Paris and the Social Revolution Part 4

Once in the street, the anarchists were _solidaire_ again with the socialists against their common bourgeois enemies, the nationalists.

What is more, all three were _solidaire_ against their common enemy, the police; and the latter were forced to call on their reserves and a body of the _Garde Republicaine_ to disperse the rioters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAULED TO DEATH FOR SHOUTING, "VIVE L'ARMeE!"]

The joint debates (_a.s.semblees contradictoires_) which are held, now and then, during the political campaigns, are very apt to degenerate into similar scrimmages. As a rule, such encounters-there must be a special providence for scrimmages as there is for lovers-work no great harm beyond bruises to those engaged in them; but fatal results are not unknown. Not long ago, at an anti-militarist meeting in the hall of the "_Mille Colonnes_," a man who had the bad taste or the misplaced courage to cry, "_Vive l'Armee!_" was quickly mauled to death by the infuriate audience. This was not an "_a.s.semblee contradictoire_," it is true; but, if it had been, the outcome would probably have been the same.

It is only fair to say, however, that the anarchists, on such occasions, are not more intolerant than others. There is no certainty that a man would have fared better who, alone, in a patriotic a.s.sembly at that time had raised the cry, "_A bas l'Armee!_"

The anarchist, with all his haughty insistence on directness and sincerity, is not totally averse to taking or administering the sugar-coated pill. He has _punchs-conferences_ (punch-talks) and _soupes-conferences_ (soup-talks), the former for himself, the latter for others. At the _punch-conference_ he washes down the word with the beverage of his choice,-more often wine, coffee, or beer than the punch which gives the name. At the _soupe-conference_ he dispenses to hungry vagabonds the soup that sustains life and the doctrines that, to his mind, explain it and make it worth while; precisely as the city missionaries and the "Salvation la.s.sies" dispense food and gospel to "hoboes" at the "mission breakfasts" and "hallelujah lunches" of English and American cities and large towns.

In the summer he has "_ballades de propagande_,"-picnic trips into the country, which are given a serious turn by doctrinal speeches, in the open air, after lunch.

He has also-at least he had for a season-his weekly _dejeuners vegetariens_, at which the somewhat attenuated coating of sugar which a vegetarian lunch gives to the lecture pill is overlaid with the more substantial sweetness of frolic, song, and badinage.

He has his theatre (that is to say, he has his amateur theatricals) about which a glamour of mystery and adventure is shed by the fact the greater part of the repertoire is under the ban of the censors.h.i.+p.

Entrance to the performances is by invitation only and free. It is thus the law is evaded, a fixed and obligatory cloak-room charge replacing the fee of admission.

The _Maison du Peuple_ of the rue Ramey, which calls itself socialistic from motives of prudence, has a permanent band of actors (_le Theatre Social_) on the border line between professionals and amateurs, who give evening and matinee performances nearly every Sunday throughout the winter and spring, and who occasionally go upon the road.

A single announcement will suffice to explain the operations of this and all similar troupes:-

"THeaTRE SOCIAL.

_Maison du Peuple de Paris_, 47 _rue Ramey_ (4, _impa.s.se Pers_).

"_Camarades_,

"Before its departure for Belgium, where it is going to give a series of representations of its great success, _L'Exemple_, the _Theatre Social_ has decided to give two other representations (evening and matinee) of the piece of Cheri-Vinet, at the _Maison du Peuple_, in order to accommodate the _camarades_ of the suburban districts.

"We invite you, then, _camarades_, to a.s.sist at the third and fourth representations (_strictly private_) of _L'Exemple_, interdicted by the Censors.h.i.+p, the unpublished revolutionary drama in 4 acts and 5 tableaux, which will be given Sunday, the 31st of March, at two o'clock and at half-past eight sharp.

"_L'Exemple_ will be preceded by _En Famille_, a piece by Metenier in one act.

"Obligatory cloak-room fee, ten sous.

"Invitations may be procured at the _Maison du Peuple_, 47 rue Ramey, at the offices of _L'Aurore_, _La Pet.i.te Republique_, and _Le Pet.i.t Sou_, and at the house of the _citoyen_ A--, number -, rue Championnet."

As at the _Theatre d'Application_ (formerly _la Bodiniere_), the various independent theatres, and the "Thursdays" of the _Odeon_, the performance of the revolutionary troupe is usually preceded by an explanatory or relevant talk either by its author or some well-known thinker or litterateur. Thus, when Charles Malato's _Barbapoux_, announced as an "_uvre Aristophanesque, Symbolico-fantaisiste_," was performed at the _Maison du Peuple_, Malato himself provided an introductory lecture, ent.i.tled "_Le Clericalisme et le Nationalisme._"

Above all, the anarchist has his _soiree familiale_. For example:-

"The anarchist group, _Les Resolus_, announce for _Mardi Gras_ a grand _soiree familiale et privee_, to begin at nine.

Concert by amateurs, preceded by a lecture by L. Reville, subject '_Le Socialisme et l'Anarchie_,' and followed by a ball and a _tombola_ [lottery]. Entrance free. Obligatory cloak-room fee, six sous."

In a big, barn-like, crudely lighted, smoke-begrimed, rafter-ceilinged hall, whose walls are adorned with the painted texts which are anarchy's great watchwords,

NOTRE ENNEMI C'EST NOTRE MAiTRE

LA FONTAINE

LA PROPRIeTe C'EST LE VOL

PROUDHON

LA NATURE N'A FAIT NI SERVITEUR NI MAiTRE JE NE VEUX NI DONNER NI RECEVOIR DES LOIS

DIDEROT

LE CLeRICALISME C'EST L'ENNEMI

GAMBETTA

NI DIEU NI MAiTRE

BLANQUI

to the laboured sounds of a patient, plethoric orchestra, the _Resolus_ couples, some commonplace, some grotesque, and some graceful, dance with honest zest; but with a restraint and modesty in striking contrast with the reckless _abandon_ of such resorts as the _Moulin Rouge_, maintained mainly for the prudent depravity of touring English and American men and (alas!) women, who flock there to fan jaded or hitherto unawakened senses into flame, under the flimsy pretext or the fond illusion that they are studying French life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BALL AT THE MAISON DU PEUPLE

_To the laboured sounds of a patient, plethoric orchestra, the couples dance with honest zest; but with a restraint and modesty_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DANCING AT THE MOULIN ROUGE

_in striking contrast with the reckless abandon of such resorts as the Moulin Rouge, maintained mainly for the prudent depravity of tourists_.]

In connection with the _soiree familiale_, it is highly diverting to note the same advertising dodges on the part of the managers; the same meaningless compliments to performers on the part of those who introduce them; the same ill-concealed impatience on the part of the audience during the serious part of the exercises for the dancing to begin; the same fluttering preoccupation with ribbons, robes, coiffures, and aigrettes, and the same jealousies of superior beauty, superior style, and more numerous or a.s.siduous adorers on the part of the young women; and the same fussy solicitude on the part of doting mammas to have their daughters dance with the young men that are "likely" as in a.s.semblies that do not occupy themselves with lofty ideas and ideals; also the same tiptoeing excitement over the drawing of the _tombola_ as in the _soirees_ of the working people, who do not profess a contempt for gain.

But he would be a precipitate reasoner, not to say a sorry churl, who should pounce on these little charming inconsequences as refutations of the anarchist theory, or should even call attention to them as other than rea.s.suring evidence that the anarchist is a very human and likable being, not unaffected with amiable vices, and that he is not the abject slave of that angular consistency which, if it be a virtue at all, is the most unlovely of all the virtues. Your sound anarchist will probably tell you that he is sincerely ashamed of these failings, that they are deplorable relics of the old spirit of over-reaching which cannot, in the nature of the case, be entirely expelled so long as the old social regime continues. But this apology is so familiar, so threadbare even, it has been proffered so many, many times by so many very different sorts of people, that you prefer to ignore it, and attribute the anarchist's dainty peccadilloes to the good old human nature which has always made men so much more companionable-let us guard ourselves against saying so much better-than their creeds.

In all the anarchist a.s.semblies-the group meetings, the congresses, the ma.s.s meetings, and the various social and semi-social evenings-the _trimardeur_ is a noteworthy figure. The _trimardeur_[7] (literally, pilgrim of the great road) is a _camarade_ who devotes himself to winning converts while making his tour of France. He has a certain kins.h.i.+p with the ancient bard, the mediaeval troubadour and itinerant friar, and the German apprentice on his _Wanderjahre_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A TRIMARDEUR DISPUTING WITH SOCIALISTS]

But he is chiefly interesting as being the nearest modern approach to the early Christian apostle and the most perfect embodiment of the missionary spirit in existence. Figure him as the contemporary missionary or missionary agent minus a salary and a domicile,-if you can imagine such an anachronistic phenomenon!

He is usually a skilful and reliable workman who has lost his job from his irresistible propensity to spread radical ideas among his fellow-workmen or for his active connection with a strike. He sets out on his proselyting tour "with neither purse nor scrip nor shoes,"

"neither bread, neither money" almost literally; and, literally, without "two coats." In the country he mingles with the peasants and farm labourers, sleeping under their roofs, "eating and drinking such things as they give," and converting as many as he may, sure of a welcome, for that matter, wherever there is a lodge-and where is there not?-of that most fraternal of all freemasonries,-discontent. In the cities he works during his sojourn, if work is to be had; and, when he "goes out of a city," he blesses that city if it has "received" him, and "he shakes off the very dust from his feet as a testimony against it" if it has "received him not."

The origin, methods, and manners of the _trimardeur_ have been well described by one Flor O'Squarr. I take up his description at the point where the incipient _trimardeur_ has been turned away by his employer.

"He offers his labour to the factory opposite, to the foundry adjacent.

Vain proceeding! Unfavourable reports immediately follow him or have preceded him there. The employers also combine. He will be received nowhere except by mistake and for a short time. At the beginning this conspiracy of the world against him surprises and disturbs him. He exclaims: 'What have I done to them, then? Why do they drive me away thus, as they would a mangy or vicious cur? I have defended my interests and those of my fellows. It was my right, after all.'

"Later he discerns injustice in this persistent hostility,-bourgeois injustice, _parbleu!_ This discovery provokes in him the idea of revolt, as a draught of alcohol inflames the blood. Persecution has begun then. Well, let it be so! He will accept it, not without pride. The theory of anarchy sinks a little deeper into his brain, after the manner of a spike on which the employers have tried their sledges.