Statement by the General Council to the Editor of The Standard

Author(s) First International
Frederick Engels
Karl Marx
Written 19 June 1871


Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 22
Written on June 19 or 20, 1871 First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XIII, Part II, 1940
Reproduced from the rough manuscript

The last paragraph of Marx's draft statement was edited by Engels. The Standard never published the letter.

The statement was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, On the Paris Commune, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1971, pp. 242-43.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD

In your leader on the "International" (of the 19 June) [1] you say:

"Of the two programmes (that of London and that of Paris) recently issued in favour of the Commune [2] that of the Paris branch has the merit of being the more honest and the more outspoken."

Unfortunately, the "Paris" manifesto has been issued not by our

Paris Branch, but by the "Versailles Police".

You say:

"The London Internationalists insist no less earnestly than their Paris brethren that 'the old society must perish and ought to perish'. They speak of the burning of the public buildings and the shooting of the hostages as 'a gigantic effort to bring society down'—which, although unsuccessful once, will be persevered in until it succeeds."

Now the General Council of this Association summons you to quote the exact pages and lines of our Address where the words attributed by you to us do occur!

  1. ↑ "If there are any in England...", The Standard, No. 14627, June 19, 1871.— Ed
  2. ↑ The reference is to the General Council's Address The Civil War in France, written by Marx (pp. 307-59), and the Manifesto, supposedly issued by the International, published in the Paris-Journal, No. 157, June 17, 1871 under the heading "Le Comité central de l'Internationale".— Ed.