The Labor enquirer., 1886-05-15
LONDON sooIALrsrs' OPINIONS,
What the Leading Men OF the Scot alist
Movement I'm England Think
OF the Chicago Trouble.

LONDON, Nav 6-Conversation with
representative Socialists and labor agita,
tors here reveals the fact that they con.
slider the Chicago riots t, have been pro,
voked by arbitrary acts on the part of
the authorities. This view has doubtless
been fostered by the dispatches received
by cable, which indicate that several
strikers we're killed by the police the
day before the dynamite outrage, and
also that no overt act had been COM
mitted at Tuesday nights meeting up to
the time the police ordered it to dis
perse.
Burns, who took leading part in the
Hyde park riots here few months ago,
is especially bitter IN condennIng the
Chicago police. lie declares that If free
speech and the right of assembling in
public is to be denied in America the
the much vaunted institutions of that
country are no better than the oppres-
sive laws of Europe, and the people
must naturally assert their rights by
whatever means they can command.
Hyndman, the leader of the Socialist
party, spoke freely on the subject. He
said: II have no sympathy whatever
with Anarchist tactics, but the Chicago
police are VIGOROUSLY brutal. 1t is
almost civil war, which is most un.
timely for the general economic move
ment in favor of Socialist ends"
"But would you under any circum-
stances defend an action like that of the
Chicago Anarchists ?"
Certainly, ifthe right Of free speech
is interfered with by the police"
Are you personally acquainted with
anv leading Anarchists in Chicago ?"
mo. but Chicago is the very city
where, having visited it several times, l
should expect such an outbreak. The
capitalists there are more sensual aud
more beastiaI in their vices than per-
haps any city in the world. The workers
therefore see that the wealth wrung out
of their labor is prostituted to its basest
ends"
But what is exactly the relation be-
tween the Social Democrats of which
you are the head in England and the
views and forces thus shown to exist in
Chicago ?"
I'VE are altogether opposed to what
Anarchists cal the propaganda of deed
which practically puts the whole move
ment at the mercy of few crazy or
corrupt individuals We do not disguise
that an organic ID force may have to de-
eide the issue between labor and capital,
but we know right we'll that the people
are not yet sufficiently educated to con-
troll the complicated economical forms
of our present societV-that i, to social
ize, which means production in the In
terest of the whole community. We
strive to bring about peaceful Reyolu-
ton if possible, in this sense, with the
consent of the well-to-do classes them
selves"
you have, think, sent an emissary
to the United States recently ?"
Yes, James Blackwell, compositor,
went at his own expense in order to keep
Justice, our newspaper, fully advised
concerning this most i'm portant struggle" ."
DO you expect to visit America on
any similar errand ?"
Il have some thoughts of putting my
self in the hands of lecture agent to
deliver series of addresses upon the
present condition of Great Britain and
Ireland, as we'll as "reminiscences of Rev.
olutlOnlsts | have known"