KARL  MARX
TO THE  EDITORIAL  OFFICE OF THE VOLKSSTAAT  IN LEIPZIG
London, October 20, 1872
The leading article in No. 84 of the Volksstaat—“On the
Hague Congress. III”—contains a factual error concerning
me which I consider it necessary to rectify, and that, be it
noted, only because it has slipped into the Volksstaat. If
I considered it worth the trouble to rectify the lies, calumnies, infamy and even involuntary “errors” of the press
which is hostile to me, I would not have a minute left for
actual work!
The article cited says:
“Lafargue, far from being Marx’s ‘adjutant’, abstained from voting
when' it was a question of expelling Schwitzguebel, Guillaume’s comrade," although the motion for expulsion was tabled by Marx.”**

That motion was tabled by the Commission of Inquiry
appointed by the Congress, not by me. What I proposed at
the Congress was the expulsion of the Alliance and the appointment of a commission of inquiry for that purpose. I appeared
in front of this commission, just like others, as a witness
for the prosecution. Only towards the end of the inquiry,
at the last moment, and indeed during a sitting of the Congress, was I called upon. Previously, one of the members
of the*  commission had desired a private meeting with me
to elucidate purely factual questions. I refused, in order
to avoid even the appearance of any personal influence on
the commission.
When I was questioned by the commission I did not say
a word about Schwitzguebel or his bell-wether, Guillaume.
I mentioned only one of the Alliancists*  attending the
Congress and expressed my conviction that either he was
not a member of the “secret” Alliance or that in any case
he had for a long time been excluded from it.
I voted at the last Congress sitting for Schwitzguebel’s
expulsion because the proofs of his membership of the
“secret” Alliance were exactly the same as those of Guillaume’s. In these circumstances, Schwitzguebel’s emotional
poor-sinner speech could not shake my conviction. Let it
be noted in passing that Mr. Guillaume lies—as incidentally
every member of a “secret” society is obliged to do—intentionally in the Bulletin jurassien when he avers that Schwitzguebel had declared solidarity with him. On the contrary.
Guillaume stated with great emphasis that Schwitzguebel
would stand or fall with him, but Schwitzguebel turned
a deaf ear to this cry in extremis**}  His poor-sinner speech
made no mention of Guillaume, and it was this poor-sinner
speech that bribed the majority. As a member of the commission for publication of the Congress proceedings I naturally had to go very carefully into the official Minutes of
the Congress.

In respect of Lafargue it must be noted that the honest
Biedermann*  is lying when he designates him as delegate for
Barcelona. Lafargue was delegated by the Portuguese Federal
Council, the New Madrid Federation and also by a Spanish
Section.
Karl Marx