Page:General Rules and Administrative Regulations of the International Working Men's-Association (1871).pdf/11

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7

II.

The General Council.

1. The designation of General Council is reserved for the Central Council of the International Working Men's Association. The Central Councils of the various Countries, where the International is regularly organized, shall designate themselves as Federal Councils, or Federal Committees, with the names of the respective countries attached.

2. The General Council is bound to execute the Congress Resolutions.

3. As often as its means may permit, the General Council shall publish a bulletin or report embracing everything which may be of interest to the International Working Men's Association.

For this purpose it shall collect all the documents to be transmitted by the Federal Councils or Committees of the different countries and such others as it may be able to procure by other means.

The bulletin, drawn up in several languages, shall be sent gratuitously to the Federal Councils or Committees, which are to forward one copy to each of their branches.

In case the General Council should be unable to publish such bulletins, it shall every three months send a written communication to the different Federal Councils or Committees, to be published in the newspapers of their respective countries, and especially in the International organs.

4. Every new branch or society intending to join the International, is bound immediately to announce its adhesion to the General Council.

5. The General Council has the right to admit or to refuse the affiliation of any new branch or group, subject to appeal to the next Congress.

Nevertheless, wherever there exist Federal Councils or Committees, the General Council is bound to consult them before admitting or rejecting the affiliation of a new branch or society within their jurisdiction; without prejudice, however, to its right of provisional decision.

6. The General Council has also the right of suspending, till the meeting of next Congress, any branch of the International.

7. In case of differences arising between societies or branches of the same national group, or between groups of different nationalities, the General Council shall have the right of deciding such differences, subject to appeal to the next Congress, whose decision shall be final.

8. All delegates appointed by the General Council to distinct missions shall have the right to attend, and be heard at, all meetings of Federal Councils or Committees, district and local Committees, and local branches, without, however, being entitled to vote thereat.

9. English, French, and German editions of the General Rules and Regulations are to be reprinted from the official texts published by the General Council.

All versions of the General Rules and Regulations in other languages shall, before publication, be submitted to the General Council for approval.