Extract from the Debates of the National Assembly, the 12th day of Vulpiose, Year 20, published in The Flag of the Republic of the 13th day of Vulpiose, Year 20.
STATE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY CLUBS
Total number of Representatives: 1201
- Club for Individual Liberty (President: Masden): 259 Representatives
- Club of Friends of Virtue and the Republic (President: Henscher): 233 Representatives
- Club of General Equality (President: Hrebs): 91 Representatives
Session of the 12th day of Vulpiose, Year 20.
Presidency of Citizen Bipler.
Order of the Day: Questions concerning the provisioning of the people, and the struggle against superstition.
A deputation of patriotic citizens from the municipality of Barburg-on-Vegel, in the district of Vegel of the Seventeenth Region, presented before the National Assembly sundry objects of superstition collected in their municipality: a large quantity of hawthorn stakes, the wings of bats, garlands of diverse herbs and plants, medallions bearing the likeness of the tyrant and marked with stains of his blood—real or pretended—as well as books of charms and incantations. The recital of the manner in which these objects were employed as talismans of “protection against monsters” provoked loud laughter in the Assembly and cries of “Down with superstition!”
The head of the deputation, in his address to the National Assembly, declared that the patriotic citizens of Barburg-on-Vegel reject with abhorrence these emblems of delusion, by which the fallen tyranny sowed divisions and jealousies among citizens of differing races; he called upon the Assembly to remain steadfast at the helm of the Republic.
The President of the Assembly congratulated the deputation upon their patriotism, and proposed that these symbols of superstition be committed to the flames, while the books of charms be torn asunder and transformed into cartridges for the muskets of the Republic. — The proposal was adopted, with honourable mention decreed.
Citizen Hrebs.
I desire to put a question to the Committee of Public Command. It is known to all that we suffer under a grievous want of meat. Whilst the rich banquet upon the finest cutlets, more than ninety in a hundred of the people have not tasted flesh for over a month. I have already laid before you the measures which I deem necessary against the traffickers in cattle and the butchers, whose sordid speculations have raised the price of meat to an astronomical height; and I repeat, nothing short of the death penalty will suffice, a penalty which, should this Assembly delay, the people themselves will soon in justice pronounce and execute.
But before this, I would raise another question, no less essential to the nourishment of the people in time of famine. There remains upon our statute-books a law of the old regime, monstrous and absurd in the present circumstances, whose sole purpose was to secure for the aristocracy their favourite amusement—hunting—by fattening and multiplying wild animals for them to pursue. The peasant was commanded, at the time of harvest, to leave a portion of his field for the partridges and hares, that these creatures might feast while he himself starved.
(Laughter and cries of indignation from the galleries; loud applause to the orator.)
Yes, citizens! He was ordered to leave part of his crop uncut, that the game might have its shelter! (Renewed laughter.) It may appear comical to you; but I tell you, to the starving peasant who beholds a hare devouring the very fruit of his own toil, it is not comedy but cruel mockery. Therefore I propose that this law—whose continued force can only be ascribed to the negligence of the Committee of Public Command—be abolished this very day!
(Thunderous applause and acclamation from all parts of the hall.)
The President.
Is there any who oppose this proposal? May it be adopted by acclamation?
Citizen Schmeck.
With all due regard to the just sentiments which incline the Assembly toward the repeal of this law, I yet must raise a word of caution. For consider, citizens: if even the old regime—that destroyer and enslaver of all that is good in this world—granted such right unto the animals of the field, upon whom man already makes relentless war for his sustenance, shall we, Republicans, prove less merciful than tyrants?
The hare, citizens, is a living creature, and he too suffers from the want of nourishment in these days of scarcity. Shall he be denied the right to feed?
(Murmurs, some applause, some laughter.)
On the other hand, I propose a new law of the Republic, suited to the present crisis, by which the resources of the chase may be employed with reason: that the wild creatures useful for food be harvested in a manner that neither exhausts their numbers nor threatens the balance of nature. I will lay before the Committee such a draft within the week, so that the Assembly may deliberate. Likewise shall a law be prepared for the fisheries, that the precious bounty of our rivers and seas be not wasted in folly.
Let it be remembered: the hunting of animals that serve not for nourishment, nor for any just and economic purpose, that shameful symbol of royalist arrogance and aristocratic bloodlust, is already proscribed by the Constitution. Yet, in face of the dearth of meat caused by the tyrants’ assaults, I propose the formation of a learned commission, which shall examine the flesh of all creatures, and declare which among those not hitherto eaten may, for a season, be placed upon the list of lawful game for the sustenance of the people.
Therefore, citizens, I cannot lend my vote to the proposition of Citizen Hrebs.
(Mixed reactions: cries of “Hoorah!” and “Boo!”, with great tumult in the hall.)
Citizen Masden.
It is clear to us why you, Citizen Schmeck, would fraternize with animals! Citizens, it is with indignation that I rise against the monstrous notions which have just been uttered. I speak here in the name of liberty, in the name of that sacred principle without which the Republic itself is but an empty shell: the inviolability of property.
What is property, if not the fruit of one’s reason, the sanctuary of one’s will? To seize it, to fetter it, to restrict it by arbitrary decrees, is to abolish liberty at its root. Citizens, what greater tyranny can be imagined than a law that tells the hunter what quarry he may pursue upon his own land, at his own risk, with his own arms?
(Cries of “Hoorah! Hoorah!” from some benches, hisses from others.)
Let us not be deceived by false sentimentalities about the “balance of nature” or the “rights of animals.” Citizens, liberty knows no such absurdities. There are no rights but the rights of man. The Republic was founded to destroy the idols of despotism, not to erect new idols in the guise of forests, rivers, or creatures devoid of reason.
Therefore I move, and with all the force of the Club for Individual Liberty behind me, that the Assembly solemnly affirm: the citizen’s property is sacred and unassailable; no decree shall curtail the manner in which he uses it; and any attempt to impose such limits is a betrayal of the Revolution itself.
(Great uproar: applause from the right, furious cries of “Down with egoism!” from the left; the President rings the bell violently.)
The Presiding Member.
I declare that no majority doth exist for adoption by acclamation; therefore, the proposal shall be subjected to debate, after which, upon the appointed Day of Voting, the ballots shall be cast. Are there yet further proposals which any group of Representatives desire to lay before this Assembly?
Citizen Mausen, on behalf of the Committee of Public Command.
The Committee of Public Command hath empowered me to propose unto the National Assembly the following measure: that the price of bread, of whatsoever kind, be fixed by decree, so that this most essential article of sustenance may be secured for every Citizen. I further propose the same regulation and the same price for soap, which, in the name of Hygiene, must likewise be within the reach of all. Moreover, let the Commander of the Department of Agriculture establish a maximum price for grain, duly proportioned to the regulated price of bread. I propose also the introduction of special ration-cards, to be issued daily unto every Citizen, without which it shall be unlawful to purchase any of the six articles of prime necessity which, together, constitute the Right to a Dignified Life. –
Here the discourse of Citizen Mausen was interrupted by long applause.
– By such cards it shall be ordained that no man may purchase more than is needful unto him, and that none shall be deprived of his rightful share. The same cards shall impose upon vendors the obligation to sell bread and soap at the fixed price therein inscribed; while bakers, furnished with identical cards, shall be entitled to purchase grain at the fixed rate. Furthermore, I propose that the hoarding of grain, in a time of public peril, be punished by banishment; and the same penalty shall fall upon those merchants whose victuals rot in their stores because they have withheld them contrary to this decree. –
At this, the orator was again interrupted by cries of “Hurrah!”
– Finally, I must emphasize that this decree is of a temporary nature, its force expiring by its own terms the instant any of the regulated provisions shall cease to be scarce.
Citizen Vingl.
In my own name, and in that of the Club for Individual Liberty, whereof I am Secretary, I declare that this proposal runs counter both to the natural order and to the very principles of Liberty upon which the Republic is founded. Free men, by nature, possess the ability to labor; whether they labor much or little dependeth upon their diligence or their sloth. If they be diligent and capable, their labor prospereth, and the fruit thereof is converted into tokens of exchange. With these tokens they may purchase all that is needful; and the more tokens they acquire, the more goods they may appropriate. Naught is more natural, nor more just. For thus shall the most industrious and capable obtain the greatest share, thereby inspiring others to follow their example, and thus shall the State itself flourish. It is neither natural nor just to limit the quantity of goods a man may possess, nor to despoil honest producers by compelling them to lower their prices, merely that the idle and incapable may procure what they could not earn. Least of all is it natural or righteous to punish a man for the use he maketh of his inviolable property. –
The speech of Citizen Vingl was greeted with loud applause from the Deputies of the Club for Individual Liberty, and with hisses from the remainder of the Assembly.
Citizen Hrebs.
Thou, Citizen Vingl, hast called the poor idle and incapable! Kings and aristocrats compelled the poor to toil, and stripped them of all, yet even they never dared to brand the poor as idle and incapable! Thy hypocrisy is so great, that any honest Citizen meeting thee in the street ought give thee a slap in the face, or a kick in the belly, or spit upon thee! –
Here the orator was interrupted by mingled cries of “Booo!” and “Hurrah!”
– A man is poor because the rich thief hath despoiled him of that which by nature is his, seizing for himself the labor of the poor man; the rich man is as the hare and the partridge who devour the honest man’s harvest, protected by the Law in their robbery. We support the proposal of the Committee, though we deem the price set too high, and hold that distribution of the essentials must be entrusted wholly to the State. Nor do we admit that such a decree ought to be temporary; and for the crimes where banishment is proposed, only annihilation itself is an adequate penalty. I perceive that Citizen Urpen is shouting, here and in his rag of a newspaper; no wonder he rails against fixed prices, when his own father is a shopkeeper who fleeceth the people daily! Beware, masters and rich men! The cup of the People is filling! If ye will not grant them what is theirs, they shall take it by their own right, from your shops, your bakeries, and your butcheries, without paying a single token!
The speech of Citizen Hrebs was received with shouts of “So it is!” and applause from the members of his club.
Citizen Masden.
Representatives of the Nation! The greater number of you were chosen as the most reputable men of your districts, who by virtue and labor have been examples unto your neighbors. To you I speak, company of decent men, which still formeth the majority in this Assembly. To-day you are urged by men of dubious past and still more dubious propriety to limit the sacred right of property, that they may feed idlers and ne’er-do-wells, and thus secure unto themselves more votes! You behold two factions, one headed by Henscher and the other by Hrebs, vying in demagoguery, promising ever more to the indolent, hoping that what is no longer to be paid in tokens shall be repaid in votes, or—far more dangerous still—in political allegiance manifested in the streets rather than at the polls. Citizen Hrebs even doth call for the plunder of fellow-citizens and for violence against Representatives! Herein I discern an attack upon the Republic itself, an offense which in other circumstances would merit the outlawry of active rebels.
Loud commentary and cries both of assent and dissent filled the Hall.
I adjure you to expose and unmask this demagoguery, and defend the sacred right of Property!
The oration was greeted with vigorous applause.
Citizen Hrebs.
The People have already outlawed thee, who didst call them idle, yet never didst thou plough a field, nor sweat at honest toil! Thou, Masden, whose greatest sacrifice for the Revolution is to begin thy day without hot chocolate or green tea, and to forego the foreign spice in thy dainty dishes! The People, our Judge, shall read what Masden hath said of them, and shall judge him rightly; and we all know what is the only sentence for one who incurreth the righteous hatred of the People! And they shall judge also a certain Citizen Kunze, who, appointed by Henscher, but days ago slaughtered honest patriots on Alvald, patriots who burned the castles of aristocrats, those symbols of servitude! The People demand that Kunze be cast to the dogs without delay! Our Club shall next week convene demonstrations in all the cities, to honor those martyrs whom the Republic’s own forces slew for destroying the symbols of Royalism! The Revolution hath no purpose, and is unfinished, so long as inequality of wealth endureth! Only when those inequalities are erased, trampled beneath the feet of the People, shall we proclaim true victory! And I say to you, as the People say to you: that day approacheth!
The oration was accompanied by applause and hisses, interrupted with cries of “Glory to them!” and “Death to Royalists and traitors!”
Citizen Vingl.
Esteemed Representative Hrebs, if I may still call thee such, since thou callest for violation of the very laws enacted by this Legislature of which thou art a Member! It is a shame to destroy property, the fruit of labor, which might be of use to honest Citizens, and above all property that is the common cultural patrimony of the Republic! It is more shameful still for a Representative of the People to justify such destruction, or to condemn those who fulfilled their lawful duty. I uphold Law and Order; let the Republic be worthy of decent men who respect the Law, and not dissolve into anarchy wherein the mob destroyeth what could have been employed in a hundred better ways.
Citizen Henscher.
Citizens, Representatives of the Nation! As Chairman of the Committee of Public Command, I must give explanation. The right of Property is indeed a sacred liberty—
Citizen Henscher was here interrupted by Citizen Hrebs crying “Sacred theft!”
—yet the Right to Life is greater still, and more sacred! If this measure be not enacted, Citizens shall perish of hunger, or be driven back into subjection to those who hold the goods, which is as much an assault upon Life as death itself! He who hath no liberty possesseth not his life. Therefore, I implore you, support this proposal! As for Citizen Hrebs’s second reproach, irrelevant to the matter, concerning the Regional Commander who enforced the Law against the destruction of the People’s common property—let me say here as I have said in the Committee: if those men were truly good Republicans, then they ought be grateful to Citizen Kunze that he destroyed them! – Thunderous applause, with cries of “So it is!”, “Hurrah for Henscher!”, “Long live the Republic!”, and raised fists.
The Presiding Member.
Let us return to the matter! The question of the Regional Commander’s responsibility is not now upon the Order; to raise it requireth the assent of the Judicial Committee, or else it must proceed under the rules concerning responsibility of the Executive as a whole. It is manifest there is no unanimity upon Citizen Mausen’s proposal, therefore the debate shall resume this afternoon, after the Clubs shall have conferred. Are there any other motions to be introduced this day?
Citizen Masden.
We demand that the proposal be rejected outright, without debate, for it affronteth the most basic rights of man! The Committee of Public Command, to justify their invasion of property rights, plead hunger and the right to life, yet a moment ago they denied both rights to a man in order to feed a hare and a partridge! –
Here Citizen Masden was interrupted by laughter, applause, and cries for an immediate vote.
– I say to the Committee: if you would vanquish hunger and the ills of our economy, be more vigorous against counterfeit token, bring down more enemy balloons, and destroy them the moment they descend upon our soil! While false token circulates, corroding true value, the economy cannot be sound, nor can Citizens prosper. I suspect that the Government, unable to master this evil, now hide behind unnatural and demagogic proposals to restrict free trade, and shift the burden of their incompetence upon the shoulders of our most industrious Citizens, rather than bear the political responsibility themselves! That responsibility meaneth but one thing: relinquishing power to those more capable, who alone are worthy to conduct the affairs which you, the present Ministers, have proved yourselves unable to resolve!
The greater number of Representatives agreed to vote forthwith upon Citizen Mausen’s proposal. The Citizen Mausen’s proposal was rejected by a majority of the National Assembly. The decision was met at once with applause and hissing; Citizen Hans Hrebs loudly cried, “The People shall make this decision themselves!”
Citizen Mausen.
Citizen Masden saith that the Committee of Public Command cannot cope with counterfeit token. Yet the Committee hath enacted all measures that any rational Government can devise against this accursed evil! But counterfeit token is a matter of war, for it is sown from the enemy’s airships! Only victory in war can eradicate this plague. Were we to entrust power unto Masden in the midst of our conflict—even if the People elected him their Leader—and were the counterfeit tokens to disappear under his reign, what could it signify, save that Masden’s government was pleasing to the Coalition of Tyrants, who then would cease their monetary war because they favored such a Masdenite Guntreland? –
The speaker was interrupted by applause and laughter from the central benches of the Club of Friends of Virtue and the Republic.
I yield the floor to my dear colleague, Citizen Schmeck.
Citizen Schmeck.
Citizens! The Republic faces mortal danger from pestilence, for many, inflamed by Royalist superstition, shrink from vaccination, fearing some sinister purpose contrary to Nature. The Committee of Public Command therefore proposes, in order to safeguard the health of the Nation: that the propagation of superstition, as well as refusal of vaccination, be punished by annihilation, as an act of rebellion against the Republic. Think what calamity might ensue, should an epidemy arise at this very hour!
Applause, and cries of “Hurrah!” and “So it is!”
Citizen Masden.
I demand the floor! I shall not defend superstition, nor is it my intent, but I shall defend freedom of speech, for none may be outlawed for his words! But I ask: is it not a danger to public health that the Commander of Health be no licensed physician, no graduate of a medical academy, no holder of any credential of competence? Do not the Citizens of Guntreland deserve, at the very least, to be cared for by one properly trained?
Applause, and cries of “So it is!”
Citizen Schmeck.
Citizen Masden, thou knowest full well I was denied entry to the Academy by the unjust laws of the Old Regime, which excluded werewolves from medicine and public service. Thou wast admitted; dost thou take pride in rights denied thy fellow creatures? Neither greater physician, nor greater Republican, nor greater man art thou than I! –
Long applause.
If my knowledge is not confirmed by the diploma of an academy, it is confirmed by the tens and hundreds of citizens I have healed thanks to the knowledge I acquired myself, employing my reason, books, and the experience of various physicians whose practice I observed while performing my craft; it is confirmed by the lives I saved in the forests, in cottages, and on boats during the great Revolution, while you, still a welcome guest, frolicked even at the very court, that shameful house of the tyrant, indulging in shameful courtly etiquettes, restraining yourself even from dispensing your wit and knowledge at every turn, though that is what you most delight to do in the world.
But today, the matter is not about me: this Assembly has already chosen me as Commander of the Health Department, whereas it has not chosen you, and I permit you to be vexed at me for that. The matter concerns the health of the entire Nation, which you jeopardize if you allow people to spread unjustified rumors against vaccination, to spread such nonsense which you, as a physician boasting of your medical knowledge, and Vingl, who participated in the making of vaccines, must know is sheer nonsense—and I shall not permit it! –
Applause.
You claim that they will not accept vaccines from me because I am a werewolf, because you wish to supplant me; and I tell you, the people believe that you are of vampire blood, and those who reject my vaccines would not even let you draw blood, thus thwarting the efforts of our scientists who labor to investigate all effects of transferring blood from one organism to another.
At the end of Citizen Schmeck’s address, the Hall resounded with laughter and applause.
Citizen Masden.
It is true; thus in the house of tyrants—or in the tyrant’s den, as is often said, though I can understand why you likely dislike the expression, Citizen Schmeck —I was far more useful to the Republic than you were in your wolfish lairs. –
Citizen Masden’s address interrupted by applause and laughter.
From what we have heard, such scientists of whom you speak, until only a ten or fifteen years ago, injected sheep’s blood into agitated and aggressive patients, horse’s blood into the physically weak, and hyena’s blood, of that creature who always laughs, into those who were melancholic and depressed. Perhaps you endorse these experiments in hope that human blood might be injected into you, hoping thereby to become a man?
These words were met with loud laughter and applause but also with exclamations of Boo.
The Presiding Member, ringing the bell to restore order in the Assembly hall.
I implore the legislators to refrain from personal insults, for we are all more than brothers here, and we are gathered to steer the state’s vessel through the fearful storm that assails it! Let there be, in particular, no insult based on the inherent traits of citizens!
Citizen Masden.
Let there be no misunderstanding such that anyone might think I harbor anything against the Werewolf race, whose reason—even in the case of Citizen Schmeck—unambiguously displays all those qualities which make one an inherent bearer of civil rights. I shall not insult this high House with false modesty, ignoring the fact that no mind other than mine could have so well conceived the methods of functioning of the underground Republic, so that it results in the present state in which the race of Citizen Schmeck, across the greatest part of this continent, enjoys all equal rights and duties…
Citizen Hrebs.
The mortal insult to the people was inflicted by he who attributes the birth of the Republic to a mind other than that of the People!
General uproar.
The President rings for calm.
Citizen Schmeck.
Gelbs schemed as much as Masden: But when Gelbs was abducted, Masden did nothing to leverage his influence with the tyrant to save the life of the great Republican, but, they say, was even personally present…
Citizen Masden.
Because my words would have changed nothing in what the tyrant had planned. And his suspicion of my loyalty at that moment would have endangered the entire branches of the underground Republic.
Citizen Henscher.
None here disputes that the mind of Citizen Masden contributed certain useful ideas to the underground Republic, although, certainly, even if from another and not himself, it would be improper to claim that without that mind the triumph of the Republic would not have occurred. Improper not because it is unseemly to boast of one’s own achievement—for the liberated new man, the Republican citizen, must free himself from false modesty—but simply because it is not, and cannot be, the truth. Which ideas Masden gave, which others gave, of this knowledge we shall never fully possess, for numerous witnesses of those days of weak light in the darkness inscribed themselves in the book of immortality by performing activities for the people which involved greater risk to personal life and safety than those Masden undertook. Yet all honor to him, and to them. And to that good and righteous citizen who, for the rabbit-hearted who dared not openly keep and read Republican writings and proclamations, reshaped Hurel’s fables so that the good but fearful citizen might extract the same lessons that his lion-hearted compatriot would derive reading the official documents of the Republic.
Citizen Masden.
Does that aforesaid citizen refer to himself in the third person to avoid the shame of the title of plagiarist? Or simply because the praise of others so delights him, that he attempts to deceive his own ears with his voice, reciting what they wish to hear from another…
General uproar.
The Presiding Member, ringing.
I order a recess of five minutes, that calm may be restored, whereafter debate shall continue!
After the recess, the Presiding Member, in his own name, laid before the Assembly the agreed motion: that refusal of vaccination be punished by annihilation, as enmity to the Republic. The motion was adopted. The proposal that all public expressions of superstition be deemed a crime against the Republic was withdrawn.
