KARL MARX

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362 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
always have in mind 'the final emancipation of the working class, i.e.
the ultimate abolition of the wages system'.' 6 In his arguments Marx
incorporated a great deal of material from his drafts of Capital and in
particular his theory of surplus value, there stated publicly for the first
time. Although some members of the Council wanted the lecture published,
Marx hesitated, considering it not flattering to have Weston as an
opponent and not wishing to detract from the impression that the publication
of his magnum opus would eventually make."
The first real threat to Marx's position on the General Council came
at the end of 1865 from the followers of Mazzini who had never forgiven
Marx for altering so drastically their first version of the Inaugural Address
and who particularly objected to the 'class' character of Marx's ideas.
Marx described the events in a letter to his cousin Nannette Philips:
During my absence . .. Mazzini took pains to ferment a revolt against
my leadership. Leadership is never something agreeable nor something
that I covet. I have always in my mind's eye your father who said: 'the
asses always hate their keeper'. Mazzini, who does not conceal his
hatred of free thought and socialism, is jealously watching the progress
of our association.... He intrigued with certain English workers and
aroused their jealousy against 'German' influence. ... In doing this he
was certainly acting sincerely, for he abhors my principles which are,
for him, tainted by the most criminal 'materialism'. 38
Marx counter-attacked by convoking all the foreign secretaries to his
house for a concerted drive against Mazzini's followers who thereafter
abandoned all co-operation with the International." In September 1866
Marx himself was proposed as President of the General Council but
declined on the grounds that the position should be occupied by a manual
worker, and Odger was elected. From the start Marx regarded England
as the linchpin of the International. A few months after the founding of
the International, he wrote to Kugelmann: 'I prefer a hundred times my
action here via the International. The influence on the English proletariat
is direct and of supreme importance.' 40
On the General Council Marx's official responsibility was for Germany
of which he was corresponding-secretary. But in spite of the importance
he attached to spreading the influence of the International in Germany,
Marx had little to show for his efforts during the first year. Lassalle had
died a few weeks before the foundation of the International and his party,
the ADAV (General Union of German Workers), the only existing labour
organisation in Germany, was left with a leadership problem as well as
disputes about the party's centralised organisation and its attitude to
Bismarck's policies. The party did not become sufficiently united to adopt