0004 US race relations in 1884: Waging perpetual war

PREVIOUSLY on 1884 

Memphis, Tennessee. Mid-August 1884.

Ida B. Wells’ heart races upon seeing on the envelope a familiar handwriting. It’s a letter from the great Frederick Douglass with whom she has been corresponding regarding an unpleasant incident she experienced on a Chesapeake & Ohio train. On May 4, after she refused to give up her seat in the first-class lady’s car, the train conductor and two men dragged her to the crowded smoking car which also served as segregated car for colored people. 

Ida B. Wells circa 1893

Ida is surprised that the esteemed orator and abolitionist leader finds the time to respond to all her inquiries, despite his arduous travelling schedule on lecture tours. Since escaping from slavery in 1838 when he was twenty, he’s become the most well-known abolitionist in America and abroad. However, he has lately come under attack for continuing to back the Republican Party despite their increasingly pro-rich position throughout the Great Railroad Strike and the dirty Compromise of 1877 which, among other things, pulled federal troops out of the South. 

But given the Democrat Party’s white-supremacist policies and practices, his support for the Republican Party is welcomed by seven millions of blacks in Southern states where Jim Crow laws renewed their status as oppressed second-class citizens terrorized into fearful silence from lynching, murders, arson and threats by white supremacists even after the Klu Klux Klan was suppressed in 1871. Ultimately, the dirty politics of the day hurt both blacks and poor whites. The same federal troops that had protected blacks from violence were pulled out and sent to suppress the Great Strike of 1877 a few months later. 

With slightly trembling hands, Ida opens the envelope and finds a letter and a booklet. The letter reads …

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Battle Creek, Michigan. 

Aug 1, 1884

Dear Miss Wells,

Thank you for your latest letter of July 5th which I received with gratitude. It was very kind of you to remind me with appreciation of my speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? from many years ago. While recounting it, I was struck by how much and how little things have changed during the two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War.

Later today, I will humbly be giving another speech here in Battle Creek to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation in the British West Indies. As you are aware, the abolition movement in America, like many other institutions of this country, was largely derived from England. Even the doctrine of immediate emancipation as against gradualism, is of English, not American origin. It was expounded and enforced by Elizabeth Heyrick and adopted by all the earnest abolitionists in England.

I happily remember my first lecture tour in the British Isles in 1845-7, occasioned by the threats made against my life after the publication of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. During the tour, I had the opportunity to visit Ireland at the outbreak of the Great Famine which ultimately killed a million and sent another million starving Irish men, women and children to our shore. 

Great Irish Famine 1845-9

Exchanges with Irish leader "The Liberator" Daniel O'Connell opened my eyes to see that poverty and inequality are not natural states, but conditions inflicted by one group of man on another. Such was clearly shown by how the Corn Law and aristocratic landlord turned a natural blight into a catastrophic famine. It is no surprise that they are now reaping the consequences with the Land War, which may erupt into a civil war someday.

For wherever men oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the people oppressed and enslaved. When we wanted, a few years ago, a slice of Mexico, it was hinted that the Mexicans were an inferior race, that the old Castilian blood had become so weak that it would scarcely run down hill, and that Mexico needed the long, strong and beneficent arm of the Anglo-Saxon care extended over it. We said that it was necessary to its salvation, and a part of the "manifest destiny" of this Republic, to extend our arm over that dilapidated government. So, too, when Russia wanted to take possession of a part of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks were an "inferior race." So, too, when England wants to set the heel of her power more firmly in the quivering heart of old Ireland, the Celts are an "inferior race." So, too, the Negro, when he is to be robbed of any right which is justly his, is an "inferior man."

This is the reason why I oppose our wars of expansions such as the Mexican War, through which those deluded in America’s manifest destiny wish to enlarge slavery territory like the imperialist William Walker who would have us annex Cuba and much of Central America. 

Neither do I support, as President Lincoln did, sending freed blacks “back” to Africa – a continent they have never seen. Lincoln fought to save the Union at all costs, not – at least not at first – to emancipate enslaved people. Laying blame for the secession on enslaved people, he would have removed all black presence from American soil to prevent further conflict.  To him, I insisted that black people should rightfully remain in this land where we and our ancestors have toiled with blood, even if white people are unwilling to accept our equality or doubt our ability to ever achieve it. 

Having said that, although Lincoln shared the prejudices of his white fellow countrymen against blacks, it is hardly necessary to say that in his heart of hearts he loathed and hated slavery which he said was ‘the greatest wrong inflicted on any people.’

Another thing that I came to realize while in Ireland was the intersections of the Irish struggle against British rule with our own. Because of the global reach of British and French power, I can’t help wondering whether Lincoln was finally pushed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation – after the chastisements from abolitionists including myself proved ineffective –  in order to prevent Britain and France from recognizing, or, worse, arming the Confederacy? Whatever the reason, his Emancipation Proclamation as well as his agreement to enlist black soldiers to fight shoulder to shoulder with their white comrades did much to regain my respect for him. 

Going back even further, it was also in England that it was suggested to me that our Revolutionary War was in fact a counter-revolution against abolition. According to this particular English gentleman, Lord Mansfield’s decision of 1772 frightened the Southern colonies so much that they joined the North in taking up arms in order to shield the institution of slavery from the impending emancipation. It is not unlike when later Napoleon sent troops to suppress rebelling Haitians from enjoying the same Rights of Man as Frenchmen. However, I didn’t believe it then as I still don’t believe it now. 

Haitian Revolution

After all, I have faith that our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution contain Enlightenment ideals that extend equality and rights to black Americans. Regrettably that was how I came to a long disagreement with my former mentor Mr. Garrison who burned the constitution which he believed to be absolutely pro-slavery. 

But after the Supreme Court decision last year declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, I wonder if he was right. How is it justice when it’s decided that the Fourteenth Amendment protect blacks only from discrimination by states but not by individuals and corporations? At this rate, these corporations will one day have more rights than people of color like us, as, according to the newspapers, railroad barons are now arguing in court that their companies are protected by the amendment ‘persons’!

The strength and activities of the malign elements of the country against equal rights and equality before the law seem to increase in proportion to the increasing distance between that time and the time of the war. When the black man's arm was needed to defend the country; when the North and the South were in arms against each other and the country was in danger of dismemberment, his rights were well considered. 

That the reverse is now true, is a proof of the fading and defacing effect of time and the transient character of Republican gratitude. From the hour that the loyal North began to fraternize with the disloyal and slaveholding South; from the hour that they began to "shake hands over the bloody chasm", from that hour the cause of justice to the black man began to decline and lose its hold upon the public mind, and it has lost ground ever since. 

The future historian will turn to the year 1883 to find the most flagrant example of this national deterioration. Here he will find the Supreme Court of the nation reversing the action of the Government, defeating the manifest purpose of the Constitution, nullifying the Fourteenth Amendment, and placing itself on the side of prejudice, proscription, and persecution. 

Whatever this Supreme Court may have been in the past, or may by the Constitution have been intended to be, it has, since the days of the Dred Scott decision, been wholly under the influence of the slave power, and its decisions have been dictated by that power rather than by what seemed to be sound and established rules of legal interpretation. 

Although we had, in other days, seen this court bend and twist the law to the will and interest of the slave power, it was supposed that by the late war and the great fact that slavery was abolished, and the further fact that the members of the bench were now appointed by a Republican administration, the spirit as well as the body had been exorcised. Hence the decision in question came to the black man as a painful and bewildering surprise. It was a blow from an unsuspected quarter. 

For the moment the colored citizen felt as if the earth was opened beneath him. He was wounded in the house of his friends. He felt that this decision drove him from the doors of the great temple of American justice. The nation that he had served against its enemies had thus turned him over naked to those enemies. His trouble was without any immediate remedy. The decision must stand until the gates of death could prevail against it. 

As of now, I’m increasingly negative about taking up further government positions, but at the same time I’m greatly encouraged that you are pursuing a lawsuit against the train company. This case is very important for all black people, and it must be doubly so for you as a lady. The Supreme Court decision took away protection against discrimination from not only blacks but also women. I am confident that suffragists like Elizabeth Stanton, my long-time friends since the 1848 Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention and Susan B. Anthony will agree with my opinion regarding the decision. (Although we may have parted our ways over the Fifteenth Amendment, I wish her all the best in her renewed struggle for women’s suffrage since appearing before the House Judiciary Committee a few months ago.)

I hereby enclose a copy of the Proceedings of the Human Rights Mass Meeting of October 22, 1883 – one week after the decision – which also contains my full speech on the Supreme Court decision. I hope you will find useful the arguments therein. I look forward to hearing from you on the lawsuit.

With kind regards,

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass after 1884 with his second wife Helen Pitts Douglass (sitting).
The woman standing is her sister Eva Pitts.

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The "This decision has humbled the nation" speech of October 22, 1883 speech reads: 

Friends and fellow citizens. I have only a few words to say to you this evening.... 

We have been, as a class, grievously wounded, wounded in the house of our friends, and this wound is too deep and too painful for ordinary and measured speech…

The cause which has brought us here tonight is neither common nor trivial. Few events in our national history have surpassed it in magnitude, importance and significance. It has swept over the land like a cyclone, leaving moral desolation in its track. This decision belongs with a class of judicial and legislative wrongs by which we have been oppressed. 

We feel it as we felt years ago the furious attempt to force the accursed system of slavery upon the soil of Kansas; as we felt the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Bill, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the Dred Scott decision. I look upon it as one more shocking development of that moral weakness in high places which has attended the conflict between the spirit of liberty and the spirit of slavery, and I venture to predict that it will be so regarded by aftercoming generations. Far down the ages, when men shall wish to inform themselves as to the real state of liberty, law, religion, and civilization in the United States at this juncture of our history, they will overhaul the proceedings of the Supreme Court, and read this strange decision declaring the Civil Rights Bill unconstitutional and void… 

We cannot, however, overlook the fact that though not so intended, this decision has inflicted a heavy calamity upon seven millions of the people of this country, and left them naked and defenseless against the action of a malignant, vulgar and pitiless prejudice from which the Constitution plainly intended to shield them. 

It presents the United States before the world as nation utterly destitute of power to protect the constitutional rights of its own citizens upon its own soil. It can claim service and allegiance, loyalty and life from them, but it cannot protect them against the most palpable violation of the rights of human nature; rights to secure which governments are established. It can tax their bread and tax their blood, but it has no protecting power for their persons. Its national power extends only to the District of Columbia and the Territories—to where the people have no votes, and to where the land has no people. All else is subject to the States. In the name of common sense, I ask what right have we to call ourselves a nation, in view of this decision and of this utter destitution of power? 

In humiliating the colored people of this country, this decision has humbled the nation. It gives to the railroad conductor in South Carolina or Mississippi more power than it gives to the National Government. He may order the wife of the Chief Justice of the United States into a smoking-car full of hirsute men and compel her to go and to listen to the coarse jests and inhale the foul smoke of a vulgar crowd. It gives to hotel keepers who may, from a prejudice born of the Rebellion, wish to turn her out at midnight into the storm and darkness, power to compel her to go. 

In such a case, according to this decision of the Supreme Court, the National Government has no right to interfere. She must take her claim for protection and redress, not to the nation, but to the State; and when the State, as I understand it, declares that there is upon its statute-book no law for her protection, and that the State has made no law against her, the function and power of the National Government are exhausted and she is utterly without any redress. 

Bad, therefore, as our case is, under this decision, the evil principle affirmed by the court is not wholly confined to or spent upon persons of color. The wife of Chief-Justice Waite—I speak it respectfully—is protected to-day, not by the law, but solely by the accident of her color. So far as the law of the land is concerned, she is in the same condition as that of the humblest colored woman in the Republic. The difference between colored and white here is that the one, by reason of color, does not need protection. It is nevertheless true that manhood is insulted in both cases. 

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow-man, without at last finding the other end of it about his own neck." 

The lesson of all the ages upon this point is, that a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men. It may not be felt at the moment, and the evil may be long delayed, but so sure as there is a moral government of the universe, so sure as there is a God of the universe, so sure will the harvest of evil come. Color prejudice is not the only prejudice against which a Republic like ours should guard. The spirit of caste is malignant and dangerous everywhere. There is the prejudice of the rich against the poor, the pride and prejudice of the idle dandy against the hard-handed workingman. There is, worst of all, religious prejudice, a prejudice which has stained whole continents with blood. It is, in fact, a spirit infernal, against which every enlightened man should wage perpetual war. 

Perhaps no class of our fellow-citizens has carried this prejudice against color to a point more extreme and dangerous than have our Catholic Irish fellow citizens, and yet no people on the face of the earth have been more relentlessly persecuted and oppressed on account of race and religion than have this same Irish people. But in Ireland persecution has at last reached a point where it reacts terribly upon her persecutors. England is to-day reaping the bitter consequences of her own injustice and oppression. Ask any man of intelligence, "What is the chief source of England's weakness? What has reduced her to the rank of a second-class power?" and if truly answered, the answer will be "Ireland!" But poor, ragged, hungry, starving, and oppressed as Ireland is, she is strong enough to be a standing menace to the power and glory of England. 

Fellow citizens! We want no black Ireland in America. We want no aggrieved class in America. Strong as we are without the negro, we are stronger with him than without him. The power and friendship of seven millions of people, however humble and scattered all over the country, are not to be despised. 

Today our Republic sits as a queen among the nations of the earth. Peace is within her walls and plenteousness within her palaces, but he is bolder and a far more hopeful man than I am who will affirm that this peace and prosperity will always last. History repeats itself. What has happened once may happen again. 

Crispus Attucks, the first American martyr to die for the American Revolutionary War

The negro, in the Revolution, fought for us and with us. In the war of 1812 General Jackson, at New Orleans, found it necessary to call upon the colored people to assist in its defense against England. Abraham Lincoln found it necessary to call upon the negro to defend the Union against rebellion. In all cases the negro responded gallantly. Our legislators, our Presidents, and our judges should have a care, lest, by forcing these people outside of law, they destroy that love of country which in the day of trouble is needful to the nation's defense. 

Fellow citizens! While slavery was the base line of American society, while it ruled the church and state; while it was the interpreter of our law and the exponent of our religion, it admitted no quibbling, no narrow rules of legal or scriptural interpretations of the Bible or of the Constitution. It sternly demanded its pound of flesh, no matter how the scale turned or how much blood was shed in the taking of it. It was enough for it to be able to show the intention to get all it asked in the courts or out of the courts. But now slavery is abolished. Its reign was long, dark and bloody. Liberty is now the base line of the Republic. Liberty has supplanted slavery, but I fear it has not supplanted the spirit or power of slavery. Where slavery was strong, liberty is now weak. 

Oh, for a Supreme Court of the United States which shall be as true to the claims of humanity as the Supreme Court formerly was to the demands of slavery! When that day comes, as come it will, a Civil Rights Bill will not be declared unconstitutional and void, in utter and flagrant disregard of the objects and intentions of the national legislature by which it was enacted and of the rights plainly secured by the Constitution. This decision of the Supreme Court admits that the Fourteenth Amendment is a prohibition on the States. It admits that a State shall not abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, but commits the seeming absurdity of allowing the people of a State to do what it prohibits the State itself from doing. 

It used to be thought that the whole was more than a part; that the greater included the less, and that what was unconstitutional for a State to do was equally unconstitutional for an individual member of a State to do. What is a State, in the absence of the people who compose it? Land, air and water. That is all. Land and water do not discriminate. All are equal before them. This law was made for people. As individuals, the people of the State of South Carolina may stamp out the rights of the negro wherever they please, so long as they do not do so as a State, and this absurd conclusion is to be called a law. All the parts can violate the Constitution, but the whole cannot. It is not the act itself, according to this decision, that is unconstitutional. The unconstitutionality of the case depends wholly upon the party committing the act. If the State commits it, the act is wrong; if the citizen of the State commits it, the act is right. 

By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war.

O consistency, thou. art indeed a jewel! What does it matter to a colored citizen that a State may not insult and outrage him, if the citizen of the State may? The effect upon him is the same, and it was just this effect that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment plainly intended by that article to prevent. 

It was the act, not the instrument; it was the murder, not the pistol or dagger, which was prohibited. It meant to protect the newly enfranchised citizen from injustice and wrong, not merely from a State, but from the individual members of a State. It meant to give the protection to which his citizenship, his loyalty, his allegiance, and his services entitled him; and this meaning and this purpose and this intention are now declared by the Supreme Court of the United States to be unconstitutional and void. 

I say again, fellow citizens, Oh, for a Supreme Court which shall be as true, as vigilant, as active and exacting in maintaining laws enacted for the protection of human rights, as in other days was that court for the destruction of human rights! 

It is said that this decision will make no difference in the treatment of colored people; that the Civil Rights Bill was a dead letter and could not be enforced. There may be some truth in all this, but it is not the whole truth. That bill, like all advance legislation, was a banner on the outer wall of American liberty; a noble moral standard uplifted for the education of the American people… 

This law, though dead, did speak. It expressed the sentiment of justice and fair play common to every honest heart. Its voice was against popular prejudice and meanness. It appealed to all the noble and patriotic instincts of the American people. It told the American people that they were all equal before the law; that they belonged to a common country and were equal citizens. 

The Supreme Court has hauled down this broad and glorious flag of liberty in open day and before all the people, and has thereby given joy to the heart of every man in the land who wishes to deny to others the rights he claims for himself. It is a concession to race pride, selfishness, and meanness, and will be received with joy by every upholder of caste in the land, and for this I deplore and denounce this decision…

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NEXT on 1884

0003 Filipino nationalists in 1884: Spoliarium

PREVIOUSLY on 1884

Madrid, 25 June 1884.

It’s 9pm and Rizal is running late and hungry. It is not typical of him to be late, but today he was busy throughout the day at the University, starting with the Greek class in which he won the top prize. Low on money –  the collapse of global sugar prices is hurting the income of his family back in Calamba – he decided to skip lunch and wait for a nice dinner and champagne at the Restaurante Inglés. Now he’s fretting that he may have missed out on the food and, worse, the celebration in honor of his friends, Juan Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, who won gold and silver medals at the prestigious Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes.

Spoliarium by Juan Luna

Upon entering, he sees a big crowd of about sixty cramming around a long table. He recognizes many Filipino paisanos in Madrid: the host Pedro Paterno and his brothers Maximino and Antonio, Graciano López Jaena, Luna’s elder brother Manuel, and of course, the guests of honor Luna himself and Hidalgo. Sitting near Professor Morayta are some metropolitan Spaniards who he thinks are politicians and journalists. At least one, he had been told, is from the El Imparcial, a liberal newspaper. 

Today is an important event for Filipinos who have almost always been mistaken for Chinese, Japanese or Spanish Americans even here in the metropole. Pedro spent money on this banquet not only to celebrate Hidalgo and Luna but also to make sure that their home province becomes better known to the capital and the world. 

“Rizal!” Some of them greet loudly upon seeing him. 

“I am surprised you show up without a lady friend. Or is that why you are late?” Jaena teases from one corner.

“Sorry amigos. I was kept busy all day at the university.” Rizal smiles. He goes to shake nearby Hidalgo’s hand. “Felicidades. Congratulations my friend. You’ve made all of us proud.”

Hidalgo rises from his chair. “Don’t be stranger. Give me a hug.” They embrace like long lost brothers until Luna booms across the table. “What about my hug?” 

Rizal walks around the table, briefly shaking hands with some along the way, until he reaches Luna who opens his arms widely for the hug.

“Felicidades indio! You showed Spain how we indios bravos can beat them at their own game.” Some Spaniards seem to shudder at the use of indios to refer to native peoples, but Rizal and his friends use it as a badge of honor.

For some, the Filipino painter’s triumph may be a surprise, as though coming out of nowhere. But Luna had already won a silver medal four years ago for The Death of Cleopatra.

The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna

Rizal gives Luna a tight hug until Luna comments “Is that your stomach growling?” Slightly embarrassed, Rizal says, “See? Even my stomach wants to lionize you.”

Jaena hands him a glass of champagne, “Here, have some champagne.”

Pedro looks around the table to assure himself that no one is missing, then rises from his chair with a glass in his hand. 

“Let’s all drink to Luna’s and Hidalgo’s successes. Today is the beginning of many more to come. It’s not everyday that non-Europeans win the prestigious Madrid Exposition. But this year, not one but two of us did. Luna’s gold medal for Spoliarium and Hidalgo’s silver medal for Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace are the pride of our homeland.”

There were a few speakers before Rizal. But when it's his turn to give his Brindis speech, his eloquence and confidence makes everyone stop all small conversations to listen... 

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A dramatic portrayal of Rizal giving the speech now famously known as "Brindis" speech.

Addressing the friendly non-Filipinos in the group, Rizal begins, “In rising to speak I have no fear that you will listen to me with superciliousness, for you have come here to add to ours your enthusiasm, the stimulus of youth, and you cannot but be indulgent. Sympathetic currents pervade the air, bonds of fellowship radiate in all directions, generous souls listen, and so I do not fear for my humble personality, nor do I doubt your kindness. Sincere men yourselves, you seek only sincerity, and from that height, where noble sentiments prevail, you give no heed to sordid trifles. You survey the whole field, you weigh the cause and extend your hand to whomsoever like myself, desires to unite with you in a single thought, in a sole aspiration: the glorification of genius, the grandeur of the fatherland!”

  

Now looking at Luna and Hidalgo, he says, “Such is, indeed, the reason for this gathering. In the history of mankind there are names which in themselves signify an achievement-which call up reverence and greatness; names which, like magic formulas, invoke agreeable and pleasant ideas; names which come to form a compact, a token of peace, a bond of love among the nations. To such belong the names of Luna and Hidalgo: their splendor illuminates two extremes of the globe - the Orient and the Occident, Spain and the Philippines. As I utter them, I seem to see two luminous arches that rise from either region to blend there on high, impelled by the sympathy of a common origin, and from that height to unite two peoples with eternal bonds; two peoples whom the seas and space vainly separate; two peoples among whom do not germinate the seeds of disunion blindly sown by men and their despotism. Luna and Hidalgo are the pride of Spain as of the Philippines - though born in the Philippines, they might have been born in Spain, for genius has no country; genius bursts forth everywhere; genius is like light and air, the patrimony of all: cosmopolitan as space, as life and God.”

Now he gravitates to the political, “The Philippines' patriarchal era is passing, the illustrious deeds of its sons are not circumscribed by the home; the oriental chrysalis is quitting its cocoon; the dawn of a broader day is heralded for those regions in brilliant tints and rosy dawn-hues; and that race, lethargic during the night of history while the sun was illuminating other continents, begins to wake, urged by the electric' shock produced by contact with the occidental peoples, and begs for light, life, and the civilization that once might have been its heritage, thus conforming to the eternal laws of constant evolution, of transformation, of recurring phenomena, of progress...”

“In El Spoliarium - on that canvas which is not mute -is heard the tumult of the throng, the cry of slaves, the metallic rattle of the armor on the corpses, the sobs of orphans, the hum of prayers, with as much force and realism as is heard the crash of the thunder amid the roar of the cataracts, or the fearful and frightful rumble of the earthquake. The same nature that conceives such phenomena has also a share in those lines. On the other hand, in Hidalgo's work there are revealed feelings of the purest kind; ideal expression of melancholy, beauty, and weakness-victims of brute force…”

Virgins Exposed to the Populace by Hidalgo

“Yet both of them-although so different-in appearance, at least, are fundamentally one; just as our hearts beat in unison in spite of striking differences. Both, by depicting from their palettes the dazzling rays of the tropical sun, transform them into rays of unfading glory with which they invest the fatherland. Both express the spirit of our social, moral and political life; humanity subjected to hard trials, humanity unredeemed; reason and aspiration in open fight with prejudice, fanaticism and injustice…  If the mother teaches her child her language in order to understand its joys, its needs, and its woes; so Spain, like that mother, also teaches her language to Filipinos, in spite of the opposition of those purblind pygmies who, sure of the present, are unable to extend their vision into the future, who do not weigh the consequences.”

Rizal again looks around on the Spanish guests, “Happily, brothers are more-generosity and nobility are innate under the sky of Spain-of this you are all patent proof. You have unanimously responded, you have cooperated, and you would have done more, had more been asked. Seated at our festal board and honoring the illustrious sons of the Philippines, you also honor Spain, because, as you are well aware, Spain's boundaries are not the Atlantic or the Bay of Biscay or the Mediterranean-a shame would it be for water to place a barrier to her greatness, her thought. Luna and Hidalgo belong to you as much as to us. You love them, you see in them noble hopes, valuable examples.”

Here comes the important part, his voice trembles slightly. “But the Philippines' gratitude toward her illustrious sons was yet unsatisfied; and desiring to give free rein to the thoughts that seethe her mind, to the feelings that overflow her heart, and to the words that escape from her lips, we have all come together here at this banquet to mingle our vows, to give shape to that mutual understanding between two races which love and care for each other, united morally, socially and politically for the space of four centuries, so that they may form in the future a single nation in spirit, in duties, in aims, in rights.”

Raising his glass, he toasts, “I drink, then, to our artists Luna and Hidalgo, genuine and pure glories of two peoples. I drink to the persons who have given them aid on the painful road of art! I drink that the Filipno youth-sacred hope of my fatherland may imitate such valuable examples; and that the mother Spain, solicitous and heedful of the welfare of her provinces, may quickly put into practice the reforms she has so long planned. The furrow is laid out and the land is not sterile! And finally, I drink to the happiness of those parents who, deprived of their sons' affection, from those distant regions follow them with moist gaze and throbbing hearts across the seas and distance; sacrificing on the altar of the common good, the sweet consolations that are so scarce in the decline of life — precious and solitary flowers that spring up on the borders of the tomb.” He raises his glass to a loud applause, takes a giant sip and sits down.

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Jose Rizal in Spain

After all the speeches, Rizal approaches Professor Morayta. “Excuse me, Professor. Could I have a minute of your time?” 

After walking away from the crowd, Rizal says, “I would like to join the Freemasons. May I humbly request your recommendation, por favor?”

Professor Morayta smiles. “Of course. But are you sure? I know you are a good Catholic and the Pope just published a condemnation of Freemasonry last month for promoting naturalism, popular sovereignty, and the separation of church and state. He especially condemned the promotion of public education that denies the Church's role and where ‘the education of youth is exclusively in the hands of laymen.’”

“Yes. That’s exactly the kind of education I wish all Filipinos had an option to have. I know my mother would not approve, and my brother warned me against upsetting the Dominican Order who we rent our land from. That’s why they don’t need to know about it.” 

Long conflicted about this, Rizal finally made this decision, remembering how in 1872 his family received no help from the Order when his mother was imprisoned for a false accusation and his brother had to flee persecution for association with the Cavite Mutiny. 

While lost in thought, Morayta pats him on the shoulder, “Of course, I will recommend you. Also I would like to congratulate you for your speech. I was told that El Imparcial will definitely write about our two Filipino friends’ achievement as well as your speech highlighting the situations in your homeland. It will surely echo the situations in the Philippines around the world. Come, I want you to know some people.”

He leads Rizal across the room to the Spanish guests, “Don Segismundo Moret and Don Rafael Maria de Labra, I would like to introduce to you Jose Rizal, one of our brightest senior students studying medicine at our university.”

Morayta adds, “Rizal, as you already know, Don Moret is now Minister of the Interior but when Minister of Overseas Territories under by General Prim he pushed for the abolition of slavery and the creation of a constitution for Puerto Rico. And Don Labra was among the first to propose Cuban autonomy in his magazine. He also works with Catalan activists.” 

Rizal shakes their hands, “It’s a great honor to meet you, Don Moret and Don Labra.”

Labra then says “Thank you for your enlightening speech. It’s unfortunate that we never got to hear something like this before. I believe I am not the only one in Madrid unaware of the demands of the Philippines province.”

Rizal shakes his head, “Of course not, Sir. You surely would not have heard of it. Because the colonia filipina here does not dare talk about the Philippine condition in public for fear of being labeled filibusteros. And you will certainly not hear about it from the governors or administrators who were sent there.”

Moret says, “I cannot agree more with your speech, young man. Spain must learn how to treat our own peoples across the globe better. Otherwise, she will lose what little remains of her overseas domains. It shouldn’t be difficult. Now we only have only the Antilles and Pacific islands left. Cuba and Puerto Rico would already have gained their independence too if not for white slave-owners fearing a Haiti-like slave-led revolution.”

Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) when self-freed slave overthrew French rule.

Labra nods and says, “It’s not like when we were given dominion over literally half of the globe by the Pope. From Mexico to Patagonia, American territories seceded after the end of the Peninsular War. And then we have Carlist Wars of succession and all kind of chaos and instability. Now we are just a second-rate power waiting to be swallowed up by the Great Powers. Our decline has made Britain the world’s superpower controlling global trade. Our royal succession mess caused the  war between France and Prussia and created the German Empire – the very war that also caused the Papal State to lose Rome to Italian unification. What with the Cuba's Ten Year's War and Puerto Rico's Grito de Lares ? The Catalans are also for independence. Who knows what spoil will come out of the Scramble of the Spanish Empire? The US is eyeing Cuba, and Bismarck is already making attempts on our Pacific islands.”

After patiently listening, Rizal politely replies, “But Spain still has us. I doubt if any Powers are interested in the Philippines, except the brief British Occupation during the Seven Years' War, because we have no gold, silver or much spices. But what we do have is the hardworking Filipino people who, given a chance, will provide Spain with all the drive it needs in order to return to the rank of a world-class nation again. Spain must not waste her human potentials, but use all of the brains of all her peoples and treat them equally regardless of whether they are whites, creoles, mestizos, or, like myself, brown indios. Right now, we are second-class citizens even in our own land, despite sharing the same language and customs, while the Spanish-born peninsulares continue to enjoy privileges that native filipinos like us cannot even dream of. I believe that Luna, Hidalgo and many others have clearly shown that we can be as good as peninsulares. So why aren’t we given equal political rights? Unlike the Cubans, we haven’t had representation in the Cortes for decades. That’s why we cannot can raise our voices, where it matters, on the plight of our peoples under the oppression of the friars. How can they call themselves men of God and treat people like beasts?”

Moret nods, “That’s true. Since we lost Mexico along with Zacatecas and Potosí silver to buy Chinese goods, the Acapulco-Manila galleon stopped after 250 years of enriching the empire. The Philippine Province has since been pretty much left a backwater province under the virtual control of the Orders, largely neglected by the remote motherland until Suez Canal.”

Route of the Acapulco-Manila Galleons

Rizal adds, “Yes, sir. All that time, the Orders strengthened their grips on both bodies and minds of the whole society to keep us in an endless cycle of poverty and ignorance. Even the governors who come and go have to rely heavily on them for their control. That’s why several of us found ourselves in Madrid because of the oppression under these friars which has intensified after the Cavite Mutiny of 1872. That cataclysmic event led to the executions of the three secular friars and exiles of many others including Don Paterno's father. Even my own elder brother Paciano also had to leave university and hide.”

Labra says, “I can only imagine what it’s like. But I shuddered when I heard Mr. Jaena said in his excellent speech that, if there is something grand, something sublime, in the Spoliarium, it is because behind the canvas, behind the painted figures there floats the living image of the Filipino people sighing its misfortune. Because the Philippines is nothing more than a real spoliarium with all its horrors.”

Rizal nods emphatically, “Absolutely, Luna's Spoliarium with its bloody carcasses of slave gladiators being dragged away from the arena where they had entertained their Roman oppressors with their lives, stripped to satisfy the lewd contempt of their Roman persecutors with their honor, embodied the essence of our social, moral and political life: humanity in severe ordeal, humanity unredeemed, reason and idealism in open struggle with prejudice, fanaticism and injustice. And Hidalgo’s Christian Virgins speaks of the abuse of our Filipino mothers and sisters. After almost 400 years of Spanish rule, the strong Filipino woman has been subjugated to an absolute patriarchy, completely helpless under the all-male friars’ domination.” 

The executions of GomBurZa after Cavite Mutiny of 1872

At this point, Rizal’s voice trembles again. Hidalgo’s painting reminds him too much of how his mother, whose failing sight compelled him decide to study medicine, was roughly arrested, forced to walk on feet for fifty kilometers to the prison in Santa Cruz, and imprisoned there for over a year.

He sighs, “But how many viewers will see through the Neoclassic façade and see the real inspirations behind them — those like Padres Gomez, Burgos and Zamora who were brutally executed? And how many more will suffer the same fate?”

Morayta adds, “Most urgently, I heard about the ambush against the French in Tonkin which apparently just happened yesterday. I fear the possibility of Spain being pulled into the conflict and Filipino soldiers sent to fight like the slave gladiators in Tonkin to do France’s bidding.”

Labra says, “I certainly hope that will not come to pass. It was horrible that Spain joined France to invade Cochinchina and sent Filipino troops to fight their neighbors at that time not too long ago…”

Moret then extends his hand to Rizal, “I doubt that will happen, and I will do whatever I can to prevent it. Now if you will excuse me, I think I need to leave soon.”

Labra says he too has to leave, so Morayta will walk them out. Rizal shakes their hands, feeling glad to make their acquaintances.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Juan Luna at his Paris studio

After they left, Rizal grabs more champagne and walks over to Luna. 

“I’m surprised they haven’t taken back your gold medal, amigo! Maybe seeing your Spanish name, they forgot to check that you are not European!” Rizal jokes.

Luna laughs, “I am pretty sure that’s how it went down. But soon after they realized their mistake, they did the next worst thing by denying me the Grand Prize which the top winner deserves, despite having bested two established Spanish-born artists, most probably because they didn’t like the palette of my skin.”  

“I am sure it will be rectified. We could talk to some journalists. You have given them no way to deny that we are equal to them. I am sick of seeing mediocrity elevated to height only by the virtue of its whiteness, and excellence debased due to its color.”

“That makes two of us. Having said that, even if we are still regarded as second class here, it’s still much better than back home where those in power are far more likely to punish than applaud native talents, self-respect and independent spirits. When timing is right, I will try to get my younger brother Antonio to join us here where people battle with ideas not swords. Right now he’s doing a lot of swordsmanship, fencing, and military tactics. I hope he will not enlist and die for Spain. If he needs to fight, it should be for our own native land. He’s way smarter than me, having studied chemistry and all sorts of science. A mind like his should not be wasted.”

Rizal nods emphatically, “You are like my brother Paciano. He sacrificed everything to help get me here.”

“Of course, that’s what brothers do. I’m sure he knows you are here not just to study medicine to heal people but to do greater things and heal the land. I hope more people like you will follow.  People like Del Pilar... I am worried about his safety. He’s already marked because of his brother’s mutiny involvement.”

“I heard that he’s been busy with anti-friar movement which is quite dangerous. I don’t know if that’s wise at this stage. Things can change quickly, and nobody can guarantee his safety there.”

The Blood Compact by Juan Luna

Luna then remembers something. “Talking about politics at home, I have an idea for another painting. I want to paint the scene of the Blood Compact between Datu Sikatuns and Legazpi. Will you help me with research on historical details?” 

Rizal chuckles, “I will even pose for you. But why do you like to paint Romanticism so much? Why not something like those Impressionists?” 

“I guess I could. But indios like us don't have the luxury of doing art for art's sake. I probably would enjoy painting in more modern styles like Goya’s Tres de Mayo or Diasters of War, but the Europeans sure love Romanticism too much. Maybe it gratifies them with a feeling of imperial superiority like the Romans. And it offers relevant themes I can paint our situations with. ”

Luna then leans closer, “I will let you in on a secret. I didn’t even know what a spoliarium was, until one day I visited the Colosseum and a guide told me that it’s where the bodies of dead and dying gladiators were laid. After the tour, I went back there by myself and, right there, at that bleakest spot, I had a vision of a people shackled and oppressed. It wasn’t any slave gladiators but our own people under Spanish rule. That’s when I knew I had to paint it… So, yes, while Goya can be outspoken with his Disasters of War, an Indio like me have to paint Spoliarium and Death of Cleopatra in the style that they cherish.”

“I see. The Egyptian queen is a splendid early heroine of anti-colonial resistance. A subtle slap in the empire’s face.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t want me to stab them with a bamboo spear like Lapulapu did to Magellan, right?”

Rizal laughs, “Of course not. This is not exactly the Battle of Mactan.”

The Battle of Mactan 1521 when Magenllan was killed by local hero Lapu-Lapu

At this point, someone speaks out in a drunken voice, “There are other ways we can best them. Sure, we cannot kill them in battles and we don’t all have Luna’s genius to win a contest. But we can take their women, as they have taken ours before. That’s the best proof that we are equal if not better than them.”  

Rizal loudly objects, “I sure hope we can prove in other ways that we are better especially in the way we treat as equals those who look different from us.”  

For some time now, Rizal has become agitated with his friends’ preference of sexual conquests over intellectual ones. A few months ago, they were talking about reviving the Circulo Hispano-Filipino and co-writing a book together, but most of them only wanted to write about women.

He laments, “Is there nothing to remind them that the Filipino does not come to Europe to enjoy himself, but to work for his liberty and for the dignity of the race? The years of their youth should be used for something more noble and grand because the people back home have placed their hopes on them. They are among the tiny minority of elites lucky enough to get Western-style education and speaks Spanish – the language of the rulers. What a waste!”

He then wonders, while some of his friends are wasting their time far from home, how many more Lunas and Hidalgos are slaving dying away in the rice fields and sugar plantations in the Philippines without ever the chance to hold a plume or a brush? How many in the world for that matter?

Somehow the sad image of a wretched young Egyptian man running alongside Rizal’s ship at Suez Canal picking up the bread that passengers on board threw to him returns to the Filipino’s mind. It was early June 1882 when he passed through the canal which since its opening in 1869 had brought more Filipinos to Spain — some to escape post-1872 persecution. 

It was the very thought of the Cavite Mutiny that led Rizal to exchange political comments with the Egyptian quarantine physician who came on board. He was told that Egypt was in the midst of a revolutionary change. The popular Minister of War Urabi had overthrown the former ruler Khedive Tawfiq in a coup, and the whole country seemed to be behind the general. After arriving in Spain, Rizal imagined that the situations for Egyptian people like the bread-begging young man he saw would soon improve once the tyrannical government was removed, but a few months later he heard that Britain had sent troops to crush Urabi’s army and exiled him to Ceylon and he remembered that it was also in Egypt when he heard for the first time the mother-song of revolutions, La Marseillaise.

Rizal makes up his mind. He will use his own literary talents, like when he bedazzled Manila in a competition with his Consejo de los Dioses  against those born and bred in Spain — to write his own Spoliarium, on behalf of those who don’t have such opportunities like him and for the sake of the Filipino people. He had been toying with an idea of a book since January. Now it became clear to him that he will write a novel that will expose the ills of Philippine society. Partly inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, it will be called Noli Me Tangere.

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0002 Labor rights in 1884: Out of the ashes, into fire

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Chicago. May 1, 1884

Albert Parsons is drafting an article in his head, when at the northeast corner of Adams and LaSalle streets he notices a familiar scene of a great number of workingmen throwing themselves at rebuilding Chicago from the Great Fire thirteen years ago. He stops and asks one of them what will become of the site and is told in a German accent that they just began work on erecting “the world’s first modern skyscraper”. Now he remembers that his wife Lucy has told him about it. Parsons thanks him and walks away resisting from asking further questions lest the German gets into trouble with his boss.

Albert Parsons

Lucy Parsons

As high-rises start to mushroom across Chicago to rival New York, they must appear to outsiders the pinnacle of the city’s triumphant rebirth from the ashes of 1871. But such adulation of conspicuous wealth disgusts Parsons to whom it is but a hollow victory paid for by the sweat and tears of workingmen whose living conditions continue to be driven into the ground.

Chicago after the 1871 Great Fire
Attributed to George N. Barnard (1819 - 1902)

It was because of the Great Fire that Parsons became interested in the labor question. In 1874, when workingmen complained that the Relief and Aid Society refused to help them despite the donations coming from around the world, claiming that they were themselves to blame for their own poverty.

Certainly, the folks who control the Society think they have better understanding of poverty. They do not work 10-13 hours a day six days a week in coal mines, steel mills, railroads, slaughterhouses, and in other dangerous occupations with no protection or remedy if they get hurt or sick on the job. Their mothers and wives do not work in a large, crowded, noisy room of deplorable conditions from dawn to late evenings without time to eat or go to bathroom. Their children, as young as three years old, do not have to run machines that may maim them for the rest of their lives. They do not count among their rank the tens of thousands killed by work accidents every year. All they care to count is the profits made off the back of natives and millions of migrant who arrived on this shore with a dream for the land of opportunities but found themselves in an American nightmare. 

They blame the costs and debts of reconstruction for the Panic of 1873, but Parsons knew better. It was the unmitigated greed of these same people that brought a decade of economic depression to the whole country. For years, these robber barons had made millions out of railroad constructions and speculations. And when Jay Cooke & Company went bankrupt over the failed plan to build a second transcontinental railway, bringing down with it many banks and thousands of businesses, it’s workers who have to pay the price with wage cuts, unemployment and endless hardships.

Unemployed men queuing for a meal at New York City Poorhouse after the Panic of 1873

So who should be blamed for the Great Railroad Strike four years later? Is it justified that rail workers across the country went out on strike in response to repeated pay cuts, only to be joined by others who had been suffering in silence for years? Rather than compromise, the capitalist attempted to break the strike by calling in scabs and militias, causing rioting and wide-scale destruction in many cities.

Destruction of the Union Depot, Pittsburgh during the Great Railroad StrikeM.B. Leiser, engraver / Public domain

During that Great Railroad Strike, Parsons witnessed in Chicago thousands of strikers clubbed and fired upon and dispersed by the police and militia, and another day several thousand men, women and children – none of whom on a strike –fired upon and several were killed. It was also during that summer of 1877 that Parsons came face to face with “the power that be” – being threatened against his life at gunpoint after he was thought a strike leader.

In the end, the rich snatched the victory by calling in the National Guard and the federal troops. Fearful of a revolution, capitalists from New York to Chicago pitched in millions to build armories and arm local Guard units to fight, not foreign enemies, but workingmen who they exploit like an aristocrat lording over their serfdom or a monarch over her colonial subjects.

Maryland National Guard's Sixth Regiment shooting strikers in Baltimore, 20 July 1877.

Such blatant contempt by the rich should shatter the shiny surface of this Gilded Age to reveal its rotten core to anyone. Parsons reviles Northerners with a sense of superiority over Southerners like him, but the abuses heaped upon these poor people by the organs of the rich are no different from the actions by southern slave holders toward the newly enfranchised slaves.

It puzzles him how some former abolitionists fail to see the parallel and, influenced by Herbert Spencer’s “survival of the fittest” pseudo-scientific slogan, became blind disciples to the laissez-faire dogma. His blood boils when remembering how the disgraced Henry Beecher preached against the strikers whose wages had been cut that "Man cannot live by bread alone but the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live," or "If you are being reduced, go down boldly into poverty". How many more people will be fooled by him and the likes of William Sumner?

It’s obvious that the republic that Lincoln fought for has been railroaded by a capitalistic oligarchy cozily in bed with elected politicians. With several men with Railroad connections appointed to the cabinet by one president after another, it should surprise absolutely nobody when the Railway Review announced that “No legislative body would dare to inaugurate or carry out any measure without first knowing the pleasure of the manufacturing and commercial interests,” or when the Railway World told the government to crush strikers virtually and actually as wicked and wanton as the French did to the Paris Commune

Parsons finds it impossible to disagree when workingmen say, “Poverty has no votes as against wealth, because if a man’s bread is controlled by another, that other can and, when necessary, will control his vote also.” He now feels that the chief function of all government is to maintain economic subjugation of the man of labor to capital – the monopolize of the means of labor. Money controls, by hook or crook, labor at the polls as in the factory.

That’s why he withdrew from all political participation including the Socialist Labor Party that he had been heavily involved. Political means will never yield justice. Formerly the master selected the slave. Today the slave selects his master. Nothing really changed. He became convinced of the hopelessness of political reformation, along with many workingmen who have lost their faith in the potency of the ballot of the law to protect the poor when the Supreme Court decided that the State legislature had a constitutional right to disarm workingmen who acquired weapons to protect themselves from capitalist brutality.

Parsons decides that it’s time to make enemies. His enemies in the southern states were those who oppress the black slave like his Aunt Easter – the house-servant who practically raised him as a child with great kindness and a mother’s love. Now his enemies in the north are those who perpetuate the slavery of the wage workers.

The capitalists can have any law passed in their favor — even the income and inheritance taxes abolished – but workingmen have nobody’s sympathy. The eight-hour day law remains as toothless today as the day it was passed already sixteen years ago.

The more he thinks about it, the clearer it is to him that the long work hours and low wages that workers are subjected to amount to their practical disenfranchisement as voters. They are deprived of the necessary time and means to organize for political action to abolish class legislation. He believes that the ballot box cannot be an index of the popular will until the debasing, impoverishing and enslaving industrial conditions are first altered.

This has to be the first step. So, although a loyal member of the more powerful Knights of Labor, Parsons makes up his mind to throw his full support to the rival Federation's initiative to make eight-hour day reality before May 1, 1886 — exactly two years from today. When achieved, workers will then have time to become better organized and demand equitable wealth distributions between labor and capital.

Uriah Stephens founded the Knights of Labor, the first national industrial union in the United States, in Philadelphia in December 1869 and led the organization until he resigned his post as Grand Master Workman in 1879. In this 1886 Kurz & Allison lithograph (seen in full in the media gallery), Stephens is honored as the “Founder of the Knights of Labor.”

No longer will we quietly have it harped in our ears that we are free and equal. That every avenue is open alike to all and all can climb to the top. The road to wealth is open alike to all. That’s just the sophistry the rich are continually giving to the poor to arouse their hopes and make them contented with their downtrodden condition. It is intended solely to quiet those underneath, so those on top will enjoy more safety and quiet while standing on them.

Parsons knows the numbers by heart. It is calculated in the article “The Owners of the United States” that based on the 1880 census that 250,000 people owns 75-80% of the country’s wealth. The census also shows that after deducting the cost of raw material, interest, rents, risks, etc., the propertied class – accounting for only 1/10 of the population -- have stolen more than 5/8 of all products, leaving scarcely 3/8 to the producers whose wages are never raised above the margin necessary for keeping intact their working ability.

This also results in overproductions which lead to panics and economic crashes. Under this system, periodic panics occur, worldwide in their character, growing more frequent and intense as the system develops. At such times, society is suddenly thrown back into barbarism. Thousands perish of want while surrounded with the greatest abundance. As production increases, wage decrease. Meanwhile, the workers become poorer and driven to crime, vagabondage, prostitution, suicide, starvation and general depravity. Poverty, crime, insanity and suicide has increased 400% in proportion to population in the last thirty years.

The same condition exists throughout Europe as in America. And every capitalist country, like hungry leeches, searches for new markets and colonies to extract fresh resources and dump their overproduction. This is the so-called “civilization”.

Therefore, the decisive combat of the proletarians against their oppressors – the bourgeoises of capitalistic society – must be simultaneous everywhere because class knows no border. The capitalists enjoy an endless supply of cheap labor by pitching white against blacks, natives against immigrants, Protestants against Catholics, one country origin against another, and everyone else against Chinese workers. Divide and rule is effective for capitalists as colonizers. The international fraternity of people as expressed in the International Working People’s Association is self-evident. 

This unjust, insane and murderous system must be destroyed by all means. This modern industrial system with its worldwide markets based on the institution of private property. The private ownership by a few members of society of the means of production and resources of life.

Every man has a natural ambition and a natural right to climb, but he has no right to climb at another man’s expense. One man has no right to live on the profits of another man’s labor, under any excuse whatever. He who stands on what another man produces, stands on that man. No matter what the pretext, he is standing on him wrongfully. The under man should knock off the burden and not be longer bamboozled with the idea that he should be patient, for perhaps by and by he may be on top. 

The idea that no man can get all the luxuries of this world without standing on the necks of other men is too ill-founded to be longer sustained. When they find his fellow man an explosive footstool, they will stop trying to use him for a footstool to boost himself up with. Gunpowder brought the world some liberty and dynamite will bring the world as much more as it is stronger than gunpowder. No man has a right to boost himself by even treading on another’s toes. Dynamite will produce equality. 

Parsons does not advocate the use of force, but he will loudly denounce the capitalist for employing it to hold laborers in subjection to them, and declare that such treatment would of necessity drive the working men to employ the same means in self-defense. They must be prepared to meet force with force.

As in former times a privileged class never surrendered its tyranny, neither can the capitalists of this age be expected to give up their rulership without being forced to do it. Therefore, the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeois will be of a violent revolutionary character.

The Declaration of Independence says, “… But when the long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce the people under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government and provide new guards for their future security.”

This thought of Thomas Jefferson was the justification for armed resistance by our forefathers which gave birth to our Republic. Does it not also speak of the exploitation by the capitalists that workingmen are subjected to in our present time? Does it not compel us to reassert their declaration? Our forefathers have not only told us that against despots, force is justifiable, because it is the only means, but they themselves have set the example...

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