The Council of the I. W. Association denounces the last manifestation of the subserviency to Russia of the British Government by suppressing the adjective "Polish" before the word "refugees" in the budget one month after the Russian Government had by an ukase[3] suppressed the name of Poland.
Adopted by the General Council on Reproduced from the Minute July 14, 1868 Book of the General Council
Karl Marx
Endnotes
[7] 17 In 1866-68, after the suppression of the Polish insurrection of 1863-64, the Russian Government promulgated "Regulations on the Gubernia and Uyezd Administration in the Kingdom of Poland" and a number of ukases aimed at the abolition of Polish institutions and the consolidation of the administrative apparatus — the chief means of national oppression. The number of gubernias was increased, the prerogatives of the governors appointed by the Russian Government were extended, supreme bodies (the State Council and others) were abolished, and different administrative departments (post, communications) were subordinated to the respective ministries in St. Petersburg.
[3] Marx wrote this item on the basis of a letter from Johann Baptist Schweitzer dated April 29, 1868. The item was included in the report of the General Council meeting of May 12, 1868 published in The Bee-Hive Newspaper, No. 344, May 16, 1868, but is not to be found in the Minute Book. Informing Engels of Schweitzer's letter, Marx wrote to him on May 4, 1868 that he intended "to use this question in the interests of the Party", and insisted on an inquiry into the condition of the workers employed in the iron trade of the Rhine Province (see this letter and Marx's letter to Engels of May 7 and the latter's reply of May 6-7, 1868, present edition, Vol. 43).