Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-07-10

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fused him a shelter, he made his way to
London. Here he stayed for thirteen
years, and a hard time he had; for, as his
property had been contiscated in 1S40, he
had not penny beyond what he earned,
and he had wife and child to support
By teaching and journalism, however, he
made money enough for the bare necessi-
ties of life, though for nothing much be-
sides. While in England he formed close
friendship with Herr Engels and Karl
Marx, and took an active part in the pro-
paganda they were carrying on.
In 1862, the late Emperor William hav-
ing granted an amnesty, Herr Liebknecht
joined the staff of the Nordeutschen ALL
gemeinen Zeitung in Berlin. There all
went we'll with him at first for once in
his life he had an assured income, work in
which he delighted, and free hand in it,
too, since his editor was an old comrade
of the days of 1913. But this state of things
did not last long, for Bismarck, who was
just beginning to make his power felt,
''captured'' the journal and its editor. He
tried his best, too, to capture Liebknecht
whose popularity among the workers he
hoped to turn to good account. Through
his agents he brought cajolery of all kinds
to bear on him, assuring him that, if he
would but remain on the staff of the paper
he might advocate in it as strongly as he
chose not only Socialism but Communism.
But Liebknecht, who resented this offer as
an insult, threw up his post, and with it
his daily bread. When Bismarck was once
convinced that Liebknecht, would never
help his plans, he resolved he should have
no chance of thwarting them, and set to
work, therefore, to harass him in all pos
sible ways with view to driving him from
Berlin. Liebknecht, on his side, de-
nounced the Minister'S State Socialism as
fraud, as a scheme for using the working
classes as tool wherewith to crush the
bourgeois and with them whatever freedom
there still remained in the country. Soon
there was open warfare between the two
leaders; and at length, in 1865, Bismarck
expelled his opponent from Prussia.
Herr Liebknecht then went to live in
Leipzig, where he met Herr Rebel, and
with him threw himself heart and soul into
the task of educating the workers and form
ing them into a strong and united party.
He went about teaching, lecturing, and
trying in every way to rouse the people
| from the state of apathy into which they
had fallen. He soon made his influence to
be felt among them, and in 1867, in spite Of
all the efforts of the Government, he was
elected member Of the North German Con-
sttuent Assembly. There he protested
against the annexation of Schleswig- Hol
stein, just as three years later he protested
against that of Alsace- Lorraine. In the
latter case so strongly did he both speak
from Versailles orders for his arrest. Both
he and Herr Bebel were brought to trial for
high treason in 1872, and were condemned
to two years imprisonment. But this
action on the part Of the Government served
only to increase their popularity, and Lieb-
knecht while still in prison was chosen mem
Der of the Reichstag.
In the Reichstag be began at once a
regular crusade against Prince Bismarck,
attacking him with a ruthlessness that
made men stand aghast. He denounced
him face to face as the demoralizer of the
whole nation, haunting him with lavishing
public money on his reptile press, and
with sending to prison every journalist who
spoke the truth, with opening private
letters, and with having in his pay spies by
the dozen. Above all, he attacked the
princess miltarism, which, as he main
tains, is eating the very soul out Of Ger
many, and his high handed fashion of
ignoring the constitution. There is no
more freedom in Prussia to-day, he de-
clares, than there is in Russia or in
Turkey. Again and again he has been i'm
prisoned for his speeches. At the present
time sentence of four months imprison-
ment is hanging over him for one in which
an ingenious courtier thought he detected
lack of due reverence for the Emperor
whose name, however, was not mentioned
Meanwhile he was working hard as editor
of the journal that is to day the Vorwaerts,
and was doing his utmost to bring about
reconciliation between the two sections
into which the German Democrats were
then divided. In 1875 he succeeded in
forming united party to the bitter anger
of Bismarck, who, fearing its power,
promptly introduced his famous Socialist
laws. But the Reichstag refused to pass
them, and never would have passed them
if it had not been for the attempt on the
Emperor's life In 1S7S-a crime for which
Liebknecht was no more responsible than
Bismarck himself. During the twelve
years the laws were in force his life was
one long struggle, for he was harassed at
every turn; but no sooner did they lapse
than he was back at his old work again.
1t is just fftY-years now since Herr Lieb-
knecht threw in his lot with the working
classes, and during the whole Of that time
he has given himself up heart and soul to
their service. He has suffered persecu
ton of every kind for their sake, has spent
years in prison, and has been brought face
to face with starvation. He has made mis-
takes, of course; again and again he has
misled those who trust him, bat always
nvoluntarily; for from first to last his
only thought has been how best he could