The International Workingmen's Association

Resolutions of the Central Council on

the Conflict on the Paris Section

I)
Resolution. Whereas citizen Tolain has several times
tendered his resignation, and the Central Council has as often refused
to accept it, the said Council now leaves it to Citizen Tolain and the
Paris Administration to reconsider, whether or not under present circumstances,
this resignation be opportune. The Central Council confirms beforehand
whatever resolution the administration may come to on this point.

II)
Resolution. In deference to the wishes of a
meeting of 32 members of the Working Men's International Association held
at Paris February 24, and in obedience to the principles of popular sovereignty
and self-government, the Central Council cancels its, resolution relating
to the appointment of an official vindicator for the French press. At the
same time the Council seizes this opportunity of expressing its high esteem
for Citizen Lefort, in particular as one of the initiators of the Working
Men's International Society and in general for his approved public character,
and further it protests that it does not sanction the principle that none
but an ouvrier is admissible as an official in our society.

III)
Resolution. The Council resolves that the present
Administration with the addition of citizen Vinçard be confirmed.
[In the Minute Book (March 7, 1865) this resolution reads: "The Council
resolves that citizens Fribourg, Limousin and Tolain be confirmed in their
anterior positions and that the addition to the Administration of Citizen
Vinçard is acknowledged".]

IV)
Resolution. The Central Council earnestly requests
the Administration at Paris to come to an understanding with citizens Lefort
and Beluze, so as to admit them, and the group of ouvriers they represent,
to be represented in the Administration by three members, but the Council
while emitting such a wish, has no power nor design to dictate.

V)
The Administration at Paris having expressed its readiness
to acknowledge a direct delegation from the Central Council, the Council
accordingly appoints Citizen Schily to be its delegate to the said Administration.

Private instruction to Schily

"In case no compromise be arrived at, the Council declare that the
group Lefort, after having taken out their cards of membership,
will have the Power under our Statutes (see § 7) to form a Local branch
Society."

This to be held out in terrorem [as a warning] but confidentially,
to Fribourg et Co., in order to induce them to make the necessary concessions,
supposed Lefort and Beluze (the director of the Banque du Peuple) are earnest
in inducing their group to become members.

Adopted by the Central Council on

March 7, 1865

Notes

BACKGROUND: Early in 1865 a conflict arose among the Paris member
of the International: a group of Proudhonist workers headed by Henri Tolain
and Charles Limousin, on the one hand, and, on the other, a French lawyer
and bourgeois republican Henri Lefort, who claimed to be the founder and
leader of the International Working Men's Association in France. Those
close to Lefort accused Tolain and other members of the Paris Administration
of being in contact with the Bonapartists (Marx and Engels exposed this
insinuation in the statement to Der Social-Demokrat. Nevertheless,
wishing to draw into the International the workers grouped around Lefort,
Marx supported the Central Council resolution of February 7 1865, on Lefort's
appointment as "Counsel for the literary defence" of the International
in France. Those present at the meeting of the Paris Section, however,
lodged a protest against this decision, and sent Tolain and Fribourg to
London on February 28 to speak on this point at the Central Council meeting.
The Council referred the problem to the Sub-Committee which discussed it
on March 4 and 6. Marx proposed a draft resolution which has survived in
his notebook. When Marx drew it up, he tried to protect the French organization
of the International from attacks by bourgeois elements and to strengthen
the leadership of the Paris Section by bringing in revolutionary proletarians.
(From the Collected Works.)

Memorandum by Marx to H. Jung |
Original Draft Resolution

Documents |
The First International