THE
INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION
ON THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
THE DECLARATION OF WAR
FIRST MANIFESTO OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
In the inaugural address of the International Workingmen's Association, of November, 1864, we said: "If the emancipation of the working classes requires their fraternal concurrence, how are they to fulfil that great mission with a foreign policy in pursuit of criminal designs, playing upon national prejudices and squandering in piratical wars the people's blood and treasure?" We defined the foreign policy aimed at by the International in these words: "Vindicate the simple laws of morals and justice, which ought to govern the relations of private individuals, as the laws paramount of the intercourse of nations."
No wonder that Louis Bonaparte, who usurped his power by exploiting the war of classes in France, and perpetuated it by periodical wars abroad, should from the first have treated the International as a dangerous foe. On the eve of the plebiscite[1] he ordered a raid on the mem-
- ↑ For several years before the Franco-Prussian war and the resulting fall of the Second Empire, the dissatisfaction of the bourgeoisie with the foreign and domestic policy of Louis Bonaparte had been steadily increasing, while the discontent of the workingmen was frequently manifesting itself in a way suggestive of impending revolution. He could not, of course, make a public admission of his growing unpopularity; but, fully realizing that unless he made "timely concessions" his rule would soon be imperilled, he concluded
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