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Alarm, a weekly newspaper, of which I was elected to the position of editor, and I have held that position until its seizure and suppression by the authorities on the 5th day of May, 1886, following the Haymarket tragedy.
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The examination of the class struggle demonstrates that the eight-hour movement was doomed by the very nature of things to defeat. But the International gave its support to it for two reasons, viz.: First, because it was a class movement against class domination, therefore historical, and evolutionary, and necessary: and secondly, because we did not choose to stand aloof and be misunderstood by our fellow-workers. We, therefore, gave to it all the aid and comfort in our power. I was regularly accredited under the official seal of the trade and labor unions of the Central Labor Union, representing 20,000 organized workingmen in Chicago, to assist in the organization of trade and labor unions, and do all in my power for the eight-hour movement. The Central Labor Union, in conjunction with the International, publishes six newspapers in Chicago, to-wit: One English weekly, two German weeklies, one Bohemian weekly, one Scandinavian weekly, and one German daily newspaper.
The trade and labor unions of the United States and Canada having set apart the 1st day of May, 1886 to inaugurate the eight-hour system, I did all in my power to assist the movement. I learned conflict and trouble would arise between the authorities representing the employers of labor and the wage-workers, who only represented themselves. I knew that defenseless men, women, and children must finally succumb to the power of the discharge, blacklist, and lock-out, and its consequent misery and hunger, enforced by the militiamen's bayonet and the policemen's club. I did not advocate the use of force. But I denounced the capitalists for employing it to hold the laborers in subjection to them, and, declared that such treatment would of necessity drive the workingmen to employ the same means in self-defense.
ALBERT. R. PARSONS
COOK COUNTY JAIL, CELL 29, AUGUST, 1886.
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