International Workingmen’s Association 1871
Source: Marx and Engels on the Trade Unions, Edited by Kenneth Lapides;
Written: Engels, from minutes of General Council, October 31 1871;
First Published: in The General Council of the First International 1864-72: Minutes, Progress Publishers, 1962-;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.
Citizen Engels said it [could] not be maintained for an instant that the Trades Unions were branches; the branches had to submit their rules to the General Council for approval, while the Unions framed their own rules without any control being exercised over them; besides, they took action when they pleased without consulting the Association. Another thing, they had not paid so much per member, but had contributed in lump sums.