The Figaro of September 11 reproduces a conversation which I 
am alleged to have had with the correspondent of the Soir.* The 
Figaro-type press can allow itself any calumny without anybody 
taking the trouble to point it out, but when the mercenary 
imagination of a correspondent goes so far as to put in my mouth 
grave accusations against my friends of the ex-General Council, I 
feel bound to say that he has violated all the rules of truth in 
daring to claim to have exchanged a single word with me. 

I profit by this opportunity to let our friends and enemies know 
that I never dreamed of resigning from the International and that 
the transfer of the General Council to New York was proposed by 
me and several other members of the previous General Council. 

It is false to report that Bakunin and his acolyte Guillaume were 
expelled as heads of a so-called federalist party. The expulsion of 
Bakunin and Guillaume was motivated by the creation within our 
Association of a secret society, the Alliance of Socialist Democracy, 
which claimed to direct the International to aims contrary to its 
principles. 

The resolution of the London Conference on the political 
action of the working class was approved by the great majority of 
the Congress, and its insertion in the General Rules was voted.” 

a “On continue a ne pas voir...”, Le Figaro, September 11, 1872. The article is 
signed “.° .”.— Ed. 
b See this volume, p. 243.— Ed. 

The working-class public of The Hague and Amsterdam were 
most sympathetic towards the Congress. 
So much for the value of the reports in the reactionary press. 

Yours sincerely, 

Karl Marx 
The Hague, September 12, 1872 
15, 1872; Gazzettino Rosa, No. 260, Sep- satre 
tember 18, 1872; La Emancipacion, 
No. 66, September 21, 1872; Il Popolino, Translated from the French 

No. 19, September 22, 1872 

259 

Karl Marx