fifil»«

tue  rise  and  fall  of  the  international.  173

process  of  formation.  This,  it  appears,  is  Nihilism.  Here  we
can,detect  the  origin  of  that  theory  of  the  autonomous  Commune ­
  which  appeared  at  the  time  of  the  revolution  of  the  i8th
of  March,  nobody  knew  from  whence.  Foreigners,  and  notably
Prince  Bismarck,  thought  they  saw  in  it  the  demand  of  greater
independence  for  the  Communes,  a  thing  which  appeared  to
them  very  much  wanted  in  France,  where  centralization  is
pushed  to  an  extreme.  Was  it  not,  moreover,  the  reform
desired  by  Economists,  by  admirers  of  America,  by  neo-conservatives, ­
  in  a  word,  by  all  the  opponents  of  State  omnipotence ­
  ?  In  truth,  it  was  quite  another  matter.  If  we  are  to
find  any  meaning  in  the  acts  and  manifestoes  of  the  Commune
of  the  18th  of  March,  we  may  discern  there,  it  seems,  the
refiex  of  the  theories  of  Bakunin.
During  the  year  1870  the  International  continued  to  grow
and  to  spread.  It  penetrated  to  the  extreme  ends  of  Europe,
into  Denmark,  into  Portugal,  and  even  across  the  Atlantic.
Cameron,  delegate  of  the  National  Labour  Union  of  the
United  States,  had  brought  to  the  Congress  of  Bâle  the
adhesion  of  800,000  “  Unionists.”  A  Russian  section  was
established  in  Switzerland.  At  Pesth  the  Gazette  universelle
des  travailleurs  appeared.  Socialist  newspapers  multiplied  on
all  sides,*  and  seemed  to  spring  out  of  the  ground.  Whenever
a  section  was  formed,  it  immediately  obtained  the  adhesion  of
the  existing  working  men's  societies,  whatever  their  nature
might  be.  In  Europe  and  America  the  number  of  simple
adherents  was  probably  to  be  counted  in  millions.  The  vacil
lating  policy  of  Napoleon  III.,  which  seemed  to  announce  the
tottering  and  the  fall  of  the  Imperial  régime,  stirred  the  revolutionary ­
  party  to  activity.  Of  the  two  ideas  which  had  given
birth  to  the  International,  the  one  aiming  at  the  raising  of
wages  by  combinations  and  strikes,  the  other  seeking  the