of influence felt. In the meantime the "Alliance" had been
absorbed in the "International." A first attempt of Bakunin to
affiliate the "Alliance" to the great international association of
workmen, and thereby to secure for himself a leading part in it, was a
failure. The General Council, in which the influence of the clever
agitator was evidently feared, refused in December, 1868, to associate
itself with the "Alliance." Some months later the "Alliance" again
approached the General Council upon the question of affiliation, and
declared itself ready to fulfil all its conditions. The chief of these
was the dissolution of the "Alliance" as such and the division of its
sections into those of the "International," as well as the abolition
of its secret organisation. Thereupon the Bakuninist sections were in
July, 1869, declared to be "International," although in London it was
never believed that the members of the "Alliance" would keep the
conditions. Not only the Central Committee continued as before, but
also the secret organisation and Bakunin's leadership. If the
amalgamation of both parties was at length completed, it only happened
because at this stage each was in need of the other, and perhaps
feared the other. But the very origin of the union, as will readily be
understood, did not permit it to work together very harmoniously. And,
moreover, apart from the main points of difference, there were also a
series of minor divergencies of opinion, chiefly on the subject of
tactics. The followers of Marx strove for greater centralisation of
the directorate, the Bakuninists more for the autonomy of the separate
sections. The men of the General Council eagerly urged the adoption of
universal suffrage as the most prominent means of agitation for the
purpose of proletariat emancipation; Bakunin entirely rejected any
political action, including the exercise of the suffrage, since, in
his opinion, this would only become an instrument of reaction, and
since the workers could only use their rights by force and not votes.
It will be easily understood that the result of such differences of
opinion was a sharp divergence inside the "International" between the
"Marxists" and "Bakuninists"--a divergence that became irremediable at
the Basle Congress of 1869. At this Congress the "Alliance" succeeded,
if not in securing a decisive majority, yet in obtaining sufficient
influence to give the Congress a decidedly Anarchist character.

As the