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THE BIRTH OE MODERN SOCIALISM 147
of the International, and they soon withdrew. The
Proudhonians never at any time sympathized with the
program and methods adopted by the International.
The German organizations were not able to affiliate, by
reason of the political conditions in that country, although
numerous individuals attended the congresses.
Nearly all the Germans were supporters of the policies
of Marx, while most of the leading trade unionists of
England completely understood and sympathized with
Marx's aim of uniting the various working-class organizations
of Europe into an international association. They
all felt that such a movement was an historic and economic
necessity and that the time for it had arrived.
They
intended to set about that work and to knit together the
innumerable little organizations then forming in all countries.
They sought to institute a meeting ground where
the social and political program of the workers could be
formulated, where their views could be clarified, and their
purposes defined. It was not to be a secret organization,
but entirely open and above board. It was not for conspiratory
action, but for the building up of a great movement.
It was not intended to encourage insurrection or
to force ahead of time a revolution. In the opinion of
Marx, as we know, a social revolution was thought to be
inevitable, and the International was to bide its time, preparing
for the day of its coming, in order to make that
revolution as peaceable and as effective as possible.
The Preamble of the Provisional Rules of the International—
entirely the work of Marx— expresses with
sufficient clearness the position of the International. It
was there declared : "That the emancipation of the working
classes must be conquered by the working classes
themselves ;
that the struggle for the emancipation of the
working classes means not a struggle for class privileges