The Labor enquirer., 1886-03-27

shed-as witness he Commun Q, whose
establishment we celebrate tonight. in
augurated peacefully by Overwhelming
maiorities, it remained peaceful until
overthrown by the troops and butchers
of Yersai les. Witness the people at
tempting to peacefully get rid Of the
Chinese in Seattle fred upon and mur.
dered by the armed bandits of law and
order
A popular rising is always in the right
direcuon, but public apathy Is wrong.
Thomas jefferson well said: "The dan
ger ahead does not lie in an armed re-
volt, but in the passive submission of the
people to injustice and oppression"
On that memorable night in '75 when
Paul Revere rode from Boston harbor he
found the yeople armed. Had not the
old Massachusetts, farmers possessed
rifles could Longfellow have written:
"You know in the books you have
read s~ 49,.
How the British regulars fired and fled; r-
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
| From behind each fence and birn yard
WALL
But YOU must not infer from the fore
going that advocate a suddt n, sense
less and objectless uprising. No! First
learn your rights and then demand
them; and be prepared to enforce your
demands! Make no mistake. "The
child of light can only be brought forth
by the stern midwife, STEEL" You who
have read Victor Hugo's address to the
rich know his ideas on this point:
"Have mercy, have mercy, 1 implore you;
but ye will not, know ye all, devils
bred in hell, and dogs with hearts of
stone. up to your golden throne for ages
has gone the cry of misery and despair
and ye he' ded it not; with what meas
ure ye mete, shall 1t be meted you
again" And he further says: "Not to
be slave, is to dare an do"
Then arm, fellow men, that you may
be prepared for the inevitable conflict.
Capital has its army, its militia and its
gangs of hirelIng Pinkarton thugs to en-
force anything that a venaf legislature
and corrupt Judiciary may decree. We
have nothing but the memory of the
liberties for which our fathers fought.
We know the rights of life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness IN name only.
But we have left one inalienable right,
the right to revolt against oppression,
the right to fight. Does this sound
harsh? Remember, it was the Prince of
Peace who said HE that hath no
sword, let him sell his cloak and buy
one." we are suffering under more
grievous burden than did our Revolu-
Itionary fathers and are beginning to
question the right of one man to domi-
nate the life and happiness of others.
At the first demand we make capital
will answer with blow. Are we pre-
pared for contest? The vested rights
Vi CdplGdl WILL uofCl W ouO wv
given rights of humanity without
struggle; are we prepared for that strug-
gle? If not, it is our duty to ourselves
and to humanity that we should pre-
pare and bear in mind our motto, "Who
would be free himself must strike the
: blow"
The address Of Patrick Henry. to- the
colonist representatives at the signing of
the American Declaration of Independ-
ence, was read by Comrade Eye in an
able manner. and was received with
rounds of applause. This speech has
been twice printed in these columns,
and is, therefore, not given here. 1t is
the speech which has been eliminated
from the histories of the Revolutionary
times and has been carefully suppressed
by the capitalist press.
The meeting closed with the whole
audience joining in singing the Marseil-
laise hymn american version), and thus
ended the most interesting meeting ever
he'd by the liberty-loving citizens of
Denver.