ns--all played their part. At the same time the governments
carried on a ferocious persecution, and the chief anarchists were driven
from place to place and hunted as wild animals. Police spies and _agents
provocateurs_ swarmed over the labor, socialist, and anarchist
movements, and at the slightest sign of an uprising the soldiers were
brought out to shoot down the people. Hardly a month went by without
some "anarchist trouble," and many harmless strikes resulted in dreadful
massacres. It was a tragic period, that reminds one again of the picture
in Dante in which the two bitter enemies inflict upon each other cruel
wounds in a fight that on both sides was inspired by the deepest hatred.

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 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