The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1907-10-18
LESSONSFROM
THE ANCIENTS
ParaIleIism in the Development OF
Ancient and Modern History
MARTYRSOf SOCIALISM
Tendenty of Capitalism throughout The
Ages Has Bccn 10 Cypress the
Great iaboring Class.

In oar drmonst ration in IL late issue
of THE TRIBUNE Of the class struggle,
ancient and modern, Illustrations were
scvcrally given Of the Roman, Grccian,
and American, showing that in the
growth of Western modern civilization,
history repeats itself
In the effort of the capitalist class to
keep in subsection the working class,
so that greatest profits may be made
with lowest wages possible, we have
seen the former resort to judicial muir
der of labor leaders to secure or main
tain such conditions of the industrial
life.
The cases presented were Manus
Capitoinus. b. G.. 1876, Socrates, Il. {.
1893, and Haywood, Meyer and Petit
bone, A. ID. l9O5.O7. Now it is pro-
posed to discuss conditions in which
were involved the lives of two Of the
greatest names in Roman history, Ii
berius and Gains Gracious, assassina-
ted by the same methods now being
pursued in the United States to crush
the liberties of the working people.
But before entering into their history
il will be well to consider first the in
tervening period from the time OF Man
lius and the effect his judicial murder
exerted on the labor movement. l'ld
il succeed? Did the loss of their noble
patrician leader result in crushing the
political aspiration of the workers?
Far from it. The adage verified in
after years that the blood of the mar
tyrs was the seed of the church, proved
true also of the principles Of liberty in
industrial democracy. And II Hay
wood had been sacrificed to corporate
greed, in the late trial in Idaho, labor
would be more powerful in 1907 than 1t
could hope to be in many years as II H.
Manlius was hurled from the Tar
peian Rock Il. c. 1875, after Il five year
struggle for the rights Of the working
class. In twelve years time (R. {.
373) the trade unions held the reigns Of
government so completely that the cap
italists were not able to elect single
officer for the space of five years. me
senate, (congress) most powerful
body of Patricans, was virtually abol-
ished. Livy, the historian, styles TINS
period "Solitudo Magistratuum "a
dearth of officers. ono elections, . sand
he, "werc held except for the Aeil"S
and Tribunes Of the plcbs tthc working
people) and this solitude magistlainm
held the city for five years iivy,
Hist. Rhyme w. 80.
The Aedilca were managers OF the
; public works; the TribuneS looked AFTER
the laws. "ln other words, says the
! Ancient Lowry, ut was democratic
socialism, for the organized trade UNI
ions in that day secured the public jobs
= They were well paid and worked about
4 eight hours per day." l.ivy was can
, did in declaring that such conditions
I were brought about by the patrlclan
: consuls fighting the hated working man
( with undated determination.
: The average trained capitalist mind
= would naturally think of only anarchy
~ and ruin resulting from IA government
by the working class, But the testl-
:. mony of history is to the contrary. Let
!. us here quote from The Ancient Lowry,
% (vol llA9.) Before the ConQuests
5, (the conquest terminated the Solitude
10 Magistratuum,) the affairs OF the gen
,e eral public were, according to Polybu'
s. and Livy, rising on account Of the as
Is tendency of the tribunate power whlcl
ID came from the political organization o
is the pleban or working element of tn
population. Civilization was every
RS where prospecting with splendid out
80 look. The world was for the most pan
d. at peace. Grand bridges spanned tn
to streams of Italy, Spain and Sicily. Put
in lie edifces arose in stately majesty
nv Architecture was at its zenith of pei
a lection. Slavery was rapidly disal
"a, nearing from the earth. Nearly all
,rs il was the work of trade unions en-
ny ployed by government After the col
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