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 Com 
mune 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-con 
servatives, in a word, by all the opponents of State omnipo 
tence ? 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 revo 
lutionary 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