The Labor enquirer., 1884-04-05
DYNAMITE is strong to-day at 4Sc,
TrIE cINoINNATI RIOT.


terrible not. The subject of the Cincin-
natl trouble is-fresh enough in the minds
of the people to remove any necessity
for recital of the unfortunate affair at
this time ) but as considerable has been.
said in thfs capitalistic press attempting
: to lay the blame of the outbreak and its
terrible results where it does not belong,
desire tc: say few words on that head.
And. then, there are several lessons to
be learned from this affair, one or two of
which I desire to cite.
! The first lesson to be learned is that a
large per ,;ent of the people of this coun-
try have l'ecome SO thoroughly disgusted
with the present law and have SO little
confidence in, the class of men who are
supposed to execute that law, that it
, needs but aspark, properly famed, to
obtain a public demonstration Of con-
tempt, AMI forcible protest The simple
fact that the jury in the Berner case
failed to find the prisoner guilty of muir
derin the first degree was not the reason
for !he riot, though their verdict was the
match which lighted the inhamable pile
already pat together.
Neither is it correct to say that the
outbreak was wholly the result of the
continued laxity in the administration
of criminal law. The wrongs which the
people have to avenge are not confined to
the looseness of criminal courts and
juries, There are pages upon pages of
wrong-doing, injustice, cruelty, oppres-
sion and crime to be balanced up, and
affairs like that of Cincinnati show that
the misery bred of these things will
sooner or later beget IN the hearts of
wronged and suffering people desire
for revenge. Such riots show that the
systems under which we suffer have
soUn the seeds of revolt, and that they
are liable to spring up and burst into
full blossom upon the least provocation.
The Cincinnati riot may be taken as
fore-runrer of what is to come, if the
defpoilers and oppressors of the people
donot see in it warning to be needed
-s,nd heed it.
make these assertions in the begin
ming to show that do not take any mar
row view of this subject, while protesting
against the charges made by some of the
daily press that the riot was the result Of
Socialistic doctrine and agitation. pro
nolnce that statement false from the
foundation, and l feel as well qualified
to make The positive denial as those who
die so are to make the charge.
That there we're Socialists IN the mob
is certain because it would be almost
impossible to concentrate. indiscrimin-
ately body of eight thousand or ten
Thousand discontented and determined
men in any city in America without
having Socialists in the crowd-thanks
to the rapid spread of the Soclalistic
teachings. But that the movement was
planned Dr headed, at any stage, by genu-
inc Socialists l feel perfectly safe in
denying.
The editors who so freely charge every
disruption:and expression of violence to
Soialists are damned scoundrels or fools.
A man may be thorough Socialist and
be bitterly opposed to revolutionary
methods of effecting reforms. Socialism
is theory-the same as ''republcanism"
or dem ocracy," and one may have
sufficient knowledge of social and po-
litical economy to fully endorse the
SocialistiC idea of government and be as
law-abiding and peaceable as another
citizen. II the writer's in the daily press
would use the words "Revolutionisto or
Terrorist, instead of Socialist, they
wo1ld show more honesty, or less igno-
rarce.
1t may be true that the Revolutionist
is also a Socialist; but it is not true that
all Socialists are in favor of force meas
ures in this country-at present. The
facr that advanced Socialists believe in
revolutionary measures for the reinstat-
ing of the peoples rights is argument in
favor of the doctrine. Is not the fact
thst our colonial parents revoted against
despotism and fought for American
liberty" trotted out every day in the
year as kind of proof of the superiority
of !he government they achieved over
that against which they rebelled? If
theory is such that men will lay down
their lives to bring it into practice there
must be great good in it. In considering
this feature, remember that the Social
istic doctrine does not benefit any special
class at the expense of another; but is
eqrally good for all mankind-those who
understand and believe in it, and are
tea,hing it, and those who are opposing
it.
another feature repudiating the charge
that Socialists are mobites, is that we do
not believe in the destruction of property
produces of labor-but teach that it
should he husbanded and protected,
for the benefit of society. Socialism
may be responsible for the realization
that portion of the people have that
they are being robbed of their just dues
under present systems, and in so far be
uns.nsweIable for the mutterings and
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