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CHAPTER IV
JOHANN MOST IN AMERICA
While the above events were transpiring in the Latin
countries, the Bakouninists were keeping a sharp eye
on America as a land of hopeful possibilities. As early
as 1874 Bakounin himself considered the matter of coming
here,
while Kropotkin and Guillaume followed with
interest the labor disturbances that were at that time so
numerous and so violent in this country. The panic of
1873 had caused widespread suffering among the working
classes. For several years afterward hordes of unemployed
tramped the country. The masses were driven
to desperation and, in their hunger, to frequent outbreaks
of violence. When later a measure of prosperity
returned, both the trade-union and the socialist movements
began to attract multitudes of the discontented.
The news of two important events in the labor world of
America reached the anarchists of the Jura and filled
them, Guillaume says, "with a lively emotion." In June,
1877, Kropotkin called attention to the act of the Supreme
Court of the United States in declaring unconstitutional
the eight-hour law on Government work. He
was especially pleased with an article in the Labor Standard
of New York, which declared :
"This will teach the
workers not to put their confidence in Congress and to
trust only in their own efforts. No law of Congress
could be of any use to the worker if he is not so organized
that he can enforce it.
And, if the workers are
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