The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-10-16
SECOND DAYS PROCEEDINGS.

The Congress met pursuant to adjourn
ment, president Jung, in the chair. The &C.
cretaries OF tho various nationalities then
! read the report Of the General Council. The
/ document is so interesting and curious that
we should have liked to give it entire; bu'
1 as it would fill four Of our columns, We must
limit ourselves to extracts, With summary
Of the parts omitted.
"The report of your general council will
i mainly relate to the guerilla nights between
L capital and labor-we mean the strikes
1 which, during the past year, have perturoed
Il the continent of Europe, and we're saId 70
4 have sprung neither from the misery OF the
n laborer nor from the despotism Of the CAPT
1 talist. but from the secret intrigues Of our
Association. A few weeks after the meeting
1 of our last Congress, a memorable strike on
| the part of the ribbon weavers and silk
Overs occurred at Basel, place to which our
/ DAYS has conserved much Of the features OF
i! a medi@val town, with its local traditions,
it's narrow prCjudices, its purse proud patri-
1 clans, and its patriarchal rule OF the en-
ployer over the employed. Still, few
wears ago, O Basel manufacturer boosted to
I an English Secretary Of Embassy that the
\ position of the master and the man was on
\ a better footing here than in England that
in Switzerland the operative who leaves
good master for better wages would be des-
1 pised by his own fellow-workmal. and that
4 our advantage lies principally in the length
\ of the working time and the moderator OF
the wages You see patriarchalism, as mo
dified bV modern influences, comes to this,
" - = waod and that hIm
are bad; that the laborer feels like me-
I di@val vassal, and it is exploited like mo-
| dern Wage-slaVe:
| "It will now be understood that an ecODo-
mical revolt on the part OF the Basel work.
men could not but work an epoch in the
social history Of Switzerland Nothing
more characteristic than the starting point OF
! the movement! There existed an old Gus
tom for the ribbon weavers to have few
khours holiday on Michselmas. The weavers
claiming this small privilege at the usual
Itime in the factory Of Messrs. Duoary and
HSons, one Of the masters declared 10 harsh
voice and With imperious gesticulation +:
E Whoever leaves the factory will be dis
tnissed al once and forever Finding their
kprotestations in vain, lO4 out OF l12 weaveIs
left the workshop, without, however, be-
kIieving in their definite dismissal, since mas
tier and man were bound by written contract
Ito give a fourteen days notice to quit. On
their return the next morning, they found
the factory surrounded by gend armes, keep.
lng of the yesterdays rebels, With whom all
stheir comrades now made common cause.
being thus suddenly thrown oct OF work, the
iweavers and their families we're simultan
leously elected from the cottages they rented
Ifrom their employers, who, into the bargain,
isent circular letters round to the shop-keep-
Iers to debar the houseless ones from all Gre
ldit for victuals. The struggle thus begun
llasted from the 9th of November 1868, to the
lsuripe Of 1869. The limits Of our report do
mot allow US to enter upon itS details. II
Isufices to state, that it originated in a ca
PRECIOUS and spiteful act of capitalist despo-
itism, in cruel lock out which led to strikes
from time to time interrupted by compro-
misses, again and again broken on the part Of
the masters, and that it eliminated in the
vain attempt OF the Basel High and Honor
1 able State Council to intimidate the working
people by military measures and quasi state
I Of siege.
"DuripR their sedition the workmen were
supported by the International Working
Mems Association. But that was not all
That society the masters said had first Snug
eled the modern spirit Of rebellion into the
good old town Of Basel. To again expel
that mschievous intruder from Basel, be-
kcame, therefore, their great pre-occupation'
Hard they tried, though in vain, to enforce
the withdrawal from it as condition oil
peace upon their subjects. Getting gene
Irsllv worsted in the war with the lnterna-
tionaI. thew vented their spleen in strange
pranks. Owning some industrial branch
/ esta blishments at Lorrach, in Baden, these
trepublioaps induced the grand ducal othcia
to suppress the International section at thai
place-a measure which, however, was soon
after rescinded BY the Baden Government
The Augsburg AlLgemeine Zeitung, paper
Of world wide circulation, presumlng tC
repOrt on the Basel events in An impartial
i spirit, the angry WORTHLESS threatened 1t IL
Il foolish letters with the withdrawal OF tnelI
1 subscriptions. To London they expressly
sept messenger on the fantastic efrand Of
ascertalning the dimensions Of the lnterna
| tional general treasury-box.' ORTHODOX
4 Christians as they are, if they had lived o.
the times of nascent Christianity they would
Y above all things have spied into 81. Paul.
banking accounts at Rome"
II Here follows an account OF strikes 10 tht
building trades, and among the comp ositor'l
ct GeDeva.)
"And now listen to some at the invectivel
of the Geneva pitalsts and their press
Il gang against tn. international In public
meeting they passed an address to the STATE
Council, where the following phrase occurs
1.-THE international Committee at Genevs
ruins the Canton OF Geneva by DEGREES SEN
from London and Paris; it wants here tC
suppress all industry and all labor One oil
I their journals stated that the leaders Of the
4 International were secret agents OF the En
II peror. who, at the opportune moment, were
II verv likely to turn out public aocuseri
I against little Switzerland, Of ours
II or the strikes that in December, 1858, In
tested several French cotton districts, the
most important was that at Sottenvllle- les
II Rouen. The manufacturers OF the De-
4 partment de Ia Somme had not long ago mel
II Al Amiens in order to consult how they
II might undersell the English manufacturers
in the English market itself. Having made
sure that besides protective duties the com
parative lowness Of French wages had til
4 new mainly enabled them to defend France
IL from English cottons, they naturally IN
j ferred that still further lowering Of French
I wages would allow them to invaee England
4 with French cotton. The French cotton
workers, they did not doubt, would fee
proud at the idea Of defraying the expen
ses Of a war Of conquest which their mas
tiers had 50 patriotically resolved to wage or
! the other side Of the Channel Soon after
it was bruited about that the cotton manu-
Sfacturers Of Rouen and its eavirons had in
secret conclave agreed upon the same line o.
policy. Then an important reduction Of
wages was suddenly proclaimed at Sottevllle
lies. ROuen, and then for the first time tnt
iNormand weavers rose against the encrOach
lments Of capital. They acted under the
stir Of the moment; neither had they before
Horned q trades union, nor provided Tor
lanv means of resistance. In their distress
ltheg appealed to the lnternatIOnsl Commit
ktee At Rouen. which found for them some
H. -....o "a from the workmeu of ROuen,