Karl Marx: A biography by David McLellan

(^334) KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
the industrial workers, secure in their technical superiority, did not feel
as threatened by the Continent as did the craft workers. And in general
the membership of the International tended to be composed more of
artisans than of the industrial proletariat.
In Germany, in spite of the adherence of the Eisenach party to the
principles of the International, the German political situation prevented
any serious co-operation with the General Council. The Combination
Laws began to be more strictly applied and in any case both the party's
Executive Committee in Brunswick and Liebknecht in Leipzig were more
concerned to build up the Eisenach party in opposition to the Lassalleans.
Marx sent several hundred membership cards to Germany for free distri-
bution, but that was about as far as it went. Moreover, Becker, who had
been in many ways the International's most reliable contact in Germany,
had ceased to have much influence on the formation of the Eisenach
party. Summing up the situation later, Engels explained: 'The German
labour movement's attitude to the International never became clear. It
remained a purely platonic relationship; there was no real membership of
individuals (with isolated exceptions) and the founding of sections was
illegal. In fact, Liebknecht and company... wanted to subordinate the
International to their specifically German aims.'^84 Marx's correspondence
shows how completely incapable he was of influencing Liebknecht, and a
fortiori the other Social Democratic leaders, in favour of the International.
Certainly his advice on tactics was valued and his approval sought
(particularly when his prestige increased following the publication of
Capital and the demand for a second edition of some of his earlier works)
but his specific ideas made very little impact in Germany until well after
his death.^85
Although the French were among the founding members of the Inter-
national and were by far the strongest national group, they were almost
impervious to the influence of Marx and the General Council; they never
paid any regular subscriptions and their instinctive reaction to London
was one of mistrust. Marx could not oppose the Proudhonism of men
like Tolain, and even when Tolain began to be superseded by Varlin as
the most influential leader of the International in France, there were still
too many anarchist elements in Varlin's thought for easy co-operation
with the General Council.
Nevertheless, although the International had proved to be a very loose
federation of national groups, each of whose policies were dictated much
more by local interests than by reference to the General Council, Marx
could be reasonably pleased with the work of the first five years; most
importantly, Proudhonism had been decisively defeated with the resol-
ution on land nationalisation; the challenge of the League of Peace and