57. K. Marx. To the Editor of The Times
57. K. Marx. To the Editor of The Times[1]
Sir,— In your issue of to-day I find a paragraph headed "The International", containing, after "the Paris papers", a pretended circular of the "Grand Council" of that Association, and bearing my signature as "General Secretary".
I beg to state, in reply, that this document is from beginning to end a forgery. No such circular was ever issued by the General Council of the International Working Men's Association, nor could I have signed anything of the sort as General Secretary, inasmuch as I have never occupied that position.
I request you to publish the above in your next number, and remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
Karl Marx
[London] 1, Maitland-park-road, N. W., Aug. 15 [1872].
Endnotes
[1] The original text of the Rules of the International Working Men's Association was written by Marx in English in October 1864 and approved by the Central Council (see present edition, Vol. 20, pp. 14-16). In 1867, an English text of the Rules and Administrative Regulations was printed in London, with the changes introduced at the Geneva and Lausanne congresses (ibid., pp. 441-46). The next congresses — in Brussels (1868) and Basle (1869)—adopted a number of resolutions which were additions to the Rules. However, the texts of the Rules then in circulation did not contain these additions and amendments and this led to inaccurate translations in a number of countries. The London Conference adopted the resolution, moved by Marx, on a new and authentic edition of the Rules and Administrative Regulations in English, German and French, and decided that in future all translations into other languages should be approved by the General Council. On Engels' proposition, a special meeting of the General Council of October 7, 1871 appointed a commission to prepare the new edition of the General Rules and resolutions of the conference. It included Karl Marx, Hermann Jung and Auguste Serraillier. On October 24, the General Council approved the work done on the new edition of the Rules. The text of the Rules and Administrative Regulations was revised in accordance with the resolutions of all congresses and the London (1871) Conference of the International, the clauses which had become invalid being excluded. An "Appendix", which substantiated in detail all amendments and additions, was written anew. At the General Council meeting of October 31 Engels reported that the Rules and Administrative Regulations were almost ready for the press but that it was impossible to print them in three languages simultaneously as was decided at the conference. In view of that he proposed to publish them in each language separately. Marx and Engels directly supervised the translation of the Rules and Regulations into German and French. The London Conference of the International was held from September 17 to 23, 1871. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and reaction in Europe, which intensified after the fall of the Paris Commune, frustrated the convocation of the regular congress in 1871. But the need to define the tasks of the working-class movement, to draw general conclusions from the experience of the Commune and the struggle against the sectarian elements, especially the Bakuninists, demanded collective decisions. Under those conditions, the General Council, headed by Marx and Engels, considered it 23* expedient, having received the agreement of the majority of federations to hold a closed conference of the International's delegates. The most important decision of the London Conference was formulated in Resolution IX, "Political Action of the Working Class", which declared the need to found, in each country, an independent proletarian party whose aim would be the conquest of political power by the working class. Other Conference decisions covered a wide range of tactical and organisational issues: the combination of various forms of proletarian struggle, legal and illegal, peaceful and non-peaceful; the alliance of the working class and the peasantry; the organisation of trade unions under the leadership of the International; the struggle against sectarianism and conspiracies, etc.