Page:Karl Liebknecht - Militarism (1917).djvu/180

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148
MILITARISM

2,000 striking workmen employed at the construction of the St. Gothard tunnel, who were chiefly up in arms against the shameful truck system; it is said that the employers interested placed 20,000 francs at the disposal of the government for that mobilization. As a result of the bold attack several people were killed and some 15 remained wounded on the battle-field of the class-struggle. Blood was also shed in 1901 by two companies called out against the strikers of the Simplon tunnel by the government of the canton of Valais. Some workmen were severely wounded on that occasion. In the same year two companies of the militia had to do duty as pickets against striking Italian bricklayers in the canton of Tessino. In the month of October, 1902, occurred the well-known affair of Geneva where, during a strike directed against an American band of exploiters, the workmen were chased and clubbed by order of the government of Geneva. Militiamen who refused at the time to act as bum-bailiffs were imprisoned and declared to have forfeited their civic rights. Incidentally it may be mentioned that on