The Labor enquirer., 1886-06-26
Past and Present Influence of
the Struggle on the Banks
of the Seine.
The Peryersity of That Myseri-
GUS Thing Called 'Pub-
lie Opinion"
The Commune Has Become a Rally.
ing Point For Socialists Of
Every Shade.

celebrated Iue Iall OF Cne commune, anC
the massacre of its valiant defenders.
may sound strange to talk of celebratin.
an event of this nature save by the enc
mics of the cause" But we use the
term advisedly. The phrase, "the blood
of the martyrs is the seed of the church, u
has never been exempli6ed more
strongly than in the powerful impetus,
amounting almost to new birth. which
the Socialist movement acquired from
the date when the Commune of Paris
was extinguished in blood and fame.
How many conve:ts to Socialism may
be traced to the heroic struggle of May
1871, will probably never be known.
Yet how different were the working
classes of this country at the time! We
can vividly recall to-day how inexpllca,
BILE it seemed to US that everybody in
London should be going about their
business or pleasure as though nothing
were happening, while this colossal
tragedy was being enacted within ten
hours journey of them. One more in.
stance this of the strange lack of all
proportion in the relative importance
attached to historical events by those
contemporary with them. To the En-.
glishman of May, 1871, the suit of the
Tichborne claimant was an event Of
vastly greater interest than the inaugu,
ration of the final stage of the great class
struggle being fought out on the banks
Of the Seine. This seems ridiculous
even now, yet such was the case.
But what produced the most lasting
impression upon the present writer was
the hideous and terrible abvss of bru-
tality and vileness suddenly revealed in
that public opinion" which one ha d
been accustomed to regar1 in som, sort
as the embodiment of morality. Here
were respectable men ofthe world an d
their organs in the press, contemplating
without the slightest expression Of hor-
Tor wholesale, cold booded AID wantOn
murders, and heaping boundless cOu-
tumely on the victims. Aud wnat had
the victims done? Made a Revolution
taken up arms against an established
government. Had not others done this
before? Had not the GaribaldiS and the
kossuths led reyolts against established
governments, and yet we're they not
feted instead of vituperated by the SINE
public opinion ?" This strange per-
yersty must surely have shaken many a
ones faith in human nature as EN-
bodied in the ruling classes, even before
he detected its root to consist in fury
against those who, consciously or uR'
consciously, we're seeking to unnermine
the selfish greed and class.tyranny in
which they were all-liberal, conserva.
tives, monarChists, republicans alike
estedlY interested.
When once the truth of Social Evolu
tion was RECOGNIZED, light was, o
course, shed upon the attitude Of 'pubLlC
opinion" The enormity Of the insur
rection of the Commune above all other
insurrections in the eyes of "publlc
opinion" was then seen 10 consist In
the fact of its beng the audacious revolt
of the exploited against the expIoiter
not of one section Of the exrloitlns
classes against another, o. against some
special clique, which would be right
enough. but actually of the producers o
social wealth as a class against thei
masters, the owners of it as class. The
line of cleavage was thus drawn between
non. .possessor and pOasessor. Before
such Revolution "public opinion" re
Coiled with horror.
1t was interesting to wat h the din
Guilty the bourgeois press found itself II
3 for black pigments in which to dauo th'
Commune. The Commune had to b
painted as malignlty and barbarlty in
carnate. But the insurgents v ere
foolishly good natured and easy goln'
that not single act which could bea
the imputation of even severity or rlgo
could be adduced after the execution
ofLecomte and Clement Thomas. Thes'
of course were made to do dutv for ex
citing public opprobrium as long as Dos
sible, but they would not last foreve
The two worthless of the Rue des Roster
began to look rather foolish beside tn
thousands of prisoners daily slaughtered
in cold blood by the Versaillalse. In
situation was really very aWkWar
Blatant lying and vituperation may
long way, but there is limit even
the effectiveness of lying, in most case
where there is no fact which the utmos
ingenuity can twist into pointing u
moral or adorning the tale. In this Il
stance, it is true, the most clumsy e1
erclse of pennY-s-lining invenhVeneE
would probably have more than suthce
for the emergency.
But 10 news arrives of the executlo
of the hostages WHO ought, according
the established laws of war, to hay
been execrted long before. Here, thel
is the very thing. NJ. Theirs rubs h
hands; there is Joy i'll the tents of tt
bourgeois. The governing class wou