1 files changed, 14269 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/35572.txt b/35572.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..388a361
--- /dev/null
+++ b/35572.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14269 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Socialism and Democracy in Europe, by Samuel P. Orth
+
+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 Democracy in Europe
+
+Author: Samuel P. Orth
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2011 [EBook #35572]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved. Bold text is represented =like so=.       |
+    | Superscripted text is represented like^{so}.
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+    | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  SOCIALISM AND
+  DEMOCRACY IN
+  EUROPE
+
+  By
+
+  SAMUEL P. ORTH, PH.D.
+
+  _Author of "Five American Politicians" "Centralization of
+  Administration in Ohio," etc._
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+  1913
+
+
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1913
+  BY
+  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+
+  Published January, 1913
+
+  THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
+  RAHWAY, N.J.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+It is becoming more and more evident that democracy has served only
+the first years of its apprenticeship. Political problems have served
+only to introduce popular government. The economic problems now
+rushing upon us will bring the real test of democracy.
+
+The workingman has taken an advanced place in the struggle for the
+democratization of industry. He has done so, first, through the
+organization of labor unions; secondly, through the development of
+political parties--labor parties. The blend of politics and economics
+which he affects is loosely called Socialism. The term is as
+indefinite in meaning as it is potent in influence. It has spread its
+unctuous doctrines over every industrial land, and its representatives
+sit in every important parliament, including our Congress.
+
+Such a movement requires careful consideration from every point of
+view.
+
+It is the object of this volume to trace briefly the growth of the
+movement in four leading European countries, and to attempt to
+determine the relation of economic and political Socialism to
+democracy--a question of peculiar interest to the friends of the
+American Republic at this time.
+
+In preparing this volume, the author has made extended visits to the
+countries studied. He has tried to catch the spirit of the movement by
+personal contact with the Socialist leaders and their antagonists,
+and by many interviews with laboring men, the rank and file in every
+country visited.
+
+Everywhere he was received with the greatest cordiality, and he wishes
+here to express his appreciation of these many kindnesses.
+
+He wishes especially to acknowledge his obligations to the following
+gentlemen: Mr. Graham Wallas of the University of London; Mr. W.G.
+Towler of the London Municipal Society; Mr. John Hobson of London, and
+Mr. J.S. Middleton, assistant secretary of the Labor Party; to Dr.
+Robert Herz and Prof. Charles Gide of the University of Paris; Dr.
+Albert Thomas and M. Adolphe Landry of the Chamber of Deputies; M.
+Jean Longuet, editor of _L'Humanite_; to Dr. Franz Oppenheimer of the
+University of Berlin; Dr. Suedekum of the Reichstag; Dr. Hilferding,
+editor of _Vorwaerts_; Prof. T.H. Norton, American Consul at Chemnitz;
+M. Camille Huysmans, secretary of the "International," Brussels; as
+well as to many American friends for providing letters of introduction
+which opened many useful and congenial doorways.
+
+                                                           S.P.O.
+  January, 1913.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                      PAGE
+
+     I. WHY DOES SOCIALISM EXIST?                               1
+
+    II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM                           17
+
+   III. The Political Awakening of Socialism--The Period
+        of Revolution                                          42
+
+    IV. THE POLITICAL AWAKENING OF SOCIALISM--THE
+        INTERNATIONAL                                          56
+
+     V. THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF FRANCE                          75
+
+    VI. THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY                               118
+
+   VII. THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY                           146
+
+  VIII. GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND LABOR UNIONS              171
+
+    IX. THE ENGLISH LABOR PARTY                               207
+
+     X. CONCLUSION                                            250
+
+        APPENDIX                                              273
+
+        INDEX                                                 347
+
+
+
+
+SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION--WHY DOES SOCIALISM EXIST?
+
+
+The answer to this question will bring us nearer to the core of the
+social movement than any attempted definition. The French Socialist
+program begins with the assertion, "Socialism is a question of class."
+Class distinction is the generator of Socialism.
+
+The ordinary social triptych--upper, middle, and lower classes--will
+not suffice us in our inquiry. We must distinguish between the
+functions of the classes. The upper class is a remnant of the feudal
+days, of the manorial times, when land-holding brought with it social
+distinction and political prerogative. In this sense we have no upper
+class in America. The middle class is composed of the business and
+professional element, and the lower class of the wage-earning element.
+
+There are two words, as yet quite unfamiliar to American readers,
+which are met with constantly in European works on Socialism and are
+heard on every hand in political discussions--_proletariat_ and
+_bourgeois_. The proletariat are the wage-earning class, the poor,
+the underlings. The bourgeois[1] are roughly the middle class. The
+French divide them into _petits_ bourgeois and _grands_ bourgeois.
+Werner Sombart divides them into lower middle class, the manual
+laborers who represent the guild system, and bourgeoisie, the
+representatives of the capitalistic system.[2]
+
+It will thus be seen that these divisions have a historical basis. The
+upper class reflect the days of feudalism, of governmental prerogative
+and aristocracy. The middle class are the representatives of the guild
+and mercantile systems, when hand labor and later business acumen
+brought power and wealth to the craftsman and adventurer. The lower
+class are the homologues of the slaves, the serfs, the toilers, whose
+reward has constantly been measured by the standard of bare existence.
+Socialism arises consciously out of the efforts of this class to win
+for itself a share of the powers of the other classes. It is necessary
+to understand that while this class distinction is historic in origin
+it is essentially economic in fact. It is not "social"; a middle-class
+millionaire may be congenial to the social circles of the high-born.
+It is not political; a workingman may vote with any party he chooses.
+He may ally himself with the conservative Center as he sometimes does
+in Germany, or with the Liberal Party as he sometimes does in England,
+or with either of the old parties as he does in the United States. On
+the other hand, a bourgeois may be a Socialist and vote with the
+proletarians. Indeed, many of the Socialist leaders belong to the
+well-to-do middle class.
+
+This class distinction, then, is economic. It is a distinction of
+function, the function of the capitalist and the function of the
+wage-earner. Let us go one step further; it is a distinction in
+property. The possessor of private wealth can become a capitalist by
+investing his money in productive enterprise. He then becomes the
+employer of labor. There are all grades of capitalists, from the
+master wagon-maker who works by the side of his one or two workmen, to
+the "captain" of a vast industry that gives employment to thousands of
+men and turns out a wagon a minute.
+
+The institution of private property is the basis of Socialism because
+it is the basis of capitalistic production. It places in one man's
+hands the power of owning raw material, machinery, land, factory, and
+finished product; and the power of hiring men to operate the
+machinery, and to convert the raw material into marketable wares. As
+long as this power was limited to hand industry the proletarian
+movement was abortive. When the industrial revolution linked the
+ingenuity of man to the power of nature it so multiplied the potency
+of the possessor that the proletarian movement by stress of
+circumstances became a great factor in industrial life.
+
+While the possession either of wealth or family tradition was always
+the basis of class distinction, the industrial revolution brought with
+it the enormously multiplied power of capital and the glorification of
+riches. The proletarians multiplied rapidly in number, and all the
+evils of sharp class distinction were heightened. In all lands where
+capitalistic production spread, the two classes grew farther apart,
+the distinction between possessor and wage-earner increased.
+
+It is not the mere possession of wealth, however, which forms the
+animus of the Socialist movement. It is probably not even the abuse of
+this wealth, although this is a large factor in the problem. It is the
+psychological effect of the capitalist system that is the real
+enginery of Socialism. It is the class feeling, the consciousness of
+the workingman that he is contributing muscle and blood and sweat to
+the perfection of an article whose possession he does not share. This
+feeling is aroused by the contrasts of life that the worker constantly
+sees around him. He feels that his own life energy has contributed to
+the magnificent equipages and the palatial luxuries of his employer.
+He compares his own lot and that of his family with the lot of the
+capitalist. This feeling of envy is not blunted by the kaleidoscopic
+suddenness with which changes of fortune can take place in America
+to-day. By some stroke of luck or piece of ingenious planning, a
+receiver of wages to-day may be the giver of wages to-morrow.
+
+Nor does the spread of education and intelligence dull the contrasts.
+It greatly heightens them. The workman can now begin to analyze the
+conditions under which he lives. He ponders over the distinctions that
+are actual and contrasts them with his imagined utopia. To him the
+differences between employer and employee are not natural. He does not
+attribute them to any fault or shortcoming or inferiority of his own,
+nor of his master, but to a flaw in the organization of society. The
+social order is wrong.
+
+The workingman has become the critic. Here you have the heart of
+Socialism. Whatever form its outward aspect may take, at heart it is a
+rebellion against things as they are. And whatever may be the
+syllogisms of its logic, or the formularies of its philosophy, they
+all begin with a grievance, that things as they are are wrong; and
+they all end in a hope for a better society of to-morrow where the
+inequalities shall somehow be made right.
+
+In his struggle toward a new economic ideal, the proletarian has
+achieved a class homogeneity and self-consciousness. The individuality
+that is denied him in industry he has sought and found among his own
+brethren. In the great factory he loses even his name and becomes
+number so-and-so. In his union and in his party he asserts his
+individuality with a grim and impressive stubbornness. The gravitation
+of common ideals and common protests draws these forgotten particles
+of industrialism into a massed consciousness that is to-day one of the
+world's great potencies. The very fact that we call this body of
+workers "the masses" is significant. We speak of them as a geologist
+speaks of his "basement complex." We recognize unconsciously that they
+form the foundation of our economic life.
+
+The class struggle, then, is between two clearly defined and
+self-conscious elements in modern industrial life that are the natural
+product of our machine industry. On the one hand is the business man
+pursuing with fevered energy the profits that are the goal of his
+activity; on the other hand are the workingmen who, more and more
+sullen in their discontent, are clamoring louder each year for a
+greater share of the wealth they believe their toil creates.
+
+There is some reason to believe that this class basis of Socialism is
+vanishing. In England J. Ramsay MacDonald denies its significance.[3]
+Revisionists and progressive Socialists, who are throwing aside the
+Marxian dogmas, are also preaching the universality of the Socialist
+conception. However, the economic factor based on class functions
+remains the essence of the social movement.[4]
+
+What are the ideals of Socialism? They are not merely economic or
+social, they embrace all life. After one has taken the pains to read
+the more important mass of Socialist literature, books, pamphlets, and
+some current newspapers and magazines, and has listened to their
+orators and talked with their leaders, confusion still remains in the
+mind. The movement is so all-embracing that it has no clearly defined
+limits. The Socialists are feeling their way from protest into
+practice. Their heads are in the clouds; of this you are certain as
+you proceed through their books and listen to their speeches. But are
+their feet upon the earth?
+
+For a literature of protest against "suffering, misery, and
+injustice," as Owen calls it, there is a wonderful buoyancy and hope
+in their words. It is one of the secrets of its power that Socialism
+is not the energy of despair. It is the demand for the right to live
+fully, joyfully, and in comfort. The Socialists demand ozone in their
+air, nutrition in their food, heartiness in their laughter, ease in
+their homes, and their days must have hours of relaxation.
+
+The awakening aspirations of the proletarian were expressed by one of
+their own number, William Weitling, a tailor of Magdeburg. He
+afterwards migrated to America and became one of our first Socialist
+agitators. His book is called _Garantieen der Harmonie und Freiheit_
+(Guaranties of Harmony and Liberty). The book is illogical, full of
+contradictions, and all of the errors of a child's reasoning. But it
+remains the workingman's classic philippic, one of the most trenchant
+recitals of social wrongs, because it blends, with the illogical
+terminology of sentimentalism, the assurance of hope. "Property," he
+says, "is the root of all evil." Gold is the symbol of this world of
+wrongs. "We have become as accustomed to our coppers as the devil to
+his hell." When the rule of gold shall cease, then "the teardrops
+which are the tokens of true brotherliness will return to the dry eyes
+of the selfish, the soul of the evildoer will be filled with noble and
+virtuous sentiments such as he had never known before, and the impious
+ones who have hitherto denied God will sing His praise." The humble
+tailor is assured that the reign of property will be terminated and
+the age of humanity begin, and he calls to the workingman, "Forward,
+brethren; with the curse of Mammon on our lips, let us await the hour
+of our emancipation, when our tears will be transmuted into pearls of
+dew, our earth transformed into a paradise, and all of mankind united
+into one happy family."[5] Nor is the closing cry of his book without
+an element of prophecy. He addresses the "mighty ones of this earth,"
+admonishing them that they may secure the fame of Alexander and
+Napoleon by the deeds of emancipation which lie in their power. "But
+if you compel us (the proletarians) to undertake the task alone with
+our raw material, then it will be accomplished only after weary toil
+and pain to us and to you."
+
+Let us turn to Robert Owen, who was at an early age the most
+successful cotton spinner in England. He adapted an old philosophy to
+a new humanitarianism. He saw that a "gradual increase in the number
+of our paupers has accompanied our increasing wealth."[6] He began the
+series of experiments which made his name familiar in England and
+America and made him known in history as the greatest experimental
+communist. His experiments have failed. But his hopefulness persists.
+In his address delivered at the dedication of New Lanark, 1816, he
+said that he had found plenty of unhappiness and plenty of misery.
+"But from this day a change must take place; a new era must commence;
+the human intellect, through the whole extent of the earth, hitherto
+enveloped by the grossest ignorance and superstition, must begin to be
+released from its state of darkness; nor shall nourishment henceforth
+be given to the seeds of disunion and division among men. For the time
+has come when the means may be prepared to train all the nations of
+the world in that knowledge which shall _impel them not only to love
+but to be actively kind to each other in the whole of their conduct,
+without a single exception_."
+
+Here is an all-inclusive hopefulness. Its significance is not
+diminished by the fact that it was spoken of his own peculiar remedy
+by education and environment.
+
+This faith and hope runs through all their books like a golden song.
+Excepting Marx, he was the great gloomy one. Even those who condemn
+modern society with the most scathing adjectives link with their
+denunciations the most sanguine sentences of hope.
+
+The Christian Socialism of Kingsley is filled with optimism. "Look up,
+my brother Christians, open your eyes, the hour of a new crusade has
+struck."[7]
+
+The song of the new crusade was sung by Robert Morris:
+
+    "Come, shoulder to shoulder ere the world grows older!
+      Help lies in naught but thee and me;
+    Hope is before us, the long years that bore us,
+      Bore leaders more than men may be.
+
+    "Let dead hearts tarry and trade and marry,
+      And trembling nurse their dreams of mirth,
+    While we, the living, our lives are giving
+      To bring the bright new world to birth."
+
+This song of hope is sung to-day by thousands of marching Socialists.
+Their bitter experiences in parliaments and in strikes, and all the
+warfare of politics and trade, have not blighted their rosy hope. They
+are still looking forward to "the bright new world," in which a new
+social order shall reign.
+
+Linked with this optimism is a certain prophetic tone, an elevation of
+spirit that lifts some of their books out of the commonplace. The
+sincerity of these prophets of Socialism contributes this quality more
+than does their originality of mind.
+
+In their search for happiness the Socialists see a great barrier in
+their way. The barrier is want, poverty. There are no greater
+contrasts, mental and temperamental, than between John Stuart Mill,
+the erudite economist and philosopher, and H.G. Wells, the romancer
+and sentimental critic of things as they are. Both begin their attacks
+upon the social order at the same point--the vulnerable spot,
+_poverty_. Mill places it first in his category of existing evils. He
+asks, "What proportion of the population in the most civilized
+countries of Europe enjoy, in their own person, anything worth naming
+of the benefits of property?" "Suffice it to say that the condition of
+numbers in civilized Europe, and even in England and France, is more
+wretched than that of most tribes of savages who are known to us."[8]
+
+Wells bases his racy criticism in his popular book, _New Worlds for
+Old_, on the facts revealed in the reports of various charity
+organizations in Edinburgh, York, and London. To both the exacting
+economist and the popular expositor of Socialism, poverty is the
+glaring fault of our social system. To Wells poverty is an "atrocious
+failure in statesmanship."[9] To Mill it is "_pro tanto_ a failure of
+the social arrangement."[10]
+
+These examples are typical. Every school of Socialism finds in poverty
+the curse, in private property the cause, of human misery, and in a
+readjusted machinery of social production the hope of human
+betterment.
+
+All Socialists, learned and unlearned, agree that poverty is the
+stumbling-block in the pathway to better social conditions. They all
+agree as to the causes of poverty: first, private capitalistic
+production; second, competition. It is private capitalistic production
+that enables the employer to pocket all the profits; it is competition
+that enables him to buy labor in an open market at the lowest possible
+price, a price regulated by the necessities of bare existence. To the
+Socialist, competition is anarchy, an anarchy that leaves "every man
+free to ruin himself so that he may ruin another."[11]
+
+To do away with private capital and to abolish competition means
+bringing about a tremendous change in society. All Socialists
+unhesitatingly and with boldness are ready, even eager, to make such a
+change. The problem is not insuperable to them.
+
+The three theories that underlie Socialism permit the hope of the
+possibility of a social regeneration. These theories are, first, that
+God made the world good, hence all you need to do is to revert to this
+pristine goodness and the world is reformed. Second, that society is
+what it is through evolution. If this is true then it is only
+necessary to control by environment the factors of evolution and the
+product will be preordained. Third, that even if man is bad and has
+permitted pernicious institutions like private property to exist, he
+can remake society by a bold effort, i.e., by revolution, because all
+social power is vested in man and he can do as he likes. The ruling
+class can impose its social order upon all. When the Socialist becomes
+the ruling class his social system will be adopted.
+
+This great change which the Socialist has in mind means the
+substitution of co-operation for competition and the placing of
+productive property in the care of the state or of society, instead
+of letting it remain under the domination of individuals. To abolish
+private productive capital by making it public, to establish a
+communistic instead of a competitive society, that is the object.
+
+In the Socialist's new order of society, where poverty will be
+unknown, there is to be a common bond. This bond is not possession,
+but work. With glowing exultation all the expositors and exhorters of
+the proletarian movement dwell upon the blessedness of toil. They
+glorify man, not through his inheritance of personality, certainly not
+through his possession of things, but through his achievements of
+toil.
+
+When all members of society work at useful occupations, then all the
+necessary things can be done in a few hours. Six or four, or some even
+say two, hours a day will be sufficient to do all the drudgery and the
+essential things in a well-organized human beehive. There is to be
+nothing morose or despondent in this toil. It is all to be done to the
+melody of good cheer and willingness.
+
+How is this great change to come about, and what is to be the exact
+organization of society under this regime of work and co-operation?
+Here unanimity ceases. As a criticism Socialism is unanimous, as a
+method it is divided, as a reconstructive process it is hopelessly at
+sea.
+
+At first Socialists were utopians, then they became revolutionists.
+This was natural. Socialism was born in an air of revolution--the
+political revolutions of the bourgeois, and the infinitely greater
+industrial revolution. The tides of change and passion were rocking
+the foundations of state and industry. The evils in early
+industrialism were abhorrent. Small children and their mothers were
+forced into factories, pauperism was thriving, the ugly machine-fed
+towns were replacing the quaint and cheerful villages, rulers were
+forgetting their duties in their greed for gain, and the state was
+persecuting men for their political and economic opinions. Every face
+was turned against the preachers of the new order, and they naturally
+thought that the change could be brought about only by violence and
+revolution. Louis Blanc said "a social revolution ought to be tried:
+
+"Firstly, because the present social system is too full of iniquity,
+misery, and turpitude to exist much longer.
+
+"Secondly, because there is no one who is not interested, whatever his
+position, rank, and fortune, in the inauguration of a new social
+system.
+
+"Thirdly, and lastly, because this revolution, so necessary, is
+possible, even easy to accomplish peacefully."[12]
+
+These are the naive words of a young man of thirty-seven, the youngest
+member of the ill-fated revolutionary government of France in 1848.
+Not every one thought that the revolution could be peacefully
+accomplished, and, it must be admitted, few seemed to care.
+
+In their "Communist Manifesto," the most noted of all Socialist
+broadsides, Marx and Engels know of no peaceful revolution. They close
+with these virile words: "The communists disdain to conceal their
+views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained
+only by the forcible overthrow of all existing conditions. Let the
+ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians
+have nothing to lose but their chains. They have the world to win.
+Workingmen of all countries, unite!"
+
+These words are often quoted even in these placid days of evolution
+that have replaced the red days of violence. The workingmen of all
+countries are uniting, as we shall see, not for bloody revolution nor
+for the violence of passion, but for the promulgation of peace. To-day
+the silent coercion of multitudes is taking the place of the eruptive
+methods of the '40's and the '70's.
+
+As to the ultimate form of organized society, there is nothing but
+confusion to be found in the mass of literature that has grown up
+around the subject. The earliest writers were cocksure of themselves;
+the latest ones bridge over the question with wide-arching
+generalities. I have asked many of their leaders to give me some hint
+as to what form their Society of To-morrow will take. Every one
+dodged. "No one can tell. It will be humanitarian and co-operative."
+
+If one could be assured of this!
+
+Finally, all Socialists agree in the instrument of change. It lies at
+hand as the greatest co-operative achievement of our race, the state.
+It is the common possession of all, and it is the one power that can
+lay its hands upon property and compel its obedience. The power of the
+state is to be the dynamo of change. This state is naturally to be
+democratic. The people shall hold the reins of power in their own
+hands.
+
+It must be remembered that every year sees a shifting in the
+Socialist's attitude. As he has left the sphere of mere fault-finding
+and of dreaming, and has entered politics, entered the labor war
+through unions, and the business war through co-operative societies,
+he has been compelled to adapt himself to the necessities of things as
+they are.
+
+I have tried briefly to show that Socialism originated as a class
+movement, a proletarian movement; that the classes, wage-earner and
+capitalist, are the natural outcome of machine production; that
+Socialism is one of the natural products of the antagonistic relations
+that these two classes at present occupy; that Socialism intends to
+eliminate this antagonism by eliminating the private employer. I have
+tried to show also that Socialism is a criticism of the present social
+order placing the blame for the miseries of society upon the shoulders
+of private property and competition; that it is optimistic in spirit,
+buoyant in hope; and that its program of reconstruction is confused
+and immature.
+
+Stripped of its glamour, our society is in a neck-to-neck race for
+things, for property. Its hideousness has shocked the sensibilities of
+dreamers and humanitarians. Our machine industry has produced a
+civilization that is ugly. It is natural that the esthetic and
+philanthropic members of this society should raise their protest.
+Ruskin and Anatole France and Maeterlinck and Carlyle and Robert
+Morris and Emerson and Grierson are read with increasing satisfaction.
+It is natural that the participants in this death race should utter
+their cries of alternate despair and hope. Socialism is the cry of the
+toiler. It is not to be ignored. We in America have no conception of
+its potency. There are millions of hearts in Europe hanging upon its
+precepts for the hope that makes life worth the fight.
+
+Their Utopia may be only a rainbow, a mirage in the mists on the
+horizon. But the energy which it has inspired is a reality. It has
+organized the largest body of human beings that the world has known.
+Its international Socialist movement has but one rival for homogeneity
+and zeal, the Church, whose organization at one time embraced all
+kingdoms and enlisted the faithful service of princes and paupers.
+
+It is this reality in its political form which I hope to set forth in
+the following pages. We will try to discover what the Socialist
+movement is doing in politics, how much of theory has been merged in
+political practice, what its everyday parliamentary drudgery is, and,
+if possible, to tell in what direction the movement is tending.
+
+Before we do this it is necessary to state briefly the history of the
+underlying theories of the movement.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] "By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners
+of the means of social production, and employers of wage-labor. By
+proletariat, the class of modern wage-laborers, who, having no means
+of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power
+in order to live."--FREDERICK ENGELS, _Notes on the Communist
+Manifesto_, 1888.
+
+[2] See SOMBART, _Socialism and the Social Movement_, Introduction,
+for discussion of the class movement.
+
+[3] _The Socialist Movement_, p. 147.
+
+[4] The all-embracing character of Socialism was eloquently phrased by
+Millerand in 1896: "In its large synthesis Socialism embraces every
+manifestation of life, because nothing human is alien to it, because
+it alone offers to-day to our hunger for justice and happiness an
+ideal, purely human and apart from all dogma." See ENSOR, _Modern
+Socialism_, p. 53.
+
+[5] _Garantieen der Harmonie und Freiheit_, pp. 57-58, edition of
+1845.
+
+[6] Letter I, addressed to David Ricardo.
+
+[7] Tract No. IV.
+
+[8] _Socialism_, pp. 71-72.
+
+[9] WELLS, _New Worlds for Old_, p. 36.
+
+[10] MILL, _Socialism_, p. 72.
+
+[11] LOUIS BLANC, _The Right to Labor_, p. 63.
+
+[12] _Organization of Labor_, p. 87, 1847.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM
+
+
+I
+
+Socialism began in France, that yeast-pot of civilization. It began
+while the Revolution was still filling men's minds with a turbulent
+optimism that knew no limit to human "progress."
+
+Saint-Simon (Count Henri de) may be considered the founder of French
+Socialism. He was of noble lineage, born in 1760, and died in 1825. He
+took very little part in the French Revolution, but was a soldier in
+our Continental army, and always manifested a keen interest in
+American affairs. Possessed of an inquiring mind, an ambitious spirit,
+and a heart full of sympathy for the oppressed, he devoted himself to
+the study of society for the purpose of elaborating a scheme for
+universal human betterment.
+
+Before he began his special studies he amassed a modest fortune in
+land speculation. Not that he loved money, he assures us, but because
+he wished independence and leisure to do his chosen work. This money
+was soon lost, through unfortunate experiments and an unfortunate
+marriage, and the most of his days were spent in penury.
+
+He attracted to himself a number of the most brilliant young men in
+France, among them De Lesseps who subsequently carried out one of the
+plans of his master, the Suez Canal; and Auguste Comte, who embodied
+in his positivism the philosophical teachings of Saint-Simon.
+
+Saint-Simon believed that society needed to be entirely reorganized on
+a "scientific basis," and that "the whole of society ought to labor
+for the amelioration of the moral and physical condition of the
+poorest class. Society ought to organize itself in the manner the most
+suitable for the attainment of this great end."[1]
+
+The two counteracting motives or spirits in society are the spirit of
+antagonism and the spirit of association. Hitherto the spirit of
+antagonism has prevailed, and misery has resulted. Let the spirit of
+association rule, and the evils will vanish.
+
+Under the rule of antagonism, property has become the possession of
+the few, poverty and misery the lot of the many. Both property and
+poverty are inherited, therefore the state should abolish all laws of
+inheritance, take all property under its dominion, and let society be
+the sole proprietor of the instruments of labor and of the fund that
+labor creates.
+
+Through the teachings of Saint-Simon runs a constant stream of
+religious fervor. In Christianity he found the moral doctrine that
+gave sanction to his social views. He sought the primitive
+Christianity, stripped of the dogmas and opinions of the centuries. In
+his principal work, _Nouveau Christianisme_ (New Christianity), he
+subjects the teachings of Catholicism and Protestantism to ingenious
+criticism, and finds in the teachings of Christ the essential moral
+elements necessary for a society based on the spirit of association.
+
+Saint-Simon was a humanitarian rather than a systematic thinker. His
+analysis of society is ingenious rather than constructive. His
+teachings were elaborated by his followers, who organized themselves
+into a school called the "Sacred College of the Apostles," with Bazard
+and Enfantin as their leaders. They were accused, in the Chamber of
+Deputies, of promulgating communism of property and wives. Their
+defense, dated October, 1830, and issued as a booklet, is the best
+exposition of their views. They said that: "We demand that land,
+capital, and all the instruments of labor shall become common
+property, and be so managed that each one's portion shall correspond
+to his capacity, and his reward to his labors." "Like the early
+Christians, we demand that one man should be united to one woman, but
+we teach that the wife should be the equal of the husband."
+
+On the question of marriage, however, the sect split soon after this
+defense was written. Enfantin became a defender of free love, and
+inaugurated a fantastic sacerdotalism which drove Bazard from the
+"Sacred College."[2]
+
+The second French social philosopher of the Utopian school was
+Francois Marie Charles Fourier (1772-1837). He was a bourgeois, son of
+a draper, and brought as keen an intellect as did his noble
+fellow-countryman, Saint-Simon, to the analysis of society, and a much
+more practical experience. In his youth he had been employed in
+various business enterprises. He recalls, in his works, several
+experiences which he never forgot. As a lad, he was reproached for
+telling a prospective customer the truth about some goods in his
+father's shop. When a young man of twenty-seven he was sent to
+Marseilles to superintend the destruction of great cargoes of rice
+that had been held for higher prices, during a period of scarcity of
+food when thousands of people were suffering from hunger. The rice had
+spoiled in the waiting. The event made so profound an impression upon
+his mind that he resolved to devote his life to the betterment of an
+economic system that allowed such wanton waste.
+
+To his mind the problem of rebuilding society was practical, not
+metaphysical. But underlying his practical solution was a fantastic
+cosmogony and psychology. He reduced everything to a mathematical
+system, and even computed the number of years the world would spin on
+its axis. He believed that God created a good world, and that man has
+desecrated it; that the function of the social reformer is to
+understand the design of the Creator, and call mankind back to this
+original plan, back to the original impulses and passions, and
+primitive goodness.
+
+This could be done only under ideal environment. Such an environment
+he proposed to create in huge caravansaries, which he called
+phalansteries. Each group, or phalange, was composed of 400 families,
+or 1,800 persons, living on a large square of land, where they could
+be self-contained and self-sufficient, like the manors in the feudal
+days. The phalanstery was built in the middle of the tract, and was
+merely a glorified apartment house. Every one chose to do the work he
+liked best. Agriculture and manufacture were to be happily blended,
+and individual freedom given full sway. Each phalange was designed to
+be an ideal democracy, electing its officers and governing itself. The
+principle of freedom was to extend even to marriage and the relation
+of the sexes.
+
+It was Fourier's belief that one such phalange once established would
+so impress the world with its superiority that society would be glad
+to imitate it. Ere long there would be groups of phalanges
+co-operating with each other, and ultimately the whole world would be
+brought into one vast federation of phalanges, with their chief center
+at Constantinople.
+
+The general plan of this apartment-house utopia lent itself to all
+sorts of fantastic details. It gained adherents among the learned, the
+eager, and even the rich, and a number of experiments were tried. All
+of these have failed, I think, excepting only the community at Guise,
+founded by Jean Godin. Here, however, the fantasies have been
+eliminated, and the strong controlling force of the founder has made
+it prosperous. There is no agriculture connected with the Guise
+establishment.
+
+A number of Fourier colonies, most of them modifications of his
+phalanstery idea, were started in the United States. Of thirty-four
+such experiments tried in America all have failed. The most famous of
+these attempts was Brook Farm.[3]
+
+Robert Owen (1771-1858) was the great English utopian. He was the son
+of a small trader. Such was his business ability and tenacity of
+character that at nineteen years of age he was superintendent of a
+cotton mill that employed 500 hands. His business acumen soon made him
+rich, his philanthropic impulses led him to study the conditions of
+the people who worked for him. In 1800 he took charge of the mills at
+New Lanark. There he had under him as pitiful and miserable a group of
+workmen as can be imagined. The factory system made wretchedness the
+common lot of the English workingman of this period. The hours of
+labor were intolerably long, the homes of the working people
+unutterably squalid, women and tiny children worked all day under the
+most unwholesome conditions; vice, drunkenness, and ignorance were
+everywhere.
+
+Owen began as a practical philanthropist. He improved the sanitary
+conditions of his mills and town, was the first employer to reasonably
+shorten the hours of work, founded primary schools, proposed factory
+legislation, and founded the co-operative movement that has grown to
+great strength in England. He was one of the powerful men of the
+island at this period. He had the enthusiastic support of the queen,
+of many nobles, of clergy and scholars. But in a great public meeting
+in London he went out of his way to denounce the accepted forms of
+religion and declare his independence of all creeds, an offense that
+the English people never forgive.
+
+By this time he had perfected his scheme for social reform. He
+proposed to establish communities of 1,000 to 1,200 persons on about
+1,500 acres of land. They were to live in an enormous building in the
+form of a square, each family to have its own apartments, but kitchen
+and dining-room to be in common. Every advantage of work, education,
+and leisure was planned for the inmates.
+
+A number of Owenite communities were founded in England and America.
+The one at New Harmony, Ind., was the most pretentious, and in it Owen
+sank a large portion of his fortune. None of the experiments survived
+their founder.[4]
+
+The Utopians were all optimists--the source of their optimism was the
+social philosophy that prevailed from the French Revolution to the
+middle of the last century. It was the philosophy of an unbounded
+faith in the goodness of human nature. A good God made a good world,
+and made man capable of attaining goodness and harmony in all his
+relations. The evil in the world was contrary to God's plan. It was
+introduced by the perversity of society. The source of misery is the
+lack of knowledge. If humankind knew the right way of living, knew the
+original plan of the Creator, then there would be no misery. You must
+find this knowledge, this science, and upon it build society. Hence
+they are all seeking a "scientific state of society," and call their
+system "scientific." From Rousseau to Hegel, the theory prevailed that
+evil is collective, good is individual; society is bad, man is pure.
+
+Cabet expresses it clearly. "God is perfection, infinite,
+all-powerful, is justice and goodness. God is our father, and it
+follows that all men are brethren and all are equal, as in one
+all-embracing family." "It is evident that, to the fathers of the
+Church, Christianity was communism. Communism is nothing other than
+true Christianity...." "The regnancy of God, through Jesus, is the
+regnancy of perfection, of omniscience, of justice, of goodness, of
+paternal love; and, it follows, of fraternity, equality, and liberty;
+of the unity of community interests, that is of communism (of the
+general common welfare), in place of the individual."[5]
+
+This edenesque logic was dear to Fourier, who left more profound
+traces on modern thought than the fantastic Saint-Simonians.[6]
+
+Fourier began with God. "On beholding this mechanism (the world and
+human society), or even in making an estimate of its properties, it
+will be comprehended that God has done well all that He has done."[7]
+Man has only to find "God's design" in order to find the true basis of
+society; and man's system of industrially parceling out the good
+things of life among a few favored ones, is the "antipodes of God's
+design." The finding of this design is the function of "exact
+science"; man, who has stifled the voice of nature, must now
+"vindicate the Creator."[8]
+
+Saint-Simon's whole system rests on this principle: "God has said that
+men ought to act toward each other as brethren." This principle will
+regulate society, for "in accordance with this principle, which God
+has given to men for the rule of their conduct, they ought to organize
+society in the manner the most advantageous to the greatest
+number."[9]
+
+The social philosophers at the end of the eighteenth century did not
+believe that this rightness should be brought about by violence. "What
+I should desire," says Godwin, "is not by violence to change its
+institutions, but by discussion to change its ideas. I have no
+concern, if I would study merely the public good, with factions or
+intrigue; but simply to promulgate the truth, and to wait the tranquil
+progress of conviction. Let us anxiously refrain from violence."[10]
+
+Owen, who lived a few decades later, came into contact with the
+theories of the succeeding school of thought. His utopianism remained,
+however, upon the older basis. He taught that the evils of society
+were not inherent in the nature of mankind. The natural state of the
+world and of man was good. But the evils "are all the necessary
+consequences of ignorance." Therefore, by education and environment he
+could "accomplish with ease and certainty the Herculean labor of
+forming a rational character in man, and that, too, chiefly before the
+child commences the ordinary course of education."[11]
+
+The Utopians are hopefully seeking the universal law which will
+re-form society. This was a natural view of things fundamental, to be
+taken by men who had witnessed the political emancipation of the Third
+Estate and had seen "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" carved over every
+public portal in France, and the abstract principles of justice
+debated in parliaments. A feeling of naive simplicity runs through all
+their writings. Just as civil liberty, they believed, had come by the
+application of an abstract principle of natural law, so social and
+economic freedom would come by the application of one universal
+abstract principle of human conduct. From this simplicity came a
+violent reaction, which reached its climax in the anarchy of
+Proudhon.
+
+
+II
+
+The Utopian period of Socialism may be said to end, and the
+revolutionary era to begin, with the year 1830. The French Revolution
+was a bourgeois uprising. But behind it was the grim and resolute
+background of the proletarian mass. When the Third Estate achieved its
+victory, it proceeded to monopolize the governmental powers to the
+exclusion of its lowly allies. From 1830 to 1850 the ferment of
+democratic discontent spread over Europe and forced the demands of the
+workingman into the foreground. The first outbreak occurred in France,
+in 1831, when the workingmen of Lyons, during a period of distressing
+financial depression, marched under the banner, "Live working, or die
+fighting," demanding bread for their families and work for themselves.
+This second chapter of the development of Socialism begins with a red
+letter.
+
+Louis Blanc (1813-82), the first philosopher of the new movement,
+struck out boldly for a democratic organization of the government.
+This differentiates him from Fourier and Saint-Simon, and links him
+with the leading Socialist writers of our day. He published his
+_Organisation du Travail_ (Organization of Labor) in 1839. It
+immediately gave him an immense popularity with the working classes.
+It is a brilliant book, as fascinating in its phrases as it is
+forceful in its denunciation of existing society.
+
+He said that it is vain to talk of improving mankind morally without
+improving them materially. This improvement would not come from
+above, from the higher classes. It would come from below, from the
+working people themselves. Therefore, a prerequisite of social reform
+was democracy. The proletarian must possess the power of the state in
+order to emancipate himself from the economic bondage that holds him
+in its grasp.
+
+This democratic state should then establish national workshops, or
+associations, which he called "social workshops," the capital to be
+provided by the state and the state to supervise their operation. He
+believed that, once established, they would soon become
+self-supporting and self-governing. The men would choose their own
+managers, dispose of their own profits, and take care that this
+beneficent system would spread to all communities.
+
+He was careful to explain that "genius should assert its legitimate
+empire"--there must be a hierarchy of ability.
+
+Louis Blanc believed in revolution as the method of social
+advancement. He was himself a leader in the abortive revolution of
+1848, the revolt of the people against a weak and careless monarch. As
+a member of the provisional government, he may be called the first
+Socialist to hold cabinet honors. And, like his successors in modern
+cabinets, he accomplished very little towards the bringing in of a new
+social order. It is true that national workshops were built by the
+French government at his suggestion; but not according to his plans.
+His enemies saw to it that they served to bring discredit rather than
+honor to the system which he had so carefully elaborated.[12]
+
+Louis Blanc did not entirely free himself of the earlier utopian
+conception that man was created good and innocent. He blames society
+for allowing the individual to do evil. But he does take a step toward
+the Marxian materialistic conception when he affirms that man was
+created with certain endowments of strength and intellect and that
+these endowments should be spent in the welfare of society. The empire
+of service, not the "empire of tribute," should be the measure of
+man's greatness.
+
+The doctrine of revolt was carried to its logical extreme by Proudhon
+(1809-65). He was the son of a cooper and a peasant maid, and he never
+forgot that he sprang from the proletariat. He was a precocious lad,
+was a theologian, philologist, and linguist before he undertook the
+study of political economy. In 1840 he brought out his notable work,
+_Qu'est-ce que la Propriete?_ (What Is Property?), a novel question
+for that day, to which he gave an amazing answer, "Property is theft,"
+ergo "property holders are thieves."
+
+Proudhon was a man with the brain of a savant and the adjectives of a
+peasant. His startling phrases, however, are merely spotlights thrown
+on a theory of society which he permeated with a genuine good will. He
+was puritanic in moral principle, loyal to his friends, and a despiser
+of cant and formalism. But his love for paradoxes carried him beyond
+the confines of logic.
+
+Property is theft, he says, because it reaps without sowing and
+consumes without producing. What right has a capitalist to charge me
+eight per cent.? None. This eight per cent. does not represent
+anything of time or labor value put into the article I am buying. It
+is therefore robbery. Private property, the stronghold of the
+individualist, is then to be abolished and a universal communism
+established? By no means. Communism is as unnatural as property.
+Proudhon had only contempt for the phalanstery and national workshop
+of his predecessors. They were impossible, artificial, reduced life to
+a monotonous dead level, and encouraged immorality. Property is wrong
+because it is the exploitation of the weak by the strong; communism is
+equally wrong because it is the exploitation of the strong by the
+weak. To this ingenious juggler of paradoxes this was by no means a
+dilemma. He resorted to a formula that was later amplified into the
+most potent argument of Socialism by Marx. Service pays service, one
+day's work balances another day's work, time-labor is the just measure
+of value. Hour for hour, day for day, this should be the universal
+medium of exchange.
+
+Proudhon was really directing his attacks against rent and profit
+rather than against property. He proposed, as a measure of reform, a
+national bank where every one could bring the product of his toil and
+receive a paper in exchange denoting the time value of his article.
+These slips of paper were to be the medium of exchange capable of
+purchasing equal time values. This glorified savage barter he even
+proposed to the Constituent Assembly, of which he was a member, and
+when it was rejected--only two votes were recorded for it--he tried to
+establish it upon private foundations. He failed to raise the
+necessary capital and his plan failed.
+
+Proudhon is the father of modern Anarchy. His exaltation of
+individualism led him to the suppression of government. Government, he
+taught, is merely the dominance of one man over another, a form of
+intolerable oppression. "The highest perfection of society is found in
+the union of order and anarchy."
+
+For his bitter tirades against property he received the scorn of the
+bourgeois, for his attacks upon the government he served three years
+in prison, and some years later he escaped a second term for a similar
+cause by fleeing to Brussels.
+
+The ultimate outcome of his individualism was equality, which he
+achieved in economics by his theory of time-labor and in politics by
+his theory of anarchy.
+
+One cannot escape the conviction that the outcome of all his brilliant
+rhetorical legerdemain is man in a cage. Not man originally pure and
+good as the utopians would have him, but man wilful, egoistic, capable
+of enslaving his fellows, a very different being from the man of mercy
+and love crushed by the collective injustice of society. Proudhon
+frees this man from his oppressor and his oppressiveness by creating a
+condition of equality through the destruction of property and of
+government. But in destroying property he retains possessions, and in
+establishing anarchy he maintains order. "Free association,
+liberty--whose sole function is to maintain equality--in the means of
+production, and equivalence in exchanges, is the only possible, the
+only just, the only true form of society."
+
+"The government of man by man (under whatever name it be disguised) is
+oppression. Society finds its highest perfection in the union of order
+and anarchy."[13]
+
+Proudhon has had a large influence on modern Socialism. His trenchant
+invectives against property and society are widely copied. From his
+utterances on government the Syndicalists of France, Italy, and Spain
+have drawn their doctrine. The general strike is the child of his
+paradoxes. He wrote as the motto for his most influential book, _What
+Is Property?_, "Destruam et aedificabo" (I will destroy and I will
+build again). But, while he pointed the way to destruction, he failed
+to reveal a new and better order.
+
+The way to modern Socialism was paved in Germany. The teaching of
+Hegel cleared the way for the political unrest that spread over Europe
+in the '40's. Hegel was the proclaimer of the social revolution. He
+gave sanction to the tenets of destruction. Everything that exists is
+worth destroying, may be taken as the primary postulate at which the
+Young Hegelians arrived. Truth does not exist merely in a collection
+of institutions or dogmatic axioms that could be memorized like the
+alphabet; truth is in the process of being, of knowing, it has
+developed through the toilsome evolution of the race, it is found only
+in experience. Nothing is sacred merely because it exists. Existing
+institutions are only the prelude to other and better institutions
+that are to follow. This was roughly the formula that the radical
+Hegelians blocked out for themselves when they split from the orthodox
+conservatives in the '30's.
+
+In 1843 appeared Feuerbach's _Wesen des Christentums_ (Essence of
+Christianity), putting the seal of materialism upon the precepts of
+the Young Hegelians.[14] The God of the utopians was destroyed.
+Things were not created in harmony and beauty and disordered by man.
+Things as they are, are the result of evolution, of growth; nothing
+was created as it is, and even "Religion is the dream of the human
+mind."[15]
+
+Out of this atmosphere of philosophical, religious, and political
+rebellion sprang the prophet of modern Socialism, Karl Marx,[16] a man
+whose intellectual endowments place him in the first ranks among
+Socialists and link his name with other bold intellects of his age who
+have forced the current of human thought. There have been many books
+written on Marx, and every phase of his theories has been subjected to
+academic and popular scrutiny. His treatise, _Capital_, is the
+sacerdotal book of Socialists. It displays a mass of learning, a
+diligence of research, and acumen in the marshaling of ideas, and a
+completeness of literary expression that insures it a lasting place in
+the literature of social philosophy. Whatever may be said of the
+narrow dogmatism, of Marx, of his persistence in making the facts fit
+his preconceived notions, of his materialistic conception of history,
+or of the technical flaws in his political economy, he will always be
+quoted as the founder of modern scientific Socialism and the Socialist
+historian of the capitalistic regime.
+
+I must content myself with a bare statement of his theories.
+
+The economic basis of Marx is his well-known "Theory of Surplus
+Value." It was not his theory in the sense that he originated it.
+Economists like Adam Smith and especially Ricardo, Socialists like the
+Owenites and the Chartists in England, and Proudhon in France, had
+enunciated it; and in Germany Rodbertus, a lawyer and scholar of great
+learning, had elaborated it in his first book, published in 1842.
+Marx, with German thoroughness, developed this theory in all its
+ramifications.
+
+All economic goods, he said, have value. They have a physical value,
+and a value given them by the labor expended on them. Labor is the
+common factor of economic values. And the common denominator is the
+time that is consumed by the labor. Labor-time, therefore, is the
+universal measure of value, the common medium that determines values.
+But this labor is acquired in the open labor market by the capitalist
+at the lowest possible price, a price whose utmost limit is the bare
+cost of living. The reward for his labor is called a wage. This wage
+does not by any means measure the value of his services. What, then,
+becomes of the "surplus value," the value over and above wages? The
+capitalist appropriates it. Indeed, the great aim of the capitalist is
+to make this surplus value as big as possible. He measures his success
+by his profits.
+
+"Surplus value," or profit, is, then, a species of robbery; it is
+ill-gotten gain, withholding from the workman that which by right of
+toil is his.
+
+How did it come about that society was so organized as to permit this
+wholesale wrong upon the largest and most defenseless of its classes?
+It is in answer to this question that Marx makes his most notable
+contribution to Socialistic theory. With great skill, and displaying a
+comprehensive knowledge of economic history, especially of English
+industrial history, he traces the development of modern industrial
+society. He follows the evolution of capital from the days of medieval
+paternalism through the period of commercial expansion when the
+voyages of discovery opened virgin fields of wealth to the trader,
+into the period of inventions when the industrial revolution changed
+the conditions of all classes and gave a sudden and princely power to
+capital, establishing the reign of "capitalistic production."
+
+Always it was the man with capital who could take advantage of every
+new commercial and industrial opportunity, and the man without capital
+who was forced to succumb to the stress of new and cruel
+circumstances. In every stage of development it has been the constant
+aim of the capitalist to increase his profits and of the workingman to
+raise his standard of living.
+
+Marx then declares that, in order to have a capitalist society, two
+classes are necessary: a capitalist and a non-capitalist class; a
+class that dominates, and one that succumbs. There have always been
+these two classes. Originally labor was slave, then it was serf, and
+now it is free. But free labor to-day differs from serf-labor and
+slave-labor only in that it has a legal right to contract. The
+economic results are the same as they always have been: the capitalist
+still appropriates the surplus value.
+
+The method of production, however, is very different in our
+capitalistic era from the earlier eras. The industrial system herds
+the workmen into factories. Property and labor is no longer
+individualistic; it is social, it is corporate. Marx calls it "social
+production and capitalistic appropriation." Here is the eternal
+antagonism between the classes, the large class of laborers and the
+small class of the "appropriators" of their common toil.
+
+These factories, where labor is herded, spring up willy-nilly wherever
+there is a capitalist who desires to enter business. They flood the
+markets, not by mutual consent or regulation, but by individual
+ambitions. Each capitalist is ruled by self-interest; and
+self-interest impels him to make as many goods as he can and sell them
+at as big a profit as he can. Result, economic anarchy, called
+"over-production" or "under-consumption" by the economists. This leads
+to panics and all their attendant woes--woes that are further heaped
+upon the proletarian by the fact that he must compete with machinery,
+which, being more and more perfected, forces him out of the labor
+market into the street.
+
+These crises have the tendency to concentrate industry in fewer and
+fewer hands; the weaker capitalist must succumb to the inevitable laws
+of struggle and survival. The survivors fatten on the corpses of their
+fallen competitors. Thus the factories grow larger and larger, the
+number of capitalists fewer and fewer; the number of proletarian
+dependents multiplies; the middle class is crushed out of existence;
+the rich become richer and fewer, the poor more numerous and poorer.
+
+In this turmoil of social production, capitalistic appropriation, and
+anarchic distribution, there is discernible a reshaping of social
+potencies. The proletarian realizes the power of the state and sees
+how he may possess himself of that power and thereby gain control of
+the economic forces and reshape them to fit the needs of a better
+society. This will mean the appropriation of the means of production
+and distribution by society. Private capital will vanish; surplus
+values will belong to the people who created them; the people will be
+master and servant, capitalist and laborer.
+
+This is the Socialistic stage of society. It will be the result of the
+natural evolution of human industry. Its immediate coming will be the
+result of a social revolution. This revolution, this social cataclysm,
+is written in the nature of things. Man cannot prompt it, he cannot
+prevent it. He can only study the trend of things and "alleviate the
+birth-pangs" of the new time.
+
+Of this new time, this society of to-morrow, Marx gives us no glimpse.
+His function is not to prophesy, but to analyze. He is the natural
+historian of capital. He described the development of economic society
+and sought to ascertain its trend. In the first chapter of _Capital_
+he says: "Let us imagine an association of free men, working with
+common means of production, and putting forth, consciously, their
+individual powers into one social labor power. The product of this
+association of laborers is a social product. A portion of this product
+serves in turn as a means of further production. It remains social
+property. The rest of this product is consumed by the members of the
+association as a means of living. It must consequently be distributed
+among them. The nature of this distribution will vary according to the
+particular nature of the organization of production and the
+corresponding grade of historical development of the producers."
+
+This is the only mention of the future made by Marx. It is a dim and
+uncertain ray of light cast upon a vast object.
+
+The formulae of this epoch-making study may be summarized as follows:
+
+1. Labor gives value to all economic goods. The laboring class is the
+producing class, but it is deprived of its just share of the products
+of its labor by the capitalistic class, which appropriates the
+"surplus value."
+
+2. This is possible because of the capitalistic method of production,
+wherein private capital controls the processes of production and
+distribution.
+
+3. This system of private capitalism is the result of a long and
+laborious process of evolution, hastened precipitately by the
+industrial revolution.
+
+4. This industrial age is characterized (a) by anarchy in distribution,
+(b) private production, (c) the gradual disappearance of the middle
+class, (d) the development of a two-class system--capitalist and
+producer, (e) the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer.
+
+5. This will not always continue. The producers are becoming fewer
+each year. Presently they will become so powerful as to be
+unendurable. Then society--the people--will appropriate private
+capital and all production and distribution will be socialized.
+
+It is necessary to keep in mind the leading events in the life of this
+remarkable man in order to understand the genesis of his theories.
+Marx was born in Treves in 1818, of Jewish parentage. His mother was
+of Dutch descent, his father was German. When the lad was six years of
+age his parents embraced the Christian faith. His father was a
+lawyer, but his ancestors for over two hundred years had been rabbis.
+The home was one of culture, where English and French as well as
+German literature and art were discussed by a circle of learned and
+congenial friends. Marx studied at the universities of Bonn and
+Berlin. He took his doctorate in the law to please his father, but
+followed philosophy by natural bent, intending to become a university
+professor.
+
+The turmoil of revolution was in the air and in his blood. There was
+no curbing of his fiery temperament into the routine of scholastic
+life. In 1842 he joined the staff of the _Rhenish Gazette_ at Cologne,
+an organ of extreme radicalism. His drastic editorials prompted the
+police to ask him to leave the country, and he went to Paris, where he
+met Frederick Engels, who became his firm friend, partner of his
+views, and sharer of his labors. The Prussian government demanded his
+removal from Paris, and for a time he settled in Brussels. He returned
+to Germany to participate in the revolution of 1848, and in 1849 he
+was driven to London, where, immune from Prussian persecutions, he
+made his home until his death, in 1883.
+
+In 1842 he married Jennie von Westphalen, a lady of refinement,
+courage, and loyalty, whose family was prominent in Prussian politics.
+Her brother was at one time a minister in the Prussian cabinet.
+
+Marx was an exile practically all his life, though he never gave up
+his German citizenship. He never forgot this fact. He concluded his
+preface to the first volume of _Capital_, written in 1873, with a
+bitter allusion to the "mushroom upstarts of the new, holy Prussian
+German Empire." He lived a life of heroic fortitude and struggle
+against want and disease.
+
+From his infancy he had been taught to take a world view, an
+international view, of human affairs. This gave him an immediate
+advantage over all other Socialist writers of that day. At Bonn he was
+caught in the current of heterodoxy that was then sweeping through the
+universities. This carried him far into the fields of materialism,
+whose philosophy of history he adopted and applied to the economic
+development of the race. He received not alone his philosophy from the
+"Young Hegelians," but his dialectics as well. It gave him a
+philosophy of evil which, blending with his bitter personal
+experiences, gave a melancholy bent to his reasoning, and revealed to
+him the misericordia of class war, the struggle of abject poverty
+contending with callous capital in a bloody social revolution.
+
+There are four points which gave Marx an immense influence over the
+Socialistic movement. In the first place, he put the Socialistic
+movement on a historical basis; he made it inevitable. Think what this
+means, what hope and spirit it inspires in the bosom of the
+workingman. But he did more than this: he made the proletarian the
+instrument of destiny for the emancipation of the race from economic
+thraldom. This was to be accomplished by class war and social
+revolution. Marx imparts the zeal of fatalism to his Socialism when he
+links it to the necessities of nature. By natural law a bourgeoisie
+developed; by natural law it oppresses the proletarian; by natural
+law, by the compulsion of inexorable processes, the proletarians alone
+can attain their freedom. Capitalism becomes its own grave-digger.
+Liebknecht said in his Erfurt speech (1891): "The capitalistic state
+of the present begets against its will the state of the future."
+
+In the third place, Marx gave a formula to the Socialist movement. He
+defined Socialism in one sentence: "The social ownership of the means
+of production and distribution." This was necessary. From among the
+vague and incoherent mass of utopian and revolutionary literature he
+coined the sentence that could be repeated with gusto and the flavor
+of scientific terminology.
+
+And finally, he refrained from detailing the new society. He laid down
+no program except war, he pointed to no utopia except co-operation.
+This offended no one and left Socialists of all schools free to
+construct their own details.
+
+The Marxian system was no sooner enunciated than it was shown to be
+fallible as an economic generalization; and the passing of several
+decades has proved that the tendencies he deemed inevitable are not
+taking place. The refutation of his theory of value by the Austrian
+economist, Adolph Menger, is by economists considered complete and
+final. The materialistic conception of history, which is the soul of
+his work, lends itself more to the passion of a virile propaganda than
+to a sober interpretation of the facts. Further, the two practical
+results that flow from the use of his theory of surplus value and his
+materialism--namely, the ever-increasing volume of poverty and the
+ever-decreasing number of capitalists--are not borne out by the facts.
+The number of capitalists is constantly increasing, in spite of the
+development of enormous trusts; the middle class is constantly being
+recruited from the lower class; there is no apparent realization of
+the two-class system. And finally, the method by revolution is being
+more and more discarded by Socialists, as they see that intolerable
+conditions are being more and more alleviated, that "man's inhumanity
+to man" is a constantly diminishing factor in the bitter struggle for
+existence.[17]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _New Christianity_, p. 38, English edition, 1834.
+
+[2] Saint-Simon's principal writings are: _Lettres d'un Habitant de
+Geneve_, 1803; _L'Organisateur_, 1819; _Du Systeme Industriel_, 1821;
+_Catechisme des Industriels_, 1823; _Nouveau Christianisme_, 1825. See
+A.J. BARTH, _Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism_, London, 1871; REYBAUD,
+_Etudes sur les Reformateurs Modernes_, Paris, 1864; JANET,
+_Saint-Simon et le Saint-Simonisme_, Paris, 1878. _New Christianity_
+was translated into English by Rev. J.E. Smith, London, 1834.
+
+[3] The best popular exposition of Fourierism is GATTI DE GAMMONT'S
+_Fourier et Son Systeme_. His most eminent commentator is Victor
+Considerant, whose _Destinee Sociale_ is the most complete analysis of
+Fourier's System.
+
+[4] It is interesting to note that the word "Socialism" first became
+current in the meetings of Owen's "Association of All Classes of All
+Nations," organized by him in 1835.
+
+[5] _Le Vrai Christianisme_, Chap. XVIII, edition of 1846.
+
+[6] An apt selection from the works of Fourier has been made by Prof.
+Charles Gide, prefaced by an illuminating Introduction on the life and
+work of Fourier. An English translation by Julia Franklin appeared in
+London, 1901.
+
+[7] _Le Nouveau Monde_, Vol. I, p. 26.
+
+[8] _Theme de l'Unite Universelle_, Vol. II, p. 128.
+
+[9] _New Christianity_, p. 2, English edition, 1834.
+
+[10] _Political Justice_, Vol. II, pp. 531, 537.
+
+[11] _Third Essay on a New View of Society_, pp. 65, 82.
+
+[12] See EMILE THOMAS, _History of the National Workshops_.
+
+[13] _What Is Property?_ Collected Works, Vol. I, p. 286.
+
+[14] In 1845 Marx made this note on the work of Feuerbach: "The point
+of view of the old materialism is bourgeois society; the point of view
+of the new materialism is human society or the unclassed humanity
+(vergesellschaftete Menschheit).
+
+"Philosophers have only differently _interpreted_ the world, but the
+point is to _alter_ the world." See FREDERICK ENGELS, _Ludwig
+Feuerbach und der Ausgang der Klassischen Deutschen Philosophie_,
+Stuttgart, 1903.
+
+[15] _Essence of Christianity_, Preface, p. xiii.
+
+[16] For a concise statement of the development of Marxian Socialism
+out of the German philosophy of that period, see FREDERICK ENGELS,
+_Die Entwickelung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft_,
+Berlin, 1891. It is the third chapter out of his _Duehring, Umwaelzung_.
+
+[17] For a criticism of the teachings of Marx, see SOMBART, _Socialism
+and the Social Movement_, Chap. IV.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE POLITICAL AWAKENING OF SOCIALISM--THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION
+
+
+From the point of view of our inquiry the most significant event in
+the history of Socialism is its entrance into politics. This endows
+the workingman with a new power and a great power; a power that will
+bring him farther on his way toward the goal he seeks than any other
+he possesses. Because the modern state is democratic, and the
+democratic state bends in the direction of the mass. The revolutions
+attempted in the middle of the last century are child's play compared
+with the changes that can be wrought when constitutions and courts,
+parliaments and administrative systems, become the instruments of a
+determined, self-possessed, and united political consciousness.
+
+Scarcely half a century elapsed between the French utopians and the
+time when the proletarians organized actual political parties, and
+arrayed themselves against the older orders in the struggle for
+political privilege. In the interval, revolution had its brief hour,
+and reaction its days of waiting.
+
+The French Revolution was a necessary preliminary to the proletarian
+movement. It was the most powerful instrument for the propagation of
+those democratic ideas that were so attractively clothed by Rousseau
+and so terribly distorted by the revolutionists. While this revolution
+was a bourgeois movement, not a proletarian uprising, not a
+revolution in the sense that Marx, for instance, uses the word, it
+must not be forgotten that the proletarians were in the revolution.
+The dark and sullen background of that tragedy was the mass of
+unspeakably poor. They were not machine workers whose abjectness came
+from factory conditions, like the workmen of England a few decades
+later. They were proletarians without a class consciousness, but with
+a class grievance; proletarians in the literal sense of the word,
+poor, ragged, hungry, wretched.
+
+Such democracy as was achieved by the revolution was bourgeois. The
+powers of monarchy were transferred from the "privileged" classes to
+the middle class, who, in turn, became the privileged ones. The day of
+middle-class government had come. The class that had financed the
+fleets of adventurers to new and unexploited continents, and had
+backed the inventions of Arkwright and Hargreaves, were now in power
+in politics as well as in commerce and industry. A unity of purpose
+between industry and statecraft was thus achieved; new ideals became
+dominant. The patriarchal precepts of the feudal manors were
+forgotten. The people were no longer children of a great household
+with their king at the head. The king, when he was retained, was shorn
+of his universal fatherhood, and remained a mere remnant of ermine and
+velvet, a royal trader in social distinctions.
+
+While the old ideal, the feudal ideal, prevailed, governing was the
+_duty_ of a class. The newer ideal made governing an incident in the
+activities of a class whose dominating impulse was the making of
+profits. These ideals are at polar points; one deals with things, the
+other with men.
+
+The change in the form of government was wrought while the people were
+talking about the glittering abstractions of equality, liberty,
+justice, as if they were commodities to be exchanged in the political
+markets. The newer form of government marked an advance on the older.
+It represented a step forward in human political experience. A larger
+group of citizens was drawn into the widening circle of governmental
+activities. It was an inevitable step. The discovery of the New World
+and the invention of machinery were making a new earth--an
+unattractive earth, but nevertheless a new one. The balance of power
+was shifting from hereditary privilege to commercial privilege, and
+nations were fulfilling the law of human nature, that the power of the
+state reposes in the hands of the dominant class. The dominant class
+is actuated by its dominant idea. In the aristocratic class it is
+politics, in the middle class it is trade.
+
+All this inevitably accentuated the proletarian's position in the
+state. Under the older regime, as historians of our economic
+development have clearly shown, the antagonisms and grievances were
+fewer. The trader and the craftsman were overshadowed by the lord and
+the bishop. Social, political, and economical values were distributed
+by custom and imposed by heredity, rather than by individual effort or
+individual capacity. When, therefore, this great change came over
+society, a change that would have been unthinkable in the days of
+Charlemagne or of Elizabeth,--a change that virtually destroyed the
+most powerful of the classes and put human beings onto a basis of
+competition rather than of birth, and shifted power from tradition to
+effort, and transferred values from prerogatives to gold,--then the
+whole class problem changed, and entirely new antagonisms were
+created.
+
+The first movements of the new proletarians were mob movements.
+Actuated more by a desire to revenge themselves than to better
+themselves, they gather in the dark hours of the night and move
+sullenly upon the factories, to destroy their enemies, the machines.
+They pillage the buildings and threaten the house of their employer,
+whom they consider the agent of their undoing. In France and Germany,
+and especially in England, these infuriated workmen try to undo by
+violence what has been achieved by invention.
+
+When their first fury is abated and they see new machinery taking the
+place of that which they have destroyed, and new factories built on
+the foundations of those they have burned, they see the impotence of
+their actions. In England a new movement begins. They try to re-enact
+the Elizabethan statute of laborers, to bring back the days of
+handicrafts, of journeyman and apprentice. They soon learned that the
+old era had vanished, never to return. The workingman possessed
+neither the power nor the ingenuity to bring it back. He turned, next,
+to possess himself of the machinery of the state.
+
+Political conditions paved the way. France, after her orgy, had fallen
+back into absolutism. Germany and Austria had remained feudal in the
+most distasteful sense of the word; the nobility retained their
+ancient privileges and forsook their ancient duties. The landlord
+class even retained jurisdiction over their tenants. The old industry
+had been destroyed by Napoleon's campaigns; the new machine industry
+did not establish itself until after the enactment of protective
+tariffs and the creation "Zollverein," in 1818. This cemented the
+bourgeois interests. Manufacturers, traders, and bankers achieved a
+homogeneity of interest and ambition which was antagonistic to the
+spirit of the _junker_ and the feudalist. The new bourgeoisie wanted
+laws favorable to trade expansion. They needed the law-making
+machinery to achieve this. By 1840 the upper middle class had become
+feverish for political power. They imbibed the doctrines of the
+literature of that period which preached a constitutional
+republicanism. Hegel gave the weighty sanction of philosophy to the
+overthrow of absolute monarchy.
+
+The great mass of the people were, of course, workingmen, small
+traders, and shopkeepers, and the rural peasantry. The small trader
+was dependent upon the favors of the ruling class on the one hand, and
+of the banker and manufacturer on the other hand. When the interests
+of these two clashed he was alarmed, for he could neither remain
+neutral nor take sides. The peasants were abject subjects, little
+better than serfs. The laboring men, as we shall see presently, were
+achieving a mass consciousness.
+
+In Germany Frederick William, the Romantic, was face to face with
+revolution. This was not an economic revolution. It was a political
+revolution. It was joined by the communists and the Socialists. Marx
+himself, was a leader in the revolt, and one of its most faithful
+chroniclers. In 1844 the weavers of Silesia rose in revolt. There was
+rioting and bloodshed. This was followed by bread riots in various
+parts of Germany. In 1848 the whole country was in the turmoil of
+revolution, a revolution led by the upper middle class, but prompted
+and fired by the zeal of the proletarians, who, in some of the
+cities, notably Berlin, became the leading factor in the uprising.
+Marx says: "There was then no separate Republican party in Germany.
+People were either constitutional monarchists or more or less clearly
+defined Socialists or communists."[1]
+
+In Austria conditions were even more reactionary than in Germany.
+Metternich, the powerful representative of the ancient order of
+things, had a haughty contempt for the demands of the constitutional
+party. With the hauteur of absolutism he not only retained political
+power in the feudal class, but suppressed literature, censored
+learning, and rigorously superintended religion. A greater power than
+caste and tradition was slowly eating its way into this country, which
+had attempted to isolate itself from the rest of the world. This was
+the power of machine industry. It brought with it, as in every other
+country, a new class, the manufacturers, who, as soon as their
+business began to expand, sought favorable laws. This led them into
+political activity, which, in turn, brought friction with the
+feudalists. Both sides took to the field. The revolution broke in
+Vienna, March 13, 1848, seventeen days after the revolutionists had
+driven Louis Philippe out of Paris, and five days before the Prussian
+king delivered himself into the hands of a Berlin mob.
+
+It was in France that the revolution assumed its most virulent
+character. In Paris the revolution was "carried on between the mass of
+the working people on the one hand and all the other classes of the
+Parisian population, supported by the army, on the other."[2] This
+Parisian proletarian uprising was the red signal of warning to Germany
+and Austria. The bourgeois were now as anxious to rid themselves of
+the Socialist contingent as they had been eager for its support when
+they began their struggle for political power. Compromises between
+feudalists and commercialists were effected, and a sort of
+constitutionalism became the basis of the reconstructed governments.
+
+Of these revolutions Marx says: "In all cases the real fighting body
+of the insurgents, that body which first took up arms and gave battle
+to the troops, consisted of the working classes of the towns. A
+portion of the poorer country population, laborers and petty farmers,
+generally joined them after the outbreak of the conflict."[3]
+
+They were not merely bourgeois uprisings. The Parisian revolution was
+virtually a proletarian rebellion. Here "the proletariat, because it
+dictated the Republic to the provisional government, and through the
+provisional government to the whole of France, stepped at once forth
+as an independent, self-contained party; and it at once arrayed the
+entire bourgeoisie of France against itself.... Marche, a workingman,
+dictated a decree wherein the newly formed provincial government
+pledged itself to secure the position of the workingman through work,
+to do away with bourgeois labor, etc. And as they seemed to forget
+this promise, a few days later 200,000 workingmen marched upon the
+Hotel de Ville with the battle-cry, 'Organization of labor! Create a
+ministry of labor!' and after a prolonged debate the provisional
+government named a permanent special commission for the purpose of
+finding the means for bettering the conditions of the working
+classes."[4]
+
+It is evident that Marx considered the revolutions of 1848-50 as a
+compound of proletarian and bourgeois uprisings against _feudal_
+remnants in government. He is not always clear in his own mind as to
+the direction of these movements. But we now know that the direction
+was toward democracy.
+
+The French, or Parisian, uprising was more "advanced" than the other
+Continental attempts. The Parisians had piled barricades before; they
+were experienced in the bloody business.
+
+They tried again in 1871. This time the workingmen ruled Paris for two
+months. It was a bloody, turbulent period. Marx characterized it as
+"the glorious workingman's revolution of the 18th of March," and the
+Commune "as a lever for uprooting the economical foundations upon
+which rests the existence of classes, and therefore of class rule."
+Its acts of violence he extolled, its burning of public buildings was
+a "self-holocaust." This "workingman's Paris, with its Commune, will
+be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society."[5]
+
+So the attempt to possess the state by revolution has been tried by
+the proletarian. The revolutions were all abortive. The Socialists say
+they were ill-timed. Writing in 1895, Frederick Engels, the companion
+of Marx, could see these uprisings in a different perspective. He
+acknowledged the mistake made by the Socialists in believing that they
+could by violence somehow become the deciding factor in the
+government, and therefore in the economic arrangement of society.
+"History has shown us our error," he says. "Time has made it clear
+that the status of economic development on the Continent was far from
+ripe for the setting aside of the capitalistic regime."[6]
+
+These revolutions were not merely bourgeois, as is so often affirmed.
+There was everywhere a large element of Socialistic unrest. They were
+revolutions begun in the fever heat of youth--"Young Germany," "Young
+Austria," "Young Italy," were moved by "Young Hegelians" and "Young
+Communists." They embraced bourgeois tradesmen and proletarian
+workingmen, who, in their new-found delirium, thought that with "the
+overthrow of the reactionary governments, the kingdom of heaven would
+be realized on earth."[7] "They had no idea," continues Kautsky, who
+speaks on these questions with authority, "that the overthrow of these
+governments would not be the end, but the beginning of revolutions;
+that the newly won bourgeois freedom would be the battleground for
+the great class war between proletarian and bourgeois; that liberty
+did not bring social freedom, but social warfare."
+
+This is to-day the orthodox Socialist view. It believes that these
+revolutions taught the proletarians the folly of ill-timed violence;
+revealed to them their friends and their enemies; and, above all, gave
+them a class consciousness.
+
+Let us turn, for a moment, to a proletarian movement of a somewhat
+different type, the Chartist movement in England. The flame of
+revolution that enveloped Europe crossed the Channel to England and
+Ireland. But here revolution took a different course. In Ireland it
+was the brilliant O'Connell's agitation against the Act of Union; in
+England it was the workingman's protest against his exclusion from the
+Reform Act of 1832, an act that itself had been born amidst the throes
+of mob violence and incipient revolution.
+
+The Chartist movement was promulgated by the "Workingmen's
+Association." It was a workingman's protest. Its organizers were
+carpenters, its orators were tailors and blacksmiths and weavers,
+surprising themselves and their audiences with their new-found
+eloquence, and its writers were cotton spinners. The Reform Bill had
+been a bitter disappointment to them. It gave the right of suffrage to
+the middle class, but withheld it from the working class. A few
+radical members of Parliament met with representatives of the
+workingmen and drafted a bill. O'Connell, as he handed the measure to
+the secretary of the association, said: "There is your charter"--and
+the "People's Charter" it was called. Its "six points" were: Manhood
+suffrage, annual Parliaments, election by ballot, abolition of
+property qualifications for election of members to Parliament, payment
+of members of Parliament, and equitably devised electoral districts.
+These are all political demands, all democratic. But economic
+conditions pressed them to the foreground. The "Bread Tax" was as much
+an issue as the ballot. They demanded the ballot so that they might
+remove the tax. "Misery and discontent were its strongest
+inspirations," says McCarthy.[8]
+
+Carlyle saw the inwardness of the movement. "All along for the last
+five and twenty years it was curious to note how the internal
+discontent of England struggled to find vent for itself through any
+orifice; the poor patient, all sick from center to surface, complains
+now of this member, now of that: corn laws, currency laws, free trade,
+protection, want of free trade: the poor patient, tossing from side to
+side seeking a sound side to lie on, finds none."
+
+One of its own crude and forceful orators said on Kersall Moor to
+200,000 turbulent workingmen of Manchester: "Chartism, my friends, is
+no mere political movement, where the main point is your getting the
+ballot. Chartism is a knife and fork question. The charter means a
+good house, good food and drink, prosperity, and short working
+hours."[9]
+
+The protest of this discontent became the nearest approach to a
+revolution England had encountered since Charles I. Monster meetings,
+for the first time called "mass meetings," were held in every county,
+and evenings, after working hours, enormous parades were organized,
+each participant carrying a torch, hence they were called "torchlight
+parades." These two spectacular features were soon adopted by American
+campaigners. A wild and desperate feeling seized the masses. "You see
+yonder factory with its towering chimney," cried one of its orators.
+"Every brick in that factory is cemented with the blood of women and
+children." And again: "If the rights of the poor are trampled under
+foot, then down with the throne, down with aristocracy, down with the
+bishops, down with the clergy, burn the churches, down with all rank,
+all title, and all dignity."[10]
+
+In their great petition to Parliament, signed by several million
+people, the agitators said: "The Reform Act has effected a transfer of
+power from one domineering faction to another and left the people as
+helpless as before." "We demand universal suffrage. The suffrage, to
+be exempt from the corruption of the wealthy and the violence of the
+powerful, must be secret." The whole movement had all the aspects of a
+modern, violent general strike. Its papers, _The Poor Man's Guardian_,
+_The Destructive_, and others, were full of tirades against wealth and
+privilege. When the agitation became an uprising in Wales, there was a
+conflict between the Chartists and the police in which a number were
+killed and wounded. In the industrial centers, soldiers were present
+at the meetings, and the outcry against the use of the military was
+the same that is heard to-day. A number of the leaders were tried for
+sedition, and the courts became the objects of abuse as they are
+to-day. It was a labor war for political privilege; a class war for
+economic advantages.
+
+
+SUMMARY OF THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION
+
+These revolutions were political in that they were a protest against
+existing governmental forms. The revolutionary proletarian was found
+in all of them. He not only stood under the standard of Daniel Manin
+in Venice, when that patriot again proclaimed a republic in the
+ancient city, and shared with Mazzini his triumph in Rome, and fought
+with Kossuth for the liberty of Hungary; but he formed also the body
+of the revolutionary forces in Germany, Austria, and France.
+
+In all the Continental countries the uprisings were directed against
+the arrogance and oppression of monarchism, and against the
+recrudescence of feudalistic ideals. In France Louis Philippe had
+attempted the part of a petty despot. He restricted the ballot to the
+propertied class, balanced his power on too narrow a base, and it
+became top-heavy.
+
+While the workingmen of Germany and Austria were taking up arms under
+command of the middle class against the feudal remnants, the
+workingmen of France were sacking their capital because of an
+attempted revival of monarchic privilege, and the workmen of England
+were marching and counter-marching in monster torchlight parades in
+protest against middle-class domination.
+
+The panorama of Europe in these years of turmoil and blood thus
+exhibits every degree of revolt against governmental power, from the
+absolutism of Prussian Junkerdom and the oppression of the Hungarians
+by foreign tyranny, to the dominance of the aristocratic and
+middle-class alliance in Great Britain.
+
+The bread-and-butter question was not wanting in any of these
+political uprisings. The unity of life makes their separation a myth.
+One is interwoven with the other. The social struggle is political,
+the political struggle is social.
+
+Socialism is not merely an economic movement. It seeks to-day, and
+always has sought, the power of the state. The government is the only
+available instrument for effecting the change--the revolution--the
+Socialists preach, the transfer of productive enterprise from private
+to public ownership. "Political power our means, social happiness our
+end," was a Chartist motto. That is the duality of Socialism to-day.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] MARX, _Revolution and Counter-Revolution in 1848_.
+
+[2] MARX, _Revolution and Counter-Revolution_, p. 70.
+
+[3] _Op. cit._, pp. 123-124.
+
+[4] MARX, _Die Klassenkaempfe in Frankreich_, pp. 26-28.
+
+[5] See the third address issued by the International Workingmen's
+Association on the Franco-Prussian war, 1870-71.
+
+The Italian Socialists in Milan, June, 1871, closed a rhetorical
+address to the Parisian Communards as follows: "To despotism they
+responded, We are free.
+
+"To the cannon and chassepots of the leagued reactionists they offered
+their bared breasts.
+
+"They fell, but fell like heroes.
+
+"To-day the reaction calls them bandits, places them under the ban of
+the human race.
+
+"Shall we permit it? No!
+
+"Workingmen! At the time when our brothers in Paris are vanquished,
+hunted like fallow deer, are falling by hundreds under the blows of
+their murderers, let us say to them: Come to us, we are here; our
+houses are open to you. We will protect you, until the day of revenge,
+a day not far distant.
+
+"Workingmen! the principles of the Commune of Paris are ours: we
+accept the responsibility of its acts. Long live the Social Republic!"
+
+See ED. VILLETARD, _History of the International_, p. 342. This
+sentiment was also expressed in London and other centers.
+
+[6] Introduction to _Die Klassenkaempfe in Frankreich_, p. 8.
+
+[7] KAUTSKY, _Leben Friedrich Engels_, p. 14, Berlin, 1895.
+
+[8] _The Epoch of Reform_, p. 190.
+
+[9] ENGELS, _Condition of the Working Classes in 1844_, p. 230.
+Engels, who came to England at this time and was employed in
+Manchester in his father's business, and was therefore in the heart of
+the movement, says that Chartism was, after the Anti-Corn Law League
+had been formed, "purely a workingman's cause." It was "the struggle
+of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie." "The demands hitherto
+made by him (the laborer), the ten-hours' bill, protection of the
+worker against the capitalist, good wages, a guaranteed position,
+repeal of the new poor law--all of these things belong to Chartism
+quite as essentially as the 'Six Points.'"--_Supra cit._, pp. 229,
+234, 235.
+
+[10] R.G. GRUMMAGE, _History of the Chartist Movement_, 1837-54, p.
+59, Newcastle, 1894.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE POLITICAL AWAKENING OF SOCIALISM--THE INTERNATIONAL
+
+
+With 1848 vanished, more or less rapidly, the revolutions of the old
+school. "The street fight and barricade, which up to 1848 was
+decisive, now grew antiquated," says Engels.[1] A new species of
+plotting and propaganda began. The exiled agitators and revolutionists
+met, naturally, in their cities of refuge for the discussion of their
+common grievances. They complained that "the proletarian has no
+fatherland," and internationalism became their patriotism.
+
+In Paris a few of the ostracized Socialists, in 1836, founded "The
+League of the Just," a communistic secret society.[2] The group were
+compelled to leave Paris because they were implicated in a riot, and
+when some of them met in London they invited other refugees to join
+them. Among them was Marx, and his presence soon bore fruit. Their
+motto, "All men are brethren," was singularly paradoxical when
+contrasted with their methods of sinister conspiracy. Marx, with his
+superior intellect, at once began to reshape their ideas, a
+reorganization was effected called "The Communist League," and Marx
+and Engels were delegated to write a statement of principles for the
+League. That statement, written in 1847, they called "The Communist
+Manifesto."
+
+The "Manifesto" is the most influential of all Socialist documents. It
+is at once a firebrand and a formulary. Its formulae are the well-known
+Marxian principles; its energy is the youthful vigor and zeal of
+ardent revolutionists. Nearly all the generalizations of _Capital_ are
+found in the "Manifesto." This is important, for it gave the sanction
+of a social theory to the Socialist movement. Hitherto there had been
+only utopian generalizations and keen denunciations of the existing
+order. It was of the greatest importance that early in the development
+of the movement it was given an economic theory expressed in such
+lucid terms, with the gusto of youth, and in the terminology of
+science, that it remains to-day the best synopsis of Marx's
+"Scientific Socialism."
+
+As a piece of campaign literature it is unexcelled. Combined with its
+clearness of statement, its economic reasoning, its terrific
+arraignment of modern industrial society, there is a lofty zeal and
+power that placed it in the front rank of propagandist literature.
+
+Engels, the surviving partner of the Marxian movement, wrote in the
+preface of the edition of 1888:
+
+"The 'Manifesto' being our joint production, I consider myself bound to
+say that the fundamental proposition which forms its nucleus belongs to
+Marx." That proposition embraced the materialistic theory of social
+evolution, that "the whole history of mankind has been a history of
+class struggles ... in which nowadays a stage has been reached where
+the exploited and oppressed classes--the proletariat--cannot attain
+their emancipation from the sway of the exploiting and ruling
+classes--the bourgeoisie--without at the same time and once for all
+emancipating society at large from all exploitation, oppression, class
+distinctions, and class struggles."
+
+This liberation was, of course, to be accomplished by revolution. The
+"Manifesto" closes with these spirited and oft-quoted words:
+
+"The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly
+declare that their ends can be obtained only by the forcible overthrow
+of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling class tremble at a
+communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their
+chains, they have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite."
+
+This was the language and the spirit of the times. The "Manifesto" was
+published only a few days before the February revolution of 1848. For
+a moment the ruling class did tremble; but the ill-timed uprisings
+were promptly suppressed and the days of reaction set in.
+
+Soon the workingmen of different countries were busy with the
+stupendous development of industry which followed in the wake of the
+wars and revolutions that had harassed the Continent for over fifty
+years. The revival of industry brought a renewal of international
+trade. This was followed by a wider exchange of views and greater
+international intimacy. In 1862 the first International Exposition was
+held.
+
+Before we proceed with the development of the "Old International," as
+it is now called, let us notice three points about the "Manifesto."
+First, it was not called the "Socialist Manifesto," although adopted
+by Socialists the world over. Engels, in his preface of 1888, tells us
+why. "When it was written we could not have called it a Socialist
+Manifesto. By Socialist, in 1847, were understood, on the one hand,
+the adherents of the various Utopian systems; Owenites in England,
+Fourierists in France, both of them already reduced to the position of
+mere sects, and gradually dying out; on the other hand, the most
+multifarious social quacks who, by all manner of tinkering, professed
+to redress, without any danger to capital and profit, all sorts of
+social grievances; in both cases men outside the working-class
+movement, and looking rather to the 'educated' classes for support.
+Whatever portion of the working class had become convinced of the
+insufficiency of mere political revolutions, and had proclaimed the
+necessity of a total social change, that portion then called itself
+communist. It was a crude, rough-hewn, purely instinctive sort of
+communism; still it touched the cardinal point and was powerful enough
+amongst the working class to produce the utopian communism in France
+of Cabet, and in Germany of Weitling. This Socialism was, in 1847, a
+middle-class movement; communism a working-class movement. Socialism
+was, on the Continent at least, 'respectable'; communism was the very
+opposite."
+
+It would be interesting to know how Engels would define Socialism
+to-day.
+
+Second, it is important for us to know that the "Manifesto" recognized
+the necessity of using the government as the instrument for achieving
+the new society. "The immediate aim of the communists," it recites,
+"is the conquest of political power by the proletariat"; to "labor
+everywhere for the union and agreement of the democratic parties of
+all countries."
+
+The governmental organization of the communists' state was to be
+democratic.
+
+Thirdly, a provisional program of such a politico-socio-democratic
+party is suggested in the "Manifesto." Its principal points are:
+
+    "1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents
+    of land to public purposes.
+
+    "2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
+
+    "3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
+
+    "4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
+
+    "5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means
+    of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
+
+    "6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport
+    in the hands of the state.
+
+    "7. Extension of factories and the instruments of production
+    owned by the state: the bringing into cultivation of waste
+    lands, and the improvement of the soil generally, in accordance
+    with a common plan.
+
+    "8. Equal liability of all labor. Establishment of industrial
+    armies, especially for agriculture.
+
+    "9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries;
+    gradual abolition between town and country, by a more equable
+    distribution of population over the country.
+
+    "10. Free education for all children in public schools,
+    combination of education with industrial production," _etc._
+
+Though the "Manifesto" was written in 1848, neither Marx, who lived
+until 1882, nor Engels, who died in 1895, made any alteration in it,
+on the ground that it had become "a historical document which we have
+no longer any right to alter."[3]
+
+"However much the state of things may have altered during the last
+twenty-five years, the general principles laid down in this manifesto
+are, on the whole, as correct to-day as ever."[4]
+
+On one very important point, however, they could not refrain from
+further comment. The revolutionary language in the original draft
+would be radically mollified if written at the time of the joint
+preface in 1872. The example of the Paris Commune was disheartening.
+It demonstrated that "the working class cannot simply lay hold of the
+ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes."[5]
+
+These, then, were the principles of the international movement of
+which the "Manifesto" was the supreme expression. When labor had
+revived from its first stupor, after the hard blows it received in the
+years of revolution, the "Manifesto" was translated into several
+Continental languages. With the revival of internationalism, it has
+been translated into every language of the industrial world, and I am
+told a Japanese and a Turkish edition have been issued. This is a
+gauge of the spread of international Socialism.
+
+In 1862 a number of French workingmen, visiting the International
+Exhibition in London, were entertained by the Socialist exiles, and
+the question of reviving an international movement was discussed. Two
+years later, in St. Martin's Hall, London, workingmen from various
+countries organized a meeting and selected Mazzini, the Italian
+patriot, to draw up a constitution. But the South European view of
+class war was out of accord with the German and French views, and
+Mazzini's proposals were rejected. Marx then undertook the writing of
+the address. He succeeded remarkably well in avoiding the giving of
+offense to the four different elements present, namely, the trade
+unionists of England, who, being Englishmen, were averse to
+revolutions; the followers of Proudhon in France, who were then
+establishing free co-operative societies; the followers of Lassalle in
+Germany and Louis Blanc in France, who glorified state aid in
+co-operation; and the less easily satisfied contingent of Mazzini from
+Spain and Italy.
+
+Marx's diplomacy and his international vocabulary stood him in good
+stead. He began the "Address" by a clever rhetorical parallelism.
+Gladstone, whose splendor then filled the political heavens, had just
+delivered a great speech in which he had gloried in the wonderful
+increase in Britain's trade and wealth. Marx contrasted this growth in
+riches with the misery and poverty and wretchedness of the English
+working classes. Gladstone's small army of rich bourgeois were
+adroitly compared with Marx's large army of miserably poor. The growth
+of wealth, he said, brought no amelioration to the needy. But in this
+picture of gloom were two points of hope: first, the ten-hour working
+day had been achieved through great struggles, and it showed what the
+proletarian can do if he persists in fighting for his rights. Second,
+Marx alluded to the co-operative achievements of France and Germany as
+a proof that the laboring man could organize and carry on great
+industries without the intervention of capitalists. With these two
+elements of hope before them, the laborers should be of good cheer.
+Marx admonished them that they had _numbers_ on their side, and all
+that is necessary for complete victory is organization. In closing he
+repeats the battle-cry of '48: "Workingmen of all lands, unite!"
+
+The "statutes," or by-laws[6] were also drawn by Marx. The preamble is
+a second "Manifesto," in which he reiterates the necessity for
+international co-operation among workingmen, and concludes: "The First
+International Labor Congress declares that the International
+Workingmen's Association, and all societies and individuals belonging
+to it, recognize truth, right, and morality as the basis of their
+conduct towards one another and their fellowmen, without respect to
+color, creed, or nationality. This congress regards it as the duty of
+man to demand the rights of a man and citizen, not only for himself,
+but for every one who does his duty. No rights without duties, no
+duties without rights."
+
+The "Address" and the "Statutes" were adopted by the association at
+its first congress, held in Geneva in September, 1866, where sixty
+delegates represented the new movement. With the vicissitudes of
+Marx's International we are not especially concerned here. It met
+annually in various cities until 1873, when its last meeting was held
+at Geneva.
+
+Marx had successfully avoided offense to the various elements in his
+masterly address and preamble. But the organization contained
+irreconcilable elements more or less jealous of one another. The two
+extremes were the Anarchists, led by the Russian Bakunin, and the
+English labor unions. The Anarchists believed in overthrowing
+everything, the English laborists abhorred violence. Between these two
+extremes stood Marx's doctrine of evolutionary revolution, as
+distasteful to the English as it was despised by the Anarchists.
+
+When the congress met at The Hague, in September, 1872, Marx was one
+of the sixty-five delegates. He had hitherto held himself aloof from
+the meetings. But here even his magnetic presence could not prevent
+the breach with Bakunin.[7] There were stormy scenes. The Anarchists
+were expelled, and the seat of the general council was transferred to
+New York, where it could die an unobserved death.
+
+Before the final adjournment a meeting was held in Amsterdam. Here
+Marx delivered a powerful speech characterized by all the arts of
+expression of which he was master. He compared these humble "assizes
+of labor" with the royal conferences of "kings and potentates" who in
+centuries past had been wont to meet at The Hague "to discuss the
+interests of their dynasties." He admitted that in England, the United
+States, and maybe in Holland, "the workmen might attain their goal by
+peaceful means. But in most European countries force must be the lever
+of revolution, and to force they must appeal when the time comes."
+
+These were his last personal words to his International, the
+crystallization of his lifelong endeavor to lead the workingmen's
+cause. There was one more meeting at Geneva, in 1873; then it
+perished.
+
+Bakunin's following, renamed the International Alliance of Social
+Democracy, meanwhile went the way of all violent revolutionists. They
+took part in the uprisings in Spain in 1873; the rebellion was
+promptly suppressed, and the alliance came to an end.
+
+During its brief existence the International was the red bogey-man of
+European courts. The most violent and bloodthirsty ambitions were
+ascribed to it. Such conservative and careful newspapers as the London
+_Times_ indulged in the most extreme editorials and news items about
+the sinister organization that was soon to "bathe the thrones of
+Europe in blood" and "despoil property of its rights" and "human
+society of its blessings."
+
+In the light of history, these fears appear ridiculous. The poor,
+struggling organization that could summon scarcely one hundred members
+to an international convention was powerful only in the possession of
+an idea, the conviction of international solidarity. Its plotting
+handful of Anarchists were a great hindrance to it, and the events of
+the Commune put the stamp of veracity on the dire things the public
+press had foretold of its ambitions.
+
+The programs discussed at the various meetings are of more importance
+to us because they reveal whatever was practical in Marx's
+organization. For the second meeting, 1866, the following outline was
+sent out by the general council from London. It was unquestionably
+prepared by Marx himself.
+
+    "1. Organization of the International Association; its ends; its
+    means of action.
+
+    "2. Workingmen's societies--their past, present, and future:
+    stoppage, strikes--means of remedying them; primary and
+    professional instruction.
+
+    "3. Work of women and children in factories, from a moral and
+    sanitary point of view.
+
+    "4. Reduction of working hours--its end, bearing, and moral
+    consequences; obligation of labor for all.
+
+    "5. Association--its principle, its application; co-operation as
+    distinguished from association proper.
+
+    "6. Relation of capital and labor; foreign competition;
+    commercial treaties.
+
+    "7. Direct and indirect taxes.
+
+    "8. International institutions--mutual credit, paper money,
+    weights, measures, coins, and language.
+
+    "9. Necessity of abolishing the Russian influence in Europe by
+    the application of the principle of the right of the people to
+    govern themselves; and the reconstitution of Poland upon a
+    democratic and social basis.
+
+    "10. Standing armies and their relation to production.
+
+    "11. Religious ideas--their influence upon the social,
+    political, and intellectual movements.
+
+    "12. Establishment of a society for mutual help; aid, moral and
+    material, given to the orphans of the association."
+
+This reads more like the agenda of a sophomore debating society than
+the outline of work for an international congress of workingmen. The
+discussions of the congress were desultory, quite impractical, and
+often tinged with the factional spirit that ultimately ruptured the
+association. At its first meeting the discussion of the eight-hour
+day, the limitation of work for women and children, and the
+establishing of better free schools took a modern turn. But the French
+delegates brought forward a proposal to confine the membership in the
+association to "hand workers." This was to get rid of Marx and Engels,
+who were "brain workers." Socialism was evidently no more clearly
+defined then than it is to-day.
+
+Occasionally practical subjects were debated, as the acquiring by the
+state of all the means of transportation, of mines, forests, and
+land. But their time was largely taken up in the discussion of general
+principles, such as "Labor must have its full rights and entire
+rewards." Or they resolved, as at Brussels in 1868, that producers
+could gain control of machines and factories only through an
+indefinite extension of co-operative societies and a system of mutual
+credit; or, as at Basle the following year, that society had a right
+to abolish private property in land.
+
+It is apparent to any one who reads the reports of their meetings that
+very little practical advance had been made since the "Manifesto."
+Socialism was still in the vapor of speculation. It had absorbed some
+practical aspects from the English unions. These were at first
+interested in the International, and at their national conference in
+Sheffield, 1868, they even urged the local unions to join it. This
+interest waned rapidly as they saw the Continental contingent veer
+towards the Commune.
+
+However, the beginnings of a new movement, a "new Socialism," were
+distinctly seen in the questions that the English element introduced:
+the length of the working day, factory legislation, work of women and
+children. These had been the subject of rigid governmental inquiry.
+Marx was thoroughly familiar with these parliamentary findings. They
+are no small part of the fortifications he built around his theory of
+social development. But his German training inclined him to the
+Continental, not the Anglo-Saxon, view of social progress and of
+politics.
+
+The "Old International," then, was an attempt to spread Marxian
+doctrines into all lands. As such an attempt it is noteworthy. The
+Marxian _modus_, however, did not fit the world. Some Socialist
+writers attribute its failure to the fact that the time was not ripe
+for Marx's methods. The time will never be ripe for the Marxian
+method. Marx tried to move everything from one center. He was a German
+dogmatist. His council was a centralized autocracy, issuing mandates
+like a general to an army. This is an impossible method of
+international organization. The center must be supported by the
+periphery, not the periphery by the center. There could be no
+proletarian internationalism until there was an organized proletarian
+nationalism.
+
+Its conceptions of its detailed duties were even cruder than its
+machinery. The discussions were a blending of pedantic declamation and
+phosphoric denunciation. Its programs were a mixture of English
+trade-union realities and Continental vagaries. Such a movement had
+neither wings nor legs.
+
+But it had an influence, nevertheless, and a very important one. It
+was the means of bringing the new generation of leaders together, the
+men who were to make Socialism a practical political force. Even the
+fact that an international laboring men's society could meet was
+important. It realized the central idea of Marx, that the labor
+problem is international. That is the important point. Human
+solidarity is not ethnic, but inter-ethnic. The "Old International"
+was a faltering step toward that solidarity of humanity that has been
+advanced so rapidly by inventions, by international arbitrations, by
+treaties of commerce, and every other movement that makes
+international hostilities every year more difficult.
+
+On Socialism the "International" had at least one beneficial effect.
+It cleared its atmosphere of the anarchistic thunder clouds and
+prepared the way for the present more practical movement. This was
+largely due to the influence of the English trade unions. They were
+not inclined toward philosophical dissertations like the Germans, nor
+brilliant speculative vagaries like the French. Their stolid forms
+were always on the earth. That Marx was anxious for their support is
+apparent, and he drove them out of the movement by his indiscreet
+utterances on the Parisian Commune of 1871.
+
+The "Old International" was a revival of the "Society of the Just,"
+tempered with English trade-unionism and tinged with Anarchism; it was
+also a connecting link between the old and the new Socialism.
+
+The characteristics of the "New Socialism" cropped out at the first
+meeting of the "New International," as it is called. In the first
+place, the co-operative movement and the trade-union movement were
+both amply represented at the Paris meetings, where the "New
+International" was formed in 1889. This is indicative of the new
+direction that the economic phase of Socialism has since taken. In the
+second place, the Socialist congress split into two parties,
+ostensibly over the question of the credentials of certain delegates,
+but really over the question that divides Socialists in all countries
+to-day: Shall Socialists co-operate with other political parties or
+remain isolated? The Marxian dogmatists believed in isolation; the
+opportunists or Possibilists believed in co-operating with other
+parties. There were two congresses. The Marxian congress had 221
+French delegates and about 175 from other countries. The Possibilist
+convention was composed of 91 foreign and 521 French delegates. It was
+virtually a labor union convention, for over 225 unions were
+represented. It is of great significance that these two meetings,
+which divided on a question of political policy, discussed virtually
+the same questions. They were against war, believed in collectivism,
+demanded international labor legislation, the eight-hour day, the "day
+of rest," etc.[8]
+
+Liebknecht, the distinguished German Socialist, who was one of the
+chairmen of the Marxian convention, wrote in his preface to the German
+edition of the _Proceedings_ that the Paris meeting began a new era,
+"and indicated a break with the past." He told the delegates at the
+convention, "the Old International lives in us to-day." There was a
+continuity of proletarian ambition. In this respect the old movement
+was resurrected in the new. But in every other respect the old
+movement was dead. The abstractions about property and the rights of
+individuals did not interest the new generation. They were more
+concerned with wages than wage theories, and in the purchasing power
+of their wages than in a theory of values. Even the spirit of the
+class consciousness had changed. Marx's organization was the source of
+the old; national consciousness was the source of the new. The
+present internationalism is the result of nationalism. The delegates
+at Paris were representatives; they represented nationalities. One of
+the rules of the Marxian congress was that votes should be counted "by
+the head," unless a delegation from any country should unanimously
+demand "voting by nationalities."
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since Bakunin and his
+conspiracy-loving following had disrupted the "Old International" by
+their preaching of violence against nationalism, labor had increased
+with the rapid strides of the increasing industry and commerce of the
+world. This labor had organized itself into unions and all manner of
+co-operative and protective associations. It had done this by natural
+compulsion from within, not by a superimposed force from without. They
+had thereby found their national homogeneity, and were ready to go
+forward into a great and universal international homogeneity.
+
+The International Workingmen's Association now embraces the labor
+movement of all the leading countries of the world. At the last
+congress, held in Copenhagen, 1910, reports were received from the
+following organizations: the British Labor Party, the Fabian Society,
+the Social Democratic Federation of England, the Social Democratic
+Party of Germany, the Social Democratic Labor Party of Austria, the
+Commission of Trade Unions of Austria, the Social Democratic Labor
+Party of Bohemia, the Social Democratic Party of Hungary, the
+Socialist Party of France, the Socialist Party of Italy, the
+Revolutionary Socialist Party of Russia, the Social Democratic Party
+of Lettland, the Social Democratic Party of Finland, the Socialist
+Party of Norway, the Social Democratic Labor Party of Sweden, the
+Danish Social Democracy, the Social Democratic Party of Holland, the
+Belgian Labor Party, the Socialist Labor Party of the United States,
+the Social Democratic Party of Servia, and the Bulgarian Laborers'
+Social Democratic Party.[9] These names indicate the threefold nature
+of the modern movement. It is a labor movement, it is democratic, and
+it is Socialistic. And the list of countries shows that it is
+international.
+
+At Brussels a permanent International Socialist Bureau is maintained,
+with a permanent secretary, who is in constant touch with the movement
+in all countries.
+
+There are two directions in which this remarkable co-operation of
+millions of workingmen of all lands may have a practical effect on
+international affairs.
+
+In the first place, there is an effort being made to internationalize
+labor unions. In Europe this has been done, to some extent, among the
+transportation workers. They have an international committee of their
+own, and keep each other informed of labor conditions and movements.
+The great railway strike in England, in the summer of 1911, was
+planned on the Continent, as well as in London and Liverpool, and
+there was a sympathetic restlessness with the strikers in various
+countries adjacent to the Channel that threatened to break out in
+violence. During the post-office strike in France the strikers
+attempted to persuade English and Belgian railway employees to refuse
+to handle French mail. The Syndicalists confidently look forward to
+the day when an international labor organization will be able to
+compel a universal general strike.
+
+In the second place, the new international organization will have a
+far-reaching influence on militarism. This is due to two causes:
+first, the recruit himself is filled with the discontent of the
+Socialist before he dons the uniform. In France, Germany, Belgium,
+Austria, and other countries the anti-military virus has been long at
+work. But more potent than this is the feeling of international
+solidarity that binds these recruits into a brotherhood of labor who
+are unwilling to fight each other for purposes that do not appeal to
+the Socialist heart. Warfare, to the laboring man, is merely one phase
+of the exploitation of the poor for the benefit of the capitalist, and
+patriotism an excuse to hide the real purposes of war. At St. Quentin,
+in 1911, the French Socialists denounced the war in Morocco as an
+exploitation of human lives for the purposes of capitalistic gain. The
+German Social Democracy has always opposed the colonial policy of the
+chancellors on the same ground, and the Belgian Labor Party has been
+the severest censor of the Belgian Congo campaigns.
+
+During the summer of 1911 the Morocco incident threatened a war
+between France and Germany, with England involved, and the other great
+powers more than interested. In August and September the situation
+became so acute that England and Germany were popularly said to have
+been "within two weeks of war." A profound sense of danger and an
+intense restlessness possessed the people. During this period of
+excitement the French Socialists held anti-war demonstrations. The
+German Social Democrats met in their annual convention at Jena and
+passed a resolution condemning the German Morocco policy, and Herr
+Bebel made a notable speech, detailing the horrors of war with grim
+exactness, and arraigning a civilization that would resort to the
+"monstrous miseries" of war for gaining a few acres of land. This
+speech was quoted at length by the great European dailies, and made a
+deep impression upon the people. In England the leaders of the Labor
+Party admonished the government that, while they were patriots and
+believed in national solidarity, the English workingman would never
+cease to consider the German and the French workingman as a
+fellow-laborer and brother. The International Socialist Bureau met in
+Zurich to discuss the situation and to consider how the organizations
+of labor might make their protests against war most effective.
+
+It is difficult to measure the influence of such an international
+protest against the powers of governments and of armies. That the
+protest was made, that it was sincere, rational and free from the
+hyperbola of passion, is the significant fact. Forty years ago such
+action on the part of labor would have been ridiculed. To-day it is
+respected.
+
+Disarmament, when it comes, will be due to the influences exerted by
+the recruit rather than to the benevolent impulses of governments and
+commanders.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Introduction to _Klassenkaempfe_, p. 13.
+
+[2] See ENGELS, Introduction to MARX'S _Enthuellungen ueber den
+Kommunisten Process zu Koeln_.
+
+[3] Joint-preface of edition of 1872.
+
+[4] _Ibid._
+
+[5] See "Address of the General Council of the Workingmen's
+Association on the Civil War in France."
+
+[6] Many of the original documents, and extensive excerpts from others
+are given in DR. EUGEN JAeGER'S _Der Moderne Socialismus_, Berlin,
+1873, and in DR. R. MEYER'S _Der Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten
+Standes_, 2nd edition, Vol. I, Berlin, 1882. Both of these works give
+a fairly detailed account of the development of the International and
+of its annual meetings.
+
+[7] See _Ein Complot gegen die International Arbeiter Association_, a
+compilation of documents and descriptions of Bakunin's organization.
+The work was first issued in French and translated into German by S.
+Koksky.
+
+[8] The Possibilists declared for an eight-hour day; a day of rest
+each week; abolition of night work; abolition of work for women and
+children; special protection for children 14-18 years of age; workshop
+inspectors elected by the workmen; equal wages for foreign and
+domestic labor; a fixed minimum wage; compulsory education; repeal of
+the laws against the International.
+
+The Marxian program included: an eight-hour day; children under 14
+years forbidden to work, and work confined to six hours a day for
+youth 14-18 years of age, except in certain cases; prohibition of work
+for women dangerous to their health; 36 hours of continuous rest each
+week; abolition of "payment in kind"; abolition of employment bureaus;
+inspectors of workshops to be selected by workmen; equal pay for both
+sexes; absolute liberty of association.
+
+For the first meeting of the "New International," see WEIL, _Histoire
+Internationale de France_, pp. 262 et seq.
+
+[9] See Appendix, p. 340. for list of countries that maintain
+Socialist organizations and the political strength of same.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF FRANCE
+
+
+I
+
+The Commune abruptly put an end to Socialism in France. The caldron
+boiled over and put out the fire. Thiers, in his last official message
+as president, claimed that Socialism, living and thriving in Germany,
+was absolutely dead in France. It was, however, to be revived in a
+newer and more vital form.
+
+The exiled communards, in England and elsewhere, came in contact with
+Marxianism, and in 1880, when a general amnesty was declared, they
+brought to Paris a new and virile propaganda. The leader of the new
+Marxian movement was Jules Guesde, a tireless zealot, burning with the
+fire that kindles enthusiasm.
+
+The "affaire Boulanger" absorbed attention at this time, and Guesde,
+in his newspapers, _La Revolution Francaise_ and _Egalite_, supported
+the Republic. But he was also insisting upon "Le minimum d'etat et la
+maximum de liberte" (a minimum of government and a maximum of
+liberty). This may be taken as the political maxim of the Socialists
+at that time, although it leads them into the embarrassing anomaly of
+using their own slave as their master.
+
+Meantime a political labor party had arisen. In Paris, in 1878, a
+workingman became a candidate for the municipal council, and he headed
+his program with the words "_Parti Ouvrier_"--Labor Party. This is
+the first time the words were used with a political significance.[1]
+It was a small beginning, his votes were few, and the newspaper that
+espoused the workingman's cause, _Le Proletaire_, was constantly on
+the verge of bankruptcy for want of proletarian support. In other
+cities the political labor movement began, and in 1879 a labor
+conference was held in Marseilles.
+
+The two movements, labor and Socialist, drew together in 1880 at a
+general conference of workingmen at Havre. Here there were three
+groups which found it impossible to coalesce: the Anarchists, under
+Blanqui, formed the "Parti Socialiste Revolutionnaire"--the
+Revolutionary Socialist Party; the co-operativists, calling themselves
+the Republican Socialist Alliance, included the opportunist element of
+the Socialists; and the Guesdists, who were in the majority, organized
+the "Parti Ouvrier Francais"--the French Labor Party--and adopted a
+Marxian program.
+
+The Guesdists entered the campaign with characteristic zeal. They
+polled only 15,000 votes in Paris and 25,000 in the Departments for
+their municipal tickets, and 50,000 in the entire country for their
+legislative ticket.
+
+From the first the Socialists in France have been rent by petty
+factions. We will hastily review these constantly shifting groups
+before proceeding to the larger inquiry.
+
+In 1882 the Guesdists split, and Brousse formed the "Federation des
+Travailleurs Socialistes de France"--the Federation of Socialist
+Workingmen of France. In 1885 Malon formed a group for the study of
+the social problems, "Societe d'Economie Sociale"--Society of Social
+Economics--which rapidly developed into the important group of
+Independent Socialists--"Parti Socialiste Independent." The labor
+movement was stimulated by the act of 1884, and in 1886 the
+"Federation des Syndicats"--Federation of Labor Unions--was organized
+at Lyons, and in 1887 the Paris Labor Exchange--"Bourse du
+Travail"--was opened.
+
+In 1882 Allemane seceded from the Broussists to found a faction of his
+own, the Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party of France--"Parti Ouvrier
+Socialiste Revolutionnaire Francais." In 1893 the first confederation
+of the labor exchanges (bourses) was held, and the first conspicuous
+victory at the polls achieved.
+
+In 1899 an effort was made to unify the warring factions, and a
+committee representing every shade of Socialistic faith was appointed.
+It was called the General Committee--"Comite General Socialiste."
+Within the year the Guesdists withdrew on account of the rigorous
+quelling of the strike riots by the government at Chalons-sur-Saone.
+In 1901 the Blanquists withdrew and, coalescing with the Guesdists,
+formed the Socialist Party of France--"Parti Socialiste de France."
+This movement was soon followed by the uniting of the Jauresites and
+the Independents, who called themselves the French Socialist
+Party--"Parti Socialiste Francais."
+
+After the expulsion of Millerand, the two parties united in 1905 at
+Rouen. This unity was achieved at the suggestion of the International
+Congress held at Amsterdam, 1904. The "United Party" is officially
+known as the French Section of the International Workingmen's
+Association--"Section Francaise de l'Internationale Ouvriere."
+
+The United Party, after its years of ridiculous factionalism, is the
+most compact and disciplined group in the Chamber of Deputies, and
+this in spite of the fact that the Guesdists and Jauresites have not
+forgotten their ancient differences. The French people are not
+amenable to discipline and party rigor as are the Germans and the
+Anglo-Saxons. At the last election (1910) the United Party elected 76
+deputies in a chamber of 590 members.
+
+There are to-day two other groups that are more or less Socialistic
+but are not in "the Party." The Independent Socialists, numbering
+thirty-four members in the Chamber, are men who, either because of
+their intellectualism or because of their political ambitions, have a
+repugnance to hard and fast organization. This group includes a number
+of college professors and journalists; also Briand, Viviani, and
+Millerand, former ministers. They are not committed to any definite
+political program, take a leading part in all social reform measures,
+and are accused by the "united ones" of using the name Socialist
+merely as a bait for votes.
+
+The other group is the Socialist-Radical Party, numbering about 250
+members in the Chamber. In most countries their radicalism would be
+called Socialism. But in France they are only the connecting link
+between Socialists and liberal Republicans.[2]
+
+
+II
+
+The "social questions" were slow in entering parliament. In 1876 a
+Bonapartist deputy, known for his charities, interpolated the
+government, asking what inquiries were being made toward securing the
+moral and material betterment of "the greatest number," and amidst the
+cheers of his followers the Prime Minister replied that the
+government's duty was comprehended in securing to the country
+"liberty, security, and education." This was the old idea of the
+functions of government. The new social movement had not yet gathered
+momentum.
+
+With the development of the workingman's political party, interest and
+sympathy for his problems suddenly increased. In 1880 the Republicans
+adopted a resolution in favor of freedom of association. At this time
+labor unions were illegal. In 1881 the government removed the
+restrictions that had been placed on the press. In the following year
+it extended the primary schools into every commune, and Gambetta did
+everything in his power to promulgate what he termed "an alliance of
+the proletariat and the bourgeois." Social science, he said, was the
+solvent of social ills. The Socialists, however, believed that
+politics, not "social science," was the solvent.
+
+It was not until 1884, while Waldeck-Rousseau was Minister of the
+Interior, that labor was given the legal right to organize.
+Immediately unions--called _syndicats_ by the French--sprang up
+everywhere. Article 3 of the act declared that these unions had for
+their exclusive object "the study and the promulgation of their
+interests, economic, industrial, commercial, and agricultural." They
+were not given the liberal legal powers that English and American
+unions have.
+
+The social movement now invaded French politics in full battle array.
+A government commission was intrusted with the study of the
+co-operative movement. In 1885 several deputies, calling themselves
+Socialists, began to interpellate the ministry on the labor questions.
+The government brought in two proposals, one pertaining to communal
+and industrial organizations, the other to the arbitration of
+industrial disputes. Both were tabled.
+
+In 1887 a man appeared in the Chamber ready to debate the social
+questions with the keenest and the ablest. This was Jean Jaures, a
+professor of philosophy, whose profound knowledge and superb oratory
+immediately commanded attention. He was joined by another new deputy,
+M. Millerand, scarcely less proficient in debate, and even more
+extreme in his convictions. Both were considered members of the
+radical party. But they soon formed the nucleus of a new group, the
+Independent Socialists, that grew rapidly in influence and power.
+
+The social question was forced on the public from yet another
+direction. The Anarchists, who had been expelled from the Havre
+conference, remained passive until the organization of trade unions.
+They then began to promulgate the doctrine of the general strike. The
+unionists began not only to compel their employers to accede to their
+demands, but to coerce workingmen to join the unions. It was during
+this agitation that the government established an elaborate system of
+labor exchanges--"Bourse du Travail."
+
+From the labor unions the doctrine of the general strike was
+insinuated into Socialist circles. In 1890 it was proposed as a
+practical measure for enforcing the demand for an eight-hour day among
+the miners. In 1892 the Departmental Congress of Workingmen at Tours
+passed a resolution favoring the general strike, and it was discussed
+a few days later in a general convention of the unions, at the
+suggestion of Aristide Briand, a Socialist who was destined to play an
+important role in the development of the theory and practice of
+general strikes.
+
+The government could no longer dodge the social question. Millerand
+announced his conversion to Socialism and became the leader of a small
+parliamentary coterie who pressed the issue daily. In a signed
+statement to the unions they said: "The Republic has given the ballot
+into your hand, now give the Republic your instructions."[3] The
+parliamentary _entente_ of the liberal Socialists with the Radical
+Left dates from this time. The campaign spread with surprising fervor.
+Labor unions and parliamentary Socialists joined their forces. In 1893
+they elected forty Socialists to the Chamber of Deputies. Among them
+were Jaures, who now espoused the cause of the Socialist opportunists;
+Millerand, conspicuous as leader of the independent group; Guesde, the
+vehement Marxian; and Vaillant, a communard and Socialist of the older
+type.
+
+Now began the actual parliamentary Socialism in France. Jaures, in
+introducing the group--they were scarcely a party--to the Chamber,
+affirmed their allegiance to the Republic and their devotion to the
+cause of humanity. The misery of the people had awakened, he said,
+after right of association had been granted. Labor had, through
+strikes, gained certain minor improvements. It was now prepared to
+conquer public authority. But so much of their time was spent in
+quarreling with each other, and debating whether they should vote with
+the Radicals, that very little substantial work was accomplished by
+the Socialists.
+
+Finally, encouraged by their unusual success in the municipal
+elections of 1896, the leaders of the various factions met at
+Saint-Mande to celebrate their victory. They were tiring of their
+quarrels and were ready to unite. At least they agreed that each group
+could name its own candidate for the first ballot; on the second
+ballot they should all support the Socialist who polled the most votes
+on the first ballot.[4]
+
+But who is a Socialist? Here for the first time a political definition
+was attempted. Millerand, a Parisian lawyer who, we have seen, made
+his political debut with Jaures, as a member of the Radical Left,
+attempted the answer. It was made in the presence of Guesde, Vaillant,
+and Jaures, and many local leaders from various parts of France. So,
+for the moment and for the occasion of rejoicing, there was a united
+Socialism. And it gave assent, with varying enthusiasm, to the general
+definition and program outlined by Millerand. He defined the ground to
+be covered as follows:
+
+"Is not the Socialistic idea completely summed up in the earnest
+desire to secure for every being in the bosom of society the
+unimpaired development of his personality? That implies two necessary
+conditions of which one is a factor of the other: first, individual
+appropriation of things necessary for the security and development of
+the individual, i.e., property; secondly, liberty, which is only a
+sounding and hollow word if it is not based on and safeguarded by
+property."
+
+He then accepted _in toto_ the Marxian theory that capitalistic
+society bears within itself the enginery of its own doom. "Men do not
+and will not set up collectivism; it is setting itself up daily; it
+is, if I may be allowed the phrase, being secreted by the capitalistic
+regime. Here I seem to have my finger on the characteristic feature of
+the Socialist program. In my view, whoever does not admit the
+necessary and progressive replacement of capitalistic property by
+social property is not a Socialist."
+
+Millerand was not satisfied with merely including banking, railroads,
+and mining in the list of "socialized" property. He believed that as
+industries become "ripe" they should be taken over by the state, and
+cites sugar refining as an example of a monopoly that is
+"incontestably ripe." Millerand also laid great stress on municipal
+activities, and hastened to guarantee to the small property owner his
+modest possessions. All this taking over by the state was to be done
+gradually. "No Socialist ever dreamed of transforming the capitalistic
+regime instantaneously by magic wand." The method of this gradual
+absorption by the state must be constitutional. "We appeal only to
+universal suffrage. To realize the immediate reforms capable of
+relieving the lot of the working class, and thus fitting it to win its
+own freedom, and to begin, as conditioned by the nature of things, the
+socialization of the means of production, it is necessary and
+sufficient for the Socialist party to endeavor to capture the
+government through universal suffrage."[5]
+
+This mild formulary, which places the "socialized society" far into
+the dim future, was accepted as long as it was rhetorical. But when
+Millerand himself became a member of the cabinet in the
+Waldeck-Rousseau coalition, and began to translate his words into
+deeds, a rupture followed.
+
+In the meantime occurred the Dreyfus affair, which shifted all the
+political forces of the Republic. At first the Guesdists remained
+indifferent, while Jaures, with great energy, threw himself into the
+contest in behalf of Dreyfus. But when the affair took an
+anti-Republican turn and democracy was threatened, then all the
+Socialists united, with no lack of energy and zeal, in the defense of
+the Republic. On June 13, 1898, Millerand was spokesman in the Chamber
+of Deputies for the Socialist group, which now held the balance of
+power. With threats of violence against the Republic in the air, he
+assured the deputies that his comrades were united for "the honor, the
+splendor, and the safety of the Fatherland" (l'honneur, la grandeur,
+et la securite de la Patrie). And this was part of the price of their
+adhesion: old-age pensions, a fixed eight-hour day, factory
+legislation protecting the life and health of the workman, military
+service reduced to two years, and an income tax. The Radical Left
+adopted this "minimum program" of the Socialists, and the famous
+"Bloc" was formed. Jaures was made vice-president of the Chamber and
+soon proved himself master of the coalition. Now for the first time in
+history the Socialists were in political power, and what occurred is
+of the greatest interest to us.
+
+
+III
+
+And now for the first time a Socialist becomes a cabinet member. In
+1899 Waldeck-Rousseau appointed Millerand Minister of Commerce, to the
+consternation of the Conservatives and the division of the Socialists.
+Jaures congratulated his colleague on his courage in assuming
+responsibility. But while the Independents were jubilant over the
+elevation of one of their number, the Guesdists and Blanquists withdrew
+from the "Bloc." They issued a manifesto setting forth their reasons.
+They did not wish further alliances with a "pretended Socialist." They
+were tired of "compromises and deviations," which for too long a time
+had been forced on them as "a substitute for the class war, for
+revolution, and the socialism of the militant proletariat."[6]
+
+To them the war of the classes forbade their entrance into a bourgeois
+ministry; and the conquest of political power did not imply
+collaboration with a government whose duty it was to defend property.
+Jaures proposed to put the question up to the party congress, and in
+1899 at Paris a bilateral compromise resolution was adopted. Guesde,
+however, restless and dissatisfied, compelled the congress to vote
+first upon the question, "Does the war of the classes permit the
+entrance of a Socialist into a bourgeois government?" The answer was
+818 "no," 634 "yes." Jaures' compromise was then adopted, 1,140 to
+240.[7]
+
+The international congress held in Paris, September, 1900, adopted
+Kautsky's resolution declaring that the acceptance of office by a
+single Socialist in a bourgeois government "could not be deemed the
+normal commencement of the conquest for political power, but only an
+expedient called forth by transitory and exceptional conditions."
+
+At the Bordeaux congress, April, 1903, the whole time was given over
+to this perplexing question. The congress was composed largely of
+friends of Millerand and Jaures. By this time the Socialist minister
+had had three years' experience in the cabinet. The Waldeck-Rousseau
+premiership had given way to Combes, who was also dependent upon the
+Socialists for his power.
+
+Millerand had especially offended the Socialists by voting against his
+party on three separate occasions: first, on a resolution abolishing
+state support for public worship; second, on a resolution to prosecute
+certain anti-militarists for publishing a book that tended to destroy
+military discipline; and, third, on a resolution asking the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs to invite proposals for international disarmament.
+He had further offended the Socialists by officially receiving the
+Czar on his visit to Paris.
+
+The debate, then, was disciplinary rather than doctrinal. But it was
+political discipline, evidence therefore that a party consciousness of
+some sort had been achieved. This meeting is significant because it
+tried to fix definite limits for Socialistic action and committed
+Jaures to the narrowing, not to the expanding, policy of the party.
+
+M. Sarrante expressed the Millerand idea when he told the delegates
+that they were to judge "an entire policy," the policy of "democratic
+Socialism, which gains ground daily on the revolutionary Socialism, a
+policy which Citizen Millerand did not start, which he has merely
+developed and defined, and which forces itself upon us more and more
+in our republican country." The test of Socialism, he said, was just
+this "contact of theory with facts."
+
+Jaures found himself in logical difficulty when he endeavored to
+reconcile both sides for the sake of party unity. He said that
+Sarrante was wrong "when he thinks it enough to lay down the principle
+of democracy in order to resolve, in a sort of automatic fashion, the
+antagonisms of society.... The enthronement of political democracy and
+universal suffrage by no means suppresses the profound antagonism of
+classes.... Sarrante errs in positing democracy without noting that it
+is modified, adulterated, thwarted by the antagonism of classes and
+the economic preponderance of one class. Just as Guesde errs in
+positing the class war apart from democracy."
+
+To Jaures the problem was to "penetrate" this democracy with the ideas
+of Socialism until the "proletarian and Socialistic state has replaced
+the oligarchic and bourgeois state." This can be brought about, he
+said, by "a policy which consists in at once collaborating with all
+democrats, yet vigorously distinguishing one's self from them."
+
+Jaures acknowledged the awkwardness of this policy, which required a
+superhuman legerdemain never yet accomplished by any party in the
+history of politics.
+
+Guesde's motion to oust Millerand from the party was lost. And a
+compromise offered by Jaures censuring him for his votes, but
+permitting him to remain in the party fold, was adopted by 109 to 89
+votes, fifteen delegates abstaining from voting. This was a very close
+margin, and in spite of Millerand's promise that he would in the
+future be more careful of his party allegiance he was expelled the
+following year from the Federation of the Seine. The stumbling-block
+was removed.[8]
+
+More important than the party discipline is the question of the
+economic measures attempted by Millerand. In general he followed the
+outlines laid down in his Saint-Mande program.[9] His experience
+carried him farther away from the Guesdists every year until he
+repudiated the class war and adhered to social solidarity; substituted
+the method by evolution for the method by revolution, still espoused
+by Guesde; and placed the national interests upon as high a plane of
+duty as the international and the personal. His program of labor
+legislation was comprehensive, and he succeeded in getting some of it
+passed into law. These were his leading proposals:
+
+1. Regulating the hours of labor and creating a normal working day of
+ten hours. He began the reduction at eleven hours, reducing it to ten
+and a half, and then to ten within three years. In the public works of
+his own department he reduced the working day at once to eight hours.
+
+2. In public contracts he introduced clauses favorable to workingmen.
+These clauses embraced the number of hours in a normal work day, the
+minimum wage for every class of workmen, prohibition of piece-work,
+guarantee of no work on Sunday, and the per cent. of foreign workmen
+allowed on the job. He arranged that the workingmen should unite with
+the employer in fixing the wages and the hours of labor before the
+contract was signed. In these contracts, furthermore, the state
+reserved the right to indemnify the workmen out of the funds due to
+the contractor.
+
+3. An accident insurance law.
+
+4. The abolition of private employment agencies, with their many
+abuses, and replacing them with communal labor bureaus free to all.
+The voluntary federations of the trade unions were put on a similar
+footing with the communal labor exchanges, and were encouraged to
+co-operate with them. Millerand took great care to perfect the
+organization of trade unions. He introduced amendments to the old law
+of 1884, giving greater scope and elasticity to the unions, granting
+them greater corporate powers, and making the dismissal of a workman
+because he belonged to a union ground for a civil suit for damages. He
+began a movement to secure the co-operation between the unions and the
+state workshop inspectors. There had been a great deal of abuse in the
+operation of the inspection laws by the employers. An attempt was now
+made to define strictly the rights and duties of the inspectors.
+
+5. His pet scheme was the establishing of labor councils (conseils du
+travail). On these councils labor and employer were to have equal
+representation. The duty of the councils embraced the adjudication of
+all disputes arising between employer and employee, suggesting
+improvements, and keeping vigilance over all local labor conditions.
+In 1891 a supreme labor council had been established. To this
+Millerand added lay and official members and greatly increased its
+efficiency. He tried to make it a central vigilance bureau, keeping in
+close touch with local conditions all over the land.
+
+6. He elaborated a plan for regulating industrial disputes. This was
+to be effected by a permanent organization in each establishment
+employing more than fifty men, a sort of committee of grievance to
+which all matters of dispute might be referred. In case of failure to
+settle their difficulties an appeal to the local labor council was
+provided. By this democratic representative machinery Millerand hoped
+to solve the labor problem.
+
+It will be seen that Millerand's plan was an attempt, by law, to
+project the working class, not into politics but into the capitalist
+class. He would do this by compelling the employer to share the
+responsibility of ownership with his employees. This would mark the
+beginning of a revolution very different from the revolution
+ordinarily preached by propagandists, because this revolution would
+substitute class peace in place of our present incessant economic
+class war.
+
+The Socialists made it plain that Millerand's procedure was not
+Socialism. When Millerand was first asked to take a cabinet portfolio
+his friend Jaures told him to accept. When he had perfected his
+practical procedure, and the bulk of the proletarians evinced their
+disappointment and chagrin that the elevation of a Socialist had not
+brought utopia, Jaures gradually slipped away from his former alliance
+and finally left the reformist group.
+
+Jaures also had his day of power. The Dreyfus affair presented the
+issue in tangible form--the old traditions, religious, political,
+social, against the new ideas of society, property, and government. It
+was the heroic period of modern French Socialism. Red and black flags
+were borne by enthusiastic multitudes through the streets of Paris.
+The "_Universite Populaire_" was inaugurated by students for the
+purpose of instructing the common people in the issues that were at
+stake. The flame of eager anticipation spread over the Republic.
+
+As master of the "Bloc" in the Chamber, Jaures became the first real
+head in the first French democracy. Two great reforms were undertaken:
+the disestablishment of the Church, carrying with it the
+secularization of education and the reorganization of the army. The
+old Royalist families had continued to send their sons into the army
+and navy. Many of the officers were suspected of royalist sympathies.
+An elaborate system of espionage was instituted, and the suspects
+weeded out. The last vestige of the old monarchy has now disappeared
+from French officialdom. France has a bourgeois army, a bourgeois
+school system, a bourgeois bureaucracy, thanks to the power of the
+proletarian Socialists led by Jaures in the days of the Republic's
+danger.
+
+Jaures remained orthodox; Millerand became heretic. The Millerand
+episode left a deep impression on the public mind. The first Socialist
+minister shaped not only a program but an entire policy. In 1906, when
+a new cabinet was formed, Millerand declined a portfolio, but two
+other Socialists accepted cabinet honors; Viviani, a well-known
+Parisian lawyer, held the newly created ministry of labor and social
+prevision (prevoyance sociale), and Aristide Briand became Minister of
+Public Instruction and Worship, and later Minister of Justice.
+
+The public regarded the elevation of two Socialists to the cabinet as
+a matter of course. Millerand's activity had taken the fear out of
+their hearts. Even the Marxian Socialists failed to notice the event.
+They had written into their party by-laws that no Socialist could
+accept office, so the new ministers, by their own acts, ceased to be
+"Socialists."
+
+Clemenceau, the new Premier, ushered in the next period of social
+adventure by a brilliant debate in the Chamber with Jaures in which
+the philosophical basis of individualism was reviewed with great skill
+and some of the social questions discussed.[10]
+
+Jaures claimed for the Socialists a dominant share in the great
+victory won by the friends of the Republic during the Dreyfus turmoil,
+and made much of the multitudes of workingmen to whom the Republic was
+now under great obligation. These workingmen, the proletariat, were
+the force now to be dealt with. "If you really wish society to evolve,
+if you wish it really to be transformed, there is the force you must
+deal with, and that you must neither repress nor rebuff." The
+parliamentary experience of Socialism Jaures passed over lightly; it
+added nothing new, he thought, to the theory or the arguments of the
+Socialists.
+
+His opponent, however, in a single sentence laid bare the weakness of
+the Socialist's logic: "The truth is that it is necessary to
+distinguish between two different elements of the social organization,
+between the man and the system." Clemenceau read the Socialists'
+program upon which they had won their victory. It embraced: the
+eight-hour day, giving state employees the right to form unions,
+sickness and unemployment insurance; a progressive income tax; ballot
+reform (scrutin de liste) and proportional representation, and
+"restoration to the nation of the monopolies in which capital has its
+strongest fortress."
+
+"What a terribly bourgeois program!" exclaimed Clemenceau. "M. Jaures,
+after expounding his program, challenged me to produce my own. I had
+very great difficulty in restraining the temptation to reply: 'You
+know my program very well. You have it in your pocket. You stole it
+from me.'"
+
+This debate was significant, not in what was said, but in the fact
+that it was possible to enlist the Prime Minister, the cleverest of
+French statesmen, and Jaures, the greatest of French orators, in a
+discussion of Socialism from the tribune of the Chamber of Deputies.
+The whole country listened. During this brilliant tilt Clemenceau
+taunted Jaures that his Socialism was impractical, a dream. "You are a
+visionary, I am a realist; you have dreams, I have facts." Jaures
+replied with great fervor that he would prove to the people of France
+that Socialism is not impracticable and that within a year he would
+produce a plan for the new social order. The "Unified" Socialist
+Party, built up largely on Jaures' abandonment of his former colleague
+and his earlier liberal convictions, may be considered a part of the
+fulfilment of this promise. The other part, the plans and
+specifications for the new society, is not yet before the world. Its
+introduction, properly its prelude, is the volume published by Jaures
+in 1911, _L'Armee Nouvelle_, containing suggestions for reorganizing
+the state defense along lines of voluntary militia and cadets.[11]
+
+
+IV
+
+Clemenceau's regime was destined to test the Socialist policy in a new
+direction. The law of 1884 gave state employees the right to form
+associations, but not to federate or organize _syndicats_. A great
+many organizations were formed, especially among the postal employees
+and teachers. They were mutual benefit societies, "friendly"
+associations, and the government recognized them to the extent of
+discussing their grievances and questions of mutual interest with
+them.
+
+Among the workmen in the navy yards and the national match, tobacco,
+and porcelain works similar organizations existed. The Syndicalists
+would not let the matter rest there. They demanded that these
+organizations become members of the C.G.T. (General Confederation of
+Workingmen). The government objected because that would give the men
+the right to strike, a dangerous anomaly giving to the state's
+servants the right to make government nugatory. This extreme doctrine
+found ready advocates in the Chamber among the Socialists.
+
+In March, 1909, the post-office clerks and telegraph operators went
+out on strike. The government promptly discharged thirty-eight of the
+ringleaders and arrested eight of the strikers in Paris on the charge
+of resisting the police. In the course of a few days over 800 out of
+15,000 employees were discharged. Soldiers were introduced into the
+service, and with the help of local chambers of commerce and other
+civic bodies the postal service was renewed. The strikers were then
+willing to make terms. They stipulated that the dismissed employees be
+reinstated and that M. Simyan, the Under-Secretary of Posts and
+Telegraphs, be dismissed. The first request was conceded, the second
+was denied. The ostensible cause of the strike had been the attitude
+of the under-secretary; the men asserted that he was arbitrary and had
+imposed petty political exactions upon them. The government refused to
+allow the men to dictate its affairs, the under-secretary remained,
+and the men went back to work.
+
+The Socialists censured the government for not being considerate with
+the men, and placed the entire blame upon the ministry for refusing
+the national employees a right to organize as other workmen. To this
+Simyan replied: "We are in the presence of an organized revolutionary
+agitation ... this is blackmail by strike." The Minister of Public
+Works said: "Over our heads these officials have revolted against you
+and against the entire nation. These are serious hours when the
+government needs perfect facilities of communication with its
+ambassadors and consuls [the Balkan question was in the pot], and in
+such hours a strike is an attack upon the national sovereignty. In
+these circumstances I cannot re-enter into negotiations with the
+general postal association. If I did so that would mean
+abdication."[12] The Socialist deputies voted against the government's
+resolution "not to tolerate strikes of functionaries."
+
+The general strike committee was not discharged when the men returned
+to work. When it became evident that the government did not intend to
+ask the under-secretary for his resignation the post-office employees
+organized a trade union, unauthorized by law. The government refused
+to meet representatives of this union, on the ground that state
+employees had organized for one purpose only, namely, to have the
+right to strike, and the government would not concede that right.
+
+On May 12 a second general post-office strike was called. The
+government immediately dismissed over two hundred of the strikers. The
+Socialists in the Chamber began a demonstration against the
+government. One of their number started the "Internationale," the
+Socialist war-song. After the first blush of indignation had passed,
+the whole Chamber sprang to its feet, there were shouts of protest, a
+Republican started the Marseillaise, and the two revolutionary hymns,
+bourgeois and proletarian, were blended for the first time in a
+parliamentary chamber.
+
+Now the general confederation of labor (C.G.T.) took charge of the
+strike, and soon plots began to be carried out in various parts of the
+country. There were indications of violence everywhere. The general
+committee of the C.G.T. declared a general strike. The situation
+threatened to become serious, but the soldiers distributed over the
+affected territory had a tranquilizing effect. Men in other trades
+were reluctant to follow the orders of the committee. A few electric
+workers succeeded in cutting some wires in Paris, leaving the city in
+darkness a few hours. There were desultory acts of _sabotage_, but
+there was more terror than enthusiasm, and in two days the general
+strike was over.[13]
+
+Here was an attempt to place the 800,000 French state employees into
+the revolutionary current of the C.G.T. The real question at issue was
+this: Is striking an act of mutiny? Barthou, a member of the ministry,
+said in the Chamber of Deputies that "the more solemnly you denounce
+the strike as a crime against the state, the greater the victory of
+the Syndicalists." The Syndicalist journal, _Le Voix du Peuple_, the
+day after the first strike was settled proclaimed "the victory which
+our comrades of the postal proletariat have won over their employer
+the state." This, they said, showed that the state conceded the main
+contention of Syndicalism--that it is not different from a private
+employer. And the Syndicalists gloried in the fact that the
+government, instead of treating the strikers as mutineers, parleyed
+with them and reinstated them.
+
+Clemenceau brought in a bill designed to relieve the situation by
+fixing the status of the state employees. The men were to be given the
+right of association for "professional" purposes only,--i.e., for
+improving their efficiency,--but were absolutely prohibited from
+striking and from joining other unions. A comprehensive civil-service
+reform was embodied in the bill, aimed to prevent the men from
+becoming victims of political abuse.
+
+Before the bill could be thoroughly considered the Clemenceau ministry
+fell and a new Prime Minister was called to the helm. This was none
+other than Aristide Briand, the first Socialist Prime Minister in
+European history. His former comrades had long before this disowned
+him, and he was soon to participate in events that would forever
+alienate them. He had been a furious Socialist, an anti-militarist,
+and defender of the general strike. In the Socialist congress at
+Paris, 1899, he said: "The general strike has the seductive advantage
+that it is nothing but the practice of an intangible right. It is a
+revolution which arises within the law. The workingman refuses to
+carry the yoke of misery any farther and begins the revolution in the
+field of his legal rights. The illegality must begin with the
+capitalist class, if it allows itself to be provoked into destroying a
+right which they themselves have professed to be holy." At the same
+meeting he expressed himself on the soldiery as follows: "If the
+command to fire is given, if the officers are stubborn enough to try
+to force the soldiers against their will, then the guns might be
+fired, but perhaps not in the direction the officers thought." Briand
+repeated these sentiments at the Amsterdam congress in 1903.
+
+This was the man whom destiny had chosen to lead the French government
+against the organized revolt of government employees.
+
+On assuming the premiership he announced his program:
+
+1. Parliamentary and electoral reform, he said, were of the first
+necessity, but he deemed it best to experiment with the new methods of
+balloting locally before adopting a national system of reform.
+
+2. A graduated income tax.
+
+3. Fixing the legal status of state servants.
+
+4. Old-age pension.
+
+October 10, 1910, the men employed on the Northern Railway went out on
+strike. Before they did so they had a conference with the Prime
+Minister and the Minister of Public Works, Millerand, requesting that
+they try to arrange a meeting between the men and the officials of the
+railway. The ministry offered its services to the railway directors,
+but they refused to meet the strikers, although Briand had volunteered
+to preside at such a meeting. The Prime Minister told the men firmly
+that the government could not tolerate a suspension of railway
+service, that it would exert its authority to prevent it, and that it
+relied on the common sense and patriotism of the men to prevent it.
+
+However, the strike spread to other lines, including the state
+railway. The men's demands were three: 1. A minimum wage of five
+francs a day. 2. A revision of the railway pension act making the
+pensions retroactive. 3. A weekly day of rest--the men had been
+excluded from the "rest day" act when it was passed.
+
+Briand at once characterized the strike as political in motive and
+revolutionary in character. In his mind the strike ceased to be merely
+a question of the right to strike, but was a criminal outbreak, an act
+of rebellion planned by a few revolutionary leaders and submitted to
+by the rank and file without their even voting on the question. He was
+greatly incensed at the sudden calling out of the men after the
+government had received their representatives, and especially since
+the railway companies had granted their request for a minimum wage and
+had taken under advisement the other demands of the men.
+
+Five of the ringleaders were promptly arrested under dramatic
+circumstances. They were attending a meeting in the office of
+_L'Humanite_,[14] attended by Jaures and Vaillant and other leaders of
+the party. They were arrested under color of Sections 17 and 18 of the
+law of 1845 dealing with railway traffic.[15]
+
+This law proved a powerful factor in checking the strike. Arrests were
+made far and near. The energetic Prime Minister did not wait for acts
+of violence; he anticipated them. Briand called out the reserves
+(militia), and nearly all of the strikers were compelled to put on the
+uniform. If they refused they were guilty of a serious offense; if
+they obeyed they could no longer strike.
+
+The railways were run as in times of war, under military rigor. In
+spite of these precautions acts of violence occurred, and _sabotage_
+was reported from various railway centers.[16]
+
+In one week the soldiery, under the determined minister, had done its
+work. The strike was over. The government refused to reinstate about
+2,000 men employed on the state railway.
+
+The strike committee issued a manifesto excusing the failure of the
+strike, assuming the full responsibility for calling it, and affirming
+that the government had "lowered itself to the level of the most
+barbarous employer."
+
+The strike was hastily conceived, never had the sympathy of the
+public, and the destruction of property was deplored even by the labor
+unions, which, when it was all over, passed resolutions condemning
+_sabotage_. The leaders of the Syndicalists, the plotters of the
+strike, no doubt believed that the time was opportune. The Prime
+Minister and two of his cabinet, Viviani and Millerand, were
+Socialists, and a third member, Barthou, was a Radical who had as a
+private member of the Chamber, a short time before his appointment to
+the cabinet, vigorously defended the railway men's "right to strike."
+But official responsibility had its usual effect.[17]
+
+Now began a series of dramatic events in the Chamber. The united
+Socialists maintained that the men had a legal right to strike and
+that the government had denied to French citizens their legal
+privileges. Briand replied (October 25) that the strike had nothing to
+do with the labor problem. The government, had been confronted with
+"an enterprise designed to ruin the country, an anarchistic movement
+with civil war for its aim, and violence and organized destruction for
+its method"; and he had treated it as a rebellion, not as a strike.
+The government, he said, had evidence of a well-laid plot for
+_sabotage_; and the Syndicalist idea of liberty he characterized as a
+"hideous figure of license."
+
+Millerand (October 27) characterized the strike as a "criminal
+enterprise," and the _saboteurs_ as "criminals" guilty of "a
+revolutionary mobilization with a political object." For the
+Socialists Bouveri, a miner, replied. He defended bomb-throwing and
+_sabotage_; asked the Minister of War if, in case of invasion by a
+foreign foe, he would not blow up the bridges; and said the strikers
+were engaged in a social war and had the same excuse for destroying
+property.
+
+The climax of the debate came October 29, when Briand, turning to the
+Socialists, said: "I am going to tell you something that will make you
+jump (que vous faire bondir). If the government had not found in the
+law that which enabled it to remain master of the frontiers of France
+and master of its railways, which are the indispensable instruments of
+the national defense; if, in a word, the government had found it
+necessary to resort to illegality, it would have done so."
+
+No words can describe the disorder of the scene that followed this
+challenge. Cries of "Dictator!" "Resign!" were mingled with catcalls
+and hisses. Finally Jaures was heard in bitter rebuke of his former
+comrade. Viviani answered Jaures; they had fought together the battles
+of the workingman and would do so still "if Socialism had not adopted
+the methods of _sabotage_, of anti-patriotism, and of anarchy."
+
+A few weeks later Briand and his cabinet resigned, although sustained
+by a majority of the Chamber. But President Fallieres immediately
+requested the dauntless Prime Minister to form a new cabinet. In his
+new program he included measures that would greatly strengthen the
+arms of the government in times of strikes, punishing _sabotage_ by
+heavy fines and penalties, penalizing the public railway servant for
+striking, and contemplating an elaborate system of conciliation boards
+patterned after Millerand's plan.
+
+These rigorous suggestions increased the flame of hatred against him,
+and his life was threatened. Nothing daunted, he proceeded in his
+warfare against the C.G.T., which he denounced as a handful of
+plotters exercising a wicked tyranny over Socialists and workingmen.
+Finally, February 27, 1911, he resigned, refusing to hold office by
+the sufferance of the reactionary Right. The Socialists voted with
+their enemies to dethrone their first Premier, whom they considered a
+traitor to the course.[18]
+
+So ended one of the most significant episodes of modern political
+history. Every government, especially every democratic government,
+will within the next few decades be compelled to meet the railway
+problem and the question of the relation of the government to its
+state servants.
+
+Two important details in the Briand affair are of especial interest.
+
+First, the Prime Minister's attempt to project the authority of the
+state into the contract relations of the railway employees and the
+companies. Instead of hostility, Briand's plan might well have
+deserved the support of the Socialists. For he was expanding the
+functions of the state, was enlisting the power of society in behalf
+of a contract that is of universal interest.
+
+Secondly, Briand's bill making it unlawful for a railway servant to
+strike was quite as revolutionary as the C.G.T.'s contention that the
+state had no right to interfere. Here, too, Briand was the Socialist
+and the Socialists were the individualists; the one recognized the
+paramount interests of society, the other saw only the interests of
+the individual worker. Put to this test, French Socialism failed as
+signally in theory as the violence, _sabotage_, and insubordination of
+the C.G.T. failed in practice.[19]
+
+
+V
+
+Who were these revolutionary labor leaders, this small handful of
+plotters to whom Briand constantly alluded?[20] In order to understand
+the Socialist movement in any country, both politically and
+industrially, it is necessary to understand the organization of labor.
+Socialism began as a class movement, and in every country it is
+endeavoring to capture the labor organizations.[21]
+
+In no two countries are the relations quite the same. In the United
+States the unions have traditionally kept out of politics altogether.
+In Great Britain they refused to be busied with politics until a few
+years ago, when the Labor Party was organized. Since then a number of
+union men have identified themselves rather loosely with Socialism. In
+Germany there is the closest co-operation between the party and the
+unions, but not any organic unity. In Belgium the political and
+economic organizations are virtually merged.
+
+In France the most interesting development has taken place. From the
+Revolution until 1864 no labor organizations were allowed. The
+National Assembly abolished all the trade guilds and corporations. The
+_Loi le Chappelier_ forbade unions of workers and of masters, and the
+_Code Napoleon_ imposed a penalty of imprisonment on those engaging in
+unlawful combinations. In 1864 the criminal laws were revised, and
+unions of twenty members were allowed. The law of 1884 left the way
+untrammeled for their development.[22]
+
+Within a few years unions were formed everywhere.[23] In 1886 the
+Guesdists organized the National Federation of Trade Unions, a
+Socialist body of workers subordinated to the Workingman's Party. Soon
+thereafter the Municipal Socialists, the Broussists, founded the Paris
+Labor Exchange, built a large clubhouse for if, and succeeded in
+getting an appropriation of 20,000 francs a year from the city for
+its maintenance. Within ten years about fifty of these exchanges were
+formed in as many cities, and about seventy per cent. of the union
+members belonged to them. The object of these exchanges was
+educational and benevolent. But they were soon made the hotbeds of
+Socialistic politics. In 1892 they were all federated in the
+Federation of Labor Exchanges (Federation du Bourse du Travail).
+
+In 1895 Guesde's political adjunct, the National Federation of Trade
+Unions, became extinct. The Blanquists then organized a new
+federation, the notorious General Confederation of Labor
+(Confederation Generale du Travail), commonly called the C.G.T. These
+two bodies were bitter rivals, after the French fashion, until, in
+1902, they amalgamated, retaining the name C.G.T.[24] The organization
+is dual, retaining the benevolent activities of the local exchanges
+and the trade activities of the local unions. These activities are
+federated into national councils. The union of these councils forms
+the central governing body of C.G.T. The organization allows a great
+deal of local autonomy, but the central control is none the less
+effective. In 1907 the C.G.T. claimed 350,000 members, in 1911 it
+reported 600,000.
+
+This body of workmen is known for its violence. Within its ranks has
+spread the doctrine known as revolutionary Syndicalism, a resurrection
+of the spirit of Proudhonism in the body of labor unionism. Briefly
+stated, it is class war in its most violent form without the aid of
+parliaments and politics; with the enginery of the general strike, and
+the spirit of universal upheaval and anarchy. It is the most effective
+outbreak of Anarchism since the days of Bakunin.
+
+The intellectual revival of the doctrine of violence may be dated from
+the appearance of Georges Sorel's book, _The Socialist Future of Trade
+Unions_, in 1897, and the culmination of the tide in his volume
+_Reflections upon Violence_, in 1908.
+
+For a movement so young Syndicalism has had a peculiarly expansive
+literature, written by professors and journalists of the bourgeois
+class, who live on respectable streets, receive you in comfortable
+drawing-rooms, and from their upholstered ease display a fine zeal for
+the oppressed proletariat.[25]
+
+It is not easy to classify Syndicalism, for it refuses to be called
+Anarchism, repudiates the leadership of Socialism, and scorns to be
+merely trade-unionism. The following are its principal characteristics:
+
+1. It is disheartened with Socialism because, it says, Socialists have
+lost their ideals in the race for political power. Law-making is
+useless, because no laws can emancipate the workingmen. It therefore
+despises governments and abjures parliaments. But its ideals are
+Socialistic; it believes "in reorganizing society on a communistic
+basis, so that, with a minimum of productive effort, the maximum of
+well-being will be obtained."[26]
+
+2. But repudiating governments and parliaments, they say, does not
+make them Anarchists. Syndicalists believe in local or communal
+government. Their state is a glorified trade union whose activities
+are confined to economic functions, their nation is a collection of
+federated communal trade societies. When I went among them they were
+especially solicitous that they should not be regarded as "mere
+Anarchists."
+
+3. Syndicalism is not trade-unionism pure and simple, because its
+method is violence and its ideal the industrial unit, not the trade or
+craft unit. The weapon of Syndicalism is the general strike. A
+circular issued by the executive committee in 1898 defined the general
+strike as "the cessation of work, which would place the country in the
+rigor of death, whose terrible and incalculable consequences would
+force the government to capitulate at once. If it refused, the
+proletariat, in revolt from one end of France to the other, would be
+able to compel it." Sorel says that "revolutionary Syndicalism
+nourishes in the masses the desire to strike, and it can thrive only
+in places where great strikes, occupied with acts of violence, have
+taken place."[27] The strike committee of the C.G.T. in 1899
+proclaimed the general strike as "the only practical method through
+which the working class can fully liberate itself from the
+capitalistic and governmental yoke." The general strike includes the
+boycott, _sabotage_, and all kindred forms of violence.[28]
+
+4. Syndicalism revives the old revolutionary methods of conspiracy, of
+a dominant minority swinging the masses into line; "a conscious
+minority, which, through its example, sets the masses in motion and
+drives them on."[29] There are plots, underground manoeuvers, and
+sudden outbursts. An air of mystery pervades their spectacular
+uprisings. In order to accomplish their purpose there must be a
+solidarity of labor. But this unity is the result of the energy of the
+"conscious few," not of the assertive many.
+
+5. Finally, Syndicalism proclaims that democracy is a "fraud"
+perpetrated upon the workingmen by the property-owning bourgeois;
+representative government and majority rule is to them merely a polite
+form of tyranny, and patriotism a farce. Potaud says: "Patriotism can
+only be explained by the fact that all patriots without distinction
+own a part of the social property, and nothing is more absurd than a
+patriot without a patrimony."
+
+"We workingmen will have none of these little fatherlands! Our country
+is the international world!" cried Yvetot to the post-office strikers
+in Paris.
+
+They regard the soldiers with enmity. At the national congress at
+Amiens, 1906, they resolved that the "anti-military and anti-patriotic
+propaganda should be promulgated with the greatest zeal and
+audacity."[30]
+
+Syndicalism is the extreme pessimism of the laboring class. It reached
+its height about 1907-1908. Portions of France were terrorized, more
+by its extravagant language than by its overt acts. There was no limit
+to their superlatives. "Rip up the bourgeois!" "Turn your rifles on
+your officers!" "Cut buttonholes in the skins of the bourgeois!" were
+familiar battle-cries. There was so much talk about putting vitriol
+into coffee, ground glass into bread, pulling the fire-plug out of
+engines, that finally language came to mean nothing.
+
+The "new commune" thought it was coming into reality with the
+post-office and railway strikes. We have seen how these outbreaks were
+met by a Radical government. Since then their ardor has cooled, and
+their adjectives grown flabby. They are now devoting themselves to
+organization.
+
+Anti-militarism does not mean merely opposition to standing armies.
+All Socialists are opposed to the maintenance of armaments.
+Anti-militarism is opposition to all force used by the state to assert
+its sovereignty. This includes the police and constabulary as well as
+the army, and courts and parliaments as well as the navy. Since
+soldiers and policemen are servants of the state, and since the state
+is the expression of nationalism, the anti-militarist concludes that
+his supreme enemy is the nation, the master of the soldier.
+Anti-militarism is the forerunner of anti-patriotism.
+
+In 1906 this doctrine was so rampant that, on May Day, an uprising was
+feared in Paris. A prophet had arisen, proclaiming the most extreme
+doctrines of anti-patriotism. This was Gustave Herve, a teacher of
+history from Auxerre. He had spoken the suitable word, and became
+famous overnight: "The French flag arose from dirt!"; and to the
+peasantry he shouted, "Plant your country's flag in the barnyard
+dung-heaps!" He came to Paris and started a daily paper, _La Guerre
+Sociale_. Syndicalists and Socialists flocked to his standard, and
+even Jaures was compelled to acknowledge his influence.[31]
+
+Herve has a simple remedy for militarism: "The way to stop war is to
+refuse to fight." He exhorts his fellow-Socialists to join the army,
+but fire on their commanders, not on their comrades. He was arrested
+several times for these utterances and the overt acts that they
+aroused. Some years ago a Parisian workingman was arrested for an
+offense against public morals. He protested his innocence and, when
+released, in revenge killed a policeman. He was promptly executed.
+Herve used the occasion for an onslaught upon the government in his
+paper. He said: "If the working class would display one-tenth of the
+energy that this workman displayed, the social revolution would not be
+long in coming." For his imprudence he was imprisoned for a term of
+four years.[32] His influence is waning, but the words he and his
+following have planted in the hearts of the conscripts may bear some
+strange fruit.[33]
+
+
+VI
+
+While the French Socialists have been prolific in the developing of
+factions and theories, they have been slow at achieving practical
+results. As early as 1887 they acquired considerable power in Paris.
+They contented themselves with establishing a labor exchange and
+extending a few municipal charities.
+
+The local program, as outlined at Lyons, included: the feeding of
+school children; an eight-hour day and a fixed minimum wage for
+municipal employees; the abolition of the "_octroi_"; sanitary
+regulations for workshops and factories; abolition of private
+employment bureaus; establishment of homes for the aged; maternity
+hospitals; free medical attendance for the poor; free public baths;
+sanitaria for children of workmen; free legal advice for workingmen;
+pensions for municipal employees; and the publication of a municipal
+bulletin giving record of all the votes cast by the councilors.[34]
+
+In 1892 a number of important cities were won by the Socialists, and
+in September of that year the first convention of Socialist municipal
+councilors was held at Saint-Ouen. The discussions were filled with
+revolutionary phraseology. In a few years the ideas of violence were
+discarded for more practical issues. In 1895, when the municipal
+convention met at Paris, the time was largely given over to the
+question of organizing the municipal public service, public hygiene,
+etc.
+
+In Lille the Socialists began their administration of local affairs by
+raising the budget from 740,000 francs in 1897 to 1,019,000 francs in
+1899. Free industrial education was established for the working
+people; a municipal theater was opened; school children were fed and
+clothed; and an attempt was made to regulate the length of the working
+day and fix a minimum wage for municipal employees. At Dijon the
+feeding and clothing of school children was regulated by the amount of
+wages earned by the parents. Free medical aid was provided, and a
+drug-store was induced to sell medicines to the poor at reduced cost.
+The local labor exchange was voted an appropriation from public funds.
+
+These illustrations show the general trend of municipal Socialism in
+France. The results are not numerous. But the French Socialists
+justify their meager practical results by pointing to the centralized
+system of administration which enables the prefect and other
+administrative officers to veto many of the acts of the municipal
+councils. The first thing that the Socialists attempted to do in their
+towns was the readjustment of the finances for the benefit of the
+working classes. Their acts were vetoed on the ground that they were
+_ultra vires_. The attempt to fix a minimum wage for municipal
+employees met the same fate. Then the municipalities petitioned the
+central government for greater financial autonomy. This was denied. In
+Roubaix the opening of a municipal drug-store was disallowed by the
+prefect on the ground that the corporations act does not grant that
+power to municipalities. Municipal bakeries met the same fate. During
+the last few years, however, the rigor of the central administration
+has relaxed and the towns are allowed greater liberty in municipal
+affairs.
+
+Under the circumstances it is perhaps little wonder that French
+municipal Socialism is a poor housekeeper. You look in vain for the
+high ideals of the Socialist evangelist. If you visit the towns where
+Socialism abounds you will be told that the Socialists have spent more
+money on the poor than their predecessors. You will find better
+nurseries for the babies of the working mothers, meals and stockings
+doled out to school children of the poor, here and there a physician
+or a lawyer retained by the town to render free service to the working
+people. On inquiry you will find that the soldiers are drawing
+increased pensions, the widows and orphans of the workingmen are
+especially provided for, and that bread is delivered to the needy at
+the door so they need not go ask for it, need not be beggars.
+
+You are impressed that these proletarian town governments are trying
+to destroy poverty. Their ideal is noble, but some of their efforts
+are very crude.
+
+The French Socialists are not by any means a unit on the municipal
+question. In 1911 it was the principal question discussed at their
+national convention at Saint-Quentin. Professor Millhaud of the
+University of Geneva, in a very clear and able speech, pointed out the
+merits of municipalization, citing the ownership of street railways,
+gas, waterworks, garbage plants, and other public utilities of
+European and American cities. He included municipal drug-stores, the
+feeding and clothing of school children, the establishing of
+playgrounds, and many other municipal activities familiar to American
+practice, in his local Socialistic program.
+
+His exposition met with the approval of the Jaures faction. But the
+Guesdists were not satisfied. "Who would benefit by cheap municipal
+gas?" cried a delegate from the rear of the hall. "The rich man, for
+he needs a great deal of gas to light up his big house. But what
+laboring man needs gas? When has he time to read? In the evening he is
+too tired, and he gives no receptions." Guesde maintained with great
+vehemence that municipal ownership and state ownership are not
+Socialism; they may be a step toward Socialism, but often result in
+substituting the tyranny of the state for the tyranny of the private
+employer.
+
+The convention adopted a municipal program after a prolonged
+discussion that brought out clearly the fact that the Guesdists are
+not devoted to state or municipal ownership as a principle, but only
+as a means to a greater end.
+
+During the last few years a very important movement has been taking
+place among the peasantry of southern France. Under the leadership of
+Compere-Morel, a gardener and member of the Chamber of Deputies,
+Socialism is spreading rapidly among these small and independent
+landowners. There are several million of these thrifty peasants in
+France, and their acquisition to Socialism will mean, not only a great
+increase in political power, but a modification of their theory of
+property. The Socialists are luring the small land-holder by telling
+him that they are with him in his fight against the large estates.
+They assure the peasant that they have no designs upon his small
+holdings. It is the _great_ property, not merely property, that is the
+object of their hostility.[35]
+
+There are other evidences that French Socialism is mellowing. Most of
+its leaders are bourgeois. Of the seventy-six united Socialists in the
+present Chamber, only thirty are workingmen, or trade-union officials;
+eight are professors in the University or secondary schools; seven are
+journalists; seven are barristers; seven are farmers; six are
+physicians; three are school teachers; and two are engineers. This
+does not suggest class war.
+
+Socialism is a power in French politics. An observer who moves among
+the middle class wonders how much of a power it is in French life. The
+Radical Party would be considered Socialistic in England or the United
+States; half of it calls itself Socialist-Radical. It rules the
+Republic from the Chamber of Deputies. Everywhere you hear the people
+talking about collectivism, the nationalization of railways, of mines,
+of vineyards, of docks, and ultimately of wheat-fields and
+market-gardens.
+
+But the French are a nation of small farmers and shopkeepers who cling
+to their property while they argue and vote for their radicalism and
+Socialism. This is the duality of their temperament; they love
+possessions and they love philosophical speculation. They keep their
+fields and their little shops, and speculate about the new to-morrow.
+They vote and debate with imaginative fervor; they pay taxes with
+stolid commonplace silence. In measuring the strength of French
+Socialism it is necessary to keep this in mind. Not that the
+Frenchman does not take Socialism seriously. He takes it as seriously
+as he takes monarchism or republicanism, and much more seriously than
+he takes religion. There is only one thing he takes more
+seriously--his property.
+
+That is why the Socialists number among their adherents all classes
+and all conditions of men, from Anatole France, most fastidious of
+literary aristocrats, to gaunt and hungry proletarians who infest the
+cellars and garrets of ancient Paris.
+
+The French are, after all, the greatest of realists. They speculate in
+dreams and delicate theories; but they never lose their grip on their
+little farms and their little shops and the gold bonds of Russia.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] GEORGES WEIL, _Histoire du Mouvement Socialiste en France_, Paris,
+1904, p. 220.
+
+[2] Other groups--the word party is hardly applicable in the French
+Chamber of Deputies--are the reactionary Right; the republican
+Conservatives, or Center; the Radical Left, or Liberals.
+
+[3] WEIL, _supra cit._, p. 276.
+
+[4] In France, when any one candidate for the Chamber of Deputies
+fails to receive a majority of the votes cast, a second ballot is
+taken, for the two receiving the highest number of votes
+
+[5] Quoted by ENSOR, _Modern Socialism_, pp. 48-55. See also a
+collection of Millerand's speeches, _Le Socialisme Reformiste
+Francais_, Paris, 1903.
+
+[6] See "Manifeste 14 Juillet," 1899.
+
+[7] See _V^{me} Congres General des Organisations Socialistes Francais
+tenu a Paris du 3 au 8 Decembre. Compte-rendu stenographique
+officiel_, 1900, p. 154 ff.
+
+[8] A partial report of the debate of the Bordeaux congress is given
+in ENSOR'S _Modern Socialism_, pp. 163-184.
+
+[9] See A. LAVY, _L'Oeuvre de Millerand_, Paris, 1902, a sympathetic
+account of his work; contains also extracts from his speeches and
+state papers.
+
+[10] See the _Contemporary Review_, August, 1906, for a brief abstract
+of this debate.
+
+[11] One of the first laws passed with the aid of the Socialist vote
+was the "day of rest" law, commanding one day of the week as a day of
+rest. It met the obstinate opposition of the Conservatives. The
+operation of the law is of interest, and instructive. The workmen
+naturally rejoiced over this increased leisure. The employers, on the
+other hand, found themselves paying wages for hours in which no
+service was rendered. They lowered the wages; the workmen resisted.
+Finally the law was so amended as virtually to annul its effect, in
+certain trades. The Socialists became irritated to the verge of
+breaking their _entente_ with the Radicals.
+
+[12] Proceedings Chamber of Deputies, March 19, 1909.
+
+[13] During this agitation the teachers of the public schools, who had
+formed a great number of associations, joined in the demand of the
+Syndicalists. One of their number who had signed a vitriolic circular
+was dismissed by M. Briand, the Minister of Education, and for a time
+a strike of schoolmasters was threatened, but it did not materialize.
+
+[14] _L'Humanite_ is the leading Socialist daily of Paris. Briand had
+written editorials for it in his "red" days.
+
+[15] These sections declare that the employment, or abetting or
+instigating the employment, of any means of stopping or impeding
+railway traffic is a crime; and if it has been planned at a seditious
+meeting, the instigators are as liable to punishment as the authors of
+the crime, even if they did not intend to provoke the destruction of
+railway property. The penalties imposed are very severe.
+
+[16] Placards displayed the bitterness of the men. "For our vengeance
+Briand will suffice" was read on the walls under flaming posters that
+quoted fiery sentences from Briand's earlier speeches.
+
+[17] Viviani, Minister of Justice, resigned soon after the close of
+the strike. He did not agree with Briand in his efforts to pass a law
+making all railway strikes illegal. He said as long as railways were
+private property men had the right to strike, but not to destroy
+property.
+
+[18] Before his resignation, the old-age pension bill had passed the
+Senate and thus became a law. The Socialists supported the bill; but
+Guesde voted against it in spite of his party's instructions, because
+labor was charged with contributing to the fund. The syndicalists were
+also violently opposed to it because they believe the amount of the
+pension is too small.
+
+[19] When in January, 1912, M. Poincare was appointed Prime Minister,
+he promptly invited Briand into his cabinet as vice-president and
+Millerand as Minister of War.
+
+[20] The co-operative movement is spreading gradually throughout
+France. There are two kinds of societies--the Socialist and the
+independent. In 1896 there were 202 co-operative productive societies.
+In 1907 there were 362. The following figures show the increase in the
+number of co-operative stores: 1902--1,641; 1903--1,683; 1906--1,994;
+1907--2,166.
+
+[21] The following table, compiled from the reports of the Minister of
+Labor, shows the growth of the labor-union movement:
+
+  Year    Number of    Number of
+           Unions       Members
+  1885       221         ...
+  1886       280         ...
+  1887       501         ...
+  1888       725         ...
+  1889       821         ...
+  1890     1,006       139,692
+  1891     1,250       205,152
+  1892     1,589       288,770
+  1893     1,926       402,125
+  1894     2,178       403,430
+  1895     2,163       419,781
+  1896     2,243       422,777
+  1898     2,324       437,739
+  1899     2,361       419,761
+  1900     2,685       491,647
+  1901     3,287       588,832
+  1902     3,679       614,173
+  1903     3,934       643,757
+  1904     4,227       715,576
+  1905     4,625       781,344
+  1906     4,857       836,134
+  1907     5,322       896,012
+  1908     5,524       957,102
+
+
+[22] See _Journal of Political Economy_, March, 1909, for a
+comprehensive article on French labor unions by O.D. SKELTON.
+
+[23] From the beginning there were two kinds of unions, named after
+the color of their membership cards. The "yellows" are those pursuing
+a policy of peace, and the "reds" are the militants.
+
+[24] The following figures show the increase of strikes since the
+organization of the C.G.T.:
+
+    Years      Average      Average
+                Number       Number      Average Number
+              of Strikes   of Strikers    of Days Idle
+  1890-1898      379         71,961        1,163,478
+  1899-1907      855        214,660        3,992,976
+
+
+[25] The doctrines of Syndicalism may be found in the writings of
+Georges Sorel. Also in the following: POUGET, _Les Bases du
+Syndicalisme_; GRIFFUELHS, _L'Action Syndicaliste_, and _Syndicalisme
+et Socialisme_; POUGET, _La Parti du Travail_; POTAUD and POUGET,
+_Comment nous ferons la Revolution_; PAUL LOUIS, _Syndicalisme contre
+l'Etat_.
+
+[26] POUGET, _The Basis of Trade Unionism_, a pamphlet issued in 1908.
+
+[27] _Reflexions sur la Violence._
+
+[28] See YVETOT, _A B C du Syndicalisme_, Chap. V. This pamphlet is
+issued by the C.G.T.
+
+[29] Statement of Strike Committee C.G.T., 1899.
+
+[30] "In every state, the army is for the property owner; in every
+European conflict, the working class is duped and sacrificed for the
+benefit of the governing class, the bourgeoisie, and the parasites.
+Therefore the XVth Congress approves and extols every action the
+anti-military and anti-patriotic propaganda, even though it only
+compromises the situation of all classes and all political parties."
+See YVETOT, _A B C du Syndicalisme_, p. 84.
+
+[31] Herve has written a history of France that has had considerable
+vogue as a text-book in the public schools. He begins with the
+significant year 1789; glorifies the violence, and praises the
+Socialistic manifestations and the heroism of the revolutionists, that
+have made the past century one of turmoil and perpetual commotion.
+This book is a sample of the reading given into the hands of the
+children of the Republic. I was told, upon careful inquiry, that a
+large number of the primary and secondary school teachers are
+Socialists. Thiers, before he became President, while still a
+functionary of monarchy, objected to the establishment of government
+schools in every village, because, he said, he did not want "a red
+priest of Socialism in every town." To-day he would find these "red
+priests" everywhere. They have even organized _syndicats_ and joined
+the C.G.T.
+
+[32] When I called upon him in the Prison Sante he told me that he was
+as sincerely opposed to military measures as ever; but that it would
+be a long time before the people would regard all mankind, rather than
+a single ethnic group, as the object of their patriotism. Pointing to
+the grim walls of his prison, he said, "Vive la Republique! Vive la
+Liberte!"
+
+[33] Syndicalism and anti-militarism have spread to Spain and Italy.
+But they have not found favor among the phlegmatic North-European
+countries.
+
+[34] See STEHELIN, _Essais de Socialisme Municipal_, 1901.
+
+[35] See _Les Paysans et le Socialisme_, a speech delivered by
+Compere-Morel, in the Chamber of Deputies, December 6, 1909. Also
+published in pamphlet form by the Socialist Party.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY
+
+
+I
+
+In Belgium the physical, political, and economic environment is suited
+to a symmetrical development of Socialism. It is a small country, "at
+the meeting-point of the three great European civilizations,"
+Vandervelde, the leader of the Belgian Socialists, has pointed out.
+And his boast is true that the Belgian Socialists have absorbed the
+leading characteristics of the social movement in each of these
+countries. "From England Belgian Socialists have learned self-help,
+and have copied their free and independent organizations, principally
+in the form of co-operative societies. From Germany they have adopted
+the political tactics and the fundamental doctrines which were
+expressed for the first time in the 'Communist Manifesto.' From France
+they have taken their idealistic tendencies, and the integral
+conception of Socialism, considered as an extension of the
+revolutionary philosophy and as a new religion, an extension and a
+realization of Christianity."
+
+This threefold growth would have been impossible if the environment
+had not been favorable. The Belgian population is congested into
+industrial towns that are thickly strewn over the country, like the
+suburbs of one vast manufacturing community. These working people have
+always been miserably housed and poorly fed. In 1903-05 a public
+inquiry into housing conditions was instituted in Brussels. In the
+most congested portions of the city, 564 households, comprising 2,224
+persons, lived in one-room tenements. The houses were in miserable
+condition.
+
+The commission appointed after the riots of 1886 describes conditions
+that are little better than those that prevailed in England in 1830.
+Even as late as 1902, out of 750,000 working men and women one-tenth
+only worked less than ten hours a day; the rest worked from ten to
+twelve hours. One-fourth of these working people had a wage of 2
+francs (40 cents) a day, another fourth had 2 to 3 francs (40 to 60
+cents) a day, and the upper section only 3.50 to 4.50 francs (70 cents
+to 90 cents) a day. The government inquiry in 1896 disclosed the
+following rate of wages:
+
+  170,000 persons received less than 2 fr. (40c.) a day.
+  172,000 persons received less than 2-3 fr. (40-60c.) a day.
+  160,000 persons received less than 3-4 fr. (60-80c.) a day.
+  102,000 persons received more than 4 fr. (80c.) a day.[1]
+
+In the low countries where agriculture is the leading occupation,
+conditions are no better. The peasant is poor; the conditions of
+tenancy hard, though recent legislation has modified them somewhat in
+the tenant's favor; and the holdings small. Agricultural wages are
+very low. The men in the Flemish district receive an average of 1.63
+francs (33 cents) a day, without board, or about .90 francs (18 cents)
+with board. The women receive 1.06 francs (21 cents) without board and
+.64 francs (12-1/2 cents) with board.[2]
+
+Here, then, is a population of industrial and peasant workers who are
+barely able to make a living, who have little time and less
+opportunity for education and general development. The percentage of
+illiteracy is very great; and is equaled only by the most backward
+countries of southern Europe. In 1902, out of every 1,000 militiamen,
+101 were entirely illiterate; in France, 46; in England, 37; in
+Holland, 23; in Switzerland, 20; in Denmark, .08; in Germany, .07. In
+1909 Rowntree estimated the illiteracy in the four largest Belgian
+cities to be 11.75 per cent.; in the Flemish communes, 34.69 per
+cent.; and in the Walloon communes (excepting Liege), 17.34 per cent.
+
+Outward circumstances have not been wanting to arouse this teeming
+population into violent discontent. The government for years paid no
+heed to their misery, and the Church, which is very powerful in
+Belgium, was content to distribute charity and consolation, and to
+admonish the employer to patriarchal care for his men.
+
+The national status of the country is guaranteed by the powers; there
+is no fear of invasion and no need for the intolerable military
+burdens that weigh down the great countries of Europe. There have been
+no international complications. This little country, with its clusters
+of thriving towns, its mines, farms, and seaports, could settle down
+contentedly to its daily tasks like a large family.
+
+The great manufacturers and industrial leaders took even less interest
+in the welfare of the working people than the state or the Church. No
+one seemed to care how the worker fared, and when he himself learned
+to care the first reactions were violent.
+
+We will limit ourselves, in this inquiry, to the political development
+of the labor movement.
+
+Belgium is a constitutional monarchy. The Constitution, provides for a
+parliament composed of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives,
+both elected by the people, the Representatives by direct, the
+Senators by indirect, elections. The King has the veto power and the
+power to prorogue parliament. A general election follows prorogation,
+in which the whole membership of Senate and House are elected. The
+communes are governed by elective communal councils.
+
+From the establishment of the constitution, in 1831, there have been
+two leading political parties--the Clerical or Catholic, and the
+Liberal. The Clerical Party has been not merely conservative, it has
+been reactionary. It clings not only to monarchic prerogatives, but to
+ecclesiastical supremacy. This medieval policy it imposed upon school
+and government and Church. The party has until very recently been in
+the majority. It is strongest in the low counties, among the
+agricultural Flemings. When the activity of the Socialists and
+Radicals forced the question upon the country, a "left" wing of the
+party began to interest itself in the laboring man, through the
+traditional methods of the Church, rather than by means of state
+interference.
+
+The Liberal Party is a protest, not only against the predominant
+influence of the Church in political affairs, but also against the
+financial policies of the Conservatives. The Liberals early espoused
+the cause of free schools, modified tariffs, greater local autonomy,
+and liberal election laws.
+
+The election laws confined the electorate to the few property-holders
+and professional men of the country. In 1890, out of 1,800,000 male
+citizens, 133,000 were qualified electors.
+
+
+II
+
+These were the conditions that prevailed when the Socialists quite
+suddenly appeared on the scene. There had been a Socialist propaganda
+for years in Belgium. Brussels was a city of refuge to many fleeing
+revolutionists of 1848. In 1857 a labor union was organized among the
+spinners and weavers of Ghent. The same year Colin published his book,
+_What Is Social Science?_ This volume prepared the way for the
+remarkable collectivist movement, which was stimulated into modern
+activity by Anselee, a workingman of Ghent and organizer of the
+Vooruit Co-operative Society. Caesar de Paepe, a disciple of Colin and
+a man of remarkable intellectual endowments, tried to bring unity to
+the Belgian movement. But the factionalism was not cast aside until
+1885, when the Belgian Labor Party (Parti Ouvrier Belge) was
+organized.
+
+Now Socialists of all factions were drawn together. But, unlike
+Socialists in other countries, they did not expend their energies on
+political action. The Belgian labor movement had a threefold
+origin--the co-operative movement of Colin, the labor-union movement,
+and the Socialistic or political movement of de Paepe. These three
+activities, united in the Labor Party, have continued to develop,
+until they are a model for Socialists in all countries.
+
+The organization of the party is simple. The various organizations are
+federated into large groups, e.g., the co-operative group, each with
+a separate organization. The provinces and communes have their local
+committees for each separate activity. Over the entire party sits a
+general council (conseil general). An executive committee of nine is
+chosen from this council, and this committee has practical control of
+the party. The annual convention is the supreme authority. It elects
+the general council and decides, in democratic fashion, all important
+questions of policy and activity. Every constituent organization, such
+as the co-operative societies, etc., contributes from its funds to the
+support of the party. The party is therefore a federation of many
+societies with various activities, not a vast group of individual
+voters, as the German Social Democracy. Its solidarity is not
+individual, but federal.
+
+The organization of the Labor Party proved a stimulus to all the
+constituent societies. From 1885 to 1895 over 400 co-operative
+societies were formed, and within a few years 7,000 mutual aid
+societies were organized. The membership of the labor unions increased
+from less than 50,000 in 1880 to 62,350 in 1889, and nearly 150,000 in
+1905.
+
+The Socialist movement had now achieved solidarity, and was prepared
+to enter into a conflict for power. Its issues were two: universal
+suffrage and free secular education. The second was necessarily
+included in the first; for without parliamentary power it would be
+impossible to secure liberal educational laws, and without a liberal
+franchise it would be impossible to get parliamentary power. All their
+political energies were therefore devoted to the reform of the
+election laws.
+
+It is in this activity that the Belgian movement forms for our
+purpose one of the most instructive chapters of European Socialism.
+Here is a proletarian horde deprived of participation in government in
+a constitutional monarchy, struggling toward political recognition. It
+is armed with all the weapons of militant Socialism: a revolutionary
+tradition; a national history rich in mob violence, street brawls, and
+conflicts with police and soldiers; possessed of a well-organized
+party, a class solidarity, and capable and courageous leaders who are
+willing to go, and do go, to the extreme of the general strike and
+violence in order to achieve their goal.
+
+In short, here we have the Socialist political ideal working itself
+from theory into reality through class struggle. But there is the
+usual important modification of the Marxian conditions; viz., the
+liberal bourgeois prove a potent ally to the Socialists in the press
+and on the floor of the Chamber of Representatives. While the
+Socialists were surging in vehement earnestness around the Parliament
+House, the Liberals were as earnestly pleading their cause within.
+
+The definite fight for universal suffrage began a few years before the
+organization of the Labor Party. In 1866 a group of workingmen issued
+an appeal to their fellows to begin the battle for the ballot. In 1879
+the Socialists issued a manifesto which stated the case as follows:
+"'All powers are derived from the nation; all Belgians are equal
+before the law,' says the Constitution of 1831.
+
+"In reality all powers are derived from a small number of privileged
+ones, and all the Belgians are divided into two classes--those who are
+rich and have rights, and those who are poor and have burdens.
+
+"We wish to see this inequality vanish, at least before the
+ballot-box. For the most numerous class of society ought to be
+represented in the Chamber of Representatives, because the people
+whose daily bread depends upon the prosperity of the country should
+have the power to participate in public affairs.
+
+"Constitutions are not immutable, and what was solemnly promulgated on
+one occasion may, without revolution, be altered on another."[3]
+
+The proclamation then proceeded to call a meeting at Brussels for the
+following January (1880). At this meeting it was decided to circulate
+a monster petition asking Parliament to pass a liberal election law
+and to organize a demonstration to be held in Brussels the following
+summer. In this, the first of a long series of demonstrations, about
+6,000 persons from various parts of the kingdom paraded the streets of
+the capital. There was a clash with the police, and a number of
+arrests were made. From 1881 to 1885 the Liberals tried to persuade
+the Clericals to agree upon a constitutional revision; and the
+Socialists brought to bear upon them all the pressure of the streets.
+But the Clericals were firm. Then the Socialists tried another
+manoeuver. They issued a manifesto "to the people of Belgium,"
+complaining of the dominion of the Church over education, the dominion
+of a few families over the nation, and the failure of the government
+to grant liberty to the people. "The hour has come for all citizens to
+rally under the republican flag."
+
+Instead of a republican uprising, something more significant and
+potent occurred; the Labor Party was organized, welding together all
+the forces of discontent and unifying their demands into a protest so
+strong that the government was finally compelled to yield. Not,
+however, until it had exhausted almost every resource of resistance.
+
+The party was organized just in the crux of time. A financial crisis
+was beginning to increase the hardships of the industrial classes. The
+unrest was intensified by an ingenious piece of propagandist
+literature, a _Workingman's Catechism_ (_Catechism du Peuple_),
+written by a workingman. Two hundred thousand copies in French and
+60,000 in Flemish were scattered among the discontented people. Its
+influence was wonderful. A few questions will indicate the power that
+lay behind its simple questions and answers.
+
+    _Question._ "Who are you?"
+
+    _Answer._ "I am a slave."
+
+    _Q._ "Are you not a man?"
+
+    _A._ "From the point of view of humanity I am a man, but in
+    relation to society I am a slave."
+
+    _Q._ "What is the 25th article of the Constitution?"
+
+    _A._ "The 25th article of the Constitution says: 'All power is
+    derived from the nation.'"
+
+    _Q._ "Is this true?"
+
+    _A._ "It is a falsehood."
+
+    _Q._ "Why?"
+
+    _A._ "Because the nation is composed of 5,720,807 inhabitants,
+    about 6,000,000, and of this 6,000,000 only 117,000 are
+    consulted in the making of laws."
+
+And so through every grievance, social, economic, and political. Every
+workman learned his catechism. Those who could not read gathered in
+groups around their more fortunate comrades and listened to the
+effective questions and answers.
+
+By the beginning of 1886 the little land was a seething caldron of
+political and economic unrest. The strike movement began at Liege and
+soon spread to Charleroi and other industrial centers. There was
+enough destruction of property and clashing with police and soldiery
+to create a panic in the country. In Brussels business was at a
+standstill for days. The Socialist Party, in a circular issued to the
+people, said: "The country is visited by a terrible crisis. The
+disinherited classes are suffering. Strikes are multiplying, riots are
+provoked by the misery. The constantly decreasing wages are spreading
+consternation everywhere."
+
+The disorder aroused a number of Anarchists in Brussels. They posted
+anonymous placards inciting the people to violence. The Socialists
+repudiated the Anarchists, and one of their orators said: "Do not let
+yourselves be carried away by violence; that will only benefit your
+adversaries."
+
+A mass demonstration was planned, but the mayor of Brussels prohibited
+it. The Labor Party, however, were allowed to hold their annual
+convention and to march under their red flag, the government merely
+requesting that the demonstrants refrain from shouting, "Vive la
+Republique!" Thirty thousand laboring men joined in the demonstration.
+The Liberals and Radicals refused to take part in it because they
+claimed it was only a workingman's movement, and the Anarchists
+refused because "elections lead to nothing." This demonstration was so
+serious and imposing that it made a deep impression upon the people,
+and was not without effect upon the government.
+
+The crisis finally passed over. A great many rioters were imprisoned
+in spite of the popular clamor for universal amnesty. The general
+strike brought no immediate advantage to the workmen.
+
+The next few years the Socialists devoted to organization. They were
+determined not to enter upon extended strikes again without thorough
+preparation. In the meantime the Liberal Party split. The Radicals, or
+Progressists, at their first congress in 1877 declared themselves in
+favor of the separation of Church and state, military reform,
+compulsory education, social and electoral reform. They were, however,
+not yet prepared to commit themselves to universal suffrage. They
+favored rather an educational test for voters. This, however, they
+abandoned in 1890, and virtually placed themselves upon the Socialist
+platform.
+
+On August 10, 1890, another great demonstration in favor of universal
+suffrage took place in Brussels. Over 40,000 men joined in the parade.
+The Progressists did not take part in the marching, but they were
+stationed along the route to cheer the men in line. Before they
+dispersed, all the participants united in taking a solemn oath that
+they would not give up the fight "until the Belgian people, through
+universal suffrage, should regain their fatherland." This is the
+famous "Oath of August 10."
+
+After this demonstration the Progressists joined with the Socialists
+in a conference for discussing ways and means for securing universal
+suffrage.[4] This conference is notable because it drew Radicals,
+Progressists, and Socialists into a united campaign for suffrage
+reform. The conference resolved to organize demonstrations in every
+corner of the kingdom and to memorialize Parliament. This was to be a
+final peaceful appeal. If it remained unheeded a general strike would
+follow. The bourgeois Progressists assented to this ultimatum.
+
+A few days before the Socialist-Progressist conference met, a clerical
+social congress had convened at Liege. The agitation of the Labor
+Party had at last aroused the Conservatives. The resolutions of this
+conference were pervaded by the traditional apostolic paternalistic
+spirit of the Church. It demanded social reform, amelioration of harsh
+conditions, state arbitration, industrial insurance; but it set its
+face against universal suffrage. On the wings of an awakened
+conservatism it tried to ride the whirlwind of Socialism.
+
+But no halfway measures would now placate the agitators. The great
+mass of Belgian workmen were aroused, and nothing but the ballot would
+satisfy them.
+
+A propaganda was begun in the army. The enlistment laws were favorable
+to the rich, who could purchase freedom from military service. The
+poor conscripts were especially susceptible to the Socialist
+propaganda.
+
+In the autumn of 1890 at the Labor Party's annual convention it was
+suggested that, inasmuch as the parliament of the Few had not heeded
+the wishes of the nation, a parliament of the People should be called,
+to be composed of as many members as the existing parliament, but
+chosen by universal suffrage. Even a program was proposed for this
+fancied parliament.
+
+By this time the petitions prepared by the suffrage congress were
+ready. In every arrondissement there were demonstrations. In Brussels
+8,000 men marched to the city hall and handed the mayor their petition
+protesting against the privileged election laws and demanding
+universal suffrage. From every village in the kingdom protests were
+brought to the government demanding universal suffrage.
+
+Finally on November 27, 1890, a Liberal member in the Chamber of
+Representatives proposed a change in the Constitution enlarging the
+electoral franchise. He explained the injustice of the limited
+franchise, dwelt on the dangers of strikes and riots, and said that he
+believed the Belgian workmen as capable of exercising the rights of
+citizenship as those of neighboring countries. All parties agreed to
+discuss the amendment. The debate held popular excitement in abeyance.
+But as it became more and more evident that nothing would be done the
+workingman became restive. Early in 1892 riots broke out in various
+cities. The situation became acute. Socialists and Radicals organized
+a popular referendum on the question. It was not an official
+referendum, and its results were not binding. But it was an effective
+method of propaganda, and in many of the communes the councils gave it
+their sanction, thereby lending it the color of legality.
+
+Five propositions were submitted to the voters: (1) manhood suffrage
+at twenty-one years; (2) manhood suffrage at twenty-five years; (3)
+exclusion of illiterates and persons in receipt of public or private
+charity; (4) household suffrage and mental capacity defined by law;
+(5) the exclusion of all who have not passed an elementary educational
+standard. As a rule the Clericals refused to participate in the
+referendum.
+
+In Brussels, out of 72,465 entitled to vote only 38,217 voted, with
+the following results: manhood suffrage at twenty-one years, 29,949;
+manhood suffrage at twenty-five years, 5,253; all other propositions
+together, 3,015. In Huy, out of 3,513 voters only 1,800 voted, and
+1,700 of these were in favor of universal suffrage. In Antwerp, where
+Liberals and Clericals are about evenly divided, only forty-three per
+cent. of the electors voted, and of 18,701 votes cast, 15,704 were for
+universal suffrage.
+
+This referendum, and all the demonstrations, had very little effect
+upon parliament. The deputies were in favor of revision, but could not
+agree upon a plan. The Radicals were in favor of universal suffrage,
+the Clericals unalterably opposed to it, and the Liberals only
+sympathetic towards it.
+
+Finally, in April, all the proposals were voted down by the Chamber of
+Representatives. The Socialists immediately ordered a general strike.
+
+It began in the coal mines of Hainault, spread to the weavers and
+spinners of Ghent, to the glass and iron works of the Walloon
+districts, to the printers and pressmen of Brussels, and to the docks
+at Antwerp. Two hundred thousand men stopped work in the course of a
+few days. While the mills and mines were idle the police and soldiers
+were busy. Six men were killed at Joliment, six killed and twelve
+wounded at Mons. In Brussels the mob pried up the paving-stones for
+weapons; the city guards patrolled the city, meetings were forbidden,
+the streets were cleared of people, and the mayor was wounded in a
+melee. A band of "communists" threw a barricade across Rue des
+Eperonniers, the last of the barricades. The troops made short work of
+it. Scores of arrests were made in the various cities and the
+offenders received sentences varying from six years' imprisonment to a
+fine of fifty francs.
+
+In the height of the excitement the Chamber of Representatives
+convened and agreed upon a franchise amendment. Immediately the
+general council of the Labor Party met and declared the strike off. It
+sent out this pronouncement: "The Labor Party through its general
+council records the insertion of manhood suffrage in the Constitution.
+It declares that this first victory of the party has been won under
+pressure of a general strike. It is resolved to persist in the work of
+propaganda until it has won universal political equality and has
+suppressed the plural voting privilege."
+
+The new electoral law (1893) was a compromise suggested by Professor
+Albert Nyssens of the University of Louvain. It recognized the three
+principal demands of the three parliamentary factions: universal
+suffrage of the Radicals, property qualifications of the Clericals,
+and educational qualifications of the Liberals. Universal suffrage was
+granted to all male citizens twenty-five years of age. But this was
+modified in favor of property and education by the granting of
+additional votes. One additional vote was give (1) to every voter
+thirty-five years of age who was the head of a family and paid a
+direct tax of 5 francs (one dollar); (2) to every owner of real
+property valued at 2,000 francs ($400.00), or who had an annual income
+of 200 francs ($40.00) derived from investments in the Belgian public
+funds. Two additional votes were given to the holders of diplomas from
+the higher schools, to those who were or had been in public office,
+and to those who practised a profession for which a higher education
+was necessary. No one was allowed more than three votes.
+
+Whatever may be said of this fancy franchise, it is at least
+ingenious. It satisfied the first popular hunger after the ballot. The
+workmen could vote. The conditions imposed for the casting of two
+votes seem very liberal and the majority of American voters could
+qualify under them. But in Belgium, the land of low wages and
+congested populations, they were real barricades. Nearly two-thirds of
+the voters failed to reach even this low standard.
+
+Voting made compulsory. Election was by _scrutin de liste_.[5]
+
+
+III
+
+Under these conditions the Socialists went into battle. There were
+1,370,687 electors; 855,628 with one vote 293,678 with two votes,
+223,380 with three votes. The Socialists polled 346,000 votes, the
+Clericals 927,000, the Liberals 530,000. The new parliament was
+composed as follows: Chamber of Representatives--Clericals, 104;
+Liberals, 19; Socialists, 29; Senate--Clericals 71; Liberals, 21;
+Socialists, 2.[6]
+
+From the first the Socialists in Belgium have not been reluctant in
+making election arrangements with other parties. In this their first
+election they united with the Progressists. In Brussels on the second
+ballot they proposed terms to the Liberals, which were refused. The
+Socialists, however, instructed their followers to vote against the
+Clericals in every instance. Wherever there were no Radical or
+Socialists lists they supported the Liberals.[7]
+
+The same widespread alarm that the first Socialist parliamentary
+accessions aroused everywhere, was caused by these twenty-nine Belgian
+Socialist representatives, especially as some of their number were
+promoted from prison to parliament, and one striker was given his
+liberty for the time being so that he could attend the session.
+Vandervelde allayed popular apprehension when he announced the program
+of his party, which combined with the usual labor legislation the
+demand for the state purchase of coal mines, state monopoly of the
+liquor business, and communal election reforms. The proposals of the
+Belgian Socialists in parliament have invariably been practical, not
+revolutionary or visionary. One of the first bills introduced by them
+provided for the reduction of the stamp tax and the tax on the
+transfer of property and leases. This tax was extremely high, nearly
+seven per cent., and worked a peculiar hardship on the small tenant.
+The bill failed of passage. But the government was so impressed by the
+facts presented in debate that it brought in a law reducing the tax on
+transfers for all small estates.
+
+It is by this indirect method, by their presence in the Chamber, and
+by their powers in debate that the Belgian Socialists have achieved
+many practical reforms. They have not the hauteur and aloofness of
+the German Social Democrat, nor the fiery passion for idealistic
+propaganda of the French; they are more sensible than either. Since
+their entrance into parliament a Secretary of Labor has been added to
+the cabinet, and every department of labor legislation has felt their
+influence. The delegation is in constant touch with the party in the
+various districts. An old-age pension act has been passed, great
+reductions have been made in military expenditure, the conscript laws
+have been modified, and the Socialists led in the opposition to the
+Belgian policy in the Congo.
+
+Their two main contentions have been over the educational laws and the
+electoral laws. A school law was passed by the Clericals in 1895. It
+was regarded as reactionary by the Socialists, and stormy scenes
+accompanied its enactment. Its provisions are still the source of
+constant agitation among Socialists and Liberals. They protest
+especially against the teaching of religion in the communal schools.
+It is true that any parent may have his child excused from attending
+such instruction for reasons of conscience on written application to
+the proper authorities. But they insist that this subjects the
+objecting parent to harsh treatment in Clerical communities.[8]
+
+The provincial and communal election laws were less favorable to the
+Socialists than the national law. In 1895 the government brought in a
+new local election bill which fixed the voting age at thirty,
+required three years' residence in a commune, and strengthened the
+plural voting system by giving a fourth vote to the large
+land-holders. The Socialists and Radicals united in contesting 507 of
+the communes (about one-fourth of the whole number). They won a
+majority in eighty and a considerable minority in 180 of these
+communal councils. Necessity had cemented the alliance of Radicals and
+Socialists. The Radicals were now called "_Chevre-choutiers_" because
+they tried to carry the goat and the cabbage, Liberals and Socialists,
+across the stream in the same boat.
+
+In 1899 the government brought in its new election bill in which it
+proposed to concede to the demand for proportional representation. But
+only the large constituencies were to be included in the change,
+leaving the smaller districts, mostly in the Flemish section, to the
+Clerical majorities that prevailed there. The measure was unpopular.
+The people organized protests against it in every city in the land. In
+Brussels a mob gathered in front of the Chamber of Deputies.
+Paving-stones were ripped up and hurled through the windows, and there
+was charging and counter-charging between police and populace. Inside
+the Chamber the scene was not less tumultuous. The Socialists tried to
+prevent business by mob tactics. Desk-lids were banged, there was
+shouting and singing, one deputy had provided himself with a horn. The
+government was compelled to adjourn the session. All that night (June
+28) there was rioting in Brussels. When the Chamber met the following
+day the wild scenes were re-enacted, when a Clerical deputy moved that
+any member causing a disturbance be expelled. In the debate that
+followed the government declared itself willing to adjourn and study
+the various proposals of the opposition. This cooled the crowd waiting
+outside the Chamber, and at Vandervelde's suggestion the mob quietly
+dispersed.
+
+In the meantime the mayors of Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Liege
+waited on the King and told him they would no longer be responsible
+for the maintenance of order in their cities if the minister did not
+withdraw the obnoxious electoral bill. The Liberals now joined the
+Socialists and Radicals in their processions in every town, singing
+their war-songs and carrying placards and banners of protest.
+
+All this had its effect on the government. A committee representing
+all the groups in the Chamber was appointed to consider all the
+proposals that had been introduced. Vandervelde, in supporting the
+committee, said that he "spoke for the country that had so effectively
+demonstrated its power and achieved a victory." Soon after this the
+reactionary ministry fell, and the new government brought in a bill
+providing uniform proportional representation for all the districts.
+This bill was promptly enacted into law.
+
+The first general election under this law resulted as follows:
+
+  Total vote cast          2,105,270
+  Socialists                467,326, electing 32 deputies.
+  Clericals                 995,056      "    85    "
+  Liberals                  449,521      "    31    "
+  Radicals                   47,783      "     3    "
+  Christian Democrats        55,737      "     1    "
+
+The Clerical majority was cut from seventy to eighteen and at last the
+Liberal elements were hopeful of gaining the government and effecting
+universal suffrage "pure and simple."
+
+We have now seen how popular agitation wrested, first, a law
+permitting plural voting; second, a law permitting proportional
+representation, from an unwilling government. The contest for
+universal suffrage "pure and simple" has continued to the present day.
+In 1901 the Labor Party at its congress at Liege decided to renew the
+agitation in favor of universal suffrage, "even to the extent of the
+general strike, and agitation in the streets, and not to cease until
+after the conquest of political equality." Vandervelde introduced a
+bill into the Chamber providing for "one man, one vote," and it was
+defeated by a vote of 92 to 43. Immediately Vandervelde and the
+Radical leader proposed a revision of the Constitution. The debate on
+this motion continued until the spring of 1902. All the old spirit of
+unrest and violence broke out anew. To the violence of protesting mobs
+was added the coercive force of the general strike. Three hundred
+thousand men stopped work and began demonstrating. Troops were called
+out to guard the government buildings in Brussels and to hold the
+crowds at bay in the provinces. In Louvain eight strikers were killed
+by the soldiers, and in other localities there was bloodshed and
+destruction of property.
+
+Finally the Chamber of Representatives voted to close the debate and
+dismiss the question entirely for the session. The strike was declared
+off and quiet restored.
+
+In the elections the following May the Socialists lost three seats.
+This had its effect. A meeting of the party was called and it was
+decided not to resort to further violence. A delegate from Charleroi,
+the seat of the most tumultuous element in the party, expressed regret
+that the Labor Party had compromised with the bourgeois parties in
+calling off the strike. Vandervelde defended the action of the council
+on the ground that the continuance of the strike threatened internal
+dissensions because of the misery of the strikers and the violence of
+the government.
+
+The party organ, _Le Peuple_, said on June 5, 1902: "We are no longer
+in 1848. The days of barricades have gone by. The narrow little
+streets of former years have expanded into wide avenues. The soldiers
+are armed with Albinis and Mausers. Even if all the people were armed
+it would only be necessary to plant a few cannon at strategic places
+in the city to put down an insurrection in spite of the greatest
+heroism of the insurgents."[9]
+
+Van Overbergh, in his history of the strike, says: "The period of
+romantic Socialism in Belgium is past; the days of realism have
+commenced."[10] And Bertrand, the historian, adds the reason: "Its [the
+general strike's] effect was to keep down the vote. Even in the
+elections of 1904 and 1906 the vote has remained quite stationary."[11]
+
+Whether this means the apotheosis of the general strike in Belgium
+will depend no doubt upon circumstances, it is significant that the
+words were uttered, and still more significant that political
+coalition has taken the place of industrial warfare. The Liberals and
+Radicals now plan with the Socialists. They no longer stand aside and
+let the Socialists march, but they join step with them and carry
+banners.
+
+The greatest of all Belgian demonstrations for universal suffrage and
+free schools took place in August, 1911. In spite of the extreme
+heat, nearly 200,000 Radicals, Liberals, and Socialists gathered in
+the capital, "not so much to impress the government," a Socialist
+leader said to me, "but to impress the people that we are in earnest,
+and then to prepare for the coming elections."
+
+
+IV
+
+It must not be inferred from this rapid survey of its warfare for
+political privilege that Belgian Socialism has forgotten the
+co-operative movement and all the various activities that were blended
+in the making of the Labor Party. Belgian Socialism is primarily
+economic. This makes it unique. It has succeeded in becoming economic,
+in building dairies and bake-shops, in running dry-goods stores and
+grocery stores and butcher shops, in the present dispensation; and it
+has succeeded in doing so by accommodating itself to the present
+conditions. It adopts the eight-hour day when it can, but it is not
+averse to ten hours when necessary. It pays its employees the highest
+wage it can, but it recognizes talent and ability like the bourgeois
+shopkeeper across the street. It has insurance funds that draw
+interest at the same rate that is paid by bourgeois banks, and it has
+no scruples about putting the latest approved machinery into its
+workshops and bakeries.
+
+In all this, their activities have remained Socialistic. They compete
+with the bourgeois, but co-operate among themselves. The profits of
+their activities go to the members of their societies and to the
+party. Their competition has brought ruin to the door of many a
+shopkeeper who finds his customers flocking to their own shop.
+Government commissions have inquired into the movement at the nervous
+requests of merchants and tradesmen, but only to find every
+co-operative enterprise carefully conducted and thriving.
+
+The Belgian Socialist leaders all emphasize the importance of this
+unity of economic and political activity, and the priority of the
+economic over the political. It has been a splendid stimulant for the
+Belgian workman. It has aroused him out of the lethargy that has been
+his greatest enemy for years. It has taught him to work with others,
+the value of mass movement, the futility of separateness. It has
+schooled him, not only in reading and arithmetic, in the night classes
+established everywhere; but in business, in weights and measures; in
+percentage, in profit and loss; and most of all, in the real hardships
+that meet tradespeople and commercial men everywhere in their endeavor
+to get on. Workingmen often think that a business man is a necromancer
+juggling profits out of other people's necessities. The Belgian
+co-operativist has found out that trading is a commonplace and tedious
+task which requires constant alertness and is merely the drudgery of
+detail. This experience has taught him, moreover, the futility of laws
+and the utility of effort. In Belgium I was impressed most of all by
+the nonchalance, almost contempt, that the workman displays toward
+mere legislation. "Why should I toy with words when I have this?" And
+he points proudly to his co-operative store.
+
+The Belgian workman has been taught through his co-operative
+experience the value of patient toil and frugality. Slowly he has
+built up these institutions out of his own savings. When he thought
+his scant wages were barely enough for bread, he discovered means
+somehow to pay his dues in the "Mutualite." As an instance of his
+thrift, he saves every year a little fund which is used by the family
+for an annual holiday, usually a short excursion to a neighboring
+place of interest. Every member of the family contributes to this
+fund, and, no matter how poor, they look forward to their yearly
+holiday.
+
+The Belgian Socialist has also been successful in another field. While
+in other countries the Socialists have tried usually in vain to lure
+the peasant and small farmer, the Belgians have made constant progress
+in this direction. The agrarian movement began with the organizing of
+the Labor Party.[12]
+
+Vandervelde and Hector Dennis, a Professor of Economics in the
+University at Brussels, have been constant in their zeal for the
+agrarian interests. Again, the lure is not Socialism in the abstract,
+nor the gospel of discontent. It is practical, business co-operation.
+Dairies, stores, markets are proving powerful propagandists, even in
+the Catholic lowlands. Dr. Steffens-Frauenweiler quotes from a
+conservative newspaper: "From different sides we have heard the remark
+that Socialism would never penetrate into the country. In
+contradiction to this opinion we must observe that those who express
+this view, and presume to laugh away the Socialistic movement among
+the peasants and farmers, are either not well informed or are
+submitting themselves to illusions. Only a serious attempt to fight
+Socialism through positive reforms will prove a lasting check upon the
+ambitions of Socialists."[13]
+
+In Belgium the general strike has been used as an aid in the warfare
+for political power. We have seen how the first strike was premature,
+the second effective, and the third proved a boomerang in its reaction
+upon the Labor Party.
+
+Vandervelde distinguishes between the general strike as a means toward
+social revolution, and the general strike as a political weapon used
+for securing a _definite_ object.[14] He says: "The revolutionary
+general strike is itself the revolution. The reformist general strike,
+on the contrary, is the attempt of the proletariat to secure partial
+concessions from the government without questioning the existence of
+the government, and especially the administration that represents the
+government." To effect this, it is not essential that all the workmen
+go out, but only enough to interrupt "the normal course of business,
+even if the majority of the workers remain at work."[15]
+
+The political general strike has its example, then, in the Belgian
+movement for the electoral franchise. Whether it would succeed in
+wresting other political privileges from the state, is conjecture;
+that it would not succeed except under the most favorable conditions,
+is certain.
+
+The Belgian movement has displayed great absorptive powers and
+facility of adaptation. It has absorbed all the labor activities of
+the Radical and Socialist workmen. It has adapted itself to the
+necessities of the hour, giving up the daydreams of intangible things.
+In all this, it has displayed a saneness, in spite of its
+revolutionary traditions and anarchistic blood.[16] It has the most
+"modern" program of the European Socialist parties, and the most
+worldly efficiency.
+
+In visiting one of the large workingmen's clubhouses found in the
+cities, the visitor is impressed with the beehive qualities of the
+Belgian movement. At the "Maison du Peuple" in Brussels--that was
+built by these underpaid workmen at a cost of 1,000,000 francs--you
+find activity everywhere. The savings-bank department is swarming with
+women and children, come to conduct the business of the family. The
+cafe, the headquarters of the party, the offices of the co-operative
+societies, all are busy. In the evening there are debates, gymnasium
+contests, moving-picture shows, classes for instruction in the
+elementary branches, in art, and literature.[17] A temperance
+movement, started by the workmen some years ago, has attained a great
+deal of influence. Placards are on the walls of the clubhouses,
+setting forth the evils of the drink habit.
+
+Or you visit a co-operative bakery or butcher-shop or grocery store,
+and the same spirit of diligence, thrift, and reasonableness is there.
+And you are quite convinced that here is Socialism approximating
+somewhere near its ultimate form. If the Belgian Labor Party should
+secure control of the government to-morrow it would be more competent
+to assume the actual obligations of power than would the Socialists in
+any other European country. For they have not built a structure in
+mid-air, with merely an underpinning of more or less indifferent
+theories.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _L'Enquete Gouvernementale_, Vol. XVIII.
+
+[2] _L'Annuaire Statistique._
+
+[3] BERTRAND, _Histoire de la Democratie et du Socialisme en Belgique
+depuis 1830_, Vol II, p. 331.
+
+[4] This conference sent the following telegram to the King: "You have
+asked what is the watchword of the country; the watchword is universal
+suffrage."
+
+[5] The candidates are arranged in groups or "lists," and the voter
+votes the list as well as for the individual names on the list. Any
+100 electors may prepare such a list. The successful candidate must
+receive a majority. This often necessitates a second ballot between
+the two receiving the highest number of votes.
+
+[6] BERTRAND, _Histoire_, Vol. II, p. 552.
+
+[7] One of the significant incidents of this election was the contest
+against Frere Orban, for thirty years a parliamentary leader and one
+of the greatest politicians of his day. His seat was contested by an
+obscure workingman, and the distinguished parliamentarian was
+compelled to submit to the ordeal of a second ballot.
+
+[8] The Clerical forces are gradually retreating before the repeated
+onslaughts of Liberals and Socialists. But the loyalty to the Church
+remains undiminished. On May 17, 1901, a Clerical deputy remarked in
+the Chamber that he would like to see the temporal power of the pope
+restored. The Socialists immediately started an uproar which ended in
+their singing their "Marseillaise" and the adjournment of the sitting.
+
+[9] BERTRAND, _Histoire_, II, p. 590.
+
+[10] _La Greve Generale Belge d'Avril_, 1902, Brussels, 1902.
+
+[11] _Histoire_, II, p. 592.
+
+[12] See DR. STEFFENS-FRAUENWEILER, _Der Agrar-Sozialismus in Belge_.
+
+[13] _Op. cit._, p. 37.
+
+[14] See an article by E. VANDERVELDE, "_Der General Streik_," in
+_Archiv fuer Sozial-wissenschaft und Sozial-Politik_, Tuebingen, May,
+1908. The same article was published, same date, in _Revue du Mois_,
+Paris.
+
+[15] _Supra cit._, p. 541.
+
+[16] Bakunin had a large following in Belgium during the days of the
+"Old International," and Anarchists have never entirely ceased their
+activities in the large cities.
+
+[17] On the walls of the "Maison du Peuple" you will find noble
+paintings. Here labored Constantine Meunier, the sculptor, on his
+notable "Monument au Travail." Three remarkable sections of this
+monument, "La Mine," "L'Industrie," "La Glebe," can be seen in the
+Gallery of Modern Art, in Brussels. There are evidences everywhere of
+the art interest of these alert working people. One of them, with
+sincere indignation, pointed out to me the large pile of stone that
+surmounts the heights of the city, the Palace of Justice, completed in
+1883, and said its "bourgeois Babylonian hideousness is the high-water
+mark of bourgeois taste in art and bourgeois power in politics."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
+
+
+I
+
+It is the constant complaint of the German Democrats that there is no
+Liberal Party in Germany. The wars that repeatedly devastated the
+country during past centuries drove property owners to seek the
+protection of a strong, centralized government. This habit has
+survived the centuries. Whenever the middle classes show signs of
+breaking away from the conservatism of the "Regierung," the Prince
+always finds a way of bringing them back. The Period of
+Revolution--1850--ended in a compromise that ignored the workingmen
+and virtually left absolutism on the throne. When the new era dawned,
+and Bismarck, like a young giant, shaped the highways of empire, he
+used the Liberals so adroitly that, when his national legerdemain was
+accomplished, they were a broken and impotent faction, lost in the
+conservative reaction of the hour.
+
+Universal suffrage for the Reichstag elections was written into the
+Constitution of the new empire, not because the Chancellor and his
+Prince loved democracy, but because the smaller states insisted upon
+this safeguard against Prussian omnipotence.
+
+Democracy and Liberalism have never been strong enough to break the
+fetters of national habit; and nearly all the democracy, certainly all
+the workingman's democracy, in Germany to-day is found in the Social
+Democratic Party.
+
+In order to understand the development of Social Democracy in Germany,
+it is necessary to bear in mind the bureaucratic, autocratic,
+paternalistic character of the German government.[1]
+
+It is the German governmental policy to do everything for the welfare
+of its citizens that can be done; and, in return, it expects the
+people to let the government alone. The medieval conception of class
+responsibility survives. It is the attitude of a self-righteous parent
+toward ignorant and wilful children. The government assumes the right,
+and possesses the power, to regulate every phase of the citizen's
+life, in domestic, industrial, educational, moral, and political
+affairs. It is a regal survival of the theory that government is
+omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
+
+Germany is a made-to-order country that clings to medieval
+conservatism in government; a country that is thoroughly modern in
+industry and distinctly middle-age in caste; where the workingman has
+always been treated with patronizing condescension and his political
+acts watched with jealousy; and where he has, against great odds,
+determined to work out his own salvation. Surrounded by preordained
+and rigid conditions, he has perfected an organization that is the
+most remarkable example of proletarian achievement found anywhere in
+history. To the development and description of this organization we
+will now address ourselves.
+
+German Social Democracy, while Marxian in theory, owes its active
+existence to Ferdinand Lassalle, one of those brilliant and daring
+geniuses who flash, in an hour of adventure, across the prosaic days
+of history.[2] He was pronounced a _Wunderkind_ by William von
+Humboldt; dashed his way through university routine; attracted the
+friendship of poets, philosophers, and politicians; was lionized by
+society; became a revolutionist in 1848, and was, at the age of
+twenty-three, indicted for inciting a mob of Duesseldorf workingmen to
+acts of violence. He defended himself in a brilliant speech which
+launched him fully into the campaign of the workingman.[3]
+
+Early in his career he volunteered to defend the cause of the Countess
+Hatzfeldt, whose unfaithful husband was squandering his estates and
+suffering her to live in want. Lassalle fought the case through
+thirty-six courts for nine years, and won an ample fortune for the
+countess, who became the main financial support of Lassalle's
+campaigns.
+
+After his first arrest, Lassalle was kept under vigilance by the
+government. But finally, through the interposition of distinguished
+friends, he was allowed to return to Berlin. There, in 1862, he
+delivered a series of addresses that soon brought him into conflict
+with the police. His defense in the court was published later under
+the title, _Science and the Workingman_. This he followed with a
+letter, _Might and Right_,[4] sent broadcast over the land.
+
+In these two publications he succinctly enunciated his theory of
+democracy: "With Democracy alone dwells right, and in Democracy alone
+will might be found. No person in the Prussian state to-day has the
+right to speak of 'rights,' except the Democracy, the old and true
+Democracy. For Democracy alone has constantly clung to the right, and
+has never lowered herself by compromising with might."[5]
+
+In the political turmoil of that period, when new forces were
+awakening to their power and feudalism, conservatism, Cobdenism, and
+democracy were all contending for supremacy, there were three
+predominating currents of thought. The first was naturally the feudal,
+the absolutist that would put down by the police power, and failing in
+that by the soldiery, every attempt at changing the organization of
+the government. This was embodied in the reactionary, or Conservative
+Party, which held then, as it still does, the high places in army and
+government. Bismarck was its leader. It had ample nationalist aims,
+and was called the "Great German Party" ("Gross Deutschland"); Austria
+was included in its ambitions, and monarchic supremacy was the token
+of its power. It comprised the landowners, the nobles, and the
+agrarians.
+
+The second tendency was commercial, bourgeois. It found expression in
+the National Liberal Party, which was liberal in name only. It was the
+"Small German" ("Klein Deutschland") Party, preferring the ascendency
+of Prussia. It comprised the enterprising traders, manufacturers, and
+bankers, and was strongest in the cities. It was attached to monarchy,
+cared little for military or political glory, except as it affected
+trade and taxes.
+
+The third tendency had nothing in common with the other two. It was
+the revolt of the proletarians, led by men of great ability. It was
+the democratic movement. It abhorred both the idea of feudal
+prerogative in government, as expressed by king and noble, and the
+vulgar trade patriotism, as expressed by the National Liberals, the
+bourgeoisie. It took its inspiration from France and its example from
+England. From France came the political platitudes of equality and
+liberty with which we are familiar in America; from England, the
+example of strongly organized trade unions. In Germany these two
+movements, economic and political, were blended into one.
+
+Not that the workingman's movement was a unity. Schultze-Delitsch, the
+founder of the German co-operative movement, contended that labor
+should keep out of politics and devote itself to economic activities
+alone. Rodbertus, the distinguished economist, who was potent in
+shaping economic and political thought in Germany, wrote Lassalle,
+when he was entreated to join the brilliant agitator's propaganda,
+that he could "tolerate no political agitation which would excite the
+working classes against the existing executive power."[6]
+
+There was no unity in the theories of the workingman's movement. The
+first organizations, the "Workingmen's Associations," were founded
+soon after 1848, as soon as the laws gave a limited right of
+association to the working class. The government looked with suspicion
+on every political act of labor, and especially upon organizations for
+political purposes. The ban of the law was put upon those
+organizations in July, 1854, and the right of public meeting was
+greatly restricted; police autonomy increased, giving them arbitrary
+power to stop meetings; and the right of free press was virtually
+denied. Democracy became a movement of silent intrigue and occasional
+rough outbreak.
+
+At this juncture a new political party was organized, to absorb what
+was "legal" in the democratic workingman's movement and what was truly
+liberal in the National Liberal Party. The new party was called
+Progressist ("Fortschrittler"). It was a German party, devoted to the
+Manchester doctrine: Free commerce, free trade, free press, free
+speech; freedom of expression in every phase of human activity. It was
+_laissez-faire_ to the uttermost plunged into the reactionary mass of
+German politics. The economic issue became freedom of contract
+_versus_ feudal status; the political issue, freedom of ballot
+_versus_ hereditary prerogative.
+
+The new party began to appeal for the workingman's support. Their lure
+of free speech and freedom of organization was not without effect. The
+older workingmen, who were not familiar with the teachings of Marx and
+Engels, and who had not even read Weitling's communistic
+idealizations, were brought, in some numbers, into the new party.
+
+The younger and more radical element in the workingmen's clubs were
+restless. In 1862 some of them had visited the International
+Exposition in London and had talked with Marx. The fire of the
+"International" was kindled. A movement for calling a national
+workingman's convention was started among these radicals. The
+Progressists tried to check the agitation, saying that every effort
+should be directed toward establishing a new Constitution. But it was
+in vain. In Leipsic a group of radicals seceded from the Workingman's
+Union (Arbeiter Bildungs-Verein), and formed a new organization, which
+they called "Vorwaerts" (Progress). These now invited Lassalle to
+address them on his views of the labor situation.
+
+The movement was opportune, and Lassalle's answer is the basic
+document of present-day Social Democracy.[7]
+
+There is no salvation for the workingman except through "political
+freedom," he says. This freedom demands laws, and to secure laws
+united action is essential. They must be powerful enough to get laws
+to their liking. This power they will not get by being an appendix to
+the Progressists, for they are dominated by a trade doctrine, not by
+altruistic ideals for the oppressed.
+
+With a clearness that has not been excelled, he showed the dependence
+of economic upon political power and influence. His economic program
+was none other than Louis Blanc's state-subsidized workshops. It made
+no great impression and soon faded away. But his bold plan of a
+workingman's party fighting fiercely for democracy, and for the
+betterment of the "normal conditions of the entire working classes,"
+has been developed to surprising perfection.
+
+The state, he says, must be the instrument of their power, not the
+object of their striving. They are in politics, not as politicians,
+but as proletarians. "The state is nothing but the great organization,
+the all-embracing association of the working classes." No "sustaining
+and helping hand" will be their guide. Political supremacy is the
+"only way out of the desert." And how win the state? There is only one
+way: through universal suffrage, democracy. "Universal suffrage is not
+only your political but also your social foundation principle, the
+condition precedent of all social help. It is the only means for
+bettering the material conditions of the working classes."
+
+Cut loose from Rodbertus economically, and from the Progressists
+politically, Lassalle was invited to take the leadership of the new
+movement, which from the start was political rather than economic. He
+aimed to organize the German workingmen into a great national party,
+so powerful that it could control governments, make laws, and demand
+obedience. But it was slow work, and to the fiery spirit of Lassalle
+its snail's pace was exasperating. It provoked him into violence of
+speech which led him everywhere into the courts and into constant
+altercations with the Crown's solicitors.
+
+His powerful personality and unusually active mind made a profound
+impression everywhere. At the last conference of his association which
+he attended he claimed the Bishop of Mayence and the King of Prussia
+as converts. The Bishop, Baron von Ketteler, was indeed turning toward
+Socialism, but not Lassalle's political Socialism. He was the founder
+of that Christian Socialism which has made the Catholic Church in
+South Germany and the Rhineland a potent factor in the labor movement.
+The King, whose conversion Lassalle boldly announced, had only
+received a delegation of Silesian weavers who laid their grievances
+before him and were promised the royal sympathy.
+
+However, Lassalle and Bismarck had formed a general liking for each
+other, and the great minister received from the brilliant agitator
+many suggestions which he later embodied in his state insurance laws.
+Both Bismarck and Lassalle believed in the power of the state for the
+amelioration of social conditions. They met several times at the
+Chancellor's solicitation, and Bismarck disclosed their conversations
+to the Reichstag, on the insistence of Bebel, when the insurance bills
+were under discussion. The Chancellor expressed his admiration for the
+virility of the Socialist's mind and said he believed Lassalle
+perfectly sincere in his purpose.[8]
+
+Lassalle did not live to see his General Workingmen's Association
+("Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeitsverein") attain political power. He was
+killed in a duel over a love affair August 31, 1864. His brilliant
+campaign for democracy had resulted in a petty organization of 4,610
+members.
+
+Lassalle's influence is increasing every year. His death-day is
+celebrated by the German Socialists (Lassalle Feier). The present-day
+German movement is Lassallian rather than Marxian.[9]
+
+In a letter to Rodbertus, February, 1864, Lassalle says that he aimed
+to show the workingman "how identical the economic and the political
+forces are. Every separation of them is an abstraction, and I believe
+that uniting the two is the principal potency which I can give to the
+cause."
+
+
+II
+
+The little handful was soon rent by internal strife and threatened
+with utter extinction, both by police aggression and by Marxian
+competition. The year Lassalle died the International Workingman's
+Association was organized and agitation began in Germany under the
+leadership of William Liebknecht, a friend and disciple of Marx.
+Liebknecht was the scholar of the early Social Democratic group. He
+possessed a university education, was a revolutionist in 1848, a
+fugitive in Switzerland and England until 1862. His foreign sojourn
+did not mellow his natural dogmatism; on the contrary, his long
+intercourse with Marx in London hardened his orthodoxy. He was a
+powerful polemist. However, alone he could not have organized a
+national movement. He did not possess the personal traits that lure.
+He made a notable convert when he won August Bebel, a Saxon
+woodturner, to his cause. "I was Saul and became Paul," Bebel said to
+me. The words are not inapt: his power is Pauline. Lie has been
+persecuted and imprisoned, has written speeches and epistles, has
+made many missionary journeys, and kept constantly in intimate touch
+with every local phase of his propaganda. His imprisonments have
+undermined his health, but they have not diminished his mental vigor;
+and more than once the Iron Chancellor winced under his ferocious
+assaults.
+
+Liebknecht and Bebel were more advanced than the Workingmen's
+Association, which now had fallen under the leadership of Schweitzer,
+an able but dissolute disciple of Lassalle. The two organizations
+fought each other as rivals. The international wing, under Liebknecht
+and Bebel, in 1869, organized the Democratic Workingmen's Party at
+Eisenach, and were called "Eisenachers." Their program is of great
+importance. It stated that the first object of the new party was the
+attaining of the free state (Freier Volkstaat). This state Liebknecht
+explained at his trial in 1872: "The idea of a free state is
+interpreted by a majority of our party to mean a republic; but does
+this necessarily imply that it is to be forcibly introduced? No one
+has expressed an opinion as to how it is to be introduced. Let a
+majority of the people be won for our opinions, and the state is of
+our opinions, for the people are the state. A state without a king is
+conceivable, but not a state without a people. The government is the
+servant of the people."
+
+This free state, the program continues, can be won only by political
+freedom, and political freedom is the forerunner of economic freedom.
+Demand is therefore made for universal, equal, direct suffrage, with
+secret ballot, for all men twenty years of age, in both parliamentary
+and municipal elections. Other leading demands were: direct
+legislation; the abolition of all privileges, whether of birth,
+wealth, or religion; the establishment of militia in place of standing
+armies; the separation of Church and state; the secularizing of
+education; the extension of free schools and compulsory education;
+reform of the courts and extension of the jury system; abolition of
+all laws restricting freedom of speech, of press, and of association;
+the establishment of a normal workday; the restriction of female, and
+abolition of child, labor; the abolition of indirect taxes; the
+establishment of an income and inheritance tax; the extension of state
+credit for co-operative enterprises.
+
+This program sounds very modern and moderate. But its expositors were
+not restrained to moderation, and when the congress met at Dresden in
+1871 it adopted a resolution extolling the French Commune. A great
+deal of popular sympathy was lost through this action.
+
+Meanwhile the Lassalle party was slowly gaining ground. In 1875 the
+two parties united at Gotha. There were 9,000 members in the
+Liebknecht party and 15,000 members in the Lassalle party. Here was
+adopted the first program of the united German Social Democracy. Its
+economics are thoroughly Marxian in theory and are only slightly
+tinged by the teachings of Lassalle and Schultze-Delitsch in practice.
+Labor, it affirmed, was the source of all wealth and was held under
+duress by the capitalistic class. Its only emancipation could come
+from the social ownership of the means of production. The way to this
+goal could be found through productive copartnership with state aid.
+The political part of the program embraced the demands made at
+Eisenach.
+
+With its unity, a new vigor took possession of the party. Its
+organization was perfected; 145 agitators were in the field; its
+twenty-three newspapers had over 100,000 subscribers. This meant
+increased police vigilance. All the leaders served terms in prison,
+newspapers were suppressed, organizations dissolved, houses searched,
+agitators ordered to leave the country. The government did everything
+in its power to suppress the movement. Every act of oppression
+popularized the Democracy among the proletarians. The blood of the
+martyrs bore the usual harvest.
+
+The new empire had been launched amidst the greatest enthusiasm,
+shared by every one except the discontented workingmen who had so
+stoutly fought for entire political freedom. The new imperial
+parliament was thrown open to them because Bismarck had found it
+necessary to include universal suffrage in the constitution of the
+Reichstag. In 1871 the Socialists elected two members, and the feudal
+lords beheld the novel sight of workingmen sitting with them in the
+imperial Diet. The voting strength of the party was 124,665. This was
+increased to 351,952 in 1874, when nine members were elected. In 1877
+the party cast 493,288 votes, electing twelve members. This was cause
+for alarm. The party had now reached fifth place in point of votes
+among the fourteen parties or factions that contended for power in
+Germany, and eighth place in point of members elected. But in point of
+agitation, of perfervid speech and pointed interpellation, it ranked
+easily first. Its delegation in 1877 included Bebel and Liebknecht,
+now out of jail, and Most, afterwards the notorious Anarchist in
+America, and Hasselman and Bracke, who were not modest in the
+expression of their opinions. These representatives of democracy let
+no occasion pass to embarrass the government with peppery questions.
+
+Bismarck was slowly evolving a scheme for checking the Socialist
+growth and satisfying the demands of labor for better conditions. Both
+revolved around the pivot of patriarchal omnipotence. The suppression
+was to be accomplished by force; the gratification, by paternal rigor.
+
+
+III
+
+He addressed himself first to repression. He entreated the governments
+of Europe in 1871 to unite in stamping out Socialism, but he received
+no encouragement. In 1872 Spain, exasperated by the revolutionary
+outbreaks, addressed a circular to the Powers, asking their
+co-operation to check the growth of the revolutionary element.
+Bismarck was ready. But Lord Granville, for England, said the
+traditions of his country were favorable to an unrestricted right of
+residence for foreigners as long as they violated no law of their
+host. This ended the international attempt. Next (in 1874) Bismarck
+attempted to tighten the gag on the press, but the Reichstag refused
+to sanction his proposals. Then he fell back on existing legislation
+and with great vigor enforced the statutes against revolutionary
+activity. The police were given wide latitude in interpreting these
+laws.
+
+Several acts of wanton violence now occurred which brought about a
+sudden change of temper in the people. On May 11, 1878, while driving
+in Unter den Linden, Emperor William was shot at by a young man. The
+Emperor was not struck by the bullets, but the shots were none the
+less effective in rousing public indignation. Popular condemnation was
+turned against the Social Democrats because photographs of Liebknecht
+and Bebel were found on the person of the intended assassin. Two days
+later Bismarck introduced the anti-Socialist laws. They were debated
+in the Reichstag, while Most was being tried for libeling the clergy.
+But the Reichstag was not ready to go to the lengths of the
+Chancellor's desire, and by a vote of 251 to 57 rejected his bill.
+Here the matter would have rested had not a second attempt been made
+on the life of the aged Emperor. This occurred on June 2, and this
+time the Emperor was seriously wounded.
+
+Naturally the indignation of the nation was thoroughly aroused. In the
+midst of the excitement, a general election was held, and Bismarck
+won. His own peculiar Conservatives increased their delegation from 40
+to 59, the Free Conservatives from 38 to 57; the National Liberals
+reduced their number from 128 to 99, the Liberals from 13 to 10, the
+Progressists from 35 to 26. The Socialists retained nine seats, losing
+three; their vote fell from 493,288 to 437,158.
+
+Immediately a repressive law was introduced. It was called "a law
+against the publicly dangerous activities of the Social Democracy"
+(Gesetz gegen die gemein-gefaehrlichen Bestrebungen der
+Sozial-Demokratie).[10]
+
+Bismarck prefaced his law with a very clever prologue (Begruendung). In
+simple language he arraigned the Social Democracy as being, first,
+anti-social, because it aims at the modern system of production, and
+does so, not through "humanitarian motives," but through revolution;
+second, as anti-patriotic, because it makes "the most odious attacks"
+on the German Empire. "The law of preservation therefore compels the
+state and society to oppose the Social Democratic movement with
+decision.... True, thought cannot be repressed by external compulsion;
+the movements of minds can only be overcome in intellectual combat.
+But when movements take wrong pathways and threaten destruction, the
+means for their growth can and should be taken away by legal means.
+The Socialist agitation, as carried on for years, is a continual
+appeal to violence and to the passions of the multitudes, for the
+purpose of subverting the social order. The state _can_ check such a
+movement by depriving Social Democracy of its principal means of
+propaganda, and by destroying its organization; and it _must_ do so
+unless it is willing to surrender its existence, and unless the
+conviction is to spread amongst the people that either the state is
+impossible or the aims of Social Democracy are justifiable.[11]
+
+The law was passed against the vehement protest of the Socialists.
+They disclaimed any connection with the dastardly attempts on the life
+of the aged Emperor. Bebel, in an impressive speech, declared that
+while Socialists do "wish to abolish the present form of private
+property in the factors of production, labor, and land," they had
+never been guilty of destroying a penny's worth of property. Nor did
+they aim to do so. It was the system of private ownership of great
+properties, that enabled a few to oppress the many, that they were
+fighting. And here they were in good company: Rodbertus, Rosher,
+Wagner, Schaeffle, Brentano, Schmoller, and a host of other scholars
+and economists, Bebel affirmed, were Socialistic in their tendencies.
+
+Bismarck was unyielding. He said he would welcome any real effort to
+alleviate harsh conditions. But the Socialists were a party of
+destruction and were enemies to mankind.
+
+The leader of the Progressists said, "I fear Social Democracy more
+under this law than without it." The vote of 221 to 149 in favor of
+the law showed the grim Chancellor's sway over the assembly.
+
+The law made clean work of it. It forbade all organizations which
+promulgated views controvening the existing social and political
+order. It prohibited the collecting of money for campaign purposes;
+put the ban on meetings, processions, and demonstrations; on
+publications of all kinds, confiscating the existing stock of
+prohibited books; and created a status akin to martial law by endowing
+the police authorities with the power of declaring a locality in a
+"minor state of siege," and exercising arbitrary authority for one
+year.
+
+A commission was appointed by the Chancellor to carry out these
+inquisitions, and the war between Socialistic democracy and medieval
+autocracy was on. Its events are instructive to every government; its
+sequel a warning to all nations.[12]
+
+The government organized its commission; the Socialists met at Hamburg
+to consider the situation. They determined to perfect their
+organization, to promulgate a secret propaganda, and to use the
+tribune in the Reichstag as the one open pulpit whence they could
+proclaim their wrongs.
+
+The government promptly declared Berlin in a "minor state of siege."
+In the course of a few months about fifty agitators were expelled,
+bales of literature confiscated, organizations dissolved, meetings
+dismissed, gatherings prohibited, and the Socialist agitation pushed
+into cellars and back rooms.
+
+But there was one tribune which the Chancellor could not close--the
+Reichstag tribune. Here Bebel and Liebknecht talked to the nation, and
+their speeches were given circulation through the records of debate.
+Prince Bismarck, in his extremity, tried to muzzle the Socialist
+members and expunge their words from the records; but the members of
+the Reichstag refused this extreme measure. Then Bismarck asked
+permission to imprison Hasselman and expel Fritzche from Berlin. These
+two deputies had been especially vituperative in their attacks upon
+the law. The Chancellor claimed that the famous Section 28 of the
+anti-Socialist law authorizing the minor state of siege extended to
+members of the Reichstag. But the House, under the vehement leadership
+of Professor Gneist, the distinguished constitutional lawyer, refused
+to sanction this dangerous measure on the ground that the thirty-first
+article of the federal Constitution exempted members of the Reichstag
+from arrest.
+
+Bismarck soon had another plan for ridding himself of the Socialist
+nettles in the Reichstag. He introduced a bill creating a
+parliamentary court chosen by the House, who should have the power to
+punish any member guilty of parliamentary indiscretion. The bill also
+empowered the House to prevent the publication of any of its
+proceedings if it desired. The Reichstag also refused to sanction this
+measure.
+
+The assassination of Czar Alexander of Russia in March, 1881, gave
+Bismarck the opportunity to renew his efforts to quell Socialism and
+Anarchism by international concert. He asked Russia to take the
+initiative, and a conference was called at Brussels to which all the
+leading states were invited. Germany and Austria eagerly accepted,
+France made her participation dependent on England's action, and
+England refused to participate. Bismarck next tried to form an Eastern
+league, but Austria failed him and he had to content himself with an
+extradition treaty with Russia.
+
+Bismarck now fell back on his Socialist law. He enforced it with
+vigor, extending the minor state of siege to Altona, Leipsic, Hamburg,
+and Harburg. His commission reported yearly. Its words were not
+reassuring. In 1882 it said: "The situation of the Social Democratic
+movement in Germany and other civilized countries is unfortunately not
+such as to encourage the hope that it is being suppressed or
+weakened." The Minister of the Interior said to the Reichstag: "It is
+beyond doubt that it has not been possible by means of the law of
+October, 1878, to wipe Social Democracy from the face of the earth, or
+even to strike it to the center."[13]
+
+The duration of the law had been fixed at two years. At the end of
+each term it was renewed, each time with diminishing majorities.
+Meanwhile the rigor of the law was not diminished. The minor state of
+siege was extended to other centers, including Stettin and Offenbach.
+Meetings were suppressed everywhere, and dismissed often for the most
+trivial reasons. The police were given the widest powers and exercised
+them in the narrowest spirit.[14] "A hateful system of persecution,
+espionage, and aggravation was established, and its victims were the
+classes most susceptible to disaffection."[15]
+
+On the unique _index expurgatorius_ of the government were over a
+thousand titles, including the works of the high priests of the party,
+the poetry of Herwegh, the romances of Von Schweitzer, the photographs
+of the favorite Socialist saints, over eighty newspapers and sixty
+foreign journals. Bales of interdicted literature were smuggled in
+from Switzerland to feed the morose and disaffected mind of the German
+workingman.
+
+I can find no record of how many arrests were made. Bebel reported to
+the party convention in 1890 that 1,400 publications of all kinds had
+been interdicted and that 1,500 persons had been imprisoned, serving
+an aggregate of over one thousand years.[16] Every trial was a
+scattering of the seeds, and every imprisoned or exiled comrade
+became a hero. The awkwardness of the government was matched against
+the adroitness of the propagandists. A good deal of terror was spread
+among the people, stories of sudden uprisings and bloody revolutions
+were told. Even the National Liberals lost their heads at times. But
+Bebel was always superbly cool. This woodturner developed into one of
+the ablest political generals of his time.
+
+Persecuted and pressed into underground channels of activity the party
+persisted in growing. In 1880 it rid itself of the violent
+revolutionary faction led by Most and Hasselman.
+
+In the elections of 1881 the Socialists gained three deputies, but
+their popular vote was reduced over 125,000. In the next election,
+1884, they won twenty-four seats and polled 549,990 votes; two out of
+six seats in Berlin were won, and one-tenth of the voters in the land
+were rallied under the red flag. The police were alarmed and the law
+was enforced with renewed energy.
+
+With this powerful backing Liebknecht asked the repeal of the
+"Explosives Act." A violent debate took place. Liebknecht said: "I
+will tell you this: we do not appeal to you for sympathy. The result
+is all the same to us, for we shall win one way or another. Do your
+worst, for it will be only to our advantage, and the more madly you
+carry on the sooner you will come to an end. The pitcher goes to the
+well until it breaks."[17]
+
+Bebel roused all the fury of Bismarck when he warned him that if
+Russian methods were imported there would be murder. In July of this
+year (1886) at Freiburg occurred the memorable trial of nine
+Socialist leaders, including Bebel, Dietz, Von Vollmar, Auer, Frohme,
+and Viereck, charged with participating in an illegal organization.
+All were sentenced to imprisonment for terms varying from six to nine
+months.
+
+Preceding the election of 1887 the Reichstag had been dissolved on the
+army bill. The patriotic issue, always effective, was made the
+universal appeal by the government. In spite of this the Social
+Democrats polled 763,128 votes, a gain of 213,128. Saxony had
+succeeded in holding down the vote to 150,000; but in Prussia the
+result was startling; in Berlin forty per cent. of the voters were
+Social Democrats. With all their voting strength the party elected
+only eleven members to the Reichstag. With proportional representation
+they would have elected forty. The Bismarck Conservatives returned
+forty-one members with fewer votes than the Socialists.
+
+Finally in 1890 came the end of this farce. It was also the end of the
+chancellorship of Bismarck. His old Emperor had died, and a young and
+daring hand was at the helm. Bismarck proposed to embody the
+anti-Socialist laws permanently in the penal code. This might have
+passed; but he also proposed to exile offenders, not merely from the
+territory under minor siege, but from the Fatherland. This
+expatriation the Assembly would not brook and the Reichstag was
+prorogued.
+
+The Socialists left parliament with eleven members, they returned with
+thirty-five; they left with 760,000 mandates, they returned with
+1,500,000, more votes than any other party could claim, and on a
+proportional basis eighty-five seats would have been theirs. Bebel
+was justified in saying in the Reichstag, "The Chancellor thought he
+had us, but we have him."
+
+When midnight sounded on the last day of the existence of the
+oppressive law, great throngs of workingmen gathered in the streets of
+the larger cities, to sing their Marseillaise, cheer their victory,
+and wave their red flag. Now they could breathe again.
+
+For the first time in thirteen years they met in national convention
+on German soil. The veteran Liebknecht, recounting their hardships and
+sacrifices, raised his voice in jubilant phrase: "Our opponents did
+not spare us, and we, too proud and too strong to prove cowardly,
+struck blow for blow, and so we have conquered the odious law."[18]
+
+
+IV
+
+During the enforcement of the anti-Socialist law Bismarck began the
+second part of his policy. He would repress with one hand, with the
+other he would placate. In 1883 he introduced his sickness insurance
+bill, followed in 1884-85 by his accident insurance, and in 1889 by
+his old-age pension act.[19]
+
+It is not unnatural that these measures were opposed by the Social
+Democrats. They had no love for the Chancellor. The Dresden congress
+decided to "reject state Socialism unconditionally so long as it is
+inaugurated by Prince Bismarck and is designed to support the
+government system." Bismarck "had sown too much wind not to reap a
+whirlwind."[20] He had planted hatred in the hearts of the workingmen;
+he could not hope to reap respect and affection.
+
+Bismarck believed that Socialism existed because the laboring man was
+not sufficiently interested in the state. He had no property, and was
+not enlightened enough to appreciate the intangible benefits of
+sovereignty. In 1880 German trade had reached a low ebb. Agriculture
+had fallen into decay. German peasants and workingmen were emigrating
+to America by the tens of thousands. Bismarck promulgated his
+industrial insurance, first, to placate the workingman; second, to
+restore prosperity to German industry.
+
+As a result of his policy Germany is to-day the most "socialized"
+state in Europe. Here a workingman may begin life attended by a
+physician paid by the state; he is christened by a state clergyman; he
+is taught the rudiments of learning and his handicraft by the state.
+He begins work under the watchful eye of a state inspector, who sees
+that the safeguards to health and limb are strictly observed. He is
+drafted by the state into the army, and returns from the rigor of this
+discipline to his work. The state gives him license to marry,
+registers his place of residence, follows him from place to place, and
+registers the birth of his children. If he falls ill, his suffering is
+assuaged by the knowledge that his wife and children are cared for and
+that his expenses will be paid during illness; and he may spend his
+convalescent days in a luxurious state hospital. If he falls victim to
+an accident the dread of worklessness is removed by the ample
+insurance commanded by the state even if his injury permanently
+incapacitates him. If he should unfortunately become that most pitiful
+of all men, the man out of work, the state and the city will do all in
+their power to find employment for him. If he wanders from town to
+town in search of work the city has its shelter (Herberge) to welcome
+him; if he wishes to move to another part of his town the municipal
+bureau will be glad to help him find a suitable house, or may even
+loan him money for building a house of his own. If he is in difficulty
+the city places a lawyer at his disposal. If he is in a dispute with
+his employer the government provides a court of arbitration. If he is
+sued or wishes to sue his employer, he does so in the workingmen's
+court (Gewerbe Gericht). If he wishes recreation, there is the city
+garden; if he wishes entertainment let him go to the public concert;
+if he wishes to improve his mind there are libraries and free
+lectures. And if by rare chance, through the grace of the state's
+strict sanitary regulations and by thrift and care, he reaches the age
+of seventy, he will find the closing days of his long life eased by a
+pension, small, very small, to be sure, but yet enough to make him
+more welcome to the relatives or friends who are charged with
+administering to his wants.[21]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] For a comprehensive description of the German government, see
+DAWSON, _Germany and the Germans_, Vol. I.
+
+[2] Liebknecht said, in the Breslau congress of the Social-Democratic
+party: "Lassalle is the man in whom the modern organized German labor
+movement had its origin."--"Sozial-Demokratische Partei-Tag,"
+_Protokoll_, 1895, p. 66.
+
+[3] For sketch of Lassalle and his work see KIRKUP, _History of
+Socialism_, pp. 72 et seq.; ELY, _French and German Socialism of Modern
+Times_, p. 189; RAE, _Contemporary Socialism_, pp. 93 ff. For an
+extended account, see DAWSON, _German Socialism and Ferdinand
+Lassalle_, London, 1888. GEORG BRANDES, _Ferdinand Lassalle_,
+originally in Danish, has been translated into German, 1877, and into
+English, 1911. Also see FRANZ MEHRING. _Die Deutsche Sozial-Demokratie:
+Ihre Geschichte und ihre Lehre_; BERNHARD BECKER, _Geschichte der
+Arbeiter Agitation Ferdinand Lassalles_, Brunswick, 1874: this volume
+contains a good detailed account of Lassalle's work.
+
+[4] Published in Zuerich, 1863: _Macht und Recht_.
+
+[5] _Macht und Recht_, p. 13.
+
+[6] Letter dated April 22, 1863.
+
+[7] "Oeffentliches Antwort-schreiben an das Zentral Committee zur
+Berufung eines Allgemeinen Deutschen Arbeiter Congress zu Leipzig,"
+first published in Zurich, 1863.
+
+[8] In the Reichstag, September 16, 1878.
+
+[9] When Bernstein collected Lassalle's works he wrote a sketch of the
+agitator's life as a preface. A number of years later, 1904, he
+published his second sketch, _Ferdinand Lassalle and His Significance
+to the Working Classes_, in which he shifted his position and assumed
+a Lassallian tone. This change of mind is typical of the Social
+Democratic movement toward the Lassallian idea.
+
+[10] The law is reprinted in MEHRING, _Die Deutsche
+Sozial-Demokratie_.
+
+[11] See DAWSON, _German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle_, pp. 251
+ff., for a discussion of this law.
+
+[12] A good description of the working of this law is found in DAWSON,
+_Germany and the Germans_, Vol. II, Chap. XXXVII.
+
+[13] December 14, 1882.
+
+[14] "At a large Berlin meeting a speaker innocently used the word
+commune (parish), whereupon the police officer in control, thinking
+only of the Paris Commune, at once dismissed the assembly, and a
+thousand persons had to disperse into the streets disappointed and
+embittered.... 'Militarism is a terrible mistake,' said a speaker at
+an election meeting, which legally should have been beyond police
+power, and at these words, further proceedings were forbidden and
+several persons were arrested. The Socialist deputy Bebel, in
+addressing some workingmen on economical questions, said that 'In the
+textile industry it happens that while the wife is working at the
+loom, the husband sits at home and cooks dinner,' and the meeting was
+dismissed immediately."--DAWSON, _Germany and the Germans_, Vol. II,
+pp. 190-1.
+
+[15] DAWSON, _supra cit._, p. 192.
+
+[16] _Protokoll des Partei-Tages_, 1890, p. 30.
+
+[17] Reichstag debates, April 2, 1886.
+
+[18] _Protokoll des Partei-Tages_, 1890, pp. 11-12.
+
+[19] For discussion of German industrial insurance, see W.H. DAWSON,
+_Bismarck and State Socialism_, also J. ELLIS BARKER, _Modern
+Germany_.
+
+[20] R. MEYER, _Der Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten Standes_, p. 475.
+
+[21] See Appendix for table showing cost of industrial insurance.
+
+In Germany the state owns railways, canals, river transportation,
+harbors, telephones, telegraph, and parcels post. Banks, insurance,
+savings banks, and pawnshops are conducted by the state.
+Municipalities are landlords of vast estates, they are capitalists
+owning street cars, gas plants, electric light plants, theaters,
+markets, warehouses. They have hospitals for the sick, shelters for
+the homeless, soup-houses for the hungry, asylums for the weak and
+unfortunate, nurseries for the babies, homes for the aged, and
+cemeteries for the dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND LABOR UNIONS
+
+
+I
+
+Before we proceed to describe the present organization of the Social
+Democratic Party it will be necessary to say a few words about the
+organization of labor in Germany.[1] There are four kinds of labor
+unions: the Social Democrat or free unions, the Hirsch-Duncker or
+radical unions, the Christian or Roman Catholic unions, and the
+Independent unions. All except the last group have special political
+significance; and only the Independents confine themselves purely to
+economic activity. The Socialist unions are called "Reds," the
+Independents "Yellow," the Christians "Black."
+
+The Hirsch-Duncker unions were the first in the field. They were
+organized in 1868 by Dr. Hirsch and Herr Franz Duncker, for the
+purpose of winning the labor vote for the Progressists. Dr. Hirsch
+went to England for his model, but the political bias he imparted to
+the unions was very un-English. They have grown less political and
+more neutral in every aspect, probably because political radicalism
+has dwindled, and because they contain a great many of the most
+skilled of German workmen, the machinists. They are a sort of
+aristocracy of labor, prefer peace to war, and hesitate long before
+striking.
+
+The Christian unions are strongest in the Rhine valley and the
+Westphalian mining districts. They are the offspring of Bishop
+Kettler's workingmen's associations, organized to keep the laborer in
+harmony with the Roman Catholic Church. They have undergone a great
+deal of change since the days of the distinguished bishop, and are now
+modeled after strict trade-union principles. They retain their
+connection with the Church and the Center Party (the Roman Catholic
+group in the Reichstag). For some years there has been a restlessness
+among these unions. The more militant members are protesting against
+the influence of the clergy in union affairs, and demand that laborers
+lead labor.
+
+The "Yellow" unions stand in bad repute among the others. They are for
+peace at any price. Their membership is largely composed of the
+engineering trades; and they are usually under contract not to strike,
+but settle their differences by arbitration. The employing firms
+contribute liberally to their union funds.
+
+By far the largest unions are the Social Democratic or "Free" unions.
+They embrace over eighty per cent. of all organized labor. Their
+growth has been very rapid during the last twenty years. In 1890, when
+the Socialist law was lifted, they numbered a little over 250,000; in
+1910 they numbered nearly 2,000,000.
+
+As organizations, the Social Democratic unions possess all the
+perfection of detail and painstaking craftsmanship for which the
+Germans are justly celebrated.[2] Not the minutest detail is omitted;
+everything is done to contribute to the solidarity of the working
+classes. The theory of the German labor movement is, that physical
+environment is the first desideratum. A well-housed, well-groomed,
+well-fed workman is a better fighter than a hungry, ragged man; and it
+is for fighting that the unions exist. The bed-rock of the German
+workingman's theory is the maxim: "First, be a good craftsman, and all
+other things will be added unto you."
+
+These unions strive to do everything within their power to make,
+first, a good workman; second, a comfortable workman. This naturally,
+without artificial stimulants, brings the solidarity, the class
+patriotism, which is the source of the zeal and energy of these great
+fighting machines. In all of the larger towns they own clubhouses
+(Gewerkschaftshaeuser), which are the centers of incessant activity.
+They contain assembly halls, restaurants, committee rooms, and
+lodgings for journeymen and apprentices (Wander-bursche) seeking work.
+There are night classes, public lectures, educational excursions, and
+circulating libraries. In Berlin the workingmen have organized a
+theater.[3]
+
+The workingman has a genuine sympathy for his union. It enlists his
+loyalty as much as his country enlists his patriotism. He finds social
+and intellectual intercourse, sympathy and responsiveness in his
+union. He saves from his frugal wages to support the union and to
+swell the funds in its war-chest. He is never allowed to forget that
+he is first a workingman, and owes his primary duties to his family
+and his union.[4]
+
+This vast and perfect organization of labor has a complete
+understanding with the Social Democratic party, but it is not an
+integral part of the party. When the unions began to revive, after the
+repeal of the anti-Socialist law, there was a short and severe
+struggle between the party and the unions for control. The victory of
+the unions for complete autonomy was decisive. Since then good feeling
+and harmony have prevailed. The governing committees of the two bodies
+meet for consultation, the powerful press of the party fights the
+union's battles, and often party headquarters are in the union's
+clubhouse. They are virtually two independent branches of the same
+movement.
+
+In the national triennial convention of the Social Democratic unions
+at Hamburg, 1908, a speaker said: "We can say with truth that to-day
+there are no differences of a fundamental nature between the two great
+branches [the Social Democratic unions and the Social Democratic
+Party] of the labor movement."[5]
+
+Bebel has said of the relation between the unions and the party:
+"Every workingman should belong to the union, and should be a party
+man; not merely as a laboring man, but as a class-conscious
+(Classenbewustsein) laboring man; as a member of a governmental and a
+social organization which treats and maltreats him as a laboring
+man."[6] This is the class spirit of Socialism, carried into practical
+effect.
+
+In Germany, then, the vast bulk of organized labor is co-operating
+voluntarily with the Social Democratic Party.
+
+
+II
+
+And what is the present organization of the Social Democratic Party?
+It is the most perfect party machine in the world. It is organized
+with the most scrupulous regard for details and oiled with the
+exuberance of a class spirit that is emerging from its narrowness and
+is finding room for its expanding powers in the practical affairs of
+national and municipal life. The only approach to it is the faultless,
+silently moving, highly polished mechanism devised by the English
+gentry to control the political destinies of the British Empire. Our
+American parties are crude compared with the noiseless efficacy of
+the English machine, or the remorseless yet enthusiastic and entirely
+effective operation of the German Social Democracy.
+
+Every detail of the workingman's life is embraced in this remarkable
+political organization. Every village and commune has its party
+vigilance committee. A juvenile department brings up the youth in the
+principles of the Social Democracy. The party press includes
+seventy-six daily papers, some of them brilliantly edited, a humorous
+weekly, and several monthly magazines. This press co-operates with the
+trade journals. Some of these--notably the masons' journal and the
+ironworkers' journal--have a vast circulation, numbering many hundred
+thousand subscribers.
+
+The party propaganda is stupendous. In 1910 over 14,000 meetings were
+held, and over 33,000,000 circulars and 2,800,000 brochures were
+distributed. Every workingman, every voter, was personally solicited
+during the campaign just closed (January, 1912). Committees and
+sub-committees were everywhere in this national beehive of workers.
+Women and children were enlisted in the work.
+
+The national party is controlled by an executive committee, elected by
+the national convention, who govern its many activities with the
+gravity of a college faculty, the astuteness of a lawyer, and the
+frugality of a tradesman. They issue annual reports, as full of
+statistics and involved analyses as a government report. And they have
+no patience for party stars who are ambitious to move in the orbit of
+their own individual greatness.
+
+Because the keynote of the party is solidarity, which is a synonym for
+discipline, "We have no factions, we are one. Personally any Social
+Democrat may believe as he pleases and do as he pleases. But when it
+comes to political activity, we insist that he act with the party."
+These are the words in which one of the younger leaders of the party
+explained their unity to me.
+
+In 1890, when the Bavarian rebels were under discussion in the
+national congress, Bebel told the delegates that "a fighting party
+such as our Social Democracy can only achieve its aims when every
+member observes the strictest discipline."[7]
+
+Evidences of party discipline are not lacking. The Prussian
+temperament is rough, dogmatic, implacable; the South German is
+mellow, yielding, kind. The two temperaments often clash. The one
+loves individual action; the other, military unity. The southern
+Socialist votes for his local budgets in town council and diet, and he
+receives the chastisement of the northern disciplinarian with mellow
+good-nature. But solidarity there is, whatever the price; and a
+class-consciousness, a brotherhood: they call each other
+"Comrades."[8]
+
+The membership of the party includes all those who pay party dues and
+will oblige themselves to party fealty, to do any drudgery demanded of
+them.[9] In six parliamentary districts the membership equals thirty
+per cent. of the Social Democratic vote cast; in twenty-four other
+districts there is a membership of over 10,000 per district.[10] It is
+difficult to say what proportion of the members of the union are
+members of the party. The vast bulk of the party members are laboring
+men, and no doubt the majority of them are members of the union.
+
+In the last imperial elections (January, 1912) this party cast
+4,250,000 votes, almost one-fourth of the entire federal electorate,
+and elected 110 members to the Reichstag, over one-fourth of the
+entire membership.[11] In nineteen state legislatures the Social
+Democrats have 186 members, in 396 city councils 1,813 members, and in
+2,009 communal councils 5,720 members.[12]
+
+The supreme authority of the party is the annual national convention,
+called "congress." Here detailed reports are made by the various
+committees; and the parliamentary delegation make an elaborate
+statement, detailing every official act of the group in the Reichstag.
+Everything is discussed by everybody; the speeches made by the members
+in the Reichstag, the opinions of the party editors in their daily
+editorials, the party finances, everything is freely criticised. The
+most insignificant member has the same privilege of criticism as the
+party czars; and the criticism often becomes naively personal. No
+doubt the party patriotism is largely fed by this frank, fearless,
+aboveboard airing of grievances, this freedom from "boss rule." Every
+one has his opportunity, and this robs the plotter and backbiter of
+his venom.
+
+Having listened to the faultfinder, they vote; and having voted, they
+rarely relent. When a decision is reached, the members are expected to
+abide by it faithfully and cheerfully. They make short work of
+traitors.[13]
+
+Every year a detailed report on the imperial budget is read, showing
+how the money is spent on armaments, on police, on courts, and every
+other department of the empire; and how the money is raised. The
+convention resolves itself into a school of public finance. This
+analysis is sent broadcast, as a campaign document. So yearly a report
+is read of the number of arrests made and the fines and penalties
+ensuing, on account of _lese-majeste_ and other laws infringing upon
+the liberty of the press and of speech. Also, every year the central
+committee report, in great detail, every party activity in every
+corner of the empire. A well-knit hegemony of party interest is
+created. The mass is willing to listen to the individual, to bend to
+the needs of the smallest commune.
+
+Throughout their frank discussions and involved debates there runs a
+certain polysyllabic flavor that is characteristically German. They
+often choose, a year in advance, some important national question,
+such as the tariff, mining laws, the agrarian situation, and discuss
+it in great detail, more like an academy of universal knowledge than a
+political party. The learned blend their involved phraseology and
+store of facts with the refreshing frankness and ignorance of the
+unlearned.
+
+
+III
+
+We will now return to the present activities of this party that was
+born in revolution and nurtured by persecution. In order to
+understand this activity, it is necessary to review the present
+attitude of the government toward democracy and Socialism. The repeal
+of the anti-Socialist law could not suddenly alter the spirit of
+opposition. It merely changed the outward aspect of the opposition.
+
+The government indicates in many ways its distrust of Social
+Democrats. No member of the party has ever been invited by the
+government to a place of public honor and responsibility. Indeed, to
+be a Social Democrat effectively closes the door against promotion in
+civil life.[14] This silent hostility is not confined to political
+offices and the civil service; it extends into the professions. Judges
+and public physicians, pastors in the state church, teachers in the
+public schools, professors in the great universities are included in
+the ban. A pastor may be a "Christian Socialist," a professor may
+nourish his "Socialism of the chair," and a judge or a government
+engineer may be inclined toward far-reaching social experiment. But
+with Social Democracy they must have absolutely nothing to do.[15]
+
+The government's attitude is based on the theory that the Social
+Democrats are enemies of the monarchy, and are designing to overthrow
+it and declare a republic the moment they get into power. The Kaiser,
+on several public occasions, has expressed his distrust and
+disapproval for this vast multitude of his subjects. A number of
+years ago he is reported to have said that "the Social Democrats are a
+band of persons who are unworthy of their fatherland" ("Eine Bande von
+Menschen die ihres Vaterlands nicht wuerdig sind"). And more recently:
+"The Social Democrats are a crowd of upstarts without a fatherland"
+("Vaterlandslose Gesellen"). The Kaiser joined in the public rejoicing
+over the check that had apparently been administered to the growth of
+the Social Democracy by the elections of 1907, and in a speech
+delivered to a throng of citizens gathered for jubilation in the
+palace yard in Berlin, he said that the "Socialists have been ridden
+down" ("niedergeritten"), a military figure of speech.
+
+Retaliation is not unnatural. The pictures of the Hohenzollerns and
+the high functionaries of state and army do not adorn the walls of the
+homes of the Social Democrats. There are seen the portraits of Marx
+and Lassalle, Liebknecht and Bebel. The members of the party never
+join in a public display of confidence in the government. They
+exercise a petty tyranny over their neighbors. Instances are told of
+shopkeepers who were compelled to yield to the boycott instituted
+against them because they voted against the Social Democrats, and of
+workmen coerced into joining the union.
+
+This feeling of bitterness is most clearly marked in Prussia. In
+southern Germany a feeling of good will and co-operation is becoming
+more marked every year. The King of Bavaria is not afraid to shake
+hands with Von Vollmar. Some years ago a Bavarian railway employee was
+elected to the Diet on the Social Democratic ticket, and his employer,
+the state, gave him leave of absence to attend to his legislative
+duties. In Baden the leader of the Social Democratic Party called at
+the palace to present the felicitations of his comrades to the royal
+family on the occasion of the birth of an heir.
+
+The principal immediate issue of the Social Democrats in Germany is
+electoral reform. None of the states or provinces are on a genuinely
+democratic electoral basis. In Saxony a new electoral law was passed
+in 1909 which typifies the spirit of the entire country.[16] The
+electorate is divided into four classes according to their income. The
+result of the first election under this law in the city of Leipsic was
+as follows: There were 172,800 votes cast by 79,928 voters.
+
+  32,576 voters in the   one-vote class cast 32,576 votes
+  20,323   "    "   "    two-  "    "    "   40,646   "
+   8,538   "    "   "  three-  "    "    "   25,614   "
+  18,491   "    "   "   four-  "    "    "   73,964   "
+
+There are ninety-one members in the Saxon Diet. The law provided that
+only forty-three of these should be elected from the cities. The three
+leading cities of Saxony, Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipsic, are strongholds
+of Social Democracy, while the country districts are Conservative. The
+Social Democrats feel that the property qualifications and the
+distribution of the districts impose an unfair handicap against them.
+In spite of these obstacles they elected so many deputies that they
+were offered the vice-presidency of the Chamber of Deputies. The
+offer, however, was conditioned upon their attending the annual
+reception given by the King to the representatives. They had hitherto
+refused to attend these royal functions and were not willing to
+surrender for the sake of office.[17]
+
+The ancient free cities--Hamburg, Bremen, Luebeck--have election laws
+as ancient and antiquated as their charters. In Luebeck a large
+majority of the legislative body is elected by electors having an
+income of over 2,000 marks a year. In Hamburg the nobles, higher
+officials, etc., elect 40 representatives, the householders elect 40,
+the large landholders elect 8, those citizens having an income of over
+2,500 marks a year elect 48, those who have an income from 1,200 to
+2,500 marks a year elect 24, those who have an income of less than
+1,200 marks have no vote. In Bremen the various groups or kinds of
+property are represented in the law-making body. Property, not the
+person, is represented.
+
+Prussia is the special grievance of the Social Democrats. Here the
+three-class system of voting prevails. The taxpayers are divided into
+three classes, according to the amount of taxes paid, each class
+paying one-third of the taxes. Each class chooses one-third of the
+electors who name the members of the Prussian Diet. By this
+arrangement the large property class virtually controls the
+elections.[18] By this system the Social Democratic representation is
+held down to 6 in a membership of 420. In 1909 the party polled
+23-9/10 per cent. of the entire Prussian vote. Here again the
+districts are so arranged that the majority of the members are elected
+from the Conservative rural districts, while the cities, which are
+strongholds of Social Democracy, must content themselves with a
+minority, although nearly 60 per cent. of the population of Prussia is
+urban. These examples are sufficient to indicate the general nature of
+franchise legislation in Germany.[19] For the past several years
+universal suffrage demonstrations have been held throughout the
+empire. The general strike has not been used as a method of political
+coercion. It is doubtful whether the German temperament is adapted to
+that kind of warfare. Mass-meetings, however, and street
+demonstrations are the favorite means of the propaganda. Sometimes
+there are conflicts with the police, but these are diminishing in
+number every year. The government has not diminished its vigilance,
+and its jealous eyes are never averted from these demonstrations.[20]
+
+An incident occurred in March, 1910, which illustrates the temper of
+the people and the government. A gigantic demonstration was announced,
+to be held in Treptow Park, Berlin. The Police-president forbade the
+meeting and had every street leading to the park carefully guarded.
+One hundred and fifty thousand demonstrants met in the Thiergarten, in
+the very heart of the city, and so secretly had the word been given,
+so quietly was it executed, and so orderly was this vast throng of
+workingman, that the police knew nothing of it until the meeting was
+well under way. Permission for the Treptow meeting was not again
+refused.
+
+The immediate issue, then, of the German Social Democracy is universal
+suffrage. Lassalle's cry is more piercing to-day than when that
+brilliant and erratic agitator uttered it: "Democracy, the universal
+ballot, is the laboring man's hope." The name of the party is
+significant. The accent has shifted from the first to the second part
+of the compound--from the Marxian to the Lassallian word.
+
+The German Social Democrats have never had a Millerand or a Briand or
+a John Burns; their participation in imperial and provincial affairs
+has been strictly limited to parliamentary criticism. Even in local
+government, in the communes and cities, they have been allowed only a
+small share in actual constructive work. But in spite of these facts
+the party has undergone a most remarkable change of creed and tone.
+
+
+IV
+
+We will concern ourselves only with the most significant changes.
+These follow two general lines: (1) the attitude of the party towards
+legislation and practical parliamentary participation; (2) the
+internal changes in the party. We will follow these changes through
+the official reports of the annual party conventions.
+
+First we will briefly see what change has taken place in their
+attitude toward parliamentary activity. The Social Democrats began as
+revolutionists and violent anti-parliamentarians. They entered
+parliament, not to make laws, but to make trouble. In 1890 they
+changed their name from the Socialist Labor Party to the Social
+Democratic Party; and when some of the older members thought that this
+was a compromise with their enemies, one of the leaders replied that
+"a Socialist party must _eo ipse_ be a democratic party."[21] In 1890
+Liebknecht said: "Formerly we had an entirely different tactic.
+Tactics and principles are two different things. In 1869 in a speech
+in Berlin I condemned parliamentary activity. That was then. Political
+conditions were entirely different."[22] Gradually tactics and
+principles have coalesced until their line of cleavage is obscured.
+
+The earlier reports of the parliamentary delegation are tinged with
+apology--they are in parliament as protestors, as propagandists, not
+as legislators. They seem to say: "Fellow-partisans, excuse us for
+being in the Reichstag. We don't believe in the bourgeois law-making
+devices. But since we are here, we purpose to do what we can for the
+cause. We will not betray you, nor the glorious Socialistic state of
+society that we are all working for."
+
+From the first, Social Democrats have voted against the imperial
+budget, have opposed all tariffs, indirect taxes, extension of the
+police power, increase in naval and military expenditure, and colonial
+exploitation. They took no part at first in law-making, held
+themselves disdainfully aloof from practical parliamentary efforts,
+and especially avoided every appearance of coalition with other
+parties.
+
+But gradually a change came over them. In 1895 they nominated one of
+their number for secretary of the Reichstag.[23]
+
+Gingerly they dipped their fingers into the pottage of reality. Soon
+they began to introduce bills. In 1901 they proposed a measure that
+increased the allowance of the private soldier. Their bill became a
+law. In the next national convention, when they were called to task
+for their worldliness, they excused themselves by saying that ninety
+per cent. of the private soldiers were proletarians and their parents
+were too poor to supply them with the money necessary for army
+sundries, and the allowance of the state had been inadequate. This was
+therefore a law that actually benefited the poor.
+
+In 1906 and 1908 they were compelled to face the practical question of
+an inheritance tax. The delegation supported the measure, after
+prolonged deliberation over what action to take. This action
+precipitated a heated discussion in the party congress; the veterans
+feared the party was surrendering its principles. They were assured by
+Bebel that the vote was orthodox.[24]
+
+In 1906 the party instructed its delegation to introduce bills for
+redistricting the empire for Reichstag elections; to reduce the
+legislative period from five to three years; to revise the laws
+relating to sailors and provide for better inspection of ships and
+shipping. These instructions mark a revolution in German Social
+Democracy, a change that can best be illustrated by the shift in its
+attitude on state insurance. In 1892 the party resolved: "So-called
+state Socialism, in so far as it concerns itself with bettering the
+conditions of the working people, is a system of half-reforms whose
+origin is in the fear of Social Democracy. It aims, through all kinds
+of palliatives and little concessions, to estrange the working people
+from Social Democracy and to cripple the party.
+
+"The Social Democracy have never disdained to ask for such
+governmental regulations, or, if proposed by the opposition, to
+approve of those measures which could better the conditions of labor
+under the present industrial system. But Social Democrats view such
+regulations as only little payments on account, which in nowise
+confuse the Social Democracy in its striving for a new organization of
+society."[25]
+
+They are now not above collecting even small sums on account. In 1910
+their convention declares that state insurance is "the object of
+constant agitation. For what we have thus far secured by no means
+approaches what the laborer demands."[26]
+
+The committee on parliamentary action reported, a few years ago, that
+"no opportunity was lost for entering the lists in behalf of political
+and cultural progress. In the discussion of all bills and other
+business matters, the members of the delegation took an active part in
+committee as well as in _plenum_."[27] There is no longer half-abashed
+juvenile reluctance at legislative participation. The reports boast of
+the work done by the party in behalf of the workingman, the peasant,
+small tradesman, small farmer, and humbler government employees.
+Eleven bills were introduced by the delegation in 1909-10, relating to
+factory and mine inspection, amending the state insurance laws, the
+tariff laws, the redistricting of the empire for Reichstag
+elections--i.e., all pertaining to labor, politics, and finance.
+Twenty resolutions were moved by the delegation, and many
+interpellations called.
+
+Interpellation, however, is not very satisfactory in a government
+where the ministry is not responsible to parliament. In 1909 the
+Social Democrats introduced a bill to make the Chancellor and his
+cabinet responsible to the Reichstag. Ledebour, who made the leading
+speech for the Social Democrats, gave a clear exposition of his
+party's contention. He wanted a government "wherein the people, in the
+final analysis, decided the fate of the government. For, in such a
+government, only those men come into power who represent a program,
+represent conviction and character; not any one who has succeeded, for
+the moment, in pleasing the fancy and becoming the favorite of the
+determining kamarilla." If the election should turn on this issue,
+"whether there shall be a perpetuation of the sham-constitutional,
+junker bureaucracy, or the establishing of a democratic parliamentary
+authority," the parliamentary party would win. "The will of the people
+should be the highest law."[28]
+
+In January, 1912, this party of isolation entered the Reichstag as the
+strongest group: 110 members acknowledge the leadership of Bebel. By
+co-operating with the Radicals and National Liberals, the progressive
+elements had a majority over the Conservative and Clerical
+reactionaries for the first time in the history of the empire. Here
+Bebel consented to become a candidate for president of the Chamber. He
+received 175 votes; the candidate of the Conservatives, Dr. Spahn,
+leader of the Clerical Center, received 196. Enough National Liberals
+had wavered to throw the balance in favor of Conservatism. A Socialist
+was elected first vice-president, and a National Liberal second
+vice-president. The President-elect refused to act with a Socialist
+vice-president and resigned. The Radical member from Berlin, Herr
+Kaempf, was then elected President.[29] Thereupon the National Liberal
+second vice-president also resigned, and a Radical was chosen in his
+stead. The Social Democrats and the Radicals were made responsible for
+the leadership of the new Reichstag.
+
+It is customary for the President and the vice-president of the
+Chamber to announce to the Kaiser when the Reichstag is organized and
+ready for business. The Kaiser let it be known that he did not care to
+receive the Radical officers. The Socialist first vice-president
+refused to join in the proposed official visit. The Prussian temper is
+slow to change.
+
+These illustrations clearly indicate the trend of Social Democratic
+legislative and political policy. It is the universal story--ambition
+brings power, power brings responsibility, responsibility sobers the
+senses.
+
+
+V
+
+The second development that we are to trace relates to the program, or
+platform, of the party. The official program has not undergone any
+change, but the interpretation, the spirit, has mellowed. The Erfurter
+program of 1891 is still their party pledge. The program is in two
+parts; the first an elaborate exposition of Marxian economics, the
+second a series of practical demands differing only slightly from the
+Gotha program.
+
+Only one speech was made in the national convention on the adoption of
+this bifurcated platform, that attempted to link Marxian theory to
+Lassallian realism. This speech was made by Liebknecht, friend of
+Marx, who elaborately explained his friend's theory of value, doctrine
+of class war and social evolution. The program was adopted _en bloc_.
+The chairman ignored a few protesting "noes" when the vote was called,
+and declared it unanimously adopted. These few voices of protest soon
+swelled to considerable volume. Within one year after the repeal of
+the Socialist law the party had entered upon the difficult task of
+being both critic and parliamentarian, constructive and destructive,
+under rigid military discipline.
+
+To the few protesters at Erfurt, it seemed as though the party had
+entered the lifeboat, manned the oars, and neglected to untie the
+painter.
+
+When the elections of 1897 recorded a severe setback for the party the
+progressives were told to keep the eyes of faith on the "ultimate
+goal" of Socialism. One of the reformistes replied: "The whole idea of
+an ultimate goal is distasteful to me. There is no ultimate goal; for
+beyond your ultimate goal is another world of striving."[30] And
+another critic said: "Nothing wears threadbare so rapidly by constant
+use as words of faith. Constantly spoken or heard, they become
+stereotyped into phrases, and the inspired prophet creates the same
+offensive impression as a priest who has nothing else to offer but
+words." The interest of the workingman "finds its expression in the
+practicalness of the second part of the Erfurter program, and the
+wholly practical work of the party."[31] It was at this time that
+Edward Bernstein, friend and literary heir of Engel, published a
+series of critical papers in the party journal, _Die Neue Zeit_,
+attacking especially the catastrophic and revolutionary postulates and
+saying "the movement is everything, the goal is nothing." Kautsky, the
+dogmatist of the party, replied to these articles and a feverish
+discussion followed in all the party press.[32]
+
+In the party conventions of 1898 and 1899 this controversy was waged
+with considerable energy. Von Vollmar made merry over Kautsky's
+"inquisition" and called the debate "a noisy cackling over nothing."
+The mass of the party, he said, did not trouble their heads about
+theories, but plodded along unmindful of hairsplitting.[33] Bebel made
+a herculean effort to reconcile both elements. To the revisionists he
+said, "We are in a constant state of intellectual moulting,"[34] to
+the orthodox he said, "We remain what we have always been."[35]
+
+It was at Dresden, 1903, that the revisionist tempest reached its
+height in the party teapot. The Germans' love for polysyllabic
+phrase-making, for which Jaures taunted them at the Amsterdam
+congress, was here given full play. Von Vollmar repeated that nobody
+except a few dull theorists read Kautsky's or Bernstein's views; the
+mass of voters cared for practical results, and "revisionists and
+anti-revisionists are nothing but a bugbear."[36]
+
+Here the matter rested until the elections of 1907 opened the eyes of
+the party high priests. They gained only 248,249 votes and lost
+one-half of their seats in the Reichstag. A number of the leading
+Socialists promptly began to attack the dogmas of the party program as
+illusions and pitfalls. The class war, the revolutionary method, the
+theory of an ever-increasing proletariat and decreasing bourgeoisie
+were attacked as unscientific, and illusory. "The Erfurt program
+recites a vagary, it repels the intellect, it must be changed;" that
+was the opinion of the advanced thinkers of the party.
+
+No party congresses, no priestly pronunciamentos have been able to
+check the spread of revolt. As long as Kautsky and Bebel live the
+program will probably not be re-phrased. But even Kautsky is mellowing
+under the ripeness of years and circumstances; and Bebel, shrewd
+politician, knows the campaigning value of appearing at the same time
+orthodox and progressive.[37]
+
+To-day one hears very little of Marx and a great deal of legislation.
+The last election, with its brilliant victory for Social Democracy,
+was not won on the general issues of the Erfurter program but on the
+particular issue of the arrogance of the bureaucracy, and ballot
+reform. A large mass of voters cast their ballots for Social
+Democratic candidates as a protest against existing governmental
+conditions, not as an affirmation of their assent to the Marxian
+dogmas. The truth is, Marx is a tradition, democracy is an issue.[38]
+
+Another indication of the notable changes that have come over Social
+Democracy is seen in the Socialists' relation to other parties. Here
+their dogmatic aloofness is the most tenacious. During the years of
+their bitter persecution by the government they found their excuse in
+an isolation that was forced upon them. Von Vollmar told his
+colleagues, immediately after the repeal of the anti-Socialist law,
+that the South Germans were ready to co-operate with every one who
+would be willing to give them an inch. In reply to this Bebel
+introduced a resolution affirming that "the primary necessity of
+attaining political power" could not be "the work of a moment," but
+was attained only by gradual growth. During the period of growth the
+Social Democrats should not work for mere "concessions from the ruling
+classes," but "have only the ultimate and complete aim of the party in
+mind." The Bebelian theory linked the ultimate goal with ultimate
+power, both to be attained by waiting until the flood tide.
+
+This question became practical when the Social Democratic members of
+the provincial legislatures voted with other parties for the state
+budget. The national party claimed authority over the local party, a
+claim which was resented by the Bavarians and other South German
+delegations.[39]
+
+In 1894 the South Germans were chastised by a vote of 164 to 64 for
+voting for their state budget. They were rebuked again in 1901 and in
+1908. In the latter year Bebel told them "three times is enough,"
+indicating that there would be a split in the party if they insisted
+on voting for their local budgets. The South Germans defended their
+action by saying that they had always agitated for more pay for state
+employees, and that they were willing to vote the funds that would
+make this possible. A new champion appeared for the reformistes--Dr.
+Frank of Mannheim, a brilliant speaker who is called by his following
+a "second Lassalle." He made a withering attack on the Marxian school,
+but Bebel's censure was carried by 256 to 119.
+
+Finally at Magdeburg, 1910, the budget question reached its climax.
+Bebel boasted that his policy of negation had wrought great changes in
+Germany. "I say it without boasting, in the whole world there is no
+Social Democracy that has accomplished as much positive good as the
+German Social Democracy."[40] He claimed the insurance laws, factory
+laws, and the repeal of special and oppressive legislation as the
+fruits of his policy. Bebel then warned the Badensians that this is
+the last time they will be forgiven; one other offense, and they will
+be put out of the party.
+
+Dr. Frank made an elaborate reply. He said that there was a working
+agreement between the Social Democrats and Liberals whereby they
+co-operated against the Conservatives. In the state legislature they
+had a "bloc" with the Liberals and had elected a vice-president and
+secretary and important chairmanships by means of this coalition. They
+had, moreover, reformed the public school system, secured factory
+legislation, and had secured direct elections in all towns of 4,000
+or over. The reformistes' principles are so clearly stated in this
+speech that I quote several paragraphs:
+
+"I tell you, comrades, if you think that under all the circumstances
+you can win only small concessions; with such a message of
+hopelessness you will not conquer the world, not even the smallest
+election district. [_Great commotion and disturbance._] But what would
+be the meaning of this admission that small concessions can be
+secured? In tearing down a building dramatic effects are possible. But
+the erection of a building is accomplished only by an accumulation of
+small concessions. Behold the labor unions, that are so often spoken
+of, how they struggle for months, how they suffer hunger for months,
+in order to win a concession of a few pennies. Often one can see that
+a small concession contains enormous future possibilities, and in
+twenty or thirty years will become a vital force in the shaping of the
+society that is to come."
+
+"Nor will I examine the question whether in parliamentary activity
+only small concessions can be won. Is it not possible, through
+parliamentary action, to take high tariffs and business speculations
+from the necks of the workingmen? Is it not possible to modify police
+administration, and the legislative conditions that profane Prussia
+to-day? Are these conditions necessary concomitants of the modern
+class-state (Klassenstaat)? Is it not possible to create out of
+Prussia and Germany a modern state, where our workingmen, even as
+their brethren in Western Europe, can fight their great battles upon
+the field of democratic equality and citizenship? If you wish to view
+all that as 'small concessions' you are at liberty to do so. I view it
+as a tremendous revolution, if it succeeds, to secure, through such a
+struggle, liberty for the Prussian working class."[41]
+
+The censure was carried, the Baden delegation left the hall during the
+voting. On the following day it returned to declare its loyalty to the
+party, but with the proviso that they would by no means promise how
+they would vote on their state budget in the future.
+
+Events are shaping themselves rapidly in Germany. Ministerial
+responsibility cannot much longer be denied. The elections of 1912
+should serve as a plain portent to the reactionaries. That Bebel is
+willing to be a candidate for President of the Reichstag is a
+significant concession; that the Radicals and many National Liberals
+are willing to vote for him, would have been deemed impossible ten
+years ago.
+
+Such conditions as prevail between the government and the Radicals and
+Social Democrats cannot long continue. The break with the past must
+come, sooner or later. The pressure of Radical and Democratic votes
+will become so powerful, that not even the strong traditions of the
+empire can wholly withstand it.
+
+In May, 1911, I visited the Reichstag on an eventful occasion. The
+Social Democrats had voted with the government for a new Constitution
+for Alsace-Lorraine containing universal manhood suffrage. Herr Bebel
+was jubilant. He said: "It marks a new epoch. We have voted with the
+government. Not that we have capitulated. But the government have come
+to our convictions, they have granted universal suffrage to Alsace,
+now they cannot long deny that right to Prussia and the other
+states."[42]
+
+We have now seen that politically a great change has come over the
+German Socialists; that they are participating in legislation, and are
+especially solicitous about all acts that pertain to labor and
+political liberty; that they are gradually moving toward co-operation
+with other parties; that they are gradually sloughing off the
+inflexible Marxian armor, and are assuming the pliable dress of
+modernism.
+
+All this is to be expected of a party that began as a vigorous,
+narrow, autocratic party of revolution and protest, and is emerging
+from its hard experiences, a self-styled "cultural party" ("Kultur
+Partei"). Dr. Suedekum, editor of Communal Praxis, in his report of the
+parliamentary group, in 1907, wrote: "We have in the Reichstag two
+kinds of duties; first, the propaganda of our ideas and program;
+second, practical work, i.e., to enhance, not alone the interests of
+the working class, but the entire complex, so-called cultural
+interests. The problems that the Social Democratic party as a
+'cultural party' has to solve, which are assigned to it as the
+representative of cultural progress in every realm of human activity,
+must increase in the same proportion that the bourgeois parties allow
+themselves to be captured by the government and neglect these
+problems."[43]
+
+It is a far cry from "class war" to "human cultural activities." Such
+an expansion of purpose requires a greatly enlarged electorate. The
+majority of the workingmen are already in the party, where will the
+increase come from?
+
+There are two directions in which the party can hope to gain new
+recruits--the small farmer and the small tradesman. The small farmer
+is peculiarly hard to reach. He is well guarded--the Church on the one
+side, the landlord and _junker_ on the other. To step in and steal his
+heart is a very difficult task. The work is pushed steadily, with
+tenacity, but results are slow in coming.
+
+Among the tradespeople and business men, there is more rapid progress,
+especially in southern Germany. In Munich a great many tradespeople
+vote for Von Vollmar.[44]
+
+Primarily it will always be a workingman's party. Its soul is the
+labor movement. Its political aim is democracy, and its hope is the
+power of sheer preponderance of numbers. What it will do when it has
+that power is a speculation that does not lure the prosaic Teutonic
+mind. "We will find plenty to do," one of them said, "when we have the
+government. We have plenty to do now, that we haven't the government."
+This is wisdom learned of France.
+
+This means that the party have given up their "splendid
+isolation"--what Von Vollmar called their "policy of sterility and
+despair"[45]--a policy which they acknowledged by words long after
+they had abandoned it in fact. They abandoned it the moment they
+championed labor legislation, and sought the sanitation of cities and
+the opening of parks, in their municipal councils.
+
+The pressure of things as they are has been too powerful for even the
+German Social Democracy, with its dogmatic temper and strength of
+millions. Revolution has, even here, been replaced by a slow and
+orderly development.
+
+The rapidity with which the medieval empire will be democratized will
+depend upon the formation of a genuine liberal party that will enlist
+those citizens who are inclined toward modernism but cannot be enticed
+into the Social Democratic or Radical parties. When such a party is
+formed, and an alliance made with the Social Democrats, then the
+transformations will be rapid.[46] Among the most significant
+accessions to the Social Democracy are many professional men: lawyers,
+physicians, engineers, etc. This augurs a change in party spirit and
+method. Dr. Frank of Mannheim told me that he considered the extent to
+which the party could lure the intellectual element the measure of the
+party greatness and power.
+
+
+VI
+
+A word should be added upon the attitude of the Social Democrats
+toward militarism. The standing army and the increasing navy of
+Germany are a heavy tax upon the people. The Germans for centuries
+have been military in ambition, soldiers by instinct.
+
+The Social Democrats, in common with all Socialists, are opposed to
+war. But the German is a patriot. In the International Congress at
+Stuttgart, the French and Russian delegations imposed an extreme
+anti-military resolution upon the Socialists, against the protest of
+the Germans. Bebel called their anti-patriotic utterances "silly
+word-juggling."[47]
+
+The Berlin congress, 1892, adopted the following resolution, in view
+of the added military burdens proposed by the Reichstag: "The
+prevailing military system, not being able to guarantee the country
+against foreign invasion, is a continual threat to international peace
+and serves the capitalistic class-government, whose aim is the
+industrial exploitation and suppression of the working classes, as an
+instrument of oppression against the masses.
+
+"The party convention therefore demands, in consonance with the
+program of the Social Democratic platform, the establishment of a
+system of defense based upon a general militia, trained and armed. The
+congress declares that the Social Democratic members of the Reichstag
+are in complete accord with the party and with the politically
+organized working classes of Germany, when they vote against every
+measure of the government aimed at perpetuating the present military
+system."[48]
+
+During a debate in the Reichstag in 1907, Bebel declared, in the
+defense of the Fatherland, _if it were invaded_, even he in his old
+age would "shoulder a musket." He demanded military drill for youths
+as a preliminary to the shortening of military service in the standing
+army; if this were not done the defense of the country would be
+weakened whenever the service shall be reduced to one year.
+
+The Chancellor had on this occasion introduced a bill making all
+military service uniformly two years, and abolishing the privileges
+that had been granted to a few favored classes.
+
+For this action they were severely criticised in the next party
+convention. Bebel replied: "I said, _if the Fatherland really must be
+defended_, then we will defend it. Because it is our Fatherland. It is
+the land in which we live, whose language we speak, whose culture we
+possess. Because we wish to make this, our Fatherland, more beautiful
+and more complete than any other land on earth. We defend it,
+therefore, not for you but against you."[49] This patriotic
+declamation was received with "tremendous applause."
+
+Von Vollmar, himself a soldier of distinction, said, in the Bavarian
+Diet, a few years ago:
+
+"If the necessity should arise for the protection of the realm against
+foreign invasion, then it will become evident that the Social
+Democrats love their Fatherland no less than do their neighbors; that
+they will as gladly and heroically offer themselves to its defense. On
+the other hand, if the foolish notion should ever arise to use the
+army for the support of a warring class prerogative, for the defense
+of indefeasible demands, and for the crushing of those just ambitions
+which are the product of our times, and a necessary concomitant of our
+economic and political development,--then we are of the firm
+conviction that the day will come when the army will remember that it
+sprang from the people, and that its own interests are those of the
+masses."
+
+This makes their position very clear.
+
+
+VII
+
+The party that for years held itself in disdainful aloofness, was so
+defiant of co-operation, in the national parliament, is ductile,
+neighborly, and eager to help in the municipal and communal councils.
+It has a communal program of practical details, and no small part of
+the splendid progress in municipal administration in Germany is due to
+the Social Democrats. Everywhere you hear praise from officials and
+from political rivals for the careful work of the Social Democratic
+members of municipal bodies.
+
+Owing to the unfavorable election laws, the Social Democrats do not
+elect a large number of members to local councils. In no important
+city do they preponderate. If universal manhood suffrage were enacted,
+they would control the majority of the local legislative bodies. As it
+is, they are an active minority, and guard jealously the interests of
+the working classes.
+
+Munich may be taken as the type of city in which the Social Democrats
+are active.[50]
+
+In 1907 there were 130,000 qualified electors for the Reichstag
+election in Munich, in 1905 there were only 31,252 qualified electors
+for the municipal elections. This shows the restrictive influence of
+property qualifications for local elections.
+
+In a city council of 60 members, the Social Democrats elected only 9.
+And of 20 elected members of the chamber of magistrates they elected
+only 3.
+
+This minority is an active committee of scrutiny. It carefully and
+minutely scrutinizes all the acts of the municipal authorities,
+especially pertaining to labor, to contracts for public work, and to
+the conditions of city employees. They vote consistently in favor of
+the enlargement of municipal powers; e.g., the extension of parks, of
+street-car lines, the building of larger markets. For a number of
+years the Social Democrats of Munich have urged the utilizing of the
+water power of the Isar, which rushes through the city. And the
+municipality is now utilizing some of this power.
+
+The Social Democrats also favor every facility for the extension of
+the art and culture for which Munich is justly celebrated. They take
+no narrow, provincial views of such questions, and set an example that
+might with profit be followed by parties who claim for themselves the
+prerogative of culture. They are constantly working for better public
+educational facilities, and are especially hostile to the
+encroachments of the Church upon the domain of public education.
+
+They are in favor of increased public expenditures; opposed to all
+indirect taxes, especially those that tend to raise the price of food.
+
+Their special grievance is the property qualification required for
+voting. They say that a law which allows only one-fifteenth of the
+citizens (30,000 out of over 500,000) a right to vote is "shameful,"
+and they are bending every effort to change the law.
+
+What is true in Munich is true in other cities: democratic election
+laws are denied them. But they are active everywhere, and do not
+despise the doing of small details, doing them well and with zest. It
+is obvious that Socialism in Germany cannot be put to a constructive
+test until the election laws are democratized and the higher
+administrative offices are opened to them. That will bring the real
+test of this colossal movement.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We may sum it all up by saying that Social Democracy in Germany is
+first of all a struggle for democracy. The accent is on the second
+part of the compound. It is, secondly, a struggle for the
+self-betterment of the working classes; and it is, thirdly, a protest
+against certain conditions that the present organization of society
+imposes upon mankind.
+
+An American sojourning among the German people must be impressed with
+the painstaking organization of the empire. Every detail of life is
+carefully ordered to avoid waste and to secure efficiency, even at the
+cost of individual initiative. This military empire, of infinite
+discipline, is now undergoing a political metamorphosis. The force
+that is bringing about the change is being generated at the bottom of
+the social strata, not at the top. This signifies that a change is
+sure to come.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] See MEYER, _Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten Standes_, Chap. V;
+also J. SCHMOELE, _Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften in
+Deutschland, seit dem Erlasse des Sozialistischen Gesetzes_, Jena,
+1896, et seq.
+
+[2] The following table compiled from _Statistisches Jahrbuch_ shows
+their growth in recent years:
+
+  Year                 Members
+  1902                 733,206
+  1903                 887,698
+  1904               1,052,108
+  1905               1,344,803
+  1906               1,689,709
+  1907               1,865,506
+  1908               1,831,731
+  1909               1,892,568
+
+In 1909 their income was 50,529,114 marks, their expenditure
+46,264,031 marks. See Appendix, p. 295, for membership of all the
+unions.
+
+[3] When I visited the Berlin _Gewerkschaftshaus_, a model three-room
+dwelling--living room, kitchen, and bedroom--had been furnished and
+decorated in simple, durable, and artistic fashion. This exhibit was
+thronged with workingmen, their wives and daughters.
+
+Some years ago it was discovered that the youth of the working people
+were reading cheap and unworthy literature. The Central Committee of
+the Unions now issues cheap editions of the choicest literature for
+children and young people.
+
+These two incidents show the vigilance of the unions, in looking after
+all the wants of their people.
+
+[4] The number of strikes in recent years are given as follows: 1902,
+1,106; 1903, 1,444; 1904, 1,990; 1905, 2,657; 1906, 3,626; 1907,
+2,512; 1908, 1,524.--From _Statistisches Jahrbuch fuer das Deutsche
+Reich_.
+
+[5] _Protokoll: Sozial-Demokratische Partei-Tag_, 1908, p. 14.
+
+[6] See Bebel, _Gewerksbewegung und Politische Parteien_: Preface.
+
+[7] See _Protokoll des Partei-Tages_, 1890, pp. 156-7.
+
+[8] "_Genossen_": the word really means "brethren."
+
+[9] Party membership has grown as follows: 1906, 384,527; 1907,
+530,466; 1908, 587,336; 1909, 633,309; 1910, 720,038; 1911, 836,562.
+
+[10] _Bericht des Partei-Vorstandes_, 1909-10.
+
+[11] See Appendix, p. 296, for complete election returns.
+
+[12] _Bericht des Partei-Vorstandes_, 1909-10.
+
+[13] In 1891-2 the "Berliner Opposition" threatened a revolt. They
+were given every opportunity of explaining their grievances, were told
+what to do, and, disobeying, were promptly shown the door.
+
+[14] "It has been truthfully said that in Germany a Social Democrat
+cannot even become a night-watchman."--PROF. BERNHARD HARMS
+(University of Kiel), _Ferdinand Lassalle und Seine Bedeutung fuer die
+Sozial-Demokratie_, 1909, p. 103.
+
+[15] "Do you enjoy freedom from political interference?" I asked a
+high official in the civil service. "Absolutely. We think as we
+please, talk as we please, and do as we please. But we must let the
+Social Democrats alone."
+
+[16] See Appendix, p. 293, for synopsis of this law.
+
+[17] The vote for the Saxon legislature at this time was as follows:
+
+       Party                     Voters      Votes
+  Social Democrats               341,396     492,522
+  Conservatives                  103,517     281,804
+  National Liberal               125,157     236,541
+  Independents (Freisinnige)      41,857     100,804
+  Anti-Semites                    20,248      55,502
+
+The Social Democrats included over one-half of the voters, cast about
+one-third of the votes, and elected only one-fourth of the members.
+
+[18] Some curious instances of inequality appear in the cities. In
+Berlin in one precinct one man paid one-third of the taxes and
+consequently possessed one-third of the legislative influence in that
+precinct. In another precinct the president of a large bank paid
+one-third of the taxes, and two of his associates paid another third.
+These three men named the member of the Diet from that precinct.
+
+[19] For the struggle for ballot reform in Bavaria, see _Der Kampf um
+die Wahlreform in Bayern_, issued in 1905 by the Bavarian Social
+Democratic Party Executive Committee.
+
+[20] February 13, 1910, was set aside as a day for suffrage
+demonstration throughout the empire. In Berlin alone forty-two
+meetings were announced. These provoked the following edict: "Notice!
+The 'right to the streets' is hereby proclaimed. The streets serve
+primarily for traffic. Resistance to state authority will be met by
+the force of arms. I warn the curious. Berlin, February 13, 1910.
+Police-president, VON IAGOW." The Social Democratic papers called
+attention to the fact that these notices were printed on the same
+forms that the Police-president often used to announce that the
+streets would be closed to all traffic on account of military parades.
+
+[21] _Protokoll_, 1890, pp. 119-120.
+
+[22] _Protokoll_, 1890, pp. 96-7.
+
+[23] There are eight secretaries elected. They are distributed, by
+custom, among the parties, according to their voting strength. The
+Social Democrats had always refrained from taking part in any of the
+elections; now they enter the lists, abstaining from voting for any
+candidate except their own--who, in turn, received no other votes.
+
+[24] Bebel was not present in the Reichstag at the time this vote was
+taken, but he told the convention that, had he been present, he should
+have supported the Tax Bill. _Protokoll_, 1908, p. 364.
+
+[25] _Protokoll_, 1892, p. 173.
+
+[26] _Protokoll_, 1910, p. 469.
+
+[27] _Protokoll_, 1910, p. 95.
+
+[28] Reichstag Debates, December 2, 1908.
+
+[29] In the election of January, 1912, the Social Democrats carried
+every district in Berlin excepting the one in which the Kaiser's
+palace is situated. Here a spirited contest took place. A second
+ballot was made necessary between the Radicals and Social Democrats,
+and the Conservatives, throwing all their forces on to the Radical
+side, succeeded in keeping this last stronghold from their enemies.
+But Herr Kaempf's majority was only 6 votes.
+
+[30] _Protokoll_, 1898, p. 89.
+
+[31] _Supra cit._, p. 90.
+
+[32] This controversy is known as the "revisionist movement." The
+revisionists' position is set forth in Bernstein's book, _Die
+Voraussetzung des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der Sozial-Demokratie_.
+The Marxian position is set forth in Kautsky's reply, _Bernstein und
+die Sozial-Demokratie_. An English edition of Bernstein's book has
+been published in the Labor Party series in London.
+
+[33] _Protokoll_, 1899.
+
+[34] _Supra cit._, p. 94.
+
+[35] _Supra cit._, p. 127.
+
+[36] _Protokoll_, 1903, pp. 321-45.
+
+[37] In the congress of 1907 Bebel tried to dispel the gloom by a long
+and optimistic speech in which he declared that their success was not
+to be measured by the number of seats they won, but by the number of
+voters. He closed by saying, "We are the coming ones, ours is the
+future in spite of all things and everything."--_Protokoll_, 1907, p.
+323.
+
+[38] One of the veteran party leaders answered my question as to the
+present-day influence of Marx as follows: "The bulk of our party have
+never read Marx. It takes a well-trained mind to understand him.
+Conditions have entirely changed since his day, and we are busy with
+questions of which Marx never dreamed and of which he could not
+foretell. He laid the philosophical basis for our party, but our party
+is practical, not philosophical."
+
+[39] In 1900 Bebel proposed the necessity of a working coalition with
+other parties in Prussia to gain electoral reform. He said: "We cannot
+stand alone. We must attempt to go hand in hand with certain elements
+in the bourgeois parties--without, however, endangering our identity."
+But the party was not willing to go as far as the veteran, and a
+resolution was adopted limiting such co-operation strictly to Prussia
+and giving the central committee full power to veto the acts any
+electoral district might take in this direction.
+
+[40] _Protokoll_, 1910, p. 249.
+
+[41] _Protokoll_, 1910, p. 272.
+
+[42] In November, 1911, Berlin's new city hall was dedicated. The
+members of the city council were invited to be present. The Social
+Democrats cast a large majority of all the votes in Berlin. But the
+Social Democrats refused to attend the ceremonies. The program, as
+published, called for a "Hoch!" to the Kaiser, and the Social
+Democrats never joined in public approval of the government.
+_Vorwaerts_, the leading Social Democratic daily, said that Social
+Democrats have nothing to do with such a display of "Byzantinism." "If
+any one thought it necessary to shout 'Hoch!' he could shout 'Hoch!'
+to the working population of Berlin."
+
+[43] _Protokoll_, 1907, pp. 227-8.
+
+[44] Amongst the business people of Mannheim, Munich, and other cities
+in Baden, Bavaria, and Hesse, there are many who support the Social
+Democratic candidates, because, they say, there is no genuinely
+liberal party. It should, however, be borne in mind that the Social
+Democrats of these southern districts are liberal and progressive, not
+the unbending, orthodox variety of Prussia.
+
+[45] VON VOLLMAR, _Ueber die Aufgaben der Deutschen Social-Demokratie_.
+
+[46] The _Hansa Bund_ (Hanseatic League), organized a few years ago,
+may be the nucleus of such a party. It is composed of smaller
+manufacturers and business men opposed to tariffs and the trusts, and
+in favor of a more liberal government.
+
+[47] _Protokoll_, Social Democratic Party, 1907, p. 228.
+
+[48] _Protokoll_, 1892, p. 132.
+
+[49] _Protokoll_, 1907, p. 255.
+
+[50] See _Die Sozial-Demokratie im Muenchener Rathaus_, issued by the
+Bavarian party executive committee, 1908. Also _Die Sozial-Demokratie
+im Bayerischen Landtag, 1888-1905_, 3 vols., issued by the Party Press
+in Munich; and E. AUER, _Arbeiterpolitik im Bayerischen Landtag_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE ENGLISH LABOR PARTY
+
+
+I
+
+We come now to the land of the industrial revolution--that colossal
+upheaval which changed the face of society, as the vast continental
+uplifts of past geological epochs changed the face of the earth. And
+just as the continents were centuries in settling themselves to their
+new conditions, so human society is now slowly adjusting itself to the
+conditions wrought by this violent change. One of the evidences of
+this gradual readjustment is Socialism. For to Socialism machine
+industry is a condition precedent. In this sense England has produced
+modern Socialism.
+
+There is no blacker picture than the England of 1780 to 1840, and no
+drearier contrast than the quaint villages and their household
+industries of the earlier period and the "spreading of the hideous
+town," after Arkwright and Hargreaves and Watt. These inhuman
+conditions are faithfully and dispassionately revealed in the reports
+of the various Royal Commissions of Inquiry: statistical mines where
+Marx and Engels found abundant material for their philosophy of gloom.
+And from these dull and depressing government folios Charles Kingsley
+drew his indignant invectives, and Carlyle his trenchant indictments
+against a society that would imprison its eight-year-old children,
+its mothers, and its grandmothers in dingy factories fourteen hours a
+day for the sake of profits, and then release them at night only to
+find lodgings in the most miserable hovels and rickety tenements. It
+is almost surprising to one familiar with the details of this gruesome
+record that a social revolution did not follow immediately in the wake
+of the industrial revolution.
+
+There were riots at first, and machines were smashed. But the hand of
+the worker was impotent against the arm of steel. The workman soon
+resigned himself to his fate and his misery. The poor laws did not
+help, they only multiplied the burdens upon the state without taking
+the load from the poor. The laborer was too helpless to help himself,
+and the state and society were apathetic. The rapid expansion of
+industry found an ample outlet in the growing commerce to every corner
+of the world. England was making money. She was gradually shifting
+control from the traditional landowner to the new factory owner. The
+landed gentry had inherited a fine sense of patriarchal
+responsibility. The factory owner had no traditions. He was a parvenu.
+His interests were machinery and ships, not politics and humanity. He
+acquiesced in the poor laws as the easiest way out of a miserable
+mess; he let private charity take its feeble and intermittent course,
+paying his rates and giving his donations with self-satisfied
+sanctity.
+
+All this time labor was abundant. The markets of the world were hungry
+for the goods of English mills. Then came suddenly the Chartist
+Movement.[1] The flame of discontent spread and a revolution seemed
+impending. This first great outbreak of English labor was a political
+movement, fed by economic causes. The repeal of the corn laws and the
+passage of the factory acts modified economic conditions and mollified
+labor for the time. The repeal of the corn laws brought cheaper food;
+the factory acts brought better conditions of labor.
+
+Meanwhile individualism was evolving an economic creed. The Manchester
+doctrine was the logical outcome of England's insular position and her
+driving individualistic manufactures. But it was _laissez-faire_ in
+industrialism, not in unionism. The laboring men were now beginning to
+organize, and Cobden himself proposed the act that made unionism
+ineffective as a political force. However, indirectly, free trade
+stimulated labor, because it brought great prosperity, made work
+abundant, and employers sanguine. Unions now rapidly multiplied, but
+they were local, isolated. Their federation into a great national body
+came later.
+
+Socialism, or unionism, or any other general movement cannot develop
+in England with the rapidity and enthusiasm that is shown for
+"movements" on the Continent. The traditions of the English people are
+constitutional. Socialism can thrive among them only if it is
+"constitutional," and the Fabians are to-day talking about
+"constitutional Socialism" with judicial solemnity. All the training
+of the English people is contrary to the theory of progress through
+violence. They have had few revolutions accompanied by bloodshed, they
+have had a great many accompanied by prayers and Parliamentary
+oratory--"constitutional" methods. They have, moreover, a real
+reverence for property. The poor who have none are taught to respect
+the rich who have. The Church, the common law, the statute law, the
+customs, all the sources of tradition and habit, have emphasized the
+sanctity of property. Only within the last few decades, as will be
+seen presently, has a radical change, a veritable revolution, come
+over the people in this respect.
+
+The British temperament is not given to nerves. This stolid,
+phlegmatic, self-contained individualist has no inflammable material
+in his heart. Ruskin failed to arouse him, he wove too much artistry
+into his appeal; and Carlyle could not move him, his epigrams were too
+rhapsodical. Such temperaments are not given to rapid propagandism.
+And finally, the Englishman is too practical to be a utopist. He
+concerns himself with the duties of to-day rather than the vagaries of
+to-morrow. Utopianism made no impression on him. Owen, the great
+Utopian, was a Welshman. The Celt has imagination. Nor do intricate
+theories or involved philosophies touch the mind of the Briton. The
+splendor that enraptures the Frenchman, the abstruse reasoning that
+delights the German, are alike boredom to this practical inventor of
+machinery and builder of ships.
+
+In spite of these characteristics there is no country in Europe where
+there is more agitation about Socialism than there is in England
+to-day. It is discussed everywhere. Almost the entire time of
+Parliament during the past few years has been taken up with more or
+less "Socialistic" legislation. The public mind is steeped in it.
+
+There is more actually being done in England toward the
+"socialization" of property, and the state, than in any other European
+country. And less being said about the theory of value, the class
+war, capitalistic production, proletariat and bourgeois, and the
+other Continental pet phrases of Socialism.
+
+Marx, who lived among the English for many years, but whose heart was
+never with them, would not call this rapid social movement
+Socialistic, because it does not avowedly "aim" at "socializing
+capitalistic production." The doings of the English are certainly not
+accomplished in the spirit of his orthodoxy. But the current toward
+state control, toward pure democracy, land nationalization,
+nationalization of railways and mines, has set in with the swiftness
+of a mill-race and is grinding grist with an amazing rapidity.
+
+As I write these words, London and the whole country are wrought up
+over Lloyd George's Insurance Bill and the projected ballot reform
+bill. Meetings everywhere, fervid Parliamentary debate, the papers
+filled with letters from everybody; every organization, debating
+society, and board of directors of great industries passing
+resolutions. Even the Labor Party is divided over the paternalistic
+measure that aims to bring relief to the sick and disabled working man
+and woman. Amidst all this discussion, noise, and party zeal is
+discerned the drift of the nation toward a new and unexpected goal.
+
+Nowhere is it so difficult to define a Socialist, or to mark
+boundaries to the movement. But why mark shore-lines? The flood is on.
+I will here take the position that whatever extends the functions of
+the state (community) over property, or into activities formerly left
+to individuals or to the home, is an indication of the Socialistic
+trend. Old-fashioned Socialists like Keir Hardie are constantly
+warning the people that what is now going on in England is only social
+reform, not Socialism. The Fabians, on the other hand, are exerting
+every effort to add to the swiftness of the present movement.
+
+To a student of democracy things now passing into law, and events now
+shaping into history, in England, are of peculiar significance. Such
+events, transpiring in a country so long abandoned to a rampant
+individualism, are portents of a newer time. They are signals of
+approaching changes to America, to us who have inherited the common
+law, the governmental traditions, the democratic ideals of liberty, if
+not the substantial stolidity of temperament and self-complacent
+egoism of the Briton.
+
+All parties, Socialists and Conservatives, will admit this: that all
+this turmoil, these rapidly succeeding general elections, these public
+discussions, these new laws, indicate that a new social ideal is being
+formed. That in itself is worthy of consideration. For the ideal will
+shape the destiny.
+
+
+II
+
+Present-day Socialism in England seems to have risen to sudden
+magnitude from vacuity, to have permeated this cautious island over
+night. For over a generation all Socialism had disappeared from view.
+The elaborate schemes of Owen, the altruistic propaganda under the
+gentle Kingsley and his noble companion Maurice, the artistic revolt
+against the ugliness of commercialism led by Ruskin, who even shared
+the toil of the breakers of stones to prove his sincerity--all these
+movements seem suddenly to have disappeared from the face of the
+island, like a glacial current dropping suddenly, without warning,
+into the depths of the Moulin.
+
+England was given over to a highly prosperous industrialism. The
+Manchester doctrine was enthroned. Commercialism and a glittering
+pseudo-humanitarian internationalism found expression in the
+alternating victories of the astute Disraeli and the grandiloquent
+Gladstone.
+
+Meanwhile poverty and misery infested the underplaces of the land, a
+poverty and misery that was appalling. Every protester was proudly
+pointed to the repeal of the corn laws, the revision of the poor laws,
+the reform act of 1832, and the factory acts.
+
+When Sir Henry Vane had ascended the scaffold which his sacrifice made
+historic, he said: "The people of England have long been asleep; when
+they awake they will be hungry." When the England of to-day awoke it
+was to a greater hunger than the politically starved Roundhead or
+Cavalier ever endured.
+
+It is no figure of speech to speak of hungry England. Its brilliant
+industrialism has always had a drab background of want. Chiozza Money
+says of the present position of labor: "The aggregate income of the
+44,500,000 people in the United Kingdom in 1908-9 was approximately
+L1,844,000,000; 1,400,000 persons took L634,000,000; 4,100,000 persons
+took L275,000,000; 39,000,000 persons took L935,000,000."[2] And he
+sums up the condition as follows: "The position of the manual workers
+in relation to the general wealth of the country has not improved.
+They formed, with those dependent upon them, the greater part of the
+nation in 1867, and they enjoyed but about forty per cent. of the
+national income, according to the careful estimate of Dudley Baxter.
+To-day, with their army of dependents, they still form the greater
+part of the nation, although not quite so great a part, and, according
+to the best information available, they take less than forty per cent.
+of the entire income of the nation." Although during this time the
+national income had increased much faster than the rate of population,
+"the Board of Trade, after a careful examination of the question of
+unemployment in 1904, arrived at the general conclusion that 'the
+average level of employment during the last 4 years has been almost
+exactly the same as the average of the preceding 40 years.'"[3]
+
+While the general level of wage-earners has been maintained, and while
+wealth has greatly increased, the poverty of the kingdom has shown
+little tendency to diminish. "As for pauperism, it is difficult to
+congratulate ourselves upon improvement since 1867, when we remember
+that in England and Wales alone 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 persons are in
+receipt of relief in the course of a single year. This means _one
+person in every 20_ has recourse to the poor-law guardians during a
+single year."
+
+"If our national income had but increased at the same rate as our
+population since 1867, it would in 1908 have amounted to but about
+L1,200,000,000. As we have seen, it is now about L1,840,000,000. Yet
+the Error in Distribution remains so great, that, while the total
+population in 1867 was 30,000,000, we have to-day a nation of
+30,000,000 poor people in our rich country, and many millions of these
+are living under conditions of degrading poverty. Of those above the
+line of primary poverty, millions are tied down by the conditions of
+their labor to live in surroundings which preclude the proper
+enjoyment of life or the proper raising of children."[4]
+
+An event occurred in 1889 that aroused public opinion on the question
+of labor conditions. The dockers along the great wharves in London
+went out on strike, and forced public attention upon the misery of
+these most wretched of British workmen,[5] whose wages were so low
+that they could not buy bread for their families and their employment
+was so irregular that they were idle half of the time. John Burns came
+into prominence first during this strike. He raised over $200,000 by
+public appeals to support the strikers. General sympathy was with the
+men; and the arbitrators to whom their grievances were submitted
+awarded most of their demands.
+
+The effect of this strike was far-reaching. All over the kingdom
+unskilled labor was roused to its power, and a new era in labor
+organization began.
+
+
+III
+
+In no country has the labor-union movement achieved a greater degree
+of organization than in England.[6] The movement has been economic,
+turning to politics only in recent years; it concerned itself with
+wages and conditions of labor, not with party programs and
+Parliamentary candidates.
+
+The characteristic feature of English trade-unionism is collective
+bargaining, long since introduced into America, but unknown in most
+European countries. The English unions also organized insurance
+societies called "Friendly Societies."[7]
+
+For many years the laws regulating labor unions had been liberally
+construed by the courts, and the unions had done very much as they
+pleased. Two decisions have been rendered during the last decade that
+threatened the unions' existence both as a political and economic
+force.
+
+In 1900 the Taff Vale Railway Company brought suit against the
+Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, charging the men with
+conspiring to induce the workmen to break their contracts with the
+company. The court enjoined the union from picketing and from
+interfering with the men in their contractual relations with the
+employing company, and assessed the damages at $100,000 against the
+offending union. The House of Lords, sitting in final appeal, affirmed
+the judgment of the trial court. This virtually meant the stopping of
+strikes, for strikes without pickets and vigilance would usually be
+unavailing. It also meant financial bankruptcy.
+
+A second far-reaching decision was made by the House of Lords in
+December, 1909, when the "Osborne Judgment" was affirmed, granting to
+one Osborne, a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants,
+an injunction restraining the union from making a levy on its members,
+and from using any of its funds for the purpose of maintaining any of
+its members, or any other person, in Parliament. The unions had taken
+it for granted that they had the legal right to contribute out of
+their funds to political campaigns, and to pay the labor members of
+Parliament a salary out of the union treasury.[8] The court held such
+payments were illegal, on the ground that they were _ultra vires_. The
+charter of the unions did not sanction it.[9]
+
+The English workman has not only had the trade union for a training
+school in practical affairs, but the co-operative movement began here;
+and here it flourishes, not as widely spread among the poorer workmen
+as in Belgium, but among the better-paid workers it is very popular.
+
+It is singular that the only practical result left of Owen's
+stupendous plans was the little co-operative shop, opened in 1844 at
+Rochdale, with a capital of $140 and a gross weekly income of $10.
+Owen did not start this shop, but a handful of his followers were the
+promoters of the tiny enterprise. The co-operative union to-day
+embraces wholesale, retail, productive, and special societies, with
+nearly 3,000,000 members, increasing at the rate of 70,000 a year, and
+doing $550,000,000 worth of business annually.
+
+There is also a rapidly growing co-partnership movement, especially in
+the building of "garden suburbs" and tenements. In 1903 there were two
+such companies, with $200,000 worth of property. In 1909 they had
+increased to 15 associations, with over $3,085,000 worth of property.
+The membership is not confined to workingmen, but they form the
+bulk.[10]
+
+From the beginning of the modern labor movement we see that the
+British workmen have shown a strong tendency to organize. Their
+organizations included at first only the skilled workers. There was a
+gulf between the trained worker and the unskilled worker. The latter,
+forming the substratum of poverty, were too abject for organizing.
+
+These two great bodies of workers, skilled and unskilled, have been
+gradually brought together and their interests united. The Taff Vale
+and Osborne judgments have forced them into politics. The unskilled
+have been given the benefit of the experience of the skilled, and a
+fair degree of homogeneity and group ambition has been reached.
+
+To enter politics a new form of organization was necessary. We will
+see how one was prepared for them.
+
+
+IV
+
+We will now turn to the Socialist organizations. They are more
+numerous than in the other countries we have studied, and more varied
+in color. But not any of them are as strong as the French or German
+organizations.
+
+In 1880 William Morris and H.M. Hyndman, a personal friend of Marx,
+organized the "Democratic Federation." For a few years it was the only
+Socialist organization. It split on the question of revolution. Morris
+and his friends, many of them inclined toward Anarchy, founded the
+"Socialist League." This league has long since vanished. Hyndman and
+his followers renamed their society the "Social Democratic
+Federation." It still persists, under the name Social Democratic Party
+(popularly "S.D.P."), and remains the only organized trace of
+militant, reactionary Marxianism in England. For a long time it
+refrained from politics, advocated violence, and was the faithful
+imitator of the Guesdist party in France. These are doctrines and
+methods that repel the English mind, and the Federation never has been
+strong. It has a weekly paper, _Justice_, and a monthly paper, _The
+Social Democrat_; claims one member in Parliament, elected however by
+the Labor Party, and (in 1907) 124 members of various local governing
+bodies. Its aged leader, Hyndman, clings tenaciously to the dogmas of
+Marx, and all the changes that have come over the Socialist movement
+during the last decades have not altered his views or methods.[11] The
+Federation's affiliations and sympathy have been with the
+International rather than the British movement, and until a few years
+ago it monopolized British representation on the International
+Executive Committee.
+
+Soon after Morris left the Federation a new and novel Socialist
+society was formed in London. Two Americans gave the impulse that
+started the movement--Henry George, through his works on Single Tax,
+and Thomas Davidson of New York, a gentle dreamer of the New
+To-morrow. Henry George's books had been read by a group of young men
+in London, and when Dr. Davidson went there to lecture he found these
+young men ready to listen to his utopian generalizations. Soon these
+men organized the Fabian Society. They were not sure of their ground,
+and took for their motto: "For the right moment you must wait as
+Fabius did when warring against Hannibal, though many censured his
+delays; but when the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did,
+or your waiting will be in vain and fruitless."
+
+A number of brilliant young men soon joined the Fabians, and their
+"tracts" have become famous. Among their members they include Sidney
+Webb, the sociologist; George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and cynic;
+Chiozza Money, statistician and member of Parliament; Rev. R.J.
+Campbell of the City Temple; Rev. Stewart Headlam, leader in the
+Church Socialist Movement; and a horde of others, famous in letters,
+the professions, and the arts.
+
+It is difficult to estimate the influence of this unique group of
+personages, and it is very easy to underestimate it. From the first
+they committed themselves to the policy of "permeation," instead of
+aggressive propaganda. They would transform the world by intellectual
+osmosis. They have, thus, not only contributed by far the most
+brilliant literature to modern Socialism, but have touched some of the
+inner springs of political and social power. Prime ministers and
+borough councilmen, poor-law guardians and chancellors of the
+exchequer, have been influenced by the propulsion of their ideas. But
+it has all been done so noiselessly and so well disguised, that to the
+Social Democratic Federation the Fabians are "mere academicians," and
+to the Independent Labor Party they are forerunners of "tyrannical
+bureaucracy."
+
+Eleven Fabians are in Parliament, and they are not silent onlookers.
+For years the Fabians have dominated the London County Council. Its
+brilliant "missionaries" attract large audiences, and "Fabian Essays"
+have passed through many editions. Each member of this society is the
+creator of his own dogma. The Marxian formulas, especially the theory
+of surplus value, are not reverenced by them.
+
+England is the only country in Europe where there is a strong Church
+Socialist Movement. In 1889 the Christian Social Union was formed by
+members of the Church of England. It is not a Socialist organization,
+but it has enlisted a wide practical interest in the labor movement.
+It was the outgrowth of the Pan-Anglican Congress, which met at
+Lambeth in 1888. At this conference a committee on Socialism made a
+noteworthy report, recommending the bringing together of capital and
+labor through the agency of co-operation and association.[12]
+
+In 1906 "The Church Socialist League" was organized. "It seeks to
+convert the christened people of England to Socialism. Its members are
+committed to the definite economic Socialism of accredited Socialist
+bodies. The League is growing rapidly. Branches are springing up all
+over the country. Its members have addressed thousands of meetings on
+behalf of both Socialist and labor candidates at Parliamentary and
+principal elections.... The members of the League are Socialists. They
+seek to establish a commonwealth in which the people shall own the
+land and industrial capital collectively and administer the same
+collectively."[13]
+
+The influence of the Church Socialist League and the Fabians has
+spread to the universities, especially to Oxford and Cambridge. A
+number of distinguished professors are active Socialists.
+
+The movement thus gained ground more rapidly among the intellectuals
+than among the workingmen. It was not until 1893 that a Socialist
+Labor Party was organized. The Social Democratic Federation was too
+dogmatic, hard, and bitter to draw the English laboring man; the
+Fabians and the Church Socialists were avowedly not partisan. In 1893
+a group of labor delegates met at Bradford and, under the leadership
+of Keir Hardie, organized the Independent Labor Party (I.L.P.). This
+definite step had been preceded by many local political organizations
+among labor unionists. The necessity for political activity had been
+felt in many places. The Bradford convention was merely the coalescing
+of many local movements. The I.L.P. is a Socialist body, but it is not
+dogmatically, not obnoxiously so. It forms, rather, a connecting link
+between Socialism and labor unions.
+
+It entered politics at once, but with discouraging results. Its 29
+candidates polled only 63,000 votes; only 5 were elected. A closer
+alliance with the labor unions was necessary. This was accomplished
+when the unions, in 1899, appointed a Labor Representative Committee,
+whose duty it was, as the name implies, to increase labor's
+representation in Parliament.[14] This committee had first to
+determine its relation to the other political parties. The Liberals
+and Conservatives among the laborites were outvoted, and the committee
+determined upon a new course. Representatives from the Socialist
+bodies--the I.L.P., S.D.F., and Fabians--were asked to join the unions
+in an alliance that should use its united strength in electing members
+to Parliament. All agreed, but the S.D.F. soon withdrew.
+
+In 1906 the name of the committee was changed to the Labor Party. It
+is founded upon the broadest basis of co-operation, so that neither
+Socialist, no matter how radical, nor non-Socialist should find it
+impossible to work with the party. Its constitution defines this
+coalition: "The Labor Party is a federation consisting of Trade
+Unions, Trade Councils, Socialist Societies, and Local Labor Parties."
+"Co-operative Societies are also eligible," as are "national
+organizations of women accepting the basis of this constitution and
+the policy of the party."
+
+The object of the party is "to secure the election of candidates to
+Parliament and to organize and maintain a Labor Party with its own
+whips and policy."
+
+Party rigor is carefully prescribed: "Candidates and members must
+accept this constitution and agree to abide by the decisions of the
+Parliamentary party in carrying out the aims of this constitution;
+appear before their constituents under the title of labor candidates;
+abstain strictly from identifying themselves with or promoting the
+interests of any Parliamentary party not affiliated, or its
+candidates; and they must not oppose any candidate recognized by the
+national executive of the party." "Before a candidate can be regarded
+as adopted for a constituency, his candidature must be sanctioned by
+the national executive."
+
+The party, thus centrally controlled, is well organized in every part
+of the kingdom. It maintains a fund for paying the election expenses
+of its members.[15] The Osborne judgment has been a serious setback to
+the party, especially in local elections. The payment of members was
+voted in 1911 by Parliament as a partial remedy, and the government
+has promised a reform election bill that will impose the burden of all
+necessary election expenses upon the state.
+
+The party membership has grown from 375,000 in 1900 to nearly
+1,500,000 in 1912. Such leading members of the party as J. Ramsay
+MacDonald, Keir Hardie, Philip Snowden, and over one-half of the
+Parliamentary group, are Socialists. The party refused to commit
+itself to Socialistic principles until 1907, when it declared itself
+in favor of the following resolution: "The socialization of the means
+of production, distribution, and exchange to be controlled in a
+democratic state in the interests of the entire community, and the
+complete emancipation of labor from the domination of capitalism and
+landlordism, with the establishment of social and economic equality
+between the sexes."[16]
+
+In 1908 the party had 26 members in county councils, 262 in town
+councils, 168 in urban district councils, 27 in rural district
+councils, 124 in parish councils, 145 on poor-law boards, 23 on school
+boards. There are (1910) about 1,500 labor men and Socialist members
+on the various local governing bodies in Great Britain.[17]
+
+
+V
+
+We see, then, that Socialism and trades-unionism in England coalesced.
+But a more important confluence of political ideals was soon to occur.
+
+The elections of 1906 indicated to the people of England that a new
+force had entered the domain of political power, which had so long
+been assigned to the gentry and men of wealth. A careful observer of
+political events, and a member of Parliament, described the results as
+follows: "When the present House of Commons (1907) was completed in
+January last, and it was discerned that 50 labor members had been
+elected, a cry of wonder went up from press and public. People wrote
+and spoke as if these 50 members were the forerunners of a political
+and social revolution; as if the old party divisions were completely
+worn out, and as if power were about to pass to a new political party
+that would represent the masses as opposed to the classes. These fears
+or hopes were reflected in the House of Commons itself. During the
+early months of the session the Labor Party received from all quarters
+of the House an amount of deference that would have been described as
+sycophantic if it had been directed towards an aristocratic instead of
+towards a democratic group."[18] The tidal wave of reaction following
+the Boer war had swept the Liberal Party into power, and had given
+fifty seats to the Labor Party. The effect was nothing short of
+revolutionary.
+
+Disraeli, in his _Sibyl_, spoke of "two nations," two Englands, the
+England of the gentry and the England of the working classes. The
+elections since the Boer war have given this "other England" its
+chance. The gentry, the Whigs and Tories, will never again fight their
+political jousts with the "other England" looking contentedly on. This
+"mass mind of organized labor" has become the "new controlling force
+in progressive politics."[19]
+
+The "transformed England" began to see evidences of the change. The
+first bill brought in by the Labor Party provided for the feeding of
+school children, from the homes of the poor, out of public funds. "The
+business in life of my colleagues and myself is to impress upon this
+House the importance of the poverty problem," said the spokesman of
+the Labor Party in an important debate.[20]
+
+England had awakened hungry.
+
+Now occurred the most significant political event in the history of
+modern England. The Liberal Party took over the immediate program of
+the Labor Party. This is significant because it swept England away
+from her industrial moorings of individualistic _laissez-faire_, and
+extended the functions of the state into activities that had hitherto
+been left to individual initiative. A complete revolution had taken
+place since Cobden's day. The state acknowledged new social and
+economic obligations. In the Parliamentary struggle that followed
+hereditary prerogative in property was undermined and hereditary
+prerogative in government virtually destroyed, and the principles of
+democracy enormously extended.[21]
+
+In England the question of co-operation between Socialists and other
+parties has been more important than in any other European country:
+because in a democratic parliament concessions are always made to
+large portions of the electorate by the parties in power, and because
+the practical temperamental qualities of the British discard the
+fine-drawn distinctions between groups and sub-groups that are so
+assiduously maintained in France and Germany.
+
+In the Amsterdam Congress of The International the question was
+discussed whether Socialists should act with other parties. Jaures and
+his _bloc_ were the occasion of the debate. Kautsky said that in times
+of national crises like war it might be necessary for Socialists to
+co-operate with the government to insure national safety. No such
+extraordinary standard has ever existed among practical Englishmen,
+who usually know what they want, and are not particular about the
+means of getting it.
+
+William Morris, uncompromising dogmatist, inveighed against the Whigs
+in 1886 as "the Harlequins of Reaction." Democracy was his ideal of
+government, and he was not entirely averse to political action on the
+part of Socialists. "To capture Parliament, and turn it into a popular
+but constitutional assembly, is, I must conclude, the aspiration of
+the genuine democrats wherever they may be found."
+
+But he was wary of compromise. "Some democrats take up actual pieces
+of Socialism, the nationalization of land, or of railways, or
+cumulative taxation of incomes, or limiting the right of inheritance,
+or new patent laws, or the restriction by law of the day's labor....
+All this I admit and say is a hopeful sign, and yet once again I say
+there is a snare in it.... A snake lies lurking in the grass." "Those
+who think they can deal with our present system in this piecemeal way
+very much underrate the strength of the tremendous organization under
+which we live, and which appoints to each of us his place, and, if we
+do not choose to fit it, grinds us down until we do."[22]
+
+Morris' advice, "Beware the Whigs," was uttered at a time when the
+leader of that party, Gladstone, was beginning to see that the chief
+event of the century would be the merging of the social question with
+politics. The "piecemeal" method that Morris decried became the actual
+method of Parliamentary activity as soon as a new party, a third
+party, arose and drew its inspiration from the working classes.
+
+Such a party was anticipated. Lord Rosebery said in 1894: "I am
+certain there is a party in this country, unnamed as yet, that is
+disconnected with any existing political organization--a party that is
+inclined to say, 'A plague on both your houses, a plague on all your
+politics, a plague on all your unending discussions that yield so
+little fruit.'"[23] And the same year John (now Lord) Morley
+prophesied: "Now I dare say the time may come, it may come sooner than
+some think, when the Liberal Party will be transformed or superseded
+by some new party."[24] And Professor Dicey, over a decade ago, spoke
+of the waning orthodoxy of Liberalism and its rapid merging into
+Socialism.
+
+The "piecemeal" party of Morris, the "transformed" party of Morley,
+the radicalized party of Dicey, is the Liberal Party of to-day. The
+"unnamed" party of Rosebery is the Labor Party, which not only says,
+"A plague upon all your discussions," but, "A plague upon all your
+fine-spun theories of class war--it's results we want."
+
+Before detailing some of the significant acts of this new democratic
+coalition, it should be added that the motive of the Liberal Party has
+not been unmixed with politics. The Labor Party possesses not only the
+30 or 40 votes in the House of Commons; there are hundreds of
+thousands of labor votes outside. This background of silent, vigilant
+voters forms the greatest force of the Labor Party. Many Liberal
+members hold their seats by its favor.
+
+There are in both the great parties men with strong sympathies for the
+labor ideal. In fact, a number of Socialists are sitting with the
+Liberals. There is no clear demarcation. It is only a difference of
+the degree of infusion.
+
+The Labor Party has had a strong influence upon the House of Commons.
+For many years the "Government" has ruled quite arbitrarily. When
+there are only two parties this is possible. But when an influential
+third party appears on the scene, government by the "front benchers"
+must be moderated.[25]
+
+The "cross benchers" have wrested a good deal of power from the
+leaders. This is necessary in a democracy which is kept alive only by
+contact with the people. There is more government by the Commons, and
+less government by the ministry. This _entente_ can degenerate into
+Parliamentary tyranny if it wishes. It can demand the cloture, as well
+as open the valves of useless debate. But an arbitrary act
+unsanctioned by the cross benchers would be likely to bring
+destruction upon the government that perpetrated it.
+
+
+VI
+
+A review of the Acts of Parliament since the Liberal-Labor coalition
+and a perusal of the debates are convincing proof of the character of
+the new legislation and the opinions that prompt it. We must confine
+ourselves to a few types of this legislation, enough to show the
+actual changes now in process.
+
+The first bill introduced by the Labor Party, and enacted into law,
+authorized the providing of meals for poor children in the schools. It
+does not make this compulsory, but under its sanction in 1909 over
+$670,000 were spent in providing over 16,000,000 meals. Nearly half of
+these were in London.[26] This law is especially assailed by the
+anti-Socialists. They claim its administration has been too lenient,
+not discriminating between the needy and those capable of self-help.
+It is only the entering wedge of Socialism, they say; it is only a
+step from feeding the child to clothing him, and from feeding and
+clothing the child to caring for the parent. They recall that Sidney
+Webb has often said that if the city furnishes water free to its
+citizens it should be able to furnish milk as well.
+
+The second bill introduced by the Labor Party was the Trades Dispute
+Act. This was framed to annul the Taff Vale decision, making the
+unions immune from suits for tortious acts and providing an elaborate
+system of arbitrating labor disputes. The provisions of this act were
+tested by two railway crises. In 1907 the railway employees threatened
+to go out on strike. Lloyd George, then president of the Board of
+Trade, averted the strike by enlisting all the power of the government
+in persuading the companies and the men to agree to a scheme of
+arbitration. This was to last a stipulated term of years, but before
+the time had elapsed the men actually struck (1911), and for a week
+the country was in a panic. Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the
+Exchequer, again used all the power of the government to bring peace,
+and a commission was appointed to investigate the grievances of the
+men, who had agreed to abide by its decision. In this way the
+government has become the most active force in settling labor
+disputes--a subject that was formerly left to the two parties of the
+labor contract.
+
+A Workman's Compensation Act and an Old-Age Pension Act soon followed.
+The latter provides a pension for all workmen who are 70 years old.
+Unlike the German act, the government provides all the funds. In 1909
+the Labor Exchange Act empowered the Board of Trade to establish labor
+exchanges. These have been established in every city. At first there
+was some friction with the unions because "blacklegs" were assigned to
+places. But since union men have been invited to sit on the local
+governing committees, things are running smoother.
+
+There are three laws which show the trend of the changing relation of
+the state to property.
+
+The Development Act of 1909 provides for the appointment of five
+commissioners, upon whose recommendation the Treasury advances money
+to any governmental department or public authority or university or
+association of persons for the purpose of aiding agriculture and rural
+industries of all sorts; the reclamation of drainage lands and of
+forests; the general improvement of rural transportation, including
+the building of "light railways"; the construction and improvement of
+harbors; the improvement of inland navigation, including the building
+of canals; and the development and improvement of fisheries. This law
+endows the government with the necessary authority for the absorption
+of virtually all the internal means of communication except the trunk
+railways, and extends the paternal arm of the government over
+agriculture and the fisheries and subsidiary industries.[27] The
+first report of the commission, 1910-11, indicates that work under
+this law has begun in earnest. A comprehensive plan of regeneration,
+embracing the entire kingdom and based on adequate surveys, is
+outlined. One of the interesting features of the plan is the proposal
+to do as much of the work as possible by direct labor rather than by
+competitive bidding. The commission wants to make sure "that the funds
+shall not go into the pockets of private individuals."[28] Under an
+enthusiastic commission there will be practically no limit to the
+influence of this law.
+
+Two other acts are closely allied with this scheme: the Small Holdings
+Act of 1908, and the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909. The Small
+Holdings Act gives authority to county councils to "provide small
+holdings for persons who desire to buy or lease and will themselves
+cultivate the holdings." This provision is extended to borough, urban,
+district, and parish councils. These authorities may purchase such
+lands "whether situate within or without their county."
+
+The Town Planning Act gives cities and towns the power to purchase
+land and allot it, to tear down undesirable buildings, to co-operate
+with any workingman's association for improving and erecting
+dwellings, and to buy the necessary land for making improvements of
+all kinds. John Burns, who stood sponsor for this bill, explained that
+it gave complete authority to local governing bodies "to make a city
+healthful and a city beautiful."
+
+Following the British habit, work has very cautiously begun under
+these acts. Up to December, 1910, about 28,000 acres were purchased or
+leased under the allotment act, and sublet to 100,498 individual
+tenants. "Town planning" has progressed rapidly, and the regeneration
+of the British slums, the most dismal in the world, may be not far
+distant.[29]
+
+Under the Small Holdings Act there were, up to December, 1910, nearly
+31,000 applicants, asking for over 500,000 acres. Only one-fifth of
+this amount was acquired, for 7,000 holders. Thirty per cent. of the
+applicants are agricultural laborers, and the majority of the others
+are drawn from the rural population who have some small business or
+trade in the villages and wish a plot of land for a garden. This
+"often makes the difference between a bare subsistence and comparative
+prosperity."[30]
+
+These laws show the drift of the current. The question of the
+nationalization of railways has been the subject of Parliamentary
+inquiry, and the great railway strike of 1911 emphasized the matter
+profoundly. The state in 1911 completed the taking over of all the
+telephone lines; it conducts an extensive postal savings bank and a
+parcels post.
+
+In local affairs some British cities are models of municipal
+enterprise. Even London, that amorphous mass of human misery and
+opulence, is changing its aspect. Since the granting of municipal home
+rule it has built a vast system of street railways, cleaned out acres
+of slums, opened breathing spaces, built tenements, and in many other
+ways displayed evidences of an awakening civic consciousness.
+
+Three other pieces of legislation must be described more in detail,
+because they are more revolutionary, far-reaching, and democratic than
+anything attempted by the British nation since the days of the Reform
+Bill.
+
+First is the famous "Budget" of Lloyd George. When this virile
+Welshman became Chancellor of the Exchequer he cast his budget in the
+mold of his social theories. He said: "Personally, I look on the
+Budget as a part only of a comprehensive scheme of fiscal and social
+reform: the setting up of a great insurance scheme for the unemployed
+and for the sick and infirm, and the creation, through the development
+bill, of the machinery for the regeneration of rural life."[31]
+
+The land system of England is feudal. Tenure still legally exists.
+There still clings the flavor of social and political distinction to
+fee simple. This the landowners have fortified against all the changes
+that industrialism has wrought. There has been no general land
+appraisement since the Pilgrims landed at the new Plymouth. The "land
+monopoly" successfully resisted every attack until the famous budget
+of 1908. Chiozza Money quotes John Bateman's analysis of the "New
+Domesday Book," fixing the ownership of land in England and Wales as
+follows:[32]
+
+In 1883, in the United Kingdom, there was a total area of 77,000,000
+acres; of this 40,426,000 acres were owned by 2,500 persons. "While
+the total income of the nation is L1,840,000,000, the landowners take
+L106,000,000 as land rent."[33] England is a great industrial and
+commercial nation living on leased land.
+
+The development of the industrial towns has enormously multiplied the
+value of some of these vast estates.[34]
+
+The new budget proposed, first, to tax the land values; not a
+fictitious sum, or the value of the land with improvements, but the
+site value--the increment value with which the land is endowed because
+of its favorable location. Second, to this was added a 10 per cent.
+reversion duty. Third, a tax was levied on undeveloped land held for
+speculative purposes. And, fourth, a 5 per cent. tax on mineral rights
+was assessed on the owners of the land that contained the mines.
+
+These proposals raised a storm. They aimed at the traditional
+stronghold of English aristocracy. The budget passed the House of
+Commons by a large majority; the Lords rejected it. The government
+promptly prorogued Parliament and went before the people. And what was
+at first only an attack upon hereditary rights in land became an
+attack also upon hereditary rights in politics. The House of Lords
+became an issue as well as the budget. After a fiery and furious
+campaign, in which Socialists and Laborites joined Radicals and
+Liberals, the budget won by a safe majority.[35] The Lords passed the
+measure. But this resistance cost them dear. One of the first
+prerogatives established by the House of Commons was the right to
+control the purse-strings of the kingdom. Custom has given the
+sanction of constitutionality to this prerogative. And the Lords, in
+first denying and then delaying the budget, laid themselves open to
+the charge of "hereditary arrogance" and "unconstitutionalism."
+
+After the passage of the budget there followed six months of
+conference between the two front benches, to find a basis of reform
+for the House of Lords upon which all could unite. When it became
+evident that this was impossible, the government again prorogued
+Parliament and went to the people for a mandate on the question of
+"reforming the Lords." The Liberals and their allies were, for a third
+time, returned to power, and in February, 1911, the Prime Minister,
+Mr. Asquith, introduced his "Parliament Bill," taking from the House
+of Lords the power to amend a money bill so as to change its
+character. If any other bill passed by the Commons is rejected by the
+Lords, the Commons can pass it over their veto; and if this is done in
+three consecutive sessions of the same Parliament--provided two years
+elapse between the introduction of the bill and its third rejection by
+the Lords--it becomes a law. The law is intended as a preliminary
+measure. The preamble states that it is the intention of the
+government to provide for a second chamber "constituted on a popular
+instead of hereditary basis." The bill was so amended by the Lords as
+to change its character and returned to the Commons. The Prime
+Minister then informed the leaders of the opposition that the King,
+"upon the advice of his ministers," had consented to create enough
+peers to insure the passage of the bill in its original form. Rather
+than have their house encumbered by 400 new peers, the Lords gave a
+reluctant consent to the measure that virtually destroyed the
+bicameral system in England.
+
+This profound constitutional change, that practically makes England a
+representative democracy pure and simple, was unaccompanied by any of
+those popular and spectacular demonstrations one naturally expects to
+see on such occasions. The debate in both houses rarely touched the
+pinnacle of excitement, its fervor was partisan rather than
+patriotic.[36]
+
+In 1832, when the hereditary peers stood in the way of the Reform
+Bill, which had passed the Commons by only one majority, the populace
+rose _en masse_, surged through the streets of the capital, and
+threatened the King and his Iron Duke,--whose statue now adorns every
+available square in the city,--and made it known that their wishes
+must be respected. To-day the people, secure in the knowledge of their
+supremacy, scarcely notice the efforts of the opposition, in its
+attempts to bolster the falling walls of hereditary prerogative in
+representative government. So far has England assumed the air of
+democracy.
+
+The third piece of legislation, to which allusion has been made,
+indicates the direction that this democracy is taking. It is the
+Insurance Bill, also introduced by Lloyd George, and passed in
+December, 1911. It insures the working population against "sickness
+and breakdown." It is planned to follow up the law with insurance
+against non-employment. The law is of especial interest to Americans,
+because it adapts the principle of the German system to the
+Anglo-Saxon's traditional aversion to state bureaucracy. It commands a
+compulsory contribution from employer and employee, supplemented by
+state grants. These funds are not administered by the state, but by
+"Friendly Societies" (insurance orders organized by the unions) and
+other benevolent organizations of workingmen now in existence. These
+are democratic, voluntary organizations. Where no such organizations
+exist, the post-office administers the fund.
+
+The keynote of this law is the prevention of invalidity. Its details
+are largely based upon the reports of the Royal Poor Law
+Commissioners, 1905-9. The commission made two voluminous reports;
+Mrs. Sidney Webb, a member of the commission, prepared the minority
+report.[37]
+
+The Labor Party, in all of these measures, voted with the Liberals.
+The Insurance Bill was denounced by the most radical Laborites on the
+ground that labor was charged with contributing to the fund, and that
+the bill was inadequate. But the majority of the delegation voted for
+the measure.
+
+
+VII
+
+Enough has now been said to indicate the changes in economic and
+social legislation that are being brought about in England by the
+coalition of Socialists and Liberals.[38] The causes for this change
+cannot be laid to Socialism alone. Socialism is an effect quite as
+much as a cause; it is the result of industrial conditions, as well as
+the prompter of changes. The permeation of the working classes with
+the principles of state aid; the spread of discontent; the lure of
+better days; all deepened and emphasized by the poverty of the Island,
+are the sources of this Social Democratic current. This has led,
+first, to the unification of the several Socialist groups; secondly,
+to the coalescing of labor union and Socialist ambitions into the
+Labor Party; thirdly, to an effective co-operation between the Labor
+Party and the Liberal-Radicals.
+
+Sagacious Socialists saw this trend long ago. In 1888 Sidney Webb
+appealed to the Liberals to espouse the cause of labor. He pointed out
+the inevitable, and it has happened.[39]
+
+Two questions naturally arise: First, how far will this movement
+toward Social Democracy go? Second, how long will the Labor Party hold
+together and prompt the action of the Liberals and Radicals in social
+legislation?
+
+The first question is not merely conjectural. The Reform Bill now
+(1912) prepared by the government will destroy the last vestige of
+property qualifications for voting. It will destroy plural voting,
+which now allows a freeholder to vote in every district where he holds
+land. In some districts the absentee voters hold the balance of
+power.[40] Votes for women are also promised. This increased
+electorate will not be conservative in its convictions. Along with
+this will come the abolishing of the custom that compels candidates to
+bear the election expenses; the payment of members of Parliament has
+already begun; the lure of office is no longer a will-o'-the-wisp to
+the poor with ambition.
+
+The new Liberalism is, then, devoted first of all to real democracy,
+in which the King's prerogatives retain their sickly place. As to the
+functions of the state, it will "probably retain its distinction from
+Socialism in taking for its chief test of policy the freedom of the
+individual citizen rather than the strength of the state, though the
+antagonism of the two standpoints may tend to disappear in the light
+of progressive experience."[41]
+
+As to property, it will probably continue to make unearned increments
+and incomes bear the burden of social reform; create a business
+democracy for running the public utilities, leaving more or less
+unhampered the fields of legitimate industrial opportunity. "Property
+is not an absolute right of the individual owner which the state is
+bound to maintain at his behest. On the contrary, the state on its
+side is justified in examining the rights which he may claim, and
+criticising them; seeing it is by the force of the state and at its
+expense that all such rights are maintained."[42] This, the
+well-considered opinion of a well-known scholar, may be properly taken
+as the gauge of present-day English Radical sentiment on the
+inviolability of property rights.
+
+As to the second question: How long will the coalition hang together?
+the Socialists are now (1912) showing signs of restiveness. The old
+question, that has rent all Socialists in all countries, and always
+will, because Socialism is a wide-spreading and vague generalization,
+has arisen among these practical Englishmen. In the convention of the
+I.L.P., 1910, there was a prolonged discussion on the policy of the
+party in its relation to other parties. "The Labor Party should stand
+for labor, not for Liberalism," was the complaint. Keir Hardie
+suggested that they were not in Parliament to keep governments in
+office or to turn them out, but "to organize the working classes into
+a great independent political power, to fight for the coming of
+Socialism."[43] A resolution objecting to members of the party
+"appearing on platforms alongside Liberal and Tory capitalists and
+landlords," was defeated by a large majority.[44]
+
+In the House of Commons clashes are not infrequent between the
+Laborites and the Liberals. Annually the labor members move an
+amendment to the Address of the Crown, asking for a bill "to establish
+the right to work by placing upon the state the responsibility of
+directly providing employment or maintenance for the genuinely
+unemployed."[45] John Burns opposed their amendment in 1911, in a
+brilliant and vehement speech, not so much because the government was
+opposed to the principle, but for the political reason that the
+government was not ready to bring in a bill of its own, which should
+be a part of its comprehensive system of social reform.[46]
+
+The great strike of transportation workers, in the summer of 1911,
+widened the breach between Laborites and Liberals, and between the
+extreme and moderate Socialists. This strike spread from the dockers
+of Liverpool to London, from the dockers to the railway workers, and
+then to the teamsters and drivers of the larger cities, until a
+general tie-up of transportation was threatened. It came very near
+being a model general strike. Its violence was met with a call for the
+troops. The labor members in Parliament protested earnestly against
+the use of soldiers. But the government was prompt and firm in its
+suppression of disorder. A bitter debate took place between the
+government and the labor leaders.[47]
+
+How much of this give and take must be attributed to the play of
+politics, it is impossible to declare. But this great strike clearly
+revealed the difference between violent Socialism and moderate
+radicalism. The one is willing to effect revolutions through law and
+order, the other to effect them through violence and disruption.
+
+The moderate Socialists seem willing to take a middle course between
+these extremes. The following quotation from a speech delivered by
+Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Labor Party, at a convention of the
+I.L.P., clearly illustrates the moderate view:
+
+"We can cut off kings' heads after a few battles, we can change a
+monarchy into a republic, we can deprive people of their titles, and
+we can make similar superficial alterations by force; but nobody who
+understands the power of habit and of custom in human conduct, who
+appreciates the fact that by far and away the greater amount of an
+action is begun, controlled, and specified by the system of social
+interrelationship in which we live, move, and have our being; and
+still more, nobody who understands the delicate and intricate
+complexity of production and exchange which keeps modern society
+going, will dream for a single moment of changing it by any act of
+violence. As soon as that act is committed, every vital force in
+society will tend to re-establish the relationship which we have been
+trying to end, and what is more, these vital forces will conquer us in
+the form of a violent reaction, a counter revolution. When we cut off
+a newt's tail, a newt's tail will grow on again.
+
+"I want the" I.L.P.'s action "to be determined by our numbers, our
+relative strength, the state of public opinion, the character of the
+question before the country. I appeal to it that it take into account
+all the facts and circumstances, and not, for the sake of satisfying
+its soul and sentiment, go gaily on, listening to the enunciation of
+policies and cheering phrases which obviously do not take into account
+some of the most important and at the same time most difficult
+problems which representation in Parliament presents to it."[48] In
+another place MacDonald has detailed the steps in the progress of
+Parliamentary Socialism. He begins with "palliatives," such as factory
+inspection, old-age pensions, feeding of school children; next, the
+state engages in constructive legislation, "municipalization and
+nationalization in every shape and form, from milk supplies to
+telephones," and finally insists on the taxing of unearned increment
+and a general redistribution of the burdens of the state.[49]
+
+Not all the members of the I.L.P. are agreed upon this moderate
+statement. Keir Hardie and his immediate followers still cling to the
+"larger hope" of a socialized society, to which commonplace
+legislation is only a crude preliminary.
+
+Bernard Shaw has confessed the orthodoxy of the new Social Democracy.
+"Nobody now considers Socialism as a destructive insurrection ending,
+if successful, in millennial absurdities," and of the budget he said:
+"If not a surrender of the capitalist citadel, it is at all events
+letting down the drawbridge."[50] The public utterances of the Radical
+leaders are often less restrained than those of the Socialists,[51] so
+that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the difference.
+
+Professor Hobhouse, in his analysis of the difference between
+Liberal-Radicalism and Socialism, says: "I venture to conclude that
+the differences between a true and consistent public-spirited
+liberalism and a rational collectivism, ought, with a genuine effort
+at mutual understanding, to disappear. The two parties are called on
+to make common cause against the growing power of wealth, which, by
+its control of the press and of the means of political organization,
+is more and more a menace to the healthy working of popular
+government."[52]
+
+And Brougham Villiers stated, a year before the Liberals gained
+control of the government, that the hope of the country lay in an
+"alliance, won by persistent, intelligent helpfulness on the part of
+the Liberals, with the alienated artisans, for the betterment of the
+conditions of the poorest, so as to give at once hope and life and
+better leisure for thought."[53]
+
+So we see Socialism and Liberalism united in accomplishing changes in
+legislation and ancient institutions--changes that are revolutionary
+in character and will be far-reaching in results. It is not the red
+revolutionary Socialism of Marx; it is the practical British Socialism
+of amelioration. "This practical, constitutional, evolutionary
+Socialism," a chronicler of the Fabians calls it.[54] It would have to
+be practical to appeal to the British voter, constitutional to lure
+the British statesman, and evolutionary to satisfy the British
+philosopher.
+
+In the troublous days of 1888-90 there were a great many young
+Socialists who believed the social revolution was waiting around the
+next corner and would soon sweep over London in gory reality. Many of
+these young men are sober Fabians now, or staid Conservatives or
+Liberals. To-day they think they were mistaken. They were not. There
+was a revolution around the next corner. It has already captured the
+high places. Society, government, is rapidly encroaching upon private
+property through the powers of taxation, of police supervision, and
+all manner of constitutional instrumentalities. Ownership, even in
+land, is now only an incident, the rights of the community are in the
+ascendant. Democracy has conquered hereditary privilege. And the
+revolution is still advancing. England is showing the world that "The
+way to make Socialism safe is to make democracy real."[55]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] See _supra_, p. 51.
+
+[2] See CHIOZZA MONEY, _Riches and Poverty_, first page, edition 1911.
+
+[3] _Op. cit._, p. 337.
+
+[4] _Op. cit._, pp. 337-8.
+
+[5] See V. NASH and H.L. SMITH, _The Story of the Dockers' Strike_,
+London, 1890.
+
+[6] See SIDNEY and BEATRICE WEBB, _History of Trades Unionism_,
+London, 1911.
+
+[7] There are about 650,000 members in those unions that pay
+out-of-work benefits. The following table gives some conception of the
+magnitude of the out-of-work problem in England. It shows the sums
+expended by the unions for out-of-work relief:
+
+  Year             Amount
+  1898           L234,000
+  1899            185,000
+  1900            261,000
+  1901            325,000
+  1902            429,000
+  1903            516,000
+  1904            655,000
+  1905            523,000
+  1906            424,000
+  1907            466,000
+
+Out of a body of 15,000,000 workmen, Chiozza Money estimates that
+500,000 are always out of work. _Opus cit._, p. 122.
+
+[8] Members of Parliament received no pay until 1911, when the
+Radical-Liberal government passed a law giving each member a salary of
+$2,000 a year.
+
+[9] A discussion of this case from the Fabian point of view is found
+in the Preface to WEBB'S _History of Trades Unionism_, edition of
+1911. The labor unions and the Labor Party have issued pamphlets on
+these two decisions. The legal points are fully discussed in the
+official reports of the cases.
+
+[10] There are 15,000,000 working men and women in Great Britain;
+3,000,000 belong to co-operative enterprises, 2,500,000 to trade
+unions.
+
+[11] See H.M. HYNDMAN, _Autobiography_, London, 1911.
+
+[12] Dr. Wescott, Bishop of Durham, was the founder of the Christian
+Social Union. His pamphlet, _Socialism_, is a real contribution to the
+literature on the Church and its relation to labor. The present
+attitude of the Union may be gleaned from the following quotation
+taken from the letter written by Dr. Gore, Bishop of Birmingham, to
+his diocese, on the occasion of his transfer to the bishopric of
+Oxford. The letter was written during the railway and dockers' strike,
+in September, 1911: "There is a profound sense of unrest and
+dissatisfaction among workers recently. I cannot but believe that this
+profound discontent is justified, though some particular exhibitions
+of it are not. As Christians we are not justified in tolerating the
+conditions of life and labor under which the vast mass of our
+population is living. We have no right to say that these conditions
+are not remediable. Preventable lack of equipment for life among
+young, and later the insecurity of employment and inadequacy of
+remuneration, and consequent destitution and semi-destitution among so
+many people, ought to inspire in all Christians a determination to
+reform our industrial system."
+
+[13] From _Statement of Principles of the League_.
+
+[14] Even at this time the conservatism of the unions was hard to
+break. The vote to take this step was 546,000 to 434,000 in favor of
+appointing the committee.
+
+[15] Election expenses are borne by the candidates, not by the state.
+They frequently are over $3,000, and it obviously is impossible for a
+workingman to conduct such a campaign at his own expense.
+
+[16] Proceedings of Labor Party, Annual Congress, 1907.
+
+[17] See _Socialists in Great Britain_, a compilation published by the
+London _Times_, p. 24.
+
+The following table shows the membership of the Labor Party since its
+formation in 1900, from the annual report of the party executive,
+1911:
+
+                            Trades Councils
+                            and Local Labor
+            Trade Unions        Parties         Socialist Societies
+           No.  Membership        No.        No.  Membership    Total
+  1900-1    41     353,070           7         3    22,861     375,931
+  1901-2    65     455,450          21         2    13,861     469,311
+  1902-3   127     847,315          49         2    13,835     861,150
+  1903-4   165     956,025          76         2    13,775     969,800
+  1904-5   158     885,270          73         2    14,730     900,000
+  1905-6   158     904,496          73         2    16,784     921,280
+  1906-7   176     975,182          83         2    20,885     998,338{1}
+  1907     181   1,049,673          92         2    22,267   1,072,413{2}
+  1908     176   1,127,035         133         2    27,465   1,158,565{3}
+  1909     172   1,450,648         155         2    30,982   1,486,308{4}
+  1910     137   1,306,473         125         2    31,377   1,342,610{5}
+
+{1} This total includes 2,271 Co-operators. {2} Includes 472
+Co-operators. {3} Includes 565 Co-operators, and 3,500 members of the
+Women's Labor League. {4} Includes 678 Co-operators, and 4,000 members
+of the Women's Labor League. {5} Includes 760 Co-operators, and 4,000
+members of the Women's Labor League.
+
+The decrease in membership during the last year is ascribed to the
+Osborne judgment.
+
+[18] HAROLD COX, _Socialism in the House of Commons_, p. 1.
+
+[19] See J.A. HOBSON, _The Crisis of Liberalism_, for a discussion of
+the new party alignments.
+
+EMILE BOUTMY, philosophical critic of the English, says that England,
+"transformed in all outward seeming, ... has just begun a new
+history." See his _The English People: A Study in Their Political
+Psychology_, London, 1904, for a keen analysis of English political
+proclivities.
+
+[20] _Parliamentary Debates_, 5th series, vol. 21, p. 649. Speech by
+G. Lansbury.
+
+[21] The new Liberal government invited John Burns into the cabinet.
+He is the first workingman in English history to occupy a cabinet
+position. The more restless Socialists are inclined to call him a
+Liberal because responsibility has taught him caution. But he still
+persists that he is a Socialist. He is a Fabian, and boasts of the
+three times that he was imprisoned for participating in labor
+agitations. About twenty years before his elevation he said in the Old
+Bailey, where he had been arraigned for "sedition and conspiracy" in
+conducting a strike: "I may tell you, my lord, that I went to work in
+a factory at the early age of ten years and toiled there until five
+months ago, when I left my workshop to stand as Parliamentary
+candidate for the western division of Nottingham."
+
+It must be kept in mind that many of the Conservatives are committed
+to social legislation. They are not, however, in favor of the
+indefinite expansion of democracy, and are opposed to the adult
+suffrage bill as proposed by the Liberals.
+
+[22] WILLIAM MORRIS, _Signs of Change_, p. 4.
+
+[23] Speech delivered in St. James' Hall, March 21, 1894.
+
+[24] Speech delivered at Newcastle, May 21, 1894.
+
+[25] In the British House of Commons the ministry and the opposition
+leaders sit in the front benches on opposite sides of the House facing
+each other. A "front bencher" always commands a hearing, owing to his
+high position in the party. The members of the party sit behind their
+leaders and are called "back benchers." The minor groups, the Labor
+Party and the Irish Party, sit in the cross benches at the lower end
+of the chamber and are called "cross benchers."
+
+[26] See _Annual Report Board of Education_, 1909-1910.
+
+[27] Keir Hardie, the dean of the Socialist group in Parliament,
+fathered this law. Sidney Webb, the distinguished Fabian, was made a
+member of the commission.
+
+[28] See First Annual Report of the Commission.
+
+[29] See _Annual Report Home Office_, 1909-1910.
+
+[30] _Ibid._
+
+[31] The money for these things he proposed to raise by taxes, and
+especially by a tax on land values.
+
+[32] CHIOZZA MONEY, _Riches and Poverty_, p. 82.
+
+  No. of Owners    Class of Owners        Acres owned
+        400        Peers and peeresses      5,729,927
+      1,288        Great landowners         8,497,699
+      2,529        Squires{1}               4,319,271
+      9,589        Greater yeomen{1}        4,782,627
+     24,412        Lesser yeomen{1}         4,144,272
+    217,049        Small proprietors        3,931,806
+    703,289        Cottagers                  151,148
+     14,459        Public bodies            1,443,548
+                   Waste lands              1,524,624
+    -------                                 ---------
+    973,015                                34,524,922
+
+{1} This classification is purely arbitrary.
+
+[33] _Op. cit._, p. 91.
+
+[34] The leaseholder is burdened with "rack-rent" and "premiums"; when
+the lease expires the improvements revert to the landlord. There has
+been, for years, a well-organized Single-Tax movement in England that
+points to the evils of this land system as conclusive proof of the
+validity of Henry George's theory.
+
+[35] One of the choruses popular with the great throngs that paraded
+the streets in that eager campaign is full of significance. It was
+sung to the tune of "Marching through Georgia."
+
+    "The land, the land, 'twas God who gave the land;
+    The land, the land, the ground on which we stand;
+    Why should we be beggars, with the ballot in our hand?
+          God gave the land to the people."
+
+
+[36] During the debate on the second reading in the House of Commons,
+the writer one day counted twenty members on the benches, and a labor
+member called the attention of the Speaker to the fact that "in this
+hour of constitutional crisis only twenty brave men are found willing
+to defend the prerogatives of the realm!"
+
+[37] Some of the Fabians, nevertheless, fought the bill, and their
+champion, Bernard Shaw, called Lloyd George's effort "The premature
+attempt of a sentimental amateur."
+
+[38] In 1909 the Labor Party claimed credit for the following measures
+passed during the Parliamentary session of that year:
+
+"(1) The grant of an additional L200,000 ($1,000,000) for the
+unemployed, and the extraction of a promise that, if it was
+insufficient, 'more would be forthcoming.'
+
+"(2) The passing of the Trades Boards Bill--the first effective step
+against 'sweating.'
+
+"(3) The smashing of the bill authorizing the amalgamation of three
+great railways.
+
+"(4) A discussion, protest, and vote against the visit of Bloody
+Nicholas, the Tsar. The Labor Party's amendments secured 70
+supporters, whilst only 187 members of the British Parliament were
+dirty enough to support the Tsar's visit.
+
+"(5) The introduction of the Shop Hours Bill and the extortion of a
+promise that it shall be adopted by the government and passed."--From
+a campaign pamphlet, _The Labor Party in Parliament_, p. 20.
+
+[39] See _Wanted--A Program: An Appeal to the Liberal Party_. S. WEBB,
+London, 1888.
+
+[40] See article by PROFESSOR HOBHOUSE, on "Democracy in England,"
+_Atlantic Monthly_, February, 1912.
+
+[41] J.A. HOBSON, _The Crisis of Liberalism_, p. 93.
+
+[42] L.T. HOBHOUSE, _Democracy and Reaction_, p. 230.
+
+[43] See "Report Eighteenth Annual Conference, I.L.P.," 1910, p. 59.
+
+[44] _Supra cit._, p. 71.
+
+Some of the I.L.P. members are Continental in their views. The
+president of the party used these words in his address, 1910: "All
+this jiggery-pokery of party government played like a game for
+ascendency and power is no use to us" (_supra cit._, p. 35). The
+discipline of the Labor Party was unable to keep half a dozen of its
+ablest debaters from fighting the Insurance Bill. The reversion of the
+radical Socialist element to the I.L.P. is by some observers
+considered not unlikely. Then the liberal or _reformiste_ element will
+become either a faction of the Liberal-Radical party or melt entirely
+away as the Chartists did in 1844.
+
+[45] This was the language used in the amendment moved in January,
+1911.
+
+[46] See _Parliamentary Debates_, 5th series, vol. 21, February 10,
+1911.
+
+[47] The Socialist workmen always resent the activity of the police
+and soldiers during strikes. In 1888 F. Engels wrote to an American
+friend: "The police brutalities in Trafalgar Square have done wonders
+in helping to widen the gap between the workingmen Radicals and the
+middle-class Liberals and Radicals." (See _Briefe und Auszuege aus
+Briefen von Fr. Engels u. A._, Stuttgart, 1906.)
+
+One of the incidents of the debate over the railway strike in the
+House of Commons was a clash between Lloyd George, the Liberal leader,
+and Keir Hardie, the Socialist. Keir Hardie had made inflammatory
+speeches to striking workmen, and for this the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer gave him a terrific and unmerciful flaying. (See
+_Parliamentary Debates_, 5th series, vol. 29, Aug. 22, 1911.)
+
+[48] J. RAMSAY MACDONALD: speech delivered at Edinburgh, 1909.
+
+[49] See J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, _The Socialist Movement_, pp. 150-7.
+
+[50] G.B. SHAW, Preface to "Fabian Tracts."
+
+[51] See LLOYD GEORGE'S famous "Limehouse Speech."
+
+[52] L.T. HOBHOUSE, _Democracy and Reaction_, p. 237.
+
+[53] BROUGHAM VILLIERS, _The Opportunity of Liberalism_, Preface.
+
+[54] See article by Secretary PEASE, of the Fabians, on the Fabian
+Society, _T.P.'s Magazine_, February, 1911.
+
+[55] J.A. HOBSON, _The Crisis of Liberalism_, p. 156.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+We have now concluded our survey of the political activities of
+Socialism in the four countries that present the most characteristic
+features of this movement of the working classes. It is peculiarly
+difficult to draw general conclusions from the study of a movement so
+protean. Democracy is young; Socialism is in its early infancy.
+
+Is there a rational trend in Socialism? Or is it only a passing whim
+of the masses? Is it a crude theory, an earnest protest, a powerful
+propaganda? Or is it a current of human conviction so strong, so
+deep-flowing that it will be resistless?
+
+It is futile to deny the power of the Socialist movement. The greatest
+proof of its virility is its ability to break away from Marxian dogma
+and from the fantasies of the utopists, and acknowledge mundane ways
+and means. In spite of this earthiness, it still has its fanciful
+abstractions. Some of its prophets are still glibly proclaiming a new
+order,--as if society were artificial, like a house, and could be torn
+down piecemeal or by dynamite, and then rebuilt to suit the vagaries
+of a new owner.
+
+On the other hand, a portion of the Socialists are learning that
+society is a living thing that can be shaped only by training, like
+the mind of a child. Socialism, as a whole, is metamorphosing. Some of
+its vicious eccentricities, like the ravings against religion and the
+espousal of free love, have already vanished. It is learning that
+institutions are the product of ages, not of movements, and cannot be
+changed at the fancy of every new and disgruntled social prophet.
+
+The best school for Socialism has been the school of parliamentary
+activity. Here the hot-blooded protesters become sober artisans of
+statecraft. We have seen how the early utopian ideas, with their
+edenesque theory of the guilelessness of man, were abruptly exchanged
+for the theory of violence, based on the materialistic conception of
+the universe and of man. Neither the soft humanities of the utopists
+nor the blood and thunder of revolution overturned the existing state.
+But when the workingmen appeared in parliaments, then things began to
+change.
+
+In every country where the Socialists have entered parliament, they
+appeared suddenly, in considerable numbers. So in France, Germany,
+England, Belgium, Austria. And they always produced a flutter, often a
+scare, among the conservatives. They were an untried force. Their
+preachings of violence and their antagonism to property made them an
+unknown quantity, to be feared, and not to be lightly handled--a bomb
+of political dynamite that might explode any moment and scatter the
+product of ages into fragments!
+
+But no explosion came. And one more example of the persistence of
+human nature was added to the long annals of history.
+
+In every country the parliamentary experience has been the same: the
+liberal and radical element, attracted by the legislative demands of
+the labor party, coalesced, for specific issues, with the Socialists,
+and a new era of economic and social legislation was ushered in. Even
+in Germany, with its unmodern conditions in government, all the powers
+of feudal autocracy failed to crush the rising forces of the new
+political consciousness.
+
+In France and England we have seen Socialists take their places in the
+cabinet, to the chagrin of that portion of the Socialists who still
+regard social classes as natural enemies, and consider social
+co-operation among all the elements of society impossible.
+
+In brief, Socialism has entered politics and has become mundane. You
+need a microscope to tell a Socialist from a Socialist-Radical in
+France, and a Laborite from a Radical-Liberal in England. Briand and
+Millerand may be voted out of the Socialist Party, and John Burns may
+be spurned by the I.L.P. But these men are teaching a double lesson:
+first, that there are no new ways to human betterment; second, that
+the old way is worth traveling, because it does lead to happier and
+easier conditions of toil. Socialists the world over will soon be
+compelled to realize that the political force which shrinks from the
+responsibility of daily political drudgery will never be a permanent
+factor in life. A political party that is afraid to assume the
+obligations of government for fear that it will lose its ideal, is too
+fragile for this world.
+
+The Socialist Party wherever it exists is a labor party, with a labor
+program that is based on conditions which need to be remedied. Their
+practical demands as a rule are of such a nature that all of society
+would benefit by their enactment into law. The mystery has all gone
+out of the movement. It is not necromancy, it is plain parliamentary
+humdrum which you see. The threatened witchery is all words; the
+doing is intensely human, of the earth earthy.
+
+The Socialist movement tends toward the latest phase of democracy,
+which is social democracy; the democracy that has ceased to toy with
+Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, and the other tinsel abstractions
+of the bourgeois revolutions; the democracy that sees poverty and
+suffering increase as wealth and ease increase. It is the democracy of
+the human heart, that cares for the babe in the slums, the lad in the
+factory, the mother at the cradle, and the father in his old age.
+Against all these helpless ones society has sinned. And it is to a
+universal, sincere, social penance that the new democracy calls the
+rich, the powerful, and the comfortable.
+
+Socialism is merging rapidly into this new democracy. In doing so it
+is abandoning its two great illusions. The first illusion is that the
+interests of the worker are somehow different from the interests of
+the rest of the community. Class war has been a resonant battle-cry,
+and has served its purpose. It is folly for any class to magnify its
+needs above those of the rest of society. Civilization and culture
+embrace the artisan and the artist, the poor and the powerful. Any
+class interest that clashes with the welfare of society as a whole
+cannot survive. Socialism is abandoning the tyranny of class war, is
+being mellowed by class co-operation. Socialists are now claiming that
+their interests are the interests of society. The social complexion of
+the party in the countries of its greatest advancement is an
+indication of this. Many of the party leaders are of middle-class
+origin. Some of them are rich. You call at their homes and servants
+open the door and receive your card on a silver tray. Multitudes of
+lawyers, physicians, journalists, and professors are in the movement.
+Dr. Frank of Mannheim, the leader of the Badensian Socialists, said to
+me that the degree to which Socialism can gain the support of the
+intellectual element is the measure of success of the movement. All
+this indicates that Socialism is breaking the bonds of self-limited
+class egoism. The peasant landowner, the small shopkeeper, the
+intellectualist, and occasionally a man or two of wealth and high
+social position are being drawn into this new democracy.
+
+The question is now being seriously asked: Can there be a social
+co-operation? Must there always be industrial war? Von Vollmar,
+Millerand, Vandervelde, MacDonald proclaim the possibility of rational
+co-operation. MacDonald says: "The defense for democracy which is far
+and away the weightiest is that progress must spring, not from the
+generosity or enlightenment of a class, but from the common
+intelligence." "It must be pointed out that the labor legislation now
+being asked for is very much more than a sequel to that passed under
+the influence of Lord Shaftesbury. This differs from that as the
+working of the moral conscience differs from the motives of the first
+brute man who shaped his conduct under a contract of mutual defense
+with a friendly neighbor. To use the arm of the law to abolish crying
+evils, to put an end to an ever-present injustice, is one thing; to
+use that arm to promote justice and to keep open the road to moral
+advancement, to bring down from their throne in the ideal into a place
+in the world certain conceptions of distributive justice, is quite
+another thing. And yet this latter is now being attempted, and was
+certain to be attempted as soon as democracy came into power. When
+society is enfranchised, the social question becomes the political
+question."[1]
+
+"The state is not the interest of a class, but the organ of
+society."[2] There can be no broader foundation for political action
+than this. All progress springs from the "common intelligence" to
+which every one contributes his quota.
+
+The second great illusion of Socialism is the social revolution. No
+one except a few extremists any longer thinks of the revolution by
+blood. Engels, the friend of Marx, shows that everywhere violence is
+giving way to political methods. "Even in the Romance countries we see
+the old tactics revised. Everywhere the German example of using the
+ballots is being followed. Even in France the Socialists see more and
+more that no lasting victory is to be theirs unless they win
+beforehand the great masses of the people. The slow work of propaganda
+and parliamentary activity is here also recognized as the next step in
+party development."[3] Engels shows how Socialists have entered the
+parliaments of Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, Roumania, as well as
+the parliaments of the great powers. And he indicates that the
+revolution of the Socialist must come as a revolution by
+majorities--which is democracy.
+
+Engels still believed that violence would follow the accession of
+democratic power. If he had lived another decade he would have
+discarded this last remnant of the theory of violence. In Germany the
+bourgeois are more frightened over the legal than over the illegal
+acts of the Socialist. They fear the results of elections more than
+rebellion. Violence they can suppress with a bayonet, but laws--they
+must be obeyed.
+
+This is true in every country. The power of the ballot is infinitely
+greater than the power of the bullet, provided it is followed up with
+common sense and energy.
+
+The theory of violence, then, has almost disappeared. The Syndicalist,
+in his reversion to anarchy, attempts to revive the forsaken theory.
+He does this by a general strike. But the general strike is not to be
+confused with the social revolution. The general strike, wherever it
+has been tried as an economic forcing valve, has failed. But whenever
+it has been used as a political uprising, demanding political rights,
+it has been more or less successful. In Belgium we have seen how it
+brought results. In Sweden a few years ago there was a general strike
+that not only shut every factory, but stopped the street cars and all
+transportation lines, closed the gas-works, and even the newspapers
+were suspended. It was a powerful political protest, but the number of
+striking workmen did not equal the non-strikers.
+
+In Italy in 1904 a general strike was called to protest against the
+arbitrary attitude of the government toward the labor movement. In
+some of the cities all work ceased, even the gondoliers of Venice
+joined the strikers. In Russia in 1904-5 the transportation lines and
+post and telegraph lines were tied up while the workingmen
+demonstrated for their political liberty.
+
+The violence of Socialism to-day is political; the violence of trade
+unionism is economic. As the democratic consciousness spreads, there
+may be such a coalescing of interests that violence will cease. But a
+human society without warfare and contention is still a tax upon the
+imagination. Strikes are increasing in number and bitterness and all
+the arbitrations and devices of democracies seem helpless in the
+turmoil of economic strife.
+
+I am not unmindful that behind all this parliamentary activity there
+is the dim background of hope in the hearts of many Socialists that
+somehow the wage system will vanish, that competition will cease, that
+the primary activities of production and distribution will be assumed
+by society, and that economic extremes will become impossible. In a
+people of fitful temper and ebullient spirit the doctrine of
+overturning remains a constant menace. Socialism in Spain and Italy
+wears a scarlet coat, in Germany a drab, and in England a black. The
+danger to civilization lurks, not in the survival of the doctrines of
+the older Socialism, but in the temper of the people who espouse them.
+
+The Socialist movement has accomplished three notable things. First,
+it has spread democracy. The bourgeois revolutions established
+democracy; Socialism extends it. We have seen how in Belgium it
+compelled the governing powers to give labor the ballot; how in
+Germany, hard set and dogmatic, it is shaping events that will surely
+lead to ministerial responsibility and to universal suffrage; and how
+in England it is resulting in universal manhood suffrage and probably
+"votes for women." Socialism is spreading the obligations of
+government upon all shoulders. It is not, however, democratizing the
+machinery of administration. In France the centralized autocracy of
+Napoleon's empire remains almost untouched. In England the ancient
+traditions of administration are slow to change. In Germany the civil
+service will be the last barrier to give way.
+
+Secondly, Socialism has forced the labor question upon the lawmakers.
+This is a great achievement. The neglected and forgotten portions of
+the human family are now the objects of state solicitude. The record
+of this revolution is written in the statute books. Turn the leaves of
+the table of contents of a modern parliamentary journal, and compare
+it with the same work of thirty years ago. Almost the entire time is
+now taken up with questions that may be called humanitarian rather
+than financial or political. Grave ministers of state make long
+speeches on the death-rate of babies in the cities, on the cost of
+living in factory towns, on the causes of that most heartbreaking of
+modern woes, non-employment. Budgets are now concerned with the
+feeding of school children as well as the building of warships, and
+with the training of boys as well as the drilling of soldiers.
+
+Nowhere has this radical change taken place without a labor party. The
+laboring man forced the issue. He bent kings and cabinets and
+parliaments to his demands. The time was ripe, society had reached
+that stage of its development when it was ready to take up these
+questions. But it did not do so of its own free will. When labor
+parties sprang like magic into puissance, a decade ago, the social
+conscience was ready to hear their plea. Bismarck foresaw their
+demands. But he was too obsessed of feudalism to realize their
+motives. Therefore his state socialism failed to silence the
+Socialists. The workman had his heart in the cause, not merely his
+tongue.
+
+And the third great achievement is the natural result of the other
+two. When democracy is potent enough to force its demands on
+parliament, then the power of the state is ready to fulfil its
+demands. So we find in every country where Social Democracy has gained
+a foothold a constant increase of the functions of the state. What
+shall the state do? That is now the great question. One hundred years
+ago it was, What sort of a state shall we have? That is answered: a
+democratic state; at least, a state democratic in spirit. The state is
+no longer merely judge, soldier, lawmaker, and governor. It is
+physician, forester, bookkeeper, schoolmaster, undertaker, and a
+thousand other things. Society has grown complex, and the state, which
+is only another name for society, has developed a surprising
+precocity.
+
+We have seen that in England especially the trend of legislation is to
+deprive the individual, one by one, of those prerogatives which gave
+him dominion over property. A man owning land in the city of London,
+for instance, has not the liberty to build as he likes or what he
+likes. He must build as the state permits him, and the exactions are
+manifold. He can be compelled to build a certain distance from the
+street,--that is, the city demands a strip of his land for common use.
+He can build only a certain height,--the community wants the sunlight.
+If his older buildings are dilapidated, the city tears them down. If
+the streets through his allotment are too narrow, the city widens
+them. In short, he may have title in fee simple, but the community has
+a title superior. Even his income from this parcel of land is not all
+his own. The state now takes a goodly slice in taxes. If he is
+inclined to resent this, and does not improve his property, the state
+taxes him on the unearned increment, and if he refuses to submit to
+this "socialism," the constable seizes the whole parcel, and he can
+have what is left after the community has satisfied its demands.
+
+The taxes that he pays are distributed over a vast variety of
+activities. They go to feed school children, to pension aged workmen,
+to send inspectors into the factories, to keep up hospitals, as well
+as to light and pave the streets and pay policemen. Other taxes that
+he pays on other forms of property go to the improvement of
+agriculture, to the payment of boards of arbitration, and so on. In
+short, ownership is becoming more and more only an incident; it is not
+merely a badge of ease, but a symbol of social responsibility.
+
+The burden of the law is shifting from property to persons, from
+protecting things to protecting humanity. This change from the Roman
+law is almost revolutionary. Even Blackstone, our halfway-mark in the
+evolution of the common law, is busy with postulates protecting
+property.
+
+Where is this encroachment of the state on private "rights" going to
+end? There are some things which the state (society) can do better
+than the individual; like the marshaling of an army or conducting a
+post-office, and things that are done to counteract the selfishness of
+individuals, like factory inspection. But there are other things which
+society cannot do; things that depend on individual effort, like art,
+literature, and invention. The two fields of state and individual
+activity merge into each other. Each nation marks its own
+distinctions. But this is certain: _in a democracy the state will do
+the things which the people want it to do_. And in a Social Democracy
+these things are numerous.
+
+Social Democracy strikes a balance between individual duty and
+collective energy. It brings the power of government (collective
+power), not to the few who are rich, therefore ignoring oligarchy; nor
+to the few who are clever, thereby ignoring tyranny; nor to the few
+who are well-born, thus discarding aristocracy; but it brings all the
+power of the government to all the people. It attempts to coalesce the
+cleverness of the tyrant, the experience of the aristocrat, the wealth
+of the industrial nabob, and the aggregate momentum of the mass, into
+a humanitarian power. It attempts to use the gifts of all for the
+benefit of all.
+
+Social Democracy is the resultant of two forces meeting from opposite
+directions: the forces of industrialism, and Socialism, of
+collectivism and individualism. No one can draw the exact direction of
+this resultant. It attempts to avoid the tyranny and selfishness of
+the few, and the tyranny and greed of the many.
+
+Our study of the operation of governments under the sway of Social
+Democracy has shown the sort of legislation that is demanded. It is
+not necessary to repeat here the details of these laws. But it is
+necessary to bear in mind that there are two industrial questions
+which have absolutely refused to bend to the power of government: the
+question of the length of the workday and the question of wages. The
+vast majority of strikes are due to differences over these two
+questions. The eight-hour day and the minimum wage have been
+successful only in a limited government service.[4] Nor has any
+machinery set up by governments to avoid industrial collisions between
+workmen and employers been successful in avoiding differences over
+hours and wages. The elaborate system of Germany, for instance, is
+nothing more than the good will of the state offered to the warring
+industrial elements in the interests of peace. The questions of hours
+and wages are so fundamental that they embrace the right of private
+property. Any power that divests an individual of the right to dispose
+of his time or substance by contract virtually deprives him of the
+right of ownership.
+
+The limits to the possibilities of Social Democracy are the limits of
+private ownership. This brings us at once to the verge of the eternal
+question of government--the finding of a just ratio between individual
+and collective responsibility: a ratio that varies with varying
+nationalities, and that will vary with the passing years. Each
+generation in every land will have to fix the limitations for itself.
+
+The new Social Democracy has acquired certain characteristics which
+will help us in determining the trend of its movements. In the first
+place it is an educated Social Democracy. The taunt of ignorance
+applied to the old Socialism of passion cannot be applied to the new
+Socialism of practice. The nations of Europe no longer debate the
+suitability of universal education. That question happily was settled
+for the United States with the landing of the Pilgrims. It took one
+hundred years for Europe to understand the Ordinance of 1787, that
+"schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Not
+all of the European nations have touched the heights of this ideal,
+but Social Democracy is struggling towards it, and schools, more or
+less efficient, are open to the workmen's children. This education is
+extended to adults by the press and by self-imposed studies. The
+eagerness with which men and women flock to lectures and night classes
+is a great omen. In Paris the _Ecole Socialiste_ and _Universite
+Populaire_, in Germany and Belgium the night classes in the labor
+union clubhouses, the debates and the lecture courses, are evidences
+of intellectual eagerness.
+
+In the second place it is a drilled democracy. It is organized into
+vast co-operative societies and trade unions. Here it learns the
+lesson of constant watchfulness over details. This training in the
+infinite little things of business is a good sedative. Socialists
+bargain and sell and learn the lessons of competition; do banking and
+learn discount; engage in manufacture and learn the problem of the
+employer.
+
+They are, moreover, drilled in parliaments, in city and county
+councils, in communal offices. They learn the advantages of give and
+take, are skilled in compromise, and feel the friction of opposition.
+
+All this has wrought a wonderful change in Socialism. To a Belgian
+co-operativist running a butcher-shop, the eight-hour day is a
+practical problem; and to a Bavarian member of a city council the
+question of opening communal dwellings ceases to be only a subject for
+debate. Nothing has brought these people to earth so suddenly as the
+infusion of earthly experience into their blood. And this transfusion
+has given them life. It has rid them of their many adjectives and
+given them a few verbs. It has robbed them in large measure of their
+mob spirit.[5] Every year the arbitrary governments of Europe are
+finding police coercion more and more unnecessary. The Socialist crowd
+is growing orderly, is achieving that self-control which alone
+entitles a people to self-government.
+
+It is not unnatural that this movement has made leaders. Of these,
+Herr August Bebel is the most remarkable example. This woodturner,
+turned party autocrat and statesman, is a never-ending wonder to the
+German aristocracy. His speeches are read as eagerly as those of the
+Chancellor, and his opinions are quoted as widely as the Kaiser's.
+When in 1911 he made his great speech on the Morocco Question in the
+Social Democratic Convention, it was reported by the column in all of
+the great Continental and English dailies. Bebel is an example of what
+the open door of opportunity will do, and he had to force the door
+himself. A few years ago, in a moment of reminiscent confidence, he
+confessed that he used to cherish as an ideal the time when he could,
+for once, have all the bread and butter he could eat. In America we
+are accustomed to this rising into power of obscure and untried men.
+But in Europe it is rare. European Social Democracy is an expression
+of the desire on the part of the people for the open highways of
+opportunity.
+
+In the third place, Social Democracy is self-conscious. I have not
+used the word class-conscious, because it is more than the
+consciousness of an economic group. History is replete with instances
+that reveal the irresistible power generated by mass consciousness.
+This is the psychology of nationalism. The dynamo that generates the
+mysterious voltage of patriotism, of tribal loyalty, is the heart.
+Socialism has replaced tribal and national ideals and welded its
+devotees into a self-conscious international unity. Whatever danger
+there may be in Socialism is the danger of the zealot. The ideal may
+be impracticable and discarded, but the devotion to it may be blind
+and destructive.
+
+As a rule, Socialist leaders and writers maintain that this drawing
+together of Socialism and democracy is only transitory, and that
+beyond this lies the promised land of social production. Jaures has
+explained this clearly: "Democracy, under the impetus given it by
+organized labor, is evolving irresistibly toward Socialism, and
+Socialism toward a form of property which will deliver man from his
+exploitation by man, and bring to an end the regime of class
+government. The Radicals flatter themselves that they can put a stop
+to this movement by promising the working classes some reforms, and by
+proclaiming themselves the guardians of private property. They hope to
+hold a large part of the proletariat in check by a few reforming laws
+expressing a sentiment of social solidarity, and by their policy of
+defending private property to rouse the conservative forces, the petty
+bourgeoisie, the middle classes, and the small peasant proprietors to
+oppose Socialism."[6]
+
+So we see that in spite of their experiences Socialists still draw a
+clear distinction between their Socialism and democracy. The Socialist
+is willing to ignore the experiences of the past twenty years in his
+ecstasy of vision. He claims that whatever has been done is mere
+reform. He affects to belittle it, the Marxian scorns it. To the
+Socialist, democracy is only the halfway house on the road to the
+economic paradise. He has his gaze fixed on the New Jerusalem of
+"co-operative production" and "distributive justice." Whether this New
+City, with its streets paved with the gold of altruism and its gates
+garnished with the pearls of good will and benevolence, will be
+brought from the fleecy clouds of ecstatic imagination to our sordid
+earth remains a question of speculation to that vast body of sincere
+and practical citizens who have not scaled the heights of the
+Socialistic Patmos.
+
+European Socialism has been transplanted to America. But its growth
+until quite recently has been very slow, and confined largely to
+immigrants. There is no political spur to hasten the movement. Here
+democracy has been achieved. The universal ballot, free speech, free
+press, free association are accomplished. Many of the economic
+policies espoused by the Social Democratic parties of Europe are
+written into the platforms of our political parties. There will be no
+independent labor party of any strength until the old parties have
+aroused the distrust of the great body of laboring men, and until the
+labor unions cut loose from their traditional aloofness and enter
+politics. How socialistic such a party will be must depend upon the
+circumstances attending its organization. The two third-party
+movements which have flourished since the Civil War, the Greenback
+movement of the '70's and the Populist movement of the '90's, were
+virtually "class" parties, restricted to the agricultural population
+of the Middle and Far West; and both of them feared Socialism as much
+as they hated capitalism. Neither of these parties outlived a decade.
+Economic prosperity abruptly ended both.[7]
+
+The stress of political exclusiveness and the harsh hand of government
+will not produce a reactionary movement among the workingmen of
+America. But economic circumstances may do so. We are still a young
+country full of the hope of youth. The ranks of every walk of life are
+filled with those who have worked their way to success from humble
+origin. Most of our famous men struggled with poverty in their youth.
+Their lives are constantly held up to the children of the nation as
+examples of American pluck, enterprise, and opportunity. A nation that
+lures its clerks toward proprietorship and its artisans toward
+independence offers barren soil for the doctrines of discontent. We
+have no stereotyped poverty in the European sense. Our farmers own
+their acreage, and many of the urban poor are able to buy a cottage in
+the outskirts of the city.
+
+But there are signs that these conditions are undergoing profound
+changes. Unlimited competition has led to limitless consolidation of
+industries, and the financial destinies of the Republic repose in the
+hands of comparatively few men. So much of the Marxian proposition is
+fulfilled, at the moment, in America. This concentrated wealth has not
+been unmindful of politics. Governmental power and money power are
+closely identified in the public mind. Our cities are overflowing with
+a new population from the excitable portions of southern Europe, a
+population that is proletarian in every sense of the word. Panics
+follow one another in rapid succession. The uneasiness of business is
+fed by the turmoil of politics. Unrest is everywhere. Labor and
+business are engaged in constant struggles that affect all members of
+society. The cost of living has increased alarmingly in the last ten
+years. We are becoming rapidly a manufacturing nation; the balance of
+power is shifting from the farm to the city.[8]
+
+European Socialists are taking a keen interest in American affairs.
+Bebel said to me: "You are getting ready for the appropriation of the
+great productive enterprises and the railways. Your trusts make the
+problem easy." John Burns prophesied that violence and bloodshed alone
+would check us in our mad career for wealth. Jaures asked how long it
+would take before our poverty would be worse than that of Europe. At a
+distance they see us plunging headlong into a Socialist regime.
+
+Professor Brentano of Munich knows us better. He said to me,
+"Conservation will be your Socialism."[9] If the fundamental
+principles of conservation can be embodied in constitutional laws,
+then there will be an almost indefinite extension of the power of the
+state over industry. It will embrace mines, forests, irrigated
+deserts; it will extend to the sources of all water supply and water
+power; the means of transportation may ultimately be included. So that
+without radical legal and institutional changes it will be possible
+for many of the sources of our raw materials to be placed under
+governmental surveillance, leaving the processes of manufacture and
+exchange in the hands of private individuals.
+
+There are at present many indications that this will be our general
+process of "socialization." The people appear to want it; and in a
+democracy the will of the people must prevail.
+
+Before we have advanced far along the new road of conservation we will
+find it necessary to reconstruct our whole system of administration.
+The haphazard of politics must be foreign to public business.
+Everywhere in Europe, especially in Germany and England, the people,
+including the Socialists, appear satisfied with the efficiency of
+their administrative machinery. Who would intrust the running of a
+railroad to our Federal or State governments?
+
+We have reached the extreme of rampant _laissez-faire_. Our youthful
+vigor and material wealth have kept us buoyant. Politically we will
+become more radical, economically less individualistic, in the next
+cycle of our development. There is no magic that saves a people except
+the magic of opportunity. In a democracy especially it is necessary to
+constantly purge society by free-moving currents of talent and virtue.
+This replenishing stream has its sources in the sturdy, healthy
+workers of the nation. The movement is from the depths upward. It is
+the supreme function of the state to keep these sources unclogged.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, _Ethical Democracy_, pp. 61-71.
+
+[2] J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, _Socialism and Government_, Vol. II, p. 117.
+
+[3] FREDERICK ENGELS' Introduction to MARX' _Klassenkampf_, pp. 16-17,
+1895.
+
+[4] The coal strike in England in March, 1912, brought the question of
+a legalized minimum wage before the people.
+
+[5] On November 28, 1905, a vast army of working men and women,
+estimated at 300,000 by the anti-Socialist papers, marched under the
+red flag through the streets of Vienna as a protest against the
+existing franchise laws. They were given the right of way and walked
+in silence through the streets of the capital. Their orderliness was
+more impressive than their vast numbers. It was an object-lesson that
+the government did not forget.
+
+[6] JEAN JAURES, _Studies in Socialism_, Eng. ed., p. 25.
+
+[7] What the so-called Progressive Party will accomplish, in this
+direction, remains to be seen.
+
+[8] The Socialist vote in the United States is as follows:
+
+  1892           21,164
+  1896           36,274
+  1900           87,814
+  1904          402,283
+  1908          402,464
+  1910          607,674
+  1911        1,500,000 (estimated)
+
+The vast increase shown in 1911 was made in municipal and other local
+elections. On January 1, 1912, 377 villages, towns, and cities in 36
+States had some Socialist officers. Several important cities have been
+under Socialist rule, notably Milwaukee and Schenectady, where the
+Socialists captured the entire city machinery. In 1912 the Socialists
+lost control of Milwaukee, although their vote increased 3,000. Their
+overthrow was accomplished by the coalescing of the old parties into a
+Citizens' Party, a line-up between radicalism and conservatism that
+will probably become the rule in American local politics.
+
+The party is organized along the lines of the German Social Democracy.
+Its membership has grown as follows:
+
+  1903           15,975
+  1904           20,764
+  1905           23,327
+  1906           26,784
+  1907           29,270
+  1908           41,751
+  1909           41,479
+  1910           48,011
+  1911           84,716
+  1912 (May)    142,000
+
+
+[9] In this statement, Professor Brentano re-enforces the opinions of
+the American economist to whose teachings and writings the
+"progressive" movement in American economics and politics, and
+especially the movement for conservation of natural resources, must be
+traced. For many years Professor Richard T. Ely has been pointing the
+way to this conservative "socialization" of our natural wealth.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+I. BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+The following list of the principal works consulted in the preparation
+of this volume may serve also as a bibliography on the subject. There
+are very few American books in the list, because the object of this
+volume is to summarize the European situation.
+
+For the spirit of the movement the student must consult the
+contemporary literature of Socialism--the newspapers, magazines, and
+pamphlets, and the campaign documents that flow in a constant stream
+from the Socialist press. These are, of course, too numerous and too
+fluctuating in character to be catalogued. Lists of these publications
+can be secured at the following addresses:
+
+The Fabian Society, 3 Clements Inn, Strand, London, W.C.
+
+The Labor Party, 28 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S.W.
+
+The Independent Labor Party, 23 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
+
+German Social Democracy, Verlags-Buchhandlung _Vorwaerts_, 68
+Lindenstrasse, Berlin, S.W.
+
+Belgian Labor Party, _Le Peuple_, 33-35 rue de Sable, Brussels.
+
+French Socialist Party, _La Parti Socialiste_, 16 rue de la Corderie,
+Paris.
+
+
+GENERAL WORKS: THE FOUNDERS OF SOCIALISM
+
+  BLANC, LOUIS: _Socialism._ An English edition was published in
+      1848.
+
+  ---- _Organization of Labor._ English edition in 1848.
+
+  BOOTH: _Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism._
+
+  CABET, ETIENNE: _Le Vrai Christianisme_, 1846.
+
+  FEUERBACH, FRIEDRICH: _Die Religion der Zukunft_, 1843-5.
+
+  ---- _Essence of Christianity._ An English translation, 1881, in
+      the "English and Foreign Philosophical Library."
+
+  FOURIER, F.C.M.: _Oeuvres Completes._ 6 vols. 1841-5.
+
+  GAMMOND, GATTI DE: Fourier and His System, 1842.
+
+  GIDE, CHARLES: _Selections from Fourier._ An English translation
+      by Julien Franklin, 1901.
+
+  GODWIN, WILLIAM: _An Inquiry Concerning Political Justice_, 1796.
+
+  KINGSLEY: _Cheap Clothes and Nasty_, 1851.
+
+  MORRELL, J.R.: _Life of Fourier_, 1849.
+
+  MORRIS, WILLIAM: _Works of_; _Chants for Socialists_, 1885.
+
+  OWEN, ROBERT: _An Address_, etc., 1813.
+
+  ---- _Addresses_, etc., 1816.
+
+  ---- _An Explanation of the Distress_, etc., 1823.
+
+  ---- _Book of the New Moral World_, etc., 1836.
+
+  PROUDHON, PIERRE JOSEPH: The Works of. English translation by
+      Tucker, American edition, 1876.
+
+  SAINT-SIMON: _New Christianity._ An English translation by Rev.
+      J.E. Smith. 1834.
+
+  WEIL, G.: _L'Ecole Saint-Simonisme--son Histoire_, etc., 1896.
+
+  WEITLING, WILLIAM: _Garantieen der Harmonie und Freiheit_, 1845.
+
+
+GENERAL WORKS: MODERN DISCUSSION
+
+  BEBEL, A.: _Woman, in the Past, Present, and Future._ An English
+      translation appeared in London in 1890.
+
+  BERNSTEIN, EDWARD: _Responsibility and Solidarity in the Labor
+      Struggle_, 1900.
+
+  BROOKS, J.G.: _The Social Unrest_, 1903.
+
+  ELY, R.T.: _French and German Socialism_, 1883.
+
+  ENSOR, R.C.K.: _Modern Socialism._ A useful collection of
+      Socialist documents, speeches, programs, etc.
+
+  GRAHAM, W.: _Socialism New and Old_, 1890.
+
+  GUTHRIE, W.B.: _Socialism Before the French Revolution_, 1907.
+
+  GUYOT, Y.: _The Tyranny of Socialism_, 1894.
+
+  JAURES, J.: _Studies in Socialism_, 1906.
+
+  KAUTSKY, K.: _The Social Revolution._ An English translation by
+      J.B. Askew. The best Continental view of modern Marxianism,
+      and the most widely read.
+
+  KELLY, EDMOND: _Twentieth Century Socialism_, 1910. The most
+      noteworthy of recent American contributions to Socialist
+      thought.
+
+  KIRKUP: _A History of Socialism_, 1909. A concise and
+      authoritative narrative.
+
+  KOIGEN, D.: _Die Kultur-ausschauung des Sozialismus_, 1903.
+
+  LEVY, J.H.: _The Outcome of Individualism_, 1890.
+
+  MACDONALD, J.R.: _Socialism and Society_, 1905. MacDonald is not
+      only the leader of the British Labor Party, but his writings
+      comprise a comprehensive exposition of the views of labor
+      democracy.
+
+  ---- _Character and Democracy_, 1906.
+
+  ---- _Socialism_, 1907.
+
+  ---- _Socialism and Government_, 1909.
+
+  MILL, J.S.: _Socialism_, 1891. A collection of essays, etc., from
+      the writings of John Stuart Mill touching on Socialism.
+
+  RAE, J.: _Contemporary Socialism_, 1908. A standard work.
+
+  RICHTER: _Pictures of the Socialist Future_, 1893.
+
+  SCHAEFFLE: _The Impossibility of Social-Democracy_, 1892.
+
+  ---- _The Quintessence of Socialism_, 1898. Probably the most
+      authoritative and concise refutation of the Socialist dogmas.
+
+  SOMBART, WERNER: _Socialism and the Social Movement_, 1909. Widely
+      read, both in the original and in the English translation.
+      Contains an interesting critique of Marxianism.
+
+  SPENCER, HERBERT: _The Coming Slavery_, 1884. A reprint from _The
+      Contemporary Review_.
+
+  STODDARD, JANE: _The New Socialism_, 1909. A convenient
+      compilation.
+
+  TUGAN-BARANOVSKY, M.I.: _Modern Socialism_, 1910. A systematic and
+      scholarly resume of the doctrines of Socialism.
+
+  WARSCHAUER, O.: _Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Sozialismus_,
+      1909.
+
+  WELLS, H.G.: _New Worlds for Old_, 1909. One of the most popular
+      expositions of Socialism.
+
+
+MARX AND ENGELS
+
+  AVELING, E.B.: _The Student's Marx._ A handy compilation. 1902.
+
+  BOEHM-BAWERK: _Karl Marx and the Close of His System._ An English
+      translation was made in 1898.
+
+  ENGELS, FRIEDRICH: _Die Entwickelung des Socialismus von der
+      Utopie zur Wissenschaft_, 1891.
+
+  ---- _Socialism--Utopian and Scientific_, 1892.
+
+  ---- _L. Feuerbach und der Ausgang der Klassischen Deutschen
+      Philosophie_, 1903.
+
+  ---- _Briefe und Auszuege von Briefen_, 1906.
+
+  ---- _Friedrich Engels, Sein Leben, Sein Wirken und Seine
+      Schriften_, 1895.
+
+  MARX and ENGELS: _The Communist Manifesto._ There have been many
+      editions; that of 1888 is probably the widest known for its
+      historical Introduction.
+
+  MARX, KARL: _The Poverty of Philosophy._ An answer to Proudhon's
+      _La Philosophie de la Misere_. An English translation was made
+      by H. Quelch, 1900.
+
+  ---- _Enthuellungen ueber den Kommunisten Process zu Koeln_, 1875.
+      Engels' Preface gives an account of the origin of the "Society
+      of the Just."
+
+  ---- _Die Klassenkaempfe in Frankreich, 1848-50._
+
+  ---- _Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany in 1848._ An
+      English translation appeared in 1896.
+
+  ---- _Capital_, 1896.
+
+  ---- _The International Workingmen's Association._ Two addresses
+      on the Franco-Prussian War, 1870.
+
+  ---- _The international Workingmen's Association--The Civil War in
+      France._ An address to the General Council of the
+      International, 1871.
+
+
+THE INTERNATIONAL
+
+  DAVE, V.: _Michel Bakunin et Karl Marx_, 1900.
+
+  ENGELS, F.: _The International Workingmen's Association_, 1891.
+
+  FROEBEL, J.: _Ein Lebenslauf_--for an account of Marx vs. Bakunin.
+
+  GUILLAUME, J.: _L'Internationale: Documents et Souvenirs_, 1905.
+
+  JAECKH, GUSTAV: _L'Internationale._ An English translation was
+      published in 1904.
+
+  JAEGER, E.: _Karl Marx und die Internationale Arbeiter
+      Association_, 1873.
+
+  MAURICE, C.E.: _Revolutionary Movements of 1848-9_, 1887.
+
+  TESTUT, O.: _L'Internationale--son origine, son but, son
+      principes, son organisation_, etc. Third edition, 1871. A
+      German edition translated by Paul Frohberg, Leipsic, 1872.
+
+  ---- _Le Livre Bleu de l'Internationale_, 1871.
+
+  VILLETARD: _History of the International._ Translated by Susan M.
+      Day, New Haven, 1874.
+
+  _Ein Complot gegen die Internationale Arbeiter Association_, 1874,
+      gives a careful version of the Marxian side of the Bakunin
+      controversy.
+
+  "International Workingmen's Association"--"_Proces-verbaux,
+      Congres a Lausanne_," 1867.
+
+  _Troisieme Congres de l'Association Internationale des
+      Travailleurs_, Brussels, 1868.
+
+  _Manifeste aux Travailleurs des Campagnes._ Paris, 1870.
+
+  _Manifeste addresse a toutes les associations ouvrieres_, etc.
+      Paris, 1874.
+
+  _International Arbeiter Association Protokoll._ A German edition
+      of the Proceedings of the Paris Congress, 1890, with a
+      valuable Introduction by W. Liebknecht.
+
+
+FRANCE
+
+  JAEGER, EUGEN: _Geschichte der Socialen Bewegung und des
+      Socialismus in Frankreich_, 1890.
+
+  JAURES, JEAN: _L'Armee Nouvelle--L'Organisation Socialiste de la
+      France_, 1911. The initial installment of the long-promised
+      account of the Socialist state.
+
+  LAVY, A.: _L'Oeuvre de Millerand_, 1902. An appreciative history
+      of Millerand's work. Contains many documents, speeches, etc.
+
+  PEIXOTTO, J.: _The French Revolution and Modern Socialism_, 1901.
+
+  VON STEIN, LORENZ: _Der Sozialismus und Communismus des Heutigen
+      Frankreichs_, 1848.
+
+  WEIL, GEORGES: _Histoire du Mouvement Socialiste en France_, 1904.
+
+
+BELGIUM
+
+  BERTRAND, LOUIS: _Histoire de la Democratie et Socialisme en
+      Belgique depuis 1830_, 1906. Introduction by Vandervelde.
+
+  ---- _Histoire de la Cooperation en Belgique_, 1902.
+
+  BERTRAND, LOUIS, et al.: _75 Annees de Domination Bourgeois_,
+      1905.
+
+  DESTREE et VANDERVELDE: _Le Socialisme en Belgique._
+
+  LANGEROCK, H.: _Le Socialisme Agraire_, 1895.
+
+  STEFFENS-FRAUWEILER, H. VON: _Der Agrar Sozialismus in Belgien_,
+      Munich, 1893.
+
+  VANDERVELDE, EMILE: _Histoire de la Cooperation en Belgique_,
+      1902.
+
+  ---- _Essais sur la Question Agraire en Belgique_, 1902.
+
+  ---- Article on the General Strike in _Archiv fuer Sozial
+      Wissenschaft_, May, 1908.
+
+
+GERMANY
+
+  BEBEL, AUGUST: _Die Social-Demokratie im Deutschen Reichstag._ A
+      series of brochures detailing the activity of the Social
+      Democrats--1871-1893. Of course from a partisan point of
+      view.
+
+  ---- _Aus Meinem Leben_, 1910. An intimate recital of the
+      development of Social Democracy in Germany.
+
+  BERNSTEIN, EDWARD: _Ferdinand Lassalle und Seine Bedeutung fuer die
+      Arbeiter Klasse_, 1904.
+
+  BRANDES, GEORG: _Ferdinand Lassalle: Ein Literarisches
+      Charakter-Bild._ Berlin, 1877. An English translation was
+      published in 1911. This is a brilliant biography.
+
+  DAWSON, W.H.: _German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle_, 1888.
+
+  ---- _Bismarck and State Socialism_, 1890.
+
+  ---- _The German Workman_, 1906.
+
+  ---- _The Evolution of Modern Germany_, 1908.
+
+  EISNER, K.: _Liebknecht--Sein Leben und Wirken_, 1900. A brief
+      sketch of the veteran Social Democrat.
+
+  FRANK, DR. LUDWIG: _Die Buergerlichen Parteien des Deutschen
+      Reichstags_, 1911. A Socialist's account of the rise of German
+      political parties.
+
+  HARMS, B.: _Ferdinand Lassalle und Seine Bedeutung fuer die
+      Deutsche Sozial-Demokratie_, 1909.
+
+  ---- _Sozialismus und die Sozial-Demokratie in Deutschland._
+
+  HOOPER, E.G.: _The German State Insurance System_, 1908.
+
+  KAMPFMEYER, P.: _Geschichte der Modernen Polizei im Zusammenhang
+      mit der Allgemeinen Kulturbewegung_, 1897. A Socialist's
+      recital of the use of police.
+
+  ---- _Geschichte der Modernen Gesellschafts-klassen in
+      Deutschland_, 1896. From a Socialist standpoint.
+
+  KOHUT, A.: _Ferdinand Lassalle--Sein Leben und Wirken_, 1889.
+
+  LASSALLE, FERDINAND: _Offenes Antwortschreiben an das
+      Central-Comite zur Berufung eines Allgemeinen Deutschen
+      Arbeiter Congress zu Leipzig_, 1863.
+
+  ---- _Die Wissenschaft und die Arbeiter_, 1863.
+
+  ---- _Macht und Recht_, 1863. A complete edition of Lassalle's
+      works was published in 1899, under the title "Gesamte Werke
+      Ferdinand Lassalles."
+
+  LOWE, C.: _Prince Bismarck: An Historical Biography_, 1885. A
+      sympathetic description of Bismarck's attempt to solve the
+      social problem.
+
+  MEHRING, F.: _Die Deutsche Sozial-Demokratie--Ihre Geschichte und
+      Ihre Lehre_, 1879. Third edition. A compact narrative.
+
+  MEYER, R.: _Emancipationskampf des Vierten Standes_, 1882.
+
+  NAUMANN, FRIEDRICH: _Die Politischen Parteien_, 1911. History of
+      German political parties. A Radical account.
+
+  SCHMOELE, J.: _Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften in
+      Deutschland seit dem Erlasse des Sozialisten Gesetzes_, 1896,
+      etc.
+
+  _Sozial-Demokratische Partei-Tag-Protokoll._ Annual reports of the
+      party conventions.
+
+  _Documente des Sozialismus._ An annual publication edited by
+      Bernstein.
+
+
+ENGLAND
+
+  ARNOLD-FOSTER, H.: _English Socialism of To-day_, 1908.
+
+  BARKER, J.E.: _British Socialism_, 1908. A collection of
+      quotations.
+
+  BIBBY, F.: _Trades Unionism and Socialism_, 1907.
+
+  BLATCHFORD, R.: _Merrie England_, 1895.
+
+  CHURCHILL, WINSTON: _Liberalism and the Social Problem_, 1909.
+
+  ENGELS, F.: _The Condition of the Working Classes in England in
+      1844_, 1892.
+
+  FAY, C.R.: _Co-operation at Home and Abroad_, 1908.
+
+  GAMMAGE, R.G.: _History of the Chartist Movement_, 1894.
+
+  HARDIE, KEIR: _From Serfdom, to Socialism_, 1907.
+
+  HOBHOUSE, L.T.: _The Labor Movement_, 1898.
+
+  ---- _Liberalism_, 1911.
+
+  ---- _Democracy and Reaction_, 1904.
+
+  HOBSON, J.A.: _The Crisis in Liberalism_, 1909.
+
+  HOLYOAKE: _History of Cooperation_, 1906.
+
+  KNOTT, Y.: _Conservative Socialism_, 1909.
+
+  LECKY, W.E.H.: _Democracy and Liberty_, 1899.
+
+  MACDONALD, J.R.: _The People in Power_, 1900.
+
+  ---- _Socialism To-day_, 1909.
+
+  MASTERMAN, C.F.G.: _The Condition of England_, 1909.
+
+  MCCARTHY, J.: _The Epoch of Reform_, 1882. For Chartism and the
+      reform movements of the nineteenth century democracy.
+
+  MONEY, CHIOZZA: _Riches and Poverty_, 1911.
+
+  NICHOLSON, J.S.: _History, Progress and Ideals of Socialism._ A
+      criticism of the Socialist viewpoint.
+
+  NOEL, CONRAD: _The Labor Party._ A criticism of the attitude of
+      Liberals and Conservatives toward the social problems. From
+      the Labor Party viewpoint.
+
+  SNOWDEN, P.: _The Socialist Budget_, 1907.
+
+  TOWLER, W.G.: _Municipal Socialism._ The anti-Socialist viewpoint.
+
+  _The Times_: _The Socialist Movement in Great Britain_, 1909. A
+      reprint of a series of carefully prepared articles in _The
+      Times._
+
+  VILLIERS, B.: _The Opportunity of Liberalism_, 1904.
+
+  ---- _The Socialist Movement in England_, 1908.
+
+  WEBB, S.: _Wanted--A Program: An Appeal to the Liberal Party_,
+      1888.
+
+  ---- _Socialism in England_, 1890.
+
+  WEBB, B. and S.: _Industrial Democracy_, 1902.
+
+  ---- _The History of Trade Unionism_, 1911.
+
+
+
+
+II. FRANCE
+
+
+1. NOTE ON THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT
+
+Yves Guyot, the distinguished French publicist, told the writer that
+there was only one compact, disciplined political party in France, the
+United Socialists. Other than the Socialists, there is no
+well-organized group in the Chamber of Deputies. The Right, Center,
+and Left coalesce almost insensibly into each other. Party platforms
+and party loyalty are replaced by a political individualism that to an
+American politician would seem like political anarchy.
+
+The Chamber of Deputies is supreme--the ministry stands or falls upon
+its majority's behest. This gives to the deputy a peculiar personal
+power. He is only loosely affiliated with his group, is a powerful
+factor in the government of the Republic, and is directly dependent
+upon his constituents for his tenure in office. The result is a
+personal, rather then a party, system of politics.
+
+This remarkably decentralized system of representative governance is
+counterbalanced by a highly efficient and completely centralized
+system of administration, which is based on civil service, and
+outlives all the mutations of ministries and shifting of deputies. The
+ministry, naturally, has theoretical control over the administrative
+officials. During the campaign for reorganizing the army and navy, and
+the disestablishment of the Church, under the Radical-Socialist
+_bloc_, a few years ago, General Andre, acting for the ministry,
+resorted to a comprehensive system of espionage to ferret out the
+undesirable officers. Every commune has its official scrutinizer, who
+reports the doings of the employees to the government.
+
+This, in turn, has created a clientilism. The deputy is needed by the
+ministry, the deputy needs the votes of his constituency, the local
+officials need the good will of the deputy. The result is a fawning
+favoritism that has taken the place of party servitude as we know it
+in America.
+
+The Socialists have precipitated a serious problem in this relation of
+the government employee to the state: Can the state employees form a
+union? There are nearly 1,000,000 state employees. This includes not
+only all the functionaries, but all the workmen in the match
+factories, the mint, the national porcelain factory and tobacco
+plants, and the navy yards. In 1885 and again in 1902 the Court of
+Cassation decided that "the right of forming a union (_syndicat_) is
+confined to those who, whether as employers or as workmen or employed,
+are engaged in _industry, agriculture, or commerce_, to the exclusion
+of all other persons and all other occupations."
+
+The government has, however, countenanced some infringements. A few
+syndicates of municipal and departmental employees are allowed; but
+they are mostly workmen, not strictly functionaries. There are several
+syndicates of elementary school teachers. But they have not been
+allowed to federate their unions. At Lyons the teachers formed a union
+and, according to law, filed their rules and regulations with the
+proper official, who turned them over to the Minister of Justice, and
+after a cabinet consultation it was decided that the union was
+illegal, but would be ignored. They then joined the local _Bourse du
+Travail_ (federation of labor), and Briand, then Minister of
+Education, vetoed their action. Then a number of branches in the
+public service, including post-office and customs-house employees,
+teachers, etc., united in forming a committee "_pour la defense du
+droit syndical des salaries de l'etat, des departements et du
+commerce_." This "Committee of Defense" petitioned Clemenceau on the
+right to organize, and intimated that the great and only difference
+between the state and the private employer is that the former adds
+political to economic oppression. This is pure Syndicalism. Under the
+individual political jugglery that takes the place of the party system
+in France, the problem is not made any the easier.
+
+
+2. PROGRAM OF THE LIBERAL WING OF THE FRENCH SOCIALISTS, ADOPTED AT
+TOURS, 1902, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF JAURES
+
+
+_I.--Declaration of Principles_
+
+Socialism proceeds simultaneously from the movement of democracy and
+from the new forms of production. In history, from the very morrow of
+the French Revolution, the proletarians perceived that the Declaration
+of the Rights of Man would remain an illusion unless society
+transformed ownership.
+
+How, indeed, could freedom, ownership, security, be guaranteed to all,
+in a society where millions of workers have no property but their
+muscles, and are obliged, in order to live, to sell their power of
+work to the propertied minority?
+
+To extend, therefore, to every citizen the guarantees inscribed in the
+Declaration of Rights, our great Babeuf demanded ownership in common,
+as a guarantee of welfare in common. Communism was for the boldest
+proletarians the supreme expression of the Revolution.
+
+Between the political regime, the outcome of the revolutionary
+movement, and the economic regime of society, there is an intolerable
+contradiction.
+
+In the political order democracy is realized: all citizens share
+equally, at least by right, in the sovereignty; universal suffrage is
+communism in political power.
+
+In the economic order, on the other hand, a minority is sovereign. It
+is the oligarchy of capital which possesses, directs, administers, and
+exploits.
+
+Proletarians are acknowledged fit as citizens to manage the milliards
+of the national and communal budgets; as laborers, in the workshop,
+they are only a passive multitude, which has no share in the direction
+of enterprises, and they endure the domination of a class which makes
+them pay dearly for a tutelage whose utility ceases and whose
+prolongation is arbitrary.
+
+The irresistible tendency of the proletarians, therefore, is to
+transfer into the economic order the democracy partially realized in
+the political order. Just as all the citizens have and handle in
+common, democratically, the political power, so they must have and
+handle in common the economic power, the means of production.
+
+They must themselves appoint the heads of work in the workshops, as
+they appoint the heads of government in the city, and reserve for
+those who work, for the community, the whole product of work.
+
+This tendency of political democracy to enlarge itself into social
+democracy has been strengthened and defined by the whole economic
+evolution.
+
+In proportion as the capitalistic regime developed its effects, the
+proletariat became conscious of the irreducible opposition between its
+essential interests and the interests of the class dominant in
+society, and to the bourgeois form of democracy it opposed more and
+more the complete and thorough communistic democracy.
+
+All hope of universalizing ownership and independence by multiplying
+small autonomous producers has disappeared. The great industry is more
+and more the rule in modern production.
+
+By the enlargement of the world's markets, by the growing facility of
+transport, by the division of labor, by the increasing application of
+machinery, by the concentration of capitals, immense concentrated
+production is gradually ruining or subordinating the small or middling
+producers.
+
+Even where the number of small craftsmen, small traders, small peasant
+proprietors, does not diminish, their relative importance in the
+totality of production grows less unceasingly. They fall under the
+sway of the great capitalists.
+
+Even the peasant proprietors, who seem to have retained a little
+independence, are more and more exposed to the crushing forces of the
+universal market, which capitalism directs without their concurrence
+and against their interests.
+
+For the sale of their wheat, wine, beetroot, and milk, they are more
+and more at the mercy of great middlemen or great industries of
+milling, distilling, and sugar-refining, which dominate and despoil
+peasant labor.
+
+The industrial proletarians, having lost nearly all chance of
+individually rising to be employers, and being thus doomed to eternal
+dependence, are further subject to incessant crises of unemployment
+and misery, let loose by the unregulated competition of the great
+capitalist forces.
+
+The immense progress of production and wealth, largely usurped by
+parasitic classes, has not led to an equivalent progress in well-being
+and security for the workers, the proletarians. Whole categories of
+wage-earners are abruptly thrown into extreme misery by the constant
+introduction of new mechanisms and by the abrupt movements and
+transformations of industry.
+
+Capitalism itself admits the disorder of the present regime of
+production, since it tries to regulate it for its gain by capitalistic
+syndicates, by trusts.
+
+Even if it succeeded in actually disciplining all the forces of
+production, it would only do so while consummating the domination and
+the monopoly of capital.
+
+There is only one way of assuring the continued order and progress of
+production, the freedom of every individual, and the growing
+well-being of the workers; it is to transfer to the collectivity, to
+the social community, the ownership of the capitalistic means of
+production.
+
+The proletariat, daily more numerous, ever better prepared for
+combined action by the great industry itself, understands that in
+collectiveness or communism lie the necessary means of salvation for
+it.
+
+As an oppressed and exploited class, it opposes all the forces of
+oppression and exploitation, the whole system of ownership, which
+debases it to be a mere instrument. It does not expect its
+emancipation from the good will of rulers or the spontaneous
+generosity of the propertied classes, but from the continual and
+methodical pressure which it exerts upon the privileged class and the
+government.
+
+It sets before itself as its final aim, not a partial amelioration,
+but the total transformation of society. And since it acknowledges no
+right as belonging to capitalistic ownership, it feels bound to it by
+no contract. It is determined to fight it, thoroughly, and to the end;
+and it is in this sense that the proletariat, even while using the
+legal means which democracy puts into its hands, is and must remain a
+revolutionary class.
+
+Already by winning universal suffrage, by winning and exercising the
+right of combining to strike and of forming trade-unions, by the first
+laws regulating labor and causing society to insure its members, the
+proletariat has begun to react against the fatal effects of
+capitalism; it will continue this great and unceasing effort, but it
+will only end the struggle when all capitalist property has been
+reabsorbed by the community, and when the antagonism of classes has
+been ended by the disappearance of the classes themselves, reconciled,
+or rather made one, in common production and common ownership.
+
+How will be accomplished the supreme transformation of the capitalist
+regime into the collectivist or communist? The human mind cannot
+determine beforehand the mode in which history will be accomplished.
+
+The democratic and bourgeois revolution, which originated in the great
+movement of France in 1789, has come about in different countries in
+the most different ways. The old feudal system has yielded in one case
+to force, in another to peaceful and slow evolution. The revolutionary
+bourgeoisie has at one place and time proceeded to brutal
+expropriation without compensation, at another to the buying out of
+feudal servitudes.
+
+No one can know in what way the capitalist servitude will be
+abolished. The essential thing is that the proletariat should be
+always ready for the most vigorous and effective action. It would be
+dangerous to dismiss the possibility of revolutionary events
+occasioned either by the resistance or by the criminal aggression of
+the privileged class.
+
+It would be fatal, trusting in the one word revolution, to neglect the
+great forces which the conscious, organized proletariat can employ
+within democracy.
+
+These legal means, often won by revolution, represent an accumulation
+of revolutionary force, a revolutionary capital, of which it would be
+madness not to take advantage.
+
+Too often the workers neglect to profit by the means of action which
+democracy and the Republic put into their hands. They do not demand
+from trade-unionist action, co-operative action, or universal
+suffrage, all that those forms of action can give.
+
+No formula, no machinery, can enable the working-class to dispense
+with the constant effort of organization and education.
+
+The idea of the general strike, of general strikes, is invincibly
+suggested to proletarians by the growing magnitude of working-class
+organization. They do not desire violence, which is very often the
+result of an insufficient organization and a rudimentary education of
+the proletariat; but they would make a great mistake if they did not
+employ the powerful means of action, which co-ordinates working-class
+forces to subserve the great interests of the workers or of society;
+they must group and organize themselves to be in a position to make
+the privileged class more and more emphatically aware of the gulf
+which may suddenly be cleft open in the economic life of societies by
+the abrupt stoppage of the worn-out and interminably exploited
+workers. They can thereby snatch from the selfishness of the
+privileged class great reforms interesting the working-class in
+general, and hasten the complete transformation of an unjust society.
+But the formula of the general strike, like the partial strike, like
+political action, is only valuable through the progress of the
+education, the thought, and the will of the working-class.
+
+The Socialist party defends the Republic as a necessary means of
+liberation and education. Socialism is essentially republican. It
+might be even said to be the Republic itself, since it is the
+extension of the Republic to the regime of property and labor.
+
+The Socialist party needs, to organize the new world, free minds,
+emancipated from superstitions and prejudices. It asks for and
+guarantees every human being, every individual, absolute freedom of
+thinking, and writing, and affirming their beliefs. Over against all
+religions, dogmas, and churches, as well as over against the class
+conception of the bourgeoisie, it sets the unlimited right of free
+thought, the scientific conception of the universe, and a system of
+public education based exclusively on science and reason.
+
+Thus accustomed to free thought and reflection, citizens will be
+protected against the sophistries of the capitalistic and clerical
+reaction. The small craftsmen, small traders, and small peasant
+proprietors will cease to think that it is Socialism which wishes to
+expropriate them. The Socialist party will hasten the hour when these
+small peasant proprietors, ruined by the underselling of their
+produce, riddled with mortgage debts, and always liable to judicial
+expropriation, will eventually understand the advantages of
+generalized and systematized association, and will claim themselves,
+as a benefit, the socialization of their plots of land.
+
+But it would be useless to prepare inside each nation an organization
+of justice and peace, if the relations of the nations to one another
+remained exposed to every enterprise of force, every suggestion of
+capitalist greed.
+
+The Socialist party desires peace among nations; it condemns every
+policy of aggression and war, whether continental or colonial. It
+constantly keeps on the order of the day for civilized countries
+simultaneous disarmament. While waiting for the day of definite peace
+among nations, it combats the militarist spirit by doing its utmost to
+approximate the system of permanent armies to that of national
+militias. It wishes to protect the territory and the independence of
+the nation against any surprise; but every offensive policy and
+offensive weapon is utterly condemned by it.
+
+The close understanding of the workers, of the proletarians of every
+country, is necessary as well to beat back the forces of aggression
+and war as to prepare by a concerted action the general triumph of
+Socialism. The international agreement of the militant proletarians of
+every country will prepare the triumph of a free humanity, where the
+differences of classes will have disappeared, and the difference of
+nations, instead of being a principle of strife and hatred, will be a
+principle of brotherly emulation in the universal progress of mankind.
+
+It is in this sense and for these reasons that the Socialist party has
+formulated in its congresses the rule and aim of its
+action--international understanding of the workers; political and
+economic organization of the proletariat as a class party for the
+conquest of government and the socialization of the means of production
+and exchange; that is to say, the transformation of capitalist society
+into a collectivist or communist society.
+
+
+_II.--Program of Reforms_
+
+The Socialist party, rejecting the policy of all or nothing, has a
+program of reforms whose realization it pursues forthwith.
+
+
+(1) _Democratization of Public Authorities_
+
+1. Universal direct suffrage, without distinction of sex, in every
+election.
+
+2. Reduction of time of residence. Votes to be cast for lists, with
+proportional representation, in every election.
+
+3. Legislative measures to secure the freedom and secrecy of the vote.
+
+4. Popular right of initiative and referendum.
+
+5. Abolition of the Senate and Presidency of the Republic. The powers
+at present belonging to the President of the Republic and the Cabinet
+to devolve on an executive council appointed by the Parliament.
+
+6. Legal regulation of the legislator's mandate, to be revocable by
+the vote of any absolute majority of his constituents on the register.
+
+7. Admission of women to all public functions.
+
+8. Absolute freedom of the press, and of assembly guaranteed only by
+the common law. Abrogation of all exceptional laws on the press.
+Freedom of civil associations.
+
+9. Full administrative autonomy of the departments and communes, under
+no reservations but that of the laws guaranteeing the republican,
+democratic, and secular character of the State.
+
+
+(2) _Complete Secularization of the State_
+
+1. Separation of the Churches and the State; abolition of the Budget
+of Public Worship; freedom of public worship; prohibition of the
+political and collective action of the Churches against the civil laws
+and republican liberties.
+
+2. Abolition of the congregations; nationalization of the property in
+mortmain, of every kind, belonging to them, and appropriation of it
+for works of social insurance and solidarity; in the interval, all
+industrial, agricultural, and commercial undertakings are to be
+forbidden to the congregations.
+
+
+(3) _Democratic and Humane Organization of Justice_
+
+1. Substitution for all the present courts, whether civil or criminal,
+of courts composed of a jury taken from the electoral register and
+judges elected under guarantees of competence; the jury to be formed
+by drawing lots from lists drawn up by universal suffrage.
+
+2. Justice to be without fee. Transformation of ministerial offices
+into public functions. Abolition of the monopoly of the bar.
+
+3. Examination from opposite sides at every stage and on every point.
+
+4. Substitution for the vindictive character of the present
+punishments, of a system for the safe keeping and the amelioration of
+convicts.
+
+5. Abolition of the death penalty.
+
+6. Abolition of the military and naval courts.
+
+
+(4) _Constitution of the Family in conformity with Individual Rights_
+
+1. Abrogation of every law establishing the civil inferiority of women
+and natural or adulterine children.
+
+2. Most liberal legislation on divorce. A law sanctioning inquiry into
+paternity.
+
+
+(5) _Civic and Technical Education_
+
+1. Education to be free of charge at every stage.
+
+2. Maintenance of the children in elementary schools at the expense of
+the public bodies.
+
+3. For secondary and higher education, the community to pay for those
+of the children who on examination are pronounced fit usefully to
+continue their studies.
+
+4. Creation of a popular higher education.
+
+5. State monopoly of education at the three stages; as a means towards
+this, all members of the regular and secular clergy to be forbidden to
+open and teach in a school.
+
+
+(6) _General recasting of the System of Taxation upon Principles of
+Social Solidarity_
+
+1. Abolition of every tax on articles of consumption which are primary
+necessaries, and of the four direct contributions;[1] accessorily,
+relief from taxation of all small plots of land and small professional
+businesses.[2]
+
+2. Progressive income-tax, levied on each person's income as a whole,
+in all cases where it exceeds 3,000 francs (L120).
+
+3. Progressive tax on inheritances, the scale of progression being
+calculated with reference both to the amount of the inheritance and
+the degree of remoteness of the relationship.
+
+4. The State to be empowered to seek a part of the revenue which it
+requires from certain monopolies.
+
+
+(7) _Legal Protection and Regulation of Labor in Industry, Commerce,
+and Agriculture_
+
+1. One day's rest per week, or prohibition of employers to exact work
+more than six days in seven.
+
+2. Limitation of the working-day to eight hours; as a means towards
+this, vote of every regulation diminishing the length of the
+working-day.
+
+3. Prohibition of the employment of children under fourteen; half-time
+system for young persons, productive labor being combined with
+instruction and education.
+
+4. Prohibition of night-work for women and young persons. Prohibition
+of night-work for adult workers of all categories and in all
+industries where night-work is not absolutely necessary.
+
+5. Legislation to protect home-workers.
+
+6. Prohibition of piece-work and of truck. Legal recognition of
+blacklisting.
+
+7. Scales of rates forming a minimum wage to be fixed by agreement
+between municipalities and the working-class corporations of industry,
+commerce, and agriculture.
+
+8. Employers to be forbidden to make deductions from wages, as fines
+or otherwise. Workers to assist in framing special rules for
+workshops.
+
+9. Inspection of workshops, mills, factories, mines, yards, public
+services, shops, etc., shall be carried out with reference to the
+conditions of work, hygiene, and safety, by inspectors elected by the
+workmen's unions, in concurrence with the State inspectors.
+
+10. Extension of the industrial arbitration courts to all wage-workers
+of industry, commerce, and agriculture.
+
+11. Convict labor to be treated as a State monopoly; the charge for
+all work done shall be the wage normally paid to trade-unionist
+workers.
+
+12. Women to be forbidden by law to work for six weeks before
+confinement and for six weeks after.
+
+
+(8) _Social Insurance against all Natural and Economic Risks_
+
+1. Organization by the nation of a system of social insurance,
+applying to the whole mass of industrial, commercial, and agricultural
+workers, against the risks of sickness, accident, disability, old age,
+and unemployment.
+
+2. The insurance funds to be found without drawing on wages; as a
+means towards this, limitation of the contribution drawn from the
+wage-workers to a third of the total contribution, the two other
+thirds to be provided by the State and the employers.
+
+3. The law on workmen's accidents to be improved and applied without
+distinction or nationality.
+
+4. The workers to take part in the control and administration of the
+insurance system.
+
+
+(9) _Extension of the Domain and Public Services, Industrial and
+Agricultural, of State, Department, and Commune_
+
+1. Nationalization of railways, mines, the Bank of France, insurance,
+the sugar refineries and sugar factories, the distilleries, and the
+great milling establishments.
+
+2. Organization of public employment registries for the workers, with
+the assistance of the Bourses du Travail and the workmen's
+organizations: and abolition of the private registries.
+
+3. State organization of agricultural banks.
+
+4. Grants to rural communes to assist them to purchase agricultural
+machinery collectively, to acquire communal domains, worked under the
+control of the communes by unions of rural laborers, and to establish
+depots and entrepots.
+
+5. Organization of communal services for lighting, water, common
+transport, construction, and public management of cheap dwellings.
+
+6. Democratic administration of the public services, national and
+communal; organizations of workers to take part in their
+administration and control; all wage-earners in all public services to
+have the right of forming trade-unions.
+
+7. National and communal service of public health, and strengthening
+of the laws which protect it--those on unhealthy dwellings, etc.
+
+
+(10) _Policy of International Peace and Adaptation of the Military
+Organization to the Defense of the Country_
+
+1. Substitution of a militia for the standing Army, and adoption of
+every measure, such as reductions of military service, leading up to
+it.
+
+2. Remodeling and mitigation of the military penal code; abolition of
+disciplinary corps, and prohibition of the prolongation of military
+service by way of penalty.
+
+3. Renunciation of all offensive war, no matter what its pretext.
+
+4. Renunciation of every alliance not aimed exclusively at the
+maintenance of peace.
+
+5. Renunciation of Colonial military expeditions; and in the present
+Colonies or Protectorates, withdrawn from the influence of
+missionaries and the military regime, development of institutions to
+protect the natives.
+
+
+3. BASIS OF THE UNITED SOCIALIST PARTY OF FRANCE
+
+_Adopted January 13, 1905_
+
+The representatives of the various Socialistic organizations of
+France: the revolutionary Socialist Labor Party, the Socialist Party
+of France, the French Socialist Party, the independent federations of
+Bouches-du-Rhone, of Bretagne, of Herault, of the Somme, and of
+l'Yonne, commanded by their respective parties and federations to form
+a union upon the basis indicated by the International Congress of
+Amsterdam, declare that the action of a unified party should be based
+upon the principles established by the International Congress,
+especially those held in France in 1900 and Amsterdam in 1904.
+
+The divergence of views and the various interpretations of the tactics
+of the Socialists which have prevailed up to the present moment have
+been due to circumstances peculiar to France and to the absence of a
+general party organization.
+
+The delegates declare their common desire to form a party based upon
+the class war which, at the same time, will utilize to its profit the
+struggles of the laboring classes and unite their action with that of
+a political party organized for the defense of the rights of the
+proletariat, whose interests will always rest in a party fundamentally
+and irreconcilably opposed to all the bourgeois classes and to the
+state which is their instrument.
+
+Therefore the delegates declare that their respective organizations
+are prepared to collaborate immediately in this work of the
+unification of all the Socialistic forces in France, upon the
+following basis, unanimously adopted:
+
+1. The Socialist Party is a class party which has for its aim the
+socialization of the means of production and exchange, that is to say,
+to transform the present capitalistic society into a collective or
+communistic society by means of the political and economic
+organization of the proletariat. By its aims, by its ideals, by the
+power which it employs, the Socialist Party, always seeking to realize
+the immediate reforms demanded by the working class, is not a party of
+reforms, but a party of class war and revolution.
+
+2. The members of Parliament elected by the party form a unique group
+opposed to all the factions of the bourgeois parties. The Socialist
+group in Parliament must refuse to sustain all of those means which
+assure the domination of the bourgeoisie in government and their
+maintenance in power: must therefore refuse to vote for military
+appropriations, appropriations for colonial conquest, secret funds,
+and the budget.
+
+Even in the most exceptional circumstances the Socialist members must
+not pledge the party without its consent.
+
+In Parliament the Socialist group must consecrate itself to defending
+and extending the political liberties and rights of the working
+classes and to the realization of those reforms which ameliorate the
+conditions of life in the struggle for existence of the working class.
+
+The deputies should always hold themselves at the disposition of the
+party, giving themselves to the general propaganda, the organization
+of the proletariat, and constantly working toward the ultimate goal of
+Socialism.
+
+3. Every member of the legislature individually, as well as each
+militant Socialist, is subject to the control of his federation; all
+of the officials in all of the groups are subject to the central
+organization. In every case the national congress has the final
+jurisdiction over all party matters.
+
+4. There shall be complete freedom of discussion in the press
+concerning questions of principle and policy, but the conduct of all
+the Socialist publications must be strictly in accord with the
+decisions of the national congress as interpreted by the executive
+committee of the party. Journals which are or may become the property
+of the party, either of the national party or of the federations, will
+naturally be placed under the management of authorities permanently
+established for that purpose by the party or the federations. Journals
+which are not the property of the party, but proclaim themselves as
+Socialistic, must conform strictly to the resolutions of the congress
+as interpreted by the proper party authorities, and they should insert
+all the official communications of the party and party notices, as
+they may be requested to do. The central committee of the party may
+remind such journals of the policies of the party, and if they are
+recalcitrant may propose to the congress that all intercourse between
+them and the party be broken.
+
+5. Members of Parliament shall not be appointed members of the central
+committee, but they shall be represented on the central committee by a
+committee equal to one-tenth of the number of delegates, and in no
+case shall their representation be less than five. The Federation
+shall not appoint as delegates to the Central Committee "_militants_"
+who reside within the limits of the Federation.
+
+6. The party will take measures for insuring, on the part of the
+officials, respect for the mandates of the party, and will fix the
+amount of their assessment.
+
+7. A congress charged with the definite organization of the party will
+be convened as soon as possible upon the basis of proportional
+representation fixed, first upon the number of members paying dues,
+and second upon the number of votes cast in the general elections of
+1902.
+
+
+
+
+III. GERMANY
+
+1. POLITICAL PARTIES IN GERMANY
+
+There are a great many "fractions" in German politics. But, following
+the Continental custom, they are all grouped into three divisions, the
+Left or Radical, Right or Conservative, and the Center. In Germany the
+Center is the Catholic or Clerical Party. The leading groups are as
+follows:
+
+1. _Conservative._--The "German Conservatives" are the old tories; the
+"Free Conservatives" profess, but rarely show, a tendency toward
+liberal ideas, although they have, at intervals, opposed ministerial
+measures. The Conservatives are for the Government (Regierung) first,
+last, and all the time. They were a powerful factor under Bismarck and
+docile in his hands. Since his day they have suffered many defeats
+because of their reactionary policy. But the group still is the
+Kaiser's party, the stronghold of modern medievalism, opposed to
+radical reforms, and adhering to "the grace of God" policy of
+monarchism. Economically they are _junker_ and "big business." The
+anti-Socialist laws were the expression of their ideas as to Socialism
+and the way to quench it.
+
+2. _National Liberal._--This party is not liberal, in the sense that
+England or America knows liberalism. It is really only a less
+conservative party than the extreme Right, although it began as the
+brilliant Progressist Party of the early '60's. It was triumphant in
+the Prussian Diet until Bismarck shattered it on his war policy. In
+the first Reichstag it had 116 members, nearly one-third of the whole.
+But Bismarck needed it, got it, and left it quite as conservative as
+he wished. It voted for the anti-Socialist laws and for state
+insurance.
+
+3. _Progressive_ (_Freisinnige_, literally, "free-minded").--This
+faction is a cession from the old Progressist Party of which Lassalle
+was a member for a few months. They are Radicals of a very moderate
+type, and are opposed to the junker bureaucracy. There are two
+wings--the People's Party (_Freisinnige Volkspartei_) and the
+Progressive Union (_Freisinnige Vereinigung_). It is a constitutional
+party, and has counted in its ranks such eminent scholars as Professor
+Virchow and Professor Theodor Mommsen. They are in favor of
+ministerial responsibility, are free traders of the Manchester type,
+opposed to state intervention and state insurance, but favor factory
+inspection, sanitation, and other social legislation. They are in
+favor of freedom in religion, trade, and education, and espouse ballot
+reform. They have a well-organized party, but do not seem effective
+in winning elections. They share, to some degree, with the Social
+Democrats the prejudice of the religious folk against free-thinking
+and religious latitudinarianism. It is the middle-class party of
+protest against bureaucracy.
+
+4. The _Center_, or Catholic Party, is a homogeneous, isolated,
+well-disciplined, inflexible group, dominated by loyalty to their
+religion. Whenever they have co-operated with the government it has
+been in return for favors shown. The ranks of this party were closed
+by the _Culturkampf_, which resulted in the expulsion of the Jesuit
+orders and the separation of the elementary schools from the Church.
+The party is reactionary in politics and economics.
+
+5. _Anti-Semitic._--The name discloses the ideals of a party inspired
+by dread and hatred of an element that comprises less than 1.5 per
+cent. of the population, and whose political disabilities were not all
+removed until 1850 in Prussia and 1869 in Mecklenburg. This party was
+formed in 1880, largely through the agitation of the Court Chaplain,
+Pastor Stoecker, whose diatribes were peculiarly effective in Berlin,
+where some very disgraceful scenes were enacted by members of this
+party.
+
+6. _Independent groups_ are formed by the various nationalities that
+are under subjection to German dominance. These are the Danish,
+Hannoverian, Alsace-Lorraine, and Polish groups. They usually are
+grouped with the Center.
+
+7. There are also a number of independent members in the Reichstag.
+They adhere loosely to the larger groups, but as a rule merit the name
+given them--_Wilden_, "wild ones."
+
+The accompanying table (p. 297) shows the distribution of seats in the
+Reichstag, for the past thirty years.
+
+
+2. SOME MODERN GERMAN ELECTION LAWS
+
+_Analysis of the New Election Law of Saxony_
+
+  _A._ One vote--every male 25 years of age.
+
+  _B._ Two votes, every male, as follows:
+
+      1. Those who have an annual income of over 1,600 marks
+          ($400).
+
+      2. Those who hold public office or a permanent private
+          position with an annual income of over 1,400 marks ($350).
+
+      3. Those who are eligible to vote for Landskulturrat
+          (Agricultural Board) or Gewerbskammer (Chamber of
+          Commerce) and from their business have an income of over
+          1,400 marks. (This includes merchants, landowners, and
+          manufacturers.)
+
+      4. Those who are owners or beneficiaries of property in the
+          kingdom from which they have an income of 1,250 marks
+          ($312.50) a year, and upon which at least 100 tax units
+          are assessed.
+
+      5. Those who own, or are beneficiaries of, land in the
+          kingdom, to the extent of at least 2 hectares, devoted to
+          agriculture, or forestry, or horticulture, or more than
+          one-half hectare devoted to gardening or wine culture.
+
+      6. Those who have conducted such professional studies as
+          entitle them to the one-year volunteer military service.
+
+  _C._ The following have three votes:
+
+      1. Those who have an income of over 2,200 marks ($550).
+
+      2. Those in division B, 2 and 3, who have an income from
+          office or position of over 1,900 marks ($475).
+
+      3. Those who are not in private or public service and have a
+          professional income of over 1,900 marks. (This includes
+          lawyers, physicians, artists, engineers, publicists,
+          authors, professors.)
+
+      4. Those in B, 4, whose income is over 1,600 marks ($400).
+
+      5. Those in B, 5, with 4 hectares devoted to agriculture,
+          etc., and 1 hectare to gardening or wine culture.
+
+  _D._ The following have four votes:
+
+      1. Those who have an income of 2,800 marks ($700).
+
+      2. Those in B, 2 and 3, or in C, 3, with an income over 2,500
+          marks ($625).
+
+      3. Those in B, 4, with an annual income of over 2,200 marks
+          ($550).
+
+      4. Those in B, 5, with 8 hectares devoted to agriculture or 2
+          hectares devoted to gardening or wine culture.
+
+  _E._ Voters over 50 years old have an extra vote (Alters-stimme),
+      but no voter is allowed over four votes.
+
+Sachsen-Altenburg, in 1908-9, modified its election laws as follows:
+The legislature is composed of 9 representatives elected by the
+cities; 12 by the rural districts; 7 by the highest taxpayers; one
+each by the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Agriculture, the Craft
+guilds (Handwerks-kammer), and the Labor Council (Arbeiter-kammer).
+The vigorous protest of the Social Democrats did not avail against the
+passage of this law.
+
+Saxe-Weimar recently modified its election law as follows: All
+citizens of communes were given the right to vote. The great feudal
+estates (165 persons in 1909) elect 5 representatives to the Diet; the
+rest of the highest taxpayers, i.e., those who have a taxable income
+of over 3,000 marks, elect 5. The University of Jena elects 1 member,
+the Chamber of Commerce 1, the Handwerks-kammer (Craft Guilds) 1,
+Landwirthschaftkammer (Agricultural Board) 1, the Arbeitskammer (Labor
+Council) 1. There are 38 members in the Diet: the remaining 23 are
+elected at large.
+
+
+3. STATISTICAL TABLES
+
+STATE INSURANCE IN GERMANY
+
+  _Industrial Insurance in Germany, 1908._
+
+  Sick benefits: Number insured             13,189,599
+                   Men                       9,880,541
+                   Women                     3,309,058
+                 Income                    365,994,000 marks
+                 Outlay                    331,049,900   "
+  Accident Insurance: Number insured        23,674,000
+                        Men                 14,795,400
+                        Women                8,878,600
+                      Income               207,550,500 marks
+                      Outlay               157,884,700  "
+  Old-Age Pensions: Number insured          15,226,000
+                       Men                  10,554,000
+                       Women                 4,672,000
+                     Income                285,882,000 marks
+                     Outlay                181,476,800   "
+
+From 1885 to 1908 a total of 9,791,376,100 marks ($2,447,844,025) was
+paid out in industrial insurance. (Compiled from _Statistisches
+Jahrbuch des Deutschen Reiches_.)
+
+
+LABOR UNIONS IN GERMANY
+
+  =================+===================+=============+======================
+   _Name of Union_ |     _Membership_  | _No. of     |      _Amount in
+                   |                   | Unions_     |   Treasury--Marks_
+  -----------------+---------+---------+------+------+----------+-----------
+                   |   1908  |   1909  | 1908 | 1909 |   1908   |   1909
+                   +---------+---------+------+------+----------+-----------
+  Social Democratic|1,831,731|1,892,568|11,024|11,725|40,839,791|43,743,793
+  Hirsh-Duncker    |  105,633|  108,028| 2,095| 2,102| 4,210,413| 4,372,495
+  Christian        |  264,519|  280,061| 3,212| 3,856| 4,513,409| 5,365,338
+  Patriotic        |   16,507|    9,957|    69|    91|    57,786|    24,858
+  "Yellow"         |   47,532|   53,849|    79|    85|   386,305|   437,602
+  Independent*     |  615,873|  654,240|      |      | 1,357,802| 1,655,325
+  -----------------+---------+---------+------+------+----------+-----------
+   * This is a nondescript group of local organizations, containing (1909)
+   56,183 Poles, as well as the organization of railwaymen, telegraph
+   operators, postal employees, all in the government service, and
+   organized as friendly societies rather than as fighting bodies.
+   Government employees are not supposed to participate in "Unionism."
+   Compiled from _Statistisches Jahrbuch des Deutschen Reiches_.
+
+
+TABLE SHOWING VOTE CAST IN REICHSTAG ELECTIONS SINCE THE FOUNDING OF
+THE EMPIRE*
+
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+   Election Year            |   1871   |   1874   |   1877   |   1878   |
+   Population of Empire     |40,997,000|42,004,000|43,610,000|44,129,000|
+   Number of voters         | 7,656,000| 8,523,000| 8,943,000| 9,128,000|
+   Number who voted         | 3,885,000| 5,190,000| 5,401,000| 5,761,000|
+   Per cent. of vote cast   |   51.0   |   61.2   |   60.6   |   63.3   |
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+   Conservative             |   549,000|   360,000|   526,000|   749,000|
+   Imperial Conservative    |   346,000|   376,000|   427,000|   786,000|
+   Anti-Semites             |    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |
+   Other Conservative Groups|    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |
+   Center                   |   724,000| 1,446,000| 1,341,000| 1,328,000|
+   Guelphs                  |    73,000|    72,000|    86,000|   107,000|
+   Danes                    |    21,000|    20,000|    17,000|    16,000|
+   Poles                    |   176,000|   209,000|   216,000|   216,000|
+   Alsatians                |    ...   |   190,000|   149,000|   130,000|
+   National Liberal         | 1,171,000| 1,499,000| 1,470,000| 1,331,000|
+   Other Liberal groups     |   281,000|    98,000|    89,000|    69,000|
+   Progressist or Radical   |   361,000|   469,000|   403,000|   388,000|
+   People's Party           |    50,000|    39,000|    49,000|    69,000|
+   Social Democrats         |   124,000|   352,000|   493,000|   437,000|
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+   Election Year            |   1881   |   1884   |   1887   |   1890   |
+   Population of Empire     |45,428,000|46,336,000|47,630,000|49,241,000|
+   Number of voters         | 9,090,000| 9,383,000| 9,770,000|10,146,000|
+   Number who voted         | 5,098,000| 5,663,000| 7,541,000| 7,229,000|
+   Per cent. of vote cast   |   56.3   |   60.6   |   77.5   |   71.6   |
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+   Conservative             |   831,000|   861,000| 1,147,000|   895,000|
+   Imperial Conservative    |   379,000|   388,000|   736,000|   482,000|
+   Anti-Semites             |    ...   |    ...   |    12,000|    48,000|
+   Other Conservative Groups|    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |    66,000|
+   Center                   | 1,183,000| 1,282,000| 1,516,000| 1,342,000|
+   Guelphs                  |    87,000|    96,000|   113,000|   113,000|
+   Danes                    |    14,000|    14,000|    12,000|    14,000|
+   Poles                    |   201,000|   203,000|   220,000|   247,000|
+   Alsatians                |   147,000|   166,000|   234,000|   101,000|
+   National Liberal         |   747,000|   997,000| 1,678,000| 1,179,000|
+   Other Liberal groups     |   429,000|    ...   |    ...   |    ...   |
+   Progressist or Radical   |   649,000|   997,000|   973,000| 1,160,000|
+   People's Party           |   108,000|    96,000|    89,000|   148,000|
+   Social Democrats         |   312,000|   550,000|   763,000| 1,427,000|
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+==========+
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+
+   Election Year            |   1893   |   1898   |   1903   |
+   Population of Empire     |50,757,000|54,406,000|58,629,000|
+   Number of voters         |10,628,000|11,441,000|12,531,000|
+   Number who voted         | 7,674,000| 7,753,000| 9,496,000|
+   Per cent. of vote cast   |   72.2   |   68.1   |   75.8   |
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+
+   Conservative             | 1,038,000|   859,000|   935,000|
+   Imperial Conservative    |   438,000|   344,000|   333,000|
+   Anti-Semites             |   264,000|   284,000|   249,000|
+   Other Conservative Groups|   250,000|   250,000|   230,000|
+   Center                   | 1,469,000| 1,455,000| 1,866,000|
+   Guelphs                  |   106,000|   109,000|   101,000|
+   Danes                    |    14,000|    15,000|    15,000|
+   Poles                    |   230,000|   252,000|   354,000|
+   Alsatians                |   115,000|   107,000|   127,000|
+   National Liberal         |   997,000|   984,000| 1,338,000|
+   Other Liberal groups     |   258,000|   235,000|   285,000|
+   Progressist or Radical   |   666,000|   558,000|   538,000|
+   People's Party           |   167,000|   109,000|    92,000|
+   Social Democrats         | 1,787,000| 2,107,000| 3,011,000|
+  ==========================+==========+==========+==========+
+  ==========================+==========+===========
+   Election Year            |   1907   |   1912
+   Population of Empire     |61,983,000|65,407,000
+   Number of voters         |13,353,000|14,442,000
+   Number who voted         |11,304,000|12,207,000
+   Per cent. of vote cast   |   84.7   |   84.5
+  ==========================+==========+===========
+   Conservative             | 1,099,000| 1,126,000
+   Imperial Conservative    |   494,000|   383,000
+   Anti-Semites             |   261,000|    ...
+   Other Conservative Groups|   272,000|   424,000
+   Center                   | 2,159,000| 1,991,000
+   Guelphs                  |    94,000|    91,000
+   Danes                    |    15,000|    17,000
+   Poles                    |   458,000|   448,000
+   Alsatians                |   107,000|   157,000
+   National Liberal         | 1,696,000| 1,723,000
+   Other Liberal groups     |   435,000}
+   Progressist or Radical   |   744,000} 1,506,000
+   People's Party           |   139,000}
+   Social Democrats         | 3,259,000| 4,250,000
+  ==========================+==========+===========
+
+  * In round numbers. From Kuerschner's _Deutscher Reichstag_, p. 24.
+
+
+PARTY REPRESENTATION IN THE REICHSTAG
+
+THE YEARS ARE THOSE OF GENERAL ELECTIONS--EXCEPTING 1911
+
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+     _Party or Faction._    | 1881 | 1884 | 1887 | 1890 | 1893 | 1898 |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  RIGHT
+    Conservatives           |  50  |  76  |  80  |  72  |  67  |  53  |
+    German or Imperial      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
+      Conservatives         |  27  |  28  |  41  |  20  |  28  |  22  |
+    "Wild" Conservatives    |   1  |   2  |  --  |   1  |   5  |   4  |
+    Anti-Semites            |  --  |  --  |   1  |   5  |  16  |  14  |
+    League of Landowners    |  --  |  --  |  --  |  --  |  --  |   5  |
+    Bavarian Land League    |  --  |  --  |  --  |  --  |   4  |   5  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  CENTER
+    Center                  |  98  |  99  |  98  | 106  |  96  | 102  |
+    Poles                   |  18  |  16  |  13  |  16  |  19  |  15  |
+    Guelphs                 |  10  |  11  |   4  |  11  |   7  |   9  |
+    Alsatians               |  15  |  15  |  15  |  10  |   8  |  10  |
+    Danes                   |   2  |   1  |   1  |   1  |   1  |   1  |
+    "Wild" Clericals        |   2  |  --  |  --  |  --  |  --  |  --  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  LEFT
+    National Liberals       |  45  |  51  |  98  |  41  |  53  |  48  |
+    RADICALS
+      United Progressives   |  47  }      |      |      {  14  |  13  |
+       (Radicals)           |      }  64  |  32  |  64  {      |      |
+      Other Progressive     |      }      |      |      {      |      |
+        groups (Radicals)   |  59  }      |      |      {  23  |  29  |
+      People's Party        |   8  |   7  |  --  |  10  |  11  |   8  |
+      "Wild" Liberals       |   3  |   3  |   3  |   5  |   1  |   3  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+     Social Democrats*      |  12  |  24  |  11  |  35  |  44  |  56  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+     _Party or Faction._    | 1900 | 1903 | 1906 | 1907 | 1911 | 1912 |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  RIGHT                                                               |
+    Conservatives           |  51  |  52  |  52  |  58  |  59  |  43  |
+    German or Imperial      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
+      Conservatives         |  20  |  19  |  22  |  22  |  25  |  14  |
+    "Wild" Conservatives    |   7  |   6  |   1  |   4  |   2  |   2  |
+    Anti-Semites            |  13  |  11  |  14  |  20  }  29  |  13  |
+    League of Landowners    |   4  |   3  |   4  |   7  }      |      |
+    Bavarian Land League    |   3  |   3  |   3  |   1  |  --  |   2  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  CENTER                                                              |
+    Center                  | 102  | 100  | 100  | 104  | 103  |  90  |
+    Poles                   |  14  |  16  |  16  |  20  |  20  |  18  |
+    Guelphs                 |   7  |   7  |   7  |   2  |   3  |   5  |
+    Alsatians               |  10  |  10  |  10  |   8  |   7  |   9  |
+    Danes                   |   1  |   1  |   1  |   1  |   1  |   1  |
+    "Wild" Clericals        |   1  |  --  |   1  |  --  |  --  |   1  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+  LEFT                                                                |
+    National Liberals       |  53  |  50  |  51  |  54  |  51  |  45  |
+    RADICALS                                                          |
+      United Progressives   |  15  |   9  |  10  |  14  }      |      |
+       (Radicals)           |      |      |      |      }      |      |
+      Other Progressive     |      |      |      |      }  49  |  42  |
+        groups (Radicals)   |  28  |  21  |  20  |  28  }      |      |
+      People's Party        |   7  |   6  |   6  |   7  }      |      |
+      "Wild" Liberals       |   3  |   2  |  --  |   4  |   4  |   2  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+     Social Democrats*      |  58  |  81  |  79  |  43  |  53  | 110  |
+  --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
+
+  * They form the extreme Radical Left.
+
+   (These groups are those given in Kuerchner's _Deutscher Reichstag_,
+    p. 398.)
+
+
+4. PROGRAM OF THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
+
+_Adopted at Erfurt, 1891_
+
+The economic development of bourgeois society leads by natural
+necessity to the downfall of the small industry, whose foundation is
+formed by the worker's private ownership of his means of production.
+It separates the worker from his means of production, and converts him
+into a propertyless proletarian, while the means of production become
+the monopoly of a relatively small number of capitalists and large
+landowners.
+
+Hand-in-hand with this monopolization of the means of production goes
+the displacement of the dispersed small industries by colossal great
+industries, the development of the tool into the machine, and a
+gigantic growth in the productivity of human labor. But all the
+advantages of this transformation are monopolized by capitalists and
+large landowners. For the proletariat and the declining intermediate
+classes--petty bourgoisie and peasants--it means a growing
+augmentation of the insecurity of their existence, of misery,
+oppression, enslavement, debasement, and exploitation.
+
+Ever greater grows the number of proletarians, ever more enormous the
+army of surplus workers, ever sharper the opposition between
+exploiters and exploited, ever bitterer the class-war between
+bourgeoisie and proletariat, which divides modern society into two
+hostile camps, and is the common hall-mark of all industrial
+countries.
+
+The gulf between the propertied and the propertyless is further
+widened through the crises, founded in the essence of the capitalistic
+method of production, which constantly become more comprehensive and
+more devastating, which elevate general insecurity to the normal
+condition of society, and which prove that the powers of production of
+contemporary society have grown beyond measure, and that private
+ownership of the means of production has become incompatible with
+their application to their objects and their full development.
+
+Private ownership of the means of production, which was formerly the
+means of securing to the producer the ownership of his product, has
+to-day become the means of expropriating peasants, manual workers, and
+small traders, and enabling the non-workers--capitalists and large
+landowners--to own the product of the workers. Only the transformation
+of capitalistic private ownership of the means of production--the
+soil, mines, raw materials, tools, machines, and means of
+transport--into social ownership and the transformation of production
+of goods for sale into Socialistic production managed for and through
+society, can bring it about, that the great industry and the steadily
+growing productive capacity of social labor shall for the hitherto
+exploited classes be changed from a source of misery and oppression
+to a source of the highest welfare and of all-round harmonious
+perfection.
+
+This social transformation means the emancipation not only of the
+proletariat, but of the whole human race which suffers under the
+conditions of to-day. But it can only be the work of the
+working-class, because all the other classes, in spite of mutually
+conflicting interests, take their stand on the basis of private
+ownership of the means of production, and have as their common object
+the preservation of the principles of contemporary society.
+
+The battle of the working-class against capitalistic exploitation is
+necessarily a political battle. The working-class cannot carry on its
+economic battles or develop its economic organization without
+political rights. It cannot effect the passing of the means of
+production into the ownership of the community without acquiring
+political power.
+
+To shape this battle of the working-class into a conscious and united
+effort, and to show it its naturally necessary end, is the object of
+the Social Democratic Party.
+
+The interests of the working-class are the same in all lands with
+capitalistic methods of production. With the expansion of
+world-transport and production for the world-market the state of the
+workers in any one country becomes constantly more dependent on the
+state of the workers in other countries. The emancipation of the
+working-class is thus a task in which the workers of all civilized
+countries are concerned in a like degree. Conscious of this, the
+Social Democratic Party of Germany feels and declares itself _one_
+with the class-conscious workers of all other lands.
+
+The Social Democratic Party of Germany fights thus not for new
+class-privileges and exceptional rights, but for the abolition of
+class-domination and of the classes themselves, and for the equal
+rights and equal obligations of all, without distinction of sex and
+parentage. Setting out from these views, it combats in contemporary
+society not merely the exploitation and oppression of the
+wage-workers, but every kind of exploitation and oppression, whether
+directed against a class, a party, a sex, or a race.
+
+Setting out from these principles the Social Democratic Party of
+Germany demands immediately--
+
+1. Universal equal direct suffrage and franchise, with direct ballot,
+for all members of the Empire over twenty years of age, without
+distinction of sex, for all elections and acts of voting. Proportional
+representation; and until this is introduced, re-division of the
+constituencies by law according to the numbers of population. A new
+Legislature every two years. Fixing of elections and acts of voting
+for a legal holiday. Indemnity for the elected representatives.
+Removal of every curtailment of political rights except in case of
+tutelage.
+
+2. Direct legislation by the people by means of the initiative and
+referendum. Self-determination and self-government of the people in
+empire, state, province, and commune. Authorities to be elected by the
+people; to be responsible and bound. Taxes to be voted annually.
+
+3. Education of all to be capable of bearing arms. Armed nation
+instead of standing army. Decision of war and peace by the
+representatives of the people. Settlement of all international
+disputes by the method of arbitration.
+
+4. Abolition of all laws which curtail or suppress the free expression
+of opinion and the right of association and assembly.
+
+5. Abolition of all laws which are prejudicial to women in their
+relations to men in public or private law.
+
+6. Declaration that religion is a private matter. Abolition of all
+contributions from public funds to ecclesiastical and religious
+objects. Ecclesiastical and religious communities are to be treated as
+private associations, which manage their affairs quite independently.
+
+7. Secularization of education. Compulsory attendance of public
+primary schools. No charges to be made for instruction, school
+requisites, and maintenance, in the public primary schools; nor in the
+higher educational institutions for those students, male and female,
+who in virtue of their capacities are considered fit for further
+training.
+
+8. No charge to be made for the administration of the law, or for
+legal assistance. Judgment by popularly elected judges. Appeal in
+criminal cases. Indemnification of innocent persons prosecuted,
+arrested, or condemned. Abolition of the death-penalty.
+
+9. No charges to be made for medical attendance, including midwifery
+and medicine. No charges to be made for death certificates.
+
+10. Graduated taxes on income and property, to meet all public
+expenses as far as these are to be covered by taxation. Obligatory
+self-assessment. A tax on inheritance, graduated according to the size
+of the inheritance and the degree of kinship. Abolition of all
+indirect taxes, customs, and other politico-economic measures which
+sacrifice the interests of the whole community to the interests of a
+favored minority.
+
+For the protection of the working-class the Social Democratic Party of
+Germany demands immediately--
+
+1. An effective national and international legislation for the
+protection of workmen on the following basis:
+
+(_a_) Fixing of a normal working-day with a maximum of eight hours.
+
+(_b_) Prohibition of industrial work for children under fourteen
+years.
+
+(_c_) Prohibition of night-work, except for such branches of industry
+as, in accordance with their nature, require night-work, for technical
+reasons, or reasons of public welfare.
+
+(_d_) An uninterrupted rest of at least thirty-six hours in every week
+for every worker.
+
+(_e_) Prohibition of the truck system.
+
+2. Inspection of all industrial businesses, investigation and
+regulation of labor relations in town and country by an Imperial
+Department of Labor, district labor departments, and chambers of
+labor. Thorough industrial hygiene.
+
+3. Legal equalization of agricultural laborers and domestic servants
+with industrial workers; removal of the special regulations affecting
+servants.
+
+4. Assurance of the right of combination.
+
+5. Workmen's insurance to be taken over bodily by the Empire; and the
+workers to have an influential share in its administration.
+
+6. Separation of the Churches and the State.
+
+(_a_) Suppression of the grant for public worship.
+
+(_b_) Philosophic or religious associations to be civil persons at
+law.
+
+7. Revision of sections in the Civil Code concerning marriage and the
+paternal authority.
+
+(_a_) Civil equality of the sexes, and of children, whether natural or
+legitimate.
+
+(_b_) Revision of the divorce laws, maintaining the husband's
+liability to support the wife or the children.
+
+(_c_) Inquiry into paternity to be legalized.
+
+(_d_) Protective measures in favor of children materially or morally
+abandoned.
+
+
+5. COMMUNAL PROGRAM OF THE BAVARIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
+
+Inasmuch as our communes are hindered in the fulfilment of their
+economic and political duties by reactionary laws, we demand:
+
+
+A.--OF THE STATE:
+
+1. A change of the municipal code, granting genuine local autonomy. A
+single representative chamber, a four-year term of office, one-half
+retiring every two years. Universal adult suffrage, secret ballot, the
+franchise not to be denied to those receiving public aid.
+
+2. Radical tax reform, through the establishing of a uniform,
+progressive income and property tax, collected by the communes; local
+taxes to be assessed upon increment value; and prohibition of all
+taxes upon the necessaries of life.
+
+3. A common-school law providing universal public education free from
+all religious bias, compulsory up to fourteen years of age. Obligatory
+secondary schools, the inclusion of social and political economy in
+their curricula; the defraying of expenses of pupils by the state.
+Substitution of professional supervision of schools for clerical
+supervision.
+
+4. Enactment of a domiciliary law, in place of the present inadequate
+laws, providing for all the necessary sanitary and socio-political
+demands. Extending the municipalities' right of condemnation to the
+extent that towns may erect houses and schools, open streets, and make
+all necessary public improvements demanded by the public welfare.
+
+5. Passage of a sanitary code. Regulation of sanitation in the public
+interests. Free medical attendance at births. Public nurseries.
+
+6. The administration of public charities by the local authorities.
+
+
+B.--OF THE COMMUNE WE DEMAND:
+
+1. Abolishing all taxes upon the rights of citizenship and of
+residence. Granting of full franchise rights after one year's
+residence.
+
+2. Elections to be held on a holiday or on Sunday.
+
+3. Pensions for communal employees.
+
+4. The cost of local administration to be borne by local property or
+from additions to the direct state taxes. Abolishing of all indirect
+taxes. Denial of all public aid to the Church.
+
+5. All public services to be conducted by the commune; these to be
+considered as public conveniences and necessities, and not to serve a
+mere pecuniary interest, but to be run as the public welfare demands.
+Rational development of existing water-power, means of communication,
+etc.
+
+6. Stipulating, in every contract for municipal work, the wages to be
+paid, and other conditions of labor, such arrangements to be made with
+the labor organizations; the right to organize into unions not to be
+denied to laborers and municipal employees and officers. Abolishing of
+strike clause in contracts for public works. Prohibition, of the
+sub-contractor system. Securing wages of workmen by bonds. Forbidding
+municipal officers participating in any business that will bring them
+into contract relations with the municipality.
+
+7. Development of a public school system which shall be non-sectarian
+and free to all. Restricting the number of pupils in the classes as
+far as practical. Furnishing free meals and clothing to needy school
+children; such service not to be counted as public charity.
+Establishing continuation schools for both sexes, and schools for
+backward children. Establishing of public reading-rooms and free
+public libraries.
+
+8. The advancement of public housing plans. The purchasing of large
+land areas by the municipality, to prevent speculation in building
+lots. Simplification of the procedure in examination of building
+plans, and the granting of building permits. Simplifying the
+regulations pertaining to the building of cottages and small
+residences. Municipal aid in the building of workingmen's homes.
+Providing cheaper homes in municipal houses and tenements. Providing
+loans of public moneys to building associations and agricultural
+associations. Leasing of land by the municipality. Municipal
+inspection of dwellings and of all buildings, the municipality to keep
+close scrutiny on all real estate developments. Establishment of a
+public bureau of homes, where information and aid can be secured, and
+where proper statistics can be gathered concerning building
+conditions.
+
+9. Providing for cheap and wholesome food through the regulation and
+supervision of its importation and inspection.
+
+10. Extension of sanitation. Conducting hospitals according to modern
+medical science. Establishing municipal lying-in hospitals. Free
+burials.
+
+11. Public care for the poor and orphans. The bettering of the
+economic condition of women. The granting of aid out of public funds.
+Public inspection and control of all orphanages, hospitals for
+children, and nurseries.
+
+12. The establishment of public labor bureaus, which are to act as
+employment agencies, information bureaus, gather labor statistics, and
+supervise the sociological activities of the municipality.
+
+Providing work for those in need of employment, on the public works of
+the commune. Provision for the support of those out of work in
+co-operation, with the labor unions' efforts in the same direction.
+The extension of municipal factory inspection and labor laws, as far
+as the general laws permit. Appointment of laborers as building
+inspectors. The development of the industrial and commercial courts.
+Sunday as a day of rest.
+
+13. Liberal wages to be paid workmen employed on public works. Fixing
+a minimum wage in accordance with the rules of the labor unions;
+formation of public loan and credit system; eight-hour day. Insuring
+public employees against sickness, accident, and old age. Making
+provision for widows and orphans of public employees. Right to
+organize not to be denied all municipal employees and officials.
+Recognition of the unions. Annual vacation, on full pay, to every
+municipal employee and official. Municipal employees to be given their
+wages during their attendance on military manoeuvers, and the payment
+of the difference between their wages and their sick-benefits in case
+of illness.
+
+14. Formation of a union of communes or towns, when isolated
+municipalities find themselves impotent in securing these demands.
+
+
+6. ELECTION ADDRESS (WAHLRUF) OF THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS FOR THE
+REICHSTAG ELECTIONS OF 1912
+
+On the 12th of January, 1912, the general election for the Reichstag
+takes place. Rarely have the voters been called upon to participate in
+a more consequential election. This election will determine whether,
+in the succeeding years, the policy of oppression and plundering
+shall be carried still farther, or whether the German people shall
+finally achieve their rights.
+
+In the Reichstag elections of 1907 the voters were deceived by the
+government and the so-called national parties: many millions of voters
+allowed themselves to be deluded. The Reichstag of the "National"
+_bloc_ from Heydebrand down to Weimar and Nauman has made nugatory the
+laws pertaining to the rights of coalition; has restricted the use of
+the non-Germanic languages in public meetings; has virtually robbed
+the youth of the right of coalition, and has favored every measure for
+the increase of the army, navy, and colonial exploitation.
+
+The result of their reactionaryism is an enormous increase of the
+burdens of taxation. In spite of the fact that in 1906 over
+200,000,000 marks increase was voted, in stamp tax, tobacco tax, etc.,
+in spite of the sacred promise of the government, through its official
+organ, that no new taxes were being contemplated, the government has,
+through its "financial reforms," increased our burden over five
+hundred millions.
+
+Liberals and Conservatives were unanimous in declaring that
+four-fifths of this enormous sum should be raised through an increase
+in indirect taxes, the greater part of which is collected from
+laborers, clerks, shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers. Inasmuch as the
+parties to the Buelow-_bloc_ could not agree upon the distribution of
+the property tax and the excise tax, the _bloc_ was dissolved and a
+new coalition appeared--an alliance between the holy ones and the
+knights (Block der Ritter und der Heiligen). This new _bloc_ rescued
+the distiller from the obligations of an excise tax, defeated the
+inheritance tax, which would have fallen upon the wealthy, and placed
+upon the shoulders of the working people a tax of hundreds of
+millions, which is paid through the consumption of beer, whiskey,
+tobacco, cigars, coffee, tea--yea, even of matches. This
+Conservative-Clerical _bloc_ further showed its contempt for the
+working people in the way it amended the state insurance laws. It
+robbed the workingman of his rights and denied to mothers and their
+babes necessary protection and adequate care.
+
+In this manner the gullibility of the voters who were responsible for
+the Hottentot elections of 1907 was revenged. Since that date every
+by-election for the Reichstag, as well as for the provincial
+legislatures and municipal councils, has shown remarkable gains in the
+Social Democratic vote. The reactionaries were consequently
+frightened, and now they resort to the usual election trick of
+diverting the attention of the voters from internal affairs to
+international conditions, and appeal to them under the guise of
+nationalism.
+
+The Morocco incident gave welcome opportunity for this ruse. At home
+and abroad the capitalistic war interests and the nationalistic
+jingoes stirred the animosities of the peoples. They drove their
+dangerous play so far that even the Chancellor found himself forced to
+reprimand his _junker_ colleagues for using their patriotism for
+partisan purposes. But the attempt to bolster up the interests of the
+reactionary parties with our international complications continues in
+spite of this.
+
+Voters, be on your guard! Remember that on election day you have in
+your hand the power to choose between peace or war.
+
+The outcome of this election is no less important in its bearing upon
+internal affairs.
+
+Count Buelow declared, before the election of 1907, "the fewer the
+Social Democrats, the greater the social reforms." The opposite is
+true. The last few years conclusively demonstrate this. The
+socio-political mills have rattled, but they have produced very little
+flour.
+
+In order to capture their votes for the "national" candidates, the
+state employees and officials were promised an increase in their pay.
+To the high-salaried officials the new Reichstag doled out the
+increase with spades, to the poorly paid humble employees with spoons.
+And this increase in pay was counterbalanced by an increase in taxes
+and the rising cost of living.
+
+To the people the government refused to give any aid, in spite of
+their repeated requests for some relief against the constantly
+increasing prices of the necessities of life. And, while the
+Chancellor profoundly maintained that the press exaggerated the actual
+conditions of the rise in prices, the so-called saviors of the middle
+class--the Center, the Conservatives, the anti-Semites and their
+following--rejected every proposal of the Social Democrats for
+relieving the situation, and actually laid the blame for the rise in
+prices upon their own middle-class tradesmen and manufacturers.
+
+_New taxes, high cost of living, denial of justice, increasing danger
+of war_--that is what the Reichstag of 1907, which was ushered in with
+such high-sounding "national" tom-toms, has brought you. And the day
+of reckoning is at hand. Voters of Germany, elect a different
+majority! The stronger you make the Social Democratic representation
+in the Reichstag, the firmer you anchor the world's peace and your
+country's welfare!
+
+The Social Democracy seeks the conquest of political power, which is
+now in the hands of the property classes, and is mis-used by them to
+the detriment of the masses. They denounce us as "revolutionists."
+Foolish phraseology! The bourgeois-capitalistic society is no more
+eternal than have been the earlier forms of the state and preceding
+social orders. The present order will be replaced by a higher order,
+the Socialistic order, for which the Social Democracy is constantly
+striving. Then the solidarity of all peoples will be accomplished and
+life will be made more humane for all. The pathway to this new social
+order is being paved by our capitalistic development, which contains
+all the germs of the New Order within itself.
+
+For us the duty is prescribed to use every means at hand for the
+amelioration of existing evils, and to create conditions that will
+raise the standard of living of the masses.
+
+Therefore we demand:
+
+1. The democratizing of the state in all of its activities. An open
+pathway to opportunity. A chance for every one to develop his
+aptitudes. Special privileges to none. The right person in the right
+place.
+
+2. Universal, direct, equal, secret ballot for all persons twenty
+years of age without distinction of sex, and for all representative
+legislative bodies. Referendum for setting aside the present unjust
+election district apportionment and its attendant electoral abuses.
+
+3. A parliamentary government. Responsible ministry. Establishment of
+a department for the control of foreign affairs. Giving the people's
+representatives in the Reichstag the power to declare war or maintain
+peace. Consent of the Reichstag to all state appropriations.
+
+4. Organization of the national defense along democratic lines.
+Militia service for all able-bodied men. Reducing service in the
+standing army to the lowest terms consistent with safety. Training
+youth in the use of arms. Abolition of the privilege of one-year
+volunteer service. Abolition of all unnecessary expense for uniforms
+in army and navy.
+
+5. Abolition of "class-justice" and of administrative injustice.
+Reform of the penal code, along lines of modern culture and
+jurisprudence. Abolition of all privileges pertaining to the
+administration of justice.
+
+6. Security to all workingmen, employees, and officials in their right
+to combine, to meet, and to organize.
+
+7. Establishment of a national Department of Labor, officials of this
+Department to be elected by the interests represented upon the basis
+of universal and equal suffrage. Extension of factory inspection by
+the participation of workingmen and workingwomen in the same.
+Legalized universal eight-hour day, shortening the hours of labor in
+industries that are detrimental to health.
+
+8. Reform of industrial insurance, exemption of farm laborers and
+domestic servants from contributing to insurance funds. Direct
+election of representatives in the administration of the insurance
+funds; enlarging the representation of labor on the board of
+directors; increasing the amounts paid workingmen; lowering age for
+old-age pensions from 70 to 65 years; aid to expectant mothers; and
+free medical attendance.
+
+9. Complete religious freedom. Separation of Church and State, and of
+school and Church. No support of any kind, from public funds, for
+religious purposes.
+
+10. Universal, free schools as the basis of all education. Free
+text-books. Freedom for art and science.
+
+11. Diminution and ultimate abolition of all indirect taxes, and
+abolition of all taxes on the necessities of life. Abolition of duties
+on foodstuffs. Limiting the restrictions upon the importation of
+cattle, fowl, and meat to the necessary sanitary measures. Reduction
+in the tariff, especially in those schedules which encourage the
+development of syndicates and pools, thereby enabling products of
+German manufacture to be sold cheaper abroad than at home.
+
+12. The support of all measures that tend to develop commerce and
+trade. Abolition of tax on railway tickets. A stamp tax on bills of
+lading.
+
+13. A graduated income, property, and inheritance tax; inasmuch as
+this is the most effective way of dampening the ardor of the rich for
+a constantly increasing army and navy.
+
+14. Internal improvements and colonization; the transformation of
+great estates into communal holdings, thereby making possible a
+greater food supply and a corresponding lowering of prices. The
+establishment of public farms and agricultural schools. The
+reclamation of swamp-lands, moors, and dunes. The cessation of foreign
+colonization now done for the purpose of exploiting foreign peoples
+for the sake of gain.
+
+Voters of Germany! New naval and military appropriations await you;
+these will increase the burdens of your taxes by hundreds of millions.
+As on former occasions, so now the ruling class will attempt to roll
+these heavy burdens upon the shoulders of the humble, and thereby
+increase the burden of existence of the family.
+
+Therefore, let the women, upon whom the burden of the household
+primarily rests, and who are to-day without political rights, take
+active part in this work of emancipation and join themselves with
+determination to our cause, which is also their cause.
+
+Voters of Germany! If you are in accord with these principles, then
+give your votes on the 12th of January to the Social Democratic Party.
+Help prepare the foundations for a new and better state whose motto
+shall be:
+
+Death to Want and Idleness! Work, Bread, and Justice for all!
+
+Let your battle-cry on election day resound: Long live the Social
+Democracy!
+
+                     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC
+                      REPRESENTATION IN THE REICHSTAG.
+
+  BERLIN, December 5, 1911.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Personal tax; tax on movables; tax on land; door and window tax.
+
+[2] A license to trade is required for many businesses in France.
+
+
+
+
+IV. BELGIUM
+
+POLITICAL UNIONISM IN BELGIUM
+
+
+The Catholic Church essayed to organize in Belgium a "Christian
+Socialist" movement, patterned after Bishop Kettler's movement in the
+Rhine provinces. The movement was called "Federation des Societes
+Ouvriers Catholiques" and grew to considerable power. The federation
+soon, however, developed democratic tendencies that separated it from
+the Clerical Party, and the Abbe Daens, their first deputy in the
+Chamber of Representatives, provoked the hostility of the
+ecclesiastical authorities and was deprived of his clerical
+prerogatives.
+
+The Catholic labor unions, which did not join in this democratic
+movement, have in the last few years developed some strength, and have
+now about 20,000 members.
+
+The Progressists or Radicals have from the first been favorable to
+labor and have in their ranks many workmen from the industries "de
+luxe," such as bronze workers, jewelers, art craftsmen, etc.
+
+The Liberals have a trades-union organization which does not flourish.
+It has about 2,000 members. The Liberals have, however, together with
+the Progressists, some influence over the independent unions, with
+their 32,000 members.
+
+The Socialist labor unions are the largest and most powerful. Their
+average yearly membership in the years 1885-90 was 40,234; in 1899 it
+was 61,451; in 1909 it had increased to 103,451.
+
+
+STATISTICAL TABLES
+
+TABLE SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN BELGIUM
+
+  =======+===========+============+===========+=========+
+         |           |            |           |         |
+         |  _No. of  | _Sales--   | _Profits--| _No. of |
+  _Year_ | Societies_| Francs_    | Francs_   | Members_|
+  -------+-----------+------------+-----------+---------+
+   1904  |    168    | 26,936,873 | 3,140,210 | 103,349 |
+   1905  |    161    | 28,174,563 | 3,035,941 | 119,581 |
+   1906  |    162    | 33,569,359 | 3,493,586 | 126,993 |
+   1907  |    166    | 39,103,673 | 3,843,568 | 134,694 |
+   1908  |    175    | 40,655,359 | 3,855,444 | 140,730 |
+   1909  |    199    | 43,288,867 | 4,678,559 | 148,042 |
+---------+-----------+------------+-----------+---------+
+  =======+===========+============+============
+         |    _No.   | _Value of  | _Paid-up
+         |     of    |  Realty    | Capital
+  _Year_ | Employees_|  Francs_   |  Francs_
+  -------+-----------+------------+------------
+   1904  |   1785    | 10,302,059 | 1,146,651
+   1905  |   1752    | 12,091,300 | 1,655,061
+   1906  |   1809    | 12,844,976 | 1,694,878
+   1907  |   2093    | 14,280,955 | 1,940,175
+   1908  |   2128    | 14,837,114 | 1,942,266
+   1909  |   2223    | 15,850,158 | 1,893,616
+---------+-----------+------------+------------
+
+TABLE SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE WHOLESALE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN
+BELGIUM FROM THE DATE OF ITS BEGINNING IN 1901
+
+  ========+=====================
+          | _Amount of Business
+   _Year_ | Done--Francs_
+  --------+---------------------
+    1901  |        760,356
+    1902  |      1,211,439
+    1903  |      1,485,573
+    1904  |      1,608,475
+    1905  |      2,219,842
+    1906  |      2,416,372
+    1907  |      2,796,196
+    1908  |      2,995,615
+    1909  |      3,221,849
+    1910  |      4,489,996
+  --------+---------------------
+
+
+PROGRAM OF THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY
+
+_Adopted at Brussels in 1893_
+
+
+DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
+
+1. The constituents of wealth in general, and in particular the means
+of production, are either natural agencies or the fruit of the
+labor--manual and mental--of previous generations besides the present;
+consequently they must be considered the common heritage of mankind.
+
+2. The right of individuals or groups to enjoy this heritage can be
+based only on social utility, and aimed only at securing for every
+human being the greatest possible sum of freedom and well-being.
+
+3. The realization of this ideal is incompatible with the maintenance
+of the capitalistic regime, which divides society into two necessarily
+antagonistic classes--the one able to enjoy property without working,
+the other obliged to relinquish a part of its product to the
+possessing class.
+
+4. The workers can only expect their complete emancipation from the
+suppression of classes and a radical transformation of existing
+society.
+
+This transformation will be in favor, not only of the proletariat, but
+of mankind as a whole; nevertheless, as it is contrary to the
+immediate interests of the possessing class, the emancipation of the
+workers will be essentially the work of the workers themselves.
+
+5. In economic matters their aim must be to secure the free use,
+without charge, of all the means of production. This result can only
+be attained, in a society where collective labor is more and more
+replacing individual labor, by the collective appropriation of natural
+agencies and the instruments of labor.
+
+6. The transformation of the capitalistic regime into a collectivist
+regime must necessarily be accompanied by correlative transformations--
+
+(_a_) In _morals_, by the development of altruistic feelings and the
+practice of solidarity.
+
+(_b_) In _politics_, by the transformation of the State into a
+business management (_administration des choses_).
+
+7. Socialism must, therefore, pursue simultaneously the economic,
+moral, and political emancipation of the proletariat. Nevertheless,
+the economic point of view must be paramount, for the concentration of
+capital in the hands of a single class forms the basis of all the
+other forms of its domination.
+
+To realize its principles the Labor Party declares--
+
+(1) That it considers itself as the representative, not only of the
+working-class, but of all the oppressed, without distinction of
+nationality, worship, race, or sex.
+
+(2) That the Socialists of all countries must make common cause (_etre
+solidaires_), the emancipation of the workers being not a national,
+but an international work.
+
+(3) That in their struggle against the capitalist class the workers
+must fight by every means in their power, and particularly by
+political action, by the development of free associations, and by the
+ceaseless propagation of Socialistic principles.
+
+
+I.--POLITICAL PROGRAM
+
+1. _Electoral reform._
+
+(_a_) Universal suffrage without distinction of sex for all ranks
+(age-limit, twenty-one; residence, six months).
+
+(_b_) Proportional representation.
+
+(_c_) Election expenses to be charged on the public authorities.
+
+(_d_) Payment of elected persons.
+
+(_e_) Elected persons to be bound by pledges, according to law.
+
+(_f_) Electorates to have the right of unseating elected persons.
+
+2. _Decentralization of political power._
+
+(_a_) Suppression of the Senate.
+
+(_b_) Creation of Legislative Councils, representing the different
+functions of society (industry, commerce, agriculture, education,
+etc.); such Councils to be autonomous, within the limits of their
+competence and excepting the veto of Parliament; such Councils to be
+federated, for the study and defense of their common interests.
+
+3. _Communal autonomy._
+
+(_a_) Mayors to be appointed by the electorate.
+
+(_b_) Small communes to be fused or federated.
+
+(_c_) Creation of elected committees corresponding to the different
+branches of communal administration.
+
+4. _Direct legislation._
+
+Right of popular initiative and referendum in legislative, provincial,
+and communal matters.
+
+5. _Reform of education._
+
+(_a_) Primary, all-round, free, secular, compulsory instruction at
+the expense of the State. Maintenance of children attending the
+schools by the public authorities. Intermediate and higher instruction
+to be free, secular, and at the expense of the State.
+
+(_b_) Administration of the schools by the public authorities, under
+the control of School Committees elected by universal suffrage of both
+sexes, with representatives of the teaching staff and the State.
+
+(_c_) Assimilation of communal teachers to the State's educational
+officials.
+
+(_d_) Creation of a Superior Council of Education, elected by the
+School Committees, who are to organize the inspection and control of
+free schools and of official schools.
+
+(_e_) Organization of trade education, and obligation of all children
+to learn manual work.
+
+(_f_) Autonomy of the State Universities, and legal recognition of the
+Free Universities. University Extension to be organized at the expense
+of the public authorities.
+
+6. _Separation of the Churches and the State._
+
+(_a_) Suppression of the grant for public worship.
+
+(_b_) Philosophic or religious associations to be civil persons at
+law.
+
+7. _Revision of Sections in the Civil Code concerning marriage and the
+paternal authority._
+
+(_a_) Civil equality of the sexes, and of children, whether natural or
+legitimate.
+
+(_b_) Revision of the divorce laws, maintaining the husband's
+liability to support the wife or the children.
+
+(_c_) Inquiry into paternity to be legalized.
+
+(_d_) Protective measures in favor of children materially or morally
+abandoned.
+
+8. _Extension of liberties._
+
+Suppression of measures restricting any of the liberties.
+
+9. _Judicial reform._
+
+(_a_) Application of the elective principle to all jurisdictions.
+Reduction of the number of magistrates.
+
+(_b_) Justice without fees; State-payment of advocates and officials
+of the Courts.
+
+(_c_) Magisterial examination in penal cases to be public. Persons
+prosecuted to be medically examined. Victims of judicial errors to be
+indemnified.
+
+10. _Suppression of armies._
+
+Provisionally; organization of a national militia.
+
+11. _Suppression of hereditary offices, and establishment of a
+Republic._
+
+
+II.--ECONOMIC PROGRAM
+
+
+A.--_General Measures_
+
+1. _Organization of statistics._
+
+(_a_) Creation of a Ministry of Labor.
+
+(_b_) Pecuniary aid from the public authorities for the organization
+of labor secretariates by workmen and employers.
+
+2. _Legal recognition of associations, especially--_
+
+(_a_) Legal recognition of trade-unions.
+
+(_b_) Reform of the law on friendly societies and co-operative
+societies and subsidy from the public authorities.
+
+(_c_) Repression of infringements of the right of combination.
+
+3. _Legal regulation of the contract of employment._
+
+Extension of laws protecting labor to all industries, and especially
+to agriculture, shipping, and fishing. Fixing of a minimum wage and
+maximum of hours of labor for workers, industrial or agricultural,
+employed by the State, the Communes, the Provinces, or the contractors
+for public works.
+
+Intervention of workers, and especially of workers' unions, in the
+framing of rules. Suppression of fines. Suppression of savings-banks
+and benefit clubs in workshops. Fixing of a maximum of 6,000 francs
+for public servants and managers.
+
+4. _Transformation of public charity into a general insurance of all
+citizens--_
+
+(_a_) against unemployment;
+
+(_b_) against disablement (sickness, accident, old age);
+
+(_c_) against death (widows and orphans).
+
+5. _Reorganization of public finances._
+
+(_a_) Abolition of indirect taxes, especially taxes on food and
+customs tariffs.
+
+(_b_) Monopoly of alcohol and tobacco.
+
+(_c_) Progressive income-tax. Taxes on legacies and gifts between the
+living (excepting gifts to works of public utility).
+
+(_d_) Suppression of intestate succession, except in the direct line
+and within limits to be determined by law.
+
+6. _Progressive extension of public property._
+
+The State to take over the National Bank. Social organization of
+loans, at interest to cover costs only, to individuals and to
+associations of workers.
+
+i. _Industrial property._
+
+    Abolition, on grounds of public utility, of private ownership
+      in mines, quarries, the subsoil generally, and of the great
+      means of production and transport.
+
+ii. _Agricultural property._
+
+    (_a_) Nationalization of forests.
+
+    (_b_) Reconstruction or development of common lands.
+
+    (_c_) Progressive taking over of the land by the State or the
+      communes.
+
+7. _Autonomy of public services._
+
+(_a_) Administration of the public services by special autonomous
+commissions, under the control of the State.
+
+(_b_) Creation of committees elected by the workmen and employees of
+the public services to debate with the central administration the
+conditions of the remuneration and organization of labor.
+
+
+B.--_Particular Measures for Industrial Workers_
+
+1. _Abolition of all laws restricting the right of combination._
+
+2. _Regulation of industrial labor._
+
+(_a_) Prohibition of employment of children under fourteen.
+
+(_b_) Half-time system between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
+
+(_c_) Prohibition of employment of women in all industries where it is
+incompatible with morals or health.
+
+(_d_) Reduction of working-day to a maximum of eight hours for adults
+of both sexes, and minimum wage.
+
+(_e_) Prohibition of night-work for all categories of workers and in
+all industries, where this mode of working is not absolutely
+necessary.
+
+(_f_) One day's rest per week, so far as possible on Sunday.
+
+(_g_) Responsibility of employers in case of accidents, and
+appointment of doctors to attend persons wounded.
+
+(_h_) Workmen's memorandum-books and certificates to be abolished, and
+their use prohibited.
+
+3. _Inspection of work._
+
+(_a_) Employment of paid medical authorities, in the interests of
+labor hygiene.
+
+(_b_) Appointment of inspectors by the Councils of Industry and Labor.
+
+4. _Reorganization of the Industrial Tribunals_ (Conseils de
+Prud'hommes) _and the Councils of Industry and Labor_.
+
+(_a_) Working women to have votes and be eligible.
+
+(_b_) Submission to the Courts to be compulsory.
+
+5. _Regulation of work in prisons and convents._
+
+
+C.--_Particular Measures for Agricultural Workers_
+
+1. _Reorganization of the Agricultural Courts._
+
+(_a_) Nomination of delegates in equal numbers by the landowners,
+farmers, and laborers.
+
+(_b_) Intervention of the Chambers in individual or collective
+disputes between landowners, farmers, and agricultural workers.
+
+(_c_) Fixing of a minimum wage by the public authorities on the
+proposition of the Agricultural Courts.
+
+2. _Regulation of contracts to pay farm-rents._
+
+(_a_) Fixing of the rate of farm-rents by Committees of Arbitration or
+by the reformed Agricultural Courts.
+
+(_b_) Compensation to the outgoing farmer for enhanced value of
+property.
+
+(_c_) Participation of landowners, to a wider extent than that fixed
+by the Civil Code, in losses incurred by farmers.
+
+(_d_) Suppression of the landowner's privilege.
+
+3. _Insurance by the provinces, and reinsurance by the State, against
+epizootic diseases, diseases of plants, hail, floods, and other
+agricultural risks._
+
+4. _Organization by the public authorities of a free agricultural
+education._
+
+Creation or development of experimental fields, model farms,
+agricultural laboratories.
+
+5. _Purchase by the communes of agricultural implements to be at the
+disposal of their inhabitants._
+
+Assignment of common lands to groups of laborers engaging not to
+employ wage labor.
+
+6. _Organization of a free medical service in the country._
+
+7. _Reform of the Game Laws._
+
+(_a_) Suppression of gun licenses.
+
+(_b_) Suppression of game preserves.
+
+(_c_) Right of cultivators to destroy all the year round animals which
+injure crops.
+
+8. _Intervention of public authorities in the creation of agricultural
+co-operative societies--_
+
+(_a_) For buying seed and manure.
+
+(_b_) For making butter.
+
+(_c_) For the purchase and use in common of agricultural machines.
+
+(_d_) For the sale of produce.
+
+(_e_) For the working of land by groups.
+
+9. _Organization of agricultural credit._
+
+
+III.--COMMUNAL PROGRAM
+
+1. _Educational reforms._
+
+(_a_) Free scientific instruction for children up to fourteen. Special
+courses for older children and adults.
+
+(_b_) Organization of education in trades and industries, in
+co-operation with workmen's organizations.
+
+(_c_) Maintenance of children; except where the public authorities
+intervene to do so.
+
+(_d_) Institution of school refreshment-rooms. Periodical distribution
+of boots and clothing.
+
+(_e_) Orphanages. Establishments for children abandoned or cruelly
+ill-treated.
+
+2. _Judicial reforms._
+
+Office for consultations free of charge in cases coming before the
+law-courts, the industrial courts, etc.
+
+3. _Regulation of work._
+
+(_a_) Minimum wage and maximum working-day to be made a clause in
+contracts for communal works.
+
+(_b_) Intervention of trade associations in the fixing of rates of
+wages, and general regulation of industry. The Echevin of Public Works
+to supervise the execution of these clauses in contracts.
+
+(_c_) Appointment by the workmen's associations of inspectors to
+supervise the clauses in contracts.
+
+(_d_) Rigorous application of the principle of tenders open to all,
+for all services which, during a transition-period, are not managed
+directly.
+
+(_e_) Permission to trade-unions to tender, and abolition of
+security-deposit.
+
+(_f_) Creation of _Bourses du Travail_, or at least offices for the
+demand and supply of employment, whose administration shall be
+entrusted to trade-unions or labor associations.
+
+(_g_) Fixing of a minimum wage for the workmen and employees of a
+commune.
+
+4. _Public charity._
+
+(_a_) Admission of workmen to the administration of the councils of
+hospitals and of public charity.
+
+(_b_) Transformation of public charity and the hospitals into a system
+of insurance against old age. Organization of a medical service and
+drug supply. Establishment of public free baths and wash-houses.
+
+(_c_) Establishment of refuges for the aged and disabled.
+Night-shelter and food-distribution for workmen wandering in search of
+work.
+
+5. _Complete neutrality of all communal services from the
+philosophical point of view._
+
+6. _Finance._
+
+(_a_) Saving to be effected on present cost of administration. Maximum
+allowance of 6,000 francs for mayors and other officials. Costs of
+entertainment for mayors who must incur certain private expenses.
+
+(_b_) Income tax.
+
+(_c_) Special tax on sites not built over and houses not let.
+
+7. _Public services._
+
+(_a_) The commune, or a federation of communes composing one
+agglomeration, is to work the means of transport--tramways, omnibuses,
+cabs, district railways, etc.
+
+(_b_) The commune, or federation of communes, is to work directly the
+services of general interest at present conceded to companies--lighting,
+water-supply, markets, highways, heating, security, health.
+
+(_c_) Compulsory insurance of the inhabitants against fire; except
+where the State intervenes to do so.
+
+(_d_) Construction of cheap dwellings by the commune, the hospices,
+and the charity offices.
+
+
+
+
+V. ENGLAND
+
+GROWTH OF SOCIALISTIC SENTIMENT IN ENGLAND
+
+
+In 1885 the Earl of Wemyss made a speech in the House of Lords
+deploring the advancement of state interference in business and giving
+a resume of the Acts of Parliament that showed how "Socialism" invaded
+St. Stephens from 1870 to 1885.
+
+His speech is interesting, not because it voices the
+ultra-Conservative's apprehensions but because the Earl had really
+discovered the legal basis of the new Social Democratic advance, which
+had come unheralded. The Earl reviewed the bills that Parliament had
+sanctioned, which dealt with state "interference." Twelve bills
+referred to lands and houses. "All of these measures assume the right
+of the state to regulate the management of, or to confiscate real
+property"--steps in the direction of substituting "land
+nationalization" for individual ownership. Five laws dealt with
+corporations, "confiscating property of water companies," etc.; nine
+dealt with ships: "all of them assertions by the Board of Trade of its
+right to regulate private enterprise and individual management in the
+mercantile marine;" six with mines, "prompting a fallacious confidence
+in government inspection;" six with railways, "all encroachments upon
+self-government of private enterprise in railways--successive steps in
+the direction of state railways." Nine had to do with manufactures and
+trades, "invasions by the state of the self-government of the various
+interests of the country, and curtailment of the freedom of contract
+between employers and employed." "The Pawnbrokers' Act of 1872 was the
+thin edge of the wedge for reducing the business of the 'poor man's
+banks' to a state monopoly." Twenty laws dealt with liquor, "all
+attempts on the part of the state to regulate the dealings and habits
+of buyers and sellers of alcoholic drinks." Sixteen dealt with
+dwellings of the working class, "all embodying the principle that it
+is the duty of the state to provide dwellings, private gardens, and
+other conveniences for the working classes, and assume its right to
+appropriate land for these purposes." There were nine education acts,
+"all based on the assumption that it is the duty of the state to act
+_in loco parentis_." Four laws dealt with recreation, "whereby the
+state, having educated the people in common school rooms, proceeds to
+provide them with common reading-rooms, and afterwards turns them out
+at stated times into the streets for common holidays."
+
+Of local government and improvement acts, there were passed "a vast
+mass of local legislation ... containing interferences in every
+conceivable particular with liberty and property."
+
+The Earl quotes Lord Palmerston as saying in 1865, "Tenant right is
+landlord wrong," and Lord Sherbrooke, in 1866, "Happily there is an
+oasis upon which all men, without distinction of party, can take
+common stand, and that is the good ground of political economy." And
+the noble lord concludes by predicting, "The general social results of
+such Socialistic legislation may be summed up in 'dynamite,'
+'detectives,' and 'general demoralization.'"[1]
+
+In 1887 the Earl again turned his guns upon the radical advance, but
+only seven peers were on the benches to listen. In 1890 he made a
+third resume under a more liberal patronage of listeners; this time
+the factory laws and inspection measures came in for his especial
+criticism. He said: "Now, my lords, what is the character of all this
+legislation? It is to substitute state help for self help, to regulate
+and control men in their dealings with one another with regard to land
+or anything else. The state now forbids contracts, breaks contracts,
+makes contracts. The whole tendency is to substitute the state or the
+municipality for the free action of the individual."[2]
+
+
+AN EARLY POLITICAL BROADSIDE BY THE MARXIANS.
+
+The earlier attitude of the Marxian Socialists of London toward
+participating in elections is shown in the following broadside, dated
+July, 1895:
+
+"We, revolutionary Social Democrats, disdain to conceal our
+principles. We proclaim the class war. We hold that the lot of the
+worker cannot to any appreciable extent be improved except by a
+complete overthrow of this present capitalist system of society. The
+time for social tinkering has gone past. Government statistics show
+that the number of unemployed is slowly but surely increasing, and
+that the decreases in wages greatly preponderate over the increases,
+and everything points to the fact that the condition of your class is
+getting worse and worse.
+
+"Refuse once for all to allow your backs to be made the stepping
+stones to obtain that power which they (the politicians) know only too
+well how to use against you.
+
+"Scoff at their patronizing airs and claim your rights like men.
+Refuse to give them that which they want, i.e., your vote. Give them
+no opportunity of saying that they are _your_ representatives. Refuse
+to be a party to the fraud of present-day politics, and
+
+          "ABSTAIN FROM VOTING."
+
+
+THRIFT INSTITUTIONS IN ENGLAND FOR SAVINGS, INSURANCE, ETC., 1907
+
+(FROM CHIOZZA MONEY--"RICHES AND POVERTY," p. 56)
+
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+   _Name of Institution_                  | _Number of   | _Funds_--L
+                                          | Members_     |
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+   Building Societies                     |    623,047   |  73,289,229
+  ========================================+==============+==============
+   Ordinary Friendly Societies            |  3,418,869   |  19,346,567
+   Friendly Societies having branches     |  2,710,437   |  25,610,365
+   Collecting Friendly Societies          |  9,010,574   |   9,946,447
+   Benevolent Societies                   |     29,716   |     337,393
+   Workingmen's Clubs                     |    272,847   |     381,463
+   Specially Authorized Societies         |     70,980   |     532,717
+   Specially Authorized Loan Societies    |    141,850   |     897,784
+   Medical Societies                      |    313,755   |      65,513
+   Cattle Insurance Settlers              |      4,029   |       8,570
+   Shop Clubs                             |     12,207   |       1,349
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+      Total                               | 15,983,264   |  57,128,168
+  ========================================+==============+==============
+   Co-operative Societies, industry and   |              |
+     trade                                |  2,461,028   |  53,788,917
+   Business Co-operative Societies        |    108,550   |     984,680
+   Land Co-operative Societies            |     18,631   |   1,619,716
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+      Total                               |  2,588,209   |  56,393,313
+  ========================================+==============+==============
+   Trade Unions                           |  1,973,560   |   6,424,176
+   Workmen's Compensation Schemes         |     99,371   |     164,560
+   Friends of Labor Loan Societies        |     33,576   |     260,905
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+   Grand Total of Registered Provident    |              |
+     Societies                            | 21,301,027   | 193,660,351
+  ========================================+==============+==============
+   Railway Savings Banks                  |     64,126*  |   5,865,351@
+   Trustee Savings Banks                  |  1,780,214*  |  61,729,588@
+   Post Office Savings Banks              | 10,692,555*  | 178,033,974@
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+       Bank Total                         | 12,536,895   | 245,628,634
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+       Grand Total                        | 33,837,922   | 439,388,985
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+                                          | * Depositions| @ Deposits
+  ----------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
+
+   In this table allowance must be made for those belonging to more
+   than one society, and, of course, not all the depositors or
+   members are workingmen, especially in the savings banks and
+   building-societies.
+
+
+CONSTITUTION AND STANDING ORDERS OF THE INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY OF
+ENGLAND
+
+STANDING ORDERS (1911)
+
+
+_Contributions_
+
+Affiliation Fees and Parliamentary Fund Contributions must be paid by
+December 31st each year.
+
+
+_Annual Conference_
+
+1. The Annual Conference shall meet during the month of January.
+
+2. Affiliated Societies may send one delegate for every thousand or
+part of a thousand members paid for.
+
+3. Affiliated Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties may send one
+delegate if their affiliation fee has been 15s., and two delegates if
+the fee has been 30s.
+
+4. Persons eligible as delegates must be paying bona fide members or
+paid permanent officials of the organizations sending them.
+
+5. A fee of 5s. per delegate will be charged.
+
+6. The National Executive will ballot for the places to be allotted to
+the delegates.
+
+7. Voting at the Conference shall be by show of hands, but on a
+division being challenged, delegates shall vote by cards, which shall
+be issued on the basis of one card for each thousand members, or
+fraction of a thousand, paid for by the Society represented.
+
+
+_Conference Agenda_
+
+1. Resolutions for the Agenda and Amendments to the Constitution must
+be sent in by November 1st each year.
+
+2. Amendments to Resolutions must be sent in by December 15th each
+year.
+
+
+_Nominations for National Executive and Secretaryship_
+
+1. Nominations for the National Executive and the Secretaryship must
+be sent in by December 15th.
+
+2. No member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union
+Congress or of the Management Committee of the General Federation of
+Trade Unions is eligible for nomination to the National Executive.
+
+
+CONSTITUTION
+
+(As revised under the authority of the Newport Conference, 1910)
+
+ORGANIZATION
+
+I. _Affiliation._
+
+1. The Labor Party is a Federation consisting of Trade Unions, Trades
+Councils, Socialist Societies, and Local Labor Parties.
+
+2. A Local Labor Party in any constituency is eligible for
+affiliation, provided it accepts the Constitution and policy of the
+Party, and that there is no affiliated Trades Council covering the
+constituency, or that, if there be such Council, it has been consulted
+in the first instance.
+
+3. Co-operative Societies are also eligible.
+
+4. A National Organization of Women, accepting the basis of this
+Constitution, and the policy of the Party, and formed for the purpose
+of assisting the Party, shall be eligible for affiliation as though it
+were a Trades Council.
+
+II. _Object._
+
+To secure the election of Candidates to Parliament and organize and
+maintain a Parliamentary Labor Party, with its own whips and policy.
+
+III. _Candidates and Members._
+
+1. Candidates and Members must accept this Constitution; agree to
+abide by the decisions of the Parliamentary Party in carrying out the
+aims of this Constitution; appear before their constituencies under
+the title of Labor Candidates only; abstain strictly from identifying
+themselves with or promoting the interests of any Parliamentary Party
+not affiliated, or its Candidates; and they must not oppose any
+Candidate recognized by the National Executive of the Party.
+
+2. Candidates must undertake to join the Parliamentary Labor Party, if
+elected.
+
+IV. _Candidatures._
+
+1. A Candidate must be promoted by an affiliated Society which makes
+itself responsible for his election expenses.
+
+2. A Candidate must be selected for a constituency by a regularly
+convened Labor Party Conference in the constituency. [The Hull
+Conference accepted the following as the interpretation of what a
+"Regularly Convened Labor Party Conference" is:--All branches of
+affiliated organizations within a constituency or divided borough
+covered by a proposal to run a Labor Candidate must be invited to send
+delegates to the Conference, and the local organization responsible
+for calling the Conference may, if it thinks fit, invite
+representatives from branches of organizations not affiliated but
+eligible for affiliation.]
+
+3. Before a Candidate can be regarded as adopted for a constituency,
+his candidature must be sanctioned by the National Executive; and
+where at the time of a by-election no Candidate has been so
+sanctioned, the National Executive shall have power to withhold its
+sanction.
+
+V. _The National Executive._
+
+The National Executive shall consist of fifteen members, eleven
+representing the Trade Unions, one the Trades Councils, Women's
+Organizations, and Local Labor Parties, and three the Socialist
+Societies, and shall be elected by ballot at the Annual Conference by
+their respective sections.
+
+VI. _Duties of the National Executive._
+
+The National Executive Committee shall
+
+1. Appoint a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Treasurer, and shall
+transact the general business of the Party;
+
+2. Issue a list of its Candidates from time to time, and recommend
+them for the support of the electors;
+
+3. Report to the affiliated organization concerned any Labor Member,
+Candidate, or Chief Official who opposes a Candidate of the Party, or
+who acts contrary to the spirit of the Constitution;
+
+4. And its members shall strictly abstain from identifying themselves
+with or promoting the interests of any Parliamentary Party not
+affiliated, or its Candidates.
+
+VII. _The Secretary._
+
+The Secretary shall be elected by the Annual Conference, and shall be
+under the direction of the National Executive.
+
+VIII. _Affiliation Fees and Delegates._
+
+1. Trade Unions and Socialist Societies shall pay 15s. per annum for
+every thousand members or fraction thereof, and may send to the Annual
+Conference one delegate for each thousand members.
+
+2. Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties with 5,000 members or under
+shall be affiliated on an annual payment of 15s.; similar
+organizations with a membership of over 5,000 shall pay L1 10s., the
+former Councils to be entitled to send one delegate with one vote to
+the Annual Conference, the latter to be entitled to send two delegates
+and have two votes.
+
+3. In addition to these payments a delegate's fee to the Annual
+Conference may be charged.
+
+IX. _Annual Conference._
+
+The National Executive shall convene a Conference of its affiliated
+Societies in the month of January each year.
+
+Notice of resolutions for the Conference and all amendments to the
+Constitution shall be sent to the Secretary by November 1st, and shall
+be forthwith forwarded to all affiliated organizations.
+
+Notice of amendments and nominations for Secretary and National
+Executive shall be sent to the Secretary by December 15th, and shall
+be printed on the Agenda.
+
+X. _Voting at Annual Conference._
+
+There shall be issued to affiliated Societies represented at the
+Annual Conference voting cards as follows:
+
+1. Trade Unions and Socialist Societies shall receive one voting card
+for each thousand members, or fraction thereof paid for.
+
+2. Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties shall receive one card for
+each delegate they are entitled to send.
+
+Any delegate may claim to have a vote taken by card.
+
+PARLIAMENTARY FUND
+
+I. _Object._
+
+To assist in paying the election expenses of Candidates adopted in
+accordance with this Constitution, in maintaining them when elected;
+and to provide the salary and expenses of a National Party Agent.
+
+II. _Amount of Contribution._
+
+1. Affiliated Societies, except Trades Councils, and Local Labor
+Parties shall pay a contribution to this fund at the rate of 2d. per
+member per annum, not later than the last day of each financial year.
+
+2. On all matters affecting the financial side of the Parliamentary
+Fund only contributing Societies shall be allowed to vote at the
+Annual Conference.
+
+III. _Trustees._
+
+The National Executive of the Party shall, from its number, select
+three to act as Trustees, any two of whom, with the Secretary, shall
+sign checks.
+
+IV. _Expenditure._
+
+1. _Maintenance._--All Members elected under this Constitution shall
+be paid from the Fund equal sums not to exceed L200 per annum,
+provided that this payment shall only be made to Members whose
+Candidatures have been promoted by one or more Societies which have
+contributed to this Fund; provided further that no payment from this
+Fund shall be made to a Member or Candidate of any Society which has
+not contributed to this Fund for one year, and that any Society over
+three months in arrears shall forfeit all claim to the Fund on behalf
+of its Members or Candidates, for twelve months from the date of
+payment.
+
+2. _Returning Officers' Expenses._--Twenty-five per cent. of the
+Returning Officers' net expenses shall be paid to the Candidates,
+subject to the provisions of the preceding clause, so long as the
+total sum so expended does not exceed twenty-five per cent. of the
+Fund.
+
+3. _Administration._--Five per cent. of the Annual Income of the Fund
+shall be transferred to the General Funds of the Party, to pay for
+administrative expenses of the Fund.
+
+
+THE INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY: CONSTITUTION AND RULES, 1910-1911
+
+NAME
+
+_The Independent Labor Party._
+
+MEMBERSHIP
+
+Open to all Socialists who indorse the principles and policy of the
+Party, are not members of either the Liberal or Conservative Party,
+and whose application for membership is accepted by a Branch.
+
+Any member expelled from membership of a Branch of the I.L.P. shall
+not be eligible for membership of any other branch without having
+first submitted his or her case for adjudication of the N.A.C.
+
+OBJECT
+
+The Object of the Party is to establish the Socialist State, when land
+and capital will be held by the community and used for the well-being
+of the community, and when the exchange of commodities will be
+organized also by the community, so as to secure the highest possible
+standard of life for the individual. In giving effect to this object
+it shall work as part of the International Socialist Movement.
+
+METHOD
+
+The Party, to secure its objects, adopts--
+
+1. _Educational Methods_, including the publication of Socialist
+literature, the holding of meetings, etc.
+
+2. _Political Methods_, including the election of its members to local
+and national administrative and legislative bodies.
+
+
+PROGRAM
+
+The true object of industry being the production of the requirements
+of life, the responsibility should rest with the community
+collectively, therefore:--
+
+The land being the storehouse of all the necessaries of life should be
+declared and treated as public property.
+
+The capital necessary for the industrial operations should be owned
+and used collectively.
+
+Work, and wealth resulting therefrom, should be equitably distributed
+over the population.
+
+As a means to this end, we demand the enactment of the following
+measures:--
+
+1. A maximum of 48 hours' working week, with the retention of all
+existing holidays, and Labor Day, May 1st, secured by law.
+
+2. The provision of work to all capable adult applicants at recognized
+Trade Union rates, with a statutory minimum of 6d. per hour.
+
+In order to remuneratively employ the applicants, Parish, District,
+Borough, and County Councils to be invested with powers to:--
+
+(_a_) Organize and undertake such industries as they may consider
+desirable.
+
+(_b_) Compulsorily acquire land; purchase, erect, or manufacture
+buildings, stock, or other articles for carrying on such industries.
+
+(_c_) Levy rates on the rental values of the district, and borrow
+money on the security of such rates for any of the above purposes.
+
+3. State pension for every person over 50 years of age, and adequate
+provision for all widows, orphans, sick and disabled workers.
+
+4. Free, secular, moral, primary, secondary, and university education,
+with free maintenance while at school or university.
+
+5. The raising of the age of child labor, with a view to its ultimate
+extinction.
+
+6. Municipalization and public control of the Drink Traffic.
+
+7. Municipalization and public control of all hospitals and
+infirmaries.
+
+8. Abolition of indirect taxation and the gradual transference of all
+public burdens on to unearned incomes with a view to their ultimate
+extinction.
+
+The Independent Labor Party is in favor of adult suffrage, with full
+political rights and privileges for women, and the immediate extension
+of the franchise to women on the same terms as granted to men; also
+triennial Parliaments and second ballot.
+
+
+ORGANIZATION
+
+I.--OFFICERS
+
+1. Chairman and Treasurer.
+
+2. A _National Administrative Council._--To be composed of fourteen
+representatives, in addition to the two officers.
+
+3. No member shall occupy the office of Chairman of the Party for a
+longer consecutive period than three years, and he shall not be
+eligible for re-election for the same office for at least twelve
+months after he has vacated the chair.
+
+4. _Election of N.A.C._--Four members of the N.A.C. shall be elected
+by ballot at the Annual Conference, and ten by the votes of members in
+ten divisional areas.
+
+5. _Duties of N.A.C._--
+
+(_a_) To meet at least three times a year to transact business
+relative to the Party.
+
+(_b_) To exercise a determining voice in the selection of
+Parliamentary candidates, and, where no branch exists, to choose such
+candidates when necessary.
+
+(_c_) To raise and disburse funds for General and By-Elections, and
+for other objects of the Party.
+
+(_d_) To deal with such matters of local dispute between branches and
+members which may be referred to its decision by the parties
+interested.
+
+(_e_) To appoint General Secretary and Officials, and exercise a
+supervising control over their work.
+
+(_f_) To engage organizers and lecturers when convenient, either
+permanently or for varying periods, at proper wages, and to direct and
+superintend their work.
+
+(_g_) To present to the Annual Conference a report on the previous
+year's work and progress of the Party.
+
+(_h_) To appoint when necessary sub-committees to deal with special
+branches of its work, and to appoint a committee to deal with each
+Conference Agenda. Such Committee to revise and classify the
+resolutions sent in by branches and to place resolutions dealing with
+important matters on the Agenda.
+
+(_i_) It shall not initiate any new departure or policy between
+Conferences without first obtaining the sanction of the majority of
+the branches.
+
+(_k_) Matters arising between Conferences not provided for by the
+Constitution, shall be dealt with by the N.A.C.
+
+(_l_) A full report of all the meetings of the N.A.C. as held shall be
+forwarded to each branch.
+
+6. _Auditor._--A Chartered or Incorporated Accountant shall be
+employed to audit the accounts of the Party.
+
+II.--BRANCHES
+
+1. _Branch._--An Association which indorses the objects and policy of
+the Party, and affiliates in the prescribed manner.
+
+2. _Local Autonomy._--Subject to the general constitution of the
+Party, each Branch shall be perfectly autonomous.
+
+III.--FINANCES
+
+1. Branches shall pay one penny per member per month to the N.A.C.
+
+2. The N.A.C. may strike off the list of branches any branch which is
+more than 6 months in arrears with its payments.
+
+3. The N.A.C. may receive donations or subscriptions to the funds of
+the Party. It shall not receive moneys which are contributed upon
+terms which interfere in any way with its freedom of action as to
+their disbursement.
+
+4. The financial year of the Party shall begin on March 1st, and end
+on the last day of February next succeeding.
+
+IV.--ANNUAL CONFERENCE
+
+1. The _Annual Conference_ is the ultimate authority of the Party, to
+which all final appeals shall be made.
+
+2. _Date._--It shall be held at Easter.
+
+3. _Special Conferences._--A Special Conference shall always be called
+prior to a General Election, for the purpose of determining the policy
+of the Party during the election. Other Special Conferences may be
+called by two-thirds of the whole of the members of the N.A.C, or by
+one-third of the branches of the Party.
+
+4. _Conference Fee._--A Conference Fee per delegate (the amount to be
+fixed by the N.A.C.) shall be paid by all branches desiring
+representation, on or before the last day of February in each year.
+
+5. No branch shall be represented which was not in existence on the
+December 31st immediately preceding the date of the Annual Conference.
+
+6. Branches of the Party may send one delegate to Conference for each
+fifty members, or part thereof. Branches may appoint one delegate to
+represent their full voting strength. Should there be two or more
+branches which are unable separately to send delegates to Conference,
+they may jointly do so.
+
+7. Delegates must have been members of the branch they represent from
+December 31st immediately preceding the date of the Conference.
+
+8. Notices respecting resolutions shall be posted to branches not
+later than January 3d. Resolutions for the Agenda, and nominations for
+officers and N.A.C. shall be in the hands of the General Secretary
+eight weeks before the date of the Annual Conference, and issued to
+the branches a fortnight later. Amendments to resolutions on the
+Agenda and additional nominations may be sent to the Secretary four
+weeks before Conference, and they shall be arranged on the final
+Agenda, which shall be issued to branches two weeks before Conference.
+A balance sheet shall be issued to branches two weeks before the
+Conference, showing the receipts and expenditure of the Party for the
+year, also the number of branches affiliated and the amount each
+branch has paid in affiliation fees during the year.
+
+9. The Chairman of the Party for the preceding year shall preside over
+the Conference.
+
+10. _Conference Officials._--The first business of the Conference
+shall be the appointment of tellers. It shall next elect a Standing
+Orders Committee, with power to examine the credentials of delegates,
+and to deal with special business which may be delegated to it by the
+Conference.
+
+11. In case any vacancy occurs on the N.A.C. between Conferences, the
+unsuccessful candidate receiving the largest number of votes at the
+preceding election shall fill the vacancy. Vacancies in the list of
+officers shall be filled up by the vote of the branches.
+
+12. The principle of the second ballot shall be observed in all
+elections.
+
+13. The Conference shall choose in which Divisional Area the next
+Conference shall be held.
+
+V.--PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES
+
+1. The N.A.C. shall keep a list of members of the Party from which
+candidates may be selected by branches.
+
+2. Any Branch at any time may nominate any eligible member of the
+Party to be placed upon that list.
+
+3. The N.A.C. itself may place names on the list.
+
+4. No person shall be placed upon this list unless he has been a
+member of the Party for at least twelve months.
+
+5. Branches desiring to place a candidate in their constituencies must
+in the first instance communicate with the N.A.C., and have the
+candidate selected at a properly convened conference of
+representatives of the local branches of all societies affiliated with
+the Labor Party, so that the candidate may be chosen in accordance
+with the constitution of the Labor Party. The N.A.C. shall have power
+to suspend this clause where local or other circumstances appear to
+justify such a course.
+
+6. Before the N.A.C. sanctions any candidature it shall be entitled to
+secure guarantees of adequate local financial support.
+
+7. No Branch shall take any action which affects prejudicially the
+position or prospects of a Parliamentary candidate, who has received
+the credentials of the Labor Party, without first laying the case
+before the N.A.C.
+
+8. Each candidate must undertake that he will run his election in
+accordance with the principles and policy of the Party, and that if
+elected he will support the Party on all questions coming within the
+scope of the principles of the I.L.P.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Constitution shall not be altered or amended except every third
+year, unless upon the requisition of two-thirds of the N.A.C. or
+one-third of the branches of the Party, when the proposed alterations
+or amendments shall be considered at the following
+Conference._--Resolution, Edinburgh, 1909.
+
+
+BASIS OF THE FABIAN SOCIETY
+
+The Fabian Society consists of Socialists.
+
+It therefore aims at the re-organization of society by the
+emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class
+ownership, and the vesting of them in the community for the general
+benefit. In this way only can the natural and acquired advantages of
+the country be equitably shared by the whole people.
+
+The Society accordingly works for the extinction of private property
+in land and of the consequent individual appropriation, in the form of
+rent, of the price paid for permission to use the earth, as well as
+for the advantages of superior soils and sites.
+
+The Society, further, works for the transfer to the community of the
+administration of such industrial capital as can conveniently be
+managed socially. For, owing to the monopoly of the means of
+production in the past, industrial inventions and the transformation
+of surplus income into capital have mainly enriched the proprietary
+class, the worker being now dependent on that class for leave to earn
+a living.
+
+If these measures be carried out, without compensation (though not
+without such relief to expropriated individuals as may seem fit to the
+community), rent and interest will be added to the reward of labor,
+the idle class now living on the labor of others will necessarily
+disappear, and practical equality of opportunity will be maintained by
+the spontaneous action of economic forces with much less interference
+with personal liberty than the present system entails.
+
+For the attainment of these ends the Fabian Society looks to the
+spread of Socialist opinions, and the social and political changes
+consequent thereon. It seeks to promote these by the general
+dissemination of knowledge as to the relation between the individual
+and society in its economic, ethical, and political aspects.
+
+The following questions are addressed to Parliamentary candidates by
+the Fabians:
+
+Will you press at the first opportunity for the following reforms:--
+
+
+I.--_A Labor Program_
+
+1. The extension of the Workmen's Compensation Act to seamen, and to
+all other classes of wage earners?
+
+2. Compulsory arbitration, as in New Zealand, to prevent strikes and
+lockouts?
+
+3. A statutory minimum wage, as in Victoria, especially for sweated
+trades?
+
+4. The fixing of "an eight-hours' day" as the maximum for all public
+servants; and the abolition, wherever possible, of overtime?
+
+5. An Eight-Hours' Bill, without an option clause, for miners; and,
+for railway servants, a forty-eight-hours' week?
+
+6. The drastic amendment of the Factory Acts, to secure (_a_) a safe
+and healthy work-place for every worker, (_b_) the prevention of
+overwork for all women and young persons, (_c_) the abolition of all
+wage-labor by children under 14, (_d_) compulsory technical
+instruction by extension of the half-time arrangements to all workers
+under 18?
+
+7. The direct employment of labor by all public authorities whenever
+possible; and, whenever it is not possible, employment only of fair
+houses, prohibition of sub-contracting, and payment of trade-union
+rates of wages?
+
+8. The amendment of the Merchant Shipping Acts so as (_a_) to secure
+healthy sleeping and living accommodation, (_b_) to protect the seaman
+against withholding of his wages or return passage, (_c_) to insure
+him against loss by shipwreck?
+
+
+II.--_A Democratic Budget_
+
+9. The further taxation of unearned incomes by means of a graduated
+and differentiated income-tax?
+
+10. The abolition of all duties on tea, cocoa, coffee, currants, and
+other dried fruits?
+
+11. An increase of the scale of graduation of the death duties, so as
+to fall more heavily on large inheritances?
+
+12. The appropriation of the unearned increment by the taxation and
+rating of ground values?
+
+13. The nationalization of mining rents and royalties?
+
+14. Transfer of the railways to the State under the Act of 1844?
+
+
+III.--_Social Reform in Town and Country_
+
+15. The extension of full powers to parish, town, and county councils
+for the collective organization of the (_a_) water, (_b_) gas and
+(_c_) electric lighting supplies, (_d_) hydraulic power, (_e_)
+tramways and light railways, (_f_) public slaughter-houses, (_g_)
+pawnshops, (_h_) sale of milk, (_i_) bread, (_j_) coal, and such other
+public services as may be desired by the inhabitants?
+
+16. Reform of the drink traffic by (_a_) reduction of the number of
+licenses to a proper ratio to the population of each locality, (_b_)
+transfer to public purposes of the special value of licenses, created
+by the existing monopoly, by means of high license or a license rate,
+(_c_) grant of power to local authorities to carry on municipal public
+houses, directly or on the Gothenburg system?
+
+17. Amendment of the Housing of the Working Classes Act by (_a_)
+extension of period of loans to one hundred years, treatment of land
+as an asset, and removal of statutory limitation of borrowing powers
+for housing, (_b_) removal of restrictions on rural district councils
+in adopting Part III. of the Act, (_c_) grant of power to parish
+councils to adopt Part III. of the Act, (_d_) power to all local
+authorities to buy land compulsorily under the allotments clauses of
+the Local Government Act, 1894, or in any other effective manner?
+
+18. The grant of power to all local bodies to retain the free-hold of
+any land that may come into their possession, without obligation to
+sell, or to use for particular purposes?
+
+19. The relief of the existing taxpayer by (_a_) imposing, for local
+purposes, a municipal death duty on local real estate, collected in
+the same way as the existing death duties, (_b_) collecting rates from
+the owners of empty houses and vacant land, (_c_) power to assess land
+and houses at four per cent. on the capital value, (_d_) securing
+special contributions by way of "betterment" from the owners of
+property benefited by public improvements?
+
+20. The further equalization of the rates in London?
+
+21. The compulsory provision by every local authority of adequate
+hospital accommodation for all diseases and accidents?
+
+
+IV.--_The Children and the Poor_
+
+22. The prohibition of the industrial or wage-earning employment of
+children during school terms prior to the age of 14?
+
+23. The provision of meals, out of public funds, for necessitous
+children in public elementary schools?
+
+24. The training of teachers under public control and free from
+sectarian influences?
+
+25. The creation of a complete system of public secondary education
+genuinely available to the children of the poor?
+
+26. State pensions for the support of the aged or chronically infirm?
+
+
+V.--_Democratic Political Machinery_
+
+27. An amendment of the registration laws, with the aim of giving
+every adult man a vote, and no one more than one vote?
+
+28. A redistribution of seats in accordance with population?
+
+29. The grant of the franchise to women on the same terms as to men?
+
+30. The admission of women to seats in the House of Commons and on
+borough and county councils?
+
+31. The second ballot at Parliamentary and other elections?
+
+32. The payment of all members of Parliament and of Parliamentary
+election expenses, out of public funds?
+
+33. Triennial Parliaments?
+
+34. All Parliamentary elections to be held on the same day?
+
+
+THE PROGRAM OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION, 1906
+
+OBJECT
+
+The Socialization of the Means of Production, Distribution, and
+Exchange, to be controlled by a Democratic State in the interests of
+the entire community, and the complete Emancipation of Labor from the
+Domination of Capitalism and Landlordism, with the establishment of
+Social and Economic Equality between the Sexes.
+
+The economic development of modern society is characterized by the
+more or less complete domination of the capitalistic mode of
+production over all branches of human labor.
+
+The capitalistic mode of production, because it has the creation of
+profit for its sole object, therefore favors the larger capital, and
+is based upon the divorcement of the majority of the people from the
+instruments of production and the concentration of these instruments
+in the hands of a minority. Society is thus divided into two opposite
+classes: one, the capitalists and their sleeping partners, the
+landlords and loanmongers, holding in their hands the means of
+production, distribution, and exchange, and being, therefore, able to
+command the labor of others; the other, the working-class, the
+wage-earners, the proletariat, possessing nothing but their
+labor-power, and being consequently forced by necessity to work for
+the former.
+
+The social division thus produced becomes wider and deeper with every
+new advance in the application of labor-saving machinery. It is most
+clearly recognizable, however, in the times of industrial and
+commercial crises, when, in consequence of the present chaotic
+conditions of carrying on national and international industry,
+production periodically comes to a standstill, and a number of the few
+remaining independent producers are thrown into the ranks of the
+proletariat. Thus, while on one hand there is incessantly going on an
+accumulation of capital, wealth, and power into a steadily diminishing
+number of hands, there is, on the other hand, a constantly growing
+insecurity of livelihood for the mass of wage-earners, an increasing
+disparity between human wants and the opportunity of acquiring the
+means for their satisfaction, and a steady physical and mental
+deterioration among the more poverty-stricken of the population.
+
+But the more this social division widens, the stronger grows the
+revolt--more conscious abroad than here--of the proletariat against
+the capitalist system of society in which this division and all that
+accompanies it have originated, and find such fruitful soil. The
+capitalist mode of production, by massing the workers in large
+factories, and creating an interdependence, not only between various
+trades and branches of industries, but even national industries,
+prepares the ground and furnishes material for a universal class war.
+That class war may at first--as in this country--be directed against
+the abuses of the system, and not against the system itself; but
+sooner or later the workers must come to recognize that nothing short
+of the expropriation of the capitalist class, the ownership by the
+community of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, can
+put an end to their abject economic condition; and then the class war
+will become conscious instead of unconscious on the part of the
+working-classes, and they will have for their ultimate object the
+overthrow of the capitalist system. At the same time, since the
+capitalist class holds and uses the power of the State to safeguard
+its position and beat off any attack, the class war must assume a
+political character, and become a struggle on the part of the workers
+for the possession of the political machinery.
+
+It is this struggle for the conquest of the political power of the
+State, in order to effect a social transformation, which International
+Social Democracy carries on in the name and on behalf of the
+working-class. Social Democracy, therefore, is the only possible
+political party of the proletariat. The Social Democratic Federation
+is a part of this International Social Democracy. It, therefore, takes
+its stand on the above principles, and believes--
+
+1. That the emancipation of the working-class can only be achieved
+through the socialization of the means of production, distribution,
+and exchange, and their subsequent control by the organized community
+in the interests of the whole people.
+
+2. That, as the proletariat is the last class to achieve freedom, its
+emancipation will mean the emancipation of the whole of mankind,
+without distinction of race, nationality, creed, or sex.
+
+3. That this emancipation can only be the work of the working-class
+itself, organized nationally and internationally into a distinct
+political party, consciously striving after the realization of its
+ideals; and, finally,
+
+4. That, in order to insure greater material and moral facilities for
+the working-class to organize itself and to carry on the class war,
+the following reforms must immediately be carried through:--
+
+
+IMMEDIATE REFORMS
+
+_Political_
+
+Abolition of the Monarchy.
+
+Democratization of the Governmental machinery, viz., abolition of the
+House of Lords, payment of members of legislative and administrative
+bodies, payment of official expenses of elections out of the public
+funds, adult suffrage, proportional representation, triennial
+parliaments, second ballot, initiative and referendum. Foreigners to
+be granted rights of citizenship after two years' residence in the
+country, without any fees. Canvassing to be made illegal. All
+elections to take place on one day, such day to be made a legal
+holiday, and all premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating
+liquors to be closed.
+
+Legislation by the people in such wise that no legislative proposal
+shall become law until ratified by the majority of the people.
+
+Legislative and administrative independence for all parts of the
+Empire.
+
+_Financial and Fiscal_
+
+Repudiation of the National Debt.
+
+Abolition of all indirect taxation and the institution of a cumulative
+tax on all incomes and inheritance exceeding L300.
+
+_Administrative_
+
+Extension of the principle of local self-government.
+
+Systematization and co-ordination of the local administrative bodies.
+
+Election of all administrators and administrative bodies by equal
+direct adult suffrage.
+
+_Educational_
+
+Elementary education to be free, secular, industrial, and compulsory
+for all classes. The age of obligatory school attendance to be raised
+to 16.
+
+Unification and systematization of intermediate and higher education,
+both general and technical, and all such education to be free.
+
+State maintenance for all attending State schools.
+
+Abolition of school rates; the cost of education in all State schools
+to be borne by the National Exchequer.
+
+_Public Monopolies and Services_
+
+Nationalization of the land and the organization of labor in
+agriculture and industry under public ownership and control on
+co-operative principles.
+
+Nationalization of the trusts.
+
+Nationalization of railways, docks, and canals, and all great means of
+transit.
+
+Public ownership and control of gas, electric light, and water
+supplies, as well as of tramway, omnibus, and other locomotive
+services.
+
+Public ownership and control of the food and coal supply.
+
+The establishment of State and municipal banks and pawnshops and
+public restaurants.
+
+Public ownership and control of the lifeboat service.
+
+Public ownership and control of hospitals, dispensaries, cemeteries,
+and crematoria.
+
+Public ownership and control of the drink traffic.
+
+_Labor_
+
+A legislative eight-hour working-day, or 48 hours per week, to be the
+maximum for all trades and industries. Imprisonment to be indicted on
+employers for any infringement of the law.
+
+Absolute freedom of combination for all workers, with legal guarantee
+against any action, private or public, which tends to curtail or
+infringe it.
+
+No child to be employed in any trade or occupation until 16 years of
+age, and imprisonment to be inflicted on employers, parents, and
+guardians who infringe this law.
+
+Public provision of useful work at not less than trade-union rates of
+wages for the unemployed.
+
+Free State insurance against sickness and accident, and free and
+adequate State pensions or provision for aged and disabled workers.
+Public assistance not to entail any forfeiture of political rights.
+
+The legislative enactment of a minimum wage of 30s. for all workers.
+Equal pay for both sexes for the performance of equal work.
+
+_Social_
+
+Abolition of the present workhouse system, and reformed administration
+of the Poor Law on a basis of national co-operation.
+
+Compulsory construction by public bodies of healthy dwellings for the
+people; such dwellings to be let at rents to cover the cost of
+construction and maintenance alone, and not to cover the cost of the
+land.
+
+The administration of justice and legal advice to be free to all;
+justice to be administered by judges chosen by the people; appeal in
+criminal cases; compensation for those innocently accused, condemned,
+and imprisoned; abolition of imprisonment for contempt of court in
+relation to non-payment of debt in the case of workers earning less
+than L2 per week; abolition of capital punishment.
+
+_Miscellaneous_
+
+The disestablishment and disendowment of all State churches.
+
+The abolition of standing armies, and the establishment of national
+citizen forces. The people to decide on peace and war.
+
+The establishment of international courts of arbitration.
+
+The abolition of courts-martial; all offenses against discipline to be
+transferred to the jurisdiction of civil courts.
+
+
+THE LABOR PARTY: SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, 1911-1912
+
+[At the beginning of every session of Parliament, the Labor Party
+members agree on a program of procedure to which they adhere for that
+session. They stick to the bills, in the order chosen, until they are
+either passed or defeated. The following is the list for 1911.]
+
+Bills to be balloted for in order named:
+
+  1. Trade Union Amendment Bill.
+  2. Unemployed Workmen Bill.
+  3. Education (Administrative Provisions) Bill.
+  4. Electoral Reform Bill.
+  5. Eight-Hour Day Bill.
+  6. Bill to Provide against Eviction of Workmen during Trade
+      Disputes.
+  7. Railway Nationalization Bill.
+
+Motions to be balloted for in order named:
+
+  1. Militarism and Foreign Policy: (on lines of Resolution passed
+      by the Special Conference at Leicester).
+  2. Defect in Sheriffs' Courts Bill (Scotland) relating to power of
+      Eviction during Trade Disputes.
+  3. General 30s. Minimum Wage.
+
+  Other Motions from which selection may be made after the three
+      foregoing subjects have been dealt with:
+
+  Saturday to Monday Stop.
+  Eviction of Workmen during Trade Disputes.
+  Extension of Particulars Clause to Docks, etc.
+  Nationalization of Hospitals.
+  Adult Suffrage.
+  Commission of Inquiry into Older Universities.
+  Workmen's Compensation Amendment.
+  Atmosphere and Dust in Textile Factories.
+  System of Fines in Textile and Other Trades.
+  Inclusion of Clerks in Factory Acts.
+  Eight-Hour Day.
+  Electoral Reform.
+  Inquiry into Industrial Assurance.
+  Poor Law Reform.
+  Truck.
+  Railway and Mining Accidents.
+  Labor Exchanges Administration.
+  Labor Ministry.
+  Veto Conference.
+  Day Training Classes.
+  School Clinics.
+  Indian Factory Laws.
+  Hours in Bakehouses.
+  House-letting in Scotland.
+
+
+FABIAN ELECTION ADDRESS
+
+[The following is an election broadside issued for the municipal
+election of London, soon after the establishment of municipal home
+rule for the metropolis, by the organization of the London County
+Council. It discloses the practical nature of the earlier Fabian
+political activities.]
+
+  COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION: ADDRESS OF MR. SIDNEY WEBB, LL.B.
+      (LONDON UNIVERSITY), (PROGRESSIVE AND LABOR CANDIDATE)
+
+                                      Central Committee Rooms,
+                                        484, New Cross Road, S.E.
+
+ELECTORS OF DEPTFORD,
+
+On the nomination of a Joint Committee of Delegates of the Liberal and
+Radical Association, the Women's Liberal Association, the Working
+Men's Clubs, and leading Trade Unionists and Social Reformers in
+Deptford, I come forward as a Candidate for the County Council
+Election. I shall seek to lift the contest above any narrow partisan
+lines, and I ask for the support of all who are interested in the
+well-being of the people.
+
+_The Point at Issue_
+
+For much is at stake for London at this Election. Notwithstanding the
+creation of the County Council, the ratepayers of the Metropolis are
+still deprived of the ordinary powers of municipal self-government.
+They have to bear needlessly heavy burdens for a very defective
+management of their public affairs. The result is seen in the poverty,
+the misery, and the intemperance that disgrace our city. A really
+Progressive County Council can do much (as the present Council has
+shown), both immediately to benefit the people of London, and also to
+win for them genuine self-government. Do you wish your County Council
+to attempt nothing more for London than the old Metropolitan Board of
+Works? This is, in effect, the Reactionary, or so-called "Moderate,"
+program. Or shall we make our County Council a mighty instrument of
+the people's will for the social regeneration of this great city, and
+the "Government of London by London for London?" That is what I stand
+for.
+
+_Relief of the Taxpayer_
+
+But the crushing burden of the occupier's rates must be reduced, not
+increased. Even with the strictest economy the administration of a
+growing city must be a heavy burden. The County Council should have
+power to tax the ground landlord, who now pays no rates at all
+directly. Moreover, the rates must be equalized throughout London. Why
+should the Deptford ratepayer have to pay nearly two shillings in the
+pound more than the inhabitant of St. George's, Hanover Square? And we
+must get at the unearned increment for the benefit of the people of
+London, who create it.
+
+_A Labor Program_
+
+I am in favor of Trade Union wages and an eight-hours day for all
+persons employed by the Council. I am dead against sub-contracting,
+and would like to see the Council itself the direct employer of all
+labor.
+
+_Municipalization_
+
+At present London pays an utterly unnecessary annual tribute, because,
+unlike other towns, it leaves its water supply, its gas-works, its
+tramways, its markets, and its docks in the hands of private
+speculators. I am in favor of replacing private by Democratic public
+ownership and management, as soon and as far as safely possible. It is
+especially urgent to secure public control of the water supply, the
+tramways, and the docks. Moreover, London ought to manage its own
+police, and all its open spaces.
+
+_The Condition of the Poor_
+
+But the main object of all our endeavors must be to raise the standard
+of life of our poorer fellow-citizens, now crushed by the competitive
+struggle. As one of the most urgent social reforms, especially in the
+interests of Temperance, I urge the better housing of the people; the
+provision, by the Council itself, of improved dwellings and common
+lodging-houses of the best possible types, and a strict enforcement of
+the sanitary laws against the owners of slum property.
+
+_Local Questions_
+
+I believe in local attention to local grievances, and I should deem it
+my duty, if elected, to look closely after Deptford interests,
+especially with regard to the need for more open spaces, and the early
+completion of the new Thames tunnel.
+
+A more detailed account of my views may be found in my book, "The
+London Programme," and other writings. I am a Londoner born and bred,
+and have made London questions the chief study of my life. I have had
+thirteen years' administrative experience in a Government office, a
+position which I have resigned in order to give my whole time to
+London's service. With regard to my general opinions, it will be
+enough to say that I have long been an active member of the Fabian
+Society, and of the Executive Committee of the London Liberal and
+Radical Union.
+
+                                                     SIDNEY WEBB.
+
+  4, Park Village East, Regent's Park, N.W.
+
+The following meetings have already been arranged. Others will be
+announced shortly.
+
+  February 11.--Lecture Hall, High Street, at 8 P.M.
+  February 25.--Lecture Hall High Street, at 8 P.M.
+  March 3.--New Cross Hall, Lewisham High Road, at 8 P.M.
+
+
+FABIAN ELECTION DODGER
+
+[The Fabians and other Socialists broke into London municipal politics
+under the name "Progressives." The following is one of their earliest
+election dodgers.]
+
+COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION
+
+_Saturday, March 5, 1892_
+
+Part of the
+
+PROGRAM OF THE PROGRESSIVES
+
+_Rates._--Reduce the Occupiers' Rates one-half, by charging that
+portion upon the great Landlords, whose ground values are increased by
+every improvement, and are now untaxed; and by a Municipal Death Duty.
+
+_Gas and Water._--Reduce the cost and improve the quality and quantity
+by new sources of supply, if the present Companies will not come to
+terms favorable to the Taxpayer.
+
+_City Companies._--Apply their whole Income of, say L500,000 (on leave
+obtained from the new Parliament), for the benefit of London. The
+Royal Commission of 1884 stated that this income is virtually Public
+Property. About L300,000 is now squandered each year among the members
+and their friends.
+
+_Homes for the Poor._--The Poor can all be comfortably housed, as in
+the Municipal Dwellings of Glasgow and Liverpool, without extra cost
+to the Taxpayer, and the "Doss-houses" abolished.
+
+_Cheap Food._--By doing away with the Market Monopolies of the City
+Corporation and other private owners, Food can be lowered in price.
+Good food, especially fish, is now often destroyed or sold for manure
+to keep up the price.
+
+_Poor Man's Vote._--One-third of your Votes are lost. The Registration
+Laws must be thoroughly altered.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Debates, House of Lords, July, 31, 1885. The speech was privately
+printed.
+
+[2] Debates, May 19, 1890. This speech was also given private
+circulation.
+
+
+
+
+VI. GENERAL
+
+
+1. ORIGIN OF THE WORD "COLLECTIVISM"
+
+"This word, invented by Colins, came into common use toward the end of
+the Empire. Bakunin used it in the congress at Berne in 1868, to
+oppose it to the communistic regime of Cabet. An economist in 1869
+designated, under this name, the system under which production will be
+confined to communes or parishes. The Socialists who opposed
+authority, disciples of Bakunin, used the word for a long time to
+designate their doctrine. The section of Locle was one of the first to
+employ it. But by and by, about 1878, the Marxists, partisans of the
+proletarian reign, used the word 'collectivism' to distinguish their
+'scientific Socialism,' of which term they were fond, from the
+communistic utopias of the older school, which they discovered. And
+they gave to Bakunins the name Anarchists. These accepted the name,
+taking care to write it with a hyphen, _an-archie_, as their master
+Proudhon had done. They soon dropped the hyphen and accepted the word
+anarchy as a declaration of war against all things as they are."[1]
+
+
+2. TABLE SHOWING RESULTS OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
+
+(COMPILED FROM REPORT OF SECRETARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL, 1910)
+
+  ====================+===========+===========+===========+==============
+                      |    _No.   | _Total No.|_No. Seats |_Per cent. of
+         _Country_    | Socialist | Seats in  |Held by    |Socialists
+                      |   Votes_  |Parliament_|Socialists_|  Seats_
+  --------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
+  Great Britain (1910)|   505,690 |    670    |     40    |     5.97
+  Germany (1912)      | 4,250,000 |    397    |    110    |    38.81
+  Luxemburg (1909)    |           |     48    |     10    |    20.8
+  Austria (1907)      | 1,041,948 |    516    |     88    |    17.06
+  France (1910)       | 1,106,047 |    584    |     76    |    13.01
+  Italy (1909)        |   338,885 |    508    |     42    |     8.26
+  Spain (1910)        |    40,000 |    404    |      1    |     0.25
+  Russia              |           |    442    |     17    |     3.82
+  Finland (1910)      |   316,951 |    200    |     86    |    43.00
+  Norway (1907)       |    90,000 |    123    |     11    |     8.94
+  Sweden (1909)       |    75,000 |    165    |     36    |    21.81
+  Denmark (1910)      |    98,721 |    114    |     24    |    21.06
+  Holland (1909)      |    82,494 |    100    |      7    |     7.00
+  Belgium (1910)      |   483,241 |    166    |     35    |    21.08
+  Switzerland (1908)  |   100,000 |    170    |      7    |     4.11
+  Turkey (1908)       |           |    196    |      6    |     3.06
+  Servia (1908)       |     3,056 |    160    |      1    |     0.62
+  U.S.A. (1910)       |           |           |      1    |
+  --------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
+
+IN 1910 THE SOCIALISTS HELD THE FOLLOWING NUMBER OF LOCAL OFFICERS,
+ACCORDING TO THE REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY
+
+  ============================+============================
+   Great Britain        1126  |  Finland               351
+   Germany              7729  |  Norway                873
+   Austria-Bohemia      2896  |  Sweden                125
+   Hungary                96  |  Denmark              1000
+   France               3800  |  Belgium               850
+   Bulgaria                7  |  Servia                 22
+  ----------------------------+----------------------------
+
+
+3. TABLE SHOWING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY, IN VARIOUS
+COUNTRIES
+
+(COMPILED FROM REPORTS OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL, 1909-10)
+
+  =========================+===================+===================
+                           |        1907       |        1908
+  -------------------------+-------+-----------+-------+-----------
+                           |_Local |           |_Local |
+         _Country_         |Groups_| _Members_ |Groups_| _Members_
+  -------------------------+-------+-----------+-------+-----------
+   Great Britain, L.P.     |  275  | 1,072,412 |  307  | 1,152,786
+                           |       |           |       |
+   Great Britain, J.L.P.   |  600  |    35,000 |  765  |    50,000
+   Great Britain, S.D.F.   |  202  |    14,500 |  250  |    16,000
+   Great Britain, Fabians  |   10  |     1,207 |   27  |     2,015
+   Germany                 | 2704  |   530,466 | 3120  |   587,336
+                           |       |   (10,943)|       |   (29,458)
+   Austria                 |       |           |       |
+   Bohemia                 |       |           |       |
+                           |       |           |       |
+   Hungary                 |       |   130,000 |       |   102,054
+   France                  |       |    48,237 |       |    49,328
+   Italy                   |       |           |       |    43,000
+   Russia*                 |    8  |    16,000 |    8  |     5,000
+   Spain                   |       |           |       |
+   Poland-Prussian         |       |           |   10  |       400
+   Poland-Russian          |       |    22,700 |       |
+   Finland                 | 1156  |    80,328 | 1127  |    71,266
+                           |       |   (18,873)|       |   (16,826)
+   Norway                  |  499  |    23,000 |  602  |    27,500
+                           |       |    (1,800)|       |    (2,000)
+   Sweden                  |       |           |  296  |   112,693
+   Denmark                 |       |           |       |
+   Holland                 |  167  |     7,471 |  176  |     8,411
+   Belgium                 |  803  |   161,239 |       |   183,997
+   Switzerland             |       |           |       |
+   Servia                  |       |       615 |       |
+   Bulgaria                |   71  |     2,658 |   80  |     2,886
+   U.S.A.                  | 1900  |    26,784 |       |
+  -------------------------+-------+-----------+-------+-----------
+  =========================+====================
+                           |        1909
+  -------------------------+-------+------------
+                           |_Local |
+         _Country_         |Groups_| _Members_
+  -------------------------+-------+------------
+   Great Britain, L.P.     |  318  | 1,481,368
+                           |       |    (4,000)
+   Great Britain, J.L.P.   |  900  |    60,000
+   Great Britain, S.D.F.   |       |    17,000
+   Great Britain, Fabians  |   39  |     2,462
+   Germany                 | 3281  |   633,309
+                           |       |   (62,259)
+   Austria                 |       |   126,000
+   Bohemia                 | 2462  |   156,000
+                           |       |    (6,000)
+   Hungary                 |  769  |    85,266
+   France                  | 2500  |    51,692
+   Italy                   |       |    30,000
+   Russia*                 |    8  |     3,000
+   Spain                   |       |
+   Poland-Prussian         |   40  |     1,500
+   Poland-Russian          |       |     3,500
+   Finland                 |       |
+                           |       |
+   Norway                  |  637  |    26,500
+                           |       |    (2,500)
+   Sweden                  |  338  |    60,183
+   Denmark                 |  360  |    47,000
+   Holland                 |  211  |     9,289
+   Belgium                 |  906  |   185,318
+   Switzerland             |   23  |    21,132
+   Servia                  |       |     1,950
+   Bulgaria                |  109  |     4,287
+   U.S.A.                  | 3200  |    53,375
+  -------------------------+-------+-----------
+
+  * Province of Lettland.
+
+  Figures in parenthesis indicate number of women members.
+
+
+4. AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM
+
+[Adopted by National Convention May, 1908, and by Membership
+Referendum August 8th, 1908. Amended by Referendum September 7th,
+1909.]
+
+
+PRINCIPLES
+
+Human life depends upon food, clothing, and shelter. Only with these
+assured are freedom, culture, and higher human development possible.
+To produce food, clothing, or shelter, land and machinery are needed.
+Land alone does not satisfy human needs. Human labor creates machinery
+and applies it to the land for the production of raw materials and
+food. Whoever has control of land and machinery controls human labor,
+and with it human life and liberty.
+
+To-day the machinery and the land used for industrial purposes are
+owned by a rapidly decreasing minority. So long as machinery is simple
+and easily handled by one man, its owner cannot dominate the sources
+of life of others. But when machinery becomes more complex and
+expensive, and requires for its effective operation the organized
+effort of many workers, its influence reaches over wide circles of
+life. The owners of such machinery become the dominant class.
+
+In proportion as the number of such machine owners compared to all
+other classes decreases, their power in the nation and in the world
+increases. They bring ever larger masses of working people under their
+control, reducing them to the point where muscle and brain are their
+only productive property. Millions of formerly self-employing workers
+thus become the helpless wage slaves of the industrial masters.
+
+As the economic power of the ruling class grows it becomes less useful
+in the life of the nation. All the useful work of the nation falls
+upon the shoulders of the class whose only property is its manual and
+mental labor power--the wage worker--or of the class who have but
+little land and little effective machinery outside of their labor
+power--the small traders and small farmers. The ruling minority is
+steadily becoming useless and parasitic.
+
+A bitter struggle over the division of the products of labor is waged
+between the exploiting propertied classes on the one hand and the
+exploited propertyless class on the other. In this struggle the
+wage-working class cannot expect adequate relief from any reform of
+the present order at the hands of the dominant class.
+
+The wage workers are therefore the most determined and irreconcilable
+antagonists of the ruling class. They suffer most from the curse of
+class rule. The fact that a few capitalists are permitted to control
+all the country's industrial resources and social tools for their
+individual profit, and to make the production of the necessaries of
+life the object of competitive private enterprise and speculation is
+at the bottom of all the social evils of our time.
+
+In spite of the organization of trusts, pools, and combinations, the
+capitalists are powerless to regulate production for social ends.
+Industries are largely conducted in a planless manner. Through periods
+of feverish activity the strength and health of the workers are
+mercilessly used up, and during periods of enforced idleness the
+workers are frequently reduced to starvation.
+
+The climaxes of this system of production are the regularly recurring
+industrial depressions and crises which paralyze the nation every
+fifteen or twenty years.
+
+The capitalist class, in its mad race for profits, is bound to exploit
+the workers to the very limit of their endurance and to sacrifice
+their physical, moral, and mental welfare to its own insatiable greed.
+Capitalism keeps the masses of workingmen in poverty, destitution,
+physical exhaustion, and ignorance. It drags their wives from their
+homes to the mill and factory. It snatches their children from the
+playgrounds and schools and grinds their slender bodies and unformed
+minds into cold dollars. It disfigures, maims, and kills hundreds of
+thousands of workingmen annually in mines, on railroads, and in
+factories. It drives millions of workers into the ranks of the
+unemployed and forces large numbers of them into beggary, vagrancy,
+and all forms of crime and vice.
+
+To maintain their rule over their fellow-men, the capitalists must
+keep in their pay all organs of the public powers, public mind, and
+public conscience. They control the dominant parties and, through
+them, the elected public officials. They select the executives, bribe
+the legislatures, and corrupt the courts of justice. They own and
+censor the press. They dominate the educational institutions. They own
+the nation politically and intellectually just as they own it
+industrially.
+
+The struggle between wage workers and capitalists grows ever fiercer,
+and has now become the only vital issue before the American people.
+The wage-working class, therefore, has the most direct interest in
+abolishing the capitalist system. But in abolishing the present
+system, the workingmen will free not only their own class, but also
+all other classes of modern society. The small farmer, who is to-day
+exploited by large capital more indirectly but not less effectively
+than is the wage laborer; the small manufacturer and trader, who is
+engaged in a desperate and losing struggle for economic independence
+in the face of the all-conquering power of concentrated capital; and
+even the capitalist himself, who is the slave of his wealth rather
+than its master. The struggle of the working class against the
+capitalist class, while it is a class struggle, is thus at the same
+time a struggle for the abolition of all classes and class privileges.
+
+The private ownership of the land and means of production used for
+exploitation, is the rock upon which class rule is built; political
+government is its indispensable instrument. The wage-workers cannot be
+freed from exploitation without conquering the political power and
+substituting collective for private ownership of the land and means of
+production used for exploitation.
+
+The basis for such transformation is rapidly developing within present
+capitalist society. The factory system, with its complex machinery and
+minute division of labor, is rapidly destroying all vestiges of
+individual production in manufacture. Modern production is already
+very largely a collective and social process. The great trusts and
+monopolies which have sprung up in recent years have organized the
+work and management of the principal industries on a national scale,
+and have fitted them for collective use and operation.
+
+There can be no absolute private title to land. All private titles,
+whether called fee simple or otherwise, are and must be subordinate to
+the public title. The Socialist Party strives to prevent land from
+being used for the purpose of exploitation and speculation. It demands
+the collective possession, control, or management of land to whatever
+extent may be necessary to attain that end. It is not opposed to the
+occupation and possession of land by those using it in a useful and
+bona fide manner without exploitation.
+
+The Socialist Party is primarily an economic and political movement.
+It is not concerned with matters of religious belief.
+
+In the struggle for freedom the interests of all modern workers are
+identical. The struggle is not only national but international. It
+embraces the world and will be carried to ultimate victory by the
+united workers of the world.
+
+To unite the workers of the nation and their allies and sympathizers
+of all other classes to this end, is the mission of the Socialist
+Party. In this battle for freedom the Socialist Party does not strive
+to substitute working class rule for capitalist class rule, but by
+working class victory, to free all humanity from class rule and to
+realize the international brotherhood of man.
+
+
+PROGRAM
+
+As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its fight
+for the realization of this ultimate aim, and to increase its power of
+resistance against capitalist oppression, we advocate and pledge
+ourselves and our elected officers to the following program:
+
+_General Demands_
+
+1. The immediate government relief for the unemployed workers by
+building schools, by reforesting of cut-over and waste lands, by
+reclamation of arid tracts, and the building of canals, and by
+extending all other useful public works. All persons employed on such
+works shall be employed directly by the government under an eight-hour
+work-day and at the prevailing union wages. The government shall also
+loan money to states and municipalities without interest for the
+purpose of carrying on public works. It shall contribute to the funds
+of labor organizations for the purpose of assisting their unemployed
+members, and shall take such other measures within its power as will
+lessen the widespread misery of the workers caused by the misrule of
+the capitalist class.
+
+2. The collective ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones,
+steamboat lines, and all other means of social transportation and
+communication.
+
+3. The collective ownership of all industries which are organized on a
+national scale and in which competition has virtually ceased to exist.
+
+4. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quarries, oil
+wells, forests, and water power.
+
+5. The scientific reforestation of timber lands, and the reclamation
+of swamp lands. The land so reforested or reclaimed to be permanently
+retained as a part of the public domain.
+
+6. The absolute freedom of press, speech, and assemblage.
+
+_Industrial Demands_
+
+7. The improvement of the industrial condition of the workers.
+
+(_a_) By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased
+productiveness of machinery.
+
+(_b_) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a day
+and a half in each week.
+
+(_c_) By securing a more effective inspection of workshops and
+factories.
+
+(_d_) By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen years of
+age.
+
+(_e_) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products of
+child labor, of convict labor, and of all uninspected factories.
+
+(_f_) By abolishing official charity and substituting in its place
+compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, accidents,
+invalidism, old age, and death.
+
+_Political Demands_
+
+8. The extension of inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion to the
+amount of the bequests and to the nearness of kin.
+
+9. A graduated income tax.
+
+10. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women, and we pledge
+ourselves to engage in an active campaign in that direction.
+
+11. The initiative and referendum, proportional representation, and
+the right of recall.
+
+12. The abolition of the senate.
+
+13. The abolition of the power usurped by the supreme court of the
+United States to pass upon the constitutionality of legislation
+enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed or abrogated only
+by act of Congress or by a referendum of the whole people.
+
+14. That the Constitution be made amendable by majority vote.
+
+15. The enactment of further measures for general education and for
+the conservation of health. The bureau of education to be made a
+department. The creation of a department of public health.
+
+16. The separation of the present bureau of labor from the department
+of commerce and labor, and the establishment of a department of labor.
+
+17. That all judges be elected by the people for short terms, and that
+the power to issue injunctions shall be curbed by immediate
+legislation.
+
+18. The free administration of justice.
+
+Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capitalism are
+but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole power of
+government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the whole
+system of industry and thus come to their rightful inheritance.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] GEORGES WEIL, _Histoire du Mouvement Social en France_, p. 208.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Allemane, 77
+
+American Socialist Party platform, 341
+
+Amsterdam Congress, 228
+
+Anarchy, 29, 65, 127
+
+Anselee, 122
+
+Anti-militarism, in France, 110-112;
+  in Belgium, 129;
+  in Germany, 201-202
+
+Anti-Socialist Law (German), 160-167
+
+Asquith, Premier, and the Parliament Bill, 238-240
+
+Austria, revolution in, 47
+
+
+Bakunin, 65, 71
+
+Barthou, on French post-office strike, 97;
+  on railway strike, 101
+
+Bebel, August, 155, 158;
+  on Anti-Socialist Law, 161, 162, 163, 165, 166;
+  arrest of, 167;
+  candidate for President of Reichstag, 190;
+  on defeat of Socialism, 1907, 194;
+  on inheritance tax, 188;
+  as a party leader, 264;
+  on new Alsatian Constitution, 198;
+  on militarism, 202-203;
+  on participation in legislation, 188, 189;
+  on party discipline, 177, 193, 195, 196;
+  on Socialism in United States, 268
+
+Belgium, 118-145;
+  government of, 121-122;
+  co-operative movement in, 140-145;
+  agrarian movement in, 142;
+  nature of Belgian Socialism, 143-144;
+  labor organizations in, 122-125;
+  Labor Party in Parliament, 133-135;
+  political parties in, 121;
+  poverty and illiteracy in, 118-120, 125, 128
+
+Bernstein, Ed., 192
+
+Bibliography, 273-279
+
+Bismarck and Lassalle, 154;
+  and Reichstag suffrage, 158;
+  and repression of Socialism, 159-161;
+  Anti-Socialist Law, 160-168;
+  and State Insurance, 168-169
+
+Blanc, Louis, 13, 26-28, 62;
+  Lassalle adopts plan of, 152
+
+Bourgeoisie, defined, 2
+
+Bourse du Travail, 77, 80;
+  federation of, 77;
+  organization of, 105-106
+
+Brentano, Prof., on Socialism in U.S., 269
+
+Briand, Aristide, 78, 81, 91, 97;
+  became Prime Minister, 97;
+  program of legislation, 98;
+  and the railway strike, 99-104
+
+Brousse, 76, 105
+
+Brussels, city of refuge, 122;
+  demonstrations in, 127, 128, 139-140;
+  Maison du Peuple of, 144
+
+Burns, John, 215;
+  in cabinet, 228, 234;
+  on right to work, 244;
+  on Socialism in U.S., 268
+
+
+Cabet, 23
+
+Carlyle, on Chartist movement, 52
+
+"C.G.T." _See_ Syndicalists and Syndicalism
+
+Chartist movement, 51-54, 208
+
+Christian Socialism, 9, 221-222
+
+Christian Social Union, 221
+
+Church Socialist League, 222
+
+Class basis of Socialism, 1-6, 15, 35.
+  _See also_ Marx
+
+Class interests, illusion of, 253-254
+
+Class War, Guesdists on the, 85
+
+Class War and Syndicalists, 106-107
+
+Clemenceau, debate with Jaures, 92, 94;
+  on post-office strike, 96-97
+
+Clerical Party in Belgium, 129, 134, 135, 136, 308;
+  in Germany, 200.
+  _See also_ political parties
+
+Colin, co-operative movement started by, 122
+
+"Collectivism," origin of word, 339
+
+Communal Program of Bavarian Socialists, 301;
+  of Belgian Socialists, 314
+
+Communist League, the, 56
+
+Communist Manifesto, 13, 56-61
+
+Compere-Morel, 115-116
+
+Competition and the Socialist theory, 11, 35
+
+Co-operation, 11;
+  in Belgium, _see_ Belgium;
+  in England, 217-218;
+    _see also_ England;
+  statistics of, 308, 309
+
+
+Davidson, Thomas, 220
+
+Democracy and Socialism, 42, 43;
+  spread of, by Socialists, 257
+
+Democratic revolutions, 26-55;
+  in Germany, 146-148
+
+Dennis, Prof. Hector, 142
+
+Development Act (Eng.), 233
+
+Dicey, Prof., on the Liberal and Socialist parties, 230
+
+Dockers' strike, 215
+
+Dreyfus affair, 84-90
+
+
+Eisenach Program, 157-158
+
+Election laws, German, 293-294
+
+Electoral reform. _See_ Saxony, Prussia, "Free Cities," Chartist Movement
+
+Ely, Prof. R.T., conservation in U.S., 269
+
+Emperor William's life attempted, 159-160
+
+Engels, Frederick, 50, 52, 56-61;
+  on English police, 245;
+  on changes in revolutionary ideals, 255
+
+England, growth of Socialism in, 315;
+  thrift institutions in, 318;
+  Socialism in, 207-249;
+  character of Socialism in, 211-212.
+  _See also_ Chartist movement; Engels; Industrial Revolution;
+    Insurance Bill; Labor Party; Labor Exchange Act; Land System;
+    Liberal Party; Lords, House of
+
+English, characteristics of the, 209-211;
+  income of the, 213-214
+
+Erfurt Program, 191;
+  dissatisfaction with, 192-194
+
+
+Fabian Society, origin, 220-221;
+  famous members, 220-221;
+  attitude toward constitutionalism, 248;
+  basis of, 327;
+  an election address of, 335;
+  an election dodger of, 337
+
+Feudalism, class ideals of, 43, 44, 45;
+  in Germany, 147
+
+Feuerbach, 31-32
+
+Fourier, 19-22, 24
+
+France, Revolution of 1848, 47;
+  commune of 1871, 49, 61;
+  Socialist Party of, 75-117;
+  factions in Socialist Party, 76-78;
+  "United Socialists," 77, 78;
+  Socialist Radicals, 78;
+  the "Bloc," 84, 85;
+  labor unions in, 77;
+  post-office strike in, 94-97;
+  railway strike in, 98-99;
+  local Socialism in, 112-113;
+  government of, 280-281
+
+France, Anatole, 117
+
+Frank, Dr., on the Baden budget, 196-198;
+  on the intellectual classes and Socialism, 254
+
+"Free Cities," election laws in, 183
+
+French Revolution, 42
+
+
+Gambetta, 79
+
+General strike, 256;
+  in Belgium, 126, 131, 138, 143
+
+George, Henry, 220
+
+George, Lloyd, 232;
+  budget of, 236-238;
+  Insurance Bill of, 240-241;
+  flays Keir Hardie, 245
+
+Germany, Social Democracy in, 146-170;
+  revolution in, 46;
+  character of government in, 147;
+  the new Empire, 158;
+  most "socialized" country, 169-190;
+  labor unions in, 171-175;
+  party representation in Reichstag, 297;
+  vote of all parties in, 296;
+  political parties in, 292-293.
+  _See also_ "Free Cities;" Suffrage; Progressists; Labor
+    Organizations; Liberal Party
+
+Gneist, Prof., and Anti-Socialist law, 162
+
+Godin, J., 21
+
+Godwin, 24
+
+Guesde, Jules, 75, 76, 81, 85, 87, 105, 106
+
+Guise, community at, 21
+
+
+Hardie, Keir, 222,
+  and Development Act, 234, 243;
+  on using military during strike, 245;
+  on goal of Socialism, 247
+
+Hasselman, 158;
+  expelled from Social Democratic Party, 166
+
+Hegel, 23, 31
+
+Hegelians, Young, 31, 50
+
+Herve, Gustave, 110, 112
+
+Hobhouse, Prof., 247
+
+Hyndman, H.M., 219
+
+
+I.L.P., organization of, 222, 243;
+  on Liberal coalition, 243-244;
+  attitude on Insurance Bill, 244;
+  constitution and by-laws, 322
+
+Industrial revolution, 43;
+  change in social ideals, 44, 45;
+  violence of first days, 45;
+  in England, 207-209
+
+Insurance Bill (Eng.), 240-241
+
+International, the, 56;
+  "Old International," 56-69;
+  "New International," 69-74;
+  Amsterdam Congress of, 228
+
+International Socialist Bureau, 72, 74
+
+International Socialist Statistics, 339, 340
+
+International Workingmen's Association, 71
+
+
+Jaures, Jean, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 100;
+  leader of "Bloc," 90-91;
+  debate with Clemenceau, 92-93;
+  in Amsterdam Congress, 228;
+  on difference between Socialism and Democracy, 265;
+  on Socialism in U.S., 268
+
+
+Kaiser, the, and German Social Democrats, 180, 181
+
+Kautsky, K., 50, 85;
+  on Revisionism, 192-193;
+  on Amsterdam Congress, 228
+
+Kingsley, 212
+
+
+Labor Exchange Act (England), 233
+
+Labor Organization in France, 104;
+  in Germany, 150-151, 171-175
+
+Labor Party, English, 74, 274, 223-225, 226, 227-232, 228, 231, 241, 242;
+  Program of, 318, 334
+
+Labor Party, the first, 75;
+  in Belgium, _see_ Belgium;
+  Program of, 309
+
+Labor Questions and Socialism, 258
+
+Labor unions in Belgium, political activity of, 308.
+  _See also_ Belgium
+
+Labor unions in England. _See_ Trades Unions
+
+Labor unions in France. _See_ Bourse du Travail, and Syndicats
+
+Labor unions in Germany, 295.
+  _See also_ Germany
+
+Land system of England, 236-237
+
+Lassalle, 147-155, 185;
+  Leipzig address, 152;
+  General Workingman's Association, 152-154;
+  influence on German Social Democracy, 154
+
+League of the Just, 56-57, 69
+
+Ledebour, on ministerial responsibility, 189
+
+Legislation, advocated by Socialists, in Germany, _see_ Social
+    Democratic Party;
+  in England, 231-241
+
+Liberal Party, in Germany, 146-148, 150, 151;
+  in England, 226, 227, 228, 230-231, 242-245
+
+Liebknecht, 70, 155, 156, 157, 158, 163;
+  in Reichstag, 166;
+  arrested, 167;
+  on party tactics, 186;
+  on Erfurt Program, 191
+
+London, progress in, 235
+
+Lords, House of, an issue, 237-239, 240
+
+
+MacDonald, J. Ramsay, on I.L.P., 245-247;
+  on Democracy, 254-255
+
+Mazzini, 54, 61, 62
+
+McCarthy, Justin, on Chartism, 52
+
+Marx, Karl, 9, 32, 38, 39;
+  theories of 32-36;
+  formulae of, "capital," 37-38;
+  influence on Socialist movement, 39-40;
+  criticism of, 40, 41;
+  theory of Revolution, 43;
+  on German revolution, 47, 48, 49;
+  on the Commune, 49, 69;
+  the Communist Manifesto, 56-61;
+  "address" and "statutes" of the "Old International," 62, 63, 67, 68;
+  at The Hague, 64;
+  present influence in Germany, 194
+
+Marxian influence in the International, 69-71
+
+Marxians and the Possibilists, 85, 91
+
+Marxians in England, 219, 317
+
+Maurice, 212
+
+Menger, Adolph, critique of Marxianism, 40-41
+
+Mill, John Stuart, 10
+
+Millerand, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 91;
+  at St. Mande, 82;
+  Program of, 88-90;
+  expelled from Socialist Party, 87;
+  on railway strike, 101, 102;
+  on ideals of Socialism, 6.
+
+Militarism, and the International, 72-74;
+  and the Syndicalists, 108-109
+
+Money, Chiozza, 213, 214, 215, 236
+
+Morley, Lord, on new Liberalism, 230
+
+Morris, Wm., 9, 219;
+  on Whigs, 229
+
+Most, Herr, in Reichstag, 158;
+  expelled from Socialist Party, 166
+
+Munich, Socialist activity in, 204-206
+
+Municipal Socialism in France, 112-115;
+  in Germany, 204-206
+
+
+Old Age Pensions, 101
+
+Osborne Judgment, the, 217
+
+Owen, Robert, 6, 8, 21-23, 25;
+  Rochdale, 27
+
+
+Paepe, Caesar de, 122
+
+Paris, Commune. _See_ Commune. First meeting of "New International," 69-71
+
+Parliament Bill, 238-240
+
+Peasantry, French, 115-116;
+  Belgian, 142-143
+
+Possibilists, 70
+
+Poverty and Socialism, 10-11;
+  in England, 213-215;
+  in Belgium, _see_ Belgium
+
+Progressists, in Belgium, 128, 129;
+  in Germany, 151, 162, 190
+
+Proudhon, 28-31, 62
+
+Proudhonism in England, 106
+
+Prussia, election laws, 183
+
+
+Reformistes, in France, _see_ Millerand, Briand;
+  in Germany, 192-193
+
+Revisionist controversy in Germany, 192-193
+
+Revolution, social, 12, 13, 255, 256;
+  modern idea, 53
+
+Revolutionary era, 26-55
+
+Rodbertus, 150, 153, 155
+
+Rosebery, Lord, 229
+
+Rousseau, 42
+
+Ruskin, 212
+
+
+Sabotage, 96, 100, 101, 102, 104, 108
+
+Sachsen-Altenburg, election law, 294
+
+Saint-Simon, 17-19, 23
+
+Saxe-Weimar, election law, 294
+
+Saxony, new election law, 182, 293
+
+Schultze-Delitsch, 150
+
+Shaw, G.B., 220, 240, 247
+
+Simiyan, on French post-office strike, 95
+
+Small Holdings Act, 234, 235
+
+Social Democratic Federation, (English), 219, 220, 317, 330
+
+Social Democratic Party (German), 175-190;
+  discipline, 177-179;
+  attitude of government towards, 179-181;
+  change in temper, 186-204;
+  attitude towards legislation, 186-191;
+  first bill in Reichstag, 187;
+  attitude on state insurance, 188;
+  present temper, 191;
+  program of, 191, 198, 199, 297;
+  attitude towards other parties, 194, 199;
+  election address of, 303
+
+Socialism, ideals of, 6-10;
+  theories, 11;
+  development of, 17;
+  political awakening of, 42;
+  modern conception of revolution, 51;
+  what is, 62, 63;
+  changes in, 250;
+  illusions of, 253;
+  in different countries, 257;
+  limits of, 262;
+  characteristics of present, 262-266;
+  in Parliaments, 251;
+  what it has accomplished, 257-260;
+  nature of its demands, 261-262;
+  difference between Socialism and Democracy, 265-266;
+  when the word was first used, 23
+
+Socialist officers, list of, 340
+
+Socialist Party, membership of, 340
+
+Socialist vote in leading countries, 339
+
+Sorel, Georges, 107
+
+South Germany budget controversy, 159-199
+
+State, increased functions of, 259-260
+
+State Insurance, opposed by Socialists, 167;
+  attitude of present-day Socialists, 188;
+  in Germany, 169, 170;
+  statistics, 295;
+  _see also_ Bismarck
+
+Suedekum, Dr., on nature of Social Democratic Party, 199
+
+Suffrage, struggle for, in Belgium, 124-133;
+  electoral laws of Belgium, 132-136;
+  struggle for, in Germany, 146, 182-185
+
+Syndicalism, 94, 107-110, 96-98, 99-102, 105-106, 256
+
+
+Taff Vale decision, 216-217, 232
+
+Thiers, President, 75
+
+Town Planning Act, 234, 235
+
+Trades Disputes Act, 232
+
+Trades Unions, English, and the International, 62, 67, 69;
+  characteristics, 215, 216, 217, 218;
+  and Socialism, 69, 72;
+  and Syndicalism, 108
+
+Transportation strike, England, 244, 245
+
+
+United Socialist Party of France, Basis of Union, 289;
+  U.S., Socialism in, 266-270;
+  Socialist vote in, 268;
+  platform of Socialists in U.S., 341
+
+
+Vaillant, 81, 82, 100
+
+Vandervelde, 118, 134, 137, 138, 142, 143
+
+Villiers, Brougham, 247-248
+
+Viviani, 78, 91, 101
+
+Von Kettler, Baron, Bishop of Mayence, 153, 172
+
+Von Vollmar, 181, 193, 195, 200, 203, 204
+
+
+Waldeck-Rousseau, 79, 84, 85
+
+Webb, Sidney, 220, 221, 234, 242
+
+Weitling, Wm., 7
+
+Wells, H.C., 10
+
+Wescott, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 221
+
+Workingmen's Association of Lassalle, 154, 156, 157, 158
+
+Workingmen's Compensation Act (England), 233
+
+
+Yvetot on Syndicalism, 108, 109
+
+
+
+
+MEN VS. THE MAN
+
+$1.35 net, by mail $1.43
+
+    This series of actual letters between MR. ROBERT RIVES LA
+      MONTE, Editor of "The Call," and MR. HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN of
+      the "Baltimore Sun," furnishes a highly interesting
+      contribution to the discussion of Socialism and
+      Individualism, and constitutes a timely book of wide appeal.
+
+    "The pros and cons of Socialism are herein very clearly set
+    forth. Clear and comprehensive. To be strongly recommended. A
+    splendid exposition of the strength and weaknesses of a movement
+    which is rapidly assuming gigantic proportions in the scheme of
+    things social."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT
+
+    By J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, Chairman of the British Labor Party.
+      (Home University Library.) 50 cents net, by mail 56 cents.
+      Traces the development of Socialistic theory, practice, and
+      party organization; with a summary of the progress of
+      socialist parties to date in the leading nations.
+
+    "Not only the latest authoritative exposition of Socialism, it
+    is also the most moderate, restrained and winning presentation
+    of the subject now before the public."--_San Francisco
+    Argonaut._
+
+
+STUDIES IN AMERICAN TRADE-UNIONISM
+
+    By JACOB H. HOLLANDER and GEORGE E. BARNETT. $2.75 net, by mail
+      $2.97.
+
+A detailed study of the Government and working methods of the
+representative Trade-Unions.
+
+    "Though confined to particular features of particular trade
+    unions, the data dealt with are comprehensive and typical; so
+    that the result is a substantial contribution to our knowledge
+    of trade-union structure and function.... Excellent
+    studies."--_New York Evening Post._
+
+    "It is doubtful if anything approaching it in breadth and
+    co-ordination has yet found its way into print.... A very useful
+    book."--_San Francisco Chronicle._
+
+
+THE FATE OF ICIODORUM
+
+    By DAVID STARR JORDAN, President of Stanford University. 90
+      cents net, by mail $1.00.
+
+The story of a city made rich by taxation.
+
+    "After reading this book, no man who wishes to get at the
+    fundamental theory of protection can plead ignorance."--_New
+    York Evening Post._
+
+  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS                   NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+NEW BOOKS ON THE LIVING ISSUES BY LIVING MEN AND WOMEN
+
+The Home University Library
+
+Cloth Bound 50c per volume net; by mail 56c.
+
+_Points about THE HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY_
+
+Every volume is absolutely new, and specially written for the Library.
+There are no reprints.
+
+Every volume is sold separately. Each has illustrations where needed,
+and contains a Bibliography as an aid to further study.
+
+Every volume is written by a recognized authority on its subject, and
+the Library is published under the direction of four eminent
+Anglo-Saxon scholars--GILBERT MURRAY, of Oxford; H.A.L. FISHER, of
+Oxford; J. ARTHUR THOMSON, of Aberdeen; and Prof. W.T. BREWSTER, of
+Columbia.
+
+Every subject is of living and permanent interest. These books tell
+whatever is most important and interesting about their subjects.
+
+Each volume is complete and independent; but the series has been
+carefully planned as a whole to form a comprehensive library of modern
+knowledge covering the chief subjects in History and Geography,
+Literature and Art, Science, Social Science, Philosophy, and Religion.
+An order for any volume will insure receiving announcements of future
+issues.
+
+_SOME COMMENTS ON THE SERIES AS A WHOLE:_
+
+    "Excellent."--_The Outlook._ "Exceedingly worth while."--_The
+    Nation._
+
+    "The excellence of these books."--_The Dial._
+
+    "So large a proportion with marked individuality."--_New York
+    Sun._
+
+VOLUMES ON HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY NOW READY
+
+    =Rome= By W. WARDE FOWLER.
+
+    =The History of England= By A.F. POLLARD.
+
+    =The Opening Up of Africa= By H.H. JOHNSTON.
+
+    =The Civilization of China= By H.A. GILES.
+
+    =History of Our Time (1885-1911)= By G.P. GOOCH.
+
+    =The Colonial Period= By CHAS. M. ANDREWS.
+
+    =Reconstruction & Union (1865-1912)= By L.P. HAWORTH.
+
+    =The Civil War= By F.L. PAXSON.
+
+    =The Dawn of History= By J.L. MYRES.
+
+    =Peoples and Problems of India= By T.W. HOLDERNESS.
+
+    =Canada= By A.G. BRADLEY.
+
+    =The French Revolution= By HILAIRE BELLOC.
+
+    =A Short History of War & Peace= By G.H. PERRIS.
+
+    =The Irish Nationality= By ALICE S. GREEN.
+
+    =The Papacy & Modern Times= By W. BARRY.
+
+    =Medieval Europe= By H.W.C. DAVIS.
+
+    =Warfare in Britain= By HILAIRE BELLOC.
+
+    =Modern Geography= By MARIAN I. NEWBIGIN.
+
+    =Polar Exploration= By W.S. BRUCE.
+
+    =Master Mariners= By JOHN R. SPEARS.
+
+  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+  34 WEST 33RD ST.          NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+American Public Problems
+
+EDITED BY
+
+RALPH CURTIS RINGWALT
+
+IMMIGRATION: And Its Effects Upon the United States
+
+    By PRESCOTT F. HALL, A.B., LL.B., Secretary of the Immigration
+      Restriction League. 393 pp. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.65.
+
+    "Should prove interesting to everyone. Very readable, forceful
+    and convincing. Mr. Hall considers every possible phase of this
+    great question and does it in a masterly way that shows not only
+    that he thoroughly understands it, but that he is deeply
+    interested in it and has studied everything bearing upon
+    it."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+    "A readable work containing a vast amount of valuable
+    information. Especially to be commended is the discussion of the
+    racial effects. As a trustworthy general guide it should prove a
+    godsend."--_N.Y. Evening Post._
+
+    "Earnest and unprejudiced.... Cannot fail to be of great
+    assistance in clarifying and setting on a solid foundation the
+    ideas of people who are now becoming convinced that the problems
+    of immigration in the nation and the municipality will soon
+    reach a more acute stage than ever before."--_Philadelphia
+    Press._
+
+    "An auspicious omen of the worth of Messrs. Henry Holt and
+    Company's recently announced series on American Public
+    Problems.... Mr. Hall has been in close touch with the
+    immigration movement and he writes with a grasp and a fullness
+    of information which must commend his work to every reader.... A
+    handbook ... to which one may turn conveniently for information
+    for which he would otherwise be obliged to search through many a
+    dusty document."--_The World To-day._
+
+
+THE ELECTION OF SENATORS
+
+    By Professor GEORGE H. HAYNES, Author of "Representation in
+      State Legislatures." 300 pp. $1.50 net. By mail $1.65.
+
+Shows the historical reasons for the present method, and its effect on
+the senate and senators, and on state and local government, with a
+detailed review of the arguments for and against direct election.
+
+    "A timely book.... Prof. Haynes is qualified for a historical
+    and analytical treatise on the subject of the Senate."--_N.Y.
+    Evening Sun._
+
+    "Well worth reading, and unique because it is devoted wholly to
+    the election of senators and to the deliberations of the
+    Senate."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+    "Able and dispassionate, and ought to be widely read."--_New
+    York Commercial._
+
+    "Of considerable popular as well as historical
+    interest."--_Dial._
+
+  Henry Holt and Company
+  29 WEST 23D STREET             NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+LEADING AMERICANS
+
+    Edited by W.P. TRENT, and generally confined to those no longer
+      living. Large 12mo. With portraits. Each $1.75, by mail
+      $1.90.
+
+R.M. JOHNSTON'S LEADING AMERICAN SOLDIERS
+
+By the Author of "Napoleon," etc.
+
+Washington, Greene, Taylor, Scott, Andrew Jackson, Grant, Sherman,
+Sheridan, McClellan, Meade, Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Joseph E.
+Johnston.
+
+    "Very interesting ... much sound originality of treatment, and
+    the style is very clear."--_Springfield Republican._
+
+
+JOHN ERSKINE'S LEADING AMERICAN NOVELISTS
+
+Charles Brockden Brown, Cooper, Simms, Hawthorne, Mrs. Stowe, and Bret
+Harte.
+
+    "He makes his study of these novelists all the more striking
+    because of their contrasts of style and their varied purpose....
+    Well worth any amount of time we may care to spend upon
+    them."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+W.M. PAYNE'S LEADING AMERICAN ESSAYISTS
+
+A General Introduction dealing with essay writing in America, and
+biographies of Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, and George William Curtis.
+
+    "It is necessary to know only the name of the author of this
+    work to be assured of its literary excellence."--_Literary
+    Digest._
+
+
+LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE
+
+Edited by President DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    COUNT RUMFORD and JOSIAH WILLARD GIBBS, by E.E. Slosson;
+    ALEXANDER WILSON and AUDUBON, by Witmer Stone; SILLIMAN, by
+    Daniel C. Gilman; JOSEPH HENRY, by Simon Newcomb; LOUIS AGASSIZ
+    and SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, by Charles F. Holder; JEFFRIES
+    WYMAN, by B.G. Wilder; ASA GRAY, by John M. Coulter; JAMES
+    DWIGHT DANA, by William North Rice; MARSH, by Geo. Bird
+    Grinnell; EDWARD DRINKER COPE, by Marcus Benjamin; SIMON
+    NEWCOMB, by Marcus Benjamin; GEORGE BROWN GOODE, by D.S. Jordan;
+    HENRY AUGUSTUS ROWLAND, by Ira Remsen; WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS, by
+    E.A. Andrews.
+
+
+GEORGE ILES'S LEADING AMERICAN INVENTORS
+
+    By the author of "Inventors at Work," etc. COLONEL JOHN STEVENS
+    (screw-propeller, etc.); his son, ROBERT (T-rail, etc.); FULTON;
+    ERICSSON; WHITNEY; BLANCHARD (lathe); MCCORMICK; HOWE; GOODYEAR;
+    MORSE; TILGHMAN (paper from wood and sand blast); SHOLES
+    (type-writer); and MERGENTHALER (linotype).
+
+    OTHER VOLUMES covering LAWYERS, POETS, STATESMEN, EDITORS,
+    EXPLORERS, etc., arranged for. Leaflet on application.
+
+
+  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS             NEW YORK
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  32: (FN 14) Deutscher replaced with Deutschen       |
+    | Page  32: (FN 16) Duerung replaced with Duehring            |
+    | Page 103: "will within the next few decades he compelled" |
+    |           replaced with                                   |
+    |           "will within the next few decades be compelled" |
+    | Page 147: beaureaucratic replaced with bureaucratic       |
+    | Page 171: (FN 1) "Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften |
+    |           in Deutschland, seit dem Erlasse des            |
+    |           Sozialistischen Gesets" replaced with           |
+    |           "Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften        |
+    |           in Deutschland, seit dem Erlasse des            |
+    |           Sozialistischen Gesetzes"                       |
+    | Page 194: compaigning replaced with campaigning           |
+    | Page 255: (FN 3) Classenkampf replaced with Klassenkampf  |
+    | Page 267: fullfilled replaced with fulfilled              |
+    | Page 274: Schaeffle replaced with Schaeffle                |
+    | Page 276: Jaeger replaced with Jaeger                     |
+    | Page 295: (table note) sevice replaced with service       |
+    | Page 347: Brousse replaced with Brousse                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | The reader should note that on page 216, in referring to  |
+    | damages assessed (in England) at $100,000, one assumes    |
+    | L is meant rather than $, yet the image does have $.      |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Socialism and Democracy in Europe, by
+Samuel P. Orth
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 35572.txt or 35572.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/7/35572/
+
+Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall 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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.