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146 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
participate in the actual struggles of labor.
Marx was at
work on "Capital" and schooling, in his leisure hours, a
few of the notable men who were later to become leaders
of the working class in Europe. It was a dull period,
wearisome and vexatious enough to men who were boldly
prophesying that industrial conditions would create a
world-wide solidarity of labor. The first glimmer of
hope came with the London International Exhibition of
1862, which brought together by chance groups of workingmen
from various countries. The visit to London
enabled them to observe the British trade unions, and
they left deeply impressed by their strength. Furthermore,
the Exhibition brought the English workers and
those of other nationalities into touch with each other.
How much this meant was shown in 1863. When the
Polish uprising was being suppressed, the English workers
sent to their French comrades a protest, in answer
to which the Paris workmen sent a delegation to London.
This gathering in sympathy with Poland laid the foundations
for the International. Nearly every important
revolutionary sect in Europe was represented
: the German
communists, the French Blanquists and Proudhonians,
and the Italian Mazzinians ;
but the only delegates
who represented powerful working-class organizations
were the English trade unionists. The other organizations,
even as late as this, were still little more than coteries,
of hero-worshiping tendencies, fast developing
into sectarian organizations that seemed destined to divide
hopelessly and forever the labor movement.
It was perhaps inevitable that the more closely the
sects were brought together, the more clearly they should
perceive their differences, although Marx had exercised
Maz-
every care to draft a policy that would allay strife.
zini and his followers could not long endure the policies