The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-04-28
ANARCHIST PROPAGANDA.


In ,bo course of his trial Ravachol. who
bos boen sentenced to penal seryitude for lie
20, HE ;mplication in the dynamite explosions
AZ 81 (,erman and Clichy. summed up very
succinctIv the motives of the European An
arcbis.s when he said in exposition oil nistneo
rios. II wish TO see Anarchy established ana
tho whole people as one great family eacn
member ready to share what he mas VIII" A''
| brethren"
Itmav be readily inferred that Anarchists
Of the nature of Ravacbol. who IS lar typo
Of tho whole tribe in this respect. regard ohiy
those men as brothers who happen 10 nave
nronerty in their possession. Brotherhood Ga
this stamp amounts to nothing unless there Is
something in which it is possible to snare
without having incurred any OF the DRAWBACKS
OF labor or sobriety OF lie.
II IS hardly rational 10 suppose that any
Furopean with the slightest claim to respect
entertains doctrine which rebounds 70
much to the advantage of the idle ana worth
lea, and so much 20 the disadvantage OF the
industrious and energetic. The presence OF
such men as Ravachol in European commn-
mites may well cause the apprehension which
il plainly excites The uso of dynamite seems
TO be but secondary object IL their organi-
zation. As Ravachol stated in his trial, the
dynamite outrages are committed IN oroer
10 draw the attention Of the public TO the
theories of the Anarchists" 1t is merely
form of propaganda. a proclamation rather
than a challenge.
The Anarchist feeling is much more extern
sive than the public authorities of Europe are
prepared to acknowledge. The terror which
its recent manifestation aroused could not
have found more striking expression than IN
the failure of the jury to condemn Rayachol
to death. This was the punishment which be
deserved. TO impose any other was SIMPLY 10
confess that the jury were cowed.
There is no reason to believe, however, that
the Anarchist element in European society IL
on the eve OF shaking the social and political
organization of the European natIonalities to
their foundations. Only once IN the present
century has this element seized on ANYTHING
which resembed supreme power. and that
was in the period which Immediately FOL
lowed the evacuation of France by the Ger
man armies at the close Of the FrancO-Frusslan
war. Tie Paris Commune could never have
sprung up as it did except IN community
demoralzed in sentiment and loosed from the
iron force of law in consequence Of the scenes
of terrible excitement through which it had
recently passed. In an age Of peace the his
tory of the Commune is not likely to De re-
peated.
Here is common ground upon which all the
Governments of Europe can meet, however
hostile in feeling and antagonistic in interests.
II is as much to the interest of the French
President as of the German Emperor that the
Anarchists shall be put down, and in an emeT-
geucy these representative foes would GER
tainly strike hands. The greater the activity
o. the Ravacbos. the sterner and more mer-
CHESS will be their repression when they en-
croach too far upon the fea.s OF the people.
They are sewing the seeds of their destruc-
ton. They cement the very governments
which they are seeking 10 pull down, and
give arbitrary power reason for existence
which it would not otherwise possess. Their
wild declamations and reckless explosions
Justify in the eyes of the most dispsssionate
observers the continuation Of those vast
standing armies which otherwise would seem
TO hang like an ominous cloud over all that is
elevated and enlightened among the Euro
pean peoples.
Long may America be free from the machi-
nations and crimes of these sanguinary mis-
creants, the European Anarchists. We have
already had some experience of their malig
nant work, but should it ever again be re-
peated it should be met with a summary
energy which will impress upon all men the
fact that though America is the land of lib
erty it is also the land of law, and that no
emperor and no king is more resolute IN
upholdng the dignity and maintaining the
strength of the public authority than the
American people are when that dignity and
that strength are trenched upon by the i'm
pious hand of the evil-doer.