The Labor enquirer., 1886-10-16
The STORM.
1t Has Been Prepared by Cen
turies of Oppression and :
Ages. of Misery.
We Are as Unable to Prevent
- the Storm as to Acceler-
ate Its Arrival.
"We, a Handful of Men who See the Gale
Coming, Are Pelted With Stones
for Warning the Careless"

|
We are living 6u the eve of grea
events. Before the end of this century
has come we shall see great Revolution
ary movements breaking up our social
conditions in Europe and probably also
in the United States of America.
Social storms cannot be forecast with
the same accuracy as those which cross
the Atlantic on their way to our shores
But still there are tokens permitting us
to predict the approach of those great
disturbances which periodically visit
mankind to redress wrongs accumulated
by past centuries, to freshen the atmos-
phere, to blow awav monopolies and
preiudlces.
There Is certain periodicity in these
great uprisings of the oppressed. The
end of each of the last five centuries has
been marked by great movements which
have helped freedom to gain gro und IN
France, IN England, in the Netherlands,
in Switzerland and in Bohemia. The
great German historian of our century
Gervinus, saw in this periodicity law !;
while the Italian patriot and philoso-
pher Ferrari, devoting special attention
to the phenomena of evolution, aud
Revolution, tried to explain its causes.
Ex planned, or not, il has been fact for
five centuries past.
No doubt our century will be no eX-
ceDtion to the rule 1t is sufficient to
look around US, to observe. All those
facts which foreShadow the approach of
Revolutions in times past, cannot but
strike the unprejudWe1 observer.
The commercial crisis grows worse
and worse. Millions of workmen
driven awav from the country to the
ever-growing cities, are wandering about
without work. We boast of our gigantic
cities, and unheard of misery grows up
IN those centres where all the wealth Of
the world is spent in an unhealthy lux
ury, amidst the rags and destitutiOu of
the poor.
Nowhere, in no quarter, IS there any
prospect Of improvement The crisis
must grow worse. Having its cause 10
the circumstance that those who pro-
duCe wealth cannot purchase it; that
customers must be sought elsewhere
| than amidst the producers; that for all
such customers ia India, in Africa, and
everyw here else there are two or three
competitOrS--the crisis cannot b8 only
ton of our system Of production must be
made, and it must be made at once; the
sufferers will wait no longer they can
not
The political Institutions in which so
much faitll was put half a century ago,
have proved failure. The huge ma
chinery of the state satisfies nobody and
faith in parliament rule, in suffrage, be
| it limited or universal, Is disappearing.
Even the democratic institutions of the
United States have proved worse fail
ure than all those'of Europe.
"a new departure must be made, -
such is the general outcry.
Meantime a new social force has
grown up in our midst-the workman,
the producer of wealth. A mere in.
crease of wages, mere reduction OF
hours, is no longer the sole demand o.
the workmen of Europe. They 60 far
ther. They perceive how small their
share of the immense wealth they have
produced OF late; how unprotected they
are-even the happiest of them-in the
ups and downs Of our industry how de-
pendent they are on forces beyond their
control, that is, on the needs of custom
ers far away. And they wan to pro
duce for thems Ives the wealth they can
produce with the perfected machinery of
our times.
Every dav increa ,es their longing fol-
equality. The wealth they produce, the
higher enjoyments of science and ar
whirh now thev guarantee to few
they wish to enjoy these for themselves
They wish no longer to send their chill
dren of fifteen or thirteen to the mines
nor see them become servants to ma
chines-machines themselves.
And in proportion as the longing 70
equality and freedom grows; in proper
ton as the workman, becoming NOR
closely acquainted with the rich. per
ceiYes that they are made Of the SAM
bones, muscles, nerves, and brains a
himself; in proportion as the daily press
makes him acquainted with the meal
passions, the narrow views, and th'
vices of his rulers, respect for the Grea
Unknown-theg governnent-dlesa away
the last force which kept our decayinl
institutions standing, veneration, disap
pears. The grey wig of the lawyer be
comes as little impressive as the corone
of the peer and the speech of the prim
t minister.
! The spirit of revolt spreads in tn
masses. The most insignificant circum
q stance becomes the cause of an out
break. This has always been the cas-
on the eve of Revolutions. A chiIdisl
game becomes disturbance, leading t
bloodshed an interference of the poles