The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-04-24
FROM MICHIGAN.
PONTIAC. April 10. 1879

PONTIAC. April 10, 1875.
To the Editor Of the woEkNoNAS's ADvooa4.
There nov and then sour, IN the his
tory of nations vents as startling aud
unlocked !Jr, 50 apparently impossible,
~nl influencing such large masses Of peo-
pie simultaneously. that they may be
termed national epidemics. In their
mllder forms they merely overthrow polit-
zeal parties. They seem to proceed origin.
ally from small causes, and progress-no
one knows how, until individuals and gov
ernments are alike overwhelmed in the
crash. All revolutions are Of this charac-
ter No one supposed that the action of
the British government would lead to our
Declaration of Independence Still less
was 1t contemplated that the French revo.
luton would take place. and the monarchy
am arlstocracy Of ages be hurled into
rum The mutiGy at the More, also.
where 10000 seamen arose in revolt and
deposed their officers, in defiance Of the
despotic discipline to which they were sub
Iected, is a memorable instance of the epi-
demic cooperation.
There il IN the breast Of every man a
distinction between right and wrong, lib.
erty and tyranny. Powerful rights NAV
oe outraged to a certain extent by classes
and governments With impunity, but there
IS finally limit to endurance. and reyolts
naturally ensue when these bounds are
passed. Originally based Oh justice, these
outbreaks become terrible instruments Of
retribution.
No one supposed at the beginning Of our
late war that there would be fighting; but
the conflict -ame suddenly, and caused
immense sorrow and loss, and decided
the fate 4 chattel slavery" It was a
national epidemic
Are there to-day no other hidden causes
Of discord and strife at work in the repub.
hc BY strange fatality, governments
and ruling classes are the last to discern
coming storms, or they would discover pcr-
tents Of final struggle everywhere be-
tween capital and labor between the
wages slave and the power he tolls for.
The despotism of government is one
evil-we overthrow that at the Revolu-
ton. Chattel slavery is another great
wrUng-the late war put All end to that.
The obstruction OF chattei slavery natur-
ally opened the way for the discussion
and extinction of wages slavery So far
as the results to labor are concerned, the
two forms Of slavery are synonymous.
The chattel slave and the wages slave are
alike held as outcasts and interiors, alike
rear colossals Of wealth for others to enioy
are alike an element 70 be kept in subjec-
ton by governmental force, police and
prisons
The fate of those who held the cnatteI
slave to service ought to be warning to
those who keep the wages slave in subiec-
ton. E,ch system is but A variation Of
the old feudal slavery and the ''divine
rights Of despots, and the same public
opinion that destroyed the one will put
an end to the other. No douot mutter-
ing preceded our own and the French Rev
oiutIon. The distant thunder is ALWAYS
heard in advance OF the storm. The fab
nc OF force, which governments trust to.
gives away in tie hour cf trial, and assists
Ia destroying what it was intended to pro-
tect. The labor movement has been NUT
tering for half q century, unheeded by
governments and despised by the upper
class. Capital, like government, puts
forth its ultImatum of unconditional sub.
mission. What chance has the toiIing
seTf for etfectual resistencel The horizon
OF capital is bounded by past struggles.
Its possibilities are common place But.
as Great Britain had never lost a COLONY
by revolt, as France had never Witnessed
the destruction Of its titled classes by the
populace, and a. We had never seen chat
tel slavery violently put an end to by civil
war, how, therefore, is it possible to ex-
pect a gigantic instruction of the wages
class, and the establishment of a new So
clal order
Progress goes on by steps and one ad-
vance naturally leads to another These
social catechisms are not dependent on I'm
easy individuals. but grow out of the laws
development. They operate through
national epidemics, in which masses Of men
are actuated by one impulse, and perme-
ated by one idea, whether political OF re-
hgious deaf to all sophistries, fearless of
all force, and reckless Of all consequences