Socialism and Democracy in Europe

NING OF SOCIALISM-T

iquated," says Engels.[1] A new species of plotting and propaganda began. The exiled agitators and revolutionists met, naturally, in their cities of refu

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 onc

ions 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 greates

ment, its economic reasoning, its terrific arraignment of modern industrial society, the

the Marxian movement, wrote in th

ution, 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 emancipatio

plished by revolution. The "Manifesto" clos

the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling class tremble at a communist revolution. T

few days before the February revolution of 1848. For a moment the ruling class did tremb

and revolutions that had harassed the Continent for over fifty years. The revival of industry brought a renewal of international trade

oth 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 proc

to know how Engels would

trument for achieving the new society. "The immediate aim of the communists," it recites, "is the conquest of political

tion of the communists' s

litico-socio-democratic party is suggested

and and application of all ren

ressive or gradu

of all rights

the property of all

f the state, by means of a national bank wi

ns of communication and trans

by the state: the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the

. Establishment of industrial ar

ries; gradual abolition between town and country, by a m

n public schools, combination of educa

nor Engels, who died in 1895, made any alteration in it, on the ground that it h

last twenty-five years, the general principles laid down in th

ould be radically mollified if written at the time of the joint preface in 1872. The example of the Paris Commune was disheartening.

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 tran

riot, 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 unio

tone'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 achie

s 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 respe

, 1866, where sixty delegates represented the new movement. With the vicissitudes of Marx's International we are no

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 Englis

f from the meetings. But here even his magnetic presence could not prevent the breach with Bakunin.[7] There were stormy scenes. Th

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 S

allization of his lifelong endeavor to lead the workingmen's cause

le went the way of all violent revolutionists. They took part in the uprisings in Sp

d to it. Such conservative and careful newspapers as the London Times indulged in the most extreme editorials and news items about the sinister

ational convention was powerful only in the possession of an idea, the conviction of international solidarity. Its plotting handful of Anarchists wer

hatever was practical in Marx's organization. For the second meeting, 1866, the following outline

ernational Association; its

, and future: stoppage, strikes-means of remed

en in factories, from a mora

s end, bearing, and moral consequ

application; co-operation as dist

nd labor; foreign competi

and indir

utual credit, paper money, weigh

ication of the principle of the right of the people to govern themselve

es and their relat

luence upon the social, politi

tual help; aid, moral and material, gi

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 d

ion 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

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 co

ion, 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

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 a

a blending of pedantic declamation and phosphoric denunciation. Its programs were a mixture of En

ring 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 falte

s 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. Th

" tempered with English trade-unionism and tinged with Anarchism;

rties, 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 othe

e 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 organizat

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 natu

mission 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 De

au is maintained, with a permanent secretary, who is

o-operation of millions of workingmen of all lands

he 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 th

an 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

ar 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 upo

armies. That the protest was made, that it was sincere, rational and free from the hyperbola of passion, is the s

luences exerted by the recruit rather than to the

TNO

ion to Klasse

to Marx's Enthüllungen über d

eface of edi

Ib

ouncil of the Workingmen's Associ

ismus, Berlin, 1873, and in Dr. R. Meyer's Der Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten Standes, 2nd edition, Vol. I, Berlin, 188

pilation of documents and descriptions of Bakunin's organization. The w

women and children; special protection for children 14-18 years of age; workshop inspectors elected by the workmen; equal w

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

ternational," see Weil, Histoire Int

untries that maintain Socialist organiza