A history of socialism

by Thomas Kirkup

CHAPTER XV
THE PREVALENT SOCIALISM

In the Erfurt Programme we have seen that the task of the social democracy is to give form and unity to the struggle of the working class, and to point out its natural and necessary goal. This goal is the transformation of private property in the means of production into collective property, but the change will be accomplished not in the interest of a class but of the entire human race. The Erfurt Programme has been followed by others of a like nature in Belgium, Austria, France, and elsewhere. It may be regarded as the aim of the social democracy of all countries to obtain possession of political power in order to make the economic transformation which we have indicated.

A like aim has been set forth in the resolutions passed at International Congresses. In a previous chapter we have seen that International Congresses were held at Paris in 1889, at Brussels in 1891, at Zürich in 1893, and at London in 1896. These were followed by Congresses, at Paris for a second time in 1900, at Amsterdam in 1904, and at Stuttgart in 1907.

The disorders which prevailed at the Congresses of Brussels and London led to the adoption of measures for the better ordering of business and for the better organisation of the Congresses, ‘destined to become the parliament of the proletariat.’ We shall now give a brief statement of the new measures, which date in a general way from the Paris Congress of 1900.

As to terms of admission. All associations are admitted which adhere to the essential principles of socialism: socialisation of the means of production and exchange; international union and action of the workers; socialist conquest of political power by the proletariat organised as a class party. Also all the trade organisations which place themselves on the basis of the class struggle and recognise the necessity of political action, legislative and parliamentary. Anarchists are therefore excluded.

An International Socialist Bureau having its seat at Brussels has been established. It consists of two delegates from each country and has a permanent secretary. Among other functions the Bureau and its secretary have to organise the International Congresses and to arrange the order of business at them.

At former Congresses much time was spent in hearing verbal reports, in French, English, and German, of the progress of socialism in the various countries. The Bureau now invites and receives from the various national bodies reports, which are printed and laid before the Congress. These reports form a most valuable storehouse of information with regard to the development of socialism throughout the world.

The result of those measures was manifest at the Stuttgart Congress, where the business proceeded with dispatch and in comparative order. Delegates to the number of 886 were assembled from twenty-six nationalities, and discussed matters of importance relating to the international social movement. The revival of the International could be regarded as an accomplished fact. But it was a revival in a new form and under conditions which had undergone a marvellous change. The old International has been compared by Vandervelde to a brilliant general staff without an army. In many countries the socialist cause had hardly begun to move; in no country had it attained to any real strength. Now socialism had powerful and well-organised parties in most of the leading countries of Europe, and it counted its adherents by millions.

The Bureau at Brussels does not perform the functions of the general council of the old International. It has no commanding mind and will, like that of Karl Marx, to supply initiative and energy. It serves as a connecting link between the national parties; it tends to co-ordinate theories, tactics, and action. But the vitality and moving force of the new International are found in the different national groups.

We may say, then, that the new International only in a limited measure realises the thought of Marx. The idea of using political power as an instrument of social amelioration originated with the Chartists and L. Blanc. Marx in the communist manifesto first made it international and revolutionary, and he claimed also to have made it scientific. It was scientific in so far as it was a reasoned and comprehensive expression of real forces. In the International as we now have it we may perceive an organisation of the real forces which Marx had the insight to foresee and enjoin.