GENERAL RULES AND ADMINISTRATIVE
REGULATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL
WORKING MEN’S ASSOCIATION480
GENERAL RULES  OF  THE INTERNATIONAL
WORKING  MEN’S ASSOCIATION
Considering,
That the emancipation of the working classes must be
conquered by the working classes themselves; that the
struggle for the emancipation of the working classes means
not a struggle for class privileges and monopolies, but for
equal rights and duties, and the abolition of all classrule;
That the economical subjection of the man of labour to
the monopoliser of the means of labour, that is the sources
of life, lies at the bottom of servitude in all its forms, of
all social misery, mental degradation, and political dependence;
That the economical emanicipation of the working classes is therefore the great end to which every political movement ought to be subordinate as a means;
That all efforts aiming at that great end have hitherto
failed from the want of solidarity between the manifold
divisions of labour in each country, and from the absence
of a fraternal bond of union between the working classes
of different countries;

That the emancipation of labour is neither a local nor
a national, but a social problem, embracing all countries
in which modern society exists, and depending for its
solution on the concurrence, practical and theoretical, of
the most advanced countries;
That the present revival of the working classes in the
most industrious countries of Europe, while it raises a new
hope, gives solemn warning against a relapse into the old
errors, and calls for the immediate combination of the
still disconnected movements;
For these reasons—
The International Working Men's Association has been
founded.
It declares-.
That all societies and individuals adhering to it will acknowledge truth, justice, and morality, as the basis of their
conduct towards each other and towards all men, without
regard to colour, creed, or nationality;
That it acknowledges no rights without duties, no duties
without rights;
And in this spirit the following Rules have been drawn up.
1. This Association is established to afford a central
medium of communication and co-operation between Working Men’s Societies existing in different countries and aiming at the same end; viz., the protection, advancement,
and complete emancipation of the working classes.
2. The name of the Society shall be “The International
Working Men’s Association”.
3. There shall annually meet a General Working Men’s
Congress, consisting of delegates of the branches of the
Association. The Congress will have to proclaim the common aspirations of the working class, take the measures
required for the successful working of the International
Association, and appoint the General Council of the
Society.

4. Each Congress appoints the time and place of meeting for the next Congress. The delegates assemble at the
appointed time and place without any special invitation.
The General Council may, in case of need, change the
place, but has no power to postpone the time of meeting.
The Congress appoints the seat and elects the members of
the General Council annually. The General Council thus
elected shall have power to add to the number of its
members.
On its annual meetings, the General Congress shall
receive a public account of the annual transactions of the
General Council. The latter may, in cases of emergency,
convoke the General Congress before the regular yearly
term.
5. The General Council shall consist of working men
from the different countries represented in the International Association. It shall from its own members elect the
officers necessary for the transaction of business, such as
a treasurer, a general secretary, corresponding secretaries
for the different countries, &c.
6. The General Council shall form an international
agency between the different national and local groups of
the Association, so that the working men in one country
be constantly informed of the movements of their class in
every other country; that an inquiry into the social state
of the different countries of Europe be made simultaneously, and under a common direction; that the questions of
general interest mooted in one society be ventilated by
all; and that when immediate practical steps should be
needed—as, for instance, in case of international quarrels
—the action of the associated societies be simultaneous and
uniform. Whenever it seems opportune, the General Council shall take the initiative of proposals to be laid before
the different national or local societies. To facilitate the
communications, the General Council shall publish periodical reports.

7. Since the success of the working men’s movement in
each country cannot be secured but by the power of union
and combination, while, on the other hand, the usefulness
of the International General Council must greatly depend
on the circumstance whether it has to deal with a few
national centres of working men’s associations, or with a
great number of small and disconnected local societies;
the members of the International Asociation shall use their
utmost efforts to combine the disconnected working men’s
societies of their respective countries into national bodies,
represented by central national organs. It is self-understood, however, that the appliance of this rule will depend
upon the peculiar laws of each country, and that, apart
from legal obstacles, no independent local society shall be
precluded from directly corresponding with the General
Council.
8. Every section has the right to appoint its own secretary corresponding with the General Council.
9. Everybody who acknowledges and defends the principles of the International Working Men’s Association is eligible to become a member. Every branch is responsible for
the integrity of the members it admits.
10. Each member of the International Association, on
removing his domicile from one country to another, will
receive the fraternal support of the Associated Working
Men.
11. While united in a perpetual bond of fraternal cooperation, the working men’s societies joining the International Association will preserve their existent organisations intact.
12. The present Rules may be revised by each Congress,
provided that two-thirds of the delegates present are in
favour of such revision.
13. Everything not provided for in the present Rules
will be supplied by special Regulations, subject to the revision of every Congress.

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS
Revised in Accordance with the Resolutions Passed by the
Congresses (1866 to 1869), and by the London Conference
(1871)
i
THE GENERAL CONGRESS
1. Every member of the International Working Men’s
Association has the right to vote at elections for, and is
eligible as, a delegate to the General Congress.
2. Every branch, whatever the number of its members,
may send a delegate to the Congress.
3. Each delegate has but one vote in the Congress.
4. The expenses of the delegates are to be defrayed
by the branches and groups which appoint them.
5. If a branch be unable to send a delegate, it may unite
with other neighbouring branches for the appointment of
one.
6. Every branch or group consisting of more than 500
members may send an additional delegate for every
additional 500  members.
7. Only the delegates of such societies, sections, or groups
as form parts of the International, and shall have paid their
contributions to the General Council, will in future be
allowed to take their seats and to vote at Congresses. Nevertheless, for such countries where the regular establishment
of the International may have been prevented by law,
delegates of trades’ unions and working men’s co-operative
societies will be allowed to participate in Congress debates
on questions of principle, but not to discuss, or to vote on,
administrative matters.
8. The sittings of the Congress will be twofold—administrative sittings, which will be private, and public sittings,

reserved for the discussion of, and the vote upon, the general questions of the Congress programme.
9. The Congress programme, consisting of questions
placed on the order of the day by the preceding Congress,
questions added by the General Council, and questions submitted to the acceptance of that Council by the different
sections, groups, or their committees, shall be drawn up
by the General Council.
Every section, group, or committee which intends to propose, for the discussion of the impending Congress, a question not proposed by the previous Congress, shall give
notice thereof to the General Council before the 31st of
March.
10. The General Council is charged with the organisation
of each Congress, and shall, in due time, through the
medium of the Federal Councils or Committees, bring the
Congress programme to the cognisance of the branches.
11. The Congress will appoint as many committees as
there shall be questions submitted to it. Each delegate shall
designate the committee upon which he may prefer to sit.
Each Committee shall read the memorials presented by the
different sections and groups on the special question referred
to it. It shall elaborate them into one single report,
which alone is to be read at the public sittings. It shall
moreover decide which of the above memorials shall be
annexed to the official report of the Congress transactions.
12. In its public sittings, the Congress will, in the first
instance, occupy itself with the questions placed on the
order of the day by the General Council, the remaining
questions to be discussed afterwards.
13. All resolutions on questions of principle shall be
voted upon by division (appel nominal).
14. Two months at latest before the meeting of the
annual Congress, every branch or federation of branches
shall transmit to the General Council a detailed report of
its proceedings and development during the current year.

The General Council shall elaborate these elements into
one single report, which alone is to be read before
Congress.
H
THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1. The designation of General Council is reserved for
the Central Council of the International Working Men’s
Association. The Central Councils of the various countries,
where the International is regularly organised, shall designate themselves as Federal Councils, or Federal Committees,
with the names of the respective countries attached.
2. The General Council is bound to execute the Congress
Resolutions.
3. As often as its means may permit, the General Council shall publish a bulletin or report embracing everything
which may be of interest to the International Working
Men’s Association.
For this purpose it shall collect all the documents to be
transmitted by the Federal Councils or Committees of the
different countries and such others as it may be able to
procure by other means.
The bulletin, drawn up in several languages, shall be
sent gratuitously to the Federal Councils or Committees,
which are to forward one copy to each of their branches.
In case the General Council should be unable to publish
such bulletins, it shall every three months send a written
communication to the different Federal Councils or Committees, to be published in the newspapers of their respective countries, and especially in the International organs.
4. Every new branch or society intending to join the
International, is bound immediately to announce its adhesion
to the General Council.
5. The General Council has the right to admit or to
refuse the affiliation of any new branch or group, subject
to appeal to the next Congress.

Nevertheless, wherever there exist Federal Councils or
Committees, the General Council is bound to consult them
before admitting or rejecting the affdiation of a new branch
or society within their jurisdiction; without prejudice, how-
every, to its right of provisional decision.
6. The General Council has also the right of suspending, till the meeting of next Congress, any branch of the
International.
7. In case of differences arising between societies or branches of the same national group, or between groups of different nationalities, the General Council shall have the right
of deciding such differences, subject to appeal to the next
Congress, whose decision shall be final.
8. All delegates appointed by the General Council to distinct missions shall have the right to attend, and be heard
at, all meetings of Federal Councils or Committees, district
and local Committees, and local branches, without, however, being entitled to vote thereat.
9. English, French, and German editions of the General
Rules and Regulations are to be reprinted from the official
texts published by the General Council.
All versions of the General Rules and Regulations in
other languages shall, before publication, be submitted to
the General Council for approval.
in
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO BE PAID TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1. An annual contribution of One Penny per member
shall be levied from all branches and affiliated societies
for the use of the General Council.
This contribution is intended to defray the expenses of
the General Council, such as the remuneration of its General Secretary, costs of correspondence, publications, preparatory work for Congresses, &c., &c.

2. The General Council shall cause to be printed uniform
adhesive stamps representing the value of one penny each,
to be annually supplied, in the numbers wanted, to the
Federal Councils or Committees.
3. These stamps are to be affixed to a special sheet of
the livret or to a copy of the Rules which every member
of the Association is held to possess.*
4. On the 1st of March of each year, the Federal Councils or Committees of the different countries shall forward
to the General Council the amounts of the stamps disposed
of, and return the unsold stamps remaining on hand.
5. These stamps, representing the value of the individual
contributions, shall bear the date of the current year.
IV
FEDERAL COUNCILS  OR  COMMITTEES
1. The expenses of the Federal Councils or Committees
shall be defrayed by their respective branches.
2. The Federal Councils or Committees shall send one
report at least every month to the General Council.
3. The Federal Councils or Committees shall transmit to
the General Council every three months a report on the
administration and financial state of their respective
branches.
4. Any Federation may refuse to admit or may exclude
from its midst societies or branches. It is, however, not
empowered to deprive them of their International character, but it may propose their suspension to the General
Council.

V
LOCAL SOCIETIES, BRANCHES, AND GROUPS
1. Every branch is at liberty to make rules and byelaws for its local administration, adapted to local circumstances and the laws of its country. But these rules and
bye-laws must not contain anything contrary to the General Rules and Regulations.
2. All local branches, groups, and their committees are
henceforth to designate and constitute themselves simply
and exclusively as branches, groups, and committees of
the International Working Men’s Association, with the
names of their respective localities attached.
3. Consequently, no branches or groups will henceforth
be allowed to designate themselves by sectarian names,-
such as Positivists, Mutualists, Collectivists, Communists,
&c., or to form separatist bodies, under the name of sections of propaganda, &c., pretending to accomplish special
missions distinct from the common purposes of the Association.
4. Article 2 of this division does not apply to affiliated
Trades’ Unions.
5. All sections, branches, and working men’s societies
affiliated to the International are invited to abolish the
office of President of their respective branch or society.
6. The formation of female branches amongst the working class is recommended. It is, however, understood that
this resolution does not at all intend to interfere with the
existence, or formation of branches composed of both
sexes.
7. Wherever attacks against the International are published, the nearest branch or committee is held to send at
once a copy of such publication to the General Council.
8. The addresses of the offices of all International Committees and of the General Council are to be published
every three months in all the organs of the Association.

VI
GENERAL STATISTICS OF  LABOUR
1. The General Council is to enforce Article 6 of the Rules
relating to general statistics of the working class, and the Resolutions of the Geneva Congress, 1866, on the same subject.
2. Every local branch is bound to appoint a special Committee of Statistics, so as to be always ready, within the
limits of its means, to answer any question which may be
put to it by the Federal Council or Committee of its country or by the General Council.
It is recommended to all branches to remunerate the secretaries of the Committees of Statistics, considering the general benefit the working class will derive from their labour.
3. On the 1st of August of each year the Federal Councils or Committees will transmit the materials collected in
their respective countries to the General Council, which, in
its turn, is to elaborate them into a general report, to be
laid before the Congresses or Conferences annually held
in the month of September.
4. Trades’ Unions and International branches refusing to
give the information required, shall be reported to the General Council, which will take action thereupon.
5. The Resolutions of the Geneva Congress, 1866, alluded
to in Article 1 of this division, are the following:—
One great International combination of efforts will be a
statistical inquiry into the situation of the working classes
of all civilised countries to be instituted by the working
classes themselves. To act with any success, the materials
to be acted upon must be known. By initiating so great a
work, the working men will prove their ability to take their
own fate into their own hands.
The Congress therefore proposes that in each locality,
where branches of our Association exist, the work be
immediately commenced, and evidence collected on the
different points specified in the subjoined scheme of inquiry;

the Congress invites the working men of Europe and the
United States of America to co-operate in gathering the
elements of the statistics of the working class; reports and
evidence to be forwarded to the General Council. The General Council shall elaborate them into a report, adding the
evidence as an appendix. This report, together with its
appendix, shall be laid before the next annual Congress,
and, after having received its sanction, be printed at the
expense of the Association.
General scheme of inquiry, which may of course be
modified by each locality: 1, Industry, name of. 2. Age and
sex of the employed. 3. Number of the employed. 4. Salaries and wages; (a) apprentices; (b) wages by the day or
piece work; scale paid by middle men. Weekly, yearly average. 5. (a) Hours of work in factories, (b) The hours of
work with small employers and in home work, if the business be carried on in those different modes, (c) Nightwork
and day work. 6. Meal-times and treatment. 7. Sort of workshop and work; overcrowding, defective ventilation, want
of sunlight, use of gaslight, cleanliness, &c. 8. Effect of
employment upon the physical condition. 9 Moral condition. Education. 10. State of trade: whether season trade, or
more or less uniformly distributed over the year, whether
greatly fluctuating, whether exposed to foreign competition
—whether destined principally for home or foreign consumption, &c.
APPENDIX
The Conference held at London from 17 th to 23rd September, 1871, has charged the General Council to issue a
new, authentic and revised edition, in English, French, and
German, of the “General Rules and Regulations of the
International Working Men’s Association”, for the following reasons:—

I
GENERAL RULES
The Geneva Congress (1866) adopted, with a few additions, the Provisional Rules of the Association, published
at London in November, 1864. It also decided (see “Congres ouvrier de 1’Association Internationale des Travailleurs,
tenu a Geneve du 3 au 8 Septembre, 1866”. Geneve, 1866,
p. 27, note), that the General Council should publish the
official and obligatory text of the Rules as well as of the
Regulations voted by the Congress. The General Council
was prevented from executing this order by the seizure,
on the part of the Bonapartist Government, of the Minutes
of the Geneva Congress on their transit through France.
When at last, through the intercession of Lord Stanley,
then British Foreign Secretary, the Minutes were recovered,
a French edition had already been issued at Geneva, and
the text of the Rules and Regulations contained in it was
at once reproduced in all French-speaking countries. This
text was faulty in many respects.
1. The Paris edition of the London Provisional Rules had
been accepted as a true translation; but the Paris Committee, to which this translation is due, had not only
introduced most important alterations in the preamble of
the Rules which, on the interpellation of the General Council, were represented as changes unavoidable under the
existing political state of France. From an insufficient
acquaintance with the English language, it had also misinterpreted some of the articles of the Rules.
2. The Geneva Congress having to give a final character
to the Provisional Rules, the Committee appointed for this
purpose simply struck out all passages in which anything
of a provisional nature was alluded to, without noticing
that several of these passages contained most important
matter of no provisional character whatever. In the English
edition published after the Lausanne Congress (1867) the
same omissions are repeated.

II
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS
The Administrative Regulations hitherto published conjointly with the Rules, are but those voted by the Geneva
Congress (1866). It thus became necessary to codify the
further regulations voted by subsequent Congresses and by
late London Conference.
The following publications have been made use of for
the present revised edition:
“Address and Provisional Rules of the International
Working Men’s Association”, &c. London. 1864.
“Rules of the International Working Men’s Association”.
London.1867.
“Congres ouvrier de 1’Association Internationale des Travailleurs, tenu a Geneve du 3 au 8 Septembre, 1866”.
Geneve. 1866.
“Proces-verbaux du Congres de 1’Association Internationale des Travailleurs, reuni a Lausanne, du 2 au 8 Septembre, 1867”. Chaux-de-Fonds. 1867.
“Troisieme Congres de 1’Association Internationale des
Travailleurs (Brussels Congress). Compte-rendu officiel”.
Bruxelles. 1868.
“The International Working Men’s Association. Resolutions of the Congress of Geneva, 1866, and the Congress
of Brussels, 1868”. London. 1868.
“Compte-rendu du 4me Congres International, tenu a
Bale en Septembre, 1869 ”, Bruxelles. 1869.
“Report of the Fourth Annual Congress of the International Working Men’s Association, held at Basel, 1869”.
Published by the General Council. London. 1869.
“Quatrieme Congres de 1’Association Internationale des
Travailleurs, tenu a Bale, 1869. Rapport du delegue des
Sections de la Fabrique a Geneve”. Geneve. 1869.
“Resolutions of the Conference of Delegates of the

International Working Men’s Association, assembled at
London,1871”. London.1871.
For the Basel Congress, the German report of the Congress proceedings, published in fly-sheets at Basel, and the
notes taken during the Congress by the General Secretary,
have also been consulted.
How these various sources have been made use of for
the purposes of the present revised edition will appear from
the following statement.
GENERAL RULES
Preamble.—After the words, “For these reasons”, there
have been restored the words, “the International Working
Men’s Association has been founded”. See Provisional
Rules, p. 13.481
The passage, “They hold it the duty of a man,” &c.,482
has been omitted, because there exist two equally authentic
versions of it, irreconcilable with each other. The true
meaning of it is, besides, already contained in the passage
immediately preceding, and in that immediately following:
“No rights without duties,” &c.,
Art. 3 is restored from Art. 3 of Provisional Rules.
Art. 4.—Part of Art. 3 and the whole of Art. 4 of Rules,
London,1867.
Art. 5.—Introductory part of Art. 3, Rules, 1867. The
words “a president” have been omitted, in agreement with
Administrative Resolution I of Basel Congress.483
Art. 6.—Art. 5, Rules, 1867. The words “Co-operating
Associations” have been changed into “national and local
groups of the Association”, because the expression, in some
translations, has been misinterpreted as meaning co-opera
live societies.
Art. 7.—Art. 6. Rules, 1867.
Art. 8.—Art. 10, Rules, 1867.
Art. 10.—Art. 8, Rules, 1867.

Art. 12 forms Art. 13 of the Administrative Regulations
in “Rules, 1867”.
Art. 13.—Art. 12, Rules, 1867.
Art. 7, Rules, 1867, has been omitted, because its insertion was contrary to a resolution of the Lausanne Congress. See “Proces-verbaux du Congres de Lausanne”,
p. 36.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS
I. The General Congress
Art. 1.—Art. 11 of Regulations voted by Geneva Congress
(“Congres de Geneve”, Geneve, 1866, p. 26, &c); Art. 10,
Rules, &c., 1867, which is incomplete.
Art. 2.—Art. 9, Congres de Geneve; Art. 6, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 3.—Art. 13, Congres de Geneve; Art. 11, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 4.—Art. 10, Congres de Geneve; Art. 9, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 5.—Art. 9. Congres de Geneve; Art. 7, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 6.—Art. 12, Congres de Geneve; Art. 8, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 7.—Basel Administrative Regulations. VIII.
Art. 8.—For this article the “Guide pratique pour le
Congres de 1’Internationale (“Compte-rendu du Congres
de Bale”, Bruxelles. 1869) has been completed by the other
materials on the Basel Congress, quoted above.
Art. 9.—First part as for Art. 8. Second part, Resolution
of Lausanne Congress (Proces-verbaux, p. 74, 1).
Art. 10.—Art. lb, Congres de Geneve; Art. lb, Rules, &c.,
1867.
Art. 11.—Guide Pratique, Basel Congress, Art. 3 and 11.

Art. 12.—Guide Pratique, &c., Art. 10.
Art. 13.—Guide Pratique, &c., Art. 7.
Art. 14.—Guide Pratique, &c., Art. 4.
II. The General Council
Art. 1.—London Conference, 1871, II, 1.
Art. 2.—Congres de Geneve, Art. 1; Rules, &c., 1867,
Art. 1.
Art. 3.—The two first Alineas, Art. 2 and Art. la, Congres de Geneve, and Rules, &c., 1867. Third Alinea, Art. 3,
Congres de Geneve. Last Alinea, Lausanne Congress, Pro-
ces-verbaux, p. 31, Art. 2.
Arts. 4 to 7.—Basel Administrative Resolutions, IV to
VIL
Art. 8.—London Conference, III.
Art. 9.—Resolutions of London Conference, sittings of
18th and 22nd September.
III. Contributions to Be Paid to the General Council
Art. 1.—First Alinea, Lausanne Congress, Proces-verbaux,
p. 37, 3; and Art. IX, Basel Administrative Resolutions. Second Alinea, Art. 4, Congres de Geneve, and Rules, 1867.
Arts. 2 to 6.—London Conference, IV., 1 to 5.
IV. Federal Councils or Committees
Art. 1.—Art. 6, Congres de Geneve, and Rules, 1867.
Art. 2.—Art. 5, ditto.
Art. 3.—Brussels Congress, “Compte-rendu Officiel”,
p. 50, Appendice, Seances Administratives, Resolution No. 3.
Art. 4.—Art. VI, Basel Administrative Resolutions.

V. Local Societies, Branches, and Groups
Art. 1.—Art. 14, Congres de Geneve; Art. 12, Rules, &c..
1867.
Arts. 2 to 4.—London Conference, II, 2 to 4.
Art. 5.—Art. I, Basel Administrative Resolutions.
Art. 6.—London Conference, V.
Art. 7.—Art. II, Basel Administrative Resolutions,
Art. 8.—Art. Ill, ditto.
VI. General Statistics of Labour
Arts. 1 to 4.—London Conference, VI., 1 to 4.
Art. 5.—Resolution of Geneva Congress (London edition
of Geneva and Brussels Congress Resolutions, p. 4).
By order, and in the name of the London Conference, 1871,
The General Council:
R. APPLEGARTH, M. J. BOON, FRED. BRADNICK,
G. II. BUTTERY, P. DELAHAYE, EUGENE  DUPONT  (on
mission), IV. HALES, G. HARRIS, HURLIMAN, JULES
JOHANN  ARD, HARRIET  LAW, FRED. LESSNER, LOCHNER, CH. LONGUET, C. MARTIN, ZEVY MAURICE,
HENRY MAYO, GEORGE MILNER, CH. MURRAY,
PFANDER, JOHN ROACH, RUHL, SADLER, COWELL
STEPNEY, ALFRED TAYLOR, IV. TOWNSHEND.
E. VAILLANT, JOHN WESTON
Corresponding Secretaries:
LEO FRANKEL,  for Austria and Hungary; A. HERMAN ,
Belgium; T. MOTTERSHEAD, Denmark; A.'SERRAILLIER,
France; KARL  MARX, Germany and Russia; CHARLES

ROCHAT, Holland; J. P. MAC DONNELL, Ireland; FEED.
ENGELS, Italy and Spain; WALERY WROBLEWSKI,
Poland; HERMANN  JUNG, Switzerland; J. G. ECCARIUS,
United States; LE MOUSSU, for French branches of United
States
CHARLES  LONGUET, Chairman
HERMANN  JUNG, Treasurer
JOHN HALES, General Secretary
256, High Holborn, W.C., London,
2Mh October, 1871