109. K. Marx. American Split
MAY 1872 a
*15 October 1871 was published in the journal of Woodhull (a banker's woman, free-lover, and general humbug) and Clajlin (her sister in the same line) an Appeal of Section No. 12 (founded by Woodhull, and almost exclusively consisting of middle-class hum-bugs and worn-out Yankee swindlers in the Reform business; Section IX is founded by Miss Claflin).
An Appeal of Section XII (to the English-speaking citizens of the United States) (d.d. August 30, 1871, signed by W. West, Secretary of Section 12).*
The following are extracts from this APPEAL:
* "The object of the International is simply to emancipate the labourer, male and female, by the conquest of political power." "It involves, first, the Political Equality and Social Freedom of men and women alike." "Political Equality means the personal participation of each in the preparation, administration and execution of the laws by which all are governed." "Social Freedom means absolute immunity from impertinent intrusion in all affairs of exclusively personal concernment, such as religious belief, the sexual relation, habits of dress, etc."
"The proposition involves, secondly, the establishment of a Universal Government... Of course, the abolition of ... even differences of language are embraced in the programme." *b
* "Section No. 12" invites the formation of "English-speaking sections" in the United States upon this programme.*
That the whole organisation for PLACE-HUNTING and ELECTORAL
PURPOSES:
"There must ultimately be instituted in every town a Municipal Committee or Council, corresponding with the Common Councils; in every State a State Committee or Council, corresponding with the State legislature, and in the Nation a National Committee or Council, corresponding with the United States National Congress."
"The work of the International includes nothing less than the institution, within existing forms, of another form of Government, which shall supersede them all."*
T h i s A P P E A L — and t h e f o r m a t i o n t h e r e u p o n OF ALL SORTS OF
MIDDLE-CLASS HUMBUG SECTIONS, FREE-LOVERS, SPIRITISTS, SPIRITIST SHAKERS,464
etc . — g a v e rise t o a split i n w h i c h SECTION I ( G e r m a n ) of the O L D
COUNCIL d e m a n d e d t h e e x p u l s i o n of SECTION 12, t h e n o n - admittance of sections in w h i c h at least two - t h i r d s of the m e m b e r s h i p a r e n o t w o r k e r s .
First, 5 d i s s i d e n t s set u p , o n November 19, 1871, a s e p a r a t e
COUNCIL c o n s i s t i n g of Yankees , F r e n c h m e n , G e r m a n s , e t c .
In "Woodhull's, etc., Journal" of 18 November 1871, SECTION 12 (West as SECRETARY) p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t SECTION I, and states t h e r e , a m o n g o t h e r t h i n g s :
* "The simple truth is that Political Equality and Social Freedom for all alike, of all races, both sexes, and every condition, are necessary precursors of the more radical reforms demanded by the International."
"The extension of equal citizenship to women, the world over, must precede any general change in the subsisting relations of capital and labour." "Section 12 would also remonstrate against the vain assumption, running all through the Protest (of Section I) under review, that the International Working Men's Association is an organisation of the working classes..." *
Previously, already i n "Woodhull's Journal" of October 21, 1871,
SECTION 12 ASSERTS
* " the independent right of each section to have, hold and give expression to its own constructions of said proceedings of the several Congresses, and the Rules and Regulations (!) of said General Council, each section being alone responsible for its own action".*
"Woodhull's, etc., Journal". 25 November 1871. Protest of SECTION 12 a g a i n s t "ADDRESS OF SECTION I " ( the s a m e a d d r e s s t h a t y o u (1) h a v e r e p r i n t e d i n Italian etc. p a p e r s ) .
* "It is not true that the 'common understanding or agreement' of the working men of all countries, of itself, standing alone, constitutes the Association... The statement that the emancipation of the working classes can only be conquered by themselves, cannot be denied, yet it is true so far as it describes the fact that the working classes cannot be emancipated against their will"
3 December 1871. T h e n e w F e d e r a l C o u n c i l f o r N o r t h A m e r i c a formally * c o n s t i t u t e d ( Y a n k e e s , G e r m a n s , F r e n c h m e n ) .
4 DECEMBER. T h e OLD COUNCIL (10 Ward Hotel) denounces the swindlers in a CIRCULAR to all the Sections of the International in the UNITED STATES. It says, among other things:
"In the COMMITTEE (the old CENTRAL COMMITTEE), which is supposed to be a defence against all reformist swindles, the majority finally consisted of reformists and benefactors of the nation who had already almost sunk into oblivion... Thus it came about that the people who preached the gospel of free love sat most fraternally beside those who wanted to bless the whole world with one common language — supporters of LAND COOPERATIVES, spiritualists, atheists and deists — each trying to ride his own particular hobby-horse. Particularly Section 12 Woodhull... The first step that has to be taken here, in order to advance the movement, is to organise and, at the same time, to stimulate the revolutionary element, which lies in the conflict of interests of capitalist and worker...
"The delegates of sections 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16, 21, 23, 24, 25 and other sections, having seen that all efforts to direct this nonsense were in vain, therefore decided, after the old CENTRAL COMMITTEE had been adjourned sine die (3 DECEMBER 1871) to found a new one, which consists of actual workers and from which all those who can only confuse matters must be excluded" ("New-Yorker Demokrat", 9 DECEMBER J 871).
West ELECTED AS DELEGATE for the new COUNCIL.
It should be noted that the new COUNCIL very quickly filled with delegates, mostly from new sections, founded by SECTION 9 (Claflin) and SECTION 12 (Woodhull), RIFFRAFF, besides mostly so weak that they were too few in numbers to nominate the necessary OFFICERS.
In the meantime the Woodhull Journal (West, etc.) lied shame-lessly asserting that they were certain of the support of the GENERAL COUNCIL.
Both COUNCILS appealed to the General Council. Various sections, such as the French SECTION 10 (New York) and all the Irish sections recalled their delegates from both COUNCILS pending a decision of the General Council. About the lies of the Woodhull Journal, ARTICLE in the issue of December 2 u n d e r the title "Section 12 Sustained— The Decision of the General Council". (That was the decision of the General Council of November 5, 1871, in which the CENTRAL COMMITTEE, on the contrary, makes a stand against the ambition of SECTION 12, as Yankees, to replace it.)
Resolutions of the General Council of March 5 and 12, 1872? The fate of the Internationals in the UNITED STATES d e p e n d e d on that. (Incidentally, note the h u m b u g cult of myself which the Woodhull Journal has boosted to date.)
As soon as the resolutions came to New York, the people of the COUNTER COMMITTEE took u p their old policy. Previously they had discussed the original SPLIT in the most disreputable bourgeois papers of New York. Now they did the same against the General Council (presenting the whole thing as a struggle between the French and the Germans, between socialism and communism) amid jubilant cries of all organs hostile to the workers.
Very characteristic marginal notes in "Woodhull's Journal", 4 May, 1872 on the resolutions of the GENERAL COUNCIL. Before that, "Woodhull's Journal", 16 DECEMBER 1871:
* "No new test of membership, as that two-thirds or any part of a section shall be wages-slaves, as if it were a crime to be free, was required."*
(That is to say, in the composition of the COUNTER COUNCIL.) "Woodhull's Journal", 4 MAY 1872.
* "...In this decree of the General Council its authors presume to recommend that in future no American section be admitted, of which two-thirds at least are not wages-slaves. Must they be politically slaves also? As well one thing as the other..." "The intrusion into the International Working Men's Association of bogus reformers, middle-class quacks and trading politicians is mostly to be feared from that class of citizens who have nothing better to depend upon than the proceeds of wages-slavery." *
Meanwhile, as the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS approached, the cloven foot came into the open — n a m e l y that the International should assist in the ELECTION of—Madame Woodhulll A propos. Before that: "Woodhull's etc. Journal", 2 MARCH 1872 in an ARTICLE SIGNED W. West one reads:
* "The issue of the 'Appeal' of Section 12 to the English-speaking citizens of the United States in August last, was a new departure in the history of the International, and has resulted in the recognition by the General Council of Political Equality and Social Freedom of both sexes alike, and of the essential political character of the work before us."**
"Woodhull's etc. Journal", 2 MARCH 1872. Under the title " The Coming Combination Convention" it says:
(A propos. T h e Woodhull Journal—I cannot find the date— comforts the SPIRITIST SECTIONS by arguing that they can tell the General Council to go to the devil.)
"Woodhull etc. Journal", April 6, 1872:
* "Every day the evidence, that the convention called for the 9 and 10 May, by representatives of the various reforms ... is to be a spontaneous uprising of the people, increases in volume."*
In addition, the NATIONAL WOMEN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION demands:
* "This Convention will ... consider the nominations for President and Vice-President of the United States."*
Ditto u n d e r the title:
* " The Party of the People to secure and maintain human rights, to be inaugurated in the United States, in May, 1872."*
T h e appeal SIGNED, first, by Victoria C. Woodhull, then Theodore H. Banks, R. W. Hume (FELLOWS, AND Banks one of the founders, of the COUNTER COUNCIL). In this appeal: The CONVENTION WILL CONSIDER "NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENT AND ViCE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES". Especially invited
* "Labor, Land, Peace and Temperance reformers, and Internationals and Women Suffragists—including all the various Suffrage Associations — as well as all others, who believe the time has come when the principles of eternal justice and human equality should be carried into our halls of legislation."*
"Woodhull etc. Weekly", 13 APRIL 1872. T h e presidency DODGE is becoming more and more obvious. This time for a change
*" Internationals, and other Labor Reformers — the friends of peace, temperance and education, and by all those who believe that the time has come to carry the principles of true morality and religion into the State House, the Court and the Market Place".*
Under the title: "The Party of the People etc." a new appeal, as ever with Victoria C. Woodhull at the head; in the retinue, the chief scoundrels of the COUNTER COUNCIL, Th. H. Banks, R. W. Hume, G. R. Allen, William West, G. W. Maddox (later chairman of the Apollo meeting), / . T. Elliott (the English secretary of the COUNTER COUNCIL), T. Millot (delegate of the FRENCH SECTION II).
"Woodhull etc. Weekly" (it is not called a journal), 20 APRIL, 1872. Continuation of the same DODGE.
T h e lists grow, the duce, as always, V. C. Woodhull (there are "HONORABLES"3 a m o n g them).
" Woodhull etc. Weekly", 27 April, 1872. Continuation of the same advertising. (Begins to publish lists of delegates.)
" Woodhull etc. Weekly", MAY 4, 1872. Continuation of the DODGE. (Continual printing of the same and larger lists.)
"Woodhull etc. Weekly", 25 MAY, 1872. At last (9, 10, 11 MAY APOLLO HALL SCANDAL) Woodhull FOR PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES, F. Douglass FOR VicE-president. (Maddox OF COUNTER COUNCIL, chairman of the CONVENTION, FIRST DAY.) LAUGHING-STOCK OF NEW YORK AND UNITED STATES.
O t h e r officials of the COUNTER COUNCIL: John T. Elliott, VICE-president, G. R. Allen, SECRETARY (and MEMBER OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS AND PLATFORM). In the latter COMMITTEE: Th. H. Banks (one of the 5 founders of the COUNTER COUNCIL of November 19, 1871).
MRS. Maria Huleck also on a COMMITTEE. In CENTRAL NATIONAL COMMITTEE AT New York for the UNITED STATES figured G. JR. Allen, Th. H. Banks (next to COLONEL Blood, MEMBER of SECTION 12, and junior husband of Victoria), I. B. Davis.
BREAK-UP OF THE COUNTER COUNCIL . SECTION 2 (FRENCH) removes Laugrand as DELEGATE (previously FRENCH SECRETARY of the COUNTER COUNCIL). Accuse the fellows
* "of using the organisation for political purposes, and as a sort of adjunct to the free-love branch of the women's rights' party... Citizen Millot stated* (he proposed the WITHDRAWAL of SECTION 2 from the COUNTER COUNCIL, [the proposal] WAS accepted) *upon the introduction of the Resolution that only 3 sections — 9 (Claflin), 12 (Woodhull) and 35 — were represented in the Apollo Hall 'odds and ends' Convention, by scheming men for political purposes, and that the delegation in the said convention pretending to act for the Federal Council was a spurious one and self-appointed."*
(But the FEDERAL COUNTER COUNCIL DID NOT REPUDIATE THEM.) ("The World", MAY 13, 1872). SECTION 6 (German) recalls its delegate E. Grosse (ex-private secretary of H. von Schweitzer) and declares that it will withdraw unless the COUNTER COUNCIL accepts all the resolutions of the GENERAL COUNCIL.
Le Socialiste (New York), May 18, 1872. Section 2, of New York, at a sitting on Sunday, May 12, passed the following resolutions:
"Considering that, rightly or wrongly, Section 12 has been suspended by the General Council acting in virtue of the power vested in it by the Basle Congress; Section 2 protests against keeping at die Federal Council of a delegate from Section 12 with a deciding vote.
"Finally, considering that the International is an Association of workers having for its goal the liberation of workers by the workers themselves:
"Section 2 protests against the admission of sections composed mostly of non-workers."[3]
Another resolution of SECTION 2.
"Section 2, "Fully recognising in principle the electoral rights for women, in the face of insinuations of citizen Woodhull, at a meeting in the Apollo Hall, leading the public to believe that the International supports the candidates of that Assembly,
"Declares: "That, for the present, the International neither can nor has any right to be taken in tow by any political party in America; for not one of them represents the aspirations of workers, and not one of them has the economic emancipation of workers as its programme and goal.
"Section 2 thinks:
"That our sole object must be, for the present, the organisation and greater solidarity of the working class in America."
Under the title "Internationaux, prenez garde à vous!", the same issue of the Socialiste has this to say, among other things:
"The International is not and cannot be persecuted in America; the politicians, far from aiming at its destruction, only think of using it as a lever or point of support for the triumph of their personal views. Once the International lets itself be drawn to that path, it will cease to be an Association of Workers and become a ring of politicians.
"The signal of alarm was given a long time ago; but the convention at Apollo Hall, nominating, in the name of the International, Madame Woodhull as candidate for the presidency, must henceforth open the eyes of even the least clairvoyant. Internationals of America, take care!"
French Section of* New Orleans—*the old Council (Provisional Federal Council for the United States) is alone recognised.*
Written after May 28, 1872 Reproduced from the manuscript
Endnotes
[3] Jules Gottraux, a Swiss-born subject of Great Britain and a member of the International, was detained by the French police on the French-Swiss frontier on September 30, 1866, when he was returning to London from Switzerland. The police confiscated letters, printed matter, and other material entrusted to him by the International's leaders in Geneva for delivery to the General Council. The seized documents included the preliminary report on the work of the Geneva Congress which had been drawn up by Council member Joseph Card and published in French in Geneva as a pamphlet. (Later, this gave rise to rumours that the French authorities had confiscated the Congress minutes, which in fact had bv that time been brought to London by Hermann Jung.) The General Council decided to lodge a complaint about this wanton act and to use the fact publicly to expose the regime of the Second Empire. At the beginning of December, the Council addressed the British Foreign Secretary, requesting him to make a corresponding démarche to the French government, which forced the French authorities to return, on December 21, the materials taken from Gottraux.