The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-04-15
|Paris. Cor1lnlune;;:
The Truth Told About That Ter
rihIe Struggle Uy the Late
Mr.. PiXley.
tNIr PiXley was one OF the most dis
tnguished and conservative Journalists
on the Pacific rOaSrl


t!nguished and conservative journalists
on the Pacific roaSrl
TWAS in the city Of Paris during the
entire period that the commune
held sway. There was the Bank OF
France with it's boarded wealth of coin.
the House of Rothchlds. the Bank OF
the Hopes of Amsterdam: there we've
the great magazines and storehouscS
filled with costly fabrics: shops with
jewels of untold value: palaces with
costlicst gems of art: pictures and mar
bles of inestimable price. There was
Il vast population which had for
months endured privation, hunger AMI
distress. The gendarmes had been
driven out. and there was no othar
government than that Of the commune.
And yet during five weeIs--weeks OF
menace from without and suffering
within-I saw and heard Of no singh,
&c, Of pilage and murder.
! From barricade to barricade, from
one open space TO another, fighting.
| inch by inch. in desperation the sold
| icrs of the commune. with their wives
fighting at their sides, sullenly dis
putting every stone, block and curb
there amid the graves of the dead the
last Of the communists laid down thcir
lives in hopeless, desperate valor. They
may have been wrong and misguided,
but that they were thieves, murder
en-; and incendiaries. most indiS-
nantly deny. During five weeks 7 saw
no act of vandalism; [ saw no plumber.
| saw organization and order.
During The week of government VIC
tory | SAW scenes of unparalleled
brutality, I saw Il hundred ineNcusable
bloody acts. | saw a well-dressed ma
ton stabbed to death in the back and
flung like a wild beast into an Oprl
port cocherc in the boulevard Huss
man. because she Jagged behind in the
train Of prisoners. saw five little
girls lying dead in heap near the
Palace d'Endustrie, with their petit.
coats thrown over their faces. shot rs
pc1roleuseS by Versailles soldiers.
saw a man torn from his carriage and
killed Ivy a hundred deadly bayonct
thrllsts. | saw hundreds and hundreds
Of communists fusiladed and buried in
L. A., O.,
do not believe that the communists
either burned or attempted to burn
Paris. The commune was composed o.
the scholars and thinkers Of France.
it was a band of patriots. If it had in
it the mad element of fanaticism, it
may be excused. If oppressed labor
classes looked to it for relief, it was
but natural. If fanaticisn and disor-
der enrolled themselves to fight under
it,, banners. it was because it was the
first and only flag where they might
enlist. IF poverty, distress and deS-
pera,ion looked to it for a change, it
was but rational.
Ihe history or the commune is writ
ten by its enemies. Like all lost causes,
ii will be misrepresented. What there
was Of good in it will be suppressed;
" hat there was Of bad in it will be
exaggerated. Let London, or NV
York, or San Francisco fall under the
control of its worst citizens, and We
should see scenes of pillage, rapina.
violence, drunkenness, theft and MUIR
DIR. Vet in this great city of Paris,
gwen over to the commune for five
weeks. with al! its wealth and wine, |
saw order. Sobriety and respect to per-
sons and property. Hence feel it my
dtty to say that communism does nos
mean forcible and unlawful distribu-
ton of property, nor is the word ''com-
munist' a synonym for every crime.