The Labor enquirer., 1886-07-24

stores of oil, gas, and minerals which
the Creator has stored beneath it for
common use, and toe value which the
growth of population gives to land occu-
pied by cities is a violation of natural
Justice, the inevitable result of which is.
TO enable those who do no work to reap
the earnings of those who do; to i'm
poverish the farmer. mechanic and la
borer, while enriching the fore tallers
and monopolist, and, by deprivlng those
who possess only the lower of labor OF
any opportunity to make a living for
themselves, to force them into deadly
competition with each other for the
wages which some employer is willing
to pay" ~..-
In addition to the above the order
also proclaims that "among the higher
duties that should be taught in every
local assembly are mans inalienable in
heritance and right to share, for use,
of the soil, and that the right to life car
ries with it the means of living; and
that all statutes Qawsl that obstruct or
deny these rights, are wrong, unjust,
and must give way"
After reading the above 1 submit to a
candid and intelligent public to decide
if these are not the precise objects and
aims which Socialism has proclaimed
for the past thirty years and advocated
by Socialists and Anarchists all over the
| world ? Such being the case, the Knights
of Labor is simply another name for So
cialists, fact which intelligent persons
understand full we'll. Monopoly of cap
ital means compulsory labor; by it the
free and equal right to use the means of
life is withheld from the people; bv it
privileged class exists and is enabled
to live in luxury and idleness upon the
labor of others; monopoly of capi tai is
created and sustained by statute law.
No doubt intelligent people smile aud
IDLY at the puerile efforts of district
assembly No. "a, Knights of Labor, to
hide their identity and their pusilaui :
nous endeavor to curry favor with the
powers that oe by den uncing "Anarch-
lists and the followers of the red flag" as
the advocates of riot and murder"
AS to the red flag, the wage slaves who
march to the music of labor's economic
emancipation, whatever their national
ity or creed, are repudiated and out
lawed by every flag save the red one.
AS to riot and MURDER" what are
the facts ? Let the record of the "Inter-
national" which ls the Anarchist organ
ization, answer for itself.
The founders of the International
shortly before the latter was organized
in London, England, in 1864, called large
mass meetings of the workingmen to
protest against the war cry of the En-
glish capitalists against the United
States, which was caused by the block
ade of the cotton trade. The lnterna-
tional sent telegram of congratulation
to Lincoln when he was elected and the
defeat of the shareholders became mani
fest. Again, in 1866, when FIance was
about to declare war against Germany,
the International IN France, Germany
and England called large meetings of
workingmen and raised general cry ot
protest.
The International petitioned the En-
glish government IN behalf of the Feni-
ans who were charged with murder and
raised their voices against the shedding
of the blood of these men. Again the
International took an eminent part in
the formation Of the English Reform
league. In 1870 the International in al
Europe and America protested 80 Yehe
mently against the Franco Prussian war
that many of the members were incar-
cerated. But still they kept up their
cry: 1--WE want nc war" In the United
States the International has all along
protested against the brutal murder oi
Workingmen, women and children by
the police as well as by the factory and
mine lords.
The haymarket meeting was a prot est
against the murders which had be ell
committed at Mccormick the day be
| fore.
If this looks like murder and riot
| then put us down as such.
Through the grated bars of my prison
cell there comes from the streets the
noise and din of the Fourth of July
that day which ITO years ago was made
memorable by the p. PROCLAMATION Of the
immortal declaration of the inalienable
Rights of Man. NV ancestors helped
frame that declaration, and sacrificed
and fought to maintain it. They held
that resistance to tYrants was Ubedi-
ence to God" If they lived to-day they,
too, would be on trial for riot and mur-
der" and the scafoid would be thrust
in their faces for disloYaltY toward es-
tablished wrongs.
The district assembly imputes to the
Anarchists the responsibility for the
haymarket tragedy of MAY 4. They do
not seem to comprehend that that affair
like those of East St. Louis, McCormlck's S
factory, Bay View, Milwaukee and else
where, was the natural outgrowth of the
class struggle of the wage system. 80
likewise the spread of Anarchlsm and
the growth of the Knights of Labor re-