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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032460200 
 
THE SOCIALISM OF 
 TO-DAY 
 
 A SOURCE-BOOK OF THE PRESENT POSITION 
 AND RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE SO- 
 CIALIST AND LABOR PARTIES IN ALL COUN- 
 TRIES, CONSISTING MAINLY OP ORIGINAL 
 DOCUMENTS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING 
 
 J. G. PHELPS STOKES 
 
 JESSIE WALLACE HUGHAN 
 
 HARRY W. LAIDLER 
 
 AND OTHER MEMBERS OP A COMMITTEE OF THE 
 INTBRCOI.LEGIATB SOCIALIST SOCIETT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1916 
 
 A, 
 
MS^ 
 
 Copyright, 1B16 
 
 BY 
 
 HENET HOLT AND COMPANY 
 Pabliahed May, 1916 
 
 THE QUINN A BODEN CO. PRBfiS 
 HAHWAY, N. J. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 For many years all books about Socialism — ^whether in 
 favor or against it — ^were concerned mainly with theory. 
 About the year 1900, Socialist and Labor parties grew to 
 be political factors of importance in several of the great 
 nations, developing programs of reform, the sincerity and 
 practicality of which were beginning to be tested by experi- 
 ence. Then the second stage of Socialist literature set in; 
 Socialism was presented, both by Socialists and by anti- 
 Socialists, as a movement. 
 
 The time for a third stage is at hand, and it wiU 
 mark a revolution in the treatment of the subject. Even 
 when Socialism is regarded as a movement, the diffi- 
 culty remains that it must be presented by an individual, 
 who is either a Socialist or an anti-Socialist. In either 
 case partisanship almost inevitably creeps in, and the 
 reader's only recourse is to refer to a number of vol- 
 umes before he can be certain he has secured a non- 
 partisan and balanced view. The time has arrived when 
 the educated public will demand that this great movement 
 be discussed in a more rigidly scientific manner — a treat- 
 ment that can be secured only by the publication of 
 original documents with the minimum of editorial com- 
 ment, the selection of such documents being made ex- 
 clusively with a view to their importance and without 
 regard to their tendency. 
 
 Wel)eUeve tTtat the present volume is the first interna- 
 tional and comprehensive source-hook dealing with the 
 Socialist movement in any language. The Socialists have 
 limited their collection of documents either to single na- 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 tions or to the proceedings of the International Socialist 
 Congresses. We have utilized all of these sources together 
 with many others, such as Socialist speeches in parlia- 
 ments, and in this way we have endeavored to cover all the 
 important nations, and all the topics that have been in 
 the foreground of discussion in recent years. The only 
 exception is the relation of the Socialists to war, which is 
 covered in a separate companion volume edited by one 
 of our editors (The Socialists and the War, by W. E. 
 Walling, Henry Holt and Company). We devote an im- 
 portant chapter, however, to the Socialist position on mili- 
 tarism, without duplicating any of the documents of that 
 volume — since we here deal chiefly with the domestic 
 aspect of the question. 
 
 We believe the recent development of the world's So- 
 cialist and Labor parties has shown that they have enough 
 in common to justify their treatment as a more or less 
 unified whole. We have made no effort, however, in our 
 selection and arrangement of quotations, to suggest agree- 
 ment between the various parties or even between the fac- 
 tions of the same party. Whether the obvious differences 
 at present existing are merely temporary or crucial and 
 irreconcilable it remains for history to show. 
 
 The book has been edited with the genuine co-operation 
 of a number of persons. Those mentioned as editors have 
 done the bulk of the work. Others contributing substan- 
 tially were Alice K. Boehme, Joseph L. Cohen, Paul H. 
 Douglas, Felix Grendon, Nicholas Kelley, Paul Kennaday, 
 Margaret Eambaut, H. D. Sedgwick, John Spargo, Caro 
 Lloyd, and Alexander Trachtenberg. 
 
 The editors and all who co-operated with them are mem- 
 bers of an organization of college men and women devoted 
 exclusively to promoting the study of Socialism, and they 
 were chosen and delegated by this organization to carry 
 
out the present work. We believe that the Intercollegiate 
 Socialist Society has demonstrated, by publications and 
 activities extending through ten years, that it is equipped 
 to perform such a task efficiently and was to be relied 
 upon to execute it in a liberal and non-partisan spirit. 
 Although a large part of our membership is composed 
 of Socialists, we include the most divergent schools of 
 Socialist thought, while a large portion of our members 
 are non-Socialists, and some are anti-Socialists interested 
 in securing a broad and reliable discussion of the subject. 
 Therefore, the present volume, like all the rest of our 
 work, is dedicated to all persons who wish to understand 
 the Socialist movement as it is — ^whatever may be their 
 personal opinions concerning it. 
 
 The Bditoes. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Section I 
 
 THE INTEENATIONAL 
 CHAPTEE PAGE 
 
 I. The Socialists and the New Intebnational ... 3 
 
 Historical Sketch — First Congress of Paris, 1889 — 
 Resolution on the Eight Hour Day — Congress of Brus- 
 sels, 1891 — Congress of Zurich, 1893 — ^Admission of 
 Labor Unions Under Certain Conditions — Political Tac- 
 tics — Congress of London, 1896 — Political Tactics — Ex- 
 elusion of Anarchists — Second Congress of Paris, 1900 — 
 Political Tactics — Question of Coalition Ministries — 
 Formation of International Socialist Bureau — Congress 
 of Amsterdam, 1904 — Political Tactics — Coalition Min- 
 istries — Discussion Between Bebel and Jaurgs — ^Vote of 
 the International Socialist Movement. 
 
 Section II 
 
 SOCIALISM ON THE CONTINENT OF EUEOPE 
 
 II. Geemany 27 
 
 The Socialist Vote — Relative Strength of Political Par- 
 ties — Recent Political Development—Party Membership 
 —Strength of Socialism in Advanced Sections — Occupa- 
 tions and Religion of Socialist Members of Reichstag — 
 Program of Party — Socialist Appeals on First and Sec- 
 ond Ballots in 1912 Elections — Private Agreement — Op- 
 position Within the Party — ^Action of 1912 Party Con- 
 gress — Kautsky and Bernstein on Meaning of the 
 Socialist Victory — The Test Year in the Reichstag — 
 Socialist Program in Prussian Elections, May, 1913 — 
 Republican Demonstration in the Reichstag, June 3, 1914. 
 
 III. Feance 57 
 
 Introductory — ^Electoral Tactics — ^Resolution on the 
 Election of 1914 — Election Manifesto of Socialist Party — 
 — ^Results of Election — Jean Jaur6s on Victory. 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 IV. Belgium 70 
 
 Introductory — Socialist Tactics in Election of 1914 — 
 Kesults of Election — Causes of Victory — ^Manifesto of 
 Labor Party — ^Reorganization of Party. 
 
 V. Italy 76 
 
 Introductory — Declaration of Socialist Party Against 
 War in Tripoli — Split in Party — Declaration of Regular 
 Party — Declaration of Reformist Socialist Party — Elec- 
 toral Tactics in 1913 Elections — Action of Executive 
 Committee — ^Tactics on Second Ballot — Electoral Mani- 
 festo — Situation Before the Elections — ^Results of Elec- 
 tion — Comments on Socialist Success — Resolution of 
 Parliamentary Group After Election — Resolution upon 
 Resignation of Giolitti Ministry — Discussion of Free- 
 masonry at 1914 Party Congress — Disobedient Party 
 Deputies After the Congress — Disobedient Party Branches 
 — Further Effects of Position. 
 
 VI. Russia and Finland 95 
 
 Introductory to Russia — Elections of 1912 — ^Tactics 
 and Composition of Social Democratic Group in Fourth 
 Duma — Expulsion of Members and Resignation of 
 Milinovsni from Duma — Republican Demonstration in 
 Duma — ^Russian Social Democratic Unity Conference, 
 Brussels, 1914 — Constitutional Struggles in Russia — 
 The Movement in Finland — Social Democratic Party 
 Convention, 1914. 
 
 VII. Holland (and Switzerland) 108 
 
 Introductory to Holland — Party Congress of 1914 — 
 Socialist Party Program — ^Results of Elections — General 
 Political Situation — ^The Ministerial Crisis and the So- 
 cial Democracy — ^History of Swiss Social Democratic 
 Movement. 
 
 VIII. Denmark, Sweden and Norway 129 
 
 Introductory to Denmark — Socialist Support of the 
 Government — The Constitutional Crisis — General Suf- 
 frage — Effect of the War on Suffrage — The Political 
 Situation — Introductory to Sweden — Socialists Favor a 
 
 Republic — Swedish Parliamentary Elections of 1914 
 
 Election Appeal — Results of Election — The Question of 
 
 the Coalition Ministry — The Party Congress of 1915 
 
 The Elections of 1915-— The General Position of the So- v 
 cialist Movement in Norway. 
 
CONTENTS xi 
 
 CHAPTES PAGE 
 
 IX. AUSTBIA AND HUNGABT 155 
 
 Introductory to Austria — Bauer on Perils of Reform- 
 ism — ^Introduction to the Hungarian Movement — Con- 
 gress of Social Democratic Party, 1913 — Political Jug- 
 glery in Hungary, 1914. 
 
 X. Spain and Portugal 172 
 
 Introductory to Spain — Iglesias on Situation in Spain 
 — Introductory to Portugal — General Political Situation. 
 
 XI. Roumania, Bulgabia and Gkbece 181 
 
 Introductory to Roumania — Socialist Party Political 
 and Agrarian Programs, 1910 — ^Plea for Unity Among 
 Bulgarian Socialists — Introductory to Movement in 
 Greece. 
 
 Section III 
 
 THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 
 
 XII. The Present Status op Socialism in the United 
 
 States 191 
 
 Membership of the Socialist Party by Years — By "^ .. . 
 
 States — ^Membership in Proportion to Population of iL#:^^'' GI i 
 
 States — Vote Compared with that of Other Parties — /^ </ ' '" ' 
 
 Socialist Vote of 1914— Officers of the Party. T /,'"'■■"■" 
 
 XIII. The National Program 199 
 
 The Socialist Party Platform— Report of U. S. Con- "^^ 
 gressman Berger. 
 
 XIV. The State Programs 210 
 
 Report of Committee on State Program, Convention of - j- '^{ -j^ ! 
 
 1912 — ^New York State Program, 1914 — Pennsylvania pf' ' ' 
 
 State Program, 1912 — ^Montana State Program, 1912 — -^ 
 
 Oklahoma State Program — Wisconsin State Program, \ 
 
 1912 — Socialists in Wisconsin Legislature. 1 
 
 XV. Policy and Tactics 221 "^ 
 
 Discussion of the Importance of Political Action, by '^ 
 Victor Berger, Charles Edward Russell, William D. Hay- 
 wood, Eugene V. Debs — Party Organization — Constitu- 
 tion of Socialist Party — Amendment to Constitution 
 Regarding the Party Owned Press — ^Regarding a Change 
 in Members' Pledge — Proposed Union of American So- 
 cialist Parties — ^Report of Socialist Party Delegation to 
 the International Socialist Congress, Copenhagen, 1910. 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVI. Canada 235 
 
 History of the Canadian Socialist Party — Socialist 
 Party in 1914 — Platform — ^History of the Social Demo- 
 cratic Party — Platform — The Labor Movement in Canada. 
 
 XVII. Centeal and SotTTH America 243 
 
 Address of de Larra of Mexico — Proclamation of So- 
 cialist Party on Mexican War — Introductory to Argen- 
 tine Republic — The Argentine Party and Nationalism. 
 
 Section IV 
 sociausm nsr beitish empire (excluding Canada) 
 
 XVIII. The British Independent Labor Party and the 
 
 British Sociaxist Party 255 
 
 Introductory — Excerpts from Constitution of British 
 Labor Party — Growth of Labor Party — Program of Inde- 
 pendent Labor Party — Parliamentary Activities — Criti- 
 cism and Defense of Labor Party, by Robert Smillie, J. 
 Ramsay MacDonald, Philip Snowden — ^Resolution Against 
 British System of Party Legislation — Speech of Mover — 
 Speech of F. W. Jowett— The Basis of the Socialist Party 
 —The Conference of 1914. 
 
 XIX. The British Labor Party 266 
 
 The British Labor Party in Parliament, 1912 — The 
 Party Conference of 1913 — ^Labor Party in Parliament, 
 1914— Discussion of Party Tactics — Conference of 1910 — 
 Labor Party and a Program. 
 
 XX. The Fabian Society and Socialist Unity . . . 285 
 
 Introductory to Fabian Society — Basis of the Society "^»S- 
 — The Fabians and Socialist Unity — ^Annual Conference, 
 1914 — Socialist Unity on the Basis of Common Action 
 with Labor Party — Manifesto of International Socialist 
 Bureau — The Unity Conference — Discussion of British 
 Socialist Party — Declaration of Executive Committee of 
 B. S. P. 
 
 XXI. Ireland 299 
 
 The Political Situation in Ireland — Speech by James 
 Larkin. 
 
 XXII. Australia 309 
 
 The Australian Labor Party — Introductory — ^Elections 
 of 1913 — National Referenda — Federal Elections — Growth 
 of the Labor Party Elections, 1913 — Comment in Lalor 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CEAFTEB PAGE 
 
 Vote in 1914 — The Labor Party in the States — ^Manifesto 
 of the Labor Party Elections, 1913 — Comment in Labor 
 Leader, Vorwaerts, New Statesman, The Socialist, on 
 1913 Elections — Election Manifesto of Australian Labor 
 Party, 1914 — Election Campaign of 1914 — Legislative 
 Achievements — Future of Labor Party — ^Report of Aus- 
 tralian Socialist Party to International Socialist Con- 
 gress of Vienna. 
 
 XXIII. New Zealand 340 
 
 IntToduetory — From Editorial in New Statesman — 
 
 Foundation of Social Democratic Party — Program of So- 
 cial Democratic Party, 1913 — The Election of 1914— Re- 
 view and Forecast — Questions for Parliamentary Candi- 
 dates Proposed by the Social Democratic Party, 1914 — 
 The Labor Representation Committee. 
 
 XXIV. South Africa 354 
 
 Introductory — The Labor Party and the Elections of 
 
 1913. 
 
 Section V 
 
 SOCIALISM IN CHINA 
 
 XXV. China 357 
 
 Introductory — Interview with Sun Yat Sen. 
 
 PART n 
 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 I. Sociaust Paeties and the Labor Unions .... 373 
 
 The International Congress of Stuttgart, 1907 — Congress 
 of the French Party, 1907 — Same, 1912 — Discussion in 
 the United States — Syndicalism Defined — Convention of 
 1912 — Debs on Industrial Unionism — Spargo, Socialist 
 Convention, Haywood, Debs on Sabotage. 
 
 II. The GrENERAi Strike 389 
 
 The International Socialist Congress of London, 1896 
 —Of Amsterdam, 1904— Of Stuttgart, 1907— The Gen- 
 eral Strike in Belgium, 1913 — Causes Leading to Strike 
 — Special Congress of Labor Party, 1912 — Speech of 
 Vandervelde — Preparations for Strike, Congress of 1913 
 — ^Report of Anseele — Speech of Vandervelde — ^Resolu- 
 tion Adopted — Conclusion of Strike, Congress of 1913 — 
 Speech of Vandervelde — ^Discussion of Success of Strike 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE PAGE 
 
 — Correspondence in Vorwaerts — In 2Vew Statesman — 
 The Proposed General Strike for Equal Suffrage in 
 Prussia — Resolution of the Party Executive — ^Resolution 
 of the Minority — Scheideman Speaking for the Executive 
 Committee — Bernstein for the Majority — ^Rosa Luxem- 
 burg for the Minority — Bauer for the Majority — Lieb- 
 knecht for the Minority — Statement of Belgian Delegates 
 — Scheideman, Closing the Debate — Vorwaerts, Editorial 
 Summary — The General Strike in Italy, 1914— The Gen- 
 eral Strike in Russia, 1914 — The General Strike in New 
 Zealand, 1913. 
 
 III. COMPTJLSOET AEBITRATION OF LABOK DISPUTES . . .431 
 
 Discussion at Conference of British Labor Party, 1913 
 — Experience of New Zealand — Compulsory Arbitration 
 in Australia. 
 
 IV. The Sociaust Pbogeam of Labob and Sociax Legisla- 
 
 tion 438 
 
 Program of Copenhagen Congress, 1910 — ^Resolution at 
 British Labor Party Conference, 1913, on the National 
 Minimum — Conference of British Labor Party, 1914, the 
 Feeding of School Children. 
 
 v. UNEMPtOTMEIifT 44X 
 
 The International Congress of Copenhagen, 1910 — The 
 German Congress of 1913 — Official Report to the Pro- 
 posed International Congress of Vienna, 1914, by 
 Vaillant. 
 
 VI. The High Cost of Living 446 
 
 The British Labor Party Conference, 1914, State Regu- 
 lated Prices — The French Party Congress, 1914 — The 
 Webb Report for the Proposed International Congress of 
 Vienna, 1914. 
 
 VII. Ageicultuee 453 
 
 The International Congress of London, 1896 — Official 
 Report to the French Party Congress of 1912 by Com- 
 p6re-Morel — The Program Adopted by the Danish Con- 
 gress, 1913 — ^Recent Tendencies of Agricultural Concen- 
 tration in the pnited States, by A. M. Simons The 
 
 Agrarian Program in the United States, 1912 — The 
 Agrarian Program in Oklahoma, 1912. 
 
 VIII. The Land 
 
 The British Labor Party Conference of 1914 — Confer- 
 ence of British Independent Labor Party, 1914 — Con- 
 ference of British Socialist Party, 1914. 
 
 469 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTEE PAGE 
 
 IX. The Trusts 475 
 
 The International Socialist Congress of Paris, 1900 — 
 Of Amsterdam, 1904. 
 
 X. GOVEBNMENT OWNEESHIP 477 
 
 The Socialist Group in the German Reichstag, 1913 — 
 The British Labor Party Conference, 1913 — The Report 
 on Currency to the National Committee of the Socialist 
 Party of the United States, 1914. 
 
 XI. IMPOET Duties 481 
 
 The Italian Congress of 1914 — The American Conven- 
 tion of 1912. 
 
 XII. Taxation . 485 
 
 The German Congress of 1913 — Article by Wendel — 
 Report by Wurm — ^Resolution of Congress. 
 
 XIII. Immigeatign and the Race Problem .... 495 
 
 The International Congress of Stuttgart, 1907 — The 
 American Congress of 1910, Asiatic Immigration — Con- 
 gress of 1912, Same — ^Resolution on the Dillingham Bill 
 — The American National Committee, 1913 — Debs on the 
 Japanese Question — ^The American Party and the Negro, 
 Resolutions of 1901— The Australian Labor Party, 1914 
 The Australian Workers' Union, 1914 — The South Airican 
 Labor Party, 1913. 
 
 XIV. Militarism 509 
 
 The French Congress of 1912— ^aur6s on Militarism in 
 
 the Chamber of Deputies, 1913 — The Italian Congress 
 of 1914 — The American Party Congress of 1912 — Con- 
 scription and the Australian Labor Party, from the 
 Daily Citizen (London), the International Socialist Re- 
 view, the New Statesman (London). 
 
 XV. Proportional Representation 523 
 
 The American Congress of 1912 — ^The Conference of 
 the British Labor Party, 1914. 
 
 XVI. Municipal Socialism 532 
 
 The International Congress of Paris, 1900 — ^The Berlin 
 Municipal Election of 1913 — ^The French Party Municipal 
 Program, 1912, on Political, Economic, Financial, Educa- 
 tional, Charitable, Health and Housing Reforms — Co- 
 operation with Other Parties in Municipal Elections, Dis- 
 cussion at Italian Congress, 1914 — Resolution Adopted — 
 Criticism by Oda Olberg — ^The Municipal Program — The 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAQB 
 
 Italian Municipal Elections of 1914 — General Results — 
 Victories at Naples and Ancona — The General Strike and 
 Municipal Elections — The Municipal Program in the 
 United States — ^Discussion of the Commission Form of 
 City Government at the Convention of 1912 — ^A Suggested 
 Model City Charter — ^A Suggested Municipal Program — 
 Municipal Platform of New York City, 1913 — Socialist 
 Administration in Berkeley — Socialist Administration in 
 Butte — ^Message of Mayor Lunn of Schenectady — Social- 
 ist Municipal Platform in Schenectady — ^Message of 
 Mayor Seidel of Milwaukee — ^Accomplishments in Mil- 
 waukee — Socialist Municipal Platform — Municipal Taxa- 
 tion, from British Fabian Tract by Sidney Webb. 
 
 XVII. CO-OPEBATION 582 
 
 International Congress of Copenhagen, 1910 — ^American 
 Socialist Convention of 1912 — The Majority Report 
 Adopted by the Convention — The Minority Report — 
 Speech of W. R. Gaylord, Favoring the Report. 
 
 XVIII. The Drink Question 586 
 
 Report to the Proposed International Socialist Congress 
 
 of Vienna, 1914, by Vandervelde — The French Congress 
 of 1914 — The American Congress of 1912. 
 
 XIX. Woman Suiteaqe 594 
 
 The International Congress of Stuttgart, 1907 — The 
 Conference of the British Labor Party, 1913 — Congress- 
 man Berger's Resolution, U. S., 1912. 
 
 XX. Education 602 
 
 The Struggle of the Belgian Socialists for non-Sec- 
 tarian Education — Manifesto of the General Council of 
 the Labor Party Against the Sectarian School Law — 
 Declaration of the Socialist Group in the Senate After 
 the Passage of the Law — Report on Industrial Educa- 
 tion/ American Party Convention, 1912. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Peepakedness 609 
 
 Index 633 
 
PAET I 
 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
SECTION I 
 THE INTERNATIONAL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTER- 
 NATIONAL * 
 
 I. HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 "On one of the last days of November, 1847, a handful 
 of political refugees, mostly Germans, met in an obscure 
 clubroom in East London to hear the report of two of 
 their associates who had undertaken to prepare a state- 
 ment of principles to be issued in the name of their organ- 
 ization, the Communist League. It was a most unusual 
 document, that Communist Manifesto, to which they lis- 
 tened in rapt attention — a searching analysis of modern 
 society in the light of historical and economic science, a 
 challenge to all established powers, a ringing battle-cry, 
 a comprehensive program, and all within the space, say, 
 of eight pages of this [the Metropolitan] magazine. At 
 the closing words — 'Workingmen of all countries, unite! 
 You have nothing to lose but your chains; you have a 
 world to gain ! ' — ^the little gathering voted enthusiastic ap- 
 proval and resolved to give this declaration the widest 
 publicity their scanty means would permit. They felt that, 
 
 * This brief statement of the origin of the Socialist movement, by Al- 
 gernon Lee, one of the best known of American Socialist writers, ap- 
 peared in the Metropolitan Magazine for July, 1914. 
 
 3 
 
4 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 though the words were the words of Karl Marx and Fred- 
 erick Engels, the real author was the working-class itself, 
 then just beginning to wake to a consciousness of its 
 wrongs, its rights, and its power. . . . 
 
 "The Socialist movement, which was born that Novem- 
 ber day, grew very slowly at first. The International 
 Workingmen's Association did not come into being till 
 1864. Twelve years later it was dissolved, and its enemies 
 joyfully announced that 'Socialism is dead.' Their re- 
 joicing was premature. The preceding year, 1875, had 
 seen the foundation of the Social Democratic Party in 
 Germany, in several other countries Socialist parties were 
 taking form, and it soon became evident that the move- 
 ment was actually stronger than ever before. No national 
 frontiers could confine it, no racial antipathies could with- 
 stand the force with which it fused the working-people 
 into one brotherhood. Wherever the railway and the fac- 
 tory made their appearance, wherever peasants and handi- 
 craftsmen were being transformed into industrial wage- 
 workers, there Socialism sprang up, with Trade-Unionism 
 by its side. ... 
 
 "In 1889 the first of a new series of International So- 
 cialist Congresses was held at Paris, and similar gatherings 
 have since taken place at intervals of two to four years. 
 The ninth was the special congress which met at Basel in 
 November, 1912, to concert measures for preventing the 
 Balkan conflict from embroiling the great nations in a 
 general war. . . . 
 
 "The new International is not a centralized body. The 
 party in each country enjoys full autonomy, but all are 
 kept in mutual touch through the permanent Interna- 
 tional Socialist Bureau, which has its office in Brussels; 
 and all send delegates to the congresses, where questions 
 of principle and policy are discussed with the utmost 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 5 
 
 freedom, sometimes so sharply that outside observers think 
 the movement is sure to split in twain. . . . 
 
 "In every country the nucleus of the movement is an 
 organized party whose members pay monthly dues and 
 which carries on a many-sided and year-round campaign 
 by means of lectures, study classes, mass meetings, street- 
 corner speeches, sale of newspapers, magazines, books and 
 pamphlets, distribution of leaflets, and other activities. 
 Germany has, of course, the largest party, with more than 
 a million members; the United States already has over 
 one hundred thousand. . . . 
 
 "Ten years ago the voting strength of Socialism 
 throughout the world was between five and six millions. 
 To-day, on the most moderate computation, it exceeds 
 eleven millions. Taking into account the limitation of 
 the suffrage in various countries, it is safe to say that the 
 number of its avowed adherents is three or four times 
 greater than that shown at the polls — say ten per cent of 
 the adult population of the civilized world." 
 
 The following review of the first seven International 
 Congresses — from that of Paris in 1889 to that of Stutt- 
 gart in 1907 — is taken from the account of Jean Longuet, 
 grandson of Karl Marx, and one of the secretaries of the 
 French Socialist Party, in the volume entitled Le Mouve- 
 ment Socialiste Internationale of the series called the Bn- 
 cyclop6die Socialiste, edited by Compere-Morel. The ac- 
 count of the Copenhagen Congress (1910) is taken from 
 the report of the American Socialist delegation. The re- 
 ports to the proposed Vienna Congress of 1914 are from 
 the summaries of the Socialist press. 
 
 All important Socialist discussions and resolutions relat- 
 ing directly to war are to be found in "William English 
 Walling 's volume. Socialists amd the War. Thus the 
 
6 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 special congress of Basel (1913), the discussion of meas- 
 ures to be taken in case of war at the congresses of 1891, 
 1893, 1900, 1907, and 1910, the discussion of colonialism 
 in 1910, and the report on imperialism for the proposed 
 congress of Vienna (1914) are omitted from this volume 
 and presented in the other. 
 
 n. CONGRESS OP PARIS, 1889 
 (From Longuet) 
 
 "The first congress of the new International Socialist 
 movement was held at Paris on the one-hundredth anni- 
 versary of the taking of the Bastile, July 14, 1889. Be- 
 sides 221 French delegates, it included an imposing dele- 
 gation from beyond the Rhine. Our German comrades 
 were then in the midst of the full tide of Bismarckian 
 reaction and the regime of the anti-Socialist law — ^under 
 which the entire Socialist press was suppressed, and mili- 
 .tants filled the imperial prisons. But their superb organ- 
 ization came out victorious from all these trials, and they 
 sent 81 delegates. In their name, the old soldier of the 
 revolution, WiUiam Liebknecht, said: 'Laboring Germany 
 and laboring France are uniting at this moment. This is 
 not a congress of ideologists; we are contracting an alli- 
 ance which will have its effect in the entire world.' 
 
 "In the German delegation, besides Liebknecht, were 
 Bebel, Bernstein, Molkenbuhr, Vollmar, Clara Zetkin, and 
 the majority of the Socialist members of the Reichstag. 
 
 "England had 22 delegates, among whom were J. Keir 
 Hardie, John Burns, Eleanor Marx (youngest daughter 
 of Karl Marx) , and Cunningham Graham. 
 
 "Belgium had 14 delegates, including Anseele, Cesar 
 de Paepe, Jean Volders, Defuisseaux ; Austria had 8, one 
 of whom was "Victor Adler ; Spain sent 2, one being Pablo 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTEENATIONAL 7 
 
 Inglesias; Holland sent 4, including Domela Nieuwenhuis 
 and van Vliegen; Italy 5, including Andrea Costa and A. 
 Cipriani; Eussia 6, among whom were Pierre Lavroff and 
 Georges Plechhanoff. There were also at the Congress 
 3 Swedish comrades, 1 Bulgarian, 5 Roumanians, 5 Amer- 
 icans, 3 Norwegians, 3 Danes, 1 Portuguese, 1 Bohemian, 
 5 Poles, including L. Winiarsky, 3 Hungarians, including 
 the former minister of labor of the Commune, Leo 
 Franckel. 
 
 "Never before had there been so representative an as- 
 sembly of the proletariat of all countries. Never had the 
 International appeared more alive, more vigorous, than in 
 arising from the tonib in which the reaction following the 
 Paris Commune of 1871 had seemingly buried it. 
 
 "French Socialism at this time was marred by deep 
 internal discord. The groups of the 'Possibilist' Labor 
 Party, together with the Parisian labor unions, quar- 
 reled with the groups of the Labor Party of Guesde, the 
 central revolutionary committee, and the national federa- 
 tion of unions, over the right of representing France at 
 the Congress. 
 
 "The Germans tried to arrange a preliminary confer- 
 ence so as to elect a common organizing committee for 
 the Congress. The 'possibilists' refused to participate in 
 it or to meet with the other French groups. The latter, 
 therefore, in conjunction with the delegates from the Eng- 
 lish Social Democratic Federation, and certain English 
 trade-unionists, organized separately. The Belgian, Ital- 
 ian, and Dutch delegates participated in both assemblies. 
 Thus two congresses developed and continued to meet 
 separately. Fusion was not effected." 
 
8 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 m. THE CONGEBSS OP BRUSSELS, 1891 
 
 (From Longuet) 
 "This Congress brought about the union of the elements 
 represented in the two separate congresses of Paris. For 
 the first time since 1882, they deliberated together — 
 though only for a few days — ^the antagonistic factions in 
 the French section still needing many years for the real- 
 ization of complete unity. Besides the resolution on war 
 [which is included in Socialists and tJie War'\ this Con- 
 gress concerned itself with defining the Socialist attitude to- 
 wards social reform and labor legislation. The Congress 
 'placed itself on the ground of the class struggle, in the 
 conviction that there can be no possibility of the emancipa- 
 tion of the working-class as long as there are ruling 
 classes.' This resolution was voted unanimously. The 
 eloquent young leader of the Belgian Socialists, Emile 
 Vandervelde, celebrated the occurrence in these terms: 
 'For the first time revolutionary Socialists and Trade- 
 Unionists have found themselves in agreement in proclaim- 
 ing the necessity of the class struggle. There is a new 
 fact without precedent; the Socialists of the entire world 
 are united, according to the words of Karl Marx: "Pro- 
 letariat of the world, unite." ' " 
 
 For a further account of this Congress see Part II, Chapter IV, 
 " Labor Legislation." 
 
 IV. THE CONGRESS OP ZURICH, 1893 
 
 (From Longuet) 
 
 "This Congress concerned itself chiefly with considera- 
 tion of the general strike as a means of preventing war 
 and 'parliamentarism.' 
 
 "The admission of the 'anarchists' to the Congress had 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 9 
 
 first to be considered. [By ' anarcMsts, ' Longuet here means 
 those revolutionists who, while seeking a socialistic order 
 of society, yet oppose political action as a means for at- 
 taining it, or who favor political action in elections only 
 as a means of agitation, but without reliance upon par- 
 liamentary action]. This question was complicated by 
 certain German anti-parliamentarists ('Independents' 
 and 'Young Socialists,') who had withdrawn from the In- 
 ternational after the Congress of Erfurt, 1891, and who 
 were claiming admission to the Zurich Congress. The 
 debate was violent and absorbed the first two days' ses- 
 sion. After a vigorous speech by Bebel, 'who defined 
 political action as the utilization by the proletariat of 
 political rights and legislation for the conquest of po- 
 litical power,' and who asked 'why they were going to lose 
 three days in discussing with people that it would be 
 necessary to put out at the end of the third day,' the 
 Congress adopted by vote of 16 nationalities against 2 
 (Spain and France) the resolution which has become 
 famous under the name of the Eesolution of Zurich. 
 
 "One of its leading principles was as follows: 'AH labor 
 unions, as well as those parties and Socialist organizations 
 which recognize the necessity of working-class organiza- 
 tion and of political action, are to be admitted to the 
 Congress. ' 
 
 "The Congress adopted Bebel's definition of political 
 action as given above, and the anti-parliamentary factions 
 were excluded. 
 
 "The proposal of an international general strike against 
 war was brought up by the Dutch, but the immense ma- 
 jority voted against it. They also asked that the Con- 
 gress should recommend to the labor parties of all coun- 
 tries to ' make use of the elections solely as a means of 
 agitation,' and to 'forbid the elected representatives of 
 
10 THE SOCIALIST PAKTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 the proletariat from taking part in the labor of Parlia- 
 ment.' 
 
 "Liebknecht forcefully refuted this conception. Tac- 
 tics are a matter of an essentially practical nature : There 
 is no such thing as revolutionary or reactionary tactics. 
 Only the aim is revolutionary. Tactics vary from one 
 epoch to another, from one country to another. If Ger- 
 many was to-day in the situation of Russia, the German 
 Socialists would employ no other tactics than those of 
 the Russian terrorists. . . . Like tactics, political power 
 is itself neither reactionary nor revolutionary. What it 
 is depends upon those who exercise it. It is only an instru- 
 ment which does whatever the party that manipulates it 
 wishes. . . . 'Let us believe in acts, rather than in words,' 
 he declared. 'If the proletariat wishes to emancipate 
 itself from the capitalist yoke, it must first emancipate 
 itself from the yoke of the revolutionary phrase.' " The 
 following resolution was passed: 
 
 "1. It is necessary that the workers of all countries should 
 organize nationally and internationally into labor unions and 
 other organizations for struggling against their exploiters; 
 
 "2. Political action is necessary not only from the point of 
 view of agitation and of the affirmation of Socialist principles as 
 a whole, but also from the point of view of the realization of 
 reforms of immediate interest. Consequently we recommend to 
 the workers of all countries to conquer political rights, and to 
 make use of them in all legislative and administrative boards, 
 for the purpose of realizing the demands of the proletariat, and 
 to gain possession of political power which is to-day only an 
 instrument of capitalist domination in order to transform it into 
 a means of the emancipation of the proletariat; 
 
 "3. The form of political and economic struggle must be de- 
 termined according to circumstances by the various nationalities. 
 But in all cases the revolutionary aim of the Socialist move- 
 ment must be made fundamental. Namely the complete trans- 
 formation of present society from the economic, moral, and po- 
 litical points of view. (Our italics.) 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 11 
 
 " In no ease can political action be used for compromise or for 
 alliances, which would contradict the principles and the inde- 
 pendence of Socialist parties." 
 
 This resolution was adopted by all the nationalities, 
 except Holland. It was supplemented by an amendment 
 in favor of the initiative, referendum, and proportional 
 representation. 
 
 V. THE CONGRESS OF LONDON, 1896 
 
 (From Longuet) 
 
 "'The battle between the parliamentarians and the anti- 
 parliamentarians was renewed with vigor. Divisions 
 among the French delegates added to the intensity of the 
 conflict. Under the leadership of Fernand Pelloutier, 
 secretary of the Federation of Labor Exchanges, 'syndi- 
 calists' sought admission to the Congress as representa- 
 tives of the labor exchanges. They were supported by 
 the 'Allemanistes' and 'Blanquists.' A majority of the 
 French section endeavored to secure repudiation by the 
 Congress of the Zurich resolution of 1893, but the Con- 
 gress reafl3rmed this resolution by vote of 17 nationalities 
 against 2 (France and Holland), and declared: 
 
 " 1. The Congress means by political action all forms of organ- 
 ized struggle for the conquest of political power, and its use in 
 the legislative, and administration of state and municipality by 
 the working-class for the purpose of its emancipation. 
 
 " 2. The Congress declares that the conquest of political power 
 is the best means by which the workers may achieve their emanci- 
 pation, the freedom of the man and the citizen, the best means 
 by which they can establish the Socialist Republic. 
 
 " It appeals to the workers of all countries to unite in a party, 
 separate from all bourgeois political parties, and to demand 
 adult suffrage, the second ballot, and the initiative and refer- 
 endum, nationally and locally. 
 
 "3. The Congress declares also that the emancipation of 
 
12 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 woman is inseparable from that of the worker, and appeals to 
 the women of aU countries to organize politically with the workers. 
 
 "The adoption by the Congress of the following motion 
 of Wilhelm Liebknecht established a precedent which has 
 effected the exclusion of anarchist factions from all fur- 
 ther congresses of the International : 
 
 " The executive of the Congress is instructed to issue an invita- 
 tion to the next congress, exclusively to the following: 
 
 "1. The representatives of groups which aim at the substitu- 
 tion of Socialist property and production for capitalist property 
 and production, and which consider legislative and parliamentary 
 action as one of the means necessary to attain this end. 
 
 " 2. To organizations of a labor union character which, though 
 undertaking no aggressive politics, acknowledge the necessity of 
 legislative and parliamentary action. As a consequence, the 
 anarchists are excluded." (Our italics.) 
 
 (See also Part II, Chapter II, " The General Strike.") 
 
 VI. THE CONGRESS OF PARIS, 1900 
 
 (From Longuet) 
 "This Congress was held under very unfavorable con- 
 ditions. The 'ministerial question' was raging, the So- 
 cialist Millerand having accepted a portfolio in the French 
 Cabinet without the consent of the French Socialists. Vio- 
 lent controversy had arisen with regard to his conduct 
 and the precedent involved. This controversy was taken 
 to the Congress for adjudication. After a vigorous po- 
 litical debate in which Ferri, Kautsky, Auer, Guesde, 
 Jaures, Vandervelde, and others took part, a finely shaded 
 motion, edited by Karl Kautsky, the great theorist of the 
 German movement, was adopted, as follows : 
 
 " The proletariat in a modern democratic state cannot obtain 
 political power accidentally. It can do so only when the long 
 P!id difficult work of political and economic organization of the 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 13 
 
 proletariat is at an end, when its physical and moral regeneration 
 has been accomplished, and when more and more seats have 
 been won in mmiieipal and other legislative bodies. 
 
 " But where the government is centralized, political power can- 
 not be obtained step by step. If an individual Socialist becomes 
 a cabinet minister, that cannot be regarded as a normal com- 
 mencement of the seizure of political power by the proletariat. 
 It must be looked upon only as a temporary makeshift. 
 
 " Whether in any particular set of circumstances such a make- 
 shift ought to be adopted is a question not of principles but of 
 tactics, on which the Congress can make no decision. But in any 
 case this dangerous experiment can be of use only if it is agreed 
 upon by the party as a whole, and on the understanding that the 
 Socialist minister is, and remains, the representative of this party. 
 (Our italics.) 
 
 " Where the Socialist minister becomes independent of his party, 
 where he ceases to be its representative, his entry into the Cabinet 
 becomes a means of weakening rather than of strengthening the 
 proletariat ; it tends, not to bring nearer the time when the pro- 
 letariat shall have political power in its own hands, but rather 
 to postpone it. 
 
 "Plechanoff proposed the following amendment, which 
 was also adopted : 
 
 " The Congress lays it down that a Socialist is bound to resign 
 from a bourgeois cabinet if the organized party declares that 
 the Cabinet has in any way acted unfairly in the economic 
 struggle between Capital and Labor. 
 
 "This resolution was adopted by the votes of 24 nations 
 to 9 (each 'nation' had two votes). The opposition was 
 made up of the 2 votes of Bulgaria and Ireland and 1 
 each of Poland, Russia, Italy, the United States, and, of 
 course, Prance. 
 
 "On the question of alliances with other parties, the 
 Congress declared: 
 
 "The class struggle forbids every kind of alliance with any 
 faction whatever of the capitalist class, unless exceptional cir- 
 
14 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 cumstanees may make coalitions necessary in some places — ^that 
 is, without any confusion of program or tactics — coalitions which 
 the party must reduce to the minimum until their complete 
 elimination; they cannot be tolerated except in so far as their 
 necessity is recognized by the district or national organization to 
 which the groups which compose them [i.e. which enter them] 
 belong." 
 
 This Congress also laid the foundation for the first 
 permanent organization, to continue the work of the Inter- 
 national Congresses. This resulted in the formation of 
 the International Socialist Bureau. The bureau is com- 
 posed of permanent delegates from each country, called 
 "international secretaries" — ^the larger countries naming 
 two each, the smaller countries one. It held one or more 
 sessions every year from 1904 to 1914 inclusive. In the 
 meanwhile it was represented by an executive committee, 
 composed of Belgian Socialists, with its headquarters at 
 the Maison du Peuple at Brussels. Prom its organization 
 up to the present time Emile Vandervelde has been the 
 chairman of this committee and Camille Huysmans has 
 been its secretary. 
 
 Vn. THE CONGRESS OP AMSTERDAM, 1904 
 
 (From Official Report) 
 
 At this Congress, as at the Congress of Paris, the chief 
 subject of discussion was whether or not Socialists should 
 be allowed to form a part of progressive capitalistic gov- 
 ernments in coalition with non-Socialist parties. Mil- 
 lerand's participation in the recent Waldeck-Rousseau 
 ministry still occasioned acrimonious controversy. The 
 French Socialists were at this time divided into two en- 
 tirely separate parties: one, headed by Jaures, indorsed 
 Millerand's action; the other, headed by Guesde, opposed 
 
/^ 
 
 SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 15 
 
 it. As the Socialists of the South German countries, 
 Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden, had shown by recent 
 action that they were in substantial agreement with 
 Jaures — at least to the extent of voting in favor of the 
 budgets of existing governments, under certain circum- 
 stances — the matter had been taken up by the German 
 Party at their recent congress at Dresden, where a resolu- 
 tion had been passed by a majority of 288 to 11 votes, 
 condemning the Jaures "revisionist" position. This same 
 resolution was presented to the Amsterdam Congress, and 
 adopted by a vote of 25 to 5 (12 not voting). It was 
 known as the Dresden resolution, and was as follows: 
 
 The Congress expresses its entire disapproval of the revisionist 
 policy — ^that is, of the attempt to change our weU-tried and suc- 
 cessful policy of the class war by giving up all efforts to seize 
 the political power out of the hands of our opponents and replace 
 such tactics by compromising with them. 
 
 The result of the revisionist tactics would be that the party 
 which is striving for the speediest replacement of the existing 
 systemjby one on Socialist lines, the party which, therefore, in 
 the best sense of the terin is revolutionary, would become merely 
 onfi-ioR jimending existing society . 
 
 And, therefore, the Congress holds, in disagreement with the 
 revisionists, that class opposition c -n-nnt. hp sTnnntTipd nvpr. but 
 that, on the contrary, it becomes constantly greater , and it de- 
 clares : 
 
 1. That the party declines all responsibility for the political 
 and economic conditions which arise out of the capitalist system 
 of production, and accordingly refuses to support any action 
 which tends to keep the existing ruling class in power. 
 
 2. That in accordance with the resolution of Kautsky at the 
 International Socialist Congress in Paris in the year 1900, SodalS. 
 Democracy cannot exercise supreme power in society as at present J 
 constituted. 
 
 The Congress further disapproves of any attempt to make light 
 of class differences in order to smooth the way for union with 
 the non-Socialist parties. 
 
 The Congress looks to the Social Democratic parties to use 
 
16 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the influence which an increased membership and an increased 
 number of votes gives them, to continue to spread information 
 as to what is the aspiration of Social Democracy, and in accord- 
 ance with the principles of our program, to push forward with 
 all their might the interests of the working-classes, to extend 
 and to safeguard political freedom and equal rights everywhere, 
 to oppose even more energetically than before the spirit of mili- 
 tarism, whether on land or on water, to oppose all colonial and 
 imperial policy, and all injustice, oppression, and exploitation 
 in every form, and finally to extend social legislation in every 
 direction and to make it possible for the working-classes to fulfill 
 their destiny in the political and the general life of the age. 
 (Our italics.) 
 
 Kautsky's resolution with PlechanofE's amendment, as 
 adopted by the Paris Congress of 1900, was reaffirmed. 
 
 The discussion at this Congress was of such exceptional 
 importance that we quote the very significant speeches of 
 Bebel and Jaures on the two sides of the question at issue, 
 the fundamental question of Socialist politics. 
 
 The speech of Jean Jaures was, in part, as follows : 
 
 We demand that we [the International Congress] take account 
 of the Socialist, revolutionary, republican proletariat who have 
 opposed those of the other Socialist faction in France who 
 declared that the republic, and the secularization of the schools 
 were not worth an hour's time of the proletariat, and ought to 
 be sacrificed for the hope of the automatic installation of a eol- 
 lectivist regime through the play of blind forces. It is we who 
 will demand an account of Vaillant for his denial of the secular, 
 revolutionary, republican traditions of the Blanquists. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 It is not the situation in France that disturbs me. I thor- 
 oughly recognize that impliedly or explicitly the Dresden resolu- 
 tion recognizes the double necessity of an immediate and of a 
 revolutionary Socialist action. It is right in saying that Social- 
 ism must be carried on by a class organization, independent in 
 its end and actions and devoted to the complete transformation 
 of the capitalist system with the object of abolishing all ex- 
 ploitation and restoring to the collective workers aU the fruits 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 17 
 
 of their labor. All our reforms have for their revolutionary 
 object the emancipation of oppressed and exploited labor. (Ap- 
 plause.) But you must recognize that Socialism must make its 
 appeal to all the forces of democracy if it is to accomplish im- 
 mediate reforms. We must not cease to grasp and to utilize 
 . dCTQOcratie evolution to further p rnlptHT-i^ n evoluti on whenever 
 i t has need of such assistance. 
 
 ~T have heard Guesde [leader of the French Socialist faction 
 opposed to Jaures] at a previous meeting, where we have spoken 
 together in Socialist propaganda, declare that out of thirty-seven 
 million citizens, not more than two hundred thousand individuals 
 had purely capitalist class interests. I have heard Bebel say 
 the same thing. It would be foolish to leave this half -developed 
 democracy to itself. This is why it is necessary that the ^etq- 
 jetariat with -its clopQ "-^f;'>"^7M^^^" Trrngt Tn-aVn nse of all deTnnn- 
 ,racy. ^ The " Socialistic Radical " Party of France is neither 
 proletarian nor capitalist, counting among its members the 
 artisans of the small industries and the country workers. This 
 party will accept partial reforms such as secularization, pro- 
 gressive income tax, inheritance tax, and the progressive social- 
 ization of mines, insurance, sugar factories, and all monopolistic 
 industries. We do not need to merge ourselves with them, but^ 
 we would be fools and criminals to reject their co-operation if \ 
 we may thereby realize possible reforms which would hasten the^ 
 coming of the new era. (Applause.) 
 
 That which leads me to vote against the Dresden resolution 
 is that it appears to me to be an attempt to set forth as a 
 supreme formula of Socialism what is really but a Socialist 
 tradition. To Bebel, Ferri, and Kautsky I will say that it is 
 a singular method of establishing Socialist unity in France to 
 place a weapon in the hands of one of the factions to be used 
 against the other. Above all else, I am opposed to the Dresden 
 resolution because it implies a sort of deep distrust of the pro- 
 letariat. Its authors seem to fear that the proletariat will com- 
 promise itself and lose itself through its collaboration with' 
 democracy. The International Socialism which would renovate 
 the entire world and free it from capitalism speaks to the pro- 
 letariat which it expects to accomplish this as if it were an 
 incompetent minor incapable of directing itself, — a blind man in 
 a strange city. It is as a protest against this position that we 
 oppose the Dresden resolution. It is because it would seek to 
 
18 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 ■J limit the diverse activity of the proletariat by narrow rules and 
 bind and injure the working-class where it has the need of the 
 greatest liberty of initiation and activity. 
 
 The more mature and stronger the proletariat is in any coun- 
 try the more decisively does it move toward our tactics. Wherever 
 freedom of movement and action rules, there new problems arise. 
 So it is in Italy, where the bourgeois democracy is ready to take 
 new forward steps if Socialism does not neglect to fulfill its 
 political role. In England labor organizations are beginning to 
 come to Socialism. Bebel says that it was the reforms of the 
 English bourgeoisie which prevented the adherence of the pro- 
 letariat [there] to class-conscious Socialism. I think, on the 
 contrary, that class-conscious Socialism has not in its beginning 
 had a suflSciently close contact with labor organizations. It was 
 a misfortune that the Socialist parties were not closely united 
 to the trade-unions at the beginning and that they were so 
 dominated by revolutionary catastrophic theories. Because they 
 stood waiting for a catastrophic revolution the English Socialists 
 have not been able to become a part of the great labor movement. 
 The bond between the proletariat and Socialism is just now grow- 
 ing, but this is because of Socialist political activity in social 
 reforms. In Belgium it is possible to overthrow the Clerical Party 
 within two years if the liberals and Socialists unite. . . . 
 
 When the G erman Socialists brought this resolution before the 
 International Congress they labored under a fatal illusion because 
 they t hought that their national rul e might be made to serve as 
 a,mii i:orm internationa l regulation ariapt. able tO~tlit! ii iUimat'srt^ 
 n ation of every country. ... In seeking to force their iJresden 
 Resolution upon us they but communicate to the International 
 Congress the spirit of uncertainty and of hesitation with which 
 they are stricken. You have given to International Socialism a 
 method of action and of systematic organization. You are a 
 great party, and to you belongs the future of Germany. . . . 
 But there is a great contrast between the appearance and the 
 reality of your great force in spite of your electoral success. It 
 is apparent to the eyes of all that this formidable electoral force 
 of yours, valuable as it may be for propaganda, has little effect 
 becavise you refuse to utilize democratic instruments which are 
 necessary to give it effect. The Dresden resolution will impose 
 upon the whole international movement the rules of inaction and 
 necessity of inaction which it has imposed upon the German 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 19 
 
 movement, which have tak en the. instr nmp.ntH fnr t.raiififnringtinTi 
 from the German proletariat. . . . They haseouiLjMmqaeredjajik 
 Yfirsal suffrage anddemocra cy, they have r gceived it from above , 
 and Jo^da ^those who gaveit threaten to withd rawit. And so 
 it is that you in your " red kingdom " of Saxony may find your 
 universal suffrage taken away from you without a possibility 
 of resistance. . . . You have no revolutionary tradition. You ' 
 are the only country in the world where Socialism will not be 
 enacted when it secures a majority. You have no true parlia- 
 mentary regime, for your parliament is, after all, but a play- 
 thing in the hands of more powerful forces. You are, therefore, 
 neither parliamentary nor revolutionary Socialists. To be sure, 
 you are large and strong; you have your destiny. Humanity 
 waited upon your Congress at Dresden. At least Vorwaerts has 
 proclaimed that the kingdom was yours after the election and 
 that you would convoke the International at Berlin, but the fact 
 is that you are powerless. (Applause.) You have blindly groped 
 hither and thither and concealed your powerlessness of action by 
 taking refuge in theoretical formulas that conceal the political 
 aim. (Applause.) And now you would seek to bind the Inter- 
 national with all its forces, all its powers, and make it share 
 your temporary powerlessness, your momentary inactivity. 
 
 Where then does your movement encounter opposition? In 
 France, Belgium, England, Switzerland, those countries where 
 democratic life is most intense and most effective, and it is just 
 this fact which proves that your Dresden resolution is a menace 
 to the International. 
 
 August Bebel replied, in part, as follows: 
 
 The speech which Comrade Jaures has made to-day would give 
 you the wholly false impression that we German Social Dem- 
 ocrats had called forth this debate. Neither before nor since the 
 Dresden Congress have we thought of such a thing for a moment. 
 It is due much more to a fraction of the French comrades who 
 believe that our Dresden resolution should be adopted as the 
 foundation of the tactics of the Social Democrats in all par- 
 liamentary ruled countries. . . . The causes that had led us to 
 adopt it in Germany have appeared in a large number of other 
 countries. . . . Events since the Paris Congress of 1900 have 
 shown that, in spite of the unanimous adoption of the Kautsky 
 resolution, these tendencies, these practices have continued to 
 
20 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 advance and in many countries have secured an important influ- 
 ence. Therefore, it is doubly desirable to pass judgment on these 
 tendencies. . . . 
 
 Jaures says [the Dresden resolution] belongs only to mon- 
 archical Germany. To be sure, Germany is not only one mon- 
 archy, it is almost two dozen monarchies. . . . It is a reactionary, 
 feudalistic, police dominated land — one of the worst-ruled coun- 
 tries in Europe. We know this who have to fight this system 
 day after day and who bear the traces of its workings upon our 
 bodies. We do not need anyone from other countries to tell us in 
 what miserable conditions we are. But the facts are such that 
 our resolution may perhaps give the correct tactics to be fol- 
 lowed in other countries. 
 
 My opinions on monarchy and republic have been frequently 
 given in no unmistakable manner in the bourgeois press. ... It 
 goes without saying that we are republicans, Rnfiipljiji t, republicans. 
 . . . but we do not, msh after the bourgeo^jcepwhUe^ However 
 much we may envy you French on account of your republic, and 
 however much we may wish it, we do not think it is worth while 
 to let our heads be cracked for it. (Thunderous applause.) 
 Whether b^n^f^f^^^j^'pnT^Jiy "^ ]^onT-o;pnia Tqpn|^Hp both are class 
 jstatea^. . . supporters of the capitalist social order. . . . 
 
 Monarchy is not so bad as you paint it, nor the republic so 
 good. Even in our military, agrarian, police Germany we have 
 institutions which would be ideal in comparison with those of 
 your bourgeois republic. Look at the tax legislation in Prussia 
 and other individual states and then look at France. I know of 
 no other country in Europe that has so oppressive, reactionary, 
 exploiting a system of taxation as France. In opposition to this 
 exhausting system with a budget of three and a half billion 
 francs, we at least have a progressive income and property tax. 
 
 And so far as concerns the improvement of the laboring-class, 
 the bourgeois republic also utilizes all its forces against the 
 laborer. Where are the laborers used with a more universal and 
 oppressive brutality than in the great bourgeois republic on the 
 other side of the ocean, the ideal of so many of yon ? In Switzer- 
 land also, a far more democratic republic than even France, six 
 times in this last short summer the militia has been used against 
 the laborers who sought to make use of the right of coalition and 
 union through their small strikes. I envy you and your republic, 
 especially on account of the universal suffrage for all repre- 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 21 
 
 sentative bodies. But I tell you frankly that if we had the 
 suffrage in the same degree and with the same freedom as you, 
 we would have shown you something wholly different (tremendous 
 applause) from what you have yet shown us. . . . 
 
 "What is your militia to-day other than a most acceptable instru- 
 ment for the maintenance of class dominion? There has been 
 no great battle in the last four years, either at Lille, Roubaix, 
 Marseilles, Brest, Martinique, or more recently in Normandy, 
 against the striking workers in which the Waldeck-Rousseau- 
 Millerand ministry and the Combes ministry have not used the 
 military against the laborers. In November the Paris police broke 
 into the Parisian labor headquarters in the most shamefully 
 violent manner and wounded and clubbed 70 laborers, and then 
 some of our Socialist friends in the Chamber refused to vote 
 for the punishment of the chief of police. (Hisses.) Jaures 
 has delivered a lecture to us about what we should do. I will only 
 tell him that if in Germany anyone had thought, for the sake of 
 favoring the Government, of supporting an order of the day 
 which surrendered the most important interest of the proletariat, 
 he would find himself on the next day without any vote (tre- 
 mendous applause), he would not remain a representative of the 
 people another hour. We are too well disciplined for that . 
 
 Jaures said that the Dres3en resolution betrayed a spirit of 
 uncertainty and doubt. I am greatly astonished that so widely 
 cultured and historically correct a man as Comrade Jaures should 
 make such a statement concerning the Dresden resolution and the 
 German Social Democracy. With the exception of Turkey andN. 
 Russia we Germans have the worst-ruled government in Europe. _y 
 But, in spite of that, by means of the universal suffrage in the 
 Reichstag and the corrupted suffrage for the individual states, 
 we have sent a great number of representatives to the legislative 
 bodies of Germany. Have these representatives ever rejected 
 any reform, ever refused to support an advance? Just the con- 
 trary. If we have secured the least little bit of political and 
 social advance in Germany, we Social Democrats can ascribe it 
 alone to our account ("Bravo!"). . . . Onlv by us are they, 
 fgre ed and w hipped on toref orm. a nd the Social Democrats are so 
 chantable as to accept aff concessions that they can wring from 
 their opponents, whenever an advance is actually offered, whether 
 to-day from the Government, to-morrow from the Liberal parties, 
 or the day after from the Center. But in the next hour we will 
 
22 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 fight them all, Center, government representatives, and Liberals, 
 as our constant enemies. The bottomless abyss between us and 
 the Government, as well as the bourgeois parties, is not forgotten 
 for a moment. In England, also, the Government grants its re- 
 forms only because it would hinder the rise of a powerful Socialist 
 movement. The English bourgeoisie is the shrewdest in the world. 
 ("Hear! hear!"). If in the universal elections next year Eng- 
 lish Liberalism is victorious it will make one of you [perhaps 
 John Burns] an under state secretary, not in order to advance to- 
 ward Socialism, but in order ... to hold the votes of laborers and 
 to avoid Socialism. ( Stormy applause from the English delegates. ) 
 
 What sort of s ervices_hias_James_Be rformed through his alli ::_ 
 arices'/ if the republic of France was in danger the last few 
 years [I accept that as a fact], you were w holly right wheru TOU 
 woxkfiiwith the bourgeois defenders of the republic to rescue it. 
 We woumhave done exactly the same. Neither do we offer you 
 any reproach for your_sijaig: gIe against c l ericalism. Unite, if you 
 are alone too weak, with the Liberals for this purpose. We would 
 have done the same, but after the battle we are different people. 
 
 And where was it during the last few years that Jaures has 
 rescued the world's peace from danger? We also have spoken for 
 the peace of the world, but in contrast to us yo" iintp.d fnr ^. 
 military and naval state ( the Jauresists, "No!"), for a colonial 
 state (Jauresists, "JSIol"), for indirect taxes, for the secret fund 
 (objections among the Jaur&sists), and thereby supported every- 
 thing that endangered peace. (Loud applause.) We cannot give 
 a vote of confidence to the budget of a capitalist government. 
 (Loud applause.) 
 
 Jaures hopes through this co-operation with capitalist parties 
 to secure the nationalization of railroads and mines. One of the 
 most important points in his program, then, the monarchical 
 Germany has already accomplished. (Merriment.) If we in 
 Germany really wished such an advance we would naturally have 
 also supported the bourgeois parties, but we would have rejected 
 most decisively any permanent alliance with these elements. . . . 
 
 I have never heard a more outrageous, contradictory assertion 
 than that the Dresden resolution arose from a spirit of doubt 
 and uncertainty. It was directed at just these doubters and 
 uncertain individuals who sought to corrupt our old and tested 
 tactics. . . . 
 
 Jaures spoke further of the political powerlessness of the 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 23 
 
 Jigrman Social D_emocracy. What did he expect us to do . . . ? 
 Three"^UiOTr [votes] is Sot enough for us . . . when we are 
 opposed to a capitalist majority of eight million. . . . To-day we 
 have only the moral weight of a strong minority. . . . Certainly 
 the proposed laws that we support with our votes often find their 
 way into the Government waste-basket. So much the better f or \ 
 our agitation. If reasonable and necessary propositions do not/^ 
 become laws we thereby gain. But, says Jaures, " as soon as we 
 had received our three million votes the idea was suggested to 
 abolish the Reichstag suffrage." But, Comrade Jaures, what 
 does that show, except the fright of the bourgeoisie? . . . But 
 what do you think would happen in France if you had two million 
 votes? Do you think your bourgeoisie would look on peacefully? 
 Just wait and see. " Your helplessness arises from the fact that 
 universal suffrage was given to you. You have no revolutionary 
 principles." So says Jaures. ... It was not the fighting spirit 
 of the French comrades which gave them the republic, but 
 Bismarck's victory, which forced your captured emperor to give 
 you a republic. That is no disgrace. And in Germany when 
 Bismarck gave us universal suffrage he was obliged to refer it 
 to the revolutionary traditions of 1848 and 1849. That his plan 
 to hold the bourgeoisie back with the help of a little Socialist 
 Party was not carried out is due to the German Social Democracy. 
 The MiUerand episode has now gone by, but the quarrels arising 
 out of it, and which so greatly injured the French Socialist 
 movement, still continue. Concerning this confusion of minds 
 a fine statement was made by Jaures in the Cosmopolis of 1898. 
 (Cries of " Hear! hear! ") : " Socialists cannot take power grad- 
 ually. One must wait until it can all be taken. (Jaures, 'Very 
 true.') We can co-operate in securing partial reforms, but who- 
 ever sets a. new life principle as a goal in place of the existing 
 one can only accept the entire power. If we were to take but 
 a part, this influence would be paralyzed by the present social 
 order. The new ideal would not thereby be realized by eom rffo- 
 nise. We can attain"To thiw ill a. Bi'iMia aS3 cannot come out of 
 it again." ("Hear! hear!") How prophetically, Comrade 
 Jaures, have you foreseen developments. (Jaures, "No! no!" 
 Great merriment.) You yourselves have made the worst com- 
 promise by your continuous support of MiUerand. . . . Millerand 
 did not greet the International Socialist Congress of 1900, but 
 rather made his obeisance before the bloodiest despot in Europe — 
 
24 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the Czar. And when we went to Pere La Chaise to honor the 
 murdered .Communards by laying a wreath upon their graves, 
 then were we greeted by the infantry, cavalry, and artillery of 
 the Waldeck-Rousseau ministry, and they did everything possible 
 to make an International recognition of the Communards im- 
 possible. This one thing should have been enough to have made 
 MOlerand for them impossible. (Cheering and applause.) And 
 since then we have seen that in every vote in the French Par- 
 liament the Jauresist faction has split into two or three divisions, 
 such as is seen in Germany only in the most decadent cap- 
 italist party, the National Liberals, and now a fraction of the 
 proletarian party in France offers us this same spectacle, with 
 the natural result that the party is compromised and demoral- 
 ized. We should vote for the Dresden resolution. I have no fear 
 of the consequences. The French proletariat is not what it is 
 my firm conviction that it is if it does not accept the warning of 
 the Congress. (Tremendous applause followed this speech, and 
 broke out again and again long after Bebel had returned to his 
 place. Countless cheers broke through the sound of hand- 
 clapping and many delegates were on their feet waving their 
 handkerchiefs.) 
 
 (See also Part II, Chapter II, " The General Strike.") 
 
 The Stuttgart Congress of 1907 is treated in the chap- 
 ters on Labor Unions and Woman Suffrage, the Copen- 
 hagen Congress of 1910 under Co-operation and Unem- 
 ployment, the proposed Congress to have been held at 
 Vienna in 1915 under The High Cost of Living, Unem- 
 ployment, and the Drink Question. 
 
SOCIALISTS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL 25 
 
 Vm. VOTE OP THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT 
 
 1904-1914. COMPILED BY MORRIS GRANS 
 
 Socinlists 
 first tnke part 
 
 Country in elections 1914 1910 1907 1904 
 
 Argentina MSOG 48,024 7,006 3,495 1,257 
 
 Austria 1893 1,081,441 1,041,948 1,041,948 780,000 
 
 Belgium 1894 483,241 483,241 469,094 305,361 
 
 Bulgaria 1900 85,489 25,265 13,360 10,652 
 
 Canada 1903 17,071 10,929 3,670 2,867 
 
 Chile(V) 1903 18,000 18,000 18,000 12,000 
 
 Denmark 1872 107,015 98,721 76,566 55,593 
 
 Finland 1903 310,503 336,659 . 329,946 100,000 
 
 France 1881 1,106,047 1,106,047 877,999 860,827 
 
 Germany 1867 4,238,919 3,259,020 3,259,020 3,010,771 
 
 •Greece(?) .... 12,000 34,000 
 
 t Great Britain.. 1895 529,193 376,645 342,196 100,000 
 
 Holland 1880 144,375 83,362 65,743 39,338 
 
 Hungary 1902 85,266 80,000 80,000 8,000 
 
 Italy 1882 822,280 345,615 326,016 326,016 
 
 Luxemburg(?) .. 10,000 6,100 4,000 4,000 
 
 tNew Zealand.. 1905 9,001 2,521 2,521 91 
 
 Norway 1894 124,504 91,268 43,134 24,779 
 
 Portugal(?) ... 15,000 
 
 Roumania 2,057 1,557 .... 
 
 Russia(?) 1906 300,000 300,000 200,000 
 
 Sei-via 1903 30,000 9,000 3,133 ' 2,508 
 
 [Spain 1891 40,991 40,991 26,000 23,000 
 
 jSweden 1890 172,980 112,293 26,000 10,000 
 
 fSwitzeriand ....1884 105,012 87,766 64,389 64,389 
 
 ]l United States.. 1888 931,381 641,789-438,509 441,776 
 
 iiJruguBy(?) ...1910 10,000 80,000 
 
 Totals ... .. 10,739,970 8,599,744 7,414,739 6,183,225 
 
 * Where the'exadt date ot elections does not correspond with the 
 /periods used in this table, the vote of tlie Inst election has been used. 
 ' t The vote includes the Labor Party, the Independent Labor Party ond 
 the Social Democratic Federation. 
 
 % Socialist vote. The vote ot the Labor Party omitted os not being 
 strictly Socialist. 
 
 § Including the vote of the Socialist Party and the Socialist Labor 
 Party. 
 
26 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST MOVEMENT 
 
 IIEMBEBS or PABLIAMENT, 1004-1914. COMPILED BY MORRIS OBANS 
 
 , 1914 , , )00( . 
 
 FirBtSoc. No.of Dci>utloB. Pet. No. of Dcniuice. Pet. 
 
 Country elected In Soc. Total Soc. 8oo. Totnl Soe. 
 
 Argentina 1904 7 120 5.12 1 120 0.80 
 
 Austria 1901 88 516 17.06 10 425 2,29 
 
 Belgium 1894 40 186 22.18 30 166 18.07 
 
 Bulgaria 1903 22 275 8.06 2 275 0.83 
 
 Denmark 1884 32 114 28.08 16 114 14.04 
 
 Finland 1904 90 ' 200 45.00 1 200 0.50 
 
 France 1885 76 584 13.01 48 587 8.19 
 
 Germany 1867 111 397 38.81 81 397 _ 20.38 
 
 Great Britain .... 1894 41 670 6.12 8 670 1.18 
 
 Holland 1897 18 100 18.00 7 100 7.00 
 
 Italy 1892 63 508 12.45 28 508 5.65 
 
 Luxemburg 10 53 18.87 5 48 10.42 
 
 Norway 1903 24 123 18.70 4 117 3.42 
 
 Portugal 1911 1 164 0.65 .. 148 
 
 Russia 1906 17 442 3.82 
 
 Servia 1906 2 160 1.25 .. 160 
 
 Spain 1910 1 406 0.25 .. 404 
 
 Sweden 1896 66 230 27.82 4 230 1.81 
 
 Switzerland 1892 17 189 8.56 6 145 4.19 
 
 Uruguay 1911 1 69 1.33 
 
 Totals 728 5,223 13.19 265 4,671 5.64 
 
 '/ 
 
SECTION II 
 
 SOCIALISM ON THE CONTINENT OF 
 EUROPE 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 GERMANY 
 
 I. THE STRENGTH OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 
 
 The very rapid growth of the Socialist movement in 
 Germany is indicated by the increasing Socialist vote for 
 members of the Imperial Parliament, or Reichstag: 
 
 Popalar Percentage Socialists 
 
 Year vote total vote elected 
 
 1871 124,655 3.0 2 
 
 1874 351,952 6.8 10 
 
 1877 493,288 9.1 13 
 
 1878 437,158 7.6 9 
 
 1881 311,961 6.1 13 
 
 1884 549,990 9.7 24 
 
 1887 763,128 10.1 11 
 
 1890 1,427,298 19.7 35 
 
 1893 1,786,738 23.2 44 
 
 1898 2,107,076 27.2 56 
 
 1903 3,010,771 31.7 81 
 
 1907 3,259,020 28.9 43 
 
 1912 4,250,329 34.8 110 
 
 Two additional Socialist members were elected at special 
 elections in 1913 and 1914. The Reichstag consists of 397 
 members ; the Socialists are already the strongest party in 
 
 27 
 
28 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WOELD 
 
 it, and if they were represented in proportion to their 
 popular vote they would have 138 members. 
 
 One of the chief effects of this growth of Socialism in 
 the Reichstag has been to shift the balance of power con- 
 tinually in the Socialist direction. In the elections of 
 1912, for example, the growth of the Socialist vote put the 
 Reichstag for the first time into the hands of the National 
 Liberals — although the National Liberals had received that 
 year a smaller proportion of the total vote than at the 
 previous election (1907). 
 
 RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
 The following table shows the change in the complexion 
 of the Reichstag from 1907 to 1912 : 
 
 Party 
 
 0) 
 
 I 
 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 n't? 
 
 ll! 
 
 ■ggs 
 
 OS 
 
 1 
 o 
 6 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 ID 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 i 
 
 Social-Democratic... . 
 
 3,S59,02g 
 
 28.9 
 
 4,260,401 
 
 8.48 
 
 + 991,372 
 
 + 30 
 
 53 
 
 no 
 
 People's Progressive. 
 (Eadical) 
 
 1,833,933 
 
 10.9 
 
 1,497,041 
 
 12.3 
 
 + 263,108 
 
 + 21 
 
 49 
 
 42 
 
 National Liberal 
 
 1,630,581 
 
 14.5 
 
 1,662,670 
 
 13.6 
 
 + 32,089 
 
 - 2 
 
 51 
 
 45 
 
 Center (Catholic) and 
 Poles 
 
 8,633,501 
 
 23.4 
 
 2,438,487 
 
 29.0 
 
 - 195,014 
 
 -7 
 
 123 
 
 108 
 
 
 
 Conservatives! r,„_ 
 andlmperial .^i™" 
 Bconomic f !f,T?" 
 
 1,895,188 
 
 16.8 
 
 1,797,983 
 
 14.7 
 
 - 197,208 
 
 -10 
 
 107 
 
 70 
 
 Total 
 
 11,262,829 
 
 
 12,207,259 
 
 
 944,430 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 (The smaller parties are not included.) 
 
 In 1912 the Socialist party membership was 970,112 
 (839,741 men, 130,371 women). In 1913 the membership 
 rose to 982,850 (841,735 men, 141,115 women). 
 
GERMANY 29 
 
 A special effort was made to get new members in 1914. 
 In a single week in March (The Ked Week) 148,000 were 
 obtained. The dues-paying members in the summer of 
 1914 exceeded 1,080,000, of whom nearly one million are 
 men. 
 
 In 1913 the party had 91 daily newspapers and jour- 
 nals with a circulation of 1,800,000. During the Ked 
 Week (1914) 82,539 new subscribers were gained. 
 
 The German Socialists have 364 "education commit- 
 tees," numerous libraries for men, women, and children, 
 a highly elaborate system for the diffusion of Socialist 
 principles among all classes, and over 12,000 Socialist 
 members of town and village councils. 
 
 Some parts of Germany are largely agricultural and 
 backward, others are highly industrialized and advanced. 
 Moreover, many parts of this federal empire enjoy a large 
 measure of autonomy. The relative advance of Socialism 
 in the more industrialized districts, the fact that Socialism 
 has gained three-fourths of all the voters in Hamburg, 
 a majority of those of the whole kingdom of Saxony, and 
 practically half of those of Berlin is peculiarly significant. 
 The following table is of interest : 
 
 THE STRENGTH OP SOCIALISM IN HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED 
 
 DISTRICTS (1913) 
 
 Per cent Per cent (1913) 
 
 of total of total No. of 
 
 Vote in vole Vote in vote party 
 
 1907 1907 1912 1912 members 
 
 Kingdom of Saxony. .418,570 48.5 513,216 55.0 159,913 
 
 Berlin ...291,939 40.6 418,848 49.1 28,842 
 
 Hamburg 251,215 66.2 307,762 74.9 118,828 
 
 Province of Branden- 
 burg 112,892 60.6 138,343 61.2 61,823 
 
 It will be seen that in these instances the Socialist vote 
 does not correspond very closely with Socialist Party mem- 
 
30 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 bership — there being, in 1913, in the whole country, about 
 23 Socialist Party members to each 100 Socialist voters. 
 
 It may be of interest to note the occupations of the 
 Social-Democratic members of the Reichstag elected in 
 1912. By occupation 80 of the 110 were wage-earners ; 17 
 being metal workers, 9 wood workers, 8 cigar makers, 7 
 printers, 6 shoemakers, 6 tailors, 4 from the building 
 trades, 3 from the textile industry, 2 being transport 
 workers, 2 office employees; and nearly all the other 
 important trades and industrial employments were repre- 
 sented by one member each. Of the 30 remaining mem- 
 bers 3 were merchants and 27 were members of the pro- 
 fessions, the latter being divided as follows: 8 lawyers, T 
 writers, 5 teachers, 4 editors, 1 referendar, 1 ex-officer, 
 1 preacher (Paul Goehre). The ex-officer was von VoU- 
 mar, the leader of the Bavarian Socialists. 
 
 In religion, 22 belonged to the established Protestant 
 churches, 17 to other Protestant churches, 4 to the Cath- 
 olic Church; 7 were Jews. Fifty-eight belonged to no 
 church, 6 of these declaring that they had no religion 
 whatever. Two were non-committal. 
 
 n. THE PEOGRAM OP THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC 
 PARTY 
 
 While the oldest, perhaps, of all the programs of the 
 world's leading Socialist parties, that of Germany is of 
 special significance as being the prototype of nearly all 
 other Socialist Party programs, and as having remained 
 unmodified since its original adoption at Erfurt in 1891. 
 It is as follows: 
 
GERMANY 31 
 
 THE EEFUET PEOGRAM 
 
 Preamble 
 
 The economic development of bourgeois society leads by natural 
 necessity to the downfall of the small industry, whose founda- 
 tion is formed by the worker's private ownership of his means' 
 of production. It separates the worker from his means of pro- 
 duction, and converts him into a propertyless proletarian, while 
 the means of production become the monopoly of a relatively 
 small number of capitalists and large landowners. 
 
 Hand in hand with this monopolization of the means of pro- 
 duction goes the displacement of the dispersed small industries 
 by colossal great industries, the development of the tool into the 
 machine, and a gigantic growth in the productivity of human 
 labor. But all the advantages of this transformation are monop- 
 olized by capitalists and large landowners. For the proletariat 
 and the declining intermediate classes — petty bourgeoisie and 
 peasants — ^it means a growing augmentation of the insecurity of 
 their existence, of misery, oppression, enslavement, debasement, 
 and exploitation. 
 
 Ever greater grows the number of proletarians, ever more 
 enormous the army of surplus workers, ever sharper the oppo- 
 sition between exploiters and exploited, ever bitterer the class- 
 war between bourgeoisie and proletariat, which divides modem 
 society into two hostile camps, and is the conmion hallmark of 
 all industrial countries. 
 
 The gulf between the propertied and the propertyless is further 
 widened through the crises, founded in the essence of the cap- 
 italistic method of production, which constantly become more 
 comprehensive and more devastating, which elevate general inse- 
 curity to the normal condition of society, and which prove that 
 the powers of production of contemporary society have grown 
 beyond measure, and that private ownership of the means of 
 production has become incompatible with their application to 
 their objects and their full development. 
 
 Private ownership of the means of production, which was 
 formerly the means of securing to the producer the ownership 
 of his product, has to-day become the means of expropriating 
 peasants, manual workers, and small traders, and enabling the 
 non-workers — capitalists and large landowners — ^to own the 
 
32 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 product of the workers. Only the transformation of capitalistic 
 private ownership of the means of production — the soil, mines, 
 raw materials, tools, machines, and means of transport — ^into 
 social ownership and the transformation of production of goods 
 for sale into Socialistic production managed for and through 
 society, can bring it about, that the great industry and the steadily 
 growing productive capacity of social labor shall for the hitherto 
 exploited classes be changed from a source of misery and op- 
 pression to a source of the highest weHare and of all-round 
 harmonious perfection. 
 
 This social transformation means the emancipation not only 
 of the proletariat, but of the whole human race which suffers 
 under the conditions of to-day. But it can only be the work of 
 the working-class, because all the other classes, in spite of mutu- 
 ally conflicting interests, take their stand on the basis of private 
 ownership of the means of production, and have as their common 
 object the preservation of the principles of contemporary society. 
 
 The battle of the working-class against capitalistic exploitation 
 is necessarily a political battle. The working-class cannot carry 
 on its economic battles or develop its economic organization 
 without political rights. It cannot effect the passing of the 
 means of production into the ownership of the community with- 
 out acquiring political power. 
 
 To shape this battle of the working-class into a conscious 
 and united effort, and to show it its naturally necessary end, is the 
 object of the Social Democratic Party. 
 
 The interests of the working-class are the same in all lands 
 with capitalistic methods of production. "With the expansion of 
 world-transport and production for the world-market the state 
 of the workers in any one country becomes constantly more 
 dependent on the state of the workers in other countries. The 
 emancipation of the working-class is thus a task in which the 
 workers of all civilized countries are concerned in a like degree. 
 Conscious of this, the Social Democratic Party of Germany feels 
 and declares itself one with the class-conscious workers of all 
 other lands. 
 
 The Social Democratic Party of Germany fights thus not for 
 new class-privileges and exceptional rights, but for the abolition 
 of class-domination and of the classes themselves, and for the 
 equal rights and equal obligations of all, without distinction of 
 sex and parentage. Setting out from these views, it combats in 
 
GERMANY 33 
 
 contemporary society not merely the exploitation and oppression 
 of the wage-workers, but every kind of exploitation and oppres- 
 sion, whether directed against a class, a party, a sex, or a race. 
 
 Immediate Demands '< 
 
 Setting out from these principles the Social Democratic Party 
 of Germany demands inamediately — 
 
 1. Universal equal direct suffrage and franchise, with direct 
 ballot, for all members of the empire over twenty years of age, 
 without distinction of sex, for all elections and acts of voting. 
 Proportional representation; and until this is introduced, re- 
 division of the constituencies by law according to the numbers 
 of population. A new legislature every two years. Fixing of 
 elections and acts of voting for a legal holiday. Indemnity for 
 the elected representatives. Removal of every curtailment of 
 political rights except in case of tutelage. 
 
 2. Direct legislation by the people by means of the initiative 
 and referendum. Self-determination and self-government of the 
 people in empire, state, province, and commune. Authorities 
 to be elected by the people; to be responsible and bound. Taxes 
 to be voted annually. 
 
 3. Education of all to be capable of bearing arms. Armed 
 nation instead of standing army. Decision of war and peace 
 by the representatives of the people. Settlement of all inter- 
 national disputes by the method of arbitration. 
 
 4. Abolition of all laws which curtail or suppress the free 
 expression of opinion and the right of association and assembly. 
 
 5. Abolition of all laws which are prejudicial to women in 
 their relations to men in public or private law. 
 
 6. Declaration that religion is a private matter. Abolition of 
 all contributions from public funds to ecclesiastical and religious 
 objects. Ecclesiastical and religious communities are to be 
 treated as private associations, which manage their affairs quite 
 independently. 
 
 7. Secularization of education. Compulsory attendance of 
 public primary schools. No charges to be made for instruction, 
 school requisites, and maintenance, in the public primary schools; 
 nor in the higher educational institutions for those students, 
 male and female, who in virtue of their capacities are considered 
 fit for further training. 
 
34 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE WORLD 
 
 8. No charge to be made for the administration of the law, 
 or for legal assistance. Judgment by popularly elected judges. 
 Appeal in criminal cases. Indemnification of innocent persons 
 prosecuted, arrested, or condemned. Abolition of the death 
 penalty. 
 
 9. No charges to be made for medical attendance, including 
 midwifery and medicine. No charges to be made for death 
 certificates. 
 
 10. Graduated taxes on income and property, to meet all 
 public expenses as far as these are to be covered by taxation. 
 Obligatory self -assessment. A tax on inheritance, graduated ac- 
 cording to the size of the inheritance and the degree of kinship. 
 Abolition of all indirect taxes, customs, and other politico- 
 economic measures which sacrifice the interests of the whole 
 community to the interests of a favored minority. 
 
 Tor the protection of the working-class the Social Democratic 
 Party of Germany demands immediately — 
 
 1. An effective national and international legislation for the 
 protection of workmen on the following basis : 
 
 (a) Fixing of a normal working-day with a maximum of eight 
 hours. 
 
 (6) Prohibition of industrial work for children under fourteen 
 years. 
 
 (c) Prohibition of night-work, except for such branches of 
 industry as, in accordance ^ith their nature, require night-work, 
 for technical reasons, or reasons of public welfare. 
 
 (d) An uninterrupted rest of at least thirty-six hours in every 
 week for every worker. 
 
 (e) Prohibition of the truck system. 
 
 2. Inspection of all industrial businesses, investigation and 
 regulation of labor relations in town and country by an imperial 
 department of labor, district labor departments, and chambers 
 of labor. Thorough industrial hygiene. 
 
 3. Legal equalization of agricultural laborers and domestic 
 servants with industrial workers; removal of the special regula- 
 tions affecting servants. 
 
 4. Assurance of the right of combination. 
 
 5. Workmen's insurance to be taken over bodily by the Empire; 
 and the workers to have an influential share in its administration. 
 
 6. Separation of the churches and the State, 
 (o) Suppression of the grant for public worship. 
 
GERMANY 35 
 
 (6) Philosophic or religious associations to be civil persons 
 at law. 
 
 7. Revision of sections in the Civil Code concerning marriage 
 and the paternal authority. 
 
 (a) Civil equality of the sexes, and of children, whether natural 
 or legitimate. ^ 
 
 (&) Revision of the divorce laws, maintaining the husband's 
 liability to support the wife or the children. 
 
 (c) Inquiry into paternity to be legalized. 
 
 (d) Protective measures in favor of children materially or 
 morally abandoned. 
 
 m. THE REICHSTAG ELECTIONS OP 1912 
 
 In view of the momentous victory gained by the So- 
 cialists in the Reichstag election of 1912, their address to 
 the voters issued just prior to that election is of excep- 
 tional interest: 
 
 1. ELECTION ADDRESS (wAHLRUF) OP THE GERMAN SOCIAL 
 DEMOCRATS FOB THE REICHSTAG ELECTIONS OE 1912 
 
 On the 12th of January, 1912, the general election for the 
 Reichstag takes place. . . . This election will determine whether, 
 in the succeeding years, the policy of oppression and plundering 
 shall be carried still farther, or whether the German people shall 
 finally achieve their rights. 
 
 In the Reichstag elections of 1907 the voters were deceived by 
 the Government and the so-called national parties. . . . The 
 Reichstag of the " National " bloc from Heydebrand down to 
 Weimar and Naumann has made nugatory the laws pertaining to 
 the rights of coalition ; has restricted the use of the non-Germanic 
 languages in public meetings; has virtually robbed the youth of 
 the right of coalition, and has favored every measure for the 
 increase of the army, navy, and colonial exploitation. 
 
 The result of their reactionism is an enormous increase 
 of the burdens of taxation. In spite of the fact that in 1906 
 over 200,000,000 marks increase was voted, in stamp tax, tobacco 
 tax, etc., in spite of the sacred promise of the Government, 
 through its official organ, that no new taxes were being con- 
 
36 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE "WOELD 
 
 templated, the Government has, through its "financial reforms," 
 increased our burden over five hundred millions. 
 
 Liberals and Conservatives were unanimous in declaring that 
 four-fifths of this enormous sum should be raised through an 
 increase in indirect taxes, the greater part of which is collected 
 from laborers, clerks, shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers. Inas- 
 much as the parties to the Billow bloc could not agree upon 
 the distribution of the property tax and the excise tax, the bloc 
 was dissolved and a new coalition appeared — an alliance between 
 the holy ones and the knights (Block der Ritter und der 
 HeUigen). This new bloc rescued the distiller from the obliga- 
 tions of an excise tax, defeated the inheritance tax, which would 
 have fallen upon the wealthy, and placed upon the shoulders of 
 the working-people a tax of hundreds of millions, which is paid 
 through the consumption of beer, whisky, tobacco, cigars, coffee, 
 tea — yea, even of matches. This Conservative-Clerical bloc fur- 
 ther showed its contempt for the working-people in the way it 
 amended the state insurance laws. It robbed the workingman 
 of his rights and denied to mothers and their babes necessary 
 protection and adequate care. 
 
 Since that date every by-election for the Reichstag, as well 
 as for the provincial legislatures and municipal councils, has 
 shown remarkable gains in the Social Democratic vote. The 
 reactionaries were consequently frightened, and now they resort 
 to the usual election trick of diverting the attention of the voters 
 from internal affairs to international conditions, and appeal to 
 them under the guise of nationalism. 
 
 The Morocco incident gave welcome opportunity for this ruse. 
 At home and abroad the capitalistic war interests and the nation- 
 alistic jingoes stirred the animosities of the peoples. They drove 
 their dangerous play so far that even the Chancellor found him- 
 self forced to reprimand his junker colleagues for using their 
 patriotism for partisan purposes. But the attempt to bolster 
 up the interests of the reactionary parties with our international 
 complications continues in spite of this. 
 
 Voters, be on your guard! Remember that on election day 
 you have in your hand the power to choose between peace or 
 war. 
 
 The outcome of this election is no less important in its bearing 
 upon internal affairs. 
 
 Count Biilow declared, before the election of 1907, " the fewer 
 
GEKMANY 37 
 
 the Social Democrats, the greater the social reforms." The 
 opposite is true. The last few years conclusively demonstrate 
 this. The socio-political mills have rattled, but they have pro- 
 duced very little flour. 
 
 In order to capture their votes for the " national " candidates, 
 the state employees and officials were promised an increase in 
 their pay. To the high-salaried oflEicials the new Reichstag doled 
 out the increase with spades, to the poorly paid humble em- 
 ployees with spoons. And this increase in pay was coun- 
 terbalanced by an increase in taxes and the rising cost of 
 living. 
 
 To the people the Government refused to give any aid, in spite 
 of their repeated requests for some relief against the constantly 
 increasing prices of the necessities of life. And, while the 
 Chancellor profoundly maintained that the press exaggerated the 
 actual conditions of the rise in prices, the so-called saviors of the 
 middle class — the Center, the Conservatives, the anti-Semites and 
 their following — rejected every proposal of the Social Democrats 
 for relieving the situation, and actually laid the blame for the 
 rise in prices upon their own middle-class tradesmen and manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 New taxes, high, cost of living, denial of justice, increasing 
 danger of war — that is what the Reichstag of 1907, which was 
 ushered in with such high-sounding " national " tom-toms, has 
 brought you. And the day of reckoning is at hand. Voters of 
 Germany, elect a different majority ! The stronger you make the 
 Social Democratic representation in the Reichstag, the firmer you 
 anchor the world's peace and your country's welfare ! 
 
 The Social Democracy seeks the conquest of political power, 
 which is now in the hands of the property classes, and is mis- 
 used by them to the detriment of the masses. They denounce 
 us as "revolutionists." Foolish phraseology! The bourgeois- 
 capitalistic society is no more eternal than have been the earlier 
 forms of the state and preceding social orders. The present 
 order will be replaced by a higher order, the Socialistic order, 
 for which the Social Democracy is constantly striving. Then 
 the solidarity of all peoples will be accomplished and life will 
 be made more humane for all. The pathway to this new social 
 order is being paved by our capitalistic development, which con- 
 tains all the germs of the New Order within itself. 
 
 For us the duty is prescribed to use every means at hand for 
 
38 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the amelioration of existing evils, and to create conditions that 
 will raise the standard of living of the masses. 
 Therefore we demand: 
 
 1. The democratizing of the community in all of its activities. 
 An open pathway to opportunity. A chance for everyone to 
 develop his aptitudes. Special privileges to none. The right 
 person in the right place. 
 
 2. Universal, direct, equal, secret ballot for all persons twenty 
 years of age without distinction of sex, and for all representative 
 legislative bodies. Referendum for setting aside the present 
 unjust election district apportionment and its attendant electoral 
 abuses. 
 
 3. A parliamentary government. Responsible ministry. Es- 
 tablishment of a department for the control of foreign affairs. 
 Giving the people's representatives in the Reichstag the power 
 to declare war or maintain peace. Consent of the Reichstag to 
 all state appropriations. 
 
 4. Organization of the national defense along democratic lines. 
 Militia service for all able-bodied men. Reducing service in the 
 standing army to the lowest terms consistent with safety. Train- 
 ing youth in the use of arms. Abolition of the privilege of one- 
 year volunteer service. Abolition of all unnecessary expense for 
 uniforms in army and navy. 
 
 5. Abolition of " class- justice " and of administrative injus- 
 tice. Reform of the penal code, along lines of modern culture 
 and jurisprudence. Abolition of all privileges pertaining to the 
 administration of justice. 
 
 6. Security to all workingmen, employees, and officials in their 
 right to combine, to meet, and to organize. 
 
 7. Establishment of a national department of labor, officials 
 of this department to be elected by the interests represented upon 
 the basis of universal and equal suffrage. Extension of factory 
 inspection by the participation of workingmen and working- 
 women in the same. Legalized universal eight-hour day, shorten- 
 ing the hours of labor in industries that are detrimental to 
 health. 
 
 8. Reform of industrial insurance, exemption of farm laborers 
 and domestic servants from contributing to insurance funds. 
 Direct election of representatives in the administration of the 
 insurance funds; enlarging the representation of labor on the 
 board of directors; increasing the amounts paid workingmen; 
 
GERMANY 39 
 
 lowering age for old-age pensions from 70 to 65 years; aid to 
 expectant mothers; and free medical attendance. 
 
 9. Complete religious freedom. Separation of church and 
 state, and of school and church. No support of any kind, from 
 public funds, for religious purposes. 
 
 10. Universal, free schools as the basis of all education. Free 
 text-books. Freedom for art and science. 
 
 11. Diminution and ultimate abolition of all indirect taxes, and 
 abolition of all taxes on the necessities of life. Abolition of 
 duties on foodstuffs. Limiting the restrictions upon the importa- 
 tion of cattle, fowl, and meat to the necessary sanitary measures. 
 Reduction in the tariff, especially in those schedules which en- 
 courage the development of syndicates and pools, thereby enabling 
 products of German manufacture to be sold cheaper abroad than 
 at home. 
 
 12. The support of all measures that tend to develop commerce 
 and trade. Abolition of tax on railway tickets. A stamp tax 
 on bills of lading. 
 
 13. A graduated income, property, and inheritance tax; inas- 
 much as this is the most effective way of dampening the ardor 
 of the rich for a constantly increasing army and navy. 
 
 14. Internal improvements and colonization; the transforma- 
 tion of great estates into communal holdings, thereby making 
 possible a greater food supply and a corresponding lowering of 
 prices. The establishment of public farms and agricultural 
 schools. The reclamation of swamp-lands, moors, and dunes. 
 The cessation of foreign colonization now done for the purpose 
 of exploiting foreign peoples for the sake of gain. 
 
 Voters of Germany! New naval and military appropriations 
 await you; these will increase the burdens of your taxes by 
 hundreds of millions. As on former occasions, so now, the ruling 
 class will attempt to roll these heavy burdens upon the shoulders 
 of the humble, and thereby increase the burden of existence of 
 the family. 
 
 Therefore, let the women, upon whom the burden of the house- 
 hold primarily rests, and who are to-day without political rights, 
 take active part in this work of emancipation and join them- 
 selves with determination to our cause, which is also their 
 cause. 
 
 Voters of Germany! If you are in accord with these prin- 
 ciples, then give your votes on the 12th of January to the Social 
 
40 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Democratic Party. Help prepare the foundations for a new 
 and better state whose motto shall be: 
 
 Death to Want and Idleness! Work, Bread, and Justice for 
 all! 
 
 Let your battle-cry on election day resound: Long live the 
 Social Democracy! 
 
 Executive Committee of the Social Democratic 
 Repeesentatives in the Reichstag. 
 Berlin, December 5, 1911. 
 
 2. SUPPORT or PROGRESSIVES ON THE SECOND BALLOT 
 
 The general election being over, the executive board 
 of the party issued the following public statement, ostensi- 
 bly designed to govern the action of Socialist voters in 
 casting their second ballots in the by-elections (second 
 ballotings) which were soon to follow: 
 
 Comrades : 
 
 The 12th of January has fulfilled our hopes. The working- 
 class of Germany has had a thorough reckoning with the parties 
 of the Conservative and Catholic Alliance. Our party has been 
 wonderfully successful. We have won 65 seats in the general 
 election, received about 4,250,000 votes; we will participate in 
 121 by-elections. 
 
 Let us finish the work that this general election has so glori- 
 ously begun. We can win countless numbers by drawing upon 
 our last reserve forces for the second ballots. 
 
 In many districts our vote was so sinall that our candidates 
 do not enter into the by-elections. We must therefore decide 
 whether or not we may support one of the candidates of the 
 other parties. 
 
 According to the decision of the Party Congress of Jena, 1911, 
 our comrades may support only such bourgeois candidates as 
 will pledge themselves either in writing or before witnesses: 
 
 1. To the support of the existing suffrage rights to the 
 Reichstag. 
 
 2. To oppose any infringement upon the right of free assem- 
 blage and free organization. 
 
. GERMANY 41 
 
 3. To oppose any attempt to increase penal laws for political 
 offenses. 
 
 4. To oppose exception laws {Ausndhmegesetge) in any form. 
 
 5. To oppose the increase of existing import tariffs or the 
 levying of new tariffs on articles necessary for the consumption 
 of the masses. 
 
 6. To oppose the increase of existing or the levying of new 
 indirect taxes upon articles necessary to the masses for their 
 consumption. 
 
 Should in any one district both candidates pledge themselves 
 to fulfill these conditions, the Liberal candidate is to enjoy the 
 preference over the Conservative. In every other case our sup- 
 porters are absolutely to refrain from voting. 
 
 According to these instructions, with due regard to the per- 
 sonality and record of the candidate in question, the Socialist 
 vote is to be decided. 
 
 Now, let us get to work. Let our watchword be: 
 
 Down with the Tax-Robbery of the Fusionists ! 
 
 Down with the Opponents of Free Assemblage. 
 
 Down with the Foes of Popular Elections to the Reichstag. 
 
 On with the Battle. The last Barricade must be overthrown. 
 
 We must do all in our power to drive the nobility, the powers 
 of the church from their strongholds in our government. We 
 must finally and for all time overcome the foes of the progress 
 of the working-class, the opponents of the harmonious develop- 
 ment of the German Empire ! 
 
 Yours for solidarity, 
 
 The Executive Boaed. 
 
 After the by-elections were over (they had yielded to 
 the Socialists 46 additional seats), in addition to issuing 
 the above public statement, it became known that a con- 
 fidential circular of very different purport had been sent 
 by the board to party representatives in certain weak 
 districts, designed to render ineffective in those districts 
 certain of the directions conveyed in the public statement. 
 This confidential circular read as follows: 
 
42 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 We have entered into a conference with the Progressives con- 
 cerning mutual support in the by-elections. With the close of 
 the general election, the Progressives found themselves in an 
 unfortunate situation, from their point of view, and there was 
 great danger that they would unite with the parties of the Right. 
 By so doing they would not only have decreased our parlia- 
 
 C'mentary representation but would have rendered futile our at- 
 tempt to shatter the Conservative and Catholic alliance. Under 
 the circumstances it seemed to us inadvisable to refuse to con- 
 sult with them. At the same time we emphatically refused to 
 sacrifice any district where we had even a remote chance of elect- 
 ing our candidate by our own strength, or where there was 
 any chance of holding what we had gained in previous elections. 
 We insisted, further, that absolute reciprocity characterize the 
 whole agreement. The Progressives have pledged us their support 
 in certain districts. 
 
 We, on the other hand, besides promising the usual support 
 in such districts where we do not participate in the by-elections, 
 according to the mandates of the Jena Congress, made this con- 
 cession : that we would subdue our agitation in districts in which 
 we could under no circumstances elect our candidate should the 
 Progressives unite with the parties of the Right. 
 
 The central committee of the Progressive People's Party will 
 publicly call upon its constituents under no circumstances to vote 
 in favor of a Conservative, a National Party candidate, a candi- 
 date of the Center or a member of the Wirtsehaftliche 
 Vereinigung (a small group of agrarian reactionaries). It will 
 i/proelaim that political necessity demands the overthrow of the 
 '•blue and black hloc. The Progressive People's Party will further, 
 in a confidential circular to the local committees, call upon them 
 to support our candidate in the first-mentioned districts. We, 
 on the other hand, have promised to hold no meetings, to dis- 
 tribute no leaflets, to hand out no ballots in the above-mentioned 
 16 districts before the election, not to try to get the voters on 
 election day to the ballot-box. On the other hand, we may dis- 
 tribute ballots on election day in front of the election booths. 
 We are convinced that this agreement serves the best interests of 
 the party and of the general public, and request you, therefore, 
 to inform your district and do all in your power to enforce this 
 agreement under all circumstances. 
 
GERMANY 43 
 
 This secret agreement occasioned widespread dissatis- 
 faction within the party, and much bitter criticism. The 
 matter was carried before the Congress of the party in 
 1913, where Scheidemann, defending the executive board, 
 said : 
 
 Unless we are willing to be used as willing tools of the Con- 
 servatives, the subdued campaign carried on in the 16 districts 
 which you so severely criticise was an absolute necessity. In 
 these districts a compact bourgeois majority stood opposed to 
 
 IV. KAUTSKT AND BERNSTEIN ON THE ELECTIONS 
 
 Karl Kautsky, summarizing the results of the election 
 in The New Review some months later, wrote : 
 
 Apparently the election of 110 Social Democratic deputies has 
 altered nothing. The Government and the majority of the 
 Reichstag are just as reactionary as before, social reform lags 
 as it formerly did, and the rivalry in armaments goes merrily 
 forward. But those who expected that the elections could and 
 would make any change in these respects were pinning their 
 faith to unrealizable illusions. No bourgeois majority, no matter 
 what its composition may be, will ever conduct an energetic 
 struggle against the Government in behalf of a genuine parlia- 
 mentary regime, against militarism and the increase of the naval 
 forces, and for radical social reforms. Such a struggle can to-day 
 be expected of a Social Democratic majority only. And it was 
 obvious in advance that the majority of 1912 would not be Social 
 Democratic. 
 
 The advantage for which we are fighting in an electoral is, 
 above all, a moral one. Our most important duty does not consist 
 merely in enlightening and organizing the proletariat, but also 
 in inspiring it with the consciousness of its own power. If 
 there are still many workers who assume a hesitating, apathetic, 
 or even hostile attitude toward Socialism, this is not because 
 they disapprove of our aim, but because they doubt our power 
 to realize it. To prove that we are a mighty force becomes even 
 
44 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 more important than to prove that we are in the right. We 
 succeeded in doing this most brilliantly in the last Reichstag 
 elections. Over 4,250,000 votes and 110 seats in the Reichstag; 
 a third of all the votes cast, and more than a fourth of all the 
 Reichstag seats, Social Democratic — that speaks so clearly and 
 plainly for itself that even the most apathetic understands it 
 and even the most timid is encouraged. It plainly means that 
 the German Social Democracy has ceased to be a mere propa- 
 ganda party, that it has entered upon the practical struggle for 
 power. . . . 
 
 But the election districting favored the agrarian wing and 
 procured for it more seats than the number of its votes war- 
 ranted. It depended upon the attitude of the Social Democracy 
 in the secondary elections whether or not the agrarian wing was 
 again to win for itself a majority in the Reichstag. . . . 
 
 We succeeded in depriving them of this majority. . . . Con- 
 servatives and Center combined do not form a majority this 
 time. 
 
 Naturally it would have been a delusion to believe that a ma- 
 jority of combined Liberals and Social Democrats would usher 
 in an era of democracy and social reform. The Liberals not only 
 lack the necessary strengtli and courage, but above all the desire 
 for it. That the latter did not gain a majority signifies a 
 negative, not a- positive advantage. . . . It is indeed to be ex- 
 pected that the Government will succeed in bringing the National 
 Liberals and the "Black-Blue Bloc" into one camp. But it can 
 hardly accomplish that without creating rebellion among a con- 
 siderable portion of the supporters of the National Liberals as 
 well as of the Center. . . . 
 
 So long as a Social Democratic majority is not attainable, we 
 are obliged to limit ourselves to preventing the Government from 
 obtaining a safe majority, to depriving it of the power necessary 
 for violent measures against the working-class; and we must 
 strive to place the bourgeois parties in the situations in which 
 they found themselves before the election, either to serve the 
 purpose of the proletariat or to lose their proletarian follow- 
 ing. ... 
 
 The high cost of living continues to rise. Class antagonisms 
 are becoming ever more acute, the mass of the population is 
 becoming more and more embittered against existing conditions. 
 And we are making gigantic strides toward the time when we 
 
GERMANY 45 
 
 shall have half of the votes east, and shortly after that half of 
 the seats in the Reichstag. 
 
 Kautsky being the editor of the official party weekly, 
 Die Neue Zeit, may be presumed to have expressed in the 
 above article the view of the majority in the German 
 Social Democratic Party. The view of the moderate wing 
 of the party has been expressed as follows: — ^in the Sozial- 
 istische Monatshefte — in an article by Bduard Bernstein: 
 
 Impressive indeed is the demonstration which the January 
 elections have given of the spread of Socialism in Germany. . . . 
 The whole of the increase in the votes polled for all parties, 
 with 47,000 votes beyond, flowed into the party of the working- 
 class. This is the more significant, inasmuch as according to the 
 census of employment Only some 60 per cent of the new voters 
 can be counted as working-class voters. . . . The indeterminate 
 voters may be regarded as of steadily decreasing importance 'in 
 the accumulation of Socialist votes, but they still play a very 
 important part in the distribution of seats. . . . The fight for 
 parliamentary seats is in a high degree a fight for the indetermi- 
 nate voters. And if these voters must not be reckoned as party 
 gains, they do, none the less, give the party a sort of vote of 
 confidence, for to an extent the non-party elector in the polling 
 booth votes according to his own judgment, and not under pres- 
 sure from a superior, he votes for the party in which he has 
 the most trust. 
 
 The Reichstag elections just concluded, and the position created 
 by them have paved the way for a segregation of groups into 
 two main parties, comparable with the division of the French 
 party groups into opposing camps. . . . 
 
 The line of demarcation, which has now brought together on 
 one side the Liberal groups and the Social Democrats, and on the 
 other side the Center (Catholic) and the Conservatives, with the 
 smaller groups of social reactionaries associated with them, leaves* 
 still many illogical features. But the division it makes corre- 
 sponds to a logical divergence of basic principles. What has 
 determined the present line of demarcation is the attitude of 
 the parties to the principle of established authorities in govern- 
 ment and society, to clericalism in the state and the school, to 
 
46 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 agrarian feudalism, to the reactionary economic demands of the 
 small traders and other forms of corporative legislation, to the 
 three-class franchise, the bureaucratic system, and the right of 
 association among the working-class. 
 
 Attempts will be made from many quarters to bring into 
 existence a working majority of National Liberals, Center, and 
 Conservatives. The Government is closely interested in this 
 project. ... If the bulk of the National Liberals refuse to make 
 common cause with the Conservatives and Clericals, a working 
 agreement between the parties of the Left in the Reichstag in 
 opposition to those of the Right will become inevitable. . . . 
 
 The general feeling of the Social Democratic Party is certainly 
 in favor of that being done. It is no easy matter, and demands 
 the suppression of many natural antipathies. But the strongly 
 developed political sense of the German Social Democracy has 
 often before conquered such aversions, so long as it has been 
 clear that no fundamental principle of the party would be com- 
 promised or abandoned. This condition must be observed in the 
 present instance also. Without it the agreement would be futile 
 and unworkable, as the party would be lamed by internal strife. 
 But such abandonment of its principles is no more involved in 
 the proposed agreement with the Left parties in the Reichstag 
 than it was in the many agreements which have been made in 
 the course of election fights. The agreement will be arrived at 
 for certain definite purposes, reserving in all else the complete 
 independence of the agreeing parties. No sacrifice of convictions 
 will be offered or demanded. . . . 
 
 Vorwaerts and other party organs have mentioned some of the 
 questions which come into consideration — the extension of the 
 rights of the Reichstag, especially the right- of interpellation; the 
 reform of parliamentary procedure ; the "removal of the inequali- 
 ties of the electoral districts; the establishing of the right of 
 association; opposition to all new or increased indirect taxation; 
 reduction of the food taxes. This is not suggested as even a 
 skeleton program, but as an indication of the class of measure 
 io be fought for. . . . 
 
 In the course of time the completion of the division of the 
 Reichstag into two main parties would be of immense assistance 
 to the development of parliamentarianism — ^it is, indeed, indis- 
 pensable to it, for without great party coalitions no real system 
 of parliamentary government is attainable. . . . 
 
GEEMANT 47 
 
 V. THE SOCIALISTS IN THE EEICHSTAG 
 (Article by George Ledebour in Die Neue Zeit) 
 
 "The first session of the newly-elected Reichstag closed 
 on May 22, 1912, with a stormy discussion. The hopeful, 
 living idealism of the Socialist movement measured its 
 thought with the aged, decrepit, but still powerful reac- 
 tionary might of a capitalist society. . . . 
 
 "Those who are disappointed because our group of 110 
 Social Democrats, as the largest party in the Reichstag, 
 could not control the policy of the Government, must 
 have peculiar views concerning the activity of a party 
 which can function only as a party of the minority — 110 
 against 287. . . . That is the proposition that makes it 
 impossible for our party to win even the smallest victory 
 for its Socialist ideals. For in these ideals it stands un- 
 alterably opposed to all other parties. 
 
 "But they, too, have been sorely disappointed who 
 hoped for an aggressive, progressive fusion of Liberal and 
 Socialist forces, which would enforce radical constitu- 
 tional reforms, putting aside, for the time being, all funda- 
 mental differences which divided them. We soon discov- 
 ered that the Liberal Party was bound to the other reac- 
 tionary parties with ties that were far stronger than its 
 radical sympathies for the Socialist movement. Between 
 Social Democrats and Liberals there were possible only 
 temporary agreements on this question. The election by 
 the combined Left of Scheidemann as vice-president proved 
 prophetic for the course of the whole session. The election 
 failed to get the ratification of the Reichstag because the 
 National Liberals at the last moment remembered their 
 duty to the State, to the bureaucracy and the reactionary 
 parties. 
 
48 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 "The increased influence of the Social Democracy be- 
 came evident in a more negative form. "We succeeded in 
 nipping in the bud a number of reactionary plans. The 
 grouping of parties in the present Reichstag makes it 
 extremely difficult for the avowed reactionaries, the Con- 
 servatives, the Free-Conservatives, and the anti-Semites, 
 to gain a majority for their purposes. In the previous 
 Reichstag they could accomplish this either with the two 
 Liberal parties (the Biilow Hoc) or with the Center 
 (the Bethmann-HoUweg Hoc). Both these possibilities 
 are out of the question at present because of the increased 
 strength of the Social Democracy. They must secure a 
 combination which includes not only the Center but also 
 at least the National Liberals, in order to carry out reac- 
 tionary measures. . . . The Center and its opponents, 
 the National Liberals, in order not to compromise 
 themselves unnecessarily before their constituents, are 
 driving each other into more radical positions. . . . The 
 deciding influence of the Social Democracy became evident 
 on other occasions. . . . Together with the Center and the 
 Polish representatives, the Socialist Party succeeded in 
 repealing the act granting subsidies to officials in districts 
 where there is a large Polish population, who are active in 
 the spread of the German language and German views 
 (Ostmarkenzrulage fiir Reichsbeamte). This fruit of the 
 anti-Polish agitation of the Hakatist Society was passed 
 in the last session owing to the cowardly desertion of the 
 Progressives. Our colonial policy, too, was strongly influ- 
 enced by our Social Democratic representation. It was 
 due to our agitation that the Reichstag, in spite of the 
 vehement opposition of State Secretary Solf, nullified the 
 barbaric prohibition of intermarriage between whites and 
 negroes. . . . 
 
 "The Government, and with it the parties of the Right 
 
GERMANY 49 
 
 and the Center, strove to enforce new taxes on articles of 
 general consumption. The liberal parties demanded the 
 introduction of direct taxes. Finally a compromise was 
 effected which provides that for the next two years the 
 increased expenditures shall be covered by a whisky and 
 a sugar tax, but that, after October 1, 1916, a new direct 
 tax shall be introduced. All capitalist parties united upon 
 this motion. The Social Democracy, alone, refused to in- 
 dorse it. . . . Another bill, which calls for the introduc- 
 tion of an inheritance tax, received the indorsement of 
 the Social Democrats with the understanding that the 
 money thus collected be used to wipe out an already exist- 
 ing indirect tax. As the National Liberals, however, de- 
 clared, when they voted for the adoption of this measure 
 against the parties of the Right and the Center, that they 
 would prefer a property tax, the realization of an inheri- 
 tance tax at the present time is exceedingly doubtful. 
 
 "Though in the discussion of the military and appro- 
 priation bills the sharp contrast between the Socialist and 
 the other parties came out clearly enough, the discussions 
 became even more heated when our representatives at- 
 tacked the renewed activity of the spirit of absolutism in 
 the German Government. Whenever the fundamental 
 questions of our national life come to the fore, there the 
 unalterable enmity between the party of the proletariat 
 and its capitalist opponents makes itself poignantly felt. 
 The Social Democracy may, temporarily, unite with other 
 parties to insure the passage of individual reforms which 
 lie along the lines of our general movement. But the 
 stronger we become, the more clearly comes the under- 
 standing, here as well as there, that in the struggle for 
 our fundamental ideals we stand alone and must fight 
 unaided for their realization." 
 
50 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 VI. THE SOCIALIST PROGRAM IN THE PRUSSIAN ELECTIONS, 
 MAY, 1913 
 
 The Social Democracy demands equal, direct adult suffrage in 
 the Diet and in municipal elections. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands legislation by one house only, 
 and abolition of the House of Lords (Kerrenhaus) with its 
 inherited and arbitrary power to rule. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the abolition of the privileges 
 of the nobility which still exist and hinder the free development 
 of the nation. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands absolute separation of church 
 and state. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands free education and school sup- 
 plies, the expense to be borne by the nation. Only mental ability 
 should be considered in the choice of pupils for higher schools; 
 free meals for needy school children; abolition of the clerical 
 control of schools. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands that all charitable institutions 
 be conducted by the nation. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the abolition of the system of 
 Seignorities (Gutsbezirke) which hinder all cultural development 
 on the one hand and try by every possible trick to dodge the 
 support of their poor. (A Gutsbezirk is an agricultural estate 
 having political autonomy, controlled by the owner of the estate.) 
 
 The Social Democracy demands increased factory inspection 
 and the employment of workmen as factory inspectors. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands a more marked progression of 
 the existing income tax for high incomes, a decrease in the tax 
 upon incomes under 3,000 marks. Abolition of existing indirect 
 state and municipal taxes. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the improvement of the care 
 of public health by the nationalization of the whole medical pro- 
 fession, as well as the drug and medicine industries. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands a decrease of prison labor and 
 the employment of prisoners for state and road improvements. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands increased wages and salaries 
 for laborers, employees, and the lower officials in national indus- 
 tries (railroads, forestry, mines). 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the extension and improve- 
 
GERMANY 51 
 
 ment of our railroad system; a decrease in the rates for second 
 and third-class cars, and the eventual introduction of zone or 
 district rates (Zonentarif). 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the building of streets, bridges, 
 and water-works by the nation. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands abolition of the existing excep- 
 tion laws concerning servants and domestics. (Gesindeordnung) . 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the right of national employ- 
 ment and the right of laborers to organize. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands a liberal and modern revision 
 and reform of the Prussian mining laws, aside from its demand 
 for national mining legislation. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands that all superfluous expendi- 
 tures be avoided, such as are incurred to-day for purposes of 
 representation by the Prussian nobility. 
 
 The Social Democracy demands the employment of workmen 
 as associate judges (Schoeffen) and jurymen; the payment of 
 fees for the performance of such duties. 
 
 Vn. THE SOCIALIST PARTY CONGRESS OF 1913 
 
 At this congress (1913) a new majority was made up of 
 the Center and the moderates against the radicals. Thus 
 for the first time in the history of the party the radicals 
 were defeated and the moderates were victorious. The 
 moderates not only won by majorities of more than two 
 to one on the military and taxation issue, on the general 
 strike issue, but also elected their candidates to all im- 
 portant party offices. The resolution and the discussion 
 on the military question are given in Mr. Walling 's The 
 Socialists and the War. We present in later chapters brief 
 summaries and abstracts indicating the attitude of the 
 Congress toward the problem of the high cost of living, 
 unemployment, taxation, and the general strike. 
 
52 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Vm. THE REPUBLICAN DEMONSTRATION IN THE REICHSTAG, 
 JUNE, 1914 
 
 Less than two months before the outbreak of the war, 
 on the last day of the last Reichstag session preceding the 
 great conflict, occurred one of the most important events 
 in the history of the German Party. The Reichstag ses- 
 sions are closed by standing cheers for the Kaiser. The 
 custom of the Socialist members has been to absent them- 
 selves in a body. On this occasion they decided — ^though 
 only after a long discussion and a close vote (51 to 47) — 
 to take a more positive stand. In remaining seated they 
 committed an act which would be a crime, lese-majeste, 
 if done outside the Reichstag. Our documents are illus- 
 trative of the discussions which this action aroused in the 
 party. 
 
 1. CHILDISH, PAR TOO CHILDISH 
 
 (Editorial in Vorwaerts [Berlin], June 5, 1914) 
 
 That the Socialists remained seated during the cheers for the 
 Kaiser may not have pleased the Liberals, but it cannot be con- 
 tested that it was their good right to act as they did. 
 
 But what shall be said of the fact that there are party com- 
 rades . . . who hardly differ in their arguments from the Lib- 
 eral press? That Edmund Fischer is among these party com- 
 rades does not astonish us. . . . He looks at polities from the 
 standpoint of the trader who wishes to come to terms with his 
 creditors. Any kind of settlement seems a gain to him. ... No 
 further argument is necessary for this sort of politics. . . . 
 
 It is more regrettable that Comrade Wolfgang Heine also 
 speaks against the demonstration in the Reichstag. His principal 
 argument is one of civic law. He does not deny that the Gov- 
 ernment in the Empire and in Prussia carries on a spiteful policy 
 against us and treats us as if we stood outside of the law. He 
 says : 
 
 " But it is against the fundamentals of a modern parlia- 
 mentarist state to hold the emperor personally responsible for 
 
GERMANY 53 
 
 the policy of the Government. ... If we make the emperor 
 responsible for all politics, that is an acknowledgment of the 
 thing we oppose. . . . The battle-cry 'for or against the em- 
 peror' . . . has always been used against us with good success 
 by the reactionaries. It is our task to keep the person of the 
 monarch out of all political struggles. The Socialist Reichstag 
 group, by its recent behavior, has drawn his person into a 
 struggle of this kind and has given its opponents the right to 
 do the same." 
 
 Since when has it been Socialistic policy to take fiction for 
 reality? ... Is monarchical power lessened when ignored? or 
 [rather] when opposed? 
 
 Of what civic law does Heine speak? Of one explained to 
 suit his wishes, not of a real one. Tor the real civic laws give 
 the monarch in Germany and Prussia a power which exists in 
 no other state, excepting Russia. And this power to-day stands 
 at the disposal of the opponents of the working-class. Not be- 
 cause our opponents cleverly identify Government with the per- 
 son of the monarch, but because the monarchy has become the 
 means of their class rule. And should we leave the basis of the 
 German constitutional misery untouched and pass it by, pre- 
 tending to be deaf and blind, merely because Heine fears the 
 inciting of the monarchists could be harmful to us in some po- 
 litically backward regions? 
 
 The principle of keeping the person of the monarch out of 
 all political discussions is understandable for countries like Eng- 
 land, with purely parliamentary governments, but it is a danger 
 for the political development of semi-absolutist countries like 
 Germany. It is bad enough that the Liberal press fails to under- 
 stand this, but it is beyond comprehension how a Socialist like 
 Heine can blow the same horn and talk of the lack of respect 
 of the Socialist group towards the Reichstag. No, if we have 
 to talk of lack of respect — though a fighting party like ours 
 cannot give or obtain much respect — ^it should be of the want of 
 respect shown to the convictions of the largest party of the 
 German people. "We consider it a presumption and an intolera- 
 ble coercion to try to force us to participate in a demonstration 
 which is against our convictions. The angry howls of the reac- 
 tionaries show us how right we were in our action and how 
 important Byzantinism is to them as a support of their rule. 
 The conduct of our group during the cheers for the Kaiser 
 
54 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 would not be so important had it not caused all this uproar. 
 Under these conditions it may become the means of carrying our 
 convictions regarding the development of the constitution to the 
 furthest circles, increasing the interest in our fight for the estab- 
 lishment of a democratic constitution. Let the Liberal press con- 
 tinue to do the work of its opponents, that will not keep us from 
 continuing our work of enlightenment with increased intensity. 
 
 Let our Liberals wail aloud in their political nursery, which 
 they never seem able to outgrow, we are big and strong enough 
 to stand this. The result of the demonstration does credit to 
 those who advised it. 
 
 2. A QUESTION OP HOMAGE 
 
 ( Editorial in the Muenchener Post [moderate Socialist] ; quoted 
 in VorwaertSj, June 6, 1914) 
 
 It is said that the Socialist Party offended the monarchical 
 feeling of the other members of Parliament, remaining seated 
 when the rest of the members arose to show their respect to the 
 emperor. We permit ourselves to remark (apart from the con- 
 sideration of the feelings of the 111 comrades) that we do not 
 believe in the genuineness of these monarchical sentiments which 
 only exist as long as they coincide with the business interests of 
 the ruling classes. We also do not believe in them because his- 
 torical experience proves that these inherited sentiments leave no 
 trace behind when the political system changes. 
 
 More important is the objection that we in particular-r-from 
 our own point of view — iave no cause to demonstrate against 
 the person of the monarch. Of course the refusal to give homage 
 is naturally not meant against " the person." But the bearer of 
 the Crown (considered impersonally) is not immaterial under the 
 present German political system. It would of course be different 
 had we the parliamentary system; then it would indeed be 
 ridiculous and obtrusive to strike, by such action, the entirely 
 irresponsible representative of a country. But in Germany the 
 monarch selects his government, no politics are carried on without 
 him, and against his wish no law can be passed, no adipinistrative 
 measure concluded. The bearer of the Crown is, under present 
 conditions, actually responsible for the entire politics of the 
 country. He is responsible for the fact that a third of the 
 German population is treated as having no rights. This is our 
 
GERMANY 55 
 
 position : it is not to be expected that a large party should par- 
 ticipate in an act of homage so long as the Crown really bears 
 the responsibility for a policy of oppression and persecution of 
 this party.' Only when the German monarchs decide to elect 
 governments which will respect the equality of all subjects of 
 the state — only when they withdraw and remain neutral towards 
 all parties — that is, reign in a really parliamentary way — will 
 anti-monarchical demonstrations be discontinued. 
 
 3. KAISEEISM 
 
 (From Wolfgang Heine's reply to his critics, as published in 
 Vorwaerts, July 2, 1914) 
 
 The ballot in its bearing upon the decision in the Socialist 
 Eeichstag group has already been discussed upon several occa- 
 sions. Fifty voted for and 47 against remaining seated [during 
 the cheers for the Kaiser] . Later on 2 more positive and 8 more 
 negative votes were added, making the final total 52 for and 55 
 against the group, at the time having an enrollment of 110 
 members. Even if all three of the uncast votes had been con- 
 sidered as being in favor of remaining seated, contrary to all 
 parliamentary practice, this faction would still have been in the 
 minority. 
 
 From the accentuation of the republican character of the party, 
 contrary to the opinion of the Leipzig Volkszeitung, no actual 
 benefit will jresult. The republic is, indeed, an ideal state form, 
 the only one, in fact, which may rationally be established, and 
 thousands of things which we endure in Germany because of the 
 monarchical type of government are not even encountered in the 
 republic. But we must express rational ideas in a rational way, 
 not with manifestations utterly inconsistent with rational thought. 
 
 Besides, the chance of establishing a republic in the German 
 Empire at present or in the near future is so beyond the bounds 
 of possibility as to render absurd any effort to assign it as the 
 goal of our present policy. There are no longer any 'German 
 Social Democrats who still believe that the task confronting us 
 to-day is the forcible overthrow of our present form of govern- 
 ment; and yet this would necessarily be a presupposition in con- 
 
56 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 neetion with the formation of the German republic. No, the 
 party has different goals and tasks before it, tasks more near 
 at hand and more practically conceivable in view of prevelant 
 economic conditions and our present political power. Work in 
 behalf of these aims is now most important. 
 
 (See — for the position of the German Socialists on other ques- 
 tions — chapters on " The High Cost of Living," " Unemploy- 
 ment," " Taxation," '' The General Strike," and " Government 
 Ownership.") 
 
CHAPTER III 
 FRANCE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTOET 
 
 By the elections of 1914 the French Socialist Party — 
 or, as it is ofScially named, the French Section of the 
 Workingmen 's International — secured one-sixth of the 
 total vote of the country and one-sixth of the members of 
 the Chamber of Deputies (101 members). By this it be- 
 came the second most important Socialist movement in 
 the world, being exceeded only by that of Germany. Nor 
 can its influence be gauged entirely by its votes, for it 
 has given rise to semi-Socialistic groups, such as the Inde- 
 pendent Socialists, represented by the present Premier 
 Viviani. It has also given the country several ministers 
 in former cabinets, such as Briand and Millerand, and 
 finally it has tinged with its views on present-day politics 
 the governing party in the country, the so-called Socialistic 
 Radicals. 
 
 The following (from the Appeal to Reason) gives an 
 idea of the growth of the Socialist movement: 
 
 ' ' There was some Socialist organization in France before 
 1870, but the suppression of the Commune in 1871 broke 
 it up and led to the death or exile of the leaders. In 1877 
 the paper L'Egalite was founded to advocate the prin- 
 ciples of Karl Marx and its program was adopted in 1879 
 at a trade-union congress at Marseilles which adopted the 
 name of 'Socialist Labor.' The party was unsuccessful 
 at the election of 1881, and a few years later it was split 
 up into five divisions. At the election of 1893, 40 Socialist 
 
 57 
 
58 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 deputies were elected by a popular vote of nearly half a 
 million. At the general election of 1906, 54 Socialists were 
 elected by a vote of 877,999. In 1910 the party grew to 
 76 and the poll to 1,125,877. The party has since been 
 reduced to 71, but the diminution is only apparent, for 
 there are also, in the French Chamber, small groups of 
 'Independent Socialists' and 'Republican Socialists,' as 
 well as over 200 Radical Socialists who sympathize more 
 or less with the ultimate aims of Socialism. In reality the 
 France of 1914 is more Socialistic even than Germany, 
 although its forces are not concentrated into a great cen- 
 tralized machine. It shades off on one side into syndical- 
 ism and anarchism, and on the other side into radicalism. 
 At the municipal elections of 1912, the number of com- 
 munes captured by the Socialists was 282, while 5,530 So- 
 cialists were elected." 
 
 n. ELECTORAL TACTICS, 1914 
 1. EBSOLUTION OF THE ELECTIONS OF 1914* 
 
 Precisely because it is a party of incessant combat, the Social- 
 ist Party takes present developments and events into account. 
 To-day as ever it is able to distinguish among the capitalist par- 
 ties those which are most threatening to the working-class and 
 to Socialism. It knows who have been the accomplices of Radical- 
 ism in the Moroccan venture, who have been the defaulters in 
 the struggle against the three years' law. 
 
 But above all it abhors and denounces nationalism, imperial- 
 ism, and militarism, which by their reactionary conceptions and 
 cut-and-dried policy disorganize the defensive forces of the coun- 
 try, dissipate the spirit of sacrifice and the citizens' desire for 
 independence, insult both the people and the army by putting 
 them in opposition to one another, burden production, unbal- 
 ance the budgets, fatally increase taxes, dry up the resources 
 of social reform, and deflect to sterile and profitless expenditure 
 
 * This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Congress. 
 
FRANCE ■ 59 
 
 the thousands of millions needed for the works of civilization 
 that have been abandoned. 
 
 It detests and denounces, above all, this reactionary national- 
 ism, which is already a peril, and which, if it gets the mastery, 
 will create war, will crush the working-class, and exile and mas- 
 sacre its militants. 
 
 It knows also the danger which menaces it in Briandism, the 
 strike-breaker, father of the three years' law, double-faced ac- 
 complice of the most retrograde militarism, parody of political 
 organization which combines in one fusion ticket all the powers 
 of reaction conspiring against democracy and the proletariat. 
 The Socialist Party knows that to-day, as yesterday, it stands 
 alone in an uncompromising struggle for the guaranty of French 
 independence and international peace by means of the organiza- 
 tion of "an armed nation" [militia]. 
 
 In fighting the three years' law it is fighting not only an absurd 
 and disastrous law, but it is fighting all the political policy of 
 ignorance, of reaction, of brutality, of which it is the effect and 
 the symbol. 
 
 Responding to the appeal of the International at Basle, in 
 the effort begun at Berne, it wishes to go to the very root of 
 European antagonisms in contributing its share to the common 
 task of the proletariat of all countries and in working for that 
 Franco-German " rapprochement " which will permit of the defi- 
 nite alliance of France, England, and Germany, a necessary 
 condition for the peace of the world. 
 
 The Socialist Party pledges itself to electoral reform and the 
 passage of proportional representation, and will give its efforts 
 to this end all the more as it is a preparation for the constitu- 
 tional revision and because it lessens the power of the reactionary 
 Senate which has been and is so hostile to the workers. 
 
 It is in this spirit, with the strength of all its political and 
 social claims, that the Socialist Party goes into the battle. 
 
 On the first ballot it will have in each department its candidate 
 as bearer of its propaganda, of its entire doctrine, of its complete 
 program. 
 
 And on the second ballot, continuing the first, it will contribute 
 all its strength to laying low the militarist reaction. Recognizing 
 no allegiance except to the cause of the proletariat and to So- 
 cialism, but not separating itself from the republic, from anti- 
 clericalism, and from peace, wherever it has no direct chance of 
 
60 THE .SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 victory, it will give its co-operation freely to the candidates of 
 the two other parties in proportion to the vigor and thoroughness 
 of their fight against the three years' law, against war, against 
 jingoism, against the military and clerical coalition. 
 
 It is to its responsible [branch] Federations that it refers with 
 confidence the task of best determining the Socialist and the 
 republican interest. 
 
 2. DISCUSSION or the party congress 
 (January 25-29, 1913) 
 
 The representative of the Federation of Drome intro- 
 duced a resolution providing for independent action in the 
 first election, and that, in the second election, Socialists 
 could support, if necessary, those radicals who pledged 
 themselves to vote against the three-years' service law, and 
 who were in favor of lay schools and tax reform. 
 
 Compere-Morel declared that the Socialists must pursue 
 independent action and refuse any fusion either with reac- 
 tionaries or radicals. He favored a direct program of the 
 re-estabiishment of the two-years' law, the adoptioq of the 
 income and property tax, the protection of lay schools, and 
 the revision of the constitution, together with the abolition 
 of the Senate. As regards the second election, there were 
 two possibilities of action. It was possible, he declared, 
 to follow the resolution of Chalons, which permitted each 
 federation to make an independent decision concerning 
 its action during the second election, or to allow the 
 national council to decide the matter. He favored inde- 
 pendent action of each federation, as it would permit 
 elasticity and adaptability. He attacked the proposal of 
 Herve, who had advocated a fusion with the radicals in 
 order to obtain a victory on the question of militarism. 
 Compere-Morel said that the autonomy of the local federa- 
 tions should be limited by a declaration by the general 
 
FEANCE 61 
 
 body announcing the dangers of combinations with other 
 parties. 
 
 Vaillant also opposed fusion. He proposed that the ad- 
 ministrative commission should issue a proclamation before 
 the elections which would appeal to the people themselves, 
 and would show that the party was not only the party 
 of the workers but the promoter of all progress. The 
 second election does not differ greatly from the first, he 
 declared, and the Socialist propaganda should also be used 
 in the latter. The national council should have the con- 
 trol over complicated cases. 
 
 Herve made the point that militarism was the great 
 issue, and that effectually to oppose this it was necessary 
 that there should be a coalition of the parties of the Left. 
 Herve said that he did not propose fusion but merely a 
 Moc, in order that those parties who were united on this 
 issue might act in a united manner and bring pressure to 
 bear on the government that otherwise would be lacking. 
 He read the resolution of the Paris Congress of 1900, which 
 permitted co-operation with bourgeois parties in excep- 
 tional cases, and said that such an exceptional case was 
 then present. The Radical Left and the Socialists were 
 really united on three demands : 1, opposition to the return 
 to the three years' military service; 2, tax reform; 3, lay 
 schools and an anti-clerical policy. Herve closed by saying 
 that the Radical Party could not govern alone, and that 
 if a Socialist did not support it, it would be compelled to 
 seek help from the conservative and reactionary Right and 
 would then continue to compromise the Republic. 
 
 Albert Thomas opposed Compere-Morel's idea that gen- 
 eral principles only should be advanced at the first election 
 and that in the second election propaganda should be 
 restricted to certain immediate demands. Thomas believed 
 that, to have efficient propaganda, one must advance cer- 
 
62 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 tain actual problems, such as the military situation in the 
 first election. If the situation concerning militarism was 
 as extraordinary as Herve claimed, then he too would be- 
 lieve in fusion ; but no such situation existed. 
 
 Jaures declared that the discussion showed that the ques- 
 tion of fusion was non-existent. Once before they had 
 allied themselves with a fraction of the bourgeoisie in order 
 to gain the ends of secularization, which was consistent 
 with revolutionary tradition. Yet the government (Bri- 
 and's) that resulted from it was weak in its unity and the 
 overthrow of Briand was greeted with such joy by the 
 Socialists that his successors were actually popular for 
 a short time. Now we are in the midst of a social war, he 
 declared, with such economic problems at stake that no 
 revolutionary tradition can make united action possible. 
 
 Jaures then took up the question of electoral reform and 
 declared that, though this was still important, neverthe- 
 less the war in the Balkans, which caused the growth in 
 both nationalism and militarism, had pushed this issue 
 back in relative importance. Electoral reform was neces- 
 sary, but the way of attainment was not to be found 
 through a coalition of parties differing from the Socialists 
 on basic general principles. 
 
 Jaures said there was really only one election: the first. 
 If the Socialist propaganda was carried on clearly and 
 powerfully in this election, an impression would be made 
 upon those who did not vote for the Socialist candidate 
 at the first election. The second election, he declared, was 
 only a continuation of the first. Herve said that the So- 
 cialists of France had theory on one side, while he pro- 
 posed action on the other. JaurSs declared that theory 
 and action were not separated and that neither was possi- 
 ble without the other. He pointed to the splendid record 
 of the party, to the fact that it was the only party which 
 
FRANCE 63 
 
 had the courage to oppose the colonial policy of France, 
 and was the first to recognize the reactionary effect of the 
 Moroccan adventure upon the domestic and foreign politics 
 of the country. Jaures declared that the power of inter- 
 national Socialism was the reason for the strength of its 
 fight against militarism. 
 Jaures concluded : 
 
 Many resigned themselves to the three years' service law be- 
 cause they believed that the increased term was the only pro- 
 tection against invasion. But the Socialists would say to the 
 people : " Your willingness for sacrifice has been misused ; those 
 in power could not find a new international procedure, and 
 indeed they did not wish to, because they use the army as a 
 weapon against domestic enemies." (Stormy applause.) 
 
 The deficit is so terrible that the bourgeois politicians are 
 afraid to handle it. jif it is necessary to raise a billion [francs] 
 each year, the tax reform which has been promised for 30 years 
 will probably be carried through, not to aid the farmer, not 
 for social reform nor to better the educational system, but to 
 cover the immense debt caused by militarism. If we show all 
 this to the people, they will realize the effect of the three years' 
 system and will understand that it will only increase the struggle 
 of the nations. They will realize that Socialism alone, which 
 unites all nations, is capable of guaranteeing unarmed peace and 
 civilization. And when we have shown the people this solution 
 we shall in our struggle untangle all questions such as electoral 
 reform, the revision of the constitution, and protection from the 
 Senate. If all this is done in a first election, and if we have 
 candidates with this program all over Tranpe, I am not anxious 
 about the way in which we give our support and second election 
 to other parties. The division of seats will be accomplished 
 easily under the stimulus of the first election. How can you 
 waver in your choice if it comes to that between a militaristic 
 Clerical and a Badical who stands for the two years' service 
 law? Eecruiting work for Socialism is only possible when we 
 do our republican duty. We should declare, although not setting 
 up an exclusive compulsory clause: first, all fusions are pro- 
 hibited which would bring Socialist votes to a militaristic reac- 
 tionary; second, the Socialists should support those Republicans 
 
64 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 who are opposed to the three years' service and who favor the 
 lay school system. A central committee should decide excep- 
 tional eases, so that the party might not be hindered in the re- 
 forms which it advocates. 
 
 3. ELECTION MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 We are not only a party of social transformation. We wish 
 to give to the world of labor greater possibilities of carrying on 
 the struggle, thus preparing it for the great work of social reno- 
 vation which is incumbent upon it. We want to obtain, to seize, 
 the maximum of political and social reforms obtainable under 
 the present social system: 
 
 Solid organization of national defense by means of an imme- 
 diate return to the two years' law, and the progressive substitu- 
 tion of a militia for the barracks army. 
 
 Pacific external policy, extending the present narrow system of 
 alliance by a Franco-German rapprochement. 
 
 Development of public instruction by all possible resources. 
 
 Organization of the democracy by means of proportional repre- 
 sentation and the revision of the constitution. 
 
 Fiscal justice by the taxation of incomes and of capital,. 
 
 A complete system of social insurance against old age, acci- 
 dents, sickness, and unemployment. 
 
 Freedom to organize for all, including ofScials. 
 
 m. THE ELECTIONS OF 1914 
 1. THE EBSULTS 
 
 At the first ballot (April 26) the Socialists elected 40 
 members of the Chamber of Deputies, instead of 29 at the 
 former first ballot. That is, in 40 out of 602 constituencies, 
 the Socialists had a majority over all other parties to- 
 gether. 
 
 At the second ballot, the Socialists, supported by the 
 unified Radicals and independent voters, secured 61 more 
 seats. But the Socialists gave the Radicals almost exactly 
 an equivalent vote. So that the total number of seats won 
 
FRANCE 65 
 
 (101) is almost exactly the number to which the Socialists 
 would be entitled under proportional representation. For 
 the vote obtained, 1,400,000, is one-sixth of the total vote 
 (8,329,000), just as the seats won are one-sixth of the total 
 number of seats. 
 
 The growth of the vote and of the number of Socialist 
 members of the Chamber is shown in the following table : 
 
 Year Votes Membera of Chamber 
 
 1906 878,000 54 
 
 1910 1,110,000 76 
 
 1914 1,400,000 101 
 
 The following table shows the number of seats in the 
 Chamber of Deputies held by the various parties since 
 1902: 
 
 Parties 1902 1906 1910 1914 
 
 Monarchists and Nationalists 121 100 86 68 
 
 Progressists and Republicans of the 
 
 Left 178 141 149 146 
 
 Radicals and Socialistic Radicals 242 230 260 208 
 
 Independent Socialists 12 20 32 29 
 
 Socialists 37 54 76 101 
 
 This table shows the growth of the parties to a degree 
 tinged with Socialism. By adding together the first two 
 party groups, we note the steady decrease of the con- 
 servative members of the Chamber from 299, to 241, to 
 235, and finally to 214. At the same time, if we add to 
 the Socialists the Independents, who claim to be Socialists, 
 we see a steady and corresponding increase of the 
 extreme Radicals from 49 to 74, to 108, and finally to 130. 
 (Figures taken from Le Radical, official organ of the 
 Radicals.) 
 
 In the previous Chamber, that of 1910, the Socialists 
 had lost 9 members during the session, mostly through 
 
66 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 desertions. These and other former Socialist deserters 
 were either defeated, like Zevaes and AUemane, or lost a 
 large number of votes, like Briand and Millerand. 
 
 The Socialist vote rose more rapidly in certain agricul- 
 tural sections than in most, industrial centers. In 9 agri- 
 cultural departments (out of a total of 87 departments) 
 the Socialist vote increased by 191,000 votes — or two-thirds 
 of the total Socialist increase in the nation. The per- 
 centage increase is still more disproportionate, as the popu- 
 lation in these provinces is scanty. As will be seen from 
 the following figures, these provinces now lead the country 
 in their Socialism: AUier and Haute-Vienne, both being 
 agricultural : 
 
 Of every 1,000 registered electors 123 voted Socialist, as 
 against 98 in 1910, 642 for the various other parties [677 in 
 1910], while 235 did not go to the polls [225 in 1910]. In 32 
 departments the Socialist vote is less than 5 per cent [in 1910 
 there were 48], also in 32 departments the Socialist vote exceeds 
 10 per cent [25 in 1910]. The heaviest Socialist vote was east 
 in the following departments: Haute-Vienne, 37.3 per cent; 
 Allier, 33.5 per cent [where we lost two seats] ; Ardennes, 30.3 
 per cent; Nord, 29.1 per cent; Seine, 25 per cent, and Pas-de- 
 Calais, 23.2 per cent. In the South the party has done well in 
 purely agricultural districts, viz.: Var, 28.2 per cent; Gard, 22.5 
 per cent; Herault, 19.7 per cent; also in the central department: 
 Cher, 25.7 per cent; Nievre, Yonne, etc., where there are great 
 numbers of small farmers working their farms on sharing terms 
 with the landlords [metayer system]. 
 
 These are percentages of the total vote registered, not 
 of the total vote cast. Partly on account of the agitation 
 of certain labor union leaders and other syndicalists ab- 
 stentions were larger than ever, having risen according to 
 the Berlin Yorwaerts from 225 per thousand in 1910 to 
 235 per thousand in 1914 (nearly twice the Socialist vote). 
 It was to this cause that Yorwaerts attributes the defeat 
 
TRANCE 67 
 
 of the well-known conservative Socialist Eouanet. In his 
 district 8,000 of the 27,000 voters failed to vote. 
 
 Though the Socialists elected 40 members by a majority 
 of those voting, they nowhere had a majority of the voters, 
 according to Vorwaerts — a fact it accounts for as follows : 
 
 This is explained, in the first place, by the composition of the 
 population, the numerous groups of middling and small property 
 owners. Even if the peasants are at all accessible to our propa^ 
 ganda, at the very best they offer greater difficulties than an 
 industrial population. In the second place one must not under- 
 value the importance of those other parties which in regard to 
 freedom and democracy are decidedly radical, and stUl live up 
 to the traditions of the Revolution. 
 
 The middle-class problems that confront the French So- 
 cialist Party are also indicated by the occupations of its 
 members in the Chamber. In sharp contrast with the So- 
 cialist group in the German Eeichstag, only a little more 
 than half are wage-earners — against nearly three-fourths 
 in Germany. They are divided as follows : 
 
 55 Wage-earners. 4 Merchants. 
 
 6 Farmers. 9 Professors, etc. 
 
 5 Teachers. 6 Lawyers. 
 
 6 Doctors and Apothecaries. 1 Engineer. 
 10 Journalists. 
 
 2. APTER THE VICTORY 
 
 (Editorial by Jean Jaures in L'Humanite. Reprinted in the 
 Vorwaerts, May 17, 1914) 
 
 The victory is the outcome of the new industrial advance of 
 France and its economic development, which is taking place 
 intensively and rapidly all over the country. In this manner we 
 have conquered the five new election districts which were created 
 through the duplication of the old, where the population had 
 increased on account of the growth of industry. Another cause 
 of the growth of Socialism is the awakening of the republican 
 
68 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 democracy, which was deeply injured by the reactionary and 
 dubious policies of the bourgeois politicians. The Socialists were 
 the first to fight these politicians. 
 
 The electoral successes of our party, even those in the second 
 election, were not the results of an artificial combination [with 
 other parties]. It is true that the failure of the most advanced 
 Radicals was in our favor, but in a number of election districts 
 our votes helped the Radicals to election. The trend towards the 
 Left, which showed itself all over the republican country, would 
 not have been so noticeable had the Socialists not made their 
 strength felt in 420 election districts. 
 
 It is a fact that the number of our seats tallies exactly with 
 the number of our votes. The 102 Socialist deputies represent 
 a sixth of the House, just as the 1,400,000 Socialist votes repre- 
 sent a sixth of the voters who had gone to the polls. We are 
 now sure that we have to work only to strengthen and develop 
 our organization in order to be certain of the victories already 
 realized, and to prepare in large measures for new conquests. 
 The " libertarian " philosophy still exists in a few minds, but 
 the sentiment that could be called negative anarchism is about 
 to disappear. The best-known adherents of abstention from 
 voting, its apostles in fact, have participated in the election 
 struggle, publicly and ofiicially. They declared that it was neces- 
 sary to make use of the ballot on account of the military reaction. 
 The syndicalists greeted the victories of the Socialists as a " vic- 
 tory of civilization." The proletariat, encouraged by the vic- 
 tories already gained, believes that the gates of the future are 
 open. It knows that we almost obtained a victory in 50 addi- 
 tional election districts, and it is beginning now to count on the 
 possibility of capturing the Government and of placing the po- 
 litical power at the service of the working-class. As soon as the 
 Socialists have broken the barriers of the Senate, which even 
 to-day only retards the movement, instead of bringing it to a 
 standstill, we will become the guiding power of the republic. 
 
 The proletariat knows this well, and this alone is an event in 
 our democracy of the greatest political and moral importance. 
 What increases its importance is the fact that the peasants of 
 France are beginning to come into the Socialist Party. They 
 are passionate democrats and resist violently all clerical interfer- 
 ence ; they further detest the armament policies and are indignant 
 about the difficulties with which the military reaction burdens 
 
PEANCE 69 
 
 them. On the other hand, they are becoming more and more 
 convinced that national independence, which they have much at 
 heart, finds its best guarantee in the organization of the armed 
 nation. They further have to fight capitalism in the form of 
 middlemen. As their narrow individualism is beginning to be un- 
 dermined by the practice of the co-operative system, they are 
 entirely prepared to enter into the democratic and republican So- 
 cialist Party, and the day will come when they will join the 
 masses of industrial workers under the flag of the social republic. 
 Qf course this will not come about without long and patient 
 effort. We are not blind to the diflSculties of the future nor to 
 those of the present. In the beginning of July we will have a 
 parliamentary situation of extreme complications to contend with. 
 We will have to realize the fiscal, social, and military reforms 
 which are contained in the latest decision of universal suffrage — 
 in a very immature and embryonic state. At the same time we 
 shall have to avoid any sign of confusion, any modification of 
 the distinctive characteristics of our party. This task does not 
 overtax the strength of French Socialism, for it has reached a 
 sufScient stage of organization. But it will frequently be very 
 difiicult. More than once we shall have to pass through phases 
 where the true motives of our actions will first not be evident. It 
 will be necessary that our comrades from the International Bureau 
 put their faith in us. But the movement is strong, the party 
 healthy and as far removed from any kind of verbal radicalism 
 as it is from compromise. It would be too early at present to 
 draw up our plan of action. This plan will be discussed by 
 our members of Parliament as soon as the Chamber assembles. 
 But we hope to be able to render good service to social progress 
 as well as to world peace, in which the German-French "rap- 
 prochement " is an essential condition. 
 
 (See also chapters on "Agriculture," "Unemployment," "The 
 High Cost of Living," "The Drink Question," "The Labor 
 Unions," " Militarism," " Municipal Socialism.") 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 BELGIUM 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 It is impossible to show accurately the recent growth of 
 the Belgian Socialist Party either in membership or in 
 the number of votes obtained. The votes may be gauged 
 roughly, however, by the number of seats obtained in the 
 Chamber of Deputies : 
 
 In 1900 33 Socialist deputies 
 
 " 1902 34 " 
 
 " 1904 28 " 
 
 « 1906 30 " 
 
 « 1908 34 " 
 
 " 1910 35 " 
 
 " 1912 39 " 
 
 « 1914 40 " 
 
 In 1900 the Chamber had a total of 166 members; it 
 now has 186. ^ 
 
 The increase of the Socialist vote cannot be shown be- 
 cause of amalgamation with the Liberals in a number of 
 districts in 1912. The election of 1914, however, indicated 
 a gain of nearly 10 per cent for the combined opposition, 
 while the Catholics lost 5 per cent. As the Socialists main- 
 tained their candidates in the latter election, their vote 
 could be reckoned separately and was considerably more 
 than half of the opposition. It was also calculated that 
 the majority of the voters had become oppositional, al- 
 though only half of the country had an election in this year. 
 Owing, however, to the inequality of election districts, each 
 
 70 
 
BELGIUM 71 
 
 Catholic had less than 14,000 votes and each opposition 
 candidate more than 16,000. The Catholics preserved their 
 control of the Chamber — though losing their majority. 
 (The votes referred to' are still plural votes — as explained 
 below under the caption General Strike.) 
 
 It is impossible to give the party membership, because 
 members of Socialist trade-unions and co-operative are 
 reckoned together with members of purely political organ- 
 izations. In 1913, for example, there were 270,000 members 
 of the three kinds of organizations, but less than 16,000 
 or 5.6 per cent of these were members of political groups. 
 While having some advantages, this system also has its dis- 
 advantages and is now being remodeled. While the close 
 relation between Socialist unions and the Socialist Party 
 is to be maintained, the latter is to have a more or less 
 separate organization, more similar than at present to other 
 countries (see below). 
 
 If we judge the growth of Socialism by that of the So- 
 cialist unions, this growth has been especially rapid of late. 
 The following statement concerning this development was 
 made by the Belgian leader, Vandervelde (in The Metro- 
 politan Magazine) : 
 
 The great bulk of the union men who recognize the class 
 struggle are affiliated with the Union Commission, whose rapidly 
 increasing strength is shown by the following figures : 
 
 Members 
 
 In 1905 34,000 
 
 In 1910 69,000 
 
 In 1911 77,000 ^ 
 
 In 1912 116,000 
 
 In 1913 131,000 
 
 If one takes into account the whole number of industrial 
 workers of the country — 1,200,000 men, women, and children, of 
 whom it might be possible to organize 800,000 — ^the percentage 
 
72 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 of organized ■working-people with Socialistic tendencies is still 
 too small. 
 
 The sudden increase of membership in 1912 was due to 
 preparation for the general strike for equal suffrage in 
 1913, and the increase in the latter year within a few 
 months after the strike is another evidence of its popu- 
 larity and success among the working-classes. From 1908 
 to 1911, when the union movement was chiefly economic, its 
 growth had been very slow. 
 
 n. THE ELECTION OF 1914 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 "The elections of 1912, as is known, were 'fusion elec- 
 tions.' The Liberals and Socialists together were to take 
 political clericalism by storm. The result is remembered: 
 the desertion of the moderate and floating elements of 
 Liberalism to the clerical government; M. de Broqueville 
 returned to Parliament with 16 majority instead of 6 as 
 previously. These experiences have brought this advantage 
 that they allowed principles and interests to come into clear 
 expression again in an election — in which, for Socialists at 
 least, it is a question not only of a political program, but 
 equally of the visibility of principles and ideals. A number 
 of election meetings in which Liberals and Socialists came 
 into serious conflict and even to blows, allowed the opposi- 
 tion between the two parties to be seen in all its acuteness, 
 and the speeches on both sides, robbed of their fusion 
 glamour, appeared before the voters in the guise of pure 
 class conflict. 
 
 "The abandonment of the fusion policy, of course, has 
 in no way lessened the intensity of the electoral struggle 
 against clericalism and the clerical majority — certainly not 
 in the Socialist, and scarcely in the Liberal camp. 
 
BELGIUM 73 
 
 "Though the election covered only one-half the country, 
 the Government's majority fell from 16 to 12. The So- 
 cialists gained 1 and the Liberal opposition, 3 votes. The 
 gain in opposition votes has already been referred to. 
 
 "The election means a condemnation of the tax-policy 
 of the scandalous and ruinous waste of the majority, its 
 costly militarism, and above all, of the very school law upon 
 which the majority based its hopes of success and of in- 
 creased strength. 
 
 "In their calculation of success, the clericals also relied 
 confidently upon the issue of the general strike. The 
 clerical organs claimed incessantly that the general strike 
 was the cause of the economic crisis! But this plot also 
 failed. 
 
 ' ' The election has borne out absolutely the view of those 
 who opposed the Liberal-Socialist fusion policy at the time 
 of its enforcement, on the ground that it would damage 
 both of the allies, without accomplishing its purpose — ^the 
 overthrow of the clerical majority. This time there was 
 common action of the two parties in two instances only. 
 At the same time both parties gained votes in nearly every 
 constituency. ' ' 
 
 The manifesto of the Labor Party (the Socialist Party) 
 after the elections thus commented on the election re- 
 sults : 
 
 The head of the Cabinet himself [de Broqueville] said : " There 
 is but one normal, regular way to bring about any change in 
 the very practical situation that confronts us: the body of 
 electors must speak . . . and then, if the electoral body declares 
 itself, there ■will be an exact indication for every loyal person 
 to follow." 
 
 Well, the electors have given that indication this 20th of May 
 in a striking manner. 
 
 The figures of the election show that if the results of 1912 
 and 1914 are added together, the three opposition parties which 
 
74 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 had an equal suffrage for their platform obtained 1,327,887 votes 
 against 1,321,848 votes for the government candidates. 
 
 It is not only the actual majority r f the country, it is the legal 
 majority, the majority of plural votes which condemns the plural- 
 ity system. ... 
 
 m. EEOEGANIZATION OP THE PARTY 
 
 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSION ON EEOEGANIZATION BEFORE THE 
 PAETT CONGEBSS OF 1914 
 
 [It will be seen from these extracts that it is proposed to 
 take the party from the control of the labor unions and 
 to give it a more or less independent political organization, 
 more like most other Socialist parties] : 
 
 The project proposes two kinds of organizations which can be 
 affiliated with the Labor Party, and defines their functions as fol- 
 lows: (a) political organizations, (h) economic organizations. 
 
 The purpose of this change is to bring about the creation of 
 organizations specifically devoted to political propaganda, the 
 need of which is being more and more felt. (See Introductory to 
 " Belgium " above.) 
 
 By specific political propaganda we mean the systematic dis- 
 tribution of Socialist publications, propaganda through the press, 
 the sale of pamphlets, the organization of political meetings and 
 lectures. . . . 
 
 Members who are especially interested in political questions 
 ought to have an organization where they can discuss and develop 
 their general knowledge along that line. Up to the present, with 
 only few exceptions practically, the political propaganda has 
 been carried on either by a central committee composed of dele- 
 gates from all the various groups of the party and having its 
 headquarters in the commune, or by a single one of these groups, 
 a labor union, a co-operative society, or a mutual benefit asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 We certainly ought to confess that, although this situation was 
 satisfactory and gave good results until recent years, this is no 
 longer the case, and at present we must perfect our organizations 
 if we wish to maintain and improve the positions gained. While, 
 on the one side, the need for a permanent form of action is 
 
BELGIUM 75 
 
 becoming greater and greater from the political standpoint, our 
 economic organizations are more and more absorbed in their 
 own affairs and cannot guarantee a sufficient political propaganda 
 except to the detriment of their own activities. . . . 
 
 [The commission, while demanding a certain degree of 
 separation between party and unions, nevertheless recom- 
 mended that the unions be permitted to continue to act 
 "within the party," which gave rise to the following dis- 
 cussion] : 
 
 Comrade Vandersmissen, representing the commission appointed 
 last year, has the floor. He declares : " Our present party statutes 
 are, for the most part, over twenty years old; the trade-unions 
 are losing their local character more and more. They are begin- 
 ning to extend over large industrial centers. They are no longer 
 in a position to carry on political propaganda. The same thing 
 can be said of the co-operative associations. The concentration 
 of co-operatives is advancing. It is impossible to develop political 
 activity in communal territories without a special [political] 
 organization. Political action is necessary. The financial re- 
 sources of the party must be increased. More and more is de- 
 manded of the national council of the party. We can no longer 
 depend on extraordinary and voluntary contributions." As to 
 representation at the yearly congress, Vandersmissen demands 
 that not groups, but federations, should have the right of repre- 
 sentation. 
 
 Brouckere speaks at length on the method of organization in 
 Germany, England, France, and Italy. He speaks against the 
 proposed system of party cards. This would lead to a sort of 
 plural vote. It would keep out the non-union men. Those who 
 cannot be organized in trade-unions must be allowed to pay their 
 dues to one of the political groups. 
 
 Brouckere proposes the following resolution : 
 
 The Congress authorizes the general council of the party to 
 lay before the next congress an outline of the statutes in a form 
 that will embody proposals made at this congress. Comrade 
 Vandersmissen accepts this proposal. 
 
 (See also " The General Strike" and "Education.") 
 
CHAPTER V 
 ITALY 
 
 I. INTEODUCTOBT 
 
 The greatest turning-point in the history of the Italian 
 Socialist Party occurred in 1912 when four of its members 
 in the Chamber of Deputies — including its most noted 
 orator, Bissolati, and the editor of L'Asino, Podrecca — 
 were expelled from the party because of their compromis- 
 ing attitude on the war in Tripoli (see below). Sixteen of 
 the 39 Socialists in the Chamber then formed a new Re- 
 formist Party — ^which has grown both in membership and 
 in representatives in the Chamber, but less rapidly than the 
 regular or revolutionary party. 
 
 The growth of the party before the split — on account of 
 internal friction and the struggle with the Syndicalists — 
 had become somewhat discouraging. It was as follows : 
 
 1900 19,000 members 
 
 1902 37,000 " 
 
 1904 45,000 " 
 
 1908 40,000 " 
 
 1910 30,000 " 
 
 1912 25,000 " 
 
 Immediately after the split an improvement began, 
 though it must be attributed in part to the enthusiasm 
 aroused by the first election under an approximately equal 
 manhood suffrage. 
 
 From the official report in 1914 it appeared that since 
 July, 1912, when the Reformist Socialists (group Bissolati) 
 
 76 
 
ITALY 77 
 
 were compelled to leave the party, the membership had 
 steadily increased from 28,689 (July, 1912) to 30,936 (De- 
 cember, 1912), 37,000 (December, 1913), and stood at over 
 49,000. In 1913 the percentage of the total vote going to 
 the regular party rose from 10 to approximately 21 per 
 cent, in spite of the fact that the new party received over 
 4 per cent of the total vote. 
 The increase of the vote of the whole party is as follows : 
 
 Tear Votes Depntiea 
 
 1892 26,000 6, 
 
 1900 175,000 32 
 
 1904 320,000 27 
 
 1909 339,000 40 
 
 1913 1,160,000 72 (out of 508) 
 
 The large number of deputies elected in 1900 was due 
 partly to a fusion with the Radicals. In 1913 the vote and 
 representation in the Chamber of Deputies were divided 
 between two Socialist parties, the increased vote being 
 partly due to the extended suffrage. 
 
 The attitude of the party toward the war may be under- 
 stood from the following declaration : 
 
 n. DECLAHATION OF THE SOCULIST PAETY UPON THE WAR 
 IN TRIPOLI 
 
 Workers ! At this moment the Socialist Party reminds you that 
 the colonial war, which was prepared with unparalleled astute- 
 ness by a band of pirates of high finance, has had for champions 
 all the Italian bourgeoisie, from the Clerical to the Democrat, 
 driven by nationalist madness. We ask that those who desired 
 this terrible war should suffer its consequences now. The workers 
 who have already paid for the foreign insanity a far too heavy 
 tribute in victims and in blood should prepare at once to ask 
 for an account at the time of the electoral flght from those who 
 are responsible for the horrors of war. The Socialist Party, 
 faithful to the ideal of the international proletariat, calls on 
 
78 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE "WORLD 
 
 the laboring class of Italy to fulfill their sacred task and demand 
 a rendering of accounts. 
 
 ra. THE SPLIT IN THE PARTY 
 
 ' Althougli the attitude of the majority of the party to- 
 ward the war was an uncompromising one, nevertheless 
 there was an important minority that wished to temporize 
 on the ground that it was inopportune, while the country 
 was at war, to abide by the decisions of the majority. This 
 division of opinion became serious. 
 
 At the Party Congress in July, 1912, a motion to expel 
 the four opportunist deputies, Bissolati, Bonomi, Cabrini, 
 and Podrecca, was carried by a vote of 12,556 against 9,883, 
 with 2,072 abstaining. 
 
 The Socialist Party proper, in order to make their gen- 
 eral attitude clear, adopted the following statement, pro- 
 posed by Lerda : 
 
 The Congress, after discussion as to the proper program and 
 tactics for the party in the political elections: 
 
 First of all, reafSrms the fundamental doctrine of the class 
 struggle as the theoretical basis and praotieal guide for all So- 
 cialist action ; and 
 
 Considers that the Socialist Party cannot but be, on account 
 of its essentially revolutionary character, a party of agitation 
 and education, never a government party, and proclaims that for 
 the logical continuity and fighting efficiency of the party it is 
 absolutely necessary to put an end to the system of local autonomy 
 by intrusting to the executive committee [la Birezione] elected 
 by the Congress the interpretation and the execution of the de- 
 cisions of the Congress; and 
 
 Declares it to be incompatible with the principles, the methods, 
 and the ultimate aims of Socialism, that those persons should 
 remain in the party who accept Socialist participation in power, 
 or who share the conception of the new Social Democracy [that 
 looks to the collaboration of classes in political-economic matters] 
 and have approved the nresent military-colonial undertaking ; and 
 
ITALY 79 
 
 Declares that all support to the schemes of the Government is 
 opposed to the fundamental theories of Socialism and to the 
 interests of the proletariat, and claims for the party the right 
 to exact from all its members, including deputies, a strict observ- 
 ance of the decisions of the Congress; and 
 
 Reaffirming the anti-monarchical character of the party, lays 
 it down that, in the coming political elections, the method of no 
 compromise [il metodo intransigente] must be followed, as the 
 logical and necessary corollary from the theory and practice of 
 the class struggle, which does not permit solidarity of interest 
 between the ruling class and the servant class; and, in conse- 
 quence, decides to have in the coming elections in every electoral 
 district its own candidacies, of persons who have been regularly 
 inscribed in the party for at least five years, giving permission 
 to the executive committee to authorize the sections to take part 
 in ballotings for candidates of other parties; and 
 
 Resolves to shape the electoral propaganda according to purely 
 Socialist principles, but pledges its own candidates to strive in 
 Parliament for that program of reforms which the proletariat 
 in its economic organizations desires and claims. 
 
 The expelled deputies and their adherents formed a new 
 party, the Socialist Reformist Party, whose principles were 
 formulated by Bonomi, at a congress held in December, 
 1913, as follows : 
 
 Reforms should be formulated in relation to the economic and 
 political forces of the working-classes and of the forces opposed 
 to them. The party adheres to the proletarian International, 
 and assumes the task of educating the people in the feeling 
 of solidarity, but not without taking into account, for the sake 
 of the defense of the national whole, the actual conditions of 
 international life, with the hope that the success of the working- 
 class movements in the greater states of the world will make 
 possible a general, simultaneous disarmament. We have no 
 prejudice against the democratic parties; whether we are to keep 
 clear of those parties or to adopt a policy of alliance will depend 
 on whether or not the respective programs are similar. An 
 accord in a common opposition, or in support of an accepted 
 measure of the Government, shall be made or revoked according 
 to circumstances; and it is understood that in the laboring-class 
 
80 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 those categories are also included which do not come under the 
 head of wage-earners but approximate to the type of the little 
 working-class proprietors. 
 
 IV. THE ELECTIONS OF 1913 
 1. ELECTORAL TACTICS 
 
 In 1913 the elections were held under the enlarged fran- 
 chise, and many questions of how best to approach the new 
 voters were discussed and settled. 
 
 a. The Action of the Executive Committee 
 
 At a meeting of the executive committee of the party, July 16, 
 the following electoral platform was adopted : 
 
 The executive committee of the Italian Socialist Party, having 
 considered the coming electoral struggle. 
 
 Confirms and reasserts the tactics and the policy of no com- 
 promise whatever adopted by the Congress at Reggio Emilia, and 
 by the former meetings of the executive committee, and 
 
 Decides to use the period of electioneering first of all to lay 
 before the millions of proletarians called on to vote, for the first 
 time, the whole Socialist program in its methods and in its aims, 
 explaining the value and the part of parliamentary action in the 
 whole work of the Socialist Party, in order not to deceive the 
 masses nor to let them be deceived ; and 
 
 Holds that the coming parliamentary Socialist action, to which 
 we ask popular adherence, must set forth, besides a resolute and 
 continual affirmation of Socialist principles, 
 
 (1) A firm and systematic opposition to the policy of colonial 
 ventures and military budgets; 
 
 (2) A customs policy frankly free trade, especially in view of 
 the renewal of the commercial treaties, and in strict opposition 
 to industrial and agrarian protectionism; 
 
 (3) Social legislation that shall not consist only in partial and 
 ephemeral reforms, but shall resolutely deal with the more serious 
 problems of the industrial and agricultural life of the pro- 
 letariat ; 
 
 (4) A policy of taxation and expropriation that shall serve 
 to fill the deficit caused by the war, throwing the whole burden 
 
ITALY 81 
 
 on the capitalistic classes, and that shall permit the destination of 
 a thousand millions of lire to provide means for the social 
 projects we demand ; and 
 
 (5) An educational policy that shall give to the new genera- 
 tions of the proletariat the means and methods of obtaining a 
 large, modem culture, releasing it from illiteracy. 
 
 h. The Second Ballot 
 (From Vorwaerts' Keport after the First Ballot had been taken) 
 
 "The Socialist Party called upon its members to sup- 
 port those candidates who took a stand against the Tripoli 
 war and pledged themselves in writing to stand against the 
 increase of military burdens. The resolution of the party 
 executive mentioned these candidates by name. Among 
 them are three Republicans. The Socialists also supported 
 the Reformist Socialists, with the sole exception of Ferri, 
 who could not be considered. Finally the party executive 
 demanded the support of the Liberal Pinchia, who wrote a 
 book against the war, and of Prince Caetani, who voted 
 against annexation. By a bare majority the executive 
 also favored the support of the former Socialist, Labriola, 
 in Naples. 
 
 "The Reformist Socialists supported the Socialists in 
 every instance; the Republicans abstained from voting 
 where there was a Socialist candidate; the Radicals, no- 
 where supported by the Socialists, everywhere gave the 
 Socialists their support." 
 
 2. ELECTORAL MANIFESTO OF THE SOCIALIST PAETT 
 
 Electors of Italy! 
 
 The events of the last two years have demonstrated that it is 
 vain to hope from the Government parties a relief from the 
 evils of our present social life. 
 
 "While, in face of the development of capitalistic civilization. 
 Socialistic aspirations towards the regime of justice and equality 
 
82 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 have become the only hope of all the exploited laborers in our 
 country, war, the execrable war of conquest, before which all bow 
 down, has upset, by the insatiable exigencies of militarism, the 
 proposals of better things and of civil progress that you pro- 
 claimed five years ago. War has devastated all our national life; 
 in politics it has given the predominance to the regime of the 
 sword, to the omnipotence of the police, to the encroachment of 
 the church; in economics it has increased the high cost of food, 
 the low rate of wages, chronic lack of employment, the difBculty 
 of business; everywhere it has sown sorrow, tears, and sacrifice. 
 
 The Government statement for the dissolution of the Chamber 
 may extol the fiscal absorption of the finances of the state as an 
 index of national prosperity, but it ought to acknowledge the 
 neglect of public hygiene, the increase of juvenile delinquency, 
 the persistence of illiteracy, the hopeless condition of the peasants 
 of southern Italy, and the fact that social conflicts become sharper 
 and more widely extended. 
 
 The enlargement of the suffrage has multiplied your strength 
 and you have greater power at your disposition to defend your 
 rights, your liberties, your lives and those of your families. 
 Make use of such power to refuse your vote to all those parties 
 and to all those candidates who move in the orbit of the state 
 and its institutions; keep it. for our party, which alone has 
 declared a wish to fight against war, against militarism, against 
 the reaction, whether lay or ecclesiastical, of the present political 
 regime. 
 
 Fellow workmen! 
 
 Parliaments are the instruments par excellence of bourgeois 
 dominion: we send to them our political representatives, not for 
 the purpose of co-operating with the class that lives by exploiting 
 labor and accumulating capital, but in order to maintain in the 
 face of the nation the interests and the aspirations of the pro- 
 letarian class. For this reason our candidates do not present to 
 you a program of illusory, homeopathic reforms — the constitu- 
 tional opposition promises 30 centesimi [6 cents] pension to old 
 and crippled laborers — ^but they assert the necessity of a systematic 
 continuous legislative struggle against armaments, against pro- 
 tectionism, against the parasitical classes of the state and of the 
 church, for expropriation by taxation, for a greater conquest of 
 proletarian rights, for universal suffrage of men and women. . . . 
 
ITALY 83 
 
 3. THE SITUATION BEPOEE THE ELECTIONS OE 1913 
 
 (From The New Statesman) 
 
 "The number of parliamentary electors has been in- 
 creased from 3,247,000 to 8,635,000. The third reading 
 [of the bill to increase the number of electors] was carried 
 by 284 to 62 in a Chamber of 508 deputies. 
 
 ' ' The Clericals were generally regarded as likely to profit 
 by it, and it has been widely suggested that it was part of 
 the price which the Government had to pay for clerical 
 support in the Tripoli war ; but though the increase of the 
 electorate may be an electoral advantage for the moment, 
 it is doubtful whether the Vatican regards it with real 
 favor. 
 
 ' ' To understand the situation one should remember that 
 the unification of Italy was the Work of the Liberal bour- 
 geoisie of the towns. In the country districts the peasantry 
 could not be trusted with a vote. It was therefore a po- 
 litical necessity in the early days of Italian unity to restrict 
 the suffrage, and this was effected to some extent by a 
 number of small property qualifications, but far more 
 drastically by a really strict educational test. 
 
 "As an educational test is often recommended by poli- 
 ticians of a certain school, it may be well to note its results 
 in Italy, where ... it was introduced not to strengthen 
 but to preclude reaction. With equal electoral districts 
 based on population, the restricted suffrage produced 
 startling differences in the number of electors in the vari- 
 ous constituencies. In prosperous urban or semi-urban 
 districts in the North the number of electors may have been 
 three or four times as great as in the rural constituencies 
 in the center and South, and the difference between town 
 and country was further aggravated by the Papal injunc- 
 
84 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 tion to Catholics not to vote, which was far more effective 
 in rural districts. In the great mass of constituencies the 
 independent electors were far too few to defeat the gov- 
 ernment candidate, backed by the disciplined army of low- 
 paid government officials, carefully trained by the Prefect, 
 upon whom they depended for a career. . . . 
 
 "This explains the absence of strong political parties 
 based on ideals and principles, and the degradation of po- 
 litical life. The fate of governments did not depend on 
 outside public opinion, but on their power to control the 
 elected deputies, upon whom the arts of political corrup- 
 tion had to be freely exercised. There was another serious 
 result, in that every government has in the end to pay some 
 attention to public opinion, and as the only public opinion 
 which could make itself heard was that of the North, suc- 
 cessive governments have been compelled to have regard in 
 their fiscal legislation mainly to the interests of the North, 
 always the richest portion of Italy and the least in want of 
 government assistance. This is the explanation of the high 
 import duties to protect the industries and such agricul- 
 tural produce as is peculiar to the North, e.g., the grain of 
 the Lombard Venetian plain and the beet-sugar of the 
 Emilia; and the southern agriculturist is only just begin- 
 ning to understand why he has to pay such high prices 
 for his agricultural machinery, and why he is unable to 
 buy the cheap sugar which would enable him to utilize 
 the fruit crops on which he mainly depends. 
 
 ' ' The political problem of Italy is to combine in the same 
 principles of administration the wealthy progressive North 
 and the destitute and stagnant South. . . . 
 
 "In considering the electoral prospects of the various 
 parties, not always clearly defined, we find that the last 
 Chamber consisted of 19 Republicans, 37 Socialists, 54 
 Radicals, and 420 so-called Constitutionalists. The Repub- 
 
ITALY 85 
 
 licans and Socialists may be regarded as in permanent 
 opposition to the Government. They appeal mainly to the 
 lower middle-class and the literate artisans of the town. 
 The Republicans are a dying group with a creed sadly 
 lacking in actuality, and they are not likely to increase 
 their numbers. The Socialists have a future, and may in 
 time convert the new electorate; but while they alone of 
 all parties have a program they are very divided as to the 
 methods of attaining it, and their very uncertain attitude 
 towards the war will not help them. The Radicals are 
 usually in opposition to the Government, but support it 
 when its measures are opposed by the more conservative 
 groups of Constitutionalists. They have no real program, 
 and are difficult to distinguish from the more advanced 
 Constitutionalists, except in that they are more markedly 
 tinged with anti-clericalism. The Constitutionalists com- 
 prise a number of heterogeneous elements, some few Con- 
 servatives usually in opposition to the Government, some 
 thirty Clericals, and forty more who, though not Clericals 
 in name, are quite aware that they owe their election mainly 
 to clerical support. The remainder can usually be relied 
 on to support the Government. The system of government 
 is that of parliamentary bargaining, in which Giolitti, the 
 outstanding personality in Italian politics, is an adept. 
 
 "The Clericals prefer to call themselves Catholics, but 
 that terminology conveys the wholly fallacious impression 
 that they alone are practicing Catholics. On the other 
 hand, the term Clerical does not mean that they are in 
 favor of the restoration of the temporal power, and outside 
 Rome, where the conditions are peculiar, there are very 
 few Clericals who desire it. They have ideals and enthusi- 
 asm, but no program. As a rule they support Giolitti, and 
 in many cases will obtain government support at the polls. 
 
 ' ' The Government boast that they have no program, but 
 
86 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 rely upon their record, and they have some grounds for 
 doing so. The war was immensely popular, and having 
 regard only to national considerations it at last welded the 
 country into a nation and made the extension of the suf- 
 frage a safe policy. Apart from the administration of the 
 war the Government can point to a long list of democratic 
 and social measures, the extension of the suffrage, the 
 introduction of a more humane penal code, the abolition of 
 the hateful damicilio coatto, the state purchase of the rail- 
 ways, the unification, under Government control, of the 
 maritime services, the transfer to the state of life insur- 
 ance, and a great number of measures dealing with public 
 health, education, afforestation, and local government gen- 
 erally. Though the credit may not be wholly his, Giolitti 
 can point out that since he became the virtual ruler of 
 Italy some twelve years ago there has been, in spite of an 
 unprecedented earthquake and a war, an extraordinary in- 
 crease of prosperity. Flourishing industries have in the 
 interval been firmly established and the value of agricul- 
 tural land in the North has nearly doubled, and though 
 the South has not kept pace, it nevertheless shows sub- 
 stantial improvements in all directions. ' ' 
 
 .4. THE RESULTS 
 
 The elections were held under the new election law that 
 gave the vote to the overwhelming majority of male adults 
 instead of restricting it to less than one-half, as in the 
 elections of 1909. 
 
 According to the new electoral law of 1912-13, practically 
 all adult male Italians were given the right to vote at 
 parliamentary elections. More specifically, this right of 
 suffrage may now be exercised by three classes of citizens : 
 (1) all literate male Italians who are 21 years old; (2) 
 
ITALY 87 
 
 illiterates who have reached the age of 30 ; (3) all who have 
 served in the Italian army or navy, even though they have 
 not attained the age of 21. Thus the number of possible 
 voters has been increased from less than 3,500,000 to more 
 than 8,500,000— an addition of over 5,000,000 illiterates. 
 
 However, only a little more than half the total vote was 
 cast, that is, less than 4,500,000. Besides the usual motives 
 for abstention, — inertia and indecision, — a considerable 
 part of the non-voters were undoubtedly wage-earners 
 reached by the widespread Syndicalist agitation in favor 
 of a Socialist revolution by other means — by the general 
 strike or insurrection. 
 
 The Socialist vote is best measured — both on account of 
 the new suffrage and because of the widespread abstention 
 — by relative instead of by absolute figures. In 1909 the 
 vote was 339,000. In 1913 the combined vote of the two 
 parties which had been formed out of the old was 960,000 
 for the regular party and 200,000 for the reformists. In 
 1909 the Socialists had received only about 10 per cent of 
 the total vote cast. In 1913 they received approximately 
 25 per cent. 
 
 In 1909 the Socialists elected 40 out of 508 members of 
 the Chamber. In 1913 they elected 72. Of these 51 were 
 regulars (formerly 24) and 21 were reformists (formerly 
 16). In the face of this the increase of the reactionary or 
 Clerical members from 20 to 33 has comparatively little 
 significance, especially as it was accompanied by a similar 
 increase of anti-clerical members, counting the Socialists. 
 
 The Socialists, moreover, elected 36 members on the first 
 ballot, i.e., without Radical, Independent, or Eeform So- 
 cialist support. The Reformist Socialists elected 3 on the 
 first ballot. 
 
88 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 5. COMMENTS ON THE SOCIALIST SUCCESS 
 
 a. From Article by Oda Olberg (Borne) in Die Neue Zeit 
 
 ' ' The success of our party in this election was a pleasant 
 surprise after our rather pessimistic expectations. Never- 
 theless there are only very few cases that could be spoken 
 of as a leap forward. 
 
 "In the old Chamber of Deputies there were 8 Socialists 
 from the Piedmont, in the new, 11, the vote having in- 
 creased, in round numbers, from 86,000 to 150,000. Lom- 
 bardy increased from 3 to 7 deputies (65,000 to 160,000) ; 
 Venice, from 1 deputy to 4, 2 from districts which were 
 "once before in our possession (30,000 to 88,000 votes) ; 
 Liguria, from 1 to 2 (19,000 to 36,000 votes) ; the Emilia 
 and the Romagna, from 8 to 16 (62,000 to 155,000 votes). 
 Upper Italy, therefore, in increasing its representation 
 from 20 to 40 deputies, has grown in strength in about the 
 same proportion as the country as a whole. In middle 
 Italy, Tuscany had the largest increase, from 2 to 7 depu- 
 ties (34,000 to 99,000 votes), the Marches held their 1 
 deputy (14,000 to 30,000 votes), while Latium lost its 1 
 Socialist representative (from 7,500 to 36,000 votes). 
 Southern Italy and the Islands, where hitherto no Socialist 
 had ever been elected, sent 4 Socialist deputies to the new 
 Chamber. These seats were won in Naples, in Gallipoli 
 (Apulia) , in Torre Annunciata, the manufacturing suburb 
 of Naples, and in Iglesias, the center of the lead industry 
 in Sardinia. The vote in southern Italy shows an increase 
 from 22,000 to 74,000. In the three districts last men- 
 tioned our party had polled a large number of votes in 
 past elections. 
 
 "Our success was doubtless due to the new election pro- 
 cedure rather than to any broadening of election laws. 
 
ITALY 89 
 
 This new system of voting, which was looked upon, at first, 
 with such great suspicion, has, as a matter of fact, given the 
 popular vote a secrecy that was hitherto out of the question. 
 "It is, however, far from my purpose to deny that the 
 new election laws have given a wider and deeper signifi- 
 cance to the Italian Socialist movement. It has fired the 
 party to an unprecedented pitch of enthusiasm, and in- 
 spired thousands upon thousands of meetings in which the 
 Socialist message was carried out to the most forsaken 
 hamlets of the nation. But the reward for this agitation 
 win come to us only in future years. ' ' 
 
 b. Berlin Vorwaerts — Correspondence 
 
 "The disagreeable surprises for the bourgeoisie con- 
 nected with this election fight will not end with the 52 
 Socialist delegates that have been elected to the new house. 
 Besides this number of the official party, 3 other Socialists 
 were elected, namely Ciccotti, Altobelli, and Vigna (La- 
 briola does not rank as Socialist or Syndicalist) ; also 2 
 Syndicalists, de Ambris in Parma and Area in Calabria. 
 The number of Eeformists has grown from 15 to 23, an 
 unpleasant surprise for the Government, because of elec- 
 tion districts newly won by the Reformists in Sicily and 
 southern Italy. Upon the whole, the Government realizes 
 with astonishment that the new voters consider matters 
 from different angles to those from which the old voters 
 did. 
 
 "It must be understood that our party suffered losses 
 also ; the loss of the first Roman election district was most 
 bitter and serious — ^bitter in so far as the district was won 
 by a Clerical Nationalist, after it had been imagined for 
 years that the Clericals in Rome were of no significance as 
 a political power. Hand in hand with nationalism we see 
 
90 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 the workers of the Vatican appear upon the horizon. The 
 loss is serious because a Clerical Nationalist was also elected 
 in the fourth district and the two losses defeated the 
 famous "bloc," the anti-clerical administration of Eome. 
 The municipal administration of the capital will now be 
 given to a royal commissioner. After seven years of anti- 
 clerical rule in Rome one does not care to see the Clericals 
 again take hold of public affairs. 
 
 "The elections will further show retirements in mu- 
 nicipal administrations in other large cities, especially in 
 Turin and Milan, where our party won three out of the six 
 mandates. In both towns the city council has retired 
 already." 
 
 V. PARLIAMENTARY POLICY (1913-1914) 
 
 1. RESOLUTION OV PARLIAMENTARY GROUP AFTER THE ELECTION 
 
 The Socialist parliamentary group at the reunion of its mem- 
 bers, conscious of its power and of the duties that come to it 
 from the great affirmation of Socialism made by the proletariat of 
 Italy in the political elections, in spite of the violent acts of the 
 Government, especially in the South, in spite of the corrupt 
 practices done and tolerated in many election districts; 
 
 Renews its unconditional adherence to the program of imme- 
 diate action which the Socialist Party proclaimed during the 
 election, condemning unreservedly the accursed Libian Affair, 
 laying stress upon opposition to military expenditures, denounc- 
 ing protectionist parasitism, and urging its abolition as speedily 
 as possible ; 
 
 Declares itself firmly decided to set forth its work of uncom- 
 promising opposition, and agitation of social and political prob- 
 lems in Parliament and in the country, without suffering itself 
 to be deceived by the usual promises with which the discourse 
 by the Crown will be larded nor by the stratagems with which 
 Giovanni Giolitti will continue his policy of dissolving the op- 
 position ; 
 
 And finally asserts that this line of conduct, inspired by its 
 
ITALY 91 
 
 office of champion of the class struggle, will never induce it to 
 confound its own specific activity with that of any other par- 
 liamentary group whatever. 
 
 2. RESOLUTION UPON THE RESIGNATION OF THE GIOLITTI MINISTRY 
 
 Considering that the political situation, created hy the Gio- 
 littian coalition of all the bourgeois parties in the last general 
 election, continues in the present government which rests sub- 
 stantially on the same majority, to subserve the same interests; 
 and that 
 
 In face of the financial consequences of the war, till now con- 
 cealed from the country, and of the imposition of militarism, 
 irreconcilable with the growing needs of civilization, the proper 
 mission of the Socialist Party is more than ever that delineated 
 by the necessities of the defense of the proletariat, threatened 
 to-day as it was yesterday by blood-sucking taxation and by the 
 increase of the internal public debts which takes capital away 
 from productive investment and brings back an economic crisis, 
 lack of employment for workmen, and emigration; and that 
 
 The silence of the Government upon the necessity of gradually 
 reducing protectionism, proves that the present ministry is bound 
 ever to the same plutocratic coalition ; and that 
 
 These tendencies are confirmed by the maintenance of the 
 financial provisions proposed by the preceding cabinet, while the 
 masked threats to the liberty of economic action of the railway 
 employees, and the insufficiency of the pledges of social legisla- 
 tion, demonstrate the opposition of the Government to the most 
 urgent claims of the laboring-classes as well as its ill-concealed 
 reactionary spirit; 
 
 The parliamentary group determines to persist energetically in 
 opposition to the Government and to the majority, an opposition 
 that should never serve the prearranged views of an insincere 
 democracy. 
 
 VI. PARTY CONGRESS OF 1914 
 
 The Party Congress was held at Ancona in April; the 
 resolutions proposed on the subjects of protectionism and 
 militarism were passed as a matter of course, but the policy 
 
92 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 as to Freemasons and tactics in municipal elections was 
 discussed with spirit and revealed considerable difference 
 of opinion. 
 
 1. PEEBMASONET 
 
 Mussolini recommended the expulsion of the Freemasons. 
 He said, that "even if the party lost many members 
 through this action, this should not be a cause for worry. 
 Socialism is only a problem of mankind inasmuch as the 
 proletariat is the largest part of mankind. The Socialist 
 in the freemason lodge suffers a change, just as an animal 
 changes its skin in a cellar." (Applause.) 
 
 "Under the present mistrust," Lerda declared, "it is 
 impossible to live in the party. But it must not be for- 
 gotten that reality demands its right: to-day the Masons 
 are expelled, to-morrow the university men, etc., always in 
 the service of an abstract idea, in the striving for absolute 
 purity. The intention may be good, but the question is, 
 will the results serve the cause of the proletarian ? ' ' Lerda 
 in closing his speech pointed out the various functions of 
 the party and explained that the Socialist conviction does 
 not depend on a membership card of the party. 
 
 The resolution passed was : 
 
 The Congress invites comrades who are in the Masonic Order 
 to end all relations with that institution; and 
 
 Declares that it is incompatible for Socialists to enter and 
 remain in the Masonic Order, and invites the section to expel 
 those comrades who will not make their future conduct conform 
 to the rules here laid down. 
 
 The vote was: for expulsion, 27,378; for making a de- 
 mand to withdraw, 2,296 ; for the motion which stated that 
 this question does not concern the party, 2,485; and for 
 the alliance of freemasonry and party, 1,819. 
 
ITALY 93 
 
 2. AFTERMATH OP THE CONGRESS 
 
 (From several Vorwaerts dispatches) 
 
 "The Executive Committee of the Italian Socialist Party 
 has requested the deputies Raimondo, Senape, Lucci, and 
 Sandulli, who stood and were elected as party candidates 
 in San Remo, Gallipoli, Naples, and Torre Annunziata 
 (near Naples), to resign. These deputies have refused to 
 comply with the resolutions of the Ancona Congress. Rai- 
 mondo and Senape, both being Freemasons, have not left 
 the order, whilst Lucci and Sandulli have acted against 
 the resolution on independent tactics in the municipal elec- 
 tions. All four have therefore been expelled from the 
 party, but have retained their seats. The executive can- 
 not, of course, compel them to resign, but evidently wishes 
 to test the feeling in the constituencies. 
 
 "The decision of the party Congress of Ancona, which 
 prohibited the conclusion of electoral alliances in municipal 
 elections has, up to the present (May 16, 1914), caused the 
 following branches either to leave the party or to announce 
 that they would refuse to obey its decisions : Naples, Torre 
 Annunziata, Caserta, Rivaroco, Legure, and 20 branches in 
 Piacenza. 
 
 "Furthermore, the following branches have refused to 
 obey the decision of the Congress to exclude Freemasons: 
 San Remo, Voltri, Ria, and Crevari. In all these places 
 the party executive will proceed forthwith to found new 
 branches. 
 
 "In explaining its reason for seceding from the party, 
 the Naples branch agreed in principle with the non- 
 compromise policy, but said that conditions in Naples and 
 in southern Italy generally were so peculiar that it would 
 not be possible to do any satisfactory work for Socialism 
 
94 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 and for the interest of the working-classes on the basis of 
 the Ancona resolution forbidding alliances with non- 
 Socialist groups and persons. The resolution concluded 
 with an expression of hope that it would be possible later 
 to rejoin the party. 
 
 "The Socialist member for Gallipoli will also probably 
 leave the party on account of the vote of the Congress on 
 freemasonry. This vote and the measures to be taken have 
 been before the parliamentary group, which has discussed 
 it at two meetings. It was finally decided that the par- 
 liamentary group had no power of expulsion, and that only 
 the branch to which a member belonged had power to act 
 in this matter. The members of Parliament who are Free- 
 masons were therefore requested to make this known to 
 their branches. It is stated that 14 of the Socialist parlia- 
 mentary group are Freemasons, but that 12 of them would 
 leave the order rather than the party." 
 
 (See also chapters on "Municipal Socialism," "Tar- 
 iffs," "The General Strike," "Militarism.") 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 RUSSIA AND FINLAND 
 
 RUSSIA 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Russia has three distinct and flourishing movements of 
 a Socialistic character. Delegates from the Social Revolu- 
 tionary and Social Democratic parties are always present 
 at the International Socialist Congresses and the sessions 
 of the International Socialist Bureau. At international 
 meetings of the Socialist members of Parliament repre- 
 sentatives of a third movement, the Labor Party, were also 
 admitted, and this movement is classed as Socialist in the 
 publication of the Bureau. This so-called labor group, 
 however, is in reality merely a more or less Socialistic 
 peasants' party. But it has been in close league with the 
 Socialists and still has immense prestige among the peas- 
 ants in spite of the fact that the number of representatives 
 of this group was reduced from over a hundred in the first 
 Duma to 10 in the fourth. This reduction, be it said, was 
 due largely to the change in the election laws and to police 
 oppression, which is more effective in the country than in 
 the towns. 
 
 The Social Revolutionary Party has almost been driven 
 out of open electoral activity. The central committees and 
 permanent organization of the peasants' party — ^because of 
 the vulnerability of rural agitation — have also been almost 
 annihilated. The leading organized movement is therefore 
 
 95 
 
96 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 that of the Social Democratic Labor Party, — with its vari- 
 ous factions and affiliated national groups. 
 
 n. THE ELECTIONS OP 1912 
 
 The suffrage in Russia is unequal, indirect, and com- 
 plicated in many other ways. Nevertheless, the elections 
 indicate the growth of the movement better than the mem- 
 bership of the two Socialist parties, ' both of which have 
 usually been "illegal" — even when not given over to vio- 
 lent resistance to governmental despotism. Membership in 
 these parties is usually a punishable offense. But voting 
 for Socialist candidates — often undeclared, and only iden- 
 tified by the voters through personal knowledge — is usually 
 safe, in spite of police supervision and interference. 
 
 In the face of steadily increasing electoral restrictions 
 and police interference, however, the Dumas have become 
 more and more oppositional until the last (fourth) Duma 
 actually refused to approve the budget, the purpose for 
 which it was created. This refusal was largely due, no 
 doubt, to the persecution of the capitalist and business 
 interests at the hands of the reigning bureaucracy, sup- 
 ported by the military, ecclesiastical, and landlord caste. 
 But it was also due in part to the rise of the Socialist vote 
 among the middle classes of the cities and towns. 
 
 On account of increasing governmental oppression the 
 Socialists were unable to increase their delegation to the 
 fourth Duma, though they re-elected the 14 representatives 
 as in the previous Duma. 
 
 These results indicate that under equal suffrage the So- 
 cialists, together with the Laborites, would again sweep 
 Russia as in 1907. For under the more favorable, but 
 extremely undemocratic, electoral law of the second Duma 
 (1907) the Socialists secured 101 and the Laborites 116 
 out of a total of 504 deputies. The Socialists continue to 
 
RUSSIA AND FINLAND 97 
 
 hold the overwhelming majority of the wage-earners, and 
 besides make steady progress among the poorer profes- 
 sional classes and other elements of the lower middle 
 classes of the towns. 
 
 In six of the largest purely Russian cities, the electoral 
 law reserves six representatives to the wage-earners. All 
 six of those elected were Socialists. Eight other repre- 
 sentatives were elected with the aid of the middle-class 
 voters, and especially of those of persecuted nationalities. 
 So in Warsaw the Polish and Jewish Socialists elected their 
 common candidates with the help of other radical voters 
 of their nationality, while a full delegation of Socialists, 
 as usual, was returned from the Caucasus. So also other 
 oppressed nationalities such as the Tartars and Letts tend 
 to support Socialist candidates against the Government. 
 
 in. THE SOCIAL DEMOCEATIC GROUP IN THE FOURTH DUMA 
 1. TACTICS AND COMPOSITION OF THE GROUP 
 
 The Social Democratic group in the fourth Duma num- 
 bers 13 deputies. A representative of the Polish Socialist 
 Party, not affiliated with the Russian Social Democratic 
 Labor Party, has been admitted into the group with the 
 right to vote on all questions pertaining to Duma matters. 
 Thus the group has altogether 14 members. In many of 
 their activities they are supported by the so-called "Labor 
 Group, ' ' representing mostly peasants and having 10 depu- 
 ties in the Duma. The Social Democratic and the Labor 
 groups are looked upon in the Russian Parliament as the 
 extreme Left, and are treated as such by the reactionary 
 Right and conservative Center, the latter being the party 
 in power. 
 
 The 14 deputies composing the Social Democratic group 
 are divided according to their occupations as follows : 
 
98 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Workingmen 10 
 
 Journalists 2 
 
 Bookkeeper ; 1 
 
 Merchant 1 
 
 The Social Democratic deputies consider that they were 
 elected by the votes of 1,300,000 workingmen. 
 
 In the first session of the fourth Duma (November, 1912- 
 June, 1913) the Social Democratic group acted as a unit, 
 all the 13 members agreeing on the questions of tactics in 
 the Duma, while still differing as to various party policies. 
 The difference of opinion mainly centered around the same 
 questions that have split the party. Some claim that the 
 party must try to adjust itself to the present conditions 
 in Russia and endeavor to do as much work as possible 
 in the open, thereby being able to reach larger numbers 
 of the laboring class. The old underground method of 
 work, due to the changes in the Russian political and 
 economic conditions, they claim, is but a waste of energy, 
 and accomplishes nothing. The advocates of this policy 
 are called by the opponents "liquidators." SeVen out of 
 13 deputies uphold this policy. On the other hand, the 
 remaining six, comprising what is known as the Lenin fol- 
 lowers in the Social Democratic group, consider the rest 
 traitors to the cause of the revolutionary Social Democracy 
 in Russia, for they believe that the only way left for the 
 Russian Social Democratic Party to remain true is to go 
 back to the old method of work — the underground method. 
 
 At the beginning of the second session of the Duma 
 (fall of 1913), these 6 members demanded from the 7 
 other members that they as a unit shall have equal power 
 to decide questions of tactics in the Duma activities with 
 the other group, though the latter had a majority of 1. 
 The majority group refused this and two separate Social 
 Democratic groups in the Duma resulted. 
 
EUSSIA AND FINLAND 99 
 
 This split called forth protests from many of the workers 
 in Eussia, and resolutions were passed condemning the 
 actions of the groups. It led to bitter internal strife and 
 to discussions in the party press. . . . 
 
 Hence the unsuccessful attempt of the German Socialist 
 Party to bring unity between these different factions. 
 
 The Social Democratic deputies missed no opportunity 
 to speak on every subject under consideration. Their 
 knowledge of facts and their fearless manner of presenting 
 them from the tribune of the Duma began to worry the 
 Government, particularly as their speeches were later 
 printed in all the newspapers of the country, in accord- 
 ance with the established custom of printing stenographic 
 reports of all the sessions of the Duma. It often hap- 
 pened that a Social Democratic deputy was stopped from 
 continuing a speech or excluded from several sessions of 
 the Duma for using disrespectful language or for other- 
 wise conducting himself in a manner unbecoming a mem- 
 ber of the Imperial Duma. When the Social Democratic 
 deputy Petrovski, for instance, spoke in the Duma about 
 the increase of accidents on the railroads, and placed the 
 crime at the doors of the Government, he was excluded 
 from the Duma for five days. 
 
 2. EEPUBLICAN DEMONSTRATION IN THE DUMA (June, 1914) 
 
 (From an account by David Cummings in the New York Call, 
 July 12, 1914) 
 
 " 'The only reform we can adopt in order to make the 
 Senate a real defender of justice is to abolish the monarchy 
 and establish in its stead a democratic republic. ' 
 
 "It was in the course of the consideration of a bill 
 relating to the reformation of the Senate that Tcheidze 
 made the stirring revolutionary remark. In a fiery ad- 
 dress he pointed out that the Senate, the highest tribunal 
 
100 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 in the country, is dominated by a small clique of the Czar's 
 puppets, which tramples on justice and' the rights of the 
 people. He declared that the only workable reform would 
 be the 'establishment of a democratic republic which' — he 
 never had the opportunity to finish the sentence, because 
 of the howling and shouting of the Black Hundred 
 Deputies. 
 
 "The Duma, though black in its makeup, has been of 
 great value to the revolutionary movement. It has, for a 
 long time, been the only place where the few representa- 
 tives of the revolutionary working-class could voice the 
 sentiments of the oppressed people in Eussia and let the 
 civilized world know of the real status of affairs in the 
 Czar's empire. It was the only place where free speech 
 prevailed. 
 
 "But the Government evidently realized that the fre- 
 quent disclosures made on the floor of the Duma by the 
 few Socialists, of the oppression and persecution, which 
 were being sent out broadcast by the representatives of 
 the press, were not a desirable thing for the Government. 
 And an attempt to curb free speech followed. 
 
 "It was several days after Tcheidze made his revolu- 
 tionary address that Maklakov, the Minister of Interna- 
 tional Affairs, appeared in the Duma and demanded that 
 Tcheidze be prosecuted for violating Section 129 of the 
 code relating to sedition and treason. He also demanded 
 that the Laborite (or Peasant Party) Deputy Kerensky 
 be prosecuted on a similar charge. 
 
 "The reports current are that the Cabinet approved of 
 the proposed plan to prosecute Tcheidze, but that it was 
 opposed to prosecuting Kerensky. But Minister Maklakov 
 went to the Duma, it is said, at the behest of the Czar, who 
 wanted both prosecuted. 
 
 "This action of the Government not only aroused the 
 
RUSSIA AND FINLAND 101 
 
 indignation of the Socialist and Labor deputies, but also 
 of some of the Conservative deputies. It had for a long 
 time been the opinion that the deputies had a right freely 
 to express their views on any subject under consideration, 
 a right provided for under Section 4 of the rules of the 
 Duma. 
 
 "But to prevent the prosecution of Tcheidze, whom the 
 Government wanted punished immediately, some of the 
 deputies proposed that the Duma lay over the budget until 
 that time when the bill relating to free speech was to be 
 taken up. 
 
 " 'We will say anything we wish to express, regardless 
 of the punishments that may be inflicted on us,' began 
 Kerensky. 'When we find it necessary to point out that 
 the existing conditions lead to a new form of govern- 
 ment ' 
 
 "At this point Kerensky was called to order by Presi- 
 dent Rodzianko, an Octobrist, who evidently feared that 
 he, too, would be persecuted for permitting such a speech 
 in the Duma, and requested Kerensky not to speak about 
 the form of government. 
 
 " 'We cannot have any respect for those who sing praises 
 of the monarchy which ' 
 
 "Here again Kerensky was interrupted with a request 
 not to refer to the monarchy. 
 
 " 'We have a right,' continued Kerensky, 'to express the 
 opinion that against the monarchy we must put forward 
 the ideal of a republic ' 
 
 At this point President Rodzianko refused to permit 
 Kerensky to proceed. 
 
 "With a great deal of formality President Rodzianko 
 opened the session the next day. The gallery was packed 
 with government officials and an army of reporters. Quiet 
 reigned in the Duma as the ministers, led by Premier 
 
102 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Goremykin, entered and seated themselves in the Cabinet 
 lodge. 
 
 "President Rodzianko took up the proposal of the So- 
 cialist and Labor group to postpone action on the budget 
 until the free speech measure had been considered. 
 Tcheidze was called upon as the first speaker. He pointed 
 out that the Socialist deputies are always persecuted, and 
 declared that the situation was becoming worse daily. 
 
 " 'Of late we are prohibited from speaking in this 
 tribunal about things that were spoken of even during the 
 darkest periods of the reaction. No longer may we speak 
 about a democratic republic. We cannot any longer speak 
 about republican ideas.' 
 
 "He was called to order by the president. 
 
 " 'They won't let us speak,' continued Tcheidze, 'about 
 the republican flag, the republican form. . . . Remember, 
 sooner or later, we will come to a democratic rep ' 
 
 "Here again he was called to order by Rodzianko. As 
 he attempted to continue, the president stopped him, amid 
 the shouts of the Black deputies. . . . 
 
 "But the real dramatic incident occurred when the So- 
 cialist Tschechenelli was asked for a statement. 
 
 " 'What is the use of talking about free speech when 
 you have no idea what freedom is ? ' he began. ' Slaves you 
 are and you will remain. But on the other side of the 
 Tauris Palaca (the place where the Duma has its quar- 
 ters) stand the masses. They will abolish your sys- 
 tem ' 
 
 "He was interrupted by the president several times, 
 and he left the tribunal for his desk. ' Here I will remain, ' 
 he exclaimed. 'Throw me out bodily if you want to.' It 
 was at this point that the soldiery was sent for to exclude 
 Tschechenelli, who left, exclaiming : ' If you practice force 
 I will leave here, you band of slaves. ' 
 
RUSSIA AND FINLAND 103 
 
 "During this incident Vice President Kohevalov left the 
 Duma, slamming the door behind him. 
 
 "Prince Gelovanny, a Laborite deputy, was next 
 called. 'We know that you, the reactionary majority, will 
 conquer us. But we assert that the people are with us 
 and therefore I have joined the obstruction,' he said. 
 
 "Socialist Deputy Kerensky then was called. 'We know 
 very well that in the struggle we are engaged in against 
 these gentlemen (pointing to the Cabinet members) you 
 will be on their side. But we are certain that, though we 
 are persecuted, we are the only true representatives of the 
 Russian people. As long as the illegal government tram- 
 ples on the rights of the people we will carry on the fight 
 against the present system. We know what awaits us, but 
 we are willing to sacrifice ourselves in order to establish 
 a government that the people will manage on the principles 
 of universal suffrage.' 
 
 "He refused to leave the Duma and the soldiers were 
 ordered to exclude him. He left, exclaiming: 'Force 
 reigns here, but freedom will be the victor.' 
 
 "With the Socialist Petrovsky the same scene was en- 
 acted. ' ' 
 
 These events were followed, during the next month 
 (July) by the remarkable general strike of which an ac- 
 count is given in Mr. Walling 's volume on The Socialists 
 and the War. 
 
 FINLAND 
 
 In 1907 the Socialist Party elected 80 deputies (9 of 
 them women) ; in 1911 the deputies were 86 (9 women) ; 
 and in 1913, 90 Socialists were elected, the other four par- 
 ties numbering 29, 28, 28, and 25. It casts approximately 
 40 per cent of the total vote. 
 
104 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 IV. THE MOVEMENT IN FINLAND 
 
 (From Die Neue Zeit, Berlin) 
 
 "The development of the Finnish Socialist Party has 
 taken place up to the present in two curves. At the found- 
 ing of the party in 1899 it had 9,446 members. This num- 
 ber sank in 1901 to 5,894. Immediately after the revolu- 
 tion — 1906 — this membership increased to 85,000. Then it 
 decreased again and in 1911 the party had 48,406 mem- 
 bers. The year 1912 again brought an increase in member- 
 ship to 51,798 members. 
 
 "Of a different character from the increasing and de- 
 creasing curve of the membership are the inner life and the 
 inner strength of the party. For instance the number of 
 organizations which have joined the party has increased 
 from year to year. This number grew from 614 in 1899 to 
 1,552 in 1912. The number of workingmen's clubhouses, 
 which the Finnish comrades must provide themselves with, 
 since Finland has no restaurants with meeting or assem- 
 bly rooms, increased in the same period from 14 to 796. 
 There are more clubhouses here than there are churches. 
 
 "The libraries in the clubhouses also grow from year 
 to year. In the year 1899 these contained 3,312 volumes, 
 while in 1912 this number had increased to 82,000. The 
 wealth of the organizations connected with the party 
 amounted in 1899 to 285,098 Finnish marks. This amount 
 had increased by 1912 to 6,256,886 marks. 
 
 "The same development has taken place in connection 
 with the press and other periodical literature. The present 
 number of papers is the following : 
 
 "In six larger towns — Helsingfors, Tammerfors, Abo, 
 Wiborg, Uleaborg, and Lachtis — daily papers are issued. 
 The central organ, Tyoemies, in Helsingfors, has a circula- 
 tion of 30,000, a large number for Finland, and, by the 
 
EUSSIA AND FINLAND 105 
 
 way, the largest in the country. To these we must add 
 4 daily Finnish Socialist papers in America, 1 woman's 
 paper, 2 comic journals, and 2 magazines which are also 
 read in Finland. 
 
 "The emigration from Finland to America has been 
 going on for decades. The small three million nation of 
 'the country of the thousand lakes' has sent many thou- 
 sands of her sons and daughters over the big pond, because 
 the fatherland had become too small for them! (Finland 
 is almost as large as Prussia.) The Finnish workers in 
 America form Socialist organizations after the type of the 
 Fatherland. 
 
 "Their number is about 15,000. They have their own 
 party school in Smithville, Minn. The Finns are credited 
 by the American comrades with good organizations." 
 
 V. THE SOCIAL DEMOCEATIC PAETY CONVENTION OP FINLAND, 
 
 1914 
 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 "The chief question discussed at the Eighth Convention 
 of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, held in Tammer- 
 fors, the Finnish Manchester, in 1914, was : Shall the Social 
 Democratic group have the right to elect one of its own 
 members as president of the Landtag, and if so, under what 
 circumstances? The Socialist representatives last spring 
 participated .in the election of a president of the Landtag 
 and elected a comrade, Oskar Tokoi. The action of the 
 group was criticised within and without the party as op- 
 portunistic. 
 
 "In the Convention a large majority of the speakers 
 expressed themselves in favor of the action of the Landtag 
 group, although a number of them pointed out the danger 
 of going too far along this line. 
 
106 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 "The Convention decided that, as a rule, no member of 
 the Social Democratic Party should be a candidate for the 
 presidency. "Where, on account of capitalist intrigues or 
 capitalist exploitation, it seemed advisable to elect a So- 
 cialist to the presidency, permission, however, was granted 
 to do this, providing the comrade in question was immedi- 
 ately freed from the impossible situation as soon as the 
 necessity which furnished the motive for the election had 
 disappeared. A strong minority of 44 out of 89, on the 
 other hand, demanded that a Social Democratic president, 
 once elected, should hold his seat till the end of the 
 session. 
 
 "The Convention also adopted a sharp resolution 
 against the plan of the Kussian Government to levy a 
 grain tax on the Finnish people, and struck a blow at the 
 same time against the Finnish landowners who were openly 
 or secretly supporting the new measure. The tax, it was 
 declared, would increase the price of the bread by one- 
 third, practically prohibiting the importation of German 
 and American grain. 
 
 "The Party Convention was again forced to protest 
 against renewed instances of capitalist-class justice. There 
 are generally a number of Socialist editors and agitators 
 in jail. On this occasion the protest was made against 
 Eussia on account of its unwarranted prosecution of Fin- 
 nish officials. A steadily growing number of Finnish 
 magistrates were languishing in the jails of St. Petersburg 
 for refusing to assist in the execution of the illegal demands 
 of the Russian Government. Although the proletariat itself 
 had often suffered from the partisan spirit of these same 
 officials, it gladly tendered them its tribute in such cases 
 where they had defended the laws and the autonomy of 
 the country. 
 
 "In considering party matters, the question of the rela- 
 
KUSSIA AND FINLAND 107 
 
 tion of the party to its newspapers was found of particular 
 importance. A number of years ago the question arose as 
 to the advisability of bringing the largest Social Demo- 
 cratic newspaper, Tyomies, the central organ of the party, 
 with a daily circulation of 27,000, published in Helsing- 
 fors, into closer contact with the party. The workingmen 
 owners of the paper feared that the proposed changes 
 would rob the Tyomies of its proletarian character, inas- 
 much as they considered the majority of the party more 
 or less revisionistic. 
 
 "At this convention the executive board presented a 
 resolution recognizing in principle the right of the party 
 to control its chief organ and insisted,' among other things, 
 that the editorial staff be appointed by the executive 
 board. After a lively discussion this resolution was 
 adopted with a vote of 51 to 39." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 
 
 HOLLAND 
 
 I. INTEODUCTOEY 
 
 The Social Democratic Labor Party was founded in Hol- 
 land in 1894. Three years later at the general election it 
 polled 13,000 votes and elected 3 deputies in a chamber of 
 IQO. In 1901 its vote grew to 38,279 and its deputies were 
 8. In 1905 its popular vote was 65,743, but its deputies 
 only 7 ; in 1910 it had 82,494 votes and still only 7 deputies ; 
 but in June, 1913, with a popular vote increase to 144,000, 
 it secured 19 seats in Parliament. The party has 1 daily 
 paper, 14 weeklies, and 7 other periodicals. 
 
 n. THE PAETT CONGRESS OP 1914 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 "The first day of the Congress was devoted to discussion 
 of the year's report made by the executive committee, and 
 to the report of the parliamentary section. A short dispute 
 took place between delegates Mendels and Troelstra, rela- 
 tive to war budgets, Mendels declaring that each war 
 budget showing increased expenditures must be opposed; 
 Troelstra, on the other hand, declaring that under certain 
 conditions the party must support a war budget to prevent 
 the overthrow of an electoral franchise cabinet. 
 
 "At the afternoon session a resolution of the executive 
 
 108 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 109 
 
 committee regarding election agitation was discussed. The 
 Congress voted unanimously in favor of setting aside a 
 week day for a demonstration on this subject. All work 
 was to stop, in case the Upper House opposed the revision 
 of the constitution. A proposal to co-operate with the Lib- 
 erals in certain provincial elections was accepted by a large 
 majority." 
 
 m. SOCIALIST PARTY PEOGRAM 
 
 At the eighteenth Party Congress which took place at 
 Leyden in April, 1913, the discussion and adoption of a 
 new program aroused greatest interest. The program ex- 
 plained by Troelstra and van der Goes was accepted in the 
 following form: 
 
 The development of society has led to a form of capitalistic 
 production in ■which the mass of producers is separated from 
 the means of production. This enables owners to make profits 
 from workers, who are driven by necessity to sell their pro- 
 ductive powers. Two classes, the proletariat and the capitalistic 
 class, are opposed to each other continually on account of their 
 varying interests. 
 
 Under this system competition and profit force a continual 
 improvement of the technique for the reduction of wages. They 
 lead to accumulation of wealth by the capitalistic class, and to 
 poverty, uncertainty of existence, and dependence, trying, monot- 
 onous and unhealthy work of men and women, overlong working- 
 hours and unemployment, child labor, destruction of family life 
 and the weakening of the physique in the proletariat. It also 
 leads to continued pauperism and prostitution, alcoholism, and 
 crime. The working-class, where it is unable to cheek the cap- 
 italistic hunger for profit, falls a prey to deterioration and 
 misery, only limited by the natural bounds of human privation 
 and by the requirements of the capitalist interests themselves. 
 The disproportion between the increasing productivity of the 
 workers and the small consuming powers of the masses and the 
 absence of social regulation of production lead again and again 
 to crises in industrial life, which still further intensify tendencies 
 of capitalistic production. 
 
110 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 This causes resistance among the proletariat. The workers 
 organize themselves into unions and into parties on the political 
 field. They realize more and more that it is their task to fight 
 capitalism as a system and to try to take over the management 
 of society. In its fight for political rights and social reform, 
 the -working-class, as long as it is in the minority, comes up 
 against the superior force of the ruling class, which, under the 
 influence of the growing power of the proletariat, meets the 
 demands of the latter reluctantly, and only as far as the main- 
 tenance of their domination and the nature of the capitalistic 
 system permit. 
 
 In the meanwhile, capitalistic development itself creates the 
 economic preliminary condition for a new productive system, 
 which does not depend on the suppression of one class by the 
 other, but on social ownership and administration of the means 
 of production, the object of which is not the profit of individ- 
 uals, but the satisfaction of the needs of all classes. 
 
 Competition and the advance of science force us towards pro- 
 duction on a large scale, and, on this account, decrease the im- 
 portance of smaller industries, make the smaller manufacturers 
 dependent on the large industrial undertakings, or force them 
 to become wage-earners. 
 
 Though this process of concentration of management does not 
 show itself to-day in the same manner in agricultural under- 
 taking as in trade, transportation, and industry, one can see the 
 gradually increasing power of capital in the spreading of the 
 leasing system, and also in the growing influence of industrial 
 undertakings in agriculture, and the movement towards the 
 monopolization of the market by large capital. Wherever the 
 agrarian small undertaking holds out against the large enterprise 
 or spreads itself, we can be certain that those who find their 
 existence by it overwork themselves and live in privation. This 
 proves that the small farmer in the future, with his demand for 
 a higher standard of living, will unite with the working-class. 
 In addition to this, an increasingly large part of actual agrarian 
 work has been taken over into the sphere of industry, through 
 the development of the factory system. 
 
 The continued development of large-scale production competi- 
 tion endangers profits; this again leads to a further increase of 
 capitalistic monopoly and to further restriction of the sphere of 
 the competition. Industry and commerce come more and more 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 111 
 
 under the rule of banking capital; profit becomes independent 
 of any function in production and exchange. The capitalist loses 
 his importance as a manager of an industrial enterprise and 
 becomes nothing but a parasite. The management is arranged on 
 such a footing that it is ripe to be taken over by society. "With 
 this stage, the foundation is laid for the Socialistic system of 
 production and for production for the general good. In the 
 meantime, numerous industries are already being conducted by 
 public instead of private administrative bodies and the co-opera- 
 tive system also limits the sphere of private life. 
 
 With the increasing possibility of Socialism there develops a 
 growing desire for it, along with the power to realize it. The 
 immense increase of wealth and luxuries of the capitalists in- 
 duces the worker to demand more of life's comforts, while the 
 increase of rents, a consequence of overpopulation in large 
 towns, and the increased cost of living, lower his condition. The 
 divisions inside of the capitalist class become less evident the 
 more the pressure of the workers for new rights and reforms 
 increases, and the more dangerous he becomes to society and the 
 capitalist system. This is proved by the formation of employers' 
 unions opposing the trade-unions of workers, just as in the 
 political field. The magnates of capital, at the head of giant 
 trusts, who make entire society tributary by their control of raw 
 m»terial, transportation, and the means of production, understand 
 how to make use of administrations and legislation. They drive 
 governments to imperialism and colonial polities, and in connec- 
 tion with these to increased military burdens and increasing dis- 
 cord in international relations. 
 
 At the same time, the power of the workers against capital is 
 increasing. A growing numerical preponderance of the pro- 
 letariat follows industrial concentration. A new element develop- 
 ing in its ranks is the " new middle-class," technical experts, and 
 employees of large industries, who, in regard to uncertainty of 
 existence and dependence on the capitalists, resemble the workers. 
 With it come groups whose interests, though not directly opposed 
 to those of capitalism, have no share in its management. . . . 
 The proletariat receives in and through the class struggle an 
 experience, a scientific and political education, a social and ethical 
 improvement, and an expansion and strengthening of its organ- 
 ization, that will not only fit it to break the resistance of the 
 ruling class but which will also fit it for the task of filling their 
 
112 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 place. It is invincible in this aspiration because it has to fulfill 
 its historical task of freeing society from a system which has 
 become economically obsolete and which is ethically condemned. 
 
 The proletariat can break the resistance offered by the capital- 
 istic class to the taking over of the management of industries 
 from private to collective ownership only through the conquest 
 of political power. For this purpose the workers, who have come 
 to a consciousness of their task in the class struggle, have organ- 
 ized all over the world. 
 
 The Social Democratic Labor Party in the Netherlands has as 
 its goal the organization of the proletariat of the Netherlands 
 into an independent political party for the participation in the 
 international struggle of the working-class. It aims at unity in 
 the proletarian class struggle, and supports, as far as it can, 
 every economic and political movement of the workers which 
 strives to better conditions of living in such a manner that the 
 class consciousness of the workers is strengthened and their power 
 as against that of the ruling class is increased. 
 
 IV. THE RESULT OP PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN HOLLAND 
 
 By F. M. Wibaut. (1913.) 
 
 ' ' The Social Democratic Labor platform in the past elec- 
 tion was practically a demand for universal suffrage. It 
 is well known that the Marxian Socialists in 1909 de- 
 manded that the question of universal suffrage be made 
 our sole issue. At that time we also emphasized other 
 demands, such as old-age pension, the ten-hour day, etc. 
 Our agitation in the last years, though not lacking in 
 energy, was carried on in such a manner that no serious 
 differences arose between the 'reform' and 'Marxian' 
 wings of the party. The feeling that no reforms can be 
 won until general suffrage is an accomplished fact has 
 taken root everywhere, and the whole party is unani- 
 mously in favor of making the struggle wholly a fight for 
 the right to vote. 
 
 ' ' Our program included only one other demand, namely, 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 113 
 
 that the free old-age pension of at least two gulden weekly 
 for men and women over 70 years of age, that has just 
 been accepted by the Parliament as introduced by the Gov- 
 ernment in its invalid bill, be sustained should the parties 
 of the Left demand the nullification of the invalid insur- 
 ance bill. . . . With this one exception, our party declared 
 that the Government could not be regarded as a body fit 
 for effective legislation until at least manhood suffrage had 
 been made a fact by constitutional amendment. This sit- 
 uation forced the parties of the Left to promise their sup- 
 port of a universal suffrage measure in order to retain its 
 power. Our party waged an energetic fight against in- 
 creased tariffs, but our attention was concentrated mainly 
 upon the one question of universal suffrage. . . . 
 
 "The Free Liberals accepted the phrase 'General Suf- 
 frage,' but desired to offset its evil effects by giving in- 
 creased powers to the Senate, the upper Chamber. To- 
 day our Senate can only adopt or reject bills. . . . Our 
 party is opposed to the Senate, even in its present re- 
 stricted form, because of its plutocratic character and its 
 firm opposition to all labor legislation. 
 
 "When, therefore, we were called upon to decide what 
 should be our participation in the by-elections, we de- 
 manded from all candidates of the Left the promise 
 that they would unqualifiedly oppose any increase in 
 the powers of the Senate in the coming constitutional 
 revision. . . . 
 
 "Three days before the by-elections, when they saw 
 that our party insisted upon a definite personal acceptance 
 of our proposal, they all accepted except one Free Liberal 
 candidate. . . . 
 
 "Then, and only then, did our executive board call 
 upon our voters to support the candidates of the Left who 
 had definitely promised to support our measure in the 
 
114 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE WOKLD 
 
 coming session. Not one among all the candidates of the 
 Eight favored extended suffrage. In the general election, 
 of course, we supported only our 94 candidates against the 
 Left as well as against the Right. In the by-election we 
 supported the Left only where it positively guaranteed its 
 position as the ruling party. There was nothing resem- 
 bling a fusion between the Progressives and the Social- 
 ists. 
 ' ' The results in the by-elections were as follows : 
 
 New Parliament Old Parliament 
 
 Catholics 25 26 
 
 Calvinists 11 20 
 
 Christian Histories 9 13 
 
 — 45 — 59 
 
 Liberal Union 20 21 
 
 Free Liberals 10 4 
 
 Progressive Democrats 7 9 
 
 — 37 — 34 
 Social Democratic L. P 18 7 
 
 18 — 7 
 
 100 100 
 
 "Our party had advanced, as the table shows, from 7 
 to 18 seats. With this great increase, we hold to-day the 
 number of seats that approximately corresponds to the vote 
 cast for our party. . . . 
 
 "The Catholic-Calvinistic government was overthrown. 
 . . . The only [non-Socialist] group . . . that reported 
 a marked gain were the Free Liberals, the representatives 
 of large capital. . . . The Progressive Fusion will head the 
 government. It will only hold its place, however, if it 
 holds to its election promises, and carries out our demands 
 quickly and faithfully. 
 
 ' ' Some time ago it was maintained by our Marxists that 
 the party was more influential in the outlying agrarian 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 115 
 
 districts than in the larger cities. They feared that this 
 might have an unfavorable effect upon the movement and 
 might cause it to degenerate into middle-class reform chan- 
 nels. In 1909 we received the first comforting assurance 
 that this fear was groundless. 
 
 "In this election we show an astounding increase, par- 
 ticularly in the large cities and industrial centers, among 
 the people from whom we may expect the most enthusiastic 
 support of our purely Socialist propaganda. 
 
 "The election percentage of the Social Democracy aver- 
 ages as follows : 
 
 OUT or 100 VOTES CAST 
 
 1901 1905 1909 1913 
 
 1. In large cities including more than 
 
 one election district (Amsterdam, 
 
 Rotterdam, Haag, and Utrecht) .10.9 15.7 21.3 32.8 
 
 2. In smaller cities which form one 
 
 election district (Groningen, 
 
 Haarlem, Leiden, Arnhem) 13.4 12.5 13.3 23.1 
 
 3. In those districts where a small city 
 
 holds more than one-half of the 
 
 voters of the district 13.5 13.9 16.8 26.4 
 
 4. In industrial districts in the coun- 
 
 try 17.6 17.9 19.7 22.9 
 
 5. The remaining districts, usually 
 
 wholly or at least half -agrarian 
 (not including the provinces Bra- 
 bant and Limburg) 17.4 11.7 9.6 12.4 
 
 "These figures prove that in the large cities every third 
 voter cast his ballot for the Social Democratic Labor ticket, 
 while in 1909 only 1 out of 5, in 1905 less than 1 out of 6, 
 in 1900 only 1 out of 10 were with us. In the other munici- 
 pal districts as represented by groups 2 and 3 of the table, 
 every fourth voter voted our ticket. In 1909 the propor- 
 tion was 1 out of 7, in 1905, 1 out of 8. This shows that 
 
116 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 universal suffrage will soon give us the majority of votes 
 in the large cities. 
 
 "On the other hand, we find that in 1901, 65 out of 
 every 100 Socialist votes came from the country, while 
 only 35 came from city districts. In 1913 this proportion 
 was already reversed. Now 53 out of every 100 votes came 
 from municipal and only 47 from country districts. This, 
 too, proves that our party is growing chiefly in the sections 
 occupied hy the modern proletariat. . . . 
 
 "The growth of our membership and the great increase 
 in the circulation of our party press during the past years 
 justify the most sanguine expectations. This may be 
 ascribed, partly, to the systematic, intensive distribution 
 of good leaflets during the past two years. A great part 
 of our success, however, we owe to our growing deepening 
 agitation for the right to vote. 
 
 "Our suffrage agitation is carried on, at all times, for 
 men and women alike. The election program of the pro- 
 gressive parties of the Government does not demand 
 woman suffrage for the coming constitutional amendment. 
 There is little hope that we will succeed this time in doing 
 more than to keep out of the constitution all clauses that 
 may become a hindrance to the passage of a women suffrage 
 bill in the future. . . . 
 
 "Besides the 144,375 Social Democratic Labor votes cast 
 for our party, there were other Socialist votes. The Social 
 Democratic Party, the party of the Marxians, who left our 
 ranks at Deventer, had nominated candidates in 18 dis- 
 tricts. Their total vote was 1,340. Four years ago they 
 polled 542. At that time there seemed a possibility of 
 their development into a real political party. Since then 
 the S. D. P. has constantly insisted that it alone represents 
 Marxism in Holland, that the proletariat of the large cities 
 would join its ranks. The vote cast in its favor in the 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 117 
 
 4 Amsterdam districts was 56, 117, 18, and 147, as com- 
 pared with 1,837, 7,309, 1,511, 8,204 in the same districts 
 in favor of the Social Democratic Labor Party." 
 
 V. THE GENERAL POLITICAL SITUATION IN HOLLAND 
 
 (From Vorwaerts, December 18, 1913) 
 ' ' The Dutch Social Democracy is living through stirring 
 times. The first part of the year 1918 was completely 
 taken up with the enthusiastic campaign, culminating in 
 a glorious victory on June 25. But . . . right after the 
 election the party faced, for the first time, the difficult 
 task of deciding for or against participation in the forma- 
 tion of a ministry. It was only after an extremely heated 
 discussion that a final decision was reached on August 
 10 . . . [against such participation]. Though the party 
 remained united, it is hardly to be expected that any 
 movement should pass through such a crisis unscarred. 
 . . . "We need hardly say that the capitalist press is unani- 
 mous in denouncing us as traitors to the cause of democracy 
 and social reform. In the meantime only 2 of the 5 special 
 elections in the districts that we had captured in June 
 resulted in our favor. . . . The loss of 3 out of 18 seats 
 has made a deep impression within as well as outside the 
 party. . . . The time was ripe for a union of capitalist 
 forces against us in the by-elections. The suppression of 
 the Social Democracy must be accomplished at all cost. 
 Our action in the ministerial crisis may, perhaps, have 
 been an added factor. ... 
 
 "How does our parliamentary group stand toward the 
 Government? In general the party is following out its 
 usual tactics; it supports every measure that is in the 
 interest of the proletariat and opposes everything that 
 
118 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 may harm the labor movement. . . . For the first time 
 Holland has a Cabinet that depends considerably upon our 
 support, whose program, as a whole, includes the most 
 progressive measures promised to our party by the Liberals 
 before the by-elections. Already a bill providing for the 
 extension of free old-age pensions to cover all aged people 
 has been placed upon the order of business. . . . The self- 
 evident tendency of the last elections makes it impossible 
 for a government to refuse to carry out the reforms that 
 stand at the zenith of popular interest. . . . Our parlia- 
 mentary tactics must now be concentrated upon the realiza- 
 tion of the governmental program in all of its reform 
 measures. But that does not mean that we sell out, body 
 and soul, to our capitalist rulers. We fully uphold our 
 right, our duty, as Socialists, to criticise everything the 
 Government, the administration, the judiciary may do. 
 The necessity of preserving this liberty was, in fact, one 
 of the main arguments in favor of our refusal to join the 
 Ministry. This is the more necessary, because the govern- 
 mental program is double-faced. On the one side it shows 
 the reform, while on the other side is revealed, with brutal 
 frankness, the upholding of militarism. That is the dark 
 cloud in the beautiful sky of bourgeois democracy. The 
 Crown speech contained the following sentence: 'For the 
 defense of Netherland-India, we propose the building of a 
 dreadnought, the cost of which shall be covered from In- 
 dian funds. ' 
 
 ' ' This marks the first invasion of imperialism on a larger 
 scale into Holland. . . . The invasion of capital into the 
 ' Far East calls forth there the same struggles that marked 
 colonization along the Atlantic and the North Sea a hun- 
 dred or more years ago. "We know that this means in- 
 creased armaments. The mad rush for military supremacy, 
 in small countries like Holland, is fatal to all social prog- 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 119 
 
 ress. Into this world-pool our little nation is being 
 drawn. . . . 
 
 "It is plain demagogy ... to try to prove that the mili- 
 tary budget would be entirely different if the Social Demo- 
 crats had not refused to elect members into the Ministry. 
 . . . [Certain comrades] favored participation in minis- 
 terial government, partly because [they] feared that the 
 failure to form a Liberal-Socialist cabinet would mean a 
 cabinet that would support the Right in the question of 
 increased military expenditure. ... In our opinion, ex- 
 actly the reverse is true. The Liberals were so insistent 
 in their request that we form a ministry in conjunction 
 with them because they desired to stifle our opposition to 
 their military plans at the outset. One ean hardly con- 
 ceive of a more beautiful opportunity to make us share 
 responsibility for new, oppressive military appropria- 
 tions. ..." 
 
 VI. THE MINISTEEIAL CKISIS IN HOLLAND AND THE SOCIAL 
 DEMOCEACT 
 
 By J. Fedder, Amsterdam 
 (From Vorwaerts, August 30, 1913) 
 
 ' ' Shortly after our comrades in Denmark had refused to 
 send a number of its members into the Ministry, the ques- 
 tion of ministerialism arose in the party of Holland. . . . 
 [The] form of ministerialism, in which Social Democrats 
 accept a place in the Ministry as the representatives of 
 their party, is of far greater consequence to the movement 
 than is the case of Briand or Millerand, who were called 
 upon, as individuals, to participate in the administra- 
 tion. . . . 
 
 "Let us see what happened. . . . 
 
 ' ' The Vorwaerts has already reported the wonderful sue- 
 
120 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 cess of our Social Democratic Labor Party in the last elec- 
 tion, where our vote increased from 82,000 in 1909 to 
 144,000, and our representation from 7 to 18 men. 
 
 "Immediately after the by-elections which decided the 
 fate of the clerical majority, the Christian ministry was 
 compelled to resign. After a conference with the most 
 prominent political leaders, among them, for the first time, 
 one of our comrades, Troelstra, the Queen called upon the 
 Eadieal leader. Dr. Bos, to form a ministry 'out of the 
 whole Left' (as we read in the communication of the 
 press). On July 12, Comrade Troelstra, as chairman of 
 our group, received a communication in which we were 
 officially offered the privilege of electing three members to 
 a ministry, for whose activity Dr. Bos presented the fol- 
 lowing program : 
 
 1. Constitutional amendment providing general suffrage for 
 men, without altering the rights of the Upper House. Removal 
 of all hindrances to the adoption of woman suffrage. Removal 
 of all hindrances to the right of women to hold office. 
 
 2. Extension of the Invalid bill just passed, so that its free 
 old-age pension may apply not only to wage-workers, but to all 
 needy aged people. 
 
 3. The money necessary to defray these expenditures to be 
 raised by levying direct taxes (chiefly income and property 
 taxes). 
 
 "This program was the exact expression of the last elec- 
 tion, and was a reiteration of the affirmative answer to 
 our demands given us by the Liberals before the by- 
 election. 
 
 "In his answer, Comrade Troelstra wrote that the pro- 
 posed program was, in every sense of the word, a 'sound 
 basis for any ministry which would take the reins at the 
 present time.' 
 
 "But he called attention to one dark spot in the letter 
 which offered to our party the ministerial portfolio; it 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 121 
 
 contained not a word to prove the absolute necessity of 
 a co-ordination between Liberals and Social Democrats. 
 This, however, was necessary, because the Social Demo- 
 crats would not consider participation in the Ministry 
 unless this necessity was clearly proved. Our action was 
 based upon the resolution adopted by the International 
 Congress of 1900. (See Chapter I, Part I.) To us there 
 existed only one question: was the necessity such that it 
 would warrant our sending ministers to take an active 
 part in a capitalist administration ? 
 
 "A clear answer to this question was the more necessary 
 — as Comrade Troelstra showed clearly and uncompromis- 
 ingly — because a Liberal-Socialist ministry must be much 
 more powerful to withstand clerical attacks than is neces- 
 sary for one that is formed of Liberals only. 
 
 "The capitalist character of the state had been ratified 
 by the votes of more than 82 per cent of the nation, and 
 must therefore bring with it a capitalist government. This 
 was a necessity, which could not be avoided at present, not 
 even if three Socialists should enter the Ministry. 
 
 "In every question of fundamental importance, as for 
 instance, our colonial policy, militarism, judicial prob- 
 lems, the attitude of the Government toward strikes and 
 lockouts that are sure to take place, in a hundred minor 
 questions of daily routine business, the impossibility of 
 harmonious co-operation between Socialists and Liberals, 
 the eternal conflict of their views in international and po- 
 litical problems, would become increasingly evident. This 
 would inevitably injure the activity of the Ministry. 
 
 "This is the more likely because the Clericals still hold 
 a majority in the Upper House, which can be held in check 
 only by a strong Ministry. Comrade Troelstra asked, 
 therefore, the open question: Is the co-operation of the 
 Social Democratic Party with the Fusion of the Liberal 
 
122 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 parties a condition sine qua non if the proposed program 
 is to be carried out? 
 
 "Realizing our responsibility to the proletariat in the 
 struggle for universal suffrage and for a free old-age pen- 
 sion, the Social Democratic group, through Troelstra, de- 
 clared its readiness to support a ministry that should carry 
 these points as important parts of its program. It even 
 promised to support the military budget during the time 
 necessary for the passage of the above bills, provided the 
 total of this budget was not larger than that of the budget 
 for 1912-1913. 
 
 "There would be no complete fusion of the two parties, 
 [but] for a definite period of time, to be determined be- 
 forehand, we promised our support, because we feared that 
 the Clerical minority would vote against the budget, in 
 order to prevent the passage of the reform measures, by 
 precipitating a new ministerial crisis. 
 
 "Dr. Bos' answer to this letter and the demands made 
 therein was very unclear. ... 
 
 "Thereupon a conference of the executive board, the 
 members of Parliament, and the editors of our organ, Het 
 Yolk, was called July 19, which rejected the offer of three 
 portfolios by 13 votes against 8. The minority feared the 
 uncertainty likely to result from our refusal and pre- 
 ferred taking the more certain path. The majority was 
 composed of two groups, those who absolutely refused en- 
 trance into the Ministry at the present time, and those 
 who were willing to consider it in time of necessity, but 
 were of the opinion that this necessity did not exist at the 
 present time. ... On July 30, the Liberal Fusion an- 
 swered by refusing to undertake alone the formation of 
 a ministry, in spite of our promised assistance. . . . 
 
 ' ' The chairman and vice-chairman of our party, the Com- 
 rades Vliegen and Schaper, after visiting Dr. Bos, called 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 123 
 
 a second party conference. The following questions were 
 discussed: (1) Does this refusal of the Liberals constitute 
 the necessity mentioned in the Amsterdam resolution? (2) 
 Would the participation of the Socialists in the Ministry 
 increase the possibility of carrying out the program pro- 
 posed by Bos ? 
 
 "The majority of the Conference now favored the ac- 
 ceptance of cabinet portfolios. Two resolutions were pre- 
 sented and an extraordinary party convention called. 
 
 "The Convention met in ZwoUe on the ninth and tenth 
 of August. After a heated discussion, the resolution pro- 
 posed by the minority of the party conference was adopted 
 by a vote of 375 against 320. The resolution expressed 
 the following : 
 
 A party like the' Social Democratic Labor Party, that is in 
 its origin and character unalterably opposed to capitalist rule, is 
 not obliged to enter a capitalist Ministry. 
 
 The Social Democratic Labor Party has done its full duty in 
 the fight for universal suffrage and old-age pensions by its will- 
 ingness to support every cabinet which will strive to realize 
 these reforms. 
 
 On the other hand, the Liberal Fusion has made the solution 
 of this problem exceedingly difficult by insisting upon a Liberal 
 Socialist Ministry. 
 
 This action of the Liberals does not follow from a lack of 
 power, but rather from a lack of good will. The exceptional 
 necessity that is mentioned in the Resolution of the International 
 Congress of 1900 does not exist. 
 
 The participation of Socialists in a capitalist Ministry would 
 not be in the interests of the proletariat, therefore, considering 
 the present political situation. 
 
 "Our participation in the Ministry would have com- 
 pletely changed our method of political combat, and our 
 attitude toward the other parties for some time to come. 
 
124 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 In this ease we would have rested on our arms and de- 
 clared a temporary peace with progressive capitalist par- 
 ties. The issue at stake in this case, as a constitutional 
 amendment, necessitates a parliamentary discussion of the 
 question in two sessions, as well as a dissolution of both 
 Houses and a new election. In consequence this co-opera- 
 tion of Socialist and Liberal forces would necessarily 
 extend over a period of years (at least five or six) . During 
 this time all open warfare between the party, as the po- 
 litical representative of the proletariat, and its capitalist 
 opponents, would be practically at a standstill. Dr. Bos, 
 even in his first request for participation, spoke of the 
 necessity of a union of forces in the Government, in the 
 Lower House, and in the nation. 
 
 "The last years have brought to Holland a notable in- 
 crease in the strength and militancy of its labor unions. A 
 union with the Liberals would, in all probability, mean a 
 disturbance in the present harmonious and profitable rela- 
 tions between the labor unions and the party. 
 
 "But even from a purely political point of view, the 
 party would inevitably be discredited. The speaker of 
 the majority pointed out that, as a part of the Ministry, 
 we would be held responsible for its activity, a fact that 
 would surely cost us the sympathy of a large part of the 
 general public, unless we were in a large majority in the 
 cabinet. It is more than doubtful, however, whether this 
 condition will ever be fulfilled, whether, in this advanced 
 stage of the class struggle, we would still be asked to 
 take a portfolio in a ministry. For, after all, this request 
 to join the Ministry is a sign of our weakness rather than 
 of our strength. 
 
 "These are two dangers that should not be taken too 
 lightly, dangers that are practically sure to result. Added 
 to these considerations is a third which must not be over- 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 125 
 
 looked. "We are risking the unity of our movement. A 
 complete change of party tactics, such as is here involved, 
 must needs arouse a storm of bitter recriminations between 
 the representatives on either side, would strike into the 
 parliamentary group, and would greatly impair the ef- 
 ficiency and energy of our organization. And this at a 
 time when the Socialist movement in the Netherlands is 
 just slowly beginning to unite its forces, at a time when 
 the enemies of our movement, the Syndicalists, who are 
 still powerful in a number of industries, and a small party 
 of the Marxians, would profit by our quarrels. . . . 
 
 "The old-age pension bill has become more and more 
 popular as a result of 15 years of Socialist agitation. . . . 
 We could not allow this reform, whose realization has been 
 practically assured by the election, to vanish into thin 
 air. . . . Let us examine for a moment the general po- 
 litical influence of the decision of this Convention. 
 
 "The Holland Parliament is made up of two large 
 divisions: on the Right, the Christians, composed of two 
 evangelic-clerical parties and one Catholic party (which 
 is by far the strongest of the three), who together are 
 known by the collective name, 'The Coalition'; on the 
 Left are three closely united progressive parties, known as 
 'The Concentration,' and the Social Democracy. This 
 division into two fields, the so-called antithesis between 
 believers and unbelievers, is a heavy burden upon our in- 
 ternal politics, and particularly weakens the working- 
 class. Its ranks have been split by the struggle between 
 these elements. The Clericals especially have enjoyed the 
 implicit support of a considerable number of workers who 
 under all circumstances will vote in their favor. 
 
 "The active and independent campaign of the Social 
 Democratic Labor Party for universal suffrage has, for the 
 first time, succeeded in shaking the allegiance of a large 
 
126 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 number of these Christian voters. This fortunate begin- 
 ning would have been severely hampered by a strengthen- 
 ing of this line of religious opposition. The deepening of 
 this line of demarcation between believer and unbeliever, 
 which would have resulted from a fusion of our forces with 
 the Liberals, would have been anything but favorable to 
 our influence upon this part of the population. 
 
 ' ' Even from a purely parliamentary point of view, such 
 a fusion would have been unwise. Dividing the Parlia- 
 ment into two opposing bodies would have meant to sacri- 
 fice the vote of those Clericals who, otherwise, would have 
 voted in favor of a general suffrage bill. As a constitu- 
 tional amendment, however, this bill required a two-thirds 
 vote of Parliament in its favor, while the combined forces 
 of the Liberals and the Socialists number only 54 out of 
 100, making a considerable number of Clerical votes neces- 
 sary to secure its passage. 
 
 "Why is the decision of the party Convention of such 
 extraordinary importance ? 
 
 "Because, apparently, we have entered upon a new 
 stage in Dutch politics. The slow disintegration of the 
 once powerful Liberals is already so far advanced that, 
 even in a particularly favorable political situation, they 
 were able to unite only about 30 per cent of the total vote 
 upon their candidates, and could win, with our assistance, 
 only 38 seats. So it has come about that the Liberals, 
 without our support, are powerless in Parliament. . . . 
 If, now, the Liberal Concentration were truly democratic, 
 it would not hesitate for one moment to pass those reform 
 measures, so necessary in our reactionary little country, 
 with the help of the Social Democrats. . . . 
 
 "But, alas, . . . their democratic wing is damned to 
 eternal incompetence, is heard bravely and confidently 
 only when it is in the opposition. (In Holland one must 
 
HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND 127 
 
 be careful not to identify the expressions 'Left' and 
 'Democracy.' The parties of the Right, on the other hand, 
 include a goodly number of democratic supporters, uphold- 
 ers of universal suffrage. . . . ) 
 
 "There is only one consideration that might lead [the] 
 reactionary enemies of the working-class to push the re- 
 forms that we demand, reforms that they themselves have 
 bitterly opposed up to very recent times. That is the pos- 
 sibility of breaking up the power of the proletarian po- 
 litical movement. Everything indicates that this was in 
 truth their secret aim — slowly to transform our own virile, 
 thriving party into a sort of Liberal Labor Party, to bind 
 our young movement to their own aged decrepit parties. 
 This ambition has suffered a pitiful shipwreck upon the 
 hard rocks of our solidarity." 
 
 SWITZERLAND 
 
 The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland was 
 founded in 1888. In 1910 it had only 10 seats in a Par- 
 liament of 189 members. In 1912 this number had been 
 increased to 17, and in 1913 to 19. The party has also 1 
 representative in the Upper House. The election of 1914, 
 held after the outbreak of the war, was only half con- 
 tested and did not show any material change. In the 1915 
 elections the Socialists retained their membership of 19. 
 
 The report of the Swiss Party for 1913 shows an increase 
 of 1,852 in membership, which, at the end of the year, 
 stood at 33,236, in 609 branches. In 1915 it was reported 
 as 29,585 members. 
 
 At the cantonal elections of 1914, a Socialist loss was 
 suffered in Basel, where the representation was cut down 
 
128 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 from 47 to 43 — still about one-third of the total. In Bern 
 the delegation was increased from 15 to 16. In Geneva, 
 where proportional representation was applied for the 
 first time, the Socialists elected 10 members, as against 22 
 members elected by their opponents. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 
 
 DENMARK 
 
 I. INTEODUCTOEY 
 
 In Denmark the Social Democratic Party was founded 
 in 1878; since 1901 its membership in the Folkething 
 (House of Representatives) has increased from 14 to 16, 
 to 24, to 32, and at the last general election (May, 1913) 
 the Socialists, with 107,000, obtained the largest popular 
 vote of all the political parties. They have 33 daily pa- 
 pers, with a circulation of 170,000 copies. 
 
 In 1903 the party had 56,000 ; in 1909, 93,000 ; in 1910, 
 98,000 votes (29 per cent of the total votes), so that the 
 rise has been more rapid than ever in recent years. 
 
 The party has been especially successful in municipal 
 elections, and has one-half of the members of the Copen- 
 hagen municipal council. 
 
 As the Radicals secured 31 seats in 1913, and the Lib- 
 erals and Conservatives together held only 51, the com- 
 bined opposition (Socialists and Radicals) had a majority. 
 
 Following the election the Government introduced a 
 measure in the Lower House enfranchising all men and 
 women, but it did not secure a majority in the Second 
 Chamber, which was accordingly dissolved. The result of. 
 the elections which followed (in 1914) was that the new 
 Landsthing contains 38 supporters of the bill and 28 op- 
 ponents ; the old Landsthing had 33 on each side. 
 
130 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Of the elected members of the new Upper House, 4 are 
 Socialists, 5 are Eadicals, 20 are Liberals, 5 are "Free" 
 Conservatives, and 20 are Conservatives unqualified. The 
 king has the power to nominate 12 members. Of these 9 
 are supporters of the government bill. 
 
 The Parliament met in July, but the constitutional 
 change required for its final adoption a second election in 
 August — which was interrupted by the war. 
 
 The growth of the Socialist vote, as has been said, has 
 been very rapid— from 56,000 in 1903 to 107,000 in 1913 
 (out of a total of 366,000). The vote of the Radical Party 
 has also grown from 41,000 in 1906 to 67,000 in 1913 ; so 
 that the two parties together already have almost a 
 majority. 
 
 n. THE SOCIALISTS SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 (Prom The New York Call) 
 
 "The last general election in Denmark resulted in a 
 majority for the opposition. The ministerial crisis placed 
 squarely before the Socialists the question of participation 
 in the Ministry and of parliamentary collaboration. Con- 
 sultations on this subject were held by the Radicals and 
 the Socialist Party, the latter finally rejecting the pro- 
 posals that they participate in the formation of a cabinet 
 of the Left. 
 
 ' ' The Socialists, however, engaged to support the Radical 
 government until such time as the reform program should 
 be completely realized. This program includes the aboli- 
 tion of electoral privileges, universal suffrage without dis- 
 tinction of sex, and other things. 
 
 "They, therefore, are pledged to approve the budget now 
 presented by the Radicals. The Danish budget is very 
 modest compared with those of the larger European na- 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 131 
 
 tions, and only amounts to 126,000,000 crowns (a crown 
 is 27 cents). 
 
 "But the present budget also comprises some reforms. 
 The military expenditures are, for the first time, not in- 
 creased. In fact, there is a decrease of 1,000,000. And 
 the Government has included several measures to satisfy 
 the Socialist Party, without the support of which it could 
 not exist. 
 
 "Large bounties are granted to agricultural workers 
 wishing to purchase land in the insufficiently cultivated 
 districts. A large part of the Socialist Party's support 
 comes from these agricultural workers and small farmers. 
 The working-class industrial schools are also subsidized, 
 and the Government even proposes to vote a subsidy of 
 2,000 crowns to a school founded by the Socialist Party. 
 
 "About 4,000,000 crowns are to be devoted to sick and 
 unemployment relief funds. This sum will be paid into the 
 treasuries of the labor unions. Old-age pensions (payable 
 at the age of 65) will cost the Government 6,250,000, and 
 about 250,000 crowns are to be expended for the relief of 
 those 'temporarily' in poverty. 
 
 "To insurance against industrial accidents 207,000 
 crowns will be apportioned ; 200,000 for the relief of widows 
 and orphans ; 2,000,000 for the combating of tuberculosis. 
 
 "Viewed merely in the light of a reform party, the So- 
 cialist Party of Denmark would seem to be fairly successful 
 in its efforts. ' ' 
 
 m. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS 
 
 In the fall of 191"3 the following constitutional changes 
 were proposed by the prime minister and formed the issue 
 of the following election campaign : 
 
 "Active and passive suffrage in Parliament is given to 
 women. The age of suffrage is lowered to 25 instead of 
 
132 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 30 as hitherto. The length of the sessions is increased to 
 4 years instead of 3 years as hitherto. The privileged suf- 
 frage for the first chamber is to be abolished as well as the 
 clause which allows the king to name 12 of the 66 members. 
 These are now to be elected by the other 54. ' ' 
 
 rV. GENERAL SUFFRAGE IN DENMARK 
 1. ARTICLE BY TH. STAUNING, COPENHAGEIT 
 
 (From Vorwaerts, April 15, 1914) 
 
 "The Conservative Party {Hoeire) had become so weak 
 in 1901 that it was no longer able to govern. The peasant 
 party (Venstre), which was in the majority in the Folke- 
 thing, was asked to take over the government. This action 
 meant acknowledgment of parliamentary rule by the king 
 and the fight for this principle was won. 
 
 "After the attainment of this goal, it naturally followed 
 that the Socialists should start an agitation for a revision 
 of the constitution and for universal and equal suffrage. 
 This demand was made in common with the government 
 party, but this party was now not very enthusiastic for the 
 execution of its program. 
 
 "The Leit, which had grown out of the party of down- 
 trodden peasants, had, in the course of time, undergone 
 some changes. The peasants, which still make up the 
 nucleus of its voters, have not remained the despised and 
 downtrodden class. Good organizations and the benefits 
 derived from co-operation in the service of agriculture (co- 
 operative dairies, slaughter houses, and so on) have con- 
 tributed to establish a well-to-do peasant class. The peas- 
 ants who had charge of the government felt very far 
 removed from the working-class, and their leading poli- 
 ticians seemed attracted to the upper class. 
 
 "The politics of the new government party were by no 
 
DENMAKK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 
 
 means democratic. On the contrary, this party carried 
 through military, custom's tariff, and [other] policies ac- 
 cording to the best conservative models, whereby the 
 working-class had to bear the heaviest burdens. 
 
 "The party was able in 1908 to pass a new communal 
 election law, which did away with the two-class electoral 
 law, and gave general suffrage to all taxpaying men and 
 women of 25 years of age, as well as to all married women 
 whose husbands were taxpayers. On account of the work 
 of certain allied conservative elements in Parliament, this 
 law did not prove a thoroughgoing democratic reform, as 
 the upper classes in the country had the privilege of using 
 their influence in selecting the county councilors (an insti- 
 tution which in certain cases formed the superior court for 
 community representation) . 
 
 ^ ' This policy, carried out in alliance with the Right wing, 
 had its effect. The Left wing was badly beaten at the 
 elections by the Socialists. Moreover a split occurred in 
 the Left, the democratic elements forming a new party — 
 the Radical Left. The party of the Left, which, in 1901, 
 had 92 seats out of 114, had gradually melted away, so 
 that at the election in 1910, 57 seats, just half of all the 
 seats of the Folkething, could be claimed by it. In the 
 following years the Left, on account of a number of very 
 costly military laws, favored a very undemocratic policy 
 which called forth a storm of indignation. 
 
 ' ' The party decided on a special move shortly before the 
 new elections to the Folkething, calculated to help them 
 over all difficulties and re-establish them completely. In 
 October, 1912, the Government submitted to Parliament a 
 bill for the change of the constitution, corresponding with 
 the program of the Left, which called for general and equal 
 suffrage and abolished privileged election rights. The 
 party asked all other democratic parties to support this 
 
134 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 bill. As a co-operation of all democratic parties was neces- 
 sary to carry it through, and as the Socialists realized that 
 they could not gain their other demands, they, as well as 
 the Radical Left, gave their support. The Conservatives, 
 of course, fought this bill . . . [but] at the elections to the 
 Folkething, May 20, 1913 : . . the Left, the Radicals, and 
 the Socialists, each with their own candidates, supported 
 [it.] Election results showed that the Left had retained 
 [but] 44 seatis, while the Socialists rose to 32 and those of 
 the Radical Left to 31. The Conservatives found that their 
 numbers had been reduced from 14 to 7 seats. . . . 
 
 ' ' The losses suffered by the party of the Left induced it 
 to withdraw from the Government, but it promised to assist 
 further with the suffrage bill. The leader of the Socialists, 
 as the largest element in the Folkething, was called before 
 the king and he was offered the formation of the govern- 
 ment — perhaps in connection with the Radical Left wing. 
 This petition he refused, explaining that a party of the 
 Left could be formed which would have the necessary ma- 
 jority in the Folkething. The Left would not hear of this. 
 The Radical Left then declared itself ready, after con- 
 sultations with the Socialists, to form the government and 
 to make the revision of the constitution its most important 
 task. 
 
 ' ' In September, 1913, the new government submitted the 
 bill, which the Left had drawn up, and which had been 
 sanctioned by the Folkething before the last election. This 
 bill was again accepted by the Folkething and the discus- 
 sions with the Landsthing [the Upper House] began. The 
 strength of the Conservatives in the Landsthing had been 
 reduced to 34 members. The so-called constitutional par- 
 ties, the 3 democratic parties, had 32 representatives. 
 
 ' ' It was rumored that the Landsthing would be dissolved 
 in order to bring about a 'constitutional majority,' when 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 135 
 
 Estrup, who had carried through the privileged election 
 law of 1866, died, and a Liberal was elected in his place. 
 As the Conservatives appoint the president, and as he has - 
 no vote, 33 votes of the constitutional parties opposed 32 
 Conservative votes. 
 
 "Under the pressure of this situation, the preparations 
 in this matter have been completed and the members of 
 the three constitutional parties will recommend to Parlia- 
 ment a bill which will give to Denmark one of the freest 
 constitutions in the world. 
 
 ' ' The contents of the bill are as follows : 
 
 "The bi-cameral system will be retained, but both 
 Houses will be elected by general suffrage. 
 
 "The age of voters for the Folkething is 25 years 
 (formerly 30). Women and servants, who have hitherto 
 been excluded, get the vote. The election to the Folke- 
 thing takes place in 120 individual districts, and, besides 
 this, all participating parties get a share of the supplemen- 
 tary seats (20), according to the votes cast in their favor. 
 In this way each party will get a fair deal. 
 
 "The same general and equal suffrage will be carried 
 through for the elections to the Landsthing. The age of 
 the voters has to be 35 years, but the present voters of 30 
 to 35 retain their election rights. The women and servants 
 also get the suffrage for the Landsthing. The manner of 
 election is the same as formerly, through electors. 
 
 "Neither a tax qualification nor any kind of privilege 
 exists at the elections. In contrast to the present suffrage, 
 this means a mighty advance. The political power of the 
 privileged class, which they have had on account of money 
 and property, disappears. Three-fourths of a million citi- 
 zens, men and women between 25 and 30 get the vote, and 
 the representation of the election districts in the towns and 
 in the country is equally divided. If everything goes as 
 
136 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 calculated, the new constitution will be carried through in 
 a very short time. By its means the working-class of Den- 
 mark faces a better future. ' ' 
 
 2. THE EFFECT OP THE WAR ON THE SUFFRAGE 
 
 (Correspondence of Vorwaerts, Copenhagen, October 1, 1914) 
 "After a victorious election for the Landsthing (Sen- 
 ate) , the constitutional reform which brings to all men and 
 women universal, equal, and direct suffrage, which had ab- 
 sorbed the strength of all political parties throughout the 
 year, was brought to a conclusion. Our party and the 
 radical Left (progressives) had obtained a majority in 
 the election of the Folkething (Parliament), by means of 
 which, in spite of our refusal to take part in the govern- 
 ment, the way had become free for election reform, when 
 the war gave the Conservative majority of the Landsthing 
 the welcome opportunity to lay aside temporarily this very 
 unwelcome business, on the ground of threatening external 
 dangers, and to wait for more peaceful times. 
 
 "The progressive government was now forced to occupy 
 itself with the task created by the war. That in these 
 critical times a radical government is at the helm, which 
 is strictly dependent upon the Social Democrats, was of 
 the greatest importance both in internal and external af- 
 fairs, especially for the working-people. The peaceful in- 
 tentions of this government are just as sincere as our own, 
 so that the party under present conditions gives it all 
 possible support. We decided to do our best to keep the 
 present officials of the Government in power, and for this 
 reason the Socialist group voted in favor of the proposed 
 military measures, and in favor of a loan of 10,000,000 
 kronen." 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 137 
 
 V. THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN DENMARK 
 
 By Gustav Bang 
 
 "The Danish constitution, in its present form, was passed 
 in 1866, at a time when the proletariat was entirely unde- 
 veloped, when the class consciousness' of the farming popu- 
 lation was still in its infancy, when the great landowners 
 had nevertheless already begun to fear our opposition. It 
 was a time exceedingly favorable for reactionary measures ; 
 the unsuccessful war of 1864 had brought in its wake a 
 deep nation-wide depression, and had resulted at the same 
 time in the complete downfall of the liberalism of the more 
 intelligent classes. The great landholders found but little 
 difficulty in pushing through a constitution that reflects 
 clearly their own class interests. As under the previous 
 constitution, the new legislature consisted of two houses 
 practically co-ordinate in importance and power. The new 
 constitution differed, however, from that of 1849 by virtue 
 of the fact that it applied the principle of universal suffrage 
 only to the election of the Lower House, whereas the 
 former constitution applied it to both Houses. The Folke- 
 thing was elected by the general vote of all men of good 
 character, over 30 years of age (servants excepted), and all 
 votes were of equal importance, aside from the difference 
 made by the varying size of the election districts. 
 
 ' ' The Landsthing, on the other hand, is controlled by the 
 wealthy classes and the landowners. Of its 66 members, 
 12 are appointed by the Government, while the other 54 
 are elected by a complicated system based upon a clever 
 admixture of universal and privilege suffrage laws. In 
 Copenhagen an income of more than 4,000 crowns (about 
 $1,000), in the provinces more than 2,000 crowns (about 
 $500), being necessary to a voter of the first class. These 
 well-to-do voters first vote together with the others for 
 
138 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 one-half of the electors, then alone for the other half ; these 
 electors, in turn, electing the remaining members of the 
 Landsthing. In the country districts the wealthy enjoy 
 even greater political privileges. Here a number of 
 wealthy landowners, as many in number as there are town- 
 ships in the election districts, meet, as members in their 
 own right, with the elected members of the board of 
 electors. In this way every landholder has in the Lands- 
 thing an influence equal to that of all the citizens of his 
 township taken together. In the country districts, there- 
 fore, the wealthy are greatly benefited by the apportion- 
 ment of the election districts, which assures the domina- 
 tion of the rich over the poor, and makes the big land- 
 owners the political masters of the urban population. 
 
 "Here are two extreme cases. In the last general elec- 
 tions to the Landsthing in 1906 and 1910, 1,111 land- 
 owners and wealthy farmers elected 19 members, while 
 61,659 Copenhagen voters, who owned less than 4,000 
 crowns, elected only 3. This system has steadily become 
 more unbearable. The two Houses are in constant con- 
 flict. Representing the interests of two entirely different 
 classes of people, they necessarily stand in frank opposition 
 to each other upon every important question. The capital- 
 ist Landsthing has always used its advantage in a most 
 brutal manner, in order either to block entirely the meas- 
 ures passed by the Folkething, or at least to rob them as 
 far as possible of all practical value. 
 
 "With one stroke this whole situation was changed, 
 when on October 23, 1912, the prime minister, Klaus Bernt- 
 sen, presented to the Folkething a bill providing for a 
 new constitution, absolutely democratic in character, at 
 the same time warning the Conservatives that this measure 
 would not be dropped from the order of business, that he 
 would brook no compromise, and that its principles must 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 139 
 
 be adopted in their entirety. Various motives may have 
 prompted this action on the part of a representative of 
 the Liberals, M'ho, up to this time, had shown but little 
 interest in political reform. The strongest was, beyond 
 doubt, a vague fear of the coming election — after a session 
 in which taxes, and especially indirect taxes, had been 
 screwed up to an unprecedented height in order to cover 
 great military expenditures. The ruling party had been 
 steadily losing its ground with the lower farming popula- 
 tion and feared, not without just cause, a terrible downfall. 
 There was only one possibility, an active campaign against 
 the privileged landowners, a return to power under a new 
 democratic standard, with the votes of a great mass of the 
 people. 
 
 "Whatever the motives may have been, to us they are 
 of interest only in so far as they will influence the passage 
 of the bill. The measure itself is a great step forward 
 from the conditions existing under the present constitu- 
 tion. It increases the number of voters for the Folkething 
 by granting a vote not only to servants but also to women, 
 and by reducing the minimum age from 30 to 25 years. 
 The Landsthing is to be elected by city and town boards. 
 As practically all men and women over 25 years of age 
 have the right to vote in municipal elections, with the 
 exception of Copenhagen, where only taxpayers are voters, 
 the Landsthing also will become more democratic, and will 
 be elected, although, in a different manner from the Folke- 
 thing, by the vote of the people. It will thus become a 
 more reliable expression of the will of the population. , . . 
 
 "Needless to say, we are by no means entirely satisfied 
 with the bill as it stands. The political demands of our 
 program go a great deal further. But, on the whole, it 
 represents such a striking improvement, and will be fol- 
 lowed by so great an increase of our power, that we have 
 
140 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 promised the Government — after the party had given its 
 unanimous consent — to support the bill in its present form. 
 The same course was taken by the Eadical Party, which 
 represents the intelligent element of Copenhagen. So it 
 was that the amendment was passed in December, with 95 
 votes against 12 in the Folkething, and then went on to the 
 Landsthing, where the Conservatives hold a small majority 
 of seats, 34 out of 66. The amendment precipitated a 
 veritable panic among the Conservatives, for it put an end 
 to the beautiful era of compromise that had enabled them, 
 with the help of the Liberals, to force their will upon the 
 Government. They tried every conceivable means to force 
 the Ministry out of office, to cloud the whole situation, but 
 in vain. When they saw there was no way out of it, and 
 were forced to present substitutes and amendments, they 
 became completely helpless. They published not one, but 
 a number of bills, some of which were absolutely senseless, 
 bills that contradicted each other, that had but one feature 
 in common — the substitution of new property qualifications 
 for the old. And when at last, on April 3, the original 
 bill went before the Landsthing for its second reading, the 
 whole discussion was cut short by the adoption of a resolu- 
 tion. The fight between the Ministry and the Landsthing 
 was on in earnest. But as the Folkething election was 
 almost due — its term ended on the twentieth of May — the 
 Government decided to let the voters speak. The election 
 became a sort of referendum for and against the constitu- 
 tional amendment of the Government. The whole cam- 
 paign centered on this question. Our propaganda was, 
 naturally, radically influenced by the entire situation. As 
 we here have no by-elections, it was to be feared that a 
 splitting up of the votes among Liberals, Socialists, and 
 Eadicals would make possible the election of a Conservative 
 in a great many districts. We decided, therefore, to re- 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 141 
 
 f rain from nominating candidates in a number of districts, 
 where we usually polled a large vote, and called upon our 
 comrades to support the Liberal or the Radical candidates. 
 We did this with a light heart, for we used this campaign 
 for active Socialist propaganda and showed, in no meas- 
 ured terms, the difference between the Social Democracy 
 and the others, even where we went hand in hand with 
 them. Everywhere we emphasized the importance of po- 
 litical reform for the future of the Socialist movement. 
 
 "On May 29 the election for the Folkething was held. 
 Its results were very favorable. . . . We had held 24 dis- 
 tricts out of 114. Of these we lost 4, but this loss was 
 made good by the gain of 12 new districts, making a net 
 gain of 8 districts. This represents an increase of the 
 number of Socialist representatives from 24 to 32. Our 
 vote also increased from 98,718, in 1910, to 107,365. Thirty 
 per cent of all voters voted for the Socialist ticket. We 
 are to-day the largest party; the Liberals, who held the 
 first place, fell to 100,894 votes. The two other parties, 
 the Conservative and the Radical, fell far below this num- 
 ber. We gained this result, although we nominated can- 
 didates in only 68 out of 114 districts. Had the Socialist 
 voters of the other 46 districts had the opportunity of 
 voting as Socialists, our total would have been much 
 larger. Our success in the country districts was particu- 
 larly gratifying — almost half of the Socialist districts were 
 agricultural. The election showed plainly that the small 
 farmers and farm hands are coming to us in steadily grow- 
 ing numbers. . . . 
 
 "The following figures will show how steadily the So- 
 cialist Party has grown in the last 18 years, after the en- 
 forcement of the election laws, in comparison with the 
 other parties whose votes fluctuated from election to 
 election. 
 
142 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Votes Districts Votes Districts 
 
 1895 24,510 8 1906..... 76,612 24 
 
 1898 31,870 12 1909 93,079 24 
 
 1901 43,015 14 1910 98,718 24 
 
 1903..... .55,989 16 1913 107,365 32 
 
 "The outlook for .the proposed amendment was most 
 promising. Hardly a quarter of the vote cast had been 
 polled by the Conservatives against the bill proposed by 
 the Government. More than three-quarters were cast for 
 the three parties that supported the demand for universal 
 suffrage. The Conservatives lost 6 of their original 13 
 districts. . . . The 7 Conservatives, when the election was 
 over, stood opposed to 107 Liberal, Socialist, and Eadical 
 members, all of whom were pledged to political reform. 
 The amendment had received an overwhelming ratifica- 
 tion. It is true the Liberal Party had lost votes. . . . 
 [They] fell from 57 to 44, while the Socialists won 32, 
 the Radicals 31 seats. But the Liberal Party was still the 
 strongest of the three parties that had united to introduce 
 political reform, and the other two parties had promised 
 them their unqualified support. . . . With the tremendous 
 majority pledged to its support, the whole question should 
 have been settled in a few months' time. . . . 
 
 "But opposition began immediately. A part of the Lib- 
 eral Party declared, as soon as the election was over, that 
 their party, because of its numerical loss, was no longer 
 entitled to control the Government. They demanded that 
 the Social Democrats and the Radicals, who, together, con- 
 stituted the majority in the Polkething, form a new Min- 
 istry. They demanded this with such insistence that the 
 Ministry was forced ... to resign. . . . 
 
 " [This development] was due to the peculiar class inter- 
 ests of the Liberal farmers, . . . who form the chief ele- 
 ment of the Liberal Party [and] are not greatly interested 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 143 
 
 in maintaining the present constitution — since they them- 
 selves are shut out from the qualified election rights to 
 the Landsthing. On the other hand, they fear the danger 
 that lurks in general suffrage, because they know that in 
 a few years the far greater number of small farmers and 
 workers will control both houses of the national legisla- 
 ture. ... 
 
 "If the Liberals had entered the Folkething with so 
 large a majority that they could have formed an alliance 
 with either Conservatives or Socialists, as it pleased them, 
 this would have given them an opportunity to come to 
 some sort of a compromise by dealing with both sides. 
 Thus they might have hindered, at least in a measure, the 
 growth of proletarian influence upon the Government. As 
 matters stood this was out of the question. This was 
 probably the reason that led the Liberals to refuse to take 
 the leadership in the question of political reform. 
 
 "This was the situation in the Social Democratic Party 
 when the problem of accepting a position in the Ministry 
 presented itself. In 1909 the party had adopted a resolu- 
 tion which forbade, under all circumstances, the election 
 of a Socialist into a capitalist Ministry. Had we consid- 
 ered the possibility of forming a coalition Ministry with 
 the Radicals, it would have been necessary to call a special 
 party convention. . . . The chairman of our party, Stau- 
 ning, who upon several occasions was called to confer with 
 the king, declared, by instruction from the Socialist Par- 
 liamentary group and the Executive Committee of our 
 National Committee, that we believed it to be in the best 
 interests of political reform that the late [Liberal] Min- 
 istry be reinstated. The stiggestion that we form a So- 
 cialist, or a Coalition Ministry, was emphatically repudi- 
 ated. One possibility was seriously considered by the So- 
 cialist members: whether it were possible to enter into 
 
144 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 a Ministry formed by all three parties, whose only duty 
 should be to push through the suffrage amendment. We 
 all recognized that such an experiment was exceedingly 
 hazardous, and it was doubtful whether we should receive 
 the indorsement of the party convention. On the other 
 hand, the practical question at issue here [the suffrage 
 amendment] is of the highest significance for the future 
 of the party, and it is absolutely necessary that the three 
 parties work together to enforce its speedy realization. 
 For both the Folkething and the Landsthing must be dis- 
 solved and re-elected before the reform becomes a law, 
 and small disharmonies between the three parties may 
 help the Conservatives to win, thus cutting off for many 
 years to come every possibility for election reform. But 
 as the Liberals emphatically refused to participate in such 
 a 'Triple Entente,' the whole thing was out of the ques- 
 tion. ... A purely Kadical Ministry was elected. 
 
 ' ' The new Ministry under Zahle is at the present time oc- 
 cupied solely with the passage of the proposed amendment 
 [which] . . . will be settled before the budget discussions 
 begin. Then the bill will be Submitted to the Landsthing, 
 and we will wait to see whether Conservatives have be- 
 come less stiffnecked, or whether they will open up the 
 fight once more by a second refusal to pass the bill. Of 
 course the Social Democracy will give the Ministry its full 
 support; but the Liberals, too, are so undeniably bound 
 up with the amendment that they dare not repudiate it, 
 so that we need hardly fear a betrayal from this quarter. 
 The consequences for them would be a terrible downfall, 
 when next they come to their voters for support. Noth- 
 ing can dam up the flood of political reform once it has 
 been started." 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 145 
 
 SWEDEN 
 
 VI. INTKODUCTORT 
 
 The Swedish Party has now been in existence for 25 
 years. Founded in 1889, with a membership of 3,000, it 
 advanced slowly during the first few years, and reached 
 its maximum in 1907. As the party is based on the trade- 
 unions, the crisis commencing in that year, and the con- 
 sequences of the general strike of 1909, reduced its mem- 
 bership along with that of the unions. It was at its lowest 
 point in 19lO, with 55,248 members, and stands now at 
 about 70,000. (Justice.) 
 
 The growth of the vote is shown in the following table : 
 
 Members of 
 Vote Parliament 
 
 1902 8,751 4 
 
 1905 26,083 17 
 
 1908 54,004 33 
 
 1911 172,000 64 
 
 1914 230,000 73 
 
 1914 ( September) 257,000 87 
 
 It is to be noted that the suffrage was greatly extended 
 in 1911, and the total number of members of Parliament 
 increased from 165 to 230. So the increase of the Socialist 
 vote and of Socialist members elected has been a steady 
 one. There are 519 representatives on the town and bor- 
 ough councils, and about 3,000 on the village or parish 
 councils. As to the district or county councils, the party 
 has 182 members, in spite of the enormous handicap of 
 the plural vote in force for these councils. 
 
 Vn. SOCIALISTS FAVOR A REPUBLIC 
 
 In 1912 the Socialist leader, Lindhagen, introduced a 
 bill in Parliament to abolish the monarchy. Another 
 
146 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 leader, Branting, opposed the introduction of the mo- 
 tion. 
 
 Lindhagen, in supporting his measure, said among other 
 things that the differences in the Socialist groups arose 
 from the fact that Branting and his faction went upon 
 the materialist conception of history and wanted to wait 
 until the time was ripe, while he was of the opinion that 
 the ideas of men could be affected in such a way as to 
 bring about this ripeness. 
 
 After a short debate the measure was lost by a vote of 
 118 to 12. There were at this time 65 Socialist members 
 of Parliament. 
 
 Vm. THE SWEDISH PAELIAMENTAET ELECTIONS OP 1914 
 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 1. THE ELECTION APPEAL 
 
 "The Executive Committee of the Swedish Socialist 
 Party has published in its party press a manifesto to the 
 people of Sweden . . . which points out the position of 
 the Socialist Party. It first confirms the fact that the 
 king's speech to the peasants . . . demanded armament 
 policies differing from those which the Government de- 
 sired, [and] that through this defiant personal interfer- 
 ence of the king the administration of 1911 had dissolved, 
 and that a new one had to be called. This latter cabinet 
 was ordered to uphold the royal decree, either by means 
 of promises or pressure. 
 
 "The appeal further characterizes the agitation of the 
 armament agitators as being in effect as follows: 'The 
 voters should, at least once before the general elections in 
 the autumn, wage an election fight, in which every weapon 
 should be used, including terror and pressure, lies and 
 slander, in order to change public opinion, if possible, and 
 
DENMAEK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 147 
 
 to make the people a willing footstool to the king and to 
 the capitalistic powers.' 
 
 "The election fight is waged either for or against the 
 personal power of the king. . . . 
 
 " To a challenge of this king the only answer the people 
 can give is that no other than the will of the people shall 
 rule. It must be settled once for all whether, in our coun- 
 try, [the Government] can ... be again suddenly inter- 
 rupted ... in its work because it pleases royalty to . . . 
 declare that 'he does not share such an opinion' and that 
 he will not swerve from certain demands. 
 
 "That part of the appeal which deals with the arma- 
 ment question is of special interest. It states . . . that 
 influential Liberal papers boasted that their military pro- 
 gram hardly differed from that of the Conservatives. . . . 
 The promise by the Liberals of a decrease in the high 
 cost of living is, seen in this light, nothing more than mere 
 words. The Conservatives . . . demand one year of mil- 
 itary service, a fleet, and a hundred million yearly budget 
 for armament purposes, as a result of which not only the 
 taxation laws and the increased cost of living will be per- 
 petuated, but social reform will become an impossibility. 
 
 "The Socialist Party, on the other hand, wishes to do 
 away with the existing weaknesses in the country's de- 
 fense by arming the reserves, increasing the marine, and 
 by adding torpedo and submarine boats instead of the 
 crazy 'F boats,' which cost fifteen million apiece, but which 
 are not suited to oppose the large giants of other sea pow- 
 ers. A decrease ... in expenditures by shortening the 
 time of military service to six instead of eight months is 
 also demanded. . . . Instead of expending eighty million 
 kronen, this plan called for* seventy million only. This 
 expense . . . would have to come out of an armament tax 
 levied upon the well-to-do classes. 
 
148 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 "The appeal closes: 'Good prospects everywhere for the 
 Socialist candidates. May the red vote increase enor- 
 mously. May a stronger Socialist parliamentary fraction 
 constitute the answer of the people to the challenge of the 
 Mng and to the ill-considered military program of the 
 royal government.' 
 
 "The appeal was signed by every member of the Ex- 
 ecutive committee, as well as by those who had stood for 
 a purely negative program in regard to the question of 
 the country's defense. The unity and solidarity of the 
 party in the past struggles have gone on record and suc- 
 cess is certain." 
 
 Besults 
 
 1911 1914 
 
 Seats Votes Seats Vdtes 
 
 Conservatives 65 189,000 86 286,000 
 
 Liberals 101 243,000 71 245,000 
 
 Socialists 64 172,000 73 230,000 
 
 2. RESULTS OF THE ELECTIONS 
 
 By Hjalmar Branting, Stockholm 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 "... The three parties divided amongst themselves the 
 voting population — of which this time 72 per cent voted 
 in contrast to 75 per cent in 1911 — so that the Socialists 
 have now 30 per cent, in all 230,000 votes; the Liberals 
 a little more than 32 per cent, 245,000 votes, and the Con- 
 servatives about 37y2 per cent, with votes in round figures 
 of 285,000. The respective figures in 1911 were as follows : 
 28.5 per cent, 40.2 per cent, and 31.5 per cent. The actual 
 voting increase. of the Socialists amounted to 57,000; of 
 the Liberals, 2,000 ; of the Conservatives, however, to about 
 98,000. . . . 
 
 "It can be said that the increase of the Conservatives 
 
DENMAEK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 149 
 
 turned out to be larger than seemed at first probable. The 
 position of the Liberals in the peasant provinces of Middle 
 and North Sweden was weaker than [was] expected. . . . 
 The clerical influence in certain parts of the country is 
 not to be undervalued. The priests and ministers in those 
 secluded parts, all imbued with a strange Finnish sec-' 
 tarianism, called Lastadianismus, had spread the tale that 
 the Socialists were preparing a generalslaughter of Chris- 
 tians. In the southern part of the same election district, 
 which reaches as far north as the Bottisch gulf, women 
 agitators visited the peasants and asked whether they 
 really intended to dethrone the king, because he wished 
 to protect them against the Russians. In spite of all this 
 agitation our comrades won in these districts two out of 
 the three seats. The Jjiberals, however, were completely 
 defeated. . . . The Swedish natioii, by a vote of 475,000 
 as against only 285,000, declared itself opposed to the ar- 
 mament program of the king and his government . . . " 
 
 3. OBSERVATIONS BY BBANTING 
 
 (Interview in The Daily Citizen of London) 
 
 " 'The election,' he said, 'was very short, but very in- 
 tense. The military question dominated everything, and 
 I must tell you at once that the manner in which the Con- 
 servatives conducted the fight was most scandalous. Their 
 plan was a concentrated scare. "The Cossacks had 
 landed!" "The Russians were at the gates of Stock- 
 holm!" and so on, in the most extravagant fashion. Of 
 course that was intended to sweep the waverers into their 
 camp. 
 
 " 'Well, the Socialist Party made great efforts to resist 
 this panic, and succeeded, I think, for you see we have 
 
150 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 captured nine new seats. That is good. They are mostly 
 from the Liberals, who have, however, paid the heaviest toll 
 to the Conservatives. 
 
 ' ' ' One thing I must explain to you is this : The election 
 just concluded in no way interferes with the triennial elec- 
 tion which comes on in the autumn of this year.' 
 
 " 'How do you find your system of proportional repre- 
 sentation working ? ' 
 
 " 'It was used for the first time in 1911,' replied Herr 
 Branting, 'and increased the electorate by 600,000. The 
 Socialist Party's experience of it has been very good.' 
 
 ' ' In reply to a question about future policy the Socialist 
 leader said that they were pledged to the general Socialist 
 program, the betterment of conditions of labor. They 
 were striving for an eight-hour day. They were in favor 
 of the full enfranchisement of women, and as the evolu- 
 tion of democracy proceeded they would be more and more 
 successful. Meanwhile the armaments and the related 
 constitutional question overshadowed everything in Sweden. 
 
 "Sweden, he pointed out, has a total population less 
 than that of London — 5,500,000 to be exact, of whom 
 1,500,000 are adult men. Yet there are more than 150,000 
 workers organized, and more than 70,000 members of the 
 Social Democratic Party. 
 
 " 'We have,' he said, 'nine Socialist daily papers with 
 splendid circulations. Our Labor and Socialist press has 
 been our most important weapon. These papers rose from 
 small beginnings and gradually helped us to make the 
 organization, and now the organization is "making" the 
 papers. "We would not be without our Socialist press, for 
 we have found that if ever we discontinued any one of 
 them there was lost ground.' " 
 
DENMAEK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 151 
 
 IX. THE QUESTION OP A COALITION MINISTRY 
 
 The elections of September, 1914, showed a most remark- 
 able increase of Socialist votes over those cast in the 
 spring. The victory of the Socialists in the September 
 elections made them the largest party in Sweden, giving 
 them over one-third of the members of the Parliament, 
 and brought up the question of a possible coalition Min- 
 istry, to consist of Socialists and Liberals, to go into effect 
 at the end of the war. On October the 7th the party 
 Executive voted : 
 
 That it was the duty of the largest party of the Left to take 
 the initiative in negotiations with the Liberal Party. It should be 
 inquired what is the possibility of a program of the Left in respect 
 to work for democratic and social political reform, which is ex- 
 pected by the electorate and must be begun with all energy as 
 soon as the present war crisis is ended. . . . Should coalitions 
 be formed which assure a democratic majority in the second cham- 
 ber, the party Executive believes that our party must draw the 
 necessary parliamentary conclusions. . . . The party Executive 
 recommends to the party Congress that a definite union for im- 
 mediate reform work be made with the Liberal Party under these 
 conditions. 
 
 The previous year, 1913, had brought forth the consid- 
 eration of the coalition government in Holland and Den- 
 mark, but the proposal was refused by the Socialists in 
 both countries. Its acceptance by the Swedish Socialist 
 Congress on December 1 is the more remarkable and im- 
 portant, constituting, as it does, a reversion to the position 
 taken by Jaures and certain Socialist groups in France 
 and other countries before the International Congress at 
 Amsterdam endeavored finally to put an end to all coali- 
 tion governments except under very extraordinary circum- 
 stances. 
 
152 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 X. THE PAETT CONGRESS OF 1915 
 
 (From Torwaerts, Summarized by Wm. E. Bohn, in International 
 Socialist Review, February, 1915) 
 
 "The party decided at this Congress to take part in a 
 coalition government with non-Socialist parties — after the 
 war. In Sweden the Socialists are now the strongest party 
 in the Lower House of Parliament. They have 87 votes, the 
 Conservatives 86,, and the Liberals 45. The situation is 
 a tempting one for the party leaders. The new cabinet 
 must be made up either of Socialists or Conservatives. 
 By combining with the Liberals the Socialists can have 
 the naming of the chief ministers and a chief part in draw- 
 ing up a government program. . . . 
 
 "The party Congress met at Stockholm during the last 
 days of November. There were two important matters up 
 for discussion, militarism and participation in the govern- 
 ment. Action on both matters went the same way. . . . 
 
 "The party program demanded a progressive reduction 
 of expenditures for army and navy to the point of dis- 
 armament. It was charged that the Socialist deputies had 
 not lived up to the requirements of this program. . . . 
 We cannot disarm, [they] said in effect, before disarma- 
 ment is brought about by international agreement. This 
 position was approved by a vote of 70 to 61. 
 
 "With regard to participation in the government there 
 was a sharp discussion. . . . But the party Executive 
 Committee, represented by Branting, carried the day . . . 
 by a vote of 90 to 58. In accordance with [their] proposal 
 . the Socialist deputies are to meet the Liberals and attempt 
 to draw up a common program. If they succeed in doing 
 this they will be at liberty to form a cabinet made up 
 of representatives of the two parties." 
 
DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY 153 
 
 XI. THE ELECTIONS OP 1915 
 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 "The number of members of the Socialist Party of 
 Sweden increased from 75,444 to 84,410 — almost 9,000. 
 Four hundred and twenty-six party members were elected 
 to city councils against 360 in the preceding year, and the 
 number of county representatives increased from 442 to 
 754. The influence of the party can also be noticed in 
 other directions. Four thousand seven hundred and 
 ninety-five are active in municipal corporations, on school 
 boards, etc., compared with 2,691 in the preceding year." 
 
 NORWAY 
 
 Xn. THE GENERAL POSITION OP THE SOCULIST MOVEMENT IN 
 
 NORWAY 
 
 In the 1915 election the participation of the women in- 
 creased the vote in Norway to 612,000 votes. This meant 
 an increase of 108,000 votes over those cast in former 
 elections. One hundred and ninety-eight thousand votes 
 were east for the Left, 196,000 for the Social Democrats, 
 186,000 for the Right and the Liberals, 26,000 for. the 
 Labor Democrats, and 6,000 for representatives of other 
 parties. In 1894 there were but 732 Socialist voters in the 
 country. 
 
 The Socialist vote recorded the largest increase. Their 
 vote increased about 55 per cent. The Left and the Labor 
 Democrats together had an increase of 15 per cent, the 
 Socialists 40 per cent, and the Right as well as the Lib- 
 erals only 5 to 6 per cent. The Government Party, how- 
 ever, remained secure in its majority. The party of the 
 Right lost in the first election three of its election districts. 
 
154 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 The new Storthing is composed of 21 members of the 
 Right and Liberals as compared with 21 in the last 
 Storthing; 78 members of the Left and Labor Democrats, 
 as against 76 in the last Storthing; 20 Social Democrats as 
 against 23, and 4 deputies representing no special party. 
 
 SOCIALISTS IN THE STOETHING 
 
 Socialist 
 Tears Kepreeentatives Socialist Votes 
 
 1894 732 
 
 1897 947 
 
 1900 7,013 
 
 1903 4 24,526 
 
 1906 10 43,100 
 
 1909 11 91,268 
 
 1912 23 120,077 
 
 1915 20 196,000 
 
 In the municipal council of Christiania, 29 of the 84 
 members are Socialists, and of these 3 are women. 
 
 In the beginning of 1914 the Socialist Party claimed a 
 membership of 50,000, an increase of 6,000 over the previ- 
 ous year. The principal organ was the Sozialdemokraten, 
 published in Christiania, with a circulation of 31,000. It 
 is estimated that 103,783 people of Norway subscribed in 
 1914 to the 8 Socialist dailies and 18 weeklies. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 AUSTRIA AND HUNGAEY 
 
 AUSTRIA 
 
 I. INTRODUCTOBY 
 
 Socialism was not organized in Austria until the late 
 'eighties and it was only in 190l that it made its appear- 
 ance in the Reichsrath with 10 deputies. In January, 1907, 
 a law was passed giving the vote to all men over 24. This 
 law produced its inevitable fruit at the general elections 
 held in the following May, when 87 Socialist deputies were 
 elected to a house of 516 and the Socialist vote was 1,041,- 
 948, or nearly one-third of the total. The popular So- 
 cialist vote increased in 1911 to 1,081,000, but the number 
 of deputies was reduced to 82 — stiU more than one-sixth of 
 the total number. 
 
 n. THE PERILS OF REFORMISM 
 
 By otto Bauer, Vienna 
 (In Bie Neue Zeit) 
 
 "The Convention of the Social Democracy of Austria, 
 which met in Vienna in . . . November, 1913, merits the 
 attention of our comrades outside the Austrian boundaries. 
 . . . Though its [the Austrian proletarian's] develop- 
 ment be radically different from the normal, straightfor- 
 ward progress made in other countries whose people are 
 not divided by prejudices of nationality and race, never- 
 
 155 
 
156 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 theless our Convention was controlled by the same great 
 question that has for years been the basis of earnest dis- 
 cussion in all international congresses and national con- 
 ventions of the International Social Democracy : the strug- 
 gle between reform and revolutionary Socialism. 
 
 "The appearance of this question . . . has been forced 
 upon us by bitter political experience, tip to the year 
 1904 the Austrian Social Democracy was a small organiza- 
 tion. From 1904 to 1907 it grew by leaps and bounds. 
 This period of prosperity encouraged a rapid growth of 
 the labor-union movement; their number increased . . . 
 from 189,000 to 501,000. Countless strikes won for them 
 higher wages, shorter hours, and more favorable contracts. 
 These splendid successes on the industrial field went hand 
 in hand with remarkable political victories. 
 
 "The Hungarian military conflict, that forced the 
 Crown to threaten the House of Lords with the introduc- 
 tion of universal suffrage, encouraged the Austrian labor- 
 ing-class to take up the struggle for the right to vote. 
 The Russian revolution added strength and fervor to the 
 movement. Together with the Crown and the bureaucracy, 
 the proletariat put an end to the power of the ancient 
 feudal nobility and the bourgeoisie. 
 
 "These victories brought numberless new recruits to the 
 Socialist movement. But their ideals . . . were thor- 
 oughly reformistic. They had been won for the party by 
 the popularity of our victories of 1904-1907. They ex- 
 pected an endless chain of similar victories. They looked 
 to the new Parliament, elected by the votes of all the 
 people, with the most extravagant hopes. . . . The pro- 
 letariat hoped that the successful climax of their struggle 
 for a general equal ballot would usher in an era of social 
 reforms, would make possible a rapid, peaceful union of 
 all proletarian forces, and would bring with it the gradual 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 157 
 
 undermining of capitalist society. . . . But here, as else- 
 where, these hopes met with bitter disappointment. 
 
 "The industrial prosperity of the people suddenly van- 
 ished. ... In 1908 we suffered a severe industrial 
 crisis. . . . 
 
 "Since 1907 the increase in wages, even of the steadily 
 employed worker, has been much less than the increase of 
 prices and rents. A large part of the laboring-class has 
 lost what it gained in former years, its shorter hours, its 
 better pay, and tens of thousands have been unemployed 
 for many months. 
 
 "Into these years of terrible sufferings came the dis- 
 astrous turn of affairs in our foreign political relation. . . . 
 Twice within four years a large part of our army was 
 mobilized. In the last year tens of thousands of reserves, 
 tens of thousands of fathers stood, for eight months on the 
 Servian border. Militaristic agitation set in with redoubled 
 
 force With these happenings came a change in 
 
 the attitude of the ruling classes toward the Social Democ- 
 racy. .Where the party of the working-class, in 1905 and 
 1906, had been a welcome ally to the Crown against the 
 privilege Parliament, now as the only firm opponent of 
 imperialism and militarism, it became the Crown's bitter 
 enemy. Government and judiciary became more brutal to 
 the working-class than ever before. 
 
 "Parliament was helpless before these new develop- 
 ments. The introduction of universal, equal suffrage had 
 deepened and complicated the struggle between the Aus- 
 trian nations. Nations that had been voiceless under the 
 old laws, after the suffrage became democratic, entered, 
 with their full strength, into the political arena — this was 
 the case with the Euthenians and the Slovenians. The 
 past years had increased their self-confidence. . . . These 
 small peoples could not hope to win a majority for their 
 
158 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 demands in the Parliament, so they used the weapon of 
 obstruction. . . . The large nations, however, — ^the Ger- 
 mans, the Tchechs, and the Poles — did not dare to de- 
 prive them of this weapon. For not one of these has 
 a majority in the Parliament, and each trembles at the 
 possibility of being overpowered by a coalition of its ene- 
 mies. Each party, therefore, desires to hold fast, as a 
 last resource, this possibility of obstruction.'. . . Parlia- 
 ment was powerless in the hands of two dozen Euthenians 
 or Slovenians. . . . So it finally devolved upon the bu- 
 reaucracy to take matters into its own hands. In accord- 
 ance with the notorious paragraph 14 of the fundamental 
 state law, the latter passed laws without the consent of 
 the Reichsrath. 
 
 "But even at those times when Parliament was not 
 weakened by obstruction it was anything but the body 
 that the proletariat masses had expected. In Austria, as 
 elsewhere, the class lines have developed very rapidly. . . . 
 The tendency toward a union of forces on the part of the 
 possessing classes against the proletariat was strengthened 
 by the election reform. Where, formerly, they had strug- 
 gled and battled with each other with impunity, they now 
 saw only their common enemy, the Social Democracy. 
 With the exception of a handful of Progressives, the other 
 parties all united against us. Every attempt to force 
 workingmen's protective legislation upon this Parliament 
 met with a determined opposition of the united capitalist 
 forces. . . . 
 
 "Matters had come to a crisis that was entirely un- 
 looked for on the part of the masses. Instead of an era 
 of 'positive results' of social reform, instead of an 'under- 
 mining of capitalism,' there came an epoch of high prices, 
 an industrial crisis, increased armaments, a mobilization 
 of forces, and nationalist obstruction on the one hand. 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 159 
 
 and on the other absolutism, a coalition of capitalist par- 
 ties, the complete failure of all social legislation. 
 
 "The people now hoped to meet this new development 
 with clever tactical moves. ... It was the common belief 
 that co-operation between Crown and the International So- 
 cialist movement against the bourgeois nationalist forces 
 was still a possibility. . . . But the Crown had deserted 
 the cause of democracy, had made peace with the feudal 
 nobility of Hungary, had dropped its fight for election 
 reform, and established the dictatorship of Tisza. Im- 
 perialism and militarism . . . have forced the organized 
 working-class into active opposition to the policies of its 
 rulers. These facts have badly shaken the popular faith 
 in the possibility of renewing the political relations of 
 1905 and 1906. . . . 
 
 "Powerless to change the course of political events by 
 their own actions [violent revolts against high cost of liv- 
 ing], the masses once more pinned their whole faith to 
 their parliamentary representatives. They still believed 
 that the expected reforms must materialize, if only their 
 representatives would use the right methods. . . . 
 
 "The district organizations of Vienna — ^Meidling and 
 Graz — presented resolutions to the party Convention de- 
 manding that the parliamentary grOup should not be satis- 
 fied with mere opposition, but should obstruct the meas- 
 ures of the Government, especially the military bill, until 
 an old-age and invalid pension as well as several other 
 important social and political reforms had been secured. 
 The debate that followed showed plainly that this concep- 
 tion had taken root in the minds of a large number of our 
 party members. . . . 
 
 "The party Executive Board and the deputies were 
 opposed. They showed the situation in Austria as it is 
 to-day. The long years of obstruction in the Bohemian 
 
160 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Landtag . . . has brought, in place of popular rule by 
 the national government, a system of bureaucratic absolu- 
 tism. A similar change is taking place in Galicia. It will , 
 be but a matter of years before government by commis- 
 sion, appointed by the administration, will take the place 
 of the popular Landtag, in all states where there are a 
 number of nationalities represented. Just as obstruction 
 has been the forerunner of absolutism in the states, so it 
 will be in the nation. No parliament can rule when to-day 
 this, and to-morrow that party hinders all work. . . . 
 
 "Hitherto obstruction has been used only in nationalist 
 conflicts. Its use by the Social Democrats would make it 
 a weapon in the class struggle. Every class would then 
 adopt its use — ^to-day the worker, to-morrow the middle- 
 class man; to-day the agrarian, to-morrow the capitalist. 
 The nationalistic obstruction alone was strong enough to 
 disrupt Parliament, to pave the way for paragraph 14. 
 Social political obstruction would completely destroy Par- 
 liament, would fix absolutism firmly in the saddle. . . . 
 
 ' ' The Convention accepted, after a long debate, a resolu- 
 tion presented by the delegates of German Bohemia, that 
 condemned obstruction as a normal weapon in the struggle 
 for reforms, and declared its use permissible only in ex- 
 treme cases of parliamentary self-defense. 
 
 "Important as this ruling of the Party Convention 
 doubtless is, . . . much more important to our movement 
 was the debate itself, fixing our attitude toward parlia- 
 mentarism and toward the whole capitalist state. The 
 whole discussion showed that it is insane to believe that 
 positive results, social reforms, the undermining of the 
 whole capitalist system can be accomplished by skillful 
 tactics and clever political tricks. It affirmed that it is 
 the duty of the party to lead the great masses, blinded 
 by the victories of 1904-1907, back to our old Marxian 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 161 
 
 principles, to show them that capitalist evolution does 
 not mean a gradual and peaceful improvement of con- 
 ditions, but rather growing poverty, sharper class-lines, 
 increased exploitation, until we are strong enough to over- 
 throw the whole world of capital. . . . 
 
 "This change in our attitude toward capitalism as a 
 whole marks, at the same time, a change in our attitude 
 toward the Austrian state. The frenzy of our victory for 
 election reform implanted into the heads of our comrades 
 the idea that Austria could be made a sort of model na- 
 tion, a second Switzerland, a country that would show 
 to the world that eight nations could live together in peace 
 and freedom under the rOof of one government. . . . The 
 destructive interior struggles of recent years, the Balkan 
 catastrophe that lost Austria its recognition as a European 
 power, these have effectually rid our members of this false 
 hope. This party Convention showed for the first time how 
 completely popular faith in the future of Austria has been 
 shattered. 
 
 "The period of the revolution of the past has built 
 national states upon the wrecks of old feudal and absolute 
 state formations. It has established Austria as the sum 
 total of a great many national units that were left unan- 
 nexed in the general nationalization process of the times. 
 It is uncertain whether this Austria will become a united 
 nation of free states, welded together by the revolutions 
 of the future, or whether it will disintegrate and its 
 nations fall under the power of other stronger nationalities. 
 In other countries it may seem possible that the proletariat 
 will gradually grow, by a peaceable evolution, until it is 
 ripe to take into its hands the whole industrial machinery. 
 In our country, however, it is clear that the national gov- 
 ernment, of which we wish to take possession, must first 
 be amalgamated. . . . 
 
162 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 "To be sure, these are not new discoveries. In Austria 
 there have always been comrades who warned against the 
 reform tendencies, who tried to educate the masses in 
 revolutionary thought. But in the past their words fell 
 on deaf ears. The Party Convention showed that at last 
 our party membership was beginning to awake to the dan- 
 gers of reform tactics. ... It showed the danger of awak- 
 ening in the masses extravagant hopes of 'positive success,' 
 showed that they would lay the blame for their suffering 
 not upon the capitalist system, but upon the Social Dem- 
 ocratic Party. . . . 
 
 "True, it will not be easy to teach the great working- 
 class to change its manner of thinking. It will need years 
 of education. . . . That the first step toward this task 
 was taken by the Convention of Vienna gives it a peculiar 
 significance in the party history of the Austrian movement. 
 For this reason it merits the attention of our comrades 
 outside our boundaries. . . . Our country has often been 
 called the model of international reformism, the Austrian 
 Socialists have enjoyed the reputation of being the leaders 
 of the revisionist movement in the International. "Well 
 then, Austria has demonstrated to the whole International 
 the dangers of following a policy of 'nothing but reform' 
 agitation. May our experience be a lesson and a warning 
 to our comrades in other countries." 
 
 HUNGARY 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The suffrage in Hungary is so restricted that the 85,000 
 Socialist votes cast do not give an adequate idea of the 
 strength of the movement. A better measure is the fact 
 that the Socialists have 136 members in municipal coun- 
 cils. The membership of the party is also narrowly re- 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 163 
 
 stricted by hostile legislation, but its recent growth is well 
 indicated in the 1913 report of the Party Congress. 
 
 The trade-unions, which form the backbone of the party, 
 increased their membership from 95,180 to 111,966 [in 
 1913]. The number of members in the unions paying the 
 party dues rose from 52,733 to 59,623. The party organ, 
 Nepszava, for the first time in its existence, showed a sur- 
 plus. 
 
 II. CONGRESS OF THE HUNGARIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 
 
 1913 
 
 By E. Varga, Budapest 
 (From Die Neue Zeit) 
 
 ' ' On October 30 the Hungarian Social Democratic Party 
 met for its twentieth convention. A review of the history 
 of the Hungarian labor movement and the Social Dem- 
 ocratic Party, as presented in a small six-page booklet 
 that has just been published, may well justify a feeling of 
 pride in our work. In a country that is economically and 
 cidturally far beneath the standard of other European 
 nations, ... we have still succeeded, by untiring agita- 
 tion and organization, in rallying a large part of the 
 working-class under the standard of our movement. The 
 last ten years, particularly, show rapid development. 
 
 "The growth of the Social Democratic press is more 
 than gratifying. The income of the Nepszava and the 
 Volksstimme alone has increased tenfold in the last ten 
 years. The past year has seen active work in the improve- 
 ment and circulation of our papers. A number of weeks 
 ago. a new paper, printed in the German and Hungarian 
 tongue, called the Bergarbeiter (The Miner) made its first 
 appearance. This is dedicated to the organization of the 
 miners of Hungary, about 100,000 strong. 
 
164 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 "Besides these party successes, the co-operative societies 
 have increased their business tenfold in the last five years. 
 An attempt has been made to organize co-operative farm- 
 ing societies, patterned after those of Italy, with a dif- 
 ference, however. While in Italy these societies enjoy the 
 support and assistance of the administration, here every 
 attempt to organize farm-workers meets with vehement 
 opposition from the ruling class and its class government. 
 
 "From the historical point of view we have no reason 
 to complaiu of the Hungarian movement. But one look 
 at its present situation shows a different picture. A heavy 
 industrial crisis has been resting upon the country since 
 the outbreak of the Balkan war. The constant danger of 
 war for more than a year has injured all industrial and 
 commercial enterprise. Unemployment is intense. Though 
 we have no real employment statistics, we may 
 safely assume, from the reports of the co-operatives, the 
 sick benefit societies, and the state employment bureaus, 
 that at least 15 to 20 per cent of the workers of Hungary 
 to-day are unemployed. 
 
 "Building during the past year has been practically at 
 a standstill. Not only do the banks refuse credit, but, 
 owing to their financial stress, municipalities and the state 
 as well as the railroads, have reduced their investments 
 to a minimum. Military preparations have swallowed up 
 the money of the nation. The misery of the working-class 
 is beyond belief. 
 
 "There is only one escape: emigration. But the Gov- 
 ernment uses every possible means to prevent this. No 
 man of military age has been allowed to cross the border 
 since the beginning of the Balkan troubles. Bitter need, 
 however, has made our people clever. They use the most 
 impossible ruses to pass the countless armes de garde that 
 make the border well-nigh impassable. The emigrants 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 165 
 
 go disguised as pilgrims wandering to some holy place. 
 They climb high mountains or cross the water in light 
 rowboats. Some have escaped across the border line by 
 buying a load of pigs with which they travel as caretakers 
 until they reach Vienna, where they sell the pigs and go 
 on their way. Others arrange appointments with prom- 
 inent physicians of Vienna. A book could be written de- 
 scribing the numberless tricks resorted to by these unfor- 
 tunate Hungarians, that they might shake the dust of 
 their fatherland from their feet forever. Conditions are 
 so terrible that a borough president reported. the other 
 day to the Minister of the Interior that in his district there 
 are 10,000 unemployed who, together with 40,000 members 
 of their families, are facing starvation. . . . 
 
 "Between the undeveloped industrial life and the over- 
 developed militaristic aspirations of our monarchy, there 
 is a bottomless chasm. Year after year our military de- 
 partment clamors for more soldiers, more money. But in 
 its undeveloped condition, the country cannot support its 
 own population. When the soldiers are mustered, fre- 
 quently more than 50 per cent of the recruits fail to ap- 
 pear. No border police, no whining will bring them. Nor 
 will the new practice of examining emigrants on the Aus- 
 trian border as severely as has been the ease in Hungary 
 itself alter the situation. The people have no bread and 
 they will go where it can be found. 
 
 "It is only natural that this hopeless industrial situa- 
 tion should react unfavorably on the labor movement, both 
 in its industrial and its political organization. This is 
 probably the explanation for the passive endurance by the 
 Hungarian working-class, yes, by the whole Hungarian 
 population, of the absolutism of the Tisza clique. 
 
 "The political situation of Hungary remains practically 
 unchanged since our last report. Since the dropping of 
 
166 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the general strike and the passage of Tisza's election re- 
 form, a certain lethargy has overcome all of our fighting 
 spirits. The working-class has not been able to muster 
 its forces for serious action. In the ranks of the oppo- 
 sition . . . conservatism is gaining the upper hand. The 
 whole opposition has been boycotting Parliament. Party 
 lines have been changed through the founding of a new 
 party under the leadership of the great landowner, Count 
 Andrassy, a notorious enemy of union labor in his former 
 capacity as Minister. This new conservative-opposition 
 party claims that it is able to sustain the unity with Aus- 
 tria and has embodied this with the development of mili- 
 tarism in its program. Concerning election reform, the 
 new party, while demanding more liberal provisions than 
 those passed under Tisza, refuses to support the demands 
 upon which our party and the opposition have united. . . . 
 
 "Though the leaders were profuse in their assurances 
 that they would adhere to their election promises, they 
 looked calmly on while the Government robbed the people 
 of its last vestige of power. The right of public assemblage 
 was curtailed by a bill making speakers and of&cers in a 
 public meeting personally responsible for the maintenance 
 of order. The jurisdiction of the jury courts was limited 
 and political newspaper cases were assigned to judges 
 instead of jury courts. Press laws were increased in se- 
 verity. A new law, that permits the arrest of unemployed 
 who are unwilling to work as vagrants, and their confine- 
 ment in the workhouse, makes it possible to wage war upon 
 striking workers. . . . 
 
 "It was to be expected that these occurrences should 
 find expression at the Convention. Some of the speakers 
 insisted that our fusion with the opposition was doing us 
 more harm than good, that it was obliterating the class-line 
 for the workers to see their leaders make common cause 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 167 
 
 with such noforious reactionaries as are some of the mem- 
 bers of the opposition. Others insisted that these common 
 meetings give our speakers a chance to address people whom 
 we can otherwise never hope to reach. . . . Some were 
 sure that the opposition would betray the cause of election 
 reform as soon as an opportunity presented itself. After 
 a thorough discussion a resolution was adopted indorsing 
 the party tactics of the past and assuring all opposition 
 groups of our support, provided they not only declare 
 their satisfaction with Tisza's election reform, but demand 
 an election reform, at least as far-reaching as the measures 
 decided upon by our party in conjunction with the parties 
 of the opposition last year. This excluded the Andrassy 
 party. At the same time the resolution reafiSrms the neces- 
 sity of carrying on an intensive campaign for the funda- 
 mental suffrage demands of our party, the right of general, 
 secret, and equal suffrage for both sexes. ... 
 
 "It is easily possible that the election reform of Tisza 
 may never take effect. It cannot become effective before 
 a year after a reapportionment of election districts has 
 passed Parliament. But this bill has not even been drafted, 
 and the term of this Reichstag expires in the spring of 
 1915. If, therefore, this bill is not presented within the 
 next few months, the coming election will be conducted 
 under the old election laws, an eventuality that, we firmly 
 believe, would be acceptable to all parties. In 1915 or 
 1916 a readjustment of the Austro-Hungarian agreement 
 will be reached, presenting a splendid opportunity for 
 postponing election reforms for another five years. 
 
 "This was the first time since the founding of the Hun- 
 garian Socialist Party that a speech concerning our for- 
 eign policy was delivered before a party convention. A 
 resolution was adopted protesting against the aggressive 
 policy of our monarchy, demanding that our nation pro- 
 
168 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 tect its national strength, not by constant armaments, but 
 by the peaceful methods of internal social and industrial 
 development." 
 
 in. POLITICAL JUGGLERY IN HUNGARY, 1914 
 (In Justice, London) 
 
 "The electoral law of Hungary has been very little im- 
 proved by the reforms introduced by the present govern- 
 ment. On three different occasions within the last eight 
 years has manhood suffrage been promised in speeches 
 from the throne, but the ruling caste in Hungary has 
 managed to balk the intentions of the sovereign. It must 
 not be supposed that the latter had suddenly become a 
 democrat. Far from it. The pronouncement in favor of 
 manhood suffrage was made to break the resistance of the 
 Hungarian governing class, the landowners of Magyar na- 
 tionality, for an increase in the army, and to hold up by 
 that means also the movement of the same class for still 
 greater independence. 
 
 "It was calculated in court circles that, with a wider 
 suffrage, the other nationalities in Hungary would obtain 
 enlarged representation (at present the Magyars, with 55 
 per cent of the population, hold 393 seats, the other na- 
 tionalities, altogether about eight millions, have 20 seats) ; 
 further, that the lower middle class and the workmen 
 would form new parties, and that with a parliament thus 
 split up the Crown would have less difficulty than with a 
 parliament dominated by one class and one race. The 
 Magyar nobles, however, are skilled politicians. They saw 
 through the game; the increases of the army were voted; 
 and the electoral reform was carried out in such manner 
 that in all essentials the rule of the Magyar aristocracy 
 is not seriously threatened. At first our party, when it 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 169 
 
 became clear that nothing approaching manhood suffrage 
 could be expected, decided on boycotting the elections and 
 to carry on the agitation for a thoroughgoing reform. 
 Gradually, however, it was recognized that it might be 
 worth while to try whether, even under this new law, a 
 breach might not be made and some Socialists returned to 
 this, the last parliament of Europe without any Socialist 
 members. 
 
 "Under the new law the vote by ballot is secured for 
 63 electoral divisions in cities and boroughs. The fran- 
 chise is granted to the town workmen who are 30 years 
 of age, can read and write, and fulfill a few other con- 
 ditions. What this means may be seen from the fact that 
 in Budapest there are close on 100,000 workers over 24 
 years of age, but the number of voters of all classes will 
 not exceed some 40,000. The greatest factor in pro- 
 letarian polities, the numerical preponderance of the 
 labor vote, is therefore absent. 
 
 The first stage in the electoral struggle, once participa- 
 tion in it had been decided upon, was to get the working- 
 class voters registered. To keep them off the register as 
 much as possible the local authorities ordered the educa- 
 tional tests to take place nearly everywhere on week days 
 during working hours, reckoning that many workmen 
 would not care to lose a day's work for the sake of a vote. 
 In some districts the regulations also prescribed a personal 
 individual application to be made by the citizen who 
 wished to be put upon the register, which in most cases 
 would have meant another day lost. 
 
 "Our party set to work and succeeded in getting these 
 regulations altered, so that the qualifying educational tests 
 now take place in the evenings, and notices for admission 
 to the voters' lists can be given by third persons. In all 
 districts where our party has sufficient adherents to under- 
 
170 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 .take a contest electoral associations have been formed, and 
 the work of propaganda and collection of names has been 
 carried out. For the 22 Budapest constituencies 5,000 
 comrades volunteered for this canvassing work, which was 
 done in the second week of May. The total number of 
 names handed in by the party organizers was more than 
 30,000, the number of individual applications for the whole 
 of Budapest only about 1,000. Probably a certain number 
 of applications will still be rejected, as elementary educa- 
 tion is sadly neglected in Hungary; and, in the hands of 
 unscrupulous persons, as most of the officials of adminis- 
 trative authorities are, the educational tests may easily be 
 used to deprive workmen of the vote. 
 
 "However, the preliminary work of collecting names, 
 of explaining the provisions of the electoral law, holding 
 meetings, and selling literature, etc., has put new life into 
 the party, which was greatly discouraged by the non- 
 success of the movement for manhood suffrage, and saw 
 its funds depleted by the terrible economic crisis through 
 which the working-class has passed since the commence- 
 ment of the Balkan wars. The party will therefore be on 
 the alert to prevent violation of the law by the officials, 
 and to see to it that the Socialist Party at the election gets 
 its full chance of bringing its voters to the poll. The 
 Central Committee for Budapest, which conducts all the 
 administrative work of preparation and organization, and 
 which is appointed by the municipality, has two Socialists 
 amongst its members, comrades Buchinger and Weltner, 
 who will keep their eyes open for any tricks that official- 
 dom might like to play. It is not known yet when the 
 election will take place, but at the latest it must be in 
 May next; probably, however, it will be in the autumn 
 that the Hungarian working-class will get its first chance 
 of voting. 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 171 
 
 • 
 "There is no possibility of doing anything in the coun- 
 try districts, where open voting is still the law. It is here 
 that the mass of the proletariat of the Magyar race toils 
 for the lords, where the worst conditions obtain, and the 
 most rigorous terrorism and oppression will be applied to 
 secure electoral success for the governing class. The num- 
 ber of Magyar agricultural workers is estimated at 
 630,000, the non-Magyar, mostly Roumanian and Slavonic, 
 at 49,000. The town workers are computed at 250,000 
 Magyars and 160,000 non-Magyars (German, Slavonic, 
 Roumanian, etc.). Among the farmers and peasant free- 
 holders the Magyars are in a decided minority, so much 
 so that in numbers the Magyars are only three-eighths of 
 the land-owning classes all told, whilst, as to the extent of 
 property held, the proportion is the reverse, if not more 
 so, the vast estates being the property of Magyar nobles 
 almost exclusively." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 
 
 SPAIN 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 A Spajstish Socialist Party was founded in 1879, but 
 held its first congress in 1888 at Barcelona. By 1913 the 
 party had 12,000 members, divided into 198 groups. Its 
 daily organ, El Socialista, was founded at Madrid that 
 year. 
 
 In 1891 it received 5,000 votes at the national election ; 
 in 1896, 14,000 ; in 1898, 23,000 ; in 1904, 26,000, and in 
 1907, 23,000. 
 
 At the election of 1910 there was a considerable increase, 
 the party receiving approximately 41,000 votes. This in- 
 crease continued in the elections of 1912, when Pablo 
 Iglesias received over 40,000 votes and was elected to the 
 Cortes from Madrid-^being the only Socialist member of 
 that body. In 1910, however, a close electoral alliance 
 had been formed between the Socialists and Republicans, 
 who are 16 in number in the Cortes. 
 
 n. THE SITUATION IN SPAIN 
 
 By Pablo Iglesias, Madrid 
 (From Vorwaerts, May 15, 1914) 
 
 "Spain is in a serious, critical situation. The Con- 
 servative Party, now in power, is divided by schisms, which 
 threaten the life of the party and the monarchy. 
 
 173 
 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 173 
 
 "Maura, the former leader of this party, has withdrawn 
 from political life. Between him and his aid, the present 
 prime minister, Dato, and all his followers, exists serious 
 dissension. This withdrawal from political life is not taken 
 seriously, for Maura's son, Gabriel, as well as some other 
 followers of Maura's, are busily engaged in exciting public 
 opinion against the government. The object of this attack 
 is to arouse friendly feelings towards the man against 
 whom hate and disgust arose in all civilized countries when 
 he had Ferrer shot. 
 
 "The agitation of these followers of Maura's is turned 
 not only against Dato's government, but also against the 
 king. In spite of their assurance of monarchical loyalty, 
 these monarchists neglect no opportunity to attack Al- 
 fonso XIII. Gabriel Maura declared at a recent meeting 
 that his father had not been in favor of the Morocco 
 war. Although several skirmishes between Spanish troops 
 and Arabs had taken place in 1909, he declared these 
 could have been suppressed through police measures, as 
 they were only disturbances of the peace. Maura ap- 
 proved of these police measures, and these only. Maura's 
 son intended by this statement to place the blame of the 
 unhappy war on the king. 
 
 "Maura is finding that the secret hatred which his fol- 
 lowers have against the king is reacting against himself. 
 The king is endeavoring to crystallize public opinion 
 against him for the purpose ultimately of pushing him out 
 of public life. In order to attain this end, he has reached 
 an understanding between the leaders of the largest Lib- 
 eral groups and Dato. It is possible that the king might 
 be able to defeat Maura once for all, but not without dan- 
 ger to the monarchical regime. 
 
 "Like the Conservative Party, the Spanish Liberals are 
 divided among themselves. Their majority collects 
 
174 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 around Count Romanones, the predecessor of Dato. The 
 smaller group of the Liberals has Garcia Prieto as leader. 
 It was he who signed the treaty between Spain and Prance 
 when he was state minister in the cabinet of Romanones, 
 This group, which works against the present government 
 and secretly against the Liberal Party, calls itself now 
 the Democratic Party. These are the parties which give 
 their support to Alfonzo's monarchy. 
 
 "There are other monarchical elements, but they are of 
 less importance. One, for instance, is the Regionalists, or 
 Spanish Separatists, a group of politicians from Cata- 
 lonia, anxious to secure autonomy for that province. It 
 is their custom to associate with Conservatives, Carlists, 
 and other minor groups. 
 
 "Opposing these monarchical political powers are the 
 Republican and the Socialist parties. The Republicans 
 command large masses of people, while the Socialist Party 
 counts among its members all class-conscious workers. The 
 party is excellently organized. The Republicans and the 
 Socialists form a coalition, founded in 1909, with the idea 
 of overthrowing Maura. Personal ambition induced some 
 of the Republican leaders to withdraw from the party and 
 to become adherents of the monarchy, provided this mon- 
 archy took up more liberal and democratic policies. It is 
 needless to say that these political deserters, at the head of 
 which were Melquiadez Alvares and Azcarate, were 
 sharply criticised by all advanced political elements. 
 
 "The principal reason for Spain's sad condition lies in 
 'our international politics.' The Spanish rulers, who are 
 stupid and servile, have entered into treaties for the coun- 
 try which only serve the selfish interests of French 
 and English citizens, and which flatter the imperial long- 
 ings of the king and the militarists who for selfish reasons 
 pretend to be devoted to the monarch. 
 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 175 
 
 "The war in Morocco is a result of the policies pursued 
 by this government. This war has lasted five years al- 
 ready, and has not only cost the country human lives, but 
 also many millions of pesetas, and has brought nothing in 
 return but the loss of Spain's reputation. At present the 
 army which is stationed in Morocco costs the country one 
 million pesetas ($200,000) a day. 
 
 "Another result of the activities of this government is 
 the erection of a new fleet, which has so far cost $40,000,000 
 — this sum might as well have been thrown in the water — 
 and the preparations for new and expensive coast defenses. 
 
 ' ' The building of an electric railway from Madrid to the 
 French frontier is still another outcome of this policy. 
 This will also cost several million pesetas, its purpose being 
 to transport troops from France to Africa, or from Africa 
 to France, when the international situation demands such 
 action. 
 
 "These immense expenses gradually exhaust the coun- 
 try, especially as Spain has such a very small taxing power. 
 The debts grow greater and greater, and with them the 
 taxes, while, as a result, the cost of living increases. Em- 
 igration, on account of the misery and the war, is ex- 
 ceedingly great. The war in Morocco finds no supporters 
 in the entire country. The supporters of the war them- 
 selves, the king, several dealers, and the military group 
 who prosper by it, do not dare to defend this adventure. 
 The entire country is against the war, and the Republican, 
 and especially the Socialist Party, are continually protest- 
 ing against it in their press and at their meetings. It is 
 possible that the immense cost of the war, the stupidity 
 of the militarists, and the attitude of the king — it is said 
 that he carries on the war behind the back of the govern- 
 ment — may lead to an uprising. . . . 
 
 "As in former elections, the delegates who belong to the 
 
176 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Spanish Cortes, owe their seats to the misuse of the general 
 suffrage by the government, or through the plutocratic ele- 
 ments, so that the present Parliament resembles the former 
 almost wholly. Practically all the politicians who are to 
 blame for the misery of Spain were again elected. Among 
 the 408 delegates are 228 Conservatives, 120 Liberals and 
 Democrats, and 16 of the Kepublican and Socialist coali- 
 tion (among these only 1 Socialist). The remainder is 
 made up of a number of smaller groups. 
 
 "It is almost certain that the government will not find 
 a Conservative majority. To continue to live it will have 
 to solicit the help of the Liberals, under the leadership of 
 Romanones. Everyone believes that the life of this par- 
 liament will be very short and very unfruitful. The pres- 
 ent government or its successor, which will be of the same 
 political complexion, will try to rule without Parliament, 
 as has been the custom in Spain. 
 
 "During its short life this Parliament will have a very 
 stormy career. The immense folly of the war in Morocco 
 will be laid bare before this assembly and King Alfonso 
 will be branded as the principal culprit. Perhaps this 
 criticism will press the people to free themselves from 
 those who plunge the country into ruin." 
 
 PORTUGAL 
 
 I. nSTTRODUCTORY 
 
 At the Fifth Congress of the Portuguese Socialist Party 
 (July, 1913) 50 local organizations were represented. The 
 chief demands discussed were compulsory voting, propor- 
 tional representation, the referendum, and woman suffrage. 
 
 In the November elections, the Socialists failed to in- 
 crease their delegation in Parliament, which consists of 
 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 177 
 
 one member, Manuel Jose da Silva, of Oporto. In Decem- 
 ber, however, they elected 11 members to the municipal 
 council of Oporto, gained a majority in Covilha, and elected 
 members for the first timS in several other towns. 
 
 II. THE GENERAL POLITICAL SITUATION 
 
 (A. F. G., in The New Statesman, January 3, 1914) 
 
 ' ' The party now in power is that of the Democrats, under 
 the leadership of the Premier, Senhor Affonso Costa. The 
 organs of this party are A Patria and Mundo, and, non- 
 officially, Seculo. There is the Unionist Party, under 
 the leadership of Senhor Brito Camacho, with its organ, 
 A Lucta, which has during the past year lent its support 
 to Senhor Costa, and furnished him with a working ma- 
 jority in the Chamber. Violently opposed to Senhor Costa 
 and the Democratic Party are the Evolutionists under 
 Senhor Antonio Jose de Almeida, with their organ, A Be- 
 publica. This party represents the real constitutional op- 
 position within the republic. Its program is much more 
 moderate than that of the Democrats, and its leader is a 
 man of ability; but it has not hitherto shown that it pos- 
 sesses strength to assert itself or even to play a prominent 
 part in practical politics. Besides these three Republican 
 parties there is the group of Independents, also intensely 
 Republican, but opposed to th6 republic as at present con- 
 stituted. The leader of this fourth party is Senhor Ma- 
 chado Santos, its organ Intransigente. The Royalists no 
 more than the Republicans offer a united front. There are 
 the supporters of King Manoel, the supporters of Dom 
 Migoel (whose organ, A NaQao, was temporarily suspended 
 owing to the wrecking of its offices by the Carbonarios), 
 and a third party of Royalists, who ma,y be called Sebas- 
 tianistas. These last are filled with a vague discontent and 
 
178 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 look unfailingly to the return of former conditions, but 
 know not exactly what they want or what prince they 
 would have to reign over them. These indefinite and 
 idealistic Royalists in Portugal occupy much the same posi- 
 tion as the Carlists in Spain. 
 
 "A fourth Royalist Party is composed of unpatriotic 
 persons, who desire foreign intervention and persuade 
 themselves that order will be thoroughly restored only 
 under a foreign prince, with foreign troops at his back. 
 
 "Then there is the Socialist Party, with its organ, 
 Socialista, which has gained somewhat in strength recently, 
 and has attacked the republic as it perhaps never at- 
 tacked the monarchy, complaining that the lot of the work- 
 men has grown worse, that the governments of the re- 
 public have been as selfish and incompetent as those of 
 the monarchy, and that the main difference has been that, 
 whereas under the monarchy there was a vigorous opposi- 
 tion press, no such press has been allowed to exist under 
 the republic. The Syndicalists, with their journal, Sin- 
 dicalista, also have many adepts among the workmen and 
 in the navy. There exist, too, many anarchist manufac- 
 turers of bombs, and many Radical Republicans, who have 
 already made several attempts to effect a coup d'etat and 
 replace the present Ministry by a Ministry of a more 
 frankly popular and Socialistic character, and to inaug- 
 urate the Eepuilica Radical, of which the conspirators 
 wore the yellow badge. 
 
 "And through all these groups and parties runs the 
 sinister vein of the Carbonaria, the white Carbonarios, 
 the black Carbonarios, the 'Sons of Night' {Filhos da 
 Noife), the devotees of Senhor Costa. It would require 
 a Talleyrand to thread these mazes. Yet it is a country of 
 but six million inhabitants, and the census taken at the end 
 of 1911 records the number of those who can neither write 
 
SPAIN AND POKTUGAL 179 
 
 nor read as 75 per cent of the entire population. These 
 illiterates have not the vote and are for the most part indif- 
 ferent to politics; so that we have this dozen or more of 
 contending parties in a million and a half inhabitants. 
 . . . The Democrat Party cannot be acquitted of the chief 
 responsibility for the widespread discontent and for the iso- 
 lation in which the republic now subsists. Far from seek- 
 ing to win over opponents, it has heaped insults and insin- 
 uations even on fellow Republicans whom it has suspected 
 of a tendency to moderation, and has encouraged the Car- 
 bonarios to spy out and persecute. And its leader, Senhor 
 Costa, is, like Janus, double-faced. On the one hand he 
 represents himself (especially in his intercourse with the 
 foreign ministers) as a man of sense and moderation, on 
 the other hand he freely indorses the outrages committed 
 by the Carbonarios. He is thus more likely to succeed for 
 a while than to bring any true or permanent improvement 
 to the state of Portugal. Like the performance of a rope- 
 dancer, his administration is unlikely to be prolonged and 
 may end in disaster, however skillfully he maintains his 
 balance for the moment. 'He knows that Portugal is 
 threatened by only one danger — ^bankruptcy,' said his inti- 
 mate friend, the editor of the Mundo, last March; and to 
 the abolition of the deficit Senhor Costa has devoted much, 
 of his energy. But since the effect of his policy has been 
 to drive capital from the country, the distress in Portugal 
 has become worse than it was before the revolution, the 
 exchanges have gone down and emigration has gone up. 
 It may be argued that this is but natural after a revolu- 
 tion. But the revolution of October, 1910, was not in itself 
 a great upheaval, and it was followed by an attitude of 
 expectation and, in parts of the country, of welcome. The 
 ignorant, who had been led to look for the Millennium, 
 were, of course, doomed from the first to disappointment; 
 
180 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 but level-headed observers have been not less deeply dis- 
 appointed in the results of the revolution. SociaUsta 
 wrote as follows last July: 
 
 " A violent change of government may be welcomed by honest 
 Republicans and sincere patriots who desire a modern, tolerant, 
 and progressive republic, and an era of tranquillity, work, and 
 study for their country. . . . Like Joao Franco and all tyrannical 
 despotic governments, Senhor Costa's government has produced 
 an effect profoundly revolutionary. By, his attitude in power 
 he has made more anarchists and syndicalists than have been 
 secured by all the work of propaganda. 
 
 " And in many camps, openly or underground, men are Work- 
 ing and plotting to undermine the present administration." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 EOUMANIA, BULGARIA, AND GREECE 
 
 EOUMANIA 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The Social Democratic Party of Roumania was organ- 
 ized at Bukharest, February 2, 1910. For several years 
 prior to that date, the movement had no political character, 
 consisting mainly of scattered "circles," whose chief activ- 
 ity was the organization of trade-unions and the holding 
 of occasional lectures and mass meetings on timely topics. 
 
 Since 1899, which year marked the disappearance of the 
 first Socialist or pseudo-Socialist movement in Roumania, 
 by the wholesale abandonment of its intellectual leaders, 
 all of whom joined the so-called Liberal Party, and — as 
 in France — assumed leading positions within it, Roumania 
 has been without any definite Socialistic organization. In 
 1905 Dr. C. Racovsky, who, with C. Dobrogeanu-Gherea, 
 Roumania 's foremost economist and literary critic, were 
 the only remaining loyal Socialists, began to tour the 
 country, getting in touch with stray comrades in various 
 localities. At the same time, Racovsky and a few comrades 
 at Bukharest commenced issuing a weekly, the Bomania 
 Municitoare (Laboring Roumania). This activity resulted 
 in the formation of the circles above mentioned. These 
 had no organic connection, nor, for that matter, any definite 
 program of activity until 1910, when, following the passage 
 of a law prohibiting government employees from joining 
 
 181 
 
182 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OP THE "WORLD 
 
 labor-unions, the movement considered the possibility of 
 saving itself by the formation of a political party. 
 
 The first national Executive Committee — and members of 
 this committee are even at the present time the most active 
 members of the movement — were: C. Eacovsby, D. Mari- 
 nesco, M. Gh. Bujor, N. C. Georgesco, I. C. Frimou, Al. 
 Constantinesco, and C. Vasilesco. 
 
 As the party is now constituted, it consists of a central 
 organization at Bukharest, with branches, called "clubs," 
 in the principal cities. Besides conducting the political 
 part of the activity, these clubs also assist in the organ- 
 ization of trade-unions. The two phases of the movement 
 are very closely allied. The trade-union membership is 
 at present about ten thousand, and includes only private 
 employees. The official organ, Romania Muncitoare, now 
 appears three times a week. One-half of each issue is de- 
 voted to the Socialist movement and the other half to 
 the trade-unions. The movement also conducts a publish- 
 ing enterprise, issuing original or translated pamphlets 
 and books from time to time. There is also a monthly 
 scientific and literary magazine, Viitorul Social (The So- 
 cial Future) of about the size of the Neue Zeit. Then 
 there are various trade papers, one of the waiters, metal- 
 workers, railroad men, and one or two of the other trades. 
 
 The movement has passed through important crises since 
 its organization. The first was in 1907, following the 
 Peasant Eebellion, when the party was almost completely 
 annihilated. All clubs were closed, books and cash con- 
 fiscated, and the members mobilized, and almost a thou- 
 sand native Jewish party members expelled from the coun- 
 try. The Government, in its fury, instituted proceedings 
 against Dr. Racovsky, and by means of documents subse- 
 quently proved to be false, denied the latter his citizen- 
 ship, and in his absence as delegate to the International 
 
ROUMANIA, BULGARIA, AND GREECE 183 
 
 Congress at Stuttgart, declared him expelled from Rou- 
 mania. Eaeovsky made several attempts to re-enter the 
 country, each time at a different point, in order to have 
 himself brought before a court where he could prove his 
 citizenship. But in each case he was arrested and clan- 
 destinely returned across the frontier. It was only in 1912, 
 after a change of cabinet, and after innumerable efforts 
 of friends, that he was finally permitted to present his 
 claims before the court. He did so, and his citizenship was 
 restored to him. 
 
 The second crisis was in the nature of an internal strife 
 in 1913, at the time of the Balkan War. As is well known, 
 Eoumania did not participate actively in this struggle. 
 The great victories of Bulgaria, however, aroused the Rou- 
 manian Government's jealousy, and it began to wage a 
 campaign of hostility against that neighboring country. 
 When the war fever was at its highest, a Roumanian army 
 was dispatched across the Danube and occupied a small 
 province (Silvestria) which the Bulgarians were unable 
 to defend. Some of the intellectuals of the party, notably 
 two lawyers, N, D. Cocea and Th. Dragu, were caught in 
 the whirl of patriotism and defended the war in spite of 
 a contrary action of the party. This led to such marked 
 dissatisfaction within the ranks that these two were forced 
 to resign. On this occasion the party got rid of a few 
 obstreperous opportunists, and now presents a strictly So- 
 cialist front. The last convention in 1914 ratified the 
 stand of the central party organization at the time of the 
 war. 
 
 Although numerically and politically weak, the party 
 put up candidates in a number of campaigns in several 
 localities. The vote is necessarily small, but contributes 
 to the political education of the masses. At Galatz and 
 Tulcea, however, the vote exceeded all anticipations. 
 
184 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 n. PROGRAM OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY, ADOPTED AT THE 
 ABOVE CONVENTION IN 1910 
 
 1. POLITICAL PROGRAM 
 
 a. Equal direct and secret universal suffrage for all inhabitants 
 above 20 years, irrespective of nationality, creed, or sex, not 
 subjects of any other country; as well as for aliens residing in 
 the country 10 years or more, renouncing all foreign allegiance. 
 Proportional representation; holding of elections on a legal holi- 
 day ; compensation for the elected officers ; abolition Of the Senate. 
 
 b. This can all be summed up in the initiative, referendum, 
 and recall; extensive administrative decentralization and local 
 home rule. 
 
 c. Abolition of the expulsion law, and sundry other exception 
 laws. (This law nominally applicable to foreigners has been 
 extensively used against Socialists, native Jewish members of the 
 party, having been expelled by the hundreds, especially during 
 the peasant outbreak in 1907.) Equalization of the rights of 
 the inhabitants of Dobrudja. (This province was acquired from 
 Turkey following the Independence War of 1877. Ever since the 
 province has been subject to exception laws, inhabitants being 
 deprived of the suffrage or parliamentary representation.) Com- 
 plete equalization of the civic and political rights of native Jews 
 with those of other citizens. (Although the native Jews are 
 subject to civic and military duty, pay taxes, etc., they are en- 
 joying no political freedom whatever, always being implicitly 
 included in any act applicable to "foreigners.") 
 
 d. Restitution of political and civic privileges to all city, dis- 
 trict, and state employees. 
 
 e. Equalization, political and legal, of the sexes, and the fos- 
 tering of paternal responsibility upon the father for his illegiti- 
 mate children. 
 
 /. Punishment by law of public employees who interfere with 
 the exercise of the political rights of the citizens. 
 
 g. Establishment of honest, equitable, and independent justice. 
 Gratuity of legal processes, damages for illegally arrested or 
 prosecuted citizens, right of appeal, election of judges and jurors 
 by popular vote. 
 
 h. The establishment of the right of appeal against all admin- 
 
EOUMANIA, BULGARIA, AND GREECE 185 
 
 istrative and judicial decisions for the benefit of all public em- 
 ployees. 
 
 i. Free and compulsory education for children of all creeds 
 and nationalities, with due regard for the languages of the various 
 ethnical groups. Secularization of education. Equalization of 
 the village school with the town school. Establishment of voca- 
 tional and agricultural schools. Compulsory education to 14 
 years. Generalization of school lunchrooms. Free clothing, food, 
 books, and school supplies for needy children in primary, sec- 
 ondary, and vocational schools. Assistance to needy and deserv- 
 ing pupils for the continuation of their studies. 
 
 j. Direct proportional and progressive income and inheritance 
 tax. Gradual abrogation of all indirect taxes, incomes of 3,000 
 francs or less to be exempt from all taxation. 
 
 k. Separation of church from the state, leaving church admin- 
 istration to the care of its members. 
 
 I. All city, district, and state employees to be under civil 
 service. 
 
 m. Considering the army only as a means of protecting the 
 country, and in no way as an instrument of repression against 
 the working-class and its struggles for freedom, we demand the 
 transformation of the standing army into a national militia; 
 until such change is effected, we demand the reduction of the 
 military service to one year. Abrogation of court-martials; 
 compulsory education in barracks and camps. 
 
 2. AGRARIAN PROGRAM 
 
 a. Abrogation of all feudal remnants in the relation of 
 agrarian production. 
 
 6. Abrogation of feudal contracts, as tithes, and other hidden 
 forms of servitude. All agreements and payments to be made 
 in specie. 
 
 c. Compulsory expropriation as far as possible of great por- 
 tions of extensive land holdings. 
 
 d. All such expropriated lands to form a national fund under 
 state supervision. Individuals or peasant associations to rent 
 from this fund parcels of land for terms of not less than 50 
 years. Right of renewal of contract to be vested in the tenant's 
 heirs (wife, children, etc.). Tenant to be allowed to subrent his 
 
186 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 parcel to a third party, the only condition being that the latter 
 work the parcel himself. 
 
 e. Amount of rent to be decided by a commission of peasants 
 and landowners, so constituted as to safeguard the interests of 
 the peasants. These prices to be universally prevailing and 
 applicable to all owners. 
 
 /. The income of the fund to be divided in two, as follows: 
 One part for the payment of interests and amortization of the 
 capital expended in buying. Second part, less administrative 
 expenses, to be distributed among all communities and to be used 
 only for public welfare work, improvement of agricultural work, 
 or increase in holdings. 
 
 g. Special legislation to facilitate the formation of peasants' 
 associations, providing for city and state assistance in the form 
 of procuring seeds, fertilizer, and modem machinery. 
 
 h. Organization of a rural bank to lend money to peasants on 
 a nominal interest in proportion to the latter's holdings. This 
 bank also to make provisions for the wholesale and common 
 disposal of the agricultural products of its members, as well as 
 for the purchase of seeds and machinery. This bank to be a state 
 institution. 
 
 i. Expropriation of inalienable city - or private pasture 
 grounds at prices to be established as above provided for. 
 
 j. Total prevention of the sale of land or forests belonging to 
 the state or cities to private individuals. The same to apply 
 also to all other natural resources — waterfalls, rivers, mines, 
 etc. 
 
 k. Encouragement by the state and cities of systematic agri- 
 culture and breeding, by means of traveling instructors, experi- 
 ment stations, etc. 
 
 I. Practical agricultural instructions by means of special 
 schools, or special courses in existing rural schools, in the latter 
 case not at the expense of the regular course of study. 
 
 m. Improvement on rivers, creation of canals for irrigation, 
 drainage of swamps, installation of artesian wells, etc. Construc- 
 tion of public highways and railways for local purposes. Arti- 
 ficial forestation. 
 
 M. Tenants of parcels of land to be entitled to compensation 
 for any improvement which adds to the value of the land. 
 
 o. Abolition by law of the right of landowners to prosecute 
 or attach the product of the soil. The establishment of a reserve 
 
EOUMANIA, BULGARIA, AND GREECE 187 
 
 of instruments, products, fertilizers, head of cattle, indispensable 
 to every household and forever inalienable. 
 
 p. Establishment of a minimum wage by the commission for 
 journeymen and seasonal workers. 
 
 q. All laws protecting labor to apply to rural labor as well, 
 with due regard to the particular circumstances. 
 
 r. To reduce to a minimum the transportation cost on rail- 
 roads for agricultural workers, especially during the season. To 
 facilitate the movement of such workers to places best suitable 
 for them. 
 
 s. Abrogation of all land taxes for peasants working their 
 fields by hand. 
 
 t. Reduction of transportation costs for fertilizers, machinery, 
 and agricultural products. 
 
 u. Freedom of game and fishing, except such restrictions as 
 are necessary for the protection of the game and for the preven- 
 tion of damage to the crops. 
 
 BULGARIA 
 
 PLEA FOR UNITY AMONG BULGARIAN SOCIALISTS 
 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 The International Socialist Bureau has addressed to the 
 Socialists of Bulgaria the following communication: 
 
 For many years the International has looked upon the struggle 
 among the Socialists of Bulgaria with a heavy heart. In spite 
 of the resolution adopted by the Amsterdam Congress concerning 
 united action on the part of all Socialists, a resolution which 
 was first carried out by our French comrades and which wUl 
 again bear fruit in the union of the British parties, the Bul- 
 garian parties have yet to take the first step toward a mutual 
 understanding. While you preach "Peace between all nations," 
 you tear each other to pieces and present to the world a picture 
 of senseless and unfounded enmity. 
 
 At the last elections, particularly, the worst passions entered 
 into play. Grievances were painfully dragged out, mutual accu- 
 sations and recriminations were the order of the day. And now, 
 after the dissolution of Parliament, we observe a bitter struggle 
 
188 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 between Socialists, where the combat should be fought, witH 
 united forces, against the capitalist class. 
 
 Comrades : Your country is practically devoid of any laws for 
 the protection of the working-class. You live under a system of 
 government that is hardly more than a caricature of freedom 
 and democracy. A new butbreak ' of hostility threatens the 
 Balkan nations, and you are neither strong enough, nor numerous 
 enough, to face this militaristic combat. 
 
 Comrades of both parties : We have the right to speak in the 
 name of the whole international movement, when we ask you 
 to put an end to your differences, which serve only to decrease 
 your own influence, to fill your enemies with joy. In all our 
 parties there are various shades of theoretical opinion. We were 
 not Socialists if we did not desire, as men who think for our- 
 selves, to find the truth and to fix our tactics according to the 
 change of conditions and times. We ask you, therefore, to listen 
 to us and to pave the way for a union of the Bulgarian Socialist 
 forces. 
 
 Even if this union be difficult at the present time, some under- 
 standing must be reached at the time of the election. Do not 
 place opposing Socialist candidates into the field. 
 
 You are called upon to become an influential and perhaps 
 a deciding factor in the coming struggle. You have no right to 
 squander your forces uselessly to diminish your strength. The 
 victory of democracy in the East means a wonderful strengthen- 
 ing of democracy in the West, signifies the coming triumph of 
 modern ideas in the whole world. 
 
 For the International Socialist Bureau, 
 The Executive Board. 
 
 "t. Vandeevelde, 
 
 E. Anseele, 
 
 L. Bertrand, 
 
 C. HuTSMANS, Secretary. 
 
 GREECE 
 
 Greece has experienced a rapid industrial development 
 during the last 15 years. As far back as the year 1885, 
 Dr. Dracoules began with his propaganda work. In 1893, 
 as leader of the Greek Socialist Party, he secured 4,000 
 
ROUMANIA, BULGARIA, AND GREECE 189 
 
 votes in Athens, aQd. in 1901 he was elected to the Greek 
 Parliament, where h& served several years. 
 
 Attempts have often been made during the past few 
 years to establish a consolidated economic or political or- 
 ganization, but up to the present without any satisfactory 
 results. This regrettable state of affairs may be attributed 
 to the fact that emigration is increasing day by day, and 
 it is just the most skilled and intelligent workers who are 
 driven from their homes on account of their unfortunate 
 political and economic conditions. At any rate, the con- 
 stant agitation of a more progressive body has already had 
 a great influence upon public opinion, and it is to-day gen- 
 erally recognized that the present conditions are untenable. 
 
 It was in 1909 that the military arose and swept away 
 the existing government. The movement was supported 
 by a great mass of the people, because an improvement 
 in their conditions was hoped for as soon as new members 
 were elected to the government. The new government 
 relied to a certain extent upon the Socialist or semi- 
 Socialist elements which had arisen from the Dracoules 
 propaganda, and had developed a program "of struggle 
 against the plutocracy." Venizelos, the skillful prime min- 
 ister, succeeded in turning a part of the movement to his 
 purposes, at the same time that he was building up the 
 Balkan League against Turkey inspired by the idea — 
 launched by the Socialists — of a confederation of all the 
 nations of the peninsula. 
 
 The government also succeeded in serving their own 
 financial interests under the cloak of a propaganda cam- 
 paign against modern capitalism. The people were forced 
 to put up with this because they were helpless and dis- 
 united. The new political power offered brutal opposition 
 to any attempt on the part of the workers to organize. Dr. 
 Dracoules, in 1912, secured 12,000 of the 48,000 votes of 
 
190 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Athens, and was almost elected in another district where 
 he was also candidate. Nevertheless, the propaganda and 
 the rising number of votes for the new movement resulted 
 in a small progressive group in Parliament pushing forward 
 with the labor laws. 
 
 In the meantime a Socialist weekly paper was estab- 
 lished for the purpose of furthering the propaganda and 
 organization work systematically. This was the first neces- 
 sity — having regard to the great disruption in the existing 
 groups. There is a very mixed "Labor Federation of 
 Athens and Piraeus," to which 17 industries belong, whilst 
 1 yellow organization has compromised 14 groups since 
 1910. Some 15 organizations, which are naturally still 
 weak, both numerically and financially, belong to a third 
 tendency. They represent no unity, it is true, but there are 
 hopes of building up modern organizations with these as 
 a basis. The followers of Dracoules created a labor league 
 in 1909, which comprised two separate organizations — one 
 Socialist Party and one trades-union center. This league 
 has organizations in several towns. It propagates an un- 
 derstanding between the workers of the other Balkan 
 States, hoping to put an end to the race hatred which exists. 
 
SECTION III 
 THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE NUMERICAL STATUS OP SOCIALISM IN THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 The following statistics will make clear the status of the 
 Socialist Party in 1914. 
 
 It will be noticed that the high-water mark of member- 
 ship was reached in the presidential year, 1912; that the 
 figures went down in 1913, rose past the 100,000 mark in 
 the first five months of 1914, but fell so far in the latter 
 half of that year (the breaking out of the European war) 
 as to bring the membership for the whole year even below 
 that of 1913. This fall has continued during 1915. 
 
 1. MEMBERSHIP BY YEARS 
 
 The Socialist Party was organized early in August, 1901. 
 The records are too incomplete to determine just how many 
 members we had in the years 1901 and 1902. The mem- 
 bership for each year since then was as follows : 
 
 1903 15,975 1910 58,011 
 
 1904 20,763 1911 84,716 
 
 1905 23,327 1912 117,984 
 
 1906 26,784 1913 95,401 
 
 1907 29,270 1914 (first 5 months) . .106,097 
 
 1908 41,751 1914 (entire year) .... 93,579 
 
 1909 41,479 1915 85,000 
 
 191 
 
192 THE SOCIALIST PAKTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 2. MEMBERSHIP IN SEPAEATB STATES 
 
 Table for 1912. Order of Rank 
 
 S Name of state fi^ 1 1 §•" I' 
 
 1. Nevada 687 81,875 119 
 
 2. Alaska 407 64,356 158 
 
 3. Washington 6,326 1,141,990 180 
 
 4. Idaho 1,673 325,594 195 
 
 5. Wyoming 696 145,965 210 
 
 6. Montana 1,611 376,053 233 
 
 7. Arizona 689 204,354 298 
 
 8. Oregon 2,205 672,765 305 
 
 9. Oklahoma 4,775 1,657,155 344 
 
 10. North Dakota 1,662 577,056 347 
 
 IL Minnesota 5,514 2,075,708 376 
 
 12. California 5,962 2,377,549 399 
 
 13. Colorado 1,864 799,024 429 
 
 14. Wisconsin 4,635 2,333,860 504 
 
 15. Utah 729 373,351 512 
 
 16. Pennsylvania 12,689 7,665,111 604 
 
 17. Kansas 2,603 1,690,949 649 
 
 18. Ohio 7,090 4,767,121 672 
 
 19. New Jersey 3,486 2,537,167 728 
 
 20. Massachusetts 4,519 3,336,416 738 
 
 2L Connecticut 1,505 1,114,756 741 
 
 22. Indiana 3,469 2,700,876 779 
 
 23. New Hampshire 545 430,572 790 
 
 24. Illinois 6,727 5,638,591 838 
 
 25. Texas 4,583 3,896,542 850 
 
 26. Florida 861 751,139 872 
 
 27. Michigan 3,176 2,810,173 884 
 
 28. New York 9,801 9,113,279 930 
 
 29. West Vii^ia 1,175 122,119 1,039 
 
 30. Vermont 303 355,956 1,175 
 
 3L Missouri 2,749 3,293,335 1,198 
 
 32. New Mexico 273 327,396 1,199 
 
 33. District of Columbia. . . 267 331,069 1,213 
 
SOCIALISM IN THE UNITED STATES . 193 
 
 5- 
 
 g 
 
 •S „ . ^ S'gS •5 a OS'S 
 
 g Kame of Btate £ |" ■§ d. ~°^ 
 
 « iQ „ 
 
 Kame of Btete £ |" -Id. S^ I 
 
 34. Iowa 1,806 2,224,771 1,232 
 
 35. Ehode Island 439 542,674 1,236 
 
 36. Nebraska 806 1,068,484 1,325 
 
 37. Arkansas 1,103 1,574,449 1,427 
 
 38. Delaware 136 202,322 1,488 
 
 39. South Dakota 375 583,888 1,557 
 
 40. Maine 460 742,371 1,614 
 
 41. Maryland 635 1,294,450 2,038 
 
 42. Louisiana 550 1,656,388 3,011 
 
 43. Kentucky 500 2,289,905 4,580 
 
 44. Alabama 377 2,138,093 5,665 
 
 45. Tennessee 368 2,184,789 5,937 
 
 46. Virginia 229 2,061,612 9,003 
 
 47. North Carolina 200 2,206,287 11,031 
 
 48. Mississippi 148 1,797,114 12,142 
 
 49. South Carolina 102 1,515,400 14,661 
 
 50. Georgia 150 2,609,121 17,394 
 
 Table for 1914. Alphabetical Order 
 
 Alabama 217 Kentucky 270 
 
 Alaska 546 Louisiana 462 
 
 Arizona 460 Maine 407 
 
 Arkansas 533 Maryland 481 
 
 California 5,252 Massachusetts 4,830 
 
 Colorado 1,237 Michigan 2,943 
 
 Connecticut 1,368 Minnesota 4,965 
 
 Delaware ■ 35 Mississippi 124 
 
 District of Columbia 251 Missouri 1,806 
 
 Florida 696 Montana 1,589 
 
 Georgia 39 Nebraska ■ 559 
 
 Idaho 905 Nevada 614 
 
 Illinois 6,562 New Hampshire 596 
 
 Indiana 2,222 New Jersey 3,364 
 
 Iowa 1,070 New Mexico 191 
 
 Kansas 1,959 New York 10,717 
 
194 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 North Carolina 75 Vermont 206 
 
 North Dakota 1,644 Virginia 224 
 
 Ohio 4,626 Washington 3,241 
 
 Oklahoma 7,039 West Virginia 850 
 
 Oregon 1,306 Wisconsin 3,885 
 
 Pennsylvania 7,648 Wyoming 648 
 
 Ehode Island 545 unorganized 
 
 South Carolina 81 Members-at-large 32 
 
 South Dakota 427 Hawaii 33 
 
 Tennessee 221 Trench Federation 193 
 
 Texas 2,893 
 
 Utah 448 Total 93,579 
 
 3. VOTE IN PROPORTION TO POPULATION OF STATES 
 
 (From Party Builder, No. 17) 
 
 State ^1 
 
 » > 
 
 Nevada 3,313 
 
 Oklahoma 42,262 
 
 Arizona 3,163 
 
 Montana 10,885 
 
 Washington * 42,026 
 
 California 79,201 
 
 Idaho 11,960 
 
 Oregon 13,343 
 
 Florida 4,806 
 
 Minnesota * 29,717 
 
 Ohio * 92,553 
 
 Texas * 25,326 
 
 Utah * 9,532 
 
 Wisconsin * 34,003 
 
 North Dakota 6,966 
 
 Illinois * 85,344 
 
 Kansas 26,779 
 
 Pennsylvania * 84,318 
 
 Arkansas 8,153 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 ■au3 
 
 »- 
 
 S^=9 
 
 g 
 
 r-g 
 
 3 
 
 
 20,115 
 
 5 
 
 254,389 
 
 5 
 
 23,722 
 
 6 
 
 79,826 
 
 6 
 
 322,819 
 
 7 
 
 672,527 
 
 8 
 
 105,755 
 
 8 
 
 137,040 
 
 9 
 
 51,891 
 
 10 
 
 334,219 
 
 10 
 
 1,033,558 
 
 10 
 
 302,768 
 
 11 
 
 112,385 
 
 11 
 
 399,972 
 
 11 
 
 86,580 
 
 11 
 
 1,146,173 
 
 12 
 
 365,497 
 
 13 
 
 1,220,201 
 
 13 
 
 124,029 
 
 14 
 
SOCIALISM IN THE UNITED STATES 195 
 
 state || 
 
 * > 
 
 Colorado * 16,893 
 
 Louisiana 5,249 
 
 Wyoming 2,760 
 
 Indiana * 40,061 
 
 Connecticut * 11,316 
 
 New Mexico 2,859 
 
 West Virginia 15,336 
 
 Michigan * 24,463 
 
 New York * 67,632 
 
 Missouri * 30,244 
 
 Nebraska 10,219 
 
 New Jersey * 17,250 
 
 South Dakota 4,662 
 
 Iowa 16,967 
 
 Mississippi 2,061 
 
 Khode Island * 2,285 
 
 Massachusetts * 13,932 
 
 Kentucky * 12,603 
 
 Alabama 3,029 
 
 New Hampshire 1,980 
 
 Maine 2,541 
 
 Maryland • 4,318 
 
 Vermont 928 
 
 Tennessee 3,492 
 
 Delaware 556 
 
 Georgia 1,028 
 
 Virginia * 870 
 
 North Carolina 1,025 
 
 South Carolina 164 
 
 ■*3 *^.S 
 
 <D 
 
 S|5 
 
 t 
 
 s-so 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 m- 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 t>Miz; 
 
 266,880 
 
 14 
 
 79,441 
 
 14 
 
 42,296 
 
 15 
 
 654,474 
 
 15 
 
 190,398 
 
 15 
 
 49,412 
 
 16 
 
 268,560 
 
 17 
 
 550,976 
 
 22 
 
 1,587,983 
 
 22 
 
 698,562 
 
 22 
 
 249,515 
 
 23 
 
 432,650 
 
 24 
 
 116,365 
 
 24 
 
 492,356 
 
 28 
 
 64,528 
 
 30 
 
 77,894 
 
 33 
 
 489,548 
 
 34 
 
 453,698 
 
 35 
 
 117,879 
 
 38 
 
 87,960 
 
 43 
 
 129,640 
 
 50 
 
 231,981 
 
 53 
 
 62,841 
 
 67 
 
 247,821 
 
 70 
 
 48,693 
 
 87 
 
 121,414 
 
 117 
 
 136,976 
 
 156 
 
 243,918 
 
 237 
 
 50,350 
 
 306 
 
 Total for United States. *930,601 15,039,475 16 
 
 ♦Since it was cast for Socialism against capitalism, we have in- 
 cluded the Socialist Labor Party vote of 29,340 in this table, distributed 
 among the states marked with an asterisk where it was polled. 
 
196 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 The foregoing tables reveal some interesting facts re- 
 garding the geographical distribution of Socialism. The 
 manufacturing states, New York, Massachusetts, Connecti- 
 cut, Illinois, etc., are well toward the lower half of both 
 lists, while the leading states in proportional Socialist vote 
 and membership are those devoted to the extractive indus- 
 tries, mining and farming. 
 
 4. VOTE COMPAEED WITH THAT 0¥ OTHER PARTIES IN 1908 AND 1912 
 
 1908 
 
 Bryan (Dem.) 6,409,104 
 
 Taft (Rep.) 7,678,908 
 
 Chafln (Pro.) 253,840 
 
 Gilhaus (Soc. Labor) 13,825 
 
 Debs (Soe.) 424,488 
 
 1912 
 
 Wilson (Dem.) 6,291,878 Loss 117,226 
 
 Taft and Roosevelt (Rep.)... 7,608,234 Loss 69,674 
 
 Chafln (Pro.) 208,762 Loss 45,078 
 
 Reimer (Soc. Labor) 29,240 Gain 15,415 
 
 Debs (Soe.) 901,361 Gain 476,873 
 
 "The figures given are according to the latest official 
 information. The slight revisions that may yet be made 
 will not affect the showing. 
 
 "The table disproves the popular impression that there 
 was a Democratic landslide. As a matter of fact, Wilson 
 in 1912 received 117,226 less votes than Bryan in 1908. In 
 spite of their victory the Democrats have, therefore, lost. 
 Taft this year received only 3,484,806 votes. Adding to 
 this the 4,123,428 votes that Roosevelt received, the com- 
 bined Republican-Progressive vote still falls 69,674 short 
 of the Republican vote of 1908. The Prohibitionists are 
 also on the toboggan slide. 
 
 ' ' On the other hand, both the Socialist Party and the So- 
 cialist Labor Party more than doubled their 1908 vote." 
 
SOCIALISM IN THE UNITED STATES 197 
 
 5. THE SOCUIiIST VOTE Off 1914 
 
 The following table of the 1914 vote is incomplete, as 
 
 the returns from some of the states had not yet come in 
 by the end of the year. A decided falling off is noticeable, 
 however, not only from the presidential year 1912, but even 
 
 from the corresponding year 1910. The vote given is for 
 governor, unless otherwise specified. 
 
 1914 1910 
 
 Alabama (3) 1,159 1,633 
 
 Amona 2,973 
 
 Arkansas 10,434 9,196 
 
 California 50,716 47,819 
 
 Colorado (1) (3) 13,943 9,603 
 
 Connecticut (1) 5,914 12,179 
 
 Delaware (2) 463 556 
 
 Florida (5) 4,806 10,204 
 
 Georgia (4) 224 224 
 
 Idaho (1) 7,967 5,791 
 
 Illinois (3) 39,889 49,896 
 
 Indiana (1) (3) 21,719 19,632 
 
 Iowa (1) (3) 8,462 9,685 
 
 Kansas 20,360 16,994 
 
 Kentucky (1) (3) 4,890 5,239 
 
 Louisiana (4) 706 706 
 
 Maine 1,872 1,641 
 
 Maryland (3) 3,255 3,924 
 
 Massachusetts 9,520 14,444 
 
 Michigan 11,056 10,608 
 
 Minnesota 17,225 18,363 
 
 Mississippi (4) 23 _ 23 
 
 Missouri (3) 16,853 19,957 
 
 Montana (2) 9,430 5,412 
 
 Nebraska 5,754 6,721 
 
 Nevada (1) (3) 5,426 3,637 
 
 New Hampshire (1) 1,423 1,072 
 
 New Jersey (1) (2) 14,581 * 10,134 
 
 New Mexico (2) 1,101 1,787 
 
 ♦Vote for 1913. 
 
198 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 1914 1910 
 
 New York 37,793 48,982 
 
 North Carolina (3) 425 437 
 
 North Dakota 6,019 5,114 
 
 Ohio (1) 48,596 62,356 
 
 Oklahoma (1) 52,570 24,707 
 
 Oregon 14,284 19,475 
 
 Pennsylvania 40,115 59,690 
 
 Rhode Island 1,691 529 
 
 South Carolina (1) 84 70 
 
 South Dakota 2,664 1,675 
 
 Tennessee 1,671 4,571 
 
 Texas (1) 28,000 11,538 
 
 Utah (3) 5,257 4,889 
 
 Vermont (1) 541 1,067 
 
 Virginia (4) 987 987 
 
 Washington (3) 30,234 15,994 
 
 West Virginia (2) 11,944 8,152 
 
 Wisconsin 25,917 40,053 
 
 Wyoming (1) (4) 2,155 2,155 
 
 
 603,091 
 
 609,521 
 
 (1) TJnofflcial. 
 
 
 
 (2) For representative in congress. 
 
 
 
 (3) For United States senator. 
 
 
 
 (4) Vote for 1910. 
 
 
 
 (5) Vote for 1912. 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 
 
 The national program of the Socialist Party is set forth 
 authoritatively in the official platform, which, after being 
 adopted by the delegates to the National Convention, must 
 also be passed by a referendum of the party membership. 
 This document is here reproduced entire, as adopted by 
 National Convention, May, 1912, and by membership refer- 
 endum, August 4, 1912. 
 
 I. SOCIALIST PAETY PLATFORM 
 
 The representatives of the Socialist Party, in National Con- 
 vention at Indianapolis, declare that the capitalist system has 
 outgrown its historical function, and has become utterly incapa- 
 ble of meeting the problems now confronting society. We de- 
 nounce this outgrown system as incompetent and corrupt and 
 the source of unspeakable misery and suffering to the whole 
 working-class. 
 
 Under this system the industrial equipment of the nation has 
 passed into the absolute control of plutocracy, which exacts an 
 annual tribute of hundreds of millions of dollars from the pro- 
 ducers. Unafraid of any organized resistance, it stretches out 
 its greedy hands over the still undeveloped resources of the 
 nation — ^the land, the mines, the forests, and water-powers of 
 every state in the Union. 
 
 In spite of the multiplication of labor-saving machines and 
 improved methods in industry, which cheapen the cost of pro- 
 duction, the share of the producers grows ever less, and the 
 prices of all the necessities of life steadily increase. The boasted 
 prosperity of this nation is for the owning class alone. To the 
 rest it means only greater hardship and misery. The high cost 
 
 199 
 
200 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 of living is felt in every home. Millions of wage-workers have 
 seen the purchasing power of their wages decrease until life 
 has become a desperate battle for mere existence. 
 
 Multitudes of unemployed walk the streets of our cities or 
 trudge from state to state awaiting the will of the masters to 
 move the wheels of industry. 
 
 The farmers in every state are plundered by the increasing 
 prices exacted for tools and machinery and by extortionate rent, 
 freight rates, and storage charges. 
 
 Capitalist concentration is mercilessly crushing the class of 
 small business men and driving its members into the ranks of 
 propertyless wage-workers. The overwhelming majority of the 
 people of America are being forced under a yoke of bondage 
 by this soulless industrial despotism. 
 
 It is this capitalist system that is responsible for the increas- 
 ing burden of armaments, the poverty, slums, child labor, most 
 of the insanity, crime, and prostitution, and much of the disease 
 that afBicts mankind. 
 
 Under this system the working-class is exposed to poisonous 
 conditions, to frightful and needless perils to life and limb, is 
 walled around with court decisions, injunctions, and unjust laws, 
 and is preyed upon incessantly for the benefit of the controlling 
 oligarchy of wealth. Under it also the children of the working- 
 class are doomed to ignorance, drudging toil, and darkened lives. 
 
 In the face of these evils, so manifest that all thoughtful ob- 
 servers are appalled at them, the legislative representatives of 
 the Republican and Democratic parties remain the faithful 
 servants of the oppressors. Measures designed to secure to the 
 wage-earners of this nation as humane and just treatment as is 
 already enjoyed by the wage-earners of all other civilized nations 
 have been smothered in committee without debate, and laws 
 ostensibly designed to bring relief to the farmers and general 
 consumers are juggled and transformed into instruments for the 
 exaction of further tribute. The growing unrest under oppres- 
 sion has driven these two old parties to the enactment of a 
 variety of regulative measures, none of which has limited in any 
 appreciable degree the power of the plutocracy, and some of 
 which have been perverted into means for increasing that power. 
 Anti-trust laws, railroad restrictions, and regulations, with the 
 prosecutions, indictments, and investigations based upon such 
 legislation, have proved to be utterly futile and ridiculous. 
 
THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 201 
 
 Nor has this plutocracy been seriously restrained or even 
 threatened by any Republican or Democratic executive. It has 
 continued to grow in power and insolence alike under the ad- 
 ministrations of Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft. 
 
 In addition to this legislative juggling and this executive con- 
 nivance, the courts of America have sanctioned and strengthened 
 the hold of this plutocracy as the Dred Scott and other decisions 
 strengthened the slave-power before the Civil War. They have' 
 been used as instruments for the oppression of the working-class 
 and for the suppression of free speech and free assembly. 
 
 We declare, therefore, that the longer sufferance of these con- 
 ditions is impossible, and we purpose to end them all. We 
 declare them to be the product of the present system in which 
 industry is carried on for private greed, instead of for the wel- 
 fare of society. We declare, furthermore, that for these evils 
 there will be and can be no remedy and no substantial relief 
 except through Socialism, under which industry will be carried 
 on for the common good and every worker receive the full social 
 value of the wealth he creates. 
 
 Society is divided into warring groups and classes, based upon 
 material interests. Fundamentally, this struggle is a conflict 
 between the two main classes, one of which, the capitalist class, 
 owns the means of production, and the other, the working-class, 
 must use these means of production on terms dictated by the 
 owners. 
 
 The capitalist class, though few in numbers, absolutely con- 
 trols the government — legislative, executive, and judicial. This 
 class owns the machinery of gathering and disseminating news 
 through its organized press. It subsidizes seats of learning — 
 the colleges and schools — and even religious and moral agencies. 
 It has also the added prestige which established customs give to 
 any order of society, right or wrong. 
 
 The working-class, which includes all those who are forced 
 to work for a living, whether by hand or brain, in shop, mine, 
 or on the soil, vastly outnumbers the capitalist class. Lacking 
 effective organization and class solidarity, this class is unable 
 to enforce its will. Given such class solidarity and effective 
 organization, the workers will have the power to make all laws 
 and control all industry in their own interest. 
 
 All political parties are the expression of economic class inter- 
 ests. All other parties than the Socialist Party represent one 
 
202 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE WORLD 
 
 or another group of the ruling capitalist class. Their political 
 conflicts reflect merely superficial rivalries between competing 
 capitalist groups. However they result, these conflicts have no 
 issue of real value to the workers. Whether the Democrats or 
 Republicans win politically, it is the capitalist class that is vic- 
 torious economically. 
 
 The Socialist Party is the political expression of the economic 
 interests of the workers. Its defeats have been their defeats and 
 its victories their victories. It is a party founded on the science 
 and laws of social development. It proposes that, since all social 
 necessities to-day are socially produced, the means of their pro- 
 duction and distribution shall be socially owned and democratically 
 controlled. 
 
 In the face of the economic and political aggressions of the 
 capitalist class the only reliance left the workers is that of their 
 economic organizations and their political power. By the intel- 
 ligent and class-conscious use of these, they may resist success- 
 fully the capitalist class, break the fetters of wage-slavery, and 
 fit themselves for the future society, which is to displace the 
 capitalist system. The Socialist Party appreciates the full sig- 
 nificance of class organization and urges the wage-earners, the 
 working farmers, and all other useful workers everywhere to 
 organize for economic and political action, and we pledge our- 
 selves to support the toilers of the fields as well as those in the 
 shops, factories, and mines of the nation in their struggles for 
 economic justice. 
 
 In the defeat or victory of the working-class party in this new 
 struggle for freedom lies the defeat or triumph of the common 
 people of all economic groups, as well as the failure or triumph 
 of popular government. Thus the Socialist Party is the party 
 of the present-day revolution, which marks the transition from 
 economic individualism to Socialism, from wage-slavery to free 
 co-operation, from capitalist oligarchy to industrial' democracy. 
 
 Working Program 
 
 As measures calculated to strengthen the working-class in its 
 fight for the realization of its ultimate aim, the co-operative com- 
 monwealth, and to increase its power of resistance against cap- 
 italist oppression, we advocate and pledge ourselves and our 
 elected officers to the following program: 
 
THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 203 
 
 Collective OwnersJiip 
 
 1. The collective ownership and democratic management of 
 railroads, wire and wireless telegraphs and telephones, express 
 services, steamboat lines, and all other social means of trans- 
 portation and communication, and of all large-scale indus- 
 tries. 
 
 2. The immediate acquirement by the municipalities, the states, 
 or the federal government of all grain elevators, stock yards, 
 storage warehouses, and other distributing agencies in order to 
 reduce the present extortionate cost of living. 
 
 3. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quar- 
 ries, oil wells, forests, and water-power. 
 
 4. The further conservation and development of natural re- 
 sources for the use and benefit of all the people: 
 
 (a) By scientific forestation and timber protection. 
 (6) By the reclamation of arid and swamp tracts. 
 
 (c) By the storage of flood waters and the utilization of 
 ■water-power. 
 
 (d) By the stoppage of the present extravagant waste of the 
 soil and of the produel;s of mines and oil wells. 
 
 (e) By the development of highway and waterway systems. 
 
 5. The collective ownership of land wherever practicable, and 
 in eases where such ownership is impracticable, the appropriation 
 by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for 
 speculation or exploitation. 
 
 6. The collective ownership and democratic management of 
 the banking and currency system. 
 
 Unemployment 
 
 The immediate government relief of the unemployed by the 
 extension of all useful public works. All persons employed on 
 such works to be engaged directly by the government under 
 a workday of not more than eight hours and at not less than 
 the prevailing union wages. The government also to establish 
 employment bureaus; to lend money to states and municipalities 
 without interest for the purpose of carrying on public works, 
 and to take such other measures within its power as will lessen 
 the widespread misery of the workers caused by the misrule of 
 the capitalist class. 
 
204 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Industrial Demands 
 
 The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives 
 and well-being of the workers and their families: 
 
 1. By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased 
 productiveness of machinery. 
 
 2. By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than 
 a day and a half in each week. 
 
 3. By securing a more effective inspection of workshops, fac- 
 tories, and mines. 
 
 4. By forbidding the employment of children under 16 years 
 of age. 
 
 5. By the co-operative organization of the industries in the 
 federal penitentiaries for the benefit of the convicts and their 
 dependents. 
 
 6. By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products 
 of child labor, of convict labor, and of all uninspected factories 
 and mines. 
 
 7. By abolishing the profit system in government work and 
 substituting either the direct hire of labor or the awarding of 
 contracts to co-operative groups of workers. 
 
 8. By establishing minimum wage scales. 
 
 9. By abolishing official charity and substituting a non- 
 contributory system of old-age pensions, a general system of 
 insurance by the state of all its members against unemployment 
 and invalidism, and a system of compulsory insurance by em- 
 ployers of their workers, without cost to the latter, against 
 industrial diseases, accidents, and death. 
 
 Political Demands 
 
 1. The absolute freedom of press, speech, and assemblage. 
 
 2. The adoption of a graduated income tax, the increase of 
 the rates of the present corporation tax, and the extension of 
 inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion to the value of the 
 estate and to nearness of kin — the proceeds of these taxes to 
 be employed in the socialization of industry. 
 
 3. The abolition of the monopoly ownership of patents and 
 the substitution of collective ownership, with direct rewards to 
 inventors by premiums or royalties. 
 
 4. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women. 
 
THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 205 
 
 5. The adoption of the initiative, referendum, and recall and 
 of proportional representation, nationally as well as locally. 
 
 6. The abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of the 
 President. 
 
 7. The election of the President and the Vice-President by 
 direct vote of the people. 
 
 8. The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme Court 
 of the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of the 
 legislation enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed 
 only by act of Congress or by a referendum vote of the whole 
 people. 
 
 9. The abolition of the present restrictions upon the amend- 
 ment of the Constitution, so that that instrument may be made 
 amendable by a majority of the voters in the country. 
 
 10. The granting of the right of suffrage in the District of 
 Columbia, with representation in Congress, and a democratic 
 form of municipal government for purely local affairs. 
 
 11. The extension of democratic government to all United 
 States territory. 
 
 12. The enactment of further measures for general education 
 and particularly for vocational education in useful pursuits. The 
 Bureau of Education to be made a department. 
 
 13. The enactment of further measures for the conservation 
 of health. The creation of an independent bureau of health, with 
 such restrictions as will secure full liberty to all schools of 
 practice. 
 
 14. The separation of the present Bureau of Labor from the 
 Department of Commerce and Labor and its elevation to the rank 
 of a department. 
 
 15. Abolition of all federal district courts and the United States 
 Circuit Courts of Appeals. State courts to have jurisdiction in 
 all eases arising between citizens of the several states and for- 
 eign corporations. The election of all judges for short terms. 
 
 16. The immediate curbing of the power of the courts to issue 
 injunctions. 
 
 17. The free administration of the law. 
 
 18. The calling of a convention for the revision of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. 
 
 Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from 
 capitalism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the 
 whole powers of government, in order that they may thereby lay 
 
206 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 hold of the -whole system of socialized industry and thus eome to 
 their rightful inheritance. 
 
 n. REPORT OF XJNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN BBRGER 
 
 The Socialist national program first entered into actual 
 American politics with the election of Congressman Victor 
 L. Berger, in 1910. The following is Mr. Berger's report 
 in the 1912 convention : 
 
 The fall election of 1910 marked a new epoch in the history 
 of the Socialist movement in America. A Socialist was elected 
 to the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Naturally I considered it a great honor to be the first repre- 
 sentative of the class-conscious proletariat of America in the halls 
 of our national legislature. But having been in the fight for 
 the emancipation of the working-class for almost a generation, I 
 also at once realized the difficulty of my position. 1 was the 
 only member of a much-feared and much-hated party in the 
 lower House, with 391 other members of the House and 96 
 Senators absolutely and uncompromisingly opposed to me on all 
 vital political and economic questions. . . . 
 
 The majority of the members of Congress belong to what I 
 would call the upper middle class. . . . 
 
 As everybody knows, there are a few workingmen in the House 
 of Representatives — about half a dozen so-called card men — men 
 with union cards in their pockets. They do in no way, however, 
 differ from the other representatives of the capitalist parties in 
 tLeir votes, argumentation, or method of thinking. 
 
 Practically all the work of Congress and of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives is done in the committees. There is hardly any 
 possibility of rejecting a bill that is proposed by the ruling party 
 in the House of Representatives. Of course the bills are dis- 
 cussed in the committee of the whole and smaller amendments 
 are occasionally agreed to. But, as a rule, the Democrats will 
 vote absolutely with the Democratic leaders and the Republicans 
 with the Republican leaders, and everyone knows beforehand 
 what the fate of the bill is going to be when it is once reported 
 to the House. 
 
THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 207 
 
 There is no such thing as an adverse or unfavorable report in 
 the House. A bill reported always means favorably reported by 
 the majority of the committee. If the minority disagrees it can 
 make a minority report. Of the many thousand bills introduced 
 only very few are reported. 
 
 Of the nearly 40,000 bills introduced in the preceding Congress, 
 only 700 became law — ^the great majority of these were admin- 
 istrative acts of small importance to the country in general. 
 Besides these, Congress passed about 6,000 private pension 
 biUs. 
 
 Such are the parliamentary conditions that confronted your 
 first Socialist Congressman. 
 
 I could not afford to do or say anything that would make our 
 cause and our party ridiculous before the many millions that 
 are not yet with us. There was no precedent in the experience 
 of any other party in our country to guide me, because ours was 
 essentially a two-party country in the past — ^the People's Party 
 never got a real first hold in Congress. 
 
 In Germany they always had many parties, and three Social 
 Democrats were elected right from the begiuning to the Reichstag 
 in 1867, so that was no criterion to go by. Our parliamentarism 
 is of an entirely different make-up. It is based upon the two- 
 party system. 
 
 There were two ways before me. I could make a free-speech 
 fight all alone, try to break down all precedent and all barriers, 
 speak 'about the coming revolution and the co-operative common- 
 wealth, as long as my lung power would hold out, amd wind up 
 my short parliamentary career by being suspended from the 
 House, and thus also make an end to political action by this 
 " direct action." 
 
 Or I could pursue the other course, obey all rules and precedents 
 of the House until they are changed — get the respect and the 
 attention of my fellow-members, speak sparingly and only when 
 measures directly concerning the working-class are up for dis- 
 cussion, giving, however, close attention to all the business before 
 the House of Representatives. This latter course I decided to 
 follow — and this I did follow from the very beginning. (Italics 
 ours.) 
 
 Owing to the unique position I held, however, I was from the 
 
208 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 beginning called upon to do a greater variety of things than any 
 other Congressman in Washington. 
 
 Not only did my correspondence grow to such enormous pro- 
 portions that it kept three secretaries busy, although only about 
 three per cent of this correspondence came from my district. But 
 the answering of these letters was only one part of that work. 
 I was also considered a court of last resort for a great number 
 of men and women who had real or imaginary grievances against 
 our government and our federal courts, or even against state 
 governments and state courts. Moreover, I wag the recipient of 
 requests for investigations of all kinds in the various departments 
 of our government, and of course was asked to protect numerous 
 immigrants all over the country who were either to be sent back 
 to Europe or were refused admission for various reasons, some 
 of them being political refugees. 
 
 In each and all cases I did examine the evidence and the cir- 
 cumstances, and wherever there was even the slightest chance of 
 making good on the case, I took it up with the respective depart- 
 ments. And I succeeded in very numerous instances. 
 
 The work of the departments was exceedingly laborious, and 
 took a great deal of time, not only of myself, but also of my help- 
 mates in the office. On this occasion I want to acknowledge my 
 appreciation of the very valuable services of my secretary and 
 comrade, Wm. J. Ghent, not only in answering letters, but in 
 helping me to frame bills. 
 
 In the framing and introducing of bills embodying the de- 
 mands of the platforms of the Socialist Party of America. and of 
 the Social Democratic Party of Wisconsin, I saw one of my 
 most important duties — ^because thus I gave expression to the 
 concrete demands as well as to the hopes and ambitions of my 
 class. As to my votes in the House, I tried to follow strictly not 
 only the letter but the spirit of our platform. . 
 
 I may divide my work on general lines in legislative activities, 
 work before committees, and departmental activities. 
 
 I have tried to do my duty fearlessly, faithfully, to the best 
 of my light. You always want to keep before you that I was 
 only one man with work enough for 300 Congressmen and 60 
 Senators and a President of the United States; that I was not 
 only alone, but I had to hew my path through this " wilderness " 
 
THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 209 
 
 and had to overcome mountains of prejudice and a sea of ill- 
 will. I believe that I have cleared a modest path on which other 
 comrades can join me, which we can widen and which will finally 
 wind up in a clear road for Socialism and the emancipation of 
 the working-class as far as the legislative halls of our nation are 
 concerned. 
 
 It is for you, comrades, and for the working-class to elect the 
 many who will accomplish this. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE STATE PROGRAMS 
 
 The state programs of American Socialism have played 
 a part in the political arena for some years, notably in 
 Wisconsin, where Socialists have held legislative repre- 
 sentation for a number of years. While the state organ- 
 izations have complete autonomy, yet the National Conven- 
 tion, by appointing a committee to draw up a model state 
 program, has made an attempt to secure harmony in the 
 demands of the various sections. 
 
 I. EEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON STATE PROGRAM, CONVENTION 
 
 OF 1912 
 
 Preamble ■ 
 
 Socialism cannot be carried into full effect while the Socialist 
 Party is a minority party. Nor can it be inaugurated in any 
 single city. Furthermore, so long as national and state legis- 
 latures, and particularly the courts, are in the control of the 
 capitalist class, a municipal administration, even though abso- 
 lutely controlled by Socialists, will be hampered, crippled, and 
 restricted in every possible way. 
 
 We maintain that the evils of the present system will be re- 
 moved only when the working-class wholly abolish private owner- 
 ship in the social means of production, collectively assume the 
 management of the industries and operate them for use and not 
 for profit, for the benefit of all and not for the enrichment of 
 a privileged class. In this the Socialist Party stands alone in 
 the political field. 
 
 But the Socialist Party also believes that the evils of the 
 modem system may be materially relieved and their final disap- 
 
 210 
 
THE STATE PROGRAMS 211 
 
 pearanee may be hastened by the introdnetion of social, political, 
 and economic measures which will have the effect of bettering the 
 lives, strengthening the position of the workers, and curbing the 
 power and domination of the capitalists. 
 
 The Socialist Party therefore supports the struggles of the 
 workiflg-class against the exploitatioli and oppression of the capi- 
 talist class, and is vitally concerned in the efficiency of the parlia- 
 mentary and admiaistrative means for the fighting of the class 
 struggle. 
 
 Furthermore, it should be distinctly understood that the fol- 
 lowing suggested municipal and state program is not put forth 
 as mandatory or binding upon the state or local organizations. 
 It is offered as suggestive data to assist those localities that may 
 desire to use it, and as a basis for the activities of Socialist mem- 
 bers of state legislatures and local administrations. 
 
 State Program 
 
 Labor Legislation 
 
 (1) An eight-hour day, trades-union scale, and minimum wage 
 for both sexes. 
 
 (2) Legalization of the right to strike, picket, and boycott. 
 
 (3) Abolition of the injunction as a means of breaking strikes 
 and the establishment of trial by jury in all labor disputes. 
 
 (4) Prohibition of the use of the military and the police power 
 to break strikes. 
 
 (5) Prohibition of the employment of private detective agencies 
 and police forces in labor disputes. 
 
 (6) The repeal of all military law which surrenders the power 
 of the governor over the militia to the federal authorities. 
 
 (7) Requirements that in time of labor disputes advertise- 
 ments for help published by employers shall contain notice of the 
 fact that such labor ' dispute exists. Provision to be made for 
 the prosecution of persons who shall employ workers without 
 informing them that such labor trouble exists. 
 
 (8) Prohibition of employment of children under the age of 
 16, compulsory education, and the pensioning of widows with 
 minor children where such provision is necessary. 
 
212 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 (9) The organization of state employment agencies and rigid 
 control of private agencies. 
 
 (10) Suitable safeguards and sanitary regulations in all occu- 
 pations with ample provision for frequent and effective inspec- 
 tion of places of employment, machinery, and appliances. 
 
 (11) Old-age pensions, sick benefits, and accident insurance to 
 be established. 
 
 (12) Workingmen's compensation laws to be carefully drawn 
 to protect labor. 
 
 II 
 
 Home rule for cities. 
 
 Ill 
 Puhlie Education 
 
 (1) Compulsory education of both sexes up to the age of 16 
 years with adequate provision for further courses where desired. 
 
 (2) Establishment of vocational and continuation schools and 
 manual training for both sexes. 
 
 (3) Free text-books for teachers and pupils; uniform text- 
 books on all subjects to be furnished free to public schools. 
 
 (4) Physical training through systematic courses of gymnastics 
 and open-air exercises. Open-air schools and playgrounds. 
 
 IV 
 Taxation 
 
 (1) A graduated income tax; wages and salaries up to $2,000 
 to be exempt. 
 
 (2) Graduated inheritance tax. 
 
 (3) All land held for speculation and all land not occupied or 
 used by the owners to be taxed up to full rental value. 
 
 V 
 
 Public Works and Conservation 
 
 (1) For the purpose of developing and preserving the natural 
 resources of the state and offering additional opportunities of 
 labor to the unemployed, the states shall undertake a compre- 
 hensive system of public works, such as the building of roads, 
 
THE STATE PROGRAMS 213 
 
 canals, and the reclamation and irrigation of land. All forests, 
 mineral lands, waterways, and natural resources now owned by 
 the states to be conserved and kept for public use. 
 
 (2) The contract system shall be abolished in all public works, 
 such work to be done by the state directly, all labor to be em- 
 ployed not more than eight hours per day at trade-union wages 
 and under the best possible working conditions. 
 
 VI 
 
 Legislation 
 
 (1) The legislature of the state to consist of one house of 
 representatives. 
 
 (2) The initiative, referendum, and recall to be enacted. 
 
 VII 
 
 Equal Suffrage 
 
 (1) Unrestricted political rights for men and women. 
 
 (2) Resident qualification for all elections not to exceed 90 
 days. 
 
 (3) The right to vote not to be contingent upon the pas^nent 
 of any taxes, either in money or labor. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 (1) Extension of the State Agricultural and experimental 
 farms for crop culture, for the distribution of improved seeds, 
 for the development of fertilizers, for the design and introduc- 
 tion of the best types of farm machinery, and for the encourage- 
 ment of the breeding of superior types of stock. 
 
 (2) All land owned by the state to be retained, and other 
 land brought into public ownership and use by reclamation, pur- 
 chase, condemnation, taxation, or otherwise: Such land to be 
 organized into socially operated farms for the conduct of col- 
 lective agricultural enterprises. 
 
 (3) Landlords to assess their own lands, the state reserving 
 the right to purchase such lands at the assessed value. 
 
214 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 (4) State insurance against pestilence, diseases of animals and 
 plants, and against natural calamities. 
 
 IX 
 
 Defectives and Delinquents 
 
 (1) The present unscientific and brutal method of treating 
 criminal persons, defectives, and delinquents to be replaced by 
 modern scientific and humane methods. This to include the aboli- 
 tion of all death penalties, of the prison contract system, of 
 isolated confinement. Pencil institutions to be located in rural 
 localities with adequate healthful open-air employment and hu- 
 mane treatment. 
 
 The above program is in general typical of those actu- 
 ally adopted by the different states. The extracts which 
 follow will illustrate the variations and additions dictated 
 by local conditions in New York, Montana, Oklahoma, 
 Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In each case only such por- 
 tions of the program are given as show an emphasis ap- 
 preciably distinctive. 
 
 n. NEW YORK STATE PLATFOKM, 1914 
 
 In the system of capitalism the condition of the workers is 
 always precarious, and unemplosrment is chronic, but the present 
 industrial depression, now particularly intensified, has made the 
 evil unusually acute. Hosts of unemployed are forced to wander 
 from one iadustrial center to another in desperate quest of work. 
 As a consequence, homes are destroyed, wives and children de- 
 serted and left to starvation. 
 
 Our agricultural population is equally at the mercy of the 
 exploiting class. The farm laborers are an intensely exploited 
 group of workers, and even the so-called independent small 
 farmer, like the wage-workers, is systematically plundered by 
 the capitalist owner of the means of production. Rents on land, 
 interest on mortgages, excessive transportation rates, storage and 
 commission charges, extortionate prices exacted for farm im- 
 plements and machinery, rob him as effectively of his product as 
 the wage- worker of the industrial cities. . . . 
 
THE STATE PEOGRAMS 215 
 
 1. SPECIAL DEMANDS 
 
 The enactment of a legal maximum workday of eight hours and 
 its gradual shortening in keeping with the increased productive- 
 ness of modern machinery, and a rest period of a day and a half 
 in each week for workers in all industries. . . . 
 
 Laws providing proper protection for the safety of the lives 
 and health of the workers, and strict enforcement of such laws. 
 For the latter purpose, inspectors elected by the workers in the 
 respective industries should be provided in addition to the official 
 state inspectors. 
 
 A system which shall provide state insurance to all workers 
 against unemployment, sickness, invalidity, and old age, without 
 contribution on the part of the workers, and state insurance for 
 farmers against damage from diseases of animals and destruc- 
 tion of crops; the Compensation Act of the state to be amended 
 to include all workers and to provide compensation equal to the 
 full eeonomie loss. . . . 
 
 Prohibition of emplojnnent of women during three months be- 
 fore and after childbirth, the state to reimburse the mother for 
 loss of earnings during such period. State pensions to dependent 
 mothers with children under the age of 16 years. . . . 
 
 2. POLITICAL DEMANDS 
 
 Equal suffrage for all adult men and women. . . . That all 
 adult inhabitants of the United States be entitled to the exercise of 
 the suffrage after three years' residence in this country, and the 
 declaration of intentions to become a citizen of the United States. 
 
 Equal pay for equal work to men and women employed by the 
 state or any of its subdivisions, and unrestricted right of such 
 employees to organize. . . . 
 
 m. PENNSYLVANIA STATE PLATFORM, 1912 
 
 The Pennsylvania platform reflects state conditions in 
 its demand for the abolition of the poll tax, and especially 
 in its denunciation of the state constabulary, a force that 
 has become extremely unpopular by its employment in the 
 breaking of strikes. 
 
,216 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 IV. MONTANA STATE PLATFORM, 1912 
 SPECIAL DEMANDS 
 
 More efSeient and seientiflc inspection of coal and metalliferous 
 mines. . . . Six hours to be a day's labor for all underground 
 workers and workers in the mills and smelters of the mining 
 industries of this state. 
 
 Enactment of a law requiring a semi-monthly pay-day for 
 wage-earners in all industries. 
 
 The abolition of the profit system in the state penitentiary, 
 and the employment of the convicts in useful out-of-door 
 labor. . . . 
 
 Coal lands owned by the state to be developed and operated 
 by the state directly and the coal to be sold to municipalities 
 and by them marketed to consumers, directly at prices that cover, 
 but no more than cover, the actual cost of such production and 
 distributioA. 
 
 Exemption from taxation and execution of real and personal 
 property to the amount of $1,500. 
 
 The portions just quoted from the Montana state plat- 
 form are interesting in their care for the vrorkers in mines. 
 The demand for the exemption of small personal prop- 
 erties from taxation indicates that Socialism in Montana 
 appeals to the small farmer and craftsman as well as to 
 the wage-worker. 
 
 We print a large portion of the platform of Oklahoma, 
 one of the strongest Socialist states. 
 
 V. OKLAHOMA STATE PLATFORM, 1912 
 
 SPECIAL DEMANDS 
 
 Art. 5. We denounce the Democratic Party for the deceit 
 practiced upon the people of this state in promising to incor- 
 porate in the constitution of this state the initiative and refer- 
 endum as adopted and applied in the state of Oregon, when in 
 truth and in fact they wrote into the constitution provisions 
 wholly different from the Oregon act; and afterwards passed 
 
THE STATE PROGRAMS 217 
 
 statutory laws that have practically destroyed the initiative and 
 referendum in this state. 
 
 Art. 11. We promise the tenant and mortgaged farmer, and 
 the working-class generally, that upon the accession of the So- 
 cialist Party to power in the state we will establish a state bank 
 with branches at each county seat, and that all the moneys of 
 the state and county and all moneys in the hands of the fiscal 
 agencies shall be loaned to the working-class of the state through 
 such banks. 
 
 Art. 12. We demand that the state shall engage in the business 
 of life and fire insurance to the end that the citizenship of the 
 state may obtain protection of this character at actual cost. 
 
 Art. 13. We demand the establishment of a state printing 
 plant in which all public printing shall be done, including state, 
 county, and other municipal records, and also the publishing 
 of school books for the common schools to be furnished to the 
 public school children free. 
 
 Art. 18. We demand that all mine inspectors shall neither be 
 elected by the people nor appointed by the governor. The 
 criminal loss of life in this state among the miners is directly 
 traceable to inefficient supervision, and we demand that all mine 
 inspectors shall be elected by the organized miners themselves, 
 and the inspectors' salaries paid by the state. And we further 
 demand similar provisions in behalf of the railway workers and 
 workers in all other dangerous occupations. 
 
 Art. 19. . . . that provision shall be made for medical services 
 and medicines at the expense of the state. And this shall not be 
 construed in the light of charity, but as a partial restitution to 
 the working-class for the robbery and exploitation suffered by 
 them. 
 
 Art. 22. We urge upon the renters of this state that they 
 organize on the industrial field into a renters' union for the 
 betterment of their condition and to resist as best they may their 
 ruthless exploitation by the landlord class. 
 
 Art. 24. Usury. — The Democratic Party has repeatedly prom- 
 ised the tenant and mortgaged farmers that it would place upon 
 the statute books a usury law which would protect them against 
 the exorbitant interest rates charged by the bankers of this state. 
 We call the attention of the tenant and mortgaged farmers of the 
 state to the fact that the Democratic Party has been faithless 
 
218 THE SOCIALIST PAETlES OF THE WORLD 
 
 to every such promise, and that by reason of such faithlessness 
 they are now subjected to the most brutal exploitation by the 
 money-lending class. 
 
 The last platform quoted, that of Wisconsin, is to be 
 read in the light of the analysis which follows, compiled 
 by Mr. Carl D. Thompson from first-hand information 
 regarding this state. The Socialist group in the Wis- 
 consin legislature is the only one that has passed from the 
 stage of protest to that of actual law-making; and it will 
 be noted that, in addition to the usual Socialist planks, 
 its platform contains specific and detailed demands that 
 stand a good chance of actual accomplishment. The liquor 
 and white-slave problems are definitely touched upon. A 
 declaration is also made regarding the merely palliative 
 character of most of the reforms advocated and the neces- 
 sity of moving on beyond them to real Socialism. 
 
 VI. WISCONSIN STATE PLATFOBM, 1912 
 SPECIAL DEMANDS 
 
 Cities and villages shall be brought within the state banking 
 law, to enable them to place their bonds on deposit with the state 
 treasurer as collateral security, against which the city or village 
 treasury may receive savings deposits, as is now customary with 
 savings banks. This obviates the necessity of issuing municipal 
 bonds of small denominations. 
 
 Assessment on rental value of land throughout the state, rather 
 than on improvements. 
 
 An income tax based on unearned incomes only, graduated so 
 as to increase the return to the state from the larger incomes. 
 We condemn the present form of the income tax lg.w, because it 
 was intended to place a heavier burden directly upon the workers. 
 The representatives of the Social Democratic Party did not pro- 
 pose to be held responsible for the defeat of income-tax legisla- 
 tion in the last legislature; but they are not responsible for all 
 the provisions of the present law. 
 
 We condemn the attempt of the old parties to exempt the 
 judiciary from the recall, and regard as ridiculous the assumed 
 
THE STATE PROGRAMS 219 
 
 sanctity and superior wisdom of persons who may happen to 
 hold the office of judge. 
 
 We demand that all mineral rights reserved in title deeds be 
 acquired by the state, exercising the right of eminent domain. 
 
 We demand that no land belonging to the state shall be sold; 
 and that all land sold for taxes shall be bought by the state. 
 
 We demand the extension of the forest reserve; the erection 
 and operation of state mills for handling the timber product, to 
 the end that the cost of lumber to actual settlers and home 
 owners may be reduced to the cost of production. 
 
 We demand adequate pay for members of the legislature. 
 
 We hold that intemperance in the use of liquor is the result 
 of the present enervating economic conditions. With the growth 
 of a people strong in physique, intellect, and popular morals, 
 intemperance will gradually disappear and temperate' habits in all 
 things prevail. We condemn the attempts at sumptuary laws as 
 inimical to the cause of economic and personal liberty. . Until 
 the profit system has been abolished and a more harmonious 
 economic order has been established, the attempts of well-meaning 
 people to introduce temperate habits by law will prove only an 
 evasion of the real issue. 
 
 We recognize that capitalism is the cause of white slavery and 
 prostitution. The only complete remedy, therefore, is to abolish 
 the capitalist system. Nevertheless we support every measure 
 tending to lessen this evil. We pledge our local officials to the 
 fullest possible carrying out of the existing laws against the 
 exploiters of this traffic. 
 
 Secure payment of wages in lawful money, not less often than 
 once a week. 
 
 Safeguard the right of the worker, especially in lumber and 
 mining camps, to spend his wages as he sees fit, and abolish 
 company stores. 
 
 Vn. SOCIALISTS IN THE WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE IN 1911 
 
 Mr. Carl Thompson has made a special analysis of the 
 actual accomplishments of the "Wisconsin Socialists in 
 1911, from which we give several paragraphs. Their pro- 
 gram covers also a variety of social legislation, with definite 
 accomplishments in several lines. 
 
220 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 1. Municipal Legislation. Fourteen different bills introduced 
 by the Socialists bearing upon this problem were passed during 
 the session of 1911. These provided, among other things, for 
 a greater degree of home rule for the city, secured the right of 
 " excess condemnation," enabled the city to embark in the public 
 ownership of certain public utilities, and gave it the right 
 to secure land and property with which to begin the building of 
 workingmen's homes. 
 
 2. State Ownership. The same year, the Socialists secured 
 the passage of a joint resolution for a constitutional amendment, 
 providing for the ownership by the state of the lands, mineral 
 rights, water-powers, and other natural resources. 
 
 3. Constitutional Convention. They also secured the passage 
 of a joint resolution calling for a national constitutional con- 
 vention. 
 
 4. Political Measures. Socialists secured the passage of a law 
 providing for a municipal initiative and referendum; another 
 providing for a half -holiday on election days; another providing 
 that women may use the voting machines. 
 
 5. Public Utilities. The Socialists secured the passage of a 
 law repealing the " exclusive " clause in the franchise of the Mil- 
 waukee Gas Light Company; another legalizing the bonds issued 
 by the city of Milwaukee for an electric lighting plant and 
 declaring invalid certain injunctions brought against the city 
 to restrain it from erecting the plant; another authorizing cities 
 operating heating plants to install and operate pipes and mains 
 in the same way as for waterworks. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 POLICY AND TACTICS 
 
 I. POLITICAL ACTION 
 
 The general question as to the importance of political 
 action in the class struggle is of such interest that we 
 print several extracts from representative American So- 
 cialists. The first is from an article in a non-Socialist 
 magazine by Victor Berger, the former Congressman, 
 representing the extreme right or moderate wing of the 
 party. 
 
 1. VICTOR BEEGER 
 
 (From Article in The American Magazine, " Soeialism, the 
 Logical Outcome of Progressivism ") 
 
 I have no hope that the Socialist Party will elect its candidate 
 for President in this election. With us the Socialist movement 
 and its principles are paramount — not the candidate. 
 -^ The Socialist Party stands for the collective ownership of all 
 i;he social means of production and distribution in the interest 
 of the whole people. 
 
 Socialists say that this step is the necessary and natural out- 
 come of the concentration of wealth and of the development of 
 capitalism. 
 
 Political liberty and economic despotism are incompatible. 
 The Socialist Party proposed to supplement our political 
 democracy by industrial democracy. 
 
 The Socialist Party has not a majority as yet. But SociaUstic 
 ideas have permeated the great majority. The trusts and economic 
 evolution on one hand — and the natural discontent of the people 
 
 331 
 
222 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 ■with the lowering of their standard of living on the other hand, 
 are working for Socialism. 
 
 Therefore we laugh at the contention that the Socialist' Party 
 is still comparatively small. Every great party has had a small 
 beginning — and the Socialist Party is growing exceedingly fast. 
 
 To the common citizen, the workingman, the underpaid clerk, 
 the disappointed professional man,— to the disinherited of every 
 description — ^we Socialists say: 
 
 Better vote for what you want, even if you do not get it, than 
 vote for what you do not want and get it! 
 
 Why should we wait with our work until the majority of the 
 votes is with us? The majority is always indolent and often 
 ignorant. We cannot expect them to be anything else with their 
 present social surroundings. 
 
 The majority have never brought about consciously and delib- 
 erately any great social change. They have always permitted an 
 energetic minority to prepare the way. But the majority was 
 always there when the fact itself was to be accomplished. 
 
 Therefore, our sole object in state and nation for the next few 
 years is to elect a respectable minority of Socialists. 
 
 We want a Socialist minority respected on account of its num- 
 bers, — ^respected because it represents the most advanced economic 
 and political intelligence of the day — ^respected because it con- 
 tains the most sincere representatives of the proletariat, the class 
 that has the most to gain and nothing to lose. 
 
 Given such a respectable minority in Congress and in the legis- 
 lature of every state of the Union within the next few years — 
 the future of our people, the future of this country will be safe. 
 (Italics ours.) 
 
 2. CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL 
 
 The next selection is from Charles Edward Russell, who 
 polled a large vote for governor of New York State in 
 1912. (From " Rational Political Action," International 
 Socialist Review, March, 1912.) 
 
 When I was a Washington correspondent some years ago there 
 fell under my observation of the shifting show two facts about 
 government by a political machine that seemed to me fairly 
 illuibinating. 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 223 
 
 The first was that while it was one of the dullest of all human 
 devices it was endowed with extraordinary power to bedevil and 
 frustrate good intentions. 
 
 For instance, one of the most familiar spectacles was the young 
 member that had come to his first term in Congress with really 
 high ideals and a sincere purpose to be straight and serve the 
 people. In every case the machine made short work of such a 
 one. ... 
 
 The second fact was that judged merely on the basis of ef- 
 ficiency and nothing higher, the machine style of government 
 was a failure. . . . No matter which party might be in power, 
 the result was- always the same. The party would come in with 
 a program and a lot of beautiful promises and then fail utterly 
 to carry them out. It could not carry them out, even when it 
 wished, even when th^y were plainly advisable, for the reason 
 that the machine style of government was a worthless instru- 
 ment. . . . The party in power had no tool. It was tied up with 
 a system, and that system was the real government; the rest was 
 but a counterfeit, and would be so long as structural conditions 
 remained unchanged. 
 
 It made no difference how progressive and admirable might be 
 the ideas that were sought to be established. . . . The Populist 
 Party had an admirable program; it aimed far above the greasy 
 thought of its day and stood for a measure of real democracy 
 and political and industrial democracy and political and industrial 
 freedom. . . . Having some of the best purposes that up to its 
 time had ever been enunciated in a platform, it went the road to 
 destruction because it insisted upon playing the game and getting 
 entangled with the system. 
 
 It went out to get ofBces and put men into jobs. That fin- 
 ished it. 
 
 Seeing so many of these wrecks about me, a vague notion 
 began to form in my mind that this was not the best way to effect 
 things; the system wasted too much in time and effort and never 
 arrived. So long as a party made its object the getting of votes 
 and the filling of offices it would land where the Populist Party 
 had landed, and that no matter how lofty might be its aims. 
 
 Much as we used to make fun of it (under orders from head- 
 quarters) we knew that it had a rational and admirable program 
 and that it never ought to have gone to smash. But that is just 
 
224 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 where it went, nevertheless, through trying to get into the dirty- 
 game on the bargain counter. Suppose, instead, that it had kept 
 itself intact and independent, standing aloof and insisting always 
 upon its ideas as the only salvation for the nation. It could have 
 raised in this country an incomparable amount of trouble, it could 
 have seen a handful of its ideas put into practical operation and 
 itself a vital power instead of a sign of laughter. 
 
 This was felt by more than one of us, though we did not go 
 far enough to formulate a basic idea of it. Some years after- 
 ward I found the identical thing lucidly and firmly expressed in 
 one of Wendell Phillips' incomparable orations. " Give me," 
 said Mr. Phillips, "fifty thousand men that will stand together, 
 shoulder to shoulder, without compromise and without surrender, 
 insisting upon an ideal, and they will rule the nation with their 
 ideas." (Italics ours.) 
 
 3. WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD IN COOPER UNION 
 
 We quote next from William D. Haywood, representing 
 the extreme left wing of the party, in a speech at Cooper 
 Union, New York. (Prom the International Socialist Re- 
 view, February, 1913.) 
 
 Socialism is so plain, so clear, so simple that when a person 
 becomes intellectual he doesn't understand Socialism. (Applause.) 
 
 I am not here to waste time on the " immediate demanders " or 
 the step-at-a-time people whose every step is just a little shorter 
 than the preceding step. (Laughter and applause.) I am here 
 to speak to the working-class, and the working-class will under- 
 stand what I mean when I say that under Socialism you will need 
 no passports or citizenship papers to take a part in the affairs 
 in which you are directly interested. The working-class will 
 understand me when I say that Socialism is an industrial democ- 
 racy and that industrialism is a social democracy. 
 
 Under Socialism we workers will not he subjects of any state 
 or nation, hut we will he citizens, free citizens in the ind/ustries 
 in which we are employed. 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 225 
 
 I want to say at this point, and emphatically, that with the 
 success of Socialism practically all of the political offices now 
 in existence loill be put out of bitsiness. (Applause.) I want 
 to say also, and with as much emphasis, that while a member of 
 the Socialist Party and believing firmly in political action, it is 
 decidedly better in my opinion to be able to elect the super- 
 intendent in some branch of industry than to elect a Congressman 
 to the United States Congress. (Applause.) More than that: 
 under Socialism we will have no congresses, such as exist to-day, 
 nor legislatures, nor parliaments, nor councils of municipalities. 
 
 But remember! We also [in Cripple Creeh] believed in po- 
 litical action, and had elected one of our own class as governor 
 of the state. And he called out the militia to protect the miners 
 and put them in between the warring factions and told the deputy 
 sheriffs that if they didn't disband he would fire on them as in- 
 surrectos. Tou understand, then, why I believe in political action. 
 (Applause.) We will have control then of whatever forces gov- 
 ernment can give us, but we will not use them to continue to 
 uphold and advance this present system, but we will use the 
 forces of the police power to overthrow this present system. 
 (Applause.) And instead of using the powers of the police to 
 protect the strike-breakers, we will use the powers of the police 
 to protect the strikers. (Applause.) That's about as far as I 
 go on political action. (Applause.) But that's a long way. 
 And the reason that I don't go into the halls of Pa/rliament to 
 make laws to govern the working-class is because the working- 
 class is working with machines, and every time some fellow has 
 a thought, inspiration, the machine changes, and I don't know 
 that laws can be made quick enough to keep up with the changing 
 machinery. And I know this: that laws, under Socialism, will 
 not be made to govern individuals. We have got too much of 
 that kind of law, and we want a little freedom from now on. 
 The only kind of government that we will have then will be that 
 kind that will administer industry. (Our italics.) 
 
 The declarations of Eugene V. Debs regarding political 
 action, as on many other matters, may be taken as repre- 
 
226 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 senting the views of the great majority of American So- 
 cialists. (From "Sound Socialist Tactics," International 
 Socialist Review, February, 1910.) 
 
 While the " game of politics," as it is understood and as it is 
 played under capitalist rules, is as repugnant to me as it can 
 possibly be to anyone, I am a thorough believer in poUtieal organ- 
 ization and political action. 
 
 Political power is essential to the workers in their struggle, 
 and they can never emancipate themselves without developing and 
 exercising that power in the interests of their class. 
 
 It is not merely in a perfunctory way that I advocate political 
 action, but as one who has faith in proletarian political power 
 and in the efficacy of political propaganda as an educational 
 force in the Socialist movement. I believe in a constructive po- 
 litical program and in electing all the class-conscious workers 
 we can, especially as mayors, judges, sheriffs, and as members 
 of the state legislatures and the national congress. 
 
 From "A Plea for Solidarity," International Socialist 
 Review, March, 1914: 
 
 At bottom all anti-political actionists are to all intents 
 anarchists, and anarchists and Socialists have never yet pulled 
 together and probably never will. 
 
 Now the industrial organization that ignores or rejects po- 
 litical action is as certain to fail as is the political party that 
 ignores or rejects industrial action. Upon the mutually recog- 
 nized unity and co-operation of the industrial and political 
 powers of the working-class will both the union and the party 
 have to be built if real solidarity is to be achieved. 
 
 To deny the political equation is to fly in the face of past 
 experience and invite a repetition of the disruption and disaster 
 which have already wrecked the organized forces of industrialism. 
 
 The anti-political vmionist and the anti-union Socialist are 
 alike illogical in their reasoning and unscientific in their eco- 
 nomics. The one harbors the illusion that the capitalist state can 
 be destroyed and its police powers, court injunctions, and gatling 
 guns, in short its political institutions, put out of business by 
 letting politics alone, and the other that the industries can be 
 taken over and operated by the workers without being industrially 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 227 
 
 organized and that the Socialist republic can be created by a 
 majority of votes and by political action alone. 
 
 It is beyond question, I think, that an overwhelming majority 
 of industrial unionists favor independent political action and that 
 an overwhelming majority of Socialists favor industrial union- 
 ism. Now it seems quite clear to me that these forces can and 
 should be united and brought together in harmonious and effective 
 economic and political co-operation. 
 
 Let us suppose in this country a political party with a pro- 
 gram that proposes a great and radical transformation of the 
 existing system of society, and proposes it upon lofty grounds of 
 the highest welfare of mankind. Let us suppose that it is based 
 upon vital and enduring truth and that the success of its ideals 
 would mean the emancipation of the race. 
 
 // such a party should go into the dirty game of practical 
 politics . . . it would inevitably fall into the pit that has engulfed 
 all other parties. Nothing on earth could save it. It would be 
 adopting the iron-walled path of the machine system of govern- 
 ment and down that path it must inevitably go, for from it there is 
 absolutely no escape, and at its end is ruin. 
 
 But suppose a party that kept forever in full sight the ulti- 
 mate gofil and never once varied from it. Suppose that it strove 
 to increase its vote for this object and for none other. Suppose 
 its membership to be held together by the inspiration of that 
 purpose, to be informed of it and prepared to work for it un- 
 swervingly, to wait for it if necessary. Suppose this party at 
 all times to insist in its agitation upon this object and to pro- 
 claim that it would never be content for one moment with any- 
 thing else; that this reform and that reform were well enough 
 for other parties but for this particular party nothing would be 
 accepted but the fullest measure of its ideals. Suppose that by 
 agitation, propaganda, education, literature, campaigns, meetings, 
 a party press, and every means in its power it steadily increased 
 its membership qnd its vote. Suppose it regarded its vote as the 
 index of its converts and sought for such votes and for none 
 others. Suppose the entire body was convinced of the party's 
 full program, aims, and philosophy. Suppose that all other men 
 knew that this growing party was thus convinced and thus deter- 
 mined, and that its growth menaced every day more and more 
 the existing structure of society, menaced it with overthrow and 
 a new structure. -What then? 
 
228 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 Such a party would be the greatest political power that ever 
 existed in this or any other country. It would drive the other 
 parties before it like sand before a wind. They would be com- 
 pelled to adopt one after another the expedients of reform to 
 head off the increasing threat of this one party's progress toward 
 the revolutionary ideal. But this one party would have no more 
 need to waste its time upon palliative measures than it would 
 have to soil itself with the dirt of practical politics and the bar- 
 gain counter. The other parties would do all that and do it well. 
 The one party would be concerned with nothing but making con- 
 verts to its philosophy and preparing for the revolution that its 
 steadfast course would render inevitable. Such a party would 
 represent the highest possible efficiency in politics, the greatest 
 force in the state, and the ultimate triumph of its full philosophy 
 would be beyond question. 
 
 In other words, and to drop all supposition, we can have a 
 vote-getting machine and go to perdition with it; or we can 
 have the Co-operative Commonwealth and working-class govern- 
 ment. But we cannot have both. (Our italics.) 
 
 n. PARTY ORGANIZATION 
 
 Several questions of controversy have centered about 
 the matter of party organization, as set forth in the Na- 
 tional Constitution. As it is impossible to give this consti- 
 tution at length, we give only those sections which have 
 been the subjects of recent referendums or which throw 
 definite light on the party tactics. 
 
 The portion of the constitution that has caused most 
 serious discussion is Article II, Section 6, relating to 
 sabotage and its advocacy. The debate on this section in 
 the National Convention will be given at some length 
 below. When the constitution was submitted to refer- 
 endum of the party, the opposition to the section took the 
 form rather of a defense of free speech than of a defense 
 of sabotage, and accordingly the vote on the referendum 
 can hardly be said to be an index of the party opinion of 
 sabotage. The section was carried by a large majority, 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 229 
 
 but the fact that a substitute section also received a ma- 
 jority has given rise to still further criticism of the vote 
 as a aefinitive expression. 
 
 1. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY (EXTRACTS) 
 
 Amended by the National Convention of the party, May, 1912, 
 and approved by referendum August 4, 1912. 
 
 Article II 
 Membership 
 
 See. 1. Every person, resident of the United States of the 
 age of 18 years and upward, without discrimination as to sex, 
 race, color, or creed, who has severed his connection with all 
 other political parties and political organizations, and subscribes 
 to the principles of the Socialist Party, including political action 
 and unrestricted political rights for both sexes, shall be eligible 
 to membership in the party. 
 
 See. 2. No person holding an elective public office by gift of 
 any party or organization other than the Socialist Party shall 
 be eligible to membership in the Socialist Party; nor shall any 
 member of the party accept or hold any appointive public office, 
 honorary or remunerative (civil service positions excepted), with- 
 out the consent of his state organization. Nonparty member 
 shall be a candidate for public office without the consent of the 
 city, county, or state organizations, according to the nature of 
 the office. 
 
 Sec. 5. All persons joining the Socialist Party shall sign the 
 following pledge: "I, the undersigned, recognizing the class 
 struggle between the capitalist class and the working-class and 
 the necessity of the working-class constituting itself into a 
 political party distinct from and opposed to all parties formed 
 by the capitalist class, hereby declare that I have severed my 
 relations with all other parties, and I indorse the platform and 
 constitution of the Socialist Party, including the principle 
 of political action, and hereby apply for admission to said 
 party." , 
 
 Sec. 6. Any member of the party who opposes poUiieal action 
 
230 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a 
 •weapon of the working-class to aid in its emancipation shall he 
 expelled from membership in the party. Political action shall be 
 construed to mean participation in elections for public office and 
 practical legislative and administrative work along the lines of 
 the Socialist Party platform.* 
 
 Article X 
 
 Sec. 3. The platform of the Socialist Party shall be the su- 
 preme declaration of the party, and all state and municipal plat- 
 forms shall conform thereto. No state or local organization shall 
 under any circumstances fuse, combine, or compromise with any 
 other political party or organization, or refrain from making 
 nominations, in order to favor the candidate of such other organ- 
 izations, nor shall any candidate of the Socialist Party accept any 
 nomination or indorsement from any other party or political 
 organization. 
 
 No member of the Socialist Party shall, under any circum- 
 stances, vote in primary or regular elections for any candidate 
 other than Socialists nominated, indorsed, or recommended as 
 candidates by the Socialist Party. To do otherwise will constitute 
 party treason and result in expulsion from the party. 
 
 See. 4. In states and territories in which there is one central 
 organization affliiated with the party, the state or territorial organ- 
 izations shall have the sole jurisdiction of the members residing 
 within their respective territories, and the sole control of all 
 matters pertaining to the propaganda, organization, and financial 
 affairs within such state or territory; provided such propaganda 
 is in Harmony with the national platform and declared policy of 
 the party. 
 
 Sec. 8. All state organizations shall provide in their consti- 
 tutions for the initiative, referendum, and imperative mandate. 
 
 All sections and paragraphs of the constitution, platform, and 
 resolutions were adopted, most of them by large majorities. 
 
 * The vote on Article II, Section 6, of the constitution, the 
 original section as adopted by the Convention, was. Yes, 13,215; 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 231 
 
 No, 4,196. The vote on the alternative or substitute section was, 
 Yes, 8,216; No, 7,371.* (Our italics.) 
 
 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 During the year 1914 two important amendments to the 
 constitution were passed. The first of these related to 
 the party press. 
 
 a. The Party-Owned Press 
 
 All fear of the party-owned-press bugaboo was practically 
 wiped out when the Socialist Party national committee meeting 
 here voted 45 to 10 to convert The Party Builder, the ofBcial 
 party organ, into a weekly Socialist paper. 
 
 The motion of Committeeman Hillquit as adopted was: 
 
 That it be the sense of this committee that The Party Builder 
 be converted into a weekly Socialist paper along the line suggested 
 by the committee and that the national executive committee be 
 directed to make inquiries as to the cost and feasibility of the 
 undertaking and to proceed with it as soon as practical in view 
 of the financial situation of the party. {The Party Builder, May 
 16, 1914.) 
 
 In harmony with the above action, Article VII, Section 
 3, was amended so as to read as follows : 
 
 The executive secretary shall cause to be published in the official 
 organ of the party all important official reports and announce- 
 ments; a monthly report of the financial affairs of the party; 
 a summary of the conditions and the membership of the several 
 states and territorial organizations; the principal business trans- 
 acted by the national officials, and such other matters pertaining 
 to the organization of the party as may be of general interest to 
 the membership. 
 
 As a result of this amendment The Party Builder has 
 • S. P, Bulletin, September, 1912. 
 
232 THE SOCIALIST PAKTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 been converted into a weekly paper, The . American So- 
 cialist. 
 
 b. Change in the Members' Pledge 
 
 The following change in the membership pledge was also 
 adopted : 
 
 New Article II — Section 5 
 
 All persons joining the Socialist Party shall sign the following 
 pledge : 
 
 application foe membership in the socialist party 
 
 I, the undersigned, recognizing the class struggle between the 
 capitalist class and the working-class, and the necessity of the 
 working-class organizing itself into a political party for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining collective ownership and democratic adminis- 
 tration and operation of the collectively used and socially neces- 
 sary means of production and distribution, hereby apply for mem- 
 bership in the Socialist Party. 
 
 I have no relations {as member or supporter) with any other 
 political party. 
 
 I am opposed to all political organizations that support and 
 perpetuate the present capitalist profit system, and I am opposed 
 to any form of trading or fusing with any such organizations to 
 prolong that system. 
 
 In all my political actions while a member of the Socialist 
 Party I agree to be guided by the constitution and platform of 
 that party. 
 
 m. PROPOSED UNION OF AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTIES 
 
 Since 1900 there have been two Socialist Parties in the 
 United States, the present Socialist Party, with a mem- 
 bership of about one hundred thousand, and the Socialist 
 Labor Party, from which the former is an offshoot, but 
 which has dwindled to about one thousand members. For 
 a generation the leader of the Socialist Labor Party was 
 the late Daniel De Leon, editor of the official organ, The 
 
POLICY AND TACTICS 233 
 
 People. (From the Report of the Socialist Party Delega- 
 tion to the International Socialist Congress, Copenhagen, 
 1910.) 
 
 Daniel Be Leon, speaking on the Unity resolution, charged that 
 the Socialist Labor Party had made offers of unity to the So- 
 cialist Party, but that they had been rejected by the Socialist 
 Party. 
 
 Morris Hillquit replied to De Leon. In part, he said : " The 
 Socialist Party in America stands for the union of all Socialist 
 forces in the United States. It does not stand for this simply in 
 a platonic manner, but has shown its sincerity by its deeds. Our 
 party is itself the product of unity. In 1900 the Socialist move- 
 ment of America was split into various parties and groups. The 
 Socialist Party became the center of unity and invited all So- 
 cialist organizations to send delegates to the Unity Convention of 
 1901. All such organizations responded with the exception of 
 that wing of the Socialist Labor Party which was headed by 
 De Leon." 
 
 Replying also to De Leon, Victor L. Berger said : " The 
 American Socialists are unanimous for unity. We will vote for 
 the Unity resolution and promise you that within the next three 
 years we will completely solve the unity question, for by that 
 time only De Leon himself will stand outside the party. We in 
 America are also working all the time for unity." (Our italics.) 
 
 Daniel De Leon, leader of the Socialist Labor Party, died 
 in the spring of 1914. 
 
 In 1914 the Socialist Party of New Jersey passed reso- 
 lutions urging the union of the Socialist Labor Party and 
 the Socialist Party. 
 
 The following paragraph is from Eugene V. Debs' arti- 
 cle, "A Plea for Solidarity," in the International So- 
 cialist Review, March, 1914 : 
 
 . On the political field there is no longer any valid reason why 
 there should be more than one party. I beUeve that a majority 
 of both the SociaUst Party and the Socialist Labor Party would 
 vote for consolidation, and I hope to see the initiative taken by 
 
234 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the rank and file of both at an early day. The unification of 
 the political forces would tend to clear the atmosphere and pro- 
 mote the unification of the forces on the industrial field. 
 
 A referendum has been proposed by certain locals, and 
 is now under consideration, to the effect that a committee 
 of five from the Socialist Labor Party be invited to meet 
 a similar committee from the Socialist Party, with a view 
 to union. 
 
 (See also "Militarism," "Trusts," "Proportional Rep- 
 resentation," "Woman Suffrage," "Tariffs," "Govern- 
 ment Ownership," "Labor Unions," "Labor Legisla- 
 tion," "Co-operation," "Immigration and the Race Ques- 
 tion," "The Drink Question.") 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 SOCIALISM IN CANADA 
 
 I. HISTORY OF CANADIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 In the year 1890 a group of men dissatisfied with both 
 Liberal and Conservative program and methods gathered 
 in Montreal for the purpose of forming a new political 
 organization, and organized a local of the Socialist Labor 
 Party of America. This is the first group of men known 
 to have organized under the banner of Socialism. Locals 
 were afterwards formed in other cities. The executive was 
 established in Montreal. 
 
 On the 18th of May, 1899, the Canadian Socialist 
 League was organized in Montreal as a result of dissatis- 
 faction with the methods of the executive of the Socialist 
 Labor Party in New York, and also as a result of a desire 
 to establish a Canadian Socialist movement. The move- 
 ment grew rapidly, about 60 leagues being established in 
 Ontario. The executive was moved from Montreal to 
 Toronto and afterwards to Vancouver. 
 
 In 1901 the Socialist Party of British Columbia was 
 formed, and made good progress. In 1905 the Socialist 
 Party of Canada was established as a result of a coalition 
 between the Socialist Party of British Columbia and the 
 Canada Socialist Leagues. The headquarters of the party 
 was in Vancouver. The Western Clarion became the of- 
 ficial organ. 
 
 The growth of lihe Socialist Party of Canada is shown 
 
 235 
 
236 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 by a table of the vote since 1903, compiled by W. Watts 
 for the Wesiern Clarion. The table is as follows : 
 
 Votes VoteB 
 
 Dates received Dates received 
 
 1903 3,507 1910 10,929 
 
 1907 3,670 1911 15,852 
 
 1908 8,697 1912 15,857 
 
 1909 9,688 1913 17,071 
 
 "The first notable election took place in the Province 
 of British Columbia in 1903. From then on the elections 
 have been contested stoutly and with excellent results, till 
 in the election of 1913 the Socialists cast 15 per cent of 
 the total vote. 
 
 "The movement has unusual difficulties. Not the least 
 of these is the Labor Party. Another is the strong influ- 
 ence of the Catholic Church in the Dominion and the gen- 
 eral state of agricultural prosperity." 
 
 11. THE SOCULIST PAETY OP CANADA IN 1914 
 
 By J. H. Borough, Dominion Secretary 
 
 "At present we have no parliamentary representatives. 
 In the past we have had four in the legislature of British 
 Columbia, these being gradually reduced by the unscrupu- 
 lous tactics of the capitalist politicians in whose hands 
 rests the administration of the election acts, and by the 
 action of the large employers of labor in the mining cen- 
 ters of the province in shutting down their works about 
 a month previous to election, in order that our supporters 
 might be compelled to leave the district in search for other 
 jobs. This has been done repeatedly, with — to them — sat- 
 isfactory results. In addition to this difficulty, this prov- 
 ince contains the largest proportion of migratory workers 
 of any in the Dominion. . . . 
 
 "The vote has increased from 3,500 in 1903 to approxi- 
 
SOCIALISM IN CANADA 237 
 
 mately 9,000 in 1912 in British Columbia, the Vancouver 
 vote rising from 1,611 in 1903 to 5,767 in 1912. 
 
 "In Alberta, the second province in membership and 
 first in organization, we have only secured as yet one seat. 
 This was in the Rocky Mountain district, partly a mining 
 and partly an agricultural district. The seat was cap- 
 tured in March, 1909, by Comrade C. M. O'Brien by a 
 small majority. In the succeeding election (1913) the 
 seat was lost, the boundaries having been especially al- 
 tered to secure that result. The majority of the miners 
 were out. In the Dominion elections of 1908, the party in 
 Alberta ran two candidates and received 1,300 votes. In 
 the provincial elections of 1909 it ran two, receiving 1,400 
 votes. In the provincial elections of 1911, three candidates 
 were placed on the ticket, receiving 2,300 votes. . . . 
 
 "At the general elections in Manitoba in July, 1914, the 
 party nominated two candidates in center "Winnipeg, who 
 received 928 and 921 votes respectively, notwithstanding 
 the fact that it had to encounter the opposition of all kinds 
 of reform candidates with and without the misleading 
 cognomen of 'Labor.' " 
 
 m. EXTRACT FROM PLATFORM OP THE SOCIALIST PARTY OP 
 CANADA 
 
 (Extract) 
 
 We call upon all workers to organize under the banner of the 
 Socialist Party of Canada, with the object of conquering the pub- 
 lic powers for the purpose of setting up and enforcing the eco- 
 nomic program of the working-class, as follows : 
 
 1. The transformation, as rapidly as possible, of capitalistic 
 property in the means of wealth production (natural resources, 
 factories, mills, railroads, etc.) into the collective property of 
 the working-class. 
 
 2. The democratic organization and management of industry 
 by the workers. 
 
238 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 3. The establishment, as speedily as possible, of production 
 for use instead of production for profit. 
 
 The Socialist Party when in office shall always and everywhere 
 until the present system is abolished, make the answer to this 
 question its guiding rule of conduct : Will this legislation advance 
 the interests of the working-class and aid the workers in their 
 class struggle against capitalism? If it will, the Socialist Party 
 is for it; if it will not, the Socialist Party is absolutely opposed 
 to it. 
 
 In accordance with this principle the Socialist Party pledges 
 itself to conduct all the public affairs placed in its hands in such 
 a manner as to promote the interests of the working-class alone. 
 
 rV. HISTORY OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY 
 
 The provincial convention of the Socialist Party held at 
 Toronto on May 24, 1910, gave birth to a new party in 
 Ontario, which has since spread from Atlantic to Pacific. 
 Owing to the autocratic position taken by the executive 
 of the Socialist Party of Canada at Vancouver in expelling 
 the Toronto local, consisting of 210 members, 13 other 
 locals seceded with about 700 members, and in April, 1911, 
 at Toronto, was organized the present Social Democratic 
 Party of Canada. This organization has spread to almost 
 every province, until to-day it consists of 230 locals, 82 in 
 Ontario^ 46 in British Columbia, 45 in Alberta, 20 in 
 Saskatchewan, 28 in Manitoba, 8 in Quebec, and 1 in Nova 
 Scotia. The headquarters is at Berlin, Ontario. It has a 
 membership of over five thousand and a paid secretary. In 
 British Columbia two members have been elected to the 
 House, Jack Place for Nanaimo and Parker Williams for 
 Ladysmith, both members of the party. 
 
 In 1912 the party affiliated with the International Bu- 
 reau. James Simpson is a member of the board of control 
 of Toronto. Niagara Falls has one Socialist alderman. At 
 Lindsay a member of the party has been mayor for two 
 
SOCIALISM IN CANADA 239 
 
 years. In the Ontario election held on June 29, 1914, the 
 total vote ran over 6,000, with 14 candidates in the field. 
 In July the Social Democratic Party candidate in Winni- 
 peg, Manitoba, received 2,000 votes to 2,500 for the Lib- 
 eral and 3,000 for the Conservative. 
 
 V. EXTEACT FROM PLATPOKM OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCKATIO 
 PARTY OP CANADA 
 
 As a means of preparing the minds of the working-class for 
 the inauguration of the eo-operative commonwealth, the Social 
 Democratic Party of Canada will support any measure that will 
 tend to better conditions under capitalism, such as: 
 
 (1) Reduction of hours of labor. 
 
 (2) The elimination of child labor. 
 
 (3) Universal adult suffrage without distinction of sex or re- 
 gard to property qualifications; and 
 
 (4) The initiative, referendum, and right of recall. 
 
 VI. THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN CANADA * 
 
 "It has often been a matter of surprise to political ob- 
 servers that the labor movement has made such compara- 
 tively little progress in Canada; its political success, at 
 any rate, has been relatively small. At present it is repre- 
 sented by one member in the Dominion House and by one 
 in each of the Ontario and British Columbia Legislatures. 
 Once the great western city of Winnipeg elected a labor 
 representative, through the co-operation of the Liberals, 
 but on the whole the political influence of the Labor Party 
 is slight. While the electoral strength which it exhibits 
 at the polls increases year by year, its actual effect upon 
 the monopoly of the two historic parties has been sadly 
 limited. What are the reasons to account for the backward- 
 ness of the labor movement in Canada as compared with 
 
 * The New Statesman, July 18, 1914— signed J. A. 8. 
 
240 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 its progress and strength in the other Dominions? They 
 are many. 
 
 "In the first place, the trade-unions in Canada are all 
 more or less affiliated to the American labor organizations. 
 The geographical condition of the two countries necessi- 
 tates this. Unless a Canadian union had the guarantee of 
 the co-operation of its coordinate American union its 
 powers of negotiating or striking would be definitely lim- 
 ited and in the end ineffective. But what is a benefit for 
 economic warfare is a barrier to political success, inasmuch 
 as it brings the labor movement into definite opposition 
 to the sentiment of Canadian nationalism. There are a 
 great many of the Canadian working-classes who have a 
 strong sense of prejudice, often ill-founded, against Amer- 
 ican institutions, and, believing that the Canadian trade- 
 unions are more or less subservient to the vaster American 
 organizations, hold aloof from them. . . . 
 
 "The Labor Party, too, has suffered too often by the 
 defection of its leaders to the capitalist ranks. If they 
 were clever men they saw before them facile opportunities 
 of making money and speedily acquired an economic se- 
 curity which put them out of sympathy with their less 
 fortunate brethren. Great corporations, too, assist in this 
 process, and if they see any young man coming forward 
 as k leader of his fellow-employees they have a wise habit 
 of offering him a comfortable executive job which removes 
 him to another sphere. All these causes have contributed 
 to the comparative failure of the Labor Party to make the 
 same headway that it has achieved in the other overseas 
 democracies. 
 
 "But there are signs that a change is now in sight. Can- 
 ada has been suffering from a period of financial stringency 
 and her expansion has been very severely curtailed. . . . 
 The workingman may have higher wages than in the older 
 
SOCIALISM IN CANADA 241 
 
 countries, but the advantage is completely destroyed by the 
 tremendous cost of living. Labor in Great Britain com- 
 plains that within the last decade the cost of living has 
 gone up 15 per cent, but during the same period in Canada 
 it has increased 51 per cent, and there has been no propor- 
 tionate increase in wages. Most ominous of all is it that 
 while in Great Britain and the United States the most 
 recent index tables show some decrease in the cost of living, 
 in Canada the upward rise relentlessly continues. Ten 
 years ago it was possible for workingmen in Winnipeg to 
 secure comfortable houses at a rent of $8 per month ; now 
 the meanest abode costs at least $16 per month. All these 
 factors have begun to bring the laboring-class to a sense 
 of their true position and to realize that migration to a 
 new country of vast undeveloped resources has in many 
 cases failed to improve their economic position. There is 
 now a decided demand for better terms for labor, and labor 
 is beginning to realize that better terms can only be secured 
 by political action. Neither of the existing parties shows 
 any decided inclination to meet these demands, and as 
 a result labor is beginning to strike out for itself. There 
 have, of course, been many active and capable leaders of 
 Canadian labor, and if the parliamentary success of such 
 as have been elected to Parliament has been inconspicuous 
 it was largely due to the lack of a real, driving, well- 
 organized force behind them. But in every city there are 
 signs of an awakening. In Montreal, Mr. Alphonse Ber- 
 ville, who is a Liberal-Labor representative and a very 
 outspoken democrat, represents by a huge majority Mais- 
 soneuve, which is the largest constituency in Canada, and 
 held it at the reciprocity election in face of determined 
 attacks. At the last municipal election in Toronto a So- 
 cialist was elected as one of the city controllers, and in 
 "Winnipeg Mr. R. A. Rigg, the leader of the Labor Party, 
 
242 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 was chosen as an alderman. In Vancouver and other 
 Pacific coast comnmnities there has always been a strong 
 Socialist element which elects some representatives to the 
 local House and municipal offices. . . . " * 
 
 *In 1913 the "Independent Labor Party" elected a Socialist, Allan 
 Studholme, to Ihe provincial parliament of Ontario. The member of 
 the Bomlnion Parliament above referred to was a member of the 
 "Labor Party." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 I. MEXICO 
 1. ADDRESS OF GUITTEEEEZ DE LARA OP MEXICO, 1912 * 
 
 ' ' Comrade Chairman and Comrades, I come here to this 
 convention as a fraternal delegate of the Socialist Party in 
 Mexico. I have a mission in coming. . . . Our comrades 
 in Mexico have indorsed the principles of the revolu- 
 tion. . . . They called on me to come here and explain to 
 you about our revolution, and to ask you to pass some 
 energetic resolutions in regard to it. 
 
 "Comrades, the revolution in Mexico is a fight of the 
 past hundred years. It is the fight of the farmers, the 
 tillers of the soil, who became the owners of the lands that 
 they are tilling. A hundred years ago the revolution in 
 Spain was carried out by the tillers of the soil to get the 
 lands from the big landowners in Mexico at that time. 
 The big landowners were the church and the aristocracy. 
 After 10 years of revolution, independence was recognized. 
 But the revolutionists were not wise enough to carry out 
 the revolution in a practical way. They were tender and 
 satisfied to have an independent country and a flag. But 
 soon they realized that they had not been fighting for such 
 a small question as that. So they went ahead with the 
 revolution, and about 15 years later, that is, in the year 
 1834, they were very nearly in a position to take away the 
 
 * The following address was delivered at the 1913 convention of the 
 Socialist Party of the United States. 
 
 243 
 
244 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE "WORLD 
 
 land of the church and give it to the common people. If 
 they did not accomplish this, why not? Because the 
 church was not only the big landowner in Mexico, but also 
 controlled the conscience in that country, and you know 
 how hard it is for the agitator to take away from a man 
 the idea of his wealth in heaven and his poverty on 
 earth. . . . 
 
 "The church went to work, and was able to elect as 
 president a man that came to enforce its rights of the 
 church and the aristocracy. But this man found that he 
 was unable to destroy the rights of the revolutionists ; that 
 the people had a higher passion in their hearts, the pas- 
 sion of patriotism, and that patriotism was arousing the 
 Mexican people to become an American nation. 
 
 "In the meantime, in the United States the slave-holders, 
 who needed to increase the power of slavery, tried to arouse 
 the patriotism of the American people by an international 
 war. There was a common understanding between the 
 slave-owners in the United States and the landowners in 
 Mexico that an international war would make the common 
 people of Mexico forget the issue of the ownership of the 
 Mexican lands and make the American people forget the 
 issue of the emancipation of the slave. . . . 
 
 "After the war was over, the Mexican people, defeated, 
 were unable to carry on the revolutionary issue of the 
 ownership of the land by the toilers of the soil. . . . 
 
 " So . . . another revolution started in Mexico. . . . This 
 new revolution of the fifties was for the purpose of . . . 
 framing a new constitution that would embody the necessi- 
 ties and the aspirations of the common people in Mexico. 
 That new constitution, which is the constitution of to-day, 
 was proclaimed on the 5th of February, 1857, and . . . 
 gave to us all the freedom that we needed; free speech, 
 free press, and free compulsory education. But the great 
 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 245 
 
 point . . . was that it took away the land from the church, 
 proclaiming that the church, being a divine institution, had 
 not the right to own anything else. So about two and a 
 half to three millions of toilers of the soil thus became 
 owners of independent lands. 
 
 "Immediately on the adoption of this constitution, the 
 wealthy class of Mexico, the church and the aristocracy, 
 found that a tremendous blow had been struck against 
 them. The church and aristocracy claimed the army in 
 Mexico in those years. . . . There was a civil war of three 
 years between the church and army and the common peo- 
 ple, and after it the common people were able to entirely 
 defeat the church and the aristocracy. When the church 
 and aristocracy surrendered, then they sent delegates to 
 Europe to ask help in order that the European powers 
 might send their armies to Mexico for the purpose of re- 
 storing the lands to the church and to the aristocracy. 
 
 "In the year 1861, England, France, and Spain agreed 
 to send their armies to Mexico, and those armies were sent. 
 But as soon as England and Spain realized their mistake 
 and the trouble they were likely to have on their hands, 
 they withdrew their armies. But France . . . invaded 
 Mexico and placed Emperor Maximilian in power. This 
 invasion was nothing else but a tool used by the Mexican 
 church and Mexican aristocracy, and a tool also used by 
 the Pope of Rome and the Emperor of France in order 
 that they might come and, in the name of some farcical 
 laws, take away the lands from the common people and 
 restore them to the church and aristocracy. 
 
 ' ' This international war lasted about nine years, and you 
 who read Mexican history from an economic standpoint 
 can see how by this time the Mexican people had twice been 
 able to accomplish the fact of giving the lands to the 
 conunon people. A foreign invader had come into Mexico, 
 
246 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 but had been compelled to surrender after having come to 
 give back the lands to the church and aristocracy. That 
 has been the only purpose of Mexican foreign wars. After 
 the French war was over, the Mexican people were entirely 
 broken down by those nine years of war. A republic was 
 established, and the people began to take up the question 
 of the lands. 
 
 "But after a few years the church took back the stranger 
 and allied with the aristocracy and the army. . . . After 
 a while they succeeded and gained power, but they were 
 foxy enough to understand that by this time the church 
 was not in condition to become the owner of the land, 
 and then they took this land from the common people and 
 gave it back to the favorites. That was the only cause of 
 the despotism maintained by Diaz during the 30 years in 
 which he carried on his military despotic autocracy. 
 
 "Comrades, a year and a half ago another revolution 
 started, with the same old question, the lands for the 
 common people. That was the only purpose of the revolu- 
 tion, and will be the only purpose of any revolution in 
 Mexico. Mr. Madero, to-day's president of Mexico, came 
 to the revolutionary movement at the last moment. . . . 
 We, the old revolutionists, the pioneers of the revolution, 
 know that Madero will be unwilling and unable to accom- 
 plish a solution of the question of the ownership of the 
 lands by the common people. . . . 
 
 "Madero belongs to a very wealthy family of multi- 
 millionaires. They own immense tracts of land in Mexico ; 
 and does anybody suppose that Mr. Madero and his . . . 
 relatives are going graciously to give up their lands to the 
 common people? They are not. So the revolution is now 
 in a critical moment. ... 
 
 "Comrades, the revolution is going to succeed. In the 
 next two or three months there will be a beginning, at 
 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 247 
 
 least, in the division of the lands, and before the revolu- 
 tion is ended the division of the lands will be accomplished. 
 After that . . . will come a government, elected, of course, 
 by these small landowners, and this government will legale 
 ize this part of the revolution that has been accomplished. 
 It is not a question of the government's dividing the land. 
 The lands are going to be taken by the men themselves, 
 and the government after that will legalize what has been 
 done. That is the scheme; that is the plan of the revo- 
 lution. ... 
 
 "So the issue is very clear now. The division of the 
 lands will be accomplished. The revolution will be suc- 
 cessful, but there is the threat of the old times, the Amer- 
 ican Government doing everything possible to interfere in 
 Mexico, with the only purpose to compel the Mexican work- 
 ers to serve their masters and to protect the property of 
 American citizens. They say that the intervention of the 
 American Government will be only for the purpose of pro- 
 tecting American life and American property in Mexico, 
 but it will be with the purpose of carrying on the issue 
 so that it is well understood by the master class, and that 
 isstie is that the class-conscious master class in the United 
 States feel the necessity of helping their brothers, the 
 master class of Mexico." 
 
 n. PROCLAMATION ON THE MEXICAN SITUATION BY THE SO- 
 CIALIST PAKTY OF AMERICA, APRIL 25, 1914 
 
 Again we are being lashed into war by those who profit from 
 war. 
 
 Capitalist drums are beating, trumpets blaring, and forces re- 
 cruiting. 
 
 All this that the nation may be goaded into war and the 
 workers made to consent to shoot and be shot. 
 
 Tor centuries the resources of Mexico have lain dormant. Of 
 late that country has been touched by the magic wand of capital- 
 
248 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 ism and the same development is taking place there that always 
 takes place when modern capitalism clashes with backward 
 feudalism. 
 
 Ninety per cent of her population are still landless and prop- 
 ertyless. Tor hundreds of years the Mexican people have strug- 
 gled against almost insurmountable difficulties to overthrow 
 tjrrants who have ruled and ruined them. 
 
 For hundreds of years the Mexican people have been in a 
 state of continuous revolt because the great majority are in con- 
 dition of peonage. Robbed of their land in an agricultural 
 country, the change from the Spanish rule to an independent 
 republic avails the Mexican people little or nothing. So long as 
 peonage remains, revolt must follow revolt. 
 
 In vain did the Mexican people elevate Madero to the presi- 
 dency. Their hope that he would recognize their need and 
 restore the land to the people was not fulfilled. They are stiU 
 fighting to win Mexico for the Mexicans. 
 
 In Sonora, Durango, and Chihuahua, where the revolutionists 
 are in control, the people are taking possession of the land. Now, 
 when the revolutionists believe that victory is in sight, the great 
 American republic, controlled by sinister capitalist interests and 
 without a declaration of war, lands an armed force on Mexican 
 soil. No nation in modern times has ever begun hostilities upon 
 a pretext so shallow as the flag incident at Tampieo. 
 
 The war will inevitably unite all factions in Mexico against 
 the invaders of their country. Their resistance to the forces- of 
 the United States must fail, yet it will cost thousands of lives 
 through bullet, bayonet, and disease. 
 
 In order to subdue Mexico, the American army must march 
 across that country like Sherman marched to the sea. Our army 
 will leave behind a path of desolation, ruined homes, and death. 
 
 And finally, when American arms have triumphed, who will 
 be the winners? The American people will not win. The Mex- 
 ican people will not win. German, English, and American cap- 
 italists, backed up by our army, will exploit Mexico and the 
 Mexican peon as capitalism always exploits the working-people 
 everywhere. 
 
 Moreover, the effect of the war on our own country will be 
 deplorable. 
 
 War strengthens every force hurtful to civilization, every force 
 hurtful to labor. While war lasts there will be no social legisla- 
 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 249 
 
 tion. Enough money will be used up in dealing death to human 
 beings to provide old-age pensions, accident, sickness, and unem- 
 ployed insurance for every worker in America for a generation. 
 
 Every piratical power will seize this opportunity to prey upon 
 our people. Exploiting capitalism will meet every attack by 
 wrapping the American flag around its plunder. 
 
 Remember that the capitalist class in Colorado, destroying with 
 machine guns American workers struggling for better conditions, 
 is the very same class that seeks to rule Mexico. 
 
 The Socialist Party is opposed, as a matter of principle, to 
 every war of aggression. We believe that there is but one justi- 
 fication for war, and that is to fight for freedom. Our freedom 
 has not been assailed by the Mexicans. There is no reason why 
 American workingmen should leave their homes and families to 
 have their bodies mangled on Mexican battlefields. 
 
 In the name of two million American Socialists, in the name 
 of thirty million Socialists throughout the world, in the name of 
 humanity and civilization, we protest against the war with 
 Mexico. 
 By the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party. 
 
 Victor Berger, 
 Adolph Gbrmbr, 
 Geo. H. Goebbl, 
 James H. Maurer, 
 J. Stitt Wilson. 
 Attest: Walter Lanfersiek, 
 
 Executive Secretary. 
 
 I. THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 
 
 The Socialist Party was formed in 1896, but elected its 
 Brst deputy, Alfredo Palacios, from Buenos Ayres, in 
 1904, with 1,257 votes. This number rose to 7,006 in 1910. 
 In 1912 the suffrage laws were changed, Palacios was 
 elected with 32,000 votes, and Dr. Juan Justo with 23,000 
 votes — also in Buenos Ayres. In 1914 the Socialists elected 
 all seven candidates in that city— which, added to the 
 above two, re-elected in 1913, when half the Chamber of 
 Deputies was voted upon, gives a total of nine. 
 
250 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 The election for the Chamber of Deputies shows that the 
 Socialist vote ranged from 40,014 to 43,336 for the seven 
 men the workers elected, with their Eadical opponents 
 polling only from 32,074 to 37,517, and the other two 
 bourgeois parties trailing hopelessly in the rear. 
 
 The seven Socialists elected to the Chamber are Fran- 
 cisco Cuneo, Mario Bravo, Nicolas Eepetto, Enrique Dick- 
 mann, Antonio De Tomaso, Antonia Zaccagnini, Angel M. 
 Jimenez. 
 
 All of these men are active workers for the Socialist 
 cause, Dickmann being editor-in-chief of La Vanguardia, 
 the big Socialist daily of this city, and De Tomaso national 
 secretary of the Socialist Party. 
 
 In the election of 1913 the Socialists cast 48,024 votes 
 for their highest candidate, but the total vote then was 
 larger and the Socialists elected but four candidates. 
 
 The total membership of the Argentine Chamber is 120, 
 and the reaction is in control in the provinces outside of 
 Buenos Ayres. 
 
 Besides the 43,000 votes in the city of Buenos Ayres, the 
 Socialists secured in 1914, 8,700 votes in the province of 
 that name, 2,000 in Santa Fe, and 1,500 in other districts 
 — a total of 55,000. The votes for the other parties in 
 Buenos Ayres were : Radical, 37,000 ; Civic Party, 20,000 ; 
 Constitutionalists, 13,000. 
 
 The following were the chief planks of the Socialist 
 platform : 
 
 Abolition of the taxes that increase the cost of living, the 
 application of progressive taxes upon land. 
 
 Limitation of the compulsory military service to three months. 
 
 Abolition of the law" permitting the expulsion of foreigners 
 without trial. 
 
 Laws providing for hygienic and safe conditions in factories 
 and compensation for accidents. 
 
 Maximum working day of eight hours, and minimum wage of 
 
CENTEAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 251 
 
 seven shillings per day for all workers employed directly or 
 indirectly by the state or municipalities. 
 
 Universal suffrage in municipal elections. 
 
 Separation of church and state ; amendment of the divorce laws. 
 
 Abolition of the penalty of death. 
 
 II. THE ARGENTINE PARTY ANt) NATIONALISM 
 
 By W. Thiessen 
 
 The development of the Socialist Party in the Argen- 
 tine Eepublic is described by "W. Thiessen (of La Plata) 
 in the Neue Zeit. Its origin is purely international, the 
 party at first, some 25 years ago, being composed of three 
 groups — a German group, called the Vorwdrts; a French 
 group, Les Egaux; and the Italian, Fascio dei Lavoratori. 
 
 The Spanish-speaking Argentine Socialists were only 
 a small group at the commencement, but from 1894 on- 
 wards, when the paper, La Vanguardia, was started, have 
 increased in numbers and now form the bulk of the party. 
 This development is quite in accordance with the economic 
 facts, Argentine industry, or, rather, industry in the Argen- 
 tine, being almost entirely the result of the introduction 
 of European capital and of European labor, both skilled 
 and unskilled. Even now this is apparent at a glaiice at 
 a business directory of Argentine towns, where Italian, 
 German, and French names can be found in abundance. 
 
 As a party of foreign workmen, it could, of course, 
 have no influence on the politics of the country, and only 
 as the membership was drawn more and more from the 
 Argentinos did the voting strength of the party increase. 
 In 1903, of 884 paying members in the city of Buenos 
 Ayres, 467 were Argentinos and 417 foreigners; in the 
 provinces, the proportion was 373 Argentinos to 479 for- 
 eigners. At the present time the foreigners are still about 
 30 per cent of the membership. At the Congress held last 
 
252 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 May in Eosario, the delegates represented organizations 
 with a membership in Buenos Ayres city of 1,201 and in 
 the provinces of 2,310. 
 
 In the National Congress the party has nine repre- 
 sentatives, in the Senate one, in the Provincial Assembly 
 of Buenos Ayres two, and in Mendoza one. . . . 
 
 While in 1903 half the party members were of for- 
 eign birth, in 1914 this was true only of one-third. 
 
 The party has still a hard task in front of it, as the 
 industrial working-class, upon which it must rely in the 
 main, is still largely cosmopolitan, the Italians predom- 
 inating. In order to increase its membership in full citi- 
 zens from that class, a rule of the party says that for- 
 eigners cannot become members of the party unless they 
 get themselves naturalized, an exception being made only 
 in the case of those workers to whom the authorities refuse 
 naturalization, a not unusual occurrence. 
 
 At the elections other sections of the population have 
 contributed largely to the success, such as state and munici- 
 pal officials of the lower ranks, private employers, and a 
 certain proportion of the smaller shopkeepers and trades- 
 men. Among these, as indeed is the case with all Argen- 
 tinos, the nationalist feeling is very strong. One prom- 
 inent Socialist and former Senator, Manuel Ugarte, who 
 for some years represented Argentina on the International 
 Socialist Bureau, seems to have gone over entirely to the 
 Nationalist Patriotic Party, and devotes himself now to the 
 advocacy of the idea of an America latina, a movement di- 
 rected against the growing influence of the United States 
 in the South American republics. Arising out of some 
 article in Yanguardia, the party organ, which to him 
 seemed to be derogatory of the dignity of the Latin races, 
 as they described the backwardness of Central America, 
 he commenced a campaign in the capitalist press against 
 
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 253 
 
 the party, accused it of being anti-patriotic, etc., and 
 finally challenged a Socialist deputy, Palacios, to fight a 
 duel. Ugarte was thereupon expelled by his organization 
 and is now no longer to be considered as a Socialist. 
 
 The Yanguardia had merely declared that the opening 
 of the Panama Canal would bring a new life to Central 
 America. Hereupon a furious nationalistic onslaught was 
 unchained. It wholly dominated the electoral agitation 
 of 1914, and the party was forced to take a definite stand 
 on the question, Nationalism and Socialism. A part of the 
 comrades then made considerable concessions to national- 
 ism. Another part arose vigorously against it. These dif- 
 ferences were the chief feature of the Party Congress in 
 May (1914). No important deeision was reached, however. 
 
SECTION IV 
 SOCIALISM IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE 
 
 (Excluding Canada) 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE BRITISH INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY 
 AND THE BRITISH SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 I. INTEODUCTORT 
 1. THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY — ^EXCERPTS FROM CONSTITUTION 
 
 The Socialist political movement in Great Britain finds 
 its chief expression in the British Labor Party, which is 
 primarily a federation of those trade-unions which stand 
 for progressive labor legislation, with the Independent 
 Labor Party, which is definitely committed to Socialism, 
 and with the Fabian Society, an educational Socialist or- 
 ganization. The British Socialist Party, the third of the 
 leading Socialist organizations in Great Britain, which, for 
 many years, stood apart from this federation, applied for 
 membership in May, 1914, as a result of the suggestion of 
 a committee on unity, appointed by the International So- 
 cialist Congress. 
 
 The constitution of the party declares (1914) that its 
 object is "To organize and maintain in Parliament and 
 the country a political Labor Party," and provides that 
 "Candidates and members must . . . appear before their 
 constituencies under the title of labor candidates only; 
 abstain strictly from identifying themselves with or pro- 
 moting the interests of any other party; and accept the 
 responsibilities established by parliamentary practice. 
 
 255 
 
256 THE SOCIALIST PAKTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 "Before a candidate can be regarded as adopted for a 
 constituency, his candidature must be sanctioned by the 
 national executive; and where at the time of a by-election 
 no candidate has been so sanctioned, the national executive 
 shall have power to withhold its sanction." 
 
 The constitution further provides that "The national 
 executive shall consist of 16 members, 11 representing the 
 trade-unions, 1 the trades-councils, women's organizations, 
 and local labor parties, and 3 the Socialist societies, who 
 shall be elected by ballot at the annual conference by their 
 respective sections, and the treasurer, who shall also be 
 elected by the conference." 
 
 2. GROWTH OF THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 
 
 In 1912 the membership of the Labor Party was esti- 
 mated at 1,895,498. The trade-unions contributed the bulk 
 of the membership — 1,858,178. The Independent Labor 
 Party and the Fabian Society contributed 31,237, of which 
 the I. L. P. possessed nearly 30,000. 
 
 The executive committee of the Labor Party gave in 
 1913 the following estimate of growth : 
 
 Socialist 
 Trade-nnion eocietiea Total 
 
 membereliip memberehip 
 
 1900-1 353,070 22,861 375,931 
 
 1901-2 455,450 13,861 469,311 
 
 1902-3 847,315 13,835 861,150 
 
 1903-4 956,025 13,775 969,800 
 
 1904-5 855,270 14,730 900,000 
 
 1905-6 904,496 16,784 921,280 
 
 1906-7 975,182 20,885 998,338 
 
 1907 1,049,673 22,267 1,072,413 
 
 1908 1,127,035 27,465 1,158,565 
 
 1909 1,450,648 30,982 1,486,308 
 
 1910 1,394,402 31,377 1,430,539 
 
 1911 1,501,783 31,404 1,539,092 
 
 1912 1,858,178 31,237 1,895,498 
 
BRITISH LABOE AND SOCIALIST PARTY 257 
 The report of the Executive Committee for 1913 declares : 
 
 The Labor Party is . . . primarily a political organization 
 controlled by the British labor unions. But [with the] affiliation 
 of the British Socialist Party . . . there will be nearly 50,000 
 Socialist Party members, who are also members of the Labor 
 Party. Though less than three per cent of the total membership, 
 they have furnished [1913] 7 of the 40 Labor Party mem- 
 bers of Parliament. . . . 
 
 n. THE INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY (SOCIALIST) 
 1. PROGRAM 
 
 The true object of industry being the production of the require- 
 ments of life, the responsibility should rest with the community 
 collectively, therefore : 
 
 The land being the storehouse of all the necessaries of life 
 should be declared and treated as public property. 
 
 The capital necessary for the industrial operations should be 
 owned and used collectively. 
 
 Work, and wealth resulting therefrom, should be equitably dis- 
 tributed over the population. 
 
 As a means to this end we demand the enactment of the fol- 
 lowing measures: 
 
 1. A maximum of 48 hours working week, with the retention 
 of all existing holidays, and Labor Day, May 1, secured by law. 
 
 2. The provision of work to all capable adult applicants at 
 recognized trade-union rates, with a statutory minimum of 6d. 
 per hour. / 
 
 In order to remuneratively employ the applicants, parish, dis- 
 trict, borough, and county councils to be invested with powers to : 
 
 (a) Organize and undertake such industries as they may con- 
 sider desirable; 
 
 (b) Compulsorily acquire land; purchase, erect, or manu- 
 facture buildings, stock, or other articles for carrying on such 
 industries ; 
 
 (c) Levy rates on the rental values of the district, and borrow 
 money on the security of such rates for any of the above pur- 
 poses. 
 
 3. State pensions for every person over 50 years of age, and 
 
258 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OV THE WORLD 
 
 adequate provision for all widows, orphans, sick, and disabled 
 workers. 
 
 4. Free, secular, moral, primary, secondary, and university 
 education, with free maintenance while at school or university. 
 
 5. The raising of the age of child labor, with a view to its 
 ultimate extinction. 
 
 6. Municipalization and public control of the drink traffie. 
 
 7. Municipalization and public control of all hospitals and 
 infirmaries. 
 
 8. Abolition of indirect taxation and the gradual transference 
 of all public burdens on to unearned incomes, with a view to 
 their ultimate extinction. 
 
 9. The Independent Labor Party is in favor of adult suffrage, 
 with full political rights and privileges for women, and the 
 immediate extension of the franchise to women on the same 
 terms as granted to men; also triennial Parliaments and second 
 ballot. 
 
 2. ACTIVITIES OP THE I. L. P. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 
 
 The report to the Party Congress of 1914 dwells upon the 
 Socialists ' fight for woman suffrage and for a better finance 
 bill, and their agitation against the increase of armament, 
 the action of the Dublin police, the deportation of trade- 
 union leaders, etc. The report deals -with the manner in 
 which present parliamentary procedure leads to ineffective- 
 ness. It reads: 
 
 The relations of the I. L. P. members of the Labor Party with 
 their trade-union colleagues continue cordial. The composite 
 character of the Labor Party and the differences of political 
 training and economic views to be found among the members of 
 the Labor Party should be kept in mind. 
 
 So long as the House of Lords exists in its present form, 
 with power to suspend legislative measures for a period of two 
 years or more, necessitating such measures being passed by the 
 House of Commons in at least three successive sessions, there 
 will be a great deal of time wasted which might otherwise be 
 devoted to new measures, and there will be a natural disposition 
 not to throw away the advantage which has been won by stages 
 
BRITISH LABOR AND SOCIALIST PARTY 259 
 
 already passed on the road to the final enactment of measures. 
 The Parliament Act, while restricting the powers of the House 
 of Lords, has created new diflSeulties for the House of Commons, 
 and the present situation is one which cannot be permanently 
 endured. . . . 
 
 It is not likely that the Government will endeavor to pass a 
 comprehensive reform bill in this Parliament, but should they do 
 so, we shall do all we can to secure the enfranchisement of 
 women in it on a comprehensive basis, or failing that we shall 
 oppose the further extension of the male franchise. The position 
 of the Woman Suffrage question, though for the moment par- 
 , liamentary interest in it is quiet, is hopeful. If nothing is done 
 further in this Parliament it will be necessary to make this a 
 prominent issue at the next general election, so that the Gov- 
 ernment will not be able to make the excuse that there is no 
 popular mandate for the reform. ' 
 
 The Labor Party has been extremely active during the present 
 session. It has raised debates of first-class importance on the 
 action of the Dublin police and the deportation of the South 
 African trade-union leaders, accidents in mines and on railways, 
 the condition of the blind, and other matters. Neither in regard 
 to Dublin nor South Africa was any satisfaction obtained from 
 the Government, but promises of legislation or inquiry were 
 made in regard to the other matters. 
 
 The Government's extravagance in naval affairs continues, and 
 this year the Admiralty have presented navy estimates of over 
 £50,000,000. The I. L. P. members have offered a united and 
 strong opposition to this expenditure. The opposition to this 
 criminal extravagance was left mainly to the Labor Party. The 
 Radicals seem to have forsaken all the principles of economy 
 in which they have been trained. We shall continue to oppose 
 this expenditure on armaments, not only because of the waste of 
 national wealth which is involved, but in the interests of inter- 
 national goodwill. 
 
 A vast amount of very useful work has been done by the I. L. P. 
 members in quiet and unobtrusive ways, on commissions and 
 committees, and in attending to complaints about the adminis- 
 tration of laws. 
 
 We do not submit to you this short and incomplete report 
 of the work of the past year with a feeling of complete satis- 
 faction with our achievements. On the contrary we are very 
 
260 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 fully aware of how small and inadequate it is compared with 
 what we should like to see accomplished. We are hampered by 
 the special circumstances of the parliamentary situation, and 
 by the smallness of our numbers ; and as I. L. P. members, whose 
 aim is to advance the cause of SociaUsm, by the variety of 
 economic thought and political sympathy in the Labor Party. 
 We recognize the advantages of labor generally by such a com- 
 bination of Trade-Unionists and Socialists as we have in the 
 Labor Party, but we have never been blind to the fact that if 
 we, as Socialists, are to get the benefit of the support of our 
 trade-union allies it must involve some sacrifice of our own inde- 
 pendent action as an I. L. P. We are constantly having to 
 consider cases where the opinions of the Labor Party and the 
 I. L. P., as expressed by the resolutions, of the two conferences, 
 differ or conflict. 
 
 Occasionally loyalty to the Labor Party alliance involves the 
 sacrifice of I. L. P. resolutions. This difference sometimes, as 
 in the case of the Plural Voting BUI and the Insurance Bill, 
 leads to divisions among ourselves. This is a difficult situation, 
 and one which is perhaps inherent in the present stage of the 
 development of a parliamentary labor party, but it would be 
 well if the Conference at its special sitting to discuss parlia- 
 mentary policy would give some attention to this matter. 
 
 J. E. Cltnbs, 
 J. Keir Hardie, 
 
 F. W. JOWETT, 
 
 J. Ramsay MacDonald, 
 James Parker, 
 Thos. Richardson, 
 Philip Snowden. 
 
 3. criticism and defense 01" the labor party by the i. l. p. 
 party conference, 1914 
 
 The chief criticism in the Party Conference of 1914 cen- 
 tered around the rumored alliance between the Labor 
 Party and the Liberal Party. In the British Parliament, 
 if the House of Lords vetoes a bill, this bill must be passed 
 three times in succession by the House of Commons before 
 it becomes a law. If the Government Party — in recent 
 
BRITISH LABOR AND SOCIALIST PARTY 261 
 
 years, the Liberal Party — should be defeated in any meas- 
 ures proposed by it, the Cabinet usually resigns and an- 
 other election is called. If the Government Party is ousted 
 before the biU is passed the third time, the bill must go 
 again through the same course. The three most important 
 bills before Parliament, prior to this conference, supported 
 by the Liberal and Labor parties and vetoed by the House 
 of Lords, were the Home Eule Bill, the Plural Voting Bill 
 (which purports to make it impossible for any man to 
 vote more than once) , and the Welsh Disestablishment Bill. 
 It was often necessary for the Labor Party to support the 
 Liberal Party in its proposed measures if it desired to 
 retain the Government in power and thus to save the three 
 foregoing bills. This support, among other things, led to 
 rumors of an alliance. 
 
 Eobert Smillie, president of the Miners' Federation, de- 
 clared in the Conference that he would rather have a 
 parliamentary party of 7 which refused to enter an alli- 
 ance than one with 40 which joined hands with the Lib- 
 erals; that if such a calamity as an alliance occurred, 
 neither he nor the miners' organization would be any party 
 to it, even though the party conceded, as an inducement, 
 the installment of satisfactory life-saving apparatus in the 
 mines or the fixing of a minimum wage by law. 
 
 Philip Snowden, M. P., said that whether or not there 
 was any alliance, understanding, or agreement with the 
 Liberal Party, the policy of the Labor Party was in very 
 little sense different from that which it would have been 
 if there had been an open and acknowledged alliance. 
 Whenever a resolution tabled for introduction to the 
 House was discussed by the Parliamentary Party, he 
 stated, it was minutely scrutinized to see whether it could 
 possibly be supported by the Tories and thus endanger the 
 existence of the Government. 
 
262 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 When Mr. Hardie was chairman of the Labor group 
 he had said he would not go cap in hand to the Govern- 
 ment; the Labor Party room was number 40, and if the 
 Government whips wanted him, he was there. That, Mr. 
 Snowden declared, was the only self-respecting attitude to 
 adopt. 
 
 He had not lost faith in the Labor Party, he said, but 
 it had to face, as alternatives, either subservience to a 
 capitalist government or independence. As for him, he 
 believed that a small party of six, if determined, class- 
 conscious, and self-conscious, would be worth the whole 
 of the present party. 
 
 J. Eamsay Macdonald, M. P., chairman of the Labor 
 Party, defended the position taken by the parliamentary 
 group. He declared that there was no such thing as an 
 alliance with the Liberals; that there had not even been 
 any discussion of such an alliance, and as far as he was 
 concerned, no approach to an agreement had been 
 made between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party 
 which nieant the change by one hair-breadth of the 
 policy of the Labor Party. There had been talks be- 
 tween individual members, perhaps, but no official con- 
 sultations. 
 
 It was not a question of agreements, he declared, but 
 the Labor Party was bound to take into consideration 
 whether it was going to undo by its electoral policy what 
 it had asked the Labor members to do during the life of 
 the present Parliament. 
 
 4. EESOLUTION AGAINST THE BRITISH SYSTEM OP PARTY 
 LEGISLATION 
 
 W. Leach, of Bradford, introduced the following resolu- 
 tion, urging the parliamentary group to disregard certain 
 of the so-called exigencies of parliamentary rule : 
 
BRITISH LABOR AND SOCIALIST PARTY 263 
 
 That cabinet rule, which involves the suppression of the rights 
 of the private member to any adequate voice in the policy of 
 his party, and which implies the resignation of the Ministry and 
 the dissolution of Parliament when proposals of the cabinet are 
 negatived, besides making almost impossible the free consid- 
 eration of proposals which have not received the cabinet hall- 
 mark, is inimical to the good government of the country; that 
 with a view to the ultimate break-up of this system, the Par- 
 liamentary Labor Party be asked to take no account of any such 
 considerations and to vote on all issues only in accordance with 
 the principles for which the party stands. 
 
 Speech hy F. W. Jowett, M. P. {the new chairman of the 
 
 I. L. P.) 
 
 F. W. Jowett, M. P. (Bradford) , supporting the resolu- 
 tion, pointed out that the Radical Party had once been told 
 that if they did not accept the estimates they could not 
 destroy the veto of the House of Lords ; and that the Irish 
 Party had been told that if they did not accept them the 
 Government would be turned out of office and they would 
 not get Home Rule; the Welsh Party had been told that 
 if they did not vote for the Government they would not 
 get "Welsh Disestablishment ; and the Labor Party had been 
 told they would not get the Osborne Bill or insurance 
 against unemployment if they failed to support the Gov- 
 ernment. He continued : 
 
 If the Labor Party [he added] were in the position of the 
 Irish Party with one outstanding measure, caring nothing for 
 the general ruck of legislation and intent on one measure alone, 
 they could say to the Government, " We hold 39 votes. Give us 
 this measure and we will keep you in power: we will keep you 
 in even if by doing so we have to give a vote against 21 shillings 
 a week for railwaymen." 
 
 Of course we cannot do it. We cannot carry out such a con- 
 tract, and consequently that system of bargaining openly is not 
 possible to the Labor Party. The Bradford resolution did not 
 
264 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 merely suggest ignoring a bad system, but it called for the 
 application of common honesty to public government. The 
 present system would be absolutely punctured if any large body 
 of the members of the House of Commons determined to vote 
 on the merits of bills that were introduced, to treat of ques- 
 tions as questions of conscience and to vote accordingly. 
 
 Let me say here, I don't want a cabinet system under even 
 labor domination. I have no wish to see ministerial control ap- 
 plied to any department of state even if the minister be a 
 Socialist — because it means bureaucracy; because it means the 
 people are not having control. . . . Even if it were a labor 
 government I should regard a government of ministers, each with 
 sole control of a public department, as exceedingly bad for the 
 public. . . . Certainly we will not go so far as to say we will 
 cover up the iniquities of a government with which we do not 
 agree in other matters in order to get the things we desire. The 
 history of the past few years shows that there have been votes 
 which it is exceedingly difBcult for us to defend. Those votes 
 would not have been given had it not been for the fact that 
 we were doing this for the deliberate purpose of keeping the 
 Government in oflSce in order that they might pass home rule 
 or some other measure. . . . 
 
 Are we to be deprived of the right to register a solemn censure 
 on one question because of a bigger question for which the Gov- 
 ernment stands? If so, in my judgment neither in your day 
 nor in mine shall we be free of some great political question 
 which will keep us bond-slaves. I for one refuse to be a bond- 
 slave. I will be free. 
 
 The resolution was carried by a vote of 233 to 78. 
 
 ni. THE BRITISH SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 The British Socialist Party was formed at the end of 
 1911, from the amalgamation of the Social Democratic 
 Party (founded in 1884) and several other Socialist organ- 
 izations. 
 
 The following resolution was carried unanimously at the Unity 
 Conference at Manchester on September 30, 1911 : 
 
BEITISH LABOR AND SOCIALIST PARTY 265 
 
 " This conference of Socialist organizations, believing that the 
 difference of opinion and the adoption of dissimilar tactics, which 
 have hitherto characterized the various sections of the British 
 Socialist movement, have arisen from circumstances peculiar to 
 its initial stages, is convinced that the time is now ripe for the 
 formation of a United Socialist Party, and the delegates pledge 
 their organizations to co-operate in the unification of their forces 
 on the following basis of common agreement: 
 
 " The Socialist Party is the political expression of the working- 
 class movement, acting in the closest co-operation with industrial 
 organizations for the socialization of the means of production and 
 distribution — that is to say, the transformation of capitalist so- 
 ciety into a coUectivist or communist society. Alike in its 
 objects, its ideals, and in the means employed, the Socialist Party 
 is not a reformist but a revolutionary party, which recognizes 
 that social freedom and equality can only be won by fighting 
 the class war through to the finish, and thus abolishing for ever 
 all class distinctions." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 
 
 I. THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY IN PARLIAMENT, 1912 
 
 At the Party Conference in 1913, the Labor Party sub- 
 mitted its parliamentary report, describing the order in 
 which the group in Parliament decided to submit its bills, 
 and its continued ill fortune in securing an acceptable 
 place in the balloting. It also dealt with the activity of 
 the group in the coal and Port of London strikes, and in 
 connection with the home rule, Welsh disestablishment, 
 franchise, trade-union, railway, education, and other 
 measures. 
 
 The report reads in part as follows : 
 
 It was decided the following bills should be balloted for in the 
 order given: Trade-Union Law Amendment; Bight to Work; 
 Education (Administrative Provisions); Eight Hours' Day; Rail- 
 way Nationalization; Compulsory Weighing; Eviction of Work- 
 men during Trade Disputes; Blind Aid; and Local Authorities 
 (Enabling). 
 
 The party's ill fortune in the ballot in previous sessions was 
 continued in this. . . . The Trade-Union Law Amendment, Right 
 to Work, and Education (Administrative Provisions) bills were 
 reintroduced, but made no progress. The short bill to legalize the 
 feeding of school children during holidays, introduced last ses- 
 sion, was again brought forward, but although the Government 
 declared their agreement with it, no time was allotted to secure 
 its passage. . . . 
 
 The Coal Strike and the Coal Mines {Minimum Wage) Bill 
 
 A very important part of the party's work during the session 
 was in connection with the national strike of miners. Throughout 
 
 366 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 267 
 
 the dispute the party was in close touch with the Miners' Fed- 
 eration and carried out all the wishes of the Federation to the 
 best of its ability. In order to settle the strike the Government 
 brought forward a bill to establish a minimum wage for miners, 
 but no precise figures were set forth. The party therefore moved 
 an amendment fixing the minimum at five shillings a day for 
 adults other than piece-workers, and two shillings a day for boys. 
 The Government refused to accept this proposal and it was 
 rejected. Other amendments were moved with a view to improv- 
 ing the bill, and some were carried. In consequence of the defeat 
 of the five shillings and two shillings amendment, however, the 
 miners in conference advised opposition to the third reading of 
 the bill and the party acted accordingly. 
 
 The Port of London Strike and the Industrial Agreements Bill 
 
 This dispute also played an important part in the work of the 
 session, and it is a matter for regret that the result was unsatis- 
 factory. The party did all it could to help the men, and during 
 the latter part of the dispute had a representative on the strike 
 committee. The strike was really due to certain employers in 
 the port not observing agreements come to between representa- 
 tives of the employers and employed. In consultation with the 
 Transport "Workers' Federation, the party put forward a proposal 
 that where an agreement had been come to between representa- 
 tives of employers and employed it should be made legally binding 
 on the whole of the trade in the district, and a bill on these 
 lines applying to the Port of London only was subsequently 
 introduced. It should be clearly understood that the sole object 
 of the bill was to enforce an existing voluntary agreement on 
 any section in the district that was unorganized and unrepre- 
 sented at the conference where such agreement was come to. 
 The agreement would presumably be for a certain term, and the 
 workmen would not or need not aqcept any agreement which 
 would render them powerless in the event of a new situation 
 arising. Therefore, the right to strike was in no way infringed 
 except in so far as an agreement voluntarily come to might 
 specify. The bill made no progress. . . . 
 
 Government of Ireland Bill and Established Church (Wales) Bill 
 
 The session has been mainly taken up with fulfilling pledges 
 given in respect to three big political measures, two of which 
 
268 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 were the Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment Bills. In 
 respect to these the party generally had made most definite 
 promises to the constituencies and it did its best to get the meas- 
 ures carried and put out of the way. 
 
 Franchise and Registration Bill 
 
 . . . The party has amendments down to secure full adult 
 suffrage, a three months' qualification, and the repeal of the 
 pauper disqualification. . . . 
 
 Trade-TJnions Bill 
 
 From the party's special point of view the chief bill of the 
 session was the Trade-Unions (No. 2) Bill. This bill did not 
 seek to reverse the Osborne Judgment, but it gave the unions 
 power to add political objects to their rules, provided that a 
 majority of the members by ballot had so decided. It also gave 
 to members who objected to pay to the Parliamentary Fund the 
 right to withhold payment altogether. . . . The party exerted 
 every effort to improve the bill and to secure its passage . . . 
 should it be acceptable to the movement. [A special national 
 conference of delegates was called to consider the matter.] 
 
 Railways Bill 
 
 In pursuance of a promise given by the Government to the 
 railway companies at the time of the railway strike, a bill was 
 introduced empowering the companies to increase their rates and 
 charges to an extent sufficient to cover any extra cost entailed 
 by the improved conditions of service of the employees. The 
 bill as it was worded threw the onus of proof on any aggrieved 
 person that an increased rate or charge was [excessive], and 
 there were other objectionable proposals. . . . The bill was sub- 
 sequently withdrawn. Another bill [was] substituted and it pro- 
 vides that it shall lie with the company to prove that any pro- 
 posed increase is justifiable. . . . But the party has decided to 
 oppose it on the ground that the railway companies have largely 
 recouped themselves for any concessions they may have given 
 to their employees. In addition the party is opposed to giving 
 further powers to monopolies because trade-union action has 
 resulted in securing improved conditions of service for the em- 
 ployees. 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 269 
 
 Education 
 
 At the Birmingham Conference a resolution was carried re- 
 questing the party to appoint a committee to consider the general 
 question of educational reform and draw up a report thereon. 
 The committee was to consider 
 
 (1) A modification of the curriculum in primary schools, in 
 order that in the later years of school life more time may be 
 given to instruction in the duties of citizenship; 
 
 (2) The raising of the school-leaving age to 16 years, and the 
 right of children in primary and secondary schools to mainte- 
 nance allowances; 
 
 (3) The limiting of the hours of boy and girl labor up to the 
 age of 18 to 30 per week, so as to provide 20 or more hours per 
 week for physical, technological, and general training; 
 
 (4) The establishment of medical treatment centers in connec- 
 tion with each primary school or group of schools. 
 
 Policy and Propaganda 
 
 The party has considered the political situation and its bearing 
 upon parliamentary action and energetic propagandist efforts 
 throughout the country in the immediate future. Committees 
 have been appointed to consider the drafting and introduction 
 of bills dealing with the nationalization of mines and railways, 
 the problem of poverty on the lines of the recommendation of 
 the minority report of the Poor Law Commission, the abolition 
 of sweating by the development of the Trade Boards Act, ex- 
 tensive housing reform, a further application of the taxation 
 of unearned incomes, the compulsory feeding and medical treat- 
 ment of school children throughout the year, and a general reduc- 
 tion in the hours of labor. 
 
 A committee is considering the problem of rural housing, 
 the importance and practicability of fixing a minimum 
 wage for agricultural laborers, the extension of small hold- 
 ings, the putting of land to its best use, and the questions 
 of taxation and public ownership. In order that the in- 
 quiry may be full and complete the committee is taking 
 evidence and examining schemes in the hope that the pro- 
 
270 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 posals in its report may be practical and comprehen- 
 sive. 
 
 The group also opposed an investigation into the causes 
 of industrial unrest, on the ground that these causes are 
 already known. It urged legislation securing the right to 
 work, unemployment insurance, a maximum eight-hours' 
 working day, a minimum wage, and the nationalization of 
 the railways, mines, land, and other monopolies, to remedy 
 the situation. 
 
 n. PARTY CONFERENCE OP 1913 
 
 Chairman Eoberts dealt, in his address, with a number 
 of the salient issues before the party, including the value 
 of political vs. direct action, and the desirability of legisla- 
 tion dealing with the franchise for men and women, with 
 housing, the condition of the agricultural worker, and rail- 
 road nationalization. His speech, in part, was as follows: 
 
 Recently we have witnessed a recrudescence of the allegation 
 that political action is futile and direct industrialism the only 
 certain means of realizing working-class aims and aspirations. 
 The Labor Party challenges that view with the assertion that 
 both means are necessary. None can avoid a sense of disap- 
 pointment at the results of political action. And is it not equally 
 so with the strike policy? The truth is that while the highest 
 expectations formed of either are unfulfilled, yet considerable 
 advantage has accrued from both. In either case the comparative 
 failure is identical. . , . Given a more thorough education and 
 organization of the workers, their political and industrial activi- 
 ties would be correspondingly the more productive. . . . 
 
 Direct actionists affect to repudiate the representative govern- 
 ment of modern democracy, and have aroused the suspicion that 
 they favor violence rather than discussion and reason. My sub- 
 mission is that politics cannot be dispensed with, and that the 
 perfect state will only come through well-ordered effort and 
 schemes, and not through a purely economic outburst. Let it be 
 remembered that the state is as yet imperfectly democratized. 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 271 
 
 Our object is to make the state synonymous with the people. 
 When a popular franchise is attained, the people by political 
 organization can master the state and use it for popular pur- 
 poses. . . . When industries are brought under public control 
 political methods will be necessary to determine principles of 
 administration. Again, the attainments of force can only sub- 
 sist by the sanction of force. If Parliament is vacated by labor 
 the control by opponents of public revenue, the naval, military, 
 and civil forces would speedily encompass the downfall of the 
 new system. Neither is it wise to stake everything on a single 
 policy of forceful action. This is a reckless gamble. Moreover, 
 do not direct actionists minimize the resisting power of employers 
 and possessors ? Simultaneously with the cessation of labor occurs 
 a cruel aggravation of the hardship and suffering of women and 
 children — a risk which cannot be lightly encountered. 
 
 . . . While heartily welcoming the movement towards less 
 unions and more unity, together with the closer federation of 
 workers, there is need to emphasize the point that salvation 
 evolves from the use of both arms — the industrial and the po- 
 litical. . . . 
 
 An example substantiating the foregoing is found in the miners' 
 strike of last year. Having exhausted every conciliatory and 
 negotiatory means without avail, no alternative remained to the 
 Miners' Federation but to call upon their members to " down 
 tools." This soon paralyzed industry and transit. The owners 
 were implacable and unyielding. Confronted by this crisis the 
 Government was compelled to seek a solution. Its intervention 
 took the form of a Minimum Wage Bill. Throughout, the Par- 
 liamentary Party had kept in contact with the Miners' Federation. 
 Immediately legislation was contemplated they placed themselves 
 unreservedly at the disposal of the miners. That valuable aid was 
 rendered in fashioning this measure is gratefully acknowledged 
 by the miners. With aU its shortcomings and disappointments 
 the act bears eloquent testimony to the worth of political repre- 
 sentation. . . . 
 
 In the succeeding Transport Workers' strike the influence of 
 the party unquestionably frustrated the full use of armed and 
 civil powers being placed as heretofore on the side of the em- 
 ployers and in the protection of blacklegs. Further, as the strike 
 was traceable to the refusal of certain firms to conform to agree- 
 ments entered into between the several unions and employer's 
 
272 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 representatives the party, in conjunction with the men's leaders, 
 gave careful consideration to that point. As a result a bill was 
 introduced to give legal sanction to agreements voluntarily made 
 between bodies appropriately representative of employers and 
 organized workmen. The proposal in no way conflicts with the 
 right to strike. It would simply make obligatory on all em- 
 ployers in a given industry the conditions negotiated by cus- 
 tomary trade-union practice. . . . Admittedly some apprehension 
 exists respecting the operations of such a measure. . . . Extreme 
 care must be exercised in making agreements, and nothing be 
 accepted that vitiates the principles or freedom of trade-unions. 
 Having secured this, no danger arises in compelling workmen 
 and employers alike to conform thereto. . . . 
 
 Acknowledging as I do that contractual obligations should be 
 honored, and that only in the case of great provocation should 
 agreements be broken, I nevertheless view with grave misgiving 
 the prominence accorded compulsory arbitration. This device 
 would assuredly prove disastrous to effective industrial activity. 
 The swift and mobile disposition of forces is a strategic necessity 
 in labor struggles as in actual warfare. Delays imposed by 
 arbitrative proceedings might seriously jeopardize the prospects 
 of victory. Constituted as the state is at present, restrictions 
 of this character must be resisted, for it is difficult to conceive 
 a tribunal that would merit our whole-hearted confidence. . . . 
 Believing that the strike . . . will increase in efficiency as more 
 workers pay into unions, I would jealously preserve all existing 
 faculties. . . . The right to relinquish work is the heritage of 
 every free worker. . . . 
 
 To win back for trade-unions the right of political action has 
 constituted the chief duty of the session. That a complete re- 
 versal of judge-made law is not yet attained is regretted, and 
 must still be pursued. . . . Comprehensive political work can be 
 undertaken, and appeal must be made to those invested with 
 exemption thereunder to recognize that as political action is a 
 necessary form of trade-union equipment, none should shirk their 
 responsibilities, especially as none would deny the benefits 
 gained. . . . 
 
 Whilst regretting the abandonment of the Franchise and Regis- 
 tration Bill, we must now prepare for the future. That it has 
 been proposed to base the right to vote on a simple residential 
 qualification; to abolish the anomalies of plural voting and 
 
THE BKITISH LABOR PARTY 273 
 
 ■university representation; to aim at continuous registration, ac- 
 companied by a general systematization and simplification of 
 electoral machinery, is commendable. . . . The Conference should 
 decide on the principles it favors for insuring that whUe ma- 
 jorities shall rule, minorities get due representation. . . . The 
 second ballot is now discarded for the alternative vote. This 
 contemplates a system of universal single-numbered constitu- 
 encies, whereunder voters would be required to declare a second 
 preference to take effect in the event of their first choice being 
 unsuccessful. Whilst this would secure that a majority in a 
 constituency would win the seat, it affords no guarantee that the 
 smaller parties would get fair representation. . . . 
 
 The question of women's enfranchisement is unfortunately still 
 undecided. The labor movement has consistently urged that all 
 adult persons, regardless of sex, should enjoy the full rights of 
 citizenship. In accord therewith the party strives to secure the 
 enfranchisement of women on the same terms as now suggested 
 for men, that is, for adult suffrage. . . . 
 
 Every Socialist and Laborist will agree that adequate remunera- 
 tion is the title of every worker. If an industry does not yield 
 that it is parasitic in character, its deficiencies having to be borne, 
 in various forms, by other industries. Thus we insist that the 
 agricultural laborer, with all other workers, shall have a reward 
 equal to meeting the whole necessities of life. Placing this obliga- 
 tion upon agriculture will, it is believed, compel cultivators to 
 adopt more scientific methods, whereby the productivity of land 
 can be enormously increased. 
 
 No less urgent is the question of housing. The agricultural 
 laborer is frequently tied to a house as a condition of employ- 
 ment. From this he must be released, as it fetters his action 
 and restricts his liberty. There is no hope that this problem can 
 be dealt with without state aid. Private enterprise has particu- 
 larly failed in rural parts. True, this proposal of state assist- 
 ance cuts athwart the preconceived economic notions of some, 
 who see in it nothing but a subsidy to employers and landlords. 
 These overlook the moral factor. Give the rural worker a rea- 
 sonable wage, with a free home in place of the tied-house, then 
 he acquires a sense of manliness and freedom which eminently fits 
 him for progressive developments. The experiment of the Irish 
 Laborers' Acts, under which some 42,600 houses have been built 
 by state aid, gives confirmation to this theory. 
 
274 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Were all sections of labor to unite, definite steps in the direction 
 of public ownership could be taken. Railway nationalization, 
 for instance, is a practicable proposition. With the pooling of 
 interests, and the amalgamation of rival companies, great admin- 
 istrative economies are being effected and a huge trust being 
 created. Labor is speeded up, its status reduced, prospects of 
 promotion decreased, and the railwayman tends to become chained 
 to a subsistence level. Trade and commerce are in the grip of 
 a great menace, being unable to contemplate either lowered rates 
 or enhanced facilities. Transit is a public necessity which should 
 not be privately exploited. Last year the telephone service was 
 transferred from company to public ownership, with scarcely a 
 ripple disturbing the country. A similar transference of rail- 
 ways could be as orderly and easily accomplished. . . . 
 
 The manner in which consumers suffer' in the prices of coal 
 make it desirable that the same principle be applied to mines 
 and coal supply. ... A demand for land stimulated by a Small 
 Holdings Act causes an unwarranted rise in price. The only 
 effective remedy is to enable public authorities to acquire land 
 on the basis of public valuation. Whilst holding the time oppor- 
 tune for the acquisition of rural lands, I would, as a temporary 
 expedient, place higher taxation on urban values. This does not 
 imply acceptance of the single tax theory. The only defensible 
 single tax is that of graduated income tax, for here is assuredly 
 reflected a person's ability to pay. Yet one exclusive form of 
 taxation is not expedient. Other considerations enter, such as 
 the moral desirability of limiting consumption in the case of 
 intoxicating liquors, and with land taxation the forcing of land 
 into use. Unearned increment exists in all forms of swollen 
 wealth. Wherever found, these social values should more and 
 more be diverted to social utility. 
 
 ni. THE LABOE PARTY IN PARLIAMENT, 1914 
 
 Very much the same measures were discussed in the 
 report before the 1914 Labor Conference as in that of 1913. 
 The question of education receives extensive treatment. 
 The report in part is as follows : 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 275 
 
 Bills 
 
 It was decided that the party should ballot for the Right to 
 "Work Bill, but unfortunately not a single member secured a 
 place that would give this bill an opportunity of a second reading 
 debate. 
 
 The following bills were introduced officially during the session : 
 
 Agricultural Laborers (Wages and Hours). 
 
 Education (Administrative Provisions). 
 
 Education (Provision of Meals). 
 
 Labor (Minimum Conditions). 
 
 Nationalization of Coal Mines and Minerals. 
 
 Prevention of Unemployment, 
 and others were introduced by members of the party. 
 
 None of the bills made any progress. . . . 
 
 King's Speech 
 
 The king's speech, ... in referring to the estimates for the 
 year, stated that they could be recommended for favorable con- 
 sideration with the more confidence in view of the sustained pros- 
 perity which . . . the people continued to enjoy. 
 
 The party thereupon moved the following amendment : 
 
 "But humbly regret, having regard to the existing industrial 
 and social conditions of large masses of the people arising from 
 a deplorable insufficiency of wages, which has persisted notwith- 
 standing the sustained prosperity as reflected in the statistics of 
 trade and employment and a great expansion of national wealth, 
 conditions which have been aggravated by a considerable increase 
 in the cost of living, that your Majesty's gracious speech con- 
 tains no specific mention of legislation securing a minimum living 
 wage and for preventing a continuance of such unequal division 
 of the fruits of industry by the nationalization of land, railways, 
 mines, and other monopolies." 
 
 The Government's reply to this was that a bill would be intro- 
 duced extending the Trade Boards Act to the trades of shirt- 
 making, linen embroidery, sheet steel, and iron hollow-ware, and 
 sugar confectionery and fruit-preserving. This was as far as the 
 Government would commit itself, and in the division on the 
 amendment 41 voted for and 199 against. The majority was 
 composed of both Liberals and Tories. 
 
276 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 Motions 
 
 The party was almost as unsuccessful in the ballots for mo- 
 tions as in that for bills, only one evening being secured. The 
 motion moved was as follows: 
 
 " That the right of every family in the country to an income 
 sufficient to enable it to maintain its members in decency and 
 comfort should be recognized; and this House is therefore of 
 opinion that the Trade Boards Act should be so extended as to 
 provide for the establishment of a minimum wage of at least 30 
 shillings per week for every adult worker in urban areas and a 
 minimum wage that will secure an approximately equal standard 
 of life for every adult worker in rural areas; and this House 
 also declares that the Government should set an example by 
 adopting the minimum of 30 shillings per week in its own work- 
 shops and insert it as a condition in all contracts." 
 
 The motion was " talked out " and no division on it was pos- 
 sible, but the frequent presentation by the party of the case 
 for a living wage is making it more and more a practical issue. 
 
 Finance 
 
 The cost of living and the burden of taxation on the working- 
 classes were again raised on the second reading of the Finance 
 Bill, the party moving the following amendment : 
 
 " That this House declines to assent to the second reading of 
 a bill which continues the system of taxing the food of the people, 
 whereby the unfair proportion of taxation imposed upon the 
 poorer classes is aggravated, instead of abolishing such injurious 
 and indefensible forms of taxation and raising the necessary 
 revenue by increasing the direct taxes on unearned incomes and 
 large estates." 
 
 Government of Ireland and Established Church (Wales) Bills 
 
 These bills were again put through their stages in the Com- 
 mons, and on being sent to the Lords were rejected a second 
 time. The bills are important in themselves, but a point of the 
 very greatest weight for the party is that they are now under 
 the Parliament Act, and their final passing becomes a matter of 
 special importance. The party thought the Parliament Act cum- 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 277 
 
 bersome (as indeed it has been proved to be), but the authority 
 of the elected House ought to be maintained in the teeth of the 
 strenuous opposition which vested interests are offering to it. 
 The bills will have to be passed through the Commons again 
 next session and will then become law in spite of the Lords and 
 irrespective of their opinion. 
 
 Plural Voting Bill 
 
 The Government introduced and passed through the Commons 
 a small bill to abolish plural voting at general elections. The 
 weakness of the bill is that it does not apply to by-elections, but 
 the reason given by the Government for the narrow scope of the 
 bill was that a measure to deal completely with the question 
 would require more time than could be found in the already 
 congested session. This view the party did not indorse, and it 
 protested against it during the debate on the second reading. 
 However, the bill was rejected by the Lords and, like Home Rule 
 and Welsh Disestablishment) is now going through the stages 
 of the Parliament Act. 
 
 Education 
 
 In pursuance of a resolution carried at the Birmingham Con- 
 ference, a committee of the party has drawn up a Memorandum 
 on Education. The resolution was as follows : 
 
 " In view of the fact that the education of the mass of working- 
 class children to-day begins and ends at the elementary school, 
 this conference is of opinion that there is urgent need for a 
 generous measure of educational reform in the direction of pro- 
 viding facilities for liberal, as distinct from technical, education, 
 thus laying the basis of the national life in an educated democ- 
 racy. This conference therefore directs the party in Parliament 
 to appoint a small committee to consider the general question of 
 educational reform and draw up a report thereon. In this con- 
 nection, the committee appointed is specially directed to consider : 
 
 " (1) A modification of the curriculum in primary schools, in 
 order that in the later years of school life more time may be 
 given to instruction in the duties of citizenship; 
 
 " (2) The raising of the school-leaving age to 16 years, and 
 the right of children in primary and secondary schools to main- 
 tenance allowances; 
 
278 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE "WORLD 
 
 " (3) The limiting of the hours of boy and girl labor np to 
 the age of 18 to 30 per week, so as to provide 20 or more hours 
 per week for physical, technological, and general training; 
 
 " (4) The establishment of medical treatment centers in con- 
 nection with each primary school or groups of schools. 
 
 " Further, this conference urges the party to press the Govern- 
 ment to appoint a royal commission to consider the matter of 
 university endowments, with a view to their adaptation to the 
 educational requirements of the people." 
 
 The report, prepared and presented by the education committee, 
 was adopted by the party as a whole, and is as follows: 
 
 It is impossible within the limits of a report of this character 
 to do anything more than indicate the general lines along which 
 it appears most desirable the educational policy of labor should 
 be developed. The matters to be dealt with may be conveniently 
 divided under three heads : 
 
 (1) Those concerning elementary education; 
 
 (2) Those concerning continued and secondary education; 
 
 (3) Those concerning university education. 
 
 (1) The matters relating to elementary education -^hich ap- 
 pear to be of special importance and most urgent in character 
 are : 
 
 (a) The raising of the school age. The reports of the Poor 
 Law Commission, the Committee on Partial Exemption, and the 
 Consultative Committee of the Board of Education, as well as 
 previous decisions of the Conference render it unnecessary to 
 advance arguments for the raising of the school age. The only 
 question is how this can be done with least disturbance of existing 
 arrangements. The best course would appear to be to secure 
 legislative enactment for the immediate abolition of partial ex- 
 emption and at the same time determine in advance the dates at 
 which the age of full-time attendance is to be further raised in 
 the future. 
 
 (6) An extension of the powers of local education authorities 
 in the matter of regulating the employment of children and of 
 street trading generally. It is recommended that local authori- 
 ties should be empowered to make regulations with regard to the 
 employment of children in any occupation, and to place the 
 licensing of street traders in the hands of education authorities. 
 
 (c) The development of medical inspection and treatment, so 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 279 
 
 as to include the provision of school clinics, school baths, open-air 
 schools, and an extension of the provision of meals for school 
 children. For this purpose the present inadequate grants from 
 the Board of Education should be considerably increased. 
 
 (2) (a) Continued Education. — At whatever age full-time at- 
 tendance ceases, it will still be necessary to provide continued 
 education for the vast majority who do not pass to a secondary 
 school. A system of compulsory half-time attendance at a con- 
 tinuation school is required after the age of exemption from full- 
 time attendance has been reached. This compulsory attendance 
 at continuation classes, however, is out of the question unless the 
 hours of labor are reduced. 
 
 (&) Secondary Education. — At present the passage of children 
 from elementary to secondary schools is hindered by a variety of 
 causes : 
 
 (j) Because in some districts only those children are likely 
 to win scholarships from the elementary school who have 
 been prepared for the scholarship examination. 
 
 (ii) Children who win scholarships are constantly pre- 
 vented from accepting them by the poverty of their parents. 
 (Hi) The rule as to the provision of 25 per cent of free 
 places in secondary schools for children from elementary 
 schools is sometimes evaded. 
 The only satisfactory method of dealing with these difficulties 
 is a gradual extension of the system of providing free places in 
 secondary schools until they are entirely free and maintenance 
 grants made available in eases of necessity. 
 
 (3) Universities. — What is specially required in connection with 
 the older universities is : 
 
 (a) A reform in the constitutions of the governing bodies which 
 would place popularly elected representatives of the public upon 
 them. 
 
 (&) A reduction in the cost of living in colleges, and a change 
 in the award of scholarships so that only those students who 
 require financial assistance may receive advantage from endow- 
 ments expended in monetary grants. 
 
 (c) The extension of the non-collegiate systems in order to 
 facilitate the entrance into Oxford and Cambridge of men who 
 do not desire to reside in college. 
 
 In accordance with the resolution of Conference, a deputation 
 from the party has waited upon the prime minister to urge the 
 
280 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 appointment of a royal commission to inquire into the admin- 
 istration and finances of the universities of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. Notwithstanding the fact that the demand of the deputa- 
 tion was not acceded to, it is recommended that the party con- 
 tinue to press for an inquiry and also that its scope should be 
 enlarged to include inquiry into the administration and finances 
 of the endowed public schools. 
 
 National Insurance Act Amendment Bill 
 
 The party took a very active part in the consideration of this 
 bill to amend some of the provisions of the National Insurance 
 Act. It contained 11 clauses when introduced, and provided addi- 
 tional money being granted from the treasury, the repeal of the 
 provision for reduced benefits for those over 50 years of age, 
 and one or two other matters. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 The Labor Party left important marks on both the Insurance 
 Bill and the Trade Boards Bill. It has once more drawn atten- 
 tion to the unsatisfactory condition of the Factory Department, 
 to the burden of armaments, and many other details of wrong 
 suffered by the common people, many of which it has succeeded 
 in remedying. Its vigilance in connection with private bills — ^like 
 Railway and Harbor Bills — has produced excellent results. . . . 
 
 IV. CONFERENCE OF 1914 
 
 Party tactics was also a feature of this conference. Sev- 
 eral members contended that the parliamentary labor group 
 had not shown proper militancy, while others protested 
 that it was far more militant than the majority of its trade- 
 union constituency. 
 
 The offlcial report of the discussion was, in part, as 
 follows : 
 
 Mr. W. C. Anderson [Independent Labor Party] said he was 
 glad that an opportunity had been given for what he hoped would 
 be a quite frank and friendly discussion of labor policy. . . . He 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 281 
 
 Imew the feeling among a large number of members — not only 
 I. L. P. members — was that the policy of the party in the House 
 of Commons was not sufficiently distinctive from the policy of 
 other parties in the House. Recently in Liberal, Tory, and Nation- . 
 alist newspapers the Labor Party had been referred to as part of 
 the coalition in the House of Commons, and the word was not 
 used in the sense that the party had betrayed its independence. 
 The idea was that those questions before Parliament which loomed 
 large in the minds of Liberals and Nationalists were also the "ques- 
 tions that loomed large in the mind of the Parliamentary Labor 
 Party. Many people felt that the only thing that could justify the 
 existence of a Labor Party separate from the other political parties 
 was an unwearied championship of working-class questions. In 
 the last two or three years the workers' battle had been more 
 strongly fought by industrial methods outside than by political 
 methods inside the House of Commons, and he thought there ought 
 to be a reflection in the House of Commons of the heat and pas- 
 sionate indignation that had moved large masses of work-people to 
 revolt. If that was not done the party was not going to win over 
 the large mass of trade-unionists who, as revealed by recent bal- 
 lots, were indifferent or hostile to the party. They had not con- 
 vinced the average trade-unionist that in his battles he ought 
 to look to the Labor Party to do his political work just as he 
 looked to his union to do his industrial work. It was sometimes 
 said that the party was not so free to fight because Home Rule 
 or something else was in the way. He was as anxious to see 
 Home Rule passed as anyone, but he felt that those directly con- 
 cerned about Home Rule had a responsibility towards labor just 
 as labor had a responsibility towards Home Rule, and the sacrifice 
 ought not to be all on one side. . . . The party might give in too 
 much to parliamentary exigencies and parliamentary expedi- 
 ences. ... 
 
 Mr. W. S. Sanders [Fabian Society] said that ... the party 
 had to convince not only the other members in the House of 
 Commons by their quiet work, but convince the country outside 
 by a strong and, if necessary, dramatic work that the party was 
 a necessary and permanent institution. He wished to give one or 
 two concrete instances. They would all remember how gratified 
 they were with the first two years' work of the Labor Party. 
 AU the papers in the country, Tory and Liberal as well as Labor, 
 said truly that the great Liberal Party, on three measures, had 
 
282 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 had to do what the Labor Party wanted. In a word, it was the 
 Labor Party justifying itself as the new pioneer in legislation. 
 Why did they do that? Because their victories were forced 
 openly from the Liberal Government. . . . They had got to get 
 back to the old position of fighting in public and forcing things 
 from the Government, otherwise they would be looked upon as a 
 mere body of people who followed in the wake of Mr. Lloyd 
 George instead of making Lloyd George follow them. 
 
 Mr. Tom Shaw [United Textile Factory Workers] pointed out 
 that the party consisted roughly of two millions of members, 
 less than 35,000 of whom were avowed Socialists or, at any 
 rate, organized Socialists. In the minds of those 35,000 people 
 the policy of the party was not militant enough, but was there 
 any Socialist present who believed that the policy was not mili- 
 tant enough for the remaining 1,900,000 members'? If it was 
 admitted that the policy was as militant as those 1,900,000 mem- 
 bers desire, what was meant by the statement that the rank and 
 file were disaffected? He knew something of the mind of the 
 rank and file, and he knew that so far as the rank and file of 
 his acquaintance went their opinion was that the policy was too 
 militant. 
 
 1. RESOLUTION ON SOCIALISM 
 
 (Conference of 1914) 
 
 J. Bruce Glasier, of the I. L. P., introduced a resolution 
 at this conference which practically indorsed the Socialist 
 program of collective ownership. The resolution was car- 
 ried. The report of the conference is, in part, as follows : 
 
 Mr. J. Bruce Glasier [I. L. P.], moved the following reso- 
 lution : 
 
 " That this conference expresses satisfaction at the growth of 
 political organization among the workers of our own and other 
 lands, which has advanced the whole sphere of social and indus- 
 trial legislation. It again affirms that the aim of the labor move- 
 ment is to abolish poverty and class oppression by bringing land 
 and industrial capital under the ownership and control of the 
 community for the collective good of all, believing that only by 
 this means and by establishing complete political freedom will 
 
THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 283 
 
 society be placed on a true human basis and the higher individual 
 and social capacities of the race have freedom to evolve." 
 
 He said . . . the object of the resolution was not to impose a 
 creed on the party ; it simply meant a public confession of faith 
 on the part of the Conference. . . . 
 
 Mr. J. Battle [United Textile Factory Workers] said he was 
 exceedingly anxious, especially as regarded land, . . . but he 
 could not agree in every detail with the . . . proposal . . . that 
 a tax should be placed on land and that the money which thereby 
 accrued should go to the repurchase of the land of their birth. 
 He held the view that the land of every country undoubtedly 
 belonged to the people of that country, and . . . the necessary 
 conclusion was that the people had a right to resume control 
 without being compelled to purchase. He suggested that a tax 
 should be placed on land so high as ultimately to take possession 
 of the value of the land, and the present owners would then see 
 no use in holding it any longer. 
 
 Mr. R. Clements [Birmingham L. R. C] supported the resolu- 
 tion, and said that by means of a tax they might regain possession 
 of the value of the land, but the most important thing was 
 control of the land. 
 
 The resolution was put and declared carried. 
 
 2. THE LABOR PARTY AND A PROGRAM 
 
 (Conference of 1914) 
 Several efforts have been made to get tlie Labor Party 
 to adopt a definite program. A motion to that effect was 
 put at the 1914 Conference : 
 
 Mr. J. Brand [Railwaymen] moved the following: 
 " That in order to give the working-classes of this country an 
 opportunity of clearly understanding the fundamental differences 
 between the aims of the Labor Party and those of the capitalist 
 parties under legislation, this conference decides to draft a pro- 
 gram to be adopted by the party, the same to consist of such 
 items as shall tend to strengthen the working-class in their 
 struggle for emancipation." 
 He said the framing of a program would stimulate public 
 
284 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 opinion and further the interests of the party in the country. 
 It would materially assist the propaganda work. ^ 
 
 The previous question was moved and seconded . . . the re- 
 sult was as follows: 
 
 For 1,078,000 
 
 Against 785,000 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 THE FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 
 
 1. INTEODUCTOET 
 
 The Fabian Society is not primarily a political organiza- 
 tion, although it has exerted a considerable influence on 
 British politics and especially on the Socialist movement. 
 
 The Fabian Society was founded in 1889 for the pur- 
 pose of Socialist education and propaganda. It is demo- 
 cratically organized and open to the public, but has never 
 had more than a few thousand members. Its influence, 
 however, is far greater than its numbers would indicate, 
 as the names of its two best-known organizers, Bernard 
 Shaw and Sidney Webb, will prove. Besides these, it has 
 on its roll the names of hundreds of writers and lecturers 
 well-known in Great Britain and a considerable number 
 internationally known also. 
 
 The society has always sent delegates to the Interna- 
 tional Socialist Congresses and takes an active part in elec- 
 tions. Though it officially supports the Labor Party, its 
 members are free to vote for whomsoever they choose in 
 elections. They must, however, sign the following "Basis" 
 on joining the society : 
 
 2. BASIS OF THE rABIAN SOCIETY 
 
 The Pabian Society consists of Socialists. 
 
 It therefore aims at the reorganization of society by the 
 emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and 
 class ownership, and the vesting of them in the conununity for 
 
 285 
 
286 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 the general benefit. In this way only can the natural and 
 acquired advantages of the country be equitably shared by the 
 whole people. 
 
 The society accordingly works for the extinction of private 
 property in land and of the consequent individual appropriation, 
 in the form of rent, of the price paid for permission to use the 
 earth, as well as for the advantages of superior soils and sites. 
 
 The society, further, works for the transfer to the community 
 of the administration of such industrial capital as can con- 
 veniently be managed socially. For, owing to the monopoly of the 
 means of production in the past, industrial inventions, and the 
 transformation of surplus income into capital have mainly en- 
 riched the proprietary class, the worker being now dependent 
 on that class for leave to earn a living. 
 
 If these measures be carried out, without compensation (though 
 not without such relief to expropriated individuals as may seem 
 fit to the community), rent and interest will be added to the 
 reward of labor, the idle class now living on the labor of others 
 will necessarily disappear, and practical equality of opportunity 
 will be maintained by the spontaneous action of economic forces 
 with much less interference with personal liberty than the present 
 system entails. 
 
 For the attainment of these ends the Fabian Society looks 
 to the spread of Socialist opinions, and the social and political 
 changes consequent thereon. It seeks to promote these by the 
 general dissemination of knowledge as to the relation between 
 the individual and society in its economic, ethical, and political 
 aspects. 
 
 3. QUESTIONS FOE CANDIDATES 
 
 The following questions are addressed to parliamentary 
 candidates by the Fabians: 
 
 Will you press at the first opportunity for the following 
 reforms : 
 
 I. — A Labor Program 
 
 1. The extension of the Workmen's Compensation Act to 
 seamen, and to all other classes of wage-earners? 
 
 2. Compulsory arbitration, as in New Zealand, to prevent 
 strikes and lockouts? 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 287 
 
 3. A statutory minimum wage, as in Victoria, especially for 
 sweated trades? 
 
 4. The fixing of " an eight hours' day " as the maximum for 
 all public servants; and the abolition, wherever possible, of 
 overtime ? 
 
 5. An Eight Hours' Bill, without an option clause, for miners ; 
 and, for railway servants, a forty-eight hours' week? 
 
 6. The drastic amendment of the Factory Acts, to secure 
 (a) a safe and healthy work-place for every worker, (b) the 
 prevention of overwork for all women and young persons, (c) 
 the abolition of all wage-labor by children under 14, (d) com- 
 pulsory technical instruction by extension of the half-time ar- 
 rangements to all workers under 18? 
 
 7. The direct employment of labor by all public authorities 
 whenever possible; and, whenever it is not possible, employment 
 only of fair houses, prohibition of subcontracting, and payment 
 of trade-union rates of wages? 
 
 8. The amendment of the Merchant Shipping Acts so as (a) 
 to secure healthy sleeping and living accommodation, (6) to 
 protect the seaman against withholding of his wages or return 
 passage, (c) to insure him against loss by shipwreck? 
 
 II. — A Democratic Budget 
 
 9. The further taxation of unearned incomes by means of a 
 graduated and differentiated income-tax? 
 
 10. The abolition of all duties on tea, cocoa, coffee, currants, 
 and other dried fruits? 
 
 11. An increase of the scale of graduation of the death duties 
 so as to fall more heavily on large inheritances? 
 
 12. The appropriation of the unearned increment .by the taxa- 
 tion and rating of ground values? 
 
 13. The nationalization of mining rents and royalties? 
 
 14. Transfer of the railways to the state under the Act of 
 1844? 
 
 III. — Social Beform in Town and Country 
 
 15. The extension of full powers to parish, town, and county 
 councils for the collective organization of the (a) water, (6) gas, 
 and (c) electric lighting supplies, (d) hydraulic power, (e) 
 tramways and light railways, (/) public slaughter-houses, (g) 
 
288 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 pawnshops, (h) sale of milk, (i) bread, (j) coal, tod such other 
 public services as may be desired by the inhabitants? 
 
 16. Reform of the drink traffic by (a) reduction of the number 
 of licenses to a proper ratio to the population of each locality, 
 (b) transfer to public purposes of the special value of licenses, 
 created by the existing monopoly, by means of high license or 
 a license rate, (c) grant of power to local authorities to carry on 
 municipal public houses, directly or on the Gothenburg system? 
 
 17. Amendment of the Housing of the Working-Classes Act 
 by (a) extension of period of loans to one hundred years, treat- 
 ment of land as an asset, and removal of statutory limitation 
 of borrowing powers for housing, (6) removal of restrictions 
 on rural district councils in adopting Part III of the Act, (c) 
 grant of power to parish councils to adopt Part III of the Act, 
 (d) power to all local authorities to buy land compulsorily under 
 the allotments clauses of the Local Government Act, 1894, or in 
 any other effective manner? 
 
 18. The grant of power to all local bodies to retain the free- 
 hold of any land that may come into their possession, without 
 obligation to sell, or to use for particular purposes? 
 
 19. The relief of the existing taxpayer by (a) imposing, for 
 local purposes, a municipal death duty on local real estate, col- 
 lected in the same way as the existing death duties, (6) collecting 
 rates from the owners of empty houses and vacant land, (c) 
 power to assess land and houses at four per cent on the capital 
 value, (d) securing special contributions by way of "better- 
 ment" from the owners of property benefited by public im- 
 provements ? 
 
 20. The further equalization of the rates in London ? 
 
 21. The compulsory provision by every local authority of ade- 
 quate hospital accommodation for all diseases and accidents? 
 
 IV. — The Children and the Poor 
 
 22. The prohibition of the industrial or wage-earning employ- 
 ment of children during school terms prior to the age of 14? 
 
 23. The provision of meals, out of public funds, for neces- 
 sitous children in public elementary schools? 
 
 24. The training of teachers under public control and free 
 from sectarian influences? 
 
 25. The creation of a complete system of public secondary 
 education genuinely available to the children of the poor? 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 289 
 
 26. State pensions for the support of the aged or chronically 
 infirm? 
 
 V. — Democratic Political Machinery 
 
 27. An amendment of the registration laws, with the aim of 
 giving every adult man a vote, and no one more than one vote? 
 
 28. A redistribution of seats in accordance with population ? 
 
 29. The grant of the franchise to women on the same terms 
 as to men? 
 
 30. The admission of women to seats in the House of Com- 
 mons and on borough and county councils? 
 
 31. The second ballot at parliamentary and other elections? 
 
 32. The payment of all members of Parliament and of par- 
 liamentary election expenses, out of public funds? 
 
 33. Triennial Parliaments? 
 
 34. All parliamentary elections to be held on the same day? 
 
 4. THE FABIANS AND SOCIALIST UNITY 
 
 On December 11, 1914, the Fabian Society took tbe 
 stand on the unity question Indicated in the following 
 report (from The Fabian News, January, 1915) : 
 
 The following was submitted to the consideration of the meet- 
 ing by the Executive Committee : 
 
 The following resolution was passed at the Conference of the 
 executives of the I. L. P., the B. S. P., and the Fabian Society, 
 held on December 13, 1913, at the request of the International 
 Socialist Bureau : " That in view of the desirability of securing 
 Socialist unity on the basis of common action with the Labor 
 Party, this conference requests the representatives of the 
 three bodies to lay before their members the question of putting 
 forward a proposal to the Labor Party Conference in 1915, per- 
 mitting any candidate who may wish it to describe himself as a 
 Labor and Socialist candidate." 
 
 W. Stephen Sanders stated that the resolution passed at the 
 Conference of the executives of the I. L. P., the B. S. P., and the 
 Fabian Society was simply a request that the proposal that 
 candidates of the Labor Party might be permitted to describe 
 themselves as Labor and Socialist candidates, if they desire to 
 
290 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 do so, should be submitted to the members of the three bodies. 
 It was not binding on the three organizations to accept the pro- 
 posal, and it was therefore open for the meeting to accept or 
 reject it. 
 
 Miss Susan Lawrence moved that no action be taken. She 
 stated that if the present arrangement, under which candidates 
 of the Labor Party were always described as Labor candidates, 
 was upset, a great deal of friction and waste of time would 
 result in connection with the selection of Labor candidates. 
 Local labor parties would find that lengthy discussions would 
 arise with regard to the title under which their candidates were 
 to run, with the result that real unity would be hindered. 
 
 Mrs. Sidney Webb seconded the motion. 
 
 Bernard Shaw objected to no action being taken. He urged 
 that the name Socialist ought not to be buried. In every coun- 
 try in Europe there was a Socialist Party, and Great Britain 
 ought not to be the exception. 
 
 On a vote being taken there were : for the motion, " No 
 action," 25; against, 20. The motion was therefore carried. 
 
 5. THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 1914 
 
 This conference was held at Clifford's Inn Hall, Fleet 
 Street, on Saturday, July 4, 1914. It was attended by 11 
 delegates from 9 local Fabian societies, 13 delegates from 
 9 university societies, 1 delegate from 1 London group, 
 11 delegates from 4 subject groups, and 17 members of the 
 Executive Committee, in all 53 delegates and 24 organiza- 
 tions, including the executive committee. 
 
 The Conference voted down a resolution proposing a 
 revision of the Fabian Basis. 
 
 Perhaps its most important action was the adoption, by 
 the unanimous vote, of the following resolution of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee: 
 
 That, in the opinion of this conference, it would be of advan- 
 tage to the Socialist movement if, in order to secure more united 
 action among Socialists in each country, and among the Socialist 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 291 
 
 movements in the different countries, the International Socialist 
 Congress and its Bureau could devote some attention to the 
 problem of how industry and public services may best be organ- 
 ized so as to secure the utmost freedom and the best results 
 for producers and consumers alike; and that the British section 
 be requested to do their best to insure the passing at the Inter- 
 national Socialist Congress of the resolution on this subject which 
 the section has sent it. 
 
 In The New Statesman, Sidney Webb had issued two 
 studies of this question in 1913 and 1914 (the third and 
 final study appearing in 1915). The Fabian Society, 
 therefore, through its Research Department, was prepared 
 with a preliminary report on "The Control of Industry" 
 — which amounts to an entirely new and independent in- 
 ductive foundation for Socialist policy. The three studies 
 take up collectivism, the organization of producers, and 
 the organization of consumers — the latter being chiefly con- 
 cerned with labor-unionism and co-operation respectively. 
 
 n. SOCIALIST UNITY ON THE BASIS OP COMMON ACTION WITH 
 THE LABOR PARTY 
 
 1. MANIFESTO OW THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST BDHEAU 
 
 In accordance with its general principle of unifying the 
 Socialist parties of the various countries, the International 
 Socialist Bureau appointed a committee on unity to in- 
 vestigate the British situation, and to find out under what 
 conditions it would be advisable for members of the British 
 Socialist Party to affiliate with the Labor Party. The 
 Bureau, on January 13, 1914, issued the following 
 manifesto : 
 
 13th January, 1914. 
 Comrades : 
 
 We address this Manifesto to you in the name of the whole 
 International. 
 
292 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 When we met your delegates at the preliminary conference 
 on the 18th July, 1913, the executive committee of the Interna- 
 tional Socialist Bureau was already acting in the name of all 
 the afQliated parties, in pursuance of the resolution of Amster- 
 dam on Socialist unity. The International as a whole showed 
 its desire, by the presence of all its delegates in London on 
 13th December, to give open approval and encouragement to our 
 efforts in favor of the establishment of Socialist unity in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 There is no doubt that in principle all convinced Socialists 
 recognize the utility and the necessity of opposing to the grow- 
 ing concentration of the capitalist forces the effective concen- 
 tration of the forces of the working-class. 
 
 This is proved by the fact that as long ago as 1904, at the 
 Congress at Amsterdam, the British delegates, without dis- 
 tinction of shades of opinion, unanimously adopted the well- 
 known resolution of unity, which was signed by Bebel, Adler, 
 Kautsky, Troelstra, and Vandervelde. 
 
 The Executive Committee of the bureau was then in duty bound 
 to seize the most favorable moment for bringing about an under- 
 standing, and it cannot be reproached with having attempted to 
 " rush " matters, since it has waited nine years before taking 
 any action. 
 
 Great Britain has presented to the world the spectacle of a 
 country where capitalist evolution has taken place more rapidly 
 than anywhere else. The hope was justified that Socialism would 
 follow a similar evolution. But unfortunately it has turned out 
 that regrettable differences have arisen, and even to-day it seems 
 that in certain quarters there is more inclination to cultivate a 
 sectarian spirit than to march in common agreement against the 
 common enemy. Such a mistaken policy must not continue ! The 
 consequences would be ruinous for the class-conscious proletariat, 
 for more and more we are finding that all over the world So- 
 cialism only plays a part worthy of itself when it is solidly 
 united. 
 
 From a practical point of view, moreover, we cannot see that 
 the differences of outlook are greater in your country than 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Look at France. Has she not given to the Socialist world 
 an admirable example? The French Socialists, in spite of old 
 quarrels now forgotten, have established a powerful, unified 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 293 
 
 party — thus giving to all an example of political wisdom and of 
 loyalty to the principles so solemnly affirmed by the congresses 
 of the International at which you were represented. 
 
 Socialism must not be obscured, and the Socialist movement 
 must nbt be hindered, even temporarily, by considerations of 
 secondary importance, by personal differences, by a sectarian 
 spirit, or by divergent conceptions of political methods. Those 
 who are guilty in this respect commit a real crime against the 
 working-class, for they retard the hour of complete victory. 
 
 The delegates of your three parties have realized this. Their 
 unanimous vote proves that there no longer exists any plausible 
 reason for refusing the necessary agreement. The Executive 
 Committee of the B. S. P. has already recommended to its mem- 
 bers that they should affiliate to the Labor Party on condition 
 that the Labor Party recognizes their position as Socialists aim- 
 ing at the aboUtion of capitalism. 
 
 We also appeal to our comrades of the I. L. P. and the Fabian 
 Society to use their influence within the Labor Party to obtain 
 for candidates at elections the right to run as Labor and Socialist 
 candidates. The slight alteration in the constitution necessary 
 for this purpose will only mean the formal recognition of what 
 already exists in fact — the alliance of Socialism and Trade- 
 Unionism. 
 
 We renew our appeal to our comrades of the B. S. P. to bear 
 in mind the truth, which is recognized everywhere, that trade- 
 union action can have no other logical issue than the abolition 
 of capitalism and that Socialist ideas must inevitably prevail in 
 organizations which are in fact carrying on the class struggle. 
 
 The final request which we make is that you act quickly and 
 without hesitation. At the Congress of Vienna, British Socialism 
 must speak with one voice. You must give to the Socialist world 
 a new example of discipline, in order to enable us to continue 
 elsewhere the work of consolidation and harmony, on which de- 
 pends the ultimate triumph of the Socialist movement. 
 
 For the International Socialist Bureau (Executive 
 Committee) : 
 
 (Signed) E. Anseele, 
 
 fe. Vandervelde, 
 
 L. Beetrand, 
 
 C. HxrrsMANS, Secretary. 
 
294 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 2. THE UNITY CONFERENCE 
 
 (CaUed by the International Socialist Bureau, December 13, 
 
 1913) 
 
 The Bureau held a joint conference with the executives 
 of the three national Socialist organizations in Great 
 Britain — the Independent Labor Party, the British Social- 
 ist Party, and the Fabian Society — ^with a view to bringing 
 about unity between them. The differences which have 
 divided the three British organizations have been purely 
 differences of method. On the right wing, the Fabian So- 
 ciety has pursued the policy of "permeation," and, whilst 
 affiliating with the Labor Party, has not demanded that 
 its members shall individually dissociate themselves from 
 either the Liberal or the Conservative parties. On the 
 left wing, the British Socialist Party has adopted an atti- 
 tude of strict independence, not only of the Liberal and 
 Conservative parties, but also of the Labor Party, since 
 the latter party does not insist upon acceptance of So- 
 cialism from affiliated organizations. In the center, the 
 Independent Labor Party has declared its antagonism to 
 both the Liberal and Conservative parties, but has co- 
 operated whole-heartedly with the trade-unions in the 
 Labor Party, believing that Socialism can only be attained 
 by the development of Socialist conviction in the working- 
 class movement. The I. L. P. has a membership of approx- 
 imately 50,000, the B. S. P. of 10,000, the Fabian Society 
 of 5,000. 
 
 After a vigorous discussion, Mr. Sidney "Webb finally 
 got each section of the British movement to agree to the 
 following resolution : 
 
 That in view of the desirability of securing Socialist unity on 
 the basis of common action with the Labor Party, this conference 
 requests the representatives of the three bodies to lay before 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 295 
 
 their members the question of putting forward a proposal to the 
 Labor Party Conference in 1915, permitting any candidate who 
 may wish it to describe himself as a Labor and Socialist can- 
 didate. 
 
 3. DISCUSSION IN THE BRITISH SOCIALIST PARTY 
 
 (Conference of 1914) 
 
 The British Socialist Party, the left wing of the So- 
 cialist movement, held a heated debate on the question 
 of affiliation, Dan Irving, H. M. Hyndman, the veteran 
 leader, and others urging a compliance with the request of 
 the International Committee, and H. Pearce and others vig- 
 orously protesting. 
 
 The report of the conference discussion is in part as 
 follows : 
 
 Dan Irving: The International Socialist Bureau was trustee, 
 not of Laborism, but of the Socialist movement of the whole 
 world. Under very much more arduous conditions in the main 
 than ever we are called upon to face they proved, by a lifetime 
 of devotion, service, and suffering, that they could be trusted to 
 advise that which tended to help forward the Socialist movement. 
 They might now say to the B. S. P., " Tor nine years you 
 have sought to carry out the mandate, and are now as far from 
 carrying your specifle views as at the commencement, if not 
 farther away. In the interests of Socialism we call upon you, 
 who are only a section of the movement in Great Britain, and 
 the recalcitrant section so far as we are concerned, to realize the 
 mandate of the Amsterdam resolution in essence and spirit, and 
 to face every danger for that vital consideration, the consolida- 
 tion of the working-class." 
 
 Mr. H. Pearce [N. West Ham], who followed, opposed the 
 motion of the executive to affiliate, declaring that such action 
 would mean affiliation inside of the House of Commons as well 
 as outside. He described what he considered to be the short- 
 comings of the Parliamentary Labor group, and said that the 
 I. L. P., the Fabian Society, and the Labor Party had never 
 stood on the basis of the class struggle. Some of the members 
 of the Labor Party, he asserted, had declared themselves anti- 
 Socialists and most of them acted as non-Socialists. "While he 
 
296 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 favored Socialist unity, he did not believe that unity of Socialists 
 and anti-Socialists could ever bring any good to the Socialist 
 movement. He did not believe that the B. S. P. would be able 
 to force the Labor Party to take the stand it wished them to 
 take, but rather that the B. S. P. would be swamped by the other 
 forces. 
 
 As to the International Socialist Bureau, he had challenged 
 some of the advocates of aflSliation to show him in any part of 
 the world a party that the continental Social Democrats would 
 have welcomed into their movement which was comparable with 
 the Labor Party. 
 
 H. M. Hyndman said that the S. D. F. was in its early days 
 a purely propagandist body; but when that propaganda had 
 in a measure succeeded, he was sorry to say — although he advo- 
 cated it at the time — ^the S. D. F. left the Labor Party. Had 
 we remained, that party would have had a different history. The 
 present conference did not show that the 33 or 34 years of 
 Socialist propaganda had produced a satisfactory result, and 
 the reason was that we had never got near enough to those 
 we wanted to convert. To a large extent they even looked 
 upon us as enemies. If we went in we should do so with the 
 red flag flying, in order to take Socialism to them and help 
 them to victory. Our presence inside that party would increase 
 our influence tenfold upon the working-class of this country, 
 who only wanted to understand the truth to come out, side by 
 side with us, for the conquest of the future. In these days 
 when the capitalist class was banded together, we must get all 
 the forces of the proletariat under one flag, and take care that 
 in the future that flag should be the Red Flag. 
 
 A motion to apply for affiliation was finally carried. 
 
 4. DECLARATION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF BRITISH SOCIALIST 
 PARTY 0PON APPLYING FOR AFFILIATION IN THE LABOR PARTY 
 
 (May 27, 1914) : 
 
 To the Members of the British Socialist Party 
 Comrades : 
 
 The referendum of the financial members of the British So- 
 cialist Party on the pro]posals submitted by the International 
 Socialist Bureau has now been taken. They have decided in 
 favor of Socialist unity and afiSliation to the National Labor 
 Party. 
 
FABIAN SOCIETY AND SOCIALIST UNITY 297 
 
 In taking this step the British Socialist Party does not lose 
 its identity or surrender its position in any way. It retains 
 complete freedom of Socialist action both in the propagandist and 
 electoral fields. It is not committed to any compromise of prin- 
 ciple or policy. 
 
 The Labor Party in the country and its parliamentary group 
 must not be regarded as one and the same thing. Already many 
 of the trade-unionists who constitute that party recognize that 
 the Labor Party in the House of Commons has not shown the 
 political independence which was the main reason for the forma- 
 tion of the Labor Party. The growing demand within the Labor 
 Party itself for complete political independence will unquestion- 
 ably be stimulated and strengthened by the addition of definite 
 Socialist forces, determined to push forward Socialist principles 
 and ideas with vigor and persistence. Within the Labor Party, 
 therefore, our criticism of the parliamentary group, whilst aiming 
 always at being helpful, must be no less forceful and pointed. 
 We shall find that this necessary criticism will have much greater 
 weight than hitherto, now that we shall form a left wing of the 
 Labor Party. 
 
 Comparisons have been made between the situation in this 
 country and abroad. Whatever difference there may be in the 
 situation arises from the fact that on the Continent the organ- 
 ization of the trade-unions has grown out of the Socialist con- 
 ception of the mission of the working-class; whereas in this 
 country the trade-unions arose out of a vague feeling of working- 
 class solidarity, coupled with the necessity for organization to 
 resist the pressure of capitalist exploitation. The class struggle 
 abroad is far more class conscious than it is here. Our purpose 
 now, as always, is to convert the organized workers of Great 
 Britain to our Social Democratic ideals, and to convince them 
 of the reality of the class struggle and of its revolutionary 
 character. 
 
 The trade-unionists constitute the best, the ablest, and the 
 most energetic of the British working-class. There is no better 
 field for the propaganda of our revolutionary doctrines. Our 
 best work has been and must be done among them; and we 
 shall do it much more successfully in the future within the Labor 
 Party than hitherto outside. 
 
 Moreover, we shall help, as a definite organized Social Dem- 
 ocratic. Party, the work of those of our members who, as trade- 
 
298 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 unionists, have been doing all they can to secure thoroughgoing 
 political independence in the Labor Party itself. Affiliation to 
 the Labor Party will enable us now to proceed immediately to 
 establish the Joint Socialist Council with the I. L. P. and the 
 Fabian Society, and prepare the way for the realization of 
 united Socialist action. Here, again, patience and persistence 
 are both essential to our work. The principles of revolutionary 
 Social Democracy, revolutionary in the sense of being thorough 
 and uncompromising, will make more rapid progress if we avoid 
 antagonizing unnecessarily those who may not see altogether with 
 us at the moment. 
 
 Comrades, you have given us the mandate to affiliate to the 
 Labor Party. We shall carry out that mandate with the su- 
 preme confidence that by the time of our next annual conference 
 the B. S. P. will have so strengthened its position and increased 
 its membership as to encourage those who have worked for this 
 step towards Socialist unity, and to remove all doubts from the 
 minds of those who, sincerely opposing it, will yet loyally abide 
 by the decision of the majority. 
 
 The Execdtivb Committee op the British 
 Socialist Party. 
 
 [Note — Because of the refusal of the Labor Party to allow any of its 
 candidates to list themselves as Labor and Socialist candidates, the pro- 
 posed unity was not carried out. See above, pp. 290 and 294.] 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 IRELAND 
 
 I. THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN IRELAND 
 (From Vorwaerts, September 10, 1913) 
 
 "The recent events in Dublin will strongly promote the 
 split which has been noticeable for some time past, in the 
 apparently closed ranks of Irish Nationalism. This is the 
 opinion of Comrade Connolly, now in prison, the historian 
 of the Irish proletariat, as well as of Comrade Sheehy 
 Skefiington, the biographer of Michael Davitt. Skeffing- 
 ton prophesies for the coming Irish Parliament the follow- 
 ing political line up : the reds against the blacks. 
 
 "Up to the present, Ireland has known but two parties, 
 separated from each other by religion and race. The Na- 
 tionalists have the power in their hands in three out of the 
 four provinces. Their party membership consists almost 
 wholly of Irish Catholics, but also contains a small num- 
 ber of Protestants. ... In Ulster, the fourth province, the 
 population is half Nationalistic and half of Unionistic 
 sentiment. Ulster is strongly industrial. The Unionists 
 are the descendants of English and Scotch pioneers, who 
 took possession of the estates from which the Irish Cath- 
 olics were driven in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies. These form 'the Protestant garrison' of England 
 in Ireland, oppressed for centuries. They favor the union 
 formed in 1800 between the two islands, support the 
 English Conservatives, and are violent opponents of 
 Irish self-government. They fear religious, political, and 
 economic oppression from a predominantly Catholic Par- 
 
 299 
 
300 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 liament in Dublin. The Nationalists, on the other hand, 
 go with the English Liberals, who have given them as a 
 sign of gratitude for their support the Home Rule Bill. 
 This party struggle has lasted, with slight interruptions, 
 for several centuries. 
 
 "The future fate of the Nationalistic Party is of the 
 greatest interest to us. This party has so far been able 
 to hold together the opposing elements of the Irish nation 
 by the declaration that all class interests must be checked 
 for the sake of the holy, patriotic, general cause. 
 
 "How strong Nationalism is in the Irish capital can be 
 seen on entering the town. The street signs do not alone 
 show the name of the street in English, but also in Irish, 
 which is spoken and understood only by a few inhabitants 
 in the extreme west of the country. If you ask a man in 
 Dublin to guide you to Sackville Street, he will think you 
 are a Tory and say: 'I suppose you mean O'Connell 
 Street ? ' The Dubliner refuses to call the principal street, 
 in which stands the monument of the liberator, 'Connell, 
 the emancipator of the Catholics, by anything but O'Con- 
 nell Street. The Government, by the way, has forbidden 
 the use of this street to the workers on Sunday, although 
 the Nationalistic leaders have frequently held undisturbed 
 meetings. This Nationalism is strongly nursed by the Eng- 
 lish Government, which never allows the Dubliner to forget 
 that he lives under foreign rule. 
 
 "The police of the capital, known for its brutality to- 
 wards the public, is directed by the English governor, or, 
 better, the arrogant English bureaucrats, who look down 
 upon the 'wild Irish,' live in a part of the town by them- 
 selves, and avoid the society of the inhabitants. These 
 apparent signs of foreign rule are still more noticeable in 
 the country. Here the trained Irish constables rule with 
 gun and bayonet. The large number of policemen bears 
 
IRELAND 301 
 
 no proportion to the number of crimes, which are smaller 
 in proportion to population than in Great Britain. It 
 were a wonder if the Nationalistic Party, led by the 
 bourgeois elements, would not have a hold on the minds 
 of the people in such a country. 
 
 "But the developments of the last years have shown that 
 the discipline in the ranks of the Nationalistic Party has 
 become less, and that portions of the party have been sep- 
 arated from it. The land question and the Home Rule 
 Bill have played the most important part in the politics 
 of Ireland for the last generation. But now, since the 
 land question has been solved for the present by the Land 
 Act, and since Home Rule is only a question of months, 
 the people are beginning to look around. The predom- 
 inantly small-bourgeois Nationalistic Party has for some 
 years past been ready to become entirely a Catholic party. 
 Its former election organization, ' The United Irish League, ' 
 the direct successor of the land league, recedes more and 
 more before the 'Ancient Order of Hibernians,' led by 
 Delegate Devlin, who pretends to be a believer in democ- 
 racy. The United Irish League is an organization which 
 has Catholic and Protestant members, while the rapidly 
 growing Ancient Order of Hibernians admits Catholics 
 only. But this gradual spiritual change in the party has 
 not been the only change. Large capitalistic, bourgeois, 
 and proletarian-democratic elements have also withdrawn 
 from 'official' nationalism. 
 
 "First mention must be made of the small, independent 
 Nationalistic Party, whose delegate in the Parliament at 
 Westminster is the deputy, Healy, most faithful to the 
 high clergy of the Catholic Church. The financier of this 
 party is the Dublin merchant. Murphy, who has declared 
 war against the working-class movement. The Healyites 
 look and find support among the English Conservatives, 
 
302 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 in whose ranks are many adherents of the high church, at 
 heart Catholics, who have a strong influence. According 
 to Healy, the English Conservatives, not the English Lib- 
 erals, are the natural allies of Irish nationalism. As an 
 example, he cites the local administration acts of the Con- 
 servative Party of the year 1898. The law gave local home 
 rule to the Irish, whose local alfairs, up to that time, had 
 been attended to by 'grand juries' made up principally of 
 Protestant landowners. 
 
 "Several years ago bourgeois and proletarian elements 
 broke away from the other wing of the party and founded 
 the all-Irish movement. The new party, opposing the 'of- 
 ficial' Nationalistic Party, called itself Sinn Fein, which 
 means 'We ourselves.' It was a seceding, radical Nation- 
 alism which found expression in this movement. It ex- 
 pressed itself in the cultivation of the Irish language and 
 the Irish industries, in attacks on the parliamentary party, 
 and even in attacks against the clergy. A large number 
 of Socialistically inclined workers joined this movement, 
 among others, Connolly, Daly (secretary of the Irish 
 Trade-Union Congress), and the trade-union secretary, 
 Partridge. The workers, who had greeted the Sinn Fein 
 Party as a democratic people's party, and had worked 
 hard to spread it, found before long that they had been 
 cheated. The leadership was gradually and quietly taken 
 over by Irish industrials, who got rid of the democratic 
 and anti-clerical influences and changed the all-Irish peo- 
 ple's party into a movement for the introduction of the 
 protective tariff. To-day, now that the Sinn Fein Party 
 has lost its working-class leaders, it has deteriorated into a 
 small sect without a future. 
 
 "The Socialist working-class movement has taken its 
 place. This movement has so far had little chance to de- 
 velop in Ireland. The Irish 'Independent Labor Party,' 
 
IRELAND 303 
 
 which was formed two or three years ago from two So- 
 cialist unions, has at present about 800 members. Some 
 of the best known and most influential union secretaries 
 belong to it. Not much older is .the Irish Workingmen's 
 Party, which is the acknowledged representative of the 
 Irish unions. This party's effort to have their representa- 
 tives elected to various town councils met with unexpected 
 success. In Dublin, where the town council consists of 80 
 members, the Workingmen's Party has 7 representatives; 
 of the other members, 10 are from the Union Party ; 3 or 4 
 of the Sinn Fein Party, and the rest from the Nationalist 
 Party, the United Irish League, and the Ancient Order of 
 Hibernians. The youthful party has 6 town representa- 
 \ tives in Sligo, 4 in "Wexford, and 3 in Waterford. It is 
 expected that larger results will be obtained at the next 
 election. It is the intention of the party to oust the Na- 
 tionalists at the county elections. 
 
 "All this has created a depressed feeling in the ranks 
 of the Nationalistic Party. This party realizes that the 
 support of the workers is lost. It has partly been able to 
 check the aspirations of the Workingmen's Party. After 
 the proposal for the Home Eule Bill, the greatest number 
 of seats available to the representatives of the workers is 
 40 out of 164. To gain a larger representation the workers 
 would have to go back to the old parties. The Catholic 
 clergy are working strenuously to check the growth of the 
 Workingmen's Party. Their fight is directed principally 
 against Socialism. Comrade Larkin and his associates are 
 heralded as monsters. The fight is nevertheless difScult 
 for the priests. For Larkin, who is hated by the prop- 
 ertied class, is loved by the people. The Catholic worker 
 says: 'Jim Larkin might be a Socialist, but he is a good 
 fellow just the same.' The clergy is striving hard to 
 dispel this opinion. 
 
304 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 "The Nationalistic Party has been discredited by the 
 workers. The secretary of their strongest party organiza- 
 tion created the yellow street car union, which found so 
 much favor in the eyes of Mr. Murphy. It was the Govern- 
 ment which the party supported that trampled down the 
 representatives of the Dublin workers, without the public 
 protest of one member of the Nationalistic Party. Na- 
 tionalistic employers follow Mr. Murphy in his attack on 
 the transportation workers' union. 
 
 "It is now quite apparent that a split will occur in the 
 near future in the Nationalistic Party. Probably two par- 
 ties, the Socialist Party and the Clerical Party, will before 
 long be opposing each other in the future Irish Parlia- 
 ment. The fact that up to the present time the oppressor 
 of the Irishmen was in many instances their religious and 
 national opponent, gave little opportunity for the growth 
 of class consciousness among the Irish wage-earners. The 
 new political situation has cleared matters to a certain 
 extent. Even the union worker of Ulster will soon recog- 
 nize who in the new Ireland is his natural ally. A Dublin 
 union employee said to me: 'When the Belf asters see that 
 home rulers have no intention of bringing the pope to 
 Ireland they will become reasonable and unite with us.' 
 
 "Comrade Connolly, secretary of the Belfast section of 
 the Irish Transport Workers' Union, declared: 'The Bel- 
 fast workers will supply us with the most able men in 
 the workingmen's movement.' 
 
 "The clearing of the air in the labor movement result- 
 ing from the struggles in Dublin in this time of transition 
 seems to indicate a rapid development of the Irish workers 
 toward political independence. Perhaps some of the Irish 
 comrades are too optimistic and undervalue the power of 
 the Catholic clergy, which functions as the most aristo- 
 cratic election agent of the Nationalistic Party. One thing 
 
IRELAND 305 
 
 is certain: The stone has been set rolling in Ireland and 
 the Irish working-class, which has sacrificed many martyrs 
 to nationalism, has become class conscious." 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF THE IRISH LABOR PARTY 
 
 Speech by James LarJcin, Chairman 
 
 We are living in momentous times, but we ■who have been 
 elected to take up and carry still further the banner which was 
 hoisted by the pioneers 21 years ago in this city cannot afford 
 to make mistakes. The knowledge gained in the bitter days of 
 the past should strengthen us in our deliberations and work in 
 the future. We are now on the threshold of a newer movement, 
 with a newer hope and new inspiration. The best thanks we 
 . can offer those who have gone before and who have raised the 
 Irish working-class from their knees, is to press forward with 
 determination and enthusiasm towards the ultimate goal of their 
 efforts, viz., a " Co-operative Commonwealth for Ireland." In 
 the meantime, the immediate work to hand is the establishment 
 of a new party — a Labor Party — an industrial army; a political 
 party whose polities will be the assurance of bread and butter 
 for all. . . . 
 
 The question of Home Rule — the question of what some people 
 called religion — has been used to divide us in the past. The 
 question of religion is a matter for each individual's conscience, 
 and in a great many cases has been the outcome of birth or 
 residence in a certain geographical area. Claiming for ourselves 
 liberty of conscience, liberty of worship, we shall see to it that 
 every other individual enjoys the same right, for intolerance 
 has been the curse of this country. . . . 
 
 The Irish working-class are now rising from their, knees and 
 attaining full stature. The new Irish party has come of age, 
 entered into its inheritance, and will stand erect upon its feet 
 from this day onward. Looking back over the immediate past — 
 more particularly the long months of 1913 and the early months 
 of 1914 — ^we see there the attempt of an organized, unscrupulous 
 capitalist class composed of men of different political parties and 
 holding different sectarian views, who have combined together 
 for the purpose of destroying organized labor in Ireland. The 
 lockout of 1913 was a deliberate attempt to starve the workers 
 
306 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 into submission and met with well-deserved failure. The workers 
 emerged from the struggle purified and strengthened, with a 
 fierce determination and a fixed purpose. The employers' attitude 
 was a direct attack upon the essential principles of trades- 
 unionism. The outcome of the attack has been the initiating of 
 a new principle of solidarity inside the unions, and for the first 
 time in the history of the world the beautiful and more humane 
 principle has received universal recognition, viz., " An injury to 
 one is the concern of all." That motto will be emblazoned on the 
 banner of labor the world over in the future. . . . Once again 
 the Dublin worker stands as pioneer in the upward and onward 
 march of labor. . . . 
 
 As much as I respect the church to which I belong, and the 
 view of those who are interpreters of the dogmas of that church, 
 and as much as I respect the opinions of members of any and 
 every church, I make this claim — that as long as the working- 
 class allows any churchman to abuse his trust and interfere in 
 working affairs in the industrial world, so long will they have 
 to submit to hunger, privation, and wage-slavery. In matters 
 spiritual the workers will obey the church, but on the economic 
 and industrial field we will be guided by knowledge gained by 
 long and hard servitude. I submit that the working-class have 
 as much right as any section or class in the community to enjoy 
 all the advantages of science, art, and literature. No field of 
 knowledge, no outlook in life should be closed against the work- 
 ers. They should demand their share in the effulgence of life, 
 and all that was created for the enjoyment of mankind. And 
 here do I appeal to those who cannot see eye to eye with us, 
 who feel that they cannot come all the way, to come with us as 
 far as their knowledge will permit — come at least to the bottom 
 of the boreen, and then, if we must part, the pioneers will con- 
 tinue on and up the mountain to meet the dawning of the new 
 to-morrow. The working-class must be free, not only econom- 
 ically but intellectually. 
 
 I desire to bring you back for the moment, and would speak 
 with you on one or two points of the struggle in Dublin last 
 year. We saw too plainly then that sectionalism carried with 
 it defeat amongst the working-class. We had 37 unions engaged 
 in the struggle, each acting upon its own line of defense and 
 attack and according to its own methods. Those who were 
 engaged had shown magnificent courage. Women and men, aye, 
 
IRELAND 307 
 
 and little children, had proved their heroism. Hunger, the jail, 
 and death itself did not deter them. Let us not forget our 
 comrades, Brady, Nolan, and Byrne, who were murdered in the 
 streets of this city by the hired hooligans of the capitalist class — 
 the police. We found that no political party, no church, made 
 a protest against the abuse of the laws by the capitalist class. 
 During that period it was shown clearly that there was neither 
 Unionist nor Nationalist among the employing class. There were 
 but two camps — employers and workers. We found no Eedmond- 
 ites, Carsonites, or O'Brienites then ; the enemy were all employers, 
 and every weapon they could wield — ^political, social, and admin- 
 istrative — they used unsparingly. 
 
 Let us not talk of wooden guns or tin guns. What the working- 
 class wants is the gun of intelligence. Let solidarity be the 
 watchword, and a few years will broaden out the liberties cur- 
 tailed by the most Unscrupulous and most vindictive capitalist 
 class that any country ever was cursed with. Police, politicians, 
 press, and the judges on the bench are simply the tools of the 
 capitalist class. . . . 
 
 The cursed lines of sectarian and political demarcation must 
 be wiped away; they must hunt the fomentors of such bigotry 
 and intolerance out of the trade-union movement. No employer 
 ever asked a man whether he was a Nationalist or a Catholic, 
 Unionist or Protestant. If a worker entered Queen's Island ship- 
 building yard and stated that he would not work with an Orange 
 lathe, a Protestant pneumatic riveter, or a Catholic anvil, he 
 would be fired out at once. The workers must drop these party 
 distinctions. One union is the way out, that union to embrace 
 all departments of industry — engineers, shipbuilders, distributive 
 trades, and transport workers, each of these sections looking 
 particularly after its own work, but all of them bound together 
 and working for the betterment of all men and women. Those 
 who will not assist in this one union movement are on the side 
 of the capitalist ; they must either be with us or against us. We 
 have no time to argue further with these men and women who 
 stand for sectionalism; we must simply march over them to the 
 conquest and control of industry and our own destiny. 
 
 There is another side of our lives which has been too long 
 neglected — a line of advance which has not been taken seriously 
 into consideration — the safest line of advance I speak of now, 
 viz., the co-operative movement. In this city at the present 
 
308 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 moment the annual congress of the British Co-operative Move- 
 ment is being held. It is being attended by women and men from 
 all parts of the earth. It would be news to many to know 
 that we here in Ireland were pioneers in co-operation long before 
 the Rochdale pioneers. There was a communistic colony down 
 on Usher's quay, but it was crushed out by jealous and restrictive 
 laws, like every good thing Ireland ever started. England made 
 it its business to put a stop to it. The working-class of Ireland 
 should be compelled to understand the worth of co-operation. 
 Through its agents we could supply all that life needs by them- 
 selves and for themselves. It needs no further argument to 
 favor it. Life itself is co-operation in its truest sense. . . . 
 
 To-day we see the birth of an Irish Labor Party, in which 
 there will be no room for the old lines of cleavage; no polities, 
 no disagreements, no misunderstandings. Cemented by their 
 common needs, a working-class party that will concern itself with 
 seeing to it that sufl5cient food, clothing, and shelter are enjoyed 
 by women, men, and children. We have seen, too, during the 
 last few months that the lawbreakers in Ulster have been allowed 
 to break every law in the land, and, on the other hand, when 
 labor held a constitutional meeting, we have witnessed the arrest 
 and imprisonment of the leaders. That should be a lesson to 
 the workers; the question of Redmondites, O'Brienites, or Car- 
 sonites should be a thing of the foolish past. We must unite 
 as Laborites in the three-leaved shamrock of fellowship, with 
 faith in our cause, hope in the realization of our cause, and 
 charity to all men. 
 
 Throughout this country we have made a name of which we 
 need never be ashamed. I hope we will see the day when we 
 will take full advantage of our opportunities, cry finis to our 
 differences, obliterate all jealousies from our ranks, when we 
 will truly be Irish of the Irish, and give ear to all men who do 
 worthy work. Let us be comrades in the truest sense of the 
 word and join with our comrades the world over to advance the 
 cause of the class to which we belong. On that day we will 
 put upon our escutcheon a mark worthy of the trust reposed upon 
 us twenty-one years ago. ... I claim we have an opportunity 
 given us of achieving much in the future in our beloved country, 
 to work and live for, and, if need be, die, to win back, in the 
 words of Erin's greatest living poet, for Kathleen Ni Houlihan 
 her four beautiful green fields. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 AUSTRALIA 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 1. THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY 
 
 The Australian Labor Party is not a Socialist Party. 
 But neither is the British Labor Party, which the Aus- 
 tralian Party in many respects resembles. The British 
 Party, however, is not only admitted to the International 
 Socialist Congresses, but is given a larger vote there than 
 all the British Socialist parties combined. Moreover, these 
 latter organizations have voluntarily joined or applied for 
 membership in the Labor Party. We may therefore con- 
 clude that Socialists are for the most part more than 
 friendly to all genuine Labor parties. We therefore in- 
 clude the Australian Labor Party in the present volume. 
 
 2. ELECTIONS OF 1913 
 
 In the elections of 1911 the Labor Party had secured 
 a majority both in the federal Senate and the federal 
 House of Representatives. They found themselves seri- 
 ously hampered by the federal constitution, especially since 
 it prevented both thoroughgoing regulation or nationaliza- 
 tion of trusts and corporations and the extension to the 
 nation of the governmental regulation of wages and labor 
 contracts. A referendum, proposing to legalize these two 
 classes of national legislation, had been defeated in 1910 
 by a large majority. The Labor Party, however, was 
 
 309 
 
310 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 forced once more to put forward these same issues, and, 
 at the elections of 1913, they were again put to a refer- 
 endum vote. 
 
 The Labor Party was opposed )oy a coalition of the other 
 two parties. But in spite of this it increased its majority 
 in the Senate, lost the House by only one vote, and was 
 defeated in the referenda by margins so narrow that a 
 change of one per cent of the votes cast would have given 
 the Labor Party a complete victory — an astonishing ad- 
 vance in three years, indicating an almost certain victory 
 in the near future. 
 
 The National Referenda 
 
 Nearly 1,900,000 votes were cast. The two labor meas- 
 ures were defeated by 31,000 and 37,000 votes respectively. 
 The four measures dealing with the regulation of corpora- 
 tions and the nationalization of monopolies were defeated 
 by majorities varying from 37,000 to a bare 14,000. 
 
 3. FEDERAL ELECTIONS OP 1914 
 
 Senate 
 
 House 
 
 <JU V 0) V 
 
 m H S H 
 
 New South Wales 3 6 
 
 Victoria 1 3 2 4 
 
 Queensland 3 3 3 6 
 
 South Australia 3 3 3 5 
 
 West Australia 3 3 3 6 
 
 Tasmania 3 5 
 
 Total 10 18 11 32 
 
 Total Anti-Labor. 8 7 4 
 
 "i 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 »- 
 
 ■Ti 
 
 at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ta 
 
 
 (U 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 V 
 
 Oi 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 27- 
 
 -11 
 
 17 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 21- 
 
 - 4 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 10- 
 
 - 4 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 7- 
 
 - 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5- 
 
 - 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 5- 
 
 - 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 75—26 42 37 40 
 49 33 38 35 
 
AUSTRALIA 
 
 311 
 
 4. GROWTH OF THE LABOR PARTY 
 
 In the Federal Parliament 
 
 The progress of labor through the five Parliaments of 
 the Commonwealth is as follows : 
 
 Senate 
 
 Bepresentatives 
 
 Tear 
 
 o 
 
 ■i 
 
 1901 8 
 
 1903 14 
 
 1906 15 
 
 1910 23 
 
 1913 29 
 
 1914 32 
 
 a 
 < 
 
 28 
 
 22 
 
 21 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 4 
 
 a 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 E-1 
 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 
 Tear 
 
 g 
 
 1901 16 
 
 1903 25 
 
 1906 26 
 
 1910 42 
 
 1913 37 
 
 1914 40 
 
 ■< 
 59 
 50 
 49 
 33 
 38 
 35 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 13 
 o 
 t< 
 
 75 
 75 
 75 
 75 
 75 
 75 
 
 5. THE LABOR VOTE IN 1914 
 
 The federal elections of September 5, 1914, resulted as 
 
 follows : 
 
 The Senate — Votes in Thousands 
 
 Labor Anti-labor 
 
 1913 1914 Gain 1913 1914 Gain 
 
 Queensland 144 to 146 2 107 to 111 4 
 
 New South Wales... 324 to 343 19 318 to 341 23 
 
 Victoria 327 to 332 5 285 to 292 7 
 
 South Australia 108 to 112 4 87 to 90 3 
 
 West Australia 63 to 67 4 54 to 60 6 
 
 Tasmania 38 to 40 2 36 to 39 3 
 
 1,004 1,040 36 
 
 887 933 
 
 46 
 
 In approximately 2,000,000 votes the Labor Party re- 
 ceived over 100,000 majority. It carried all six states, 
 though the vote was very close in New South Wales and 
 Tasmania (as may be seen from the table above) . As the 
 
312 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Labor Party majority in these two states was considerably 
 larger in the previous year, it would seem that it stands in 
 danger of losing them. All the other four states, however, 
 seem to be firmly held. 
 
 6. THE LABOE PARTY IN THE STATES 
 
 (April, 1914) 
 
 The following is the position of labor in the state Par- 
 liaments : 
 
 State Legislative Assemblies 
 
 Total 
 state Anti- mem- 
 Labor labor bers 
 
 New South Wales 49 41 90 
 
 Victoria 20 45 65 
 
 Queensland 24 48 72 
 
 South Australia 16 24 40 
 
 Western Australia 33 17 50 
 
 Tasmania 15 15 30 
 
 All State Assemblies 157 190 347 
 
 State Legislative Councils 
 state 
 
 Labor 
 
 New South Wales 6 
 
 Victoria 4 
 
 Queensland 2 
 
 South Australia 6 
 
 Western Australia 7 
 
 Tasmania - 
 
 25 
 
 Anti- 
 labor 
 
 Total 
 mem- 
 bers 
 
 51 
 
 57 
 
 30 
 
 34 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 23 
 
 30 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 176 
 
 201 
 
 The State Legislative Councils are either appointed or 
 elected under restricted suffrage laws, which have come 
 down unchanged from the undemocratic state constitu- 
 tions that preceded the formation of the Federal Common- 
 
AUSTRALIA 313 
 
 wealth in 1901. If the electoral conditions were the same 
 as for the elections to the lower legislative assemblies, the 
 Labor Party would control, as the above figures show, not 
 only Tasmania — as at present — ^but also New South Wales 
 and Western Australia. 
 
 If we judge by the federal elections to the House of 
 Representatives, the Labor Party would control all the 
 states except New South Wales. 
 
 Or, if we judge by the federal elections to the Senate, 
 the Labor Party would firmly control Victoria, Queens- 
 land, South Australia, and West Australia, and would 
 have a bare majority also in the other two states. 
 
 7. manifesto of labor paety for elections of 1913 
 Fellow Electors: 
 
 On the 31st of May you will be called upon to elect a new 
 Parliament, and to vote upon six proposals to amend the con- 
 stitution. There are but two parties before the country, and 
 these the same as in 1910. 
 
 You are again asked to choose between the Labor Party and 
 the Fusion Party. In view of the respective records of the two 
 parties, the issue — notwithstanding the most desperate efforts 
 to mislead the electors by flagrant misrepresentation, by dis- 
 tortion, by suppression of the truth — is clear, simple, and hardly 
 in doubt. The facts of the country's prosperity, its amazing 
 strides in trade, manufacture, banking assets and deposits, the 
 savings of the people, and the increase of population, both 
 oversea and native born, are before the people and cannot be 
 explained away. They furnish the most complete and crushing 
 refutation of all those dire prophecies of evil with which the 
 fusion leaders and the fusion press attempted to alarm the 
 people at the last election and which they are again repeating. 
 
 The Labor Party's Record 
 The Labor Party has been in office three years. It has been 
 a party of action. Its record is before the people. We have 
 not space to deal with that record in detail, but may fairly 
 remind the electors of two points, both of first importance. 
 
314 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 One: The fact — rare, if not unique in this country — that every 
 promise made to the electors in the 1910 manifesto has been 
 faithfully performed. Where the constitution permitted, legis- 
 lative effect has been given to our policy. What we promised, 
 that we have performed. 
 
 The other: That we have not only put our policy on the 
 statute book and energetically administered it, but that its effects 
 have been most salutary. 
 
 The Fusion's Tribute to Labor's Record 
 
 The first tribute to the value of our policy is the attitude of 
 the fusion, which, after denouncing and abusing the Labor Party 
 and all its works, dare not venture to say it will repeal one act 
 of the 83 which we have passed. This is surely the best testi- 
 mony the electors can have of the value of the Labor Party's 
 work, and conclusive proof of the hollowness of the fusion's 
 denunciations and abuse of the Labor Party and its platform. 
 
 The Three Great Questions 
 
 The three great questions that force themselves upon the atten- 
 tion of the people of all civilized nations to-day are: (1) Indus- 
 trial unrest; (2) the operations of trusts and combines; and 
 (3) increased cost of living. These three things go down to 
 bedrock. They touch and condition the lives of 95 per cent of 
 the people. In every country they exist, and exist alongside each 
 other. 
 
 That they are here in Australia we know perfectly well, and 
 any party which seeks to govern a country must not only recog- 
 nize their existence, but put forward a policy to cope with them. 
 And as these gTeat factors have their causes deep down in the 
 very roots of modern industrialism, no policy which does not 
 deal with basic causes as well as their effects can help the people. 
 
 The Fusion Policy 
 
 The Fusion Party does not even attempt to put forward such 
 a policy. So far as it deals with industrial unrest, and high 
 cost of living, it declares them to be purely local phenomena 
 confined to Australia. It lays the responsibility for their exist- 
 
AUSTRALIA 315 
 
 enee at the door of the Labor Party. As for trusts and combines, 
 it now declares the existing law to be amply sufficient. And the 
 Fusion remedy for all these things, in common with every other 
 ill from which civilized man suffers, is — to put the Fusion Party 
 into office. 
 
 The Power of the Trusts 
 
 Now, what are the facts relating to industrial unrest, the high 
 cost of living, and the operations and power of trusts and 
 combines ? 
 
 When we were before the electors in 1910, we pointed out 
 the increasing powers of what are known as trusts and combines. 
 During the last three years many convincing proofs have been 
 given as to the influence of these great organizations of capital 
 and of the world-wide scope of their operations. 
 
 Although in Australia these combinations have not, perhaps, 
 reached the stage of development that they have in other coun- 
 tries — notably in the United States — their existence and power 
 are manifested in almost every part of the commonwealth. That 
 state of things in which individual traders and manufacturers 
 competed against one another, and the consumer obtained the 
 goods at the lowest price compatible with a fair and reasonable 
 profit, has completely disappeared in many if not in most lines. 
 There is, of course, keen competition amongst retailers, but the 
 prices at which retailers sell to the public are naturally governed 
 by the prices at which they can buy of the wholesale merchants. 
 And in most cases wholesale prices are fixed by arrangement 
 either by these merchants or by the greater organizations who 
 really control the output and distribution of the goods. 
 
 Exorbitant Profits and High Prices 
 
 It therefore follows that the prices the people pay for most 
 of the things they eat, drink, wear, and use are not " competitive 
 prices," but fixed and arranged prices; and as those who fix or 
 arrange these prices are concerned chiefly with getting exorbitant 
 profit, these prices are not "fair and reasonable," but are con- 
 siderably higher than would be the ease under free competition. 
 
 This is only natural. When a few practically control the 
 output and distribution of any article which the people must 
 have, they are in a position to fix the highest price that the 
 
316 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 people can possibly pay. The only limit, therefore, to the prices 
 fixed by combines and " honorable understandings " is the limit 
 of the people's purse. If the trusts charged more, the people 
 could not buy. The combine seldom charges less than the very 
 most that the unfortunate consumer can pay. This is the present 
 position of the people, not only in the commonwealth, but 
 throughout the world. It is a position which, on the face of it, 
 is quite incompatible with democratic government. Theoretically, 
 freedom of trade and freedom of access to opportunities are 
 open to all, practically, where a few men with a tremendous 
 amount of capital control the means by which modern production 
 and distribution must necessarily be carried on, the rest of man- 
 kind can only live upon sufferance. 
 
 Control of Trusts 
 
 The present position is intolerable. The interests of the people 
 must be protected, and the policy of the Labor Party is to take 
 whatever steps are necessary to protect them. . . . We are not 
 opposed to combination. We believe indeed that combination 
 is infinitely better than cutthroat competition, provided that the 
 interests of the people are properly safeguarded. But to allow 
 a few individuals to control the production and distribution of 
 the necessaries of life, to fix what price the people must pay for 
 what they must have, is to place the whole community at the 
 mercy of the few. Combination makes for efficient and econom- 
 ical production. Properly controlled, it is a benefit to the 
 community. Uncontrolled, it is a menace to the liberties and 
 the very existence of democracy. 
 
 Cost of Living and Industrial Unrest 
 
 These are the facts, and they are indisputable, yet in the face 
 of them the Fusion says that the Labor Party is responsible 
 for the industrial unrest and the high cost of living. Such a 
 statement is an insult to the intelligence of the electors. Let us 
 prove it. Australia is the only country in the world where the 
 Labor Party is in power and in office. 
 
 But industrial unrest is world-wide. There is not one civilized 
 country where it has not manifested itself during recent years. 
 In Great Britain, America, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy, 
 
AUSTRALIA 317 
 
 upheavals — compared to which those in Australia appear quite 
 insignificant — have taken place in the last three years. 
 
 The Cause 
 
 The same may be said of the high cost of living. This, too, 
 is a world-wide phenomenon. To say, as the Fusion Party does, 
 that the Labor Party is responsible for it, is an audacious and 
 willful misrepresentation of facts. The cost of living in the 
 United States is 16 per cent higher than in Australia, but there 
 are no wages boards in that country, and no Labor Party in 
 office or power. And the same is true of Great Britain, where 
 the cost of living has, according to the board of trade returns, 
 gone up to such an extent that what cost 20 shillings in 1909 
 costs 23 shillings in 1912. The Fusion Party insults the intelli- 
 gence of the electors by declaring that high wages are the cause 
 of high prices. The exact opposite is true. The people must 
 live, and to live their wages must be sufficient to purchase the 
 necessaries of civilized life. High prices cause and compel a 
 demand for higher wages. The endeavor to enforce the demand 
 causes industrial unrest. 
 
 High Prices 
 
 Only in Australia is the Labor Party in office. Only here and 
 in New Zealand are there arbitration courts and boards for 
 fixing wages. But in every country trusts and combines control 
 the means of production. In every country they regulate output, 
 they fix prices, they exploit the people. And in America, where 
 they are most powerful, the cost of living is higher than in any 
 other country. We have tracked the thing down. It is obvious 
 that the main cause of the increased cost of living is the ex- 
 orbitant profits extracted from the people by the trusts, and the 
 immediate cause of industrial unrest arises out of the increasingly 
 difficult struggles of the people to make both ends meet. 
 
 Amendment of the Constitution 
 
 In order to control trusts, combines, corporations, and great 
 monopolies, which now exploit the public, and to deal with indus- 
 trial unrest and the high cost of living, amendment of the con- 
 stitution is imperatively necessary. Without such amendment 
 it is futile to attempt to deal with these great questions. 
 
318 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES Or THE WORLD 
 
 At present the Common-wealth is for all practical purposes 
 powerless. In order, therefore, that these great questions may 
 be effectively dealt with, the amendments of the constitution 
 now before the people must be made. . . . 
 
 Beasons for Amendment 
 
 We have not space here to repeat the arguments ther« set 
 forth. But briefly, the reasons why the electors should vote for 
 the six amendments are as follows: 
 
 Our constitution, which is copied from the American, gives 
 us the same powers over trusts, industrial and other cognate 
 matters as that of the United States. It leaves the states the 
 same powers as the United States Constitution leaves the states 
 of America. In America, after 20 years of the best efforts to 
 deal with trusts by federal and state laws, the position, as stated 
 by Senator Chauneey Depew, one of the most notable American 
 statesmen of our day, is: 
 
 " There are ten men in the city of New York who can in 24 
 
 hours STOP EVEET WrHEEL OF ALL THE RAILWAYS, CLOSE EVERT 
 FACTORY, LOCK EVERY SWITCH ON EVERY TELEGRAPH LINE, SHUT 
 DOWN EVERY COAL MINE AND IRON MINE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 What a travesty on the declaration that this is the government 
 of the people, by the people, for the people, when ten 
 MEN CAN MAKE STARVING BEGGARS OF 100,000,000 people in 24 
 hours." 
 
 Present Constitution 
 
 The net result of all this legislation — the most drastic possible 
 under constitutions like ours, and that of America, is that the 
 trusts after 20 years of it are the most numerous and powerful 
 in the world, and control not only the industrial, but also the 
 commercial, financial, and political lives of the American people. 
 The laws, both state and federal, have been enforced in many 
 cases, and a great number of convictions have followed. But 
 the trusts laugh at convictions and grow fat upon them. The 
 Standard Oil Trust, for example, was only recently convicted, 
 heavily fined, and solemnly dissolved by the Supreme Court of 
 America. This ought to have been the end of the trust, but its 
 power to exploit the world is not lessened. To-day it is as strong 
 as ever, and Rockefeller and a few of the great shareholders 
 have made £40,000,000 as a direct result of the conviction ! 
 
AUSTRALIA 319 
 
 The fact is that while the constitution remains as it is, no 
 power exists either in America or here that can cope with trusts. 
 State laws cannot do it, and the federal arm is cramped. 
 
 Protect the People 
 
 Every federation in the world, except America, has these 
 powers. Canada has and always has had them. In the face of 
 these facts, why should the people of Australia hesitate to take 
 these powers, the lack of which has placed America under the 
 heel of the trusts to such an extent that, to repeat the words of 
 Senator Chauncey Depew, " Ten men can make starving beggars 
 of 100,000,000 people in 24 hours." 
 
 Proposed Amendments 
 
 1. Control of Trusts. — ^And now, having stated the issues 
 before the electors and the necessity for amending the constitu- 
 tion, we come to the policy of the Labor Party for the next 
 Parliament. If the proposed amendments are carried we shall 
 pass legislation to control trusts and combines in the public 
 interest, and to create machinery for reviewing and, where 
 necessary, regulating prices in cases where effective compe- 
 tition does not insure a fair and reasonable price to the con- 
 sumer. 
 
 The Fusion says that the regulation of prices is impossible. 
 But regulation of prices by the trusts in their own interests 
 is the dominant feature of our age. Why should public regula- 
 tion of prices in the interesta of the people be impossible? It 
 is not impossible, and it is absolutely necessary. Those who 
 know most about the matter strongly favor it. 
 
 Andrevt Carnegxb, of the great American Steel Trust, says: 
 " Granted combination, there must be regulation, and as no 
 judge the world over is allowed to sit in judgment in a case in 
 which he is personally interested, so no producer can ever be 
 JUDGE OF PRICES. It follows, then, that an industrial court must 
 be formed which shall fix the maximum prices, that the con- 
 sumer may be protected against extortion." And ex-President 
 Eoosevelt says: "This control (over trusts) should, if 
 
320 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 NECESSARY, BE PUSHED IN EXTREME CASES TO THE POINT OP 
 
 EXERCISING CONTROL OVER MONOPOLY PRICES, as rates on railways 
 are now controlled." 
 
 2. Nationalization of Monopolies. — ^With regard to monopolies, 
 these will be generally dealt with in the same way as trusts and 
 combines. The broad principle upon which legislation will be 
 based is that where the welfare of the people demands it, the 
 law will exercise a vigilant supervision over the operations of 
 these great organizations of capital. We shall make provision 
 to prevent individual traders and manufacturers being crushed 
 out by combines or attempted monopolies. We shall protect the 
 public by regulating prices where these are exorbitant. Where 
 the interest of the Commonwealth can in no other way be pro- 
 tected, we shall exercise the powers given by the amendment of 
 the constitution and nationalize the monopoly. 
 
 3. General Company Law. — We shall pass a General Company 
 Law designed to encourage legitimate trading and prevent unfair 
 trading, and to protect the interests of shareholders and the 
 public. At present there is no power to pass such a law, and 
 yet no legislation is more badly needed. 
 
 New Protection 
 
 We shall introduce at an early date such legislation as may 
 be necessary to give effect to the policy of the new protection. 
 As there is some room for doubt as to what new protection is, 
 we here set forth what it means. Unlike the old protection, the 
 benefits of the new protection are not to rest wholly with the 
 manufacturer, but are to extend to the workman and the con- 
 sumer. The workman is to get a fair and reasonable wage and 
 decent conditions of labor. Where the State Wages Boards give 
 him these, well and good. Where they do not, federal courts will 
 do so. And the consumer is to be protected against exorbitant 
 prices. In this way protection becomes a national policy in the 
 true sense of the term, and is not, as at present, mainly confined 
 to one comparatively small section of the community. The 
 manufacturers of Australia are entitled to protection against 
 unfair competition; they are entitled to a fair and legitimate 
 profit; they are entitled to settled industrial conditions. These 
 things we shall endeavor to secure for them, but they are not 
 entitled to exploit the workmen or the general public, and we 
 
AUSTRALIA 321 
 
 shall therefore pass such legislation as will, while protecting 
 Australian manufacturers, also protect the community. 
 
 Industrial Peace 
 
 The present industrial powers of the Commonwealth are quite 
 inadequate. It cannot prevent industrial disputes. It cannot 
 deal with them when they arise unless they extend beyond the 
 limits of any one state. And it is absolutely powerless to deal 
 with the most common form in which great industrial disputes 
 extending beyond the limits of one state occur. The " sympa- 
 thetic strike " — the most dangerous and affecting the greatest 
 number of people — is, in nine cases out of ten, beyond its juris- 
 diction. The cause of such a strike may be the demand of a 
 union inside a state. With that dispute the Federal Conciliation 
 Court cannot deal. But until it is settled, the " sympathetic 
 strike " of unions outside the state cannot be settled. The arm 
 of the federal court is tied. It cannot act when action would 
 be most likely to prove effective. It must sit down supinely 
 and watch the trouble become more and more serious, extending 
 from one small center until it envelops the whole state, and still 
 do nothing. Not until the dispute reaches such a stage as to 
 make settlement an almost impossible task can the federal court 
 interfere. 
 
 This is not only absurd, but a deadly menace to the best interests 
 of the community. If industrial peace is worth having we ought 
 not to tie the hands of the court created to maintain it. 
 
 The facts and the best authorities on the Fusion side both 
 support our contention that the constitution ought to be amended 
 so that the Commonwealth's powers may be such as to preserve 
 the industrial peace of the community. 
 
 If these amendments are approved by the people, we shall 
 clothe the Federal Arbitration Court with power to prevent dis- 
 putes, to deal effectively with such disputes as do arise, wherever 
 and in whatever circumstances they may arise, if state courts 
 cannot or do not do so. For this purpose we shall make pro- 
 vision for subsidiary industrial tribunals, wherever and whenever 
 the circumstances call for them. 
 
322 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 The Fusion and the Farmer 
 
 It is said also that the Commonwealth will take over the 
 railways. This is, of course, a downright untruth, as those who 
 make the statement know full well. The amendments do not 
 give the Commonwealth power to take over the state railways. 
 They do not even give power to deal with state trade and com- 
 merce carried on state railways. They do not give the Com- 
 monwealth any more power to fix freights and fares than it has 
 now. So much for that audacious attempt to mislead the electors ! 
 
 The Fusion, in its usual fashion, attempts to save its friends, 
 " the great trusts," by endeavoring to frighten the small farmer 
 and storekeeper and make them fight its battles. Before the 
 1910 election the Fusion, at the instance of the great landlords 
 of Australia, dreading the progressive land tax, told the farmer 
 that the effect of the land tax would be to ruin him. They said 
 that the £5,000 exemption was only an election cry, and that if 
 we got in we would take it out and tax the small man. Time 
 has nailed those lies to the wall. The £5,000 exemption remains, 
 and we again pledge ourselves not to remove it during the next 
 Parliament. 
 
 The Fusion says, first, that the proposal to fix prices is 
 absurd, and second, that the Labor Party will fix the prices of 
 the produce of " the man on the land " and the goods of the 
 retail storekeeper. Such a statement is utterly untrue. Like 
 the land tax lie, it is a cunning attempt by the monopolists and 
 great vested interests to save themselves. 
 
 We have already said that we shall not attempt public regu- 
 lation of prices, except where these are regulated by trusts, com- 
 bines, monopolies, rings, or "honorable understandings." We 
 shall not attempt to regulate prices received by " the man on the 
 land " for his produce. It is not by the farmer that the public 
 is squeezed, but by those to whom the farmer sells his produce. 
 
 The farmer is squeezed by the freight ring and by other rings. 
 We shall endeavor to protect him. 
 
 Nationalization 
 
 The Fusion says that, if the electors approve of the sixth 
 proposed amendment, the Labor Party will at once nationalize 
 every industry in the country! That it will nationalize every 
 
AUSTRALIA 323 
 
 small storekeeper, and that even " the poor widow " in her tiny 
 little store will be taken over by the Federal Government ! Such 
 statements are not only gross misrepresentations, but are plainly 
 absurd. 
 
 It is not the small storekeeper, or the widow in her little store, 
 that menaces the welfare of the people, but the great monopoly 
 which holds the community in its ruthless grasp. When one 
 company or combine has destroyed all its competitors, it has 
 the community at its mercy. When, as is the case with more 
 than one combine here, it controls the production, manufacture, 
 and sale of something which the people must have, a state of 
 things exists which is incompatible with free government, and 
 cannot be tolerated. It is to deal with such great monopolies that 
 this amendment of the constitution is required. And it is abso- 
 lutely necessary. 
 
 We shall not nationalize the small shopkeeper, or the 
 BIG SHOPKEEPER EITHER. THs is not a remedy to be applied to 
 retail traders amongst whom competition insures fair profits, 
 and fair profits only. But it is for use, and if we are returned 
 and this amendment is carried, we shall use it against those great 
 monopolies whose exactions are unendurable, if regulation of 
 their operations cannot be effected in any other way. 
 
 Initiative and Beferendum 
 
 True democratic government demands that the people's will, 
 continuously ascertained and expressed, shall be supreme, but 
 representative government does not, in many cases, permit the 
 people to make their desires known or to see that their desires 
 are given effect to. At the election of a Parliament the people 
 really rule; during the intervals between elections their power 
 is confined to criticisms, and to such means of approaching Par- 
 liament as are afforded by petitions, public meetings, and the 
 columns of the press. Generally Parliament responds to public 
 opinion thus manifested — ^but not always. Besides, public control 
 in this way is not only uncertain but indefinite, and entirely 
 unsanctioned by the law ; and Parliament can, if it chooses, wholly 
 disregard it. What is wanted is a means by which the people 
 may, in a clearly defined and legal way, express their disapproval 
 of any legislation proposed or passed by Parliament, and initiate 
 
324 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 such other legislation as circumstances in their opinion warrant. 
 In this way the people's control over Parliament would be con- 
 tinuous. They could veto such legislation as was objectionable, 
 and compel attention to matters of great importance which might 
 arise between elections, and upon which the Parliaments had not 
 been instructed. 
 
 Protection and Defense 
 
 Protection is the settled policy of the country. The Labor 
 Party, therefore, will take such steps as are necessary to make 
 that policy effective, and will at an early date bring down such 
 amendments of the present tariff as will protect the manufac- 
 turers and producers of the Commonwealth against unfair out- 
 side competition. 
 
 As the fiscal question is not included in the platform of the 
 Labor Party, the views of members of the party have been 
 ascertained. It has been found that the great majority of mem- 
 bers support the promise given by the prime minister at Mary- 
 borough on March 31 to bring down a scheme of effective pro- 
 tection. 
 
 Believing as we do that customs duties for revenue are no 
 part of the policy of protection, and therefore should be made 
 as light as possible, we propose to reduce such duties on the 
 necessaries of life imported from other countries. 
 
 Our policy of national defense, military and naval, has been 
 already stated by the prime minister at Maryborough. That 
 policy we shall resolutely and energetically carry out. Everything 
 necessary to Australia's defense and to make her contribution 
 towards imperial defense a real and effective one will be done. 
 
 We shall prosecute with diligence and energy a policy of 
 national development. The settlement and development of the 
 Northern Territory will be pushed on with. The construction of 
 the Transcontinental Railway will be energetically carried on. 
 A vigorous policy of railway construction will be undertaken. 
 We believe in Australia and in her greatness, and shall do all 
 that is possible to hasten her development. 
 
 Insurance 
 
 We shall pass a general insurance law, regulating the opera- 
 tions of all insurance companies. The measure introduced last 
 
AUSTRALIA 325 
 
 session broadly indicates the lines along which we think such 
 a law should proceed. It is much needed, and we shall place it 
 on the statute book at an early date. 
 
 In addition to regulating the operations of private insurance 
 companies, we shall establish a commonwealth insurance depart- 
 ment, controlled and guaranteed and carried on by the Govern- 
 ment. It wiU be based upon sound business lines, and will 
 ■ engage in all kinds of insurance business. The operations of 
 the New Zealand Government Insurance Department have been 
 most successful, and not only does the institution show a good 
 margin of profit, but the exorbitant rates charged by private 
 insurance companies — more particularly for fire insurance — ^have 
 been greatly reduced through government competition. There is 
 ample justification for the establishment of a similar institution 
 here, and we shall take steps to do so as soon as possible. 
 
 A Great National Policy 
 
 Here then is our policy. It deals with those great issues now 
 compelling the attention of the whole civilized world. And it 
 goes right down to bedrock. It is a policy for the whole people, 
 and not only for a privileged few. It is a policy of action, put 
 forward by men who have proved by their record that they are 
 men of action and true to their pledges. It is a great national 
 policy that will develop the best that is in Australia — a policy 
 that will protect our country from dangers within and without. 
 
 With full confidence in the justice and patriotism of the Aus- 
 tralian people, we invite them to attach to it the seal of their 
 
 approval. 
 
 Andrew Tishee, 
 Commonwealth Offices, Melbourne. 
 D. Watkins, Plattsburg, 
 
 Secretary Federal Labor Party. 
 
 8. SOCIALIST OPINION ON ELECTION OF 1913 
 
 a. From Vorwaerts (Berlin) 
 
 "A noteworthy feature of this election campaign was 
 the great bitterness with which it was fought and the 
 
326 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 sharp class lines that appeared on the surface during the 
 struggle. The Labor Party lost a large number of its 
 middle-class and farmer supporters, elements that have 
 hitherto been a hindrance to the party movement. About 
 one-half of the seats of the Labor Party won in the last 
 election (1910) were gained in the farming and country 
 districts, territory that had no industrial population worth 
 mentioning. About one-half of these seats were lost in 
 the recent election. On the other hand, the industrial 
 proletariat stood solidly behind the Labor Party. They 
 put up a hard fight against the well-organized onslaught 
 of the Liberals with their powerful press. 
 
 "In a country with such great distances, as is the case 
 in Australia, newspaper agitation must naturally play a 
 very important part. The labor press of Australia is still 
 in its infancy, while the Democratic organs, which for- 
 merly supported the Labor Party, became very uneasy 
 over its new coUectivist policy and edged away from this 
 dangerous movement. This was true, for instance, of the 
 Melbourne Age, a paper that, in 1910, was to no small de- 
 gree responsible for our success in Victoria and Tasmania. 
 This paper, too, has become afraid of the so-called extreme 
 elements that have taken hold in the Labor Party. More- 
 over, the better class is still haunted by the memory of 
 recent strikes. It looks with distaste upon the Fisher 
 Ministry, with its friendly attitude toward the labor move- 
 ment. It cannot forget that this ministry, in January of 
 the previous year, refused to send out troops against the 
 striking street car employees in Brisbane when it had been 
 requested to do so by the Liberal state administration of 
 Queensland. 
 
 "Besides, the wealthier class generally felt that the col- 
 lectivist principles of the Labor Party were ceasing to be a 
 dead letter in its program and that it would now proceed 
 
AUSTEALIA 327 
 
 without ceremony to abolish all constitutional hindrances 
 to the success of its aims. It proposed to begin a general 
 nationalization of industries with the creation of a national 
 steamship mail service between Tasmania and the main- 
 land. . . . 
 
 "The Labor Party, on the other hand, can point out real 
 achievements for the social and cultural life of the nation. 
 Only last year it created a maternity pension, providing 
 for the payment of five pounds to every woman who gives 
 birth to a child. It has opened up the northern territory 
 and has taken the first steps toward the building of a great 
 railroad that shall cross Australia from east to west. If 
 it has not accomplished more along the line of social and 
 industrial reform, constitutional restrictions, not the party 
 itself, are to blame." 
 
 b. W. C. Anderson, in leading article of The Labor Leader 
 
 "With two points in Australian policy we do not agree, 
 but we frankly admit that Australia has its own problems, 
 and the solution of them may be safely intrusted to the 
 Australian workers themselves without undue outside inter- 
 ference. The Australian workers believe that their eco- 
 nomic position would be made worse by Chinese and 
 Japanese immigration, and this explains their strong plea 
 for a 'White' Australia, and their apparently harsh atti- 
 tude toward colored races. Many of them believe also in 
 the possibility of military invasion by the yellow races, 
 and that is the real explanation of their attitude toward 
 conscription and national defense. Nevertheless, on the 
 question of national defense, the Australian Labor Party 
 has indorsed a policy which would not be supported by 
 the international movement. In Australia itself there is a 
 large volume of Socialist opinion opposed to conscription, 
 
328 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE WORLD 
 
 and this feeling is certain to grow. At the same time, 
 it may be admitted that there is less aggression in the 
 arming of Australia than of any other country." . . . 
 
 c. Article hy Alf. James, The Socialist (Melbourne) 
 
 "The whole economic forces of the country are divided, 
 politically, into two opposing camps ; although a bill may 
 be modified in its scope through the activities of various 
 interests once a measure is put to a division, there can be 
 only a straight vote — ^yes or no. Before the entry of labor 
 into the arena of politics, the two great representative par- 
 ties were the landowners and certain financiers, in opposi- 
 tion to the industrial employers. 
 
 "In Australia the rapid rise of the Labor Party has 
 compelled these (in relation to each other) antagonistic 
 forces to unite against the small producers and wage- 
 laborers. 
 
 "With the advance of capitalism, the petty bourgeoisie 
 is being inevitably crushed out of existence. 
 
 "This process, while every year rendering labor's spouse, 
 the middle class, still more withered and decrepit, increases 
 overwhelmingly the numbers of the proletariat, and, by the 
 establishment of larger industries, provides for their more 
 effective union, both politically and industrially. 
 
 "Only as this change is effected can the wage-workers 
 tighten their hold on the government, and whether they 
 remain in political alliance with the small traders, or 
 maintain an attitude of no compromise, their progress must 
 be equally limited; but it is obviously much more to the 
 immediate interests of the proletariat to secure what 
 amelioration it can by means of such an alliance than to 
 allow the big capitalists to have complete control of the 
 political machine. It is, therefore, necessary that every 
 
AUSTRALIA 329 
 
 worker, no matter how extreme his views, should do his 
 utmost inside the Labor Party to force the hands of the 
 middle class. ..." 
 
 9. ELECTION MANIFESTO OE THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, 1914 
 
 Labor's Program 
 
 The program of the Labor Party has already been declared 
 by Mr. Fisher at Bundaberg. To that program — which sets 
 forth in clear and unambiguous terms the policy of labor, includ- 
 ing its attitude towards trusts and combines, amendment of 
 the constitution, initiative and referendum, tariff, industrial and 
 social legislation, labor stands pledged for the next Parliament. 
 If returned with a majority, we shall, without other delay than 
 that imposed by urgent measures necessary for the protection 
 of the Commonwealth during the war, give effect to that policy. 
 
 There follows at this point a statement of the Labor 
 Party's position on war already printed in Mr. "Walling 's 
 volume. The Socialists and the War. 
 
 The manifesto then continues : 
 
 Thus far we have dealt with the direct consequences of war. 
 But the effects of modern war are not confined within the narrow 
 limits of days gone by. The world to-day is so interdependent; 
 its nervous system of finance, commerce, and industry so co- 
 related and so exquisitely sensitive that war between any two 
 great nations threatens the whole industrial life of the modern 
 world with instant paralysis. It was this great danger with 
 which we were threatened in Australia. 
 
 It needs no words to show the consequences of unemployment 
 on so huge a scale as must surely follow upon the heels of 
 modern 'war. These would be in their extent far more serious 
 than the direct consequences of war itself. Yet they could in 
 no way be averted unless there were at the hands of the authori- 
 ties the means whereby credit — the basis of modern industrial 
 and commercial activity — could be so reinforced as to enable it, 
 despite this tremendous shock, to stand firm. 
 
 The conference at which representatives of the Opposition sat 
 
330 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 •with those of the Government and the states has made such 
 arrangements, and it was enabled to do so because the Common- 
 wealth Bank and the Australian Note Issue had created the very 
 instruments by which credit could be supported and the wheels 
 of industry kept moving even in this great crisis. 
 
 Thanks then to the Australian Note Issue, enough money is 
 to be loaned to the states by the Commonwealth to enable them 
 to maintain their public works policy and thus prevent a huge 
 army of unemployed being thrown upon the streets. Similarly 
 with private employment. Had it not been for the Common- 
 wealth Bank and the Note Issue, the private banks would have 
 been compelled in sheer defense to restrict credit; overdrafts 
 would have had to be reduced; enterprises affected by the war 
 would have shrunk almost to nothing. Money would have been 
 very dear; unemployment and trade crises would have come 
 upon us like a flood, submerging everything. Instead of which, 
 money is very cheap; employment is encouraged; traders should 
 not be called upon to reduce overdrafts or harassed by dread of 
 complete ruin. The wheels of industry move and trade becomes 
 possible. 
 
 The Commonwealth Bank and the Australian Note Issue, with- 
 out which at this juncture we should be faced with a general 
 collapse of industry, trade, and finance, are due to the Labor 
 Party alone. By their fruits shall ye know them. 
 
 Words cannot express the difference between things as they 
 are now and as they would have been if the Labor Party had 
 not taken these steps to defend Australia from invasion and 
 from the consequences of war. 
 
 The Issue for the Electors 
 
 Here, then, fellow-electors, is the position. War has come 
 upon us, but thanks to the Labor Party has not found us unpre- 
 pared. It would be idle to pretend that we can hope to. escape 
 some of the consequences of war; but two things are clear, viz., 
 " That owing to the Labor Party's policy, Australia is able not 
 only to meet the situation calmly itself, but also to relieve the 
 Empire of the burden of defending these shores and the adjacent 
 waters and to actively support her at the seat of war. 
 
 The electors have to choose a new Parliament. That means 
 they have to decide upon whom they shall rely to govern the 
 
AUSTEALIA 331 
 
 country during this great crisis. Upon whom will their choice 
 fall? 
 
 The choice lies between two parties — the Labor Party, who 
 foresaw and provided against war and all its disastrous conse- 
 quences; and the present government, who denounced every one 
 of those measures without which to-day Australia would be an 
 object of derision to the outside world, a burden to the mother 
 country, and a humiliation to herself. 
 
 We forbear to criticise the policy of the present government 
 since its accession to offlce. But in defense matters it has done 
 nothing, and has left undone very much that ought to have been 
 done. True to its invariable policy, it has talked but it has 
 not acted. 
 
 This is the hour when men of action should be at the helm. 
 And the men who created the defense forces of Australia, who are 
 familiar with the every detail of their organization, are on the 
 face of it the men who may be relied on to make the best possible 
 use of them. 
 
 Fellow-electors: Here is the position. We leave it with all 
 confidence for you to determine. 
 
 Andeew Fisher. 
 David Watkifs, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Federal Parliament House, Melbourne. 
 
 10. ELECTION CAMPAIGN OP 1914 — LEGISLATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS 
 OP LABOB PAETY * 
 
 "A brief summary of the principal measures wMch the 
 IJabor Party has placed on the Commonwealth statute book 
 will not be amiss at this juncture. It is a fine record, and 
 one which would have been increased in many important 
 directions were it not for the unfortunate technical limita- 
 tions of the constitution, which, as interpreted by the 
 High Court, prevented the National Legislature turning 
 its attention upon subjects that properly should come 
 within its scope. 
 
 * The Brisbane Worker, August 20, 1914. 
 
332 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WOELD 
 
 "Further, the monument of legislative ^activity and con- 
 structive statesmanship piled up in the past is a pledge 
 of what the party is prepared to do when again the oppor- 
 tunity is given it in the future." 
 
 1908 {First Fisher Ministry) 
 
 Australian industries were encouraged by the Manufacturers 
 Encouragement Act, 1908, providing for the payment of bounties 
 on the manufacture of iron, steel, wire-netting, and wire within 
 the Commonwealth on certain terms, including a provision mak- 
 ing the payment of fair and reasonable wages a condition prece- 
 dent to payment of the bounty. 
 
 1910 {Second Fisher Ministry — Three Years' Term) 
 
 Land Tax, for the purpose of splitting up large estates and 
 helping the smaller man. 
 
 Postal Rates Act, introducing the system of penny postage, 
 now so widely appreciated. 
 
 Australian Notes Act, providing a commonwealth note issue 
 and financially strengthening the Government. 
 
 Naval Loan Repeal Act, repealing the ridiculous Loan Act 
 of the previous Fusion Ministry which was passed for the purpose 
 of borrowing £3,500,000 from Cohen in order to construct a 
 navy. Labor paid for the navy out of revenue, established a 
 sound principle, and saved interest charges. 
 
 Defense Act, providing for a citizen soldiery, small arms 
 factories, military clothing factories, etc. The benefits of this 
 measure are specially appreciated now. 
 
 1911 Session 
 
 Establishment of Commonwealth Bank, i.e., the bank of the 
 nation. Commercial tranquillity and trade confidence in the 
 present crisis is very largely due to the existence of this nation- 
 backed institution. . . . 
 
 1912 Session 
 
 Maternity Allowance Act, so helpful to the mothers of 
 Australia. 
 
AUSTRALIA 333 
 
 The comprehensive Navigation Bill pistallt passek. It is 
 the largest measure yet passed by the Federal Parliament. 
 
 Interstate Commission Act. The commission is now in full 
 swing, and doing good preliminary work in bringing to light 
 strange commercial customs. 
 
 Commonwealth Workmen's Compensation Act. 
 
 Amendment of Invalid and Old-Agb Pensions Act, liberal- 
 izing the principal act in a number of ways, chief of which was 
 the abolishing of any deduction on account of the value of a 
 home of a pensioner who resides in his own home. 
 
 Amending Immigration Act in the direction of better protect- 
 rag, by means of medical inspection, the Commonwealth from 
 undesirable immigrants. 
 
 Repeal of Sugar Excise and Bounty Act in the interests 
 of the sugar industry. 
 
 Extending the benefits for a further period of two years of 
 the Manufactures Encouragement Act of 1908. Also extend- 
 ing for five years the assistance of the Bounties Act of 1907 on 
 the following goods: Elax and hemp, jute, linseed, rice (un- 
 cleaned), tobacco leaf, and fruits, dried or candied, and exported; 
 and for a period of two years from 1st January, 1914, the boun- 
 ties granted on combed wool and tops exported. 
 
 11. THE future of THE LABOR PARTY 
 
 (Editorial in The New Statesman, September 12, 1914) 
 
 The question now is whether, the Liberal Party having disap- 
 peared, labor can provide the qualities necessary for successful 
 progress along the lines already begun. This is doubtful; and 
 one's doubt is increased by reading the recent policy speech of 
 Mr. Fisher, the labor leader. Summarized, his proposals are: 
 
 1. The establishment of a commonwealth line of steamers. 
 
 2. Increased protection. 
 
 3. Initiative and referendum. 
 
 4. Australian navy constructed locally and financed out of 
 revenue. 
 
 5. Uniform railway gauge. 
 
 6. Dominions reciprocity. 
 
 7. Improvement of arbitration court procedure. 
 
 8. Vague remedies for increased cost of living. 
 
334 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD. 
 
 9. Pensions for widows and orphans. 
 
 10. Payment of cadets for work on holidays. 
 
 11. Superannuation scheme for public service. 
 
 12. Grants for investigation and treatment of consumption, 
 cancer, and syphilis. 
 
 13. Commonwealth insurance department. 
 
 14. Vague measure to cope with trusts and monopolies. 
 Such a program shows an appreciation of the point of view 
 
 of the average elector which amounts to genius, but it is a curious 
 production for a Socialist Party in the twentieth century. Ob- 
 serve how social and industrial problems are overlooked. It is 
 true that the rejection of the referenda, by which labor sought 
 extended powers, impairs the scope of the labor platform, but 
 a " stand-pat " attitude on industrial questions is not desirable. 
 The fact is that labor is not tackling the problems which previous 
 Liberal-Labor legislation has raised. This legislation cannot be 
 regarded as a complete solution of social difficulties. Its virtue 
 is that by disclosing nearer and more subtle problems it brings 
 us closer to the real issues which have to be faced before a solu- 
 tion is arrived at. . . . 
 
 It is to be feared that we have reached a stage in which the 
 Labor Party regards it as more important that it should hold 
 the reins of power than that it should trouble itself with a host 
 of problems of great complexity. The man of advanced views 
 can afford now to pass the Labor Party and look to what will 
 supersede it with a more virile and up-to-date set of ideas. At a 
 time when the utility of political machinery is being challenged 
 no class of people is less likely than the Australian worker to 
 be content with a " stand-pat " party. It was not as a party 
 of prudence but as a propagandist idealist body that the Labor 
 Party achieved success, and if it abandons this side of its efforts 
 it is not likely to remain useful or trusted. The Australian loves 
 change and recognizes no vested interest in the existing order. 
 Any definite and intelligent attempt at social readjustment would 
 secure support. 
 
AUSTRALIA 335 
 
 n, PROM THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY REPORT TO THE 
 PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST CONGRESS TO HAVE 
 BEEN HELD AT VIENNA IN 1914 
 
 Until quite recently Australia depended mostly upon primary 
 products for the income and profits of its owners, the capitalist 
 class. Now, however, the development of the factory system is 
 taking place with increasing rapidity; and according to some 
 figures just compiled by the government statistician of New South 
 Wales — the oldest and leading state of the Commonwealth — the 
 number of factories and employees are increasing out of all pro- 
 portion to the increase of population. The land monopolist in 
 the country has, in addition to the old system of rack-renting, 
 established a system of share-farming, under which he takes in 
 good seasons anything from one-third of the farmer's crop up- 
 wards. This system of peonage is having its effect in forcing men 
 ofE the land into the towns and cities, to swell the number 
 of factory employees and the army of unemployed in each 
 state. 
 
 According to the N. S. W. statistician's figures, wages in the 
 factories have risen nine per cent, which works out at about 
 £5 per head, but the cost of living has gone up more than twenty 
 per cent, so that the workers have suffered a serious reduction. 
 The rents workers have to pay astonish those who come from 
 older lands, and have risen so rapidly during the last two years 
 that the overcrowding in the slums has become a scandal and 
 disgrace. 
 
 Meanwhile, governments — both Liberal and Labor — are scour- 
 ing the globe for more people. Lying advertisements are widely 
 circulated in Europe to induce innocent people to come to this 
 country, who, when they arrive, are sadly disillusioned by finding 
 the class struggle more bitterly waged than they thought could 
 be possible. ' 
 
 To attract population, the various state governments advertise 
 widely certain advantages which labor is alleged to possess. One 
 of these is the industrial legislation of the country, which is said 
 to be the most up to date and most favorable to the workers 
 of any legislation in the world. Part of this claim is founded 
 upon our system of arbitration, which was specially designed 
 to do away with strikes and industrial unrest. 
 
336 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 ' In each of the six states of the Conunonwealth arbitration 
 courts and wages boards exist for the settlement of industrial 
 disputes, and if such a dispute spreads from one state to another 
 there is a federal arbitration court to which the parties to the 
 dispute may be summoned. 
 
 Originally industrial arbitration was advocated and popularized 
 by the Political Labor Party, and it took several years before it 
 could be passed into law. The employing class were very sus- 
 picious of it, but once it became law they saw how it benefited 
 them, and they are now quite enthusiastic in its support. So- 
 cialists warned the workers from the first that arbitration courts 
 and wages boards would fail to affect the class struggle in a way 
 that would be beneficial to them. The majority still fail to see 
 this, but there are more strikes than ever, which justifies our 
 contention and proves that our warning was timely. 
 
 Wages boards are presided over by a chairman, who is gen- 
 erally either a lawyer or a member of the employing class ap- 
 pointed by the state government. Before this chairman, who 
 often has no practical knowledge, an equal number of working- 
 class and capitalist representatives argue the dispute and produce 
 evidence. When the cost of living goes up, the board usually 
 recognizes the fact, and makes an award in favor of increased 
 wages. This is done after much forensic fighting and expenditure 
 of unionist money, and the result in most cases could have been 
 arrived at by the workers themselves with solidarity and proper 
 organization. 
 
 When an award has been made strikes and lockouts become 
 illegal, and many workers have been fined for striking. When 
 fines are inflicted upon the workers they are recoverable by 
 the state by means of the garnishee. The workers are not im- 
 prisoned for non-payment of fines, but when they recommence 
 work their wages are confiscated to pay the fines and costs. The 
 garnishee was invented by the New South Wales Labor Govern- 
 ment, and was quickly adopted by the Liberal governments of 
 other states. 
 
 Besides providing for the garnishee, the Industrial Arbitration 
 Act makes it a penal ofEense to advocate a strike or to assist 
 those on strike with monetary or other material support. The 
 authorities may take drastic steps to break a strike. They may 
 enter a unionist meeting hall and seize the union's books and 
 papers, and in the last great coal strike the government seized 
 
AUSTRALIA 337 
 
 trainloads of coal which the miners had taken from a mine they 
 had rented. 
 
 But with all its drastic features, industrial arbitration is a 
 failure, and the Labor politicians are directing the workers to 
 make an attack on trusts and combines as the cause of rising 
 prices and industrial unrest. They have failed to make wages 
 hoards raise wages as the cost of living rose, so are aiming to 
 bring the cost of living down by an attack on prices. (Our 
 italics.) 
 
 In this sham fight against the trusts the Federal Labor Party 
 leads the way. . . . During its term of office the Federal Labor 
 Party administered the class state on lines laid down by previous 
 capitalist governments, and even went further in some directions 
 than any other capitalist government would dare to go. The 
 result was that last year it was hurled from office by a small 
 majority. It had lost the big majority of three years previously, 
 and a good deal of the confidence of its own supporters. 
 
 There are many causes that contributed to the downfall of 
 the Labor Party, but one or two main ones need only be men- 
 tioned here. As soon as they found themselves in power mem- 
 bers of the party commenced to win the confidence of the small 
 employers and traders, a class which is notoriously ignorant, 
 loyal, and grasping. 
 
 Perhaps the pledging of the conscript forces to assist in 
 foreign aggression did more to disillusion many than anything 
 else. The party as a whole had been led to believe that the 
 conscripts were only to be used for home defense and the 
 maintenance of a white Australia, yet the leaders had pledged 
 their support to the imperial expansionists. 
 
 When the labor leaders returned from the coronation celebra- 
 tions there was a marked change in them. The aristocrats had 
 done their work, and probably the armament firms had not been 
 without their influence. Orders were placed for battleships and 
 an era of military and naval activity entered upon. 
 
 Eecent strikes in England, New Zealand, and South Africa, 
 where all available forces were used to defeat the workers, have 
 tended to decrease the belief in conscription, and at the Federal 
 Labor Conference, and also in the Federal Senate, attempts have 
 been made to so amend the act that the conscripts could not be 
 used for strike-breaking purposes. 
 
 The objective of the Labor Party has, since its inception, 
 
338 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 undergone a gradual but definite modification. It appears now 
 to be aiming at state capitalism. Money is being freely bor- 
 rowed from European financiers with which to start state enter- 
 prises, the profits from which are to be spent to pay interest on 
 loans and to build a navy and an army to defend the financiers' 
 interests. A sham fight against trusts and combines is main- 
 tained. 
 
 An attack in the courts upon the coal combine was prosecuted 
 even to the Privy Council in England, where it was, of course, 
 defeated by the very interests on trial. 
 
 Most of the trades-unions of Australia have hitherto been afiili- 
 ated with the Political Labor League which selects the parlia- 
 mentary candidates and frames the platform. The league has 
 been practically captured by the small capitalists and employers, 
 whose leaders are inveterate boodlers and men on the make. Sev- 
 eral have signified their political successes by building palatial 
 mansions in fashionable quarters and by aping the manners, 
 customs, and style of the ordinary capitalist snobocracy. This 
 is having a marked effect on many unionists, some of whom are 
 rushing into anarchist and other anti-political organizations in 
 opposition to the P. L. L. A significant disposition on the part 
 of a more moderate section in the unions has been a recent 
 attempt at the formation of a trade-union political party, which 
 should exclude employers and small capitalists from parliamen- 
 tary representation. Another fact, significant of the declining 
 faith in the old P. L. L. leaders, has been the opposition to the 
 levy struck by unions to found a daily paper. 
 
 The Australasian Socialist Party is opposed to every form of 
 militarism, and refuses to draw the color line. Its organ, The 
 International Socialist, has fought both the capitalist and laborite 
 press on these matters, and a good deal of educational work 
 has been done in union circles by its articles and consistent 
 attack. 
 
 A false impression has been created abroad by the capitalist 
 press, which constantly refers to the Labor Party as a Socialist 
 Party. The Labor Party is not a Socialist Party. It is really 
 a Liberal Party, and stands for much the same as the Liberal 
 Party of Great Britain does. It stands for a big navy and for 
 land taxation, just as Liberals like Lloyd-George and Winston 
 Churchill do. It stands for a loan policy and a huge charge 
 for interest, just as both the old parties in Britain do. It fathered 
 
AUSTRALIA 339 
 
 and adheres to conscription just as firmly as the National Service 
 League does in Britain, and in this respect is more conservative 
 than British Liberals are. It rejects the class struggle and claims 
 to represent all classes, but never neglects to side with the em- 
 ployers in industrial conflicts. Its objective is really state crpital- 
 ism. There is not a member of the Socialist Party in any 
 Parliament in the Commonwealth. Socialists who have contested 
 elections as Socialists have always been defeated. . . . 
 
 (See also " Militarism," " Compulsory Arbitration," " Immigra- 
 tion," and " The Race Question.") 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII 
 NEW ZEALAND 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 (From The New Statesman, 1914) 
 
 "In New Zealand, until recently, Liberal-Labor ideals 
 were dominant, and there was no effective independent 
 labor force, such as existed in Australia. In 1912, under 
 the guidance of an able American Socialist, Mr. W. T. 
 Mills, the United Labor Party was formed, consisting of 
 the affiliated trades-councils and Labor Party branches 
 and unions, a close combination in effect of trade-union 
 and 'reformist' Socialists, with an organization and a policy 
 resembling that of our own Labor Party. But outside this 
 stood, on the one hand, the syndicalistic Federation of 
 Labor, covering a large section of the trade-unions, and, 
 on the other, the Social Democratic Party, with an ex- 
 treme anti-reformist policy, and friendly to the Federation 
 of Labor. Last July, however, a conference was held, at 
 which the Federation of Labor and the S. D. P. split the 
 United Labor Party in twain, and carried with them the 
 majority of its supporters, including Mr. Mills himself. 
 The new party, with its double organization, the Federa- 
 tion of Labor, pursuing a militant policy on the industrial 
 sixie, and the S. D. P. as its equally militant political com- 
 plement, may be a powerful force in the future, though 
 it is too early yet to pass any judgment on it. But, in any 
 case, it is an interesting example of reversion from the 
 British to the German model. ' ' 
 
 340 
 
NEW ZEALAND 341 
 
 1. THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY 
 
 (From articles in The New Statesman [1913] by Edward 
 Tregear, for many years chief of the Labor Department of New 
 Zealand and now president of the new party.) 
 
 "It is fortunate for the purposes of this article that the 
 world-wide attention given to New Zealand's 'progressive 
 legislation' on social and economic subjects prevents the 
 necessity of a prologue of a semi-historical character. 
 There is no need to refer more than briefly to a period of 
 more than four or five years ago. At that time the political 
 position was, roughly, as follows: a Liberal Ministry, the 
 successor (in an unbroken line) of the 'Liberal and Labor' 
 Ministry of 20 years ago, occupied the seats of power. . An 
 Opposition Party, formed originally under the auspices of 
 the squatter or large landholder class, had made a stubborn 
 but unavailing fight against the Liberal ascendency 
 through all those years, but latterly with growing hope be- 
 cause its supporters saw that with the continued prosperity 
 of the country they had gained many Liberal friends who, 
 though still voting against the freeholder class for appear- 
 ance' sake, were in their hearts eager for the distinction 
 of being among the landed gentry and the 'squires' of the 
 rural districts. The fate of these two political parties 
 should have depended entirely on the way in which the 
 workers (always the huge majority in a 'one man, one 
 vote' community) threw their support electorally, but 
 practically the workers' vote was disregarded. Dissensions 
 among themselves neutralized the weight of their influence, 
 and it was usual among election agents to treat the labor 
 vote as a negligible quantity. The worker voted, as in 
 England, not for his mate but for his master. 
 
 "The causes of dissension among the workers were, as 
 elsewhere, many and intricate to dissect. Among these 
 
342 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 were ignorance of economies, distrust of one another's mo- 
 tives, unforgiving remembrance of harsh words hastily- 
 spoken, haziness of schemes for improvement, different 
 strata of wages and of craft-skill, and want of sympathy 
 wrought by diversity of occupation. Added to these were 
 local causes of misunderstanding, dissatisfaction with 
 awards of the Arbitration Court, disagreement on the very 
 principle of industrial arbitration, railings at the support 
 or non-support of striking unions, personal irritation 
 against particular ministers and officials, etc., etc. At last 
 the unrest took actual form and materialized. The 
 Miners' Federation took the wider name of the Federation 
 of Labor, and invited other unions to join what was gen- 
 erally considered to be a syndicalist organization frankly 
 avowing that it stood for 'the Industrial Revolution.' On 
 the other hand, the formation of the 'One Great Union' 
 was met by the institution of 'The United Labor Party,' 
 composed of the old craft-unions federated into trade- 
 groups — such as building trades, transportation trades, 
 etc. — with a central executive. The Federation of Labor 
 gathered into its bosom the coal-miners, gold-miners, 
 shearers, wharf-laborers, and many unions of unskilled 
 labor, altogether about 10,000 strong. The old trade- 
 councils with such unions of skilled trades as engineers, 
 carpenters, plumbers, tailors, shop-assistants, etc., joined 
 the United Labor Party, numbering about 30,000 souls. 
 At first there was little but friendly rivalry between these 
 two labor organizations, but they broke out into open war 
 over the strike at the Waihi Gold Mine in the North 
 Island. 
 
 "Just previous to this time, however, a general election 
 had been held. The workers had slowly but surely become 
 disaffected towards the continuous Liberal Ministry. The 
 famous old 'Liberal and Labor Party' of 1890 that had 
 
NEW ZEALAND 343 
 
 swept the Tories into obscurity had gradually forgotten 
 its origin, and its control had fallen with advancing years 
 into the hands of wealthy and powerful commercial men. 
 Labor considered that its interests were neglected and those 
 of its antagonists fostered. Moreover, a new generation 
 had arisen which knew nothing of the old grinding pressure 
 of the Tory heel. So, partly from sheer love of change, 
 partly in payment for neglect of their interests, thousands 
 of worker votes were cast against the Liberal Government, 
 with the effect that the Tories, who now called themselves 
 — ^with tongue in cheek — ^the 'Reform Party,' by a chance 
 found themselves with a number of members in the House 
 of Representatives nearly equal to that of the Liberals. 
 It was but by a chance, for less than 36 per cent of the 
 votes actually cast at the polls were for Tory candidates, 
 and so narrow was the margin of majority votes in some 
 of the electorates that a paltry 300 votes, if distributed, 
 would have secured the Liberals 12 more seats, thus giving 
 them a clear working majority once more. The support 
 of three Labor members kept the Liberals from utter defeat 
 and in power (under the Hon. T. Mackenzie, now High Com- 
 missioner for New Zealand in London) for a few months, 
 but the 'ratting' of four members elected as Liberals 
 completed the party's downfall, and allowed the pseudo 
 'Reform' Government to take charge for the present of 
 our political affairs. The Tories are in power, and prac- 
 tically on the labor vote ! 
 
 "While attention had been generally centered for some 
 time on political matters, the Waihi strike had assumed 
 a formidable aspect, on account not of the spreading of 
 the trouble, but of its feverish excitement. For 17 weeks 
 Waihi was the scene of picketings, union processions, hoot- 
 ings, boycotts, and, without doubt, open intimidation of 
 those persons opposed to the methods of the Federation of 
 
344 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 Labor. The trouble had arisen through the Waihi Miners' 
 Union — some 1,300 strong — which had canceled its regis- 
 tration under the Arbitration Act, attempting to retain in 
 its membership a small body of mining engine-drivers that 
 wished to break away and register under the act. So the 
 miners sent an ultimatum to the manager of the mine, 
 saying, in eifeet, that if these men were retained they 
 would 'down tools.' It will be seen later on that this de- 
 cision was based on a more important point of interest to 
 all unionists than the mere announcement of such an arbi- 
 trary demand seemed at first to warrant. At all events, 
 the United Labor Party thought that it was simply a deter- 
 mined attempt to injure a union which was trying to 
 register under the Arbitration Act. As support of the 
 principle of industrial arbitration was one of the tenets of 
 the United Labor Party, that party not only refused 
 financial aid to the strikers, but one of its branches, on 
 being applied to by an Australian trade-council for advice, 
 declined to advise Australians to subscribe to the strike 
 funds. This caused intense bitterness, and the Labor Party 
 was assailed in excited terms for its 'dog-in-the-manger' 
 policy, and its want of fraternal sympathy when help was 
 needed. 
 
 "The management of the Waihi mine had during the 
 17 weeks of turmoil obtained some 'free labor' to work 
 the mine ; it was very poor stuff, a few miners and a large 
 assortment of 'toughs' and the riff-raff of a mining town. 
 These, on attempting to open and work the mine, were 
 provided with a daily escort of abusive men and screaming 
 women. At last the Government moved in earnest to abate 
 the scandal and supplied the police protection that should 
 have been furnished weeks before. The strike leaders, to 
 the number of about 40, were sent to jail in Auckland, 
 not for what they had done, but because they would not 
 
NEW ZEALAND 345 
 
 find security that in future they would keep the peace. 
 When these men were removed, the galled strike-breakers, 
 under police protection, turned on their tormentors, and 
 the disorder broke into open anarchy. The Miners' Union 
 hall was stormed, one of its defenders killed by a policeman 
 who had been fired at, the strikers were ordered out of 
 Waihi, hunted into the scrub on the hills, their families 
 given 24 hours' notice to leave the place. All this was 
 done by the strike-breakers, not by the police; so at last 
 'order was restored.' . . . 
 
 "The immense importance of these events was at once 
 recognized by industrial unions and trade-unions all over 
 the country. The United Labor Party sniffed danger on 
 the wind and began to reconsider its position towards the 
 Federation. The peril lay in a direction which may not 
 be perceived at once outside New Zealand, so I will explain. 
 The Arbitration Act had never been made compulsory; 
 only those unions which decided to register were accepted ; 
 and, afterwards, if a union was dissatisfied it could apply 
 for cancellation and again have its freedom. Here, how- 
 ever, were two powerful unions — ^Waihi and Huntly — 
 which had renounced the act, endangered by the registra- 
 tion of two small unions, for only registered unions were 
 acknowledged by industrial law as existent. An agree- 
 ment drawn up between the small union and its employers 
 (the union probably fostered and 'owned' by the employ- 
 ers) could fix prices, hours, etc., for all persons working 
 at that occupation in the whole industrial district, so that 
 the large majority of unionists were practically at the 
 mercy of a few of their own recalcitrant members. To 
 howl 'scab!' or 'blackleg!' at the small union is futile, 
 and the liberty conceded when the Arbitration Act was 
 established has melted into thin air. The command to 
 unions now practically is : 'Arbitrate or die ! ' 
 
346 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 "A conference of trade-unions was called by the Federa- 
 tion of Labor in January last. About a hundred delegates, 
 representing 30,000 men, attended. Among these were 
 representatives of unions belonging to the Federation and 
 the United Labor Party, and of unions unaffiliated to either. 
 After the Conference opened, the executives of the United 
 Labor Party and of the Socialist Party were invited to 
 send delegates; four delegates (of whom I was one) from 
 these bodies attended. . . . The Conference resolved that, 
 although no pledge binding on any union was to be made, 
 each delegate should use his most strenuous efforts to 
 induce his union to agree (1) to stop abuse and forget all 
 cause of former offense, so that for six months there should 
 be truce and alliance; (2) to send delegates to a congress 
 in July, at which the present constitutions of the United 
 Labor Party, the Federation of Labor, and the Socialist 
 Party should be merged and one constitution to which all 
 should agree — if possible — should be adopted. In order to 
 have a common line of pre-discussion among unions, a 
 unity committee was set up which drafted the sketch of a 
 possible organization, its industrial side to be called the 
 United Federation of Labor, its political side to be named 
 the Social Democratic Party. The Conference dissolved, 
 but the Unity Committee entered on a campaign to capture 
 all unions before the session of the Congress in July. 
 
 "The response was enthusiastic, and the efforts of the 
 movers are meeting with hearty response. Organizers were 
 out in all directions, speaking in public halls and at street 
 corners, passing from town to town, distributing literature 
 and forming committees. Trade-councils, craft-unions, 
 federations of trades, affiliated and unaffiliated unions 
 joined and sent in funds for propaganda work. Our ob- 
 jective was plainly enough stated, as follows: 'The social- 
 ization of the collectively used means of production, dis- 
 
NEW ZEALAND 347 
 
 tribution, and exchange.' The Tory Government of this 
 Dominion recognizes fully and openly two things: first, 
 that it has nothing to fear just now from the Liberal Party ; 
 next, that it has much to fear from the Labor Party if 
 the rift hitherto dividing our forces can be closed. One 
 of the ministers lately said as much in a public speech — 
 viz., that the only safety of the 'Reform Party was to keep 
 the workers divided.' . . . 
 
 ' ' On July 1 the Congress assembled. It consisted of 380 
 delegates, representing over 50,000 persons; the largest 
 labor congress ever held in Australia. The sittings occu- 
 pied ten days, and resulted in the formation of ' The United 
 Federation of Labor' and of 'The Social Democratic 
 Party.' ... 
 
 ' ' The principal issue of the deliberations was the forma- 
 tion of two bodies, one exclusively industrial and the other 
 entirely political, yet so interwoven and interdependent 
 that they possess common interests and give mutual sup- 
 port. The industrial body, the United Federation of 
 Labor, consists of local trade-unions arranged in ten de- 
 partments. One of these is called the Building Trades 
 Department. To this carpenters, masons, bricklayers, 
 painters, etc., belong. Another is the Transportation 
 Trades Department, including seamen, drivers, railway 
 servants, tramway men, etc. In similar manner the whole 
 industrial world is arranged and systematized. Each of 
 these departments elects one member of the central ex- 
 ecutive, but the president and chief officials are elected 
 annually by direct vote of the whole Federation. The 
 purpose of the Federation is boldly and unflinchingly 
 stated. It is to 'bring about a co-operative commonwealth 
 based upon industrial democracy.' "... 
 
348 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 2. PROGRAM OP THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY 
 
 (Adopted June, 1913) 
 
 Socialization of the means of production, distribution, and 
 exchange. 
 
 Universal woman suffrage (instead of the present limited 
 franchise). 
 
 Proportional representation. 
 
 The initiative and referendum. 
 
 The recall of elected persons. 
 
 The right to work. 
 
 A legal minimum wage. 
 
 A legal six-hour day. 
 
 Voluntary (instead of compulsory) submission of the unions 
 to the arbitration courts. 
 
 Representation of the workingmen on the administrative bodies 
 of all governmental industries. 
 
 The building of commercial ships by the state. 
 
 State insurance against death, accidents, sickness, and fires. 
 
 Old-age pensions of £32 for all women of 50 and all men of 
 60 who have lived 15 years in the country. 
 
 Substitution for compulsory military service of voluntary 
 organizations with democratic administration, which cannot be 
 used in labor disputes. 
 
 n. THE ELECTIONS OP 1914* 
 1. REVIEW AND FORECAST 
 
 By Edward Tregear 
 
 ' ' The next general election in New Zealand, taking place 
 at the end of this year [1914], promises scenes of un- 
 precedented excitement. The cause of this political tur- 
 moil is the determined effort of the wealthy Tory Party to 
 keep in power and rule the democracy with what the 
 victors call 'firmness' and the victims call 'a rod of iron.' 
 Much of the rancor felt against the government arises from 
 
 • The New Statesman, August, 8, 1914. 
 
NEW ZEALAND 349 
 
 the belief that its members have no right to the seats of 
 power, having only gained that position by the 'ratting' 
 of men who were elected to oppose them; also that the 
 votes east at the last general election for the Tories were 
 scarcely one-third of the total votes polled. Not only this, 
 but the autocratic suppression of the Wellington Wharf 
 strike by armed force and by vindictive sentences on the 
 advocates of the strike caused intense feeling in the towns, 
 while the general failure of the Tories to keep when in 
 power the pledges they made before election strengthens 
 the bitter opposition to their continuance of rule. They 
 promised to reduce taxation; the taxation per capita has 
 greatly increased. They pledged themselves to curtail ap- 
 plications to the British money market for loans ; they have 
 borrowed more heavily than any of their predecessors. 
 They engaged to give labor a 'square deal'; and the coun- 
 try worker was 'sooled' on to the workers in the cities. 
 By harsh use of their small majority in the House they 
 have taken the control of the Civil Service from a Parlia- 
 ment triennially elected, and handed it over for seven years 
 to commissioners appointed by themselves. They have 
 given the freehold tenure to men who acquired leases of 
 land on the distinct understanding that the land was public 
 property, and could not be parted with except on lease. 
 They have partially destroyed the good understanding 
 formerly existing with the British Admiralty by advocat- 
 ing a separate navy consisting of a little cruiser with 
 which to guard the Pacific, but nevertheless the scheme is 
 pregnant with a promise of smothering taxation in the 
 future in order to keep up in 'the race of armaments.' 
 They have destroyed the second ballot in favor of the old 
 rotten system of 'the first past the post' at elections, in the 
 hope that the Liberals and the Labor men may split votes, 
 and so let the Tory in. These are not a tenth part of the 
 
350 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OE THE WORLD 
 
 complaints which are brought against the existing govern- 
 ment as the record of its short time of office. 
 
 "Against these indictments must be considered the prob- 
 able support of the rural districts to a party which has 
 shown itself inimical at every point to the citizens of towns. 
 Many of the farmers are now aware of the deception prac- 
 ticed on them to induce the celebrated 'cowboy raid' at the 
 time of the strike last December, and know that they were 
 deluded into helping the shipping ring to maintain high 
 freights and low wages. Nevertheless, the farmers not only 
 shipped their butter in time to receive the highest prices 
 in the London market, but they also received a subsidy of 
 £100,000 in 'wages' as special police called in to load their 
 own goods on to the ocean liners. This extra donation 
 from the pockets of the general taxpayer naturally put the 
 recipients into good humor towards their Tory benefactors. 
 Then there is also 'the country quota' — of which, perhaps, 
 English people are unaware. It gives an advantage of 28 
 per cent to a rural over an urban constituency. Thus 
 3,000 men in the country have a representative, against 
 over 4,000 in a town — Heaven knows why ; perhaps because 
 in days when the country was sparsely settled and com- 
 munication difficult the dwellers in the wilds needed an 
 advantage that at present is unfair. It tells strongly in 
 the composition of Parliament, and gives the farmer, whose 
 isolation always tends towards reaction, a preference for 
 Tory methods and undue weight in carrying them 
 out. ..." 
 
 2. QUESTIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES PROPOSED BY 
 SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 1914 
 
 Wni the speaker explain the following, and state whether or 
 not he will work and vote for their adoption if returned to 
 Parliament : 
 
NEW ZEALAND 351 
 
 (1) The initiative and referendum on proper petition; 
 
 (2) The right of recall of all elective oflftcers; 
 
 (3) Proportional representation, to apply to the whole 
 dominion ; 
 
 (4) Abolition of the country quota; 
 
 (5) The repeal of the penal clauses of Massey's "Industrial 
 Disputes Investigation Act," and the abolition of fines and im- 
 prisonment for refusal to work or for giving support to those 
 on strike; 
 
 (6) The right of the workers to organize their own unions 
 independent of employers, and to federate their own unions into 
 a national federation of their own, just as the employers them- 
 selves are already organized, and thus making bogus imions of 
 labor impossible; 
 
 (7) National provision of employment for all able-bodied un- 
 employed, under standard conditions prevailing; 
 
 (8) The restoration of the legal industrial rights taken from 
 the workers by Massey's " Police Offenses Amendment Act, 1913," 
 and so placing the New Zealand workingman on the same legal 
 footing as is guaranteed to British workers; 
 
 (9) If you intend supporting any of these measures in the 
 future, what have you done for any of them in the past? 
 
 3. THE LABOR REPEESENTATION COMMITTEE 
 
 (From The Maoriland Worker, November 4, 1914) 
 "The Social Democrats in "Wellington, convinced that 
 in all political matters the workers must not be deprived 
 by any committee of leaders of the right to select both con- 
 stituencies and candidates, and therefore unable to act in 
 conjunction with the newly formed Labor Representation 
 Committee, have nevertheless considerably strengthened 
 their own position by giving solid proof of their desire to 
 avert any clash witli other bodies claiming to represent 
 labor. The withdrawal of the Social Democratic candidates 
 in "Wellington East and "Wellington Central now leaves the 
 field in those electorates, as well as in "Wellington South 
 and "Wellington Suburbs, to the candidates of the L. R. C. 
 
352 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 The Social Democrats will fight the strongest of labor's 
 enemies in the north. Although we have disagreed with 
 the L. E. C. 's methods, we would urge every worker in the 
 constituencies affected to rally to the support of the L. R. C. 
 candidates. We want to see the Massey Government de- 
 feated; we want to see every possible representative of 
 labor returned to the new Parliament. All our differences 
 may be discussed and thrashed out when the election is 
 over. In the face of the common foe, our duty is working- 
 class solidarity." 
 
 4. THE EESULTS OF THE ELECTION, 1914 
 
 (From The Maoriland Worker, December 16, 1914 
 
 "Even if the Massey Party [the Tory or Governmental 
 Party] should succeed in retaining office, it will not be by 
 the wish of the people but in defiance of the majority of 
 the people. The returns (exclusive of absentees and ex- 
 peditionaries [sent to the war] ) give the following results : 
 
 Labor 51,088 
 
 Liberals 204,294 
 
 255,382 
 Tories 226,795 
 
 Anti-Tory majority 28,587 
 
 "So that by a majority of nearly 30,000 the people of 
 New Zealand have recorded their condemnation of Tory 
 rule. Had the elections been decided under a true system 
 of proportional representation there would have been no 
 possibility of the Massey Party retaining office and the 
 power to do further harm. 
 
 "The North Island gave the Tories a majority, the figures 
 being : Tories, 134,409 ; Liberals, 110,697 ; Labor, 28,129. 
 
 ' ' The South Island was overwhelming in its defeat of the 
 
NEW ZEALAND 353 
 
 Tories, who received 92,386 votes as against 93,607 cast for 
 the Liberals, and 22,959 for the Social Democratic and 
 Labor candidates. 
 
 "There were nine official candidates contesting seats 
 under the auspices of the Social Democratic Party, and 
 these polled an aggregate of 21,457, equal to 2,384 votes 
 per candidate. 
 
 "Two candidates were put forward under the joint aus- 
 pices of the Social Democratic Party and the Dunedin 
 Trades and Labor Council, and they polled a total of 7,677 
 votes. 
 
 "In Wellington the Labor Representation Committee 
 had three candidates, who polled a combined Liberal and 
 Labor vote of 10,167. 
 
 "Other Labor candidates . . . indorsed by purely local 
 Labor bodies polled 10,609 votes. 
 
 "Four others who ran as 'Labor' candidates without any 
 organization behind them polled an aggregate of 1,178 
 votes. 
 
 "An analysis of the Social Democratic and Labor voting 
 gives the following results : 
 
 Social Democratic Party ' 21,457 
 
 Social Democratic Party and Dunedia Trades and 
 
 Labor Council 7,677 
 
 Wellington Labor Representation Committee (La- 
 bor and Liberal vote) 10,167 
 
 Other Labor candidates 10,609 
 
 Independent Labor candidates 1,178 
 
 Social Democratic and Labor total 51,088 
 
 (See also "The General Strike.") 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Only about one-fourth of the population of the recently 
 formed Commonwealth of South Africa is European, 
 4,700,000 out of its 6,000,000 population being colored. As 
 the colored, and especially the full-blooded Negroes, are 
 barred by law from becoming miners or engineers, and are 
 excluded by custom from most other skilled occupations, 
 the labor movement has been almost exclusively among the 
 white and the skilled. 
 
 n. THE LABOR PARTY AND ELECTIONS OP 1913 
 
 Soon after the formation of the new state from the 
 Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal, and the Cape 
 Colony, the Labor Party was founded. At the elections of 
 1910 it elected 4 of the 121 members of Parliament (a num- 
 ber later raised to 5) and secured a strong representation 
 in the municipal governments of Johannesburg and 
 Pretoria. 
 
 Following the great railway and general strike of 1913, 
 the party made some far more remarkable gains, portend- 
 ing a strong Labor Party influence in the next Parliament. 
 In a by-election in the Cape Colony, the Labor candidate 
 secured 1,298 votes against a total vote of 811 for his 
 two opponents. In the elections for the Provincial Council 
 of the Cape Colony, Abdul Abdurahman, the Labor Party 
 
 354 
 
SOUTH AFEICA 355 
 
 candidate, was elected by a large majority and the Labor 
 vote increased throughout the colony. 
 
 But the greatest victory was in the Transvaal, where 
 the strike had centered. Here the Provincial Government 
 fell completely into the hands of the Labor Party, a result 
 all the more remarkable as little over half of the Council 
 were voted upon at this election. 
 
 The House is composed of 45 members, and there were 
 25 to elect, of which number the Labor Party captured 23 
 seats and the Conservatives 2. The popular vote was: 
 Labor, 26,108 ; Conservative, 12,305 ; Nationalist, 3,029, and 
 about 1,500 scattering. The figures show that some of the 
 most prominent politicians and military officers who stood 
 for election to the House suffered the most crushing defeat. 
 In several instances laboring men were voted out of jail 
 and into the legislature with large majorities. 
 
 The dispatch in The Daily Citizen (London) attributed 
 this sweeping victory to the following causes : 
 
 The interference of the Eandlords, the dragooning of the 
 masses by Botha and Smuts, the terrible Peace Preserva- 
 tion Bill, the desire to oust white labor and to substitute 
 cheap, servile, and inefficient labor, and, last but far from 
 least, the deportations. 
 
 All of these factors were dealt with above in connection 
 with the general strike of 1913 — ^which was as much a po- 
 litical as an economic crisis. 
 
 (See also Immigration and the Race Question and 
 Government Ownership.) 
 
SECTION V 
 SOCIALISM IN CHINA 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 CHINA 
 
 I. INTEODTJCTOEY 
 
 The Socialist Party in China, as in Japan, is illegal. It 
 is, therefore, impossible to give any accurate idea of its 
 strength or recent development. Moreover, since the prac- 
 tical abolition of constitutional government by Yuan Shi 
 Kai, the Parliament has ceased to be a parliament in fact, 
 and it is therefore impossible even to estimate the Social- 
 ist vote. 
 
 Nevertheless, during the brief existence of a constitu- 
 tional Parliament, there were two movements in China that 
 interest us : one, a definitely Socialistic Party, the other the 
 movement headed by Sun Yat Sen, representing ideals and 
 a program similar to those of the labor parties recognized 
 as Socialistic by the International Socialist Congresses and 
 the Reformist wings of the 'Socialist Parties in many 
 countries. 
 
 "We therefore give an authoritative account of these 
 movements, especially because of the future importance of 
 China. 
 
 357 
 
358 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE "WORLD 
 
 n. AN INTERVIEW WITH SUN TAT SEN 
 
 By Kannibelle in Japan, October 9, 1913 
 (Published in The New York Call, June 28, 1914) 
 
 [Dr. Sun, the first President of China, is regarded by 
 himself and many others as a Socialist. His position is 
 similar in many points to that of the Australian Labor 
 Party or the Eussian Labor group.] 
 
 "A political revolution is a necessary initial step toward 
 an economic and industrial revolution. ... In constitu- 
 tional countries the revolution will be attained through 
 education and evolution; these are bloodless revolu- 
 tions. . . . 
 
 "The trouble in China is economic. It is between the 
 landless, starving millions and the landed interests, who, 
 for fear of the ire of the people, have thrown themselves 
 into the arms of the foreign capitalists. But after the 
 establishment of a constitution and the overthrow of Yuan 
 Shi Kai, the newest revolution, however, needs no 
 blood. . . . 
 
 "Some people have construed this secondary revolution 
 as the inauguration of Socialism. ... 
 
 "Socialism in China is known as Shay kwei choo yee, 
 which in English means 'the theory of humanitarianism. ' 
 This policy, which defied the usurped authority of Yuan 
 Shi Kai, is the policy of the southern patriots, who aim 
 at equality, universal love, and peace. This policy de- 
 mands mutual aid, the abolition of the old 'class' system, 
 and pledges itself to guarantee the abolition of poverty 
 as well as extreme wealth. . . . 
 
 "Therefore, Socialism is the only method of serving our 
 politico-economic problems. . . . 
 
 "I know that industrialism is necessary in China; the 
 
CHINA 359 
 
 march of civilization is too insistent to be stayed, and it 
 must come to China. "We must develop our resources, and 
 the development of them provides food for serious thought. 
 I want to avoid what seems to be the natural corollary of 
 advanced modern capitalism — the unfair treatment of the 
 toiler. And when I look around me for a solution I find 
 none has yet been found by foreign countries. 
 
 "In our virgin country there is opportunity to begin 
 rightly, and I am convinced that we should strive in every 
 way so to meet the advance of industrialism that the worst 
 features of it should be prevented from ever taking root. 
 Therefore, I advocate Socialism. And what do I mean by 
 that ? I shall work in the future, as I have been working 
 in the past, for the introduction of a system whereby the 
 creators of wealth, the labor, will be able to receive its fair 
 share of the production, and this must be based upon a 
 common ground of justice and fraternity. By this system 
 production would be enhanced and increased to the 
 maximum, with a minimum of poverty and labor slavery. 
 All men would have their proportion of the products of 
 the wealth now awaiting development at their hands ; they 
 would reap the full fruit of their toil, secure favorable 
 conditions of labor, and obtain opportunity in leisure to 
 think of other things than the daily grind in the mill or 
 the mine. They would be able to cultivate the mind, have 
 adequate recreation, and procure the blessings which 
 should be in all men's lives, but which, on the showing 
 of other nations, are largely denied the workers and the 
 poorer masses. 
 
 "A chance would be given to all in the race for a liveli- 
 hood in life, and the fullest measure of liberty should be 
 provided. This is what I will fight to establish in China. 
 
 "When I urge Socialism, or a Socialistic system of gov- 
 ernment, I urge a system which will create for the people 
 
360 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 of China a direct interest in the vital affairs of their whole 
 country; consequently it will create a more virile and 
 worthy patriotism. I want to see the great multitudes of 
 my country participate in the results of the productiveness 
 of the country that is their own, and this is what I mean 
 by nationalism. 
 
 "I also want to see that the state derives the fullest 
 value from the sources of revenue which should be under 
 its immediate control. I advocate state ownership of rail- 
 ways, tramways, electric light power, gas-works, canals, 
 and forests. I want to see royalties coming to the state 
 from mines and revenues from the land. . . . 
 
 "The revenue derived from all these avenues will con- 
 stitute a sum greatly in excess of what will be needed for 
 state administration, and the balance may be used in the 
 necessary work of education and the more charitable and 
 desirable objects, such as the old-age pension, the care of 
 the lame and the blind. . . . 
 
 "The Kuo Mang Tang, the Nationalist Party in China, 
 is in charge of these various political principles ; its success 
 or failure depends upon its members. It is powerful 
 throughout the entire country, especially in the east and 
 in the south. Its influence is extensive and is rich in 
 resources. Numerous publications, banks, and other great 
 industrial associations are supporting this party. Almost 
 all the merchants who consider themselves enlightened are 
 its members. 
 
 ' ' Prom America it derives its greatest moral and mental 
 weapons. From America the student class brings liberal 
 and enlightened economic and political ideas, while from 
 his curio shop or from his laundry the Chinese Nationalist 
 forwards his voluntary contribution for the enhancement 
 of this 'theory of humanitarianism. ' 
 
 "Thirteen out of 22 provincial governors are its mem- 
 
CHINA 361 
 
 bers. Thirteen or more local legislatures are therefore 
 under its control. . . . Out of a total of 880 members in 
 the new Parliament, 446 are Nationalists, while the po- 
 litical unionists, the Yuan Shi Kai partisans, number 120 ; 
 the rest are Eepublicans, under Li Yuan Hung; the Dem- 
 ocrats, under Kang Liang, and the Independents. The 
 Yuan Shi Kai regime at first tried to unite his faction 
 with the rest of the factions in opposition to the Nation- 
 alist Party. Those he could not persuade he bought over, 
 while he succeeded in exterminating many members of the 
 Nationalist Party in the Parliament until he attained the 
 necessary majority to perpetuate himself in power. 
 
 "These are the facts regarding the rebellion of the 
 South and the East. No, there will never be true peace 
 and tranquillity in China until the country's politico- 
 economic problems are solved 'by and through selective 
 judgment of the people of China. ' 
 
 "Mj country is awakening and is awakening fast for 
 one which has been in a stupor for many centuries. She 
 wiU soon take her place and demand respect among the 
 greatest nations of the world. Yuan Shi Kai may retard 
 her progress, but he cannot thwart her steady advance 
 indefinitely." 
 
 in. SOCIALISM IN CHINA 
 
 By Kiang Kang Hu 
 
 (In The Masses, October, 1914) 
 
 ' ' The forcible dissolution of the Socialist Party of China 
 a year ago by order of the military dictator. Yuan Shi Kai, 
 attracted little attention in the American press. It was a 
 party that had grown up so swiftly that even the Socialists 
 of America hardly knew of its existence, let alone of its 
 power and influence. 
 
362 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 "Yet it -was so large and powerful as to arouse the fear 
 of the despot, Yuan Shi Kai, and to call for the most 
 bloody methods of suppression. The mere facts will aston- 
 ish anyone not acquainted with the nature of the Chinese 
 people, as revealed by recent history. 
 
 "In 1911 the first Socialist group was formed, and the 
 first Socialist paper started. In three months, under the 
 impetus of the First Eevolution, the movement spread all 
 over China. . . . Several Socialists had been elected to the 
 Parliament of the newly established republic at Peking, 
 and Socialist measures had been introduced.* There were 
 in existence more than 50 Socialist newspapers. Socialist 
 free public schools had been established, a Socialist trade- 
 union organized, a woman's auxiliary started, and immense 
 quantities of leaflets and pamphlets distributed. Most curi- 
 ously Chinese of all, Socialist theatrical organizations were 
 touring the country from end to end with Socialist plays. 
 
 "In view of these facts, which only one who has seen 
 the tremendous development of revolutionary ideas in 
 China recently can well believe, it is not strange that the 
 bloody hand of Yuan Shi Kai should have fallen on the 
 Socialist movement. That the despot took the movement 
 seriously is shown by the decree of dissolution which he 
 issued August 8, 1913 : 
 
 " The Socialist Party of China is using the cloak of a political 
 party in order to conceal its evil designs. These demagogues 
 would coerce the Government and flatter the people for their own 
 evil ends. They are a danger to peace and law and order. They 
 advocate violence and assassination. Therefore they have in- 
 curred the displeasure not only of the Government but of the 
 
 * Chang Chi, President of the first Senate, was a Socialist, educated 
 in Paris and a friend of Jaurfes. Ma Su, Sun Yat Sun's secretary, editor 
 of the daily China Bepublican the principal revolutionary newspaper 
 ( in English ), and many others were Socialists. 
 
CHINA 363 
 
 people as well. Many letters have been received from officers 
 of Tien Tsin, Peking, and elsewhere, warning us agaiast Socialist 
 plots and conspiracies. Many foreign anarchists have joined 
 them in order to disturb the international peace. The Socialist 
 Party of China is not like the Socialists of other countries, who 
 merely study Socialism. If we do not put an end to their activi- 
 ties a great outburst will follow. 
 
 " Therefore we have issued this decree calling upon the pro- 
 vincial governments and generals to dissolve the Socialist Party 
 of China wherever found, and to arrest the leaders. 
 
 " Thus law and order can be preserved. 
 
 "Yuan Shi Kai, 
 "President of the Eepublic. 
 
 "The decree was carried out. Everywhere the branches 
 of the Socialist Party were forcibly broken up by troops, 
 their treasuries confiscated, and their leaders arrested and 
 executed. Not only that, but the homes and places of busi- 
 ness of those known to be members of the Socialist Party 
 were looted or confiscated. 
 
 "The national headquarters of the party alone escaped, 
 being located in English Town, Shanghai, iiut the whole 
 fabric of the organization was effectually, for the time 
 being, destroyed. 
 
 "In order to make it clear how such an organization as 
 this could come to exist in China, it ^s necessary to under- 
 stand two things. One is that in China the propaganda of 
 such doctrines as Republicanism and Revolutionism come 
 with all the tremendous blasting power of the New. The 
 Chinese have not been inoculated against these ideas. The 
 Chinese mind in the first years of this century was virgin 
 soil. 
 
 • "The other thing to understand is that the sentiment of 
 Communism is very strong in China, having lasted from 
 primitive times in the form of various customs and institu- 
 tions. And industrially China is still in the handicraft 
 
364 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE ■V^ORLD 
 
 stage of production : Capitalism has not yet brought in the 
 philosophy of individualism as it has in the Western world. 
 So the idea of the common ownership of the means of pro- 
 duction is no strange and curious conception to the people 
 of China. They do not have to overcome a century of 
 capitalist education before they can believe in Socialism. 
 
 "In the last decade there had been scattered here and 
 there in small groups throughout the Empire a few people 
 who studied and advocated Humanitarianism, Communism, 
 and Socialism. These groups, however, had no connection 
 with each other, and their ideas were, for the most part, 
 vague and misty. But they furnished, in a few cases, an 
 impetus for the starting of radical newspapers. These 
 newspapers had as their purpose the introduction of new 
 ideas into the country. 
 
 "Chief among the methods of introducing new ideas was 
 the translation of "Western authors. There were thus pub- 
 lished in Chinese portions of the writings of Balzac and 
 Victor Hugo, of Byron and Shelley, of Dickens and Mark 
 Twain, of Goethe and Heine, and, later on, of Kropotkin, 
 Marx, Engels, and Bebel. 
 
 "The revolutionary ideas of these poets and writers 
 served to educate the readers of these newspapers, and 
 incidentally their editors. I, Kiang Kang Hu, was an 
 editor of one of these papers, being at the same time in- 
 structor in the University of Peking. Coming in contact 
 with the doctrine of Socialism in this way, I became inter- 
 ested, and finally converted. Especially did I admire and 
 value the master-work of August Bebel, Woman Under 
 Socialism. So profoundly did it influence me that I began 
 an agitation for the establishment of schools for women — 
 a thing which had been undreamed of before in China. 
 The agitation was successful, and many schools were set up. 
 
 "Full of this idea, I went in June, 1911, on a lecturing 
 
CHINA 365 
 
 tour through the Che Kiang province, speaking on Woman 
 and the Socialist Movement. This speech was issued in 
 pamphlet form and had a tremendous circulation. Then 
 the storm of official displeasure broke over me. The 
 viceroy of the province ordered my arrest. My newspaper 
 and pamphlet were confiscated, and with due solemnity 
 publicly burned. I, disguised as a porter, escaped to Eng- 
 lish Town, Shanghai, where I was safe from arrest. This 
 was the first instance on record of the prosecution of a So- 
 cialist in China. 
 
 "It was also the beginning of the Socialist movement. 
 On July 10, 1911, I organized a Socialist club in Shanghai, 
 and on the same day the Socialist Star, the first Socialist 
 paper in China, made its appearance. 
 
 "This Socialist Club of Shanghai was originally organ- 
 ized more to study Socialism than to propagate it. About 
 50 men and women were members of the group, and ear- 
 nestly they studied the Socialist classics. 
 
 "But meanwhile, the First Revolution had started in 
 the South, at Hankow. On November 3, 1911, Shanghai 
 fell into the hands of the revolutionists. Then the club 
 changed its name to the Socialist Party of China, and 
 organizers were sent out into the southern provinces, where 
 many new branches were organized. The Socialist Star 
 became a daily, and had a wide circulation. The party 
 membership increased with enormous rapidity. The Shi 
 Hui Tong, or Socialist Party, was the first political party 
 as such in China. On November 5, 1911, it met in its first 
 annual convention at Shanghai and adopted a platform. 
 
 "These Socialists, though not clear Marxists, having so 
 recently been drawn into the movement, were nevertheless 
 enthusiastically in earnest in their desire to establish a 
 Socialist republic. They declared in their preamble for 
 the common ownership of the land and the means of pro- 
 
366 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OF THE WORLD 
 
 duction, and then adopted the following eight planks as a 
 working platform: 
 
 " 1. The establishment of a Republican form of govern- 
 ment. ... 
 
 "2. The wiping out of all racial differences. ... 
 
 " 3. The aljolition of all the remaining forms of feudal slavery 
 and the establishment of the principle of equality before the 
 law. ... 
 
 " 4. The abolition of all hereditary estates. ( China has a vast 
 agricultural population, which suffers under absentee landlord- 
 ism. . . . The agrarian question is one of the greatest problems 
 in China to-day.) 
 
 "5. A free and universal school system, on co-educational 
 lines, together with free text-books and the feeding of school 
 children. (The great bulk of the people of China cannot read 
 and write. There are as yet no public schools.) . . . 
 
 " 6. The abolition of all titles and estates. . . . 
 
 "7. The abolition of the army and navy. 
 
 "This platform was used by the 30 Socialists elected to 
 the first Parliament at Peking as their working program. 
 They introduced into Parliament a measure for equal, 
 direct, and secret suffrage; a measure for the establish- 
 ment of public schools; a measure for the abolition of all 
 personal taxes. A measure to create an inheritance tax; 
 a measure to abolish capital punishment; a measure to 
 reduce the standing army; a measure to abolish girl 
 slavery. None of these measures came up for a final vote, 
 for before that time the Parliament had been dissolved by 
 the soldiers of Yuan Shi Kai. 
 
 ' ' The party had by this time over four hundred branches 
 in China, each with its ofi&cial teachers and readers — for a 
 great part of the membership could not read. Agitators and 
 organizers, most of them working without pay, were sent out 
 broadcast. The party owned its own printing plant, and 
 published three official papers, the Daily Socialist Star, the 
 
CHINA 367 
 
 Weekly Socialist Bulletin, and the Monthly Official Bul- 
 letin. Among the pamphlets and leaflets which were 
 printed at this plant and sent out in great quantities, one 
 of the most popular was 'The Communist Manifesto.' In 
 addition, many branches printed their own local papers, 
 and at one time there were over 50 of these in existence. 
 Then, too, there were between 10 and 15 privately owned 
 papers which supported the Socialist Party. The extreme 
 left of the Young China Association leaned strongly toward 
 the party, and the columns of many Young China papers 
 were open to the Socialists. 
 
 "The most important of the free public schools estab- 
 lished by the party was situated at Nanking. This school 
 had an attendance of over eight hundred. Free public 
 kindergartens were also established by the party. 
 
 "A very curious part of the party organization was the 
 Socialist Opera and Orchestra Company. In China, actors 
 and musicians are very low caste. After the First Revolu- 
 tion, many of these joined the party, and the party organ- 
 ized them into several theatrical companies, which toured 
 the country, playing symbolical Socialist plays, and prov- 
 ing themselves an invaluable adjunct to the party propa- 
 ganda. 
 
 "The woman's organization had for its main work the 
 furthering of the agitation for woman's suffrage. This 
 organization had at one time close to one thousand members, 
 and in addition many women belonged directly to the party 
 itself. Schools for women were started by the party, and 
 had a large attendance. 
 
 "In addition, the party collected funds for the sufferers 
 in the famine districts, and in other places where there 
 was need. 
 
 "Meanwhile, an anarchist movement had grown up in 
 China. Some of the anarchists joined the Socialist Party 
 
368 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES OP THE WORLD 
 
 and sought to foist their views upon it. These two hostile 
 schools of thought came to open battle at the second annual 
 convention of the party. Finding themselves in a hope- 
 lessly small minority, the anarchists split off and formed 
 the 'Pure Socialist Party.' . . . 
 
 "The 'Pure Socialist Party' and other anarchist groups 
 did much to discredit the Socialist Party of China. People 
 confused one with the other, and when the reaction set in, 
 the Government craftily used this confusion to further its 
 ends. 
 
 "Already during the second year of its existence, the 
 Socialist Party was meeting with bitter opposition, . . . 
 not only from the Government, but also from the Eepub- 
 licans and the Constitutional Monarchists. Nevertheless, 
 the party continued to grow. 
 
 "But Yuan Shi Kai was now extending his power and 
 strengthening his army, with the intention of making his 
 despotism secure. One by one the Republicans were skill- 
 fully worked out of place and power. Finally Song Chi 
 Ying, one of the leaders of the Young China Association, 
 who had raised a voice of suspicion against Yuan Shi Kai, 
 was assassinated, and though there was no direct proof, it 
 was believed by all that the assassin had been paid to do 
 his work by Yuan Shi Kai. The despot in the meantime 
 had borrowed great sums of money from the foreign banks, 
 without consulting Parliament, as the constitution pro- 
 vided, and was using this money to strengthen his posi- 
 tion. 
 
 "All during the months of March and April, 1913, the 
 Socialist Party held gigantic mass meetings all over the 
 country, at which they exposed the duplicity of the Pro- 
 visional President, Yuan Shi Kai. Manifestos were issued 
 calling upon him to resign. Yuan Shi Kai now surrounded 
 the House of Parliament with troops, gave 'presents' to 
 
CHINA 369 
 
 many of the representatives, and was almost unanimously 
 elected President of China. 
 
 "In July, 1913, the southern provinces, tardily awaken- 
 ing to the danger of the situation, rose against Yuan Shi 
 Kai. It was too late. The Second Revolution, after two 
 months of sanguinary fighting in Shanghai, Nanking, and 
 elsewhere, was drowned in blood. 
 
 "Parliament was dissolved and new elections ordered. 
 All pretense of political freedom disappeared. The Young 
 China Association was outlawed. The decree against the 
 Socialist Party was issued. Everywhere the heads of So- 
 cialists and Republicans rolled in t^ie dust. 
 
 ' ' The Socialist Party of China, as a party, has ceased to 
 exist. Most of the leaders of the organization, those who 
 have not paid with their heads for their loyalty to the 
 working-class, have gone to foreign countries, where they 
 are busy collecting money and laying plans for a new 
 revolution. And in China itself the work is being carried 
 on in secret by methods which cannot, at this time, be dis- 
 cussed. Suffice it to say that several brave comrades have 
 already lost their lives in the hazardous work. 
 
 "But there will be a Third Revolution, and the Socialist 
 Party will again take its place in the Red International." 
 
PAET n 
 
 THE SOCIALIST PAETIES AND SOCIAL 
 PEOBLEMS 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SOCIALIST PARTIES AND THE LABOR 
 UNIONS 
 
 The International Socialist Congress at Zurich, in 1893, 
 resolved, by a vote of 16 national parties against 2 (Spain 
 and Prance), that all labor unions "which recognized the 
 necessity of working-class organization and political ac- 
 tion" should be admitted to the International Congresses. 
 As a consequence, from this date (1893) the International 
 movement has been based as much upon those labor unions 
 which recognize the importance of independent political 
 action along labor-union lines as upon the Socialist parties 
 themselves. Moreover, the relative importance of this 
 Labor Party, or political labor-union, tendency has in- 
 creased from year to year. 
 
 The International Socialist Congresses no longer claim 
 to consist exclusively of Socialists. In 1907 and 1910, at 
 Stuttgart and Copenhagen, the British Labor Party, which 
 declares itself a non-Socialist political organization repre- 
 senting the labor unions in polities, was admitted to the 
 Congress and given five out of the ten votes allotted to 
 British political organizations (the Independent Labor 
 Party being given two votes, the Social Democratic 
 Federation two votes, and the Fabian Society one 
 vote). 
 
 But this is not all. Besides this indirect representation, 
 the British labor unions were given a direct representation 
 of 10 votes, thus receiving 15 out of the 20 votes allotted to 
 Great Britain. Moreover, the Fabian Society and the Inde- 
 
 373 
 
374 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 pendent Labor Party are minority branches of the British 
 Labor Party. At the Congress of Stuttgart a vote was 
 refused to the Australian Socialist Party because it 
 was not a member of the non-Socialist Labor Party 
 of that country,— although the latter organization had 
 not even asked for admission to the International 
 Congress. 
 
 In every country, with the exception of the United States 
 and the British colonies, the relation between the Socialist 
 parties (or the Labor parties, where there are any such) 
 and the labor unions are most intimate. In some countries 
 the Socialist parties seem in some measure to dominate the 
 unions; in others the unions appear in some measure to 
 dominate the political organization. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF STUTTGART, 1907 
 
 All the Socialist parties of the world, with the exception 
 of the French, and including even a minority of that party, 
 were able to come to an agreement at the International 
 Congress at Stuttgart as to their relation to the labor 
 unions. This agreement was as follows : 
 
 To enfranchise 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 especially in the domain of the 
 political struggle of the proletariat, that of the unions displays 
 itself in the domain of the economic struggle of the workers. 
 The unions and the party have equally an important part to 
 perform in the struggle for proletarian emancipation. Bach of 
 the two organizations has its distinct domain, defined by its nature 
 and within whose borders it should enjoy independent control of 
 its hnes of action. But there is an ever-widening domain in the 
 proletarian struggle of the classes in which they can only reap 
 advantages by concerted action and by co-operation between the 
 party and trade-unions. 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 375 
 
 As a consequence, the proletarian struggle will be carried on 
 more successfully and with more important results if the relations 
 between the unions and the party are strengthened without in- 
 fringing upon the necessary unity of the trade-unions. 
 
 The Congress declares that it is to the interest of the working- 
 class in every country that close and permanent relations should 
 be established between the unions and the party. 
 
 It is the duty of the party and of the trade-unions to render 
 moral support the one to the other, and to make use only of 
 those means which may help forward the emancipation of the 
 proletariat. When divergent opinions arise between the two 
 organizations as to the suitableness of certain tactics, they should 
 arrive at an agreement by discussion. 
 
 The unions will not fully perform their duty in the struggle 
 for the emancipation of the workers unless a thoroughly Socialist 
 spirit inspires their policy. It is the duty of the party to help 
 the unions in their work of raising the workers and of ameliorat- 
 ing their social conditions. In its parliamentary action the party 
 must vigorously support the demands of the unions. (Our 
 italics.) 
 
 II. THE CONGRESS OF THE FRENCH PARTY 
 
 The resolution of the International Congress at Stuttgart 
 (above quoted) was passed on the supposition that the 
 labor unions could not work directly for Socialism, but 
 only through the Socialist parties, which are presented as 
 the political expression of labor unionism. The French 
 Socialists give an even more important function to the 
 labor unions; they are to work directly for Socialism on 
 the economic field, and their work is to be recognized by 
 the Socialist parties as being quite as important as the 
 work done by these parties on the political field. The 
 French proposed to the Stuttgart Congress — ^in accord 
 with this view — the resolution they had just passed at 
 their national Congress at Nancy. Though this resolution 
 did not receive the support of any of the other nations, it 
 
376 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 has since been steadily reaffirmed by the French. We 
 therefore quote its chief passages: 
 
 The Congress is convinced that the working-class will achieve 
 its full emancipation only by the combined power of political 
 action and labor-union action, extending even to the general 
 strike, and by the conquest of the entire political power, to the 
 end of the general expropriation of capitalism; 
 
 It is convinced that this twofold action will be efftcaeious in 
 proportion as the political organization and the economic organ- 
 ization possess full autonomy, unionism having the same aim as 
 Socialism : 
 
 It believes that this fundamental agreement of political action 
 and economic action of the working-class will necessarily assure, 
 without confusion, or subordination, or defiance, a free co- 
 operation between the two organizations. (Our italics.) 
 
 rU. THE CONGRESS OF THE FEENCH PARTY, 1912 
 
 The French Party Congreae of 1912 again discussed the 
 question of its relation to the labor unions at length, and 
 ended by the reaffirmation of the position taken at Nancy, 
 as above given. A summary of the 1912 discussion is of 
 importance as showing the friendly attitude of the So- 
 cialists towards "Syndicalism" in the country of its birth, 
 and demonstrating that France furnishes no exception to 
 the rule that Socialist parties and labor unions are every- 
 where most intimately connected and interdependent. 
 
 A general discussion was held concerning the attitude 
 which the Socialist Party should adopt towards the Gen- 
 eral Confederation of Labor. One faction, led by Ghes- 
 quiere and Compere-Morel, attacked the labor-union con- 
 federation, opposing its anti-militarist ideas, and declared 
 that the majority of the Confederation were anarchists at 
 heart in emphasizing sabotage, general strike, and violence 
 in the economic war. 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOE UNIONS 377 
 
 Jaures took a middle ground in the matter, and, while 
 deprecating violence, declared that violence was the sign 
 of a weak organization and that the way to avoid it was 
 to strengthen the organization. He emphasized the fact 
 that the working-class movement must be carried on in 
 the economic field as well as in the political. Landier and 
 Dormoy defended the labor-union confederation, declared 
 in favor of their anti-militaristic views, and asserted that 
 the unions then comprised (1911) 365,000 members, an 
 increase of 45,000. 
 
 The following resolution was introduced by Compere- 
 Morel, having been previously adopted by the Federation 
 of Gard: 
 
 Whereas, it is the- duty of the Socialists to combat anything 
 which tends to divide the proletariat agaiast itself, notably in 
 opposing its co-operative or its labor-union organization and 
 action to its political or Socialist organization; 
 
 Whereas, he is not a militant who can take seriously as a 
 means of emancipation, sabotage, direct action, violence against 
 scabs, etc., all of them methods which, by furnishing the cap- 
 italist government with the pretext for worse repressions, can 
 only check the progress and development of the unions and of 
 the party; 
 
 Whereas, the more the Socialists advocate labor-union action 
 (the sole means of defense in a capitalist society), the more they 
 owe it to their party and to themselves to rid themselves of those 
 anarchists who, under cover and shelter of certain functions, 
 with which they have not been invested by the unionists, never 
 cease in their efforts to blacken and slander Socialism in its 
 struggle for political power, to turn away the workers, and to 
 leave them thus disarmed at the mercy of a capitalism, mistress 
 both of capital and of the state ; 
 
 Whereas, the Socialists of Trance would be veritable traitors, 
 if they ceased a single instant in their work of making the pro- 
 letariat understand that the labor-union or co-operative action, 
 which is taking place within the limits of the capitalist system 
 or of the master class, cannot suffice in itself; that it is essen- 
 
378 SOCIALIST PAKTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tially defensive or reformatory, and that only political action, 
 exercised hy means of the ballot, or applied through insurrection, 
 is essentially revolutionary and capable of putting an end to the 
 expropriators; 
 
 The Congress reaffirms the resolution of the Congress of Stutt- 
 gart of 1907 relative to the relations between the Socialist Party 
 and the labor unions which, passed by an overwhelming ma- 
 jority, has become law in the international working-class 
 movement. (Our italics.) 
 
 After a stormy debate, in which Jaures and Vaillant 
 spoke against the above resolution, it was referred back to 
 the committee on resolutions. 
 
 Dubreuilh reported in the name of the committee, and 
 proposed for vote the following motion: 
 
 The Congress recognizes that, in their intervention in the 
 Chamber, Comrades Ghesquiere and Compere-Morel had no other 
 purpose than to serve the interests of the working-class, and that 
 it regards it as extremely useful that the attention of the workers 
 was called to the perils of a propaganda of anti-parliamentarism 
 and of systematic violence. 
 
 It reaffirms the decisions taken on the subject of labor-union 
 action and political action of the working-class at the National 
 Congresses of Limoges, of Nancy, and of Toulouse, and at the 
 International Congress of Stuttgart, and it invites all workers 
 to draw therefrom inspiration for the necessary work of recon- 
 ciliation. 
 
 This motion was then adopted almost unanimously. 
 
 IV. THE UNITED STATES 
 
 As it is impossible to understand the Socialist attitude 
 towards the labor unions in the United States without a 
 conception of the so-called Syndicalist movement or tend- 
 ency, we print from the Socialist Campaign Book of 1912 
 a definition of Syndicalism by John Spargo; 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 379 
 
 ^1. Syndicalism 
 
 John Spargo, in Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and 
 Socialism, defines Syndicalism as follows : 
 
 Syndicalism is a form of labor unionism which aims at the 
 abolition of the capitalist system based upon the exploitation 
 of the workers, and its replacement by a new social order free 
 from class denomination and exploitation. Its distinctive prin- 
 ciple as a practical movement is that these ends are to be 
 attained by the direct action of the unions, without parlia- 
 mentary action or the intervention of the state. The distinctive 
 feature of its ideal is that in the new social order the political 
 state will not exist, the only form of government being the admin- 
 istration of industry directly by the workers themselves. 
 
 The resolution on labor organizations adopted by the 
 Socialist Convention of 1912 was in part as follows : 
 
 Political organization and economic organization are alike 
 necessary in the struggle 'for working-class emancipation. The 
 most harmonious relations ought to exist between the two great 
 forces of the working-class movement — the Socialist Party and 
 the labor unions. . . . 
 
 The Socialist Party therefore reaffirms the position it has 
 always taken with regard to the movement of organized labor. 
 
 1. That the party has neither the right nor the desire to inter- 
 fere in any controversies which may exist wifhin the labor-union 
 movement over questions of form, of organization or technical 
 methods of action in the industrial struggle, but trusts to the 
 labor organizations themselves to solve these questions. 
 
 2. That the Socialists call the attention of their brothers in 
 the labor unions to the vital importance of the task of organizing 
 the unorganized, especially the immigrants and the unskilled 
 laborers, who stand in greatest need of organized protection and 
 who will constitute a great menace to the progress and welfare 
 of organized labor, if they remain neglected. The Socialist Party 
 will ever be ready to co-operate with the labor unions in the 
 task of organizing the unorganized workers, and urges all labor 
 organizations, who have not already done so, to throw their doors 
 wide open to the workers of their respective trades and industries. 
 
380 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 abolishing all onerous conditions of naembership and artificial 
 restrictions. In the face of the tremendous powers of the Amer- 
 ican capitalists and their close industrial and political union the 
 ■workers of this country can win their battles only by a strong 
 class-consciousness and closely united organizations on the eco- 
 nomic field, a powerful and militant party on the political field, 
 and by joint attack of both on the common enemy. 
 
 3. That it is the duty of the party to give moral and material 
 support to the labor organizations in all their defensive or ag- 
 gressive struggles against capitalist oppression and exploitation, 
 for the protection and extension of the rights of the wage- 
 workers and the betterment of their material and social condition. 
 
 4. That it is the duty of the members of the Socialist Party 
 who are eligible to membership in the unions to join and be active 
 in their respective labor organizations. (Our italics.) 
 
 The point of view of the industrial unionist as opposed 
 to the syndicalist is shown below in an extract from Eu- 
 gene V. Dehs, the strong advocate of political action. 
 
 In TTie InternatioTMl Socialist Review, February, 1910, 
 Debs says: 
 
 I cannot close without appealing for both the industrial and 
 political solidarity of the workers. 
 
 I thoroughly believe in economic as well as political organiza- 
 tion, in the industrial union, and in the Socialist Party. 
 
 I am an industrial unionist because I am a Socialist, and a 
 Socialist because I am an industrial unionist. 
 
 I believe in making every effort within our power to promote 
 industrial unionism among the workers and to have them all 
 united in one economic organization. To accomplish this I would 
 encourage industrial independent organization, especially among 
 the millions who have not yet been organized at all, and I would 
 also encourage the " boring from within " for all that can be 
 accomplished by the industrial unionists in the craft unions. 
 
 I would have the Socialist Party recognize the historic necessity 
 and inevitability of industrial unionism, and the industrial union 
 reciprocally recognize the Socialist Party, and so declare in the 
 respective preambles to their constitutions. 
 
 The Socialist Party cannot be neutral on the union question. 
 It is compelled to declare itself by the logic of evolution, and 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 381 
 
 as a revolutionary party it cannot commit itself to the principles 
 of reactionary unionism. Not only must the Socialist Party 
 declare itself in favor of economic unionism, but the kind of 
 unionism which alone can complement the revolutionary action 
 of the workers on the political field. 
 
 I am opposed under all circumstances to any party alliances 
 or affiliations with reactionary trade-unions and to compromising 
 tactics of every kind and form, excepting alone in event of some 
 extreme emergency. 
 
 2. SABOTAGE 
 
 While the industrial union is advocated by the majority 
 of Socialists, the party has rejected, by convention and 
 referendum, the weapons of "sabotage," which form part 
 of the tactics of Syndicalism. Before printing the resolu- 
 tion on this subject, we quote from the Socialist Cam- 
 paign Book the origin of the word "sabotage" and a 
 criticism of the practice from the Socialist viewpoint. 
 
 John Spargo, in Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and 
 Socialism, published by B. W. Huebsch, says : 
 
 The word " sabotage " was first used, I believe, in 1897 in a 
 report of the Congress of the Confederation Generale de Travail, 
 which met that year at Toulouse. Among the reports considered 
 by the Congress was one dealing with the use of the boycott and 
 the policy which had been adopted by the British unions of 
 workers engaged in the trades connected with the ocean transport 
 services, popularly known as Ca 'Canny. This report was written 
 by Emile Pouget and Paul Delassale, both well-known anarchists. 
 They wanted to find a French equivalent for the Scotch col- 
 loquialism, Ca 'Canny, as the purpose of their report to the 
 Congress was to elaborate the British policy known by that 
 name and recommend it to the French unions. They " coined " 
 the word sabotage. Never before had it been used. 
 
 In France, especially in the rural districts, it has long been 
 the custom to liken the slow and clumsy worker to one wearing 
 wooden shoes, called " sabots." The phrase, travailler a coups 
 de sabots, to work as one wearing wooden shoes, has long been 
 used with reference to the slow and clumsy worker, the " old 
 
382 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 soldier," as they say in England. It is so used, I think, by 
 Balzac. The idea is obvious; the peasant with heavy wooden 
 shoes walks clumsily and slowly in comparison with those who 
 wear shoes of leather. So the word " sabotage " — literally, 
 " wooden shoeage " — ^was coined by Pouget and by him and 
 Delassale used in their report to the Toulouse Congress of the 
 Confederation Generale de Travail as a good translation of the 
 British term Ca 'Canny. 
 
 The Party Convention of 1912 adopted by a large ma- 
 jority the following constitutional clause against sabotage 
 (usually referred to in party discussion as Article II, 
 Section 6) : 
 
 Any member of the party who opposes political action or advo- 
 cates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon 
 of the working-class to aid in its emancipation shall be expelled 
 from, membership in the party. Political action shall be construed 
 to mean participation in elections for public ofiSce and practical 
 legislative and administrative work along the lines of the Social- 
 ist Party platform. 
 
 A considerable opposition was developed against this 
 clause when the constitution was put to a referendum. 
 Although passed, a substitute of entirely contrary import 
 was also passed, but this latter action was declared void 
 by the party authorities. 
 
 The following declarations on the subject of sabotage 
 and direct action, by William D. Haywood, in a speech at 
 Cooper Union, New York, provoked wide criticism, and led 
 to his recall (by referendum) from the National Executive 
 Committee of the Socialist Party.* 
 
 I believe in direct action. If I wanted something done and 
 could do it myself I wouldn't delegate that job to anybody. (Ap- 
 plause.) That's the reason I believe in direct action. You are 
 certain of it, and it isn't nearly so expensive. ... 
 
 * International Soeialist JUmew.FehTxiaxy, 1913. 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 383 
 
 So you understand that we know the class struggle in the 
 west. And realizing, having contended with all the bitter things 
 that we have been called upon to drink to the dregs, do you 
 blame me when I say that I despise the law (tremendous ap- 
 plause and shouts of " No ! ") and I am not a law-abiding citizen? 
 (Applause.) And more than that, no Socialist can he a law- 
 abiding citizen. (Applause.) When we come together and are 
 of a common mind, and the purpose of our minds is to over- 
 throw the capitalist system, we become conspirators then against 
 the United States Government. And certainly it is our purpose 
 to abolish this government (applause) and establish in its place 
 an industrial democracy. (Applause.) Now we haven't any hesi- 
 tation in saying that that is our aim and purpose. Am I cor- 
 rect? (Tremendous applause.) Am I absolutely correct when 
 I state this as being the position of the Socialist Party not only 
 of New York, but of the United States and of every nation of 
 the world? . . . 
 
 I am not going to take time to-night to describe to you the 
 conditions in Prance, though I would like to do so, because I 
 again want to justify direct action and sabotage. You have 
 plenty of it over there. (Applause.) I don't know of anything 
 that can be applied that will bring as much satisfaction to you, 
 as much anguish to the boss as a little sabotage in the right 
 place at the proper time. Find out what it means. It won't hurt 
 you, and it will cripple the boss. 
 
 Eugene V. Defa s, although a firm advocate of industrial 
 unionism and a former member of the I. W. W., represents 
 the majority of the party in his opposition to sabotage 
 and violence. We give portions of his article entitled 
 "Sound Socialist Tactics," in the International Socialist 
 Eeview for February, 1910, and also of a letter written by 
 Debs to "William English "Walling, on the occasion of Hay- 
 wood's recall from the National Executive Committee, re- 
 ferred to above. In the Review he wrote : 
 
 There has recently been some rather spirited discussion about 
 a paragraph which appears in the pamphlet on "Industrial So- 
 
384 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 cialism," by William D. Haywood and Frank Bohn. The para- 
 graph follows: 
 
 " When the worker, either through experience or study of 
 Socialism, comes to know this truth, he acts accordingly. He 
 retains absolutely no respect for the property ' rights ' of the 
 profit-takers. He will use any weapon which will win his fight. 
 He knows that the present laws of property are made by and 
 for the capitalists. Therefore he does not hesitate to break 
 them." 
 
 The sentences which I have italicized provoked the controversy. 
 
 We have here a matter of tactics upon which a number of 
 comrades of ability and prominence have sharply disagreed. For 
 my own part I believe the paragraph to be entirely sound. 
 
 Certainly all Socialists, knowing how and to what end capitalist 
 property " rights " are established, must hold such " rights " in 
 contempt. In the Manifesto, Marx says : " The communist ( So- 
 cialist) revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional 
 property relations; no wonder that its development involves the 
 most radical rupture with traditional ideas." 
 
 As a revolutionist I can have no respect for capitalist property 
 laws, nor the least scruple about violating them. I hold all such 
 laws to have been enacted through chicanery, fraud, and cor- 
 ruption, with the sole end in view of dispossessing, robbing, and 
 enslaving the working-class. But this does not imply that I 
 propose making an individual lawbreaker of myself and butting 
 my head against the stone wall of existing property laws. That 
 might be called force, but it would not be that. It would be 
 mere weakness and folly. 
 
 If I had the force to overthrow these despotic laws I would 
 use it without an instant's hesitation or delay, but I haven't got 
 it, and so I am law-abiding under protest — not from scruple — 
 and bide my time. 
 
 Here let me say that for the same reason I am opposed to 
 sabotage and to " direct action." I have not a bit of use for 
 the " propaganda of the deed." These are the tactics of anarchist 
 individualists and not of Socialist collectivists. They were devel- 
 oped by and belong exclusively to our anarchist friends and 
 accord perfectly with their philosophy. These and similar meas- 
 ures are reactionary, not revolutionary, and they invariably have 
 a demoralizing effect upon the following of those who practice 
 them. If I believed in the doctrine of violence and destruction 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 385 
 
 as party policy; if I regarded the class struggle as guerrilla war- 
 fare, I would join the anarchists and practice as well as preach 
 such tactics. 
 
 It is not because these tactics involve the use of force that 
 I am opposed to them, but because they do not. The physical 
 forcist is the victim of his own boomerang. The blow he strikes 
 reacts upon himself and his followers. The force that implies 
 power is utterly lacking, and it can never be developed by such 
 tactics. 
 
 The foolish and misguided, zealots and fanatics, are quick 
 to applaud and eager to employ such tactics, and the result is 
 usually hurtful to themselves and to the cause they seek to 
 advance. 
 
 There have been times in the past, and there are countries 
 to-day where the frenzied deed of a glorious fanatic like old John 
 Brown seems to have been inspired by Jehovah himself, but I 
 am now dealing with the twentieth century and with the United 
 States. 
 
 There may be, too, acute situations arise and grave emergencies 
 occur, with perhaps life at stake, when recourse to violence 
 might be justified, but a great body of organized workers, such 
 as the Socialist movement, cannot predicate its tactical pro- 
 cedure upon such exceptional instances. 
 
 But my chief objection to all these measures is that they do 
 violence to the class psychology of the workers and cannot be 
 successfully inculcated as mass doctrine. The very nature of 
 these tactics adapts them to guerrilla warfare, to the bomb planter, 
 the midnight assassin ; and such warfare, in this country at least, 
 plays directly into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 Such tactics appeal to stealth and suspicion, and cannot make 
 for solidarity. The very teaching of sneaking and surreptitious 
 practices has a demoralizing effect and a tendency to place those 
 who engage in them in the category of "Black Hand" agents, 
 dynamiters, safe-blowers, hold-up men, burglars, thieves, and 
 pickpockets. 
 
 if sabotage and direct action, as I interpret them, were incor- 
 porated in the tactics of the Socialist Party, it would at once 
 be the signal for all the agents provocateurs and police spies in 
 the country to join the party and get busy. Every solitary one 
 of them would be a rabid " direct aetionist," and every one would 
 safely make his " get-away " and secure his reward, a la MePart- 
 
386 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 land, when anything was " pulled off " by their dupes, leaving 
 them with their necks in the nooses. 
 
 With the sanctioning of sabotage and similar practices the 
 Socialist Party would stand responsible for the deed of every 
 spy or madman, the seeds of strife would be subtly sown in the 
 ranks, mutual suspicion would be aroused, and the party would 
 soon be torn into warring factions to the despair of the betrayed 
 workers and the delight of their triumphant masters. 
 
 If sabotage or any other artifice of direct action could be 
 successfully employed, it would be wholly unnecessary, as better 
 results could be accomplished without it. To the extent that the 
 working-class has power based upon class-consciousness, force 
 is unnecessary; to the extent that power is lacking, force can 
 only result in harm. 
 
 I am opposed to any tactics which involve stealth, secrecy, 
 intrigue, and necessitate acts of individual violence for their 
 execution. 
 
 The work of the Socialist movement must all be done out in 
 the broad open light of day. Nothing can be done by stealth that 
 can be of any advantage to it in this country. . . . 
 
 Its tactics alone have prevented the growth of the Industrial 
 Workers of the World. Its principles of industrial unionism are 
 sound, but its tactics are not. Sabotage repels the American 
 worker. He is ready for the industrial union, but he is opposed 
 to the " propaganda of the deed," and as long as the I. W. W. 
 adheres to its present tactics and ignores political action, or 
 treats it with contempt by advising the workers to " strike at the 
 ballot-box with an ax," they will regard it as an anarchist organ- 
 ization, and it will never be more than a small fraction of the 
 labor movement. 
 
 The sound education of the workers and their thorough organ- 
 ization, both economic and political, on the basis of the class 
 struggle, must precede their emancipation. Without such educa- 
 tion and organization they can make no substantial progress, and 
 they will be robbed of the fruits of any temporary victory they 
 may achieve, as they have been through all the centuries of the 
 past. 
 
 For one, I hope to see the Socialist Party place itself squarely 
 on record at the coming national convention against sabotage 
 and every other form of violence and destruetiveness suggested 
 by what is known as " direct action." 
 
SOCIALIST PARTIES AND LABOR UNIONS 387 
 
 It occurs to me that the Socialist Party ought to have a stand- 
 ing committee on tactics. The art or science of proletarian party 
 tactics might well enUst the serious consideration of our clearest 
 thinkers and most practical propagandists. 
 
 To return for a moment to the paragraph above quoted from 
 the pamphlet of Haywood and Bohn. I agree with them that 
 in their fight against capitalism the workers have a right to 
 use any weapon that will help them to win. It should not be 
 necessary to say that this does not mean the blackjack, the dirk, 
 the lead-pipe, or the sawed-ofE shotgun. The use of these weapons 
 does not help the workers to win, but to lose, and it would be 
 ridiculous to assume that they were in the minds of the authors 
 when they penned that paragraph. 
 
 The sentence as it reads is sound. It speaks for itself and 
 requires no apology. The workers will use any weapon which 
 will help them win their flght. 
 
 The most powerful and the all-suflflcient weapons are the indus- 
 trial union and the Socialist Party, and they are not going to 
 commit suicide by discarding these and resorting to the slung- 
 shot, the dagger, and the dynamite bomb. (Our italics.) 
 
 Letter to "William English Walling, March 5, 1913 : 
 
 I regretted to see Haywood's recall, but it was inevitable. He 
 brought it on himself. I should not have put Section 6 in the 
 constitution, but it is there, and put there by the party, and Hay- 
 wood deliberately violated it. Is this not the fact? 
 
 The question of what sabotage means has nothing to do with 
 the matter. Jts advocates have shown that it means anything, 
 everything, or nothing at all. If I had been in Haywood's place, 
 and had felt bound to advocate sabotage as he did, I would have 
 withdrawn from the party to do it. If I had deliberately violated 
 the constitution I would have expected to be called to account 
 for it. Else why a constitution at all? 
 
 I am not now judging Haywood, I am answering your question. 
 I am free to confess, however, judging from some of the reports 
 I have seen, that Haywood has been talking a good deal more 
 like an anarchist than a Socialist. 
 
 The I. W. W. for which Haywood stands and speaks is an 
 anarchist organization in all except in name, and this is the 
 cause of all the trouble. Anarchism and Socialism have never 
 
388 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 mixed and never will. The I. W. W. has treated the Socialist 
 Party most indecently, to put it very mildly. When it gets into 
 trouble it frantically appeals to the Socialist Party for aid, which 
 has always been freely rendered, and after it is all over the 
 I. W. W. kicks the Socialist Party in the face. That is the 
 case put in plain words, and the Socialist Party has had enough 
 of that sort of business, and I don't blame them a bit. There are 
 I. W. W. anarchists who are in the Socialist Party for no other 
 purpose than to disrupt it, and the Socialist Party is right in 
 taking a decided stand against them. . . . (Our italics.) 
 
 (Signed) E. V. Debs. 
 March 5, 1913. 
 
 Debs, however, stated his opposition to Article II, Sec- 
 tion 6, in "A Plea for Solidarity," published in the Inter- 
 national Socialist Review for March, 1914. 
 
 I want to say that, in my opinion, section six of article two 
 ought to be stricken from the Socialist Party's constitution. I 
 have not changed my opinion in regard to sabotage, but I am 
 opposed to restricting free speech under any pretense whatso- 
 ever, and quite as decidedly opposed to our party seeking favor 
 in bourgeois eyes by protesting that it does not countenance vio- 
 lence and is not a criminal organization. 
 
 I believe our party attitude toward sabotage is right, and this 
 attitude is reflected in its propaganda and need not be enforced 
 by constitutional penalties of expulsion. If there is anything 
 in sabotage we should know it, and free discussion will bring it 
 out; if there is nothing in it we need not fear it, and even if it 
 is lawless and hurtful we are not called upon to penalize it any 
 more than we are theft or any other crime. 
 
 (See also "The General Strike," "Compulsory Arbi- 
 tration," "Labor Legislation.") 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE GENERAL STRIKE 
 
 A PULL selection of documents illustrating the Socialist 
 attitude on the use of the general strike as a means of pre- 
 venting war will be found in The Socialists and the War. 
 
 The general strike as a means of political struggle in 
 extreme cases has not only been a subject of continued 
 Socialist controversy, it has been put into actual practice 
 in a number of instances in the past decade. All the 
 more important of the earlier general strikes are mentioned 
 in the course of the discussion at the German Congress of 
 1913, which we summarize at considerable length, but 
 several of these strikes fall in the period under discussion 
 in the present volume, 1912-1915: the general strikes in 
 Belgium, Italy, Russia, and New Zealand, each of which 
 we describe from authoritative sources — with the exception 
 of the Russian strike of 1914, to which we give a short 
 reference only, since it is described at length in the above- 
 mentioned volume. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP LONDON, 1896 
 
 On the question of the general strike, the International 
 Congress at London (1896) voted a resolution of which the 
 following are the essential points : 
 
 The Congress is of the opinion that strikes and boycotts are 
 necessary means for realizing the ends of the working-class, but 
 it does not believe in the present possibility of an international 
 general strike; what is necessary is the labor-union organization 
 
 389 
 
390 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of the masses, since the extension of strikes to entire industries 
 and entire countries depends on the extension of organization. 
 
 To make an international labor-union action possible, a central 
 labor-union committee must be created in each country. 
 
 From this resolution there were soon to arise the Inter- 
 national Labor Union "Secretariat" and Congresses, thus 
 constituted by agreement with the International Socialist 
 movement, the center of which is now in the Labor Union 
 Secretariat at Berlin. 
 
 n. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMSTERDAM, 1904 
 
 The following note by Longuet on the general strike dis- 
 cussion at the International Congress of Amsterdam (1904) 
 is quoted from the Encyclopedie Socialiste : 
 
 The motion presented by Roland Hoist in the name of the com- 
 mittee of the Congress showed that the International had changed 
 its attitude in this question since the discussion at London in 
 1896. It rejected the so-called conception of the general strike, 
 but it also declared : " The increase of the power of the working- 
 class organization, the strengthening of their unity, while develop- 
 ing their class organizations, at the same time create the condi- 
 tions necessary for the success of the mass strike, the day when 
 the latter may be found necessary or useful." 
 
 To this resolution, a German delegate. Dr. Friedberg, single- 
 handed, opposed the anti-parliamentarian conception. The reso- 
 lution of the committee was also criticised by Aristide Briand 
 (prime minister of Prance), on the ground that it was too mod- 
 erate. Mr. Briand brought into the discussion the hypothesis of 
 the possible suppression of universal suffrage, and asked, in the 
 case of such suppression, what weapon the Congress would offer 
 to the parliamentarian to take its place. 
 
 m. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP STUTTGART, 1907 
 
 At Stuttgart (1907) Kautsky, presenting the position of 
 the majority of the Congress, made the following criticism 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 391 
 
 of the French advocacy of the general strike as a weapon 
 of the labor-union movement (see previous Chapter) : 
 
 The resolution of the French comrades is unacceptable to us. 
 First, because it presents a general strike as a means of acquir- 
 ing power in the labor-union struggle, while the German com- 
 rades regard it as only a fundamental weapon in the political 
 struggle. . . . The general strike must not be regarded as a 
 'neans of economic struggle. 
 
 IV. THE BELGIAN GENERAL STRIKE OF 1913 
 1. CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE STRIKE 
 
 Statement of Emile Vandervelde 
 (from The Metropolitan Magazine) 
 
 "The division of parties should correspond with vivid 
 accuracy to the division of classes. On the one side . . . 
 stands a Conservative Party with strongly Clerical tend- 
 encies. Over against it is arrayed the Socialist or Labor 
 Party, championing the whole mass of the working-people. 
 Between them is a Liberal Party, which is numerically 
 weak and would wield but little influence if the system 
 of plural voting — one vote for the poor man, three for 
 the rich — did not artificially swell its representation in 
 Parliament. 
 
 "At the close of the year 1911 it looked as if this Liberal 
 Party was going to have its day. The Clericals had then 
 a clear majority of only six votes in the Chamber of Eepre- 
 sentatives. They had tried to carry through an educa- 
 tional bill, commonly known as the Convent Law, whose 
 purpose was to give to the parochial schools, controlled by 
 the clergy, the same support from the national treasury 
 as is given to the public common schools. Public opinion 
 was aroused. The Liberals and the Socialists, declaring a 
 truce on all other questions which divided them, joined 
 forces against the common enemy. 
 
392 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 "Together with opposition to the Convent Law, they 
 put in the forefront of their campaign platform a demand 
 for the abolition of plural voting and a revision of the 
 constitution to provide for universal suffrage, pure and 
 simple. 
 
 ' ' They compelled the Government to dissolve Parliament. 
 It seemed that, after 30 years of power, the Conservative 
 Party was about to fall before a coalition majority of 
 Liberals and Socialists. . . . 
 
 "But one important point had been overlooked — the con- 
 servative elements which formed the 'right wing' of the 
 Liberal Party. 
 
 "From the moment when the Brussels financiers, the 
 great industrial capitalists of Liege and Charleroi, the rich 
 merchants of Antwerp, and the textile manufacturers of 
 Ghent faced the prospect, if not actually of Socialists in 
 the Ministry, ... at any rate of an administration which 
 could not stand without the votes of the Socialists in Par- 
 liament, and which, in order to keep their support, would 
 have to carry out such reforms as the abolition of plural 
 voting and the establishment of a progressive income tax — 
 from that moment they deserted their own party and voted 
 in mass for the government candidates. 
 
 "Instead of destroying the Clerical majority, the elec- 
 tion of June 2, 1912, actually strengthened it. The new 
 Chamber of Representatives contained 101 Catholic Con- 
 servatives, with a combined opposition of only 85 members 
 — 44 Liberals and Radicals, 2 Christian Democrats, and 39 
 Socialists." 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 393 
 
 2. THE SPECIAL CONGRESS OF THE LABOE PARTY 
 
 (June 30, 1912) 
 a. From the Speech of Vandervelde 
 
 We had gone to the battle in a flush of joyous hope. We 
 hoped, and a number of our adversaries feared, the annihilation 
 of the clerical majority. But we had not sufficiently taken into 
 account fraud, corruption, intimidation, exploitation of ignorance, 
 or fanaticism. Above all, we had not taken into account suffi- 
 ciently the class egoism of a part of the middle class. The 
 clerical majority has not been destroyed. It has, on the con- 
 trary, been sensibly reinforced. But ... it has not been re- 
 inforced at our expense. If the day of the 2d of June has been 
 less a clerical victory than a elerieo-eonservative victory, it has 
 not been a Socialist defeat. We have gained seats. . . . 
 
 It is not Socialism, directly, which has experienced a defeat: 
 it is the Liberal Party, abandoned by a part of its followers, at 
 the moment when, with keen foresight, it was making an effort 
 and because it was making this effort, to defend public education 
 and to put itself in line with democracy. 
 
 The defeat of the Liberal Party has been, at the same time, 
 a defeat for democracy, and a defeat, at least apparently, for 
 universal suffrage. 
 
 All our organizations, all our federations declare themselves in 
 principle for a general strike. 
 
 3. PEBPARATION FOE THE STRIKE 
 
 (Congress of March, 1913) 
 a. Report of Anseele 
 
 The committee has asked me to propose to you the proclama- 
 tion of the strike for the 14th of April', according to the spirit 
 of the Congress of June 30 (1912). Several propositions have 
 been submitted to the committee: 
 
 (1) No strike. The partisans of that opinion said: The strike 
 is useless and dangerous. Since the commission conceded by Mr. 
 de Broquerrille will inevitably have to enlarge its scope, let us 
 hesitate to turn against us public sentiment and thus injure our 
 cause. 
 
394 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 To these arguments we answered that, from the parliamentary 
 point of view, we have obtained nothing more than at the time 
 of the proclamation of the principle of the strike on the 30th 
 of June. 
 
 If really there is progress in public opinion, it is the threat 
 of the strike, it is the action of the working-class which has 
 directed public opinion in favor of the revision. If you draw 
 back, public opinion will also subside and become indifferent. 
 The commission, if we remain inactive, will follow out the ideas 
 of M. de Brocqueville. Some papers have said: Certainly, the 
 commission will enlarge its sphere of study. But others, much 
 more numerous, hold to the contrary. We have no official an- 
 nouncement from the Government. 
 
 We conceive the movement in this way: a strike for uni- 
 versal suffrage. We certainly know that it will not be able to 
 give us universal suffrage during its duration, and that this 
 movement will have to be followed by energetic and persevering 
 action, perhaps by other strikes. No; the question is not of a 
 strike of exhaustion. It was conceived before the 30th of June. 
 We will not exhaust all our union cash for a political strike; 
 this is what we have repeated from the beginning. We must 
 keep our resources for the struggle against the bosses. When will 
 the strike finish? No one knows. Facts will decide it and 
 decisions will have to be taken according to circumstances. Fu- 
 ture events will decide our future tactics. Will it be a revolu- 
 tionary strike? No. It will be calm and peaceful. The con- 
 clusion of the plan of action that I am going to give shows it 
 clearly. We want the strike to keep the character that the Con- 
 gress of June 30 gave it. 
 
 And if, in some regions, the movement assumed another form, 
 the great committee would resign. Is that clear? The strike 
 must end as we want it to begin. If in the space of 24 hours 
 hundreds of thousands of workers quit the shops and factories, 
 it will be necessary that the proletarian army return to work, on 
 a signal, with the same unity, with the same impulse, with the 
 same spirit of discipline. 
 
 Why this general strike? For a quadruple object: to obtain 
 universal suffrage, to keep unity among the Belgian Socialist 
 proletariat, to maintain the confidence of the working-class in 
 
THE GENEEAL STRIKE 395 
 
 themselves, to keep undulled the weapon of the general strike for 
 future struggles. 
 
 You must be partisans of the general strike for still another 
 reason. We are reproached because our unions occupy them- 
 selves with politics. What has politics brought to us? On the 
 14th of April there will be no more Flemish and Walloon; but 
 only one nation; no more distinction between trades and cor- 
 porations ; the spirit of race and corporations will give place to 
 the spirit of class, which is the pledge for the regeneration of our 
 class. 
 
 b. Speech of Vandervelde on the Strike 
 
 Citizens, Huysmans spoke in the name of a minority that 
 seems vanquished in advance. I agree completely with him. 
 
 I could argue against Destree and Anseele now only by fur- 
 nishing arguments to the enemy, and this I will not do. To try 
 to go against the current which is in favor of the strike would 
 be absolutely vain. It would be just as sensible to try to swim 
 against the current of the rapids of the Congo or Niagara. The 
 fact that we favored the tactics of conciliation was not a matter 
 of sentiment but of reason. But those tactics could have suc- 
 ceeded only if we, the militants, had been unanimous in proposing 
 them to the proletarians. And still it would have been hard 
 to make them triumph, for we should have struck against the 
 tenacious and violent will-power of the working-class in imposing 
 on themselves weeks of suffering. 
 
 What has made, in fact, the general strike inevitable is not 
 the will of Anseele and Destree; but the bad will, the attitude 
 of the Government and of those behind it. The clerical papers 
 have had for you nothing but sarcasms and mockeries; they have 
 amused us by semi-promises; they have had nothing but words 
 of hatred and pride. It is said : " Who sows the wind, harvests 
 the tempest." Well, the tempest is there; so much the worse 
 for them! And now I have only one more word to say. The 
 six months I have just lived through will count among the hardest 
 and most painful of my political life. I have done, during six 
 months, all that was humanly and superhumanly possible to 
 avoid the general strike, for the working-class and for the 
 country. 
 
396 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 I ask you one thing with Huysmans, de Brouckere, Leken, 
 Bertrand, Wauters, Denis, and others: we are going to be beaten; 
 but we ask that, after having beaten us, you give us room among 
 you, so that we can fight together against the common enemy ! 
 
 c. Resolution Adopted 
 
 Whereas, the extraordinary Congress of the 30th of June, 
 1912, decided to employ the weapon of the general strike in case 
 all other means to bring about the revision of the constitution 
 will have failed, and this state of things seems to have been 
 reached, the national committee, in its sitting of the 12th of 
 February, fixed the 14th of April for the date of the general 
 strike ; 
 
 Whereas, upon the suggestion of the mayors of the principal 
 cities of the kingdom, in order to allow a supreme effort of con- 
 ciliation, the committee in its sitting of the 6th of March, with- 
 drew the preceding decision; 
 
 Whereas, it was evident from the declarations of the leader 
 of the Government that, in spite of this decision, and in spite 
 of the authorization of the mayors to give to the representatives 
 of the Labor Party the contrary hope, the Government has refused 
 to study the problem of revision ; 
 
 Whereas, under those conditions, we found ourselves in the 
 same situation as before the 6th of March; 
 
 Whereas, it is necessary to notice the immense progress that 
 the cause of revision has lately made in public opinion so that 
 M. de Brocqueville himself is obliged to confess that some 
 members of the extreme Conservatives are no longer hostile to 
 revision ; 
 
 Whereas, this progress is due to the indefatigable action of 
 the Labor Party, and will continue only if that action continues 
 itself with discipline and firmness; 
 
 Whereas, at the present time, no other mode of action, except 
 the general strike, is proposed, and that the decisions of June 30, 
 1912, and February 12, 1913, have to be maintained ; the Congress 
 of the Labor Party 
 
 Resolves, that it would have willingly ratified the decision of 
 the national commission if the Government had made the step 
 toward compromise which it had allowed the mayors to hope 
 for. 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 397 
 
 But with this refusal to study the question of the electoral 
 problem in its entirety, a refusal imposed on the Government 
 by a minority in revolt against the national sentiment, it is 
 necessary to affirm by energetic action the loyalty of the Labor 
 Party to universal suffrage; in consequence of which it has de- 
 cided to begin the general strike upon the 14th of April. 
 
 It declares solemnly that this legal manifestation, made in order 
 to show respect to the will of the nation, must remain legal 
 and peaceful and disown in advance any attempt to give it any 
 other character. It decides finally that it will be the task of an 
 extraordinary congress of the Labor Party to decide when the 
 strike shall end. 
 
 4. CONCLUSION OF THE STRIKK 
 
 (Congress of April 24, 1913) 
 a. Speech of Vandervelde 
 
 On the 23d of March last, I disagreed with the working-class 
 about the advisability of the strike. But I do not hesitate to-day 
 to say to the workers : " It is you who were right in having 
 confidence; it is you who have managed so that the strike was 
 peaceful, formidable, irresistible. For the strike has been irre- 
 sistible. Did you expect universal suffrage from it immediately, 
 immediate revision? Anseele, Destree, on the 23d of March, 
 declared to the contrary; the only thing sought after was that 
 the whole question of the electoral problem should be studied. 
 This examination of the electoral problem, did you obtain that? 
 Some people doubt it : one of them wrote to me : " One doubts. 
 Are not those only vague promises? Will the commission be 
 established? " It will be in a few days. We will sit in it on the 
 basis of the proportional representation of the three great parties, 
 and there we will proceed according to the mandate prescribed by 
 the plan of action of Masson. 
 
 Let us now summarize the parliamentary point of view. The 
 right and left of the Congress pulled the ropes in two opposite 
 directions. On one side the power of gold, of the army, and 
 of the priests; in a word, the whole reaction, all the "reasons 
 of state," a government which will not yield for fear of having 
 to capitulate. On the other side, public opinion, the working- 
 class on strike, with its irresistible power. Both sides pulled 
 hard, and it is ours which has vanquished. What does it matter 
 
398 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 if our adversaries affirm that they have gained the victory? 
 They pretend that M. de BrocqneviUe had already proposed what 
 later was accepted. But not in terms clear enough to be under- 
 stood by the workingmen. 
 
 What is true is that M. de Broequeville thought what he had 
 not yet said, what he would have liked to say, but what he could 
 not say freely and clearly. . . . 
 
 But the political results, what we have gained in public opinion, 
 is much more important. They imagined, on the 2d of June, that 
 we were crushed. But the working-class arose as a single man 
 and used the virgin weapon of the general strike. And even 
 before the strike was called, through the necessary preparation 
 for that strike, we had already brought it about that the revision 
 which was exacted by the Socialists and admitted by the Liberals, 
 is to-day accepted by the Independents, and by a notable number 
 of the Catholic Party, those who had to do with the Christian- 
 Democrats. And we would be very difficult to please if we were 
 not satisfied with such a result. 
 
 But above all we have obtained results from the Socialistic 
 point of view, that should swell our hearts with pride. Before 
 the 2d of June we were strong, and at the polls we saw the pro- 
 gressive accession of the proletariat to the Labor Party. But since 
 the 2d of June, since our unceasing work for the organization 
 of the general strike, don't you feel, comrades, as if you had 
 grown morally, as if the working-class could walk more erect 
 than ever? M. Woeste said : " I do not believe in the general 
 strike. Either it will be peaceful and insignificant, or it will 
 be formidable and not peaceful." 
 
 Well! The events have given the lie to these words. The 
 strike has been peaceful; we have had less lawsuits in our indus- 
 trial regions than generally, and the gendarmes who had been 
 prepared for a massacre of the people have had nothing to do. 
 And do not say that the strike, although peaceful, was not 
 formidable. You can go and ask the shipowners of Antwerp 
 abbut that. 
 
 5. WAS THE GENERAL STRIKE A SUCCESS? 
 
 a. The Special Correspondent of Vorwaerts {Berlin) 
 
 "When on the first day of the strike, at a given signal, 
 an army of 300,000 left the factories, shops, pits, quarries, 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 399 
 
 glass-works, etc., it was branded as an undeniable fiasco. 
 This fiasco grew in the measure in which the strikers in- 
 creased to 400,000, perhaps to 450,000. The iron skeletons 
 of the cranes in the port of Antwerp were inactive, fac- 
 tories had to be closed because the raw material was used 
 up. Coal and iron, the heart and brain of industry, re- 
 mained a dead mass. The general strike had crippled 
 industry from Verviers to Tournai. But the Clerical press 
 — especially the Brussels Twentieth Century — ^wrote every 
 day that the masses of the workers were not taken in by 
 the 'bluff' of the general strike. What did it matter that 
 in answer to the 'bluff' two-thirds of the industrial workers 
 of Belgium had responded? 
 
 "And further: Was it really a 'general' strike? Surely 
 not, said the clergy. For we had fresh bread every morn- 
 ing, trolleys and railroads were running, warehouses were 
 open, and work was done in the bureaus of the Ministry. 
 Eight. But what was the object of the workers? Did 
 they wish to spoil the breakfast of the people, or prevent 
 the ladies of the bourgeoisie from buying gloves and veils, 
 or to drive M. von Brocqueville [the Premier] to despair 
 by forcing him to be idle? The strike was directed, — as 
 all the world knows — ^not against the public, not against 
 the employers, but exclusively against the Government. It 
 was not meant to induce the cobbler of X Street and the 
 baker of the avenue to stop work, but to call out only 
 the workers of large industries. Did they strike? At the 
 time we brought forward the figures of the strikers in the 
 coal region and the metal industry, where all the large 
 and the largest works— for instance, Coekerill — had to shut 
 down. And, further: textile-workers, stone masons, glass- 
 blowers — from the celebrated works of Val St. Lamberg — 
 joined the strike. It was a veritable triumph. At last 
 the still lingering diamond-cutters of Antwerp stopped 
 
400 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 work. But more than this : the strike in its course induced 
 hundreds and thousands of workers of smaller industries 
 to join, and extended to branches which even the optimists 
 of the strike movement had not hoped to influence. Es- 
 pecially Brussels showed unexpected results in this direc- 
 tion, and the strike in the capital was a complete success — 
 in spite of all the silly lies of the clergy. In Brussels not 
 only the factories of the suburbs struck, but also a number 
 of smaller shops, the workers of which, carried away by 
 the force of the strike, did not wish to remain inactive 
 in the struggle for the rights of all. Furriers, coach- 
 builders, ladies' tailors, bronze-workers, printers, mechan- 
 ics, etc., etc., all trades were represented, some were 
 out in full. And the town workers? Only a part could 
 prove its solidarity, but we know that only a very lit- 
 tle urging would have been necessary to augment the 
 ranks. 
 
 "The official statistics show the following figures. Six 
 hundred eighty-two thousand industrial workers took part 
 in the strike. From this number we have to deduct the 
 100,000 women, who, not having suffrage, cannot partici- 
 pate in an agitation for the abolition of the plural vote. 
 The figures given by the employers' statistics were 
 400,000 strikers. This result scarcely indicates a fiasco. 
 If, on the other hand, we use as a basis the figures of the 
 Twentieth Century, which gives 773,260 industrial workers, 
 we have to deduct 175,753 women workers, of which number 
 65,438 work at home, there remain 598,260 industrial 
 workers, of which number 36,000 again work at home. 
 This result again takes us back to the original statistics, 
 which declare that at least two-thirds of the industrial 
 workers of Belgium participated in the general strike. 
 "Whether this fact shows a success or fiasco, it will be easy 
 for a non-clerical individual to decide. Let us. add that, 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 401 
 
 according to some employers' statistics, 71 per cent of the 
 industrial workers took part in the strike. ' ' 
 
 b. The New Statesman {Article signed C. M. L.) 
 
 "What have been the effects of the general strike for 
 adult suffrage? Certainly they have been far more im- 
 portant than could be gathered from the meager reports 
 which have dribbled into our public press. The first ques- 
 tion naturally is, what was the political result — ^how far, 
 that is, did the strike achieve its avowed object of forcing 
 adult suffrage? The world in general has been given to 
 believe that it completely failed. In Belgium the Con- 
 servatives protest that the Government did not give way 
 an inch, and that the position after the strike remained 
 precisely as it was before. Now it is true that the Gov- 
 ernment refused, at the end, as at the beginning, to deal 
 with the reform of the parliamentary franchise. But the 
 two refusals were very different. The prime minister 
 commenced (as was only to be expected) by flatly refusing 
 to consider the question under the threat of a strike, 
 though, of course, 'the franchise laws were not immuta- 
 ble. ' After the strike he said : 'We will make no promise to 
 deal with the question,- but the commission which we are 
 appointing to consider the local government franchise will 
 not be debarred from taking into consideration also the 
 parliamentary franchise.' We, in England, at least, are 
 not so unfamiliar with the forms under which a statesman 
 is allowed to save his face that we cannot appreciate the 
 difference between these two utterances. 
 
 "But there is another aspect of the matter, apart from 
 its purely political side. A great movement in a nation's 
 life is never in reality an isolated event, to be judged 
 
402 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 solely by its success or non-success in attaining its imme- 
 diate object. Its indirect effects are often of equal, or 
 even greater, importance. Looked at from this stand- 
 point, the Belgian general strike is worthy of the closest 
 study. Let us see, then, how it has affected the trade- 
 unions in particular and the working-class in general. 
 
 "Now trade-unionism in Belgium, as in other Continental 
 countries, is not the more or less homogeneous thing that 
 we know in England. There is a ceaseless and a bitter 
 opposition between the Socialists and the Catholics. The 
 Socialist unions are militant political organizations; the 
 Catholics are purely professional associations, leaving poli- 
 tics and Parliament severely alone, concerning themselves 
 only with the 'economic' interests of the wage-earners. 
 Between these two armies, the one pursuing 'la lutte des 
 classes,' the other proclaiming 'l' entente des classes,' there 
 is war to the death. The Christian unions opposed the 
 general strike. Before it began they boasted that they 
 would prevent it — or break it. When it was over, they 
 claimed that it had been a pit which their enemies had 
 digged for themselves, that great numbers of Socialist 
 workmen had deserted in disgust to the Catholic unions. 
 But, as a matter of fact, there is very little evidence of 
 this. The Socialist unions may have lost a few hundreds, 
 or a few thousands, of members here and there. But what 
 they have lost in one place they have gained in another. 
 And where members have fallen out, they have not gone 
 over to the Catholics; they have simply been the victims, 
 for the moment, of intimidation or revenge on the part of 
 the employers. The undoubted increase which the Cath- 
 olics have made seems rather to have been due to the 
 general 'boom' in trade-unionisin, and to some extent also 
 to the stimulus to organization given by the abhorred 
 strike itself ! 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 403 
 
 "As a whole, then, the trade-union movement has 
 gained as a result of the strike— slightly in numbers, 
 enormously in solidarity and morale. It is, however, from 
 the broadest democratic point of view that the results of 
 the general strike have been most notable. It was a pro- 
 found moral lesson to the working-class. It not only 
 showed them their powers, it filled them with confidence 
 and pride in themselves, in their own capacity and per- 
 severance. 
 
 "When the general strike actually took place, friends and 
 enemies alike were astonished. Out of a total working 
 population of a million, despite the fact that the Socialist 
 unions could claim less than 150,000 members, and despite 
 the open hostility of the 50,000 or 60,000 Christian trade- 
 unionists, something like 450,000 stopped work. The strike 
 was no less remarkable in its orderliness than in its extent. 
 During the ten days that it lasted there were actually fewer 
 'police-court cases' than in normal periods! Small wonder 
 that many, who had felt doubtful at first, exchanged con- 
 gratulation for apprehension, and that the Socialist leaders 
 were proud of their mobilization of such an army, and of 
 its behavior in the field. And small wonder that, when 
 the strike was declared off, they believed — as they con- 
 tinue to believe — that something very big had been 
 achieved. If, as some of the prophets think, another dem- 
 onstration may be necessary before the prize is won, they 
 will have gained no little experience and confidence for 
 its organization." 
 
 V. THE PROPOSED GENERAL STRIKE FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE IN 
 
 PRUSSIA 
 
 The German Congress of 1913 discussed the general 
 strike in a very fundamental way. We give a full epitome 
 
404 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of this discussion — the most weighty that has ever taken 
 place around this issue. 
 
 1. RESOLUTION OF THE PAETT EXECUTIVE RELATIVE TO THE 
 GENERAL STRIKE 
 
 According to a resolution passed by the Party Convention at 
 Jena (1905) and indorsed at Mannheim (1906), the widest use 
 of the general strike may, under given conditions, be considered 
 one of the most effective weapons of the working-class, not only 
 in the defense of rights it already possesses, but in the struggle 
 for new popular rights and privileges. 
 
 The right of general, direct, equal, and secret suffrage, the 
 right to participate in the election of all representative bodies of 
 our government, is an indispensable asset in the struggle for free- 
 dom of the modern proletariat. The three-class suffrage system 
 [in Prussia] not only deprives the poorer classes of a funda- 
 mental right, it hinders them in their struggle for a better exist- 
 ence and places the bitterest enemies of organized labor, the 
 foes of all social growth, the land-owning feudal class, at the 
 head of our government. 
 
 Therefore the Party Congress of Jena (1913) calls on the 
 enslaved masses to take up the fight, to carry it through with 
 the energy and enthusiasm of men and women who know that 
 this struggle cannot be won without great sacrifices. 
 
 While the Party Congress condemns the promiscuous, anar- 
 chistic use of the general strike, as an unfailing weapon in 
 working-class struggles, it is, on the other hand, of the opinion that 
 the proletariat must use every means, must use its whole strength, 
 to secure political freedom. A political general strike can be 
 carried out with a fair certainty of success only if all parts of 
 the working-class movement are wholly united, if it is fought 
 by a mass of workers filled with the enthusiasm of Socialist ideals, 
 by an army of men and women ready to sacrifice everything to 
 the success of the fight. 
 
 Therefore, the Party Congress declares that it be the duty of 
 every comrade to be tireless in his work for the growth and 
 perfection of [both] the political and industrial organizations of 
 our class. 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 405 
 
 2. FEOM THE EESOLUTION OP THE MINOEITY RELATING TO THE 
 GBNEBAL STRIKE 
 
 Rosa Luxemburg and others moved to substitute for 
 paragraphs 2 and 4 in the above, the following : 
 
 The growing bitterness of the industrial and political class 
 struggle in Germany calls for growing strength and increasing 
 power of the proletariat to resist the secret blows of the ruling 
 class, to carry on the struggle for the betterment of its economic 
 conditions, to wrest from the hands of the Government greater' 
 political rights. The political struggle steadily forces the pro- 
 letariat to strain every effort, for it represents the fight for gen- 
 eral, equal, and direct suffrage to all representative bodies of our 
 government. The right to the ballot is a fundamental necessity 
 in the struggle of the proletariat for industrial and social liberty. 
 
 The existing condition, which renders the laboring-class politic- 
 ally powerless, especially in Prussia, where the three-class suffrage 
 law obtains, hinders it in its struggle for a better existence and 
 places the bitterest enemies of organized labor, the foes of all 
 social growth, at the head of the Government, not only in 
 Prussia, but in the whole nation. 
 
 This shameful suffrage law can be overthrown only by a storm 
 of protest, by a great mass action such as was considered by 
 the Prussian Party Convention of 1910. 
 
 3. SCHEIDEMANN, SPEAKING FOE THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 
 The Prussian state elections have taken place. They have 
 resulted in a great gain of votes. According to the calculations 
 of our opponents, we must have polled at least a million votes, 
 and in spite of this huge gain, we have won only one additional 
 seat by our own strength. Through agreements with the Pro- 
 gressive People's Party, we have gained three additional seats in 
 the second balloting. None of us expected anything better, and 
 still the result is shameful. It seems as if the Prussian election 
 laws must lash every last man into a fury of indignation; that 
 a party which has polled a million votes should be returned to 
 the Landtag with just exactly seven men. 
 
406 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 A few thousand men, farmers and officials, can be marched to 
 the ballot box, and can elect a reactionary into office; it takes 
 far more than a hundred thousand men, men who take part in 
 the elections in spite of the greatest difficulties, men who risk 
 their jobs when they cast their vote, ... to return one Socialist 
 to the Landtag. 
 
 The shame of it cries to heaven! And still the people do not 
 protest. During our discussions on the election, while we were 
 arguing about our attitude toward the military and the tax bills, 
 . . . when everyone was talking about . . . our lack of success, 
 a feeling of dissatisfaction naturally arose . . . and then . . . 
 someone said, " General strike." 
 
 Comrades, when this word fell among us a peculiar debate 
 arose. . . . All . . . agreed that the time was not ripe for the 
 attempt. Comrades, the executive committee knew it before this 
 discussion was taken up, and because we knew it we did not 
 say it, because we believed that even if we knew it, our enemies 
 need not know what we cannot do. "We felt it rather unwise to 
 tell our opponents : " I have another weapon, and if I use it you 
 will be done for! But you needn't be afraid. At present I 
 cannot use it." We have heard the argument that the whole 
 discussion has grown out of the feeling of the masses. I deny 
 that! The speeches we hear and the articles we read did not 
 in the most cases reflect the spirit of the masses. On the other 
 hand, I do not go to the extreme to which some of you go when 
 you declare that the whole general strike agitation is the product 
 of a few intellectuals. . . . But he who knows the masses — and 
 most of us live among them — he knows that the class-conscious 
 worker is too familiar with the labor market, knows too well 
 of what clay the so-called organized laborers, the yellows and 
 the Christians and the unorganized, are fashioned. And there- 
 fore they say, though they say it with clenched fists : " The time 
 has not yet come." 
 
 Comrades! I will tell you plainly how we of the executive 
 committee regard this question. We are in accord with the reso- 
 lutions adopted at Jena and at Mannheim. Among other things, 
 we resolved there : " When the executive committee believes that 
 the time for a general strike has come, it shall immediately call 
 upon the General Commission of Labor Unions, and shall take 
 all steps which seem necessary to carry out the strike success- 
 fully." You may be sure that the executive committee is deter- 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 407 
 
 mined to respect the motions of past conventions, and that it will 
 act accordingly. 
 
 During the debate on the general strike we heard repeated 
 reference to Russia, to Belgium, to Sweden. These comparisons 
 are lame. We are well informed concerning the strikes in Sweden 
 and Belgium. We know and appreciate the wonderful prepara- 
 tory work which was done, especially by our Belgian comrades. 
 . . . But, comrades, we forget . . . one important circumstance. 
 . . . Our Belgian and Swedish comrades knew that . . . they 
 could go into the fight with the certainty that over there, across 
 the border, they have a big brother, who will gladly help if matters 
 come to a crisis. Comrades, we have no big brother over the 
 border. . . . These comparisons cannot stand. Then a word as 
 to Russia. I will not deny that we have in Germany, and espe- 
 cially in Prussia, conditions which forcibly remind one of Rus- 
 sian methods, but . . . after all, let us compare the lot of the 
 Russian workingman with that of the German. What rights has 
 the former? He has the right to the knout, the right to Siberia. 
 He is moved, therefore, by very different motives in his protest 
 against tyranny. . . . 
 
 What is to be the aim and end of this strike [that is now pro- 
 posed] ? The winning of manhood suffrage in Prussia. What 
 do you mean by that? We want the right to send representa- 
 tives to Parliament that they may work there in our interests. 
 And in order to arouse the enthusiasm of the masses for the 
 general strike we proceed to ridicule parliamentary activity. We 
 cry, " Parliamentarism is Cretinism." You ask, can we gain any- 
 thing for the proletariat by parliamentary activity! But you 
 ask the working-class to enter into a mass strike to gain the right 
 to elect representatives to a parliament in which they can accom- 
 plish nothing, a parliament whose work you describe as Cretinism ! 
 I cannot understand such logic. . . . 
 
 We will have the general strike when it becomes inevita- 
 ble, but until then, let us remember Bebel's words : " The general 
 strike is the ' ultima ratio ' of the Social Democracy." Let us 
 bide our time. 
 
 . . . The problem before us must be definitely separated from 
 the question of a spontaneous general strike, one that grows, with 
 elemental force, out of the industrial life of a people that, widen- 
 ing and spreading, leads to sharp conflicts and finally to a general 
 
408 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 settlement. We must not forget that, notwithstanding our great 
 strength, we are after all a minority of the working-class, though 
 a large one. Our party is democratic in its principles. No one 
 would contend that the majority should determine the views of 
 the minority. It would be just as undemocratic to force the ma- 
 jority, through a mass strike of the minority, to make Socialist 
 politics. There is only one way to prepare for the final struggle 
 — education, organization. To my mind a special propaganda for 
 the general strike is wrong. Teach the masses the meaning of 
 our movement, make them class-conscious; that is the work we 
 must do. Everything else will take care of itself. ... 
 
 As the situation grows more and more critical, the need of 
 perfect discipline grows daily greater. On several occasions we 
 have passed through dangerous periods, times when it seemed 
 as if the brutal tyranny of the rulers of our country, and espe- 
 cially of our Prussian powers, could no longer be borne. We 
 were strong enough to pass through these crises without blood- 
 shed, but it was thanks to the Social Democratic movement, to 
 the seLf-sacriflcing discipline of its members. I wish to remind 
 you of this, those of you who believe that a general strike is not 
 possible without bloodshed. Our comrades in Belgium have 
 proved that great strikes can be managed without riots, without 
 loss of life. There was no confusion, no lawlessness. The most 
 admirable feature of the strike was its wonderful order, its rigid 
 discipline. He is pursuing a dangerous course who tries to pre- 
 pare the way for a general strike by breaking up the discipline 
 of labor organizations, by robbing the masses of their confidence 
 in their leaders, by glorifying the unorganized as the saviours 
 of their class. Where we have discipline and order, where all 
 hearts work in harmony, where, leaders and their followers are 
 bound to each other by mutual, unswerving confidence, there, and 
 only there, can we fight and win the final battle. 
 
 4. BERNSTEIN, FOE THE MAJORITY 
 
 I was one of the first members of the German Socialist Party 
 to declare that it may become advisable, perhaps inevitable, that 
 we adopt the general strike. I still hold this opinion, and I will 
 vote in favor of the resolution presented by the executive board. 
 Further, in view of present conditions in Germany, I am not 
 prepared to go. The industrial outlook warns us against adopK 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 409 
 
 ing the romantic ideals of those who believe in the present possi- 
 bility of a general strike. . . . 
 
 How do you propose to carry out your general strike in Ger- 
 many? Will you go into it blindfolded, without considering the 
 possible results? We, too, know how to begin! But I should 
 like to know how it will end! Perhaps Comrade Rosa Luxem- 
 burg can offer suggestions. In Belgium, 370,000 to 450,000 work- 
 ers took part in the well-prepared strike. If we wish to do as 
 well, relatively, we must be able to draw out at least two and a 
 half to three million workers. Will you tell me (to Rosa Luxem- 
 burg) whether you think this is possible? Can you arrange such 
 a strike without violent uprisings; can you keep it up without 
 a great slump after the first enthusiastic days are over? For 
 in such a strike the first loss in numbers spells failure. Let us 
 be guided by past experience. Different countries vary widely 
 in their attitude toward the general strike, according to tradi- 
 tions and the strength of the party organization. Liebknecht, 
 in an article in the Neue Welt, of Berlin, mentions Sweden, 
 saying that we might have learned there how to carry on a 
 strike. (Denial from Liebknecht.) It was so reported in the 
 Vorwaerts. The Swedish strike of 1909, though not political in 
 character, was a mass strike of the Swedish workers. What was 
 the result? I will not speak of the illusions that were cherished. 
 ... In 1907 and 1908 the Swedish Labor Union Federation 
 numbered about 180,000 members. . . . Then came the great 
 strike in 1909, and to-day the Swedish Labor Federation has 
 dwindled so that it counts 80,000 to 90,000 members. ... The 
 experience of others should teach us caution. . . . We must 
 consider the conditions peculiar to our own country. We must 
 reckon with the strong organization of the manufacturing class, 
 with the opposition of other organizations which stand against 
 the unions that are with us in the struggle. And then, I repeat, 
 when will you stop your general strike? When universal suf- 
 frage has been granted? You might just as well say that you 
 will stop when the red flag flies over Berlin. . . . 
 
 5. ROSA LUXEMBURG, FOR THE MINORITY 
 
 When I heard the speech of Comrade Scheidemann yesterday, 
 a feeling of sadness crept over me, as I recalled last Sunday's 
 opening of our Convention, and the greetings that were brought 
 
410 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 to us by our foreign guests, from Holland, from Belgium, and 
 from Switzerland. One after the other they repeated, " To us 
 nothing is so important in your Convention as the debate on the 
 general strike; for us in Holland, in Belgium, in Switzerland 
 the question has become a burning one. But we feel, though in 
 our countries the general strike is no longer theoretical, but a 
 practical question in party tactics, that we must go to the German 
 Social Democracy, to the leaders of the International movement, 
 for a deep, thoroughgoing, serious discussion of the underlying 
 principles of this problem." Then came Scheidemann's speech 
 on the mass strike. I fear our foreign guests will hardly feel 
 repaid if they expected from our party leaders an unbiased and 
 broad-minded treatment of this very important subject. If they 
 hoped to get from our executive committee a wide outlook over 
 the political and industrial situation in Germany, and within 
 the German Party, in connection with this subject; if they ex- 
 pected to hear definite proposals for future activity, or a clear-cut 
 statement of party tactics and party workj I fear they have 
 not been repaid. For Scheidemann's speech was anything but 
 a logical and serious consideration of the problem. It sounded 
 but two notes. He cried with Faust's Famulus Wagner, " See 
 how wonderfully we have progressed on every hand." He calls 
 to arms against the grumblers, against the dissatisfied critics in 
 the party itself. ... I believe that the first requisite for a real 
 political leader ... is a sensitive ear for all that lives and 
 moves in the soul of the masses. . . . 
 
 The great mass of our organized members, the rank and file, 
 is thirsting for a new spirit in our party life, . . . that a more 
 vigorous, a more virile tone be used in our struggle, [and] are 
 sick of the all-holy methods of only-parliamentarism. . . . The 
 executive board itself was forced to admit in its official report 
 and in Scheidemann's speech a number of disquieting facts. We 
 hear that our membership does not show the desired increase, 
 that our newspapers report, in some cases, a standstill; in some 
 cases, even a loss in the number of readers. Scheidemann tells 
 us that every sensible man would expect the masses to rise in 
 revolt against conditions in Prussia, against the Prussian suffrage 
 law, against the shameful result of the last Prussian election. . . . 
 
 He was forced to admit that our agitation against the military 
 bill was a deplorable failure. These are facts, facts that would 
 speak to every serious party leader of the need of a thorough 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 411 
 
 analysis of conditions, facts that call for decisive measures, whicli 
 demand that we search for the roots of the existing evil and 
 remedy it by adequate and fundamental changes. And yet the 
 executive passes lightly over them. Standstill in organization? 
 Loss of readers'? Why, it's the crisis! Shall we look placidly 
 on while each industrial crisis overthrows what we have pains- 
 takingly built up in the years of prosperity? 
 
 The Prussian people did not revolt after the shameful result 
 of the elections, as it seemed to Scheidemann they should. But 
 our executive has nothing to say. ... It might be a little more 
 to the point to ask if our tactics were not to blame, ... to ask 
 what can be done to avoid such occurrences? 
 
 Then comes the unbelievable failure of our great movement 
 against the military bill, this most outrageous piece of imperial- 
 istic audacity we have ever experienced. Again, our board finds 
 a plausible explanation. . . . Our executive board should have 
 been the first to sound the alarm, to place the question before 
 the whole party. If we have accomplished so little, must we not 
 seek new ways and means to imbue the masses with the thought 
 and ideals of the Socialist movement? Instead, we are pacified 
 with weak explanations and comforting assurances. 
 
 6. BAUEE, FOB THE MAJORITY 
 
 The labor unions have been criticised because they have not 
 yet spoken on the question of the general strike. It has been 
 called characteristic of their whole attitude. But the whole 
 question is not a labor-union question. I am not speaking here 
 as a union man, but as a comrade. , The labor-union movement 
 has no reason for taking part in this discussion. Because a few 
 comrades who are always dissatisfied with the growth of the 
 party and the activity of its leading committees are pleased to 
 discover a new method by which they hope to influence our 
 tactics along really revolutionary lines, we are all expected to 
 rush pell-mell after them to take part in the discussion. . . . 
 To carry on such debates constantly brings not a growth but a 
 demoralization of the movement, and the union leaders have not 
 the slightest interest in the pursuance of such activities. I believe 
 that the unions stand aloof with a feeling of strength. Because 
 they know their might, because the leaders know their responsi- 
 bility, they do not join in this game of generalities that can 
 
412 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 produce no practical results. Comrade Luxemburg admits that, 
 at the present time, the general strike is unfeasible. . . . 
 
 To investigate fairly the possibilities of a mass strike and its 
 defects, we must look to those countries where it has already 
 received a practical application. We must profit by their experi- 
 ences. The first general strike of importance took place in 
 Holland. A number of experienced men have debated its effects 
 in the columns of the Frankfurter Volkstimme. Ankersmith, of 
 Amsterdam, expressly states that the strike was followed by 
 increased persecution of the proletariat. The strike was called 
 as a protest against the attempted encroachments upon the rights 
 of the railroad and state employees to organize. The strike was 
 a failure, and as a result the new labor laws of 1906 contained 
 a number of reactionary clauses directed against workmen, among 
 others one which prohibited picketing. 
 
 We had a great general strike movement in Sweden. Swedish 
 labor unions, which were forced into the struggle by the united 
 manufacturers, at that time were- a splendidly organized body. 
 It was a heroic struggle, but possible only because, hand in hand 
 with the workers of that small country, went the solidarity of 
 the workers of other nations, above all, that of the German 
 Social Democracy. Without the millions collected from foreign 
 sources the strike would have collapsed long before, would have 
 become a catastrophe for the Swedish workers. What would 
 Germany do in a similar situation? To whom should we look 
 for support? Germany leads all other countries of the workers' 
 International in practical solidarity. Except from Austria and 
 Scandinavia, we could expect little support beyond, perhaps, the 
 famous telegram from Trance which expressed heartfelt sym- 
 pathy and contributed 20 francs. 
 
 In Sweden, the mass strike resulted in the loss of about one- 
 half of the labor-union membership. For years to come effective 
 labor struggles in Sweden are practically out of the question; 
 the best workers in the Swedish movement have been forced to 
 emigrate. If we will profit by these experiences we will be 
 extremely careful in considering the general strike as a factor in 
 our struggle. 
 
 In Belgium, the strike was comparatively successful. It was 
 not forced over the hands of the leaders, however, but was well 
 organized and thoroughly prepared. It was, above all, a splendid, 
 disciplined movement, one that reflects the highest honor upon 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 413 
 
 the Belgian proletariat. The comrades who stood in the advanced 
 guard of the Belgian uprising believe that much has been gained. 
 But we have secured the views of a dozen of the most prominent 
 labor leaders of Belgium, and their opinions differ radically from 
 those expressed by the party officials. Comrade Schneider, of the 
 German Factory Workers' Union, who was in Belgium at the 
 time of the strike, expresses a still more unfavorable opinion. 
 The union officers report that the number of those blacklisted 
 after the strike is so great that for years to come the whole 
 energy of the unions will be used up in assisting them. This 
 means that the labor movement in Belgium has suffered a relapse 
 from which it will require many years to recover. . . . 
 
 Comrade Luxemburg agitates for Syndicalism, for continuous 
 tumults and excitement, for a wild strike here and another there. 
 Such things are impossible in Germany. Our unions have taken 
 care of that. What has been the effect of Syndicalist activity 
 in Italy? The national industrial organizations are disrupted; 
 the workers are powerless. In France, where they preach general 
 strike and use it wherever possible, these strikes have become 
 harmless to the employers. These uprisings have no practical 
 value. They usually result in more stringent laws against the 
 laboring population. . . . 
 
 7. KARL LIEBKNEOHT, FOR THE MINORITY 
 
 It is unfair to make those who call for a general strike appear 
 as though they were only idle talkers. The whole situation, as 
 it lies before us since the last Prussian election, calls louder than 
 words for a thorough discussion of the means we have at our 
 command. Not the whim of- an intellectual has precipitated this 
 turmoil; it was the inevitable result of the present crisis that 
 caused this call for the general strike. I agree with you that 
 this discussion was aroused at an inopportune moment. But it 
 arose because it had to come, because it was a necessity. Its 
 coming at this unfortunate time ... is not sufficient reason for 
 ridiculing the problem that has grown out of the heart of tlie 
 proletarian movement ; is no excuse for discrediting it as has been, 
 and is being systematically done. I must reproach the Comrades 
 Seheidemann and Bauer for doing this. I know very well that 
 some of those who are called general strike fanatics have gone 
 too far. I do not, by any means, agree with all that has been 
 
414 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 said and written. . . . This attempt, upon the part of the Com- 
 rades Seheidemann, Bauer, and others, to discredit the supporters 
 of a general strike, should cause us to study the executive com- 
 mittee resolution closely, to interpret it with a measure of dis- 
 trust. The resolution purports to be a renewed declaration in 
 favor of the general strike. There is no need of such a declara- 
 tion. We have given it at Jena and at Mannheim. But the 
 resolution contains something that makes it thoroughly unpalata- 
 ble, the reference, I mean, to a complete harmony of all parts 
 of the working-class movement. Such harmony is well-nigh im- 
 possible. If that were a necessary condition there would never 
 have been a general strike. The phraseology of the resolution 
 tends clearly to weaken, not to encourage. Nor do I understand 
 why this resolution should demand so insistently that the great 
 mass be " filled with the enthusiasm of Socialist ideals," that it 
 be " ready to sacrifice everything for the success of the fight." 
 This is peculiar where we are discussing a struggle for a right 
 which is not purely proletarian, but merely democratic in its 
 principles, a struggle in which we are sure to have a certain 
 measure of assistance from non-proletarian sources. These pas- 
 sages in the resolution presented by the executive board show 
 plainly enough the desire to handcuff the general strike discussion, 
 not only for the present, but for all time. . . . 
 
 You who declare, on the one hand, that you desire a general 
 strike, and say, on the other hand, that you want deeds, not 
 words, what do you mean? I insist that Comrade Seheidemann, 
 and with him the others who purport to be upholders of the 
 general strike, are in favor of it only in words. Deep down in 
 their hearts they, too, are opponents. Their arguments are argu- 
 ments against the idea of a general strike. If the objections 
 advanced by Seheidemann and Bauer were sound, if the objec- 
 tions made by Bernstein . . . were valid, then the general strike 
 is rank nonsense, and we need no resolution. . . . 
 
 Bauer makes a mistake when he says : " Why do we speak of 
 these things? We will call the general strike when the moment 
 for it has come." No, in order to call a strike in this sense, 
 if we wish to avoid a wild, uncontrolled uprising, the idea must 
 first be understood by the people. They must know its whole 
 meaning, realize its whole responsibility. The thought must be- 
 come alive in the masses, and it can become alive only in the 
 living flow of popular discussion. Whether or not to-day is the 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 415 
 
 time to begin has nothing to do with the question. Sahiedemann's 
 comparison with a weapon we are not ready to use does not hold 
 water. No one has said the general strike shall be used to-day. 
 . . . But even in times of great hardship we may, we must 
 prepare new weapons for the future. And these new weapons 
 in the struggle for political freedom must be sharper than those 
 we have used before. ... 
 
 8. STATEMENT OF BELGIAN DELEGATES 
 
 The Belgian labor unions have not, on the whole, suffered any 
 material loss of members through the general strike. Reports 
 submitted three months before and three months dfter the strike 
 prove this conclusively. When we speak of losses in some places 
 we must also consider the gains that others have made. One 
 hundred minus 10 equals 90, but 90 plus 10 is again 100. 
 
 It is incorrect to maintain that the labor unions of Belgium 
 had to use the greater part of their financial resources to assist 
 the victims of the general strike. The books of the relief fund 
 for the support of the black-listed strikers were closed more than 
 two months ago. We have proved to the clerical press that the 
 general strike has neither endangered nor crippled the financial 
 condition of the labor-union movement. In Brussels alone, Le 
 Peuple, through a single appeal, collected more than 100,000 
 francs in voluntary contributions for the wagon-makers who have 
 been locked out for three months, and who for six weeks supported 
 their members from their own fund. You see the Belgian unions 
 are by no means weakened; on the contrary, they are preparing 
 for new struggles. 
 
 The conflicts of the locked-out wagon-workers and of the hat- 
 makers of Brussels, as well as those of the metal-workers of Ant- 
 werp (2,000 of whose members are unemployed because the indus- 
 try is suffering heavily through the crisis), are of a purely eco- 
 nomic nature. The former both began before the general strike. 
 Nor can we regard the metal-workers as its victims, since they 
 joined the strike after an understanding with their employers. 
 
 This correction is not to be construed as an interference on 
 the part of the Belgian delegates in German affairs. Every nation 
 must determine its own tactics. But the delegation here repre- 
 sented considered it their duty to oppose the spread of legendary 
 stories concerning the Belgian general strike. 
 
416 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 9. SCHEIDEMANN, CLOSING THE DEBATE 
 
 [The minority resolution declares that] " A mass strike cannot 
 be called at the command of party or union leaders; it cannot be 
 artificial in its conception." I believe we all agree that a general 
 strike cannot be artificially produced. . . . But the sentence I 
 have quoted expresses a tinge of ridicule, in fact it directly op- 
 posed the resolution of Jena and Mannheim. What do we read 
 there ? " When the executive committee believes that the time is 
 ripe for a general strike it shall act hand in hand with the 
 General Commission of Labor Unions to take such steps as seem 
 necessary to the success of this measure." Surely that means 
 that the executive bodies of the party and labor-union movements 
 shall be empowered to enforce decisive measures. 
 
 But here in the minority resolution we read : " Not at the com- 
 mand of party or union leaders." Comrades, I will tell you 
 wherein, in my opinion, lies the fundamental difference between 
 the resolution of the executive committee and that of Comrade 
 Luxemburg. The former speaks in favor of an eventual general 
 strike, carried out by a well-disciplined, well-trained, class- 
 conscious proletariat that will act when the signal is given. The 
 latter can be interpreted in only one way — as a defense of wild 
 strikes; in other words, a defense of that which we commonly 
 call " Syndicalism." (Ledebour : " Perversion ! ") But, comrades, 
 if that is not the significance of this resolution, why do you not 
 simply indorse the decisions of Jena and Mannheim, that these 
 committees be empowered to act at the right moment? No, it is 
 impossible for those of us who desire to follow our proved tactics, 
 . . . who are ready when the time shall come to support a gen- 
 eral strike, ... to support this resolution. 
 
 There have been objections to the fourth paragraph of the 
 executive committee resolution which repudiates the methods of 
 those who propagate uprisings, wild strikes, foolish, ill-considered 
 strikes that must break our own backs. This clause was absolutely 
 necessary. Again the resolution states : " A political general 
 strike can be carried out with a fair certainty of success only 
 where all parts of the working-class movement are wholly united." 
 " What do you mean by ' wholly united ' ? " we have been asked. 
 The point is simply this — that a majority in each of the com- 
 mittees in question must vote favorably before any decisive action 
 can be undertaken. The " wholly," therefore, must not be mis- 
 
THE GENEEAL STRIKE 417 
 
 understood to read that the "nay" of a single man may make 
 action impossible. 
 
 10. " VORWAEETS " — EDITORIAL SUMMARY 
 
 If we needed proof for our contention that a discussion of the 
 general strike need not be a waste of time ... the general strike 
 debate to which we listened to-day furnished it in a most con- 
 vincing form. Eor the arguments used by some of our authori- 
 tative comrades proved, more plainly than words, how necessary 
 it is to implant the desire for revolutionary activity more deeply 
 into the masses, that we may stand prepared for battle when the 
 fateful hour comes. 
 
 We do not, by any means, see in the political mass strike a 
 remedy for all ills, an irresistible force which will throw open 
 the great doors of the future with one mighty blow. We do not 
 wish to drive a German worker lightly into a grave conflict. We, 
 too, are seriously concerned for the welfare of the organizations 
 built up by decades of laborious and deserving effort for the 
 protection and the assistance of the working-class. Nor do we 
 favor senseless uprisings and Syndicalistic attempts. On the 
 contrary, we are unalterably opposed to senseless revolutionary 
 romanticism. But in spite of this we consider it just as wrong, 
 just as senseless, just as harmful to the party, to believe that 
 the revolutionizing of the public spirit can be left for all times 
 in the hands of our leaders, that the executive committee of the 
 party and the General Commission of Labor Unions would, infal- 
 libly, when the situation is ripe, take the necessary steps to pre- 
 pare " suitable measures." . . . 
 
 However well our labor unions may be fitted to carry out every- 
 day labor struggles, they may not yet understand how to arouse 
 that stubborn, unyielding spirit of battle that alone will enable 
 us to bear up under the severe conflict that stands before us. 
 Popular discussion of the general strike has this advantage, that 
 it destroys romantic revolutionary as well as revisionistic illusions 
 and shows to the masses the whole bitterness, the greatness of 
 the struggle. Surely a few resolutions are not enough. Unceas- 
 ing intensive agitation and education must arouse the masses to 
 great sacrifices, without which no class in the whole history of 
 human progress has ever won its emancipation. . . . 
 
 Many comrades look upon the general strike as a means of 
 
418 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 defense against encroachments upon our right to organize, and 
 upon our political rights, but regard it as a poor weapon for 
 aggressive warfare. . . . What if they attempt, by artistic rear- 
 rangement of the election districts, to oust the Socialists where 
 they are most firmly seated? Will you then use the general 
 strike which you deemed so dangerous for an attack upon Prussian 
 reaction? . . . 
 
 It was gratifying that, among others. Comrade Frank objected 
 not only to the blanketing of the general-strike discussion, but 
 also to the " conservative phraseology " that Comrade Bauer felt 
 called upon to use in opposition to the so-called revolutionary 
 phraseology of others. He declared the general strike must be- 
 come a familiar weapon in the hands of the workers, if we desire 
 them to be ready to sacrifice, not for a small increase in wages, 
 but for the interest of our class. . . . 
 
 (The general-strike debate was closed at a late hour by the 
 adoption of the resolution of the executive committee by a vote 
 of 335 against 142. . . . ) 
 
 VI. THE GENERAL STRIKE IN ITALY, 1914* 
 
 By Oda Olberg 
 
 "This general strike differed in principle in no way 
 from the earlier general strikes which have been pro- 
 claimed as protests against police outrages since 1904. The 
 difference lay only in the scope of movement: it was 
 deeper, more inclusive, and more threatening. . . . 
 
 "... The bloodshed of the 7th of June in Ancona gave 
 rise to three different movements which had scarcely any 
 other relation with one another than their common cause. 
 The executive committee of the Socialist Party and the Fed- 
 eration of Labor proclaimed a general strike in the whole 
 country immediately upon the news of the bloodshed [at An- 
 cona] . Independent of this protest movement, and from 24 
 to 28 hours earlier, a movement broke out in Romagna which 
 was led by a committee of Republicans and anarchists of 
 
 * From an article in Die Neue Zeit, July 31, 1914. 
 
THE GENERAL STEIKE 419 
 
 Ancona. This movement was completely spontaneous, . . . 
 and was cut off from all relation with the movement of 
 the country at large by the disabling of telegraph and 
 telephone and the cessation of railway service during the 
 whole of the duration of the strike. After the mass move- 
 ment in Romagna had overflowed into the neighboring 
 provinces on the 8th of June, and on the midnight of the 
 8th was declared in the whole country, the union of railway 
 workers proclaimed a general strike on the night of the 
 10th of June, without accomplishing anything further than 
 the crippling and obstruction of the railway traffic in 
 various towns of the country. This movement, which as 
 a demonstration of power was a total failure, was con- 
 ducted by the railway workers' union. . . . 
 
 "The readiness of the great mass of workers of Italy to 
 strike . . . is a generally known and a noteworthy fact. 
 When it comes to a protest against brutalities of the police, 
 the Italian proletariat has always been ready for action. 
 But the Federation of Labor, the party executive, and the 
 [Socialist] group in Parliament have frequently not been 
 ready. Nevertheless, strikes had become the rule, so 
 that the Federation of Labor, which now, as before, is in 
 Reformist hands, regarded it as the lesser evil to support 
 the movement, which it could not check, rather than to be 
 carried along with it. 
 
 "The party executive, since the Congress of Reggio 
 Emilia (July, 1912), has been in the hands of the revolu- 
 tionaries, who have never condemned the general strike, 
 although there are various opinions in their ranks upon its 
 value and applicability. We see the principal cause for the 
 effective conduct of the [last] general strike in the quick 
 and energetic action of the party executive and the Fed- 
 eration, which gave the order for the general strike scarcely 
 30 hours after the bloodshed, just as in the year 1904, when 
 
420 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the movement attained similar depth and power. . . . Be- 
 sides, the masses had for some time been filled with the 
 thought of a general strike, were inwardly prepared for it, 
 and their elite was not held back through all kinds of 
 considerations and prudence, as in the reformistie era, 
 considerations which arose from the anxiety not to de- 
 stroy a political situation favorable for the masses. 
 
 "We will not deny that the widespread unemployment 
 . . . also favored the strike. . . . 
 
 "Now as to the result of the general strike. Before one 
 can judge this question, one must be clear as to the pur- 
 pose of the general strike. The general strike was a pro- 
 test against a deed of violence, which the Italian pro- 
 letariat could in no way justify or accept. Accordingly, 
 it wanted to show the bourgeoisie that while it might allow 
 its police and carabiniers to fire upon the people without 
 legal warning, that the masses, through their cessation of 
 labor, can obstruct the whole operation of bourgeois life 
 and injure bourgeois interests. Naturally the working- 
 class, by this line of action, cuts into its own flesh. If the 
 general strike interferes with the profit and convenience of 
 the bourgeoisie, it often deprives the proletariat of daily 
 necessaries. Certainly there is a tremendous eloquence in 
 the sudden stopping of production, and of public services. 
 There is never a clearer understanding of what the pro- 
 letariat creates than on the day when it folds its arms. 
 But it cannot be doubted that the proletariat itself makes 
 the greatest economic sacrifice in a general strike. Besides 
 the dead and wounded, the imprisoned are solely on the 
 side of the workers. Eegarded as a calculation, the gain 
 in the general strike is never on the side of the proletariat. 
 To the victims against whose death the protest is made 
 are always added other victims. . . . The general strike is 
 no compensation for a wrong that has been suffered, and is 
 
THE GENEEAL STEIKE 421 
 
 not intended as such. It is an expression of power in 
 opposition to another expression of power. It does not 
 bring immediate fruits, is no rational expression of 
 strength, if one regards a short period only. It gives 
 the proletariat the feeling of its own power and responsi- 
 bility, and shows the bourgeoisie the limit of theirs. Be- 
 sides, it permits experience to be gained for the final, 
 decisive struggle with which the capitalistic society may 
 turn into a Socialistic society. From this point of view 
 we can no more regard its victims as serving no purpose 
 than the bourgeoisie regard the accidents at its military 
 maneuvers as being useless. . . . 
 
 "A word on the excesses. On the whole there were few 
 acts of violence: a few attacks on persons, and damage to 
 property of little importance for a movement which shook 
 the greater part of the country. For two or three days 
 the total reckoning of acts of violence which were given 
 in the bourgeois press is short and unimportant. It must 
 be recalled that in this strike the bourgeois resistance was 
 for the first time organized and proceeded with incredible 
 violence under the protection of the police. When these 
 bourgeois rowdies could find an isolated worker, they drove 
 the secret police against him, who arrested him with blows 
 and kicks. . . . 
 
 "If one wishes to learn a strategical lesson from the 
 conduct of the general strike, it is this : that for a complete 
 development of power, the possession of the telegraph and 
 telephone service is indispensable. This is a weighty prob- 
 lem of the general strike, because it is here the question 
 of the maintenance of a service and not its discontinuance. 
 This time, too, the Government cut the strikers off from all 
 telegraph and telephone service. The party executive was 
 fully twenty-four hours without any news. The lack of news 
 from one town to another prevented simultaneous action, 
 
422 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 and did not allow the masses to become aware of the great- 
 ness of the movement. Besides, orders given by the organ- 
 ization through signals are exceptionally important for 
 Italy, where the general strike movement will doubtless be 
 repeated. To-day party comrades do not dare to oppose 
 any stupid vandalism, because they fear to be taken for 
 police in civil clothes. Indeed several shots were fired at 
 Comrade Peraccina, professor of pathology in the Uni- 
 versity of Florence, when he tried to mediate in g, struggle 
 at a barricade. The man later wrote to Peraccina that he 
 had taken him for a secret policeman. Finally the councils 
 of labor . . . had to undertake the issuing of a bulletin. 
 In Rome there were no newspapers for three days. . . . 
 
 "On the whole, one can say that this general strike con- 
 firmed the experience gained in the previous ones: as it 
 embraced a great part of the masses and interrupted labor 
 in the whole country, it was a fearful expression of power 
 and a stirring means of protest. Naturally one may regard 
 it as an error to stir up the fear of the proletariat among 
 the bourgeoisie, and to show one's power, because this 
 necessarily has the effect of arousing the bourgeoisie to 
 defense. . . . 
 
 "As to the railroad strike we can be very brief. The 
 movement failed, and failed under conditions which al- 
 lowed it to be seen beforehand that it could not result 
 otherwise. It was proclaimed, after the rest of the 
 working-class had already been twenty-four hours on 
 strike, and under the expressed supposition that this gen- 
 eral strike would go beyond the bounds of a mere demon- 
 stration of protest. We do not hesitate to say its proclama- 
 tion was an error due to a false judgment of the situation. 
 Besides the railroad workers, whose very strong organiza- 
 tion is under a Syndicalist leadership, have hitherto 
 gained no great name for themselves in the field of sym- 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 423 
 
 pathetic strikes. If they struck, it was always for profit 
 to their own profession. 
 
 "The movement in Eomagna puts the person who must 
 write about it under the painful necessity of finding his 
 way among a mass of unconnected and contradictory re- 
 ports, among which it is difficult to separate the true from 
 the false. We shall merely indicate the essential char- 
 acteristics of the movement. . . . This district is primarily 
 an agricultural district. ... Its population . . . was per- 
 suaded, on the 8th of June, from Ancona, to proclaim the 
 republic everywhere, [on the supposition that] this had 
 already happened in all the rest of Italy. The news was 
 not doubted and no resistance was offered. They even 
 placed the red flag in place of the flag of the monarchy. 
 In the little places the carabiniers were disarmed or shut 
 up in the barracks, local governments were constituted, 
 the means of existence were distributed, reforms in local 
 taxation laid out, etc. Because all this, on account of its 
 lack of success, was afterwards turned into a farce, it is 
 not worth while to dwell upon it. What is worthy of ob- 
 servation is only the great susceptibility of the masses to 
 illusions, and their wonderful moderation which kept them 
 from all acts of violence against persons and all useless 
 destruction. That the telegraph and telephone were made 
 unserviceable and the railroads blocked lay in the nature 
 of the case and cannot be called vandalism. The June 
 days showed that the population of Eomagna and the 
 Marches is enthusiastically ready to raise the Eepublican 
 flag . . . without accompanying the change by orgies of 
 revenge and without expecting enrichment from it. The 
 absence of any act of revenge is all the more remarkable, 
 as there exists in many places the greatest bitterness be- 
 tween workers and landlords, as the result of the obstinate 
 economic struggles of recent years. [The strike in these 
 
424 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 districts sometimes involved several hundred thousand agri- 
 cultural laborers.] 
 
 "The June days further prove that the ruling class in 
 Romagna and the Marches made their peace with what they 
 supposed to be the new government without any effort at 
 defense. The monarchy appeared to the bourgeoisie of 
 those places as really not worth lifting a hand for. If it 
 has become anti-Republican now that the hour of reaction 
 has struck, that undoubtedly shows its lack of character, 
 but not its monarchical sentiment. 
 
 ' ' Of the June days it may truly be said that they showed 
 the true marks of a political revolution, because in this 
 period political power passed from one class of the popula- 
 tion to another. The Republican committee gave orders 
 and the bourgeoisie obeyed: delivered up cereals, handed 
 over their automobiles, even offered money which was re- 
 fused. The affair turned into a farce, not because it passed 
 without bloodshed, but because the presupposition that a 
 revolution had been accomplished in all the rest of the 
 country proved false. That the masses, without meeting 
 resistance, hauled down the royal colors in a hundred 
 places, and replaced them with the red flag, is a much 
 more significant fact to the monarchy [precisely] because 
 it was accomplished without bloodshed, and because there 
 was no resistance from the ruling classes. 
 
 "Our party had nothing to do with the movement in 
 Romagna, though it could not refuse to give its sympathy 
 to the child-like revolutionary idealism manifested there, 
 nor refuse its support to those persecuted on account of 
 this movement. It was a republican movement in a popula- 
 tion which had thought republican for generations. No 
 Socialist fighters and no Socialist goal. For us [it was] 
 a trial of strength which did not take into account the 
 powers of resistance of present society, and which was 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE • 425 
 
 aimed at a goal which was not worth a serious eifort. We 
 can rejoice because of the revolutionary spirit which came 
 to life, but cannot be proud of it as a fruit of our party- 
 activity : the lesson of these days is rather a serious warn- 
 ing for our party. It shows valuable material which our 
 party has not yet won and cultivated." 
 
 Vn. THE RUSSIAN GENERAL STRIKE OF JULY, 1914. 
 
 (From the New York Volksneitung) 
 
 "At the beginning of the movement, the workers, incited 
 by the bloodshed at the PutilofE works, in which 50 were 
 injured and 4 killed, entered upon a three-day protest 
 strike at the call of the active organizations. But the 
 masses were so bitterly provoked by the actions of the 
 police and Cossacks that the decision of the executive coun- 
 cils of the leading parties to end the strike on the evening 
 of July 20 — which, however, was kept from the general 
 mass as a result of the confiscation of the two Social Dem- 
 cratic papers — secured no hearing. Until this time the 
 streets of St. Petersburg were thronged with peacefully 
 demonstrating workers who, when President Poincare 
 passed by, cried, 'Long live the Kepublic! Amnesty! 
 Down with autocracy ! Long live liberty ! ' Then, inflamed 
 to the greatest fury by the attacks of the police and Cos- 
 sacks, the strikers erected barricades on July 21 in various 
 public places. For the first time since its founding, the 
 Russian capital saw huge barricades spring up, behind 
 which the workmen, armed with stones, sought shelter 
 from the assaulting Cossacks. 
 
 "The fiercest conflicts occurred on the nights and days 
 of July 22 and 23. Several thousand workmen took part 
 in these fights. From most of the barricades — consisting 
 for the most part of telephone and telegraph poles, over- 
 
426 - SOCIALIST PAETIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 turned carts, and stone piles — red flags were seen fluttering. 
 Women and children helped with the building of the bar- 
 ricades. Broken up by the police, the masses of men reas- 
 sembled at different points in order to take up the fight 
 anew. The police and military volleyed fiercely upon the 
 crowds until, after a time, it became impossible to count 
 the dead and wounded. 
 
 "During the week, according to the report of the factory 
 inspection committee, over two hundred thousand work- 
 men took part in the strike in St. Petersburg alone (which 
 falls somewhat short of the true number). . . . Even a 
 portion of the street railway men and of the shop em- 
 ployees of several railroads ceased work. Only the presence 
 of numerous troops and gendarmes prevented the most im- 
 portant roads from taking part in the strike. The extent 
 and strength of the movement may be shown further by 
 the fact that the marine barracks were watched by armed 
 soldiers to prevent the sailors housed in them from going 
 over to the strikers." 
 
 Vm. THE GENEEAL STRIKE IN NEW ZEALAND, 1913 
 
 By Prof. J. E. Le Rossignol 
 (From American Economic Review, 1914) 
 
 "The trouble began in Wellington with a minor dispute 
 concerning traveling pay between the Union Steamship 
 Company and about a dozen members of the Shipwrights' 
 Union, a branch of the Wellington Waterside Workers' 
 Union, which itself was affiliated with the United Federa- 
 tion of Labor and had canceled its registration under the 
 Arbitration Act. The Shipwrights' Union went on strike 
 on October 18. The Waterside Workers decided to call a 
 special 'stop-work' meeting on the wharf at eight o'clock 
 on the morning of October 22 to consider the grievances of 
 
THE GENERAL STRIKE 427 
 
 the shipwrights. The 'stop-work' meeting was held, as an- 
 nounced, and lasted about two hours. When the men went 
 back to work some of them found other union men working 
 on their jobs, whereupon the executive of the union de- 
 manded that the late-comers be reinstated forthwith. The 
 shipping companies refused to do this, and the strike was 
 called. The control of the strike was then placed in the 
 hands of the executive of the United Federation of Labor, 
 as provided in the constitution. 
 
 "In support of their refusal to obey the dictates of the 
 union, the employers took the ground that the agreement 
 under which the men had been working had been broken 
 and was therefore void. . . . The employers claimed also 
 that as the union was not registered under the Arbitration 
 Act the agreement had no binding force. They objected, 
 also, to dealing with the Federation, as that organization 
 was in principle opposed to agreements, and as some of the 
 leaders, notably the secretary, Mr. P. Hickey, had often 
 used strong language in condemning them. 
 
 "By the end of October there were over 5,000 watersiders 
 on strike in the various ports, while disorders were increas- 
 ing and disturbance to trade was becoming daily more seri- 
 ous ; but at the same time large bodies of special constables 
 were encamped on the outskirts of several towns, waiting 
 until they had sufficient force to take possession of the 
 wharves. At Wellington, on November 5, a thousand spe- 
 cial police rode down to the railway wharf from their camp 
 at Mount Cook to protect a shipment of race horses, and 
 on the way sustained a fierce attack from a mob of strikers 
 and their sympathizers throwing stones, bricks, and other 
 missiles. The police charged the mob several times, and 
 the affray was very serious, resulting in about thirty casual- 
 ties. On the next day the police once more surrounded the 
 
428 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 wharves ; there was no further resistance, and regular work 
 was begun by a new union registered under the Arbitra- 
 tion Act, assisted by some of the seamen. The new union 
 began with 47 members, but before the end of the strike 
 more than 2,000 were enrolled, chiefly farmers. 
 
 "The course of events was very similar at Auckland, 
 where, on November 8, a force of over 1,000 police occupied 
 the waterfront. As a protest against the use of the special 
 police, the Federation ordered a general strike in Auckland, 
 and on Monday, November 10, the strike leaders claimed 
 that 14 unions, involving 7,500 workers, were idle. Later 
 the seamen also went on strike, bringing the total up to 
 8,000 or more. 
 
 "In opposition to the stand of the employers, the work- 
 ers, while admitting a minor breach of agreement, claimed 
 that this did not involve the abrogation of the agreement. 
 They refused to have anything to do with the Arbitration 
 Court and demanded unconditional reinstatement. They 
 called the affair a lockout, rather than a strike, and desig- 
 nated the employers' actions as 'sheer pin-pricking.' They 
 claimed that the employers had no right to compel them 
 to register, as the act itself did not do so but was merely 
 a permissive statute. Mass meetings were held; violent 
 speeches were made by some of the labor leaders; there 
 was some violence and much intimidation; and for some 
 days the wharves were in the hands of the strikers and 
 practically all the shipping was tied up. 
 
 ' ' The attitude of the Government was very firm, and it 
 was determined to maintain order at any cost. On October 
 25 the commissioner of police issued a call for volunteers 
 to enroll as special constables. The call received immediate 
 response from clerks, civil servants, and other young men 
 of the cities, but especially from the country people; and 
 
THE GENERAL STEIKB 429 
 
 presently hundreds of mounted farmers were riding toward 
 "Wellington to enroll as special constables and to break the 
 strike by acting as volunteer wharf laborers. The farmers 
 were threatened with serious losses because of the stoppage 
 of transportation at the beginning of summer, and were 
 determined to protect themselves to the best of their ability, 
 following the example of the 'Free Labor Brigade' of 
 Sweden, which did so much to break the general strike of 
 1909. . . . 
 
 "Only the drivers came out in Wellington. The strike 
 was at no time very serious in Dunedin, where the regular 
 police were able to keep order. The port of Lyttelton was 
 closed until November 18, when work was resumed with 
 the members of a new union under the protection of a large 
 force of special constables. The strike was more general 
 on the West Coast, where the mines and sawmills were 
 closed for many weeks and industry was at a standstill. 
 
 "The following estimate of the number of unionists and 
 strikers was given by the Wellington Evening Post on 
 November 20, and is probably fairly accurate : 
 
 Number of Strikers 
 
 Seamen 2,000 
 
 Miners 4,000 
 
 Watersiders 5,000 
 
 Other unions 5,000 
 
 Total 16,000 
 
 "From these figures it is evident that the strikers con- 
 stituted a small minority of all union workers. There are 
 about 71,600 union laborers among the 300,000 wage- 
 earners, male and female, in New Zealand ; of these, 60,600 
 have accepted the act. Because of the large bodies of 
 special constables at all important points, there was little 
 
430 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 violence after the early outbreaks, and merely a 'strike of 
 folded arms, ' which practically failed within a week of the 
 general call. Presently it was found that the strike funds 
 were running low, and some unions were ordered back to 
 work that they might contribute to the support of the rest. 
 On November 23 the general strike was called off at Auck- 
 land, leaving only the transportation section still out. 
 
 "The seamen's strike was oflScially declared off on De- 
 cember 19, and on the same day it was decided to call off 
 the strike for all other workers, except the miners, as from 
 Saturday, December 20. The seamen were to renew their 
 agreement for a period of three years, the Auckland branch 
 to remain registered and the Wellington and Dunedin 
 branches to register under the Arbitration Act. The water- 
 siders at all the ports immediately flocked back to the 
 wharves, asking to be enrolled in the new unions, all of 
 which were registered. "Work at the Huntly mine was 
 resumed on January 6, 1914, with a new union of over one 
 hundred members, under the protection of the police, and on 
 January 10 the old unionists voted to join the new union. 
 A few days later the workers in the state mine agreed to 
 go back under the act, as also did the miners at Blackball, 
 and the great strike was ended." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE COMPULSORY ARBITRATION OP LABOR 
 DISPUTES 
 
 The Socialist parties of the Continent of Europe and of 
 America are practically unanimous against all forms of 
 compulsory arbitration of labor disputes. But the Labor 
 parties of Australia and New Zealand have been largely 
 instrumental in introducing the system prevailing in those 
 countries, and there has been a very great disagreement 
 on the subject also among British labor-unionists. We 
 therefore give a resume of the last discussion of this sub- 
 ject by the British Labor Party, as well as a typical 
 resume, from a Socialist source, of the situation in New 
 Zealand, where the system was first introduced. 
 
 I. DISCUSSION AT CONFERENCE OF BRITISH LABOR PARTY, 1913 
 
 Mr. H. Skinner (Typographical Association) moved the 
 following : 
 
 That, in the opinion of this Conference, rates of wages, the 
 regulation of hours, and other conditions embodied in agreements 
 of a local, district, or national character, voluntarily entered into 
 between trade-unions as representing the workers and the repre- 
 sentatives of employers in a given industry, should be legally 
 enforceable on all persons employing labor in that industry; and 
 the executive committee is hereby instructed to take action ac- 
 cordingly. . . . 
 
 Mr. Skinner declared that some such measure was neces- 
 sary to compel the recalcitrant employer to enforce an 
 
 481 
 
432 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 agreement; that the trade-unions were able to enforce a 
 disciplinary influence on their membership, but that the 
 employers could not exercise the same influence on their 
 members. The details of the law, he believed, could safely 
 be left to the Labor parliamentary group. He denied that 
 the proposal was in the nature of compulsory arbitration. 
 
 Mrs. Webb [Fabian Society] ventured to ask the Con- 
 ference not to pass the resolution because it contained two 
 dangerous principles. In the first place, if an agreement 
 was imposed upon the employers, it must be imposed upon 
 the workmen too. If it was enforced in this way, it was 
 enforced as a maximum as well as a minimum. The whole 
 principle of factory legislation and of wages boards was 
 that the regulation enforced was a minimum and not a 
 maximum, and it was competent for any employer to give 
 more than was laid down by the regulation, and it was 
 also competent for any workman to strike for more than 
 was laid down. Therefore the weapon of the strike was 
 kept intact as well as having the advantage of legal enact- 
 ment. The resolution did not follow that principle. It 
 concerned private agreements between employers and em- 
 ployed. As the state had not been called in, it could only 
 be enforced as a civil liability by an action for damages. 
 The workers would then find themselves in the position of 
 the New Zealand workers who were being imprisoned for 
 refusing to obey the court. The only way of dealing with 
 the question of wages in a quite safe manner so that the 
 weapon of the strike could be kept intact and be always 
 ready for use, was to proceed by the wages boards by 
 which a minimum and not a maximum was laid down. She 
 suggested that the resolution should be rejected. 
 
 Mr. J. R. Clynes, M. P. [Gas- workers] declared that the 
 two objections he had to the proposal were that it was too 
 premature and that it would give to non-unionists condi- 
 
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION 433 
 
 tions wMch the, unionists had fought and paid for. The 
 resolution had nothing to do with the right to strike or 
 compulsory arbitration. He did not believe that one 
 needed to fear that the industrial council wished to abolish 
 the strike or interfere with industrial freedom of the 
 workers. 
 
 The resolution was withdrawn, as many expressed a de- 
 sire to give further and closer consideration to the prin- 
 ciples involved. 
 
 n. THE EXPERIENCE WITH COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN 
 
 NEW ZEALAND 
 i 
 
 By Robert H. Hutchinson 
 (From The New Review, January, 1910) 
 
 "Under what favorable conditions the system of arbitra- 
 tration was inaugurated in New Zealand must be borne in 
 mind at the outset. Prior to its inception the country had 
 been under the thumb of the large farmer, a condition 
 which continued until a coalescence of the small farmers 
 and the laboring men of the towns effected, in 1890, the 
 overthrow of the Conservatives and the entrance of a Lib- 
 eral Party into Parliament. Now, although a protective 
 tariff stood behind the manufacturer, the worker and 
 farmer controlled the Government, and together they re- 
 garded the manufacturer and commercial man as their 
 antagonist. The country was limited, its exports in the 
 way of manufactures practically nothing, and its popula- 
 tion small and homogeneous. There was no 'rabble' of 
 unemployed, labor was scarce, of a high order, and valuable, 
 and the tariff wall enabled the manufacturer to shift any 
 additional expense resulting from legislative pressure on 
 to the consumer. Add to this the fact that beginning in 
 the later '90 's a wave of commercial prosperity swept the 
 
434 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 country, and it must be granted that New Zealand's posi- 
 tion was somewhat ideal for the institution of a court of 
 arbitration. On the whole, the idea was acceptable. Farm- 
 ers looked to it as one instrument among others to curb 
 the arrogance of the manufacturers; workers saw in it a 
 means of improving their lot; and even the employers 
 welcomed it as a medium for settling disputes and were 
 glad to grant concessions to their employees for the benefits 
 which would accrue from industrial peace. 
 
 "It would be futile to delay in criticising the sundry 
 benefits and drawbacks which have resulted from the arbi- 
 tration law in New Zealand. Undoubtedly it has benefited 
 the progressive employer by eliminating the cutthroat com- 
 petitors who reap their profits through sweating and child 
 labor. Great educative benefits also have resulted from 
 the necessary publicity accompanying an award, and the 
 popular criticism to which the court was continuously ex- 
 posed. The worker, of course, has profited greatly. It 
 has meant for him not only increase of [money] wages 
 and improved conditions under which to work, but addi- 
 tional leisure and independence as well. But, on the other 
 hand, employers have complained that labor has decreased 
 in its efficiency, and other critics fear that though it has 
 helped to unite and solidify labor in general, it has taken 
 the steel out of the men and left them without initiative. 
 Meanwhile the public complains that prices have gone up 
 and the investor declares his capital in danger. 
 
 "The attitude of the workers has of recent years rad- 
 ically changed. Whereas ten years ago the voices foretell- 
 ing the failure of the court were very few indeed and ill 
 received, the opinion is growing prevalent that they were 
 the voices of true and not false prophets. In fact, to 
 support the Arbitration Court among some labor circles 
 
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION 435 
 
 to-day is tantamount to declaring oneself a reactionary. 
 Men and women among the workers feel that the court 
 is owned and controlled by the capitalist class ; that though 
 their labor representative is a factor of it, yet he is coun- 
 terbalanced by the employers' representative, and the 
 judge, being also a member of the Supreme Court, belongs 
 by his training and social affiliations to the other class, 
 and is unavoidably biased. Whereas a few years ago con- 
 trary opinion was directed against the personnel and prac- 
 tice of the court, it is to-day resolving itself into a belief 
 that the basic principle of arbitration is at fault. Further- 
 more, the court must act within laws enacted by a cap- 
 italist-controlled Parliament, and to plead before it under 
 such circumstances is a hopeless predicament. Public 
 opinion behind the court forbids it, in fact, to act in any 
 other but according to the most conventional conceptions 
 of justice. During the last few years the tendency of the 
 court has been to regard the workers as a discontented 
 class revolting against a perfectly satisfactory order of 
 things, and upon whom the court must pass sentence. The 
 reputation for industrial well-being which New Zealand 
 enjoys makes it additionally difficult. One hears it said, 
 'the workers here are better oif than in any other country 
 in the world ; they have no right to complain. ' 
 
 "It is impossible for the judges to act impartially; they 
 are too much restricted on every side, the pressure of the 
 capitalist class too great. ... 
 
 "The court is no longer the focussing point of public 
 interest in industrial matters. It is no longer the axle 
 .around which turn the wheels of business life. Differences 
 between employers and workers are settled to an ever 
 increasing extent outside the court, and, moreover, force is 
 again being called into play. Workers are resorting to 
 the strike. Employers, however, cling to the system and 
 
436 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 use it in a previously unnecessary way. When a union 
 failing of its purpose before the court, cancels its registra- 
 tion and declares a strike, the employers rush in a squad 
 of men, pay them good wages for the time being, form 
 them into an arbitration union upon a program dictated 
 by themselves [the employers], and, before the strikers 
 know it, they must either join the new union at the em- 
 ployers' pleasure or go without work. This procedure 
 has been a feature of almost every recent strike and was 
 notoriously so during the late crisis. . . . 
 
 ' ' Such is the practical outcome ; other inevitable results 
 are no less in evidence. Though wages have risen since 
 the inception of the act, prices have gone, up in much 
 greater proportion, and the wage-earner finds himself in 
 no better position to-day than twenty years ago. In other 
 respects New Zealand has progressed along substantially 
 the same path as have other countries. Wealth has be- 
 come more and more concentrated into the hands of the 
 few, poverty is slowly but surely on the increase, and class 
 distinctions are becoming each day more pronounced. 
 With the tendency of business towards monopoly and the 
 inevitable rise in the cost of living, labor is awakening, 
 uniting, and demanding its just share of what it produces. 
 The effect of these twenty years of arbitration and good 
 times has been merely to lull the worker into a comfortable 
 and self-satisfied condition until he felt himself quite as 
 good as his employer. He had but to step up to the 
 Arbitration Court and his demands materialized. He had 
 leisure, comfort, and good pay. But to-day he feels that 
 all these years he has been fooled and cheated and the 
 court seems a very grim joke indeed." 
 
 (See also "New Zealand" and "The General Strike.") 
 
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION 437 
 
 in. COMPULSOET ARBITRATION IN AUSTRALIA 
 
 Editorials in The Socialist (Melbourne), signed by Mordecai 
 
 [Both in New South Wales and in Western Australia — 
 as in other instances — officials put in office by the Labor 
 Party had fined labor unionists for striking.] 
 
 "These workers are brought before the court just in 
 the same way as the person who commits any common 
 offense, and for what? They withhold the labor which 
 they have to sell. It seems that we are drifting back to 
 conditions of slavery. When the worker may be fined or 
 jailed for exercising what should be his right under cap- 
 italism — to say when and for whom he will work — he is a 
 slave indeed. The official who summoned these men to 
 appear at court was elected to look after working-class 
 interests. That is how he does it. We compliment him 
 (and his party) on the success of his efforts to fool the 
 workers. In passing, it is interesting to note that the 
 leader of the Federal Labor Party is of the same mind as 
 his state brothers. Speaking in the House of Representa- 
 tives on Thursday, April 16, Mr. Fisher said: 'If I could, 
 I would prevent strikes absolutely.' So would we, by abol- 
 ishing the social system which makes them necessary. At 
 present the strike is the only way for the workers effectu- 
 ally to express their discontent. Anyone who would pre- 
 vent them doing that is assisting the other class to keep 
 the working-class in the bondage of wage-slavery." 
 
 (See also "Australia.") 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 THE SOCIALIST PROGRAM OF LABOR LEGISLA- 
 TION AND SOCIAL REFORM 
 
 All the Socialist and Labor parties and other labor 
 union organizations have concentrated a large part of their 
 activity, undoubtedly the larger part, in the effort to secure 
 labor legislation. We make no attempt to measure the suc- 
 cess of this effort, as this would require a volume in itself. 
 Moreover, it is difficult to say in what proportion the legis- 
 lation already secured is to be attributed to the enlightened 
 selfishness of governments actually in power, and to what 
 extent it is to be attributed to their fear of the economic 
 or political power of the labor unions and Socialist parties. 
 
 It is perfectly practicable, however, to give the Socialist 
 program of labor legislation, as well as the British varia- 
 tion of this program. 
 
 I. PROGRAM OF COPENHAGEN CONGRESS, 1910 
 
 The International Congress, held at Copenhagen in 1910, 
 adopted a resolution on labor legislation, declaring that : 
 
 The increasing exploitation of the workers consequent upon the 
 development of capitalist production has brought about conditions 
 which render imperative legislation for the protection of the life 
 and health of the worker. 
 
 In no country do the laws even approximate that which is abso- 
 lutely necessary in the interests of the workers, and which could 
 be granted without detriment to existing industry; [and reiterat- 
 ing] the following minimum demands regarding legislation for 
 
 438 
 
LABOR LEGISLATION AND SOCIAL REFORM 439 
 
 the protection of workers (without distinction of sex) made by 
 the Paris Congress of 1889: 
 
 1. A maximum working day of eight hours. 
 
 2. Prohibition of boy and girl labor under 14 years. 
 
 3. Prohibition of night work, except where the nature of the 
 work demands of public welfare make it inevitable. 
 
 4. Uninterrupted rest of at least 36 hours in each week for all 
 workers. 
 
 5. Complete suppression of the truck system. 
 
 6. Absolute right of combination. 
 
 7. Effective and thorough inspection of working conditions, 
 agricultural as well as industrial, with the co-operation of persons 
 elected by the workers. 
 
 The Congress recalled the action of the Amsterdam Con- 
 gress (1904) in demanding that adequate public measures 
 be taken "for the support and care of the sick, those dis- 
 abled by accident, the old, the invalids, women with child 
 and mothers in childbed, widows, orphans, and the unem- 
 ployed; the administration of such measures to be under 
 the control of the workers, and the same treatment to be 
 given to foreigners as to those belonging to the country," 
 and called "upon the workers of all nations, whether occu- 
 pied in industry, in commerce, in agriculture, or in any 
 other branch, to break down the opposition of the govern- 
 ing classes and, by unceasing agitation and strong and per- 
 fect organization, both political and industrial, to win for 
 themselves real and eifective protection." 
 
 n. EFSOLUTION AT THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY CONFERENCE 
 ON THE NATIONAL MINIMUM, 1913 
 
 (Conference of 1913) 
 
 Mr. W. C. Anderson [I. L. P.] moved the following: 
 
 That this Conference urges the Parliamentary Labor Party to 
 press upon the Government the resolutions carried at the many 
 
440 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 War Against Poverty Conferences demanding legislation next ses- 
 sion to secure to every person a national minimum of civilized 
 life by measures providing for a legal minimum wage in agricul- 
 ture and all industries, the reduction of the hours of labor to 48 
 hours per week, complete provision against sickness, the guar- 
 antee of a national minimum of child nurture, the prevention of 
 unemployment, the building of healthy homes for all, and the 
 abolition of the Poor Law. 
 
 Mr. Anderson of the Independent Labor Party and W. 
 S. Sanders of the Fabian Society urged a union of all 
 forces to bring about this reform. The resolution was 
 carried. 
 
 m. PUBLIC FEEDING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 
 
 (Conference of 1914) 
 
 Dr. Marion Phillips (Women's Labor League) moved 
 the following : 
 
 That this Conference calls upon the Government to make com- 
 pulsory the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, and to extend 
 it so that necessitous children may be fed during holidays and to 
 make it obligatory that feeding should be carried out by direct 
 management and not by contractors. 
 
 She said the greater part of the resolution had been car- 
 ried at previous conferences. The only new point was that 
 they wished to make it obligatory for feeding to be carried 
 out by direct management and not by private contractors 
 making a profit out of the business. 
 
 The resolution was seconded and agreed to. 
 
 (See also party programs of Germany and the United 
 States.) 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 UNEMPLOYMENT 
 
 The question of unemployment plays a very exceptional 
 and central role from the point of view of all Socialist 
 parties. The chief reason for this is that if there were not 
 always present in industry an army of unemployed, strikes 
 would be far more effective. Not only would this make 
 possible such a high degree of organization of labor as to 
 facilitate the general strike, but it would also put the labor 
 unions in a position to wage a much more effective political 
 struggle. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF COPENHAGEN, 1910 
 (From American Party Report) 
 
 The resolution and discussion on the problems of unem- 
 ployment and co-operation and on the Socialist program 
 for labor legislation we take from the report of the Con- 
 gress, made by the American delegates to the American 
 Party. 
 
 The following is the resolution on the question of unem- 
 ployment : 
 
 The Congress declares that unemployment is inseparable from 
 the capitalist mode of production and will disappear only when 
 capitalism disappears. So long as capitalist production forms 
 the basis of society, palliative measures alone are possible. 
 
 This Congress demands the institution by public authorities, 
 under the administration of working-class organizations, of gen- 
 eral compulsory insurance against unemployment, the expenses 
 of which shall be borne by the owners of the means of production. 
 
 441 
 
442 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The representatives of the workers most urgently demand from 
 the public authorities : 
 
 (1) Exact statistical registration of the unemployed. 
 
 (2) The execution on a sufficient scale of important public 
 works where the unemployed shall be paid the trade-union rate 
 of wages. 
 
 (3) In periods of industrial crisis extraordinary subsidies to 
 trade-union unemployed funds. 
 
 (4) No payment to an unemployed worker to cause the loss of 
 political rights. 
 
 (5) Establishment of and subsidies to labor exchanges in which 
 all the liberties and interest of the workers are respected by co- 
 operation with trade-union employment bureaus. 
 
 (6) Social laws for the regulation and reduction of hours of 
 work. 
 
 (7) Pending the realization by legislation of general and com- 
 pulsory insurance, the public authorities should encourage unem- 
 ployment benefit funds of trade-unions by financial subsidies, 
 these subsidies leaving complete autonomy to the trade-union. 
 
 n. THE GERMAN CONGRESS OP 1913 
 
 a. Edmondo Peluso, in L'Humanite 
 
 The Congress of the German Socialist Party in 1913 
 was of the unanimous opinion that unemployment is a 
 consequence of the capitalist system of exploitation and 
 can be eradicated only by the abolition of the present 
 society. But palliatives can be employed and the duty of 
 the Socialist Party is to see that this is done. Comrade 
 Timm, Socialist representative in the Bavarian Diet, in his 
 report on the unemployment insurance law, said in part : 
 
 The first thing to do is to prevent the capitalists in such critical 
 time from lowering existing salaries. The second step is for the 
 Government, through an insurance law, to help the unemployed. 
 
 The German syndicates, in 1912, gave nearly nine million 
 marks for the unemployed out of their funds. 
 
 The landowners are opposed to such a law, and demand that 
 the unemployed be sent to the farms, where hands are scarce. 
 
UNEMPLOYMENT 443 
 
 In Denmark, such an insurance law exists, and the state and 
 the communes have to pay 10,000,000 marks yearly for this 
 purpose. 
 
 In England, about 2,500,000 workers are compulsorily insured. 
 
 In Germany, we must compel the bourgeoisie, through the 
 union of our forces, to grant us this reform law. 
 
 The motion of Timm was then adopted unanimously, 
 b. The Timm Resolution 
 
 The constant and periodically growing problem of unem- 
 ployment is an inseparable feature, an inevitable result of capital- 
 ist production. It will disappear only with the introduction of 
 a socially organized system of production. 
 
 But we must strive, even under present conditions, at least 
 to alleviate the suffering caused by unemployment through social 
 legislation. 
 
 We demand, therefore, that all public bodies of the nation, 
 states, or cities insist upon immediate completion of unfinished 
 public undertakings and plan for the systematic provision of 
 opportunity for work at the prevailing rate of wages. 
 
 We call upon organizations to arrange mass demonstrations 
 which shall emphasize and support the measures proposed by 
 their representatives in the legislative bodies. 
 
 Public legal unemployment insurance for all workers and 
 employees can be established only by national legislation. 
 
 Until such time as the national regulation of unemployment 
 insurance has been secured, we demand municipal support through 
 payments to the labor-union unemployment insurance funds. 
 
 For this purpose the individual states must be called upon 
 to g^ant regular endowments. 
 
 The enforcement of public unemployment insurance legisla- 
 tion is possible only when it is demanded by active and energetic 
 agitation through our political and industrial organizations. We 
 call upon all workers, therefore, to join these organizations. 
 
 m. THE OFFICIAL EBPORT TO THE PROPOSED VIENNA 
 CONGRESS, 1914 
 
 The report on unemployment to the proposed Interna- 
 tional Congress, which was to have been held at Vienna in 
 
444 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 1914, was intrusted by the International Bureau to Vail- 
 lant, and was unanimously indorsed by the French Con- 
 gress. It was practically certain of adoption by the Con- 
 gress at Vienna, had the latter been held. A summary was 
 given in The Daily Herald (London). 
 
 Vaillant declared that capitalism will have recourse to 
 the aid of the state in order to provide that reserve army 
 of labor which it requires and must have. It will promote 
 emigration or immigration, or try to stop both according 
 as the reserve army of labor rises or falls. 
 
 He then reviewed the manner in which the various Euro- 
 pean countries were encouraging and suppressing immi- 
 gration and emigration, and analyzed the crises which had 
 taken place during the last twenty years. 
 
 He then proposed the following resolution, which was 
 to be submitted to the Vienna Congress : 
 
 The Congress — Considering that if unemployment can only dis- 
 appear with the method of capitalist production for which it is 
 a necessary condition of existence and development, there are 
 laws, reforms, and means which even now can prevent or mitigate 
 in some measure misery and suffering and their aggravation in 
 times of depression and crisis; 
 
 Considering that the evil of unemployment presses not only on 
 those out of work, but unceasingly threatens all members of thfi 
 working-class and makes the whole of working-class life a long 
 torture of insecurity and dread ; that, therefore, the first and most 
 necessary measures against unemployment and its evils are those 
 which best protect the workers, guarantee their security, and in- 
 crease the power of organization, the resistance and struggle of 
 the working-class [demands] : 
 
 1. The extension of the right of trade-union combination; 
 
 2. Limitation of the duration and intensity of labor — the eight- 
 hour day and the " English week " ( Saturday haH-holiday) ; 
 physiological and hygienic limitation of the intensity and rapidity 
 of labor; 
 
 3. Failing a trade-union rate of wages, a minimum wage ac- 
 cording to the cost of living; 
 
UNEMPLOYMENT 445 
 
 4. The Australian system of a minimum wage and wages 
 boards for housework and low-paid callings; 
 
 5. Prohibition of all production of commodities by labor in 
 prisons and benevolent establishments; educational work to be 
 substituted in them for productive work ; 
 
 6. Systematic co-ordination and execution of public works in 
 accordance with the economic situation, the state of the markets, 
 and the intensity of unemployment; 
 
 7. Institution of a national organization of the service of 
 " placement," under the control of the state and the trade-unions ; 
 
 8. Social insurance against all the risks of working-class life 
 and labor — ^unemployment, accidents, sickness, invalidity, infirm- 
 ity, old age, etc. — without workmen's contributions, and managed, 
 quite independently, by the imions of those insured; 
 
 Insurance guaranteeing to all those insured reparation for 
 risks undergone, compensation to be at least equal to the proved 
 loss of working capacity or wages ; 
 
 Establishment of all institutions and measures useful for the 
 prevention of risks; 
 
 Graduated tax upon capital and incomes of the wealthy 
 classes, the provision, by an annual credit in the budget, of neces- 
 sary and sufficient sums for the complete working and develop- 
 ment of social insurance; the capital funds from the em- 
 ployers' contributions furnishing useful complementary sums; 
 
 9. Permanent and periodical inquiry into unemployment by 
 trade-unions with the co-operation, if possible, of the technical 
 services of the communes and the state. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 
 
 In the chapter on the Socialist parties and the labor 
 unions we have pointed out that the Socialist parties often 
 regard themselves merely as the political expression of the 
 organizations of the largest class of producers, the wage- 
 earners. But all producers are at the same time consum- 
 ers, and all Socialist parties have given a constantly in- 
 creasing share of their attention to the problems of the 
 consumer. Frequently, in recent years, it has even ap- 
 peared in some of the countries of continental Europe that 
 the Socialist parties have been giving more attention to 
 the high cost of living than to strikes, labor legislation, 
 and other matters which concern the wage-earners as 
 producers. 
 
 But this is a comparatively new development ; as a con- 
 sequence, the Socialist position is not altogether defined; 
 for example, the International has not decided whether 
 any effort shall be made to fix prices by law. Our quota- 
 tions, therefore, while not indicating any final conclusions, 
 cover the more important part of the period (the years 
 since 1910) during which this topic has been the center of 
 discussion. It is hardly necessary to add that prices have 
 never risen so rapidly as in recent years, and that in all 
 countries they have gone up far more rapidly than wages — 
 with the exception of a few favorably situated occupations. 
 Hence the growing importance of the agitation, which led 
 to widespread rioting in many of the continental nations — 
 including France, Italy, Germany, and Austro-Hungary. 
 
 446 
 
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 447 
 
 I. THE BRITISH LABOR PAETY CONFERENCE, 1914 — STATE 
 REGULATED PRICES 
 
 (From tlie Official Eeport of the Conference) 
 
 Mr. 0. Connellan [Leeds Trades Council] moved the 
 following : 
 
 That this Conference is of opinion that the time is opportune 
 for steps to be taken to inquire into the possibility of the estab- 
 lishment of state-regulated prices for domestic commodities, as 
 a national correlative to the minimum wage. 
 
 He said they did not hope the Labor Party would be 
 able to secure in the immediate future or for some time 
 the state regulation of prices of food, but the fact remained 
 that the supply of food, being in the hands of a few rich 
 merchants, they had the power to fix their own prices. He 
 felt that it was a matter the Labor Party ought to take up. 
 
 The resolution was formally seconded, 
 
 Mr. D. J. Davies [Vehicle Workers] moved the follow- 
 ing amendment: 
 
 Delete " as a national correlative to the minimum wage " and 
 insert " and other commodities which are compulsory purchas- 
 able by the workers in the course of their occupation." 
 
 He said the matter he wished included was a very im- 
 portant one for the members of his society. Oil fuel was 
 under two companies, and at the commencement of 1913 
 those companies raised the price of petrol to such an extent 
 that it cost the union thousands of pounds to fight the 
 employers on behalf of the taxi-cab drivers of London. . , . 
 
 Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald, M. P., said that when they 
 started laying down the policy of a minimum wage those 
 who had taken the trouble to think the matter out in detail 
 saw they would have to go farther. Australia had had to 
 go farther. The prices of certain commodities in Australia 
 
448 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 were now fixed by the state. They were bound to go from 
 one stage to another. There was no termination in this 
 method of progress. He thought the cab-drivers had not 
 raised a small point at all. The question of oil fuel, its 
 monopoly, its control, its management, and its cost, was 
 going to be one of the biggest economic problems that the 
 industrial world would have to face. He therefore hoped 
 the amendment would be accepted. 
 
 The amendment was put and declared carried; and the 
 resolution as amended was then agreed to. 
 
 n. THE FRENCH PAETT CONGRESS, 1914 
 
 , (From he Peuple of Brussels) 
 
 The report to the French Congress (on the "High Cost 
 of Living") was introduced by the well-known Marxist 
 and agricultural economist, Compere-Morel. In his report, 
 general as well as specific causes were ascribed as reasons 
 for the increased cost of living. Thus while militarism, 
 taxation, emigration, and fluctuations in the price of gold 
 undoubtedly play some part in this increase, nevertheless 
 the root-evil must be sought in the capitalistic system 
 itself. The consumer is helpless against trusts and com- 
 binations, and the Socialistic organization alone can relieve 
 the body politic from the ruinous opposition of the interests 
 of the producers and consumers. 
 
 Vaillant gave importance to the. secondary causes, such 
 as the tariif on consumption goods. He favored a policy 
 of commercial treaties with Germany, which the German 
 and Austrian Socialists had formulated. Adolph Braun 
 proposed labor-union control of wages and their regulation 
 in correspondence with the prices of necessary com- 
 modities. 
 
 Guesde declared that no one had denied that the in- 
 
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 449 
 
 creased cost of living was a general and universal condi- 
 tion. He concluded : 
 
 It prevails in protectionist as well as in free-trade countries; 
 in those localities where there are trusts, as well as in those where 
 there are none; in countries where union methods have been 
 developed (Belgium, England, Germany, etc.), as well as in coun- 
 tries where they have not; it is found where there is no govern- 
 ment, as well as in those countries where government has secured 
 a foothold. From this it follows that the increase of prices is 
 of an inherently capitalistic origin. Such being the case, how 
 can we offer co-operation, government ownership, and free trade 
 as the sole remedies? . . . 
 
 We must show the proletariat that it must employ every 
 means — even the labor unions — if it is ever to prepare itself for 
 its emancipation, but we must impress upon it just as firmly 
 that the solution of this, as well as of other social problems, 
 is connected inseparably with the overthrow of the capitalistic 
 system. Carthage must be destroyed! Down with capitalism! 
 
 The following resolution was adopted : 
 
 In view of the fact that the cost of living has risen to feuch 
 an extent that it is becoming impossible to live like human beings, 
 since the increase of wages, which follows rather than precedes 
 the crisis in the rise of prices, is often slower than the increased 
 cost of living ; 
 
 In view of the fact that this phenomenon, far from being 
 peculiar to our,nation, arises in every capitalistic country, protec- 
 tionist or free trade, of the Old or New World, and occupies the 
 minds of all proletarians of every country. And since the high 
 cost of living is an evil of essentially capitalistic origin and 
 cannot disappear save with capitalism itself ; 
 
 Therefore, the Congress appeals to the workingmen and women 
 of all countries, who suffer from the increased cost of living, to 
 ally themselves with the Socialist Party and with the labor unions, 
 thus strengthening the army of the proletariat that is consciously 
 and effectively striving against the high cost of living. 
 
 The Congress invites them at the same time to make use of 
 their political and economic powers : 
 
 (1) Eeplaeing indirect taxes upon consumption by direct taxes 
 
450 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 upon capital, accompanied by legislative measures checking the 
 shifting of such taxes. 
 
 (2) Lessening the burden of public expenditure. 
 
 (3) Encouraging and developing the agricultural output. 
 
 (4) Placing a lower rate on the transportation of materials 
 of primary importance for the development of the land and on 
 the shipping of agricultural products. 
 
 (5) Regulating the prices of articles of principal importance 
 (bread, meat, rent, etc.). 
 
 (6) Tariff duties, which, while not being exaggerated in the 
 interest of protection, would take into account the legitimate 
 interests of those developing the land. 
 
 (7) The development of co-operation, by which the consumer 
 and producer can do away with the robbery that has been prac- 
 ticed on both by the middleman. 
 
 (8) Stopping the exodus from the country by applying labor 
 legislation to the agricultural workers, by aiding the peasant pro- 
 ducers through tax reforms, and by increasing the production of 
 commodities through the medium of great public agricultural 
 works. 
 
 (9) Limitation of armaments and abolition of war. 
 
 (10) Realizing the maximum of social reforms and labor legis- 
 lation, so as to keep humanity from illness, crime, delinquency, 
 insanity, alcoholism, and destitution. 
 
 in. THE WEBB EEPORT — ^PREPARED FOR THE PROPOSED 
 VIENNA INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS, 1914 
 
 While the International Socialist Congress proposed for 
 Vienna on August 23, 1914, was never held, on account of 
 the war, the report on the "High Cost of Living," which 
 was to have been submitted to the Congress by Mr. Sidney 
 Webb, has been obtained. 
 
 Mr. Webb, after analyzing the situation in various coun- 
 tries, significantly concluded that "it is melancholy reflec- 
 tion that, except in so far as the growing collectivism has 
 been able to protect and supplement the workmen's 
 standard of life, at least a majority of the families in the 
 
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 451 
 
 world find themselves amid enormously augmented wealth, 
 getting, in one or other item, actually less adequate food, 
 clothing, housing, leisure, or recreation than was the case 
 20 years ago. ' ' He recommended, on behalf of the British 
 Section, the adoption of the following resolution : 
 
 1. That the rise in prices, which has extended to nearly all 
 commodities in every civilized country, and has continued already 
 for 18 years, has practically nowhere been accompanied by an 
 equivalent rise of money wages, and has consequently resulted, 
 notwithstanding all the struggles of trade-union organizations, 
 in a degradation in the standard of life of great masses of the 
 proletariat. 
 
 2. That the fundamental cause of such a general rise of prices 
 is to be sought in the growing command over the means and 
 processes of production, and over the markets and methods of 
 distribution, which the capitalists of the world are obtaining, by 
 means of their monopolies, combinations, and price-agreements; 
 by which, on the one hand, prices are raised to the consumer, 
 and on the other hand — owing to the increased power which 
 these same monopolies, combinations, and price-agreements give, 
 in face of the proletarian competition for emplo3mient — the wages 
 of labor are continually being driven down towards bare sub- 
 sistence rates. 
 
 3. That this evil outcome of capitalist exploitation and the 
 competitive wage-system accordingly demands the urgent consid- 
 eration of every legislature; in order that, pending any complete 
 grappling with the evil (which can only be accomplished by the 
 transformation of society on a Socialist basis), palliative measures 
 for the protection of the proletariat may everywhere be adopted. 
 
 4. Among the palliative measures to be commended as having, 
 at any rate, a partial success, the Congress notes : 
 
 (a) The action of many municipalities in Germany, Hungary, 
 Italy, and elsewhere in keeping down prices by opening municipal 
 shops and bakeries, and supplying meat, fish, bread, etc., as well 
 as medicines for the sick, at cost price. 
 
 (b) The development — ^unfortunately far too slow — of the 
 munieipal provision of dwelling houses to be let at the cost of 
 construction and maintenance only. 
 
 (c) The growth in nearly all countries of the democratic co- 
 
452 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 operative societies which bring an increasing part of the pro- 
 visioning of the people under working-class control. 
 
 (d) The formulation of the demand by trade-unions that there 
 should be recognized a minimum standard of wages below which 
 they must never be allowed to fall, based on the ascertained cost 
 of maintenance. 
 
 (e) The concessions — as yet tardy and insufficient — ^by public 
 authorities of increases of wages to their employees, professedly 
 in proportion to the increased cost of living. 
 
 And the working-class throughout the world should press such 
 measures forward. 
 
 5. That in view of the increasing spread of the fixing of mini- 
 mum rates of wages by law, by public authorities, or by collective 
 agreements, and the consequent stereotyping for long periods of 
 existing money rates of wages, it is desirable that all such wage 
 scales should be accompanied by provisions for the rates of wages 
 to rise automatically with the general level of prices of commodi- 
 ties, which should be officially ascertained and promulgated year 
 by year. (Our italics.) 
 
 The last proposal would mark an extremely important, 
 if not a revolutionary, innovation in Socialist and labor- 
 union policy. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 AGRICULTUEE 
 
 The Socialist interest in agriculture is twofold: (1) the 
 high cost of living is attributed chiefly to the high prices 
 of agricultural products; and (2) the large class of agri- 
 cultural laborers, and small agriculturists practically in 
 the condition of agricultural laborers, must be won over 
 to Socialism if there is to be a Socialist majority and a 
 Socialist government.' 
 
 The first phase of this question we have considered in 
 the previous chapter. The importance of the second part 
 of the problem has been recognized by all Socialist parties 
 for many years, though in the early stages of the present 
 Socialist movement very little attention was given to it. 
 It will be noticed that the International movement had 
 assumed no definite attitude to the agrarian question in 
 1896. But since that time the problem of gaining the 
 agricultural vote for Socialism has been carefully consid- 
 ered not only in France, America, and Great Britain, but 
 also in a number of the smaller countries, such as Belgium, 
 Denmark, and Roumania, and in nearly all cases consider- 
 able success has already been achieved — though only a 
 small beginning of what it is hoped to accomplish. 
 
 The agricultural problem, as a whole, has never been dis- 
 cussed at the International Socialist Congresses, and as a 
 consequence the position of the various countries differs 
 radically. But there is far less difference as to the 
 high cost of living, and this latter problem has led all the 
 
 453 
 
454 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Socialist parties to certain coniinon conclusions as to agri- 
 culture (as the previous chapter has shown). 
 
 It will also be seen that there is a great deal in common 
 between the program of the Socialists of France and of 
 America, the two great countries (together with Russia) 
 where agriculture is most important. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF LONDON, 1896 
 
 The Congress of the International held at London in 
 1896 adopted the following resolution on the agrarian 
 question : 
 
 The ever-increasing evils of the capitalist exploitation of agri- 
 culture will not completely disappear, except in a society in 
 which the soil, as well as the other mea,ns of production, belong 
 to the collectivity. 
 
 The modes of holding land and its distribution among the 
 various categories of the agricultural population in different 
 countries, present a diversity too great to allow of the adoption 
 of a general formula, imposing on all labor parties the same 
 means for realizing their common ideal, and applicable to all 
 classes which are interested in their realization. 
 
 But every labor party has one essential and fundamental task: 
 the organization of the rural proletariat against those who exploit 
 it. Consequently the Congress declares that it must be left to 
 the different nationalities to determine the means of action best 
 adapted to the situation of each country. 
 
 n. OFFICIAL REPORT TO THE FRENCH PARTY CONGRESS OF 
 
 1912 
 
 By Compere-Morel 
 
 (From Le Socialiste, February 18 to 25, 1912) 
 
 The French Party has perhaps given more attention to 
 the agricultural problem than any other large Socialist 
 Party. Its chief expert and authority on the subject is 
 
AGRICULTURE 455 
 
 Compere-Morel. The following propositions presented by 
 him to the Party Congress in 1912, though not finally acted 
 upon, indicate the past progress of the party, its present 
 agricultural problems, and the line of their probable 
 solution : 
 
 Whereas, the agricultural wage-earners, deprived of their tools 
 of production, are converted into proletarians to the same extent 
 as are the Tvage-earners of mines, railroads, and factories, and are 
 paid sub-human starvation wages; 
 
 Whereas, the tenant-farmers who till the soil which they do 
 not own are scarcely less exploited by the great landowners than 
 are the agricultural laborers; 
 
 Whereas, small proprietors working their land without the help 
 of day laborers are exploited by the money-lenders, and fall more 
 and more into absolute dependence upon middlemen, to whom 
 they become increasingly tributary, and the small farmers are 
 condemned to submit to their terms, whether it be a question of 
 manure, seeds, agricultural machinery, or of agricultural prod- 
 ucts. In the meanwhile, they face the prospect of their real 
 estate shrinking in value in competition with the large es- 
 tates; . . . 
 
 Whereas, the whole world of rural labor, tenant-farmer and 
 small landed proprietor, has every reason to desire to have that 
 transformation realized which is the aim of International So- 
 cialism; 
 
 Therefore, the party should increase its propaganda in the 
 country by organizing agricultural workers and, with their help, 
 should hasten the political expropriation of the capitalist class, 
 the indispensable prelude to its economic expropriation. 
 
 To this end, while reaffirming that the solution of the social 
 problem lies wholly and exclusively in the collective ownership 
 of all means of production, exchange, and distribution, the party 
 should decide upon a series of immediate demands, calculated to 
 prepare the French peasantry for the new order. 
 
 This series of immediate demands is as follows: 
 
 1. Development of the unions of agricultural laborers. 
 
 2. Extension of all labor laws to agriculture and a minimum 
 wage for day-laborers, as well as those hired by the year, to be 
 fixed by the agricultural unions and municipal councils. 
 
456 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 3. Establishment of a normal eight-hour day. During the busy 
 seasons, overtime allowed with special pay. Weekly rest to agri- 
 cultural wage-earners. 
 
 4. Application of the laws of hygiene to the quarters of farm 
 hands, to realize the maximum of favorable conditions. 
 
 5. Prohibition of child labor under 13 years of age, and the 
 farmwork for children and youths before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. 
 
 6. Appointment of agricultural arbitrators, with right of ap- 
 peal reserved to the representatives of both parties. 
 
 7. Revision of ground leases for tenant-farming by arbitration 
 committees, which, when the rent exceeded the normal ground 
 rent, should reduce the rent charge to the normal price; and the 
 institution of a rental varying according to the crops, inclem- 
 encies of the season, and prices. Indemnity to tenant-farmers 
 when leaving, for the increased value given to the property during 
 the lease. 
 
 8. The establishment for the farmer of a fund to include farm- 
 ing implements, manure, and heads of cattle which are indis- 
 pensable to the exercise of the vocation. 
 
 9. Abolition of taxes of labor imposed by the proprietor upon 
 the tenant-farmers and the abolition of landlord-tenants. 
 
 10. Development of agricultural unions, benefit, and co-opera- 
 tive societies, for the purpose, first, of purchasing fertilizer, seed, 
 etc., then for the sale of agricultural products, and, lastly, for 
 their production, the administration of which will permit the 
 small landowners to accustom themselves to superior methods of 
 management and the use of new agricultural instruments. 
 
 11. Purchase by the communes, with the aid of the state, of 
 agricultural machines, or the hiring of these machines, placed 
 without charge at the service of the small cultivators. 
 
 12. Abolition of inheritance taxes under 5,000 francs. 
 
 13. Abolition of all indirect taxes and transformation of direct 
 taxes into a progressive tax on incomes above 3,000 francs; ad 
 interim, the abolition of the ground tax, the proprietors cultivat- 
 ing their own lands. 
 
 14. Lowering of the transport rates for fertilizer machines 
 and agricultural products. 
 
 15. Prohibition of the communes from alienating their com- 
 munal lands. 
 
 16. Revision of the registry of lands and revision of lands sub- 
 divided by the communes. 
 
AGRICULTURE 457 
 
 17. Immediate consideration of some plan of public works 
 having for its end the betterment of the soil and the development 
 of agricultural production. 
 
 18. Freedom to hunt and fish, limited only by the necessities of 
 conservation; prohibition of private preserves. 
 
 19. Free courses in agronomy, together with plots of land for 
 experiment. 
 
 Therefore, be it resolved that the Lyons Congress vote this 
 program of immediate reform, and declare to the farmers that 
 we wish to restore the possessions of those that have been dis- 
 possessed and to respect the little farms of others which they 
 have been cultivating themselves; that we nevertheless predict 
 that they will voluntarily come to the collective form of property 
 through the methods of co-operation, because they will have 
 recognized all its advantages with their own eyes; that we believe 
 that our recruits will be many, and that the reign of the agrarians, 
 that reserve army of reaction and social conservatism, will be 
 near its end. 
 
 m. THE PROGRAM ADOPTED BY THE DANISH CONGRESS, 
 
 1913 
 
 (From Vorwaerts) 
 
 The agrarian program demands the nationalization of 
 the estates of the nobility, of the church, and of all unculti- 
 vated land. The right of eminent domain is extended. 
 The use of socialized land is to be given to agricultural 
 laborers and persons in a similar situation, the necessary 
 capital for cultivation to be furnished when necessary by 
 the community. Where co-operative cultivation is profita- 
 ble it is to be encouraged by the community. Further- 
 more, the state is to support agriculture by furnishing 
 capital for cultivation, to help in the improvement of the 
 land, etc. The organization and support of agricultural 
 schools are demanded. The state is to undertake and super- 
 intend the building of private dwellings and is to struggle 
 against land speculation by itself building dwellings for 
 
458 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 laborers. "Where the right of using socially owned land 
 is given over to private persons, a tax is to be fixed cor- 
 responding to the value of the land. Besides the tax 
 against landowners, there is to be a taxing of the inere- 
 mient in land value. 
 
 rV. THE AGRARIAN QUESTION IN THE UNITED STATES * 
 1. RECENT TENDENCIES IN AGRICULTURAL CONCENTRATION 
 
 By A. M. Simons 
 
 Present-day American agriculture has grown directly 
 out of conditions, most of which originated in the years 
 directly after the Civil War. At this time the most ex- 
 tensive effort ever tried in any country was made to main- 
 tain a race of small farmers. In the 20 years following 
 1860, 65,000,000 acres of land were distributed by the na- 
 tional government in small farms. A much larger amount 
 was given to the railroads during this same period, and 
 a large portion of this was also distributed to small farmers. 
 
 In the South the great plantations were divided up 
 by the destruction of the system of chattel slavery into 
 hundreds of thousands more small farms. 
 
 In the intense competition for production of agricul- 
 tural products that followed, the income of the farmer, like 
 that of the wage-worker, was reduced to the point which 
 would sustain life and permit a continuance of the race of 
 farmers. The remainder went to the transportation, 
 storage, and marketing compa/nies that control the farmers' 
 product in its later stages. (Our italics throughout 
 article.) 
 
 By 1890 there were no more farms to be distributed, 
 save in isolated localities or after the expenditure of large 
 sums for drainage or irrigation. These were not numerous 
 
 * Prom Socialist Party Campaign Book of 1913. 
 
AGRICULTUEE 459 
 
 enough or in sufficiently active connection with agriculture 
 as a whole to act as an outlet for the farmers who were 
 being crowded from the land in the older localities. 
 
 The 20 years since 1890 have seen the transformation 
 of those conditions that have served to distinguish agri- 
 culture from factory industry. It has seen the element of 
 chance largely eliminated. Agricultural invention, im- 
 proved machinery, and better breeding of plants and ani- 
 mals have not only greatly increased the product, but have 
 brought conditions of production to a point where they 
 much more closely approximate those existing in the mill, 
 mine, and factory. 
 
 The disappearance of free land has shown itself most 
 strikingly in the tremendous increase in the cost of this 
 fundamental instrument of production in agriculture. 
 
 In the 200 years in which the continent was conquered, 
 prairie sod turned, forests cleared, millions of farm homes 
 and other buildings erected, and during which, in fact, 
 more labor was applied to land than at any previous time 
 in the history of the world, the total value of all land 
 reached only a little over thirteen billion dollars. In the 
 last 10 years, when less new land was brought under culti- 
 vation than at any period in the last half -century, the , 
 value added to the land was over fifteen billion dollars. 
 
 This great increase in -farm values has been most 
 marked in a few special sections and is only a part of a 
 movement that shows how agriculture is concentrating in 
 certain localities. 
 
 In the states touched by a circle with a 500-mile radius 
 and Chicago as its center, there is already located 57.7 
 per cent of the value of all farm property, 60.7 per cent 
 of the value of all farm land, 51.3 per cent of the value 
 of all live stock, and 68 per cent of the value of all cereals 
 is produced. It was just in this territory that the value 
 
460 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of this land increased most rapidly, over 60 per cent of 
 the total increase in the last 10 years, being in the states 
 touched by such a circle. 
 
 Even more important is the fact that in this territory 
 the number of farms decreased by over 30,000 in the last 
 10 years. Here where industry is most profitable; here 
 where land is increasing most rapidly in value ; here where 
 the product is greatest; here the children of the farmers 
 are being driven from the farms and the number of oppor- 
 tunities for new openings in agriculture are growing con- 
 stantly less. In the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Missouri, and Iowa, which form the heart of this territory, 
 the most important agricultural section of the United 
 States, the population in rural localities absolutely de- 
 clined, and this decline in farms was in those operated by 
 owners. There are 10,000 less farms operated by owners 
 in Iowa than there were in 1900 ; 8,000 less in Indiana, and 
 13,000 less in Illinois. 
 
 In 1880, 69 per cent of the farms of Illinois were op- 
 erated by owners and 31 per cent by tenants; in 1910, 41 
 per cent were operated by tenants and but 59 per cent of 
 the farmers owned the land upon which they worked. 
 
 In the counties in which the value of land and product 
 is greatest, this percentage runs much higher. 
 
 This increase in tenantry in proportion to the value 
 of the product and to the perfection of agriculture is even 
 more strikingly seen in the only other section of the country 
 that can rival this one in importance. 
 
 In the cotton section, wherever we find a high pro- 
 duction of cotton we find a high ratio of tenantry. In 
 Texas, 55 per cent of the farms are now operated by ten- 
 ants ; in Mississippi and Georgia, 66 per cent ; South Caro- 
 lina, 63 per cent ; in Louisiana and Oklahoma, 55 per cent, 
 and everywhere this percentage is swiftly increasing. 
 
AGRICULTURE 461 
 
 When the countries in which the production of cotton 
 is greatest are studied, this percentage rises to a far higher 
 point. In the six leading cotton counties of Georgia, the 
 percentage of the land tilled by tenants varies from 73 
 per cent to 85 per cent ; in the six leading cotton counties of 
 South Carolina, between 66 and 80 per cent of the farms 
 arc rented. Mississippi furnishes a most striking example 
 of this kind of evolution. Its alluvial bottoms are the 
 greatest cotton-producing country in the world. There are 
 eight counties here where the average value of the land in 
 farms is more than $25 per acre. In this section, which 
 represents the very apex of cotton cultivation, 89 per cent 
 of the farms were operated by tenants in 1900 and 92 per 
 cent in 1910. 
 
 But in both the North and the South a new force is 
 coming in to' hasten every one of the tendencies that have 
 been noted. In every industry, so long as the principal 
 operation had to be performed by either man or animal 
 power, any high development of concentrated ownership 
 and of capitalist exploitation was impossible. In farming 
 the great task has been the turning of the soil, and hitherto 
 this has been done by animal power. Now the farm tractor 
 has come, driven by kerosene or gasoline or steam, to do 
 this work, and is bringing the same revolution there that 
 the application of the explosive engine has brought in trans- 
 portation. Although these tractors are of very recent in- 
 troduction, yet they are already accomplishing a revolu- 
 tion. Their great expense places them far beyond the reach 
 of the renter or even the small farm owner, even if the 
 latter were able to use them economically on his small acres. 
 These machines will be operated by mechanics — ^not by 
 farmers, when necessary; and for mechanics the entire 
 labor supply, trained in mines and mills and factories, will 
 be available. 
 
462 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 In cotton production a similar mechanical revolution is 
 taking place. Here the great task is that of picking, and 
 already mechanical cotton pickers are being introduced 
 that do the work of from 16 to 20 men. 
 
 In market-gardening a similar transformation is taking 
 place. Here glass-covered farms with heat and water and 
 light, controlled artificially, are so expensive as to be as 
 completely beyond the reach of those who work in them as 
 the great factories in which thousands of wage-workers 
 toil. 
 
 To sum up, the disappearance of free land and the 
 swift rise in farm values is placing the land out of the 
 reach of the small farmer. The race of tenants is increas- 
 ing. The farm tractor, the cotton-picker, the mechanical 
 milker, the great inventions now in use in the production 
 of vegetables near cities, all these are tending to create a 
 condition in which the worker on the farm will be as com- 
 pletely separated from the instrument with which he works 
 as is the worker in the factory. 
 
 It is not the Socialist or the working-class who are 
 taking the small farm from its owner; it is the great 
 forces of capitalism which are fostered, maintained, and 
 supported in every way by the political parties of the 
 capitalist class. The Socialist Party does not come forward 
 to assist in this process of reducing the farmer to the con- 
 dition of tenant and wage-worker. The Socialist Party 
 comes, on the contrary, to point to a way out; to point to 
 the possibility of release for the farmer now being driven 
 from his land. 
 
 Since this article was prepared for the 1912 campaign 
 book the United States Department of Agriculture has 
 published a bulletin (No. 41, Bureau of Plant Industry) 
 which confirms in a most remarkable manner the conclu- 
 sions drawn above. 
 
AGRICULTURE 463 
 
 The investigators of the department selected three 
 typical areas, one each in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. In 
 these typical districts, says the report, " of the 700 farms 
 studied, 57 per cent were operated by owners and 43 per 
 cent by tenants. " 
 
 The average capital invested per farm was $17,535 in 
 Indiana, $51,091 in Illinois, and $23,193 in Iowa. The 
 general average for all the farms in the three districts was 
 $30,606, a far greater sum than the average investment in 
 manufacturing or trading. 
 
 On these farms the owners who worked their own 
 farms made a little less than factory wages. The report 
 says : ' ' Deducting 5 per cent interest on the average capital 
 leaves an average labor income of $408 for the 273 farm 
 owners. . . . The assertion that farmers are making large 
 profits is erroneous. They are living on the earnings of 
 their investment and not on the real profits of the farm. 
 . . . One farmer out of every 22 received a labor income 
 of over $2,000 a year. Ori,e farmer out of every 3 paid for 
 the privilege of working his farm, that is, after deducting 
 5 per cent interest on his investment he failed to make a 
 plus labor income." 
 
 It will be noticed that of the entire number 9 men 
 with less than $5,000 capital received $74 for their year's 
 work. Only 2 farmers out of 46 with less than $10,000 
 invested made over $400. Out of the entire 273 only 12 
 men received over $2,000 labor income. Each of these had 
 more tham $20,000 invested. The chance of a farm owner 
 making a labor income of $1,000 with less than $15,000 
 invested is less tham 1 in 20. This, it must be remembered, 
 is in the most favorable agricultural region in the 'United 
 States. 
 
 But the tenant without capital is equally helpless. To 
 
464 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 quote: " Almost without exception the tenant's income is 
 in direct proportion to the sum he has invested. ' ' 
 
 These are all the phenomena that have preceded and 
 forced concentration in ownership in other lines of in- 
 dustry. That this concentration is taking place is noted: 
 ' ' According to the last census the farms in the North Cen- 
 tral States are growing fewer in number and larger in 
 area. ... Of all the farms operated by owners there were 
 20 of just 40 acres in area, the average labor income of 
 which was $70. None made a labor income of $1,000. 
 There were 26 men on 80-acre farms and only one of them 
 made a labor income of $1,000. Of the 25 men on 160-acre 
 farms, 1 in 5 made $1,000 or more." In other words, tJie 
 farm of less than 160 acres is helow the point of profitable 
 operation. The table giving area and income shows a con- 
 tinuous and unbroken increase of labor income as the 
 acreage of the farm increases, and the reporters comment 
 on this as follows: "Thus the decrease in the number of 
 farms in the North Central States is no cause for alarm. 
 It is rather a sign that land is being utilized more efficiently 
 and that the same products are being produced at less 
 cost." 
 
 This is a complete confirmation of the Socialist theory 
 of concentration, but scarcely carries comfort to the small 
 farm owner who is being forced into the ranks of tenants 
 and hired laborers. 
 
 What Socialism will do for the Farmer 
 
 The Socialist Party proposes to do all in its power to 
 alleviate the condition of the farmer who now works with 
 his own hands on his little bit of land ; but it is nort blind 
 to the fact that all the Socialists or anyone else could do 
 would not protect him in that ownership against the power- 
 
AGRICULTURE 465 
 
 ful forces that are taking his farm from him. So the party 
 comes forward with the proposal that producers of wealth 
 on the farm shall join with those of the factory to obtain 
 the ownership of the things necessary to their lives. 
 
 Just as the Socialist Party proposes to restore the 
 ownership of the factory and mill, the mines and the 
 railroads to those who work in them and who create wealth 
 through their use, so it proposes to restore the lands and 
 the machinery to the men who produce the crops of this 
 country ; but this cannot be individual ownership in either 
 case ; so the Socialist Party believes the time has now come 
 for the beginning of socially operated farms; these farms 
 would be sufficiently large to use the most improved ma- 
 chinery; they would be officered and directed by the socially 
 trained graduates of our agricultural educational institu- 
 tions and their wealth would all go to those who produced 
 it and worked upon the farm. 
 
 Pending the time when such farms can be established, 
 the following program adopted at our National Convention 
 pledges the party to the enactment of a series of measures 
 especially designed to afford relief to the great class of 
 workers on the farm. 
 
 Proposed Farmers' Program 
 
 1. The Socialist Party demands that the means of transporta- 
 tion and storage and the plants used in the manufacture of farm 
 products and farm machinery shall be socially owned and demo- 
 cratically managed. 
 
 2. To prevent the holding of land out of use and to eliminate 
 tenantry, we demand that all farm land not cultivated by owners 
 shall be taxed at its full rental value, and that actual use and 
 occupancy shall be the only title to land. 
 
 3. We demand the retention by the national, state, or local 
 governing bodies of all land owned by them, and the continuous 
 acquirement of other land by reclamation, purchase, eondemna- 
 
466 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS: '^ 
 
 tion, taxation, or otherwise; such land to be organized as rapidly 
 as possible into socially operated farms for the conduct of col- 
 lective agricultural enterprises. 
 
 4. Such farms should constitute educational and experimental 
 centers for crop culture, the use of fertilizers and farm ma- 
 chinery, and distributing points for improved seeds and better 
 breeds of animals. 
 
 5. The formation of co-operative associations for agricultural 
 purposes should be encouraged. 
 
 6. Insurance against diseases of animals and plants, insect 
 pests, and natural calamities should be provided by national, 
 state, or local governments. 
 
 7. We call attention to the fact that the elimination of farm 
 tenantry and the development of socially owned and operated 
 agriculture will open new opportunities to the agricultural wage- 
 worker and free him from the tyranny of the private employer. 
 
 2. AGRARIAN RESOLUTION OF 1912 
 
 In addition to the above program, the Convention of 
 1912 made the following demands : 
 
 ■ 1. The erection by the state at convenient points of elevators 
 and warehouses for the storage of grain, potatoes, and other 
 farm products ; and connected with these provisions for municipal 
 markets wherever the people of the community desire. We call 
 attention to the fact that constitutional amendments providing 
 for these measures were killed by the old parties in the last 
 legislature. 
 
 2. Establishment by the state of one or more plants for the 
 manufacture of farm machinery and binder twine. 
 
 3. State or county loans or mortgages and warehouse receipts, 
 the interest charges to cover the cost only. 
 
 4. State insurance against destruction of animals and crops. 
 
 3. THE AGRARIAN PROGRAM IN OKLAHOMA 
 
 The Socialist Party of the State of Oklahoma adopted 
 the following program in 1912 : 
 
AGRICULTURE 467 
 
 Article 27. Renters' and Farmers' Program. — The Socialist 
 Party stands for every measure that will add to the material, 
 intellectual, and moral welfare of the working-class, and as the 
 working-class of Oklahoma is largely made up of agricultural 
 workers, we submit the following as the Renters' and Farmers' 
 Program of the Socialist Party of Oklahoma : 
 
 Section 1. The retention and constant enlargement of the 
 public domain — 
 
 By retaining school and other public lands ; 
 
 By purchase of arid and overflow lands and the state reclama- 
 tion of all such lands now held by the state or that may be 
 acquired by the state ; 
 
 By the purchase of all lands sold for the non-payment of taxes; 
 
 By the purchase of segregated and unallotted Indian lands; 
 
 By the retention of leased lands after the expiration of leases 
 and the payment of the improvements thereon at an appraised 
 valuation. 
 
 Section 2. Separation of the department of agriculture from 
 the political government by means of — 
 
 Election of all members and officers of the board of agricul- 
 ture by the direct vote of the actual farmers — subject to the right 
 of recall; 
 
 Introduction of the merit system among the employees. 
 
 Section 3. Erection by the state of grain elevators and ware- 
 houses for the storage of farm products; these elevators and 
 warehouses to be managed by the board of agriculture. 
 
 Section 4. Organization by the board of agriculture for free 
 agricultural education and the establishment of model farms. 
 
 Section 5. Encouragement by the board of agriculture of co- 
 operative societies of farmers — 
 
 For the purchasing of land; 
 
 For the buying of seed and fertilizer ; 
 
 For the purchase and common use pf implements and ma- 
 chiijery; 
 
 For the preparing and sale of produce. 
 
 Section 6. Organization by the state providing for loans on 
 mortgages and warehouse certificates, the interest charges to cover 
 cost only. 
 
 Section 7. State insurance against diseases of animals, diseases 
 of plants, insect pests, hail, flood, storm, and flre. 
 
 Section 8. Exemption from taxation of dwellings, tools, farm 
 
468 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 animals, implements, and improvements to the amount of one 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Section 9. A graduated tax on the value of rented land and 
 land held for speculation. 
 
 Section 10. Absentee landlords to assess their own lands, the 
 state reserving the right to purchase such lands at their assessed 
 value, plus 10 per cent. 
 
 Section 11. Land now in possession of the state or hereafter 
 acquired through purchase, reclamation of tax sales, to be rented 
 to landless farmers under the supervision of the board of agri- 
 culture at the prevailing rate of share rent or its equivalent. The 
 payment of such rent to cease as soon as the total amount of 
 rent paid is equal to the value of the land, the tenant thereby 
 acquiring for himself and his children the right of occupancy. 
 The title to all such lands remaining with the Commonwealth. 
 
 See also " Roumania "; and note absence of agrarian 
 measures in German program under " Germany." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE LAND 
 
 It is obvious that the agricultural problem is very 
 largely the same as the land problem. But this fact has 
 not as a rule been fully recognized by the Socialists — 
 outside of Great Britain. This is due to the natural fact 
 that the land problem, aside from its purely agricultural 
 aspects, is more important in that country than elsewhere. 
 Land rent, especially urban land rent, absorbs a very con- 
 siderable proportion of the total income of Great Britain, 
 doubtless a larger proportion than in any other of the great 
 nations. 
 
 The only country, therefore, in which the problem of the 
 nationalization of the land or of land rent has been in the 
 forefront of Socialist discussion is Great Britain. There 
 have been innumerable scientific discussions of the question 
 among the Socialists of Germany and other pountries, but 
 it is only in Great Britain where it has assumed the first 
 political importance — and it is therefore only in Great 
 Britain that the Socialist parties have taken a definite 
 attitude towards the problem — although we may assume 
 that the Socialists of other countries will proceed largely 
 along parallel lines. 
 
 I. THE BKITISH LABOR PAETY CONFERENCE OF 1914 
 
 (From Official Report of the Conference) 
 
 Mr. W. C. Anderson [I. L. P.] moved the following : 
 
 That this Conference, whilst expressing its satisfaction at the 
 
 469 
 
470 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 increasing interest now being taken in the land question by re- 
 formers and politicians, warns the working-class against favoring 
 any proposals which would strengthen the position of the great 
 territorial owners, or perpetuate the private ownership of the 
 land, whether by the creation of a class of peasant proprietors 
 or otherwise, and declares that only such proposals for temporary 
 and immediate reform as tend towards bringing the land and 
 its values into the ownership of the community are worthy of 
 support. Eurther, as a practical means of nationalizing the land 
 the Conference recommends the Parliamentary Party to prepare 
 and introduce a bill enacting that a levy shall be assessed On all 
 landed estates, urban and rural, for the setting up of a land 
 redemption fund to enable the nation to reacquire its lost rights 
 of ownership in the land within a reasonable period, and on terms 
 which shall fairly recognize all existing interests. 
 
 He said the whole problem was coming before the coun- 
 try in a prominent way. The resolution suggested that 
 the land should be the property of the people ; that there 
 should be a tax on both urban and rural land, and by that 
 means a redemption fund could be set up which would 
 enable the country within a reasonable time to secure con- 
 trol and possession of the land with a reasonable regard for 
 existing interests. 
 
 The resolution was formally seconded and agreed to. 
 
 n. THE CONFERENCE OP THE BRITISH INDEPENDENT LABOR 
 PARTY, 1914 
 
 The Congress passed a vigorous resolution in favor of 
 the nationalization of land, as follows : 
 
 That this Conference, whilst expressing its satisfaction at the 
 increasing interest now being taken in the land question by 
 reformers and politicians, warns the working-class against favor- 
 ing any proposals which would strengthen the position of the 
 great territorial owners, or perpetuate the private ownership of 
 the land, whether by the creation of a class of peasant proprietors 
 or otherwise, and declares that only such proposals for temporary 
 
THE LAND 471 
 
 and iminediate reform as tend towards bringing the land and its 
 values into the ownership of the community are worthy of sup- 
 port. Further, as a practical means of nationalizing the land, 
 the Conference recommends the Parliamentary Party to prepare 
 and introduce a bill enacting that a levy shall be assessed on all 
 landed estates, urban and rural, for the setting up of a land 
 redemption fund to enable the nation to reacquire its lost rights 
 of ownership in the land within a reasonable period, on terms 
 which shall fairly recognize all existing interests. 
 
 That this Conference, believing the land question cannot be 
 solved by denunciation of landowners and vague reference to the 
 taxation of land values, calls upon the N. A. C. to organize a 
 land nationalization campaign and to formulate a scheme for 
 the socialization of the land — ^to urge upon the Labor Party in 
 Parliament and on municipal and other public bodies the neces- 
 sity for the adoption of such a scheme, and for a public inquiry, 
 by royal commission or otherwise, to demand public production 
 of titles to land in order to bring to public knowledge the basis 
 on which the present system of land tenure is possible. 
 
 m. THE CONFEEENCE OF THE BRITISH SOCIALIST PAETT, 1914 
 
 (Resolution adopted by 1914 Conference, including discussion) 
 
 Thi British Socialist Party at this Conference advocated, 
 by an overwhelming majority, the solution of the land 
 question through a system of free transportation, the so- 
 cialization of land, co-operative production, the destruction 
 of the slums, and thfe placing of their inhabitants into the 
 country. 
 
 The resolution submitted by H. M. Hyndman, on behalf 
 of the executive committee, read as follows: 
 
 This Conference of the British Socialist Party being convinced 
 that the land proposals of the Liberal Government are useless, 
 harmful, and reactionary; that taxation of so-called land values, 
 however justifiable from the point of view of readjustment of 
 middle-class burdens, solves no problem of production or distri- 
 bution for the mass of the people; that leasehold enfranchise- 
 ment is similarly futile ; that the refusal of both political factions 
 
472 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 to face the reorganization of agriculture and rural production 
 generally, as well as land ownership in country and in town, is 
 a grave danger to the nation ; and that no scheme of land reform 
 can be even moderately beneficial which fails to deal in the first 
 instance with the question of transport on a national scale, re- 
 solves: (1) That a national system of free transport by rail and 
 motor road should be set on foot forthwith; (2) that the right 
 of the nation to resume possession of its own land should at once 
 be declared and acted upon; (3) that co-operative production on 
 the land and in factories under the control of the community and 
 local councils be commenced at an early date, beginning with the 
 organization of unemployed labor; the goods so produced being 
 communally distributed among the producers and not thrown 
 upon the competitive market for commodities; (4) that the de- 
 struction of the slums in our great cities be commenced immedi- 
 ately, the families and children so displaced being provided with 
 healthy homes in the country and taught agriculture in addition 
 to their ordinary trades. 
 
 "Mr. Hyndman said that it was very important to discuss 
 the land question now on account of the proposals before 
 the country, not one of which would benefit the working- 
 class in any way. He thought it very desirable that the 
 Conference should pass a resolution in favor of something 
 which would really benefit the worker, although he might 
 not get it at once. Agriculture was the most important 
 and valuable of all industries, and its decay in Great 
 Britain was injurious to the whole people. Even to-day it 
 was the largest and most important single industry. The 
 dependence of the country for five-sixths of its food upon 
 foreign sources of supply was a permanent national danger. 
 Under present conditions cost of transport dominated agri- 
 cultural production, and the railways of Great Britain con- 
 stituted by their harmful policy a great system of protection 
 in favor of the foreigner. Canada, the United States, India, 
 the Argentine, and Australia were all within the 35-mile 
 radius of London as reckoned by freight. He had put that 
 
THE LAND 473 
 
 fact before a royal eomniission twenty-two years ago, but 
 from that time to this no proper attention had ever been 
 paid to it. The differential rates in favor of foreign produce 
 carried by British railways still further intensified the effect 
 of cheap water carriage against home cultivation. The im- 
 portant matter of free transport by national railways or 
 specially built motor roads could only be settled by the 
 nation through its delegates elected under proportional 
 representation. Free transport was one of the most im- 
 portant questions of the moment, and it was impossible to 
 hope the agricultural question could be settled until free 
 transport was obtained. The people who said that free 
 transport could not be obtained under present conditions 
 forgot there were a good many things free — sewage and 
 education were examples. 
 
 "The ownership or leasing of land by small holders im- 
 posed of necessity excessive and unremunerated toil upon 
 the cultivators, and an endless gray monotony of existence. 
 Small holdings were advocated by the Liberal Party, and 
 peasant proprietorship by the Tory Party; both proposals 
 were injurious and reactionary. The antagonism between 
 town and country would be increased by the creation of 
 a class of small cultivators or small proprietors, for their 
 interest would be to obtain a high price against the city 
 workers, and the increase of private property would foster 
 reaction. Agricultural land of itself was of small value; 
 manure, machinery, glass houses, and other appliances for 
 tillage were more valuable than the land itself, and culti- 
 vators who did not possess these to a sufficient extent were 
 at a hopeless disadvantage. The taxation of land in town 
 and country would be mere burden-shifting in the interests 
 of the capitalists, and no wage-earner would thereby have 
 his wages increased a farthing. Elevators for storage 
 should be established nationally and communally. Healthy, 
 
474 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 comfortable homes for the whole people could not be pro- 
 vided under capitalist conditions. The entire land system 
 must be considered from the point of view of bringing about 
 co-operation of production and distribution between coun- 
 try and town. Collective organization and ownership under 
 capitalism, the competitive wage-earning system remaining 
 unchanged, could be nothing better than state slavery for 
 the workers. 
 
 "L. E. Quelch [Reading], in seconding the resolution, 
 said it was especially the business of Socialists to. get at 
 grips with the land proposals of the Liberal Party. He 
 knew the conditions of life in the villages, and said that at 
 the present time — ^largely owing to the fact that in the 
 towns and cities they were losing their influence through 
 the work of the Socialists and the labor movement gen- 
 erally — the Liberals were advocating these, to them, drastic 
 reforms in the endeavor to get back their political influence 
 in the agricultural districts. Now was the time for the 
 B. S. P. to bring its counter proposals in opposition to those 
 of the Liberal Party. 
 
 "Without further discussion the resolution was then car- 
 ried by an overwhelming majority." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE TEUSTS 
 
 The Socialists' position on the trust question is derived 
 from their attitude towards the evolution of industry gen- 
 erally. Marx predicted the coming of a monopolistic period 
 in industry and welcomed it. In all countries the Socialists 
 have approved the tendency of all industry to be organized 
 on a larger and larger scale, as they look forward to the 
 day when all the more important industries of each nation 
 shall be operated as single units by governments under the 
 control of the people. 
 
 ) 
 
 1. THE INTEENATIONAL CONGBESS OF PARIS, 1900 
 
 With regard to trusts, the International Congress of 
 Paris (1900) declared that "these coalitions of the ex- 
 ploiters of industry and commerce are inevitable, constitut- 
 ing a high form of production," but, on the other hand, that 
 they have a tendency in the long run "to raise prices 
 everywhere and always in the interest of the combined 
 capitalists as well as to check the lowering of prices which 
 would [otherwise] result from the improvement of pro- 
 duction." They tend, furthermore, the Congress declared, 
 to "increase the oppression of the workers by opposing 
 their unions." The Congress did not recommend, how- 
 ever, opposition to trust formations, regarding the organ- 
 ization of trusts as a logical result of the system of produc- 
 tion, which should be tolerated, under suitable conditions 
 and restrictions, until the working-class becomes strong 
 
 475 
 
476 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 enough, through political and industrial organization, to 
 effect their expropriation. 
 
 n. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMSTERDAM, 1904 
 
 In 1904 the International Congress of Amsterdam passed 
 the following resolution unanimously : 
 
 The trusts have their complete development, even in competi- 
 tion, in the world of production. 
 
 They grow gradually into gigantic associations, organized na- 
 tionally, or even internationally, and reduce many industries to a 
 complete monopoly. 
 
 The trusts are an inevitable consequence of competition, and 
 they represent a system of production based on low wages. 
 
 In these conditions the associations of capitalists of all coun- 
 tries and of all industries form powers composed on the basis 
 of their common interest. Also the conflict between the capitalist 
 class and the working-class becomes more and more accentuated. 
 Production is regulated, diminishing waste, and assuring the ef- 
 ficiency of labor, but all the benefit is for the capitalists, while 
 the exploitation of the workers is intensified. 
 
 Considering these facts, and in view of the experiences which 
 show the futility of legislation against trusts. 
 
 The Congress of Amsterdam, affirming the conclusions of the 
 Congress of Paris, declares : 
 
 1. That the Socialist Party of all countries should abstain 
 from any attempt whatever to prevent the formation of trusts, or 
 to restrain their development. 
 
 2. The efforts of the Socialist Party should be in the direction 
 of the sociahzation of production, having for its object the gen- 
 eral well-being and the elimination of profits. 
 
 The method of establishing the socialization, and the order in 
 which it will be effected will be determined by our power of action 
 and by the nature of the industries trustified. 
 
 In opposition to these organizations, which menace the economic 
 organization of the workers by the consolidation of the capitalist 
 forces, the workers of the whole world must oppose a force organ- 
 ized nationally and internationally, as the single arm against cap- 
 italist oppression and the only means of bringing to an end the 
 regime of capitalist society by establishing Socialism. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP 
 
 The Socialists unanimously favor government ownership 
 in every case where they feel that the government is con- 
 trolled by the people; where the government is not so 
 controlled, they are usually opposed to government owner- 
 ship. A large number of governments are difficult to 
 classify, and in such instances the Socialist position is de- 
 cided according to circumstances — especially in regard to 
 the policy to be adopted by the government after the pro- 
 posed nationalization has taken place. And in no case is 
 government ownership, no matter on how large a scale, 
 regarded as Socialism, unless the Socialists are in control 
 of the government, so as to be able to direct the policies 
 of the governmental industries along Socialist lines. 
 
 There can be no question that the German Party has 
 given more attention to this problem than has any other 
 Socialist group. The principles laid down in the Reichstag 
 in 1913 are therefore of first importance. 
 
 Under the more democratic government of Great Britain, 
 the policy to be followed in nationalized industries has nat- 
 urally received less attention. There the whole effort has 
 been made to secure nationalization, without making any 
 conditions — ^under the assumption that the government is 
 already sufficiently democratic to insure at least considera- 
 ble benefits to the people. 
 
 The government of the United States is probably to be 
 regarded as being, on the whole, at least as democratic as 
 that of Great Britain. But the greater centralization of 
 
 477 
 
478 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 capital in this country, in the hands of the trusts, has led 
 American Socialists to a somewhat more critical attitude 
 towards government ownership. It is for that reason that 
 the proposed nationalization of the banking system has 
 not yet been fully acted on by the American Party. 
 
 I. THE SOCIALIST GROUP IN THE GERMAN REICHSTAG, 1913 
 (Prom speech of Hoch in the Reichstag, 1913) 
 
 We would be in favor of a government monopoly if the income 
 derived therefrom were used to cut down the taxes on foodstuffs 
 and necessary articles of consumption, or for social purposes. 
 1 have, in the following sentences, outlined my idea of a state 
 monopoly: (Our italics.) 
 
 (1) The nation shall secure possession of the existing industries 
 by confiscation {Enteignung) , wherever it is impossible to pur- 
 chase them at their actual cost price. 
 
 (2) The management of the potash works, as well as the sale 
 of its products, shall be conducted by the nation under the direct 
 supervision of an advisory commission. This commission shall 
 consist of members elected by the Bundesrat, the Reichstag, and 
 representatives of the employees and managing officials of the 
 potash works, elected by secret and equal ballot. 
 
 (3) The employees and staff of the potash works shall have 
 entire freedom to organize. All laws concerning workingmen's 
 protection and compensation shall be applicable to workers em- 
 ployed in the state monopoly, especially those laws introduced in 
 the Trade and Commercial Law. The workday shall not increase 
 over eight hours, and in places where the work is dangerous to 
 the health of the worker it shall be reduced to less than eight 
 hours. 
 
 In every plant the employees, together with the management, 
 shall elect by an equal, secret, and direct ballot an employees' 
 commission {Arheiterausschuss), which shall determine the wages, 
 salaries, and general conditions of work for the plant. This com- 
 mission shall likewise settle all differences and shall have the right 
 to appeal to the general commission against the decisions or orders 
 of the management concerning working conditions. 
 
 (4) Wages and salaries shall be determined by the management 
 
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP 479 
 
 and the workingmen's commission upon the basis of a minimum 
 wage. The minimum wage must receive the indorsement of the 
 Reichstag. 
 
 (5) The selling price of the product shall be fixed separately 
 for home and for export sale, by law, after due consideration of 
 the home agricultural industry. 
 
 (6) The profits of the potash works shall be used to reduce 
 taxes on foodstuffs and necessary articles of consumption or for 
 social purposes. 
 
 If the state ownership of the potash works is carried out ac- 
 cording to these fundamental principles, I am convinced that we 
 shall have accomplished something in the interests of the laboring 
 class. (Great applause from the Social Democrats.) 
 
 n. THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY CONFERENCE OF 1913 
 
 (From official Report of Conference) 
 
 "Mr. Herbert Smith [Miners] moved: 
 
 " That it be an instruction to the Labor members in the House 
 of Commons to seize every opportunity to press forward in that 
 House the bill to nationalize the coal mines and minerals of the 
 United Kingdom, and provide for the national distribution and 
 sale of coal. 
 
 "He said that he thought the matter had been talked 
 about long enough. The bill had already been prepared and 
 was under the consideration of the Labor Party." 
 
 "The resolution was put and agreed to. 
 
 "Mr. J. N. Mercer [York Labor Party] formally moved 
 the following: 
 
 " That this Conference declares that in the interests of the 
 workers, the railways, land, canals, and waterways, now monop- 
 olized by a few persons, should become the property of the 
 nation, with a view of them beiug utilized and worked for the 
 benefit of the people; and that the executive committee be in- 
 structed to take such parliamentary action that may be necessary 
 to secure this end. 
 
 "The resolution was formally seconded and agreed to." 
 
480 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 m. THE REPOET ON CUEEENCY TO THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF 
 THE UNITED STATES, 1914 
 
 In 1913 the National Committee elected a sub-committee 
 to investigate the banking, bank credit, currency, and mone- 
 tary systems of the United States. This committee, con- 
 sisting of Karl Sandberg, Arthur Le Sueuer, and Lucien 
 Sanial, the latter of whom did not participate in the report, 
 made their report in May, 1914. After a detailed analysis 
 of the monetary system, they arrived at the conclusion that 
 this system had been created by laws passed by Congress 
 which "have put into the hands of a few individuals, who 
 probably do not number one in one hundred thousand," a 
 power that gradually "has come to control the entire na- 
 tion"; that this power has been the means by which the 
 present capitalist system has been perfected ; that without 
 the destruction of this economic power the overthrow of 
 the capitalist system is impossible. 
 
 A bill was proposed in the report, as follows : 
 
 Title. — To provide for a national banking and money system, 
 for its maintenance and operation ; for the creation of a national 
 board of banking and money, defining the powers and duties 
 of said board; prohibiting the loaning of money and the ex- 
 tension of credit for hire by private persons, or by any firm, 
 co-partnerships, corporation, or by combinations of persons, firms, 
 co-partnerships, or combinations of kind whatsoever. 
 
 Scope and Purpose. — Section 1. The general scope and pur- 
 pose of this act is to establish a governmental monopoly of the 
 loaning of money and the extension of credit for hire, and to 
 provide a way to commercialize the credit of all classes of 
 business and commerce, and to prevent the overcapitalization of 
 private business, industries, and commercial enterprises of all 
 kinds. 
 
 The party has not yet acted on the recommendations of 
 this committee. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 IMPORT DUTIES 
 
 The Socialists of Europe are either in favor of immediate 
 free trade or of a rapid lowering of the tariffs. The Aus- 
 tralian Labor Party, however, takes the opposite position. 
 (See Australia.) The American Socialist Party also leans 
 towards free trade oi: low tariffs; but ex-Congressman 
 Berger and other leaders are opposed to any sudden tariff 
 changes. The American position, on the whole, has been 
 that the tariff question is a secondary issue which con- 
 cerns capital more than it does labor. 
 
 The Socialists of Germany strongly favor free trade, to 
 be brought about gradually by trade treaties with all other 
 countries. However, there has been a very small minority 
 in Germany defending the protective policy, and there are 
 signs that in that country and elsewhere this minority may 
 be considerably strengthened by the present war. 
 
 The present position of the European Socialists is illus- 
 trated by the resolution of the Italian Party Congress of 
 1914 ; that of the American Party by the discussion at the 
 Congress of 1912. 
 
 I. THE ITALIAN CONGRESS RESOLUTION AGAINST 
 PROTECTIONISM, 1914 
 
 The Fourteenth National Congress of the Italian Socialist Party 
 (1914) considering that the protective tariff is a means by which 
 certain capitalistic groups exercise a most odious exploitation at 
 
 481 
 
482 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the expense of the great mass of consumers; that it is one of 
 the strongest factors in the high cost of living and diminishes 
 proportionally the effective value of money, in fact of the render- 
 ing useless the advantage of the increase in wages obtained by 
 the workers by virtue of their organization ; 
 
 Considering that, if it maintains some industries in artificial 
 life, it prevents others from starting and developing, which use 
 as raw material the products of the protected industries and would 
 have a luxuriant development and successfully attack the inter- 
 national market if they could first get their raw material cheaper; 
 and while it is beyond question a hurt to the workers in so far 
 as they are consumers, brings them no advantages (on the con- 
 trary, it does harm to many) even as sellers of labor; 
 
 Considering finally that the artificial life given to certain indus- 
 tries renders competition still fiercer between nations, and more 
 frequent the danger of conflicts between them, and impels them 
 to seek by colonial enterprises markets for their products on 
 terms of monopoly; and thereby offers an incentive to the con- 
 tinual increase of armaments and to squanderings that con- 
 stitute a new burden for the workers ; 
 
 Decides, on the eve of the renewal of the treaties of commerce 
 to use all the power of the party to ventilate the secret prac- 
 tices of the groups of protected capitalists and to obtain the 
 abolition, even if only gradually, of the protective tariff, and 
 gives a mandate to the executive committee of the party to 
 organize such an agitation and — since the question also interests 
 many other nations — to solicit for this purpose the intervention 
 of the International Socialist Bureau. 
 
 n. THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1912 
 
 The discussion regarding paragraph 3 of the political de- 
 mands of the party platform shows the Socialist attitude in 
 1912 as to the tariff. (See Part I.) As will be noticed, free 
 trade is definitely favored, but there is disinclination to 
 make an issue of the tariff, on the ground that it has little 
 importance for the working-class as such. It will be noticed 
 that the tariff plank was finally struck out. 
 
IMPORT DUTIES 483 
 
 Section 3 of the political demands was read as follows : 
 
 3. The gradual reduction of all tariff duties, particularly 
 those on the necessities of life. The Government to guarantee 
 the re-employment of wage-earners who may be disemployed by 
 reason of changes in tariff schedules. 
 
 At the Party Convention of 1912, Delegate Barnes of 
 Pennsylvania opposed the clause which guaranteed employ- 
 ment of those displaced, on the ground that reduction in the 
 tariff would not throw anyone out of a job for more than 
 a week. It would simply reduce the profits of American 
 firms. He declares that one could buy a Douglas shoe, an 
 American sewing machine, or a MeCormiek reaper cheaper 
 abroad than at home. Delegate Berger then spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 Delegate Berger [Wisconsin] : I have always held that the 
 tariff issue is not a workingman's issue. 
 
 Delegate Barnes: That is what I think. 
 
 Delegate Berger: I have always told them that there is always 
 free trade in labor. While our manufacturers are protected by 
 300 per cent in some instances, there is always free trade in 
 labor. However, we are facing a condition and not a theory. 
 We have to take a stand. In all the countries that I know of 
 where we have a Socialist Party, the Socialist Party as such 
 takes the stand for free trade more or less. That is the Inter- 
 national view. However, if we do it in this country we face the 
 following situation: Entire cities, entire communities have been 
 built up by the high tariff. If there should be a sudden reduc- 
 tion many thousands would be thrown out of employment, and 
 we meet this situation by this paragraph. I am not saying that 
 the Socialist Party should make free trade or high tariff an 
 issue. We have a thousand better issues. We are simply ex- 
 plaining our stand on this question, and it seems to me that this 
 clause is all right. 
 
 Delegate Hillquit: How are they to be re-employed? 
 
 Delegate Berger: The Government to give them employment. 
 
484 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The Government can do it. This does not mean that we should 
 go out and preach free trade or that we should take a stand 
 for high tariff. It simply explains our position on the tariff. 
 But for my part I shall never make an issue of the tariff. I do 
 hope that you -will accept this as read. 
 
 The motion to strike out clause 3 was adopted by a vote of 
 117 ayes and 94 nos. (Our italics.) 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 TAXATION 
 
 The present Socialist movement is about 50 years old. 
 During the first half of this period comparatively little 
 attention was given to problems of taxation. It was con- 
 sidered that all taxes were expended almost exclusively for 
 capitalistic purposes, and were paid also by capitalists, as 
 the wages of the working-people were kept at the same low 
 level in any case. If taxes raised the cost of living, it was 
 only necessary for the capitalist slightly to increase wages ; 
 if the indirect taxation of the workingman consumer was 
 small, then less wages were paid. 
 
 But there has been a growing tendency, as we have 
 pointed out in dealing with the high cost of living, to regard 
 the workingman as a consumer as well as a producer, and 
 at the same time the Socialist parties have begun to appeal 
 to other elements of the masses besides manual wage- 
 earners. However, the Socialists of the continent of Eu- 
 rope did not make a problem of practical politics out of 
 the taxation question because of their position on the voting 
 of budgets. Until the beginning of the present war, with 
 the single exception of Germany, all the parties of con- 
 tinental Europe refused to vote in favor of the govern- 
 mental budget as a whole, on the ground that many of the 
 purposes for which the governmental money was expended 
 were anti-Socialistic, for example (and chiefly), the army 
 and navy. Besides voting against governmental expendi- 
 tures, the Socialists thus voted — at the same time — against 
 all forms of taxation. 
 
 485 
 
486 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The one exception was Germany, and this exception oc- 
 curred only in 1913. Undoubtedly the voting of addi- 
 tional taxation for military purposes by the Socialists in 
 that year was caused by preparations for the present war 
 then taking place in Germany and other countries. Even 
 on this occasion, the Socialists did not vote for the budget 
 as a whole, and it is still denied by a large portion of the 
 party that Socialist principles allow such a vote. Never- 
 theless, the majority now undoubtedly feels that govern- 
 mental budgets may be supported in the future. And 
 there can be no doubt that the Socialists of certain other 
 countries are prepared to follow the Germans' example, 
 largely on the ground of the financial support given by 
 the Socialists of all countries to their governments since 
 the beginning of the present war. 
 
 The discussion and action of the German Party Congress 
 of 1913 was then the first practical decision reached by So- 
 cialists on the taxation question. Moreover, the conclusions 
 reached as to general taxation policy (aside from the 
 budget question) were in accord with the previous Socialist 
 position in Germany and in the other countries. 
 
 The discussion of the military and of the taxation ques- 
 tions at the Congress of the German Party in 1913 was 
 really one discussion. The military problem is handled in 
 the volume. Socialists and the War. In order to make 
 clear, however, the position of the Congress as to taxation, 
 it is necessary to show the relation of this question to the 
 military problem. For this purpose we quote the article 
 by Herman Wendel, Socialist member of the Reichstag, in 
 The New Review (September, 1913). 
 
TAXATION 487 
 
 I. THE TAXATION QUESTION 
 
 By Herman Wendel (Member of the Reichstag) 
 
 "If the fight of the Social Democratic Party against the 
 strengthening of the artoy was a battle in which from the 
 very beginning it was impossible to hope for victory, it 
 was otherwise with the struggle over the bill providing 
 the necessary funds. The ruling class, nobility and bour- 
 geoisie, has hitherto, by means of indirect taxation, saddled 
 upon the propertyless masses the cost of its expensive naval 
 and military policy. Indirect taxation was Bismarck's 
 ideal ("because the individual does not suspect that he is 
 paying taxes"), and by indirect taxes and assessments all 
 the expenses of the military, naval, and colonial policies 
 have been met in the glorious era of Wilhelm II. Thereby 
 all the food articles and the absolute' necessities of the 
 great mass have been gradually raised in price to the ex- 
 treme limits of the endurable. The burden of the German 
 people through indirect taxation amounts to-day to 25 
 marks (six dollars) per person. That is to say, a working- 
 class family of four persons (father, mother, two children) , 
 having an income of 1,000 marks, pays out 100 marks, or 
 10 per cent of its income, in indirect taxes ! The last great 
 plundering of the people through indirect taxes was accom- 
 plished in 1907. As is well known, the Social Democratic 
 representation in the Reichstag [had] decreased in the 
 elections of 1907 from 81 to 43. The reactionary parties 
 thought to make use of this opportunity, and they put 
 through a 'financial reform' with new taxes amounting to 
 500,000,000 marks (about $125,000,000), which were ob- 
 tained almost exclusively by indirect taxes upon brandy, 
 beer, tobacco, matches, etc. The Social Democratic Party 
 has always opposed vigorously all attempts at new indirect 
 taxation and has several times sought, though without suc' 
 
488 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 cess against the bourgeois majority, to carry through its 
 taxation program providing for direct and progressive in- 
 come, property and inheritance taxes throughout the Em- 
 pire. Thus far the direct taxes have been reserved for 
 the federal states, where they are under the jurisdiction of 
 reactionary Parliaments — ^witness Prussia ! — and hence can 
 be assessed according to the will and desire of the possess- 
 ing classes. The bourgeois parties, chiefly the representa- 
 tives of the great landowners and of mobile capital, have 
 feared, as the devil fears holy water, to hand over by an 
 imperial income and property tax 'the pocketbook of the 
 possessors' to the Reichstag, elected by universal and equal 
 suffrage. 
 
 ' ' If the great landowners and the owners of mobile cap- 
 ital had had their way, the immense cost of the monstrous 
 military increase would now also have been saddled by 
 means of indirect taxes upon the propertyless masses of 
 the people. But . . . the wind had changed. The people, 
 embittered by the taxation robbery of 1907, had cast four 
 and a quarter million of Socialist votes in the Reichstag 
 elections of 1912, and in the Parliament were seated 110 
 Socialists who could not be utterly ignored. . . . 
 
 "Nothing would have pleased the reactionary parties 
 better than if the Social Democratic Party — dogmatically 
 applying the principle: 'Not a man nor a penny for this 
 system' — had stood passively aside and left entirely to 
 the majority of the Reichstag the framing of the finance 
 bill. The Conservatives and Clericals even sought to im- 
 pose upon the Government the condition that the military 
 bill and the finance bill should be passed by one and the 
 same majority. That would have meant the entire elimina- 
 tion of the Social Democratic Party, for under no circum- 
 stances could it have voted for the increase of the army. 
 But after the army increase was no longer to be avoided, 
 
TAXATION 489 
 
 it could well take part in the framing of the finance law 
 in a manner according with its principles and also with 
 the contents of the joint manifesto issued March 1, 1913, 
 by Social Democratic representatives in the German 
 Eeichstag and by the Socialist representatives in the 
 French Chamber of Deputies, namely : That the delegations 
 on both sides of the Rhine were determined, in case the 
 resistance against the military bills in the two countries 
 should be unsuccessful, to see to it that the new burdens 
 should fall upon the rich. 
 
 "Therefore a motion was [made] by the Social Demo- 
 cratic representation duriog the discussion of the military 
 tax in plenary session. It read : 
 
 The tax upon incomes shall amount, with an income of from 
 5,000 marks to 10,000 marks, to 1 per cent of the income; of the 
 next partial or complete 
 
 10,000 marks 3 per cent of the income 
 
 50,000 " 6 « " « " " 
 
 100,000 " 9 " " " " " 
 
 500,000 " 12 " " " " « 
 
 1,000,000 " 15 « " " " " 
 
 ' ' This motion was naturally lost, but in the form in which 
 the military assessment was finally passed it reached deeply 
 enough into the money bags of the rich. The tax upon 
 property begins at a property of 10,000 marks only when 
 there is at the same time an income of at least 5,000 marks, 
 otherwise not until 50,000 marks, and it rises from 0.15 
 per cent to 1.5 per cent for properties of more than 
 5,000,000 marks. For incomes the tax begins with 1 per 
 cent for 5,000 marks, and rises to 8 per cent for incomes 
 of 500,000 marks. Even comparatively small incomes of 
 between 5,000 and 10,000 marks, which were drawn upon 
 
490 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 for the defense fund, had an educational purpose, for 
 these are the incomes of all those elements of society, such 
 as school principals, judges, and retired officers in the army 
 and navy societies, who are the loudest shouters for mili- 
 tary increases, who had never before been called upon to 
 open their pocketbooks. But the main portion of the 
 military assessment falls upon properties of between 
 100,000 and 1,000,000 marks. The 255 taxpayers in 
 Prussia, each of whom is assessed upon more than 10,000,000 
 marks, must together pay 81,000,000 marks. The richest 
 armament manufacturer in Germany, the husband of 
 Bertha Krupp, will have to pay a round 6,000,000 for his 
 share alone. That will surely have a cooling effect upon 
 the overflowing military enthusiasm of these circles of 
 society. 
 
 "The Conservatives offered violent resistance to these 
 property taxes, but the votes of the Social Democratic 
 Party were necessary in order to pass the law. It would 
 have been remiss in its duty to the working-class had it 
 allowed this opportunity to pass without imposing upon 
 the rich a portion of the burdens entailed by a policy pur- 
 sued solely in the interests of the rich. 
 
 "But the Social Democratic representatives, after ma- 
 ture reflection, also voted in favor of the military assess- 
 ment, although it would have passed even had they voted 
 against it. This aflSrmative vote arose from the circum- 
 stance that the military assessment represents the first 
 step toward a taxing system corresponding in principle 
 to the demands of the Social Democracy. . . . 
 
 "As before, we hold to the principles 'Not a man and 
 not a penny for this system ! ' But in this case, after the 
 man had been granted by the capitalist majority, it was 
 solely a case of having the penny paid by the capitalist 
 
TAXATION 491 
 
 class alone. That is in nowise contradictory of Socialist 
 principles. . . . 
 
 "If the question is put whether the capitalist class shall 
 enjoy its surplus value untaxed and the working-class be 
 bled by means of indirect taxes, or whether the capitalist 
 class shall pay heavy taxes from their stolen surplus value 
 and the working-class be protected from an increase in 
 the price of necessities, there can, for a Socialist, be no 
 doubt as to the answer. ' ' 
 
 n. EEPOET BY WUEM TO THE GERMAN PARTY CONGRESS OP 
 
 1913 
 
 The discussion of general principles of taxation in the 
 Congress was led by Wurm, who submitted the following 
 report and resolution, which were adopted: 
 
 It is not a mere accident that we have had, up to this time, 
 no deeper inquiry into the tax question. For our past needs 
 Lasalle's Arieiterprogram [1867] has been sufficient. Tor hith- 
 erto there has been no opposition of interests between the repre- 
 sentatives of mobile, i.e., trade or industrial capital, and fixed, 
 or immobile capital, i.e., land, upon the question of taxation. 
 Mobile and immobile capital were united in their desire to throw 
 the burden of taxation upon the laboring class, by taxing the 
 necessities of life. In the state legislatures (Landtagen) the 
 struggle between movable and fixed capital is [now] increasing 
 in bitterness from day to day. The growing capitalist class is 
 vehemently opposing the burdens which the landowning group 
 is trying to heap upon it. The parties which represent the 
 small capitalist and the middle class, — the Progressives, a part 
 of the National Liberals, and a part of the Center, — were forced 
 to vote in favor of direct taxes on capital in the state legis- 
 latures. 
 
 The class that is in power forces its weaker opponents to 
 bear the burden of public expenditures, whether the landowning 
 class oppressed the capitalist class, or whether the two together 
 
492 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 oppress the worker. It must of necessity follow that when the 
 working-class becomes a strong political factor, the hour will 
 come when it will hold the balance of power in the struggle 
 between mobile and immobile capital. . . . 
 
 Taxation is a vital part of the exploitation of an oppressed 
 working-class by its political and industrial oppressors. 
 
 . . . The amount used by the capitalist class for its subsistence 
 is the consumption fund, while that part of the surplus value 
 over and above this amount goes into the production fund of 
 capitalist society. . . . 
 
 National undertakings and modern corporations prove the use- 
 lessness of the capitalist as an individual even in present-day 
 capitalist industry. The fund necessary for the development of 
 production, on the other hand, must be kept up even in a So- 
 cialist state, because production, invention, and distribution must 
 be developed to the utmost possible eflSeiency in order to make 
 human labor so profitable that each individual may be assured 
 of an opportunity to develop his personality and capabilities to 
 their fullest extent. Even to-day the capitalist is by no means 
 the absolute master of the profits which his factory produces. If 
 he should use the whole profit for his personal consumption his 
 competitors would soon put him out of business. If, therefore, 
 the whole surplus value were to be confiscated by taxation, the 
 working-class, too, would suffer. 
 
 A new form of taxation is the formation of state monopolies, 
 in which the state determines the price, in other words, levies a 
 sort of hidden tax. Fortunately we succeeded in preventing a 
 state monopoly of petroleum. (Applause.) . . . 
 
 In my resolution we read as follows : . . . " Every direct tax 
 [law], even if levied on the surplus value [profits, etc.] exclu- 
 sively, shall be opposed, if its purpose is not in harmony with the 
 interests of the working-class, except in cases where this opposi- 
 tion to the direct taxes . . . would not hinder the adoption of 
 the law in question, and [at the same time] would mean . . . 
 taxes even more unfavorable to the working-class [i.e., indirect 
 taxes]." In other words, opposition is to be the rule; the excep- 
 tion, a vote in favor under specified conditions. When, there- 
 fore, the military [appropriation] bill has been accepted, we 
 must vote in favor of that [military] tax bill which will not 
 force the worker to bear the tax burden. ..." Not one cent in 
 
TAXATION 493 
 
 taxes to the capitalist state," you say. The bourgeoisie is daily 
 more [and more] imperialistic. Every new military bill is sure 
 to be accepted. What shall we do when the military bill has 
 become a law ! . . . Shall we say : " Now, good Father State, 
 and good Ruling Parties, please, we should like to pay, besides ! " 
 . . . The military bill has passed. The only question remain- 
 ing [is] : " Shall we prevent the piling up of new burdens upon 
 the shoulders of the laboring class, or shall we not? "... 
 
 ra. TAX EESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GERMAN CONGRESS 
 
 OP 1913 
 
 The Congress demands, in accordance with Article X 
 of the Party Program : 
 
 Graduated income and property taxes to cover all 'public ex- 
 penditures, in so far as these can be covered by taxation. . . . 
 Inheritance taxes, graduated according to the size and value of 
 the estates and the degrees of relationship. The repeal of all 
 indirect taxes, tarififs, and other measures that sacrifice the 
 interests of the people at large to those of a small minority. 
 
 The Congress demands further : 
 
 The expenses of the states (Bundesstaaten) shall be covered 
 by additions to the direct national taxes. 
 
 To cover municipal expenditures we demand, in accordance 
 with the decision of our Congress of Bremen: State endowments 
 for public health, public education, public charity, and the build- 
 ing of roadways. 
 
 Additions to the state income, property, and inheritance taxes. 
 Wherever such state taxes do not exist, municipalities shall have 
 the right to levy special income, property, and inheritance taxes. 
 
 Taxation of the unearned increment of land. 
 
 The Congress further declares: 
 
 In voting on national, state, or municipal tax measures, not 
 only the character of the tax, but its purpose as well, shall deter- 
 mine the vote of the Socialist representatives. 
 
494 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 In accordance with the resolution of Niirnberg, 1908, our 
 representatives shall oppose all budgets presented by a capitalist 
 government, at its final reading, provided the opposition of our 
 comrades does not signify the adoption of a budget even more 
 dangerous to the interests of the working-class. In the same 
 manner, every direct tax, even if levied only on the surplus value, 
 shall be opposed, if its purpose is not in harmony with the 
 interests of the working-class, except in cases where this opposi- 
 tion of the direct taxes by our comrades would not hinder the 
 adoption of the law in question, and would mean, at the same 
 time, taxes even more unfavorable to the working-class. 
 
 In accordance with our program, our comrades in the legis- 
 lative bodies have always striven to repeal existing indirect 
 taxes, the burden of which is borne by the working-class, in 
 favor of direct taxes, without considering the purpose for which 
 these taxes have been levied. In the same way they must strive 
 to prevent the levying of new, indirect taxes upon the working- 
 class. If this can be done only by voting in favor of direct 
 taxes, they shall so proceed, because in that case the purpose of 
 the direct taxes will be to prevent adoption of indirect taxes. 
 
 The Congress supports the declaration of the parliamentary 
 group given in connection with the vote on the military appro- 
 priation bill, and expressly approves of the vote of the Socialist 
 representatives in favor of both property taxes. 
 
 ( See also ' ' The United States. " ) 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 
 
 That any genuinely international movement would be 
 .opposed to the restriction of immigration may be taken 
 for granted, especially if the restriction were along racial 
 lines. The decision of the International Congress at Stutt- 
 gart was, accordingly, unanimous, although it will be seen 
 that it was not satisfactory to all the American delegates. 
 
 But wherever a racial difference furnishes a good pre- 
 text, as in the United States and the British colonies, the 
 labor unions are overwhelmingly in favor of restricting 
 the competition of labor along racial lines by anti-immigra- 
 tion laws. As most Socialist parties follow the labor unions, 
 it cannot be a matter of surprise that the Australian Labor 
 Party has taken the same position and that the American 
 Socialist Party is much divided on the question. 
 
 Even when the alien race is already in the country, the 
 labor unions often continue to support the policy of dis- 
 crimination. This is seen especially in South Africa. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST CONGRESS OP 1907 
 
 After a long and animated debate, the Stuttgart Con- 
 gress adopted 'a resolution submitted to it by the commis- 
 sion on emigration and immigration. It declared that im- 
 migration and emigration were phenomena inseparable 
 from the substance of capitalism, and that the restriction 
 of freedom of migration and the exclusion of foreign na- 
 tions and races were fruitless methods of solving the 
 
 495 
 
496 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 problem. It recognized that it was the duty of organized 
 workingmen, however, to protect themselves against the 
 lowering of their standard of living which frequently re- 
 sulted from the mass importation of unorganized working- 
 men, and recommended the following measures: 
 
 I. — For the countries of immigration. 
 
 1. Prohibition of the export and import of such workingmen 
 as have entered into a contract which deprives them of the lib- 
 erty to dispose of their labor power and wages. 
 
 2. Legislation shortening the workday, fixing a minimum wage, 
 regulating the sweating system and house industry, and provid- 
 ing for strict supervision of sanitary and dwelling conditions. 
 
 3. Abolition of all restrictions which exclude definite nationali- 
 ties or races from the right of sojourn in the country and from 
 the political and economic rights of natives, or make the acquisi- 
 tion of these rights more difficult for them. It also demands 
 the greatest latitude in the laws of naturalization. 
 
 4. For the trade-unions of all countries the following princi- 
 ples shall have universal application in connection with it: 
 
 a. Unrestricted admission of immigrant workingmen to the 
 trade-unions of all countries. 
 
 h. Facilitating the admission of members by means of fixing 
 reasonable admission fees. 
 
 c. Free transfer from the organizations of one country to 
 those of the other upon discharge of the membership obligations 
 towards the former organization. 
 
 d. The making of international trade-union agreements for 
 the purpose of regulating these questions in a definite and proper 
 manner, and rendering possible the realization of these principles 
 on an international scope. 
 
 5. Support of the trade-unions of those countries from which 
 the immigration is chiefly recruited. 
 
 II. — For the countries of emigration. 
 
 1. Active propaganda for trade-unionism. 
 
 2. Enlightenment of the workingmen and the public at large 
 on the true conditions of labor in the countries of immigration. 
 
 3. Concerted action on the part of the trade-unions of all 
 countries in all matters of labor immigration and emigration. 
 
 In view of the fact that emigration of workingmen is often 
 
IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 497 
 
 artificially stimulated by railway and steamship companies, land 
 speculators, and other swindling concerns throngh false and lying 
 promises to workingmen, the Congress demands: 
 
 Control of the steamship agencies and emigration bureaus, and 
 legal and administrative measures against tt^em in order to pre- 
 vent the abuse of emigration in the interest of such capitalist 
 concerns. 
 
 III. — Regulation of the system of transportation, especially 
 on ships. Employment of inspectors with discretionary power 
 who would be selected by the organized workingmen of the 
 countries of emigration and immigration. Protection for the 
 newly arrived immigrants in order that they may not become 
 the victims of capitalist exploiters. ; 
 
 In view of the fact that the transport of emigrants can be 
 regulated only on an international basis, the Congress directs 
 the International Socialist Bureau to prepare suggestions for 
 the regulation of this question, which shall deal with the con- 
 ditions, arrangements, and supplies of the slips, the air space 
 to be allowed for each passenger as a minimum, and shall lay 
 special stress that the individual emigrants contract for their 
 passage directly with the transportation companies and without 
 intervention of middlemen. These suggestions shall be communi- 
 cated to the various Socialist parties for the purpose of legis- 
 lative application and adaptation, as well as for purposes of 
 propaganda. 
 
 II. THE AMERICAN CONGRESS OF 1910. ASIATIC 
 IMMIGRATION 
 
 No discussion of the Socialist position would be complete 
 without showing the attitude of the International and of 
 the American Socialist to that world-question which is the 
 only one which at present seems at all likely to bring 
 America into war. 
 
 The International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in 
 1907, which was the first to take this matter up, declared 
 in a most definite way against exclusion along racial lines, 
 as being in conflict with the principles of proletarian, 
 solidarity. 
 
498 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The American Party Congress at Chicago, held three 
 years later (1910), showed that this party was unwilling 
 to accept the Stuttgart resolution. The American Party 
 Congress of 1912 showed a similar situation. 
 
 In view of the somewhat strained relations existing 
 between the United States and Japan, which many think 
 may be the prelude to war, the timeliness and importance of 
 this discussion is self-evident. 
 
 The majority of the committee (of which Untermann was 
 chairman) appointed to report on this matter to the Amer- 
 ican Socialist Congress of 1910, argued as follows: 
 
 Sometimes the party, in acting for the immediate interests of 
 the working-class, must come into apparent conflict with its ulti- 
 mate ideals. This is unavoidable; we work toward our ultimate 
 ideals through and despite these immediate contradictions. The 
 Socialist Party, in its present activities, cannot outrun the gen- 
 eral development of the working-class, but must keep step with 
 it. . . . 
 
 We therefore indorse every demand made and position taken 
 by the International Congress on this question, except those pas- 
 sages which refer to specific restrictions or to the exclusion of 
 definite races or nations. We do not believe that such measures 
 are necessarily "fruitless and reactionary," as stated by the In- 
 ternational Congress, but on the contrary are convinced that any 
 measures which do not conform to the immediate interests of the 
 working-class of the United States are fruitless and reactionary. 
 
 We advocate the unconditional exclusion of Chinese, Japanese, 
 Coreans, and Hindoos, not as races per se, not as peoples with 
 definite physiological characteristics, — but for the evident reason 
 that these peoples occupy definite portions of the earth which 
 are so far behind the general modern development of industry, 
 psychologically as well as economically, that they constitute a 
 drawback, an obstacle and menace to the progress of the most 
 aggressive, jiilitant, and intelligent elements of our working- 
 class popuation. 
 
 We recognize, with Marx, that the progress of working-class 
 emancipation does not proceed uniformly and by identical meth- 
 ods in all countries, but that the working-class of each nation 
 
IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 499 
 
 ■will have first to settle with its own ruling class before absolute 
 international working-class solidarity can be realized. (Our 
 italics.) 
 
 Against this it was argued by the other side that as long 
 as the working-people are divided among hostile nations, 
 often engaged in making war against another, they will 
 never be able to accumulate the force needed to overthrow 
 the ruling class in any nation. 
 
 The committee report favoring exclusion was brought 
 before the Convention by Untermann. He 'said: 
 
 As far as Asia is concerned, Asia has immense opportunities 
 for developing an outlet. They need not come over here. Japan 
 has Manchuria and Korea. China has vast districts which it 
 can conquer. Let the Chinese capitalists develop Chinese so- 
 ciety, just as the American capitalists have developed American 
 society. Let them find room for their unemployed over there 
 and employ them there and develop their own society. Let the 
 Socialists of those countries organize their co-operative com- 
 monwealth themselves first, and then, when they have that organ- 
 ization, when they have their strong Socialist and labor organiza- 
 tions, then let them talk to ms about international solidarity. 
 (Our italics.) 
 
 Untermann declared that the backward environment in 
 China has developed in the Chinaman certain qualities that 
 make him less easily assimilable than even the lowest 
 European immigrant. 
 
 Victor Berger, also a member of the committee, dwelt 
 upon the fundamental differences between the whites and 
 the other races. He said: 
 
 We are all of the same type; of the same sort of thinking; 
 we may fight occasionally, but after all our mode of thinking is 
 very much the same. But, comrades, it is entirely different with 
 these other races. They have their own history of about fifty 
 thousand years. That cannot be undone in a generation or in 
 two generations, or in three generations. 
 
 The committee's resolution was defeated and a substitute 
 
500 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 proposed by Morris Hillquit was adopted. At the Indian- 
 apolis Convention (1912) the committee on immigration 
 again reported and was again continued until the next 
 convention. 
 
 m. THE AMERICAN CONGRESS OF 1912 
 
 The majority of the committee at Indianapolis (Unter- 
 mann, Stitt, Wilson, Hunter, and Wanhope) reiterated 
 their former position. The majority report was, in part, 
 as follows : 
 
 In the course of the discussion [in 1910] Morris Hillquit intro- 
 duced a substitute for both reports. This substitute evaded the 
 question for or against the existing exclusion laws, merely de- 
 manding that the mass importation of contract laborers from all 
 countries should be combated by the Socialist Party. 
 
 After a debate lasting nearly two days, the Congress adopted 
 HUlquit's substitute by a vote of 55 against 50. 
 
 This close vote induced the Congress to recommit the question 
 for further study to a new committee on immigration, with 
 instructions to report to the National Convention of 1912. 
 
 In this new committee the same alignment immediately took 
 place. After a fruitless effort of the chairman to get unanimous 
 action, the majority decided to act by itself and let the minority 
 do the same. . . . 
 
 Race feeling is not so much a result of social as of biological 
 evolution. It does not change essentially with changes of eco- 
 nomic systems. It is deeper than any class feeling and will 
 outlast the capitalist system. It persists even after race preju- 
 dice has been outgrown. It exists, not because the capitalists 
 nurse it for economic reasons, but the capitalists rather have an 
 opportunity to nurse it for economic reasons because it exists 
 as a product of biology. It is bound to play a role ia the 
 economics of the future society. If it should not assert itself in 
 open warfare under a Socialist form of society, it will neverthe- 
 less lead to a rivalry of races for expansion over the globe as 
 a result of the play of natural and sexual selection. We must 
 temper this race feeling by education, but we can never hope 
 to extinguish it altogether. Class-consciousness must be learned, 
 
IMMIGRATION AND THE EACE QUESTION 501 
 
 hut race-consciousness is inborn and cannot be wholly unlearned. 
 A few individuals may indulge in the luxury of ignoring race 
 and posing as utterly raceless humanitarians, but whole races 
 never. 
 
 Continued study and the developments on the Pacific coast 
 during the last two years convinced the majority of this com- 
 mittee more than ever that the existing exclusion laws against 
 Asiatic laborers should be enforced, and be amended in such way 
 that they can be more effectively enforced. The details of the 
 necessary amendments should be worked out by our representa- 
 tives, or by our future representatives in Congress, and submitted 
 for ratification to the committee on immigration, which should 
 be made permanent for this purpose. 
 
 It does not matter whether Asiatic immigration is voluntary 
 or stimulated by capitalists. There is no room for doubt that 
 the capitalists welcome this immigration, and that its effect upon 
 the economic and political class organizations of the American 
 workers is destructive. 
 
 Where races struggle for the means of life, racial animosities 
 cannot be avoided. Where working-people struggle for jobs, self- 
 preservation enforces its decrees. Economic and political con- 
 siderations lead to racial fights and to legislation restricting the 
 invasion of the white man's domain by other races. 
 
 The Socialist Party cannot avoid this issue. The exclusion 
 of definite races, not on account of race, but for economic and 
 political reasons, has been forced upon the old party statesmen 
 in spite of the bitter opposition of the great capitalists. 
 
 Every addition of incompatible race elements to the present 
 societies of nations or races strengthens the hands of the great 
 capitalists against the rising host of class-conscious workers. But 
 the race feeling is so strong that even the majority of old party 
 statesmen have not dared to ignore it. 
 
 From the point of view of the class-conscious workers it is 
 irrational in the extreme to permit the capitalists to protect their 
 profits by high tariffs, against the competition of foreign capital, 
 and at the same time connive at their attempts to extend free 
 trade in the one commodity which the laborer should protect 
 more than any other, his labor power. 
 
 It is still more irrational to excuse this self-destructive policy 
 by the slogan of international working-class solidarity, for this 
 
502 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 sentimental solidarity works wholly iato the hands of the cap- 
 italist class and injures the revolutionary movement of the most 
 advanced workers of this nation, out of ill-considered worship 
 of an Asiatic working-class which is as yet steeped in the ideas 
 of a primitive state of undeveloped capitalism. . . . 
 
 The international solidarity of the working-class can be most 
 effectively demonstrated, not by mass immigration into each 
 others' countries, but by the international co-operation of strong 
 labor unions and of the national sections of the International 
 Socialist Party. . . . 
 
 The common sense Socialist policy under these circumstances 
 is to build up strong national labor unions and strong national 
 Socialist parties in the different countries and work toward more 
 perfect solidarity by an international co-operation of these labor 
 unions and parties. To this end the Socialist Party of America 
 should consider, above all, the interests of those native and foreign 
 working-class citizens whose economic and political class organ- 
 izations are destined to be the dominant elements in the social 
 revolution of this country. 
 
 In the United States this means necessarily the enforcement 
 of the existing exclusion laws against Asiatic laborers, and the 
 amendment of these laws in such a way that the working-class of 
 America shall fortify its strategic position in the struggle against 
 the capitalist class. 
 
 International solidarity between the working-people of Asia, 
 Europe, and America will be the outcome of international evolu- 
 tion, not of sentimental formulas. So long as the minds of the 
 workers of nations and races are separated by long distances of 
 industrial evolution, the desired solidarity cannot be completely 
 realized, and while it is in process of realization, the demands 
 of immediate self-preservation are more imperative than dreams 
 of ideal solidarity. (Our italics.) 
 
 The minority of the committee, Laukki, Spargo, and 
 Meyer London, proposed the reaffirmation of the Interna- 
 tional resolution of the Stuttgart Congress of 1907. By 
 continuing the committee the Congress showed it was satis- 
 fied with the committee's personnel, four being for racial 
 exclusion and three against it. Leo Laukki, of the Finnish 
 
IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 503 
 
 Socialist Federation, a minority member of the committee, 
 reported as follows : 
 
 Our party must remember, before the policy presented by the 
 majority report can be warranted, that both it and the unions 
 have done practically nothing in regard to the Asiatic laborers 
 in the other way. They have not even tried to organize the 
 Asiatic laborers, any more than they have tried to organize the 
 other foreign workers of the United States, and still they have 
 courage to claim that the Asiatics cannot be organized. At least 
 before our party in this question can refute its basic principles 
 and declare itself in favor of a policy which is mainly sought 
 for only by the blind clamors of disappearing craft workers 
 and small traders of the Pacific coast, it must try the other 
 way; it must try to reach the Asiatics as well as all other na- 
 tionalities in the United States by its ideas and organization. 
 
 Therefore the only recommendation that can be made to this 
 Convention in regard to the Asiatic laborer is : 
 
 That the Socialist Party place an organizer among these Asi- 
 atic workers who can speak their languages and in every other 
 way try to help the Asiatics to become acquainted with the 
 Socialist ideas and movement and to form a national Asiatic 
 Socialist organization along the same lines that the other nation- 
 alities are organized. 
 
 That the Socialist Party declare itself in opposition to the 
 discrimination against Asiatic workers, politically or otherwise, 
 and demand for them the same civil and political rights which 
 it demands for other races and nationalities in the United 
 States. 
 
 "What becomes of the fact that Asiatics as well as other foreign 
 and native workers, especially women and children, are exploited 
 by the American capitalists as so-called cheap labor, to replace 
 the higher paid craft-workers and so throwing them out into 
 the ranks of the industrial proletariat? It cannot be hindered 
 in the least by any reactionary policy of the dying semi- 
 bourgeoisie and craftsmen. But this cheap-paid industrial pro- 
 letariat can be hindered from selling its labor-power too cheap; 
 it can and it will be induced to raise its standard of wages, to 
 better its working and living conditions by the general policy 
 
504 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 of our party, of which the most effective in this regard will be 
 the demand: 
 
 Tor a general eight-hour working day. 
 
 For a minimum wage-scale. 
 
 It will be self-evident that when the length of the day and 
 the compensation for the work are stipulated by general laws, 
 backed and enforced by the workers themselves, there will be 
 no possibility nor reason for any capitalist to employ cheap 
 labor. The effects of the cheap labor will disappear only in this 
 way. 
 
 rV. THE AMERICAN PARTY AND THE NEGRO RESOLUTIONS OP 
 
 1901 
 
 (i"'rom Tlie American Socialist) 
 
 In answer to numerous inquiries, The American So- 
 cialist republished the resolutions adopted by the Unity 
 Convention, 1901, on the negro question. The party since 
 that Convention has taken no position on this question. 
 The resolutions follow: 
 
 "Whereas, the negroes of the United States, because of their 
 long training in slavery and but recent emancipation therefrom, 
 occupy a peculiar position in the working-class and in society at 
 large ; 
 
 " Whereas, the capitalist class seeks to preserve this peculiar 
 condition and to foster and increase color prejudice and race 
 hatred between the white worker and the black, so as to make 
 their social and economic interests to appear to be separate and 
 antagonistic, in order that the workers of both races may thereby 
 be more easily and completely exploited ; 
 
 " Resolved, that we declare to the negro worker the identity of 
 his interests and struggles with the interests and struggles of the 
 workers of all lands without regard to race or color or sectional 
 lines; that the causes that have made him the victim of social 
 and political inequality are the effects of the long exploitation 
 of his labor power; that all social and race prejudices spring 
 from the ancient economic causes which still endure, to the 
 misery of the whole human family; that the only line of division 
 
IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 505 
 
 which exists in fact is that between the producers and the owners 
 of the world — between capitalism and labor. And be it further 
 
 "Resolved, that we, the American Socialist Party, invite the 
 negro to membership and fellowship with us in the world move- 
 ment for economic emancipation by which equal liberty and op- 
 portunity shall be secured to every man and fraternity become 
 the order of the world. 
 
 Several of the state organizations of the Socialist Party 
 in the south have taken a determined position on the negro 
 question. The Oklahoma organization, for instance, has 
 always fought for the full enfranchisement of the negro 
 as well as the white race. Other state organizations have 
 taken no steps of this character. 
 
 V. THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY AND THE RACE QUESTION 
 CAMPAIGN OP 1914 
 
 (From The Brisbane Worker) 
 
 A White Australia 
 
 "The Australian Labor Party, when they held the balance 
 of power, demanded, as the price of their support, a White 
 Australia. A "White Australia is now the law of the land. 
 (See Immigration Restriction Act, 1901.) 
 
 Abolition of Black Slavery 
 
 J "The Australian Labor Party, when they held the bal- 
 ance of power, demanded that the system of black slavery 
 then existing in Queensland should be abolished and the 
 Kanakas sent back to their islands in the Pacific. The 
 Kanakas were sent back. (See Pacific Island Laborers Act 
 of 1901-6.) 
 
 White Grown Sugar 
 
 "The Australian Labor Party insisted that sugar cane 
 could be grown and sugar produced in Australia by white 
 
506 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 labor — that the question was one of wages and not of cli- 
 mate. Time has proved this to be positively true. In the 
 sugar season of 1902-3, 67,107 tons of cane sugar were pro- 
 duced by colored labor and 31,688 tons by white labor. In 
 1912-13, 6,693 tons were produced by colored labor and 
 122,571 tons by white labor — the proportion of sugar pro- 
 duced by colored labor declining from 68 per cent of the 
 total for 1902-3 to 5 per cent of the total for 1912-13. 
 (See Commonwealth Year Booh, 1913, page 340.) " 
 
 VI. THE AUSTRALIAN WORKERS UNION 
 (From article by " Jarrah " in The New Beview) 
 
 [The recent formation of this union marks the appear- 
 ance of a new economic force, frequently at variance with 
 the older unions and their political representatives.] 
 
 "The A. W. U. seems to see the necessity of one big 
 union. Throughout Australia the farm workers were paid 
 very poor wages, in some instances only $3.60 per week, 
 with keep. Very often the places the men slept in were 
 worse than unhealthy. They slept in the end of the stable, 
 among the wagons, sometimes in a stripper, or in an un- 
 sanitary hut without a floor. On the average, their condi- 
 tion was pitiable. . . . About four years ago they formed 
 the Rural "Workers' Union, which accomplished very little. 
 Then about eighteen months ago the powerful A. W. U. 
 came along and persuaded the Rural "Workers to amalga- 
 mate. . . . Then the scale of wages for rural workers was 
 drawn up and published. It practically doubled the old 
 rates. Bank managers, auctioneers, machinery agents, and 
 others who exploit the farmers urged them not to pay the 
 new scale. But the A. "W. U. formed camps for the men, 
 where finally most of the farmers had to go if they wished 
 to engage harvest hands. It is confidently asserted that 
 
IMMIGEATION AND THE RACE QUESTION 507 
 
 the Waterside Workers will join forces with the A. W. U., 
 and if so the United Laborers' Union will not be long in 
 following it. 
 
 "It will thus be seen that the A. W. U. has solved the 
 problem of 'the organization of the unskilled.' In Aus- 
 tralia any manual worker can join the A. W. U. Carters, 
 laborers, carriers, sheep- drovers, wharfmen, sailors, and 
 in fact anyone can be a member. Very often men 
 join it in preference to joining the union for their own 
 calling. ' ' 
 
 This organization does not admit all unskilled workers, 
 however. Its constitution provides that "no Chinese, 
 Japanese, Kanakas, or Afghans, or colored aliens other 
 than Maories, American negroes, and issue of mixed par- 
 entage born in Australia shall be admitted to member- 
 ship." 
 
 Vn. THE LABOR PARTY IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1913 
 
 From a statement signed by the leaders of the South 
 African Labor Party and trade-unions and published all 
 over the world in the News Letter of the International 
 Trade-Union Federation : 
 
 Some years ago the natives and other colored inhabitants sent 
 a deputation to London requesting, among other things, that the 
 colored workers be granted the same franchise rights as the 
 white workers; the South African Labor Party, however, advised 
 its English colleagues to oppose the granting of the franchise to 
 the colored workers. 
 
 The trade-unions are also opposing, tooth and nail, the en- 
 croachment of the colored workers upon skilled trades. Most 
 unions stipulate that only white men may become members, and 
 demand that all skilled trades be closed to colored labor, at the 
 same time boycotting those firms employing colored men as 
 skilled workers, even though they be paid the same wage as the 
 white artisans. 
 
508 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 In spite of this, however, it seems that the colored work- 
 ers have in recent years forced their way more and more 
 into all trades and have begun to strive for the same wages 
 and conditions as the white men. They possess a political 
 party and certain journals, which are doing their utmost 
 to place them on a level with the white men, in education 
 as in every other direction. 
 
 This happy development is less attributable to any efforts on 
 the part of the white men than to the ruthlessness of the em- 
 ployers and the authorities. In certain industries, force of 
 circumstances have brought the workers of the various races 
 closer together, especially in Cape Colony, while in the north, 
 where the competition is more perceptible, the antipathy of the 
 white man to the colored man is still insuperable. 
 
 Up to the time of the fourth annual conference of the Labor 
 Party, held recently, the propaganda on behalf of the Labor 
 Party was conducted among the white men only, but the delegates 
 from Cape Colony, where the colored men have also the vote, 
 demanded that the latter be admitted to the party, since their 
 support could be depended upon in the case of elections. . . . 
 
 It should here be remarked that all progeny arising out of 
 intercourse between the white men and the colored inhabitants 
 are regarded as " colored." . . . The Kaffir question is in itself 
 a great question ; there are hundreds . of thousands of Kaffirs 
 in South Africa working under the most atrocious conditions, 
 who are treated as neither colored nor white men, but as a race 
 apart from all others. 
 
 What is to be done about the Kaffir question, aside from 
 keeping them down and preventing them from becoming 
 skilled workers, the statement does not say. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 MILITARISM 
 
 The Socialists' opposition to war and the chief causes 
 of war, such as militarism and imperialism, has been treated 
 in a companion volume, written at the suggestion of the 
 Intercollegiate Socialist Society {The Socialists and the 
 War). However, militarism is not only an interna- 
 tional but also a domestic problem ; it absorbs a large part 
 of governmental expenditures and it introduces anti-demo- 
 cratic features in government. We accordingly illustrate 
 the Socialist attitude to the domestic aspect of militarism in 
 the following chapter. 
 
 All the countries of Europe have given a large part of 
 their attention to agitation against militarism, Germany 
 as much, if not more, than any other. But in Germany, 
 Austria, and Russia the party has been unable to adopt 
 any definite program of domestic agitation or to enter 
 into free discussion because of the restriction of liberty 
 of speech of this subject. The German Party press, for 
 example, has contained as much criticism of militarism 
 as the party papers of other countries, but the German 
 Party has not been able to adopt a program of radical 
 resistance. Besides the press agitation, the chief Socialist 
 action in that country has been the attack on the govern- 
 mental military measures which takes place in every ses- 
 sion of the Reichstag. (See The Socialists and the War.) 
 
 The French Socialists were able to go further; they 
 openly advocated an international strike and insurrection, 
 
 509 
 
510 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 as the resolution of the Congress of 1912 shows. "We there- 
 fore reproduce documents showing their position. 
 
 I. THE FRENCH SOCIALISTS 
 
 1. RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE CONGRESS OF 1912, AT THE TIME 
 or THE MOROCCO WAR SCARE 
 
 The National Congress of the Socialist Party notes with pleas- 
 ure the demonstrations the French proletariat, in response to 
 the appeal of the International against the war. 
 
 It sees in these demonstrations the prelude to an effort at 
 organization which alone will enable the labor class of our country 
 to fulfill its entire duty. 
 
 Never has the need to combat all the menaces of conflict been 
 more imperative. Never will a more monstrous, a more anti- 
 national, and a more anti-human war break over Europe. 
 
 Should the great European nations he drawn into it, it would 
 not be because of anxiety for their independence, nor for 
 vital reasons, but because of the most foolish aberration and 
 most artificial combinations. 
 
 Neither the workers nor the Democrats of France will permit 
 our country to be thrown into the most horrible conflict because 
 of secret treaties of which the democracy knows not a single 
 clause. 
 
 To save civilization from the most cruel disaster, the human 
 race from the most terrible affliction, reason from the most dire 
 humiliation, the French proletariat will fight to the end against 
 any attempt at war. 
 
 To prevent it they will use all legal means. In Parliament 
 they will call for the secret treaties, they will insist on unlimited 
 arbitration; they will denounce the exclusive and narrow views 
 of diplomacy. In the country they will increase their meetings, 
 their mass demonstrations, in order to awaken citizens from their 
 torpor and to protect them from lies. 
 
 And if, in spite of their efforts, impudent minorities let the 
 conflict loose, if France is dragged into war by combinations 
 of secret diplomacy, the workers and the Socialists of France 
 will have the right to discuss quite openly, fully conscious of 
 their responsibility, a recourse to revolutionary measures, the 
 
MILITAKISM 511 
 
 general strike and insurrection, so as to prevent or hinder the 
 conflict and wrest the power from the ruling classes who will 
 have unchained the war. 
 
 The Congress is convinced that the best guarantee for peace 
 is that all rulers should know that they cannot without peril 
 for themselves provoke the disasters of a general conflict. 
 
 It hopes that a common effort of propaganda and action on 
 the part of the proletariat of every country may prevent the 
 bursting out of the general war by which the world is threatened 
 periodically. 
 
 It requests the delegates at the Congress of Basle to work in 
 accord with the International,' and by unanimous resolution to 
 intensify everywhere the propaganda and action against war. 
 
 II. JAUK^S ON MILITARISM IN THE CHAMBER OP DEPUTIES, 
 
 1913 
 
 [Jaures spoke on the Socialist motion to adjourn the 
 discussion of the loan (November 27, 1913).] 
 
 Jaures opened by saying that the proposed military loan 
 would have varying results according as it was being used 
 merely to liquidate a ruinous past or to permit the con- 
 tinuance of the aggravation of mistakes which had placed 
 France in the most serious financial position since 1871. 
 He continued : 
 
 This j)osition is due, above all, to the three-years' law [the 
 statute of 1913 raising the term of service from two to three 
 years], and the financial burden which it imposes is aggravated 
 by a terrible economic burden. The lessening of the use of the 
 product of our national labor and an increasing importation of 
 the product of foreign [labor] is the direct consequence of this 
 economic burden. 
 
 The three-years' law would also have the effect of impoverish- 
 ing the crops of industrial workers by diminishing the number 
 of pupils in the higher schools and fostering foreign competition 
 against us. 
 
 Jaures then came to the loan itself: 
 
512 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 And now what are the fiscal burdens which the proposed 
 scheme adds to the economic burden of the law? They are of 
 two kinds : first, the burden of a loan. I estimate this only at 
 900 millions, because in the plan of the minister of finance there 
 are only 900 millions intended to meet extraordinary expenses; 
 the rest is intended to hide for the time a part of the deficit. 
 
 To the burden of this loan there is to be added the regular 
 annual burden of a deficit amounting to at least 800 millions. 
 
 New expenditures must be expected for public works, for the 
 public schools which can only be protected by being improved, 
 and for increase in the pay of the officers. The deficit is there- 
 fore in reality more than a billion. 
 
 Without doubt France has superb resources, but the question is 
 whether its growth is more rapid or slower than that of other 
 countries. It is certain that it is slower. The three-years' law 
 is going to arrest this development still further. Up to the 
 present it has been a great misfortune to have postponed the 
 long-promised fiscal reform ; to-day, whether you exact this billion 
 from the impoverished masses or whether you are going to ask 
 for it in fiscal reform, either way the Government is going to 
 make a mess of it. 
 
 It is true we pledged ourselves to a progressive tax on income 
 and capital, taxes which would demand sacrifices from the rich. 
 But why did we make this pledge? To relieve the burdens on 
 the poor, to lower licenses, to lighten the land tax which crushes 
 the small farmer, to reduce the tax on food which oppresses the 
 daily life of the people, to endow more generously the great 
 avenues of justice and of social solidarity, to establish insur- 
 ance against all the workers' risks, to build sanitary hpmes in 
 place of the wretched lodgings to which the workers are con- 
 demned. 
 
 That is why we demanded these heavy taxes on wealth and 
 capital, and to-morrow, when you vote this new tax, if you do 
 not find a means of keeping down illegitimate expenditures, they 
 will still further increase the burden which already weighs down 
 the working-class. 
 
 This crisis is so grave that the Government is trying to hide it 
 from itself. There lies the reason why M. Barthou said a few 
 daj's I ago : " Who then would dare take the responsibility of 
 proposing to this country 800 millions of new taxes f" . . . 
 
 M. de Mun and his friends say that if the budget shows a 
 
MILITARISM 513 
 
 deficit, the cause should not be sought in our national expendi- 
 tures, but in our foolish demagogic prodigality. 
 
 What are the figures of the social expenditures? . . . The cost 
 of the application of all the laws of pensions or relief does not 
 exceed 200 millions in a budget of 5 billions. Including imme- 
 diate expenditures, it can be said that the military expenditures 
 reach 2 billion 300 million, an increase of more than a billion 
 since 1909. . . . 
 
 The present time is favorable to opening the paths of the 
 future and to making way for the reduction of armaments by 
 international arbitration. The Balkan crisis has left everywhere 
 only reaction and disillusionment. The fatigue created by the 
 flood of war and militarism is general. . . . 
 
 All nations have in their mouths the bitter taste of their recent 
 experiences. Not a single government but has come out of it 
 weakened, and even the Balkan people have not been able to 
 carry to a finish their war of independence; from a war of 
 conquest it became a war of extermination. 
 
 We have seen new antagonisms springing up in the Mediter- 
 ranean. It seems that Bulgaria is escaping to Russia. Ger- 
 many, reconstructing her military mission at Constantinople, has 
 heaved upon her eastern frontier the rumbling of the Slavic 
 world. Austria has separated Servia from the Adriatic but has 
 drawn upon herself the resentment of a part of the Balkan 
 people. Italy is in the shoals of Tripoli, which is of no use to 
 her except as a vantage-point from which to attack others, and, 
 meanwhile, her politics oblige her to save her royal government 
 by the secret help of the votes of the Vatican. 
 
 England, sulking against the Young Turks, at first abandoned 
 them, but she felt arising the anger of millions of Musselmen 
 in Egypt and India. When the governments question them- 
 selves, when they ask what have been the happy consequences 
 of all these intrigues, of all these vanities so dazzling and so 
 soon extinguished, they will see that will all emerge from these 
 events weakened. One thing alone has been strengthened: the 
 war budget and the general misery from this universal deception. 
 (Applause extreme left.) 
 
 Yes, the hour has come. The great and profound forces of 
 peace have been working under this disorder; the nations had 
 a desire for peace so strong that it has served as ballast to the 
 disabled governments. It remains for a government rising in 
 
514 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the name of the traditito of the Trench revolution to make of 
 this desire one of the forces in the history of to-day, in the history 
 of to-morrow, 
 
 Jaures went on to say that in the sustained effort to keep 
 peace during the crisis, three races had been in agreement : 
 Germany, England, France, and he recalled the saying of 
 Mirabeau: "The day when Prussia, England, and France 
 agree to live in peace, on that day will he consummated the 
 most ieneficient revolution that mankind has accom- 
 plished." He continued: 
 
 This phrase was °sa°id" on the eve of a vast social upheaval : 
 take warning; the masses are suffering and are becoming exas- 
 perated under the overwhelming burden which is crushing them; 
 the English proletarians are on the eve of general strikes so 
 vast that they will result in profound disorder; in France the 
 world of the workers is a prey to a secret strain; everywhere 
 the workers weighed down by the tithe of capital, by the tithe 
 of a monstrous militarism, are stirring; if you do not take the 
 road pointed out by our motion, beware lest you see sinister 
 disorders arise. 
 
 m. THE ITALIAN CONGRESS OP APRIL, 1914 
 
 The following resolution on armaments was passed by 
 the Italian Congress of 1914: 
 
 The Congress affirms that the antagonism between Socialism 
 and militarism is a corollary to the antagonism that exists 
 between the proletariat and capitalistic bourgeoisie ; 
 
 That militarism, apart from being a system of coercion of the 
 proletariat and of defense of the capitalistic regime, answers 
 the views of capitalism, which in this period of social evolution 
 either seeks new colonies to exploit, or seeks to invest in easy 
 and lucrative loans to the state, according to the well-known 
 paralelHsm between the increase in military expenses and the 
 increase of public debts; 
 
 That the proletariat, especially in the countries that have least 
 capital, like Italy, has a vital interest in opposing militarism. 
 
MILITARISM 515 
 
 both for itself and for the capitalistic expenditures that it 
 causes, whether they find expression in the form of taxes that 
 increase the cost of living, or whether they are expressed in the 
 form of diminishing the capital applied to productive invest- 
 ments, industry, and commerce, and so cause economic crises, 
 lack of employment for laborers, and emigration; and 
 
 While it proposes in domestic affairs to intensify the propa- 
 ganda and the education of the masses, and especially of the 
 young, in respect to the foregoing principles, steadfastly oppos- 
 ing the common interests of the internationalism of labor to the 
 system of national provocation of the patriotic bourgeoisie; 
 
 And wh'le it again commits to the parliamentary Socialist 
 group the duty of continuing the most strenuous opposition to 
 military credits, and endeavors to aid them by the active and 
 direct action of the organized proletariat; 
 
 Decides to submit to the International Congress at Vienna 
 a special request for the reorganization of the International 
 Socialist Bureau for the purpose of giving that bureau the 
 specific functions of: 
 
 a. Undertaking a special propaganda among the great inter- 
 national labor-union federations to win them all to the inter- 
 national idea, — peace and anti-militarism, — and to drill them 
 for all practical measures that may render wars impossible; and 
 
 b. Giving effect to a speedy system of mutual information 
 through the international press, whether bourgeois or Socialist, 
 for the sake of setting forth clearly the simultaneous and con- 
 temporaneous character of the international proletarian, anti- 
 militarist movement in the various countries, in order to elim- 
 inate every apprehension lest the movement should weaken any 
 one state in favor of any other, and to give the world a vivid 
 idea of the active, imposing, decisive union of the organized 
 proletariat against war and against militarism. 
 
 IV. THE AMERICAN PAETT CONGKESS OP 1912. MILITARY 
 EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 
 
 We reproduce below, as indications of the American So- 
 cialist attitude, the party resolutions against military edu- 
 cation of children. 
 
516 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Whereas, The capitalist class is making determined and per- 
 sistent efforts to use the public schools for the military training 
 of children and for the inculcation of the military spirit; there- 
 fore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That we are opposed to all efforts to introduce mili- 
 tary training into the public schools, and that we recommend 
 the introduction into our public school system of a thorough 
 and progressive course in physical culture, and 
 
 Resolved, That we request the national executive committee 
 to suggest plans and programs along this line and furnish these 
 to the party membership, together with such advice in the matter 
 as may be helpful to the party membership in introducing such 
 a system into our public schools. 
 
 On motion the resolution was adopted as read. 
 
 V. CONSCRIPTION AND THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY 
 
 1. FROM ARTICLE BY J. W. BARRY IN " THE DAILY CITIZEN " 
 (LONDON), JANUARY 27, 1914 
 
 "All other important measures have been submitted to 
 a referendum, but by the consent of both political parties, 
 the Defense Act was passed into law without consulting 
 the people. . . . 
 
 "When compulsory training was first established very 
 little protest in an organized form was offered. Hardly a 
 member of Parliament criticised it, and practically all the 
 opposition came from Quakers and the Socialists. 
 
 " What is the position to-day? Eighteen months ago 
 three Adelaide men formed the Freedom League. To-day 
 it has a membership of 45,000 ! At almost every sitting of 
 the House the act and its administration are criticised. 
 
 "Take the prosecutions as the final test of popularity. 
 In less than two years over 18,000 lads have been prose- 
 cuted and over 1,000 have been imprisoned in jails and 
 barracks rather than submit to military tyranny. 
 
 "Labor now knows that in the Defense Act there is a 
 
MILITARISM 517 
 
 clause which gives the power to the authorities to call out 
 the citizen forces to shoot down strikers, and practically 
 every union in the country is up in arms against it. 
 
 "Above all, labor is realizing that this act is not a Citizen 
 Army Act at all. In fact, labor men are coming to see that 
 militarism and citizenship are incompatible, and that as 
 soon as a citizen becomes a soldier under this conscript 
 system he loses his civil rights when they clash with mili- 
 tarism. At the 1908 Labor Conference the delegates de- 
 cided in favor of a Citizen Defense Force freed from mili- 
 tarism and conscription. What many in the labor move- 
 ment see to-day is that they have not got what they de- 
 manded, and instead they have been used as the tools of 
 the National Service League in its propaganda of an Em- 
 pire conscription." 
 
 2. FROM ARTICLE BY WILLIAM E. BOHN, IN "THE INTERNATIONAL 
 SOCIALIST REVIEW," 1913 
 
 "The famous 'Defense Act' was first devised by the Lib- 
 erals, then amended and passed by the Laborites. Its 
 administration has been entirely in the hands of the labor 
 ministers, so the Labor Party has a right to whatever glory 
 there may be found in it. All boys between the ages of 
 14 and 21 are required to report for military training. 
 During part of their time of service they are gathered into 
 camps for regular drill; during the remainder they are 
 expected to give to the noble art of war the time which 
 would normally be devoted to recreation. In order to 
 make this system possible, the government of the Common- 
 wealth voted $60,000,000 to be expended within three years. 
 Of course an elaborate staff of officers is necessary, and 
 drill halls, barracks, camp-grounds, etc., must be main- 
 tained throughout the Commonwealth. 
 
518 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 "The leaders of the Labor Party point to this system 
 as the ideal sort to be maintained by a nation under the 
 control of the working-class. English and French Social- 
 ists are constantly advocating a proletarian army for de- 
 fense against attack by a foreign power. Such an army 
 the Australian Government leaders claim to have estab- 
 lished. Mr. Fisher, head of the Labor Government, re- 
 ferred to it recently as a 'wonderful system for the de- 
 fense of this country. ' 
 
 "And yet workingmen and women of Australia do not 
 seem to take kindly to this 'wonderful system' inaugurated 
 by their own government. Immediately after the 'Defense 
 Act' went into effect the papers were filled with tales of 
 boys who refused to report for service and of parents who 
 refused to allow their sons to do so. Groups of mothers 
 went to the magistrates and made public protests. Labor 
 unions and Socialist locals passed resolutions calling upon 
 members of the working-class to refuse to submit. And, 
 most powerful appeal of all, the boys themselves sent out 
 addresses calling upon others of their own age not to sub- 
 mit. Some of these were evidently inspired by Socialist 
 parents, but there were others which represented the 
 spontaneous rebellion of boyhood against the slavery of 
 military service. 
 
 "Any military organization which asks the support of 
 the workers must be democratically organized and abso- 
 lutely committed to the policy of fighting only against a 
 foreign aggressor. Under no circumstances must its use 
 be permitted in case of internal difSculties. Such use would 
 make it immediately the agent of a class. 
 
 "It is true that the Labor Party majority amended the 
 original act to provide for the mobilization of the army 
 
MILITARISM 519 
 
 only for defense ; it is also true that the Labor Government 
 recently refused to send troops to aid in putting down 
 the tramway strikers at Brisbane. But the parliamentary 
 discussion which followed this latter incident makes it 
 clear that much is to be feared for the future. The whole 
 matter is clearly set forth editorially in The International 
 Socialist. 
 
 "Mr. Deakin, leader of the Liberal opposition, declared 
 that troops should be used to suppress insurrection, 'and 
 if ever there was insurrection in Australia, it was in Bris- 
 bane.' As the editorial writer takes occasion to remark, 
 this declaration shows clearly that whenever the Liberals 
 come into power, which they surely will do sooner or later, 
 the 'wonderful' proletarian army will be turned against 
 proletarian strikers. 
 
 "And Mr. Fisher's reply was even more alarming. He 
 said: 'I go so far as to say that a conflict between the 
 troops and the people of Australia at the present time 
 would mean the end of our first-class defense system. It 
 would absolutely defeat and destroy the wonderful system 
 for the defense of this country which is being successfully 
 inaugurated at this time. I am not saying that circum- 
 stances could not arise when it would be necessary to send 
 troops to the assistance of a state government, but I men- • 
 tion what, in my opinion, would have been the effect if 
 we had acceded to the request of the Queensland Govern- 
 ment.' There you have it. The reason troops were not 
 sent was that sending them at this particular time would 
 open the eyes of the people as to the nature of the 'won- 
 derful system,' and it is quite possible that circumstances 
 may arise under which 'it would be necessary to send 
 troops' against Australians on strike. So the proletarian 
 army is not exclusively for purposes of defense against a 
 foreign aggressor. 
 
520 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 "No wonder Australians object to being made soldiers 
 of, even by a Labor Government." 
 
 3. FROM ARTICLE BT M. H., IN '' THE NEW STATESMAN" 
 (LONDON), DECEMBER 13, 1913 
 
 "How far does the British public realize the true posi- 
 tion of the great experiment in modified conscription 
 which this still young democracy on the fringe of the 
 Empire is now making? The experiment is now nearly 
 four years old, and its real character is only just beginning 
 to be understood by the hundreds of thousands of families 
 whose lives it touches in a most intimate fashion. Only 
 this year has the at first small but now growing opposition 
 to the system of compulsory training obtained much public 
 recognition. Only this year, too, on the other hand, has 
 the magnitude of the beneficent change in the manners and 
 physique of adolescent young Australia in the cities, as the 
 outcome of a compulsory senior cadets system, been realized 
 and seriously estimated by careful observers in many walks 
 of life. Only this year, again, have certain leading min- 
 isters definitely ranged themselves alongside the Australian 
 Freedom League, which has been busy placarding this city 
 with protests against existing Defense Acts. ... 
 
 "At the outset one thing must be made very clear. Aus- 
 tralia is not going back, in any circumstances, to a system 
 of voluntary service plus a small paid army and a large 
 paid navy. The choice made in 1909, when the Cook De- 
 fense Act was passed, initiating the compulsory training 
 in the use of arms of all lads between 14 and 18 and their 
 subsequent drafting into a National Militia for a term of 
 years, was a final choice. There will be modifications and 
 adjustments in directions to be indicated, but no aban- 
 donment of the principle of compulsion as applied by 
 Colonel Legge and Lord Kitchener in 1909-10. Another 
 
MILITARISM 521 
 
 preliminary issue is the question of responsibility for com- 
 pulsory training legislation. For good or ill, both parties 
 have that legislation indelibly recorded to their accounts. 
 Liberals passed the chief measures : Laborites administered 
 and expanded them. Liberals like Mr. Deakin, Sir Thos. 
 Ewing, and the present prime minister (Mr. Joseph Cook), 
 pioneered statutory enactments; but it was Laborites like 
 Mr. William M. Hughes, M. P., ex-attorney-general, and 
 Mr. 'Chris' "Watson, ex-prime minister and counselor-in- 
 chief to the Federal Labor Party, who pioneered ideas and 
 won over the entire Labor movement to the 'Nation in 
 Arms ' conception of Commonwealth defense. Only this 
 week the Labor leader of the opposition in the House of 
 Eepresentatives (Mr. Andrew Fisher, M. P., who was 
 prime minister from April, 1910, to June, 1913), in reply 
 to a question by Mr. Conroy, M. P., reaffirmed, amid great 
 cheering on all sides of the House, his profound belief 
 that in giving compulsory training to her boys in senior 
 cadet corps Australia was doing the right thing in the 
 present state of the world. Had labor hesitated or turned 
 tail when the huge military expenditure commitments faced 
 the Fisher Ministry in 1910-13, the entire system would 
 have collapsed. To-day, although compulsory training costs 
 over £3,600,000 a year, and is steadily mounting upwards, 
 the leaders of Australian trade-unionism are, if anything, 
 firmer in their allegiance to the system than the Liberal 
 parents of compulsory cadets. The essential truth is that 
 the men who count in both parties are so obsessed with the 
 Yellow Peril, and so acutely conscious of the diabolical 
 horrors of a war of extermination, such as a war with 
 Japan would be, for the four and a half millions of Aus- 
 tralians, that they dare risk any turn in the tide amongst 
 their own people so long as within the next five or six 
 years they can train, officer, and equip an army of a few 
 
522 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 hundred thousand white soldiers. They talk a great deal 
 about serving the Empire and setting an example to the 
 men of the old country — ^but deep down in their hearts is 
 the conviction that it is the safety not of the Empire, 
 but of Australia's standards of civilization, race purity, 
 wages, industrial idealism, and democratic freedom that 
 concerns them. No Liberal or Labor leader ever argues 
 privately that there is the faintest analogy between British 
 and Australian conditions. 'Britain must do as she pleases. 
 We have had to do this thing in order that we get even 
 a hundred to one chance of holding Australia when the 
 shock comes.' That expresses the typical attitude." 
 (See also Appendix: "Preparedness.") 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 
 
 Socialists favor all measures aimed -at increasing pop- 
 ular control over Government, such as direct legislation 
 and proportional representation. Direct legislation, how- 
 ever, is not yet a live issue, except in countries already far 
 advanced towards democracy, such as the United States 
 and British colonies. Proportional representation, on the 
 other hand, is an issue almost everywhere, having been 
 already introduced in Belgium and other countries. For 
 several years before the war it had been a leading question 
 in France, and the election of 1914 resulted in a Govern- 
 ment favorable to this system. 
 
 The general Socialist position is illustrated by the dis- 
 cussion in the American Party. The discussion in the Con- 
 ference of the British Labor Party of 1914, however, shows 
 that a great many members of that organization place 
 considerations of immediate political success above the 
 democratic principles involved, and their precise motives 
 for doing so. were well brought out at that conference. 
 
 I. THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY CONVENTION OP 1912 
 
 In the 1912 Convention of the Socialist Party, the sub- 
 ject of proportional representation was vigorously dis- 
 cussed. While some of the delegates expressed their disap- 
 proval of this principle, it remained in the platform. Sec- 
 tion 5 of the Political Demands (originally Section 6), 
 containing reference to the subject, xeads as follows : 
 
 533 
 
524 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The adoption of the initiative, referendum, and recall, and of 
 proportional representation nationally as well as locally. 
 
 The discussion provoked by the section was, in part, as 
 follows : 
 
 Delegate Lewis [Oregon] : I object to the proportional repre- 
 sentation. It will only open the way for parties of reform, 
 prohibition parties, labor parties, and so forth. Our state legis- 
 latures will be full of all kinds of representatives. It is a dan- 
 gerous proposition. ... 
 
 Delegate Smith [Montana] : It seems to me that instead of 
 advocating proportional representation the Socialist Party ought 
 to be standing for representation by absolute majority. If the 
 Socialist Party makes as its fundamental declaration that this 
 is a struggle between classes, then we ought to have absolute 
 majority. ... If the Socialist Party makes as its fundamental 
 declaration that this is a struggle between classes, then we ought 
 to have absolute majority representation. We ought to have 
 either capitalist government or working-class government abso- 
 lutely. . . . 
 
 Delegate Solomon [New York] : It is evident that the comrades 
 who spoke in opposition to the recommendation of the committee 
 do not know what they are talking about. They seem to be 
 carried away by a few stock phrases. This proposition will be 
 favorable to some reformers. That is enough. That settles it. 
 As a matter of fact, the accepted position of the International 
 Socialist movement of the world has always been in favor of 
 proportional representation. I do not understand how any man 
 who understands the meaning of proportional representation can 
 stand up and oppose it. To begin with, there is but one party 
 who can really benefit by it, and that is the Socialist Party. The 
 comrade from Montana says we should either have a capitalist 
 government or a Socialist government. If that is the ease, we 
 may as well stop putting up candidates and sending them into 
 the legislative assemblies. . . . You find in state after state that 
 already the Socialist Party has from five to ten per cent of the 
 total vote cast, but has no representative whatever in the assembly. 
 If we had proportional representation it would be possible for 
 the party to have representation in the assembly in proportion 
 to the vote cast for the party candidates. . . . 
 
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 525 
 
 Delegate Latimer [Illinois] : It is true that in some communi- 
 ties we might land a man or two in the state legislature. That 
 is what happened in Illinois a few years ago. They had pro- 
 portional representation where a man could go to the polls and 
 vote for three men or one man. That gave a sort of propor- 
 tional representation, and they sent a few men to the state legis- 
 lature, but they are not there to-day. . . . The thing we are 
 interested in as a minority party is building up a strong, con- 
 structive organization, not to elect men occasionally to the state 
 legislature. It is our business as a minority party to lay founda- 
 tion for getting control of the Government, and we are not 
 interested in proportional representation. . . . 
 
 Delegate Wilson [California] : This amendment is simply re- 
 affirming the demand of the International Socialist movement of 
 the world. If the Germans at this time had proportional repre- 
 sentation they would have a very much larger number of men 
 in the Reichstag. We all know that there are thousands of them 
 that are disfranchised because of this very fact that they have 
 not proportional representation. The same is true in Belgium, 
 and the same is true in some of the communes of France. . . . 
 
 The motion to strike out the words "proportional repre- 
 sentation" was lost, and paragraph 6, as reported, was 
 adopted. 
 
 n. CONFERENCE OF THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY, 1914 
 
 (Based on Official Report of the Conference) 
 
 Mr. F. Knee [London Trades Council] moved: 
 
 That this Conference instructs the executive committee and 
 the party in Parliament to press strongly for the adoption of a 
 system of proportional representation applicable to all parts of 
 the United Kingdom for both municipal and parliamentary 
 elections. 
 
 The debate which ensued hinged primarily upon the 
 question as to whether proportional representation would 
 necessitate a more expensive or a less expensive campaign ; 
 
526 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 would lead to more or less bargaining with the Liberal 
 Party; and would divert attention from more important 
 industrial issues, or lead to the selection of a group of 
 Labor members who would bring these issues more effec- 
 tively than at present in the fore. All conceded that labor 
 would probably have a greater representation in Parlia- 
 ment as a result of such a measure. The opponents of 
 proportional representation advocated the alternative vote 
 (a method, like the second ballot, requiring only single 
 member districts, but avoiding a second election) as a less 
 radical and wiser proposal. 
 
 Mr. Knee said the resolution proposed that there should 
 be a different system of counting votes. Judging by what 
 had taken place, the Liberals, if they got the chance, would 
 probably go in for the alternative vote; that was to say, 
 instead of putting a cross to a candidate's name they would 
 have to put 1 opposite the name of the man they most 
 wanted and 2 opposite the next preference. If the Liberals 
 were kindly disposed to the alternative vote that was a 
 reason why the Labor Party should be chary of it. Demo- 
 crats naturally desired to secure a House of Commons that 
 would be a reflex of the whole of the community, a House 
 that would faithfully represent and contain every consid- 
 erable body of public opinion. There were masses of 
 opinion in the country right outside the House of Com- 
 mons. The Labor Party itself was inadequately repre- 
 sented. They might have the second ballot or the alterna- 
 tive vote, but there was no safeguard against a minority 
 of votes in the country being represented by a majority 
 in the House of Commons. 
 
 Mr. W. C. Anderson [I. L. P.] said they would all agree 
 that, whatever was going to be done in the future, the 
 present electoral system was out of date, undemocratic, 
 and unworkable. What form was the change going to 
 
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 527 
 
 take ? The alternative vote was simply an improved method 
 of second ballot. It simply allowed the voter to do in one 
 operation what under the second ballot was done after an 
 interval of a fortnight. . . . He submitted it would be a 
 good thing for the Liberal Party and a disastrous thing for 
 the Labor Party. It would mean that there would be 
 three-cornered fights all round. A young party, a minority 
 party, might be able to poll 2,500 or 3,000 votes in many 
 industrial constituencies without being able to secure 
 representation in Parliament. Under the alternative vote 
 in a number of adjoining constituencies they might poll 
 as many as 30,000 votes without getting any representation 
 at all. To get 30,000 or 40,000 working-class voters voting 
 in one direction and not getting a single representative in 
 Parliament was not democracy, but a caricature of democ- 
 racy. He remarked that the Labor Party in Queensland 
 and Victoria, where they had the alternative vote, were 
 against it. It was a direct incitement to the privileged 
 parties to join together to down the Labor Party. If they 
 were going to have democratic representation they must 
 have constituencies sufficiently wide to allow a large num- 
 ber even of minority votes to get representation in propor- 
 tion to their electoral strength. Mr. MacDonald had put 
 the whole case for the alternative vote into four lines. . . . 
 He believed that Mr. MacDonald did not want proportional 
 representation or the alternative vote and would only be 
 forced into either, and he asked Mr. MacDonald to make 
 his position perfectly clear. The reform of proportional 
 representation was championed by the working-class move- 
 ment right throughout the world. Every Labor and So- 
 cialist Party in Europe was a Proportional Representation 
 Party. 
 
 The most eloquent voice in France in favor of pro- 
 portional representation was that of Comrade Jaures, and 
 
528 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the idea of proportional representation had been carried 
 by an enormous vote in the French Chamber of Deputies. 
 They had the system in Belgium, not in its best form, but 
 still they wanted no going back. Among the many colonial 
 and continental politicians who supported proportional 
 representation were Herr Branting, leader of the Swedish 
 Social Democrats, and Mr. Holman, the Labor premier of 
 New South Wales. Mr. Holman had given the following 
 testimony to the merits of proportional representation: 
 "While I believe in proportional representation, I am not 
 in favor of preferential voting. Preferential voting leads 
 to the combination of old and recognized interests against 
 the spirit of advancement. In a ballot with three candi- 
 dates, for instance, the candidate with progressive ideas 
 may be in the lead in the first count, but, if the supporters 
 of the other two are true to their conservative principles, 
 as the count goes on they will gradually overhaul the third 
 man until he is hopelessly last. . . . 
 
 Mr. Philip Snowden, M. P. [I. L. P.] said he felt that 
 the division on this resolution would have such tremendous 
 consequences that he felt it to be his duty to associate him- 
 self with it. Proportional representation might be argued 
 very strongly on general and abstract lines, but at the time 
 at his disposal he wished to confine himself to an attempt 
 to answer one question only. Whatever might be their 
 views either on the existing electoral system, the- alterna- 
 tive vote, or proportional representation, they were all anx- 
 ious to see the representation of labor increased in Parlia- 
 ment. Therefore the answer to that question was the most 
 important matter to which they could give their attention. 
 Mr. Wake, in a speech of very great power, put the case 
 for the alternative vote. He [Mr. Snowden] wanted to 
 test the possibilities of the alternative vote as likely to 
 increase Labor representation in the House of Commons 
 
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 529 
 
 by the experience of the party in the by-elections of the 
 last few years. Since the last general election they had 
 had 12 or 13 contests in which Labor candidates had been 
 before the constituencies. In every case the Labor candi- 
 date had been at the bottom of the poll. Under a system 
 of alternative votes not a single one of those votes would 
 have found expression on the floor of the House of Com- 
 mons. In every instance the Labor man would have 
 dropped out on the first count because he was third on 
 the poll. It had been argued that the fear of "splitting 
 the progressive vote," the fear of letting in the Tory, had 
 a deterrent influence on the men who had sympathies with 
 the Labor candidates in three-cornered contests. He wished 
 to point out that there was another feeling which would 
 operate under the alternative vote. Men with sympathies 
 for labor had at the same time sympathies with other par- 
 ties. There were a great many Liberals who thought Labor 
 ought to be represented more strongly in the House of 
 Commons. They would no doubt give their first or second 
 vote to a Labor candidate under the alternative vote ; but 
 what about the Tory voter ? He had a second vote, and to 
 whom was he going to give that vote ? He would not give 
 it to the Labor candidate. If he gave it at all, as he un- 
 doubtedly would, he would give it to the Liberal; and 
 therefore the absolute certainty was that on the final count- 
 ing of the votes, no matter what position the Labor candi- 
 date took in the first count, the result would be that he 
 would be in a woeful minority. There had been a discus- 
 sion on the policy of the Parliamentary Party. That dis- 
 cussion settled none of the difficulties of the party. They 
 never touched the reason for the want of greater activity, 
 they never touched the reason why Labor members did not 
 raise industrial and social questions more prominently than 
 they did. Whether they liked it or not, the reason was well 
 
530 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS ' 
 
 known to every Labor member, and it was that there was 
 not a Labor member to-day but knew that he was de- 
 pendent for his seat in the House of Commons upon the 
 good will of those who belonged to other political parties. 
 As long as they had members returned by Liberal votes 
 they could not expect independent action from their mem- 
 bers. Proportional representation would make their mem- 
 bers representative of Labor in their own constituencies, it 
 would give them the independence they could not possibly 
 exercise under any other conditions. It would bring hon- 
 esty for the first time into the political life of this country. 
 ... He appealed to the delegates with all the strength he 
 had not by their votes to detach themselves from Labor 
 and Socialist opinion throughout the world on this question. 
 Mr. Holmes had spoken not as representing the party to 
 which he belonged. Nor would Mr. MacDonald. The Inde- 
 pendent Labor Party by a practically unanimous vote had 
 declared in favor of proportional representation. If they 
 wanted the party to grow in strength, if they wanted to 
 see in the House of Commons strong, independent, virile, 
 and honest Labor representation they would by an over- 
 whelming vote support the resolution. 
 
 Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald, M. P., said that whatever 
 might be their individual views on this matter, they would 
 all agree that they had had a very interesting and not an 
 unimportant debate. 
 
 The resolution was put to a card vote and declared de- 
 feated, the result being: 
 
 For 704,000 
 
 Against 1,387,000 
 
 The Alternative Vote 
 
 In pursuance of a previous decision, the chairman put 
 the question for and against the alternative vote as an elee- 
 
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 531 
 
 toral reform, and on a card vote the result was as follows : 
 
 For 632,000 
 
 Against 1,324,000 
 
 Thus proportional representation and the alternative vote 
 each secured approximately one-third of the votes of the 
 Congress. At least one-third opposed both propositions 
 (how many more is uncertain, since some voters may have 
 favored both measures). 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 "MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 
 
 Municipal Socialism usually means municipal owner- 
 ship, and the same considerations apply to it as have. been 
 treated under the head, "Government Ownership." How- 
 ever, the modern municipality is in reality — to some de- 
 gree — a small society, and many of the other problems 
 treated in the preceding chapters also recur in municipal 
 politics: the high cost of living, taxation, political re- 
 form, etc. The whole problem of political tactics and of 
 co-operation with other parties (which we have treated in 
 Part I) also recurs in municipal elections. But we have 
 placed the municipal phase of this discussion in the present 
 chapter because co-operation with other parties may be 
 favored in municipal politics, while opposed in national 
 elections. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP PARIS, 1900 
 
 Concerning Socialist action in municipalities, the Inter- 
 national Congress of Paris (1900) declared: 
 
 By " municipal Socialism " is not to be understood a special 
 kind of Socialism, but only the application of the general prin- 
 ciples of Socialism to a special domain of political activity. 
 
 The reforms which fall under it are not and cannot be presented 
 as realizing a colleetivist society. They are presented, however, 
 as means that the Socialists can and should utilize for preparing 
 and facilitating the coming of that society. The municipality 
 may become an excellent laboratory of decentralized economic 
 life, and at the same time a formidable political fortress for the 
 
 632 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 533 
 
 use of Socialist majorities against the bourgeois majority of the 
 central government as soon as a considerable degree of autonomy 
 is realized. 
 
 And further: 
 
 That it is the duty of all Socialists, without depreciating the 
 importance of general politics, to cause to be used and appreci- 
 ated the importance of municipal activity, to give to municipal 
 reforms the importance • that they possess as the embryos of a 
 collectivist society, and to set to work to undertake municipal 
 services : Urban transportation, waterworks, lighting, power, 
 baths, bathing, municipal stores, municipal bakeries, provisions, 
 food, teaching, medical services, heating, housing, clothing, police, 
 municipal works, etc., to make of these services model institu- 
 tutions, both from the point of view of the interest of the public 
 and from that of citizens who are employed in them; the Con- 
 gress declares that those municipalities which are too weak to 
 proceed alone in the realization of these measures should be 
 joined together in municipal federations, and that in the coun- 
 tries in which the political system does not allow municipalities 
 to proceed along this path, all elected ofQcials of the Socialists 
 should make use of their power to give to the municipalities 
 sufficient liberty and independence to realize these reforms. 
 
 n. THE BERLIN MUNICIPAL ELECTION, NOVEMBEE, 1913 
 
 (Prom an editorial in Vorwaerts) 
 
 " The municipality is the seat of the inner life of a people, 
 the anvil upon which the noblest instincts of man should be 
 formed and developed. No adult male citizen of good character 
 should be deprived of his rights as a citizen of his municipality; 
 the right to vote should not be restricted by a census." 
 
 This statement, signed by T. von Bethmann Hollweg and the 
 Counts Arnim, Doehne, and Itzenplitz, is characteristic of the 
 change that has taken place in the political views of our bourgeois 
 parties. When the statement was published in 1848, the Con- 
 servatives held views regarding municipal political questions 
 which are propagated to-day only by the Social Democrats. The 
 industrial development of the decades that follow, making out 
 
534 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of the half -feudal, agrarian Prussia one of the greatest industrial 
 countries of the world, . . . has caused this change in the Con- 
 servative attitude. 
 
 In the year 1876 a Conservative representative . . . Haken, 
 coined the Conservative phrase, " He who would rule with us 
 should pay with us," thus denying the words of his own com- 
 rades of 1848. . . . 
 
 Industrial development . . . has brought about riot only the 
 growth of the capitalist class, but has inevitably strengthened 
 by its own growth the modern proletariat in numbers, power, 
 and self-confidence. In 1878 the Social Democratic workers of 
 Berlin for the first time participated in a municipal election. 
 In 1884, the first five Social Democratic municipal representa- 
 tives entered the Red House, and since then the number of So- 
 cialist votes and the number of Socialist representatives has 
 increased from year to year. 
 
 In 1900 and 1901, our comrades started debates in the Berlin 
 city hall concerning the three-class suffrage and democratic suf- 
 frage. At that time the Conservative phrase of 1876 had already 
 become the property of the Liberal movement. Proudly and 
 earnestly Herr Cassel announced : " The city government has 
 always been of the opinion that he who would rule with us 
 should pay with us ! " 
 
 As they have deserted their colors in the suffrage question, 
 so the Progressives have failed in all other political fields. . . . 
 Our bourgeois and municipal bureaucrats are not upholders of 
 the modem reform movements whose fundamental principle is 
 that active participation by municipal and state government in 
 social activities shall be the means of uplifting the mental, moral, 
 and physical strength of the nation. . . . Political considera- 
 tions enter constantly into the question whenever industrial 
 problems are discussed. . . . 
 
 In recent years the Progressives in the Berlin city hall have 
 gradually become reconciled to the fact that the seats in third- 
 class districts, which have once become Social Democratic will 
 always remain so. . . . Not only the three districts we have just 
 mentioned must be won to-morrow, but the influence of our 
 representatives must be increased by a marked increase of votes. 
 Our representatives cannot, out of their own strength, enforce 
 reforms and improvements for the working-class. , The Social 
 Democratic representatives do not as yet form even a third of 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 535 
 
 the assembly. They are opposed by 96 representatives elected 
 by first- and second-class voters, who practically without excep- 
 tion represent capitalist interests. Only by arousing the public 
 conscience, only by forcing these men to recognize that the great 
 mass of the Berlin population stands behind this Socialist minor- 
 ity, can we hope to force the assembly to do its duty toward 
 the city. The higher the vote polled by the Socialist candidates 
 the greater will be the effectiveness of the work our representa- 
 tives can accomplish. 
 
 A municipal government, such as that of Berlin, with the tre- 
 mendous intellectual and material resources at its disposal, a 
 municipality whose budget is exceeded only by that of the King- 
 doms of Prussia and Bavaria, is easily able to influence to a 
 marked degree the standard of living of its population. Through 
 the lives of its people, from the cradle to the grave, it can lend 
 a helping hand, by fulfilling its social obligations. . . . 
 
 No one who knows the circumstances will deny that the work 
 of our representatives in this direction has been far from fruit- 
 less. The former chairman of the assembly, the aged Langerhans, 
 said at one time : " If we did not have the Social Democracy 
 we should have to invent it." This is only one of many tributes 
 paid by our opponents to our work in the Berlin city council. 
 Even the Prussian Government seems in its heart of hearts only 
 half dissatisfied with the work of the Socialist representatives. 
 The general secretary of the propaganda committee for Greater 
 Berlin, Dr. Hegemann, said in one of his articles : " Those who 
 to-day confer with the Government as to the possibility of inaug- 
 urating municipal reform measures, smile involuntarily at the 
 reassuring tone in which they are referred to the Social Demo- 
 crats as trustworthy upholders of the reform measure in ques- 
 tion." 
 
 We have only just begun to force private capitalist interests 
 into the background of our municipal government; we have 
 just begun to enforce municipal ownership of light and power 
 stations, of all new transit facilities. The completion of these 
 beginnings will cost many a bitter struggle. . . . 
 
 The Berlin council has steadily refused to consider the ques- 
 tion of unemplojrment insurance, has refused to do anything to 
 lighten in the least the lot of the man who is unable to find 
 work, in spite of constant pressure from our representatives. 
 At present a period of unemployment, such as Berlin has never 
 
536 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 seen before, is breaking in upon us. Want and suffering, great 
 enough even now, will increase during the winter months to such 
 a degree that even the greatest sacrifices on the part of our 
 labor unions will not be able to combat them. With folded arms 
 our municipality looks down upon the needs of a great part of 
 its population. 
 
 Attempts have been made to hasten the construction of public 
 buildings, but beyond that every motion to render assistance has 
 been defeated. It was decided that the whole question of unem- 
 ployment insurance belonged to the state and the nation and 
 not to the municipality. This pretty game of " button, button, 
 who has the button," will go on forever if the masses do not 
 protest. Unemplojrment is a necessary product of capitalist pro- 
 duction and can be done away with only when a Socialist form 
 of society takes the place of modern capitalism. Nevertheless, 
 it should be the duty of those who enjoy the fruits of the present 
 social system to help those who must pay the penalty in the 
 crisis caused by capitalistic production. 
 
 The representatives of the other capitalist parties are entirely 
 satisfied with the present conditions. It will be the first duty 
 of the Socialist group to force the question of unemplojnnent 
 insurance upon their attention, not to let the matter rest until 
 something has been done. To-morrow's election must be a mighty 
 demonstration. The great class of those who have nothing but 
 their labor power must give to the demands of the Socialist 
 group the necessary support and significance. . . . 
 
 m. THE FRENCH PARTY 's MUNICIPAL PROGRAM, 1912 
 
 Whereas, the municipality may become an excellent laboratory 
 of decentralized economic life, as well as a political stronghold; 
 provided that by municipal Socialism is meant only the applica- 
 tion of the general principles of Socialism to our particular 
 domain of political action; provided that the various reforms 
 are presented as functioning in a domain that Socialists should 
 avail themselves according to the economic nature of each munici- 
 pality in order to facilitate the coming of the future society; 
 therefore, the Socialist Party, pursuing its aim of the establish- 
 ment of collective property, national, regional, or municipal, as 
 the case may be, in order to attain its end, makes use of all 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 537 
 
 means of action, including the effort to capture the municipali- 
 ties with its program of demands, as follows : 
 
 1. POLITICAL 
 
 a) Proportional representation. 
 
 6) Development of the economic importance of the municipal- 
 ity and abrogation of all the legal obstacles to the extension of 
 its commercial and industrial functions. 
 
 c) Revision of the laws of eminent domain in order to facili- 
 tate measures necessary to the hygiene and sanitation of cities. 
 
 d) Extension of the recognized right of the municipalities to 
 appoint intermunicipal unions and federations among unions. 
 
 e) The referendum as applied to municipal affairs. 
 
 2. ECONOMIC 
 
 a) A return to the municipality of public service monopolies 
 already granted. 
 
 b) Extension of direct taxes and of the agricultural and indus- 
 trial domain of the municipalities. 
 
 c) Founding of local industries by the municipalities by sup- 
 plying of tools, reasonable credit, and means of preservation, 
 transport, and storage. 
 
 d) Formal recognition of the right to organize in unions, and 
 eight-hour workday for employees and workers of the municipal- 
 ity. Weekly rest day and fixing of a minimum wage on the basis 
 established by labor unions of the vicinity. 
 
 e) Introduction in the specifications of public works of 
 clauses imposing these conditions. Prohibition of leased contract 
 work. 
 
 /) Creation of a service of labor statistics and free employ- 
 ment agencies. « 
 
 g) Subsidizing of all the works of the unions and notably of 
 strike funds. 
 
 3. FINANCIAL 
 
 a) Reform of the taxes which especially oppress the working- 
 class; exemption of families paying low rents from the personal 
 tax. Abolition of the octroi, at least on foodstuffs, and liberty 
 
538 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of choice of substitute taxes, graduation of municipal taxes, 
 with exemption of those at the bottom. 
 
 b) Establishment of a municipal tax upon the sale of land 
 and buildings, proportionate to the increase in value of the land 
 and buildings created by the carrying on of public works. 
 
 c) Organization of municipal and inter-municipal insurance 
 against fire and other risks. 
 
 d) Increase in the royalties on mining lands and a system of 
 payments for the use of natural motor forces. 
 
 4. EDUCATION 
 
 a) Furnishing of free books and other school materials, and 
 also of lunches, cloak rooms, baths, and kindergartens. 
 
 b) Creation and subsidizing of school and graduation scholar- 
 ships. 
 
 c) Admission to all grades of instruction by means of scholar- 
 ships and competitive tests. 
 
 5. CHARITY 
 
 Transformation of puljlie charity to make it more responsible 
 to human dignity and solidarity. 
 
 Free service of legal, administrative, and fiscal advice. 
 
 In order to reserve to the proletariat the benefit of the applica- 
 tion of the law concerning workingmen's pensions; encourage- 
 ment to the industrial unions in the forming of a regional union 
 treasury. 
 
 6. HEALTH AND HOUSING 
 
 Establishment of free public baths and lavatories. 
 
 Broadening of narrow streets and sanitation of dumping 
 places. 
 
 Supervision of dwelliSigs, workshops, water, and food supply. 
 
 Direct administration of markets and warehouses and extension 
 of direct exchange of products with the agricultural union. Con- 
 struction by the municipalities of cheap but sanitary dwellings. 
 
 The inalienability of public land. Its use by the municipality 
 for the benefit of the municipality. 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 539 
 
 rV. CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER PARTIES IN MUNICIPAL 
 ELECTIONS. ITALIAN PARTY CONGRESS, 1914 
 
 1. DISCUSSION IN THE CONGRESS 
 
 A heated discussion for and against the making of elec- 
 toral alliances took place at the Italian Socialist Congress 
 of 1914, Lucci favoring such alliances, Ralli opposing. 
 
 Lucci took Naples as an example of the city where alli- 
 ances were desirable. Out of the 700,000 inhabitants, there 
 were hardly 100 organized Socialists. The executive com- 
 mittee of the party, at the last parliamentary elections, 
 demanded that a party candidate should run for office in 
 each election district. 
 
 He declared : 
 
 Through this measure the instinct of rebellion in Naples turned 
 to our party just as it would have turned towards the anarchists 
 had they addressed the people. We appealed to this instinct, 
 spoke of our aims to the illiterate mass, said that we wished to 
 fight for better housing, bread, and honest administration. Now 
 the party steps in and says : " You are not allowed to do any- 
 thing for these people. The Party Congress forbids it. In the 
 South, politically speaking, we are before the stone period. The 
 South is without industry — ^it contains no proletariat, only a 
 mob. The people have no human dignity, they have no bread to 
 eat ! And we are to tell them : ' The Congress of Aneona has 
 decided that you must win the city administration without com- 
 promise.' With this action we mock misery. Here we find 
 80 town councilors, 170 public benevolent institutions, almost 
 1,000 positions to fill! And to fill with capable, decent human 
 beings ! " [Interrupter : " With whom do you wish to form an 
 alliance?"] The speaker, with emphasis: "With the devil! 
 Surely not with the employers; they don't want us. There is 
 no large industry in Naples. With the decent elements of the 
 democracy." (Excitement.) 
 
 Ralli defended the opposite view. He asserted that the 
 proletariat in Naples had not been taught Socialism, and 
 
540 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 asked how the workers shall get an idea of the class struggle 
 if they unite with the bourgeoisie. He asserted that Lueci 
 was stronger on reform than Bissolati and told of the 
 failure of political alliances.' A number of others engaged 
 in the debate. 
 
 The vote, taken at the conclusion of the discussion, was 
 as follows: for Ralli's resolution against any kind of alli- 
 ance, 22,591; for Mazzoni's resolution, which permitted 
 election alliances under the decision of the provincial 
 party congress, 8,584; for Modigliani's resolution, for alli- 
 ances with labor and professional organizations, 3,214. 
 
 2. THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED: 
 
 The Congress expresses the wish that the party shall resolutely 
 set about making one of the commune as an organ of proletarian 
 claims and conquests, in opposition to all the bourgeois parties; 
 by means of 
 
 1. Intense political and parliamentary action, -which, while it 
 defends day by day the acts of the Socialist communal adminis- 
 tration, shall aim to render the commune able and free to give 
 effect to the Socialist municipal program; 
 
 2. An active propaganda among the workers intended to 
 develop their class-consciousness and to spread a knowledge of 
 the local political program of the party; 
 
 3. Capture of the communal administrations, wherever the 
 forces of the party and the class-consciousness of the proletariat 
 are advanced enough to maintain and defend the positions cap- 
 tured, in the interest of the working-class and in opposition to 
 the bourgeois arrogance, whether individuals or class. 
 
 4. A struggle to capture the minority in all the other com- 
 munes with the declared purposes of criticising and of Socialist 
 preparation, and to develop the skill of individual members of 
 the party for the work of bringing to birth what may be economic- 
 ally necessary in the communes. 
 
" MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM " 541 
 
 3. CRITICISM BY ODA OLBERG IN "DIE NEUE ZEIT " 
 
 "The program of Ealli, whicli passed by a majority of 
 22,591 against 11,798 votes, forbids, once for all and with- 
 out any exception for special eases, the formation of elec- 
 tion alliances with other parties. 
 
 "Italy, in round figures, has 8,000 communes. Among 
 these are large industrial centers, like Milan, Turin, and 
 Genoa, cities like Rome, mountain villages in the Alps, 
 seaports in Sicily, and places in which the agrarian workers 
 live in large numbers. Many of these are without water 
 supply, without a canal system, without hospitals, with 
 pauper graves for the poor; and, contrasting with these, 
 are elegant cosmopolitan towns and health resorts with all 
 up-to-date comforts for the wealthy class. These 8,000 
 communes are all to be treated alike. The miserable holes 
 of Calabria, with its illiterate people, whom hunger drives 
 to emigration, shall be subject to the same rules as the 
 highly developed communes of the Emilia, which have been 
 managed by our party for two decades. 
 
 "In the communities of Emilia one cannot find an un- 
 organized workman; there one can see how the working- 
 class, through its conquest of the communal offices, stands 
 up for its class interests in a way which frightens the 
 bourgeoisie. 
 
 "This position of an absolute 'no compromise' for all 
 parts of Italy was most strongly advocated by Comrade 
 Ealli. He defended his views in a very valuable program, 
 which claims that the consciousness of the masses would 
 be seriously confused if they should be offered as allies 
 those parties which were represented to them as enemies 
 in the parliamentary elections. Nobody can overlook the 
 importance of this objection. But, as the facts do not 
 appear as simple and straightforward as is desirable for 
 
542 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 pedagogical purposes, the question arises if it would 
 not be better to uncover contradictions that really exist 
 instead of covering them up. 
 
 ' ' Communal polities and parliamentary politics are dif- 
 ferent things, not because the so-called interests of the 
 nation are discussed in Parliament and only those of a 
 town or village in the communal administration, but be- 
 cause the communal administration possesses executive 
 power, both in accordance with law and in fact, to a larger 
 degree than Parliament. Parliament fights for laws, for 
 fundamental and definite things; in a communal adminis- 
 tration naked interests clash, and what is called applica- 
 tion and interpretation of the law is frequently nothing 
 but evasion. The election fight in a commune often stands 
 on a much lower level than the parliamentary one. Com- 
 rade Lucci says in his speech that in South Italy it is 
 frequently necessary to prevent the mayor of a town from 
 letting his manure pollute the public water supply. In 
 Parliament there are no organizations to be guarded, no 
 workingmen's quarters to be provided with trolleys, no 
 funds to be raised for hospitals. In communes there are 
 bands of thieves to be turned out of benevolent institu- 
 tions, the rudiments of life must be defended, and pre- 
 cautions must be taken against crimes of the ruling clique. 
 
 "It is of course not impossible that these communes 
 might be cleaned up by Socialistic powers or after Social- 
 istic methods, though it has nothing to do with Socialism 
 that the mayor of the town does not steal, and that the 
 seller of drinking water pays the town councilors for not 
 putting in a proper water-supply system. But suppose 
 that in a milieu like this only the most meager beginning 
 of a Socialist movement exists? Shall the party in such 
 a ease pay no attention to the new, partly illiterate voting 
 population ; shall it, because the number of organized party 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 543 
 
 comrades is not large enough to form a city administra- 
 tion, abandon it to a bourgeois clique? Shall it say to 
 these miserable masses : We mean to develop a new society 
 of the free and equal, but for the present we can do nothing 
 for you ? For the time being you had better die of typhoid 
 and dysentery, live in hovels, which mock the dignity of 
 human nature, throw your dead into a common grave, 
 pay the taxes by which the propertied class pays for its 
 luxuries ? 
 
 "Comrade Lucci, at the Congress of Aneona, chose Na- 
 ples, the largest city in Italy, as an example. There the 
 party has but little more than one hundred members. At 
 the parliamentary elections, the discontent of the masses, 
 in instinctive rebellion against centuries of wrong, turned 
 expectantly to our party. Three Socialists were elected, 
 one of them a party comrade (Lucci). Now the city elec- 
 tions are before us. Almost 1,000 offices are to be filled, 
 if the party will assume the administration of the com- 
 mune, which it has a chance to win. This goal can be 
 reached by uniting with the parties of the extreme Left; 
 alone it is powerless. Now the Party Congress gives the 
 order for 'No compromise, for renunciation.' It says the 
 party shall not assist in a work which it cannot master 
 alone. All the power that the general suffrage puts into 
 the hands of the proletarians shall be left quietly to the 
 bourgeoisie wherever our party cannot undertake with its 
 own candidates and its own program the city administra- 
 tion. The impulse of the masses, who want to intrust 
 themselves to our guidance, must not concern us ; we will 
 realize their hopes in a future state. 
 
 "It is to be foreseen with certainty that this vote will 
 force our party to new expulsions. Naples and many other 
 towns will, in spite of the resolution of the Congress, wage 
 the communal election war by means of a coalition. They 
 
544 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 will commit all the unavoidable errors and suffer all the 
 disappointments which go with compromise." 
 
 4. THE MUNICIPAL PROGRAM 
 
 Almost without discussion, a resolution proposed by the 
 committee, Casalini, Delia Seta, and Siehel, in regard to 
 the Socialist communal program, was adopted. This reso- 
 lution proposes for the party communal activity the fol- 
 lowing program : 
 
 (1) Communal autonomy; (2) the improvement of the public 
 school system, school restaurants, school libraries; (3) political 
 agitation for lowering taxes on provisions, establishment of 
 municipal slaughter-houses and bakeries, communal publications 
 of prices of provisions; (4) taking charge of public service in 
 municipal affairs; (5) erection of inexpensive and healthy work- 
 men's dwellings; (6) support of working-class arrangements, 
 improvement of hospitals, protection of motherhood and children, 
 hygienic education of the masses; (7) policy of the working-class, 
 recognition of organizations among employees and workers in 
 the service of the commune, stipulation about wages and workers' 
 protection in giving out public works, cormnunal workers' 
 agencies, support of the unemployed. 
 
 V. THE ITALIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS OF 1914 
 1. GENERAL RESULTS 
 
 (From Le Peuple, Brussels) 
 
 "The municipal elections in the great cities that have 
 voted up to the present have unfortunately resulted in 
 the success of the Clerical-Conservative Alliance in most 
 of them. In Rome the list of these parties obtained from 
 31,000 to 33,000 votes, the list of the Democratic bloc from 
 25,000 to 28,000, while the Socialist list found only 2,600 
 to 3,600 supporters. The result of this decisive defeat is 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 545 
 
 the establishment of capitalist control of the city admin- 
 istration, which is clearly shown by the rise in the shares 
 of the Rome Tramway Co. (11 points) and the Gas Co. 
 (8 points) the day after the result was known. The 
 municipal electricity works and the municipal tramways, 
 which were started during the time that the Democratic 
 hloc had control, largely through the endeavors of our late 
 Comrade Montemartini, will probably be sold to the com- 
 panies, which have every reason to desire the elimination 
 of this competition, seeing that the result of their working 
 caused a drop in the shares of the Gas Co. (which also 
 runs an electricity works) from 1,075 to 920 lire, and of 
 the Tramway Co.'s shares from 263 to 151 lire. 
 
 "Compared with the Socialist vote cast at the general 
 election for Parliament, the average of 3,000 votes given 
 for the Socialist list is deplorable. The only explanation 
 is that the bulk of the Socialist voters, .realizing the im- 
 possibility of carrying the Socialist list, with its bid for 
 the majority of seats, voted for the Democratic list to keep 
 out the Clericals, thus disobeying the resolution of the 
 Ancona Congress. This supposition is borne out by the 
 figures, for the Democratic vote increased nearly as much 
 as the Socialist vote fell compared with the general 
 election. 
 
 "In Turin the Conservative list was successful, but the 
 Socialist vote was only very slightly lower; the same was 
 the case in Genoa, where the Clerical Party secured con- 
 trol. In both cities the Socialist Party get the minority 
 seats. In Milan the party succeeded in gaining the 64 
 majority seats by 33,000 against 30,000 votes, the 16 
 minority seats falling to the Constitutional list. Milan will 
 therefore be the first great city in Europe with a Socialist 
 administration. There are good hopes that a number of 
 medium-sized and small towns may be carried on the 
 
546 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 Ancona plan, but there is small chance of success in Flor- 
 ence, Venice, and Palermo. In Naples, as was stated by 
 us some weeks ago, the Socialist organization has with- 
 drawn from the party, so as to be able to combine with 
 the Democratic bloc." 
 
 2. THE VICTORIES AT NAPLES AND ANCONA. TWO IMPORTANT 
 COMMUNAL ELECTION TRIUMPHS 
 
 (Prom Vorwaerts) 
 
 ' ' The communal elections which occurred on July 12, in 
 which our party maintained its ground successfully, have 
 been marked by two results of great significance and im- 
 portance : the victory of the Democratic Hoc in Naples and 
 the union of people's parties in Ancona. The outcome of 
 the election in Naples insures, finally, the wresting of the 
 administration of Italy's greatest city from that notorious 
 gang whose misrule has so often furnished a theme for both 
 the domestic and foreign press. The Socialists, Repub- 
 licans, and city Radicals combined have gained control 
 over the city administration, and are thus in a position, 
 finally, to offer the poor Neapolitans the possibility of free- 
 ing themselves in a lawful way from the governing 
 Camorra of the dominant clique, which, at the very least, 
 is just as pernicious as the Camorra of the proletarian riff- 
 raff. It is worthy of note, in this connection, that the 
 victory was secured as a result of the union of all the 
 people's parties, and that in order to contribute their sup- 
 port to the movement, the Neapolitan Socialists were 
 forced to withdraw from the party, as the Ancona Con- 
 gress had placed a ban, once for all, upon any sort of 
 election combination. The views of Lucci, the Socialist 
 deputy, were confirmed by this result. At the last Con- 
 gress he declared that the Socialists at Naples, in order 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 547 
 
 to establish an administration, did not lack voting strength 
 but only candidates. In fact, the Socialist candidates re- 
 ceived the greatest number of votes. 
 
 "While the contest at the Naples election had great 
 practical significance, events at Ancona had much the- 
 oretical importance. Here also there was a combination 
 made between the Socialists and Republicans, while the 
 anarchists, as a matter of principle, held aloof. This alli- 
 ance, however, has been approved by the party council in 
 view of the exceptional situation which, under the attack 
 of the reactionaries, obtained in Ancona. The candidates 
 of the Socialist-Eepublican Hoc, without exception, fell 
 victims to persistent police persecution and spying which 
 followed the revolutionary days in June, and before long 
 the greater part found themselves in custody. It is indeed 
 an impressive indication of the strength and solidarity of 
 the revolutionary movement at Ancona that at a time such 
 as the present the reactionaries, when under imminent 
 terror, had mobilized all resistance, it can win the city 
 election and elect just those persons upon whom the bour- 
 geoisie had determined to wreak their vengeance. The 
 Government, however, does not seem to understand the 
 Mene Tekel, which is contained in the occurrences at the 
 Ancona election; it is proceeding in the Marches and in 
 Romagna with further arrests. Reaction is indeed playing 
 a very dangerous game. ' ' 
 
 3. THE GENERAL STRIKE AND THE MUNICn>AL ELECTIONS 
 
 By Oda Olberg 
 (In Die Neue Zeit, July, 1914) 
 
 "It is an illuminating fact that a mass movement like 
 that of the previous June not only indicated a sharp in- 
 tensification of class positions but led to a still further 
 
548 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 intensification. In fact, reaction rules everywhere. The 
 bourgeoisie, which is continuing the war in Cyrenaica, and 
 would like to wage war in Albania, pretends that the future 
 of the country is endangered by the revolutionary tide. 
 It is binding together craftily its persecution of the organ- 
 izations of the prolateriat with preparations for new war 
 adventures. For it is justifying its calling of the reserves 
 in preparation for Albania by the pretense that a railway 
 strike is being planned. 
 
 "Nevertheless, it would be a mistake, in our opinion, to 
 attribute the numerous losses of our party at the municipal 
 elections this summer as principally due to the strike 
 panic. . . . This unfortunate result is much more due to 
 the electoral tactics of the party than to the general strike. 
 At the Congress of Ancona it was resolved to enter into 
 the municipal elections without any allies. . . . It is said 
 to justify these tactics that we should not wish to appear 
 stronger than we are. But it vvould be more profitable 
 to the proletariat to make its power count as much as 
 possible instead of merely renouncing all effort to exert 
 and direct influence on city administrations. It is cer- 
 tainly not for the benefit of the Roman proletariat to 
 appear to its enemies as weak as it is shown to be in the 
 last elections. 
 
 "In spite of the general strike panic, the party obtained 
 great successes in Milan and Bologna, as well as smaller 
 places. . . . Where our organization is very strong, these 
 tactics have justified themselves. In other places they 
 have robbed the party of all influence whatever. In An- 
 cona, finally, notwithstanding the decision of the Party 
 Congress, the Socialists and Republicans opposed the 
 united reaction by means of an alliance, and so succeeded 
 in obtaining, for a mere protest candidate, a majority of 
 2,000 votes. ... 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 549 
 
 "So the general strike did not create a new political 
 situation. It only threw into stronger light the results of 
 the war [in Africa]. The party is isolated because the 
 reaction is on its guard, but the more this situation be- 
 comes clear the more impossible it becomes for the bour- 
 geois democracy to make common cause with the reaction. 
 The isolation of the party, brought about years ago by the 
 power of circumstances, will sooner or later become once 
 more a question for our party tactics and will no longer 
 be a fact that exists independently of its will. In order 
 to offer effective opposition to the reaction, shall the party 
 once more join with the bourgeois radicals ? 
 
 VI. THE MUNICIPAL PROGRAM IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 The question of a municipal program hasTilready become 
 one of considerable importance to the Socialist movement 
 of the United States on account of the Socialist victories 
 in Milwaukee, Butte, Schenectady, Berkeley, and else- 
 where, shortlived as some of these victories have been. As 
 in the case of the state platform, a committee was ap- 
 pointed by the 1912 Convention to prepare a municipal 
 program to be recommended to local party organizations. 
 A committee was appointed also to .investigate the com- 
 mission form of government for cities and in the following 
 year to draw up a plan for a model city charter on So- 
 cialist principles. Extracts from the reports of these com- 
 mittees are given below.* 
 
 1. EEPOET or COMMISSION TOEM OF GOVERNMENT, CONVENTION 
 
 OF 1912 
 
 This report gives first a careful treatment of the extent 
 and growth of the commission form of government, the 
 * We have freely introduced italics in this section. 
 
550 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PEOBLEMS 
 
 cities that have adopted or rejected it, the essential and 
 non-essential features, and the results. Then follow the 
 arguments for and against commission government from 
 the Socialist point of view.* 
 
 a. Ohjectionable Features 
 
 There are three principal objections to the commission 
 form of government. There are many minor points that 
 are objectionable, but they are matters of detail. The 
 report reads: 
 
 (1) Extreme Concentration. — Extreme eoneentration of power 
 is regarded by all critics of the commission form of government 
 as its most dangerous and objectionable feature. Reducing the 
 number of ofifieials to five, the commission form combines the 
 legislative, executive, and judicial functions. It combines the tax- 
 levying, appropriating, and expending powers. In addition, it 
 gives this small governing commission all of the appointive 
 power, including not only the right to appoint all municipal 
 appointees but to remove them, to create new positions or. dis- 
 continue them, to fix salaries and prescribe all official duties, 
 alter or transfer them. Thus it not only gives this small group 
 of five men almost complete control of the entire municipal 
 affairs, but it also makes all of the city employees practically 
 the agents and dependents of the commission. 
 
 This is concentration with a vengeance. Nothing of the sort 
 has been attempted in modern times anywhere in the world. . . . 
 With the tendency of modem years everywhere in the direction 
 of greater democracy, the commission form of government comes 
 with a tendency back again towards the old idea of the rule by 
 the few and power in the hands of the few. 
 
 In reply to this objection, the friends of the commission form 
 of government always urge that it has incorporated the initia- 
 tive, referendum, and the recall, which are the instruments of 
 modern democracy. It is doubtful, however, whether these fea- 
 tures constitute a suflScient safeguard against the dangers of 
 
 *Report of Convention of 1913, p. 179. 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 551 
 
 concentration. And, besides, there is reason to doubt the wisdom 
 of so radical a departure from the democratic form of govern- 
 ment as will compel the people to depend upon these devices 
 as their only possible escape from the tyranny of autocracy. . . . 
 
 (2) The Non-Partisan Fallacy. — The elimination of parties is 
 also a seriously objectionable feature. There can be no greater 
 fallacy than the so-called non-partisan idea. . . . Such a propo- 
 sition would take out of civic life the responsibility of fighting 
 together for principles. By eliminating all designations by which 
 people would work together for some principle or idea, municipal 
 campaigns would be thrown back again upon the worst elements 
 in our political life. . . . 
 
 It may be quite true that neither the Republican nor the 
 Democratic national parties have anything in their platforms or 
 programs looking to the relief of the people that live in 
 cities. . . . 
 
 Such is not the case with the Socialist Party. It has a program 
 — municipal, state, and national. And they are a part of one 
 consistent whole. The same principles for which the Socialist 
 Party stands in the state and nation apply with equal force, 
 though with different details, to the city as well. And what is 
 more, there is no solution of municipal problems apart from 
 the principles of social democracy. And the principles of social 
 democracy cannot be applied except through state and national 
 action. The effort, therefore, to eliminate national and state 
 issues and to prevent the organization of a state and national 
 political party that shall have also a municipal program, is to 
 block the way to a final solution of the problems of municipal 
 government. 
 
 (3) Elimination of Minority Representation. — The elimination 
 of minority representation is another serious objection to the 
 commission form of government which is urged by all its critics. 
 By abolishing ward representation and electing the commissioners 
 at large, the possibility of a minority party securing a representa- 
 tion is destroyed. This is particularly true with regard to the 
 working-class. In the nature of the case, certain wards in our 
 cities are inhabited by the working-class. Other wards are 
 inhabited mostly by the capitalistic class. Under the method of 
 ward organization there are sure to be some wards where the 
 working-class predominate and where, therefore, they can secure 
 representation long before they are able to capture the city. This 
 
552 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 minority representation serves not only to give the working-class 
 a voice in the government to that extent, but it affords the 
 ■working-class experience in public affairs. 
 
 All of this is sacrificed by the commission form of government 
 and, we believe, is a serious loss. 
 
 b. Desirable Forms and Features of Municipal Government 
 
 In connection with the conunission form of government are 
 a number of features which all must agree are desirable. This 
 fact requires discrimination in stating the position which the 
 Socialist Party should take. If the party, either locally or other- 
 wise, takes a stand against the commission form of government 
 unqualifiedly, it thereby puts itself in opposition to certain de- 
 sirable features that have been attached to the commission form. 
 If is necessary, therefore, to study carefully the form and the 
 various features of each particular city charter and the general 
 state act as it comes forward. The attitude that the party is 
 to take in any city or state can be determined by the particular • 
 form and the specific features of the commission form proposed. 
 
 (1) Home Bule. — ^Wherever the general state acts establishing 
 the commission form of government propose a greater degree 
 of home rule than the cities in that state already enjoy, the 
 party will have to consider seriously whether such a law, even 
 though objectionable in some other features, will not be to the 
 advantage of the cities in the state. Above almost everything 
 else, home rule and the right of self-government, the right of the 
 city to manage its own affairs, is most important. Especially 
 in the flght for municipal ownership, for direct employment, for 
 trades-union conditions of labor, the union label, the union scale, 
 the eight-hour day, and union conditions, home rule is essential. 
 
 Many of the commission charters, so far as we can discover, 
 do not add one iota of home rule to the city's power. Many of 
 the states have secured home rule entirely apart from the com- 
 mission form, and we believe the rest of the states would in 
 time secure the same. Where the cities do not yet enjoy home 
 rule, and the state law establishing the commission form does 
 give the city more home rule, there the party should consider 
 seriously whether it is not better to support the commission form 
 on that account. And this will have to be determined in each 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 553 
 
 case by a careful and discriminate estimate of the degree of 
 home rule secured, and the question of whether there are other 
 objectionable features that overbalance the possible advantages 
 of the home rule involved. 
 
 (2) The Initiative, Beferendum, and Becall. — The Socialist 
 Party everywhere, of course, is seeking to establish direct legisla- 
 tion and greater control by the people over the Government. 
 The initiative, referendum, and recall are means to that end. 
 They are proposed in connection with the commission form in the 
 great majority of cases. Here, again, the party will have to 
 exercise discriminating judgment in determining its attitude. 
 
 Some matters are clear, however. Where any of these forms 
 are missing in the proposed charter or state law, there the party 
 should make a vigorous flght to have them included. And where 
 the percentages are too high, the party should flght for their 
 reduction. In our opinion, the initiative should not require the 
 signatures of more than 10 per cent of the voters ; the referendum 
 should not require more than 15 per cent, and the recall should 
 not require more than 20 per cent. These figures, however, are 
 arbitrary, but are the figures that are coming to be regarded 
 by the friends of direct legislation as being nearest the desired 
 point. The percentages should not be so high as to make the 
 devices too difficult of putting into operation, nor should they 
 be so low as to interfere with the efficient operation of the 
 municipal government. 
 
 (3) Size of the Governing Body. — In the smaller cities, the 
 five members proposed by the commission form are doubtless 
 sufficient. It is desirable to keep the forms of government as 
 simple as the situation will warrant. But in the larger cities we 
 do not believe the small body of five men is sufficient to insure 
 efficiency. . . . For the large cities, your committee would recom- 
 mend a modification of the present form of municipal govern- 
 ment, drawn from the best experiences of European and American 
 cities in this respect rather than the commission form. 
 
 (4) Salaries. — One good feature of the commission form of 
 government is the fact that it generally provides for a salary 
 for the elected commissioners and large enough to attract men 
 of capacity into the public service and to enable them to devote 
 theis entire time to it. This we believe to be essential. Without 
 salaries for public officials, the working-class can hardly ever 
 hope to take any part in civic life. The necessity of earning 
 
554 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 a living and the difficulty attendant thereto makes it impossible 
 for them to devote their time to the public service. The failure 
 to provide salaries, therefore, results either in office-holding 
 becoming the special privilege of the wealthy class, or it 
 deteriorates into something worse. The provision of adequate 
 salaries we believe to be an essential feature of municipal govern- 
 ment. 
 
 (5) Selecting the Heads of Departments. — One serious and 
 objectionable feature of most of the commission form charters 
 and laws is the fact that the five commissioners are elected without 
 any reference to the work that they are to perform and are 
 allowed afterwards to decide among themselves which men are 
 to be put at the head of the five respective departments. A few 
 of the commission charters, however, have remedied this de- 
 fect. . . . 
 
 In Conclusion. — The study of the movement for the commission 
 form of government for cities in America reveals the fact that the 
 forms proposed vary greatly in detail. Indeed there is a great 
 variation even in essential features. Furthermore, the form itself 
 has been passing through the process of modification since its 
 inception. This change and modification is still going on. There 
 has not yet been proposed a final and definite form of the commis- 
 sion form of government; the whole matter is in process of 
 development. 
 
 In view of these facts, it is impossible at the present time, 
 we believe, to lay down or to fix any definite policy that shall 
 apply equally to all the states and all of the cities with reference 
 to this matter. Certain general principles may be stated. Cer- 
 tain errors and fallacies of the arguments may be pointed out, 
 certain evils opposed. And where the form is entirely objection- 
 able, it may be defeated. 
 
 In some cases the Socialist Party organizations have already 
 used their influence against certain objectionable forms and de- 
 feated them. In other cases they have compelled a modification 
 of the form by insisting on the introduction of certain features 
 that had been omitted. And so far as your committee can see, 
 this discriminating attitude, varying with the conditions that con- 
 cern the party in different localities, and varying as the move- 
 ment varies, will have to be the position of the party. 
 
 One thing, however, your committee would recommend, viz., 
 That a committee be appointed by the Convention to study further 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 555 
 
 the best forms of municipal government and to submit the results 
 of their work as a basis for a form that may be proposed as an 
 alternative and improvement upon the commission plan. (Italics 
 ours.) 
 
 c. Discussion of Report in Convention 
 
 The above report brought forth extended discussion. 
 The opinion of certain delegates was voiced by Patterson, 
 of Ohio: 
 
 I am opposed to the commission form of government for 
 several reasons. One reason is that this is a reform movement; 
 a substitute for Socialism; especially adapted for advantageous 
 use by the capitalist class iu a community where there is no 
 reform movement outside of the Socialist Party. Then they 
 build that up as one. The thing that the Socialist wants is class 
 lines clearly drawn. They cannot be drawn by obliteratirig party 
 lines. 
 
 The greater number of speakers, however, especially 
 those somewhat experienced in the commission form of 
 government, opposed its unqualified rejection by Socialists. 
 
 Delegate Le Suer [North Dakota] : There are some objections 
 in this report to the commission form of government that are 
 not well taken or well founded. One of them, for instance, is 
 that the commission form does away with minority representor 
 tion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Take the council 
 form of government, where you elect by wards, and there you 
 have 51 per cent in each ward represented and the other 49 
 per cent unrepresented. If there are three tickets, 35 per cent 
 may elect and the other 65 be unrepresented. But when the com- 
 mission form is adopted there is a provision in the law in our 
 state that does give you real minority representation. It is 
 provided for by the cumulative system of voting which is not 
 commented upon here. The committee seems to have had no 
 information on the cumulative system of voting in many com- 
 mission cities. That provides for minority representation. That 
 is to say, if three or four commissioners are to be elected, the 
 voter has the right to east one vote for each commissioner who 
 
556 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 is to be elected; but the voter may, if he choose, cast all his 
 votes for one candidate, and that gives you real, practical, demo- 
 cratic minority representation. Now you all ought to know 
 that. 
 
 Again, with reference to the non-partisan feature. ... It has 
 been our experience in our town that the Socialist Party organ- 
 ization is the only party organization that can maintain its 
 efficiency and its integrity and hold its party together without 
 the party name on the ballot. We have demonstrated that at 
 least in North Dakota the Socialists can do that and can survive 
 and flourish in the face of a non-partisan ballot. 
 
 Delegate "Wilson [California] : . . . I speak to you as one 
 having some experience with the commission form of government. 
 The city of Berkeley is so administered. The new charter has 
 been in effect now for four years ; and we are now working under 
 that charter. And with the experience that we have had in the 
 city of Berkeley and the other cities of California where the 
 commission form of government is established, I wish to say 
 that from my experience and observation that I am profoundly 
 convinced that the commission form of government is superior 
 for our purposes as Socialists to any other previous form of 
 city organization. 
 
 A Delegate: Provided Socialists are in power. 
 
 Delegate WUson : I will take up that point in a minute. I am 
 now giving you my experience. In the first place, we found this : 
 that in every city in the state of California where we were con- 
 ducting a campaign with the non-partisan ballot, the short ballot 
 and the non-partisan ballot, . . . that the only political organ- 
 ization that could hold its strength through the campaign, both 
 primary and final, was the Socialist organization. 
 
 Delegate Spargo [Vermont] : I favor the motion to adopt the 
 report and continue the committee. I am also strongly in favor 
 of the recommendation made by Comrade Wilson, namely, that 
 we should not carry on, as we have been doing in this country, 
 an anti-commission form propaganda; and so place the national 
 party on that side of the question at this time. I believe the 
 commission form of government is as inevitable in politics as is 
 the trust in industry. I believe that the opposition to the com- 
 mission form of government per se is just as insensible in the 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 557 
 
 realm of politics as is the opposition to the trust in the realm 
 of industrial development. 
 
 The question was then put on the amendment, that the matter 
 of indorsing the commission form of government be left to the 
 states. The amendment was adopted by a vote of 134 to 64. 
 (Italics ours.) 
 
 2. A MODEL CITY CHABTEK 
 
 The committee on the commission form of government 
 was continued at the Convention of 1912 and instructed to 
 work out a form of municipal government that would he 
 consistent with the party principles. Accordingly a tenta- 
 tive draft of a city charter was submitted to this com- 
 mittee in 1913 by the secretary, Carl D. Thompson. No 
 action on the matter has yet been taken. 
 
 While the tentative charter in full cannot be here given, 
 we present here its preliminary principles and features : 
 
 Principles of Charter Making 
 
 Two principles, it seems to us, should be emphasized in all 
 efforts to develop a better form of municipal government: 
 
 1. As a city grows in area and population its distinctive 
 problems increase in number, volume, and complexity. The or- 
 ganization of government, the number of officials or departments 
 and their co-ordination must vary accordingly. A city of 3,000 
 population needs only a very simple governmental organization. 
 But a city of 300,000 will require a much more highly organized 
 and specialized governmental body. 
 
 Furthermore, the modern city is developing in another respect : 
 It is adding new functions all the time. More and more enter- 
 prises that were formerly conducted by private concerns are 
 being assumed by the community. 
 
 This requirement for adaptation seems lacking in all the plans 
 for municipal government so far suggested by those favoring the 
 commission plan. 
 
 2. The second principle that is fundamental in charter making 
 
558 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 is the distinction between the policy determining and the admin- 
 istering functions of city government. The policy determining 
 function requires that provision should be made for direct control 
 by the people, — as great a degree of democracy as possible and 
 as nearly a true representation of the existing elements and 
 interests in the community as possible. The administering func- 
 tion of the government, on the other hand, requires efficiency, 
 specialized ability, technical knowledge, training, and experience. 
 These two functions should, therefore, be separated and proper 
 provision made for both in the form of government. This is 
 done by the representative council plan referred to farther on. 
 That feature we approve and shall incorporate in our proposal. 
 
 Features of the Charter 
 
 During the last few years, four forms of municipal govern- 
 ment have been suggested: (1) The commission form; (2) the 
 federal form; (3) the city manager form; (4) and now, last of 
 all, the representative council plan. 
 
 Of these four forms, the first three are suflSeiently discussed 
 by the report of the committee of the Socialist Party above 
 referred to. The last of the proposed forms seems to us the least 
 objectionable from the Socialist point of view. 
 
 The Socialist Plan. — The form of municipal government fa- 
 vored by your committee will include the following features: 
 
 1. The most complete home rule that it is possible to obtain 
 under the state laws. 
 
 2. A representative council elected at large upon the principle 
 of proportional representation. 
 
 3. Partisan or designated ballots. 
 
 4. A mayor elected by the council, to serve as president of 
 the council and ofl&cial head of the city government. Such a 
 mayor may act also as manager or chief administrating official 
 in smaller cities. 
 
 5. A city manager, elected by the council, to serve as head of 
 the administrative departments of the city. This to apply espe- 
 cially to larger cities. 
 
 6. Departments, number and size depending upon the size 
 and requirements of the city. Heads of each department to be 
 selected by the city manager, subject to the approval of the 
 council. 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 559 
 
 7. Sub-departments. 
 
 8. Commissions. 
 
 9. Initiative and referendum. 
 
 10. Recall. 
 
 11. Complete and adequate power for the regulation of all 
 public utilities, pending the time of full public ownership. 
 
 12. Careful provision for complete municipal ownership of 
 all public utilities as far and as fast as state laws and existing 
 conditions will permit. 
 
 13. No important franchises to be granted, except approved 
 by direct vote of the people. 
 
 14. Direct emplo3rment and the abolition of private contract- 
 ing in public works. 
 
 15. Recognition of the rights of municipal employees to organ- 
 ize and maintain union wages, the eight-hour day, and general 
 union-labor conditions. 
 
 3. SUGGESTED MUNICIPAL PEOGEAM, 1912 CONVENTION 
 
 Report of Convention of 1912 
 
 I 
 
 Labor Measures 
 
 (1) Eight-hour day, trade-union wages and conditions in all 
 public employment and on all contract work done for the city. 
 
 (2) Old-age pension, accident insurance, and sick benefits to 
 be provided for all public employees. 
 
 (3) Special laws for the protection of both women and chil- 
 dren, in mercantile, domestic, and industrial pursuits. 
 
 (4) The abolition of child labor. 
 
 (5) Police not to be used to break strikes. 
 
 (6) Rigid inspection of factories by local authorities for the 
 improvement of sanitary conditions, lighting, ventilating, heating, 
 and the like. Safety appliances required in all cases to protect 
 the worker against dangerous machinery. 
 
 (7) Free employment bureaus to be established in the cities 
 to work in co-operation with state bureaus. Abolition of con- 
 tract system and direct employment by the city on all public 
 works. 
 
 (8) Free legal advice. 
 
560 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 (9) The provision of work for the unemployed by the erection 
 of model dwellings for workingmen; the paving and improve- 
 ment of streets and alleys, and the extension and improvement of 
 parks and playgrounds. 
 
 II 
 
 Home Rule 
 
 (1) Home rule for cities; including the right of the city to 
 own and operate any and all public utilities; to engage in com- 
 mercial enterprises of any and all kinds; the right of excess 
 condemnation, both within and outside the city, and the right 
 of two or more cities to co-operate in the ownership and manage- 
 ment of public utilities; the city to have the right of issuing 
 bonds for these purposes up to 50 per cent of the assessed valua- 
 tion, or the right to issue mortgage certificates against the prop- 
 erty acquired, said certificates not to count against the bonded 
 indebtedness of the city. 
 
 Ill 
 
 (1) The city to acquire as rapidly as possible, own and operate 
 its public utilities, especially street car systems, light, heat, and 
 power plants, docks, wharves, etc. 
 
 Among the things which may be owned and operated by the 
 city to advantage are slaughter-houses, bakeries, milk depots, 
 coal and wood yards, ice plants, undertaking establishments, and 
 crematories. 
 
 On all public works, eight-hour day, trade-union wages, and 
 progressive improvement in the condition of labor to be estab- 
 lished and maintained. 
 
 IV 
 City Planning and Housing 
 
 (1) The introduction of scientific city planning to provide for 
 the development of cities along the most sanitary, economic, and 
 attractive lines. 
 
 (2) The city to secure the ownership of land, to plat the 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 561 
 
 same so as to provide for plenty of open space, and to erect 
 model dwellings thereon to be rented by the municipality at cost. 
 (3) Transportation facilities to be maintained with special 
 reference to the prevention of overcrowding in unsanitary tene- 
 ments and the creation of slum districts. 
 
 Public Health 
 
 (1) Inspection of food. 
 
 (2) Sanitary inspection. 
 
 (3) Extension of hospital and free medical treatment. 
 
 (4) Child welfare department, to combat infant death-rate 
 prevailing especially in working-class sections. 
 
 (5) Special attention to eradication of tuberculosis and other 
 contagious diseases. 
 
 (6) System of street toilets and public comfort stations. 
 
 (7) Adequate system of public baths, parks, playgrounds, and 
 gymnasiums. 
 
 VI 
 
 Public Education 
 
 (1) Adequate number of teachers so that classes may not be 
 too large. 
 
 (2) Retirement fund for teachers. 
 
 (3) Kindergartens to be established and conducted in connec- 
 tion with all schools. 
 
 (4) Adequate school buildings to be provided and maintained. 
 
 (5) Ample playgrounds, with instructors in charge. 
 
 (6) Free text-books and equipment. 
 
 (7) Penny lunches and, where necessary, free meals and 
 clothing. 
 
 (8) Medical inspection, including free service in the care of 
 eyes, ears, throat, teeth, and general health where necessary to 
 insure mental efficiency in the educational work, and special 
 inspection to protect the schools from contagion. 
 
 (9) Baths and gymnasiums in each school. 
 
 (10) Establishment of vacation schools and adequate night 
 schools for adults. 
 
562 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 (11) All school buildings to be open or available for the citi- 
 zens of their respective communities, at any and all times and 
 for any purposes desired by the citizens, so long as such use 
 does not interfere with the regular school work. All schools to 
 serve as centers for social civic, and recreational purposes. 
 
 VII 
 
 The Liquor Traffic and Vice 
 
 (1) Socialization of the liquor traffie; the city to offer as sub- 
 stitute for the social features of the saloon, opportunities for 
 recreation and amusement under wholesome conditions. 
 
 (2) Abolition of the restricted vice districts. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Municipal Markets 
 
 Municipal markets to be established where it is found that 
 by this means a reduction may be secured in the cost of the 
 necessities of life. 
 
 4. MUNICIPAL PLATFORM OF NEW YORK 
 
 As an example of a city of the first class and one in 
 ■which Socialism has not yet gained a share in the admin- 
 istration, we give selections from the municipal program 
 of New York for 1913. We underline novel and important 
 features not recommended in the national report : 
 
 Transportation 
 
 We demand the immediate municipalization of all surface, ele- 
 vated, and underground railways and all ferries; the existing 
 plant to be acquired at its physical valuation under the right of 
 eminent domain ; additions to be constructed by the municipality 
 as fast as practicable to create an adequate system for the entire 
 city; the whole to be operated by the municipality without profit. 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 563 
 
 Cost of Living 
 
 As a means of relieving the hardship caused by the general rise 
 of prices, we demand: . . . that the mmiicipality imdertake the 
 provision of fuel, ice, milk, bread, and other prime necessaries, 
 selling them at such prices as merely to cover cost of production 
 and distribution. 
 
 Public Works and City Employees 
 
 We demand the abolition of the contract system on public 
 work and the substitution of direct employment by the munici- 
 pality under civU service rules. 
 
 We further demand: 
 
 That the organization of the employees in the various depart- 
 ments he encouraged and their right to strike recognized, in order 
 to give them a voice in regulating their conditions and an oppor- 
 tunity for the statement and redress of grievances, and also to 
 enlist their technical knowledge and public spirit in a democratic 
 and efficient administration of public affairs. 
 
 Strikes 
 
 We demand that the licensing of strike-breakers as special 
 deputies be stopped; that the police power be used to the utmost 
 to protect working-people in their right to strike, to picket peace- 
 ably, single or in mass, and to hold meetings and distribute lit- 
 erature in connection with labor disputes; and that the power of 
 the department of health be used to prevent the housing of strike- 
 breakers in factories. 
 
 Public Education 
 
 We . . . demand: 
 
 The immediate increase of the teaching force and its mainte- 
 nance at a ratio of not less than one teacher to every twenty 
 pupils on the register; 
 
 Increase of salaries for teachers so as to encourage competent 
 instructors to enter and remain in the service and do their best 
 work; 
 
564 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The school authorities to be empowered, in all eases where 
 economic pressure would otherwise compel pupils to leave school 
 before the age of eighteen, to grant pensions conditional on con- 
 tinued attendance to that age; 
 
 Free and adequate medical and dental attendance for all pupils ; 
 
 The introduction of vocational instruction, not separate from 
 or alternative to general education, but so combined with it as to 
 fit all children for useful labor, for the duties of citizenship, and 
 for the enjoyment of civilized life. 
 
 Unemployment 
 
 As a means of equalizing the burden of unemployment, which 
 cannot be altogether removed under the capitalist system, we 
 demand the establishment of a system of unemployment insur- 
 ance, conducted as far as possible through worhingmen's organ- 
 izations, with liberal financial aid by the municipality. . . . (Our 
 italics.) 
 
 In four large cities of the United States, the Socialists 
 have held the mayoralty, with more or less control of the 
 municipal administration. In Berkeley and Milwaukee 
 the Socialist regime held through but one term ; in Butte, 
 two; in Schenectady, the Socialist Party has recently re- 
 elected several officers, including the mayor and the presi- 
 dent of the council. The following extracts from the re- 
 ports of these mayors will give an idea of the general 
 direction of municipal achievement among the Socialists, 
 with the difficulties under which the party labors. 
 
 5. SOCIALIST ADMINISTEATION IN BBEKKLEY, CALIFORNIA 
 
 Reverend J. Stitt "Wilson was elected as mayor of this 
 city in April, 1911. We give extracts from an informal 
 account of his administration, published in the Los An- 
 geles Western Comrade, September, 1913. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Berkeley has never had a " Socialist admin- 
 istration." There has been a Socialist mayor and one councilman 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 565 
 
 in a board of five. The anti-Socialist majority worked harmoni- 
 ously with us on general municipal matters, but stood pat for 
 capitalism each time we presented a genuine Socialist propo- 
 sition. 
 
 Had we had one more man on the council, I believe Berkeley 
 would have had by this time a municipal telephone, a municipal 
 electric lighting plant, a municipal market, and it would be stand- 
 ing out as a beacon light on the subject of taxation of land 
 values. And before now a whole advanced program would be 
 laid out to supplement the municipal labor bureau which we did 
 get through, a program by which men would be employed, vacant 
 land put under cultivation, and value placed upon human beings, 
 now the mere flotsam and jetsam in the labor market. 
 
 The general municipal policy was summed up in this sentence : 
 "I believe that the city administration should seek to secure the 
 necessities and the advantages of city life, for the use and enjoy- 
 ment of the humblest family, and to put these things into our 
 hands at the lowest possible cost for the best possible service. . . . 
 In the twentieth century we should never permit huge corporate 
 monopolies to hold us at their mercy and charge us all the traffic 
 will bear for the absolute necessities of life." . . . 
 
 In this paragraph I can only make a list of the important 
 municipal improvements, which shall mark my administration in 
 Berkeley. I copy the list from my annual report to the city 
 council on vacating the oflRce : 
 
 1. Municipal incinerator. 
 
 2. Municipal garage and ambulance. 
 
 3. Municipal laboratory. 
 
 4. Municipal employment bureau. 
 
 5. Perfection of the police flashlight system. 
 
 6. Additional fire department. 
 
 7. New heating apparatus. 
 
 8. Extensive street improvements. 
 
 9. Spotless town campaigns. 
 
 10. New corporation yards. 
 
 11. Passing sewer bonds. 
 
 Just a word about municipal finances. When I entered the 
 city hall of Berkeley we had but $12,000 surplus in the general 
 fund. At the close of my first year we had a net balance of 
 
566 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 $27,000. When I took charge the total funds available from all 
 sources were $32,000, but I left for my successor $60,000, besides 
 $50,000 in the treasury for the incinerator. . . . 
 
 Moreover, strange to say, I introduced an amendment to the 
 city charter, providing that the tax rate might be raised to $1.00 
 for purely municipal purposes, that is, an increase of 25 cents. 
 I wrote and talked and worked for this increase, and the people 
 carried it by a big majority. We did not raise the rate, but 
 simply provided for a raise by charter amendment for future 
 emergencies. 
 
 And when my day was done I had kept my vows, though 
 having met reverses at the hands of the " system." ... 
 
 6. SOCIALIST ADMINISTRATION IN BUTTE, MONTANA 
 
 Butte is the only American city in which a Socialist 
 administration was not only elected in 1911 but re-elected 
 in 1913. Mayor Duncan was later recalled as the result 
 of a labor-union conflict. We quote again from an in- 
 formal account of the administration written by Mayor 
 Duncan himself and published in the Kokomo Socialist in 
 November, 1913 : 
 
 The success of the Socialist Party in Butte, the first time in 
 1911, was due to working-class solidarity, plus the votes of a 
 disgusted and protesting bourgeoisie. . . . 
 
 It was different in 1913. This time we won on our merits. 
 Again it was not wholly Socialist voters. We have not enough 
 class-conscious workers to carry the city by straight Socialist 
 votes. But it was by the votes of Socialists and other citizens 
 who, having had two years of Socialist government, were resolved 
 to have no other. So it was that this year the two old parties 
 were forced into a frank fusion " to wipe out the blot of Socialist 
 disgrace " and " to down the menace of Socialism." And so it 
 was, also, that the Socialist candidates received a larger vote than 
 two years before. . . . 
 
 We found a bankrupt city on our hands in 1911. Cities in 
 Montana are constitutionally limited in the amount of indebted- 
 ness they may incur to three per cent of the assessed valuation of 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 567 
 
 taxable property. Butte's debt in 1911 was about half a million 
 more than this limit would allow. 
 
 We attempted to increase the revenue by raising license rates 
 on large business and especially by requiring mining companies 
 to pay license. The old party aldermanic majority defeated this 
 effort. 
 
 We succeeded, however, in forcing the old party aldermen to 
 consent to raising the rate of taxation for city purposes from 
 12.1 mills to 16.2 mills. . . . 
 
 We repeated this in 1912, and again this year, and now have 
 the sinking fund where it should be. The city will be able, in 
 1915, when the debt matures, to take up in full a $400,000 bond 
 issue ten years old and thus stop an annual interest drain of 
 $18,000. . . . 
 
 In the further effort to re-establish the credit of the city, we 
 instituted several economies. We cut out every unnecessary 
 salaried employee; reduced the police force to the minimum 
 necessity; and cut out the graft that coal companies, contractors, 
 etc., had enjoyed by hiring their idle teams to the city at $3.50 
 per day. Instead of hiring, we purchased ten splendid teams 
 outright, at a cost of between $3,000 to $4,000, and thus reduced 
 the running expenses of our street department. In less than 
 seven months we had the city safely inside the legal limit of 
 indebtedness; in four months' time, city warrants which had been 
 discounted all the way from 20 to 30 per centum, passed at 95 
 per cent, and in eight months they were passing at par. 
 
 Ey thus bringing general warrants of the city to par, we in- 
 creased the amount of money wages actually received by every 
 city employee. They can now get the face value of their war- 
 rants at any store in the city ; whereas, under former administra- 
 tions they could realize only 70 or 80 per cent of that value. . . . 
 
 While thus improving the municipal credit, we also adopted 
 policies calculated to benefit the working-class in other ways. We 
 started and are carrying out a well-planned program of municipal 
 improvements. Without going into tiresome deta,ils, there have 
 been more extensive public improvements and special improve- 
 ments carried on by the Socialist administration during the three 
 seasons since the spring of 1911 than have ever before been 
 carried on in twice or three times that length of time in this 
 city. ... 
 
568 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Sanitary Policies 
 
 It is the record we have made in the matter of public health 
 that we are proudest of. The city of Butte, in the spring of 1911, 
 was one of the filthiest in the country. . . . 
 
 The Socialist administration attacked these conditions at once 
 and have kept vigilantly on the job ever since. We began with 
 a complete municipal cleaning up. Commencing on the outskirts 
 in the working-class districts, the street and alley crews worked 
 toward the center of the city, and in one month's time citizens 
 were all remarking the great improvement. . . . 
 
 At the same time we began and have maintained strict, scien- 
 tific and vigilant inspection of milk and meat and all other food 
 products sold in the city. . . . 
 
 The results have been astov/nding. Butte is now one of the 
 healthiest cities of its size in the United States. In the matter 
 of deaths there has been a decided decrease from every disease 
 except tuberculosis, which is very prevalent amongst the miners. 
 From the diseases due to filth and unsanitary surroundings, the 
 number of deaths is far below the average it used to be prior to 
 the Socialist regime in this city. In the portion of the com- 
 munity outside our city limits and under the control of demo- 
 cratic city officers, the ratio of disease and deaths to population 
 is just what it was two years ago. Inside the city limits ( except- 
 ing tuberculosis cases), the average death rate to population was 
 3 1-2 per cent lower from May, 1911, to May, 1913, than from 
 May, 1909, to May, 1911, and the monthly average of cases of 
 infectious and contagious diseases has fallen from 60 in 1900-10 
 and 73 in 1910-11, to 27 in 1911-12 and 36 in 1912-13; for the 
 two-year term, 1909-11, 66.5, and for our term, 1911-13, 31.5 
 cases per month. . . . 
 
 Up to last jear, the fire laddies of Butte were on duty twenty- 
 four hours, one day off each month, and ten days' vacation on 
 pay each year. The Socialists introduced and succeeded in 
 passing an ordinance to institute the two-platoon system, which 
 requires the men to be on duty only twelve hours. . . . 
 
 Union Pickets Protected 
 
 Under former administrations, whenever trouble and disturb- 
 ance arose on account of picketing " unfair " business houses by 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 569 
 
 organized labor, the police always arrested and the police magis- 
 trate would convict and fine the pickets. It was always the 
 pickets who caused the disturbance, apparently. Under this ad- 
 ministration, whenever picketing is to be done, organized labor 
 notifies the mayor and plainclothes men are detailed to see that 
 that picket is not assaulted. If trouble starts, the order is to 
 arrest the aggressor. It has always been thugs in employ of the 
 picketed merchant who have started trouble, and these have been 
 arrested and fined. We have no more disturbances of this nature 
 now. Union pickets are not molested. The same policy has been 
 followed in case of street speaking. All speakers are protected, 
 and every manifestation of a disposition to start a fight or dis- 
 turbance is instantly quelled by the arrest of the provoker of 
 the disturbance. 
 
 Red Light Policies 
 
 For many years there has been a restricted (red light) district 
 in Butte. Under old party administrations, the keepers and 
 women of this district were required to pay monthly tribute to 
 the city. In addition to this, some of the police and detectives 
 were accustomed to make easy money by blackmailing the women 
 and taking graft for protection of criminals. . . . The Socialist 
 administration put a stop to all this at once. We refused to 
 derive any city revenue from this blood-money and dismissed 
 policemen convicted of such grafting. 
 
 One of our first orders was to close every dance hall in the 
 district, to suppress all music and brilliant lights to attract trade, 
 to keep messenger boys out of the district, and to discontinue 
 the electric messenger calls. At the same time, every wine room 
 in the city was ordered to remove its closed booths, and every 
 saloon forbidden to dispense intoxicants to women or minors. . . . 
 
 We have succeeded. The liquor traffic is driven out of the 
 restricted district. . . . 
 
 7. SOCIALIST ADMINISTRATION IN SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK 
 
 The one Eastern city so far to have "gone Socialist" 
 is Schenectady, New York, where George E. Lunn was 
 elected mayor in the fall of 1911. "We print salient ex- 
 
570 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tracts from his message of February, 1913, which sum up 
 the accomplishments of the administration; and we give 
 also the most important planks of the platform of 1913, 
 when the city government failed of re-election. In 1915, 
 however, Lunn was again elected mayor. 
 
 a. Mayor Lunn's Message, February, 1913 
 
 No single municipal or group of municipalities can inaugurate 
 Socialism. . . . Not yet is this possible. What we can do, how- 
 ever, is to take advantage of the glorious opportunity open to 
 the Socialists of Schenectady of demonstrating to the people of 
 this city and country at large the spirit of Socialism and the 
 application of Socialist principles so far as that is possible under 
 the handicap of laws framed to establish and sustain the capitalist 
 system. We can show that Socialism is a comprehensive move- 
 ment which knits together the sporadic attempts of reformers, 
 includes all that is really progressive in their proposals, but 
 treats them in a constructive, orderly way on the basis of a 
 general social philosophy, instead of in a haphazard manner on 
 the basis of political log-rolling. . . . 
 
 This has been the spirit of the present administration. We 
 recognize that our accomplishments have been decidedly limited 
 by reason of handicaps and barriers purposely thrown in our 
 way by those who regard private business as more important than 
 community welfare. 
 
 As an illustration, the city sold ice at a cost greatly reduced 
 below that charged by the private dealers. We were, however, 
 restrained in this project by a court order, notwithstanding the 
 fact that it was an endeavor in the interests of all our people 
 and for their distinct benefit. 
 
 City's Operating Cost Reduced 
 
 The present administration began its term with a budget some 
 $37,000 larger than the budget of the year 1911, but the budget 
 for 1912 included items for bond redemption and interest, amount- 
 ing to $60,000 above that for the same item in the budget of 
 1911, thereby making the 1912 budget actually less in the way 
 of operating cost for the city's business. We were able to do 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 571 
 
 this by cutting expenses at every point possible in the interest 
 of true economy. Superfluous positions were eliminated. 
 
 Laborers Given Another Wage Increase 
 
 Notwithstanding the increase which was made by the adminis- 
 tration at the beginning of 1912, raising the pay of laborers 
 from $1.75 to $2.00 per day, we have made still another advance, 
 so that laborers hereafter shall receive $2.25 per day. 
 
 No Political Favors Bestowed 
 
 We have not allowed our political power to influence us in 
 awarding favors. We endeavor to treat every case squarely on 
 its merits. As a matter of fact, no Socialist head of department 
 or deputy has been increased. . . . 
 
 Milk Inspection Reorganized 
 
 . . . The department now requires the services of a milk 
 inspector with special training in chemistry and bacteriology 
 and a knowledge of their application to the producer as well as 
 the dispenser. Careful inspections are regularly made of the 
 dairies, as well as of the peddlers, and higher standards of milk 
 purity demanded from the dairies. . . . 
 
 One of the innovations of this administration, called by our 
 opponents one of our fads and fancies, was that of a maternity 
 and infancy nurse, one of the most necessary positions in an up-to- 
 date health department. 
 
 The new department of chemistry is another accessory to a 
 better sanitation. . . . We have also established in the last year 
 a dental clinic. . . . 
 
 Another accomplishment in the health department has been 
 the establishment of a free municipal dispensary. . . . 
 
 Within the charities department excellent work has been accom- 
 plished by establishing a municipal store where the needy poor 
 of the city have received provisions instead of money. . . . 
 
 In this department a municipal lodging house has been estab- 
 lished and fully equipped and is now being efficiently operated. 
 
 In order to co-ordinate the existing agencies and to provide 
 
572 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 machinery for carrying out the larger purposes of a twentieth- 
 century city, we have created a new city department known as 
 the hoard of public welfare. 
 
 Public Works Makes Splendid Showing 
 
 In the department of public works a splendid showing has 
 been made. The streets have been cleaned better and at less , 
 expense than in previous years. The streets were in a deplorable 
 condition when the present administration took office, no cleaning 
 whatever having been done from November 7, 1911 (election 
 night) untU January 1, 1912. The pavement repairs have been 
 made at a much less cost. The asphalt patching under the previ- 
 ous Democratic administration, cost the city $2.16 a square yard. 
 Under the present Socialist administration the cost has been 
 $1.16 per square yard, the same firm, the Schenectady Contract- 
 ing Company, doing the work. This one item has saved the city 
 $10,265. 
 
 Garbage Disposal Plant At Last 
 
 I am glad to report that the plans for a garbage disposal plant 
 are well under way and that the city will possess one of the most 
 up-to-date plants before the end of the present year. We have 
 arranged in the budget for the collection of garbage and ashes 
 at the city's expense. 
 
 We look back upon a year of hard work on the part of all 
 connected with the city government, but we also know that there 
 has been definite accomplishment in the way of efflcient admin- 
 istration. 
 
 b. Municipal Platform of the Schenectady Socialist Party, 
 
 1913 
 
 The Socialist Party of the city of Schenectady reaffirms its 
 adherence to the principles of Socialism as set forth in the 
 national platform of the Socialist Party. We realize that to 
 elect our candidates in this municipal election would not bring 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 573 
 
 Socialism; but we eiIso realize that all hope of improving local 
 conditions for the mass of the people depends on the application 
 of Socialist principles and methods to municipal affairs, and it 
 is to this end that the Socialist Party and its candidates are 
 pledged. 
 
 Municipal Ownership 
 
 We declare for municipal ownership and democratic manage- 
 ment of all municipal utilities which are now privately owned, 
 such as the electric light, power and public transportation system, 
 gas, ice and cold storage plants, slaughter-houses, and coal yards, 
 to the end that the cost of the service be reduced, the wages of 
 the employees increased, the hours of labor shortened, and the 
 service improved. Pending the time when municipal ownership 
 is possible, we favor granting franchises only on condition that 
 the city be adequately compensated. 
 
 Home Rule 
 
 We demand the enactment of such amendments to the state 
 constitution as will allow cities the power to frame their own 
 charters, establish municipal ownership of public utilities and 
 conduct city business without interference from the state legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Initiative and Beferendum 
 
 Pending the time when the great principle of the initiative 
 and referendum shall be established by the state law, we pledge 
 ourselves for another two years to work out some plan whereby 
 every citizen of the city shall be able to express his or her wish 
 on every important question of public welfare, and such majority 
 expression shall be mandatory upon our elected public officials. 
 Also some plan whereby a given number of citizens may bring 
 before the administration officials matters which they believe to 
 be of importance. 
 
 Public Work 
 
 We pledge ourselves to the further extension of direct employ- 
 ment of labor used on public work and to continue the purchase 
 of such equipment as will enable the city to do all its own 
 grading, paving, and repairing of streets, laying of water and 
 
574 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 sewer mains, and erection of public buildings, so that the extrava- 
 gant and unsatisfactory contract system may be abolished. 
 
 We further pledge ourselves to continue our policy of increas- 
 ing the efSciency of this department, and of raising the standard 
 of the employees by establishing a rate of wages consistent with 
 the high cost of living. 
 
 We declare in favor of the employment of organized labor on 
 all public work, and pledge ourselves to give legal preference to 
 fair employers. 
 
 Education 
 
 . . . We pledge ourselves to extend the free text-books and 
 supplies to the high school; and to open the buildings to civic 
 clubs and as social centers. In order to increase teaching efil- 
 ciency we pledge ourselves tc extend the system of free lunches, 
 reduce the size of classes, and again increase the teachers' salaries. 
 
 Parks, Playgrounds, and Recreation 
 
 We pledge ourselves to liberal continuation of our park and 
 playground policy, so that there shall be a playground at every 
 school with a minimum of 40 square feet for each child, and 
 at least a small park within a half mile of every home in the 
 city. We propose more indoor and outdoor public concerts and 
 lectures, and in addition municipal dances, moving pictures, and 
 other popular entertainments. 
 
 Police Power 
 
 . . . We believe that the police power of the city should be 
 utilized to the advantage of the great mass of the people, and 
 during industrial strife should never be exercised to encourage 
 strike-breakers and thugs. 
 
 We pledge ourselves to continue the policy of fair treatment 
 and public trial that we have accorded members of the fire and 
 police departments. 
 
 Public Health 
 
 . . . We will maintain and extend the municipal laboratory for 
 testing milk and other foods and drugs; the municipal milk sta- 
 tion and maternity nursing; the municipal dental dispensary; 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 575 
 
 improved food, tenement, sanitary and milk inspection ; free anti- 
 toxins; and, if necessary, additional physicians and medicines, 
 school medical examiners and nurses. 
 
 We declare that in addition to the shower baths and swimming 
 pools which we have established in the new schools the city should 
 have a municipal bathhouse. 
 
 Taxation 
 
 ... To provide the necessary revenues for such new public 
 functions as parks, playgrounds, garbage collection, gymnasiums, 
 nurses, food and health protection, we declare for enforcement 
 of the general and personal tax laws equally upon all, for gradual 
 elimination of taxes on improvements, and such taxation of land 
 values as will gradually appropriate to the public service the 
 increment arising from growth of population and public im- 
 provements. 
 
 8. SOCIALIST ADMINISTRATION IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 
 
 As the largest American city that has ever come under 
 Socialist control, Milwaukee still remains the type of the 
 Socialist municipality in this country. In this city Emil 
 Seidel was elected mayor in April, 1910, supported by an 
 administration almost completely Socialist. In 1912 they 
 were driven out by a coalition of the old parties, and 
 though the Socialists are still represented in the city gov- 
 ernment, they have never so far regained their power. 
 
 Leaving details for a later page, we print here from 
 Mayor Seidel 's first message only enough to show the spirit 
 of the administration and its attitude toward labor. 
 
 a. From Mayor Seidel' s Message, April, 1910 
 
 ... I cannot too strongly impress upon you the saeredness of 
 the trust placed upon you. All your efforts must be bent towards 
 the execution of the task before you. Many obstacles will be 
 placed in your way. Disappointments and heartaches will not 
 
576 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 be spared you. Your successes may very often not follow your 
 first attempts. But resolute pluck and determined perseverance 
 must in the end conquer the difficulties that face you. 
 
 ... At all times the heads of the various city departments 
 should be vigilant, and every worker should understand that in 
 doing his work to the utmost of his ability he is contributing to 
 the eflSciency of the city government. . . . 
 
 Labor 
 
 The workers of our city are its most valuable asset. Your 
 attention should be directed to the passage of such measures as 
 will promote the well-being of this class of citizens, safeguard 
 health, check any tendency to encroach upon such few rights as 
 the workers still enjoy, and wherever possible extend for them 
 the opportunity of life. 
 
 In this direction a number of steps can be taken. The admin- 
 istration should constantly watch over the conditions prevailing 
 in factories, workshops, and places of employment, with regard 
 to sanitation. There should at all times be a full and hearty 
 co-operation with state factory inspectors in the enforcement of 
 measures providing for industrial hygiene. 
 
 Therefore, in contracts to be let by the city, the specifications 
 should provide for hours of labor that are not exhausting, that 
 leave a margin of time for rest and development. Such specifica- 
 tions should also provide for sufficiency of light and ventilation; 
 they should prohibit child labor and properly protect woman 
 labor, and prevent the imposition upon workers of degrading con- 
 ditions. 
 
 The city has police powers enabling it to enforce the ordinance 
 which makes the carrying of concealed weapons unlawful. This 
 ordinance should be strictly enforced. Our population is law- 
 abiding and well able to handle its own affairs. The practice of 
 bringing armed hirelings into the city of Milwaukee to mingle 
 with a population that is peace-loving, has cost loss of life and 
 should be stopped. Our difficulties should be settled by appeals 
 to reason. . . . (Italics ours.) 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 
 
 577 
 
 b. TJie Municipal Platform of Milwaukee 
 
 Instead of printing verbatim the Milwaukee Platform 
 of 1910, we give the comparison of this platform, plank 
 by plank, with the actual achievements of the administra- 
 tion during two years. The comparison is taken from the 
 Municipal Campaign Book of 1912. 
 
 The Platform 
 
 1. We demand — new char- 
 ter, complete home rule, initia- 
 tive, referendum, recall. 
 
 2. Ownership and operation 
 of public service enterprises as 
 far and as fast as state laws 
 will permit. 
 
 3. Equitable taxation — ^big 
 corporations to pay their right- 
 ful share. 
 
 The Record 
 
 1. Forty different bills sent 
 to the legislature, which were 
 calculated to secure some meas- 
 ure of home rule; proposed 
 amendment to the constitution 
 introduced, also general home 
 rule bill; a number of charter 
 amendments adopted as result 
 of strenuous fight of Social 
 Democrats, among them one 
 providing for initiative and 
 referendum. 
 
 2. rirst unit of the electric 
 lighting plant under construc- 
 tion at garbage plant. Con- 
 tracts for the machinery for 
 main plant let. Budget for 
 1912 includes issue of $100,000 
 in bonds and $300,000 worth 
 of mortgage certificates for 
 completion of plant. 
 
 3. Tax commissioner's office 
 held by a Dave Ross Demo- 
 cratic hold-over politician, 
 Frank B. Schutz. Social Dem- 
 ocrats did not secure control of 
 this department until January 
 1, 1912. Efforts made to se- 
 cure tax experts — ^blocked by 
 
578 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 4. Slaughter-house and mu- 
 nicipal markets. 
 
 5. Direct employment — abo- 
 lition of contract system. 
 
 6. Firemen and policemen 
 to have fair treatment and pub- 
 lic trial before being dis- 
 charged. 
 
 7. The city shall pay fair 
 wages, not less than union 
 scale. 
 
 8. Election day public holi- 
 day. 
 
 9. City shall provide for its 
 unemployed. 
 
 Republicans and Democrats in 
 state legislature. Readjustment 
 of basis of taxation to true or 
 full value as required by law. 
 Millions of dollars' worth of 
 property discovered by Social 
 Democrats subject to taxation, 
 but omitted from the roll by 
 Democratic tax department. 
 
 4. Bills covering these points 
 introduced at the last session 
 of legislature. Killed by old 
 parties. Commission appointed 
 and at work on plans. 
 
 5. Public works department 
 submitted carefully prepared 
 plans involving the purchase of 
 materials and machinery in or- 
 der that city might do its own 
 paving. Three-fourths vote 
 necessary to carry the proposi- 
 tion; minority defeated the 
 plan. A beginning made in the 
 asphalt repair department. 
 
 6. Law secured and put into 
 operation. 
 
 7. Minimum wage estab- 
 lished and union scale for all 
 city employees. 
 
 8. Law enacted for half- 
 holiday on election day. 
 
 9. Co-operation of the ad- 
 ministration with Federated 
 Trades Council, Associated 
 Charities, Merchants and Man- 
 ufacturers' Association to re- 
 lieve unemployed. Assisted in 
 the establishment of a free em- 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 
 
 579 
 
 10. Municipal stone quarry. 
 
 11. Municipal wood and coal 
 yard. 
 
 12. Municipal ice plant. 
 
 13. Annexation of territory. 
 
 14. City planning for better 
 housing. 
 
 15. Redistricting of city 
 wards. 
 
 16. Municipal terminal. 
 
 17. Extension of free med- 
 ical service. 
 
 18. For personal liberty and 
 against vice. 
 
 19. Comfort stations. 
 
 20. Municipal plumbing and 
 sewerage. 
 
 plojrment bureau now devel- 
 oped into an organization cov- 
 ering the entire state. Most ef- 
 fective of its kind in America. 
 
 10. Resolution for the pur- 
 chase of the Zimmerman site 
 passed council. Provision in 
 budget. 
 
 11. Awaiting proper public 
 control of transportation and 
 actual resources. 
 
 12. Constitutionality of law 
 giving city right to establish 
 being tested in the courts. 
 
 13. Several portions an- 
 nexed. 
 
 14. Metropolitan Park Com- 
 mission, now called the City 
 Planning Commission, at work 
 on plan. Also land commission 
 appointed. 
 
 15. Accomplished. 
 
 16. Defeated by referendum. 
 
 17. New isolation hospital 
 established; Blue Mound San- 
 itarium taken over by the 
 county ; tuberculosis commis- 
 sion co-ordinating forcjes for 
 help in fight on that dread dis- 
 ease; child welfare work estab- 
 lished. 
 
 18. Many disreputable sa- 
 loons put out of business. 
 
 19. The first comfort station 
 erected and in operation at 
 First Avenue Viaduct. 
 
 20. Enabling law defeated 
 by the legislature. 
 
580 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 21. Reorganization of the 
 sewerage system. 
 
 22. Small parks and play- 
 grounds, 
 
 23. Larger development and 
 use of public schools favored 
 — free text-books — social cen- 
 ters. 
 
 24. Public recreations and 
 amusements. 
 
 21. Report of sewerage 
 commission received and plans 
 being made for consolidation 
 of the water department and 
 sewerage department to enable 
 the carrying out of recom- 
 mendations. 
 
 22. Fifth Ward Park and 
 playground on south side. 
 City forester engaged. 
 
 23. Larger appropriations 
 for public schools made by So- 
 cial Democrats than ever be- 
 fore. County board sets aside 
 $5,000 to be used for the feed- 
 ing of under-nursed school 
 children. Twenty-one school 
 buildings opened for social, 
 civic, and neighborhood clubs. 
 
 24. Concerts given in audi- 
 torium Sunday afternoons dur- 
 ing the winter months. Park 
 concerts extended. 
 
 Vn. SIDNEY WEBB ON MUNICIPAL TAXATION* 
 
 Mr. Webb here dwells on the folly of the low taxation 
 fetish : 
 
 Taxes 
 
 We must bear in mind that although we want to facilitate 
 additional expenditure, and perhaps — just by way of greasing 
 the wheels — to effect a small reduction in the hardest cases, we 
 ought not to try generally to reduce the local rates to any great 
 extent. Whatever may be the truth as to the real incidence of 
 rates, nothing is more certain than that any great reduction 
 benefits the landlord, and the landlord almost exclusively. Reduce 
 
 * From Fabian Tract No. 172, " What about the Rates," by Sidney 
 Webb. 
 
"MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM" 581 
 
 the rates in Ancoats by twenty-five per cent and the laborer in 
 the Ancoats slum will pay not a farthing less for the weekly 
 rent of his wretched hovel — the slum owner will get the whole 
 benefit of the reduction. Eeduce the rates on agricultural land, 
 as the Conservatives and Tariff Reformers are always proposing — 
 does anyone suppose that the agricultural laborer will pay less 
 for his cottage, or get a rise of wages? Reduce the rates in the 
 coal-mining districts, so that the colliery companies have to pay 
 less on the miners' cottages — ^is there any reason to suppose that 
 the miner will be charged a lower rent, or that he will get a 
 higher price per ton for hewing? A reduction of rates may help 
 the peasant proprietor or the man who owns a freehold house. 
 But so long as we are nearly all in the position of having to 
 pay rent to a private landlord or house owner — especially where, 
 as is the case with regard to more than half the population (and 
 the poorest half), the rent is collected weekly — to expect that 
 the wage-earner will benefit by reducing the charge made on the 
 owner is like looking to get butter out of a dog's mouth. . . . 
 
 The Real Prop; of Municipal Enterprise 
 
 Thus, my final conclusion is that we must meet the ratepayer 
 face to face and educate him on the question. Courage and clear 
 thinking, and some capacity for popular explanation, must remain 
 a necessary part of the equipment of the elected councilor. The 
 ratepayer, after all, gets far more in return for his rates than 
 he does for any other part of his expenditure. If you won't pay 
 an adequate education rate, you will have to pay a higher poor 
 rate and police rate. If you won't pay a proper public health 
 rate, you will certainly pay tenfold in sickness rate and death 
 rate. Mr. Chamberlain successfully fought his municipal battles 
 at Birmingham forty years ago on the war-cry of " Higher rates 
 and a healthy city." Can anyone doubt that this policy has been 
 proved to " pay " at Birmingham ; to pay even the Birmingham 
 ratepayer and the Birmingham property owner? What city is 
 going to own that it is less enlightened than Birmingham? 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 CO-OPERATION 
 
 The co-operative control of industry by groups of pro- 
 ducers or consumers is often proposed as a possible alterrM- 
 tive to Socialism. That this is not the Socialist view is 
 shown by the fact that Socialists indorse this movement 
 wherever it seems to be practicable. They have greatly 
 aided it in Great Britain and have been its chief pro- 
 moters in Belgium. In the United States, however, 
 modern industry reached its present highly organized con- 
 dition, including the great department stores and other 
 large retail stores, before co-operation was inaugurated on 
 any large scale. As a consequence, many American So- 
 cialists doubt the practical importance of the co-operative 
 movement in this country — as the discussion at the Amer- 
 ican Congress of 1913 (from which we quote) demon- 
 strates. 
 
 I. RESOLUTION OP INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP 
 COPENHAGEN, 1910 
 
 The International Congress of Copenhagen (1910) 
 adopted the following resolution on co-operative societies: 
 
 Taking into consideration that distributive co-operative socie- 
 ties are not only able to secure for their members immediate 
 material advantages, but are also capable of first increasing the 
 influence of the proletariat by the elimination of private com- 
 mercial enterprise, and, secondly, by bettering the condition of 
 the working-classes by means of productive services organized by 
 themselves and by educating the workers in the independent dem- 
 
 583 
 
CO-OPERATION 583 
 
 ocratic management of social means of exchange and production; 
 
 Considering also that co-operation alone is incapable of realiz- 
 ing the aim of Socialism, which is the acquisition of political 
 power for the purpose of collective ownership of the means of 
 production ; 
 
 This Congress declares, while warning the working-classes 
 against the theory which maintains that co-operation is in itself 
 sufficient, that the working-class has the strongest interest in 
 utilizing the weapon of co-operation in the class struggle and 
 urges all Socialists and all members of trade-unions to take part 
 in the co-operative movement, in order to develop themselves in 
 the spirit of Socialism and keep the co-operative societies from 
 any deviation from the path of education and the promotion of 
 working-class solidarity. 
 
 The Socialist members of co-operative societies are urged to 
 endeavor in these societies to see that the profits are not entirely 
 returned to the members, but that part is devoted, either by the 
 society itself or by the federation of wholesale societies, to the 
 development of production and to education and instruction, in 
 order : 
 
 1. That the conditions of wages and work in the co-operative 
 societies shall be regulated in accordance with trade-union rules. 
 
 2. That the organization of the conditions of employment in 
 co-operative societies shall be the best possible, and that no pur- 
 chases of goods shall be made without regard to the condition of 
 the producers. 
 
 It is left to the co-operative organizations of each country to 
 decide for themselves whether and to what extent they will aid 
 from their resources the political and trade-union movement. 
 
 Furthermore, being convinced that the services which co-opera- 
 tion can render to the working-class will be the greater in pro- 
 portion as the co-operative movement is itself strong and united, 
 the Congress declares that it is desirable that the co-operative 
 societies of each country which is constituted on this basis and 
 subscribes to this present resolution should form a single federa- 
 tion. 
 
 It declares, besides, that the working-class in its struggle against 
 capitalism is especially concerned that trade-unions, co-operative 
 societies, and the Socialist Party, while preserving each its own 
 unity and autonomy, should enter into relations more and more 
 intimate with one another. 
 
584 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 11. THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST CONVENTION OF 1912 
 
 The following reports and discussion show an attitude 
 among American Socialists toward co-operatives that is 
 friendly, though not enthusiastic. 
 
 1. THE MAJORITY REPORT ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION 
 
 Just as the labor unions fight for industrial self-control for 
 the working-class, the Socialist Party for political self-control, 
 and the labor and Socialist press for intellectual self-control 
 for the workers, so the co-operative movement fights for an in- 
 creasing degree of economic self-control for the workers through 
 the ownership and use of industrial and commercial capital by 
 organized groups of the workers. 
 
 The development Eind successful operation of the co-operative 
 movement in connection with the international labor movement is 
 an historical fact, which cannot be disputed. While in some 
 countries it may seem for the time being to have checked other 
 lines of working-class activity, it seems to be true also that 
 " the economic power of a class at a given stage of development 
 turns into political power." 
 
 The value of the co-operative movement to the working-class 
 has been recognized by the Socialist Party, though reluctantly 
 at first. It was recently so recognized at the Copenhagen Con- 
 gress in 1910, the American delegates voting for the resolution. 
 
 Following the path of other national organizations of the So- 
 cialist Party, the Socialist Party of America must recognize the 
 fact of the existence on the American continent of a successful 
 co-operative movement, though it has not as yet been brought 
 into any unified form. 
 
 Your committee has not been able to gather any adequate data, 
 but is informed, from the personal knowledge of those who came 
 before the committee, of distributive co-operatives doing a total 
 business of not less than twenty million dollars a year, in only 
 a few of the states of the Union. Nearly one thousand local 
 organizations are within the knowledge of those reporting these 
 facts to your committee, which are operating successfully. 
 
 That there is still room within the developing processes of the 
 
CO-OPERATION 585 
 
 capitalist system in this country for the inauguration and build- 
 ing up of a strong and successful co-operative movement is 
 evident from the facts already adduced, especially in view of other 
 and as yet unverified statements which are nevertheless largely of 
 common knowledge. 
 
 The benefits claimed by those most closely connected with the 
 international co-operative movement are threefold, and relate to: 
 
 1. The furnishing of an improved quality of food and other 
 supplies to the co-operators; 
 
 2. The actual increase of the economic resources of the co- 
 operators, through the control of their own purchasing power, 
 and the building up of reserve funds which have been of great 
 service to the industrial and political arms of the labor movement ; 
 
 3. The training of members of the working-class in the 
 processes of industrial and commercial administrative work, and 
 developing this new capacity among them, thus proving that it 
 is possible not only to do without the capitalist's capital but also 
 to do without his alleged superior intelligence. 
 
 The most successful co-operatives in America seem to be among 
 the groups of foreign-speaking workers of the same nationality, 
 who furnish a community highly homogeneous, having similar 
 habits and customs of life; and among the farmers, who find it 
 possible to combine at once their buying and selling powers in 
 the same organization. 
 
 In view of the failures which have occurred in this and other 
 countries in connection with the efforts to establish co-operatives, 
 we recommend that a committee of five persons be elected by this 
 Convention, not confined to delegates in the Convention, who 
 shall be given the assistance of the national office in making an 
 investigation into the facts concerning the co-operative movement; 
 the committee to make a special effort to ascertain what bearing 
 the degree of industrial development and organization in any par- 
 ticular locality has upon the operation of co-operation in that 
 locality ; to make tentative reports from time to time through the 
 national office and the party press; and to make a final report at 
 the next national convention. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE DKINK QUESTION 
 
 Socialists sympathize with the attack on the liquor in- 
 terests, since they sympathize with every attack on the 
 interests and every assault on political corruption. They 
 also desire to see the working-people keep in the maximum 
 state of physical and mental efficiency. On the other hand, 
 Socialists have always been ardent advocates of personal 
 liberty in every form. The Socialist attitude to this ques- 
 tion is further complicated by the fact that a large number 
 of working-people are engaged in the manufacture of alco- 
 holic beverages and would have to accept lower salaries 
 at other employments if they lost these positions. The 
 labor unions representing these employments are therefore 
 opposed to all radically restrictive measures. 
 
 There can be little question that the majority of So- 
 cialist parties demand either the nationalization of the 
 drink traffic or a very rigid governmental control. More- 
 over, the question has been generally recognized by Social- 
 ists as of growing importance, and was to have been acted 
 on by the proposed Congress of Vienna which was to have 
 been held in 1914. The report to this Congress (which we 
 reproduce) would probably have been adopted, though the 
 Congress would have been very evenly divided on the sub- 
 ject. The general Socialist position is further illustrated 
 by the discussion at the French Congress in instructing its 
 delegates to the proposed International Congress at Vienna. 
 
 The American Party, on the other hand, although it is 
 almost evenly divided on the subject, has taken a position 
 
 586 
 
THE DRINK QUESTION 587 
 
 which seems directed against the Prohibition movement, 
 and yet it proposes no alternative remedy for the situation 
 except the very general one of Socialism. Of course So- 
 cialism may also be offered as the Socialist remedy to all 
 the other problems with which we have been concerned in 
 preceding chapters. But the Socialist parties have favored 
 special remedies for all these special problems, and there 
 is every reason to suppose, as Vandervelde's report sug- 
 gests, that in all the leading countries they will soon in- 
 dorse special remedies for the drink evil, and that in most 
 countries it will be along the lines of this report and the 
 resolution of the French Congress — ^though the influence of 
 the wage-earners engaged in the manufacture of alcoholic 
 beverages prevents the reaching of a well-defined interna- 
 tional decision at the present time. 
 
 I. REPORT TO THE PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP 
 VIENNA, 1914 
 
 The report to the proposed International Congress to be 
 held at Vienna (1914) on this question, drawn up by 
 Vandervelde, presents the following conclusions : 
 
 (1) Alcohol, ethylie alcohol, is a poison, like morphine or 
 arsenic. 
 
 (2) Apart from cases where it can be prescribed medically, it 
 would not be a question of distinguishing between its use and 
 abuse: to take a little is to take a little of what is bad; to take 
 much is to do injury to oneself. 
 
 (3) All drinks containing alcohol — ^wine, beer, eider — are more 
 or less harmful. Their degree of harmfulness depends upon their 
 alcoholic strength. Beers like Iambic, stout, uitzet, contain from 
 six to nine per cent of alcohol ; wines from ten to twenty per cent. 
 In many countries alcoholization by wines or beers causes more 
 disasters than alcoholization by spirits. 
 
 (4) It is not true to say that, imder the capitalist system, with 
 
588 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PKOBLEMS 
 
 its bad conditions of work and existence, the workers must inevita- 
 bly consume alcohol. It is the poorest, on the contrary, who will 
 have the strongest interest against the consumption of dear 
 drinks, containing next to nothing of nutritive element, but, on 
 the contrary, a dangerous poison. 
 
 (5) It is true that the workers, badly fed, badly housed, badly 
 treated from every point of view, are more inclined than others 
 to seek f orgetfulness of their sufferings and anxieties in alcoholic 
 narcotics. Consequently improvement in the conditions of exist- 
 ence for the proletariat is one of the most efficacious means of 
 fighting against alcoholism. 
 
 (6) By the side of this indirect action comes direct action, and 
 experience shows that this direct action gives serious and lasting 
 results, if it is led by men who preach by example, men who 
 are for the propaganda of deed, and who, without wanting an 
 excessive austerity for others, abstain totally and strictly them- 
 selves from all drinks containing alcohol, whether in wine, beer, 
 or other fermented liquor. 
 
 (7) We are personally inclined to believe that the form of 
 organization most suitable for the conduct of such direct action is 
 that of the Independent Order of Good Templars, which, being 
 politically neutral, leaves the most complete political liberty to 
 its lodges. At this moment several among them are affiliated to 
 the Socialist Party. 
 
 (8) The Socialist Good Templars, and other groups of Socialist 
 teetotalers, independently of their general action against alco- 
 holism, should assign to themselves a special mission for organ- 
 izing the propaganda inside the party itself, to act particularly 
 upon young militants, to convince their comrades of this fact, 
 that the depressing and paralyzing action of alcohol reduces the 
 fighting energy of the proletariat, and where it reaches a certain 
 degree it renders it incapable of all patient and sustained effort. 
 We say nothing about the resources which money spent on alcohol 
 takes away from the political and economic organization of the 
 workers. 
 
 Referring to these conclusions, the report states : 
 
 The International Congress is not asked to pronounce for these 
 theses by the vote of its majority. We recognize readily that 
 many among them lend themselves to controversy. If men of 
 
THE DRINK QUESTION 589 
 
 science are agreed in recognizing that large doses of alcohol con- 
 stitute a dangerous poison, they are not unanimous in admitting, 
 with Kraeplin, Smith, Forel, Laitinen, that even a moderate con- 
 sumption of wine or beer is not only useless, but harmful. The 
 decision on that point must rest with further experimental re- 
 searches, and not with a vote of the Congress; But what we can 
 ask, what we have the right to ask of the Socialist and Labor 
 International, is to pronounce distinctly in favor of direct action 
 against alcoholism, and to examine the best means of rendering 
 such action effective. 
 
 The report describes the efforts made in Belgium, 
 "where it is not water but beer which constitutes the 
 fourth element, ' ' and the difficulties of establishing lodges 
 of Socialist Good Templars, and the conclusion is that 
 "much more satisfactory results will be obtained from 
 the propaganda of abstinence than by moderation." 
 
 The report continues: 
 
 We shall certainly not make ourselves ridiculous by pretending 
 that a little beer or wine can appreciably hurt those who consume 
 it, even daily. In the course of our existence as Socialists we 
 undoubtedly do many things infinitely more prejudicial to our 
 health — if only in passing interminable evenings in the midst of 
 a thick smoke, in the poisoned atmosphere of meeting-places. 
 
 To speak frankly, we do not see, from the individual point of 
 view, a striking difference between the very moderate use of 
 beer or wine and complete abstention from alcoholic drinks. 
 
 If, therefore, we recommend total abstinence, it is less in 
 the interest of those who abstain than of those who abuse — less 
 from the object of individual hygiene than from social propa- 
 ganda. 
 
 It will not do, indeed, that the workers whom we counsel not 
 to drink alcohol in the form of brandy should be able to say 
 that it is only too easy to give them such advice, when we our- 
 selyes do not abstain from alcohol in the form of beer, burgundy, 
 or champagne. 
 
 We know well — the editorial staff of the Vorwaerts recalls it 
 slightingly — ^that for many of our comrades it is a sacriflee to tie 
 
590 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 themselves down, after a long day's work, not to drink anything 
 other than tea, seltzer-water, or lemonade. 
 
 But what is this trifling sacrifice in comparison with the unde- 
 niable advantages of a propaganda of deed which is thus able to 
 strike their imaginations? 
 
 Moreover, the " moderate drinker " who completely gives up 
 alcohol finds a personal advantage from a few months, even a 
 few weeks, of abstinence. No one will deny, indeed, that alcohol, 
 no matter how small the doses, and even when inoffensive to 
 manual workers, exercises a noxious influence, a paralyzing action 
 on the cerebral centers and on intellectual work. 
 
 Vandervelde had placed the following resolution on the 
 agenda of the Congress, and it is probable that it would 
 have been carried : 
 
 Granting the immense evil which alcohol inflicts on the working- 
 class by the ruination of its physical and moral health, the weak- 
 ening of its combative energy, and the absorption each year of 
 sums equal at least to those which are raised by the war budget: 
 
 The Congress considers that, even in the interest of the progress 
 of the Labor and Socialist movement, it is absolutely necessary 
 that the afiiliated parties should organize direct action against 
 alcoholism, thus acting entirely in the interests of the working- 
 class : 
 
 (1) By urging the militants, and particularly the Labor and 
 Socialist journals, to call the attention of the workers to the 
 danger of alcoholism more than has been done in the past ; 
 
 (2) By trying to obtain the suppression of all traffic in strong 
 drinks, or at least of spirits, on premises under the control of the 
 afiiliated organizations and parties; 
 
 (3) By promoting the establishment of groups, whose special 
 mission shall be to organize propaganda against alcoholism in 
 working-class centers; 
 
 (4) By encouraging the militants and groups which are against 
 alcohol to undertake a most energetic propaganda of deed by 
 themselves practicing abstinence from alcoholic drinks; 
 
 (5) By attacking alcohol in all its capitalist forms on legisla- 
 tive grownd. 
 
 The measures to he taken for this [last-mentioned] purpose, 
 
THE DEINK QUESTION 591 
 
 from the limitation of the number of licenses to complete prohibi- 
 tion, will naturally vary in different countries, and will depend 
 on the results already obtained by teetotal propaganda. But 
 everywhere the Labor and Socialist parties must put themselves 
 in the front rank of those who wish the workers to be freed from 
 the domination of the producers and retailers of alcohol. (Our 
 italics:) 
 
 n. THE FRENCH CONGRESS OP 1914 
 
 There was a strong difference of opinion at the Congress. 
 As the anti-alcohol faction won in Prance, where the wine 
 industry is so much more important than either the beer 
 industry in Germany or distilleries in other countries, there 
 can be little doubt that the cause of anti-alcoholism would 
 also have received strong support at the International Con- 
 gress of 1914 — had it been held. For in Europe, as in 
 America, it is only the brewery workmen and others in 
 parallel industries who prevent the workingmen taking a 
 progressive position on this great question. 
 
 The two remedies offered at the French Congress were 
 nationalization of the drink traffic and the limitation of 
 the number of drinking places. Nearly all speakers 
 favored the former measure. But the friends of alcohol 
 thought it sufficient, while its opponents wanted it supple- 
 mented and preceded by the second measure, as being 
 easier of accomplishment. 
 
 We take the following account from Le Peuple, the Bel- 
 gian Socialist daily: 
 
 "It is known that certain Socialistic deputies [in 
 France] voted against the bill limiting the number of 
 wine-shops. This is the course of reasoning of the the- 
 oretical opponents^ — narrow enough, in our opinion: 'AH 
 measures recommended against alcoholism miss their end. 
 The triumph of Socialism is the sole solution ! ' 
 
 "Lafont, who, as mayor of Firminy, adopted a policy 
 
592 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of control and restriction over the wine-shops, replied to 
 these arguments. He admitted, as do all important So- 
 cialists, that the causes for the greater part of the evil 
 that afflict the working-class have their origin in the cap- 
 italistic regime itself. However, he insists that no one 
 should neglect any possible means, however slight, of as- 
 sisting the workers to control and to educate themselves. 
 His plea against the dangerous multiplication of drinking- 
 places received the approval of the Congress. In the vote 
 taken, those for limiting the number of liquor shops were 
 1,518 ; opposed, 1,192 ; not voting, 202. 
 
 "The French delegates were instructed then to move a 
 similar resolution in the International Congress." 
 
 ni. THE AMERICAN CONVENTION OP 1912 
 
 The following resolution was adopted : 
 
 "The manufacture and sale for profit of intoxicating and adul- 
 terated liquors leads directly to many serious social evils. Intem- 
 perance in the use of alcoholic liquors weakens the physical, 
 mental, and moral powers. 
 
 We hold, therefore, that any excessive indulgence in intoxicat- 
 ing liquors by members of the working-class is a serious obstacle 
 to the triumph of our class since it impairs the vigor of the 
 fighters in the political and economic struggle, and we urge the 
 members of the working-class to avoid any indulgence which 
 might impair their ability to wage a successful political and 
 economic struggle, and so hinder the progress of the movement 
 for their emancipation. 
 
 We do not believe that the evils of alcoholism can be eradicated 
 by repressive m,easures or any extension of the police powers of 
 the capitalist state — alcoholism is a disease of which capitalism is 
 the chief cause. Poverty, overwork, and overworry necessarily 
 result in intemperance on the part of the victims. To abolish the 
 wage system with all its evils is the surest way to eliminate the 
 evils of alcoholism and the traffic in intoxicating liquor. (Our 
 italics.) 
 
THE DRINK QUESTION 593 
 
 In 1914 an investigation of the liquor traffic, in view of 
 the present prohibition agitation, was ordered by the Na- 
 tional Committee — after a bitter discussion, in which the 
 Committee showed itself to be very evenly divided on the 
 question. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE 
 
 Woman suffrage has always been advocated by Socialists, 
 and in some countries they have been its first supporters. 
 Seldom, however, has any party gone to the extent of the 
 British Labor Party Conference in 1913, where it declared 
 that it would not accept any extension of manhood suf- 
 frage unless woman suffrage was granted at the same time. 
 That the Labor Party (and so also the cause of woman 
 suffrage for which it stands) would be greatly strength- 
 ened by the extension of manhood suffrage seems evident, 
 since a large proportion of its members are at present 
 disfranchised. 
 
 The American Socialist Party has always been very 
 active in support of woman suffrage, though at the time 
 of the Wisconsin referendum this measure was badly de- 
 feated in the strongest Socialist wards in Milwaukee, indi- 
 cating that the Socialist voters, and perhaps the party 
 members also, are by no means unanimous on the question. 
 It may also be of interest to note in this connection that 
 one of the few sections in New York State which, in 1915, 
 gave a majority of votes to the suffrage cause was 
 Schenectady, the city which returned Dr. Geo. R. Lunn, 
 Socialist, to the mayoralty chair. Such opposition as has 
 been publicly voiced has been based on the probability that 
 many of the Catholic women would follow the Catholic 
 Church in its hostility to the Socialist Party. This argu- 
 ment is not considered as a sound one by the overwhelm- 
 ing majority of the American Socialists, who believe that 
 
 594 
 
WOMAN SUFFRAGE 595 
 
 these women would soon become enlightened in regard 
 to that which is advantageous both to themselves and to 
 the country. There was also a well-grounded fear on the 
 part of many employees engaged in the making and dis- 
 tributing of alcoholic beverages that the women would put 
 a large part of them out of employment. 
 
 I. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP STUTTGART, 1907 
 
 The International Socialist Congress resolved as follows : 
 
 The Congress greets with the utmost pleasure the First Inter- 
 national Socialist Women's Conference, and expresses its entire 
 solidarity with the demands concerning woman suffrage, put for- 
 ward by it. The Congress, in particular, declares: 
 
 It is the duty of Socialist parties of aU countries to agitate 
 most energetically for the introduction of universal womanhood 
 suffrage. The Socialist Party repudiates limited woman suf- 
 frage as an adulteration of and a caricature upon the principle 
 of political equality of the female sex. It fights for the sole 
 living concrete expression of this principle, namely, universal 
 womanhood suffrage, which should belong to all women of age 
 and not be conditioned by property, taxation, education, or any 
 other qualification which would exclude members of the laboring 
 classes from the enjoyment of this right. The Socialist women 
 shall not carry on this struggle for complete equality of right to 
 vote in alliance with the middle-class women suffragists, 
 but in common with the Socialist parties, which insist upon 
 woman suffrage as one of the fundamental and most important 
 reforms for the full democratization of political franchise in 
 general. 
 
 It is the duty of all Socialist parties of all countries to agitate 
 strenuously for the introduction of universal womanhood suffrage. 
 Hence, the agitation for the democratization of the franchise to 
 the legislative and administrative bodies, both national and local, 
 must also embrace woman suffrage and must insist upon it, 
 whether it be carried on in Parliament or elsewhere. In those 
 countries where the democratization of manhood suffrage has al- 
 ready gone sufiSciently far, or is completely realized, the Socialist 
 
596 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 parties must raise a campaign in favor of universal woman- 
 hood suffrage, and in connection with it put, of course, for- 
 ward all those demands which we have yet to realize in the 
 interest of the full civil rights of the male portion of the prole- 
 tariat. 
 
 Although the International Socialist Congress cannot dictate 
 to any country a particular time at which a suffrage campaign 
 should be commenced, it, nevertheless, declares that when such 
 a campaign is instituted in any country, it should proceed on the 
 general Social Democratic lines of universal adult suffrage without 
 distinction and nothing less. 
 
 The Congress thus condemned the limited or "lady" suf- 
 frage bill advocated by many British suffragists, including 
 some Socialists. 
 
 n. THE CONFERENCE OF THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY, 1913 
 
 Mr. H. J. Rolf [Bast Ham L. R. C] moved the foUovr- 
 ing composite resolution : 
 
 "That this Conference re-affirms its previous decisions 
 regarding the enfranchisement of women, deplores the 
 position created by the ruling of the speaker, considers 
 that the pledge of the prime minister can only be ade- 
 quately and safely redeemed by the Government providing 
 facilities during the coming session for a free vote of the 
 House of Commons on a woman's measure, and should it 
 obtain a second reading the Government becoming re- 
 sponsible for it through all its subsequent stages. 
 
 "It calls upon the Parliamentary Party to do all in its 
 power to expedite the passage of a bill during the coming 
 session, giving votes to women on a broad and democratic 
 basis. ' ' 
 
 Mr. H. Dubery [I. L. P.] moved the following amend- 
 ment: 
 
WOMAN SUFFRAGE 597 
 
 "To add: It further calls upon the party in Parliament 
 to oppose any franchise bill in which women are not 
 included. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Dubery declared that the jBrst step was to bring in 
 a franchise bill for women; that it was the women who 
 had made that demand, and they who would reap the 
 reward. He appealed to the Conference to have the Par- 
 liamentary Party refuse in the future to deal with men's 
 suffrage bills, but to make women the first point of all. 
 
 Mr. "W. Thorne, M. P. [Gasworkers] declared that he 
 did not care what the Conference decided, but that they 
 should decide definitely on some course of action. 
 
 W. S. Sanders [Fabian Society] stated that the cause 
 of woman suffrage had been sold, and that it was the 
 business of Parliament or the Government to make good 
 the promise that had not been kept. There was only one 
 way to do that and that was to say that so serious did they 
 think this conscious or unconscious breaking of the pledge 
 to women, they must put that question first and foremost 
 in any matter referring to the alteration of the franchise. 
 The Liberals had refused to do that and the Conserva- 
 tives would not do it. Both parties were divided. The 
 one party which h&,d kept any respect for politics in the 
 hearts and minds of the women was the Labor Party. If 
 the Labor Party failed the women, no longer could any of 
 the women engaged in politics be expected to believe that 
 their claims were being considered seriously. The women 
 members of the Fabian Society appealed to the Labor 
 Party to keep its record of sincerity and chivalry, and say 
 to the other parties: You are not prepared to keep your 
 word; we are prepared to go one better than our word. 
 Instead of saying that a bill without women would not be 
 acceptable, the party should say that a bill that did not 
 
598 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 confer the franchise on women would be opposed. If the 
 party did that they would not only revive the dying belief 
 of women in the sincerity of politics, but they would bring 
 to the support of the party that great new element which 
 he believed would do much to secure for the country what 
 the Labor Party was working for. 
 
 Mr. Stephen Walsh, M. P. [Miners' Federation], said 
 that no delegate could have listened to the speeches that 
 had been delivered without feeling the greatest possible 
 respect for the point of view taken up, but he wanted the 
 Conference to consider for one moment the position of the 
 members of Parliament who owed allegiance to the party 
 and who had been sent to Parliament on the pledges they 
 had given to their constituents in accordance with author- 
 ity derived from the Conference. What was the position? 
 For six years the Conference, year after year, had decided 
 in favor of adult suffrage. He placed adult suffrage in his 
 program in 1906 and in every election address since. He 
 was prepared to fight as strongly as he could for the in- 
 clusion of women on broad and democratic lines and for the 
 inclusion of men also; but his association and his constit- 
 uents had also a right to say that they expected him to 
 play the game. ... He would do all that lay in his power 
 along with his colleagues in the party to get women the 
 franchise on the broadest possible lines. . . . But to say 
 that if they did not succeed in so doing they should there- 
 fore refuse a bill that offered manifold advantages in other 
 directions was to ask them to submit to a strain which 
 hitherto they had never had imposed upon them. . . . 
 
 Mr. Philip Snowden, M. P. [I. L. P.], said that Mr. 
 Walsh's speech was surely the most extraordinary deliver- 
 ance ever made to a labor conference. His remarks were 
 usually distinguished by being logical, but that quality had 
 entirely deserted him on this occasion. The question 
 
WOMAN SUFTBAGE 599 
 
 "What does Mr. Walsh, mean by adult suffrage?" was a 
 pertinent one, but the only inference from Mr. Walsh's 
 remarks was that according to him adult suffrage meant 
 manhood suffrage. More than fifty years ago the House 
 of Lords declared that in all matters affecting the fran- 
 chise "person" meant "man," and "women" were not 
 "persons" in the eyes of the law. What did this resolu- 
 tion ask the Conference to do ? It began by asking the Con- 
 ference to reaffirm its former declarations. What were 
 they? According to Mr. Walsh, for six years the Con- 
 ference had advocated adult suffrage, and he [the speaker] 
 thought that he interpreted that aright when he said adult 
 suffrage meant men and women. Mr. Walsh asked : What 
 did the Conference declare last year? It declared that 
 no measure for the extension of the franchise would be 
 acceptable to the Labor Party unless it included women. 
 What was the present situation ? Up to the previous week 
 the women had been led to believe that if the House of 
 Commons gave a vote in favor of the enfranchisement of 
 women that the enfranchisement of women would become 
 a Government measure, and every member of the Govern- 
 ment was going to be pledged to support the bill in all its 
 stages. Mr. Asquith stated himself in the House of Com- 
 mons on Monday afternoon that anti-suffrage members of 
 the Government would be free in all the stages of the pri- 
 vate Member's Woman Suffrage Bill, not only to vote 
 against it, but to use their position to the utmost limit. 
 The Government had withdrawn from Mr. Asquith 's pledge, 
 and the women were in an infinitely worse position than 
 before. There was no man with five minutes' experience 
 of the House of Commons who believed for a single mo- 
 ment that there was a ghost of a chance of 6,000,000 or 
 8,000,000 women being enfranchised by a private Mem- 
 ber's Bill. Would the delegates have been satisfied when 
 
600 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 they made a demand for the repeal of the Taff Vale de- 
 cision, if they had been asked to rely upon a private 
 Member's Bill? This was a question as important in the 
 interests of the community and of the Labor section as 
 any question that could be raised. . . . The women had 
 been tricked long enough. In the words of the late Sir 
 Henry Campbell-Bannerman, "Enough of this fooling! 
 We will have no more of it." "Down with the Govern- 
 ment!" Let us say that the whole force of the Labor 
 movement will be on the side of the women in demanding 
 that the Government shall make this a government meas- 
 ure. That will be the only way in which to get a solution 
 of this important matter. It was said that it cannot be 
 made a government measure because the Cabinet is divided. 
 What was the Cabinet? Were they living in a democratic 
 country? Because Mr. Asquith and Mr. Harcourt were 
 opposed to votes for women, were their opinions to carry 
 more weight than that of 400 elected representatives in the 
 House of Commons? The Conference should say that if 
 the Government and the Cabinet stand in the way of the 
 expression of the will of the House of Commons, then the 
 Government and the Cabinet must give way. 
 
 The amendment was put and declared carried, the voting 
 being : 
 
 For 850,000 
 
 Against 437,000 
 
 The resolution, as amended, was then put and agreed to. 
 
 The Conference thus refused to accept further democ- 
 ratization of male suffrage unless accompanied by an ex- 
 tension of female suffrage. 
 
WOMAN SUPFEAGE 601 
 
 m. THE EESOLUTION OF CONGRESSMAN BERGEE, OF THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 On January 16, 1912, Congressman Berger introduced 
 in the House of Representatives the following joint reso- 
 lution, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of 
 the United States extending the right of suffrage to women : 
 
 "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives 
 of the United States of America in Congress assembled 
 (two-thirds of each House concurring therein). That the 
 following article is proposed as an amendment to the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, which, when ratified by the 
 legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, shall be 
 valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Con- 
 stitution : 
 
 '"Article . 
 
 " 'Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States 
 to vote shall not he denied or abridged iy the United States 
 or hy any state on account of sex. 
 
 ' ' ' Section 2. When the right to vote at any election for 
 the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of 
 the United States, Representatives in Congress, the execu- 
 tive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the 
 legislature thereof, is denied or in any way abridged on 
 the ground of sex, the basis of representation therein shall 
 be reduced in the proportion which the number of such 
 citizens shall bear to the whole number of male and female 
 citizens twenty-one years of age in such state,' " 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 PUBLIC EDUCATION 
 
 The Socialists' interest in education as a question of 
 practical politics has been twofold. They have fought for 
 the extension and improvement of public schools against 
 Catholic opponents, and they have opposed the efforts of 
 the employers and wealthy taxpayers to restrict the de- 
 velopment of the, schools financially and to convert them 
 into mere training places for the factories. We illustrate 
 the former problem by a report of the struggle of the Bel- 
 gian Socialists against the Catholics and the latter by the 
 discussion of the industrial education at the American 
 Party Congress of 1912. 
 
 I. STEUGGLE OP BELGIAN SOCIALISTS FOR N0N-SECTAEI4N 
 EDUCATION 
 
 Just before the elections of 1914 the Catholic Govern- 
 ment of Belgium, after a long and bitter fight, enacted 
 a new school bill. The public school policy exemplified in 
 this bill is one of the chief causes of the demand for the 
 abolition of plural voting and the establishment of equal 
 suffrage. A New York Times dispatch thus summarizes 
 the new law : 
 
 "The object of the measure is to endow the clerical 
 schools, the staffs of which are almost entirely composed 
 of monks, and it is computed that the desired subventions 
 to these clerical schools will amount annually to $5,000,000. 
 The bill also provides for subventions to the communal or 
 
 608 
 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 603 
 
 mmiicipal schools, but not nearly as liberally as for the 
 clerical schools. 
 
 "In Brussels, for instance, the state subvention for the 
 municipal schools will be $7.37 per scholar, but for the 
 clerical schools $13.72 per scholar. In Antwerp the sub- 
 vention for the clerical schools will amount to $75,000. 
 
 "In Belgium, as nowhere else in Europe — ^not even in 
 Spain — ^the church forms a political party with a defined 
 policy and with the proclaimed object of controlling the 
 state, hence the object of the Education Bill is to freeze 
 out, as much as possible, the schools started by the munici- 
 palities where there may be non-Catholic majorities. The 
 bait that is dangled before the poorer communities is that 
 by turning over their local schools, supported by municipal 
 taxation, to the teaching orders, they can save money. In 
 other words, the municipalities are asked to deliver their 
 children to clerical teachers in return for an exemption 
 from the local education tax. 
 
 "The bill does not provide for any state supervision of 
 the way the subventions may be spent, so that, to all in- 
 tents and purposes, the bill is practically an endowment 
 of the clerical schools." 
 
 It may be added that there are 15,240 denominational 
 and only 5,841 neutral school classes in the country. 
 
 1. MANIFESTO OF GENERAL COUNCIL OF LABOR PARTY AGAINST 
 THE LAW 
 
 By the projected school law now before the Belgian Chamber, 
 education is made compulsory. In most of the countries of 
 Europe this has passed into legislation more than thirty years ago, 
 and the opposition parties in Belgium have demanded it vainly 
 up to the present. , 
 
 Compelled by economic circumstances to institute this reform, 
 the Clerical Government wishes to prevent the intellectual emanci- 
 pation of the workers, which would normally result from the act, 
 
604 SOCIALIST PAETIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 by delivering elementary education into the bands of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 As all the popes who have succeeded to the papal chair since 
 the French Revolution have condemned our modem liberties, 
 notably the freedom of conscience, the Clericals cloak with the 
 pretense of liberty and equality their attempts against freedom 
 of thought and against the people. 
 
 They wish, they say, to secure for the heads of families the free 
 choice of the schools to which their children shall go. It is for 
 this object that the state will give new and considerable subsidies 
 to the private schools ! 
 
 But, from the preliminary report of the proposed act given 
 by M. Woeste, it appears that the state would refuse any subsidy 
 to a Socialist school or even to a school in which rational moral 
 instruction was given. Further, in our society, governed by the 
 powers of money, it is impossible to have liberty without prop- 
 erty. The poor and isolated workers are no more able to send 
 their children to the schools of their own choice than they are 
 to refuse or to accept the conditions of work offered them by the 
 employers. 
 
 On the other hand, the Catholic Government, by a cunning yet 
 patient maneuver, by suppressing the greater part of the state 
 elementary schools and favoring in various ways the Clerical 
 schools, have been able to impose male and female instructors 
 trained in Clerical establishments on a large number of anti- 
 Clerical parishes. 
 
 Possessing, therefore, devoted agents in many of the schools 
 classed as non-sectarian, directors of the public schools where the 
 administration is in the hands of the Clericals, complete masters 
 of the " adopted " schools and of these " adoptable " (which 
 contain nearly one-half of the total elementary school population), 
 the Catholic Church and its docile accomplice, the Clerical Gov- 
 ernment, think the hour has arrived to destroy the public and 
 non-sectarian instruction which the large towns and the industrial 
 districts of Walloon have been able to maintain and which have 
 prospered. 
 
 They wish, they say, for equality between the public and the 
 private schools! 
 
 But all political or philosophical propaganda is prohibited to 
 the state school teacher, while those in the " adopted " schools 
 are free to work for the Catholic Party. 
 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 605 
 
 In the system of subsidies which is hidden in the complicated 
 Poulett scheme, the adoptable schools are so favored that in cer- 
 tain cases elementary education will become a source of revenue 
 for the Catholic Church. 
 
 Although the provincial and district schools are subject, on the 
 part of the state, to an irritating and often hostile supervision, 
 the Catholic schools will not have even to announce the text-books 
 — and what text-books they are — ^they will use for the parishes 
 which will have to pay for them. 
 
 While the parishes will not be able to provide the scholars with 
 food or clothing or anything at all except instruction, properly 
 speaking, without granting the same favors to the children in the 
 "adoptable" schools, the managers of the latter will be free to 
 attract the workers' children by all kinds of material advances 
 without at the same time having to obtain them for the public 
 school children. 
 
 In this way the Catholic Party hope, as M. Woeste has not 
 hesitated to announce, " to mark the young minds with an indelible 
 impression," with an impression which leaves them the prey to all 
 kinds of domination and exploitation. 
 
 The Belgian Socialist Party, respecting all religious and 
 philosophic convictions, considers always that tolerance and free- 
 dom of thought are the most precious conquests of the modern 
 spirit and the indispensable instruments for the improvement of 
 the conditions of the working-class. 
 
 Our ideal is free and public elementary education accessible to 
 all children without offense to any religious conviction, preparing, 
 in the words of Hector Denis, " the power which must proceed 
 from universal human solidarity." 
 
 2. FROM DECLARATION OP SOCIALIST GROUP IN SENATE AFTER 
 PASSAGE OF THE LAW 
 
 By this law the moral education of the children is entirely 
 replaced by religious education ; yes, it is even permitted to insult 
 and slander, before the children in the school, all views other 
 than those of the congregations. The school law bears the stamp 
 of a fanatical spirit of caste. We appeal to all towns and demo- 
 cratic communities to resist this fanatical law. 
 
606 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 n. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AT THE CONGEESS OP THE 
 AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY, 1912 
 
 The subject of vocational education and guidance has 
 aroused great interest among American Socialists. It will 
 he seen that the reports of the committees make definite 
 recommendations for industrial education, but that the dis- 
 cussion brings out decided opposition to vocational train- 
 ing as at present existing, on the ground that it serves 
 merely to make boys and girls "more efficient servants to 
 a master class. ' ' 
 
 We take the following from the report on vocational 
 education : 
 
 The demand for quick profits, on the one hand, and the neces- 
 sity for maximum family earnings on the other, have between 
 them done much to destroy the apprenticeship possibilities of 
 modem industry. 
 
 The result has been that more than half of the young people 
 who leave the schools at about the age of fourteen drift into 
 occupations which have absolutely no future for them except to 
 continue to work as men and women at wages that can be earned 
 by boys and girls. 
 
 Without prejudice to the education of those who are to become 
 professional or agricultural or commercial workers, the schools 
 should fit those whose occupations will be found in the industries. 
 Without loss of those elements in our culture that is the rightful 
 heritage of every boy and girl, each child should have the same 
 opportunity to become an efficient worker as is now given to the 
 four per cent who become professional workers. 
 
 It therefore devolves upon the public school to modify and to 
 extend its program to include training for vocational efficiency. 
 It is only the public school that can protect the interests of the 
 children of the public as well as advance those interests. 
 
 In this connection attention should be called to a system of 
 
PUBLIC EDUCATION 607 
 
 part-time schools which is being tried experimentally at many 
 points. . . . These experiments should be watched with interest, 
 as they must be very instructive as to methods of conducting 
 industrial education; but they are not likely to be entirely satis- 
 factory, since under some of the arrangements the employer 
 determines what boys are or are not to have an opportunity to 
 learn the trade, while under all the plans the employer is in a 
 position to direct the work of the school too much. The em- 
 ployers must not be allowed to control the schools for their advan- 
 tage any more than a trade-union may be allowed to restrict 
 opportunities of workers to its advantage. 
 
 The public schools that have introduced industrial courses with 
 a view to giving industrial education independent of commercial 
 shops are likely to be handicapped at first, and for some time 
 to come, by the lack of suitable equipment and by the impossi- 
 bility of obtaining suitable teachers in sufQcient numbers. But 
 eventually this type of school will probably be the most satisfac- 
 tory. A temporary device that will have to serve for many years 
 is the continuation school, whether day or evening. . . . 
 
 Evening schools should be avoided for young people, as far as 
 possible. The amount of work required of them in shops and 
 factories should be restricted by law, that they may have the 
 opportunity to attend school without detriment to their health and 
 physical development. 
 
 The following discussion illustrates the point of view 
 of those Socialists who are opposed to the present system 
 of trade education. 
 
 Delegate Slobodin [New York] : There is one point on which 
 we are all clear in regard to this question of vocational training, 
 and that is that as Socialists we are opposed to the present system 
 of trade education. The industrial education which the Socialist 
 desires is different from the industrial education which the cap- 
 italists desire. There is often confusion between training for a 
 trade and scientific industrial training. How can a Socialist at 
 this time stand for training for a trade merely? 
 
 You see those who advocate the education of the boy or girl 
 
608 SOCIALIST PARTIES AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS 
 
 for a mere trade are not advocating what we are striving for. 
 Your boy or girl should be trained in mechanics; the knowledge 
 of general mechanics and the use of tools. The young man or 
 young woman who possesses a knowledge of mechanics and knows 
 how to use tools, can go into many trades, and can acquire a new 
 trade very easily, and can adapt themselves to almost any trade 
 within certain limits. 
 
 That is the first thing, then : broad industrial training, and not 
 merely training for one trade. 
 
 The second important point is control of the vocational and 
 industrial schools by the working-class, not by the public, as our 
 reporters want to say. ... 
 
 Delegate Clifford [Ohio] : I desire to speak in opposition to 
 this entire report. I do not agree with the comrades here that 
 this Convention should go on record simply as demanding indus- 
 trial education for our boys and girls. I do not wish, as a member 
 of the Socialist Party, to go on record through our Convention 
 as favoring the training of our boys and girls merely for the 
 purpose of making them more efficient servants to a master class. 
 I want them to have the highest industrial education. But it is 
 practically useless for us even to demand that until we get control 
 of our public school system. When we have done that we can 
 put into operation any policy that we see fit, but in the meantime 
 all of this matter should be simmered down to the one main 
 demand; for the industrial education of the boys and girls of 
 the working-class, and let it go at that. 
 
 As a consequence of these and other similar criticisms, 
 the above report was not adopted, but was referred to a 
 new standing committee for report at the next convention 
 (1916). 
 
APPENDIX 
 "PEBPAEEDNESS" 
 
 I. DO SOCIALISTS FAVOR CONSCRIPTION AND UNIVERSAL 
 MILITARY SERVICE? 
 
 The resolution passed at the International Socialist 
 Congress of Stuttgart (see Tlie Socialists and the War, 
 Chapters III and IV) favored universal military service. 
 But there was a minority which opposed the idea. The 
 views of both sides need explanation. 
 
 The place in the Socialist program of universal military 
 service in the form of a compulsory "militia" or "citizen 
 army" is stated and defended by Morris Hillquit (in The 
 Metropolitan Magazine) as follows: 
 
 Almost every Socialist Party in the world has a practical 
 program for relieving the prevalent social, economic, and po- 
 litical abuses within the present or " capitalist " regime. And 
 similarly the organized international Socialist movement ad- 
 vances a practical program for partial relief from the evils of 
 wars within the present social system. 
 
 The principal measures in the Socialist anti-war program are 
 international peace treaties providing for general limitation of 
 armament, for arbitration of all disputes among nations, and 
 for the establishment of an international court of justice; the 
 abolition of secret diplomacy, and, finally, in countries based on 
 the system of compulsory military service, the gradual shortening 
 of the period of service, with the ultimate object of supplanting 
 the professional standing army by a system of popular militia. 
 
 There is nothing distinctively Socialistic in the advocacy of 
 international peace treaties. It is one of th6 measures which, 
 like so many other planks in the practicable program of Social- 
 
 609 
 
610 APPENDIX 
 
 ism, are shared by reformers of all shades. Socialism does not 
 claim a monopoly of progress and does not reject any salutary 
 measure of reform because it has been formulated or adopted 
 by other parties or schools. 
 
 Of a somewhat more definitely Socialistic character are the 
 measures which aim at the democratization of international politics 
 and of the national defense. . . . The Socialists demand full 
 publicity of all diplomatic negotiations, and the consent of Par- 
 liament to all treaties and declarations of war. In this connec- 
 tion it must be borne in mind that the Socialists stand for unre- 
 stricted adult suffrage of all male and female citizens. The 
 Socialist demand, therefore, means that no war shall be declared 
 by any country unless assented to by the women as well as the 
 men of the nation through their chosen representatives in the 
 national legislative body. 
 
 But still more fundamental is the proposed Socialist reform 
 in the military organization of each country. The Socialists 
 realize that it would be futile and foolish to preach complete 
 disarmament to any nation while its neighbors and rivals are 
 armed. They frankly acknowledge that under existing conditions 
 each nation must be prepared to defend its integrity and inde- 
 pendence against the rest of the world, and must maintain a 
 strong military organization for that purpose. They are, how- 
 ever, opposed to the institution of professional or standing armies, 
 particularly those based on compulsory long-term service, such 
 as prevails in most countries of continental Europe. They main- 
 tain that professional armies tend to destroy the civic and indus- 
 trial usefulness of a large portion of the male population of the 
 country, to alienate the military force from the people, to develop 
 it into an instrument of aggression, and to cripple the efficiency 
 of the national defense. The Socialist ideal of military organiza- 
 tion is the popular militia, and as a measure of transition they 
 advocate the progressive reduction of the period of service coupled 
 with an extension of general military training. 
 
 " The armament of the people," says the veteran French So- 
 cialist and Communard, Edouard Vaillant, "is the necessary 
 complement of universal suffrage and a prerequisite to the de- 
 velopment of a true democracy. The militia has historically been 
 the institution of democracy, appearing with its victories, dis- 
 appearing with its defeats." . . . 
 
 The military organization which the Socialists favor is largely 
 
" PREPAREDNESS " 611 
 
 based on the principle of the national militia of Switzerland. 
 Under that system all able-bodied men between the ages of 20 
 and 48 years are kept in military training and can be relied 
 on for the defense of the country in case of emergency. The 
 main body of the militia, the elite, is composed of the young 
 men between the ages of 20 and 32 years. It is supplemented 
 by the landwbhe, consisting of the men between the ages of 
 33 and 44 years, and the landstukm, which comprises all male 
 citizens up to the age of 48, who for one reason or another are 
 excluded from the first two classes. The members of the elite 
 are called for brief military drills once in two years and those of 
 the LANDWEHR once in four years. Under this system the little 
 Swiss republic, with a population of about three and one-half 
 million, can raise for its defense an army of 540,000 men, and 
 its total military budget approximates only $7,000,000 per year. 
 The Socialists would improve upon the Swiss militia system by 
 giving the men the right to elect the oflfteers and would supple- 
 ment it by military education in the public schools. . . . 
 
 One of the first tasks of the International Socialist movement, 
 after it emerges from the present European nightmare, will be 
 to inaugurate an active and energetic propaganda for the govern- 
 ment ownership and operation of all works engaged in the manu- 
 facture of instruments and weapons of national defense. 
 
 Aside from this lesson, the terrible events of the last few 
 months have produced no new ideas or ideals for combating the 
 war evil. They have developed nothing to shake our faith in the 
 Socialist anti-military program. The only legitimate lesson 
 which the Socialists can draw from the great European catas- 
 trophe is that hereafter they will have to struggle more ear- 
 nestly, more indefatigably, and more implacably than ever for 
 the speedy realization of their immediate as well as their ultimate 
 program. 
 
 In an earlier number of the same magazine (April, 
 1914), Jean Jaures made a long defense of the proposed 
 system as advocated by the French Socialist Party. He 
 said in part : 
 
 The position of the Socialist Party must not be misunderstood. 
 It has by means taken a merely negative attitude of opposi- 
 
612 APPENDIX 
 
 tion to militarism, regardless of consequences. If it has clearly 
 seen the political and social significance of the military question, 
 it has not for one moment ignored the problem of national de- 
 fense. . . . 
 
 Jaures proceeds to describe the universal and com- 
 pulsory militia system favored by most French Socialists. 
 He then continues : 
 
 Such an organization as this may still appear very militaristic 
 in the eyes of Anglo-Saxons, who are happily unacquainted with 
 the burdens borne by continental Europe. But let them compare 
 it with the system which to-day weighs upon the French people 
 and which is growing heavier year by year, and they will see 
 what an immense progress this military reform would mean for 
 republican Eranee. 
 
 On these lines the armed nation will attain the maximum of 
 defensive power, and Erance will be able to protect itself against 
 any attack. If it be said that such an army, while admittedly 
 effective for defensive purposes, would be ill suited for aggressive 
 warfare, we answer that this is just what we desire. In the 
 present state of the world no great nation can disarm itself 
 without thereby inviting assault. The democratic organization 
 of the armed nation, if it is the best safeguard for national 
 independence, is also the best guaranty of international peace. 
 An army so mingled and identified with the nation and par- 
 taking in its economic, social, and civic life cannot, like one 
 separated from the people and devoted to war as a trade, be 
 used for the purposes of conquest and imperialism. It can be 
 strong in battle only on condition that the citizens who compose 
 it are convinced of the justice and necessity of the war in which 
 they are engaged. And they can have this consciousness only if 
 the nation has first, by offering in good faith to submit the dis- 
 puted question to arbitration, cleared itself of all moral responsi- 
 bility for the resort to arms. 
 
 It is by continuing the policy of international arbitration, and 
 at the same time transforming the professional or semi- 
 professional army of to-day into a thoroughly organized and thor- 
 oughly democratic defensive force that we seek to assure Erance 
 of independence, dignity, and peace, until the day when the so- 
 cialization of the world's economic life will permit the nations 
 
« PREPAREDNESS " 613 
 
 to abolish not only the savagery of war, but also the barbarism 
 of armed peace. 
 
 The attitude of the German Party may be seen in the 
 speech of Heinrich Schulz to the German Party Congress 
 of 1913. Schulz, presenting the official report for the 
 Eeichstag group, presented the citizen army as an "ideal," 
 and a distant one at that, one not to be realized in the 
 present order, but only as an element of Socialist society. 
 He spoke in part as follows : 
 
 We are attacking a present capitalistic, imperialistic military 
 system, because it is a weapon in the hands of the present society. 
 But we do not oppose a people's army. In fact we demand it in 
 our party platform, we call for the militia to take the place of 
 the present standing army, we agitate for the best possible 
 physical and mental training from earliest childhood, thus assur- 
 ing to our people the most efficient means of self-defense. "We 
 cannot do away with the present standing army by parliamentary 
 law in a day. Nor can we realize our ideal of a people's army 
 completely in the present order of society. But it is our duty, 
 nevertheless, to do our utmost to change the present military 
 system by criticism and reform, as far as this is possible within 
 capitalist society. The character of these reforms will be deter- 
 mined by our final aim, they will be steps toward the eventual 
 fulfillment of the ideal of a people's army. This must determine 
 our attitude toward the minor questions of present-day militarism, 
 must lead us to initiate reforms which point in the direction of 
 the Socialist ideals. 
 
 The French and German proposals merely carry out in 
 detail the plan long indorsed by nearly all the Socialists 
 of the continent. The Stuttgart anti-war resolution, 
 passed by the International Socialist Congress of 1907, 
 contained the following clause: 
 
 The Congress sees in the democratic organization of armies, as 
 expressed in the so-called " citizen armies," in place of standing 
 
614 APPENDIX 
 
 armies, a ^ood guarantee against warlike attacks of one nation 
 by another, and against the existence of national differences. 
 
 Although many of the British and American delegates 
 had expressed themselves against this clause, none voted 
 against the resolution, of which the clause was a part. 
 
 By agreement with the British and American delegates, 
 however. Chairman Vandervelde, who officially reported 
 to the Congress on the anti-war resolution, made the fol- 
 lowing statement: 
 
 Opposition to a militia [universal compulsory military service 
 under democratic management] came from two quarters [in the 
 committee]. The Swiss comrades pointed out that their militia 
 was commanded by officers of the ruling class and was used by 
 the bourgeoisie against the working-people. Our answer was 
 that the Swiss militia had a class character and was far removed 
 from the arming of the people demanded by us. 
 
 Another earnest attack was made by the English, who have 
 no national army. They opposed any expansion of armament 
 and the importation of militarism into their country. Accord- 
 ingly, we took a stand against the arming of the people in those 
 fortunate countries which "have no standing army in the Con- 
 tinental sense." 
 
 The last-mentioned countries were accordingly excepted 
 in the resolution. 
 
 In England, any form of conscription might seem to be 
 retrogression, but Socialists always have in mind the great 
 revolutionary possibility in putting arms in the hands of 
 every citizen. The Socialist advocates of a citizen army 
 in England are divided into two parts, those who believe 
 that strong armies will be necessary as long as capitalism 
 lasts, and those who hope that a citizen army may be able 
 to effect a social revolution, and when the time comes, to 
 establish Socialism. Or the same individual may hold both 
 views. 
 
"PEEPAEEDNESS" 615 
 
 The British Socialist Party (the smaller of the two 
 leading Socialist organizations of that country) discussed 
 at its Annual Conference of 1914, a resolution which con- 
 tained the following passage : 
 
 We point out that a standing army will always be a ready 
 instrument in the hands of the governing class for aggression 
 abroad and the repression of popular liberties and working-class 
 interests at home, and we call for the organization of a national 
 democratic citizen army for purposes of national defense alone 
 as the only alternative to conscript militarism and the only sure 
 guarantee of national and international peace. 
 
 This resolution was not passed, but it obtained the votes 
 of 58 branches to 76 against it. 
 
 The I. L. P., the larger of the two Socialist parties, on 
 the other hand, has continued its opposition to all forms 
 of compulsory military service. At the Conference of 
 April, 1915, on the motion of Coventry Branch, seconded 
 by Norwich Branch, the following resolution was agreed 
 to unanimously: 
 
 That this Conference aflflrms its previous decisions in opposi- 
 tion to conscription or any form of compulsory service, and ex- 
 presses its disapproval of any attempt to introduce any system 
 of compulsory military training, whether in the form of conscrip- 
 tion or by the despicable method of closing the industrial market 
 to eligible young men with the object of compelling them to offer 
 their services to the military authorities. 
 
 Brougham Villiers, of the I. L. P., writing in their of- 
 ficial monthly,* gave the grounds for the opposition to the 
 citizen army idea, in part, as follows : 
 
 Unless what we are saying every day is all nonsense, the 
 nations of the world have no real quarrel, and in a Socialist 
 * ITie Socialist Beuew, January-March, 1915. 
 
616 APPENDIX 
 
 world there would and could be no war. The logical implication 
 is that there would be no armies, either " citizen " or any other, 
 for it is simply inconceivable that the world will go on making 
 arms and ammunition and training men to use them as soon as 
 it is certain that peace will be permanent. Such a constant 
 rehearsal for a drama, which everyone knows will never come 
 off, is incredible, and sooner or later we may be certain that a 
 Socialist world would cease to arm itself, just as modem men 
 have given up nose rings and war paint. 
 
 But considered as a palliative, a reform within the capitalist 
 system, a citizen army would be a real advance in countries 
 where military necessity has compelled the enlistment of the 
 whole male population. Just as in a protectionist country a 
 free-trader may consistently work for a reduction of duties down 
 to the level advocated by British tariff reformers, so an anti- 
 militarist in a conscript country may support this milder form 
 of compulsory service. It is an entirely different matter in a 
 country where military service is neither universal nor com- 
 pulsory, and to import the continental doctrine of a "citizen 
 army " into this country because it is an immediate aim of 
 European Socialism is to become impracticable doctrinaires, 
 and that not about a principle, but for the sake of a mere 
 palliative. 
 
 Yet that is what a number of Socialists continually advocate, 
 though it is only fair to say that an attempt is made to support 
 the propaganda by some reference to principle and a conception 
 of labor needs. The defense of the country against aggression 
 being regarded as a universal duty, it is held to be incumbent 
 upon everyone to become an efiicient soldier. This is an extraor- 
 dinary inference from the Socialist principle that everyone ought 
 to do his share in the work of the world. In the case of no 
 other calling do we turn from the general idea of duty to perform 
 some work to the assumed duty of doing any particular form of 
 work. Though it is as necessary to protect the nation from 
 internal lawbreakers as to resist the aggression of foreign ene- 
 mies, it has never yet, as far as I know, been suggested that 
 everybody should take his turn as a policeman. We are quite 
 satisfied that if everyone is taxed and rated for his or her share 
 of the cost of police work, the duty of- the citizen is accom- 
 plished. Indeed, only in that way can such a duty be universally 
 fulfilled. The notion behind this argument for universal service 
 
« PREPAREDNESS " 617 
 
 is essentially reactionary. For, of course, universal personal 
 military service is impossible. If military service is a duty of 
 citizenship, then women and aU men below the military standard 
 of height and chest measurement are incapable of performing 
 citizen duties — a doctrine likely enough to please anti-suffragists 
 and other reactionaries, but not likely to convince Socialists. 
 The idea that there is anything specially sacrosanct about the 
 duty of national defense which does not apply to any other 
 work is incompatible with anti-militarism; it is, in fact, an espe- 
 cially vicious sort of militarism. 
 
 Only, perhaps, when the citizen army is defended on the ground 
 that in time of revolution a professional army would fire on the 
 people, while a citizen army would refuse to do so, does the 
 propaganda have any relation to other Socialist ideas. The 
 belief is that our present army could be relied on to obey any 
 order, while one enlisted on " citizen " lines would not. And if 
 the agitation simply confined itself to advocating — as on the 
 continent — a change in the discipline and organization of the 
 army, and repudiated any intention to increase its size, or to 
 adopt compulsion, this would be all right. Citizen rights for the 
 voluntary soldier, better pay, and greater freedom can be advo- 
 cated without rushing to the help of the National Service League. 
 Even so, however, the dangers, from which the new discipline is 
 intended to secure us, are somewhat shadowy, and the method 
 proposed of doubtful efflcacy. The idea seems to be that the 
 people wUl some day rise in mass against their oppressors and 
 demand the downfall of capitalism — a notion we have heard 
 before. Probably in such a ease an alarmed capitalist govern- 
 ment would proclaim martial law and order out the soldiers to 
 suppress the rising. Soldiers accustomed to barrack discipline 
 would be more likely to obey than those of a " citizen " army, 
 but there is no certainty either way. There have been mutinies 
 against intolerable orders among all sorts of troops, while even 
 the slackest militia discipline may be enough. 
 
 But the dilemma is very improbable. If there is to be civil 
 war over the coming of Socialism, it will be the capitalists, not 
 the workers, who will rebel, and it will be a Labor, and not a 
 Tory or Liberal, government that will give the army its orders. 
 Is it conceivable that the electors should be so nearly contented 
 with things as they are as to return a Liberal or Conservative 
 government to power and then become so furiously revolutionary 
 
618 APPENDIX 
 
 in less than five years as to insist on turning out into the streets 
 and risk fighting the soldiers rather than wait till the dissolution 
 of Parliament to give them a chance? I hope not, for I confess 
 I have very little hope that such an unstable populace could 
 construct any worthy Socialism at all. In the meantime, any 
 government that brings in a reform will certainly be willing to 
 defend it. Progress, even under a Labor or Socialist govern- 
 ment, is never likely to be disturbing enough to induce our big 
 manufacturers and landlords to risk all in a gallant charge against 
 the bayonets of the army. In short, the " citizen army " Socialists 
 are aiding a most mischievous campaign because of an imaginary 
 danger. 
 
 Even on the Continent there is som,e Socialist criticism 
 of the citizen army plan. In their Congress of November 1, 
 1915, and in the resulting discussion afterwards, it ap- 
 peared that the majority of Svriss Socialists believe that the 
 "Swiss System," as it actually works, makes the army a 
 serviceable tool against strikers, and so a large part of the 
 Socialist members of the Federal Council, including some 
 of those from German Switzerland, refuse the army their 
 Votes even in these war times. 
 
 There is also criticism of this "armed nation" plan in 
 Holland — which is similarly smitten by the present war — 
 as the following quotation from a leading Dutch Socialist 
 (Wibaut) will show: 
 
 If at the end of the war the Social Democrats of the countries 
 at war, and those of the countries which remained neutral, recog- 
 nize these results of nationalism, they will unite their efforts in 
 making the terms of peace the starting-point of the abandonment 
 of national armaments. The next peace wUl be nothing more than 
 an armistice, if it does not prepare the way to the abandonment 
 of arms. 
 
 It is on this basis that the Social Democrats of all countries 
 will have to join at the end of this war. The question is not 
 whether they will be strong enough to enforce this basis of peace 
 upon the peacemaking countries. The question is whether they 
 
" PKEPAREDNESS " 619 
 
 wUl realise that this basis is essential for the development of 
 international Social Democracy. 
 
 The European war has not found the proletariat sufSeiently 
 strong to prevent it. But it has taught us the lesson — a cruel 
 lesson it is — that wars cannot be prevented if they have come 
 near at hand. The lesson is, that wars must be forestalled by 
 preventing preparation for them, by directing all the force of the 
 proletariat against national armaments. 
 
 The Socialist action against militarism has, in some countries 
 on the European continent, taken the form of advocating the 
 " armed nation " [the so-caUed Swiss " militia " or " citizen 
 army" system] as an alternative to standing armies in the 
 service of the governing classes. The present war puts the ques- 
 tion, whether this form of fighting the militarist system should 
 be continued and generally adopted. 
 
 The present war is a " war of machines." It is many times 
 more murderous than previous wars, but it kills in accordance 
 with the rules of technical science. This development of warfare 
 throws new light on the system of the " armed nation." 
 
 The " armed nation " now and henceforth means a nation 
 equipped with all the war machinery human spirit has invented 
 for the destruction of mankind — mankind on the other side of the 
 frontier. 
 
 It will thus become a point of discussion between Socialists 
 whether the plan of the " armed nation " to fight militarism may 
 still hold good. We have personally little doubt that the issue of 
 such discussion will lead to the giving up of the plan of the 
 " armed nation " and the adoption of the position of antagonism 
 to all systems of national armaments. 
 
 The following is the anti-war manifesto and peace pro- 
 gram adopted by the Socialist Party of the United States, 
 September, 1915 : 
 
 The supreme crisis in human history is upon us. 
 
 European civilization is engulfed. The world's peace is shat- 
 tered. The future of the human race is imperiled. 
 
 The immediate causes of the war are obvious. Previous wars 
 and the terms of settlement which created lasting hatreds and 
 
620 APPENDIX 
 
 bred thoughts of revenge; imperialism and commercial rivalries: 
 the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente dividing all Europe 
 into two hostile camps; secret intrigue of diplomats and lack 
 of democracy; vast systems of military and naval 'equipment; 
 fear and suspicion bred and spread by a vicious jingo press in 
 all nations; powerful armament interests that reap rich harvests 
 out of havoc and death, — all these have played their sinister part. 
 But back of all these factors lie the deeper and more funda- 
 mental causes, causes rooted in the very system of capitalist 
 production. 
 
 Every capitalist nation on earth exploits its people. The wages 
 received by the workers are insufficient to enable them to pur- 
 chase all they need for the proper sustenance of their Uves. A 
 surplus of commodities accumulates. The capitalists cannot con- 
 sume it all. It must be exported to foreign countries. 
 
 In every capitalist nation it becomes increasingly difficult for 
 the capitalists to re-invest their accumulated profits to advantage 
 in their own country, with their people destitute and their 
 resources fully developed and exploited. The capitalists are 
 constantly forced to look for new and foreign fields of invest- 
 ment. 
 
 In many countries of Europe, limited territorially and densely 
 populated, the supply of natural resources is insufficient to sup- 
 port the large volume of industrial requirements. The capitalists 
 must look for new sources of raw materials and supplies, to less 
 developed foreign countries. 
 
 Hence arise the commercial struggles between the nations, the 
 rivabies for the acquisition of foreign colonies, the efforts to 
 defend and extend the oversea " possessions " ; the policies of 
 imperialism, the conflicts for commercial supremacy, ever growing 
 more intense and fierce as the nations expand and the world's 
 field of conquest narrows. Hence arise the policies of arma- 
 ments every year more immense and monstrous. Hence arise the 
 strategy, the intrigues of secret diplomacy, till all the world is 
 involved in a deadly s^truggle for the capture and control of the 
 world market. 
 
 Thus capitalism, inevitably leading to commercial rivalry and 
 imperialism and functioning through the modern state with its 
 vast armaments, secret diplomacies, and undemocratic govern- 
 ments, logically leads to war. 
 
 Eeactionary ruling classes sometimes also deliberately plunge 
 
« PREPAEEDNESS " 621 
 
 countries into war for the purpose of crushing progressive move- 
 ments by creating false patriotic excitement and thus side- 
 tracking the real class issues. Every war, furthermore, is used 
 by the capitalists in order to destroy the organized forces of the 
 labor movement. 
 
 For more than half a century the Socialist movement has 
 warned the world of this impending tragedy. With every power 
 at their command the Socialists of all nations have worked to 
 prevent it. But the warning has gone unheeded, and the So- 
 cialist propaganda against imperialism, militarism, and war, has 
 been ignored by the ruling powers and the majority of the people 
 of all the nations. 
 
 To-day our prediction has been only too swiftly and too trag- 
 ically fulfilled. War, with all its horrors, is upon us. 
 
 And it has come as the logical and inevitable outcome of the 
 forces of the capitalist system. It has come in spite of the 
 warnings and protests of the Socialist and labor movements and 
 indeed in spite of the personal desires of many of the capitalists 
 themselves. The capitalist system is a modem Frankenstein 
 which is destroying its own creators. 
 
 If this unspeakable tragedy shall serve to demonstrate to the 
 world, and particularly to the workers of all nations, the real 
 and fundamental causes of war so that by removing these causes 
 man henceforth may live at peace, the war may be worth the 
 cost. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the people shall remain blind to the 
 terrible lessons of this war, and leave the destinies of the world 
 in the hands of unscrupulous, war-inciting capitalist rulers, then 
 indeed is this world war an unmitigated curse. For, if the causes 
 that brought on this war are left to operate, then this war will 
 not be the last. It will be only the first of a series of wars more 
 terrible and more tragic, until one mighty and monstrous imperial- 
 ism has drenched the world in blood and subdued the peoples in 
 abject slavery. Socialism alone will ultimately save mankind 
 from the standing menace of self-destruction. 
 
 The supreme duty of the hour is for us, the Socialists of all 
 the world; therefore, to summon all Labor forces of the world 
 for an aggressive and uncompromising opposition to the whole 
 capitalist system, and to every form of its mibst deadly fruits — 
 militarism and war; to strengthen the bonds of working-class 
 solidarity, to deepen the currents of conscious internationalism. 
 
622 APPENDIX 
 
 and to proclaim to the world a constructive program leading 
 towards permanent peace. 
 
 The Socialists of America extend the hand of comradeship to' 
 their unfortunate brothers in all countries now ravaged by the 
 war, the sufferers and victims of the vicious system which has 
 engulfed them in fratricidal carnage. We convey to them our 
 unfaltering faith in the world-wide class struggle, in interna- 
 tional Socialism, and in brotherhood of man. We proclaim our 
 determination to join our comrades in all countries in the task 
 of rebuilding the Socialist International upon such a basis that 
 henceforth it cannot be shaken by the most violent storms of 
 capitalist conflicts. 
 
 To the Socialist and Labor forces in all the world and to all 
 who cherish the ideals of justice, we make our appeal, believing 
 that out of the ashes of this mighty conflagration will yet arise 
 the deeper internationalism and the great democracy and peace. 
 
 OUR PEOGEAM 
 
 I. — Terms of peace at the close of the present war should be 
 based on the following provisions: 
 
 1. — No indemaities. 
 
 2. — No transfer of territory except upon the consent and 
 by the vote of the people within the territory. 
 
 3. — All countries under foreign rule be given political in- 
 dependence if demanded by the inhabitants of such countries. 
 
 II. — International Federation — The United States of the World 
 
 1. An international congress with legislative and administra- 
 tive powers over international affairs and with permanent com- 
 mittees in place of present secret diplomacy. 
 
 2. Special commissions to consider international disputes as 
 they may arise. The decisions of such commissions to be en- 
 forced without resort to arms. Each commission to go out of 
 existence when the special problem that called it into being is 
 solved. 
 
 3. International ownership and control of strategic waterways, 
 such as the Dardanelles, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Suez, 
 Panama, and Kiel Canals. 
 
 4. Neutralization of the seas. 
 
" PREPAREDNESS " 623 
 
 III. — Disarmament 
 
 1. Universal disarmament as speedily as possible. 
 
 2. Pending complete disarmament: 
 
 a. Abolition of the manufacture of arms and munitions of 
 war for private profit, and prohibition of exportation of arms, 
 war equipment, and supplies from one country to another. 
 
 b. No increase in existing armaments under any circumstances. 
 
 c. No appropriations for military or naval purposes. 
 
 IV. — Extension of Democracy 
 
 1. Political democracy. 
 
 a. Abolition of secret diplomacy; democratic control of for- 
 eign policies. 
 
 h. Universal suffrage, including woman suffrage. 
 
 2. Industrial democracy. 
 
 Radical social changes in all countries to eliminate the eco- 
 nomic causes of war, such as will be calculated gradually to take 
 the industrial and commercial processes of the nations out of the 
 hands of the irresponsible capitalist class and place them in the 
 hands of the people, to operate them collectively for the satisfac- 
 tion of human wants and not for private profits, in co-operation 
 and harmony, and not through competition and war. 
 
 Immediate Action 
 
 Immediate and energetic efforts shall be made through the 
 organizations of the Socialist parties of all nations to secure 
 universal co-operation of aU Socialist and labor organizations 
 and all true friends of peace to obtain the indorsement of this 
 program. 
 
 In January, 1916, the American Socialist Party pub- 
 lished brief statements on military preparedness from all 
 national candidates, either for party offices (secretary and 
 members of the executive committee) or for public office 
 (presidential and vice-presidential nominations). 
 
 "We give the responses of those who already hold, or 
 
624 APPENDIX 
 
 have held, the most important party offices — also the re- 
 sponses of all the presidential candidates and of Gaylord, 
 the Socialist congressional candidate who came nearest to 
 election in 1914 (except Meyer London, who was elected) : 
 
 By Allan L. Benson, Socialist Nominee for the Presidency 
 
 I am opposed to any addition whatever to our army and navy. 
 I believe we are in less danger of invasion than we have been 
 at any other time in 100 years. I believe this danger, never great, 
 will become less as the European belligerents proceed toward 
 exhaustion. I believe that for this nation greatly to strengthen 
 its army and navy would be likely to bring war, first by alarming 
 other peoples and causing them to arm against us, second by 
 giving the American capitalist class a greater temptation to try 
 to conquer markets by force of arms. 
 
 I am not opposed in principle to the defense of this country 
 from invasion. I believe invasion should be resisted. But there 
 is ample naval authority for the statement that the invasion of 
 continental United States could be resisted without a navy. 
 Mines have for seventeen months defended both the German 
 coast and the German navy. Mines do not take boys from their 
 homes into the army, nor can they be used to break strikes nor to 
 attack any nation that is not far from home seeking trouble. 
 
 Second: Democratic selection of all officers. 
 
 Third: Each such soldier to retain his firearm with at least 
 two hundred rounds of ammunition, furnished by the Government, 
 in his home. 
 
 Fourth: The Government to make all munitions. 
 
 Fifth : No part of the military force to be called into service 
 by the Government during strikes nor aggressive wars against 
 other nations. 
 
 Sixth: This military arrangement shall displace all present 
 military forces. 
 
 By George H. Goebel 
 
 I am absolutely opposed to militarism. And just as emphat- 
 ically against the so-called preparedness — which is but a smooth 
 word to accustom us to the idea of wholesale blood-spilling. 
 
 When a false alarm of fire is raised in a theater, it is a calamity 
 
" PREPAREDNESS " 625 
 
 indeed if there be not even one masterful personality to calm 
 the tumult and stay the tragedy of lives crushed out in the unrea- 
 soning stampede of a crazed mob! 
 
 And just so it is the mission and duty of every Socialist, and 
 the Socialist Party, to set their faces like flint against the whole 
 damnable business of war and its handmaiden, preparedness. • 
 
 Let others parley and use fine phrases. I hold that our busi- 
 ness is to make it emphatic that we will have none of it. To 
 serve as the clear voice in the roaring tumult! 
 
 By Morris Hillquit 
 
 I am opposed to " preparedness " because preparedness means 
 militarism. I am opposed to militarism because militarism leads 
 to wars between nations. I am opposed to wars between nations 
 because they obscure the struggle of the classes, enfeeble the 
 workers physically and morally, and retard the progress of the 
 Socialist movement. 
 
 I realize that the modern capitalist system, based on interna- 
 tional rivalry for foreign markets and for the control of unde- 
 veloped territory, tends to breed wars, but I do not believe that 
 it is the part of Socialists to support these tendencies. 
 
 I hold that wars, like many other evil outgrowths of capitalism, 
 can be checked by enlightened and determined mass opposition, 
 and that it is the duty of the Socialists to lead in such opposition. 
 
 I have learned from the sad lesson of Europe that when the 
 war furies break loose they are apt to carry everything before 
 them, including the Socialist and Labor movements; but that is 
 an added reason why the Socialists should oppose all prepara- 
 tions for war while there is yet time. 
 
 By Arthur Le Sueur 
 
 " Preparedness " is the master fraud of the masters. It results 
 in the thing it is said to prevent. The only war in which workers 
 should enlist is the " class war," the cause of all other wars. 
 
 We should oppose with action any effort of our Government 
 to force us to fight the workers of any land. Action means revo- 
 lution at an opportune time. An opportune time is when the 
 masters send us at each others throats, and we should then seize 
 the opportunity to fight our real enemy — the masters. This should 
 
626 APPENDIX 
 
 not be with words alone, but with such means as they may compel 
 us to use. 
 
 Revolution is the only remedy for despotism, whether it be 
 political or industrial. 
 
 As immediate steps in preparation for successful revolution 
 we should abolish the private profit in the manufacture of arms 
 and munitions, prevent the increase of army and navy, compel 
 legislation allowing democratic military organization of the 
 " workers." Those who do the fighting to give the final orders ; 
 to the end that we may be prepared against hell's own breed in 
 every land, the masters, the murderers of humanity and 
 brotherhood. 
 
 By James H. Maurer 
 
 I am opposed to the program of so-called preparedness, as 
 submitted by President Wilson, or by any group of war pro- 
 moters. It is, therefore, hardly necessary to say that I am also 
 opposed to militarism. 
 
 I stand by the anti-war manifesto and program adopted by 
 the national committee last May and ratified by the party mem- 
 bership. I could also agree with the Socialist Party if it said 
 not another dollar for warships of any kind, transports in- 
 eluded; not another dollar to privately owned manufactories of 
 army and navy supplies. If we must prepare, then mine our 
 coasts, furnish a submarine for every fifty miles or less of our 
 coast, enlist every citizen between the ages of twenty and forty 
 years, arm them with the latest improved rifles and a thousand 
 rounds of ammunition, every such soldier to do drill duty two 
 weeks in each year, elect their own ofllcers, and keep their rifles 
 and ammunition in their homes. 
 
 By A. M. Simons 
 
 I oppose all phrases of militarism and all preparation for 
 war between capitalist nations. The entrance of this nation into 
 armament competition means that this war will end only in a 
 truce leading to other wars. But if the American ruling class 
 is not permitted to arm it must work for international disarma- 
 ment. I oppose using the Socialist Party to defend militarism 
 anywhere and see in such attempted use one of the main excuses 
 for the militarist sentiment among American Socialists. The 
 
"PREPAREDNESS" 627 
 
 Socialist Party should stand for internationalism and disarma- 
 ment and give its aid internationally to those Socialists in each 
 nation who oppose militarism and nationalism. I oppose the 
 eflfort to introduce the spirit of military discipline into the na- 
 tional and international Socialist movement for the benefit of a 
 bureaucracy of oflSce-holders or oflBce-seekers in suppression of 
 democracy. 
 
 By John Spargo 
 
 I am now, as I have always been, irreconcilably opposed to 
 militarism. I regard it as the most pressing duty of American 
 Socialists to-day to vigorously oppose the sinister attempt to 
 commit this nation to militarism under the misleading title of 
 " preparedness." It should be our great endeavor to create in the 
 masses a hatred of militarism in all its forms; to oppose to the 
 growing militaristic psychology the psychology of international- 
 ism and proletarian solidarity. 
 
 I am not a non-resistant, and can readily conceive of condi- 
 tions which would lead me to fight. Eor example, to resist and 
 repel actual invasion by a barbarian horde would be the duty 
 of a Socialist commonwealth. But I insist that the United States 
 is safer from attack from any quarter of the world than at any 
 time in her history. For the present, and for some years to come, 
 we are absolutely free from any danger of attack. Therefore, the 
 proposal to saddle us with a heavy military burden is indefensible 
 from every point of view. We must fight it to the uttermost. 
 
 By Carl D. Thompson 
 
 I am absolutely and with all my might opposed to the present 
 militaristic propaganda that is going under the name of " pre- 
 paredness." I feel that the Socialist Party should use its utmost 
 wisdom, tact, and power in combating it. 
 
 This, however, is negative. The best way to combat any of 
 the evils of capitalism is to put forward something better, some- 
 thing that supplants the evil and makes it impossible. And we 
 have in our national party program and in the international 
 program the greatest and the most inspiring constructive task 
 in human history. I refer especially, of course, to our program 
 for the development of a federation of nations, a sort of United 
 States of the World, with an international congress and court, 
 
628 APPENDIX 
 
 universal disarmament, and the erection of the World Interna- 
 tional. WhUe fighting " preparedness," let us urge forward the 
 International. 
 
 By Victor L. Berger 
 
 I am opposed to standing armies of any kind. A standing 
 army is always the tool of the ruling class. America at the 
 present time not only has a standing army, but the worst kind 
 of a standing army, one of hired mercenaries. Our national de- 
 fense force is mainly recruited from the " submerged tenth " and 
 is offlcered by trained aristocrats. 
 
 Our standing army is a standing menace to our democracy at 
 home, and is of questionable effectiveness against any attack from 
 without. 
 
 Any nation, class, or individual that is defenseless, however, 
 will soon be enslaved or cease to exist. All history bears witness 
 to this fact. There is no known exception. 
 
 A nation or a class that wants to become free, or that wants 
 to stay free, must have great power of resistance. It must be 
 prepared to fight for its freedom at any time. 
 
 Docility and non-resistance will soon reduce any people or any 
 class to the level of the Chinese and Hindus. Moreover, any 
 man who is unwilling, or not ready, to fight for his wife or his 
 daughters, does not deserve to have a wife or daughters. Any 
 man who is unwilling to fight for his class or nation does not 
 deserve to belong to a class or a nation. 
 
 I am, therefore, in favor of a " preparedness " that shall pro- 
 tect and unite the bulk of our nation, that is, the working- 
 people. 
 
 For that purpose we must train the bodies and minds 
 of all our young folks, — not only those of the few select who 
 have a chance to attend academies and universities. We want 
 all of our people to be able to defend themselves and the common 
 weal. 
 
 Our defense must be democratic and industrial. We want a 
 preparedness that will develop the faculties of the workers, add 
 to their power of resistance, and aid them in their struggle for 
 existence. 
 
 We want to abolish hunger, want, and misery — as a part of 
 this preparedness. We want comfortable homes and protection 
 in old age and sickness — as a part of this preparedness. We 
 
" PREPAREDNESS " 629 
 
 want bealthy and harmoniously educated men and women — ^able 
 fathers and mothers — as a part of this preparedness. 
 
 Thus preparedness must become a part of our early education 
 by practicing calisthenics in our common schools and encourag- 
 ing outdoor sports from childhood on, in order to produce healthy 
 men and women. But this cannot be all. 
 
 We propose that the public school system be made a part of 
 " preparedness " in the following manner : 
 
 Every citizen should devote one year — ^between nineteen and 
 twenty — to the service of his nation. Every citizen — male or 
 female — may stay at home during the time, but receive for the 
 service such pay as will be fixed by congressional legislation, 
 because this education must be in charge of the nation and the 
 nation must pay for it. 
 
 We propose to make the public school system the center of 
 our country's defense. For that purpose a workshop should be 
 added to every school district. And every young man and young 
 woman should be educated in handling modern tools on wood and 
 iron. They should learn how to operate machinery and under- 
 stand the make-up of an automobile, an aeroplane, or a machine' 
 gun. One year of service would be sufficient to teach them all of 
 that and a good deal more. 
 
 This education should consider the needs and advantages of 
 the respective districts. But everybody should learn how to 
 plant a tree, construct a road, or build a bridge. And everybody 
 should also practice at the target during that time. Girls should 
 also learn how to give aid and comfort to the sick and wounded. 
 
 No able-bodied man or woman should be exempt from this 
 national duty on account of money, rank, or class privilege. The 
 details of that education could be easily worked out as the experi- 
 ence would require. 
 
 Such a year of national service will be a welcome interruption 
 of the task of the factory worker or the clerk in city offices and 
 stores — ^it will teach him many new things and make a more 
 useful citizen of him. It will be a naost excellent " top-off " to 
 the education of a young farmer. It will have an immensely 
 democratizing influence upon the college boy, besides giving him 
 advantages that he could not get from books. 
 
 Moreover, such preparedness will absolutely guard the national 
 independence until such time as we shall have complete disarma- 
 ment and world's peace by international agreement, but it will 
 
630 APPENDIX 
 
 be useless for aggression. It will protect the working-class 
 against further subjugation and enslavement at home until all 
 class distinctions are abolished. 
 
 This kind of preparedness will not only effectively protect the 
 American people against attacks from without, but also against 
 the foes of democracy from within. It will forever abolish the 
 misuse of public military forces, as well as armed private thugs. 
 
 And last, but not least, this will be a " preparedness " by the 
 entire nation, militant and prepared, not by a capitalist class or 
 by insidious clerical forces, arming quietly all kinds of " knights." 
 
 In short, I refuse to be carried away by any hysteria caused 
 by this world war. We Socialists are more opposed to militarism 
 than ever. But the Socialist Party is not for " peace at any 
 price." War may be hell, but there are some things in this world 
 worse than " hell." Eeal Socialists are willing to fight them. 
 
 By Winfleld E. Gaylord 
 
 The world war has proven: (1) that we live in an historical 
 "war zone"; (2) that an effective national mobilization must 
 include every national resource and equipment, mental, moral, and 
 physical, under highest co-ordination. 
 
 The Socialist Party in the United States must present a cor- 
 responding program of preparedness for peace and against war, 
 essentially along the following lines: 
 
 a. Mobilization of National Morale 
 
 1. Universal suffrage. 
 
 2. Adequate preventive hygiene and medicine. 
 
 3. Remodeling of educational system for social welfare 
 training. 
 
 4. Eecognition, in advance, of organized labor's responsibility 
 and just deserts, to secure a dependable industrial army. 
 
 5. Abolish secret diplomacy, with its lies and spies. 
 
 6. Repudiate protection of foreign concessions, the principal 
 demand for a big navy. 
 
 b. Mobilization of National Production 
 
 1. Completion of postal savings bank system. 
 
 2. Nationalize transport and communications equipment. 
 
« PREPAREDNESS " 631 
 
 3. Nationalize mines, forests, and water-powers. 
 
 4. Nationalize food storage and manufacture. 
 
 5. Nationalize manufacture of chemicals. 
 
 e. Mobilization of Military Forces and Materials 
 
 1. Nationalized merchant marine, to furnish loyal and efficient 
 naval recruits, with officers, and ships ready for war equipment. 
 
 2. Permanent defense army of 500,000, with definite service 
 term; employed on public works; at civilian pay; with military 
 organization, drill, and equipment; having full political rights 
 (to promote mobilization experience of staff officers, reduce unem- 
 ployed army, and increase production capacity, offsetting military 
 expense). 
 
 3. Enlarged corps of trained military officers, employed with 
 permanent defense army in productive occupations after training. 
 
 4. Government plants for munitions manufacture, and accumu- 
 lations of raw materials rather than finished products of military 
 stores. 
 
 5. Universal military education, by publication of general staff 
 theories of defense, as applied to finance, industry, agriculture, 
 diplomacy, and military practice. 
 
 6. Coast defense of mine fields and submarines. 
 
 By Adolph Germer 
 
 Briefly stated, I am opposed to what is euphoniously called 
 "preparedness." There is far less danger of an invasion by a 
 foreign foe than by the American Plunderbund. We should 
 oppose everything that smacks of militarism. Teach the art of 
 peace rather than the " art " of war. 
 
 But, if the people insist that there must be a military organiza- 
 tion, then : 
 
 First: Let every able-bodied man between eighteen and forty- 
 Sve get one month's training each year with full pay by his 
 employer. 
 
 (See also pp. 509-522.) 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adler, Victor, 6, 292. 
 
 Agriculture, 80, 140, 141, 171, 
 185, 200, 213, 214, 217, 322, 
 326, 350, 406, 450, 453-468, 
 506; see also Land Question. 
 
 AUemanistes, 11. 
 
 Alliances, Electoral, 11-24, 40- 
 46, 59-64, 93, 109, 172, 174, 
 176, 289, 295-298, 391, 392, 
 539-544. 
 
 Alliances, Parliamentary, 11-24, 
 46. 
 
 America. See United States. 
 
 American Socialist, The, 504. 
 
 Anarchists, 8, 12, 68, 226, 367, 
 376, 384, 387, 404, 418. 
 
 Ancona Congress, 91. 
 
 Anderson, W. C, 327, 469, 526. 
 
 Anseele, 6, 293, 393, 395, 397. 
 
 Appeal to Reason, 57. 
 
 Arbitration of Labor Disputes. 
 See Compulsory Arbitration. 
 
 Argentina, Socialist Movement 
 in, 25, 249-254. 
 
 Armament. See Militarism and 
 Disarmament. 
 
 Asquith, 599, 600. 
 
 Australia, Socialist and Labor 
 Movements in, 309-339; see 
 also Government Ownership, 
 High Cost of Living, Militar- 
 ism, Social Insurance, Strikes. 
 
 Austria, Socialist Movement in, 
 25, 155-162; see also High 
 Cost of Living, Labor Unions, 
 Militarism, Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Autonomy, Local. See Home 
 Rule. 
 
 Balkan League, 189. 
 
 Balkan War, 62, 164, 183. 
 
 Bang, Gustav, 137. 
 
 Barthou, M., 512. 
 
 Basle Congress, 4, 6. 
 
 Bauer, Otto, 155, 411, 413, 414. 
 
 Bavaria, 15. 
 
 Bebel, August, 6, 9, 16, 17, 18, 
 19. 
 
 Belgium, Socialist Movement in, 
 6, 7, 14, 18, 19, 25, 70-75; see 
 also Clericalism, Education, 
 Labor Unions, Taxation, Uni- 
 versal Suffrage. 
 
 Benson, Allan L., 624. 
 
 Berger, Victor, 206, 233, 249, 
 483, 601, 628. 
 
 Berlin, 29. 
 
 Bernstein, 6, 43, 408. 
 
 Berntsen, Klaus, 138. 
 
 Bertrand, L., 293, 396. 
 
 Bicameral System, 50, 113, 135, 
 184, 205, 213. 
 
 Bismarck, 23. 
 
 Bissolati, 76, 78. 
 
 Blanquists, 11, 16. 
 
 Bohemia, 7. 
 
 Bohn, Frank, 384, 387. 
 
 Bohn, Wm. E., 152, 517. 
 
 Bonomi, 78, 79. 
 
 Boroughs, S. H., 236. 
 
 Bos, Dr., 120, 121, 123. 
 
 Brand, J., 283. 
 
 Brandenburg, 29. 
 
 Branting, Hjalmar, 148, 149, 
 528. 
 
 Briand, 57, 62, 66, 119, 390; 
 
 Briandism, 59. 
 
634 
 
 INDEX 
 
 British Empire. See Great 
 Britain, Ireland, Australia, 
 New Zealand, Canada, South 
 Africa. 
 
 Broequeville, de, 394, 396, 398, 
 399. 
 
 Brussels Congress, 8. 
 
 Budget Question, 22, 131, 485, 
 486-494. 
 
 Buelow, Count, 36. 
 
 Bulgaria, Socialist Movement in, 
 7, 13, 25, 187-188. 
 
 Bums, John, 6, 22. 
 
 Cabrini, 78. 
 
 Caetani, Prince, 81. 
 
 Call, The New York, 99, 130. 
 
 Camacho, Brito, 177. 
 
 Canada, Socialist Movement in, 
 25, 235-242; see also Labor 
 Unions, Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Capital Punishment Abolished, 
 34. 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew, 319. 
 
 Central America, 253. 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, 581. 
 
 Child Labor, 34, 200, 204, 211, 
 239, 258, 287, 288, 439, 456. 
 
 Chile Socialists, 25. 
 
 China, Socialist and Republican 
 Movements in, 357-369; see 
 also Education, Grovernment 
 Ownership, Militarism, Uni- 
 versal Suffrage. 
 
 Churchill, Winston, 338. 
 
 Ciccotti, 89. 
 
 Cipriani, A., 7. 
 
 Class Struggle, 8, 15, 16, 17, 31, 
 79, 109, 124, 201, 229, 238, 
 295, 297, 336, 339, 374, 404. 
 
 Clericalism, 16, 22; in Belgium, 
 18, 72, 391 ff., 402, 602-605; in 
 England, 288; in France, 17, 
 59, 64; in Germany, 33-37, 
 39; in Holland, 114, 120-122, 
 125; in Ireland, 299-307; in 
 Italy, 85 ff.; in Roumania, 
 185; in the United States, 201, 
 229. 
 
 Clynes, J. R., 260. 
 
 Coalition Government, 11-14, 72, 
 77, 79, 143, 151, 152, 341. 
 
 Cocea, N. D., 183. 
 
 Collectivism. See Public Owner- 
 ship. 
 
 Colonialism. See Militarism. 
 
 Commune, The, 57. 
 
 Communism, 363. 
 
 Communist Manifesto, 3. 
 
 Compensation, 286. 
 
 Comp6re-Morel, 5, 61, 376-378. 
 
 Compulsory Arbitration of La- 
 bor Disputes, 272, 431-437. 
 
 Congresses, Socialist. See Names 
 of Countries. 
 
 Connolly, 302, 304. 
 
 Conservation, 39, 86, 203, 212. 
 
 Conservatives. See Names of 
 Countries. 
 
 Constitutional Questions, 15, 60, 
 64, 109, 113, 139, 205, 220, 
 309, 317-319, 327, 329. 
 
 Conventions, Socialist. See 
 Names of Countries. 
 
 Co-operation, 71, 74, 132, 164, 
 204, 307, 449, 450, 457, 466, 
 582-585. 
 
 Copenhagen Congress, 5. 
 
 CosmopoUs, The, 23. 
 
 Costa, Affonso, 177. 
 
 Costa, Andrea, 7. 
 
 Crime, 38, 200, 204. 
 
 Cummings, David, 99. 
 
 Cuneo, Francisco, 250. 
 
 Customs Duties. See Tariff. 
 
 Daly, 302. 
 
 da Silva, Manuel Job6, 177. 
 
 Deakin, 519, 521. 
 
 de Almeida, Antonio Jos6, 177. 
 
 de Ambris, 89. 
 
 de Brouekfere, 396. 
 
 Debs, Eugene V., 225, 233, 380, 
 
 383, 388. 
 Debts, Public, 91. 
 Decentralization. See Home 
 
 Rule. 
 
INDEX 
 
 635 
 
 De Lara, Guitterez, 243. 
 
 Delassale, Paul, 381. 
 
 De Leon, Daniel, 232, 233. 
 
 Denis, 396. 
 
 Denmark, Socialists in, 7, 25, 
 129-144; see also Labor 
 Unions, Militarism, Universal 
 Suffrage. 
 
 de Paepe, Cesar, 6. 
 
 Depew, Chauncey M., 318. 
 
 Destrge, 395, 397. 
 
 Diaz, 246. 
 
 Dickmann, Enrique, 250. 
 
 Diplomacy, Secret. See Mili- 
 tarism. 
 
 Direct Action, 270 S., 381-388. 
 
 Direct Legislation. See Initia- 
 tive and Referendum. 
 
 Disarmament, 79, 623; see also 
 Militarism. 
 
 Dobrogeanu-Gherea, C, 181. 
 
 Dracoules, Dr., 189, 190. 
 
 Dragu, Th., 183. 
 
 Dresden Congress, 15, 19; Reso- 
 lution, 15-24. 
 
 Drink Problem, 219, 258, 288, 
 562, 586-593. 
 
 Dubery, H., 596, 597. 
 
 Dubreuilh, 378. 
 
 Duncan (Mayor), 566. 
 
 E 
 
 Education, in Belgium, 391, 393, 
 602-605; in China, 360, 366, 
 367; in France, 512, 538; in 
 Germany, 29, 33; in Great 
 Britain, 266, 269, 275, 277, 
 278, 280, 287, 288, 581; in 
 Hungary, 170; in Italy, 86, 
 544; in the United States, 
 205, 212, 516, 561-563, 574, 
 580, 606-608, 629, 630, 631. 
 
 Eight Hour Day. See Work 
 Day, Shorter. 
 
 Elections. See Names of Coun- 
 
 Elector'al Reform, 38, 41, 46, 50, 
 205, 258, 261, 266, 272, 277, 
 289, 366, 391; see also Uni- 
 versal Suffrage, Woman Suf- 
 
 frage, Proportional Represen- 
 tation, and Second Ballot. 
 
 Emilia, Reggie, Congress of, 419. 
 
 Encyolopidie Socialiste, 5. 
 
 Engels, Frederick, 4. 
 
 England, 7, 18, 19, 22, 53, 
 59, 255-298; see also Great 
 Britain, Clericalism, Govern- 
 ment Ownership, High Cost of 
 Living. 
 
 Erfurt Congress, 9. 
 
 Ewing, Sir Thomas, 521. 
 
 Exportation of Arms, Prohibi- 
 tion of, 623. 
 
 F 
 
 Fabian Society, 255, 281, 285- 
 291. 
 
 Federalism, 161, 189, 622. 
 
 Ferri, 12, 17, 81. 
 
 Finland, 25, 103-107; see also 
 Taxation. 
 
 Fischer, Edmund, 52. 
 
 Fisher, Andrew, 325, 329, 331, 
 517, 519, 521. 
 
 Foreign Concessions, 630. 
 
 France, 11, 19, 23, 57-69; see 
 also Clericalism, Education, 
 French Parties, Government 
 Ownership, High Cost of Liv- 
 ing, Labor Unions, Mili- 
 tarism, Social Insurance, Tax- 
 ation, Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Franckel, Leo, 7. 
 
 Franco-German Rapprochement, 
 64, 69. 
 
 Franco, Joao, 180. 
 
 Freemasons, 92. 
 
 Free Press, 204. 
 
 Free Speech in Assemblage, 33, 
 40, 41, 100 ff., 166, 204. 
 
 French Parties, Independent So- 
 cialist, 57, 65; Labor, 7; Mon- 
 archist and Nationalist, 65; 
 Progressist, 65 ; Republican, 
 65 ; Radical, 65 ; Socialist Rad- 
 ical, 17, 65; Socialist, 6, 7, 8, 
 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 25, 57-69. 
 
 Friedberg, Dr., 390. 
 
636 
 
 INDEX 
 
 General Strike, 9, 73, 376, 389- 
 430, 548. See Strikes. 
 
 German Parties, 15, 59, 171 ; 
 Anti-Semitic, 37, 48; Beth- 
 mann-Holweg bloc, 48; Bue- 
 low Moc, 48; Center, 37, 48; 
 Conservative, 37; Free Con- 
 servative, 48 ; Independent, 9 ; 
 Liberal, 52; Social Democratic, 
 4, 5, 6, 10, 23, 27-56. 
 
 Germany, Socialist Movement 
 in, 25, 27-56; Dresden Con- 
 gress, 15, 19; Militarism, 20; 
 Monarchical, 20; see also 
 Clericalism, Education, German 
 Parties, Government Owner- 
 ship, High Cost of Living, 
 Militarism, Social Insurance, 
 Taxation, Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Germer, Adolph, 249. 
 
 Ghent, Wm. J., 208. 
 
 Ghesquiere, 376, 378. 
 
 Giolitti, Giovanni, 85, 90. 
 
 Glasier, J. Bruce, 282. 
 
 Goebel, Geo. H., 249, 624. 
 
 Goehre, Paul, 30. 
 
 Goremykin, 102. 
 
 Government Employees, 184, 215. 
 
 Government Ownership, 477 ff. ; 
 in Australia, 309, 320, 322, 
 327, 332, 333; in China, 360; 
 in England, 257, 269, 275, 
 286, 472, 479; in France, 17, 
 22, 449; in Ge»many, 478- 
 479, 492; in New Zealand, 
 348; in the United States, 
 203, 216, 220, 630, 631; see 
 also Municipal Problems, Mu- 
 nicipal Socialism, National- 
 ization. 
 
 Graham, Cunningham, 6. 
 
 Great Britain, Socialist Move- 
 ment in, 25, 255-298; see also 
 Education, England, Labor 
 Unions, Militarism, Taxation, 
 Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Greece, Socialist Movement in, 
 25, 188-190; see also Labor 
 Unions. 
 
 Guesde, Jules, 12, 14, 17. 
 
 Hamburg, 29. 
 
 Hardie, J. Keir, 6. 
 
 Haywood, Wm. D., 224, 382, 
 384, 387. 
 
 Heine, Wolfgang, 52, 53, 55. 
 
 Herv6, 60, 61, 62. 
 
 Bet Volk, 122. 
 
 Heydebrand, 35. 
 
 Hickey, P., 427. 
 
 High Cost of Living, 446-453; in 
 Australia, 314-317, 333, 336, 
 434, 436; in Austria, 158; in 
 England, 275, 276, 447, 448, 
 450-452; in France, 448-450; 
 in Germany, 37, 39, 487; in 
 Spain, 175; in the United 
 States, 200, 562, 563. 
 
 Hillquit, Morris, 231, 483, 500, 
 609, 625. 
 
 Holland, 7, 11, 25, 108-127; see 
 also Clericalism, Parties in, 
 Militarism, Social Insurance, 
 Taxation, Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Holland, Parties in, Catholic, 
 114; Calvinist, 114; Chris- 
 tian Historic, 114; Free Lib- 
 eral, 113, 114; Marxian So- 
 cialist, 112, 114, 125; Pro- 
 gressive Democratic, 114; So- 
 cial Democratic Labor, 25, 114. 
 
 Holman, 528, 530. 
 
 Hoist, Roland, 390. 
 
 Home Rule, 33, 184, 212, 261, 
 
 . 266, 268, 276, 281, 299, 303, 
 305, 544, 560, 573, 577. 
 
 House of Lords, Veto, 259, 261, 
 263. 
 
 Housing, 269, 270, 273, 288, 440, 
 451, 457, 538, 544, 560, 579. 
 
 Hughes, Wm. M., 521. 
 
 Hungary, Socialist Movement 
 in, 7, 25, 162-171; see also 
 Education, Labor Unions, Mil- 
 itarism, Universal Suffrage. ■ 
 
 Hunter, Robert, 500. 
 
 Hutchinson, Robert H., 433. 
 
 Huysmans, Camille, 14, 293, 395, 
 396. 
 
 Hyndman, H. M., 295, 296, 471. 
 
INDEX 
 
 637 
 
 Iglesias, Pablo, 172. 
 
 Immigration, 164, 175, 189, 327, 
 333, 448, 450; Immigration 
 and the Race Problem, 495- 
 508. 
 
 Imperialism, 6; see also Mili- 
 tarism. 
 
 Import Duties, 481-484. 
 
 Income Tax. See Taxation, 
 
 Indemnities, 622. 
 
 Independent Labor Party, 255- 
 264, 280; Program, 257. 
 
 Industrial Unionism. See Syn- 
 dicalism. 
 
 Inheritance Tax. See Taxation. 
 
 Initiative and Referendum, 11, 
 33, 184, 205, 213, 230, 239, 
 323, 329, 333, 348, 523, 537, 
 550, 553, 559, 573. 
 
 Injunction, Abolition of, 211. 
 
 Insanity, 200. 
 
 Intermarriage. See Race Ques- 
 tion. 
 
 Internationalism. See Milita- 
 rism. 
 
 International Ownership, 622. 
 
 International Socialist Bureau, 
 4, 14, 187, 294, 515. 
 
 International Socialist Move- 
 ment, 3-26. 
 
 International Sooialist Review, 
 152. 
 
 Intervention, Mexico, 247. 
 
 Ireland, Socialist Movement in, 
 13, 259, 299-308; see also 
 Clericalism, Labor Unions. 
 
 Irving, Dan, 295. 
 
 Italy, 18, 76-94; see also Cleri- 
 calism, Education, Italian 
 Parties, Militarism, Universal 
 Suffrage. 
 
 Italian Parties, Independent, 87; 
 Radical, 87; Reformist Party, 
 76; Reformist Socialist Party, 
 76, 81, 87; Socialist Party, 7, 
 13, 25, 76-94. 
 J 
 
 James, Alfred, 328. 
 
 Jaures, 12, 14, 16, 19-23, 62, 67, 
 377, 378, 511, 527. 
 
 JenA Congress, 11, 40. 
 
 Jewish Socialists, 97; Equal 
 
 Rights of, 184; Expulsion of, 
 
 182. 
 Jimenez, Angel M., 250. 
 Jowett, F. W., 260, 263, 514, 611, 
 
 612. 
 Justo, Juan, 249. 
 
 K 
 
 Kautsky, 12, 15, 16, 17, 43, 292, 
 
 390. 
 Kerensky, 100, 101, 103. 
 Knee, F., 525, 526. 
 Kiang, Kang Hu, 361. 
 Kitchener, 520. 
 Kohevalov, 103. 
 
 Labor Disputes. See Compulsory 
 Arbitration, Strike, General 
 Strike. 
 
 Labor, Hours of. See Workday, 
 Shorter. 
 
 Labor Leader, 327. 
 
 Labor Legislation, 438-440 ; see 
 also Child Labor, Compulsory 
 Arbitration, Minimum Wage, 
 Right to Organize, Truck Sys- 
 tem, Social Insurance, Unem- 
 ployment Insurance, Shorter 
 Workday. 
 
 Labor Parties, 7, 239, 255, 264, 
 266, 284, 305, 309-334, 431. 
 
 Labor Unions, 4, 10, 12, 18, 182, 
 373-388, 442, 495, 496, 502; in 
 Australia, 338, 506; in Bel- 
 gium, 71, 75, 409; in Canada, 
 240; in Denmark, 131; in 
 France, 375-378; in Great 
 Britain, 255, 257, 268, 272, 
 294, 297; in Greece, 190; in 
 Hungary, 163; in Ireland, 303, 
 307 ; in New Zealand, 340, 342, 
 346; in Roumania, 181, 182; 
 in South Africa, 507; in 
 Sweden, 409; in the United 
 States, 378-388. 
 
 Labriola, 81, 89. 
 
638 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lafont, 591. 
 
 Land Question, 247, 248, 286, 
 287, 301, 322, 332, 349, 366, 
 456, 458, 459, 465-474, 493, 
 581; see also Agriculture. 
 
 Larkin, James, 303, 305. 
 
 Lasalle, Ferdinand, 491. 
 
 L'Asino, 76. 
 
 Latimer, 525. 
 
 Laukki, Leo, 502. 
 
 LavrofF, Pierre, 7. 
 
 Lawrence, Miss Susan, 290. 
 
 Ledebour, George, 47. 
 
 Lee, Algernon, 3. 
 
 Legge, 520. 
 
 L'EgaliU, 57. 
 
 Leipzig Volks^eitung, 55. 
 
 Leken, 396. 
 
 Lerda, 78, 92. 
 
 Le Sueur, Arthur, 480, 555, 625. 
 
 Letts, 97. 
 
 Lewis, 524. 
 
 L'Humanit4, 67. 
 
 Liebknecht, Karl, 409, 413. 
 
 Liebknecht, Wm., 6, 10, 12. 
 
 Lindhagen, 145. 
 
 Lloyd-George, David, 282, 338. 
 
 London, Congress, 11. 
 
 London, Meyer, 502. 
 
 Longuet, Jean, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12. 
 
 Lucci, 93, 539 flF., 543, 546. 
 
 Lunn, George R., 569, 570, 594. 
 
 Luxemburg, Socialist Vote in, 
 25. 
 
 Luxemburg, Eosa, 405, 409, 412, 
 413. 
 
 M 
 
 Macdonald, Ramsay, 260, 262, 
 
 447, 527, 530. 
 Mackenzie, T., 343. 
 Madero, Francisco, 246. 
 Magyar, nobles, 168, 171. 
 Maison du Peuple, 14. 
 Maklakov, 100. 
 Manoel, King, 177. 
 Marx, Eleanor, 6. 
 Marx, Karl, 4, 57, 384, 498. 
 Maurer, James H., 249, 626. 
 Maximilian, Emperor, 425. 
 
 Medical Service, Free, 269, 579. 
 
 Membership of Socialist Par- 
 ties, 25; see also Names of 
 Countries. 
 
 Mercer, J. N., 479. 
 
 Metropolitan Magazine, 3. 
 
 Mexico, 243-249. 
 
 Migoel, Dom, 177. 
 
 Milan, 90. 
 
 Militarism, 91, 509-522, 609 ff.; 
 in Australia, 329, 332, 333, 
 337, 338, 516-522; in Austria, 
 157, 165; in China, 366; in 
 Denmark, 133, 136; in France, 
 58, 61, 62, 376, 450, 510-514, 
 611-612; in Germany, 35, 43, 
 410, 411, 486 flf., 613; in Great 
 Britain, 259, 280, 614-618; in 
 Holland, 118, 121, 618; in 
 Hungary, 170; in Italy, 515; 
 in New Zealand, 348, 349; in 
 Sweden, 149, 152; in Switzer- 
 land, 618; in the United 
 States, 515-516, 619 ff.; see 
 also Preparedness, Disarma- 
 ment. 
 
 Millerand, 12, 14, 23, 57, 66, 119. 
 
 Mills, W. T., 340. 
 
 Minimum Wage, 24, 204, 257, 
 267, 269, 270, 271, 275, 287, 
 332, 348, 440, 444, 447, 452, 
 455, 479, 504, 537. 
 
 Molkenbuhr, 6. 
 
 Monarchism. See Republican- 
 ism. 
 
 Monopolies. See Trusts. 
 
 Morocco War, 175; Adventure, 
 58, 63. 
 
 Muenchener Post, 54. 
 
 Municipal Ownership. See Mu- 
 nicipal Socialism, Municipal 
 Problems. 
 
 Municipal Problems, 58, 90, 93, 
 153, 162, 220, 258, 549, 552, 
 558, 562; see also Municipal 
 Socialism. 
 
 Municipal Socialism, 532-581; 
 see also Municipal Problems. 
 
 Mussolini, 92. 
 
INDEX 
 
 639 
 
 N 
 
 Nationalism. See Militarism, 
 Names of Countries. 
 
 Nationalist Parties. See Names 
 of Countries. 
 
 Nationalization, Industry, 322, 
 327, 623, 624, 631; Land, 270; 
 Mines, 269, 270, 275; Railway, 
 266, 269, 270, 274, 322; 
 Trusts, 309, 320; see also 
 Government Ownership. 
 
 Naumann, 35. 
 
 Nepeszava, 163. 
 
 Tfeue Zeit, Die, 47, 88, 104, 155, 
 163. 
 
 Neutralization of Seas, 622. 
 
 Wew Statesman, The, 333, 340. 
 
 New Zealand, Socialist and La- 
 bor Movements in, 25, 340- 
 353; see also Government 
 Ownership, Labor Ui^ons, 
 Militarism, Social Insurance. 
 
 Nieuwenhuis, Domela, 7. 
 
 Norway, Socialist Movement in, 
 7, 25, 153-154. 
 
 Numbers of Socialist Voters and 
 Party Members. See Names 
 of Countries. 
 
 O 
 
 O'Brien, C. M., 237. 
 Occupations of Socialist Legis- 
 lators, 30, 67. 
 Olberg, Oda, 88, 418, 541. 
 
 Pacifism. See Militarism. 
 
 Palacios, Alfredo, 249, 253. 
 
 Paris, International Socialist 
 Congresses at, 4, 6, 12, 15, 19; 
 Commune of, 7. 
 
 Parker, James, 260. 
 
 Parties, Political. (For brief 
 references to all political par- 
 ties, see Names of Countries.) 
 
 Party Machine, 222, 228. 
 
 Patents, Collective Ownership, 
 204. 
 
 Peace. See Militarism. 
 
 Pearce, H., 295. 
 
 Peasants, 31, 68, 82, 95, 146, 182. 
 
 Pelloutier, Fernand, 11. 
 
 Penal Reform. See Crime. 
 
 Pensions. See Social Insurance. 
 
 Peonage, 248. 
 
 Peraccina, 422. 
 
 Petrovsky, 103. 
 
 Place, Jack, 238. 
 
 Platform, Socialist and Labor 
 Parties. See Names of Coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Plebiscites, 622. 
 
 Plechhanoff, 7, 13, 16. 
 
 Podrecea, 76, 78. 
 
 Police. See Violence. 
 
 Polish Socialists, 13, 97. 
 
 Political Action, 9-12, 19, 28, 
 158, 221-228, 270, 378, 380, 
 407. 
 
 Portugal, Socialist Movement 
 in, 7, 25, 176-180. 
 
 Pouget, Emile, 381, 382. 
 
 Poverty, 200, 269. 
 
 Preparedness, 609 flf. 
 
 Presidential Veto, Abolition of, 
 205. 
 
 Prices, Maximum, 447, 450; see 
 also High Cost of Living. 
 
 Programs, Socialist and Labor 
 Parties. See Names of Coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Progressive Parties. See Coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Prohibition. See The Drink 
 Problem. 
 
 Proportional Representation, 11, 
 33, 64, 150, 184, 205, 273, 348, 
 351, 523-531, 537, 551, 558. 
 
 Prostitution, 200, 219, 366, 569. 
 
 Protection. See Tariff. 
 
 Protestant Churches, 30. 
 
 Prussia, Monarchical Power, 53. 
 
 Public Health, 561, 568, 581. 
 
 Public Ownership. See Govern- 
 ment Ownership, Municipal 
 Socialism, Nationalization. 
 
 Public Works, 442, 445, 457, 512, 
 544, 559, 563, 572, 573. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quelch, L. E., 474. 
 
640 
 
 INDEX 
 
 R 
 
 Eaee Question, 354, 495-508, 522. 
 
 Racovsky, Dr. C, 181. 
 
 Radicals. See Countries. 
 
 Raimondo, 93. 
 
 Ralli, 539, 540. 
 
 Recall, 184, 205, 213, 218, 348, 
 351, 523, 550, 553. 
 
 Referendum. See Initiative and 
 Referendum. 
 
 Reformism, 17, 18, 20, 43, 79, 
 80, 82, 155, 156, 158, 226, 420. 
 
 Reichstag, The, 28; Rights of, 
 46. 
 
 Republicanism, 16, 20, 23, 52-56, 
 55, 67, 70, 81, 99, 145, 363, 
 366, 418, 424, 425, 547. 
 
 Revisionism. See Reformism. 
 
 Revisionists, 15. 
 
 Revolution, 10, 16, 18, 19, 37, 78, 
 98, 156, 161, 202, 243, 265, 
 363, 367, 378, 425, 547, 614, 
 617, 626. 
 
 Richardson, Thomas, 260. 
 
 Rigg, R. A., 241. 
 
 Right to Organize, 38, 64, 439, 
 444, 537, 559, 563. 
 
 Roberts, 270. 
 
 Rockefeller, John D., 318. 
 
 Rodzianko, 101. 
 
 Rolf, H. J., 596. 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, 319. 
 
 Rossignol, J. E., 426. 
 
 Rouanet, 67. 
 
 Roumania, 171; Socialist Move- 
 ment in, 7, 25, 181-187; see 
 also Clericalism, Labor 
 Unions, Taxation, Universal 
 Suffrage. 
 
 Russia, 95-103; see also Russian 
 Parties. 
 
 Russian Parties, Labor, 95, 96, 
 97, 100; Peasants', 95, 100; 
 Social Democratic, 7, 10, 13, 
 25, 95-103; Social Revolution- 
 ary, 95. 
 
 Ruthenians, 157. 
 
 S 
 Sabotage, 228 ff., 381 ff. 
 Sandberg, Karl, 480. 
 
 Sanders, W. Stephen, 281, 289, 
 597. 
 
 Sanial, Lucien, 480. 
 
 Santos, Maohado, 177. 
 
 Saturday Half Holiday, 34, 204, 
 439, 444. 
 
 Saxony, 19, 29. 
 
 Schaper, 122. 
 
 Scheidemann, 43, 47, 409, 410, 
 413, 414, 416. 
 
 Scholarships, 538. 
 
 School Children, Feeding, 266, 
 269, 288, 440, 538, 574. 
 
 Schultz, Heinrich, 613. 
 
 Scotland. See Great Britain. 
 
 Second Ballott, 11, 40-46, 63, 
 289, 349, 526, 558. 
 
 Secret Diplomacy, 622, 630. 
 
 Seidel, Emil, 575. 
 
 Senape, 93, 
 
 Servants, Legislation for, 34; 
 Exemption from Cbntribution 
 to Insurance Funds, 38. 
 
 Servia, Socialist Vote in, 25. 
 
 Shaw, G. Bernard, 290. 
 
 Shaw, Tom, 282. 
 
 Simons, A. M., 626. 
 
 Simpson, James, 238. 
 
 Sinn Fein, 302. 
 
 Slavonic, 171. 
 
 Slovenians, 157. 
 
 Smilie, Robert, 261. 
 
 Smith, Herbert, 479. 
 
 Snowden, Phillip, 260, 261, 528, 
 598. 
 
 Social Insurance, 439, 445 ; in 
 Australia, 324, 327, 332-334; 
 in France, 64, 538; in Ger- 
 many, 38, 442, 443, 535; in 
 Great Britain, 257, 270, 280, 
 286, 289; in Holland, 112, 118, 
 120, 122, 125; in New Zealand, 
 348 ; in the United States, 212, 
 215, 217, 559. 
 
 Socialists and the War, 5, 8. 
 
 Social Reform. See Labor Legis- 
 lation. 
 
 Socialist Unity, 288. 
 
 Socialization. See Grovernment 
 Ownership. 
 
 Solf, 48. 
 
INDEX 
 
 641 
 
 Solomon, U., 524. 
 
 Song Chi Ying, 368. 
 
 South Africa, Labor Movement 
 in, 354-355; see also Labor 
 Unions. 
 
 Sozial Demokraten, 154. 
 
 Spain, Socialist Movement in, 6, 
 9, 25, 172-176; see also High 
 Cost of Living, Taxation. 
 
 Spargo, John, 378, 379, 381, 502, 
 556, 627. 
 
 Stauning, 132. 
 
 Strikes, 121, 215, 270, 559, 563, 
 574; Australia, 321, 336, 337, 
 519; Mines, 271; Policy, 270; 
 Port of London, 267; see also 
 General Strikes, Violence. 
 
 Studholme, Allan, 242. 
 
 Stuttgart International Con- 
 gress, 5. 
 
 Suffrage. See Universal Suf- 
 frage, Woman Suffrage. 
 
 Supreme Court, Abolition of 
 Power of, 205. 
 
 Sweating, 269. 
 
 Sweden, Socialist Movement in, 
 7, 25, 145-153; see also Labor 
 Unions, Militarism, Taxation, 
 Universal Suffrage. 
 
 Swiss Parties, Social Demo- 
 cratic, 25, 127, 128, 618. 
 
 Switzerland, 19, 127-128; see 
 also Militarism, Swiss Parties. 
 
 Sun Yat Sen, 358 ff. 
 
 Syndicalism, 68, 76, 87, 125, 178, 
 340, 376, 378-381, 413, 417, 
 422 ; see also Sabotage. 
 
 Tariff, 39, 41, 80, 82, 133, 320, 
 329, 333, 448, 449, 450, 481, 
 581, 616. 
 
 Tartars, 97. 
 
 Taxation, 91, 445, 485-494; in 
 Belgium, 392; in Finland, 106; 
 in France, 17, 20, 60, 63, 
 449, 450, 456, 512; in Ger- 
 many, 33-38, 39, 41, 49, 487- 
 494; in Great Britain, 258, 
 269, 276, 287, 288, 581; in 
 
 Holland, 120; in Roumania, 
 185; in Spain, 175; in 
 Sweden, 147; in the United 
 States, 212, 218, 467, 566, 567, 
 575; see also Import Duties 
 and Land Question. 
 
 Tcheidze, 99. 
 
 Terrorists, 10. 
 
 Thiessen, W., 251. 
 
 Thomas, Albert, 61. 
 
 Thompson, Carl D., 557, 627. 
 
 Thorne, W., 597. 
 
 Timm Resolution, 442, 443. 
 
 Tisza, 166. 
 
 Trade Unions. See Labor 
 Unions. 
 
 Tregear, Edward, 348. 
 
 Tripoli War, 76, 77, 81, 90, 549. 
 
 Troelstra, 120, 292. 
 
 Truck System Prohibited, 34. 
 
 Trusts, 314-320, 329, 334, 337, 
 338, 448, 475-476. 
 
 Tschechenelli, 102. 
 
 Turin, 90. 
 
 U 
 
 Ugarte, Manuel, 252. 
 
 Unemployment, 164, 200, 203, 
 214, 266, 270, 348, 351, 441- 
 445, 544, 560, 564, 578; Pre- 
 vention, 275, 440. 
 
 Unemployment Insurance. See 
 Social Insurance. 
 
 Unicameral System. See Bi- 
 cameral System. 
 
 United States, 7, 13, 25, 378; So- 
 cialist Movement in, 25, 191- 
 234; see also Clericalism, Edu- 
 cation, Government Ownership, 
 High Cost of Living, Labor 
 Unions, Militarism, Social In- 
 surance, Taxation, Universal 
 Suffrage. 
 
 Universal Suffrage, 11, 19; in 
 Austria, 156; in Belgium, 392- 
 403 ; in Canada, 239 ; in China, 
 366; in Denmark, 129, 130, 
 135; in France, 20; in Ger- 
 many, 33, 38i 403 ff. ; in Great 
 Britain, 268; in Holland, 112, 
 120, 122; in Hungary, 166, 
 
642 
 
 INDEX 
 
 169; in Italy, 82, 86; in Rou- 
 
 mania, 184; in Sweden, 150; 
 
 in the United States, 204, 213, 
 
 215, 623, 630. 
 Untermann, Ernest, 499. 
 Uruguay, Socialist Vote in, 25. 
 
 Vaillant, 61. 
 
 Vandervelde, Emile, 8, 12, 14, 71. 
 
 Vanguardia, La, 250. 
 
 Van Vliegen, 7. 
 
 Varga, E., 163. 
 
 Vienna Congress, 5. 
 
 Vigna, 89. 
 
 Villiers, B., 615. 
 
 Violence, 20, 96, 211, 350, 376- 
 378, 385, 409, 418, 425, 559, 
 574; see also Strike, General 
 Strike. 
 
 Viviani, Premier, 57. 
 
 Volders, Jean, 6. 
 
 VoUmar, 6, 30. 
 
 Vorwaerts, 45, 52, 54, 55, 72, 89, 
 105, 108, 117, 119, 132, 136, 
 146, 148, 152, 172, 187. 
 
 Vote, Socialist and Labor. See 
 Names of Countries. 
 
 W 
 
 Waterways, Strategic, 622. 
 Watkins, D., 325, 331. 
 Watson, Chris, 521. 
 Wauters, 396. 
 
 Webb, Sidney, 291, 294, 450, 580. 
 Webb, Mrs. Sidney, 290. 
 Welsh Disestablishment Bill, 
 
 261, 266, 268, 276. 
 Wendell, Herman, 486, 487. 
 Western Clarion, 235. 
 Wibaut, F. M., 112. 
 Williams, Parker, 238. 
 Wilson, J. Stitt, 249, 500, 525, 
 
 556, 564. 
 Winiarsky, L., 7. 
 Woman Suffrage, 239, 258, 259, 
 
 273, 289, 348, 367, 594-601, 
 
 623. 
 Workday, Shorter, 34, 38, 112, 
 
 150, 204, 211, 215, 216, 239, 
 
 257, 266, 270, 289, 348, 439, 
 
 440, 442, 444, 456, 504, 537, 
 
 559. 
 Wiirtemberg, 15. 
 
 Yuan Shi Kai, 358, 361, 362, 363, 
 366, 368. 
 
 Wages. See Minimum Wage. 
 Waldeek, Rousseau, Ministry, 14. 
 Walling, Wm. English, 5, 329, 
 
 383, 387. 
 Walsh, Stephen T., 598, 599. 
 Wanhope, Joshua, 500. 
 War. See Militarism. 
 
 Zaccagnini, Antonio, 250. 
 
 Zetkin, Clara, 6. 
 
 Zevaes, 66. 
 
 Zurich Congress, 8, 9; Declara- 
 tion of, 11; Resolution of, 9, 
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