It is impossible at present to enter into a criticism of social democracy and attempt to separate the true from the false. The comparison, however, which social democrats make between the future organization of society and that of the army is suggestive. It might be that we could afford to put up with what that implies, if we attained thereby all that is hoped; still it is terrible to think of army discipline extending itself over society in all its ramifications. To many—to the majority—the restraint would be a very great evil. Then it must be remembered that army discipline is maintained at the cost of no inconsiderable amount of actual, positive suffering. As Roscher pointedly remarks, there are thirty offences punishable with death according to the military penal code.
I have thus presented, in their most favorable aspect, the doctrines of social democrats, apart from the agitators who now preach them. The next chapter will afford an opportunity to judge whether or not the social democratic leaders of the present are men of such a character that it would be wise to give them despotic power over one’s life and actions.
Social democracy is not now precisely what it was when it lost Ferdinand Lassalle, its greatest agitator. Nevertheless, he is still its father. It is the product of his activity. Lassalle did not write history: he created it. He accomplished certain facts which no power can undo. He infused into the minds of German laborers new thoughts, ideas, aspirations. German emigrants become missionaries, and carry with them, as they believe, a gospel of hope and promise, wherever they go. They hold, as Lassalle taught them, “that they are the state, that all political power ought to be of and through and for them, that their good and amelioration ought to be the aim of the state, that their affair is the affair of mankind, that their personal interest moves and beats with the pulse of history, with the living principle of moral development.”[191]
Thus have new factors, for good or for bad, entered into the life of the world, and with them we must deal.
CHAPTER XIV.
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY SINCE THE DEATH OF LASSALLE.
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 rôle 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 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.