12. From the Minutes of the London Conference of the International Working Men's Association
12. From the Minutes of the London Conference of the International Working Men's Association[284]
MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEE WITH CONTINENTAL DELEGATES
September 26
The question of a general congress was next discussed.
Marx in the name of the Central Council proposed that the Congress assemble in Geneva.
Dupleix seconded the proposition. Fribourg wished it recorded that the French delegates had received instructions to propose Geneva instead of, as heretofore decided, Belgium as a protest against the law passed in Belgium with regard to foreigners.[285] The resolution was carried unanimously.
De Paepe proposed, Tolain seconded, that the following be submitted to the Conference this evening:
That the Conference transfer the place of meeting of the Congress from Belgium to Geneva as a solemn protest against the law concerning foreigners passed in Belgium. Carqed unanimously.
The period for the assembling of the Congress was next discussed.
Marx and Cremer in the name of the Central Council proposed that it take place in September or October of next year, unless unforeseen circumstances shall occur to necessitate its further postponement.
The delegates from Paris as an amendment proposed that the Congress assemble on the first Sunday in April next year. They all declared that to longer postpone the Congress would be fatal to the Association in France. [...]
Marx was impressed by the statements of the French delegates and was inclined to withdraw the resolution. [...]
15* The French delegates would so far yield as to agree to the last week in May.
Marx having withdrawn his proposition for September, the amendment became the resolution and was unanimously agreed to.[286] [...]
Marx and Fribourg proposed that the following questions be submitted to the Congress: "Co-operative labour", "Reduction of the number of the hours of labour", "Female and child labour".
All present voted for them as questions but Weston.
Marx and Fribourg proposed the following for the Congress: "Direct and indirect taxation". Agreed to.
The following questions marked 3, 4 and 10[287] on the programme were also agreed to:
3. Combination of effort by means of the Association in the different national struggles between Capital and Labour.
4. Trades' unions — their past, present and future.
10. Standing armies: their effects upon the interests of the productive classes.
Endnotes
[284] fhe London Conference of the International was held from September 25 to 29, 1865 (see Note 103). The afternoon sittings were attended by the Standing Committee members together with the nine Continental delegates (from France, Switzerland and Belgium), the evening sittings — by all members of the Central Council and Continental delegates. The Conference minutes were recorded by Cremer, Le Lubez and Howell. However, neither these minutes nor the report of the Conference in The Workman's Advocate, No. 134, September 30, 1865, fully show Marx's role at the Conference, especially in the polemics with the Proudhonists when the agenda was being worked out for the future Geneva Congress of the International. In particular, the minutes of the afternoon sitting of September 27, which discussed the question of inclusion in the congress agenda of Point 9 of the Central Council's programme on the restoration of Poland's independence, have not survived. The Appendices to this volume feature extracts from the minutes of the afternoon sitting of September 26 which contain a more detailed record of Marx's speeches at the conference than any other minutes.
[285] See Note 280.
[286] Yhe first congress of the International Working Men's Association met in Geneva on September 3-8, 1866; the decision to change the date of the Congress was adopted by the Central Council on May 1, 1866.
[287] During the discussion of the agenda for the Geneva Congress, the main point of dispute between Marx's supporters and the Proudhonist-minded French, Belgian and other conference participants was whether or not to include the question of Poland's independence. The Proudhonists were against it, saying that political questions detract the workers from social problems. The discussion of the Polish question at the evening sitting of September 26 was adjourned to September 27. The minutes of the afternoon sitting for that day, at which Marx presumably refuted the Proudhonists' arguments, have not been preserved. At the evening sitting, the majority of delegates voted for the inclusion of the Polish question in the agenda as formulated in Point 9 of the draft worked out by the Central Council (see this volume, p. 376).