Appendix some excerpts from his first Slav Manifesto in 1861,^^151^^ in which he dreams of a powerful pan-Slav empire, and from his pamphlet against Russian revolutionary youth in 1862, in which he becomes the sentimental apologist "of the tsar of the peasants, of Romanov" declaring solemnly that he would prefer to follow this Romanov rather than any popular revolutionary hero, and that Romanov alone would be able to accomplish "the great task to which Bakunin has devoted his whole life'', "the emancipation of the Slavs from the hated yoke of the Germans and the Turks".^^152^^
Another thing I should have done and which would have been very necessary was to mention that, terrible revolutionaries as they were, after having condemned to be shot with the bullets of their revolvers all the other revolutionaries who did not want to engage in anything but politics, who were doctrinaires, etc., after all that, Bakunin and Nechayev undertook in January and March 1870 to revive the Kolokol, Herzen's journal, and preached in it the most bourgeois constitutionalism, rejecting all social questions, modestly calling for political reforms.... And that is not just imagination, it is reality.
Moreover, I could have related how, having condemned themselves both to be shot with the bullets of their revolvers, since they obviously renounced the execution of their sacred commandments and openly betrayed their programme of pan-destruction, how two months later the two friends, the two inseparables, condemned each other mutually to be struck off the list of the living---alas, nothing is more fragile than the human heart, above all when the interests of the pocket are concerned!---The two international brethren, who must never fight out their quarrels in public, suddenly fell to quarrelling in public over a money matter. 445 The young brother Nechayev published a letter in his new newspaper La Commune (Obshchina) which was published in London in French and Russian, claiming from his big brother Bakunin the remainder of the capital which they had received from the late Herzen.^^*^^
The scandal chronicle says nothing about the outcome of this inheritance suit or the terms of the subsequent settlement. But what I insist on noting here is again the fraud that Bakunin made use of to present this miserable Russian affair in a false light in the European press; unless some papers willingly became his dupes.
Had not the Progres in Lode become the official paper of Bakunin's conspiracy? Were not all its issues filled with translations of several untruthful articles from The People's Judgment,^^**^^ justifications of Nechayev and letters written by the individual. When I merely mentioned the Russian affair at the congress of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Guillaume cut me short saying it was spying to talk about these men (?) whom the Swiss government was persecuting; meanwhile Guillaume himself was busy with nothing else than trumpeting in his Progres the great success achieved by these great Russian socialists; did he not carry his touching veneration for these two buffoons to the point of saying in defence of his political abstention that "it is also the programme and the principle followed by these Russian socialist revolutionaries which our government is pursuing" (Progres). Guillaume was either forgetting or did not know that not even two _-_-_
^^*^^ Herzen was in possession of a sum of 25,000 francs bequeathed by a young Russian in 1859 for revolutionary propaganda. Herzen never wanted to cede this money to anybody, and yet Bakunin succeeded in getting it from him, assuring him that Nechayev was indeed the representative of a vast and powerful secret = organisation.^^153^^---A lot could be said about this matter, but I have no intention here of attacking the dead who cannot reply. ---A uthor's note.
^^**^^ At the time Hins wrote to me that he had received Russian pamphlets and that he needed a translator. I immediately replied, pointing out to him where those pamphlets really came from; his answer was: "You made me very much afraid. Luckily the Progres came to reassure me; it also contained those translations, and it would doubtless have known if they had been untruthful."---A uthor's note.
446 years before the congress of La Chaux-de-Fonds, at which the Alliance members raised the banner of political abstention by the French workers, Chassin's Democratic wrote: " Political abstention is a stupidity invented by scoundrels to deceive idiots.'' This sentence was written by Bakunin in 1868 when he deplored political abstention. Who then was the scoundrel and who the idiot in this case?...The fact is that Bakunin, with or without the knowledge of his friends in the Alliance, wanted to impress the whole of Europe and the working-class world by assuring them that he was a great organiser of the revolutionary forces in Russia.
That is why he made excerpts ad libitum from those publications, excerpts which made things look inoffensive if not witty.
That was also why he put on such airs as he announced in the = Marseillaise^^154^^ and in the Progres (in his panegyrical obituary for Herzen) that he had just arrived "from a long journey through distant lands which are not reached by free newspapers''; thus he wanted to make believe that things were taking such a revolutionary turn in Russia that he himself judged his presence necessary. The truth is that he took good care not to set foot there in spite of pressing invitations from his acolytes, and even in a critical moment he took shelter behind "bourgeois honesty'', which, according to his pan-destructive preaching, no revolutionary should acknowledge in any circumstances; he nevertheless gave as pretext for his refusal to visit Russia, despite his ardent desire, the engagement he had undertaken to translate Marx's Capital, having received a money" advance on that. This led his naive acolytes to demand of the editor the financial absolution of Bakunin---who certainly did not expect it---so that ... he could remain quietly in Switzerland.... This fact is known to be authentic by several men whose testimony nobody would refuse to believe. I maintain therefore that Bakunin was seeking at any cost to have people in Europe believe that the revolutionary movement produced by his organisation was truly gigantic. For the more gigantic the movement, the greater giant is its midwife. For this purpose he published in the Marseillaise and elsewhere articles which we could have understood had they come from the pen of 447 an agent provocateur; while young people were being arrested,^^*^^ ... while reaction was triumphant and striving to resume the terror, resurrecting once more the red spectre, Bakunin, here, quietly and under his own signature, offered his hand to reaction and rendered it a most precious service: he gave assurances in fact that all was ready in Russia for the pan-destructive cataclysm, for the formidable explosion of his very great revolution of the muzhiks, that phalanxes of young people were quite ready, disciplined and seasoned, that all those who were arrested were indeed great revolutionaries.... And he knew pertinently that in all that he was lying; he was lying when he speculated on the good faith of the radical papers and posed as the great Pope- midwife of all this youth suffering in prison-cells for their faith in the International Working Men's Association.... After that all he had to do was to prepare the handcuffs and the chains to see those young people driven with greater speed to Siberia. That is what he achieved.
How can we explain all these unbelievable infamies, all these odious crimes?^^**^^
Tagwacht once wrote in reply to Bakunin:
``The fact is that, even if you were not a paid agent, certainly no paid agent provocateur could succeed in doing so much evil as you have done."
We saw in Appendix No. 5 that the same opinion was expressed by lawyer Spasovich as regards Nechayev. In reality, to affirm that an individual is a paid agent one must have seen with one's own eyes how that individual received money from the government. But except in a case of extraordinary stupidity, this is a thing one does not see, and, besides, that is not the question. The question is that this individual has done far more evil than any paid agent could _-_-_
^^*^^ Here in the text follows: "The last two pages and the two appendices will be sent by the next post.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nikolai Utin,
~ ~ ~ ~ member of the Central Geneva Section"
The last two pages, partly in Utin's handwriting, have a note: "p. 83 (or 84) continuation and end of the conclusion" and again begin with the phrase: "I maintain therefore.... "---Ed.
^^**^^ Further comes an insertion in Utin's handwriting: ``II''----Ed. Berne, September 2.
448 do, and that precisely because he passes himself off as a great revolutionary, which a known paid agent cannot do, and odiously deceives many honest and energetic people, thus depriving our cause of their services....Whether he does this, out of tangible financial, interests or as a result of the insane anarchy of his brain, as a result of the "unfettering of his evil passions'', as a result of a devouring ambition to win for himself the glorious name of Herostratus in the history of the Social Revolution, this is a thing which is immaterial to us for the moment---let his friends explain his motives, we are stating facts, irrefutable facts.
For if we wanted to deal like pathologists with the analysis of these infamies, this perversion, leaving aside the suspicion---well deserved by his exploits---of being bought by the government, could I not say that this individual who puts himself to pains in every line to prove that one must assassinate all those who do not come directly from what he calls the low people, because they cannot become true revolutionaries, this individual who profits in a cowardly manner by this so-called revolutionary logic to calumniate and insult the Polish nation, who preaches in several of his Russian pamphlets of recent date (1870) the necessity /or a struggle to the death against the Poles, and that in the name of the Social Revolution (!!!), could I not say that this individual himself belongs to the privileged class of the gentry and the feudal lords---of the pomeshchiks (landowners) of Tver Province---and that, having divided the whole of his youth between would-be philosophical discussions on Hegel and champagne, having acquired in his youth all the vices of the imperial officers of the past (he was an officer), he applied to the revolution all the evil instincts of his Tartar and lordly origin? This type of Tartar lord is well known. It was a true unfettering of evil passions: beating, thrashing and torturing their serfs, raping women, being drunk from one morning to the next, inventing with a barbaric refinement all the forms of the most abject profanation of human nature and dignity---such was the life, agitated and revolutionary, of those lords. Well, did not this Tartar Herostratus lord apply to the revolution, for want of feudal serfs, all his base instincts, all the evil passions of his brethren. And 449 wishing to make loyal serfs out of his revolutionary adherents, by preaching to them, as the catechism testifies, rape, exploitation of women and of men, by encouraging his disciples to assassinate individuals, this man desecrated the Revolution, dragged it in the mud. It is up to us to raise our banner and not let it be fouled by impure hands.^^*^^
It is up to those who called themselves his friends, who grouped around him, to consider without delay the role he is playing himself and making them play. Can all these friends in the Alliance say that this does not concern them, that they knew not what they did? Their attitude, the attitude of several among them, will give us the answer to this.
Do they understand now what it means to preach political abstention, to let the masses be directed by traitors like Richard and Blanc or by their master and friend Bakunin? Do they know what it means to worship Bakunin's anarchy, to give him all sanguinary omnipotence to lord it over the Revolution through his 100 International Brethren? Will his friends---I speak only of his ``western'' friends---will they at last see where his line of conduct is leading to, for it consists in rending apart our beautiful Association under the pretext of wishing to grant it autonomy and of saving it from authoritarianism"? And this when one of the principal roles in their party, in their Jura Federation, is still played by the individual who by autonomy understands the splitting up of our existing organisation for the purpose of seizing for himself alone the supreme leadership of this Association by the means which he preaches in all his publications, and which are now well known and are aimed at destroying this Association. This Association, he says, is criminal because it refuses to prostrate itself before this autocrat of the revolutionary empire, before this Herostratus, who must acquire glory and power at the cost of the life and the emancipation of the working masses and the student youth, of whom he dares to style himself the friend and brother!
Nikolai Utin
September 7, 1872
_-_-_^^*^^ End of the insertion. On the following page in Utin's handwriting is: "End of the conclusion."---Ed.
29---0960
450... "Nechayev wanted at any price to raise himself on to a pedestal, to show himself much higher than he was in reality. As early as January 1869 he conceived a brilliant idea, he (a living man) thought of creating a legend for himself, of making himself a martyr and passing as such all over Russia. I do not know" whether he was interrogated, whether he was brought to account at the time of the student disorders, "in any case he was not arrested".
``Planning to disappear from St. Petersburg, he took measures to have a note about his imaginary arrest passed on to his friends. In this note he represented himself as having been sent to a fortress and asks his friends to remember him and help him. Appearing in Moscow he varies this theme" with more and more "picturesque variants''. He relates that they placed him "in an icy casemate of the St. Petersburg Fortress; he was so stiff with cold between those ice-covered walls that they used a knife to part his teeth and introduce a few drops of spirits at his interrogation''. Nevertheless, he escaped from there, "putting on the greatcoat of some general, and found himself in Moscow; from Moscow he set out for Odessa; there a new legend was made up": he was allegedly detained once more and arrested; he "is taken in a covered sledge by a gendarme and an official; but he gives both of them a punch and again appeared in Moscow''. Finally, this time in reality, he disappears and arrives abroad. "This journey was extremely necessary: it was to place him in contact with certain of the Russians in emigration, with some emigrants from whom he hoped to receive, so to speak, the imposition of hands'', a sanction, to "assure for himself such an authority before which the people whom he intended to influence would bow down without any objection."
``Your Lordships, I must now touch upon a very delicate and difficult subject which I ought not to touch upon if I could avoid doing so: I mean Nechayev's relations with the Russians in emigration.
_-_-_^^*^^ The whole text of Appendix No. 5 is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
451``Really, one should not even speak about the emigrants here, since they are not present, they cannot answer nor defend themselves. But I cannot pass over this subject in silence and must touch upon it, if only in a few words.... It seems to me that on exclusively Russian soil" (that is, in Russia itself) "such a thing could not have happened, that it needed an attendant element, that much was borrowed by Nechayev and what is most substantial, what -helped to influence Russian youth, he borrowed from emigration: a certain form of action, certain ideas, even a certain organisation. Concerning these relations with the emigrants Nechayev said astounding things on his arrival in Russia for the second time. We have heard from accused Prince Cherkezov that Nechayev allegedly found himself in Belgium, where he became a worker, arranged a strike of workers there, and was then sent by those workers as their delegate to Geneva. There he made the acquaintance of Bakunin, after which he was made a member ... of the International Working Men's Society.
``Nechayev passed on to accused Uspensky" details about his acquaintance "with Herzen, who died on January 7, 1870; Her/en is alleged to have said to him: 'You have ... nothing but slaughter on your mind.'" Accused Nikolayev, "who is far more simple and trusting, was informed by Nechayev that Herzen had such an untrusting attitude to him only at the beginning, but that later Nechayev won his confidence, and, using a few weeks to work on him, succeeded in having Herzen become his perfect supporter, entirely sympathising with all that was expressed in The People's Judgment.
``Nechayev also passed on a lot about Bakunin, Herzen, Ogarev.... Nechayev was not truthful and lied without mercy ... in his plan of action lying was a means to achieve a definite aim....
``But if Nechayev did indeed invent a lot, there is nevertheless no doubt that he was in close contact with certain emigrants, for example Bakunin. At the trial a note was read written by Bakunin, bearing the number 2771, in which an agent is recommended who is to present himself under this number to the Russian revolutionaries."
29*
452``There are reports that the Rules of the International Association were available in Moscow with a note written in Bakunin s own hand, taken from one of his proclamations. According to accused Uspensky, it was to Bakunin that accused Pryzhov was to be sent to hand over the report.
``Most important of all, finally, is Uspensky's account of the events dating to the period preceding Nechayev's arrival in Russia.... In the summer of 1869 there arrived from ahroad a certain Negreskul (now deceased), a most remarkable man who was on very bad terms with Nechayev and to whom, probably, the same thing would have happened in St. Petersburg as happened to Ivanov in Moscow if he had decided to counter Nechayev's plans and intentions. This man, who did not in the least sympathise with Nechayev and hated him, said that he had been to Geneva, had seen Bakunin and Nechayev together and that Bakunin, patting Nechayev's shoulder, had said: 'There's the kind of people we have in Russia!...
``On his arrival in Geneva, Nechayev probably told a pack of lies about what was going on in Russia, about the revolution being imminent....
``But why should not Nechayev be blessed with what is so easy, what is so cheap, what costs a little more than a prayer, namely: proclamations, a few pamphlets, a few printed leaflets. And it is with that light baggage that Nechayev sets out for Russia. Besides these things, either with him or after, are despatched a seal bearing an axe and another little book written in code, which he guarded most carefully, which he later gave for safekeeping to Uspensky and which he did not read out to anybody. This is the so-called catechism of the revolutionary.... The catechism holds a special place" among all the documents and Nechayev "caused it to be considered as a special sign signifying an emissary or agent of the International Association....
``If one asks oneself why this catechism, so painstakingly composed, was not read out to anybody, the conclusion to be drawn is that it was not read out because if it had been it would have produced the most disgusting impression."
Here the lawyer analyses a few articles of this catechism and declares, among other things, that young people would have rejected with disgust these prescriptions, which de- 453 mand, in respect of people (men and women) who were guilty in the eyes of the author of the catechism of having money, a position or connections, that they should be won over, their confidence won, their secrets revealed and betrayed to the government for their destruction.... "Very many people would have recoiled with indignation from such a savage idea that the only reliable revolutionary in Russia is the brigand.'' ...After a very detailed analysis the lawyer concludes: "Between the author of the catechism and Nechayev there is an immense difference, namely such a difference as exists between the revolutionary in actions and the revolutionary in thoughts.'' Nechayev tried as much as possible to realise the theory of the catechism in practice.... At the same time, "we see in the author of the catechism a theoretician who, at leisure, far from all action, composes a revolution, rules paper, classes people into categories, condemns some to death, proposes to plunder others, to terrorise still others, and so forth. This is the purest abstract theory.... Nechayev borrowed much from this.... Thus I presume that the catechism is a product of emigration which made a certain impression on Nechayev and was taken by him in respect of many parts as a guide'', as a textbook. "I dare not ascribe it to Bakunin^^*^^ but in any case it is the product of emigration....'' Passing on then to a review of Nechayev's adventures and lies, the lawyer explains: "... He is accustomed to give orders and cannot tolerate argument. And to achieve this end, to strengthen his power, he creates and places behind him a series of ... spectres''; he assures that there is "a special higher committee not far from Moscow with which he is in relation and from which he receives orders. Behind this committee" appears the "mystic network or the Russian section of the World Revolutionary Society; finally, the revolutionary society itself, identified by Nechayev with (that is, passed off by Nechayev for) the International Working Men's Association''. "For the Russian, who knows little of what is being done abroad, it is very easy to confuse this _-_-_
^^*^^ The words "dare not" are understandably only a polite form for the categorical assertion that the catechism is precisely Bakunin's work; the lawyer uses this turn of phrase by virtue of the above-cited consideration that the emigrants are not in the court and he does not want to prefer any accusation against thorn.---Note by Utin.
454 World Revolutionary Alliance with the really existing" International Working Men's Association, "which has its definite aims and tasks, but" no "relation to the present case"^^*^^....``... The evidence of student Yenisherlov has heen read out here: he went so far as to be suspicious whether Nechayev was a detective. I am far from that thought, but I must say that if a detective set himself the aim of catching as many people as possible who were prepared to work for the revolution, then he could not in fact set about it more skilfully than Nechayev did...."
``Nechayev was a man who preferred" not to argue and reason but "quietly to rule and command ... the habit of behaving like a general was so to speak inborn in him'', precisely "that habit of which he accused all those who asked him about the society".
``I do not think that all the members of the organisation were equally sure of the Committee's existence. It follows with positive clarity from Uspensky's evidence that he knew there was no Committee at all when he remained alone in Moscow on Nechayev's departure, when the conduct of all matters was in his hands and when all reports for despatch abroad to Bakunin were prepared in his presence"... (Then the lawyer went on to portray Ivanov.)
``All the information about Ivanov speaks only in his favour. He was a real democrat, a son of the people, a peasant educated in Lithuania, who came to Moscow, studied in frightful poverty and gave lessons to make ends meet. There were months when, they say, he never had a hot meal for lack of money. But he was independent, loved to have a" (reasonably) "critical attitude to every matter, and the noble feature of his character was genuine love of freedom, that is, repulsion for all oppression whoever it came from.
``Another feature has been pointed out---a certain sort of ambition. Perhaps Ivanov, after entering the organisation, did not want to be a mere pawn" (automat), "a machine, but wanted to participate consciously in the cause, and, perhaps, to play a certain role. But in general the very basis of his character is that of a man of the greatest honesty. He was at first completely taken in by Nechayev's charm, but" _-_-_
^^*^^ In the margin in Utin's hand is ``NB''.---Ed.
455 soon, "little by little, he began to understand, to be critical, to dispute some of Nechayev's orders. What could he do? Address himself to the Committee, but the Committee always gave decisions confirming Nechayev's orders. Then the idea arose that the Committee was Nechayev himself. Ivanov voiced this idea in presence of his comrades.'' And that is what disturbed, moved "Nechayev to such a point" that he started "with his associates, at least with Uspensky, the theoretical conversation in which, perhaps, not naming Ivanov'', he asked, "What must we do with Ivanov?" In his reply Uspensky expressed "doubts concerning the limits of the society's powers, whether the society had the right to dispose of a man's life. Then Nechayev said severely to him: ''Are you speaking of competency to judge? There is an obstacle, so it must be removed/' Thus the question was already decided beforehand"....``Before I end my account I must say a few words about the character of this murder, of the motives which might have incited Nechayev to commit this crime, and to what extent it is excusable even in the conditions of a secret society.... I presume, Your Lordships, that a secret society, a conspiracy, as a result of the organic necessity of its existence, must admit the possibility of the violent death of its members, but in only one single case, in the case in which it'', the society, "is threatened with betrayal. I presume that every member recruited to the secret society must, ... once he has entered" the society, "know that when the cause matures, when hundreds of thousands of men work, a single word is sufficient to destroy all that has been built up in the event of there being an informer, a spy who intends to reveal the secret of the cause".
``In such a case it is so difficult not to decide to execute him to prevent the denunciation---Outside this single case I do not admit the death of a man....'' Murder "cannot be admitted even between rivals in one and the same cause. If Nechayev had had the least bit of nobility in his character, if he had not been a despot through and through, he would naturally have found 'a way out' of his conflict with Ivanov; if he had had any nobility and some devotion to the cause he could have simply said to Ivanov: 'Brother, you think you should act in that way, but I think different; if 456 what you think is better, then take my place, it is a common cause, so we must act in agreement.' Or he could have said to him: 'Brother, you are mistaken; let us call our colleagues, let them be judges between us and say who is right and who is wrong; we are honest men, we shall submit our opinions to our colleagues, and he who prevails shall remain, and the other shall go away and shall not be a hindrance.' In all probability Ivanov would have accepted such a judgment...."
But no. Nechayev had to prove the idea of obedience, of submission. "Ivanov has broken his word, he has violated his obligation to submit to the orders of the Committee; an example ... must be given to the others, to inspire them with holy fear, cement the cause with blood---Poor sophisms! The foundation of the organisation is submission to the common cause and not to Mr. Nechayev. The obligation to submit without objection to the orders of the Committee can exist only on condition that the Committee really exists, but once it is evident that the Committee does not exist, it is quite natural for members to reject the obligation to submit to it, saying: It is true, I have undertaken the obligation to submit to the Committee, but since it is proved that no Committee exists, I do not wish to be deceived and I take back my undertakings. As for the idea of consolidating the cause with blood, I quite understand that expression: the alliance was consolidated, but only between the four assassins, there they are in the dock; but this blood did not consolidate the organisation; great and noble causes accomplished in the name of the people's good are never cemented by innocent blood uselessly shed. And it is not true that had Ivanov been in Nechayev's place he could also have resorted to assassination''. No. "Ivanov would never have done that. He was a good, an honest man."
In 1856 Bakunin was sent to Siberia, not to forced labour, as might be concluded from his accounts, but simply in exile. His place of exile became for him a scene of in- 457 trigues to which he resorted in his striving for success and the governor's favours.
The fact is that the governor-general of Siberia (who fulfils the function of viceroy) was at that time Count MuravyovAmursky (a title which the emperor awarded Muravyov for conquering the Amur River region, at the same time as the title of count). And this Count Muravyov comes from the family of Muravyov the Hanger and is a relative of Bakunin. Hence Bakunin's exceptional position and the favours of the count-viceroy which he skilfully availed himself of.
We shall not dwell on Bakunin's activity during his exile;
for lack of written proofs he could, as is his habit, deny
it. We shall merely recall here some generally known and
irrefutable facts. =
~
1) Bakunin waged an open war against P'etrashevsky,^^155^^ the leader and organiser of the 1849 conspiracy against Nicholas I. He did all he could to harm him, and in his capacity as cousin of the viceroy of Siberia he had no difficulty in doing so. And this persecution of the unfortunate Petrashevsky, an implacable enemy of the government, gave Bakunin an extra right to the governor's favour.
One shady affair which had great repercussions in Siberia as well as in Russia put an end to this struggle between Bakunin and Petrashevsky.
This was the period of liberalism among chinovniks (state officials) who, under cover of their functions, behaved like petty tsar-emancipators.
The conduct of one of these gentlemen provided occasion for criticism and this caused a regular storm in the entourage of the viceroy, leading to a duel with a fatal issue.
This whole affair was such a series of intrigues, personal animosities and fraudulent manoeuvres that the whole population was roused and accused the governor-general's chief officials of intentionally murdering the young man who was killed in the duel. The agitation grew to such an extent that the authorities feared a popular uprising.^^*^^ ~ Bakunin, _-_-_
^^*^^ Bakunin played a more than dubious role in this affair: he sided with those whom the people were accusing of murder, that is, the highly placed officials. He took up the defence of all these gentle- __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 458. 458 who played a most dubious role in all this affair, profited by the event to have Petrashevsky sent to a more distant place of exile and thus reduce him to silence.
This whole affair was made public owing to a report from
Siberia which appeared in the Kolokol; but out of respect for
Bakunin's name it omitted details regarding him while
the manuscript version passed from hand to hand at the
time in St. Petersburg proves them to be =
true.^^156^^ =
~
2) During the same period, the Siberian merchants, who
in general were more liberal than their counterparts in
European Russia, conceived the idea to found a university in
Siberia for the double purpose of not having to send their
children to distant Russian universities and of creating an
intellectual centre to contribute to the development of
Siberia. For this the emperor's consent was required. The
governor-general opposed their project, mainly advised and
supported in this by Bakunin. This being well known in
Siberia, Bakunin was often called to account by Russian
people. Being unable to deny the fact, Bakunin always
explained his conduct as follows: as he was preparing his
escape, he sought to deserve the good graces of the
governorgeneral, his cousin!! =
~
3) Bakunin was not content with using and abusing governor's favours. At an agreed price he resold those favours to capitalists, industrialists and tax-farmers. These needed them most, as we shall see from a curious example. In 1862, when already in London, Bakunin made no bones about confirming that he had his commercial practice in Siberia by a letter over his own signature. After the Nechayev affair and the publication of Bakunin's proclamations in 1869 and 1870, proclamations which threatened with death among __-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 457. men, including Muravyov, in a long report which he sent to Herzen over the signature of another person, adding his name only as a witness to confirm the correctness of all those lies.
Herzen considered it reasonable to omit Bakunin's confirmation in publishing this report and .contented himself with an allusion to him. On the other hand, Herzen's common sense manifested itself in this connection in his omitting the part of the report containing accusations against Petrashevsky, a friend of the young man who had been killed.---Author's note.
459 others the notorious Katkov, the latter published in the Moscow Jazette the following revelation: be claimed to have in his possession Bakunin's letters dated "London, = 1862"^^167^^; in these letters Bakunin asked Katkov, as an old friend, to lend him a few thousand rubles which he needed very badly. He admitted that during his stay in Siberia he had been receiving an annual donation from a certain (vodka) tax-farmer who paid it to him to procure the good graces of the governor through Bakunin's mediation. He further admitted that then (in 1862) in London he was having qualms of conscience because of this donation he had been receiving illegally, this private or unofficial salary, and he wished to pay off his debt by returning to tho tax-farmer the money he hoped to receive from Katkov. Of course, Katkov refused. We draw attention to the following: a) Katkov claimed
that he had those letters written and signed by Bakunin;
b) Bakunin, for his part, never denied this, never refuted
such a grave accusation; c) at the time when Bakunin made
this more or less risky demand to Katkov, invoking their
old friendship, Katkov had already won his spurs in the
Third Department (secret police) by devoting his newspaper
entirely to the most odious denunciations against the
Russian revolutionaries, beginning with Chernyshevsky, as well
as against the Polish revolution. Bakunin was therefore
knowingly applying to an informer, a literary spy paid by
the Russian government, for money to pay for his exploits
in government service in Siberia! =
~
4) Provided with a sufficient sum of money from donations like those received from the tax-farmer, and also taking advantage of the high protection of the governor, Bakunin was able to leave Siberia and set out for Europe as soon as he wished__ And indeed, at a certain time he not only succeeded in having himself issued with a passport in his own name allowing him freedom of travel in Siberia, but even received an official mission to inspect the region as far as the distant East-Siberian frontiers! Arriving in the Port of Nikolayevsk, he had no difficulty in crossing to Japan and, not being at all short of money, he was able to embark quietly for America.
460It is well known that on his arrival in England Bakunin deemed it fit to send a letter of gratitude to a certain Russian general who helped him to effect this so-called escape; the St. Petersburg government, ignorant of the generosity of its Siberian viceroy, in turn thanked by discharging him the general who had earned Bakunin's gratitude.
Thus the great fugitive found himself at the end of 1861 in London.
What was he going to do in London and at what period was lie going to place his enlightened reason at the service of the "Russian cause"?
It was a period of revolutionary fermentation in Russia. The manifesto on the notorious emancipation of the peasants was proclaimed; the efforts made by Chernyshevsky and his supporters to have communal land ownership maintained were successful but in such an unsatisfactory form that even before the proclamation of the ``emancipation'' Chernyshevsky admitted sadly:
``If I had known that the question I raised would have received such a solution I should have preferred to be defeated than to obtain such a satisfaction; and I should have preferred that they should do as they thought fit, without regard for our demands."
And indeed the act of emancipation fraudulently took away the land from its real owners and proclaimed the system of obligatory redemption of the land by the peasants. The radical party, whose mouthpiece was Chernyshevsky, drew from this unjust law a new and irrefutable argument against the emperor's reforms; and the champions of liberalism, ranging themselves under the banner of Herzen, cried with all their might: "Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean.'' The Galilean meant Alexander II! The liberals were not content with the emancipation of the Russian peasants; they demanded that the tsar should undertake a campaign for the emancipation of all Slavs. Hence the pan-Slavist strivings voiced in certain Moscow press organs.
461Twice in a few months (in the summer of 1861) Chernyshevsky saw himself forced to unmask the schemings of the pan-Slavists publicly (in the journal Sovremennik) and to tell the Slavs the whole truth about the order reigning in Russia and the selfish obscurantism "of their pan-Slavist friends.^^158^^
But all the eulogies of I lie Russian pan-Slavists were nothing compared with the manifesto with which Bakunin made his debut in the political iield after his return from Siberia. This manifesto (or rather the first part of it, the second never having appeared) takes up eight large pages of a supplement to the Kolokol of February 15, 1862 and bears the title: 'To the Russian, Polish and All Slav Friends". The manifesto begins with the following declaration:
``I ... have maintained the audacity of conquering thought, and in heart, will and passion / have remained true to my friends, to the great common cause, to myself."
This was a very promising beginning for it showed that the author had remained true to himself, that is, to the Bakunin of 1848 and 1849 so well known in Germany, where his exploits roused suspicions that he was an agent of the Russian or some other government!
``I now appear before you, my old (?) tested friends, and you, young friends, who live by one thought and one will with us (?) and I ask you: admit me to your midst again; and may I be permitted, with you and in your midst, to devote all the rest of my life to the struggle for Russian freedom, for Polish freedom, for the freedom and independence of all Slavs."
He makes this humble entreaty because, as he says:
``It is bad to be a figure in a foreign country.'' "I experienced that during the revolutionary years: neither in France nor in Germany was I able to take root. And so, preserving all the ardent sympathy of, the former years for the progressive movement of the whole world---in order not to waste the rest of my life, I must henceforth limit my direct activity to Russia, Poland, the Slavs. These three separate worlds are inseparable in my love and in my faith."
That is how internationalist in his feelings and thoughts the great chief of the Rimini Federation was in 1862, at the age of 51!
In the year of the Lord 1862 the great destroyer of the slate,
now the great Jura federalist, proclaimed in the following
462
terms his worship of the
_-_-_``\thinspace`The Russian empire, that colossus with feet of clay, is crumbling,' the enemies of Russia are beginning to say triumphantly. Yes, it is crumbling, but wait before you rejoice! The disintegration of this empire will not resemble the destruction of the Austrian and Turkish empires which is being prepared simultaneously..., there will remain the enormous Great-Russian people of forty millions, a vigorous, intelligent and widely capable nation, which has hardly been touched and therefore has not been exhausted by history and which, one can say, has thus far only been preparing itself for its historical life. All its past has but this single meaning of great preparation. Aroused perhaps by the instinct of great future destinies, the Great-Russian people has preserved itself, its integrity (tselost), its primitive, purely Slav (!) social and economic system, against all schemings and influences, internal and external. From the formation of the Muscovite state to this very day, it has lived, one can say, only an external state life (!?). However burdensome its posilion may have been internally, reduced to the extreme ruin and slavery, it nevertheless cherished the unity,^^*^^ strength and great n-esn of Russia, and was ready to sacrifice everything for them. Thus was formed in the Great-Russian people the state significance (gosudarstvenny smysl) and patriotism without big phrases, but in deeds (!?). Thus it alone (the Great-Russian people) survived among the Slav tribes, alone held out in Europe (?) and made itself felt by all as a force."
``Do not fear, the Great-Russian people ts not small, it will not let itself be oppressed, it will stand up for itself. Do not fear even that it will lose its legitimate (?) attraction (obayaniye), and that political power which it has acquired by a feat (podvig) of three centuries, its martyr's self-abnegation (!) to safeguard its state integrity ( gosudarstvennaya tselost)"\\
``Let us then relegate,'' cries out the pan-Slavist bard, "our Tatars to Asia, and our Germans to Germany^^**^^ and let us be a free people, a purely Russian people, and then do not fear, nobody will have the strength or the wish to throw us out of Europe"!...
^^*^^ This does not prevent the same Bakunin from declaring in the same manifesto that the Russian people has no interest in the officials who plunder it also plundering the little-Russians, the Lithuanians and the Poles.... "And yet that is all your all-Russia state unity consists of.'' Thus in the middle of his lyrical patriotic tirades to the glory of the state and unity, he shoots a few allegedly revolutionary shafts at the Russian empire. Such contradictions, either extremely stupid or extremely astute, fill all Bakunin's political writings.--- A uthor's note.
^^**^^ This manifesto, like all the booklets and pamphlets written by Bakunin in Russian, is full of patriotic incitements against the Germans. According to Bakunin, "German logic" explains all the persecutions of the Poles, etc. As though the Russian government had nothing to do with them.---Author's note.
463And then what instructions will the anti-authoritarian Bakuninist International give this exclusively Russian people, what will it have to accomplish?
Tremble, ye tyrants!
Our pan-Slavist Malbrough undertakes a terrible crusade of the Slavs against the Germans---a crusade which was suspended in 1849 and to the idea of which, according to Bakunin's own admission, Nicholas I adhered entirely before he died:
``They say that Emperor Nicholas himself, not long before his death, when preparing to declare war on Austria (?), wanted to call all the Austrian and Turkish Slavs, Magyars, Italians (!) to a general uprising.
``He had stirred up against himself a storm from the east, and to defend himself against it, he wanted to transform himself from a despotic emperor into a revolutionary emperor(\\). They say that his proclamations to the Slavs as also an appeal to the Poles had already been signed by him. However much he hated Poland, he understood (!) that without it a Slav uprising was impossible and, allegedly forced by necessity, he overcame himself to such an extent that he was ready to recognise Poland's independent existence, but, with the arbitrary originality typical of him, only beyond the Vistula. Nevertheless, it is obvious that even this seemed to him to be too much: ho died. But since then, the idea of the necessity for the emancipation of Poland has continued to live in Russia. Now it has taken hold of all minds."
We have seen how it has been taking hold of all minds at the time of the terroristic saturnalia of the Russians in Poland!;
``The only question is how to liberate it? The Poles will perhaps demand far too much."
Faced with such a touching example of Emperor Nicholas, Bakunin in his turn preaches a crusade of all Slavs. Like Tsar Nicholas he recognises the necessity for Poland's emancipation , not because Poland has the right to be free, but because
``as long as we are masters of Poland we must be slaves of the Germans, unwilling allies of Austria and Prussia, with whom we criminally partitioned it.... The Germans will not renounce it" (possession of Poland) "but we must renounce it; we must cease to be the St. Petersburg Germans] We must do so first out of justice and then because it is time for us at last to purify ourselves of the shameful mortal sin against the great Slav martyr; it is time for us to cease killing ourselves, our only issue, our future in Poland".
It would be hard to understand what all that means, but the author explains it to us a few lines further on.
464``As long as we oppress it" (Poland) "theru is no road for us to the Slav world'__"And we shall become brothers because our brotherhood is indispensable for the pan-Slav cause (obshcheslavyanskoe dyelo)--- I think that the whole of the Ukraine, just like Byelorussia, and Courland and Livonia, which are Finno-Lettish, and by no means German, and even Lithuania itself will form together with Poland and Russia, together with all the other Slav tribes inhabiting Austria and Turkey, an autonomous member of the pan-Slav Union" (there is the form which Bakunin's notorious autonomy assumes!). "...One thing remains for us---to recognise of our own free will the complete independence and freedom of all the Slav and non-Slav nationalities surrounding us. And rest assured that as soon as we do that all our neighbours will unite with us incomparably more closely and more strongly than they are bound to us now. We shall be needed by the Slavs; we shall be needed by the Poles themselves. They themselves will call us to their aid when the hour of the pan-Slav struggle strikes, when it is necessary to defend the Slav lands in western (sic!) Prussia, in Poznan, in Silesia, in Bukovina, Galicia, in the great land of Bohemia, in the whole of Austria and the whole of Turkey"!!!
Did ever the most well-known official pan-Slavists dream of a grander and more general crusade against the Germans, against the whole of the West with "its German political science""} (Bakunin's expression.)
After that there is no need to be astonished that Bakunin dreams of a "pan-Slav federal government". It is with this dream that his Slav manifesto ends.
``The emancipation of the serfs'', being a deception and a plundering of the peasants, was bound to lead in Russia to the formation of a radical party fully determined to continue propaganda in favour of genuine emancipation. In view of the absence of a free press in Russia and the impossibility for such organs as Sovremennik and Russkoye Slovo to speak their opinion outright, recourse had to be taken to the assistance of an underground press, which appeared at this period in Russia from June of 1861. After the proclamation of the peasants' emancipation, two shades appeared in 465 the liberal party---the liberals and the radicals. This split subsequently became more and more evident and soon led to the formation of two separate camps, often opposed and even hostile to each other. The radical party was represented by Chernyshevsky, Lavrov and a whole phalanx of publicists, a numerous group of army officers and all the student youth. The liberal party had as its representatives Herzen, some pan-Slavists, and a considerable number of peaceful liberal reformers and admirers of Alexander II.
Herzen's former prestige and the independent position of his journal enabled the liberal party to adopt a somewhat haughty attitude to the radical party and even sometimes to sliglit it, especially in the person of Chernyshevsky.^^*^^
Attacked by the liberals, persecuted by the government, deprived of its printed organs, the radical party was forced _-_-_
^^*^^ The KolokoVs truly absurd attacks on Chernyshevsky grieved some people and aroused disgust in others. Herzen even permitted himself to insinuate that Chernyshevsky would perhaps in the end be awarded an order, that is, that he would go over to the service of the Russian government. The most curious thing in this cynical sortie of the irate Jupiter is that in the case in question Herzen was acting at one with the ex-gendarme Gromeka, who subsequently distinguished himself as a publicist who informed against the Russian youth and as governor-general of a Polish province during the period of pacification (after the uprising).
As a result the break became open, although Chernyshevsky in a very restrained article called on Herzen to reflect on the consequences of the new role that the Kololcolyia.s about to play by hostility to the Russian revolutionary = party.^^158^^ In other cases, Herzen's attacks on Chernyshevsky became extremely equivocal. For instance, calling Chernyshevsky the "Daniel on the banks of the Neva'', accusing him of being choleric (?!), Herzen solemnly declared that he was quite prepared in the presence of Mazzini, Victor Hugo, Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, etc.,---the whole of international democracy (in Herzen's opinion!)---to pronounce the famous toast to the health of the great tsar-emancipator, no matter what grudge (he added in the Kolokol) those revolutionary Daniels in St. Petersburg bore against him: "Despite them and their outcries I knew that this toast would, awaken a favourable response in the Winter Palace."
The Manifesto "Young Russia" was the iirst to publish a sharp criticism of Herzen and, in general, of the London = publications^^160^^--- inde ira\ [hence the anger.---Ed.]. When later, in 1866, Herzen wanted to pose as Chernyshevsky s colleague by daring to state: "we complemented each other'', Serno-Solovyovich replied to him with the pamphlet Nashi domashniye dela (Our Domestic = Affairs).^^161^^---Author's note. Written in Utin's hand.---Ed.
466 willy-nilly lo resort to the underground press arid lo organised revolutionary agitation. In March 1861 the youth of the Russian universities pronounced itself outright and energetically in favour of Polish emancipation.In the autumn of 1861 a revolutionary movement took place in all the Russian universities with the aim of resisting the coup of the government, which wanted, by obscurantist measures, disciplinary and fiscal rules, to = deprive~^^2^^/3 of the students of the possibility of obtaining higher education. The students' protest was declared a mutiny and hundreds of young people in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan were thrown into fortresses and prisons, expelled from the universities or banished after three months' imprisonment. By decision of the State Council village appointments were banned to former students for fear the young people would intensify still more the peasants' discontent.
The persecutions were not confined to students alone: professors were banished, for instance Pavlov; the public lectures organised by the students to replace the university teachingwereforbidden,new persecutions were initiated under the most varying pretexts. The students' mutual aid society, which had only just been allowed, was suddenly abolished, newspapers were suspended. All this filled the cup of the radical party's indignation and alarm.
It was then that this party's underground manifesto, entitled Young Russia, with an epigraph from Robert Owen, appeared. This manifesto clearly and precisely set forth the internal situation in the country, the condition of the various parties and of the press and ended by concluding as to the necessity of a social revolution, calling on all thinking people to rally round the radical banner. Besides this it also contained the Communist Confession of Faith.
Hardly had this manifesto appeared when, by a fatal coincidence (if not due to the efforts of the police as many people presumed not without grounds), numerous fires broke out in St. Petersburg. The government and the reactionary press eagerly seized on this pretext to accuse the youth, the students and the whole radical party of this crime. This accusation was the signal for the most savage terror against all those suspected of revolutionary sentiments, who were accused this time, as was often the case in Europe 467 both before and after this, of arson.... The prisons were again overcrowded, along the road to Siberia columns of newly banished prisoners stretched out. And finally the 7'adical parly was dealt the most fearful blow, struck at its very heart: Chernyshevsky was arrested and imprisoned in the St. Petersburg fortress where he was submitted to all imaginable tortures for long years and was let out only to go to Siberia under a forced labour = sentence.^^162^^
At this terrible moment, when the utmost energy and courage were necessary to collect the remnants of the shattered party so as not to allow "radicalism to be rooted out" (by these words the government admitted its intentions)--- at this moment of most grievous trial Bakunin published the pamphlet whose title was given above.
This pamphlet was a ferocious philippic against the whole of the radical party in Russia. It denounced the university youth, noting that "the authors of the manifesto Young Russia were apparently young people; at the same time it sang the glory and might of the tsar of the peasants, declaring outright that it would follow the tsar rather than Pestel (the leader of the Decembrists) or Stenka Razin (a seventeenth century popular hero).^^*^^ And finally, not daringto assert that the youth of Russia would prefer as he did to march under the orders of thepopular tsar Alexander II, heslandered that youth in the most infamous manner.
All this, which will naturally be denied with all possible protests and threatening gestures by the notorious RiminiJurassians, who send enthusiastic addresses to this tireless and loyal fighter of the social revolution (under the flag of the tsar of All the Russias),---all this was written word for word by Bakunin in 1862 in his pamphlet. We shall now go on to analyse it and give some excerpts from it.
At the beginning of the pamphlet, after announcing that the time is near, i.e., the time of the revolution, Bakunin writes:
``Many are still wondering whether there will be a revolution in Russia. Not noticing that there is already a revolution in Russia. It began gradually ... it reigns everywhere, in everything in the whole _-_-_
^^*^^ In his People's Judgment publication in 1869 Bakunin on the contrary bowed down to Stepan Razin and placed him higher as a thinker than Chernyshevsky.---Authors note.
30*
468 world; it acts still more successfully through the hands of the government than through the efforts of its own adherents, and it will not calm down, will not stop until it has regenerated the Russian world, until it has created the new Slav world."``The dynasty is working to bring about its own destruction" (it is obviously destroying itself). It seeks its salvation in wishing to stop the life of the people which is awakening instead of protecting it. This life, if it were understood, could have raised the imperial house to hitherto unknown heigh ts of power and glory.... It is a pity. Rarely has it fallen to the lot of the tsarist house to play so majestic and so beneficent (blagodatnaya) (!) a role; Alexander II could so easily become the idol of the people, the first Russian peasant tsar^^*^^, powerful not by fear or base violence, but by love, liberty and prosperity of his people.^^**^^ Relying on this people he could become the saviour and head of the entire Slav world."...
What did the tsar need to become all thai?
``For that all that was necessary was a Russian heart broad and strong in magnanimity and truth. All Russian and Slav living reality went to him with open arms, ready to serve as the pedestal for his historic greatness."
A few lines further on it is easy to discover that in preaching the abolition of the state Bakunin takes up arms only against the German state, against Ihe state created by German civilisation, while in general he is an ardent supporter of the Russian empire. Thus, on page 9 of the pamphlet we are analysing he accuses the emperor Nicholas of having accepted the system of Peter the Great---a "system of negation (?) and oppression of the people in the name of the German state".
Alexander, in Bakunin's opinion, "should have felt that such a state could no longer exist":
``on the ruins of Peter's stale there can exist only a Peasant Russia (Zemskaya Rossiya), a living people."
Can one be more explicit: he wants to bring about the ruin of Peter's slale, the German state, and to erect in its _-_-_
^^*^^ Zemsky tsar. The word zemsky, from zemstvo, comes from zemlya (land), but the idea of land in this expression is connected with the peasantry, the tillers, tied to the land. The Kolokol in unison with Bakunin, made current in the press the notorious fiction peasant tsar, a title he once bestowed on Alexander II as the emancipator of the peasants.---Author's note.
^^**^^ We permit ourselves to note here that any at all thinking and honest man will prefer that the tsar's might be founded on fear rather than on the people's love for him.---Author's note.
469 stead another kind of state, a "new Russia'', as he says, and to accomplish this, to be the leader, the organiser, the popular Isar who "must have opened wide to him Ihe gales of Ihe Slav world'', he chooses Alexander II.Such, il lurns out, is that great ideal, Ihe famous destruction of the (German) state ... to make place for Russo-Slav tsarism. To deny this conclusion would be to deny the most irrefutable evidence.
And indeed, two lines further on he confirms his democratic tsarism (p. 10):
``His beginning was magnificent. He proclaimed freedom for the people, freedom and a new life after a thousand years of slavery. It seemed as if he wanted to organise the Russia of the peasants" (Zemskaya Rossiya), "because in Peter s state a free people was unthinkable. On February 19, 1861, despite all the shortcomings and absurd contradictions in the ukase on the emancipation of the peasants, Alexander II was the greatest, most loved, most powerful, tsar who ever existed in Russia...."
Further on, however, Bakunin is angry with the Isar: he did nol wanl lo understand anything because "he is a German''; freedom is "contrary to all Alexander II's instincls": "a German will never understand and never love the Russia of Ihe peasants'''; he
``only dreamed of strengthening the edifice of Peter's state. Having undertaken a thing that is fatal and impossible, he is working to his own ruin and that of his house and he is on the point of plunging Russia into a bloody revolution".
All the contradictions in the ukase on the emancipation, all the shootings of peasants, the student disturbances, etc., etc., in a word, all the terror is entirely explained, according to Baknnin,
``by the tsar's lack of a Russian spirit and of a heart loving the people, by his insane striving to preserve Peter s state at all costs."...
``The die is cast,'' cries Bakunin.
``For Alexander II, it seems (?) there is no return to another road. Not we, but he is the chief revolutionary in Russia and may the blood which will be shed be upon his head!"...
This solemn sentence could to a certain degree solve the puzzle, explain that paternal tenderness which Bakunin feels for Alexander II: Alexander II is the chief revolution- 470 ary in Russia, he is carrying out a revolution, so how could Bakunin not love him. But that does not prevent him from condemning his own son outright, like Brutus; he accuses Alexander II of heing a German: "one will kill the other'', as Victor Hugo profoundly said; Alexander II, the German, will kill the revolution of Alexander II, the Russian,---the German wishes to maintain Peter's state, the German does not wish to become the peasants' tsar, let the hlood he upon his head.
Is that the conclusion? By no means. It is only the beginning, the real confession will come later.
And yet it is he (Alexander II), Bakunin continues,
``it is he, ho alone who could accomplish in Russia the most grand and most beneficial revolution without .shedding a drop of blood. He can still do so now; if we despair of the peaceful outcome, it is not because it would be too late, but because we have ended up by despairing of Alexander II, of his ability to understand the only road by which he can save (?) himself and Russia. To stop the movement of the people who are wakening up after a thousand years of sleep (?) is impossible. But if the tsar were to put himself firmly and boldly at the head of the movement, his power for the good and the glory of Russia would be unlimited!"
And again Bakunin addresses the tsar and preaches to him the necessity to give the land to the people (a great revolutionary discovery!), the need to give the people freedom and self-government; he calls on him to abolish the classes so that there will be in Russia only one indivisible people.
Six years later, in 1868, not having obtained from the tsar the abolition, or rather the equalisation of the classes, Bakunin addresses himself again with that same social and federative programme to the League of Peace and Freedom, and once more rejected, he finally decides to undertake himself to implement his programme---at his own risk and peril, by founding his famous Alliance, whose purpose is the equalisation of the classesl
So his self-government, his federalism, arc wonderfully reconciled with the tsar, and his autonomy, as he hastens to state, in no way threatens the great unity of the Russian empire:
__<*_*_*__``Do not fear that regional self-government might break the ties between the provinces, that the unity of the Russian land might be shaken. The autonomy of the provinces will be only administrative, 471 internally (?) legislative, juridical, but not political. And in no country, with the exception, perhaps, of France, is the people endowed to the same extent as in Russia with a sense of unity, of harmony (?!), of integrity nf the state, and of national greatness__"
At that time all minds in Russia were occupied with the question of convening the National^ Assembly (Zemsky Sobor). Bakunin could certainly not pass it over. Only while some were preaching the necessity of this assembly for resolving the financial difficulties, and others wanted it to put an end to the monarchy, Bakunin wanted it for the still greater strengthening of the tsar's power and greatness, he wanted it also as the expression of Russia's unity.
``Since the unity of Russia has hitherto found its expression only in the person of the tsar, it needs another representation, that of a National Assembly__"
``...the question is not to know whether or not there will be a revolution, but whether its outcome will be peaceful or bloody. It will be peaceful and beneficial (?) if the tsar, putting himself at the head of the popular movement, undertakes, with the National Assembly, broadly and resolutely to transform Russia radically in the spirit of freedom.... But if the tsar wishes to retreat or stops at half- measures ...---the outcome will be frightful. Then the revolution will assume the character of a pitiless' massacre (?) in consequence of the uprising of the entire people" (!?).
Alexander "can still save Russia from total ruin and from bloodshed".
So the popular insurrection is regarded by Bakunin as a pitiless massacre,---~
he is convinced that only the tsar can be the head and the saviour of the revolution,~
that without the tsar the revolution will bring Russia to complete ruin.
So long live the tsar!
But inasmuch as many revolutionaries in Russia were then convinced that the convening of a national assembly was equivalent to the downfall of the imperial dynasty and by the very virtue of their convictions agitated the question of a forced rather than voluntary convening,---Bakunin hastens to put an end to the aspirations of the revolution- 472 aries and declares to them that "the National Assembly will be against them and for the tsar".
``...But if,'' he exclaims, "the National Assembly is hostile to the tsar?" That cannot be!
``For it is the people who will send their delegates to it, the people whoso faith in the tsar is without limits to this day and who expect everything of him. Whence then would the hostility come?"
Whence?---The advocate of the tsar has forgotten in his servile worship about the act of emancipation, the crushing taxes, the ruin of the peasants, through sales by court decisions, the military massacres, the atrocious persecutions of student youth and the radical press. That is whence the hostility could come. But such was not the opinion of the tsarist revolutionary:
``There is no doubt that if the tsar convoked the National Assembly now" (February 1862) "he would for the first time find himself surrounded by men sincerely devoted to him (!). If the anarchy lasts a few I/ears longer (!!) the attitudes of the people may (?) change. Life moves fast in our times. But at present the people are for the tsar and against the nobility,^^*^^ and against officials, against everything that wears German dress."^^**^^
``In this official Russia all are enemies of the people, all except the tsar."
These two lines deserve to be remembered by all those who wish to grasp some idea, some tendency in the preaching of the self-styled revolutionary Bakunin, in the muddle of his monstrous contradictions. These two lines really reveal all Bakunin's revolutionary philosophy; and you will find it confirmed in all his later works. He strikes at and threatens to destroy the whole world: the nobility, the state _-_-_
^^*^^ This separation of the tsar from the nobility, the doctrine of the official historiographers, who place the royalty on the side of the people against the nobility, was also the basic argument of the famous pacifiers of Poland in 1863--65; those pharisees exerted themselves to assert their loyalty to the Polish people, maintaining that they were only against the Polish nobility, who were hostile to both the people and the tsar. These official democrats can truly vie it with the democrats of the Southern states of America!---Author's note.
^^**^^ It is generally known that the Slavophiles or pan-Slavs, hoping thus to save the Slav civilisation, dressed in peasant clothing. Well known is the misadventure of the Slavophile leader: a genuine peasant, seeing him wearing peasant clothing, exclaimed: "Just look at that foreigner, how strangely he is dressed!"---Author's note.
473 officials, the doctrinaires, the student youth, the revolutionary party in Russia and in Poland, the scientists, German civilisation, in general, everything except the tsar. Bakunin is against the whole of the official world, against official Russia, he is for the people, but first and foremost he is for the tsar, whom he separates in his patriotic love from the official world. In this way the tsar logically becomes the head of the people's Russial``Who, then,'' Bakunin continues, "will try to speak to the people against the tsar? And even if someone should- try to do so, would the people believe him? Was it not the tsar who emancipated the peasants against the will of the nobility, against the general desire of the officials?" (?)...
``Through its delegates, the Russian people will meet their tsar face to face for the first time. It is a decisive moment, critical to the highest degree! How will they like each other?"
(He is forgetting that he has already told us that they worship each other.)
``On this meeting will depend the whole future of both the tsars and Russia."
``The confidence and devotion of the people's delegates towards the tsar will be boundless,---and, relying on them, going to meet them with faith and love..., the tsar could elevate his throne to a height and a security which it has never attained before. But what if instead of the tsar-emancipator, the people's tsar, the delegates find in him a Petersburg emperor in Prussian uniform, a narrow-hearted German?''^^*^^
What if instead of the expected liberty the tsar gives them nothing, or next to nothing?...
``Then woe to tsarism! At least it will be the end of the PetersburgGerman, Holstein-Gottorp emperorship."
And so it is clearly seen here that Bakunin distinguishes between Russian tsarism and Petersburg-German'emperorship. What he promises as a quasi-revolutionary threat is the overthrow only of the emperorship, not of tsarism. The latter he will not abandon, he caresses it and paints for it the most tempting pictures. He says to it:
``If at this fatal (?) moment when the question of life or death, of peace or blood, is about to be decided for the whole of Russia, the tsar of the people were to appear before the national assembly, the good and loyal tsar (?!), loving Russia..., ready to give the people _-_-_
^^*^^ Here in the margin Utin has written: ``NB''.---Ed.
474 an organisation according to its will, what could ho not do with such a people! Who would dare to rise up against him? Peace and confidence would he re-established as if by a miracle, and money would be found and everything would he arranged simply, naturally, without prejudice to anybody, harmlessly for all, to the general satisfaction__ Guided by such a t.sar, the National Assembly would have created a now Russia ...no malevolent attempt and no hostile force would be in a state to fight against the reunited might of the tsar and the people---"^^*^^
On the one hand "the abolition of the German state'', on the other, "the reunited might of the tsar and the people"!
This might must serve the pan-Slav crusade against the West which Bakunin, like the Russian peasants, denotes by the single word German (this is the only point on which he is genuinely a democrat)---such is the ultra-revolutionary catechism of the supreme head of the Alliance!
As we know, his worshippers, moved by bad faith or ignorance (and in this case ignorance is equivalent to bad faith, since these Seides are obliged to grasp thoroughly the doctrine of the man by whose orders they intentionally shatter and split the camp of the workers), his supporters will say that all this is not true, that Bakunin himself admits that he does not hope to effect such an alliancel Yes, it is true, he admits:
``Can one hope that such an alliance will be implemented? We shall say outright: no!"
But does that sentence mean anything? Is it not an aggravating proof of Bakunin's devotion to tsarism? He admits that there is no hope that this alliance will take place ( fortunately for Russia) and nevertheless he preaches it. You will see further on that he constantly insists on that alliance and that in its name he infamously slanders revolutionary youth, asserting that it is imbued with servility towards the tsar, and---did that at the very moment when that youth was disgraced, persecuted, deprived of all possibility to give the lie to its slanderer in public.
But let us continue our excerpts and see the slanderer at work.
We have already seen that Bakunin does not hope for the implementation of his tsar-people alliance, since the tsar--- he says---will be unwilling to give up his German grandeur _-_-_
^^*^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``MB''.---Ed,
475 and so on. Then lie threatens him that if he does not hurry, the revolutionary youth may accomplish its task and find its road to the people.``And why is this youth not for you, but against you? That is a great misfortune for you...."
The doctrinaires of all kinds have motives for detesting youth because they recognise that it has the right to despise them; youth shuns them, because they smell of pedantism, lies, death; and youtli needs above all
``liberty and truth. But why has it abandoned the tsar,^^*^^ why has it declared itself against him who first gave liberty to the people?..."
``Has it perhaps let itself be carried away by the abstract revolutionary ideal and the sonorous word 'republic'?"
``That may be partly so. But it is only a secondary and very superficial cause. The majority of our progressive youth seems to understand well that Western abstractions, whether conservative, liberal-bourgeois or even democratic are not applicable to the Russian movement, that this movement is without doubt democratic and socialist to the highest degree, but that at the same time it is developing in conditions differing completely from those in which the similar movements took place in the West. The first of these conditions is that this movement does not belong principally to the civilised and privileged part of Russia."^^**^^
``The Russian people is not moved according to abstract principles, it reads neither foreign nor Russian books,^^***^^ the Western ideal is alien to it, and all attempts by conservative, liberal, or even revolutionary doctrinairism^^****^^ to subject it to its own tendencies will be futile__ It has its own ideal__ We believe in its future, hoping that, free from the religious, political, juridical and social prejudices which _-_-_
^^*^^ But was it ever with the tsar?---Author's note.
^^**^^ Consequently in the West there are only movements of the civilised and privileged classes! That was written in 1862---one can see what an accurate idea Bakunin had in 1862 of the European revolutions and how he understood the revolutionary movement of 1848; according to him the people had nothing at all to do with it.---A uthor's note. Here in the margin Utin has written: ``NB''.---Ed.
^^***^^ This sentence explains why in his last campaign Bakunin---with Nechayev---fulminates against those young people who want to learn something,---he declares them criminals. It appears that, according to Bakunin, since the people has so much common sense and so much love for its tsar, because it reads neither foreign nor Russian books, the youth in their turn should read nothing in order to resemble the people, to be democratic and revolutionary!---Author's note. The note is in Utin's handwriting.---Ed.
^^****^^ It's a kick with a donkey's hoof at Chernyshevsky.---Author's note. The note is in Uliu's handwriting. ---Ed.
476 have taken root and in the West have become laws, it will bring new principles into history and will create another civilisation, a new religion, a new right, a new life."``Faced with this great, serious and even terrible figure of the people one dare not commit stupidities. Youth will abandon the ridiculous and repulsive role of impostrous schoolteachers.... What could we teach the people?" "If one leaves aside the natural sciences and mathematics, the last word of all our science will be the negation of the so-called immutable truths of the Western doctrine, the complete negation of the West. But our people have never let themselves be carried away by the West and for that reason they have no interest in negating it."^^*^^
From this Bakunin proceeds to launch thunderbolts against the authors of Young Russia, accusing them of being doctrinaires, of wishing to set up for the people's teachers. He denounces the "extreme youth" of the authors. He accuses them of "two most grievous crimes'": of their doctrinarian scorn for the people (them who declared that they were decidedly joining the ranks of the people!) and of levity in their attitude to the great cause of emancipation! He accuses them of doing harm to the cause and ends up by mocking at them, calling them children who understand nothing but derived their ideas from some Western books they have read (indeed, a great crime!) and he declares that the people is not for this revolutionary partyl
We repeat that the supporters of this party were deprived of the possibility of replying anything to him: the Russian government was at that time accusing them of the same crimes as was Bakunin, adding that of arson in several towns, and was throwing them into prison or sending them to exile. This did not prevent Bakunin from inventing another youth in the service of the tsar.
``The vast majority (?!) of our youth belongs to the people's party, to the party which has as its sole and single aim the triumph of the people's cause. This party has no prejudices either for or against the tsar (!!!),^^**^^ and if the tsar himself, having begun the great work, had not subsequently betrayed the people, it would never have abandoned him. And even now it is not too late for him. And even now that youth would follow him with joy (!) provided he would march at the head of his people (!!), it would not allow itself to be stopped by any of the Western revolutionary prejudices (!)."^^***^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``NB''.---Ed.
^^**^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: "NB!"---Ed.
^^***^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``NB''---Ed.
477``It is time for the Germans to go to Germany. If the tsar had realised that henceforth (!) he must be the head not of an enforced centralisation, but of a free federation of free peoples,^^*^^ then, relying on a solid and regenerated force, allying himself with Poland and the Ukraine, breaking all the detested German alliances, and boldly raising the pan-Slav banner, he would become the saviour of the Slav world."^^**^^
Such are the centralisation and the federation in question!!
Here our pan-Slavist, like all pan-Slavists, falls into ecstasy over the greatness of his Russia:
``The greatness of Russia is so dear" (precious) "to the Russian people" (yes, indeed, it is becoming very dear to them) "that they will never^^***^^ renounce it."
What then prevents the realisation of this greatness? At this question Bakunin, like a true Russian ``rural'', falls with all his might on the stale doctrinaires. In these attacks on statesmen, from whose number he excludes the tsar, Bakunin becomes quite revolutionary: he threatens them with a bloody revolution, a tragedy, as he says; he wagers that they have at their disposal no means for stopping the inevitable revolution. But ... in the midst of this revolutionariness directed against the statesmen, a very curious thing happens to him: he makes it a crime for them to speculate on the unity of the tsar and the people and forgets that all his own revolutionary philosophy is based only on this sacred alliance of the people with their rural tsar. Like a true rural, he religiously respects the superstition of the peasants, who in fact seem to believe that all the guilt for their miserable position lies at the door of the statesmen, of the officials, and not of the tsar, that this poor tsar, the father of the peasants, is himself unhappy that he cannot free himself from the tutelage of the officials who prevent him from making the people happy!! '
In his hatred for statesmen Bakunin even in one instance makes up for his pan-Slavist enthusiasm and admits that these statesmen are little suited to give true freedom to the Slav peoples and that is precisely tlie reason why he fights them.
_-_-_^^*^^ Here Utin has written in the] margin: "Bakunin's federalism''. ---Ed.
^^**^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``Pan-Slavism''.---Ed.
^^***^^ #ere Utin has written in the margin: "Bakunin's never".---Ed.
478``Yes, indeed, to go to war against the Germans is a good and indispensable thing for the Slavs, at all events better than stifling the Poles to please the Germans (?!). To rise and free the Slavs from the yoke of the Turks and the Germans will be a necessity and a sacred duty of the emancipated Russian people. But you" (statesmen), "enemies of Russian and Polish freedom, what kind of freedom will you give the Slavs?" and so on.
By the way, this sentence does not stop him for long in his pan-Slav work. Having bitterly reproached the statesmen for ruining Russia and its tsar, Bakunin appeals to all the conservative elements in Russia to found a society for the salvation of Russia, since the tsar no longer wishes to convene the National Assembly and is suffering from shortsightedness (only!).
At the same time and in the same pamphlet he urges the revolutionary party to rally around the banner of the popular cause. Among other articles of faith in his programme of the popular cause there are also the following ones:
``We'' (Bakunin and his own revolutionary party) "want popular self-government in the commune, in the province, in the region and finally in the state with or without the tsar, it doesnt matter, according as the people wish"^^*^^ (Art. 2)---``We'' "arc ready, and duty commands us, to come to the aid" of Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, etc. "against all violence and against all their external enemies, especially against the Germans, when they themselves demand our assistance" (Art. 4).... "With Poland (?), Lithuania and the Ukraine we want to lend a helping hand to our Slav brothers who are now groaning under the yoke of the Kingdom of Prussia, and of the Austrian and Turkish empires'', and we undertake "not to sheathe the sword* as long as a single Slav remains in German, Turkish or any other slavery"^^**^^ (Art. 5).
Article 6 prescribes an alliance with Italy, Hungary, Rumania, and even (?) with Greece. Article 7 declares:
``We shall strive with all the other Slav tribes to make the cherished Slav dream come true: to establish a great and free pan-Slav federation---... so that there shall be but a sole and single pan-Slav pow- _-_-_
^^*^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: "NB!"---Ed.
^^**^^ This oath does not resemble Hannibal's, but that of Alexander I; after the 1812 war there was preserved a medal of Alexander I in the uniform of commander-in-chief, a sword in hand, bearing the inscription: "I shall not sheathe my sword as long as a single Frenchman remains in my country.'' It is true that Bakunin considerably widens the meaning of this oath and refuses to sheath his sword as long as a single German remains in all the Slav countries.---Honour to whom honour is due!---Author's note. Written in Utin's hand.---Ed.
479 er"^^*^^---"Such is the groat [broad] programme of the Slav cause, such is the last indispensable word of the Russian popular cause. To this cause we have dedicated all our life" (p. 43).
Is that all? No! Be patient still,---this man must completely unmask himself, his confessions will become still more frank.
There is still one more (inestion which Bakunin asks himself:
``And now with whom, whither, and after whom shall we march? We have already said it whither we shall go. With whom?---we have also said it, of course with nobody else than with the people. It remains to be known after whom (whom we shall follow).^^**^^ Romanov, Pugachev or, if a new Pestel appears, after him?" =
~``Let us tell the truth, we would prefer to follow Romanov if Romanov could and would transform himself from a Petersburg emperor into a rural tsar. We would willingly rally under his banner" because the Russian people itself still recognises him and because his power is already created, ready to act, and could become an invincible force if he gave it the popular baptism. We shall follow him moreover because he alone (underscored in the original) "can accomplish the great peaceful revolution without shedding a drop of Russian or Slav blood. Bloody revolutions sometimes become necessary owing to human stupidity, nevertheless they are a great evil and a great misfortune, not only as regards their victims but as regards the purity and the fullness of the goal for which they are accomplished. We saw that in the French Revolution."^^***^^
So that is what this great man was able to draw from his great and famous revolutionary experience in 1848, on which, according to Guillaume's own avowal, his love for Bakunin is based; he saw according to the French Revolution that the tsar alone is capable of carrying out a great and genuine revolution!!
``Thus our attitude to Romanov is clear.^^****^^ We are not his enemies and neither are we his friends, we are the friends of the Russian popular cause, of the Slav cause. // the tsar is at the head of this cause we follow him. But if he opposes it, we shall be his enemies.'' (Tremble, tyrants!) "Therefore, the whole question is to know^^*****^^ whether he wishes _-_-_
^^*^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``NB''.---Ed.
^^**^^ The expression "za kem" was originally translated by Utin as "apres qui''). At a second reading Utin corrected his mistake and inserted above the extended clause "qui nous suivrons"---whom shall we follow.---Ed.
^^***^^ Here Utin has written in the margin: ``NB''.---Ed.
^^****^^ Following this the words: "Hear! Hearl" are struck out.---Ed.
^^*****^^ Following this the words: "Whether he wants to serve Russia, the Slavs or the Germans" are struck out.---Ed.
480 to be the Russian, rural tsar, Romanov or the Petersburg, the Holstein-Gottorp emperor. Does he wish to servo Russia, the Slavs or the Germans? This question will soon be settled and then wo shall know what we must do---"
Stop! Albert Richard and C. Blanc---Bakunin's aides- decamp and pupils, were naturally not able to plead in Bonaparte's cause as eloquently as Bakunin did in the cause of the rural tsar Romanov, actually the German (to u?e Bakunin's words) emperor of All the Russias.
Eight years later, in January 1871, in the letter 'To the Officers of the Russian Army'', Bakunin was brazen enough to recall this pamphlet in order to excuse himself with remarkable cynicism for his paternity:
``Now I would not have written it, ... since then I have learnt a lot."^^*^^
For a man who is not without a bit of common sense this trite phrase means nothing, above all inserted, as it is in the present case, in a pamphlet addressed to Russian officers, for this new pamphlet is a vile lampoon full of lies and slander against the revolutionary party in 1860--63, and at the same time of the most infamous attacks against the Polish insurrection and the Poles in general. This pamphlet breathes Tartarian hatred of Poland. Its author dares to preach publicly and without any shame a Jesuitical alliance for a time with the Poles to wage a fierce war against them subsequently. But to give an idea of that pamphlet one would have to translate it entirely and we would never have done with this ill-starred personage.
Sapienti sat!^^**^^
N.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French
manuscript ~
^^*^^ I have made a mistake, it is not in the address "To the Russian Officers'', but in the pamphlet "Science and Substance of the Revolutionary Question" (January = 1870)^^163^^ that Bakunin writes: "Now I would not have written it. I have got to know a lot since then and had time to learn a lot."---Author's note.Written in Utin's hand.---Ed.
^^**^^ Sufficient for the wise.---Ed.
[481] __ALPHA_LVL2__ REPORTAs the Commission of Inquiry has not had time to present you with a complete report, it can only supply you with^^**^^ an evaluation based on the documents communicated to it and on the statements which it has received.
After having heard citizens Engels, Karl Marx, Wroblewski, Dupont, Serraillier and Swarm for; the Prosecution^^***^^~
And citizens Guillaume, Schwitzguebel, Zhukovsky, Morago, Marselau and Farga Pellicer, accused of belonging to the Alliance secret society,
The commission announces: 1. That the secret Alliance founded on the basis of rules completely opposed to those of the International Working Men's Association, has existed, but it has not been sufficiently proved to the commission that it still exists.
2. That it has been proved, by draft rules and by letters signed ``Bakunin'', that this citizen has attempted, perhaps successfully, to found in Europe a society^^****^^ called the Alliance, with rules completely at variance, from the social and political point of view, with those of the International Working Men's Association.
3. That Citizen Bakunin has resorted to dishonest dealings with the aim of appropriating the whole or part of another person's property, which constitutes an act of fraud.
_-_-_^^*^^ The text of the report is written in Lucain's handwriting on three pages.---Ed.
^^**^^ The words "present you with a brief report" are deleted.---Ed.
^^***^^ The newspaper Llbertt has ``Association'' instead of " Prosecution".---Ed.
^^****^^ The newspaper Liberte has "secret society".---Ed.
482Furthermore, in order to avoid fulfilling his obligations, he or his agents have resorted to = intimidation.^^165^^
On these grounds:
The citizen-memhers of the commission request that the Congress:
1. Should expel Citizen Bakunin from the International Working Men's Association.
2. Should likewise expel citizens Guillaume and Schwitzguebel, being convinced that they still belong to a society^^*^^ called Alliance.
3. Since, during the course of the inquiry, it has been proved to us that^^**^^ citizens Maloii, Bousquet---the latter being secretary to the Police Commissioner for Beziers (France)---and Louis Marchand, who has been residing at Bordeaux, France, have all been guilty of acts aimed at the disorganisation of the International Working Men's Association, the commission likewise demands their expulsion from the Association.
4. As regards citizens Morago, Farga Pellicer, Marselau, Alerini and Zhukovsky, the commission, bearing in mind their formal statements that they no longer belong to the said^^***^^ Alliance society, requests that the Congress should consider them not implicated in the matter.
To ensure their responsibility, the members of the commission request that the documents which have been communicated to them, as also the statements made, should be published by them in the official organ of the Association.
Chairman Th. F. Cuno (delegate for Stuttgart and Diisseldorf) Secretary Lucain (delegate for France) Members of the commission Paul Vichard (delegate for France)^^****^^
The Hague, in the commission,
September 7, 1872
^^*^^ The newspaper Liberte has "secret society founded by Bakunin".-£d.
^^**^^ The newspaper Liberte has ``expulsion''.---Ed,
^^***^^ The newspaper Liberte has ``secret''.---Ed.
^^****^^ Splingard's statement is inserted by him after the signatures oi the other members of the commission.---Ed.
483I object to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Alliance, and I reserve the right to give my reasons before the Congress. Only one thing, in my opinion, has been established at the debate, and that is Mr. Bakunin's attempt to organise a secret society within the International.
As for the expulsions proposed by the majority of the Commission of Inquiry, I state that I cannot give my views as a member of the said commission without having received a mandate on this matter. I announce my intention of opposing the commission before the Congress.
Roch Splingard^^*^^
The members of the commission inform the Congress that Citizen Walter has felt it necessary to send a letter this morning to the chairman of the commission.
In this letter, he apologises for not being able to continue taking part in the commission's work owing to circumstances beyond his control.
Chairman Th. F. Cuno
Secretary Lucain
Members Roch Splingard,
Paul Vichard
Submitted to the Congress on September 7, 1872
The report was published in Liberte Nos. 37 and 42, September 15 and October 20, 1872 and Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 17--18, September 15- October 1, 1872
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The rest is written in Lucain's hand.---Ed.
31*
[484] __ALPHA_LVL2__ CUNO'S MANDATE TO VICHARDIn view of my departure for America, I hereby authorise Citizen Vichard to publish the Report and the Documents on the inquiry into the Alliance affair, and to sign my name.
Th. F. Cuno
Chairman of the Commission
of Inquiry into the Alliance
The Hague, September 10, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
[485] __ALPHA_LVL2__ EXTRACTS FROM LETTERSABEL BOUSQUET
1st letter.
``You may count on Citizen Abel Bousquet's absolute devotion to the social cause. He is a member of the Batignolles les Ternes Section and is perfectly well known to citizens Malon, Lef rancais, Cournet, Razoua, etc., etc.
He is Chairman of the Socialist Committee of Beziers."
Signed---A. Callas 2nd letter---November 13, 1871---arrived 2 days later.
_-_-_``...convinced that our mutual friend, Citizen A. Callas, has been badly let down in that this citizen relied on M. Bousquet, Chairman of the Electoral Committee of Beziers, and the latter is most unworthy of this, since he is secretary to the Central Police Commissioner of Beziers....
``That Citizen A. C. has been contemptibly deceived and that steps should be taken at once;
``That it is important for the International Working Men's Association to consist of workers, not policemen.
``In agreement with Citizen Caflas, who has recognised the mistake of which he was the victim, we shall ask Citizen Serraillier to regard as cancelled the last letter sent to him by Citizen Callas and, moreover, we shall ask him, if it can be done, to have M. Bousquet expelled from the International.
``By authority of the socialist democracy of Beziers---J. Canutis--- Henri Francis, Ales Azam---Pages Urbain---Prunar---Gilles.
``By authority of the socialist democracy of Pezenas---A. Callas."
^^*^^ Words and phrases have been underlined, vertical lines drawn in the margins, and reference numbers inserted by Marx.---Ed.
486See the issue of La Emancipation for December 19,18 71 in which this person is publicly denounced. In another issue of this newspaper, Malon signs a reply in which it is stated that he does not know this gentleman.
See a letter from Toulouse denouncing A. Bousquet as a brigadier in the security police; also a letter sent to The Hague, and another one from Narbonne confirming this denunciation and signed by J. Martin.
Extract from a letter by the corresponding secretary of Bordeaux dated November 24, 1871 in reply to a letter denouncing the intrigues of the Jura members.
``Bordeaux has only very indirectly participated in the various movements mentioned by you. Some of us (I am omitting the names for the time being) are closely tied up with the Paris delegate who, we suppose, at present belongs to the A lliance. After a complete fiasco in Bordeaux and his return to Switzerland, the delegate obtained from one of us a duplicate of our records. How was it handed over to him? This is what we are going to investigate. What purpose did it serve? The rumours about which you have been telling us. For your information, we have never ceased to have the same ideas as the General Council."
Extract from another letter from Bordeaux signed by Charles Daussac and dated November 22, 1871.
``...accompanied by a policeman and by a man named Louis Marchand who had come, it was said, from Bordeaux to organise a coup and then bring about its failure. (I quite liked this Marchand for his air of calm dedication, but I'm writing to you, citizen, about what I heard, not about what I liked.)"
P.S. dated November 24 (in the same letter):
487``Today, the 24th, I have learned details about L. Marchand's stay in Bordeaux which confirm the first story I heard about this. According to these facts, if they are accurate, this man obviously belongs to the police.
``He is the Louis Marchand who is now secretary of the society of refugees in Geneva."
BROUSSE
``On May 17, a certain Brousse, resident in Montpellier, stopped oft in P. under pretext of paying a visit to one of his female relatives, but in fact to engage in propaganda for the dissidents__ Towards one o'clock in the afternoon, he met some of our members__ Unfortunately, I wasn't warned soon enough to unmask this scoundrel who had come to sow discord amongst us. Two friends of mine in Montpellier had warned me 7 or 8 days previously that this gentleman had tried to make contact with them. They also told me that this rogue, this urchin, in a word, is nothing more than the scapegoat of the exeditor-in-chief of Les Droits de Vllomme of Montpellier, J.G.,^^*^^ who, in his turn, is the errand boy of the persons you know.
``This Brousse has a very bad reputation in Montpellier__ And these are the kind of agents our rivals are using!!"
Letter signed---/. Merlhac---authorised representative
~Montpellier, June 7, 1872
``The man named Brousse, a medical student in this city, has written several times to Citizen Guesde at Geneva, who has referred him to Citizen Scrraillier in London.
``This M. Brousse, student, is, it is true, a sincere republican, as he has shown in a number of instances, but he is not a man of action. When arrests were being made in Lyons, on the rue Grolee, this gentleman, who was chairman of the Radical Committee, ran away in fright. I can give you the names of people who will confirm this__ As he was chairman of the Radical Committee, which he deserted in such a cowardly manner, he enjoys a certain amount of influence.--- This is Guesde's man."
Montpellier, August 18, 1872
``I must tell you that in the Montpellier Section a split has been caused by the said Brousse who is in correspondence, as you know, with Guesde and others from Geneva. He has gone to visit some of them in order to prevent them from paying the supplementary contributions and to keep the status quo until after the Hague Congress__
``The Montpellier Section of the Southern Committee has decided:
``1. The said Brousse having acted disloyally in provoking a split in the heart of the Montpellier Section;
``2. The aforementioned Brousse having prevented some fifteen persons from paying their subscriptions in order to prevent the sending of a delegate from Toulouse to the Hague Congress;
``3. We have unanimously decided to request Citizen A. Callas, delegate for the Montpellier Section, present at the sitting, to demand the expulsion of the said Paul Brousse, student, from the Internation- _-_-_
^^*^^ Jules Guesde.---Ed.
488 al Working Men's Association for malpractice and for having sowed discord in the Montpellier Section.Delegate A. Callas
~ ~ ~ Members of the Southern Committee
~ ~ ~ Coutans, Ln. Lapeyssonnier, Gironis``P.S. Brousso and the others paid their subscriptions at the last moment."
Toulouse, July 14, 1872
..."By the way, I have finally picked up the main thread of the intrigues of our political adversaries, and I have discovered that their most active accomplices in the Herault Department and elsewhere were Bousguet from Beziers and Gondres from Narbonne. You are, I believe, perfectly well informed about the first; as for the second, you know him also for having recommended to you another scoundrel of the same kidney, Bacave by name, from Perpignan. Furthermore, Gondres is known at Narbonne as a police informer; according to some, he worked, so it is said, for Raynal, ex-prefect of the Aude."
During the events in Narbonne, he was subjected to investigation in Dijon on orders from the Montpellier public prosecutor's office, for which he was acting as informer. He was then arrested, for appearances' sake, committed to trial in Rhodes, and acquitted.
From there, he went at Perpignan as police agent and is now serving wilh the Carlists in Spain.
Extract from a letter from Pezenas, March 27, 1872.
``...After I had explained the purpose of my visit, I was told that another traveller engaged in the same propaganda had already presented himself three or four days previously, furnished with full authority from Geneva."
Toulouse, June 23, 1872
``...Counter-agents from Geneva are working furiously to disorganise our clientele.... If you do not immediately provide me with the means to fight them in an effective way, the responsibility for it will devolve solely on you...."
J.~Merlhac
Toulouse, 26 June, 1872
``...For my part, I am doing everything humanly possible to achieve this, and if I bump into obstacles from time to time, it is to them that I owe it.
489``Three or four days ago, they (the dissidents) sent one of their emissaries here to try the ground. This emissary, who carries a Russian passport, had talks with the said Duportal and some of our members and, apparently, advised the latter to ask me if I was furnished with a card or booklet stating that I was a member of the Association. They allegedly told him: 'Ho is endowed with sufficient powers by the General Council.' 'That is not enough,' he is reported to have said. 'It's easy to obtain the powers about which you are telling mo.' This individual left for Geneva yesterday evening."
Toulouse, August 2, 1872
``...I have discovered, or rather one of our people has tracked down here, in the rue de Lis, a Jura Committee consisting of republicans of all types. This committee, according to the information supplied to me, has the sole aim of opposing us at the next Congress__"
Authorised representative
Here is a letter from Paris left with the commission. It begins "The Malon split etc...''
Avignon, August 24, 1872
Paris, August 11, 1872
``...I was visited yesterday by Citizen Lev Mechnikov who, among other things, invited me to join the Jura Federation. This proves that the Jurassians are working with determination and that we must be on our guard."
Paris, August 14, 1872
``The Jura Federation is taking vigorous action; it has had some success in Spain, in Barcelona, and is trying to get a foothold in France. I need no further proof other than the visit from this Russian sent from Switzerland to get me to break with the General Council and join the Jura Federation. When these scoundrels have to deal with real people, they will find that they are wasting their time."
And now here is a summary of the St. Martin affair which was mentioned earlier. It goes without saying that I am leaving it to you to classify the various communications when summing up. My only request is for the suppression of names, whether those of signatories or those of cities where the Jura Federation has been active. As you well realise, I am only releasing the names to the Commission in order to relieve it of the responsibility later. You have 4 letters of mine, and, not knowing the dates, I am refraining, with 490 reason, from mentioning them here; but I feel that I should advise you to publish, from the mandate, the extract given by B. Malon and contained in one of them. Anyway that is your concern.
Summary of the correspondence from Chamoux in Avignon concerning B. Malon.
491``On March 10, 1872, I (Ed. Chamoux) met Royannez to ask him for information on the procedure for organising groups. He didn't want to tell me anything, and I never did find out why. I can only say that the person with whom Royannez was staying was a certain Esteve, a correspondent of B. Malon. This Esteve is a man who lives at various people's expense. After having told me, as did his wife, that he had given B. Malon's address to this St. Martin, he read me a letter from Malon without wanting to give me any explanation concerning what I wanted to know. Three days later, Royannez and Esteve looked me up in Avignon to discuss a newspaper which Royannez wanted to found, and I then met St. Martin, who repeated to me that he had B. M.'s address and that he was going to enter with the latter into very regular correspondence; I made a mental note of this without saying a word. As long as he didn't make any fuss, I kept quiet; but this didn't last long. As soon as he started doing the rounds and banging the big drum, I went after him in order to give battle and was even joined in my campaign against him by some of his friends.
``And this is the individual whom M. B. Malon has honoured with his confidence.
``Under the Empire, M. St. Martin lived in Apt and then in Avignon, where he practised, and still practises, the profession of lawyer. In 1866, he applied for a post with the Ministry of the Imperial Court and the Fine Arts. In 1869, he was a contributor to the Democratic du Midi and was fined 800 francs for defaming the sub-prefect of Apt. Subscriptions were collected among the republicans of Apt and Pertuis ( Vaucluse) to pay the fine, but St. Martin, instead of using the subscriptions to clear up his fine, judged it more convenient to pay for a little trip to Paris at the workers' expense, and in order to avoid a scandal they were forced to renew their subscription. On September 4, St. Martin's chief preoccupation was to get himself appointed consultant to the prefect at Avignon. In this post, he distinguished himself for his absolute servility to the prefect, M. Pouyade, under whom he was, in actual fact, merely an errand boy. On the advent of the Commune, he accepted the movement, but after the May days in 1871 he asked the Versailles government, which a month previously he had called a murderer, to appoint him sub-prefect.
``In connection with this M. St. Martin, I have proof written in his own hand.
``In the name of all the members of the departments which I represent, I support his expulsion, if the occasion arises."
Received by Edou.ard Chamoux
Avignon, August 29, 1872
``...The said St. Martin has left for Geneva to see Malon....'' "In May or June, the said St. Martin edited a newspaper called l'Ordre, at Avignon, in which he told the truth to the famous Thiers. But at the same time, he asked him for a post as sub-prefect. We have letters written in his own hand."
My dear Potel, when referring to the records of the Commission, you will be able to establish the main thread of the whole business. I don't consider it necessary to give you extracts from letters or newspaper articles originating from the London "Section of 1871" with which the Jurassians had established close relations, thanks to the friendship of Avrial, Theisz, and Camolinat with Malon, and especially thanks to their ignorance about the aims of the latter. When I think of the trouble which these vermin gave me for a year in France, I very much regret that the Congress did not come down more heavily by punishing more of the guilty ones. Be that as it may, in the publication of the Inquiry, as I think you will be publishing the names of the voters, I want the motive for my abstention to be quoted when Engels asked to stay where he was. I attach all the more importance to this, since I am convinced that Malon is even worse than was shown by his conduct in the Alliance affair. His behaviour during the siege, his attitude on March 18, his acts even under the Commune, all make me repudiate him for his past and suspect him in future. In a word, he's a bad lot.
Talking of bad lots, we had a Congress called by Vesinier! You have no doubt heard the report, but here is sometiling that will enable you to judge the true worth of this doubtful representation, in which two out of three chairmen are known to belong to the police. B. Landeck took a friend of his there who had no mandate. When, during verification, those who had no powers were asked to withdraw, L.'s friend was about to leave, cursing, L. said to him solemnly: " Authorise yourself, as at the Plague Congress!" and so he was authorised---no one could be more revolutionary than that. On the other hand, the "Section of 1871" refused to send its representative, since it did not want any solidarity with the newspaper la Federation, official organ of the Federatist Council, denounced in France as Bonapartist and, to 492 the \'emigr\'es, as engaged in espionage---the difference is not very great.
But if, the "Section of 1871" refuses to keep in further communication with the Federalist Council, it has nevertheless welcomed M. Van den Abeele in its extraordinary sessions, convoked to receive the sacred word of the Belgians! I don't know the result of these negotiations, but I do know something unworthy of a good man and even more so of a group, section or federation, namely that M. V. den Abeele has just said here that the accounts of the old General Council are not in order and that the sums paid by the Belgians do not appear in them, especially those sent for the refugees of the Commune. This behaviour needs no comment. We are waiting for them to be called to account and the day will come, I hope, when they are given no mercy.
With sincerest greetings,~
A.~Serraillier^^*^^
I confirm the authenticity of the extracts from the documents used.
Paul Vichard
London, September 23, 1872
Monday morning.
Our friend S. is just finishing the extracts from the documents used, and I am forwarding them to you in haste.
Yours,
~ ~ ~ Paul V.
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The rest is in P. Vichard's handwriting.---Ed.
[493] __ALPHA_LVL2__ TO THE MEMBERSComrades,
Nominated by the delegates to the Hague Congress to report to you on the activities of a secret society known as The Alliance, which has been formed within the Association itself, we are today carrying out our assignment.
Much bitter criticism has been levelled against the commission chosen.^^*^^ Several of our friends thought that we abused the vote of confidence by demanding that the Congress should expel from the Association a number of its members without possessing sufficient proof of their having betrayed the proletariat by attempting to divert the Association from its goal; others claimed, in writing, that the commission consisted of biased persons who were the adherents of some kind of clique or other and who sought to disunite all the true defenders of the rights of citizens and of freedom for the workers. Everywhere, the members of the Society whom we have denounced have expressed their indignation, not hesitating to state in print that the commission, since it lacked the proof necessary to substantiate its assessment, would never publish its report, forgetting, or wanting it to be forgotten, that it was the commission itself which demanded the publication of the report in order to ensure its responsibility.
_-_-_^^*^^ The words "by the congress" are deleted.---Ed.
494The members of the commission have refrained from comment. Despising the base and petty accusations which affected men and not principles, they waited for the day when they would be able to publish their report, well aware that when that day arrived, the true members of the International, their only judges, with the proof before them, would make short work of the biased accusations directed at them by the Association's enemies.
That day has come, comrades. If it has taken longer than was expected, it is because we, workers like yourselves have only with difficulty been able to snatch a few hours a week in order to fulfil the mission entrusted to us.
This is the only excuse justifying the delay in publication.
Today, fully confident in the results of your assessment, we place our work at your disposal, and we ask you to ratify in your sections the Congress's vote---a vote directed against men who were not afraid to divert the Association from its goal by preaching the inequality of citizens and lies; in a word, against men who were forming an autocracy within the proletariat, hiding their aim, which was probably despicable, and trying to achieve this aim of concentrating in their own hands the forces of the workers, in order to use them for their own purposes when it might suit them.
Greetings and Equality,
~ ~ ~ The commission
At its sitting of September~5, the Congress, on the proposal of Citizen Engels speaking on behalf of the General Council, nominated a commission of five members to draw up a report on the activities of the secret society founded by Citizen Bakunin and known as The Alliance, and to propose that the Congress vote the measures necessary to put a stop to these activities if they were contrary to the principles and aims of the International Working Men's Association.
As members of this commission, the Congress nominated citizens Vichard, Cuno, Walter, Splingard (the latter having been nominated at the express request of the delegates who felt themselves implicated by the accusation brought by the General Council, and also at the request of the Belgian delegates), and Citizen Potel.
This commission assembled on the same evening to undertake the task assigned to it.
On assembling, it immediately defined its obligations as follows:
^Chairman---Citizen T. Cuno, delegate for Stuttgart.
Secretaries---citizens Lucain and Walter, delegates for France.
Members---citizens Paul Vichard, delegate for France, and Roch Splingard, delegate for Bassin de Charleroi ( Belgium).
Thus constituted, the sitting commenced. It was decided to listen to the accused separately and to all those who felt 496 that they must throw light on the activities of the social y in question.
On behalf of the General Council, Citizen Engels delivered the following report.
DOCUMENT No.~1^^*^^
After reading his report, Citizen Engels requested the commission to insert in its minutes that Citizen Guillaume, during the sitting of the Congress, when the nomination of the commission was being requested, denied the accusation of belonging to the society known as the secret Alliance.^^**^^
After its first sitting, having acquainted itself with the above-mentioned rules, recognised by all members of the commission as having been written in the hand of Citizen Bakunin, and then with the letter addressed by this citizen to Citizen~X^^***^^ and naming citizens Guillaumeand Schwitzguebel as belonging to the society, the commission became convinced of the existence of a secret society with an aim, shameful and consequently inacceptable, in flagrant opposition to the Rules of the International Working Men's Association.
It therefore only remained to investigate two matters:
1. If the citizens who had belonged to this society at its' inception and who had been simultaneously members of the Association, still belonged to it.
2. Who these citizens were, in order to inform all the members of the Association about their belonging to the two societies.
After this, the sitting of the commission was closed and deferred until the following day, September 6.
EVENING SITTING, SEPTEMBER~6
Citizen Lafargue, called as witness, testified as follows: The existence of a secret society within the Association was revealed to me after its introduction into Spain.
_-_-_^^*^^ The text of the report see on pp. 348--60.---Ed.
^^**^^ The bottom of the page is torn off; the other side is hlank.---Ed.
^^***^^ Mora.---Ed.
497It was initially formed as a section of the International Working Men's Association and with Citizen Fanelli as its chairman.
This citizen soon afterwards initiated citizens Mora and Lorenzo and, on June 9, 1872, citizens Morago, Cordova y Lopez received from Switzerland cards confirming their status as brethren.
In reply to Citizen Cuno, Lafargue stated that the existence of the Alliance in Spain had been subsequent to the Basle Congress; that it had always been eminently secret; that it had been introduced into Spain after the foundation of the International Working Men's Association; that, after requesting the General Council to recognise it as a section formed by members of the Alliance, they had continued to keep their organisation secret.
He added that Mora had demanded, at the Congress of Saragossa, the dissolution of the Alliance, but it was not dissolved at that time.
However, on August 4, 1872, Morago, Marselau and other members of the Alliance declared on behalf of the Spanish Federal Council that the Alliance had been dissolved.
Citizen Splingard asked Lafargue whether it was he who had disclosed the existence of the Alliance in Spain.
Lafargue replied that he had considered it his duty to inform members of the International about the existence of a society with Rules, different from those of the Association and whose members still belonged to the International.
It was then that Morago had obtained from the Madrid Federation, or rather from its Federal Council, of which a majority of five members openly belonged to the Alliance, the expulsion of Citizen Lafargue and his friends from the council.
Citizen Cuno asked Lafargue if he had known anything about the letter from Citizen Bakunin inserted below.
DOCUMENT No.~2^^168^^
Lafargue replied that he had known about this letter after it had been sent, but he could not remember the exact date.
32---0960
498After Citizen Lafargue, Citizen Schwitzguebel gave evidence.
He made the following statement.
In reply to the chairman^^*^^:
Schwitzguebel---1st question:
Do you believe that there is a secret society called The Alliance?
I declare that, in my opinion, those who demanded an inquiry into the Alliance did so because they felt that the Alliance under accusation would have been, or still is (for those who claimed its existence) harmful to the International. Now I hold that an, international. Congress cannot judge its members when they are accused, except for acts affecting the Association. I request to be shown how and in what way I could have harmed the International.
I do not admit that the International, its Council or its congresses, have been elevated into legal institutions to open inquiries into secret societies.
Schwitzguebel
Schwitzguebel
2nd question: Do you believe that this secret society---the secret Alliance---still exists?
In conformity with my statement on the 1st question, it would be entirely pointless for me to__answer the 2nd question.
Schwitzguebel
3rd question, put to Schwitzguebel by the commission: Do you consider Bakunin capable of telling lies'/
I know Bakunin. I have a very high opinion of him. I think that, like all men, he happens to make mistakes, but I am profoundly convinced that he would never commit a mistake deliberately or out of disloyalty.
Schwitzguebel
_-_-_^^*^^ Further below are answers to 5 questions put by the chairman and written in Schwitzguebel's hand on 6 separate sheets of paper.---Ed.
4994th question---to Schwitzguebel.
If Bdkunin named you as belonging to the secret Alliance, would you accept his statement about you?
My relations with Bakunin have been of a close nature. I do not hesitate to declare that these relations have contributed strongly to the development of my revolutionarysocialist views and to the action which must inevitably result from them. I do not know in what sense Bakunin has interpreted these relations.
Schwitzguebel
5th question---to Schwitzguebel.
Bakunin recommends you in one letter as belonging, with Guillaume, to the secret Alliance. What is your answer to this?
I was accepted into the Alliance when it was being formed in Geneva as a public section of the International. I was introduced by Citizen Duval, a member of the Congress, when I was present at the first Romance Congress which was held in Geneva on January 3, 1869, to Citizen Bakunin, with whom I discussed the Alliance's programme. I accepted this programme. Since then, I have merely received a card confirming my admittance. As it was a public matter, I in no way concealed the Alliance or the card, and I reported all these things to the members of the International in the Jura valley.
I know that Bakunin has kept up the habit, in his correspondence, of using the term ``allie''^^*^^ when referring to men who have not rejected the Alliance programme.
Schwitzgu\'ebel
After this statement, Citizen Splingard asked Schwitzguebel if he was still a member of the secret Alliance, since Bakunin had named him in his letters as a member.
Schwitzguebel replied: "That he would not question the word of a friend whom he respected.'' (Textually)^^**^^
Citizen Schwitzguebel's statement being finished, the commission called Citizen Guillaume.
_-_-_^^*^^ Member of the Alliance.---Ed.
^^**^^ Unlike Schwitzguebel's other answers the transcript of the last one is finished in the secretary's handwriting.---Ed.
__PRINTERS_P_499_COMMENT__ 32* 500 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/599.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.11) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+He categorically declared that he had never taken part in the public Alliance, but when asked if he had been, or still was, a member of the secret Alliance, he refused to make any statement on the matter, saying that he was opposed to all interrogation on principle.
Citizen Lucain pointed out to him that he had accepted the nomination of the commission and had voted for its members, and consequently he had no right to repudiate its action.
Citizen Splingard observed to him that Schwitzguebel had just been answering questions and had agreed to join the commission in order to learn what was going to happen in it, and that he had been nominated by him, Guillaume.
Guillaume refused to reply and left the hall.
Statement by Citizen Marselau ~
Citizen Cuno asked him if he admitted that there was in Spain a secret society within the International.
Marselau replied that the Alliance was secret, but that it had been dissolved at the Congress of Saragossa, and he referred to Citizen Mora as having demanded its dissolution.
Asked by the chairman if any sections other than the one at Cadiz had demanded the dissolution of the secret Alliance, he replied: "Not at the Congress, but at private meetings most of the members present had demanded its dissolution."
Asked if he had warned the General Council about the dissolution of the secret Alliance, he replied that he had forgotten owing to negligence, but that in any case it had been difficult for him, since he had been in prison.
Citizen Splingard asked Marselau if he had been in contact with Switzerland.
Marselau: No, not personally, but I think my friends were.
Chairman: Did the Alliance exist in Spain before the International?
Marselau: I have heard as much, and I know that this was so at Cadiz.
Its foundation at Seville dates back to May 28, 1871.
Asked by the chairman if he had been in possession of the 501 secret Alliance's Rules, Marselau replied: "I was sent the Alliance's Rules printed at Geneva in the month of January 1871." He had been shown the secret Alliance's manuscript programme in March or April 1872.
Asked by the chairman if the'Alliance still existed, Marselau replied that he had been told by one of his friends that it had been dissolved. Incidentally, he had not known that there existed in Spain other sections like the one to which he had belonged. Moreover, he had, like his friends, hitherto believed that this was the International's programme.
Citizen Vichard asked: How could it come about, if the Alliance no longer existed, that Lafargue and his friends were expelled from the Madrid Federation?
Marselau: It is the federation, and I did not know that there were so many of the Alliance's members in it.^^*^^
Splingard tried hard to find out from Marselau if the secret Alliance still existed in Spain and, in view of Marselau's silence, he announced his regret that he had agreed to take part in the commission, since those who had nominated him had no confidence in him.
Statement by Citizen Marx ~
The chairman asked him if he knew that the Alliance had not been dissolved.
Citizen Marx replied that he was convinced that the secret Alliance was still active within the International, but in such cases written proof was always lacking and it was only by accumulating a mass of different evidence that one could arrive at an understanding of the truth.
He affirmed that he knew from a reliable source that Citizen Morago, alone among all the Spaniards, was a first grade member of the Alliance.
Heshowed a letter from Citizen Cafiero, who had complained only shortly before the Congress^^**^^ about the existence of the Alliance in Italy, but the week before the Congress, having paid a visit to Citizen Bakunin, he had left the latter _-_-_
^^*^^ Here follows a note in red pencil: "It must be made perfectly clear in the summing-up that there are 3 kinds of initiates into the Alliance." The next page (p. 13) of the manuscript is missing.---Ed.
^^**^^ The words "its date" are written in red pencil in the margin.---Ed.
502 with quite different ideas, since he had teamed up with members of the Alliance in order to attack the General Council.Citizen Marx then read from a letter, addressed to a Russian publisher, in which those belonging to a Russian secret society, of which Bakunin was a member, threatened this publisher that they would give him serious attention if he again demanded the return of a sum of 300 rubles which he had given to Citizen Bakunin in advance payment for a transla- tion.^^169^^
Statement by Citizen Morago ~
On being questioned by the Chairman, Citizen Morago stated: that he had resigned with his friends from the Alliance because it had exceeded the goal which it had set itself.
The Chairman asked him:
Do you think that there is a secret society called the Alliance?
Morago: Yes.
Chairman: On what date did you cease to belong to the Alliance society?
Morago: I don't remember.
Chairman: Ifj Bakunin named you as [belonging to the secret Alliance, would you accept his statement about you?
Morago replied: It is not true.
Statement by Citizen Zhukovsky ~
Asked by the Chairman to tell what he knew, Zhukovsky replied:
Bakunin is not well off. A young man came to ask him to translate Capital. He had heard that the proposal had come from a publisher in St. Petersburg who had advanced Bakunin 300 rubles. Citizen Nechayev had come to visit Bakunin in Geneva and had told him that he would arrange the matter with the publisher, who was asking for the work as promised or the return of the money.
Moreover, Zhukovsky declared that he had heard this version from Citizen Bakunin and he had then offered to 503 undertake the translation for the remainder of the sum promised.
He admitted that there were threats, but he said that they came from Nechayev.
He added that he had heard that the publisher....^^*^^
Compiled in October-November 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original ~
_-_-_^^*^^ The end is missing.---Ed.
[504] __ALPHA_LVL2__ STATEMENT BY P. VICHARD^^170^^London, July 18, 1873
To the citizen-members of the commission nominated by the Hague Congress to edit the minutes of the Congress.
Dear Citizens,
As a Congress-nominated member of the Commission of Inquiry into the Alliance, since it has been pointed out to me that the members of the commission, being dispersed in Belgium, England and America, will not be able to meet, I have felt it my duty to hand over to you the documents entrusted to me.
My mandate is henceforth no longer valid.
I am therefore in no way connected with any report which may be made by any other commission in place of the one specially nominated by the Congress.
Please accept, dear citizens, fraternal greetings from your devoted
Paul Vichard
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
[505] __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATIONREPORT AND DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED BY DECISION OF THE HAGUE CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL!'!
INTRODUCTION
The International Working Men's Association, in setting itself the aim of rallying under one banner the scattered forces of the world proletariat and thus becoming the living representative of the community of interests that unites the workers, was bound to open its doors to socialists of all shades. Its founders and the representatives of the workers' organisations of the Old and New worlds who at international congresses sanctioned the General Rules of the Association, forgot that the very scope of its programme would allow the declassed elements to worm their way in and establish, at its very heart, secret organisations whose efforts, instead of being directed against the bourgeoisie and the existing governments, would be turned against the International itself. Such has been the case with the Alliance of Socialist Democracy.
At the Hague Congress, the General Council demanded an inquiry into tin's secret organisation. The Congress entrusted the task to a commission of five (citizens Cuno, Lucain, Splingard, Vichard, and Walter, who resigned), which delivered its report at the session of September 7. The Congress passed the following resolution:
1. To expel from the International Mikhail Bakunin, as founder of the Alliance and also for an act committed on his own behalf;
2. To expel James Guillaume, as a member of the Alliance;
3. To publish the documents relating to the Alliance.
506Since its members are scattered over various countries, the Commission of Inquiry into the Alliance was unable to publish the documents which were the basis of its report, and so Citizen Vichard, the only member resident in London, sent them to the protocol commission, which is now publishing them, on its own responsibility, in the ensuing report.
The file on the Alliance was so voluminous that the commission sitting during the Congress only had time to familiarise itself with the most important documents in order to arrive at a practical conclusion; thus, most of the Russian material could not be submitted to it; and the report presented by it to the Congress, since it only covered part of the question, can no longer be considered adequate. We have therefore been obliged to give a history of the Alliance so that the reader will be able to understand the meaning and importance of these documents.
The documents published by us belong to several categories. Some have already been published separately and mostly in French, but to understand the spirit of the Alliance properly, they must be compared with others, since, collated in this way, they appear in a new light. One of them is the programme of the public Alliance. Other documents belong to the International and are being published for the first time; still others belong to the Spanish branch of the secret Alliance, whose existence was publicly disclosed in the spring of 1871 by members of the Alliance. Anyone who has followed the Spanish movement during this period will only find more detailed information on facts which have already been made more or less public. These documents are important, not because they are being published for the first time, but because it is the first time that they have been compared in such a manner as to reveal the common secret action from which they originated, and above all because we are comparing* them with the two categories of documents which follow. The first consists of documents published in Russian which disclose the true programme and methods of the Alliance. These documents, thanks to the language which protected them, remained hitherto unknown in the West, and this circumstance made it possible for the authors to give free rein to their imagination and their 507 language. The faithful translations furnished by us will allow the reader to gauge the intellectual, moral, political and economic worth of the Alliance's leaders.
The second category consists of a single document: the Alliance's secret statutes; it is the only document of any substantial length that is being published, for the first time, in this report. It may be asked whether revolutionaries are permitted to publish the statutes of a secret society, of a supposed conspiracy. First, these secret statutes were expressly named among the documents whose publication was demanded at the Hague Congress by the Alliance commission and none of the delegates, not even the member constituting the minority of the commission, voted against this. Publication has therefore been formally ordered by the Congress, whose instructions we must carry out; but it is essential to point out the following:
Here we have a society which, under the mask of the most extreme anarchism, directs its blows not against the existing governments but against the revolutionaries who refuse to accept its dogma and leadership. Founded by a minority at a bourgeois congress, it infiltrates the ranks of the international organisation of the working class, at first attempts to dominate it and, when this plan fails, sets to work to disorganise it. It brazenly substitutes its sectarian programme and narrow ideas for the broad programme and great aspirations of our Association; it organises within the public sections of the International its own little secret sections which obey the same instructions and in a good many instances succeed in gaining control of the public sections by prearranged action; in its newspapers it publicly attacks all those who refuse to submit to its will, and by its own avowal provokes open warfare within our ranks. It resorts to any means, any disloyalty to achieve its ends; lies, slander, intimidation, the stab in the backit finds them all equally suitable. Finally, in Russia it substitutes itself entirely for the International and commits, in its name, crimes against the common law, acts of fraud and an assassination for which the government and bourgeois press has blamed our Association. And the International must remain silent about all these acts because the society responsible for them is secret! The International 508 has in its possession the statutes of this society, which is its mortal enemy; statutes in which it openly proclaims itself a modern Society of Jesus and declares that it has the right and the duty to practise all the methods employed by the Jesuits; statutes that explain in a flash the whole series of hostile acts to which the International has been subjected from this quarter; but the International must not make use of these statutes---that would be denouncing a secret society!
There is only one means of combating all these intrigues, but it will prove astonishingly effective; this means is complete publicity. Exposure of all these schemings in their entirety will render them utterly powerless. To protect them with our silence would be not only an act of naivete that the leaders of the Alliance would be the first to ridicule; it would be sheer cowardice. What is more, it would be an act of treachery towards those Spanish members of the International who, while belonging to the secret'Alliance, have not hesitated to divulge its existence and its mode of action, since it has set itself up in open hostility to the International. Besides, all that is contained in the secret statutes is to be found, in much more emphatic form, in the documents published in Russian by Bakunin and Nechayev themselves. The statutes are but their confirmation.
Let the ringleaders of the Alliance cry out that they have been denounced. We deliver them up to the scorn of the workers and the benevolence of the governments whom they have served so well in disorganising the proletarian movement. The Zurich Tagwacht, in a reply to Bakunin, had every right to say:
``If you are not a paid agent, the one thing quite certain is that a paid agent would never have succeeded in doing as much harm as you.^^172^^
The Alliance of Socialist Democracy is entirely bourgeois in origin. It did not emerge from the International; it is the offspring of the League of Peace and Freedom, a still-born 509 bourgeois republican society. The International was already firmly established when Mikhail Bakunin took it into his head to play the part of the proletariat's emancipator. The International only offered him a field of activity common to all its members. In order to secure advancement there, he would have had to win his spurs by dint of hard and dedicated work; he thought he would find a better opportunity and an easier path on the side of the bourgeois members of the League.
In September 1867, he had himself elected member of the Permanent Committee of the League of Peace, and he took his part seriously; it could even be said that he and Barni, now a deputy at Versailles, were the life and soul of this committee. Posing as theoretician of the League, Bakunin was to have published under its auspices work entitled Federalism, Socialism and Antitheologism.^^*^^ However, he soon convinced himself that the League was still an insignificant society and that the liberals of which it was composed only saw in its congresses a means of combining pleasure trips with high-flown harangues, while the International, in contrast, was growing from day to day. He now dreamed of grafting the League onto the International. To put this plan into practice, Bakunin, on Elpidin's introduction, had himself accepted in July 1868 as member of the Geneva Central Section^^**^^; on the other hand, he got the League Committee to adopt a proposal suggesting that the International Congress of Brussels should form a pact of offensive and defensive alliance between the two societies; and in order that the League's Congress should sanction this fiery initiative, he drew up, and then made the Committee endorse and distribute, a confidential circular to the ``Gentlemen'' of the = League.^^174^^ In it, he admitted frankly that the League, hitherto a hopeless farce, could not gain in importance except by opposing the alliance of the oppressors with
_-_-_``the alliance of the peoples, the alliance of the workers ... we will not become anything unless we wish to he the sincere and serious representatives of millions of workers".
^^*^^ This bible of isms was discontinued by the third sheet owing to lack of = copy.^^178^^
^^**^^ of the International.---Ed.
510The providential mission of the holy League was to present a bourgeois parliament, nominated by itself, to the working class, which was invited to entrust this body with its political management.
``In order to become a beneficial and real power,'' concludes the circular, "our League must become the pure political expression of the great economic and social interests and principles which are triumphantly developed and propagated today by the great International Association of the Working Men of Europe and America."
The Congress of Brussels had the temerity to reject the League's proposition. Bakunin's disappointment and fury knew no bounds. On the one hand, the International was slipping out of his protection. On the other, the League's chairman, Professor Gustav Vogt, read him a stern lecture.
``Either you were not sure,'' he wrote to Bakunin, "of the effect of our invitation, in which case you have compromised our League; or you knew what a surprise your friends of the International had in store for us, in which case you have most infamously deceived us, and I ask you what we are going to tell our Congress...."
Bakunin replied in a letter which anyone was invited to read.
``I could not have foreseen,'' he said, "that the Congress of the International would reply with an insult as gross as it was pretentious, but this is due to the intrigues of a certain clique of Germans who detest the Russians" (he explained to his audience that this clique was Marx's). "You ask me what we are going to do. I earnestly request the honour of replying to this gross insult on behalf of the Committee, from the platform of our Congress."
Instead of keeping his word, Bakunin changed his tune. He proposed to the League's Berne Congress a programme of fantasy socialism in which he called for equalisation of classes and individuals, in order to outdo the ladies of the League who had hitherto only demanded equalisation of the sexes. Defeated again, he left the Congress with an insignificant minority and went to Geneva. ^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Among the secessionists, we find the names of Albert Richard from Lyons, now an agent of the Bonapartist police; Gambuzzi, a Neapolitan lawyer (see the chapter on Italy); Zhukovsky, later secretary of the public Alliance; and a certain Buttner, a Geneva tinsmith, who now belongs to the ultra-reactionary party.
511The alliance of bourgeois and workers dreamed of by Bakunin was not to be limited to a public alliance. The secret statutes of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy (see Documents, No.~1^^*^^) contain indications which make it clear that, in the very heart of the League, Bakunin had laid the foundations for the secret society which was to control it. Not only are the names of the governing bodies identical to those of the League (Permanent Central Committee, Central Bureau, National Committees), but the secret statutes declare that the "majority of the founder members of the Alliance" are "former members of the Berne Congress''. In order to win recognition for himself as head of the International, he had to present himself as head of another army whose absolute devotion to him was to be ensured by a secret organisation. After having openly planted his society in the International, he counted on extending its ramifications into all sections and on taking over absolute control by this means. With this aim, he founded the (public) Alliance of Socialist Democracy in Geneva. Ostensibly, this was only a public society which, although entirely absorbed by the International, was, however, to have a separate international organisation, a central committee, national bureaus, and sections independent of our Association; alongside our annual Congress, the Alliance was to hold its own publicly. But this public Alliance covered another which, in its turn, was controlled by the even more secret Alliance of the international brethren, the bodyguard of the dictator Bakunin.
The secret statutes of the "organisation of the Alliance of the international brethren" indicate that in this Alliance there were "three grades: I. The international brethren; II. the national brethren; III. the half-secret, half-public organisation of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy".
I. The international brethren, whose number is limited to a ``hundred'', form the college of cardinals. They are subordinate to a central committee and to national committees organised into executive bureaus and supervisory committees. These committees are themselves responsible to the ``constituent'', or general, assembly of at least two-- _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 627--28 of this volume.---Ed.
512 thirds of the international brethren. These members of the Alliance``have no homeland other than the world revolution, no foreign lands and no enemies other than the reaction. They reject every policy of conciliation and concession, and they regard as reactionary every political movement which does not have as its goal the immediate and direct triumph of their principles".
But since this article relegates to the Greek Calends the political action of the Hundred, and since these irreconcilable ones do not intend to renounce the advantages attached to public functions, Article 8 reads:
``No brother shall accept public post except with the consent of the committee to which he belongs."
We shall see, when we come to discuss Spain and Italy, how the leaders of the Alliance hastened to implement this article in practice. The international brethren
``are brethren ... each of whom must be sacred to all the others, more sacred than a blood brother. Each brother will be helped and protected by all the others to the limits of the possible".
The Nechayev affair will show us what this mysterious limit of the possible is.
``All the international brethren know one another. No political secret must ever exist among them. None may take part in any secret society whatsoever without the definite consent of his committee, and in case of need, should the latter demand it, without that of the Central Committee. And he may take part only on condition that he discloses to them all secrets that could interest them, directly or indirectly."
The Pietris and the Stiebers only use inferior or lost people as informers; but by sending their false brethren into secret societies to betray secrets of the latter, the Alliance imposes the role of spy on the very men who, according to its plan, should take control of the "world revolution''. Moreover, the revolutionary buffoon crowns the ignoble with the grotesque.
``Only lie may become an international brother who has sincerely accepted all the programme in all its consequences, theoretical and practical, and who adds revolutionary passion to intelligence, energy, honesty (!) and discretion---he who has the devil in his flesh."
II. The national brethren are organised in each country as a national association by the international brethren and 513 under the same plan, but in no case .should they suspect even the existence of an international organisation.
III. The Secret International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, whose members are recruited everywhere, has a legislative body in the Permanent Central Committee which, when it meets, christens itself the General Secret Assembly of the Alliance. This meeting takes place once a year during the Congress of the International, or, in special cases, when convoked by the Central Bureau or else by the Geneva Central Section.
The Geneva Central Section is the "permanent delegation of the Permanent Central Committee'', and the "Executive Council of the Alliance''. It is subdivided into the Central Bureau and the Supervisory Committee. The Central Bureau, consisting of 3 to 7 members, is the real executive power of the Alliance.
``It will receive its guidance from the Geneva Central Section and will pass on its communications, not to say its secret orders, to all the National Committees, from which it will receive secret reports at least once a month."
This Central Bureau has found a way of having its cake and eating it, of being secret and public at the same time; for, as part of the
``secret central section, the Central Bureau will be a secret organisation ... as a public director of the public Alliance, it will be a public organisation".
And so it can be seen that Bakunin had already organised all the secret and public direction of his "dear Alliance" even before it existed, and that the members who took part in any election were only puppets in a play staged by himself. Moreover, he did not hesitate to say so, as we shall soon see. The Geneva Central Section, whose task was to guide the Central Bureau, was itself only part of the comedy; Tor its decisions, although settled by majority vote, were only binding on the Bureau if the majority of its members did not wish to appeal against them to the general assembly, which it must convoke within not more than three weeks.
``When thus convoked, the General Assembly, to be regular, had to be composed of two-thirds of its members."
33---0960
514It can be seen that the Central Bureau had surrounded itself with all the constitutional guarantees necessary to ensure its independence.
One might be naive enough to believe that this autonomous Central Bureau had at least been freely elected by the Geneva Central Section. Nothing of the kind. The provisional Central Bureau had been
``presented to the Geneva initiating group as provisionally elected by all the founder-members of the Alliance, of whom the majority, former participants of the Berne Congress, had returned to their countries" (except for Bakunin) "after having delegated their powers to Citizen B."
The founder members of the Alliance were thus nothing more than a few bourgeois secessionists from the League of Peace.
In this way, the Permanent Central Committee, which had annexed the constituent and legislative power over the whole Alliance, was nominated by itself. The permanent executive delegation of this Permanent Central Committee, the Geneva Central Section, was nominated by itself and not by the Committee. The Central Executive Bureau of this Geneva Central Section, instead of being elected by it, was imposed on it by a group of individuals who had all " delegated their powers to Citizen B."
And so "Citizen B.'' is the pivot of the Alliance. To retain his pivotal function, the secret statutes of the Alliance say literally:
``Its ostensible form of government will.; be that] of a presidency! in a federative republic'',
---a presidency prior to which the president already existed in permanent "Citizen B."
Since the Alliance is an international society, each country is to have a National Committee formed
``by all the members of the Permanent Central Committee who belong to one nation".
It only requires three members to constitute a National Committee. To ensure the regularity of the hierarchical ladder,
515``the National Committees will serve as sole intermediaries between the Central Bureau and all the local groups of their country".
The National Committees
``will be responsible for organising the Alliance in their country in such a way that it shall always be dominated and represented at the Congresses by members of the Permanent Central Committee".
This is what is known in the language of the Alliance as organising from the bottom to the top. These local groups only have the right to approach the National Committees with their programmes and rules so that they might be submitted
``for confirmation by the Central Bureau, without which the local groups cannot belong to the Alliance".
Once this despotic and hierarchic secret organisation had been injected into the International, all that remained to finish matters was to disorganise it. All it needed for this was to anarchise and autonomise its sections and transform its central organs into simple letter-boxes---"correspondence and statistical bureaus"---as was, indeed, attempted later.
The list of revolutionary services rendered by permanent "Citizen B.'' was not so glorious that he could hope to make permanent in the secret Alliance, much less in the public one, the dictatorship which he had appropriated for his own convenience. He therefore had to hide it under democraticsounding humbug. And so the secret statutes prescribe that the provisional Central Bureau (for which read the permanent citizen) will function until the Alliance's first public general assembly, which would nominate the members of the new Permanent Central Bureau. But
``as it is urgent that the Central Bureau should always be composed of members of the Permanent Central Committee, the latter, through the organ of its National Committees, will take care to organise and direct all the local groups in such a way that they will delegate to this assembly only members of the Permanent Central Committee or, failing them, men absolutely devoted to the leadership of their respective National Committees, so that the Permanent Central Committee shall always have the upper hand in the entire organisation of the Alliance."
These instructions were not given by a Bonapartist minister or prefect on the eve of the elections, but, in order to ensure his permanence, by the anti-authoritarian, quintessential, immense anarchist, the archpriest of the organisation from bottom to top, the Bayard of the autonomy of
33*
516 sections and the free federation of autonomous groups--- Saint-Michael Bakunin.So far we have analysed the secret organisation designed to perpetuate the dictatorship of "Citizen B.''; now let us deal with his programme.
``The association of international brethren aspires to a universal revolution, simultaneously social, philosophical, economic and political, so that of, the present order of things, based on property, exploitation, and the principle of authority, whether religious, metaphysical, bourgeois-doctrinaire, or even Jacobin-revolutionary, not a stone will be left standing first in Europe and then in the rest of the world. With the cry of peace for the workers, liberty for all the oppressed and death to rulers, exploiters and guardians of all kinds, we seek to destroy all states and all churches along with all their institutions and laws, religious, political, juridical, financial, police, university, economic and social, so that the millions of wretched human beings, deceived, enslaved, tormented and exploited, liberated from all their directors and benefactors, official and officious, collective and individual, may breathe at last with complete freedom."
Here indeed we have revolutionary revolutionism! The first condition for the achievement of this astounding goal is to refuse to fight the existing states and governments with the means employed by ordinary revolutionaries, but on the contrary to hurl resounding, grandiloquent phrases at
``the institution of the State and that which is both its consequence and foundation---i.e., private property".
Thus it is not the Bonapartist State, the Prussian or Russian State that has to be overthrown, but an abstract State, the State as such, a State that nowhere exists. But while the international brethren in their desperate struggle against this State that is situated somewhere in the clouds know how to avoid the truncheons, the prison and the bullets that real states deal out to ordinary revolutionaries, we see on the other hand that they have reserved themselves the right, subject only to papal dispensation, to profit by all the advantages offered by these real bourgeois states. Fanelli, an Italian deputy, Soriano, an employee of the government of Amadeus of Savoy, and perhaps Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc, Bonapartist police agents, show how amenable the Pope is in this respect__That is why the police shows so little concern over "the Alliance or, to put it 517 frankly, the conspiracy" of Citizen B. against the abstract idea of the state.
The first act of the revolution, then, must be to decree the abolition of the state, as Bakunin did on September 28 in Lyons, despite the fact that abolition of the state is of necessity an authoritarian act. By the stale he means all political power, revolutionary or reactionary,
``because it matters little to us whether this authority lie called the church, the monarchy, the constitutional state, the bourgeois republic or even the revolutionary dictatorship. We detest them and reject them all in equal measure as unfailing sources of exploitation and despotism".
And lie goes on to declare that all the revolutionaries who, on the day after the revolution, want "construction of a revolutionary state" are far more dangerous than all the existing governments put together, and that
``we, the international brethren, arc the natural enemies of these revolutionaries"
because to disorganise the revolution is the first duty of the international brethren.
The reply to this bragging about the immediate abolition of the state and the establishment of anarchy has already been given in the last General Council's private circular on "Fictitious Splits in the International'', of March 1872, page 37^^175^^: "Anarchy, then, is the great war-horse of their master Bakunin, who has taken nothing from the socialist systems except a set of slogans. All socialists see anarchy as the following programme: once the aim of the proletarian movement, i.e., abolition of classes, is attained, the power of the state, which serves to keep the great majority of producers in bondage to a very small exploiter minority, disappears, and the functions of government become simple administrative functions. The Alliance draws an entirely different picture. It proclaims anarchy in proletarian ranks as the most infallible means of breaking the powerful concentration of social and political forces in the hands of the exploiters. Under this pretext, it asks the International, at a time when the old world is seeking a way of crushing it, to replace its' organisation with anarchy."
Let us see, however, just what the consequences of the anarchist gospel are; let us suppose the state has been 518 abolished by decree. According to Article~6,^^*^^ the consequences of this act will he: bankruptcy of the state, ending of state intervention to enforce payment of private debts, cessation of payment of all taxes and all tribute, disbandment of the army, the magistracy, the bureaucracy, the police and the clergy (!); abolition of official justice, accompanied by an auto-da-fe of all title deeds on property and all judicial and civil junk, confiscation of all productive capital and instruments of labour for the benefit of the workers' associations and an alliance of these associations, which "will constitute the Commune''. This Commune will give individuals thus dispossessed the strict necessaries of life, while granting them freedom to earn more by their own labour.
What happened at Lyons has proved that merely decreeing the abolition of the state is far from sufficient to accomplish all these fine promises. Two companies of the bourgeois National Guards proved quite sufficient, on the other hand, to shatter this splendid dream and send Bakunin hurrying back to Geneva with the miraculous decree in his pocket. Naturally he could not imagine his supporters to be so stupid that they need not be given some sort of plan of organisation that would put his decree into practical effect. Here is the plan:
``For the organisation of the Commune a federation of permanently functioning barricades and a Council of the Revolutionary Commune shall be set up by delegating one or two deputies from each barricade, one per street or per district, deputies vested with imperative mandates, responsible in all respects and subject to recall any time" (odd barricades, these barricades of the Alliance, where instead of fighting they spend their time writing mandates). "The Commune Council, thus organised, will be able to choose from its midst Executive Committees, a special one for each branch of the revolutionary administration of the Commune."
The insurgent capital, thus constituted as a Commune, then proclaims to the other communes of the country that it renounces all claim to govern them; it invites them to reorganise themselves in a revolutionary way and then to send their responsible and recallable deputies, vested with their imperative mandates, to an agreed place where they will set up a federation of insurgent associations, communes _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 633--34 of this volume.---Ed,
519 and provinces and organise a revolutionary force capable of triumphing over reaction. This organisation will not be confined to the communes of the insurgent country; other provinces or countries will be able to take part in it, while``the provinces, communes, associations" and individuals who take sides with; reaction will not be allowed to join it".
So the abolition of frontiers goes hand in hand with the most benevolent tolerance towards the reactionary provinces, which would not hesitate to resume the civil war.
Thus in this anarchistic organisation of the tribune-- barricades we have first the Commune Council, then the executive committees which, to be able to do anything at all, must be vested with some power and supported by a public force; this is to be followed by nothing short of a federal parliament, whose principal object will be to organise this public force. Like the Commune Council, this parliament will have to assign executive power to one or more committees which by this act alone will be given an authoritarian character that the demands of the struggle will increasingly accentuate. We are thus confronted with a perfect reconstruction of all the elements of the "authoritarian State''; and the fact that we call this machine a "revolutionary Commune organised from bottom to top'', makes little difference. The name changes nothing of the substance; organisation from bottom to top exists in any bourgeois republic and imperative mandates date from the Middle Ages. Indeed Bakunin himself admits as much when (in Article~8^^*^^) he describes his organisation as a "new revolutionary State".
As for the practical value of this plan of revolution with its talking instead of fighting, we shall say nothing.
Now we shall reveal the secret of all the Alliance's double and triple-bottomed boxes. To make sure that the orthodox programme is adhered to and that anarchy'behaves itself properly,
``it is necessary that in the midst of popular anarchy, which will constitute the very life and energy of the revolution, unity of thought and revolutionary action should find an organ. This organ must be the secret and world association of the international brethren _-_-_
^^*^^ See p. 034 of this volume,---Ed.]
520``This association proceeds from the conviction that revolutions are never made either by individuals or by secret societies. They come about, as it were, of their own accord, produced by the force of circumstances, by the course of events and facts. They arc prepared over a long time deep in the instinctive consciousness of the popular masses, then they flare up__ All that a well-organised secret society can do is first to assist the birth of revolution by spreading among the masses ideas corresponding to their instincts, and to organise, not the army of the revolution---the army must always be the people" (cannon fodder), "but a revolutionary General Staff composed of devoted, energetic and intelligent individuals who are above all sincere---not vain or ambitious---friends of the people, capable of serving as intermediaries between the revolutionary idea" ( monopolised by them) "and the popular instincts."
``The number of these individuals should not, therefore, be too large. For the international organisation in the whole of Europe one hundred fiirmly and seriously united revolutionaries would be sufficient. Two or three hundred revolutionaries would be enough for the organisation of the biggest country."
So everything changes. Anarchy, the "unleashing of popular life'', of "evil passions" and all the rest is no longer enough. To assure the success of the revolution one must have unity of thought and action. The members of the International are trying to create this unity by propaganda, by discussion and the public organisation of the proletariat. But all Bakunin needs is a secret organisation of one hundred people, the privileged representatives of the revolutionary idea, the general staff in the background, self-appointed and commanded by the permanent "Citizen B''. Unity of thought and action means nothing but orthodoxy and blind obedience. Perinde ac cadaver.^^*^^ We are indeed confronted with a veritable Society of Jesus.
To say that the hundred international brethren must "serve as intermediaries between the revolutionary idea and the popular instincts,'' is to create an unbridgeable gulf between the Alliance's revolutionary idea and the proletarian masses; it means proclaiming that these hundred guardsmen cannot be recruited anywhere but from among the privileged classes.
_-_-_^^*^^ ``Be like unto a corpse.'' The phrase used by Loyola to formulate the Jesuit principle imposing unquestioning obedience on the junior members of the Society.---Ed.
521The Alliance, like Falstaff, found that "the better part of valour is discretion".^^*^^ Also, the "devil in the flesh" of the international brethren did not prevent them from deferring humbly in every way to the power of the existing States, wliile protesting vigorously against the institution of the abstract State; but he directed their attacks solely against I ho International. First, they wanted to dominate it. Having failed to do so, they tried to disorganise it. We shall now show their activities in the different countries.
The international brethren were merely a general staff in the reserve: they lacked an army. They considered the International created to that end. If they were to be allowed to take command of an army, they had to insinuate the public Alliance into the International. Fearing that the former might lose face if they applied to the General Council for admission, which would be tantamount to recognising i1s authority, they approached the Belgian and Paris Federal Councils several times and without success. These repealed refusals forced the Alliance to ask the General Council, on December 15, 1868, for affiliation. They sent their stalutes and their programme in which they openly announced their intentions (Documents, No.~2^^**^^). Although the Alliance declared itself "entirely absorbed by the International" it aspired to form a second international corps within the International. Alongside the International's General Council, elected by the Congresses, there was to be the Alliance's Central Committee, which would sit at Geneva and would be self-nominated; alongside the International's local groups, there would be the Alliance's local groups which, through the intermediary of their national bureaux, functioning outside the national bureaux of the International, "would apply to the Alliance's Central Bureau for their admission into the International''. The Central Bureau of the Alliance was, then, appropriating the right of admittance to the International. Alongside the Congresses of the _-_-_
^^*^^ Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I, Act V, Scene IV.---Ed.
^^**^^ See pp. (535--37 of this volume.---Ed.
522 International, there were to be the Congresses of the Alliance, for "during the annual working men's Congresses, the Alliance's delegation" aspired to hold "its public sittings in separate premises".On December 22, the General Council (in a letter published in its circular: Fictitious Splits in the International, p.~7^^176^^) stating that these aspirations were in flagrant contradiction to the International's statutes, flatly rejected the affiliation of the Alliance. Several months later, the Alliance again applied to the General Council and demanded to know whether its principles were acceptable or not. In case of an affirmative answer, it declared itself prepared to dissolve and break up into simple sections of the International. On March 9, 1869, the General Council (see Fictitious Splits in the International, = p.~8^^177^^) replied that for it to pronounce on the scientific value of the Alliance's programme would be to exceed its functions, and that if "equalisation of classes" was replaced by "abolition of classes'', there would be no obstacle to converting the sections of the Alliance into sections of the International. It added: since the dissolution of the Alliance and the entry of its sections into the International had been settled, it would, in accordance with our Regulations, become necessary to inform the Council of the seat and the numerical strength of each new section".
On June 22, 1869, the Geneva section of the Alliance announced to the General Council as a fait accompli the dissolution of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, all of whose sections had been invited "to transform themselves into the International sections''. After this explicit declaration, and misled by some signatures on the programme which gave the impression that the Alliance had been recognised by the Romance Federal Committee, the General Council admitted it. It should be added that not one of the conditions accepted had been fulfilled. Far from it: the secret organisation hidden behind the public Alliance now went into full action. Behind the International's Geneva section was the Central Bureau of the secret Alliance; behind the International's sections of Naples, Barcelona, Lyons and Jura lay the secret sections of the Alliance. Relying on this free-masonry, whose existence was suspected neither by the mass of the International's 523 membership nor by their administrative centres, Bakunin hoped to win control of the International at the Basle Congress in September 1869. At this Congress, thanks to its dishonest methods, the secret Alliance found itself represented by at least ten delegates, including the famous Albert Richard and Bakunin himself. They had brought with them a number of blank mandates which could not be used owing to the lack of reliable people, although they were offered to the Basle members of the International. Even this numerical strength, however, was not enough to make Congress sanction the abolition of the right of inheritance that relic of Saint-Simon which Bakunin wanted to use as the practical point of departure for = socialism^^178^^; much less was it able to impose on the Congress his dream of transferring the General Council from London to Geneva.
Meanwhile, there was open war in Geneva between the Romance Federal Committee, almost unanimously supported by the Geneva members of the International, and the Alliance. The latter's allies in this war were le Progres of Locle edited by James Guillaume, and the VEgalite of Geneva which, although an official organ of the Romance Federal Committee, was edited by a committee which was mainly attached to the Alliance and attacked the Romance Federal Committee at every possible opportunity. Without losing sight of its great aim---the transfer of the seat of the General Council to Geneva---the editorial board of rfigalite launched a campaign against the existing General Council and invited le Travail of Paris to lend its support. In its circular of January 1, 1870, the General Council declared that it considered it unnecessary to enter into controversy with these = newspapers.^^179^^ Meanwhile, the Romance Federal Committee had already removed the Alliance members from the editorial board of rEgalite.
At this stage, the sect had not yet donned its anti-- authoritarian mask. Believing that it would be able to take over the General Council, it was the first, at the Basle Congress, to put forward and edit the administrative resolutions conceding to the latter the "authoritarian powers" which it was to attack so violently two years later. Nothing gives a clearer picture of its idea of the General Council's authoritarian role than the following extract from le Progres of Locle, 524 edited by James Guillaume (December 4, 1869) concerning the conflict between Social-Dcmokrat and Der Volksstaat:
``It seems to us that it should be the duly of our Association's General Council to intervene, to open an inquiry into what is happening in Germany, to decide between Schweitzer and Liebknecht, and thereby put a slop to the uncertainly into which we are thrown by this strange situation."
Is it possible to believe that this is Hie same Guillaumo who, in a circular from Sonvillier on November 12, 1871, reproached this same General Council, which had not been authoritarian enough previously, for having "wanted to introduce the principle of authority into the International"?
Ever since they began to appear, the Alliance's newspapers had not confined themselves to propagating its special programme, in which no one could have seen any harm; but they insisted on creating and interposing a premeditated confusion between its own programme and that of the International. This occurred wherever the Alliance was running, or collaborating with, a newspaper---in Spain, in Switzerland, in Italy; but it was in the Russian publications that the system reached perfection.
The sect struck a decisive blow during the Congress of the Romance Federation at La Chaux-de-Fonds (April 4, 1870). It was a matter of forcing the Geneva sections to recognise the public Alliance of Geneva as being part of the federation and of transferring the Federal Committee and its organ to a locality in Jura where the secret Alliance was in control.
When the Congress opened, two delegates from the "Alliance section" asked to be admitted. The Geneva delegates proposed the deferment of this matter until the end of the Congress and the immediate discussion of the programme as more important. They declared that their imperative mandate ordered them to resign rather than admit this section to their group,
``in view of the intrigues and domineering tendencies of the Alliance people, and because to vote for the admission of the Alliance would be to vote for a "split in the Romance Federation".
But the Alliance did not want to miss this opportunity. The proximity of the little Jura sections had enabled them to obtain a feeble fictitious majority, since Geneva and the 525 big centres of the International were only very weakly represented. On the insistence of Guillaume and Schwitzguebel, the section was admitted by a majority contested by only one or two votes. The Geneva delegates received from all the sections, which were immediately consulted by telegraph, the order to withdraw from the Congress. With the International's members at La Chaux-de-Fonds supporting the Genevans, the members of the Alliance had to leave the premises of the Congress, since they belonged to the local sections. Although, according to their own organ (see la Solidarite for May 7, 1870), they only represented fifteen sections, whereas Geneva alone had thirty, they usurped the name of the Romance Congress, nominated a new Romance Federal Committee, in which Chevalley and Cognon^^*^^ distinguished themselves, and promoted Guillaume's la Solidarite to the rank of the Romance Federation's organ. This young schoolmaster had the special mission of decrying "the = factory^^180^^ workers" of Geneva, those odious ``bourgeois'', of making war on I'Egalite, the newspaper of the Romance Federation, and of preaching absolute abstention in political matters. The most notable articles on this latter subject were written by Bastelica at Marseilles, and by the two pillars of the Alliance at Lyons, Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc.
Incidentally, the short-lived and fictitious majority of the Congress at La Chaux-de-Fonds had acted in flagrant violation of the statutes of the Romance Federation which it claimed to represent; and it should be noted that the Alliance's leaders had played an important part in compiling these = statutes.^^181^^ Under articles 53 and 55, any important decision by the Congress, to acquire force of law, had to be sanctioned by two-thirds of the federal sections. Now the sections of Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds alone, which had declared themselves opposed to the Alliance, constituted over two-thirds of the total number. At two big general meetings, the International's Geneva members, in spite of opposition from Bakunin and his friends, almost _-_-_
^^*^^ Two months later, the organ of that same Committee, la Solidarite for July 9 warned that these two persons were thieves. They had in fact proved their anarchic revolutionism by robbing the Co-- operative Association of Tailors in F.n ('Jinnx-do-Fonds.
526 unanimously approved the conduct of their delegates who, to general applause, suggested to the Alliance that it should stay where it belonged and give up its ambitions of entering the Romance Federation; on this condition, reconciliation could be achieved. Later, some disillusioned members of the Alliance proposed its dissolution, but Bakunin and his acolytes opposed this with all their might. Nevertheless, the Alliance continued to insist on joining the Romance Federation, which was then forced to decide on the expulsion of Bakunin and the other ringleaders.And so there were now two Romance Federal committees, one at Geneva, the other at La Chaux-de-Fonds. The vast majority of the sections remained loyal to the former, while the latter had a following of only fifteen sections, many of which, as we shall see later, ceased to exist one by one.
Hardly had the Romance Congress closed, when the new Committee at La Chaux-de-Fonds in a letter signed by F. Robert, secretary, and Henri Chevalley, chairman (see note on the previous page), called for the intervention of the General Council. After examining the documents submitted by both sides, the General Council decided, on June 28, 1870, to let the Geneva Committee retain its old functions, and to invite the new Federal Committee of La Chaux-de-Fonds to adopt a local = name.^^182^^ Disappointed in its hopes by this decision, the Committee of La Chaux-de-Fonds denounced the General Council for authoritarianism, forgetting that it had been the first to ask for the latter's intervention. The trouble caused to the Swiss Federation by this persistence in trying to usurp the name of the Romance Federal Committee forced the General Council to suspend all official relations with the Committee of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
On September 4, 1870, the Republic was proclaimed in Paris. The Alliance felt that the hour had come to "unchain the revolutionary hydra in Switzerland" (Guillaume's style). La Solidarite launched a manifesto demanding the formation of Swiss volunteers to fight the Prussians. This manifesto, if we are to believe the pedagogue Guillaume, although "in no way anonymous'', was nevertheless " unsigned''. Unfortunately, all the Alliance's belligerent fervour evaporated after the seizure of the newspaper and the manifesto. "But I,'' exclaimed the seething Guillaume, who was 527 burning to "risk his neck'', "I have remained at my post... by the newspaper's printing press" (Bulletin jurassien, June 15, 1872).
The revolutionary movement in Lyons was just flaring up. Bakunin hastened to rejoin his lieutenant, Albert Richard, and his sergeants, Bastelica and Gaspard Blanc. On September 28, the day of his arrival, the people had occupied the Town Hall. Bakunin installed himself there. And then came the critical moment, moment anticipated for many years, when Bakunin could at last accomplish the most revolutionary act that the world had ever seen: he decreed the Abolition of the State. But the State, in the shape and form of two companies of bourgeois National Guards, made an entry through a door which had inadvertently been left unguarded, cleared the hall, and forced Bakunin to beat a hasty retreat to Geneva.
At the very moment when the belligerent Guillaume was defending the September Republic "at his post'', his faithful Achates, Robin, fled from this Republic and sought refuge in London. Although aware that he was one of the Alliance's most fanatic supporters and, moreover, the author of the attacks launched against it in VEgalite, and in spite of the reports from the Brest sections on Robin's far from courageous conduct, the General Council accepted him owing to the absence of its French members. From that moment on, Robin never ceased to act as the officious correspondent of the Committee of La Chaux-de-Fonds. On March 14, 1871, he proposed convoking a private conference of the International to clear up the Swiss dispute. The Council, realising in advance that great events were brewing in Paris, flatly refused. Robin made several more attempts and even proposed that the Council should make a definite decision on the dispute. On July 25, the General Council decided that this matter should be one of the questions submitted to the Conference which was to be convoked in September 1871.
On August 10, the Alliance, little desirous of seeing its activities scrutinised by a conference, announced that it had been dissolved as from the sixth of that month. However, reinforced by a few French refugees, it soon reappeared under other names, such as the "Section of Socialist Atheists" and the "Section for Propaganda and Revolutionary 528 Socialist Action''. In conformity with Resolution V of the = Bash; Congress^^183^^ and hy agreement with the Romance Federal Committee, the General Council refused to recognise these sections, which were new hotbeds of intrigue.
The London Conference (September 1871) confirmed the General Council's decision of June 28, 1870 concerning the Jura ^dissidents.
La Solidarite had ceased to exist, and the new adherents of the Alliance founded la Revolution Sociale, one of whose contributors was Mme. Andre Leo. At the Congress of the League of Peace in Lausanne, when Ferre was in prison waiting for the time when he would go to Satory, she had diclared that
``Raoul Rigault and Ferre were the two sinister figures of the Commune who, until then" (the execution of the hostages) "had not ceased to demand bloody measures, though always unsuccessfully".
From its first issue, this newspaper had striven to put itself on the same level as le Figaro, le Gaulois, and le ParisJournal and other filthy rags by republishing their scurrilous attacks on the General Council. It now considered the time ripe for fanning the flames of national hatred oven within the International itself. According to it, the General Council was a German committee master-minded by a Bismarckian.
With its three resolutions concerning the Swiss dispute, the political action of the working class, and the public disowning of Nechayev, the Conference had hit the Alliance hard.^^184^^ The first of these resolutions placed the blame directly on the pseudo-Romance Committee at La Chaux-- deFonds and approved the action of the General Council. It advised the Jura sections to join the Romance Federation, and in the event of this union not proving possible, it decided that the sections representing the mountains should take the name of the Jura Federation. It was stated that if their committee continued its newspaper war in front of the bourgeois public, these papers would be disowned by the General Council.---The second resolution, on the political action of the working class, nullified the confusion which Bakunin had wished to cause in the International hy inserting into his programme the doctrine of absolute abstention 529 in political matters.---The third resolution, on Nechayev, was a direct threat to Bakunin. It will be seen later, when we discuss Russia, to what extent Bakunin was personally interested in hiding the nefarious deeds of the Alliance from Western Europe.
The Alliance rightly saw this as a declaration of war, and immediately went into action. The Jura sections which supported the pseudo-Romance committee met in Congress on November 12, 1871 at Sonvillier. There were sixteen delegates present who claimed to represent nine sections. In accordance with the report by the Federal Committee, the Courtelary section, represented by two delegates, "had suspended its activities''; the central section of Locle "had ended by dissolving itself'', but had temporarily reconstituted itself in order to send two delegates to the Congress of sixteen; the section representing the engravers and turners of Courtelary (two delegates) "formed as a resistance society" outside the International; the propaganda section of La Chaux-de-Fonds (one delegate) "is in a critical situation, and its position, far from improving, tends rather to deteriorate''. The central section of Neuchatel (two delegates, one of them Guillaume) "has suffered considerably, and would have inevitably fallen, but for the dedication of several members''. The two social study circles of Sonvillier and Saint-Imier (four delegates) in the district of Courtelary were formed, according to the report, due to the dissolution of the Courtelary central section; now, the few members of this district had themselves represented three times, and by six delegates! The Moutier section (one delegate) seemed only to consist of its Committee. And so of sixteen delegates, fourteen represented dead or moribund sections. But to gain some idea of the damage done to this federation by the preaching of anarchy, one must read this report a little further. Of twenty-two sections, only nine were represented at the Congress; seven had never replied to any of the Committee's communications, and four were declared well and truly defunct. And this is the federation which believed itself called to shake the International to its very foundations!
The Congress of Sonvillier began, however, by submitting to the London Conference, which had imposed on it the
34--0960
530 name of the Jura Federation; but at the same time, as proof of anarchism, it declared that the whole of the Romance Federation was dissolved. (The latter restored autonomy to the Jurassians by driving them out of the sections.) The Congress then put out its bombastic circular with the principal aim of protesting against the legality of the Conference and of appealing to a general Congress which should be convoked as soon as possible.The circular accused the International of having deviated from its spirit, which was no less than "an immense protest against authority''. Until the Congress of Brussels, everything had been for the best in the best of all possible societies; but at Basle, the delegates lost their heads and, prey to "blind trust'', they "violated the spirit and the letter of the general statutes" in which the autonomy of each section and each group of sections had been so clearly proclaimed. Now the International had written the word authority on its banners, but the Jura Federation, that puppet of the Alliance, had written autonomy of the sections. We have already seen how the Alliance means to put this autonomy into practice.
The sins of the Basle Congress were exceeded even more by those of the London Conference, whose resolutions
``tend to make the International, a free federation of autonomous sections, into an hierarchic and authoritarian organisation of disciplined sections placed entirely in the hands of a General Council which can, at will, refuse their admission or even suspend their activities".
The members of the Alliance who drew up this circular evidently forgot that their secret rules were only made to consolidate an "hierarchic and authoritarian organisation" dominated by permanent "Citizen B.'', and that instructions were being given in it to ``discipline'' the sections and place them not only "in the hands'', but under "the high hand'', of that same ``citizen''.
If the sins of the Conference were mortal, then the sin of sins, the sin against the holy spirit, was committed by the General Council. There were "several individuals" who considered their
``mandate'' (as Council members) "to be their own private property, and London seemed to them the immutable capital of our Association.... Some went so far ... as to want to dominate the International 531 with their own special programme, their personal doctrine ... as the only official theory acknowledged in the Association ... and in this way an orthodoxy gradually formed with its seat at London and the members of the General Council as its representatives".
In short, they wanted to establish the unity of the International by "centralisation and dictatorship".---In this same circular, the Alliance aspired to dominate the International "with its own special programme'', declaring it to be "an immense protest against authority" and proclaiming that the emancipation of the workers by the workers themselves must be achieved "without any controlling authority, even though this authority has been elected and sanctioned by the workers''. We shall see that wherever the Alliance had any influence, it did exactly what it falsely accused the General Council of doing---it tried to impose its ridiculous travesty of a theory as "the only official theory acknowledged in the Association".^^*^^---This only affected the Alliance's public and open activities. As for its secret activities, "the spirit and the letter" of the secret statutes have already enlightened us concerning the degree of ``orthodoxy'', of "personal doctrine'', of ``centralisation'' and of ``dictatorship'' which reigned in this "free federation of autonomous groups''. We fully realise that the Alliance wanted to prevent the working class from creating for itself a common leadership, since Bakunin's providence had already foreseen this when setting up his Alliance as the general staff of the revolution.
Far from wanting to impose an orthodoxy on the International, the General Council had proposed at the London Conference that the sectarian names of certain sections _-_-_
^^*^^ Mazzini, for example, held the entire International responsible ior the grotesque inventions of pope Bakunin. The General Council felt itself obliged to declare publicly in the Italian newspapers that it "has always opposed the repeated attempts to substitute for the broad, comprehensive programme of the International Working Men's Association (which has made membership open to Bakunin s followers) Bakunin's narrow and sectarian programme, the adoption of which would automatically entail the exclusion of the vast majority of members of the = International".^^186^^ Jules Favre's circular, the report of the Rural Sacaze on our Association, the reactionary discussions during the debates by the Spanish Cortes on the = International,^^186^^ and, finally all the public attacks launched against it, are riddled with quotations of ultra-anarchist phrases that originated in the Bakuninist camp.
__PRINTERS_P_531_COMMENT__ 34* 532 should be abolished, and this proposition was accepted unanimously.^^*^^Here is the General Council's statement on sects in its private circular (Fictitious Splits, p. = 24^^187^^).
``The first phase of the proletariat's struggle against the bourgeoisie is marked by a sectarian movement. That is logical at a time when the proletariat has not yet developed sufficiently to act as a class. Certain thinkers criticise social antagonisms and suggest fantastic solutions thereof, which the mass of workers is left to accept, preach and put into practice. The sects formed by these initiators are abstentionist by their very nature, i.e., alien to all real action, politics, strikes, coalitions, or, in a word, to any united movement. The mass of the proletariat always remains indifferent or; even hostile to their propaganda. The Paris and Lyons workers did not want the Saint-Simonians, the Fourierists, the Icarians, any more than the Chartists and the English trades unionists wanted the Owenists. These sects act as levers of the movement in the beginning, but become an obstruction as soon as the movement outgrows them; after which they become reactionary. Witness the sects in France and England, and lately the Lassalleans in Germany who, after having hindered the proletariat's organisation for several years, ended by becoming simple instruments of the police. To sum up, we have here the infancy of the proletarian movement, just as astrology and alchemy are the infancy of science. If the International were to be founded it was necessary that the proletariat would go through this phase.
``Contrary to the sectarian organisations with their vagaries and rivalries, the International is a genuine and militant organisation of the proletarian class of all countries united _-_-_
^^*^^ Resolution II of the Conference, Art. 2: "The branches, sections, or local groups and their Committees shall designate and constitute themselves simply and exclusively as branches, sections, groups and committees of the International Working Men's Association, adding the name of their respective locality''. Art. 3: "Branches, sections, or groups shall henceforth be forbidden to designate themselves by names of a sect, such as positivist, mutualist, collectivist, communist branch, etc., or to form separatist groups under the name of 'propaganda section', etc., taking on special missions outside the common goal pursued by all groups of the International."
533 in their common struggle against the capitalists and the landowners, against their class power organised in the state. The International's Rules, therefore, speak of only simple workers' societies, all following the same goal and accepting the same programme, which presents a general outline of the proletarian movement, while leaving its theoretical elaboration to be guided by the needs of the practical struggle and the exchange of ideas in the sections, unrestrictedly admitting all shades of socialist convictions in their organs and Congresses."The Alliance did not want the International to be a militant society. The circular demanded that it should be the faithful image of the future society:
``We must therefore try to bring this organisation as close as possible to our ideal.... The International, embryo of the future human society, must henceforth be the faithful image of our principle of liberty, and federation, and must reject any principle leading to authoritarianism, to dictatorship."
If the Jura Federation had succeeded in its plan to transform the International into the faithful image of a society which did not yet exist, and to forbid it any means of concerted action, with the secret aim of subjecting it to the "authoritarianism and dictatorship" of the Alliance and its permanent dictator, "Citizen B.'', this would have gratified the desires of the European police, who wanted nothing more than to see the International forced to retreat.
To prove to their old colleagues of the League of Peace and to the radical bourgeoisie that the campaign which they had just launched was directed against the International and not against the bourgeoisie, the men of the Alliance sent their circular to all the radical newspapers. M. Gambetta's la Republique frangaise hastened to acknowledge their services with an] article full of encouragement for the Jurassians and attacks on the London = Conference.^^188^^ Le Bulletin jurassien, happy to have found this support in the bourgeois press, reproduced in extenso this article in its issue No. 3, thus showing that the ultra-revolutionary members of the Alliance and the Gambettists of Versailles were united by an entente that was indeed cordiale. To spread more widely among the bourgeoisie the welcome tidings of an incipient split in the International, the Sonvillier circular was sold 534 in the streets of several French cities, notably Montpellier, on market day. It is known that the sale of printed matter on the streets, in France, must be authorised by the police.^^*^^
This circular was distributed by the bale wherever the Alliance thought it could recruit friends and malcontents against the General Council. The result was almost negligible. The Spanish members of the Alliance declared themselves opposed to the convocation of the Congress as demanded by the circular and even had the audacity to send reprimands to the = pope.^^190^^ In Italy, only one person, Terzaghi, declared himself in favour of the Congress for a while. In Belgium, where there were no known members of the Alliance, but where the International's entire movement was floundering in a morass of bourgeois phrases about political abstention, autonomy, liberty, federation, and decentralisation and was stuck fast in its own petty parochial interests, the circular had some success. Although the Belgian Federal Council abstained from supporting the convocation of an extraordinary General Congress---which, incidentally, would have been absurd, since Belgium had been represented by six delegates at the Conference---it drewup a draft general statutes which simply suppressed the General Council. When this proposition was discussed at the Belgian Congress, the delegate for Lodelinsart observed that the best criterion, for the workers, was the mood of their employers. To judge solely by the joy which the idea of suppressing the General Council engendered among the employers, it could be claimed that it was impossible to
``commit a bigger blunder than to decree this suppression".
The proposition was consequently rejected. In Switzerland, the Romance Federation protested = vigorously,^^191^^ but everywhere else the circular was merely received with the silence of contempt.
The General Council replied to the Sonvillier Circular and to the Alliance's continual manoeuvrings with a private circular: Fictitious Splits in the International dated March 5, 1872. A large part of this circular has been summarised _-_-_
^^*^^ The Toulouse = Trial.^^188^^ See la Re forme (of Toulouse), March~18, 1873.
535 above. The Hague Congress effectively dealt with these intrigues and with the intriguers themselves.Indeed, these men who made a noise out of all proportion to their importance, met with indisputable success. The whole of the liberal and police press openly sided with (hem; in their personal defamation of the General Council and their impotent attacks on the International, they were backed by self-styled reformers from all countries: in England, by the bourgeois republicans whose intrigues were foiled by the General Council; in Italy, by the dogmatic free-thinkers who, under Stefanoni's banner, proposed to found a "universal society of rationalists" with an obligatory seat at Rome, an ``authoritarian'' and ``hierarchic'' organisation, atheist monasteries and convents, etc., and whose statutes award a marble bust to be installed in the Congress hall for every bourgeois who donates ten thousand francs; finally, in Germany, by the Bismarck socialists who, apart from their police newspaper, the Neuer SocialDemokrat, act as = whiteshirts^^192^^ for the Prusso-German Empire.
When la Revolution Sociale ceased publication, the Alliance used as its official press organ le Bulletin jurassien which, under pretext of protecting the autonomous sections against the authoritarianism of the General Council and against the usurpations of the London Conference, was working to disorganise the International. Its issue of March 20, 1872 frankly averred that
``by International it does not mean this or that organisation embracing part of the proletariat today. Organisations are secondary and transitory.... The International is, to put it more generally, the feeling of solidarity among the exploited which dominates the modern world .
The International reduced to a pure "feeling of solidarity" will be even more platonic than Christian charity. To give proof of the honest methods applied by the Bulletin, we quote the following passage from a letter by Tokarzewicz, editorin-chief of the Polish newspaper WolnoSc in Zurich:
536``In le Bulletin jurassien No. 13, there is a programme of the Polish Socialist Society of Zurich which will publish its newspaper Wolnosc in a few days. We authorise you, three days after the receipt of this letter, to inform the International's General Council that the programme is = /a/ce."^^193^^
The issue of this Bulletin for June 15 contains the answers from the Alliance members (Bakunin, Malon, Claris, Guillaume, etc.) to the General Council's private circular. Their answers do not answer any of the accusations which the General Council brought against the Alliance and its leaders. The pope, at a loss for explanations, decided to close the debate by calling the circular "a pile of filth".
``Moreover,'' he declared, "I have always reserved the right to bring all my calumniators before a jury of honour, which the next Congress will doubtless not refuse me. A nd as soon as this jury OFFERS ME all the guarantees of an impartial and serious trial, I will be able to reveal to it, with all the necessary details, all the facts, both political and personal, without fearing the inconveniences and dangers of an indiscreet disclosure."
Needless to say, Citizen B. risked his neck---as usual. He did not appear at The Hague.
The Congress was drawing near, and the Alliance knew that before it was held, a report was to be published on the Nechayev affair. Citizen Utin had been commissioned by the Conference to compile it. It was of vital importance that this report should not be published before the Congress, so that the members would not be fully informed about it. Citizen Utin went to Zurich to carry out his task. Hardly had lie settled there, when he was the victim of an assassination attempt which we unhesitatingly ascribe to the Alliance. In Zurich, Utin had no enemies apart from a few Slavs of the Alliance under the "high hand" of Bakunin. Moreover, the organisation of ambushes and assassinations is one of the methods of struggle recognised and employed by this society; we shall see other examples in Spain and Russia. Eight persons who spoke a Slavonic language lay in wait for Utin in an isolated spot near a canal. When he drew near them, they attacked him from behind, hit him repeatedly on the head with large stones, inflicted a dangerous wound on one of his eyes, and would have killed him and thrown him into the canal after first beating him up, had it not been for the arrival of four German students. On seeing them, the assassins fled. This attempt did not prevent Citizen Utin from finishing his work and sending it to the Congress.
537After the Congress of the League of Peace held at Berne in September 1868, Fanelli, one of the Alliance's founders and a member of the Italian parliament, went to Madrid. He had been furnished with references by Bakunin for Garrido, deputy at Cortes, who put him in touch with republican circles, bourgeois and working-class alike. A short while after, in November of that year, Alliance membership cards were sent from Geneva to Morago, Cordova y Lopez (republican with ambitions of becoming a deputy and the editor of Combate, a bourgeois newspaper), and to Rubau Donadeu (unsuccessful candidate for Barcelona, founder of a pseudo-socialist party). The knowledge of the arrival of these membership cards threw the young international section of Madrid into confusion. President Jalvo withdrew, not wanting to belong to an association which harboured a secret society composed of bourgeois and which allowed itself to be ruled by that society.
As early as the Basle Congress, the Spanish International had been represented by two Alliance members, Farga Pellicer and Sentinon, who is featured on the official list of delegates as "delegate for the Alliance''. After the Congress of the Spanish International in Barcelona (July 1870), the Alliance established itself at Palma, Valencia, Malaga and Cadiz. In 1871, sections were founded at Seville and Cordoba. At the beginning of 1871, Morago and Vinas, delegates of the Barcelona Alliance, suggested to members of the Federal Council (Francisco Mora, Angel Mora, Anselmo Lorenzo, Borrell, etc.) ... the foundation of an Alliance section in Madrid; but the latter objected, saying that the Alliance was a dangerous society if it was secret, and useless if it was public. For the second time, the mere mention of the name was enough to sow the seeds of discord in the heart of the Federal Council; Borrell even uttered these prophetic words:
``From now on, all trust between us is dead."
But when government persecution forced the members of the Federal Council to emigrate to Portugal, it was there that Morago again succeeded in convincing them of the 538 usefulness of this secret association, and it was there that the Alliance section of Madrid was founded at their initiative. At Lisbon, a few Portuguese, who were members of the International, were affiliated to the Alliance by Morago. Finding, however, that these newcomers did not offer him enough guarantees, he founded, without their knowledge, another Alliance group consisting of the worst elements among the bourgeois and the workers, recruited from the freemasons. This new group, which included an unfrocked curate named Bonanca, attempted to organise the International by sections of ten members who, under its direction, were to help carry out the schemes of the Gomte de Peniche, and whom this political intriguer managed to drag into a dangerous venture of which the sole aim was to put him in power. In view of the Alliance intrigues in Portugal and Spain, the Portuguese members of the International withdrew from this secret society and at the Hague Congress they pressed for its expulsion from the International as a public safety measure.
At the Conference of the Spanish International at Valencia (September 1871), the Alliance delegates, also delegates of the International as always, gave their secret society a complete organisation for the Hiberian peninsula. The majority of them, believing that the Alliance programme was identical to that of the International, that this secret organisation existed everywhere, that it was almost a duty to join it, and that the Alliance was striving to develop and not dominate the International, decided that all the members of the Federal Council should be initiated. As soon as Morago, who until then had not dared to return to Spain, heard about this fact, he came to Madrid in all haste and accused Mora of "wanting to subordinate the Alliance to the International'', which was contrary to the Alliance's intentions. And to give weight to this opinion, he let Mesa read, the following January, a letter from Bakunin in which the latter evolved a Machiavellian plan for domination over the working class. This plan was as follows:
``The Alliance must appear to exist within the International, but in reality at a certain distance from it, in order better to observe and control it. For this reason, members who belong to Councils and Committees of International sections must always be in the 539 minority In the Alliance sections." (Statement by Jose Mesa, dated September 1, 1872, addressed to the Hague Congress).^^*^^
At a meeting of the Alliance, Morago accused Mesa of having betrayed Bakunin's society by initiating all the members of the Federal Council, which gave them a majority in the Alliance section and established, in fact, the domination of the International over the Alliance. To avoid this domination, the secret instructions prescribed that only one or two Alliance members should infiltrate into the councils or committees of the International and control them under the direction and with the support of the Alliance section where all resolutions were passed which the International ought to adopt. From that moment, Morago declared war on the Federal Council and, as in Portugal, founded a new Alliance section which remained unknown to those under suspicion. The initiates at various points in Spain backed him up and began to accuse the Federal Council of neglecting its duties to the Alliance, as is proved by a circular from the Valencia Alliance section (January 30, 1872) signed ``Damon'', Montoro's Alliance = pseudonym.^^194^^
When the Sonvillier circular arrived, the Spanish Alliance took care not to side with Jura. Even the mother section of Barcelona, in an official letter of November 14, 1871, treated pope Michael, whom it suspected of personal rivalry with Karl Marx,^^**^^ very curtly and in an altogether heretic manner.
_-_-_^^*^^ See pp. 361--62.---Ed.
^^**^^ Copies of this letter, addressed by Alerini "on behalf of the Barcelona group" of the Alliance to "my dear Bastelica and dear friends'', were sent to all the sections of the Spanish Alliance. Here are some extracts:
``The present General Council cannot last beyond next year's Congress, and its baneful activities can only be temporary.... A public rupture, on the contrary, would deal our cause a blow from which it would only recover with difficulty, assuming it resisted. We cannot, then, encourage in any way your separatist tendencies.... Some of us have wondered if, apart from the question of principle, there might not also be in it, or alongside it, personal problems---problems of rivalry, for instance, between our friend Michael and Karl Marx, between the members of the old A . and the General Council.... We have been distressed to see, in la Revolution Sociale, the attacks on the General Council and Karl Marx.... When we know the opinion of our friends on the peninsula, who are influencing the local councils, then this might change __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 540. 540
The Federal Council supported this letter, which shows how little influence the Swiss centre had in Spain at the time. But afterwards it was noticeable that grace had fallen on the recalcitrant hearts. At a meeting of the Madrid Federation of the International (January 7, 1872), at which the Sonvillier circular was discussed, the new group, controlled by Morago, prevented the reading "of the Romance Federation's counter-circular and suppressed the discussion. On February 24, Rafar (Alliance pseudonym of Rafael Farga) wrote to the Alliance's Madrid section:
``It is essential to kill the reactionary influences and authoritarian tendencies of the General Council."
However, it was only at Palma in Majorca that the Alliance was able to achieve the public adherence of the International's members to the Jura circular. It can he seen that ecclesiastical discipline was beginning to break the last attempts at resistance to the infallibility of the pope.
Faced with all this underground work, the Spanish Federal Council realised that it must get rid of the Alliance as soon as possible. The government persecutions furnished it with a pretext. In the event of the International's dissolution, it proposed to form secret groups of "defenders of the International" into which the Alliance sections would imperceptibly merge. The introduction of numerous members was bound to change the character of the sections, and they would finally disappear with these groups on the day when the persecutions ceased. But the Alliance guessed at the hidden purpose of this plan and foiled it, although without this organisation, the International's existence in Spain would have been in jeopardy if the government had carried out its threats. The Alliance, on the contrary, made the following proposal:
``If we are outlawed, it would he useful to give the International an external form which could be allowed by the government; the local __-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 539. pur attitude towards a general decision, to which we shall conform in every respect, etc., etc."
The old A. is the public Alliance strangled at birth by the General Council. The copy of the letter from which we have taken these passages is in Alerini's handwriting.
541 councils would be like secret cells which, under the Alliance's influence, would impose on the sections a wholly revolutionary direction.'' (Circular of the Alliance's Seville section, October 25, 1871.^^195^^)
Cowardly in action, bold in words---such was the Alliance in Spain, as elsewhere.
The London Conference's resolution on working-class politics forced the Alliance into open hostilities with the International and gave the Federal Council an opportunity to state its perfect agreement with the great majority of the International's membership. Furthermore, it suggested the idea of forming a big working men's party in Spain. To achieve this aim, the working class would first have to be completely isolated from all the bourgeois parties, especially the Republican party which recruited most of its voters and active supporters from the workers. The Federal Council advised abstention in all elections of deputies, whether monarchist or republican. To rid the people of all illusions about the pseudo-socialist phraseology of the Republicans, the editors of la Emancipation, who were also members of the Federal Council, sent a letter to the representatives of the Federalist Republican party, who were holding a congress in Madrid, in which they asked them for practical measures and called on them to state their attitude to the International's = programme.^^198^^ This meant delivering a serious blow to the Republican party. The Alliance undertook to soften it, since it was, on the contrary, in league with the = Republicans.^^197^^ In Madrid, it founded a newspaper, El Condenado, which adopted as its programme the three cardinal virtues of the Alliance: Atheism, Anarchy, and Collectivism; but which preached to the workers that they should not demand a reduction in working hours. ``Brother'' Morago had a fellow contributor in Estebanez, one of the three members of the Republican party's control committee and lately governor of Madrid and Minister for War. At Malaga, Pino, a member of the Federal Commission of the pseudo-International, and, at Madrid, Felipe Martin, now the Alliance's commercial traveller, were serving the Republican party as electoral agents. And in order to have its Fanelli in the Spanish Cortes, the Alliance proposed backing Morago's candidature.
542The Alliance already had two serious grudges against the Federal Council: 1) the latter had abstained on the Jura question; 2) it had also attempted to infringe its [the Alliance's! inviolability. After the Council adopted a position over the Republican party which wrecked all the Alliance's plans, the latter decided to destroy it. The letter to the Republican Congress was taken by the Alliance as a declaration of war. La Igualdad, the party's most influential organ, violently attacked the editors of La Emancipation and accused them of having sold themselves to Sagasta. El Condenado encouraged this disgraceful charge by maintaining a stubborn silence. The Alliance did more for the Republican party. As a result of this letter, it had the editors of La Emancipation expelled from the International's Madrid Federation, which it dominated.
In spite of government persecution, the Federal Council, during its six-month period of administration after the Conference of Valencia, had raised the number of local federations from 13 to 70; it had, in 100 other localities, prepared the setting up of local federations and had organised eight trades into national resistance societies; moreover, the great association of Catalan factory workers was being formed under its auspices. These services had given the members of the Council such moral influence that Bakunin felt it necessary to bring them back on to the path of truth with a long fatherly admonition sent to Mora, the Council's general secretary, on April 5, 1872 (see Documents, No.~3^^*^^). The Congress of Saragossa (April 4-11, 1872), despite the efforts of the Alliance, which was represented by at least twelve delegates, annulled the expulsion and renominated two of the expelled members for the new Federal Council, ignoring their repeated refusals to accept their candidatures.
During the Congress of Saragossa, as always, the Alliance was holding secret meetings on the side. The members of the Federal Council proposed dissolving the Alliance. To prevent the proposal being rejected, it was neatly circumvented. Two months later, on June 2, those same citizens, in their capacity as leaders of the Spanish Alliance and on behalf of its Madrid section, sent the other sections a _-_-_
^^*^^ See pp. 637--39 of this volume.---Ed.
543 circular in which they renewed their proposal, giving the following reason:``The Alliance has deviated i'rom the path which it should, in our opinion, have taken in this region; it has falsified the idea which brought it into being and, instead of being an integral part of our great Association, an active element which would have given impetus to the different organisations, of the International by helping and encouraging them in their development, it has broken away completely from the rest of the Association and has become an organisation apart and, as it were, superior, with tendencies towards domination, introducing mistrust, discord and division among us__ At Saragossa, instead of bringing solutions and ideas, it has, on the contrary, only put impediments and obstacles in the way of the important work of the Congress."
Of all the Spanish Alliance sections, only the one at Cadiz responded by announcing its dissolution. On the very next day, the Alliance again had the signatories of the June 2 circular expelled from the International's Madrid Federation. It used as its pretext an article in La Emancipation of June 1 which demanded an enquiry into
``the sources of the wealth acquired by ministers, generals, magistrates, public officials, mayors, etc. ... and by all those in politics who, without having exercised any public functions, have lived under the wing of the governments, lending them their support in the Cortes and hiding their iniquities under a mask of false opposition ... and whose property should have been confiscated as a first measure on the day after a = revolution".^^198^^
The Alliance saw this as a direct attack on its friends in the Republican party and, accused the editors of La Emancipation of having betrayed the cause of the proletariat under the pretext that in demanding the confiscation of property stolen from the State, they implicitly recognised private property. Nothing demonstrates more clearly the reactionary spirit which was hidden under the Alliance's revolutionary charlatanism and which it wanted to inject into the working class. Nothing proves more clearly the bad faith of the Alliance members than the expulsion, as defenders of private property, of the very men whom they had anathematised for their communist ideas.
This new expulsion was made in violation of the rules in force prescribing the formation of a jury of honour for which the accused could nominate two out of the seven jurors, against whose verdict he could appeal to the section's 544 general assembly. Instead of all this, the Alliance, in order to avoid any restriction of its autonomy, had the expulsion decreed at the same sitting at which it made the accusation. Out of the section's total membership of 130, only 15 were present, and these were in league with one another. The expelled members appealed to the Federal Council.
This Council, thanks to the Alliance's intrigues, had been transferred to Valencia. Of the two members of the old Federal Council who were re-elected at the Congress of Saragossa, Mora had not accepted and Lorenzo had tendered his resignation shortly afterwards. From that moment, the Federal Council belonged body and soul to the Alliance. And so it responded to the appeal of the expelled members with a declaration of its incompetence, although Article 7 of the Spanish Federation's rules imposed on it the duty of suspending, with the right of appeal to the next Congress, any local federation which violated the statutes. The expelled members then formed a "new federation" and demanded recognition from the Council which, in deference to the autonomy of the sections, formally refused. The New Madrid Federation then approached the General Council, which accepted it in conformity with Articles^ II, 7 and IV, 4 of the Administrative = Regulations.^^199^^ The Hague General Congress approved this act and unanimously admitted the delegate from the New Madrid Federation.^^*^^
The Alliance realised the full importance of this first rebellious move. It realised that, unless it were strangled at birth, the Spanish International, so docile hitherto, would slip out of its hands; and so it set in motion all the means at its disposal, honest and otherwise. It began with defamation. It announced in the newspapers and posted up in the section halls the names of the expelled members: Angel and Francisco Mora, Jose Mesa, Victor Pages, Iglesias, Saenz, Calleja, Pauly and Lafargue were dubbed traitors. Mora, who, to carry out hisduties as generalsecretary, had given up his job and for long months had been maintained by his brother, since there were no funds out of which to pay him, was accused of having lived at the International's expense. Mesa, who was editing a fashion magazine to earn _-_-_
^^*^^ Paul Lafargue. ---Ed.
545 his living and had just translated an article for an illustrated journal, was alleged to have sold himself to the bourgeoisie. Lafargue was charged with 'the mortal sin of having, by a gargantuan dinner, submitted to the temptations of St. Anthony the weak flesh of Martinez and Montoro, two members of the new Federal Council of the Alliance, as if they carried their consciences in their paunches. We are only mentioning here the public and published libels. These measures failing to yield the results desired, the next move was intimidation. In Valencia, Mora was lured into an ambush by members of the Federal Council who were waiting for him armed with clubs. He was rescued by the members of the local federation who knew the ways of these gentlemen and asserted that it was in the face of arguments equally striking that Lorenzo had tendered his resignation. At Madrid, a similar attempt was made shortly afterwards on Iglesias. The Alliance congregation of the Index marked out La Emancipation for the censure of the faithful. At Cadiz, to instil a salutary fear into the hearts of the sinful, it was stated that any person selling La Emancipation would be expelled from the International as a traitor. The Alliance's anarchy takes the form of inquisitorial practice.As was its custom, the Alliance tried to have all the representation of the Spanish International at the Hague Congress made up of its own members. To this end, the Federal Council passed round the sections a private circular which was kept secret from the New Madrid Federation. It proposed to send to the Congress a collective representation elected by the votes of all members of the International, and to raise a general contribution of 25 centimes per head to defray the expenses. Since the local federations had no time to arrive at an agreement on the candidatures, it was clear, as the facts proved, that the Alliance's official candidates, delegated to the Congress at the International's expense, would be elected. However, this circular fell into the hands of the New Madrid Federation and was forwarded to the General Council which, knowing that the Federal Council was subordinate to the Alliance, saw that the moment for action had arrived and sent a letter to the Spanish Federal Council, in which it was stated:
35---0960
546``Citizens,
``We hold proof that within the International, and^ particularly in Spain, there exists a secret society called the Alliance of Socialist Democracy. This society, whose centre is in Switzerland, considers it its special mission to [guide our great Association in the direction of its own particular inclinations and lead it towards goals unknown to the vast majority of International members. Moreover, we know from the Seville Razon that at least three members of your Council belong to the Alliance....
``If the character and organisation of this society were already contrary to the spirit and the letter of our Rules, when it was still public, its secret existence within the International, in spite of its promise, represents no less than treason against our Association. The International knows but one type of members, all with equal rights and duties; the Alliance divided them into two classes, the initiated and the uninitiated, the latter doomed to be led by the former by means of an organisation of whose very existence they are unaware. The International demands that its members should acknowledge Truth, Justice and Morality as the basis of their conduct; the Alliance obliges its supporters to hide from the uninitiated members of the International the existence of the secret organisation, the motives and even the aim of their words and = deeds."^^200^^
The General Council also asked them to provide certain material for the inquiry into the Alliance which it intended to present to the Hague Congress, and an explanation of how they reconciled their duties to the International with the presence in the heart of the Federal Council of at least three notorious members of the Alliance.
The Federal Council replied with an evasive letter in which, however, it recognised the Alliance's existence.
Since the manoeuvres which we have been discussing seemed inadequate to guarantee the success of the election, the Alliance went so far in its newspapers as to nominate Farga, Alerini, Soriano, Marselau, Mendez and Morago as official candidates. The result of the voting was: Marselau--- 3,568; Morago---3,442; Mendez---2,850; Soriano---2,751. Of the other candidates, Lostau obtained 2,430 votes in four Catalan towns which were clearly not yet properly 547 disciplined; Fuster scored 1,053 votes at Sans in Catalonia. None of the other candidates gained more than 250 votes. To ensure the election of Farga and Alerini, the Federal Council gave the city of Barcelona, where the Alliance predominated, the privilege of nominating its own delegates, who were, naturally, Alerini and Farga.---The same official circular stated that the four Catalan towns which had nominated Lostau and Fuster, thus rejecting the Alliance's official candidates, paid 2,654 reales (663 Irs. 50 c.) for the delegation's expenses whereas the other Spanish cities, on _ which the Alliance had foisted its own candidates, since the workers were little accustomed to managing their own affairs, only paid a total of 2,799 reales (699 its. 75 c.). The Mew Madrid Federation had good reason to say that the money of the International's members was beingused to send the Alliance's delegates to The Hague. Furthermore, the Alliance's Federal Council did not pay in full the subscriptions due to the General Council.
t All this was not enough for the Alliance. It had to have an Alliance imperative mandate for its delegates, and this is how it was wangled. Through its circular of July 7, the Federal Council demanded, and obtained, the authorisation to lump together in one collective mandate the imperative mandates issued by the local federations. This manoeuvre, worse than any Bonapartist = plebiscite,^^201^^ allowed the Alliance to draw up for its delegation a mandate which it intended to impose on the Congress, while forbidding its own delegates to take part in the voting unless an immediate change was made in the manner of voting as prescribed to the International in its Administrative Regulations. That this was mere mystification is proved by the fact that the Spanish delegates at the Congress of Saint-Imier, despite their mandate, took part in the voting which was being carried out by federations, the manner so much praised by Castelar and practised by the League of Peace.^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ Sentinon, a doctor of medicine in Barcelona, a personal friend of Bakunin, and one of the founders of the Spanish Alliance, advised members of the International well before the Hague Congress not to pay their subscriptions to the General Council because it would use them to buy rifles. He tried to prevent the Spanish International from defending the cause of the defeated Commune. Imprisoned for __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 548. __PRINTERS_P_547_COMMENT__ 35* 548
In Italy, the Alliance preceded the International. Pope Michael stayed there and built up numerous contacts among the young radical elements of the bourgeoisie. The first __-_-_-__ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 547. a press oSence, he launched a manifesto in which he courageously renounced the International, which was being persecuted at the time. Shunned for this by the whole of the working class in Barcelona, he nevertheless continued to be one of the Alliance's secret leaders, for in a letter of August 14, 1871, three months after the collapse of the Commune, Montoro, a member of the Alliance, referred an Alliance correspondent to Sentinon who, he said, could recommend him and confirm his Alliance membership.
Vi\~nas, a medical student, whom Sentinon, in a letter of January 26, 1872, recommended to Liebknecht as "the soul of the International in Barcelona'', left the International during the persecution so as not to compromise his family, although the police did not even bother to imprison him.
Farga Pellicer, another Alliance leader, was accused in the same letter from Sentinon of having absconded during the persecution, leaving the others to take the legal responsibility for his articles. The rabbit-like courage of the Alliance members boldly asserts, at all times and in all places, their anti-authoritarian autonomy. Their way of protesting against the authority of the bourgeois state is to take flight.
Soriano, another leader, and a professor of ... occult sciences, withdrew from the International at the height of the persecution. At the Congress of Saragossa, he opposed, with pathetic courage, the public holding of the Congress demanded by Lafargue and other delegates, because he considered it imprudent to provoke the anger of the authorities. Recently, under Amadeus, Soriano accepted a government post.
Morago, shopkeeper and frequenter of taverns, preserved his autonomy as a professional gambler by living on the earnings of his wife and his apprentices. When the Federal Council emigrated to Lisbon, he deserted his post as member of the Council and suggested throwing the International's papers into the sea. When Sagasta outlawed the International, he again deserted his post as member of the Madrid local Council and sheltered from the storm in the haven of the Alliance. Although lacking a Christ, the Alliance abounded in St. Peters.
Clements Bove, as Chairman of the Catalan Factory Workers' Association (las tres clases de = vapor™^^2^^), was discharged and expelled for his excessively autonomous handling of funds.
Dionisio Garcia Fraile, called "our dear colleague" by la Federation, an Alliance organ, in its issue of July 28, 1872, when he published a long letter full of attacks on the New Madrid Federation, worked for the police at Saint-Sebastien and embezzled funds belonging to sections of the International.
549 section of the Italian International, the one at Naples, was, since the time of its foundation, controlled by these bourgeois and Alliance elements. Gambuzzi,^^*^^ a lawyer and one of the founders of the Alliance, raised his "model worker" Caporusso to the chairmanship of the section. At the Basle Congress, Bakunin, arm in arm with his faithful Caporusso, represented the Neapolitan members of the International, whereas Fanelli,^^**^^ the Antonelli of the Alliance and a delegate for workers' associations formed outside the International, was delayed en route owing to illness.His close friendship with the Holy Father went to our brave Caporusso's head. On returning to Naples, he thought himself superior to the other Alliance members; he behaved as if he were the boss of the section.
``His trip to Basle changed Caporusso completely.... He came back from the Congress with strange ideas and pretensions entirely contrary to our association's principles. He spoke, at first quietly, then openly in an imperious manner, of powers which he did not, and could not, have; he affirmed that the General Council had confidence in no one but himself, and that if the section did not bow to his will, he had been empowered to dissolve it and found another.'' (Official report from the Naples section to the General Council, July 1871, drawn up and signed by Carmelo Palladini, Alliance lawyer.)
_-_-_^^*^^ ``One of Caporusso's most fervent partisans was the lawyer Carlo Gambuzzi, who thought he had found in him the ideal chairman for an International section. It was Gambuzzi who furnished him with the necessary means to go to the Basle Congress. When Caporusso's expulsion was decided upon in the general assembly of the section, Gambuzzi protested vigorously against the publication of this fact in the bulletin, and also persuaded his friends not to insist on the insertion in the bulletin of the other shameful fact, the embezzlement of 300 fr.'' (Letter from Cafiero, July 12, 1871).*»
^^**^^ Fanelli had long been a member of the Italian parliament. On being questioned about this matter, Gambuzzi stated that it was an excellent thing to be a deputy; that it made you immune to the police and allowed you to travel free of charge on all the Italian railways. The Alliance forbade the workers all political action, since to demand of the State any regulation of working hours for women and children was to recognise the State and to acknowledge the principle of evil; but the Alliance's bourgeois leaders had papal dispensations which allowed them to sit in parliament and enjoy the privileges offered by bourgeois States. Fanelli s atheistic and anarchistic activities in the Italian parliament had been limited, so far, to a highflown eulogy of the authoritarian Mazzini, the man of "Dio e popolo".
550Caporusso's powers must have come from the Alliance's Central Committee, for the International never issued any of the kind. The good Caporusso, who only saw the International as a source of personal profit, nominated his son-- inlaw, an ex-Jesuit and an unfrocked priest,
``professor of the International, and compelled the unfortunate workers to swallow his tirades on respect for private property and other fatuities of bourgeois political economy" (letter from Cafiero)^^*^^.
j^He then sold himself to the capitalists, who were disturbed about the progress being made by the International in Naples. On their orders, he dragged the Neapolitan furriers into a completely hopeless strike. Imprisoned with three other members, he pocketed the sum of 300 frs. sent by the section for the maintenance of the four prisoners. These noble deeds led to his expulsion from the section, which continued to exist until it was forcibly dissolved (August 20, 1871). But the Alliance, on escaping from police persecution, profited by this to take the International's place. When sending the official report quoted above, Carmelo Palladini protested on November 13, 1871 against the London Conference in the very terms and with the very arguments used in the Sonvillier circular dated 'one day earlier.
iln November 1871, a section consisting of various elements was formed in = Milan.^^205^^ It included workers, mainly mechanics brought by Cuno, alongside students, journalists from the small newspapers, and shop assistants, all completely under the influence of the Alliance. Owing to his German origins, Cuno was debarred^from these mysteries. However, he made sure that after a pilgrimage to Locarno, the Rome of the Alliance, these young bourgeois were organised into _-_-_
^^*^^ Rebuffed at Naples, Caporusso had the nerve, two years later, to try and inflict this same individual on the General Council with the following testimonial: "Citizen Chairman of the International, the great problem of labour and capital, which was dealt with at the Working Men's Congress of Basle and which is today taxing the minds of all classes, has now been solved. The man who has been studying the complex problem of the social question is my son-in-law, my dauphtor's husband, who, examining the decisions of this Congress and invoking the favours of science, has picked up the thread of the difficult knot wherewith to put into perfect equilibrium the workingclass family and the bourgeoisie, each in its own right'', etc. (signed: Stefano = Caporusso.)^^204^^
551 a section of the secret society. Shortly afterwards (February 1872), Cuno was arrested and deported by the Italian police. Thanks to this heavenly providence, the Alliance now had a free field, and gradually gained control over the Milan section of the International.On October 8, 1871, the Working Men's Federation was formed in = Turin.^^206^^ It asked the General Council for admission to the International. Its secretary, Carlo Terzaghi, wrote literally: "Attendiamo i vostri ordini" (we await your orders). To prove that the International in Italy, from its first steps, must work its way through the bureaucratic channels of the Alliance, he announced that
``the Council will receive through Bakunin a letter from the Working Men's Association in Ravenna declaring itself a section of the International".
On December 4, Carlo Terzaghi informed the General Council that the Working Men's Federation was divided, since the majority were Mazzinists and the minority had formed a section called Proletarian Emancipation. He profited by the occasion to ask the Council for money for his newspaper II Proletario. It was not the General Council's business to provide for the needs of the press; but there was in London a committee which was engaged in collecting funds to assist the International's press. The committee was about to send a subsidy of 150 frs., when Gazettino Rosa announced that the Turin section had openly sided with Jura and had decided to send a delegate to a world congress convoked by the Jura Federation. Two months later, Terzaghi boasted to Regis that he had taken this resolution after having received Bakunin's instructions personally, at Locarno. In view of this hostile attitude to the International, the committee did not send the money.
Although Terzaghi was the Alliance's right arm at Turin, the true papal nuncio there was a certain Jacobi, a self-styled Polish doctor. In order to explain the hatred which he felt for the so-called pan-Germanism of the General Council, this doctor member of the Alliance accused it of
``negligence and inertia in the Franco-Prussian war; it should be blamed for the failure of the Commune, in that it did not use its immense power to support the movement in Paris, and its Germanic tendencies are conspicuous when one considers that, at the walls of Paris,
552in the German army, there were 40,000 members of the International (!), and the General Council could not, or would not, use its influence to prevent the continuation of the war" (!!---Report from Regis to the General Council, March 1, = 1872).^^20^^'
Confusing the General Council with the Press Committee, he accused it of "following the theory of corrupt and corrupting governments" by refusing the 150 francs to Terzaghi of the Alliance. To prove that this complaint came from the bottom of the Alliance's heart, Guillaume considered it his duty to repeat it at the Hague Congress.
While Terzaghi was publicly beating the big anti-- authoritarian drum of the Alliance in his newspaper, he was secretly writing to the General Council and asking it to refuse authoritatively the subscriptions of the Working Men's Federation of Turin and demanding the excommunication of the journalist Beghelli, who was not even a member of the International. This same Terzaghi, the "friend (amicone) of the Turin prefect of police, who used to offer him vermouth when they met" (official report of the Federal Council of Turin, April 5, 1872), denounced at a public meeting the presence of the refugee Regis, sent to Turin by the General Council. Given these leads, the police went in pursuit of Regis, who only managed to cross the frontier thanks to the section's help.
Terzaghi ended his Alliance assignment in Turin as follows. When serious charges were levelled against him, he "threatened to burn the section's books if he were not reelected secretary, if they refused to submit to his authority, or if they censured him in any way. In any one of these cases, he would take his revenge by becoming a police agent (questurino)" (report of the Turin Federal Council, quoted above). Terzaghi had good reason for wanting to intimidate the section. In his capacity as cashier and secretary, he had diverted funds for the Alliance far too liberally. Despite the Council's official ban, he had allotted himself an allowance of 90 frs.; he had entered in'the books, as paid, sums which had not been paid and which had disappeared from the funds. The balance sheet ^person ally drawn up by him showed 56 frs. in hand which could not be found and which he refused to make good, as well'as declined to pay for 200 subscription stamps received from the General Council. 553 The General Assembly unanimously threw him out (scaccio) (see report quoted above). The Alliance, which always respected the autonomy of sections, ratified this expulsion by immediately nominating Terzaghi honorary member of the Florentine section and, later, as delegate for that section to the Conference of Rimini.
In a letter of March 10 a few days later, Terzaghi explained his expulsion to the General Council as follows: he had tendered his resignation as member and secretary of that section of riff-raff and spies (canaglia and mardocheria) because it was "composed of government agents and Mazzinists'', and they had tried to pin the blame on him "do you know what for? For preaching war on capital!" (a war which he had been practising on the section's funds). The letter was intended to prove that the General Council had been strangely misled about the character of this brave Terzaghi who asked for nothing better than to be its humble servant. After all, he had "always declared that, to be a member of the International, it was necessary to pay one's subscriptions to the General Council"---contrary to the secret orders of the Alliance. '
``If we joined the Congress of Jura, it was not to make war on you, dear friends; we were merely swimming with the stream. Our aim was to bring a word of peace into the conflict. As for the centralisation of the sections, without depriving them, however, of some of their own autonomy, I find it very useful."---"I hope that the higher Council will refuse to admit the Mazzinist Working Men's Federation. You may be sure that no one will dare tax you with authoritarianism. Myself, I assume all the responsibility__ If it were available, I would like to have an accurate biography of Karl Marx. We haven't an authentic one in Italy, and I would like to be the first to have this honour."
And what was behind all this toadying?
``Not for myself, but for the cause, so as not to give way to my numerous enemies and to show them that the International is united, I earnestly beg you, if there is still time, to allow me the subsidy of 150 frs. which was decreed to me by the higher Council."^
Imagining himself to be immune, Terzaghi seems to have made himself so impossible in Florence with new escapades that even Fascio Operaio^^*^^ was forced to disown him. Let _-_-_
^^*^^ Workers' Union.---Ed.
554 us hope that the Jura Committee" will better appreciate his services.If in Ter/aghi the Alliance had found its true representative, it was in Romagna'that it found its real territory, where it formed its group of so-called International sections whose first rule of conduct was not to observe the General Rules, not to announce their own formation, and not to pay subscriptions to the General Council. They were true autonomous sections. They adopted the name of Fascio Operaio and served as centres for various working men's associations. Their first Congress, held at Bologna on March 17, 1872, was asked:
``In the general interest, and to guarantee the complete autonomy of the Fascia Operaio, should we subject it to the direction of the General Committee in London or to the one in Jura, or should it remain entirely independent, while keeping up relations with both committees?"
The reply was in the form of the following resolution:
``The Congress does not recognise the General Committee of London or that of Jura as anything other than mere correspondence and statistical bureaus, and instructs the local representation in Bologna to establish relations with'them both and to report back to the sections."
The~Fa.9cio~0peraz'o"``comTnitted''a great blunder'in disclosing the "mysterious existence of the' Alliance's secret centre to the profane. The Jura Committee felt obliged to make a public denial of its secret existence.---As for the General Council, the representation at Bologna never once informed it of its own existence.
As soon as the Alliance heard about the convocation of the Hague Congress, it pushed to the fore its Fascio Operaio which, in the name of its autonomous authority, or its authoritarian autonomy, grabbed the title of Italian Federation and convoked a conference at Rimini on August 5. Of the 21 sections represented there, only one, that"'of Naples, belonged to the Internationa], whereas none of the really active sections of the International was represented, not even that of Milan. This Conference disclosed the Alliance's plan of campaign in the following resolution:
``Considering that the London Conference (September 1871) has tried to impose, with its resolution IX, on the wftole International 555 Working Men's Association an authoritarian doctrine which is that of the German Communist Party,
``that the General Council is the promoter and supporter of this fact;
``that the doctrine of the authoritarian communists is the negation of the revolutionary sentiment of the Italian proletariat;
``that the General Council has employed highly unworthy methods, such as calumny and mystification, with the sole aim of imposing its special communist authoritarian doctrine on entire International Association;
``that the General Council has reached the height of unworthiness with its private circular, dated London, March 5, 1872, in which, pursuing its work of calumny and mystification, it reveals all its craving for authority, particularly in the two remarkable passages following:
'"/t would be difficult to carry out orders without enjoying "moraV authority, in the absence of any other "freely recognised = authority"^^1^^. (Private circular, p. = 27^^208^^). I
``'The General Council intends to demand at the next Congress an investigation of this secret organisation and its promoters in certain countries, for example, in Spain' (p. = 31^^209^^);
``that the reactionary spirit of the General Council has provoked the revolutionary resentment of the Belgians, the French, the Spaniards, the Slavs, the Italians and some of the Swiss, and has also provoked the proposition for the suppression of the Council and likewise the reform of the General Rules;
``that the General Council, not without reason, has convoked the General Congress at The Hague, the place furthest removed from these revolutionary countries;
``FOR THESE REASONS,
``The Conference solemnly declares to all the workers of the world that from this moment the Italian Federation of the International Working Men's Association breaks off all solidarity with the General Council of London, affirming at the same time economic solidarity with all the workers and proposing to all sections which do not share the authoritarian principles of the General Council that they send their representatives on September 2, 1872 not to The Hague, but to Neuchatel (Switzerland) for .the opening of the general anti-- authoritarian Congress on the same day.
``Rimini, August 6, 1872. For the Conference: Carlo Cafiero, president; Andrea Costa, secretary."
The attempt to substitute the Fascia Operaio for the General Council was a total failure. Even the Spanish Federal Council, a mere branch of the Alliance, did not dare to submit the Rimini resolution to the vote of the International's Spanish members. The Alliance, to make amends for its blunder, went to the Hague Congress without cancelling the convocation of its anti-authoritarian Congress at Saint-Imier.
556Italy had only become the promised land of the Alliance by special act of grace. Pope Michael unveils this mystery for us in his letter to Mora (Documents, No. 3):
``Italy has what other countries lack: a youth which is passionate, energetic, completely at a loss, with no prospects, with no way out, and which, despite its bourgeois origins, is not morally and intellectually exhausted like the bourgeois youth of other countries. Today it is throwing itself headlong into revolutionary socialism, accepting our entire programme, the programme of the Alliance. Mazzini, our mighty antagonist of genius (sic) is dead, and the Mazzinist party is completely disorganised. Garibaldi is letting himself be carried away more and more by that youth which bears his name, but is going, or rather running, infinitely further ahead of him."^^*^^
The Holy Father is right. The Alliance in Italy is not a "workers' union'', but a rabble of declasses. All the so-called sections of the Italian International are run by lawyers without clients, doctors with neither patients nor medical knowledge, students of billiards, commercial travellers and other tradespeople, and principally journalists from small papers with a more or less dubious reputation. Italy is the only country where the International press---or what calls itself such---has acquired the typical characteristics of le Figaro. One need only glance at the writing of the secretaries of these so-called sections to realise that it is the work of clerks or professional authors. By taking over all the official posts in the sections in this way, the Alliance managed to compel the Italian workers, every time they wanted 1o enter^into relations with one another or with the other councils™ of the International to resort to the services of declassi members of the Alliance who found in the' International a ``career'' and a "way out".
_-_-_^^*^^ Here is what Garibaldi himself says about this: "My dear Crescio sincere thanks'for VA vvenire Sociale which you have sent me and which T shall read with interest. You want to make war in your paper on falsehood and slavery; it is a very fine programme. But I think that fighting the principle of authority is one of those errors of the International which are impeding its progress. The Paris Commune failed because there was no authority'in Paris, only anarchy. Spain and France suffer from the'same evil. I wish T'A vvenire good luck and* I remain, yours G. Garibaldi"
557The French members were not very numerous but they were more keen. At Lyons, the Alliance was led by Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc, and at Marseilles by Bastelica--- all three of whom were active contributors to the newspapers run by Guillaume. It is thanks to them that the Alliance succeeded in disorganising the movement at Lyons in September 1870. This movement, for them, was only important in that it allowed Bakunin to launch his unforgettable decree on the abolition of the State.---The activities of the Alliance after the failure of the Lyons insurrection are neatly summed up in the following passage from a letter by Bastelica (Marseilles, December 13, 1870):
``Our real power among the workers is enormous; but our section has not been reorganised since the last persecutions. We dare not do this ior fear that in the absence of the leaders, the elements, may disintegrate. We are biding our time."
That Bastelica, then in a foot regiment, could at any moment be sent away from Marseilles, was sufficient reason for him to hinder the reorganisation of the International section, so essential to its autonomy did he consider the presence of Alliance leaders.---The most evident result of the Alliance's activities was to discredit in the eyes of the workers of Lyons and Marseilles the International, which, as always and everywhere, it claimed to represent.
The end of Richard and Blanc is known. In the autumn of 1870, they turned up in London and attempted to recruit from among the French refugees auxiliaries for a Bonapartist restoration. In January 1872, they published a brochure: THE EMPIRE AND THE NEW FRANCE. Appeal of the people and youth to the conscience of France, by Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc, Brussels, = 1872.~^^21^^°
With the usual modesty of the Alliance's quacks, they trotted out their patter as follows:
``We, who have formed the great army of the French proletariat ... we, the most influential leaders of the International in France ... happily, we have not been shot, and we are there to raise before them (ambitious parliamentarians, bloated republicans, self-styled democrats of all kinds) the standard under which we fight, and to fling forth to an astounded Europe---despite the calumnies, despite the threats, 558
despite the attacks of every kind in store for us---this cry which issues from the depths of our conscience and which shall resound ere long in tho hearts of all the French:---
LONG LIVE THE EMPERORI"
We shall refrain from investigating whether these two members of the Alliance who had become imperialists owing to the "normal progression of their ideas'', were mere " riffraff'', as they were called by their old friend Guillaume at The Hague, or whether the pope of the Alliance had given them the special mission of joining the ranks of the Bonapartist agents. The documents of the Russian Alliance which, according to the secret statutes, will unveil the mystery of mysteries of this mysterious society and from which we shall be citing extracts further on, state expressly that the international brethren must infiltrate everywhere and may even receive orders to enrol in the police force. Incidentally, the veneration of these two brethren for their emperor of the peasants does not exceed that in which Bakunin held his own tsar of the peasants in 1862.
After the fall of the Commune, the International grew rapidly in all the French cities which had not been infiltrated by the Alliance. At the Hague Congress, the Secretary for France^^*^^ was able to announce that the International had its organisations in over thirty departments. The two principal Alliance correspondents for France, Benoit Malon and Jules Guesde (the latter was a signatory of the Sonvillier circular) who knew about this rapid development of our Association, tried to disorganise it in the Alliance's favour. When their letters failed to have the desired effect, emissaries were sent, including a Russian named Mechnikov; but their efforts came to nothing. These same individuals who impudently accused the General Council of preventing the workers from
``organising themselves in each country freely, spontaneously, and according to their own spirit and particular customs" (letter from Guesde, September 22, = 1872)^^211^^
told the workers---as soon as they began to organise themselves freely, spontaneously, etc., but in complete harmony with the General Council---that the Germans in the Council were oppressing them and that there was no salvation _-_-_
^^*^^ Auguste Serraillier.---Ed.
559 outside their orthodox anti-authoritarian church. The French workers, who were aware only of the oppression from the Versaillais, sent these letters to the General Council and asked them what it all signified.n^Tliis move by the Alliance in France is the best proof that, as soon as it began to lose hope of dominating the International, it began to fight it. Every section which was not brought under its domination was regarded as an enemy more hostile even than the bourgeoisie. He who is not /or us, is against us is the rule which it openly avowed in its Russian manifestos. For the Alliance, the success of the general moment; was a misforture if that movement did not bow under the yoke of its sectarianism. And at the very time when the French working class needed above all some kind of organisation the Alliance went to the aid of Thiers and the Rurals by declaring war on the International.
Now let us see who were the Alliance's agents during its campaign in favour of the Versaillais.
At Montpellier, M. Guesde had for confidant a man named Paul Brousse, a medical student, who was attempting to carry out Alliance propaganda through the whole department of 1'Herault, where Guesde had formerly been editor of Les Droits de I'Homme. Shortly before the Hague Congress, when members of the International for the South met to subscribe for a common delegate to the Congress, Brousse tried to persuade the Montpellier Section not to pay its share and not to say anything until Congress had settled matters under discussion. The Committee for the South of France---the Montpellier Section, decided to ask Congress to exclude Brousse from the International for having "acted disloyally in trying to provoke a split in the heart of the section''. His friend Guesde, in a communication sent in October from Rome to la Liberte of = Brussels,^^212^^ denounced this authoritarian move against Brousse and cited Callas of Montpellier as the instigator, writing out his name in full, whereas he referred to Brousse by his initials. Alerted by this denunciation, the police kept watch on Callas, and immediately afterwards confiscated a letter in the post from Serraillier to Callas in which much was said about Dentraygues of Toulouse. On December 24, Dentraygues was arrested.
560The Alliance's most active helpers at Narbonne were: Gondres, unmasked as a police informer; Bacave who, at, Narbonne and Perpignan, was carrying out the duties of police agent; and de Saint-Martin, a lawyer and a correspondent of Malon's. In 1866, M. de Saint-Martin had applied for a post in the Ministry of the Imperial Court and the Fine Arts. When he was sentenced in 1869 to pay a fine of 800 frs. for a press offence, republicans collected money to pay his fine; but Saint-Martin, instead of using the funds for this purpose, went on a little trip to Paris at the expense of the workers who, to avoid a scandal, had to contribute all over again. Shortly after the May days in 1871, the same Saint-Martin applied to the Versailles government for the post of sub-prefect.
Here is another Alliance agent: in November 1871, Gallas wrote to Serraillier:
``You may count on Citizen Abel Bousquet's absolute devotion to the social cause, he is ... chairman of the Socialist Committee of Beziers."
Two days later, on November 13, Serraillier received the following statement:
``Convinced that our mutual friend, Citizen Callas, has been badly let down in that this citizen relied on M. Bousquet, Chairman of the Electoral Committee of Beziers, and the latter is most unworthy of this, since he is secretary to the Central Police Commissioner for Beziers.... In agreement with Citizen Callas, who has recognised the mistake of which he was the victim, we shall ask Citizen Serraillier to regard as cancelled the last letter sent to him by Citizen Callas and, moreover, we shall ask him, if it can be done, to have M. Bousquet expelled from the International. By authority of the socialist democracy of Beziers and Pezenas" (here follow the signatures).
Serraillier profited by this statement to denounce, in LaEmancipacion of Toulouse (December 19, 1871), this M. Bousquet as a police agent.---A letter
dated Narbonne, July 24, 1872, says that M. Bousquet
``is combining the functions of brigadier chief of police with those of travelling agent for the Genevan dissidents".
It is therefore only natural that le Bulletin jurassien of November 10, 1872 should have come out in his = defence.^^213^^
561It is known that at the last sitting of the Hague Congress, the fourteen delegates of the minority tabled a declaration of protest against the resolutions adopted. This minority consisted of the following delegates: four Spanish, five Belgian, two Jurassian, two Dutch, and one American.
After having agreed at Brussels with the Belgians on the principles for common action against the new General Council, the Jurassians and the Spaniards left for Saint-Imier in Switzerland to hold the anti-authoritarian Congress which the Alliance had arranged to have convoked by its acolytes in Rimini.
This Congress was preceded by that of the Jura Federation, which rejected the resolutions of The Hague, notably the one expelling Bakunin and Guillaume. As a result, the Federation was suspended by the General Council.
The Alliance was fully represented at the anti-- authoritarian congress. Beside the Spaniards and the Jurassians, there were six Italian delegates, including Costa, Cafiero, Fanelli, and Bakunin in person; two delegates claimed to represent "several French sections'', and another delegate---two American ones. In all, fifteen ``allies''. This Congress finally offered Bakunin "all; the guarantees of an impartial and serious trail''; and here, too, complete unanimity prevailed. These men, of whom at least half did not belong to the International, appointed themselves members of a supreme tribunal called upon to] pronounce the final sentence upon the acts of a General Congress of our Association. They announced their absolute rejection of all resolutions passed by the Hague Congress and refused to recognise in any way the powers of the new General Council elected by it. Finally, they formed, on behalf of their federations and without any form of mandate to that effect, an offensive and defensive alliance, a "pact of friendship, of solidarity, and of = mutual defence'',^^214^^ against the General Council and all those who recognised the resolutions of the Hague Congress. They defined their abstentionist anarchism in the following resolution, which was a direct condemnation of the Paris Commune:
36---0900
562``The Congress declares 1) that the destruction of all political power is the first duty of the proletariat; 2) that any organisation of supposedly provisional and revolutionary political power aiming to bring about this destruction can only be yet another hoax and will be as dangerous to the proletariat as all governments in existence today."
Finally, it was decided to invite the other autonomist federations to join the new pact and to hold a second antiauthoritarian Congress six months later.
The split within the International was thus proclaimed. From that moment, the Jura Committee openly took over the management of the dissidents' affairs. The part of the International which followed it was no more than the old public Alliance reconstituted and serving as a cover and tool for the secret Alliance.
On returning to Spain, the four Aymon sons, members of the Spanish Alliance, published a manifesto full of calumnies against the Congress at The Hague and flattery for the one at Saint-Imier. The Federal Council supported this libel and, on the orders of the Swiss centre, convoked at Cordoba for December 25, 1872 the regional Congress which was not to have taken place until April 1873. The Swiss centre, for its part, hastened to disclose to everybody the subordinate position which the Council had been occupying beside it. Over the head of the Spanish Council, the Jura Committee sent the Saint-Imier resolutions to all the local federations in Spain.
At the Congress of Cordoba, there were only 36 federations represented out of 101 (the official number given by the Federal Council); and so this was indeed a minority Congress. The newly formed federations were represented by numerous delegates; Alcoy had six, and yet this federation had never been represented before in a regional Congress. Even during the time of the Hague Congress, it had not yet existed, since it had not provided one vote or one centimo to the Spanish delegation. The important and active federations, such as Gracia (500 members), Badalona (500), Sabadell (125), Sans (1,061), were conspicuous by their absence. In a list of forty-eight delegates, there were fourteen notorious Alliance members, of whom ten represented federations of which they were not members and which probably did not even know them. Sure of the majority which it 563 had engineered, the Alliance gave itself a free hand. The regional federation's statutes, drawn up at Valencia and sanctioned at Saragossa, were scrapped, the Spanish Federation decapitated, and its Federal Council replaced by a simple correspondence and statistical commission which did not even retain the function of sending in the Spanish subscriptions to the General Council. Finally, the Alliance broke with the International, rejecting the resolutions of the Hague Congress and adopting the Saint-Imier pact. It went so far in its anarchy as to repudiate in advance the next General Congress and to substitute for it a new antiauthoritarian Congress
``in case the first one does not restore the dignity and independence of the International by repudiating the Hague Congress".
At The Hague, the Alliance wanted to impose, by means of the Spanish imperative mandate, the manner of voting which best suited it at the time. At Cordoba, it went so far as to prescribe, nine months in advance, the resolutions which must be adopted by the next General Congress. It must be admitted that the autonomy of sections and federations could not be pushed any further.
In expelling the Alliance and its leaders from the International, the Hague Congress gave fresh impetus to the anti-Alliance movement in Spain. The New Madrid Federation was supported in its newly launched campaign by the federations of Saragossa, Vitoria, Alcala de Henares, Gracia, Lerida, Denia, Pont de Vilumara, Toledo, Valencia, the new federation of Cadiz, etc. The Federal Council's circular convoking the Congress of Cordoba asked it to set itself up in judgment on the resolutions passed at the Hague General Congress. This was in flagrant violation not only of the General Rules, but also of the Spanish regional statutes, which stated in Article 13:
``The Federal Council will implement, and will cause to be implemented, the resolutions of the regional and international Congresses."
The New Madrid Federation reacted with a circular to the other local federations in which it declared that by this act the Federal Council had put itself outside the International, and asked them to replace it with a new provisional council whose mission would be strict observance of the
__PRINTERS_P_563_COMMENT__ 36* 564 Rules and not passive obedience to the Alliance's orders. This proposal was accepted; a new Federal Council was appointed with its seat at Valencia. In its first circular ( February 2, 1873), it declared itself to be "the faithful guardian of the International's Rules as drawn up and sanctioned at the international and regional Congresses'', and protested vigorously against those who wished to sow "anarchy within the International, anarchy before revolution, disarmament before triumph! What a joy to the = bourgeoisie!"^^215^^The Belgians held their Congress at the same time as the Spaniards and likewise rejected the Hague resolutions. The General Council replied to them, as to the Spanish secessionists, with the resolution of January 26, 1873, which declared that "all societies and persons refusing to recognise the resolutions of the Congresses, or deliberately neglecting to fulfil the duties imposed by the General Rules and Administrative Regulations, place themselves outside the International Working Men's Association and cease to belong to it.'' On May 30, it finalised this declaration with the following resolution:
``Since the Congress of the Belgian Federation, held on December 25 and 26,1872 in Brussels, has resolved to declare null and void the resolutions of the 5th General Congress;
``And since the Congress of one part of the Spanish Federation, held at Cordoba from December 25 to January 2, 1873, has resolved not to recognise the resolutions of the 5th General Congress and to adopt the resolutions of an antiInternational assembly;
``And since an assembly held in London on January 26, 1873 has resolved to reject the decisions of the 5th General Congress;
``The General Council of the International Working Men's Association, in conformity with the General Rules and Administrative Regulations and in accordance with its resolution of January 26, 1873, declares:
``All the regional or local federations, sections and persons that participated in the above-mentioned Congresses and assemblies at Brussels, Cordoba, and London, or that recognised their resolutions, have placed themselves outside the International Working Men's Association and have ceased to belong to it."
565At the same time, it declared once more that no regional Italian federation of the International exists, since no organisation calling itself by this name has fulfilled the minimal conditions for admission and affiliation as imposed by the Rules and Administrative Regulations. In different parts of Italy, however, there are sections which are in order as far as the General Council is concerned and are in communication with it.
For their part, the Jurassians held another Congress on April 27 and 28 at Neuchatel. There were nineteen delegates present from ten Swiss sections, and a so-called section from Alsace; two Swiss sections and one French section sent no delegates. The Jura Federation thus claimed to count twelve sections in Switzerland. But the delegate for Moutier declared that he had only come to speak in favour of reconciliation with the International, and had an imperative mandate not to take part in the work of the Congress. Moutier had, in fact, broken away from the Jura Federation after the Congress of Saint-Imier. This left eleven sections. The fact that thereport from the Committeescrupulously abstained from giving the slightest indication about their internal position and their strength gives us the right to assume that they had no more vitality than at the time of the Congress of Sonvillier. In compensation, the report draws up in battle order the external forces of the Jurassians, the allies whom the Alliance gained after the Hague Congress. According to this report, they were nearly all federations of the International:
``Italy''---But we have seen that there is no Italian federation.
``Spain''---Although the majority of the Spanish International members have moved across into the secessionist camp, we have just seen that the Spanish Federation still exists and is in regular communication with the General Council.
``France, in what is seriously organised there'', that is, the "section of France'', which apologised to the Congress of Neuchatel for not having sent a delegate. We are taking good care not to disclose to the Jurassians what is still "seriously organised" in France, despite the latest persecutions, which have demonstrated well enough on whose side this serious organisation was and which, as always, have 566 solicitously spared the few Alliance members in France.
``The whole of Belgium"---is the dupe of the Alliance, whose principles she is far from sharing.
``Holland, except for one section"---that is to say, two Dutch sections supported, not the Saint-Imier pact, but the anti-separatist declaration of the minority at The Hague.
``England, except for a few dissidents"!---The ``dissidents'', that is to say, the vast majority of the English sections of the International, held their Congress on June 1 and 2 at Manchester, where twenty-six delegates were present representing twenty-three = sections^^216^^; whereas the ``England'' of the Jurassians had no sections or Federal Council, much less a Congress.
``America, apart from a few dissidents"!---The American Federation of the International exists and functions regularly in complete harmony with the General Council. It has its Federal Council and its Congress. The ``America'' of the Jura Committee consists purely of those bourgeois dealers in free love, paper money, public appointments and bribes, who were represented so magnificently at the Hague Congress by Mr. West that even the Jura delegates dared not speak or vote in his favour.
``The Slavs"-that is to say, the "Slav section of Zurich'', which, as always, figures as a whole race. The Poles, the Russians, and the Austrian and Hungarian Slavs of the Internationa], as open enemies of the secessionists, do not count.
This is what the allies of the Alliance amounted to. If the eleven Jura sections were no more real than the majority of these allies, their committee had good reason to keep silent about them.
In this battle order of the Alliance, Switzerland was conspicuous by her absence. There were very good reasons for this. A month later, on June 1 and 2, a general Swiss working men's Congress was held in Olten to organise resistance and = strikes.^^217^^ Five Jurassians there preached the gospel of absolute autonomy of the sections; they made the Congress waste over half its time. Finally, the matter had to be put to vote. The result was that of eighty delegates, seventy-five voted against the five Jurassians who had no alternative but to leave the hall.
567At its secret gatherings, however, the Alliance apparently did not subscribe, where its real forces were concerned, to the illusions which it wanted to impose on the public. At that same Congress of Neuchatel, it had the following resolution adopted:
``Considering that, in accordance with the General Rules, the General Congress of the International meets every year without need of convocation by the General Council, the Jura Federation proposes to all the federations of the International that they should meet for a General Congress on Monday, September 1, in a Swiss town."
And to prevent this congress from repeating the "fatal errors of The Hague'', it was requested that the Alliance delegates and = their^^1^^ allies should meet, on August 28, for an anti-authoritarian Congress. From the debate on this proposition, it emerges that
``for us, the only General Congress of the International will be the one convoked directly by the federations themselves, and not the one which the so-called General Council of New York might attempt to convoke".
Here, then, is the split carried to extremes with all the attendant consequences. The members of the International will go to the congress which the preceding Congress has instructed the General Council to convoke in a Swiss town of its own choosing. The Alliance members and their suite of dupes will go to a congress convoked by themselves on the strength of their autonomy. We wish them a pleasant journey.
The Alliance's activities in Russia were revealed to us by the political trial known as "the Nechayev affair" which took place in July 1871 before the Court of Justice in St. Petersburg. For the first time in Russia, a political trial took place before a jury and in public. All the accused, numbering over eighty men and women, belonged, with a few exceptions, to the student youth. From November 1869 to July 1871, they were kept in detention in the dungeons of the 568 Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, with the result that two of them died and several others went insane. They were brought out of prison to be condemned to the Siberian mines, to penal servitude, and to imprisonment for fifteen, twelve, ten, seven and two years. And those acquitted by the public tribunal were then exiled by "administrative measures".
Their crime was that they had belonged to a secret society which had usurped the name of the International Working Men's Association, to which they had been affiliated by an emissary of the International Revolutionary Committee who carried mandates stamped with a fake seal of the International; and this emissary had forced them to commit a series of frauds and had obliged several of them to help him in an assassination. It was this assassination which put the police on the trail of the secret society; but, as always, the emissary disappeared. The police showed such perspicacity in their investigations that it was possible to assume a detailed denunciation. Throughout the whole of this affair, the role of the emissary was highly ambiguous. This emissary was Nechayev, who carried a certificate-mandate to the following effect:
``The bearer of this certificate is one of the authorised representatives of the Russian branch of the World Revolutionary Alliance.--- No. 2771".
This certificate carried: 1) a stamp, in French: "European Revolutionary Alliance. General Committee''; 2) dateMay 12, 1869; 3) signature---Michael Bakounine.^^*^^
__-_-_-__In 1861, as a result of the fiscal measures intended to deprive poor young people of a higher education, and as a result of disciplinary steps aimed at subjecting them to arbitrary police control, the students made a vigorous and unanimous protest which they took from their meetings out into the streets to be expressed in impressive demonstrations. St. Petersburg University was then closed for a time and the students were imprisoned or exiled. This government move drove the young people into secret societies which inevitably _-_-_
^^*^^ St. Petersburg Gazette, 1871, Nos. 180, 181, 187 and others.
569 resulted in large numbers of the members being imprisoned, banished, or sent to Siberia. Others, to provide the necessary means for the poor students to continue their studies, founded mutual aid funds. The more serious of them decided not to give the government any further pretext for suppressing these funds, which were organised so that business matters could be discussed at small meetings. These business meetings provided the opportunity to discuss political and social questions at the same time. Socialist ideas had penetrated so deeply among the Russian student youth, who were mainly the sons of peasants and other poor people, that they already dreamed of putting them immediately into practice. Every day, this movement spread further in the educational institutions and injected into Russian society poor young people of plebeian origin who were instructed in, and permeated with, socialist ideas. The heart and soul of this movement's theoretical aspect] was Chernyshevsky, now in Si- = beria.^^218^^ It was at this point that Nechayev, profiting by the International's prestige and the enthusiasm of the young, tried to convince the students that the time had passed for concern with such trivialities, now that there existed a huge secret society affiliated to the International and occupied in fomenting world revolution and ready for immediate action in Russia. He managed to hoodwink a few young people and inveigle them into committing criminal acts, which gave the police the pretext for crushing the whole of this student movement, so dangerous to official Russia.In March 1869, there arrived at Geneva a young Russian who tried to ingratiate himself with all the Russian emigrants by posing as a delegate from the St. Petersburg students. He introduced himself under various names. Some of the emigrants knew positively that no delegate had been sent from that city; others, after talking to the supposed delegate, took him for a spy. In the end, he let himself be known by his real name, which was Nechayev. He said that he had escaped from the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he had been incarcerated as one of the chief instigators of the disorders which had broken out in January 1869 in the capital's educational institutions. Several of the emigrants, who had suffered long spells of detention in this fortress, knew from experience that all escape was impossible, and so they 570 were aware that on this point Nechayev was lying; on the other hand, since the newspapers and letters which they received with the names of wanted students never mentioned Nechayev, they regarded his alleged revolutionary activity as mere legend. But Bakunin took up Nechayev's cause and made a tremendous fuss about it. He proclaimed to all and sundry that this was the "envoy extraordinary of the great secret organisation existing and active in Russia''. Bakunin was beseeched not to disclose to this person the names of his acquaintances whom he could compromise. Bakunin gave his word; how he kept it will be shown by the documents of the trial.
During an interview that Nechayev requested of a refugee, he was forced to admit that he was not the delegate of any secret organisation, but he had, he said, comrades and acquaintances whom he wished to organise, adding that it was essential to gain control over the old emigrants in order to influence the young people with their prestige and to profit by their printing press and their money. Shortly afterwards, Words came out, addressed to the students by Nechayev and = Bakunin.^^219^^ In it, Nechayev repeated the legend of his escape and appealed to the young people to devote themselves to the revolutionary struggle. In the student unrest Bakunin discovers "an all-destroying spirit opposed to the State ... which has emerged from the very depths of the people's life"^^*^^; he congratulates "our young brethren on their revolutionary tendencies.... This means that the end is in sight of this infamous Empire of all the Russias!" His anarchism served him as a pretext to take a swipe at the Poles, accusing them of only working
``for the restoration of their historic state" (1!) .---"They dream, therefore, of a new enslavement of their people'', and if they succeed "they will become our enemies as much as the oppressors of their own people. We shall fight them in the name of the social revolution and liberty for the whole world".
Bakunin is clearly in agreement with the tsar on this one issue: The Poles must be prevented at all costs from _-_-_
^^*^^ It shall be noted that these Words were published at the very moment of the persecutions and sentences, when the young people were doing their utmost to curb their movement which the police themselves found it so advantageous to exaggerate.
571 managing their internal affairs as they think fit. During all Polish insurrections, the official Russian press has always accused the Polish insurgents of being "the oppressors of their people''. A touching point of agreement between the organs of the Third Department^^*^^ and the arch-anarchist of Locarno!The Russian people, Bakunin continues, are at present living in conditions similar to those that forced them to rise under Tsar Alexei, father of Peter the Great. Then it was Stenka Razin, the Cossack brigand chief, who placed himself at their head and showed them "the road" to " freedom''. In order to rise today the people are waiting only for a new Stenka Razin; but this time he
``will be replaced by the legion of declasse young men who already live the life of the people ... Stenka Razin, no longer an individual hero but a collective one" (!) "consequently they have an invincible hero behind them. Such a hero are all the magnificent young people over whom his spirit already soars."
To perform this role of a collective Stenka Razin, the young people must prepare themselves through ignorance:
``Therefore abandon with all speed this world doomed to destruction. Leave its universities, its academies, its schools and go among the people,'' to become "the midwife of the people's self-emancipation, the uniter and organiser of their forces and efforts. Do not bother at this moment with learning, in the name of which they would bind you, castrate you.... Such is the belief of the finest people in the West.... The world of the workers of Europe and America calls you to join them in a fraternal alliance."
In its secret statutes, the Alliance tells its third-grade members that "the principles of this organisation ... shall be even more explicitly exposed in the programme of the Russian socialist democracy''. We have here the beginnings of this promise's fulfilment. In addition to the habitual anarchist phrases and the chauvinistic hatred of the Poles, that Citizen B. has never been able to conceal, we see him here for the first time acclaiming the Russian brigand as the type of the true revolutionary and preaching to Russian youth the cult of ignorance, under the pretext that modern science is merely official science (can one imagine an official mathematics, physics or chemistry?), and that this is the _-_-_
^^*^^ The Third Department of the Imperial Russian Chancellory is the Central Bureau of the secret political police in Russia.
572 opinion of the finest people in the West. Finally he ends his leaflet by letting it be understood that through his mediation the International is proposing an alliance to these young people, whom he forbids even the learning of the Ignorantines.^^220^^This evangelical Word played a great part in the Nechayev conspiracy. It was read secretly to every neophyte before his initiation.
At the same time as this Word (1869), anonymous Russian publications came out: 1) The Setting of the Revolutionary Question; 2) The Principles of Revolution; 3) Publications of the "People's Judgment'" Society; ``(Narodnaya Rasprava'') No. 1, summer 1869, = Moscow.^^221^^ All these writings were printed in Geneva, as is proved by the fact that the type was identical with that used for other Russian publications in Geneva; furthermore, this fact was a matter of public notoriety among all the Russian emigrants,---which did not prevent these publications from carrying on their first page the stamp: "Printed in Russia---Gedruckt in Russland'', to mislead the Russian students into thinking that the secret society possessed considerable resources in Russia itself.
The Setting of the Revolutionary Question gives away its authors at once. The same phrases, the same expressions as those used by Rakunin and Nechayev in their Words:
``Not only the state must be destroyed, but also state and cabinet revolutionaries. We are certainly for the people."
By the law of anarchist assimilation, Rakunin assimilates himself to the studont youth:
573``The government itself shows us the road we must follow to attain our goal, that is to say, the goal of the people. It drives us out of the universities, the academies, the schools. We are grateful to it for having thus put us on such glorious, such firm ground. Now we have ground under our feet, now we can do things. And what are we going to do? Teach the people? That would be stupid. The people know themselves, and better than we do, what they need" (compare the secret statutes which endow the masses with "popular instincts'', and the initiates with "the revolutionary idea''). "Our task is not to teach the people but to rouse them.'' Up to now "they have always rebelled in vain because they have rebelled separately__We can render them extremely valuable assistance, we can give them what they have lacked so far, what has been the principal cause of all their defeats. We can give them the unity of universal movement by rallying their own forces,"
This is where the doctrine of the Alliance, anarchy at the bottom and discipline at the top, emerges in all its purity. First by rioting comes the "unleashing of what are today called the evil passions" but "in the midst of popular anarchy, which will constitute the very life and energy of the revolution, there must be an organ expressing unity of revolutionary idea and action''. That organ will be the world Alliance, Russian section, the Society of the People's Judgment.
But Bakuuin is not to be satisfied merely with youth. He calls all brigands to the banner of his Alliance, Russian section.
_-_-_``Brigandage is one of the most honourable forms of the Russian people's life. The brigand is a hero, a protector, a people's avenger, the irreconcilable enemy of the state, and of all social and civil order established by the state, a fighter to the death against the whole civilisation of the civil servants, the nobles, the priests and the crown.... He who fails to understand brigandage understands nothing of Russian popular history. He who is not in sympathy with it, cannot be in sympathy with Russian popular life, and has no heart for the measureless, age-long sufferings of the people; he belongs to the enemy camp, among the supporters of the state.... Brigandage is the sole proof of the vitality, the passion and the strength of the people.... The brigand in Russia is the true and only revolutionary---the revolutionary without phrases, without rhetoric culled from books, an indefatigable revolutionary, irreconcilable and irresistible in action, a popular and social revolutionary, not a political or class revolutionary.... The brigands in the forests, in the towns and in the villages scattered all over Russia, and the brigands held in the countless gaols of the empire make up a single, indivisible, close-knit world---the world of the Russian revolution. It is here, and here alone, that the real revolutionary conspiracy has long existed. He who wants to undertake real conspiracy in Russia, who wants a people's revolution, must go into this world.... Following the road pointed out to us now by the government, which drives us from the academies, the universities and schools, let us throw ourselves, brethren, among the people, into the people's movement, into the brigand and peasant rebellion and, maintaining a true and firm friendship among ourselves, let us rally into a single mass all the scattered outbursts of the muzhiks" (peasants). "Let us turn them into a people's revolution, meaningful but ruthless."^^*^^
^^*^^ To mystify his readers Bakunin confuses the leaders of the popular uprisings of the 17th and 18th centuries with the brigands and thieves of^ the Russia of today. As regards the latter, the reading of Flerovsky's book The Condition of the Working Class in = Russia^^222^^ would disillusion the most romantic souls concerning these poor creatures from whom Bakunin proposes to form the sacred phalanx of the Russian revolution. The sole brigandage---apart from the __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 574. 574
In the second leaflet, The Principles of Revolution, we find a development of the order given in the secret statutes for "not leaving a stone standing''. Everything must be destroyed in order to produce "complete amorphism'', for if even "one of the old forms" be preserved, it will become the ``embryo'' from which all the other old social forms will be regenerated. The leaflet accuses the political revolutionaries who do not take this amorphism seriously of deceiving the people. It accuses them of having erected
``new gallows and scaffolds where the surviving brother revolutionaries have been done to death__ So it is that the people have not yet known a real revolution.... A real revolution does not need individuals standing at the head of the crowd and commanding it, but men hidden invisibly among the crowd and forming an invisible link between one crowd and another, and thus invisibly giving one and the same direction, one spirit and character to the movement. This is the sole purpose of bringing in a secret preparatory organisation and only to this extent is it necessary."
Here, then, the existence of the international brethren, so carefully concealed in the West, is exposed to the Russian public and the Russian police. Further the leaflet goes on to preach systematic assassination and declares that for people engaged in practical revolutionary work all argument about the future is
``criminal because it hinders pure destruction and hampers the advent of the beginning of the revolution. We believe only in those who show their devotion to the cause of revolution by deeds, without fear of torture or imprisonment, and we renounce all words that are not immediately followed by deeds. We have no further use for aimless propaganda that does not set itself a definite time and place for realisation of the aims of revolution. What is more, it stands in our way and we shall make every effort to combat it.... We shall silence by force the chatterers who refuse to understand this."
These threats were addressed to the Russian emigrants who had not bowed to Bakunin's papal authority and whom he called doctrinaires.
``We break all ties with the political emigrants who refuse to return to their country to join our ranks, and until these ranks become evident, with all those who refuse to work for their public emergence on the _-_-_ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 573. governmental sphere, of course---still being carried out on a large scale in Russia is the stealing of horses, run as a commercial enterprise by the capitalists, of whom the ``revolutionaries without phrases'' are but the tools and victims.
575 scene of Russian life. We make exception for the emigrants who have already declared themselves workers of the European revolution. From now on we shall make no further repetitions or appeals.... He who has ears and eyes will hear and see the men of action, and if he does not join them his destruction will be no fault of ours, just as it will be no fault of ours if all who hide behind the scenes are cold-bloodedly and pitilessly destroyed, along with the scenery that hides them."
At this point we can see right through Bakunin. While enjoining the emigrants on pain of death to return to Russia as agents of his secret society---like the Russian police-spies who would offer them passports and money to go there and join in conspiracies---he grants himself a papal dispensation to remain peacefully in Switzerland as "a worker of the European revolution'', and to occupy himself composing manifestos that compromise the unfortunate students whom the police hold in their prisons.
``While not recognising any other activity but that of destruction, we acknowledge that the forms in which it manifests itself may be extremely varied: poison, dagger, noose, etc. The revolution sanctifies all without distinction. The field is open!---Let all young and healthy minds undertake at once the sacred work of destroying evil, purging and enlightening the Russian land by fire and sword, uniting fraternally with those who will do the same thing throughout Europe."
Let us add that in this sublime proclamation the inevitable brigand figures in the melodramatic person of Karl Moor (from Schiller's Robbers), and that No. 2 of The People's = Judgment,^^225^^ quoting a passage from this leaflet, calls it straight out "a proclamation of Bakunin's".
Number~1 of the Publications of the "'People's Judgment";^^*^^ Society begins by proclaiming that the general uprising of the Russian people is imminent and close at hand.
``We, that is to say, that part of the popular youth which have reached a certain stage of development, we must clear the way for it; in other words, we must eliminate all the obstacles to its progress and prepare favourable conditions for it__ In view of the imminence of the uprising, we deem it necessary to unite into a single indissoluble whole all the revolutionary efforts scattered all over Russia. That is why we have decided to publish, on behalf of the revolutionary centre, leaflets in which every one of our coreligionaries scattered all over _-_-_
^^*^^ Bakunin and Nechayev always translate this expression as "justice populaire'', but the Russian word ``rasprava'' means not justice, but judgment, or rather revenge.
576 Russia, every one of the workers for the sacred cause of the Revolution, although unknown to us, will always see what we want and where we are going."
The leaflet then states:
'Thought has value for us only inasmuch as it serves the great cause of universal pan-destruction. The revolutionary who studies the revolution in books will never be good for anything---We have no more faith in words. The word has value for us only when it is followed by action; but not all is action which bears the name. For example, the modest and too circumspect organisation of secret societies which have no external manifestations is, in our view, nothing but ridiculous and disgusting child's play. By external manifestations, we mean only a series of acts positively destroying something, a person, a thing, an enchainment which hinders popular emancipation.... Without sparing our lives, without stopping before any threat, any obstacle, any danger, etc., we must, by a series of audacious and, yes, arrogant attempts, burst into the life of the people and inspire them with faith in their own powers, awaken them, rally them and urge them on to the triumph of their own cause."
But suddenly the revolutionary phrases of the Judgment turn into attacks on The People's Cause, a Russian newspaper published in Geneva which defended the programme and organisation of the International. It was, as we see, of the greatest importance for the Alliance propaganda that Bakunin was carrying out in Russia in the name of the International, that a newspaper unmasking his fraud should be silenced.
``If this newspaper continues in the same fashion, we shall not hesitate to express and demonstrate to it what our relations with it must be.... Wej are convinced that all serious men will now lay aside all theory, and the more so all doctrinairism. We can prevent the publication of writings which, though sincere, are nevertheless contrary to our banner, by various practical means at our disposal."
After these threats to its dangerous rival, the People's Justice continues:
``Among the leaflets lately published abroad, we recommend, almost without any reserve, Bakunin''s appeal to the declasse student youth.... Bakunin is right when he advises to leave the academies, the universities, and the schools, and to go among the people."
Bakunin noticeably never lets slip the occasion to offer himself a swing of the censer.
The second article is entitled: "A glimpse at the past and present notions the cause." We have just seen Bakunin 577 and Nechayev threatening the Russian organ of the International abroad. In this article, we shall see them descend on Chernyshevsky, the man who, in Russia, had done most to draw into the socialist movement the student youth whom they claimed to represent.
``Certainly, the peasants have never engaged in imagining forms of the future social order; nevertheless, after the elimination of all obstructions (that is, after the pan-destructive revolution, which is the first thing to be accomplished and consequently the most important one for us), they will be able to arrange their lives with more sense than can be found in the theories and projects of the doctrinarian socialists who want to impose themselves on the people as teachers and, even worse, directors. In the eyes of people not corrupted by the spectacles of civilisation, the tendencies of these unwanted teachers arc only too obvious. They seek, under the pretext of science and art etc., to prepare cosy little niches for themselves and their kind. Even if these tendencies were disinterested and naive, even if they were but the inevitable fruit of all order imbued with modern civilisation, the people would gain nothing by them. The ideal goal of social equality was incomparably better achieved in the Cossack society organised by Vasily Us in Astrakhan after the departure of Stenka Razin, than in Fourier's phalansteries, the institutes of Cabet, Louis Blanc and other socialist savants (!), or in the associations of Chernyshevsky."
Here follows a page of invective against the latter and his comrades.
The cosy little niche that Chernyshevsky was preparing for himself was presented to Jiirn by the Russian government in the form of a prison cell in Siberia, whereas Bakunin, relieved of this danger in his capacity as worker for the European revolution, limited himself to manifestations of the external. And it was at the very time when the government severely forbade the mere mention of Chernyshevsky's name in the press, that Messrs Bakunin and Nechayev attacked him.
Our ``amorphous'' revolutionaries continue:
578``We undertake to demolish this rotten social edifice.... We come from the people with our skins rent by the teeth of the existing order; we come guided by hatred for all that is not of the people, having no notion of moral obligations or of any kind of honesty towards this world which we hate and of which we expect nothing but evil. We have but one single invariable and negative plan: that of merciless destruction. We categorically renounce the elaboration of future conditions of life, this task being incompatible with our activities, and for that reason we regard as futile all purely theoretical brain work.... We undertake exclusively the destruction of the existing social order."
These two connoisseurs of I ho external imply that the attempted assassination of the tsar in 186(5 was one of a "series of pan-destructive acts" committed by their own secret society:
``It was Karakozov who began our sacred work on April 4, 1860. Only since that time has the consciousness of their revolutionary powers been stirring to life among the young people.... It was an example, a deedl No propaganda can he of such great significance."
They then draw up a long list of ``creatures'' condemned by the committee to immediate death. Several "will have their tongues torn out" ... but
``we shall not touch the tsar ... we shall save him for the judgment of the people, of the peasants; this right belongs to all the people ... so let our executioner live until the moment of the popular storm...."
No one will venture to doubt that these Russian pamphlets, the secret statutes, and all the works published by Bakunin since 1869 in French, come from one and the same source. On the contrary, all these -three categories complement one another. They correspond to some extent to the three degrees of initiation into the famous organisation of pandestruction. The French brochures of Citizen 13. are written for the rank and file of the Alliance, whose prejudices are taken into account. They are told of nothing but pure anarchy, of anti-authoritarianism, of a free federation of autonomous groups and other equally harmless things: a mere jumble of words. The secret statutes are intended for the international brethren of the West; there anarchy becomes "the complete unleashing of popular life ... of evil passions'', but underneath this anarchy there lies the secret directing element---the brothers themselves; they are given only a few vague indications on the morality of the Alliance, stolen from Loyola, and the necessity of leaving not a stone standing is mentioned only in passing, because these are Westerners brought up on philistine prejudices and some allowances have to be made for them. They are told that the truth, too blinding for eyes not yet accustomed to true anarchism, will be fully revealed in the programme of the Russian section. Only to the born anarchists, to the people elect, to his young people of Holy Russia does the prophet dare to speak out openly. There anarchy means universal pan-destruction; 579 the revolution, a series of assassinations, first individual and then en masse; the sole rule of action, the Jesuit morality intensified; the revolutionary type, the brigand. There, thought and learning are absolutely forbidden to the young as mundane occupations that could lead them to doubt the all-destructive orthodoxy. Those who persist in adhering to these theoretical heresies or who apply their vulgar criticism to the dogmas of universal amorphism are threatened with a holy inquisition. Before the youth of Russia the Pope need feel no restraint either in the form or substance of his utterances. He gives his tongue free play and the complete absence of ideas is expressed in such grandiloquent verbiage that it cannot be reproduced in French without weakening its comic effect. His language is not even real Russian. It is Tatar, so a native Russian has stated. These small men with atrophied minds puff themselves up with horrific phrases in order to appear in their own eyes as giants of revolution. It is the fable of the frog and the ox.
What terrible revolutionaries! They want to annihilate and amorphise everything, "absolutely everything''. They draw up lists of proscribed persons, doomed to die by their daggers, their poison, their ropes, by the bullets from their revolvers; they "will tear out the tongues" of many, but they will bow before the majesty of the tsar. Indeed, the tsar, the officials, the nobility, the bourgeoisie may sleep in peace. The Alliance does not make war on the established states, but on the revolutionaries who do not stoop to the role of supernumeraries in this tragicomedy. Peace to the palaces, war on the cottages! Chernyshevsky was libelled; the editors of The People's Cause were warned that they would be silenced "by various practical means at our disposal''; the Alliance threatened to assassinate all revolutionaries who were not with it. This is the only part of their pandestructive programme which they began to carry out. We shall now describe the first exploit of this nature.
After April 1869, Bakunin and Nechayev began preparing the ground for the revolution in Russia. They sent letters, proclamations and telegrams from Geneva to St. Petersburg, Kiev, and other cities. They knew, however, that they __PRINTERS_P_579_COMMENT__ 37* 580 could not send letters and proclamations, much less telegrams, to Russia without the "Tlaird Department" (thesecret police) knowing about them. All this could have no purpose other than that of compromising others. These cowardly tricks of men who risked nothing in their fine city of Geneva resulted in the arrest of a great many persons in Russia. However, they were warned of the danger that they were causing. We have in our hands proof that the following passage in a letter from Russia was communicated to Bakunin:
``For mercy's sake, let Bakunin know that if he holds anything sacred in the revolution, he must stop sending his lunatic proclamations, which are leading to searches in several cities and to arrests, and are paralysing all serious work."
Bakunin replied that this was a fabrication and that Nechayev had left for America. But, as will he seen later, Bakunin's clandestine code makes it obligatory to "compromise completely ... the ambitious and the liberals of various shades ... in such a way that their retreat becomes impossible, and then to make use of them.'' (The Revolutionary Catechism, § 19.)
Here is one proof. On April 7, 1869, Nechayev wrote to Mme. Tomilova, wife of a colonel who died of grief after the arrest of his wife, that "there is an enormous amount to be done in Geneva'', and he urged her to send a reliable man for talks with him. "The cause on which we must take counsel does not concern only our trade, but that of all Europe. Things are in ferment here. There's a soup boiling up that Europe will never manage to swallow. So make haste.'' Then conies the Geneva address. This letter did not reach its destination; it was confiscated in the post by the secret police, and resulted in the arrest of Mme. Tomilova, who only learned about it during the investigation. (Report of the Nechayev trial, St. Petersburg Gazette, No. 187, 1871.^^*^^)
Here is another fact which demonstrates Bakunin's circumspection in organising a conspiracy. Mavritsky, a student at the Kiev Academy, received proclamations which had been sent to him from Geneva. He immediately handed _-_-_
^^*^^ All the facts cited by us in connection with the Nechayev conspiracy are extracts from the reports of the trial as published in the St. Petersburg Gazette. We shall quote the number of the issue from which they have been taken.
581 them over to the government, which hastened to send to Geneva a trustworthy man, that is, a spy. Bakunin and Nechayev formed a close association with this delegate from the south of Russia, supplied him with proclamations and the addresses of persons whom Nechayev claimed to know in Russia, and gave him what could only be taken as a letter of confidence and recommendation (St. Petersburg Gazette No. 187).On September 3 (September 15, new style) 1869, Nechayev introduced himself in Moscow to Uspensky, a young man he had known before going abroad, as emissary of the World Revolutionary Committee in Geneva, and showed him the mandate quoted above. He told Uspensky that emissaries from this European Committee would be coming to Moscow furnished witli similar mandates, and that he, Nechayev, had been given the mission of "organising a secret society among the student youth ... to provoke a popular uprising in Russia''. On Uspensky's recommendation, Nechayev, in order to find a safe refuge, went to the Agricultural Academy, which was some distance from the city, and contacted Ivanov, one of the students best known for their devotion to the interests of the young and the people. Henceforth, the Agricultural Academy was to be Nechayev's centre of activity. First, he introduced himself under a false name and told how he had travelled a great deal in Russia; that the people were ready to rise everywhere and would have done so long ago had not the revolutionaries advised them to wait patiently until the completion of their great and powerful organisation, which was going to combine all the revolutionary forces of Russia. He urged Ivanov and other students to join this secret society, headed by an all-powerful Committee in whose name everything was done, but whose composition and locale must remain unknown to its members. This Committee and this organisation constituted the Russian Branch of World Union, of the Revolutionary Alliance, of the International Working Men's Associationl^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ It should be noted that in Russian the words for association, union and alliance (obshchestvo, soyuz, tovarishchestvo) are more or less synonymous and can often be used indiscriminately. Similarly, the word for international is mostly rendered by ``world'' (vsemirny). In the Russian press, "International Association" is thus often translated by __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 582. 582
Nechayev began by distributing the above-mentioned Words among the students to show them that Bakunin, the celebrated revolutionary of 1848 who had escaped from Siberia, was playing an important role in Europe, that he was the chief plenipotentiary of the workers, that he signed the mandates issued by the General Committee of the World Association, and that this hero advised them to give up their studies, etc. To give them a striking example of devotion unto death, he read them a poem by Ogarev, Bakunin's friend and the editor of Herzen's Kolokol; entitled The Student, it was dedicated to his "young friend = Nechayev".^^224^^ In it, Nechayev is represented as the ideal student, as the "indefatigable fighter since childhood''. Ogarev sings of how Nechayev suffered in his early years for the sake of the living work of science; how his devotion to the people had grown; how, pursued by the vengeance of the tsar and by the fear of the Boyars, he took to a life of wandering (skitanye, or vagabondage); how he went on a pilgrimage to cry out to the peasants from east to west: "Assemble together, rise up courageously'', etc. etc.; how he ended his life in penal servitude amid the snows of Siberia; how, being no hypocrite, he remained faithful all his life to the struggle; and how, till his last breath, he repeated: "All the people must conquer their land and their liberty!" This Alliance poem was published in the spring of 1869, when Nechayev was amusing himself in Geneva. Batches of it were sent to Russia along with the other proclamations. It would seem that the mere act of copying out this poem had the effect of inspiring a feeling of self-sacrifice in the neophytes, for, on the Committee's instructions, Nechayev had it copied out and distributed by each new initiate (statements by several of the defendants).
Music seems to be the only thing which was to escape the amorphism to which universal pan-destruction reduced all the arts and sciences. On behalf of the Committee, Nechayev ordained that propaganda should he carried out by means of revolutionary music, and tried hard to find a tune to which _-_-_ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 581. words which could equally well be rendered into French as "Alliance universelleMIt was by making use of this confusion in terms that Bakunin and Nechayev succeeded in exploiting our Association's name and in ruining about a hundred young people.
583 this poetic masterpiece could be sung by the young people (St. Petersburg Gazette No. 190).The mystic legend of his death did not prevent him from hinting that Nechayev might well be still alive, or from telling, under oath of secrecy, that Nechayev was in the Urals as a worker and that he had founded workers' associations there. (St. Petersburg Gazette No. 202). He disclosed this mainly to those who were "good for nothing'', that is, to those who dreamed of founding working men's associations, in order to inspire them with admiration for this fabulous hero. Finally, when the legends of his imaginary escape from the Peter and Paul Fortress and of his poetic death in Siberia had sufficiently prepared their minds and he believed that the initiates were well enough versed in the catechism, he finally brought about his evangelical resurrection and announced that he was Nechayev in person! Bvit it was no longer the Nechayev of old, ridiculed and despised by the students of St. Petersburg, as is affirmed by the witnesses and the defendants; this was the plenipotentiary of the World Revolutionary Committee. The miracle of his transformation had been engineered by Bakunin. Nechayev had complied with all the conditions demanded by the statutes of the organisation he preached; he had "distinguished himself by actions known and appreciated by the Committee''; he had, in Brussels, organised and directed an important strike by members of the International; the Belgian Committee had sent him as delegate to the Geneva International, where he had met Bakunin, and since, to use his own expression, "he disliked resting on his laurels'', he had returned to Russia to begin "revolutionary activities''. He gave an assurance that a whole general staff of sixteen Russian refugees had come with him.^^*^^
Uspensky, Ivanov, and four or six other young people appear to have been the only ones in Moscow who let themselves be taken in by this balderdash. Four of these initiates were ordered to recruit new adherents and to form circles or small sections. The plan of organisation is to be found in the documents of the trial; it conforms in almost every _-_-_
^^*^^ None of the Russian refugees re-entered Russia, and in any case there are no sixteen Russian political refugees to be found in the whole of Europe.
584 point to that of the secret Alliance. The "general rules of the organisation" were read out before the court, and not one of the principal initiates disputed their authenticity. Furthermore, issue No. 2 of The People's Judgment edited by Bakunin and Nechayev admitted the authenticity of the following articles:``The organisation is based on trust in the individual. No member knows to which grade he belongs, that is to say, whether he is far from or near the centre. Obedience to the Committee s orders must be absolute, without any objections. Renunciation of all property in favour of the Committee, which can dispose of it. Any member who has recruited a certain number of proselytes to our cause and who has proved by his deeds the degree of his strength and abilities, may familiarise himself with these rules and, later, with the society's statutes to a greater or lesser extent. The degree of his strength and abilities is assessed by the Committee."
To hoodwink the Moscow members, Nechayev told them that the organisation in St. Petersburg was already an enormous one, whereas in reality not a single circle or section existed there. In a moment of forgetfulness, he exclaimed to an initiate: "In St. Petersburg, they have been faithless to me like women and have betrayed me like slaves.'' When in St. Petersburg, however, he said that the organisation was making admirable progress in Moscow.
When, in Moscow, they asked to see a member of the Committee, he invited a young St. Petersburg officer, who was interested in the student movement, to come with him to Moscow and see the circles there. The young man agreed, and on the way Nechayev consecrated him "delegate extraordinary of the Committee of the International Association of Geneva".
``You could not,'' he said, "be admitted to our meetings if you were not a member, but here is a mandate certifying that you are a member of the International Association, and as such you will be admitted."
The mandate bore a French stamp reading: "The bearer of this mandate is the plenipotentiary representative of the International Association.'' The other defendants affirm that Nechayev assured them that this stranger was the "true agent of the Geneva Revolutionary Committee" (St. Petersburg Gazette Nos. 225 and 226).
Dolgov, a friend of Ivanov, testifies that "when speaking 585 of the secret society organised with the aim of supporting the people in the event of an uprising and of directing the insurrection so as to ensure its success, Nechayev also spoke of the International Association and said that Bakunin was serving as a contact with it" (No. 198). Bipmann confirms that "to divert him from his ideas on cooperative associations, Nechayev told him that there was an International Working Men's Association in Europe, and that to attain the goal pursued by the International, it was enough to join this Association, a section of which already existed in Moscow" (No. 198). Further on, we see from the statements of the defendants that Nechayev was misrepresenting the International as a secret society and his own society as a branch of the Internationa]. He also assured the initiates that their Moscow section was going to proceed by strikes and associations on a large scale, just like the International. When the accused Ripmann asked him for the society's programme, Nechayev read him several passages from a French leaflet on the aims of the society. The defendant understood that this leaflet was the International's programme and added: "Since there had been a lot of talk about this society in the press, I did not see anything very criminal in Nechayev's proposition.'' Kuznetsov, one of the chief defendants, said that Nechayev had read the programme of the International Association (No. 181). His brother stated that "he had seen them at his brother's place copying out a French leaflet which must have been the society's programme" (No. 202). The defendant Klimin declared that he had been read "the programme of the International Association with a few lines written as a postscript by Bakunin ... but as far as I remember, this programme was couched in very vague terms and said nothing about the means of achieving the aim,^but spoke only of equality in general" (No. 199). The defendant Gavrishev explained that the "French leaflet, insofar as it was possible to grasp its meaning, contained an exposition of the principles held by the representatives of socialism who had had their Congress at Geneva''. Finally, the deposition of the defendant Svyatsky completely clarifies for us the nature of this mysterious French leaflet: during the search, he was found in possession of a leaflet written in French and entitled: Programme of the International Alii- 586 ance of Socialist Democracy. "Much had been said about the International Association in the newspapers,'' lie said, "and I was interested to know its programme for purely theoretical purposes" (St. Petersburg Gazette No. 230). These depositions prove that the secret programme of the Alliance had been passed off in manuscript as the International's programme. That the World Revolutionary Committee, of which Nechayev said he was an emissary, and the Central Bureau of the Alliance (Citizen B.) were identical is proved by the deposition of the chief defendant, Uspensky, who declared that he had collected together all the minutes of the circle's meetings "in order to send an account to Bakunin in Geneva''. Pryzhov, one of the principal defendants, testified that Nechayev had ordered him to go to Geneva with a report for Bakunin.
Owing to lack of space, we are not going to mention here all the lies, stupidities, swindles, and acts of violence on the part of Bakunin's agent which were brought to light by the trial. We will only take note of the more flagrant examples.
Everything was a mystery in this organisation. Dolgov said that "before joining this society, he would have liked to know its organisation and means. Nechayev had replied that that was a secret and he would get to know it later" (St. Petersburg Gazette No. 198).---When the members ventured to ask questions, Nechayev shut them up, saying that in accordance with the statutes, no one had the right to know anything until he had distinguished himself by some act (No. 199). "As soon as we had agreed to become members of the society,'' declared one of the accused, " Nechayev began to terrorise us with the power and might of the Committee which, according to him, existed and directed us. He said that the Committee had its own police, and that if anybody broke his word or acted contrary to the orders of individuals who were more highly placed than our circle, the Committee would have recourse to vengeance.'' The defendant confessed that "having noticed Nechayev's swindles, he informed him that he intended to withdraw completely from this business and go to the Caucasus to recover his health. Nechayev told him that this was not allowed, and that the Committee could punish him with death if he 587 dared to leave the society. He also ordered him to go to a meeting and speak there of the secret society in order to recruit new members, and to read the poem on Nechayev's death. When Ihe defendant refused, Nechayev threatened him. 'You'renot hereto discuss matters,' heshouted. 'You're obliged to obey the Committee's orders without objection'" (No. 198).---If this were only an isolated instance, there might be grounds for doubt; but several of the defendants, who could not possibly have come to an understanding with one another, testify to exactly the same thing.---Another declared that the circle's members, on realising that they had been tricked, wanted to leave the society but did not dare do so for fear of the Committee's revenge (No. 198).
One witness, speaking of one of his accused friends, said: The accused Florinsky did not know how to shake off Nechayev, who was preventing him from getting on with his work. The witness advised him to leave Moscow and go to St. Petersburg, but Florinsky replied that Nechayev would find him in St. Petersburg just as he did in Moscow; that Nechayev was outraging the convictions of a great many young people by terrorising them, and that what Florinsky seemed to fear was a denunciation on Nechayev's part. "It was said, and I heard it,'' testified Likhutin, "that Nechayev was sending very violent letters from abroad to his acquaintances to compromise them and get them arrested. This way of acting was one trait of his character" (No. 186). Yenisherlov stated even that he was beginning to regard Nechayev as a government agent.
During the meeting of a small circle, one of the members, Klimin, in reply to a stranger who was present as emissary of the Committee and expressed his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the circle, said that "they themselves were also dissatisfied; that at the beginning the recruits were told that each section could act more or less independently without passive obedience being demanded of its members; but subsequently things had been run quite differently and the Committee was reducing them to the state of slaves" (No. 199).---Nechayev used to issue his orders on pieces of stamped paper: "Russian Section of the World Revolutionary Alliance. Stamp for the public,'' and he formulated 588 his instructions as follows: "The Committee orders you to ...'' carry out such-and-such, go to such-and-such a place, etc.
One young officer, who had become disillusioned, wanted to leave the society. Nechayev seemed to agree to this, but he demanded compensation. The officer had to obtain for him a bill for 6,000 rubles (nearly 20,000 frs.) signed by Kolachevsky. In 1866, Kolachevsky, after Karakozov's attempt to assassinate the tsar, had been detained with his two sisters for a long period. At the time of the present incident, one of them was serving a second term in prison for a political offence. The whole family was under rigorous police surveillance and Kolachevsky could expect to be arrested at any moment. Nechayev made use of this situation. On his orders, the young officer mentioned above invited Kolachevsky to his own place under a false pretext, entered into conversation with him, and gave him some proclamations, which the other took out of curiosity. No sooner had Kolachevsky gone out into the street, than he was accosted by an officer who ordered the other to follow him, announcing that he was working for the Third Department (secret police), and that he knew that Kolachevsky had on his person proclamations of a seditious nature. Now the possession of these alone is enough to lead to years of detention and penal servitude for a man if he has had the misfortune already to have been compromised in a political matter. The self-styled agent of the Third Department invited Kolachevsky to get into a carriage, and, once they .were inside offered him the chance to buy himself off by signing on the spot a bill for 6,000 rubles. Forced to choose between this offer and the prospect of going to Siberia, Kolachevsky signed. The next day, another young man, Negreskul, on learning of this business, suspected Nechayev of being involved, immediately sought out the supposed agent to the Third Department, and demanded an explanation of his swindle. The latter denied everything; the bill had been hidden and was not retrieved until later during the search. The discovery of the conspiracy and Nechayev's flight made it impossible for him to cash the note. Negreskul had known Nechayev for a long time and had been the victim of one of his swindles in Geneva. Bakunin had then Iried to recruit him. Later, they had extorted a hundred rubles from him 589 (No. 230). He had ended up by being compromised by Nechayev, although he detested him and thought him capable of any villainy. He was arrested and died in prison.
We have seen that Ivanov had been one of Nechayev's first recruits. He was one of the most beloved and most influential students at the Moscow Agricultural Academy. He devoted himself to bettering the lot of his comrades and organised aid societies and dining rooms where poor students could eat free of charge and which served as a cover for meetings at which they discussed social questions. He devoted all his spare time to teaching the children of peasants living near the Academy. His comrades testify that he threw himself passionately into all these activities, giving away his last kopek and quite often sacrificing his own hot meals.
Ivanov was struck by the stupidity of the terrorist proclamations issued by Nechayev and Bakunin. He could not understand why the Committee kept ordering the distribution of Words, Ogarev's Song of Death, The People's Judgment and, finally, Bakunin's Appeal to the Russian Nobility, a purely aristocratic proclamation.^^*^^ He began to lose patience _-_-_
^^*^^ Here are some extracts from the Appeal to the Russian Nobility, a proclamation published by Bakunin: "What privileges have we received for having, during the first half of the 19th century, been the mainstay of the throne which has been shaken to its very foundations so many times; for having, in 1848, during the storms of popular madness unleashed over Europe, saved by our noble deeds the Russian empire from the socialist Utopias that threatened to invade it?... What have we been accorded for having saved the Empire from dismemberment, for having extinguished in Poland the flames of the conflagration which threatened to set all Russia on fire; for having, to this very moment, worked with unsparing energy and with unparalleled courage to destroy the revolutionary elements in Russia?--- Was it not from our midst that there came Mikhail Murayyov, that gallant man whom Alexander II himself, for all his feeble-mindedness, named the saviour of his country?---What have we gained from all this? For all these inestimable services, we have been skinned of everything we possess.... Our present appeal is a declaration by a vast majority of the Russian nobility which has long been ready and organised.... We feel our strength in our right, we boldly throw down the gauntlet before the despot, the German princeling Alexander II Saltykov-Romanov, and we challenge him to a noble and knightly combat which must be taken up in 1870 between the descendants of Rurik and the party of the Russian independent nobility."
``Muravyov, that gallant man,'' is nothing but the executioner of Poland.
590 and to ask where this Committee was, what it was doing and what sort of a Committee it was that invariably put Nechayev in the right and the other members in the wrong. He expressed a desire to see someone from this Committee. He had acquired the right to this, since Nechayev himself had promoted him to a rank equivalent to that of member of a national committee of the secret Alliance. It was then that Nechayev extricated himself from this predicament by staging the comedy, as described above, of the emissary from the Geneva International.One day, Nechayev ordered the transfer to the Committee of money intended for the students' mutual aid society. Ivanov protested, and a quarrel ensued. Other comrades urged Ivanov to submit to the Committee's decision, since they had accepted the statutes which demanded this submission. Ivanov gave way to their insistences and grudgingly complied. Nechayev then began thinking out a plan for getting rid of this man whom he probably regarded as a doctrinaire revolutionary deserving death. He engaged Uspensky in theoretical conversations on punishment, on the elimination of disloyal members who, by their rebellion, could compromise and ruin the whole vast secret organisation.
The manner in which Nechayev ran his secret society was such as to engender doubts concerning the serious nature of the organisation. The sections had to hold regular sittings to examine the academic registers of the names of all the students, to mark those who were considered likely recruits, and to investigate means of procuring money. One such means was subscription lists for "students who have suffered'', that is, who had been administratively banished. The proceeds from these lists went straight into the Committee's pocket, that is to say, Nechayev's. The sections had to obtain all kinds of clothes which were kept in a safe place and were used by Nechayev as disguise during his flight. But the principal occupation consisted in copying out the Song of Death and the proclamations cited above. The members of the conspiracy had to write down as accurately as possible everything that was said at their meetings, and Nechayev threatened them with the Committee, which had its spies everywhere, in the event of them daring to hide anything. Each had to bring to the circle written reports on everything 591 that he had been doing in between meetings, and these reports had to be compiled into a summary for despatch to Bakuniri.
All these puerile and inquisitorial practices made Ivanov doubt the very existence of the Committee and the much vaunted powers of this organisation. He began to suspect that it all boiled down to preposterous exploitation and a colossal hoax. He confided to his close friends that if things stayed as they were and if they were given nothing better to do than these silly tasks, he would break with Nechayev and would found a serious organisation himself.
It was then that Nechayev took a decisive step. He gave the order for his proclamations to be put up in the students' dining rooms. Ivanov realised that the posting up of these proclamations would lead to the closing of the dining rooms, the banning of meetings, and the dispersal of the best students. He therefore opposed the measure (this is, in fact, what happened: the students' dining room was closed down and all the delegates appointed to manage it were exiled). A quarrel flared up over this, during which Nechayev kept repeating his stereotyped statement: "It's the Committee's orders!"
Ivanov was in utter despair. On November 20, 1869, he approached a member of the section, Pryzhov, and informed him that he was quitting the society. Pryzhov communicated this statement to Uspensky who, in his turn, hastened to inform Nechayev and, a few hours later, these three met at Kuznetsov's place, where Nikolayev also had lodgings. Nechayev announced that Ivanov must be punished for rebelling against the Committee's orders, and that he must be eliminated to prevent him from doing them any more damage. Kuznetsov, Ivanov's close friend, apparently did not grasp Nechayev's intention, and so the latter declared that Ivanov must be killed. Pryzhov shouted to Kuznetsov: "Nechayev is mad, he wants to kill Ivanov, he must be prevented.'' Nechayev put a stop to their hesitation with his habitual statement: "Do you also want to rebel against the Committee's orders? If there's no other way of killing him, I'll go to his room tonight with Nikolayev and we'll strangle him.'' He then suggested luring Ivanov that night to a 592 grotto in the Academy park under pretext of digging up a printing-press which had been hidden for a long time, and they would assassinate him there.
Thus, even at this supreme moment, Nechayev himself paid tribute to Ivanov's loyalty. He was sure that, in spite of his resignation, Ivanov would come and help to dig up the printing-press, and that he was incapable of betraying him since, if he had been harbouring any such intention, he would have carried it out before leaving the society or immediately afterwards. If Ivanov had wanted to denounce Nechayev to the police, he had the chance to get them caught in the act. Quite to the contrary, Ivanov was delighted to have positive proof at last that this organisation actually existed, a tangible sign that it possessed the means of action, even if it were only printer's type. Forgetting all the threats so often made by NecLayev to the unfaithful, he hastened to leave a friend witli whom he was having tea and at whose place Nikolayev had called on Nechayev's orders, and off he went in obedience to the summons.
In the darkness of the night, Ivanov went unsuspectingly towards the grotto. Suddenly, a cry rang out. Someone had jumped on him from behind. A terrible struggle began, with nothing to be heard but the grunting of Nechayev and the groans of his victim, whom he was strangling with his bare hands. Then a shot rang out, and Ivanov fell down dead. Nechayev's revolver bullet had pierced Ivanov's skull. "Quick, rope and stones,'' shouted Nechayev, rummaging through the dead man's pockets for papers and money. They then threw him into a pond.
On returning to Kuznetsov's place, the assassins took measures to hide the traces of their crime. They burned Nechayev's blood-stained shirt. The accomplices were gloomy and uneasy. Suddenly, a second revolver shot rang^out and a bullet whistled past Pryzhov's ear. Nechayev apologised for "having wanted to show Nikolayev how his revolver worked''. The witnesses unanimously testified that this had been another assassination attempt. Nechayev had wanted to kill Pryzhov because the latter had dared in the morning to protest against the murder of Ivanov.
Immediately afterwards, Nechayev rushed from Moscow to Petersburg with Kuznetsov, leaving Uspensky to act in 593 Moscow. At Petersburg, he made a pretence of always being busy with his organisation; but, to his great astonishment, Kuznetsov noted that there was even less of an organisation there than in Moscow. He dared to question Nechayev: "Where is the Committee, then? Would it be you, by any chance?"---Nechayev denied this again and assured him that the Committee existed. He returned to Moscow and admitted to Nikolayev that since Uspensky had already been arrested, the same would happen to all the others very soon, and that "he did not know what he ought to do any more''. It was then that Nikolayev, his most faithful follower, decided to ask him if the famous Committee really existed, or if Nechayev himself was its sole embodiment.---"Without giving a positive reply to this question, he told me that all means were permissible for drawing people into such a cause, that this rule was also practised abroad, that this rule was followed by Bakunin just as by others, and that if such men submitted to this rule, it was entirely natural that he, Nechayev, should act in the same manner" (No. 181). He then ordered Nikolayev to go with Pryzhov to Tula and fraudulently extort a passport from a worker who was an old friend of Nikolayev's. He later went to Tula himself, where he entreated a Mme. Alexandrovskaya to accompany him to Geneva; it was absolutely necessary for him.
Mme. Alexandrovskaya had been seriously compromised during the disturbances of 1861 and 1862. She even had been committed to prison, where her conduct had left much to be desired. In a fit of frankness, she had written a confession to her judges, and this confession had compromised many people. After all this, she was interned in a provincial town under police surveillance. As she was afraid of not being able to obtain a passport, Nechayev procured one for her, no one knows how. It might be asked why Nechayev had sought out for his travelling companion a woman whose company alone would be enough to get him arrested at the frontier. However, he arrived in Geneva safe and sound with Mme. Alexandrovskaya at his side and, while his wretched dupes were being thrown into prison cells, he and Bakunin set about preparing the second issue of The People's Judgment. Bakunin, unbelievably proud to see le Journal de Geneve mention the Nechayev conspiracy with himself as
38--0960
594 having played the principal part, forgot Dial his The People's Judgment claimed to he published in Moscow, arid he inserted in it a whole page of the article from le Journal de Geneve in French. As soon as the journal was ready, Mine. Alexandrovskaya was given the task of taking it into Russia with other proclamations. At the frontier, an agent of the Third Department, who was waiting for Mme. Alexandrovskaya, confiscated the parcel. After her arrest, she gave him a list of names which could not have been known except to Bakunin alone. One of the accused in the Nechayev affair, and one of his closest friends, admitted to the tribunal that "he had hitherto considered Bakunin an honest man, and he could not understand how he and others could have subjected this woman in such a craven fashion to the danger of arrest".If Bakunin evaded the necessity of himself going to Russia in order to direct in person the great revolution whose imminent explosion he predicted, at least he worked in Europe as if he had "the devil in his flesh''. Le Progres of Locle, the organ of the Swiss Alliance, published long excerpts from The People's Judgment. In it, Guillaume praised the great successes of the great Russian socialists, and declared that his abstentionist programme was identical to that of the great Russian socialists.^^*^^ At the Congress of LaChauxde-Fonds, when Utin attempted to disclose Nechayev's nefarious deeds, Guillaume interrupted him by saying that to speak of these men was espionage. As for Bakunin, he was writing in la Marseillaise as if he had just returned from "a long journey through distant lands which are not reached by free = newspapers"^^226^^ so as to create the impression that matters in Russia were taking such a revolutionary turn that he considered his presence there essential.
We now come to the denouement of the tragi-comedy of the Russian Alliance. In 1859, Herzen had received a bequest of 25,000 frs. from a young Russian to carry on revolutionary propaganda in = Russia.^^220^^ Herzen, who had never wanted to _-_-_
^^*^^ In 1868, less than two years before the Congress of La Chaux-- de-Fonds at which the Alliance members had their doctrine of political abstention sanctioned, Bakunin deploring, in la Democratic of Chassin, the political abstention of the French workers, wrote: "Political abstention is a stupidity invented by scoundrels to deceive idiots."
595 release this sum to just anybody, nevertheless let himself be caught by Bakunin, who managed to relieve him of it by assuring him that Nechayev represented a vast and powerful secret organisation. Nechayev therefore thought himself entitled to demand his share. But the two international brethren, whom the assassination of Ivanov had failed to split, began quarrelling over a money matter. Bakunin refused. Nechayev left Geneva and published in London, in the spring of 1870, a Russian newspaper La Commune ( Obshchina) in which he publicly claimed from Bakunin the rest of the capital which the latter had received from the now deceased Herzen. Here, indeed, is proof that the international brethren "never attack one another or settle their differences in public". __-_-_-__The leading article in the second issue of The People's Judgment contains yet another funeral dirge in poetic prose on Nechayev, that hero always dead and always living. This time, the hero had been strangled by the gendarmes who were taking him to Siberia. Disguised as a workman, he had been arrested at Tambov while drinking in a tavern. This arrest had led to extraordinary unrest in government circles. They could speak of nothing but "Nechayev in disguise ... denunciations ... secret societies ... Bakuninists ... revolution''. On the occasion of Nechayev's death, the governor of Perm had sent a telegram to Petersburg. The text of this telegram is quoted in full. Another telegram, also quoted in full, was sent to the Third Department, and The People's Judgment knew that "having received this telegram.^the chief of police jumped in his chair and smiled an evil smile all that evening''. Thus it was that Nechayev died a second time.
Ivanov's murder is admitted in the article, which describe it as
``an act of vengeance by the society on a member for any deviation from his duties. The stern logic of true workers for the cause must not stop at any act leading to the success of the cause, much less at acts which may save the cause and avert its ruin".
For Bakunin, the "success of the cause" for the imprisonment of eighty young people. The second article is entitled: "Yes, he who is not for us,
38*
596 is against us'', and contains an apologia for political assassination. The fate of Ivanov, who is not mentioned by name, is promised to all revolutionaries who do not adhere to the Alliance:``The critical moment has come ... military operations between the two camps have commenced ... it is no longer possible to remain neutral: to abide by the golden mean is out of the question, for this would mean being caught in the cross-fire between two hostile armies which have begun shooting at one another; this would mean exposing oneself pointlessly to death, it would mean falling under fire from both sides without a chance of defending oneself. It would mean suffering the lashes and tortures of the Third Department, or falling under the bullets of our revolvers."
Next come expressions of gratitude, apparently ironical, to the Russian government for its "cooperation in the development and the rapid advance of our work, which is approaching its much-desired goal at a headlong speed''. At the very time when the two heroes were thanking the government for speeding it on the way to "the much-desired goal'', all the members of the so-called secret organisation were under arrest. Then the article? makes a new appeal. It " welcomes with open arms all fresh and honest forces'', but warns them that once they have submitted to these embraces, they must yield to all the exigencies of the society: "Any renunciation, any withdrawal from the society, made knowingly through lack of faith in the truth and justice of certain principles, leads to removal from the list of the living''. And our two heroes ridicule those who have been arrested; they are nothing more than petty liberals; the true members of the organisation are protected by the secret society, which does not allow them to be apprehended.
The third article is entitled: The Fundamental Principles of the Social Order of the Future. This article shows that if the ordinary mortal is punished like a criminal for even thinking about the social organisation of the future, this is because the leaders have arranged everything in advance.
``The ending of the existing social order and the renewal of life with the aid of the new principles can be accomplished only by concentrating all the means of social existence in the hands of our committee, and the proclamation of compulsory physical labour for everyone.
``The committee, as soon as the present institutions have been overthrown, proclaims that everything is common property, orders 597 the setting up of workers' societies (artels) and at the same time publishes statistical tables compiled by experts and pointing out what branches of labour arc most needed in a certain locality and what branches may run into difficulties there.
``For a certain number of.days assigned for the revolutionaryjupheaval and the disorders that are bound to follow, each person must join one or another of these artels according to his own choice.... All those who remain isolated and unattached to workers' groups without sufficient reason will have no right of access either to the communal eating places or to the communal dormitories, or to any other buildings assigned to meet the various needs of the brother-workers or that contain the goods and materials, the victuals or tools reserved for all members of the established workers' society; in a word, he who without sufficient reason has not joined an artel, will be left without means of subsistence. All the roads, all the means of communication will be closed to him; he will have no other alternative but work or death."
Each artel will elect from its members an assessor ``( otzienchtchik''), who regulates the work, keeps the books on production and consumption and the productivity of every worker, and acts as go-between with the general office of the given locality. The office, consisting of members elected from among the artels of the locality, conducts exchange between these artels, administers all the communal establishments (dormitories, canteens, schools, hospitals) and directs all public works: "All general work is managed by the office, while all individual work requiring special skills and craftsmanship is performed by special artels." Then comes a long set of rules on education, hours of work, feeding of children, freeing of inventors from work and so on.
``With full publicity, knowledge and activity on the part of everyone all ambition, as we now know it, all deception will disappear without a trace, will vanish forever.... Everyone will endeavour to produce as much as possible for society and consume as little as possible; all the pride, all the ambition of the worker of those times will rest in the awareness of his usefulness to society."
What a beautiful model of barrack-room communism! Here you have it all: communal eating, communal sleeping, assessors and offices regulating education, production, consumption, in a word, all social activity, and to crown all, our Committee, anonymous and unknown to anyone, as the supreme director. This is indeed the purest anti-authoritarianism.
To give this absurd plan of practical organisation the semblance of a theoretical basis, a small note is attached to the very title of this article:
__PRINTERS_P_597_COMMENT__ 38* 598``Those who wish to know the complete theoretical development of our principal theses, will find them in the writing published by us: Manifesto of the Communist Party."
In fact, the Russian translation of the Manifesto (German) of the Communist Party, 1847, was announced, price one franc, in every issue of the Kolokol in 1870, alongside Bakunin's Appeal to the Officers of the Russian Army and the two issues of The People's Judgment. The very Bakunin who abuse'd this Manifesto to lend weight to his Tatar fantasies in Russia, had it denounced by the Alliance in the West as an ultra-heretical writing preaching the baleful doctrines of German authoritarian communism (see the resolution of the Rimini Conference, Guillaume's address at The Hague, Bulletin jurassien No. 10--11, the Federation of Barcelona, etc.)
Now that the common herd knows the role "our committee" is destined to perform, it is easy to understand this competitive hatred of the state and of any centralisation of the workers' forces. Assuredly, while the working class continues to have any representative bodies of its own, Messrs. Bakunin and Nechayev, revolutionising under the incognito of "our committee'', will not be able to put themselves in possession of the public wealth or reap the benefit of this sublime ambition which they so ardently desire to inspire in others---that of working much to consume little!
Nechayev took great care of a booklet written in cypher and called The Revolutionary Catechism.™ He claimed that the possession of this book was the special privilege of any emissary or agent of the International Association. According to all the depositions and the irrefutable evidence provided by the lawyers, this catechism had been written by Bakunin, who never dared to deny paternity. Furthermore, the form and the content of this work clearly show that it came from the same source as the secret statutes, the Words, the proclamations, and The People's Judgment, which we have already mentioned. The revolutionary catechism was only a supplement to these./These pan-destructive anarchists, who want to reduce everything to amorphism 599 in order to create anarchy in morality, possess bourgeois immorality at its most extreme. We have already been able to assess, from a few examples, the worth of this Alliance morality whose dogmas, purely Christian in origin, were first drawn up in meticulous detail by the Escobars of the 17th = century.^^228^^ The only difference being that the Alliance exaggerated the terms to the ridiculous and replaced the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church of the Jesuits with its arch-anarchist and pan-destructive "holy revolutionary cause''. The revolutionary catechism is the official code of this morality, formulated systematically and quite openly this time. We are publishing it in extenso,^^*^^ just as it was read before the tribunal during the sitting of July 8, 1871.
The revolutionary's duties to hiinselj
§ 1. The revolutionary is a dedicated man. He has neither personal interests, nor affairs, nor feelings, nor attachments, nor property, nor even a name. Every part of him is absorbed by one sole interest, one sole thought, one sole passion: the revolution.
§ 2. In the depths of his being, not only in words, but in deeds, he has severed all ties with civil order and with the entire civilised world, with laws, decencies, morality, and the conventions generally accepted in that world. He is its implacable enemy, and if he continues to live in it, it is only to destroy it more surely.
§ 3. A revolutionary despises all doctrinairism and renounces worldly science, leaving it for future generations. He only knows one science: that of destruction. For that purpose and none other, he studies mechanics, physics, chemistry, and perhaps medicine. With the same goal, he studies living science day and night---men, characters, positions, and all conditions of the existing social order in all possible spheres. The goal remains the same: the destruction, as quickly as possible and as certainly as possible, of this foul (pogany) order.
§ 4. He despises public opinion. He despises and hates the existing social morality with all its instincts and in all its manifestations. For him, everything is moral that favours the triumph of the revolution, and everything is immoral and criminal that impedes it.
§ 5. The revolutionary is a dedicated man. He has no mercy for the State in general or for the entire civilised class of society, and he should no more expect mercy for himself. Between him and society there is a struggle, open or concealed, but always incessant, irreconcilable, and to the death. He must accustom himself to withstand torture.
§ 6. Strict with himself, he must be the same with others. All feelings of affection, all the softening feelings of kinship, friendship, _-_-_
^^*^^---in full.---Ed.
600 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1976/HCFI758/20061104/699.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.15) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ love and sratitude must ho stifled in him hy a unique and cold passion for the revolutionary cause. For him, there is only one joy, one consolation, one reward and one satisfaction: the success of the revolution. Night and day, he must have only one thought and one goal--- implacable destruction. Pursuing this goal coldly and without respite, he must himself be ready to perish and to destroy with his own hands all who obstruct the achievement of this goal.§ 7. The nature of the true revolutionary excludes all romanticism, all sensitivity, all enthusiasm, and all involvement; it even excludes personal hatred and vengeance. Revolutionary passion, having become with him a habit every day and every moment, must be combined with cold calculation. Everywhere and always he must obey not his personal impulses, but whatever is prescribed to him by the general interests of the revolution.
Duties of the revolutionary to his comrades in revolution
§ 8. The revolutionary can only have friendship and affection for the man who has proved by his deeds that he is, like him, a revolutionary agent. The degree of friendship, devotion, and other obligations towards such a comrade are only measured by the degree of his usefulness in the practical work of the pan-destructive ( vserazrushitelnaya) revolution.
§ 9. It is superfluous to speak of solidarity among revolutionaries, for in it lies all the strength of the revolutionary cause. The revolutionary comrades who find themselves at the same level of revolutionary consciousness and passion must, as much as possible, deliberate in common on all important matters and make their decisions unanimously. In the execution of a matter thus decided, each must rely on himself as much as possible. In the execution of a series of destructive acts, each must act on his own and not have recourse to the assistance or advice of his comrades, unless it is indispensable for success.
§ 10. Each comrade should have at hand several revolutionaries from the second and third rank, that is, from those who have not been fully initiated. He must consider them as part of the general revolutionary capital placed at his disposal. He must expend his share of the capital economically and try to extract from it as much profit as possible. He regards himself as capital destined to be expended for the triumph of the revolutionary cause, but it is capital which he cannot dispose of alone and without the consent of all the fully initiated comrades.
§ 11. When a comrade finds himself in danger, then in order to decide whether or not he should be saved, the revolutionary must not consider any personal feeling, but solely the interest of the revolutionary cause. Consequently, lie must calculate, on the one hand, the degree of usefulness furnished by his comrade and, on the other, the quantity of revolutionary forces necessary to rescue him; he must see which way the scales tip and he must act accordingly.
601Duties of the revolutionary to society
§ 12. A new member, after having given proof, not by words, but by deeds, can only be accepted by the association unanimously.
§ 13. A revolutionary enters the world of the State, the world of the classes, the so-called civilised world, and lives in it solely because he has faith in its imminent and total destruction. He is not a revolutionary if he holds on to anything whatever in this world. He must not hesitate before the destruction of any position, tie or man belonging to this world. He must hate everything and everybody equally. So much the worse for him if he has in this world ties of kinship, friendship, or love; he is not a revolutionary if these ties can stay his hand.
§ 14. With the aim of implacable destruction, a revolutionary can, and often must, live in society, while pretending to be entirely different from what he really is. A revolutionary must penetrate everywhere, into the upper and the middle classes alike, into the merchant's shop, into the church, into the aristocratic palace, into the bureaucratic, military and literary world, into the Third Department (secret police), and even into the imperial palace.
§ 15. The whole of this foul society must be divided into several categories. The first consists of those who are condemned to death without delay. The comrades should draw up lists of these condemned men in the order of their relative harmfulness to the success of the revolutionary cause, so that the first numbers may be disposed of before the others.
§ 16. In drawing up these lists and in establishing these categories, no influence should be exerted by the personal villainy of a man, or even by the hatred which he inspires in the members of the organisation or in the people. This villainy and this hatred may even be useful to some extent in stirring up a popular revolt. The only consideration should be taken of the measure of profit for the revolutionary cause which may result from the death of a certain person. Consequently, the first to be destroyed must be those who are most dangerous to the revolutionary organisation and whose violent and sudden death can most frighten the government and break its strength by depriving it of energetic and intelligent agents.
§ 17. The second category should consist of people who are allowed to live provisionally [!1 so that by a series of monstrous acts they will drive the people to the inevitable revolt.
§ 18. The third category covers a large number of highly placed brutes or individuals who are remarkable neither for their minds nor for their energy, but who, by virtue of their position, have wealth, connections, influence, and power. We must exploit them in every way possible, outwit them, confuse them, and, wherever possible, by possessing ourselves of their filthy secrets, make them our slaves. In this way, their power, connections, influence and wealth will become an inexhaustible treasure and an invaluable help in various enterprises. § 19. The fourth category is composed of various ambitious men in the State service, and liberals of different shades. We can conspire with these on their own programme, putting up an appearance of following them blindly. We must get them into our hands, seize their 602 secrets, compromise them completely, so that retreat becomes impossible for them, and make use of them to cause trouble within the State.
§ 20. The fifth category consists of doctrinaires, conspirators, revolutionaries, all those who babble at meetings and on paper. They must be constantly encouraged and inveigled into practical and dangerous demonstrations which will have the effect of eliminating the majority, while making true revolutionaries out of some.
§ 21. The sixth category is very important---the women, who must be divided into three classes: first, useless women without spirit or heart, who must be exploited in the same way as the third and fourth categories of men; second, fervent, devoted and capable women, who are nevertheless not with us because they have not yet arrived at a practical and phraseless revolutionary awareness; they must be used like the fifth category of men; finally, women who arc entirely with us, that is to say, who have been fully initiated and who have accepted our programme in its entirety. We must treat them as the most valuable of our treasures, for without their help we can do nothing.
Duties of the Association to the people
§ 22. The Association has no goal other than the total emancipation and the happiness of the people, that is to say, manual workers (chernorabochi lyud). But, convinced that this emancipation and this happiness cannot be achieved except by means of a people's revolution which will destroy everything, the Association will employ all its means and all its forces to magnify and increase the ills and evils which must finally exhaust the patience of the people and stir them to a mass uprising.
§ 23. By a people's revolution, the Society does not mean a movement directed after the classic model of the West, which, always hesitating before property and the traditional social system of so-called civilisation and morality, has hitherto restricted itself to the overthrow of one political form in order to replace it with another and to creating a so-called revolutionary State. The only revolution which can be beneficial to the people is that which will destroy from bottom to top the whole idea of the State and will turn upside-down all the traditions, state system, and classes in Russia.
§ 24. To this end, the Society has no intention of imposing on the people any kind of organisation from above. The future organisation will undoubtedly emerge from the movement and life of the people, but that is the concern of future generations. Our concern is terrifying, total, implacable and universal destruction.
§ 25. Consequently, in drawing closer to the people, we must above all join up with the elements of the people's life which, since the foundation of the Muscovite State, have not ceased to protest, not only with words, but with their deeds, against everything which is directly or indirectly tied up with the State, against the nobility, against the bureaucracy, against the clergy, against the business^^*^^ world, and _-_-_
^^*^^ In the Russian text: ``gildeiskogo''.---Ed.
603 against petty tradesmen, the exploiters of the people.^^*^^ We must join the adventurist world of the brigands, who are the true and unique revolutionaries in Russia.§ 26. To concentrate this world into a single pan-destructive and invincible force---that is the whole meaning of our organisation, our conspiracy, and our task.
To criticise lliis masterpiece would be to weaken its comic impact. It would also mean taking too seriously this amorphous pan-destroyer who succeeded only in making a single personage of Rodolphe, Monte-Christo, Karl Moor and Robert Macaire. We shall limit ourselves to stating, with the aid of a few comparisons, that the spirit and even the terms of the catechism, without counting the laborious exaggerations, are identical to those of the secret statutes and other Russian works of the Alliance.
The three degrees of initiation defined in the Alliance's secret statutes arc reproduced in § 10 of the catechism, where mention is made of "revolutionaries from the second and third rank ... who have not been fully initiated".---The duties of the international brethren as defined in Article 6 of the rules are the same as those enjoined by §§ 1 and 13 of the catechism.---The conditions under which the brethren can accept governmental posts as denned in Article 8 of the rules "are more explicitly laid out" in § 14 of the catechism, where they are given to understand that they may join the police if so ordered.---The advice given to the brethren (Rules, Article 9) to consult one another, is reproduced in § 9 of the catechism.---Articles 2, 3, and 6 of the programme of the international brethren attribute to the revolution precisely the same character as §§ 22 and 23 of the catechism.---The Jacobins of Article 4 of the programme become, in § 20 of the catechism, a subdivision of "the fifth category of men'', condemned to death in both documents.---The ideas expressed in Articles 5 and 8 of the programme on the progress of a truly anarchist revolution are the same as those in § 24 of the catechism.
The condemnation of science in § 3 of the catechism recurs in all the Russian publications. The idealisation of the brigand as the type of the revolutionary, which does not _-_-_
^^*^^ In the Russian text: ``kulaka-miroyeda''.---E4.
604 exist in the Words except in embryo, is openly affirmed and preached in all the other writings. The "fifth category" of § 20 of the catechism is applied, in The Setting of the Revolutionary Question, to "Revolutionaries of the State and the Cabinet''. Here, as in §§ 25 and 26, it is stated that the first duty of the revolutionary is to throw himself into brigandage. It is only The Principles of Revolution and The People's Judgment that begin to preach the pandestruction ordained by §§ 6, 8 and 26 of the catechism, and systematic assassination in §§ 13, 15, 16 and 17.Bakunin, however, tried to leave no room for doubt over his complicity in the so-called Nechayev conspiracy, lie published a proclamation: To the Officers of the Russian army, dated "Geneva, January 1870" and signed Mikhail Bakunin. This proclamation, "price one franc'', was announced as Bakunin's work in all the issues of the Kolokol for 1870. Here are some extracts.
It begins by declaring, as Nechayev had done in Russia, that
``The hour of the last struggle between the house of RomauovHolstein-Gottorp and the Russian people is approaching, the struggle between the Tatar-German yoke and the broad liberty of the Slavs. Spring is on our threshold, and the battle will commence in the first days of spring ... the revolutionary force is ready and its triumph is assured in the presence of the profound and general mass discontent now reigning all over Russia."
An organisation exists to direct this imminent revolution, for "a secret organisation is like the general staff of an army, and this army is the entire people".
``In my appeal 'To the Young Russian Brothers', I said that Stenka Razin who will put himself at the head of the masses during the destruction, so clearly at hand, of the Russian Empire, will no longer be an individual hero, but a collective Stenka Razin. Every man who is not a fool will easily understand that I was speaking of a secret organisation existing and acting already at this moment, strong in the discipline, devotion, and passionate self-sacrifice of its 605 members and in their passive obedience to all the instructions of an unique committee which knows everything and is known by no one.
``The members of this committee have achieved total self-- renunciation. This is what gives them the right to demand absolute renunciation from all the other members of the organisation. They have to such an extent renounced everything most coveted by vain, ambitious, and the power-seeking men, that, having finally renounced personal property, public or official power, and, in general, all fame in society, they have condemned themselves to eternal oblivion, ceding to others glory, external appearances, and the renown of the cause, and only keeping for themselves, and even then always collectively, the very essence of this cause.
``Like the Jesuits, only not with the aim of enslaving, but with that of liberating the people, each of them has even renounced his own will. In the committee, as in the whole organisation, it is not the individual who thinks, wishes and acts, but the collective. Such a renunciation of his own life, his own thought and his own will may seem impossible, even revolting, to many. It is, in fact, difficult of achievement, but it is indispensable. It will seem particularly difficult to the novices, to those who have only just joined the organisation, to men who have not yet lost the habit of wordy and futile bragging, to men who play at honour, personal dignity and right, to those who in general let themselves be diverted by the wretched phantoms of a supposed humanity, behind which can be seen, in Russian society, a general servility towards the most vile and abject realities of life. This renunciation will seem painful to those who seek in a great cause the satisfaction of their vanity and an occasion for phrase-making, and who love the cause not for its own sake, but for the drama which it confers on them personally.
``Each new member joins our organisation voluntarily, knowing in advance that once he has become a part of it, he belongs to it entirely and not to himself any more. Entry into the organisation is voluntary, but to leave it is impossible, since every member who resigns will undoubtedly endanger the very existence of the organisation, which must not depend on the irresponsibility, the whims or discretion, however great or small it may be, or on the honesty and the strength of one or several individuals__ Consequently, whoever wishes to join must know in advance that he is giving himself to it entirely, with all that he possesses by way of strength, means, knowledge and life, unreturnably.... This is clearly and precisely expressed in its programme, which has been published and is obligatory for all members of the committee and for all those who do not belong to it.... If a member is truly inspired by (revolutionary) passion, everything that the organisation demands of him will seem easy. It is a known fact that passion acknowledges no difficulties; it recognises nothing as impossible, and the greater the obstacles are, the greater is the screwing up of the will, strength, and knowledge of the man moved by passion. There is no room for minor personal passions in a man possessed by this passion; he does not even need to sacrifice them, because they do not exist in him any more. A serious member of the association has stifled in himself all feeling of curiosity, and he remorselessly persecutes this 606 failing in all others. Although ho recognises himself as worthy of all confidence, and precisely because he is worthy of it, that is to say, because he is a serious man, he does not seek, and does not even want to know, more than is necessary for him to fulfil as well as possible the mission entrusted to him. He only discusses business with persons who have been allocated to him, and he says nothing which has been forbidden by the orders he has received, and iii general he conforms strictly and unconditionally to the orders and instructions which come down to him from above, without ever asking, or even wanting to ask about the position of the organisation to which he belongs, since he naturally wishes to be entrusted with as many tasks as possible, but he nevertheless waits patiently for the moment when it will be entrusted to him.
``So rigid and so absolute a discipline may astonish and even shock the novice; but it will neither astonish nor offend a serious member, a man truly strong and sensible. On the contrary, it will afford him pleasure and guarantee his security, provided that he is under the influence of that absorbing passion, which I have already mentioned: for the people's victory. A serious member will realise that such discipline is an indispensable pledge of the relative impersonality of each member, a sine qua non of the common triumph; that this discipline alone is capable of forming a true organisation and of creating a collective revolutionary force which, basing itself on the elemental power of the people, will be in a condition to conquer the formidable force of the State organisation.
``You may ask: how can you submit to the dictatorial control of a Committee unknown to you? But the Committee is known to you: first, by its published programme, which has been drawn up with such clarity and precision, and which is explained in even greater detail to every member who joins the organisation. Secondly, it recommends itself to you by the blind confidence entrusted to it by persons whom you know and respect---the confidence which makes you give preference to this organisation rather than to any other. It makes itself known even still more fully to the active members of the organisation by its indefatigable and determined activity, which extends everywhere and always conforms to the programme and goal of the organisation. And everybody submits voluntarily to its authority, becoming more and more convinced, through practical experience, on the one hand, of its truly astonishing foresight, of its vigilance, of its energy so full of wisdom and of its ability to match its instructions to the sought-after goal; and, on the other hand, of the necessity and salutary effect of such discipline.
``I could be asked: if the identity of the personnel constituting the Committee remains an impenetrable mystery to everyone, how were you able to find out about it and convince yourself of its real worth?--- I will answer this question frankly. I do not know a single member of this Committee, nor the number of its members, nor its place of residence. I know one thing: it is not abroad, but is in Russia itself, as is only right; for a Russian revolutionary committee abroad would be an absurdity, the very idea of which could only occur to those emptyheaded and stupidly ambitious phrasemongers who belong to the 607 emigration and who hide their conceited and evilly intriguing inactivity behind the sonorous name of The People's Cause.^^*^^
``After the Decembrist conspiracy'jpf the nobility (1825), the first serious attempt at organisation was made by Ishutin and his comrades. The existing organisation is the first organisation of revolutionary forces in the whole of Russia which has truly succeeded. It has profited by all preparations and experience; no reaction will force it to dissolve; it will survive all governments, and it will not cease to act until its entire programme has become daily life in Russia and everywhere else in the world.
``About a year ago, the Committee thought it would be useful to inform me of its existence and it sent me its programme, together with an exposition of the general plan of revolutionary action in Russia. Completely in agreement with both of these, and having assured myself that the enterprise, like the men who had taken the initiative with it, was truly serious, I did what, in my opinion, every honest refugee ought to do: I submitted unconditionally to the authority of the Committee as the sole representative and controlling body of the revolution in Russia. If I am addressing you today, I am only obeying the Committee's orders. I cannot say more to you about this. I will add one more word on this subject. I know the organisation's plan sufficiently well to be convinced that no force is capable of destroying it. Even if, in the imminent struggle, the popular party has to suffer a new defeat---which none of us fears, since we all believe in the forthcoming triumph of the people---but even if our hopes should be dashed, in the midst of the most appalling reprisals, in the midst of the most savage reaction, the organisation will still remain safe and sound....
``The basis of the programme is the widest and most humanitarian possible: complete liberty and complete equality of all human beings, based on communal ownership and communal labour and equally obligatory to all except those who will doubtless prefer to die of hunger by not working.
``This is the present programme of the working people in all countries, and it fully corresponds to the age-old demands and the instincts of our people.... In submitting this programme to the lower orders^^**^^ of the people, the members of our organisation are astounded to notice how immediate and broad is their grasp of it, and with what eagerness they accept it. This means that the programme is ready. It is unvarying. He who is for this programme will come with us. He who is against us is the friend of the people's enemies, the tsar's gendarmes, the tsar's executioners, our own enemy__
``I have told you that our organisation is solidly built and now I add that it has taken root so strongly among the people that, even if we _-_-_
^^*^^ The reader will remember that this was the title of a Russian newspaper of the International published in Geneva by a few young Russians who knew perfectly well the real worth of the so-called committee and Bakunin's organisation.
^^**^^ In the Russian text of Bakunin's appeal: "chernorabochemu lyudu".---Ed.
608 suffer a defeat, the reaction will be powerless to destroy it...."The servile press, obedient to the orders of the Third Department, is trying to persuade the public that the government has managed to seize the conspiracy by its very roots. It has not seized anything whatever. The committee and the organisation are intact and always will be, the government will soon be convinced of this, for the explosion of the people is near at hand. It is so near, that everyone must now decide if he wishes to be our friend, the friend of the people, or our enemy instead and that of the people. To all friends, to whatever place or position they belong, our ranks are open. But how are we to find you, you will ask? The organisation, which surrounds you on all sides, which counts among you its numerous adherents, will itself find him who seeks with sincere desire and strong will to serve the cause of the people. He who is not with us, is against us. Choose."
In this pamphlet signed with his name, Bakunin pretends not to know the place and composition of the committee on whose behalf he speaks and on whose behalf Nechayev acted in Russia. However, the only authority which the latter had to act on the committee's behalf was signed by Mikhail Bakunin, and the only man who received reports on the activity of the sections was, once again, Mikhail Bakunin. And so when Mikhail Bakunin vows passive obedience to the committee, it is to Mikhail Bakunin himself that he swears obedience.
We consider it useless to insist that the trend and even the language of this work signed by Bakunin are entirely identical with the other anonymous Russian documents. What we want to point out is the manner in which Bakunin applied the morality of the catechism here. He commences, first, by preaching it to the Russian officers. He tells them that he and the other initiates have simultaneously carried out a duty and filled a gap in setting themselves up as the Jesuits of the revolution and that, as far as the committee is concerned, they have no more personal will than the celebrated ``corpse'' of the Society of Jesus. In order that the officers should not be shocked by the murder of Ivanov, he ries to make them understand the necessity of assassinatting every member who would like to leave the secret-society. He then applies this same morality to his own readers by lying flagrantly to them. Bakunin knew that the government had arrested not only all the initiates in Russia, but ten times more that number of persons who had been compromised by Nechayev for belonging to the famous "fifth 609 category" of the catechism; that there was no longer so much as the shadow of an organisation in Russia; that its Committee no longer existed there and never had existed apart from Nechayev, then with him in Geneva; furthermore, that this pamphlet would not bring in a single recruit in Russia; that it could only furnish the Government with a pretext for fresh persecutions. Yet he proclaimed that the Government had seized nothing whatever; that the committee was still holding sessions in Russia and was displaying indefatigable and determined activity that extended everywhere, truly astounding foresight, vigilance, energy full of wisdom, and staggering ingenuity (the statements made at the trial testify to this); that his secret organisation, the only serious one that had existed in Russia since 1825, was intact; that it had penetrated down to the lower orders of the people, who were eagerly accepting its programme; that the officers were surrounded by it; that the revolution was imminent and would break out in a few months, in the spring of 1870. It was purely to give himself the pleasure of the drama which it conferred on him personally in front of his false international brethren and in front of his mirror that Bakunin, who pretended to have "renounced his own life, his own thought, and his own will'', to be superior to the "wordy and futile bragging" of "men who play at honour, personal dignity, and right'', that he, Mikhail Bakunin, addressed the Russians with these lies and these boasts.
This same man who in 1870 preaches to the Russians passive, blind obedience to orders coming from above and from an anonymous and unknown committee; who declares that Jesuitical discipline is the condition sine qua non of victory, the only thing capable of defeating the formidable centralisation of the State---not just the Russian state but any state; who proclaims a communism more authoritarian than the most primitive communism---this same man, in 1871, weaves a separatist and disorganising movement into the fabric of the International under the pretext of combating the authoritarianism and centralisation of the German Communists, of introducing autonomy of the sections, a free federation of autonomous groups, and of making the International what it should be: the image of the future society. If the society of the future were modelled on the Alliance,
39---0960
610 Russian section, it would far surpass the Paraguay of the Reverend Jesuit = Fathers,^^229^^ so dear to Bakunin's heart.While granting the fullest freedom to the movements and aspirations of the working class in various countries, the International had nevertheless succeeded in uniting it into a single whole and making the ruling classes and their governments feel for the first time the cosmopolitan power of the proletariat. The ruling classes and the governments recognised this fact by concentrating their attacks on the executive body of our whole Association, the General Council. These attacks became increasingly intense after the fall of the Commune. And this was the moment that the Alliancists chose to declare open war on the General Council themselves! They claimed that its influence, a powerful weapon in the hands of the International, was but a weapon directed against the International itself. It had been won in a struggle not against the enemies of the proletariat but against the International. According to them, the General Council's domineering tendencies had prevailed over the autonomy of the sections and the national federations. The only way of saving autonomy was to decapitate the International.
Indeed the men of the Alliance realised that if they did not seize this decisive moment, it would be all up with their plans for the secret direction of the proletarian movement of which Bakunin's hundred international brethren had dreamed. Their invective wakened approving echoes in the police press of all countries.
Their resounding phrases about autonomy and free federation, in a word, war-cries against the General Council, were thus nothing but a manoeuvre to conceal their true purpose---to disorganise the International and by doing so subordinate it to the secret, hierarchic and autocratic rule of the Alliance.
Autonomy of the sections, free federation of the autonomous groups, anti-authoritarianism, anarchy---these were 611 convenient phrases for a society of the ``declassed'' "with no prospects and no way out'', conspiring within the International to subject it to a secret dictatorship and impose upon it the programme of M. Bakunin!
Stripped of its melodramatic finery, this programme amounts to the following:
1. All the depravities in which the life of declassed persons ejected from the upper strata of society must inevitably become involved are proclaimed to be so many ultra-- revolutionary virtues.
2. It is regarded as a matter of principle and necessity to debauch a small minority of carefully selected workers, who are enticed away from the masses by a mysterious initiation, by making them take part in the game of intrigues and deceit of the secret government, and by preaching to them that through giving free rein to their "evil passions" they can shake the old society to its foundations.
3. The chief means of propaganda is to attract young people by fantastic lies about the extent and power of the secret society, prophecies of the imminent revolution it has prepared and so on, and to compromise in government eyes the most progressive people from among the well-to-do classes with a view to exploiting them financially.
4. The economic and political struggle of the workers for their emancipation is replaced by the universal pan-- destructive acts of heroes of the underworld---this latest incarnation of revolution. In a word, one must let loose the street hooligans suppressed by the workers themselves in "the revolutions on the Western classical model'', and thus place gratuitously at the disposal of the reactionaries a well disciplined gang of agents provocateurs.
It is hard to say what predominates in the theoretical elucubrations and practical endeavours of the Allianceclowning or infamy. Nevertheless, it has succeeded in provoking within the International a muffled conflict which for two years has hindered the actions of our Association and has culminated in the secession of some of the sections and federations. The resolutions adopted by the Hague Congress against the Alliance were therefore merely a matter of duty; the Congress could not allow the International, that great creation of the proletariat, to fall into nets spread by
39*
612 the riff-raff of the exploiting classes. As for those who wish to deprive the General Council of the prerogatives without which the International would be nothing but a confused, disjointed and, to use the language of the Alliance, " amorphous" mass, we cannot regard them otherwise than as traitors or dupes.The Commission:
E. Dupont, F. Engels, Leo Frankel, A. Le Moussu, Karl Marx, Aug. Serraillier
London, July 21, 1873
In 1857, Bakunin was sent to Siberia, not to forced labour, as his accounts would have us believe, but simply to live there in exile. At that period, the governor of Siberia was Count Muravyov-Amursky, Bakunin's cousin and a relative of the Muravyov who was the executioner of Poland. Thanks to this relationship and to the services which he had rendered to the government, Bakunin enjoyed exceptional position and favours in Siberia.
Petrashevsky, leader and organiser of the 1849 conspi- racy,^^280^^ was in Siberia at that time. Bakunin adopted an openly hostile attitude to him and tried to harm him in every way possible, which was easy for him as a cousin of the governor-general. His persecution of Petrashevsky gave Bakunin further grounds for governmental favours. A shady affair, which had considerable repercussions in Siberia and in Russia, put an end to this struggle between the two exiles. As a result of criticism levelled against the conduct of a highly-placed official who was playing at liberalism, a storm broke out in the governor-general's entourage and ended in a duel to the death. Now this whole affair stank so much of personal intrigues and fraudulent, dealings, that the whole population was disturbed and accused the chief officials of having assassinated the victim of the duel, 613 a young friend of Petrashevsky's. Unrest took on such proportions that the government became fearful of a popular riot. Bakunin sided with the high officials, Muravyov included. He used his influence to have Petrashevsky exiled to a remoter place and he defended Petrashevsky's persecutors in a long letter signed by him as witness and sent to Herzen. The latter, when publishing it in the Kolokol, suppressed all the attacks against Petrashevsky; but the manuscript copy made of this letter while on its way to St. Petersburg was circulated there, and so the original text reached the public.
The merchants of Siberia, who are generally more liberal than those in Russia, wanted to found a university there in order not to have to send their children any more to distant schools in Russia, and to create an intellectual centre in those parts. For this, they needed imperial authorisation. Muravyov, advised and encouraged by Bakunin, opposed this project. Bakunin's hatred of science goes back a long way. This is perfectly well known in Siberia. Challenged on this point several times by the Russians, Bakunin could not deny it, but always explained his conduct by saying that, while preparing for his escape, he sought to win the good graces of his cousin the governor.
Not only did Bakunin use and abuse governmental favours, but for trifling sums of money he obtained them in abundance for the capitalists, contractors and tax-farmers. Bakunin's proclamations, confiscated from Nechayev's victims and published by the government in 1869 and 1870, contained lists of proscribed persons, including the notorious Katkov, editor-in-chief of the Moscow Gazette. The latter took his revenge by publishing the following disclosure in his newspaper: he had in his possession letters sent to him by Bakuuin from London on his arrival from Siberia, in which he begged Katkov, as an old friend, to advance him several thousand rubles. Bakunin admits that during his stay in Siberia he had been receiving an annuity from a vodka taxfarmer who paid him for ensuring, by his intercession, the good graces of the governor. This dishonourable fee ( Bakunin ceased to collect it after his escape) weighed on his conscience; he wanted to send back to the tax-farmer the money received from him. He asked his friend Katkov for 614 an advance to enable him to perform this good deed. Katkov refused.
At the time when Bakunin sent this request to his old friend Katkov, the latter had long since won his spurs in the service of the Third Department, devoting his newspaper to denunciations of the Russian revolutionaries and particularly of Chernyshevsky, as well as of the Polish revolution. And so, in 1862, Bakunin requested money of a man whom he knew to he a denouncer and a literary bandit in the pay of the Russian Government. Bakunin has never dared to deny this grave charge.
Supplied with money obtained by the methods already known to us, and enjoying the high protection of the governor, Bakunin was able to escape with the greatest of ease. Not only did he procure a passport in his own name to travel in Siberia, he obtained the official assignment of inspecting the region as far as its eastern frontiers. Once he arrived at the port of Nikolayevsk, he crossed without difficulty to Japan, from where he was able calmly to embark for America and arrive in London at the end of 1861. Thus did this new Mohammed accomplish his miraculous hegira.
On March 3, 1861, Alexander II proclaimed, to the tumultuous plaudits of all liberal Europe, the emancipation of the serfs. The efforts of Chernyshevsky and the revolutionary party to obtain the preservation of communal landownership had produced results, but in a manner so unsatisfactory that, even before the proclamation of the manifesto emancipating the serfs, Chernyshevsky sadly admitted:
``Had I known that the question raised by me was to receive such a solution, I would have preferred to suffer a defeat rather than win such a victory. I.would rather they had acted as they had intended, without any regard for our claims."
And, indeed, the act of emancipation was nothing but a swindle. A large part of the land was taken away from its real owners, and a system was proclaimed whereby the peasants could buy back their land. This act of bad faith by the tsar gave Chernyshevsky and his party a new and 615 irresistible argument against imperial reforms. The liberals, ranging themselves under Herzen's banner, bayed at the top of their voices: "Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean!" By Galilean, they meant Alexander II.---From that moment, the liberal party, whose chief organ was Herzen's Kolokol, never ceased to sing the praises of the tsar-liberator and, to distract the public's attention from the complaints and claims which were stirred up by this anti-popular act, they asked the tsar to continue his emancipatory work and to launch a crusade for the liberation of the oppressed Slav peoples and for the achievement of pan-Slavism.
In the summer of 1861, Chernyshevsky, in the journal Sovremennik, denounced the manoeuvres of the pan-Slavists and told the Slav peoples the truth about the state of affairs in Russia and about the selfish obscurantism of their false friends, the pan-Slavists. It was then that Bakunin, on his return from Siberia, judged that the moment had arrived for him to step forward. He wrote the first part of a long manifesto published as a supplement by Kolokol on February 15, 1862, and entitled: To the Russian, Polish and All Slav Friends. The second part never appeared.
The manifesto begins with the following declaration:
``I have retained the audacity of all-conquering thought, and in heart, will and passion I have remained true to my friends, to the great common cause, to myself.... I now appear before you, my old and tested friends, and you, my young friends, who live by one thought and one will with us, and I ask you: admit me to your midst again and may I be permitted, with you and in your midst, to devote all my remaining life to the struggle for Russian freedom, for Polish freedom, for the freedom and independence of all Slavs."
If Bakunin addresses this humble prayer to his old and young friends, it is because
``it is bad to be active in a foreign land. I experienced this in the revolutionary years: neither in France nor in Germany was I able to gain a foothold. And so, while preserving all my ardent sympathy of former years for the progressive movement of the whole world, in order not to waste the rest of my life I must henceforth limit my direct activity to Russia, Poland, and the Slavs. These three separate worlds are inseparable in my love and in my faith."
In 1862, eleven years ago, at the age of fifty-one, the great anarchist Bakunin preached the cult of the state and panSlav patriotism.
616``It might be said that the Great-Russian people has hitherto lived only the external life of the state. However burdensome its position may have been within, reduced to extreme ruin and slavery, it has nevertheless cherished the unity, strength and greatness of Russia, and has been ready to make any sacrifice for their sake. And so there has been a growing awareness among the Great-Russian people of the state and patriotism, not in words, but in deeds. And so it alone has survived as a people among the Slav tribes; it alone has held out in Europe and made itself felt by all as a force__ Do not fear that it may lose its legitimate influence and the political force which it has acquired solely by struggles lasting three centuries and accomplished by martyr-like abnegation to safeguard its state integrity.... Let us send the Tatars to Asia, the Germans to Germany, and let us be a free people, a purely Russian people...."
To lend more authority to this pan-Slav propaganda, which ends by calling for a crusade against the Tatars and the Germans, Bakunin refers the reader to the emperor Nicholas:
``They say that Emperor Nicholas himself,' not long before his death, when preparing to declare war on Austria, wanted to call all the Austrian and Turkish Slavs, Magyars and Italians to a general uprising. He had stirred up against himself an eastern storm and, to defend himself against it, lie wanted to transform himself i'rom a despotic emperor into a revolutionary emperor. They say that his proclamations to the Slavs as also an appeal to the Poles had already been signed by him. However much he hated Poland, he understood that, without it, a Slav uprising was impossible ... he overcame his aversion to such an extent that he was ready, it is said, to recognise the independent existence of Poland, but ... only beyond the Vistula."
The very man who, since 1868, has played the internationalist, preached, in 1862, a war of the races in the interests of the Russian Government. Pan-Slavism is an invention of the St. Petersburg cabinet and has no other goal but to extend Russia's European frontiers further west and south. But since one dare not announce to the Austrian, Prussian and Turkish Slavs that their destiny is to be absorbed into the great Russian Empire, one represents Russia to them as the power which will deliver them from the foreign yoke and which will reunite them in a great free federation. Thus, pan-Slavism is open to various shades of interpretation, from the pan-Slavism of Nicholas to that of Bakunin; but they all tend to the same end and all are, at bottom, in an 617 entente cordiale, as is proved by the passage which we have just quoted. The manifesto to which we now turn will leave us in no doubt on this score.
We have seen that, consequent upon the emancipation of the serfs, war broke out between the liberal and the revolutionary parties in Russia. Round Chernyshevsky, leader of the revolutionary party, there gathered a whole phalanx of journalists, a large group of officers, and the student youth. The liberal party was represented by Herzen, a few panSlavists, and a large number of peaceful reformers and admirers of Alexander II. The government lent its support to the liberals. In March 1861, the university students in Russia declared themselves vigorously in favour of the affranchisement of Poland. In the autumn of 1861, they tried to resist the "coup d'etat" which wanted, by disciplinary and fiscal measures, to deprive the poor students (over two-thirds of the total number) of the chance to receive a higher education. The government declared this protest to be a riot, and in Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan, hundreds of young people were thrown into gaol, expelled from the universities, or banned from them after three months' detention. And for fear that these young people might aggravate the discontent of the peasants, a decree of the State Council forbade ex-students all access to public functions in the villages. But the persecutions did not stop there. Professors such as Pavlov were exiled; public courses organised by students who had been expelled from the universities, were shut down; fresh police hunts were undertaken on the most futile pretexts; the "student youth fund'', only just authorised, was abruptly suppressed; newspapers were banned. All this brought the indignation and agitation of the radical party to a head and compelled it to resort to the underground press. At this point, a manifesto entitled Young Russia was published with an epigraph by Robert Owen.^^231^^ This manifesto exposed clearly and in detail the internal situation of the country, the state of the various parties and of the press, and, in proclaiming communism, 618 deduced the necessity for a social revolution. It called on all serious people to group round the radical banner.
Hardly had this manifesto issued from the underground press, when, by a fatal coincidence (unless the police had a hand in it), numerous fires broke out in St. Petersburg. The government and the reactionary press joyously seized on the occasion to accuse the young people and all the radical party of incendiarism. The prison cells filled up again, and the roads to exile were once more thronged with victims. Chernyshevsky was arrested and thrown into the St. Petersburg fortress, from where, after two long years of intense suffering, he was sent to forced labour in Siberia.
Before this catastrophe, Herzen and Gromeka, who later contributed to the pacification of Poland as governor of one of its provinces, delivered a series of furious attacks, the former in London, the latter in Russia, on the radical party, and insinuated that Chernyshevsky would perhaps end up by receiving a decoration.---In as moderate an article as possible, Chernyshevsky called on Herzen to consider carefully the consequences of the new role which the Kolokol was going to play in open hostility to the Russian revolutionary party.^^232^^ Herzen pompously declared that he was ready to pronounce, in the presence of those he called international democrats---Mazzini, Victor Hugo, Ledru-Rollin, Louis Blanc, etc.---the famous toast to the health of the great tsar-liberator and, "whatever is said'', he added, "by the revolutionary Daniels of Petersburg, I know that despite all their protests, this toast will find a favourable echo in the Winter Palace" (the tsar's residence). The revolutionary Daniels were Chernyshevsky and his friends.
Bakunin got the better of Herzen. It was when the revolutionary party was completely routed and Chernyshevsky was in prison, that Bakunin published, at the age of fiftyone, his notorious pamphlet to the peasant tsar: Romanov, Pugachev or Pestel. The People's Cause. By Mikhail Bakunin, 1862.
``Many are still wondering whether there will be a revolution in Russia. It is taking place gradually, it reigns everywhere, in everything, in all minds. It acts still more successfully through the hands of the government than through the efforts of its own adherents. It will not abate and will not cease until it has regenerated the Russian world, until it has created a new Slav world.
619``The dynasty is working to bring about its own destruction. It seeks its salvation in wishing to stop the life of the people which is awakening instead of protecting it. This life, if it were understood, could have raised the imperial house to hitherto unknown heights of power and glory.... It is a pity! Rarely has it fallen to the lot of the tsar's house to play so majestic and so beneficent a role. Alexander II could so easily become the idol of the people, the first peasant tsar,^^*^^ mighty not through fear, but through the love, liberty and prosperity of his people. Relying on that people, he could become the saviour and head of the entire Slav world....
``For that all that was necessary was a Russian heart, broad and strong in magnanimity and truth. All Russian and Slav living reality went to him with open arms, ready to serve as a pedestal for his historic greatness."
Bakunin then asks for the abolition of the state of Peter the Great, of the German state, and for the creation of the "new Russia''. The fulfilment of this task is entrusted to Alexander II.
``His beginning was magnificent. He proclaimed freedom for the people, freedom and a new life after a thousand years of slavery. It seemed as if ho wanted to organise the Russia of the peasants" (zemskaya Rossiya), "because in Peter's state a free people was unthinkable. On February 19, 1861, in spite of all the shortcomings and absurd contradictions in the Ukase on the Emancipation of the peasants, Alexander II was the greatest, most loved and most powerful tsar who over existed in Russia."---However, "liberty is contrary to all the instincts of Alexander II'', because he is German, and "a Gorman will never understand and never love the Russia of the peasants ... he only dreamed of strengthening the edifice of Peter's state ... having undertaken a thing that is fatal and impossible, he is working to his own ruin and that of his house, and he is on the point of plunging Russia into a bloody revolution".
According to Bakunin, all the contradictions of the ukase on emancipation, all the shootings of peasants, the student disturbances, all the terror, in a word,
``is fully explained by the tsar's lack of a Russian spirit and of a heart loving the people, by his insane striving to preserve Peter's state at all costs... and yet it is he, he alone who could accomplish in Russia the most serious and most beneficial revolution without shedding a drop of blood. He can still do so now. If we despair of the peaceful outcome, it is not because it would be too late, but because we have ended up by despairing of Alexander II and his ability to understand what is the only way of saving himself and Russia. To stop the movement of the people who are wakening up after a _-_-_
^^*^^ The title of peasant tsar (Zemsky Tsar) conferred on Alexander II was invented by Bakunin and the Knlokol.
620 thousand years of sleep is impossible. But if the tsar were to put himself firmly and boldly at the head of the movement, his power for the good and the glory of Russia would be unlimited."
For this, he would only have to give the peasants land, liberty, and self-government.^^*^^
``Do not fear that regional self-government might break the ties between the provinces, that the unity of the Russian land might be shaken; the autonomy of the provinces will be only administrative, internally legislative, juridical, but not political. And in no country, with the exception, perhaps, of France, is the people endowed to the same extent as in Russia with a sense of unity, of harmony, of integrity of the state, and of national greatness."
At that time, the convocation of a national assembly^^**^^ was being demanded in Russia. Some wanted it to resolve the financial difficulties, others to put an end to the monarchy. Bakunin wanted it to express the unity of Russia and to consolidate the power and greatness of the tsar.
``Since the unity of Russia has hitherto found its expression only in the person of the tsar, it needs another representation, that of a national assembly__ The question is not to know whether or not there will be a revolution, but whether it will be peaceful or bloody. It will be peaceful and beneficial if the tsar, putting himself at the head of the popular movement, undertakes, with the national assembly, broadly and resolutely to transform Russia radically in the spirit of freedom; but if he wishes to retreat, or stops at half-measures, the revolution will be frightful. It will then take on the character of a pitiless massaoro in consequence of the uprising of the entire people__ Alexander II can still save Russia from total ruin and from bloodshed."
Thus, in 1862, the revolution, for Bakunin, meant the total ruin of Russia, and he beseeched the tsar to save the country from it. For many Russian revolutionaries, the convocation of a national assembly would be equivalent to the collapse of the imperial house; but Bakunin puts an end to their hopes and announces to them that
``a national assembly will be against them and for the tsar. And if the national assembly should be hostile to the tsar? It is not possible; it is the people who will send their delegates, the people whose faith in the tsar is without limits to this day and who respect _-_-_
^^*^^ This term is in English in the original.---Ed.
^^**^^ In the Russian text here and subsequently Bakunin uses the term vsenarodny Zemsky Sobor".-~Ed.
621 everything about him. Whence, then, would the hostility come?... There is no doubt that if the tsar convoked the national assembly now" (February 1862), "he would, for the first time, find himself surrounded by men sincerely devoted to him. If the anarchy^^*^^ lasts a few years longer, the attitudes of the people may change. Life moves fast in our times. But, at present the people are for the tsar and against the nobility, against the officials, against everything that wears German dress" (that is to say, European-style dress). "In the official Russian camp, all are enemies of the people, all except the tsar. Who, then, will try to speak to the people against the tsar? And even if someone should try to do so, would the people believe him? Was it not the tsar who emancipated the peasants against the will of the nobility, against the general desire of the officials?``Through their delegates, the Russian people will meet their tsar face to face for the first time. It is a decisive moment, critical to the highest degree. Will they like one another? The whole future of the tsar and of Russia will depend on this meeting. The confidence and devotion of the delegates towards the tsar will be boundless. Relying on them, going to meet them with faith and love, he will elevate his throne to a height and a security which it has never attained ^ before. But what if, instead of the tsar-emancipator, the people's^^**^^ tsar, the delegates find in him a Petersburg emperor in Prussian uniform, a narrow-hearted German? What if, instead of the expected liberty, the tsar gives them nothing, or next to nothing?... Then, woo to tsarism! At least it will be the end of the Petersburg, German, Holstein-Gottorp emperorship.
``If, at this fatal moment, when the question of life or death, of peace or blood, is about to be decided for the whole of Russia, if the tsar of the people were to appear before the national assembly as a good and loyal tsar, loving Russia, ready to give the people an organisation according to its will, what could he not do with such a people! Who would dare to rise up against him? Peace and confidence would be re-established as if by a miracle, money would be found, and everything would be arranged simply, naturally, without prejudice to anybody, and to the general satisfaction. Guided by such a tsar, the national assembly would create a new Russia. No malevolent attempt, no hostile force, would be in a state to fight against the reunited might of the tsar and the people.... May one hope that this alliance will become fact? We say frankly, that it will not."
Whatever he might say, Bakunin does not despair of dragging his tsar along, and in order to persuade him, he threatens him with the revolutionary .youth who, if the tsar does not make haste, will be able to accomplish its mission and find its way to the people.
_-_-_^^*^^ Bezuryaditsa in Bakunin's original, which can mean confusion) disorder, etc.---Ed.
^^**^^ Zemsky in Bakunin's original.---Ed.
622``And why is this youth not for you, but against you? That is a great misfortune for you ... they need, above all, liberty and truth. But why has it abandoned the tsar? Why has it declared itself against him who first gave liberty to the people?... Has it perhaps let itself be carried away by the abstract revolutionary ideal and the sonorous word ''republic'} That may be partly so, but it is only a secondary and superficial cause. The majority of our progressive youth understands well that Western abstractions, whether conservative, bourgeois, liberal, and democratic, are not applicable to the Russian movement--- The Russian people is not moved according to abstract principles ... the Western ideal is alien to it, and all attempts by conservative, liberal or even revolutionary doctrinairism to subject it to its own tendencies will bo futile ... it has its own ideal ... it will bring new principles into history, will create another civilisation, a new religion, a new right, a new life.
``Faced with this great, serious, and even terrible figure of the people one dare not commit stupidities. Youth will abandon the ridiculous and disgusting role of impostrous schoolteachers__ What could we teach the people? If one leaves aside the natural sciences and mathematics, the last word of our science will be the negation of the so-called immutable truths of the Western doctrine, the complete negation of the West."
Bakunin then descends on the authors of Young Russia accusing them of doctrinairism, of wanting to set themselves up as the people's teachers, of having compromised the cause, of being children who do not understand anything and who have drawn their ideas from a few Western books which they have read.---The government, which at that time arrested these same young people as incendiaries, hurled the same reproaches at them. And so to reassure his tsar, Bakunin announces that
``the people do not support this revolutionary party ... the vast majority of our youth belongs to the people's party, to the party which has as its sole and single aim the triumph of the people's cause. This party has no prejudices either for or against the tsar, and if the tsar, having begun the great work, had not betrayed the people, it would never have abandoned him, and even now it is not too late for him; and even now that youth would follow him with joy provided he would march at the head of his people. It would not allow itself to be stopped by any of the Western revolutionary prejudices. It is time for Iho Germans to go to Germany. If the tsar had realised that henceforth he must be the head not of an enforced centralisation, but of a free federation of free peoples, then, relying on a solid and regenerated force, allying himself with Poland and the Ukraine, breaking all the detested German alliances, and boldly raising the pan-Slav banner, he would become the saviour of the Slav world.
623``Yes, indeed, war on the Germans is a good and indispensable thing for the Slavs, at all events better than stifling the Poles to please the Germans. To rise and free the Slavs from the yoke of the Turks and the Germans will be a necessity and a sacred duty of the emancipated Russian people."
In the same pamphlet, lie calls on the revolutionary party to rally tinder the banner of the people's cause. Here are some articles of faith from the programme of this popular cause a la tsar:
``Article 1. We" (Rakunin and Co.) "want popular self-government in the commune, in the province,^^*^^ in the region and, finally, in the state, with or without the tsar---it doesn't matter, according as the people wish.---Article 2. ...We are ready, and duty commands us, to come to the aid of Lithuania, Poland, and the Ukraine so as to prevent all violence, and to protect them against all their external enemies, especially the Germans.---Article 4. With Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine, we wish to lend a hand to all our Slav brothers now groaning under the yoke of the kingdom of Prussia and of the Austrian and Turkish empires, and wo undertake not to sheathe the sword as long as a single Slav remains in German, Turkish, or any other slavery."
Article 6 prescribes an alliance with Italy, Hungary, Rumania and Greece. These were the very alliances then being sought by the Russian Government.
«
``Article 7. We shall strive, with all the other Slav tribes, to make the cherished dream of the Slavs come true, to establish a great and free pan-Slav federation, so that there shall be but a sole indivisible pan-Slav power.
``This is the vast programme of the Slav cause, this is the last indispensable word of the Russian popular cause. To this cause we have devoted our whole life.
``And now, where shall we go, and with whom shall we march? We have said where we want to go; we have also said with whom we shall march---with none other than the people. It remains to be known whom we shall follow. Shall we follow Romanov, Pugachev, or a new Pestel, if one can be found?^^**^^
``Let us tell the truth. We would prefer to follow Romanov, if Romanov could, and would, transform himself from a Petersburg emperor into a peasant tsar. We would willingly rally under his banner, because the Russian people still recognises him, and because his power is already created, ready to act, and could become an invincible force if he gave it the popular baptism. We would follow him, moreover, _-_-_
^^*^^ Volost, uyezd in Bakunin's original.---Ed.
^^**^^ Romanov is the tsar's surname. Pugachev was the leader of a great Cossack uprising under Catherine II. Pestel was the leader of the 1825 conspiracy against Nicholas I. He was hanged.
624 because he alone can accomplish the great peaceful revolution without shedding a drop of Russian or Slav blood. Bloody revolutions sometimes become necessary owing to human stupidity; nevertheless they are a great evil and a great misfortune, not only as regards their victims, but as regards the purity and thu fullness of the goal for which they are accomplished. We saw this during the French revolution.``Thus, our attitude to Romanov is clear. We are not his enemies, any more than we are his friends. We are the friends of the Russian popular cause, of the Slav cause. If the tsar is at the head of this cause, we shall follow him; but if he opposes it, we shall be his enemies. Therefore, the whole question is to know whether he wishes to be the Russian tsar, the peasant tsar, Romanov, or the Petersburg, the Holstein-Gottorp emperor. Docs he wish to serve Russia, the Slavs, or the Germans? This question will soon be settled, and then we shall know what we must do."
Unfortunately, the tsar did not deem it appropriate to convoke the national assembly for which Bakunin, in this pamphlet, was already proposing his own candidature. He gained nothing out of his electoral manifesto and his genuflexions before Romanov. Humiliatingly deceived in his frank confidence, he had no alternative but to throw himself headlong into pan-destructive anarchy.
After this lucubration of a teacher who prostrated himself before his peasant tsar, his pupils and friends, Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc, had every right to cry at the top of their voices: "Long live Napoleon III, emperor of the peasants!"
The copy of these statutes which is now in our possession is partly written in Bakunin's hand. He gave copies not only to his initiates, but to many more people whom he hoped to seduce with the disclosure of his splendid programme. The vanity of the author proved stronger than the sinister furtiveness of the mystifier.
625
__NOTE__ Roman numerals are right-justified in column formation.
~ ~ ~ I. International brethren.
~ ~ II. National brethren.
~ III. The half-secret, half-public organisation of the International
Alliance of Socialist Democracy.
6271. The International Brethren have no homeland other than the world Revolution, and no foreign country or enemy other than Reaction.
2. They reject any policy of negotiation and concession, and regard as reactionary any political movement which does not have as its immediate and direct goal the triumph of their principles.
3. They are Brethren---they never attack one another, nor settle their differences in public or in front of the courts. Their only justice is a jury of arbitrators, elected from among the brethren by the two parties.
4. Each must be sacred to all the others, more sacred than a blood brother. Each brother shall be helped and protected by all the others to the limits of the possible.
5. Only he may become an international brother who has sincerely accepted all the programme in all its consequences, theoretical and practical, and who adds revolutionary passion to intelligence, energy, honesty and discretion, he who has the devil in his flesh. We impose neither duty nor sacrifice. But he who has this passion will do many things without even imagining that he is making sacrifices.
6. A brother must have neither business, interests, nor duties more serious and more sacred than the service of the revolution and of our secret Association, which must serve the revolution.
7. A brother always has the right to refuse to render the services demanded of him by the Central Committee or by his National Committee, but many successive refusals will lead to his being considered unconscientious or lazy, and he may be suspended by his National Committee and, on the representation of this latter, temporarily expelled by the Central Committee pending a final decision by the Constituent Committee.
8. No brother shall accept a public post except with the consent of the Committee to which he belongs.---None shall undertake public actions or appearances contrary or even foreign to the line of conduct determined by his Committee and without having consulted the latter. Every time that two or more brothers are together, they shall discuss all important public matters.
9. All the International Brethren know one another. No political secrets must ever exist among them. None may belong to any secret society whatever without the positive consent of his Committee and, if necessary, should the latter so demand, without that of the Central
40---0960
626 Committee.---Nor may he belong to such a society except on condition that he reveals to them all the secrets which could interest them directly or indirectly.10. The organisation of International Brethren is subdivided as follows: A. The General, or Constituent, Committee. B. The Central Committee. C. The National Committees.
A. The General Committee
This is an assembly of all or at least two-thirds of the International Brethren convoked regularly either at stipulated intervals, or in extraordinary assembly by a majority of the Central Committee. It is the supreme constituent and executive power of our entire organisation, whose programme, regulations and organic statutes it can modify.
B. The Central Committee
Consists of: a) the Central Bureau, and b) the Central Supervisory Committee. The letter's members are all the international brethren who, not belonging to the Bureau, are sufficiently near to be convoked at two days' notice, and, naturally, all brethren who happen to be passing through. For the rest, they are guided in all their mutual relationships by the Regulations of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy (see Articles 2-4).
C. The National Committees
Each National Committee shall consist of all the international brethren (irrespective of nationality) who are in or near the centre of the national organisation. Each National Committee is subdivided equally into: a) a National Executive Bureau, and b) a National Supervisory Committee. This latter will include all international brethren present who are not in the Bureau. The same relationships as in the Alliance of Socialist Democracy.
11. The admission of a new brother requires the unanimity of all members present (not less than three) of the National Committee and the confirmation by a two-thirds majority of the Central Committee. The Central Committee may admit a new member by the unanimous agreement of all its members.
12. Each National Committee is to meet at least once a week to control and activate the organisational, propaganda and administrative work of its Bureau.---It is the natural judge of the conduct of each member in everything affecting his revolutionary dignity or relations with society. Its verdicts must be presented to the Central Committee for confirmation. It will direct the activities and all the public appearances of all members. Either through its Bureau or through a brother designated by it, it must maintain regular correspondence with the Central Bureau, to which it must write at least once every fortnight.
13. The National Committee will organise a secret Association of the National Brethren in its country.
14. The National Brethren must be organised in each country so that they can never deviate from the guidance of the general organisation of the International Brethren, and notably from that of the General Committee and of the Central Committee. Their programmes and their regulations may only be finally put into operation after they have received the sanction of the Central Committee.
15. Each National Committee may, if it finds it useful, establish among them two categories: a) that of National Brethren who know one another all over the country, and b) that of Brethren who do not know one another except in small groups.---In no case will the National Brethren even suspect the existence of an international organisation.
16. The provincial centres, consisting entirely or partly of international brethren or national brethren of the first category, shall be established at all the principal points in the country, with the mission of promoting as thoroughly and as far as possible the secret organisation and the propaganda of its principles---not contenting themselves with acting in the cities, but also trying to propagate them in the villages and among the peasants.
17. The National Committees shall attempt to raise the necessary financial means as soon as possible, not only for the success of their own organisation, but also for the general needs of the whole Association. They will therefore send a part---half?---to the Central Bureau.
18. The National Bureaus must be very active, remembering that the principles, programmes and regulations are of no worth unless the persons who have to put them into execution have the devil in their flesh.
1. The Permanent Central Committee of the Alliance consists of all the members of the Permanent National Committees and of those of the Geneva Central Section.
When together, all these members constitute the Secret General Assembly of the Alliance, which is the constituent and supreme power of the Alliance and which will meet at least once a year at the Working Men's Congress as delegates of the Alliance's different national groups; it may also be convoked at any time equally by the Central Bureau or by the Geneva Central Section.
2. The Geneva Central Section is the permanent delegation of the permanent Central Committee. It is composed of all the members of the Central Bureau and of ail those of the Supervisory Committee, who must always be members of the permanent Central Committee.--- The Central Section will be the Supreme Executive Council of the Alliance, within the limits of the Constitution and of the line of conduct which can only be laid down and modified by the General Assembly. It will decide on all questions of execution (not of constitution and general policy) by a simple majority of votes, and its __PRINTERS_P_627_COMMENT__ 40* 628 resolutions thus taken shall be binding on the Central Bureau, unless the Bureau, by a majority of its members, wishes to appeal to the General Assembly, which it must convoke in this case at three weeks' notice.--- To be regular, the General Assembly, when thus convoked, must be composed of two-thirds of all its members.
3. The Central Bureau, the executive power, will consist of 3 to 5 or even 7 members, who must always at the same time be members of the Permanent Central Committee. Like one of the two parts which make up the Secret Central Section, the Central Bureau shall be a secret organisation. As such, it shall receive its instructions from the Central Section and shall pass on its communications (we shall not call them secret orders) to all the National Committees, from which it will receive secret reports at least once a month. As the Executive Directorate of the public Alliance, it shall be a public organisation. As such, it shall be on more or less private or public terms, according to country and circumstances, with all the National Bureaus, from which it shall also receive reports once a month. Its ostensible form of government will be that of a presidency in a federative republic. The Central Bureau, as the secret as well as public executive power of the Alliance, shall organise the society's secret and public propaganda and shall promote its development in all countries by all possible means. It shall administer the part of the finances which, in accordance with Article(b) of the public regulations, are sent to it from all countries for general needs. It shall publish a newspaper and pamphlets, and shall send travelling agents to form Alliance groups in the countries where there are none. In all the measures which it adopts for the good of the Alliance, it shall moreover submit to the decisions of the majority of the Secret Central Section, to which, incidentally, all its members shall belong. As an organisation both secret and public, and since it must be composed entirely of members of the Permanent Central Committee, the Central Bureau must always be a direct representation of this Committee. The Provisional Central Bureau will now be presented to the Geneva initiating group as provisionally elected by all the foundermembers of the Alliance, of whom the majority, as former participants at the Berne Congress, have returned to their countries after delegating their powers to Citizen~B.^^*^^---This Bureau will function until the first public General Assembly which, in accordance with Article 7 of the public Regulations, must meet as a branch of the International Working Men's Association at the next Working Men's Congress. It follows that members of the New Central Bureau must be nominated by this Assembly. But as it is vital that the Central Bureau should always consist solely of members of the Permanent Central Committee, this latter, through its national committees, shall organise and direct all the local groups so that they only send as delegates to this Assembly members of the Permanent Central Committee, or, failing them, men absolutely devoted to the direction of their respective national committees, so that the Permanent Central Committee should always have the upper hand in the full organisation of the Alliance.
4. The Supervisory Committee shall exercise control over all the actions of the Central Bureau.---It shall consist of all the members _-_-_
^^*^^ Mikhail Bakunin.---Ed.
629 of the Permanent Central Committee resident either in the place itself, or near the residence of the Central Bureau, and also all the members temporarily present or just passing through, with the exception of the members who make up the Bureau. At the request of two members of the Supervisory Committee, all the members of the latter must at three days' notice meet with the members of the Central Bureau to constitute the Assembly of the Central Section of the Supreme Executive Council, whose rights are defined in Article 2.5. The National Committees will be formed of all the members of the Permanent Central Committee who belong to the same nation.--- As soon as there are three members of the Permanent Central Committee who belong to the same nation, they will be invited by the Bureau and, if necessary, by the Central Section, to form the National Committee of their country. Each National Committee may create a new member of the Central Committee of its country, but not otherwise than by the unanimous agreement of all the members. As soon as a new member has been appointed by a National Committee, the latter shall immediately inform the Central Bureau, which shall register this new member and shall thereby confer on him all the rights of a member of the Permanent Central Committee.---The Geneva Central Section is likewise invested with the power to create new members by the unanimous agreement of all its members.
Each National Committee has, as its special mission, the foundation and organisation of the public as well as secret national group of the Alliance in its country. It shall be the group's supreme chief and administrator through its National Bureau, which it shall have the task of creating and forming entirely of Permanent Central Committee members. The national committees shall have the same relationship, rights and powers with regard to their respective Bureaus as the central section with regard to the Central Bureau.---The national committees, which shall be formed by combining their respective bureaus and supervisory committees, shall recognise no authority other than the Central Bureau, and shall serve as the sole intermediaries between this latter and all the local groups of their country for propaganda and administration, and likewise for the collecting and paying in of subscriptions. The national committees, through their respective bureaux, shall have the task of organising the Alliance in their countries so that it shall always be dominated and represented at congresses by members of the Permanent Central Committee.
As the national bureaus organise their local groups, they shall make it their concern to submit the regulations and programme to the central bureau for confirmation, without which the local groups cannot belong to the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy.
PROGRAMME
OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST ALLIANCE1. The International Alliance has been founded to promote the organisation and acceleration of the World Revolution on the basis of the principles proclaimed in our programme.
6302. In conformity with these principles, the goal of the revolution cannot he other than: a) The destruction of all ruling powers and all religious, monarchic, aristocratic and bourgeois authority in Europe. Consequently, the destruction of all existing states with all their political, juridical, bureaucratic and financial institutions, b) The re-constitution of a new society on the sole basis of freely associated labour, taking collective ownership, equality and justice as the starting point.
3. The Revolution as we conceive it, or rather as the force of circumstances today inevitably presents it, is essentially international or universal in character. In view of the menacing coalition of all the privileged interests and all the reactionary powers in Europe, which have at their disposal all the formidable means given them by a cleverly organised organisation, and in view of the profound schism which reigns everywere today between the bourgeoisie and the workers, no national revolution will succeed if it does not extend at once to all the other nations, and it will never cross the frontiers of a country and adopt this universal character unless it carries within itself all the elements of this universality---that is to say, unless it is an openly socialist revolution, destructive of the state, and creative of liberty through equality and justice; for nothing henceforth shall be able to reunite, electrify, and arouse the great and only true power of the century---the workers---except the total emancipation of labour on the ruins of all the institutions which protect hereditary landownership and capital.
4. Since the impending Revolution can only be universal, the Alliance, or, not to mince words, the conspiracy which must prepare, organise and accelerate it, must also be universal.
5. The Alliance will pursue a double aim: a) It will endeavour to disseminate among the masses of all countries the right ideas on politics, social economy, and all philosophical questions. It will carry out active propaganda by means of newspapers, pamphlets and books, and also by founding public associations, b) It will seek to affiliate to itself all intelligent, energetic, discreet and well-disposed men who are sincerely devoted to our ideas, in order to form all over Europe, and as far as possible in America, an invisible network of dedicated revolutionaries who have become more powerful through this very Alliance.
PROGRAMME AND OBJECTIVES
OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ORGANISATION
OF THE INTERNATIONAL BRETHREN1. The principles of this organisation are the same as those of the programme of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy. They are even more explicitly defined, as regards women and the family from the point of view of religion, the law and the state, in the programme of the Russian Socialist Democracy.
The Central Bureau moreover reserves the right to present shortly a more comprehensive theoretical and practical exposition of these principles.
6312. The association of international brethren aims for a universal revolution, simultaneously social, philosophical, economic and political, so that of the present order of things---based on private ownership, exploitation, domination and the principle of authority, whether religious, metaphysical and doctrinaire in the bourgeois sense, or even revolutionary in the Jacobin sense---not a stone shall remain standing, first in all Europe and then throughout the rest of the world. To the cry: "Peace for the workers, liberty for all the oppressed, and death to the dominators, exploiters and all kinds of patrons!"---we wish to destroy all states and all churches with all their institutions and religious, political, juridical, financial, police, university, economic and social laws, so that all these millions of poor deceived, enslaved, tormented, and exploited human beings, delivered from all their official and officious, collective and individual benefactors and guides, should at last breathe in complete freedom.
3. Convinced that individual and social evil resides far less in individuals than in the organisation of things and in social position, we shall be humane as much from a sense of justice as from considerations of utility, and we shall destroy positions and things without pity in order to be able to spare human beings without any danger to the Revolution. We deny to society free will and the supposed right to punish. Justice itself, taken in the most humane and broadest sense, is but a negative and transitional idea, as it were. It poses social problems, but it does not think them over, merely indicating the only possible way to human liberation, namely, the humanisation of society through liberty in equality; the positive solution can only be given through the increasingly rational organisation of society. This solution, which is so desirable and is the ideal that we all have in common ... is the liberty, morality, intelligence and well-being of each through the solidarity of all---human fraternity.
Every human individual is the involuntary product of the natural and social environment in which he is born and develops, and which continues to exert an influence upon him. The three great causes of all human immorality are: inequality, political, economic and social; the ignorance which is its natural result; and their inevitable consequence---slavery.
Since the organisation of society is always and everywhere the sole cause of the crimes committed by men, it is hypocritical or obviously absurd on society's part to punish criminals, when all punishment assumes culpability and the criminals are never culpable. The theory of culpability and punishment is a theological issue, that is to say, it is a combination of religious hypocrisy and the absurd.
The only right which can be allowed to society in its present state of transition is the natural right to assassinate the criminals, which it has itself produced, in the interests of its own protection, and not the right to judge and condemn them. This right will not even be one in the strictly accepted sense of the word; it will be rather a natural fact, distressing but unavoidable, a sign and product of the impotence and stupidity of the existing society; and the more society is able to avoid using it, the nearer it will be to its own actual liberation. All revolutionaries, all oppressed, all suffering victims of the existing
632 organisation of society, whose hearts are naturally full of vengeance and hatred, would do well to remember that the kings, oppressors and exploiters of all kinds are as much to blame as the criminals who have emerged from the masses: they are malefactors, but they are not to blame, since they too are, like ordinary criminals, the involuntary products of the existing order of society. One should not be surprised if, at the first moment, the insurgent people kill a great many---this will be an inevitable calamity, perhaps, as futile as the damage caused by a tempest.But this natural fact will be neither moral nor even useful. In this respect, history is full of lessons: the terrible guillotine of 1793, which could not be accused of idleness or tardiness, did not succeed in destroying the nobility in France. The aristocracy there was, if not completely destroyed, at least profoundly shaken, not by the guillotine, but by the confiscation and sale of its estates. And, in general, it may be said that political massacres have never killed parties; they have shown themselves above all impotent against the privileged classes, since power is rooted much less in men than in the positions which are given to the privileged by the organisation of things, that is to say, by the institution of the state and by its consequence and also by its natural basis, private property.
To carry out a radical revolution, one must therefore attack positions and things, one must destroy property and the state; then there will be no need to destroy men and to condemn oneself to the unfailing and inevitable reaction which has never failed and never will fail to produce the massacre of human beings in any society.
But in order to have the right to be humane to human beings without endangering the revolution, one must be ruthless with positions and things; it will be necessary to destroy everything, and, above all and before everything else, property and its inevitable corollary---the state. This is the whole secret of the revolution.
One should not be surprised at the Jacobins and the Blanquists who became socialists by necessity rather than by conviction, and for whom socialism is a means, not an end of the Revolution, since they want the dictatorship, that is to say, the centralisation of the state, and the state will lead them by a logical and inevitable necessity to the reconstitution of property---it is quite natural, we say, that, not wishing to carry out a radical revolution against things, they dream of a bloody revolution against men.---But this bloody revolution, founded on the construction of a powerfully centralised revolutionary state, would inevitably result, as we shall prove more fully later, in a military dictatorship under a new master. Consequently, the triumph of the Jacobins or the Blanquists would mean the death of the Revolution.
4. We are the natural enemies of those revolutionaries---future dictators, regulators and tutors of the revolution---who, even before the existing monarchic, aristocratic and bourgeois states have been destroyed, already dream of creating new revolutionary states as centralised as, and even more despotic than, the existing states, and who have acquired so great a habit of order created from above and so great a horror of what seems to them like disorder, but is nothing 633 other than the frank and natural expression of the people's life, that even before a good and salutary disorder has been produced by the revolution, they already dream of putting an end to it and of muzzling it by the force of an authority which will have nothing of revolution but the name, but which will, in effect, be no more than a new reaction, since it will really be a new condemnation of the masses, governed by decrees, to obedience, stagnation and death, that is, to slavery and exploitation by a new quasi-revolutionary aristocracy.
5. We understand revolution to mean the unleashing of what today are called the evil passions and the destruction of what, in the same language, is called "public order".
We do not fear anarchy, and we invoke it, convinced that from this anarchy, that is to say, from the complete manifestation of the people's life unleashed, there must emerge liberty, equality, justice, a new order, and the very force of Revolution against Reaction. This new life---the people's revolution---will doubtless not delay in organising itself, but will create its revolutionary organisation from bottom to top and from the circumference to the centre---in conformity with the principle of liberty, and not from top to bottom, nor from the centre to the circumference after the manner of all authority---for it matters little to us that this authority calls itself Church, Monarchy, constitutional State, bourgeois Republic, or even revolutionary dictatorship. We detest them and we reject them all alike as infallible sources of exploitation and despotism.
6. The revolution, as we understand it, must from the very first day destroy, radically and totally, the state and all the state's institutions. The natural and necessary consequences of this destruction will be: a) the bankruptcy of the state; 6) an end to the payment of private debts by the intervention of the state, leaving each debtor the right to pay if he wants; c) an end to the payment of all taxes and to the deduction of all contributions, direct or indirect; d) the dissolution of the army, the magistrature, the bureaucracy, the police and the clergy; e) the abolition of official justice, the withdrawal of everything which juridically called itself law, together with the exercise of those laws. Consequently, the abolition and auto-da-fe of all titledeeds, deeds of inheritance, purchase, gift, and all trials---in a word, of all juridical and civil red tape. Everywhere and in everything, revolutionary acts instead of the law created and guaranteed by the state; /) the confiscation of all productive capital and instruments of labour for the benefit of working men's associations, which should collectively use them for production; g) the confiscation of all church and state property, and likewise of individually owned precious metals for the benefit of the Federative Alliance of all the working men's associations, that is, the Alliance which will form the Commune. In return for the confiscated goods, the Commune will give what is strictly necessary to all individuals thus deprived, who may later gain more by their own work if they are able and willing.---h] For the organisation of the Commune---a federation of permanently acting barricades and the functioning of a Council of the Revolutionary Commune by the delegation of one or two deputies from each barricade and one per street, or per block these deputies being invested with 634 imperative mandates and always responsible and revocable at any time. The Commune Council thus organised will bo able to elect from its membership special executive committees for each branch of the revolutionary administration of the Commune, i) A declaration by the insurgent capital, once organised as a commune, that, having destroyed the authoritarian and tutelary state, which it was entitled to do since it had been the state's slave like all the other localities, it renounces its right, or rather all claims, to direct or dictate to the provinces, k) An appeal to all provinces, communes, and associations, while allowing them all to follow the example set by the capital, first to reorganise themselves in a revolutionary way, and then to delegate to an agreed place of assembly their deputies, all likewise empowered with imperative mandates and responsible and revocable, to constitute a federation of associations, communes and provinces which have risen in the name of the same principles, and to organise a revolutionary force capable of triumphing over the reaction. The sending, not of official revolutionary commissars with shoulder sashes, but of revolutionary propagandists into all the provinces and communes---above all among the peasants, who can be turned into revolutionaries neither by principles nor by the decrees of some dictatorship, but only by revolutionary action itself, that is to say, by the consequences which will infallibly be produced in all the communes by the complete cessation of the official juridical life of the state. Abolition of the national state also in the sense that any foreign country, province, commune, association, or even isolated individual that rises in the name of the same principles, shall be received into the revolutionary federation without regard for existing state frontiers, although they belong to different political or national systems; and in the sense that any of one's own provinces, communes, associations and individuals that side with the Reaction, shall be excluded from it. It is, then, by the very fact of the spreading and organisation of the revolution with a view to the mutual defence of the insurgent countries, that the universality of the revolution shall triumph, based on the abolition of frontiers and on the destruction of the states.
7. There can be no victorious political or national revolution henceforth unless the political revolution becomes a social revolution, and unless the national revolution, precisely because of its character, radically socialist and destructive of the state, becomes the universal revolution.
8. Since the revolution must be carried out everywhere by the people, and since the supreme direction of it must always remain with the people organised into a free federation of agricultural and industrial associations, the new and revolutionary state, organising itself from bottom to top by way of revolutionary delegation, and embracing all the countries that have risen in the name of the same principles without regard for the old frontiers and for differences in nationality, will have as its goal the administration of the public services and not the government of the peoples. It will constitute the new homeland, the A lliance of the Universal Revolution against the Alliance of all the reactionary forces.
6359. This organisation excludes any idea of dictatorship and of tutelary ruling power. But for the very establishment of this revolutionary alliance and for the triumph of the revolution against the reaction, it is necessary that in the midst of popular anarchy which will constitute the very life and energy of the revolution, unity of thought and revolutionary action should find an organ. This organ must be the secret and world Association of international brethren.
10. This association proceeds from the conviction that revolutions are never accomplished either by individuals, or even by secret societies. They accomplish of themselves as it were, produced by the force of things, by the movement of events and facts. They are prepared over a long time deep in the instinctive consciousness of the popular masses, and then they flare up, often induced, apparently, by insignificant causes. All that a well-organised secret society can do is, first, to assist in the birth of the revolution by spreading among the masses ideas corresponding to their instincts and to organise, not the army of the revolution---the army must always be the people---but a sort of revolutionary general staff composed of devoted, energetic, intelligent and above all sincere friends of the people, who are not ambitious or vain, and who are capable of serving as intermediaries between the revolutionary idea and the instincts of the people.
11. The number of these individuals should not therefore be too large. For the international organisation in the whole of Europe, a hundred firmly and seriously united revolutionaries would be sufficient. Two or three hundred revolutionaries would be enough for the organisation of the biggest country.
2. PROGRAMME AND REGULATIONS OF THE PUBLIC ALLIANCE
636The socialist minority of the League of Peace and Freedom having broken away from this league owing to the majority vote at the Berne Congress, which made a formal declaration opposing the fundamental principle of all the working men's associations, namely, the economic and social equality of classes and individuals, has thereby adhered to the principles proclaimed by the Working Men's Congresses held at Geneva, Lausanne and Brussels. Several members of this minority, who belong to different nations, have suggested to us that we organise a new International Alliance of Socialist Democracy wholly merged with the great International Working Men's Association, but adopting as Us special mission the study of political and philosophical questions on the same basis of this great principle of the universal and real equality of all human beings on earth.
Convinced, for our part, of the usefulness of such an enterprise, which will give the sincere socialist democrats of Europe and America a means of understanding one another and of affirming their ideas without any pressure from the false socialism which bourgeois democracy now finds it useful to flaunt, we have thought it our duty to take the joint initiative with these friends in forming this new organisation.
Consequently, we have set ourselves up as the central section of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, and we are today publishing its Programme and Regulations.
PROGRAMME
OF THE INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE
OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY1) The Alliance declares itself to be atheist; it strives for the abolition of cults, the substitution of science for faith and of human justice for divine justice.
2) It seeks, above all, the political, economic and social equalisation of classes and of individuals of both sexes, commencing with the abolition of the right of inheritance, so that in future the enjoyment of the benefits should be equal to the production of each, and so that, in conformity with the decision taken by the last Congress of workers at Brussels, the land and instruments of labour, like all other capital, by becoming the collective property of society as a whole, may not be used except by the workers, that is to say, by agricultural and industrial associations.
3) It requires all children of both sexes, from the day of their birth, to have equality of the means of development, that is to say, maintenance, education and training at all levels in science, industry and the arts, being convinced that this equality, at first purely economic and social, will eventually lead to the increasing natural equality of individuals by eliminating all the artificial inequalities which are historical products of social organisation as false as it is iniquitous.
4) As the enemy of all despotism, recognising no political form other than the republican, and rejecting outright all reactionary alliance, the Alliance also rejects all political action which does not have for its immediate and direct goal the triumph of the cause of the workers against Capital.
5) It recognises that all the political and authoritarian states now existing, as they are reduced more and more to the simple administrative functions of the public services in their respective countries, must disappear in the universal union of free Associations, agricultural and industrial alike.
6) Since the social question cannot find a definitive and practicable solution except on the basis of the international or universal solidarity of the workers of all countries, the Alliance rejects any policy founded on so-called patriotism and the rivalry of nations.
7) It wants the universal Association of all the local Associations through liberty.
REGULATIONS
1) The International Alliance of Socialist Democracy is constituted as a branch of the International Working Men's Association, all of whose General Rules it accepts.
6372) The founder-members of the A lliance provisionally organise a Central Bureau at Geneva.
3) The founder-members belonging to the same country constitute the National Bureau of that country.
4) The National Bureaus have the mission of establishing, in all localities, local groups of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy which, through the intermediary of their respective National Bureaus, will apply to the Central Bureau of the Alliance for admission to the International Working Men's Association.
5) All the local groups will form their bureaus in accordance with the custom adopted by the local sections of the International Working Men's Association.
6) All members of the A lliance undertake to pay a subscription of ten centimes per month, of which half shall be retained for its own needs by each national group, and the other half shall be remitted to the funds of the Central Bureau for its general needs.
In countries where this sum is considered too high, the National Bureaus, in agreement with the Central Bureau, may reduce it.
7) During the annual Congress of Workers, the Delegation of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, as a branch of the International Working Men's Association, shall hold its public sessions in a separate place.
3. LETTER FROM BAKUNIN TO FRANCISCO MORA IN MADRID (Written in French)
April 5, 1872,
Locarno ~Dear Ally and Comrade,
As our friends at Barcelona have invited me to write to you, I do so with all the more pleasure since I have learned that I also, like my friends, our allies of the Jura Federation, have become, in Spain as much as in other countries, the target for the calumnies of the London General Council. It is indeed a sad thing that in this time of terrible crisis, when the fate of the proletariat of all Europe is being decided for many decades to come, and when all the friends of the proletariat, of humanity and justice, should unite fraternally to make a front against the common enemy, the world of the privileged which has been organised into a state---it is very sad, I say, that men who have, moreover, rendered great services to the International in the past, should be impelled today by evil authoritarian passions, should lower themselves to falsification and the sowing of discord, instead of creating everywhere the free union which alone can create strength.
To give you a fair idea of the line which we are taking, I have only one thing to tell you. Our programme is yours; it is the very one which you proclaimed at your Congress last year, and if you stay faithful to it, you are with us for the simple reason that we are with you. We detest the principle of dictatorship, governmentalism and authority, just as you detest them; we are convinced that all political power is an infallible source of depravity for those who govern, and a cause of servitude for those who are governed.---The state signifies 638 domination, and human nature is so made that all domination becomes exploitation. As enemies of the state in all its manifestations anyway, we certainly do not wish to tolerate it within the International. We regard the London Conference and the resolutions which it passed as an ambitious intrigue and a coup d'etat, and that is why we have protested, and shall continue protesting to the end. I am not touching on personal questions, alas! they will take up too much time at the next world Congress, if this Congress takes place, which I strongly doubt myself; for if things continue to proceed as they are doing, there will soon no longer be a single point on the continent of Europe where the delegates of the proletariat will be able to assemble in order to debate in freedom. All eyes are now fixed on Spain, and on the outcome of your Congress. What will come of it? This letter will reach you, if it reaches you at all, after this Congress. Will it find you at the height of revolution or at the height of reaction? All our friends in Italy, France and Switzerland are waiting for news from your country with unbearable anxiety.
You doubtless know that the International and our dear A lliance have progressed enormously in Italy of late. The people, in the country as much as in the towns, are now in an entirely revolutionary situation, that is to say, they are economically desperate; the masses are beginning to organise themselves in a most serious manner and their interests are beginning to become ideas.---Up to now, what was lacking in Italy was not instincts, but organisation and an idea. Both are coming into being, so that Italy, after Spain and with Spain, is perhaps the most revolutionary country at this moment. Italy has what other countries lack: a fervent and energetic youth completely at a loss, with no prospects, with no may out, and which, despite its bourgeois origins, is not morally and intellectually exhausted like the bourgeois youth of other countries. Today, it is throwing itself headlong into revolutionary socialism accepting our entire programme, the programme of the Alliance. Mazzini, our mighty antagonist of genius, is dead, the Mazzini party is completely disorganised, and Garibaldi is letting himself be carried away more and more by that youth which bears his name, but which is going, or rather running, infinitely further ahead of him. I have sent to our friends in Barcelona an Italian address; I shall soon send them others. It is good and it is necessary that the A Hies in Spain should enter into direct relations with those in Italy. Are you receiving the Italian socialist newspapers? I recommend above all: the Eguaglianza of Girgenti, Sicily; the Campana of Naples; the Fascia Operaio of Bologna; 11 Gazzettino Rosa, above all II Martello, of Milan---unfortunately the latter has been banned and all the editors imprisoned.
In Switzerland, I recommend to you two Allies: James Guillaume (Switzerland, Neuchatel, 5, rue de la Place d'Armes) and Adhemar Schwitzguebel, engraver (member and corresponding secretary of the Committee of the Jura Federation), Switzerland, Jura Bernois, Sonvillier, Mr. Adhemar Schwitzguebel, engraver. (Bakunin's address follows.)
Alliance and fraternity,
639
~ M. BakuninPlease convey my greetings to brother Morago, and ask him to send me his newspaper.
Are you receiving the bulletin of the Jura Federation? Please burn this letter, as it contains names.
__-_-_-__The Hague Congress has expelled Bakunin from the International, not only as a founder of the Alliance, but also for a personal = deed.^^233^^ The authentic document in support of this deed is still in our hands, but political considerations oblige us to refrain from publishing it.
The End
Written by Marx and Engels in collaboration with Paul Lafargue between April and July 1873
Published as a pamphlet in London and Hamburg in August 1873
Translated from the French original
[640] ~ [641] __ALPHA_LVL1__ FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF
KARL MARX
AND FREDERICK ENGELS __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX AND FREDERICK ENGELS
EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES
OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL^^234^^ __NOTE__ LVL2 moved here from page 337. [642] ~ [643]1869
(SINCE BASLE CONGRESS)
__NOTE__ Hanging indents at each date below.September 28, 1869. Jung stated the receipt of a letter from General Cluseret of New York. It was addressed to the Congress but had arrived too late.
Printing of Basle Congress Report.
A letter from the Paper-stainers, New York, requesting the Council to use its influence to prevent an importation of men to defeat the men now on strike. Action taken thereupon. (Later letters from Manchester, Edinburgh etc. Trades Council received, letters from General Council received.)
5 October '69. Letter from Varlin of Paris slating that a meeting of the Congress delegates had been held and that they had agreed to urge the affiliation of their societies.
Latham and Lampbord proposed in one of the former sittings by Odger. Postponed.
Hales (seconded by Lucraft). "That the Council proceed to establish an English Section of the International Working Men's Association, with a platform based upon the Congressional Resolutions, to be called 'The National Labour League and British Section of I. W.A.'"
Weston announces that a conference would be held on October 13, at Bell Inn, to establish an Association for the agitation of the land question and other workingmen's measures.
41*
64412 Oct. '69. Proposition to establish an EngliVli Section of the International carried.
19 Oct. '69.
26 Oct. '69. Mottershead elected.
Resolved "that a resolution be drawn up asking for the release of the (Irish) political prisoners and stating the opinion of the Council".
2 November. Hales: "On the previous Wednesday (24 Oct.) the Land and Labour League had been established, many Council members were on the executive of that league, it was not necessary to go any farther (with English Section) at present."
9 November.
16 November. Article against the Council in the Egalite. (Opening of Irish question by Marx.) Resolutions proposed by Marx on Irish political prisoners.
26 Nov.^^*^^ (Irish Debate.)
30 Nov. (The Resolutions on the Irish prisoners passed.)
7 December.
X 14 December. Jung reads strictures from the Egalite against the Irish Resolutions of the Council (Schweitzer, Liebknecht, etc.). \Monthly Reports.\
1870
X \1 January. Private Circular on Egalite etc. Irish Question etc. Reports etc.]
4 Jan. Robert Hume appointed Correspondent (of Long Island, United States). (3,000 cards sent to the German Committee (Brunswick).)
Complaints of Progres (Locle) and Egalite (Geneva) against Zurich movement (Tagwacht) as too political.
_-_-_^^*^^ The correct date is November~23.---Ed.
64511 Jan. A letter from the Geneva Committee stated that the + Section did not approve of the proceedings of the Egalite. [The Editorial Committee resigned, their resignation accepted.]
18 Jan.
25 Jan. Dupont's motion: "that any society in France nominating a corresponding secretary with General Council should be held as do facto affiliation''. (Carried.)
1 February. The Central Council of Switzerland had ap- y pointed a new staff for Egalite.
Serraillier received letter from Brussels, the Belgian General Council approved the answer of the General Council to the attack in the Egalite.
8 Febr. Application of Proletaires Positivistes Society.
15 Febr. Duponl: communicates on difference between the elder and younger branches at Lyons (handed over to Sub-Committee).
22 Febr. At Naples search made at the meeting place of the International for papers, without a search-warrant being produced by the police officer. President, secretary and a lawyer who had protested against it as illegal, arrested.
Le Reveil contained paragraphs from a Spanish paper according to which the governments of Austria, Italy, and France are going to take rigorous measures against the International.
8 March. Report of the Sub-Committee on the Lyons Affair. (Richard, etc.)
15 March. Letter of the Proletaires Positivistes at Paris [they had been asked by Dupont for their rules and by-laws].
Admitted but not as ``sect'' and the discrepancy between their own programme and that of the International pointed out to them.
64622 March. Russian Section in Geneva founded. Desired Marx to become their representative.
29 March.
4, 5, 6 April. Congress at La Chaux-de-Fonds.^^*^^
5 April.
+12 April. Jung [received] letter from La Chaux-de-Fonds. Split at the Congress. In consequence of a majority having voted for the admission of the Geneva Alliance the Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds delegates had withdrawn and continued the Congress by themselves. Jung instructed to write to both parties for full particulars.
19 April. Discrepancies (says Jung) between the statements >f the two Swiss parties. The new committee numbered about 600, the old 2,000 members.
26 April. (Letter from Guillaume to Jung.)
-\- 3 May. Resolution on pretended Conspiracy against Badinguet (plebiscite) [arrest of many members of Paris and Lyons sections).
X10 May. Resolution against the London French branch. (10 May)---Jung proposed that in future all the names of the Council members should be signed to official documents whether the members were present or not. = (~~~~~).^^**^^
17 May. Resolution: "Considering:
``That by the Basle Congress Paris was appointed as the meeting place of this year's Congress of the I.W.A.;
``that the present French regime continuing the Congress will not be able to meet at Paris;
``that nevertheless the preparations for the meeting render an immediate resolution necessary;
``that Art. 3 of the Statutes obliges the Council to change, in case of need, the place of meeting appointed by the Congress;
_-_-_^^*^^ Entry made by Marx in pencil.---Ed.
^^**^^ A word written by Marx in pencil is illegible.---Ed,
647``that the Central Committee of the German Social Democratic Workingmen's Party has invited the General Council to transfer this year's Congress to Germany;
``the General Council has in its sitting of the 17 of May unanimously resolved that this year's Congress of the I.W.A. be opened on the 5th September next and meet at Mayence."
De Paepe, in letter to Serraillier, asked the opinion of the Council on the affairs of Switzerland. Jung letter from Perret (Geneva) who wished the Council to decide upon the Swiss question.
24 May. (Quarrel over the Bee-Hive Resolutions.)
31 May. Parisians against removal to Mayence. Question about Cluseret.---Osborne Ward introduced by Jung.--- Jung introduced Duval as delegate from the Paris iron-founders on strike. Council appoints deputation (Jung and Hales) to introduce him to the trade societies.---Credentials voted to Hume at New York.
7 June.
14 June. New lockout at Geneva (building trades).
21 June. Address to the Trades Societies etc. on the Geneva affair.
28 June. Regional Congress at Rouen suppressed.
-f-
Letter from Geneva asked the Council to come to a decision as soon as possible. (Discussion on this matter.)
(About the Alliance. See Weston's statement.) (Proposition adopted that Geneva Committee remains in its old function; the new committee may choose a local name.)
Marx proposed that the General Council be transferred from London to Brussels. (This to be proposed to next Congress.) (And that this proposition, to consider the removal of Council, be communicated to all sections.) Carried. Hales gave notice of motion to reconsider the question.
6485 July. Parisians want refutation of the false statements of Aulois, the public prosecutor, but they send no papers etc. to the Council. Dupont complains of receiving no reply.
X 12 July. French branch. Lemaitre.---Positivist branch send their contribution.---Money voted by the Amalgam. Engineers to the Paris iron-founders.---The proposition (Marx stated) was: "to write to the sections to ask them to consider the advisability of removing the Council from London. If they were favourable to a removal, then Brussels should bo proposed etc."--- Programme for Mayence Congress.
-(- 19 July. Geneva Committee thanks for the resolution of the Council. Jung written to La Chaux-de-Fonds against their political abstentionism.---Anti-War Address of Paris Section.---Marx to draw up Anti-War Address.
26 July. Bebel and Liebknecht on German War loan.
(North German Reichstag. Berlin.)---(In their written declaration (why they abstain from voting) declare themselves members of the International.) First War Address of July 23 read.^^*^^
2 Aug. Serraillier reads letter from Belgium: Council to be left at London; but gives notice that Belgium Congress Delegates will ask why Council interfered in the Swiss affair. Marx states that protest against war has been issued in Barmen, Munich, Breslauet c.---Jung on Swiss affair. Article in Solidarite. Guillaume's party has not sent a proper reply. The Parisians asked for a prompt settlement of this affair. Referred to SubCommittee. Marx proposes to ask sections to agree to postponement of Congress. Carried.
9 Aug. Jung [received] letter from Naples about Caporusso having betrayed them.
16 Aug. Third 1,000 of War Address printed. Letters from Switzerland and Germany (Central Committee) to leave _-_-_
^^*^^ From here in Engels' hand.---Ed.
649 Council at London and to empower it to postpone Congress to any time and place.23 Aug. 15,000 German and 15,000 French copies of Address ordered to be printed at Geneva. Belgian Council's letter withdrawing observations' on Swiss affair (see 2 Aug.) and agreeing to postponement of Congress. Romance Council of Geneva also for postponement and Council to remain in London.
Resolution passed to postpone Congress.
Aug. 30th. French Section formed at New York. Osbornc Ward attended and spoke.
Sept. 6. Marx had correspondence witli German Social Democratic Party who say they will do their duty. Second War Address resolved upon.
Sept. 9. Address carried.
Sept. 13. Serraillier off to Paris.
Sept. 20. Arrest of Brunswick people. Deportation from Mayence. Protest against annexation in Berlin, Munich, Augsburg, Niirnberg etc. Deputation of 5 to act with the Arundel Hall Committee in fitting up a demonstration for the French Republic and against annexation.
Sept. 27. Stated that a deputation to Gladstone had been agreed upon for recognition of French Republic (by the joint Committee).
Oct. 4.---
Oct. 11. Meetings at Berlin and Munich against the Prussian war policy. Letter about Bakunin at Lyons 27 Sept. Report of Finance Committee.
Oct. 18. Birmingham Trades Council joins. Objection taken to Belgian International papers not having published 2nd War Address. Financial Secretary appointed.
Oct. 25. Belgian Internationale publishes at last the beginning of the 2nd War Address.---Heinemann's Meeting. Protest of the Workers' Educational Society. Resolved 650 that when questions of internal administration are discussed none but members of Council be allowed to be present.
Nov. 1. Letters from Paterson (N.J.) and New York that French and Germans there had issued a joint address against the war. Letter from Aubry (Rouen) about the Bonapartists still in power there and their doings.
Nov. 8.---Meeting of Intervention Committee attended by Secretary.
Nov. 15.---Mass Meeting in New York on the War announced as impending.
Nov. 22. Letter from Brest that all the 12 members of the Committee there had been arrested 2/10 October, and tried 27 Oct. for conspiring against safety of State.
2 got 2 years, one 1 year (merely for holding a Defence meeting).---From the Bonaparte papers published it appeared that on the eve of the plebiscite the hunting down of the International was purposely organised.
Nov. 29. The Trades Council of Manchester promises its moral support. Dupont appointed Representative for Lancashire.^^*^^
6 December. Marx proposed that the secretary should make out a list of the attendance of the members for the last
3 months. Carried.
13 December. Secretary read a list of the members and the number of times they had been absent since September. To be entered into the minutes, and in future the absent members to be noted down as well as those present.
20 Dec. Announcement of formation of Central Committee at New York (see list of attendance) (after the last _-_-_
^^*^^ A pencil entry follows in Marx's hand: ``The Romance Federal Committee in Geneva during 1869--70 refused admission to the Romance Federation of the International Association. Section recognised by the General Council.'' Marx's notes continue on a new sheet.---Ed.
651 sitting in December) (from Sept. to December 1870 and from January to end of March 1871).1871
3 Jan.
17 Jan. Birmingham Trades Council joins. Felleisen to be asked in what position towards the International. (The fellows for annexation.) Marx speaks against Odger's rant at St. James' Hall. (Favre and Co.) (against our Second Address).
24 January. Formation of Central Committee for the United States at New York.
31 January. Swiss (Geneva Romance Confederation) write that they had received letters from Spain to enter into close communication but before doing so they desired to know whether the Spanish Section was in relation with the Council; otherwise they would not communicate with them. Engels appointed Spanish Secretary. Engels' resolution on the war (Franco-German) (and attitude of English Government).
7 Febr. Discussion of Franco-German War. Attitude of English Government.
14 Febr. (Continuation of that discussion.)
21 Febr. Land Tenure Reform Association meeting the workingmen's party half way in regard to the nationalisation of land. (Mill.) Harris thought it was a move to break up the Land and Labour League.
28 Febr. Discussion of Land Tenure Reform Association. ( Resolution to discuss their programme.)
Report of Citizen Serraillier. (Federal Paris Council during the siege.)
7 March. (Discussion on New York Central Committee) (Marx on Paris declaration of 1856).
652X 14 March. Robin. (Conference of delegates from all the sections to be convocated to London.) (Rejected.) (Debate on declaration of 1856.) (Irish Question.)
21 March. Marx stated: when the war broke out letters sent, to all the continental sections that the Congress could not be held at Mayence or Paris; all the sections that had answered had left it to the Council to choose time and place when and where the Congress should meet. Robin said that letter had never been received at Paris. Declaration to be sent to the English papers against the false resolution (of excluding the Germans) attributed to the Paris Federal Council.
(Resolution of March 18.)
Section in the East of London.
28 March. Serraillier sent to Paris. & 5 voted for his wife. Our German friends only prosecuted as Internationals (all other charges dropped). Central Republican Meeting at Wellington Music Hall (to establish a Republican Club).---Wade moved the addition of "social and democratic" (26 for, 50 against). Resolutions for founding branches in the East End of London.
4 April. San Francisco branch. Bethnal Green branch.
11 April. (Antwerp etc. Cigarmakers lockout) (Action taken by Council.)
18 April. (Tolain affair first brought before the Council.) X 25 April. Expulsion of Tolain. Confirmed.
2 May. Applegarth and Odger (Eccarius moved that the rule of appending all names to Addresses should be suspended with regard to them. Mottershead against this. Jung to speak about it with Applegarth, Eccarius with Odger).
9 May. Eccarius resigns Gen. Secretaryship (Applegarth left to the Council the appending of his name. Odger should like to see the address beforehand). New Zealand correspondence.
65316 May. Hales elected General Sccretanj.
23 May. The English shall convoke meeting to urge the English Government not to act against the French Refugees. This done and different meetings took place on that point.
30 May. Marx read Address "On Civil War''. (Accepted.)
6 June. Commune. English press. Mazzini. (Attempts of the International Democratic Association to make itself important.) (Citizen Cadiot appears on the scene.)
13 June. (12 June. Reply to Favre's circular sent to Times.) Address on Civil War issued. (Citizen Baudry turns up.)
20 June. Odger and Lucraft withdraw. (Scandalous sitting) (Holyoake's scandal).
Declaration against the false Paris (International) manifestoes.
27th June. Refugee Committee on Saturdays formed. Declaration about Odger, Lucraft, Holyoake etc. Letter of Marx in Daily News about Address. First Edition exhausted.
4 July. MacDonnell elected.
Correspondence of Cafiero. Robert Reid sent with Address as lecturer on the Commune to the Provinces. Major Wolff (Tibaldi etc.), Marx and "Pall Mall".
1.1 July. Assi-Bigot affair (Lumley, barrister, present). Address on Washburne. Rutson (Brousse) applies for the published documents of the International.
18 July. Richard Affair (not admitted as member). Elliott (rejected).
Herman elected as Relgic secretary. Rejagee-money question.
25 July. New Orleans branch. (La Commune their organ.) Pope and Mazzini against the International. Robin brings Swiss affair forward. Referred to Conference. Private Conference resolved upon (for 17 Sept.).
6541 August. Bishop of Malines, Catholic Workingmeris International Association. Washington Section.
Rochat's Proposition as to formation of Enquiry (through and from the Refugees) on the History of the Commune (Colin).
8 August. Deputation of Newcastle and London Engineers on the Newcastle Lockout. Deputation sent by General Council to Belgium etc. Warning to all international branches against importation of men into Newcastle on Tyne. Applegarth's letter. Visitors to be excluded in future.
15 August. Branches at Liverpool and Loughborough in Leicestershire.
Conference to be confined to questions of organisation and policy.
22 August. (Canada Communards Exportation Scheme.) 29 August. Deputation from Refugees' Society. Quarrel.
5 Sept. Marx, Engels, Hales, Jung resign as members of Refugees' Committee. Propositions as to Conference.
Drawn up apparently in September 1871
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
[655] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
FOR JUNE 1870-APRIL 1872^^235^^COUNCIL SITTINGS
Sitting of Council June 28, 1870
Marx proposes Brussels for next General Council etc. Resolution to be sent to all sections.
Carried.
Hales announces reconsideration.
July 5. Continuation of debate. Debate adjourned.
July 12. Marx: "to write to the sections to ask them to consider the advisability of removing the Council from London. If they were favourable to a removal then Brussels should be proposed" (with mandates should the delegates come) (instruction to delegates). Only 3 vote for Hales amendment.
Mayence Congress Programme.
Sitting of Aug. 2.
Serraillier read letter from Belgium in which Amsterdam was proposed as the seat of the Congress. It would be near to all except Italy and Spain. Belgium wants the Council to remain at London, declines its transference to Brussels.
Debate on Congress.
Marx against the Brussels proposal for Amsterdam. All the sections ought to be written to and asked whether they would consent to a postponement. Instead of a Congress a Conference might perhaps be held as in 1865.
Jung against Congress. Swiss called to arms (60,000 men).
Hales (seconded by Eccarius) proposed that the sections should be appealed to to state whether they were in favour of postponement and if so to give the Council power to fix the date of convocation. (Carried.)
656Marx: if the sections agreed, a conference might, ho held here, but he was for an appeal.
Aug. 9. Spaniards propose Barcelona as seat of the Congress.
Aug. 16. Jung communicated letter from the German Swiss Committee agreeing to the postponement of Congress and leaving it to the Council to appoint time and place; to the same effect letter of the German Social Democratic Party. Both against removal of the Council from London.
Aug. 23. Serraillier read letter from the Belgian Council in which the postponement of the Congress agreed to. Ditto from Romance Geneva Committee, Council to remain at London.
Postponement of Congress resolved.
^^*^^ Sitting of Nov. 22 (documents found on the Bonaparte gvt). "On the eve of the Plebiscite Ollivier had written to all the towns of France that the leaders of the International must be arrested else the voting could not be satisfactorily proceeded with.'' |
I Sitting of Nov. 29. Marx communicated that our Brunswick friends had been brought back from Loetzen in chains, to be tried for high treason. To frighten the middle class the police organs published long articles to tell the people these men were allies of the International Association---subvert everything, establish Universal Republic.
1871
March 14. Robin moves to convoke conference of dolegates, (Rejected.)
July 25. Engels proposes convocation of conference, seconded by Robin.
In this month Archbishop of Malines established a Catholic Workingmen's International Association with a view to counteract the I.W.A. 1872
Feb. 20. Art. = Utin.^^238^^
12 March. Resolutions on United = Slates.^^2^^"
16 April. Cochrane. Fawcett.^^238^^
Drawn up after August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
_-_-_^^*^^ In the original the whole paragraph is struck out by Marx.---Ed.
[657] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
OUTLINE FOR THE REPORT
OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
TO THE HAGUE CONGRESS^^239^^23 April. Bonaparte issues a Proclamation to the People calling upon them to give him a vote of confidence by voting for the Plebiscite.
29 April. Arrests at Paris^^*^^ on the pretext of a complot against the life of Louis Bonaparte.
Internationals at Paris, Lyons, Brest and other great towns arrested. (Ollivier's circular.)
8 May. Plebiscite.
Judiciary proceedings against the Federal Committee at Paris.
On the 9 July condemned partly for participation in an illicit, partly for that in a secret society.
12 July. Manifesto of the Paris members "to the workmen of all nations" against the war responded to by the German workmen and the Internationals of all countries.
15 July. Chamber decides on war.
19 July. French declaration of war.
Drawn up after August 27, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
_-_-_^^*^^ The words ``and other great towns'' are struck out here.---Ed.
42---0960
[658] __ALPHA_LVL2__FREDERICK ENGELS
TRANSLATION OF AN EXCERPT
FROM TOKARZEWICZ'S LETTER __MISSING__ Missing page.[MISSING.]
[659] __ALPHA_LVL2__FREDERICK ENGELS SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND GENERAL BALANCE
OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL FOR 1871/72^^240^^ __MISSING__ Missing page. Rotated.[MISSING.]
[660] __MISSING__ Missing page. [661] __MISSING__ Missing page. [662] __MISSING__ Missing page. [663] __MISSING__ Missing page. [664] __MISSING__ Missing page. [665] __MISSING__ Missing page. [666] __ALPHA_LVL2__FREDERICK ENGELS
MOTION FOR THE PROCEDURE OF DEBATE
ON THE GENERAL RULES
AND ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONSI propose to begin discussion of the second chapter of the Administrative Regulations concerning the General Council and, after that, of Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Rules dealing with the same subject.^^*^^
F. Engels
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
_-_-_^^*^^ The motion was pencilled on a sheet of paper.---Ed,
[667]
FREDERICK ENGELS
NOTES ON HEFNER'S SPEECH^^*^^ AT THE EVENING SITTING SEPTEMBER 6, 1872^^241^^Absten[tionists], pol[ice], Schweitzer[ians]. [In] 1870--- chauvinists, after Sedan---turning point. Idealism.--- Imposition of doctrines. Calls them to what: to know what they want. The Manifesto] of the Gteneral] Cfouncil]---8, 000 copies. The Civil War.
Against authoritarianism], the personality cult. RevoluUionl. The Commune insufficiently [authoritarian], the Gen[eral] Council excessively authoritarian].
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original
_-_-_^^*^^ See pp. 83 and 160--61 of this volume.---Ed.
[668] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX AND FREDERICK ENGELS
APPENDICES TO N. UTIN'S REPORT^^242^^1) Confidential Circular of the League of Peace and Freedom.
2) A Few Words to the Young Brothers [in Russia].
3) Appeal to the Russian Nobility.
4) To the Officers of the Russian Army.
5) Catechism.
6) Letter from Bakunin to Mora (April 5, 1872).
7) Letter from Utin. August 14--15, 1872. The attempt on his life.
8) Letter from the Bureau to Lyubavin.^^243^^
9) Letter from Lyubavin to me (August 8-20, 1872).
10) Ditto from Baranov (June 10--22^^*^^, 1872).
11) Danielson.™
12) Zurich, August 16. Bakunin. Statement on = Necha- z/ey.^^246^^
13) Congress of Rimini.™
14) Malon, March 21, 1871.^^**^^^^247^^
15) Statement by Mesa.
16) Bakunin's Statutes. Original and = copy.^^248^^
17) The Zurich Poles. Jurassians' falsification.
Written not earlier than September 6, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
_-_-_^^*^^ Mistakenly ``29" in the original.---Ed.
^^**^^ Mistakenly "1870" in the original. The following three entries are in Engels' hand.---Ed.
[669] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
MISCELLANEOUS,
CONCERNING THE CONGRESS^^249^^1) List of delegates' names (printed, full of errors).
2) Utin's notes on Nostag and Duval.
3) Cuno's authorisation to print the Alliance documents in London.
4) Two letters to Engels from Denmark.
5) New section (workers only) in Rome.
6) The Cuno-Schramm incident.
7) To the Congress from Porto Maurizio.
8) Draft of the General Rules (Belgium).
9) Invitation from Amsterdam (grave of Barbes).
10) Note from Dupont (wants money).
11) Authorisation for Farkas.
12) Letter to Engels from Lafargue.
13) Letter from Melotte to the Belgians on refugee = matters.^^260^^
14) Amendments to the Rules (Ferre Section).
15) Scrap of paper from Friedldnder.
16) Tussy (message from Utin) (to Mohmchen).
17) From Utin (addressed to me, for Duval) (to Tussy) (to Duval).
18) Letter to me from Golovin.
19) Note from MacDonnell.
20) Excerpts from the minutes of the General Council, made by me.
Drawn up after September 10, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original
[670] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
CONTRIBUTIONS
AND STATISTICS OF THE SECTIONSBelgium (100 frs.).
Germany.
Spain.
Portugal with letter to Engels from Lisbon.
England. Hackney Road Section.
Jurassians (to the General Council).
Amsterdam (to Cournet).
Financial account (1870 and 1871).
UNITED STATES
Letter from Woodhull to the General Council on Section 12.
Letter from V. Woodhull to Marx.^^251^^
Eccarius, December 20, 1871 (to Marx on Section 12 and West).^^252^^
West. December 8, 1871 (to = Mara).^^253^^
Federal Council to the General Council on Section 2.
Statistical report (New York and California).
Rules of the Federal Council.
Sorge. Account on the United States.
My personal extracts on Section 12.^^254^^
Philadelphia Congress.
671EXPENDITURES
To Lafargue 80 gulden.
Arnaud £ 5.
Pihl 15 talers.
Lombard St. To landlord for gas and broken chair £ 2.10.
Serraillier and Dupont £ 3.10.
Lafargue 100 frs. for Lucain.
Drawn up not earlier than September 10, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original
[672] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
ALLIANCEI) Organisation and Programme (Tussy's copy). II) Same. The original (partly in Bakunin's handwriting).
III) Utin's confidential communication on the Alliance in Switzerland and Russia.^^*^^
IV) Appendices to this memorandum:
1) Confidential Circular of the League of Peace and Freedom. On the other side: To Citizen Elpidin in Bakunin's handwriting.
2) A Few Words to the Young Brothers in Russia (Geneva, May 1869, M. Bakunin).
3) Appeal to the Russian Nobility.
4) To the Officers of the Russian Army signed by Bakunin, dated Geneva, January 1870.
5) Catechism by Bakunin in Russian.
6) Letter from Bakunin to Mora, April 5, 1872. Locarno.
7) Letter from Utin. August 14--15, 1872. The attempt on his life.
8) Letter from the Bureau to Lyubavin.
9) Letter from Lyubavin to me. August 8-20, 1872.
10) Letter to me from Baranov (June 10--22^^**^^).
11) August 9-21 (72) from Danielson.
12) Zurich, August 16, 1872. Bakunin's statement on Nechayev.
13) Congress of Rimini.
14) Malon (March 21, 1871^^***^^).
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to
_-_-_
the original^^*^^ For the text ot Utin's report see pp. 360--480 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ Mistakenly "29" in the original.---Ed.
^^***^^ Mistakenly "1870" in the original.---Ed.
[673] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
OTHER CONGRESS MATERIALI. MANDATES
1. Report of Mandate Commission.
2. α) Section No.~2. New York. Letter from Federal Council
to General Council. Sauva's mandate. Section No. 12.
New York. Mandate of West, signed by Woodhull.P') Mandates of Marselau, Rafael Farga Pellicer, Alerini,
T. G. Morago.P'') Mandate for N. Zhukovsky (Section of Propaganda of
Revolutionary Socialist Action in Geneva).7) Alerini's mandate for Marseilles.
8) Mandate of Dublin for MacDonnell.
e) Fluse's authorisation jor the Vesdre valley, confirmed by
the Belgian delegates.i) Mandates for Marx (Section No. 1, New York, Leipzig, General Council).
Roach (Federal Council).
Bernhard Becker (Bielefeld).
Potel (French Section in Brussels) (Lucain!).
Philipp Becker (Basle). (This mandate also
contains a financial account of the Basle Section.)k) Victor Dave's mandate for The Hague.
1) Mandate for Harriet Law of the Section of Working
Women. Geneva.m) Oberwinder for Reichenberg (Vienna).
n) Hepner (Regensburg).
o) Engels (Section No. 2, New York) (Breslau).
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
43---0900
[674] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
ON THE CREDENTIALS COMMISSION^^255^^No. 1 Report of Commission.
2) Mandates (Sauva. Section 2. New York. West. Section 12).
Heim^^*^^ (Reichenberg).
Hepner. Regensburg.
Engels (Section New York and Breslau).
Marselau, Pellicer, Alerini, Morago (Spain).
Alerini (Marseilles), Zhukovsky (Section of Propaganda,
Geneva).
Victor Dave (The Hague), MacDonnell (Dublin).
Fluse (the Vesdre valley). Marx (New York. I Section,
Leipzig).
Roach, B. Becker (Bielefeld), Potel (Lucain), Brussels
(French Section).
Ph. Becker (Basle financial report).
Harriet Law (Geneva).First published in Russian ~
Printed according to
_-_-_
the original^^*^^ Heim inserted instead of Oberwinder.---Ed.
[675] __ALPHA_LVL2__KARL MARX
COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY1) Note on the questioning of Cuno's witnesses.
2) Lucain's report. First, introduction (2 pages on 1 sheet), then 1-16 numbered, but p. 13 and the end missing.
DEPOSITIONS
1) Engels 2 numbered documents.
2) New Madrid Federation.
3) Lefebvre-Roncier^^*^^: last sitting.
4) Serraillier (letters concerning Bousquet, Marchand, Brousse (Guesde's man), Gondres, Bacave, Mechnikov, SaintMartin).^^**^^
a) Extracts from letters to Serraillier (pp. 1-11);
b) Letter concerning Bousquet, letter concerning Brousse, letter concerning Malon ... letter from Walter;
c) Emancipation (Toulouse): Razoua's article, Serraillier's reply.
Written not earlier than November 14, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Printed according to the original
_-_-_^^*^^ See pp. 206--08 of this volume.---Ed.
^^**^^ See. pp. 485--92 of this volume.---Ed.
43*
[676] __ALPHA_LVL2__FREDERICK ENGELS
MATERIAL FOR THE PAMPHLET
THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST
DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL
WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION^^256^^I. ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY
1) The commission's report to the Congress and note.
2) Detailed account of the commission's sessions.
3) Documents.
UTIN'S REPORT
1--4. Quotations from the reply of Bakunin and the Jurassians concerning the split. The court of honour.
6. Formulation of the charge against Bakunin and the Alliance. The secret charter and its initial circulation by Bakunin.
9. The attempted assassination in Zurich.
12. Chevalley and Cognon---thieves---details---Perron, expelled from the Geneva Central Section.
12/18. History of the International in Romance Switzerland.
13. First appearance of the public Alliance. 18/20. The public Alliance.
19. Fictitious dissolution of the Alliance, admission by the Jura Committee that it still exists as a propaganda section.
20. (The secret Alliance.) League of Peace and Freedom.
21/22. Confidential circular of the League of Peace and Freedom, written by Bakunin.
22. Reply of Gustav Vogt to Bakunin, and Bakunin's reply to Vogt. The Germans.
67723. The Peace League's Berne Congress. The foundation of the public Alliance.
24. (VI) The secret Alliance. The secret charter---up to 31. 31. (VII) The Nechayev trial. Position etc. of the accused. 32/33. Summary of the charge.
34. Mutual-aid funds. The students' struggle with the government.
35/36. Demands by the students presented to Nechayev.
37. Nechayev's behaviour. Misuse of the International's name.
38/39. (VIII) Biographical information on Nechayev.
39. Bakunin immediately accepts him. Discloses compromised names to him. Utin's negotiations with Nechayev.
39/41. A Few. Words to the Young Brothers, science must be thrown out, which the International also wants. 40.
41. Further publication by the gang, in which the formula of Revolution is advanced before anything else. Summer 1869. Anarchy---organisation.
42/43. Brigands.
43/44. Again anarchy and organisation.
45. The leaders must be hidden in the crowd, to this end--- the secret Alliance. Proposition, especially the Russian revolutionaries who are not Bakuninists. 45/47.
47. Publication of "The People's Judgment" No. 1. Threat of total destruction, against The People's Cause.
48. Recommendation of Bakunin's Words, B. and the editors of Kolokol the only honest emigrants.
49. Insults aimed at the Decembrists and N. Chernyshevsky: the Russian peasant---the true socialist.
50. Teachers of socialism seek only cushy jobs (as in the letters of N...).
51. Insults aimed at Chernyshevsky again. 51/52. Theory of morality.
52. Plan of assassination---only not of the tsar.
52/53. ...^^*^^
54. The Nechayev conspiracy.---Mme. Tomilova, compromising telegrams and proclamations.---Bakunin and the spy.
55. N. goes to Russia (September 1869). In Moscow. Uspensky. N.'s mandate.
_-_-_^^*^^ Omission in the original.---Ed.
67856. Visits, in particular, the Agricultural Academy. Students, in particular, Ivanov.
56. Confusion in the Russian language of the words ``union'', ``society'', ``association''---``world'', ``international''. N.'s method of recruitment.---Ogarev's poem, dedicated to N.
57. Revolutionary music.
58. Further, application of the recruitment method.
58. N.'s false tales about his heroic deeds in Europe, Belgium and Geneva---his supposed 16 paladins.---Total of 6-8 persons recruited.
59. Secret society's rules, corresponding to the Alliance's rules.
59/60. Lies about distribution. Petersburg and Moscow used against one another. Declaration about the International.
60/61. Programme which the public (?) Alliance passed off as the International's programme.
61/62. Exact information from Svyatsky here---that there was no Russian committee, but the minutes of the Russian Section were being sent to Bakunin, and N. suggested to Pryzhov that he should go to Bakunin.
62. ...^^*^^
63. N.'s secretiveness and mystification towards those affiliated.---Terrorisation, threats.
63/64. Compromising letters from abroad. 64. Fear of denunciation. 64. The committee's seal. 65.
65. Swindle with the promissory note for 6,000 rubles to 66---Negreskul's overcoat and the 100 rubles, 66---
67. Assassination of Ivanov---Portrait of Ivanov, his connection with N., who also gave him the "Appeal to the Nobility".
67. Extracts.
67/68---Theft of money by N. from student funds.
68.---Assignments given by N. to those affiliated---Reports for B.
69.---N.'s order that his proclamation should be posted up in the dining-rooms.
_-_-_^^*^^ Omission iu the original.---Ed.
67970.---Ivanov's refusal; he leaves the society 20/11/69. Assassination the following night. = __NOTE__ "70/71" is at end of paragraph "70". 70/71.
72. N.'s flight, details and confession. To Tula, takes with him a woman subjected to persecution and under suspicion. 72.
74. Bakunin's participation. The catechism brought by N. was written in Bakunin's hand.---Mme. Tomilova is bombarded by N. with compromising telegrams and letters.
75.---Mme. Belayeva enticed by N., falls in love with him, has to leave with Pryzhov for Geneva, where she will be seized, deserted and locked up in Geneva.
75/76.---Mme. Alexandrovskaya leaves with N. for Geneva, is loaded with proclamations and seized, 77.
77. Issue No. 2 of "The People's Judgment". Nechayev's death again: this time he is strangled while on the way to Siberia; he was still in Russia at that time.
77. Threat against enemies and neutrals.
78/79. Solution of the social question: universal labour conscription and the concentration of all means of production in the hands of the committee.
79/80. (The Communist Manifesto recommended, see two pages of the Russian original under V.)
80. Mme. Alexandrovskaya's return. Arrest---deposition at the trial about this.
81. To the Officers of the Russian Army, signed by Bakunin, proves that he was N.'s helper. (Beginning.) This document is dated January 1870, that is, immediately after arrest.
82. End.---About this time---January and March 1870--- attempt by Bakunin and N. to resurrect Kolokol---in entirely bourgeois-constitutional form! Two months later---quarrel over Herzen's money---N.'s Commune.
83. Le Progres of Locle cited N.'s letters translated from The People's Judgment and undertook his defence; at the Congress in La Chaux-de-Fonds, G. spoke in defence of N. against Utin and boasted of their kinship with the great Russian socialists at the trial---Bakunin's statement about abstention, two years earlier---B. boasted in La Marseillaise that he had just arrived from Russia.
84.---Meanwhile, he explained to his people that translating Marx's work was holding him up in Switzerland!
68085.---To the Officers only favourable to the reaction. 83 to--- Tagwacht: that he had been acting as a spy---84---against the Poles as early as in 1870---his origin---85 to---
Appendix. 1) Spasovich's speech I.
II. Flight of B. 4. p. 1. Pan-Slav manifesto.
5.---the tsar 13---
I. DOCUMENTS WITH SERRAILLIER
1) Emancipation, November 29, 1871.---Razoua on the split. Extract from La Revolution Sociale: that we want to turn the International into a secret society (for Switzerland).
2) Emancipation, December 19. Serraillier's answer.
3) Heddeghem, August 6, 1872.---Saint-Martin denounced as Alliance agent.
4) Serraillier's report to the commission: a) Bousquet, b) Marchand, c) Brousse, d) Bacave (and Gondres), e) SaintMartin (and Mechnikov).
5) Rigal, Razoua, April 23, 1872.---Malon's letter to Beziers.
6) Narbonne, July 24, 1872.---Bousquet performs various functions.
7) August 1 or September? 1872.---Brousse circulates the reply of the Jurassians to Fictitious Splits ... ten copies.
8) Montpellier, August 18, 1872---with money for S. in his capacity as its delegate in The Hague.---Brousse, expulsion.
9) Avignon, August 24, 1872.---Original of the information about Saint-Martin, held by Serraillier.
II. DOCUMENTS WITH MARX
1) French programme of the public Alliance (Switzerland).
2) Perron's declaration, etc. Geneva, January 16, 1872 (Switzerland).
3) Bastelica, September 13 (?), 1870 to Lafargue: recommendation by A. Richard.
4) Bastelica, January 12, 1871, to the same---again about A.~Richard.
6815) Montpellier, September 19, 1872.---Brousse's expulsion demanded.
6) Montpellier, November 20, 1872.---Brousse---enclosure: Guesde to Brousse.
7) Serraillier's statement against Marchand, November 14, 1872.
8) Bordeaux, November 25, 1872. Dentraygues' dirty work.
9) Rome, August 13, 1872. Guesde. Formation of the Malon Section (Switzerland).
10) Utin's letter of November 1, 1872: a) p. 3, to make Bakunin responsible for the chief found.^^*^^; b) Ogarev---and Herzen's money, pp. 5-6; c) Ogarev, p. 6 et seq.; d) had never seen Bakunin's pamphlet about = Nechayev,^^267^^ p. 8; e) the spy Stempkowski---best friend of N. and Bakunin, p. 11.
12) Rome, September 22, 1872. Guesde to Gironis---against the Hague Congress and the proposal to begin to act in France.---The judges of the International want to foist a new programme upon it---the General Council should have carried out subversive activity in favour of the Commune, as Bakunin and the Alliance did in Lyons and Marseilles (!!! in September 1870!).
Written not earlier than November 25, 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German original
_-_-_^^*^^ The words ``chief found.'' are in Russian in the original (rjiaBH. OCH.).---Ed.
[682] __ALPHA_LVL2__FREDERICK ENGELS
NOTES ON DENTRAYGUES AND GUESDE^^258^^Dentraygues.
A railway draughtsman at Pezenas, Herault, approaches Hales on December 24, 1871, to announce that the Pezenas Radical Democratic Committee, representing seven guilds, is applying to join the International.
On January 4, Serraillier requests information from Callas of Pezenas, who, on October 23, 1871, applied to Eccarius for membership, giving as reference the Committee of Socialist Democracy at Beziers (whose members were condemned at Beziers for belonging to the International); the Committee gave perfectly satisfactory references ( November 13, 1871): "our mutual friend''. Moreover, these members were also perfectly well known in Paris to Cournet, Eudes, etc.
Callas (January 14, 1872) says: "Citizen Dentraygues is worthy, we have come to an understanding with him, we shall be working together.'' Since December 6, 1871, the gilders of Toulouse belonged to the International (letter signed by M. Petioux) and this was confirmed on the 14th.--- On March 23, a Central Committee was functioning at Toulouse to carry out propaganda---seven members (Robert, March 23, 1872).
Dentraygues at this point offers to go to Toulouse and work there ........ which is accepted, and after a stay of ........, at Toulouse, he receives powers from the General Council, the Toulouse members of which have had time to vet him. The students' section on July 11, 1872 (signed by 683 Deville), recognised him as delegate of the General Council for the southern region and no one complained about him at that time. On August 18, a general meeting of the Toulouse Central Section, northern canton, unanimously elected him as its delegate to the Hague Congress (21 signatures, all accused at the trial), and the southern canton likewise (17 signatures) and the central canton (9 signatures) and the western canton (20 signatures).
Guesde.
8/18 August---the Montpellier Section (Callas and three other signatories) declares that Brousse, Paul, a medical student in correspondence with Guesde, caused a split by demanding that members should not pay their subscriptions for the delegate from Toulouse, as had been agreed, nor should they make a move until the Hague Congress had made a decision.---They demand his expulsion from the Association.---Then his friend Guesde, in a letter from Rome on December 14, in La Liberte, denounced this attack against Brousse and pointed directly to Callas of Montpellier as the intriguer. As a result of this denunciation, a letter from Serraillier to Callas (December 19 or 20, 1872) was confiscated in the post; in it he spoke of Dentraygues in reply to a letter of November 5, and on December 24 Dentraygues was arrested. In the letter of November 5, the writer said that he had confidence in Dentraygues.
Written after December 1872
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the French original
[684]
FREDERICK ENGELS
LIST OF DOCUMENTS FOR THE PAMPHLET THE ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY AND THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATIONI
OUR DOCUMENTS
1) Splits.
2) Letter from Perron.^^*^^
3) Statutes of the Public Alliance.*
4) La Emancipation (that the Alliance has not, in fact, been dissolved).
5) Circular of the New Madrid Federation.*
6) La Federation No. 155, the Alliance's statutes.
7) Statutes of the Section of Various Trades, pp. 17--18. The Alliance programme, p. 23, to support the power of the General Council, etc.
8) Resolutions of the Saragossa Congress. Vote of thanks to the old Federal Council, p. 53. Repeal of expulsion by the Congress, pp. 53, 54.
9) Private circular of the Council, dated July 7.*
10) My letter to the Spanish Federal Council, July 24.
11) La Federation with the reply of the Spanish Federal Council.
12) Letter from Bakunin to Mora.*
13) Declaration.*
_-_-_^^*^^ This line is struck out in the original.---Ed.
685II
DOCUMENTS FROM MESA
1) Letter from Lisbon concerning Morago's sophistries there.
2) Statutes of the Iberian Federation.
x
3) Circular of the International's Valencia Section (with x an appendix from Montoro).
4) Letter from Alerini to Bastelica, November 14, 1871.
5) Circular of the International's Section in Palma. x
6) Ditto of the International's Barcelona Section (Farga). x
7) Ditto of the International's Seville Section sent to x Madrid.
8) The Alliance's Section in Seville, circular.
9) Statutes of "The Defenders of the International".
10) Circular of the International's Seville Section, Feb- x ruary 23, 1872.
11) Mesa's statement.
Documents of the Alliance's secret Iberian Confederation.
III
DOCUMENTS FROM UTIN AND OTHERS^^*^^
1) Confidential Circular of the League of Peace and Freedom.
2) Bakunin, A Few Words to the Young Brothers.
3) Appeal to the Russian Nobility.
4) To the Officers of the Russian Army.
5) Catechism of the Revolutionary.
6) Letter from Bakunin to Mora.
7) Letter from Utin (attempted assassination), August 14, 1872.
8) Bureau, letter to Lyubavin.^^**^^
9) Letter from Lyubavin. 10) Ditto from Baranov.
_-_-_^^*^^ The whole section is deleted, points 6 and 15 aro crossed out.---Ed.
^^**^^ Written in Russian.---Ed.
68611) Ditto from Danielson.
12) Bakunin and Co. Statement in connection with Nechayev's handing over.
13) Resolutions of Rimini.
14) Malon, March 21, 1871.^^*^^
15) Mesa, statement on the subject of Bakunin's letter to Morago.
III
SWITZERLAND
1) Confidential Circular of the League of Peace and Freedom.
2) Statutes of the public Alliance.^^**^^
3) Perron^^***^^ to the General Council; the Alliance's promise.
4) Statutes of the secret Alliance.
5) Declaration of the Slavs concerning Nechayev.^^****^^
6) Letter from = Gogg.^^259^^
7) Programme of the public Alliance (German).
8) Sonvillier circular.
9) Replies to Fictitious Splits.
IV
UTIN'S REPORTE^^*****^^
V
RUSSIA
1) Letter from the committee^^*)^^ (copy).
2) Tokarzewicz to Wroblewski (distorted programme).
3) To the Officers of the Russian Army.
_-_-_^^*^^ Mistakenly "1870" in the original.---Ed.
^^**^^ Followed by Marx's pencilled note: "This was on 3/1."---Ed.
^^***^^ Mistakenly written as ``Ferret'' in the original.---Ed.
^^****^^ Nechayev's name is written in Russian.---Ed.
^^*****^^ In the original, section IV precedes section III.---Ed.
^^*)^^ Written in Russian.---Ed.
6874) A Few Words to the Young Brothers.
5) Catechism of the Revolutionary.
6) Appeal to the Russian Nobility.
7) Declaration of the Slavs, Utin's copy.
8) Two Russian newspapers (Comm. Manif.).
VI
MISCELLANEOUS
1) Resolutions of Rimini.
2) Malon.
3) Letter from Bakunin.^^*^^
4) Ditto from the Committee* (copy made by me).
5) Letter from Baranov.
6) Two envelopes (empty) from Danielson.
7) The secret statutes. Original.
Drawn up after April 16, 1873
First published in Russian ~
Translated from the German, French and Spanish
_-_-_^^*^^ Written in Russian,---Ed.
[688]NOTES
[689] ~ [690] ~ [691] __ALPHA_LVL1__ NOTES
AND
INDEXES~^^1^^ On June 11, 1872, on Karl Marx's motion, the General Council adopted a decision to convene the next congress in Holland on September 2, 1872. The main item on the agenda---that of reorganisation---was approved at the same meeting. On June 18, after consulting the Dutch Federal Council, the General Council resolved to hold this congress at The Hague; a special commission appointed to draft an official announcement of the forthcoming congress included Engels, Vaillant and MacDonnell (see The General Council of the First International. 1871--1872. Minutes, Moscow, pp. 221 and 232^^*^^). The announcement, written by Engels, was published in The International Herald No. 13, June 29, 1872, Der Volksstaat No. 53, July 3, 1872, L'Egalite No. 14, July 7, 1872, La Emancipation No. 57, July 13, 1872, La Liberte No. 28, July 14, 1872. The rough copy of the announcement handwritten by Engels in English (see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 418-- 19) and French, is also extant.
p. 23
~^^2^^ These are rough minutes taken down in pencil by Benjamin Le Moussu, the Congress Secretary for the French, on 36 sheets of the ledger-book. Records of the initial sittings were made in ink on four smaller sheets of unruled paper and on eight pages cut out of the same ledger-book (one of the sheets was pasted in).
The records of the September 7 sittings contain marks in figures and other corrections made by Marx in black ink and black or brown pencil.
There are three insertions in the manuscript---these are Lafargue's and Sorge's own records of their speeches.
p. 29
~^^8^^ The Congress of the North American Federation was held from July 6 to 8, 1872 in New York.
_-_-_^^*^^ Below referred to as The General Council.
44*
692This above-mentioned protest of Section No. 42 is not extant iii the documents of the Hague Congress but its contents can be reconstructed from the Statement published in the newspaper of the French sections of the International Le Socialiste No. 45, August 10, 1872:
``We believe the time has come to state our view on the questions to be discussed at the World Congress of The Hague, and we think the sections we represent will agree with us when we say:
``The maintenance of the Gener-il Council as an institution appears to us to be indispensable if we wish to preserve the unity of action which makes our moral might and our material strength. Our Association, if splintered into a large number of isolated federations, would no longer have any reason for existing and calling itself the International.
``The renewal of the General Council may put an end to the struggle between personalities which has been going on in recent times to the great prejudice of our Association.
``We hope that the modifications which will be made to the Kules will be directed above all against abuses of authority, and that in particular the Congress will regulate and specify exactly the cases when sections will be suspended or expelled.
``The question of the national or local congresses sending delegates to the World Congress in violation of the rights of sections will be discussed and we hope this right will be maintained in terms excluding all ambiguity.
``Doubtlessly there will also be regulation of the attributes of the Federal Councils, which have certain too authoritarian tendencies, often opposed to our principles and our organisation. We would be glad if they were left no other role than that of correspondence offices between the sections of the same federation and between the federation and the General Council so as to put an end to the inconsistent centralisation we have today.
``What we desire above all is union on the broad basis of our principles applied in all their purity, and we believe that with the spirit of conciliation reigning among the members of the Congress our organisation will emerge much stronger from the discussions which are about to begin.
``The delegates of sections Nos. 2, 10, 14, 29, 42 and 43."
p. 31
~^^4^^ This refers to the resolution of the New York Congress of the North American Federation concerning the payment of an additional sum of 55 cents by each International member to cover the expenses of the American delegates to the Hague Congress.
p. 31
~^^5^^ For this resolution, see The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 450.
p. 33
~^^6^^ The Sagasta circular was published in January 1872 and contained the Spanish Government's reply to Jules Favre's appeal for the 693 European governments to join forces in the struggle against the International.
p. 34
~^^7^^ The letter of the Section of Propaganda and Revolutionary and Socialist Action of September 8, 1871, announcing the formation of this branch on September 6 and containing its rules, was received by the General Council during the meetings of the London Conference. The section repeated its request for admission in letters dated October 4 and 20, 1871.
The admission of this section was considered at the General Council meeting held on October 24, 1871, and in accordance with Resolution V of the Basle Congress it was decided to ask the Romance Federal Council in Geneva for information. Hermann Jung, Corresponding Secretary for Switzerland, was entrusted to inform the newly created section of this (see The General Council. 1870--1871, pp. 308--09). The Romance Federal Council resolutely opposed the admission of the section.
The section consisted of veteran Bakuninists (Zhukovsky and others), and also of Communards Claris, Lacord, Mischon, Lefrancais, A. Arnould. On May 13, 1872, the section split up over the issue of the balance between socialist action and socialist propaganda; it was aggravated by the bad atmosphere which had arisen as a result of petty squabbles over the public canteen opened by the section.
p. 39
~^^8^^ The record is inaccurate---this refers to Article 5 of the Section "General Council" of the General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's Association (The General Council. 1870--1871, p. 457).
p. 39
~^^9^^ Morago is referring to the circular "A los Internacionales de la region Espaiiola" ``(To the Members of the International in Spain'') of June 27, 1872 written by Paul Lafargue on behalf of the New Madrid Federation and published as a leaflet and also to his articles printed in the International publications.
p. 42
~^^10^^ The separatist Federal Council in North America was formed on December 18, 1871. It derived its name from two New York streets at the intersection of which its premises were located. It became known in literature as the Prince Street or Spring Street Council to distinguish it from the Provisional Federal Council which represented the proletarian sections and was situated at 10 Ward Hotel, on the corner of the Broom and Forsyth streets.
p. 43
~^^11^^ This document is not extant among the Congress material.
p. 45
~^^12^^ Section No. 12 was suspended from the International by the decision of the General Council of March 5-12 on the basis of Resolution VI of the Hasle Congress (see The General Council. 1871--1872^ pp. 411--12).
694A meeting of Victoria Woodhull's supporters was held on May 9-11, 1872, in the Apollo Hall to nominate her as candidate for the U.S. Presidency allegedly in the name of the International. The Prince Street Council attended in toto.
The Philadelphia Congress, convened by the separatist Prince Street Council on July 9 and 10, 1872, proclaimed in its decisions the independence of the so-called International Confederation from the General Council.
p. 47
~^^13^^ Among the Congress documents there is extant a record, written in English by West, of the reasons for the Mandate Commission proposal to consider West's mandate invalid:
``1. That Citizen West is a member of Section 12 which was suspended by the General Council and the suspension is still in force.
``2. That Citizen West was a member of the Philadelphia Congress which repudiated the authority of the General Council. "3. That Citizen West was a member of the Prince Street Federal Council which refused to pay its contributions to the General Council."
For a detailed record of Karl Marx's speech, see this volume, pp. 133--34.
p. 47
~^^14^^ This refers to Resolution XVII adopted by the London Conference of 1871. It stated that the General Council was duty bound "to publicly denounce and disavow all organs of the International which, following the precedents of the Progres and the Solidarite, should discuss in their columns, before the middle-class public, questions exclusively reserved for the local or Federal Committees and the General Council, or for the private and administrative sittings of the Federal or General Congresses" (see The General Council. 1870--1871, p. 449).
Sorge is apparently referring to Victoria Woodhull's letter to the editor of The World, published on April 16, 1872, under the heading "Splits in the International".
p. 49
^^15^^ This refers to the demonstration of protest against the shooting of the leaders of the Paris Commune. The demonstration, organised by a number of the New York sections (2, 9, 12 and others) jointly with some trade unions, was held on December 18, 1871. Over 10,000 people carrying slogans, banners and posters took part in the mourning procession, among them were Blacks, Irish, Cubans, French, Germans and Italians.
p. 49
~^^16^^ This refers to the letter of P. Laugrand, Secretary of the Prince Street Council, dated June 18,1872, and addressed to Le Moussu, acting Corresponding Secretary for the U.S.A. The letter was published in the Jura Federation's organ---Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne de VAssociation Internationale des Travailleurs Nos. 15 and 16, August 15 and September 1, 1872.
p. 50
695~^^17^^ Nikolai Zhukovsky's manuscript (see Note 75) further has: "Engels: It would be interesting to know something about the notorious Mulhouse Section. Marx demands that an Investigation Commission on the Alliance be appointed, the motion is carried."
p. 53
~^^18^^ The Congress of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party of Germany was held in Mayence (Mainz) from September 7 to 11, 1872. The Congress fully approved the decisions of the Hague Congress.-
p. 55
~^^19^^ The extraordinary congress of the Belgian Federation held in Brussels on July 14, 1872, discussed the new draft Rules of the International proposed by Eugen Hins, which envisaged complete abolition of the General Council. The Congress rejected this radical proposal by majority vote and voted for the retention of the General Council, but with restricted powers. The Congress, however, supported the demand for a revision of the General Rules and suggested Hins' draft as a basis for consideration by the Hague Congress.
p. 56
~^^20^^ Engels is being ironical about the accusations levelled by the Bakuninists against the General Council members, primarily against Marx and Engels, for sharing "pan-Gennanistic views" (see this volume, p. 142).
p. 57
~^^21^^ The Commission to Investigate the Alliance failed to fulfil this additional task.
p. 61
~^^22^^ In his speech, Ranvier read out in part the address of the Paris Ferr6 Section to the Congress delegates (for its text, see this volume, pp. 237--41).
The Ferre Section, which derived its name from the outstanding leader of the Paris Commune, Theophile Ferre, was one of the first French sections of the International to be formed in Paris after the defeat of the Commune. On Marx's proposal, the section was recognised by the Sub-Committee of the General Council on July 27, 1872, after the commission had examined its rules (see The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 488).
p. 64
~^^23^^ Fragmentary records taken down by a secretary are extant (see this volume, p. 281) relating, apparently, to the work of this commission; but the commission's report was not compiled owing to lack of time.
p. 65
~^^24^^ The circular adopted on November 12, 1871, at the Congress of the Jura Federation at Sonvillier "Circulaire a toutes les Federations de 1'Association Internationales des Travailleurs" ``( Circular to All Federations of the International Working Men's Association'') was directed against the decisions of the London Conference of 1871.
P. 67
696^^25^^ This refers to the big strike of Newcastle building and mechanical engineering workers which lasted from May till October 1871 and ended in the victory of the workers, thanks to the efficient support rendered by the General Council (see The General Council. 1870--1871, pp. 252--55 and The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 55 et seq.).
On the strike of the Paris bronzeworkers (held in February and March 1867) who directly appealed to the General Council for help, see The General Council. 1866--1868, pp. 99, 101--02, 352-- 53, 355 et seq. The broad solidarity movement and collection of funds to aid the strikers organised by the General Council helped the Paris workers to achieve victory.
In the summer of 1872, the Singer sewing-machine workers in New York, who were demanding an eight-hour working day, appealed to the General Council through the Provisional Federal Council with the request to forestall the importation of European workers (see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 563--64). p. 67
~^^26^^ This motion was reejcted.
p. 69
~^^27^^ This refers to Abel Bousquet, Secretary to the Central Police Commissioner in Beziers. The members of the section demanded in their letter to Auguste Serraillier, Corresponding Secretary for France, dated November 13, 1871, that Bousquet be expelled from the International. The text of the letter, in a slightly abridged form, is published in this volume, p. 485.
p. 74
~^^28^^ Resolution IX adopted by the London Conference of 1871 reads:
``Considering the following passage of the preamble to the Rules: 'The economical emancipation of the working classes is the great end to which every political movement ought to be subordinated as a means''',
``That the Inaugural Address of the International Working Men's Association (1864) states: 'The lords of land and the lords of capital will always use their political privileges for the defence and perpetuation of their economical monopolies. So far from promoting, they will continue to lay every possible impediment in the way of the emancipation of labour.... To conquer political power has therefore become the great duty of the working classes';
``That the Congress of Lausanne (1867) has passed this resolution: 'The social emancipation of the workmen is inseparable from their political emancipation';
``That the declaration of the General Council relative to the pretended plot of the French Internationals on the eve of the plebiscite (1870) says: 'Certainly by the tenor of our Statutes, all our branches in England, on the Continent, and in America have the special mission not only to serve as centres for the militant organisation of the working class, but also to support, in their respective countires, every political movement tending towards the accomplishment of our ultimate end---the economical emancipation of the working class';
697``That false translations of the original Statutes have given rise to various interpretations which have been detrimental to the development and action of the International Working Men's Association;
``In presence of an unbridled reaction which violently crushes every effort at emancipation on the part of the working men and pretends to maintain by brute force the distinction of classes and the political domination of the propertied classes resulting from it;
``Considering, that against this collective power of the propertied classes, the working class cannot act, as a class, except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opjosed to, all old parties formed by the propertied classes;
``That this constitution of the working class into a political party is indispensable in order to ensure the triumph of the Social Revolution and its ultimate end---the abolition of classes;
``That the combination of forces which the working class has already effected by its economical struggles ought at the same time to serve as a lever for its struggles against the political power of landlords and capitalists---
``The Conference recalls to the members of the International:
``That in the militant state of the working class, its economical movement and its political action are indissolubly united" (The General Council. 1870--1871, pp. 444--45).
p. 83
~^^29^^ Guillaume read out the programme of the tentative measures of transition to socialism after the conquest of political power proposed in the Manifesto of the Communist Party:
``1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
``2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
``3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
``4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
``5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
``6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
``7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
``8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of indusstrial armies, especially for agriculture.
``9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country__
``10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc.'' (Marx and Engels, Selected Works in three volumes. Vol. 1, Moscow, 1973, pp. 126--27).
p. 84
698~^^30^^ On September 4, 1870, France was proclaimed a republic. The provisional government, composed of both Right-wing republicans and outspoken monarchists, aroused the deep concern of progressive workers. Members of the sections and delegates of different trades, who gathered spontaneously in the evening of September 4 on the premises of the Paris Federation of the International in the Corderie Square, expressed their resolve to exercise their right to control and supervise the government's activities. The delegation elected at the meeting demanded of Gambetta, Minister of the Interior, the immediate abolition of the Police Department, of exceptional laws, the separation of the Church from the State, the election of municipal councils and the right to recall deputies.
On September 5, at a meeting of about 500 members of the International and chambres syndicates, a decision was adopted to set up republican committees in all the arrondissements of Paris, a form of independent political activity of the Paris workers.
P. 85
~^^31^^ At the Basle Congress, the first open encounter between the adherents of Marx's scientific socialism and the followers of Bakunin's anarchism took place over the question of the right of inheritance.
The question of the right of inheritance was included in the agenda of the Basle Congress on the proposal of the Geneva Alliance of Socialist Democracy, Central Section. The General Council discussed this question and submitted to the Congress a report written by Marx (see The General Council. 1868--1870, pp. 128--33, 322--24). The report concentrated on the criticism of Bakunin's idealist conception, the unmasking of its reformist essence and on the exposition in contrast to it of the main propositions of historical materialism and the Marxist theory of the proletarian revolution.
The General Council's report was read out by Eccarius at the Congress sitting on September 11, 1869. The debate showed that the majority of the delegates did not have the theoretical training needed to understand the scientific arguments set forth in the report.
The commission on the right of inheritance which was appointed by the Congress also submitted a report to the same sitting (the commission included Dereure, Richard, Brismee, Guillaume, Bakunin, Heng, De Paepe, Liebknecht, Hess, J. Ph. Becker and Farga Pellicer). It proposed to declare that the abolition of the right of inheritance "is one of the indispensable conditions of labour".
In the voting on the General Council's report, 19 voted for, 37 against, 6 abstained and 13 were absent; in the voting on the commission's report, 32 voted for, 23 against, 13 abstained and 7 were absent. Since none of the reports gained an absolute majority in its favour, the Basle Congress did not adopt any resolution on the question of the right of inheritance (see The Basle Congress of the First International, September 6-11, 1869, Russ. ed., Moscow, 1934, pp. 54--61 and 163).
699Guillaume voted at the Congress for the report of the commission and against the report of the General Council.
p. 85
~^^32^^ This entry is not clear. See also p. 166 of this volume.
Frankel maintains that the lack of money prevented the General Council from implementing the decision of the Geneva Congress on the publication of documents on the proletarian movement.
In a confidential letter to the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland, the General Council gave yet another reason for failing to carry out this task: "...the purpose of the bulletin is at the moment perfectly fulfilled by the various organs of the International published in the different languages and exchanged among them. It would be absurd to do by costly reports what is being done already without any expense" (see The General Council. 1868--1870, p. 401).
p. 95
~^^33^^ This refers to the following resolution of the Basle Congress: "In the future only delegates of societies, sections or groups affiliated to the International and in order with the General Council as regards payment of their subscriptions will be permitted to attend and vote at the Congress.
``In every country where the law prohibits the affiliation of corporate bodies, workingmen's societies may send delegates to the congress of the International to take part in the discussion of general questions, but such delegates shall be excluded from the administrative sitting.'' (Compte-rendu du IV Congres International, tenu a Bale, en septembre 1869, Bruxelles. 1869.) p. 96
~^^84^^ This refers to Aristide Claris' article, published in Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 10--11, June 15, 1872, as a reply to the General Council's private circular entitled Fictitious Splits in the International.
p. 99
~^^35^^ A broad democratic movement spread in Lyons after the fall of the empire on September 4, 1870. On arriving in Lyons on September 15, Bakunin tried to take over control of the movement in order to put his anarchistic programme into practice. The attempt to seize the Town Hall on September 28 ended in a complete fiasco. The Bakuninist adventure in Lyons disorganised the International's forces in the south of France and weakened the revolutionary-democratic camp.
p. 99
~^^36^^ A more detailed report of this sitting was published by a special correspondent of the moderate liberal newspaper Russky mir (Russian World) for September 1 (13), 1872: "The Chairman announced that the closed sitting which was held in the afternoon resolved to transfer the seat of the General Council for 1872--73 to New York and that it would consist of the following citizens: Kavanagh, Saint-Glair, Laurel, Levidle, Bertrand, Bolte, Dereure, David, Payer, Noir and Carl.
``This Councirwas being given the right to incorporate three 700 __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.11.15) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+[)]? __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ members residing in the United States. At the same closed sitting, it was decided that the next congress would be held in Switzerland and that the General Council was to name the city in which it would be convened.
``Citizen Longuet then tabled an amendment to the record in one of the minute-books of the general report read out at one of the earlier sittings and at which no reference had been made to Count Bismarck as was mistakenly stated in the record. It:also gave an inaccurate characteristic of Jules Favre, who had been referred to in the record only as a weak minister.
``To tell the truth, the Congress was already over and all the questions on the agenda had been exhausted; but some delegates, especially Citizen Dave, began to set forth the history and the aim of the International and tried to justify it. Dave strove mainly to prove that nearly all the revolutions in France since 1789 had not benefited the people and had resulted in nothing but a reshuffle of persons. He maintained that the International set itself the aim of improving the living conditions of the working classes and of achieving this not by political means but on an economic basis, by raising wages, etc.
``Citizen Van der Hout from Amsterdam backed these views by maintaining that it was inadvisable to resort to violence under any circumstances, that the only means to attain equilibrium between supply and demand was co-operation, as could be seen from the experience in England and from one example in Amsterdam (a bakery). The speaker called upon all, especially the Dutch workers, to rise up to the principle of the International.
``Citizens Van den Abeele and Brismee spoke on the same subject. The Chairman further announced that the deputies were invited to attend the meeting in Amsterdam and then declared the Congress closed."
p. 100
~^^37^^ In his lithographed biography of Bakunin, M. Nottlau quotes the following notes by Zhukovsky on the course of the discussion of the investigation commission's report at the present sitting of the Congress:
``Walter, his letter; ho cannot make a statement because there is no definite evidence.'' He explains that owing to lack of time there was no opportunity to make a statement after studying the circumstances.
Further Zhukovsky remarks:
Cuno "demands vote of confidence".
Alerini objects: "You accuse without having heard everything. Inquisition."
Johannard speaks about Malon and his merits; as for the others "he leaves them to their fate".
[Another entry in pencil]:
``Has the commission done its work properly? I have certain doubts in respect of some citizens, but I am indignant at the baseness---In favour of Malon. Political reproaches. Most shameful punishment. I must say, however, that these reproaches are 701 not ol the kind to justify expulsion. As far as Bakunin, Guillauine and Schwitzguebel are concerned, they have always been against us. Pay attention to the awful responsibility ... we shall perish. If Malon is in that situation, I am very sorry."
Boch Splingard [pencil notes]:
``Prosecutor: was the society secret or open? Secret. These secret documents, where are they from? Written evidence. Engels and Marx---oral evidence. Who is not involved. You have not got__ Draft Rules. Brother Morago. He uses the old terminology. B.'s documents. (I am sorry that a man who has devoted himself to democracy could have written such a draft.) Attempt to set up a society.'' "Evidence insufficient. Where did you get it?"
Marx: "I nave submitted it. We did not look for it, these documents were sent to us."
Splingard: "This is not exact. The papers were handed over to Engels. The documents are well known---of the section of the Alliance, public and secret. Where are these papers from? They were sent to us, we did not ask for them.'' [The last entry is clearly a mimicking of Marx.]
Lucain: "We hesitated a lot. We shall publish these documents. Bakunin's attempt---wo have to defend ourselves. Should we expel those who are trying to overthrow us, or should we wait until they succeed in their attempt and start overthrowing us (sic!). Give us the authority to publish these documents."
[On another sheet]:
Guillaume: "This has been a tendentious trial. Two public sittings. General Congress. Political question. Two or three speakers---a majority, and the discussion is over. To hear out the opinion of the minority---it was a matter of expulsion in order to ... make it strike the eye. Honest---shameful methods."
Schwitzguebel: "The accused. From the start, we have been regarded as the accused. This is a shameful deed. I shall always be loyal to the International. The workers will condemn the decision of the majority."
Vichard: [This is the end of Zhukovsky's pencil notes, which every reader will easily replenish with the general material.]
p. 100
~^^38^^ Through Nikolai Lyubavin, a student in Heidelberg, Bakunin was commissioned by Polyakov, a St. Petersburg publisher, to translate Karl Marx's Capital, Vol. 1. On September 28, 1869, Lyubavin sent him an advance of 300 rubles. On December 19 and 31, Bakunin sent the beginning of the translation, as Lyubavin wrote to Marx on August 8 (20), 1872, "two printed sheets at most'', after which he stopped translating.
On March 3, 1870, Lyubavin received a letter dated February 25, 1870, in the name of the fictitious Committee of the Russian Revolutionary Organisation, with a threat of revenge unless Bakunin was released from his obligations (see this volume, pp. 363--65).
p. 104
702~^^39^^ The Congress documents contain the author's two-sheet record of this statement in Dutch and the author's translation of it into German, with Le Moussu's note on its inclusion in the minutes.
p. 107
~^^40^^ This copy of the minutes made by Friedrich Sorge is transcribed on 24 sheets (48 pages) in Theodor Cuno's hand and signed by Sorge on page 36 (pp. 13--36 are folded over as an exercise-book). The text is supplied with a sheet of paper written on in Sorge's hand and containing addenda numbered I, II, III, with a reference to pp. 46--48 of the copy, which may serve as proof that Sorge had also verified the second part of the copy.
There are insertions, corrections and deletions made by Sorge. There are also Karl Marx's notes in brown pencil.
In 1958, another copy was published written by an unknown person. This copy is at Wisconsin University (The First International. Minutes of the Hague Congress of 1872, with Related Documents. Edited and translated by Hans Gerth. Madison, 1958). i Comparison of the two copies shows that both were made from the' same original, which, according to Sorge, filled 60 pages (see Sorge to Marx, October 12, 1872). This original text has not yet been found.
The present edition gives in the footnotes all the major differences between the two copies.
p. 108
~^^41^^ See notes 10 and 12.
p. 115
~^^42^^ The principality of Neuchatel, which had long been a hereditary possession of the king of Prussia, was transferred to the Swiss Federation as its twenty-first canton in accordance with a decision of the Vienna Congress in 1815. Local monarchists attempted for some time to restore the former order. In March 1857, the king of Prussia renounced all rights to the Canton of Neuchatel. p. 118
~^^43^^ See Note 4.
p. 118
~^^44^^ This refers to the second article by Paul Lafargue on the Saragossa Congress published in the Brussels newspaper La Liberte No. 18, May 5, 1872. It openly exposed for the first time the existence of the secret Alliance.
p. 122
~^^45^^ In the report made by Maltmin Barry, Marx's speech was recorded as follows:
``Marx said no fault had been found in Barry, and the validity of the mandate had not been contested. The question of fitness was one for the section making the appointment. As to the accusation that Barry was not a recognised leader of English working men, that was an honour, for almost every recognised leader of the English working men was sold to Gladstone, Morley, Dilke, and others. In -regard to the expulsion of Barry from the British Federal Council, everyone knew all about that" (M. Barry, Report 703 of the Fifth, Annual General Congress of the International Working Mens Association, held at The Hague, Holland, September 2-9, 1872, London [1873], p. 9).
p. 124
~^^46^^ This statement is Marselau's reply to Lafargue's insinuation, which was omitted in Serge's record, sec Le Moussu's record (this volume, p. 42).
p. 129
~^^47^^ For the text of Resolution IX, see Note 28.
~^^48^^ See Note 12.
~^^49^^ See Note 11.
p. 130 p. 130 p. 132
~^^50^^ This is apparently a slip of the pen. Marx is referring to the protest of Section No. 12 published in Woodhull and Claflins Weekly No. 80, November 25, 1871 (see also The General Council, 1871-- 1872, pp. 324--25).
p. 133
~^^51^^ The General Council resolutely supported the proletarian wing of the North American Federation, having adopted the resolutions of March 5-12, 1872, submitted by Marx. Section No. 12 was suspended from the International pending the next Congress.
Testimony on the behaviour of Eccarius during the discussion of this question at the General Council is contained in Marx's letter to Sorge of March 15, 1872. Marx wrote: "At the close of the meeting of March 12, Eccarius told me privately that he would not send the resolutions to New York and that, at the next meeting, he would tender his resignation as Secretary for the U[nited] Stfates].... During the discussion, Eccarius spoke in a spirit most hostile to your Council. He spoke and voted against Resolution III, 2. He was moreover offended, because in order to save time, I had not submitted the resolutions to the Sub-committee of which he forms part, but laid them at once before the General Council. As the latter fully approved this proceeding after my statement of the reasons, which induced me to act as I have done, Eccarius ought to have dropped his personal spleen."
p. 134
~^^52^^ The Universal Federalist Council was set up early in 1872 and included some former members of the French Section of 1871, which had split up, some Lassalleans expelled from the German Workers' Educational Association in London, and a number of other people hostile to the General Council. They concentrated their attacks on the London Conference resolutions on the political action of the working class and on the struggle against sectarianism. On May 21, 1872, the text of the General Council's Declaration on the Universal Federalist Council drawn up by Marx was approved (see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 202--04). p. 136
^ This refers to the resolutions on the split in the United States' Federation passed by the General Council of the I.W.A. at its 704 meetings of March 5 and 12, 1872 (see The General Cuun.cU. 1871-- 1872, pp. 410--13). The resolutions were published in Woodhull and Claflins Weekly No. 103, May 4, 1872, as a reprint from the New York daily World of April 15. The Weekly also printed its own comments, in which it contested the General Council's right to interfere in the internal affairs of the sections and its competence as a leading body of the Association. Special attacks were directed against the General Council's demand that two-thirds of the sections' membership should consist of wage-labourers. p. 136
si See Note 15.
P- 137
IK The letter is not extant among the documents of the Congress.
p. 137
705~^^66^^ See Note = 34. ^^07^^ See Note 35.
p. 168 p. 1G8
~^^68^^ Apparently, in Sorge's original, the name of Le Moussu was omitted. See this volume, p. 100.
p. 169
~^^69^^ See Note 38.
p. 171
~^^70^^ Among the Congress documents, there is an English translation extant, written out by Friedrich Theodor Cuno, of the minority statement (see this volume, pp. 199--200).
p. 172
~^^71^^ Among the Congress documents, there is an English translation extant, written in Sorge's hand, of Marselau's statement, p. 173
~^^72^^ A facsimile of this proposal, with signatures, was published in the book: H. Schliiter, Die Internationale in Amerika, Chicago, 1918, between pp. 136 and 137.
Among the Congress documents, only a copy of it made by Theodor Cuno has been preserved.
p. 189
~^^73^^ There is also extant in the Congress documents a record of this motion by Auguste Serraillier, made in an unknown hand with a note by Engels on the reverse side (note of Plantade's address. Plantade owned a little restaurant and a boarding-house in London where many French refugees found shelter.)
p. 195
5(i See Note = 16. ^^57^^ See Note 18.
p. 137 p. 141
5J There is no evidence in the Congress documents on the work of this commission.
P- 143
~^^59^^ See Note 21.
~^^60^^ See Note 23.
~^^61^^ See Note 25.
~^^62^^ See Note 28.
p.
145
p.
148
p.
149
p.
152
~^^74^^ See Note 52.
p. 200
~^^75^^ Official minutes of the first two sittings of the Hague Congress were not taken down, concerning which Frederick Engels wrote with regret to Friedrich Sorge on September 21, 1872. However, part of a fairly detailed record of these sittings is extant, made on four sheets of white unruled paper (size 15.6 X 10.3 cm) by Nikolai Zhukovsky, whose mandate, issued by the Geneva Section of Propaganda and Revolutionary Action, was not confirmed by the Congress until the question of the Bakuninist Alliance was considered. The record made by Zhukovsky, an adherent of the anarchist minority at the Congress, is not free from prejudice, but serves as a supplement to Sorge's report published above and makes it possible to gain some idea of the nature and intensity of the struggle which took place at the Congress.
James Guillaume wrote that, after Zhukovsky's death, a detailed manuscript relating to the Hague Congress was discovered among his archives. It contained processed notes made by Zhukovsky after the Congress; also extant are several sheets of notes written in pencil on the spot during the last sitting. The manuscript was used nearly in full by the anarchist historian Max Nettlau in Chapter 62 of his lithographed biography of Bakunin (Max Nettlau, Michael Bakunin. Eint Biographie. 1896--1898. London. New York).
p. 202
45---0980
~^^63^^ During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870--71, Johann Baptist Schweitzer took a chauvinist stand, voted for war credits and tried to discredit the International in the eyes of the German workers.
In May 1872, Schweitzer was expelled from the General Association when his contacts with the Berlin police were exposed by Karl Tolcke.
n 'I fiO
p. 160
~^^64^^ During the discussion at the Basle Congress of the motion to include in the agenda the point on direct people's legislation, a debate of principle flared up between the adherents of Marx and the Bakuninists on the role of the state and on political struggle. Lessner wrote to Marx from Basle on September 7, 1869: "Yesterday after the lunch-break, a heated discussion started over the Zurich question, and Bakunin revealed his utter aversion to any political action. However, Liebknecht, Rittinghausen and others gave him a good dressing-down; after the sitting he roared like a lion. The majority of the French spoke against him" (Marx-Engels Archives}.
P- = I^^62^^
~^^68^^ See Note 29.
~ 162 706~^^76^^ In his work, Max Nettlau quotes another record of this statement: "Marx is against this manner of voting. We represent here sections and not federations, he says. Otherwise our Congress would not have had the character of a general congress."
p. 202
~^^77^^ Lefebvre-Roncier, a Communard who lived in London as a refugee, attended the Hague Congress not as a delegate, but as a member of the International. He took down notes of the sittings and, at the request of the editorial commission working on the minutes, he sent them those of his notes which covered the 15th sitting of the Congress. Lefebvre's notes supplement the official minutes.
The letter was written on 5 pages.
p. 206
~^^78^^ At its meeting of July 19, 1872, the General Council's Sub-- committee instructed Marx to write the General Council's report to the Fifth Congress of the International Working Men's Association and to read it at the Hague Congress (see The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 310). The text of the report submitted by Marx was approved at the General Council's meeting at the end of August (ibid., p. 282) and published in the English, German, Belgian, Spanish and Swiss journals of the International, and also as a leaflet in German.
p. 211
~^^78^^ On April 23, 1870, the French Government published a decree on holding a plebiscite on May 8, 1870, the purpose of which was to bolster up the shaky position of the government of Napoleon III. The question was so formulated that it was impossible to express disapproval of the Second Empire's policy without at the same time opposing all democratic reforms.
On April 24, 1870, the newspaper La Marseillaise No. 125 carried a protest against the plebiscite launched by the Paris Federation of the International and the Federal Syndicalist Chamber. It was printed as a leaflet entitled Manifeste antiplebisdtaire des Sections parisiennes federees de I'Internationale et de id Chambre federate des Societes ouvrieres, Paris, 1870 (Anti-Plebiscite Manifesto Published by the Federation of the Paris Sections of the International and by the Federal Chamber of Workers' Societies).
p. 211
~^^80^^ This refers to the statement of the General Council written by Marx and entitled "On the Persecution of Members of the French Sections" (see The General Council. 1868--1870, pp. 231--32). p. 211
~^^81^^ Marx is referring to Papiers et correspondance de la Famille imperiale (Papers and Correspondence of the Royal Family) in two volumes published in Paris in 1870--71, the first volume of which carried Minister Ollivier's orders for the arrests of members of the International.
p. 212
~^^82^^ This refers to the third trial of members of the Paris organisation of the International which was held from June 22 to July 8, 1870. 707 Thirty-oight people, active in the workers' movement, \\ere put on trial, including Varlin (he managed to flee), Frankel, Johannard, Avrial, Chalain. The accused were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment---from two months to a year, and were fined.
p. 212
~^^83^^ See The General Council. 1870--1871, p. 324.
p. 212
~^^84^^ The Appeal was published in the French newspaper Le Reveil No. 409, July 12, 1870, and signed by 150 members of the International. It was reprinted in a number of periodicals of the International,
p. 212
b!> The Brunswick Committee of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party issued on September 5, 1870, a manifesto "An alle deutschen Arbeiter" ``(To All German Workers''). It was published in the newspaper Der Volksstaat No. 73, September 11, 1870. But on September 9, all members of the Brunswick Committee were arrested.
p. 213
~^^86^^ On November 26, 1870, during the debate in the German Reichstag on the question of fresh loans for the war against France, Bebol and Liebknecht demanded a ban on war loans and the immediate conclusion of a peace treaty without annexations with the French Republic. On December 17, 1870, Bebel and, somewhat later, Liebknecht were arrested. During the general elections in March 1871, Bebel was re-elected Deputy to the Reichstag as a sign of protest.
p. 214
~^^87^^ This refers to Jules Favre's circular to the diplomatic representatives of France abroad (of June 6, 1871), in which he called upon all governments to join forces in the struggle against the International. The circular, which demanded the extradition of the Commune refugees as criminals, was dated May 26, 1871. p. 215
~^^88^^ The General Working Men's Union---the first .socialist organisation in Hungary, whose activities spread to Pest, the capital, and to major industrial towns. The Union carried on socialist propaganda and led the strike movement of the workers. Its leaders (Karoly Farkas, Antal Ihrlinger, Victor Kiilfoldi) were members of the Hungarian section of the International Working Men's Association and had contacts with Austrian and German SocialDemocrats and directly with Marx. On June 11, 1871, the Union organised a demonstration of solidarity with the Paris Commune. In this connection, the government dissolved the Union, while its leaders and the representatives of the Austrian workers' movement who had come from Vienna were arrested on a .charge of high treason. But they were acquitted owing to lack of evidence and under pressure of public opinion.
p. 215
~^^88^^ This law was adopted by the French National Assembly on March 14, 1872.
p. 215
45*
708~^^90^^ This refers to a circular from Lanza, Italian Home Minister, oi August 14, 1871, in which he ordered the dissolution of the International's sections.
For the Sagasta circular, see Note 6.
p. 218
~^^81^^ The search of Utin's house in Geneva and inspection of his personal papers and documents of the International took place from January 26 to 28, 1872. The cantonal Council of the Geneva sections adopted a special resolution on February 6, in which it sharply protested against this collusion of all the European governments against the International. The General Council of the International in its turn adopted a Declaration denouncing the police arbitrariness of the Swiss authorities (see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 111--12). The Declaration was written by Marx and Engels and published in the newspapers of the International,
p. 218
~^^92^^ This refers to a meeting of the emperors of Germany, AustriaHungary and Russia which took place in Berlin in September 1872 and which was an attempt to restore the reactionary alliance of these states. On its agenda there was also the question of the joint struggle against the revolutionary movement.
p. 219
~^^93^^ At a meeting of the Sub-committee on July 19, 1872, Engels was appointed to make the General Council's financial report. "... apart from the financial report'', he was instructed to make also "a sort of general report, or better, a general account of subscriptions from the very beginning, including the expenses made by the General Council. This will reveal the meagre resources which the General Council has had at its disposal and all that it has done, nevertheless, despite the scarcity" (The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 311).
The report was written by Engels in French on two sheets (size 20.2 X 25.2 cm). On the back of the second sheet there is a note on its approval and signatures of the members of the financial commission.
p. 220
~^^94^^ The report of the North American Federal Council to the Hague Congress was written by Sorge on four numbered pages. The document is not signed. The manuscript bears pencil marks in an unknown hand.
p. 224
~^^95^^ The Communist Club was founded in New York in 1857 on the initiative of former members of the Communist League and played a great part in the dissemination of Marxist ideas in the U.S.A. On July 2, 1867, this organisation, the first in the U.S.A., joined the International (see The General Council. 1866--1868, pp. 141--42).
p. 224
~^^96^^ The General German Workingmens Society was founded in New York in October 1865 as a branch of the Lassallean General 709 Association of German Workers. Its leaders (August Schlag and Friedrich Moll) tried to establish contacts with Marx and the General Council. In January 1869, the Society was reorganised and affiliated to the National Labor Union as Workers' Union No. 5 of New York city. On December 12, 1869, a decision was adopted on its affiliation to the Intel-nation?!.
p. 224
~^^97^^ The National Labor Union was founded in the U.S.A. in August 1866 at the first National Congress of American workers. The Union soon established contact with the International Working Men's Association.
p. 224
~^^98^^ The Congress of the National Labor Union held in Philadelphia from August 16 to 23, 1869, appointed two delegates---Andrew Cameron and C. H. Lucker---to the Basle Congress. Only Cameron was able to attend the Congress, at which he made a speech conveying greetings.
p. 224
s9 This refers to an address read out at a meeting of New York Committee members and the pardoned Fenians who had come to New York in February 1871. See the report about this meeting in the newspaper Der Volksstaat of April 1, 1871, and a letter of February 12, 1871, from the Central Committee of the North American sections to the General Council of the International Working Men's Association (The General Council. 1870--1871. pp. 146--47). This apparently refers to the protest made by Section No. 1 in the spring of 1870 against the self-advertisement of General Cluseret who had engaged in propaganda for the Association independently of Section No. 1, and also against his article entitled "Aux travailleurs Americains" ``(To American 'Workers'') and published in La Marseillaise on April 2,1870, in which he drew a parallel between himself and the French Ambassador to Washington.
p. 224
~^^100^^ The Republican Union of the French Language (Union republicaine de langue francaise)---an organisation of French immigrants in the U.S.A. Founded in November 1868, the Union included pettybourgeois democrats, advocates of Utopian socialism. Some branches of the Union maintained contacts with the General Council.
In May 1870, the French section of the International in New York, known as Section No. 2, was founded as a result of the merger of two local branches of the Republican Union. In August of the same year, the section was officially recognised by the General Council.
p. 224
~^^101^^ This refers to a mass meeting held in New York on November 19, 1870. The meeting adopted an address condemning the continuation of the war against the French Republic and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. It also appealed to the U.S. Government to exercise its influence to render assistance to the republican France.
p. 225
710~^^102^^ For the Ferre Section, see Note 22.
There are many misprints in the lithographed text. p. 228
~^^103^^ The Section was formed in March 1872. Its Secretary was Miquel.
The message is written in an unknown hand on two sheets of thin white note-paper. The first two pages were crossed out, apparently, when the text was being prepared for its reading at the Congress. Pages 3 and 4 bear a stamp: "The International Working Men's Association. Federal Council. Bordeaux".
p. 231
~^^104^^ See this volume, p. 216.
p. 232
~^^106^^ The original of the declaration of the Paris sections is not extant among the Congress documents. The text was published in full in the newspaper La Liberte on September 15, 1872. It was published in part in Russian in St. Petersburg Gazette (St. Petersburgskiye Vedomosti), September 8 (20), 1872.
p. 23"3
~^^106^^ See Note 22.
p. 237
~^^107^^ For the text of the manifesto of the Ferre Section to commemorate the first anniversary of the Paris Commune, see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 143--45.
p. 241
~^^108^^ The Address of the Paris Section of Workers' Rights is extant in the form of a handwritten copy made by Pierre Fluse, a Congress delegate, on 8 numbered pages (4 sheets).
p. 242
~^^109^^ The report of the Rouen Federation was written by Emile Aubry in black ink on 11 sheets of tissue paper.
It was signed "H. R."---Henri Riccard---Aubry's pen-name for the Belgian newspaper VInternationale.
Emile Aubry, leader of the Rouen Section of the International, represented it at all the International's congresses and conferences except the Hague Congress, since he was a second time under the threat of arrest for being a member of the Paris Commune, p. 249
~^^110^^ In this item are expressed the petty-bourgeois Utopian ideas of those socialist leaders who failed to understand the difference between the centralisation of the exploiter states and the form of centralisation which is necessary for the emancipation struggle of the proletariat.
p. 254
~^^111^^ The report by the Portuguese Federal Council to the Congress is extant as a copy in French. It is written on 8 numbered sheets. The document has stylistic corrections in another hand. p. 257
~^^112^^ The Basle Section's report to the Congress is written in the hand of Jean Dumas, the Section Secretary, on a single sheet of paper.
p. 268
711~^^113^^ A detailed analysis of the Swiss workers' economic struggle during the winter of 1868--69 is given by Marx in the "Report of the General Council to the Fourth Annual Congress of the International Working Men's Association" (see The General Council. 1868--1870, pp. 326--31).
P- 269
~^^114^^ The Cuno-Schramm incident is described in detail in R. Schramm's reminiscences of the Hague Congress. See his book Die Internationale vor dem Reichstage und die Sociale Frage, Milano, 1878, pp. 35--49.
P- 278
~^^115^^ This document consists of separate entries by the commission members appointed at the ninth sitting of the Congress to study the material addressed to the Congress. The entries are made in different hands on two sheets, in black and blue pencil in French, and in ink in Dutch. The entry on the first sheet is made in black pencil and is ringed in blue pencil.
p. 281
~^^116^^ The official publication of the Hague Congress resolutions prepared by the commission appointed at its 13th sitting (see this volume, pp. 100 and 169) was put out in London in November 1872 as a pamphlet entitled Resolutions du Congres general tenu a la Haye du 2 au 7 Septembre 1872. On November 2, 1872, the resolutions were published in Spanish in the newspaper La Emancipation and in English on December 14, 1872, in The International Herald. Engels' manuscript in French containing the full text of the resolutions prepared for the press is extant.
p. 282
~^^117^^ This report of the Mandate Commission was written by Gabriel Ranvier and Simon Dereure in French on 9 sheets and signed by all the seven members of the commission. There are annotations made by Karl Marx on the 9th sheet in black ink and red pencil. These are in the form of numbers (1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 7) in front of the signatures of the commission members to list them in alphabetical order, and there are also notes concerning the result of the voting at the fourth sitting of the Congress on the mandates of Arsene Sauva and Charles Alerini:
``22 are absent 38
9 for
11 abstained 38 voted against, 14 abstained"
The report was read at the second sitting of the Congress on September 2, 1872.
P- 295
~^^118^^ The mandate of Mauritz Rittmghausen is not extant in the Congress documents.
Der Volltsstaat No. 61, Julv 31/1872, published the following report on the election of a Congress delegate from the Cologne Section: "Cologne, July 25. On Sunday, July 21, a meeting of the 712 local members of the International Working Men s Association was held on the premises of Herr Witzdorf. Heinrichs, elected chairman, opened the meeting with an announcement of the affiliation of the local workers to the International, reminded of the forthcoming congress at The Hague and gave the floor to Rittinghausen. The latter stressed that we had not gathered here as an association or section, but as a free meeting of persons who are members of the International.
``After Rittinghausen had briefly outlined the aims of the International and had pointed out that its goal was to study social sciences and to unite the workers in order to implement the conclusions drawn, he read out the General Council's decision on the regular congress (Der Volksstaat No. 53). He then set forth the views of different sections as regards organisation, and showed that one of the trends originates from the desire to split up the International into separate national groups.
``During the break that followed, many workers announced their wish to join the International Working Men's Association.
``Chairman Heinrichs spoke in favour of retaining the present organisation, and all other speakers spoke in the same vein. A unanimous decision was then adopted to send a delegate to the Hague Congress and Herr Rittinghausen was elected by secret ballot with 57 votes in favour out of 60 present. Rittinghausen's motionto have the guiding political principles clearly defined at one of the forthcoming congresses of the International Working Men's Association---was passed unanimously.
``After Schumacher had explained the principle of internationalism and all those present hailed the International, the chairman closed the meeting. We have good prospects to enlist members into the International from certain neighbouring regions, which, for their part, will send their own delegate."
p. 299
~^^119^^ See Note~7.
p. 308
~^^120^^ The Congress of the Romance Federation was held on June 2 and 3, 1872, in Vevey. It endorsed the resolutions of the London Conference and emphasised that the suppression of the General Council proposed by the Bakuninists would be tantamount to the total disorganisation of the International Working Men's Association as a world organisation.
The Congress adopted resolutions on the necessity to fight for a shorter working day, on the formation of women's sections in the Association and on councils of mediators in the conflicts between workers and employers.'
p. 314
~^^121^^ The nominal list of delegates to the Congress was printed in Amsterdam as a separate leaflet, Liste nominate des delegues composant le 5-me Congres universel, tenu a la Haye (Hollande), du 2 au 7 Septembre 1872. The list was also sent to the periodicals published by the International. In the printed version of the list, there are inaccuracies and differences from the lists reproduced in the Congress minutes and in the International's publications.
713Two printed copies of the list, one corrected by Engels and the other bv Cuno, are in the Central Party Archives, Moscow.
p. 330
~^^122^^ These notes were taken down by Theodor Cuno, Chairman of the Investigation Commission, during the interrogation of witnesses. The notes cover three double sheets (12 pages); each double sheet is signed by Cuno and dated. The numbers (1, 2, 3) are written twice on eacli sheet: in black ink and in red pencil.
p. 337
~^^123^^ The Congress of the Spanish Federation of the International at Saragossa was held from April 4 to 11, 1872. The Congress rejected the Swiss Bakuninists' demand for the immediate convocation of a general congress, but, under pressure from the anarchists, it adopted a resolution to support the Belgian Federation's proposal for a revision of the General Rules of the Association in order to strengthen the autonomy of the local organisations. The Congress rejected the proposal of some Bakuninist delegates to revise the Spanish Federation's Rules in an anarchist spirit. When a new Federal Council was elected, however, the Bakuninists managed to secure a preponderance for members of the Alliance. p. 338
~^^124^^ On August 4-6, 1872, a conference of the Italian anarchist groups gathered at Rimini. In a special resolution adopted on August 6, the conference called upon the sections of the International to send delegates, not to the regular congress at The Hague, but to a separate congress of Bakuninists to be held on September 2, 1872, at Neuchatel. This splitting proposal was not supported by any of the International's sections, not even by the Bakuninist organisations. Having received the resolutions of the Rimini Conference, Engels addressed the Italian sections on behalf of the General Council and exposed this Bakuninist manoeuvre (see The General Council. 1871--1872. pp. 451--52). p. 338
~^^125^^ This refers to the address to the members of the International in Spain. It was drafted by Lafargue on behalf of the New Madrid,
f Federation on June 27, 1872, and exposed the secret activities of the Alliance. The address was published as a leaflet entitled A los internacionales de la region Espanola, Madrid, 1872. p. 340
~^^126^^ The French manuscript of the report drawn up by Engels on the instructions of the General Council is extant. There is a note on it made apparently by Lucain which reads: "The full text of the secret rules to be inserted here."
p. 348
~^^127^^ This refers to the circular to members of the Spanish federations, written by Victor Pages on behalf of the Now Madrid Federation. It was published in La Emancipacion No. 61, of August 10, 1872. There is a cutting from this issue of the newspaper in the Central Party Archives, Moscow, with "No. 4" written by Engels twice: in ink and in red pencil.^
p. 350
714~^^128^^ The circular of June 2, 1872, was drawn up by Mesa, Pages, Francisco Mora, Iglesias and other editors of La Emancipation who were at the same time members of the Alliance. This circular, addressed to all the members of the Alliance in Spain, announced the dissolution of the Madrid group and invited all other groups of the Alliance in Spain to follow suit. The circular was published in La Emancipation No. 59, July 27, 1872.
p. 350
~^^129^^ The Conference of the Spanish Federation in Valencia was held illegally from September 9 to 17, 1871. It gave the final touches to, and approved, the Rules of the Spanish Federation and the bye-laws of local federations and sections which represented workers according to their trade.
p. 356
~^^130^^ In March 1872, Francisco Mora, Mesa, Iglesias, Pages, Calleja and Pauly, who were members of the Emancipation editorial board and, concurrently, of the Spanish Federal Council elected by the Valencia Conference, were expelled from the local Madrid Federation by its anarchist majority.
p, 356
~^^131^^ See Note 123.
p. 356
= *^^32^^ In June 1870, Barcelona was the scene of the first national congress of the Spanish sections of the International; it was attended by 90 delegates representing 150 workers' societies. The congress founded the Spanish Federation, elected the Federal Council and declared its recognition of the General Rules of the International Association. However, influenced by the anarchist members of the Spanish secret organisation of the Alliance, the congress adopted a resolution recommending abstention from political struggle.
p. 356
~^^133^^ Estracto de las actas del segundo congreso obrero de la Federation regional Espanola, celebrado en Zaragosa en los dias 4 al 11 de Abril de 1872, segun las actas V las nofa tomadas par la comtsion nombrada al efecto el mismo, pp. 109--10.
A copy of the pamphlet has been preserved with remarks by Engels, which he submitted to the Hague Congress.
p. 357
~^^184^^ A reference to the Basle Congress of the First International ( September 6-11, 18691 and to the Congress of the Romance Federation at La Chaux-de-Fonds on April 4-6, 1870.
p. 359
~^^136^^ This statement covers one page on the back of which Engels wrote "No. 15" in black ink and red pencil. Under this number, the document occurs in the list drawn up by Engels (see this volume, p. 6861 and in his addenda to Marx's list "Appendices to Nikolai Utin's Report" (see this volume, p. 668).
p. 361
~^^139^^ The Russian original of this letter and a copy of it in Engels handwriting are in the Central Party Archives, Moscow. Also
715 extant is Marx's rough copy of the translation of this document into French and German, as well as the French translation copied by Charles Longuet.p. 363
~^^137^^ The London Conference of 1871 instructed Utin to prepare a brief report on the Nechayev trial which was to be submitted to the General Council and later published. However, the report took a long time to prepare and was sent directly to the Hague Congress.
The report, written in black ink, covers 93 pages of blue and white lined note-paper size 27.2 X 21.5 cm (according to Utin's numbering, the report covers 86 pages, because six numbers---31, 32, 47, 83, 84 and 85---occur twice); appendices to the report cover 42 sheets numbered differently (1-32 and 1-10).
This manuscript, written in late August and early September 1872 by an unknown person, was checked and corrected by Utin, who sent the report and documents to Theodore Duval, a delegate to the Congress, dividing the material into six portions. The first thirty pages of the manuscript (this volume, pp. 366--96) and a confidential letter of the League of Peace and Freedom were sent by him to Duval on August 27, 1872. The second portion covered pp. 31--46 of the manuscript (this volume, pp. 396--409); the third portion contained pp. 47--73 of the manuscript, excerpts from the translation of Spasovich's speech (this volume, pp. 409--36 and 450--56) and a leaflet The Russian Nobility.
The fourth portion was finished on September 2, 1872 (this volume, pp. 436--47), and sent together with the translations of The Revolutionary Catechism and To the Officers of the Russian Army.
The fifth portion (pp. 83--86) was completed on September 7 (this volume, pp. 447--49).
The sixth and last portion, including appendices (this volume, pp. 456--80) was not sent until November 1, 1872. There are blank pages of a double sheet at the end of each portion.
The manuscript has the word ``Combault'' written by Engels in black ink. There are vertical lines and underscorings made by Marx in red pencil and by some other person in blue pencil at different times, evidently during the preparation of the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association.
P- 366
~^^138^^ The replies of the Bakuninists to the General Council's Circular Fictitious Splits in the International were published in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 10--11, June 15, 1872, and also appeared as a separate pamphlet, Reponse de quelques internationaux, membres de la Federation iurassienne a la circulaire privee du Conseil General de Londres, 1872.
p. 366
~^^138^^ See Note 63.
p. 376
~^^140^^ This refers to an editorial article in No. 47 of L'Egalite, December 11, 1869.
p. 379
716^^141^^ A reference to the administrative resolutions of the Basle Congress extending the rights of the General Council. Resolution V authorised the Council to refuse the admittance of new sections; Resolution VI authorised the General Council to suspend separate sections till the next congress. Guillaume wrote that the rights of the Chief Council were extended partly through the efforts of Bakunin. On this point, Bakunin and his friends deliberately betrayed their federative principles, seeing in the Chief Council a mainstay against the reactionary tendencies of some Swiss sections. Bakunin regarded the Chief Council as much more revolutionary than the majority of the International's sections.
p. 382
~^^142^^ Kolokol (La Cloche) Nos. 14--15, December 1, 1868. In the Central Party Archives, Moscow, there is a copy of the journal with Engels' remarks: ``Miscellaneous'' and "Bakunin's Speeches".
Discours prononces au Congres de la Paix et de la Liberte a Berne (1868) par M. M. Mroczkowski (Ostroga) et Bakounine, Geneve, 1869.
p. 388
~^^143^^ A reference to the leaflets, Words to the Young Brothers in Russia written by Bakunin in May 1869, and To the Students of the University, the Academy and the Technological Institute in St. Petersburg written by Nechayev, both published in Geneva in 1869.
p. 403
~^^144^^ The Setting of the Revolutionary Question, May 1869, and The Principles of Revolution, summer 1869---leaflets written by Bakunin. Publications of the "People's Judgment" Society. Summer 1869. No. 1. Moscow. Published in Geneva.
p. 405
~^^145^^ Nikolai Ogarev's poem was originally dedicated to S. I. Astrakov, a friend of Ogarev and Herzen, who died in 1866. Bakunin advised Ogarev to dedicate his poem to Sergei Nechayev, bearing in mind the interests of "the cause''. With this dedication, the poem was printed as a leaflet (Geneva, 1869) and used by Nechayev as a credential from Ogarev.
p. 419
14(1 A reference to the proclamation, The Russian Nobility ``(The hour has struck when we must again come forward with open visor''), published at the Chernetsky printshop in Geneva before February 19, 1861, 4 pages (13 X 9 cm). The leaflet was 'signed: "The Descendants of Rurik, and the Party of the Russian Independent Nobility".
p. 429
~^^147^^ "Appendix No. 3'', sent in by Utin, contains excerpts from the proclamation The Russian Nobility, translated into French. (Some of these excerpts were used by Marx and Engels in their pamphlet on the = Alliance.^^1^^)
717``Appendix No. 3
``Excerpts from the printed proclamation: The Appeal to the Russian Nobility.
``What privileges have we received for having, during the first half of the 19th century, been the mainstay of the throne which has been shaken to its very foundations so many times; for having, in 1848, during the storms of popular madness unleashed over Europe, saved by our noble deeds the Russian empire from the socialist Utopias that threatened to invade it?... What have we been accorded for having saved the empire from dismemberment; for having extinguished in Poland the flames of the conflagration which threatened to set all Russia on fire; for having, to this very moment, worked with unsparing energy and with unparalleled courage to destroy the revolutionary elements in Russia?---Was it not from our midst that there came Mikhail Muravyov, that gallant man whom Alexander IT himself, for all his feeble-- mindedness, named the saviour of his country?---What have we gained from all this? For all these inestimable services, we have been skinned of everything we possess. Who can object to our Union? Attempts are being made to break this force, but all these attempts are bound to fail!...
``Our ancestors, to whom the Russian throne belonged for centuries, bequeathed us this right! We must not forget this bequest!!
``Our present appeal is a declaration by vast majority of the Russian nobility which has long been ready and organised.
``The Russian nobility has deeply moral, though undeftnable, but purely physiological, ties with the magnanimous Russian peasantry. It is just as impossible to tear from us the magnanimous Russian people---what our German government has been trying to do since February 19, 1870---as it is impossible to remove the throne from us by replacing us with German menials.... We feel our strength in our right, we boldly throw down the gauntlet before the despot, the German princeling Alexander II SaltykovRomanov, and we challenge him to a noble and knightly combat which must be taken up in 1870 between the descendants of Rurik and the party of the Russian independent nobility."
The document bears Engels' note in black pencil: "V. No. 6".
p. 429
~^^148^^ The Catechism of the Revolutionary was enciphered and several copies of it printed. One of them was discovered during the search of P. G. Uspensky's apartment in 1869 and its text was reproduced in the reports on the Nechayev trial which appeared in Pravitelstvenny Vestnik (Government Recorder) No. 162, 1871. The manuscript of the translation sent by Utin to the Hague Congress has been preserved in the Central Party Archives, Moscow. Some researchers attribute it to Bakunin, others to Nechayev. Utin has no doubts of its having been written by Bakunin.
p. 437
718~^^149^^ Utin is quoting Marie Louvel'a reply to Guillaumc (soe VKgalitc No. 17, April 23, 1870).
p. 439
~^^160^^ A reference to Bakunin's pamphlet To the Officers oj the Russian Army (Geneva, 1870). The manuscript referred to has been preserved. It contains 30 sheets in the form of a small unstitched notebook. The first page bears the title ``Appendix No.~4. Excertps from Bakunin's pamphlet To the Officers of the Russian Army" (Aux officiers de I'armee russe), signed by Bakunn an dated Geneva, 1870. The text of the manuscript was incorporated into the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association (see this volume, pp. 604--10). Engels wrote in pencil on the manuscript: "V. No. 3''. p. 443
~^^161^^ This refers to Bakunin's manifesto "To the Russian, Polish and All Slav Friends" (KoloM, Supplement to Nos. 122--23, February 15, 1862).
p. 444
~^^162^^ Bakunin, M., The People's Cause. Romanov, Pugachev or Pestel, London, 1862, pp. 42, 43. Utin is retelling in his own words.
p. 444
~^^163^^ The reference is to the money which Herzen received in 1858 from P. A. Bakhmetyev, a Russian landowner, for propaganda purposes (it was known as the Bakhmetyev Fund). In 1869, Bakunin and Ogarev talked Herzen into dividing this fund into two parts, one of which was given to Nechayev through Ogarev. In 1870, following Herzen's death, Nechayev received from Ogarev the second part as well.
p. 445
~^^164^^ A reference to Bakunin's articles ``Herzen'' and "Lettres sur le mouvement revolutionnaire en Russie, adressees au citoyen Liebknecht, redacteur en chef du Volksstaat" in La Marseillaise No. 72, March 2, and No. 125, April 24, 1870.
p. 446
~^^166^^ The reference is to a group of young people that formed in 1845 round M. V. Petrashevsky. Its members held bourgeois-democratic views and many of them preached Utopian socialism. At their meetings, the young people discussed social and political questions as well as plans of setting up an active revolutionary organisation. However, the members of the Petrashevsky group failed to put into effect their plans of creating a really broad revolutionary organisation; in April 1849 they were arrested and exiled.
p. 457
~^^168^^ On April 16, 1859, Irkutsk was the scene of a duel between M. S. Neklyudov and F. A. Beklemishev in which Neklyudov was killed. The circumstances which led to this duel had widespread public repercussions. Neklyudov, an official in the administration of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, was systematically baited by N. N, Muravyov-Amurskv's retinue, 719 particularly by Beklemishev. Neklyudov was forced to agree to this duel. The authorities, who knew of the impending duel, did nothing to prevent it, a fact which stirred up broad democratic circles in Irkutsk to protest. Neklyudov's funeral became the occasion of a huge demonstration in which up to ten thousand people took part. Among the organisers of this public protest were M. V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky, F. N. Lvov and Decembrist V. F. Rayevsky. In a speech he made at Neklyudov's grave, Petrashevsky vigorously denounced the malpractices of the Siberian administration and of Muravyov-Amursky, who took Neklyudov's murderer under his wing.
The Kolokol reported the details of the duel on the basis of the letters from Siberia.
Muravyov's hangers-on protested against these accusatory letters and sent their refutations to Herzen through Bakunin, who was at the time living in Siberia in exile.
Utin is apparently referring to the "Letter to the Editors Concerning the Duel Between Beklemishev and Neklyudov'', which was published in the Kolokol with notes and Herzen's editorial remarks ``(Put Them on Triall'', sheet 6, July 1, 1860, pp. 60--64, and sheet 7, July 15, 1860, pp. 68--71). Its author was Bakunin, as is testified by N. A. Belogolovy, a doctor and journalist who was one of the first to write to the Kolokol about the details of the duel ``(Put Them on Trial!" No. 2, November 15, 1859).
There is known to have been also a handwritten copy of Bakunin's "Reply to the Kolokol'', dated December 8, 1870. p. 458
~^^157^^ Moscow Gazette (Moskovskiye Vedomosti) No. 4, January 1870.
p. 459
~^^158^^ A reference to N. G. Chernyshevsky's articles "National Tactlessness" (Sovremennik No. 7, 1861) and "The People's Stupidity" (Sovremennik Nos. 9-10, 1861), as well as to a political review published in the July issue of Sovremennik for 1861.
p. 461
~^^15^^9 The reference is to the conflict between Herzen, on the one hand, and Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, on the other. It was brought about as a result of Herzen's vacillations towards liberalism in assessing the abolition of serfdom that was being prepared by the tsarist government. Revolutionary democrats sharply criticised Herzen for these vacillations in their articles published in Sovremennik as well as in their letters to the Kolokol. In the 1860s, Herzen abandoned liberalism and sided with the revolutionary democrats.
p. 465
^^160^^ The proclamation Young Russia was written in May 1862 by P. G. Zaichnevsky, a member of a revolutionary circle of students engaged in lithographing and distributing forbidden literature. It was published on behalf of the so-called Central Revolutionary Committee and voiced the sentiments of the most Left representatives of the Russian revolutionaries. The proclamation was 720 widely circulated in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in the provinces.
For au epigraph to the proclamation, its authors took a passage from A. I. Herzen's The Past and Thoughts, Chapter IX, Part III ``(Robert Owen''), which ends with the following words: "... You realise now who is responsible for the future of the people and nations... it is you and I, among others. We cannot sit still knowing this, can we?"
Herzen believed that this proclamation was inconsistent with the tasks facing revolutionary democracy at the given stage of social and political struggle and therefore played into the hands of reactionaries. In his article "Young and Old Russia'', Herzen reproached the authors of the proclamation for being out of touch with life and for failing to understand the people's needs and sentiments; he also condemned the reactionaries for using the blunders of Young Russia for their own ends.
p. 465
~^^161^^ Serno-Solovyovich, A., Our Domestic Affairs. Reply to Mr. Herzen s Article "The Triumph of Order" (III. Kolokol No. 238),Ve\ey, 1867. On the title-page there is an epigraph from Nekrasov's poem The Knight for an Hour.
p. 465
~^^162^^ Chernyshevsky was arrested in July 1862. He was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress until 1864, then sentenced to seven years' penal servitude in Siberia and residence there for life.
p. 467
~^^163^^ Bakunin, M., Science and Vital Revolutionary Cause, Issue I, Geneva, 1870.
p. 480
~^^164^^ The report of the Commission of Inquiry was printed in the Brussels newspaper La Liberte No. 37 of September 15, 1872, which also carried a report on the Congress. On October 6, 1872, the same newspaper printed the Spanish delegates' protest against the way in which they had been described in the report. Following this, Lucain, a member of the Investigation Commission, wrote to the editors of the paper informing them of the unsatisfactory way in which they had published the report and of the slanderous nature of the Spanish delegates' letter. In the issue of October 20, 1872, the editors of La Liberte published this letter together with the official report of the Investigation Commission, which fully corresponds to the manuscript that has been preserved. Different readings in these texts are given in footnotes.
p. 481
~^^166^^ See Note 38,
p. 482
^^166^^ This document is made up of excerpts from letter? written by French correspondents in which they expose the intrigues of the Alliance members on the eve of the Hague Congress. These excerpts were selected by the Corresponding Secretary for France, Auguste Serraillier, and signed by Paul Vichard, member of the Investigation Commission. The document was sent to Lucain, who at 721 that time was working on the Commission's report. Marx and Engels made use of these excerpts in writing The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association (see this volume, pp. 557--60).
p. 485
~^^107^^ Preliminary notes for the report of the Investigation Commission were drawn up by Lucain, Secretary of the Investigation Commission on the Alliance.
The report seems to have been left unfinished owing to Lucain's illness and subsequent death in December 1872.
The extant text of the report covers 16 sheets with no text on the back of the pages. They are numbered from 1 to 16 (there is p. 4 bis, but no p. 13). There are several versions of Lucain's signature, Lucain not being his real name.
p. 493
~^^168^^ This refers to M. Bakunin's letter to Francisco Mora written on April 5, 1872 (see this volume, pp. 637--39).
p. 497
~^^168^^ See Note 38.
p. 502
~^^170^^ After Theodor Cuno's departure to America and Lucain's death, the task of drawing up the report on the Alliance fell to the commission engaged in editing the minutes (Marx, Engels, Le Moussu, Frankel, Dupont, Serraillier). The main job was undertaken by Marx and Engels, who were greatly assisted by Paul Lafargue, delegate to the Congress. The commission started work in April 1873, and in August 1873 the results of its endeavours were published in the form of the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association. p. 504
~^^171^^ The French text of the pamphlet was published in August 1873; the German one appeared in Brunswick, in 1874 under the title Ein Complot gegen die Internationale Arbeiter-Association (A Conspiracy Against the International Working Men's Association), Engels being one of the editors of the German translation. An abridged Russian translation of The Alliance of Socialist Democracy was first published in 1928 in V. Polonsky's book Materials for the Biography of M. Bakunin, Vol. 3.
p. 505
~^^172^^ Quoted from an anonymous article "Noch Einiges iiber Bakunin" ``(Something More About Bakunin'') which appeared on October 5, 1872, in Tagwacht No. 40. Its continuation was published in Nos. 41, 42 and 43 on October 12, 19 and 26, 1872.
p. 508
~^^173^^ M. Bakounine, Fedfralisme, Socialisme et Antitheologisme. Proposition motivee au Comite Central de la Ligue de la Paix et de la Liberte (Federalism, Socialism and Antitheologism. A Motivated Proposal to the Central Committee of the League of Peace and Freedom), is an unfinished work, reprints of which were published in 1867--68 in Berne.
p. 509
46---0960
722~^^174^^ A reference to the confidential circular of the Bureau of the Permanent Central Committee of the League of Peace and Freedom, written on September 22, 1868, and signed by Gustav Vogt, President of the Bureau. In the list of documents compiled by Marx, the copy of this circular sent to Elpidin is registerd under No. 1 (see this volume, pp. 668, 672, 685).
A copy of this document, with "No. 1" written by Engels in black ink, is in the Central Party Archives, Moscow. There are also notes by Bakunin and L'tin in the circular.
p. 509
~^^175^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 407.
p. 517 p. 522 p. 522 p. 523 p. 523
~^^176^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 363.
~^^177^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. = 364--65. ^^178^^ See Note 31.
~^^178^^ See The General Council. 1868--1870, pp. 399--407.
~^^180^^ Factory (La Fabrique)---the name given at the time to the production of watches and jewellery carried on in Geneva and its environs in large and small manufactory-type workshops as well as by home-workers in these trades.
p. 525
~^^181^^ Statuts pour la Federation des sections romandes adoptes par ie congres Romand, tenu a Geneve au Cercle international des QuatreSaisons, les 2, 3 et 4 Janvier 1869 (The Rules of the Federation of the Romance sections, adopted by the Romance Congress in Geneva on the premises of the International Circle of the Four Seasons of the Year on January 2, 3 and 4, 1869), pp. 15--16.
p. 525
~^^182^^ See The General Council. 1868--1870, p. 412.
p. 526
= *^^83^^ This refers to the Basle Congress (1869) resolution on the admission of new sections to the International Working Men's Association, which granted the General Council the right to admit or reject new sections. In deciding the question of the admission or rejection of a new section, the opinion of the Federal Council, if it existed, was to be taken into consideration.
p. 528
1S4 For the text of these resolutions, see The General Council. 1870--1871, pp. 434, 444--45, 448.
``
p. 528
~^^185^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 350--52.
p. 531
~^^186^^ Concerning Favre's circular, see Note 87. Sacaze reported on the Cortes on February 5, 1872. Concerning Sagasta's circular, see Note 6.
p. 531
~^^187^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 388--89.
p. 532
723~^^188^^ This article was published anonymously in the newspaper La Republique franfaise of March 11, 1872.
p. 533
~^^189^^ The Toulouse trial of members of the International's sections in the south of France took place between March 10 and 26, 1873. Those arrested under Dufaure's law were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and to fines.
p. 534
~^^100^^ This refers to a letter of November 14, 1871, written by Alliance member Alerini to Bastelica and circulated by the Barcelona Section to all the International's sections in Spain. A copy of the letter was submitted by Engels to the Hague Congress. p. 534
~^^191^^ The meeting of the International's sections held in Geneva on December 2, 1871, adopted a resolution censuring the decisions of the anarchist congress at Sonvillier; on December 20, 1871, the Federal Committee of Romance Switzerland adopted in this connection a special address which was published in L'jBga/ite No. 24 of December 24, 1871, under the title "A R'eply of the Romance Federal Committee to the Circular of the 16 Delegates to the Sonvillier Congress''. The editors of L'figalite published their own protest.
p. 534
__MISSING__ ^^192^^ shirts" or "white blouses"---the names given to the bands organised by the police of the Second Empire. Composed of declasse elements claiming to be workers, they organised provocative demonstrations and disturbances in order to furnish the authorities with pretexts for persecuting genuine workers' organisations.
p. 535
~^^193^^ Quoted from the letter of August 2, 1872, written by Josef Tokarzewicz, member of the Polish Section of the International in Zurich, to Walery Wroblewski, the General Council's Corresponding Secretary for Poland, who placed this letter at Engels' disposal. The translation made by Engels is extant (see this volume, p. 658).
``The Programme of the Socialist-Revolutionary Polish Society in Zurich" was written by Bakunin and published on July 27, 1872, in the supplement to the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 13. The Polish Social-Democratic Association adopted this programme under the influence of the anarchist elements, but soon rejected it on the initiative of Tokarzewicz.
The publication of the newspaper Wolnosc (Freedom) did not take place.
p. 535
~^^194^^ This refers to the confidential handwritten circular of the Valencia Section of the International in Spain, in which it was stated that in the event of a revolution breaking out the task was to fight for total decentralisation and the setting up of an "anarchist commune''. In the lists drawn up by Engels, this document is registered under number II, 3 (see this volume, p. 685).
p. 539
46*
724~^^195^^ The circular of the Seville Section of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, written by Marselau, was sent to the Madrid Section of the International on October 25, 1871. It formulated decisions adopted by the section in answer to the government repressions. In the lists drawn up by Engels, this document is registered under number II, 7 (see this volume, p. 685).
p. 541
~^^180^^ A reference to the open letter addressed by La Emancipation's editors "A los representates del Fartido Hepublicano Federal reunidos en Madrid" ``(To the Representatives of the Republican Federalist Party Who Gathered in Madrid''). The letter was dated February 25, 1872, and published in La Emancipation No. 38 of March 3, 1872. The anarchist members of the Madrid International demanded that the editors should withdraw the letter, but Mesa, who was La Emancipation s editor and also Secretary of the Spanish Federal Council, flatly refused to comply with this demand. On March 9, 1872, after consultations with other members of the Council, he sent a similar letter in the name of the Federal Council.
p. 541
~^^197^^ On March 7, 1872, the anarchist Madrid Council addressed a letter to the meeting of the representatives of the Republican Federalist Party, dissociating itself from the letter of La Emancipation's, editors (see Note 196) and stating that this letter contradicted the principles of the International.
p. 541
~^^198^^ Quoted from the editorial article "Informacion revolucionaria" ``(Revolutionary Information'') published in La Emancipation No. 51, June 1, 1872.
p. 543
~^^199^^ The reference is to Article 7, Section II, of the Administrative Regulations, according to which the General Council had the right to settle differences arising between societies or branches of the same national group, or between groups of different nationalities; and to Article 4, Section IV, which read: "Any Federation may refuse to admit or may exclude from its midst societies or branches. It is, however, not empowered to deprive them of their International character."
p. 544
~^^200^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 446--48,
p. 546
~^^201^^ This refers to the French plebiscite of May 8, 1870. See Note 79.
p. 547
~^^202^^ Union de las tres clases de vapor (the Union of the Three Categories of Factory Workers) was one of the first trade unions in Catalonia to represent weavers, spinners and day-labourers employed at textile mills. The Union was a collective member of the International,
p. 548
~^^203^^ Quoted from Cafiero's letter to Engels, dated July 12--16, 1871 725 In this letter, the author described the state of affairs in the Naples Section of the International.
p. 549
~^^204^^ Quoted from Caporusso's letter to Odger, dated January 21, 1872.
p. 550
~^^205^^ The Milan Section of the International was formed by Theodor Cuno who acted on Engels' instructions. Under Cuno's influence, some members of the Mazzini Society of Moral and Mutual Assistance and Education of the Workers withdrew from this organisation in December 1871 and formed a Workers' Circle of Proletarian Emancipation which announced its affiliation to the International on January 7, 1872. The society adopted the Rules conforming with the General'Rules of the International. On January 30, 1872, Engels reported to the General Council on the formation of this section stating that its Rules conformed with the International's principles; thereupon the section was admitted to the Association. Under Engels' guidance, Cuno fought against the anarchist members of the section, and his efforts resulted in the section as a whole refusing to support the anarchist? in their struggle against the General Council.
p. 550
~^^2110^^ The Working Men's Federation was founded in Turin in the autumn of 1871 and was influenced by the Mazzinists''. In January 1872, the proletarian elements split away from the Federation and formed a society called L'Emancipazione del Proletario (The Emancipation of the Proletariat), later admitted to the International as a section. The police secret agent, Carlo Terzaghi, headed this society until February 1872.
p. 551
~^^207^^ Regis' report on his trip to Italy, which he made on the instructions from the General Council, was written in the form of a letter addressed to Engels. In the latter half of February 1872, Regis spent ten days in Milan and Turin studying the state of affairs in the local sections and popularising the decisions of the International Working Men's Association. On Engels' instructions, Regis explained to the members of the Milan and Turin sections the radical difference between the anarchist views and the principles and tasks of the International.
p. 552
~^^208^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 392--93.
p. 555
~^^209^^ See The General Council. 1871--1872, p. 399.
p. 555
~^^210^^ A. Richard et G. Blanc, L'Empire et la France nouvelle. Appel du peuple et de la ieunesse n la conscience fraiifaise, Bruxelles, 1872.
p. 557
~^^211^^ Quoted from Jules Guesde's letter to members of the Montpellier Section of the International, which he wrote on September 22, 1872, and addressed to Gironis, one of the section's leaders. On 726 November 20, 1872, Gironis sent this letter to the General Council,
p. 558
~^^212^^ This report was published in tho newspaper La Liberte No. 42 of October 20, 1872.
p. 559
~^^213^^ Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 20--21 of November 10,
1872, carried Jules Montels' letter, in which he protested against Bousquet's expulsion from the International.
p. 560
~^^214^^ Pacte d'amitie, de solidarite, et de defense muluelle (Pact of friendship, of solidarity, and of mutual defence) was adopted at the anarchist congress held in Saint-Imier on September 15, 1872.
p. 561
~^^216^^ The circular of the Spanish Federal Council, dated February 2,
1873, was published in the newspaper La Emancipation No. 85, February 8, 1873.
p. 564
~^^216^^ The Second Congress of the British Federation of the International was held in Manchester on June 1-2, 1873. The Congress heard the report of the British Federal Council and adopted resolutions on the Rules of the British Federation, on propaganda, on the necessity to set up an international trade union organisation, on proclaiming the red banner as the banner of the British Federation, etc. Particularly important was the resolution "On Political Action" in which the Congress called upon the British members of the International to form in England an independent political party of the workers opposing all the parties existing in the country.
p. 566
~^^217^^ The congress of tho Swiss workers', trade union, cooperative and other organisations, held in Olten between June 1 and 3, 1873, was convened on the initiative of the International's sections. The Swiss Workers' Union which embraced various organisations of the workers on the basis of the principles of the International was formed at this congress. It existed till 1880. The congress also prepared ground for founding tho Social-Democratic Party of Switzerland.
p. 566
727~^^222^^ N. Flerovsky, The Condition of the Working Class in Russia. Observations and Investigations, St. Petersburg, 1869.
p. 573
~^^223^^ Publications of the "People's Judgment" Society. No. 2, St. Petersburg. Winter 1870, p. 9. No. 2, like No. 1, was published in Geneva,
p. 575
~^^224^^ See Note 145.
p. 582
~^^226^^ Quoted from Bakunin's article ``Herzen'', published in La Marseillaise No. 72, March 2. 1870.
p. 594
~^^226^^ See Note 153.
~^^227^^ See Note 148.
p. 594 p. 598
~^^228^^ Escobars---followers of the Spanish Jesuit Escobar y Mendoza (1589--1669), who preached that pious intentions justify actions condemned by ethics and laws (the end justifies the means), p. 599
~^^229^^ A reference to the Jesuit theocratic state which existed in the early 16th century and the middle of the 17th century in South America, mainly on tho territory of what is now Paraguay, p. 610
~^^230^^ See
Note 155.
~^^231^^ See
Note 160.
~^^232^^ See
Note 159.
~^^233^^ See
Note 38.
p.
612
p.
617
p.
618
p.
639
~^^234^^ Marx and Engels made these extracts from the Minutes of the General Council meetings while preparing the report of the General Council to the London Conference of 1871, and to the Congress itself. Some of the extracts dealing with the postponement of the Congress and with the seat of the General Council were used by Marx in one of his speeches at the Congress (see this volume, p. 75 and p. 155). Marx included these extracts in the list of the Congress documents (see this volume, p. 669) because he regarded them as very important. Marx and Engels touched in these extracts on the most important problems facing the International Working Men's Association in the period between the Basle and the Hague Congresses, such as the establishment of close ties between the General Council and the workers' movement in the localities, between the General Council and the trade unions; effective support to the strike struggle; the growth of the International's organisations in a number of countries; the persecution of the members of the Association; the most important theoretical discussions (the Irish question); the struggle against Bakuninism; the International's stand during the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris Commune: assistance to the French refugees, etc.
~^^218^^ See Note = 162. ^^216^^ See Note 143.
p. 569 p. 570
~^^220^^ The name of a religious order founded in 1860 in Reims; its members undertook to dedicate their lives to teaching the children of the poor; in the schools organised by this order, the pupils received mainly religious instruction and acquired but meagre knowledge of other subjects.
p. 572
See Note 144.
]). 572
728For the full text of the Minutes and for commentaries on them, see The General Council. 1868--1870 and The General Council. 1870-- 1871.
The manuscript covers three pages of two large sheets (32.2 X 20.5 cm). Engels' entries are on the second and third pages, and there are also marks in red pencil.
p. 643
~^^235^^ These extracts were made after August 27, 1872, when Marx received the Minutes from Hales.
p. 655
~^^236^^ This refers to the declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association adopted on February 20, 1872, in connection with the search at N. I. Utin's house undertaken by the Swiss authorities on the demand of Russia's Ministry for Foreign Affairs (see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 111--12).
p. 656
~^^237^^ For the Resolutions on the split in the United States Federation, see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 410--13.
p. 656
~^^238^^ For the Declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association Concerning Cochrane's Speech in the House of Commons, see The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 155-- 61.
p. 656
~^^239^^ This outline follows immediately after the extracts from the Minutes and is crossed with diagonal stroke which, in Marx's rough drafts, normally means that the passage was used in making the fair copy. In this case, the material was used for a written report to the Congress (see this volume, pp. 211--19).
p. 657
~^^240^^ Engels gives here a rough summary of the financial activity and the general balance-sheet of the General Council's financial accounts for 1871/72. In comparison with the final financial report (see this volume, pp. 220--23), this manuscript gives more details revealing the General Council's extensive connections with local organisations and its manifold activities. There are lines crossed out in the manuscript, and whole passages have been deleted with a diagonal stroke; in the text, these are given in square brackets and reproduced with some amendments. The manuscript ' covers two sheets of white paper (one of them is lined). The text on the first sheet is divided into two columns, and on the second sheet into several columns, with the margins used for checking various calculations.
p. 659
~^^241^^ Engels wrote these notes in pencil during the evening sitting of the Congress on September 6, 1872, at which the German delegate Adolf Hepner made a speech. The autograph is on the inner envelope of Glaser de Willebrord's letter to Engels, dated September 5, 1872 (for Hepner's speech, see this volume, pp. 83 and 160--61).
p. 667
729~^^242^^ Marx wrote down the list of "Appendices to Utin's Report" on an envelope size 15.4 X 12 cm. The list is divided into two columns, the last three items being written by Engels. The autograph is in black ink. All the documents enumerated in the list are to be found in the Central Party Archives, Moscow.
p. 668
~^^243^^ See Note 38.
p. 668
~^^244^^ The full text of Danielson's letter, dated August 9-21, 1872, is to be found in the Russian edition of the book Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Revolutionary Russia, Moscow, 1967, pp. 260--61.
p. 668
~^^246^^ The Central Party Archives are in possession of the leaflet issued by the Russian political emigrants and printed in French by the Schabelitz Publishing House in Zurich in August 1872. On the back of the leaflet, Engels wrote in black pencil: "No. 7. Concerning Nechayev.'' At the bottom of the first page there is a remark made, apparently, by Utin. which reads: "What, scoundrels: all of them had a hand in this; Bakunin himself incited Nechayev to all these crimes, but as soon as Nechayev landed in prison Bakunin has the nerve to den;/ his role."
p. 668
~^^246^^ The leaflet with the resolutions of the Rimini Conference is in the Central Party Archives, Moscow. On the back of the document, Engels wrote "No. 12" in black ink.
p. 668
~^^247^^ A reference to Malon's signature at the bottom of the printed protest against the revolution of March 18 issued by the municipal council of the 17th arrondissement of Paris. A copy of this protest bearing Engels' inscription in black pencil, "VI. No. 2, Malon 21 March' 71 against the revolution of March 18'', is in the Central Party Archives, Moscow. The autograph by an unknown person is on the first sheet of white unruled paper. The declaration reads as follows:
``The Municipal Council of the 17th arrondissement.
``The mayor of the 17th arrondissement and his assistants, forcibly deprived of their authority, declare on the strength of powers legally vested in them that all municipal activity in the 17th arrondissement is herewith suspended.
``Use of the municipal council's seal, requisitions, and the spending of money by the usurpers will be regarded as criminal offences.
``The municipal council claims the powers vested in it by the universal suffrage and will resume its duties as soon as the temporary usurpation has been terminated. Paris, March 21, 1871. [Tn the original copy "1870'', which is a slip of the pen.]
``F. Favre, the mayor
``Villeneuve, Cacheur, Malon,
``assistants to the mayor."
730On March 24, however, the Paris papers carried Malon's statement, in which he said that his signature had been put under the protest without his knowledge and approval. On March 23, Malon, in his capacity of assistant mayor of the 17th arrondissement, published a statement in his own name in which he supported the appeal of the National Guards' Central Committee for elections to the Commune. This statement, a copy of which has also been preserved in the Central Party Archives, Moscow, reads: "Paris-Batignolles, March 23, 1871.
``In the face of the present occurrence, the elected municipal councils of Paris are still trying to reach an agreement. The success of these efforts has been considerably undermined owing to an unprecedented speech by M. Jules Favre, who said that 'radical measures must be taken to suppress the revolt of this^dirty rabble which has so many detestable elements in its ranks'.
``Under these circumstances, not considering the Central Committee whom the victory over the governmental aggression brought to the Town Hall, there is only one way to restore order so that not a single drop of French blood need be shed by a French hand, and that way lies through elections to the Communal Council of Paris.
``It is in the name of concord and the preservation of our dear republic that I consider it my duty to support the elections that are to take place on March 2(5.
``B. Malon"
``Assistant mayor of the 17th arrondissement."
p. 668
~^^248^^ The envelope of Utin's letter, addressed to Duval, a delegate to the Congress, has been preserved in the Central Party Archives. It bears Marx's inscription: "Statutes, original and copy."
p. 668
~^^248^^ Marx's notes concerning the Hague Congress were written during the Congress and shortly after it, in September 1872, on three sheets, size 16.8 X 20.8 cm. The autograph is in black ink.
p. 669
~^^260^^ This apparently refers to attempts made by the leaders of the Commune's Refugee Society, formed in London in July 1871, to take over the right to distribute money which the General Council collected as a fund for the refugees. Teuliere, Melotte, Roullier and others tried to establish direct ties with the International's sections in other countries in order to obtain from them, bypassing the General Council, money which was being collected for the refugees or information about the sums being sent to the General Council. In August 1871, Glaser do Willebrord informed Marx that Melotte and Roullier had complained to Brisme'e about the General Council and suggested that he should send them money collected in Belgium for Communards.
p. B69
731~^^261^^ Apparently a reference to a letter from Victoria Woodhull and I. Little to Karl Marx, dated August 13, 1872.
p. 670
~^^252^^ In his letter to Marx dated December 20, 1871, Eccarius writes that it is necessary to expel Section No. 12 (New York) from the International Working Men's Association.
p. 670
2->s William West's letter to Marx, dated Decembers, 1871, concerning the conflict between Sections No. 1 and 12 of the North American Federation of the International, has been preserved in the Central Party Archives. Marx marked off several passages of this letter.
p. 670
~^^25^^* See The General Council. 1871--1872, pp. 323--32.
p. 670
~^^256^^ Marx's notes concerning the Credentials and Investigation Commissions were written down on envelopes (size 16.5 X 10.5 cm) in November-December 1872 while he was preparing the Congress materials for the press.
p. 574
2i(i The material for the pamphlet The Alliance of Socialist Democracy and the International Working Men's Association is listed on two sheets (size 12.7 X 20.3 cm), one sheet is lined.
p. 676
~^^257^^ This refers to the French pamphlet published in Geneva under the title Netschaieff est-i! un criminel politique ou non?
p. 681
~^^268^^ Engels' notes on Dentrayguos and Guesde were written on one sheet of note-paper not before the end of December 1872. p. 682
~^^259^^ Tho reference is to Amandus Gogg's letter dated April 16, 1873. which bears Engels' inscription "III No. 6".
p. 686
[732] __ALPHA_LVL1__ NAME INDEXAbeele, van den (born in 1847)--- 29, 31, 37, 43, 46, 52--54, 58-- 62, 68, 69, 72, 80, 81--86, 89, 92, 105, 106, 112, 115--18, 121, 123, 133, 138--40, 143, 146, 150, 162, 169, 172, 175--77, 179, 200, 283, 284, 286, 289--90,
299, 321, 333, 492 Achard---301
Albarracin, Severino---329 Alerini, Charles (born in 1842)---
33, 37--40, 54, 60, 64, 72, 76, 79, 80, 81, 87, 88, 93, 98, 100--06, 115, 116, 121, 125--27, 138, 140, 145, 158, 168, 170, 172, 177, 178, 180, 181, 190, 199, 200, 203, 323, 284, 286--90,
300, 325, 330, 482, 539, 546, 673, 674, 685
Alexander I (1777--1825)---Russian emperor (1801--25)---478
Alexander II (1818--1881)--- Russian emperor (1855--81)---460, 465, 467--71, 589, 614, 617, 619, 620
Alexandrovskaya (nee Chirikova), Varvara Vladimirovna (born c. 1833)---435, 437, 439, 442, 593, 679
Alexei Mikhailovich (1629--1676)--- Russian tsar (1645--76)---571
Almeida y Santos, Jose---324
Alves, Daniel---324
Amadeus (1845--1890)---Spanish king (1870--73)---516, 548 A ndignoux---314
Ansing, Willem (1837--1900)---277 Antonelli, Jacomo (1806--1876)---
549 Applegarth, Robert (1833--1925)---
652, 654
Arnaud, Antoine (1831--1885)--- 52, 58, 72, 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 87, 93, 95, 114, 138, 148, 155, 163, 176, 184--88, 193, 197, 282, 284, 286, 290, 298, 330, 671 Asensi, Vicente---329 Aspro, Celestino---324 Assi, Adolphe Alphonse (1840-
1886)---653 Aubry, Emile (c. 1829--1900)---
106, 256, 650 Aulois---648
Avrial, /Iwgwrtm (1840--1904)---401 Azam---485
733 199, 205, 206, 238, 288, 312, 316, 338--48, 350--51, 359--60, 363--68, 371--75, 378, 379, 382, 384--90, 391--95, 402--18, 420, 422, 424, 428, 429, 432, 434--40, 442--44, 446, 447--49, 453--54, 456--64, 467--81, 495--99, 502, 505, 508--11, 512--20, 523, 525-- 27, 530, 533, 536, 539, 547, 548, 551, 556--58, 561, 568, 570--86, 589, 591, 593--95, 598, 604, 607--17, 618--24, 628, 637, 638, 649, 668, 672, 676--81, 684--87Baranov, Vladimir Ottomarovich--- 668, 672, 685, 687
Barbes, Armand (1809--1870)---275, 669
Barni, Jules (1818--1878)---385, 509
Barry, Maltman (1842--1909)---37-- 45, 52, 58, 72, 75, 77, 79, 86, 100, 114, 116, 124, 131, 132, 138, 139, 163, 176, 177, 188, 189, 284, 286, 290, 298, 330
Bastelica, Andre (1845--1884)---38, 125, 345, 369, 525, 527, 539, 557, 680, 685
Baudry---653
Bayard, Pierre (c. 1475--1524)--- 515
Bebel, August (1840--1913)---214, 216, 648
Becker, Bernhard (1826--1882)---52, 58, 70, 72, 75, 79, 81, 86, 88, 90, 93, 113, 163, 176, 177, 185, 187, 191, 197, 282, 284, 290, 297, 330, 673, 674
Becker, Johann Philipp (1809-- 1886)---47, 53, 55--56, 58, 70, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88, 90, 93, 95, 105, 106, 114, 133, 138, 141, 142, 150, 151, 164, 174, 176, 177, 185, 187, 197, 223, 282, 284, 286--90, 298, 302--06, 673, 674
Becker, Th.~3\2
Bedouge---345
Beghelli, Giuseppe (1847--1877)--- 552
Belayeva (nee Konovalova), Yeli-
zaveta Ivanouna (born in 1843)---
438, 679 Belman---92 Bernard, Marie---314 Bertrand, P.---77, 92, 155, 164,
165, 189, 196, 290, 322 Beust, Friedrich (1809--1886)---215,
217Bigot, Leon (1826--1872)---653 Bismarck, Otto, Prince (1815-
1898)---100, 154, 160, 214, 217,
366, 388 Blanc, Gaspard---64, 99, 147, 162,
168, 238, 449, 480, 516, 525, 557, 624
Blanc, Louis (1811--1882)---413, 465, 577, 618
Blanqui, Auguste (1805--1881)--- 87, 166
Bock, Paul---322
Bolte, Friedrich---71, 92, 132, 155, 164, 165, 189, 196, 290, 322
Bonanca---536
Bonapart, Louis---see NapoleonIII
Barrel---531
Boulanger---314
Bousquet, Abel---101, 206, 288, 346, 482, 485, 488, 560, 675, 680
Bove, Clements---548
Brismee, Desire (1823--1888)---31-- 40, 44--47, 51--53, 56, 58, 60, 63, 65, 71, 75, 79, 80, 88, 93--95, 104--05, 106, 114, 116, 119, 126, 131, 136, 137--41, 147, 148, 152, 153, 155, 166,
169, 174--77, 179, 181, 182, 197, 200, 204, 223, 283, 284, 287--90, 298, 321, 330, 380
Brix, Harold (1841--1881)---217 Brodt---314
Brousse, Paul (1854--1912)---487, 488, 559, 653, 675, t680--83 Bruhin, Alois (born in 1824)---268 Brutus---468
Burckhardt, Theodor---312 Buttncr, Hugo---510
B
Bacave---488, 560, U7f), G8U Badenge---see Napoleon III Bakunin, Mikhail Alexandrovicli (Bakounine, Michael)---(1814-- 1876)-64, 85, 102, 104, 147, 162, 163, 168, 171, 173, 175,
Cabet, Etienne (1788--1856)---413, 577
734Cadiot (or Cadrot)---653 Cafiero, Carlo (1846--1892)---173,
339, 342, 501, 549, 550, 555,
561, 653
``Gallon---485, 487, 560, 682, 683 Calleja, Innocente---340, 544 ; Calshoven---276 Camelinat, Zephyrin (1840--1932)---
491 Cameron, Andrew (1834--1890)---
224Canutis, /.---485
Capare, Jose---301
Caporusso, Stejano (Etienne)---
549, 550, 648 Carl, Conrad (died in 1890)---77,
92, 155, 164, 165, 189, 196,
290Caron---248 Carrier, Jean Baptiste (1756-
1794)---432 Cassel---280 Castelar y Rypoll, Emilia (1832-
1899)---547 Castillon, Luis---340 Catherine II (1729--1796)---Russian empress (1762--96)---623 Cerisier---232
Cetti---77, 92, 155, 164, 189 Chamoux, Eduard---3^, 490 Charnier, #.---320 Chassin (1831--1901)-446, 594 Cherkezov, Prince, Varlaam John
Aslanovich (Nikolayevich) (born c. 1846--1925)---451 Chernyshevsky, Nikolai Gavrilovich (1828--1889)---413--14, 459,
460, 465, 467, 475, 569, 577,
579, 614--15, 617--18, 677 Chevalley, Henri---377, 382, 525,
526, 676 Claflin, Tenessee (1845--1923)---49,
225 Claris, Aristide (1843--1916)---100,
311, 536 Cluseret, Gustav Paul (1823--1900)---
224, 643, 647 Cochrane-Baillie, Alexander (1816-
1890)-656 Coenen, Philippe---42, 52, 58, 72,
79, 81, 88, 90, 93, 95, 104, 106, 114, 129, 138, 175--79, 181, 182, 200, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 298, 321, 330
Cognon---377, 382, 525, 676
Cohn, James---654
Combault, Amedee Benjamin (born c. 1838-died not earlier than 1884)-390
Combe, Eugene---?,?,, 125
Cordova y Lopez, Francisco---497, 537
Costa, Andrea (1851--1910)---555, 561
Coudray---374
Cournet, Frederic (1839--1885)---72, 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 86, 93, 99, 114, 138, 148, 155, 163, 176, 183--84, 186--88, 190, 191, 197, 282, 284, 286, 290, 297, 330, 485, 670, 682
Coutans---488
Crescio---566
Cuno, Theodor Friedrich (1846-- 1934)---36, 54, 58, 60, 63, 72, 77, 79, 81, 82, 86, 88, 90, 93, 101, 103, 104--06, 108, 114, 116, 121--23, 138, 140, 144--48, 155, 158--59, 170, 174, 176, 177, 179, 182, 186, 187, 189, 198, 200, 205, 278, 284, 286--90, 298, 312, 330, 338, 341, 342, 344, 347, 482--84, 495--97, 500, 505, 550, 669, 675
Cyrille, Victor---38, 52, 62, 64, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88, 93, 95, 105, 106, 113, 125, 137, 175, 176, 195, 200, 284, 290, 295, 330
735 155, 169, 172--79, 181, 200, 203, 283, 284, 286, 287, 289--90, 299, 307, 321, 331, 662, 673, 674David, Edouard---Vi, 165, 196, 290
Decraille---311
Deiorme, Emmanuel---63, 271
Dementyeva, Alexandra Dmitriyevna (1850--1922)---437
Dentraygues, Emile (pseudonym Swarm) (born c. 1837)---52, 58, 60, 72, 75, 80, 81, 86, 89, 90, 93, 95, 105, 106, 113, 138, 175--77, 194--96, 197, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 295, 332, 346, 481, 559, 680--83
DePaepe, Cesar (1841--1890)---380, 647
Dereure, Simon (1838--1900)---30-- 31, 33, 37, 44, 45, 52, 59, 60, 65, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88, 90, 91--93, 95, 98, 104--05, 106, 112, 116--21, 130, 131, 138, 148, 164--68, 172, 174--76, 184, 187, 190, 196, 197, 203, 223, 282, 284--90, 296, 300, 331
Devitle---683
Dietzgen, Josef (1838--1888)---52, 64, 114, 138, 147, 182, 286, 297, 330
Dietzschold---305
Dilke, Charles Wentworth (1843-- 1911)---37
Dolgov, Nikolai Stspanovich (born c. 1844)-422, 425, 584, 586
Dreiser, A.--- 312
Duan, Baptiste---301
Dufaure, Jules Armand' Stanislas (1798--1881)---215, 217, 232, 250, 281
Dumas, /.---270, 303
Dumont---see Faillet, Eugene Louis
Dupont, Eugene (c. 1831--1881)--- 52--53, 60, 64, 65, 68--69, 70, 72, 75, 77, 79, 81, 88, 91, 93, 95, 100, 104--05, 106, 110, 112, 114, 138--40, 148--50, 153, 165, 166, 169, 174--79, 189, 195, 196, 201, 284, 286, 289--91, 298, 331, 344, 481, 612, 645, 648, 650, 669, 671
Duportal--- 489
Dupuis---248
Duval, Theodore---29, 30, 37--39, 52, 60, 69, 70, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88, 90, 93--95, 99, 105, 106, 117, 123--26, 238, 168, 174, 176, 177, 179, 185, 187, 194, 196, 197, 223, 271, 282, 284, 286--90, 299, 331, 499, 647, 669
Eberhardt---52, 63, 69, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88, 90, 93, 95, 114, 117, 176, 179--82, 189, 200, 283,
rt.284, 286, 290, 297, 321, 331
Eccarius, Johann Georg (1818-- 1889)---45, 52, 54, 55, 58, 60, 69, 72, 88--91, 93, 95, 109, 110, 115, 120, 130, 131, 134, 167, 179, 196, 204, 282, 284, 286, 298, 331, 652, 655, 670, 682
Elliott, /o/m---50, 137
Elliott, Thomas---653
Elpidin, Mikhail Konstantinovich (1835--1908)---311, 386, 509, 672
Elzingre, Louis--- 30, 118
Engels, Frederick (1820--1895)---24, 29, 30, 35, 40--41, 52, 57, 59, 60, 72, 75, 77, 79, 81, 87--88, 89, 90, 93, 95--96, 100, 105, 106, 109--11, 114, 115, 117, 121, 122, 127, 128, 132, 142, 144, 155, 156, 158, 167, 169, 171, 173, 174, 176, 177, 189, 204, 222, 223, 282--84, 287--90, 298, 307, 322, 331, 337--39, 345, 357, 362, 390, 481, 491, 496, 612-- 639, 641, 643, 648, 651, 654, 656, 658, 659, 661, 664, 666, 667, 668--70, 673--76, 682--84
Estebanez y Murphy, Nicolas (1838--1914)---541
Esterhau---92
Esteve---490
Eudes---682
F
Faillet, Eugene Louis (pseudonym Dumont) (born in 1840)---52, 60, 73, 75, 80, 81, 86--87, 89,
D
Daal---277
Danielson, Nikolai Frantsevich (pseudonym Nikolai---on)(1844-- 1918)---668, 672, 686, 687.
Daussac, Charles---346, 484
Dave, Victor (1845--1922)---52, 54, 58, 60, 63, 65, 69, 72, 75, 79, 81, 88--91, 92--95, 100, 104-- 06, 115, 138, 140, 148, 150,
73690, 93--95, 105, 106, 138, 174,
177, 179, 195--97, 223, 250, 256,
282, 284, 286, 287--90, 330 Fdh, = C^^1^^.---270, 303 Fanelli, Giuseppe (1826--1887)---
495, 514, 535, 539, 547, 559 Farkas, Karoly (Carl)---52, 69,
72, 75, 79, 81, 89, 90, 93,
95, 105, 106, 113, 138, 174,
176--77, 223, 282, 284, 286--87,
289--90, 297, 331, 669 Favre, Jules (1809--1880)---62, 100,
145, 163, 215, 217, 531, 651,
653 Fawcett, Henry (1833--1884)---
656Federer, Vul.---304 Feltman---92 Ferre, Theophile (1845--1871)---54,
64, 140, 147, 228, 229, 232,
236, 295, 528, 669 Flerovsky, N, (Bervi, Vassily Vas-
silyevich) (1829--1918)---573 Florinsky, Ivan Ivanovich (born
c. 1845)---426, 587 Fluse, Pierre---29, 30, 52, 58, 71,
72, 75, 79, 81, 86, 88, 90,
93, 95, 104, 106, 115--17, 138, 162, 175--78, 181, 200, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 299, 321, 331, 587
Fornaccieri-92, 165, 196, 290
Fourier, Charles (1772--1837)---411, 532, 577
Fraile, Dionisio Garcia---548
Francis, Henri---485
Frankel, Leo (1844--1896)-32, 36, 39, 45, 52--55, 58, 60, 65, 72, 76, 77, 79, 81, 86, 89, 90,
94, 95, 100, 105, 106, 109, 110, 112--13, 120, 123, 125, 131, 138, 140, 148, 166, 169, 174-- 75, 176, 197, 203, 282, 284-- 86, 289--91, 295, 300, 318, 331, 612
Friedldnder, Hugo---52, 64, 69, 72, 75, 79, 82, 94, 95, 105, 115, 138, 140, 174, 176--77, 282, 284, 286, 289, 290, 299, 331, 669
Frey---314
Faster, Louis---547
G
737 205--07, 283, 284, 286, 289--90,296, 316, 331, 339, 341,
344,
345, 380--82, 290, 439,
445,
479, 482, 496, 499, 505,
523,
524--27, 529, 536, 552,
557,
558, 561, 594, 598, 638,
646, 648
H
Hannibal (247--183 B. C.)---478
Hales, John (born in 1839)---37, 52, 62, 110, 114, 116, 124, 298, 331, 643, 644, 647, 653--55, 682
Harcourt, W. E.---52, 58, 62, 114, 138, 286, 290, 298, 331
Harris, George---651
Hartmann, A.---270, 303
Heber, Fr.--- 312
Heddeghem---sec Van-Heddeghem
Heerde, van---277
Hege, Pr.--- 304
Hegel, Georg, Wilhelm Friedrich (1770--1831)-448
Heim, Ludwig---see Oberwinder, Heinrich
Heinemann---649
Heng, Fritz---377, 382
Hepner, Adolf (1846--1923)---29, 52, 54, 56--58, 62, 63, 65, 69, 70, 72, 76, 79, 81--84, 86, 89, 90, 94, 95, 105, 106, 114, 117, 124, 138, 139, 142, 148, 159--60, 162--63, 174, 176, 181, 185, 187, 197, 204, 282, 284, 286, 289--90, 297, 307, 331, 667, 673, 674
Herman, Alfred---^, 52, 57, 65, 72, 73, 79, 81, 90, 92--93, 95, 105, 106, 115, 131, 138, 139, 142, 148, 153, 175, 176--77, 179, 181, 188, 200, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 299, 321, 331, 653.
Herzen, Alexander Ivanovich (i8i2- 1870)---398, 409, 412, 444, 445, 451, 458, 460, 465, 582, 594, 613, 615, 617--18, 679, 681
Herostratus---373, 375, 442, 448, 449
Hills, Edmund---3i9
1/2 47--0960
Hins, Eugen (1839--1923)---162, 379, 381, 445
Hock, W.--- 307
Hoffmann, H.---270, 303
Holyoake, George Jacob (1817-- 1906)-653
Hoogstraten---277
Hout, Van der---29, 52, 54, 55, 72, 75, 80, 81, 89, 90, 93, 100, 114, 117, 138, 140, 153, 159, 169, 176--77, 179, 200, 283, 284, 286, 290, 298, 333
Hugo, Louis---318
Hugo, Victor (1802--1885)---465, 470, 618
Hume, Robert William---644, 647
Gambelta, Leon (1838--1882)---533 Gambuzzi, Carlo (1837--1902)---510,
549 Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1807--1882)---
556, 638 Garrido y Tortosa, Fernando (1821-
1883)---537 Gavrishev, Georgy Yakovlevicli
(born c. 1846)-423, 585 Gelefi, Paul Johansen (1842--1921)
-217 Gerhard, Hendrick (c. 1829--1886)
52, 53, 55, 72, 79, 81,
88, 90, 93, 95, 109, 112, 114,
138, 139, 140, 176, 179, 200,
203, 283, 284--86, 290, 299,
300, 331 Gernert, C.---305
Gilkens---52, 114, 276, 298, 331 Gilles--- 485 Gironis--- 488, 681
Iglesias, Pablo (1850--1925)---340, 544, 545
Ishutin, Nikolai Andreyevich(l8kQ- 1879)---414, 607
Ivanov, Ivan Ivanovich (died in 1869)---418, 421, 422, 429--34, 440, 452, 454, 455, 456, 581, 583, 589--92, 598, 608, 678--79
Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-- 1898)-218, 647
Godon £.---320
Gogg, Amandus (1820--1897)---686
Golovin, Ivan Ivanovich (1816-- 1886)---667
Goltz--- 345
Gondres--- 488, 560, 675, 680
Graag--- 660
Graf, John.---305
Greulich, Herman (1842--1925)--- 303--05
Gromeka, Stepan Stepanovich (1823--1877)---465, 618
Grosselin, Jacques (1835--1892)--- 118, 378
Guesde, Jules (1845--1922)-487, 558, 559, 675, 681--83
Guillaume, James (1844--1916)--- 30, 35, 40, 42, 47, 50, 56--58, 60--61, 64, 66, 68--69, 71, 72, 75, 79, 81, 83--85, 88, 90, 93, 95, 99, 101, 103, 110--11, 113, 116--18, 121, 122, 127, 129, 132, 137--39, 142--44, 148--49, 152, 155, 159, 161, 163, 168, 170, 172--76, 179, 181, 199, 200,
Jacoby, Pavel Ivanovich---549
Jalvo, Juan---535
Jeandru, G.---320
Johannard, Jules (1843---1882)--- 36, 52, 53, 55, 59, 60, 63, 72, 76, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 89, 90, 94, 95, 98, 101, 103, 105--06, 112, 113, 123, 132, 133, 138, 140, 143, 147, 155, 159, 163, 167, 170--71, 174--75, 176, 179, 181, 195, 202, 206, 207, 282, 284, 286, 289--90, 295, 332
Jones, Edward---281
Jung, Herman (1830--1901)---74, 120, 643, 644, 646--48, 652, 654--56, 660.
K
Kannenberg---303 Karakozov, Dmitry Vladimirovich (1840--1866J-414, 428, 578, 588
738Katkov, Mikhail Niki/orovich (1818--1887)---459, 613, 614
Kavanagh, Samuel---77, 92, 155, 164, 165, 189, 196, 290
Kiinig, Georg---302
Klimin, Innokenty Fyodorovich (born in 1847)---423, 427, 585, 587
Kolachevskaya, Alia Nikolayevna (born c. 1845)---428
Kolachevskaya, Ludmila Nikolayevna (born c. 1850)---428
Kolachevsky, Andrei Nikolaeyvich (1848--1888)---427--28, 588
Kriemichen, Hermann---322
Kriill, G.---312
Kugelmann, Ludwig (1830--1902)--- 52, 53, 644, 69, 72, 76, 79, 81, 89, 90, 93, 105, 106, 114, 138, 140, 174, 176--77, 186, 282, 284, 286, 289--90, 297, 332
Kuznetsov, Alexei Kirillovich (1845--1928)---423, 431, 433, 434--35, 585, 591, 592
Kuznetsov, Semyon Kirillovich--- 423
Latham, Robert Masden---643 Laugrand, P.---58, 137, 143, 149 Laurel---11, 92, 155, 165, 189,
196, 290 Lavalette---314 Lavrov, Pyotr Lavrovich (1823-
1900)---465 Law, Harriet (1832--1897)---313,
673, 674 Ledroit, Charles Joseph (born in
739Lorenzo, Anselmo (1841--1915)--- 355--57, 497, 537, 544, 545
Lostau, Baldomero(\>om c. 1845)--- 547
Louis, Bonaparte---see Napoleon III
Loyola, Ignaty (1491--1556)---520, 578
Luba, Raimundo---324
Lucain---scc Potel, Frederic
Lucraft, Benjamin (1809--1897)--- 643, 653
Ludwig, Gustav---lQ, 73, 76, 80, 81, 86, 89, 90, 113, 176, 185, 187, 193, 284, 290
Lumley---653
Lutz, Lina---Zib
Lutz, Marie---314
Lyubavin, Nikolai Nikolayevich (1845--1918)---343. 364, 668, 672, 685
M
MacDonnell, J. Patric (c. 1845-- 1906)---37, 52, 54, 73, 76, 77, 81, 89, 90, 94, 95, 104, 106, 112, 113, 123, 124, 138, 140, 174--77, 188, 189, 203, 283, 284--86, 289--90, 297, 300, 315, 332, 653, 669, 673, 674
Mack, David---278. 279
Malon, Benolt (1841--1893)---40, 64, 101, 106, 147, 170, 173, 205--07, 238, 288, 345, 346, 482, 485, 489--91, 536, 558, 560, 672, 675, 680, 681, 686, 687
Malou, Jules (1810--1886)-217
Marchand, Louis---101, 206, 288, 346, 482, 485, 486, 675, 680, 681
Marselau, Nicola Alonso---40, 41, 42, 52, 54, 56, 60, 72, 76, 79, 80, 81, 89, 90, 93, 95, 101, 104--05, 106, 115, 123, 127--29, 138--40, 158, 173, 177, 179, 180, 200, 202--05, 283, 284, 286, 288--90, 300, 317, 325, 332, 341, 481, 482, 497, 500, 556, 674
Marti, Cayetano---323
Martin, Constant---662, 604
Martin, Felipe---541
Martin, J.--- 486
Martinez, Franco---329, 545
Marx, Jenny (nee von Westphalen) (1814--1881)---667
Marx, Karl (1818--1883)---32, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44, 46--48, 50, 52, 58--62, 72--77, 79, 81, 87--91, 92, 93, 98, 100, 102--06, 110-- 11, 112--13, 116, 120, 123, 124, 126--27, 131--33,144,148, 153--55, 156, 162--65, 167--71, 174--77, 189, 202--06, 219, 222, 223, 267, 275, 278, 283--86, 289--91, 296, 300, 315, 317, 332, 343, 344, 364, 379, 388, 390, 446, 481, 485, 501, 502, 509, 539, 543, 612, 639, 641, 643--57, 660--63, 668--75, 679, 680, 686
Marx-Aveling, Eleanor (Tussy) (1855--1898)---669, 672
Mau, Friedrich---312
Mavritsky, Vastly Abramovich (c. 1850--1910)---416, 580
May, C.---302, 303
Mayer, Fr.---3l2
Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805--1872)--- 465, 531, 549, 550, 556, 618, 638, 653
Mazzio---38
Mechnikov, Lev Ilyich (1838-- 1888)---205, 489, 558, 675, 680
Melotte--- 669
Mendez, Juan---546
Merlhac, J.--- 487, 488
Mesa y Leompart, Jose (1840-- 1904)---338, 340, 361, 362, 539, 544, 668, 685
Milke, Fr.-52, 70, 73, 75, 79, 81, 88, 114, 138, 176, 185, 187, 197, 284, 290, 298, 332
Mill, John Stuart (1806--1873)--- 651-
Millot, T.-~320
Michon---5Q, 311
Mohmchen---see Marx, Jenny
Miihrle, #.--302
Moje, B.--- 306
Moltke, Karl Helmut Bernhard (1800--1891)-214
47*
Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre Auguste
(1807--1874)---465, 618 Ledrux---662
Lefebvre-Roncier---206, 208, 675 Lefrancais, Custave (1826--1901)---
40, 485
Leite, Santos---324 Le Maitre, Frederic---648 Le Moussu, Benjamin---29, 32, 34, 49--52, 54, 57, 58, 64, 69, 70, 73, 74--77, 79--81, 88, 90, 93, 95, 98, 100, 105, 106, 113, 117, 120, 137--38, 143, 145, 148, 174--77, 181, 184--87, 189, 204, 205, 282, 284, 286, 289--91, 297, 332, 612 Leo, Andre (real name Leonile
Champseix) (1829--1900)---528
Lessner, Friedrich (1825--1910)---
37, 52, 72, 75, 77, 79, 81,
86, 114, 138, 163, 176, 177,
189, 192, 284, 290, 298, 332
Leviele---11, 92, 155, 164, 165,
189, 196, 290 Lieberse, Bruno---307 Liebknecht, Wilhelm (1826--1900)--- 214, 216, 524, 548, 644, 648 Likhutin, Ivan Nikitich (born c. 1848)---426, 587 Lissagaray, Prosper Olivier (1838-
1901)---65 Little, John---320 Longuet, Charles (1839--1903)---52, 62, 64, 65, 68, 71--73, 75, 76--77, 79, 81, 84, 86, 88, 90, 93--96, 98--100, 105, 106, 109--13, 146, 148, 152, 155, 162, 168, 174, 176, 189, 195, 202, 282, 284, 289--90, 295, 332
Lachaud---107
Lacord---59, 311
Lafargue, Paul (1842--1911)---30, 31, 33--36, 42, 52, 53, 55, 56, 59, 62, 63--66, 69, 70, 72--73, 75, 79, 81, 86, 89, 90--96, 98, 99, 105, 105--06, 112, 114, 116, 117, 121, 123, 129, 132, 138, 141, 143, 146, 148, 153, 154, 165--68, 174, 176--77, 179, 184-- 87, 195--97, 203, 204, 208, 223, 284, 286--90, 297, 323, 332, 340-- 43, 497, 501, 544, 548, 639, 669, 671, 680
Lalagarde---345
Lampbord---643
Landeck, Bernard (born in 1832)--- 51, 74, 98, 107, 154, 172, 489
Lanza, Jiovanni (1815--1882)---218 Lapeyssonnter---488
740Mondet, G.--- 319
Montoro, Peregrin (pseudonim Damon)---329, 539, 545, 548, 685
Mora, Angel---340, 537, 544
Mora, Francisco (1842--1924)--- 338, 340, 342, 344, 356, 357, 362, 497, 500, 537, 538, 542, 544, 545, 546, 637, 668, 672, 694, 685
Morago, Gonzales, Tomds---34, 35, 40, 42, 47, 52, 56, 63, 68, 72, 76, 79, 81, 87, 89, 90, 95, 101, 103, 104, 106, 112, 115, 122, 127, 129, 133, 138, 142, 143, 149, 152, 171, 177, 178--81, 200, 203, 204, 284, 288--90, 300, 318, 325, 332, 339, 344, 357, 361, 362, 481, 482, 497, 501, 502, 537--40, 541, 546, 548, 639, 673, 674, 685, 686
Mosie---314
Mottershead, Thomas G. (c. 1825-- 1884)---37, 52, 72, 75, 88, 90, 93, 114, 124, 138, 139, 179, 188, 196, 283, 284, 286, 298, 332, 644, 652
Munch, /.---302
Muravyov, Mikhail Nikolayevich,
count (1796--1866)---458, 589,
612 Muravyov-Amursky, Nikolai Niko-
layevich, count (1809--1881)---
457, 612, 613
Negreskul, Mikhail Fyodorovich
(c. 1843--1871)---428--29, 452,
588Nellershem, H.--- 312 Nero, Claudius (37--68)---Roman emperor (54--68)---433 Neumayer, Ludwig---663 Nicholas I (1796--1855)---Russian emperor (1825--55)---457, 463,
468, 616, 623 Nikolayev, Nikolai Nikolayevich (born c. 1850)---434--35, 451, 591--93
Nobre-Franca, Jose---264, 324 Nostag, Jules---669
741 79, 81, 88, 90, 95, 101, 105, 106, 115, 116, 127, 130, 138, 158, 177, 178--80, 190, 200, 202--04, 284, 286, 288--90, 300, 321, 325, 331, 340, 481, 482, 537, 540, 546, 548, 673, 674, 685Peniche, de---538
Pereira, Jose---324
Ferret, Henri---38, 63, 271, 306, 647
Perron, Charles Eugene (1837-- 1919)---99, 337, 349, 377, 378-- 381, 676, 680, 684, 686
Pestel, Pavel Ivanovich (1793-- 1826)---464, 467, 479, 618, 623
Peter I (1672--1725)---Russian tsar from 1682, emperor of Russia from 1721---468, 571, 619
Petioux---682
Petrashevsky (Butashevich Petrashevsky), Mikhail Vasilyevich (1821--1866)---458, 612, 613
Pietri, Joseph Marie (1820--1902)--- 512
Pignier---314
Pihl, S. F.--- 52, 60, 69, 70, 72, 75, 79, 81, 87, 88, 90, 93, 95, 105, 106, 114, 138, 166, 174, 176--77, 185, 187, 194, 196, 197, 223, 283, 284, 286--90, 299, 332, 671
Pillon~92, 165
Pino, Miguel---541
Pio, Louis (1841--1894)---217
Pius IX (1792--1878)---Pope of Rome (1846--78)-217
Potel, Frederic (pseudonym Lucain) (died in December 1872)--- 52, 60, 73, 75, 79, 81, 87, 89, 90, 95, 102, 104--05, 106, 113, 138, 144, 170, 171, 174--77, 194, 195, 197, 205, 206, 284, 286, 289--90, 295, 319, 332, 481--83, 491, 495, 500, 505, 671, 673-- 75
Pouyade---490
Proudhoii, Pierre Joseph (1809-- 1865)-85, 162
Prunar---485
Pryzhov, Ivan Gavrilovich (1829-
1885)---424, 432--35, 438, 452,
586, 591--93, 678, 679 Pugachev, Yemelyan Ivanovich
(c. 1742--1775)---464, 479, 618,
623 Pulen---277
R
Ranvier, Gabriel (1828--1879)---29, 33, 36, 39--40, 42--43, 46, 52-- 54, 56--58, 60--66, 69, 72, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 93, 95, 99, 110, 112--13, 115--17, 124--33, 138, 140, 143, 145, 147--148, 155, 156, 158, 159, 163, 176, 179, 184, 185--88, 191, 203, 204, 236, 238, 241, 283, 284--86, 290, 295, 300, 332
Rapp---314
Has, A.---277
Raynal---488
Razin, Stepan Timofeyevich (died in 1671)---404, 406, 413, 467, 571, 577, 604
Razoua, Eugen (c. 1835--1878)--- 345, 346, 485, 675, 680
Redemann, F.---312
Regis, Vitale (pseudonym Etienne Pechard)---ttl, 552
Reichel, Ernst---312
Reid, Robert---653
Reymond, Charles---63, 271
Riccard---see Aubry
Ricci, Filippo---37, 265--67
Richard, Albert (1846--1925)---64, 99, 148, 162, 168, 238, 449, 480, 510, 516, 523, 525, 527, 557, 624, 645', 653, 680
Rick---307
Riduet, C. £.---319
Rigault, Raoul (1846--1871)---232, 528
Ringger, Reinh.---304
Ripman, Fyodor Fyodorovich (born in 1842)-423, 425, 585
Rittinghausen, Moritz (1814-- 1890)---52, 69, 72, 81, 299, 332
O
Oberwinder. Ileinrich (1846-- 1914)---52, 60, 69, 70, 72, 76, 79, 81, 82, 89, 90, 94, 95, 105, 113, 138, 159, 163, 174, 176, 179, 185, 187, 282, 284, 286, 289, 290, 297, 318, 332, 673, 674
Odger, George (1820--1877)---643, 651, 653
Oehme, Heinrich---322
Ogarev, Nikolai Platonovich (1813-- 1877)---405, 412, 419, 451, 582, 589, 678, 681
Ollivier, Emile (1825--1913)---212, 656, 657
Ostyn, Francois Charles (1823-- 1912)---64, 147, 272
Owen, Robert (1771--1858)---466, 532
N
Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte) (1808--1873)--- French emperor (1852--70)---62, 147, 160, 211, 212, 214, 238, 480, 624, 646, 650, 657
Nechayev, Sergei Gennadyevich (1847--1882)---102, 343, 372, 396, 402, 403, 405--07, 409, 412, 414--45, 447, 450--56, 475, 502, 503, 508, 512, 528, 536, 567--72, 575, 577, 579--95, 598, 604, 608, 609, 613, 668, 672, 677--79, 681, 686
I>
Pages, Urbain---485
Pages, Victor (born c. 1850)---
274, 340, 544
Palladini (1842--1896)---549, 550 Pandastre---92 Parmias, Jose---301 Pauly, Hipolito---340, 544 Pavlov, Platan Vasilyevich (1823-
1895)---466, 617 Pellicer, Farga Rafael (1840-
1890)-40, 43, 52, 56, 72, 75,
742Roach, John---29, 52, 58, 72, 75, 79, 81, 112, 114, 117, 123, 138--40, 176, 177, 188, 203, 204, 284, 286, 290, 297, 300, 319, 332, 673, 674
Robert, Fritz---526, 682
Robin, Paul (born in 1837)---99, 369, 378--80, 527, 652, 653, 656
Rochat, Charles (born in 1844)--- 654
Romanovs---dynasty of Russian tsars and emperors (1613--1917) 409, 444, 464, 479, 589, 618-- 619, 623--24
Resell, Vicente---329
Rossner, J.---306
Royannez---490
Rubau Donadeu, Jose---537
Rurik (died in 879)---semi-- legendary chief of a Varangian troop; in ancient annals considered father of the Russian princes of Rurik dynasty--- 430, 589
113, 138, 141, 147, 284, 286, 296, 333
Schramm, Rudolf (1813--1882)--- 63, 77, 147, 155. 158, 159,
204, 278, 279, 669 Schumacher, Georg (born in 1844)
52, 69, 70, 72, 75, 80, 81, 113, 138, 163, 176, 185, 187, 284, 286, 290, 297, 333
Schumann, C.--- 270, 303
Schweitzer, Johann Baptist (1833-- 1875)---160, 374, 522, 642
Schwitzguebel, Adhemar (1844-- 1895)---30, 52, 63, 72, 75, 77, 79, 81, 88, 93, 95, 103, 105, 106, 113, 115--17, 122, 138, 139, 155, 170, 172--75, 182, 200, 204, 206, 207, 223, 283, 284, 286--90, 296, 333, 339, 341, 344, 380, 382, 481, 482, 496, 498--500, 525, 638
Sean, R.--- 304
Sentinon, Caspar (died in 1903)--- 537, 547
Serno-Solovijovich, Alexander Alexandrovic'h (1838--1869)-465
Serraillier, Auguste (born in 1840)---29, 30, 37--39, 47, 51--52,
53, 60, 68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 79--80, 81, 89, 90, 93--95, 100, 103--07, 111--12, 114, 117--18, .124 125, 133, 137--38, 139, 150, 152, 157--58, 164--66, 169, 171, 175-- 177, 181, 189, 195, 196, 203,
205, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 298, 333, 345, 346, 481, 485, 487, 492, 558, 560, 612, 645, 647, 648, 649, 651, 655, 656, 659, 660, 661, 671, 675, 680--81
Sexton, George-52, 53, 58, 62, 72, 75, 77, 80, 81, 86, 92, 113, 132, 138, 146, 163, 176, 177, 188, 192, 284, 286, 297, 332
Shakespeare, William (1564-- 1616)-519
Shimanovsky---420
Silva, Jose da---324
Simon---92
Sorge, Friedrich Adolf (1828-- 1906)---30, 31, 37, 38, 44, 48-- 55, 59, 60, 63, 64, 67--70, 72,
743 75, 80, 81, 86--87, 89--92, 93, 95, 98, 100, 105, 106, 110, 112--13, 115--19, 122, 124, 125, 130, 131, 132, 135--40, 145, 147--50, 153, 161, 164--65, 168, 169, 172--73, 175--77, 181, 185-- 87, 197, 198, 280, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 296, 317, 333, 670Soriano, Trinidad---342, 516, 546, 548
Spasovich, Vladimir Danilovich (1829--1906)---420, 436, 447, 450, 452, 453, 454--55, 680
Splingard, Roch---22, 52, 60, 64, 68, 72, 75, 80, 81, 88, 90, 100--06, 113, 115, 129, 138, 144, 171--72, 175--77, 179, 181, 188, 200, 206, 284, 286, 289--90, 297, 321, 333, 343, 483, 495, 497, 498--99, 501, 505
Spetzmann---302
Speyer, C. (born in 1845)---92, 165, 196, 290, 316, 317
Stefanoni, Luigi (1842--1905)---535
Stempkowski---681
Stieber, Wilhelm (1818--1882)--- 217, 512
Stock, John~322
Svyatsky, Vladimir Ivanovich (born c. 1847)---423, 585, 678
Swarm---see Dentraygues, Emile
Tomilov---415, 580
Tomilova (nee Drittenpreis), Yeli-
zaveta Christianovna (born c.
1839J-415, 416, 437,580,677,
679Torres, Vicente---329 Trochu, Louis Jules (1815--1896)---
62 Truelove, Edward (1809--1899)---
222, 661, 663 Tussy---see Marx. Eleanor
U
Umland, W.---3i2
Us, Vastly Rodionovich (died in 1671)---413, 569
d' Usedom, Charles George---278
Uspensky, Pyotr Gavrilovich (c. 1847--1881)---417, 421, 424, 431, 432, 435, 451--52, 454--55, 581, 583, 586, 590--93, 677
Utin (Outine), Nikolai Isaakovich (1845--1883)-156, 218, 366--77, 378--86, 388--90, 392--98, 400, 402--09, 413--17, 419, 424, 427-- 30, 432, 434--37, 438--39, 442--47, 453, 454, 458--59, 466--68, 472--80, 536, 594, 656, 668--69, 672, 676, 677, 679, 681, 685, 686
Sacaze, Francois (1808--1884)---474
Sachse, J.--- 305
Saenz, Valentin---340, 544
Sagasta, Praxedes Mateo (1825-- 1903)---34, 122, 218, 542, 548
Saint-Clair---77, 92, 155, 164, 165, 189, 196, 290
Saint-Martin, D.--- 346, 489--91, 560, 675, 680
Saint-Simon, Henry (1760--1825) 523
Saltier---314
Sauva, ATsene---30--32, 37, 43, 45, 47, 49, 52, 55, 59, 60, 63, 71--73, 75, 78, 79--80, 81, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95, 105, 106, 111, 113, 115--21, 124, 130, 132, 136, 138, 141, 152--53, 157, 164, 165, 174--76, 179, 181--82, 200, 203, 283, 284, 286, 289, 290, 296, 320, 332, 673, 674
Scheu, Heinrich Andreas (1845-- 1926)-52, 55, 56, 59, 60, 72,
V
Terzaghi, Carlo (born c. 1845)---
534 551--53 Thiers, Adolphe (1797--1877)---51,
74, 216, 218, 471, 549 Theisz. Albert Felix (1839--1880)---
491Tibaldi, Paolo (1825--1901)---653 Timmer, Henry (1839--1925)---
275Tinayre, V.--- 313, 314 Tokarzewicz, Josef (1841--1910)---
535, 658, 686 Tolain Henri Louis (1828--1897)---
652 Tomds, Francisco (c. 1850--1903)---
301, 317, 318, 321, 329
Vaillant, Edouard (1840--1915)--- 30, 43, 46, 52, 58, 64, 69, 71--72, 76--78, 80, 81--84, 86, 94, 95, 111, 113, 116--18, 130, 132, 138, 148, 150, 151, 155, 157--59, 163, 176, 181, 184, 186--87, 190, 191, 197, 283, 284, 286, 290, 295, 298, 333
Van-Heddeghem (pseudonym Walter) (born c. 1847)---52, 59, 60, 69, 72, 80, 81, 88, 90, 92, 101, 103, 105--06, 113, 138, 144, 175, 176, 197, 199, 205, 284, 286, 288--90, 295, 333, 342, 346, 483, 495, 505, 675, 680
Varlin, Louis Eugene (1839-- 1871)---240, 345, 643
744Vesinier, Pierre (1826--1902)---51, 74, 98, 154, 491
Vespillier---\Sl
Vichard, Paul---52, 60, 69, 72, 76, 80, 81, 89, 90, 92, 96, 103--06, 113, 138, 144, 172, 175-- 177, 195, 198, 205, 284, 286, 288--90, 295, 333, 482, 484, 492, 495, 501, 504, 505
Vinas, Jose Garcia---537, 548
Visscher---333
Vitoux---314
Vogel von Falkenstein, Eduard (1797--1885)-213
Vogt, Gustav (1829--1901)---387, 388, 510, 676
Voitet---314
Voyez---248
W
Wade, Charles---652
Waehry, Pierre---376, 380
Wald---345, 364
Walter---see Van-Heddeghem
Ward, Osborne---92, 165, 196, 290,
647, 649
Washburne, Elihu Benjamin---653 Werner---248 Wen/---315 West, William---46, 48, 50, 51,
59, 96, 115, 132--35, 137, 138,
144, 203, 300, 320, 566, 670,
673, 674 Weston, John---643, 677
William I (1797--1888)---King of Prussia (1861--88), German emperor (1871--88)---215
Wilmart, Raimond (pseudonym Wilmot)---52, 54, 57, 64, 72-- 73, 76, 79--80, 81, 89, 90--91, 94, 95, 105, 106, 113, 132, 138, 139--40, 143, 148, 158, 175, 176, 179, 196, 283, 284, 286, 289--90, 295, 333
Wilmot---see Wilmart, Raimond
Wolff, Luigi-653
Wroblewski, Walery (1836--1908)--- 52, 72, 76, 77, 80, 81, 86, 105, 106, 114, 138, 175--77, 189, 205, 284, 286, 289--90, 298, 333, 342, 481, 658, 686
Woodhull, Victoria (1838--1927)--- 44, 49, 133, 135--37, 225, 320, 670, 673
Wyatt, Charles Arthur---319
745 lais' novel Gargantua and Pantagruel.---545Jupiter---supreme god of the Romans, identified with the Greek Zeus.---465
Karl Moor---main character in Schiller's drama, The Robbers.-575, 603
Malbrough---a hero in the French song Malborough s'en va-t-en guerre.---463
Mohammed---semi-legendary founder of Islamism.---614
Monte-Christo---a title character in Alexandre Duma's novel.--- C03
Peter---according to tradition, a Christian apostle, renounced his teacher three times.---548
Robert Macaire---a cunning businessman, a character played by Frederic Le Maitre, famous French actor, and immortalised in the cartoons by Honore Damier.---603
Rodolphe---a character in Eugene Sue's novel Les Mysteres de Paris.---60S
Yenisherlov, Georgy Petrovich (born c. 1849)---426, 454, 587
Zhukovsky (Joukowski), Nikolai Ivanovich (1833--1895)---39--41, 47, 59, 99, 101, 104, 115, 126, 127, 133, 144, 168, 202, 203, 288, 299, 308, 311, 344, 481, 482, 502, 510, 673, 674
INDEX OF LITERARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL NAMES
Achates---a faithful companion of Aeneas in Vergil's Aeneid; a faithful friend.-527
Anthony---a Christian saint; according to the legend, retired to the Nubian Desert.---545
Aymons sons---characters of the early medieval poem Aymons Four Sons or Renaud da Montauban, four brothers Alard,
Richard, Guiscard and Renaud.---562
Daniel(Bib))---prophet.---465, 618
Don Quixote---a title character in Cervantes' novel.---146, 215
Falstaff---a character in Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Henry 7F.-521
Gargantua---& character in Rabe-
48---0900
[746] __ALPHA_LVL1__ INDEX OF PERIODICALSL' Avvenire Socials (Social Future).---556
The Bee-Hive Newspaper---English trade union weekly published in London from 1861 to 1876 under the following titles: The BeeHive, The Bee-Hive Newspaper, The Penny Bee-Hive; it was strongly influenced by the bourgeois radicals and reformists. In November 1864 it was proclaimed the organ of the International. It carried official documents of the International Working Men's Association and reports on the meetings of the General Council. However, Marx protested against its distortion and abridgement of the documents of the International. From 1869 it actually became a bourgeois newspaper. In April 1870, on Marx's proposal, the General Council broke off all the ties with it.---647
Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne de VAssociation Internationale des travailleurs--- newspaper of the Swiss anarchists, published in French and edited by James Guillaume from 1872 to 1878, at first a fortnightly and from July 1873 a weekly.---
52, 75. 98, 137, 143, 155, 168, 181--82, 200, 325, 366, 368, 483, 527, 533, 535, 561, 598, 658
La Campana (The Bell)---Italian Bakuninist weekly newspaper published in Naples in 1872.--- 339, 638
El Combate (The Struggle)--- Spanish bourgeois republican daily newspaper published by the Federalists in Madrid.---537
La Commune---monthly newspaper of the New Orleans Section of the International published from June 1871 to December 1873.-653
La Commune (Obshchina)---the title of the first issue of the newspaper edited by Nechayev and Serebrennikov which appeared in London in September 1870; the second issue, in 1871, was destroyed by the publishers themselves.---445, . 595, 679
El Condenado (The Outcast)--- Spanish anarchist weekly published by Tomas Morago in Madrid from 1872 to 1874.--- 541, 542
Dagblad van Zuidholland en's Gravenhage (daily newspaper
747 of Southern Holland and The Hague) (the Hague).---82, 159The Daily News---English liberal newspaper of the industrial bourgeoisie published under this title in London from 1846 to 1930.--653
La Democratic---French bourgeois-democratic weekly appearing in Paris from November 1868 to 1870.-445, 594
Democratie du Midi.---490
Les Droits de VHomme---French daily of the Left-wing republican trend published by Jules Guesde from 1870 to 1871 in Montpellier.---487, 559
L'Egalite---Swiss weekly of the Romance Federation of the International published in French in Geneva from December 1868 to December 1872. In November 1869-January 1870, Bakunin, Perron, Robin and other members of its editorial board tried to use it to attack the International's General Council. In January 1870 the Romance Federal Council succeeded in changing its editorial board and expelling Bakuninists from it, after which the newspaper supported the line of the General Council.---24, 126, 218, 376--81, 523, 525, 644, 645
L'E guaglianza (Equality)--- Italian weekly which appeared in Girgenti from July 1871 to 1872 as the organ of the local section of the International.--- 638
La Emancipacion---Spanish workers' weekly, organ of the Madrid sections of the International; published in Madrid from 1871 to 1873; from September 1871 to April 1872 it was the organ of the Spanish Federal Council opposed to anarchist influence in Spain.
In 1872--73 H carried the Manifesto of the Communist Party, some sections from The Poverty of Philosophy and from the first volume of Capital, and a series of articles by Engels. -- 24, 34, 121, 129, 197, 219, 291, 324, 337, 340, 342, 350, 357, 359, 541--43, 545, 684
Emancipation (Toulouse).---345, 486, 560, 675, 680
// Fascia Operaio (The Workers' Union') (Bologna)---Italian Bakuninist weekly newspaper published from 1871 to 1872.--- 638
La Federacion---Spanish workers' weekly, organ of the Barcelona Federation, published in Barcelona from 1869 to 1873; it was influenced by the Bakuninists.---337, 339, 343, 350, 357, 358, 367, 548, 569, 684
La Federation---organ of the Universal Federalist Council which systematically came out against the International's General Council; its editors were Vesinier, Landeck and others. Up to No. 6 (September 28, 1872) it appeared weekly, after which its publication became irregular; the material was published in French and English (partially parallel).-51,98, 437
Felleisen---Swiss journal of the German Workers' Educational Societies in Switzerland published in Zurich and in Geneva from 1862 to 1874; in August 1868 sided with the International and published information on its activities.---651
Le Figaro---French reactionary newspaper appearing in Paris from 1854 onwards; it had connections with the government of the Second Empire.---369, 528, 596
Le Gaulois---French daily newspaper of conservative monarchical
48*
748 leanings, organ of the big bourgeoisie and aristocracy, published in Paris from 1867 to 1929.-369, 528GazzeUi.no Rosa---Italian daily newspaper published in Milan from 1867 to 1873; in 1871--72 it supported the Paris Commune, published the documents of the International Working Men's Association; from 1872 was under Bakuninist influence.---339, 551, 638
La Igualdad (Equality)---Spanish bourgeois-democratic daily newspaper appearing in Madrid from 1868 to 1870; one of the most radical bourgeois newspapers, a number of Utopian socialists .ind republicans being its contributors; a section of the Madrid workers grouped around it in 1868--69.---542
The International Herald--- English weekly published in London from March 1872 to October 1873; from May 1872 to May 1873 it was the official organ of the British Federal Council of the International; it published reports on the General Council's and the British Council's meetings, documents of the International Working Men's Association, articles by Marx and Engels. At the end of 1872-beginning of 1873 the newspaper played a big part in the struggle against the reformists, who had split off from the British Federal Council. From June 1873 following the departure of its publisher and editor William Riley from the working-class movement Marx and Engels stopped contributing to it and the materials of the British Federation of the International ceased to be published in it.---24, 219, 291
L'Internationale---Belgian weekly of the Belgian sections of the International, published in Brussels with close participation of De Paepe from 1869 to 1873. In 1873 it took an anarchist stand.---200, 211, 219, 649
Journal de Geneve national, politique et litteraire---a conservative newspaper appearing since 1826.---442, 593
Kolokol (The Bell)--- Russian revolutionary-democratic newspaper published in Russian from 1857 till 1867 by Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev in the Free Russian Press publishing house founded by Herzen, and in French (La Cloche) in
1868 and 1869 with supplements in Russian; up to = 1^^8^^65 it was published in London, later in Geneva.---388, 412, 444, 458, 461, 465, 468, 582, 613, 615, 618, 619, 677, 679
Kolokol. Organ russkogo osvobozhdeniya, osnovanny A. I. Gertsenom. (The Bell. Newspaper of the Russian Emancipation founded by A.I. Herzen---under this title Nechayev and Serebrennikov put out several issues of a newspaper in Geneva in the spring of 1870.---444, 598, 604, 679
La Liberle---Belgian democratic newspaper appearing in Brussels from 1865 to 1873; from 1872 to 1873 weekly; from 1867 it became one of the organs of the International Working Men's Association in Belgium.---24, 93, 182, 185, 187, 197, 200, 211, 219, 236, 481--83, 559, 683
La Marseillaise---French daily of the Left-wing republicans appearing in Paris from December
1869 to September 1870; it reported on the activities of
749 the International and on the working-class movement.---446, 594, 679// Martello (hammer)---Italian newspaper of the Milan Section of the International, published in February and March 1872; influenced by Cuno, who was one of its editors, it published a number of articles against the Bakuninists.---341, 638
Moscow Gazette (Moskovskiye Vedomosti)---one of the oldest Russian newpapers, published from 1756 to 1917; from 1859 onwards it appeared daily; from the 1850s became reactionary.--- 459, 613
Neuer Social-Demokrat---German newspaper published in Berlin thrice weekly from 1871 to 1876, organ of the Lassallean General Association of German Workers; its trend fully reflected the Lassalleans' policy of adaptation to the Bismarck regime and flirtation with the ruling classes of Germany, the opportunism and nationalism of the Lassallean leaders. From its sectarian positions the newspaper systematically attacked the Marxist leadership of the International and the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party; it supported the Bakuninists and representatives of other anti-proletarian tendencies in their hostility towards the General Council.---535
Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung--- German conservative daily newspaper, in the 1860--80s the official organ of the Bismarckian government, published in Berlin from 1861 to 1918.--- 217
L'Ordre (Avignon).---491
The Pall Mall Gazette---London daily newspaper appearing from 1865 to 1920; in the 1860s and 1870s was of a conservative orientation. From July 1870 to June 1871 Marx and Engels maintained ties with the newspaper during which period Engels' "Notes on the War" were published in it.---653
Paris-Journal---reactionary daily with police connections published by Henri de Pene in Paris from 1868 to 1874. It supported the policy of the Second Empire and after its fall that of the government of National Defence and the Thiers government; it slandered the International and the Paris Commune.---528
O Pensamento Social---Portuguese socialist weekly appearing in Lisbon from February 1872 to April 1873; organ of sections of the International; it published the International's documents and articles by Marx and Engels.---263
The People's Cause (Narodnoye Dyelo)~& journal (from April 1870 a newspaper) published in Geneva from 1868 to 1870 by a group of Russian revolutionary emigrants; the first issue was prepared by Mikhail Bakunin, later, from October 1868, the editorial board, which included Utin and others, broke with Bakunin and attacked his views; from April 1870 it became the newspaper of the International Working Men's Association, Russian Section, which followed the line of Marx and the General Council; it published the documents of the International.---411, 464, 576, 579, 607, 677
Le Progres--- Bakuninist newspaper published in French in Locle from December 1868 to April 1870 and edited by Guillaume; it openly attacked the
750General Council.---379, 382, 445, 523, 594, 644, 679
II Proletario---Italian newspaper published in Turin from 1872 to 1874; it defended the Bakuninists and attacked the General Council and the London Conference decisions.---551
Publications of the "People's Judment" Society (Izdaniya Obshchestva "Narodnoi Raspravi''), Moscow, St. Petersburg--- actually both issues were published in Geneva (No. 1, summer of 1869, and No. 2, winter of 1870); they were edited by Mikhail Bakunin and Sergei Nechayev. The newspaper was opposed to The People's Cause (Narodnoye Dyelo) which supported the line of the General Council of the First International.---405, 410-- 12, 421, 429, 439, 440, 442, 445, 451, 467, 572, 575, 576, 584, 589, 593, 604, 677, 679
La Razon (Seville)---anarchist weekly published in 1871 and in 1872.---357, 546
La Re'forme (Toulouse).---534
La Republtque frangaise---French radical-bourgeois daily founded by Leon Gambetta, published in Paris from 1871 onwards. On March 11 it published an anonymous article on the International which was reproduced in Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne No. 3, March 15, 1872.-533
Le Reveil---French weekly, and from May 1869, daily organ of the Left-wing Republicans; published in Paris from July 1868 to January 1871 and edited by Charles Delescluze; it carried documents of the International and material on the working-class movement.---645
La Revolution Sociale---weekly newspaper published in French in Geneva from October 1871 to January 1872; from November 1871 it became the official organ of the anarchist Jura Federation.---346, 385, 528, 535, 539, 680
Russkoye Slovo (Russian Word)--- a literary and scientific monthly magazine published in St. Petersburg from 1859 to 1866; from 1861 D. I. Pisarev was one of its principal contributors.---464.
St. Petersburg Gazette ( SanktPeterburgskiye Vedomosti)--- Russian official government daily newspaper; appeared under this title from 1728 to 1914; from 1914 to 1917 it appeared under the title of Petrograd Gazette (Petrogradskiye Vedomostt)--- 400, 416, 417, 420, 422--27, 428, 435, 438, 568, 581, 583--87, 589, 593
Social-Demokrat---organ of the Lassallean General Association of German Workers. Under this title it was published in Berlin from December 15, 1864 to 1871. From 1871 to 1876 it appeared under the title of Neuer Social-Demokrat.---bZk
La Solidarite---Bakuninist Swiss weekly newspaper published in French in Neuchatel from April to September 1870 and in Geneva from March to May 1871.--- 376--77, 381, 382, 525--26, 528, 648
Sovremennik(Contemporary)--- Russian literary and socio-political magazine published inSt. Petersburg from 1836 to 1866 (from 1843 onwards it appeared monthly); it was founded by Alexander Pushkin; from 1847 it was edited by Nekrasov and Panayev, and Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky contributed to it; in the 1860s
751 it was practically the organ of the Russian revolutionary democrats.---461, 464, 615Star.---137
Die Tagwacht---Swiss Social-- Democratic newspaper published in German from 1869 to 1880 in Zurich; from 1869 to 1873 it was a newspaper of German sections of the International in Switzerland, subsequently that of the Swiss Workers' Union and of the Social-Democratic Party of Switzerland.---447, 508, 644, 680
The Times---the biggest English conservative daily newspaper, published in London from 1785 onwards.---653
Le Travail---French weekly newspaper of the Paris sections of the International.published in Paris from October 3 to December 12, 1869; Eugene Varlin, a prominent figure in the French working-class movement, was one of its main contributors.--- 467
La Voix de VA venir---weekly newspaper published in La Chauxde-Fonds from 1865 to 1868; from 1867 it was an official newspaper of the Romance sections of the International in Switzerland; was influenced by Proudhon.---378
Der Volksstaat---central organ of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party (Eisenachers) published in Leipzig from October 2, 1869 to September 29, 1876 (twice weekly, and from July 1873 thrice weekly). It expressed the views of the revolutionary trend in the German workers' movement and was constantly persecuted by the government and the police. Its editorial board was constantly changing due to the arrests of its editors; but its general leadership was effected by Wilhelm Liebknecht; it was considerably influenced by August Bebel, who was at the head of the Volksstaat's publishing house. It carried regularly articles by Marx and Engels; attaching great importance to this publication Marx and Engels closely followed its work, criticising the errors and rectifying the line of the newspaper, which was consequently one of the best workers' newspapers in the 1870s.---161, 211, 215, 219, 222, 524
Wolnosc---was never published--- 535, 658
[752] __ALPHA_LVL1__ INDEX OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES AND ADDRESSESAfrica---261
Alcald de flenares---297, 563
Alcoy---562
Alsace---130, 213, 565
America---see United States of
A merica
Amsterdam---62, 96, 140, 146, 166, 177, 200, 203, 275--77, 298, 331, 333, 655, 669, 670 A mur, river---457 Antwerp---114, 200, 298, 330, 652 Apollo---see New York Apt---WQ
Arundell Hall---see London Asia---462, 616 Astrakhan---413, 577 Aubervilliers---see Paris Aude, dept.---488 A ugsburg---649
Australia---i08, 114, 146, 219, 331
Austria---5{L 74, 97, 98, 108, 146,
154, 157, 179, 215--17, 221, 223,
279, 296, 318, 332, 463, 464,
478, 566, 616, 623, 645, 663--64
Avignon---205, 346, 489--91, 680
B
Badalona---560 Baltimore---130, 226
753Brest---211, 650, 657
Broad Street---see New York
Brooklyn---226
Brunswick---191, 213, 297, 330, 644
Brussels---40, 78, 81, 114, 126, 127, 156, 158, 162, 200, 250, 295, 299, 312, 319, 327, 330, 331, 384, 420, 430, 557, 561, 564, 583, 635, 636, 645, 647--48, 655, 673, 674
Buenos A ires---146, 219
Bukovina---464
Byelorussia---464
Dresden---114, 297, 330 Dublin---31, 124, 315, 332, 671, 674
---Lower Pembroke Street---315 Dusseldorf---114, 279, 298, 312,
330, 482
---Kreuzstrasse---312
---Neustrasse---312
E
Edinburgh---643
Eisenach---216
England---see Great Britain
Eszlingen---296, 333
Eure, dept.---249
Europe---31, 47, 78, 151, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 217, 218, 265, 266, 278, 310, 312, 316, 325, 343, 386, 387, 396, 400, 401, 404, 409, 415--17, 421, 422, 444, 446, 459, 462, 466, 481, 510, 516, 520, 529, 547, 571, 575, 581--83, 589, 594, 598, 614, 616, 630, 631, 635, 637, 678
Barcelona---158, 189, 300, 321, 328, 340--42, 356, 489, 522, 537. 547, 548, 638, 656
---Carretas, street---321
---Mercadere---301 Barmen---646
Basle---91, 114, 162, 211, 269, 270
298, 302, 303, 328, 330, 355, 549, 673, 674
Batignolles---see Paris
Belgium---58, 65, 67, 73, 81, 87, 92, 96, 108, 112, 115, 117, 126, 131, 190, 200, 220, 287, 297,
299, 307, 330--31, 333, 376, 451, 495, 504, 534, 566, 648, 651, 655, 662, 669, 670, 678
Bell Inn, Old Bailey---see London Berlin-85, 114, 163, 197, 219,
332, 648, 649 Berne-385, 388, 447, 537 Bethnal Green---see London Beziers-288, 346, 482, 485, 488,
560, 680, 682 Bielefeld---191, 673, 674 Birmingham---649 Bohemia---2Q7, 332, 464 Bologna---554, 638 Bordeaux-232, 346, 482, 486, 681 Brasil---146, 261 firemen---213 Breslau (Wroclaw)---114, 298, 322,
331, 648, 673, 674
Cadiz---500, 537, 543, 545, 563 California~67Q Caldereros---see Seville Canada---654 Carouge---iU, 298, 330 Carretas---see Barcelona Catalonia---547, 548 Caucasus---425, 586 Celle---114, 297, 332 Charenton~see Paris Charleroi---H3, 297, 333, 495 Chaux-de-Fonds---see La Chaux-
de-Fonds Chemnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt)---
191 297 Chicago---31, 100, 114, 130, 218,
225, 226, 291, 298, 330 Cologne---299 Copenhagen---166, 197, 217, 297,
299, 332
Corderie---see Paris Cordoba---537, 562--64 Courland---464
Coureelles (Belgium)---113, 297 Courtelary---529 Crimmttschau---114, 298
D
Denia---561
Denmark---63, 87, 108, 114, 146,
179, 182, 194, 197, 219, 223,
287, 330, 332, 669 Dijon---488
Fandgasse---see Heidelberg
Faubourg du Temple---see .Paris
Flanders---29
Florence---278, 551
Forsyth Street---see New York
France---23, 29, 38, 61, 63, 74, 88, 97, 104, 106, 108, 117, 125, 127, 146, 152, 154, 157, 160--61, 162. 167, 182, 195, 197, 202, 211--13, 221, 231, 232, 240, 245, 250, 254, 287, 288, 295, 299, 332--33, 352, 461, 471, 482--83, 489, 492, 495, 532, 534, 557--59, 565, 615, 620, 632, 638, 645, 646, 657, 660, 663, 664, 681
G
Galicia---464
Geneva-m, 40, 99, 114, 115, 125-- 127, 144, 156, 199, 203, 218, 221, 224, 231, 232, 245, 247, 271, 299, 302, 306, 308, 311, 313-- 14, 330--31, 337, 343, 346, 362, 367, 374, 377--78, 381, 383--84, 386, 388--90, 393, 402, 405, 408,
754 410, 410, 411, 415, 416, 417, 419--20, 422--24, 428, 435, 437--40, 442, 443, 451--52, 486-- 89, 491, 499, 501, 502, 510-- 11, 518, 521--27, 537, 569, 572, 576, 579, 580, 583--86, 588, 590, 593, 595, 604, 607, 609, 627, 629, 635, 637, 644, 646, 647, 649, 651, 656, 663, 664, 672--74, 678, 679, 680---Temple Unique---63, 271, 378
---Terrassiere---311 Geneva, canton---127 Genoa---123
Germany---23, 55, 57, 63, 82--83, 84, 88, 96, 97, 108, 138, 141, 142, 146, 156, 160, 162, 179, 182, 212--15, 221, 279, 287, 376, 461, 462--63, 477, 524, 532, 535, 615, 622--23, 660, 663, 664, 670
Ghent---112, 115, 200, 299, 333
Giessen---70, 164, 280
Girgenti (Agrigentum)---636
Gouy---113, 297
Gracia---562, 563
Great Britain---58, 61, 96, 108, 124, 142, 203, 218--20, 297, 320, 332, 450, 504, 532, 535, 566, 670
Greece---478, 621
Grolee---see Lyons
---Lombard St.---671
---Nes---276 Hamburg---213, 639, Hanover---iH, 213, 639 Heidelberg---343, 363
---Fandgasse---343, 363 Herault, dept.---488, 559, 682 Hiberian peninsula---538 Hoboken---148, 226, 332 Holland---see Netherlands Hungary-56, 97, 157, 179, 215,
221, 223, 287, 331, 478, 566,
623, 664
I
Ireland---108, 146, 203, 218, 219, 315 352
Italy---97, 141, 146, 218, 221, 265, 278, 328, 338, 339, 354, 355, 478, 501, 510, 512, 524, 534, 535, 548, 551, 553, 555, 556, 561, 565, 623, 638, 645, 655, 664
755Libotte---see Liege
Liege-115, 279, 299, 307 ---Libotte, street---307
Liguria---265, 266
Lisbon---43, 98, 103, 114, 121, 203, 259, 261--64, 297, 324, 332, 340, 538, 548, 670, 685
Lithuania---454, 464, 478, 623
Livonia---464
Liverpool---654
Locarno---338, 550, 637, 672
Lode---see Le Lode
Lodelinsart---53^
Loetzen---214, 656
Lombard St.---see Hague, The
London---37, 51, 67, 74, 77--79, 81, 89, 97, 98, 100, 113, 114, 120, 125, 130, 136, 155--58, 163, 164, 169, 172, 179, 189, 191--93, 200, 201, 219, 221, 224, 247, 291, 297--98, 315, 319--20, 322, 331, 332, 354--55, 384, 445, 458-- 60, 487, 491, 504, 505, 523, 527, 529--30, 531, 534, 535, 550, 554, 557, 564, 595, 612--14, 618, 639, 646--48, 652, 654--56, 658, 669 ---Arundell tfaZZ---649 ---Bell Inn, Old Bailey---643 ---Bethnal Green---114, 298, 332, 652
---East End---652 ---Hackney Road---iH, 298, 331, 670
---Hantley Street, Gower Street--- 206
---St. James' Hall, Picadilly--- 651 ---Stratford---297
---Wellington Music Hall---652
---West End---662 Long Island, U.S.A.---644 Lorraine---160, 213 Loughborough---654 Lucerne---115, 299, 306, 330 Luftes---298
Lower Pembroke Street---see Dublin
Lyons-99, 168, 211, 345, 487, 510, 517, 522, 525, 527, 532, 547, 645, 649, 657, 681 ---Grolee---487
'
M
Madrid-M, 80--81, 94, 98, 114, 121, 123, 128, 189, 203, 273, 274, 287, 297, 318, 332, 340, 356, 358, 362, 501, 537--38, 541, 545, 547, 548, 563, 637, 684
---Caballero de Gracia, street--- 318
Majorca, island---540
Malaga---537, 541
Manchester---566, 650
Marseilles---38, 38--39, 115, 125, 126, 203, 211, 231--32, 239, 244, 299, 525, 557, 673, 674, 681
Mayence (Mainz)---23, 55--56, 141, 179, 193, 296, 332, 647, 648, 649, 652
Mecklenburg---213
Mercadere---see Barcelona
Milan---147, 155, 158, 221, 279, 551, 663, 664
Montpellier---298, 487, 534, 559, 680--81, 683
Moscow---405, 410, 417, 421--22, 426, 435, 437--39, 442, 450, 452, 453--54, 566, 572, 581, 584--85, 587, 593, 594, 617, 677, 678
Moutier---529, 565
Mulhouse---53
Munich---299, 332, 648, 649
N
Naples---522, 549, 550, 645, 648 Narbonne---232, 346, 486, 488,
560, 680
JVes---see Hague, The Netherlands---23, 61, 75, 97, 108,
109, 145, 146, 183, 200, 219,
221, 271, 275, 276, 287, 299,
311, 331, 333, 566, 663, 664 Neuchdtel-99, 118, 328, 331, 333,
338--39, 341--42, 380, 381, 529,
555, 565, 567, 638
---Place d'Armes---339, 638 Neustrasse---see Diisseldorf Newcastle-upon-Tyne---67, 654 New Jersey---650 New Orleans---654
/ura-40, 499, 522, 524, 539, 638
K
Kazan---466, 617
tfieu-415, 579
Konigsberg (Kaliningrad)---113,
296 Kreuzstrasse---sec Diisseldorf
H
Hackney Road---see London Hague, The---23, 25, 55, 63, 77, 108, 115, 120, 140, 154, 173, 178, 181, 183, 189, 191--93, 199--201, 211, 221, 223, 224, 226, 236, 238, 242, 247, 257, 264, 267, 268, 271, 273, 275, 279, 280, 282, 284, 295, 299, 301, 302--07, 311--13, 316, 317, 318, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 327, 331, 341, 344, 347, 357, 358--59, 366, 483, 484, 486, 491, 535, 536, 538, 544, 545, 546, 547, 554, 555, 561, 562, 563--64, 565, 566, 567, 598, 611, 639, 673, 674, 680, 681, 683
La Chaux-de-Fonds---30, 113, 117-- 18, 298, 333, 358, 376--78, 380-- 82, 384, 390, 439, 445, 524-- 29, 594, 646, 648, 679
La Ciotat---38
Lancashire---650
Larrey---see Paris
Lausanne---528, 635
Leicestershire---654
Leipzig---37, 113, 197, 216, 296, 307, 332, 673, 674
Le Lode---379, 445, 529, 644, 679
Lerida---563
756New York---30, 31, 32, 43, 44, 45, 67, 74, 77, 78, 80, 81, 90, 91, 113--15, 120, 130, 132, 137, 149, 155--58, 165, 166, 177, 189, 201, 203, 224--26, 285, 290, 296, 297, 300, 315--16, 317, 320, 322, 331--33, 558, 643, 647, 649--50, 670, 673, 674 ---Apollo Hall--- 47, 130 ---Broad Street---320 ---Forsyth Street---48 ---Prince Street---47, 48, 115, 130, 134, 135
---Spring Street---43, 48, 50, 89, 181, 300
---Ward Hotel---120, 164, 226, 315
New Zealand---146, 219, 652
Nikolayevsk (Nikolayevsk-- naAmure)---459, 614
Nurnberg---647
OOdessa---450 Oldenburg---213 Olten---566
Perpignan---488, 560
Pertuis---490
Pest (Pesth)---capital of Hungary, left-bank part of modern Budapest---215, 216, 297, 331
Petersburg---see St. Petersburg
Pezenas---485, 488, 560, 682
Philadelphia---134, 135, 203, 224, 226
Place d'Armes---see Neuchdtel
Poland---108, 352, 461, 463--64, 466, 473, 477, 478, 480, 589, 612, 615--18, 623
Pomerania---213
Pont de Vilumara---563
Porto---261--62
Porto Maurizio (now Imperia)--- 37, 123, 265--67, 669
Posnan---464
Portugal---33, 34, 94, 108, 146, 219, 223, 257, 259, 287, 332, 538, 539, 670
Prince Street---see New York
Prussia---58, 213, 215, 297, 298, 330--32, 463--64, 478, 616, 623
Puebla---see Paris
757 606--09, 612, 613, 615--21, 624, 668, 672, 677, 679, 686--87Switzerland---30, 39, 51, 58, 61, 65, 88, 97, 100, 108, 125, 126, 162, 168, 179, 197, 218, 223, 287, 291, 299, 330--31, 333, 338, 339, 341, 354, 366, 377, 382, 384, 391, 393, 446, 486, 489, 497, 500, 521, 524--26, 534, 546, 555, 561, 562, 565, 566, 575, 638, 645, 647, 648, 651, 655, 656, 671, 672, 676, 679--80, 681, 686
T
Tagus, river---263
Tambov---440, 595
Temple Unique---see Geneva
Toledo---563
Toulouse---346, 486, 487, 488, 559,
675, 683
Tula---435, 439, 593, 679 Turin---221, 551, 552, 663, 664 Turkey---464, 478, 616, 623
Sabadell---562
St. Imier---529, 547, 555, 561, 563, 565, 566
St. Louis---130, 226
St. Petersburg (now Leningrad)--- 400, 415, 421--22, 426, 435, 438, 440, 450, 452, 458, 466, 502, 568, 579, 584, 586--87, 593, 595, 613, 617--18, 678
Saint-Sebastien---548
Salzburg---217
San Francisco--- 46, 132, 226, 333, 652
Sans---547, 562
Saragassa---128, 328, 356, 358, 500, 542--44, 548, 563
Satcry-54, 244, 528
Saxony---298, 330 .
Schleswig-Holstein, land---213
Sedan---213, 667
Seine, dept.---212
Seville---346, 500, 537, 685 ---Caldereros---317
Siberia---399, 402, 412, 413, 414, 419, 428, 436, 440, 447, 456--61, 467, 469, 582, 583, 588, 612--15, 618, 679
Sicily---638
Silesia---464
Solingen---114, 297, 333
Sonvillier---200, 529, 533--34, 565, 638
Spain---33--34, 35, 41, 51, 68, 80, 88, 96, 100, 101, 104, 108, 112, 122, 127--30, 141, 146, 167, 170-- 71, 189, 200, 203, 218, 220, 223, 287, 291, 301, 317--18, 321, 337--40, 342--45, 350, 354--57, 361, 488, 497, 501, 512, 524, 536--41, 543--47, 555, 556. 562, 563--64, 638, 651, 655, 662, 670, 674
Springfield---WO
Spring Street---see New York
Stratford---see London
Stuttgart---iH, 298, 312, 330, 482 495
U
Ukraine---464, 477, 478, 623
United States of America---44, 45, 47, 49, 58, 77, 90--91, 92, 97, 108, 119, 131, 133, 135, 136, 141, 153, 156--57, 164, 167, 197, 200, 203, 219, 221, 223, 224-- 226, 287, 296, 315--16, 317, 320, 322, 330--33, 387, 391, 404, 416, 459, 472, 484, 504, 510, 566, 571, 580, 614, 630, 635, 644, 651, 656, 662, 664, 670
[7ra/s-420, 583
Uster---304
Palna---537, 540, 685
Paraguay---610
Paris---23, 85--87, 140, 147, 149, 162--63, 165, 166, 169, 172, 183, 196, 205, 211, 212, 213, 215, 217, 219, 229, 230, 233, 235, 238, 240--41, 243, 244, 247, 249, 272, 308, 330, 332, 345, 346, 381, 387, 486, 489, 490, 522, 523, 526, 527, 532, 552, 556, 560, 643, 645--47, 648, 649, 651, 657, 663, 682 ---A ubervilliers---248 ---Batignolles---185 ---Charenton, street---248 ---Corderie, square---85 ---Faubourg du Temple---345 ---Larrey, street---248 ---Puebla, street---248
Paterson---332, 650
Peking---410
R
Ravenna---551
Regensburg---i2lt, 307, 673, 674
Reichenberg (Luberec)---318, 673, 674
Rhine, river---212
Rhodes---488
Rimini---338, 344, 345, 360, 461, 553--55, 561, 598, 668, 672, 686, 687
Romagna---554
Rome---535, 550, 559, 669, 681, 683
Rorschach---47, 304
Rouen-2li, 330, 647, 650
Rumania---478, 623
Russia---217, 363, 372, 374, 388, 389, 395--97, 399--405, 407--21, 422, 424, 436, 439, 442, 443--44, 446, 447, 451--53, 557, 458, 460-- 64, 467--78, 480, 507, 529, 536, 567--83, 589. 594, 598, 603, 604,
Valencia---301, 318, 321, 328, 329, 340, 355, 356, 537, 539, 542, 544, 545, 563, 564, 685
Vaucluse, dept.---488
Versailles---160, 214, 244, 250, 509
Verviers-liS, 242, 321
Vesdre, river---115, 152, 200, 299, 321, 331, 673, 674
Vevey---314
Victoria, Australia---114, 298, 331
Vienna---146, 163, 215--16, 318, 673
758Vistula, river---403, 610 Vitoria---563
W
Ward Hotel---see New York Wash ington---654
Wellington Music Hall---sec, London West End---see London
West Indies- 218 Wilhelmshdhe---2ik Wurttemberg---298, 330, 333
299, 305, 330 Zurich---47, 115, 299, 303--05, 331, 374, 375, 388, 535, 536, 566, 644, 658, 668, 672, 676
__ALPHA_LVL0__ The End. [END] [759]REQUEST TO READERS
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