Today I received a letter from Stumpf (Mainz), in which he 
says, among other things: 

“Liebknecht authorises me to write to you that because of the Reichstag 
elections, which are to be held precisely at that time, it might be better to hold the 
congress here on October 5. Last Monday? the congress in Stuttgart !73 also came 
out in favour of October 5. I hear that Geib is authorised to write to you in this 
matter.” 

Liebknecht and the other members of the International ought at 
least to be familiar with its Rules, which expressly state: 

“§ 3. The General Council may, in case of need, change the 
place, but has no power to postpone the time of meeting.” 

When I spoke in the General Council in favour of your urgent 
invitation to have the congress moved to Germany, I naturally 
assumed that you had taken all the circumstances into considera- 
tion. According to the Rules there can be no question of 
postponing the congress. 

Another passage in Stumpf’s letter is also far from reassuring. 

In it he says: . 

“I have just come from the Burgomaster. He wants a solvent citizen to 
guarantee that if the Schweitzer people were to start a fighting, the town would be 

recompensed for any damage in the Electoral Hall of Marble, which has been 
promised to us for the congress, etc.” 

a June 6.— Ed. 
5 Rules of the International Working Men’s Association, London [1867], p. 4. Italics 
by Marx and Engels.— Ed. 

You proposed the towns of Mainz, Darmstadt or Mannheim, 
thus in fact assuming, vis-a-vis the General Council, the responsibility 
of ensuring that the congress can be held in any of these towns 
without scandalous scenes which would make the International, and 
the German working class in particular, the laughing-stock of the 
whole world. I hope that you have taken all the necessary 
precautions in this respect. 

What is the numerical proportion of Schweitzer supporters in 
Mainz and district to your own people? 

In the event that a scandal cannot be avoided, steps must be 
taken in advance to ensure that it rebounds on its instigators. The 
plan of the Prussian police to obstruct the international congress in 
Mainz—which they are unable to prevent from convening by 
direct means—through their tool, the Schweitzer organisation, or 
to prevent the peaceful holding of its sessions, must be denounced 
in the Volksstaat, Zukunft and in other German papers open to us. 
As soon as this had been done in Germany, the General Council 
would then arrange for similar articles to be published in 
London, Paris, etc. The International can stand a conflict with 
Mr. Bismarck, but not alleged Spontaneous “typical German factional 
brawls between workers” labelled “struggles of principle”’. 

I daresay that Stumpf—in collaboration with you—will see to it 
that the delegates find cheap lodgings. 

Salut et fraternité 
Karl Marx 

I take this opportunity of sending the Committee my kindest 
regards. Ever since the Schweitzerites in Forst informed the 
Burgomaster in advance of their intention to create mayhem and 
he allowed matters to take their course, the connection between 
these gentlemen and the police is an established fact. Perhaps 
Stumpf could enquire of the Schweitzerites through the Bur- 
gomaster of Mainz whether they have been instructed “to fight’’. 
It is anyway high time these people were exposed in the press 
everywhere as police agents pure and simple, and next time they 
try their hand at “fighting” they should be given a taste of their 
own medicine. This is naturally out of the question at the 
congress, but in the meantime they can be given a thrashing fit to 
put them off fighting for good. The manner in which Herr 
Bismarck is portraying these things in the English press is evident 
from the enclosed cutting, which is doing the rounds of all the 

To the Committee of the German S.-D. Workers’ Party 135 

papers. The North German Correspondence is an organ founded by 
Bismarck with Guelphic money.’ 

With kindest regards 
F. Engels