but a fantastic conception of its own position, correspond with the first instinctive yearnings of that class for a general reconstruction of society.

But these Socialist and Communist publications contain also a critical element. They attack every principle of existing society. Hence they are full of the most valuable materials for the enlightenment of the working class. The practical measures proposed in them, such as the abolition of the distinction between town and country, of the family, of the carrying on of industries for the account of private individuals, and of the wage system, the proclamation of social harmony, the conversion of the functions of the State into a mere superintendence of production, all these proposals point solely to the disappearance of class antagonisms which were, at that time, only just cropping up, and which, in these publications, are recognized under their earliest, indistinct and undefined forms only. These proposals, therefore, are of a purely Utopian character.

The significance of Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism. bears an inverse relation to historical development. In proportion as the modern class struggle develops and takes definite shape, this fantastic standing apart from the contest, these fantastic attacks on it lose all practical value and all theoretical justification. Therefore, although the originators of these systems were, in many respects, revolutionary, their disciples have, in every case, formed mere reactionary sects. They hold fast by the original views of their masters, in opposition to the progressive historical development of the proletariat. They, therefore, endeavor and that consistently, to deaden the class struggle and to reconcile the class antagonisms. They still dream of experimental realization of their social Utopias, of founding isolated "phalansteres," of establishing "Home Colonies," of setting up a "Little Icaria"-duodecimo editions of the New Jerusalem, and to realize all these castles in the air, they are compelled to appeal to the feelings and purses of the bourgeois. By degrees they sink into the category of the reactionary conservative Socialists depicted above, differing from these only by more systematic pedantry, and by their fanatical and superstitious belief in the miraculous effects of their social science.

They, therefore, violently oppose all political action on the part of the working class; such action, according to them, can only result from blind unbelief in the new Gospel.

The Owenites in England, and the Fourierists in France, respectively, oppose the Chartists and the "Reformistes."

IV

POSITION OF THE COMMUNISTS IN RELATION TO THE VARIOUS EXISTING OPPOSITION PARTIES

Section 2 has made clear the relations of the Communists to the existing working class parties, such as the Chartists in England and the Agrarian Reformers in America.

In

The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; but in the movement of the present, they also represent and take care of the future of that movement. France the Communists ally themselves with the Social-Democrats, against the conservative and radical bourgeoisie, reserving, however, the right to take up a critical position in regard to phrases and illusions traditionally handed down from the great revolution.

In Switzerland they support the Radicals, without losing sight of the fact that this party consists of antagonistic elements, partly of Democratic Socialists, in the French sense, partly of radical bourgeois.

In Poland they support the party that insists on an agrarian revolution, as the prime condition for national emancipation, that party which fomented the insurrection of Cracow in 1846.

In Germany they fight with the bourgeoisie whenever it acts in a revolutionary way, against the absolute monarchy, the feudal squirearchy, and the petty bourgeoisie.

But they never cease, for a single instant, to instill into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat, in order that the German workers may straightway use, as so many weapons against the bourgeoisie, the social and political conditions that the bourgeoisie must necessarily introduce along with its supremacy, and in order that, after the fall of the reactionary classes in Germany, the fight against the bourgeoisie itself may immediately begin.

The Communists turn their attention chiefly to Germany, because that country is on the eve of a bourgeois revolution, that is bound to be carried out under more advanced conditions of

European civilization, and with a more developed proletariat, than that of England was in the seventeenth, and of France in the eighteenth century, and because the bourgeois revolution in Germany will be but the prelude to an immediately following proletarian revolution.

In short, the Communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things.

In all these movements they bring to the front, as the leading question in each, the property question, no matter what its degree of development at the time.

Finally, they labor everywhere for the union and agreement of the democratic parties of all countries.

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

Workingmen of all countries, unite!

Socialism and Labor in Germany*

In reviewing the European situation of Socialism and Labor for twenty-five years before the War, it is natural to begin with Germany, because the establishment of the Social Democratic Party in Germany was earlier than in any other country, and the movement was also stronger and better organized. Its relation to labor and to the co-operative movement was from the beginning harmonious and close. Educational commissions were appointed by the social democracy in conjunction with the labor unions, and a labor system of educational facilities for the labor classes, including education in economic and sociological questions, was established and developed in a way unequalled in any other country. A Socialist press of unrivalled importance was established.

The principles of the Karl Marx Communist Manifesto were adopted as early as 1869 as the basis of the first Social Democratic Labor Party, and, quoting from page 168 of Hunter, "Socialists at Work," we find that "In 1875, in order to achieve unity between the Lasallians and the Marxists, the program was altered, and many ideas of Lasalle were accepted in the face of the very vigorous opposition of Marx. Finally, however, in 1891, the German Congress revised its program and adopted a thorough and comprehensive Marxian position.

"This is expressed in the so-called Erfurt program of October, 1891, which remained the basis of the German party from that time forward."

Long before this, as far back as 1875, there had been a United Workingmen's Party which, at the elections of 1877, polled nearly half a million votes, electing twelve representatives to the Reichstag. Bismark attempted to block the increasing influence of Social Democracy, but was powerless to prevent its steady increase in voting power and in its representation in the Reichstag. The party secured one after the other a large measure of economic reform and labor legislation. This included a welldeveloped insurance system, according to which every employee receiving less than $500 a year in wages must be insured against accident, sickness, invalidism and old age.

The effect was especially evident in the German cities which *See Addendum, Part I.

developed municipal ownership to a considerable extent under Socialist influence. The most brilliant philosophical and literary exponent of Marxism in Germany before the war was Karl Kautsky, who occupied an intermediary position between the Left Wing, headed by Liebknecht, and the Right Wing headed by Scheidemann. Because Kautsky led the moderately radical section in deprecating the more violent theories of immediate action of the Left Wing, he was stigmatized as not a true interpreter of Marx by all those who afterwards followed the lead of Lenin. It is interesting that during the period before the war the German Socialist leaders of the Center and Right Wings would not agree to the theory of peace at any price in case of war, but were in favor, under certain restrictions, of defending the Fatherland.

The analysis of the voting situation at the two elections of 1903 and 1907 will show how successful the Social Democratic Party had become. The party had over 3,000,000 votes in 1903, by far the largest number of votes cast for any party, the nearest approach being the 1,875,000 votes of the Catholic Party. It was almost the same in 1907. The Socialists polled over 3,250,000 votes and the Catholics 2,183,000 but, owing to the peculiarly unjust methods of counting votes in the cities, the Socialists never obtained the proportion of representatives in Parliament to which they were entitled. The especial value set upon the close alliance between the Social Democracy and labor unions is shown by that portion of the program of the Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in 1907, which followed largely the dictation of German leaders.

The following quotation does not touch upon other important declarations of the conference, its opposition to the war, and its review of the ways in which Socialism had prevented recent wars; nor does it touch on the discussion in regard to the general strike as a preventive of war, which was favored by the French under Jaurès, and opposed by the Germans under Bebel. We give here that part which relates to the trade unions and to industrial policy:

"To emancipate the proletariat completely from the bonds of intellectual, political, and economic serfdom, the political and economic struggle are alike necessary. If the activity of the Socialist Party is exercised more particularly in the domain of the political struggle of the proletariat, that of the unions displays itself in the domain of the economic