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THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

which  took  place  on  the  loth  of  February,  1873,  tbe  Anarchist
party  induced  the  labourers  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  the
Radicals,  in  order  to  prepare  for  a  new  revolution.
The  report  of  the  Spanish  delegate,  Garcia  Vinas,  to  the
Congress  of  Geneva,  in  September,  1873,  informs  us  of  the
strength  of  the  International  at  that  time.  It  counted  270
regional  federations,  comprising  557  trade-sections  and  117
sections  of  independent  working  men,  making  a  total  of  674
sections  with  about  300,000  associates.  There  were  several
Socialist  journals,  all  of  which  advocated  Bakunin’s  programme.
Anarchy  or  Communalism,  that  is  to  say,  the  absolute  independence ­
  of  each  commune.  Their  attacks  on  religion  were
of  extraordinary  violence.*  Most  of  them  spoke  of  rekindling
the  flames  of  Paris,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  following  peroration
taken  from  an  article  in  the  Petróleo  :—“  And  if  force  prevents
us  from  attaining  our  object,  which  is  to  sit  in  our  turn  at  the
banquet  of  life,  then  the  avenger,  dreaded  by  the  privileged
classes.  Petroleum,  will  come  to  our  aid,  not  merely  to  accomplish ­
  the  work  of  destruction,  but  at  the  same  time  to  perform
an  act  of  holy  and  supreme  justice.  A  levelling  even  with  the
ground,  if  need  be  by  means  of  axe  and  fire,  this  is  what  the
dignity  of  the  proletariat,  for  so  long  trampled  under  foot,
imperatively  demands.”
In  Andalusia,  in  the  Estremadura,  and  in  the  province  of
Badajoz  the  peasants  made  a  partition  of  the  lands.  Cantonalist
  insurrections  broke  out.  It  was  a  counterfeit  Commune  of
Paris.  On  the  13th  of  February,  1873,  thirty  thousand  working
men  assembled  at  Barcelona,  proclaimed  the  Federal  Republic,
and  fixed,  by  authority,  the  duration  of  labour  and  the  rate  of
wages.  On  the  8th  of  March  there  was  a  rising  at  Malaga,  the
*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  journal,  Los  Decamisados  :—
“  Deliver  us  at  last  from  that  phantom  called  God,  who  is  good  only  for
frightening  little  children.  Religions  are  only  trades  intended  to  enable
those  mountebanks  of  priests,  as  Dupuis  calls  them,  to  grow  fat  at  the
people’s  expense.  That  is  our  programme.  Moreover,  before  putting  ft
into  execution,  there  will  be  needed  a  good  blood-letting,  brief  but  copious.
The  rotten  boughs  must  be  lopped  off  the  social  tree  in  order  that  it  may
develop.  Tremble,  ye  bourgeois  who  have  fattened  on  our  toil  1  Give
place  to  the  shirtless,  the  decamisados.  Your  tyranny  is  nearly  done.  Our
black  flag  is  unfurled,  and  it  will  lead  us  to  victory.’’