Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1878 — OUR COMMUNE. [ARTICLE]

OUR COMMUNE.

The Sochslietie Labor Party in the United States—The Revolution It Proposes to Accomplish. [From the New York World ] It will certainly be a surprise to the average New York taxpayer to learn that there are in this city several thousand German and Bohemian socialists, organized into one large and, at least, threatening organization, whose avowed purpose is the entire overthrow of our present social system. This is the socalled socialistic labor party (Socialistiche Ar better-Par tei), which claims a membership of 17,000 in the United States, and between 3,000 and 4,000 in New York. It was started about five years ago by a few Germans, most of whom had fled from Europe to escape the penalty of their revolutionary views. It thrived on the distress of the working classes and spread over the country until now it has branches or sections in every important city of the Union, and more especially in the manufacturing centers. The party is governed by an Executive Committee, with headquarters at Cincinnati, and has its agents at various stated points. For the propagation of its views it publishes twenty-four newspapers in the German, Bohemian, French, and English languages, holds “ agitation meetings” every week, and has one general agent, who travels constantly from city to city for the purpose of “agitation.” What the socialistic labor party mean, what they are working for, and what they are teaching to foreign and American workingmen, however, has been very plainly told by Mr. Alexander Jonas, the -editor of their two chief organs. Mr. Jonas was found by the writer in the editorial rooms of the Volks-Zeitung, at No. 17 Beekman street, in a communicative mood. He said: “Our party is making rapid progress all over the country; it is moving quietlv—revolutions that mean anything usually do—but it is moving surely. In the five years that it has been in existence it has gained 17,000 members, find this number does not represent one-quarter of the men who are in sympathy with us, though not regularly in the organization. We have • at least 90,000 supporters in this country. We have our branches all over the land, even as far as San Francisco, and they are constantly spreading. True, we are in a large minority, but remember the abolitionists began with 7,000 votes, and finally triumphed. In Germany we began with 2,000 votes, and at the last election for the Reichstag we cast 700,000 votes; no wonder the Government is afraid. We elected two out of the six deputies from Berlin; if we could do that in Germany, what a field we have here, and especially in New York 1” “And what is the object of your party ?” asked the writer. “ Our object, sir,” was the reply, “ is the entire overthrow of the present social system.” “What is the matter with the social system ?” “What is the matter?” echoed Mr. Jonas; “ the matter is that, while the wealth of the country is becoming concentrated every day more and more into the hands of the few, the workingmen are starving under the twin curses of the oppression by capital and the burden of oppressive taxes. Since the invention and development of new machinery the relation of the employer and employed has changed altogether. Capital has become supreme, the laborer has become abject and remains always a laborer; every new piece of machinery throws more men out of employment to starve; and the invention of machinery has become a curse to mankind. ” “ What remedy do you propose ? ” “We propose that all personal property in land and other means of production shall be abolished and ceded to the state, to be worked on the co-operative plan, so that every laborer shall be a part owner and be paid according to the value of his work.” “Is this what you teach to the working men ? ” “Yes, sir; and to reach it we propose ■first a wnrlrincr day of eiirht hours to begin with, this to be lessened as occasion may require—that is, as machinery increases, and the demand for workingmen becomes less, so that all may have a chance to do some work. We will not allow men to work beyond the fixed number of hours a day, and, as to prices, they are to be regulated between the employer and employed until the time when the employe becomes a partner on the co-operative plan. We propose also that children under 14 shall not be permitted to work; that compulsory education in fact shall be established, and that, instead of having one school for the rich and one for the poor, all colleges and universities shall be free.” “What else?” “We propose to abolish all savings banks and all direct taxation, instituting a scaled income tax, so that, if the man who has an income of SSOO pays SSO tax, the man who has $5,000 shall pay SSOO tax, and the man who has $50,000 shall pay $5,000 tax, and so on.” “Whatis the attitude of your party toward the church ? ” “We are mostly infidels; we do not concern ourselves with the church, only that we should be very quick to take the opportunity to vote for the taxation of church property.” “How do the American workingmen take to your teachings ? ” “ I am sorry to say that the Englishspeaking laborers are not as determined as the Germans and French. But we are making headway with them. Starvation and want will do more for them than argument, as witness the railroad strikes last year. ”