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1 52 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
press the ideal of the labor movement than those that
Lincoln once wrote to a body of workingmen: "The
strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family
relation, should be one uniting all
working people,
of all
nations, and tongues, and kindreds." (33)
To unite thus the workers of all lands and to organize
them into great political parties were the chief aims
it seemed
of Marx in the International. And in 1869
that this might actually be accomplished in a few years.
In France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria,
Italy, and other countries the International was making
rapid headway. Nearly all the most important labor
bodies of Europe were actually affiliated, or at least
friendly, to the new movement. At all the meetings
held there was enthusiasm, and the future of the International
seemed very promising indeed. It was recognized
as the vehicle for expressing the views of labor
throughout Europe. It had formulated its principles and
tactics, and had already made a creditable beginning in
the gigantic task before it of systematically carrying on
its agitation, education, and organization. Marx's energies
were being taxed to the utmost. Nearly all the immense
executive work of the International fell on him,
and nearly every move made was engineered by him.
Yet at that very time he was on the point of publishing
the first volume of "Capital," the result of gigantic researches
into industrial history and economic theory.
This great work was intended to be, in its literal sense,
the Bible of the working class, as indeed it has since become.
Cerainly, Jaures' tribute to Marx is well deserved
and fairly sums up the work accomplished by him
in the period 1847- 1869. "To Marx belongs the
merit," he says, "... of having drawn together
and unified the labor movement and the socialist idea.