BAKUNIN  THE  APOSTLE  OF  NIHILISM.  219
Seraing,  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  International.
The  leaders,  however,  were  unwilling  to  encourage  strikes,  for
fear  they  should  fail.  Thus,  at  the  second  National  Congress
of  Antwerp,  which  sat  from  the  ist  to  the  15th  of  August,  1873,
it  was  resolved  that  the  federations  should  make  every  preparation ­
  for  the  universal  strike,  but  that  it  was  necessary  to  give
up  entirely  partial  strikes,  except  “  in  a  case  of  legitimate
defence.”
At  the  time  of  its  greatest  diffusion  the  International
counted  eight  federations  :  those,  namely,  of  Brussels,  Ghent,
Antwerp,  Liège,  the  Vesdre,  the  Borinage,  the  Centre,  and
Charleroi.  As  to  the  number  of  members,  it  has  been  variously
estimated  from  one  to  two  hundred  thousand  ;  but  as  membership ­
  is  acquired  by  a  purely  platonic  adhesion,  exact  statistics
are  impossible.  However,  the  organization  has  been  more
complete  here  than  anywhere  else.  After  the  schism  of  the
Hague,  the  Belgian  Internationalists  pronounced  against  the
exclusion  of  Bakunin,  without  however  adhering  to  his  doctrines.
Since  the  Universal  Association  has  ceased  to  operate,  the
Belgian  Socialists  have  attempted  to  reconstitute  it  on  a  national
basis.  Two  tendencies  exist  :  some,  like  the  German  Socialists,
wish  to  obtain  power  by  means  of  the  elections,  and  they  call
for  universal  suffrage  and  common  action  with  the  bourgeois
radicals  ;  others,  represented  by  the  newspaper  Le  Mirabeau,
assert,  like  the  Nihilists,  that  it  is  necessary  to  begin  by  destroying ­
  everything.  “  Whoever,”  says  this  journal,  “  has  not
borne  the  rags  of  wretchedness  cannot  desire  the  true  revolution. ­
  The  labourer  alone  can  bring  it  about.  All  weapons
are  employed  against  him  ;  be  it  so  :  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a
tooth  for  a  tooth.  Let  us  put  in  operation  fire,  sword,  poison,
and  petroleum.  Let  us  make  a  tabula  rasa.  Let  us  level  to
the  ground  this  rotten  society  based  on  our  misery  and  our
ignorance.  As  conquerors,  we  shall  build  up  a  new  society
founded  on  labour  and  justice.”
Prosecutions  on  account  of  these  appeals  to  violence  having
only  given  them  a  notoriety  that  they  would  not  otherwise  have
possessed,  all  interference  with  them  has  ceased.  During  the
past  few  years  Socialism  does  not  appear  to  have  gained