ENGELS TO THEODOR CUNO!” 

London, 5 July 1872 
Dear Cuno, 

I sent some English and Spanish newspapers to Herman for you 
yesterday. 

The Belgians make the same impression on everyone who comes 
in contact with them. The whole International there is just so 
much hot air and nothing more. This is chiefly the fault of the 
leaders, of whom only De Paepe is really capable, although 
indolent, while Hins is empty-headed, but cunning, scheming, 
ambitious and energetic. Through his Russian wife Hins is in 
direct contact with Bakunin and on the latter’s instructions he has 
devised a salubrious project to abolish the General Council. Hins 
is at present in Verviers. You would be doing us a service if you 
could keep an eye on him. 

There is also a German section in Verviers which is in 
correspondence with the Volksstaat. I wrote to their correspondent, 
P. Schlehbach, rue de Pont 2, (on 14 June) 45 and also sent a copy 
of the Scissions,*** but have had no reply up to now. It would be a 
good idea if you could slip over there and establish contact with 
them. I have written to Hepner” saying that they should send you a 
mandate from Germany for the Congress.”° To be on the safe side, 
however, it would be good if you could also get the German section in 
Verviers to give you a mandate from them in case they do not send 
someone of their own. Bakunin & Co. will make every effort to beat 
us at the Congress, and as these gentlemen have no scruples about 
methods, we must take precautionary measures. They will send 
delegates from a hundred different societies not belonging to the 
International at all, and will try to obtain a seat and a vote for 
these persons as delegates of the International in order to place 
the General Council in the minority with the aid of a coalition of 
the most heterogeneous elements. Schweitzer and Hasenclever 
have already concluded an avowed alliance with the scoundrels 
over here—Vésinier, Landeck, Smith, Schneider, etc.— while the 
latter, in turn, are corresponding with the Jurassians and the 
American rogues (see the Emancipacién’™* I sent yesterday). 

a K. Marx and F. Engels, Fictitious Splits in the International. - > See this volume, 
pp. 403-04. 

How have the Scissions been received there? I have sent 
Herman 5 copies in all, but they must be distributed. Is Herman 
doing that? And how is he doing in general? I heard that at the 
last Belgian Congress he spoke out very vigorously in favour of 
the General Council. 

It is questionable whether you can qualify for Belgian citizen- 
ship. American citizenship is only obtainable by prior registration 
and five years’ residence in the country. 

The Congress will be held in any event. On the Continent there 
is Never any guarantee against police interference; but then we will 
have to get aboard a steamer, go to England, and hold it there. It 
would be inexpedient to convene it in England from the very start, 
for although it would be quite safe from police interference here, 
it would nevertheless be subjected to attacks by our enemies. The 
General Council, they would say, is convening the Congress in 
England because only there does it possess an artificial majority. 

Bakunin has issued a furious, but very weak, abusive letter in 
reply to the Scissions.°’ That fat elephant is beside himself with 
rage because he has finally been dragged from his Locarno lair 
out into the light, where neither scheming nor intrigues are of any 
more use. Now he declares that he is the victim of a conspiracy of 
all the European— Jews! 

What will break the old scoundrel’s neck is the continued 
existence of the ‘Alliance’ '°—at least in Spain—as a secret society. 
Not only do we have proof of this, but the affair has now become 
quite public in Madrid, etc., so that there can be no denying it any 
more. This gentleman, who everywhere acted as the most 
devoted champion of the International, organised this quiet 
conspiracy to seize overall control and, with the assistance of his 
initiated Jesuit brothers, to lead the broad masses of workers by 
the nose like a blind herd! If this had been tolerated, I wouldn’t 
have remained in the International for a day. To be Bakunin’s 
sheep—that would have been the limit! The hardest blow of all 
for him is that we have uncovered this whole story and are 
threatening to expose him at the Congress. And now Lafargue 
(Marx’s son-in-law, who has been in Madrid for 8 months) is 
accusing him, Bakunin, of having drawn up by his own hand and 
sent to Spain the secret instructions on how the International was 
to be run there! * 

a P. Lafargue, ‘Aux citoyens rédacteurs du Bulletin de la Fédération jurassienne’, 
L’Egalité, No. 11, 1 June 1872, reprinted in Bulletin de la Fédération jurasstenne, 
No. 10-11, 15 June 1872. 

The enclosed letter arrived today. 
Give my best wishes to Herman, is he quite well again? 

Yours, 
F. E.