Socialism and Democracy in Europe

SOCIAL DE

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

f the new empire, not because the Chancellor and his Prince loved democracy, but b

of national habit; and nearly all the democracy, certainly all the working

Germany, it is necessary to bear in mind the bureaucratic, a

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

eated 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,

e 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 184

andering his estates and suffering her to live in want. Lassalle fought the case through thirty-six courts for nin

lowed 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 c

ne 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

tist 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 gover

ll German" ("Klein Deutschland") Party, preferring the ascendency of Prussia. It comprised the enterprising traders, manufacturers, and bankers,

ment, 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 poli

tself to economic activities alone. Rodbertus, the distinguished economist, who was potent in shaping economic and political thought in Germany, wrote Lassalle, when he was entr

ss. 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 meet

ssist ("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-fa

on was not without effect. The older workingmen, who were not familiar with the teachings of Marx and Engels, a

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 Leips

salle's answer is the basic documen

e laws united action is essential. They must be powerful enough to get laws to their liking. This power they will not get by

her 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

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, de

mic. 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

he 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 Rhinel

k 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

eitsverein") attain political power. He was killed in a duel over a love affair August 31, 18

s celebrated by the German Socialists (Lassalle Feier). The pr

ow identical the economic and the political forces are. Every separation of them is an abstract

tionist 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 Sa

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 i

re: 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 sys

moderation, and when the congress met at Dresden in 1871 it adopted a resolution extol

l 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 c

eant increased police vigilance. All the leaders served terms in prison, newspapers were suppressed, organizations dissolved, houses searched, agitators ordered to leave the country. The

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

emands of labor for better conditions. Both revolved around the pivot of patriarchal omnipot

I

he 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

dignation. 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 c

uliar Conservatives increased their delegation from 40 to 59, the Free Conservatives from 38 to 57; the National Liberals reduced their number from 128 to

nst the publicly dangerous activities of the Social Democracy" (Gesetz

ociety 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 pa

resent 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 enabl

l effort to alleviate harsh conditions. But the Socialist

e under this law than without it." The vote of 221 to 149 in favo

or 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

nd the war between Socialistic democracy and medieval autocracy was on. Its eve

on. They determined to perfect their organization, to promulgate a secret propaganda, and to u

bout fifty agitators were expelled, bales of literature confiscated, organizations dissolved, meetin

t 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 min

tary court chosen by the House, who should have the power to punish any member guilty of parliamentary indiscretion. The bill also empo

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 E

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 th

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 powe

oetry of Herwegh, the romances of Von Schweitzer, the photographs of the favorite Socialist saints, over eighty newspapers and sixty foreign

d 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 t

y the party persisted in growing. In 1880 it rid itself of

lection, 1884, they won twenty-four seats and polled 549,990 votes; two out of six seats in Berlin were won, and one-tenth of

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 b

ar (1886) at Freiburg occurred the memorable trial of nine Socialist leaders, including Bebel, Dietz, Von Vollmar, Auer, Frohme, and Vie

3,128 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 s

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 offende

y returned with 1,500,000, more votes than any other party could claim, and on a proportional basis eighty-five seats wo

hrongs of workingmen gathered in the streets of the larger cities, to sing their Mars

unting their hardships and sacrifices, raised his voice in jubilant phrase: "Our opponents did not spare us, and

uld repress with one hand, with the other he would placate. In 1883 he introduced his sickness insur

ject state Socialism unconditionally so long as it is inaugurated by Prince Bismarck and is designed to support the government system." Bismarck "had

eciate the intangible benefits of sovereignty. In 1880 German trade had reached a low ebb. Agriculture had fallen into decay. German peasants and workingmen were emigrati

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 plac

TNO

of the German government, see Daws

y: "Lassalle is the man in whom the modern organized German labor movement

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. Di

n Zürich, 1863:

und Rech

dated Apr

ittee zur Berufung eines Allgemeinen Deutschen Arbeiter

ichstag, Sept

04, he published his second sketch, Ferdinand Lassalle and His Significance to the Working Classes, in which he shifted his posi

ed in Mehring, Die Deut

and Ferdinand Lassalle, pp. 251

of this law is found in Dawson, Germany

cember

ittered.... '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

n, supra c

des Partei-Tage

ag debates,

es Partei-Tages,

rance, see W.H. Dawson, Bismarck and State So

ncipations-Kampf des V

table showing cost o

he state. Municipalities are landlords of vast estates, they are capitalists owning street cars, gas plants, electric light plants, theaters, markets, warehouses. They have hospital