Socialism and Democracy in Europe

DEMOCRACY AND

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 sp

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 ha

hurch. 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 C

hip is largely composed of the engineering trades; and they are usually under contract not to strike, bu

of all organized labor. Their growth has been very rapid during the last twenty years. In 1890, when th

ne 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 f

rce of the zeal and energy of these great fighting machines. In all of the larger towns they own clubhouses (Gewerkschaftsh?user), which are the centers of incessant activity. They contain assembly halls, restaurants, committee

d intellectual intercourse, sympathy and responsiveness in his union. He saves from his frugal wages to support the union and to swell the fu

aw, 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 committee

"We can say with truth that to-day there are no differences of a fundamental nature between the two g

n; not merely as a laboring man, but as a class-conscious (Classenbewustsein) laboring man; as a member of a governmental and a social

ganized labor is co-operating volunta

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 con

he 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. T

es were distributed. Every workingman, every voter, was personally solicited during the campaign just closed (January, 1912). C

a college faculty, the astuteness of a lawyer, and the frugality of a tradesman. They issue annual reports, as full of statistics and involved an

lly any Social Democrat may believe as he pleases and do as he pleases. But when it comes to political activity, we insist t

, Bebel told the delegates that "a fighting party such as our Social Democracy c

lash. 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

he 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

orate, and elected 110 members to the Reichstag, over one-fourth of the entire membership.[11] In nineteen state legislatures

hing 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

rely relent. When a decision is reached, the members are expected to abi

ance. 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 lèse-majesté and other laws infringing upon the liberty of the press and of speech. Al

dvance, some important national question, such as the tariff, mining laws, the agrarian situation, and discuss it in great detail, more like an academy of univers

I

erstand this activity, it is necessary to review the present attitude of the government toward democracy and Socialism. The repeal

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 i

s 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 würdig sind"). And more recently: "The Social Democrats are a crowd of upstarts without a fatherland" ("Vaterlandslose Gesellen"). The Kaiser joined in the publ

raits 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. In

ke 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

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 acc

the one-vote clas

the two-vote clas

e three-vote class

he four-vote class

re 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

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

e 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 dem

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,

that brilliant and erratic agitator uttered it: "Democracy, the universal ballot, is the laboring man's hope." The name of the par

s has been strictly limited to parliamentary criticism. Even in local government, in the communes and cities, they have been allowed only

attitude of the party towards legislation and practical parliamentary participation; (2) the internal chan

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 entirel

s. 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

lice power, increase in naval and military expenditure, and colonial exploitation. They took no part at first in law-making, held them

In 1895 they nominated one of their num

came 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 an

ure, after prolonged deliberation over what action to take. This action precipitated a heated discussion in the party congre

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 betteri

ose measures which could better the conditions of labor under the present industrial system. But Social Democrats view such regulations

ention declares that state insurance is "the object of constant agitation. For w

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 delegati

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 becomin

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 Presid

s organized and ready for business. The Kaiser let it be known that he did not care to receive the Radical officers. T

islative and political policy. It is the universal story-ambition bring

ge, but the interpretation, the spirit, has mellowed. The Erfurter program of 1891 is still their party pledge. The program is in two parts; t

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 s

hough the party had entered the lifeboat, manne

dly 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 a

ckling 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

which Jaurès taunted them at the Amsterdam congress, was here given full play. Von Vollmar repeated that nobody except a few dull theorists read Kau

g 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

l live the program will probably not be re-phrased. But even Kautsky is mellowing under the ripeness of years and circumst

e 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

is 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 w

s voted with other parties for the state budget. The national party claimed authority over the

n 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

orld 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

ure 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 sys

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

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 t

ollowing day it returned to declare its loyalty to the party, but with the proviso that

serve as a plain portent to the reactionaries. That Bebel is willing to be a candidate for President of the Reichstag is a significant

ntinue. The break with the past must come, sooner or later. The pressure of Radical and Democratic vot

ning 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

re especially solicitous about all acts that pertain to labor and political liberty; that they are gradually moving toward co-operation

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 Democrati

pansion of purpose requires a greatly enlarged electorate. The majority of

farmer is peculiarly hard to reach. He is well guarded-the Church on the one side, the landlord and junker on the other. To st

rapid progress, especially in southern Germany. In Mu

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 plent

spair"[45]-a policy which they acknowledged by words long after they had abandoned it in fact. They abandoned it the moment

man Social Democracy, with its dogmatic temper and strength of millions.

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,

The standing army and the increasing navy of Germany are a heavy tax upon the peop

ional Congress at Stuttgart, the French and Russian delegations imposed an extreme anti-military resolution upon the

y system, not being able to guarantee the country against foreign invasion, is a continual threat to international peace and serves the capitalistic

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 th

age would "shoulder a musket." He demanded military drill for youths as a preliminary to the shortening of military service in the

all military service uniformly two years, and abolishing th

se 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 an

of distinction, said, in the

es 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

heir positio

I

e 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 d

no important city do they preponderate. If universal manhood suffrage were enacted, they would control the majority of the

ype of city in which the Soc

, in 1905 there were only 31,252 qualified electors for the municipal elections. T

crats elected only 9. And of 20 elected members

d 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. F

al 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 c

tures; opposed to all indirect taxes, especia

hat a law which allows only one-fifteenth of the citizens (30,000 out of over 500,000

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 e

is on the second part of the compound. It is, secondly, a struggle for the self-betterment of the working classes; an

d waste and to secure efficiency, even at the cost of individual initiative. This military empire, of infinite discipline, is now undergoing a political metamorpho

TNO

o J. Schmoele, Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften in Deutschlan

from Statistisches Jahrbuch sho

Mem

733

887

1,0

1,3

1,6

1,8

1,8

1,8

heir expenditure 46,264,031 marks. See Appen

oom, kitchen, and bedroom-had been furnished and decorated in simple, durable, and ar

ading cheap and unworthy literature. The Central Committee of the Unions now

lance of the unions, in looking a

, 1,106; 1903, 1,444; 1904, 1,990; 1905, 2,657; 1906, 3,626; 1907, 2

l-Demokratische Part

sbewegung und Politis

des Partei-Tages

the word really

906, 384,527; 1907, 530,466; 1908, 587,336;

es Partei-Vors

p. 296, for complet

es Partei-Vors

y were given every opportunity of explaining their grievances, we

ven become a night-watchman."-Prof. Bernhard Harms (University of Kiel), Fer

ficial in the civil service. "Absolutely. We think as we please, talk as w

, p. 293, for syn

Saxon legislature at t

Voters

ocrats 341

ives 103,

iberal 125

(Freisinnige)

ites 20,

f the voters, cast about one-third of the vot

sequently possessed one-third of the legislative influence in that precinct. In another precinct the president of a large bank paid o

Der Kampf um die Wahlreform in Bayern, issued in 1905 by

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 Democ

oll, 1890,

koll, 1890

voting strength. The Social Democrats had always refrained from taking part in any of the elections; now they e

e was taken, but he told the convention that, had he been presen

okoll, 18

okoll, 19

okoll, 19

g Debates, De

ted. Here a spirited contest took place. A second ballot was made necessary between the Radicals and Social Democrats, and the Conservatives, throwi

okoll, 18

pra cit

Voraussetzung des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der Sozial-Demokratie. The Marxian position is set forth in Kautsky's reply, Ber

otokoll

pra cit

ra cit.,

oll, 1903,

hat their success was not to be measured by the number of seats they won, but by the number of voters. He closed by

ad 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 Ma

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 resolu

okoll, 19

okoll, 19

mocrats 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. Vorw?rts, the leading Social

koll, 1907

the Social Democratic candidates, because, they say, there is no genuinely liberal party. It should, however, be borne in mind t

die Aufgaben der Deut

ucleus of such a party. It is composed of smaller manufacturers and business me

cial Democratic Pa

okoll, 18

okoll, 19

ve committee, 1908. Also Die Sozial-Demokratie im Bayerischen Landtag, 1888-1905, 3 vols.