In the meantime, B. joined the Branche Romande [Romanish Branch] of the International (in Geneva). It took him years before he decided on this step. But it was only a few days before Herr Bakunin decided to overthrow the International and transform it into his instrument. Behind the back of the London General Council which was informed only after everything was seemingly ready he established the so-called Alliance des Democrates Socialistes. The program of this Alliance was none other than the one B. had proposed at the Bern Peace [League] Congress. Thus, from the outset, the Alliance showed itself to be a propaganda organization of specifically Bakuninist private mysticism, and B. himself, one of the most ignorant of men in the field of social theory, suddenly figures here as a sect founder. However, the theoretical program of this Alliance was pure farce. Its serious side lay in its practical organization. For this Alliance was to be an international one, with its central committee in Geneva, that is, under Bakunin s personal direction. At the same time it was to be an integral part of the International Working Men s Association. Its branches were to be represented at the next Congress" of the International (in Basel) on the one hand, and to have its own separate sessions alongside the former on the other hand, etc., etc. The human material chiefly at Bakunin s disposal consisted of the then-majority of the Federal Romanish Committee of he International in Geneva. J. Ph. Becker, whose propaganda zeal occassionally runs away with his head, was pushed forward. In Italy and Spain, Bakunin had some allies. The General Council in London had been thoroughly informed. But it quietly let Bakunin go on until the moment when he was forced by J. Ph. Becker to submit the statutes (and program) of the Alliance of Socialist Democracy to the General Council for approval. Thereupon followed a far-reaching decision entirely judicial and objective, yet in its basic considerations full of irony which concluded as follows: This came as an unexpected blow. Bakunin had already transformed L galite, the central organ of the French-speaking members of the International in Switzerland, into his organ; in addition, he founded in Locle a little private journal Progres. Progres still plays that role under the editorship of fanatical Bakunin follower, Guillaume. After several weeks of reflection.the Central Committee of the Alliance under the signature of Perron, a Genevan finally sent a reply to the General Council. In it, the Alliance, out of zeal for the cause, offered to sacrifice its independent organization, but only on one condition, namely, a declaration by the General Council that it recognizes the Alliance s radical principles. The General Council replied: Bakunin then sought to achieve his aim to transform the International into his private instrument by other means. Through the Geneva Romanish Committee of the General Council he proposed that the question of inheritance" be put on the agenda of the Basel Congress. The General Council agreed, in order to be able to hit Bakunin on the head directly. Bakunin s plan was this: When the Basel Congress accepts the principles (?) he proposed in Bern, he will show the world that he has not gone over to the International, but the International has gone over to him. The simple consequence: The London General Council (whose opposition to the rehashing of the St.-Simonist vieillerie [rubbish] was known to Bakunin) must resign and the Basel Congress would move the General Council to Geneva; that is, the International would fall under the dictatorship of Bakunin. Bakunin put his full conspiracy into motion, in order to assure himself of a majority in the Basel Congress. Even fake mandates were not lacking, such as those of Herr Guillaume for Locle, etc. Bakunin himself importuned mandates from Naples and Lyon. All sorts of calumnies against the General Council were spread. Some were told that it was dominated by the element bourgeois and others that it was the seat of communisme autoritaire. The result of the Basel Congress is known. Bakunin s proposal did not go through, and the General Council remained in London. The anger of this defeat Bakunin had perhaps tied up a hoped-for success with private speculations in his heart s spirit and feeling was aired in irritated utterances in L galit and Progres. These papers in the meantime assumed more and more the form of official oracles. Now one and now the other of the Swiss sections [of the International] was put under excommunication because, despite Bakunin s express instructions, it participated in political movements, etc. Finally the long restrained fury against the General Council broke into the open. Progres and L galit sneered, attacked, declared that the General Council did not fulfill its duties, for example, in connection with the quarterly bulletins; the General Council must rid itself of direct control over England and establish a separate central committee to occupy itself with English affairs; the resolutions of the General Council in regard to the Fenian prisoners were an infringement of its functions, since it is not supposed to concern itself with the local political questions. Furthermore, Progres and L galit took the side of Schweitzer, and the General Council was categorically challenged to declare itself officially and publicly on the Liebknecht-Schweitzer question. The journal Le Travail (in Paris), into which Schweitzer s Paris friends smuggled articles favorably to him, was praised for this by Progress and L galit , the latter demanding that Le Travail make common cause against the General Council. Hence the time has come for taking decisive steps. The enclosed is an exact copy of the General Council s circular to the Romanish Central Committee in Geneva. The document [written in French] is too long to translate into German. The copy for Geneva (because the secretary for Switzerland, Jung, was very busy) has been somewhat delayed. hence it crossed an official statement which Perret, the secretary of the Geneva Romanish Central Committee, sent to the General Council. For the crisis broke out in Geneva before the arrival of our letter there. Some of the editors of L galit rebelled against the Bakuninist-dictated direction. Bakunin and his followers (among them six Egalite editors) wanted to force the Geneva Committee to dismiss the recalcitrants. But the Geneva Committee had long been tired of Bakunin s despotism and was reluctant to be dragged in against the General Council, in opposition to the German Swiss Committee. Hence it endorsed the Egalite editors who had displeased Bakunin. Whereupon the six other editors submitted their resignation from the editorial board, hoping thereby to bring the paper to a standstill. In reply to our communication the Geneva Central Committee stated that Egalite s attack took place against its wishes, that is had never approved the policy it preached, that the paper would henceforth be edited under strict supervision, etc. Thereupon Bakunin withdrew from Geneva to Tessin. Now he has control at least as afar as Switzerland is concerned only over Progres (Locle). Soon thereafter, Herzen died. Bakunin, who from the time when he began to pose as the leader of the European labor movement slandered his old friend and patron Herzen, upon the latter s death immediately began to trumpet his eulogies. Why? Because Herzen, despite his personal wealth, received from the pseudo socialist Pan-Slavic party, which was friendly to him, 25,000 francs annually for propaganda. Through his loud eulogies, Bakunin managed to have this money directed to him and thereby entered into Herzen s inheritance malgre sa haine de l heritage [despite his hatred of the right of inheritance] pecuniarily and morally sine beneficio inventarii [without legal permission of the estate]. At the same time, a young Russian refugee colony settled in Geneva, consisting of students, who were really honest and who showed their honesty by adopting opposition to Pan-Slavism as the main point of their program. They are publishing a journal, La Voix du Peuple, in Geneva. About two weeks ago they applied to London, sending in their program and asking approval for the establishment of a Russian branch. The approval was granted. In a separate letter to Marx, they requested him to represent them provisionally in the General Council. This, too, was accepted. At the same time they indicated and seemed thereby to want to apologize to Marx that their next step must be to tear off Bakunin s mask publicly, because that man speaks two entirely different languages, one in Russia and another in Europe. Thus the game of this highly dangerous intrigant at least on the terrain of the International will soon be played out.
The International Workingmen's Association, Confidential Communication on Bakunin