Eleanor Marx Aveling
Source: Supplement to The Commonweal, Vol 1 No. 5, June 1885, pages 51-52
Transcribed: by Graham Seaman, February 2022
FRANCE. — When we were told some few weeks ago that in consequence of the damning revelations of M. Andrieux, ex-prefect of police, the "political prisoners" would be amnestied, everyone believed the statement. It seemed impossible even for a bourgeois Republic to avoid such an act of common decency. But we had reckoned without our virtuous and patriotic Republicans. The political prisoners are not to be amnestied. A "pardon" was indeed offered Louise Michel, but she refused to accept it. It is so difficult for the average bourgeois of "sated virtue" and "solvent morals" to understand the motives that actuate such a woman as Louise Michel that her refusal to leave her prison is looked on as but one more sign of madness. But could an honourable woman have done anything else? Louise Michel and a number of other persons were condemned — Louise being denounced and generally looked upon as the "leader" of the others. She naturally asks why should the leader be spared when the followers are punished? And until all her fellow prisoners are amnestied, Louise will continue in gaol with them; she shared their "crime" and will share the penalty.
The number of persons receiving "relief" in Paris has augmented to an almost incredible extent withn the last ten or twelve years. The following figures will give some idea of how the misery of the people in Republican and Malthusian Paris has grown. The number of "paupers" was, in 1861, 90,287; 1863, 101,570; 1866, 105,119; 1869, 111,357; 1872, 101,719; 1874, 113,713; 1877, 113,317; 1880, 123,735; 1883, 123,324. On the subject of the present condition of the workers, a Parisian friend has given me some very interesting details. For example, in the street where he lives, a sort of "bureau" has been opened, where working men, by applying at 8 o'clock in the morning, can get a piece of bread and glass of water. Be it noted that respectable working men (not even the most unhappy class of the permanently unemployed) only are admitted, and yet, from 3 o'clock in the morning, a crowd draws up in front of the bureau, and, to get a piece of bread and glass of water, hundreds wait there for hours!
The excitement in Paris over the possible war, or wars, has thrown all other matters into the shade. For the time being, however, the coming election is begining to occupy public opinion. On the subject of the election a correspondent in Paris writes that, "the manner of voting will be changed: it will be by scrutin de liste, and takes place in this wise. The town of Paris formerly elected twenty deputies, each person voting for a deputy in bis own quarter. For the future every elector will vote for a list of twenty deputies, who will represent the department of the Seine, instead of voting by arrondissement (quarter). This voting by list forces fractions of the same colour to coalesce in order to make common cause in the electoral struggle. The monarchists, Legitimists and Orleanists, "pure" and "impure," and the dirtiest of Bonapartists will join hands to get out one monarchical list. The Opportunists are trying to get M. Clemenceau and a portion of the Radicals to join them; they even announce that M. Clemenceau and other Radicals will be placed upon their list. It is probable that Clemenceau will have to protest against this use of his name for electioneering purposes.
The Socialist party wishes to make use of the scrutin de liste in order to bring union into its ranks. For some years the Socialist party in France, and especially in Paris, has been much divided, and consequently it has not been represented in electoral bodies as it might be. At the present time a central committee has united eighty-two syndical chambers (i.e., trades unions) and Socialist organisations. So the union of all the Socialist bodies has fairly begun."
GERMANY.— In connection with the recent police outrage at the Working Men's Club, in St. Stephen's Mews, the following facts as to a similar outrage committed by the Berlin police may not be without interest. A public meeting — to which I believe I referred briefly in the first number of the Commonweal — was held in the 6th electoral district of Berlin to celebrate the return to the Reichstag of the Socialist deputy Pfaunkuch. This meeting, although carried on in the most orderly fashion, was forcibly broken up by the police. Many persons were violently assaulted, and when, after they had been attacked in the most brutal fashion, they defended themselves and refused to allow the police to ill-use them, were arrested for "assault." It was, of course, perfectly clear to everyone that the whole thing had been got up by the police in order to cause a disturbance at the meeting, and to get a chance of arresting a certain number of Socialists. The case has now been tried in Berlin, and although the reactionary press had indignantly denied the responsibility of the police in the whole business, it was indisputably proved that it was an organised assault on the part of the police. Police-Lieutenant Zieske, "one of those silly people who are too stupid even for the Prussian police," admitted in his evidence that he had received orders to provoke the meeting — which was affected to be a large one — into making a riot by forcibly dissolving it without any pretext whatever. Other witnesses also spoke to the brutality of the police. The accused, four in number, were, despite this evidence, not contradicted by the police, respectively condemned to from four months imprisonment and two weeks of arrest to two months imprisonment.
While Socialists were being thus dealt with in Berlin, two other trials, of a somewhat similar nature — i.e., for assaults on officers in the discharge of their duties — were going on at Ebling and at Hanover. In the first town some "respectable" persons, arrested at a Conservative meeting, which had become so riotous and disorderly that the interference of the military was necessary, were either acquitted, or, in extreme cases, sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment; and in the second some drunken officers, who had assaulted the night-watch and beaten them with their drawn swords, were, though sentenced to a few days' imprisonment, released immediately after. A correspondent of the Sozial Democrat contrasts these light sentences passed on riotous Conservatives and drunken officers with those inflicted upon Socialists "who had been provoked in the most infamous fashion, and who are punished with four months' imprisonment. Such is the 'equality in the eyes of the law' in our capital, as administered by 'irresponsible' judges."
ITALY. — That this land of sunshine and of beauty is yet, so far as its people are concerned, one of the poorest and most wretched in all Europe, in all the world, is a well-known fact. That the peasants are at least trying to make some stand against the land thieves is good news, and from the papers I see that an important movement has begun among the agricultural labourers in Mantua. It is true these men at present ask from their landlords only such a wage as shall buy them their daily bread, but their exploiters, at all events, have understood that this "means mischief," and have denounced their labourers as Socialists and demanded military support from the Government. Hereupon larger districts in the province were occupied by the military, and the officials of all the agricultural labourers' unions, over 200 men, were arrested, and sent off to the prison at Mantua. In all villages the funds of the unions were seized, all letters and lists of members taken away, and this it would appear simply by order of the police. Of course, the peasants are accused of "outrages," and it is said a few vines were hurt, and even some cattle maimed; but on the showing of the police itself, there was nothing to warrant such an arrest en masse. What the Government actually intend doing with all the troops called out it is impossible to say, but bad as this beginning has been, probably "worse remains behind." Meantime a large demonstration by the agricultural labourers has been prevented, but one of the papers asks, "Will this prevent their going to the towns to demand with violence the liberation of those arrested? The numerous cavalry patrols that constantly occupy the high roads may possibly prevent the arrival of the peasants for a time. But will minds be pacified in this manner, and is the Government itself competent — has it the power — to bring about an understanding between the masters and labourers on this great question of agricultural production? It must not be forgotten that it is the most bitter need that is driving the peasantry to such acts."
DENMARK. — The political situation here is very strained. The ministry has been in a minority for ten years. Three times the Folkething has been dissolved, and three times has the Opposition returned, each time stronger than before. In the 1884 eleetion three Socialists were returned — Holm, tailor; Hordum, shoemaker; Trier, professor. The situation has been aggravated of late by the Government, although the Folkething had refused the budget, arranging the finances and thus violating the constitution. The Opposition appealed to the shocked public spirit, advising the entering of the rifle corps and the habituating themselves to the use of arms. The people replied by joining the corps en masse. Then the Government forbade the importation of arms into Denmark, and began to bring pressure to bear on the rifle corps. All State officials (especially the schoolmasters) were attacked if they took part in the organisation of these corps. Journals, especially the Socialist ones, are constantly being prosecuted. All this does not intimidate the people. The last Sunday in April the ministerial party called their adherents together in the Hippodrome. They only mustered 3,000 — 4,000. At Norrefeld (a place of exercise for the garrison) 70,000 met under the Socialist flag to protest against the action of the Government. The Social Democrat spoke out clearly of the revolutionary character of the meeting. Most of the journals said it was the largest ever organised, and the reactionary papers did not dare to speak of the numbers present. The Socialist party has not felt it a duty or a wisdom to especially initiate the movement against the Government; or, in other words, to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the Radicals. But through its representatives it has declared that if the Opposition is consistent in its conduct, it can always reckon on the labour classes. Denmark has two daily Socialist papers — the Social Democrat (Copenhagen) 18,000 subscribers, and Democraten (Aarhuus).
AMERICA. — The London papers published a short cablegram a few weeks ago, stating that eight "tenement houses" in New York had all collapsed, causing considerable damage. No more, at least so far as I am aware, has here been said about the matter, but it is one that deserves more than a passing notice, not only because of the sensation it has created in New York, nor because the "damage" included the death of one working man and severe injuries to many others, but because the whole affair is so characteristic of our modern commercial system. These eight houses that have all literally fallen to pieces were built by one Buddensiek, an ex-butcher, who had taken to house speculation. A few words as to this gentleman's antecedents. He was, as I have said, by trade a butcher and had a butcher's shop. Some years ago, however, he turned his attention to building and constructed a large tenement house in Second Avenue. The house soon let, but almost as soon, it was found, not only that the basement filled with water, but that "a hideous stench filled all the rooms." Illness broke out, and finally workmen had to be called in to examine the building. It was found that Buddensiek instead of having the chief drain of the large house made to communicate with the canal, had found it cheaper to have it taken only some twenty-five feet off, and there covered over. His next exploit was to build some houses in Fifty-two Street. Here again, they had hardly been let before malaria, diphtheria, etc., broke out among the lodgers, and on examination it again appeared that so bad were the materials and so careless the workmanship of the various pipes and drains that "the water from closets and sinks dripped into the cellars, turning them into a regular death-giving swamp." Nothing daunted, it appears from the Sanitary Commission of 1879 that thirteen charges were brought against Buddensiek, and since then he has on ten different occasions been prosecuted. Disgusted at such unwarranted interference with his individual liberty, Buddensiek took to using "men of straw," in whose name he carried on his business of builder. Of these men one or two were arrested, but on the ground of a technical error escaped punishment. So much for Mr. Buddensiek's past. So far, it will be seen, that he has been invariably successful, and but for the collapse of the houses alluded to, nothing of all this would probably have come to light. But the authorities, much against the grain, for it has since been proved that many of the building inspectors, and other officials, had been bribed by the ex-butcher, have been forced to take steps against him, as the death of the working man Walter, caused by the fall of the houses, had to be examined into before the coroner. "Witness after witness was called, and proved that it was absolutely impossible that the houses (I should add that these were philaothropically built for the "benefit" of the working classes) could possibly hold together any length of time, and that "the only wonder is how they could be run up at all." C. B. Malone, of the Bricklayers' Union said: "The stuff used for mortar was clay and bad lime instead of sand and good lime. But sand costs two to three dollars a load, and clay costs nothing. To enrich himself, and other contractors, Buddensiek risks the life of his workmen and the unfortunates who are forced to live in such miserable jerry-houses. Buddensiek constantly employs 'scabs' who work under the union wages, and it is most marvellous that more of these houses have not fallen in." Evidence like this by competent workmen, far too voluminous to quote here, has been brought forward.
In their verdict the jury declare Buddensiek and his partner Frank chiefly responsible fur the death of the man Walter, but that this is also due in part to the "incompetence and the neglect of duty of Inspectors Dailey and Mackey." In consequence of this verdict, Buddensiek and his accomplice, Charles Frank, as also Inspectors Dailey and Mackey, have been placed under arrest.
At the coroner's inquest the insolent manner of Buddensiek has caused no little indignation. The following passage from the report of the inquest is interesting. One of the witnesses, a mason, pointed out that the bricks used were so bad that "some crumbled up in one's hand, while others were so damp and soft, they stuck together." "Who stuck together?" asked the defendant's lawyer. "The bricks," explained the coroner. "Oh! I thought the working men," answered the lawyer, laughing. The coroner was silent for a moment, and then said: "I should not wonder if the working men would stick together one fine day, but for a different purpose!"
The indignation of the working classes in New York has been so great there were "fears" that Mr. Buddensiek might be lynched. A large meeting was called to consider the whole matter — for in New York alone there are 1,500 houses built by this enterprising butcher on the same ingenious plan. The police were extremely anxious to prevent this meeting (for there is not the shadow of a doubt that, besides the two Inspectors who have been arrested, a large number of the "officials" in New York are compromised in the affair), and, in order to stop it, resorted to the usual police tactics. The meeting was to be held at Wendel's Assembly Rooms, and Police-Inspector Walling wrote to the proprietor of the hall that "the Socialists intended to make a riot, and that he would do wisely not to let his hall for such a purpose." But Captain Wendel answered that he should certainly not break his contract, and that he would not prevent the meeting. Then "Walling instructed the Commander of the 22nd district, Captain Kililea, to call on Wendel and put the matter to him again. Kililea sent a detective to Wendel, who, however, could not induce him to alter his determination, and was obliged to report that Wendel would not let himself be intimidated. When Captain Kililea heard this he had the alarm-bell rung and called out all his reserves — thirty men — and ordered them off to the hall. They were armed with revolvers and bludgeons." Of course they could not prevent the meeting, at which thousands were present, while thousands had to remain outside for want of room in the hall. The resolution passed at the meeting, besides denouncing the "professional murderer Buddensiek" and his accomplices, the "bribed officials," declares that the meeting "sees in men like Buddensiek and his fellow-criminals the necessary product of the method of capitalistic production, with its con- sequences of wild hunting after wealth and contempt for human life," and "calls on the workers of New York to have a care that severe justice be dealt out, not only to this one villain, but to work with all their strength to bring about a juster social condition, that will put an end to all Buddensieks." This resolution was enthusiastically carried, and Captain Kililea's thirty men, having stayed to the end of the meeting and made no sign, then marched back again to the station-house to report.
Eleanor Marx-Aveling.