Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-02
UPHEAVAL IN RUSSIA
Annual Message Of President
Samuel Gompers.
WILL SPEAK OF IT
PREPARES TO ADDRESS Fedora
TON OF LABOR.
Claims That Organization of Labor
Had Much to Do With Issuance
of Manifesto.
WILL SPEAK OF IT

In his annual message to the members of
the American Federation of Labor, now in
course of preparation, President Samuel
Gcmpers of that organization will, IL is
said. make important reference to the recent
political upheaval IN Russia. The claim
VIII be made that the granting of decree
Of civic liberty TO the Russian people by
manifesto OF the car resulted directly from
the continued agitation by the members of
organized labor. In this connection, 1t is
asserted, that this continued agitation in
the face of charging Cossacks and the
shooting down of hundreds of people by the
Russian soldiery. was directed by Russian
agents of the American Federation of La
Dor, who have been actively at work In that
field for long time, and who have regular
~ made reports to the headquarters of the
federation in this city of the progress of
the movement for liberty
The movements of the reyolutionists the
students, the nihilists and others" said a
prominent labor leader to Star reporter
today. have been spasmodic and the par
Elephants vanished into thin air in the face
or the onrushing soldiers of the car and
their Volleys of rifle fire. The movement of
organized labor on the contrary has been
permanent In its nature and sure in it's re-
suits The old adage speaks OF the con-
slant dropping of water wear ng away q
stone So It has been with the agitation
OF the organized workingmen of tyrannical.
autocratic Russia The constant work of
the leaders and organizers have at last re-
suited in partial success for the lovers of
liberty. and has, L believe, sounded the
death krell of monarchy in the old world"
One of the agents Of the federation In
Russia, William English Wallng has an
article in the October number of the Amer
lean Federationist, the organ of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor. This paper was
written long before the car issued the edict
rE nj inc 70, .
phetic in its nature In part the agent
says:
Remarkable Transformation.
Since the national strike of last year and
the interminable series of general and par
tial strikes that followed and are following
it every day, the economic situation of the
working people has undergone a most re-
markable transforma ton.
In spite of every adverse condition eco
nomic depression despotism Cossacks and
police. all conditions that directly affect
the workers have been improved. Wages
have been raised, hours shortened and a
Sunday rest introduced personal humilia-
tions have lessened, wholesale discrimina-
lions have ceased. police brutality has been
restricted; the thousands of imprisonmenrs
In Jalls, fortreSSeS and dungeons, and ex-
lies to Siberia and the Arctic circle have
been notably diminished. and police inter-
ference inside the factories has been prac-
ideally brought to an end And all this not
by the ballot, nor by any act of govern
ment, not by revolutionary bombs or bar
ricades, but by an economic revolution
that is to say. by the boycott and the
strike.
AT the present moment three of the
great labor organizations of Poland, the
Polish socialist party, the social demo-
cratic party and the Jewish 'bunG,' to one
or the other of which the local and trade
organizations belong, are recognized by all
practical men, whether employers, mer-
chants. journalists the professional
classes, not only as an important but as
a dominating factor in the Polish revolu-
ton.
Country of Revolutions
Poland is the country of revolutions.
For a hundred years it has been the scene
of every possible form of revolt-all the
most dismal failures. But no sooner has
the labor movement begun than all parties
concede that the economic revolution be-
gins TO succeed. Poland has tried in 1880
revolution by the mobiles, in Galiza in 1919
revolution by the peasants, armed insurrec-
tiou In 1863 and recently bombs and barri-
cades BESIDES these open outbreaks for
more than a generation the middle classes
have kept the country in a ferment against
the foreign aggressor-for there are few
known varieties of expression or degrade
tion, from deprivation of their religion
and native tongue to exile and execution
without legal trial"
Mr.. Walhng adds that the wo-kngmen's
general pO!ltlcdi movement unGueSllondDIy
supplied the spirit of revolt, gained the
support of the community and checked the
brutality OF the police; but Ii the long
fought economic battles that came after
ward that got the results. To be sure, the
strike has had some political effect, and
Will have a still greater one when the Rus
sian autocracy comes to it's reckoning, but
events have proven not only that economic
action is the best of all revo utionary
means, but that even under a despotism 1t
can, II imbued with the revolutionary spir I.
procure Immediate economic results.
Demand Largely Economic.
As was to be expected from the intelli-
gence Of the Polish labor movement from
its very beginning. about ten years ago. the
demands were largely economic from the
very outset. These demands may be re-
garded the immediate program of the
Polish movement. They We're:
Political demands-1. Freedom of speech.
press, association and conscience and per-
Sonai safety
.. Free public education.
3. Local self-government.
I. The Polish language.
Economic demands-1. The freedom to
strike
2 Eight-hour day and minimum wage
3. Insurance against accident, disease and
death.
4. Factory inspection.
In conclusion. Agent Walling says: "If
Poland has done so much under the despot-
ism OF the car, what may not be expected
when she is free? The two million Poles
and Polish Jews in the United States can
be proud of their relatives In misfortune
on the other side. The American movement
is to be cOngra tulated on It's assimilation OF
so many workers of such stock"
Funds for the Social Settlap,ent