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diff --git a/35210.txt b/35210.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8c8c72 --- /dev/null +++ b/35210.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5449 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Socialism and the Social Movement in the +19th Century, by Werner Sombart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Socialism and the Social Movement in the 19th Century + +Author: Werner Sombart + +Translator: Anson P. Atterbury + +Release Date: February 8, 2011 [EBook #35210] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT *** + + + + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Transliterated Greek text is marked like so: +greek+. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +Socialism and the Social +Movement in the +19th Century + +BY +WERNER SOMBART +Professor in the University of Breslau + +With a Chronicle of the Social Movement 1750-1896 + +"_Je ne propose rien, je ne suppose rien; j'expose_" + + +TRANSLATED BY +ANSON P. ATTERBURY +Pastor of the Park Presbyterian Church New York + + +WITH INTRODUCTION BY +JOHN B. CLARK +Professor of Political Economy +Columbia University + +G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS +NEW YORK LONDON +27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND +The Knickerbocker Press +1898 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1898 +BY +G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +TO THE OTHER AND BETTER MEMBER +OF THE COMMUNISTIC SOCIETY TO WHICH WE BELONG +THIS TRANSLATION IS INSCRIBED + + + + +PREFACE, BY THE TRANSLATOR + + +While rambling through quaint old Nuremberg, last summer, I was driven +for shelter from rain into a bookshop. In a conversation with the +genial proprietor, he called my attention to a book, lately published, +that had already made a deep impression upon the world of German +readers. A reading and re-reading of the little book convinced me that +English readers, as well, will be glad to follow Professor Sombart in +his comprehensive and suggestive review of Socialism. + +Thanks are due to the learned German professor, whose name appears on +the title-page, for his courtesy in this matter; also to his German +publisher. I would also express obligation to my friend, Professor +Sigmon M. Stern, with whom I have consulted freely on some difficult +points of translation. The Introduction by Professor John B. Clark, of +Columbia University, will be appreciated, I know, by the reader as +well as by myself. + + A.P.A. + + APRIL, 1898. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +The reader of this work will miss something which he has been +accustomed to find in books on Socialism. Professor Sombart has not +given us synopses of the theories of St. Simon, Proudhon, Marx, Owen, +and others. His work marks the coming of a period in which socialism +is to be studied, rather than the speculations of socialists. Theories +and plans no longer constitute the movement. There are still schools +of socialistic thought; but there is something actually taking place +in the industrial world that is the important part of the socialistic +movement. Reality is the essence of it. + +The structure of the world of industry is changing. Great +establishments are exterminating small ones, and are forming +federations with each other. Machinery is producing nearly every kind +of goods, and there is no longer a place in the world for such a +middle class as was represented by the master workman, with his slowly +learned handicraft and his modest shop. These facts construed in a +certain way are the material of socialism. If we see in them the dawn +of an era of state industry that shall sweep competition and +competitors out of the field, we are evolutionary socialists. + +We may need a doctrinal basis for our view of the evolution that is +going on; and we may find it in the works of Marx and others; but +already we have ceased to have an absorbing interest in the contrasts +and the resemblances that their several theories present. We have +something to study that is more directly important than doctrinal +history. + +In Professor Sombart's study, Owenism, indeed, has an important place, +since the striking element in it is something that the present +movement has completely put away, namely, utopianism. No one now +thinks, as did Owen, that merely perceiving the beauty of the +socialistic ideal is enough to make men fashion society after that +pattern. No one thinks that society can be arbitrarily shaped after +any pattern. Marxism, in practice, means realism and a reliance on +evolution, however little the wilder utterances of Marx himself may +suggest that fact. Internationalism is also a trait of this modern +movement; but it is not of the kind that is represented by the +International Working-Men's Association. It is a natural affiliation +of men of all nations having common ends to gain. + +The relation of a thinker to a practical movement cannot lose its +importance. It is this connection that Professor Sombart gives us, and +his work is an early representative of the coming type of books on +Socialism. It treats of realities, and of thought that connects itself +with realities. It treats, indeed, of a purposeful movement to assist +evolution, and to help to put the world into the shape that +socialistic theorists have defined. Here lies the importance of the +study of theory. + +Professor Sombart's work contains little that is directly +controversial; but it gives the impression that the purpose of the +socialists is based on a fallacy, that it is not, in reality, in +harmony with evolution, and that it will not prevail. It may be added +that the style of the work is worthy of the thought that it +expresses, and that the English translation is worthy of the +original. The book will take its place among the more valuable of the +works on Socialism that have thus far appeared. + + JOHN B. CLARK, + Columbia University, New York. + + + + +PREFACE + + +What is here published was originally delivered in the form of +lectures, in the Fall of 1896, in Zurich, before miscellaneous but in +general appreciative and inspiring audiences. The approval which they +received, and the earnestly expressed wish of many hearers that the +addresses might appear in print, have finally overcome a not +inconsiderable reluctance on my part, felt by all in like position. +The lectures are in many places enlarged; indeed, largely put into new +form--changed from extemporaneous utterance into the more formal style +proper for the written word. But their character remains, especially +the restricted setting into which a great mass of material had to be +compressed. This is done intentionally, since what I would offer to a +larger public through this book is a brief, pointed, well-defined view +of "Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century." + + W.S. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE v + + INTRODUCTORY NOTE by Professor John B. Clark viii + + AUTHOR'S PREFACE ix + +CHAPTER + + I. WHENCE AND WHITHER 1 + + Class struggle--Kant--The meaning of the social + movement--Essential elements in every social + movement--Characterisation of the social + movement--Conditions under which the working class + lives--Russian peasants--Irish "rack-rent" tenants-- + Uncertainty of existence--The Japanese--The Kurd-- + Hegel--The ground of revolutionary passions in the + modern proletariat--Time environment of the modern + social movement--"Revolutionism." + + II. CONCERNING UTOPIAN SOCIALISM 19 + + Social literature, old and new--Adam Smith--David + Ricardo--"Christian socialism"--Lamennais--Kingsley-- + "Ethical socialism"--Sismondi--Carlyle--"Philanthropic + socialism"--Pierre Leroux--Gruen--Hess-- + Anti-capitalistic literature--Adam Mueller--Leopold von + Haller--Capitalistic methods of production--Utopian + socialists--St. Simon--Fourier--Owen. + + III. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 37 + + Beginnings of the social movement carried on by the + masses--Historic occurrences--Middle-class + movements--French Revolution--_Loi martiale_-- + "Coalition Law"--Marat--The men of Montaigne--The + Sans-culottes--Danton--Robespierre--Constitution of + 1793--_Droits de l'Homme_--Insurrection of + Babeuf--The first proletarian agitation--Elizabethan + trade law--The Chartist movement--English type of + working-men's movement--French type--German + type--Variations of the social movement--English + social development--Carlyle's teaching. + + IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL PECULIARITIES 62 + + Characterisation of the English working-men's + movement--English industrial monopoly, 1850-1880-- + Alternation of power between Tories and Whigs--Value + of legislation in favour of the working man-- + Temperament of the English working-man--Practical + tendency of the old English trade-union--English + "social peace"--French "revolutionism"--Factionism-- + Clubbism--Putschism--Proudhon--The bourgeoisie-- + Significance of the Reign of Terror--Difference + between Roman type of the born revolutionist and the + English working-man--Victor Hehn--French anarchism-- + Bakunin--The peculiarities of social agitation in + Germany--Ferdinand Lassalle--Schulze-Delitzsch--The + Lassalle movement. + + V. KARL MARX 90 + + Birthplace, 1818--Parentage--Cosmopolitanism of the + Marx family--At Bonn--Bruno Bauer--Driven from + Prussia--From Paris--Finds rest in London--Death, + 1883--Marxian theory of social agitation--Communistic + Manifesto of Karl Marx and Frederic Engels--The + theory of value--Marx's application of the evolution + idea to the social movement--Ideal and material + emancipation of the proletariat--Creation of class + interest--Marxism as a social-political realism-- + Engels's _Struggle of Classes in France_. + + VI. THE TREND TOWARDS UNITY 121 + + The proletarian-socialistic character of the revolution + of 1848--Internationalism--First attempt for + international combination--The "International"--The + "Inaugural Address"--_Alliance Internationale de la + Democratie Sociale_--Dissolution of the + "International"--Internal and external unification of + the proletariat--Lassalle's "Working-Men's + Union"--Wilhelm Liebknecht--August Bebel--The + Social-Democratic Working-Men's Party--The + "Honourables"--The "Social-Democratic Party"--The + "Gotha" programme--Gradual extension of the Marxian + system--French trade-union agitation--Approach of the + English working-men's movement to that of the + Continental--The "minimum programme" of all social + agitation--Centripetal and centrifugal tendency of + the social agitation. + + VII. TENDENCIES OF THE PRESENT 142 + + Contradiction apparent in the great social movement-- + Sources from which contradictions spring--Political + influence of the social movement--Revolutionism a + manifestation of unripeness--Meaning of social + evolution--Theoretical and practical social + development--Confusion of "ideal" and "programme"-- + Relation of the proletariat to the _demos_--The + social movement to be the representative of the + highest form of economic life at every period of + production upon the largest scale--The "agrarian + question"--The Marxian theory of development only for + the sphere of manufactures--Does not apply to + agricultural development--Anti-religious nature of + the proletarian movement--The grounds for this enmity + to religion--The movement anti-ecclesiastical-- + Patriotism--Not the heritage of a particular class-- + Nationalism--Feeling of nationalism not shared by the + proletariat--No reason in the essence of modern + socialism for anti-nationalism--Asiatic development-- + Advancement of Japan--Attitude of America towards + Asiatic development. + +VIII. LESSONS 169 + + Necessity of the social movement--Lorenz von + Stein--"Class strife" not identical with civil + war--Various forms of "class strife"--Struggle the + solution in social life--Conflict not necessarily the + beginning of a new culture--Can also betoken the end + of the old--Social struggle should be determined + within legal bounds--Must be carried on with proper + weapons--English social agitation as a model. + +APPENDIX. CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT (1750-1896) 178 + + Notable inventions of modern machinery--"Machine + Riots"--Petitions against machines and + manufactories--Laws for the protection of + machines--Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"--Robert + Owen's chief writing's--Fourier's first great + book--Complete removal of Elizabethan trade + restrictions--The "Savannah" arrives at + Liverpool--Chief work of St. Simon--More liberal + coalition law--Opening of the Manchester-Liverpool + Railroad--Insurrection of the silk workers in + Lyons--Beginning of specific legislation for working + men--Founding of the German Zollverein--Beginnings of + German national industry--Introduction of Rowland + Hill's penny postage--Telegraph first applied to + English railroads--German governmental regulations + for the repression of the working-men's + movement--Severe laws of Napoleon III. for the + repression of all social agitation--First World's + Exposition in London--Bismarck forces the general, + equal, secret, and direct ballot--Liberal trade + regulation for the German Empire--Rapid development + of capitalism in Germany, especially after the + war--Trade-union act (English) supplemented in + 1875--Law concerning the socialists in + Germany--Beginning of governmental working-men's + association in Germany--Insurance for the sick, + against accident, for the sick and aged, in + Germany--Endorsement of a legal establishment of the + eight-hour work-day by the Trade-Union Congress in + Liverpool--International Working-Men's Protection + Conference in Berlin--Third International + Working-Men's Congress in Zurich, at which English + trade-unions deliberate officially with the + Continental socialists--Fourth International + Working-Men's Congress in London. + + + + +SOCIALISM AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN THE XIXTH CENTURY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHENCE AND WHITHER + + "Da ist's denn wieder, wie die Sterne wollten: + Bedingung und Gesetz; und aller Wille + Ist nur ein Wollen, weil wir eben sollten, + Und vor dem Willen schweigt die Willkuer stille." + + GOETHE, _Urworte_. + + +When Karl Marx began a communistic manifesto with the well-known +words, "The history of all society thus far is the history of class +strife," he uttered, in my opinion, one of the greatest truths that +fill our century. But he did not speak the whole truth. For it is not +fully true that all history of society consists exclusively in +struggle between classes. If we would put "world history" into a +single phrase we shall be obliged, I think, to say that there is an +antithesis around which the whole history of society turns, as around +two poles: social and national--using the word national in the widest +meaning. Humanity develops itself into communities, and then these +communities fight and compete with each other; but always within the +community the individual begins to strive for elevation over others, +in order, as Kant once expressed it, to make distinction of rank among +his fellows, whom he does not like, from whom, however, he cannot +escape. So we see on the one side the exertion of the community for +wealth, power, recognition; and on the other side the same exertion, +by the individual, after power, wealth, honour. These, as it seems to +me, are the two matters which in fact fill all history. For history +begins as this antithesis unfolds itself. It is merely a figure of +speech, and you must not be shocked by the harsh expression, as I say +that human history is a fight either for food division, or for +feeding-place, upon our earth. These are both great contradictions +which constantly emerge, which invariably control mankind. We stand +to-day at the conclusion of an historic period of great national +pride, and in the midst of a period of great social contrasts; and +the varying views, world-wide in their differences, which obtain day +by day in different groups of men, all lead back, as it seems to me, +to the alternative, "national or social." + +Before I now proceed with my theme, "Socialism and the Social Movement +in the Nineteenth Century,"--that is, to one member of this +antithesis, the social,--I would first suggest the question: "What is +a _social movement_?" I answer: _By a social movement we understand +the aggregate of all those endeavours of a social class which are +directed to a rational overturning of an existing social order to suit +the interests of this class._ The essential elements in every social +movement are these: First, an existing order in which a certain +society lives, and particularly a social order which rests chiefly +upon the manner of production and distribution of material goods as +the necessary basis of human existence. This specific system of +production and distribution is the point of issue for every social +movement. Secondly, a social class which is discontented with the +existing conditions. By a "social class" I understand a number of +similarly interested persons, especially persons who are similarly +interested in economic matters--the distinctive point; that is, of men +who are interested in a specific system of production and +distribution. We must, in understanding any social class, go back to +this economic system; and we should not allow ourselves to be blinded +or confused by the inbred notions of certain classes. These +prepossessions, which frequently control, are only bulwarks of classes +differing economically. And, thirdly, an aim which this class, +discontented with the existing order of things, holds up to reach; an +ideal, which presents compactly all that for which the society will +agitate, and which finds its expression in the postulates, demands, +programmes of this class. In general, where you can speak of a social +movement you find a point of issue, the existing social order; a +supporter of the movement, the social class; an aim, the ideal of the +new society. + +In what follows I shall attempt to give some points of view for an +understanding of a specific--the modern--social movement. But what do +we mean by the phrase "to _understand_ a social movement"? This: to +comprehend the social movement in its essential historic limitations, +in its causal connection with historic facts out of which, of +necessity, that is produced which we describe as a social movement. +That is, to comprehend why specific social classes are formed, why +they present these particular points of opposition, why especially a +pushing, aggressive social class has, and must have, that particular +ideal for which it reaches. We mean, above all, to see that the +movement springs not out of the whim, the choice, the malevolence of +individuals; that it is not made, but becomes. + +And now to the modern social movement. How is it to be characterised? +If we would hold fast to those elements which constitute every social +movement, we must describe the modern social movement on two sides: +according to its aim, and according to the class that supports the +movement. The modern social movement is, from the standpoint of its +aim, a socialistic agitation, because, as will be shown, it is +uniformly directed to the establishment of communal ownership, at +least of the means of production; that is, to a socialistic, communal +order of society in place of the existing method of private ownership. +It is characterised, on the other side, in accordance with the +adherents of the movement, by the fact that it is a proletarian +agitation, or, as we customarily say, it is a working-men's movement. +The class which supports it, upon which it rests, which gives to it +the initiative, is the proletariat, a class of free wage-workers. + +And now we ask the question: Is it possible to distinguish those +circumstances which would make such a movement evidently a necessary +historic development? I said that the social movement has, as its +supporters, the modern proletariat, a class of free, lifelong +wage-workers. The first condition of its existence is the rise of this +class itself. Every social class is the result, the expression, of +some specific form of production; the proletariat, of that form of +production which we are accustomed to call capitalistic. The history +of the rise of the proletariat is also the history of capitalism. This +latter cannot exist, it cannot develop, without producing the +proletariat. It is not now my purpose to give to you a history of +capitalism. Only this much may be presented for the understanding of +its nature: the capitalistic system of production involves the +co-operation of two socially separated classes in the manufacture of +material goods. One class is that which is in possession of the +matter and means of production, as machines, tools, establishments, +raw material, etc.--the capitalistic class; the other class is that of +the personal factors of production, the possessors only of workman's +craft--the free wage-workers. If we realise that all production rests +upon the union of the material and the personal factors of production, +then the capitalistic system of production distinguishes itself from +others in that both the factors of production are represented through +two socially separated classes which must necessarily come together by +free consent, the "free wage compact," so that the processes of +production may take place. The method of production thus formed has +entered into history as a necessity. It arose in that moment when +demand had become so strong that the earlier methods of production +could not longer satisfy the enlarging conditions, in the time when +new and large markets were opened. It appeared originally solely with +the historic task of implanting the mercantile spirit of manufacture +for the maintaining of these new markets. The mercantile talent forces +itself on as leader of production and draws great masses of mere +hand-workers into its service. It then becomes yet more of a +necessity as the development of the technique of production +complicates the whole operation so greatly that the combination of +many kinds of work in one product is unavoidable; especially since the +introduction of steam for the production and transportation of goods. +The supporters of the capitalistic method of production are, as a +class, the _bourgeoisie_, the middle class. How gladly would I speak +of the great historic mission which this class has fulfilled! But +again I must content myself with this mere reference, that we see this +historic mission in the wonderful development which this class has +given to the material forces of production. Under the compulsion of +competition, lashed by the passion of accumulation which enters with +it into modern history, this class has wrought into reality for us +those fairy tales of the Thousand and One Nights, those wonders in +which daily we rejoice, as through the streets or the industrial +expositions of our great cities we stroll, as we talk with the +antipodes, as we sail in floating palaces over the ocean, or bask in +the glory of our luxurious parlours. But our point is this: the +existence of this capitalistic system of production is the necessary +condition for that class which is the supporter of the modern +socialistic movement--the proletariat. I have already said that the +proletariat follows the capitalistic form of production as its shadow. +This scheme of production cannot exist otherwise, cannot develop +itself otherwise, than under the condition that, subject to the +command of individuals, troops of possessionless workers are herded in +great undertakings. It has as a necessary presupposition the rending +of all society into two classes: the owners of the means of +production, and the personal factors in production. Thus the existence +of capitalism is the necessary preliminary condition of the +proletariat, and so of the modern social movement. + +But how stands it with the proletariat? What are the conditions under +which the working-class lives? And how has it come to pass that out of +these conditions those particular tendencies and demands have arisen +which, as we shall find, have come out of this proletariat? Usually, +when one is asked concerning the characteristics of the modern +proletariat, the first answer is--the great misery in which the masses +are sunk. That may pass with some qualification; only it must not be +forgotten that misery is not specifically confined to the modern +proletariat. Thus, how miserable is the condition of the peasants in +Russia, of the Irish "rack-rent" tenants! There must be a specific +kind of misery which characterises the proletariat. I refer, here, +particularly to those unhealthy work-places, mines, manufactories with +their noise and dust and heat, that have arisen with the modern method +of production; I think of the conditions produced by these methods of +production which tend to draw into the work certain categories of +workers,--as women and children; I think further of how the +concentration of population in industrial centres and in the great +cities has increased the misery of external life for the individual. +At all events, we may consider the intensification of misery as a +primary cause for the growth and insistence of new thoughts and new +feelings. But that is not the most important point, when we ask after +the essential conditions of existence of the proletariat. It is much +more characteristic that in the moment when great masses sink into +misery, upon the other side, shining like a fairy's creation, the +millionaire arises. It is the contrast between the comfortable villa +and elegant equipage of the rich, the magnificent stores, the +luxurious restaurants which the workman passes as he goes on his way +to his manufactory or workshop in the dreary part of the city; it is +the contrast in condition which develops hate in the masses. And that, +again, is a peculiarity of the modern system, that it develops this +hate and permits hate to become envy. It seems to me that this happens +principally for the reason that those who display this grandeur are no +longer the churches or the princes; but that they are those very +persons on whom the masses feel themselves dependent, in whose direct +economic control they see themselves, in whom they recognise their +so-called "exploiters." This definite modern contrast is that which +principally excites the intensity of this feeling of hate in the +masses. Yet one thing further. It is not merely the miserable +condition, the contrast with the well-to-do; but another terrible whip +is swung over the heads of the proletariat--I mean the uncertainty in +their lives. Also in this we have to do with a peculiarity of modern +social life, if we rightly understand it. Uncertainty of existence is +indeed elsewhere: the Japanese trembles at the thought of the +earthquake that may at any moment overwhelm him and his possessions; +the Kurd is afraid of the sand-storm in summer, of the snow-storm in +winter, which blight the feeding-place for his flocks; a flood or +drought in Russia may rob the peasant of his harvest and expose him to +starvation. But what constitutes the specific uncertainty of the +proletariat, which expresses itself in the loss of wage and work, is +this, that this uncertainty is understood as a result not of the +natural causes of which I have spoken, but of the specific form of +organisation of economic life--that is the chief point. "Against +nature no man can assert a right; but in the constitution of society +lack becomes immediately a form of injustice done to one or another +class"--(Hegel). Further, this uncertainty as to matters of nature +leads to superstition or bigotry; but this social uncertainty, if I +may so express it, develops a sharpening and refinement of judgment. +Man seeks after the causes which lead to this uncertainty. It works +simply an increase of that feeling of resistance which grows up in the +masses; it permits hate and envy to rise threateningly. Here, then, is +the ground on which the revolutionary passions, hate, envy, +insubordination, grow in the modern proletariat: peculiar forms of +misery, the contrast of this wretchedness with the glitter of the +bread-masters, the uncertainty of existence, supposed to arise out of +the forms of organisation of economic life. + +In order now to be able to understand how these growths have pressed +forward into the peculiar manifestations which characterise the modern +social movement, we must realise that the masses which we have learned +to know in the position thus described have been developed as if by +magic, have not slowly grown into this condition. It is as if earlier +history had been completely effaced for millions of men. For, as the +presupposition of capitalism is combination in large operations, there +is involved in this also the accumulation of masses of men in cities +and centres of industry. This massing, however, means nothing other +than this, that completely incoherent, amorphous crowds of men out of +the most widely separated regions of the land are thrown together at +one point, and that upon them the demand is made "Live!" This involves +a complete break with the past, a tearing apart of all ties of home, +village, family, custom. It means as well the overthrow of all the +earlier ideals of these homeless, possessionless, and coherentless +masses. This is a matter which is often underestimated. We forget that +it is an entirely new life which the hordes of the modern proletariat +have to begin. But what kind of a life is it? In its characteristics I +find as many points of explanation for the positive construction of +the proletarian world of ideas as for the destruction of all that has +heretofore been dear and precious to man. I mean, the socialistic +ideals of communal life and work must of necessity spring out of the +industrial centres and the resorts of the working-men in the great +cities. In the tenement-houses, the huge manufactories, the public +houses for meetings and for pleasures, the individual proletarian, as +if forsaken by God and man, finds himself with his companions in +misery again together, as members of a new and gigantic organism. Here +are new societies forming, and these new communities bear the +communistic stamp, because of modern methods of work. And they +develop, grow, establish themselves in the mass of men, in proportion +as the charm of separate existence fades from the individual; the more +dreary the attic room in the suburb of the city, the more attractive +is the new social centre in which the outcast finds himself again +treated as a man. The individual disappears, the companion emerges. A +uniform class consciousness matures itself, also the habit of communal +work and pleasure. So much for the psychology of the proletariat. + +In order now to gain a full understanding of the modern social +movement, let us look at its general time environment. Also here +merely a remark or two must suffice. Perhaps this phrase will +sufficiently describe the modern period: there is in it conspicuously +an exuberance of life, as I think in no earlier period. A stream of +vigorous life flows through modern society as at no earlier time; and +for this reason a quickness of contact between all the individual +members of a society is made possible now as never heretofore. This +has been accomplished by the modern means of transportation which +capitalism has created for us. The possibility in these days of +informing oneself in a few hours concerning the occurrences throughout +a great country by means of telegraph, telephone, newspaper, and the +possibility of throwing great masses of men from one place to another +by modern means of transportation, have produced a condition of +solidarity throughout great groups of men, a sense of omnipresence, +which was unknown in all earlier times. Particularly is this true in +the large cities of these days. The ease of movement of masses has +grown enormously. And in like manner has that grown which we are +accustomed to call education--knowledge, and with knowledge demands. + +With this vigour of life, however, is most closely united that which I +would call the nervosity of modern times, an unsteadiness, haste, +insecurity of existence. Because of the distinctive character of +economic relations, this trace of unrest and haste has forced itself +into all branches not only of economic but as well of social life. The +age of free competition has stamped itself upon all spheres of life. +Every man strives with others, no one feels himself sure, no one is +contented with his condition. The beauty and calm of rest are gone. + +One thing more. I will call it "revolutionism," and I mean by that +term the fact that never has there been another time, like ours, of +such entire change in all the conditions of life. All is in +flux--economics, science, art, morals, religion. All ideas on these +matters are in such a process of change that we are impelled to the +delusion that there is nothing now certain. And this is perhaps one of +the most important considerations for the explanation of the real +meaning of modern social agitation. It explains in two ways. In it we +see the reason for that destructive criticism of all that exists, +which allows nothing as good, which throws away all earlier faith as +old iron in order to enter with new material upon the market. Also, it +explains the fanatical belief in the feasibility of the desired future +state. Since so much has already changed, since such wonders, for +which no one has dared to hope, have been realised before our very +eyes, why not more? Why not all that man wishes? Thus the +revolutionism of the present becomes fertile soil for the Utopia of +the future. Edison and Siemens are the spiritual fathers of Bellamy +and Bebel. + +These seem to me the essential conditions under which a social +movement has developed itself in this later time: the peculiar +existence of the proletariat; the specific misery, contrast, +uncertainty, springing from the modern economic system; a +reorganisation of all forms of life, through the tearing apart of +earlier relations and the upbuilding of entirely new social forms upon +a communistic basis, and of new consolidations in the great cities and +operations; finally, the peculiar spirit of the time in which the +social movement exhibits itself, intensity of life, nervosity, +revolutionism. + +Now let us consider this social movement itself, in theory and +practice. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CONCERNING UTOPIAN SOCIALISM + + "Rarely do we reach truth except through extremes--we must have + foolishness ... even to exhaustion, before we arrive at the + beautiful goal of calm wisdom." + + SCHILLER, _Philosophical Letters_, Preamble. + + +It would be strange if such a mighty revolution in economic and social +matters as I have sketched for you should not have found its +reflection in the minds of thinking men. It would be wonderful, I +think, if with this overturning of social institutions a revolution of +social thought, science, and faith should not follow. We find in fact +that parallel with this revolution in life fundamental changes have +taken place in the sphere of social thought. By the side of the old +social literature a new set of writings arises. The former belongs to +the end of the previous and the beginning of the present century; it +is that which we are accustomed to call the classic political economy; +it is that which, after a development of about one hundred and fifty +to two hundred years, found the highest theoretical expression of the +capitalistic economic system through the great political economists +Adam Smith and David Ricardo. By the side of this literature, devoted +to the capitalistic view of economics, now grows a new school of +writings which has this general characteristic, that it is +anti-capitalistic; that is, it places itself in conscious opposition +to the capitalistic school of economics and considers the advocacy of +this opposition as its peculiar task. + +In accordance with the undeveloped condition of such economic thought +it is, of course, a medley of explanations and claims as to what is +and what should be, wherein the new literature expresses its +opposition. All undeveloped literature begins in this tumultuous way, +just as all unschooled minds at first slowly learn to distinguish +between what is and what should be. And indeed in the immaturity of +this new literature the practical element predominates greatly, as may +readily be understood; there is a desire to justify theoretically the +agitation, the new postulates, the new ideals. + +For this reason, if we would see this literature in its full relations +and distinguish its various _nuances_ (delicate differences), it will +be convenient to choose as distinguishing marks the differing uses of +the new "Thou shalt." Thus we recognise in general two groups in this +new literature, the reformatory and the revolutionary. The latter word +is not used in its ordinary meaning, but in that which I shall +immediately define. The reformatory and the revolutionary literature +divide on this point, that the reformatory recognises in principle the +existing economic system of capitalism, and attempts upon the basis of +this economy to introduce changes and improvements, which are, +however, subordinate, incidental, not essential; also and especially, +that the fundamental features of social order are retained, but that +man desires to see his fellow-man changed in thought and feeling. A +new spirit obtains, repentance is proclaimed, the good qualities of +human nature win the upper hand--brotherly love, charity, +conciliation. + +This reformatory agitation that recognises the injury and evil of +social life, but that with essential adhesion to the dominant economic +system desires to mitigate the injury and to overcome or minimise the +evil, has different ways of expression. It is a Christian, or an +ethical, or a philanthropic impulse which calls forth the new +literature and controls the writings that make for social reform. + +The Christian thought is that which, in application to the social +world, creates that trend of literature which we are accustomed +incorrectly to designate under the phrase "Christian socialism." Of +this are the writings of Lamennais in France, Kingsley in England, +which, filled with the spirit of the Bible, address to employer and +employe alike the demand--Out with the spirit of mammon from your +souls, fill your hearts with the spirit of the gospel, the "new +spirit," as they constantly call it. And quite similarly sound the +voices of those earlier "ethical" economists, Sismondi, Thomas Carlyle, +who do not become tired of preaching, if not the "Christian," at least +the "social" spirit. Change of heart is their watchword. The third +drift of thought, which I call the philanthropic, directs itself rather +towards the emotions than towards the sense of duty or the religious +element in man. Pierre Leroux in France, Gruen and Hess in Germany, are +men who, filled with a great, overpowering love for mankind, desire to +heal the wounds which their sympathetic hearts behold, who would +overwhelm the misery which they see by this universal love of man. +"Love one another as men, as brothers!" is the theme of their +preaching. All these three streams of thought, merely the sources of +which I have specified, continue influential to the present day; and +all of them have this in common, that they hold fast in principle to +the foundations of the existing social order--therefore I call them +reformatory. Opposed to them appears another class of literature, the +"revolutionary"; so called because its great principle is the doing +away with the foundations of capitalistic economy, and the substituting +something different. This it proposes to do in two different ways,--if +I may express my meaning in two words,--backwards and forwards. + +At the very time when economic contradictions develop themselves and +new phases of anti-capitalistic literature come to the surface, we +find a revolutionary anti-capitalistic literature strongly asserting +itself, which demands a retrogression from the existing system of +economics. Such are the writings of Adam Mueller and Leopold von Haller +in the first third of our century, men who would change the bases on +which the modern capitalistic economy is founded by introducing the +crumbled feudalistic guild system of the middle ages in place of the +middle-class capitalistic system of to-day. These are indeed +manifestations which have not as yet reached their end. + +Besides these reactionary manifestations, there is another movement +which does not want this regression to old forms, but in the same way +demands an overthrow of the principles of the existing capitalistic +system. But this change must be under the influence of those modern +advanced ideas which, especially on the technical side, betoken that +which we are accustomed to call "progress." Systems, that is, +theories, they are which hold fast to an historic essence of +capitalistic methods of production--that it is built upon the basis of +modern production in the mass; but which, under the influence of +advanced ideas, call for a new order of production and distribution in +the interests of those classes of the people which under the +capitalistic economy seem to come short--thus essentially in the +interests of the great masses of the proletariat. The theorists who +desire such a development of the capitalistic economy in the interests +of the proletariat, while upholding methods of production on a large +scale, are the ones whom we must call socialists in the true meaning +of the word. And we have now to do with a strange species of these +socialists, with those whom we are accustomed to call utopists or +utopian socialists. The typical representatives of these utopian +socialists are St. Simon and Charles Fourier in France, and Robert +Owen in England. Of these, the most conspicuous are the two Frenchmen; +their systems are most frequently presented. Owen is less known. As I +now attempt to make clear to you, through him, the essence of utopian +socialism, it is because he is less known, but especially because in +my opinion he is the most interesting of the three great utopists. It +is he who on the one side most clearly shows to us the genesis of the +modern proletarian ideal, and on the other side has been of greatest +influence upon other socialistic theorists, especially upon Karl Marx +and Friedrich Engels. + +Robert Owen was a manufacturer. We find him at the age of twenty years +already the manager of a great cotton-mill. Soon after he established +a mill at Lanark. Here he learned practical life by personal +experience. We distinguish two periods in his life. In the first he +is what we may call an educationalist, a man who interests himself +especially in the education of youth and expects through it an +essential reformation of human society. The chief work of this epoch +is the book _A New View of Society_. In the second period he is a +socialist; and his most important work is _A Book of the New Moral +World_. Owen really interests us in this second period, as a +socialist. What does he thus teach? And what is the essence of this +first form of utopian socialism? + +Robert Owen takes as the starting-point for his theorising the +investigations which he made in his immediate surroundings. He +pictures to us the state of affairs in connection with his own +manufactories; how the workers, especially the women and children, +degenerated, physically, intellectually and morally. He begins also +with a recognition of the evils which distinguish the modern +capitalistic system; his starting-point is proletarian. Upon these +investigations of his own he now builds a social-philosophic system +which is not unknown to one who has studied the social philosophy of +the eighteenth century. Owen's social philosophy is essentially +characterised by this, that he believes in man as good by nature, and +in an order of communal life which would in like manner be naturally +good if only these men were brought into proper relations with each +other--faith in the so-called _ordre naturel_, in a natural order of +things which has possibly existed somewhere, but which in any case +would exist, were it not that artificial hindrances stand in the way, +evils which make it impossible for man to live in this natural way +with others. These evils, these forces, which stand in the way of the +accomplishment of a natural communal life, Robert Owen sees of two +kinds: one in the faulty education of men, the other in the defective +environment in which modern man lives--the evils of a rich _milieu_. +He infers logically, if we would again realise that natural and +beautiful condition of harmonious communal life, that _ordre naturel_, +both these evils must be driven out of the world. He demands, +therefore, better education on the one side, a better environment upon +the other. In these two postulates we find side by side the two +periods of his development as we have heretofore seen them. In the +first he lays stress rather upon education; in the second, rather upon +change of environment. He recognises, further--and this is perhaps +the particular service rendered by Owen to socialistic theory--that +these evil conditions, on the overcoming of which all depends, have +not been provided by nature, but have grown out of a definite system +of social order, which he believes to be the capitalistic. In the +capitalistic economy he sees nothing of that natural law which the +representatives of the classical economies assert; but an order of +society created by man. Even his opponents believed in the _ordre +naturel_, only they thought that it was realised; Owen did not. Much +more, Owen was compelled to demand the overthrow of this economic +system in order that his goal might be reached, that man might be able +to enjoy a better development and a better environment. For this +reason he demanded that the artificial economic system should undergo +essential changes, especially in two points, the main pillars upon +which the economic system is built. Owen repudiated the competition of +the individual and the profit-making of the master. + +If this be allowed, the further practical arrangements which Owen +demanded must in like manner be granted: in place of individualism, +socialism must stand. In this way private operation will be replaced +by communal production, and competition will be in fact overthrown; +also, the profit of the employer will flow into the pockets of the +producers, the members of the social organisation. These ideas of +socialistic production grew, for Owen, spontaneously out of the +capitalistic system in which he lived. + +Here we come directly to the attitude of spirit in which Robert Owen +has conceived his socialistic system, and it is necessary for the +completion of this sketch to make reference especially to the means +which Owen would use to reach his goal. These means are essentially a +universal understanding and agreement among men; to them the truth and +beauty of this new order should be preached, so that the wish may be +aroused in them to accomplish this new order. But Owen does not think +of the possibility that, when it is once made clear how wonderful this +new order would be and how wonderfully men would live therein, men +would not wish for the new order, and even if they did wish for it, +that they might not be able to accomplish it. Only let the matter be +known, then the wish and the ability will follow. For this reason, it +is possible that the new order may enter at any moment; "as a thief +in the night," Owen expresses it, socialism can come over the world. +Only intellectual perception is necessary, and this can illumine the +mind of man suddenly as a lightning flash. This peculiar conception of +the means and ways that lead to the goal is one of the characteristic +traits which distinguish the system of Owen, and in like manner of all +utopian socialists. + +If we look at this system as a whole, we find as the starting-point a +criticism of existing social circumstances in a proletarian community. +We find, further, as the basis upon which the system stands, the +social philosophy of the eighteenth century. We see, as its demands, +the overthrow of the capitalistic economy and the replacing of private +production by communal operation. We find, finally, as the means for +accomplishing this, as the roadway that leads to the object desired, +the enlightenment of mankind. How he then exerted himself to carry out +his plans in detail, how he created a New Lanark, and how his plans +were entirely frustrated--all that interests us now as little as does +the fact that Owen reached large practical results, in the shortening +of the hours of labor and in the limitation of work by women and +children, through improvement and amelioration of work in his +manufactories, in which a new race began to rise in intellectual and +moral freshness. Just so little are we interested in the fact that he +is the father of English trade-union agitation. We would only look at +his significance for the social movement, and this lies especially in +the fact that he first, at least in outline, created that which since +has become the proletarian ideal. For this point must be made clear to +us, that all the germs of later socialism are contained in Owen's +system. + +If I now, after having sketched the fundamental ideas of Owen's +system, may attempt to condense the essence of the so-called utopian +socialism into a few sentences, I would specify this as essential: +Owen and the others are primarily socialists because their +starting-point is proletarian criticism. They draw this immediately +out of spheres in which capitalism asserts itself, out of the +manufactory as Owen, out of the counting-house as Fourier. They are, +further, socialists for this reason, not only that their +starting-point is proletarian, but also because their object is +socialistic in the sense that it would put joint enterprise in the +place of private operation; that is, a new economic order which does +not longer provide for private operation and the sharing of the profit +between master and workman, but is based upon communal effort, without +competition and without employer. But why, we ask ourselves, are they +called socialistic utopists? And how are they to be distinguished from +those theorists whom we shall learn to call scientific socialists? +Owen, St. Simon, and Fourier are to be called utopists for the reason +that they do not recognise the real factors of socialism; they are the +true and legitimate children of the naive and idealistic eighteenth +century, which we, with right, call the century of intellectual +enlightenment. + +I have already showed to you how this belief in enlightenment, in the +power of the knowledge of good, predominates in Owen's system. In this +lies essentially its utopianism, because those are looked upon as +effective and impelling factors which do not in fact constitute social +life and the real world. Thus this belief mistakes doubly: it contains +a false judgment of present and past, and it deceives itself +concerning the prospects of the future. So far as his followers +assume that the present order of things is nothing other than a +mistake, that only for this reason men find themselves in their +present position, that misery rules in the world only because man has +not known thus far how to make it better--that is false. The utopists +fail to see, in their optimism, that a part of this society looks upon +the _status quo_ as thoroughly satisfactory and desires no change, +that this part also has an interest in sustaining it, and that a +specific condition of society always obtains because those persons who +are interested in it have the power to sustain it. All social order is +nothing other than the temporary expression of a balance of power +between the various classes of society. Now judge for yourselves what +mistaken estimate of the true world, what boundless underestimate of +opposing forces, lie in the belief that those who have power can be +moved to a surrender of their position through preaching and promise. + +As the utopists underestimate the power of their opponents, so they +overestimate their own strength, and thus become utopists as to the +future. They are pervaded by the strong conviction that there is +needed only an energetic, hearty resolution in order to bring to +reality the kingdom of the future. They rate too highly the ability +of the men who will constitute the future society. They forget, or +they do not know, that in a long process of reconstruction men and +things must first be created in order to make the new social order +possible. + +For the practical working of the social movement, the most interesting +conclusion which the utopists draw logically out of this conception is +the kind of tactics which they recommend for reaching the new +condition. From what has been said it follows necessarily that this +strategy must culminate in an appeal to men collectively. It will not +be accomplished by a specific and interested class; but it expects +from all men that, when the matter is rightly explained, they will +wish for the good. Indeed, it is assumed that it is only ignorance on +the part of the opponent that keeps him from accepting openly and +freely this good, from divesting himself of his possessions and +exchanging the old order for the new. The characteristic example of +this childish way of viewing things is the well-known fact that +Charles Fourier daily waited at his home, between the hours of twelve +and one, to receive the millionaire who should bring to him money for +the erection of the first phalanstery. No one came. + +In closest connection with this belief in the willingness of the +ruling classes to make concessions stands the disinclination to all +use of force, to all demand and command. Thus we find, as the simple +thought in the tactics of the utopists, the repudiation of class +strife and political effort. For how can this be brought into harmony +with their main idea? How can anything that is to be accomplished by +intellectual illumination, or at most by example, be achieved through +strife? It is unthinkable. So, just as utopian socialism rejects +political exertion, it also stands opposed to all those efforts which +we are accustomed to call the economic agitation of the workman, such +as trade-unions and the like. It is the same thought: how shall the +organisation of working-men for strife tend to the improvement of the +condition of work, when this can come only through the preaching of +the new gospel? Robert Owen indeed organised in England trade-unions. +But their work was really the propagation of his socialistic theories, +not painful struggle against capitalism. Rejection of class strife in +the sphere of politics as of economic agitation, repudiation of this +in speech and writing and example--herein culminate the tactics of the +utopian socialists. This, as I have attempted to show to you, is the +necessary outcome of their system, built upon beautiful but narrow +lines. + +As we now take leave of utopian socialism we must guard ourselves from +the thought that the spirit of this great historic influence has fully +disappeared from the world. No! no day passes without the +reappearance, in some book or speech, of these fundamental thoughts +which we have recognised as the essence of utopian socialism. +Especially in the circles of the well inclined middle-class social +politicians does this spirit live to-day; but even in the proletariat +itself it is not by any means dead. We shall see how it is revived +later, in connection with revolutionary thought. For this reason a +more than merely historic interest invests this particular line of +thought. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT + + "The great, dumb, deep-buried class lies like an Enceladus, who + in his pain, if he will complain of it, has to produce + earthquakes."--THOMAS CARLYLE, "Chartism," ix. (_Essays._ + Edition, Chapman and Hall, vi., 169). + + +The question which now rests upon the lips of you all, since I have +indicated the lines of thought of the first socialists, is this: When +such noble minds drew the plan of a new and better world for their +suffering brethren, where was the proletariat itself, and what did it +do? What are the beginnings of the social movement which is carried on +by the masses? + +The answer must be that long, very long, after much had been thought +and written concerning the condition and future of the proletariat +this element of the population yet remained completely untouched by +these new ideas, knew nothing of them, cared nothing for them; it +permitted itself to be controlled by other forces, other motives. The +systems of St. Simon, Fourier, Owen, have had little or no influence +with the masses. + +As we turn to the proletariat itself and ask after its fate,--perhaps +up to the middle of our century,--we find a precursor of the social +movement which everywhere--that is, in all lands controlled by the +capitalistic economy--exhibits the same marks and is uniformly +characterised in the following way: where the movement of the masses +stands out clearly and conscious of its aim, it is not proletarian; +where it is proletarian, it is not clear and conscious of its aim. +That means, in the conscious movement in which the proletariat is +found engaged, middle-class elements direct as to the object sought: +where the proletariat undertakes to be independent, it shows all the +immaturity of the formative stages of a social class, mere instincts, +no clearly defined postulates and aims. + +Those historic occurrences in which the proletariat played a role, +although they were not proletarian movements, are the well-known +revolutions which we connect with the years 1789, 1793, 1830, 1832, +1848--for I must go back into the previous century for the inner +connection. We have here movements which are essentially middle-class; +in them political liberties are sought, and, so far as the proletarian +elements are concerned, the masses fight the battles of the middle +classes, like the common soldiers who fought in feudal armies. This +fact, that we here have to do with purely middle-class movements, has +so often been mistaken by many celebrated historians, the terms +"communism" and "socialism" have been so constantly applied to those +agitations, that it is well worth our while to show the incorrectness +of this assumption. For this purpose, we must look separately at those +movements which are connected with the years thus specified, since +each one has its own characteristics. + +If we present to ourselves first the real meaning of the movements of +1789 and 1793, the great French Revolution, it is clear even to those +of limited vision that the revolution of 1789 was purely a +middle-class movement, and indeed carried on by the higher part of the +middle-class. It is the struggle of the upper middle-class for the +recognition of its rights, and for relief from the privileges of the +ruling class of society--from the fetters in which it had been held by +feudal powers. It expresses this struggle in demands for equality and +freedom, but it really means from the very start a limited equality +and freedom. Look at the first, trenchant, we may call them social, +laws which were passed by the new regime of France. They are by no +means of a popular character, or partial to the working-man; we see at +the first look that they were not made by the masses for the masses, +but by an aristocratic middle-class, which places itself in sharp +opposition to the rabble. Thus the well-known _Loi martiale_ of +October 20, 1789, a riot act, gives expression to this distinction as +it speaks of the "_bons citoyens_" who must be protected by stern +police regulation against the attacks of the _gens mal intentiones_; +"when the mob does not disperse on warning, then the armed forces +shall fire." They would so control the caprices of the masses that not +a second time should a dagger find its way into the breast of an +honourable baker, when the populace without authority would +appropriate to itself the bread in the bakeries. + +I think of a second important law, born out of the doctrinaire +middle-class spirit of these first years; the "Coalitions Law" of June +17, 1791. It punishes every combination of tradesworkers for the +furtherance of their "alleged" common interests, as an attempt upon +the freedom and rights of man, by a fine of five hundred livres and +the loss of citizenship for a year. This applies equally to the +employer and the working-man, we may better say the master and the +journeyman; but we all know what crying injustice this equality has +produced. + +Then comes the first consolidation of the new society, the +Constitution of November 3, 1791, which, through the introduction, of +limited franchise, brings to sharp and clear expression the separation +between a ruling class of those well-to-do and a ruled class of the +"have-nothings." There are now "full citizens" and citizens of the +second class. + +Thus it is clear that the revolution of 1789 was not at all a +proletarian movement. There may seem to be some doubt concerning the +agitation of 1793, for it is this, before all others, which our great +historians, as Sybel, like to specify as "communistic." The men of +Montaigne are, in their eyes, the predecessors of the social +democracy; and, indeed, quite lately in a small book published by the +Berlin Professor H. Delbrueck in the Goettingen library for +working-men, exactly this assertion is presented--that the leaders of +this social movement were true social democrats, and that in fact the +social democracy has developed no new thoughts since Saint Just and +Robespierre. I cannot recognise this assertion as correct. Let us test +it. + +I assert that even the movement of 1793 was essentially +non-proletarian. We grant that in it an undercurrent of democracy +breaks forth, which the French Revolution always had; and it is this +which has misled many. This was there from the beginning. It expressed +itself already in 1789, in the elections to the States-General, and +comes finally in 1793 to its full development. + +As you read through the _Cahiers_ with their _Doleances_ of the year +1789, those "papers of grievances" which the electors, especially +those of Paris and Lyons, were accustomed to hand to their +representatives, you find therein already a peculiar tone which does +not harmonise with the honeyed expressions of the men of the "tennis +court." These demands were connected with the ruling hard times, for +the winter of 1789 had been severe; and they complained because misery +could not be lessened by a free constitution. "The voice of freedom +means nothing to the heart of a miserable man who is dying of hunger." +Already they demanded bread taxes and employment, the overthrow of +Sunday rest and of feast-days. Everyone knows how this cry arises +again and again in the speeches and writings of Marat. The _Ami du +Peuple_ declaims against the "aristocrats," and desires to serve the +"people." They found out that, for the great masses of the "poor," +freedom and equality availed nothing; and Marat thus concludes: +"Equality of rights leads to equality of enjoyment, and only upon this +basis can the idea rest quietly." Then come the taxes; the "maximum" +comes. But I ask you, does that make this movement a proletarian and +social one? Can it be that at all? Let us look merely at its +supporters! The chief centres of democratic undercurrent are, as has +been said, Lyons and Paris. In Lyons we find, indeed, a proletariat, +that of the silk industry. We have the statistics of the year 1789; at +that time there were, in the Lyons silk industry, 410 _maitres +marchands fabricants_, 4402 _maitres ouvriers_, 1796 _compagnons_, and +about 40,000 other workers of both sexes. We must allow that here, +without doubt, there are indeed strong proletarian interests and +instincts; yet they are veiled by the peculiar character of the Lyons +silk industry. It had at that time, and has even to-day, a strong +hold upon the lower middle-class, and to a degree upon the upper +middle-class, for two reasons. One, due to its peculiar organisation, +the fact that this work was not carried on in large manufactories but +in small workshops under the direction of independent masters, and +that this created a class of independent men, between the capitalist +and the worker, hard to move to concerted action with the proletariat. +A second reason is this, that the Lyons silk industry is a manufacture +of an article of luxury. Such industries are in their very nature, +even in the earlier times, anti-revolutionary; the men of Montaigne +would not use silk stockings. For this reason we find Lyons, +naturally, after the first enthusiasm is over, by the side of the +_Vendee_ at the head of the counter-revolution, even at the beginning +of the year 1790. In general, as Lyons becomes anti-revolutionary the +faubourgs of Paris come to the foreground; out of them new masses +spring forward, the Sans-culottes. But what kind of people are they? +Certainly there are wage-workers among them. But the majority were of +a better class; there are traces of the trades out of which they had +come or to which they yet belonged. The real mass of the +Sans-culottes was not made out of wage-workers. It was rather the +Parisian lower middle-class; it was, first, the guild-excluded master +mechanics who dwelt in the Faubourg St. Antoine and Du Temple; +secondly, the journeymen; thirdly, that element which the French call +_la boutique_, retailers, tavern-keepers, etc., an important category. +These, then, are the great hordes who clustered around Danton, +Robespierre, and Marat. And what of these leaders themselves? Of what +spirit are they children? They are, essentially, of the lower +middle-class by birth. They are extreme radicals, extreme +individualists. They are in their ideals and aims entirely unsocial +and unproletarian according to our ideas to-day. The Constitution of +1793, in Article II., proclaims as _Droits de l'Homme: Egalite, +Liberte, Surete, Propriete_. That is not proletarian and is not +socialistic; thus all the assertions of a communistic movement at that +time are thrown out. I have dwelt thus long on this revolution of 1793 +in order to show how premature it is to speak of social democrats and +of a social or proletarian movement wherever there is any outcry and +disturbance. + +I can but briefly touch upon other movements of this early history. +The insurrection of Babeuf, 1796, bore certainly the communistic +stamp; but, as we now know, it was without any response from the +masses, who were finally tired of revolution. + +Conspicuously of the upper middle-class were the July revolution of +1830 in France and the agitation of 1848 in Germany. In both cases we +see citizenship in strife with feudal forces. Less clearly appears the +civic character of the revolution of 1832 in England, and of the +February revolution of 1848 in France, because these agitations were +directed against forms of government sustained by citizens themselves. +Yet even these movements, of 1832 in England and the February +revolution in France, are not proletarian; they are rather the +struggle of a part of the middle-class, the radicals, against another +part, the _Haute finance_. This very opposition is now to be found +again in Italy in the struggle of the North Italian industries against +the rotten, half-feudal _Haute finance_ which Crispi represents. + +These are the agitations of our century which have been definite and +conscious of their aim. In all of them the proletariat has been +involved, behind all the barricades from 1789 to 1848 lie proletarian +bodies; but of all those movements of which I have thus told you, not +a single one is proletarian, or in our sense a social movement. + +Where now the proletariat fights for itself and represents its own +interests we discern at first mere muttered, inarticulate sounds; and +it takes long for these tones to rise to cries, for these cries to +grow to general demands, and to become crystallised into programmes. +The first proletarian agitations--movements of the unhappy, deeply +buried mass--are, according to Carlyle's word, like the movements of +Enceladus, who as he quivers in his pain causes an earthquake. These +are movements of an entirely instinctive kind, claiming that which +lies next, and attacking that which seems to them evidently to stand +in the way. These are deeds which originally and largely assume the +form of robbery and plunder. They have as their object to injure in +some way the enemy in his power of possession. In England towards the +close of the preceding and the beginning of the present century there +was much destruction and plundering of manufactories. In the year 1812 +the demolition of factories was punished in England with death, the +best proof of the frequency of the fact. In other lands we have +similar occurrences. I think of the factory-burning in Uster in +Switzerland in the year 1832, of the weavers' riots in Germany in +1840, of the Lyons silk-weavers' insurrection in France in 1831. This +last distinguishes itself from previous events of a similar character +by the fact that it assumes as its great motive the motto which indeed +we can think of as written over the portal of the proletarian +movement: _Vivre en travaillant, ou mourir en combattant!_ That is the +first timid formulation of proletarian struggle, because the +battle-cry is negatively and positively an expression of true +proletarian-socialistic effort: negatively--no one shall live who does +not work; positively--those who work shall be able to live. Thus this +is the first development of proletarian agitation: attack upon the +external and visible forms in which the opponent is incorporated--upon +the manufactories and machines because in their coming lies +competition with hand-work, upon the dwellings of the employers which +appear as the citadels of the new dictators. + +It is a step in advance when, in place of the immediate and visible +object, there come into view the principles which lie behind these +things, upon which the capitalistic system of economy rests--free +competition in production. It is therefore advance in proletarian +agitation as this begins to direct itself to the abolition of modern +institutions. Thus the proletariat in England, towards the end of the +previous and the beginning of the present century, struggled long for +a revival of the Elizabethan trade law. This had specified that every +master should have only one apprentice for three workmen. The time of +apprenticeship should also be limited to seven years, the wages should +be settled by a justice of the peace. This is an instinctive clutching +after a protective barrier which seems to be disappearing. Even this +is not at first clear; but essentially we find this trait common to +all the antecedents of proletarianism, that the movements hold fast to +what was in the good old times. Thus, for example, in Germany, the +working-man's agitation of 1848 was largely an attempt to reintroduce +the old guild system. But it all belongs to the antecedent history of +the social movement, because there was no definite aim before the +proletariat. + +Also to this antecedent history belongs that great and well known +movement, frequently specified as the first typical, +socialistic-proletarian agitation; I mean the Chartist movement in +England in 1837-1848. This differs from the brief outbreakings of the +masses which we have just now specified in that it was carried on +systematically for more than a decade, and it seems to us like a well +organised movement. Without doubt it is a true proletarian agitation: +if you wish so to call it, the first organised proletarian movement. It +is proletarian because the great masses of the Chartists were of the +labouring class; also, because its demands grew immediately out of the +condition of the proletariat, and it exerted itself immediately for a +material betterment of the oppressed factory-hands. Thus at that time +the maximum day's work was presented as a demand; also, let me remind +you of the celebrated phrase of the Rev. Mr. Stephens, who cried out to +the masses: "The question which concerns us here is only one of knife +and fork!" The Chartist movement is also proletarian because in it the +antagonism between labour and capital arises often and sharply. The +"government," the "ruling class," is identified with the capitalist. +This finds expression in a genuine hate against employers which at +that time possessed the masses and became a battle-cry. O'Connor's +word, "Down with the wretches who drink the blood of our children, take +pleasure in the misery of our wives, and become satiated by our sweat!" +reminds us of the phraseology of the proletarian assemblages of the +present day. Further, the demand for the right to work is thoroughly +proletarian; so also the right to a full profit from the work, to the +"increase" which flows into the pockets of the employer. A symptom of +the proletarian character of the Chartist movement is seen in its +growing indifference to political questions that do not immediately +concern it; as, for example, concerning the abolition of the corn tax. +It is interesting to see how gradually the Chartist movement became +indifferent towards the most pressing interests of the middle-class; +these, though originally included, were finally and completely thrown +overboard. Also, in the form of the struggle we find the proletarian +character. Thus, at that time the general strike appears as a means of +warfare, an idea that can rise only in a true proletarian movement. So +without doubt, for these and other reasons, we have in Chartism a +proletarian agitation. But I place it in the antecedent history, +because I miss in it the clear programme of the proletarian-social +movement, a clearly defined aim towards which it works. The only +programme of the Chartist movement is the charter, which contains no +true socialistic postulates, but only a collection of parliamentary +reforms. It is nothing other than a platform upon which a man stands +because he knows nothing better; a programme that had been taken up by +the radical middle-class democracy. It is O'Connell who transferred it +to the proletariat: "universal suffrage, secret ballot, equal +representation, payment for members of parliaments, no property +qualifications for representatives, annual parliaments." Therefore, +though the kernel of the Chartist movement seems to be proletarian and +though the spirit which rules it is proletarian, it must be +distinguished from later definite proletarian socialistic movements on +account of the uncertainty of its platform. I speak thus emphatically, +because frequently, even by such a distinguished student of English +history as Brentano, the Chartist is classed with the German social +democrat. This conception holds too largely to the external form, +which has similarity in both cases so far as these movements aspire +after political power; but it is the inner character which is the +determining feature of a social movement. + +What characterises the antecedent history of the social movement +everywhere is, as I have already said, its invariable similarity. +Those agitations and exertions which I have specified as +characteristic of the earlier history are invariably similar in every +land, wherever we can speak of a social movement. But on the very +threshold, in the passage from antecedent to present history, the +differences in the social movements begin to become apparent. Unity at +the beginning; diversity as the movement develops. + +I distinguish three types; and for greater simplicity I call them the +English, the French, and the German type. Under the English type of +the working-man's movement I understand that agitation which has +essentially an un-political, purely trade character. As the type of +the French movement let me specify that which I call "revolutionism" +or "Putschism," a kind of conspiracy coupled with street fights. And +as the German type I would specify the lawful parliamentary-political +working-man's agitation. + +These are the three different forms in which the social movement now +grows. In them all the living germs, which in general the social +movement contains, unfold themselves to independent life, develop the +peculiar and differing principles of this agitation. We shall see +later that, after the different nations have developed their +peculiarities, the social movement has a tendency again to greater +uniformity. + + * * * * * + +Before we attempt to make clear these differences of national +characteristics, it is perhaps well to settle a point which is +decisive for a right understanding of the matter in general. I mean +the main position which we as scientific observers should assume +concerning this diversity of social movement. It is usual, as the +variations of the movement are presented, to make a distinction +between that which is called the healthy and normal on the one side, +and the morbid movement on the other. Further, this distinction is +usually identified with the difference between the movement in England +and that upon the Continent. The English agitation, which is +essentially a trade-union movement, they like to speak of as normal +and proper; the Continental, which is rather political, as abnormal +and improper. How shall we stand on this question? I believe that, in +this discrimination and judgment, there is a twofold error, one of +method and one of fact. When science pronounces any such judgment, +entering into the realm of human history, that is in my opinion an +overstepping of the bounds which a scientific man should place about +himself. There is presented as objective knowledge a something that is +purely subjective and merely the strong private opinion of an +interested person--quite regardless of the fact that, as Hegel once +expressed it, science always comes too late to teach a man how the +world should be. So there lies here what I call a mistake of method. +But this manner of looking at the matter involves also a mistake of +fact, in that what it specifies as the normal tendency is the most +abnormal that has ever existed, because the English social agitation +could have become what it is only through a succession of unusual +circumstances. For if we take the normal progress of modern +capitalistic development as the objective standard of measurement, +and in fact that is the only one which is of avail, then we would have +much more right to say that the Continental movement is the normal, +and the English the abnormal. I think, however, that it is more +scientific to put aside the distinction between the normal and the +abnormal, and to attempt rather to trace the causes for the different +phases of the social movement in different lands. That at least shall +be my attempt in what follows--to call attention to the variations of +social movement, and to explain the reason for these variations in +certain lands. + +But what does it mean to "explain" these matters? Here also there is +needed a word of definition, because in this, alas how often, we fail. +Of course at this point we can say but little. To "explain" social +occurrences means, naturally, to uncover the sources out of which they +have sprung. It becomes necessary to trace these sources. And here we +must not allow ourselves to become unrealistic, as is too often the +case. I call any explanation of a social phenomenon unrealistic, which +derives the fact superficially from the idealistic and altruistic +motives of the persons involved, and which underestimates as +impelling forces the preponderant interests of economic life, and +which believes in miracles in the social world. + +Thus, to make my point clear by an illustration, I hold that the usual +explanation of the social development in England is unrealistic, that +it cannot claim reality. According to this outline, matters in England +have developed somewhat as follows: after the proletariat for some +decades, and finally in the Chartist movement, had conducted itself in +an unruly way in struggling for its interests, about the middle of +this century it suddenly became polite, reconciled itself to the +dominant economic order, and made peace with employers, who at the +same time had become better men. All this occurred because a new +spirit had come into man, a revolution of thought had occurred, a +change from the individualistic and utilitarian view of things to a +social conception of society and of the position and obligation of the +individuals in it. The promoters and teachers of this new spirit are +supposed to be, before all, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) and the +Christian socialists Maurice, Kingsley, Ludlow, and others. Carlyle's +teaching culminates in sentences like these: The evils which have +broken out over Europe--the French Revolution!--Chartism!--rest upon +this, that the spirit of evil rules; mammonism, selfishness, +forgetfulness of obligation. This spirit must be reformed; faith +instead of scepticism, idealism instead of mammonism, self-sacrifice +instead of selfishness, and social spirit instead of individualism +must again come into the heart of man. The individual must not be the +central point, as is the case in the eudemonistic-utilitarian +philosophy; but social aims, objective work, ideals, shall direct the +activity of man. From this conception of the fulfilment of social +obligation the relation between the proletariat and the capitalist +becomes ennobled and its harshness is relieved; the employer must +become humanised, learn to rule truly; the workman must become +manageable, learn to serve truly. Quite similarly reason the so-called +Christian socialists, save that they would derive the "new social +spirit" from the teachings of Christianity. + +These teachings are said to bring forth fruit. That social spirit--who +would have thought it!--does in fact, they say, enter into the hearts +of men; the social conflict is hereby removed from the world; in place +of hate and mistrust enter love and confidence. The "social question" +is solved; at least we are upon the way to "social peace," capitalism +is saved, socialism is sloughed off. + +I shall investigate later the extent to which the social facts, here +asserted, can claim reality; but assuming this--that pure harmony +rules in Albion--can such a hyper-idealistic explanation satisfy us? +Must we not introduce some more substantial causes than merely the +results of Carlyle's sermons? + +Absolute proof of the one or the other conception, naturally, cannot +be had, because it is the critic's philosophy, his estimate of man, +that finally decides; Wallenstein the realist and Max the idealist can +never fully convince one another. Anyone can, through a massing of +reasons and proofs, make the truth of his assertion concerning certain +evident facts at least plausible. + +I, for my part, am sceptical concerning all optimistic explanations of +history, and believe rather with Wallenstein than with Max. And as +now, forced by this ill-favoured mistrust, I look more closely at the +development in England of the matter that lies before us, I get a +picture essentially different from that which I have sketched for you +as the prevailing conception. Before all, I find but little of that +renowned "social spirit," which is said to have accomplished such +wonders. In the institutions which are characteristic of proletarian +development in England, trade-unions and brotherhoods, rules, so far +as I can see, a healthy spirit of selfishness. Perhaps there is no +social creation which is built more brutally upon selfishness than the +trade-union--necessarily so. And as I read the troubled outpourings of +the Christian socialists over the complete failure of their exertions, +I can bring them easily into harmony with other observations. But even +allowing that there is a certain effectiveness of the "social spirit," +that it does exist, shall I believe that it is able to remove +mountains? Or shall I not venture to assume that the economic and +political development, controlled by selfishness, has strongly helped, +has created the conditions in which the social spirit could work? + +All this I present in a kindly spirit. My conclusion is that I cannot +possibly be satisfied with Carlyle and his "social spirit," but must +seek a realistic explanation, for England as for other lands. And this +is indeed not difficult. Let us see how the national peculiarities of +the social movement, considering the actual facts of history, can be +understood as the necessary results of specific lines of development. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL PECULIARITIES + + "Die Staaten (und) Voelker ... in diesem Geschaefte des + Weltgeistes stehen in ihrem besonderen bestimmten Principe auf, + das an ihrer Verfassung und der ganzen Breite ihres Zustandes + seine Auslegung und Wirklichkeit hat, deren sie sich bewusst und + in deren Interesse vertieft, sie zugleich bewustlose Werkzeuge + und Glieder jenes inneren Geschaefts sind, worin diese Gestalten + vergehen, der Geist an und fuer sich aber sich den Uebergang in + seine naechste hoehere Stufe vorbereitet und + erarbeitet."--HEGEL, _Rechtsphilosophie_, Sec. 344. + + +How shall we now, in a word, characterise the English working-men's +movement? I think thus: since 1850 the definitely "revolutionary" +agitation has ceased--that is, the working-men's movement accepts the +bases of the capitalistic order of society, and endeavours through the +establishment of benevolent funds, brotherhoods, and trade-unions, +within the existing economy, to improve the condition of the working +man. The opposition of classes is lessened; the worker is recognised +as a man both by society and by his employer. Doubtless an elevation +of the English working-class is accomplished. Effective legislation +for the protection of the working man is secured; concerning which I +would remark incidentally that this "elevation" tends in fact only to +an aristocracy of working men such that, for example, in London +immeasurable misery results--over 100,000 persons in that city are +supported by the poor-rates, $25,000,000 are yearly disbursed in +charity, one-fifth of the deaths occur in almshouses, public +hospitals, etc. But not to dwell on this; other strata of the English +proletariat have without doubt considerably improved their condition. + +And now to the point;--all this is without part taken by the working +man in politics, without the assumption of a political character by +the working-men's movement, without constituting an independent +working-men's party. + +As we seek for the causes of such development, immediately we notice +that, whether or not the "social spirit" has helped, we cannot think +of this trait without considering a most peculiar combination of +political and economic circumstances in England from 1850 to about +1880. + +Without doubt the position of industrial monopoly which England +reached, and which gave a tremendous economic impulse to the nation, +was the solid basis of all social development. A few figures in +illustration. + +The railroads of the United Kingdom covered + + in 1842--1,857 English miles, + in 1883--18,668 English miles. + +The ships entering all British harbours amounted + + in 1842 to 935,000 tons, + in 1883 to 65,000,000 tons. + +The import and export business was valued + + in 1843 at about L103,000,000, + in 1883 at about L732,000,000. + +This means that the other nations could not rival England in extending +the market for an increasing productiveness. It betokens a remarkable +infrequence of disturbance through financial crises and market +stagnation. + +From this come important consequences for the working man: a generally +favourable condition of the labour market, constantly growing need of +labour, less lack of work, on the one side; on the other, satisfaction +of the employer, and his inclination and ability to remunerate better +the workman, to give him some share in the golden stream of profit. + +Besides this peculiar combination of circumstances of an economic +nature, which can never again come to any land because the competing +and strengthened nations now struggle for supremacy in the markets of +the world, consider the most remarkable condition of political party +life in England. + +It is well known that this rests, at least since the beginning of this +century, upon an alternation of power between the two great parties, +the Tories and the Whigs. They both strive after control, and they +reach this from time to time by shrewd concession, to the spirit of +progress, by a happy use of the situation at the moment. Now one, now +the other, quickly seizes and masters it. The _tertius gaudens_ in +this struggle for mastery is the working men as a class. It does not +require much penetration to see that, for example, the radical English +legislation in favour of the working man has come to pass only through +the spite of the Tories, agrarian in their interests, against the +liberal manufacturers. But if you wish to suppose noble motives for +parliamentary majorities, the resolution of the Tories to provide +protection for the industrial proletariat must at least have been made +easy through the consideration that the land proletariat would never +get such laws. Later, especially since extension of the franchise, the +policy of the Whigs was directed to reaching rule, or to sustaining +themselves therein, with the help of the working man. That involved, +naturally, concessions and a spirit of friendliness to the working +class, even if hard to yield, even if the employers had not personal +interest in these concessions. + +But the employers--thanks again to the happy combination of +circumstances at that time in England--had without doubt to some +degree a direct and personal interest, if not in advancing, at least +in not opposing, the exertions of the working class for an improvement +of their situation within the limits of the existing economic order. + +Thus gradually the trade unions and their regulations were recognised +by the employers: the latter declared themselves ready to deal +conclusively with the representatives of the workmen, and took part in +arbitrations, conciliations, etc. Was this only out of consideration +for the workman? Was it really because Carlyle had so advised? Was it +not rather merely out of purely selfish motives? Was it not that the +conservative, aristocratic trade-unions were a bulwark against all +tendency to revolution, sure and strong as no police regulation could +erect? And because methods of agreement offered a useful means of +avoiding strikes and the consequent disturbances of trade, which were +extremely feared because business was always favourable, and because +every day they could make money, and because every day in which the +manufactory stood still a considerable _lucrum cessans_ was involved? + +And, finally, why should not legislation in favour of the working man +be recommended? Even if the cost of production is somewhat increased, +we are easily in position to recover the charge from the consumer. But +production is not necessarily made more costly; the shortening of the +hours of labour can be made good through an increased intensity of +work, and thereby arises an advantage in having capable workmen, who +are gradually paid at higher rates. Or this drawback may be +counterbalanced by improvement of machinery; this they were the more +willing to do, for capital was abundant, and no bounds would be placed +to increase of production and sale by the possibilities of the market. +Lastly, they would remember that shrewd legislation in favour of the +working-man is an excellent weapon for the large concerns to use +against the small, in order to do away with the disagreeable +competition of petty manufacturers. But all this is with the assurance +that an expansion of production will not be hindered, but rather be +demanded, by the condition of the market. + +But now, granting that all could be accomplished in so easy and +business-like a way, as the social evolution in England has, in fact, +been accomplished under the said conditions, we must consider, in +addition, the peculiar temperament of the English working-man. Because +he is such a moderate and practical fellow, he is fitted for any +policy that does not oblige him to see beyond his nose; and he is +satisfied with it. "Always something practical," is his motto; his +social-political "business," as his yarn and iron business, has +nothing of the _elan_ of the French, of the subtle thought of the +German, of the fire of the Italian workman. + +This practical tendency finds its true incorporation in the old +English trade-union, which, as I have already said, is the shrewdest +scheme for the protection of personal interests that has ever been +conceived; diplomatic, adroit, smooth towards that which is +above--towards the employer; exclusive, narrow, brutal towards that +which is underneath--towards four-fifths of the "outsiders," the +poorer classes of workmen. The trade unions are capitalistic and +business-like organisations, which the calculating practical sense of +the English working-man has infused with his spirit. Hence, surely in +great part, their large results. + +Such causes as these seem to me at the bottom of the social +development of England from 1850 to 1880. It was the coincidence of a +number of circumstances favourable to capital that produced this +business-like organisation of the working man--that specific type +which we call English. + +Thus there is no socialism, no social movement in the strict sense of +the term, no struggle of classes; but there is a "social peace," or at +least an approach towards such, upon the basis of the capitalistic +economy. + +Is it truly "social peace"? Perhaps it is only a postponement of the +struggle. It seems almost so; unless all signs fail, this "social +peace" will not last much longer in England. Since the passing of +English supremacy from the markets of the world, since the rise of +lower strata of working men, the "social movement" is again on. The +sense of solidarity throughout the proletariat awakens anew. With it +comes the strife of classes. The question of independent political +action on the part of the working man now stands as a matter of +discussion before the working-men's congresses. Already have +socialistic theories and demands made impression upon the orthodox +membership of the trade unions. But of this we must not here speak. I +would merely refer to the fact that the time from 1850 to 1880 is +rightly called the period of social truce; it was the time in which +the specific English type of the working-man's movement was developed. + +There is no doubt that, even if this in its peculiar form gradually +disappears, it will be of continued influence upon the further +development of the social movement. What the English working-man has +left as a lasting inheritance to the agitation of the proletariat +consists of rich experiences in the sphere of trade-unionism, and a +steadiness, a calm, a business-like clearness of procedure on the part +of organised labour. It is, in a word, the method of agitation that +comes over from the English type and will remain in the proletariat, +even if the direction of agitation becomes essentially different. + +And now we leave British ground. Now we step over the Channel, and go +into France. What a change of scene! Out of foggy, smoky England, with +its earnest, capable, dull populace, into the charming, sunny, warm +land of France, with its passionate, impulsive, hasty population. + +What kind of a social movement is this in France? I have already given +some indications. All ferments and boils there, all bubbles and breaks +out uninterruptedly since the "glorious" revolution of the previous +century. Parties are in a state of constant flux; a movement divides +itself into countless factions. With haste and pressure single acts +fall over one another. Parliamentary struggle is set aside, now by +bloody street fights, now by conspiracy, now by assassination. To +understand clearly this general characteristic, which runs to-day in +the very blood of the French proletariat, but which is becoming +modified, we must go back to the earlier decades. We must think of the +activity of the clubs and companies of conspirators in the third and +fourth decades of this century; we must recall the awful street fights +which the Parisian proletariat waged with heroism in the June days of +the year 1848, and, later, in the May days of the year 1871. There is, +as it were, a smouldering, inner fire that glows constantly in the +masses and their leaders, and that, when any nourishment comes to it, +breaks out violently and devastates all around. The social movement in +France has always had in it something morbid, excited, convulsive. +Mighty, magnificent, in sudden outbreaks; again faint and flagging +after the first repulse. Always looking forward, always with +inspiration; but often fantastic, dreamy, uncertain in its choice of +ways and means. But always filled with a faith in quick +accomplishment, in sudden action, whether with the ballot or with the +dagger; always filled with faith in the miracle of revolution. In this +I present its motto: the characteristic of the French type lies in the +word "revolutionism"--by which I mean belief in revolution-making. +Involved in this revolutionism lie all the other peculiarities, as +seed-corn in the sheath. Let me specify them--pardon some of the harsh +word-making! Factionism, clubbism, and Putschism. Factionism is the +tendency to separate into innumerable small parties; clubbism is the +desire of conspiracy in secret companies and conventicles; Putschism, +finally, is the fanatical tendency towards street struggle, faith in +the barricade. + +Whence all this? One thing springs immediately to the attention of the +student of French history: what we here have learned to recognise as a +characteristic trait of the movement of the French proletariat is to +be found almost without change in all the actions of the French +middle-classes. Indeed, it is evidently an inheritance that the +proletariat has assumed. Unnoticeably the one movement passes into the +other. The French proletariat is led into history by the hand of the +bourgeoisie. Long after the proletariat in France had begun an +independent agitation, the influence of this former movement was +conspicuous. Not only in the method of strife; as well in the +programmes and ideals of the French proletariat, this middle-class +spirit stands even to our latest time, so that we can understand why +Proudhon, the greatest theorist of the revolutionary movement, as late +as after 1848 had influence in the circles of the French proletariat. +That Proudhon was really a bourgeois theorist is often denied, but is +none the less true; however revolutionary his phraseology may be, all +his proposals for reform--whether the exchange and credit banks, or +the wage theory, or the "establishment of value,"--point to an +upholding, a strengthening, an ethicizing of individualistic +production and the exchange of individual service. + +But no one who looks at the matter will wonder at the long +predominance of middle-class influence in the French proletarian +movement. What prestige the French, especially the Parisian, +middle-class has won in the eyes of the populace, in the course of +later French history! How many chaplets of fame have been laid upon +its brow since the days of 1793! In no other land, Italy perhaps +excepted, has it proved itself so valiant, daring, successful. If the +French bourgeoisie, as no other in the world, has made a free path for +itself in so short a time through the overcoming of feudal +institutions, truly the iron broom of Napoleon has done a great share +of this work. But we must not forget that it is the revolution of +1793--the uprising of the middle class--which has levelled the +ground; that is the historic significance of the Reign of Terror, and +with it of the middle-class that since those days has borne an aureole +upon its head. + +But it is not only this rather ideal element that is responsible for +the preponderance of the middle-class influence in France; we must add +the weighty fact that a great part of the specifically French +industries, owing to the peculiar organisation in _ateliers_, bears a +half-individualistic character, and that these are largely industries +of the arts. Thus the Lyons silk industry and many of the Parisian +manufactures of luxury. These are in sharp contrast, for example, to +the great English staple industries of coal, iron, and cotton. The +French _ouvrier_, in Lyons directly called _maitre ouvrier_, assumes, +through the tendency and organisation of many French industries, a +more individualistic, and so middle-class, appearance than the +proletariat in other lands. + +But to understand the characteristics which are stamped upon the +social movement in France as an inheritance from the middle-class, to +explain that enthusiasm for revolution of which I have spoken to you, +we must look at the whole history of France. That people!--a +sanguine, enthusiastic race, with a volatile temperament, with a dash +which is not to be found in those of northern lands. Perhaps the +French type of the social movement, somewhat modified by German +influence, is again to be found in Italy; there we must learn to see +its peculiar characteristics, the quick response of large masses, the +straw fire of momentary enthusiasm--in short, we must understand +clearly an entirely different mode of thought and feeling in order to +comprehend this French, or, if you will, Roman, type of the born +revolutionist, in its heaven-wide difference from the English workman. +Victor Hehn says somewhere, in his striking way, concerning the +Italians, but it can be applied to all of the Latin races: + + "Completely strange to him is the German, and even more so the + English!--Philistine, quite unthinkable, is the temperament of + those unimaginative and well-meaning sons of habit who, arrayed + with all the virtues of the commonplace, are respectable through + the moderation of their claims, are slow in comprehension, ... + and who drag after them throughout their lives, with pathetic + patience, a burden of social prejudices received from their + fathers." + +Thus one of Latin race strives after a far-off object, and does not +shrink from forceful means of reaching it. This heaven-storming +temperament has been given to him by nature for his mission in +history. Further, in order to understand the character of the social +movement in France, think of the preponderance in this land of the +capital city, Paris! If Paris is not exactly France, as is often +asserted, yet it is strong enough to dictate on occasion the laws of +the people. Paris, this nerve ganglion! This rumbling volcano! + +Further, I have always the impression that the French people stand +even to-day under the influence, perhaps we may say the ban, of their +"glorious" revolution. The influence of such an event--the most +tremendous drama of history--cannot in one hundred years disappear +from a people. So I think that this nervosity, if I may so express it, +which clings to all public life in France, may be, in large part, a +heritage from those terrible years of general overthrow, an +inheritance that has been most carefully fostered in less glorious +revolutions since then--ah, how many! And out of that time springs +something else: an overmastering faith in force, in the availability +of the political riot. The history of France has developed itself +since the July days of 1789 rather from without to within, than from +within to without; the change of regime has played a mighty role, has +often worked decisively upon the progress of social life. It is not +strange that always they rest their hope upon it, and seek to use +further, as a means of development, the political revolution which has +often wrought so mightily. This belief in revolution stands, however, +in close connection, I think, with the specifically French, +optimistic, ideal-socialistic philosophy of the eighteenth century, of +which I have heretofore spoken. In France is the classic ground of +that belief in the _ordre naturel_, which can come over the world "as +a thief in the night," because it is already here and needs only to be +uncovered. + +If, now, we would see all of the innumerable influences that work +together in order to produce the peculiar type of French agitation, we +must notice that in this land a strange growth of modern times has +struck deep root--anarchism. For centuries past preparations had been +made for its easy entrance. For what is anarchism fundamentally other +than a new form of pure revolutionism in method, of middle-class +ideals as object? Are not Ravachol and Caserio the true sons of those +conspirators who inspired the France of 1830 and 1840? Is there any +more legitimate father of anarchy than Blanqui? Anarchy, we may say, +is born of the marriage of the social philosophy of the eighteenth +century with the revolutionism of the nineteenth; it is a bloody +renaissance of social utopism. + +Here mention must be made of a matter which I have carefully avoided +thus far, because it is an hypothesis which I must lay before you with +a question-mark. Has the fact that the land is divided among so many +small owners had any effect upon the peculiar development of the +modern anarchistic movement? I mean, there must be a connection +between both these phenomena. Indeed, it is a question as to how far +anarchism has ever obtained in the masses. But, so far as I can see, +wherever the anarchistic propaganda seems to spread it is always in +agrarian districts; I recall the work of Bakunin in Italy and Spain, +and, as well, the nestling of anarchism now again in France. And +wherever the country people have been aroused to independent +agitation, this movement has always shown at least a trace of +anarchism. For examples, Italy and Spain and Ireland. + +It is an interesting problem:--Is, and if so, why is, anarchy the +theoretical expression of agrarian revolution? The investigation of +this would lead away from my present purpose, which is to speak of the +proletarian-socialistic agitation. But I would at least present it. + +If you ask me, finally, what lasting effect the peculiarity of the +French agitation has had upon the great international movement of the +proletariat, I answer--perhaps the least of all the nations, since it +bears unmistakable marks of unripeness. But I believe that it will be +the model for all other races, because of the idealism, the _elan_, +the energy, which distinguish it from the movements of other nations. +I wonder if the proletariat in Paris may not again be filled with an +inspiration for some ideal, while we middle-class citizens of other +nations are in danger of decadence! + +You all know what wonderful progress the proletarian movement has made +in Germany. For as we look back to the inconsiderable beginnings about +the year 1840--they were rather agitation by hand-workers than true +proletarian disturbances--suddenly, in the year 1863, as if shot out +of a pistol, appears an independent political working-men's party, not +again to disappear, but to grow to mighty proportions. + +Whence comes this strange apparition of such a social agitation in +Germany? How can we explain the suddenness of its entrance, and +especially the fundamental traits of its character--its +legal-parliamentary tendency, and its self-reliance from the beginning +even until now? + +At first we may incline to the thought that the causes for the +peculiarities of agitation in Germany should be sought in the +personality of its founder, Ferdinand Lassalle. Without doubt we owe +much to the individuality of this extraordinary man. We know what kind +of a fire it was that burnt consumingly within him--a demoniacal +ambition, a Titanic eagerness for fame. And as this ambition, after +many years of scientific renown, finally led him into the sphere of +politics, wherein all ambitious men who cannot be generals and artists +in our time must necessarily go, it was only natural that the +masterful Lassalle should become leader, chief, prince. Where Bismarck +stood, another could stand only in the shadow; but the opposition +would not have Lassalle--apparently about 1855-1865 he desired to ally +himself with them, but they feared this man to whom they would not +yield themselves. There remained only one thing, to become the leader +of a new and distinct party, the working-men's party. This was +Lassalle's party in the strictest sense, his hammer, his sword, with +which he would win for himself a position in political life. + +But these personal elements must be aided by circumstances, the +specific conditions of political and social life in Germany, in order +to crown Lassalle's efforts with success and to establish thoroughly +the movement during the short year of his leadership. + +I will not here dwell much upon the German national characteristics. +Concerning the peculiarities of the English and the French types of +the social movement this was necessary; but the German type owes +little to racial character. We dwell rather upon the external, +incidental circumstances in order to explain the peculiarities of the +social movement in Germany; and it is not hard to trace the chain of +causes. + +In Germany a real revolutionary movement, like that in France, was +not at this time possible--even if we assume that German character +would thus incline. The opportunity came too late. Revolutionism in +the French sense bears, as I have already said, the mark of +unripeness. Revolutionism may influence a nation long, but it cannot +be made the ruling motive of a social movement at so late a point of +time as that at which the German agitation began because the stage of +unripeness has passed. Take for example Italy, whose people certainly +by nature tend towards revolutionism; yet they must conform to the +experiences of older lands even if the inner nature always urges to +outbreak. + +On the other hand, Germany, as its social agitation began, was yet so +immature economically--like England at the end of the last +century--that the subordination of economic to political agitation is +easily understood. + +But would it not have been perhaps more natural if the proletariat, +when it desired to enter into a legal-parliamentary course of action, +had sought alliance with the existing party of opposition--as has +happened in other lands? We must lay stress on the fact that it was +hindered in this through the incapacity of the middle-class party of +that time in radical politics; for this reason it could not at the +time absorb the proletariat. + +It is a part of the inheritance which German liberalism has received +from the year 1848 that one of its chief characteristics is the fear of +the red spectre--revolution. Indeed the proletariat has itself helped +towards this by its behaviour. We all know how the middle-class +agitation of the year 1848 in Germany failed, and sought the protection +of the Prussian bayonet from the "gens mal intentionnes"--the +well-known undercurrent of democracy present in every civil revolution. +Civic pride and defiance fell at that moment, as always, when the +spectre of social revolution appeared on the horizon--witness the law +against the socialists. Thus was the bridge between the proletarian +agitation and civic opposition even at that early time broken, soon to +be entirely destroyed. + +As in the strictly political sphere this fear and hesitation did not +permit the liberal party to come to decided radicalism, which probably +would have contented the proletariat for a long time, so in the +economic sphere earlier German liberalism was characterised by what we +to-day would call an incomprehensible doctrinairism, an inane +obsession derived from the dreary Manchester school of thought. The +exertions of Schulze-Delitzsch, who was indeed in his sphere a +serviceable man, could not nearly make good the shortcomings of the +liberal party in all questions of social politics. The liberal +political economists of that time had no understanding of the demands +and movements of the proletariat. Such pitiful writings on the +so-called "working-man's question" as those by Prince-Smith are not +produced by writers of reputation in other lands, so far as I know. +Possibly this or that great man _de l'Institut_ has rivalled them. + +The inability of the liberal party to draw the gushing water of +proletarian agitation to its own mill finds striking example in the +answer which, in the year 1862, a deputation of working-men from +Leipsic received from the leaders of the "National Union." The working +men had applied for the privilege of taking part in political life. +They wanted some recognition for their leaders. And what was given as +answer? That the working men were by birth already honorary members of +the union! + +And now Bismarck, in spite of the fact that the liberal party was +refusing the franchise to the proletariat, forced upon the country in +the year 1867 a universal, direct, and secret ballot, a bequest of +Lassalle's. We are tempted to assume diabolical revenge against the +liberals as a motive for this. For the moulding of the social movement +in Germany this had two consequences of fundamental importance. First, +it weakened yet more the middle class, which, now between the +aristocracy and the proletariat, was sinking into an ever-increasing +insignificance and, through fear of the growing working-men's party, +lost more and more of its self-confidence. Hence a further +estrangement between the liberal party and the proletarian movement +ensued. + +Secondly, this franchise that had fallen into the lap of the working +man inclined the leaders of the proletariat to purely parliamentary +agitation, and for a long time hindered them from a right +understanding of the non-political aims of the proletariat. + +We may look upon all this with sorrow or with joy--and everyone who +sympathises with the fate of his people will feel in one way or the +other; now we must accept it as a fact, the existence of which cannot +be changed, even if for the future we alter the particular objects of +political effort. But the purpose of science is only to explain how +things have unfolded themselves; and only that is the idea which has +ruled throughout this my work. Hut of course there are always people +unable to separate science and politics. + +One remark in conclusion! This Lassalle movement, and with it also the +German type of social agitation, bears the stamp not only of +historic-national interest, as I have attempted to show to you, but +also much of purely personal characteristics; as is proved by the +mysticism, the cult of a person and the creation of a sect, to which +the movement has deteriorated. Has it never occurred to you how +remarkable it is that this movement, perhaps more than any other, has +developed, in spite of its German and personal characteristics, into a +world-wide and enduring "school," if I may so express it? Of this +there can be no doubt. + +One ground for this may be found in the personality of its creator, in +the passionate force of his oratory, in the power of his agitation. +Treitschke thinks that Germany has possessed three great agitators, +List, Blum, and Lassalle. Surely Lassalle is the greatest leader of +the proletariat thus far; the only agitator of real greatness which +the proletariat has thus far had. For this reason his personality +continues in force even until now. + + "In Breslau a churchyard--a dead man in grave: + There slumbers the one who to us the sword gave." + +But here again we are not satisfied with the purely personal element; +we must rather seek after the real grounds for the explanation of the +fact. + +To me it seems that the triumph of the German type in the +international movement, as it was begun through Lassalle, lies +essentially in the circumstance that Lassalle's agitation, and then +the later German movement, is filled by the spirit of that man who was +called to formulate the theories which should bring to a sharp point +all the general objects of proletarian effort. You know that I mean +Karl Marx. + +The name of this man expresses all the centripetal force which the +modern social movement contains. From him comes all that which tends +to remove national peculiarities and to make an international +movement. "Marxism" is the tendency to make the social movement +international, to unify it. But of this we must not here speak; only +of its peculiar features. The one great social movement runs first +into separate streams of national effort; later these unite again. +There is throughout a tendency to return to unity. But the movement +develops itself in national lines and is determined by contingencies +which make history. The general law of these incidental circumstances +I have tried to show to you to-day. + +And now at last let us pass to the theorist of the social movement, +Karl Marx. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +KARL MARX + + "+Ktema es aei.+" + + THUC., i., 22. + + +Karl Marx was born in Treves in the year 1818, the son of a Jewish +lawyer, who was later baptised into the Christian faith. Intelligence +and general culture were at home in the house of his parents. The +favourite authors of the family were Rousseau and Shakespeare, the +latter of whom was the favourite poet of Karl Marx throughout life. An +element of cosmopolitanism was conspicuous in the household life of +the Marx family. Their closest intercourse was with the family von +Westphalen, the parents of the later Prussian minister--the +half-Scottish, highly cultured Baron Edgar. To this man the young Karl +owed his first introduction to literature, and later to his wife +Jenny. + +Karl studied philosophy and history in Bonn, purposing to become a +Prussian professor. By the year 1842 he came to the point of formal +admission as lecturer. But difficulties soon presented themselves; the +young Marx, then allied with Bruno Bauer, was carried away by the +reactionary tendency which at that time swept again over the Prussian +universities, especially over heretical Bonn. As customarily happens +in such cases of aborted career, the young Marx became a journalist. +Soon he emigrated, because in 1844 the Prussian police drove him out +of the land; he fled to Paris, was thrown out again by Guizot on +demand, we suppose, of Prussia; in 1845 he went to Brussels, returning +to Germany during the year 1848; finally after the year 1849 he found +rest in London from the pressure of the police. Here he lived until +his death in the year 1883. + +His personality, the characteristics of which were strikingly +developed through the external circumstances of his life, was marked +by extraordinary intellectual activity. He was a pitiless and positive +critic in his very nature. He had an abnormally sharp vision for +psychological and historical continuity, especially where these are +based upon the less noble impulses of mankind. A word of Pierre +Leroux's seems to me as if coined for Marx: "il etait ... fort +penetrant sur le mauvais cote de la nature humaine." So it was by +nature easy for him to believe in Hegel's teaching that "evil" has +accomplished all the development of mankind. His conception of the +world is expressed in Wallenstein's magnificent words: + + "To the bad spirit belongs the earth, not to the good; the good + things that the gods send to us from above are to be held only + in communal possession. Their light gives us joy, yet makes no + man rich; in their kingdom there is no private possession." + +What qualified Karl Marx to reach the first rank among the social +philosophers of the nineteenth century, and to obtain next to Hegel +and Darwin the greatest influence upon modern ideas, was the fact that +he united a knowledge of the highest form of the historic philosophy +of his time--Hegel--with a knowledge of the highest form of social +life--that of Western Europe, of France, and especially of England. It +was because he knew how to concentrate, as by a lens, all the rays of +light which had been shed by other thinkers, and because he was able +through his cosmopolitan experience to withdraw attention from the +incidental features of national development, and to concentrate it +upon what is typical in modern social life. + +Marx, in common with his friend Friedrich Engels, in a large number of +monographs, the best known of which is _Capital_, has laid the +ground-lines of an amazing system of social philosophy; but this is +not the place for a study of its particular features. What interests +us much more at this time is the Marxian theory of social agitation, +because this is especially what has enabled him to influence +decisively the progress of social development. In no single book of +his is this theory comprehensively presented. Yet we find all the +essential elements of it in the celebrated "Communistic Manifesto" of +Marx and Engels in the year 1847, which was presented as a programme +to the "League of the Righteous" in Brussels; they accepted it and +thus changed themselves into a "League of Communists." The +"Communistic Manifesto" contained the principles of a philosophy of +history, upon which the programme of a party is based. Its leading +thoughts are these: + +All history is the story of a struggle between classes; the history +of the present is the story of the struggle between the middle class +and the proletariat. The making of classes results from certain +economic conditions of production and distribution, through which also +social control is determined. "Immanent" forces (the expression does +not occur in the "Communistic Manifesto," but becomes later a +technical term) constantly revolutionise the conditions of production, +and thus of all economic matters. In our time this organic change is +accomplished with especial quickness, because the tremendous forces of +production created by the middle class grow too fast. Thus on the one +side the conditions of existence under the present capitalistic +economy quickly deteriorate; upon the other side the conditions of +existence tend to a social organisation without classes upon a basis +of common production and communal ownership of the means of production +(this formula, also, is not found in the "Communistic Manifesto," in +which merely the abolition of private property is presented; but our +phrase first occurs two years later, in the history of class struggle +in France). This deterioration appears in the crises in which society +feels itself "suddenly thrown back into a condition of momentary +barbarism," and in the emergence of pauperism in which it plainly +appears now + + "that the middle class is unfit longer to remain the ruling + class of society and to enforce the life condition of itself as + the ruling law; it is unfit to rule because it is incapable of + securing subsistence to its slave within the terms of his + slavery, because it is compelled to let him sink into a position + in which it must support him instead of being supported by him." + +But the conditions of the new social order (this thought also is +merely suggested in the "Communistic Manifesto" and only later, +especially by Engels, is it developed) are created by an enormous +increase of the forces of production and by the "communisation of the +processes of production" which goes hand in hand with this +increase--that is, the interweaving and combination of the individual +acts of production, and transition to co-operative methods, etc. + +The most important consequence now for our question is this: the +economic revolution finds its spontaneous expression in opposition and +struggle of classes, the "modern social movement"--that is, the +movement of the proletariat is nothing but the organisation of those +elements of society which are called to break the rule of the middle +class and "to conquer the new social forces of production." This they +can accomplish only by "abolishing their own private appropriation as +it has thus far existed and with it the whole idea of private +property"; that is, in place of private possession and private +production to establish communism. + +The "communists"--that is, the political party for which the +"Communistic Manifesto" serves as a confession of faith--are only a +part of the warring proletariat; they form that part which is +conscious of the process of development. This party + + "distinguishes itself from the other proletarian elements only + in that on the one side it emphasises and enforces in the + different national campaigns of the proletariat the interests of + the proletariat as a whole, and on the other hand in that in the + different stages of development through which the struggle + between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie passes, invariably + it represents the interests of the general proletarian + movement." + + "The theories of the communists rest in no way upon ideas or + principles which have been discovered by this or that reformer. + They are only general expressions of the actual conditions in an + existing struggle of classes, an agitation which is happening + historically before our very eyes." + +The thoughts here expressed, as I have already indicated in several +places in this review, have been later to some extent more precisely +worded, have been to some decree enlarged and developed, have been in +part modified; but the ground-lines of Marx's theory of the social +movement are already revealed in them all. In what now lies their +historic importance? How shall we explain their tremendous power of +conquest? Whence comes their continuance already through a +half-century?--and all this, in spite of the fact that, as I believe, +this theory errs in essential points, and that it can scarcely indeed +sustain itself as a whole! + +Before I now attempt to give the answer I must make one thing clear. +What Marx and Engels have left to us as an intellectual inheritance, +whether we consider their writings from 1842, or even only those after +1847, seems at first as if it were a confused mass of varied +thought-material. Only he who looks closely and who takes the trouble +to enter into the spirit of the men can bring the separated lines of +thought into order. Such an one finds that some fundamental ideas run +through the writings of Marx and Engels during the whole period of +their literary activity; also that at different times quite different +lines of thought run across and confuse the system which, as a whole, +is built up upon these great ideas. Most exponents of the Marxian +teaching, especially those representing the middle class, have made +the mistake of not separating the essential from the accidental, and +have as a result not been able to do justice to the historic +significance of these theories. Naturally it is easier to start with +the contradictions and inconsistencies of an author, rather than to +make tedious tracing of what is of lasting worth; it is easy, but not +right, to content oneself with detached and apparent blunders and +mistakes in the teaching of an important thinker, in order to reject +this teaching _in toto_. Marxism, as no other teaching, offers itself +for such treatment; partly because many of his theories awake the +passions of the critic and hence must in advance prevent calm +judgment, partly because in fact, as already said, it presents a most +clumsy confusion of contradictory teachings. This is shown in the fact +that even now, after his thoughts have lived through a half-century, +we must still exert ourselves to get at the real meaning and the deep +importance of his teaching. This is due especially to the +"middle-class" critics of Marx; but it is also because of the members +of his own party. I recall the fact that the fundamental principle of +Marx's economic system--the theory of value--has become an object of +fruitful discussion as lately as two years ago. At that time I +attempted to bring into use this method which I have just specified as +the only true one for such a peculiar formation as the Marxian +teaching; I asked how the parts of Marx's theory which stand in such +opposition to each other could be reconciled, in order to bring out +the sense which so earnest a thinker must surely have laid underneath. +At that time the aged Engels could bear witness that I had about "hit +the right mark," but that he could not endorse all that I had +"introduced" into the Marxian teaching. Other critics thought at the +time that nothing more would be heard of Marx's teaching concerning +value. Perhaps they are right; but if Marx's _Theory of Value_ is a +scientific work, it can be such only in my interpretation. + +I have thus spoken in order to show you how I stand concerning Marx's +theory of the social movement. I make most earnest effort to separate +it from all extraneous matter, to comprehend it in its essential +points, and so to present these essentials in such way that they shall +be consistent with reality. At the same time I emphasise the spirit of +Marx's theories, and only hope that it is truly the soul of Marx, and +not of myself, "in which the times reflect themselves." + +I shall attempt to speak later concerning what I look upon as +confusing "non-essentials" of the theory; I speak now of what I think +to be the historically important essence--the +ktema es aei+--of +Marx's theory of the social movement. + +First and before all, it is a scientific accomplishment of the first +order to give prominence to the historic conception of the social +movement and the inner relationship of the "economic," "social," and +"political" manifestations and precedents. Marx applies the evolution +idea to the social movement. Other conspicuous men have tried to +consider socialism and the social movement as in the flow of historic +life--I think, for example, of Lorenz von Stein, that writer who, +perhaps, has most influenced Marx. But no one has so clearly, +illuminatively, effectively shown these historical relations. That +political revolutions and agitations are fundamentally great +displacements of social classes is a truth enunciated before the time +of Marx; but no one has ever presented it in so impressive a way. He +takes economic revolutions as his starting-point, in order to explain +the creation and the conflict of social classes; and in _Misere_ +(175), before the "Communistic Manifesto," he had already said: "il +n'y a jamais de mouvement politique qui ne soit social en meme temps." +But therewith--and it is this that is of importance to us--is the +proletariat brought to full self-consciousness and taught to know +itself in its historic relations. Out of this historic conception +arises, for Marx and for the proletariat, with certainty the main +points of the programme and the tactics of the social movement. They +are only "a general expression of actual relations in an existing +struggle of classes," as the "Communistic Manifesto" has expressed it +somewhat vaguely. To state it more exactly, the theory of Marx affirms +the identification of that which unconsciously and instinctively had +arisen as a proletarian idea with that which is actually observable as +the result of economic development. As to tactical management, +however, the idea was decisive that revolutions could not be forced, +but were the outgrowth of specific economic antecedents; while class +strife in both its forms--the political, of which the "Communistic +Manifesto" speaks chiefly, and the economic, for which in _Misere_ +Marx breaks a lance--is recognised as the instrument which the +proletariat must use in order to protect its interests during the +process of economic transformation. Thus he formulates that which +every intelligent proletarian movement must recognise as its +fundamental principles. Socialism as a goal, struggle between classes +as the way towards it, cease to be merely personal opinions, and are +understood as necessary. + +This elementary conception, that these two main pillars of the modern +social movement are not merely arbitrary creations, but are +unavoidable products of the historic development, is even to-day so +little accepted that it is worth our while to spend a little time upon +it. + +First, it must be noticed that in all the writing's of Marx and +Engels, whose "Anti-Duehring" always constitutes a necessary +complement to all the theories of Marx, there is no proof of the +asserted "necessity" of the social movement which fully satisfies the +demands of our day as to scientific method. It is known that Marx +stands upon the Hegelian dialectic, out of date now. What we demand is +a psychological founding of social happening, and for this Marx cares +little. + +Now it seems to me easy to fill this gap. I shall attempt it so far as +the limitations of time allow. + +Why must the ideal of every proletarian movement be necessarily a +democratic collectivism--that is, the communisation of the means of +production? It seems to me that the following considerations contain +the answer to the question. + +The modern social movement strives after that which is represented by +the battle-cry, "The emancipation of the proletariat." But this has +two phases, an ideal and a material. Ideally a social class can +consider itself as "emancipated" only when it as a class is +economically and politically dominant or at least independent; the +proletariat, that now finds itself in economic dependence upon +capital, can only become "emancipated" by throwing off this +connection. Perhaps we can conceive of the proletariat as using +employers as agents to carry on the work of production. But even then +the management will be no longer in the hands of the employers as +to-day, but of the proletariat as master of the situation. So long as +this supremacy is not reached in any such form, there can be no +thought of an "emancipation" of a class. Nor can we speak of this +"emancipation" in a material sense, so long as those conditions obtain +which to-day, from a class standpoint, are looked upon as marking a +social inferiority and are derived from the capitalistic social +system. If the proletariat sets an aim clearly before itself, this +goal can only be, from the class standpoint, the overthrow of this +capitalistic order. Now this overthrow is possible in either of two +ways. Either operations on a large scale, which have replaced the +earlier and smaller methods of production, can be so reconstituted as +that large interlocal and international production shall be again +narrowed and localised--in which case the overthrow of the +capitalistic order will be simply a retrogression to the +"middle-class" system. Or this present order can be conquered in such +a way that the existing forms of production on a large scale shall be +retained--then the results will be socialism. There is no third +possibility. If the proletariat does not vanquish capitalism by a +return to the smaller forms of operation, it can accomplish this only +by putting a socialistic organisation in place of the capitalistic. +And further: the proletariat can attach itself only to the latter +method, because its whole existence is interwoven with the system of +production on a large scale; it is indeed only the shadow of the +system, it exists only where this system rules. Therefore we can say +that socialism as the aim of the social movement arises fundamentally +and necessarily out of the economic situation of the proletariat. The +whole demonstration falls to the ground in a moment, wherever a +tendency to the development of proletarian production on a large scale +does not exist in economic life. + +What I would here show, let me say again, is the necessity of the +ideal; but this must not be confused with the certainty of its +realisation. In order to prove this, it would be necessary to present +other considerations, which lie far from our subject. Thus, whether +any such realisation of the ideal is scientifically possible seems to +be doubtful. For this would not be proved even if it should be +demonstrated that what the proletariat desires and strives for has +been provided in the course of social development. I shall have +opportunity later to draw attention to this, that the conception of +socialism as a need of nature, and thus "necessarily" to be realised, +does not rest upon clear thought. + +What we must now hold fast as the result of our investigation is this, +and it is a true Marxian thought, that social ideals are only +utopianism so long as they are merely evolved in the head of the +theorist. They obtain reality only when they are united to actual +economic conditions, when they arise out of these conditions. The +possibility of realising the good and beautiful is enclosed within the +sheath of economic necessity. This covering, created out of +capitalistic and proletarian conditions and historic economic +circumstances, is of such a nature that the ideal of proletarian +exertion can only lie in the direction of a socialistic order of +society. + +But why must the way towards the realisation of this aim lie through +class strife? To this we answer in brief: modern society presents +itself to us as an artificial medley of numerous social classes--that +is, of certain groups of persons whose homogeneity arises out of +their attachment to specific forms or spheres of economic life. We +distinguish the "junker," as representative of feudal agrarianism, +from the bourgeoisie, the representatives of capital; we distinguish +the "middle class," the representatives of local production and +distribution, from the modern wage-worker or the proletariat, etc. +Each one of these groups of economic interests has its special +adherents in the professional classes of society among the officials, +scholars, artists, who stand outside the economic life, but who unite +themselves by birth or position to one or another of the social +classes. + +This attachment to a social class works decisively in two directions. +It implants in the mind of each individual member of a class the +conception of the world and life characteristic of that group of men +whose thoughts and feelings tend to become identical through the +uniformity of the external circumstances that control them; similarity +of aspiration and ideal is created. Further, this attachment +accomplishes a positive control over the individual in the maintenance +of that which is represented by the class--its social position as +truly as its material interests; it creates what we may call class +interest. + +Everywhere and spontaneously there is developed a distinction between +classes, and class interest is involved in this. The upholding of this +class interest leads throughout to class opposition. Not always does +the upholding of a class standard involve necessarily collision with +the interests of other classes; at times an identity of interests +arises; but this harmony never lasts. The interest of the "junker" +must at a certain point come into conflict with that of the burgher, +that of the capitalist with that of the proletariat, that of the +hand-worker and tradesman with that of the large capitalist; for each +class strives naturally for itself, and by that very fact excludes +other interests. Then comes to pass the saying: + + "Where one goes ahead, others go back; + Who would not be driven must drive; + So strife ensues and the strongest wins." + +It is here that differences of opinion may emerge: but must this +really come to "strife" and "warfare"? May we not hope that, through +love of mankind, or sympathy, or interest in the welfare of the whole, +or some such noble motive, each class will freely divest itself of +such of its privileges as stand in the way of others? I have already +had occasion in another place to express my opinion on this +point--that I look upon such well-intentioned judgment of average +human nature as in contradiction with actual life. I have referred to +the fact that conclusive proof for or against such a conception cannot +be presented; that the final ground of decision rests in the depths of +personal conviction on the part of the individual. But what offers +some proof for the justification of the realistic opinion presented by +me is the circumstance that history has as yet given no example of a +free divestment of class privilege; at least I will say that every +instance claimed as such may easily be invalidated. On the other side +we have innumerable instances in history where such reform has been +begun by well-meaning friends of humanity, theorists, only to be +shattered soon on the _rocher de bronze_ of the strong self-interest +of the threatened dominant class. They eagerly hold up before us +unbelievers the night of the 4th of August, 1789, and they forget the +hundred burning castles in France. They remind us of the Prussian +agrarian reforms, and forget not only the French Revolution but also +the Declaration of 1816. They remind us--but why add illustrations? +Let such men prove authentically a single case in history in which a +social class has against its own interests and out of altruistic +motives made an essential concession. Certainly there have been +conspicuous individuals who have done this; why not? We see this +daily. But a whole class--never! If this is so, then the word of the +great realist must be true, that "only strength conquers." So we find +as the conclusion of our thought, first a difference of classes, then +class interests, then class opposition, finally class strife. It is +thus that Marx would have developed his theory of class strife, and +easily, if he had chosen to proceed upon a psychological foundation. + +As we now turn to this theory itself and its significance for the +social movement we are obliged, I think, to concede that the entrance +of Karl Marx was a decisive turning-point in this agitation, because +through him it was based upon a fundamentally changed conception of +history and humanity. This change is occasioned by the fact that, in +place of an idealistic, or rather partisan, way of looking at things, +a realistic vision obtains, and thus for the social movement the idea +of "revolution" passes into the thought of "evolution." The spirit of +the nineteenth century supplants the spirit of the preceding +centuries. You remember how I sought to make clear to you the essence +of this spirit in connection with the teachings of the utopists; if I +may be allowed to refer to it again, it is that idealistic conception +of man and life,[1] cherished now only by the scholars, that faith in +humanity as good by nature, that belief that men so long as they are +not led astray by the mistake or malice of individual bad men will +live in the most affectionate peace with their brethren; it is that +belief in a "natural order" of the past and future--that rock-fast +confidence that only explanation and exhortation are needed in order +to bring men out of this vale of tears to the happy islands of the +blest. This is that faith in the power of eternal love which through +its own force shall overcome the bad, and help the good to victory. +This it was that, though the leaders were not conscious of it, really +lay at the bottom of all political and social agitation until the +middle of our century; this it is that, in my opinion, as I have +already said, still slumbers in the lap of anarchism, even to-day as +an instinct. This fundamental tendency is now directly reversed; the +belief in a humanity good by nature gives place to the conviction that +man is of himself ruled by no noble motives, that he carries within +himself the _bete humaine_ even in all culture and in spite of all +"advance." Hence the conclusion: that a man, in order to accomplish +anything in the world, must before all call upon "interest"--a normal +and material instinct. For it is the most important conclusion for the +fate of the social movement, that now "interest" rules in the world; +that where anything is to be done, or a class, like the proletariat, +is to be emancipated, a man needs some weapon stronger than the theory +of "eternal love" against the interest of the capitalist class, and +must present force against force, might armed by "interest." At the +end of all thought upon this matter lies this consideration, which +leads not only to the theory, but as well to the practice, of class +strife. Combat is the solution of the difficulty for this hard and +unlovely proletarian generation which has grown up since the middle of +our century; not peace, not reconciliation, not a general +brotherhood--but battle. That this strife is no longer open warfare, +like street riot, does not alter the fact that it is really strife. +Out of this is to come a generation of men qualified to live and work +in an order of society higher than the present capitalistic order. + +It is this that I call the realistic conception of the social +movement; and there is no doubt that it is the outcome of that Marxian +theory of the world and society which I have just attempted to sketch. +Only thus could the social-political realism, which heretofore has +been proclaimed in a limited way, now arise as the principle of the +whole social movement. + +It is this social-political realism which gives the finishing stroke +to all utopism and revolutionism. The insurrectionists in Lyons and +the Chartist revolutionaries were both utopists--for they shed their +blood and yet only strengthened the reaction. The Putschists, +Clubists, and Blanquists were utopists, who through conspiracies and +street riots would through all time control economic development. Not +less utopian were those "geniuses" who offered exchange banks or the +_Organisation du travail_ or such remedies. Utopists also were those +who believed in the power of all kinds of schemes. Finally, utopists +were all those kindly souls who hoped to allay and overcome the +sufferings of the proletariat by an appeal to the good hearts of the +friends of humanity. Karl Marx has succeeded in freeing us from the +use of empty phrases in the sphere of social politics. + +Let us now in closing recapitulate the points wherein I see the +historic significance of Marx's teaching for the social movement. Marx +points out as its _object_ the communisation of the means of +production, as its _way_ the struggle between classes; he erects these +two as the main pillars upon which the whole structure must be built. +He secured for these principles general acceptance; and he succeeded +in this without preventing the development of national and other +peculiarities. In placing the social movement in the flow of historic +development he brings it theoretically into harmony with the objective +and subjective factors of history, he bases it upon actual conditions +of economic life and of human endowment, he shows its economic and +psychological features. + +Thus I look at Marx, when I attempt to fathom the spirit of his +teaching; this is the deep meaning of Marxism. + +There is no doubt that, according to the common idea, Marx and Engels, +who must always be named with him, appear in a light essentially +different from that which I have attempted to show to you. In general +these men have been looked upon, not only as different from what I +have stated, but as in a bad sense the very opposite of social +realists; namely, as the father and the guardian of the worst kind of +revolutionary thought. And who would not apparently be justified in +this belief, reading the writings of both these men? He reads of +clanking chains which must be broken, of revolutions towards which man +tends, of bloody battle and death and assassination. How does the +matter really lie? + +Marx himself once said, _Moi je ne suis pas Marxiste_, but he gave to +these words a meaning different from the ordinary one, as I also do +when I say that Marx and Engels have not always shown themselves +consistent Marxists either in theory or in practice. + +Doubtless there are inconsistencies in theory, contradictions of the +fundamental thoughts, discrepancies which can have only one +source--that is, an overwhelming revolutionary passion which obscures +a vision otherwise so clear. + +For example, I think of their unreasonable belief in what they call +the "fall" of humanity through the introduction of the principle of +private property, from which as they say history, and as well the +forces of history, take their start; the astonished hearer asks +himself, What impelled man to the introduction of this principle? I +think, also, of the hypothesis of a strifeless condition of humanity +after the introduction of socialism--and the like. Here, and +throughout, the old dreams of a Paradise lost and regained, of a happy +condition of humanity originally, come as a disturbing element into +their new world of thought. + +With both these men it was in life as in theory. Here also appears the +old revolutionary Adam every moment and plays tricks with them. Since +the year 1845 they have not ceased to dream of revolution, and indeed +fierce revolution; repeatedly have they announced the outbreak as +near. This could be only the outcome of an unrealistic judgment of the +situation, of a mistaken conception of the political, economic, and +social conditions; thus it was an error of judgment as to the time, +if not a contradiction of their supreme principle that "revolutions +are not made." Psychologically these contradictory phenomena are +easily to be explained. Both Marx and Engels have never ceased with +intelligence and calm judgment to present that realism which we have +seen as the essence of their view of life. But you must not forget +that they have conceived their teachings under the roar of +revolutionary battles; that they were themselves of those fitful and +fiery souls who, like the "world squirrel,"[2] go assiduously from +place to place in order to set Europe on fire. Think of the mass of +malice and hatred that must have accumulated within these exiles, who +experienced through life nothing but derision, scorn, suspicion, and +persecution from their powerful opponents! Imagine what a superhuman +self-discipline and control was needed to prevent them from petty and +vindictive attacks upon the hated opponents at every opportunity. As +this deeply rooted passion arose in these revolutionary heroes, as +rage almost strangled them, their logic flew out of the window and old +revolutionary fury broke out and overwhelmed them. But that I am right +in characterising Marxism as a social-political realism you see +clearly from the many and fundamental declarations and acknowledgments +of its founders, which come to us out of all periods of their lives. +And indeed there is always a declared opposition to general +revolutionism, to "Putschism," as they assert their standpoint. The +strife with the party of Willich-Schapper in the year 1850, the battle +with Bakunin in the "International,"--concerning which I have yet to +speak,--the declarations against the anarchists, the discussion with +Duehring, the disowning of the "Jungen,"--all tends in the end to help +to victory the evolutionary principle in the social movement. It is +easy to explain how the true conviction came to expression on these +occasions. + +The last word of Marxism, which also contains a _resume_ of its +teaching; is a writing by Engels, published shortly before his death; +the introduction to the _Struggle of Classes in France_. It is an +epilogue to his own life's drama, a confession, the last words of +warning which the dying man cries to the contesting proletariat. Here +the clear, logical position, as I think it is demanded by the +conception of history held by that school, finally comes to distinct +expression. This introduction shows perhaps best and most quickly how +at the end Engels and Marx understood the social movement. Some of the +most significant passages may here find place: + + "History has proved wrong us and all who thought similarly (sc. + expecting the victory of the proletariat in the near future of + the year 1843). It has made clear that the condition of economic + development upon the Continent at that time was far from ripe + for an abolishment of capitalistic production; it has proved + this through the economic development which since 1848 has + seized upon the whole continent and has made a home for the + great industries in France, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and lately + Russia, has made out of Germany an industrial country of the + first rank--all upon a capitalistic basis, which in the year + 1848 was but little developed. To-day the great international + army of socialists is resistlessly stepping forward, is daily + growing in number, discipline, intelligence, and assurance of + victory. As to-day this mighty army of the proletariat has not + as yet reached the goal, as it is far from accomplishing the + victory by one great stroke, but must slowly press forward in + hard persistent struggle from position to position, this proves + once for all how impossible it was in the year 1848 to + accomplish the social overturning through a simple unexpected + attack.... The time of surprise, of carrying through a + revolution by a small minority at the head of ignorant masses, + is passed. For a complete overthrow of the social organisation + the masses themselves must be concerned, they must understand + what they do, why they take part. The history of the last fifty + years has taught this to us. But through this teaching the + masses are learning what is to be done, and that long and + patient work is needed, and that it is just this work which we + now urge forward with such success that our opponents are + brought to confusion. The irony of history turns everything + upside down. We, 'revolutionaries,' succeed far better by means + legal than illegal and destructive. The party of order, as it + calls itself, goes to pieces through the very conditions created + by itself. It cries out confusedly with Odelon Barrot--_la + legalite nous tue_ (conformity to the law kills us); while we, + with this legality, develop round muscles and red cheeks and + seem destined for eternal life." + +What comes to expression in these words is merely a confession +of--Marxism. + + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In what follows I reproduce some passages out of my book +concerning Friedrich Engels (Berlin, 1895). + +[2] In German mythology the world is represented as a great tree, with +its roots in Niefelheim, and its branches in Asgard. Wotan +communicates with the world by a "welten eichhoernchen," a "world +squirrel," which runs up and down the tree. (Translator.) + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TREND TOWARDS UNITY + + "Schon laengst verbreit etsich's in ganze Scharen Das Eigenste, + was im allein gehoert." + + SCHILLER's _Wallenstein_. + + Now, after long, that diffuses itself through large masses of + men Which once was most private, which belonged to him alone. + + +Karl Marx closed his manifesto with the celebrated words, +"Proletarians of all lands, unite yourselves!" He uttered this cry on +the eve of the revolution of 1848, which was admittedly +proletarian-socialistic in its character, in various places, but which +exhausted itself in those separate spots where it had broken out. In +Germany, where Marx himself stood in the battle, it reached no +importance. In England, it seemed for a moment as if the February +revolution would infuse new life into the old Chartism; but this had +already been buried. The French movement is the only one left; how it +ended is well known. And then the deep night of the reaction of the +'fifties settled upon Europe. All the seeds of an independent +working-men's movement were suppressed. Only in England the +trade-union movement was developed. + +Since the beginning of the year 1860 signs of life among the working +people have appeared in different places. They recover here and there +from the blows and repression which they experienced during and after +the agitation of 1848, and an interest and participation in public +life begin again to awake. The characteristic trait is this: the +activity of the new and independent life receives an international +stamp. Naturally this is no mere chance. It was not by chance that, at +the World's Exposition, the working men of different lands first +reached the hand one to another; it was a development of capitalism +itself, stepping upon a stage of international largeness. The +Continental powers of Europe began to rival England. Commercial +politics were first of all robbed of their exclusive character through +a series of treaties, and were directed towards the unifying of +business life throughout Europe. + +Since those first beginnings, at about the year 1860, the idea of +internationalism has never quite disappeared from proletarian +agitation, even though it may have experienced in the course of the +years essential changes in the form of its development. + +It will be my duty in what follows to show to you how this tendency +towards internationalism, after many abortive attempts, has been +really carried out, and how, in close connection with it as concerns +goal and progress, the social agitations of individual lands more and +more press towards a unity upon the principles of the Marxian +programme. + +The first form in which an attempt was made for international +combination of the proletariat is the celebrated "International." +Allow me to dwell somewhat at length upon this. It is essentially of +importance and interest for two reasons. One is that through it, and +its speedy end, a specific form of the internationalising of the +social agitation has been brought _ad absurdum_. The other is because +in it with striking clearness contradictions are presented, which +pervade all social agitation. + +It was in the year 1862, when the French working-men, at the World's +Exposition in London, agreed with the English workers to counsel +together concerning united agitation. Further conferences ensued, and +in 1864 a union was founded which had as its object the uniting of the +representatives of workmen of different lands for common action and +advance. This was the International Association. What were the duties, +what was the thought, of such a brotherhood? Apparently twofold. We +can suppose that they meant to create merely a kind of correspondence +bureau--a place where the working men of different lands might unite +in a general international secretariate, to which they might turn for +information concerning any question pertaining to the social +movement--that is, an institution far from exerting an influence upon +the agitations of the working men in the various lands. The majority +of the men who, at that time, in the beginning of the 'sixties, strove +to carry out the idea of an international union thought of it surely +in this vague form. + +The other conception goes further; a central spot should be created +for the working-men's movement, a place from which the working-men's +agitations in turn might receive assistance and inspiration, from +which influence could be exerted upon the separate national efforts. +The most important representative of the latter and larger meaning +was Karl Marx, who was called upon to play a decisive role in the +founding of the International Working-Men's Association. For him this +organisation was the first answer to his cry to the world, +"Proletarians of all lands, unite yourselves!" It is not to be doubted +that if a central organisation was to be created, to reveal a spirit +of unity and to ensure a unification of national proletarian +agitation, the Marxian spirit should control. Although he viewed the +situation clearly enough to see that extremest caution was needed, he +aimed to unite the many streams into one great river. + +The "International" was founded upon the basis of the so-called +"Inaugural Address" and the "Statutes," both of which were evolved by +Karl Marx and accepted as he presented them. In them great diplomatic +skill is revealed. The "Inaugural Address" is a masterpiece of +diplomatic finesse. It is indefinite throughout its whole structure, +rendered purposely so by Karl Marx. He aimed, by it, to cover various +parties of the time, the Proudhonists, the working-men's associations +of France, the trade unions in England, the followers of Mazzini in +Italy, the supporters of the Lassalle agitation in Germany; and it +actually accomplished this in a masterly way. It commended itself to +each and every one of them. It pictures in effective way the misery +into which the working people are plunged by capitalism; it finds +words of recognition for the results of the English trade unions. It +praises the characteristics and services of the "free-cooperative +movement"--Proudhon, Duchez; but it has also a friendly word for the +organisations which receive aid from the state--Lassalle, Blanc. + +Out of it all is drawn only this conclusion, with which all +sympathise--that the proletariat of all lands should be conscious of +an international solidarity. In some general and sentimental phrases, +which surely were traced by Marx with reluctance, national differences +find their adjustment, and their representatives find a uniting bond. +The "Statutes" were prefaced by some considerations which contained +_in nuce_ the principles of Marxism--with various concessions, as, for +example, the appeal to _verite_, _justice et morale_. But even here is +all pressure avoided. A man could, on any point of uncertainty, always +think that something else was meant, and could at least feel himself +free concerning it. Very little reference was made to the objects of +the International Working-Men's Association. Its activity during the +first years consisted essentially in the support of strikes, for which +reason it enjoyed at the beginning the lively sympathy of many outside +of the circles of working men. + +But now Marx began to develop his plan systematically; that is, slowly +to fill the International Working-Men's Association with his spirit, +and through it to support the proletarian agitation of different +lands. As we look at the congresses of this organisation, in Geneva, +1866; Lausanne, 1867; Brussels, 1868; Basle, 1869, we find that in +fact, step by step, from congress to congress, the International +Working-Men's Association supports more and more the Marxian ideas, +noticeably, and without any appearance of the moving spirit on the +scene. But now it is interesting to observe, and it shows the degree +of development which at that time the social movement had reached, +that the time for the inspiration of the whole European world of +working men with the Marxian ideas evidently had not yet come. In +proportion as the "International" began to display the spirit of Marx, +opposition raged in every quarter. The Proudhonists began to oppose +it; then the trade unions, especially after that moment when Marx +declared himself in sympathy with the Commune in Paris; the followers +of Lassalle began to grumble at it. A great part of the opposition +crystallised itself, towards the end of the 'sixties, in one man, +Michael Bakunin. As to the part which personal anger and envy played +in this opposition, we are not interested. It is possible that this +personal friction was essentially the reason for the destruction of +the "International." It seems to me, however, that at the bottom of +the antagonism of Bakunin against Marx lay a much more essential and +considerable opposition. For in 1868 Bakunin founded the _Alliance +Internationale de la Democratie Sociale_, in which he united chiefly +Italian and Spanish associations, and as well the French; and it is in +this _alliance_ that the opposition on principle to Marx's efforts +comes to clear and sharp expression. But the real point of difference +lies in the distinction which you already know between revolutionism +on the one side and the evolution idea on the other, between the +idealistic and the realistic conception of history. Bakunin based his +whole activity upon the idea of revolution by force, upon the belief +that revolutions must be made because they can be made. In opposition +to him, Marx defended the fundamental thought that a revolution is at +most the last feature of a process of development, the breaking of the +husk through the ripening of the fruit. + +The opposition of Bakunin led finally, as is well known, to the +dissolution of the International Working-Men's Association. In 1872 +its general office was transferred to New York, apparently in order to +avoid a formal burial of the organisation. + +Thus it came to pass that the Bakunists were shut out, and with them +were a number of "exclusions" from the circles of the orthodox; the +process of excommunication began, which to-day, as you know, is not +ended. Exactly the same thought lies at the bottom of the exclusion of +the Bakunists from the "International" as, this very year, in the +driving of the anarchists out of the London congress. Always again the +contradiction presents itself, socialism and anarchism; or, as deeply +understood, evolutionism and revolutionism. + +Thus was shattered that first attempt to make a union of the +proletariat of all lands, and it will be many years before the thought +of international solidarity can again rule the working man. In spite +of its speedy ruin, the "International" has large historic +significance, and this lies in the fact that for the first time it +brought the internationalism of the movement and the international +community of interest of the proletariat in some measure to clear +expression; further, in that for the first time the social movement of +different lands was made familiar with the Marxian scheme of thought, +and at the same time affected with the Marxian spirit. + +The compromises of the Marxian scheme gave the first impulse to the +general linking of international social agitation. But finally this +unification would be accomplished in a way quite other than that which +the founder of the International Working-Men's Association had +imagined. A mistake as to way was made; for this reason the +"International" went down. It had placed before itself the task of +forcing solidarity into the social movement from without, inwards. +This is a thought which is essentially un-Marxian; again, one of the +cases in which Marx was not Marxian. The way to unity should have been +reversed; from within, outwardly. First must the agitations in +individual lands be divested to some degree of their national and +contingent features, first must the general economic development be +further advanced, before the proletariat could by internal development +become conscious of its international solidarity and come to a +recognition of this unity in the chief points of its programme. + +This internal and external unification, which is the product of the +last decade, I might specify as the third stage in the development of +the social movement; and then the second stage would be the complete +saturation of the German social democracy with the Marxian spirit. +This political party becomes thereby the organ through which those +ideas spread into other lands. + +In Germany there has grown into recognition a social movement which, +at the beginning, was conducted in the spirit of both Marx and +Lassalle, but which soon came under the control of pure Marxism. I +recall the following stages of development. When thirty-two years ago +the deadly bullet struck Lassalle in Geneva, that man was removed who +alone had represented the German working-men's movement; and what he +left behind was next to nothing. His "Working-Men's Union" numbered +only four thousand six hundred and ten members at the moment when he +closed his eyes. So also immediately after Lassalle's death the +agitation was nothing more than a useless and petty strife. It was a +coterie rather than a social party. Thus the field in Germany was open +for the development of a new social-democratic movement from another +source. This was started in 1864 by Wilhelm Liebknecht, who came to +Germany as the direct envoy of Karl Marx, and with strong belief in +his ideas; the purpose was to establish the working-men's movement +upon a basis other than that of Lassalle. He won to this cause the +youthful energy of the master-turner August Bebel, who, at the age of +twenty-four, was already the leader of a number of working-men's +unions which had been until that time in advanced radicalism. These +are the organisations, you know, which in the year 1868, in Nuremberg, +seceded from Schulze to Marx. Fourteen thousand working men were +represented. The resolution through which this transfer was +accomplished was drawn by Liebknecht and was inspired by the Marxian +spirit. Thus in 1868 a new social party was formed in Germany which +took the name of the Social-Democratic Working-Men's Party, and which, +after the congress in Eisenach, stood for a time alone as the +so-called "Honorables," until in the year 1875 the union of the +Lassalle and the Bebel faction was accomplished in Gotha. Since that +time, as you know, the one "Social-Democratic Party" exists. It is +significant that the present union rests upon a compromise between +Lassalle and Marx, but is really directed by the Marxists, who step by +step have won control in the party. The "Gotha" programme remained as +the platform of the movement in Germany for sixteen years; and not +until the year 1891 was it replaced by a new platform, the "Erfurt" +programme, which now constitutes the confession of faith of the +Social-Democratic movement in Germany. It is pervaded by a strongly +Marxian spirit and contains essentially only a statement of Marxian +doctrines in accordance with the spirit of the age. Let me in a few +words present merely the lines of thought in this programme. It begins +with the phrases: + + "The economic development of middle-class society leads by a + necessity of nature to the extinction of that economic order, + production on a small scale, which rests upon the private + ownership of the workman in his means of production. It + separates the workman from his means of production, and changes + him into a possessionless proletarian; while the instruments of + production become the monopoly of a small number of capitalists + and landowners, etc." + +As you see, this programme proceeds from the fundamental thought that +economic development completes itself in a specific way; hence follow +all the other matters with which the programme deals. This special +Marxian thought, that an economic evolution is involved, has become +the central point of the Erfurt programme. It shows, further, how out +of the economic development a conflict emerges in the form of class +strife; and then it concludes that only a change to communal ownership +of the means of production can quiet this conflict. The party for +which the platform was created takes hold of the communistic thought +of the Erfurt programme in this sense, that the duty of a political +party can only be to bring to the consciousness of the workman the +existing economic revolution. + +These are the words: "To bring this warfare of the working classes to +consciousness and unity, to show the natural and necessary goal--that +is the duty of the Social-Democratic Party." This is the point that is +especially important for us--the German agitation becomes completely +saturated, rapidly and uninterruptedly, with Marxian ideas, and thus +this spirit spreads gradually into other lands. + +If you now ask me how this gradual extension of the Marxian system and +in connection with it the unification of the Marxian movement are +shown, the following, points seem to me of especial importance. In +1873 the "International" came to an end. It seemed as if, with it, the +internationalisation of the social movement in like manner had ceased. +But for about a decade past we have had again general and formal +"International Working-Men's Congresses." The year 1889 opened the +series with a working-men's congress in Paris, again at a world's +exposition. Here again, in a new and freer form, this idea of the old +"International" arises, and in a much larger form than the old +international working-men's associations had ever realised it. For +these former international working-men's associations had been really +only a combination of a number of representatives and secretaries. +The masses scarcely stood upon paper. The congresses which now again +the world of working men have created rest upon a much broader basis, +in my opinion, since, in spite of all "exclusions" and factional +strife, these international meetings represent a real combination of +working men conscious of their aim and organised for it--a fact which +we can no longer hide from ourselves, since the old English +trade-unions have become represented at the congresses. Thus the +international congresses now include the so-called "socialists" and +the trade unions as well. In spite of all differences of opinion on +certain points, at these congresses there is such expression of +internationality and solidarity on the part of the proletariat as was +never approached by any of the meetings of the old "International." +And it is certainly not by chance that the pictures of Marx and Engels +look down upon these new unions of the international proletariat. + +But let us now look at a number of evidences, which make clear to us +that the movements of different lands approach more and more to a +unanimity resting upon the leading thoughts of the Marxian programme. +There is first the important fact to remember that the French, +originally uneconomic in temperament, have now begun effectively the +trade-union agitation. The creation of _Bourses du Travail_ prove how +earnestly this part of the social movement is cultivated by the +French. Through the agitation of class strife, the general movement +towards such associations receives a new impulse. And as the French, +inclined to revolutionary and political agitation, begin to become +economic, we see on the other side the very important fact that the +English working-man recedes step by step from his purely trade-union +"Manchester" platform. + +I have never believed what some years ago was announced to the world, +in connection with a snap resolution of a working-men's congress, that +the English trade-unions would go over to the socialistic camp with +torch and trumpet. Such decisive changes in social life are not +accomplished in that way; there is needed a slow ripening. And the +proceedings of the London congress in this year (1896) prove how much +antipathy yet exists between the English trade-unions and certain +elements of Continental socialism. But in spite of all these +tendencies the fact remains that the English working-men's movement +approaches the Continental on important points; that is, it has at +least begun to be socialistic in aim and political in the means used. +That an "Independent Working-Men's Party" as yet plays no role in +England proves for the present nothing. The peculiar conditions of +English party life make a representation of the working men in +Parliament unnecessary under the circumstances. But who can doubt, in +view of the proceedings of the last decade, that the English +trade-unions, even the older ones, stretch out the hand more than +formerly towards the door-latch of legislation? Let me remind you of +the fact that with small, though deeply interested, minorities the +trade unions have written upon their programme a legal work-day of +eight hours. Also, in spite of much limitation and qualification, the +resolution of the English working-men in the year 1894 remains--the +communisation of the English means of production, at least the most +important of them, as the object of their agitation. Is that anything +other than a conversion of the English working-men's association? + +In Germany we find that the normal line, upon which the social +movement in all nations begins to arrange itself, was nearly reached +at the start. It was only necessary to throw off some of Lassalle's +peculiar ideas, those revolutionary notions which arose here and there +about the year 1870, and especially to give broader play to the +trade-union movement, in order to reach the "minimum programme" of all +social agitation. This programme is, to repeat concisely:--the object +of the social movement is the communisation of the means of production +in its largest technical development upon a democratic basis; the +means of reaching this aim is the struggle of classes; this has two +equally justifiable forms, the economic--which finds its expression in +the trade-union movement, the political--which finds its expression in +representation in Parliament. The formulation of this proposition is +the specific service of Karl Marx, as we have seen; and for this +reason I think I am warranted in speaking of the whole social movement +of our time as infused with the Marxian spirit. For it is not unknown +to you that the social agitation in lands of later capitalistic +development--Italy, Austria, and Russia--has been from the beginning +in accordance with the thought of that platform. + +If in any such way I think that I see a unification of the social +movement, that does not mean that I see a machine-like uniformity of +this movement in the different lands. I am not blind to the +innumerable diversities which are developed by the various nations, +and which are revealed every moment. I have attempted to show to you +how absolutely necessary these national peculiarities are, and to a +certain degree always will be--because of historic tradition and +difference of national character. So when I speak of a unity, I only +mean, as I have already often said, a tendency to this which struggles +to assert itself in spite of national disposition. The social +agitation will always retain a double tendency, a centripetal and a +centrifugal. The former, arising from the uniformity of capitalistic +development and from the similarity of original causes, tends towards +conformity; the latter, the product of national differences and of +manifold causes, tends to divergence. + +I have to-day attempted to show to you how the centripetal tendency +reveals itself. The object of my next lecture will be to present to +you a systematic review of the manifold points of difference which +have already often been referred to in the course of these lectures. +Thus will be completed the picture of the essentials of the modern +social movement, which I am attempting to sketch for you. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TENDENCIES OF THE PRESENT + + "Usually a man refuses to dismiss the fool that he carries + within, and to admit any great mistake, or to acknowledge any + truth that brings him to despair." + + GOETHE, _Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_. + + +Who, caring at all about what is going on in these days, has not +noticed the many contradictions which are now apparent in the great +social movement? Even the inexperienced observer, or he who stands too +near to real life to have free and wide outlook, will easily see +behind these contradictions a tendency towards a unity of effort. Now +that we have obtained a right understanding of this we shall, I hope, +do justice to these differences, these contradictions--we shall be +able to comprehend them in their essence and necessity. + +The sources out of which they spring are as numerous as the +contradictions themselves. How often a personal motive can, under +certain circumstances, appear as an essential difference! Morbid +self-conceit, desire for power, quarrelsomeness, caprice, +malevolence, lack of honour--innumerable traits of character give +occasion for friction and contention. + +But for these the social theorist cares nothing. Only that is of +importance to him which rests upon an essential difference. And of +these also there are enough, because the causes of them are numerous. +What is here decisive is the variation in the view of world and life, +is the difference of national character, is the varying degree of +vision into the essence of social development or of understanding +concerning accepted principles, is the varying measure of ripeness and +education of the masses, is the difference in economic development in +the various lands, etc. + +But I cannot possibly exhaust the points of contradiction and strife +which arise out of these manifold and effective causes. I shall here +simply present certain matters which seem to me especially important +because essentially significant. My duty as to this problem can be, +again, only that of a theorist who tries to make a clear explanation, +who desires not to work upon your will but upon your intelligence, who +does not carry in his hand the brand of agitation but the lamp of +illumination. + +If I do not pay attention to some points of difference which may seem +to you of supreme importance, it is not because I do not myself +recognise this importance, but because I suppose the contradiction +that comes to expression in them to be either out of date or only +imaginary, or because I go back of them to the deeper, essential +differences. Thus, for example, the alternative, _trade unions_ or _a +working-men's party_, is either the expression of a deeper opposition +concerning which I shall later speak, or it is a question that does +not concern us in these days. Thus concerning all those +representatives of the working-men's movement who place themselves +upon the platform of legal struggle. These men know that politics and +trade unions are like the right and left legs upon which the +proletariat marches; that political part-taking is needed in order to +obtain influence upon legislation; that economic organisation is +needed in order to discipline and educate the masses. The only +question can be now as to the degree, the more or less, of the one or +the other form of social agitation;--always within the limits of legal +agitation on the part of the working men. Any such question cannot be +general; it must be decided separately in each place and case. The +economic ripeness of the masses, the degree of political freedom, and +much else, must decide. + +In a similar way is another point of difference to be judged; shall +there be an independent working-men's party or not? You know, I have +already spoken to you a number of times concerning this, saying that +in England thus far there has been practically no independent +working-men's party; I have given to you the reasons why, as it seems +to me, any such party has been until now at least unnecessary, even if +the working men desired to busy themselves in political matters. The +political influence of the social movement is not dependent upon the +existence of an independent party of working men. Even that question +is not a general one; it must be decided according to local +circumstances. + +If we ask now for antitheses of real importance, we are met first and +especially, to-day, by that sufficiently explained opposition which is +contained in the words _revolution_ or _evolution_, the old point of +discussion which was, is, and I believe will be, a constant feature of +social agitation; that point of separation which we traced first in +the "International," and which to-day we see revived in the opposition +of the so-called "Junger" and the anarchists against the majority of +organised labour. The reasons on account of which I think that also in +the future this discussion will not cease are as follows. +Revolutionism is, as I have shown you, a manifestation of unripeness. +A man can, in a certain sense, assert that the social movement begins +anew every moment; for every day new masses arise out of the lower +strata of the proletariat yet living in stupid unconsciousness, and +they attach themselves to the social movement. These unschooled +elements, of course, in their part-taking show the characteristics of +the social movement itself in its beginnings. They find their natural +leaders in the disinherited citizens of the day, like Catiline of old, +mostly young men who have nothing to lose and who try to substitute a +fiery enthusiasm for theoretic insight and practical judgment. The +process which we have watched for a decade is one which must ever +again be repeated; the maturer elements are absorbed and disappear, +new hordes of revolutionists arise, and the process of absorption by +the riper, evolutionary, elements begins anew. Thus we see two +opposing phases of the development of social agitation that play their +part at the same time in different spheres of the proletariat. So far +as can be seen, there has been thus far an uninterrupted progress in +the absorption of the unripe revolutionary elements by the +evolutionists. + +But even here, where the idea of evolution, consciously or +unconsciously, obtains recognition as the basis of the social +movement, we meet questions, many of which, as it seems to me, arise +because of a false conception of the essence of social evolution. + +Although I have had opportunity at different times to show what social +evolution is, at least in a general way, let me here repeat concisely +what I understand by this idea; for a right comprehension of this +point is all-important. Social evolution, and the conception of the +social movement as such an evolution, rest upon the thought that we +find ourselves in a continued condition of economic and thus social +change, and that specific social interests and the necessary relations +of mastery are connected with each change; thus in proportion as the +evolution proceeds and as the activities of the interested groups +develop, the balance of power becomes displaced, with the result that +the ruling classes are slowly replaced by other classes that reach +control. Here also lies at bottom the thought that the division of +power at any given time is truly the expression of economic relations, +and is no merely accidental and artificial work; that this power can +only be displaced gradually, and only as the economic relations are +changed, and as at the same time the personal and subjective +conditions and the characteristics of the aspiring classes are +developed. In a word, social evolution is a gradual achievement of +power, the creation of a new condition of society, corresponding to +the overthrow of economic relations and the transformation and +schooling of character. + +Among the evolutionists differences have emerged owing to a confusion +of the terms "quietism" and "evolution." Especially among the Marxists +has the thought spread, that evolution is so entirely a process of +nature, independent of human activity, that the individual must let +his hands rest in his lap and must wait until the ripened fruit drops. +This quietist and, as I believe, pseudo-Marxist idea has no real +connection with the inner thought of evolution. Its fundamental +mistake lies in the fact that all the occurrences in social life are +carried out by living men, and that men complete the process of +development by placing aims before themselves and by striving to +realise these aims. + +The standpoints of the social theorist and of him who deals +practically in social life are entirely different; but men constantly +interchange the two. For the theorist, social development is a +necessary sequence of cause and effect, as he sees it in the shaping +of life compulsorily by the motives of the persons involved; and these +motives themselves he tries to understand in their limitations. For +him social life is a process rather of the past. But for the man who +deals practically in social life, it lies in the future. What the +theorist understands as the working of specified causes is, to the +practical man, an object lying in the future which his will should +help to accomplish. This very will is a necessary element in the +causation of social happening. And this will, conditioned as it may +be, is the highest personal possession of man in action. As the social +theorist seeks to show as necessary specific tendencies of the will, +and with them specific developments of the social life, he can do +this with the self-evident limitation that the energy of the +practical man in creating and accomplishing these efforts of the will +does not fail. If for any reason, for example through the pressure of +quietistic sentiment, this energy should be lessened, the most +important link in the assumed chain of causes would drop out, and the +development would take an entirely different course. It is a great +mistake to apply unqualifiedly to social life the idea of a process in +accordance with natural law; for example, to say that socialism must +come by a "necessity of nature." Socialism has nothing to do with any +such necessity. Thus, for example, we cannot see why the development +of capitalism should not lead just as well to the overthrow of modern +culture. And it must surely take this course if the leaders of advance +do not develop during the transformation of the social life the +necessary qualities for a new order of society, if they allow +themselves to sink into a marasmus or quietism. For them, all social +happening is only a condition to be created: and in order to +accomplish this in the future they need an energy of resolution. + +In close connection with the point of which we have just spoken +stands another matter, which also in the last analysis depends upon a +right understanding of the essence of social evolution. I refer to the +confusion of "ideal" and "programme"--the substitution of politics for +idealism. I mean this: superficial evolutionists, especially in the +ranks of the Marxists, are inclined to look with supreme contempt upon +idealists and enthusiasts, and to rest only upon practical politics; +they emphasise the rational to the exclusion of the ideal. That is a +conception which does not at all harmonise with the real meaning of +evolution. For evolution wants its highest social ideals to be +realised, but these are founded only upon postulates essentially +ethical. To realise these ideals it is necessary to become inspired, +to kindle a heart's glow, to develop a fire of enthusiasm. The warming +sun must shed its beams, if all is not to go under and become +darkened--with danger of the annihilation of all life. The word of the +dying St. Simon, with which he took departure from his favourite +scholar Rodriguez, is eternally true: "Never forget, my friend, that a +man must have enthusiasm in order to accomplish great things." When +this idealism and enthusiasm disappear from a movement, when its +impetus is lost, when it passes into a littleness of opportunism, into +an emptiness of small politics, it dies like a body without life. And +it is certainly one of the most unpleasant traits of many of the +modern representatives of the proletarian movement, that in the dusty +atmosphere of common politics they have lost their enthusiasm and have +sunk to the level of political malcontents. + +But on the other side, we must not confuse idealism with fantasy or +utopism. Enthusiasm for an object should be combined with common +sense. In the one is warmth, in the other clearness; in the one lies +the ideal, in the other the programme, that will offer ways and means +for reaching the end. + +Only when we learn to distinguish between these two fundamental +thoughts shall we be able to unite ideal enthusiasm with practical +common sense. For as the confusion of programme with ideal tends on +the one side to a decline into useless commonplace, so on the other +side it leads to a crippling of practical activity. But he who learns +to distinguish the road from the goal will see that tireless exertion +is needed in order to press towards the mark. An understanding of the +importance and necessity of gradual reform is only awakened as a +deeper insight into the worth and essence of the ideal is obtained. + +It must be allowed that a certain contradiction will remain in any +full understanding of the evolution idea in a social movement. We +cannot avoid the fact that the sceptical pessimist stands by the side +of the light-hearted optimist; that there will always be some who hope +for a speedy entrance into the promised land, while others are of the +opinion that the march thereto lies through the wilderness and will +last long. Hence the differences of position that men take regarding +what we call practical reforms. Men who believe that we are about to +move into a new building will not be willing to try to improve the old +structure; but those who think that the new edifice may be long in +rising will be contented to live for a while longer as comfortably as +possible in the old structure. This contradiction is in the nature of +man. It will continue ineradicable. It is enough for a man to be +conscious of its existence. + +What we have learned to recognise thus far of antithesis rests upon +essentially different conceptions of the essence of social +development or upon different interpretations of one of these +conceptions--the evolutionary. Let me now, in a few words, speak of a +matter which rests upon the different interpretations--at least when +they arise to consciousness--which men place upon the progress and the +direction of social development. This contradiction rests upon a +variation of ideal, and consequently of programme; and it may be +expressed in the antithesis _democratic or socialistic_. In order to +understand properly this most important contradiction, which to-day +stands as the central point of discussion and which finds its acutest +expression in the exciting "agrarian question," I must remind you of +something said heretofore--at that hour when I spoke to you concerning +the necessary limitation of the proletarian-socialistic ideal. You +remember that there I specified as a necessary condition for the +development of socialism as the object of the modern social movement, +the previous development of capitalism and with it the impoverishment +of the masses. There must be a thorough proletarian condition. + +But now consider the following. When the proletariat sets up this +object upon the basis of its economic conditions of existence, how +will the proletariat conduct itself with all those strata of society +who have not this same basis of economic existence? What will be the +relation of the proletariat to those masses who are not yet made +proletarian in character--as, for example, the lower middle-classes? +And there is a question yet more important--What will be the relation +of the proletariat to that part of the people, the _demos_, who cannot +possibly ever have a tendency towards becoming proletarian? Here +arises the great dilemma, and this is the deep contradiction which +comes here to expression: Shall the aim of the proletariat remain +essentially and preponderantly proletarian, or shall it become on the +whole democratic? And further, if the working-men's party will +interest itself in all these component parts of the _demos_, how shall +the proletariat conduct itself with them? If there is to be a general +democratic "people's party," what then becomes of the proletarian +programme? For this is clear: the whole reason for the existence of +socialistic agitation, as it is to-day attempted, with the cry of a +"need of nature" in the economic development, falls to the ground in +the moment when this economic development does not lead to the +proletarianisation of the masses and to the communisation of the +processes of production--to mercantile operations on a large scale. If +socialism is postulated upon any other grounds of ethics or +expediency, it cannot be "scientific" in the thought of the day. Here, +as I believe, lies the justification for the antithesis "socialistic +or democratic." And in the opposition of these two general thoughts, +each of which is represented within the social movement, is expressed +that deeply lying conflict of which we speak. + +How these tendencies will settle themselves we cannot yet clearly see. + +I believe that the following considerations may tend towards a +clearing of the situation. + +The whole strength of the social movement, all chances for the final +victory of its ideas, so far as I see, rest upon the fact that it +proposes to be the representative of the highest form of economic life +at every period of production upon the largest scale. It tries to +climb upon the shoulders of the bourgeoisie, who are now the +representatives of the most highly developed forms of economy; and it +thinks that it will be able to overtop. History teaches us that what +we call advance has always been only change to a higher system of +economy, and that those classes thrive who represent this higher +system. Behind capitalism there is no "development"; possibly there +may be ahead. The degree of production which has been reached by it +must in any case be rivalled by any party that will secure the future +for itself. In that is shown, I think, the standard of any advance +movement. + +If the social democracy is to maintain its historic mission, if it is +to be a party of advance, it must avoid compromise with the +notoriously declining classes, as the hand-workers and other +economically low organisations. Even a temporary compact with them is +dangerous. It will not be admissible, also, to change the programme +and goal of the social movement to suit the middle-class elements that +have crept in, if that great aim of production upon the largest scale +shall be held fast--because we know positively that their hand-work +represents in general a low form of economy. But now the other side of +the question. If there are spheres in economic life which are not to +be subjected to this process of communisation, because the smaller +method of business is under the conditions more profitable than the +larger,--how about the farmer? That is the whole problem which to-day +stands before the social democracy as the "agrarian question." Must +the communistic ideal of production on a large scale, and the +developed programme connected with it, undergo any essential change as +applied to the peasantry? And if a man reaches the conclusion that in +agrarian development no tendency to production on a large scale +exists, but that here operation on a large scale is not at all the +highest form of management, then we see before us the decisive +question--Shall we now be democratic in the sense of allowing +production on a small scale in this sphere and thus change our +programme and desert the communistic ideal; or shall we remain +proletarian, hold fast to the communistic ideal and exclude this class +from our movement? In this case the former decision would not be +reactionary, because, in spite of the acceptance of that lower +middle-class element into the movement, it is not necessary to come +down from the level of production that has been reached in the spheres +of industry that have been communised. + +I have here been obliged to speak doubtfully because thus far, so far +as I know, there is no certainty either as to the tendency of +development among the agriculturalists or as to the form of +management, nor are we certain as to whether any specific form of +agrarian production is the superior. But, so far as I see, the Marxian +system breaks down on this point; the deductions of Marx are not +applicable to the sphere of agriculture without change. He has said +much of importance concerning agrarian matters; but his theory of +development, which rests upon an assumption of business upon a large +scale and upon the proletarianising of the masses, and which +necessarily leads to socialism in its development, is only for the +sphere of manufactures. It does not apply to agricultural development; +and to me it seems that only a scientific investigation will be able +to fill the gap which now exists. + +Of far-reaching importance, and at this moment of pressing interest, +are two points which I would present in conclusion. I mean the +attitude of the social movement towards religion and towards +nationality. Because here personal feeling and temperament may easily +interfere with the clear vision of the observer, it is doubly +necessary to divest oneself of all passion and to deal with these +problems objectively. Let us make the attempt. Leaving out of +consideration the English working-man, who to-day, as a generation +ago, seems to oscillate between pietism and positivism, and who on +this point cannot be considered typical because of the well-known +peculiar conditions of his development, the proletarian movement +doubtless is strongly anti-religious. How comes this? + +So far as I see, the opposition to religion comes from two different +sources: it has a "theoretical" and a "practical" origin. +Theoretically the proletariat and its leaders have become heirs of the +liberal "age of illumination." Out of a superficial study of natural +sciences have sprung all these anti-religious writings of the years +1860-1880 which in an intoxication of joy announced the first +recognition of the atheistic dogma to the world. These writers never +rose above the level of "itinerant preachers of materialism," and they +have never reached to the level of the Marx-Engels conception of life. +The platform of this dogmatic atheism may be considered to-day as +entirely something of the past. There is no earnest representative of +science anywhere who to-day dares to assert that science means atheism +and excludes religion. Thus the attitude of the proletariat towards +religion would be entirely free and independent if the ground of its +irreligion were merely a theoretic and misleading incursion into the +dogmatism of natural science. But the enmity to religion has much +deeper grounds. Not only has an enthusiasm for scientific materialism +taken hold of the proletariat with special force; but also the +enthusiasm for unbelief has been helped greatly in its development by +the instinctive feeling, or the clear consciousness, that in the +materialistic conception of the world lies the germ of a mighty +revolutionary force, well suited to drive authority from all spheres +of life. What wonder that the proletariat took hold of it as a useful +weapon for the strife; for, as we know, one of the conditions of the +very existence of the proletariat lies in a tearing asunder of all the +old points of faith. Thus the predilection for materialism and atheism +is well explained. + +And now consider that the acceptance of this dogma betokens a protest +against the Christian system of thought, which the working man must +look upon as inimical because represented by the ruling classes and +used in their interests. For there can be no doubt that, in an +overwhelming majority of cases, official Christianity has been used by +the ruling classes against the movement for the emancipation of the +proletariat. The fate that falls upon heretical Christians is the best +proof of this. So long as men try to support monarchy and capitalism +as a necessary and Divine institution, using the Christian Church for +this purpose, the social movement must become anti-ecclesiastical and +thus anti-religious. Thus a mistrust as to the position, in the social +struggle, of the official representatives of the Church estranges the +proletariat from this Church and thus from religion. In the moment +that this mistrust is removed--and you all know that the new +Christian-socialists, especially in Germany, have taken this as their +task,--in the moment when Christianity is presented either as +unpartisan in its social influence, as Goehre preaches it, or as +directly social-democratic, as Naumann presents it,--in that moment, +so far as I see, there will be no reason why the proletariat should +maintain an anti-religious character. + +In saying this, of course, I assume that religion is adapted to the +needs of the proletariat. Whether or not Christianity possesses this +adaptability, I do not dare to say. But that it is thus adapted would +seem to be indicated by the fact that it became the religion of Rome +in its decadence and of the German tribes in the youthful freshness of +their civilisation, of feudalism as well as of those stages of +civilisation in which the free cities and later the bourgeoisie have +had predominance. Then why may it not also be the religion of the +proletariat? But it must be presented to the lower classes with all of +the joy of life of which Christianity is capable. For the element of +asceticism in Christianity pleases little these classes, which press +towards air and light and which do not show any inclination to allow +the good things of life to be taken from them. + +As if overhung with thick clouds of passion, appears now the question +as to the attitude of the social movement towards nationality. A great +part of the heated discussion on this point, as it seems to me, is due +to lack of clearness in thought. It is not so much our German +language, as it is our German instinct, that distinguishes between two +ideas, rightly but not always sharply separated; we are accustomed to +specify them as _patriotism_ and _nationalism_. + +Patriotism, the love of the Fatherland, is indeed a feeling that +unconsciously and without effort is held fast in our hearts, and +exists therein like love of home and of family. It is an aggregation +of impressions, of memories, over which we have no control. It is that +indefinable power exercised upon our souls by the sound of the mother +tongue, by the harmony of the national song, by many peculiar customs +and usages, by the whole history and poetry of the home land. It is +that feeling which comes to its fulness only in a strange land, and +presses as truly upon the soul of the exiled revolutionist as upon +that of the peaceful citizen. I cannot see why this should be the +heritage of a particular class. It is a foolish idea that such a +feeling may, or can, die out in the great masses of men, so long as +there are lands and peoples with their own languages and songs. + +Quite different is nationalism--the intelligent presentation, if I may +so express it, of national opinion, especially in opposition and +enmity to other nations. The modern proletariat does not simply refuse +to share this feeling; it actually fights against it. + +Here again we meet the same fact that we observed before in +connection with the attitude of the proletariat towards religion; they +identify the idea of "nationalism" with the ruling classes, and as +enemies of the representatives of the idea they turn their hatred +against the idea itself. Especially is this so because, in many lands, +it is not made easy for the rising working-men's movement to identify +itself with the official representatives of the nation; hate, +persecution, repression, are not suitable means to arouse pride in +that national structure in which the working men must live together +with those from whom all this evil proceeds. At the same time a +friendly hand is reached over the national boundary-line by the +proletariat of a strange and unfriendly land, by companions in +suffering, with similar interests and efforts. Truly it is no wonder +that the modern proletariat generally becomes imbued with an +anti-national, an international, tendency. + +But I hold it to be quite wrong to justify an anti-national theory by +this impulsive anti-nationalism. I see in the essence of modern +socialism no reason for such an idea. I have explicitly pointed out to +you the tendency towards an international understanding and unity on +the part of the proletariat. But that is only an artificial abolition +of national barriers. Only one who chases after the phantom of a world +republic will be able to imagine a social development outside of +national limitations. A man will hardly venture to prophesy with +certainty, even for only a short time, as to when the social +contradictions within a nation shall rival those points of difference +at present existing between nations. But it must be clear even to the +short-sighted that, so far as we can see, an energetic upholding of +national interests can never be entirely unnecessary. + +Even if in Western Europe the differences between nations should be so +far obviated that only social questions remain in the field, I believe +that we could never assume that this Western European civilisation can +pursue its course undisturbed and without the admixture of other +elements. We must never forget that, as a result of modern means of +communication, not only Russian civilisation threatens that of Western +Europe, but even the Asiatic more and more strongly presses upon us. +The development in Asia which we have seen in the course of the last +decade, the rapid advancement of Japan, and now the attempt of China +to enter civilisation in order to nibble at the fruits of commerce and +to grow out of its narrow circle--this development will doubtless take +a course which must of necessity lead to new international +complications. I believe that the moment will come when European +society as a whole will say to itself: All our mutual differences are +of no importance as compared with that which threatens us from this +enemy. As an indication of this see the attitude of America towards +Asiatic development. There is a case in which the "internationalism" +of the proletariat is simply thrown aside; and this would be the case +also among the proletariat of Western Europe, if the coolies should +begin to swarm over us like rats. An artificial sympathy with the most +downtrodden people would prove too weak to restrain a sound national +self-interest. So soon as a common enemy threatens the existence of a +society it becomes again conscious of its economic interests and +rallies to their support; and in the meantime its internal differences +are forgotten. + +Thus there can be no talk of an essential repudiation of nationalism +on the part of the proletariat throughout the world. Discussion of +the question concerns only a circle of kindred nations to which one +does not want to see the principle of anti-nationalism applied. How +such national groups are constituted is a question which it is not +necessary for us here to determine, as I desire only to present the +essential point in the national problem. You see that, with this +discussion, I complete the circle of my thought, and return to that +with which I began--the idea that there is, and apparently always will +be, an antithesis around which, as around poles, human history +circles, the social and the national. That is something which the +proletariat should never forget. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LESSONS + +"+Polemos pater panton.+" + +War is the father of all things. + + +Can we draw lessons from this historical review of the social +movement? I think we can, on many points; to show you what these +lessons are will be my effort in this last lecture. Perhaps I may +exert some influence upon the judgment of those who personally stand +outside of the present social strife and desire to be merely +passionless observers. And I shall be glad if, here and there among +those actively engaged in the struggle, some shall be found who will +recognise the justice of what I may say. + +It seems to me that the first impression to be made upon anyone by +quiet observation of the social movement must be that it is necessary +and unavoidable. As a mountain torrent, after a thunder-storm, must +dash down into the valley according to "iron, unchangeable law," so +must the stream of social agitation pour itself onward. This is the +first thing for us to understand, that something of great and historic +importance is developing before our eyes; to recognise "that in all +that happens and is accomplished in connection with this movement we +are in the midst of a great process of world history which with +elementary force takes hold of individuals and even nations, and +concerning which it is as wrong short-sightedly to deny the fact as +inadequately to struggle against it." (Lorenz von Stein.) Probably +there are some who believe that the social movement is merely the +malicious work of a few agitators, or that the social democracy has +been "brought up by Bismarck," and the like; probably there are some +who naturally are forced to the false idea that some medicine or charm +can drive away this fatal poison out of the social body. What a +delusion! What a lack of intelligence and insight as to the nature of +all social history! If anything has resulted from my investigation I +hope it is this--a recognition of the historic necessity of the social +movement. + +But we must advance to a further admission--that the modern social +movement, at least in its main features, exists necessarily as it is. +Among these main features I include the object that it sets before +itself, the socialistic ideal; also the means which it chooses for the +accomplishment of this ideal,--class strife. I have already attempted +to show you why these points must be allowed as the necessary result +of existing conditions. + +Now shall we who do not stand in the ranks of those who struggle for +the new social order, shall we who only tremble for the permanence of +that which seems to us necessary for the upholding of our +civilisation--shall we be greatly pained and troubled at the present +condition of things as thus shown? + +I think it hardly necessary to excite ourselves over the "dangers" of +any socialistic order of society in the future. We who know that all +social order is only the expression of specific economic relations can +face what comes with indifference; so long as these arrangements of +economic life are not given up, especially so long as the character of +the persons involved, is not completely changed, no power on earth, no +party--be it ever so revolutionary--can succeed in establishing a new +social order for humanity. And if these conditions are at any time +fulfilled--then will be the time to look further. + +But it is not this socialistic ideal of the future that principally +causes anxiety to so many men. It is rather the form in which this +ideal is striven for; it is that word of terror, uttered by +Philistines both male and female--class strife. + +I must acknowledge that for me this idea has in it nothing at all +terrible, rather the opposite. Is it really true that, even if strife +rules throughout society, man must give up entirely the hope of a +further and successful development of humanity? Is it really true that +all culture, all the noblest acquirements of the race, are endangered +by that strife? + +First let me dispel the delusion that "class strife" is identical with +civil war, with petroleum, dynamite, the stiletto, and the barricades. +The forms of class strife are many. Every trade union, every +social-democratic election, every strike, is a manifestation of this +strife. And it seems to me that such internal struggle, such conflict +of different interests and ideas, is not only without danger to our +civilisation, but on the contrary will be the source of much that is +desirable. I think that the old proverb is true as applied even to +social strife, "+Polemos pater panton.+" It is only through struggle +that the most beautiful flowers of human existence bloom. It is only +struggle that raises the great masses of the common people to a higher +level of humanity. Whatever of culture is now forced upon the masses +comes to them through struggle; the only warrant for the hope that +they can be developed into new and higher forms of culture lies in the +fact that they must rise through their efforts, that step by step they +must fight for their rights. It is struggle alone that builds +character and arouses enthusiasm, for nations as for classes. Let me +remind you of a beautiful saying of Kant's, that expresses the same +thought: "Thanks to nature for intolerance, for envious and emulous +self-seeking, for the insatiable desire to have and to rule! Without +this, all the desirable qualities of humanity would lie eternally +undeveloped. Man wants peace, but Nature knows better what is +necessary for him; she wants strife." + +And why lose courage, as we see that even in social life struggle is +the solution? To me this seems no reason for despair. I rejoice in +this law of the history of the world; that is a happy view of life +which makes struggle as the central point of existence. + +But we should never forget that as conflict is the developer of what +is good, so it may also be the disturber and destroyer of all +civilisation. It does not lead only and by necessity to a higher life, +it is not necessarily the beginning of a new culture: it can also +betoken the end of the old, and of all, human existence. + +For this reason I think that we should never lose sight of two great +ideas in this strife. + +First, all social struggle should be determinedly within legal bounds. +Thus only can the sanctity of the idea of right remain uninjured. +Without this we plunge into chaos. Man must struggle in the name of +right against that which he considers wrong, upon the basis of +existing right. Man must respect this right because it has become +right, and passes for such; and he must not forget that our fathers +struggled not less intensely for that right which to-day we hold, and +have had in heart not less enthusiasm than their sons for the right of +the future. Only thus can a man awaken and sustain faith in that which +at some future time shall be right. + +This exhortation addresses itself in like manner to both parties in +the struggle; to those who are now in power, not less than to those +who are carrying on the social agitation. _Intra muros peccatur et +extra!_ There is sin within, as without, the walls. + +The same is true of a second demand, which must be developed in the +name of culture and humanity within these struggling parties, if the +social strife is not to be a war of extermination. It must be carried +on with proper weapons, not with poisoned arrows. How greatly have +both sides been to blame in this respect! How difficult it is to keep +out of the battle on the one side bitterness, mendacity, malice; on +the other side brutality, derision, violence! How readily does the one +opponent charge dishonour or bad motive against the other! How +repellent, how offensive, too often, is the tone in which opinion is +expressed! Must that be? Is that necessary for energetic assertion of +one's standpoint? Does a man think that he loses anything by conceding +that his opponent is an honourable man and by assuming that truth and +honour will control in the dealings of his adversary? I do not think +so. The man who places himself really in the struggle, who sees that +in all historic strife is the germ of whatever occurs, should be able +easily to conduct this strife in a noble way, to respect his opponent +as a man, and to attribute to him motives no less pure than his own. + +Then is not the social struggle, according to this idea of it, as +necessary as a thunder-storm in a heavy atmosphere? He who sees in the +struggle something artificial, produced by bad men, may perhaps +attribute to the creator of the disturbance bad motives for this +knavery, for this frivolous and malicious upsetting of social rest. +But he who understands that the struggle arises necessarily out of the +constitution of social life, and that it is only a warfare between two +great principles, each of which has been, and must be, constituted by +a combination of objective circumstances--he who looks at differences +of idea as to the world and life which arise from the fact of +different standpoints and which are the necessary occasion of +differences in conditions of life--this one will come to the +conviction that even his opponent stands on much the same grounds as +he himself; that not personal baseness, but the compelling force of +fate, has placed him in a position such that he must be an opponent. +Then will it be easy, I think, to respect the other man, to refrain +from suspicion and contempt, to battle with him openly and honourably. +Shall we extol the Geneva Convention, which humanised warfare, as a +fruit of advanced culture; and yet within our kingdom, like +barbarians, without any consideration for the opponent, fly one upon +another with dishonourable weapons? + +In this the development of English social agitation can serve as a +model. It points out to us how men may conduct in social life a moral +and civilised warfare. Even upon the Continent, I hope, will the more +humane form of struggle reach acceptance, if only because it springs +of necessity from a deeper conception of what class strife really is. +So long as the battle rages legally and honourably, we need not worry +about the future of our civilisation. + +Schiller's lines show how undisturbed we may be at the social +struggle: + + "A full life is what I want, + And swinging and swaying, to and fro, + Upon the rising and falling waves of fortune. + For a man becomes stunted in quietness of life; + Idleness and rest are the grave of energy. + + * * * * * + + But war develops strength. + It raises all to a level above what is ordinary, + It even gives courage to the cowardly." + + + + +CHRONICLE OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT (1750-1896). + + +These tables contain the first attempt to make a synchronistic +presentation of the most important dates in the modern social, that +is, the proletarian, movement. We here specify these dates for the +chief countries, England, France, Germany; and as well for the +international activity of the working-men's movement. In addition, the +most important occurrences in the development of capitalism and of +social legislation, so far as they have relation of cause or effect +with the social movement, are indicated in heavy type. + + ======+=================+=================+=================+================= + YEAR.| ENGLAND. | FRANCE. | GERMANY. | INTERNATIONAL. + ------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+----------------- + 1750-|Notable | | | + 1800 |inventions of | | | + |modern | | | + |machinery: | | | + |(1764-75. | | | + |Spinning machine.| | | + |1780. | | | + |The puddling | | | + |process. | | | + |1785-90. | | | + |The machine loom.| | | + |1790. | | | + |Steam engine. | | | + |1799. | | | + |Paper machine.) | | | + |Rapid development| | | + |of the great | | | + |centres of | | | + |industry. | | | + |"Machine Riots." | | | + |Petitions to | | | + |forbid legally | | | + |machines and | | | + |manufactories, | | | + |and to | | | + |reintroduce the | | | + |Elizabethan trade| | | + |ordinances. | | | + |Laws for the | | | + |protection of | | | + |machines. | | | + | | | | + 1776 |Adam Smith | | | + |(1723-90). | | | + |"Wealth of | | | + |Nations." | | | + | | | | + 1796 | |Babeuf's | | + | |conspiracy, or | | + | |"The Equals." | | + | | | | + 1800 |Robert Owen | | | + |(1771-1858; chief| | | + |writings: "A New | | | + |View of Society,"| | | + |"Book of the New | | | + |Moral World"). | | | + |Enters the Dale | | | + |manufactory at | | | + |Lanark. | | | + | | | | + |Rigorous | | | + |prohibition of | | | + |combination. | | | + | | | | + 1808 | |Charles Fourier's| | + | |(1772-1837) first| | + | |great book | | + | |appears: "Theorie| | + | |de quatre | | + | |mouvements" | | + | |(1822: "Theorie | | + | |de l'unite | | + | |universelle," | | + | |1824: "Le nouveau| | + | |monde industriel | | + | |et societaire"). | | + | | | | + 1813-|Complete removal | | | + 1814 |of the | | | + |Elizabethan trade| | | + |restrictions. | | | + | | | | + 1815-|Struggle of the | | | + 1832 |proletariat for | | | + |political rights.| | | + | | | | + 1819 |The "Savannah" | | | + |arrives at | | | + |Liverpool. | | | + | | | | + 1821 | |Saint Simon's | | + | |(1760-1825) chief| | + | |work, "Du Systeme| | + | |Industriel," | | + | |appears (1825: | | + | |"Nouveau | | + | |Christianisme"). | | + | | | | + 1825 |More liberal | | | + |coalition law. | | | + | | | | + |Rise of the Trade| | | + |Unions. | | | + | | | | + 1830 |Opening of the | | | + |Manchester- | | | + |Liverpool | | | + |Railroad. | | | + | | | | + 1830-| |July Kingdom. | | + 1848 | |Rapid economic | | + | |development; | | + | |"Enrichissez- | | + | |vous, messieurs."| | + | | | | + 1830-| |The movement of | | + 1832 | |Bazard and | | + | |Enfantin, the | | + | |disciples of | | + | |Saint Simon. | | + | | | | + 1831 | |Insurrection of | | + | |the silk workers | | + | |in Lyons: "Vivre | | + | |en travaillant ou| | + | |mourir en | | + | |combattant." | | + | | | | + 1833 |Beginnings of | | | + |specific | | | + |legislation for | | | + |working-men. | | | + | | | | + 1834 |Grand national | |Founding of the | + |consolidated | |German | + |trade union, in | |Zollverein. | + |the spirit of | |Beginnings of | + |Robert Owen. | |national | + | | |industry. | + | | | | + 1836 | |Beginning of the | |The "Junger + | |"Journalistic" | |Deutschland" in + | |period of | |Switzerland. + | |Fourierism under | |"Bund der + | |Victor | |Gerechten"; + | |Considerant. | |with its + | |Appearance of the| |central office + | |Christian | |in London after + | |socialists (De La| |1840. + | |Mennais); the | | + | |"Icarian | | + | |Communism" of | | + | |Cabet (Voyage en | | + | |Icarie, 1840). | | + | | | | + 1836 | |Beginning of the | | + | |economic unions | | + | |(Buchez, born | | + | |1796). | | + | | | | + 1837-|The Chartist | | | + 1848 |movement. Six | | | + |points. Lovett. | | | + |Feargus O'Connor.| | | + | | | | + 1839-|Activity of | | | + 1854 |Thomas Carlyle | | | + |("Past and | | | + |Present," 1843), | | | + |and the Christian| | | + |socialists | | | + |(Charles | | | + |Kingsley, Thomas | | | + |Hughes, J.D. | | | + |Maurice). | | | + | | | | + 1839 | |Louis Blanc | | + | |(1813-1882): | | + | |"Organisation du | | + | |travail." | | + | | | | + 1840 |Rowland Hill's |Fullest | | + |penny postage is |development of | | + |introduced. The |anarchistic- | | + |telegraph is |communistic | | + |first applied to |clubbism and | | + |English |conspiracy in | | + |railroads. |"Societe des | | + | |Travailleurs | | + | |egalitaires." | | + | | | | + | |P.J. Proudhon | | + | |(1809-1865). | | + | |"Qu'est-ce que la| | + | |propriete?" | | + | | | | + 1844 |The Pioneers of | |Loom riots in | + |Rochdale. | |Langenbielau u. | + | | |Peterswaldau; | + | | |tumults of | + | | |working-men in | + | | |Breslau, | + | | |Warmbrunn, and | + | | |other places. | + | | | | + 1847 | | | |The "Bund der + | | | |Gerechten" + | | | |changes itself + | | | |into the "Bund + | | | |der + | | | |Kommunisten" + | | | |and takes as + | | | |its platform + | | | |the + | | | |"Communistic + | | | |Manifesto," + | | | |written by Karl + | | | |Marx (1818- + | | | |1883) and + | | | |Frederick + | | | |Engels + | | | |(1820-1895). + | | | |"Proletarians + | | | |of all lands, + | | | |unite + | | | |yourselves." + | | | | + 1848 | |The Paris |Communistic | + | |"February |agitation on the | + | |Revolution." |Rhine, started by| + | | |Karl Marx and | + | |Proletarian |associates. | + | |representatives |("Neue Rheinische| + | |in the |Zeitung," 1. VI. | + | |provisional |48-19. V. 49). | + | |government; |The German | + | |Louis Blanc and |working-men's | + | |Albert. 23. u. |movement captured| + | |24. VI., "June |by the | + | |insurrection." |hand-workers. | + | |The proletariat |Stefan Born. W. | + | |defeated in |Weitling. | + | |street fights. | | + | | | | + 1850-|England's | | | + 1880 |position of | | | + |industrial | | | + |monopoly in the | | | + |markets of the | | | + |world. Rapid | | | + |development of | | | + |the trade unions.| | | + | | | | + 1850-| | |Stern regulations| + 1856 | | |of the various | + | | |German | + | | |governments and | + | | |of the | + | | |Confederation for| + | | |the complete | + | | |repression of the| + | | |working-men's | + | | |movement. | + | | | | + | | |Gradual founding | + | | |of working-men's | + | | |associations and | + | | |"culture unions" | + | | |(Schulze- | + | | |Delitzsch). | + | | | | + 1851-| |Severe laws of | | + 1854 | |Napoleon III. for| | + | |the repression of| | + | |all social | | + | |agitation. | | + | | | | + 1851 |Founding of the | | |First World's + |United Society of| | |Exposition in + |Machinists. | | |London. + | | | | + 1852 | | | |The "League of + | | | |Communists" + | | | |dissolves. + | | | | + 1862 | | |Deputation of | + | | |working-men from | + | | |Leipzig to the | + | | |leaders of the | + | | |national union in| + | | |Berlin; "Honorary| + | | |members!" | + | | | | + 1863 | | |Ferdinand | + | | |Lassalle | + | | |(1825-1864; 1858,| + | | |"Heraklit, der | + | | |Dunkle"; 1861, | + | | |"System der | + | | |erworbenen | + | | |Rechte"); 1. | + | | |III.: "Offenes | + | | |Antwortschreiben | + | | |an das Central | + | | |Kommittee zur | + | | |Berufung eines | + | | |allgemeinen | + | | |deutscher | + | | |Arbeiter- | + | | |Kongresses | + | | |zu Leipzig." | + | | | | + | | |23. V.: Founding | + | | |of the general | + | | |German | + | | |working-men's | + | | |movement by | + | | |Lassalle. | + | | |Disruption after | + | | |Lassalle's death | + | | |in the male line | + | | |(Becker, J.B. von| + | | |Schweitzer) and | + | | |in the female | + | | |line (Countess | + | | |Hatzfeld). | + | | | | + 1864 | | | |Founding of the + | | | |International + | | | |Working-Men's + | | | |Association by + | | | |the delegates + | | | |of different + | | | |nations at the + | | | |World's + | | | |Exposition in + | | | |London. + | | | |Inaugural + | | | |address and a + | | | |constitution by + | | | |Karl Marx. He + | | | |remains the + | | | |veiled leader + | | | |of the + | | | |"International." + | | | |The general + | | | |office of the + | | | |Society is in + | | | |London. + | | | | + 1865 | | |Beginnings of | + | | |trade agitation; | + | | |the tobacco | + | | |workers; (1866 | + | | |the printers). | + | | | | + 1867 | | |Bismarck forces |Appearance of + | | |the general, |the first + | | |equal, secret, |volume of + | | |and direct |"Capital" by + | | |ballot. |Karl Marx. + | | | | + 1868 | | | |Founding of the + | | | |"Alliance + | | | |international + | | | |de la + | | | |democratic + | | | |sociale" by + | | | |Michael Bakunin + | | | |(1814-1876), + | | | |with + | | | |anarchistic + | | | |tendencies in + | | | |clear + | | | |opposition to + | | | |the Marxist + | | | |ideas. + | | | | + 1869 | | |Liberal trade | + | | |regulation for | + | | |the German | + | | |Empire. Rapid | + | | |development of | + | | |capitalism, | + | | |especially after | + | | |the war. | + | | | | + | | |The founding of | + | | |the "Social- | + | | |Democratic | + | | |Working-men's | + | | |Party" at the | + | | |Congress at | + | | |Eisenach: the | + | | |so-called | + | | |"Ehrlichen." | + | | |August Bebel | + | | |(born 1840); | + | | |Wilhelm | + | | |Liebknecht (born | + | | |1826). Founding | + | | |of the | + | | |"Hirsch-Duncker" | + | | |trade unions. | + | | | | + | | |The General | + | | |Assembly of the | + | | |German Catholic | + | | |unions decides | + | | |upon | + | | |participation in | + | | |the social | + | | |movement from the| + | | |Catholic | + | | |standpoint. | + | | | | + 1871 |Trade-union act, |The Paris | | + |supplemented in |Commune. | | + |1875, sanctions | | | + |the trade-union | | | + |agitation. | | | + | | | | + 1872 | | | |Congress of the + | | | |"I.A.A." at + | | | |Hague. + | | | |Exclusion of + | | | |Bakunin and his + | | | |faction, who + | | | |yet for a time + | | | |find a + | | | |standing-place + | | | |in the + | | | |"Federation + | | | |juraissienne." + | | | |Removal of the + | | | |general office + | | | |of the "I.A.A." + | | | |to New York. + | | | | + 1875 | | |Fusion of the | + | | |followers of | + | | |Lassalle with the| + | | |Eisenachers at | + | | |the congress in | + | | |Gotha. The | + | | |"compromise | + | | |platform" of | + | | |Gotha. | + | | |Gotha. | + | | | | + 1876 | |First general | |The "I.A.A." + | |French | |formally + | |Working-Men's | | dissolves. + | |Congress at | | + | |Paris. | | + | | | | + 1877 | | | |The Ghent + | | | |"World's + | | | |Congress." + | | | |Attempt for the + | | | |reconciliation + | | | |of the + | | | |Bakunists and + | | | |the Marxists + | | | |miscarries. A + | | | |general union + | | | |of + | | | |"International + | | | |Socialism" is + | | | |resolved upon + | | | |by the + | | | |Marxists, but + | | | |does not come + | | | |to importance. + | | | | + 1879-| | | | + 1890 | | |Law concerning | + | | |the socialists. | + | | | | + | | |Destruction of | + | | |working-men's | + | | |organizations. | + | | |Removal of the | + | | |strength of the | + | | |agitation to | + | | |other lands. | + | | |("Social- | + | | |demokrat" in | + | | |Zurich and | + | | |London.) | + | | | | + 1878 | | |Founding of a | + | | |conservative | + | | |Christian | + | | |Socialism by | + | | |Stoecker. | + | | | | + 1879 | |Working-Men's | | + | |Congress in | | + | |Marseilles for | | + | |the first time | | + | |gives power to | | + | |the | | + | |Collectivists. | | + | | | | + 1880 | |Working-Men's | | + | |Congress in | | + | |Havre; rupture | | + | |between the | | + | |moderates and the| | + | |radicals. The | | + | |latter constitute| | + | |themselves as a | | + | |"Parti ouvrier | | + | |revolutionnaire | | + | |socialiste | | + | |francais." | | + | | | | + 1881 |Founding of the | | | + |Social-Democratic| | | + |Federation under | | | + |the control of | | | + |Marxian | | | + |influence. | | | + | | | | + 1882 | |Working-Men's | | + | |Congress at St. | | + | |Etienne. Division| | + | |between the | | + | |Possibilists and | | + | |the "Guesdists." | | + | |The former split,| | + | |at a later time, | | + | |into "Bronssists"| | + | |("Federation des | | + | |travailleurs | | + | |socialiste de | | + | |France"), | | + | |Marxists, and | | + | |"Allemanists" | | + | |(Parti ouvrier | | + | |socialiste | | + | |revolutionnaire | | + | |francais). | | + | | | | + 1883 |Founding of the | |Beginning of | + |Fabian Society. | |governmental | + | | |working-man's | + | | |assurance; | + | | |Insurance for the| + | | |sick; 1884 | + | | |Insurance against| + | | |accident; 1890, | + | | |Insurance for the| + | | |sick and aged. | + | | | | + 1884 | |A new "Syndicate"| | + | |law favors the | | + | |development of | | + | |the trade-union | | + | |movement. | | + | | | | + 1885 | |Founding of the | | + | |"Societe | | + | |d'economie | | + | |sociale" by | | + | |Benoit Malon, the| | + | |center of the | | + | |"independent" | | + | |socialists | | + | |("Parti | | + | |socialiste | | + | |independant"). | | + | | | | + 1886 | |Founding of the | | + | |"Federation des | | + | |syndicate" at the| | + | |Congress at | | + | |Lyons. | | + | | | | + 1887 |Beginning of the | | | + |"new Unionism;" | | | + |the trade-union | | | + |movement reaches | | | + |lower strata of | | | + |the working men | | | + |with socialistic | | | + |tendencies (John | | | + |Burns, Tom Mann, | | | + |Keir Hardie). | | | + | | | | + |Independent labor| | | + |party. | | | + | | | | + 1889 | | | |Two + | | | |International + | | | |Congresses of + | | | |Working-men at + | | | |Paris + | | | |constituted by + | | | |the + | | | |"Possibilists" + | | | |and the + | | | |"Guesdists," + | | | |proclaim as the + | | | |salvation of + | | | |the proletariat + | | | |in general the + | | | |legal enactment + | | | |of an + | | | |eight-hour day + | | | |of work, and + | | | |the celebration + | | | |of May 1st as + | | | |the + | | | |working-men's + | | | |holiday. (The + | | | |first + | | | |International + | | | |Association + | | | |Congress under + | | | |the new + | | | |enumeration.) + | | | | + 1890 |The Trade-Union | | |The first May + |Congress in | | |festival of the + |Liverpool | | |proletariat in + |endorses a legal | | |all civilized + |establishment of | | |lands. + |the eight-hour | | | + |work-day by a | | |The first + |vote of 193 to | | |International + |155. | | |Miners' + | | | |Congress at + | | | |Jolimont. + | | | | + 1890 | | | |International + | | | |Working-Men's + | | | |Protection + | | | |Conference in + | | | |Berlin called + | | | |by Kaiser + | | | |Wilhelm II., + | | | |attended by + | | | |delegates from + | | | |13 nations. + | | | | + 1891 | | |A new party |Second + | | |programme for the|International + | | |Social-Democracy |Working-Men's + | | |founded |Congress at + | | |definitely upon |Brussels. + | | |Marxian | + | | |principles: the |Exclusion of + | | |so-called "Erfurt|the Anarchists. + | | |programme." | + | | | |Encyclical of + | | |Separation of the|Leo XIII., + | | |"independent" |"_Rerum + | | |socialists of |novarum_," + | | |anarchistic |defines the + | | |tendency from the|programme of + | | |Social-Democracy.|all + | | | |Catholic-social + | | | |agitation. + | | | | + 1892 | |Congress of |First general | + | |socialists at |trade-union | + | |Marseilles |Congress at | + | |resolves upon an |Halberstadt. | + | |agrarian | | + | |programme with | | + | |recognition of | | + | |small peasantry | | + | |holdings. | | + | | | | + 1893 | |First Congress of|The Social- |Third + | |the "Federation |Democracy comes |International + | |de Bourses du |out of the |Working-Men's + | |Travail." |parliamentary |Congress in + | | |elections as the |Zurich; the + | | |strongest party |English + | | |in Germany--with |trade-unions + | | |1,786,738 votes. |deliberate + | | | |officially in + | | | |union with the + | | | |continental + | | | |socialists. + | | | | + 1894 |The Trade-Union | |Beginning of a |First + |Congress at | |Democratic- |International + |Norwich declares | |Christian-Social |Weaver's + |itself by a | |agitation by |Congress at + |majority vote for| |Pastor Naumann |Manchester. + |a communization | |(Die Hilfe). | + |of the means of | | | + |production. | | | + | | | | + 1896 | | | |Fourth + | | | |International + | | | |Working-Men's + | | | |Congress in + | | | |London. + ------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+----------------- + + + + +INDEX + + +"Agrarian question," The, 158 + +Agricultural development, The Marxian theory of development not + applicable to, 159 + +_Alliance Internationale de la Democratic Sociale_, The, 128 + +Anarchism, French, 79 + +Anti-capitalistic literature, 23 + +Anti-ecclesiastical nature of the proletarian movement, 162 + +Anti-national tendency of the proletariat, 165 + +Anti-religious nature of the proletarian movement, 162 + +Asiatic development, 166 + +Assurance, Beginning of the German governmental working-men's, 191 + +Attitude of America towards Asiatic development, 167 + + +Babeuf, The insurrection of, 46 + +Bakunin, Work in Spain and Italy of, 79 + +Ballot, Bismarck's general, equal, secret, and direct, 186 + +Bebel, August, 132 + +Bourgeoisie, The, 74 + + +Capitalism, Rapid development in Germany of, 187 + +Capitalistic methods of production, 24 + +Carlyle, Thomas, 22 + +Characterisation of the social movement, 5 + +Chartist movement, The, 50 + +Christian socialism, 22 + +Class interest, Creation of, 108 + +Class strife, Various forms of, 172 + +Class struggle, 1 + +Clubbism, 73 + +Coalition law, More liberal, 180 + +"Coalition Law," The, 40 + +Combination, Rigorous prohibition of, 179 + +Communistic Manifesto of Marx and Engels, 93 + +Conditions under which the working class lives, 6 + +Constitution of 1793, The, 45 + + +Danton, 45 + +_Droits de l'Homme_, 45 + + +Eight-hour work-day, Endorsement by the Liverpool Trade-Union Congress + of an, 192 + +Elizabethan trade law, 49 + +Elizabethan trade restriction, Complete removal of, 180 + +Engels's _Struggle of Classes in France_, 119 + +English industrial monopoly, 1850-1880, 64 + +English social development, 57 + +English "social peace", 69 + +English type of working-men's movement, 53 + +English working-men's movement, Characterisation of, 62 + +English working-men, The temperament of, 68 + +"Erfurt" programme, The, 134 + +Essential elements in every social movement, 3 + +Ethical socialism, 22 + +Evolution idea, Marx's application of, to the social movement, 100 + + +Factionism, 73 + +Fourier, 32 + +Fourier, First great book of, 179 + +French "revolutionism", 53 + +French Revolution of 1789, The, 39 + +French trade-union agitation, 137 + +French type of working-men's movement, 53 + + +German social agitation, Peculiarities of, 81 + +German type of working-men's movement, 53 + +"Gotha" programme, The, 133 + +Gruen, 22 + + +Hegel, 12 + +Hess, 22 + +"Honourables," The, 133 + + +"Ideal" and "programme," Confusion of, 151 + +"Inaugural Address," The, 125 + +Insurance for the sick, against accident, for the aged, in Germany, 191 + +International combination, First attempt for, 123 + +Internationalism, 122 + +"International," The, 123 + +International Working-Men's Congress in London, Fourth, 194 + +International Working-Men's Congress in Zurich, Third, 193 + +International Working-Men's Protection Conference in Berlin, 193 + +Inventions of modern machinery, 178 + + +Japanese, The, 11 + + +Kant, 2 + +Kingsley, 22 + +Kurd, The, 11 + + +Lamennais, 22 + +Lassalle, Ferdinand, 81 + +Lassalle movement, The, 87 + +Legislation for working men, Beginning of specific, 181 + +Legislation in favour of the working man, Value of, 68 + +Leroux, Pierre, 22 + +Liebknecht, Wilhelm, 132 + +_Loi martiale_, The, 40 + +Lyons, Insurrection of the silk weavers in, 180 + + +"Machine Riots", 178 + +Machines and manufactories, Petitions against, 178 + +Machines, Laws for the protection of, 178 + +Manchester-Liverpool Railroad, Opening of the, 180 + +Manufactures, Marxian theory of development applies only to the sphere + of, 159 + +Marat, 43 + +Marxian system, Extension of the, 135 + +Marxian theory of social agitation, 93 + +Marxism, a social-political realism, 118 + +Marx, Karl, 91 + +Men of Montaigne, The, 44 + +Middle-class movements, 37 + +"Minimum programme" of all social agitation, The, 139 + +Mueller, Adam, 23 + + +Nationalism, 164 + +Owen, Robert, 25 + +Owen, Robert, Chief writings of, 179 + + +Patriotism, 164 + +Penny postage, Institution of Rowland Hill's, 182 + +Philanthropic socialism, 22 + +Practical tendency of the old English trade-union, 68 + +Proletarian agitation, The first, 47 + +Proletarian movement, Anti-ecclesiastical nature of the, 162 + +Proletarian movement, Anti-religious nature of the, 160 + +Proletariat, Ideal and material emancipation of the, 103 + +Proletariat, The relation of the, to the _demos_, 155 + +Proudhon, 74 + +Putschism, 73 + + +"Rack-rent" (Irish) tenants, 10 + +Reign of Terror, The significance of the, 75 + +Revolutionary passions in the modern proletariat, The ground of, 12 + +"Revolutionism", 16 + +Revolutionism, a manifestation of unripeness, 146 + +Revolutionist, English working-men contrasted with Roman type of, 76 + +Revolution of 1848, The proletarian-socialistic character of the, 121 + +Ricardo, David, 20 + +Robespierre, 45 + +Russian peasants, 10 + + +Sans-culottes, The, 44 + +"Savannah," Arrival at Liverpool of the, 180 + +Schulze-Delitzsch, 85 + +Sismondi, 22 + +Smith, Adam, 32 + +Smith, Adam, "Wealth of Nations", 179 + +Social agitation, Centripetal and centrifugal tendency of the, 140 + +Social agitation, Severe laws of Napoleon III. for the repression of, 184 + +"Social-Democratic Party", 133 + +Social-Democratic Working-Men's Party, 133 + +Social development, Theoretical and practical, 149 + +Social evolution, The meaning of, 147 + +Socialists, German law concerning the, 189 + +Social literature, Old and new, 19 + +Social movement of the masses, Beginnings of the, 37 + +Social movement, Characterisation of the, 75 + +Social movement, Contradictions apparent in the, 142 + +Social movement, Meaning of the, 3 + +Social movement, The political influence of the, 145 + +Social struggle, Legal bounds of, 174 + +Social struggle, Proper weapons of, 175 + +St. Simon, 32 + +St. Simon, Chief work of, 180 + + +Telegraph applied to English railroads, The, 182 + +Time environment of the modern social movement, 15 + +Tories and Whigs, Alternation of power between, 65 + +Trade regulation for the German Empire, Liberal, 187 + +Trade-union act (English) supplemented in 1875, 188 + + +Unification of the proletariat, Internal and external, 131 + +Utopian socialists, 25 + + +Value, Marx's theory of, 99 + +Variations of the social movement, 56 + +von Haller, Leopold, 23 + + +Working class, Condition of life of the, 6 + +Working-men's assurance, Beginning of the German governmental, 191 + +Working-men's movement, German governmental regulations for the + repression of the, 184 + +"Working-Men's Union," The, 132 + +World's Exposition in London, Fourth, 185 + + +Zollverein, Founding of the German, 181 + + + + +Sociology. + + +Social Facts and Forces. + + The Factory--The Labor Union--The Corporation--The + Railway--The City--The Church. By WASHINGTON + GLADDEN, author of "Applied Christianity," "Tools + and the Man," etc. 12o, $1.25. + + "The book is full of invigorating thought, and is + to be recommended to every one who feels the + growing importance of public duties."--_The + Outlook._ + + +Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century. + + By WERNER SOMBART, University of Breslau, Germany. + Translated by ANSON P. ATTERBURY. With + Introduction by JOHN B. CLARK, Professor of + Political Economy in Columbia University. 12o, $ + + "Sombart's treatise on socialism impresses me as + admirable; and the translation is certainly an + excellent piece of work."--J.B. CLARK, Professor + of Political Economy in Columbia University. + + +The Sphere of the State, + + or, The People as a Body Politic. By FRANK S. + HOFFMAN, A.M., Professor of Philosophy, Union + College. Second edition. 12o, $1.50. + + "Professor Hoffman has done an excellent piece of + work. He has furnished the student with a capital + text-book and the general reader, who is + interested in political science, with much that + is suggestive, much that is worthy of his careful + attention." + + +Anarchism. + + A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory. By + E.V. ZENKER. 12o, $1.50. + + "The fullest and best account of anarchism ever + published.... A most powerful and trenchant + criticism."--_London Book Gazette._ + + +G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York & London. + + + + +Economics. + + +Hadley's Economics. + + An Account of the Relations between Private + Property and Public Welfare. By ARTHUR TWINING + HADLEY, Professor of Political Economy, in Yale + University. 8o, $2.50 _net_. + + The work is now used in classes in Yale, + Princeton, Harvard, Amherst, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, + Vanderbilt, Bucknell, Bates, Leland Stanford, + University of Oregon, University of California, + etc. + + "The author has done his work splendidly. He is + clear, precise, and thorough.... No other book has + given an equally compact and intelligent + interpretation."--_American Journal of Sociology._ + + +The Bargain Theory of Wages. + + By JOHN DAVIDSON, M.A., D Phil. (Edin.), Professor + of Political Economy in the University of New + Brunswick. 12mo, $1.50. + + A Critical Development from the Historic + Theories, together with an examination of Certain + Wages Factors: the Mobility of Labor, Trades + Unionism, and the Methods of Industrial + Remuneration. + + +Sociology. + + A Treatise. By JOHN BASCOM, author of "AEsthetics," + "Comparative Psychology," etc. 12o, $1.50. + + "Gives a wholesome and inspiring word on all the + living social questions of the day; and its + suggestions as to how the social life of man may + be made purer and truer are rich with the finer + wisdom of the time. The author is always liberal + in spirit, generous in his sympathies, and wise + in his knowledge."--_Critic._ + + +A General Freight and Passenger Post. + + A Practical Solution of the Railroad Problem. By + JAMES L. COWLES. Third revised edition, with + additional material. 12o, cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 + cts. + + "The book gives the best account which has thus + far been given in English of the movement for a + reform in our freight and passenger-tariff + policy, and the best arguments in favor of such + reform."--EDMUND J. JAMES, in the _Annals of + Political and Social Science_. + + "The book treats in a very interesting and + somewhat novel way of an extremely difficult + subject and is well worth careful reading by all + students of the transportation question."--From + letter of EDW. A. MOSELEY, Secretary of the + Interstate Commerce Commission, Washington, D.C. + + +G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York & London. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Socialism and the Social Movement in +the 19th Century, by Werner Sombart + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT *** + +***** This file should be named 35210.txt or 35210.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/1/35210/ + +Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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