Record of the International Movement (1886)

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January

Holland. — A week or two ago our friend and indefatigable co-worker, F. Domela Nieuwenhuis spent a few days in London, and the account he gave of our movement in Holland was most encouraging. He has promised to send us a letter on the subject. Meantime I may mention one or two of the facts he told me. Of course it was easy to see even from the bourgeois press that Socialism is the question of the day in Holland as elsewhere; but few of us realise — I certainly did not — what immense strides have been made by our friends within the last three or four years. "There is not a town, barely a village," said Comrade Nieuwenhuis, " where we have not a considerable following. One reason of our success is that there has never been anything like the misery there now is in Holland. Not only the thousands of town-labourers out of work, but the peasants, till recently comparatively well off, are now everywhere on the point of starvation, and when we come and tell the people why this is they flock to hear us and soon become eager to work with us. In country places the people — men and women — often tramp ten, twelve, and in some cases as much as twenty miles to hear our 'gospel.' We often sell as much as 60,000 copies of our paper. When the movement begins — and naturally it must begin in one of the large countries, our little Holland would soon be crushed if it rose alone — you will find us ready." Our friend also asked me to state that the so-called Socialist deputy Heldt is no Socialist at all, and has no more to do with the movement in Holland than, say Mr. Howell, has with ours.

BELGIUM. — From Belgium, too, comes good news. The correspondent of a Socialist contemporary, giving an account of a demonstration when 3000 workmen marched beneath the red flag from Gand to Ledeberg, says: "We marched silently, thinking of the past, dreaming of the future. ... Flemish tenacity had surmounted all obstacles, was moving on in spite of everything. The tens of yesterday had become the hundreds of to-day, and will become thousands to-morrow. On the Socialist map the two Flanders hardly a year ago formed one enormous black stain only illumined by one great red mark at Gand, and two or three small ones near the French frontier. And now the map of these provinces is like a beautiful starry sky. The inert masses that had seemed hopelessly brutalised by centuries of bigotry and misery have awakened at the voice of their brothers. Their apparent indifference was only ignorance. The daily paper Vooruit (Forwards) and the Tokomst (the Future) were sold by volunteers in all the towns and all the villages of Flanders. As many as 20,000 copies were bought in one day, and eagerly read by the people, who there found set forth in clear words what they had only vaguely felt. ... The new evangel of happiness and of deliverance roused sleeping hearts, gave new courage. ... And associations were founded. Already hundreds of workers have come to strengthen the army of the proletariat. The weak to-day will, by uniting, be the strong of tomorrow. ... Placed resolutely on the ground of the struggle of classes, they recognise only friends and enemies, and refuse every equivocal alliance. All soldiers of the same cause, with no other rivalry than that of devotion, they can trust all who follow their banner. ... Full of confidence in the future of their cause, they have the courage to await the propitious hour... The war (between Socialism and Capitalism) must break out one day; the atrocious consequences of the present gystem make this inevitable. The Flemish Socialists know this, and determined to conquer then, use the time left them to augment their forces and improve their organisation."

SPAIN. — While the bourgeois press is eagerly discussing whether a little baby of five is to "rule" over several millions of Spaniards, or whether she will be replaced a few months hence by a still younger baby or by a republic, the terrible economic crisis through which Spain is passing is completely overlooked, either intentionally or from sheer ignorance. This crisis has lasted for months, and is daily growing more intense. A Spanish friend writing to the Socialiste (Paris) says: "Thousands of arms are idle in Arragon in the ancient kingdom of Valentia, in Gallicia, in Castille and Estramadura In Andalusia the want of work and misery of the inhabitants have reached proportions unknown to this day. ... The public powers, who only care for these questions when they threaten to endanger the interests of the bourgeois class, are rather uneasy — and they are right. For the misery of the workers of this vast region of Andalusia — celebrated for its fertility and its richness, this paradise of which the capitalist regime has made a hell — grows menacing. ..." In Catalonia, the chief industrial centre of Spain, the situation is the same. " Most of the factories are closed, others open for a short time, only to close again ... so that thousands are without bread in this province. At Barcelona in the single industry of printed stuffs, that employs about 2000 hands, 1700 are out of work. 4000 engineers are idle. It is the same with thousands of weavers, spinners, bricklayers, tailors and shoemakers. The printing trade is in an almost more precarious condition. . . . Half the printers in Madrid are out of work. ..." A bourgeois journal, El Dia, says: "The pawnshops and loan offices have not premises large enough to store the things brought thither by vice, but most often by misery. We must have no illusions: the precarious state of the population the hunger and the misery cannot wait." And our friend rightly adds "think what the situation must be when a bourgeois organ paints it in such black colours."

France. — A new weekly journal, La terre aux Paysans (The Land for the Peasants), gives some interesting facts drawn from the official agricultural report of 1873. According to this report, of 49 million hectares (about one million acres), peasants cultivating their own land possess only four millions, house property and gardens occupy 1 million, and the remaining forty-four millions are in the hands of idlers and exploiters, "old and new nobles, and bourgeois of all sorts." The idlers, therefore, have eleven times more land than the workers. And this within about 100 years of the "great revolution " that was to give the land to the peasant !

While there has been such a decided reaction of the bourgeoisie against not only free, but even against education of any sort in England, it is curious to note that the French bourgeoisie is equally anxious to prevent the "risks that social order will run from the spread of education." Some of the bourgeois are quite pathetic on the subject, while others, as our friend the Socialiste points out, are driven to plead for good education because the uneducated workman cannot compete with the educated. "Thus while the bourgeois on the one hand exclaim against the dangers and the cost of education, others proclaim its necessity in the interests of national industry." A pretty state of affairs!

America. — The papers announce a curious "new departure" at Harvard University. A "professor of Socialism", in the person of the Rev. John Graham Brooks, has been appointed. Of course we know the kind of thing the Rev. Mr. Brooks is likely to lecture about, and that he is not likely to preach revolutionary Socialism to the gilded youth of Harvard — but still the appointment is an interesting "sign of the times."

A labour journal published in North Carolina (The Workman) states that in the factories at Durham (N.C.), children for the least neglect of work or carelessness are ichipped by the overseers. After all, this is not so surprising in an old slave-state. The Knights of Labour are to look into the matter.

From New York comes a pleasant piece of news — another sign of the time, too — i.e., that artists are beginning to see that they must make common cause with the workers. The director of the Thalia Theatre, a German called Auberg, has lately employed a "scab" orchestra, specially imported by him to undersell the already ill-paid American musicians. These, through the Mutual Musical Protective Union, have appealed to the Central Labour Union, with the result that the latter has called upon the workers to "boycott" this theatre (which is a popular one), and to prevent so far as they can others from going there.

One thinks of South America as the land of constant "Revolutions" — of the upsetting of one "President" by another, and of internecine warfare. But, apparently, even here Socialism is beginning to spread. From Buenos Ayres a correspondent writes to the New York Sozialist, that though weak m its infancy the movement is growing steadily. "In those towns that have larger industrial centres, like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, etc., the immigrant, Socialistically-minded workmen are beginning to organise. In Buenos Ayres the Italians have formed a group, that publishes an organ, the Questione Sociale." The Club Vorwartz is also doing good work, and "now counts over a hundred members. ... The other nationalities, Frenchmen, Spaniards, English, have not yet any Socialist associations, but, naturally, there are among them individual Socialists and Communists." This is, at any rate, a beginning.

Eleanor Marx-Aveling.

February

POLAND. —Some few weeks ago a Reuter's telegram announced, much in the same way as they announce that Her gracious Majesty has gone for a drive, that the "Warsaw trial of Socialists" had taken place, that six of the accused had been condemned to death, eighteen to sixteen, two to ten, and one to eight years' hard labour in the mines and life-long banishment to Siberia (as if any one had been known to outlive such long years in the Siberian mines!) and two to life-long exile to Siberia. And that was all! Of the trial, of the men condemned, 1 have seen no word in a single English paper. After all, a few Polish Socialists done to death by Russian "judges" — what docs it matter?

To begin with, it must be borne in mind that for months, even years, these unhappy men and others retained as "witnesses" have been kept in prison. "I can take no oath," said one of these "witnesses." "You have kept me three years in prison, you have tried to force me to make false statements, and when I asked what had become of my wife and my children you gave me no answer — I can give no evidence." Three years in prison before even the farce of a trial! And what prisons they were, let these few facts prove. Two women, Pohl and Rusiecka went mad; another woman, Breslauer, hanged herself; of one prisoner a report says: "His pale, death-like appearance made a painful impression. Only the fiery eyes showed there was still life in this skeleton." And yet after all these years of torture all the prisoners behaved with a calm courage that would have been admirable under any circumstance, and is thrice admirable under such circumstances as these. One and all defended their cause, which is ours; not one failed. Not the least interesting or remarkable fact in connexion with this trial is that men of every class were represented at it. Thus, of the six men condemned to death, Bardowzyki is a justice of the peace, Lury a military engineer, Ossowski, Pietruszyki, and Szmans, working-men, and Kunicki a student. Among the others also are officers, artists, working-men, teachers, and students. At the "trial" no friends of the prisoners were allowed to be present, and the public was rigidly excluded. A correspondent of a German paper writes: "The accused, who were brought in by threes and fours, and again led out so, received their sentences with perfect calm. These sentences have caused the utmost consternation among the people of Warsaw." Not one of the prisoners was acquitted, and those who know anything of Russian prison tortures, are aware that of all these men only the six who are to be hanged have been mercifully dealt with. The venal English press that so lately shrieked with horror at King Theebaw's atrocities, has uttered no word of horror at this atrocity. But let us Socialists at least remember these Polish martyrs, let us bear their names in our very heart of heart, let us learn to have something of their courage and devotion.

FRANCE. — That humbug and faux bonhomme, M. Jules Grévy, has been "exercising," as a daily paper put it, "his prerogative of mercy," and Louise Michel, P. Krapotkine, and some eight or nine political prisoners have been — pardoned. There is an impression that these people have been amnestied. Nothing of the kind. An amnesty would have had to include the victims of the infamous police plot at Monceaux-les-mines, and would have opened the prison doors of some thirty or forty persons still under lock and key as felons. For the French Republicans have learnt a lesson from England, and have taken to condemning political prisoners, like England did the Fenians, as ordinary criminals. They can thus, as the virtuous Mr. Gladstone did when the amnesty to the Irish was first proposed, indignantly repel the insinuation that there are any political prisoners. As to Louise, Krapotkine, and their comrades, their names happen to be known all over Europe, and to keep them longer in jail was a scandal that had to be ended. Their release was absolutely unavoidable, and so they have been — pardoned! That they resent this pardon, an insult to them and an injustice to the other prisoners, is natural. And we, while we rejoice that they are free to go on with their work, while we heartily welcome them, we too cannot but share the feeling of Louise when she says "to let us out thus is not only an insult but a shameful trick by which they hope to make the world forget our fellow-prisoners. That this was the pious intention of the French government there is no doubt. But the trick will fail. Rochefort is immediately to bring forward a General Amnesty Bill. This, Clemenceau and his followers must support, and there is a great probability that it will be voted. But should it not be, then a general agitation on the subject will be begun. Anyhow, the "convicts" will not, as M. Grévy imagined, be forgotten in the pleasure of welcoming those already "pardoned".

Eleanor Marx Aveling

March

FRANCE. — By far ihe most important news to chronicle from France — perhaps indeed from the Continent generally this month — is the splendid stand made by the four working-men's representatives in the Chamber, and more specially the magnificent speech by the miner Basly in his "interpellation" on the subject of the Decazeville "riots." This speech is so good that I am sure comrades will be glad to read something of it, and I regret the want of space forces me to give only a few extracts. It is the more important that we should read this speech, as we are practically ignorant of the condition of affairs at Decazeville that led to the execution ©f M. Watrin. M. Watrin has, by the sycophant English press, been represented as the unhappy victim of "popular fury." It is well we should know what manner of man this "victim" was, that we may judge for ourselves whether Basly was not right when he called the miners of Decazeville who killed him "des justiciers." I need hardly say, I suppose, that Basly's speech — as well as those of his supporters — caused a perfect tempest in the Ghamber. The deputies of all colors tried to distract and intimidate the miner, for the first time addressing such an assembly of "gentlemen", by interrupting him, shouting and yelling at him. Basly read his speech, and when deputies thought fit to jeer at this and his "unparliamentary language" ("I haven't been to school to learn parliamentary language!" said Basly) his dignified reply "Yes, I am reading my speech, and if you had worked like me for eighteen years at the bottom of a mine, perhaps you'd find it difficult even to read," must have made even these "gentlemen" a little ashamed of themselves. Basly began by pointing out the very serious state of affairs at Decazeville. "It is under the protection of bayonets that work is carried on; the soldiery are still at Decazeville, and have even been re-inforced ... this does not look as if calm were re-established. This proves, on the contrary, that the company and the government fear another outburst. ... This company, then, is conscious not only of its unpopularity, but also of its exactions, since, like brigands in Calabria it acts, arms in hand. ... But this is not merely a question of public safety, it is a question of political morality, of social justice. ... What is happening to day is not new, and it is my duty to explain to you the situation of the workers." After showing what has been the action of the government, Basly continued: "I now touch ... upon the most important point — the conditions under which the labor of the miners is carried on. ... To begin with, they are obliged to give the Company two month's credit; it, for example, only pays them on the 28th of February their wages for the month of January, which amounts to a forced loan without interest of 300,000 francs to the Company by its working-men. Thus, when a miner goes to Decazeville Company, he works the first month, and is only paid for that after he has finished the second month. And how, with the ridiculously low wages, can the workman live? This is a way of keeping them in the power of the Company, as they are always in debt... Now this is how Watrin treated the workers; he went down into the shaft in the morning and asked the miners how much they got, and ended by saying to them 'You don't earn enough.' Then in the afternoon he called the manager of the mine saying to him, 'You give so-and-so much to the workers — they earn too much!' So that there was theft and swindling on the part of M. Watrin — (Interruptions) — Watrin used to call the manager of the mine and force him to reduce the price agreed to with the miners. This is simple theft. ... I have held in my hands monthly cheques for work worth 100 francs, reduced to 34 francs! This, again, is simple swindling! ... But at last the workers learnt the part played by Watrin, which consisted in again forcing a reduction of the wages agreed upon. They further learnt that M. Watrin was in the habit of reducing at the end of the month the wage that the worker had earned, and that without the knowledge of the men. By this I mean, that the man fancied he was receiving the price of the work done, a certain sum, but M. Watrin permitted himself to reduce this by half, without warning or explanation, to those interested." Next Basly explained how the so-called "Co-operative Societies" started by the Company are used simply to exploit the miners, since 25 per cent is retained from their wage to form the capital of these undertakings, in which the workers, however, have no share! "In the face of all this," Basly continued, "who shall dare deny that the conflict which broke out a fortnight ago, and that cost M. Watrin his life, was not more than justified? (Exclamations and violent interruptions). The miner who digs the coal is in the same position as the horses that drag the carts of the Company, only the Company have never thought, under the pretext that business was slack, of reducing the rations of the horses, — (oh, oh!) — while every one has seen the wage of the workers reduced. ... The workers demand ... a salary always sufficient for their needs, and the needs of their families, and it is a minimum of salary that I am sent here to demand. ... I now come to a delicate point ... but I ask you to let me state, not only what I think, but what I know. I only state facts that I have seen. ... Well, gentlemen, a man has been killed at Decazeville. This man had drawn upon himself all the hate, all the anger of the working and commercial population. ... He was detested; he had starved a whole population. His rôle had been peculiarly abominable. You know it; it was he who took the bread out of the mouths of the women and children. (Loud protests. M. de Cassagnac: "Do not insult the victim, do not trample on the dead. This is odious!") It is he who is responsible for all that has happened. ... You protest against my words. And those hundreds of workers, mercilessly stricken by the Company, thrown with their families into the streets! ... Ah! against the starvers-out of a people there is no law! Well, these workers, these miners, they too are slain, slowly assassinated, and no one protests... Among the miners the death of M. Watrin — I must say this — is looked upon as an act of justice. It is not I alone who say this, it is the workers who say it. I know I shall be told no one has a right to take justice into his own hands. No! no one has that right — but on this condition only that justice is done. But had the Minister of Public Justice thought of sup-pressing M. Watrin's exactions? No! so he allowed, or rather he had to let popular justice be done." (Loud protests, interruptions, etc. "This is simply an apology for assassination." Calls to order from the President, for the fifth or sixth time, etc.). "Such summary justice is not rare. It is not long since the worthy, the valiant wife of M. Clovis Hugues, in the very court of justice, executed an abominable creature ... not only did the jury and public opinion exalt her act, but several of our colleagues, among others M. de Cassagnac, approved this act of summary justice. ... So it happens that one does take justice into one's own hands, and the executioners (justiciers) are not always condemned. But in those acts it was only a question of personal, vengeance. Well, is not the anger of a famished, outraged mass just as legitimate ? ... One word more. On July 14, 1789, were not the tyrants who starved out the people executed, and were not their heads carried about the streets at the top of poles? — and did not the Chamber make this revolutionary day the national fête?' . The law never touches the Companies who starve their workers — theirs are the culpable acts — but who can say the miners of Decazeville are assassins? (Interruptions, and Basly turning to the yelling deputies), May you always do your duty as I have to-day done mine!"

After Basly, some very good speeches were made by Boudy and Oamélinat. The little group of four that has thus dared to face over 600 men "deserved well," not only of their own country, but of all Socialists. The formation of this revolutionary group is, of course, a bitter pill for M. Clemenceau to swallow. He fancied Basly and the rest, would, like our miserable Howells and Broadhursts, become a useful "tail" for his party. His indignation at their independence and their determination to have nothing to do with the unclean politicians of any shade, but to stand out boldly as the spokesmen of the people, is almost pathetic.

Our comrade Vaillant has again brought forward a motion of amnesty (to include the Decazeville miners) in the Municipal Council. Meantime, Rochefort's Bill was lost in the Chamber, and Rochefort has in consequence resigned his seat.

Eleanor Marx-Aveling.

April

RUSSIA. — The capitalist press is so constantly assuring us that Nihilism is "played out" (the wish is father to the assertion!), that the few facts which I take from a Russian correspondence in our fellow-organ the Paris "Socialiste," may be interesting.

A new number of the Narodnaia Wolia has just been printed — under what difficulties I need not remind my readers — and it begins with a long, a terribly long list of the martyrs of the Russian government. Next, this paper gives us details as to the absolutely rotten internal condition of the Empire, its imminent bankruptcy. "In several provinces famine and misery are chronic ... but nowhere are the peasants in so terrible a condition as in Siberia. The population is literally dying of hunger there. Moreover, the industrial situation of Russia is no better. ... In many provinces the collecting of taxes gives rise to revolts, and migrations to other portions of the Empire, where the emigrants found prosperous villages. But as soon as a village begins to thrive, and the soil is cultivated, the government drives out the inhabitants. Such, e.g., was the case in 1884, in a village of 950 houses, on the Don."

Agrarian risings are the order of the day. In the province of Woronege the peasants have burnt the goods of a rich landed proprietor; at Kiew is an association whose object is the devastation of the cultivated land of the large landlords. "This Society was composed of peasants, and the police has been powerless to deal with it." It happens not infrequently that the police sent to restore "order in a village find themselves forced to fly before the rebel peasants. In the already-mentioned province of Woronege, 325 peasants were brought up on a charge of destroying a dyke that caused them damage, whereupon all the rest of the villagers demanded that they should be accused along with their comrades. "Last year there were 192,000 prosecutions for damaging forests — for the government refuses to admit that the forests are the property of the Commune."

There are also many strikes; at Iwanswo-Woznessensk 8,000 men went out on strike last September rather than accept a reduction of wages. At Alexandororsk the workers on a railroad struck; eleven men were arrested and condemned; 200 others immediately went and demanded the same treatment as their fellows.

The working-men are beginning to organise, and only those who have carefully followed the history of the Nihilist movement can appreciate the full significance of this fact. The correspondence from which I have taken the above statements concludes with these words: "These few facts are sufficiently eloquent to characterise the frightful condition of the Russian people, to show at the same time that the people, no longer able to suffer in silence, are awaking to resistance. The sacrifices of the revolutionists have not been in vain. Russian Society is not at all indifferent or hostile to the revolutionists, as is shown by the sums subscribed 'in good society' during this year for the revolutionist propaganda. These sums amounted to £1,600."

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. — Large meetings are being held all over Holland by the unemployed, and in several cases public meetings have been dispersed with the utmost brutality by the police, while numerous arrests have been made. In Belgium, too, there are "disturbances." At Liege a public meeting was called on the 18th of March, which ended in a fight between the gendarmerie sent to suppress the meeting, and the people. Several policemen as well as many of the crowd have been seriously wounded; some eighty or ninety people have been arrested. "Quiet was re-established by midnight," we have been informed by a Reuter telegram, but, as a matter of fact, the utmost "uneasiness still prevails." There is a large strike among the miners of Seraing and Jeneppe, growing daily more threatening, and a "descent" on Liege by the strikers is hourly expected. "If," writes a correspondent of the Cri du Peuple, "if the miners of Jeneppe try to enter Liege to make another manifestation, a collision, which if the Government do not take care will be a bloody one, is to be expected."

SPAIN. — From Spain, as from the rest of the world, comes news of struggles between unemployed and police, while meetings are constantly being dispersed with more or less brutality. At Alicante a meeting in honour of the 18th of March was forcibly suppressed; further details of this affair are not yet to hand.

FRANCE. — It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the splendid movement of the Decazeville miners. In the next number of the Commonweal there will be a full account of all that has gone on there. Meantime, only a few facts. Of these the most significant perhaps is the solidarity shown by all the workers in France to their brethren at Deoazeville. Every day different towns and villages are sending sums of money to enable the miners to carry on their heroic struggle against all the Watrins of the Company, while others are sending sacks of potatoes and other contributions in kind.

That every form of petty trickery and brutal intimidation is being attempted by the Company goes without saying. But to no use. The miners are determined to resist à outrance, and some of the mine-proprietors are beginning to confess that "Decazeville is lost to the Company." It is expected that all the mines will be closed next week. This means 600 more men out of work. The 18th of March was taken advantage of to hold — for the first time at Decazeville — a meeting in honour of the Commune.

How thoroughly scared the bourgeois really are, will be best understood from an account of the various debates in the Chamber, of which I shall speak next month. In conclusion to-day, I am sure I am speaking for all English comrades when I wish our fellow- workers of Decazeville good-speed in their splendid fight.

Eleanor Marx-Aveling.

May 1st

GERMANY.

The Anti-Socialist Law has been renewed for another two years. That this would be the case was a foregone conclusion, but as the Socialists took care to remark more than once, law or no law the movement will, nay must go on. That it had been practically ineffectual in the past was, indeed, admitted on all sides.

The debate, which lasted over three sittings of the Reichstag, and was as exciting and full of "incident" as an "Irish night" in the House of Commons, has been a tremendous success and triumph, not for the Socialists of Germany alone, but for us all. "The doctrine" has never been more admirably, more boldly preached, more thoroughly and with less high falutin'. The Anti-Socialist Law prohibits Socialist meetings; Herr Puttkammer (Minister of the Interior) declared that so great had been the effect of Bebel's speech at a Berlin meeting which he had not prohibited by way of experiment, that for the future, "so long as he had the honour to watch over the execution of this law, Bebel, except from this tribune, would not again be allowed to speak in public in Berlin." But "this tribune" is there, and not all Bismarck's Puttkammers can prevent thousands from reading the reports of this debate, and consequently of some of the best speeches ever made, even by Bebel and Liebknecht.

Of course the Commune and the "murder of the hostages" were trotted out. Equally, of course, reference was made to Nihilism, Belgian riots, London riots, etc. Bismarck became quite pathetic about the horrors of a "Communistic state of society." In his opinion "life," under these Communistic conditions, "will be valueless, and I shall be grateful if you will take mine," he said, " before it comes about. ... Existence will be wretched ... before you attain your ideal, shoot me, with all well-thinking men." But even if he wished it very much I don't think we could oblige him in this way. He is too valuable a coadjutor. Then he went on to speak of the bold bad Socialists and their aims. They — these wicked Socialists — have "no higher aims, no nobler strivings; they have no hope in another life, but look upon enjoyment in this as their sole object, and they therefore promise their followers a life of enjoyment; they want to get as much enjoyment out of life as possible, and they want to make that enjoyment as common to all as possible. Socialists want equality of enjoyment, and because our present Society does not give this equality they want another Society, in order to bring about this equality of enjoyment." Bismarck must really have been exceptionally drunk or exceptionally sober when he put the question so well.

The old "Communist Manifesto" was largely quoted, especially to prove that Socialists want to "abolish marriage" and "have women in common." Liebknecht thereupon read a passage from the manifesto on bourgeois marriage and bourgeois morality, which I hope the virtuous and moral gentlemen enjoyed.

That good, gentle Christian, perjurer and Jew-baiter, Chaplain Stöcker, was also much to the fore, and helped to enliven the debate considerably. The Socialists reminded him more than once that having been proved to have committed perjury he was not the man to show himself among decent-minded people at all. They also told him he was a "liar," that to "be compared to him was "an insult," that he was "one of the most contemptible of creatures," and other pretty things, more accurate than polite. But for my own part I feel grateful to the gentle pastor. As usual, he could not speak without dragging in the Jews, and he bore such testimony to the good work they are doing for Socialism, to the "extraordinary percentage of them" among the Nihilists, that, I repeat, I am personally very grateful to him.

It is to be hoped that the speeches of Bebel (he spoke three or four times) and of Liebknecht and Vollmar will be published in pamphlet form. Bismarck declared the Socialists had no programme, but these very speeches set forth that programme very clearly. I regret that I cannot here give them. The whole drift of them was to point out that this social revolutionary movement is not one that is "made" by any few men, but is a historical development and necessity; that this revolution must come, and that it means the expropriation of the present exploiters of labour, of the bourgeois class, itself the outcome of revolutions; that all this tinkering called "social reform" is of no avail, because if it were genuine it would mean really the same as the dreaded "revolution." Bebel concluded a speech with these words: "Whatever you may do, we have this conviction, our party will grow, it will develop, and we shall force the State and Society to do justice to our demands, till at last in one way or the other a Socialistic State of Society is realised." Liebknecht concluded his speech thus: "We are reproached with wanting to make a revolution. But revolutions are not made. ... We are in the very midst of revolution. Look back for the last twenty years ... everywhere revolution, upheavals, constant changes. And if you see what has happened in the past, I beg you also to look forward. ... Of course I can see into the future as little as yourselves, but this I know, what exists to-day will not exist then. ... Every one must be responsible for his own acts. I will only cry this to you. To your pity we do not appeal, the result (on the voting of the law) is indifferent to us, we shall conquer anyhow. Do your worst, it will be for our best! And the more insensate your rage, the more rapidly will it draw towards an end with you; the pitcher goes often to the well, but is broken at last!"

Among other things Bismarck took occasion to state that he "did not know whether Marx had bred murderers, but this he had heard, that the man, of whose shots he still bore the scars, was a pupil of Marx." To this statement my sister Laura Lafargue and I have sent a short reply to Herr Bismarck, in which we point out that the fright our dead father inspired in him was quite unnecessary; that he never saw poor young Ferdinand Blind after he was 12 or 13 years old; that all the objects Blind could have had in courageously braving death by firing at Herr Bismarck were of complete indifference to our father; that like his master and model Louis Bonaparte, Bismarck was to Marx only a comic personage, useful perhaps as involuntary accomplice of the proletarian revolution; finally that the ridiculous idea that a man like Marx could have spent his time "breeding assassins" only proves how right Marx was to see in Bismarck nothing but a Prussian clodhopper, who despite his cunning is utterly incapable of understanding no matter what great historical movement.

E. M. A.

May 15th

BELGIUM.

Our friend Anselle [sic; normally 'Anseele' MIA.] — than whom no man has done more for the cause in Belgium — has lately sent a most interesting report to the Cri du Peuple on the Co-operative Society "Vooruit" (Forwards) of Ghent. I give a few extracts from his letter: "'Vooruit' is a Socialist Co-operative Society, founded in 1880, with a capital of 2000 francs (£80), lent them by the Weavers' Society, from whose ranks most of the Socialists here are recruited. All workmen who applied to become members were told by us that 'Vooruit' was, and would remain Socialist, that our bakery was not an end, but was to be simply a means of propaganda, of organisation for the women, and of preparing for the class-war; to show that Socialists were neither thieves nor dreamers, but thoroughly able to fulfil the historical part they are called upon to play, i.e., the overturning of the capitalistic system, and the organising of the society of the future. Although several co-operative bakeries already existed, and the bourgeoisie, the priests, and the press attacked us constantly, yet within two years we had between 900 and 1000 members. To-day we number 2300 families. All machinery has had to be renewed, our place enlarged. We have a magnificent restaurant decorated with Socialistic emblems, a concert-room that can seat 1500 persons, and a very pretty theatre. We bake from 24,000 to 25,000 loaves weekly. We have a central and four other offices where members on Saturdays and Sundays buy their bread-tickets; a loaf of one kilogram (2¼lbs) costs 35 centimes (about 3¼d.). The bread is taken round the town in six large carts to the houses of members; every one gives up as many tickets as he wants loaves. Every six months accounts are balanced. The last half-year gave the Society a profit of 13⅛ centimes per loaf, so that a 2¼lbs. loaf (and bread of the very best quality) cost us 21⅛ centimes. This profit was divided among the members, each getting 11 cents. per loaf, so that the loaf really costs them 24 centimes. The remaining 2⅛ centimes per loaf were placed in the reserve fund for the purpose of increasing and improving our material, for supporting strikes, and for Socialist propaganda, through the daily publication of our organ Vooruit. The profits are not paid in money, but in bread-tickets, so that all members who take all their bread from us, for over three months in the year get their bread for nothing. Bread is only sold to members. The Society has also a large store ... where members can make purchases in exchange for their bread-tickets. When the half-yearly "dividends" are given out we always have a fête. To become a member you have to pay 17 centimes (about 1⅛d.) entrance fee, and at the first paying out on the profits the member receives 1 franc less than the rest, that is all. Every member pays 5 centimes weekly for the mutual benefit fund, which, in cases of illness, gives six loaves a week. Only those can be elected on the committee who have been members for at least one year of a branch of the Socialist party. In 1885, the 'Vooruit' bakery gave 10,000 francs to workers on strike, and about 12,000 loaves for the strikers at Ghent, besides thousands of francs and loaves for Socialist propaganda generally. There could be no mightier lever for Socialist propaganda than such an organisation as this. ... We have started two dispensaries, where we sell all medicines 100 per cent. cheaper than the other chemists. We are about to start five or six more. ... In the premises belonging to 'Vooruit' a dozen workmen's societies meet. Some of these societies have large libraries; our own consists of 3,500 vols.; the weavers have 2,500. The use of this library costs 15 centimes a fortnight; members belonging to Socialist societies have the use free, but their societies pay 1 centime a head monthly. ... We have just started a large printing concern, with large presses. ... Such is 'Vooruit.' It has always openly declared itself Socialist. On the frontage of their house you read, 'Worker's Union, Co-operative Labour, Socialism, Education, Freedom.' Whenever, in any part of the world, the proletariat raises its voice, the red flag waves above the 'Vooruit' building; at every massacre of the people it is draped in mourning."

Commenting on this most interesting communication from Anselle, the Sozial Democrat points out the great importance of this organisation; bears witness to the excellence of the bread baked by the society, and shows wherein this Co-operative Society entirely differs from the "profit-sharing" concerns patronised by bourgeois sentimentalists. For example, "Vooruit" is openly avowed a means to the end we all have in view, and it is used for organising and educating the workers, and not for turning them into "profit makers and dividend imbibers on a small scale, and this because (1) only members can deal at 'Vooruit'; (2) because dividends are not paid out in money, and because they have no kind of shareholders, but only members, all with equal rights." As to the workmen employed in the bakeries, it goes without saying that they are paid the highest wages in their trade, and that for the rest they have exactly the same rights and privileges as the other members of the society.

At Verviers and Brussels, Socialist Societies on the same plan are being started, and an excellent one already exists at the Hague.

I give no report of the Decazeville strike and the Paris election, because Paul Lafargue, as soon as the work entailed by that election is over, will send a detailed account of the whole movement. Meantime, I need only point out that the 100,750 votes given for Roche are a splendid victory. These votes mean not only a blow aimed at the Radicals: they mean the solidarity of the Socialists of Paris. On this head, pending Lafargue's letter, I warn our friends that the statements re the Roche election of "Headingley" in Justice are absolutely contrary to fact. Details next week.

E. M. A.