A history of socialism

by Thomas Kirkup

Liebknecht had taken an active part in the revolutionary disturbances in Germany in 1848, had been a member of the group of exiles that gathered round Karl Marx in London, and from him had imbibed the principles of international revolutionary socialism. He had joined the Universal Association of Lassalle, but he never enjoyed the entire confidence of his chief. Liebknecht counted Luther among his ancestors, and was descended from the learned middle class of Germany. His friend, August Bebel, was a working man, who, being left an orphan at an early age, had been educated at charity schools. Brought up to the handicraft of turner, Bebel continued with the most laudable diligence and thoroughness to educate himself. By his acquirements, his natural talent and his force of character, he soon gained considerable influence among his comrades. Bebel before long became a force in the German workmen’s unions.

At first Bebel was merely a radical of strong convictions, and he had no love for a socialistic agitation like that of Lassalle which was to adapt itself so much to Prussian nationalism. It was only a question of time, however, when a nature so thorough and strenuous would make the transition from radicalism to socialism. As the representative man of the German workmen’s educative associations, we see him making his way in a few short years to Social Democracy, and the associations followed him step by step. Influential members soon expressed their preference for universal suffrage. The Union of associations at its meeting in Stuttgart in 1865 declared for universal suffrage, whilst their organ in the same year repudiated the Schulze-Delitzsch schemes in the most emphatic language. In 1866 a great meeting of workmen’s associations at Chemnitz in Saxony adopted a programme which on its political side was entirely democratic, and on its economic side made considerable advances towards socialism. At its congress in Nuremberg in 1868 the Union by a large majority declared its adhesion to the principles of the International. In a great congress at Eisenach in 1869 they founded the Social Democratic Working Men’s Party, and in the same year sent representatives to the International Congress at Basel. The Union which had been designed by the Progressists as a bulwark against Social Democracy had proved a roadway by which the workmen marched into the enemy’s camp.

Thus two socialist parties were established in Germany, the Lassalle Association, which had its membership chiefly in Prussia, and the Eisenach Party, which found support in Saxony and South Germany. Both parties were represented in the North German Diet, in which at one time as many as six socialists sat. They now had a tribune from which to address the German people, but it cannot be said that they were particularly grateful to Bismarck for the opportunity which he had given them. To men of the revolutionary party of 1848, whose ideal had been the unification of Germany under the free initiative of the people, the work of Bismarck could not appear a very delightful consummation, even though it was accompanied with the gift of universal suffrage. Schweitzer regarded the North German Confederation as a very unpleasant and very unwelcome, but yet irrevocable fact, with which the Social Democracy would need to find a way of getting on, on whose basis they would have to establish themselves as the extreme opposition if they wished to continue a political party.

Liebknecht, on the other hand, looked upon the North German Confederation as a reactionary work of violence and injustice that must be overthrown. In order not to strengthen it he repudiated all practical participation in the legislative measures of the Diet. The parliamentary tribune was only a platform from which he could hurl his protest against the new arrangement of things among the masses of the German people. In his opinion the creation of Bismarck meant the division, weakening, and servitude of Germany, and history would march over its ruins.

During the Franco-German War of 1870-71 the flood of patriotic enthusiasm for a time almost submerged the socialistic agitation. At the commencement of hostilities Liebknecht and Bebel refrained from voting on the question of a war loan; they disapproved alike of the policy of Prussia and of Bonaparte. The other socialist deputies, including Schweitzer, voted for it, as the victory of Napoleon would mean the overthrow of the socialist workmen in France, the supremacy of the Bonapartist soldiery in Europe, and the complete disintegration of Germany. But after the fall of the French Empire all of them voted against a further loan and recommended the speediest conclusion of peace with the Republic, without annexation of French territory. Such views did not meet with much acceptance in Germany, either from Government or people. Several of the socialist leaders were thrown into prison. At the first election to the German Reichstag in 1871 the socialists counted only 102,000 votes, and returned two members.

Soon afterwards Schweitzer announced his intention of retiring from the leadership of the Universal Working Men’s Association. He had been defeated at the general election. His position at the head of the Association, which, as we have seen, was a species of dictatorship, was no longer tenable. His trials and struggles with the Prussian police and courts of justice, the troubles he experienced in the midst of his own party, the persecution and calumny which he endured from the opposing Eisenach party, the sacrifice of time and money, of health and quiet, which were inseparable from such a post, had made it a very uneasy one. He had conducted the affairs of the Association with a tact, insight, and appreciation of the situation to which his successors in the leadership of the German socialists have apparently never been able to attain. He died in Switzerland in 1875.

About the same time, in the spring of 1871, came the tidings of the great rising of the working class in the Commune at Paris. Mass meetings of German workmen were held in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Dresden, Leipzic, and other large towns, to express their sympathy with their French brethren in the struggle which they were waging. In the Reichstag Bebel made a speech which contained the following passage:—‘Be assured that the entire European proletariat, and all that have a feeling for freedom and independence in their heart, have their eyes fixed on Paris. And if Paris is for the present crushed, I remind you that the struggle in Paris is only a small affair of outposts, that the main conflict in Europe is still before us, and that ere many decades pass away the battle-cry of the Parisian proletariat, war to the palace, peace to the cottage, death to want and idleness, will be the battle-cry of the entire European proletariat.’[^[2]]

When the war fever of 1871 subsided the socialistic agitation resumed its course, and it was fostered by the wild speculations of the time, and by the industrial crisis which followed it. At the elections of 1874 the socialist party polled 340,000 votes and returned nine members.

From Lassalle’s first appearance on the scene in 1862, the socialistic agitation had encountered the German police at every step of its career. Its leaders were prosecuted and thrown into prison. Meetings were broken up, newspapers and organisations were suppressed. The free expression of opinion on the platform and through the press was curtailed in every way.

Such experience taught the socialist leaders the advantage and necessity of union in face of the common enemy. The retirement of Schweitzer from the control of the Lassalle party in 1871 had removed the most serious obstacle to union. Hasenclever had been elected president in his stead, but it was felt that the party had outgrown the autocratic guidance which had been helpful and perhaps necessary to it in its early years. All the tendencies and influences of the time served to bring the Lassalle and the Eisenach parties together. They were pursuing the same aims under the same conditions, against the same opposition; and there was really nothing now to keep them apart except the recollection of old rivalries and animosities which soon faded under the pressure of their practical difficulties.