The French members were not very numerous but they were 
more keen. At Lyons, the Alliance was led by Albert Richard and 
Gaspard Blanc, and at Marseilles by Bastelica—all three of whom 
were active contributors to the newspapers run by Guillaume. It is 
thanks to them that the Alliance succeeded in disorganising the 
movement at Lyons in September 1870. This movement, for them, 


* Here is what Garibaldi himself says about this: “My dear Crescio— hearty 
thanks for sending to me your Avvenire Sociale which I shall read with interest. 
You intend, in your paper, to make war upon untruth and slavery. That is a very 
fine programme, but I believe that the International, in fighting against the 
principle of authority, makes a mistake and obstructs its own progress. The Paris 
Commune fell because there was in Paris no authority but only anarchy, Spain and 
France are suffering from the same evil. I wish success to the Avventre, and, remain 


yours, G. Garibaldi.» 


a La Favilla, No. 134, June 5, 1873 (cf. this volume, p. 453).— Ed. 


The Alliance and the I.W.M.A.—VI 505 


was only important in that it allowed Bakunin to launch his 
unforgettable decree on the abolition of the State-—The activities 
of the Alliance after the failure of the Lyons insurrection are 
neatly summed up in the following passage from a letter by 
Bastelica (Marseilles, December 13, 18707): 


“Our real power among the workers is enormous; but our section has not been 
reorganised since the last persecutions. We dare not do this for fear that in the 
absence of the leaders, the elements may disintegrate. We are biding our time.” 


That Bastelica, then in a foot regiment, could at any moment be 
sent away from Marseilles, was sufficient reason for him to hinder 
the reorganisation of the International section, so essential to its 
autonomy did he consider the presence of Alliance leaders.— The 
most evident result of the Alliance’s activities was to discredit in 
the eyes of the workers of Lyons and Marseilles the International, 
which, as always and everywhere, it claimed to represent. 

The end of Richard and Blanc is known. In the autumn of 
1871, they turned up in London and attempted to recruit from 
among the French refugees auxiliaries for a Bonapartist restora- 
tion. In January 1872, they published a brochure: L-EMPIRE ET LA 
FRANCE NOUVELLE. Appel du peuple et de la jeunesse a la conscience 
francaise, by Albert Richard and Gaspard Blanc, Brussels, 
1872. 

With the usual modesty of the Alliance’s quacks, they trotted out 
their patter as follows: 


‘We, who have formed the great army of the French proletariat ... we, the most 
influential leaders of the International in France ... happily, we have not been shot, 
and we are here to raise before them (ambitious parliamentarians, bloated republicans, 
self-styled democrats of all kinds) the standard under which we fight, and to fling 
forth to an astounded Europe—despite the calumnies, despite the threats, despite 
the attacks of every kind in store for us—this cry which issues from the depths of 
our conscience and which shall resound ere long in the hearts of all the French: —