‘Labor Day Proclamation of the Central Labor Federation of New York City’ from Workmen’s Advocate (New Haven). Vol. 3 No. 33. August 16, 1890.

Wage Workers, Unite and Be Free! March under a Flag That Will Never Be Lowered to a Plutocrat or a Boodle Party.

The following proclamation, which speaks for itself, has been issued by the Central Labor Federation of New York City:

To the Toilers of New York City.

Greetings: The Central Labor Federation invites you, one and all, to participate in the great Parade and Festival to be held under its auspices on Labor Day, September 1, 1890.

There are special reasons why every man who works for wages should by his presence in our ranks on that day contribute to make this a most imposing, significant and memorable demonstration. Born of necessity, in a double conflict with the forces of Capital and the inertia of Conservatism, the Central Labor Federation truly represents the progressive aspirations of the working class. Its final aim is the total emancipation of Labor from slavery in all forms.

To achieve this end it proposes the thorough organization of all the trades upon the broad fundamental of mutual dependence and solidarity; for It holds, not only that an injury to one is the concern of all, but that the welfare of all is the concern of each.

The plutocracy everywhere is concentrating its forces and strengthening its positions with a view to the inevitable conflict between despotism and freedom. Every day new trusts, new syndicates, new combinations appear, which dwarf in magnitude those of the previous day. Local at first, or limited to special industries, they soon became national, then international, and boundless in their field of activity. Their chief object is the final, complete, absolute subjugation of Labor all over the world.

Through bribery of the political powers, this plutocracy has not only appropriated the land, the public franchises, the machinery of industry, the avenues of trade and all the means of life; it has also possessed itself of all the agencies of public protection and uses them for public oppression. The courts, the police, the militia, the army, are the servile instruments of its will.

Nay; rising above the public powers, it has armed forces of its own and assumes to proclaim martial law. A Pinkerton can shoot a man, a woman, or a child, with impunity.

Prisons, armories, barracks, fortifications are multiplying, while school houses are decreasing relatively to population. To such forces in the hands of despotism shall we oppose a mob of wage slaves, unorganized, hungry, ever ready to fight each other for the privilege of working longer hour at reduced rates of pay? Or shall we oppose a solid army of self-respecting men, brothers in toil, brothers in citizenship, brothers in everything from birth to death, and determined to be free?

United in a mighty host under the banner of distributive justice, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of, fraternity, Labor will prove invincible Then, and only then, can the plutocracy and its boodle parties be routed, class rule abolished, and the benefits of civilization enjoyed by the people.

Therefore, wage-workers, unite! Do it now; for there in danger mortal danger in further delay.

Unite under the banner of the Central Labor Federation, which shall never be lowered to a plutocrat or a boodle party by misleaders of the toiling masses. Unite and remain united, in defeat and in victory, ever fighting for the cause to the day of complete triumph, never turning your backs to friend, enemy or principle.

Central Labor Federation.

P.S. Organizations should address notifications and inquiries concerning the Parade to August Delabar, Grand Marshal, 385 Bowery.

The Workmen’s Advocate replaced the Bulletin of the Social Labor Movement and the English-language paper of the Socialist Labor Party originally published by the New Haven Trades Council, it became the official organ of SLP in November 1886 until absorbed into The People in 1891. The Bulletin of the Social Labor Movement, published in Detroit and New York City between 1879 and 1883, was one of several early attempts of the Socialist Labor Party to establish a regular English-language press by the largely German-speaking organization. Founded in the tumultuous year of 1877, the SLP emerged from the Workingmen’s Party of the United States, itself a product of a merger between trade union oriented Marxists and electorally oriented Lassalleans. Philip Van Patten, an English-speaking, US-born member was chosen the Corresponding Secretary as way to appeal outside of the world of German Socialism. The early 1880s saw a new wave of political German refugees, this time from Bismark’s Anti-Socialist Laws. The 1880s also saw the anarchist split from the SLP of Albert Parsons and those that would form the Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party, and be martyred in the Haymarket Affair. It was in this period of decline, with only around 2000 members as a high estimate, that the party’s English-language organ, Bulletin of the Social Labor Movement, appeared monthly from Detroit. After it collapsed in 1883, it was not until 1886 that the SLP had another English press, the Workingmen’s Advocate. It wasn’t until the establishment of The People in 1891 that the SLP, nearly 15 years after its founding, would have a stable, regular English-language paper.

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