(1855-1898)
She was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a revolutionary socialist activist, organizer and a leader who also worked as a literary translator. She organized in support of refugees fleeing France after the defeat of the Paris Commune (Spring 1871) and was a passionate defender of the rights of the working class.
We have not come to do the work of political parties, but we have
come here in the cause of labour, in its own defence, to demand its
own rights. I can remember when we came in handfuls of a few dozen
to Hyde Park to demand an Eight Hours’ Bill, but the dozens have
grown to hundreds, and the hundreds to thousands, until we have this
magnificent demonstration that fills the park today. We are standing
face to face with another demonstration, but I am glad to see that
the great masses of the people are on our side. Those of us who have
gone through all the worry of the Dock Strike, and especially the
Gasworkers’ Strike, and have seen the men, women and children stand
round us, have had enough of strikes, and we are determined to secure
an eight hours’ day by legal enactment; unless we do so, it will be taken
from us at the first opportunity. We will only have ourselves to blame
if we do not achieve the victory which this great day could so easily
give us. There is in the park this afternoon a man whom Mr. Gladstone
once imprisoned– Michael Davitt; but Mr. Gladstone is now on the
best of terms with him. What do you suppose is the reason for the
change? Why has the Liberal Party been so suddenly converted to
Home Rule? Simply because the Irish people sent 80 members to the
House of Commons to support the Conservatives; in the same way
we must kick these Liberal and Radical members out if they refuse
to support our programme. I am speaking this afternoon not only as
a Trade Unionist, but as a Socialist. Socialists believe that the eight
hours’ day is the first and most immediate step to be taken, and we aim
at a time when there will no longer be one class supporting two others,
but the unemployed both at the top and at the bottom of society will
be got rid of. This is not the end but only the beginning of the struggle;
it is not enough to come here to demonstrate in favour of an eight
hours’ day. We must not be like some Christians who sin for six days
and go to church on the seventh, but we must speak for the cause daily,
and make the men, and especially the women that we meet, come into
the ranks to help us.
“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you–
Ye are many–they are few.”
- Excerpt from the Speech on the First May Day Hyde park, May 1890
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