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Special pages :
Letter to the Society of Ferrarese Workers, April 16, 1872
| Author(s) | First International Frederick Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 16 April 1872 |
Printed according to the rough copy of the letter
Translated from the Italian
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 23
At the General Council meeting of March 19, 1872, Engels announced that he had received a letter from Ferrara of March 3 which stated that the Ferrara workers' society was going to join the International, provided it retained its own autonomy. Engels explained in his reply that the recognition of the General Rules and Administrative Regulations was an indispensable condition for the admission of a new section to the International. Engels' letter, as well as the International's documents forwarded by him to the Ferrara society, helped its members to overcome the anarchist influence. On May 7, acting on Engels' proposal, the General Council recognised the Ferrara society as a section of the International.
Citizens,
In reply to your kind letter of March 3 I thank you, on behalf of the General Council, for your adherence to the International Working Men’s Association. I must at the same time inform you that before accepting it, the Council requires clarification of the significance of the reservation you make about your “autonomy”.
When an association is formed, the first requirement is to draw up rules and administrative regulations such as you yourselves possess, and as the International possesses too. You are perhaps not familiar with the latter and I am therefore enclosing a copy in French. Kindly submit them to your society and, if you agree to abide by them, let me know. These General Rules and Administrative Regulations are the only laws which our association possesses and which could limit your autonomy. But as you yourselves must realise, there cannot be two sorts of section in the International, one which accepts the collective laws and one which rejects them.[1] I hope, though, that you will have no difficulty in agreeing to these laws, made by the workers of the whole of Europe after seven years of annual meetings and recognised by all.
Administrative Regulation V, Article 1, says that “every branch is at liberty to make rules and bye-laws for its local administration, adapted to local circumstances and the laws of its country”.[2] But these rules and bye-laws must not contain anything contrary to the General Rules and Regulations.[3] Administrative Regulation II, Article 5, which leaves to the General Council the responsibility for accepting or rejecting each new section, entrusts it with the task of checking whether the rules and regulations of these new sections are in accordance with this article. I should be grateful, therefore, if you would send the Council a copy of your rules so that this formality can be carried out.
- ↑ Further on it is crossed out in the rough copy: "preserving its autonomy".— Ed.
- ↑ See this volume, p. 12.— Ed.
- ↑ Further on it is crossed out in the rough copy: "As Italy does not yet have a regular Federal Council, the General Council reserves the right to check the rules and bye-laws of the Italian sections."—Ed.