The Labor enquirer., 1886-01-02
oosDUorED ON THE PRIroIrLE.

and being firmly convinced that no
purer-minded man. exists among US than
he, find myself compelled in this case
to differ from him in toto. Events have
recently been educating US here ex-
tremely fast, and have forced us to con-
slider, and repeatedly reconsider, our
course with the most scrupulous care.
The conclusions we came to were
reached after the most deliberate con-
sultation, we're acted up to consistently
throughout the convention, and have
not been swerved from a hairs breadth
since. / desire to lay them before your
readers as briefly as possible. 1t must
be understood that am writing this on
my own responsibility, being satisfied
from previous conversations that it ex-
presses the views ofat least the majority
of my Socialistic colleagues in that con-
ventlon.
Z. We consider that the whole Socialist
movement is TO be regarded as strug-
gle, the question at issue being neither
more nor less than this: "Shall this
really be government by and for the
people or shall it remain, as at present,
in reality government by the favored
few, by which the wealthy alone profit z"
This we, conceive to be actually the
struggle which, under various titles, is
going on in every civilized country; the
demand of the people to govern them
selves and regulate the affairs OF the
community for the common good. II
this is really the struggle in which we,
as Internationalists are engaged; If we,
are endeayoring to bring to birth true
democracy, it appears, to me at least,
that the duty, of all ots..---.sn ost incum-
beas ON us IB TO uphold stne Declaration
Of Independence in its assertion that
this is government by and for the peo-
pie, and to insist that when the people
have distinctly issued mandate, that
mandate shall be obeyed. How firmly
Wendell Phillips grasped this as the un-
deriving principle of our civilization
may be'seen by any who will take the
trouble to turn to his speech on "Har-
per's Ferry"
Taking this then as the principle, let
US consider the emergency with which
we in California are being forced to deal.
A labor convention is called to consider,
above all other subjects, the Chinese
question, an issue, mark YOU, which has
been thrust upon us greatly against our
will. We delegates attend, as everv man
must attend any meeting, in two capaci-
ties-frst, as individuals; second, as
members of the democratic whole-the
commonwealth. AS individuals we are
entitled TO isolate ourselves, pass our
private criticisms, and SO forth as mem
bers of the body polite we are not only
bound to move with the body. but also
to assist that body in asserting its right
to move in the direction which it sees
fit to take Those who have grasped
the idea of society as an organism, an
idea expatiated on at great length in all
our leading Socialist publications, will
see the cogency of this argument.
Such was the line of thought and
action we adopted. As individuals we
conceived it to be our duty to point out
to our fellow delegates the shoulders
upon which the responsibility for the
presence Of the Chinese ought to rest.
We pointed out again and again that
the Chinaman was slave, that being
ourselves wage slaves we ought not to-
quarrel with him, andswe fixed the re-
sponsibility upon the city officials and
the owners of property occ cupied by
Chinese, who haYe the power to remove
the Chinese without shedding one drop
of blood, and who, by their failure to
exercise that power, are traitors to the
democratic principles Of the government
under which we live. In taking the
line ofresponsibtlitY of wrong doers to
the public we are following directly in
the tracks of Wendell Phillips and the
abolition movement, and as a fuller
proof of the deliberatlon with which we
have acted l will cite the English Com
monweal of November, 1885. /, myself, |
had written to William Morris detailing
the situation here, and in the aRecord of |
the International Movement" drawnup
by Eleanor Ayeling, the daughter of
Karl Marx, numerous quotations from
my letter are given. Mrs. Aveling then
comments as follows "Our correspond.
ent goes on to say how the Chinese
question is one oftheir greatest difficult
ties. We understand the difficulty in
some respects, but surely that will be
lessened when our American Socialists
explain that not the Chinese but the
sxploiters who import them are to
Dlame-that the latter not the former
should be attacked" That, sir, is pre-
;isely the course that We Socialists pur-
'ued, and il has naturally brought an ay-
lanche of abuse upon rs from the capi-
alistic press.
Do the people ofthis coast demand the