Letter to Johann Philipp Becker, August 5, 1872

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 5 August 1872


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


ENGELS TO JOHANN PHILIPP BECKER

IN GENEVA

London, 5 August 1872

My dear old Friend,

The fact that the Congress is to be held in The Hague[1] is due, above all, to your unfortunate split[2] on the question of revising the constitution. We could not foresee where that would lead and had no time to waste. However, there are also the following considerations to be borne in mind:

1. We have not overestimated the strength of the Jurassians. On their own count, and this is confirmed by their membership dues, they number 294, including Section Longemalle with 62, and also 74 newly joined graveurs and guillocheurs.[3] But we know their tactics. Of the 62 Longemallers every one would have managed to obtain an illicit mandate by some means or other; then there are the people from the Jura itself, say a dozen, and then some 20 Italians and 6 Spaniards—which makes more than enough. In these circumstances some of the Belgians would have gone over to their side.

2. As for the forged mandates, they would have around 30-40 from America (from the Woodhull people), around a dozen from here (from the sections forming the UNIVERSAL FEDERALIST COUNCIL[4] which have never been affiliated to the International), around 50-60 from the German Schweitzerians who joined the Federalist Council directly, and if they play their cards well, they would also receive a fair number from Spain. I shall deal with Italy in a moment. So there was every chance that when the mandates are scrutinised—and this time everything depends on that—the societies which wish to force their way into the International without ever having belonged to it would have been able to gain entry with a majority, particularly when you remember how tolerant the workers usually are in such matters and how things worked out at all previous Congresses. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that there will be enough sections on our side, too, whose dues are not in order and which will have to take an indulgent line in voting so as to ensure that they too may be[5] treated indulgently. And if that were to happen we would have had no choice but to take our hats and leave the Internatio- nal.

3. You underestimate the power of the Alliance in Italy. In the whole of Italy we have only one section, Turin, of whose quality we are certain; and perhaps Ferrara. Milan has been, since Cuno's departure, completely in the hands of the Bakuninists, Naples always was and the Fascio Operaio in Emilia, the Romagna and Tuscany[6] is wholly under Bakunin's influence. These people constitute an International of their own, they have never applied for membership, have never paid dues, but they act as if they belonged to the International. Directed by members of the secret Alliance, they are very numerous and at a rate of 1 delegate for 50 members they could easily elect 40 delegates, 15-20 of whom would be sent from there and the rest would come from Longemalle, provided with blank mandates.

4. The Belgians will not swamp The Hague, they are reluctant to pay. Moreover, the last Congress in Brussels has proved that when matters come to a head, they are not so bad at all. They have resolved that only sections that have been properly recog- nised can be represented in The Hague, and that is the main thing.

5. Finally, you should have read Schwitzguébel's hypocritical letter[7] complaining that the Congress is not to be held in Switzerland and already giving a gentle hint of a future protest.[8]

If nothing else had shown me that we were pursuing the right tactics, this would.

At all events, pack your things and come, you will see that all will be well. But only if we, too, turn out in force. The others[9] are fanatics, they have a number of wealthy bourgeois on a string who are willing to pay, and they have no expenses themselves the whole year through. If our friends were half as active as they, matters would never have deteriorated to such a point. From America Sorge and Dereure are coming, the others (the Woodhul- lers) are sending 3, including a petticoat. All of us will come, of course. See to it that the Swiss spare no expense this time and that they are properly represented. Especially the Swiss Ger- mans.

Incidentally, we shall be launching a bombshell tomorrow evening which will cause no small panic among the Bakuninists. It is a public statement about the continued existence of the Alliance de la démocratie socialiste as a secret society.[10] We have at long last received the necessary material and the proof of this from Spain[11] and are launching an attack without delay on the Spanish Federal Council, which has 5 members of the Alliance on it. The Emancipation in Madrid opened fire last Saturday week[12] and there should be quite a battle. Of course, you will receive a copy for the Egalité without delay. Those swine imagined that with their secret organisation they could direct the entire International from Locarno.[13] But this revelation will break their necks, and if Switzerland and Germany exert themselves just a little bit so that the Alliance people do not get a majority after all through the negligence of our friends, then the whole bubble will burst and we shall have peace and quiet at last.

I shall pass on your instructions to Frankel and Lessner tomorrow.

Vaillant is jogging along here as always, he is busy with chemistry and Rule-revision,[14] something in which he takes a great interest.

Regards from Marx.

Your

F. Engels

  1. ↑ 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
  2. ↑ On 12 May 1872 a plebiscite rejected the government draft bill under which the Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, adopted on 12 September 1848, was to be revised. The draft bill, which provided for the introduction of a uniform army, school and legislation for the entire country, caused disagree ment within the International's sections in Switzerland, with the supporters of stronger central authority on one side, and those who advocated retention of the cantons' autonomous rights on the other.
  3. ↑ engravers and etchers
  4. ↑ In April 1872 the Universal Federalist Council was formed in London, comprising what was left of the French Section of 1871 (see Note 338), some of the Lassalleans expelled from the German Workers' Educational Society in London, and representatives of the bourgeois Universal Republican League and the Land and Labour League. The Council proclaimed itself a 'true' leading body of the International in a pamphlet called Conseil fédéraliste universel de l'Association Internationale des Travailleurs et des Sociétés républicaines socialistes adhérentes. This prompted Marx to write the 'Declaration of the General Council Concerning the Universal Federalist Council'. In September 1872 the Universal Federalist Council convened a congress in London which claimed to be a congress of the International Working Men's Association. Its subsequent activities amounted to in-fighting between the various cliques which laid claim to leadership of the workers' movement.
  5. ↑ See this volume, pp. 395-96.
  6. ↑ The 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.
  7. ↑ A. Schwitzguébel, 'Au Conseil général de l'Internationale à Londres', Bulletin de la Fédération jurassienne, No. 13, 27 July 1872, Supplement.
  8. ↑ The protest against the venue of the Congress was sent by Adhémar Schwitzguébel to the General Council on 15 July 1872 on behalf and on the instructions of the Jura Federation.
  9. ↑ the Bakuninists
  10. ↑ The reference is to the address entitled 'The General Council to All the Members of the International Working Men's Association' (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 205-10), drafted by Engels on the instructions of the Sub- Committee (see Note 435). At the General Council meeting of 6 August 1872 the draft provoked a lively discussion, with some of the Council's members op posing publication of the address pending an investigation into the Alliance's activities. The draft proposed by Engels was accepted by a majority vote. The document has survived in Engels' handwriting in English and in French. It did not appear in Der Volksstaat.
  11. ↑ K. Marx and F. Engels, 'To the Spanish Sections of the International Working Men's Association'.
  12. ↑ 'Asociaciön Internacional de los Trabajadores. Nueva Federacion madrilefia. Circular', La Emancipation, No. 59, 27 July 1872.
  13. ↑ Bakunin's place of residence at the time
  14. ↑ The General Council, having included revision of the General Rules and Administrative Regulations in the agenda of the Hague Congress, began discussing the changes to be made in these documents on 25 June 1872. As a result, new draft Rules and Regulations were adopted (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 198-204), including, as Article 8, Resolution IX passed by the 1871 London Conference, 'Political Action of the Working Class'; its text was re-edited (see this volume, p. 414). The draft also incorporated articles specifying more precisely and extending the functions of the General Council. The Hague Congress, which did not consider the draft Rules and Regulations in their entirety, incorporated the resolution 'Political Action of the Working Class' into the Rules as Article 7a; it also included in the Rules several administrative resolutions (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 243-53).