| Author(s) | First International Frederick Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 6 September 1872 |
Engels submitted this motion on September 6, 1872, so as to concentrate the delegates' attention on those changes in the General Rules and Administrative Regulations which were to strengthen discipline and centralisation of the International and to extend the powers of its leading body, the General Council. Marx also spoke at the same sitting in favour of the extension of the General Council's powers. During the discussion of the organisational question on September 5-6, the majority of the delegates supported Marx and Engels and rebuffed the Bakuninists' attempts to deprive the General Council of its function and to transform it into a mere statistical and correspondence bureau.
Engels' motion was published in English for the first time in The Hague Congress of the First International. September 2-7, 1872. Minutes and Documents, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976.
I propose to begin discussion of the second chapter of the Administrative Regulations concerning the General Council and, after that, of Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Rules dealing with the same subject.