Eleanor Marx Aveling
Source: Commonweal, Vol 2 No. 13, February 1886, page 15
Transcribed: by Graham Seaman, February 2022
POLAND. —Some few weeks ago a Reuter's telegram announced, much in the same way as they announce that Her gracious Majesty has gone for a drive, that the "Warsaw trial of Socialists" had taken place, that six of the accused had been condemned to death, eighteen to sixteen, two to ten, and one to eight years' hard labour in the mines and life-long banishment to Siberia (as if any one had been known to outlive such long years in the Siberian mines!) and two to life-long exile to Siberia. And that was all! Of the trial, of the men condemned, 1 have seen no word in a single English paper. After all, a few Polish Socialists done to death by Russian "judges" — what docs it matter?
To begin with, it must be borne in mind that for months, even years, these unhappy men and others retained as "witnesses" have been kept in prison. "I can take no oath," said one of these "witnesses." "You have kept me three years in prison, you have tried to force me to make false statements, and when I asked what had become of my wife and my children you gave me no answer — I can give no evidence." Three years in prison before even the farce of a trial! And what prisons they were, let these few facts prove. Two women, Pohl and Rusiecka went mad; another woman, Breslauer, hanged herself; of one prisoner a report says: "His pale, death-like appearance made a painful impression. Only the fiery eyes showed there was still life in this skeleton." And yet after all these years of torture all the prisoners behaved with a calm courage that would have been admirable under any circumstance, and is thrice admirable under such circumstances as these. One and all defended their cause, which is ours; not one failed. Not the least interesting or remarkable fact in connexion with this trial is that men of every class were represented at it. Thus, of the six men condemned to death, Bardowzyki is a justice of the peace, Lury a military engineer, Ossowski, Pietruszyki, and Szmans, working-men, and Kunicki a student. Among the others also are officers, artists, working-men, teachers, and students. At the "trial" no friends of the prisoners were allowed to be present, and the public was rigidly excluded. A correspondent of a German paper writes: "The accused, who were brought in by threes and fours, and again led out so, received their sentences with perfect calm. These sentences have caused the utmost consternation among the people of Warsaw." Not one of the prisoners was acquitted, and those who know anything of Russian prison tortures, are aware that of all these men only the six who are to be hanged have been mercifully dealt with. The venal English press that so lately shrieked with horror at King Theebaw's atrocities, has uttered no word of horror at this atrocity. But let us Socialists at least remember these Polish martyrs, let us bear their names in our very heart of heart, let us learn to have something of their courage and devotion.
FRANCE. — That humbug and faux bonhomme, M. Jules Grévy, has been "exercising," as a daily paper put it, "his prerogative of mercy," and Louise Michel, P. Krapotkine, and some eight or nine political prisoners have been — pardoned. There is an impression that these people have been amnestied. Nothing of the kind. An amnesty would have had to include the victims of the infamous police plot at Monceaux-les-mines, and would have opened the prison doors of some thirty or forty persons still under lock and key as felons. For the French Republicans have learnt a lesson from England, and have taken to condemning political prisoners, like England did the Fenians, as ordinary criminals. They can thus, as the virtuous Mr. Gladstone did when the amnesty to the Irish was first proposed, indignantly repel the insinuation that there are any political prisoners. As to Louise, Krapotkine, and their comrades, their names happen to be known all over Europe, and to keep them longer in jail was a scandal that had to be ended. Their release was absolutely unavoidable, and so they have been — pardoned! That they resent this pardon, an insult to them and an injustice to the other prisoners, is natural. And we, while we rejoice that they are free to go on with their work, while we heartily welcome them, we too cannot but share the feeling of Louise when she says "to let us out thus is not only an insult but a shameful trick by which they hope to make the world forget our fellow-prisoners. That this was the pious intention of the French government there is no doubt. But the trick will fail. Rochefort is immediately to bring forward a General Amnesty Bill. This, Clemenceau and his followers must support, and there is a great probability that it will be voted. But should it not be, then a general agitation on the subject will be begun. Anyhow, the "convicts" will not, as M. Grévy imagined, be forgotten in the pleasure of welcoming those already "pardoned".
Eleanor Marx Aveling