Concerning the International, he said that the great success 
which had hitherto crowned its efforts was due to circumstances 
over which the members themselves had no control. The 
foundation of the International itself was the result of these 
circumstances, and by no means due to the efforts of the men 
engaged in it. It was not the work of any set of clever politicians: 
all the politicians in the world could not have created the situation 
and circumstances requisite for the success of the International. 
The International had not put forth any particular creed. Its task 
was to organize the forces of labor and link the various 
working-men’s movements and combine them. The circumstances 
which had given such a great development to the association were 
the conditions under which the work-people were more and more 
oppressed throughout the world, and this was the secret of the 
success. The events of the last few weeks had unmistakably shown 
that the working class must fight for its emancipation. The 
persecutions of the governments against the International were 
like the persecutions of ancient Rome against the primitive 
Christians. They, too, had been few in numbers at first, but the 
patricians of Rome had instinctively felt that if the Christians 
succeeded the Roman empire would be lost. The persecutions of 
Rome had not saved the empire, and the persecutions of the 
present day against the International would not save the existing 
state of things. 

What was new in the International was that it was established by 
the working men themselves and for themselves. Before the 
foundation of the International all the different organizations had 

634 Appendices 

been societies founded by some radicals among the ruling classes 
for the working classes, but the International was established by 
the working men for themselves. The Chartist movement*” in this 
country had been started with the consent and assistance of 
middle-class radicals, though if it had been successful it could only 
have been for the advantage of the working class. England was the 
only country where the working class was sufficiently developed 
and organized to turn universal suffrage to its own proper 
account. He then alluded to the revolution of February*! as a 
movement that had been favored by a portion of the bourgeoisie 
against the ruling party. The revolution of February had only 
given promises to the working classes and had replaced one set of 
men of the ruling class by another. The insurrection of June had 
been a revolt against the whole ruling class, including the most 
radical portion. The working men who had lifted the new men 
into power in 1848 had instinctively felt that they had only 
exchanged one set of oppressors for another and that they were 
betrayed. 

The last movement was the Commune, the greatest that had yet 
been made, and there could not be two opinions about it—the 
Commune was the conquest of the political power of the working 
classes. There was much misunderstanding about the Commune. 
The Commune could not found a new form of class government. 
In destroying the existing conditions of oppression by transferring 
all the means of labor to the productive laborer, and thereby 
compelling every able-bodied individual to work for a living, the 
only base for class rule and oppression.would be removed. But 
before such a change could be effected a proletarian dictature 
would become necessary, and the first condition of that was a 
proletarian army. The working classes would have to conquer the 
right to emancipate themselves on the battlefield. The task of the 
International was to organize and combine the forces of labor for 
the coming struggle. 

1871