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. 

2 November 8, 1870.— Ed. 

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 

Progrés 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. 

London, September 26, 1871