Resolution of the London Conference relating to the Split in Romance Switzerland

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This full text of the resolution in French was moved by Marx at the Conference session on September 21, 1871 and finally edited not later than September 26. In the official edition of the Resolutions of the London Conference, Clause 1 is abridged. The text of the resolution published in L’Egalité was signed: “Pour copie conforme : Le secrétaire-correspondant pour la Suisse H. Jung.“

Marx also spoke on the conflicts in the Romance Federation and the splitting activities of the Bakuninists in the Conference commission on September 18, 1871 (see this volume , pp . 411-12).

With regard to this split:

1. First and foremost, the Conference must consider the demurrers put forward by the Federal Committee of the Societies of the Mountains, which do not belong to the Romance Federation (see the letter of 4 September submitted to the Conference by the Federal Committee of that section):

First demurrer:

“The General Congress,” they say, “convened in accordance with the Rules, can alone be competent to judge such a serious matter as the split in the Romance Federation.”

Considering:

That when conflicts arise between the societies or branches of a national group, or between groups of different nationalities, the General Council shall have the right to decide on the split, pending appeal to the next Congress, which will take the final decision (see clause VII of the resolutions of the Congress of Basel)

That according to resolution VI of the Congress of Basel, the General Council also has the right to suspend a section of the International until the next Congress;

That these rights of the General Council have been recognised, albeit only in theory, by the Federal Committee of the dissident branches of the Mountains, since Citizen Robin has repeatedly appealed to the General Council in the name of this Committee to come to a final decision on this question (see the minutes of the General Council);

That the rights of Conference, while not equal to those of a General Congress, at any rate exceed those of the General Council;

That it is in fact the Federal Committee of the dissident branches of the Mountains, not the Federal Committee of the Romance Federation, which through Citizen Robin has requested that a conference be convened to reach a final decision on this split (see the minutes of the General Council of 25 July 1871).

For these reasons:

The Conference declares the first demurrer invalid.

Second demurrer:

“It would be,” they say, “a breach of elementary justice to pass sentence on a federation which has not been given the opportunity to defend itself... Today (4 September 1871) we learn indirectly that an extraordinary Conference is to be held in London on 17 September. [...] It was the duty of the General Council to inform all the regional groups of it; we do not know why it has maintained silence with regard to us.”

Considering:

That the General Council had instructed all its secretaries to give notice of the convening of a conference to the sections of the respective countries which they represent;

That Citizen Jung, the corresponding secretary for Switzerland, did not inform the Committee of the Jura branches for the following reasons:

In flagrant breach of the decision of the General Council of 29 June 1870, this Committee, as it still does in its last letter addressed to the Conference, continues to call itself the Committee of the Romance Federation.

This Committee had the right to appeal against the decision of the General Council at a future Congress, but it did not have the right to ignore the decision of the General Council.

Consequently it had no legal existence as far as the General Council was concerned, and Citizen Jung did not have the right to recognise it by inviting it direct to send delegates to the Conference;

Citizen Jung has not received from the Committee any answers to questions put to it in the name of the General Council; since the admission of Citizen Robin to the General Council the requests of the above-mentioned Committee have always been conveyed to the General Council through Citizen Robin, and never by the corresponding secretary for Switzerland.

Considering further:

That on behalf of the above-mentioned Committee Citizen Robin had requested that the conflict be referred first to the General Council and then, on the refusal of the General Council, to a Conference; that the General Council and its corresponding secretary for Switzerland therefore had every reason to suppose that Citizen Robin would inform his correspondents of the convening of a conference, which they themselves had requested;

That the commission of inquiry set up by the Conference to study the Swiss split has heard Citizen Robin as a witness; that all the documents submitted to the General Council by the two parties have been passed on to the commission of inquiry; that it is impossible to concede that the above-mentioned Committee had only been informed of the convening of a conference on 4 September, seeing that in August it had already approached Citizen M... with an offer to send him to the Conference as a delegate;

For these reasons:

The Conference declares the second demurrer invalid.

Third demurrer:

“A decision,” they say, “annulling the rights of our Federation would have the most disastrous consequences for the existence of the International in our country.”

Considering:

That no one has asked for the rights of the above-mentioned Federation to be annulled,

The Conference declares the third demurrer invalid.

2) The Conference confirms the decision of the General Council of 29 June 1870.

At the same time, in view of the persecutions which the International is at present undergoing, the Conference appeals to the feelings of fraternity and union which more than ever ought to animate the working class;

It invites all the brave working men of the Mountain sections to rejoin the sections of the Romance Federation. In case such an amalgamation should prove impracticable it decides that the federated Mountain sections shall henceforth name themselves the “Jurassian Federation”.

The Conference gives warning that henceforth the General Council will be bound to publicly denounce and disavow all would-be organs of the International which, following the precedents of the Progrès and the Solidarité, should discuss in their columns, before the middle-class public, questions exclusively reserved for the local or Federal Committees and the General Council, or for the private and administrative sittings of the Federal or General Congresses.