In the absence of other guidance the Social Democratic party has been a centre and a rallying-point to the German workmen. While all else was uncertain, dark, and hostile, the party could be relied upon to give friendly and disinterested counsel. The strikes which from time to time broke out among the German workmen received the most careful advice and consideration from the Social-Democratic leaders, and those leaders soon found that the strikes were the most impressive object-lessons in arousing the class-consciousness of the workmen. Whole masses of the working men went over to the Social Democracy under the severe practical teaching of the strike.
The cause of the German Social Democracy has therefore called forth the most entire devotion among all ranks of its members. When Liebknecht and Bebel were condemned to two years’ imprisonment in a fortress after the great trial at Leipzig, in 1872, they were glad, they said, to do their two years because of the splendid opportunity it had given them for socialistic propaganda in the face of Germany. During the fortnight the trial had lasted they had in the course of their defence been able to dispel prejudices and misunderstandings, and so to educate German opinion in socialism.
But the 10th of March 1878 saw a demonstration which of all the events and incidents in the history of the German Social Democracy may well be regarded as the most deeply significant. It was the funeral of August Heinsch. August Heinsch was a simple workman, a compositor; but he had deserved well of the proletariat by organising its electoral victories in Berlin. He had died of consumption, called by the socialists the proletarian malady, because it is so frequently due to the insanitary conditions under which work is carried on. In the case of August Heinsch the malady was at least aggravated by his self-sacrificing exertions in the common cause, and the workmen of Berlin resolved to honour his memory by a solemn and imposing demonstration. As the body was borne to the cemetery through the working men’s districts in East Berlin, black flags waved from the roofs and windows, and the vast crowds of people, reckoned by the hundred thousand, who filled the streets, bared their heads in respectful sympathy. Many thousands of workmen followed the bier in serried ranks to the last resting-place.
Of all the achievements of the German Social Democracy it may be reckoned the most signal that it has so organised the frugal, hard-working and law-abiding proletariat of the Fatherland, and has inspired them with the spirit of intelligent self-sacrifice in their common cause. The programme and principles of the party have received modification in the past, and will no doubt receive it in the future, for the German Social Democracy is a reality and a movement instinct with vitality. The new times will bring new needs, which will require new measures. They will bring also, we hope, a wider and clearer vision and a mellower wisdom, as without wisdom even organised power is of little avail.
In view of the loyalty and devotion of the working men, it is all the more incumbent on the leaders of the German Social Democratic party that they should now guide it along paths which will be wise, practical, and fruitful. It has too long been their evil fortune or their own deliberate choice to stand apart from the main movement of German life. They have had little part in the work of State, municipality, or country commune. The party began in opposition to the great co-operative movement of Germany.
It is most important that the theories and ideals of the German Social Democratic party should be fairly tested and corrected by their application to the practical work of society. The leaders of the party agree in their preference for legal and peaceful methods. In this point they and the representatives of the existing order might find common ground which may form a basis for better relations in the future.
| [1] | The best authority for the facts connected with the development of the German Social Democracy is Franz Mehring’s Geschichte der Deutschen Sozial-demokratie. |
| [2] | See Mehring, Geschichte. |
| [3] | See Appendix. |