Notes from the Minutes of the General Council 1869-1871

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


Written presumably in September 1871
First published, in Russian, in the book The Hague Congress of the First International, September 2-7, 1872. Minutes and Documents, Moscow, 1970
Reproduced from the manuscript
Source: Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 22

The excerpts made by Marx and partly by Engels from the Minute Books of the General Council for 1869-71, which have survived, end on September 5, 1871. They were made during the preparations for the London Conference of the International and were to serve as material for the General Council's report to the Conference on the work of the International from 1869 to 1871. Related to them are excerpts from the minutes for June 1870-April 1872, made by Marx a year later, at the end of August 1872, on the eve of the Hague Congress of the International (see present edition, Vol. 23). Markings in the manuscripts testify that Marx and Engels used them in the course of their work on the International's documents. The square brackets are Marx's. The abbreviated words are written in full, without mentioning it.

Published in English for the first time in The Hague Congress of the First International, September 2-7, 1872. Minutes and Documents, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976, pp. 643-54.

The minutes are published in full in The General Council of the First International. 1868-1870, Moscow, 1966 and The General Council of the First International. 1871-1872, Moscow, 1968

1869

(SINCE BASLE CONGRESS)

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.[1]

Printing of Basle Congress Report.[2]

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.[3] " (later letter from Manchester, Edinburgh etc Trades Councils received, which had got letters from the General Council.) 5 October 1869. Letter from Varlin of Paris stating that a meeting of the Congress delegates had been held and that they had agreed to urge the affiliation of their societies.[4]

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 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.

12 October, 1869. Proposition to establish an English section of the International carried.

19 October, 1869.

26 October, 1869. 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 {27 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 Egalité[5] {Opening of Irish question by Marx.) Resolutions proposed by Marx on Irish Political prisoners.

23 November. (Irish Debate.)

30 November. (The Resolutions on the Irish prisoners passed.)[6]

7 December.

14 December. Jung reads strictures from the Egalité against the Irish Resolutions of the Council {Schweitzer, Liebknecht etc.) [Monthly Reports.][7]

1870

[1 January. Private Circular on Egalité etc. Irish Question etc. Reports etc.][8]

4 January. Robert Hume appointed Correspondent {of Long Island United States) (3000 Cards sent to the German Committee. {Brunswick)).

Complaints of Progrès (Locle) and Egalité (Genève) against Zürich movement {Tagwacht) as too political.[9]

11 January. A letter from the Geneva Committee stated that the section did not approve of the proceedings of the Egalité. [The Editorial Committee resigned, their resignation accepted.][10]

18 January.

25 January. Dupont's motion: "that any society in France nominating a corresponding secretary with General Council should be held as de facto affiliation." (Carried.)

1 February. The Central Council of Switzerland had appointed a new staff for "Egalité"]

Serraillier received letter from Brussels, the Belgian General Council approved the answer of the General Council to the attack in the Egalité.[11]

8 February. Application of Prolétaires Positivistes Society.[12]

15 February. Dupont communicates on difference between the elder and younger branches at Lyons.334 (handed over to Sub-Committee.)[13]

22 February. 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, had been arrested.

Le Réveil contained paragraph 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 Affaire[14] (Richard etc.)

15 March. Letter of the Prolétaires 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.

22 March. Russian Section in Geneva founded. Desired Marx to become their representative.

29 March.

4, 5, 6 April. Congress at La Chaux-de-fonds.[15] [16]

5 April.

12 April. Jung 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 of the two Swiss parties. The new committee numbered about 600, the old 2000 members.

26 April. (Letter from Guillaume to Jung.)[17]

3 May. Resolution on pretended Conspiracy against Badinguet (plebiscite) [arrest of many members of Paris and Lyons sections].[18]

10 May. Resolution against the London French branch,[19] (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; 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. (Row over the Beehive Resolutions.)[20]

31 May. Parisians against the transfer to Mayence. Question 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.[21]

28 June. Regional Congress at Rouen suppressed.

Letter from Geneva asked the Council to come to a decision as soon as possible. (Discussion over this affaire.)

(On the Alliance. See Weston's Statement.)[22] (Proposition adopted that Geneva Committee remains in its old faction; the new committee may choose a local name.)[23]

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.

5 July. Parisians want refutation of the false statements of Aulois,[24] the public prosecutor, but they had sent no papers etc. to the Council. Dupont complains of receiving no reply.

12 July. French branch. Lemaître.[25] —Positivist branch send their contribution.— Money (voted by the Amalgamated Engineers to the Paris iron-moulders).—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 be proposed etc.[26] Programme for Mayence Congress.[27]

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.[28]

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.)[29] First War Address of July 23 read.[30]

2 August. 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, Breslau etc.—Jung on Swiss affair. Article in Solidarité[31] . 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 August. Jung [received] letter from Naples about Caporusso having bertrayed them.

16 August. Third 1,000 of War Address printed. Letters from Switzerland and Germany (Central Committee) to leave Council at London and to empower it to postpone Congress to any time and place.

23 August. 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 August) and agreeing to postponement of Congress. Romance Council of Geneva also for postponement and Council to remain in London.

Resolution passed to postpone Congress.

August 30th. French Section formed at New York. Osborne Ward attended and spoke.

September 6. Marx had correspondence with German Social Democratic Party[32] who say they will do their duty. Second War Address resolved upon.[33]

September 9. Address carried.

September 13. Serraillier off to Paris.

September 20. Arrest of Braunschweigers. Expulsion from Mayence.[34] Protests against annexation in Berlin, München, Augsburg, Nürnberg etc. Deputation of 5 to act with the Arundel Hall Committee in fitting up a demonstration for the French Republic and against annexation.

September 27. Stated that a deputation to Gladstone had been agreed upon for recognition of French Republic (by the joint Committee).[35]

October 4.

October 11. Meetings at Berlin and Munich against the Prussian war policy. Letter about Bakounin at Lyons 28 Sept.[36] Report of Finance Committee.

October 18. Birmingham Trades Council joins. Objection taken to Belgian International papers not having published 2nd War Address. Financial Secretary appointed.

October 25. The Belgian Internationale at last prints the beginning of the 2-d War Address.[37] —Heinemann's Meeting. Protest of the [German] Workers' Educational Society. Resolved that when questions of an internal administration are discussed none but members of Council be allowed to be present.

November 1. Letters from Patterson N. J. and New York that French and Germans there had issued a joint address against the war.[38] Letter from Aubrey (Rouen) about the Bonapartists still in power there and their doings.

November 8.— Meeting of Intervention Committee attended by Secretary.[39]

November 15.—Mass Meeting in New York on the War announced as impending.[40]

November 22. Letter from Brest, that all the 12 members of the Committee there had been arrested 2/10 October, and tried 27 October 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.

November 29. The Trades Council of Manchester promises its moral support. Dupont appointed Representative for Lancashire.[41]

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 December. Announcement of formation of Central Committee at New York.[42] (See list of attendance) (after the last sitting of December). (From Sept.-December 1870 and from January-end of March, 1871.)

1871

3 January.

17 January. Birmingham Trades' Council joins. Felleisen to be asked in what position towards the International (These fellows for annexation.)[43] Marx speaks against Odger's rant at St. James's Hall. (Favre et Co.)[44] (against our Second Address).

24 January. Formation of Central Committee for the United States at New York.

31 January. Swiss (Geneva Romance Confédération) write that they had received letter 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).[45]

7 February. Discussion of Franco-German War. Attitude of English government.

14 February. (Continuation of that discussion.)

21 February. Land Tenure Reform Association[46] meeting the workingmen's party half ways in regard to the nationalisation of land. (Mill) Harris thought it was a move to break up the Land and Labour League.[47]

28 February. 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)[48]

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 Council 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.[49]

(Revolution 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).[50] —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 (line) branch. Bethnal Green branch.

11 April. (Antwerp, etc. Cigarmakers (strike) lockout) (Action taken by Council).[51]

18 April. (Tolain affair first brought before the Council.)

25 April. Expulsion of Tolain. Confirmed.[52]

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. Jung to speak about it with Applegarth, Eccarius with Odger).

9 May. Eccarius resignes General Secretaryship (Applegarth left to the Council the appending of his name. Odger should like to see the address beforehand).

New Zealand correspondence.[53]

16 May. Hales elected General Secretary.

23 May. The English shall convoke meeting to urge the English Government not to act against the French Refugees. This was done and different meetings took place on that point.

30 May. Marx read Address "On Civil War" (Accepted)[54]

6 June. Commune. English press. Mazzini. (Attempts of International Democratic Association[55] to play a role.) (Citizen Cadiot appears on the scene.)

13 June. (12 June. Reply to Favre's circular sent to Times[56] ) Address on Civil War issued. (Citizen Baudry turns up.)

20 June. Odger and Lucraft leave (Scandal-sitting) (Holyoakescandal).[57]

Declarations against the false Paris (International) manifestoes.[58]

27th June. Refugee Committee on Saturdays formed. Declarations about Odger, Lucraft, Holyoake etc.[59] Letter of Marx in Daily News about Address.

First Edition[60] exhausted.

4 July. Mc Donnell elected.

Correspondence of Cafiero.[61] Robert Reid sent with Address as lecturer on the Commune to the Provinces.

Major Wolff (Tibaldi etc.) Marx and "Pall Mall.[62]

11 July. Assi-Bigot affair, (Lumley, barrister, present) Address on Washburne[63]

Rutson (Bruce) applies for the published documents of the International.

18 July. Richard Affair (not admitted as member) Elliot (rejected).

Herman elected as Belgian secretary. Refugee—money question.

25 July. New Orleans branch. ("La Commune", their organ.) Pope[64] and Mazzini against the International.[65]

Robin brings Swiss affair forward. Referred to a Conference.

Private Conference Resolved upon (for 17 September).[66]

1 August. Bishop of Malines,[67] Catholic Workingmen's International Association. Washington section.

Rochat's Proposition as to formation of Enquiry (through and from the Refugees) on the History of the Commune (Cohn.)

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 Communard Exportation Scheme.)

29 August. Deputation from Refugees' Society. Quarrel.[68]

5 September. Marx, Engels, Hales, Jung resign as members of Refugees' Committee. Propositions as to Conference.

  1. ↑ In his letter of September 3, 1869 Gustave Cluseret expressed his regret that he could not attend the Basle Congress and asked the delegates to work out a specific programme of action for the workers of all countries and to adopt an address to the American workers calling for solidarity with the International.
  2. ↑ Report of the Fourth Annual Congress of the International Working Men's Association, held at Basle, in Switzerland. From the 6th to the 11th September, 1869. London [1869].— Ed.
  3. ↑ See the appeal "A toutes les sections de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs", L'Internationale, No. 38, October 3, 1869.— Ed.
  4. ↑ This refers to Eugene Varlin's letter to Jung of September 29, 1869. As he intended to publish the Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's Association, Varlin asked Jung to send him all the resolutions of the Basle Congress concerning the relations of the General Council with federal councils, the procedure for expelling sections, etc. The French translation of the Rules, with some Proudhonist distortions, was published on September 19, 1869 in La Commerce,—a small newspaper of the commercial employees' trade union.
  5. ↑ See "L'Organisation de l'Internationale", L'Egalité, No. 43, November 13, 1869.— Ed.
  6. ↑ See "Draft Resolution of the General Council on the Policy of the British Government Towards the Irish Prisoners" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 83).— Ed.
  7. ↑ "Réflexions", L'Egalité, No. 47, December 11, 1869.— Ed
  8. ↑ K. Marx, "The General Council to the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 84).— Ed.
  9. ↑ On December 11, 1869, a specimen issue of Die Tagwacht, the organ of the German sections of the International in Switzerland, was published in Zurich. It carried a programmatic article containing the following demands: separation of the church from the State and of the school from the church, free tuition in institutions of higher education, free medical aid, nationalisation of railways, prohibition of child labour in factories, a reduction of working hours, and government supervision over factories. A Bakuninist criticism of the programme appeared in Le Progrès, No. 28, December 25, 1869 and L'Égalité, No. 1, January 1, 1870.
  10. ↑ This refers to the letter sent by the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland to Jung on January 4, 1870. The Council declared its disagreement with L'Égalité's attacks on the General Council and stated that the Alliance of Socialist Democracy had not been admitted to the Romance Federation, nor had its aims anything to do with those of the International. The private letter written on the same date by the secretary of the Federal Council, Henri Perret, informed Jung about the Bakuninists' withdrawal from the editorial board of the paper. The letters were posted from Geneva prior to the receipt of the circular letter "The General Council to the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland" (see present edition, Vol. 21).
  11. ↑ K. Marx, "The General Council to the Federal Council of Romance Switzerland" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 84).—Ed.
  12. ↑ A reference to the Paris Société des prolétaires positivistes, whose programme was based on Auguste Comte's ideas. At the beginning of 1870, the General Council, taking into account the working-class composition of the society, admitted it to the International as a section; at the same time, the society's programme was sharply criticised (see Marx's letter to Engels of March 19, 1870, present edition, Vol. 43).
  13. ↑ At a meeting of the Sub-Committee of the General Council on October 8, 1864, Luigi Wolff proposed that the Rules of the Italian Working Men's Association, written by Mazzini and translated into English by Wolff, should be adopted as the Rules of the International. Mazzini's Rules gave the organisation a sectarian and conspiratorial character. The Sub-Committee, or the Standing Committee, of the General Council of the International developed from a committee set up in the early period of the International Working Men's Association in 1864 to draw up its programme and Rules. The Sub-Committee consisted of corresponding secretaries for various countries, the General Secretary of the General Council, and a treasurer. The Sub-Committee, which was not envisaged by the Rules of the International, was an executive body; under Marx's direction, it fulfilled a wide range of duties in the day-to-day guidance of the International and drafting its documents, which were subsequently submitted to the General Council for approval.
  14. ↑ K. Marx, "Concerning the Conflict in the Lyons Section" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 108).— Ed.
  15. ↑ This line is written in pencil.— Ed.
  16. ↑ This speech was made by Marx on September 18, 1871 at the sitting of the commission elected by the London Conference to consider the question of the Bakuninists' splitting activities in the International's sections of Romance Switzerland. Bakunin's followers used several Swiss newspapers to attack the General Council and propagate Bakunin's ideas. At the Congress in La Chaux-de-Fonds, held in April 1870, the Bakuninists won an insignificant majority. The representatives of the Geneva sections refused to comply with the decisions of the Congress. The General Council repudiated the attempts by the Bakuninist Council to take over the powers of a central, leading body of the International in Switzerland. As a result of the sharp criticism of the Bakuninists' activities by Marx and Engels, who were supported by a majority of the International's sections, the leaders of the Alliance did not venture to come out against the General Council openly and, some weeks before the London Conference, they declared the Alliance dissolved, but wanted to keep it secretly. Marx and Engels considered the unmasking of the Bakuninists' activities and ideas, which introduced disorganisation into the working-class movement, to be an important task of the London Conference. The Conference commission expressed its agreement with Marx's conclusions and exposed the attempts on the part of the Bakuninist Robin to justify the Alliance's activities in Switzerland. The question of the Alliance was subsequently discussed at the Conference which, on September 21, approved the report made by Marx on behalf of the commission and unanimously passed the resolutions moved by him (see this volume, pp. 419-22, 429-31).
  17. ↑ The reference is to Guillaume's letter to Jung of April 21, 1870 in connection with the split at the Congress in La Chaux-de-Fonds (see Note 256).
  18. ↑ K. Marx, "Concerning the Persecution of the Members of the French Sections. Declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 127).— Ed.
  19. ↑ K. Marx, "Draft Resolution of the General Council on the French Federal Section in London" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 131).— Ed.
  20. ↑ K. Marx, "Resolution of the General Council on The Bee-Hive" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 126).— Ed.
  21. ↑ K. Marx. "The Lock-out of the Building Trades in Geneva" (present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 137-39).— Ed.
  22. ↑ At the meeting of the General Council on June 28, 1870, Weston said that, if the Alliance of Socialist Democracy "advised abstention from politics and acted upon that", the General Council "would disqualify them from acting as administrators. The Alliance was only tolerated on condition of conforming to the Rules".
  23. ↑ K. Marx, "General Council Resolution on the Federal Committee of Romance Switzerland. The General Council to the Romance Federal Committee" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 136).— Ed.
  24. ↑ This refers to the third trial (June 22-July 5, 1870) of the International members arrested in France for alleged participation in the conspiracy against Napoleon III. The charge fell through and the accused were tried for being members of the International (see Note 2).
  25. ↑ This refers t o the so-called French Section in London, founded in the autumn of 1865 by a group of French petty-bourgeois refugees in London, followers of Félix Pyat. Having lost contact with the International, they continued to call themselves the French section in London and to issue documents in the name of the International Working Men's Association. When a third trial against members of the International was being prepared in France, the incriminating material included documents of the so-called French section in London. The meeting of the General Council on May 10, 1870 adopted a resolution that the French section had nothing in common with the International (see present edition, Vol. 21). At the General Council meeting on July 12, 1870 Lemaître "regretted very much that there should exist a difference between the Council and the French branch... He considered the differences only personal".
  26. ↑ K. Marx, "Confidential Communication to All Sections" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 142).— Ed
  27. ↑ K. Marx, "Programme for the Mainz Congress of the International" (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 143).—Ed.
  28. ↑ See this volume, pp. 3-8.— Ed.
  29. ↑ See "Motiviertes Votum der Reichstagsabgeordneten Liebknecht und Bebel in Sachen der 120 Millionen Kriegsanleihe", Der Volksstaat, No. 59, July 29, 1870.— Ed.
  30. ↑ Beginning from here the notes are in Engels' hand.— Ed.
  31. ↑ "Le Conseil général de Londres...", La Solidarité, No. 16, July 23, 1870.— Ed.
  32. ↑ See this volume, pp. 260-62.—-Ed.
  33. ↑ Ibid., pp. 263-70.— Ed.
  34. ↑ On September 9, 1870 five members of the Committee of the German Social-Democratic Workers' Party, a member of the Party and a printer, were arrested in Germany for publishing the manifesto on war (see this volume, p. 271). Manifest des Ausschusses der socialdemokratischen Arbeiterpartei. An alledeutschen Arbeiter! appeared as a leaflet on September 5, 1870 and was also published in Der Volksstaat, No. 73, September 11, 1870. Four Social-Democrats who took part in the demonstration prohibited by the police were expelled from Mayence as not being natives or citizens of the town.
  35. ↑ The deputation of English workers and democratic organisations was received by the Prime Minister Gladstone on September 27, 1870. It included several trade union leaders (Applegarth, Coulson, Dodson and others) and prominent bourgeois-democratic leaders (Beesly, Congreve). They asked for Britain to recognise the French Republic and to promote peace. Gladstone got away with indefinite promises to facilitate the termination of the war.
  36. ↑ The news of the defeat at Sedan caused an uprising in Lyons on September 4, 1870. On his arrival in Lyons on September 15, Bakunin tried to head the movement and implement his anarchist programme. On September 28, the anarchists attempted a coup d'état, which was a complete failure. The Minute Book of the General Council mistakenly has "September 27".
  37. ↑ [K. Marx,] "Deuxième adresse du Conseil général de l'Association internationale des Travailleurs au sujet de la guerre", L'Internationale, No. 93, October 23, 1870.— Ed.
  38. ↑ The joint meeting of the German and French sections of New York was held on October 16, 1870. The address to the workers of Europe, adopted by these sections, was the first joint document of the New York sections of the International. It was published in a number of newspapers, and also issued in leaflet form in French and in English.
  39. ↑ The Anglo-French Intervention Committee was founded in October 1870 by the petty-bourgeois leaders of the International Democratic Association (see Note 354) and trade union members of the Land and Labour League (see Note 350), with the leaders of the British Positivists playing a prominent role. Its programme demanded immediate recognition of the French Republic by Britain, condemnation of Prussia's aggressive policy and the conclusion of a defensive treaty with France. Taking advantage of the discontent with the British government's pro Prussian policy among part of the workers, the Committee's leaders tried to head the movement in support of the French Republic and organised several meetings in London in October-November 1870.
  40. ↑ From Sorge's letter, dated October 30, 1870, Marx learned about the preparations for the mass anti-war meeting that was held in New York on November 19, 1870. It was organised by the International's sections, trades unions, the Free Thinkers' Society and other associations. Attended by nearly 2,000 people, the meeting adopted an address condemning the continued war against the French Republic and the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, and called on the US Government to exert its influence to render assistance to the French Republic.
  41. ↑ Then follows Marx's note in pencil: "The Romance Federal Committee in Geneva during the 1869-70 refused [the Alliance] affiliation to the Romance Federation of the International Association. The section was recognized by the General Council." Beginning from here the notes are written by Marx.— Ed.
  42. ↑ The Central Committee of the International Working Men's Association for the United States was formed on December 1, 1870 by delegates from several sections of the International: German Section No. 1, French Section No. 2 and Czech Section No. 3.
  43. ↑ The German workers' educational societies in Switzerland, whose press organ was the Swiss Felleisen, joined the International at their congress in Neuchâtel in August 1868. The growing nationalist tendencies in these societies after Germany's victory in the Franco-Prussian war led to their withdrawal from the International (see Marx's letter to Jung of January 18, 1871, present edition, Vol. 44).
  44. ↑ On January 6 and 10, 1871, meetings for the recognition of the French Republic by Britain were held in St. James's Hall. At these meetings Odger moved a resolution extolling the Government of National Defence and its Foreign Minister Jules Favre.
  45. ↑ See this volume, pp. 263-70.— Ed.
  46. ↑ The Lanci Tenure Reform Association was founded in July 1869 under the auspices of John Stuart Mill. Its aim was to revive the class of small farmers by leasing small plots of waste land to the unemployed.
  47. ↑ The Land and Labour League was set up in London in October 1869 with the participation of the General Council. The League's programme was drawn up by Eccarius with Marx's help (see Address of the Land and Labour League to the Working Men and Women of Great Britain and Ireland, present edition, Vol. 21). Marx held that the League could play a certain role in revolutionising the working class and regarded it as a means for establishing an independent proletarian party in England.
  48. ↑ This refers to the Déclaration réglant divers points de droit maritime, a codicil to the Paris Treaty of 1856 which concluded the Crimean war of 1853-56. The Declaration set up rules for warfare at sea, envisaged the abolition of privateering, immunity of neutral goods in enemy vessels and of enemy goods in neutral vessels (with the exception of war contraband), and the recognition of a blockade only if actually effective. In their speeches at the General Council meetings of January 31 and March 7, 1871, Marx and Engels put forward the demand that, because of the international situation, Britain should renounce the Paris Declaration, and argued that this step would serve as a means of preventing Tsarist Russia entering the Franco-Prussian war as Prussia's ally.
  49. ↑ See this volume, pp. 286-87.— Ed.
  50. ↑ In the autumn of 1870, the English republican movement gained strength as a result of the campaign for the recognition of the French Republic by Britain. In the spring of 1871, under the influence of the Paris Commune, a Left wing began to take shape which put social content into the republican slogans and actively supported the Commune. The General Council of the International took advantage of the numerous republican meetings to organise a campaign in support of the Commune. One of the meetings was held at Wellington Music Hall on March 22, 1871. This meeting, chaired by Odger, resolved to form a Central Republican Association and elected an Executive Committee, which included Odger, Eccarius and others.
  51. ↑ Ibid., p. 294.— Ed.
  52. ↑ Ibid., p. 297.— Ed.
  53. ↑ Marx is referring to the letter from John Wallis, Secretary of the Canterbury Working Men's Mutual Protection Society, dated February 16, 1871. John Wallis asked that the English workers who wanted to emigrate to New Zealand be warned that there was unemployment there and that the authorities and police compelled immigrants to work for scanty wages. The letter was included in the report on the General Council meeting published in The Eastern Post, No. 137, May 13, 1871.
  54. ↑ Ibid., pp. 307-59.— Ed.
  55. ↑ The International Democratic Association consisted of petty-bourgeois French and German immigrants in London and also included English Republicans. In April 1871, members of the Association founded the Universa Republican League. Its leaders attempted to involve the General Council of the International in it, but their proposition was rejected unanimously at the General Council meeting on April 25, 1871 (see Engels' letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht of April 20, 1871, present edition, Vol. 44.)
  56. ↑ See this volume, p. 361.— Ed.
  57. ↑ Ibid., pp. 367-68.— Ed.
  58. ↑ Ibid., p. 369.— Ed.
  59. ↑ Ibid., pp. 372-73.— Ed.
  60. ↑ Of The Civil War in France.—Ed.
  61. ↑ In his letter of June 12, 1871, Cafiero wrote about his contacts with workers' societies in Italy.
  62. ↑ See this volume, p. 378.— Ed.
  63. ↑ Ibid., pp. 379-82.— Ed
  64. ↑ Pius IX.— Ed.
  65. ↑ See this volume, pp. 607-08.— Ed
  66. ↑ Ibid., p. 609.— Ed
  67. ↑ V. A. Dechamps.— Ed
  68. ↑ The Refugees' Society, formed in London in July 1871, tried to take over the right to distribute money collected by the General Council for the refugees and to establish direct ties with the International's sections in other countries in order, bypassing the General Council, to obtain money collected by them for the refugees or information about the sums being sent to the General Council. Early in 1872, this society was reorganised into a mutual aid society,