28
it nevertheless declared itself entirely at one with the Paris Communards, and upon its Parisian members fell the chief burden of directing the Commune while it lasted. As to the war of 1870–1871 immediately preceding the Commune, Marx fully approved of the attitude of the German Social Democracy, and addressed a letter to the Brunswick Conference of the party, accurately forecasting the inevitable results of a policy of annexation.
The Commune of 1871, on which there is an interesting work by Marx entitled The Civil War in France, fell, and with it the "International," long an object of fear and hatred to the governing classes, was banned in all countries. With this its field of practical action was largely cut off. Moreover, the organisation of the working classes particularly in Germany, had reached a stage when the members perforce had to devote their chief energies to the perfection and development of their national organisations. Finally, largely owing to the fact that this first International had outlived its time, internal dissensions of more or less serious nature broke out from time to time. In the meantine Marx, as general secretary, became very overcrowded with work, and desired to devote more time to the completion of his main work, Capital. He retired from the secretaryship, and on his suggestion, the headquarters of the International was removed to New York in 1873. With this the International as an organisation for the time being came to an end. Marx, however, continued to take an active interest in the work of the party in every country, and he and Engels were generally recognised as the unofficial representatives of the International in Europe, to whom socialists of all countries constantly came for advice and guidance.
MARX'S PRIVATE LIFE AND CHARACTER.
And now we cannot, perhaps, better conclude this hasty sketch of the life and work of Karl Marx than by giving a few quotations from his daughter Eleanor's writings, and from the memoirs of Liebknecht, throwing some sidelights on Marx's private characteristics and illustrating the dire conditions under which Marx lived and worked.
