14
working day is a preliminary condition to all ulterior social improvement of the working classes, the Congress is of opinion that the time has arrived when practical effect should be given to that resolution, and that it has become the duty of all the branches to agitate that question practically in the different countries where the International Working Men's Association is established.
War and Standing Armies.
Considering that our social institution as well as the centralisation of political power, are a permanent cause of war, which can only be removed by a thorough social reform; that the people even now can diminish the number of wars by opposing those who declare and make war; that this concerns above all the working classes, who have almost exclusively to shed their blood; that to do this there is a practical and legal means which can be immediately acted upon; that as the body politic could not go on for any length of time without labour, it would suffice for the working men to strike work to render war impossible; the International Working Men's Congress recommends to all the sections, and to the members of working men's societies in particular and to the working classes in general, to cease work in case a war be declared in their country. The Congress counts upon the spirit of solidarity which animates the working men of all countries, and entertains a hope that means would not be wanting in such an emergency to support the people against their government.
Reply to the Invitation of the League of
Peace.
1. The delegates of the International Working Men's Congress who may attend the Peace Congress at Berne are instructed to carry with them the resolutions passed at the Congresses of Geneva, Lausanne, and Brussels, and lay them before the Peace Congress;
