Letter to César de Paepe, May 28, 1872

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 28 May 1872


First published in L'Actualité de l'histoire, No. 25, Paris, 1958
Printed according to the original
Translated from the French
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44


MARX TO CÉSAR DE PAEPE

IN BRUSSELS

[London,] 28 May 1872

My dear Friend,

Enclosed is a statement by the General Council against Vésinier

[1] [2]

and Co.[3] for the Brussels L'Internationale. The same thing has been sent to the Liberté,

1) because it needs publicity, 2) because Mr Steens has suppressed the General Council's reply to the British Parliament which was sent to him.[4]

I have read the report on the Belgian Congress[5] in the L'Internationale.[6] How is it that the Flemish are not included among the delegates? Generally speaking, according to the information received here by the French from their compatriots, it would not seem that the International has made much headway in Belgium after the events of the Commune.

For my part I should be ready to accept the Hins draft (with modifications of detail), not because I think it is good, but because it is always better to make certain experiments than to lull oneself with illusions.

It is very characteristic of the Alliance's tactics: in Spain, where it is strongly organised although it has lost the support of the Spanish Federal Council, it attacked at the Barcelona Council all elements of organisation, the Federal Council, etc., as well as the General Council. In Belgium, where 'prejudices' have to be taken into account, it has been proposed that the General Council be abolished with its functions being transferred to the Federal Councils (this was opposed at Barcelona) and even enlarged.

I can hardly wait for the next Congress. It will be the end of my slavery. After that I shall become a free man again; I shall accept no administrative functions any more, either for the General Council or for the British Federal Council.

Yours as ever,

Karl Marx

  1. ↑ Marx intended to resign from the General Council of the International after the Hague Congress.
  2. ↑ But moderation in all things (Horace, Satires, I, 1).
  3. ↑ K. Marx, 'Declaration of the General Council Concerning the Universal Federalist Council'.
  4. ↑ K. Marx, 'Declaration of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association Concerning Cochrane's Speech in the House of Commons'.
  5. ↑ 'Congrès ouvrier belge', L'Internationale, No. 176, 26 May 1872.
  6. ↑ The congress of the Belgian Federation held in Brussels on 19-20 May 1872 considered the draft Rules which had been drawn up by the Belgian Federal Council on the instructions of the Federation's congress held on 24-25 December 1871 (see Note 404). Under this draft, which was written by Eugène Hins, the powers of the General Council to all intents and purposes were to be annulled and the Council turned into a mere correspondence and statistical bureau. After heated debates the congress decided to submit the draft for discussion by the sections, and then for approval by the Federation's extraordinary congress scheduled for July 1872 (see Note 568).