322 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ary but business-like one of Karl Marx. The last met with little opposition, and the follow- ing were declared by the first general congress of Geneva to be the rules of the " Interna- tional Working Men's Association :" Considering that the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves ; that the struggle for the emancipation of the working classes means not a struggle for class privileges and monopolies, but for equal rights and duties, and the abolition of all class rule; that the economical subjection of the man of labor to the monopolizer of the means of labor, that is, the sources of life, lies at the bottom of servitude in all its forms, of all so- cial misery, mental degradation, and political dependence ; that the economical emancipation of the working classes is therefore the great end to which every political movement ought to be subordinate as a means; that all efforts aiming at that great end have hitherto failed from the want of soli- daritv between the manifold divisions of labor in each country, and from the absence of a fraternal bond of union between the working classes of different countries; that the emancipa- tion of labor is neither a local nor a national, but a social problem, embracing all countries in which modern society exists, and depending for its solution on the concurrence, prac- tical and theoretical, of the most advanced countries; that the present revival of the working classes in the most indus- trious countries of Europe, while it raises a new hope, gives solemn warning against a relapse into the old errors, and calls for the immediate combination of the still disconnected move- ments: For these reasons, the first international working men's congress declares that this international association and all societies and individuals adhering to it will acknowl- edge truth, justice, and morality, as the basis of their con- duct toward each other, and toward all men, without re- gard to color, creed, or nationality. This congress considers ft the duty of a man to claim the rights of a man and a citi- zen, not only for himself, but for every man who does his duty. No rights without duties, no duties without rights. And in this spirit they have drawn up the following rules of the international association: 1. This association Is estab- lished to afford a central medium of communication and co- operation between working men's societies existing in differ- ent countries and aiming at the same end, viz.: the protection, advancement, and complete emancipation of the working classes. 2. The name of the society shall be "The Interna- tional Working Men's Association." 8. The general council shall consist of working men belonging to the different coun- tries represented in the international association. It shall from its own members elect the officers necessary for the transaction of business, such as a president, a treasurer, a general secretary, corresponding secretaries for the different countries, &c. The congress appoints annually the seatof the geneml council, elects a number of members, with power to add to their numbers, and appoints time and place for the meeting of the next congress. - The delegates assemble at the appointed time and place without any special invitation. The general council may, in case of need, change the place, but has no power to postpone the time of meeting. 4. On Its annual meetings, the general congress shall receive a public account of the annual transactions of the general council. In cases of urgency. It may convoke the general congress be- fore the regular yearly term. 5. The general council shall form an international agency between the different coopera- ting associations, so that the working men in one country be constantly informed of the movements of their class in every other country; that an inquiry into the social state of the different countries of Europe be made simultaneously, and under a common direction ; that the questions of general in- terest mooted in one society be ventilated by all; and that when immediate practical steps should be needed, as, for in- stance, in case of international quarrels, the action of the associated societies be simultaneous and uniform. Whenever it seems opportune, the general council shall take the initia- tive of proposals to be laid before the different national or local societies. To facilitate the communications, the general council shall publish periodical reports, (i. Since the success of the working men's movement in each country cannot ho secured but by the power of union and combination, while, on the other hand, the usefulness of the international general council must greatly depend on the circumstance whether it has to deal with a few national centres of working men's as- sociations, or with a greater number of small and disconnect- ed local societies, the members of the international associa- tion shall use their utmost efforts to combine the disconnected working men's societies of their respective countries into national bodies, represented by central national organs. It IB self-understood, however, that the application of this rule will depend upon the peculiar laws of each country, and that, apart from legal obstacles, no independent local society shall be precluded from directly corresponding with the general council. 7. The various branches and sections shall, at their places of abode, and as far as their influence may extend, take the initiative not only in all matters tending to the gen- eral progressive improvement of public life, but also in the, foundation of productive associations and other institutions useful to the working class. The general council shall en- courage them in every possible manner. 8. Each member of the international association, on removing his domicile from one country to another, will receive the fraternal support of the associated working men. 9. Everybody who acknowl- edges and defends the principles of the international working men's association is eligible to become a member. Every branch is responsible for the integrity of the members it ad- mits. 10. Every section or branch has the right to appoint its own corresponding secretary. 11. While united in a perpet- ual bond ol fraternal cooperation, the working men's societies joining the international association will preserve their exis- tent organizations intact. 12. Everything not provided for in the present rules will be supplied by special regulations sub- ject to the revision of every congress. At this congress of Geneva, also, the ques- tions of the limitations of the working day, of juvenile labor, of cooperative labor, of trades unions, and of a statistical inquiry into the situation of the working classes, had been discussed in such a way as to attract the gen- eral attention of the European governments. The French government assumed a very hostile attitude toward the society, and the minister of police, M. Pietri, began not only to prose- cute its members, but to accuse them of being connected with all the assassination plots which he constantly pretended to discover in France. This policy only helped the international by rendering the association both more popular with the working classes and more formidable in the eyes of capitalists. In the beginning of 1867 the bronze workers of Paris, about 5,000 in num- ber, struck ; and as the strike was firmly kept up by money sent over by the English mem- bers of the association, the employers yielded. On the other hand, the great strike of the Lon- don tailors in the summer of the same year was largely supported by contributions from Germany, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The association also helped the great strike in the building trade at Geneva in 1868, so that it was carried through to the satisfaction of the working men concerned. In England, how- ever, where trades unions were already in a much more flourishing condition than on the continent, the main activity of the association consisted not so much in the supply of pecu- niary means as in preventing the importation of cheap continental workmen into the British market. Formerly, when a strike took place, the English employers had the facilities for bringing over German, Belgian, and French workmen, and their mere threat of doing so sometimes put an end to the strike. But from the establishment of the international the im- portation of foreign labor became very diffi- cult, if not impossible; for the moment a strike or lock-out occurred in any of the affilia- ted trades, the correspondents of the associa- tion on the continent were ordered to warn the workmen of their respective localities against concluding any contract with the British em- ployers. The next congress was held at Lau- sanne in September, 1867. In August of the
