The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-07-08

executed by the troops of Mr.. Theirs,
yet there are at least alternating cir
cumstances for these soldiers, who were
detained in Germany as prisoners OF
war up to the last moment, having
there no opportunity Of informing them
selves about the state of things In
France, and who, in the heat OF passion.
killed those that before had tried to
kill them. But where are the attenua-
ting circumstances for the Prussisn
soldiers, who had to draw q Gordon for
the Versailles and had to 4 i've into
certain destruction thousands Of unlrm~
ed men that had done them no harm.
However, I will not be unjust. a sols
der is no man, he is a machine; a mas
chine, which has not to think, has not
10 feel, but simply to slash ard shoot
according to the within end will Of the
master that directs it. 1t flor II IS no
he) has as little responsibility as the
knife has with which murder has been
committed. To he sure, human nature
sometimes bursts forth from the machine
after all the best drilled sergeant ~
unable to close the machine Of ali rem
nsnts of humanity-and many n one Of
the soldiers, that had to do the horrible
work, is suffering now sharp pangs Of
conscience. at was heartrendering,"
Saxonian private writes, to push back
With the bayOnet the unfortunate men
that sought shelter in our lines We
knew, that we drove them in certain
Ieath-but iron discipline forced us. ="
The same iron discipline will force the
same soldiers one day, to shoot Us DOZEN.
Another letter of a SaxOnian soldier,
which is lying before me, confirms that
The cOnfagraIions in Paris we're caused
by the Versaillese. In describing IN"
cannonade, he witnessed from close
distance, rhe writer obs, rves, that Oh
the part of the National guards no
combs we're thrown, while the Versail-
Iese sent. over the houses, a rain Of
bombs and shells, which, bursting, sci
Dire everywhere.
When the commune had been over
thrown, the bourgeoisie shouted with
yuluptuOus delight: This is the end
Of socialism, On We fools. Socialism
will not die as long as there are prole-
tarIans, and prOletarians there will he
as long as there are bourgeOis-that IL
capitalists fattening on the work of
starving prOletarians. Socialism u not
phllanIhropical dream, it is a logical
necessity, it is the irrepressible conse-
quence of orr social state. And the
Oourgeoisie itself is obliged TO contrib
ute to the growth of sOci Ahsm. l. can
not grow. without a corresponding in
crease Of proletarians, and every probe
tartan is, if not yet a soldier, certainly
a recruit of socialism.
Or do you think, ideas, principles can
be drowned in blood I? Have not Ihous-
ands, ard hundred thousands Of here
tics died on the scaffolds and at the
stakes of holy inquisition, and-has the
refOI nation been preventedT Whenever
has a cause suffered, by having been
made the cause Of martyrs Ten
thousand proletariaus died for socialism
in June l84s; fifty thousand proletari-
ans died for socialism in April and May
1871 and hundred thousands Of pro
letarians are ready to die for socialism,
when another opportunity arrives.
Oh, ye fools Not zoe have lost this
battle between capital and labor, though
we were beaten this time. A defeat
like this is the mother of future victory.
And your victory-it is like that OF
King Purrhus, who exclaimed One
more such VictOry, and am lost! You
'oiH not get stronger, that we know, but
zoe get stronger every day, and we can
already calculate the time when Oe
shall be able to beat you'll
In conclusion | will only mention
still that the German workmen are UNI
animous 10 their sympathy with the
Parisians, and that Rebel, who, in the
Reichstag, defended the commune, has
only expressed this universal feeling.