MARX TO GUSTAV KWASNIEWSKI*” 

Ramsgate, 29 September 1871 
As from: 1 Maitland Park Road, 
Haverstock Hill, London 

The Conference of the delegates of the International Working 
Men’s Association, which met in London last week,” has resolved 
that in the future no membership cards will be distributed by the 
General Council. Instead the General Council will send out stamps 
(after the manner of postage stamps) which each member should 
stick either to his copy of the Rules, or to his membership card in 
cases where, as in Switzerland, for example, national membership 
cards are issued. I shall accordingly send you a certain number of 
these stamps as soon as they become available. 

As to the Rules themselves, a new edition of them is being 
arranged for here (London) in English, French and German (the 
last is to be printed in Germany). In accordance with the 
resolutions of the Conference every member must be in possession 
of a copy of the Rules. For it is important to include in them 
additions and amendments necessitated by the various resolutions 
passed by Congress since 1866.*% 

At the Conference, Germany was not represented either by 
delegates or by reports, and no financial contributions have been 
received since September 1869. It is not possible for the purely 
platonic relationship of the German workers’ party to the 
International to continue. The party cannot expect services to be 
performed by the one side without any services being performed 
by the other in return. This relationship compromises the German 
working class. Therefore, I would request the Berlin Section to 
enter into direct correspondence with me, and I shall put the same 
request to all other sections, as long as the leadership of the 
Social-Democratic Workers’ Party continues to do nothing about 
the organisation of the International in Germany. The laws may 
prevent normal organisation, but they cannot prevent the existing 
organisation of the Social-Democratic Workers’ Party from carry- 
ing out the same tasks in practice as are performed in every other 
country, tasks such as enrolling individual members, paying dues, 
sending in reports, etc. 

As a member of the Control Commission of the Social- 
Democratic Workers’ Party, it will perhaps be possible for you 
personally to work in this direction. 

Yours in sincere friendship, 
Karl Marx