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Declaration of the General Council on Nechayev's Misuse of the Name of the International Working Men's Association
Author(s) | First International Karl Marx |
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Written | 14 October 1871 |
First published in Qui vive!, No. 14, October 18, 1871 and in Der Volksstaat, No. 88, November 1, 1871
Reproduced from the manuscript checked with the text in Der Volksstaat
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 23
On October 7, 1871, the General Council, in accordance with the London Conference decision, instructed Marx to draw up a declaration to the effect that the International Working Menâs Association had nothing to do with the so-called Nechayev conspiracy. The text of the declaration was approved at the General Council meeting on October 16, 1871. The declaration is written on the form of the General Council together with Marxâs letter to John Hales of October 14, 1871.
In 1869 Nechayev established contacts with Bakunin and developed activities for the purpose of founding in Russia a secret society, Narodnaya Rasprava (Peopleâs Judgment). The study circles organised by Nechayev advocated anarchist ideas of âabsolute destructionâ. Sharp criticism of the Tsarist regime and the call to wage resolute struggle against it attracted revolutionary-minded students and middle-class intellectuals (raznochintsy) to the Nechayev organisation. Nechayev received from Bakunin the credentials of the European Revolutionary Union and used them to pass himself off as a representative of the International, thereby misleading the members of the organisation.
When Nechayevâs organisation was broken up and its members tried in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1871, his adventurist methods were made publicâblackmail, intimidation, deception and the like. The bourgeois press made use of the trial to denigrate the International, which was, in fact, not associated with Nechayev in any way.
The General Councilâs declaration was translated into French and Italian by Engels. It was published in German in Der Volksstaat, No. 88, November 1, 1871 (signed by Marx as Corresponding Secretary for Germany and Russia); in French, in Qui vive! No. 14, October 18, and in LâĂgalitĂŠ, No. 21, November 5; in Italian, in Gazzettino Rosa, No. 306, November 3, LâEguaglianza, No. 18, November 12 and in La Plebe, No. 122, October 19, 1871; in Russian, in Hedhjin, No. 16, October 19 (31), C.-TIemep6ypzcKiH efcdoMocmu[1], No. 292, October 23 (November 4), BupMeevie ebdoMocmu[1], No. 290, October 23 (November 4), /Jow>, No. 83, November 4(16), 1871; in English, in The Daily News (between October 16 and 30, 1871) (the Institute of Marxism-Leninism does not have the issue at its disposal; the fact of publication is known from the Russian newspaper Hedbjin, No. 16, October 19 (31), 1871).
International Workingmenâs Association
The Conference of the Delegates of the International Workingmenâs Association, assembled at London from the 17th to the 23d September 1871, has charged the General Council to declare publicly:
that Netschajeff has never been a member or an agent of the International Workingmenâs Association;
that his assertions[2] to have founded a branch at Brussels and to have been sent by a Brussels branch on a mission to Geneva, are false;
that the above said Netschajeff has fraudulently used the name of the International Workingmenâs Association in order to make dupes and victims in Russia.
By order of the General Council, etc.
14 October 1871