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A series of systematic study courses, suitable for indi-
vidual study or class work, each Iesson issued in pamphlet
forrn. The eourses are:
I. POLITICAL ECONOMY
Dlements ol Marxian econontics
2. HISTORY OF THE WORKING CLASS
The uorking class ntoaenlent in the nudn cenlers
of imperialist pouer
Trvo additional eourses, Builtling Socialism and His.
HISTORY
torical Materialism, are being plannetl in this series. OF THE
!4GV WORKING
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
CLASS
For Th,is Lesson The Firsf lnter-
Ihe History of the First fnternational, by G.
The Paris Commune, by V. I. Lenin
II. 5tek1ors............,.....$3.51]
.20
notionol ond the
Poris Connmune
For The Course
The lSth Brurnaire of Louis Bonaparte, by Karl [[arx................... 1.50 t. The First lnternotionol
The Peaeant War in Germany, by Friedrich 8nge1s................................ 1.50 The development of the lobor
From Chartism to Labourism, by Th. Rethstein.- ...... 2.50 movement in Britoin, Fronce
The Rise and FalI of the Second International, by l. Le.n2............... 2.0O
Social Forcee in American History, by A. M. Sinr.ons......--...........-..-... 1.60
ond Cermony; formotion of
History of the American Vorking Claes, by Anthony 8i,mba......... 2.75 the First lnternqtionol ond
Illustrated History of the Russian Revolution, 2 Vols...... ..........-..6.?5 the fight ogoinst Proudhon-
The Revolution of 1917, by V. I. Lenin,2 Yols.-.,. ...Each 3.00 ism ond Bokuninism: its end.
The Imperialiet Var, by Y. I. Lenin
Voiees of Revolt The Poris Commune
Outstanding utterances of: Robespierre, Marat, Danton, The Empire ond its collopse;
Lenin, Lassalle, W. Liebknecht, K. Liebkneel*, Bebel, the importonce of the Com-
Debs and Ruth.enberg .-.........,............Each .S0
mune; Morx, Lenin ond
Sociol-Democrots on the
INTERNATIONAT PUBTISHERS Commune.
History of the
Working Glass
LESSON IV,
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL AND
THE PARIS COMMUNE
il NEW YORK
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISIIERS
,&
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL AND THE
PARIS COMMUNE - 7
I. TUB Frnsr INTBnNaTToNAL - - Z
I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LABOUR MOVE-
MENT IN THE PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES. THE
LABOUR MOVEMENT IN BRITAIN. T}IE LABOUR
MOVEMENT rN FRANCE (enOUouOurSM). THE
LABOUR MOVEMENT IN GERMANY (LASSALL-
EANTSM) - ?
All Rigllts Resuoed.
2. THE FOUNDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL.
THE PROGRAIVIME AND STATUTES OF THE
INTERNATIONAL - t4
3. THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE INTERNATIONAL,S
HISTORY. TIIE FIGIIT AGAINST PROUD-
HONTSM - r9
4. THE SECOND PERIOD OF THE INTERNA-
TIONAL,S HISTORY. THE FIGHT AGAINST
BAKUNINISM 23
5. THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR AND TFrE rNTER-
NATIONAL 26
6. tnr END or rHE FIRST INTERNATIoNAL - 27
II. TnB Penrs Couuurvn - 32
I. THE SECOND EMPIRE. THE FRENCH LABOUR
MOVEMENT. THE DOWNFALL OF THE EMPIRE.
THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE - 32
2. TIIE COMMUNE. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE
Px'IXrlD IN
COMMUNE AND ITS MISTAKES. MARX, LENIN
TNGI.AND BY
rE. GARDEN CITY PRESS T.NOT8D, AND THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATS ON THE COM-
&rtrcEwoRtEr EtRrs,
D6822 MUNE - 37
3
INrnooucttor.l
The employers tried to worsen the conditions of labour, The French workers answered a year later. In the
and their- measures aroused great resistance. The interval their organisations had been giving all their
a special assistance attention to the eLections to the Chamber of Deputies,
in which, for ttre flrst time, their candidates stood
;iHli;::TxL"':; independently. 'Ihe necessity for such independent
English and French action was justified in a special programme, called the
workers had before them a living and convincing Jl'Ianifesto of tke Sixty (1864). fn so far as it criticised
example of the solidarity of the workers' interests in the bourgeois order of society, the programme was
different countries. Proudhonist, but in questions of political tactics it
Another event which aroused the European Pro- differed sharply frour Proudhon's theories. The mani-
ietariat was the Potish insurrection against Russia in festo urgecl the formation of a separate political
organisation of the workers and the nomination of the
workers' own candidates at elections.
The French workers' answer to the English address
repeats briefly the Proudhonist criticism of capitalist
competition and capitalist monopoly. As against the
English workers, who emphasised the trade union
struggle, the French attached greater importance to
16 WORKING-CLASS HISTORY THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 17
questions of industrial progres5 ; the division of labour acceptable to all the tendencies represented in the
and free trad.e. committee. The task was brilliantly fulf,lled. The
" The progress of iudustry, divisiou of labour, freedorn oI Inaugural Address written by him and accepted by the
labour-these are all new things which henceforth must claim committee, and the statutes of the organisation, which
our attention, for they will translorm entirely the economic he too drew up, became the ideological foundation of
structure of society. Corresponding to the needs of the day and
under the pressure of facts, capital is being concentrated into the the international proletarian class struggle and a
hancls of powerlul linancial and industrial companies. If we do historical document of world communism.
not figlrt against this, it wiII mect with no opposition and rve shall
bc cxposed to despotic rule. We, workcrs oI all countrics,
must unite to build up a lvall against this pernicious system, for TIIE PROGRAMME AND STATUTES OF THE INTERNATIONAL
otherwise humanitv will be divide<I into tw-o classes-a mass of The Inaugural Address is a Manifesto-an introduc-
ignorant people and a handful of dignitaries and satiated man-
darins." tion to the programme of the Internatiorial. Sketching
the position of the working class, it reached the con-
In September 1864, the lirench delegation came to clusion that, despite the tremendous growth of industry
England with their answer. On the z8th of the same and trade, the distress of the workers had not dimin-
month there was held that historic meeting in London ished and that their conditions could not be radically
which laid the foundations of the International. The improved so long as capitalism existed. Two victories
meeting accepted the address of the English and the gained by the working class in the preceding two years
reply of the French workers and decided to found an were remarked upon: the passing of the ten-hour bill
International Working-Men's Association. A com- in England and the development of the co-operatives,
mittee was selected to draw up the programme and whose origins were also to be found in England.
statutes of the ne',r, organisation. " The ten-hour act \ilas not merelv a great practical victory;
The committee consisted of representatives of the it was also the triumph of a principle. For thc first tirne, in the
English and French workers and of the German and full light of day, the political economy oI the bourgcoisic sub-
Italian emigr:ants who lived in London. Among those mitted to thc political econorny of the working class."
elected was Karl Marx. The conrmittee was extremely The co-operatives represented a similar victory of
heterogeneous in its composition and reflected clearly principle. For the first time they demonstrated, in
the variety of organisational forms and ideological deeds instead of arguments, the possibiJity of large-
tendencies in the working-class movement. In the scale undertakings organised and managed without the
committee there were trade unionists, Owenites, bourgeoisie. But, in themselves, the co-operatives
Chartists, Proudhonists, Blanquists, German Com- could never, in the conditions of capitalist societv,
munists, Polish and Ita-lian Nationalist revolutionaries stay the development of capitalism or emancipate the
with the most varied, and at times the most working class; too great importance should not
-men
conflicting ideas on aII questions of importance to therefore be attached to them.
the working-class movernent. When the committee The emancipation of the proletariat requires the
requested Marx to drar,v up the proposed programme seizure of political power. In the given period that
and statutes, he was given an extremely diflrcult task ; was the most important task of the proletariat. The
without in any way watering down his own revolu- landlords and capitalists will always try to maintain
tionary ideas, he had to write in a way that would be their political privileges in order to strengthen their
I8 WORKING-CLASS HISTORY THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL Tg
economic domination. Against them the workers have not actually becorne the decisive centl'e from the
one real chance of success-their nurnbers. " But the organisational point of view, and in the main its
masses only exert their weight whren they are organised functions were to give ideological leadership to the
and when knowledge guides them." fnternationai proletariarl movement. The basic organi-
fhe workers' struggle demands the internatjonal sational principles of the International \Mere forgotten
unification of all their forces : that was the task of the by the Second International. The fnternational
International Working-Men's Association. The policy Socialist Bureau, formed by the latter body, had very
of bourgeois states, founded upon the suppression of small powers and confined itself mostly to circulating
the workers, Ieads to criminal wars of spoliation and information and statistics. The Third International
divides the ranks of the workers. The proletariat must readopted the theories of the First, and developed its
therefore fight energetically against this policy of principles of organisation. On that basis it created a
rziolence and oppression. unified and centralised communist rvorld party.
The statutes of the fnternational declared that :
" The ernancipation of the working class must be conquered 3. THE FIRST PERIOD IN lHE IIrSTORY OF THE INTER-
by the working classes themsclves, Considering : NATIONAL. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST PROUDHONISM
" That the econornical subjection of the tran of Iabour to the
monopoliscr of the rncans of labour, that is, the sources of life, Iies The first Congress of the International was treld in
at the bottoru of servitude in all its forms, of all social misery, September 1866 in Geneva. The majority consisted of
mental clegradation and political dependence ; Proudhonists from France and Switzerland. Opposed
" Tliat the economical emancipation of the u.'orking classes
is therelore the grcat end to which evcry political movement to them were the English, who had come prepared
ought to be suborclinate as a mean:l ; with material provided by Marx.
" That aII efforts airning at that great cnd havc hitherto failed
from the want of soiidarity between the manifold divisions oI In the discussion on the ratification of the statutes,
labour in each country, ald from the absence of a fraternal bond the Proudhonists demanded that only those performing
of union betwcen th.e working classes of differcnt countries; manual labour shoulrl be admitted into the Inter-
" That the emancipation of lalbour is neither a local nor a
national, but a social problem, embracing all countries in which national. Then, on the same subject, a question arose
modern society exists, and depencling {or its solution on the of mutual international assistance and of the struggle
concurrence, practic.al and theoretical, of the most advanced between capital and labour-the Proudhonists declared
countries."
themselves in opposition to strikes and recommended
F'or those rea-sons the International was founded. the establishment of mutual aid societies. On the
Tlie fnternational was organised in the following question of female labour their attitude rvas particu-
fashion :
larly reactionary. They opposed the participation of
In every country the members of the International women in public life and in production, even pleading
united into a section of the International, managed by for the " sanctity of the woman at her fireside," trying
the national federative council. International con- to force their philistine ideas into the prograrnme of the
gresses, to be convened periodically, were to discuss international proletariat. Most of the Proudhonist
the most important questions of the working-class proposals were rejected by the Congress.
movement and to elect the chief committee for the The theses drawn up by Marx on trade unions were
whole fnternational-the General Council. Although accepted unanimously by the Congress. They treated
the General Council was given great powers, it could trade unions as vital centres of working-cla^ss organisa-
WORKING-CLASS HISTORY THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 2I
tion, which the proletariat could use not only in daily resolution on the question of credit and people's banks,
economic struggles, but also as a means towards the and recommended the trade unions to create a
more important end of abolishing the system of wage- " national credit system."
labour altogether. This resolution on trade unions is In the discussion on the role of the State, a resolution
still to-day a model for a truly revolutionary concep- was moved advocating that land should be made
tion of the role and tasks of trade unions.
The Congress declared its hostility to the imperialist
designs of Russia and advocated the restoration of
an independent Poland reconstituted on social demo-
cratic principles. It established the principle that the
working class has to strive for legislation in the interests
of labour-the legal limitation of the working day to
eight hours, special protection for female and juvenile
labour, etc.
'L'he Geneva Congress awakened a lively echo in
every country. The resolution of the Shefi&eld Confer-
ence of English trade unionists (in 1866) may serve as to repeat it every year.
an example of the attitude of proletarian organisations
towards the International. This resolution expressed
their " unqualified appreciation of the efiorts of the
International to unite the workers of all countries by
the common bonds of fraternity," and appealed to all
trade union organisations to affiliate to the Inter- obstructed the capitalists when they tried to bring in
national. foreign workers as strike breakers.-
A number of English trade unionists joinerl the fn France the victorious strike of the parisian
International. Sections were also formed in France
and the fnternational became extremely popuJar
among the workers of Switzerland, Ital5r, Germany and
Belgium. It is interesting to note that, in its early
period, the fnternational was quite fairly treated in
the bourgeois press. But when the part which it played
in strikes, and the decisions of its congresses had
opened the eyes of the bourgeoisie, it srrddenly became
a " gang of incendiaries," " men to whom nothing was
sacred," who " aimed at anarchy and the annihilation
of civilisation," etc.
The next Congress of the International was held rt
Lausanne in September r867. It passed a Proudhonist English trade unions.
(\
I
ideas.
Some social democratic theoreticians go even further
than Kautsky, and not only reject Marx's conception
of the state but declare in favour of liberal-anarchist
ideas. Cunow in his Marxian Theory of lhe State,
discovers that " The modern State is extending the
boundaries of its intervention " in economic life and in Succrs.rro Booxs
" the sphere of individual and family rights." lul On the First Inletnational.
SlDKLov : Ilistory of the l-irsl International-
" The development of the State has consequently taken a 'l'he Paris
direction difierent from that envisaged by Marx and Engels, who (bl Commune.
were influenced by the liberal-anarchist tendencies of their time."
(Cunow, Die lllot*istische Slaalstheoria, p. 3r9.)