GERMAN SOCIALISM

SOCIALISM AND ANARCHY. (MAY 12,1894)

THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY.

Mr Geoffrey Drage's new report to the Royal Commission on Labour on the labour question in Germany covers such a great variety of topics, that it does not easily lend itself to summary (says the Times).
Mr Drage divides the history of German Socialism into three periods—from 1840 to 1852, the second from 1862 to the passing of the Anti-Socialist Law in 1878 and the third from 1878 to the present time. During the first period the movement was strictly of an international and communist character, though it owed much to German leaders such as Engels and Karl Marx.
Its sphere of action was England, France, and Switzerland rather than Germany, and it owed not a little to the influence of Louis Blanc. The failure of the hopes of the leaders based on the revolution of 1848 forced them into retirement in 1852, and Socialism was regarded as dead, but its reappearance was only a question of time, and when it did reappear it was as a German movement on German soil, under the leadership of Lassalle. Its revival was preceded by a period of philanthropic activity, chiefly in connection with the working classes. Herr Schulze-Delitzsch, with German economists of the Manchester school, encouraged the establishment of benefit funds and co-operative undertakings, and brought down on themselves the hostility of various German Governments for their connection with the Liberals, as well as of the Catholic Church. Thus it was that when Lassalle appeared as the champion of the working classes against Schulze and the bourgeoise, he was favoured by Prince Bismarck on the one hand and by Bishop Ketteler, of Mayence, on the other, and this, combined with his own fire and eloquence brought Lassalle his rapid success When he appeared with his econo- mic refutation of Schulz's principle of self-help, his advocacy of universal suffrage, the extension of education, and the substitution of direct for in-direct taxation, the result was immediate and overwhelming. He embodied these principles, in 1861, in a programme which included also a declaration of the inherent rights of the working classes to sovereign power, and in 1862 he formed a general association of German workmen.
With this begins the second period in the history of German Socialism. Lassalle' s death in a duel in 1861 was followed by a split in his party, the differences being increased by the formation in London in 1864 of the International under Marx and of the Social Democratic workman's party in Germany in 1865 under Liebknecht and Bebel, disciples of Marx, while the remains of the Lassalle party were under Schweitzer, his successor. The latter party had its headquarters in Berlin, the former in Saxony. The Lassallians were purely national, while Liebknecht and Bebel were at first, at any rate, directly connected with the International under Marx. The economic difference between the two is more obscure. Lassalle stated what he regarded as the inevitable outcome of the present social order under the form of " the iron law of wages." Wages, he taught, must inevitably tend to fall to the point at which the workman can barely obtain subsistence. If they rise, the increase in population will drag them down. If they fall, the decrease in population from starvation will cause them to rise again , and the only escape from the dominion of this law is productive co-operation, the funds for which are to be supplied by the State. Such a system, combined with the widest diffusion of political power, would lead to the State becoming the owner of the means of production ; and, as Prince Bismarck said of Lassalle, his national and monarchical tendencies would have led him to regard a beneficent autocracy as equally consistent with his system of co-operative production. Marx's remedy for existing economic evils is different. Nothing short of collective ownership can obviate tho evils of a rapidly increasing proletariat and a constantly diminishing number of persons possessed of complete power over the lives of their fellows.
The doctrines of Liebknecht and Bebel were embodied in the Eisenach programme of 1869, which is curious for its claim to a strictly scientific foundation and for its rejection of States socialism of every kind and of all proposals to introduce reforms into the existing social order. Up to 1871 the growth of both Socialist bodies was slow but in that year came the disorganisation of parties and the financial crisis consequent on the Franco-German war and Prince Bismarck's laws against Catholics. In consequence, the Socialists grew in numbers and influence. In 1871 they were scarcely able to return two members to the Reichstag; in 1874 the Lassallians gained three and the Internationalists seven seats; in 1875 a reconciliation took place between the two parties and in 1877 they returned 12 members. Their votes increased from 375 000 in 1873 to 600,000 in 1878 in spite of the disadvantages under which they were placed by the attempts on the life of the Emperor.
The third period begins with the passing of the famous anti-socialist law of 21st October, 1878. There are wide differences of opinion as to the effect of this law on the development of the Social Democratic party. Its immediate effect on the organisation was, disastrous, but after the first shock had passed strenuous efforts were made to carry on the desired propaganda by a secret instead of an open organisation. In 1890 the law was allowed finally to lapse and in 1891 the party met at Erfurt to issue an official programme. The Eisenach programme of 1869 still showed traces of the influence of Lassalle but was in the main characteristic of the Marxists or lnternational section. The Gotha programme of 1875, the year of reconciliation between the followers of Marx and Lassalle, was to a great extent a compromise, and was fiercely denounced by Marx himself, although his letter was concealed from the bulk of the party till 1890. The three programmes agree in asserting the iniquity and injustice of the existing social and economic order, and especially of the private ownership of the means of production but the two later programmes go far beyond that of 1869 in the definiteness with which they state the grounds for their propositions. The Erfurt manifesto reasserts the identity of interests of all workmen in every land, and is far more uncompromising than its predecessors it drops all reference to the " iron law of wages " to co-operative production and to the accomplishment of its objects "by all legal means." The erection of the Socialist State is its only remedy, and there is a great advance over its predecessors in the scope and definiteness of its demands. Mr Drago gives a full translation of this programme, which is as precise and clear in its demands as language could make it.

ANARCHISTS

The report traces the history of the formation within the German Socialists of the Internationalist and Anarchist sections and their effect upon the whole body. The International was the outcome of the London Exhibition of 1862, though it was preceded by a secret society of German Socialists, with headquarters in London, known as the League of Just. Soon after the formation of the International widely different conceptions of its nature and objects were entertained by its different sections. To the English members it appeared as a magnified trade union, which prevented the importation of foreign labour during strikes; to the revolutionary anarchists of Italy, Spain, and the Jura it was to bring about that social conflagration which was to be the precursor of the new era. The English members looked to it to maintain the rate of wages, the Continental members to abolish the wage system altogether. For a time Marx kept the extreme section in check, and after 1867 its membership began to increase rapidly, especially in the United States; but though it had millions of members it had no money. The restraints on the more violent members grew less, and the excesses of the Commune in Paris completed its ruin. Marx's utterances in regard to the Paris Communists caused the secession of English trade-unionists, and the German membership declined because of the manifestoes against the war. Within the body itself there was a violent conflict between the followers of Marx and those of Bakounin, an exiled Russian noble and the leader of the European anarchists, who in 1868 had founded an " International Alliance," with the watchwords " No centralisation, no State, not even revolutionary dictatorship, and above all, no authority. " In 1872 James Guillaume, Bakounin's chief lieutenant, attacked Marx at the Bale address, and, although the majority was with the latter, he thought it prudent to remove the Headquarters to New York, where it practically came to an end in 1873, though its last members did not vote its final dissolution until 1876. It had brought to the front the anarchism as well as the exaggerated individualism which lie close to the extremer forms of socialism, but its true successors to-day are not the anarchists, but the social democrats who produced the Erfurt programme. Modern anarchy may be said to date from Proudhon and his famous work, "Qu'est-ce que la Propriete? " His views were taken up in Germany in 1843 by Moses Hess, who preached the negation of all authority. Doctrines of this kind were widely diffused amongst the educated classes in Germany in the early forties. In Switzerland some German exiles, led by Wilhelm Marx, founded an anarchist association advocating the destruction of Church, State, property, and marriage: its one positive tenet was " a bloody and fearful revenge upon the rich and powerful " They were suppressed by the police. But Bakounin is the founder of all the revolutionary socialism of Europe since 1865. He was a noble by birth, fled from Russia at the age of 32, took part in various revolutionary movements, was handed over to Russia in 1837, and sent to Siberia whence he escaped by way of Japan, returned to Europe and speedily recommenced his propaganda by establishing the Alliance of the Jura for the destruction of all order and authority. His follower Netschaief was the apostle of Russian Nihilism, and, carrying Bakounin's doctrines further than he would have done himself, he advocated "poison, the dagger, the rope, all alike hallowed by the spirit of revolution, " and preached wholesale assassination in order to strike terror into the bourgeoisie. The later German anarchists under Johann Most were organised between 1872 and 1876; after the passing of the anti-Socialist law Most was expelled from Berlin, and carried his paper Freiheit to London, where he continued to advocate agitation combined with revolutionary outbursts and attempts at assassination. Here he was sentenced to imprisonment for his articles and then transferred himself to America. The Chicago bomb-throwing in 1886 disorganised the anarchists but they are beginning to recover now, their chief recruits being amongst Polish Jews, "but the utterances of the party have become much milder, and both in England, in Germany and in America the Anarchists are numerically unimportant as compared with the Socialists. " The International Socialist Congress held at Zurich in August last was remarkable for the strength of the English and German representation, the determined attitude towards the Anarchist party, and the predominance given by the German influence, to the followers of Karl Marx. On the second day the Anarchists were excluded after a free fight.

INTELLECTUAL PROLETARIATE.

As to the attitude of the German educated classes towards Socialism, Mr Drago observes that since 1870 the majority of German economists have adopted a sympathetic attitude towards the labour question and though they are strongly opposed to the extreme views held by the Social Democrats they are equally opposed to the laissez faire doctrines of their predecessors of the school of Schulze-Delitzsch. Thus they have acquired the name of academic Socialists. Associated with these to some extent, are the Christian Socialists. Both appear to be regarded with indifference if not contempt by the leaders of the Social Democrats, who regard their existence as further evidence of the growing importance of the Socialist movement. An interesting section of the Socialists is the so-called " intellectual proletariate " — "a large and increasing class of persons both men and women, whose intellectual capacities are their only provision for the struggle for existence." Of these a non-Socialist writer says that they are more dangerous to the State than the genuine wage-earners because of the greater influence which higher culture and increased political activity enable them to exercise. Another form of Socialism in Germany is that known as Conservative Socialism which is the outcome of the hostility of agriculturists, artisans, and small employers of labour to the old Liberalism. It has nothing in common with Socialism strictly so-called, except the demand for the extension of State activity and the intervention of the State to protect particular classes. There are also the State Socialists of the Bismarckian bureaucracy who act on the principle that Social Democracy is best met by a policy of active social reform, conceived and carried out by authority. Hence the elaborate system of workmen's insurance. Since Prince Bismarck's retirement there has been a greater tendency to encourage the organisation of workmen and to allow a greater degree of freedom to the labour movement.
Nevertheless, the Social Democratic party is increasing rapidly in strength. But, Mr Drago says in concluding, it is not the numerical strength alone which constitutes the peculiar importance of Social Democracy in contemporary German politics it is the steadying influence which the strict discipline and organisation necessitated by Prince Bismarck's repressive policy exercised upon the German workman. Under this influence the party dissociates itself from Anarchist principles, and there is every reason to believe that the consolidation begun under Prince Bismarck's repressive legislation will be continued under the present Government. At the Zurich Congress in August last, Herr Bebel stated that it was Prince Bismark's repression which had driven him and his friends to forsake revolutionary tactics for the present policy of Parliamentary action.
In the face of the principles enunciated in the Erfurt programme, and in view of the recent successes of the party at the polls, it is abundantly clear that all the non-Socialist elements in Germany will find themselves obliged to combine and that here as elsewhere, the political as well as the social struggle of the future will be between a united Conservative, or non-Socialist party on the one hand, and the Social Democratic or Radical party, on the other. As far as it is yet possible to trace tho underlying tendencies in the economic development of Germany it appears probable that the organisation of labour will proceed upon Socialist, and, at the same time, non-revolutionary lines, but that the growing power of Socialism amongst the German working men will of necessity put an end to the present disintegration of religious and political parties.

s.m.h. 12/5/1894