Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-11-03
A WASHINGTON LETTER.
Spreading tn eLight of SOCIALISM Per.
severance and Energy at Work.

litical and economic. We have no suf-
frage and no large Industries.
a large proportion of the inhabitants
are those who draw their sustenance
from the public crib--an element which,
AS class, dares not call its soul its own,
and one upon which progressive ideas
are not easily inculcated.
Having no large industries, the vital
promoter of socialism is lacking.
True, many features of modern indus
trial life are here also; large busines,
enterprises are swallowing up the small
ones; land sharks are intensely active;
and the street car driver, the shop girl,
and the maker of the shirt all have their
tale of privation and heartless exploita-
ton to relate.
But still we have not the amount of
terrible squalor and misery and poverty;
of grinding, ceaseless tasks which are
the curse of all modern centres of indus
try, and it is due to this fact that the
laboring element lis still very conserva-
tive, and not as open to the ideas of So
Cialism rs might be desired. Neverthe-
less there is faithful little band of So
cialists here who have been carrying on
their work in quiet way, and when
consider the surroundings in which they
work and the results they have achieved,
can add that they have worked effect
lively. The reactionary wave which in
Germany eliminated in the Socialist Law
i'll the seventies, threw several of its eX
lies into this community, These exiles
were not long in convincing number
of generous and intelligent young men
who had the faculty of seeing that his,
tory Is not process of stagnation, but a
series OF evolution from one state of soci-
ETY. to another, from an inferior to a
superior condition of things, of the
equi y and nationality of the socialist
doctrines, The outcome was the organi
zation of club, under whose auspices "A
number of lectures and debates were
held, with the result of opening the eyes
of many to the new gospel.
Later on the members of this club to a
man became members OF the several
labor organizations, and it Is there
where their influence was perhaps the
most marked. For although they had
in great measure a pretty conserva-
tive element to deal with-and it is quite
a hard matter as yet to IN ke the aver
age Washingtonlan become an dUo,ced
socalist-stlll, with lectures, debates and
informal conversations, and with the
distribution of pamphlets and socialist
literature, our men have succeeded IN
great measure to chew off the sharp
angles of prejudice, as Comrade Ward
expresses it., against our doctrines; yea,
it is due to their influence when you
hear members of the unions getting up
and firing off speeches and TRADES
against the system of capitalism which
the conservative press would surely
brand as "anarchistiC. The leaven
which they have carried into the trades
organizations is working as well as can
reasonably be desired.
Besides these results can also re-
cord the gratifying statement that
number of members of labor or
CARNATIONS have become members
of our club; and what is more,
members who, through their energetic
ability and love for the cause, have
stimulated us to renewed efforts. Two
of them have since left us for other
parts of the union. They have left us
in body but not in spirit, for they are
both actively engaged in missionary
work In their new abOdes.
Our last meeting was very ethusi-
astic one, and new measures for propa-
gandistic work were adopted.
One of our members has taken enough
.,Nfn ~, AF hn
MEMS ADVOCATE, to act as agent for the
same gratuitously. He is a man of bus-
ness like methods, and under his man
agement all that can be done for the
English organ of the S. l.. p. will be
done. He has thus far obtained ten
subscriptions Including all the members
of the club who had not as yet sub
scribed and several outsiders More
over another member of our club has
shown his devotion to the cause by do
mating five dollars to be used in dis
tributing the ADVOCATE gratis for
period of three or six months to such
parties as may in the judgment of the
club become beneficially influenced
towards our principles, and in course of
time perhaps become subscribers.
| wish that all those comrades who
read this may be induced to emulate our
example. No Socialist who has the dol
lar to spare should be without this
paper; all should read it and pass it
around among their friends. under
stand that but small percentage of the
German speaking members keep it. This
should not be, With our members we
should be able to support several English
papers in the United States, and at least
one daily. Our fearless champion of the
rights of the wage worker, merits
hearty support and wide circulation.
II is is ABSOLUTELY necessary that re sup
port orr press, for it is one of the most
potent engines for molding public opin-
ion. FraternalIy. O.