TO  SPANISH  SECTIONS  OF THE  INTERNATIONAL
WORKING  MEN ’S ASSOCIATION 384
London, August 8, 1872
In view of the intrigues launched against the International Working Men’s Association by members of the secret
society Alliance, the Executive Committee of the General
Council had at its meeting of July 24,1872, instructed Citizen F. Engels, Secretary for Spain, to write the Spanish
Federal Council in Valencia the following letter:
TO THE SPANISH FEDERAL COUNCIL
Citizens,
We hold proof that within the International, and particularly in Spain, there exists a secret society called the
Alliance of Socialist Democracy. This society, whose centre
is in Switzerland, considers it its special mission to guide
our great Association in the direction of its own particular
inclinations and lead it towards goals unknown to the vast
majority of International members. Moreover, we know
from the Seville Razon385 that at least three members of
your Council belong to the Alliance.
When this society was formed in 1868 as an open society, the General Council was obliged to refuse it admission to the International, so long as it preserved its international character, for it pretended to form a second international body functioning within and without the International Working Men’s Association. The Alliance was
admitted to the International only after promising to limit
itself to being purely a local section in Geneva (see the
private circular of the General Council on “Fictitious Splits,
etc.”, p. 7 onwards*).
If the character and organisation of this society were
already contrary to the spirit and the letter of our Rules,
when it was still public, its secret existence within the
International, in spite of its promise, represents no less than
treason against our Association. The International knows
but one type of members, all with equal rights and duties;
the Alliance divides them into two classes, the initiated and
the uninitiated, the latter doomed to be led by the former
by means of an organisation of whose very existence they
are unaware. The International demands that its members
should acknowledge Truth, Justice and Morality as the
basis of their conduct; the Alliance obliges its supporters
to hide from the uninitiated members of the International
the existence of the secret organisation, the motives and
even the aim of their words and deeds. The General Council
had already announced in its private circular that at the
coming Congress it would demand an inquiry into this
Alliance, which is a veritable conspiracy against the International. The General Council is also aware of the measures taken by the Spanish Federal Council on the insistence
of the gentlemen of the Alliance in the interests of their
society, and is determined to put an end to this underhand
dealing. With this end in view, it requests from you for the
report it will be presenting at the Hague Congress:
1) a list of all the members of the Alliance in Spain, with
indication of the functions they fulfill in the International;
2) an inquiry into the nature and activities of the
Alliance, and also into its organisation and ramifications
outside Spain;
3) a copy of your private circular of July 7 [1872];
4) an explanation of how you reconcile your duties
towards the International with the presence in your Council of at least three notorious members of the Alliance.
Unless it receives a categoric and exhaustive answer by
return, the General Council will be obliged to denounce you
publicly in Spain and abroad for having violated the spirit
and the letter of the General Rules, and having betrayed
the International in the interests of a secret society that is
not only alien but hostile to it.
Greetings and fraternity.
On behalf of the General Council
Secretary for Spain,
FREDERICK  ENGELS
33, Rathbone Place,
London, July 24, 1872
The Spanish Federal Council replied to the inquiries of
the General Council in a letter dated “Valencia, August 1”,
and received in London on August 5. It ran as follows:
“Comrades, we have received your last letter, but as it is in French
we are unable to acquaint ourselves with its contents since our usual
translator is not in Valencia. We have asked another comrade to
translate it as soon as possible so that we can answer it.”
At its meeting of August 8, 1872, the Executive Committee
of the General Council decided that pending the receipt of
the requested information from the Spanish Federal Council, it was necessary to publish the above letter in order to
move all the Spanish sections to undertake their general
inquiries into the existence, acts and aims of the secret
society Alliance.
The Executive Committee
of the General Council:
LEO FRANKEL, Corresponding Secretary for
j. p. M cDonnell
F. ENGELS
A. SERRAILLIER
LE MOUSSU
HERMANN  JUNG
KARL MARX
Austria and Hungary
Ireland
Spain and Italy
France
America
Switzerland
Germany and Russia
Chairman of the meeting
WALERY WROBLEWSKI,  Secretary for Poland.
Secretary of the meeting
F. COURNET , Secretary for Holland