Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1887 — "HOCH DIE ANARCHIE.” [ARTICLE]

"HOCH DIE ANARCHIE.”

Louis Lingg’s Farewell Address to His Friends, Written at Their Request. He Closes a Sensational Letter, With the Sentiment, “Long Live; Anarchy.” Cook County Jail, Nov. 6, 1887.—T0 Worthy Citizen: * * * I zee the fact, -which has long been known to we. that the aristocracv and the bourgeois feel that our hanging will not benefit them. On top of this came the news that if the condemned had agreed to ask for clemency they could have »een saved from the gallows. Whether this standing by each other took the form of signing a petition for mercy or took the shape of miserably begging for pardon, it is said, would ha'.e made no ditference. The Saud ering press also claims that we should, in le interests of the working cl isses- not to say anything of the aristocracy—give in, so that we will not die. I, as well as ail others in the secret, know full well that a firm adherence to the plan laid out would have saved us from the gallows. Even if it should not have done so, what then? Now, Judge McAllister, if the report of the “Plunderer’’ is true, says that in the event of our execution, the aristocracy—those monopolists, those powerful capitalists—will in a few years see all thev possess go up in smoke, in flame. Now, who is this Judge McAllister ? A bourgeois of most noble mien. Shall I then again tell you of the terrible plight we are in ? Shall I also allude t--> our former condition and how true to our revolutionary training we agitated not alone by speech, by writing, but by deed. But then you knowit is a wise as well as true saying to trust no one. You know also that I cannot handle other subjects as well as this one. My hatred of the system which brings about the present condition of the working people, and, which I can well say without egotism my disinterested love for the cause of freedom has kept me in every instance n.<t alone from begging for mercy, but it has enabled me to remain firm and demand nothing but simply justice. It was for those reasons that I, as well aa Parsons, Engel, aud Fischer, were compelled to resist even the pleadings of our Amnesty Committee and refuse to sign the petition they presented. Realizing that unless I stultify my principles I can not escape the grim monster, 1 now calmly face death, and, in view of the results that it will bring about in favor of anarchism, look on my taking off with no fear, you, worthy citizen, know full well as Ido. I aud every other true anarchist know that wo have a greater enemy than death to face, and that is the socalled upper class of the present day, and to overcome whom we, to be true to our training, must be willing not only to sacrifice our liberty, but to give up our lives. I have always treated the propaganda of deeds in the abstract. I realize that those who have amassed fortunes and thus become capitalists are not alone the musters of my fellow workmen, but also their oppressors and murderers. I know also that unless the laboring people get their rights by means of legislation that*the day is not far distant when the awful consequences of this continuous persecution of the proletariat will be manifested, and revolution, that all know must naturally follow such a state of affairs, will be a reality. That the continued aggregation of capital caused by the production of material does not better the condition of the working classes, does not require any wonderful degree of intellect to comprehend. To the contrary, it tends to continuous degeneration. That through the propaganda of the deed our best interests can be served, and the condition of the workingman bettered, has been fully proved by the events of the past two years, during which time we have openly taught our masters that a class distinction, brought about by their instrumentality, is not the best for all concerned. In view of all the facts in the case, I naturally find that, depite the fact that philanthropists are trying to induce me not to invite the fate that overshadows me, that it is bound to come, for the authorities are determined—though they that know I am not responsible for the throwing of the bomb—to make me pay the penalty for this deed. Now it is very likely that carrying out of our sentence, which will be nothing more or less than murder, will result in the overthrowing of tyrants. Your comrade, Hoch die anarchie I

LOUIS LINGG.