KARL MARX

THE INTERNATIONAL 333
in March 1863 which - exceptionally - he attended. However, the event
which directly gave rise to the founding of the International was the
I'olish insurrection of 1863. A representative delegation of French workers
subsidised by Napoleon - had already visited London in the Exhibition
year of 1862 and it was natural that the French should send a delegation
ID the mass meeting on Poland called in London in July 1863. These links
were further strengthened by French and English workers contributing to
1 k h others' strike funds. Following the Polish meeting, George Odger,
Secretary of the London Trades Council, was deputed to draw up an
address, 'To the Workmen of France from the Working Men of England',
which proposed the foundation of an international association to promote
peace and foster the common interests of the working classes of all
countries. The French drafted a reply and a meeting was called at St
Martin's Hall near Covent Garden on 28 September 1864 to hear the
exchange of addresses. It was at this meeting that the International was
founded. 2
Although Marx was in no way instrumental in summoning this meeting,
he had a long-standing interest in the Polish cause. 3 In 1856 he had
1 uken up the study of Polish history since 'the intensity and vitality of all
1 evolutions since 1789 can be measured more or less accurately by their
.ittitude to Poland'. 4 The insurrection of 1863 filled Marx with great
hope: ' This much at least is certain,' he wrote to Engels, 'that the era of
1 evolution has once more fairly opened in Europe.. .. Let us hope that
the. time the lava will flow from East to West and not the other way, so
thm we will be spared the "honour" of a French initiative.' 5 To give vent
in Ins views, Marx conceived the idea of a pamphlet - the military half
written by Engels, the political by himself - to be published by the
1 lerman Workers' Educational Association. The dimension of the project
(ii ew and Marx worked steadily at it from February to May 1863, when
he. liver forced him to stop. These manuscripts, which remained unpublished
until 1961, 6 form an integrated whole. Curiously enough, these
lie,ii meal tracts are of an exclusively political nature with no mention of
economic influences, and their mainspring is Marx's Russophobia. According
in him, the partition of Poland led to the dependence of the rest of
• .eiiiiany on Prussia, and Prussia's anti-Polish policy led in turn to Prus-
1,1''. complete dominance by Russia. Thus 'the restoration of Poland
iin ins .. the thwarting of Russia's bid to dominate the world'. 7 In spite
• ii Ins inability to finish this pamphlet, Marx took an active part in
ill . iissions with a Colonel Lapinski on the formation of a German legion
in li|ijn against Russia in Poland." In October 1863 the German Workers'
I din .itional Association did in fact publish a short pamphlet of which
W.iii was probably author.