League of Peace and Freedom

The Ligue internationale de la paix (League of Peace and Freedom) was created after a public opinion campaign against a war between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia over Luxembourg.

The establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration was also set up by the Inter-Parliamentary Union that Frédéric Passy founded together with William Randal Cremer in 1889.

Jean-Jacques de Sellon started from the principle of the inviolability of the human person, which led him first to lead a campaign for the abolition of slavery and the death penalty, then to devote himself to propaganda in favor of peace and arbitration between nations.

Other notable supporters included contemporary activists, revolutionaries, and intellectuals such as Victor Hugo, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Louis Blanc, Edgar Quinet, Jules Favre, and Alexander Herzen.

He said: It was desirable that as many delegates as could make it convenient should attend the Peace Congress in their individual capacity; but that it would be injudicious to take part officially as representatives of the International Association.

This solemn meeting of two old and tried warriors of the revolution produced an astonishing impression .... Everyone rose and there was a prolonged and enthusiastic clapping of hands.

Invited to be officially represented there, the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) decided a few days earlier, at its Brussels Congress, not to send a delegation there.

The Bern congress was mainly marked by lively debates during the discussion on "the relationship of the economic and social question with that of peace and freedom", between the democratic majority (Gustave Chaudey, Friborg, etc.)

and the socialist minority (Mikhail Bakunin, Walery Mroczkowski, Élisée Reclus, Giuseppe Fanelli, Aristide Rey, etc.).