Karl Marx
Provisional Rules
of the International Working Men’s Association

Translated from the English

Der Social-Demokrat.
No. 10, 18 January 1865

Provisional Rules
of the “International Working Men’s Association”.

Considering,

that the emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the working class itself;

that the struggle for the emancipation of the working class is not a struggle for class privileges and monopolies, but for equal rights and duties and the abolition of all class rule;

that the economic subjection of the man of labour to the monopolists of the means of labour, i.e. of the sources of life, lies at the basis of bondage in all its forms, of all social misery, mental degradation, and political dependence;

that the economic emancipation of the working class is therefore the great end to which every political movement must be subordinated as a means;

that all efforts towards this great end have hitherto failed for want of solidarity between the manifold branches of labour in each country and from the absence of a fraternal bond of union between the working classes of different countries;

that the emancipation of labour is neither a local nor a national, but a social problem, embracing all countries in which modern society exists, and its solution depends on the theoretical and practical co‑operation of the most advanced countries;

that the present simultaneous revival of the workers’ movement in the industrial countries of Europe, while it awakens new hopes, solemnly warns against relapses into old errors and calls for the immediate combination of the hitherto disconnected movements;

for these reasons the undersigned members of the committee, elected at the public meeting held on 28 September 1864 at St. Martin’s Hall, London, have taken the preliminary steps for founding the International Working Men’s Association and have drawn up the following provisional rules:

1. This Association is founded to serve as a central point of communication and co‑operation for the working men’s societies that exist in different countries and strive for the same goal, namely the protection, advancement, and complete emancipation of the working class;

2. The name of this society shall be: International Working Men’s Association.

3. In 1865 a general workers’ congress will take place in Belgium. It will consist of the representatives of all workers’ societies that have meanwhile joined the International Association. The congress will proclaim before Europe the common aspirations of the working classes, lay down the definitive statutes of the International Association, deliberate on the means required for its successful activity, and appoint the Central Council of the Association. The general congress shall assemble once a year.

4. The Central Council shall have its seat in London and shall be composed of workers belonging to the different countries represented in the International Association. It shall appoint from its own ranks the officers necessary for conducting business: a President, a Treasurer, a General Secretary, corresponding secretaries for the different countries, etc.

5. At its annual assemblies the general congress shall receive a public report on the annual transactions of the Central Council. The Central Council, newly appointed each year by the congress, shall be empowered to increase its number of members at its discretion. In emergencies it may convoke the general congress before the regular annual term.

6. The Central Council shall form an international agency between the different co‑operating associations, so that the working men of one country remain constantly informed of the movements of their class in every other country; that an investigation into the social conditions of Europe be carried out simultaneously in the different countries and under common direction; that questions of general interest, raised by one society, be discussed in all the others, and that, where immediate practical steps are desirable, as for instance in the case of international disputes, the action of the associated societies be simultaneous and uniform. Whenever it considers it appropriate, the Central Council shall take the initiative of proposals to the various national or local societies.

7. Whereas the success of the workers’ movement in each country can be secured only by the power of unity and combination, while on the other hand the usefulness of the International Central Council must largely depend on whether it has to deal with a few national centres of workers’ associations or with a large number of small and scattered local societies, the members of the International Association shall spare no effort to unite the scattered working men’s societies of their respective countries into national bodies represented by central organs. It goes without saying, however, that the application of this paragraph depends entirely on the particular laws of each country, and that, even apart from legal obstacles, any independent working men’s society may correspond directly with the Central Council in London.

8. Until the assembly of the first congress the committee elected on 28 September 1864 shall provisionally form the Central Council, establish relations with the working men’s societies of different countries, recruit members in the United Kingdom, take the preparatory steps for convoking the general congress, and discuss with the national or local working men’s societies the main questions to be laid before this congress.

9. Every member of the International Association, on removing his domicile from one country to another, shall receive the fraternal support of the associated workers.

10. Although united in a fraternal corporation, the working men’s societies joining the International Association shall preserve their independence and existing organisation intact.

Karl Marx: Draft for a report
to the Central Council on the attitude
of German working men’s societies
the International Working Men’s Association.
Beginning of the writing on the first page
of the letter from Wilhelm Liebknecht
to Marx of 21 January 1865

to

10

Karl Marx
Draft for a report to the Central Council
on the attitude of German working men’s societies

to the International Working Men’s Association

I As to the General Federation of German working men’s societies, it will
declare in one way or other the identity of its purposes with those of the In-
ternational Association; but the adhesion cannot take place directly,
through a formal resolution passed by the [...] of the General German As-
sociation, because || such a step would be in contravention to the Prussian
laws regulating associations.

From the same reason the Berlin society of printers and composers,
which takes the greatest interest in your proceedings, is disabled from ad-
hering to the London society by way of a formal resolution.

However, even the latter society is sure to send a deputy to the congress
to be convoked by the London committee.

Moreover, you must not forget, that our journal, the organ of the Ger-
man Federation of working men’s societies, has been put at the entire dis-

posal of the International Committee. |