Letter to Friedrich Adolph Sorge, November 6, 1871

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 6 November 1871


First published in Briefe und Auszüge aus Briefen von Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx u. A. an F. A. Sorge und Andere, Stuttgart, 1906
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


MARX TO FRIEDRICH ADOLPH SORGE

IN HOBOKEN

[London,] 6 November 1871

Dear Friend,

Today 100 copies (50 in French and 50 in English) of the Conference resolutions[1] are being sent off to New York. The decisions not intended for publication will be communicated to you later.

A new, revised edition of the Rules and Regulations[2] is due to appear in English tomorrow, and you will receive 1,000 copies for sale in America (Id. each). The text must not be translated into French and German in New York, as we are issuing official editions in both languages.[3] Write us how many copies in each language will be wanted.

I have turned over the correspondence with the German Section and the New York Committee[4] to Eccarius (he has been appointed to handle that at my suggestion), since my time does not allow me to perform this function properly.

Section 12 (New York) has submitted proposals to the General Council that it be constituted the leader in America. Eccarius will have sent the decisions against these pretensions and for the present Committee[5] to Section 12.[6]

As for the Washington BRANCH (which has sent the General Council a list of its members), the New York Committee went too far.[7] It had no right to demand anything but the number of members and the name, etc., of the corresponding secretary.

More in the next letter (this week).[8]

Yours,

K. M.

  1. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, 'Resolutions of the Conference of Delegates of the International Working Men's Association Assembled at London from 17th to 23rd September 1871'.
  2. ↑ K. Marx, General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's Association.
  3. ↑ The London Conference adopted a decision to put out a new authentic edition of the International's Rules and Administrative Regulations in English, French and German (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 3-20). This edition appeared in English as a pamphlet published in London in November 1871. The French edition appeared in December 1871. The official German edition appeared in Der Volksstaat on 10 February 1872, and as a separate publication in Leipzig in 1872.
  4. ↑ the Central Committee of the International Working Men's Association for North America
  5. ↑ See 'Résolution du Conseil général de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs, en réponse à l'application de la section 12 de New York'.
  6. ↑ Section No. 12 joined the American sections of the International in July 1871. Its leaders, the feminists Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin, began campaigning for bourgeois reforms on behalf of the International. On 27 September 1871, without the knowledge of the New York Central Committee, Section No. 12 demanded that the General Council recognise it as the leading body of the International in the USA. Simultaneously it campaigned in the press against the sections which upheld the proletarian character of the International.
    In its resolution of 5 November 1871 the General Council rejected the claims of Section No. 12 and confirmed the powers of the New York Central Committee. Nevertheless Section No. 12 continued to act in the same vein, which led to a split between the proletarian and petty-bourgeois sections. In March 1872 the General Council expelled Section No. 12 from the International, and in September 1872 this decision was confirmed by the Hague Congress.
  7. ↑ The International's Central Committee for North America proposed that all sections submit to the Committee lists of their members with addresses and occupations. Washington's Section No. 23 responded by declaring that it preferred to maintain direct contact with the International's General Council residing in London rather than with the Central Committee.
  8. ↑ See this volume, pp. 241-42.