Letter to Cesare Bert, June 7, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 7 June 1872


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow 1935
Translated from the Italian
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


ENGELS TO CESARE BERT

IN TURIN

[Resume of a letter]

[London, 7 June 1872]

[...] In Milan, Ferrara, Naples, everywhere there are friends of Bakunin.[1] As for the Workers' Union[2] of Bologna, it has never written us a word. The Jura party, abandoned on all sides, seems to want to make Italy its great fortress. This party has formed, in

the midst of the International, a secret society ' which seeks to control it; we have proof of this as regards Spain, and the situation in Italy must be the same. These men, who always have the words autonomy and free federation on their lips, treat the workers like a flock of sheep, only good for being steered by the leaders of this secret society, using it for purposes of which the mass is unaware. You had a good example in Terzaghi (an investigation is being demanded into the handing over of the letter). Having rebelled against the whole organisation of the International, and knowing that it will have great difficulty in justifying itself at the Congress next September,[3] the Jura Committee is now looking for letters and mandates from the General Council in order to fabricate false accusations against us. I, like all of us, willingly consent to all letters being read to the Congress, but we do not find it agreeable to learn that the same letters, written for this or that section, have been put at the disposal of these gentlemen.

The circular[4] makes things known. We urge you meanwhile to suspend all decisions and you will subsequently act as the interest of the International dictates. I hope you will find that it is not the General Council, but these men of the Jura, acting solely to further the personal ambitions of Bakunin, head of the secret society, who have sown discord.

(Ask for immediate reply about the letter.)

  1. ↑ This sentence, the one opening the next paragraph, and the two parentheses are in German in the original, the rest of the text IC i n T t i l l i n is in Italian
  2. ↑ Yhe Fascio Operaio (Workers' Union) was founded on 27 November 1871 in Bologna with Erminio Pescatori as its leader. The Union did not directly declare that it was joining the International, but its manifesto, which was approved on 4 December, did proclaim the principle of international solidarity of the working people. The Union acted as a governing centre for similar organisations formed at the turn of 1871-72 in a number of towns in the Emilia-Romagna (Imola, Forli, Lugo, Rimini, etc.). It did not maintain regular contacts with the International.
  3. ↑ On 11 June 1872, on Marx's suggestion, the General Council resolved to convene a regular Congress in Holland on 2 September 1872 and decided on the principal item on the agenda, the consolidation of the International's organisation (revision of the General Rules and Administrative Regulations). At its next meeting on 18 June the Council decided on The Hague as the venue for the Congress and appointed a special commission (Engels, Edouard Vaillant, Joseph MacDonnel) to prepare an official announcement of the forthcoming Congress. The announcement was written by Engels and despatched to The International Herald, which published it on 29 June 1872 (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 170-73).—325, 366, 372, 374, 376, 392, 396, 398, 401, 404, 407, 409, 411-13, 415, 417, 418, 422, 425, 426
  4. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, Fictitious Splits in the International.