The Daily Bleed August Reference Page: A Radical Calendar, Better Than Boiled Coffee!

See also the page from the COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLIANCE at the Hague Congress of September 2-7, 1872, & related pages, at the Marx & Engels Internet Archive,
http://www.marxists.org/history/international/iwma/documents/1872/hague-commission/

Here an excerpt notes,

On August 4-6, 1872, a conference of the Italian anarchist groups gathered at Rimini. In a special resolution adopted on August 6, the conference called upon the sections of the International to send delegates, not to the regular congress at The Hague, but to a separate congress of Bakuninists to be held on September 2, 1872, at Neuchâtel. This splitting proposal was not supported by any of the International's sections, not even by the Bakuninist organizations. Having received the resolutions of the Rimini Conference, Engels addressed the Italian sections on behalf of the General Council & exposed this Bakuninist manoeuvre (see The General Council. 1871-1872. pp. 451-52).

See also History of The First International by G. M. Stekloff, online at Marxists Internet Archive; At length we quote from Part 2, chapter 2, which provides context for the Rimini Congress:

DESPITE their defeat at the Hague Congress, the anarchists did not look upon themselves as vanquished. They were determined to unite all the elements which were opposed to the policy of the General Council, and, if needs must, to found a separate international organization.

The first open revolt against the old International had come from the Italian Federation during the Congress of Rimini, which had been held at the beginning of August, 1872. The most energetic spirits in the Italian socialist movement of that day were, to a man, followers of Bakunin. We may mention Malatesta, Costa, & Cafiero. The last-named came under Bakunin’s direct influence, & completely succumbed to the fascination of his puissant personality. Without consulting the other Bakuninist federations, the fiery-spirited Italians declared that henceforward they would have nothing to do with the General Council, which, according to them, no longer represented the International; & that they would not send delegates to the Hague Congress. This open breach on the part of the Italians was the result of the London Conference. They held that the conference had tried to impose on the International Workingmen’s Association a special authoritarian doctrine which hailed from the German communists; that the General Council had made use of the most unworthy means in order to force its authoritarian doctrine down the throats of its adherents, & had thus roused the revolutionary ire of the Belgians, the French, the Spanish, the Slavic, the Italian, & a part of the Swiss internationalists against itself. The Italian Federation then proceeded to invite all those branches which were dissatisfied with the authoritarian doctrine of the General Council to send delegates to Neuchâtel in Switzerland to participate in a general anti-authoritarian congress.

As soon as the delegates had dispersed after the Hague Congress, the discomfited anarchists, having determined not to work in conformity with the resolutions accepted by the majority, of that congress, foregathered at Zurich in September, 1872. Thither came the Italians, Cafiero, Malatesta, Costa, Pezza, Fanelli, & Nabruzzi; the Spaniards, Alerini, Farga, Marselau, & Morago; & the Swiss, Schwitzguébel. Bakunin had prepared a draft of the rules for an international secret organization. The draft was discussed at a preliminary conference, & was, it goes without saying, adopted. The delegates then betook themselves to Saint Imier, where it had been decided to convene an international Bakuninist congress.

Before this international congress was opened, the Jura Federation held an extraordinary conference of its own. This conference had been hastily summoned in consequence of the results of the Hague Congress. The conference of the Jura Federation refused to recognize the resolutions adopted at the Hague Congress, considering them unjust, inopportune, & outside the jurisdiction of the congress; the conference further undertook to set to work immediately in forming a federal & free pact between all the federations which were inclined to adopt such a pact; finally, the conference expressed both sympathy & confidence in Bakunin & Guillaume, who “had unwarrantably been expelled from the ranks of the International.”

Within an hour of the closure of the Jura conference, the international congress of Bakuninists was opened in the same town of Saint-Imier, & lasted for two days, September 15 & 16, 1872.

This circumstance alone suffices to show the symbolical role & the influence which the Jura Federation was destined to wield in the new anarchist International. As far back as the sixties, the Jurists showed an inclination towards anarchism. This tendency was due to local conditions, such as the system of home industries, the unfitness for independent political action consequent upon the dispersal of the Jura independent artisans among the peasant & petty-bourgeois masses, the spread of political indifferentism , and the aversion to taking part in the electoral struggle, resulting in a series of electoral pacts with the bourgeois parties. But in the year 1872, the effect of these local conditions had been overpowered by important & general considerations.

The geographical position of Switzerland, in the very heart of the Latin countries, made it the natural rallying place for the anarchist propagandists of the Romance peoples; Switzerland was likewise, at that date, in all Europe, the land where the greatest political freedom prevailed; finally, precisely because of this political freedom, Switzerland had become the country of adoption for the numerous revolutionary refugees from Italian, Spanish, French, & Russian governmental oppression. Many of the French Communards rallied to the Bakuninists & supported them in their struggle with the General Council. We may mention such men as Benoît Melon, who subsequently became famous as the expounder of the eclectic “integral socialism,” a doctrine of muddle-headed sentimentalism & moderate opportunism (Malon may be regarded as the spiritual father of the “independent” socialists — those who looked for the establishment of socialism by universal consent); Jules Guesde, whom fate predestined to be the founder of the Parti Ouvrier in France, a man who, though professing anarchist principles in the earlier seventies & writing articles against universal (manhood) suffrage which are quoted in anarchist circles to this day, became one of the most convinced adherents of the Marxist doctrine; and, finally, Paul Brousse, who subsequently founded the moderate semi-bourgeois party of the “possibilists,” though at the epoch we are now dealing with, he was a somewhat blatant demagogue & roused even Guillaume’s disgust. As regards the Russian refugees at that date, most of them rallied to Bakunin, & vigorously supported the anarchist agitation in Switzerland. In addition I may mention Ross (Sazhin), Zhukoffsky, and, in later days, Kropotkin & Stepniak (Kravchinsky).

The Jura Federation having the spiritual & material support of such puissant minds, being free from police persecution, being based on working-class organizations, which, though small, were stable (the organizations of the workers in the watch-making industry), naturally became the very heart of the anarchist International. The Federation had a decisive influence upon the general outlook & upon the tactics of the new organization; the “Bulletin” became the central organ of the anarchist International, & the Federation was destined to become one of the causes of decay, for, undoubtedly the disintegration of the Jura Federation, occasioned by the crisis in the watch-making industry towards the end of the seventies, entailed, likewise, the disintegration of the anarchist International.

The delegates to the anarchist congress of Saint-Imier were as fellows: four (already mentioned above) from the Spanish Federation; six from the Italian Federation, Costa, Cafiero, Bakunin, Malatesta, Nabruzzi, Fanelli; two from the Jura Federation, Guillaume & Schwitzguébel; two from France, Camet & Pindy, who represented several sections, unspecified; & Lefrançais representing sections 3 & 22 of the United States, which had broken away from the Marxists.

The frame of mind of all the delegates was identical, and, of course, no disputes among the congressists took place. The resolutions were adopted unanimously. The main principle voiced was that “the autonomy & independence of the working-class sections & federations constitute the essential condition of the emancipation of the workers.” The congress repudiated the Hague resolutions, & refused to recognize the authority of the General Council which had been elected at the Hague. The congress “categorically denied the legislative right of all congresses, whether general or regional, & recognized that such congresses had no other mission than to show forth the aspirations, the needs, & the ideas of the proletariat in the various localities or countries, so that such ideas may he harmonized & unified . . . ; in no case can the majority of a congress . . . impose its resolutions upon the minority.”

Further background the conflict between the authoritarians & anti-authoritarians, as personified with Marx & Bakunin, may be found at http://www.takver.com/history/melb/maa34.htm & also the "Decline & Fall of the First International" page at http://flag.blackened.net/blackflag/215/215bakunin.htm. See also George Woodcock's Socialism from Below: A History of Anarchism, online at http://www.zabalaza.net/texts/socialism_from_below/contents.htm
For further reading, "The First International Bibliography" page may be found at
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/firstinternatbiblio.html
http://ytak.club.fr/aout1.html#4

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Anarchism Rejects Indiscriminate Violence

The following portion of text is from An Anarchist "Rabbi" - The Life & Teachings of Rudolf Rocker, by Mina Graur. It deals with the subject of "propaganda by deed," otherwise known as terrorism, though specifically within the context of advancing one's political goals.

[O]n December 9, [1893, French anarchist] Auguste Valliant hurled a bomb from the gallery into the full Chamber of Deputies. [...]

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Vaillant's case was ideal for the anarchists, since in many respects it supported their previous contentions regarding the roots of violence. His was the perfect example of the despairing man taking revenge for the unbearable living conditions inflicted upon him by the social order. Bred in poverty, & frequently changing jobs, Vaillant managed to acquire some education, slowly drifting towards anarchist circles. He emigrated to Argentina seeking his fortune, but failed & returned to Paris, where he tried in vain to find work with which to support his family. Deeply distressed by their misery & hopelessness, he decided to commit a symbolic act which would become "the cry of a whole class which demands its rights & will soon add acts to words." With this aim in mind, Vaillant manufactured a bomb out of a saucepan filled with nails & explosives.

The bomb proved quite ineffective; several deputies were wounded, but none was killed. The effect of Vaillant's act however, went beyond a mere body count. His was an attack upon a symbol of authority, the core of the bourgeois governing system, & as such, the act itself became a symbol of defiance. As a consequence, Vaillant's act could not be ignored by the state. Nor could it be hoped that it would soon be forgotten. So, despite the fact that no one was killed, Vaillant was sentenced to death, the first time since the beginning of the nineteenth century that such a penalty was imposed on a person who did not actually kill anyone. Petitions for clemency were ignored, & at the highest instance, President Sadi Carnot refused to commute the sentence. Vaillant was beheaded on February 5, 1894, uttering what subsequently became the standard cry of anarchists on the gallows: "Long live Anarchy! My death shall be avenged!" Interestingly, Rudolf Rocker attended Vaillant's execution. Many years later, he confessed that it was still not very clear to him why he went. He blamed his young age, & rationalized in retrospect that this act might have been motivated by the fact that, "we, the young, were engulfed with a martyr's cult."

Vaillant's death was indeed very quickly avenged. A week after his execution, a bomb was hurled into Café Terminus at La Gare St. Lazare, killing one & wounding twenty. The perpetrator, Émile Henry, subsequently confessed responsiblity also for the November 8, 1892 bomb which ultimately exploded inside a police station. He declared that the act at the Café was meant to revenge Vaillant's death, adding matter-of-factly that his purpose had been to kill as many bourgeois as possible. A son of a famous Communard, Émile Henry was the most educated & well-off among the French terrorists of the era. Yet, his cold-blooded logic & soulless reasoning did not endear him to his fellow anarchists, who almost unanimously denounced his acts. The anarchists, who had mixed feelings about Ravachol & Vaillant, were horrified by Henry's explanations as to why one should not discriminate between the innocents & the guilty & why anarchists should fight the ruling class as an indivisible entity. His was the worst kind of "Propaganda by Deed." It was no longer an attack directed at the symbols of authority & repression, nor was it an outcry of distress. His acts were deliberate & indiscriminate attacks on innocent people whose only guilt was belonging, or being thought to belong, to a certain class. Henry's acts were perfect examples of what later became known as "unmotivated terror."

Octave Mirbeau expressed the opinion of every anarchist when he wrote that a "mortal enemy of anarchy could have acted no better than this Émile Henry when he threw his inexplicable bomb into the midst of peaceful & anonymous people." Rudolf Rocker himself admitted that neither he nor anyone else he was acquainted with could support or even understand Henry's acts. But Rocker's objections to indiscriminate violence went beyond his disapproval of Henry's personality or the damage it inflicted on the anarchist movement. Rocker objected to all acts of "unmotivated terror" on fundamental grounds. Every act of "unmotivated terror," even that resulting from a just wrath, had to be rejected, he maintained, since it punishes the guilty together with the innocent. Moreover, justifying such an act would require one to presuppose the existence of collective guilt or collective responsiblity, a concept that Rocker deeply disliked & thought utterly wrong. It was not sufficient, he claimed, to belong to a certain class to lose one's right to live.

"PAPIERS A CUL

Un jour souffrant et tout pâle
D'une colique autoritaire,
Je me suis servi de mon livret militaire.
N'allez pas m'accuser ici
De façon trop peu délicate,
Ils usent à peu près ainsi
De leurs traités, les diplomates." (...)

"Je suis le vieux Père Lapurge,
Pharmacien de l'Humanité;
Contre sa bile je m'insurge
Avec ma fille Egalité.
J'ai ce qu'il faut dans ma boutique
Sans le tonnerre et les éclairs
Pour bien purger toute la clique
Des affameurs de L'Univers..."

— "Le Père Lapurge",
excerpt, published in 1886 in the Calais anarchist newspaper, "La Révolte des Affamés."

"PAPIERS A CUL Un jour souffrant et tout pâle D'une colique autoritaire, Je me suis servi de mon livret militaire. N'allez pas m'accuser ici De façon trop peu délicate, Ils usent à peu près ainsi De leurs traités, les diplomates." (...)

"Je suis le vieux Père Lapurge, Pharmacien de l'Humanité; Contre sa bile je m'insurge Avec ma fille Egalité. J'ai ce qu'il faut dans ma boutique Sans le tonnerre et les éclairs Pour bien purger toute la clique Des affameurs de L'Univers..."

— "Le Père Lapurge", excerpt, published in 1886 in the Calais anarchist newspaper, "La Révolte des Affamés."

"PAPIERS A CUL

Un jour souffrant et tout pâle
D'une colique autoritaire,
Je me suis servi de mon livret militaire.
N'allez pas m'accuser ici
De façon trop peu délicate,
Ils usent à peu près ainsi
De leurs traités, les diplomates." (...)

"Je suis le vieux Père Lapurge,
Pharmacien de l'Humanité;
Contre sa bile je m'insurge
Avec ma fille Egalité.
J'ai ce qu'il faut dans ma boutique
Sans le tonnerre et les éclairs
Pour bien purger toute la clique
Des affameurs de L'Univers..."

— "Le Père Lapurge",
excerpt, published in 1886 in the Calais anarchist newspaper, "La Révolte des Affamés."