The Hastings Standard Published Daily TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1897. GOLLI AND CO.

Hastings Standard, Issue 413, 31 August 1897, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1897. GOLLI AND CO.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the pood that we can do. ft

The dispatch of the Spanish Prime Minister by the anarchist Goili will no doubt for a time revive anarchism. We know that President Faure was, according to the utterances of Golli, to be the next victim of the anarchist, and singularly enough bombs were exploded as the President was leaving Paris to pay a visit to St. Petersburg. Of course the official explanation of the bomb throwing tended to discount the theory that it was the work of anarchists ; still there is very little doubt that anarchism has received a new lease of life, and perhaps we shall hear of other leading men of Europe being sent to their doom by these pariahs of society. The tenets, aims, and methods of anarchy have been made the subject of an interesting volume by a French writer who managed to collect a large amount of information about anarchists and their doings. Prince Michael Bakounine, a Russian nobleman whose chequered career came to a close on Ist July, 1876, gave practical force and form to anarchy, although it was a few months after his death that the extreme revolutionary party at a conference at Berne formally promulgated the creed which may be briefly summed up in three propositions : —All things are at an end. Do what, you choose. Everything is everybody's. In the first proposition three minor ones are involved :—There is an end to property ; (2) There is an end to all distinctions of country; (3) There is an end to the Slate. The Anarchist therefore declares war against all privileges, against the exploitation of one man by another, against international conflicts, and against every form of authority whether elected or not, dynastic or parliamentary. The maxim " Do what you choose " is a corollary of the abolition of all authority, and the proposition that " everything is everybody's" means that the entire wealth of the community is there to take from it what each one requires. The denial of all authority and each man being a law unto himself makes the organisation of anarchists a difficult matter, but as some sort of association is necessary, the 'group' system has been adopted. A group is a voluntary association of individuals possessing the same tastes, animated by the same ideas, professing the same opinions, actuated by the same motives, and as a rule living in the same neighborhood. When there is a meeting of one of these groups discussion takes place upon current events or any matter of immediate importance. It is contrary to the rule of these gatherings to pass any resolutions, lor to do bo

would be to interfere with the absolute freedom of action of the Anarchist. There is no majority and no minority, so that each one present preserves his complete independence. As anyone may attend these meetings, detectives obtain ready admittance ; but the advantage is of little use, for the Anarchist when he determines to commit a rleed of violence does not disclose his intention to the group, but makes his plans unaided, or at most secures tbe assistance of his most intimate friends. Golli had no accomplice, neither had Vaillant nor Kavachol. Several methods of propagating the Anarchist doctrine are in vogue ; newspapers are invariably suppressed by the authorities, but tracts, pamphlets, and fly leaves, printed in various sizes and on colored paper, are easy to circulate and conceal. Much of the literature is printed in London, and exported wrapped up in an inoffensive newspaper or concealed between the pages of a harmless book or magazine. Great ingenuity is displayed in the distribution of this incendiary literature, and packages are dropped into the baskets of women visiting the markets or given to children in the streets with a request to take them home to their parents. One result of the execution of the Anarchist has been that several of them are now worshipped as martyrs. Pilgrimages are ma.de to the place at Pere Lachaise, where the communists were shot, to the statue of Diderot, or to the spot where the criminals who die on the scaffold are buried. The grave of Vaillant was covered with flowers only a few hours alter his burial, and a little later, in spite of all precautions, a large branch of palm garlanded with red silk was found planted in the fresh soil. Over the ribbon fixed to the bough with a pin was an illuminated card inscribed with : " Since at the break of day the earth drank in thy hallowed lifeblood, a blessed purifying dew, you may sleep a calm sleep beneath the palm foliage, the offspring of outraged justice. Martyr thou wilt be avenged." A few days later a meeting of his admirers was held, and the spot where the sawdust in which the head and trunk of Vaillant had lain was visited and every particle of the blood-stained dust was carried away religiously. London harbors a great many Anarchists, but somehow their destructive work is carried on on the Continent, for they seldom if ever attempt to do business in England. Theirmeetings in Hyde Park generally end in disaster to themselves, as was the case with the meeting held soon after Golli assassinated the Spanish Premier. There is a certain family resemblance between Anarchism and Socialism, for both aim at the destruction of individual property, but their modes of working are very dissimilar.