The International Workingmen's Association, 1871
Political action and the working class
Speech by Marx the London Conference of the International, September, 1871
These are notes taken (in French) from two speeches Marx made at the London Conference;
Protocols of the Sessions of September 20, 21, 1871.
September 20
Citizen Lorenzo reminds us to stick to the Rules,
and Citizen Bastelica followed his example. In both the original
Statutes and the Inaugural
Address, I read that the General Council is obligated to prepare an
agenda for the Congresses for discussion. The program which the General
Council prepared for the Conference deals with the organization of the
Association, and Vaillant proposal relates directly to this point. hence
the objection of Lorenzo and Bastelica is unfounded. [1]
In virtually all countries, certain members of the International,
invoking the mutilated conception of the Statutes adopted at the Geneva
Congress, have made propaganda in favor of abstention from politics; and
the governments have been quite careful not to impede this restraint. In
Germany, Schweitzer and others in the pay of Bismarck even attempted to
harness the cart to government policy. In France, this criminal abstention
allowed Favre, Picard, and others, to seize power on September 4; this
abstention made it possible, on March 18, to set up a dictatorial committee
composed largely of Bonapartists and intrigants, who, in the first days,
lost the Revolution by inactivity, days which they should have devoted
to strengthening the Revolution.
In America, a recently held workers' congress [National Labor
Union, August 7-10, 1871, Baltimore] resolved to occupy itself with political
questions and to replace professional politicians with workers like themselves,
who were authorized to defend the interests of their class.
In England, it is not so easy for a worker to get to Parliament.
Since members of Parliament do not receive any compensation, and the worker
has to work to support himself, Parliament becomes unattainable for him,
and the bourgeoisie knows very well that its stubborn refusal to allow
salaries for members of Parliament is a means of preventing the working
class from being represented in it.
One should never believe that it is of small significance to have
workers in Parliament. If one stifles their voices, as in the case of De
Potter and Castian, or if one ejects them, as in the case of Manuel --
the reprisals and oppressions exercise a deep effect on the people. If,
on the other hand, they can speak from the parliamentary tribune, as do
Bebel and Liebknecht, the whole world listens to them. In the one case
or the other, great publicity is provided for our principles. To give but
one examples: when during the [Franco-Prussian] war, which was fought in
France, Bebel and Liebknecht undertook to point out the responsibility
of the working class in the face of those events, all of Germany was shaken;
and even in Munich, the city where revolutions take place only over the
price of beet, great demonstrations took place demanding an end to the
war.
The governments are hostile to us, one must respond to them with
all the means at out disposal. To get workers into Parliament is synonymous
with a victory over the governments, but one must choose the right men,
not Tolains.
Marx supports the proposal of Citizen Vaillant, as well as Frankel's
amendment, to state it as a premise, and thus strengthen it, that the Association
has always demanded, and not merely from today, that the workers must occupy
themselves with politics.
September 21
Marx said he had already spoken yesterday in favor
of Vaillant's motion, and therefore he would not oppose him today. He replied
to Bastelica that at the beginning of the Conference it was already decided
that it would take up exclusively the question of organization and not
the question of principles. In regard to the reference to the Rules, he
calls attention to the fact that the Statutes and the Inaugural Address,
which he hs reread, are to be read as a whole.
He explained the history of abstention from politics and said
that one ought not to let himself be irritated by this question. The men
who propagated this doctrine were well-meaning utopians, but those who
want to take such a road today are not. They reject politics until after
a violent struggle, and thereby drive the people into a formal, bourgeois
opposition, which we must battle against at the same time we fight against
the governments. We must unmask Gambetta, so that the people are no longer
hoodwinked. Marx shares Vaillant's opinion. We must reply with a challenge
to all the governments that are subjecting the International to persecutions.
Reaction exists on the whole Continent; it is general and permanent
-- even in the United States and England -- in one form or another.
We must announce to the governments: We know you are the armed
power which is directed against the proletarians; we will move against
you in peaceful way where it is possible, and with arms if it should become
necessary.
Marx is of the opinion that Vaillant's proposal requires some
changes, and he therefore supports Outine's motion. [2]
Notes
1.
This day, French delegate Edouard Vaillant
proposed a resolution stressing the inseparability of politics and economics,
they are inherently intertwined, so he urged workers to unite political
activities. Proudhonists in the International objected.
2.
Note: Outine proposed Vaillant's motion,
the amendments by Serraillier and Frankel, be passed to the General Council
for further study, under the subject "The Political Efficacy of the Working
Class" -- Outine's motion passed.