International Working Men’s Association 1871
Written: on June 20, 1871;
Approved at the General Council meeting of June 20, 1871;
Source: The Daily News, June 23, 1871;
Transcribed: for marxists.org by Tony Brown.
To the Editor of The Daily News
Sir,
I am instructed by the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association to state, in reply to Mr. Geo. Jacob Holyoake’s Letter in Tuesday’s Daily News.
1. As to the insinuation that the address issued by the Council “may become a cause of death or deportation at Versailles — , the Council thinks that its Paris friends are better judges than Mr. Holyoake.
2. It is a rule with the Council that the names of all its members whether absent or present are appended to its public documents.
3. As to the statement that this address
“cannot be an English production, though manifestly revised by some Saxon or Celtic pen,”
the Council begs to observe that, as a matter of course, the productions of an international Society cannot have any national character. However, the Council need not have any secrets in this matter. The address, like many previous publications of the Council, was drawn up by the Corresponding Secretary for Germany, Dr. Karl Marx, was adopted unanimously and “revised” by nobody.
4. In the course of last year Mr. George Jacob Holyoake presented himself as a Candidate for membership of the Council but was not admitted.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
John Hales,
Secretary to the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association
256, High Holborn, W.C.,
London, June 21, 1871