Page:The Paris Commune - Karl Marx - ed. Lucien Sanial (1902).djvu/150



the notes on pages 23 and 24 relative to the plebiscite submitted to the French people by Louis Bonaparte, reference is made to the "Anti-Plebiscite Manifesto" issued by the Paris Sections of the International in conjunction with the Federal Chamber of Labor Societies. The following translation of the manifesto has been made especially for this edition of The Paris Commune:

ANTI-PLEBISCITE MANIFESTO ISSUED BY THE FEDERATED PARISIAN SECTIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION AND THE FEDERAL CHAMBER OF LABOR SOCIETIES.

To All French Workingmen:

Citizens—After the Revolution of 1789 and the Declaration of Rights of 1793, the sovereignty of labor is the only constitutive basis upon which modern society should rest.

Labor is, in effect, the supreme law of humanity, the source of public wealth, and the most efficient cause of individual well-being.

The workingman alone is entitled to the esteem of his fellow-citizens; he imposes even upon those who exploit him a sense of his honesty; he is called upon to regenerate the old order.

This is why we say to the urban and rural workers, to the small manufacturers, to the small business men, and to all those who sincerely desire the reign of liberty founded upon equality: It is not enough to answer by a purely negative vote this plebiscite that they have the audacity to thrust upon us; not enough to prefer the constitution of 1870 to that of 1852—a