The Labor enquirer. [volume], March 15, 1884, Image 1

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VOLUME 111 -NO. H.
PRINCE KRAPOTKINE
A Portrait and Short History
of the Russian
Patriot.
His Connexion With the Nihilist
Movement of His t Native
Country.
How One of Freedom's Noblest Sons
Has Suffered for the Holy
Cause.
'The portrait presented was engraved from
■ a sketch made of Krapotkine as be was de
livering his famous defense at his trial at
I.yons, France, In January, 1883. At that
trial he was accused of being a member of the
International, and upon that ground, sen
tenced to five years imprisonment.]
I.
Prince Krapotkine is not the leader of
the Nihilist movement as he is called
throughout Europe. He has not even
tUe least influence over the modern
Russian revolutionary movement; no
literary influence, for ever since he has
resided abroad he has never written ex -
cept in the French language; no personal
influence, for at this moment he’ is
known in Russia only by name, This
fact, however strange it may appear to
the reader, is the natural consequence of
another. Krapotkine is a refugee; and
the political refugees, who reside in the
various cities of Europe, have not the
slightest influence , whether separately
or collectively, updn the revolutionary
movement of the country.
The thing may appear incredible, yet
any man of judgment who thin ks about
it for a single moment, will not fail to
recognize the truth of my assertions.
Only two things have to be taken into
consideration, the general character of
' the Russian movement, and the distance
between Russia and and the countries in
which the refugees can reside, Switzer
land, France, Italy, England; for no one
would trust himself either in Prussia or
Austria. I will cite one single fact. To
exchange letters with Switzerland, which
is the nearest country of all, a fortnight
must always elapse, allowing a few days
for a reply, i*
Now, an order, supposing one has to
be given, or even advice, would reach
St. Petersburg a fortnight, or, at all
events, ten days after it had been asked
for. Nowin Russia the struggle is no
longer carried on by exclusively mental
effort, as it was five years ago. It is a
struggle of arms in a thorough
war, in which the minutest precautions
have to be taken in accordance with the
latest movements of the enemy. Let us
suppose that an attempt against the em
peror is being prepared. The slightest
change in his itinerv, in the route he will
take, in the measures he will adopt for
his safety, immediately cause the whole
plan of attack to be changed.
What orders coftld be given from Lon
don, from Paris, from Switzerland ? Who
would be so stupidly presumptuous as to
believe himself in a position to give
them ? Who would be so stupid as to
attribute any value to them? Let us
suppose for a moment, that a general
wished to carry on a war in Turkey,
while remaining in St. Petersburg. What
would be said by every man with a par
ticle of judgment? Yet this general
would have an immense advantage, that
of possessing the telegraph, while we
have nothing but laggard post.
It being impossible, therefore, for a
refugee to direct operations, or even to
give advice, of value, upon Russian mat
ters, why should he be informed before
hand of what is being prepared in Rus
sia ? To run the risk of some letter fall
ing iAto the hands of the police? To
inct'Rso the perils of this Titanic strug
gle, as though there were not enough
already?
We have thus another fact resulting
from the preceding. Even the refugees
connected witla those who belong to the
party, and who take an active part in
everything, have not the slightest knowl
edge of what is being prepared inr Rus
sia. From time to time, out of pure
friendship, they receive some vague hint,
' without ever knowing anything for cer
tain, respecting the place, time or mode
of execution of the project in embryo.
Why communicate such things, even to
the best of friends, merely to satisfy cu
riosity ? It would be a crime, an infamy,
a dishonest act; and every earnest man
would be the first- to reproach a friend
for such an act. Thus events, such as
the putting to death of Alexander 11.,
and the explosion in the Winter palace,
were as much of a supprise to refugees
as to the rest of the world,
The political influence of the Russian
refugees at the present moment is re
duced, therefore, absolutely to zero,
f oreign countries are only resting places;
harbors which every one makes for,
whose barque has been wrecked or dis
abled by the furious waves. Until they
can refit, and steer towards their native,
shore, the refugees are poor castaways..
They may be as intrepid as ever, but
they can only stand with folded arms,
regarding with envious eyes the country
where the combatants are fighting, dy
ing, conquering, while they, sad and idle,
stifle in their forced inaction, stranger in
a strange land.
11.
Krapotkine is one of the oldest of the
refugees. For six years he has continu
THE LABOR ENQUIRER.
ally lived abroad, and during all that
time has, therefore, been nnable to take
the slightest part in the Russian revolu
tionary movement. This does not alter
the fact, however, that he is one of the
moet prominent men of oar party, and
as such I will speak about him.
He belongs to the highest Russian ar
istocracy. The family of Prince
Krapotkine is one of the few which de
scend in the right line from the old feu
datory princes of the ancient royal house
of Rank. In the circle of the ciaikozi
to which he belonged, it nsed thus to be
jestingly said of him, that he had more
right to the throne of Russia than the
emperor, Alexander 11., who was only a
German.
He stndied in the college of the pages,
to which only the sons of the court aris
tocracy are admitted. He finished his
coarse there with the highest distinction,
toward the year 1861, but impelled by
the love of study, instead of entering the
service of the court, he went to Siberia
to pursue some geological researches. He
remained there several years, taking
part in many scientific
obtained through them a vast amount of
information which he afterwards utilized
in conjunction with Mr. Elisee Reclus.
He also visited China.
On returning to St. Petersburg, he was
elected a member and afterwards secre
tary of the Geographical society. He
wrote several works, highly appreciated
by scientific men, and finally undertook
a great work upon the glaciers of Fin
land, which, owing to a petition of the
Geographical society, he was permitted
to terminate, when already confined in
the fortress. He could not relieve him
self from the necessity of entering the
court service. He was chamberlain of
the empress, and received several decor
ations.
In the year 1871, or at the commence
ment of 1872,1 do not quite remember
which, he went abroad. He visited Bel
eiom and Switzerland, where 'at that
time the ‘’lnternationale” had assumed
such proportions. His ideas, which cer
tainly were always advanced, took their
definite shape. He became art Interna
tionalist, rfhd adopted the ideas of the
most extreme party, the so-called an
archial party, of which he has always
remained a fervent champion.
On returning home he put himself in
communication with the Revolutionary
Circle, inspired by the same ideas, that
of the ciaikovzi, and in the vear 1872
was proposed as a member and admitted
by unanimity. He was intrusted with
the duty of drawing up the programme
of the party, and its organization, which
was afterwards found among his papers.
In the winter of 1872 he commenced his
secret lectures upon the history of the
“Internationale.” which were simply the
development of the principles of Social
ism, and the Revolution, based upon the
history of all the modern popular move
ments. These lectures, which to depth
of thought united a cleanness and sim
plicity that rendered them intelligible to
the most uncultivated minds, excited
the deepest interest among the working
men of the Alexander-Nevsky district.
They spoke about them to their fellow
workmen, and the news spread through
all the workshops of the neighborhood,
and naturally reached the police, who
determined at all hazards to find out the
famous Borodin, for it was under that
fictitious name Krapotkine gave his lec
tures. But they did not succeed. In two
months’ time, having finished his lec
tures, he no longer showed himself in
the house under surveillance, and made
preparations to go among the peasants,
and carry on the agitation as an itiner
ant painter; for in addition to his vast
erudition, be has much artistic talent.
The police succeeded, however, in
bribing one of the workmen, who con
sented to play the spy, and perambulate
the principal streets, hoping some day
or other to meet with "Borodin.” In
this he succeeded. After some few
months he met Krapotkine in the Gostini
Dvor upon the Nevski Prospect, and
pointed him out to the policeman. The
supposititious Borodin was arrested. At
first he would not tell his real name, but
it was impossible to conceal it. Some
«days afterwards the landlady of the
house in which he had hired a room,
came to declare that one of her lodgers,
Prince Peter Kropotkine, had suddenly
disappeared on such a day. On being
taken to the spurious Borodin Bhe recog
nized him, and Krapotkine was com
pelled to acknowledge his identity.
Great was the emotion produced at
court by the arrest of such a high per
sonage. The emperor himself was ex
cited by It to such an extent, that a
year afterwards, in passing through Kar
koff, where a cousin of Peter, Alexis
Krapotkine, killed in thje year 1879, was
governor, he was extremely discourteous
to him, and abruptly asked if it was
true that Peter was a relation.
Three years did Krapotkine pass in
the cells of the fortress of St. Peter and
St. Paul. In the early part of 1876, he
was transferred by the doctor’s orders to
the St. Nicholas Hospital, the prison
having undermined his health, never
very good, to such an extent, that he
could neither eat nor move about In a
few months, howeyer, it was re-estab
lished, but he did everything in his
power to hide the feet He walked
with the step of a dying man; he spoke
in a low voice, as if merely to open the
mouth were a painful effort He learned
through a letter sent by his
friends, that an attempt was being ore
ganized to effect his escape, and as in
the hospital the surveillance was much
less strict than in the fortress, it was es
“ WHO WOULD BE FREE HIMBELF MUST BTRIKE THE BLOW! ”
DENVER, COLORADO, SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884.
sential to prolong his stay there.
In the July of the year 1876 this escape
was effected in accordance with the plan
drawn ap by Krapotkine himself. It
was a masterpiece of accurate calculation
and resolution.
111.
Some weeks afterwards Krapotkine was
already abroad.
From this period his true revolutionary
activity dates. Although not connected
with the Russian movement, being ex-
clusively devoted to European Socialism
it was perhaps the only means of dis-
playing his eminent political qualities in
their true light. His great gifts especi-
ally qualified him for activity iivthe vast
public arena, and not in the underground
regions of the secret societies.
He is wanting in that flexibility of
mind, and that faculty of adapting him
self to the conditions of the moment,
and of practical life, which are indis
pensable to a conspirator. He is an
ardent searcher after truth, a founder of
a school, and not a practical man. He
endeavors to make certain ideas prevail,
at all cost, and not to attain a practical
end, by turning everything tending to it
to account.
He is too exclusive, and rigid in his
theoretical convictions. He admits no
departure from the ultra-anarchial pro
gramme. and has always considered it
impossible, therefore to contribute to
any of the revolutionary, newspapers in
the Russian language, published abroad
and in St. Petersburg. He has always
found in them some point of divergence,
and, in feet, has never written a lire in
any of them.
It may be doubted whether he could
ever be the leader, or even the organizer
of a party, with conspiracy as its sole,
means of action. For conspiracy, in the
great revolutionary struggle, is like
guerrilla fighting in military warfare.
The men are few, and therefore all must
be turned to the best account; and a
good guerrilla soldier is the man who
knows how to adapt himself to the exi
gencies of the ground, and of the mo
ment.
Krapothine’s natural element is war
on a grand scale, and not guerrilla fight
ing. He might become the founder of a
vast social movement, if the condition of
the country permitted.
He is an incomparable agitator. Gifted
with a ready and fervid eloquence, he
becomes all passion when he mounts the
platform. Like all true orators, he is
stimulated by the sight of the crowd
which is listening to him. Upon the
platform this man is transformed. He
trembles with emotion; his voice vibrates
with the accent of profound conviction,
not to be mistaken or counterfeited, and
only heard when it is not merely the
month which speaks, but the innermost
heart. His speeches, although he can
not be called an orator of the first rank,
produce an immense impression; for
when feeling is so intense it is communi
cative, and electrifies an audience.
When, pale and trembling, he descends
from the platform, the whole room
throbs with applause.
He is very effective in private discus
sions, and can convince and gain over to
his opinions, aa few can. Being thore
ohghly versed in historical' science, ee-
pecially in everything relating to popu-
lar movements, he draws with marvel-
ous effect from the vast stores of his
erudition, in order to support and
strengthen his assertions with examples
and analogies, very origipal and nnex-
pected. His words thus acquire an ex-
traordinary power of persuasion, which
is increased by the simplicity and clear-
neBS his explanations, due, perhap, to
his profound mathematical studies.
He is not a mere manufacturer of
boojes. Beyond his purely scientific
PIEBRE IKIIE^IFOTIECIIsriE].
labors, he has never written any work
of much moment. He is an excellent
journalist, ardent, spirited, eager. Even
in his writings he is still the agitator.
To these talents he adds a surprising
activity, and such dexterity in his labors,
that it has astonished even a work er
like Elisee Reclus.
He is one of the most sincere and
frank of men. He always savs the truth,
pure and simple, without any regard for
the amour propre of his hearers, or for
any consideration whatever. ♦ This i"
the most striking and sympathetic feat
ure of his character. Every word he
says may be absolutely believed. His
sincerity is such, that sometimes in the
ardor of discussion an entirely fresh con
sideration presents itself to his mind,
and sets him thinking. He immediately
stops, remains quite absorbed for a mo
ment, and then begins to think aloud,
speaking as though he were an opponent.
At other times he carries on this discus
sion mentally, and after some moments
of silence, turning to his astonished
adversary, smilingly says, “You are
right.” I /
This absolute sincerity renders him
the best of friends and gives especial
weieht to his praise and blame.
The foregoing description and bits of
history have been taken from Stepnaik’s
“Underground Russia.” The remaining
portion of this article is taken from the
files of The Enquirer and from tele
grams of a recent date.
On Friday, December 15, 1882, Kra
potkine was at Thonon with his wife and
her brother, who was very ill, and re
quiring muclj Madam Kra
potkine desired to go over to Geneva, to
consult a doctor concerning the illness of
her brother. She was accompanied to
the depot by the prince and had taken
her seat in one of the railroad carriages
whenshe was surrounded by the dis
trict attorney and a number of police
men. She was charged with transmit
ting her husband’s correspondence with
Anarchists living in Geneva-
Madam Krapotkine had to submit to
being searched, but nothing of any con
sequence was found upon her person.
During his absence Krapotkine’s house
had been ransacked from cellar to garret,
notwithstanding the feet that his
brother-in-law was dying in one of the
roomß. The house was researched on
the arrival of the attorney and police in
company with Krapotkine. The sick
young man was handled roughly, which
undoubtedly hastened his death. He
died a few days later. The search made
at this time was As fruitless as that made
of Madam Krapotkine at the railroad
station.
The day after the yoong man’s death
Krapotkine’s house was surrounded by
the police, while he was cairng for his
suffering wife, who had become very ill
an d distracted on account of her
brother’s death, and the circumstances
which surrounded that sad affair. Kra
potkine was arrested, and although he
begged to be allowed to remain two days
to bury hiß dead brotherein-law and com
fort his stricken wife, he was hurried off
to Lyons by the officers. On his arrival
at Lyons he was committed to St Paul
prison on two charges: First, of having
been connected with an association be
tween Frenchmen and foreigners, whose
objects are social upheaval, and whose
methods are assassination and pillage ;
second, of having been the chief insti
gator and organizer of this association in
France, and especially of having visited
Lyons to foment revolt in secret meet
ings.
Of the ridiculous allegations upon
which these charges are based the fol
lowing are fair specimens: (1) that Kra
potkine, replying to a young man of St.
Etienne who had urged him to start the
revolution, said the time was not yet
rioe; (2) that he wrote to a committee of
workingmen, who had invited him to
attend a private reunion, that it could not
give his presence at any public meeting;
(3) that he wrote to the “Droit Social”
declined to becom a contributor to that
journal; (4) that he corrected the proofs
of a pamphlet on Nihilism, the author of
which had requested him to point out
whatever material errors he might dis
cover. And yet held upon such trifles as
these, the French magistrate refused to
accept for him the proffered bail of no
less a person than the eminent radical
and millionaire member of the British
house of commons, Joseph Co wen, of
Newcastle, /gfa \
Sometime about the middle of Janu
ary loot* Krapotkine, broken in health
and greatly aged by his cfose confine
ment and severe treatment, was trans
ferred from prison to a Paris infirmary.
This step on the part of the authorities
was necessary to save the life of their
victim, or prolong it to the completion
of his term of imprisonment. Seriously
•ill as he was, he was kept under a strong
and vjgitant guard. •
About two weeks ago a Paris telegram
conveyed the information that the sen
tence of the prince had been commuted
to banishment, but this report was de
nied within a few hours, and, as fer as
the writer now knows, he is vet confined
in the prison hospital of Paris, with
nearly four years of imprisonment yet
before the noble and brilliant man who
would gi ve up his life in the cause of
Freedom and Equality.
Cowardice of Workingmen.
Wendell Phillips upon one occasion
{elated the following:
I had once, at the request of some op
eratives who waited upon me in Boston,
to discuss the relations of capital and
- ■ 1
labor in a manufacturing town of Massa
chusetts. When we came to the hall,
and the door was opened for me to face
the audience, I said to the eight or ten
workingmen who escorted me, “Which
of you will introduce me?” They all
looked down, and asked me if it were
necessary that I should be introduced.
“No,” said I, “it is customary.” Then
they said, if I had no objection, they
would rather not show themselves on
the platform. They did not dare to be
seen hy capitalists seated in front of
them, where I was to discuss the cotton
operations of New England. I don’t be
lieve in the safety of the existence of
such classes in a republic.
Irish Dynamite and English Folly.
We have hitherto said nothing about
Patrick Ford’s Christmas letter threaten
ing England, through the Irish World,
with dynamite warfare unless Irelond is
set free, because we wished to see what
the capitalist press would say first They
have been almost silent. It is time for
us to speak. We English Socialists do
not approve of any individual action,
nor do we hold that the use of explo
sives is justifiable in this country, or
that in existing condition it could do
any good. The people need edneation,
and so long as free Bpeech and free press
are allowed our work js education, agita
tion, and organization open to all. When
free agitation is stopped other conditions
come in, and the situation would have to
be reconsidered. We should then recon
sider it.
But Mr. Ford has brought the matter
forward in a most serious shape. He is
no boaster or jester; he is a fanatic, and
a perfectly honest one. When, there
fore, he tells us plainly that he and his
are at war with England, and that all
mean 9 are lawful which will injure us
we know this is not merely "tall talk.”
We believe him when he savs that he
enters on the war “us a crusader,” and
we are satisfied that he can and will do
serious mischief. We think such a step,
even if justifiable in itself, injurious Jo.
the cause, and certain to bring about re
prisals at the expense of his :ountry
men in England andelswhere. But that
is not the point. .We Englishmen here
in England are thus threatened —and, as
we believe, endangered—for what? In
order to maintain an abominable govern
ment in Ireland, and to secure a few
thousand landlords their rents. We say,
then, that Mr. Gladstone’s administra
tion and its supporters —conservatives,
liberals, and radicals—are to blame for
any damage done in England by the an
archists from across the Atlantic, and
that every Englishmen, angry as he may
justly be with Mr. Patrick Ford, should
be still more angry with them.—Justice.
Strictly Business.
We see it stated that Mayor Latrobe'
went over to Washington the other day
to attend to some private business. Did
his honor lose a half-day or a whole day ?
But it wouldn’t matter after all, if he
lost a week’s time; his pay would go on
all the same. He is a mayor, you know.
The people must pay their public ser
vants for the time they don’t make, as
well as for the time they do attend to
public business. f
If a skilled mechanic employed at the
city hall should quit work, go over to
Washington to attend to some private
business, and demand pay for his lost
time, he wouldn't get it, would he ? Not
exactly.—Baltimore Free Press.
We are neither a prophet nor the son
of a prophet, but we expect to live
to see the day when all titles to land will
be nationalized. Both justice and ex
pediency demands this. Among the nat
ural rights of man, the right to the soil
i 8 equal to his rights to the air and water.
The land represents the opportunity to
create wealth, and all men have a nat
ural right to that opportunity. And in
this country, this right to dig a living out ’
of the soil need not conflict with the
right of anv other man. Nothing but
speculative ventures stand m the way.
Under our present absurd system of land
tenure, there is nothing in the law to
prevent one man from purchasing all the
land in the United States, and ordering
all the people to vacate. Such a system
lacks every element of common sense
and common justice.—Alma. Nebraska,
Herald.
For Rent.
The Knights of Labor hall, 386 Holla
day street, on the third Tuesday and
every Saturday in the month. Inquire'
at The Labor Enquirer office.
Knights of Labor Organiser.
The organizer for the Knights of Labor
in Colorado can be addressed through
this office. Those desiring to form an
assembly or wishing information con
cerning this great order, will receive
prempl attention. •
Senator Bayard declares himself op
posed to centralisation of wealth and
for that reason he wants our currency
furnished by banks of issue instead of
bv the government. II the government
is to be run in the future as in the past,
in the interest of monopoly and by a
trained pack of bosses and corrupt lob
byists the issue of currency is just as
safe in the hands of the banks. But
should the people get hold of the ma
chine and kick out Bayard and all the
■ balance of the gilded frauds and bullion
barons and land, railroad and telegraph
monopolists, there would be no danger
in keeping the power to issue money in
i congress, where the constitution placed
it and where it belongs.—Toledo Record.
Bor the new pamphlet, “Evolution or
> Revolution.” For. sale at this office
1 price, 15 cents.
PRICE, FIVE CENTS
HUMAN SLAVERY.
It Was Not Abolished by the
War Which Freed the
Blacks.
Capital, Aggregated in the Hands
of a Few, is a Curse to Anj
Community.
It Takes the Sunshine Out of Lift,
and Leaves Sternal Night
of .Toil.
Worker* and Idler*. ,
XV.
The humanitarians .f the day are
seeking to aid the workingman by giv
ing him cheap rent, cheap car fare to
and from his work, cheap clothing, cheap
food and all sorts of cheap things. And
to do this they crowd him and his family
in a single room in the top of a seven
story building, without an elevator; they
give him a stand-up seat on the platform
of a crowded car; they clothe him in
garments which will neither warm nor
wear; they feed him on black-bread and
butterine, etc., etc. Possibly he does
live a little cheaper; but very probably
no better than before. 1
But what is the result? Capital gives
labor what the master gave the slave—
a bare living. When a workingman's
expenses decrease, his wages soon follow.
It is so the world over. The cheaper a
workingman can live, the less wages he
gets. If he can live or exist on one
dollar a day, that is exactly what his
wages will be. In some countries,
laborers live so cheaply that they receive
only what is equivalent to a few cents a
day; and such would be the condition
here, if they could live on as little. The
humanitarian method, therefore, is not
the proper one; for it results finally in
nothing Bave a reduction of wages, and,
in time, in a reduction of the domforts
of the workingman.
The wages of labor, as long as capital
retains its present power, will be the (
wages of slavery.
And the workingmen, as long as their
fates are so completely in the hands of
their employers, will be really slaves.-
XVI.
You may free the black race from its
bonds; you may abolish the bloody “cat
of-nine-tails;” you may stop the buying
and selling of human beings; and yet
vou have not abolished human slavery;
for the workingmen are to-day the
slaves of their employers; the poor are
the slaves of the rich; and it is as inhu
man a system of human slavery as ever ,
disgraced the world.
Slavery consists in one individual hav
ing power oyer another. To the extent
of such power, the weaker one is the
slave of the other. No slavery ever ex
isted except by the stronger exerting
his power to make the otjier subservient
to his will; and whenever this is done, it
is human slavery, whether it be in Maine
or in Egypt.
The slaves of the south were fed and
clothed by the owners. They worked
each hours as the owners commanded.
The owners reaped the results of their
labor, except such portions as were
pended to supply them with food
clothing. They lived in rows ol huts.
To-day, the employers give the labor- '
ers barely the means of purchasing their
food and clothing. The employers dic
tate the hours which the laborers shall
work. The employers reap the result of
their labor, except that they give the
laborers just enough to permit them to
. live.
The long rows of small cottages, which
are considered a luxury for the laboring .
men as compared with the pig-pen tene-‘'
ment houses which manv live in, have a -
painful resemblance to and but faintly
disguise the slave huts of old. They are
not quite as bad, simply because the
white labores of to day has not yet be
come quite as degraded as were the black
slaves.
But the resemblance between the labor
of to-day-*the labor which is the creat
ure of capital—and the slavery of the
past, is sufficient to cause thoughtful
people to pause. It is time to consider
whither we are drifting. If so many of
our fellow-beings are so near slavery, we
may well fear that they may reach the
name as well as the fact.
XVII.
The true wealth of society consists in
the accumulation of the useful products
of labor in the hands of the jpien who
produce them. This wealth makes so
ciety contented, strong and durable.
But when these products are accumulated
in the hands of a few who have not pro
duced them; when a large portion of the
products are unnecessary and mere luxu
ries; and when the real producers, who
deserve all, really get nothing but a bare
existence; Such a condition makes soci
ety discontented, weak and ready for
dissolution.
Capital, when aggregated in the hands
of a few, is a curse to any community or
country. It seldom produces good re
sults; and for every blessing it imposes a
hundred curses. And any good that is
done by it can be better done by the
government. It is a many-armed mon
ster whose hands are stretched ont in all
directions to seize upon the homes of
the poor, and take from them the right jb
to a place on the earth, to a place to eat
[Continued on Page 4.]