Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1890-03-15
A CENTURY
OF
r EVOL UT|O N.
BY LCCEN SAHIAL.
Copyright, ls90, 10y the Author)
BY LCCEN SAHIAL.
Priest, Warrior, Capitlist, Laborerl


ruled; and he ruled as no one has ever
ruled since-with godlike power. He
spoke and his voice was Gods. He
looked and nations fell PROSTATE.
Then came the Warrior. Drunk and
bloody, tired Of paternal nonsense and
filial submission "Old man." said he,
"my sword is God-if there be God,
HE thee to the temple and crown me
king" And he ruled five thousand years
or more--by divine right.
A century ago rose the Capitalist, his
foot on the Bible, Voltalre in his right
hand: "Thou king" said he, "and thou
priest have long enough owned the
earth. My day has come. Money is
God and Property is King. Henceforth
both of you shall be my servants, eating
crumbs from my table and keeping this
productive monster-LabOr--in subjec-
ton to me-"
And after fierce struggle in which
the human-taced, 0x.imbed simple
minded, hungry monster, maddened by
the cry of Liberty, was let loose upon
the Warrior and the Priest, these two
saved their worthless carcasses by doing
as they were bud to do.
And SO the bourgeois reigned fifty
years in peace and plenty, wasting much
good substance which cost him no.
thing--upon his now devoted servants:
spon the Priest, that property be sacred,
and upon the Warrior, that property be
safe.
But though fifty years had passed and
the monster was chained, that cry of
Liberty still rang in his ear; and seeing
enc day that the now pious bourgeois, in
that good city of Paris where Voltare
was born, threatened his servant king
with punishment for the greediness and
corruption of his court, Labor broke his
chain and crowned himself. That was
on the Gath day of February 1S4S.
1t was a grand day for the poor fel,
low, though short. He, who for
thousands of years had been cuifed and
kicked and chained, and saddled and
loaded and driven, and worked to death
and cursed for his pains, suddenly saw
the Priest, the Warrior and the Capt.
talist doing him reverence. How kind
Of them And he pressed them to his
huge bosom, lovingly, yet gently for
fear of hurting them with those big
sinews of his.
Tired he was and hungry. Taking
off his crown and wiping his brow
"Can you give me some bread p said
he, most humbly.
And the three despots smiled, cum
ningly. Labor, who so long had fed
them, did not yet know that he could
feed himself-and the better without
them.
Enough of that metaphor. friends.
come to plain facts.
1t is now universally admitted that in
the endless chain of phenomena every
event, however spontaneous, is the con
sequent result of an antecedent cause :;
but 1t is not always observed that the
fully achieved result and the original
cause are necessarily as unlike as two
opposites can be. For instance, the
Revolution of 1S4S, however spontane.
Gus, can so plainly be linked to the Revo-
luton of 1889 that superficial historians
are apt to consider both as practically
one In spirit and object. And yet,
though the tiliation be undoubtedly per
feet, it soon becomes evident to the
diligent observer of social forms and
social forces that there is between the
two specific variation SO marked and
so deep that it practically amounts to a
generic difference.
The Revolution of 1889 was made 10y
and for the bourgeoisie, with the aid of
the working people, against the two
classes then exclusively privileged: the
nobility and the clergy. The Revolution
of 1S49 was made by the working people
against the bourgeoisie, which its vic
tory had raised in fifty years to the
pinnacle of privilege.
In other words, SO was the successful
termination of deadly struggle, dating
back many centuries, between indivi-
dualism and absolutism; whereas As
was the first victory of socialism in its
war with individualism-a war declared
on the accession of the bourgeoisie to