Sorry, that I haven't posted in so long, but man have I been busy. Ah well, here goes.
I was reading this letter, a pretty famous one by the way, from Engels and to Cuno Theodor. Theodor was a young socialist in his mid-twenties, and a part of the first international that expelled Bakunin.
The excerpt from the letter which both confused me and piqued my interest is this part.
Now as, according to Bakunin, the International is not to be formed for political struggle but in order that it may at once replace the old state organisation as soon as social liquidation takes place,
Apart from the misrepresentation of Bakunin's thought that the letter advances, this statement struck me as odd. I was under the impression that Marx and Engels participated in the 1st International with the understanding that it would be a vehicle for the workers' own emancipation. I thought that they viewed the first International as a revolutionary organization.
Apologies if I'm wrong, but if Engels didn't consider the IWMA the revolutionary organization, was there an internal organization that he considered to be the revolutionary vehicle?
I know that Marx and Engels were very critical of Blanqui's vanguardist politics, but were they, in fact, a part of some vanguardist type of party within the IWMA?
The letter can be found here (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/letters/72_01_24.htm ), and it's a pretty famous letter, as it was quoted by Lenin in _The State and Revolution_ http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm
What do you all think?
Can comment on articles and discussions
I must say, I've always liked the tiltle, but had to hold my stomach reading this.
"The Bakuninists at Work: An account of the Spanish revolt in the summer of 1873" Written: in September-October 1873;
First published: in Der Volksstaat, Oct. 31, Nov. 2 & 5, 1873
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1873/bakunin/index.htm