George Schilling would strenuously object to being called an Anarchist. But he admits being a Socialist. When asked a short time ago if he expected another outbreak as the result of existing revolutionary forces, he said:
“I expect something of the kind about the end of the present century—say in ten years. Society is just now dormant, like a river frozen in winter time, but some night there will be a mighty crack in the ice, and under the warming influences of evolutionary forces there will be a mighty upheaval. There will no doubt be a squall or two before that time, but the great event will not come, in my judgment, much sooner. There will be lots of men and women who will not be able to see beyond the squall, and they will think the time has arrived. It will come, not as the result of a conspiracy of Anarchists, but as a conspiracy of all the evolutionary forces of society.”
Mrs. Lucy Parsons is still an active exhorter in the cause. She is simply irrepressible, and has made herself obnoxious to the more peaceable and conservative Socialists. To the ordinary hearer her harangues would seem ridiculous, were it not for the fact that the loss of a husband by death on the gallows naturally creates sympathy, even for a fanatic.
“Prison bars nor the scaffold shall ever prevent me from speaking the truth,” she exclaimed at a Sunday afternoon meeting of Socialists at Waverly Hall a few months ago. “The ballot is useless as a remedy, and a change in the present condition of the wage slave will never be brought about peacefully. Force is the only remedy, and force will certainly be used.”
This meeting had been called to listen to a paper by Prof. Charles Orchardson on “Salvation from Poverty.” The speaker, deprecating the incendiary arguments and appeals to forceful measures on the part of what were known as Anarchists, said that Anarchy never would improve the condition of society. He devoted himself principally to the private ownership of land, and claimed that more frauds had been committed in that name than in any other. Fire and murder were the sole right and title of the original owners of the land, and no original robbery could be tortured into a righteous transaction. The owner of the land was the owner of the inhabitants. Land in Chicago originally worth $1 an acre was now, in some localities, worth perhaps $1,000,000 an acre. The people made this value, but the land-owner reaped the benefit of the advance the people had created. A land speculator was nothing but a land peculator, and held the people at his mercy. The three evils of society to-day, the speaker said, were private enterprise, the competitive system and private ownership of land. The first remedy to be applied was the education of the people. Another remedy was to adopt the single-tax theories of Henry George and to establish the Australian method of secret voting, so that the employé could fearlessly deposit his ballot without fear of discharge from his employer. This method would also abolish the buying and selling of votes. Then men should be elected to represent the people in the halls of legislation and to resist the encroachments of the capitalists and monopolists. Private ownership in land should be abolished, and the capitalists should be compelled to stop the work of increasing poverty by curtailing the productions of the labor of man.
During the discussion which followed the reading of Prof. Orchardson’s paper, the ringing voice of Mrs. Parsons was heard in the rear of the hall. She had entered late, and few were aware of her presence, but she was greeted with loud applause as she rapidly and defiantly made her way to the front of the platform. She said:
“I did not hear the beginning of this lecture to-day, but I heard it last evening at 599 Milwaukee Avenue. I have heard what he had to say about the Anarchists, and I want to say to him and to everybody else that it is about time to give the Anarchists a rest. Are there not enough of them dead? Do you need to go into their graves and aid the detectives in their work of digging up their memories for abuse and obloquy? Last night the Professor was asked what remedy he would propose if the men elected to the legislature betrayed their trust and sold out their poor constituents, and he then said his remedy would be to organize secret societies and assassinate the men who proved unfaithful to their trusts. He need not deny this, for I have witnesses here to prove that he said this. And now to-day he throws his slings at Anarchy. Anarchy, as I understand it, is one of the most beautiful theories, and I do not agree with the speaker when he favors assassination. I hold human life too sacred, and do not believe in assassinating the men who sell out. Before they talk about Anarchy let them define it. It is a philosophy which they do not, or will not, understand....
“Men talk about revolution as if it were a terrible thing. Every one present is a revolutionist because he is poor. Every man who lives in a tenement-house and wants to secure a better home is a revolutionist, because the beneficial change means a revolution in his very life. I know I have to be careful what I say nowadays, but I assert that any and all means are justified in order to get rid of the present system of wage slavery. (Loud applause.) Any means, I say. If the ballot will accomplish that purpose, adopt it; but if it will not, let us adopt some more potent means. (Applause.)
“The speaker has argued in favor of Australian laws, but I know the same state of society exists there that exists here, and the laws furnish no remedy. Does any one suppose that the capitalists—your masters—will ever permit you to peacefully take their lands from them while they can invoke the aid of a policeman’s club or a Gatling gun? The ballot-box is useless to reform the evils of society, and there is not a State Socialist living who believes that a reform can be brought about peaceably. They all admit it, but they claim that it is not policy to say so. I am not afraid to say what I believe, whether it leads me to prison bars or the scaffold. The capitalists never have relinquished anything until they were compelled to, and they will not now, unless they have a change of heart, or something of that sort. But go on voting. Vote for what you want, but don’t forget that the Bill of Rights gives every man the right to keep and bear arms, and when you want to vote take your little musket to the polls with you, and then your vote will be counted—not before. Take the ballot; but first put an idea, a strong arm and determination behind, and then buy yourselves good Winchester rifles. Then you will be prepared to fight for your rights. Men who are armed are bound to be free, and you are all wage slaves to-day because you are not.”
Here the applause was almost deafening. Mrs. Parsons paused and gazed around the room.