THE INTERNATIONALISTS.
The Baltimore Mob Not Railroad Strikers—The Communistic Tendency in
American Cities—Destructive Theories—Danger to the Country
Threatened—An Element to be Feared—Some Account of the Origin of the
Association.
The mob at Baltimore revealed the existence of an association in this
country, which had hitherto been supposed to be confined to the old
world. Taking advantage of the strikes of the railroad men, the
“Workingmen’s Party of the United States,” suddenly revealed itself in
almost every city in the Union, not only as an element in the general
disturbance, but as the prompting power in all the movements made
subsequent to the transfer of the seat of trouble from Martinsburg to
the larger centers of population. The riot at Baltimore showed them
behind the scenes, manipulating the populace, and organizing the
rioters. Henceforth they appear inseparably connected with every
movement made by the strikers, or mobs. The name “Workingmen’s Party of
the United States,” had a certain charm for a large class of American
laborers, who without examination, or much reflection, suffered
themselves to be drawn into apparent affiliation with an association
which holds views directly antagonistic to all sound principles of
government, and wholly subversive of the doctrines which underlie the
foundations of social order.
This so-called “Party” is neither more nor less than the organization
known in Europe as “The International Association of Workingmen,” which
has cost almost every government on that continent no little uneasiness.
The evidence of the conspicuous part played by the Internationalists in
bringing about the bloody catastrophe at Baltimore, and in every
subsequent collision between the authorities and the populace, is a
justification for breaking off the narrative concerning events at this
point, and devoting a chapter to that element in our political life,
which, for the first time in our history, comes to the front and
presents itself as formidable and dangerous.
The germ of the organization is apparently to be found in a visit made,
in 1862, by a delegation of French workmen to the Universal Exhibition
in London. This delegation travelled under the sanction, if not at the
charge of the imperial government of Napoleon III. The keen foresight of
the Prefect of Police could discover no good to come of this journey of
artisans, and he would have interfered to prevent it, had not the
express sanction of the Emperor induced him to countenance the
proceeding. The acquaintance formed on that occasion, led to a
correspondence, and that to a second meeting in 1863. On this occasion
the imperial sanction was neither sought nor desired. The plan of
International combination had taken form; and in the language of one of
the earliest actors, in the matter, “there was no time to organize; but
the idea was thrown out, and it would already have been difficult to
prevent its development.”
After another year of preliminary action, a meeting was finally held in
St. Martin’s Hall, London, September 28th, 1864, at which the
Association was fairly launched on the social sea. It is important to
observe that no political influence appears to have prompted this
combination. Both the English and French leaders in the organization
were strongly democratic in their views. George Odger, the English
leader, was a liberal, and Lucien Tolain, was a member of the Left in
the French National Assembly after the days of the Commune in 1871. But
it is clear that in the St. Martin’s Hall meeting, politics was not the
subject which engrossed their chief attention.
Between the Association at St. Martin’s Hall and the Leicester Square
Colony of political exiles, there was in fact a marked coolness from the
very first. The exiles were, after all, _bourgeois_ in the eyes of the
French members of the International, and neither had nor desired a share
in a movement which had for its object, “the emancipation of the
workingmen,” and not the interests of Jacobinism; while on the other
hand the French founders of the International, were long distrusted by
republicans, and charged with Bonapartist tendencies. What else could
men expect who professed to represent the toiling masses, and to be
republicans, who nevertheless stood aloof from political conspiracy?
The form of organization adopted at St. Martin’s Hall is simple but
efficient. The business of the Association as managed by a General
Council, which has its seat in London. This body, with the aid of
Secretaries for the different languages spoken by the Internationalists,
conducts the correspondence with the various Boards of Supervision in
every country where the Association has an existence; watches all events
which affect the general interests; shapes the business to be laid
before the annual Congress; collects and gives information, and in every
way performs the functions of a living bond of Union between the
organized workingmen of different countries. The International has no
President, that office having been abolished by a solemn vote of the
Congress, held at Brussels, in 1868, as a relict of monarchism, even
though but an honorary position divested of all power.
The Council at London is appointed by the Congress composed of delegates
from all the branches of the International, and is therefore a sort of
legislative body, which is supposed to represent the will of the mass.
The Congress itself is a peculiar body, drawn as it is from nearly all
the countries in Europe and America. Its business is transacted in the
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Polish and Bohemian
languages.
But what is the purpose of this Association? The statutes, framed in
1864, declare that the Association is founded in order “to procure a
central medium of communication and co-operation between workingmen’s
societies existing in different countries, and aiming toward the same
end, viz: the protection and advancement, the complete emancipation of
the working classes.” The preamble recites that the subjection of
workingmen to capital is the source of all political, moral, and
material servitude; that their enfranchisement is not a local or
national problem, but concerns all civilized nations; and that their
efforts in this direction ought not to tend to the establishment of
class privileges, but to secure the same rights and duties for all. The
design is to unite all societies of workingmen in every country into one
great national society, subject always to the laws of the nation. “We
wish,” said the Secretaries of the organization in Paris, “to found an
association which by _study_, may bring on by degrees the emancipation
of labor.” “It is a Society for study, and not a new _Carbonari_,”
exclaimed Fribourg, one of their ablest orators at the Congress of
Basle, in 1865. It is evident that the founders of the International
were profoundly imbued with the conviction that capital now holds labor
in subjection, and it is probable they all inclined to socialistic
arrangements of some sort. Still, there is no evidence upon which a
charge can be brought against them of entertaining designs of forcibly
overturning existing society. But like thousands of schemers before,
they have found it easier to arouse popular forces to activity, than to
control them afterwards. There were men of learning and depth of thought
in the earlier stages of the Internationals. Fribourg, Dr. Paepe, of
Brussels, Garibaldi, Dr. Karl Marx, a man of remarkable erudition, and
others. There was a rupture in the Congress of Lausanne, in 1867. The
Socialists had gained an ascendency. The roll of the Association at that
time contained the names of men and women, little known for the most
part except in the obscure history of that seething radicalism of which
Brussels and Geneva are the foci. In the eyes of these men, Louis Blanc
was a reactionary, Mazzini a friend of oppressors, and Garibaldi himself
little better than an aristocrat in his ideas and opinions.
“The League of Peace and Liberty,” met at Berne, in 1868. To this body
the Congress of the Internationals, then in session at Brussels, sent a
resolution of unexampled frankness, informing “the League,” that its
presence in the world was unnecessary, and recommending it to dissolve
and inviting its members to join sections of the Internationals. To a
portion of the League this proposition was not unwelcome; and when, upon
the introduction of resolutions favoring the equalization of classes and
individuals, the extreme communist party finding itself in the minority,
it withdrew in wrath, formed the “International Alliance of the
Socialist Democracy,” and declared itself a branch of the International.
This Alliance proclaimed itself atheistic, and demanded the political
and economical equalization of all classes and both sexes, together with
the ownership in common, not only of land, but of all instruments of
labor and all other capital; and it even called for the uniform
education of children from their birth, in order to remove all
individual inequalities.
The adhesion of these rabid radicals was accepted by the International,
and the alliance continued in existence for some years, when it was
dissolved, August 1871, and “the incident of the socialist democracy,”
was declared by the London Congress of the International, to be
“finished.”
In this country, the Internationals were organized as early as 1865, but
it does not appear that the Association grew very rapidly. Indeed, there
is reason to believe that the first missionaries in the cause of this
new phase of socialism, only sought to accomplish one of the objects of
the International—viz, the fraternization and practical unity of all the
workingmen’s societies in the United States.
Accordingly we find Mr. W. H. Sylvis, President of “The National
Workingmen’s Union,” in correspondence with the Congress of Basle. The
letter breathes the true spirit of International sentiment.
“Our cause,” says Mr. Sylvis, “is a common one; it is a war between
poverty and wealth. * * * * Our late war resulted in the building up of
the most infamous moneyed aristocracy on the face of the earth. This
moneyed power is fast eating up the substance of the people. We have
made war upon it, and we mean to win. If we can, we will win through the
ballot box; if not—then _we will resort to sterner means_. A little
_blood letting_ is sometimes necessary in desperate cases.” This was
written long before the panic and the date of “hard times.” The purpose
was then felt to do what we have seen attempted.
Mr. Sylvis died in 1868, but his mantle has fallen on other shoulders.
The ill-odor of “the incident of the Social Democracy,” the close
alliance between the International and the people who overthrew the
Column Vendome, and applied the torch to the Louvre in 1871, made the
name distasteful to the masses of the people in this country. This fact
induced a change of name to that of the “Workingmen’s Party of the
United States,” without, however, modifying a single principle held by
the Internationals in Europe, except in so far as modification was
necessary in order to adapt it to the conditions of government and
social organization here.
The policy of bringing all the workingmen’s societies into harmonious
relations, has been sedulously pursued, and with a degree of success
attending the effort well calculated to startle the conservative
publicist. Perhaps in no country in Europe is the International in a
more prosperous condition, as an organization, than in this country;
perhaps in no region is their relative numerical strength greater than
in America. Fifteen weekly publications serve as a medium of
communication, and as a propaganda of their principles. Since 1873,
particularly, they have increased with amazing rapidity, and now have
Sections in nearly all the States. The whole numbers of these Sections
at present are three hundred and sixty, and the number of persons in
organic affiliation is claimed to be more than six hundred thousand.
Nor are they destitute of leaders of culture and capacity. Mr. John
Swinton, a capable journalist on the editorial staff of the New York
_Sun_, newspaper, is an able champion of their principles.
The Board of Supervision is located at New Haven, Connecticut, with M.
K. Goldsmith, as Secretary. The Executive Committee has its headquarters
at Chicago, Illinois, Philip Van Patten, Corresponding Secretary, and
George Schilling, Financial Secretary.
That “The Workingmen’s Party of the United States,” is the same in
principle and purpose as “The International Association of Workingmen”
in Europe, is sufficiently proved by comparing the platform of
principles with the statutes of St. Martin’s Hall, framed in 1864, and
subsequently, in the main, re-affirmed by the Congress at Basle.
The following are their acknowledged formulæ of doctrines:—
The emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working
classes themselves, independent of all political parties of the
propertied class.
The struggle for the emancipation of the working classes means not a
struggle for class privileges and monopolies, but for equal rights and
duties, and the abolition of all class rule.
The economical subjection of the man of labor to the monopolizer of the
means of labor, the sources of life lies at the bottom of servitude in
all its forms, of all social misery, mental degradation, and political
dependence.
The economical emancipation of the working classes is therefore the
great end to which every political movement ought to be subordinate as a
means.
All efforts aiming at that great end have hitherto failed from want of
solidarity between the manifold divisions of labor in each country, and
from the absence of concerted action between the workingmen of all
countries.
The emancipation of labor is neither a local nor a national, but a
social problem, embracing all countries in which modern society exists,
and depending for its solution upon the practical and theoretical
concurrence and co-operation of the most advanced countries.
For these reasons, the Workingmen’s Party of the United States has been
founded.
It enters into proper relation and connection with the workingmen of
other countries.
_Whereas_, Political liberty without economical freedom is but an empty
phrase; therefore, we will in the first place direct our efforts to the
economical question. We repudiate entire connection with all political
parties of the propertied classes without regard to their name.
We demand that all the means of labor, (land, machinery, railroads,
telegraphs, canals, etc.) become the common property of the whole
people, for the purpose of abolishing the wages system, and substituting
in its place co-operative production with a just distribution of its
rewards.
The political action of the party is confined generally to obtaining
legislative acts in the interests of the working class proper. It will
not enter into a political campaign before being strong enough to
exercise a perceptible influence, and then in the first place locally in
the towns or cities, when demands of a purely local character may be
presented, providing they are not in conflict with the platform and
principles of the Party.
We work for the organization of the Trades Unions upon a national and
international basis, to ameliorate the condition of the working people
and seek to spread therein the above principles.
The Workingmen’s Party of the United States proposes to introduce the
following measures, as a means to improve the condition of the working
classes:
1. Eight hours for the present as a normal working day, and legal
punishment of all violators.
2. Sanitary inspection of all conditions of labor, means of subsistence
and dwellings included.
3. Establishment of bureaus of labor statistics in all States as well as
by the National Government; the officers of these bureaus to be taken
from the ranks of the labor organizations and elected by them.
4. Prohibition of the use of prison labor by private employers.
5. Prohibitory laws against the employment of children under fourteen
years of age in industrial establishments.
6. Gratuitous instruction in all educational institutions.
7. Strict laws making employers liable for all accidents to the injury
of their employes.
8. Gratuitous administration of justice in all courts of law.
9. Abolition of all conspiracy laws.
10. Railroads, telegraphs, and all means of transportation to be taken
hold of and operated by the Government.
11. All industrial enterprises to be placed under the control of the
Government as fast as practicable and operated by free co-operative
trades unions for the good of the whole people.
Such are the Utopian schemes of the organization, which stood behind the
strikes; which prompted the mobs, and brought victims to death at
Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at Chicago, and Reading, and for a time
threatened the institutions of the country with disaster and ruin.
Still, there is no just cause for alarm. The Internationalists are
wanting in the coolness necessary to plan, and the faculty essential in
effecting organization. Until men rise much higher, or fall much lower
than they now are, community of property will not long command the
support of any large body, except under the influence of religious
fervor; and of that quality the Internationalists could not well have
less. To collect a loose body of followers by exciting mere hatred of
what exists is easy; but to direct the whole towards some specific
substitute is not only difficult, but we may predict, impossible. The
International draws its strength from agitation, created by an
impression now universally pervading the laboring classes of the
civilized world, that of the results of the progress of modern society
labor does not enjoy its due share. That there is, right or wrong, a
general uneasiness and sense of injustice; that there is, in truth,
something to be righted, is undeniable. That a body like the
Internationalists will ever discover what this is that needs to be
righted, still more that it will ever right the wrong, we do not
believe. The work both of investigation and of remedy must be done by
cooler heads, by more instructed minds, and by men who will arrogate
neither for capital, nor for labor, any unjust advantage. This work has
been too long neglected, but it is a service which must be performed.
And if properly performed, with sincere purpose, and conscientious
resolution, we hope to find the means of ending the present conflict of
naturally harmonious interests, and of avoiding the chief danger which
now threatens modern civilization. This done we shall hear no more of
the International, except as it may continue to alarm and torment those
who are not yet, just enough or sufficiently bold and strong to rise to
the dignity of demanding equal justice to all.
The causes which make it possible for the Internationalists to exist in
this country must be removed. They can only exist in an element of
social unrest. They came forth recently only to pull down, they cannot
build.