A LIVELY SOCIALISTIC MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume XLVI, Issue 19, 22 July 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

A LIVELY SOCIALISTIC MEETING.

There was a Socialistic gathering lately in Utrecht, which certainly ended in a way very different from that which the promoters had intended. A woman who came from a j distance spoke first. She complained . of the hardships which she had to , undergo, saying that her husband : had ndv been out of work for two ' years, and incited the audiencn \ against the possessing classes. When j the applause had subsided, another 1 woman asked for permission to speak. This was Mrs. Blommers, ' the wife of a common labourer. She ] denied that it was the fault of the kings or queens that the people were i poor. She pointed out among the ' Socialists present, men who had been ( imprisoned for such offences as writing begging-letters, shop-thiev- ( ing, drunkenness, and worse crimes. < She did not see how people could ' complain about starvation, since to ' her knowledge more than fifty men , had not yet applied to the city clerk : for the money from the reliof-fund ' which they had earned by shovelling snow. Resting her magnificent form , against the platform, Mrs. Blommers i continued :—" As for poverty, I know what it means. I remember the time when the neighbours gave : food to my cat, because it was so thin. But the cat died of starvation < after all, because the pangs of hunger forced me to steal what had : been given to it. Yet I was not , foolish enough to expect that others .ahould share their property with me, becauStr-I-know that it would not go ' farif it was "sliarsd all around. As for the woman who spoke j9-?t now, lam astonished at her. If she IS "° , poor, why does she not stay at home to look after her children ? It must have cost money to come here. My hands are not as white as hers, but they serve me to keep my stockings whole, and I see big holes in hers. And I will tell you why her husband does not earn any money. He is in prison for theft." Mrs. Blommers concluded by asking every loyal Hollander present to join her in the " Wilhelmus van Orange " (the Dutch equivalent for " God Save the Queen "). The audience took up the strain enthusiastically, and, leaving the hall, marched through the city with "Orango Kar" (Mrs. Blommers) at the head of the procession, singing national songs, and professing their loyalty.