The last chapter contained a description of the desires and demands of the German social democratic party, without entering into any discussion of the careers and characters of its leaders or of the organizations which have been formed to support its programme. This chapter will treat of what may be called social democracy in the concrete. I shall first take up the external history of the political party which is designated by that name, and then enter into a consideration of its internal history. By its external history I mean an account of its outward life, as manifested in the field of politics; by its internal history I mean a description of the men who have led the party, and a presentation both of the ideas which have controlled it and the measures which it has adopted in its political and economic propaganda. It was the introduction of universal suffrage by the North German Confederation, in 1867, and by the German Empire, in 1871, which enabled the social democrats to enter into political contests with any reasonable hope of success. German laborers do not appear previously to have played any r?le in the politics of their country. The Prussian constitution is so constructed as to give a preponderating influence to wealth. This is not the place to explain the Prussian[212] system of voting. It is only necessary to remark that the voters are divided into three classes, according to their wealth, and that a voter of the wealthiest class in Berlin counts for as much as fifteen voters of the poorest class. The laborer could not, of course, hope to gain political influence with such tremendous odds against him. It was to enable the poor man to fight his own battles that Lassalle demanded universal and equal suffrage for all. This was, as will be remembered, the only explicit demand of the social democratic party, contained in the statutes or by-laws of the “Universal German Laborers’ union.” Lassalle appears to have been acquainted with Bismarck’s intention to embrace it in the constitution of the empire he was striving to found, and hoped great things therefrom. But as he died in 1864, and the citizens of the North German Confederation first voted in 1867, he was never able to make use of it in his agitation. It is not often profitable to speculate upon what might have happened if this or that event had not occurred, but it is self-evident that Lassalle’s agitation would have been very formidable if he could have led the laborers to the ballot-box and defended their cause, first in the North German, afterwards in the Imperial, parliaments, with all the resources of his learning, mental acumen, and impassioned eloquence. Lassalle’s death discouraged the social democrats for a moment only. It can scarcely be said that it caused an interruption in the progress of the party, though this progress would, we may believe, have been far more rapid had he lived. However, his death itself was made useful. Living, he could scarcely have been glorified as he was after his death, and his name could not have so influenced the laborers.
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The social democrats entered into the contest for election of members to the Constituent Assembly of the North German Confederation. In one of the districts their candidate ran against Bismarck and a leading liberal, and received about one fourth of the votes cast for the three candidates. As no one received a majority, a new election was ordered, and Bismarck was elected by the aid of the social democrats, who always prefer conservatives to liberals. As Bismarck was elected in another district, it was necessary to vote for a third time in this place, when the social democrat ran against the celebrated liberal, Dr. Gneist, Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of Berlin, and one of the leading jurists in Germany. The votes were about evenly divided, but the social democrat was defeated by a small majority. The social democrats elected two representatives, however, and in the fall of the same year (1867) they sent eight members to the Parliament of the North German Confederation.
Since the organization of the German Empire the social democratic votes for members of the Imperial Parliament (Reichstag) have numbered as follows: 1871, 123,975; 1874, 351,952; 1877, 493,288; 1878, 437,158. The entire number of votes cast in 1877 was 5,401,021. We see, then, that the social democratic voters numbered over one eleventh of all the voters in that year. When it is remembered that there are nine or ten political parties represented in the Reichstag, it must be acknowledged that the elections revealed a large relative strength of the social democratic party. Its votes have, however, been so scattered that it has not had its proportionate number of representatives in Parliament. The social democratic[214] members of the Reichstag numbered two in 1871, nine in 1874, twelve in 1877, and nine in 1878. The total number of members of the Reichstag is about four hundred. It is thus seen that the social democratic party advanced in strength, as far as that is measured by votes, until 1878, when the decrease was only slight. Two attempts were made on the life of the Emperor William in that year, and the social democrats had to bear a good share of the blame. There was a considerable popular indignation manifested; private employers, as well as government, discharged laborers who entertained social democratic principles; and in the elections following the police put every obstacle in the way of the party. In the Reichstag the celebrated socialistic law was passed, which gave government exceptional and despotic powers to proceed against social democracy. The severity of the government appears to have done more harm than good. In spite of what can be fairly designated as persecution, in the elections which took place in October, 1881, the social democrats secured thirteen seats, the largest number they have ever yet gained.[192] This is, indeed, significant when it is remembered that the exceptional law (Ausnahmegesetz) allows severe measures against the social democrats which would not even be thought of against any other party. Government has thus been enabled to suspend all their party newspapers, to prohibit the sale of their books and pamphlets, and to suppress all public agitation of the party. Their associations were dissolved, and for[215] a hotel-keeper even to rent them rooms for a meeting was made an offence punishable with imprisonment for a length of time varying from one month to a year.
The German government was undoubtedly placed in a trying position, but they appear to have made a mistake. It is said that at the time the Ausnahmegesetz was passed, things were in a bad way with the social democrats. They had twenty or thirty journals, but many of them were on the point of bankruptcy. Differences existed in the party, and no one seemed to know what to do next. It is possible, if the party had been left alone, it might have fallen into a sad state of disorganization, and have become so weak that it would have ceased to trouble the peace of the government for years. However this might have been, it is certain that the measures of government were not altogether unwelcome to the party leaders. It relieved them of numerous perplexities. It was much better, e.g., for them to have their newspapers and magazines suspended by government than to cease to appear for lack of support. Governmental persecution united the divided members and gave new energy to all. Every social democratic laborer experienced, to a certain extent, the elevating feelings of martyrdom. They all became secret missionaries, distributing tracts and exhorting individually their fellow-laborers to join the struggle for the emancipation of labor.
The German social democrats have held two congresses since the socialistic law, both, of course, on foreign soil, and both have indicated progress. The first was held at Wyden, Switzerland, August 20-23, 1880. This resulted in a complete triumph for the more moderate party. The two leading extremists,[216] Hasselmann and Most, were both expelled from the party—the former by all save three votes, the latter by all save two.
The next congress was held at Copenhagen, Denmark, from March 29 to April 2, 1883. It exhibited greater unanimity of sentiment and plan, and a more wide-spread interest in social democracy, than any previous congress. One feature of interest was the very considerable financial aid from America which was reported.[193]
“Bismarck has acknowledged that the measures which government has adopted up to this time have not proved successful in weakening social democracy, or in checking, in any effectual manner, its spread among the people. But he claims that he has not as yet carried out his full programme. This is true. During the discussion upon the socialistic law of October 21, 1878, he declared distinctly that he did not expect to cure the masses of the disease of social democracy by repressive measures alone. Something more than external remedies was needed. The social democrats had built upon well-grounded discontent of the people, and he proposed to win back the masses for king and fatherland by removing the grounds of discontent. These grounds were of an economic nature. Wages were low, taxes high, work scarce, and the entire economic existence of the lower classes uncertain and full of anxiety. But what was to be done about it? No one knew exactly, but all looked forward with eagerness to Bismarck’s proposals. Two years passed away without bringing any of his plans[217] to light. People began to think that the promises of relief to the poor had been thrown out simply as a bait to catch votes for the bill which became the socialistic law.”[194] That they were intended to serve this purpose is undoubted. The only question is whether Bismarck really intended to make any attempt to carry through legislation in behalf of the laborers. The lapse of time made men sceptical. The opinion more and more prevailed that the last had been heard of government institutions designed to ameliorate the condition of the poor. “But Bismarck has a good memory and a strong will. When he has once made up his mind to pursue a certain course of action he is not to be diverted therefrom. More than once Germany has thought that he had forgotten some threat or resolve because he allowed years to slip by without making any public move towards the execution of his plans, but in such cases she has reckoned without her host. It now looks as if Bismarck might have meant all he said when he promised to use the power of the state to relieve the poor classes. He had not for a moment forgotten his promise, but was only working out his plans and waiting for an opportune moment to execute them.” The German emperor, too, had been urging him forward in the path he had marked out for government. The old Kaiser—who seems, in his way, to have a warm, fatherly affection for his people—professed his distress at the sufferings of the unfortunate, and maintained his sincere desire to relieve them. He was an old man, he said, and he longed to[218] see the labor question satisfactorily adjusted before his death. To one who realizes the utter impossibility of his seeing this pious wish gratified, there is something undeniably touching in the simple and honest expressions of this good-natured father of his people. “Early in the year 1881 the Reichstag obtained an earnest of Bismarck’s plans for pacifying the discontented elements in Germany in the Accident Insurance bill, which is merely an episode in the history of German socialism. The aim of the measure is to make provision for industrial laborers injured in the prosecution of their callings, or for their families when they are killed. It is proposed to establish a great insurance society somewhat like the one founded and managed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.[195] The resemblance between many features of the two plans is, indeed, surprising. It is desired, however, in Germany, that government should bear a portion of the expenses; at any rate, that is one characteristic of the government bill. Government also wishes to manage the insurance society or societies undertaking this work, although it might allow employers and employees some representation in the administration of the business. In both these respects the bill is clearly socialistic, and no one is better aware of this than Prince Bismarck. It has been deliberately decided that private individuals, or voluntary combinations of private individuals, are unable to perform all the duties of society towards the poorer classes. The state is to become a benefactor and protector of the weak and needy. Bills introduced by[219] government are always accompanied with so-called ‘motives,’ explaining and defending them. The ‘motives’ accompanying the Accident Insurance bill opened with these words: ‘That the state should care for its poorer members in a higher degree than it has formerly done is a duty demanded not only by humanity and Christianity—and the institutions of state should be penetrated through and through by Christianity—but it is also a measure required for the preservation of the state. A sound policy should nourish in the indigent classes of the population, which are the most numerous and least instructed, the view that the state is a beneficial, as well as a necessary, arrangement. Legislative measures must bring them direct, easily perceived advantages, to the end that they may learn to regard the state not merely as an institution devised for the protection of the wealthier classes, but as one which likewise ministers to their needs and interests.’”
Bismarck proposes, then, to conquer social democracy by recognizing and adopting into his own platform what there is of good in its demands. It is curious to notice that friends of Bismarck and supporters of the government have even gone so far as to adopt some of the social democratic phrases. They have spoken of the laborers as the “disinherited” classes of society. Yet this originated with the social democrats; and a few years ago government gave as one reason for prohibiting the sale of a certain book in Germany the fact that it called the laborers the “disinherited” (die Enterbten). Thus far has Bismarck gone in the way of making concessions. In the one point of the Accident Insurance bill he has drawn a number of social democrats to his support. They look[220] upon it as only a beginning, and, indeed, Bismarck has proposed to add features making provision for old age and for death from disease and other causes than accident. But all that Bismarck has promised is to them only one step. Those who regard the matter in this light are willing to support him in this first step. Bebel, one of their leaders at present, was one of the most earnest supporters of Bismarck’s Insurance bill in the Reichstag, when the measure was brought forward. Kayser, another social democrat, declared that he would let no one “terrorize him—he would defend Bismarck.” All this makes a strange impression upon us when we remember the cruelties and persecutions which the social democrats have suffered through the instrumentality of the great German statesman. It is amusing, and, at the same time, it is not devoid of a certain pathos. It reminds one of an ancient prophecy—“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock.”
However, the two parties drew near together only for one special purpose, and but for a moment. No reconciliation has taken place between the opposing elements of industrial society in Germany. Only one of Bismarck’s schemes for the amelioration of the condition of the laboring man has been adopted.
In treating of these schemes I have brought the external history of social democracy down to the present moment, for they are to-day being discussed in Germany. They are viewed with the deepest distrust by large classes of the population, and Parliament has greeted them coolly. Were they accepted, they alone would not be sufficient to cure so deep-seated a disease; perhaps they would scarcely mitigate it. Radical changes, not to be hoped for in our lifetime, must[221] take place before the conflict between capitalist and laborer—between rich and poor—will cease to disturb the peace of Christendom. The evil is rooted in the very nature of society itself, and can only terminate in a transformation and moral elevation of the various social elements. Its cause lies deeper than the agitation of Karl Marx or the eloquence of Ferdinand Lassalle, who only acted upon latent feelings and expressed thoughts, of which the laborers had already a dim consciousness. Sooner or later their feelings were bound to become active and their thoughts to find adequate expression.
Roscher, in his “Political Economy,” describes five conditions which, meeting together, produce communistic and socialistic movements. As his description of them has become celebrated, and explains not the mere surface phenomena, but the underlying causes of communism and socialism, I think it worth while to present them. I shall, however, take the liberty of making abbreviations and changes, and interspersing such remarks of my own as will better adapt the description to the purpose of this volume.
The first condition is “a well-defined confrontation of rich and poor. So long as there is a middle-class of considerable numbers between them, the two extremes are kept, by its moral force, from coming into collision. There is no greater preservative against envy of the superior classes and contempt for the inferior than the gradual and unbroken fading of one class of society into another.... But when the rich and the poor are separated by an abyss which there is no hope of ever crossing, how pride, on the one side, and envy, on the other, rage! and especially in the centres of industry, the great cities, where the deepest[222] misery is found side by side with the most brazen-faced luxury, and where the wretched themselves, conscious of their numbers, mutually excite their own bad passions. It cannot, unfortunately, be denied that when a nation has attained the acme of its development we find a multitude of tendencies prevailing to make the rich richer and the poor, at least relatively, poorer, and thus to diminish the number of the middle-class from both sides; unless, indeed, remedial influences are brought to bear and to operate in a contrary direction.”
The second condition mentioned is “a high degree of the division of labor, by which, on the one hand, the mutual dependence of man on man grows ever greater, but by which, at the same time, the eye of the uncultured man becomes less and less able to perceive the connection existing between merit and reward, or service and remuneration. Let us betake ourselves in imagination to Crusoe’s island. There, when one man, after the labor of many months, has hollowed out a tree into a canoe, with no tools but an animal’s tooth, it does not occur to another, who, in the meantime, was, it may be, sleeping on the skin of some wild animal, to contest the right of the former to the fruit of his labor. How different this from the condition of things where civilization is advanced, as it is in our day; where the banker, by a single stroke of his pen, seems to earn a thousand times more than a day-laborer in a week; where, in the case of those who lend money on interest, their debtors too frequently forget how laborious was the process of acquiring the capital by the possessors, or their predecessors in ownership! More especially, we have in times of over-population whole masses of honest men asking,[223] not alms, but only work—an opportunity to earn their bread, and yet on the verge of starvation.”
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