BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM.
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no longer in peace. The two leading papers, Gleichheit and
Volkswille, after having been frequently seized and suspended,
at last ceased to appear.
In Hungary, where there is greater liberty, a propagandist
committee was formed, and a newspaper, the Allgemeine Arbeiter
Zeitung, was published in German and in Magyar. In June,
1871, a great demonstration was held in honour of the
Commune. The workmen, leaving work, marched through the
streets of Pesth bearing crape and black flags. Prosecutions
for high treason followed, and the ringleader, Sigmund Polliker,
was condemned to six months’ imprisonment. Nevertheless,
Socialistic propaganda penetrated into all the towns of the
empire, and, what is very unusual, at one time it seemed to
make head even in the rural districts. Socialist societies of
peasants were formed in the villages of Carinthia under the
name of Freie Bauernvereine; they had an organ, der
Bauernwille, edited by Karl Achar, a farmer’s son ; but the
animosities and reciprocal accusations of the two principal
leaders, Oberwinder and Scheu, checked their progress. The
ideas spread by the International have still a considerable
number of partisans among the working men of the different
provinces of Austria-Hungary, but their attitude has latterly
become less revolutionary. The conflict of races, always so
fierce, effects a diversion.
What is called the labour movement is very active in Italy
When I visited the country in 1879 I found in the towns a
great number of working men’s societies : people’s banks
under the direction of the well-known Deputy Luzzatti the
“ Italian Schulze-Delitzsch ; ” aid societies, often under the
patronage of a great name, such as Pepoli at Bologna, and
Teano at Rome; co-operative societies; societies for the
study of social subjects; trades unions, to say nothing of repub
lican circles, secret societies, and the famous Circoli Barsanti.*
asserted that he had nothing to do with it, seeing that he was absent from
the barracks; and in order to rehabilitate his memory, the revolutionists
created associations bearing his name—CWf Barsanti. Their aim was
to attract soldiers and non-commissioned officers, in order to enrol them in
tneir party.
