Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1890-03-22

In its greed for wealth, in its anxiety
to increase its profits by stimulating the
skill and invention Of its mechanics, the
French bourg geoisie-a assisted by its I'M
perial government, this poor bourgeoi,
sie!-had sent to the London Exhibition
of 1862 number of its ablest wage
slaves. There they met the wage slaves
of England; that il, for the first time the
true England and the true France viewed
each other as they truly were, and in
the fraternal embrace that followed re-
pudiated eight centuries of animosity
and war. They did more: to the amaze
ment of their respective masters they
repudiated theMolloch of competition, lab.
Jured the dogmas of It's economic priest
hood, and swore to stand shoulder to
shoulder against all unholy sacrifices of
human beings upon its altar.
When a truth is anywhere proclaimed,
nothing will keep it from spreading over
the world. The test of true movement
is its tendency to become universal. And
here allow me short depression. Pagan
egotism found its highest expression in
family despotism and exclusiveness.
From political necessity, through sue.
cessive fctions and under many restric-
tions, the family principle was extended
to the City, but no further. Within the
city were recognized as citizens, entitled
to certain exclusive franchises, those
only who, by birth or adoption, were
descended, or supposed to be descended,
from the same ancestor. Outside the city,
no citizen. Therefore Rome was a city;
Carthage was city; Babylon was a
city. All the great empires of ancient
times were cities. Even among the
Greeks "the nation" was unknown.
Under such system human freedom
could not expand. War was the natural
condition, and the mightiest city i'm
posed its law, as in the city itself the
| nightiest family claimed obeia tnce. By
keeping i'll view this state of affairs, we
may better comprehend the purport
and extent of the christian movement.
Tie nnmberless dsfranchised of all
races so called free men without citi-
zenship, liable to be robbed or enslaveu
at any moment by adventurers in search
of booty-acclaimed with enthusiasm
the doctrine that the world was one vast
city, where all must be brothers and
equal citizens, Of course, we know
what became of the church--that city
of God on earth and in heaven-when
Kings and Emperors made themselves
christians, and the priesthood was
thoroughly organized. We know also
what would become of the social move
1 N nl ne ioh
it is directed, were permitted to direct
it. But, while christianity proved gi-
gantic failure in its moral aims, it acted
as force through which new politlGl
order was established. Cities lost teir
autonomy, and the Roman Empiye, in
so far at least as the circumstances of the
time permitted became one nation. Then
came the barbarians. All organization
disappeared, and the world had to be
reconstructed in its very foundations.
The great social architect-Evolution-
had two plans to select from, either Of
which required cutting down and
clearing away, on stupendous scale, of
that huge and tough wild growth to
which, as whole, the name of Feudal-
ism has been given, and which, as you
know, consisted of numberless local des-
potisms. OF the two plans, one was the
geographical division and chronological
grouping of the christian world into
separate nations, under monarchies pc
litically independent from each other,
but religiously united in submission to
the Papacy this may therefore be
termed the monarchic plan. The other
was the republican, contemplating the
nraI NF ,ttx
but without city exclusiveness; in other
words, christian federation of indepen-
dent municipalities, or self-governing
communes. With the character of the
commune shall have to deal later on.
shall simply state, for the present, that
it is to the great communal movement
of the 10th, 18th, 18th & 18th centuries,
first in Italy, then in France and Ger
many, tina we are indebted for the
reawakening of liberty, art, science, in
dustry, and for the destruction of the
feudal system. Encouraged here and
there by the monarchy as an agency
through which the great nobility could
best be subdued, but always watched
with anxiety and suspicion, it was merci-
lessly crushed by King and Pope as soon
as 1t had accomplished their purpose.
1t alone represented truly the christian
idea of earlier times, equally opposed to
city exclusiveness and national patriot
ism. And, as such, it was the forerun-
ner of modern aspirations. For, if we
consider it philosophically-t is, strip
ped of all religious tinsel-we must re-
cognize that the great moral truth which
in the early days of the christian era
carried away the whole pagan structure
of egotism by tearing down its founda-
ton of city exclusiveness. was precisely
the same great moral truth that was
proclaimed by the founders of the In
ternatlonal Association of Workingmen,
when, in the face of tyrants whose rule