1868, H X � / t 3 CONTENTS book. 6 [...]... success, it was the victory of a principle; it was the first time that in broad daylight the political economy of the middle class suc cumbed to the political economy of the working class." The other bright feature of the situation was the triumph of the co-operative principle? and this was of even greater importance to the proletariat than the winning of the ten-hour day The success of the enterprise,... the more effeetive guidance of the class war, but that internationalism would result from the triumph of the proletarian movement in all lands Furthermore, they proclaimed the international solidarity of the workers as an essential preliminary to the victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie For example, at the meeting held by THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 24 the Fraternal Democrats in the summer of. .. ing, among others, the following points : the brotherhood of the nations, and especially the fraternal community of the proletariats of all lands ; the freedom of the press; the granting of the political rights that had been demanded in the Charter (universal suffrage, etc.) ; the preparation of the working class for its emancipation from the oppression of capital and from the usurpations of feudalism... HARBINGERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL 27 This committee was soon transformed into a kind of International which, although it never acquired an influ ence equal to that of the Fraternal Democrats, neverthe less championed the idea of the international solidarity of the proletariat down to the eve of the foundation of the First International Yet more interesting is the faCl: that it anticipated the forms of organisation... breaches of international law As an internationalist he showed the same energy in denouncing the crimes of all the governments, Russian, French, and British, alike He summoned the workers to the struggle against the pre judices of patriotism, and advocated a union of the toilers of all lands for the realisation of justice on earth Then Odger read the address of the British to the THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL. .. of the Federation of the Just, "All men are brethren, " the 16 THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL new fighting call of proletarian internationalism, "Prole tarians of all lands, unite." Thus the Communist League: was one of the harbingers of the International Its con necti.on with the First International was substantiated by personalities as well as in point of theory, for one of the principal figures in the. .. utopist elements led by Schapper and Willich.11 The outcome of these dissensions was the break-up of the League into two rival organisations, which disappeared from -the scene in the year 185i Thus the germ of the workers' international movement perished in the atmosphere of political reaction HARBINGERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL 19 As another of the harbingers of the International may be regarded an extraordinarily... the very outset there had been adopted the safe and salutary principle of the independence of the workers The masses, learning by experience, speedily outgrew their leaders Though they remained with the flag, these leaders soon came to declare that all the subsequent activities of the International amounted to a mere perversion of its primary aims, and THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 54 that the cause of the. .. reaction of the late forties and the fifties, and was founding new industrial and political organisa tions In the sixties, this awakening of the German prole tariat was a part of the general revival of the European working-class movement as a sequel of the economic crisis THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 42 of 1 857, and the war of 1 859 At that time, most of the German workers still accepted the views and the. .. emancipation The successor of the Exiles' League and of the Federa tion of the Just was known as the Communist League (1 847-1 851) Under the instruCl:ions of this body, and in its name, Marx and Engels issued in 1 848 the Manifesto of the Com munist Party, which expounded the international ist tendencies of the League, and proclaimed the historic mission of the proletariat, substituting for the old device of