3. K. Marx. Remarks on the Programme and Rules of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy
3. K. Marx. Remarks on the Programme and Rules of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy[248]
[PROGRAMME AND RULES OF THE ALLIANCE][3] [MARX'S REMARKS]
The socialist minority of the League of Peace and Freedom, having separated itself from the League as a result of the majority vote at the Berne Congress, the majority being formally opposed to the fundamental principle of all workers' associations — that of economic and social equalisation of classes and individuals—has thereby adhered to the principles proclaimed by the workers' congresses held in Geneva, Lausanne and Brussels. Several members of this minority, belonging to various nations, have suggested that we should form a new International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, merged entirely in the great International Working Men's Association, but having a special mission to study political and philosophical questions on the basis of the grand principle of the universal and genuine equality of all human beings on earth.
Convinced, for our part, of the useful-ness of such an enterprise that would provide sincere socialist democratsb of Europe and America with the means of being understood and of affirming their ideas, without any pressure from the false socialism which bourgeois democracy finds necessary to apply these days, we consider it our duty, together with our friends, to take
equality of classes!
merged in and established against!
So, the socialist democrats are not understood through the International the initiative in forming this new organisation.
Therefore, we have constituted ourselves as the central section of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, and we publish today its Programme and Rules.
What modesty! They constitute themselves as the central authority, clever lads!
PROGRAMME OF THE INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY
1) The Alliance declares itself atheist; it wants abolition of cults, substitution of science for faith, and human justice for divine justice.
2) It wants above all political, economic and social equalisation of classes and individuals of both sexes, commencing with abolition of the right of inheritance, so that in future enjoyment be equal to each person's production, and so that, in conformity with the decision taken at the last workers' congress in Brussels", the land, instruments of labour, like all other capital, on becoming the collective property of the entire society, may be used only by the workers, that is, by agricultural and industrial associations.
3) It wants for all children of both sexes, from birth, equal conditions of development, that is, maintenance, education and training at all levels of science, industry and the arts, being convinced that this equality, at first only economic and social, will gradually lead to greater natural equality of individuals, eliminating all kinds of artificial ine-qualities, historical products of a social organisation as false as it is iniquitous.
4) Being the foe of all despotism, not recognising any political form other than republican, and rejecting completely any reactionary alliance, it also rejects any political action which does not have as its immediate and direct aim the triumph of the workers' cause against Capital.
5) It recognises that all the political and authoritarian states that exist at present and are more and more reducing their activities to simple administrative functions of public service in their respective countries, will have to dissolve into a universal union of free associations, both agricultural and industrial ones.
As if one could declare — by decree — the abolition of faith! Hermaphrodite man! Just like the Russian commune! The old Saint Simon panacea!
Empty phrase!
If they are reducing themselves they will not have to dissolve, but will disappear spontaneously.
6) Since the social question can only have a final and real solution on the basis of international or universal solidarity of the workers of all countries, the Alliance rejects any policy based on so-called patriotism and on rivalry between nations.
7) It wants the universal association of all local associations on the basis of Liberty.
There is rivalry and rivalry, my dear Russian!
RULES
1) The International Alliance of Socialist Democracy constitutes a branch of the International Working Men's Association and accepts all its general rules.
2) The Founder Members of the Alliance are organising provisionally a Central Bureau at Geneva.
3) Founder Members belonging to the same country constitute the national bureau of their country.
4) The national bureaus shall establish in all regions local groups of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, which, through their respective national bureaus, shall ask the Central Bureau of the Alliance to admit them into the International Working Men's Association.
5) All local groups shall form their bureaus according to the customary procedure accepted by the local sections of the International Working Men's Association.
6) All members of the Alliance shall pay a monthly contribution of ten centimes, half of which shall be retained for their own needs by each national group, and the other half shall go to the Central Bureau for its general requirements.
In countries where this sum is judged to be too high, the national bureaus, in accord with the Central Bureau, shall have the power to reduce it.
7) At the annual Working Men's Congress the delegation of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, as a branch of the International Working Men's Association, shall hold public meetings in a separate building.
The International Association does not admit any "international branches". New Central Council!
The Rules of the International do not recognise this "mediatory power".
New taxes absorbing our own contributions!
They want to compromise us under our own patronage!
MEMBERS OF THE GENEVA INITIATORY GROUP
J. Philipp Becker.— M. Bakunin.—Th. Rémy.—Antoine Lindegger.— Louis Nideg-
Asinus Asinorum! And Madame Bakunin!
9* ger.— Valerien Mroczkowsky.— Jean Zagorsky.— Phil. Zöller.—A. Ardin.—Ch. Perron.— J. Gay — J. Friess — Fr. Rochat — Nikolai Zhu-kovsky.— M. Elpidin.—Zampérini.— E. Becker.— Lours Weiss.— Perret.— Marauda.— Edouard Crosset.— A. Blanchard — A. Matis.— Ch. Raymond.— Mme. Alexeyeva/[1]—Mme. Bakunin.— Mme. Suzette Croset.— Mme. Rosalie Sanguinède.— Mme. Désirée Gay.— Mme. Jenny Guinet.—Antoine Dunaud.— J. Maulet.— Guerry.—Jacques Courtois.— John Potot.— André Bel.— Fr. Bofféty.— Ch. Guyot.— Ch. Postleb.— Ch. Détraz.— J. Croset.—J. Sanguinède.— C. Jaclard.— L. Coulin.— Fr. Gay.— Blaise Rossety.—Jos. Marilly.—C. Brechtel.— L. Monachon.— Fr. Mermillod.— Donat-père.—L. J. Cheneval.— J. Bedeau.— L. H. Fornachon.— Pinière.— Ch. Grange.—Jacques Laplace.— S. Pella-ton.—W. Rau.—Gottlob Walter.— Adolphe Haeberling.— Perrié.— Adolphe Catalan.— Marc Héridier.— Louis Allement.— A. Peller-gin-Druart.— Louis de Coppet.— Louis Dup-raz.—Guillmeaux.—Joseph Baquet.— Fr. Pis-teur.—Ch. Ruchet.— Placide Margarittaz.— Paul Garbani.— Etienne Borret.—J. J. Sco-pini.— F. Crochet.—Jean Jost.— Leopold Wucher.—C. Filliétaz.— L. Fulliquet.— Ami Gandillon.— V. Alexeyev.b—François Cheval-lier.
The Founder Members of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, having decided to start a paper.under the name La
Révolution, tö be the press organ of this new Association, the provisional Central Bureau will begin publication as soon as 300 shares, of 10 francs each and payable in four instalments quarterly, from January 1, 1869, have been subscribed. Accordingly, the provisional Central Bureau is appealing to all national bureaus of the Alliance and inviting them to begin subscriptions in their own countries. As these subscriptions are considered voluntary gifts which give no right to receipt of the paper, the national bureaus are also requested to compile a list of subscribers.
The paper will appear once a week.
Jules Johannard Eugene Dupont0
and they have the cheek to announce in Switzerland that I shall contribute articles to "La Révolution",[249]
without informing me!
one year six months On behalf of the Bureau:
Stibscription cost:
6 fr. 3 fr. 50 provisional Central
Secretary, Jean Zagorsky
rue Montbrillant, 8. N. B. The national bureaus are requested to send the Central Bureau the money received for the shares and subscriptions before January 1.
Remarks made by Karl Marx on December 15, 1868
Endnotes
[2 4 8] Marx made these remarks on the Programme and Rules of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy (see Note 55) probably on December 15, 1868, the day when the General Council of the International Working Men's Association discussed the admission of the Alliance into the International and instructed Marx to prepare an answer. The remarks were written in the right and left margins of a French leaflet containing the Programme and Rules. Marx underlined certain words and phrases (in this volume they are set in bold type) and in some places drew vertical lines in the margins. (The names of Jules Johannard and Eugène Dupont, who had read the Programme and taken part in its discussion, were written in the margin by Jung.) The same day Marx sent this document to Engels asking for his opinion (see Note 55). Taking into account Engels' ideas, Marx drew u p a circular letter " The International Working Men's Association and the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy" (see this volume, pp. 34-36) which was approved by the General Council on December 22, 1868. Marx's comments on the Programme and Rules of the Alliance were first published in English in The General Council of the First International. 1868-1870, Moscow, 1966.
[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).
[1] In the autumn of 1867 the General Council of the International Working Men's Association launched a widespread campaign among the English workers in support of the Irish national liberation movement led by the Fenians. The memorial written by Marx was an integral part of this campaign. The Fenians were Irish revolutionaries who named themselves after the "Féne"— a name of the ancient population of Ireland. Their first organisations appeared in the 1850s in the USA among the Irish immigrants and later in Ireland itself. The secret Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, as the organisation was known in the early 1860s, aimed at establishing an independent Irish republic by means of an armed uprising. The Fenians, who expressed the interests of the Irish peasantry, came chiefly from the urban petty bourgeoisie and intelligentsia and believed in conspiracy tactics. The British Government attempted to suppress the Fenian movement by severe police reprisals. On September 18, 1867, the Fenians made an armed attack on a prison van in an attempt to liberate Kelly and Deasy, two of their leaders. The latter managed to escape but a policeman was killed during the clash. Five Irishmen (Maguire, Condon, Larkin, Allen and O'Brien) were charged with murder and brought to trial. Although there was no direct evidence, they were sentenced to death. Maguire was subsequently pardoned, and Condon, as an American citizen, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The others were executed. The Fenian trial in Manchester aroused a storm of protest in Ireland and England. On the insistence of Marx, the General Council of the International began, on November 19, a discussion on the Irish question during which the leaders of the international proletarian organisation expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the Irish people for independence and condemned the position of the reformist trade union leaders who, in the wake of the English bourgeois radicals, denied the right of the Fenians to resort to revolutionary methods in the struggle. The discussion was scheduled to continue on November 26 (see this volume, pp. 189-93), but when the news of the conviction was received, the General Council convened a special meeting on November 20 and addressed a memorial to the Home Secretary asking for the commutation of the death sentence. The British Government ignored the memorial. Because of opposition from the trade union leaders, the English labour press did not publish the memorial in its original wording. A report on the special meeting of the General Council, published in The Bee-Hive, No. 319, November 23, 1867, only summarised it, and named the General Council members who had signed it. The French translation was published by Le Courrier français, No. 163, November 24. In English the memorial was first published in full in The General Council of the First International. 1866-1868, Moscow, 1964. This document is also preserved in the form of the manuscript copy made by Mrs. Marx which fully coincides with the text entered into the Minute Book. Written as an article, this copy was apparently to be sent to the press. In this volume the memorial is reproduced from this copy.
[249] Marx apparently refers to the plans to publish L'Égalité. He was invited to contribute to this paper by A. A. Serno-Solovyevich in a letter of November 20, 1868 which did not mention the new newspaper's title. On December 3, 1868 Charles Perron wrote to Hermann Jung about steps taken to publish L'Egalité and asked Marx, Eccarius and Jung to contribute to it. Eccarius' reply of December 2 and Jung's reply of December 6 were published in a special issue of L'Egalité on December 16. In addition, the editors published the following note: "Citizen Marx brings it to the notice of the commission that, to his great regret, his health and the excessive amount of work make it impossible for him to guarantee his participation in the journal. Nevertheless, we hope that from time to time this brave champion of the working class will write to the organ of the Romance sections in Switzerland."