The red painted assembly room — La salle Petrelle — is full by 9 a.m. On the red back wall of the stage are emblazoned in gold letters Marx's words:
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
On the right and left are two emblems, here that of the “Workers’ Party” (Parti ouvrier), there that of the “Revolutionary Central Comittee” (Comité révolutionnaire central) under which the most important cities of France represented here are listed. The red flag rises above the two emblems.
In the middle there is a third emblem with the inscription:
In the name of the Paris of June 1848 and of March, April and May 1871, and of the France of Babeuf, Blanqui and Varlin, greetings to the socialist workers of the world.
In the foreground can be seen an indication of the goal and demands of every worker organized in a socialist party, wherever it may be:
Political and economic expropriation of the capitalist class, socialisation of the means of production.
On behalf of the Paris Organizing Commission — whose printed report was distributed — at 10 o‘clock citizen Paul Lafargue welcomed the delegates from the departments and abroad, especially the Germans who despite the difficult circumstances in their country appeared in large numbers, proving that there is no question between socialist Germany and socialist France of those foolish hatreds and blind passions which the chauvinists of both countries keep alive with such zeal. The delegates from Europe and America gathered in this room do not represent any of their various fatherlands; they do not gather under the folds of the tricolor or any other national banner; they come together under the folds of the red flag, the flag of the international proletariat. In this room you are not in capitalist France, not in the Paris of the Bourgeoisie — you are in one of the capitals of the international proletariat, of international socialism.
The bourgeoisie is celebrating the centenary of their revolution, that revolution which proclaimed that it would bring justice, freedom and equality to humanity, and which knew no better conclusion than the cruelest and most unrestrained exploitation of the workers. The bourgeois, who only overthrew the aristocracy to gain the mastership of society for themselves, have brought down the feudal Bastille only to turn the whole country into a capitalist labour Bastille in which they can condemn the children, women and men of the proletariat —2— to the agony of overwork. The delegates to the international socialist Congress of 1889 declare by the mere act of meeting that they have something different to do than the work of the revolution of 1789; they do not bow to the “rights of man and citizen” of 1789, which are only the rights of the citizen’s purse. The revolutionary bourgeois of the last century sent their messengers across Europe with the sermon: “Fraternity to the peoples! War to the tyrants!” In this room the apostles of a new way of thinking are gathered. For years you have been preaching to the workers of the civilized nation, "You are brothers and you have only one enemy: private capital — be it Prussian, English, French or Chinese.” Your tireless propaganda, in spite of all the economic and political oppression by the capitalist class, has already brought about the intellectual unification of the socialists of both hemispheres. The social transformation, prepared by national and international development and organization of the productive forces, will weld the civilized nations of Europe and America together into a single people of free producers and owners of the riches that have arisen from common labour.
Finally, to general applause, Lafargue declared the Congress open and called for a chairman to be elected. The names of the German Reichstag member Liebknecht and the Paris municipal councilor Vaillant were suggested. Lafargue proposed that both be elected and that the first session be held under their joint chairmanship. "That will be a testimony to the brotherly union, which unites the socialists of Germany and France." (Repeated tumultuous applause.)
As vice-presidents and secretaries were elected: the MPs Costa and Cipriani for Italy, Anseele for Belgium, Leo Fränkel for Hungary, Peter Lawroff for Russia, Domela Nieuwenhuis for the Netherlands and the MP Ferroul for France.
Citizen Vaillant accepted the joint chairmanship with Liebknecht and gave the following address to the Congress:
“I thank you for the honour you are doing me by calling me to chair this great international socialist Congress on its opening day, and by uniting me with my friend, the Reichstag deputy Liebknecht, whom we all know. So you appoint both of us simultaneously, in the name of international socialism, to welcome the delegates who have come from all countries to seal on behalf of the peoples the socialist Unification Treaty which is the beginning of your joint action and which must lead to your liberation; you entrust me, in the spirit of all revolutionary socialists in France, to welcome the brothers who have come from abroad to offer us their hand — to congratulate them because they have come in such numbers, with such determination — but especially to congratulate those impressive ambassadors from Germany, who represent the largest organized socialist power on earth.
In the face of the liberticidal and warmongering preparations of kings and ruling classes, we have to emphasize the necessity of international peace, our will to maintain this peace, and in place of militarism, in place of the policy of looting and conquering, the democratic defensive policy of the peoples, armed and organized, in order to protect their independence against any external threat and the development of their freedom against any internal threat.
We have to make it our firm resolve to obtain from the masters of power and capital the guarantees of protection for work and workers, which those masters continue to — 3 — refuse as a diminution of their prerogatives. Our masters must be brought forthwith, by means of an international law, to arrange less monstrous, more humane conditions of existence for the workers; the proletariat must immediately be protected against starvation by a minimum wage; against being sweated to death by a restriction of the working day — and finally, it must be enabled through this first and indispensable reform to prepare the means to really emancipate itself, through an organized campaign against the privilege and rule of private capital.
In the course of our debates we will have enough other demands to formulate, for the goal we are striving for is unmistakable for the conscious proletarians of all countries, for the socialists, whose delegates are united here, and who all have one desire, whatever the path may be: to achieve at last the seizure of the means and materials of labour by society, in short, to achieve legal and factual equality in the social-democratic people's state.
Whatever the outcome of these debates, it can be of little importance compared to what has really already been achieved - the assembling of this Congress.
Never before have so many delegates come together at a national French socialist congress, representatives from Paris and all the other workers’ centers, representatives of all the trade unions and workers’ organizations of the departments. Never before has an international socialist congress brought so many representatives of international socialism together, rushing in from all points of the socialist world, on the day after bloody battles, amid the machinations of government and capitalism. The seeds of the Commune are beginning to sprout. And all these delegates from France and other countries gathered here have only one object in their hearts, only one desire: to seal forever the covenant of unity, the treaty of solidarity of the Socialists of all countries, a treaty already concluded by the simple fact of this fraternal gathering, and to which we all swear allegiance through thick and thin.
This Congress, the success and magnitude of which exceeds all our hopes, will be one of the great events in the history of the peoples. It brilliantly opens up a new era of the conscious, systematic enforcement of the rights of the oppressed, planned, unanimous action by the international proletariat and socialism. It is the pledge of certain and decisive victory; long live the social international republic! (Lively applause.)
Citizen Liebknecht gave thanks for the trust placed in him: “It is the proudest moment of my life to stand here and see the fulfillment of the ideal announced by the words: Proletarians of all countries unite! And it gives me even more pleasure that I, a representative of German social democracy, stand here shoulder to shoulder with my friend Vaillant, a representative of French social democracy. After the terrible fratricidal war in which our two nations were torn to pieces, the two peoples so to speak shake hands in our persons: social-democratic Germany with social-democratic France. (The chairmen shake hands to the roaring cheers of the assembly.) The enmity of Germany and France has so far been the main obstacle to political and social progress in Europe. The fraternization of France and Germany is the triumph of peace, civilization, and socialism. And the fact that in this — 4 — hall, in the mother city of the revolution, the representatives of the working people of all countries have come together — all animated by the one thought of the emancipation of the proletariat and the one feeling of solidarity gives this parliament of the worker the significance of a great work for peace, an epoch-making cultural deed. And while I formally offer my fraternal greeting to the non-German comrades present here in the name of the German social democracy, I now want to translate for my German comrades the enthusiastic words of the international greeting which have just been addressed to the Congress by our French friends Lafargue and Vaillant. (The speaker gives a summary of the two speeches and continues): I agree with the previous speaker. This congress is the starting point of international cooperation among the proletariat of the world. Whatever the resolutions it may take, the main importance of the Congress lies in the fact that it is meeting, in the fact that the worker-delegates of the different countries are meeting one another in person, recognizing the equality of their aspirations in spite of the difference of countries and tongues, and reaching out brotherly hands to the Pacte d'Union — to the sacred alliance treaty of the international proletariat.
Free from national prejudices, free from the selfish striving to dominate and exploit, the proletariat will realize the ideals which the heroes of the great revolution that is celebrating its centenary today had in mind — the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, which, however, contradicted the egoism of the bourgeoisie as it achieved domination, and so could not be realized until now.
This is not the first international workingmen‘s congress that I have attended. In 1869 I was in Basel, and when we had finished with the work, and it was a matter of determining the time and place for the next congress, one of the French delegates invited us on behalf of the French comrades for next year in Paris — Paris would then be free from Bonaparte. And the invitation was accepted with jubilant unanimity, and with the cry: "Next year in Paris!" we parted.
That French delegate was Varlin.
The next year came — 1870 — and the war came — which unfortunately we could not prevent — Bonaparte fell — and the Commune came — and Varlin, like the other French congress delegates, did his duty in the council and on the battlefield — the Commune fell and Varlin, the noble, heroic Varlin, was captured by the inhuman victors and, under terrible abuse, to which he opposed stoic equanimity and defiant silence, was dragged for hours through streets turned red by the murder of his brothers, until those cruel enemies themselves grew tired. and shot the hated man, whose last word was a curse against this vicious bourgeois society, against a wall.
The martyr‘s blood of the Commune was the seed of revolution. The workers‘ movement grew powerfully everywhere, especially in Germany, even though the bourgeoisie believed they had stifled it forever in blood and defamation.
And after twenty years we have now accepted Varlin‘s invitation, and now more has come true than Varlin, than all of us dreamed back then — an international workingmen‘s parliament, hundreds of representatives of the foreign proletariat, among them over eighty from Germany — besides the representatives of the workers of Paris and France.
—5— The treaty of alliance does not need to be made — it has been made!
And before we proceed to the constitution of the Congress, I have only one thing left to say: this Congress is open to all honest fighters for the emancipation of the proletariat. Nobody is excluded who wants to cooperate on the work of liberation.
(Liebknecht had spoken partly in French — especially towards the end. The speech was followed by unanimous, sustained applause: Long live socialist Germany! Long live the International!)
A commission was then appointed to examine the mandates, which was composed by nationality, as follows: Germany — Vollmar, Geyer, Geck; France — Lavigne, Guesde, Vaillant; Russia — Lawroff; Poland — Mendelsohn; Switzerland — Brandt (Vice President of the Grütli Association); Italy — Costa and Cipriani; Spain — Mesa; Scandinavia — Petersen; Belgium — Stautemas and Steffens; Netherlands — Domela-Nieuwenhuis; Austria, as a German country — Dr. Adler; Austria, as a Slavic country — Hybes; Hungary — Frankel; England — William Morris; United States of North America — Ahles; Romania — Mann.
The Bureau indicates that it has received various requests, including one from Citizen Lawroff, who is responsible for giving a general report on the situation in Russia, and who, in view of the unstable state of his health, has asked to be allow to give it in the next sitting. That is accepted.
After a lengthy discussion about the rules for the sessions, in which the citizens Dupres, Camescasse, Anseele, Bebel and Merlino take part, the Congress decides to meet again on Monday morning at 9 o'clock.
Citizen Werner from Berlin declares that he, like several of his fellow delegates, is instructed to do everything possible to bring about an agreement between the two congresses. He proposes the appointment of a commission of 5 members to handle this matter.
Citizen Bernstein points out that it is impossible to appoint any commission before the mandates of the delegates have been examined. Incidentally — he added — we have always wished to reach an agreement.
.Citizen Costa declares that all Italian delegates have been mandated to unite both congresses and to make every effort to merge them into one. Should the question be excluded from discussion, it would be impossible for them to fulfill their mandate. So he insists on getting started immediately.
Citizen Liebknecht believes that nothing can be done before the congress has been fully constituted. For 4 months everything has been tried to bring about an agreement. The obstacles did not come from our side, but from the other. In this situation, how should we urge our friends, the French socialists, to come to an agreement which they have always been denied? That would be putting a gun to their heads. We Germans are in favour of unification, we are in favour of a single international congress. But it does not depend on us whether this will be achieved. We have always offered our hand, we are still offering it. May it be taken! (General applause.)