# Hague Congress (1872)

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The Hague Congress was the fifth congress of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), held from 2–7 September 1872 in The Hague, the Netherlands.
A total of 65 delegates from 15 “regional” organizations attended, a third of delegates did not attend. At this congress, a split occurred between the Marxists and the Bakuninists, with the Marx-aligned delegates voted to expel Mikhail Bakunin and move the General Council from London to New York., precipitating the organization's decline.
The Bakunites held a separate Congress a week later in Saint-Imier (Switzerland), where they formed their own International

## Marxist takeover

Josep Termes noted, "the Congress took place in a tense atmosphere, with the two most important factions openly at odds: the authoritarian (Marxist) and the federalist (Anarchist)." The first incident arose over the rejection of a proposal by the delegations of the Spanish Federation, the Belgian Federation, and the Jura Federation to have voting by federation. This led the Spanish and Jura delegates to declare "that they would not take part in any vote and would attend the sessions only to protest against the majority’s maneuver."
By a broad majority—29 votes in favor, 5 against, and 8 abstentions—the congress ratified the Marxist theses approved at previous congresses concerning "the formation of the proletariat into a political party" and the link between economic and political struggle. The Bakuninist delegate James Guillaume commented: "The majority wants to conquer political power; the minority wants to destroy political power..."

## Expulsion of Bakunin

A five-member commission was named to give a ruling on the question of Bakunin’s International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, formally disbanded but believed by the General Council to still be operating within the International. The commission proposed expelling Bakunin and Guillaume which was approved by the Congress.
The expulsion prompted some delegates—the four Spanish delegates, five Belgians, two Dutch, one American, and two members of the Jura Federation—to sign a statement read by the delegate from The Hague section expressing their disagreement. The statement "noted that they would maintain administrative relations with the General Council but at the same time establish direct relations with all the Regional Federations; they pledged to uphold the autonomy of the federations if the General Council tried to direct them; they decided to abide by the statutes approved at the Geneva congress, without accepting subsequent modifications."
Those in disagreement decided to gather in Saint-Imier (Switzerland) to hold a separate congress—attended by fifteen delegates, including the four Spaniards, Bakunin, Guillaume, Giuseppe Fanelli, Errico Malatesta, Cafiero, and Costa— where they rejected the expulsion of Bakunin and Guillaume, did not recognize the General Council appointed in The Hague, and adopted a resolution reflecting Bakuninist principles, contrary to the stance supported by the International, by insisting that "the destruction of all political power is the proletariat’s first duty... All so-called provisional and revolutionary political power... can only be a deception." Thus arose the International of Saint-Imier, thereby consummating the Bakuninist split from the First International.

## Spanish far left politics

The conference had an effect on Spanish far left politics. Representing the Federación Regional Española (Spanish Regional Federation), four delegates—all Bakuninists—attended the Hague Congress: Farga Pellicer, Morago, N. Alonso Marselau (a former republican clergyman who would eventually join the ranks of Carlism), and Alerini (a refugee from the Paris Commune). Representing the Marxist Nueva Federación Madrileña [es] were Paul Lafargue—who would not return to Spain—and José Mesa y Leompart [es], editor of the newspaper La Emancipación [es]. Although the commission charged with investigating anarchist agitation proposed expelling Bakunin and Guillaume, it recommended absolving the four Spanish delegates "in view of their formal statements that they are not part of the 'Alliance'."