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Title: Internationalism Author: Frank Kitz Date: September 11, 1886 Language: en Topics: Internationalism, Commonweal Source: Retrieved on 30th August 2021 from https://www.marxists.org/archive/kitz/internationalism.htm Notes: Published in Commonweal.
As the references to the starting of various associations in “Socialism
from the Root-up “ are necessarily brief, I desire as one who took a
part in bringing together English and foreign workers, to supplement
them. If we select the period immediately subsequent to the death of
Robert Owen, we look upon a gloomy phase of working-class history.
Remnants of the great Chartist and Socialistic agitations were following
upon divergent roads the lead of Bronterre O’Brien and Ernest Jones ;
the former attacking the evils of landlordism, usury, and profit, and
proposing what might be termed a mixture of Individualism and Socialism
as a remedy, and the latter seeking through political Parliamentary
means to alleviate social ills. Away from these sincere men was a mass
of what may be termed the disbanded army of Chartist workers, men who
probably were never sincere in their temporary adhesion to the great
principles put forward during the previous great agitations, and now
sought their own aggrandisement at the expense of the people’s Cause.
All sorts of middle-class humbug was upheld and preached by these
renegades — Thrift, Emigration, National Insurance, and Malthusianism —
a host of bogus associations sprang into existence for these several
objects, and one or two middle-class saviours of Society became general
banker and treasurer to the whole ; our old friend Samuel Morley might
consider this a personal reference. How these fellows scrambled for the
middle-class gold thrown amidst them ! How they belittled the great
principles which they had formerly professed, and derided the enthusiasm
of young men who sought to carry those principles forward, is well known
to many who have pioneered the present Socialist revival.
The birth of the International was a gleam of hope for the workers, but
even upon that body they intruded their presence ; sleek trade
unionists, who only believe in a corrupt aristocracy of labour and the “
rights of those who can get them,” irrespective of those who are
entitled to them, joined with the aforesaid middle-class hacks in an
hypocritical make-believe of adopting the economic theories of Marx and
the principles of universal emancipation. But whilst the English
delegates were playing a role, the “foreigners” were in earnest, and the
Commune was proclaimed in Paris. It acted as a solvent upon these
members of the British Federation, and they hastened to assure their
patrons that they had no sympathy with violence, and a few belonging to
that curious combination known as the Workmen’s Peace Party, chief
product of benefactor Morley, went to Paris and wept crocodile’s tears
over the effigy of the executed Archbishop of Paris, and thus added
insult to the injuries endured by the martyr Parisian people in striving
to prevent the re-imposition of the shackles of Capitalism. Favourable
mention must be made of those members of the Federation who did honour
to the heroism of the Parisian workers, but their enthusiasm could not
withstand the dull apathy and hostility of the masses — apathy in a
large degree due to the spectacle of apostacy presented to them. Their
expiring effort was the formation of a club in 1873, which, however, was
short-lived, and the earlier celebrations of the Communist uprising as a
consequence were almost confined to foreigners resident in London. The
persistent efforts of the London refugees to establish relations with
English workmen resulted in a meeting of English, French, and Germans in
August, 1877, whereat a resolution was agreed to form an International
Club, and a few months saw its inauguration at Rose Street, Soho. I
might record that they had previously rendered generous service to the
English Trades’ Unionists by causing the return of a large number of
German masons, who, through the misrepresentation of the employers, were
inveigled over here during the famous masons’ strike. Their efforts were
rewarded by the somewhile Internationalist Broadhurst rushing into print
to deny that the International had any hand in the business. The passing
of the Anti-Socialist Law in Germany crowded the ranks with exiles, and
clearly demonstrated the futility of lawful agitation against despotism.
The sudden strain of supporting a mass of expatriated men, women, and
children was immense, but it was met and overcome. Suffice it to say
that outside of the few Englishmen comprising the English section, not
one penny of help did we receive. The Englishmen in association with
this club now commenced attacks upon the cant and humbug which the
enemies of progress were indulging in. Anti- Emigration meetings were
held, whereat resolutions were passed denouncing the monopolists and
their tactics, and the unemployed were stirred to resist the process of
slow starvation. The execution of the Czar, and the prosecution of Most
for commenting upon this event in the German Freiheit, together with the
publication by the English section of a manifesto and English edition of
the Freiheit, drew general attention to the principles of Socialism, and
vastly aided their propagation. In this light we might almost view
ex-Home Secretary Harcourt as the putative father of the present
marvellous growth of our movement.
The initial meetings of the Social Democratic Federation were held at
this revolutionary and by that time Anarchist club, and although it may
be very inconsiderate of me to note this fact, as affecting the origin
of those who are not only painfully anxious to be considered a “purely
English party, “but also as the sole custodians of correct Socialist
principles, to whom all others are but their pupils and offshoots,”
(vide Justice), yet the truth must out. The Germans, having by bitter
experience been cured of Parliamentarianism, the New English Party
started with it, with what success the logic of events may prove, but
there were a few inside and outside of the new party who would not
wholly commit themselves to it on account of its Jingo Nationalism, and
still preserved their organisation intact, and to these are due the
thousands of Socialistic pamphlets, leaflets, and manifestos in
circulation over the country, the wherefrom of which has seriously
troubled our “masters.”
The foundation of the “Radical,” by S. Bennett, and the efforts of the
Anti-Coercion Association to prevent coercion in Ireland, was also
contributory to the birth of the “only English Party.” In connection
with Gladstone’s ill-starred coercive policy, there are one or two facts
which show curiously how English opinion is manufactured. Four trusty
henchmen met over a friendly glass and determined to go to the aid of
the Grand Old Man, and forthwith there was launched into existence the
“Radical” League in support of the policy of her Majesty’s Government
towards Ireland. One of the four, a reporter, under a cloud for
reporting an execution that never took place, had to work his “copy”
through another hand, and the morning papers contained lengthy reports
of the speeches which this precious gang made to one another, and
Irishmen were exasperated by what appeared to be an influential
combination against them. One of the historic four I see was among the
seven who pretended to represent the English working-class at the late
International Trades’ Congress, and as “a fellow feeling makes us
wondrous kind,” he, of course, “warmly protested” against the attack
made upon his fellow-Coercionist Broadhurst by the German delegate. The
game of representation which he and others have played for so many
years, and the formation of bogus political associations chiefly around
the neigh bourhood of Clerkenwell, is now doomed by the advance of
Socialism. Whilst in reality they have only represented a narrow clique
in a special craft, as another delegate truly told them, the Aristocracy
of Labour, they have presumed on all occasions to speak in the name of
the great mass of the English workers, a position for which they have as
much right to as the man in the moon. To talk of German competition
whilst Englishmen are forcing their goods upon millions of people at the
point of the bayonet, is like pot calling the kettle black, and is a
stupid and mischievous contribution to the discussion of Social
Economics.
The toilers and moilers in the sweltering back slums of our cities and
towns, who get their hand-to-mouth existence in ways that Burnett and
Co. neither wot of nor care about, and even the over-worked unionist who
sees his combination powerless to repress the growing power of
Capitalism, and only useful in saving the pockets of the exploiters from
poor rates, and to increase the cost of living and rent to himself and
others, may well question whether the Socialist or the paid Union
Delegate best represents the full interest of Labour.
Mr. Burnett’s sneer as to the fact of his being able to speak without
fear of imprisonment falls flat, for he and his fellows would run no
risk of im- prisonment, even in despotic Germany, for acting
gratuitously as relieving officers for the middle-class. But if, instead
of talking cant, he fought the true battle of Labour with Monopoly, he
might And himself fined or imprisoned even in “dear” Albion — Mainwaring
and Williams to wit. However, he and his confreres have their reward.
That slimy product of our modern capitalist system, viz., the anonymous
scribbler of the Hebrew Money-jobber Daily Press, belauds them, and
this, together with the small jobs which their close friends the
Parliamentary Whigs are sure to give them, will constitute a sufficient
recompense for the trials and tribulations endured at the Congress.
The German delegates’ references to the Conservatism and indifference of
the English workers to the root question of whether Labour shall be the
slave or the master in Society are particularly true, and whilst we must
regret that the present Socialist upheaval is more due to the failure of
English Capitalism to still afford wages to its slaves than to
spontaneous generous impulse on the part of the workers, we know that
the movement now growing will not recede, and that the glorious band of
men and women who dreamed dreams of Universal Freedom, and fought and
died for their realisation, will receive just recognition by the
establishment of an International Federation of the wealth producers.
Frank Kitz.