The Labor enquirer., 1884-05-10
DECLARATION

Of the Rights Of Man Worthy Of
Every Proletarian's Careful
Perusal.
CoFFIcIAL.1
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION ExECUTIvEl
Rocky MOUNTAIN DIVISION. INTER
NATIONAL WoRKMEN's ASSOCIATION.
Denver, Colorado.
The following Declaration of the
Rights of Man" is ordered published to
the people:
PREAMBLE.
We hold these truths to be self-evident
to all people who have the welfare OF
humanity at heart: That all men and
women are born free and with equal
rights. That they were endowed, by
such birth, by their Creator, and as nee
essary incidents of their existence, with
certain inalienable rights, rights ofwhich
even they themselves cannot divest
/, themselves; and that among these rights
are the right to life and the means Of
living, liberty and the conditions essen
tial to liberty, and the right to the pur-
suit of happiness. That especially emu
merating the subordinate rights flowing
naturally and reasonably from the estab-
lishment of these truths and the princi-
Piles necessary for their perpetuity, we
do publish and declare: N
That the just end OF all political asso-
citation and the only permissible reason
for their existence at all. is the mainte-
nance of the natural and imprescriptible
rights of man and the development OF
all his faculties. nv "
Whatever rights belong to one man
belong to all men equally, whatever diff
ference there may be in. their physical,
mental, or moral force. Equality OF
rights is established bv nature. Society,
20 far from invading it. ought justly to
constitute a security against the abuse OF
force which would render 1t lllusorY.
III.
If it should be found, after careful
trial thereof, that any form or system OF
government or society fails to maintain
the rights of man, then it is not only the
right but the most sacred duty of the
whole people to alte- or abolish the said
system by any and all possible means.
Nv.
Liberty is the power which belongs to
a man of exercising all his faculties at
pleasure. 1t has justice for its rule the
rights of others for its boundaries, nature
for its origin. and the law for its safe
guard.
The right of life, which belongs equally
to all men, carries with it the right to
the means of living. Chief among these
subsidiary rights is the right OF each in
dividual to receive the full product OF
his own labor, without tithe,- tax or dim
mutton, upon any pretext.
VI.
Every individual is entitled to nequal
proportional share of all the natural ad-
yantages of earth. The whole people
should hold heland, light, air and water,
together with other OF natures re-
sources, as the natural heritage IN COM
mon of all mankind, and of his proper
ton thereof no man should ever be de-
prived.
Every individual is entitled to an
equal proportionate share of all the accu-
mulated wealth created by past genera
tions, and that wealth should be held by
society as the natural heritage in COM
mon Of all mankind.
VIII.
Society can deny to those who do not
consent to this system of society, any
share Of the benefits produced by the
cooperation of those who do consent.
1t is but Just that those who will not CO.
operate should receive none of the ben
efits of cooperation.
TX.
Debt, profit, interest, rent and the COM
petitive system of industry are hereby
formally declared proved instruments of
degradation and tyaranny, and cancers
upon the social body. So also are the
present methods of Furnishing crime
rather than preventing it; the present
monetary system; the present method OF
>uflr"ge the present method of educa-
.i,u and the present systems OF !urls-
;.rt,dencc. church and military.
y
The right of peacably assembling; Of
manifesting opinion, whether through
the press or by any other means el the
free exercise of religion of bearing
arms; Of security of person against un-
reasonable search OF seizure, and of com
pete liberty of thought and speech, to-
gether with the right of association, are
Of q
ciples of mans liberty, that the necessity
of declaring them presupposes either the
presence of, or the resent remembrance
of despotlsm.
NJ.
The right of private property can
Justly be. based upon no principle except
that having been produced by the per-
son in possession of it, or upon the pos
SCISSOR having rendered for it the full
equivalent to the one who did produce
it. This rule can have no exceptions
save those created by the unanimous
consent of all members of society.
XII.
So long as members of society shall
fulfill their portion of the social contract
they have right to demand of society
that it provide to them the means neces-
sarv to provide for their subsistence. So
ciety is bound also to insure the means
of existence to those who are incapable
of labor.
XIII.
Absolute justice is the right of every
being. The law is the free and SOL
emn expression of the public will, and
it must be equal for all. Society ought
to favor with all its power the progress
of public reason, and place instruction
and recreation within the reach of every
citizen. The people is the sovereign.
Government is its work and its property ;
the public functionaries are its agents
and officers, and the people justly should