The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-04-20

We make the following extf1bt from
the Paris corrsspon dsnss of lhe = 2,Neawi 81
York World. in oxplanatiop Of What 1t6a
O6mnnnei is and what are its obieot5: SS,
20 the ftst place. then, itzshoplds be
understood that .'thei Commnne, !, q pure
and simple, il not a bad sort IS: thing,
nor, to Americans at least, ID af new
sort Of thing. You inss New Z oxk have
your commune in yonr own Way. That
is, you have local seif.g Over Haaseat. Mew
York governs herself BY officers elected
by her Own people, and 80 does every
other city and County in the United
States. But, above or with this. you
have your State Government and the
Federal Government. Now, il you can
conceive Of New York throwing off her
obligations Of obedience to tho State and
perfect independence on her own hook !;
instigating Buffalo, Rochester, Troy,
Pouglikeepsie and all the other cities to
do the same; and still announcing that
IN some occult and mysterious way all
these other cities and ali the East of tho
State were to be subject to New York !;
and proclaiming, also, a new gospel in
regard to the rights of labor us distin-
guished from the rights of property; if
you can conceive of this. say, you will
begin to understand what this Parisian
Commune really means. It is, in fast,
simply putting in practice tho dogmas
enunciated within the last few years Mt
the successive congresses Of the Iuterna-
ttonal Workingmen's 8 Association. There
is little doubt, think, that the whole
scheme for the revolution which broke
ont here on the 18th of March, and
which has been carried forward to this
moment with such singular success, WAS
organized in London, in dingy room
in Holborn, and that the men who plan
ned the work, and who have inspired
the tools who executed it, were Karl
Marx, the chief of the Internationale; J.
George Eccarius, who is among your
wonderful list Of correspondents; -Assi,
the French chief Of the society; Bentini,
the Italian chief; Dermott, the English,
or rather the Irish, chief; and Blanqui
is the brain and soul of the movement.
1t is their idea that their mission is to
re organize Europe on Socinlist princi-
pies, and that to accomplish this, the
bourgeoise and poasantrv must be
crushed out, and ''the workingman"
made lord of all. This. you will observe,
is no new idea. It is simply putting in
practice the theories advanced at every
Congress of the Internationale which
has been held since 1864. In france,
the one great obstacle to the realization
OF these theories was the peasantry. 1t
is impossible to convert them to Com
munism. Very we'll, then, let them be
crushed out beneath the heel Of the uni
versni Republic.
In MI the great towns, the ''working-
man. was in, majority; let the: grent
towns be taken by the workingm m, and
let the great towns govern the country.
This is the sum and substance Of what is
meant by the Commune as expounded
by its present apostles. Paris, they
announce, ".n her own name and in the
name of Lyons and Marseilles, and of ten
other large towns, will study the clauses
of the contract that bind them to the
nation, and lay down an ultimatum to
tho treaty which they intend to sign-a
treaty guaranteeing the autonomy and
municipal sovereignty of tho cities, the
freedom Of the connections between the
Commune and the National Assembly,
and an electoral law by which the towns
cannot be swamped by tho country
When you look little closer into this,
you will see that the whole thing re-
solves itself into class warfare. The
fons ct origo of tho whole affair is trades
unionism. In the eyes Of the members
of the Internationale. the workman is
alone to be regarded. and lie is bro
ther, be his nationality what it may.
The French employer and the French
consumer. ia their eyes. is an nlien and
q stranger; tbs Swiss, English, Belgian,
or even German workman. is n brother
The Internationalo has sought to unite
the workmen of every nation in a league
against every one who is not q workman
"a workman, that is, in their sense.
They don't want a Republic such rs you
havo in America, or such as NJ. Thicrs
proposed to have hero They want n
Republic in which they shnll be the mas
ters and every ono else their slaves.
This is the Communc-a government
which is gigantic trades union
The latest fashion tlictum issued in
England is tho establishment of the
oid-fashionei ''tca fights" which occur
at 5 Z. NJ. They arc said to be rapidly
supcrscding late parties and are we'll
attended by gentlemen who arc fond Of
spending tho late hours at their clubs.