The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-25
THE GERMAN SOCIALISTS.
How Bismarck's Anti.s0cialist Law IL
Enforced i'm Germany.

| Berlin Correspondence OF the London Times
About dozen newspapers have been sup
| pressed and about as many more committed
| suicide, preferring death by their own HAND
| to execution by the government. On the first
| day In which the law came into force a list Of
| thirty-tbree forbidden works was published
and that List has been daily augmented by an
average OF six books or pamphlets. Now, 10
most egregious stupidity, which is, OF course,
most unfortunate for the government, for
stupidity. as we all know, is q ost unpardon-
able crime. or that stupidity l will cite the
| following instances: On the first large Index
Expurgatorius" stood q French work, Lissag-
ary's 'Histoire de la Commune" The classes
against whom the Law Is chiefly directed are
not, with very few EXCEPTIONS able to read a
word OF French, and they would, no doubt,
only have known Lissagarays work In a
told, been widely read. This translation was
not on the first forbidden list. and only in
cluded in the prohibited literature one whole
week afterward. Secondly, the executive has
often been unwise enough to give their rea-
sons for suppressing one work or another.
The reasons have continually been ludierOus.
In declaring q certain song interdisted, the
song was spoken Of as aiming, In words and
also In melody, at subverting the existing
conditions Of society. Wagner himself would.
l imagine, find difficulty In composing or de-
filming melody which had such revolutionary
tendencies. On another occasion the execu-
tive suppressed q history Of the plebeian dis
content 10 Rome adducing arguments for the
act little less absurd.
This Is In no way surprising. for every one
IN Berlin knows how splendldy stupid the
Prussian police force is. from It's humblest to
its highest constituent. A short time ago
was talking to a conservative deputy who has
been one of the trainers Of the anti Socialist
law and one OF it's warmest defenders
asked him why some OF the energy OF the
police was not directed toward suppressipg
the vast masses of indecent literature offered
for sale In the most public thoroughfares and
the most brilliant shops in Berlin. He an
swered that the police were really topincapa-
BILE to he ntrusted with such task.
Damaging "a the charge is, the opponents
OF the present regime will have yet Rraver ac-
cusattons to make against 1t when the day Of
reckoning comes. and they are suffered to
speak once more. for they will be able to show
that the government is not acting according
to its own laws. When Count Gutenberg. the
Minister of Home Affairs, was speaking In
favor of the anti-Socialst law, he explained
with great clearness how principles. and not
persons. We're combatted by the measure he
was advocating. Let the Socialists. he said
put forward their opinions in new journals
which were not revolutionary in tone, and the
law would place no difficulties in their way
In strange contrast with these words was the
action of the executive In regard to the staff
OF the Beriiner Freie Ifesse. That newspaper.
having been suppressed. reappeared as the
1dgespost, and was again confiscated. Its
contscation meant the ruin of large num-
Der OF persons namely, of those who had
shares in the undertaking. and of those who
were employed at the press; and the Freie
Pressc had over Il, 900 regular subscribers. 1t
then appeared ION the first OF November as
the Berttner NGchrtChten. The one existing
number Of that journal Is now before me- II
contains no single word which could De inter
preted by the utmost Ingenuity to imply an
aim at subverting the existing conditions of
society. Yet the Brtiner Ndchrichten was
also prohibited.
which the executive Is now guilty is recent
edict promulgated at Hamburg. There the
police. In their zeal to stop Socialist meetings.
have announced that all political meetings
whatsoever are forbidden. Now, this is d.
rect violation OF the German constitution. A
third example may be found Ia the action Of
the police toward the Socialist deputy Kayser.
On his release from prison, a few days ago he
was forbidden to reside In Dresden in any
circumstances whatsoever. One can scarcely
gather any reasons for the prohibition, which
was conveyed in language OF studiously
offensive nature. fourth example | might
quote was the breaking up by the police OF q
concert simply because some Socialists were
among the performers. Perhaps there, how
ever, music was to be performed which aimed
at subverting the existing conditions OF So
ciety
number OF laborers in Strasburg were
sentenced to five months imprisonment each
because they had sung song which had been
In fashion during the war in 1870, and which
spoke, as may well be imagined, uRfiattering-
ly OF the German princes. An apprentice In
Berlin was sentenced to eight months i'm
prisonment for saying that he thought the
Emperor no better than a sergeant, and a
woman named Niemeyer was sentenced to
four years Imprisonment for expressing re-
greet that Modelling had aimed 80 badly.
60
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