^90  THE  SOC/A  Z/SM  OF  TO-DAY.
of  different  nationalities,  and  influenced  sometimes  by  divergent
currents  of  ideas,  to  make  use  of  publicity  as  the  sole  means
of  propaganda,  and  yet  to  escape  the  repressive  laws  of  different
States,  was  evidently  no  easy  task.  How  could  it  possibly  have
lasted  after  the  only  man  capable  of  directing  it  had  been
ostracized  ?  The  cause  of  the  failure  was  not  accidental  ;  it
was  part  of  the  very  essence  of  the  attempt.  The  proletariat
will  not  follow  middle-class  radicals,  because  political  liberties,
republican  institutions,  and  even  universal  suffrage,  which  the
latter  claim  or  are  ready  to  decree,  do  not  change  the  relations
of  capital  and  labour.  On  the  other  hand,  the  working  man  is
evidently  incapable  of  directing  a  revolutionary  movement  which
IS  to  solve  the  thousand  difficulties  created  by  any  complete
change  in  the  economic  order.  Revolutionary  Socialism  thus
leads  to  an  insoluble  dilemma  and  to  practical  impotence.
A  further  cause  contributed  to  the  rapid  fall  of  the  International, ­
  namely,  personal  jealousies.  As  in  the  midst  of  the
Commune  of  1871,  there  were  divisions  of  opinion,  there  were
suspicions  and  hard  words,  and  soon  followed  final  secessions
No  authority  was  set  over  it;  all  understanding  became  impossible; ­
  the  association  fell  to  pieces  in  anarchy,  and,  to  use
a  vulgar  but  expressive  word,  in  a  “mess.”  There  is  yet
another  warning.  What  !  you  want  to  abolish  the  State  and
suppress  the  industrial  head,  and  you  count  upon  order  arising
spontaneously  from  the  free  action  of  federal  corporations?
But  if  you,  who  constitute  apparently  the  pick  of  the  working
class,  if  you  were  unable  to  come  to  a  sufficient  understanding
with  each  other  to  keep  going  a  society  which  demanded  from
you  no  sacrifice,  and  which  had  only  one  aim  desired  by  all
war  against  accursed  capital,”  how  do  you  suppose  that
ordinary  working  men  will  remain  united,  when,  in  their  daily
life,  they  shall  have  to  regulate  constantly  opposed  interests
and  to  take  decisions  touching  each  other’s  remuneration?
You  were  unwilling  to  submit  to  a  general  council  which
imposed  no  task  upon  you  ;  how,  in  the  workshop,  will  you
obey  the  orders  of  your  chiefs  who  will  have  to  determine  your
duties  and  direct  your  labour  ?
The  International  is  dead,  not  through  the  severity  of  the