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The Russian Blanquists and the Hague Congress ROLF H. W. THEEN, ed. and trans. The Russian Blanquists and the Hague Congress The proceedings of the Hague Congress of 1872 were over- shadowed by the personal conflict between Marx and Bakunin. In a sense, however, this personal conflict was a reflection of a deeper issue-viz., the confrontation of two revolutionary traditions, whose point of departure, direction, and temperament differed signi- ficantly. Although the Congress ended in the political victory of Marx, in the eyes of many contemporaries and in the judgment of later writers, Marx suffered a moral defeat.' Moreover, the political triumph of Marx over Bakunin turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory. The first International had led a precarious existence ever since the Basel Congress of 1869 and the fall of the Paris Commune, which ended the hopes of the socialists for an early revolution in Europe. But it was the Hague Congress which gave the coup de grace to the First International. And after 1872 Marx himself had hardly any following outside of Germany. Among the interesting, but little known consequences of the Hague Congress was the formation of an ideological (and later organiza- tional) alliance between the French Blanquists and a group of Rus- sian and Polish revolutionaries who later became known as the Russian Jacobins or Russian Blanquists.2 Very little is known about the origin, the composition and the activities of this group, which made its debut on the historical stage in 1871-1872 in Switzerland and-probably because of its multinational character-became known as Slavianskii kruzhok or Cercle slave It was this group which a 1. Cf. Fritz Brupbacher, Marx und Bakunin: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Internationalen Arbeiterassoziation (Miinchen, n.d.), especially pp.. 124, 132 ff., and Eduard Bernstein, "Karl Marks i russkie revoliutsionery," Minuvshie gody, no. 11 (1908), pp. 1-24. Recently a number of documents have been published which throw new light on Bakunin's role in the International. See Arthur Lehning, ed., Archives Bakounine, vol. II: Michel Bakounine et les conflits dans L'Internationale 1872 (Leiden, 1965) and Michael Confino, "Bakunin et Necaev," Cahiers du monde russe et sovietique, VII, no. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1966, 581-699. Another useful collection of relevant documents is found in Jacques Freymond, ed., La Premi6re Internationale (Geneve, 1962), II. 2. On the relationship between the French Blanquists and the Russian Jaco- bins, see B. Nikolaevskii, "Pamiati poslednego 'iakobintsa' semidesiatnika ( Gaspar-Mikhail Turskii)," Katorga i ssylka, no. 2 (23) (1926), pp. 214 ff., and E. Kusheva, "Iz istorii 'Obshchestva Narodnogo Osvobozhdeniia,"' Katorga i ssylka, no. 4 (77) (1931), pp. 32 ff. 3. Cf. B. P. Koz'min, Iz istorii revoliutsionnoi mysli v Rossii (Moscow, 1961), pp. 364-365. For a more detailed discussion of the formation of the Cercle slave group, see Nikolaevskii, op. cit., pp. 216 ff, and T. G. Snytko, Russkoe narodni- chestvo i pol'skoe obshchestvennoe dvizhenie 1865-1881 gg. (Moscow, 1969), pp. 117 ff. few years later established the journal Nabat (Le Tocsin)' and, being critical of both Bakunin and Lavrov, developed a third orien- tation in Russian social thought of the 1870's. Like their French confreres, the Russian Blanquists were critical of the International and its program of revolution for Europe. However, above all, they questioned the applicability of the theoretical and practical program of the International to Russia and the feasibility of transplanting its organizational principles to their native soil. As is well-known, this issue, defined in larger dimensions, was to determine the relations between Russian revolutionaries and European socialists for years to come5 After the Hague Congress the French Blanquists published a pro- test under the title of Internationale et Revolution? which was imme- diately translated into Russian by the Cercle slave and published, together with a special foreword, in a lithographed edition in Zurich in 1873.' This pamphlet constitutes the earliest documentary evi- dence of the existence of a group of Russian Blanquists outside Russia. In many respects, the foreword to this brochure, written especially for the Russian edition, may be regarded as the first pub- lished manifesto of the Russian Jacobins abroad. In it they expressed their contempt for the International, their lack of faith in the revolu- tionary potential of the masses, and their disillusionment with "peace- ful propaganda." Anticipating the ideas later developed by Nabat, they called for "a well-organized conspiracy" and the "employment in the battle of all the means [used by] our enemies." During 1873-1874 the Russian Blanquists also began to define their relationship to the Russian revolutionary movement. In a letter to Avenir national, dated April 24, 1873,' they expressed their dis- 4. The journal Nabat was published irregularly in Geneva and London during the years 1875-1881. P. N. Tkachev, the most important theoretician of Russian Blanquism, edited the journal during 1875-76 and contributed articles to Nabat until 1879. The journal owed its existence mainly to the initiative of Gaspar (Kaspar) M. Turskii. 5. This question, for example, was the central issue in Tkachev's polemic with Friedrich Engels. (See P. Tcatschoff, Offener Brief an Herrn Friedrich Engels [Zurich, 1874]. Engels replied in Volksstaat, nos. 36-37, 43-45 (1875), in an article entitled "Flüchtlingsliteratur."). See also N. K. Mikhailovskii. "Po povodu russkago izdaniia knigi Karla Marksa," in Sochineniia (St. Petersburg, 1913), 2nd ed., X, 2-11; "Nashi zadachi," Nedelia, no. 1 (1876); and Iuzov, "Kapitalizm i mirskoe vladenie," Nedelia, no. 15 (1878). 6. Cf. Internationale et Revolution. A propos du Congres de la Haye. Par des Refugies de la Commune, ex-membres du Conseil General de l'Interna- tionale (London, 1872). The pamphlet was written by E. Vaillant (it was signed by A. Arnaud, F. Cournet, Margueritte, Constant-Martin, G. Ranvier, and E. Vaillant) and is dated Sept. 15, 1872. According to Guillaume, it was published in November, 1872. (See James Guillaume, L'Internationale [Paris, 1909], III, 20). 7. Cf. Internatsional i revoliutsiia. Po povodu Gagskago Kongressa (Zurich, 1873). The Russian edition of Vaillant's pamphlet was republished, with a different foreword, in 1876 by the Nabat group. (See Internatsional i revolivtsiia, [Geneve: Tipografiia zhurnala Nabat, 1876]). The foreword to this re-edition has recently been published in French translation in Lehning, op. cit., pp. 369-370. Apparently the group which was responsible for publishing the lithographed edition of Internatsional i revolivtsiia in 1873 made an attempt to distribute the pamphlet in Russia. On Dec. 14, 1873, nine copies of it were confiscated at the Austro-Russian border. (TsGAOR, Moscow, Fond III otdeleniia, Delo 495, pt. I, 1873, p. 3). 8. Cf. Vpered, vol. 3 (1875) pt. III, pp. 109-110. The declaration is reprinted in J. M. Meijer, Knowledge and Revolution: The Russian Colony in Zuerich 1870-1873 (Assen, 1955), pp. 202-203, n. 41. .
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