The Labor enquirer., 1886-03-27
But first let me take to my mother,
Who lives by the wine-shop there,

Who lives by the wtne-shop there,
My fathers watch. You see it?
A gay old thing, is it not9
It would please the old lady to have it;
Then I'll come back and be shot"
'That is the last we shall see of him."
The grizzled captain grinned,
AS the little man SKINNED down the hill,
Like swallow down the wind.
For the JOY of killing had lost its zest *
In the glut of those awful days,
And Death writhed, gorged like greedy
From the arch of Pere-la. .Chaise.
But before the last platoon had fired,
The child's shrill voice was heard: E
"Hoop.la! The old girl made such row
feared should break my wordr'
Against the bullet-pitted wall
He took his place with the rest
A button was lost from his ragged blouse, s.
Which showed his soft, white breast.
"Now blaze away, my children,
With your little one-t~o-thre
The chesspots tore the stout young heart,
And saved-spcietv!
Yet in this country the principal thing
that we heard of was the massacre of
the hostages by the Commune; and
dawdling, toadying journalists and nov.
elists are telling us yet of the wiid-eyed,
bloody-handed mob which ruled Paris
for several weeks. 1t is true that two
generals were killed on the eighteenth
of March, by an Irresponsible mob, con-
sisting Of provincial soldiers. and not of
Parisians and it is also true that the
archbishop of Paris and his fellow priests
were murdered in the prison La Ro-
quette, but this was after the Commune
was attacked, and the city was given
over to wild fighting, riot and a.ssehs.
tsa.aeeasations have done, so much to
injure the workman's cause throughout
the world, that We cannot more usefully
commemorate the anniversary of the
Communs-thsnsbyrensindins the world
that Generals Thomas and La Comte
were shot four DAYS before the Commune
existed and tsst it had ceased to exist
when the archbishop and his fellow
priests were murdered. The, lawS on
hostage. as promulgated by the Com
mune, is the most humane law that has
ever been issued by an authority in time
of war; and no order was ever given by
the Commune to shoot thepriests. The
treacherv and revolving barbarity Of the
Versailles government fully justified
such retaliation, but as matter of fact
it was not attempted BY the Commune.
The hostages were lynched by mob
after the Commune had been formally
dissolved and this mob, is, stated on
good evidence, to have been 'ged on
by ex-imperial policemen in disguise.
Never had there been So little disorder,
80 much freedom, so complete an alb
sence of crime, as when the working
classes of Paris held the reins OF govern
ment. This has been acknowl dyed by
English and American conservatives
who were In the city at the time. Frank
Pixley, editor of the San Francisco Ar.
gonaut, was present in Paris during the.
Commune, and ssaut-siE ysers-xEo he
published what he called his observa-
tions during the memorable days of H.
The Argonaut is now a venomous orean
of the capitalist class and denounces and
abuses the social movement. The arti-
Gle of Pixley's from which I shall quote
was written before he was hired to sup
press the truth. shall quote rather ex-
tenslvely, because we cannot bring too
much of such testimony, from such
source, to bear upon the minds of the
people we are irving to enlist in the war
for labor's rights. Said Pixley:
IT was present in Paris during the en-
tire period that the Commune held sway.
1 was there from the day of the entry of
the Germans until the army of Versailles
DESTROYED the Commune, bv the death
of 10000 citizens who fell in battle in
the streets of the capital of France. I
saw that great city of Central Errope
held for five weeks by the men Of
Vilette, Montmarte and the Faubourg
st. Antoine, by the artisans and laborers,
who for the first time in seventeen wears,
had the opportunity to bear arms. There
was the bank of France, with its boarded
wealth of coin, the house of Rothschilds,
the bank Of the Hope Of Amsterdam;
there we're the great magazines and
store-houses filled with costly fabrics :;
shops with jewels of untold value, pal
aces with costlie It gems of art pictures
and marbles of inestimable price. There
was a vast population which had for
months endured hunger, privation and
distress. The gendarmerie had been
driven out and there was no other gov
eminent than that of the Commune
And'yet during five weeks-weeks of
menace from without and suffering
within-I saw and heard of no single
act Of pillage or murder. They may
have been wrong and misguided, but
that they were thieves, murderers and
incendiaries l most Indignantly deny.
During five weeks saw no act of van
dalism saw no plunder-I saw organ
ization and order.
During the week of GOVERNMENT VIC
tory, l saw scenes of unparalleled bru.
tality. 1. saw a hundred inexcusable