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JOHANN MOST IN AMERICA 63
strong enough to do that, if they succeed in solidly forming
the federation of their trade organizations, then they
will be able, not only to force the legislators to make
efficacious laws on the hours of work, on inspection, etc.,
but they will also be able to make the law themselves,
deciding that henceforth no worker in the country shall
work more than eight hours a day." "It is the good,
practical sense of an American which says that," (1)
comments Kropotkin. This act of the Supreme Court
and this statement of the Labor Standard were very welcome
news to the anarchists. They were convinced that
the Americans had abandoned political action and were
turning to what they had already begun to call "direct
action."
Another event, a month later, added to this conviction.
In its issue of July 29 the Bulletin published this article :
"
'Following a strike of the machinists of the Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad, a popular insurrection has burst forth
in the states of Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and Ohio. If at Martinsburg (West Virginia) the workmen
have been conquered by the militia, at Baltimore
(Maryland), a city of 300,000 inhabitants, they have
been victorious. They have taken possession of the station
and have burned it, together with all the wagons of
petroleum which were there. At Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania),
a city of 100,000 inhabitants, the workers are at
the present time masters of the city, after having seized
guns and cannon. . . . The strike is
extending to the
near-by railroads and is gaining in the direction of the
Pacific. Great agitation reigns in New York. It is announced
that the troops will concentrate, that Sheridan
has been named commander, and that the Western States
have offered their help.'
In the following number, a detailed
article, written by Kropotkin,
recounted the de-