Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist TheoryZenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
History
Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
Zenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
Anarchism
In Belgium, also, after the passing of the German Socialist laws, a
difference of opinion became manifest among the working classes, which
gave new life to Anarchism, almost extinct as it was at the end of the
seventies. The "German Reading Union" in Brussels split into two
parties, the more radical of which was filled with Most's ideas and
eagerly agitated for the dissemination of his _Freedom_. As this
radical tendency had found many supporters among the German
Socialists, it made itself noticeable at the Brussels Congress of
1880. The keener became the struggle between the Most-Hasselmann and
the Bebel-Liebknecht parties, the more sharply defined became the
opposition in the ranks of the Belgian working classes. The Radicals
united into a "Union Revolutionnaire"; founded their own party organ,
_La Perseverance_, at Verviers; and declared themselves in favour of
the London Congress as against that at Coire. The others held
quarterly advisory congresses at Brussels, Verviers, and Ceresmes, at
which it was agreed to revive the "International Working-Men's
Association" on a revolutionary basis and not to limit the various
groups in their autonomy. These meetings also adopted the resolution
which the German members in Brussels had suggested about the
employment of explosives. But in spite of the active agitation, and
the founding of the "Republican League" to show the activity of the
Anarchists as opposed to the Socialist "Electoral Reform League,"
Anarchism in Belgium made no progress, mainly on account of internal
dissension, and the annual congress arranged for 1882 did not even
take place. In spite of the most active propaganda, circumstances have
not altered in Belgium during the last ten years. We must be careful
not to set down to the Anarchists the repeated dynamite outrages which
are so common during the great strikes in Belgium, although in certain
isolated cases, as in the dynamite affair at Gomshoren, near Brussels,
in 1883, the hand of the Anarchists cannot be mistaken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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