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VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
suade each other,
. . . but we cannot enforce, for
example, ... a certain political program." (5)
Brousse vigorously opposed the process of voting in any
form. It appeared to him that the true means of action
was to obtain the opinion of everyone. "The vote," he
declared, "simply divides an assembly into a majority
and a minority.
. . . The only truly practical means
of obtaining a consensus of opinions
is to have them
placed in the minutes without voting." (6) That view
seemed to prevail, and the amendment to this question
suggested by Hales of England was voted down by the
majority!
These two decisions of the congress will convey an
idea of the anarchist conception of organization. There
was to be no executive or administrative body. Nor were
the decisions of the congress to have any authority.
Anybody could join, believing anything he liked and doing
anything he liked. Only those federations which voluntarily
accepted the decisions of the congress were expected
to obey them. Matters of principle were in nowise
to be voted upon, and each individual was allowed
to accept or reject them according to his wishes. The
actual rules, adopted unanimously, ran as follows :
"Federations and sections, composing the Association,
will conserve their complete autonomy, that is to say,
the right to organize themselves according to their will,
to administer their own affairs without any exterior
interference, and to determine themselves the path they
wish to follow in order to arrive at the emancipation of
labor." (7)
It was fully expected that, in addition to its work of
reorganization, if we may so speak of it, the congress
would definitely devise some method, other than a political
one, for the emancipation of labor. The general