The Washington critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1885-1888, 1886-09-01
PARSONS on ANARCHY.


Mr. Parsons the condemned An1rch.
list, though personally he seems to
have proGied but little by Anarchy
and Socialism, dcvotcs much of his
time in prison to writing up these be-
ne6cnt fanaticisms His style is often
erratic, resembling his habits OF
thought, but at times he expresses
himself forcibly and we'll. lie ocoa.
sionally exhibits the fcryor of John
Bunyan, ami now aud Chen hpses into
lUcubrauous tina, tcmml VS. of the late
lamented Guitelu.
In one of bis recent letters ne dwclIs
atelaborato length upon his fayorlte
theories, in the application of which
hc holds would be found ptuacea for
all the evil and injustice there are in
the world. Itis foolish and vain, he
says, TO quarrel with Socialism, for to
do so is to quarrel with history aud the
logic Of events.
Socialism, according to Mr.. Parsons
definition, means "mcnal freedom,
political freedom and industrial free
dom" What we call enterprise an!
conservatism, on the other hand, is but
'the old time piracy of our fathers,
legaizcd and made respectable and
safe" The results of this piracy
that is, of enterprise and progre5s--are
"the homeless, destitute, ragged,
ignorant and miserable"
OF course, he would have no such
thing as capital. This he defines as
"the stored up, accumulated surplus Of
past labor" and is manipulated for the
sole purpose of devising ways and
means to more completely despoil those
who have to work for a living and to
multiply their burdens. While 1t is
itself the product of labor, Mr.. Parsons
tells us that 1t is the function of capi.
tal to appropriate or confiscate for its
own use and benefit the labor product
-.effhe wage.worker." The latter here
in the United States as in all other
countries, under existing institutions,
is nothing but mere machine, work
ing that 1t may get n bare subsistence
and be able TO work on. Thus the
wages of the working people are not
regulated by the value of their labor,
but by a cold calculation of how little
life can be sustained on and the per
petuation of such condition Of thing,
be made sure.
There are but two classes of people
in the world, so far rs Mr.. Parsons ha
been able to discoyer-"thc capitals
class and the wage class, the latter
hereditary servirr class dependen
upon the former for bread, and til,
former dictatorial class, dominating
and exploiting the latter" lie woulC
have no capital accumulated in tn
hands Of few, for he insists that a
long as there is such thing, so lon|
will 1t continue 10 hold down and op
press labor. Through Anarchy an
Socialism, however, Il proper adjust
ment Of conditions would be brough
about and no longer would capita
"grow with TINT which it feeds up,
TO wit: the life the very existence, tn
flesh and blood of the men, women anC
children of toll. "
AS the struggle for subsistence in
tensifies among the laborers so doe
the struggle for profits among the capi
talists; but there will come crisis
when "the dead level of the cost o
production" is reached, and this crisis
Mr.. Parsons believes, is near at hand
Ihen, "the capitalist system being II
longer able to preserve the lives of il
slaves, will collapse-fall of its ow
weight and fail because of its ow
weakness"
Anarchism is nothing If not superf
cial, 1t will be seen that Mr.. Parsou
is one Of the most superficial of its at
yocates, ignoring the great facts of tn
general prosperity of the people of thi
country, based upon interlacing an
constantly shifting relations, in whic
no dead lines between capital and labo
are discernible, and affecting to believ
that only by upturning the fabric 0
social order can the comparatively lin
tied evils, which he so graphically d.
lineates, be remedled only by instt,
ting communistic system Of profit an
possession, which, in the very natu
Of things, is impraclicab.e SO long
differences exist in the intellectual ~
moral construction of mankind NJ,
with capacity for effort may not alga
succeed but men with neither cap
city nor disposition, never,
Anarchist Parsons states some p7i
full truths, but his doiuctilns are f.
lacious. He cannot build up by Il
stroying. lie cannot cure the dereC
Of institutions based upon reason
sspplantng them with institution
based upon visions rnis crisis
predicts will never come 10 the d
struction of capital, for capital is as IL
perishable as the labor of which it is Il
product but even were It possible, "a
fortunately for Mr.. Parsons, he STAN
but Il poor show of living to scc il.
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CHINA has sent nine men ofwar
Corea to watch Russia and prevent h
from establishing n protectorate oy
that country, aud the air Of Europe
full Of rumors that Austria, &c
many and England have formed