The Labor enquirer., 1884-05-03
The New international.
] ustice, london England.

lose; you have world to win
| The New international.
Justice, Nondon England.)
The question of Socialism is world
wide, and the workers of the wsrld are
beginning to be aware of the fact. 1t has
long been the game of the classes in pos
session to- obscure this truth, and by
rousing foolish and futile animosities of
race to throw dust in eyes that were
gradually awakening to aim discern
ment of the true interests of the produ-
GERS of wealth. International organiza-
tions are no new thing. Throughout
Europe and America the Catholic church
extends impartially it's manifold ramifi-
cations. The international organization
of credit, commerce. and exchange ena-
bles the capitalists of every country to
join hands in the congenial task of ex-
ploitation, while the sweat Of Egyptian
| fellaheen and the toll of workers in
Peru alike pay perpetual toll into the
capacious pockets of the proft-m ongers
of Lombard street, and feather the nests
of the birds of prey which have their
perches in the neigh borhood of the royal
exchange. The International post is
merely thread in the meshes of the net
which the capitalists have wound and
woven about the world International
organizations are plentiful enough, but
as yet they are all on one side, and that
is the side of the enemies of the inter
ests of the producing class. One attempt
has indeed been made to organize the
forces of the proletariat on an interna-
tional basis, but the fears of the middle
class were speedily aroused, the capital
lists were quick to take alarm, and the
tender mercies of the bourgeois when he
is frightened are cruel in the extreme.
Laws were hurriedly passed to suppress
the unholy alliance of the people, strifes
and dissensions were stirred and TO-
mented, and, attacked by enemies from
without and enemies from within, the
old international fell to the ground. But
the movement is again afoot. The
workers are beginning to realize the fact
that the interests of their class are abso-
lutely identical in all countries and all
climes, and that they do not consist in
the elaborate organization of mutual
massacre at the will of the swindlers and
the stock jobbers of the exchange.
The seventh congress of Socialists held
at Roubai1 was national in name, but
international in character and sympathy.
No one who was present at its meetings
and heard the hearty cheers which rang
through the large hall on the reading of
the letter from the German Socialists,
and burst forth in reiterated shouts of
applause at the appearance of the En-
glish delegates on the platform can, for
a moment, doubt that the assembled au-
dience of French operatives we're eager
to emphasize the fact that they have
no quarrel with their fellow-workers in
any quarter of the world. Their unani-
nous demand for international labor
legislation to restrict the greed and
loosen the grasp of their common enemy,
the capitalists, is sign that they at last
recognize the exigencies of the situation.
1t remains to be seen what will be the
answer of the bourgeois governments to
their appeal. The character of their de-
mands was studlously moderate, and the
value of such moderation may be cor
rectly appraised by the success with
which it meets. We are not sanguine oi
the result; but whatever it may be, il
will at least convince the workers that
the only victory in the great. war, the
presentiment of whose approach already
overshadows the world, lies in answer
ing the international appeal and obeyinG
the command to unite. The fable of the
bundle of sticks need hardly be repeated
The forces which, taken singIy, can be
easily snapped asunder by the capital
lists hand, form an irresistible powe
when bound together by internationa
: organization. ]. L. JoYNEs.