27. Third Annual Report of the International Working Men's Association
27. Third Annual Report of the International Working Men's Association[331]
THE DUTIES IMPOSED UPON THE GENERAL COUNCIL BY THE FIRST ANNUAL CONGRESS(1)
The Congress passed a resolution appointing the London delegates to wait upon the Swiss, the French, and the British postal authorities to bring the question of international penny postage — of cheap postage — under their notice.[332]
The Swiss postmaster agreed to all the deputation urged, but observed that the French Government stepped [in their] way.
In France the delegates could get no audience, and the British Government only consented to receive a written statement which has been sent.
The other duties imposed upon the General Council by the first annual Congress were: 1. The publication, in several languages, of the transactions of the Congress, including the letters and memoirs addressed to that Congress. 2. To publish periodical or occasional reports in different languages, embracing everything that might be of interest to the Association. 3. To give information of the supply and demand for labour in different localities. 4. An account of co-operative societies. 5. Of the condition of the working class in every country. The Council was also charged with causing a statistical inquiry to be instituted, which was to contain special and detailed information about every branch of industry, in which wages labour is employed, in the most civilised countries of Europe.
To enable the Council to fulfil these various duties, the Congress voted a contribution of threepence per member to the Executive, and a salary of £2 a week to the General Secretary, leaving his appointment to the Council.
As soon as the London delegates had returned, and the Council was reorganised, information was received that some of our Congress documents had been seized on the person of Jules Gottraux by the French police on the frontier.[333]
The General Secretary was instructed to write to the French Minister of the Interior, but not receiving any reply, an application was made to the British Foreign Office. Lord Stanley, with the greatest readiness, instructed Lord Cowley, the British Ambassador at Paris, to intercede; the result was that within a few days our documents were restored, and a parcel of Tribunes du Peuple, which had evidently been seized from somebody else, superadded.
The Congress documents were then handed over to the Standing Committee, with instructions to prepare the report for publication. As there were no funds to pay the General Secretary this labour devolved upon volunteers, who had to do it in their spare hours, which caused further delay. When all was ready the lowest estimate to have a thousand printed in one language was £40. To comply with the Congress instructions required an immediate outlay of £120; the cash in hand on the 31st of December amounted to 18s. 4d.
The General Secretary was instructed to appeal to the affiliated societies of the British section for their contributions — only the London cigar-makers and the Coventry and Warwickshire ribbon-weavers responded immediately. The board of management of the latter association, with a highly commendable zeal to fulfil its obligation — having no funds in hand and many members out of work — forthwith raised a levy to the required amount from the members in work.
The Council then availed itself of an offer made by Citizen J. Collet, the proprietor and editor of the International Courier, to publish the report in French and English in weekly parts in the columns of his journal. He also agreed to stereotype the whole at his own expense with the view of publishing it in pamphlet form, and to let the Council share in the profits, if any, the Council undertaking no responsibility whatever in case of loss.
But hardly was this highly advantageous arrangement completed when, on account of not having complied with some legal intricacy, of which the government had previously taken no notice, Citizen Collet had to suspend the publication of his journal for several weeks, and it was not till March that the publication of the Congress report could be regularly proceeded with.'[1] The numbers of the International Courier containing the report have been sent gratis to the branches. A German version could, for want of a similar opportunity, not be published.
When the publication was completed it was again want of funds that prevented, and still prevents, the publication in pamphlet form.
To make matters worse the French police seized a parcel of rules and cards of membership, purposely issued for the French section, the printing of which cost £4, which was borrowed money.!M
Besides this dead loss, there was the further injury of curtailing the contributions, which in France depend principally upon the scale of individual membership. Beyond all this, there were the old liabilities which were acknowledged as the debt of the Association by the Congress, but no special provision made for their liquidation. They have greatly hampered our action, and continue to be a source of trouble.
Under these circumstances it was utterly impossible to publish either periodical or occasional reports; nor have our correspondents taken the trouble to send us any special information with a view to such publication. The question of entering upon the statistical inquiry had to be abandoned for the present year. To be of any use at all it cannot be limited to the trades at present comprised within the circle of our affiliated societies. Such an inquiry, to answer its purpose, must include every trade, every country, and every locality. This involves not only a large expenditure for printing, stationery, and postage, but also an amount of labour in the shape of correspondence, compiling, and arranging the scattered and specific statements into a comprehensive and comprehensible whole, [soj that the possibility of having it done by volunteers in their leisure hours is altogether out of the question.
INTERFERENCE IN TRADES' DISPUTES'
One of the best means of demonstrating the beneficent influence of international combination is the assistance rendered by the International Working Men's Association in the daily occurring trades' disputes. It used to be a standard threat with British capitalists, not only in London, but also in the provinces, when their workmen would not tamely submit to their arbitrary dictation, that they would supplant them by an importation of foreigners. The possibility of such importations taking place was in most cases sufficient to deter the British workmen from insisting on their demands. The action taken by the Council has had the effect of putting a stop to these threats being made publicly. Where anything of the kind is contemplated it has to be done in secret, and the slightest information obtained by the workmen suffices to frustrate the plans of the capitalists. As a rule, when a strike or a lock-out occurs concerning any of the affiliated trades, the Continental correspondents are at once instructed to warn the workmen in their respective localities not to enter into any engagements with the agents of the capitalists of the place where the dispute is. However, this action is not confined to affiliated trades. The same action is taken on behalf of other trades upon application being received. This generally leads to the affiliation of the trades that invoke our aid.
Now and then it happens that the capitalists succeed in getting a few stragglers, but they generally repudiate their engagements upon being informed of the reason why they were engaged.
During the London basket-makers' dispute last winter information was received that six Belgians were at work under the railway arches in Blue Anchor Lane, Bermondsey. They were as strictly guarded against coming in contact with the outside public as a kidnapped girl in a nunnery. By some stratagem a Flemish member of the Council succeeded in obtaining an interview, and upon being informed of the nature of their engagement the men struck work and returned home. Just as they were about to embark a steamer arrived with a fresh supply. The new arrivals were at once communicated with; they too repudiated their engagements, and returned home, promising that, they would exert themselves to prevent any further supplies, which they accomplished.[5]"
In consequence of the appeals made by deputations from the Council to various British societies, the Paris bron/.e-workers received very considerable pecuniary support during their lock-out, and the London tailors on strike have in turn received support from Continental associations through the intercession of the Council/"[1]' The good offices of the Council were also employed on behalf of the excavators, the wire-workers, the block-cutters, the hairdressers, and others.
PROPAGANDA AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES(2)
The work of propaganda and affiliation of societies has been greatly impeded in England during the past year. It seems as if the British Legislature could never move a step in the right direction in any matter of great social or political importance unless compelled by a threatening and overwhelming pressure from without, when the public excitement assumes the character of a monomania. While the Reform agitation was at its height, the frequent monster demonstrations in course of organisation, it was almost hopeless to try to engage the attention of working men to the somewhat distant aims of the International Working Men's Association. Most of our British Council members took an active part in these proceedings, which reduced our available forces to go on deputations, while the proceedings themselves caused so much excitement and absorbed so much of the attention of those who might have entertained our applications, that there was no room for their consideration. These proceedings, too, in diverting men's attention to other objects have had the effect of preventing many new members being enrolled and some old ones to renew their subscriptions. Everywhere one was met with the observation that the struggle for Parliamentary Reform was [not] only the struggle of a season, but the paramount duty of the hour and an indispensable stepping stone to that complete emancipation of the working classes from the domination of capital which is the aim of the International Working Men's Association. One step has undoubtedly been gained by the Act of 1867/"' It is sufficiently comprehensive to enable the working classes to politically combine for class purposes within the precincts of the Constitution, and exercise a direct influence upon the Legislature in matters of social and economical reform in as far as they affect the labour question. . . But though our propagandism has been muu-h impeded during the past it has not been arrested. The ordinary mode of proceeding with the affiliation of corporate bodies is somewhat tedious. When the Council has any reasonable ground for believing that the question will be favourably entertained by an association, it applies to the president or secretary by letter. If the application be favourably received, a deputation is requested to attend the Executive to state the aims of the Association. If the Executive endorses the statement of the deputation it recommends the question to be entertained at some future general or delegate meeting, when perhaps the deputation is again requested to attend. In some cases the question of affiliation is decided at once — in others the votes of all the members and branches have to be taken to arrive at a decision.
The affiliation of 33 organised bodies has been brought about in this manner during the past year. More than twenty have been corresponded with and received deputations. With some the decisions are pending, others have deferred the consideration to a more favourable opportunity; only one society has flatly refused to enter into any relationship because the Association entertains political questions.
CONTRIBUTIONS AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES
The question as to the contributions of affiliated societies occupied the Council at various times. While the question was pending, the Executive of the Operative Bricklayers' Society joined and agreed to contribute £\ per annum.
In March 1865, a deputation from the Council waited on the conference of the Amalgamated Cordwainers' Association, at which the following resolution, proposed by the delegate from Birmingham, and seconded by the delegate from Hull, was unanimously carried:
"That we cordially agree with the principles of the International Working Men's Association as represented by the deputation from that body, and pledge ourselves to join them for the furtherance of those principles, and endeavour to spread them amongst our constituents."
The question of contributions was raised, but the discussion being out of order was stopped. Some weeks after it was resolved that a declaration of enrolment should be printed, for which organised bodies should pay an entrance fee of 5s., that as many cards as possible should be sold to individual members of such societies, the remainder, when funds were required, should be left to their generosity. It was while this state of things lasted that the liabilities already alluded to were incurred.
The money granted by various affiliated societies last year were voluntary gifts towards defraying the expenses of the delegates to the first Congress, and it was expended for that purpose.
The Cordwainers' Executive granted £5.
To remove this state of uncertainty the Council proposed a minimum contribution per member from affiliated societies.
The Congress voted threepence, which the British delegates maintained could not be levied from trades societies in England.
When, after the Geneva Congress, our deputations were sent to trades societies, it was found that, as the British delegates had foreseen, the threepence per member formed an insurmountable obstacle to the affiliation of organised bodies.
On the 9th of October the Council resolved unanimously that the contribution should be lowered to one halfpenny per member. All the societies that have since been affiliated have joined with that understanding.
The Amalgamated Cordwainers' Association has distinctly declared that the resolution of its Conference of 1865 does not amount to an affiliation, and the conference of the same body of 1867 has rescinded the resolution, which enabled the Council to grant us £5 last year.
The Executive of the Operative Bricklayers has paid £1 for 1867, but has not yet announced any decision, whether it considers the whole society affiliated or not.
The Cordwainers' Association was put down in last year's estimate as containing 5,000 members, the Bricklayers' 3,000 to 4,000.
Two appeals have been made in the course of the year for the contributions; some of the previously affiliated societies have paid, others have not; but, excepting the cordwainers, none have repudiated their obligation.
The Executive of the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners has recently passed resolutions to contribute £2 per annum to the funds of the Council, but the question is now under consideration to take the votes of all the members whether the association is to be affiliated in its entirety or not. It numbers about 9,000 members, and extends over England, Wales, and Ireland. The following is a list of the affiliated societies of the British section, and the money furnished by them during the last two years/'
Beyond this the elastic web-weavers have granted £\ to the Congress fund; the cigar-makers £\ Is.
There is a considerable difference in the actual income of the two years, but there is an essential difference as to its purport. Last year the money was voted to send delegates to the Congress; it was therefore not available for other purposes; this year's income consists of contributions to defray the expense of Gifts and Entrance
Fees 1866 Contributions 1867 Names of affiliated societies
London, Arbeiter-Bildungs-Verein 2 0 London, French Branch 0 0 Central Section of Polish Exiles 0 0 Operative Bricklayers' Executive 0 0 No. 1 Lodge of Operative Bricklayers 0 8 Alliance Cabinet-Makers' Society 10 0 West End Cabinet-Makers' Society 5 0 Day Working Bookbinders' Society 0 8 Hand-in-Hand Coopers'Society 6 0 London Cigar-Makers' Association 5 0 Amalgamated Cordwainers'Executive 5 0 Darlington Section of ditto 0 5 Nottingham Section of ditto 0 5 Coventry and Warwickshire Ribbon-Weavers 0 5 Packing-Case Makers 1 5 Saddlers and Harness Makers 4 0 Kendal Shoemakers" Society 0 5 West End Ladies' Boot-Makers 6 0 London Operative Tailors 3 0 Darlington Section of Amalgamated Tailors 0 5
0 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 0 0 [4] • 10 0 1 0 0 0 o • 0 0 0 1 13 4 0 1 7 0 3 0 17 6 0 0 6 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
0 1 9 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0
Societies Affiliated Since Sept., 1866
London Basket-Makers'Society 0 5 Block-Printers of Lancashire 0 5 London Coach-Builders 0 5 Coach-Trimmers (The Globe) 0 5 Coach-Trimmers (The Crown) 0 5 Elastic Web-Weavers 0 5 United Excavators 0 5 French Polishers 0 5 Organ-Builders 0 5 Pattern-Drawers and Block-Cutters 0 5 Carpenters'and Joiners' Executive 0 0 United Society of Journeyman Curriers Paid For Congress Fund
West End Ladies'Boot-Makers 4 10 0 London Cigar-Makers 1 1 0 Elastic Web-Weavers 1 0 0 0 10 0 Basket-Makers 0 12 6
administration. Last year, we incurred liabilities because we had no settled income; this year, we liquidated liabilities, because we had such an income.
The reason why some of our affiliated societies have not yet paid their annual contribution, and why others have not contributed to the Congress fund, is severe pressure upon their funds in consequence of the stagnation of trade, strikes, and lock-outs.
We have received several letters, stating these as reasons why the same societies that contributed so handsomely towards the Congress fund last year, cannot give anything this year. The tailors' strike has absorbed all the available funds of the London trades societies.
CONTINENTAL AND AMERICAN SECTIONS
As a rule, the General Council only corresponds with individual branches abroad, where police restrictions prevent the formation of branches.[3]
In Belgium an attempt has been made to affiliate trades societies, but we have no information about the result, nor have we received any contributions.
Germany is still in an unsettled state. Citizen Philipp Becker, the President of the German section at Geneva, has succeeded in establishing several branches, but we have no particulars at present.
In Italy there is a regular working men's organisation with whose officers we are in correspondence, but formal affiliations have not yet taken place.
In the New World, we have two affiliated branches at New York and Hoboken, N.J. We are in correspondence with the National Labour Union Committee, and the President(3)' of the International Ironmoulders' Union.[339] Particulars will be found in the special report of the American Secretary.[340]
GENERAL REMARKS
The past year has been characterised by intense struggles and agitation. In America, in England, in France, in Belgium strikes, lock-outs, persecution and prosecution of the working class have been the order of the day.
The capitalists have perseveringly treated the workmen as nobodies who only exist obsequiously to submit.
One society in the United States has spent 70,000 dois, to resist the encroachments of the capitalists[341]; in England it has been decided in the courts of law that to rob the funds of trades unions is not punishable by law. An official inquiry into the working of trades unions has been instituted with a view to damage their character and to affix to them the stigma of being criminal in their proceedings.[342]
The wholesale prosecutions of the London master tailors against their men, the attitude of magistrates, judges, and the daily press, the convictions of the Paris tailors and the massacre at Marchien-ne,[343] are facts that demonstrate incontrovertibly that society consists but of two hostile classes — the oppressors and the oppressed — and that nothing short of a solitary union of the sons of toil throughout the world will ever redeem them from their present thraldom. We therefore conclude with the motto: Proletarians of all Countries, Unite![344]
Endnotes
[331] representatives of European proletariat and its international organisation. The Committee consequently invited the sections of the International and its leaders, Marx included, to attend the Congress. At the same time it was decided to postpone the opening of the Congress until September 9, so as to enable delegates of the Lausanne Congress of the International (to be held on September 2-8) to take part. The International's attitude towards the League of Peace and Freedom was discussed both by the General Council and the local sections. Unlike the advocates of unconditional support of the League's activity, in particular the leaders of British trade unions, Marx, in his speech on August 13, 1867 and the resolution he proposed (see this volume, p. 204), formulated the principles of the International's tactics as regards this kind of bourgeois-democratic movement. These principles envisaged the joint struggle with the democrats against the war threat on condition that the proletarian organisation preserves its class independence, and, in opposition to bourgeois-pacifist illusions, takes a revolutionary proletarian approach to the problems of war and peace. In a letter to Engels of September 4, 1867 Marx wrote about the wide response to his speech. He also pointed out the extremely concise record of his speeches (Eccarius' report of the Council meeting published in The Bee-Hive Newspaper on August 17, 1867 and pasted into the Minute Book). He went on to say that this record gave only approximate idea of his speech, which lasted half an hour (see present edition, Vol. 42). The brief newspaper report of the General Council meeting does not fully express the views of Marx and Engels on the role of the regular standing armies in the nineteenth century. They are given in greater detail in Engels' work "The Prussian Military Question and the German Workers' Party" (this volume, pp. 37-79). The General Council's report to the Lausanne Congress of 1867 was approved by the Council on August 20 on the basis of Eccarius' draft and additions to it made by Council members. It was read to the Congress on September 3 in French by Guillaume, and in German by Eccarius. The French text was published in the pamphlet Rapports lus au congrès ouvrier réuni du 2 au 8 septembre 1867 à Lausanne, Chaux-de-Fonds, 1867. The English text published in The Bee-Hive Newspaper, No. 309, September 14, 1867, is reproduced in this volume. The English version is more concise than the French. It omitted parts of the report about the French, Swiss and Belgian sections of the International, and a special annual report of the Corresponding Secretary for America (Peter Fox). The part entitled "Continental and American Sections" gave a summary of the state of affairs in a number of countries and referred to the report of the Corresponding Secretary for America as a special document. Unlike the English report, which was unsigned, the French document was signed by the leading Council members, including Marx (the signatures are reproduced in Note 344). The Lausanne Congress of the International was held on September 2-8, 1867. Marx took part in the preparations but, as he was busy reading the proofs of the first volume of Capital, was unable to attend: he withdrew his candidature at the General Council meeting of August 13, 1867. The Congress was attended by 64 delegates from six countries (Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland). Apart from the annual report of the General Council, the Congress heard reports from the local sections which indicated the increased influence of the International on the proletarian masses and the growing strength of its organisations in different countries. The Proudhonist-minded delegates, especially the French, made an attempt to change the orientation of the International's activity and its programme principles. Despite the efforts of the General Council's delegates, they imposed their agenda on the Congress and sought to revise the Geneva Congress resolutions in a Proudhonist spirit. They managed to pass a number of their resolutions, in particular on cooperation and credit, which the Proudhonists regarded as the chief factors in changing society by means of reform. However, the Proudhonists failed to achieve their main aim. The Congress confirmed the Geneva Congress resolutions on the economic struggle and strikes. As distinct from the Proudhonist dogma on abstaining from political struggle, the Lausanne Congress resolution on political freedom emphasised that the social emancipation of workers was inseparable from political liberation. The Proudhonists likewise failed to seize the leadership of the International. The Congress re-elected the General Council in its former composition and retained London as its seat.
[332] Here and below, the Geneva Congress resolutions are given as published in the corresponding sections of the General Council's report of the Congress in The International Courier, Nos. 12, 15 and 17, March 27, April 17, May 1, 1867.
[333] See Note 318.
[5] The Civil War in America broke out in April 1861. The Southern slaveholders rose against the Union and formed the Confederacy of the Southern States. The war was caused mainly by the conflict between the two social systems: the capitalist system of wage labour established in the North and the slave system dominant in the South. The Civil War, which had the nature of a bourgeois-democratic revolution, passed two stages in its development: the period of a constitutional war for maintaining the Union and the period of a revolutionary war for the abolition of slavery. The decisive role in the defeat of the Southern slaveholders and the victory of the North in April 1865 was played by the workers and farmers. Marx analysed the causes and the nature of war in America in his articles published in the Vienna newspaper Die Presse (see present edition, Vol. 19). The discontinuance of cotton imports from America as a result of the blockade of the Southern States by the Northern fleet caused a crisis in the cotton industry of several European countries. In England, for two or three years beginning in 1862, over 75 per cent of spinners and weavers in Lancashire, Cheshire and other counties were fully or partly unemployed. Despite privation and distress, the European proletariat gave all possible support to the American fighters against slavery.
[4] Blue Books—a series of British parliamentary and foreign policy documents published in blue cover since the seventeenth century.
[3] Garottes—robbers who strangled their victims. In the early 1860s such attacks often occurred in London and were a subject of special debate in Parliament.
[339] Marx informed the General Council about the affiliation of the Communist Club in New York, and also of a group of its supporters in Hoboken, on July 23, 1867 (see Note 327). The National Labor Union was founded in the USA at a congress in Baltimore, in August 1866 with the active participation of William Sylvis, a prominent leader in the American labour movement. The Labor Union established contacts with the International Working Men's Association in October 1866, but its delegate to the next congress of the International, Richard Trevellick, elected by the Union's Congress in Chicago in August 1867, was unable to come to Lausanne. At the last sittings of the Basle Congress of the International (September 1869) Andrew Cameron was the National Labor Union delegate. At its congress in Cincinnati in August 1870, the Union adopted a resolution on its adherence to the principles of the International Association and its intention to join it. However, the resolution was not implemented. Its leaders soon became involved in Utopian projects of money reform. In 1870 and 1871, many trade unions withdrew, and in 1872 the Union virtually ceased to exist. The International Iron-moulders' Union was founded in 1859 and finally took shape in 1863 under the leadership of William Sylvis, who became its President. The Union combined the local iron-moulders' associations on a national scale and had its organisations in British Columbia and Canada. It led the strike movement and did much to strengthen other US trade unions.
[340] The special report by Peter Fox, the Corresponding Secretary for America at the time, was included, somewhat abridged, in the French version of the General Council's report to the Lausanne Congress. It has also survived as Fox's own manuscript, inserted into the Minute Book of the General Council (Fox read this special report at a Council meeting on August 27, 1867). Fox's report was published in English for the first time in the book The General Council of the First International. 1866-1868. Moscow, 1964, pp. 304-10. The manuscript version of the report stated, a m o n g other things, that Marx had given Fox a letter from F. A. Sorge, of July 10, 1867, written in the name of the Hoboken branch of the International Working Men's Association, and also the Statutes of the New York Communist Club, which had become affiliated to the Association.
[3 4 1] A reference to the International Iron-moulders' Union (see Note 339). In a letter from its President, Sylvis, read at the General Council meeting of July 9, 1867, it was stated that the Union had expended $35,000 in 1866 and $40,000 in 1867 to support the workers' strikes.
[3 4 2] When a branch secretary of the Boiler-Makers' Society embezzled trade-union funds, the society sued him. In January 1867, the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that the funds of trade unions, as allegedly unlawful organisations, were not entitled to legal protection. This ruling was one manifestation of the campaign launched by the ruling classes against the trade unions, which were demanding the legal rights enjoyed by other societies in Britain. For the investigation into trade-union activities by a special royal commission, see Note 326.
[343] p o r [hg prosecution of the organisers of the Paris tailors' strike, see Note 325. For the massacre of the Belgian workers in Marchiennes, see Note 324.
[344] Y n e French text has the following signatures after these words: "In the name of the General Council: Odger, President Eccarius, General Secretary W. Dell, Treasurer Shaw, Secretary-Treasurer Corresponding Secretaries: E. Dupont for France K. Marx for Germany Zabicki for Poland H. Jung for Switzerland P. Fox for America Besson for Belgium Carter for Italy P. Lafargue for Spain Hansen for Holland and Denmark."
[1] On September 28, 1864 an international meeting was held at St. Martin's Hall,. Long Acre, London. It was organised by the London trade-union leaders and a group of Paris Proudhonist workers jointly with the representatives of German, Italian and other foreign workers then living in London and a number of prominent European democratic émigrés. The meeting resolved to found an International Working Men's Association (later known as the First International) and elected a Provisional Committee which shortly afterwards constituted itself as the leading body of the Association. This body, known as the General Council of the International, was mainly called the Central Council until the end of 1866. Karl Marx was elected to this Committee and later to the Sub-Committee appointed at its first meeting on October 5 to draw up the Association's programme documents. The Sub-Committee, or Standing Committee, subsequently functioned as an executive body and included the President of the Central (General) Council (until autumn 1867, when this post was abolished), the General Secretary and the corresponding secretaries for different countries. Marx did not attend its first meetings, when the Sub-Committee drew up a document consisting of an introductory declaration of principles, written by the Owenite John Weston and edited by the French petty-bourgeois democrat Victor Le Lubez, and the Rules of the Italian workers' societies, drawn up by Mazzini and translated into English by the Italian Luigi Wolff. This document, edited by Le Lubez, was discussed at the Sub-Committee meeting on October 15 about which Marx was informed too late for him to attend, and at the Provisional Committee meeting on October 18, when Marx first familiarised himself with this material. His critical assessment of it is to be found in his letter to Engels of November 4, 1864 (see present edition, Vol. 42). Circumstances did not allow Marx to prevent the Provisional Committee's approval of the declaration of principles and the Rules, but he convinced the Committee members that the document needed polishing and insisted on referring it back to the Sub-Committee for final editing. On October 20 the Sub-Committee met at Marx's house; at that meeting th^7 managed to edit only the first point of the Rules. By the next meeting of the Sub-Committee on October 27 Marx had completely revised the submitted document. He wrote a new document — the Inaugural Address of the 17* he altered the Preamble to the Rules, discarding the loosely-phrased declaration of principles, reduced the 40 points of the Rules to 10, and formulated them in a way which expressed the proletarian nature of the organisation then being founded, and eliminated all Mazzinian organisational principles (petty regulation typical of secret societies, etc.). The Sub-Committee approved the Address and the Rules as drawn up by Marx, stipulating, however, that two declarative phrases on "rights and duties" and "truth, justice, and morality" be inserted in the Preamble to the Rules. On November 1, 1864 both documents were unanimously approved by the Provisional Committee. On the proposal of a Committee member, Whitlock, Marx supplemented the Inaugural Address with a note on carbon and nitrogen as most important elements of food. The Inaugural Address was first published by The Bee-Hive Newspaper, No. 160, November 5, 1864 without the sanction of the Central Council and as an offprint to be sent to various newspapers. Marx strongly disapproved of this publication which contained a number of misprints (see this volume, p. 353). In November 1864 the Address and the Rules were published in London as a pamphlet Address and Provisional Rules of the Working Men's International Association, Established September 28, 1864, at a Public Meeting Held at St. Martin's Hall, Long Acre, London. On the decision of the Central Council of May 9, 1866 the English version of the Inaugural Address, the Provisional Rules and some other documents were again published as a pamphlet in London in August that year. The Address was also published in The Miner & Workman's Advocate, No. 93, December 10, 1864. The German authorised translation entitled "Manifest an die arbeitende Klasse Europa's" was published in Der Social-Demokrat, Nos. 2 and 3, December 21 and 30, 1864. During 1865, 1866 and later, various translations of the Inaugural Address appeared: into French in Paris, Geneva and Brussels; into Italian in Genoa and Naples; into German in Leipzig, Geneva, Berlin and Vienna in 1866 and 1868; into Hungarian in Pest in 1868; into Russian in Geneva in 1871; into Spanish and Portuguese in Madrid and Lisbon in 1873. Various German translations continued to be published in Germany and Switzerland (Zurich) in the early 1870s as well. The Inaugural Address has survived in two manuscript copies written by Mrs. Marx and Jenny Marx (Marx's daughter), and copies of pamphlets with Marx's corrections. In this volume the document is published according to the English pamphlet of 1864. The most important differences between the English version and the German authorised translation are given in footnotes. At the end of the pamphlet there was a list of the Central Council members: "Names and Nationalities of the Central Provisional Council. "English: Longmaid, Worley, Leno, Whitlock, Fox, Blackmore, Hartwell, Pidgeon, Lucraft, Weston, Dell, Shearman, Nieass, Shaw, Lake, Buckley, Odger, Howell, Osborne, Carter, Gray, Wheeler, Stainsby, Morgan, Grossmith, Cremer, Dick. "French: Dénouai, Le Lubez, Jourdain, Morrissot, Leroux, Bordage, Bocquet, Talandier, Dupont. "Italian: L. Wolff, Fontana, Setacci, Aldovrandi, Lama, Solustri. "Swiss: Nusperli, Jung. "German: Eccarius, Wolff, Otto, Lessner, Pfänder, Lochner, Marx, Kaub, Bolleter. "Polish: Holtorp, Rybczinski. George Odger, President of the Central Council. George W. Wheeler, Honorary Treasurer. Karl Marx, Honorary Corresponding Secretary for Germany. G. P. Fontana, Honorary Corresponding Secretary for Italy. /. E. Holtorp, Honorary Corresponding Secretary for Poland. Hermann F. Jung, Honorary Corresponding Secretary for Switzerland. V. Le Lubez, Honorary Corresponding Secretary for France. William R. Cremer, Honorary General Secretary.»