[FREDERICK ENGELS]
From the Article:
LONDON  LETTERS
II
MORE  ABOUT  THE  HAGUE  CONGRESS
London October 5, 1872
I hope that the outcome of the Hague Congress will make
our Italian “autonomous” friends think. They ought to know
that wherever there is an organisation, some autonomy is
sacrificed for the sake of unity of action. If they do not realise that the International is a society organised for struggle,
and not for fine theories, I am very sorry, but one thing
is certain: the great International will leave Italy to act on
its own until it agrees to accept the conditions common to
all.
In the secret Alliance of Socialist Democracy there are
three grades: international brethren (a tiny number), national brethren, and mere allies. C.*  is an international brother,
just as Guillaume (chief of Bakunin’s general staff) and one
or two Spaniards.
* Carlo Cafiero.—Ed.
Among the French delegates, five came from France under
fictitious names, the others are refugees of the Commune.
I attach the list, in which the names and localities of
the French sections are not given so as not to betray them
to the police. But we have reorganised in more than thirty
of the French departements and the International there is
stronger and more active than ever.
It was gratifying to see the French and the Germans
always voting in agreement at The Hague: it was obvious
that all the wars, the conquests, the national hatred did

302 ARTICLES,  ACCOUNTS  AND  REPORTS
not exist lor the International. It was this union of the French
and the Germans that led to all the resolutions without
exception being adopted.
The reason for the transfer of the General Council to New
York was: 1. The firm determination of Marx, Serraillier,
Dupont and Engels not to accept a new mandate. Marx and
Engels have scientific works to complete and have not had
time for this in the past two years; 2. The certainty that
in the event of their resignation a General Council in London would be composed as far as the French were concerned of Blanquists who, with their simulation of conspiracy,
would lead to the arrest of the majority of our members in
France—if they were accepted by these at all; as far as the
English were concerned, of corrupt men used to selling themselves to the (liberal bourgeoisie and to Mr. Gladstone’s
radical agents; and as for all the other nationalities, they
would not be represented at all, since Wroblewski, MacDonnell and Frankel did not want to remain on it without
Marx and the others.
Whatever the bourgeois press may say, we were well
received by the workers of The Hague. Once the reactionaries
sent a handful of drunks to us to sing the Dutch national
royal anthem after the ending of the sitting. We let them
sing and, passing through them, replied with the Marseillaise. Even the minority at the Congress would have been
sufficient to disperse them by force. At the last sitting, on
the Saturday, a numerous public gave the speakers a lot
of applause.
Published in
La Plebe No. 107,
October 8, 1872
Translated from the Italian