Widnes Examiner. — 1883-01-20 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

ENGLISH REVOLUTIONARY MANIFESTO. It was announced in the papers the other day that Liverpool and other provincial towns are about to receive a " visitation " from some members of an organisation calling itself "The English National Revolutionary League." Louise Michel, the notorious French Socialist, is also likely to visit the provinces in connection with the League. Some light is thrown on the mission of this body in a letter from its president, Mr. Charles W. Oldham, who very candidly explains what he and his fellow-revolutionaries are working for. Mr. Oldham writes:—"Few people in this country appear to know the ideas: of,Socialists, or to comprehend .what the Social Revolution really is to be. Speaking in the name of the English Revolutionary League, I may say that we consider that the present conditions of society, in which the unfairly rich oppress the poor, and where the strong tyrannise over the weak, highly unsatisfactory, unnaturale and calculated to bring about the complete degradation and, slavery of the most important section of humanity. W, aim, therefore, at revolutionising the present condition of society. We intend to upset existing institutions and forms of government which do, not give expression to the will and are opposed to the welfare of the people; and to bring about a new and happier condition of society where monarchs, priests, and thrones will be no more, where crime and tyranny no more can live, and where an ennobled and enlightened humanity will work together for the general welfare and the public good, in place of an insane worship of an unknown deity and a useless king. Kings and priests, , altars and thrones, crowns and mitres, 'we regard as the emblems of tyranny and force and fraud in every land and every clime; and we look forward to the time when they shall be swept away nevermore to torment and tyrannise over human kind." The president of the Revolutionary League' having spoken thus far about his doctrines, proceeds to discuss the means by which they are to be brought into practice. He is not inclined to be " squeamish " about these weans, but he does not advocate an immediate and general armed "rising." The president then elaborates his views on the subject of assassination, which, he maintains, is a fairly debatable theme. "I assert (says Mr. Oldham) that there are circumstances under which political assassination is not only justifiable but necessary, and that there are times when so-called , • leurder 'is no crime. Where you have a tyrant grinding down his heel upon the people as though they were not of human kind; where you have a despot crushing and • oppressing humanity, causing the loss of innocent lives floading a country with blood, and filling its dungeons with prisoners who have dared to protest against his arbitrary will—l say to assassinate that man is no murder ' and can  be no crime. It is useless to disguise the fact that this is the real secret underlying revolutionary success ; and the history of the world proves that my theory is correct— namely, that political assassination, discreetly carried out, is necessary for the welfare, the advancement, and the prosperity of human kind."