Letter to Karl Marx, April 18, 1870

Author(s) Paul Lafargue
Written 18 April 1870


First published in Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, No. 5, Moscow, 1964
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


PAUL LAFARGUE TO MARX

IN LONDON

Paris, [18 April 1870]

My dear Mr Marx,[1]

I have just returned from the labour federation conference about which Laura wrote you in her letter.[2] All the sections of the International, all the labour groups and all the corporations were convoked[3] ; each group sent one or two delegates. There were at least 1,200 or 1,300 members of the International or delegates from different labour groups. The Rules which had been drawn up by a commission were adopted unanimously; except for paragraph 2 to which was added a new amendment, the gist of which is that all the sections would appoint substitute delegates who would be prepared to assume their functions should the government ever arrest the members of the Federal Council. This proves to you how far the working class has come along; your advice given in the Basle manifesto 'if you want freedom you must take it' was heeded and understood.[4] Thanks to the International, which, owing to the federal bureau of labour societies, has made enormous strides since the last elections, the working class has a sense of its power and wants to take action whatever the cost. The mutualist group[5] is shattered; it was not represented at the conference; it vigorously opposed all calls for federation. What was most encouraging about the assembly was the need for centralisation felt by all members as well as the acute and precise awareness the working class had of its individuality as a class and of its antagonism towards the bourgeoisie. As champion of class struggle, you would have enjoyed attending this rally. Following the Rules vote delegates spoke about the plebiscite and of the manner in which the working class ought to conduct itself; all the speakers were in favour of abstention but considered it an opportune time to draw up a manifesto. A commission was appointed of which I am a member. It met that same evening to discuss the manifesto's groundwork, etc.[6] The document should contain the following three main points:

1) The empire is not recognised as having the right to ask questions;

2) insofar as the empire represents the bourgeoisie, the people have nothing to do with the improvements of the imperial constitution;

3) the necessity of abstaining or casting a blank ballot must be impressed upon peasants. Appointed as literary editors were Tolain, Avrial, Paul-Laurent, etc... That's what happened yesterday.

You must have seen in the Marseillaise the big notice of the French section[7] ; fortunately, however, it has as much influence here as a spit in the sea. When the Federal Council is constituted an order will be given to the Marseillaise not to print anything on the International without the authorisation of the Federal Council; you must know that the Marseillaise is at the mercy of the International and that if the latter ever placed its notices in the Réveil, the Marseillaise would die.

I could get myself appointed by any section as a member of the Federal Council but I believe it would be better if I were the representative of the London Council; would you like to appoint me next Tuesday representative of the Council to the Paris federation? The International has some invaluable members here; Varlin in particular has a talent for organisation and an influence which cannot be overestimated. Combault, delegate of the Vaugirard section is also an invaluable member; he is a most eloquent speaker, is adept at handling matters in a lively and amusing fashion and is liked even by those he lampoons. He has the wit of a Gaudissart. Thank you for your letter. I shall heed your advice but I do not believe that it will sway Verlet, who is more of an enthusiast than a tactician.[8] As for my father, I believe you will do well to speak to him in such a manner; it will be better for you, for him and for me.

You think that the pseudonym Paul-Laurent is altogether sentimental in origin; 'sentiment' does in fact play into it to a small degree, but there is more to it than that, as the following item published in the Libre pensée will prove to you.

'In our last issue we said that our collaborator Paul Lafargue, not wishing to be confused with the Lafargues of the Figaro and Paris-faillite stores, felt compelled [s'était senti forcé] to add the name Laurent. The inveterate wit of Figaro, a purist of broken French, informs us that the rules of syntax do not allow the figurative use of the verb 'to feel' [sentir]. Do not the words vil me sens' bring to mind in the Lafargue in question (Gustave) the name of a certain person (Villemessant)? At any rate the scholar Guguste, whose every lucubration is felt to reveal his character [sentent la terroir] should try hard to avoid appearing pedantic [sentent le pédant] if he does not want people to see just how ignorant he really is [qu'on ne sente trop son ignorance].[9]

Since the Libre pensée is a purely literary newspaper it will not be possible to publish the Rules in it, but once the Federal Council reprints the Rules I shall, if I am a member of it, oversee the operation most carefully[10] ; that will be more important.

Greetings to Williams (Jenny). I let Prudhomme in on the literary secret.[11] I saw Franckel who is taking great pleasure in spreading it everywhere.

Greetings to all.

Heartily,

P. Lafargue

  1. ↑ Marx's answer see on pp. 489 93 of this volume.
  2. ↑ Marx refers to Laura Lafargue's letter of 18 April 1870. Calling her Laurent, Marx hints at Paul-Laurent, the pen-name of Paul Lafargue (see Note 615; see also this volume, p. 557).
  3. ↑ The Paris Federation of the International Working Men's Association was founded on 18 April 1870, at a general meeting of the International's sections in Paris under the chairmanship of Louis Eugène Varlin. The meeting, which attracted 1,200-1,300 participants, adopted the Rules of the Federation (see this volume, pp. 555-56). However, the police reprisals and arrests of the International's members which began in France late in April 1870 in connection with preparations for the plebiscite (see Note 612) disrupted the activities of the Federation.
  4. ↑ A reference to Marx's 'Report of the General Council to the Fourth Annual Congress of the International Working Men's Association' read at the Basle Congress meeting on 7 September 1869. Lafargue paraphrases the following passage: 'But the workmen on the Continent ... begin ... to understand that the surest way to get one's natural rights is to exercise them at one's personal risk' (present edition, Vol. 21, p. 77).
  5. ↑ Mutuellistes—in the 1860s, the name given to the right wing of the Proudhonists who were members of the French sections of the International.
  6. ↑ A reference to the document in which the Paris Federation of the International's sections defined its tactics with respect to the plebiscite scheduled for 8 May 1870 (see Note 612). The leadership of the International's sections in France recommended that the voters should abstain or cast their ballots blank. Manifeste antiplébiscitaire des Sections parisiennes fédérées de l'Internationale et de la Chambre fédérale des Sociétés ouvrières à tous les travailleurs français was published in La Marseillaise, No. 125, 24 April 1870 and issued in Paris as a leaflet at the same time.
  7. ↑ A reference to the address of the so-called London French Section on the question of the plebiscite, 'Adresse aux citoyens français', which appeared in La Marseillaise, No. 116, 15 April 1870. In connection with this and other documents of this organisation, which illegally used the name of the International, on 10 May the General Council approved Marx's statement which stressed that the Section had 'ceased ... to have any connection whatever with the General Council in London or any Branch of that Association on the continent' (see present edition, Vol. 21, p. 131).
  8. ↑ Lafargue is replying to Marx's advice to avoid any distinctive names except territorial designations when setting up new sections of the International (see this volume, p. 485). Later, the London Conference of the International held on 17-23 September 1871, granted this recommendation, which was spearheaded against sectarianism, the status of a clause in the Rules (see present edition, Vol. 22, pp. 423-24).
  9. ↑ The note quoted by Lafargue appeared in La Libre pensée, No. 13, 16 April 1870. It puns on the pen-name of Villemessant, well known reactionary journalist, and the French expression 'vil me sens' (I am feeling low). 'Paris-faillite' (Bankrupt Paris) is a dig at the gutter police sheet Paris-Journal.
  10. ↑ The first French edition of the International's Rules, 'Congrès ouvrier. Association Internationale des Travailleurs. Règlement Provisoire', was published by the French Section of the International set up in Paris in 1864 by the workers Tolain, Fribourg and others, who had Proudhonist sympathies. The translation, which appeared in early January 1865, contained a number of distortions and errors. (See present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 89-90.) In November 1866, after the Geneva Congress, which approved the Provisional Rules, Marx and Lafargue published a verified translation of the Rules of the International Working Men's Association and the Administrative Regulations, but that edition was not widely distributed in France, since it was almost entirely confiscated by the French police. On 18 April, replying to a proposal by Marx, Lafargue wrote that it was impossible to publish the Rules in La Libre pensée, since the newspaper was registered as a purely literary publication (see this volume, p. 557). However, Lafargue managed to get the verified translation of the Rules published, and it appeared in Paris after 20 April 1870. The translation had been checked by Lafargue. Against a background of mounting police reprisals in France, it became necessary to expedite the publication of the Rules and Lafargue had no chance to send the manuscript to Marx for review. In June 1870, Lafargue's translation was published for the second time in: Procès de l'Association Internationale des travailleurs. Première et deuxième commission du Bureau de Paris, Deuxième édition, Paris, juin 1870.
  11. ↑ A reference to the series of eight articles on the Irish question written by Marx's daughter Jenny and published in La Marseillaise between 1 March and 24 April 1870, under the pen-name of J. Williams (see present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 414-41). The third article was written by Jenny in collaboration with her father. In subject-matter they have a connection with Marx's essay 'The English Government and the Fenian Prisoners' (see Note 556)