i82
THE SOCIALISM OE TO-DAY.
“The International Federation of the Jura,” summed up the
grievances of the Autonomists. The general council replied by
excommunications. It excluded in succession the women’s
association founded in New York by Mrs. Woodhull and Mrs.
Clafflin, the two priestesses of Free Love, the Belgian federation
of Brussels, the Spanish federation of Cordova, and that ot
London, all of which had decided to reject the decisions of the
Hague, and it refused to recognize an Italian federation which
had not conformed to the statutes. The International of Marx
thus lost, little by little, all influence in the Latin countries.
There only remained a few of the faithful in England, Germany,
and America. In order to rally its scattered forces, it convoked
a general congress at Geneva, for the 8th of September, 1873.
On their side, the dissenting Autonomists decided to assemble
in the same town, on the 2nd of September. We have, therefore,
two Internationals face to face.
Twenty-eight delegates attended the congress of Autonomists.
They commenced by reading reports on the situation
in the different countries. The representative of Spain, Farga
Pelissier, was the only one who could give favourable news.
There were, he said, more than seven hundred different
associations there with flfty thousand members, and soon the
working men in the large towns would rise en masse to bring
about the triumph of anarchy. It was evident that Bakunin
was the apostle of Socialism in Spain.* The news from other
countries was discouraging. The divisions among the leaders
had arrested the propaganda. The debates in the congress were
uninteresting. The Autonomists had no difficulty in making
their ideas prevail, and the general council was abolished
amid the enthusiastic applause of the assembly. No more
authority, no more directorship, such is the ideal. Each
* As early as 1871 and 1872, such an active socialistic propagandism
was carried on in Spain that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of King
Amadeo sent to all the diplomatic agents a circular note, dated the 9th of
February, 1872, proposing that the Governments should take common action
to suppress the movement everywhere. Lord Granville in reply pointed
out, as an objection to this proposal, that the laws of England admitted the
right of asylum, and the project of a crusade fell through. The disturbances
of which the peninsula was soon afterwards the theatre, prove,
however, that the danger was not imaginary.
