The International Working Men's Association, 1872

La Liberté Speech


In the 18th century, the kings and the potentates were
in the habit of meeting at The Hague to discuss the interests of their dynasties.

It is precisely in this place that we wanted to hold our workers' meeting,
despite attempts to arouse apprehensions among us. We wanted to appear amid
the most reactionary population, to reinforce the existence, propagation, and
hope for the future of our great Association [International Working Men's Association].

When our decision became known, it was rumored that we sent emissaries
to prepare the ground. Yes, we do not deny that we have such emissaries everywhere,
but they are mostly unknown to us. Our emissaries in The Hague were the workers
whose labor is as toilsome as that of our emissaries in Amsterdam, who are likewise
workers, laboring 16 hours a day. Those are our emissaries; we have no other;
and in all the countries where we recruit we find them prepared to receive us
with open hearts, because they understand immediately that we strive to improve
their lot.

The congress at The Hague has brought to maturity three important
points:

It has proclaimed the necessity for the working class to fight
the old, disintegrating society on political as well as social grounds;
and we congratulate ourselves that this resolution of the London Conference
will henceforth be in our Statutes.

In our midst there has been formed a group advocating the workers'
abstention from political action. We have considered it our duty to declare
how dangerous and fatal for our cause such principles appear to be.

Someday the worker must seize political power in order to build up the
new organization of labor; he must overthrow the old politics which sustain
the old institutions, if he is not to lose Heaven on Earth, like the old Christians
who neglected and despised politics.

But we have not asserted that the ways to achieve that goal are
everywhere the same.

You know that the institutions, mores, and traditions of various countries
must be taken into consideration, and we do not deny that there are countries
-- such as America, England, and if I were more familiar with your institutions,
I would perhaps also add Holland -- where the workers can attain their goal
by peaceful means. This being the case, we must also recognize the fact that
in most countries on the Continent the lever of our revolution must be force;
it is force to which we must some day appeal in order to erect the rule of labor.

The Hague Congress has granted the General Council [London-based administrative
body of IWMA] new and wider authority. In fact, at the moment when the kings
are assembling in Berlin, whence are to be issued new and decisive measures
of oppression against us by the mighty representatives of feudalism and of the
past -- precisely at that moment, when persecution is being organized, the congress
of The Hague considered it proper and necessary to enlarge the authority of
the General Council and to centralize all action for the approaching struggle,
which would otherwise be impotent in isolation. And, moreover, where else could
the authorization of the General Council arouse disquiet if not among our enemies?
Does the General Council have a bureaucracy and an armed police to compel obedience?
Is not its authority entirely a moral one, and does it not submit its decisions
to the judgment of the various federations entrusted with their execution? Under
such conditions -- without an army, without police, without courts -- on the
day when the kings are forced to maintain their power only with moral influence
and moral authority, they will form a weak obstacle to the forward march of
the revolution.

Finally, the congress of The Hague has moved the headquarters
of the General Council to New York. Many, even among our friends, seem
to have wondered at such a decision. Do they then forget that America will
be the workers' continent par excellence, that half a million men -- workers
-- emigrate there yearly, and that on such soil, where the worker dominates,
the International is bound to strike strong roots? Moreover, the decision
of the congress gives the General Council the right to employ [in Europe]
any members whose collaboration it considers necessary and useful for the
common welfare. Let us trust its prudence and hope it will succeed in selecting
persons who will be capable or carrying out their task and who will understand
how to hold up the banner of our Assocation in Europe with a firm hand.

Citizens, let us think of the basic principle of the International: Solidarity.
Only when we have established this life-giving principle on a sound basis among
the numerous workers of all countries will we attain the great final goal which
we have set ourselves. The revolution must be carried out with solidarity; this
is the great lesson of the French Commune, which fell becaue none of the other
centres -- Berlin, Madrid, etc. -- developed great revolutionary movements comparable
to the mighty uprising of the Paris proletariat.

So far as I am concerned, I will continue my work and constantly strive
to strengthen among all workers this solidarity that is so fruitful for the
future. No, I do not withdraw from the International, and all the rest of my
life will be, as have been all my efforts of the past, dedicated to the triumph
of the social ideas which -- you may be assured! -- will lead to the world domination
by the proletariat.