The most interesting figure in the history of social democracy is incontestably Ferdinand Lassalle. In some respects he resembled Marx. He also was of Hebrew descent, and belonged to the higher classes of society. Both were interested in the welfare of the lower classes, and made sacrifices willingly in behalf of their cause. Both intended to become university professors, and there is not the shadow of a reason to doubt that both might have succeeded as such. Lassalle, the son of a wealthy wholesale merchant of Breslau, was born in 1825. His father wished him to devote himself to business, but Lassalle was too fond of his studies to consent. He went to the universities of Breslau and Berlin, where he devoted himself to philology and philosophy. His career as a student was brilliant in the extreme. The most distinguished men of the time were carried away with admiration. Wilhelm von Humboldt called him “Das Wunderkind”—“The Miraculous Child.” His first literary work was an exposition of the “Philosophy of Heraclitus the Obscure.”[181] “Before this book,” to use the words of another, “Humboldt and the whole world bent[190] the knee.” Lassalle’s second important work was one on a system of jurisprudence entitled, “The System of Acquired Rights”—“Das System der erworbenen Rechte” (2 Bde.). The great jurist Savigny called it the ablest legal book which had been written since the sixteenth century. It was published in 1861. Before this, Lassalle had become interested in the case of the Countess von Hatzfeldt, the misused wife of a wealthy but brutal man. While he was indulging in the most extravagant dissipation, she was obliged to live in cramped circumstances. The Countess had begun a suit against her husband for separation and alimony, but did not make much headway until Lassalle took charge of the case, in 1846. After an eight years’ contest, he secured a brilliant triumph. The Countess, although over forty, was still beautiful, and Lassalle, in taking up her case, appears to have been actuated by the same motives as the knights-errant of an earlier period who went about redressing wrong and protecting the weak. The entire affair is illustrative of his fiery, romantic temperament. It was in 1862 that Lassalle began his agitation in behalf of the laboring classes, an agitation which resulted in the formation of the German Social Democratic Party. Previous to his time, German laborers had been considered contented and peaceable. It had been thought that a working-men’s party might be established in France or England, but that it was hopeless to attempt to move the phlegmatic German laborers. Lassalle’s historical importance lies in the fact that he was able to work upon the laborers so powerfully as to arouse them to action. It is due to Lassalle above all others that German working-men’s battalions, to use the social democratic expression, now[191] form the vanguard in the struggle for the emancipation of labor.
Lassalle’s writings did not advance materially the theory of social democracy. He drew from Rodbertus and Marx in his economic writings, but he clothed their thoughts in such manner as to enable ordinary laborers to understand them, and this they never could have done without such help. Even for an educated man their works are not easy reading; for the uneducated they are quite incomprehensible. Lassalle’s speeches and pamphlets were eloquent sermons on texts taken from Marx. Lassalle gave to Ricardo’s law of wages the designation, the iron law of wages, and expounded to the laborers its full significance, showing them how it inevitably forced wages down to a level just sufficient to enable them to live. He acknowledged that it was the key-stone of his system, and that his doctrines stood or fell with it.
Laborers were told that this law could be overthrown only by the abolition of the wages system. How Lassalle really thought this was to be accomplished is not so evident. He proposed to the laborers that government should aid them by the use of its credit to the extent of 100,000,000 of thalers, to establish co-operative associations for production; and a great deal of breath has been wasted to show the inadequacy of his proposed measures. Lassalle could not himself have supposed that so insignificant a matter as the granting of a small loan would solve the labor question. He recognized, however, that it was necessary to have some definite party programme to insure success in agitation, and could think of no better plan at the time than to work for universal suffrage and a government subsidy. He wrote to his[192] friend Rodbertus to the effect that he was willing to drop the latter plank in his platform, if something better could be suggested.[182] It would be going too far to say that he was positively insincere, for he might have thought that if government had voted the proposed credit of one hundred millions, it would have opened the way for other reforms. He might have regarded this modest proposal merely as an entering wedge.
Lassalle took this project of productive co-operative associations founded on government loans from Louis Blanc, with whose work he was well acquainted; indeed, as he began his agitation, he wrote to the French socialist, and requested some kind of an open letter of recognition which should give him credit with the laborers.[183] We may get some clew to thoughts possibly lingering in the background, which Lassalle might have intended to express later by recalling the proposals of the Frenchman. Louis Blanc, as will be remembered, wished government to use its power of taxation to assist the social workshops with large advances of money, for which no interest was to be charged. No one was to be forced to join these ateliers sociaux. According to this scheme private manufacturers are allowed to continue their business as long as they choose. However, as no interest is paid for the government loans to the co-operative[193] undertakings, the public establishments will be in a position to undersell private employers of labor and thus compel them to fall in line. The only possible termination is the socialistic state. As Lassalle was thoroughly informed concerning Blanc’s ideas, it is quite possible that in the course of time he may have intended to go equally far. The way he presented the matter to the laborers was somewhat as follows: There exists at present a conflict between labor and capital, which must be abolished. This contradiction between the elements of production can only be terminated by their union in co-operative associations, in which no capitalist comes between the working-man and the fruits of his toil, to levy toll thereon. But at the present time only large establishments can succeed, as the increased division of labor makes it necessary to employ a large force of men, and mechanical inventions have forced producers to use many and expensive machines. The laborers have not the means to found large manufactories; consequently government must advance these means in order to cause the existing and unhappy social conflict to cease. Government is to advance capital to different groups of laborers, who conduct various enterprises. These groups are associated, new ones are continually added, and, finally, their united power is so great that they can stand alone without government aid.
This all appears harmless enough, and no government would be justified in refusing 100,000,000 of thalers, or $75,000,000, if so much good could be done by it. But one of the ablest men of his time must have been fully conscious of the utter insufficiency of such a sum. If he had any other idea in his mind[194] than simply to use his demand of government as a rallying-point for purposes of agitation, it cannot well be doubted that he had further petitions to address to government as soon as they had granted his first one. It is not at all improbable he might have been willing to see collateral inheritances abolished, and the income derived therefrom devoted to co-operative undertakings. Proposals, like abolition of interest on loans, must have followed, with the view of rendering private competition impossible. Thus would be introduced the socialistic state longed for by the social democratic party founded by Lassalle.
“On the 23d of May, 1863, German social democracy was born. Little importance was attached to the event at the time. A few men met at Leipsic, and, under the leadership of Ferdinand Lassalle, formed a new political party called the ‘Universal German Laborers’ union’ (‘Der Allgemeine Deutsche Arbeiterverein’). That was all. Surely, no one could be expected to ascribe great weight to the fact that a handful of working-men, led by a dreamer, had met and passed a few resolutions—resolutions, too, as modest in their expression of purpose as they were harmless in appearance. It was simply declared that the laborers ought to be represented in the different German parliaments, as only thus could their interests be adequately cared for and the opposition between the various classes of society terminated; and in view of this fact it was resolved that the members of the union should avail themselves of all peaceful and legal means in endeavoring to bring about universal suffrage.
“But it was soon discovered that the members of the union, the first organization in Germany of social democracy, desired political power only as a means of[195] overthrowing entirely the existing order of the production and distribution of wealth.”[184]
Lassalle never tired of representing in vivid colors the injustice of our present social institutions. The crimes, selfishness, and heartlessness of the bourgeoisie were unfailing topics in his agitation. The laborers were told that they had no right to be contented with their lot. It is this damnable, easily satisfied disposition of you German laborers which is your ruin, they were told.[185]
“The German laborer was finally moved. His anger and discontent became permanent and terrible in proportion as it had been difficult to arouse him. He was not to be easily pacified. He soon showed strength and determination in such manner as to attract the attention of the civilized world. Statesmen grew pale and kings trembled.”[186]
Lassalle did not live to see the fruits of his labors. He met with some success and celebrated a few triumphs, but the union did not flourish as he hoped. At the time of his death he did not appear to have a firm, lasting hold on the laboring population. There then existed no social-democratic party with political power. Although Lassalle lost his life in a duel, which had its origin in a love affair, and not in any struggle for the rights of labor, he was canonized at once by the working-men, and took his place among the greatest martyrs and heroes of all times. His influence increased more than tenfold as soon as he ceased to live.[196] This was not entirely undeserved. Men remembered and appreciated better his extraordinary talents and his ardent, romantic temperament. Even Bismarck, with whom he had been personally acquainted, took occasion once, in the Reichstag, to express his admiration for Lassalle. I was in Germany at the time, and remember well what a sensation his words created. He expressed himself as follows:[187] “I met Lassalle three or four times. Our relations were not of a political nature. Politically he had nothing which he could offer me. He attracted me extraordinarily as a private man. Lassalle was one of the most gifted and amiable men with whom I have ever associated—a man who was ambitious on a grand scale, but not the least of a republican. He had a very marked inclination towards a national monarchy; the idea towards the attainment of which his efforts were directed was the German Empire, and in this we found a point of contact. Lassalle was ambitious on a grand scale, and whether the German Empire should close with the house of Hohenzollern or the house of Lassalle, that was perhaps doubt............