Sharp County record., 1878-06-28
Communism.

brotherhood and equality. The word
ConlmuntS became popular among the
early Latin Christians, and even named
that Last Supper, where high and low,
rich and poor, met in common, all be-
ing on an equality. But as the name of
the devil once implied an "angel of
hight, so other names, of parties and
virtues, are wont to move away from
their first usage, and become the rehg
lous cloak which conceals the shameless
hypocrite. In old deSpOtisms, Commun-
ism once represented the efforts to eS-
cape contiScation and taxation which
was only robbery by thug instead of
a bandit. In America, where property
has not been gathered by despotism, by
injustice, but only by an industry free
alike to all, Communism throws away
its early significance, and, instead of
meaning an equality or brotherhood, it
signifies robbery. In using the word
COnlnluaiS, the livery of a saint is put
on for the service of the devil.
In France, in the Revolution, Com
munism found some palliation in the
awful wars and draining taxes and spo-
liations which attended royalty; but
when such philosophy crosses the sea,
and attempts to plant itself in a repub-
lie where all paths of industry and
riches are open alike to all, and where
the people rule, and where a pensioned
aristocracy is unknown, it becomes at
once a code of piracy, and under its dag
he who was once philanthrOpist and
patriot becomes only a buccaneer.
The human mind is remarkable in its
ability to be led captive by a term. A
man who would decline to be a pirate,
might yet, under some other name, per-
form all the exploits Of a Captain Kidd.
Thus, under the name of CELEBRITY" the
blood was shed in France which gave
history the Reign of Terror. Boss
Tweed would himself have disliked the
cOgnOmen of thief" but lived the per-
feet life OF one under the name of poll
tician. Men take infinite delight in a
virtuous motto for flag, and, that be-
ing inscribed, they fail to see the infer
nal quality Of the actions done under
the flag. The word Communism may
once have applied some good, but in
America it means crime. 1t means
property and power by way Of anarchy
and theft, instead of by means of faith
full labor. AS in a populous nation
there are q hundred thousand men who
would rather steal than depend upon
labor for support, so there are million
or less, or more, who would rather reap
in gain from a revolution, or from riot,
than from a shop or a harvest field. In
our land Communism is word which
represents this discomfort with order
and this hope in anarchy. Communism
is anarchy and spoils, wearing the dis
guise of brotherhood.
The truth is, America can know but
one form of Communism, that is the
brotherhood of industry. All are alike
in the blessed philosophy of work. No
despot is here to confScate earnings !;
there is no salaried family or church.
Man has no enemy except his own indo-
lence. The brotherhood of industry
covers the land from Atlantic to Pacific !;
and hence Communist, in the extreme
sense of the word, is not a philoso-
pher, but only an idler. Whatever vir-
tue that name may have in England,
where one man holds 10000 acres which
some ancestor stole from some enemy,
it has no honorable import on this con-
tinent, where all can have land, and
where all titles repose not upon old
crime and force, but upon all the pos
sible forms of honor.
What will our land do with socialism
should it resort to violence? Most
probably it will crush every effort on the
part of this insane theory. The majority
of the population are prOperty-holders,
and hence those who will defend the
home will outnumber those who will as
sail it. Communism can hope for tri-
umph only in a nation where an aris-
tocracy holds the lands, and where,
hence, the people feel outraged by un-
lust taxation and unjust poverty. 1t is
probable, but not certain, that our ma
ton will be easily equal to what seems
a coming crisis, for if there be State
in the world that is unable to deal with
criminals of any and all grades, that
State would seem to be our Western Re-
public. But the people have all along
known that justice is, and has had its
secret thought about defaulters,
and rings, and robbers, and murderers,
and hence, in some future day of a com
mune mob, it may perceive its duty even
when the State is without an army and
is intent only upon office and its emolu-
ment. The people are better than the
State.
While indeed the only brotherhood of
the land is that of industry, many new
means should be employed for carrying
men, old and young, over from idleness
to work, and from railroad building and
hod-carrying to agriculture and manu-
facture. All public schools should
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