London, 13 January 1869 

Dear Fren, 

Tuanxs for the numbers: of Zukunft. (Thesmar and Georgios 
Jung!) 

I put off writing to you from day to day because of a frightful 
cold which, for asour 2 weeks, has been absolutely besieging my 
eyes, ears, nose and entire head. Since, however, this damned 
foggy weather still gives no hope of an early delivery from the 
evil, I shall wait no longer. Is it so pleasant at your place in 
Manchester too? Little wonder that suicipes are in full blossom here 
now. Only an Irishman, even in Seven Dials,°°° Says THAT ‘HE WOULD 
RATHER COMMIT SUICIDE ON ANY ONE THAN HIMSELF. 

Did the young Th. von Gimborn from Emmerich, manufacturer 
in nuce, present himself to you? It is not quite clear to me what he 
wants. First, he told me he wanted to go into a factory as a 
technician for a certain period, say half a year, or as a simple 
worker, in order to study the organisation, etc., of English factory 
work. Now it is only a question of a 14-day stay in a factory 
supplying agricultural machinery. Does Gimborn, arrer a.t, simply 
wish to discover English factory secrets? He won't find it easy. 

Now a short report about the ‘international incidents’. 

a) ‘Alliance Internationale de la Démocratie Socialiste’?: On 

4 budding manufacturer 

22 December 1868, a unanimous decision of the General Council 
which stated: 1. Tous les articles du Réglement de Alliance, etc. 
statuant sur les relations avec |’Association Internationale des 
Travailleurs, sont déclarés nuls et de nul effet; 2. l’Alliance etc. 
n'est pas admise comme branche de !’Association Internationale 
des Travailleurs.* The reasoning behind this decision (which I 
edited), is stated completely in legal form, and shows the conflict 
between the statutes of the planned Alliance and our Rules,”” etc. 
A final considérant,” which must show old Becker, in particular, his 
asininity, is that the Brussels Congress '** already set a precedent 
with respect to the Ligue de la Paix et de la Liberté*"' With regard 
to this organisation, which wanted to be recognised by the 
International Association, the Congress declared: Since the League 
claims to follow the same principles and to pursue the same aims 
as the International Association, it has no ‘raison d’étré and, 
considérant this, stated finally, ‘plusteurs membres du groupe initiateur 
de Genéve’* also voted in this sense in Brussels. 

In the meantime, we have received letters from Brussels, Rouen, 
Lyon, etc., declaring unconditional support for the General 
Council decision. Not one voice has been raised in support of le 
groupe initiateur de Genéve. That this group did not act quite 
honestly is clear from the fact they only informed us of their 
establishment and their activities after they had already tried to 
win over the Brussels people, etc. I regard the matter as closed, 
though we have not yet received an answer to our ‘judgement’ 
from Geneva. The attempt has, in any case, failed. 

b) Ad vocem* Bakunin: 

To understand his enclosed letter, you must know the 
following: D’abord,' this letter crossed our ‘messace’ regarding the 
‘Alliance’. Bakunin is thus still under the pleasant misapprehen- 
sion that he will be allowed to go his own way. Further: The 
Russian Serno was, in his earlier correspondence with Borkheim, 
decidedly against Bakunin. In my reply to Serno™ I wished to use 
this young man as an informant about Bakunin. Since I trust no 
Russian, I did it in this form: ‘What is my old friend (I don’t know 
if he still is) Bakunin doing, etc., etc.’ The Russian Serno 

2 1. All the articles of the Rules of the Alliance, etc., laying down its relations with the 
International Working Men’s Association, are declared null and void. 2. The Alliance, 
etc., is not admitted as a branch of the International Working Men’s Association. (Cf. 
K. Marx, The International Working Men’s Association and the International Alliance of 
Socialist Democracy; see present edition, Vol. 21, p. 36.) - > consideration - ¢ Johann 
Philipp Becker - 4 ‘a number of members of the Geneva initiating group’ - 
€ regarding - ! first of all 

immediately informed Bakunin of this letter, and Bakunin used it 
for a sentimental entrée! 

c) Ad vocem orp Becker: 

He has got himself badly stuck. D’abord he sends us, dated Ge- 
neva, 21 December, a 4-page letter about the Basle business,* but 
without a single fait précis.” We should, however, act immediately. 
At the same time, he writes to Lessner that we (the General 
Council) had already ‘compromised’ ourselves in the Geneva 
affair, and this should not happen again. Or, he says in these 
precise words (in his letter to Lessner), 

‘does the General Council, like God, exist only in the faith of fools?’ In Geneva, 
people only speak of us with a shrug of the shoulders, etc. 

Thereupon Becker received the reply from Jung that his 4-page 
epistle contained nothing. How can he expect to receive money in 
London on the basis of such a vacuum? 

In his letter of 21 December, Becker announced a further 
ELABORATE REPORT. Instead of this we receive the Vorbote. You saw for 
yourself that the Vorbote in fact only reported‘ on the ‘concluded’ 
Lockout of the Rippon weavers,” and certainly did not make clear how 
the conflict has developed since. In short, To THIs very MOMENT we know 
no more than is reported in Vorbote. Not only can no step be taken 
with the rrapes unions on this basis, but it is impossible to publish 
anything about the affair on behalf of the General Council. We 
cannot expose ourselves to a reply from the usurers of Basle 
that we are shouting to the world without knowing the 
facts. 

Summa summarum, a week ago the General Council decided to 
reprimand both Becker and Perret (the French correspondent for 
Geneva) for not providing us to date with the necessary 
information on the Basle affair. The matter will rest there for the 
time being. I’m sorry for orp Becker. But he must realise that we 
hold the reins, although we refrain from direct intervention as 
long as possible. 

d) Srrikes iN ROUEN, VIENNE, ETC. (COTTONSPINNING 

Are asout 6-7 weeks oLp. The interesting thing about the case is 
that, some time ago, the MASTER-MANUFACTURERS (and spinners) In 
Amiens held a ceEngrat concress under the chairmanship of the 
maire’ of Amiens. Here it was decided—on the suggestion of a 
certain faiseur named Vidal, who had hung out in England for a 
considerable time—that competition should be offered to the 
English in England, etc. Namely, by establishing dépéts for French 

272). 

a See this volume, pp. 199-200. -> precise fact - ¢ ‘Bericht tiber die Arbeiter- 
bewegung in Basel’, Der Vorbote, No. 12, December 1868 - d mayor - ¢ intriguer 

a 

yarn, etc., in England, both for sale there and to overseas 
merchants who trade directly with England. And this should be 
brought about by a further reduction of waces, after it had already 
been admitted that, in France itself, assuming the present tariffs, 
English competition was only being withstood through the low 
waces (relative to the English ones). In fact, after this Amiens 
congress, they began with wage reductions in Rouen, Vienne, etc. 
Hence the strikes. We have let the people know, through Dupont, 
about the bad state of business here (especially also the cotron 
TRADE), and thus the difficulty of raising money at this time. 
MeanwuiLe, as you will see from the enclosed letter (Vienne), the 
STRIKE in Vienne has come to an end. For the present we have sent 
to those in Rouen, where the conflict is still going on, a draft for 
£20 on the Paris bronze-workers, who still owe us this money from 
their tocxour. Incidentally, these French workers act much 
more rationally than the Swiss and are, at the same time, much 
more modest in their demands. 

Hoping that your head is not so sneezily and _ villainously 
idiotised as mine, 

Your 
K. Moro?