The numbers of the workmen gave them the means of success, but it could be realised only through union. It was the task of the International to bring about such an effective union, and for this end the workmen must take international politics into their own hands, must watch the diplomacy of their Governments, and uphold the simple rules of morality in the relations of private persons and nations. ‘The struggle for such a policy forms part of the struggle for the emancipation of the working class; proletarians of all lands, unite!’ The preamble to the statutes contains implicitly the leading principles of international socialism. The economic subjection of the workmen to the appropriator of the instruments of labour—that is, of the sources of life—is the cause of servitude in all its forms, of social misery, of mental degradation and political dependence; the economic emancipation of the working class is the great aim to which every political movement must be subordinated; the emancipation of the working class is neither a local nor a national, but a social problem, to be solved only by the combined effort of the most advanced nations. ‘For these reasons the International Association of Working Men has been founded. It declares: ‘That all societies and individuals who adhere to it recognise truth, justice, and morality as the rule of their conduct towards one another, and to all men without distinction of colour, faith, or nationality. No duties without rights; no rights without duties.’ Such are the leading ideas of the preamble; we have only to develop them, and we have the programme of international socialism. Whatever opinion we may hold of the truth and practicability of the theories set forth in it, we must respect the lucid and masterly form in which Marx has presented them. It is seldom in the history of the world that talents and learning so remarkable have been placed at the service of an agitation that was so wide and far-reaching. The International Association was founded for the establishment of a centre of union and of systematic co-operation between the working-men societies, which follow the same aim—viz. the protection, the progress and the complete emancipation of the working class. It would be a mistake to regard its organisation as one of excessive centralisation and dictatorial authority. It was to be a means of union, a centre of information and initiative, in the interests of labour; but the existing societies which should join it were to retain their organisation intact.