THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL. 159 
Spain, and Switzerland. A full report of the proceedings was 
published in a Socialist newspaper of Brussels, Ze Peuple Belge. 
Upon each question on the order of the day, a report was pre 
sented. The discussions were in general brief and not very 
animated, and the resolutions drawn up by the central com 
mittee were carried without modification. It was only on the 
question of property in land that differences of opinion arose. 
The first question that occupied the congress was that of war. 
The incident of the cession of Luxembourg, prevented by the 
veto of Prussia, and the attitude of the ministers of Napoleon 
III., caused apprehension of a collision between France and 
Germany. The formula circulated by the Peace Societies, 
“ War against war ! ” served as the text of several speeches, in 
which the French delegates energetically affirmed that the 
people in France rejected all idea of an attack upon Prussia. 
On their side, the Germans proposed a resolution that a war 
between France and Germany would be a civil war for the 
benefit of Russia.* The congress had even the simplicity to 
believe that working men could put a stop to any fresh war. 
T. heir scheme was as follows :—“ The social body cannot live if 
production cease for a certain time. It would be sufficient, 
then, for the producers to stop producing to render impossible 
the enterprises of personal and despotic governments.” Thus 
when war is threatened, a universal strike is the remedy. Alas *1 
It cannot be applied. In existing conditions it is capital and 
not labour, that commands. If the labourer ceases to work 
society, it is true, will perish, but the labourer will be the first 
to die, for he lives from day to day. The idea of a universal 
strike, which reappears from time to time, is an impossibility. 
* The preamble of this resolution is worth notine • 
wmmm.