The Labor enquirer., 1884-02-09


No part of the people can exercise the
power of the whole people but the wish
| it expresses ought TO be respected ss q
wish of part of the people which ID to
concur in forming the general will.
Every act against the imprescriptible
rights of man by whomsoever exercised
even in the name Of the law itself and
within the forms it prescribes- every
such act is arbitrary and void. The very
respect due to law forbids submission to
it, and if the attempt be made to execute
such act by violence or by artifice, it is
not only permitted but enjoined upon
every individual to repel such assaults,
even by force. Resistance to oppression
is q necessary consequence of the other
rights of man. There is oppression
against the social body whenever'one
alone of its members is oppressed.
There is oppression against every mem
Der of it when the social body is OPP
pressed. When the government violates
the rights of the people, insurrection is
for the people and for every portion of
the people the most sacred of rights and
the most indispensable of duties. When
the social contract fails to protect citi-
zen he resumes his natural right to de-
fend personally all his rights. In either
of the two preceding cases, to subject to
legal forms the resistance to oppression
is the last refinement to tyranny, and is
both infamous and void.
XIV.
Public functions cannot be considered
as distinctions nor as recompenses, but
as public duties, The people ought, as
far as possible, to govern themselves
without the interposition of delegates or
representatives But when these repre-
sentatives are necessary they must be
selected by such a system as will insure
their being real and not pretended mi
crocosms of their constituents. The
crimes of such representatives should
be severely punished. The people have
a right to know the operations of their
delegates, and it is the duty of the latter
to render to the people a faithful ac-
count of their behavior.
XVI. ..
Men of all countries are brothers, and
the people of each ought to yield one
another mutual aid, according to their
ability, like citizens of the same state.
He who opposes or oppresses one peo-
pie is the declared enemy of all. Those
who make war on people to arrest the
progress of liberty and to annihilate the
rights of man ought to be pursued every
where, not as ordinary criminals, but as
social outlaws, assassins and robbers.
Kings, aristocrats, tyrants of every de-
scription are beasts dangerous to the
welfare of mankind, and against them
should be raised the hand of every man.
XVII.
The conditions which will establish
universal happiness upon earth consist
in the free ENJOYMENT Of the natural
rights of man, combined with the exer-
else of all his faculties upon the highest
plane of mental, moral and physical
worth. The best guarantee of the ex-
istence and perpetuity of these condi-
tions is the loftiest possible elevation of
humanity. There will arrive time, if
progress be not impeded, when govern
nents will be useless. To advance that
time, education seems to be the main
factor. Hence, what prevents or con-
strains the spread of intelligence is tyr
annous and unjust.
XVIII.
Governments, as at present existing
are machines used for the purpose of
enslaying the people. Such machines
should be abolished and society be per
nitted to reorganize upon principles of
equality. The people being too much
governed, all statute or common law,
except broad and simple declarations of
principles and rights, should be abolish
ed. These principles should be inter
o1eted not by infamous precedent, but
BY the light of common sense, to secure
ustice to all.
Neither sex, age, color nor condition
should ever be made barriers against
equal and exact justice.
Suppress the right of increase claimed
by the proprietor over anything which
he has stamped az his own property
while maintaining possession, and by
his simple change law, government,
economy and institutions will be revolu
5ionized and evil be driven from the face
IF the earth.
DECLARATION.
We believe firmly, that as necessary
step in advance to that condition of per-
feet ANARCHY" when governments shall
be no longer needed, it is imperative
that the present competitive system of
industry and the social structure depend
ent thereon be abolished, and that in its
place shall be substituted system of
cooperation in all matters
Of mental, moral and physical construc-
ton and elevation. =
We believe in fact that the present
system necessarily is prophetic of a fu-
ture revolution, which must either result
in a greater and freer condition, or will
plunge our present civilization back into
We affirm that, believing this, it is our
duty to prepare for the impending con-
hict to lead it when it shall break upon
us, and to bend every energy to 80 direct
it as to secure as its result the establish
ment of a proper system of government
tai cooperation.
We affirm, furthermore, that all the
resources of science should be enlisted
in the battle to insure success and the
welfare of the people of the world
We declare further that action ought
to be both international and simulta-
neous. ..
1t will be remembered that in 1872, at
the Congress of the International held