To the Federal Council of the Spanish Region in Madrid

Author(s) First International
Frederick Engels
Written 25 November 1871


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXVI, Moscow, 1935
Printed according to the rough manuscript
Translated from the Spanish
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 23

London, November 25, 1871

Since the return of Citizen Lorenzo from the last conference[1] we have not had any news from you. I have written two letters to you; the last one, dated the eighth of this November, which was registered, asked you to write to us immediately to explain this long silence. We have not yet received any answer but we have heard that a small minority of members of the International, seeking to sow divisions in the ranks of the association, is conspiring against the resolutions of the Conference and the General Council, spreading calumnies of all sorts.[2] We have no doubt that your mysterious silence is caused by your having received letters of this type. If this is the case, we want you to inform us of the accusations and insinuations expressed against us, as is your duty, so that we can refute them.

In any case, you cannot prolong this silence which is contrary to our General Rules which instruct you to send us regular reports. We ask for an immediate reply to this letter; if you do not reply to it, we shall have to conclude that your silence is deliberate and that you believe the calumnies which we have mentioned, without having the courage to inform us of them. And we shall have to proceed in that case in the manner which the interest of the International will dictate.

  1. ↑ London Conference.— Ed.
  2. ↑ Engels is referring to the Bakuninists who, within the International, set up branches of their secret Alliance of Socialist Democracy in a number of Spanish cities in 1870-71 and tried to seize the leadership in the Spanish Federal Council. The letters, sent by Engels to the Spanish Federal Council, after the London Conference, in particular that of November 8, 1871, are not extant.