The Inaugural Congress of the League of Peace and Freedom was originally planned for September 5, 1867 in Geneva. Emile Acollas set up the League’s Organising Committee which enlisted the support of John Stuart Mill, Elisée Reclus and his brother Élie Reclus.
Other notable supporters included contemporary activists, revolutionaries and intellectuals such as Victor Hugo, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Louis Blanc, Edgar Quinet, Jules Favre and Alexander Herzen. Ten thousand people from across Europe signed petitions in support of the congress.[1]
They also counted on the participation of the International Workingmen's Association (IWMA), inviting the sections of the International and its leaders, including Karl Marx, to attend the Congress. They decided to postpone the opening of the Congress until September 9, so as to enable delegates of the Lausanne Congress of the IWMA (to be held on September 2–8) to take part.
(from The Bee-Hive Newspaper August 17, 1867, reporting on a meeting of the IWMA Central Council.)
The anarchist Mikhail Bakunin also played a prominent role in the Geneva Conference, and joined the Central Committee. The founding conference was attended by 6,000 people. As Bakunin rose to speak: