The International Working Men's Association, 1872
The International Working Men's Association, 1872
Adopted by the Hague Congress as Article 7 of the General Statutes, September 1872;
Drafted: The official publication of Hague Congress resolutions was the pamphlet Résolutions du congrès general tenu à la Haye du 2 au 7 Septembre 1872, Londres, 1872. Also published in La Emancipacion November 2, and The International Herald December 14, 1872
Online version: from The International Herald;
TRanscribed: by director@marx.org.
The following article which resumes the contents of Resolution IX of the Conference of London (September 1871) to be inserted in the Rules after Article 7, viz.: --
Article 7a -- In its struggle against the collective power of the propertied classes, the working class cannot act as a class except by constituting itself into a political party, distinct from, and opposed to all old parties formed by the propertied classes.
This constitution of the working class into a political party is indispensable in order to insure the triumph of the social revolution, and of its ultimate end, the abolition of classes.
The combination of forces which the working class has already effected by its economical struggles ought, at the same time, to serve as a lever for its struggles against the political power of landlords and capitalists.
The lords of land and the lords of capital will always use their political privileges for the defence and perpetuation of their economical monopolies, and for the enslavement of labour. The conquest of political power has therefore become the great duty of the working class.
Adopted by 29 votes against 5, and 8 abstentions. [1]
Articles II, 2 and 6 have been replaced by the following articles: --
"Article 2. -- The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions, and to take care that in every country the principles and the General Rules and Regulations of the International are strictly observed.
"Article 6. -- The General Council has also the right to suspend Branches, Sections, Federal Councils or committees, and federations of the International, till the meeting of the next Congress.
"Nevertheless, in the case of sections belonging to a federation, the General Council will exercise this right only after having consulted the respective Federal Council.
"In the case of the dissolution of a Federal Council, the General Council shall, at the same time, call upon the Sections of the respective Federation to elect a new Federal Council within 30 days at most.
"In the case of the suspension of an entire federation, the General Council shall immediately inform thereof the whole of the federations. If the majority of them demand it, the General Council shall convoke an extraordinary conference, composed of one delegate for each nationality, which shall meet within one month and finally decide upon the question.
"Nevertheless, it is well understood that the countries where the International is prohibited shall exercise the same rights as the regular federations."
Article 2 was adopted by 40 votes against 4; abstentions, 11. [2]
With regard to the proposal, on the one hand to raise, on the other to reduce, the amount of their contributions, the Congress had to decide whether the actual amount of 1d. per annum, should be altered or not. The Congress maintained the penny by 17 votes against 12, and 8 abstentions. [3]
The new General Council is entrusted with the special mission to establish International trades unions.
For this purpose it will, within the month following this Congress, draw up a circular which shall be translated and published in all languages, and forwarded to all trades' societies whose addresses are known, whether they are affiliated to the International or not.
In this circular every Union shall be called upon to enter into an International union of its respective trade.
Every Union shall be invited to fix itself the conditions under which it proposes to enter the International Union of its trade.
The General Council shall, from the conditions fixed by the Unions, adopting the idea of International union, draw up a general plan, and submit it to the provisional acceptance of the Societies.<>
The next Congress will finally settle the fundamental treaty for the International trades unions.
(Voted unanimously minus a few abstentions, the number of which has not been stated in the minutes.)
1. Section 2 (New York, French) of the North American Federation. -- This Section had been excluded by the American Federal Council. On the other hand, it had not been recognised as an independent Section by the General Council. It was not admitted by the Congress. Voted against the admission, 38; for, 9; abstained, 11.
2. Section 12 (New York, American) of the North American Federation. -- Suspended by the General Council.
In the course of the debate on the credentials of Section 12, the following resolution was adopted by 47 votes against 0; abstentions, 9:
The International Working Men's Association, based upon the principle of the abolition of classes, cannot admit any middle class Sections. [5]
Section 12 was excluded by 49 votes against 0; abstentions, 9. [6]
3. Section of Marseilles. -- This Section, quite unknown to the General Council, and to the French Sections in correspondence with the latter, is not admitted. Against the admission, 38; for, 0; abstentions, 14.
4. Section of Propaganda and Revolutionary Action, at Geneva. This Section, which is but the resurrection of the (public) "Alliance de la Democratique Socialiste", of Geneva, dissolved in August 1871, had been recognised neither by the Romance Federal Committee nor by the General Council, which, indeed, had returned its contributions when sent by the Jurassian Federal Committee. The Congress resolved to suspend it till after the debate on the second [secret] Alliance. The suspension was voted unanimously, less a few abstentions not counted.
5. New Federation of Madrid. -- The new Federation of Madrid was formed by the members of the previous Spanish Federal Council, after the old Federation of Madrid, in flagrant breach of the rules then in force, had expelled them for having denounced the conspiracy of the secret alliance against the International Working Men's Association. They addressed themselves, in the first instance, to the Spanish Federal Council, which refused to affiliate the new Federation. They then addressed themselves to the General Council, which took upon itself the responsibility of recognising it without consulting the Spanish Council, amongst whose eight members not less than five belonged to the Alliance.
The Congress admitted this Federation by 40 votes against 0; the few abstentions were not counted.
The Committee appointed by the Congress for the auditing of the accounts of the General Council for the year 1871-72, was composed of the following citizens: -- Dumont, for France; Alerini, for Spain; Farkas, for Austria and Hungary; Brismée, for Belgium; Lafargue, for the new Federation of Madrid and for Portugal; Pihl, for Denmark;
J. Ph. Becker, for German Switzerland; Duval, for the Romance Swiss Federation; Schwitzguébel, for the Jurassian Swiss Federation; Dave, for Holland; Dereure, for America; and Cuno, for Germany
The accounts submitted to this Committee were approved and signed by all its members excepting Dave, absent.
The accounts having been read, the Congress approved of them by a unanimous vote.
The Congress resolved,
"To annul all powers issued, as well by the General Council as by any of the Federal Councils, to members of the International in such countries where the Association is prohibited, and to reserve to the new General Council the exclusive right of appointing, in those countries, the plenipotentiaries of the International Working Men's Association."
Adopted unanimously, less a few abstentions not specially counted.
The Committee charged with the inquiry regarding the (second/secret) Alliance of Social Democracy, consisted of the citizens -- Cuno (33 votes), Lucain (24), Splingard (31), Vichard (30), and Walter (29).
In its report to the Congress, the majority of this Committee declared that "the secret Alliance was established with rules entirely opposed to those of the International."
It proposed: --
"To exclude from the International Michael Bakounine, as founder of the Alliance, and for a personal affair.
"To exclude Guillaume and Schwitzguébel, as members of the Alliance.
"To exclude B. Malon, Bousquet (Secretary of Police at Béziers, France) [The Committee was not acquainted with the fact that M. Bousquet, upon the demands of his Section, had already been excluded by a formal vote of the General Council], and Louis Marchand, as convicted of acts aiming at the disorganisation of the International Working Men's Association.
"To withdraw the charges against Alerini, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, and Joukowski, upon their formal declaration that they no longer belong to the Alliance.
"To authorise the Committee to publish the documents upon which their conclusions were based."
The Congress resolved
"1. To exclude Michael Bakounine. Voted for, 27; against, 6; abstentions, 7. [7]
"2. To exclude Guillaume. 25 for, 9 against, 8 abstentions. [8]
"3. Not to exclude Schwitzguébel. For exclusion 15; against 16; abstentions, 7. [9]
"4. To refrain from voting upon the other exclusions proposed by the Committee. Adopted unanimously, minus some few abstentions.
"5. To publish the documents relating to the Alliance. Adopted unanimously, minus some few abstentions."
It is to be noted that these votes upon the Alliance were taken after a great number of French and German delegates had been obliged to leave.
1. Vote upon the change of residence of the General Council. Voted for the change, 26; against, 23; abstentions, 9. [10]
2. The seat of the General Council has been transferred to New York, by 30 votes against 14, for London, and 12 abstentions. [11]
3. The Congress resolved to appoint twelve members, residing in New York, to the General Council, with the faculty of adding them to that number. The following were elected:
29 Bertrand (German)
29 Bolte (German)
29 Laurel (Swede)
29 Kavanagh (Irish)
29 Saint Clair (Irish)
28 Leviele (French)
28 Carl (German)
26 David (French)
26 Dereure (French)
25 Fornaccieri (Italian)
23 Speyer (German)
22 Ward (American)
The proposition that the new Congress should meet in Switzerland, and that the new General Council should determine in what town, was adopted. There voted for Switzerland 15, for London 5, for Chicago 1, and for Spain 1.
The following were appointed, without opposition: -- Dupont, Engels, Frankel, Le Moussu, Marx and Serraillier.
Committee:
F. Dupont
F. Engels
Leo Frankel
Le Moussu
Karl Marx,
Auguste Serraillier
London
21st October, 1872
1 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Eccarius, Engels, Farkas, Friedländer, Frankel, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Longuet, Le Moussu, Mottershead, Pihl, Ranvier, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vaillant, Wilmot, MacDonnell.
Voted against: Brismée, Coenen, Gerhard, Schwitzguébel, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Van den Abeele, Dave, Eberhardt, Fluse, Guillaume, Herman, Sauva, Marselau.
The Congress officially decided to recognise as valid the votes of the delegates who could not attend the sitting because of their work in commissions.
The following delegates voted for: Cuno, Lucain, Marx, Vichard, Walter, Wróblewski; 6 in all. Not a vote against.
In Engels' manuscript the following passage has been deleted:
"As the resolution obtained more than two-thirds of the votes, according to Article 12 of the General Rules, it henceforth becomes part of the General Rules."
2 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Arnaud, Barry, J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Cuno, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Friedländer, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Roach, Sauva, Scheu, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Schumacher, Vaillant, Vichard, Walter, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Fluse, Gerhard, Splingard, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Alerini, Coenen, Dave, Eberhardt, Guillaume, Herman, Morago, Marselau, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguébel, Van den Abeele.
Article 6 -- adopted by 36 votes against 6, abstentions, 16.
Voted for: Arnaud, Barry, J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Cournet, Cuno, Dereure, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Friedländer, Hepner, Heim, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Ludwig, MacDonnell, Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Serraillier, Schumacher, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Vaillant, Vichard, Walter, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Brismée, Coenen, Fluse, Herman, Sauva, Splingard.
Abstained: Alerini, Cyrille, Dave, Dumont, Eberhardt, Guillaume, Lucain, Marselau, Morago, Mottershead, Farga Pellicer, Roach, Schwitzguébel, Van den Abeele, Van der Rout, Wilmot.
3 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted against the contribution being altered: J. Ph. Becker, Brismée, Coenen, Cyrille, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Eccarius, Farkas, Fluse, Gerhard, Herman, Hepner, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Wilmot.
Voted for the contribution being altered: Dumont, Engels, Frankel, Heim, Johannard, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Pihl, Sauva.
Abstained: Alerini, Dave, Dereure, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguébel.
The following delegates, obliged to leave The Hague before this question was discussed, handed in their vote in writing for the raising of the contribution: Arnaud. Cournet, Ranvier, Vaillant.
4 The French text reads: Admission and Exclusion of Sections.
The Mandate Commission was composed as follows: Gerhard (50 votes), Ranvier (44), Roach (41), Marx (41), MacDonnell (39), Dereure (36), Frankel (22).
5 After this the French text of the resolutions has:
Voted for: Arnaud, J. Ph. Becker, Barry, Brismée, Cournet, Cuno, Coenen, Dave, Dereure, Dietzgen, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Frankel, Friedländer, Guillaume, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Lessner, Lucain, Marx, Milke, Mottershead, Pihl, Ranvier, Sauva, Scheu, Schumacher, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Splingard, Swarm, Vaillant, Vichard, Wilmot, Wróblewski, Walter, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Eccarius, Harcourt, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Roach, Schwitzguébel, Van der Hout.-Ed.
6 After this the French text of the resolutions has:
Voted for the exclusion: Arnaud, Barry, J. Ph. Becker, Brismée, Cournet, Coenen, Cuno, Dave, Dereure, Dietzgen, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Eberhardt, Fluse, Farkas, Frankel, Friedländer, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Lessner, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Roach, Sauva, Scheu, Schumacher, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Splingard, Swarm, Vaillant, Van den Abeele, Van der Rout, Vichard, Wilmot, Wróblewski, Walter.
Abstained: Alerini, Eccarius, Guillaume, Harcourt, Marselan, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Mottershead, Schwitzguébel.-Ed.
7 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dereure, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Heim, Hepner, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Pihl, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Wilmot, Walter, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Brismée, Dave, Fluse, Herman, Coenen, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Sauva, Splingard, Schwitzguébel.
8 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dumont, Dupont, Duval, Engels, Farkas, Frankel, Heim, Hepner, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, Marx, Pihl, Serraillier, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Walter, Wilmot, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Brismée, Cyrille, Dave, Fluse, Herman, Coenen, Sauva, Splingard, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Alerini, Dereure, Friedländer, MacDonnell, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguébel.
9 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for the exclusion: J. Ph. Becker, Cuno, Dumont, Engels, Farkas, Helm, Hepner, Kugelmann, Le Moussu, Marx, Pihl, Splingard, Walter, Vichard, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Brismée, Coenen, Cyrille, Dave, Dereure, Dupont, Fluse, Frankel, Herman, Johannard, Longuet, Sauva, Serraillier, Swarm, Wilmot, Van den Abeele.
Abstained: Duval, Lafargue, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer.
10 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for: Barry, I. Ph. Becker, Brismée, Cuno, Dave, Dumont, Dupont, Engels, Harcourt, Johannard, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, MacDonnell, Marx, Roach, Sauva, Serraillier, Sexton, Sorge, Swarm, Vichard, Van den Abeele, Wróblewski.
Voted against: Arnaud, B. Becker, Cournet, Dereure, Duval, Farkas, Frankel, Friedländer, Gerhard, Heim, Hepner, Herman, Lucain, Ludwig, Milke, Pihl, Ranvier, Schumacher, Splingard, Vaillant, Wilmot, Walter, Van der Hout.
Abstained: Cyrille, Eberhardt, Fluse, Guillaume, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Schwitzguébel, Alerini.
11 The French text of the resolutions has here:
Voted for New York: J. Ph. Becker, B. Becker, Brismée, Cuno, Coenen, Dave, Dumont, Dupont, Engels, Farkas, Fluse, Friedländer, Herman, Kugelmann, Lafargue, Lessner, Le Moussu, Longuet, Lucain, MacDonnell, Marx, Pihl, Roach, Serraillier, Sexton, Splingard, Swarm, Vichard, Van den Abeele, Wróblewski.
Voted for London: Arnaud, Cournet, Dereure, Duval, Frankel, Helm, Hepner, Ludwig, Milke, Ranvier, Schumacher, Vaillant, Wilmot, Walter.
Abstained: Cyrille, Eberhardt, Gerhard, Guillaume, Johannard, Alerini, Marselau, Morago, Farga Pellicer, Sorge, Schwitzguébel, Van der Hout.