The Paris Commune/Appendix 1
APPENDIX
ANTI-PLEBISCITE MANIFESTO
(See notes, pages 23 and 24.)
In the notes on pages 23 and 24 relative to the plebiscite submitted to the French people by Louis Bonaparte, reference is made to the "Anti-Plebiscite Manifesto" issued by the Paris Sections of the International in conjunction with the Federal Chamber of Labor Societies. The following translation of the manifesto has been made especially for this edition of The Paris Commune:
ANTI-PLEBISCITE MANIFESTO ISSUED BY THE FEDERATED PARISIAN SECTIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION AND THE FEDERAL CHAMBER OF LABOR SOCIETIES.
To All French Workingmen:
Citizens—After the Revolution of 1789 and the Declaration of Rights of 1793, the sovereignty of labor is the only constitutive basis upon which modern society should rest.
Labor is, in effect, the supreme law of humanity, the source of public wealth, and the most efficient cause of individual well-being.
The workingman alone is entitled to the esteem of his fellow-citizens; he imposes even upon those who exploit him a sense of his honesty; he is called upon to regenerate the old order.
This is why we say to the urban and rural workers, to the small manufacturers, to the small business men, and to all those who sincerely desire the reign of liberty founded upon equality: It is not enough to answer by a purely negative vote this plebiscite that they have the audacity to thrust upon us; not enough to prefer the constitution of 1870 to that of 1852—a paliamentary government to a personal one. Out of the ballot-box must come the most absolute condemnation of the monarchic régime, the complete, the radical affirmation of the only form of government that can give scope to our legitimate aspirations—the Social and Democratic Republic.
Insensate is he who would believe that the constitution of 1870 would enable him, any more than that of 1852, to assure to his children the benefits of integral, free, and obligatory instruction for all!
That it would allow the reformation and the reorganization of the great public services (mines, canals, railroads, banks, etc.) for the benefit of all, instead of being as they are to-day, a means of exploitation for the feudality of capital!
The complete changing of the mode of levying taxes, which until now have been progressive in the direction of poverty!
The restoration to the public domain of the properties which the clergy, secular and regular, have seized upon by subreption in defiance of the laws of 1789 and 1790!
The putting an end to the abuse of power by all the governmental functionaries great and small (constables, juges d'instruction, commissaires de police, etc.), whose arbitrary conduct is to-day covered by article 75 of the Constitution of the year VIII!
And finally, the suppression of the blood-tax (the standing army) by abolishing the conscription!
No! Citizens, such could not be the case. Despotism has the fatal quality of being able to engender only despotism. The test has been made.
And, moreover, we refuse to recognize in the executive the right to question us. This right would imply on our part a subjection against which the very name of the power that arrogates it protests when that power indicates that he is not the master, but only and nothing more than the executor of the sovereign will of the nation.
If then, with us, you desire to put an end to all the defilements of the past; if you desire that the new social compact, consented to by citizens, equals in rights as in duties, shall assure to each of you peace and liberty, equality and work; if you want to affirm the Social and Democratic Republic, the best means as we see it is either to refuse to vote or else vote against the constitution—and this without excluding the other modes of protestation.
Workers of all crafts, remember the massacres at Aubin and at la Ricamarie, the convictions at Autun and the acquittal at Tours; and, while you take your ballots to show that you are not indifferent to your civic duties, remember to abstain from voting.
Workers of the country districts! Like your city brothers you bear the crushing burdens of the present social system; you produce without ceasing, and the most of the time you lack the necessaries of life, while the fisc, the usurer, and the proprietors thrive at your expense.
The Empire, not satisfied at crushing you with taxes, takes from you your sons, your only support, to make papal soldiers of them, or to strew their abandoned corpses over the desert plains of Syria, Cochin-China and Mexico.
We likewise advise you to abstain from voting, because abstention is the protest that the author of the coup d'état fears the most; but if you are compelled to cast your ballot, let it either remain blank or bear the words: Radical change in taxation! No more conscription! The Social and Democratic Republic!
For the Federated Parisian Sections of the International Workingmen's Association:
A. Combault, rue de Vaugirard, 289.
Reymond, rue de l'Ouest, 80.
Germain Casse, rue de Maubeuge, 94.
Berthomieu, member of the Commission of the International.
Lafargue, member of the Vaugirard Section.
E. Lefvre, rue des Martyrs, 99.
Jules Johannard, rue d'Aboukir, 126.
J. Franquin, rue de la Verrerie, 42.
For the Federal Chamber of Labor Societies:
A. Theisz, carver, rue de Jessaint, 12.
Camelinat, bronze-mounter, rue Folie-Méricourt, 34.
Avrial, machinist, passage Raoul, 15.
D. André, cabinet-maker, rue Neuve-des-Boulets, 17.
Destetti, rue des Boulangers, 16.
Pindy, joiner, rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, 17.
Robillard, gilder, rue de Sèvres, 113.
Rouveyrole, goldsmith, rue Lesage, 16.