The first to be enraged by Jules Ferry's speech in the Chamber regarding the "obligation of the superior race" were the "Communards" whose blood still flowed with fire.
After the general amnesty in July 1880, most of them had chosen to align with the "Radical Republican Party" led by Georges Clemenceau.
On the very day Jules Ferry delivered his speech, Georges Clemenceau loudly rebutted him in the legislative hall of the Palais Bourbon:
"Gentlemen!
What have we heard? 'The obligation of the superior race'?
This is the most shameless betrayal of the spirit of the French Republic!
Jules Ferry and his colleagues are trying to degrade the Third Republic into another Empire!
The 'civilizing mission' they speak of is merely a thin veneer of culture covering up greed and atrocity!"
He detailed Ferry's government's military actions in "Tonkin" (then referring to Vietnam) and "Annam," drawing parallels with Britain:
"Look at what they are doing in Algeria, in Vietnam!
Gunboats blasting open foreign ports, bayonets forcing foreign peoples to submit, seizing their land and gold!
Is this the 'export of civilization' of our Republic? No!
This is an atrocity wearing a Republican uniform!"
Édouard Vaillant directly contrasted colonial expansion with the ideals of the Paris Commune:
"Why did the fighters of the Commune sacrifice themselves? For the freedom of the people, for international solidarity, to resist all forms of oppression!
And today, the colonial policy of the Jules Ferry government is a complete betrayal of the Commune's spirit!
They are not liberating people; they are enslaving them; they are not spreading fraternity, but sowing hatred; they are not practicing Republicanism, but enforcing oppression!"
His words were met with rounds of applause and cheers from the deputies, while supporters of Jules Ferry jeered.
The struggle within the Chamber quickly spilled out onto the streets and into the newspapers.
And among this group, Louise Michel, the "Red Madonna," was the most prominent.
Facing reporters who had come upon hearing the news, she angrily denounced:
"I have seen them, I have seen those oppressed people in Algeria, in Vietnam! Just like the workers in Paris ten years ago, being slaughtered, being driven out. Colonial atrocity is just another form of the Empire's prison! Only this prison is vaster and more concealed!"
When a reporter brought up Ferry's rhetoric about the "civilizing mission," she scoffed:
"They claim they want to enlighten savages? No!
They go there to plunder land and gold!
The banner of France should not be planted on the corpses of foreign peoples!
Do not be fooled by them!
The tyranny in the colonies is the same as the atrocity of domestic oppression against workers!
Both are about extracting the sweat and blood of the majority for the wealth and power of a few. Colonization is the extension of state violence, the manifestation of class oppression on an international scale!"
Louise Michel's words quickly spread throughout Paris via the newspapers, triggering a chain reaction.
Jules Vallès launched a fierce attack on the Ferry government in the newspaper he founded, La Voix du Peuple (The People's Voice).
He wrote a commentary titled Bloody Gold:
["The wars of plunder launched for colonization are wars that embellish the fortunes of the rich and drain the lifeblood of the poor!
What is the difference between the young bodies torn apart by cannon fire in Algeria and Vietnam, and the corpses of the Parisian workers who fell beneath the Commune Wall? These young men of France are all sacrifices for the Republic!
It's just that the former died in a distant foreign land for the gold in the pockets of capitalists; the latter died on the streets of Paris for bread and dignity!"]
He even pointed the finger directly at the beneficiaries of colonial policy:
["Who profits from these wars? The arms manufacturers, the speculators, the generals eager to adorn their dress uniforms with colonial medals! And who pays the price? The ordinary soldiers of France and their families, and the innocent civilians in the invaded lands!"]
Vallès's article resonated widely among workers and city commoners.
Lionel looked at these newspaper articles, truly not expecting that the controversy originating from his work would trigger such a massive storm.
He then looked at the article he had prepared to send to Le Figaro, found it completely lacking in flavor, and promptly pulled it from the paper roll, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.
But people had not forgotten him. Paul Lafargue evaluated Lionel, who caused this storm, from a different perspective. During a discussion within the Workers' Party, Lafargue spoke about The Sign of Four and its author:
"This young man Sorel is very interesting. His The Sign of Four, despite being a fictional novel, touches upon the core contradiction of colonialism—primitive accumulation built on plunder and violence.
His work demonstrates a deep sense of internationalist sympathy, a sincere concern for the oppressed. More importantly, his tracing of the treasure's origins and his depiction of colonial atrocities in The Sign of Four implicitly contain a simple materialist view of history.
He tries to find the root of tragedy in material interests and historical context, rather than attributing it to abstract human nature or chance events."
After a discussion, Paul Lafargue defined Lionel's value:
"While the bourgeois media are still singing praises for colonial expansion, Sorel, through his novel, reveals to the readers the blood and grime beneath the imperial halo. This objectively plays a role in awakening the masses and breaking the monopoly of public opinion.
His sympathy and his work are beneficial to our cause. Of course, he is still a petty bourgeois, and his thinking has limitations, but we must acknowledge the progressive side of it."
Soon, part of the meeting's content was edited into an article and published in La Liberté (The Free Man).
Lionel immediately acquired several new titles—"Friend of the Workers," "Progressive Writer," and "Conscience of Paris."
Lionel naturally felt the political and public opinion storm raging in Paris.
His mood was complex; the fierce and direct critiques from the Communards were clearly more thorough and revolutionary than what he had imagined.
However, Lionel had not given up on voicing his own opinion, but he also would not simply repeat the slogans of the Communards.
This morning, he had just received a telegram from Norman Macleod.
In the telegram, Norman Macleod stated there was no need to worry about the sales of The Sign of Four, as the more controversial a work is, the more people it attracts.
He also relayed to Lionel as an amusing anecdote the protest by the young Indian elites outside the Good Words office and their subsequent expulsion.
Lionel instantly had an idea and typed out the title for his article—
The Honored, and The Castrated.
(End of Chapter)