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A special commission which examined all the documents pertaining to the
Alliance came to the conclusion that this society had been existing as a secret
organisation within the International, and proposed Bakunin's and Guillaume's
expulsion. The proposal was accepted.
The resolution dealing with Bakunin's expulsion declared that besides the
above-mentioned grounds Bakunin was expelled for a "personal reason." This
referred to the Nietchayev incident. It seems that the Congress had ample reasons for
excluding Bakunin on purely political grounds. It is ludicrous, however, to turn this
sad episode in which Bakunin was the victim of his own lack of character into a cause
for terrible accusations against Marx. It is still more ludicrous when the whole affair
is construed in the following manner. Bakunin, it is asserted, had done what many
other literary men are doing -- he had failed to perform the work for which the
publisher had paid him. Was this swindling? Of course not. But when Bakunin's
defenders insist that Marx should not have blamed Bakunin, then it seems that either
they do not understand or they forget, that the question was not at all as to whether
Bakunin did or did not return to the publisher the money he had received in advance.
The question was much more serious. Where Bakunin and his friends saw merely a
fickle yet pardonable transgression which resulted only in a loss to the publisher, the
members of the commission who had all the documents at their disposal felt that it
was a criminal misuse of the name of a revolutionary organisation which had been in
the minds of most people connected with the International; a misuse for personal
reasons, for the purpose of freeing himself from meeting his pecuniary obligations.
Had the document which was in the hands of the commission been made public at
that time, it would have afforded the greatest satisfaction to the bourgeois world. It
was written by Nietchayev; its contents, however, were not only not contrary to
Bakunin's principles, they were in fact in full harmony with them. We must add that
Bakunin parted with Nietchayev not because of this affair but because it appeared to
him that Nietchayev was ready to regard even him as an instrument for the
attainment of revolutionary aims. Bakunin's letters to his friends illustrate
adequately how unceremoniously Bakunin would hurl not only political but also
personal accusations at his opponents, among whom Marx was included. We know
now that it was Bakunin who was the author of the notorious guide for revolutionists
which was attributed to Nietchayev and which, when made public at the trial, evoked
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general indignation in the ranks of the revolutionists. Bakunin's friends obstinately
denied his authorship; they piled it all up against Nietchayev.
The Hague Congress was ended with Engels' proposal that the permanent
residence of the General Council be transferred to New York. We have already seen
that at this time the International lost its moorings not only in France, where since
1872 the mere belonging to the International was held to be a crime, and not only in
Germany, but also in England. It was presumed that the transfer of the International
would be a temporary one. It turned out, however, that the Hague Congress was the
last one that had any significance in the history of the International. In 1876 the
General Council in New York published the notice that the First International ceased
to exist.
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CHAPTER IX
ENGELS MOVES TO LONDON.
HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE GENERAL COUNCIL.
MARX'S ILLNESS.
ENGELS TAKES HIS PLACE.
Anti-Dühring.
THE LAST YEARS OF MARX.
ENGELS AS THE EDITOR OF MARX'S LITERARY HERITAGE.
THE ROLE OF ENGELS IN THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL.
THE DEATH OF ENGELS.
We have thus concluded the history of the First International, and we had no
occasion to make mention of Engels. The formation of the International was
accomplished without him, and up to 1870 he took only an insignificant and an
indirect part in it. During these years he had written a few articles for some English
labour journals. He had also been aiding Marx for whom the first years of the
International were again years of bitter poverty. Were it not for the help he obtained
from Engels and the small inheritance which was left to him by his old friend,
Wilhelm Wolff, to whom he had dedicated his Capital, Marx would hardly have been
able to overcome penury and he surely would have had no time to prepare his
monumental work for publication. Here is a touching letter in which Marx informs
Engels that he had at last finished correcting the last page:
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"At last," he writes, "this volume is finished. I owe it only to you, that
this has been possible. Without your self-sacrificing aid it would have been
impossible for me to go through the colossal labour on these three volumes. I
embrace you full of thanks."
Engels has been accused of having been a manufacturer. This we must admit,
but we should also add that he had become that for a short time. After his father's
death in 1860, Engels continued to work in the capacity of a simple employee. Only
in 1864 did he become a member of the firm and one of the directors of the plant.
During all this time he was trying to rid himself of this "dog's trade." He was deterred
by the thought not only of himself but of Marx. In this regard his letters written to
Marx in 1868 are very interesting. In them he informed Marx that he was conducting
negotiations about leaving the firm, but that he wanted to accomplish it in a way that
would insure his own and Marx's economic independence. He finally succeeded in
coming to an agreement with his partner. In 1869 he left his factory on conditions
which enabled him to provide for his friend, thus definitely ridding Marx of the
penury that had been weighing upon him. Only in September, 1870, did Engels
manage to move back to London.
For Marx, Engels' arrival meant more than personal happiness; it meant
considerable relief from the colossal labour which he was performing for the General
Council. There were always a countless number of representatives of various nations
whom he had either to meet in person or to correspond with. Engels was noted for
his linguistic abilities since his youth. He knew how to write, and, as his friends
jested he knew how to stammer, in twelve languages. He was therefore ideally
equipped for taking charge of the correspondence with the various countries.
Besides, his long business experience proved useful in that he, unlike Marx, brought
efficiency and order into his work.
Engels took over this work as soon as he became a member of the General
Council in order to spare Marx whose health was undermined by excessive poverty
and privation. He also took upon himself still other parts of the work. An energetic
man, Engels had long been craving for the opportunity to do this work, and judging
by the minutes of the General Council, he very soon became one of its most diligent
members.
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