The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-06-05
LoNnoN- May IL. 1860


pie:
LONDON. May Is, 1869.
FELLOwN oRKMEN In the initiatory pro-
gramme Of our association, we stated III
was not the wisdom Of the ruling classes,
but the heroic resistance to thew criminal
folly BY the working elias ses OF England tina,
saved the West Of Europe from plu ging
headlong into an Infamous crusade for the
perpetuauon and propa. u slavery on
the other side of the A. Your turn
has now come to stop wa, the clearest re
suit Of which would be for an indefinite
period to hurl back the ascendant moveme.-
Of the working classes on both sides the At
lantic.
We need hardly tell you that there exist
European powers anxiously bent upon hur-
rymg the United States a war with Eng
LAND. A glance at commercial statistics will
show that the Russian export Of raw pro-
duce, ana Russia has nothing else 70 export,
was rapidly giving way before American
competition, when the civil war suddenly
turned the scales. To convert the American
ploughshare into sword, would jusC now
rescue from impending bankruptcy that des-
pouc power which your republ can states
men have in their wisdom chosen for their
conf ential adviser. But quite apart from
the particular interest Of THIS or that gov
eminent, Il IS not the general interest Of our
common oppIessors to turn our fast growing
International cooperation into an lnternicine
WARP
10 our eongTatulatOry address to Mr. LIN
coin on his reelection as president, we ex-
pressed our conviction that the American
civil war would prove a. OF great import to
the advancement Of the working class as the
American war of independence had proved
TO that OF the middle class. And 10 point
Of fact, the victorious termination OF the
anti-slavery war has opened a new epoch ID
the annals of the working class. In the
United States themselves, an Independent
working class movement looked upon with
an evil eye by your old parties and their pro-
fessi0nal politicians, has, since that date,
sprung into life. 70 fructily ii wants years
of peace. To crush 1t, a war between the
United States and England u wanted.
The most papsble effect Of the civil war
was, Of course, TO deteriorate the position q T
the American workman. II the United
States, as 10 Europe, the monster incubus
Of national debt was shifted from hand 70
hand to settle on the shoulders of the work
ing class The prices o. Dece ssaTirs, says
one Of your statesmen, have since 1860 risen
rs per cent. while the wages Of uuskilled
labor rose 90 per cent, and those of skilled
labor CD per cent. onl "PauperIsm,' be
com ytaiGs, ''grows now III America faster
dian population" Moreover, the suherngs
Of the working class set off as a toh the
newiangled luxury Of financial aristocrats,
shotdy srstoerats, and slmllar vermin, bred
by wars Yet for all this she civil war did
conn ensats by freeing the slave, aqd the
consequent moral impulse i gave to your
own class movement. A second war, not
nallOwed 10y sublime purpose aud great
social necessity, but OF the old worlds type,
would forge chains for the free laborer, In
stead of tearing asunder those of the slave.
The accumulated misery left il its track,
would afford your capitalists at once the
motive and the means to divorce the work
ing Class from Us bold and just ASPIRATIONS,
by the soul-leSs sword Of a standing army.
On you, then, devOlves the glorious task
to provs 70 the world that now at least the
working class are bestridlng the scene OF
history, no longer as servile retail ers, but
as independent actors, conscious OF their
own responsibility, AMI able to command
peace where their would-be masters shou'
war.
In the name Of the General Council d
the International Workingmen's Associa-
lion:
For the British Observation-Disclosures,
r., carpenter; Boon, NJ. J . engineer; Buck
ley, J painter; Hales. j., elastic webb
weaver; Law, Harriet; LucIaft, B., char
maker; Miner, j., tailor; Ogder, o., shoe
maker; Ross, j., bootcloser; Shaw, r.,
painter; Stepney, Cuwell; Warren, j., trunk
maker; Weston, j handrail maker.
For tie French Neutrality-suspicious., T.,
instrument maker; JOnannard, Juiss; La
faTgue, Paul
For the German Neutrality-suspicious., J
g., tailor; Lessner, r., tailor; Limbarg, w,
shoemaker; Marx, Karl
For the So0iss Nationality-Jung, H.,
watchmakef; Muller, A., Matchmaker.
For the Belgian Nationality Bernard, P,
painter.
For the Danish NatiOndlity-Coln n, j.,
cigarmaker.
For the Polish Nationality - "a uki,
compositor.
BENJANIN LucRAFr, Chairman.
VIM FRED CowELL, SIepney, Treas.
GRoRGF EccARIUs. General NecretdTu