The International Working Men's Association, 1872
The International Working Men's Association, 1872
Translated: into English by Richard Dixon and Alex
Miller, for Progress Publishers, 1976;
Transcribed: by director@marx.org.
We request that the Congress, inspired by the principle of justice, should decide that previous to anything else it will discuss the manner of voting, in view of the fact that during the whole checking of tile delegates' mandates the delegation of the Spanish Federation has been deprived of the possibility to take part in the voting.
T. Gonzales Morago
Farga Pellicer
Alerini
To the General Congress at The Hague September 4, 1872
Written by Morago
Submitted to the fifth sitting
September 4, 1872
French original
Considering the loss of time caused by the checking of the mandates and the personal questions hindering all useful discussion,
Considering the importance of the order of the day,
We demand that the question of the Alliance be submitted to a commission nominated by the Congress and discussed in a closed sitting and that the order of the day be immediately proceeded with.
Ranvier
Alfred Herman
A. Sauva
J. Van der Hout
Roch Splingard
D. Brismée
Duping
H.Gerhard
P. de Fluse
Ph. Coenen
J. Johannard
Victor Dave
I sign, protesting against investigation of a secret society by the Congress.
J. Guillaume
Farga Pellicer
Marselau
T. Gonzales Morago
N. Eberhardt
H. Van den Abeele
J. George Eccarius
Dumont
Th. Mottershead
Cuno
Submitted to the fifth sitting,
September 4, 1872
Written by Ranvier
French original
Considering that the delegates of Germany, Austria and Hungary have to go to a workers' congress opening on the 7th inst. in Mayence, that the delegates of Switzerland and Denmark have to return to their countries, and a certain number of French delegates to go to London,
the undersigned move that after the most indispensable formalities have been carried out the Congress should proceed immediately to discuss the powers of the General Council, its seat and the place of assembly of the next congress, after which the Congress will immediately go on to the revision of the General Rules.
Ludwig Heim
Lafargue
P. Wilmot
Th. Duval
Submitted to the sixth sitting
September 4, 1872
Written by Heim
French original
The delegates of the Spanish Regional Federation, obeying the imperative mandate imposed on them, submit the following proposal to the Congress:
Considering that the procedure followed up to the present at International congresses of adopting decisions by the majority of the delegates present is not equitable,
The delegation of the Spanish Federation proposes:
1. That the votes be evaluated proportionally to the number of members of the International represented by the delegates provided with an imperative mandate, in which mandate the number of these members must be stated.
2. That the votes of members not provided with an imperative mandate will not count until the sections or federations represented by them have discussed and voted on the questions debated at the Congress.
In order to make this ruling practicable and so that the resolutions of the Congress will be the true expression of the thought of the International Working Men's Association, the resolutions adopted will come into force only two months after the Congress. During this time the sections which had not provided their delegates with an imperative mandate on the questions discussed and also those which have been unable to send delegates will express their votes by publishing them in the newspapers of the International and informing the Federal Council which will be designated and charged with counting the votes and announcing the result.
[Written by Alerini, date added by Morago, followed by the respective signatures.]
The Congress of The Hague,
September 4, 1872
Alerini
Morago
Marselau
Farga Pellicer
Submitted to the sixth sitting,
September 4, 1872
French original
We have the imperative mandate to demand vote by national federations on administrative questions.
The Belgian delegates:
Alfred Herman
Roch Splingard
P. Fluse
N. Eberhardt
Brismée
Ph. Coenen
Submitted to the sixth sitting,
September 4, 1872
French original
I request the Chairman to agree to the nomination of a commission consisting of three members to compare the manuscript text of the Spring Street Council's letter with the text printed in the Bulletin de la Federation jurassienne in order to ascertain whether there was on the part of the Jura Federation the falsification mentioned by Citizen Le Moussu.
J. Guillaume
Submitted to the seventh sitting
September 5, 1872
French original
[The text of the message and the signatures of Schwitzguébel and Morago are in red ink, the rest is in pencil.]
The Congress of the International Working Men's Association, assembled at The Hague, expresses in the name of the world proletariat its admiration for the heroic fighters for the emancipation of labour who fell victims of their devotion, and sends fraternal and sympathetic greetings to all those who are at present persecuted by bourgeois reaction in France, Germany, Denmark and the entire world.
Adhémar Schwitzguébel, delegate of the Jura Federation
A. Sauva, delegate of the 2 American sections
D. Brismée
N. Eberhardt, Belgian delegates
Victor Dave, delegate of The Hague
Cuno, Germany
Ph. Coenen
T. Gonzales Morago, delegado de la federacion regional español.
Submitted to the eighth sitting,
September 5, 1872
French original
Published: in the newspaper La Liberté No. 37, September 15, 1872 and the Bulletin de la Fédération jurassienne No. 17-18, September 15, October 1, 1872.
I hereby inform the bureau of the Congress of the International Working Men's Association assembled here that urgent circumstances demand my return. I expect and request of my party comrades at the Congress that they will lake over my share of the work and carry the business of the Association to a successful end.
J. Dietzgen
The Hague, September 5, 1872
Submitted to the ninth sitting,
September 5, 1872
German original
Citizens,
For the first time since the fall of the Commune, the delegates of the proletariat which was massacred in Paris, is persecuted everywhere and everywhere oppressed, have assembled at an international congress. Therefore all eyes are turned at this moment towards The Hague -- our enemies expecting an admission of weakness or fearing a challenge which would provide proof of the impotence of their furious reaction. For its part, the people expects from those in whom it sees its representatives: a word of hope, the promise of energetic efforts in view of imminent revenge, of early and final victory.
Therefore, in the assurance that, conscious of its duty, the Congress will not fail in it, we, Communards, delegates to the Congress, come in the name of the machine-gunned, deported, proscribed people, in the name of the suffering people, to ask of you that word of hope which you will not refuse to it, because it will be the contract which will prove to it that you are worthy of its confidence.
In face of the repression, which is as savage as it is sense-less, on the part of the victorious bourgeoisie against the defeated proletariat,
In face of the necessity to organise the proletarian forces disorganised by defeat in view of more energetic action,
In face of the weakness towards the bourgeois powers shown by certain groups of the International Association which cover up their desertion of the people's cause with the pernicious doctrine of abstention in political matters or betray this cause by alliance or compromise with bourgeois parties whatever be their name,
Considering that the social revolution can no more be enclosed in formulas than it can be resolved by petty measures and that it must be approached as a whole and in its totality if it is to be achieved,
That the destruction of every capitalist property regime,
That the abolition of the classes, the social revolution, can be achieved only by mustering all the energy of the revolutionary forces,
That abstention from political action is the negation of the first duty of the working class: the conquest of political power for the purpose of sweeping away the old society and creating the elements of the new by the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat,
That any alliance with a bourgeois party whichever shade it belongs to, under any pretext whatever, is desertion of the proletariat's cause on the part of any individual or group guilty of it,
That if the formation of societies of resistance, their federation, beginning the organisation of the working class, provides it with the weapons to fight capitalist oppression,
That if the strike is one means of revolutionary action, the barricade is another, and the most powerful of all,
The Congress declares:
1. The organisation of the proletariat's revolutionary forces and of the political struggle is placed on the order of the day of the next congress.
The General Council is instructed to submit a project for this organisation.
2. Any individual or group claiming to belong to the International who is proved to have by weakness, cowardice or doctrinarian stupidity deserted the cause of the revolutionary proletariat will no longer be allowed to remain in the International Association.
The General Council will have the power to exclude such individuals or groups from the International pending a final decision by the Congress.
Ant. Arnaud
F. Cournet
Dereure
Le Moussu
[Here the name of Lafargue is heavily struck out]
Ranvier
Ed. Vaillant
The citizens submitting this proposal request the Congress to place its discussion on the order of the day immediately after the revision of the General Rules.
Submitted to the ninth sitting,
September 5, 1872
French original
Published: in La Liberté No. 37, September 15, 1872.
The General Council has no power over the sections and federations. Its functions will be those of an intermediary between the different regional federations; its activity will be limited to that of a correspondence and statistics centre with full freedom of initiative to propose to the different regions or to the congress the decisions which it finds most appropriate taking into account the data obtained by means of correspondence and statistics.
Tomás Gonzales Morago
Submitted to the ninth sitting,
September 5, 1872
Spanish original
We propose that the Congress should immediately proceed with the discussion of the Rules.
2. That only two speakers speak for, and two against.
3. That each speaker should speak for no more than five minutes.
[The document is written by Duval, followed by the respective signatures. The signatures of Lafargue, Pihl, B. Becker, and Milke are in pencil, the others in ink. In the left-hand corner is the date: September 6. -- Ed.]
T.Duval, F. A. Sore, Adolf Hepner, S. Pihl,
Joh. Ph. Becker, P. Lafargue, Fr. Milke,
Bernhard Becker; Georg Schumacher, Ludwig
Heim, Gustav Ludwig, Le Moussu
[Then comes an amendment written in another hand and the respective signatures. -- Ed.]
2. That only one speaker speaks for and one against.
F. Cournet
Ant. Arnaud
Ed. Vaillant
Ranvier
L. Kugelmann, Dr.
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
[The document was copied out in Cuno's hand together with a statement by the Congress minority -- see Document 40.]
We request the Congress to open immediately the discussion on the following articles:
Art. 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.
Art. 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 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.
F. A. Sorge
Joh. Ph. Becker
T. Duval
Adolf Hepner
P. Lafargue
S. Pihl
Fr. Milke
Bernhard Becker
Le Moussu
Georg Schumacher
Ludwig Heim
Gustav Ludwig
French original
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
Published in La Liberté No. 37, September 15, 1872
The undersigned citizens request that the order of the day of public sittings of the Congress be regulated as follows.
As soon as the articles of the Rules and Regulations relating to the General Council have been voted, the Congress will examine:
1. The proposal to include in the Rules the resolution of the London Conference on political action of the working class as an article of the General Rules.
2. The proposal of citizens Ant. Arnaud, Cournet, Dereure, Le Moussu, Ranvier, and Ed. Vaillant on the organisation of the proletariat's revolutionary forces.
3. The chapter of the Administrative Regulations relating to the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council.
4. After this the Congress will proceed to discuss a~ articles of the Rules and Regulations which have not yet been discussed, examining them in the order in which they are included in the latest edition of the Rules.
Ed. Vaillant
Ant. Arnaud
F. Cournet
Ranvier
Le Moussu
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
[The text is written on the back of the sheet containing a statement by A. Herman, R. Splingard and others (see Document No. 5). -- Ed.]
To the Chairman of the Congress
We, the undersigned members of the Congress, protest against the way in which the majority of the members of the Congress who speak other languages disregard the elementary rights of those who only speak English. The difficulty, amounting almost to impossibility to know what is going on or even to be heard on any question, makes our delegation insignificant and our presence a joke.
Signed:
Barry
Mottershead
Roach
Sexton
MacDonnell
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
Immediately after the discussion of the two proposals concerning the duty of the General Council to see to the strict observance in all countries of the fundamental principles of the Association and watch over the relations of the General Council with the federations, we ask for the question of the inclusion of the resolution of the Conference on political action of the working class in the General Rules and for the question of the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council to put on the order of the day.
[The document is written by Vaillant and followed by the signatures of Arnaud and Cournet. On the back is the name of Ranvier. -- Ed.]
Ed. Vaillant
Ant. Arnaud
F. Cournet
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
We propose that for the year 1872/73 the seat of the General Council be transferred to New York and that the Council be composed of the following members of the Federal Council of North America: Kavanagh, Saint-Clair, Cetti, Levièle, Laurel, F. J. Bertrand, F. Bolte, and C. Carl. They shall have the right of co-option but the total number of members of the General Council shall never exceed 15.
Karl Marx
F. Engels
Walery Wróblewski
Ch. Longuet
A. Serraillier
MacDonnell
Eugene Dupont
F. Lessner
Le Moussu
M. Maltman Barry
The Hague, September 6, 1872;
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872;
Translated: from the French according to Cuno's copy.
Considering that Spain has the largest number of socialist newspapers; that consequently the socialist organisation there is stronger than anywhere else; that freedom of assembly exists there; that meetings have a larger attendance there than anywhere else;
Considering that we can obtain clarity only through discussion, that the discussion which has been taking place in London since 1869 is almost nil;
I propose Madrid or Barcelona as the seat of the General Council.
N.B. The distance is no longer an obstacle for the telegraph.
Translated: from the French original;
Submitted to the tenth sitting, September 6, 1872;
French original.
In the name of the Spanish Regional Federation we propose:
1. That the General Council should include two representatives from each federation, elected directly by them and subject to revoke only by them.
That the General Council should have its seat in Belgium. That the Belgian Federal Council be instructed to transfer its powers to the General Council which will be elected.
B. Farga Pellicer
Alerini
Submitted to the tenth sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
The document is written on blue squared paper by Farga Pellicer and signed by him and Alerini. There are notes in pencil.
We demand that before the end of this evening's sitting the debate be closed and a vote taken on the inclusion as an article in the General Rules of the resolution of the Conference on political action of the working class.
F. Cournet
Ed. Vaillant
S. Dereure
Submitted to the eleventh sitting,
September 6, 1872
French original
[The document is written by Cournet and followed by the respective signatures. -- Ed.]
Citizens,
Being compelled to return to London, we ask you to kindly excuse our departure and our absence from the last sittings of the Congress.
Greetings and Fraternity.
F. Cournet
Ranvier
Ed. Vaillant
[This addition written by Ranvier. -- Ed.]
The above-named being in no way disinterested, despite their departure, in the questions to be debated, wish to leave their vote on the question of politics discussed yesterday, on which they vote for.
They also vote for an increase of the subscriptions to be paid to the General Council.
Ranvier
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
To the Bureau of the International Congress
As I have to leave immediately, I am herewith placing the names of those for whom I wish to vote in the election of the General Council on the office table, so that I do not lose my vote through being unable to stay on to the end of today's sitting. I vote for the citizens indicated on the enclosed note.
[Enclosed note with the names of the candidates to the General Council not extant.]
Bernhard Becker,
delegate for Brunswick, Chemnits and Bielefeld
The Hague, September 7, 1872.
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
German original
I respectfully beg permission to retire from the Congress after this sitting, having urgent professional business that requires my presence in London.
Sexton
5.8.72
[Inadvertent error on date]
September 7, 1872
German original
The Hague
Sept. 7th, 1872
[error -- it was the 8th]
Dear Citizen,
I regret that I am compelled by necessity to leave The Hague this morning for London. I wish you therefore to inform the Congress that only actual necessity would make me forego the pleasure and the duty of remaining until the termination of the proceedings.
I sincerely hope that the further action of the Congress may be guided by wisdom -- that unanimity and good feeling may characterise its proceedings and that its result may be a glorious triumph for the cause of the Universal Proletariat.
I am, Citizen,
fraternally yours,
F. Lessner, delegate, German Section, London.
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
English original
To the Chairman
As I am compelled to depart today I herewith depose my ballot paper for the election of the members of the General Council.
[Ballot paper not found.]
Gustav Ludwig, delegate for Mainz
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
German original
The Hague
September 7, 1872
To the Citizen Members of the Congress
Obliged as a result of news received from London yesterday evening to leave The Hague, I request the Congress kindly to excuse me if I do not take part in its work today, but as I could not wait until Tuesday morning, I find myself obliged to leave today.
It is with regret that I leave you, perhaps we shall meet again in happier circumstances.
I avail myself of this occasion to inform you that I vote for the inclusion in the Rules of our proposition on the policy of the working class; and for an increase of the subscription.
Greetings and equality.
Ant. Arnaud
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
As it was not possible for me to speak yesterday on the political question, I hereby beg the Chairman of the Congress to tell that although I am the only delegate from Denmark here, the membership in Denmark is very large and that in the name of the Danish branch I adhere to the policy of the General Council. And we shall regret very much if it should happen that the General Council were composed of members such as we could not adhere to.
S. Pihl
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
German original
My mandate instructs me to defend energetically Article IX (political action of the working class) and its inclusion in the Rules.
I therefore demand a final decision.
Swarm
Duval
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
On behalf of the section of political refugees of X, which I represent at the Congress, I adhere to the programme expounded by Citizen Dumont for the Paris sections.
Lucain
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
I propose that 12 persons should be nominated and that they should be given the right to co-opt three others; and that the sitting be adjourned for five minutes.
P. Lafargue
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
I propose that all powers granted by the General Council, the councils, committees, sections in the countries where the International is banned should be cancelled and that the new General Council alone should have the right to nominate representatives in those countries.
A. Serraillier
Dumont, Paris sections,
Lucain, French delegate
Paul Vichard, French delegate
Eugene Dupont
Swarm (French sections)
J. Johannard
Ch. Longuet, French delegate
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7,1872
[Written by Serraillier]
I abstain -- because on this question I should have explained my imperative mandate and have not been able to do so, the discussion having been ended before time.
Victor Cyrille [France]
Submitted to the twelfth sitting.
September 7, 1872
French original
[The document bears on the top the words "Danish delegate" in black ink and "Peel" (for Pihl) in pencil, in an unknown hand. -- Ed.]
I vote for declaration IX but I protest in the name of the legality of the vote because the opponents of the declaration have not been allowed to speak.
Dumont, Paris sections
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
We propose that the subscription should remain as fixed by the General Rules.
Dupont
A. Serraillier
J. G. Eccarius
Thomas Mottershead
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
[Written by Dupont]
I propose that payments should be spread out and take place every three months.
[The document bears on the back the list of candidates for the new General Council: "Kavanagh, Saint-Clair, Laurel, Fornaccieri, David, Levièle, Bertrand, Bolte, Cad, Ward, Dereure, Speyer."]
P. Lafargue,
Swarm, French sections,
B. Wilmot,
Th. Duval,
Dumont
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
[Written by Lafargue]
On behalf of the Portuguese Federation and the New Madrid Federation I propose:
That the new General Council be charged with the special mission of organising international trade unions.
For this purpose, the Council will, during 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.
Paul Lafargue
seconded by F. A. Sorge, on behalf of the American Federation,
Bernhard Becker,
Fr. Milke, printer, delegate from Berlin,
S. Pihl, Copenhagen,
Swarm, France,
E. Vaillant (France),
Leo Frankel (France),
Joh. Ph. Becker,
Th. Duval, Romance Federation,
Brismée,
F. Cournet (Denmark),
Ant. Arnaud (Switzerland),
Adolf Hepner (Leipzig),
Walter,
S. Dereure (America),
Lucain, France,
Dumont, French section
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
[Written by Lafargue]
Published in La Emancipacion No. 65, September 14, 1872 and La Liberté, No. 37 September 15, 1872
Cuno's vote:
On Article IX (on political action) -- For.
Increase of subscriptions: For.
Cuno
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
Vichard is for Article IX.
Against increase of subscriptions.
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
Sorge on behalf of the American Federation tables:
1. a proposal relating to the questionnaire on statistics;
2. a proposal relating to representation at congresses;
3. a proposal aimed at simplifying the designation of the societies, etc. adhering to the International Working Men's Association;
4. the resolutions of the American congress on the position of the General Council and the accusations levelled against it, expressing energetic support of the General Council and demanding complete centralisation of our forces.
Submitted to the thirteenth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
I consider it necessary to state publicly that my letter does not imply that the commission has acted without due consideration and made conclusions without proof. I would point out that I withdrew yesterday evening and that at that moment, besides my personal conviction, I had strong presumptions, which, as a result of subsequent evidence, would perhaps have been transformed into certainty. Fully trusting the commission's loyalty, I would in any case have supported its conclusions and voted for expulsion, but under the influence of a few words which escaped Citizen Alerini I am sufficiently clear on the situation, the more so since Citizen Guillaume defended Bakunin's honesty and integrity before the whole Congress and in front of me, then a member of the commission, whereas authentic and irrefutable documents prove his infamy and the swindle perpetrated by him to the prejudice of a St. Petersburg publisher.
Walter
The Hague, September 7, 1872
Submitted to the twelfth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
We the undersigned, members of the minority at the Hague Congress, supporters of the autonomy and federation of groups of working men, faced with a vote on decisions which seem to us to be contrary to the principles recognised by the countries we represented at the preceding congress, but desiring to avoid any kind of split within the International Working Men's Association, take the following decision, which we shall submit for approval to the sections which delegated us:
1. We shall continue our administrative relations with the General Council in the matter of payment of subscriptions, correspondence and labour statistics.
2. The federations which we represent will establish direct and permanent relations between themselves and all regularly constituted branches of the Association.
3. In the event of the General Council wishing to interfere in the internal affairs of a federation, the federations represented by the undersigned undertake jointly to maintain their autonomy as long as the federations do not engage on a path directly opposed to the General Rules of the International approved at the Geneva Congress,
4. We call on all the federations and sections to prepare between now and the next general congress for the triumph within the International of the principles of federative autonomy as the basis of the organisation of labour.
5. We resolutely reject any connection whatever with the so-called London World Federalist Council and with any similar organisation alien to the International.
P. Fluse, delegate of the Vesdre Valley Federation
Tomás Gonzales Morago, delegate of the Spanish Regional Federation
Alerini, delegate of Spain
Adhémar Schwitzguébel, delegate of the Jura Federation
James Guillaume, delegate of the Jura Federation
H. Van den Abeele, delegate of Ghent (Belgium) section
Ph. Coenen, delegate of Antwerp
N. Eberhardt, delegate of Brussels
H. Gerhard, delegate of the Federal Committee of Holland
D. Brismée, Brussels section
J. Van der Hout, delegate of Amsterdam
Victor Dave, delegate of The Hague
N. Alonso Marselau, Spanish delegate
B. Farga Pellicer, delegate of the Spanish Federation
Sauva, delegate of sections No. 22 and 42 of North America
Roch Splingard (Belgium)
A. Herman (Belgium)
[A passage was written, then scratched out: "I sign to declare that the Congress of The Hague has been but a mystification, that social science has derived no profit from it. Victor Cyrille, French delegate."]
The Hague,
September 7,1872
Submitted to the fifteenth sitting,
September 7, 1872
Published: in La Liberté No. 37, September 15, 1872;
Bulletin de la Fédération jurarsienne, No. 17-18, September 15-October 1, 1872; L'Internationale No. 191, September 29, 1872; Mémoire présenté par la Fédération jurassienne. Sonvillier, 1873, pp. 277-78;
French original.
1. I propose that the World Congress in session at The Hague should invite the American Federation to assemble in a national congress on the first Sunday in March 1873 for the purpose of settling the differences dividing that federation,-the congress will be open only to delegates of sections which are in order with the General Council as regards subscriptions. The General Council is instructed to name the place where the congress will be held.
2. That the World Congress should reverse the expulsion decision which it took against Section No. 2 of New York.
3. That the Congress should take note of the memorandum of Section No. 10 of New York.
Submitted to the fifteenth sitting,
September 7, 1872
French original
Considering that the emancipation of the working people can he achieved only by the working people themselves,
that all their efforts must he aimed at asserting and acquiring their capability without any influence of political and capitalist patronage, which by its very nature could only lend to the abortion of their attempts at emancipation, the Congress declares that any society or individual adhering to the Association recognises no other rule of conduct than the principles expanded in the Rules and undertakes to conform to them.
Dupont
French original