 Marx was a key figure in the General Council of the International and argued for the use of the state to bring about socialism; Bakunin and the anarchist faction argued instead for the replacement of the state by federations of self-governing workplaces and communes.Bakunin could not reach the Netherlands and in his absence, the anarchist faction lost the debate.Bakunin was expelled from the International for maintaining, in Marx's view, a secret organisation within the International.