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MELBOURNE ANARCHIST CLUB NOTES - 1889

Please to remember Eleventh November
Government treason and plot,
I don't see the reason why Government treason
Should ever be forgot.

The execution of our Chicago comrades on 11th November 1887, for the sake of their opinions, has become a recognised red-letter day amongst labor organisations. On Sunday, 11th November, 1888, the Melbourne Anarchists assembled at the Queen's wharf to commemorate the martyrdom of their comrades, and to spread the principles for which they died. J.W.Fleming, D.A.Andrade, J.A.Andrews, R.Beattie, J.McMillan, and L.D.Petrie, delivered appropriate addresses, which were attentively listened to by the numbers present. A quantity of copies of Honesty, the Australian Radical, the portraits of the martyrs, and other Anarchist literature, were disposed of. At the conclusion, an English version of the "Marseillaise" was sung, after which those present joined in the memorable cry, which Fischer shouted from the gallows, "Hurrah for Anarchy!" In the evening, at the club's rooms, the secretary read the Rev.J.Kimball's famous sermon on the subject, and a short discussion followed. Our comrades in Sydney commemorated the event in a similar manner; and at all the principal centres in Europe and America similar steps were taken to keep up the rememberance of that day so eventful in the history of the struggle for labor's emancipation.

The Melboume Anarchist Club's debates for the past quarter have been quite as interesting as usual, and have shown an increasing spirit of earnestness amongst those who assemble to take part in them. L.D.Petrie opened on 4th November upon "Individualism," which he severely condemned; the Chicago executions were commemorated the Sunday following; on the 18th J.A.Andrews wrote against the "Labor Note;" and the Sunday following, S.A.Rosa spoke in favor of "State Socialism." On 2nd December, J.White read a vigorous paper on "Government Blackmail;" L.D.Petrie asked "What is Equity?" on the 9th; J.W.Fleming opened a highly interesting discussion on the 10th, upon the subject of "Marriage, Prostitution, and the Whitechapel Murders;" on the 23rd, D.A.Andrade read a paper on "False Relations;" and on the 30th, J.A.Andrews opened on "Revolution." No debates were held in January until the 20th, when J.W.Fleming spoke on "The Prospects of the Workers;" and on the 27th, D.A.Andrade opened on "The Socialism of Karl Marx." These debates are open to the public, who are invited to take part in them and read papers before the Club. No charge is made for admission.

from 'On the Lookout', Honesty, February, 1889


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