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SOCIALISM IN THEORY AND

PRACTICE

THE BCACMILLAN COMPANY

MKW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO
ATLANTA • SAN FSANOSCO

MACMILLAN & CO., Limitbd

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MBLBOURNB

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TORONTO

SOCIALISM IN THEORY
AND PRACTICE

MORRIS HILLQUIT

AUTHOR OF ** HISTORY OF SOCIAUSM IN THX UNTTBD STATES"

JNtlD gont

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1909

Set np and electrotyped. Published February, 1909. Reprinted
March. x,o, I20*i99

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Carina oti ^rtffS

J. S. Cashing Co. —Berwick & Smith Co.

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

The socialist movement has grown immensely within
the last decade, and its growth still continues unabated
in all civilized countries of the world. What is the
secret of that growth ; what are the aims and methods
of the movement; and what does it portend for the
future of the human race ? These are questions which
persons of intellect can ignore no longer, and they are
questions which cannot be answered without much
thought and study.

In this book I have endeavored to present to the
public a brief summary of the socialist philosophy in its
bearing on the most important social institutions and
problems of our time, and a condensed account of the
history, methods, and achievements of the socialist
movement of the world.

Socialism is a criticism of modem social conditions,
a theory of social progress, an ideal of social organiza-
tion, and a practical movement of the masses. To be
fully understood it must be studied in all of these phases,
and the fact that this book is probably the first attempt
to accomplish that task, inadequate as that attempt may
be, is sufficient justification for its publication.

Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made for many
valuable suggestions which I have received from Mr.
W. J. Ghent, who has carefully read the proofs, and from
Mr. Rufus W. Weeks, who has read the manuscript.

MORRIS HILLQUIT.
New York, January zo, 2909.

» ■

• /'-i',

CONTENTS
PART I

THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

CHAPTER I

PAGS

iMTRODUCnON 3

CHAPTER 11

Socialism and Individualism

The SjTStem of Individualism 12

The Individual and Society 18

Individualism in Industry 24

The Individual under Socialism 29

CHAPTER III

Socialism and Ethics

The Essence and Scope of Ethics 36

The Evolution of the Moral Sense 46

Class Ethics 52

The Ethical Ideal and Socialist Morality . • . • 58

CHAPTER IV

Socialism and Law

The Law 66

The Feudal System of Law 72

The Modem System of Law 78

Social Legislation and Socialist Jurisprudence ... 84

• •

Vll

CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

Socialism and the Stats

FAGS

Nature and Evolation of the State 89

The Transitional State 100

The Socialist State 105

Production and Distribution of Wealth under Socialism • .111
Incentive under Socialism • . . . • • .119
The Political Structure of the Socialist State . . • • 131

CHAPTER VI

Sociausm and Politics

Politics, Representative Government and Political Parties

Classes and Class Strug^es in Modem Society

The Class Struggles in Politics

The Socialist Party in Politics

Electoral Tactics of the Socialist Party .

Parliamentary Tactics of the Socialist Party

Political Achievements of Socialism

144

153
161

168

174
181

190

PART II

SOCIAUSM AND REFORM

CHAPTER I
Introduction — Socialists and Social Reformers

CHAPTER II

The Industrial Reform Movements

Industrial Reform

Factory Reform

Shorter Workday

Child Labor .

Woman Labor

The Trade Union Movement

Codpetative Societies of Workingmen

214
215
218
224
231
236
242

CONTENTS IX
CHAPTER in

PAGB

WORKINGMEN^S INSURANCE 254

CHAPTER IV

The Political Reform Movements

Political Reform 269

UDiversal Suf&age 272

ProportioDal RepresentatioD 274

Referendum, Initiative and Right of Recall . . • . 277

Socialism and Woman Suffrage 281

CHAPTER V

Administrative Reforms

Government Ownership 284

Tax Reforms 288

The Single Tax 291

Abolition of Standing Armies 296

CHAPTER VI

Social Reform

Crime and Vice 303

Intemperance 309

The Housing of the Poor 314

APPENDIX

Historical Sketch of the Socialist Movement

Early History 320

Germany 335

France . . 337

Russia .•..•••... 340

Austria 345

England 346

Italy 348

Belgium and Holland 349

The Scandinavian Countries ...... 350

United States 351

The New International 354

Index 357

PART I

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The history of our civilization presents one unbroken
chain of social changes. The interval between the primi-
tive tribe of cave-dwellers and modem industrial society
is filled with a variety of intermediate social types.

Each of these types constitutes a separate phase of
civilization. Within the same civilization each type is
superior to the one preceding it, and inferior to the one
succeeding it. Each phase of civilization is evolved from
the preceding phase and gives birth to the succeeding phase.
Each phase of civilization passes through the stages of
formation, bloom, and decay.

The present phase of our civilization forms no excep-
tion to this inmiutable rule of social development. We
have reached a state vastly superior to all conditions of the
past. Men in modem society on the whole enjoy more
individual freedom and security, more physical comforts
and intellectual and aesthetic pleasures than did the sav-
ages and members of societies based on slavery or serf-
dom.

But we have not reached perfection. We never shall
reach perfection. A state of perfection in society would
imply the arrest of all hmnan endeavors and progress, the

' death of civilization. It is improvement, not perfection,
ifor which we are striving, and our contemporary social
lorganization is capable of improvement just as all societies
of the past were.

Our social order of to-day did not spring into existence
suddenly and full-fledged. It developed gradually from
preceding social conditions, and it is still in process of
evolution. It has had its period of formation, and the
socialists contend that it has passed its period of bloom.
It has entered on the stage of decay and must be followed
by a new phase of civilization of a more advanced type.

The all-important factor in modem society is industry.
In former ages industry — that is, production of goods for
exchange — played a rather subordinate part in the lives
of the nations. Agriculture was the basis of the com-
munity.

But recent times, and pari:icularly the last century, have
witnessed a stupendous industrial growth. The modest
workshop of former ages has been superseded by the huge
modem factory; the simple, almost primitive tool of the
old-time mechanic has developed into the gigantic machine
of to-day; and the power of steam and electricity has
increased the productivity of labor a hundred fold. New
objects of use have been invented, new needs have been
created, while the railroads, steamships and other im-
proved means of communication and distribution have
united the entire civilized world into one intemational
market.

This industrial revolution has brought in its wake a
radical change of social institutions. It has created new
classes of society. The privileged type of former ages,
the landowning and titled nobleman, the courtier and

mTRODUCTION

traxrior, has been relegated to the background, and in his
place has arisen the captain of industry — the modem

capitalist.

With the ancient aristocracy have also disappeared the
ancient types of the dependent class, the slave and the
serf, and their place has been tai^en by the modem wage
worker.

In the earlier stages of its career the capitalist class was
revolutionary and useful. It abolished absolute monarch-
ies and introduced modem representative government, it
rooted out old prejudices and beliefs, it tore down the arti-
ficial barriers between nations, it gave to the world the
most marvelous inventions, and ushered in a distmctly
superior system of society. '

But these achievements belong largely to the pioneer
days of capitalism, to the period when the modem indus-
tries were in process of formation. To-day our prin-
cipal industries are fully organized. They have largely
been reduced to mere routine and their progress depends
but little on individual initiative. - - —

The typical capitalist of to-day has long ceased to be
the manager of the industries. He is "engaged" in what-
ever industry the vicissitudes of the stock market and the
tricks of stock Jobbery may thrust upon him. It may
happen to be a railway system or a gas plant, a mine or a
steel foundry, a rubber factory or water works, or all of
them in turn. He need not know, and as a rule he does
not know, the intimate workings of the mdustry he controls.
The actual work of management and operation is done by
hired labor, whether such labor be that of the high-priced
superintendent or that of a common laborer employed
at starvation wages. There is hardly a capitalist to-day

■whose existence is necessary to the continuance of any
essential industry. The days of the actual usefulness of
the capitalist class in the social economy of the nation are
rapidly passing. And like so many other classes in history
under similar conditions, the capitalists have become
reactionary, and the regime developed by them has be-
come irrational, unjust and oppressive.

In the merciless war of competition the big capitalist
enterprises are gradually extinguishing the smaller inde-
pendent concerns. Our "national" wealth and principal
industries concentrate in the hands of ever fewer combines.
Trusts and monopolies are becoming the modem form of
industrial organization. A new capitalist type is thus de-
veloped, the type of the trust magnate and multi-million-
aire.

But the large masses of the people share but little in
the benefits of this imprecedentcd growth of wealth.
While a certain portion of the working class, the trained
or skilled laborers, probably enjoy to-day larger material
comforts than did their ancestors in the past, the increase
of then- comforts does not keep pace with the increase of
the general productivity and wealth. The condition of
this favored class of the working population is one of
absolute improvement but of relative deterioration. And
side by side with the more fortunate strata of the working
class there are the large masses of laborers whose conditions
of life have greatly deteriorated, absolutely as well as
relatively. Millions of workingmen maintain themselves
with difficulty above the bare margin of starvation, while
large masses of the population, rendered "superfluous"
by the invention of improved machinery, are driven to
vagabondage and forced into the paths of vice and crime.

The boundless luxuries of the few find their logical coun-
terpart in the dire misery of the many.
^- In the mad capitalist race for profits, morals are useless
_. and cumbersome ballast. (The— earlier merchant and|/-_
manufacturer had some sense of commercial pcobity, -Thcj- ]
"mipdem trust magnate has JioRe:! To him all m'eans are '
fair so long as they satisfy his greed. His ideal is to in-
crease his power, to get possession of all the sources of
wealth of his coimtry, to own his fellow-men, body and
soul. —

To reach this aim he corrupts legislatures, buys courts
of justice, bribes public officials and pollutes the public
press,

The "interests of industry" — his interests — shape the
entire life of modem nations. They influence our laws,
dominate our politics, direct our public opinion, determine
our internal and external policy, and decide upon war and
peace between nations. The trust magnate is a more
dangerous potentate than any political despot. —

And these conditions are not mere accidental abuses;
they are the necessai-y results of our industrial institutions.
Even the beneficiaries of these institutions are without
power to change them. The capitalists are driven into
the fatal course by the inexorable laws of industrial de-
velopment. We may well foresee a time, if the present
order lasts long enough, when practically all of our most
important industries will have become trusts, when the
entire wealth of the nations and all the powers of govern-
ment will be in the hands of a small number of monopolists,
and when the people will depend upon them absolutely
for their physical, inteUeclual and moral existence.

Such conditions are not unparalleled in history. The

^^iSuch

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AMD MOVEMENT

P 110111311 Empire found itself in such a situation in the
fourth and fifth centuries of our era, and Roman civihza-
tion succumbed. France faced a similar crisis thirteen
hundred years later, but the French nation suppressed the
dangerous order and built a better and more vigorous
society on its ruins.

Will the modem nation share the fate of Rome, or fol-
low the example of France?

I y" The answer to this momentous question is contained in

l^jhe question itself.

Rome perished for the lack of a class to save it. The
'slaves were beyond the pale of Roman society, and the
proletarians of the capital and the provinces were too
ignorant, demoralized and feeble to combat the greedy and
profligate patricians. The degenerate Roman population

I fell an easy prey to the advancing barbarian hordes.
In France, on the other hand, the haughty and parasitic
nobility was confronted by the men of science, industry,
commerce and labor, the vigorous and intelligent "third
estate." The "third estate" saved France, even thoughj
the salvation was accomplished at the cost of a revolution.
Modem society has developed a new "third estate, " —
the industrial working class. The working class to-day is
the principal social power operating against the formation
of a capitalist oligarchy. And it is a power to be reckoned
with. The modem workingmen are not the helots of
ancient Greece, nor the proletarians of ancient Rome, nor
the serfs of mediaeval ages. They are more intelligent
and better organized than any dependent class in the past :
their conditions of existence and instinct of self-preserva-
tion naturally array them against the present system -of
exploitation of labor, and force them into active resistance

INTRODUCnON

igainst it. As capitalism grows more acute and menac-
ing, the cohorts of labor become more unified, powerful
and aggressive, and more fully able and determined to
carry their struggles to victory.

Only half a century ago the labor movement was barely
in its inception, weak in numbers, inefficient in organiza-
tion and uncertain in its aims. To-day the working-
men are organized in legions of powerful trade unions,
trained and drilled in the everyday battles for the advance-
ment of their conditions of life. In a large number of
countries they have created immense cooperative estab-
lishments successfully competing with the capitalist enter-
prises in the same industries. In all civilized countries of
the world they have developed a socialist movement, so
uniform in its aims and methods, so persistent in its
struggles, so inspiring in its propaganda and so irresistible
in its spread, that with perhaps the single exception of
early Christianity the movement stands unparalleled in the
s of written history.
The trade unions fight the immediate and particular

lattles of the workers in the factories, mills, mines and
^ops, and educate their members to a sense of their
economic rights. The cooperative labor enterprises train
their members in the collective operation and democratic
management of industries. The socialist parties emphasize
the general and ultimate interests of the entire working
class, and train their members in political action and
in the administration of the affairs of government and
_ state.

Marching over different routes, operating with different

Methods and conscious or unconscious of the effects of

^eir own activity, all these forms of the labor movement

TO THE SOCXALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

make for one inevitable goal : the building up of a new
and regenerated society,

And the workingmen are not alone in this movement.
They receive large and ever larger accretions from all
other classes — from the small business men displaced
by the trust, the professionals reduced to the state of
"intellectual proletarians"; the farmers, exploited less
directly but not less effectively by trustified capital, and
even from the ranks of the capitalist class itself. The
number of men of the "belter classes" who embrace the
cause of the people from motives of enlightened self-
interest or from purely ethical motives grows as the evils
of the decaying capitalist system become more apparent.
These "desertions"from the ranks of the dominant classes
into the camp of the subjugated class, are an infallible sign
of the approaching collapse of the rule of the former.

The economic development which has thus furnished
the conditions for a radical transformation of society and
produced the forces to accomplish it, is also building up
the basis of that transformation.

The great modem trust organizes industry on a national
scale; it regulates the production and distribution of
commodities, and brings all workers of the country under
one administration, A trustified industry is in its essence
a nationalized industry. It would be Just as easy to-day
for a governmental agency to run such an industry as it is
for the individual trust magnates or their agents.

And it would be much more just. Our highly effective
system of industry is the achievement of many generations,
the heritage of all mankind ; our marvelous tools of pro-
duction and distribution are the fruit of the collective
industry and intellect of the laboring population ; they are

INTRODUCTION 1 1

operated collectively by the whole working class, and they
are indispensable to the life of the entire nation. In equity
and justice the capitalist has no better title to the modem
social tools than the slaveholder had to his chattel slaves.
Socialism advocates the transfer of ownership in the
social tools of production — the land, factories, machinery,
railroads, mines, etc. — from the individual capitalists
to the people, to be operated for the benefit of all.

This program has been denounced as confiscatory and
revolutionary, but it is no more so than was the abolition
of chattel slavery^ It has been ridiculed as Utopian and
fantastic, but it is no more so than the demands of the
eighteenth century capitalist for the abolition of the privi-
leges of birth were to his contemporaries.

Our social progress is a movement towards perfect
democracy. The successive stages of our civilization mark
the disappearance of one class privilege after another.
Why should mankind halt in reverence and awe before the
privilege of wealth? When an heir to millions is bom
to-day, he has the same exceptional position in society and
the same power over thousands of his fellow-men that the
newborn duke or marquis had in times past; and the
justice and logic of the situation are the same in both cases.
A true democracy is one in which all babes are bom alike,
and all human beings enjoy the same rights and oppor-
timities.

Socialism and individualism are the two main contend-
ing principles underlying all modern social theories and
movements. Both ideas are, comparatively speaking,
new in the history of human thought, and the social
philosophy based on individualism is the older of the two,
Some writers discern the origin of the idea of individualism
in the movement of the Reformation, and its first practical
application in the demand for liberty of the conscience,
i.e., the religious self-determination of the individual.
The idea of religious liberty according to the noted Russian
scholar, Peter Struve, led to the broader conception of the
liberty of the individual, and the latter to the theory of
political self-government of the nations.

"In connection with the idea of the self-determination
of the individual," he observes, "the idea of the self-
government of society originates in the same surround-
ings and under the same conditions and becomes a mov-
ing force. In the study of the events and ideas of the
English revolution of the seventeenth century, nothing is
more striking than the fact that that wonderful period
produced, as with one blow and in quite finished form, the
idea of individual liberty, liberalism, as well as the idea
of political self-government, democracy." '

The theory is no doubt historically true, but it utterly

"Individualism i Socialism," Polyarnaya Zvesda, No. ii.

fails to account for the causes of the phenomenon. The
religious movement of the Reformation was one of the
manifestations of the struggle for individualism, but not its
cause. The Reformation and the nascent idea of indi-
vidualism involved in it were but the symptoms and results
of a deeper and more material process — the birth of the
modem social and industrial system.

The modem philosophy of individualism came into life
as a reaction against the excessive centralization of the
feudal state and church, and as a protest against the un-
checked powers of the crown, nobility and clergy over the
population, and especially over the growing class of in-
dustrials. "Individual Liberty" was the battle cry with
which the young bourgeoisie (the industrial and trading
class) entered the arena of political struggle. That
battle cry meant for it freedom of competition — Industrial
Liberty; the right to use the powers of the state for the
advancement of manufacture and commerce — Political
Liberty ; the freedom from interference by the church with
the political and industrial management of the people —
Religious Liberty ; and above aU it meant the freedom and
sacredness of private property. "What they (the liberal;
bourgeois) meant by the freedom of the individual," says >
Mr. E. Belfort Bax, "was, first and foremost, the liberty
of private property as such, to be controlled in its operation
by naught else than the will of the individual possessing it.
What was cared for was not so much the liberty of the
individual as the liberty of private property. The liberty
of the individual as such was secondary. It was as the
possessor and controller of property that it was specially
desired to assure his liberty." '
J"Socialismand Individualism," London, PetsooalRiglitsSeries, p. la

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

The idea of individual liberty thus conceived animates
all phases of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudal
society. It is at the bottom of Rousseau's "Social Con-
tract" and the social philosophy of the Encyclopedists;
it asserts itself in the principle of non-interference pro-
claimed by Adam Smith and the founders of classical
political economy ; and it is the true meaning of the ra-
tionalistic criticisms of Voltaire and his followers.

Individual liberty with or without other verbal adorn-
ments was the motto that inspired the battles of the English
middle classes under Cromwell towards the end of the
seventeenth century, and those of the French "third estate"
and the American colonists a century later.

"All men are bom and continue free," ' and "All men
are endowed by their Creator with the 'inalienable right'
of liberty," * were the maxims adopted as the foundation
of all political constitutions by the victorious bourgeoisie
of all countries.

The battles fought by the pre-Revolutionary bourgeoisie
in the name of Individual Liberty have given to civiliza-
tion a few great acquisitions. They have to a large extent
emancipated man in the purely individual sphere of his
life, and rendered into his own keeping his beliefs, views
and tastes, his individual mind and soul. The freedom
of press, speech, conscience and person are such acquisi-
tions, and they are of everlasting benefit to mankind.

But the historical watchword had an altogether different
fate in the field of politics and industry.

In the revolutionary period of the career of our ruling
"Individual Liberty" in those fields stood princi-

' French Dec1ara.tioa of the Rights of Man.
* American Declaration of IndepcDdeace.

SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM

I mg

.ly for freedom from arbitrary political, industrial and
restraint, but with the fall of feudalism and the
loval of feudal restraints, the phrase lost its original
:cance. The manufacturing and trading classes, as '
the struggling and subjected bourgeois of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, appealed to the sacred right of
^individual freedom as a means to deiiver them from the
ppression of the ruling classes of their time ; but the pos- i
;ing classes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
lemseives in power and confronting a new dependent

the class of wage workers, invoke the old god of their ,
ithers only in order to strengthen their own rule. The
[dividual Liberty" of the modern capitalist has come
largely to stand for the right to deal with his employees i
BS he pleases, the unrestricted right to exploit men, women I
and children of the working class, and to be free from the
interference of the state in his process of exploitation. An.
economic order based entirely on the principles of " laissez-
faire," and a political organization of the type characterized i
by Huxley as "Administrative Nihilism" are the ideals of
the modem priests of the god "Individual Liberty."
In the hands of the capitalist individual liberty has de-
generated into individual license, its philosophy is that of
shortsighted egoism. The most consistent and logical
representative of that philosophy is probably Max Stirner,
whose work, "The Ego and His Own," has only recently,
more than sixty years after its first appearance, been placed
before the English-reading bourgeois to be acclaimed by
them with unbounded delight. The views of that philoso-
pher of individualism may be summed up in the follow-
ing two brief quotations from the work mentioned : —
"Away then with every concern that is not altogether

l6 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

my concern! You think at least 'the good cause' must
be my concern. What's good and what's bad I Why, I
myself am my concern, and I am neither good nor bad.
Neither has meaning for me.

"The divine is God's concern; the human man's.
My concern is neither the divine nor the human, not the
true, good, just, free, etc., but solely what is mine, and it
is not a general one, but is unique, as I am unique.

" Nothing is more to me than myself." '

And again: —

"Every state is a despotism, be the despot one or (as
one is likely to imagine about a republic), if all be the lords,
i.e., despotize one over the other." '

And in this extreme view of individual freedom the liberal
capitalists find themselves entirely in accord with the
radical anarchists. Both would rob society of all its
social functions. Both base their philosophy on individual
competition and the brutal struggle for existence rather
than on the prindple of human cooperation, both make an
idol of individual liberty, both suffer from a morbid exag-
geration of the Ego, and both sanction all means to attain
the end of individual happiness.

The only difference between the conservative and patri-
1 otic capitalist and the violent anarchist is that the former
' represents the "individualism" of the rich, and the latter
that of the poor.

The philosophy of individualism supplies a moral and
pseudo-scientific sanction for the economic struggle be-
tween man and man, and appeals to the different classes of
the population favorably or imfavorably according to their

' Mai Stirncr, "The Ego and His Own," New York, 1907, p. 5.

SOCIAUSM AND INDIVIDUAUSM 17

chances and position in that struggle. The ruling classes
with their overwhelming economic powers are best
equipped for the uneven struggle of existence; they are
bound to prevail in it and to reap all the advantages ol
the victory if not interfered with — they are, therefore,
naturally inclined to individualism.

The dependent and non-possessing classes, on the other '■
band, are powerless in the individual struggle for existence
under prevailing conditions. They stand in need of social
protection against the abuses of the dominant class, and
thus their strength lies in concerted action and cooperation.
To the intelligent workingmen, individualism is as repel-
lent as it is hostile to their interests — they naturally lean
towards the opposite philosophy. Socialism is the mani-
festation of the working class revolt against the excessive
individualism of the capitalists, just as individualism
appeared originally as the expression of the revolt of
the bourgeoisie against the excessive centralization of the
ancient regime.

The frequent and heated modern discussions on the
merits and demerits of the "systems" of individualism
and socialism are, therefore, at bottom only the theoretical
and somewhat veiled expression of the practical struggles
between the ruling and dependent classes of our times.

In the words of Sidney Ball, "Socialism and Individual-
ism, when contrasted, have an economic cormotation," '
but in ordinary discussion they assume, as a rule, the guise
• of purely abstract political or philosophical issues.

These issues between the "individualists" and the
socialists are many in number and multiform in character,

fl8 THE SoaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

but for the convenience of treatment they may all be
under the following three main heads : —
The Relations of the Individual to Society.
The Mutual Relations of Individuals in Production,
3. The Fate of Individual Liberty under a System
Socialism.

We shall consider the points presented by each of these
three subjects separately.

L The Individual and Society

I At the bottom of the individualist philosophy in politics
lies the conception that organized society is a mere aggre-
gation of individuals freely and deliberately associating
for certain common purposes ^ a sort of business part-
nership which may be formed, shaped and dissolved by
the contracting parties at will. In this view of our social
organization every member of modern society is an inde-
pendent party to the "social contract" who has entered
into contractual relations with society in order to gain
some individual advantages and who may cancel these
relations if the sacrifices imposed on him should exceed
such advantages. The logical result of these views is an
attitude of jealousy and suspicion towards organized
society or the "state," ' an apprehension that the latter
may strive to exact from the individual more than he has
bargained to give, that it may "exceed the sphere of its
legitimate functions." '

• For the puqxses of the present discussion the terms are here em-
ployed interchangeably.

' M. Yvea Guyot, the leading apostle ot individualism in France,
_ would limit the activities of the state to the following functions; —
. To guarantee e»tetior and interior security.

SOCIAUSM AND INDIVIDUALISM 19

This somewhat crude social philosophy found its clearest
expression in the French pre-Revolutionary " literature of
enlightenment"; it was the key to the social theories of
the English Utilitarian school of Locke, Bentham and
Mill, and it held practically undisputed sway of the human
mind until about the middle of the last century. The
doctrine is most naively asserted in the Massachusetts
Bill of Rights, in the following language: "The body
politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals;
it is a social compact by which the whole people covenants
with each citizen and each citizen with the whole people,
that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common
good."

But the discoveries in the domain of organic evolution
and the growing recognition of the laws which are oper-
ating to shape individual life everywhere, finally caused
the students of social life and phenomena to subject their
views to a critical examination. Conditions of social
existence, past and present, were carefully investigated
and collated, and laws of social development were gradu-
ally established.

In the light of the newly acquired knowledge the d priori \
social theories of the early thinkers had to be abandoned ;
one by one, and to-day it is quite generally accepted that •
organized society is not an arbitrary invention, but the '
result of a definite and logical process of historical de-
velopment.

It is probable that men never were purely individual

"2. To secure to each individual the freedom to dispose of his per-
son and the freedom of the environment in which he must act.

'3. Not to intervene in contracts except to enforce their performance."
Le Socialisme et L'Individualisme/' Journal des EconomisteSf June,
1898.

' beings, but that they evolved from gregarious or social
ancestors in the kingdom of animal life. "As far as we
can go back in the palaeo-ethnology of mankind," observes
Kropotkin, " we find men living in societies — in tribes
simOar to those of the higher mammals." And further:
"The earliest traces of man, dating from the glacial or the
early post-glacial period, afford unmistakable proofs of
man having lived even then in societies. Isolated finds of
stone implements, even from the old stone age, are very
rare; on the contrary, wherever one flint implement is
I discovered, others are sure to be found, in most cases in
r very large quantities. At a time when men were dwelling
in caves, or under occasionally protruding rocks, in com-
pany with mammals now extinct, and hardly succeeded in
making the roughest sorts of flint hatchets, they already
knew the advantages of life in societies." '

The entire history of man's progress has been one of
increasing growth and importance of his social organiza-
tion. According to Lewis H. Morgan,' whose studies of
social development are among the most complete and
reliable contributions to modern sociology, the first definite
form of social organization is the primitive family or Gens,
which still prevails among certain savages. This is a
rather loose form of organization, consisting of a body of
human beings descended from a common ancestor. The
next step in social development is the Association of
Several Genies or Phratry, which is followed by the
closer and more complex organization of the Tribe,
a union of many genks speaking a common dialect and
occupying a common territory. From the Tribe to the

* P. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid a Factor of Evolution," London, 190a,
Lpp> 79, So. ' "Ancient Society,"

AND INDIVIDUALISM ■ Vt '

Confederacy of Tribes, which is formed for mutual
defense, and gradually and naturally develops into the
Nation, there is but one step.

This in brief is the history of social growth in ancient
society. With the development of property in goods and
land, the social organization gradually transformed itself
into a political society based on territorial relations. The
Township, the County and the National Domain or State,
are the successive steps of that development.

Thus mankind has imperceptibly evolved from an aggre-
gation of loosely connected social units to the present state
of society, in which the entire globe is divided politically
into a very small number of governments compacUy and
closely organized.

The process took countless ages for its accomplishment
and was in all its phases determined by the instinctive needs
of mankind. The successive types of social organization,
ever stronger and more compact, were evolved in the in-
cessant struggle for existence as efficient weapons in that
struggle. " The state," says Professor Ward, " is a natural
product, as much as an animal or plant, or as man him-
self." ' Whatever progress has been made by mankind in
its long career has been made through its social organiza-
tions. There is no civilization and there is no liberty out-
side of organized society, and in this sense the individual
man is the child and creature of the state and tied to it
with every fiber of his existence.'

' Lester F. Ward, "Pure Sociology," New Yoik, 1903, p. S49.

' "There never was and there never can be any liberty upon tbit
eartb among human beings outside of state organizacioru . . . Liberty
is as tru!y a creation of the state as is governmenl." — Psoi'UiaB
J. W. Bt:aGKSS, "Political Science and Constitutional Law," BoMoo,
1690, p. 88.

The historical and uniform course of the evolution of
the state and its overwhelming importance as a factor in
human civilization have led the school of thinkers of which
Auguste Comte, Saint-Simon and Hegel are the typical
representatives, to the opposite extreme— the conception of
the state as an organism. The "historical" or "organic"
school sees in the abstract phenomenon of the state a
concrete and independent being with a life, interests and
natural history of its own. To these thinkers human so-
ciety is a social organism very much like the biological
organism. The social institutions are so many of its
organs performing certain vital functions required for the
life and well-being of the organism itself, while the indi-
vidual members of society are but its cells, Mr, M. J.
Novicov,' probably the most ingenious exponent of the
"organic" school of sociology, carries the parallelism be-
tween the social organism and the biological organism
to the point of practical identity, and Mr. Benjamin Kidd,
criticising the utilitarian motto, "The greatest happiness
of the greatest number," says : " The greatest good which
the evolutionary forces operating in society are working
out, is the good of the social organism as a whole. The
greatest number in this sense is comprised of the members
of generations yet unborn or tmthought of, to whose in-
terests the existing individuals are absolutely indifferent.
And, in the process of social evolution which the race is
imdergoing, it is these latter interests which are always
in the ascendant." *

In short, the state is the end, the citizen is only the

' "ConBcicDce et Votontfi Sociales," Paris, 1897; "La Th&rie Or-
ganique des Soci£t£s," in Annaies dt L'lnililut International de Socioio-
gie, Vol. V. ' "Social Evolution," p. 31a.

SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM 23

means. It is the old parable of the shrewd Mucius Sce-
vola presenting itself before us in the fashionable garb
of modem science.

And here again the two extremes meet. The extreme
individualist deprecates all attempts on the part of the
state to regulate the affairs of the citizens, on the plea that
the state shotdd not interfere with the liberty of the in-
dividual; the extreme sociocrat discountenances all at-
tempts on the part of the citizens to model the state in their
interests, on the ground that the individual cannot shape
the life of the social organism. One bases his objections
on the ground of expediency, the other on scientific neces-
sity ; but the practical results are the same in both cases —
the separation of the state and the individual.

Although the ultra "organic" theory of the state has
found some adherents among socialist writers,* contem-
porary socialism has, on the whole, as little sympathy with
the extreme sociocratic view as it has with that of the
extreme individualist.

It is always dangerous to engraft a ready-made principle
of any branch of scientific research on an entirely dif-
ferent branch, notwithstanding apparent analogies between
the two, and the fallacy of that method is probably best
illustrated by the introduction of purely biological laws
into the domain of sociology. The social organization of
men is a phenomenon vastly different from the biological
organism. In the case of the latter it is the organism as
such which is endowed with sensation, reflection and life
— the individual cell has no conscious life of its own, and
serves only to support the existence of the organism. In

* For example, the well-known Marxian scholar, F. v. d. Goes, in
"Organische Ontwikkeling der Maatschappij," Amsterdam, 1894.

THE SOOAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

^tiie case of the "social organism," on the other hand, it
is the individual members of it who are endowed with
conscious life, and it is the so-called organism that serves
to support their individual existences.

The state is not the voluntary and arbitrary creation of
man, but it is just as little a factor imposed on man by
some power outside of him. The state is a product of
logical historical development, but that only as an accom-
paniment of the logical historical development of man.
The individual cannot dissociate himself from society,
nor can society have any existence outside of the individuals
composing it. The state represents the collective mind
and attainments of all past generations, but also the col-
lective intellect, will and powers of its present living,
feeling and thinking members. The state has the
power to regulate the conduct of its individual citizens, but
its citizens have the power to determine the scope and
nature of such regulations, and the higher mankind
ascends in the scale of intellectual development, the more
effective is its direction of the functions of the state. Man
to-day is in a position to employ the state not merely for
the good of the abstract "social organism as a whole,"
nor yet merely for the good of remote generations to come,

« but for his own present concrete good.

This is the view from which all socialist political ac-
tivity proceeds, and this view is steadily gaining practical
recognition in all spheres of society, as is eloquently attested
by the ever greater extensions of the social functions of the

[ modem state.

Individualism in Industry
K the tendency of political development of mankind
m the whole, been in the direction of socialization,

SOCIAIISM AND INDIVIDUALISM

the same tendency asserts itself even more strongly in the
process of industrial development.

Individualism in production is a mark of economic
immaturity.

The primitive man, without experience, tools, weapons
or arts, living in trees or in caves, and subsisting on the
wild fruit of the tropical forest, may to a large extent be
economically independent of his fellow-man in the neigh-
boring tree. But the succeeding fishing, hunting, agri-
cultural and pastoral occupations already presuppose the
existence of certain uniform tools, a certain common ex-
perience, common methods of work, and even the possi-
bility of occasional exchanges of products.

But these early institutions are, on the whole, too un-
certain and unexplored to enable us to build any sober
conclusions upon them. To ascertain the real tendency of
industrial development, we must take a more recent and
better-known period, — a period, besides, which has uncov-
ered the laws of industrial evolution more clearly than the
entire history before it, — the period of the last century. And
if there is any doubt in our minds as to the tendency of
our industrial life, the examination of this period will
rapidly dispel it.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the produc-
tion and distribution of goods was in the main operated
on an individualist basis. The artisan worked as an indi-
vidual either at his home or in his shop, generally alone and
sometimes with the aid of a helper or apprentice. His
simple tool was owned and operated by him individually.
His product was in most cases due entirely to his indi-
vidual labor and skill, and was rightly and properly his

[dividual possession.

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

But with the development of the simple tool into a
variety of huge, steam-propelled machines, specialized for
the mass production of minute parts of commodities, the
little workshop grew into the enormous modem factory
in which hundreds and thousands of men are brought
together from all parts of the country, organized into a
complex hierarchy of labor, each one doing one small
thing, each working into the hands of the other, all of them
collectively producing one article which may have to go
through numerous similar operations in other immense
and complex factories before it turns into a commodity
for direct consumption. The modern machine is a social
tool, the modem factory is a social workshop, the modem
workingman is a social servant, and the modem goods are
_;£Ocial products.

' Let us take the most simple articles of use : the coat we

!ar, the chair we sit on, the bed we sleep in, and ask our-
* selves, Wlio produced these articles? To answer that
question we shall have to consider the unknown thousands
who contributed to the work of their immediate design
and manufacture, to the production and transportation of
the material contained in them, to the work of constructing
the wonderful machinery employed at the coimtless steps
of the process, and to the work of operating the machinery
of transportation, etc. In modern production the indi-
vidual laborer is practically obliterated ; what is before us
is a world-wide community of socially organized labor of
all gradations, from the highest and most skillful to the
lowest and most common, working together collectively
for the needs of our race.

And it is this collective labor of our times that sustains
lodem comforts and modem civilization. Were it pos-

sck;ialism and individualism 27

sible for us to return to the regime of absolute individ-
ualism in production, to prepare oiu: own food, make our
own clothing, build our own dwellings, without taking
advantage of the material prepared by others, without
accepting the cooperation of our fellow-men, we should
relapse into a state of savagery in less than a generation.

While the feature of individualism has been almost
eliminated from the field of production by the last century,
it has, during that period, shown much greater vitality in
the sphere of management of our industries.

The management of our industries by individual capi-
talists for their own private benefit and in rivalry with
each other — industrial competition — has for decades
been the favorite topic of controversy between the ad-
herents of the individualist philosophy and the partisans
of the socialist school of political economy. To the
sturdy individualist the competitive system of industry is
the source of all blessings of civilization : he never tires of
extolling the merits of that system as an incentive to in-
dustrial enterprise, inventiveness and efficiency, as a char-
acter builder and lever of all social and individual progress.
The socialist, on the other hand, points a warning finger
to the evils of competition: the anarchy in management
and waste in production which the system entails, and the
tremendous social, economic and ethical losses which it
imposes on the producers, the consumers and the com-
munity at large.*

But while the discussion on the merits and demerits of
competition is assuming ever more intense forms, the mute

^ A most notable contribution to that phase of the discussion is the
recent work of Mr. Sidney A. Reeve, "The Cost of Competition,"
McClure, Phillips & Co., 1906.

28 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

forces of economic evolution, unconcerned by theories and
abstractions, are rapidly working towards a practical
solution of the problem. The individual capitalist stead-
ily yields his place in the industrial world to the corpora-
tion and the trust, and the latter combine and consolidate
the independent managements of numerous individual
concerns under one corporate direction, and reorganize
the management of industries, frequently on a national and
even international scale. The irresistible growth of trusts
and monopolies is the central fact of all recent economic
development, and it sounds the death knell of individual
competition.

The only sphere of our industrial life in which the prin-
ciple of individualism has survived in all its pristine vigor,
is that of the appropriation or distribution of the products.

Although the instruments of production have become
social in their character and use, and indispensable to the
entire working community, they are still owned and con-
trolled by the individual capitalists, Ahhough the pro-
duction of goods is a collective process, and its management
and direction are fast becoming so, it is still conducted
principaliy for the benefit of the individual captains of
industry. Although all useful members of the community
collectively contribute to the so-called national wealth,
only a comparatively small number of individuals share
in it. In short, although the production of wealth is prac-
tically socialistic, its distribution is entirely individualistic.

And this contradiction between the modem methods
of production and distribution is the only real issue be-
tween the individualist and the socialist in the domain of
economic discussion.

The beneficiaries of the present system of wealth dis-

SOOALISH AND INDIVIDUAUSU

^_ ad

^^ of .

tribntion have a very obvious material interest in main-
taining it, and there never was a ruling class that did not
have the abundant support of scientific and ethical theories
to justify it in the continued enjoyment of its privileges,
In the present case this function is being performed by
the school of "individuaUstic" philosophers and mo ralizers.

The socialists, on the other hand, consider the present
system of individual appropriation of social wealth as
hronism, a survival of a past economic order, and
a disturbing factor in the process of social, economic and

.ical progress.

The main object of socialism is to adjust the principles
of wealth distribution to those of production — to make
the one as social and general in function and effect as the
other already is.

Tke Individual under Socialism

The commonest of all objections to the socialist ideal
is that a state of socialism would endanger mdividual
liberty. From such unimaginative novelists as Eugen
Richter ' and David M. Parry ,^ whose conceptions of the
socialist commonwealth are those of the modem factory
regulations extended to the scope of a national order, up
to the thinker of the keenness of mind and universality
of knowledge of Herbert Spencer who asserts that "all
socialism implies slavery," * all bourgeois philosophers
seem to take it for granted that mankind is to-day enjoy-
ing a large measure of individual freedom and that social-
ism would greatly curtail if not entirely suppress it.

' "Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder,"
' "The Scarlet Empire," Indianapolis, igo6.
• "The Coming Slavery."

30 TTIE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

The socialists deny both assertions with equal emphasis.

Under our present system of economic dependence and
struggles, individual liberty is but a fiction. The very
small "leisure class," i.e., the class of persons enjoying
a workless and ample income and entirely removed from
active participation in the industrial, professional, com-
mercial and financial strife, no doubt enjoy considerable
individual liberty, but for all other strata of modem society
that liberty does not exist.

The workingmen, the largest class of the population,
are anything but free : their work and their pleasures,
their dress and their dwellings, their mode of life and their
habits, are forced on them by their economic condition.

"Not as an exception, but universally," says Mr. H, D.
Lloyd,' "labor is doing what it does not want to do, and
not getting what it wants or needs. Laborers want to
work eight hours a day; they must work ten, fourteen,
eighteen. , , . They want to send their children to school ;
they must send them to the factory. They want their
wives to keep house for them; but they too must throw
some shuttle or guide some wheel. They must work
when they are sick; they must stop work at another's
will ; they must work life out to keep life in. The people
have to ask for work, and then do not get it. They have
to take less than a fair share of the product ; they have to
risk life, limb or health — their own, their wives', their
children's — for others' selfishness or whim."

Nor is the workingman alone deprived of individual
liberty under present conditions. The toiling farmer bur-
dened by mortgages and oppressed by the railroad com-

' Quoted in Richard T. Ely's "Socialiam and Social Reform," pp.

SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM 3 1

panics, the professional man dependent on private and
unregulated calls for his services, and the small business
man struggling against odds to maintain his "independ-
ence," they are all tied to a routine of life and action not
volimtarily chosen, but inexorably imposed on them by
the economic exigencies of their business piursuits and
callings.

And even the "powerful" and wealthy, the heads of
the modem industrial structure, are anything but free:
their wealth as live, active, investment-seeking capital,
dominates them and suppresses their individual volition ;
they are the slaves of their wealth rather than its masters.

All these purely economic checks on individual liberty
must of necessity be greatly palliated, if not entirely re-
moved, in a socialist community, for the system of socialism
implies primarily a state of greater economic security and
industrial equality.

"But," it is asked, "assuming that socialism would
remove some of the elements operating to-day against the
full exercise of the freedom of the individual, would it not
create new and more formidable restraints upon liberty?
Under the present regime the individual has some say in
the choice of his occupation and the mode of exercising
his trade or calling; imder socialism, on the other hand,
the state would be the sole employer, and would determine
for every citizen what, where and how he should work;
would not the citizen thus become the slave of the
state?"

This argument, so frequently urged against socialism,
contains two fundamental errors: it assumes that a so-
cialist state may be a power independent of and opposed
to the body of individuals composing it, and that in a sys-

r32 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

tem of socialism, all industries must be concentrated in
I and controlled by the national government or " state."
The basic principle of every socialist community must
be its democratic administration : the socialist state will
assume such concrete form, powers and functions as the
majority of citizens, unbiased by conflicting class interests,
will freely choose to confer on it, and it is not at all reason-
able to suppose that these citizens will deliberately encase
E themselves in an iron cage of rigid laws and rules of their
own making.
Much more likely the men who will have the framing of
the political and industrial system of a socialist common-
wealth, will take ample care of their own individual free-
dom.
Nor is there any reason to suppose that under socialism
"the state" would be the sole employer. Socialism im-
plies the collective ownership of the social tools of produc-
tion, and the collective management of industries based
upon the use of social tools. Does that necessarily
imply state ownership and management? By no means.
Certain industries are even to-day organized on a national
scale, and may be best managed or controlled as state
functions; others come more appropriately within the
scope of the municipal administration, others still may be
most efficiently managed by voluntary cooperative asso-
ciations with or without state control, while a variety of
industries of an individual nature, such as the various
arts and crafts, must of necessity remain purely individual
pursuits. The phantom of the "despotic state" has taken
such a strong hold of the minds of our social philosophers
trained in the individualistic school of thought, that even
writers like Professor Richard T. Ely, of whose candor

SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUAUSM 33

and analytical powers there can be no doubt, and who is by
no means unsympathetic to socialism) is not quite free from
the fear of it. "Even," says Professor Ely, "if the func-
I tions of government should be reduced to the lowest forms

I compatible with socialism, those in whose hands were

centered political and economic control would have tre-
mendous power, however they might be selected or ap-
I pointed. Nor can we forget the possibilities of combina-

l; tions between different parties for certain purposes. It

would, under socialism, be quite possible for two or three
parties to act together as sometimes they do now. The
frequent assertion that the Democratic and Republican
parties have acted together in New York City to control
'■' the civil service, seems to be well founded; and it is quite

I conceivable that two or three parties might act together

to promote the interests favorable to a few leaders, and to
keep down, if not persecute, obnoxious persons." '

In voicing these apprehensions Professor Ely uncon-
sciously transfers present conditions into an order of things
in which the very causes of such conditions are altogether
lacking. Political parties are the creatures and tools of
class interests, and "the interests favorable to a few
leaders" which he mentions, are the economic interests of
the class or group of men represented in politics by those
! leaders. Modern party politics is, as we shall attempt

to show in a later chapter, a manifestation of the capital-
ist mode of production and of the economic struggle of the
classes, and must disappear with the abolition of the present
economic order.

Under socialism there can be no party politics, in the
present sense, and whatever abuses may develop in the
^^^^ ' Richatd T. Ely, "Socialiam and Social Reform," pp. 311, 313.

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

administration of the state or the industries, can be only
casual, based on inexperience or error of judgment of the
community or on personal incompetence, malice or am-
bition of the responsible officers, and in either case they
be more readily remedied than in a state in which such
ibuses have their roots in the very foimdation of the in-
dustrial organization of society.

On a par with the assertion that socialism would be fatal
to individual liberty is the kindred claim that socialism
would destroy the individuality of man. The "dead level
of intellectual equality and homogeneity" under socialism
is a specter almost as terrifying to the good " individualist"
as the phantom of socialist slavery. And it is fully as
unreal. For if any industrial system tends to destroy
the individuality of men, it is not the proposed system of
socialism, but our present economic order. The aggre-
gation of millions of workingmen in the modern industrial
centers, employed under similar conditions, tied everlast-
to the same monotonous machine work, dweliing in
£ same uniform tenements and leading the same stereo-
typed bleak existence, tends to turn them into one undis-
tinguishable, homogeneous mass, dressing, talking, looking
and thinking substantially alike. The men of our active
upper classes, ail engaged in the same all-absorbing pursuit
of wealth by the same methods and tmder the same con-
ditions, and our leisure classes sorely tried by the rigid rules
of conventional etiquette, and tied to a blas^ life of uniform
and tiring social functions, fashionable sports and pre-
scribed recreations, develop a different but not less homo-
geneous nor more attractive type. This natural uniform-
ity of type within the different social classes is accompanied
by a sort of artificial uniformity produced by the present

SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM 35

economic conditions operating in a more indirect manner.
" One has only to look on whilst the sons of the nouveaux
riches spend their money," remarks Mr. Macdonald, "or
whilst the crowds which our industrial quarters have dis-
gorged enjoy themselves, to appreciate the meaningless
monotony of our pleasure. From our furniture, made by
the thousand pieces by machine, to our religion, stereo-
t)rped in set formulae and pursued by clockwork methods,
individuality is an exceptional characteristic." *

"Our standard of decency in expenditure," observes
Professor Veblen, " as in other ends of emulation, is set by !
the usage of those next above us in reputability; imtil, in
this way, especially in any community where class distinc-
tions are somewhat vague, all canons of respectability and
decency, and all standards of consumption, are traced
back by insensible gradations to the usages and habits
of thought of the highest social and pecuniary class — the
wealthy leisure class." ^

And Mr. Vail expresses the same idea when he says:
"The tendency toward imiformity is due to the lack of
equality in economic conditions. The inferior classes
strive to imitate the superior classes in order to avoid an
apparent social inferiority. The result is, society is con-;
tinually rim in the same groove. On the other hand, any(
system which would tend to decrease economic inequality
would tend to kill imitation. Just in proportion as men
become equal, they cease to gain by imitating each other.
It is always among equals that we find true independence."'

* J. Ramsay Macdonald, "Socialism and Society," London, 1905,
p. 7.

' Thorstein Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure Class," New York,

I905» P- 104.

» Charles H. Vail, "Principles of Scientific Socialism," p. 227.

CHAPTER in

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS
The Essence and Scope of Ethics

The branch of social philosophy known as Ethics pre-
sents itself to us in a dual aspect. Theoretical or scien-
tific ethics aims to ascertain the principles and true mean-
ing of "right and wrong" in human conduct. Practical
or applied ethics seeks to draw concrete conclusions from
the knowledge so gained, and to base on it a code of " right "
conduct for the practical guidance of mankind. Scien-
tific ethics takes cognizance of actions and relations as they
are, while practical ethics considers them as they ought to
be. And it is largely on account of this dual character
of ethics that the standard definitions of the term present
such a striking divergence. Some of the writers on the
subject have attempted to cover both aspects of ethics
in one definition, while others either give separate defini-
tions for each, or emphasize only one side, entirely ignoring
the other.'

But whether ethics be considered as a science or as an

* The following are among the betler-known definitions of ethics,
both as a science and an art; —

Frofesnv John Dewey in the Encyclopedia Americana: "Ethics is thai
branch of human conduct which is concerned with ^he furmatiott and use
t>i judgments of right and wrong, and with the intellectual, emotional,
and executive or overt phenomena which are associated with such judg-
ments, either as antecedents or consequents."

Francis L. Patlon in Syllabus of Ethics: "Ethics is the science that
rational explanation of Rigktness and Oughtness; and that deals

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS 37

art, all authorities agree that in either case it is concerned
with "right" or "good" human conduct. That is, how-
ever, as fax as the agreement goes. The more fundamental
problems of the kind of human conduct properly coming
within the sphere of ethics, and of the adoption of a uni-
versally valid standard of "right and wrong" or "good
and bad" in such conduct, is still the subject of much
discussion.

It is pretty generally agreed that the conduct of which
ethics takes cognizance is not the conduct of associated
human beings acting as such (for that properly belongs to

with the Life of free personal beings under these conceptions, considering
it as related to an Ideal or norm of Excellence, conformity to which is
obligatory."

Harold Hdffding in Eihik: *'A scientific system of Ethics endeavors
to discover in accordance with what principles we direct our life, and to
secure for these, when ascertained, greater clearness and inner harmony."

Ethics is considered as a critical science only, in the following defini-
tions: —

Herbert Spencer in Data of Ethics: "Morality is the science of right
conduct, and has for its object to determine how and why certain modes
of conduct are detrimental, and certain other modes beneficial."

New International Encyclopedia: "Ethics is the voluntary conduct of
a self-conscious person, in so far as that action is amenable to a standard
of obligation imposed on him by social influence or by a supreme plan of
life that draws its material from society."

The following definitions deal with ethics as a constructive art: —

Henry Sidgwick in The Methods of Ethics: "By 'methods of ethics*
is meant any rational procedure by which we determine what individual
human beings 'ought' or what it is 'right * for them to do, or to seek to
realize by voluntary action."

Jeremy Bentham: "Ethics is the art of directing men's action to the
production of the greatest possible quantity of happiness."

American Encyclopedia: "Ethics is the principle which prescribes
what ought to take place in human conduct."

Webster's Dictionary: "Ethics is a system of rules for regulating the
actions and manners of men in society."

rsS THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

the domain of politics), but tlie conduct of the individual.
At the same time, however, it is not all individual human
I conduct that falls within the sphere of ethics. " Conduct"

I has been aptly defined by Herbert Spencer as "acts ad-

I justed to ends," ' and it is very obvious that within the

L scope of his biological functions and even in his intellectual

^^^B life and social relations man performs daily numerous acts
^^^Bfully adjusted to ends which have no ethical implications.
^^^FTo be ethical or unethical, human actions must have some
I bearing on beings other than the actor himself; they must

be tested by their socid effects. A number of authorities
extend the operation of ethics to conduct towards one's
self and one's fellow-men; philosophers of the theological
I school include conduct towards God within the purview

of ethics, while the thinkers of the evolutionary biological
school, with Spencer at the head, classify ethical conduct
, as conduct towards self, offspring and race. But on closer
examination, it will be found that the addition of all factors
other than the purely social factor, is meaningless or con-
fusing. Ethics remains indifferent to the conduct of the
individual towards himself, so long as that conduct does
not directly or indirectly affect the well-being of his fellow-
men or of the human race. When an individual wastes
his physical or mental resources in a manner calculated
to cripple his own life without, however, involving the well-
being of other individuals, we call his conduct improvident
or unwise, and only when he abuses his own body in a
manner likely to injure his offspring or to enfeeble or
degenerate the race, do we call hira immoral. Similarly,
we consider an individual immoral if he is in the habit of
transgressing those religious precepts which happen to be
' "Data of Ethics," New York, 1893, p. 5.

SOCIAUSM AND ETHICS 39

in accord with the generally accepted secular notions of
"right" or "good" in social conduct, but if he neglects
to comply with certain prescribed religious observances
which have no bearing on the well-being of his fellow-men,
we merely call him irreligious. And finally the conduct
of the individual towards his oflFspring is no more than a
special phase of his conduct towards his fellow-men or
his race.

Without fear of serious contradiction we may, therefore,
define ethics as the science or art of "right" individual
conduct of men towards their fellow-men.

A much greater uncertainty and divergence of views con-
front us when we attempt to discover the meaning of the
term "right" as applied to human conduct in the various
philosophical systems of ethics. As a matter of fact,
there is no code of morality universally recognized and
conformed to by all mankind at all times. Human
actions which are condemned as atrocious by some
races under some circumstances, are sanctioned and even
praised by other races and under other circumstances.
Under normal conditions civilized men consider the act
of deliberate murder as the most revolting and heinous of
crimes, but in war the same act is glorified by them as one
of greatest virtue, while among the food-lacking tribes of
cannibals, it is considered as an indiflFerent act of common-
place household economy. Other oflFenses against the
person, and still more so oflFenses against property, have
received even more varying estimates at diflFerent periods
of human history and from diflFerent portions of the human
race, while the astounding changes of the social standards
of sex morality with time and place, are familiar to every
student of sociology and reader of descriptive travel.

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

And still the fundamental precepts of morality are
by no means an arbitrary figment of tlie human brain.
For the epoch and place in which they prevail they have
universal validity, and even their modifications from time
to time and variations from place to place will always be
found to have legitimate reasons and realistic roots in the
conditions of such times and places. If there are no
absolute standards of right and wrong, there certainly
must be relative standards of right and wrong at every
given time and place, and these relative standards, further-
more, must have some common principle determining
their formation. What are those standards, and what is
that principle? These are the main questions which
exercised the minds of the early founders of the science of
ethics and which still constitute the brunt of discussions
of the modern moral philosophers. And it is largely
the difference in the answers to these questions which
separates the numerous existing ethical systems from each
other.

The theological school of thinkers, of which St, Augus-
tine, the mediseval monk Ambrose and especially Thomas
Aquinas are the classical exponents, and which still has
numerous and vigorous adherents, assumes that there is
a universal and supreme standard of right and wrong.
That standard is the divine command which has been
given to all mankind and is expressed in the holy scriptures.
In particular instances that command is to be ascertained
by revelation or by interpretation and application of the
genera! rules obtained from texts of scripture and by
analogical inferences from scriptural examples. Any
departure from that command as so interpreted by in-
dividuals or whole races is merely evidence of apostasy.

In this theory ethics is practically synonymous with

theology.

Closely cognate with the theological system of ethics,
but considerably secularized, is the doctrine of Natural
Laws first developed into a comprehensive system by
Hugo Grotius and followed by many modem writers,
principally in England, That school, like the theological
school, recognizes an absolute and universal standard of
right and wrong in human conduct, but in distinction to
the theological school it bases that standard not on a divine
command but on "the essential nature of man." Accord-
ing to Grotius and his followers there are implanted in the
human being certain notions of right and wrong which
form a part of his very existence and which are as unalter-
able and true as the truths of mathematics. The test and
the proof of such truths is their universal acceptance by
human societies. In conformity with this conception the
writers of that school have evolved a code of ethics based
entirely on the fundamental notions of morality prevailing
among the civilized nations of their times.

Barely distinguishable from the juridical school of
Natural Laws is the philosophical school of Intuitionalism.
This school, which may claim Socrates and Plato for its
founders, has in more recent times had many brilliant ex-
ponents and defenders in the field of philosophic thought,
chief among them being Kant and Whewell. According
to the intuitional doctrine the sense of duty is innate in
every normal human being and its commands and prin-
ciples are known to them by intuition and without the aid
of any process of reasoning or demonstration. This doc-
trine is developed with the greatest elaborateness by Kant,
pWho distinguishes between the world of " phenomena," or

THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

objects as they appear to us through our limited senses and
powers of perception, and the world of "noumena," the
real world of objects as they exist regardless of our per-
ception of them (Die Dinge an sich). The sense of duty
is one of such "noumena," It manifests itself to us in a
greater or smaller degree according to the development of
our powers of perception, but it has an absolute and real
existence outside of our perceptions.

To all these systems of ethics which may be collectively
designated as Idealisticj are opposed the so-called Rational-
istic systemSj which seek to evolve standards of right and
wrong from reason and experience rather than from reve-
lation or intuition.

The earliest of such schools is the Hedonistic or Epi-
curean, which considers individual happiness as the end of
life and all conduct conducive to that end as good and
right. This theory is not grossly materialistic, since it
recognizes the intellectual and ^esthetic pleasures as the
ones conducive to greater and more lasting happiness.
Like the school of Intuitionalism the school of Hedonism
dates back to Greek antiquity. The philosophers Aris-
tippus and Epicurus were among its first exponents.
The theory was revived by Hobbes and considerably
modified and extended by him and his followers. The
more recent writers of this school frequently substitute the
more definite standard of pleasure and pain for the old
hedonistic test of happiness and unhappiness, and several
of them see the true application of the principle of hedonism
not in the happiness of the individual, but in universal or
social happiness. Hedonism in one form or another was
the favorite doctrine of the rationalistic philosophers of pre-
Revolutionary France — Lamettrie, Helvetius and others.

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS 43

The notion of the "social contract," which appeared
together with the victory of the European industrials and
the establishment of constitutional government, logically
led to the formation of the Utilitarian school of ethics.
The adherents of the "social contract" theory, as stated in
a previous chapter, assume that organized society was
formed by its individual members for their mutual benefit
and protection, and that it is deliberately maintained by
them for that purpose. Since, however, the rules or acts of ^
organized society cannot always benefit all of its members
alike, each individual member must occasionally sacri-
fice some right to his fellow-men, upon the theory that in
the long nm the advantages derived by him from society
would outweigh the disadvantages suflFered. This is the
"rational" sanction for the majority rule in all popular
government, and Bentham only translated the political
doctrine into ethical terms, when he asserted that "right"
conduct is such as results in the greatest good to the great-
est number.

The Utilitarian school, in the language of Sidgwick,
"holds that all rules of conduct which men prescribe to one
another as moral rules, are really — though in part un-
consciously — prescribed as means to the general happi-
ness of mankind." * The chief exponents of this school are
Paley, Bentham and the Mills, father and son, although
Kant's ethical injunction, "Act only on such a maxim
as may also be a universal law," may also be considered
essentially utilitarian, inconsistent as it is with the in-
tuitional theory of the famous philosopher.

Finally, the school of social thought which goes to

* Henry Sidgwick, "The Methods of Ethics," 5th Edition, London,
1893, p. 8.

. 44 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

biology for the discovery of rules of human conduct, has
introduced another and more realistic standard of right
and wrong in human conduct. According to Darwinian
conceptions the strongest motives in all organic life are the
instincts of self-preservation and preservation of the
species. Applied to men in a social state that theory
means that the main concern of human beings is the pres-
ervation of life, and that such conduct of the individual
will be regarded as good or right as tends to preserve and
enhance the life of his fellow-men, while conduct which
tends to curtail or impair such life will be considered bad
or wrong.

" Goodness," says Herbert Spencer, "standing by itself,
suggests, above all other things, the conduct of one who
aids the sick in re-acquiring normal vitality, assists the
unfortunate to recover the means of maintaining them-
selves, defends those who are threatened with harm in
person, property, or reputation, and aids whatever promises
to improve the living of all his fellows. Contrariwise,
badness brings to mind, as its leading correlative, the con-
duct of the one who, in caring for his own life, damages
the lives of others by injuring their bodies, destroying
their possessions, defrauding them, calumniating them.'"
And Lester F. Ward tersely expresses the same thought
in the following language: "'Duty' is simply conduct
favorable to race safety. Virtue is an attribute of life and
character consistent with the preservation and continuance
of man on earth. Vice is the reverse of this, and is felt
as an attack upon the race." ^

These, then, are the main theories of right and wrong,
as conceived by the contending systems of ethical thought.
L • "Data of Ethics," pp. 34, aj. * "Pure Socblogy," p. 41a

I^^^Eroa

But this branch of the subject does not by any means
exhaust the field of ethical inquiry. For assuming that a
true standard of right conduct is discovered, there still
remains the more important question as to the motives
which impel or ought to impel human beings to conform
to that standard. The mere fact that we recognize a
certain mode of action as right and another as wrong does
not imply that we will in all cases follow the one and shun
the other. What, then, is the factor that makes or ought to
make us choose good conduct in preference to bad conduct ?

To that question the different schools make different
replies according to their conceptions of the nature of the
moral obligation. The theological school holds out the
promise of reward in a life beyond the grave. The in-
tuitional school declares that no reward is required, since
the individual is impelled to obey the moral impulse innate
in him, the irresistible command of nature, or, as Kant
terms it, the Categorical Imperative. "Thou must always
fulfill thy destiny," decrees the celebrated German philoso-
pher Fichte, and the biological school of ethics practically
makes the same reply except that it substitutes the instinct
of preservation of the species for the intuitive moral sense.

The most contradictory and, therefore, the least satis-
factory explanations of the ethical motives of men are those
offered by the schools which pride themselves with being
founded on pure reason, — those of hedonism and utili-
tarianism.

Recognizing that mere individual self-interest is en-
tirely inadequate to account for the acts of altruism which
chiefly constitute high moral conduct, the hedonists early
resorted to the theory of "intelligent egoism" as distinct
from that of shortsighted selfishnes.s. The well-developed

THE SOCIALIST PHaOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

human being, they argue, is so constituted that he ex-
periences greater pleasure in serving his fellow-men than in
gratifying his own narrow desires. In promoting the well-
being of his fellows he, therefore, primarily procures a
pleasurable emotion for himself and only incidentally rend-
ers a service to his neighbor. But this argument carries
its own destruction, for it makes the basis of right human
conduct not the self-interest of the actor, but his inner
consciousness or instinct of duty to his fellow-men, the
performance of which causes him pleasure. Neither the
hedonistic theory nor the utilitarian conception, which
represents man in organized society as engaged in constant
cold-blooded bargaining with hisfellow-men for advantages,
can account for such acts as the voluntary sacrifice of one's
life in the service of society. And on the other hand the
idealistic theories of ethics do not even attempt to explain
motives of human conduct, but virtually abandon the
subject as beyond their ken.

Within this charmed circle of contradictions the philoso-
phy of ethics oscillated during almost the entire intellectual
period of the human race, aJid little, if any, substantial
progress was made in twenty-five centuries of the career of
that important branch of thought. It was only when the
discussion was removed from the domain of metaphysical
speculation to the field of positive science, that ethics ac-
quired a realistic basis. This great work was primarily
accomplished by Charles Darwin and his disciples.

The Evolution of (he Moral Sense

The main features of the Darwinian theory of organic
evolution are, as is generally known, the doctrine of the
struggle for existence and the resulting natural selection

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS

through the survival of the fittest, the development of
useful organs and hereditary transmission.

In a state of nature each individual is engaged in con-
stant struggle with individuals of its own or different
species and with surrounding nature. In this universal
struggle the individuals least equipped for the fight and
least adapted to their surroundings, perish, while those
who happen to possess organs or features of particular
advantage in the struggle, survive, and by the frequent
application of such useful organs and features, develop
them ever more and transmit them to their offspring in a
higher degree of development. Thus results a constant pro-
cess of increasing adaptation to surroundings and a breed
of more highly and efhciently organized individuals. The
struggle for existence is a purely individual struggle in the
lowest forms of life, and the struggle between individuals
of the same species predominates in those forms. But in
the ascending scale of organic existence the struggle be-
tween individuals of the same species gradually abates and
is superseded by the collective struggles of such individuals
against hostile kinds and the adverse forces of nature
around them. Social organizations thus arise among
animals, including the progenitors of primitive men, and
these organizations prove a powerful weapon in the struggle
for existence against hostile groups or species. The more
compact and harmonious the organization, the greater its
efEciency as a weapon in the struggle for existence. Hence-
forward the process of evolution is one of growing soli-
darity and cohesion among the individuals of the same
group or species as against their common enemies, and this
instinct of solidarity and cohesion is the first germ of the
jsense of social duty or moral consciousness.

r 4s THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

"The feeling of pleasure from society," says Darwin,

' "is probably an extension of the parental or filial affec-

! tions, since the social instinct seems to be developed by the

young remaining for a long time with their parents; and

this extension may be attributed in part to habit, but

chiefly to natural selection. With those animals which

were benefited by living in close association, the individuals

which took the greatest pleasure in society would best

escape various dangers, whilst those that cared least for

their comrades, and lived solitary, would perish in greater

numbers. With respect to the origin of the paternal and

filial affections, which apparently lie at the base of the

I social instincts, we know not the steps by which they have

been gained ; but we may infer that it has been to a large

[ extent through natural selection."'

And again: "When two tribes of primeval men, living in

1 the same country, came into competition (other circum-

Lstances being equal) if the one tribe included a greater

■number of courageous, sympathetic and faithful members,

[who were always ready to warn each other of danger, to aid

land defend each other, this tribe would succeed better

9 and conquer the other. . . . Selfish and contentious people

t will not cohere, and without coherence nothing can be

cted, A tribe rich in the above qualities would spread

and be victorious over other tribes ; but in the course of

time it would, judging from all past history, be in its turn

overcome by some other tribe still more highly endowed.

Thus the social and moral qualities would tend to slowly

advance and be diffused throughout the world." '

' "The Descent of Man," Collier Editbo, New York, 1901, pp. J44,

S-

' Ibid., pp. 17s, 17S.

These mental and moral qualities once generated will

on the whole grow in the course of evolution. The higher a

tribe of men stands in the scale of civilization, the less will

its members depend on their purely physical powers and

-the greater will be the importance of their mental and

[.moral qualities.

"In proportion as physical characteristics become less
I important," says Alfred Russel Wallace, who shares with
I Darwin the merit of the discovery of the theory of natural
f selection, " mental and moral qualities will have an in-
I creasing influence on the well-being of the race." '

Thus the moral sense is a product of the process of

■evolution of man, gained in his early struggle for existence,

■precisely in the same manner as his intellectual qualities.

St is a property of man in a state of society just as much as

my of his physical organs, or as Mr, Baxputs it, "the ethi-

l1 sentiment is the correlate in the ideal sphere, of the fact

i social existence itself in the material sphere. The one is

5 necessarily implied in the other as the man is implied in

fius shadow."'

This conception of the nature of morality and its origin

ind development in the human being overthrows all earlier

theories of ethics, but at the same time it reconciles all

dements of truth that are contained in them.

The primitive men did not deliberately form their first

I organizations on the strength of such considerations

e contained in Rousseau's " Social Contract." They

idid not bargain for advantages or pleasures to be bestowed

f on them by society. They were forced into organization

k by the superior powers of struggle. They probably first

* In "Contributions to Natural Selcttion."

' E. Belfort Box, "The Ethics of Socialism," p. 4.

I
I

50 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

herded themselves together blindly, unreasoningly. But
the instinct which impelled them to form such organiza-
tions was the instinct of self-preservation, the inarticulate
and unexpressed conviction that in organization lay their
greater safety and protection, and that by their own de-
votion to the social aggregation they would help to
strengthen the weapon upon the efficiency of which their
lives largely depended. The primitive men or their pro-
genitors were in that sense unconscious hedonistic and
utilitarian philosophers.

But the moral sense once evolved, in the course of time
became a permanent trait of the human being, an innate or
intuitive feeling, and in this sense the Idealistic theories
of ethics have a certain degree of reason and justification.
"The social instinct," says Ernst Hacckel, "is always a
physical habit, which was originally acquired, but which,
becoming in the course of time hereditary, appears at last
innate," '

The conclusion of the foremost Darwinian scholar in
Germany thus largely coincides with those of the foremost
German philosopher of Intuitionalism, Immanuel Kant.

The moral sense once acquired is, like all other properties
of the human being, subject to growth. The rudimentary
moral instinct of the primitive man must have undergone
countless phases of development before it evolved into the
lofty conceptions of the contemporary moral philosopher.

But it would be a mistake to consider that growth as a
continuous, automatic and regular process. The moral
sentiment in mankind does not grow in the same sense as
a plant or other physical organism grows, i.e., by steadily

Quoled by C. M. Williams, "A Review of the Systems of Ethics,"
, New York, 1893.

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS 51

inereasmg in dimensioii with the lapse of time. Different
races, thou^ perhaps of the same age, exhibit different
moral parceptions in kind and degree, and even within the
same society and age different indiWduals presoit the most
divergent d^rees of the moral sentiment.

The growth of the moral sense, like the growth
of the intellect, depends upon a multiplicity of ex-
ternal conditions which shape its contents and further
CMT arrest its progress. What is the nature of these con-
ditions? The theory of natural selection traces the origin
and reveals the quality of the moral sense in man, but it
fails to accoimt for the mode and laws of its further de-
velopment. In fact the foimders of the modern school
of biological evolution distinctly disclaim the effective-
ness of that factor as applied to a more advanced state of
himian society.

"With civilized nations," declares Darwin, "as far as
an advanced standard of morality and an increased number
of fairly good men are concerned, natural selection ap-
parently effects but little; though the fundamental social
instincts were originally thus gained," ^ and Mr. Wallace
is still more emphatic in this view of the limited scope of
operation of the principle of natural selection.

What, then, are the factors determining the degree and
direction of moral development?

The answer to that momentous question will be found
in the philosophy of the school of Karl Marx, who alone
consistently introduced the spirit of Darwinism into the
study of social phenomena by substituting the economic
interpretation of history and the resulting doctrine of the
class struggle in the more modern stages of social develop-

* "The Descent of Man," p. 185.

52 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

ment for the instinct of self-preservation and the resulting
doctrine of the struggle for existence in its lower stages.

Class Ethics

The prime concern of men in a state of society is the
production of the means for the sustenance of the mem-
bers of that society. A community engaged chiefly in
hunting, pastoral, agricultural or manufacturing pursuits
and largely depending on the success of such pursuits for
its existence, will in all cases arrange its organization and
regulate its functions primarily with a view of enhancing
the efficiency of that particular mode of securing the ma-
terial life of its members. This object determines all
economic and political forms of society, and in the last
analysis it also dominates all social motives and notions.

"In the social production which men carry on," says
Marx, "they enter into definite relations that are indis-
pensable and independent of their will; these relations
of production correspond to a definite stage of development
of their material powers of production. The sum total
of these relations of production constitute the economic,
structure of society — the real foundation, on which rise
legal and political superstructures and to which correspond
definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of pro-
duction in material life determines the general character
of the social, political and spiritual processes of life. It
is not the consciousness of men that determines their ex-
istence, but, on the contrary, their social existence deter-
mines their consciousness." '

Morality, which has been defined by Professor Ward as

■ Karl Marx, "A Contribution to Ihe Critique of Political Ecouom]',"
m ''.iigliah Translation, New York, 1904, p. 11,

SOCIAUSM AND ETHICS

^conduct conducive to "race safety," and by Mr. Stephen
as conduct conducive to the "health of society,'" and
which in the earlier stages of social evolution stands
principally for courage and loyalty in combat, in a more
advanced society comes to a large extent to signify conduct
favoring the economic efficiency and prosperity of the
nation.

The glaring differences which confront us in the codes
of ethics of different communities, or within the same com-
munities at different times, mostly reflect the differences
or changes of the economic conditions of such communi-
ties, the manner of maintaining the lives of their members.
A savage tribe suffering from a scarcity of food may have
its own rudimentary code of ethics, but such a code will not
extend its ban to the practices of devouring its captives
in war or slaying its aged and feeble members. When,
however, the same tribe develops to the point of using
tools and implements and leams to produce food in greater
abundance, the practices of man-eating and of killing its
own members become immoral. A nation like the ancient
Spartans, whose subsistence largely depends on success
in war, may have a very definite and strict code of ethics,
but the virtues recognized by that code will be principally
those of military worth, physical strength, courage and
quick-wittedness, whereas honesty will be considered a
matter of moral indifference, and the practice of killing
feeble children, even a moral duty. Conversely, peacefiJ,
pastoral and agricultural communities will rate honesty
and industry as the highest virtues, and show but little
llegard for courage and daring.

' Leslie Stephen, "The Science of Ethics," ad Edition, New York,

54 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

Thus each community primarily formulates in its code
of ethics the material or economic welfare of its members,
while within each community the standard of individual
morality is the degree to which each member advances
or impairs the material interests of his fellow-members.
In the earlier types of social organization in which the
material interests of all members were practically identical
and in which the individual member necessarily benefited
from every advantage accruing to the totality of members,
and vke versa, there could be no conflict between the
interests of the individual and those of socie^. The
material welfare of the community was easily, we may say
instinctively, ascertainable and readily conformed to.
The system of morality, such as it was, was perfect.

But in modern communities the relations of the indi-
viduals to society and to each other are by no means so
simple and harmonious. The division of labor or special-
ization of functions which has marked the social progress
of man, together with the accumulation of property made
possible by the ever growing productivity of human labor,
have split up all more modem societies into different
groups of members, with distinct economic interests.
Society or "the nation" no longer represents a homogene-
ous aggregation of individuals with uniform and harmonious
material interests, and the standard of individual morality
as conduct favoring the safety, health or economic interests
of the " nation " loses much of its force. For in the modem
class state conduct which is beneficial to certain groups or
classes of society is very often detrimental to other groups
or classes, and especially within the most vital sphere of
economic activity it is almost impossible to conceive of
any action which would be beneficial to all society alike.

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS 55

The individual wlio invents a labor-saving device may be
said in the abstract to be benefiting maniiind at large,
but as society is constituted to-day, his invention also re-
sults in depriving large numbers of workingmen of a chance
to earn their living. The legislator who forces the intro-
duction of safety appliances in dangerous works benefits
a certain class of workers but at the same time he injures
the material interests of a number of employers.

What, then, is the true standard of morality applicable
to modem society?

We have mentioned that modern society consists of
various interest groups or classes. These classes are
formed by the economic relations of men and are friendly,
indifl'erent or hostile to each other according to the nature
of such relations. But between all these divergent social
classes we may draw one sharp line of demarcation, the
line that separates the possessing from the non-possessing,
the dominant from the dependent classes. And while
the material interests of the several possessing classes
between themselves may be conflicting at different points
of contact, they are as a rule fairly harmonious as regards
their common relations to the dependent classes. And
whenever the interests of these dominant classes come in
conflict with those of the dependent classes, the former
have always understood it to represent their special in-
terests as the interests of society. This attitude is made all
the easier for the ruling classes because their interests al-
ways coincide with the maintenance of the existing order
and relations, and are, therefore, conservative, while the
interests of the dependent classes lie in the direction of a
change of such conditions and are, therefore, revolutionary.
■ Moral conduct, as ordinarily interpreted, is conduct

56 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

tending to conserve the existing order. In the modem

class state such conduct is, therefore, conduct conducive

to the perpetuation of the advantages of the ruling classes.

"Ethics," says Mr. La Monte rather forcibly, "simply

registers the decrees by which the ruHng class stamps with

approval or brands with censure human conduct solely

with reference to the effect of that conduct on the welfare

of their class. This does not mean that any ruling class

has ever had the wit to devise ab initio a code of ethics

perfectly adapted to further their interests. Far from it.

The process has seldom, if ever, been a conscious one.

By a process akin to natural selection in the organic world,

the ruling class learns by experience what conduct is

helpful and what hurtful to it, and blesses in the one case

and damns in the other. And as the ruling class has

I always controlled all the avenues by which ideas reach

[ the so-called lower classes, they have heretofore been able

\ to impose upon the subject classes just those morals which

\ were best adapted to prolong their subjection." ^

■ It is only on the theory of the class character of modern

[ ethics that the curious inconsistencies in our moral con-

I ceptions can be accounted for. The strong man who

\ should deliberately injure a weak child outside of his busi-

I ness pursuits, would be considered by his fellow-men as an

individual of a low moral character, but the powerful and

wealthy mill owner who daily undermines the health and

saps the life of hundreds of inoffensive children of tender

age in the "legitimate" pursuit of his business, i.e., in the

process of profit making, is regarded by us as a perfectly

moral being. He may be the superintendent of a Sunday

' Robert Rives La Monte, "Socialism: Positive and Negative,"
Chicago, 1907, pp. 60, 61.

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS

school, an honored member of an Ethical Culture Society,
or may be sincerely interested in the missionary task of
improving the moral conditions of some South African
tribe of savages.

Similarly the owners of the factpries, mines and rail-
roads, who suffer or cause large numbers of their fellow-
men to lose their lives on account of insufEcient safety
appliances in their works, and the dealers in food stuffs,
who poison their fellow-men by adulterated food, meet
with no particular opprobrium on the part of society,
while they would have been condemned as immoral
wretches if they had been guilty of similar conduct outside
of their business pursuits, and not for the sake of profits.

The socialists of the Marxian school do not agree with
thinkers of the type of Mandeville,* who considers moral-
ity purely artificial and a device of the "politicians" to
strengthen their rule on their fellow-men. They fully
recognize that the moral sentiment is implanted in the
normal human being and capable of very high development
even under adverse conditions. Instances of men and
women rising above their class interests and sacrificing
their material welfare, sometimes even their lives, in the
service of their fellow-men, are of frequent, almost daily
occurrence, and cannot be accounted for on any economic
or materialistic theory. The socialists also recognize
that outside of the economic sphere of human activity,
there is a large field of human interest, in which the indi-
viduals of all classes meet on common ground, and in
which the moral conceptions correspond to the actual
welfare of all mankind. But they maintain that as a rule

' The author of a book entitled "The Fahle of the Bees, or Private
IS Public Benefits," published in 1724.

58 THE SCX;iAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

the ethical conceptions dominating the "business" inter-
ests of modern nations, and the various social activities
and organs subservient to these interests, such as politics,
the agencies molding public opinion, etc., are concep-
tions favoring the interests of the dominant classes only.
They are the ethics of the ruling classes falsely parading
as general social ethics.

The Ethical Ideal and Socialist Morality

When we speak of a certain degree of development of
the moral faculty and when we distinguish a rudimentary
form of morality from a highly evolved form, we must
necessarily have in mind a standard of comparison. Such
a standard of comparison is the ethical ideal, which to us
represents the limit of ali moral conduct and by the ap-
proach to which we judge a concrete code of morals to be
high or low.

An ethical ideal — Absolute Ethics, Spencer terms it —
does not imply a belief in a code of morality good for all
times and places and independent of all existing physical
conditions. It merely represents our view of the last
phase of moral evolution in civilized society, based upon
our observation of the course of such evolution in the past.
Such an ideal is as useful for the purposes of practical
ethics as general and abstract laws of pure science are
iiseful for the study of concrete phenomena.

Most of the modern writers on the subject have, there-
fore, outlined ideal standards of ethics, and most of these
outlines agree in their fundamental characteristics.

According to Spencer's definition ethical conduct is
such as is conducive to the welfare of self, offspring and

SOaALlSM AND ETHICS $g

: best, i.e., most normal conduct is that which

fulfills all the three conditions simultaneously and most

efficiently. Such conduct, however, can only be attained

in a state of society in which the interests of the individual

and those of society are entirely identical, and in which

I happiness is to be achieved mainly through the

; pursuit of their own happiness by individuals,

while reciprocally, the happiness of the individual is to be

achieved in part by the pursuit of the general happiness." ^

Whether we agree in all parts with this definition or

^ whether we confine the scope of ethics to conduct towards

society or one's fellow-men, does not alter the validity of

the conclusion. The relations of the individual and society

are those of mutual service, and the progress of morality

consists in the growth of these relations, or in the words

Icf Huxley, "in the gradual strengthening of the social

f bond." '

The limit of moral evolution can thus be reached only

i in a state of society free from material and other antago-

L nisms between the individuals among themselves and be-

I tween the individual and society. In such society the

I question of right and wrong is entirely obviated, since no

normal conduct of the individual can hurt society, and

all acts of society must benefit the individual. Organic

morality takes the place of ethics.

Such an ideal state of organic morality may be unattain-
able in its absolute purity, but the trend of evolution is m
its general direction. All factors which impede the path
Lto its approximate realization are anti-ethical or immoral ;

' Herbert Spencer, "Scjcial Staticg."

'Thoraaa H. Huxley, "EvolulEon and Ethics," New York, 1896,

6o THE SOCIALIST PtIlLOSOPIIY AND MOVEMENT

contrariwise, all factors or movements whicii tend in its
direction are ethical.

In modern society tiie checlts to the realization of ideal
morality are numerous. As indicated in the previous
chapter, the existence of social classes and the resulting
class struggles are the chief impediments to a true social
morality. But the direct action of the struggle between
antagonistic classes in the same society does not by any
means exhaust the evil. Some of the indirect effects of
the class state based on individual production are even
more disastrous to the progress of true morality than its
direct operations. And chief among such effects are the
two most anti-social institutions — competition and war.

"The competitive struggle," says Kautsky, "affects
the social instincts of the individuals in the same society
most distinctively. For in this struggle each individual
maintains himself best the less he permits himself to be
influenced by social considerations and the more he is
guided by his own interests. For the member of the capi-
talist society based on individual competitive production,
it is, therefore, quite nattyal to consider egoism as the only
legitimate instinct in man, and to regard the social in-
stincts as refined forms of egoism or as an invention of
the priests to fasten their rule on men or as a supernatural
mystery." '

Wars are regarded by Herbert Spencer as the chief ob-
stacle to the progress of moral development, and in his
"Data of Ethics," as well as in his later work, "The Deduc-
tions of Ethics," the theory occurs again and again that a
"state of war" is incompatible with an ideal morality, and

' Karl Kautslty, "Eihik und Materialist ische GeschichtsauffaBsung,"
Stultgirl, 1906, pp. 105, 106.

SOCIALISM AND ETHICS

that the latter is only attainable in perfectly peaceful socie-
ties. Spencer does not take cognizance of the class struggle
and of the economic interpretation of history. To him "a
state of war" and "a state of peace" are merely phases of
moral development in human society. But as a matter
of fact wars depend but little on the degree of civilization
attained by the community. The most advanced states
are frequently also the most warlike states. Wars in mod-
em times are most often caused by economic motives.
They are usually the results of the competitive struggles
of the capitalist classes of the belligerent nations for the
markets of the world, the logical counterparts of competi-
tion in the national markets.

To the industrial individualism which is the leading
feature of modern society corresponds a gross egoism in all
spheres of our material existence which sets mdividual
against individual and throttles all nobler social instincts
in man. Employer and employee, producer and consumer,
buyer and seller, landlord and tenant, lender and borrowa-,
are always arrayed against each other, constantly and
necessarily meeting in a spirit of antagonism of interests,
incessantly engaged in conscious or unconscious economic
struggle with each other. And a!I these forms of economic
struggle are but single phases of the broader and deeper
class struggle which is the dominant factor in modem in-
dustrial life and largely determines all current moral con-
ceptions.

But the class struggle is not an unmitigated evil. Just
as the struggle for existence among individuals in the
lower forms of human existence led to the improvement of
the race and eventually matured the conditions of its own

Btruction, just so the class struggles in advanced societies

62 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

have often been the instruments for the improvement of the
social type and will eventually lead to the abolition of all
classes and class struggles.

The struggles between the bourgeoisie, the progenitors
of the modern capitalist class, and the ruling class of land-
owners, have yielded many valuable acquisitions to modem
civilization, and have resulted in the establishment of mod-
em society, which with all its faults and imperfections is
vastly superior to the feudal order which it displaced. The
struggles of the dependent classes against the ruling classes
in modem society have ah-eady produced the rudiments
of a nobler social morality, and are rapidly preparing the
ground for a still higher order of civilization.

The modern working class is gradually but rapidly
emancipating itself from the special morality of the ruling
classes. In their common struggles against the oppression
of the capitalist class the workers are naturally led to the
recognition of the value of compact organization and
solidary, harmonious action. Within their own ranks
they have no motive for struggle or competition; their
interests are in the opposite direction. And as the struggles
of their class against the rule of capitalism become more
general and concrete, more conscious and effective, there
grows in them a sentiment of class loyalty, class solidarity
and class consciousness which is the basis of a new and
distinct code of ethics. The modern labor movement is
maturing its own standards of right and wrong conduct,
its own social ideals and morality. Good or bad conduct
has largely come to mean to them conduct conducive to
the welfare and success of their class in its struggles for
emancipation. They admire the true, militant and de-
voted "labor leader," the hero in their struggles against

I SOCIALISM AND ETHICS 63

' the employing class. They detest the " scab," the deserter
from their ranks in these struggles.

The two historical slogans given to the modem socialist
and labor movement by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels,

:■ "The emancipation of the workingmea can only be ac-
complished by the workingmen themselves," and "Work-
ingmen of all countries imite, you have nothing to lose
but your chains, you have a world to gain ! " — may truly
be said to be the main precepts of the new morality of the
working class. They inspire the " lower " classes with the
consciousness of a great social mission to be performed by
them in modern society ; they foster the virtues of com-
radeship and self-reliance in their ranks, and develop the
qualities of fidelity and devotion to their common cause.
This new morality is by no means ideal social morality.
It is the ethics of struggle, class ethics as yet. But Just
because it is the ethics of a subjugated class engaged m the
struggle for its emancipation, it is superior to the prevailing
ethics of the class bent upon maintaining acquired privi-
leges. The workingmen cannot abolish the capitaUst
class rule without abolishing all class rule; they cannot
emancipate themselves without emancipating all mankind.
Behind the socialist theory of the existing class struggle
lies the conception of a classless, harmonious society;
behind the conception of the international solidarity of
the working class lies the ideal of the world-wide solidarity
of the human race. The ideals of the modern socialist
and labor movement thus generally coincide with the
scientific conceptions of absolute morality.

Of course, in both cases we are dealing with ideals,
and ideals only. We must recognize that the realities of

L Ufe always fall short of social ideals. Socialism does not

64 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

imply a state of absolute and universal harmony. The
human mind cannot conceive to-day a state of society free
from all antagonism and frictions caused by differences in
temperament, views and even temporary material interests.
There will probably always be some individual infractions
of the accepted canons of social morality, but there will be
no universal economic motive for such infractions, and
they will necessarily become less flagrant in character and
less frequent in number, they will cease to be the rule in
human conduct, and will become the exception.

"The conflict of the individual with society," says
Charles Kendall Franklin, "is of two kinds. On the one
hand, it is carried on by specialized individuals whose
function is to develop and perfect society by developing
the moral and social senses; on the other, the conflict is
between society and the rank individualist who will not
be subdued by society, who persists in expendmg his
energies in as wasteful a manner as he sees fit so it benefits
himself. Civilization is full of such people to-day. They
are powerful individuals, they head corporations, they
compose the professions, they constitute the classes. They
beheve in society for their own benefit and hoot at the
socialization of the race as the rankest nonsense. . . .
Their worst representative is the degenerate and criminal;
individuals who cannot adapt themselves at all to the
development of society to-day." '

Of the two kinds of anti-social individuals so charac-
terized by Franklin, the "specialized" individual and the
pathological criminal, the men physically and morally
constituted above or below their fellow-men, may survive
forever in larger or smaller numbers, but the " rank indi-
' "The Socialijation of HumanEty," Chicago, 1904, p. aio.

SCX:iALISM AND ETHICS 65

vidualist" who preys upon his fellow-men and tramples
on social solidarity, mainly from motives of material gain,
can find but little room in a society based on cooperative
production and common social enjoyment. With the
change of his economic interests and motives man will
necessarily change his conduct.

"The ethics of socialism," observes Bax on this point,
." seeks not the ideal society through the ideal individual,
but conversely the ideal individual through the ideal
society. It finds in an adequate, a free and harmonious
social life, at once the primary condition and the end and
completion of individuality." *

* "The Ethics of Socialism," p. 19.

CHAPTER IV

SOCIALISM AND LAW

The Law

In out occasional contact with the law we are but too
apt to concentrate our attention on the concrete legal
enactments and rules of procedure, and to lose sight of
the body of the law as a dynamic system.

Here we will not concern ourselves with the anatomy of
the law, but rather with its physiology, and will consider
the law as a social force in its relation to the general pro-
cess of social development.

Under the designation "Law" in the broadest sense of
the term, we understand the entire body of legislative
enactments, rules and regulations which prescribe the
relations of man to man, man to state, state to man and
state to state.

The law thus defined is not fixed or universal : it varies
with the different types of civilization past and present.
There is a radical difference between the laws of the
ancient Greek communities, medieval European society,
and the modem civilized states, and there is as radical a
difference between the systems of law prevalent in the
semi-barbaric countries of South Africa, the empire of
China and the democracy of the United States.

Nor are the laws of any given country immutable, il

SOCIALISM AND LAW

feet, nothing is n

changeable than the system of i

tional laws in the modem countries. Every year volumes
of new laws and ordinances are issued from the halls of
Congress or parliaments, the inferior legislative chambers
and the councils of thousands of municipalities; every
year iimumerable old laws are repealed or amended, and
innumerable new laws are enacted. The thing that is
legal to-day may be branded as a crime to-morrow, new \ I
rights may be conferred on or taken from us, and new ■
duties may be imposed on us by every legislative session,
and especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries new laws may
grow out overnight by the process of judicial "construc-
tion,"

But these changes m the law are by no means arbitrary.

Individual measures may at times be needless and illogical,

but in the long run all changes in a given system of Uw

mark a development in a certain definite direction. A

I system of jurisprudence is just as much subject to the

[ laws of evolution as any other social institution.

The primitive man has but little use or occasion for
I laws. But the higher the plane of human civilization, the
I doser the interrelation of men, the greater becomes the
need of definite rules of conduct of the members of such
organization in all matters pertaining to tJie common wel-
fare. Those of such rules that are more vital to the main-
tenance of the social fabric are as a rule enacted into formal
laws, while those of less direct and important bearing are
left within the domain of ethics, "Normally," says Mr.
Sidgwick, " in a well-organized society the most important
and mdispensable rules of social behavior will be legally
„enforced, and the less important left to be maintained by
Wcmtive Morality. , . . Law will constitute, as it were.

THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

the skeleton of social order, clothed by the flesh and blood
of Morality." ' Law and ethics have thus a common
origin, and while by no means identical in all respects, they
present a great similarity in many aspects.

Law, like ethics, springs from the economic and social ;
conditions of the nations, and from its very origin it must ■
be adapted to and change with those conditions. A tribe,
race or nation will in each period establish such rules or
laws as will be most conducive to the successful pursuit
of its mode of subsistence, and as each of the succeeding
economic and social orders gradually grow out of the
preceding systems, new laws are created to meet the
changed situation. The feudal system gave us the Law
of Real Property, the development of national and inter-
national commerce led to the Law of Negotiable Instru-
ments, the rise of the factory inscribed the Labor Laws in
our statute book, and practically in our own times the
introduction of railroads, telegraphs and telephones added
new and important branches to our body of law, while the
more recent economic categories of corporations and trusts
still keep our legislative mills busy. "The evolution which
led men to an orderly social life did not consist in the dia-
lectic self -development of juridic ideas," says Arnold
Lindwurm, "but in the economic development brought
about by social necessity." ^

The law of each civilization, again like its ethics, not
only reflects the economic and social conditions of the
times, but is primarily designed to safeguard and maintain
those conditions. That is why we find such a variance

' "The Methods of Ethics," p. ig.

'"Dag Eigenlhumsrecht und die Menschheits ^ Idee im Slaale,"
Leipbic, 1878, p. 139.

SOCIALISM AND LAW

in the criminal law of different states in its estimate of the
gra\ity of certain crimes. "Ev ery state," says Dr. Ru-
dolph von .Ihering,. "gunis hes tho se crimes most severely
which threaten its. own peculiar condition of existence,
w hjie it all ows a moderalioiL Ig^prey ail in regard to other
crimes which, not unfrequently, presents a very striking
contrast to its severity as against the former. A theocracy
bran ds blasphemy and idolatry as crimes deserving of
death, while it looks on a boundary violation as a mere
misdeme anor (Mosaic Law). The agricultural state, on
the other hand, \isits the latter with the severest punish-
ment, while it lets the blasphemer go with the lightest
punishment {Old Roman Law). The commercial state
punishes most severely the uttering of false coin; the
military state, insubordination and breach of official duty;
the absolute slate, high treason; the republic, the striving
after regal power; and they all manifest a severity in
these points which contrasts greatly with the manner in
which they punish other crimes. In short, the reaction of
the feeling of legal right, both of states and individuals,
is most violent when they feel themselves threatened in the
conditions of existence peculiar to them." '

The statement that the law is always designed to safe-
guard the existing economic conditions of society must,
however, again as in the case of ethics, be qualified
by the further statement that the law of each period is
primarily designed to safeguard and protect the interests
of the dominant classes within such society.

The legal systems of antiquity, the Greek and Roman
Law, made no attempt to disguise that fact. The subject
^ class, the class of slaves, frequently the overwhelming
"Struggle for Law," English Translation, Chicago, 1B79, pp. 45, 46.

70 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

majority of the population, was placed beyond the pale
of the law. The slave was excluded from the protection
of the law and left to the arbitrary treatment of his master.
The institution of serfdom, which lasted throughout the
Middle Ages and in some instances survived into the nine-
teenth century, presents a similar state of affairs.

Prior to the great French Revolution, the nobihty and
clergy openly enjoyed special legal privileges from which
the common people were excluded, and while the form of
legal class favoritism has been abolished in most of the
enlightened contemporary states, our laws on the whole
still favor the ruling classes.

Since the law is the expression of social and economic
conditions in motion, every improvement in those condi-
tions leads to a correspondmg improvement m the system
of law. The course of political and economic improve-
ment which on the whole marks our social progress, reflects
itself in the ever-growing tendency towards equity and
justice in law. Compared with the miquitous laws of
mediaeval ages, our laws to-day are exceedingly humane,
and generally speaking, every succeeding phase of a legal
system is superior to the preceding phase. This applies
to all domains of the law — private, public and inter-
national.

But legal progress does not run parallel with social
and economic advance. As a rule the law lags somewhat
behind existing conditions. New factors in our industrial
life from time to time create new social conditions, and
produce new conceptions of social rights and obligations.
These remain abstract and debatable theories until such
time as they have been incorporated in the statute books,
and a penalty has been attached to their violation. Then,

SOCIALISM AND LAW

' and then only, they are transferred from the domain of
ethics to that of law.

But the recognition of these rights, as a rule, does not
occur automatically. Moral rights do not ripen into laws
^ by a process of natural growth, nor are acquired laws self-
executing. Reforms in law and legal redress are conquered
in struggle, and, in most cases, in hard, obstinate struggle'3
The effort to effect equitable legal reform or secure suci?
, the " struggle for law," as-Sr. ven— IteriHg-terms
i different forms in the different provinces of
the law. In the domain of private law such efforts find
I daily application in litigation; in the domain of public
L law, these efforts are expressed in politics, and their realiza-
tion is sometimes effected by revolutions; in international
L law the struggle is expressed in the diplomatic dealings of
the nations, and sometimes culminates in war. ^' All social
* classes," says the eminent Italian jurist Alfredo Tortori,
"are impelled to make such laws, to establish such insti-
tutions and to sanction such customs and beliefs as accord
with their direct or indirect interests. Hence the perpet-
ual movement which drives men and groups to change ex-
isting laws and to adapt them to new social interests." '
^nd this struggle for right and law is the key to all social
Lprogress^l The man who suffers personal wrong without
Iprotest or opposition, the "peaceful" member of the com-
l munity, is a demoralizing factor in our social fabric; the
class that does not struggle for civic and industrial rights
will eventually lapse into slavery; and the nation that
passively countenances encroachments upon its rights
and territory is doomed to dismemberment and national
bankruptcy.

' "Sociaiisrae et droEt privi," in Le Devenir Social, 1896, p. asi.

THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

It is the man who defends his rights, the class that
battles for political and industrial advancement, and the
nation that holds its own against the entire world; it is
the "litigious" person, the "revolutionary" class and the
" vigilant " nation that keep the world from stagnation
and force it onward on the path of progress.

Conservatism and meekness and the pietistic veneration

for the laws and customs of our forefathers, are not civic

virtues, but vicious manifestations of mental indolence and

political reaction. The progress of mankind lies in the

future, not in the past.

r — Let us test the truth of these general observations by a

\ comparison of three systems of law corresponding to three

I phases of human civilization ; the feudal system, immedi-

^'l ately preceding our own, the modem or capitalistic system
/_and the proposed system of socialism.
The Feudal System of Law

The system of feudalism was evolved in the period of
turbulence into which Europe was thrown by the migra-
tion of nations, and represented the first attempt to reduce
the general social chaos and confusion of that period to
some social order.

The system was based on landownership and agriculture,
both of which were rendered highly precarious by inces-
sant wars and pillage, and naturally produced all the
complex features of the social, political and legal organiza-
tion of feudal society.

The tiller of the soil in the early stages of feudal civiliza-
tion was in constant danger of having his fields devastated
and crops destroyed by the incursion of hostile hordes of
marauders, and the protection from this ever present

SOCIAUSM AND LAW

[anger was a necessary part of his agricultural pursuits.
The man with the sword was as indispensable to the culti-
vation of the land as the man with the plow, and the first
division of labor in feudal society is formed on these lines.
The warrior is a pubhc functionary in the early feudal
community ; he protects the tillers of the soil from molesta-
tion in the pursuit of their daily occupations, and in return
he receives from them his necessary means of subsistence
in the shape of a portion of their crops. The warrior
lives among the other members of the community; he is
part of them, but his dwelling house is the largest in the
settlement, and is fortified, so as to offer a refuge to the
villagers and their property and cattle in case of attack.

In the further progress of feudal civilization the social
relations become more permanent and fixed. The division
of social functions develops into class differences. The
warrior through long years of use and a process of heredi-
tary transmission of social functions arrogates to himself
the power over his fellow-men which the monopoly of arms
places in his hands: the settlement becomes the feudal
Manor, and the fortified manor house, the Castle; the
warrior turns into the Noble, the worker into the Villein,
and the voluntary compensation for military services grows
into a fixed annual tribute — the Tithe and compulsory
military service.

Land was now the principal wealth and source of power
in feudal society, and pillage and robbery the accepted
means of its acquisition. War became the industrial
pursuit of the noble.

Conquering a strange community, the victorious leader
frequently reduced its inhabitants to the state of serfdom,
ippropriated their land, and endowed his retainers with

;

74 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

portions of it. But just as frequently the noble " protector"
would rob his own subjects of large parcels of the commu-
nal land. The class of the nobles thus became a land-
owning class, and brute force was the origin of its title.

The greed for land and the necessity of defending their
possessions engendered an ever increasing strife among the
nobles and led to military offensive and defensive alliances
between them which m^e up the graduated and complex
political structure of mediaeval society.

At this stage of development, which we may consider
the period of bloom of feudal civilization, the social rela-
tions, notwithstanding their rough appearances, are still
not altogether based on force. The social order, strange
as it may seem, still rests very largely on the principle of
mutual service between the classes,

"The feudal lord," says Lafargue, "only holds his land
and possesses a claim on the labor and harvests of his
tenants and vassals on condition of doing suit and service
to his superiors and lending aid to his dependants. On
accepting the oath of fealty and homage the lord engaged
to protect his vassal against all and sundry by all the means
at his command; in return for which support the vassal
was bound to render military and personal service and
make certain payments to his lord. The latter in his turn,
for the sake of protection, commended himself to a more
puissant feudal lord, who himself stood in the relation of
vassalage to a suzerain, to the king or emperor.

All the members of the feudal hierarchy, from the serf
upwards to the king or emperor, were bound by the ties of
reciprocal duties." '

' Paul Lafargue, "The Evolution of Property," English Translation,
London, 1S94, p. 79.

SOCIALISM AND LAW

Under the existing conditions of the times the class of
I, nobility was, therefore, on the whole a socially useful

But in the succeeding centuries, the onward march of
I civilization gradually but radically changed the social
I conditions of Europe. The logical trend of feudal de-
L velopment led to ever vaster and more powerful alliances
I based on a hierarchy of power aqd duties, to political con-
f centration and ultimately to the formation of monarchical
[states. The natural cHect of this course of development
F was to limit strife and warfare, and a number of other
causes served to accelerate that process. The introduc-
tion of gunpowder was a death blow to knight errantry,
and the humanizing mfluences of a more enlightened
civilization, ushered in by the period of the Renaissance as
well as the rise of commerce and industry, destroyed the
very foundation upon which the feudal 'order pas built.
Feudal society was broken up, and the dominant class
k which it had produced was deprived of all its useful social
J functions. But not of its power. The nobility ceased to
render service to the community, but it did not discard the
I habit of levying tribute upon it. As landowners, courtiers,
magistrates and high dignitaries of church and state, the
•noblemen retained themselves in power for centuries after
the passing of feudal society.

But in the course of those centuries, a new and formi-
dable rival for power was slowly developing in the bosom
r of society — the class of commercial and industrial burgh-
a*s — the bourgeoisie.

Manufacture, which in the earlier stages of feudalism

vas a very subordinate occupation confined to the village,

[ and exercised by its followers as a sort of public service in

76 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

return for a scant living, received an ever larger extension
as society became more settled. The development of
village markets and the rise of towns encouraged inde-
pendent production of commodities and stimulated trade,
which, with the discovery of the sea route to India and the
discovery of America, received a new and larger impulse.
The merchants' and manufacturers' guilds soon became
a power in the state, and the town, a growing factor in
the political life of the nation.

Henceforward, the history of Europe is the history of
the struggle between these two classes for polirical su-
premacy. The titled descendants of the robber barons
of every country unite in the eflort to maintain their in-
herited social, political and economic ascendency, and to
stem the threatening tide of the rising power of the churl-
ish newcomers, and in these efforts they are as a rule
supported by the Catholic clergy, whose social and eco-
nomic position is very similar to their own. On the other
hand, the rising bourgeoisie strives everywhere for free-
dom from the fetters of the feudal order, which impede
its movement for the establishment of a free competitive
international market of commerce and manufacture.

The struggle results uniformly in the victory of the
young and vigorous bourgeoisie over the enfeebled nobility-
The last act in this historical drama is the general Euro-
pean Revolution which formally establishes the rule of the
industrial bourgeoisie in all countries of Europe, whether
such revolution is accomplished with little bloodshed, as in
Great Britain in the seventeenth century, or by spectacular
acts and carnage, as in France at the end of the eighteenth
century, or by a slow and almost imperceptible process, as
in Germany towards the middle of the last century.

SOCIALISM AND LAW

Such, in brief, is the career of the feudal system, and
that career with all its phases of development and strug-
gles is faithfully portrayed in the laws of the period.

The formative stages of the feudal order are not con-
ducive to the development of any general system of juris-
prudence. Society is spht into innumerable separate and
very loosely connected communities, in each of which the
arbitrary will of the feudal lord is the supreme law. The
system of law of that period has been aptly described by
Stubbs as "a graduated system of jurisprudence based on
land tenure, in which every lord taxed and commanded
the class next below him; in which abject slavery formed
the lowest and irresponsible tyranny the highest grade;
in which private war, private coinage, private prisons,
took the place of the imperial institutions of the govern-
ment." ^ The legal doctrine that the sovereign can do no
wrong and the more modem doctrine of the immunity of
the state from legal process, are directly traceable to that
period of jurisprudence.

The succeeding phase of feudalism, with its hierarchic
order of vassalage and the graduated system of reciprocal
rights and duties, finds its expression in the law of prop-
erty and inheritance. Land, practically the sole means
of existence and the source of all social power, is not
considered private property. The feudal lord holds his
land and enjoys the right to its income as a sort of trustee
for his dependants; his title to the land is not one in fee
simple, or absolute ownership, but is subject to the superior
rights of his immediate lord as well as to the numerous
rights and easements of his subjects. The absolute legal
^tle to all the land vests in the king as the representative
' "Constitutional History," pp. 955, 256.

78 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

of the nation, a theory which has left very distinct traces
in the present-day legal doctrine of the right of Eminent
Domain.

The feudal lord is the military officer in command of
the fief or manor, and that office upon his death descends
to his oldest son, together with the duties of protection
which it entaOs. His landownership is merely an inci-
dent of office and, therefore, descends to his oldest son
as his successor in office. The entailed estates, the law of
intestacy and primogeniture are the juridical expression of
the social order of that epoch of feudal bloom.

The period of dissolution of feudal society with its
accompanying struggles between the landowning noble
class and the industrial class are written in large letters
in the legal evolution of that period of social transition.
The doivnfall of feudalism and the triumph of the bour-
geoisie are signalized by the removal of restrictions upon
the alienation of land and freedom of trading, the intro-
duction of the testament, the abolition of guilds and guild
laws, and the eradication of all legal privileges of nobility
and clergy.

The Modern System of Law

The basis of modem society differs from that of the
feudal system in every essential. Under feudalism, as
we have seen, the principal pursuit is agriculture and the
principal form of wealth is landownership. The ownership
of land is the basis of all social relations and political
rights. It creates the hierarchy of rank, the feeling of ter-
ritorial solidarity, the sense of communal interest, and the
spirit of conservatism which are characteristic of that
phase of civilization.

SOCIAUSM AND LAW

Contemporary society, on the other hand, rests mainly
on manufacture and trading. The wealth of modem
nations is represented principally by movable objects and
commodities, or personal property, and all our social re-
lations are based on the ownership of such property.

The right to produce, consume and dispose of all com-
modities at will, is a necessary incident of their full en-
joyment, hence the absolute ownership of all property,
the freedom of its production and its unrestricted use,
are the pillars upon which all modern law rests.

Private Property and its logical corollaries. Competitive
Industry and Individual Liberty, are the new Trinity
which the rule of the bourgeoisie has established in modem
civilization. These three guiding principles find their
most eloquent and finished expression in the American
Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration
of Human Rights, the two instruments framed spon-
taneously and in their entirety as the expression of violent
political revolutions; they animate the unwritten con-
stitution of England and the written constitutions of all
other parliamentary countries.

Private property is also the foundation of all modem
legislation, for all modem systems of law are principally
designed for its protection.

"In a general way," says the well-known criminologist,
Zerboglio, "it may be considered as an established fact
that the foundation and objects of criminal law are the
preservation and the defense of that class which has
constituted the modern system of Jurisprudence for the
purpose of safeguarding its economic power." '

' A. Zerboglio, "Lutte de classe dans la legislatbti," in Le Devtnit
^SoeM, iSg6, p. 143.

I 80 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

"Offenses against property" are acts committed in an
endeavor to acquire properly by means not sanctioned by
law ,^ crimes committed for gain. But the direct offenses
against property are not the oniy crimes committed from
motives of gain. The overwhelming majority of crimes
against the person, from murder in the first degree to
simple assault, are most frequently committed with the
object of material advantages: if they are not crimes
against property they may be fitly designated as crimes
for property.

And what our criminal laws conceal and disguise to
some extent, our civil laws reveal with the utmost frank-
ness; the civil codes of every modem nation are chiefly
a compilation of rules governing the regulation of disputes
over property rights and regulating relations of property
owners between themselves.

"If we examine any ground of civil action," remarks
Mr. Bax, "ye shall find it almost always turns directly
or indirectly on a question of property; that is, on what
individual shall possess certain wealth — the chances be-
ing invariably on the side of the wealthy litigant."*

Except for its protection of private property and the
principle of free competition as instanced by the anti-trust
and anti-monopoly legislation, the general policy of our
modem law is one of non-interference. The famous
watchword, "Laissez-faire," apphes to bourgeois laws as
well as to bourgeois economics.

This policy is based on the assumption of equality of .
all citizens and their ability to adjust their own relations
without the mterference of the state. And in the period

' Ernest Belfort Bax, "The Religion of Socialism," London, 1901,

SOaALISM AND LAW

E inception of the present social order this assumption
was not entirely unwarranted. When manufacture was
in its infancy, and was carried on by primitive methods

. and with the aid of simple and inexpensive tools, the in-

I dustrial field was practically tree to aU artisans. There
were no fixed lines between "capitalists" and "wage
workers" as distinct and permanent classes: employer
and employee met on terms of some equality ; their rela-
tions were largely created by voluntary and reciprocal
contract. But with the development of the complex and
expensive modem instruments of production, these instru-
ments passed into the hands of the possessing classes, who
thus acquired a monopoly of the modem industrial pro-
cess, while the non-possessing classes were reduced to the
status of wage workers.

The assumed equality of all men thus became a mere '
fiction, at least as far as the economic relations of the
citizens are concerned, and all social legislation based on
that assumption henceforward had the effect of sanc-
tioning the power of the strong to exploit the weak. In a
society of economic equals the law might properly abstain .
from mterfering with the industrial relations of the citi- i
zens, but in a society in which economic supremacy places |
one class of citizens in an artificial position of advantage
over their fellow-citizens, the office of just legislation
should be to protect the weak against the abuses of the
strong. The failure of modern law to afford such pro-

-tection to the workingmen in itself shows partiality 'm
the interests of the ruling classes.

"Upon this point," observes Loria, "a comparison
between modem and medieval law is enlightening.

w)uring the Middle Ages, when capital was weak and

82 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

labor acquired its strength from the existence of free land,
the law came to the assistance of capital by regulating
the labor contract in a manner hostile to the laborer's
interest. In our times, on the contrary, when capital is
strong and labor is deprived of its liberty of action, the
law amply fulfills its office of guardian of property by
abstaining from regulating the wage contract at all, and
leaving it to the dictation of capital." '

A striking mstance of this rule is to be found in the
enactment and repeal of the famous English " Statute of
LaUorers." The epidemic of the "black death" in the
middle of the fourteenth century had vastly decreased
the supply of labor, and wages were gomg up rapidly.
Parliament passed a law making work compulsory on
all propertyless persons below the age of sixty years at
wages that had been customary in the year 1347, i.e.,
before the plague, and this law with a number of successive
amendments and variations remamed in force until the
beginning of the nineteenth century, when the develop-
ment of machinery and the modem processes of produc-
tion had created a superfluity of labor and a rubious com-
petition among the workers themselves. The laws &dng
the rate of wages then became useless and embarrassing
} to the employing classes, and were speedily repealed.
But the wage contract is not the only instance of the
; of the workingmen under the law arising
from the principle of non-interference. Another and per-
3 more conspicuous illustration of the iniquitous effect
of that principle is to be found in the employers' liability
laws of modem nations, particularly the nations whose

: Foundations of Society," English

SOCIALISM AND LAW

systems of Jurisprudence are based on the Anglo-Saxon
common law. The doctrine of the assumption by the
workingman of the "obvious risks of employment," and
his inability to recover damages for injuries where such

I injuries were caused in whole or in part by his "contribu-
tory negligence" or by the negligence of a "fellow-ser-
vaot," have for their theoretical basis the fiction that the
modern workingman of his own free choice determines
how, where and with whom he shall work. The practical

I effect of these doctrines is that m most cases the work-
ngman remains without remedy agamst his employer.
The fictitious "equality of all citizens before the law"

i furthermore favors the possessing classes as against the

' classes of non-possessors in matters of modem legal pro-
cedure at least as much as in matters of substantial law.
The fact that the practice of law is a business pursuit of
the private practitioner coupled with the complicated, tech-
nical and expensive nature of litigation, frequently puts
justice beyond the reach of the poor. "The law," ex-
claims the eminent Italian jurist already quoted, "is a
monopoly of wealth, and in the temple of Themis there
is no place reserved for the laborer." '

Nor is the character of modem law as the guardian of
the possessing classes and the whip of the poor, evidenced
by its passive attitude alone. The rigid prohibitions
against labor combinations in the various modem coun-
tries, the strict penalties for all labor interferences with
the "rights" of the employing class, and the severe treat-
ment by the courts of all "transgressions" of workmgmen
in thehr struggles against their employers, furnish eloquent
proof of the law's positive partiality for the ruling classes.
' Loria, "Economic Foundations of Society," p. 114.

r 84 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

Social Legislation and Socialist Jurisprudence

As the feudal regime at a certain stage of its develop-
ment became burdensome on the class of the " bourgeoisie"
and caused them to revolt against that regime, so has the
modem industrial order become burdensome upon the
working classeSj and the latter already show symptoms of
revolt against it. The more advanced workingmen of all
countries begin to regard the economic dependence of
their class and the privileged position of the employing
classes as a social injustice. They feel that the part of
the toilers in the process of production entitles them to a
larger share of the national product, and that they are
despoiled and deprived of their just due by the classes in
power. They demand an ever greater consideration and
protection for labor, and an ever larger curtailment of the
privileges of wealth.

These demands of the workingmen assume for them
the form of social or ethical rightSj and their struggles are
struggles to realize their rights as laws. The character
of the legislation which the working class thus advocates
and strives for, is diametrically opposed to all the funda-
mental principles of modem or bourgeois law. It is based
on the right of persons instead of property rights, and on
social regulation, control and protection, instead of the
principles of free competition and non-interference. And
as the working-class movement grows in strength, intelli-
gence and determination, the ruling classes are forced to
make concessions to it, either by way of granting or fore-
stalling its demands.

This is the secret of the recent reaction against the
sacred "laissez-faire" principle of modem law, and the

r SOCIALISM AND LAW 85

I source of all "social legislation" of the last few decades.
I In Germany, social legislation was inaugurated at a time
I ■when the socialist movement had demonstrated that it
I was strong enough to withstand the assault of the anti-
I socialist laws. The motive of the government in intro-
' ducing such legislation was revealed by the Iron Chan-
cellor with his characteristic frankness in the following
speech, delivered in the Imperial Diet in :88i: —

"That the state should take better care of its needy
members than heretofore is not only a dictate of humane-
ness and Christianity, but also a necessity of conservative
politics which should aim to cultivate in the non-possessing
classes of the population, who are at the same time the
I most numerous and least instructed, the view that the state
is not only a necessary but also a beneficent institution.
To this end they must be led by means of direct advantages,
derived through legislative enactment, to consider the
state not as an institution created solely for the protection
of the possessing classes, but as one serving their own
needs and interests. The objection that such legislation
would introduce a socialistic element must not deter us
from our course."

In France the first social legislation was introduced by
Napoleon III as a measure intended to combat the grow-
ing influence of the International Workingmen's Associa-
tion, In England, in the United States and in all other
modem countries, the beginnings of systematic " factory
legislation" coincide, broadly speaking, with the begm,-
nings of the organized labor movement, and its extension
keeps pace with the growth of the labor movement.
The current of social legislation takes two distinct
Ldirections, one being designed to protect the workmen, and

THE SOCIALIST PmLOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

the other to regulate and limit the power of industrial
capitalism. To the former class belong the laws pro-
viding for workingmen's insurance in case of sickness
and disability, the old-age pension laws, and the large
body of laws popularly known as Factory Legislation,
i. e., laws limiting the hours of labor.pf women. and chil::-,
dren, and of men in certain lines of employment, estab-
lishing rules for the health and safety of the operatives in
mines, mills, factories and other works, extending the
liability of employers for injuries sustained by their work-
men, regulating the payment of wages, and similar meas-
ures affecting the duties of employer to employed.

In the second class of legislation must be counted all
laws which attempt to check the excessive accumulation
of wealth in the hands of private individuals, such as the
income and inheritance tax laws, and laws having for their
object the control and regulation of certain industries,
such as railroading, banking, insurance, etc.

The net result of all such social legislation is as yet
insignificant. On the whole it has had no great effect
in improving the condition of the poor or limiting the
power of the wealthy. But the importance of this line
of legislation lies not in its positive achievements as
much as in its symptomatic significance. The "social"
laws of the last few decades mark a growing change in
the popular conception of the office of legislation — the
approach of a new legal system expressive of a new social
era. For the forces that gave birth to the weak rudiments
of social legislation are still at work, steadily gaining in
extent and intensity. The struggles of the organized
workingmen of all countries for a fair distribution of the
national wealth and for equitable social relations among

SOCIALISM AND LAW

Pall men are finding ever stronger support among all classes
I of the population, and are bound to continue. The
P logical end of ali legal reforms accompanying these strug-
gles is the substitution of a system of law based on
the principle of socialism for the present individualistic
system.

An d wh ile it would be folly to attempt at this time a
comprehensive outline of a socialist sysleni 'of tai^7 WC"
.iave. sufficient concrete data in the present tendencies of
social development to enable us to indicate the, funda-
mental principles and general aspect of that proposed
system of jurisprudence.

A socialist society is one based on the system of public
, or collective ownership of the material instruments of pro-
duction, democratic administration of the industries, and
cooperative labor; and the guiding principle of such so-
ciety must be the recognition of the right of existence and
enjoyment inherent in every human being.

The function of law under socialism will of necessity
b^t^ insure the stability of these principles and insfitii* ' "
lions, just as it has been its function at all earlier periods
^of_human civOization to insure the stability of the institu-
tions of such periods. But in a socialist society the func-
tion of law will be largely simplified by the disappearance
of class distinctions. In a society of industrial equals, in
r which the material interests of all citizens are identical, and
Ithe interests of every citizen accord with those of the state,
f the motives for all crimes against property and for many
crimes against the person are removed, and with their
removal disappears the necessity of legislating against
such crimes, while the abolition of private competitive
industry and trading must have the effect of eradicating

88 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

from our statute books the major part of all our civil and
commercial laws.

In direct opposition to the modem system of law, which
deals largely with the reciprocal relations and private
conduct of individual citizens, and pays but scant atten-
tion to the industrial life of the nation, a socialist system
of jurisprudence must of necessity occupy itself primarily
with the regulation of the social processes of wealth pro-
duction and distribution, and limit its interference with
the private life and conduct of the citizen to a minimum.

CHAPTER V

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

Nature and Evolution of the Stale

One of the most interesting theoretical discussions that
ever occupied a modem political parliament was that con-
ducted in the German Diet on the occasion of its delibera-
tions on the proposed budget of 1893. It was towards
the close of the session ; the dissolution of the Diet was
imminent, and the Social Democracy, which in the pre-
vious elections had polled close to one and a half million
votes, loomed up large as a menacing factor in the com-
ing elections. By common accord the subject under im-
mediate consideration was suspended, the debate of the
Diet was made the pretext for an electoral campaign and
the sole topic of discussion was the proposed SociaHst
State. It was a battle royal which lasted three consecu-
tive days. The most eloquent speakers of all anti- socialist
parliamentary parties in Germany took part in the debate,
mercilessly criticising the socialist aims and ideals, and
demolishing the structure of the proposed socialist state
as they conceived it.

When the turn came to the brilliant socialist leader,
August Bebel, he rather nonplussed his colleagues in the
Diet by the somewhat startlmg declaration that the phrase
"Socialist State" was in itself an absurdity, and that a
ate" could not possibly exist under a socialist ort"

90 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

The same idea is expressed by Bebel more explicitly
in his "Woman," where, in discussing the effects of the
proposed economic reforms of socialism on the political
organization of society, he says: — ■

"The state organization as such gradually loses its
foundation. The state is the organization of force for
the mamtenance of existing relations of property and
social rule. But as the relations of master and servant
disappear with the abolition of the present system of
property, the political expression of the relationship ceases
to have any meaning. The state expires with the expira-
tion of the ruling class, just as religion expires when the
belief in supernatural beings or supernatural reasoning
ceases to exist. Words must represent ideas; if they
lose their substance, they no longer correspond to any-
thing." '■

This conception of the state is by no means peculiar
to Bebcl. It has been expressed by many socialist think-
ers of prominence before and after him, and its source is
to be found in the following passage from the writings of
Frederick Engels, one of the theoretical founders of
modern socialism: —

" By reducing the ever greater majority of the population
to the rank of proletarians, the capitalist mode of pro-
duction creates the power which is compelled to bring
about this social transformation under penally of its own
destruction. By forcing the conversion of the large
socialized means of production into state ownership, it
' points itself the way towards the accomplishment of that
I transformation. The wage workers seize the powers of

I ' August Bebel, "Woman io the Pasi, Present and Future," San
I Francisco, 1897, p. isS.

SOQALISM AND THE STATE

the state and provisionally turn the means of production
over to the state. But with this act they aboUsh their
own existence as proletarians, and with this act they
also abolish all class differences and class antagonisms
and the state as a state. Heretofore society was based
on class antagonisms and needed a ' state,' i.e., an organi-
zation of the exploiting classes for the preservation of the
existing -methods of production, and more particularly
for the purpose of forcibly maintaining the exploited classes
in the condition of dependence inherent in such methods
of production (slavery, serfdom, wage labor). The state
was the ofiicial representative of the whole society; it was
its union in a visible body, but only inasmuch as it was
the state of that class which represented to it the entire
society: in antiquity, the state of the slave-ownmg citizens;
in the Middle Ages, that of the feudal nobihty; in oitr
times, that of the bourgeoisie. By actually becoming the
representative of the whole society, the state becomes
superfluous. As soon as there is no longer any class in
society to be held in subjection, as soon as the class rule
and the struggle for existence based on the modem an-
archy in production are removed, and with them also
the resultant struggles and excesses, there is nothing
more to repress, nothing requiring a special repressing
power, a state. The first act in which the state appears
as the representative of entire society — the seizure of the
instruments of production in the name of society — is at
the same time its last independent act as a slate. The
interference of the state with social relations becomes
superfluous in one field after the other, and the state,
as it were, falls asleep. The goverrmient of persons is
replaced by the administration of things and the regula-

92 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

tion of the process of production. The state is not ' abol-
ished,' it dies off. The phrase of the 'socialist state'
may thus be judged for its value as a slogan in the tem-
porary propaganda of socialism, and for its scientific
inefficiency." '

It will be noticed that the socialist writers quoted see
in the state a social institution different and apart from
organized society as such. This is by no means the
prevalent conception, and in fact there seems to be no
fixed and generally accepted definition of the term in the
popular or scientific literature of the subject. Few ex-
pressions are tised so vaguely and loosely as the term
"state." A large number of authoritative sociologica]
writers and lexicographers by implication consider the
state as a term synonymous with organized society, and
expressly define it in that sense.*

The fault of all such definitions is, that they do not

'Frederick Engds, "Herni Eugen Duhring's Umwalzung der Wis-
senschaften," 3d Edition, Sruttgait, 1B94.

' "The whole body of the people united under one government, what-
ever may be the form of the government." — Webster's Dictionary.

"The state (iriXii) is an association of human beings — and the
highest form of human association." ■ — AkietOile.

"The state (respublica) is the creature of the people, the people united
by a common sense of right and by a community of interest." — Cicero.

"The state is organized mankind." — Johann K. Bujntcshli in
"Lehre vom modernen Staat."

"The state is an assemblage of persons united under the same gov-
ernment." — TUBGOT.

"The state is the people living within certain geographical limits.
It represents a body of people having, in general, like sentiments, feelings
and aims, 10 carry out which they originate some organic law which pro-
vides for ministers or officers, and they constitute the government, which
is but the agent of the people in eieculing the laws they have ordained."
— Cabsoll T>. Wright in " Outline of Practical Sociology," New York,
1899, pp. 88, 89.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

define. All human society in a state of civilization is or-
ganized, and the term "organized society" applies with
equal force to the collectivity of contemporary mankind as
to each separate nation or community. The "state" has
a more limited and definite significance, and is more
properly defined as a body of people united under one
political government.' That the distinction is not a mere
scholastic quibble, but a very material and weighty dif-
ferentiation, becomes apparent as soon as we attempt to
analyze it. Every political government is not only well
defined territorially, but it also has certain other fixed
and essential attributes: it must be based on a constitu-
tion or on the will of an individual sovereign; it must be
supported by laws that can be enforced ; it must have the
machinery to enforce such laws and the power to raise
revenue for the maintenance of such machinery; it must
I also be represented by a person or class of persons invested

' "A politiLal communily organized under a distinct government,
recognized and conformed to by the people as supreme." — Standakd

DiCTIONAHY.

"When a number of persons are supposed to be in the habit of paying
lAedienct to a person, or an assemblage of persons of a known and certain
description, such persons altogether are said to be in a state of political
Bociecy." — J. Beniham in "A Fragment of Government."

"The supreme will of a stale, in whatever mode of sovereignty mani-
I fested, etpresses itself and achieves its ends in various ways, but chiefly
through Government, which may be delined as the requisition, direction
and organization of obedience." ^ — ^ Franklin H. Giddengs in "Read-
ings in Descriptive and Historical Sociology."

"The state is an aggregation of individuals living in the same terri-
I tory under the government of one supreme power." — Anton Mengeh
B.tn "Neue Staatslehre."
I "The stale is sovereign, i.e., it has the original, absolute, unlimited

■ power over the individual subject and over all associations of subjects."

■ — J. W. Burgess in "Political Science and Constitutional Law," New
% York, 1900, p. 4.

t94

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

with the powers of government. In short, the element
of repression and coercion is essential to the existence of
every state.

"When the political community is regarded as ' society, '"
says Mr. Bal!, "it is looked at as a number of individuals
or classes or professions — as an aggregate of units.
When we speak of the 'state,' we understand a single per-
sonality, as it were, representing all these interests and
endowed with force which it can exercise against any one
of them. In other words 'the stale' cannot be reduced to
'society' or to 'government,' which is only one of its func-
tions, but is society organized and having force." ^

The keen French economist Leroy-Beaulieu observes:
"The concrete state, as we see it at work in all countries,
manifests, as an organism, two essential characteristics,
which it always possesses, and which, moreover, it is alone
in possessing; the power of imposing by methods of con-
straint upon all the inhabitants of a territory the observ-
ance of certain injunctions known by the name of laws
or administrative regulations, and the power of raising,
also by methods of constraint, from the inhabitants of that
territory large sums of money of which it has the free dis-
posal. The organism of the state is, therefore, essentially
coercive; the constraint it exercises takes two forms,
the one of laws, the other of taxes." '

Charles Eenoist in his "Politique" ' states the same
proposition more tersely in affirming that the state may be
recognized by two signs; it makes laws and levies taxes.

' Sidney Ball, "The Moial Aspect of Socialism " in " Socialism and
Individualism," Fabian Socialist Series, No. 3, London, IQ08, pp. 75, 76.

' Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, "The Modern State," English Translation,
London, 1891, p. 67.

' Quoted by Gabriel Deville, "The State and Socialism."

SOaALlSM AND THE STATE

If we enlarge the definition somewhat, and say, The state
makes and enforces laws and levies taxes, we have men-
tioned the most uniform and indispensable functions of
every state.

But the enumeration of these functions alone is quite
sufficient to convict the state as a product of class strug- ■
gles. Law as distinguished from mere custom, law in the i
sense of a positive command of the state enforceable by
a penalty, has its inception in an order of things in which
it is already in the interest of one part of the population
to act in a manner prejudicial to their fellow-men, and in
which it becomes necessary for the latter to restrain the
former by force. Such an order of things, however, is
only possible in a class society. Primitive society Is a
society of economic equals. The community produces
principally articles of immediate consumption, and that
in quantities barely sufficient for the needs of its members, ,
There is no opportunity for the accumulation of private
wealth, there are no rich and no poor, and no social classes
of any kind. There ia neither motive nor chance for any
man to covet the property or to trespass upon the "rights"
of his neighbor, and there is no occasion to repress such
desires by force. The primitive social organizations, the
gentes and phratries, have no laws and no instruments to i
enforce laws. Courts, judges, constables, prisons and
police are entirely unknown to them; they levy no ti
or compulsory tribute on their members ; they are entirely
free from the element of coercion — they are not states. ,

It is only when the productivity of human labor has in- |
creased to a degree beyond that required for the satis-
faction of his indispensable personal needs, when man has '
become a possible object of exploitation, and when the first

96 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

form of such exploitation has been introduced in the in-
stitution of slavery, it is only then that repressive laws and
organized social force become necessary.

The state thus appears in the social development of
mankind simultaneously with the institutions of 'private
property and slavery and as their necessary concomitant.
In its original form, it was frankly and without disguise
the organization of the slave-owning class for the purpose
of maintaining their authority over their slaves. The
slaves themselves, as stated in the preceding chapter,
were not members of the state, and there was no pretense
that the state was "the body of the whole people." "The
ancient state," says David G. Ritchie, "existed for the
citizen and not for the unenfranchised multitudes, who
were mere means to the state's existence and no part of
the state itself. The Greek state existed for the few;
the modern state professes to exist for all — and may do
so some day in reality." '

With the gradual change of economic conditions and
social relations, the state has steadily modified its outward
garb, but its true functions and inner mechanism have
largely remained unchanged. The state has at all times
been the instrument of the possessing classes; its chief
function has always been to maintain the existing order, i.e.,
the supremacy of the ruling classes and the dependence of
the non-possessing classes, and even to-day it is the privi-
lege of the classes in power " to make laws and to levy
taxes," while it is the duty of the poor to obey the laws
and to pay the taxes.

The socialist definition of the state as an organization of

the ruling classes for the maintenance of the exploited

' "The Principle of Stale Interference," London, 1902, p. 101.

SOaALISM AND THE STATE

classes in a condition of dependence, is thus entirely cor-
rect in substance.

But in connection with this definition another factor
must be considered. The ruling classes of every period
are created by the prevalent economic conditions of that
period and they change with the change in these conditions.
The slave-owning class was superseded in history by the
class of feudal landlords, and the latter by the modem
bourgeoisie, and with the accession of every new class of
rulers the character and constitution of the state assumed
a different aspect. These changes are rarely distinguish-
able by definite lines of demarcation. As a rule they take
place gradually and are accompanied by protracted and
obstinate struggles between the declining and rising classes,
and it is not always easy to determine which of the two
contendmg classes is the ruling class. In such periods of
transition the state reflects the indefinite character of the
social and economic conditions, and while in the main it
always serves the interests of the class temporarily in power,
it frequently makes important concessions to the rebellious
classes. Thus the state of the fourteenth century was a
feudal state, pure and simple, without any admixture of
foreign elements ; but the state of the seventeenth century,
while still feudal in its main characteristics, already pre-
sented many elements of bourgeois power. And similarly,
the state of a century and even half a century ago was an
imalloyed bourgeois state, while the present-day state

- already shows deep inroads made m its substance and
functions by the rising class of wage workers.

Under the pressure of the socialist and labor movement
in all civilized countries, the state has acquired a new sig-

bi^Ilificance as an mstrument of social and economic reform.

98 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

Such reforms have already demonstrated the ability of
the state to curb the industrial autocracy of the ruling
classes and to protect the workers from excessive exploi-
tation by their employers.

The modern state, originally the tool in the hands of the
capitalist class for the exploitation of the workers, is grad-
ually coming to be recognized by the latter as a most
potent instrument for the modification and ultimate aboli-
tion of the capitalist class rule. In the general scheme
of socialism, the state has, therefore, the -very important
mission of paving the way for the transition from present
conditions to socialism. The state in that r61e is gener-
ally styled in the literature of socialism the "period of
transition, " or the " transitional state." Beyond it lies the
pure socialist order.

Does that order still admit of the existence of a state,
or must the state, as the product of class divisions in so-
ciety, fall with the disappearance of those class divisions
as asserted by Engels and his followers?

At the first glance the proposition seems almost axio-
matic ^ with the removal of the cause, the effect must fail.
But on closer analysis the question seems by no means free
from doubt. A social institution may be called into life
by certain conditions and for certain purposes, but may
gradually adapt itself to new and entirely different con-
ditions and purposes. In fact, the history of our civiliza-
tion is replete with instances of social, political, religious
and legal institutions which have long survived their origi-
nal creating causes, and in an altered form have shown
great vitality imder new conditions. The modern state
exhibits many features that seem to indicate just such
adaptability and vitality. The state, which came into being

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

' as an instrument of class repression, has gradually,
and especially within the last centuries, assumed other
important social functions, functions in which it largely
represents society as a whole, and not any particular class
of it. Instances of such functions of the modern state
may be found in the system of public education, sanitary
and healtii regulations, and in the institutions of police and
criminal justice to the extent to which they secure the per-
sonal safety and security of all citizens.

It is true, as Menger ' observes, that these functions con-
stitute but a very small part of the activity of the state,
and are as a rule relegated to its subordinate organs, such
as municipalities, etc. ; but it is equally true that these gen-
erally useful functions are claiming and receiving ever
greater attention from the state, and that under a system
of socialism they are certain to receive an immense ex-
tension.

If we realize that the socialist commonwealth must
of necessity be charged with the direction, regulation or
control of at least its principal industries, and with the care
of its old and decrepit, sick, invalid and orphaned mem-
bers, we shall readily see that the socialist organization will
have to be something more than a mere " administration
of things," — it will in all likelihood be a quite definitely
organized society.

But, it may be objected, a socialist society will be free
from the element of coercion ; hence it will not be a state
in the true sense of the term.

Let us consider this objection.

For the purposes of public works, health, safety and

relief, the socialist commonwealth will need vast material

' Anion Menger, "Neue Staatalehre," 3d Edition, Jena, 1904, p. 2a

riOO THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

resources, probably more than the modern state, and these
resources, in whatever form and under whatever designa-
tion, can come only from the wealth-producing members
of the commonwealth — thus there must be a direct or
indirect tax on the labor or income of the citizen. The
collection of this tax, the direction of the industries and
the regulation of the relations between the citizens, will
require some laws and some rules or instruments for their
enforcement; hence even the element of coercion cannot
be entirely absent in a socialist society, at least not as far
as the human mind can at present conceive. The socialist
society as conceived by modern socialists differs, of course,
very radically from the modern state in form and substance.
It is not a class state, it does not serve any part of the
population and does not rule any other part of the popu-
lation; it represents the interests of the entire community,
and it is for the benefit of the entire community that it
levies taxes and makes and enforces laws. It is not the
slaveholding state, nor the feudal state, nor the state of the
bourgeoisie, — it is a socialist state, but a state neverthe-
less, and since little or nothing can be gained by inventing a
new term, we shall hereafter designate the proposed or-
ganized socialist society as the Socialist State.

The Transitional State

Modern socialists recognize that social institutions axe
not the results of arbitrary choice, but of historical growth.
When the ever working forces of industrial evolution have
created new economic interests and social relations, the
political forms of society must be modified to meet these
changes, and when these new interests and relations become

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

incompatible with the very basis of the existing social
■system, that system is bound to give way to a more ade-
quate order. The socialists contend that the present
system of individual ownership in the large and social
means of production, and the system of industrial com-
petition based on such individual ownership, have become
or are fast becoming incompatible with the interests of an *
ever growing majority of the population and with the prog-
ress of industry itself. They perceive a tendency in the
modem industrial development towards the collective
ownership of these means of production and the socializa-
tion of industries; they see the public necessity of such
transformation, and advocate and demand its accomplish-
ment.

That is the whole of the socialist program, and it is
certainly wide enough. The transformation of the means
of production from private to public ownership is by no
means a simple task. It is not reasonable to suppose that
the possessing classes, the owners of the land, the mines,
railroads and factories, the financiers and capitalists of
all descriptions, will some fine day voluntarily surrender all
their privileges and possessions to the people, nor is it
likely that the transformation will be accomplished by one
single and simple decree of the victorious proletariat all
over the civilized world. More likely the process of trans-
formation will be complicated and diversified, and will be
marked by a series of economic and social reforms and
legislative measures tending to divest the ruling classes
of their monopolies, privileges and advantages, step by
step, until they are practically shorn of the power to ex-
ploit their fellow-men ; i.e., until all the important means
of production have passed into collective ownership and

ri02 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

all the principal industries are reorganized on the basis
of socialist cooperation. The proposed measures that
are expected to eBect this eventual transformation con*
stitute the "immediate" or "transitional" demands of so-
cialism, and are part of the general socialist program, each
socialist party emphasizing those points which are of more
immediate importance in view of the social and political
conditions of its own country at any given time. The
measures thus most generally advocated by the socialists
are: universal suffrage and equal political rights for
men and women; the initiative, referendum, proportional
representation in legislative bodies, and the right of
recall of representatives by their constituents; greater
autonomy for the municipalities and limitation of the
powers and functions of the central government; the
abolition of standing armies; progressive reduction of the
hours of labor and increase of wages; state employment
of the unemployed; state insurance of workingmen in
case of accidents and sickness; old age pensions for work-
ingmen; state provisions for all orphans and invalids;
abolition of all indirect taxes; a progressive tax on prop-
erty, income and inheritance; municipal ownership of all
municipal utilities; state or national ownership of all
mines, means of transportation and communication, and
of all industries controlled by monopolies, trusts and
combines, and the gradual assumption by the munici-
pality or state of all other industries as soon as they reach
a stage where they become susceptible of socialization.

The socialists, of course, do not anticipate that these
measures will in all cases be adopted in their logical order
and in the pristine purity of their original conception ac-
cording to program, nor that they will be realized in all

SOCIAUSM AND THE STATE

103

countries with absolute uniformity. More likely the
course of the social transformation will be different in the
different countries, slow and methodic in some, rapid and
tempestuous in others, according to the historic condi-
tions, the temperament of the people and the respective
strength and intelligence of the ruling classes and the prol-
etariat in each case. In the more democratic countries,
especially those in which the socialist and labor movements
constitute important political and social factors, the neces-
sary transitional reforms, or at least a large part of them,
may be gradually conquered through the direct control
by the proletariat of important organs of the state, such -
fls municipalities or legislatures, or through the indirect
influence of the growing labor movement. In other
countries the conquest of the public powers by the working
class may be accomplished by a violent insurrection. The.,
wage workers may, in the words of Engels, "seize the
powers of the state" and establish a temporary "dictator-
ship of the proletariat." Thus the transition from the
system of feudalism to the present order was accomplished
radically but peacefully in England, slowly and incom-
pletely in Germany, rapidly and violently in France. But
violence is but an accident of the social revolution; it is
by no means its necessary accompanunent, and it has no
place in the socialist program.

And similarly silent is the socialist program on the
question whether the gradual expropriation of the possess-
ing classes will be accomplished by a process of confisca-
tion or by the method of compensation. The greater
number of socialist writers incline towards the latter
assumption, but in that they merely express their individ-
■resent preferences. Social development, and espe-

I04 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AKD MOVEMENT

cially social revolutions, are not in the habit of consulting
cut and dried theories evolved by philosophers of past
generations, and social justice is more frequently a ques-
tion of social expediency and class power. The French
clergy was not compensated for the lands taken from h
by the bourgeois revolution, and the Russian noblemen
and American slave owners were not compensated upon
the emancipation of their serfs and chattel slaves. It is
not unlikely that in countries in which the social transfor-
mation will be accomplished peacefully, the state will com-
pensate the expropriated proprietors, while every violent
revolution will be followed by confiscation. The socialists
are not much concerned about this issue. Their aim is
the establishment of a state in which exploitation of man
by man shall become impossible, and when private wealth
has been robbed of the character of employing and ex-
ploiting capital, its possession by a number of individuals
ceases to be a menacing factor in a socialist state.

The "transitional state" thus conceived carmot be
bounded by fixed lines of demarcation either in its incep-
tion or its termination. As every other period of historical
development, it is bound to overlap at both ends. A
number of municipalities and states are already wholly
or partly under socialist control. Many of the "transi-
tional" reforms of socialism, political and social, have al-
ready been realized to some extent in the countries of Eu-
rope, America and Australia, and the conceded tendency
of all modem legislation is toward the extension of such
reforms. In this sense it may well be said that we are in
the midst, or at any rate at the beginning, of the socialist
" transitional state," although it would be impossible for us
to say just when we entered it. And similarly difficult is

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

lOS

it to fix the line between the so-called transitional state and
the socialist state proper. Theoretically, the reign of
pure socialism begins after the entire socialist program
has been materialized and society has been reorganized
entirely on the basis of cooperative production. But in
reality, social ideals are rarely realized in perfect form,
[ and just as the period of feudalism has left remnants of
I its institutions in a later order, and in some cases dovra
to the present day, so, in all likelihood, many features of
our present individualist order will long survive in a state,
substantially and preponderatingly socialistic.

I The Socialist State

\ The transition from the present order of individual
wealth and competitive industry to a system of collective
ownership and cooperative production, by whatever means
and in whatever manner accomplished, is bound to be

I accompanied by very thoroughgoing changes in all rela-

I tions of men, and by a decided remodeling of the entire
social and political structure of society. These proposed
changes, with the probable constitution, construction and
workings of the "socialist state," have always offered an
exceptionally fertile field for speculation,

I The modern socialist movement made its first appear-
ance towards the end of the eighteenth and the beginning
of the nineteenth centuries, and its philosophy was largely
influenced by the general ideological conceptions of that
time. The first apostles of the new creed believed with
their contemporaries that political and social institutions
could be arbitrarily devised, tried, chosen, cast away,
and substituted by others. They regarded the evils and

■jBhortcomings of modern society as flaws in the social struc-

Io6 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

ture, due to the carelessness of the "founders" of that
society, and saw the remedy for these evils in the simple
expedient of constructing a new society on a more rational
and equitable plan. The early socialist literature is,
therefore, replete with detailed and minute descriptions
of proposed social organizations wherein universal brother-
hood is the rule, bliss and prosperity are the heritage of
all, and justice reigns supreme. And as the authors of
these social Utopias were not bound by material impedi-
ments and freely drew upon their fertile imaginations, their
schemes are more or less realistic or fantastic according
to their individual temperaments and bent of mind. The
most noteworthy representatives of this early school of
socialism are MoreUy, Gabriel Mably, Charles Fourier,
Etieime Cabet, Robert Owen and Wilhclm Weitling.

But the detailed painting of the society of the future
or the "socialist state" is by no means confined to the
pioneers of modern socialist thought. The temptation to
evolve a ready and complete scheme of a new social order,
based on socialism, for the purpose of proving or refuting
the "feasibility" of the socialist ideal is so great, that
socialists and anti- socialists alike still very frequently
resort to that expedient. Conspicuous instances of such
society builders on the socialist side are Edward Bellamy
("Looking Backward"), William Morris ("News from
Nowhere") and Laurence Gronlund ("Cooperative Com- .
monwealth"); while the opposite side is ably represented
by the merciless destroyers of the "socialist state" of the-
types of Eugen Richter (" Sozialdemokratische Zukunfts-
bilder"), William Graham ("Socialism Old and New"),
Victor Cathrein ("Socialism: Its Theoretical Basis and
Practical Application"), and those latest valiant con-

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

107

I querors of the Socialist Dragon, David M. Pany
1 ("The Scarlet Empire") and W. H. Mallock. Nor can
I it be said that the drawing of such detailed descriptions
\ of imaginary forms and workings of a socialist society is
, altogether a waste of time ; such pictures are not without
usefulness as food for reflection and interesting speculation,
and some of them no doubt contain sparks of true genius
which may perhaps even find practical application in times
to come. But all such descriptions are nevertheless mere
guesses for which none but their authors are responsible;
they are not part of the generally accepted socialist pro-
gram or philosophy.

"Never," said the veteran leader of the German Social
Democracy, Wilhelm Liebknecht, on the occasion of the
debate in the Diet already alluded to, " never has our party
told the workingmen about a 'state of the future,' never
in any way other than as a mere Utopia. If anybody says:
I picture to myself society after our program has been
realized, after wage labor has been abolished and the ex-
ploitation of men has ceased, in such or such a manner,
well and good ; ideas are free, and everybody may conceive
the socialist state as he pleases. Whoever beli
I may do so, whoever does not, need not. These pictures
I are but dreams, and social democracy has never under-
stood them otherwise."

And it is difficult to see how any forecast of future con-
ditions could be much more than a dream. If we look
back from the pirmacles of the twentieth century to con-
ditions of the early part of the nineteenth century, we shall
be astounded at the unprecedented radical revolution
accomplished within the last hundred years in all doi
I of our social, political and industrial life. The old pur-

"■ /

es /

&08 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

' suits, habits and views of our fathers have been mercilessly
cast aside. New fields of endeavor have been explored,
new truths discovered, new relations established, new worlds
created. The globe has a vastly different aspect from
that of a hundred years ago, and the nations that people
it are vastly different beings. The modern man differs
in all his habits and mode of life from his forefathers of
but a few generation.? ago.

It will not be seriously contended that these present con-
ditions could have been more or less accurately forecast
and divined at the beginning of the present regime even by
the most sagacious and best-informed social philosopher.
For even if such a philosopher could reckon with the prob-
able development of the forces then existing, he could cer-
tainly not take into account the tremendous effect of the
new discoveries and inventions since made, the applica-
tion of steam and electricity in the industrial processes,
the introduction of the railroads, steamships, telegraphs,
telephones, and the countless modern machines and con-
trivances which have served to revolutionize our entire
system of production and communication and with it
all our habits of life and thought. To the placid and
rational philosopher of the beginning of the nineteenth
century, an account of our present civilization would have
been a much wilder and more incredible dream than the
most fantastic socialist Utopia seems to-day to our wise
bourgeois philosopher.

And still the task of the man who might have assumed
a century ago to forecast present conditions would have
been mere child's play in comparison with that of the
dreamer who undertakes to-day to describe the details
of the life Wid organization of the "socialist state."

SOOALISM AND THE STATE

109

The forces of industrial development have by no means
reached their zenith, they are still multiplying and multi-
plying in an ever accelerating ratio. The wider the basis
of existing industrial forces, the greater the rate of economic
progress; this is the simple working of the theory of geo-
metrical progression as daily demonstrated in our indus-
trial life. The last fifty years have witnessed more indus-
trial progress than the three centuries preceding them, and
the coming fifty years will perhaps eclipse the last five
hundred years.

The task of the would-be socialist forecaster is besides
greatly complicated by another element. The develop-
ments of the last century, immense and radical as they have
been, have not very materially affected the basic principles
of modern industrial organization. But the industrial
development of the future, as conceived by socialists, will
consist not only in the natural increase and multiplication
of the ]iroductive forces, but also in a radical reorganiza-
tion of the methods of production and distribution, and the
resultant changes must thus of necessity be more thorough-
going and less calculable.

And finally, all speculation on the nature and aspect of
the socialist state suffers from another inherent weakness.
They tacitly assume that the "socialist state" is a fixed
and definite phase of social development, whereas in fact
it is anything but that. Socialism stands for an order of
society in which private ownership in the means of produc-
tion has substantially given way to a system of collective
ownership. Such an order of things may quite conceiv-
ably be established in some of the most progressive coun-
tries in a short time, say within twenty-five years — our
era is one of rapid developments. Such a country would iq

no THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

that case quite properly claim the designation of a "so-
cialist state." But with the establishment of socialism,
the general progress of that coimtry would not halt, and
the succeeding centuries would continue to change its
institutions, life and customs. The socialist state in its
maturity will be an entirely diSerent organization from the
socialist state in its infancy, and similarly the socialist
organization of one country may be radically different
from that of the other, and still the social prophet must
have in mind a fixed and uniform "socialist state."

Modern socialists indulge but little in fantastic fore-
casts of the future order of things; they fully realize the
general futility ofsuchspeculationsfor the practical purposes
of the socialist movement. The socialist criticism is directed
against existing evils, the socialist program is a program of
immediate relief, and the socialist demands are made on the
present state. The socialists are concerned only with the
immediate effects of their proposed measures on the welfare
of the present population, andifthey venture at all to inquire
mfo the futtu-e, they limit their inquiries entirely to such
immediate effects, to conditions "on the day after the
revolution." Such inquiries arc very useful as serving to
illustrate the constructive sides of the socialist philosophy.

Much valuable work on such lines has recently been done
by Karl Kautsky ("The Social Revolution," Second Part),
and Anton Menger ("Neue Staatslehre"), and very cred-
itable attempts in the same direction have also been made
by Annie Besant and G. Bernard Shaw (in the "Fabian
Essays"), Oswald Koehler (" Der Sozialdemokratische
Staat"), B, Malon (in "Pr&is de Socialisme"), and the
American writer, John Spargo ("Socialism"). And as
the socialist movement gains in power and the socialist

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

ideal becomes more realistic, the socialist thinkers are
bound to bestow greater and more serious attention to the
elaboration of that feature of their philosophy.

The great distinction between the works of these con-
temporary socialist writers and their Utopian precursors
is, that while the latter based then- speculations on an
entirely arbitrary conception of an ideal state, the former
take for their starting point the present actual state. They
realize that the so-called " socialist state, " as far as we can
conceive it to-day, is nothing but the present state with
such modifications as the realization of the proposed so-
cialist reforms naturally and necessarily imply, and their'
forecast is but an analysis of such probable changes. But
with all this candor and caution it is still impossible to
arrive at scientific and indisputable conclusions as to con-
ditions of even the immediate future. The conclusions
of each author are bound to contain some element of spec-
ulation and to reflect to a large extent his individual views
and inclinations. It is in that spirit and with that under-
standing that the following chapters are c

Production and Distribution of Wealth Under Socialism

The organization of wealth production under socialism
offers but little difficulty. The prevalent methods of pro-
duction, as indicated in a previous chapter, have already
. become largely social in many important industries.

In the modem corporations, trusts and other combines,

the capitalists have created industrial organizations very

much akin to the socialist ideal, and have demonstrated

the feasibility and advantages of cooperative and planful

L production on a large scale. By the simple process of

r 112 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

' combining the greater number of plants in a given industry
under one head, discarding the less efficient of them and
strengthening the more important, the trusts have largely
eliminated the element of waste in production; and by
consolidating the management and supervision of the work,
and perfecting the specialization and division of labor,
they have vastly increased the productivity of Ihe latter.
The state, with its larger powers and resources, will be able
to increase the advantages of trustified production very
considerably.

But a socialist regime, once having assumed the admin-
istration of the trusts, will be bound to change the nature
and to extend the benefits of these institutions still further.
The modem trusts, while social in their methods of work,
are not public, but private institutions, and are operated
entirely for the benefit of their individual owners.

It is not in the interests of the individual trust magnates
to extend production beyond the limits of the present de-
mand; the general purchasing power of the consumers
remaining unchanged, such an increased output could only
result in a decline of prices. The policy of the trusts is,
therefore, on the whole, to limit production. A social-
ist administration, on the other hand, has a vital interest
in extending production in order to enhance the national
wealth and to provide employment for a larger number
of its members. Since it is not producing for profit, the
effect of an increased output on the price of the commodity
will not enter in its calculations, and since the purchasing .
power of the population will be increased in proportion
to the growth of productivity, there will be no danger of an
industrial crisis.

The members of a socialist state, furthermore, will be

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

113

interested in such trustified industries not only as con-
sumers, but also as employees, and hence they will naturally
introduce such reforms in the management of these indus-
tries as will benefit them in the latter capacity. Under
capitalism the greater productivity of labor in trustified
industries is accompanied by loss of work for large portions
of former employees. Under socialism it will necessarily
lead to a progressive diminution of their hours of labor.
Under capitalism the profits of the trust magnates are the
sole aim and motive of production, and the safety and wel-
fare of their employees are of but secondary importance.
Under socialism production will be carried on principally
for the benefit of the producers themselves, and it is rea-
sonable to expect that every known device will be applied
to make industry safe, pleasant and attractive.

The modem trusts, thus transformed into cooperative
enterprises on a large scale, will in all likelihood become
the starting point of the socialist system of industrial
organization, and the system will be extended from one
industry to the other as fast as the conditions will permit.
But this will probably not be, at least for a long time to
come, the exclusive form of industrial organization. There
are certain industries dependent on purely personal skill,
such as the various arts and crafts, that from their very
nature are not susceptible of socialization, and other indus-
tries, such as small farming, that will, at least for many years
to come, not be proper objects for socialization. These
may contmue to exist in a socialist society as individual
enterprises side by side with the larger cooperative works.

On the whole, however, it is safe to assume that by far
the greater and most important part of wealth production
will be conducted by cooperative establishnients. In th^

I
I

114 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

countries of the most advanced industrial development,
the large plants employ even to-day the greater part
of the wage-working population, and there are but few
important industries that are not ripe for concentration
and consolidation. And since the large cooperative
establishments, with their natural economies and advan-
tages, will hold out greater attractions to the workers
than the majority of the small individual enterprises, there
will probably be but few who will choose to remain outside
of the prevalent industrial organization.

The rational organization of labor, the elimination of
duplicate plants, of the "middlemen" in industry and
commerce and of other waste entailed in a system of com-
petition, the disappearance of all workless "incomes" and
of all the purely parasitic types who are to-day maintained
and supported by the competitive system or maintained
for the special interests and comforts of the ruling and
leisure classes, — all these changes necessarily involved in
a system of socialism, will increase the productive forces of
society and augment the national wealth immensely.

How will that wealth be distributed ? With this ques-
tion we have approached what is considered as the cru-
cial point of socialism by the opponents of that philoso-
phy. The impracticability or impossibility of the "social-
ist scheme of wealth distribution" is the burden of most
of the "scientific" refutations of the socialist theory, and
curiously enough most of these criticisms are based on a
careless reading of the great theoretician of modem
socialism, Karl Marx.

In common with Smith, Ricardo and other representa-
tives of the classical school of political economy, Marx
holds that the value of a commodity is determined by the

[ SOQALISM AND THE STATE 115

labor time expended in its production, the labor time in
question being defined as "the labor time socially neces-
sary to produce an article under the normal conditions
of production with the average degree of skill and intensity
prevalent at that time." ' This simple statement of fact
has been almost uniformly interpreted by the astute critics
of Marx as the socialist "plan of distribution," and many
valuable reams of paper have been consumed in ingenious
objections to that plan.'

In fact, however, Marx occupied himself just as little
with the distribution of wealth in a future socialist state
of society as Darwin occupied himself with the ultimate
physical type of man. As a true man of science, he limited
his researches to the past developments and existing facts
and tendencies. In formulating the labor theory of value,
Marx simply stated a fact, a law applicable to the present
system of producing wealth — ■ nothing else.

"Marx," says Frederick Engels, his foremost inter-
preter, "deals only with the determination of the value
of commodities, that is to say, with the value of
articles which are produced in a society consisting of
private producers, by each private producer for his indi-
vidual account and for the purpose of exchange. Thia
value in its definite historic meaning is created and meas-
ured by human labor embodied in the separate com-
modities. ... It is this simple fact, daily enacted before
our own eyes in the modern capitalist society, which Marx
states. . . . Whatever other values may be mentioned.

' Karl Mars, "Capital," English Edition, Vol. I, p. 11.

' See William Graham, "Socialism New and Old"; Victor Cathrein,
"Socialism: Its Theoretical Basis and Practical Application"; Schaefflti
"Quintessence of Socialism."

I Il6 THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

this much is certain, that Mars is not concerned with these
things, but only with the value of commodities ; and that in
the whole chapter on Value in his 'Capital' there is not the
slightest hint whether and to what extent this theory of
value is applicable to other forms of society."^

And Karl Kautsky adds : —

"There could be no greater error than to consider that
one of the tasks of a socialist society is to see to it that
the law of value is brought into perfect operation, and that
only equivalent values are exchanged. The law of value
is rather a law peculiar to a society of producers for ex-
change."'

But what then, may be asked, is the socialist plan of
distribution of wealth?

The plain answer to this inquiry is: The socialists
do not oSer a cut and dried plan of wealth distribution.

As a proposition of abstract justice and fairness there
is no reason why any discrimination at all should be made
in the distribution of the necessaries and material comforts
of life between the members of the community. The in-
creased productivity of labor and the consequent augmenta-
tion of wealth are due to the concerted efforts of men in all
fields of endeavor, physical and mental, in generations
past as well as present, and the precise share of each in-
dividual in the general wealth of the nation is altogether
insusceptible of measurement.

It must be granted that some individuals are stronger,
wiser, more gifted and skillful than others. But what of
that? Is there any moral ground for punishing the

' "Herm Eugen DQhring's Umwilzung der Wisaenschaften," pp. 309,

• Karl Kautsky, "The Social Revolution," Chicago, 1903, p. lag.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

cripple, the invalid, the decrepit, the imbecile, the un-
fortimate step-children of nature, by reducing their
rations of food or clothing? Is there any moral sanc-
tion for rewarding the man of physical strength or mental
gifts by special allowances from the storehouse of human
society? Do humane parents discriminate in that manner
between their strong and weak, their fortunate and un-
fortimate children ? Is the title of the stronger and "abler"
to greater material reward based on equity, or is it rather
a survival of the barbaric " &st right " of the dark ages?

To the socialists the old communistic motto: "From
each according to his ability, to each according to his
needs," generally appears as the ideal rule of distribution
in an enlightened human society, and quite likely the time
will come when that high standard will be generally

I adopted by civilized communities.

The productivity of labor is increasing with such
phenomenal rapidity that we may well foresee a time when
society will, with comparative ease, produce enough to
afford to all its members, without distinction, all neces-
saries and even luxuries of life, and when there will be
just as little justification for a quarrel over the method of
distribution of material wealth as there is to-day for a
quarrel over the use of air or water. To the wise skeptics
the statement may seem extravagant, but when we com-
pare the wealth and productivity of modem countries to-
day with those of half a century ago, we shall easily realize
that we are by no means dealing with pure Utopian dreams.
But just and feasible as this ideal method of distribu-
tion may be, it is to-day nevertheless a mere ideal, a hope
to be realized in the more or less distant future. It is not

I a part of the present program of the socialist movement.

Il8 THE SoaALIST PIIILOSOPHV AND MOVEMENT

Modem socialists recognize that the methods of distribu-
tion under the new order of things must take for their
starting point the present methods, i.e., payments of vary-
ing wages or salaries for services rendered.

Here again we run counter to a deep-rooted popular con-
ception or rather misconception of the socialist program.
One of the pet schemes of the early socialist experimenters
was the substitution of "labor certificates" or "time certifi-
cates" for money. By this means they expected to fix the
value of each commodity with reference to the labor time
contained in it as it were automatically, to eliminate the
"unearned increment "of the capitalist and the profit of the
middleman and to give to each producer the full equivalent
of his labor. The scheme was on a par with that of the
"equitable labor exchange banks," the communistic
societies and the other social experiments of the Utopian
socialists. They all proceeded from the belief that a
small group of men could dissociate themselves from the
rest of society, establish a miniature socialist common-
wealth, and induce their fellow-men to follow their ex-
ample by the practical demonstration of its excellence.
Modem socialists have long discarded all miniature social
experimentations and arbitrary social devices as Utopian
1 puerile, and the continued dissertations of many dis-
tinguished critics of socialism about the "socialist plan"
of the suppression of money and the abolition of money
payments for services, only go to demonstrate how little
they are abreast with the developments of socialist thought.

Money and wages are both the products of a certain

phase of economic development. Neither was known

before the rise of private property, and in all likelihood

I both will at some time in the distant future lose their use-

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

119

fulness and disappear. But these reflections again belong
to the sphere of dreams of the golden future, — -they have
no room in a sober and reaHstic program of social reform,

"Money," says Kautsky, "is the simplest means known
up to the present time which makes it possible in as com-
plicated a mechanism as that of the modern productive
process, with its tremendous far-reaching division of labor,
to secure the circulation of products and their distribution
to the individual members of society. It is the means
which make it possible for each one to satisfy his neces-
sities according to his individual inclination (to be sure
within the bounds of his economic power). As a means to
such circulation, money will be found indispensable until
something better is discovered," '

Incentive Under Sociaiism

Next to the assertion that it would curtail individual
liberty, the most popular objection to the proposed system
of socialism is that every such system is bound to paralyze
social progress by depriving the individual initiative of
the incentive to exert itself usefully in behalf of society.
This argument assumes: first, that individual initiative
is the chief lever of human progress, and second, that the
love of material gain is the principal, if not the only,
, motive which impels men to strive for the highest degree
I of excellence in the various fields of private and public
Lendeavor. Since socialism is based on a system of more
is equal and secured incomes, and excludes the pos-
sibility of large pecuniary rewards, it is argued that under
such a system the man of genius will have no inducement
' "The Social Revolution," p, 139.

^20 THE SOaAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

■ to exert his utmost skill, the common mortal will work
reluctantly and indifferently, and social stagnation will
inevitably result. Let us examine this argument.

What constitutes modem civilization is the sum total of
all our achievements in industry, in science, in the arts, and
in the various organs and institutions of public life and
activities which are comprised under the general designa-
tion of politics.

There Is no doubt that a large share of these achieve-
ments is due to the individual initiative and the creative
genius of exceptional men. But let us not overestimate
the importance of this factor in social progress. Our
civilization owes on the whole much more to the collective
endeavors of man than to the individual genius of men,
and the general improvement in our culture, refinement of
work, and mode of life, is vastly more the result of a process
of social growth to which the large multitudes of human
beings have for many generations contributed their un-
known and imperceptible mites, than the merit of the
great individual inventors, discoverers or leaders. "So-
cial achievement," says Professor Ward, "has consisted
m the establishment of a social order under and withm
which individual achievement can go on and civilization
is made possible.'"

The art of book printing, the use of gunpowder, and the
application of steam and electricity have alt been invented
or perfected by individual geniuses, but the more substan-
tial arts of plowing, cooking, tailoring and housebuilding
have been invented, developed and perfected by the human
race as a whole. What is still more significant, however, is
this, that while the collective inventions belong to an ear-
' Lester F. Ward, "Applied Sociology," Boston, 1906, p. 38.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

iier age and the individual inventions to a later age, we have
undoubtedly reached a period which is characterized by the
process of the gradual passing of the individual inventor,
initiator or hero, and of the return to a system of social
progress through collective effort.

And nowhere is this process more distinctly noticeable
than in the most vital sphere of human activity, industry.

' Industrial development depends almost entirely upon the
efficient organization of the mechanism of production (which
includes a proper division of labor, organization of manage-
ment, and use of effective machinery), and of transporta-
tion and exchange, and in all these domains collective

I achievements are rapidly supplanting individual enter-
prise. The modern mass production based on the factory
system forces the organization and division of labor along
lines practically indicated by the machine ; and while
there is still much room left for the exercise of human in-

i genuity in the arrangement and rearrangement of details,

I such arrangements and rearrangements are in most cases
the result of simple experience, almost of mathematical cal-
culation, and not the work of an exceptional genius. Nor
are the other modem industrial categories, the cor-
porations and trusts, the stock exchanges and banks,
the system of credit and the national and international
markets, the individual invention of an industrial genius.
They are the products and forms of gradual industrial
development ; the entire industrial community, employers
and employees, have imperceptibly built them up in the

I course of centuries, and they are still busily engaged in the
process of developing and perfecting these institutions

I without marked individual initiative or leadership. And
in the domain of the invention and perfection of machinery,

Pl22 THE SOCIALIST PHIlOSOPm' AND MOVEMENT

this peculiar territory of the individual genius, the element
of personal initiative is gradually and steadily receding
to the background,

The laws of mechanics are being explored with ever in-
creasing accuracy and planfulness for the practical re-
quirements of industry, and the new improvements in the
tools of production are now but rarely in the nature of
great and unexpected inventions; more often they are
merely the successful solutions of preconceived problems
by means of well-defined scientific methods. The hustling,
up-to-date experimental laboratory is rapidly crowding
out the dreamy inventive genius. What we call " Edison"
to-day is not the Thomas A. Edison who early in life made
the astounding inventions in telegraphy, but the well-
equipped, well-organized electrical laboratory at West
Orange, New Jersey, with the number of trained scientific
workers engaged in it.

And what has been said of the industrial process applies
with almost equal force to the domain of science : the fac-
tory system with its specialization, division of labor, and
collective production, is the recognized form of modem
scientific research almost as much as it is the form of the
modem manufacture of market commodities. Scientific
work is, as a rule, not done by individuals but by groups
of workers; not at home, but in laboratories, clinics and
libraries, and scientific discoveries like mechanical inven-
tions are most often the results of planned and collective
labor. Left to his own individual resources, the modem
scientist would he almost helpless.

Nor does our public life form an exception to this

general tendency of our times. The great individual leg-

I islators, as Moses, Solon, Lycurgus, and even Napoleon,

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

123

have been superseded by the many-headed bodies of popu-
lar representatives in the legislative chambers ; the great
free-lance statesmen have made room for the chosen leaders
of strong political parties, and the success of a modem
battle depends not so much on the military genius of the
individual commander as on the proper organization and
equipment of his army. In the recent Russo-Japanese
war the demoralized Russian army and navy did not
produce a single military or naval " genius," whereas in the
well -organ! zed and welt-equipped Japanese army and navy
every general and admiral was a "hero." In one domain
after the other the individual genius and arbiter of human
destiny, the "hero" of Carlyle is being dethroned and
subordinated to the collective human fraternity. The
domain of the arts is to-day practically the last resting
place of the "superman,"

Individual initiative and talent thus by no means play
such a determining part in the world's progress as the
critics of socialism claim. But on the other hand the
cialists readily admit that they play some part. There
always were and probably always will be persons of ex-
traordinary gifts and abilities who may contribute vastly
more to the store of human welfare and happiness than the
average man. Without them the world would probably
not relapse into a stale of barbarism, but it will fare much
better with them and their services. But what of it?
Is there any real danger that under a system of socialism
these superior individuals would disappear or refuse to
give the benefit of their special talents to society ? Is the
striving for wealth actually the most powerful incentive of
the creative genius? The theory seems plausible enough
5 regards the leader in industry, the business man, but

' 124 THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

how about the scientist, the artist, the statesman? This
is a fruitful source for reflection and comparison.

The manufacturer, banker or other active capitalist
undoubtedly strives for material wealth. But wealth is
for him only secondarily, if at all, a means of procuring
physical or intellectual enjoyment. To him wealth rep-
resents power, and above all, it is the test of his success in
his chosen vocation. To say of a man engaged in industry
or commerce that he has made a large fortune is to say
that he has proved himself efficient and successful in his
career; to say of him that he has lost his fortune is
equivalent to asserting that he has proved _ himself the
inferior of his rivals, that he is inefScient, and that his
life work has been a failure.

The man of science, on the other hand, would gain or
lose btit little in the esteem of his contemporaries and in his
own self-respect by the gain or loss of a fortune. The test
of his success is not the amount of money he has made, but
the extent of the recognition accorded to him and his work
by the learned fraternity. Scholastic honors and aca-
demic titles are to him what money is to the business man ;
his incentive is not the love of money but the desire of
recognition.

Again, the reward of the artist is neither money nor
academic titles. As an artist he strives primarily for pub-
lic applause and glory, for these are the true tests of his
success and efficiency in the side of his existence which
he values most, his art.

So likewise, the statesman cares most for influence and
authority, the soldier for military honors and preferment,
and the priest for the respect and reverence of his fellow-

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

125

Of course, it may wdl happen, and no doubt often does
happen, that the scientist, the artist, the statesman, the
soldier and the priest are anything but indifferent to
material wealth. They may prefer an easy and com-
fortable existence, they may sometimes be goaded on to
create by sheer poverty and want, and they may even
I occasionally be grasping and greedy. But these will
I then be features entirely independent of their respective
[ gifts and talents, and by no means a stimulus to their
best application. "It is not true," again observes Ward,
I "that men of genius depend upon adversity and dire
necessity as a spur to activity. This is all a popular illu-
sion which the entire history of human achievement dis-
proves and should dispel. The instinct of workmanship,
if it be in no other form than fear of the hell of ennui, is
I the great and unremitting spur that drives and goads all
I men to action." ' "*

I The real incentive moving all men to bring forth the
I best that is in them is just that best that is in them : their
L desu-e is to excel and to earn the recognition of their fellow-
men in such a form in which such recognition is most fitly
I esrpressed. And the business man, whose apparently
sole motive is money making, forms no exception to this
rule. To-day, when industries are conducted for private
gain and in competition between the individual capitalists,
accumulated individual wealth is, as we have seen, the
only measure of the business man's efficiency and suc-
cess. But when the industrial organization passes into
the hands of society and becomes a part of its general
administration, the distinction between service in that
branch of the government and any other branch of it
■ ' "Applied Sociology," p. 345.

126 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

will naturally cease. The director of industries will be-
come a "statesman" just as any other public functionary,
and will be just as much moved by motives of a more
ideal nature as the latter. Our post office has been
nationalized, and its operation has become an adminis-
trative function, while the express business of the country
has remained the individual enterprise of competing
capitalists. The salary of the Postmaster-General, who
is a public officer, is a mere pittance in comparison with
the revenues of the head of one of our large express com-
panies, and still the government has been able to secure
for the administration of its Post-Office Department men
at least as capable as the highly paid managers of the
express companies,

A socialist society will not destroy the individual in-
centive in mdustrial life ; it will merely change its char-
acter by substituting a more ideal standard for the present
standard of pecimiary gain.

And as for the scientist, artist and statesman, a socialist
regime caimot possibly affect their creative work adversely
by cutting down their money reward, since that reward,
as we have shown, never was their prime incentive. The
golden age of Athens knew nothing of immense fortunes
and heavy money rewards, but it produced a sculpture,
drama, literature and architecture never surpassed in
history.

"To undertake to state the influence which the com-
munistic elements in Athenian life had upon the ex-
traordinary development of Athenian art and literature
in the fifth century before our era," says Professor Sey-
mour, "would be dangerous. But any reader may see
that the artist and dramatist were not stimulated by any

SOQAUSM AND THE STATE

127

material rewards or prizes. ^^Ischylus had no mcome
whatever, so far as we know, from his plays, and the
architect's pay was only twice that of the stonecutter," '
Nor, we may add, did the great statesmen and orators
of that period, as Pericles and Demosthenes, receive large
pecuniary compensation.

On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that
a socialist regime will offer larger opportunities for the
unfolding and development of true genius and for its pure
artistic exercise than present society does.

Our modem capitalist society does all in its power to
suppress genius and ability, but does not entirely succeed.
Capitalism reduces one part of the population to the con-
dition of uncultured, exhausted wage slaves, and forces
the other into a wild, all-absorbing race for material
wealth; still the exceptional gifts of some break
through these formidable obstacles. Capitalism subverts
all art and science to the worship of the golden calf; it
subordinates the beautiful to the practical, the true to the
profitable, and strips life of all poetry and noble inspira-
tion; still, art and science are not entirely dead. The
capitalist manufacturer cheats the inventor, the capitalist
publisher robs the author, the capitalist art dealer exploits
the painter, — the inventor dies in the poorhouse, the
author and artist live in beggary; but the inventor con-
tinues inventing, the scientist continues studying and the
artist continues creating.

Under a state of socialism education and culture will
be equally accessible to all, and the citizens will have more
leisure to cultivate their gifts. What greater stimulus

L ' "Socialism and Communism in Greece," by Thomas D. Seymour,
I liLJi., in Harper"! Monthly Magazine for November, 1907.

f 128 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

P can human society offer for the full development of the

f fine arts and true sciences?

The elaborate and painstaking investigations of Odin,
Galton, de Candolle and Jacoby, all collated by Mr.
Ward in his scholarly work on " Apphed Sociology," show
conclusively that modem economic conditions smother
scores of native genius for every one they allow to mature.
Analyzing the economic conditions of 619 well-known
men of letters between the years 1300 and 1835, de
Candolle finds that 562 of them had been brought up and
had Hved in ease and material comfort, while only 57
had spent their youth in comparative poverty; and M.
0dm, commenting on the results of this analysis, ob-
serves: "This means by the sole fact of economic con-
ditions in the midst of which they grew up the children
of the famines in easy circumstances had at least forty
to fifty more chances of making themselves a name in
letters than those who belonged to poor families or to
families of insecure economic position." '

But, it is argued, all this may be very well as far as the
men of exceptional genius and abilities are concerned,
but how about the plain ordinary workingman, the "com-
mon laborer" who can neither expect the special homage
or approval of his fellow-men for his obscure work nor,
under a system of advanced socialism, a commensurate
pecuniary reward — what will be his incentive to work
conscientiously and efficiently?

This question introduces a distinct feature of present
conditions into a state of society based on an entirely
different order. To-day our industries are managed by

' A. Odin, "Genfese des grands hommes," etc., Paris, 1895, p. 5ag,
oled in Ward's "Applied Sociologj'," p. 304.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

i2g

individual capitalists for their private profit and with but
Kttle regard for the health, comfort or needs of the em-
ployees; work is exhausting, monotonous, repulsive and
often dangerous. In a system of cooperative labor, the
workingman will naturally be considered above every-
thing else; his hours of labor will be shortened as much
as practicable, his occupation will be more varied, the
dangers of employment will be reduced to a minimum,
the workshop will be clean, bright and hygienic ; in a
word, labor will be made attractive.

"Because," observes J. Stem, "the workingman con-
siders as a burden the work which ties him to a mechani-
cal, monotonous and cheerless occupation in squalid
workshops during inhumanly long hours and for which
he receives starvation wages; because the office clerk
prefers to play truant rather than to busy himself the
entire day with matters that do not appeal to his mind
or heart; because men are reluctant in the exercise of
a calling which was forced on Ihem against their wishes
and inclinations; because generally the present class state
imposes on most persons activities which have no charms
for them and only hold out the promise of pecuniary re-
ward — because of all that — are we to infer that the
human being is generally disposed to laziness rather than
to industry? Does not, on the contrary, even the most
superficial examination of persons of all ages and classes
show that love of action, the irresistible desire to unfold
one's strength, to ' do things ' and to create, is implanted
in every healthy human individual, and that to the normal
person nothing is more unbearable than inaction? , . .
In a million of ways the love of action reveals itself as a
mighty power in human life, from early childhood even

THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

to old age. Whence comes the passion for all kinds of
sports but from the mighty instmct of action? Why
do people voluntarily choose strenuous and even dangerous
activities, as is shown by numerous instances in life and
history ? This fear, that without the whip of poverty or
force maniiind would lapse into a state of inaction, re-
minds us of the humorous prophecy upon the advent of
the bicycle and automobile that men would hereafter have
little occasion for the use of their legs, and the latter would
become weak, short and crooked like those of the dachs-
hund." '

And furthermore, one of the chief causes operating
to-day to make labor disagreeable is the lack of variety in
occupation.

"The desire for freedom of choice and for change of
occupation is deeply implanted in human nature," says
August Bebel. " Just as constant and regular repetition
without variation will at length make the best food dis-
liked, an employment that is daily repeated becomes as
monotonous as a treadmill; it blunts and relaxes. The
man performs a given task, because he must, but without
enthusiasm or enjoyment. Now, every one possesses a
number of capabilities and inclinations, which only require
to be roused, developed, and put into action to give the
most satisfactory results and enable their possessor to
unfold his whole and real being. The socialistic com-
munity will offer the fullest opportunity for gratifying
this need of variety. The enormous increase m produc-
tive power, combined with growmg simplification in the

'J. Stern, "Der Zukunffsstaat ^ Thesen Uber dea Soaalismus,
sein Wesen, seine DurchfiihrbarkeEt und Zweckmaseigbeit," Berlin,
1906, p. 30.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

131

process of production, will permit a considerable limita-
tion in the time of labor, while it facilitates the acquire-
ment of mechanical skill in a number of different
Lbranches." '

The Political Structure of the Socialist Stale

We cannot, of course, attempt a detailed forecast of
[the political organization of the future socialist state with-
out embarking upon the domain of speculation. But we
may, nevertheless, profitably endeavor to discern the bold
outlines of the political structure of the socialist stale, at
least in the early periods of its existence, provided we
always bear in mind the following two fundamental
propositions : —

The machinery of government of every state must
' be adapted to the character and objects of such state.

The modem state is the state of the capitalist extracting

profits from the working members of the community, and

the modem government is, in the words of Karl Mane,

"but a committee for managing the common affairs of

1 the capitalist class."

The socialist state, on the other hand, is a classless
state of cooperative producers, and its government must
be a "committee for the managing of the common affairs"
of the members of that state. In other words, the main
functions of the socialist state will be of an industrial
character, and since there will be no separate economic
classes with fixed and conflicting interests, the state will
represent the citizens. It will be a democratic state.

2. Every new political organization evolves from the

133 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

organization immediately preceding it and retains all of
its features except such as have become useless or in-
compatible with the new order of things.

The French Revolution has not done away with the
entire poUtical structure evolved under the monarchy; it
has merely modified it in a few substantial points. The
United States has retained more features of its pre-Revo-
lutionary political organization than it has introduced
new ones since the Declaration of Independence.

The socialist state will probably, on the whole, retain
the present forms of political organization with such
changes as will be necessitated by the altered character
and objects of organized society.

Most likely the present geographical limits of the
various states will be left substantially intact. The
political ideal of the early socialist writers was a globe
studded with small autonomous communities. Thus
Fourier's political unit is the Phalanx composed of about
two thousand inhabitants, and his scheme of political re-
organization contemplates the division of our planet into
just two millions of such Phalanxes, each economically
and politically independent of the rest. It is a note-
worthy fact that the proposed Utopian communities grow
in size as the authors come nearer to our present era.

"The socialist commonwealth," observes Kautsky on
this point, "is not the product of an arbitrary figment of
the brain, but a necessary product of economic develop-
ment, and it is understood more clearly as that develop-
ment becomes more apparent. Hence the size of that
commonwealth is also not arbitrary, but is conditioned
upon the stage of that development at a given time.
The higher the economic development, the greater the

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE 133

' division of labor, the larger the size of the common-
wealth. . . .

" The division of labor is carried on ever further; ever
more do the several industries apply themselves to the
production of special articles only, but those for the whole
world; ever larger becomes the size of these establish-
ments, some of which count their workmen by the thou-
sands. Under such conditions a community able to satisfy
all its needs and embracing all requisite industries must
have dimensions very different from those of the socialist
colonies planned at the begiiming of the last century.
Among the social organizations in existence to-day, there
is but one that possesses the requisite dimensions, and
may be used as the framework for the establishment and
development of the socialist commonwealth, and that is
the modern state." '

The expectation that the proposed socialist common-
wealth will be co-extensive with the modem state, and the
assumption that the state will be charged with the man-
agement and direction of the industries, have led to the
widespread notion that the socialist state will be highly
centralized and that the socialist administration will be
"paternalistic."

Nothing can be less warranted than these assumptions.
The modem centralized state is a product of the capitalist
system, and especially of capitalist trading.

We again quote that acutest observer and thinker of
modem socialism, Karl Kautsky: —

' Karl Kautsky, "Das Erfurter Programm," 81I1 Edition, Stuttgart,
1907, pp. 117, iiS, ii<). Compare also "The Socialist Republic," by
Karl Kautsky, translated and adapted to America by Dauiel de Leon,
New York, igoo, pp. 10, II.

S"34 THE SOCIAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

" Commerce has always had a tendency towards central-
ization. It causes the influx of commodities as well as of
buyers and sellers to certain points favored by their geo-
graphical location and political conditions. Under the
capitalist mode of production, which converts all industry
into production of commodities, and makes it dependent
on commerce, the centralization of commerce leads to the
centralization of the entire industrial life. The whole
country becomes directly or indirectly dependent on the
metropolis, as it becomes dependent on the capitalist
class. The metropolis, the center of commerce, also
becomes the converging point of all surplus value, of all
superfluity of the country, and luxury lures after it the
arts and the sciences.

"The economic centralization leads to political centrali-
zation, and the center of commerce also becomes the cen-
ter of government." '

Since there is no room in a socialist commonwealth for
production for sale or for commerce, there is no economic
need for a strongly centralized government. Moreover,
the very fact that the socialist state will be charged
with much larger functions than the present state, and
will exercise a much larger interference in the economic
relations of its individual citizens, will make it an almost
impossible task to direct the most substantial activities of
the state from one central point and through one set
of general officers.

While the state as such will probably retain certain
general functions, it will no doubt be found more con-
venient to vest the more vital and direct functions in
political organizations embracing smaller territories. The
' "Der Parlamenlarismua," etc., Stuttgart, iSgj, p. 30.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

135

socialists regard the present city or township as the nucleus
of such a political unit.

The city is to-day already charged with many functions
of prime importance to the welfare of its inhabitants, and
I those functions could be readily enlarged under a socialist
' administration. The municipality could well conduct,
direct or regulate all industries except those that from
their nature require an organization of national scope,
such as the posts, telegraphs, railways, mines, and the
great trustified industries. It could, besides, have the
sole care of the safety, health, education and amusement
of its citizens and of the support and maintenance of its
aged, invalid and other dependent members.

It is not at all unlikely that these functions may,
especially in the case of larger municipalities, be further
subdivided, and apportioned among several organized
"labor groups" or city districts.

"The single communes," says August Bebel, "form a
suitable basis for such an institution, and where they are
too large to allow of the convenient transaction of busi-
ness, they can be divided into districts. All adult mem-
bers of the commune, without distinction of sex, take
part in the necessary elections, and determine to what
persons the conduct of affairs shall be intrusted." '

And Anton Menger describes his conception of the
practical workings of such organizations in the following
language : " At first it will be necessary to divide the larger
mimic ipalities into local districts in order to facilitate their
industrial activities. For the same reason every large
municipality in which the industrial life is very complex,
will have to organize the members of the same trade

' "Woman," p. 130.

' 136 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

or calling into separate ' labor groups.' But these inter-
mediary organizations are to be considered only as ad-
ministrative organs. The municipality remains the owner
and the authority in all industrial activity. Hence the
members of the group may assert the right of existence as
against the municipality, but they have no claim to a
division of the product of the group's labor in any fixed
proportion. . . .

"The municipality may establish or dissolve the labor
group and may assign to it members, work and ma-
terial. . . , The managers of the labor group are ap-
pointed and discharged by the municipality. . . .

"When the socialist state has become firmly established,
the labor groups may be transformed with great caution
in the direction of greater democracy." '

These ideas are, of course, purely speculative, and there
seems to be no valid reason why the managers and foremen
of the "labor group" should not be elected by the group
members at the very outset as suggested, for instance, by
Laurence Gronlund.' But the ideas are, nevertheless,
valuable as indications of one of the possible arrangements
under socialism.

The city with or without political and industrial sub-
divisions will thus absorb the most important govern-
mental activities under socialism, and the central govern-
ment will as a result be limited to the management of the
"national" industries and to the enactment of general
laws and regulations.

For while the city will enjoy a much larger measure of
independence under socialism than it does to-day, it is

' "Neue Staatslehre," ad Editran, pp. 199, aoo.

' "The Co6perative Commonwealth," Boston, 18^3, p. 186.

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

137

not reasonable to suppose that it will be clothed with com-
plete autonomy or the power to pass legislation of a general
character. To confer such powers on the municipality
would mean to weaken the state and to paralyze its
usefulness as a factor in the industrial life of the nation.
The state being thus retained under socialism, what
will be the political form of its administration? Will it be
republican or monarchic ?

To the American reader the question may seem idle,

I but it is, nevertheless, true that it has been the subject of

\ considerable differences of opinion in the ranks of the

I socialists of Europe.

Of the early socialist writers Saint-Simon and Fourier

' asserted that a constitutional monarchy was not neces-
sarily incompatible with socialism, Karl Rodbertus, the
friend of Ferdinand Lassalle, held similar views, and even
Lassalle himself was not entirely opposed to the notion of

, a "social kingdom."

Of the modern writers on socialism Anton Menger seeks
to solve the problem by the following theory: —

"Like all great questions of politics between princes
and nations, this is a question of power. The answer de-
pends upon the revolutionary strength of the nation and
upon the power which the monarchy has attained in the
course of its historical development. Thus the socialist
state will probably appear in the form of a republic in the
Latin countries. On the other hand, the dynasties of
England, Germany and other Germanic countries may
through a proper policy assure the maintenance of the
monarchy after the establishment of the socialist regime
for some time, perhaps even for an indefinite period." '■

k ' "Neue Stoalslehre," pp. 171, 171.

[138 THE SOCIALISr PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

What seems to lend some plausibility to this peculiar
conception is the fact that the Englishmen, the Germans
and the other Germanic peoples attribute but a secondary
importance to the form of government of present society.
There are no aggressive republicans in England, not even
among the socialists, and the socialists of Norway, after
the recent separation of their country from Sweden, sub-
mitted to the election of another king without violent
protest.

The sentiments of the German social-democrats on the
respective merits of the republic and monarchy were well
expressed by August Bebel in the International Socialist
Congress at Amsterdam on the occasion of his famous
oratorical duel with the eloquent leader of French socialism,
Jean Jaurfes.

"As much as we envy you Frenchmen your republic,"
exclaimed he, "and as much as we wish it for otu^eives,
we will not allow our skulls to be broken for jt : it does not
deserve it, A capitalist monarchy or a capitalist repub-
lic, — both are class states, both are necessarily and from
their very nature made to maintain the capitalist regime.
Both direct their entire strength in the effort to preserve for
the capitalist class all the powers of the legislature. For
the moment that the capitalist class will lose its political
power, it will lose also its social and economic position.
The monarchy is not so bad and the capitalist republic is
not so good as you picture them." '

And similarly, A. Labriola, the brilliant young leader
of the extreme wing of Italian socialism, declares : —

"Class rule does not express itself in a monarchical
"Sixttine Congris Socialist International," Compte-ReDduAn&ly-

tique, Br

isela, 1904, p

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE 139

form of government or in a republican form of govern-
ment, but in the fact that one group of men exercise the
political powers in their own interests. We must learn
to understand that there are no political forms which
exclude class rule, nor such which make it inevitable." '

On the other hand, the Frenchman Benoit Malon
affirms categorically : —

"Since the republic is the political form of human
dignity, the states which will be founded by emancipated
nations, can only be republican. The socialist state must
be a federated republic, for federalism alone combines the
respect for local and particular needs and the relative
autonomy of secondary political organizations (munici-
palities, etc.) with the great interests of the nations freely
constituted." '

On the whole it is safe to assume that barring per-
haps some peculiar tricks with which history sometimes
amtaes itself, the socialist states will be republics, with or
■without presidents or other individual heads. The affairs
■of the socialist republics will in all probability continue
to be conducted by -representative assemblies.

The modern parliaments owe their origin to the capital-
ist regime, but the social development of the last centuries
seems to have made them indispensable for the demo-
cratic management of the affairs of every large and com-
plex state, and as far as we can see to-day, a socialist
regime cannot offer anything better as a substitute. The
old town meetings and other direct legislative and de-
iliberative bodies of citizens may be practical for the

* Artura Labriola, "Kifonne e Rivoluzione Sociale," Milan, i!)04|
' B. Malon, "Pr&is dc Socialisine," Paris, iBga, p. 297.

I 140 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

regulation of purely local affairs in small communities,
but they are entirely inadequate to deai with complex
problems of national import. Nor can the institutions of
the popular Initiative and Referendum take the place of
modem representative assemblies. The process of law-
making requires even to-day a large measure of skill,
special knowledge and precision. The enactment of a
wise law or regulation presupposes a careful deliberation
over its main object, and the minute and searching ex-
amination of its separate provisions. In many cases the
original project is modified and improved before adoption,
and the law as finally enacted is often the result of a com-
promise, more or less satisfactory to all. In all pro-
gressive legislation, furthermore, there must be a certain
consistency and continuity of idea, — a system; and this
feature will be more essential to a socialist legislature,
which will have to deal with the most vital problems of
the nation, than it is to modem legislative bodies.

But such systematic, planful and elastic legislation
cannot be introduced by popular Initiative and cannot
be enacted by popular Referendum. The Initiative is in
its nature spasmodic and often inconsistent, and the
Referendum is too rigid and categorical for a regular
engine of the popular will. The Initiative and the Ref-
erendum are excellent institutions in conjunction with
parliaments. As preventives and correctives of legislative
abuses they are indispensable to every true democracy;
they cannot, however, do away with representative gov-
ernment.

But if representative assemblies should be retained under
socialism, they will at the same time probably be modi-
fied very largely to meet the requirements of greater

SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

141

democracy and to comply with the new needs and func-
tions of the commonwealth.

The Initiative and Referendum will probably be
established in conjunction with all legislative bodies, and
will be coupled with the right of the constituents to recall
their representative at all times. The representatives of

I the people will furthermore be elected by the votes of all
adult citizens, male and female, and their powers will

[ naturally be curtailed by the limited functions of a so-

I cialist parliament.

What will be these functions, and in what manner will

I they be discharged ?

The functions of national government to-day may be

' roughly divided under two main heads — those of a gen-
eral administrative or political character, represented by
the departments of foreign affairs, national defense, treas-
ury, justice, education, insurance, health, fine arts, etc.,

. and those of a character, prevalently industrial or economic,
such as the administration of posts, railroads, telegraphs,
lines and other national industries and the de-

I partments of agriculture, public works, etc.

In the modern state the political functions largely pre-
ponderate, and the economic functions occupy but a sub-
ordinate position. This is natural in view of the fact that
the political functions of the present state are largely
exercised for the benefit of the ruling classes. Under
socialism the industrial activities of the government are
bound to increase, and the political activities to diminish.
The division of the governmental functions into those

k of a political and those of an economic nature has given

I rise to the hypothesis that the socialist parliament will re-

I main bi-cameral — the political chamber taking the place

I 142 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

of the lower house and the economic chamber that of the
upper house.

" Does any one believe that the earth will cease to re-
volve, if the present upper and lower houses of parliament,
whose division does not correspond to anything, shall be
replaced by a political chamber and an economic cham-
ber?" queries B, Malon, and he continues; "The po-
litical chamber might be elected by universal suffrage as
our present representative assemblies; but the economic
chamber, the larger and more important of the two,
should be the result of professional elections, with proper
regard to the special qualifications of the elected, so that
it should truly represent the producers and workers of all
categories." '

Anton Menger suggests a somewhat similar ar-
rangement, "It will be expedient," he asserts, "that
legislation in the socialist state shall be enacted by two
chambers: one to be elective and to be subject to the
democratic tendencies of the people, the other to be aristo-
cratic, but to be composed not of the most useless, but of
the really best members of the state;" and such "best
members," according to Menger, are to be the highest
active or retired state officials and the leading representa-
tives of the sciences, arts and literature."

The notion that the industrial affairs of the socialist
state will not be administered by officers elected by gen-
eral popular vote, but by men chosen by the members of
each separate trade and calling for their experience and
special qualifications, is generally accepted by the socialists.

Wilhelm Liebknecht suggests that the most important

' " Precis de Socialisme," pp. 300, 301.
' "Neue Staatslehre," pp. 179, iSo,

SOCXAUSM AND THE STATE 143

work of legislation and administration be performed by
conmiittees of experts instead of parliaments/ and Annie
' Besant, in a somewhat vivid flight of imagination, says :
"One may guess that in each nation all the Boards of
commxmal authorities will ultimately be represented in
some central Executive or Industrial Ministry; that the
Minister of Agriculture, or Mineral Industries, or Textile
Industries, and so on, will have relations with similar
officers in other lands; and that thus, internationally as
well as nationally, cooperation will replace competition." *

^ "Ueber die politische Stellung der Sozialdemokratie," 9th Edition,
Berlin, 1893, p. 5.

' "Industry under Socialism," in Fabian Essays, American Edition,
Boston, 1894, p. 147.

CHAPTER VI

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

Politics, Representative Government and Political Parties

Practical politics may be defined as the art or action
of guiding or influencing the policy of a government, or
the effort to obtain control of or influence over the powers
of government.'

And it is essential for the first part ot this definition
that the guidance and influence to which it refers, should
not be exercised by the organized government itself, but
by persons or parties outside of it. The difference be-
tween Administration and Politics is just this, that the
fonner consists in the direct management of pubUc affairs
by the persons ofTiciaUy vested with the power and charged
with the duty to manage them, while the latter is an
indirect management secured through influence or power
over the public official.

In absolute monarchies the powers of government are
concentrated, at least theoretically, in' the person of the
autocrat ; hence the political influence and functions of the
country are confined to the small circle of persons who

* "In tha nanoner and more usual sense, Politics is tbe act or vocation
of guiding or influencing the policy of a government thiough the organi-
zation of a party among its citizens." — CENTimY Dictionary.

"The administration o£ public affairs or the conduct of political mat-
ters so as to can; elections and secure public offices." — Stakdabs
Dictionary.

144

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

lalone have the opportunity to come in frequent contact

I with the person of the monarch — the high nobility and

■ the dignitaries of the church. Politics in such countries

i conducted principally tlirough the medium of court

I cliques; its objects aie usually the personal advantages

' and preferment of a set of individuals or a caste; its

methods are those of intrigue and conspiracy, and the

climax of such politics is a palace or dynastic revolution.

Countries of a constitutional form of government, on

the other hand, are bound to evolve politics of an entirely

different type. The head of a constitutional government,

whether he be designated king or president, is but one

wheel in the administrative machinery of the state. His

I powers are limited by a constitution, and the active and

' vital functions of government are vested in bodies of

popular representatives — the national parliaments, state

legislatures and municipal councils. In order to guide or

influence the policies of such a government, it is no longer

sufficient to gain the good graces of the chief executive;

it becomes necessary to enlist the support or obedience ot

a majority of the representative assembly.

This shifting of the field of political operation en-
tails a chain of radical changes in the methods, aims and
objects of modem politics. The representative assemblies
are large bodies of men, frequently of divergent views and
interests ; their power is temporary, and its continuance de-
pends upon the confidence of their constituencies; their
deliberations and actions are public and open to the
r scrutmy of the people; theu" actions must, therefore, be
i such as will be reasonably certain to meet with the ap-
roval of at least that portion of the population whose
lupport is indispensable to their public careers.

146 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

Under normal conditions the individual and unsup-
ported political intriguer, plotting for liis own prefennent
or for that of the small clique of his friends or confederates,
is thus obviously powerless to influence a popular govern-
ment to an appreciable degree. He disappears in politics
with the disappearance of the absolute state, and his
place is taken by the large body of citizens, banded to-
gether perraanently for the purpose of controlling the
government, ostensibly in the interests of the people as a
whole according to their views of the needs of the people,
but actually in the interest of a given class or section of
the population, as we shall endeavor to show presently.
The most direct way to control the government which
naturally suggests itself to such a body of citizens, is to
place men of then- own midst in the administration, and
its ultimate aim is, therefore, to elect a majority of the
representatives in the popular assemblies and of other
governmental and public functionaries. Thus arises the
modem political party w^ith its strong and ramified or-
ganization, its platforms, issues and electoral campaigns.
And in practice we observe that the origin of organized
political parties coincides in each country with the estab-
lishment of a parliamentary regime. "They are a neces-
sary evil in free government," as De Tocqueville puts

The British Parliament has largely served as a model
for all other constitutional countries, and the Hfe of that
body in its modern form, as the real repository of the
political power of the country, may be dated from the
meeting of the Long Parliament in 1640, when the House
of Commons deprived the crown of its two most essential

' Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in the United States," p. 186.

SOaALISM AND POLITICS

I' prerogatives — the power to levy taxes and the right to
i dissolve Parliament indefinitely, and to the Bill of Rights,
' which practically vested all legislative functions of the
United Kingdom in Parliament. Prior to the Long
Parliament there were no fixed political parties in the
modem sense in England, but the next year already wit-
nesses the formation of the first two distinct and well-
defined parties of England, the Cavaliers and the Round-
heads; and these parties, subsequently known as Whigs
and Tories, and still later as Liberals and Conservatives,
gradually changing their aims and methods of warfare
with the changed conditions of the advancing centuries,
reappear as the leading factors in all political struggles of
England, from the stormy days of the Long Parliament
down to our own time.

In France there were no organized political parties
prior to the revolutionary Constituent Assembly of 1789,
but when the first National Assembly or parliament met
in 1791, after the adoption of a constitution for the re-
public, it found itself at once divided into at least four
distinct political parties — the Royalists, who yearned for
a return to the old regime; the Feuillants or constitutional
monarchists, the Girondists or moderate republicans, and
the Montagnards or radical republicans.

With the accession of Napoleon and the smothering of
parliament and constitution, political party life disappears
in France, but with the restoration and the new grant of a
constitution and parliament, the new political parties of
the Moderates and Independents immediately spring into
being.
In Germany the modern political parties date partly
_ from the days of the Frankfort Assembly in 1848, and

F148 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

I partly from the establishment of the North German Union
I in 1867.

The colonies of the United States lioew little of politi-
cal parties, and held such institutions in scant esteem.
"Throughout the eighteenth century," remarks Henry
Jones Ford, " party was regarded as a gangrene, a cancer
which patriotic statesmen should combine to eradicate." '
But immediately following the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and even before the formal adoption of the national
constitution of the new republic, the Federalists and
Anti-Federahsts appeared in the public arena as full-
I fledged political parties, and while these parties have
I since repeatedly changed their issues and watchwords,
I and have finally settled on the party names of Republican
and Democratic, they rule to-day the poHtics of the
United States as absolutely and effectively as any political
parties in the world.

In Italy the modern political parties appear imme-
diately after the accomplishment of the unification of
the country as a constitutional monarchy. In Austria,
Hungary, Belgium and Holland the grant or conquest of
a constitution was in every case regularly followed by the
formation of political parties; in Russia the grant of a
mere phantom of a constitution was the immediate signal
for the spontaneous creation of a number of political
parties.
I Constitutions, representative government and political
* parties are thus intimately and indissolubly correlated
with each other; they have a common origin, and together
they constitute one historical phase in the development of

' "The Rise and Growth ol American Politics," New York, 1898,
p. 90.

SOaALISM AND POLITICS

149

our political institutions — the phase corresponding on the
whole to the modem or capitalist economic system.

Just as the fixed absolute state is the most appropriate
form of government of a rigorous feudal society, so is the
flexible representative system the ideal form of govern-
ment of the modem state of free competitive producers.

The rise of representative government and political
parties marks in all countries the ascendency of the
modem industrial classes over the landowning classes
formerly in power.

It is true we find in history abundant mention of par-
liaments and popular assemblies antedating by centuries
the modem capitalist system, and some of them tracing
their origin to hoary antiquity. But whOe these institu-
tions may have had a remote influence on the shaping
and forms of the modem parliaments, they certainly
had nothing in common with their present substance and
function.

The essential features of every modem representative
assembly may be summarized as follows: —

1. It is an independent governmental organ, whose ex-
istence and permanence are guaranteed by a constitution
which represents the supreme law of the land.

2. It meets at regular intervals.

3. It has the power to grant or veto the taxes or budget
' of the state.

4. It is either vested with supreme legislative powers
or it acts as a check upon the legislative powers of the
crown.

5. The cabmet ministers are directly or indirectly under
its control.

6. As a rule it is bi-cameral.

r 150 THE SCOALISr PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

7. The lower house, at least, is representative in char-
acter, and its members are chosen by and accountable
to the citizens entitled to vote-
Neither the medieval English Parliament, nor any
other popular assembly of the early or middle periods of
our era possessed these attributes.

"The mediEEval Parliament," says Edward Jenks,
"represented the estates of the realm, viz.: nobles, clergy,
yeomen or peasants, and craftsmen.

"But two things about it are well worth noticmg; —
" (a) It was not, in any ordinary sense of the term, a
popular institution. On the other hand, for many years
after its appearance, it was intensely impopular, both
with 'constituencies' and representatives. ... All hated
it, because a Parliament invariably meant taxation. The
members themselves disliked the odium of consenting to
taxes which their constituents would have to pay. Only
by the most stringent pressure of the Crowti were Parlia-
ments maintained during the first century of their exist-
ence; and the best proof of this assertion lies in the fact,
that in those countries in which the Crown was weak,
Parliament ultimately ceased to assemble. The notion
that Parliaments were the result of a spontaneous demo-
cratic movement can be held by no one who has studied,
ever so slightly, the facts of history.

" {b) Parliament, at any rate the representative part of
it, was, in the origin, concerned solely with the granting of
money. The nobles were, it is true, hereditary councilors
of the Crown; but the clerical proctors, and the members
of the counties and boroughs, could claim no such position.
There was no pretense of such a thing in the early days of
Parliament. It was liability, and not privilege, which was

SOCIAUSM AND POLITICS

the basis of Parliamentary representation; it was the old
idea of seizure of the village elders (for ransom), carri^
out on a magnificent scale." '

These rather humiliating functions of the early Par-
liaments are by no means peculiar to England. The
French States-General were convoked by the king when-
ever he needed money. Their duties consisted in making
grants, and their riglits in presenting grievances or peti-
tions, and the king as a rule forced the former and ignored
the latter. The three Estates of France, the Nobility, the
Clergy and the Commons or Third Estate, formed three
independent chambers, deliberating and voting separately,
the decision of any of the two chambers being binding on
the third. And as the Nobihty and Clergy were exempt
from taxation and otherwise mostly united in interest as
agamst the burgesses and peasantry, the Assembly of
Estates usually resulted in a heavy tax imposed by the
first two Estates upon the third. Once in a while the
rebellious representatives of the "third estate" would re-
fuse to "register" the royal edict for new taxes. In such
cases the king would personally appear in the session and
compel the recalcitrant commons to register his edicts.
This peculiar procedure was for some reason styled "lit
de justice" — bed of justice.

The mediteval German Diet was composed of the per-
sonal representatives of the numerous reigning princes of
the empire and a few representatives of the cities. It had
no important or useful functions to perform and no real
power over the country.

The early Polish Diet was merely a council of the nobles,
and the early Russian Assemblies were convoked on

' Edward Jenks, "History ot Politics," London, igoo, pp. 133, 133.

152 THE SOOALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

critical occasion, ordinarily for the purpose of fiomishing
the government with money and arms.

As to the ancient Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon assemblies,
the witenagemotes, they have even less claim to the title
of parliament in the modern sense than the medieval
bodies. They were practically nothing but councils of
elders or chiefs, with little or no bmding powers.

And just as the pre-capitalistic "parliaments" have
nothing in common with the modem institution of that
.name, so have the pre-capitalistic "parties" no affinity
with the political parties of the modem type.

Historians sometimes designate as parties the followers
of hostile princee contending for a throne, or the scattered
adherents of a religious creed or even a scientUic theory.
In that rather loose sense, parties have, of course, existed
at all times. But it requires more than the mere common
adherence to a person or theory to make a political party.

No aggregation of individuals can be properly styled a
political party unless they are bound together by a com-
mon social and political ideal and by planned and organized
action aimed at the maintenance or realization of that
ideal; the two most \'ital features of every political party
are: unity of principle and unity of action.

And here we arrive at the most baffling aspect of the
political party — the mysterious union of principle, which
lends harmony and continuity to the modem political or-
ganization, and enables it to survive all changing political
situations and is.^ues. It cannot be mere casual agreement
on abstract ideas and theories, for frequently we see a
party as a whole abandon its original views and adopt
new and altogether different grounds and issues. The
history of the last century is replete with instances of

^^^^B SOaALlSM AND POLITICS 153

paxhes which were formed for specific political objects,
and remained intact and active long after those objects
had been fully accomplished.

Nor can it be mere compatibility of temper that holds
vast masses of individuals together in de&nite political

I parties, for every political party of any significance unites
within its fold men of all conceivable dispositions and in-

I dinations.

The force that cements the members of a political party
together is obviously not to be looked for in the intellectual
or psychic world. It must be found in the more realistic
sphere of our existence — the material interests of the
special classes of modern society represented by each of
the political parties.

Classes and Class Struggles in Modern Society

One of the cardinal doctrines of modern socialism is
the doctrine of the "class struggle."

The inhabitants of every state, as was casually mentioned
in the preceding chapters, may always be divided into
several groups of persons with reference to their source of
income or mode of acquiring the material means of their
existence. Within each group the single individuals may
strive for the largest possible share of the common income,
but as against all the other elements of society, each of
such groups is interested in the maintenance and increase
of its special revenue or material wealth. Each of such ,
social groups constitutes a separate "class" of society,
and the characteristic features of every class are these :
its individual members are united in their general economic
t interest with each other, and as a whole they are opposed

1 54 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

to all other classes contending with them for their share of
the national wealth.

The existence of classes thus creates the instincts of
class solidarity and class antagonism, and the socialists
contend that the efforts of each class to maintain or improve
its position, and the resultant conflicts between them, con-
stitute the politics of the nations and make their histories.

The doctrine of the class struggle in its present finished
form was first proclaimed in " The Communist Manifesto,"
which was drafted by the principal theoretical founders of
modern socialism, Karl Marx and Frederick. Engels, in
1848, and is there stated in the following terse and cogent

"The (recorded) history of all hitherto existing society
is the history of class struggles.

"Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and
serf, guild master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor
and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another,
carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open, fight,
that each time ended either in revolutionary reconstitution
of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending
classes.

" In the earlier epochs of history we find almost every-
where a complicated arrangement of society into various
orders, a manifold gradation of social rank. In ancient
Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in
the Middle Ages, feudal lords, vassals, guild masters, jour-
neymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of these classes,
again, subordinate gradations.

" The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from
the ruins of feudal society, has not done away with class
antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

ISS

conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place
of the old ones.

" Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeois, possesses, how-
ever, this distinctive feature; it has simplified the class
antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more split-
ting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes
directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." '

The principal classes in modern society are thus, accord-
ing to Marx and Engels, the classes of the "Bourgeoisie"
and the "Proletariat," and a few words must be said here
in explanation of these terms very current in the literature
of socialism.

"Bourgeois," literally a "townsman," was originally a
term used in opposition to that of gentle or noble, and signi-
fied a manufacturer or tradesman. The class of the "bour-
geoisie," in an economic sense, has come to stand for the
entire propertied class : it includes the modern manufac-
turer, money lender, and even the landowner who employs
his land for industrial or other business purposes. It is
the entire "third estate," less the wage workers.

The term "Proletariat" is borrowed from the political
nomenclature of ancient Rome, where it was used to
denote the class of free citizens without property or assured
means of existence. ' In a more restricted and technical

' "The CornmunLat Manifesto," New York, Socialist Cooperative
Publisliing Assn., 1901, pp. 10, 11.

' The etymoiogical derivation of the term is by no means free from j
doubt. The Roman grammarians, and most of the modern writers after '
them, derive it from the word "proles" — descendants, and interpret
the original meaning of proletariat as a descendant- beget ting or child-
hearing class. The Austrian philologist, Stowasser, recently suggested
the derivation of the word from "pro-oletarius," i.e., substitute for ma-
ture worker, hired slave or common wage laborer.

"Deutsche Worte," September, 1901, quoted in NeueZeit of October a,

156 THE SOQALIST PHILOSOPHV AND MOVEMENT *

sense, the word Proletarian signifies a workingman who
does not own iiis tools of labor, a wage worker ; but in its
wider application it embraces the entire propertyless class
of workers. Thus we speak not only of the "industrial"
proletarian, but also of the "agricultural" proletarian,
the farmer who does not own his land, or the hired farm
hand; and even of the "intellectual" proletarian, the pro-
fessional who depends upon an unsteady and uncertain
hiring out of his talents for a living.

Such then are the main characteristics of the two prin-
cipal classes of modern society, the Bourgeoisie and Proleta-
riat, or Capitalists and Workingmen, and the antagonism
between them to which the authors of "The Communist
Manifesto" refer, is the conflict of material interests which
springs from their mutual economic relations.

The principal wealth of modern society is represented
by an accumulation of commodities owned by individual
competing capitalists and used for the purpose of exchange.
The process of modern industry is a process of manufacture
and exchange of such commodities. All wealth is created
in that process, and all profits are derived through it. The
diEEerent commodities exchange for each other at their
actual value ; hence, the accumulation of profit and wealth
must not be looked for in the process of exchange, but in
the process of production.

The value of a commodity is determined by the average
social labor expended on its production, and if the manu-
facturing capitalist should pay to the laborer a wage
equivalent to the products of his labor, there would remain
no margin of profit for hira, and the hoarding up of indi-
vidual wealth would be impossible. But, as a matter of
fact, the manufacturing capitalist does not return to the

SOCIAUSM AND POLITICS

157

workingman, in the form of a money wage, commodities
of a value representing his full hours of labor, but only
such quantity as will enable him to maintain his existence
according to the established standard of living and
to reproduce his species. Thus assuming that the
quantity of food, clothing and other necessaries of a work-
ingman's life per day are produced in six hours of average
social labor time, his wages will represent the portion of
■ his labor equivalent to six hours, and if he works ten hours
per day, the product of the remaining four hours of his
labor is appropriated by his employer.

Since the individual capitalist owns the tools without
which no labor can be performed in modern society, and
the laborer owns nothing but his ability to work — his la-
bor power, the workingman is compelled to sell that labor
power to the capitalist for a fixed daily wage. His labor
power is sold to the capitalist to be used for a day of a
duration of eight, ten or twelve hours, according to agree-
ment, and the products of his labor are divided betweea
him and his employer. The portion of such labor that
falls to the share of the workingman is his wage, and the
portion retained by the manufacturing capitalist Marx
calls "surplus value,"

The "surplus value" of the manufacturing capitalist is
by no means his clear profit; as a rule, he is forced to di-
vide it with the landlord, the money lender and the mer-
chant, "Surplus value" is the source of all profits of the
manufacturing and trading capitalists, the rents of the
landowning capitalists, and the interest of the money-lend-
ing capitalists. Thus the capitalists of all types depend
upon the production of " surplus value," while the working
s depends upon wages. Since wages and "surplus

I
I

158 THE SOQALIST PHILOSOPHV AND MOVEMENT

value" come from the same source, i.e., labor power,
it is clear that the proportion of the one will be relatively
larger as the proportion of the other is relatively smaller,
and vice versa; in other words, the greater the share of
capital in the created values, the smaller the share of labor.

The economic interests of capital and labor are, there-
fore, opposed to each other, and while it is in the interest
of the class deriving its income from "surplus value" to
maintain the present system of distribution of wealth, the •
interests of the working class lie in the abolition of that
system.

These are the main lines on which the modem class
struggles are conducted, but a closer analysis of the process
will show that they are by no means the sole lines of modern
class division.

The capitalists or bourgeoisie constitute but one class
in their common interest to exploit the working class, but
among themselves they are separated in many groups
with reference to the special interests of the respective
fields of their operation. The three main forms of capi-
talist revenue, rent, interest and profits, spring, as we have
seen, from the same source, the "surplus value" of the
producing capitalists ; and the shares of these three cate-
gories of income stand in inverse relation to each other.
It is, of course, conceivable that rent, interest and profits
may rise simultaneously, at the expense of the working class
and the consumers, but they need not and do not always
increase in equal proportions, and the total quantity of
"surplus value" remaining equal, an increase of rents or
a rise of the rate of interest will signify a lowering of profits,
and vice versa. The three main economic divisions of
capitalists, dependent on the three forms of income men-

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

159

timed, the rent-gathering landowner, the interest-drawing
money lender, and the profit-making manufacturer and
merchant, are thus by no means united in interest between
themselves. The money lender or banker exploits the
mortgaged landowner and the borrowing industrial alike,
while the owner of the factory site and store property ex-
ploits the manufacturer and merchant with equal thorough-
ness. Nor is the industrial group of the capitalist class
always a unit in interests: the interests of the manufac-
turers usually run counter to those of the sellers, and vice
versa; and even within the manufacturing class the interests
of separate trades are frequently opposed to each other —
for instance, where the producers of one certain commodity,
a finished article, are the consumers of the products of
another class of manufacturers, those engaged in the
production of materials.

As compared with the divergent interests of the capital-
ists among themselves, the interests of the working class _
are, on the whole, harmonious. The workingmen are
frequently forced to compete with each other for employ-
ment, which, as a rule, results in a general reduction of
wages. But this competition is no evidence of a conflict
of interest among different groups of workingmen; on
the contrary, its effect is strong proof of the solidarity of
their interests; and the recognition of the pernicious eiiects
of their competition ultimately leads the workers to a more
compact class organization. No group of workingmen
benefits by the fall of wages of another group, no class of
workingmen exploits another class; hence, there exists no
economic cause for antagonism between the workingmen
of the different trades.

We have thus described and analyzed the two main

l6o THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

classes of modern society and their component parts. But
between and besides them there are several economic
groups which cannot properly be classed with the one or
the other — the groups characterized by the general desig-
nation of the "middle classes." These consist of small
merchants, manufacturers and farmers, who, while they
own their business, implements or land, and sometimes
employ hired labor, still extract but little " surplus value,"
and chiefly depend for their living upon their own efforts.
The members of the middle class are engaged in a strenuous
and losing battle for the maintenance of their economic
independence against the invading large industries. Their
hope is to develop some day into large and wealthy capi-
talists, their fate most commonly is to succumb to the
superior means and organization of the great industries,
and to find refuge in the employment of their victorious
rivals or to be forced down to the ranks of the wage laborer.
By their sympathies and sentiments, these men mcline
towards the capitalist class, by their immediate economic
interests they are arrayed against it, and at times they
break out in a feeble or more vigorous revolt against om-
nivorous capitalism.

Another middle-class group of considerable impor-
l tance is that of the " intellectuals " in the direct employ of
the capitalists; the managers, superintendents, foremen,
engineers, accountants, clerks, etc. The economic posi-
tion of these is similar to that of the proletarian
wage worker, inasmuch as they are also hired by their
employers and paid a fixed remuneration for their
services, but it is different with respect to the size of that
remuneration. The average income of the men of this
class is frequently larger than that of the middle-class

SOaALISM AND POLITICS

i6i

maniJacturers, traders or farmers; they are styled "em-
ployees," not " workingmen " ; they receive "salaries,"
not " wages," and by their education, social environment,
tastes and habits, they feel themselves more akin to the
capitalist class than to the working class.

And finally we must mention the variety of the mid-
dle class known as the "professionals," i.e., physicians,
lawyers, clergymen, teachers, journalists, artists, etc.
These constitute a class by themselves. They do not
operate with capital, and their incomes are not derived
from exploitation of labor, nor, on the other hand, do they
as a rule sell their labor or talents to a permanent individual
employer in return for a fixed periodical compensation,
They are "free" practitioners, who sell their services to
whomsoever pays for them from time to time. The men of
this group usually find their most remunerative clientele
among the possessing class, and place their skill and talent
at the disposal of that class. It is from among this group
that the capitalists primarily gather the apologists and
defenders of their class interests, their "retainers," to
borrow an expression from W. J. Ghent.' But the pro-
fessionals are not permanently tied to the dominant classes.
They are alert in perceiving every coming social change,
and whenever a new class enters upon a promising cam-
paign to displace the old order, these professionals desert
their former patrons in large numbers and place them-
selves at the head of the new movement.

Tke Class Struggle in Politics

In the preceding pages we have attempted to oudine

the main class divisions in modern society. In the general

' "Mass and Class," New York, 1905.

l62 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

struggle for social existence, each of these classes of ne-
cessity seeks to fortify its economic position by the strong
arm of the state. The dominant and possessing class as a
whole needs the protection of the state, its laws, courts of
justice, police power, and sometimes even its armed force
to preserve its "vested rights" and privileges and to main-
tain its power over the working class; and within the capi-
talist class each interest group needs the special services
and support of the state against the hostile groups of other
interests. The transportation industries need charters,
grants and franchises, the manufacturing industries want
subsidies and protective import tariffs on manufactured
articles, while they oppose tariffs on food stuffs; the agri-
cultural landowning class, on the other hand, demands a
high tariff on imported food stuffs, but combats the tariff
on articles of foreign manufacture; the commercial classes
generally strive for a free trade policy; the debtor classes
see their salvation in anti-usury laws and debased currency ;
the money-lending class requires a solid and unchangeable
monetary standard; the small manufacturers and traders
endeavor to avert the threatening ruin of their economic
independence by the enactment of laws against combination
and concentration of capital, while the workingmen look
to the government for protection against excessive capi-
talist exploitation. In short, each class and group strives
to make the state subservient to its economic interests, to
retain or capture the powers of government for its own
special purposes.

It is this phase of the class struggle which constitutes
modem politics, and the economic classes and interest
groups participating in it, correspond, roughly speaking,
to the political parties or factions in each country. Thus we

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS 163

find in every constitutional country of Europe, whatever
the elements of its political life may otherwise be, at least
three definite political parties : the Conservative, the Lib-
eral and the Socialist. In Germany and Austria, they are
directly known under those names; in England the politi-
cal party corresponding in its genera! features to the So-
cialist Party in continental Europe is known as the Labor
Party; in Belgium and Holland the Clerical Party prac-
tically takes the place of the Conservative Party; in France
the Conservative and Liberal parties sometimes are known
under the names of the Party of Resistance and the Party
of Movement, but under whatever name or guise they may
appear here or there, they uniformly present the distinc-
tive features of class parties. The Party of the Conserva-
tives is always in substance the party of the landowning
class. In countries of feudal antecedents it represents in
the first instance the descendants of the landowning and
privileged nobility, and its political ideal is the reconstruc-
tion of the old regime and the restoration of the political
powers of the aristocracy of birth — the party is usually
opposed to all progress and reform.

The Liberal Party is the party par excellence of the
modern bourgeoisie. It represents the interests of in-
dustry and commerce. In most countries it Is the party
in power, and the aims of its politics are to maintain it in
power. It favors such moderate and gradual reforms as
tend to destroy the feudal remnants in modem European
society without in any way endangering the supremacy
of the class represented by it. Its political interests and
ideals coincide on the whole with the present regime, —
it is the party of the present.

The Socialist Party is the party of the workingmen who

164 THE SOCIALIST PIULOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

have drawn the last conclusion from their struggles with
capitalism. Its ideal is a cooperative commonwealth based
on the collective ownership of the social instruments of
wealth production. Its social ideal is not inspired by the
fabulous "golden age" of the past, but is founded on the
anticipated results of social progress, — it is the party of
the future.

Side by side with these three main parties representing
the three principal classes of society, there exists in most
countries of Europe a party generally known as the Radi-
cal Party. This is the party of the middle class, and its
political activity is the expression of the last struggles of a
class doomed to economic annihilation between the upper
grindstone of capitalist competition and the nether grind-
stone of proletarian organization and aggressiveness,

Paul L-ouis characterizes this party in the following
language : —

"It is composed of men whose social condition is ill
defined, who are neither satisfied nor crushed, but who
feel themselves menaced and strive to fortify their position.
These men desire to conquer the political power in order
to break the instruments of the material or moral domina-
tion of the great industries and properties. . . . They
demand fiscal reforms which would permit them to tax
the large revenues and to place artificial fetters on the
mechanical concentration of capital. . . . Nowhere do
they constitute a coherent party, for nothing is more fugi-
tive than its contingent." '

In the countries of Europe we thus find all principal
economic classes and interest groups represented by sep-
arate and well-defined political parties. The only excep-
' "L'Avenir du Socialisme," Paris, 1905, pp. 105, 106,

SOCIALISM AND POUTICS l6$

I tion seems to be presented by the money-lending group of
I capitalists, who, as a rule, do not form parties of their own,
■ This, however, may perhaps be accounted for by the func-
tion of money capital, which can become operative only
in connection with the other forms of capitalistic owner-
ship, but has no independent productive existence.

All other permanent political parties of continental Eu-
rope are but slight variations of the foiir types described.

In the United States of America, where the economic
development of the country has not passed through the
stage of feudalism, and where there exist no remnants of a
feudal economy or of a class of privileged nobles, there is,
of course, no room for a Conservative Party in the Euro-
pean sense, and the parties of the propertied classes are
formed on different lines. The Republican Party is sub-
stantially the party of the modem capitalists, correspond-
ing in its main characteristics to the Liberal parties of
Europe, while the Democratic Party is largely the party
of the middle class, the small business man and farmer,
and bears some resemblance to the Radical parties of
European countries.

Such then, generally speaking, are the leading char-
acteristics and motive forces of the modern political parties,
but m practice their formative processes and workings
are by no means so clear-cut and simple.

In the complex relations of modern society, it is some-
times exceedingly difficult to determine the exact line of
class divisions. It is not always easy to determine when
a man ceases to be workman and becomes a member of
the middle class, nor whether he is to be classed as a
"middleman" or capitalist; and within the capitalist class
especially it becomes more and more dif&cult to divide its

Fl66 THE SOOAUST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

members into definite interest groups. The extensive de-
velopment of stock companies within the last decades has
largely broken down the rigid lines of special interest
groups within the possessing class, and the typical capitalist
of to-day may and frequently does own at the same time
stock in banks, in real estate concerns and in industrial
and commercial enterprises.

The economic mainsprings of politics are, besides, as a
rule deeply hidden below the surface. With the sole
possible exception of the working class in the countries
of the most advanced industrial development, there Is not
a single class or interest group large enough to conquer
I and hold the modern governmental machinery by its own
I numbers. Each of the classes contending for the political
mastery of the country is, therefore, bound to seek the sup-
port of other classes or their individual members, and this
it can obviously not receive for the mere and avowed
advancement of its naked class interests. To overcome
the difficulty, the dominant political parties are thus in-
stinctively led to conceal rather than expose their class
character; they make concessions or hold out promises to
all classes of the population, and by their official platforms
and public declarations they pretend to strive for the com-
mon welfare of the whole population. The interests of
the classes represented by them are thus generalized into
the interests of the entire nation, and their striving for
political power masquerades as a struggle for lofty political
ideals. These false pretensions are sometimes formulated
consciously and intentionally by the shrewd party leaders,
but perhaps more often the active political party workers,
and especially its passive supporters, fully believe in their
sincerity ; hence, we find the capitalist and middle-class

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

167

aU .

s largely supprorted by working-
men, and, generally speaking, there is hardly a political
party whose constituent elements are wholly recruited from
one homogeneous class.

"It is not contended," says W. J. Ghent, "that men are
always, or even generally, conscious of the economic mo-
tive that impels them. Far less is it to be contended that
they are aware of the influence laid upon the exercise of
that motive by the prevailing economic environment. The
consciousness of their motives is often but dim and vague,
and that motive which they believe dominant, a mere
illusion." '

And moreover, the economic motive, while it is the domi-
nant factor, is not the sole factor in politics. In times of
threatened foreign invasion, the defense of the country
may become a paramount political issue of equal impor-
tance to all classes of the population, and when a govern-
ment represents nothing but the autocratic power of a small
clique, and becomes equally oppressive on all classes of
society, as is the case for instance in Russia, all political
parties may well unite in a common program of opposition.
In times of special agitation an ideological sentiment may
become a political issue of great force and break down all
established party lines. At other times, especially when
the dominant class is safely intrenched behind the powers
of government without vital disputes between its dif-
ferent interest groups and without the menace of a strong
working class political party, politics degenerates into a
question of mere individual spoils and patronage.

"Mass and Clftss," p. 13.

l68 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

The Socialist Parly in Politics

In the general political struggles of the classes, the
Socialist Party, as was stated above, represents the
working class. This statement, however, requires some
qualification and explanation.

The Socialist Party represents in politics primarily the
general immediate and ultimate interests of the working
class as a whole. Its program consists of a number of
planks calculated to strengthen the proletariat in its
struggles with the dominant classes and to lessen the degree
of its exploitation by the latter, and it culminates in the
demand for the complete economic enfranchisement of
the working class. Since the power of the dominant
classes over the workingmen is based on the ownership
by the former of the social tools and instruments of wealth
production, the cardinal point of the socialist political
platform is the demand for the abolition of private owner-
ship in these means of production.

The socialist ideal is a state of society based on organized
and cooperative work of all individuals capable of perform-
ing work, and on an equitable distribution of the products
of such joint labor among all the members of the coni-
mimity. The Socialist Party, the only party which frankly
recognizes the class character of the contemporary state
and politics, is at the same time the only party which ad-
vocates the abolition of all class distinctions. All other
political parties, while they ignore or deny the fact of the
class struggle, either stand for the preservation of the
present class relations or strive merely for the shifting of
power from one of the existing classes to the other. The

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS 1 69

Socialist Party alone has thus a certain right to claim that
it represents the interests of the whole society.

The Socialist Party is, however, preeminently a working-
men's party, for the reason that its ultimate aim coincides
primarily with the interests of the working class, while it Is
a menace to the privileges and immediate economic in-
terests of the possessing classes. Recognizing that the
vast majority of men are moved by economic motives,
the socialists make their appeal in the first line to the
working class, and as a rule the Socialist parties actually
recruit their adherents mostly from that class.

But the workingmen are by no means the sole supporters
of socialism. Its ranks are continually swelled by members
of the middle classes, and by large numbers of ideologists
from all classes of society, including those of the capitalists.
These bourgeois ideologists come into the socialist move-
ment either because they perceive in its lofty social ideal
the realization of justice and freedom, or because they
have become convinced, through a scientific analysis of
modem tendencies of social and economic development,
of the inevitability of socialism. The founders of theoret-
ical socialism were men of that type, and the leaders of
the socialist movement in all countries recruit themselves
principally from among that class.

The socialist movement did not enter the arena of uni-
versal history as a practical political movement. In its
inception it was purely a philosophical school indulging
occasionally in miniature social experiments, and inter-
fering in concrete political movements only by way of
exception. In 1848, Marx and Engels stilt proclaimed
that the "communists (the term then employed for the
modem word Socialist) do not form a separate party op-

1 17° THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

posed to other working class parties," and as late as 1867,
when the German subjects were granted universal suHrage
in elections to the North German Diet, the socialists of
that country seriously debated the question whether they
should take part in these elections, or scornfully reject
"the gift of Bismarck," and abstain from voting.

The reasons for the reluctance of the socialists of the
earlier period to engage in politics are quite obvious.

In the first place, the movement m its more modem
phase was only in its inception, and the number of its
adherents was quite small. But It is numbers more than
issues that count in political campaigns.

In the next place, the franchise of the workingmen, the
class upon whom the socialists primarily relied for their
support, was in most countries of Europe monstrously
restricted. In Germany universal manhood suffrage was
confined to elections to the powerless North German Diet,
but the more important municipal and state elections were
then as now based on the "three-class system," ' which
reduced the working-class vote to a minimum, or on a
property test, which had the same effect.

' Elections on the "three-dasa system" are by "categorEes." The
voters are divided into three classes; the first including the largest tas-
payers paying together one-third of the taxes; Ihe nert, those paying an-
other third of the taxes in the second largest amounts; and the last class,
including the remainder of the people. Each class elects the same num-
ber of delegates to the conventions that choose the councilors or deputies.
The result, of course, is always to return an assembly rapresentative of
the property interests, and quite unrepresentative of the masse?.

In the elections of 1893 to the Prussian Landtag 5,989,538 voters took
part. Of these only 210,759 constituted the first class, the second con-
sisted of 732,633, while the third class embraced all the remaining
5,056,146. The 933,392 citizens of the first two classes could thus ea-
L tirely outvote their 5,000,000 fellow-citizens of the poorer classes.

SCOALISM AND POLITICS

171

In Italy and Belgium the right to vote in parliamentary
elections was restricted to citizens paying direct taxes of
specified minimal amounts, and qualified by a property
test, with the result that in the former country there were
in 1879 only 7.77 electors for each 100 male adults, while
in the latter the voters constituted but little above 2 per
cent of the population in 1874, Similar conditions existed
in Holland, Hungary, Austria, Sweden and Norway.
In England the expenses of the electoral campaigns were
borne by the electors, as they still are, and were prohib-
itively high for the workingmen. (Within the last decades
the electoral laws in many European countries have been
somewhat reformed in the direction of greater liberalism.)

Besides, in most countries it was only the lower house of
parliament that was elective, membership in the upper
house was mostly, as it still remains in many cases, heredi-
tary or appointive, and the composition of these bodies
was frequently such as to blast all hopes of a progressive
parliamentary policy. Thus the upper house or senate
of Italy was composed of princes of the royal family and
other dignitaries of the rctdm, more than 40 years of age,
and chosen by the king from among the archbishops,
bishops, ministers of the, cabinet, admirals, generals and
very heavy taxpayers. In Hungary, the upper house
consisted of 3 princes of the reigning house, 31 Roman and
Greek Catholic prelates, 11 "standard bearers," 57 lord
lieutenants, 5 dukes, 219 counts and 81 barons. What
a chance a democratic lower house would have for the
cooperation of such a chamber !

Moreover, the early socialist leaders had serious mis-
givings about the effects of an electoral activity on the
morale of the socialist masses. The parliamentary elec-

■ 172 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

tions, they argued, could result in but little, if any, benefit
to the working class, but they might tend to divert it from
the consistent stand of revolutionary opposition, and from
the straight path of education and economic struggle.

But still more than the demoralizing effects of electoral
campaigns upon the movement, the socialists feared the
corrupting influences of parliamentary life upon the chosen
representatives of their party. They were inclined to view
the European parliaments, with their limited powers, as
assemblies whose principal function was to cultivate in
their members the fine art of talking; talking not for the
sake of convincing, but for the purpose of shining, and such
talk, they reasoned, is calculated to deaden the revolution-
ary spirit of the orator, to arouse his personal vanity and
ambition, and to degrade him into a shallow demagogue.
The views on the efficiency of parliamentary activity prev-
alent among the socialists of that time were very similar
to those recently expressed by the French socialist writer,
Paul Louis, who says: —

"Never has a great decision capable of briskly accelerat-
ing the course of history, emanated from a parliament.
Parliaments, even when elected by universal suffrage,
occupy a position similar to that of the academies ; they
regard the past, they defend the existing status; by their
temperament, their procedure and byzantme exactness,
they soon paralyze all men of action who may penetrate
there." *

Furthermore, they contended, for the socialist move-
ment parliamentary activity could never be anything but a
useless farce. As long as the socialist deputies shall
remain in the minority, they will be powerless to influence
' "L'Avenir du Socialisine," ParLs, 1905, pp. 71, 73.

SOaALISM AND POLITICS

173

the actions of Parliament, and when the party shall be
strong enough to elect a clear majority of the members of
any parliament, the country will be ripe for the social
revolution, and the cumbersome machinery of Parliament
will become useless.

Besides, their strict and rigid interpretation of the class-
struggle theory made them doubt the wisdom of deliberat-
ing and cooperating with the representatives of the hostile
camps in joint council. "Wer mit Feinden parlamentelt,
parlamenlirt, wer parlamentirt, paktirt !" tersely decreed
the veteran leader of German Social Democracy, Wilheim
Liebknecht.'

But as against these possible disadvantages, the socialists
were bound to consider the following features of political
and parliamentary activity as positive advantages for their
I cause: —

The times of active electoral campaigns are peculiarly
propitious for the discussion of social, economic and politi-
cal theories ; hence they offer an excellent opportunity for
the propaganda of socialism among the broad masses of the
people, and that opportunity is largely enhanced, if
socialism is made one of the direct issues of the campaign.
And not only are political campaigns important as mediums
of effective propaganda, they are also useful as periodical
reviews of the socialist forces. The number of votes which
the socialists poll at general elections is one of the surest
gauges of the_ progress made by the movement in each
country among the masses of the population, and nothing

"Ueber die polit[scbe Stellung dec Sozial democrat [e," Berlin, 1893,
a. The sentence is very difficult to render in English. Its mean-

l'|i% is about as follows: "He who discusses with the eaEmj, negotiates

t frith him, and he who negotiates, compiomises."

174 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

stimulates growth so much as the proof of growth. Then,
again, parliament is a platform from which the popular
representative addresses not only his colleagues, but prac-
tically the entire nation, and the socialist deputies thus are
afforded a rare chance for the propaganda of their party
principles on a large scale.

The practical aim of the Socialist Party, moreover, is
the capture of the powers of government by the working
class in order that it might transform the state from an
instrument of class exploitation into a cooperative common-
wealth. But the working class cannot accomplish these
tasks unless it is well organized and trained in the art of
politics and administration, and practical political activity
is best calculated to give it that organization and training.

And finally, the socialists by no means disdain all partial
reforms, and parliamentary activity opens lo them the
opportunity to urge and the chance to pass reforms of
actual benefit to the working class.

These, then, were the doubts and questions, the pros and
cons which met the socialists at the threshold of their
political career, and while the leaders were discussing the
theoretical aspects of the problem, the mass, as usual in
practical questions, solved it, and, as usual, solved it right.
The socialists went into politics yielding to the instincts
^ of the masses, rather than following the reasoned policies
of the leaders.

Electoral Tactics of the Socialist Party

The tactics and policies of every party must necessarily
I be such as will be best calculated to insure its political
\ success at a given time and place. They must be shaped

SOaALISM AND POLITICS

175

tomeet the special conditions of each country and period,
and must change with the change of these conditions.
Pohtical tactics are never immutable, and they are not even
as stable as political programs. But while the tactics
of a political party are variable and changing, such varia-
tions and changes are as a rule neither very radical nor
very sudden. The policy of every party must in the last
analysis be determined by and subordinated to its main
aims and objects, its political platform, and as long as the
latter remains in force, the former changes but slightly.

These general principles of party policy apply to the
Socialist Party with even greater force than to the other
parties. The socialist platform is the only political plat-
form which is practically identical in its main features
and important details in all civilized countries; the prin-
cipal aims of socialism are not those of local or temporary
reform, but of permanent and radical social reconstruction ;
the socialist methods of warfare were not evolved from
casual and fleeting conditions, but from general and firmly
established social and economic relations ; hence the mfun
points of socialist tactics are bound to be practically uni-
form and fixed as long as the present social system lasts.
And as a matter of fact, we observe that while the details
of socialist policy and tactics vary in every country, and are
modified with every economic and political change, its
most salient features are identical everywhere, and have
undergone but little change since the days when the So-
cialist Party first established itself in practical politics.

The most striking characteristic of all socialist tactics
is the political isolation of the party, its reluctance to fuse
or combine with other parties in electoral campaigns.
The Socialist Party usually makes independent nomina-

176 THE SOaALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

tions for public office regardless of the prospects of imme-
diate success in the election. As a rule it does not unite
with other parties on a common electoral list or "ticket,"
it does not nominate non-socialists on its own ticket, it
does not support candidates of other parties, and its mem-
bers do not accept nominations or even indorsements from
other parties.

This poKcy of isolation has its good reasons. In theory
it is the logical and inseparable sequel of the class struggle
doctrine. Viewed from that standpoint there can be no ac-
tual solidarity of interest, at least under normal conditions,
between the Socialist Party which strives to overthrow the
present regime, and the various parties of the propertied
classes which are interested in upholding it. A political
union between the Socialist Party and any other party can
be accomplished, therefore, only on the basis of a compro-
mise which of necessity entails the concealment or aban-
donment of the most vital principles of socialism. And
the Socialist Party is invariably the loser by such combina-
tion. Experience has abundantly demonstrated that
whenever a party of the propertied classes has invited
the political cooperation of the working class, the latter
has, with few exceptions, been used by it as a cat's paw for
the furtherance of its own class interests. The working
class has never derived a substanlial or lasting benefit from
such an illogical alliance, but the latter has frequently
served to bring in demoralization and disorganization in its
ranks. Many young and promising revolutionary move-
ments have been smothered by such compromises with
the enemy, and the fate of the numerous short-lived politi-
cal labor movements in the United States is very strong
proof of the truth of this assertion. Nor is even the un-

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

177

solicited support of the bourgeois parties always without
danger to socialism in politics. The socialist candidates
elected by non-socialist votes tacitly assume certain moral

.obligations towards this class of voters, and when elected

I they can rarely maintain the uncompromising attitude of
the purely socialist representative. The socialists are,
therefore, inclined to reject such political support, arguing
with the Roman poet — "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes"

[ — I fear the Greeks even if they bear gifts.

But with ail that the rule of uncompromising socialist

[ tactics, like every other rule of human conduct, is not
entirely free from exceptions. It is apt to be observed
most rigorously and inflexibly in the earlier days of the
socialist movement in every country, when that movement
has not yet passed the phase of pure theoretical propa-
ganda and has not yet become a real factor in practical
politics.

"There is no need of compromising while the entire
activity of the party is limited to oral and written propa-
ganda and the purely theoretical defense of party prin-
ciples, which saves them from contamination by any
foreign elements," observes S. Kotlyarevski.'

And, it may be added, not only is there no Justification
for a compromising policy in the early phases of the social-
ist movement, but there is every reason against it. While
scientific theories or social philosophies are new, it is
always their novel and striking features, the features dis-
tinguishing them from the accepted theories and philoso-
phies, that receive the greatest emphasis. And only
when such new theories or philosophies gain considerable
currency or following, are their main propositions sub-
' "Partii i Nauka," in Polyarttaya Svesda for January, 1906.

I 178 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

jected to a more minute and critical analysis, and their
qualifications and exceptions noted. The uncompromis-
ing and uncriticising propaganda of new ideas is useful
and even necessary in the early stages for their popular
dissemination. And a practical movement based on such
new ideas has besides a special interest in guarding its
pristine purity and complete independence in the critical
period of its inception or formation, for it is then that it
can be diverted or absorbed by foreign elements with the
greatest ease.

But with the spread of the socialist movement and the
growth of the Socialist Party, new problems present them-
selves. When the party becomes so numerous as to con-
stitute a factor of importance in the politics and parlia-
ment of any country, but not numerous enough to control
them by its own strength, the temptation to enlist the co-
operation of other progressive parties for the purpose of
accomplishing some immediate practical reforms becomes
great. Impatient cries are raised within the party urging
political combinations for such purposes, and are met by
the warning voices of the more conservative leaders tena-
ciously adhering to the class- struggle tactics.

How do the socialists generally meet the new situation ?

In a preceding chapter we observed that even in our
present class state there are certain political situations in
which the immediate interests of classes otherwise hostile
may occasionally coincide.

In countries of feudal origin it is generally in the com-
mon interest of the progressive bourgeoisie and the work-
ing class to remove the surviving feudal remnants from
the social and political structure of their countries, since
I such remnants are often an impediment to all social prog-

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

i;9

and in the countries of restricted, plural or qualified
suffrage, the Radical, Liberal and Socialist parties have
sometimes an equal interest in extending the suffrage.

The extension of popular suffrage, more especially, is
of the greatest vital importance to the Socialist Party, since
the latter can hardly make any poiitica! progress, still
less conquer the political powers of the country, in the
absence of equal and universal suffrage.

This situation is the key to the solution of the problem.
The socialists often combine with other progressive parties
for the attainment of these common purposes; they com-
bine but rarely for any other purposes.

Thus Ferdinand Lassalle, the founder of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany, outlined the tactics of the
proposed party in his famous "Open Letter" addressed
to the workingmen of Leipsic in 1863, in the following
langu^e : —

"The working class must constitute itself into an inde-
pendent political party, and must make the demand for
universal, equal and direct suffrage, the watchword and
motto of that party. ... It must feel and constitute
itself as a party entirely distinct and separated from the
Progressive (Liberal) Party; it must nevertheless support
the Progressive Party in those pomts and questions in
which the interests of the two parties are identical, but turn
its back upon it and actively oppose it as often as it aban-
dons these interests." '

When the English Reform League was organized for
the purpose of securing much- needed reforms in the mode
of parliamentary elections, Karl Marx and other members

' Ferdbaod Lassalle's "Reden und Scbriften," Bernstein Rcvisioa,
, Vol. II, p. 413.

I80 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

of the General Council of the International Workingman's
Association took active part in the deliberations of that
body together with the bourgeois members of other
progressive political parties, and in Belgium, Denmark
and Sweden the Socialist Party has at different times for-
mally entered into political alliances with other parties
upon the common platform of suffrage extension.

But all such socialist alliances with bourgeois parties,
whether made for the purpose of suffrage reform or for
any other political object, are never permanent. They
are made for a special purpose and are dissolved as soon
as that purpose is accomplished.

"We social democrats," said Bebel at the International
Socialist Congress of Amsterdam, in 1904, "are broad
minded enough to accept from our adversaries all con-
cessions we can obtain from them, when they offer us some
real benefit in order to secure our support to-day for the
government, to-morrow for the liberal parties, the day after
even for the party of the center, which makes a special
bid for the workingmen's votes. But the hour after we
combat them all, the center, the government and the
liberals, as our permanent enemies. The bottomless
chasm which separates us from the government as well as
from all parties of the bourgeoisie is not forgotten for a
minute." ^

In the countries where an absolute majority is required
for election to parliament, and a second ballot thus often
becomes necessary to determine the choice in certain
districts, the Socialist parties frequently enter into agree-
ments with other parties for the support of their mutual

' "Sixii^me Congr&s Sockliste Inlernatiooal," Compte-Rendu Aiia-
lytique, Brussels, 1904, p. 88.

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

iSi

candidates as against the candidates of other parties, on
the second ballot. While the excuse for this seeming
digression from non-compromising socialist tactics is
obvious, the Sociahst parties of Germany and other coun-
tries have repeatedly endeavored to abolish this practice,
but with Kttle success; the socialist voters as a rule insist
on exercising their suffrage on all occasions, and the watch-
word of abstention in any election has never met with their
general approval.

In the United States, in which there are no political or
economic remains of a feudal system, hardly any restric-
tions upon universal manhood suffrage, and no second
ballots in general elections, there seems to be no reason or
excuse for any deviation from the general socialist prin-
ciple of absolutely independent poUtics, and the socialists
of America have in fact on every occasion declared them-
selves against all forms of pohtical combination or co5pera-
tion with other parties.

ParliamentaTy Tactics of the Socialist Party

The first entry of socialists into parliamentary politics
was characterized by the same diffidence and misgivings
that had marked then: early participation in electoral

Thus, when the first socialists were elected to the old
North German Diet, so shrewd a party leader as Wilhelm
Liebknecht advocated a purely negative attitude on the
part of the socialist deputies towards the positive work of
Parliament. "My personal opinion," says he, "was that
our elected representatives should enter Parliament with
a protest, and withdraw immediately, without, however,

582 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

surrendering their credentials. With this opinion I re-
mained in the minority; it was decided that the repre-
sentatives of democracy could utilize every opportunity
they might deem appropriate, in order to emphasize in
the 'Diet' their attitude of negation and protest, but that
they should keep aloof from all practical parliamentary
proceedings, because any participation in such proceed-
ings would imply a recognition of the North German
Union and of Bismarck's policies, and might tend to obscure
the fact that the struggles in the 'Diet' are but ^ctitious
struggles and a mere farce," '

These negative tactics were steadfastly adhered to
during the first two sessions of the North German Diet,
but already the next session witnessed a spontaneous de-
parture from the rigid rule, when several socialist deputies
took the floor in the first parliamentary discussion on the
subject of governmental labor regulation. And the so-
cialist tactics of parliamentary abstinence have since
gradually but definitely given way to the policy of watchful
and energetic parhamentary activity. The socialist depu-
ties in the European parliaments have preserved their
uncompromising attitude of "negation and protest"
practically on the sole subject of the budgets of their respec-
tive governments ; they vote almost uniformly against their
approval, arguing that as representatives of the working
class they cannot consistently grant to capitalist govern-
ments the means to maintain a class state, which in almost
all cases includes a standing army." In all other matters,

' "Ueber die politische Stellung der Sozial democratic," p. 13. Com-
pare also, Robert Hunler, "Socialists at Work," New York, 1908, p. an.

'Recently a strong apposition hasdeveloped in the ran Its of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany to (he continuance ot the party's tradi-
I tional attitude of protest against the budget.

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS 183

nowever, the socialist groups in the parliaments of Europe
are among the most active and alert: the socialist deputies
are never tired of introducing legislative measures for the
betterment of the social, political and material conditions
of the workingmen, for the curtailment of capitalist ex-
ploitation, and for the advancement of true social progress.

Thus at the convention of the Socialist Party of France,
held at Reims in 1903, the parliamentary representatives
of the party reported that they had introduced during
the preceding session of parliament no less than forty-
six legislative bills, the principal provisions of which
dealt with the following subjects: the guaranty of se-
crecy and liberty of the ballot; the suppression of the
religious budget; the old-age pension; the repeal of the
laws against vagabondage; the right of government and
municipal employees to strike; the monopoly of sugar
refineries; the enactment of a labor code; the abolition
of the trucking system; the abolition of private employ-
ment bureaus; theamendment of the laws on trade unions;
the abolition of the standing army; the creation of a
department of labor; the introduction of the initiative and
referendum in legislative matters; the freedom of hunting
and fishing, and the insurance of workingmen against
accidents/

In the session of the German Diet of 1900-1901, the
representatives of the Social Democratic Party introduced
bills for the amendment of the industrial courts act ; for
tenement house regulation and inspection; for the crea-
tion of a national department of labor and of a national
factory inspection bureau; for the limitation of the work-

' "Parti Socialiste de France," Comple-Rendu du Deuw&me CongrtB
National, Teau i Reims, September 17-39, 1903, p. 38.

I 184 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

day of all employees in industrial, commercial and other
occupations and pursuits, to ten hours; for the prohibition
of employment of children under the age of fourteen
years; for the extension of legal protection to working-
women, especially those pregnant or in childbed; for the
prohibition of the manufacture, import and export of
matches with white phosphorus; for the extension of
the rights of assembly, organization and coalition; for
the extension and guaranty of the liberty of the press;
for the abolition of the offense of Ifese majesty ; for the
immunity of members of parliament from arrest during
parliamentary sessions; for enforcing the responsibility
of the Imperial Chancellor to the Diet, and for the reap-
portionment of parliamentary electoral districts in accord-
ance with the increase of the population.'

We have chosen these instances of proposed socialist
legislation from the two countries in which the socialist
parliamentary groups are the oldest and have had ample
time to settle down to fixed parliamentary practices, for
the reason that the wide and varied scope of these pro-
posed measures is typical of the socialist activity in the
parliaments of all other European countries. Besides the
proposed laws of the character of those mentioned, there
are numerous other radical measures advocated most
uniformly and persistently by socialists in parliaments,
among them bemg those providing for a graduated in-
I come and inheritance tax.

But the cEfort to initiate legislation does not by any
means exhaust the parliamentary work of the socialists.

' " Pratokoll ijber die Verhandlungen cles Parteitages dcr Sozialdcmo-
kiatischen Fartei Deutstb lands," abgehaltea zu Lilbeck, September 23-
aS, 1901, p. 77.

■^H SOaALlSM AND POLITICS 1S5

The socialist deputies take part in the discussion on all
legislative measures of social import introduced by the '
government or other parties, supporting or opposing or
urging amendments, according to the nature of the pro- I
posed measure; they make full and sometimes very '
effective use of their right to interpellate the government
on its actions, attitude or intentions with respect to matters
or occurrences of public interest; they accept membership
in the various parliamentary committees, and generally
participate in all the detailed work of the parliaments.
Thus the attitude of the socialists towards the positive
work of parliaments has changed very radically within
the last few decades, and the change was by no means
arbitrary, but was brought about by the increased political
strength of the socialist movement. A movement may
well maintain a piu^ely negative and criticising attitude
so long as it is numerically weak and politically insignifi-
cant. But when the movement grows in strength and
extension and gradually becomes a recognized social and
political power, it can no longer remain at a dignified
distance from the actual and practical struggles of modem
industrial and political life — it is forced into the very
center of these struggles and is involved in all their details:
its progress becomes more persistent and aggressive, its
program and practical work become more detailed and
specific.

In 1867, when Liebknecht and his associates first formu- |
lated their rigorous program of pariiamentary abstention,
Germany was the only country that had socialist repre-
sentatives in parhament, and the total number of these
representatives was eight. To-day, after just forty years,
the socialist parties have over four hundred deputies in

\ l86 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

the national parliaments of sixteen European countries,
and hosts of representatives in minor legislative assemblies
and municipal councils all over the world.

The socialist deputies in every country constitute a
separate and independent parliamentary group, but they
freely support other parties in parliaments in such meas-
ures and actions as they consider to be in the interests of
the working class or in the furtherance of true social
progress. The difference between such political co5pera-
tion in parliament and cooperation or combination in
electoral campaigns is obvious. In parliaments votes are
taken upon concrete and single issues from time to time;
each party determines its stand on a given issue in con-
formity with its general views and the interests of its
constituents, and the parties taking a similar stand natu-
rally vote and act together on the particular issue. No
compromise or organic fusion is involved in the pro-
cedure. The socialists in parliament frequently accept
and support compromise measures, but only in cases
where the measures contain at least some positive benefit
to their cause; they do not indulge in the practice of po-
litical "swapping," by which one party often gives its
support to a measure which it would otherwise oppose, in
return for the similar support for its pet measures by the
other party.

Nor do the socialist representatives in parliament make
lasting or permanent alliances with the other parties for
any purpose.

When the famous "bloc republicain" was formed in the
t Parliament of France as a defensive and offensive union
[, against the monarchists and reactionaries, who were
I advanced to the foreground by the violent anti-Dreyfus

SOaALISM AND POUTICS 1S7

agitation, one wing of the socialist group, the moderates
or opportunists, joined the " bloc." But that policy proved
so unsatisfactory to the socialists of France, and met with
such decided criticism from the socialists of other countries,
that it was soon abandoned.

Another and much more mooted point of parliamentary
tactics presented itself to the socialists of Europe in recent
years. In 1899, the "radical" French premier, Waldeck-
Rousseau, conferred the portfolio of Commerce and In-
dustry on the socialist deputy, Etienne Millerand, and
thus for the first time in the history of modem politics
a socialist became a full-fledged cabinet minister. The
event came as a surprise to the socialists of France as well
as to the socialists of all other countries, and the wisdom of
Millerand's entry into the Waldeck-Rousseau cabinet, or,
stated in terms of the general principle involved, the wis-
dom of socialist participation in a bourgeois government,
for a time furnished the foremost subject of discussion in
the socialist press and in all socialist party circles.

The defenders of Millerand's course, who came to be
known as " ministerialists," saw in the entry of a socialist
into the government of the country a partial attainment
of that "conquest of the powers of government" which is
the final political aim of all socialist parties. The offer
of a cabinet portfolio to a socialist, they argued, is not a
free gift on the part of the government; it is a concession
forced from it by the growing strength of the party. It
is as much a legitimate object of political conquest as is a
seat in parliament, and the socialists having conquered
that high position in the administration of the affairs of
the country, would prove themselves inconsistent and weak-
kneed if they should shrink from its responsibilities instead

I l88 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

utilizing its great opportunity for tlie advancement of
their cause.

On the other hand, the ultra radical wing of the socialist
movement in France and other countries was utterly
opposed to participation of socialists in bourgeois govern-
ments under any and all circumstances. The powers of
government in a centralized state, they declared, cannot
be conquered piecemeal. As long as the dominant inter-
ests in parliament are those of the capitalist class, the
government must, on the whole, be a class government,
administered in the interests of the possessing classes and
directed against the classes of non-possessors, and a socialist
member of such a government is bound to become a tool
of the bourgeoisie in its struggles against the workingmen.
The socialist party can gain no positive benefit from the
membership of one of its representatives in a bourgeois
cabinet, but it may suffer incalculable harm by assuming
responsibility for the acts of a hostile government.

The views of the great bulk of socialists outside of
France on the vexed question were admirably expressed
by Karl Kautsky in a letter to the "ministerial" French
newspaper, Pelile Republique : * —

"The question whether and to what extent the socialist
proletariat may participate in a bourgeois government,"
writes he, "is a question of tactics, which must be an-
swered differently in different countries and at different
times, and which I do not dare to answer in absolute and
unconditional terms.

"In Switzerland and in England, such a participation
would seem to me possible; in Germany, out of the
question.

' Reproduced in Die Neue Zeit, igth Year, Vol. I, p. 37,

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

"But just because I cannot give an absolute answer, I
cannot assert that the principle of class struggle prohibits
a socialist from entering a bourgeois cabinet under all
circumstances.

"Under normal conditions a socialist wiio recognizes
the class struggle will be as little inclined to enter a
bourgeois cabinet as an atheist would be inclined to enter
a clerical cabinet' or a republican a cabinet of Bonapart-
ists. His activity in such a cabinet could in the long run
hardly have any other effect than to corrupt and to com-
promise him and his party.

"But I do not mean to say that there may not be ex-
ceptional cases in which it may sometimes be proper for
socialists to cooperate for a definite purpose with bourgeois
democrats in the same government against a common
enemy, without violating the prmciple of class struggle.
Such experiments will indeed always be dangerous, but
there may be possible situations which would justify
them."

The Millerand experiment has abundantly proved that
the exceptional situation of which Kautsky spoke did not
exist in his case, and the official career of the first socialist
minister has, on the whole, confirmed the apprehensions
of the "anti-ministerialists." The socialist parties in
France and other countries have now adopted the definite
policy of uniformly declining membership in cabinets,
and while there are to-day two socialist ministers in France
(Briand and Viviani) and one in England (John Bums),
the socialist parties of these countries disclaim all connec-
tion with or responsibility for them. Viviani and Burns
had ceased to be members of the Socialist Party long before
they accepted their portfolios, and Eriand was summarily

I
I

1190 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

expelled from membership in his party as soon as he
entered the cabinet. As showing the prevalence of the
fashion of appointing socialists to cabinet positions, it is
amusing to note that even Tsar Nicholas II could not
abstain from offering to a prominent Finnish socialist,
Mr, J, K. Karl, a portfolio in the Finnish cabinet. Mr.
Kari, formerly secretary of the Finnish Socialist Party,
accepted the offer, and was promptly read out of the party.
"What a strange pass our bourgeois republic has come
to at this day," exclaims Jean Jaurfes, " when cabinets can-
not live without calling in socialists, even when socialists as
a party deliberately decline to take office; when the repub-
lican majority not only turns to our model socialists to bring
about needed reforms, but even has recourse to the rene-
gades of revolutionary socialism to carry out effective
measures against the advancing hosts! The Third Re-
public utilizes our men of energy and even our traitors I" '

Political Achievements of Socialism

The practical political activity of the socialist parties
is, on the whole, of quite recent date. The social demo-
crats of Germany entered on their first electoral campaign
as far back as 1867, but for almost twenty years they
stood practically alone in the field of socialist politics-
Sporadic attempts at electoral campaigns were made by
socialists in Holland beginning in 1S80, in Italy in i88a
and in Denmark in 18S4; but as well-organized and con-
tinuous political parties the socialists entered the political
arena in France in 1885, in Denmark in 1889, In Sweden in
1890, in Italy in 1892, in Spain in 1893, in Belgium in

> The Indtpendent, New York, June ao, 1907.

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

191

1894, and finally in Austria, Holland and Norway as late
as 1897. In the United States the socialists nominated
their first national ticket in 1892. In some of these coun-
tries the socialists had occasionally engaged in municipal
and other minor campaigns somewhat earlier, but on the
whole it may be said that the average period of practical
and systematic socialist activity in politics does not exceed
twenty years.

This comparatively short space of time has by no
means been barren of positive results for the socialist
movement and the working class,

The parliamentary achievements of the socialist parties
may be divided into such reforms and measures as are
directly traceable to socialist initiative and such as are the
indirect results of socialist politics.

The reforms of the former class are few and rather
insignificant, as must naturally be expected in view of the
fact that the socialists as yet constitute but a small minority
in every parliament, and a minority generally hostile to
the rest of the house. Moreover, in several European
parliaments, notably in the German Diet, a fixed and
rather large number of seconders is required before a
proposed measure may be considered by the house; and in
most of such countries the socialist parliamentary groups
have not been, until recent years, numerous enough to
comply with such requirements, so that their activity was
of necessity limited to the support or opposition of measures
introduced by the government or by other parties.

Summing up the positive achievements of social demo-
cratic politics in the German Diet, Hermann Molkenbuhr '

' "Positive Leiatungen dei Sozialdemocratie," Die Neue Zeit, aslh
Year, Not. 37, 39 and 30.

192 THE SOQALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

claims some direct socialist victories in all the domains
of parliamentary legislation dealing with workingmen's
insurance, factory laws, industrial courts, the civil code,
protective tari£E and taxation. Taking the existing
German law on accident insurance as an illustration, he
shows, by an elaborate analysis of the origin of its
various provisions, that no less than twelve of its most
substantial amendments have been adopted on motion of
the social democratic party, while the party of the center,
which habitually poses as the champion of the working
class, has only two of such amendments to its credit,
the party of the government and the liberal union, each
one, the other parties having contributed nothing at
all to the amelioration of this important law. In France
the socialist deputies have initiated or secured the passage
of several favorable measures, among them laws reducing
the hours of labor of government employees, extending
the powers of municipalities, suppressing private employ-
ment bureaus, and several important amendments to the
accident insurance law. In Denmark the socialists in
parliament have, after persistent efforts of twenty years,
recendy succeeded in securing the passage of a law which
makes it incumbent on the government and municipalities
to grant considerable subsidies to labor organizations
formed for the support of their unemployed members.
In Italy, Belgium and Switzerland the socialist representa-
tives in parliament have at one time or another succeeded
in securing the passage of several measures of social re-
form, while in Sweden, Norway and Austria the socialist
parties have within recent years secured largely extended
suffrage.
Far more important, however, than the laws du-ectly

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

193

initiated in parliaments by socialist representatives, are
those numerous measures of social legislation which have
within the last two decades been passed by the parliaments
of almost all civilized countries as the indirect but never-
theless legitimate result of socialist political action. These
measures are as a rule taken by the liberal or even con-
servative parties bodily or with some changes from the pro-
grams formulated by the socialist parties, and are fathered
as original proposals of the opponents of socialism in order
to destroy the effectiveness of the socialist propaganda.
Far-seeing statesmen sometimes meet such "issues" with
apparent cheerfulness, even before they have acquired the
force of popular demands, and shortsighted governments
grant them grudgingly when the general ciy for them has
practically become irresistible. Prince Bismarck, as was
pointed out in a previous chapter,' frankly avowed that the
object of the broad social legislation inaugurated by him
was primarily to avert a popular revolution, and the greater
part of the social and political reforms inaugurated since
by the several parliaments of Europe clearly owe their
origin to similar considerations. In those countries of
Europe in which the socialist movement has attained
such political strength as to cause alarm to the parties of
the dominant classes, the latter regularly shape their
policies with special reference to their probable effect on
the socialist vote, and the " stealing of the socialist thunder "
is one of their favorite manceuvers, especially in time of
approaching electoral campaigns. Chancellor Von Buelow
has publicly admitted this fact for Germany, and it is
more than an accident that the golden era of social legisla-
tion in all other countries coincides quite closely with the
' "Social Legislfltion and Socialist Jurisprudence."

I 194 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

period of practical socialist politics; that countries in which
political socialism is weak, as, for instance, the United
States, are the most backward in the domain of social
legislation, and that the few labor laws occasionally passed
by the American state legislatures are so often nullified
by court decisions.

But all the parliamentary victories of socialism, direct
or indirect, are but a minor part of the political achieve-
ments of the socialist parties. Socialist politics is not
restricted to parliamentary elections and activity; it
extends to all minor divisions of the state in which the
administration is wholly or partly elective, to the landtags
of Germany, the cantonal councils of Switzerland, the pro-
vincial councils of other countries, the state legislatures of
the United States, and above all, the councils of munici-
palities. And it is the last- mentioned domain in which
the socialists have so far achieved their greatest practical
triumphs.

The powers of municipalities are, as a very uniform rule,
largely restricted by the state, and a socialist administra-
tion never has the opportunity to realize all or even a sub-
stantial part of its program within the scope of a municipal
government. But on the other hand the socialists, while
they have so far not succeeded in a single instance in con-
quering the government of an entire country, province or
state, have gained the absolute majority in the councils of
numerous municipalities in many countries of Europe and
within the very restricted scope of municipal powers they
have had the opportunity to experiment in practical
administrative problems.

Of the countries with a strong socialist representation
in the municipal administration, we must mention in the

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

I9S

first place France, where but one wing of the socialist
movement, the Parti Ouvrier Franjais, in 1904, had full
control of the administration of 63 municipalities and a
grand total of over 1300 municipal councilors in 174
cities and towns. The unified Socialist Party of France
has to-day about 3800 representatives and officers in
about 500 municipalities. The Italian socialists adminis-
ter over one hundred towns and cities and have represen-
tation in the councils of more than 1200 municipalities;
the socialists of Belgium have majorities in the councils of
22 municipalities and a total of 650 representatives in 193
towns; those of Austria had, in 1904, 526 representatives
in 178 municipalities; the socialists of Norway elected in
1907 over I too representatives in urban and rural com-
munities; those of Denmark have over 400 municipal
councilors, and the socialists of England and Sweden
have strong representations in the municipal administra-
tion of their countries. Even the Socialist Party of the
United States has at different times had the control of
the administration of several towns, and has about three
hundred mimicipal officers in the different parts of the
country.

The work and achievements of these socialist municipali-
ties vary in each country according to the special condition
of their inhabitants and the latitude of action allowed to
them by the centra! governments, but a pretty complete
picture of such work and achievements may be obtained
from a brief description of the main features of "municipal
socialism" in the countries where it is most strongly
represented.

From the country in which municipal socialism is
strongest, France, we have the reports of the mayors of

igfi THE SOQALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

several cities ' which afford an excellent insight into the
workings of "socialist" municipalities.

In Roubaix, a manufacturing town in Northern France,
of a population of about 125,000, the socialists were in
control of the municipal government for a number of
years. The first attention of the socialist council was given
to the task of properly bringing up the children of the poor.

"The child and its welfare, its protection against disease,
against want and against contamination, its training and
its culture," says Felix Chabrouilland, the socialist secre-
tary of the Roubaix municipality, in one of the reports
mentioned, "this has been the constant care of the socialist
council of Roubaix.

"The sociaJist officers began their work for the little
ones by admitting girl-mothers to the relief offered by the
bureau of charities, which up to that time had been piously
denied them. For the benefit of infants the socialist
officers provided a distribution of layettes to needy mothers.
Moreover, the bureau of medical assistance has been
reorganized, and the mothers can obtain without cost the
services of the doctor and the midwife,

"The child is bom. To whom shail the mother intrust
it if she must return to the factory?

" Before the socialists came into power, Roubaix had no
municipal creches (day nurseries). They contented them-
selves with subsidizing to a slight extent the work of private
creches.

"In 1894 the first municipal creche was started in a

' The reporta appeared originally in "Le Mouvcmeiit Socialiste" and
in "Le Socialiste"; they were translated into English and published
under Ihe title, "Socialists in French Municipalities," by Charles H.
Keir, Chicago, 1900.

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

197

rented building in the heart of a populous district. Some
months later $10,000 was voted for building another
creche, which, opened in 1896, deserves to be taken as a
model, A third is now building, and others are under
construction. Children are received in the municipal
creches without any charge.

"The resolution establishing restaurants for school
children was passed by the socialist council on the first day
of its official existence. These restaurants, the cost of
which is borne by the school fund, are open every school
day of the year. The great majority of children are ad-
mitted without charge. The children enrolled as paying are
charged fifteen centimes a meal in the kindergartens and
twenty centimes in the primary schools. Since 1892 the
school restaurants of Roubaix have served 2,818,601 meals,
of which only 20,402 were paid for. The meal consists
of a soup, a plate of meat with vegetables. So grammes of
bread and a glass of beer.

"To give children food of the first quality is an excellent
thmg. But some of them lack sufficient clothing. Since
the socialists have replaced the reactionaries in the mayor's
office, the bureau for clothing school children has distrib-
uted to the poor children in the secular schools 157,617
pieces of clothing, — trousers, shirts, dresses, caps, pairs
of stockings or of shoes, etc.

"By the terms of an agreement made in 1897 ^^^ ^^~
newed in 1900, the city of Roubaix sends to the seaside
hospital of Saint -Pol -sur-Mer, a little place near Dunkirk,
the children from its common schools who are enfeebled,
anemic — in a word, ' candidates for disease,' whose
delicate constitution may be restored by the good effects
of a sojourn at the seashore. These children are sent

t.lgS THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

during the summer season, from April 15 to October 1
and remain a month at the sanitarium. Each <
is composed of not less than 100 children nor more than
160, and their only duty while at the seashore is to take
deep breaths of fresh air, play in the sunlight and improve
in health. No classes, no lessons, no discipline other than
what a parent would impose, but watchful care. Already
i86g little 'candidates for disease,' boys and girls, have
been helped by a month at Saint-Pol. There is no doubt
on the part of any one acquainted with the facts but that
the benefit to the children, moral as well as physical, has
been great."

The socialists of Roubaix also largely extended and im-
proved the common school system of the town by estab-
lishing a number of new classes, introducing courses of
manual training, etc.

Next to the all-important subject of education, the so-
cialist administration of Roubaix bestowed the greatest care
upon the matter of public health and the support of the
poor. It established municipal bathing houses and dis-
infecting plants as well as municipal bakeries and kitchens.
In its bakeries it baked its own bread for the poor of the
town, and distributed it freely at the homes of the latter,
while its kitchens provided all needy families with whole-
some food, at the lowest possible price.

In addition to this, the socialist municipality paid a
pension of 120 francs a year to the aged poor of cither sex
living at home ; it provided a number of cottages for widows
with little children to care for, established a bureau for
free legal advice and built a new hospital for the sick.

The socialist administration of Roubaix largely benefited
the mimicipal employees, whose hours of labor were re-

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

199

duced to eight per day and whose wages were substantially
increased, and it endowed the theaters and the scientific
and artistic societies of the town more liberally than its
bourgeois predecessors had done.

In the still larger city of Lille, which was likewise
under socialist control for a number of years, the mu-
nicipal reforms introduced by the socialists bear a
general resemblance to those of Roubaix, except that
some of them, particularly those relating to sanitary
measures and hygienic supervision, were carried out on a
larger scale, A notable feature of the socialist administra-
tion of Lille was the promotion of the fine arts and higher
education among the poor. The school of fine arts was
reorganized on a higher and more ef5cient plane; the
municipal theater was frequently opened to the workers,
and by agreement with the management of the theaters in
the city, the administration received four hundred free
seats at each performance, which were distributed among
the workingmen; popular concerts and lectures were
periodically arranged at the expense of the city, and liberal
prizes were awarded to poor students of recognized ability.

The examples of Roubaix and Lille are typical for all
other municipalities under socialist control in France.
In almost all cases the care of the children, the public
health, the assistance of the poor and the legal protection
of the workingmen are the prime concern of the admin-
istration.

The socialists of France ascribe but a secondary im-
portance to the municipal ownership of street cars, tele-
phones, etc., although wherever possible, they regulate the
rates of such public service concerns and sometimes even
operate them as municipal enterprises.

I
I
1

200 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

With all their reforms, the socialist municipalities in
France are as a rule far from being extravagant or reckless
in their expenditures, and their balance sheets usually show
a. substantial surplus. The taxes are shifted, as much as
possible, from the poor to the wealthy.

In Belgium the powers of the municipal administration
are even more limited than in France — the mayor of the
cily is appointed by the king, and the decisions and ordi-
nances of the municipal council are subject to the veto of
the "deputation permanenle," a bureau of the provincial
parliament and of the king. Under these circumstances
the socialists in Belgian town and city councils have natu-
rally not been able to introduce very radical innovations
in the municipal administration of the country. Thus the
principle of the progressive income tax for the raising of
municipal revenues has repeatedly been adopted by the
councils of socialist municipalities, and has been vetoed
by the government as often as adopted. Among the first
tasks of a socialist municipality in Belgium is the improve-
ment of the conditions of the workingmen in its employ.
A fixed minimum wage, a fixed maximum workday, and
insurance against accidents are almost uniformly among
the first measures adopted by a new socialist administra-
tion in a Belgian town. The schooling of children with the
special features of free clothing, free meals and vacation
colonies plays as important a part in every socialist mimici-
pal administration in Belgium as in France, but in the
former somewhat more attention is being paid to the
mimicipal operation of street cars, gas, electricity, water-
works, etc.

The socialist municipal councilors of Belgium have or-
ganized a tmion for the study of municipal problems and

SOaALlSM AND POLITICS 201

the dissemination of information on affairs of municipal
administration, with a permanent bureau and a salaried
secretary, and their example has been followed by the
socialists of Holland.

The socialist municipalities of Denmark proceed sub-
stantially along the same lines as those of France and
Belgium. Speaking for the town of Esbjerg as a typical
example, the editor of the local socialist paper relates in a
recent report: " The Socialists hold 12 of the 19 seats in the
city council. Our first act, after having gained control,
was to assist the poor, and we have managed to make it
possible for all poor to avoid public charity.

"We then helped the hungry school children by giving
them a free noon-day meal, until the minister of the in-
terior prohibited the appropriation of the necessary means.

"We next had the food paid for by the free poor fund and
in turn appropriated money for the fund.

"Later, however, we formed a private organization,
which took charge of the feeding of the school children,
and strangely enough, the city council was now given
permission by the department of the interior to appropriate
the required money for this purpose.

"We have endeavored to improve the school system,
until we now have free and uniform education in all
common schools,

"However, other things have drawn public attention
toward Esbjerg more than these. The contractors
formerly had a solid organization and as a njle always
agreed on bids for public works, and then divided the
profits. The socialists soon put a stop to this. We em-
ployed workmen direct and bought our own lumber and
brick. We built a school and employed our carpenters

f.302 THE SCOALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

direct. Then we were boycotted. We could get no more
brick at the iiilns, and the team owners were forbidden to
deliver any material to the building. This strike lasted
half a day, after which we bought the required brick at the
contractors' own brick kiln,

"The employers' association, however, has since at-
tempted, hitherto without any success, to delay or even
stop all work undertaken by us,

"The anti-socialist minority has now resigned in a body,
in spite of the fact that they have been represented on all
committees, according to their number in the council."

The distinctive features of municipal socialism in Italy
are the reduction of the taxes on articles of food, the
increase of direct taxes, and the municipal subsidies and
support of labor exchanges and coSperative enterprises
conducted by trade unions, although the socialist admin-
istrations do not neglect any of the customary municipal
reform measures.

In the United States Wisconsin is so far the only state
in which the socialists have of late years had a substantia!
and growing representation in the legislature and in the
councils of some municipalities, notably in the city of
Milwaukee, In the state legislature as well as in the
Milwaukee City Council, they form minority groups,
but they have nevertheless been able to influence the actions
of both bodies in a marked degree, Mr, Carl D. Thomp-
son, a former socialist member of the Wisconsin State
Legislature, enumerates a surprisingly large number of
positive measures initiated by the Socialist Party and
passed by the city council of Milwaukee or the state

jislature of Wisconsin.'
' "The Conatructive Program o£ Socialism," Milwaukee, 1908.

SOCIALISM AND POLITICS

203

The achievements of socialist politics in the field of posi-
tive reform are thus not insignificant. But the socialists do
not overestimate them. They consider them as measures
calculated to brace and strengthen the working class in
its struggle against capital, but by no means as the be-
ginnings or installments of a socialist system.

The work of systematically rebuilding the economic and
political structure of modern society on the lines of social-
ism, can begin only when the socialists have the control
of the entire political machinery of the state, i.e., of
all the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the
government. As long as the socialist representatives in
modem legislative or administrative organs remain in
the min ority, the more radical and truly socialistic reforms
advocated by them, the reforms aimed at the dispossession
of the privileged classes, are bound to founder on the op-
position of the ruling-class majorities in the government.
The socialists can expect to carry out their program only
by a series of gradual and successive, but systematic and
uninterrupted measures, when they themselves are in
the majority in the government, either having carried a
majority of the popular vote in a successful election, or
having been placed in power fcy a popular rising. The
chief aim of socialist activity is, therefore, to develop the
numerical strength and political maturity required for the
ultimate conquest of the powers of government, and the
'supreme test of the success of present socialist poUlics is
the measure in which it realizes that aim. And it is in this,
their most important function, that socialist politics have
achieved their highest triumph.

For whatever might have been the significance of socialist
politics as a factor in securing immediate social reforms,

[ 304 THE SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND MOVEMENT

it certainly has been of transcendent importance in the
creation of the powerful national organizations of socialism.
It was the practical political battles of socialism, the
concrete attacks on the enemy, the definite issues and war
cries, the common victories and defeats that attracted mul-
titudes of European workingmen, and it is these that are
beginning to attract the mass of American workingmen to
the banner of socialism. If the number of socialist voters
of the world has grown from about 30,000 in 1867 to
almost 10,000,000 in 1908; if the socialists have become
a recognized factor in the public life of 25 modern na-
tions, having representation in the parliaments and ad-
ministrative orgajis of 16 of them; if the socialists have
elaborated a clear, detailed and sober program of social
transformation, and developed ia their ranks thousands
of thinkers, orators, statesmen, organizers and leaders,
the practical poUtics of the modem socialist parties is
largely responsible for these splendid results. Without
the unifying and propelling force of political activity, the
socialist movement tonday might not have advanced much
beyond the stage of the purely literary significance of the
early socialist schools or beyond that of a number of inco-
herent sects.

PART n

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Socialists and Social Reformers

Tot

e of the ti

t puzzlin

s of the

e outsidei

socialist movement is its attitude towards the modem move-
ments for social reform. The socialists are reformers.
The socialist program contains a large number of concrete
measures or "demands" for the progressive improvement
of our industrial, social and political institutions, and much
of the practical political activity of socialism is directed
towards the advancement of such reform measures.

And still socialists are often found reluctant to co-
operate with non-socialist reformers for the attainment of
specific reforms. Even when such proposed reforms are
apparently in line with the demands of socialism, the sepa-
rate movements for their realization are not seldom met by
them with indifference, sometimes even with active op-
position.

The socialists have on that account been charged with
narrowness and inconsistency, but these charges are based
on an entire misconception of the character of socialist
reforms. There is a vital distinction between the reforms
advocated by the socialists and those urged by the re-
formers of all other shades.

The non-socialist reform movements may be divided into
' two general groups; those inaugurated distinctly for the

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

benefit of the middle classes, i.e., the small farmers, manu-
facturers or traders, and those supported by ideologists of
all classes.

The movements of the former variety have for their in-
variable object the strengthening of the position of the
middle class as against the increasing power of large
capitalism. The measures advocated by them often con-
template the arrest of industrial development or even the
return to conditions of past ages. Among such "reform"
measures arc the restrictions on combinations of capital
and the provisions against suppression of competition-
Measures of this character are reactionary even though
in their formulation they sometimes coincide with working-
class demands.

The ideologists of the "better classes" represent a less
reactionary but not more efficient type of social reformers.
These kind-hearted but shortsighted gentlemen are
thoroughly convinced of the soundness of our social
system as a whole. They notice occasionally certain
social evils and abuses, and they endeavor to remove them
in what seems to them to be the most direct way. They
happen to encounter an appalling condition of poverty,
and they seek to allay it by alms. They notice the spread
of disease among the poor, and tliey build hospitals and
sanitariums. They are shocked by the tidal wave of crime
and vice, and they strive to lead the sinners back to the
path of righteousness by moral sermons and model penal
institutions. They find their elected representatives in
public office incompetent and corrupt, and they unite to
turn them out of office and to elect more efficient and
honest men. They treat each social abuse and evil as an
isolated and casual phenomenon. They fail to see the con-

INTRODUCTION

20g

nection between them all. For them, as for the late
German-American statesman, Carl Schurz, there is no
social problem, but there are many social problems.

The aim of all socialist reforms, on the other hand, is to
strengthen the working class economicaUy and politically
and to pave the way for the introduction of the socialist
state. The effect of every true socialist reform must be
to transfer some measure of power from the employing
classes. A socialist reform must be in the nature of a
working-class conquest.

The socialist reform measures, moreover, are all insepa-
rably and logically connected \vith each other, and only
when taken together do they constitute an effective pro-
gram of social progress. As separate and independent
measures, they would be trivial, and from the point of view
of the ultimate aim of the socialist movement, none of
them is alone of sufficient importance to warrant the con-
centration of all efforts for its realization.

The difference between the conceptions and methods
of the ideological social reformers and those of the social-
ists may be best shown by an illustration borrowed from
the domain of pathology. A number of physicians are
called into consultation on a grave case. The patient
suffers from spells of coughing, headaches and high fever,
His appetite is poor, and he is losing weight and color.

If the physicians are thoughtless and superficial prac-
titioners, they will regard all these indications as so many
separate and mdependent diseases. They will treat each
of the supposed diseases separately or they will have each
treated by a specialist in that particular branch of medicine,
Eut if a scientific and experienced practitioner be called into
the consultation, he will say to his colleagues: "Gentle-

SOCIAUSM AND REFORM

men, your diagnosis of the case is wrong. The patient
does not suffer from a complication of diseases. The
many supposed diseases which you have discovered are not
independent casual ailments; they are all but symptoms
of one grave organic disease — tuberculosis. If you suc-
ceed in banishing this organic disease from the patient's
system, the symptoms which you take for independent
ailments will disappear of themselves, but if you persist in
treating the symptoms without attacking the root of them
all, the patient cannot improve."

And so, likewise, it is with the so-called evils of society.
Our social conditions are not healthy and normal, our
social organism is ill. The abject poverty of the masses
with all its concomitant evils — sickness, ignorance, vice
and crime — is appalling, while the extravagant luxuries
of our multi-millionaires only serve to accentuate the utter
misery of "the other half."

The gigantic trusts and monopolies which have developed
within recent years, the periodic crises and chronic strikes
and lockouts, are proof of the pathological condition of our
industries, while boss rule, corruption and bribery mark a
similar condition in our politics.

To the superficial student of society these conditions
present so many separate "evils," each one independent
of the others, each one curable by itself. Hence our
charity organizations, anti-vice leagues and societies for the
prevention of crime; hence our "trust busters," single
taxers, municipal-ownership men and anti-corrupt-prac-
tices advocates; hence our social and political reformers
of all types and specialties.

The socialists, on the other hand, see a clear connection
and necessary interdependence between these evils. They

INTRODUCTION

regard them all as mere symptoms of one deep-rooted
disease of our social organism and do not believe in curing
the mere symptoms without attacliing the real disease.
This disease the socialists find in the imhealthy organiza-
tion of our industries, based on the private ownership of
the means of production and distribution.

Poverty is the direct result of capitalistic exploitation,
and ignorance, vice and crime are poverty's legitimate
children. To maintain its rule, capitalism must dominate
government and public sentiment, hence the constant
incentive for the ruling classes to corrupt our politics, our
press, pulpit and schools.

The ultimate aim of the socialist movement is to convert
the material means of production and distribution into the
common property of the nation as the only radical and
effective cure of all social evils. But this program does
not imply that the socialists propose for the time being to
remain inactive, complacently expecting the dawn of the
millennium.

The scientific physician in our illustration, after having
made his diagnosis, does not idly sit by expecting the
coming of the day when the dread disease shall suddenly
disappear. He proceeds to the proper course of treat-
ment forthwith. By a systematic process of strengthening
his patient's physique, by increasing his powers of resist-
ance, he gradually restores his patient's health. In the
course of the treatment he does not disdain palliatives
calculated to give temporary relief, but all his remedies
are strictly consistent and coordinate, and are applied
with the ultimate object constantly in view — the destruc-
tion of the mortal germs of the organic disease.

And the socialists proceed in a similar manner. They

SOaALISM AND REFORM

seek to prepare the people for the radical change of the
industrial basis of society, by a systematic and never-
ceasing course of education, training and organization,
but in the meantime they do not reject temporary reform.
They favor every real progressive measure, and work for
such measures wherever and whenever an opportunity
offers itself to them. But all the socialist reforms are con-
sistent parts of their general program; they all tend in one
direction and serve one ultimate purpose.

To the ordinary social reformer, on the other hand, each
evil is an evil by itself to be ciu-ed without change of the
system which produces it, and hence his "practical"
reforms are doomed to failure. The charity worker may
bring temporary relief to a few hundred poor, a mere atom
in the world of poverty, but he cannot check poverty;
the moral crusader may "save the souls" of some fallen
women and men, but as long as the conditions which drive
them into vice and crime remain unchanged, he cannot
stamp out vice or crime; the political reformer may suc-
ceed in a certain campaign, and defeat the corrupt "boss"
or divorce the legislature from the corrupting lobby, but
the next campaign will find a new "boss" at the head
of his party and a new host of capitalist agents in control
of the legislature as long as the industrial conditions
which breed corruption in politics continue. Just as the
middle-class reformers are reactionary and Utopian, the
ideological reformers are, as a rule, superficial and ineffec-
tive, and the socialists can, therefore, gain nothing by a
union with either.

From this analysis of the aims and nature of socialist
reforms it will be readily seen that socialism cannot attach
an equal importance to all the numerous reform measures

INTRODUCTION 213

agitated in our days. Its relation to each of such measures
depends on the special character of that measure and its
efficiency as a weapon in the class struggle. In the
following chapters we will endeavor to deal with the
subject from that point of view. For the convenience of
treatment, we will group the most popular reforms imder
five main heads, and we will consider the character,
achievements, and rdle in the socialist program of each
reform group in a separate chapter

CHAPTER n

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

Industrial Reform

Under this general title we will include all direct efforts
to improve the present economic conditions of the wage
laborers, to diminish the degree of their exploitation and
to strengthen their position in the struggles with their
employers.

The specific movements coming under this head are those
for the improvement of labor conditions and other measures
commonly designated as factory reform; the reduction of
the hours of work, the abolition of child labor, the regula-
tion of woman labor and all other progressive movements
represented by the trade imions and the cooperative so-
cieties of workingmen.

The socialists attach the greatest importance to all
reforms of this character. They realize that the task of
transforming the modern capitalist society into a socialist
commonwealth can be accomplished only by the conscious,
systematic and persevering efforts of a working class
physically, mentally and morally fit for the assumption of
the reins of government, and not by a blind revolt of a
furious and desperate rabble. Every measure calculated
to remove from the workingman some of the cares and
imcertainties of his material existence, to improve his health

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

2IS

and spirits, to give him some measure of leisure, and some
time for thought and study, is bound to enhance his general
intelligence, his interest in social affairs and in the prog-
ress and welfare of his class. The adherents of socialism
principally recruit themselves from among the better
situated classes of the workmgmen, and the socialist efforts
to raise the economic level of the working class are an
organic part of the socialist movement, an indispensable
condition of its progress and ultimate triumph.

Factory Reform

The beginnings of factory legislation are to be found in
the classic country of modem capitalism, England, where
Parliament as early as 1802 adopted the bill introduced
by Sir Robert Peel for the protection of the apprentices
employed in cotton mills. The measure was called forth
by the inhuman conditions in the English cotton mUls,
into which thousands of orphans and pauper children of
the most tender ages were bound out by the parishes under
the old Elizabethan "Apprenticeship Act," without re-
striction on their hours of labor and without provisions
for then: health and education. These unfortunate chil-
dren were forced to work up to fifteen hours a day, and
were crowded in penl-up, unsanitary buildings adjoining the
factory. They were ill-clothed and underfed. They were
growing up under conditions of physical, mental and
moral degeneracy, and it was the menace to the future
of England's laboring population implied in these con-
ditions which secured the passage of the Peel act.

Viewed from the standpoint of modem conceptions, the
act of 1802 was no great achievement. It limited the

zi6

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

■workday of the cotton mill apprentices to twelve hours, and
compelled the mill owners to clothe their apprentices and
to give them a certain limited school instruction. But
the great significance of the act lies in the fact that it was
the first to break down the bourgeois doctrine of non-inter-
ference by the state in the industrial relations of its citizens.
It created the "precedent," so indispensable to the Anglo-
Saxon mind; it opened the door to factory legislation.
And slowly but steadily the principle of state protection
for factory workers grew in scope and extension. In
England the law of 1S02 was followed first by the timid
amendments of 1819, 1835 and 1833, and then by the bolder
measures of the latter half of the last century, until factory
laws became a regular and important function of parlia-
mentary legislation. Starting with the regulation of the
labor of apprenticed children, they gradually extended their
operation to the "free" working children, then to working
women, and finally to all factory workers.

From England the principle of factory legislation spread
to the United States, Germany, France and Switzerland,
and finally it established itself in all industrial coimtries.

"Looking broadly now to labor legislation as it has
occurred in this country," says Mr. Carroll D. Wright,
speaking of factory laws in the United States, " it may be
well to sum up its general features. Such legislation has
fixed the hours of labor for women and certain minors in
manufacturing establishments; it has adjusted the con-
tracts of labor; it has protected employees by insisting
that all dangerous machinery shall be guarded; ... it
has created boards of factory inspectors, whose powers and
duties have added much to the health and safety of the
operatives; it has in many instances provided for weekly

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

217

pajTnents, not only by municipalities, but by corporations;
. . . it has regulated the employment of prisoners; pro-
tected the employment of children; exempted the wages
of the wife and minor children from attachment; estab-
lished bureaus for statistics of labor; provided for the
ventilation of factories and workshops; established indus-
trial schools and evening schools; provided special trans-
portation by railroads for workingmen; modified the com-
mon-law rules relative to the liability of employers for
injuries of their employees; fixed the compensation of
railroad corporations for negligently causing the death of
employees, and has provided for their protection against
accident and death." '

In reading this seemingly large schedule of labor laws it
must, of course, be borne in mind that it enumerates and
combines all principal measures enacted in the different
states of the Union, and that hardly any single state can
boast of a labor code containing them all. On the other
hand, however, it must also not be forgotten that the
United States is one of the backward countries in the
matter of factory legislation, and that many countriffi of
Europe have gone considerably farther in that direction.

But even in the most advanced countries, factory legisla-
tion is, on the whole, only in its infancy, and its practical
achievements are insignificant compared with what still
remains to be done in order to make the work of the factoiy
hand tolerable and safe.

The beginnings of factory legislation were thus intro-
duced by the bourgeoisie at a time when the labor move-
ment had hardly attained the power to speak for itself.
The first labor laws were brought about partly as a result
' "Industrial Evolution of the Uaited States," pp. tgi, 393.

[aiS

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

of the struggles between the hostile divisions of dominant
classes, each of whom courted the support of the working-
men, but probably to a larger extent as a measure of hygiene
intended to check the physical degeneration of the working
class, whose misery had become so great as to threaten the
future of the nation. And it is very significant that Peel's
pioneer measure in the domain of factory reform was
entitled, "A bill for the preservation of the health and
morals of the apprentices employed in cotton mills."

In some instances, notably in Prussia, the first measures
of protective labor legislation were introduced by the
rulers as a military necessity, "Thus," relates Adolf
Braun, "in an address to Frederick William III in 1836,
it was reported that the factorj- districts were unable to
furnish their full quota of soldiers for the army. Shortly
thereafter the first Prussian Labor Law, that of March 9,
1839, was enacted. Children under the age of nine years
were excluded from work in factories and mines; chil-
dren under sixteen years were forbidden to work nights or
Sundays or more than 10 hours on workdays." '

But with the growth of the labor movement and the
general improvements in labor conditions brought about
by it, the dominant classes have no longer any interest in
the protection of the wage workers against the exploita-
tion of their employers, and the task of developing and ex-
tending factory legislation falls entirely on the organized
workingmen.

Shorter Workday

\ Prior to the development of modem factory industry,

' the normal workday of the artisan was one of compara-

' Adolf Braun, "Zum Achtstundentag," Berlin, igoi, p. 14.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

219

lively short duration. Speaking of pre-capitalistic Eng-
land, Thorold Rogers ' asserts that it was one of eight
hours, and his assertion is backed by an abundance of

. proof.

But with the gradual disappearance of the easy-going
artisan of media;val times, and the advent of capitalist
production, the length of the workday and intensity of
labor grew steadily, reaching the high-water mark to-
wards the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
inetcenth century. The golden era of machine invention
stimulated production and developed factory industry with

' an impetuous suddenness and in immense proportions.

I The ready urban workmen were totally insufficient for the
new needs of capitalist industry. Their wives and children
I their rural cousins were called into requisition, and
their hours of labor were advanced to the limits of physical
possibility. At the beginning of the nineteenth century
the ordinary workday of the English factory worker seems
to have been one of from twelve to fifteen hours, and in
seasons of special activity there was no limit to it at all.
The effects of such overwork on the physical, moral and
mental condition- of the factory workers were disastrous
in the extreme, and the demand for a reduction of the
workday was practically the first manifestation of the
incipient labor movement in England. The efforts to re-
duce the length of the workday have ever since remained
a cardinal part of the modern labor movement. These
efforts find their expression in the political agitation of the
working-class parties as well as in the struggles of the in-
dustrial labor organizations in their special fields, and in
both domains the labor movement has attained some suc-
' "Six Centuries of Work and Wages," p. 337.

SOCIAUSM AND REFORM

cess during the last century. In England the first law
limiting the hours of labor to lo per day, was passed in
1847. The law was loosely framed and poorly enforced,
and in 1850 it was superseded by a new bill limiting the
hours of labor to loj on week days and j^ on Saturdays.
This law originally applied to women, children and men
employed in the textile mills only, but its operation was
gradually extended by a series of new enactments to prac-
tically all factory workers. The hours of labor of textile
workers and of children in certain industries were subse-
quently reduced to 10 per day. In France the workday
of adtih males, when working together with women and
children, is limited to 10 hours, otherwise to la; in Aus-
tria, Germany and Switzerland, the normal workday of
adult male factory workers is fixed at 11 hours by law,
and several states of the American Union have limited the
duration of the normal workday by legal enactment.

Besides these general laws several countries have fixed
a minimum workday of varying length for certain special
classes of workmen, principally those engaged in the more
perilous and taxing occupations and those employed di-
rectly by the government.

These, then, are the rather meager results so far achieved
by this movement in the domain of legislation. But
far larger and more substantial gains have been made
in the same field through the efforts of the industrial
labor organizations in most of the advanced countries of
Europe, Australia and America. In many industries
in those coimtries, nine-hour and even eight-hour work-
days prevail.

In almost all modern countries the movement of organ-
ized labor to reduce the hours of work has crystallized in

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

the demand for an eight-hour workday, and the movement
is, therefore, generally known as the eight-hour movement.

The English trade unions seem to have advanced the ideal
1 of a general eight-hour day for workers of all sexes and
IS soon as their public activity was made possible by
the repeal of the Combination Laws in 1824; in Australia
an Eight-Hour League was formed in 1856, and a. similar
organization was caUed into life in the United States in
1869 under the leadership of Ira Stewart.

In the English-speaking coimtries, especially, the eight-
hour movement has assumed large proportions and impor-
tance. " Out of it," says William D. P. Bliss, " has grown
in America a so-called eight-hour philosophy, which is held
by its adherents to be a complete philosophy of the labor
movement and to furnish a program not to be looked at as
simply one plank in a labor program, but as a proposition
complete in itself, including most socialist propositions and
furnishing in its outline a solution of the whole labor ques-
tion." '

A shortening of the hours of labor is a measure of im-
mense importance to the working people, as a factor tend-
ing to improve their general condition of health and to
raise the average duration of theh- lives. Long hours o£
labor are bound to impair the alertness and vigilance of
the worker. It is a well-known fact that accidents occur
most frequently in the industries in which long hours are
the rule, and that they occur with greater frequency towards
the end of the workday than at its beginning. But aside
from accidents the duration of the workday has a very
direct and important bearing on the sickness and mortal-
ly of the working class. Dr. J. Zadek, who has made a

"The Encyclopedia o£ Social Reforms," New York and London,
^898, p. 3S.

! SOCIALISM AND REFORM

special study of this aspect of the problem,' relates many

striking instances of the effect of a reduced workday on the
health and life of the workers. Thus, after the lace workers
of Switzerland had succeeded in reducing their workday to
II hours, sickness among the employees decreased by 25
per cent. Up to 1871 the workday of the machine builders
of Great Britain was excessively long, and the average life
of the workers in that trade was 38^ years; in 1872 the
machine builders secured a reduction of the workday to
nine hours, and seventeen years later the average length of
their lives had risen to 48^ years I

The adoption of an eight-hour system of work, it is fur-
ther argued, would benefit the working class and advance
the general cause of human civilization in many ways.
By reducing the hours and quantity of labor of each indi-
\'idual, it would necessitate the employment of a larger
number of workingmcn to satisfy the demands of produc-
tion. The dread army of unemployed, the source of much
social vice and crime and the cause of much disastrous
competition in the labor market, would thus disappear.
A reduction of the hours of labor would result in a material
increase of wages not only on account of the elimination
of competition between workingmen, but also because it
would raise their standard of living. A short workday
would give to the workingman more leisure, i.e., more time
to live, think and enjoy, and such leisure would necessarily
increase his fondness for home and family life, broaden his
intellectual, social and political interests, and develop in
him greater needs and requirements. And it is the habit-
ual requirements of the workingman, his accustomed stand-
ard of living, that largely determine his wage. A shorter
' " Der Achtstundentag eine gesundheitliche Forderung," Berlin, 1906.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

223

I
I

workday would, therefore, also increase the consumptive
powers of tlie worliing classes, and thus stimulate industry
and largely remove the causes of periodic overproduction
and underconsumption with the resultant industrial crises
and panics.

The formal resolution adopted by the Boston Eight-
Hour League, and drafted by Ira Stewart, goes so far as to
claim: —

"That less hours mean reducing the profits and fortunes
that are made on labor or its results.

"More knowledge and more capital for the laborer;
the wage system gradually disappearing through higher
wages,"

The socialists do not concede to the eight-hour movement
all the importance that its most ardent adherents claim for
it. They do not believe that the wage system upon which
the entire present order is built can be abolished by a
gradual reduction of hours and raising of wages, and they
even do not admit that the general introduction of an eight-
hour workday would be effective in solving the problem of
miemployment. The shortening of the hours of labor,
as a rule, results in the greater intensity and productiveness
of labor, and it is the testimony of many writers on the sub-
ject that where a short workday has been introduced, it has
been found that the ordinary workingman, owing to his
better health, larger energy and more cheerful spu-its,
could do in eight hours practically as much work as he pre-
viously had done in ten. John Rae,' himself an employer
of labor and one of the most ardent and persuasive advo-
cates of the eight-hour day, largely bases his argument on
this observation. But the socialists fully adhere to the
' "Eighl Hours for Work," London, 1894.

f224 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

view that a reduced workday would result in an increase
of wages for the other reasons mentioned above, and they
attach the utmost importance to the effect of greater leisure
on the morale and intellect of the working class. Hence
they are among the most active and enthusiastic promoters
of the movement. In countries with a strong trade union
movement they support the eight-hour agitation ; in coun-
tries where the organizations of the trade unions are weaker
they lead the agitation. Every socialist platform invariably
contains the demand for a progressive reduction of the
hours of labor in keeping with the improved methods of
production, and the socialist representatives in parliaments
and other legislative bodies never miss an opportunity to
urge legislation in that direction.

One of the first resolutions adopted by the International
Workingmen's Association, which stood wholly under
socialist influences, at its first regular convention in 1864,
was to the effect that " the limitation of the workday is the
first step in the direction of the emancipation of the working
class," and that "the congress considers in principle that a
workday of eight hours' duration is sufficient," And when
the first of the new series of international socialist con-
gresses convened in Paris in 1889, it reaffirraed the resolu-
tion, and set apart the first day of May of every year for
international labor demonstrations in favor of an eight-
hour workday. "May Day" parades and "eight-hour
demonstrations" have since become prominent features in
the socialist propaganda of Europe and America.

CkUd Labor

Child labor as an incident of domestic and agricultural
pursuits has probably always existed, but child labor as a

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

225

regtJar and important factor in national industry is an in-
novation, a blossom of the modern capitalist system of pro-
duction. It was the machine that made child labor on a
large scale possible, it was capitalist competition that made
it desirable, and it was capitalist exploitation of the adult
workers that made it inevitable. The worst phases of child
labor are to be found in the classic country of capitalism
and in the classic period of factory development — in
England towards the end of the eighteenth and the begin-
ning of the nineteenth centuries.

Describing the conditions of child labor of that period,
Mr. William F. Willoughby says: —

"Children of all ages, down to three and four, were
found in the hardest and most painful labor, while babes of
six were commonly found in large numbers in many fac-
tories. Labor from 12 to 13 and often 16 hours a day was
the rule. Children had not a moment free, save to snatch
a hasty meal, or sleep as best they could. From earliest
youth they worked to a point of extreme exhaustion, with-
out open-air exercise or any enjoyment whatever, but grew
up, if they survived at all, weak, bloodless, miserable, and
in many cases deformed cripples, and victims of almost
every disease. Drunkenness, debauchery and filth could
not but be the result. Their condition was but the veriest
slavery, and the condition of the serf or negro stood out in
bright contrast to theirs. The mortality was excessive, and
the dread diseases rickets and scrofula passed by but few
in their path. It was among this class that the horror of
hereditary disease had its chief hold, aided as it was by the
repetition and accumulation of the same causes that first
planted its seeds. The reports of all the many investiga-
tions showed that morality was almost unknown. In the

P 226 SOaALISM AND REFORM

coal mines the condition of the children was even worse.
According to the report of 1842, on child labor, it was
estimated that fully one third of those employed in the coal
mines of England were children under eighteen, and of these
much more than one half were under thirteen. The facts
revealed in this elaborate report of over 2000 pages, devoted
chiefly to child labor in coal mines, would be scarcely
credible if they were not supported by the best of authority,
so fearful was the condition of the children found to be.
Down in the depths of the earth they labored from 14 to 16
hours daily. The coal often lay in seams only 18 inches
deep, and in these children crawled'on their hands and feet,
generally naked, and harnessed up by an iron chain and
band around their waists, by which they either dragged
or pushed heavily loaded cars of coal through these narrow
ways. In nearly every case they were driven to work by
the brutal miners, and beaten, and sometimes even killed.
Law did not seem to reach to the depths of a coal pit.
Thus these young infants labored their young lives out as
if condemned to torture for some crime." *

And John A. Hobson, commenting on these conditions
exclaims : —

"There is no page in the history of our nation so in-
famous as that which tells the details of the unbridled
greed of the.'^e pioneers of modem commercialism, feeding
on the misery and degradation of English children." ^

Nor were the conditions in other countries in the periods
of inception of great capitalist production much better.
"In the first decades of the last century," relates Dr.

' William F. Willoughby, "Child Labor," American Ecocamic Asso-
ciation. March, iSga,

' "Problems of Poverty," London, 1891, p. 184.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

227

I wnica c

^^H twelve )
^^^1 children

Herkner, "children of the most tender ages, some of them
four years old, were made to work in the industrial centers
of the Rhenish provinces, for a daily wage of twopence;
their workday lasted 10, 12 and even 14 hours, and often
they were made to work in the nighttime," '

And even in Switzerland children of six and seven years
were employed in the spinning mills, working continually
from midnight to noon or from early in the morning till
night.

The evils of child labor early attracted the attention of
the public-spirited men of all countries, and the first efforts
of all factory legislation were invariably directed against
this evil. But the process of legislative reform in this
field has, on the whole, been slow and quite ineffective.
It took the English Parliament fully seventeen years after
the adoption of the Peel law to pass the first act prohibit-
ing the employment of children below a minimum age in
factories, and that age as fi.xed by the law of 1819, was —
nine years ! The minimum age of cJiild workers in Eng-
land was raised to ten years in 1874, to eleven in 1891, and
at present it is twelve years. Of the other countries of
Europe, some have entirely failed to legislate on the
mini mum age of factory workers, and others have fixed
it at so low a point that it accentuates rather than relieves
the horrors of child labor. Thus, in Denmark, the law
forbids the employment of children under ten years. In
Belgium, Italy, Russia, Sweden and Holland the age at
which children are legally set free for factory work is
twelve years. Germany and France do not allow their
children to work in factories before the age of thirteen
4Ch EditioD, Berlin, 1905,

Heinrich Herkner, "Die Arbciterfrage,"
pp. 34. 3S.

228

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

years, and Austria and Switzerland before fourteen. In
the United States we are confronted in this, as in every
other domain of social legislation, by 46 different sets of
laws enacted in as many states. The minimum age of
juvenile factory workers varies from twelve to sixteen
years, but fovirteen seems to be the favorite point in most
states.

Somewhat more satisfactory results in the field of child-
labor legislation seem to have been achieved in the direc-
tion of limiting the hours of labor of the youthful factory
workers. In England children under fourteen years are only
allowed to be employed half time, and the hours of em-
ployment of children between fourteen and eighteen years
are limited to r 2 , with 2 hours' intermission for rest. In Ger-
many the hours of children under fourteen years of age in
factories must not exceed 6 a day, with an intermission of
at least half an hour, and children between fourteen and
sixteen must not work more than 10 hours a day, with one
hour's interval in the middle of the day, and half an hour
in the morning and afternoon. In France children under
sixteen may work 10 hours a day in factories. Sweden
limits the work of children under fourteen to 6 hours,
and under sixteen to 12 hours. In the United States the
hours of labor for children are variously fixed at from 8
to 10 per day.

Yet while the legal restrictions on child labor and on
the intensity of its exploitation have thus, on the whole,
been making slow and laborious progress, the evil itself
ha^ been steadily increasing and spreading.

Economically, morally and in every other way, child
labor is one of the heaviest curses upon the working class.
Originating as a last and desperate resort in the effort to

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

229

augment the insufficient income of the head of the prole-
tarian family, child labor has proved in the hands of the
capitalists one of the most effective methods for cutting
the wages of the adult workers. Instead of being a help
to his father, the child has become his competitor in the
factory. The wages of the factory children are ludi-
crously low, ranging from 25 or 30 cents a week in some
countries of Europe to about $2,50 per week in the United
States, and the total earnings of the working children are
rarely enough to make up for the losses in wages which
their competition causes to the adult workers.

And the moral cost of child labor to the working class is
incalculable. It robs the working child of all joys and
privileges of childhood, cripples his body, dwarfs his mind,
takes the very life out of him, and tlireatens to develop a
generation of dull, cheerless and resistless workers.

"The sucking out of the life juice from these helpless
and defenseless creatures, the destruction of all joys of
life right at the threshold of life, the consumption of the
seed of manhood right from the stem — that, more than
anything else, is the sin of the capitalist rule against the
present generation; it is also a criminal interference with
the future!" exclaims the eloquent Rosa Luxemburg,
speaking on the subject of child labor.'

Socialism, which ever strives for the highest physical,
mental and moral development of the working class, and
centers its hopes on the rising generation of workers,
naturally sees in child labor one of the greatest obstacles
to its progress, and combats it by all means at its command.

The socialists favor all legislation for the restriction of

' Quoted by Kate Duncker in "Die Kinderarbeit und ihre Bekarap-
I fiug," Stultgart, 190&.

230

SOCLAI.ISM AND REFORM

' child labor, and consistently support every measure tend-
ing in that direction. But unlike the ideologist champions
of the cause of child labor, who are of late developing con-
siderable activity, especially in the United States and in
England, they realize that the evil cannot be wholly cured
by mere laws for the abolition or limitation of child labor.
The alarming spread of child labor is largely a symptom
of the dire poverty of the working class. It Is true that in
some instances children are sent to work by their parents
out of thoughtlessness or cupidity, but these instances
may be safely set down as rare exceptions. As a rule the
parents of the working class feel very keenly the dreadful
sacrifice involved in the offering of their immature and
tender-bodied children on the altar of the profit-grinding
machine, and only the most implacable need will induce
them to do so. Speaking of the beginnings of child work
in the English factories, John Spargo remarks: "To get
children for the cotton mills was not easy at first. Parental
love and pride were ranged against the new system, deny-
ing its demands, ■ Accustomed to the old domestic system,
the association of all members of the family in manufacture
as part of the domestic life, they regarded the new indus-
trial forms with repugnance. It was considered a degra-
dation for a child to be sent into the factories, especially
for a girl, whose life would be blasted thereby. The
terra 'factory girl' was an insulting epithet. . . . Not

' till they were forced by sheer hunger and misery, through
the reduction of wages to the level of starvation, could the

' respectable workers be induced to send their chfldren into
the factories." '

It may be argued that if the workingman be deprived
' "The Bitter Cry o£ the Children," New York, 1906, pp. 130, 131.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

231

of the earnings of his children by legal enactment, he
would be compelled in the long rim to force up his wages
to a higher level, and thus to make up for the impairment
of the family income. And there is certainly much justice
in the argument. But its weakness lies in the proviso —
"in the long run." Few workingmen's families can stand
a decrease in their meager incomes for any length of time.

Capitalism holds the workers in the grip of a vicious
circle: the poverty of the wage-earning father sends his
child to the factory, and the competition of the child in
the factory increases the father's poverty and makes it
ever harder for him to dispense with the scanty additional
earnings of the child.

To cope effectively with the evil, it is necessary to attack
its very root and source, the poverty of the working class.
The child-labor problem is but one phase of the larger
labor problem and cannot be solved separately.

The socialist demand for greater restriction of child
' labor derives its main strength and effectiveness from its
; connection with the demands for other industrial reforms
contained in the socialist program.

Woman Labor

In its history, and partly also in its social effects, the
problem of woman labor is somewhat similar to that of
child labor, but its solution presents a different and con-
siderably more complex question.

With the introduction of the machine and of the factory

system, the personal training and physical strength of the

workingman rapidly lost their importance in the process of

, production. What the capitalist demanded was cheap

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

labor rather than skilled labor, and next to the labor of
the child that of the woman was and is the cheapest j
commodity in the labor market.

The working woman is in the majority of cases not
called upon to support a family, as is the workingman.
As a rule her earnings are but a subsidiary source of the
family income; her wages are intended only to add some-
what to those of her husband or father. The position of
the working woman in industry is furthermore not as per-
manent as that of the man or even the boy — the woman
often, though by far not as a rule, quits the factory on her
marriage. And finally, the work of the married woman
is not as steady as that of the man ; it is necessarily inter-
rupted by the periods of pregnancy and childbed. The
wants of the working woman are thus comparatively small
and her power of resistance is weak. Women rarely
organize into compact and permanent trade unions, they
seldom strike or revolt, and they are for that reason better
objects of capitalist exploitation than men.

"It is," observes Mr. Hobson, "the general industrial
weakness of the condition of most women workers, and not
a sex prejudice, which prevents them from receiving the
wages which men might get, if the work the women do
were left for male competition alone." '

In the earlier part of the nineteenth century, the ex-
ploitation of factory women grew so unbridled and their
treatment so brutal that the parliaments and legislatures
of the most advanced countries found themselves impelled
to take official cognizance of the situation, and to attempt
to cure some of the worst evils of woman labor by legis-
lative enactments.

' "Problems of Poverty," p. 158.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

233

The first measure in that direction was the English act
of 1843, which prohibited underground work for women
as well as for children, and that act was followed by several
other measures at long intervals, the effect of which was
to limit and regulate to some extent the labor of women
in industries. Similar laws were also enacted in other
countries, but on the whole these laws are even less radical
and effective than those dealing with child labor.

The wages of women workers were hardly affected by
these measures. They are still much below those of their
male companions in the factories, even though their work
may be equally efficient. Out of 782 instances selected at
random by the United States Commissioner of Labor in
1897, in which men and women worked at the same occu-
pation and performed their work with the same degree of 1
efficiency, men received greater pay in 595, or 76.1 per
cent of the instances, and their pay in these instances was
50.1 per cent greater than that of the women.

The average wage of the factory woman in the United
States is about S5 per week, while in Great Britain the
working woman earns about 11 shillings per week. But
it must be remembered that these averages are greatly
swelled by the higher pay of women in exceptional posi-
tions, and also that they apply to factory work only. The
female sweatshop and house workers receive much more
wretched pay.

It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the number
of women employed in the industries is growing steadily
and rapidly. In the United States, in which the woman
engaged m industry was a rare exception at the beginning
of the last century, the number of women engaged in
gainful occupation rose to almost 4,000,000 in 1890. In

234 SOaALISM AND REFORM

France there were 6,382,658 women engaged in the dif-
ferent industries of the country as against 12,061,121 men,
and in Germany the rapid growth of the number of women
engaged in the factories alone is shown by the following
eloquent figures : —

1895 664,116

1899 884,239

1904 1,119,713

1905 1,180,894

1906 1,244,964

These figures include the female children. In England
half of the grown-up women are, according to Mr. John
A. Hobson, wage laborers.

The socialists are not opposed to woman labor as such.
They recognize that woman occupies a legitimate and
lasting position in industry and that the growing im-
portance of her r61e in all spheres of the social, political
and economic life of modem nations is fully in keeping
with the march of social progress. But they combat the
special evils and abuses of woman labor. And these
abuses are many.

The woman, when not burdened with a family of young
children depending on her care and guidance, is just as
fit to work as the man ; but the woman with a large family,
and the woman in a condition of pregnancy, or immediately
after childbirtli, has enough useful and necessary work to
perform at home. Her work in the factory under such
conditions is not a proud assertion of the rights of woman,
but a pitiful and tragic surrender of her maternal duties
and feelings to tJie cruel exigencies of dire poverty. And
her work under such conditions causes incalculable physi-
cal and moral harm to her and her progeny.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

235

The small pay of the working women, furthermore, con-
stantly tends to drag down the wages of their husbands,
fathers and brothers to an even lower level.

The efforts of the socialists are, therefore, directed
primarily towards raising the wages of the adult male
worker, the father of the workingman family, to a point
where they would be sufficient to meet the necessary re-
quirements of all members of his family, including those of
his young children and their mother. Only thus can the
inhuman evils of forced woman labor be effectively cured.

For the remaining female workers in industry, the social-
ists demand equal pay for equal work, and they strive to
interest the working women in the organizations of the
workingraen, and to secure their cooperation in the strug-
gle for the improvement of the conditions of labor of both
sexes.

The abuses of woman labor and the exploitation of
child labor are logical and necessary accompaniments of
the competitive system of industry. It lies in the nature
of capitalism to stimulate competition in the labor market
by opposing sex to sex, age to age and nationality to
nationality, and as long as the system endures, its inherent
abuses cannot be entirely removed. Socialism alone
offers a complete cure for the evils of woman and child
labor. But even such imperfect and partial remedies as
may be secured under the present system will be effect-
ive only if obtained in pursuance of a consistent pro-
gram of labor reform in all of its branches and as a
result of a strong and planful movement on the part of
the workers organized industrially and politically.

136 SOOALISM AND REFORM

Tke Trade Union Movement

In their eEforts to secure radical and lasting industrial
reform, and we may add, in their expectations of the ulti-
mate realteation of their entire program, the socialists
thus rely not on their own strength, but also on the co-
operation of the industrial organization of the working
class. This industrial organization is represented chiefly
by the trade union movement, and the r61e of that move-
ment in the progress of industrial reform and the reciprocal
relations between it and the socialist movement, are ques-
tions of large moment in the practical work of socialism.

Trade unionism and socialism have a common origin,
I and are both the products and expression of an advanced
I stage of the class struggle between capitalism and labor.

In England, France, Italy, Australia and the United
States, the modern trade union movement preceded the
socialist movement; in Germany, Austria and Russia,
the trade unions are largely the creation of socialists, while
in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Holland, both
movements developed almost simultaneously. In the
Anglo-Saxon countries the trade unions have developed
a greater numerical strength than the socialist parties,
while in the countries of continental Europe the reverse
is true. On the whole, however, the total strength of the
two movements is approximately equal, as the following
figures taken from the leading countries will show ; ' —

' The figures for the trade union membership are taken from the
paper of Ijiuis de Brouckfere on Socialism and Trade Unionism sub-
mitted to the Stuttgart Internationa.] Congress, 1907, and those for the
socialist vote are largely compiled from the official reports of the varmua
socialist parties to th? same Congress. The Belgian socialist vote has,
k fince June, 1908, substantially increased. The figures for England,

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

c™

s^^y^

Tk«k Ub.o«

Great Britain

Belgium

Denmark

Sweden

Norway

German}'

Austria

Servia

Bulgaria

Italy

Spain

Holland

France

United States

342,10

500,000
76,612
26,083
24,744

1^41,948
30,000
10,000
30 1 -52s
9,000
65.743

I,I2opOO

423.09

1,866,75s
148,483
92,091

"4.935

18,600

1,822,343

322,049

5,°74

8,300

347.839

36,557

30,000

800,000

2,500,000

Total

7,222,82s

8.1.3,026

Stating the proposition in general and broad terms, the
trade unions fight the special and economic battles of the
workingmen, while the Socialist Party represents the gen-
eral interest of the wage earners in the field of politics.
But on closer examination the distinction is by no means
as clear and definite as it seems at first sight.

Every trade union represents primarily the interest of
the employees in its special trade, but under a highly
developed state of factory production the modem trades

Spain and Servia are estimated. Owing to the chaotic electoral system
of Russia the strong socialist vote of that country cannot be estimated.
Neither the socialist vote nor the trade-union strength are fully shown in
the above table, since a number of countries have had to be omitted
from it for lack of sufficient data. The total socialist vote is estimated
as exceeding 10,000,000; the total membership of the trade un
the world is about 11,000,000.

:a38 sociAUSM akd reform

' and industries have come to be so closely allied and inter-
woven, that the workingmen in any trade can rareiy suc-
ceed in their struggles unless they are supported by their
comrades in the allied trades and sometimes by organized
labor as a whole. The growing practice of "sympathy
strikes" is evidence of this fact, and the trade unions
tacitly recognize it by forming local, national, and even
international central bodies for the purpose of cooperation
and mutual support on a large scale. The interests repre-
sented by the whole body of trade unions thus gradually
become the general interests of the working class rather
than the special interests of the employees of particular

r trades.

I With the enlargement of the scope of the trade union
movement, the very character of the movement is trans-
formed : its economic battles partake of the nature of po-
litical struggles.

For the distinction between economic and political ac-
tion is one of degree and method rather than of kind and
substance. The efforts of the organized employees of a
given shop or craft to secure and maintain a reduction of
their hours of labor by the strength of their own organiza-
tion, are classed as economic struggles. The efforts of
the entire organized working class or a specific and uni-
form portion of it to secure and maintain the same reduc-
tion of work hours through legislative enactment, con-
stitute political action. As the trade unions in every
country grow in numbers and power, they pay ever greater
attention to the more general phases of the labor problem
and are thus drawn into ever closer contact with pohtics.
The trade unions of every advanced country are actively
engaged in the effort to secure legislation for the limitation

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

239

of child labor, the regulation of woman labor, the improve-
ment of the employers' liability laws, the safeguarding of
dangerous machinery and for the abatement of the count-
less other e\ils of modem factory work. And whenever
legislation is threatened which may be detrimental to the
interests of labor or tend to curtail the rights or the effi-
ciency of its organizations, the unions engage in an active
campaign of opposition to such measures.

"The distinction between the industrial and the political
struggles of the proletariat was only temporary," says the
well-known socialist theoretician writing under the nam
de plume of Parvus; "it was always rather superficial and
often fictitious; with the extension of the scope and power
of the strikes, it disappears entirely. Whoever tries to
exclude politics from the trade unions, must retard the
very development of the trade unions." *

The trade unions of continental Europe fully recognize
this political phase of their movement, and they frankly
ally themselves with the sociaHst parties of their coun-
tries in all political campaigns. In England the trade
organizations stubbornly maintained the attitude of non-
interference in politics until such time as they found their
very existence menaced by the legislative and judicial
powers of the realm. Then they constituted themselves
into a political Labor Party, which declared for inde-
pendent working-class politics and adopted a radical pro-
gram of political labor reform.

The only large body of trade unions which, at least to
some extent, still upholds the fiction of political indifference,
is that represented by the American Federation of Labor,
and that fiction is becoming so incongruous as to involve
' Parvus, "Der GcwerJiSchaltliche Kampf," Berlin, 1908.

r 240

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

the organization in the most ludicrous contradictions.
Thus, while a special clause in its constitution prohibits
any afElialion with political parties, and the favorite slogan
of the Federation is "No politics in the union," one of the
principal objects of the organization, as likewise stated in
its constitution, is "to secure national legislation in the
interests of the working people," and every one of its
conventions devotes entire days to the discussion of politi-
cal problems and demands. In the election of 190S, the
Federation unofficially supported the Democratic Party.
The American Federation of Labor is in politics just as
much as are the labor unions of all other countries, but it
is the only large labor body that has failed to organize
and concentrate its forces in one consistent pohtical labor
party, and prefers to scatter and waste them in the sup-
port of the political parties of the empioymg class.

Another distinction frequently drawn between the trade
union and the socialist movements is that the former stands
for mere improvements of the conditions of labor within
the frame of the present system, while the latter strives for
the entire abolition of the wage system. This distinction
is also more imagmary than real.

The object of all trade unions is directly or indu-ectly
to enhance the worker's share of the product, thus cor-
respondingly decreasing the share of the employer. No
limit is set to this process, and its logical conclusion, at
least in abstract theory, is the entire elimmation of the
capitalist's prolits — the socialization of industries. The
only difference between the socialists and the trade union-
ists on the point is that while all of the former clearly
realize this ultimate goal of the class struggle, many of the
latter do not. But even that is rapidly ghangmg. The

THE INDUSTRJAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

241

e unionists of Europe are as a rule permeated with the
I of socialism, and the understanding of that
philosophy gives them a clearer vision of their task and
makes their struggles more effective. In the United States
sociahsm is makmg its way among the trade unionists
slowly but steadily.

Thus the fields of socialism and trade imionism largely
encroach on each other, and the line of demarcation be-
tween the two movements is often blurred. Still it would
be a mistake to consider them as synonymous. Socialism
and trade unionism constitute together the body of the
modem labor movement, and the separation of the two
merely signifies a division of functions. But that division
is essential for the success of the movement as a whole.
The activity of the socialist parties lies primarily in the
poKtical field : they translate the economic struggles of the
working class into political action, formulate its general
demands, coordinate its special needs, and always em-
phasize its ultimate aim, while supporting the immediate
economic battles of the unions.

The functions of the trade unions, on the other hand,
are primarily directed to the sphere of industrial struggle.
They protect the individual worker in the factory against
the excessive exploitation of the employer, and they ad-
vance the general poKtical interests of their members
through the medium of the socialist parties. Beyond
these separate provinces there is, moreover, a large field of
action in which the labor movement can achieve success
only by the spontaneous cooperation of both of its
■wings.

The most striking instance of such joint action is the
political mass strike which has of late been resorted to by

I
I

|'24Z

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

I few extraordinary occa-

the workingmen of Europe c
sions to good purpose.

From this sketch of the objects and methods of opera-
tion of the two movements, it will be readily seen that their
relations to each other must be of the closest and most
cordial character. In Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and
Norway, the membership of the socialist parlies and the
trade unions is practically identical, and the two organiza-
tions may be considered as separate committees of the
same body created for the performance of different func-
tions. In Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy and Russia,
the two movements are very closely allied in all their
struggles. In England the Independent Labor Party, one
of the leading socialist organizations of the country, forms
a constituent part of Ihe political Labor Party in the same
way as do the trade unions. In France the party and
the trade unions sometimes quarrel, but it is always the
passing quarrel of lovers. In the United States alone the
great body of organized workingmen, the American Feder-
ation of Labor, has so far kept aloof from the socialist
movement.

Coaperative Societies of Workingmen

Another movement that has of late years developed
great strength, and is coming to be regarded as a factor of
growing importance in the struggles between capital and
labor, is the movement represented by the cooperative
societies of workingmen.

The origin of cooperative enterprises for joint produc-
tion, purchase, distribution and consumption of commod-
ities, may be traced back to the eighteenth century, but

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

243

the modem coSperative societies have as Httie in common
with their earlier prototypes as the trade unions have with
the old institutions of the masters' or helpers' guilds.

The cooperative movement of our day is a part of the
general labor movement, one of the manifestations, con-
scious or unconscious, of the general effort on the part of
the workingmen to lessen the exploitation of their class
by capitalism. The movement has developed within the
last fifty years, and it has attained general extension only
within the last two decades.

In this, as in many other practical labor reform
movements, England led the procession. The famous
society of the Rochdale Pioneers, the oldest of its kind,
was founded in November, 1843, when twelve poor weav-
ers met in the back room of a miserable inn, and agreed
to pay 20 pence a week into a common fund until they
should accumulate enough to start in business for their
Joint benefit. In a year their number had increased to 28
and their capital had grown to ;^2S. They rented a store
and stocked it with £15 worth of flour, and from these
modest beginnings the enterprise rapidly grew to one of
the most prosperous and powerful business institutions of
the country. In 1876 the Rochdale Society of Equitable
Pioneers numbered 8892 members, and had an invested
capital of £254,000; the year's business amounted to
;£305,ooo, and the society's net profits were ^£50,500.

Membership in the society is acquired by the purchase
of a share of stock of the denomination of ^^5, but that
amount may be paid in small weekly installments. Each
individual member may hold as many as 20 shares, but
no member has more than one vote in the meetings of the
society. Out of the net profits a dividend of 5 per cent

I
I

244

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

per annum is paid on the stock, 2J per cent is set apart for
an education fund, and the balance is distributed among
the members in proportion to the amount of their purchases.

In 1863 the great Cooperative Wholesale Society,
Limited, was founded as a sort of central agency for a
number of cooperative enterprises. In 1872 the year's
sales of that society already reached the enormous sum
of ;£i,iS3,i32. The society originally confined itself to
purchasing commodities at wholesale and sellmg them to its
members (individual associations) at retail, but gradually
it embarked in the field of independent manufacture,
and with its ready market and large capital its efforts in
that direction have been signally successful. To-day the
society operates extensive biscuit, soap, boot and clothing
factories, woolen and com mills, cocoa works and jam
canneries; it runs a large printing establishment, conducts
building operations, and has a fleet of its own in connection
with its shipping department. It has branches in several
of the principal cities of England and maintains purchas-
ing agencies in several other countries. It is on the whole
one of the largest establishments of the world. In 1905
its capital exceeded £3,300,030; its sales amotmted to
;£ao,785,469, and its net profits were £368,309.

The Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society is an
enterprise of almost similar magnitude, and a large num-
ber of other independent cooperative societies exist in
England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1907 the Central
Board of the Cooperative Union of the United Kingdom
received reports from 1566 societies having a total mem-
bership of 2,434,085, The aggregate sales of these socie-
ties exceeded £105,000,000, and their net profits were
over £12,000,000.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

24S

But notwithstanding its enormous business success, the
cooperative movement is less of a factor in the labor
struggles of Great Britain than in most other countries of
Europe. The British cooperatives are honeycombed
with middle class elements and middle-class notions.
They are conspicuously devoid of large class ideals, and
are held together principally by the paltry material bene-
fits of the movements.

In all these features the cooperative societies of Great
Britain stand in marked contrast to those of Belgium,
which are closely allied with the socialist and trade union
movements.

The oldest of the modem cooperative societies in Bel-
gium is the famous Vooruit (Forward) of Ghent. It was
organized in 1880 at the initiative of the socialist leader,
Edouard Anseele, and its first enterprise was a bakery in
a cellar equipped and operated with a capital of 84 francs
and 95 centimes. The undertaking was an immediate
success, and was enlarged and extended from year to year.
At this writing the amount of its annual business exceeds
3,000,000 francs, and its yearly profits are over 400,000
francs. The bakery produces over 100,000 kilos of bread
per week. In 1903 the Vooruit conducted four drug
stores, seven groceries, a bookbmdmg shop, a cigar fac-
tory, a foundry and one of the largest dry goods stores in
the city.

Its Feestlokaal, or assembly hall, is located in Rue des
Baguettes, in the most aristocratic quarters of Ghent. "It
was once the property of the most select bourgeois club of
the town," relate Destr^e and Vandervelde, "When the
members of the club found that it was too expensive for
I them, the workingmen of Ghent purchased it through the

11^6 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

intermediary of a dummy, and rents in Rue de Baguettes
at once dropped 50 per cent. In the gardens in which the
ladies of high bourgeois society had formerly promenaded,
hundreds of factory giris are now dancing on Sundays,
In the concerts the Marseillaise has replaced the Bra-
ban^onne; the red flag supplanted the tricolor, and
on the holidays of labor the peaceful bourgeois, looking
from behind their curtains, see the black columns of work-
ingmen marching through the quiet street like the torch-
bearers of the revolution," '

The next cooperative society of import^ce to be or-
ganized in Belgium was the Maison du Peuple {House of
the People) of Brussels, founded in 1882.

Of the history of this society Louis Bertrand relates the
following : " A group of worldngmen of all trades decided
to create a cooperative bakery. Each member promised
to contribute 10 francs in weekly payments of 25 to 50
centimes. In a few months Ihe society had 80 members
on its list and 700 francs in its treasury. These So mem-
bers needed about 120 loaves of bread of one kilogram
each per day. They hired a cellar containing a bake oven
at a rental of 35 francs per month. . . , Only one baker
was employed. In the morning he would bake his bread
and in the afternoon he would carry it to the houses of the
members. This was not an easy matter, for the mem-
bers lived in all parts of the city and in the suburbs. . , .
Gradually the number of members rose from 80 to 250.
At the end of four years it had 400 members. It was
necessary to rent a larger place and to install modem bake
ovens and a mechanical kneading trough.

' "Le Socialisme en Belgique," par Jules Destr^e et Emile Vander-
|. veldc, 2d EdilLon, Paris, 1903, p. 47.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

24;

■'In 1886 the cooperative hired a large hall for 5000
francs per year, and placed it at the disposal of the labor
organizations and socialists of Brussels. In less than ten
years the hall had become too small, and the cooperative
decided to buUd a new one." '

To-day the society counts about 31,000 members, which
an the basis of 5 persons to the family, makes about
105,000 consumers.

The Maison du Feuple operates the largest baking
establishment in Belgium, and sells over ten million kilos
of bread per year. The society besides conducts various
other enterprises, and its building, the new Maison du
Peuple, is a veritable palace of labor, costing r, 200,000
francs.

The cooperative society Progrhs, founded in 1886, is in
some respects even more influential than either of the two
described. Its region extends over the entire industrial
district between Charleroi and Mons, and its four mag-
nificent buildings erected in different parts of the district
axe the principal gathering points of the socialists and
organized workingmen of the neighborhood.

AH told, the number of cooperative societies in
Belgium m 1907 was 2582, Of these 630 were so-
cieties for distribution, 209 were productive societies,
31 were societies for cooperative dwellings, 52 were in-
dustrial and 1302 were agricultural credit associations.
The membership of the distributive societies consisted of
119,581 families, their aggregate sales for the year 1906
amounted to 31,174,552 francs, and their net profits for
that year were 3,035,940 francs.

The workingmen's cooperatives of Belgium are all

' "Histoiie de la Cooperative en Belgique," BiusseU, 190a,

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

affiliated with the Federation of Belgian Socialist Coop-
eratives, founded in 1900 principally for the purpose of
wholesale purchases. The rules of all societies thus
affiliated with the Federation are practically uniform, and
the constitutions of the societies expressly declare "that
the society is above all a political socialist group, and that
the members by subscribing to the constitution signify
their adherence to the program of the Labor Party."
The members of the cooperatives and their families form
the basis of the Belgian Labor Party, and in times of elec-
toral campaigns they constitute themselves into poHtical
committees. Around the cooperatives and in their spa-
cious halls are grouped the trade unions, the socialist or-
ganizations, the social and educational clubs of working-
men, and the editorial rooms of the socialist papers. The
cooperatives expend a considerable portion of their profits
on socialist propaganda in all forms and in the support of
the struggles of trade unions. In a word, the cooperatives
in Belgium are the center of the socialist and labor move-
ment. In the electoral campaign of 1900 they printed
and distributed at their own expense two million socialist
booklets.

The development of the cooperative movement in Ger-
many has followed a somewhat peculiar course owing to
special historical and political conditions. In the period
of the beginnings of the socialist and labor movement in
Germany, the problem of cooperative enterprises played
a very important rfile, Schulze-Delitsch, one of the heads
of the Liberal Party and an ardent apostle of the doctrine
of "self-help," headed a large movement for the organiza-
tion of voluntary cooperative societies chiefly for produc-
tion, as a complete solution of the labor question. It was

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

249

a middle-class movement, its theoretical foundation was
unsound and reactionary, and the design of its promoters
seemed to be to deter the working class from independent
labor politics. To this movement Ferdinand Lassalle
opposed his famous plan of cooperative productive asso-
ciations with state credit, a plan which involved the con-
quest of universal suffrage by the workingmen and the
democratization of the state, i.e., working-class political
action. The struggle between Lassalle and Schulze on
the issue of state credit as against self-help, assumed the
form of a struggle between socialism and liberalism. The
socialists concentrated their forces on politics, while the
liberals gained control of the voluntary cooperative move-
ment. Under the leadership of Schulze-Delitsch and his
successors the latter grew up, large in size, but weak and
inefficient in spirit. It laid the greatest stress on pro-
ductive associations, and encouraged associations for
credit, but regarded societies for distribution and con-
sumption with a certain degree of suspicion.

The socialists had but little esteem for the cooperative
movement under those circumstances.

But in the meanwhile the expiration of the ant i -socialist
laws in 1890 set free a large quantity of stored-up energy in
the radical workingmen of Germany. They inaugurated
a vigorous activity in all domains of the labor movement,
and among others they entered the ranks of cooperative
societies for consumption in large numbers. This influx
of socialists so perturbed the leaders of the conservative
cooperative movement that in 1902 they expelled by a
coup d'ilat 99 societies for consumption on the ground of
their social democratic tendencies. In May of the next
year these called a convention at Dresden which was at-

f 250 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

tended by representatives of 6zi associations for con-
sumption, largely composed of workingmen with socialist
tendencies. At that convention was organized the Cen-
tral Union of German Societies for Consumption, which
is now the leading organization in that field. Towards
the end of 1907 there were in Germany 2110 societies for
consumption, with a total membership of about 1,131,453.
Of these the Central Union represented 959 societies, with
a total of 879,221 members. The societies afiiliated with
it thus represented 77 per cent of the entire membership
of the German consumptive organizations. They em-
ployed 12,783 persons and conducted about 2500 stores,
with a total invested capital of 25,000,000 marks. Their
business for the year was 303,794,452 marks, and their
profits were more than 20,000,000 marks.

With the separation of the radical societies for con-
sumption from the liberal cooperative movement, the re-
lations between the former and the socialists grew closer
and more cordial, and to-day both work in complete har-
mony.

The cooperative movements in the other countries have
developed various degrees of strength and usefulness, and
their period of greatest growth lies almost invariably
within the last two decades.

In Italy a special feature of the movement is presented
by the cooperatives of the day laborers, who hire out their
joint work under contract, and subdivide it among them-
selves in separate g£ings, supplying the necessary tools
out of the common fund and sharing the contract price.
The effect of such cooperation is to eliminate the profit of
the padrone. In 1906 Italy had 2793 cooperative socie-
ties, doing a total business of over 600,000,000 francs.

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 251

Eight hundred and fifty-one of these societies were purely
consumptive, 454 were productive societies, 350 were
cooperative societies for credit, while the remainder con-
sisted of labor, agricultural and mixed societies.

In Sweden the object of cooperative societies is almost
exclusively joint farming and building. Out of the 2524
I cooperative societies reporting in 1906, all but 382 be-
I longed to that class. The character of the cooperative
F organizations in Finland and Holland is very similar to
I the organization of Sweden.

France had in 1904 about 5500 co6perative societies, of
which more than 3000 are agricultural associations. Aus-
tria, Switzerland, Holland and Denmark have also de-
veloped noteworthy cooperative movements. The United
States is the most backward country in this field.

Victor Serwy, at that time Secretary of the Internationa!
Socialist Bureau, computed that in 1901 there were 56,623
known cooperative societies in the world.

Cooperative societies may be divided into a large num-
ber of distinct groups according to the objects pursued
and methods employed by them, but we are concerned
with those of them only that may be fairly said to form a
part of the labor movement. These may be divided into
enterprises for cooperative production and enterprises for
cooperative consumption or distribution.

The productive societies are of special value for trade
unions m conjunction with their struggles against their
employers, and they often do good service in oEEering
a refuge to blacklisted strike leaders or other active
union members. But as a rule they attain a measure of
business success only when conducted in conjunction with
L societies for consumption. As independent enterprises

1852 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

they generally fail. A manufacturing establishment in
modern times cannot succeed unless it is provided with the
capital which its large competitors command, and employs
the same methods as they. And the workingmen -found-
ers of productive associations as a rule do not possess the
required capital nor can they employ the countless cus-
tomary methods of labor exploitation.

The cooperative societies for consumption, on the other
hand, have proved themselves almost uniformly successful
from the point of view of business.

The socialists do not foster the illusion that voluntary
cooperative societies of labor, either for production or for
consumption, could gradually and by the strength of their
own development, supersede the prevalent capitalist
methods of production and distribution. They do not
even attach great importance to the cooperatives as factore
in the general improvement and elevation of the material
conditions of the workers. But they regard them as use-
ful auxiliaries in the struggles of the working class as soiu-ces
of ammunition in those struggles, and as effective schools
for the training of the workingmen in the administration
of industries and in the sense of the solidarity of their
class.

Thegeneral attitude of socialism towards the cooperative
movement of the workingmen was defined by the social
democrats of Germany in a resolution adopted at the
convention of their party at Hanover in 1899, in the fol-
lowing language : —

" The attitude of the party towards the cooperative in-
dustrial associations is one of neutrality. It considers the
organization of such associations, when the necessary con-
dhions of their success are present, as calcidated to Intro-

THE INDUSTRIAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 253

duce improvements in the economic situation of their
members, and it also sees in such associations, as in every
organization of 'the workingmen for the protection and
promotion of their interests, a proper medium for the
education of the working class in the independent direc-
tion of its aflfairs. The party does not attribute to such
associations a determining importance for the liberation
of the working class from the chains of wage slavfery."

CHAPTER III

woeeingmen's insurance

One of the greatest evils of the modern system of wage
labor is tlie uncertainty of the woriser's existence under it.
So long as the wage earner is in normal good health and
his employment is tolerably steady, he 'manages to eke out
a precarious living for himself and those dependent on him.
In times of prosperity the laborer, and especially the
skilled mechanic, may even save up a modest sum for a
rainy day.

But suddenly his work is interrupted and his earnings
cease. A dull season may throw him out of employment
for weeks, or a general industrial depression may close the
doors of the factory against him for months. His scanty
savings, if he has any, dwindle and disappear with frightful
rapidity, and in a short time the worker finds himself con-
fronted with the menace of actual starvation. Or he sud-
denly falls sick in the midst of great industrial activity, and
is rendered physically incapable for a protracted period of
time. To the workingman health means not only well-
being and happiness, it means his bread and the bread of
his family; sickness for him is not only physical discom-
fort, it is often helpless, bottomless destitution.

But the sick workingman in the midst of his distress is
at least comforted with the hope of recovery, with the hope
of eventual resumption of his work and life. How much

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE

2SS

more desperate is the lot of the man crippled in his em-
ployment. The workingman whose principal, if not sole
claim, to life lies in the deftness of his fingers, in the
strength of his arm or in the muscles of his leg, is in con-
stant danger of being robbed of his limbs and strength by
his perfidious and bloodthirsty shopmate, the iron monster
:nachine, ever on the alert for a sign of weariness or re-
laxation on his part, ever ready to assail him unawares.
And when the hapless worker has been maimed and in-
validated in the service of his fellow-men, our Chrbtian
I society does not reward him for his sacrifice, does not in-
' demnify him for his loss, does not even extend a pitying
hand to comfort him in his misfortune, but casts him aside
mercilessly and unfeelingly, and quietly lets him perish,
passing on to the next victim.

And if this cruel fate may accidentally overtake any
workingman in the prime of his life and strength, a similar
lot is almost certain to befall all workingmen at a more
advanced age.

"Not less tragic than the position of the unemployed
workman," observes Mr. George Turner, "is that of the
aged craftsman. The man who does not give the fullest
measure of work for his weekly wage is promptly dis-
carded by an economic system depending upon alert
competition for its existence. Fortunate it is that sixty
per cent do not live to be replaced by active, able-bodied,
hopeful young workmen, and to be left destitute. But a
large minority meets this fate. Wages of men from forty-
five years upwards show a gradual and persistent decline.
The roughest forms of labor are the first to suffer ; but in
skilled trades where deftness of handiwork is the first
I condition of eiKciency and of continued employment, the

256 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

attainment of fifty-five years of age is usually accompanied
by a reduction of earnings." '

This uncertainty of existence, the constant menace of
unemployment, of sicitness, accidents and old age, which
hangs over the head of every modem wage earner like the
sword of Damocles, is intimately linked with the system of
private competitive industries and "free" wage labor, and
as the system unfolds itself, it tends to aggravate the pre-
cariousness of the workingman's life. With the develop-
ment and perfection of machinery and the growing in-
tensity of work and competition, the "reserve army of the
unemployed" is constantly on the increase, industrial
accidents are more common, the worker is exhausted and
enfeebled earlier in life, and the aged mechanic is rendered
more useless.

The problem of providing against these contingencies
has, therefore, naturally engaged the attention of the
workingmen ever since the rise of the wage system, and
it has become a matter of ever greater concern to them
as that system has developed.

The first practical efforts for the relief of workingmen
in cases of unemployment, sickness, accidents and old age,
assumed the form of private and voluntary enterprises,
undertaken by workingmen, and sometimes by employers
of labor. To the former class belong the trade unions and
other labor organizations which furnish relief to their
members out of work from funds raised among themselves
by means of regular periodical contributions or assess-
ments, and the numerous fraternal and mutual societies
which insure their members in cases of sickness and acci-

' "The Case for State Pensions in Old Age," Fa.biaD Society, London,
1899.

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE

257

1 old

dents, and sometimes even provide for annuities i
age. Among tlie latter class must be counted the special
funds of large employers of labor, notably the mining and
railroad companies, established for the purpose of aiding
their employees in cases of sickness and accidents or of
providing them with pensions after a continuous employ-
ment of specified duration. These funds are as a rule
created with a view of attracting a better grade of work-
ers to the more dangerous and strenuous trades and insur-
ing their steadiness of work. In the United States they
have gained but little extension. In some countries of
Europe, notably in France, Belgium and England, they
play a much more important rfile, but on the whole the
practice is so rare, and the benefits of the system are so
restricted and insignificant, that they can hardly be con-
sidered a serious factor in the movement for the relief of
the workingmen against the uncertainties of their existence.

Of much greater value than the employers' funds, are
the cooperative societies of workingmen, such as the
various Benefit Orders of the United States, the Friendly
Societies of Great Britain, the SocieHs de Secours Mutuels
of France, Belgium and Switzerland, the Kranken-Kassen
of Germany and Austria, and the mutual aid associations
of almost all other countries.

Beginning on a modest scale in the early part of the last
century, these societies soon proved themselves so essential
to large masses of the working population, and spread with
such rapidity that they almost attained the importance of
a social institution. Towards the middle of last century
the governments of the most advanced countries of Europe
found themselves impelled to take official cognizance of
, their existence and activity.

[258 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

I In England the first legislative act affecting the friendly
societies dates back to 1793, but that act and the amend-

• atory legislation following it during more than half a cen-
tury, did not materially advance the standing or powers
of these societies, and left the application of such laws
optional with the societies. The first laws which under-
took not only to regulate but also in some degree to aid

I and strengthen the mutual insurance societies of working-
men, were the laws passed in Prussia in 1849 ^^d ^ France
and Belgium in 1850. And similar laws have since been
adopted by almost every country of Europe and by most
of the states in the United States.

I From government regulation to government manage-

I ment is but one step, and in the matter of workingmen's
insurance this step was readily taken in several countries
of Europe. In France a state department for old-age in-
surance ■ — the Caisse Nationale des Retrailes pour la
Vieillesse — was established in 1850, and it was followed
in 1868 by a similar state institution for accident insur-
ance—the Caisse Nationale d' Assurance en cas d'Ac-
cidents.

In Belgium a National Old Age Pension Bank was
established by the government in 1850. In Italy a semi-
governmental Bank for the Insurance of Workingmen
Against Accidents — the Cassa Nazimiak di Assicura-
zione per gli inforluni degli operai, was created by the law
of July 8, :883.

AH these instances of workingmen's insurance institu-
tions managed by the government are those of voluntary
state insurance, i.e., institutions conducted by the state as
a branch of the government for the benefit of those of its
citizens who may desire to take advantage of them. The

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE 259

state does not contribute to the insurance funds, and the
amount of insurance is determined on the basis of pre-
mium payments. The superiority of such state insurance
over that of the ordinary insurance companies lies in the
greater safety of the investment and in the fact that it
excludes the element of profit.

The institutions of voluntary state insurance have no-
where become very effective or popular for the reason that
they leave the entire burden of financing them on the class
least capable of carrying it — the working class. Volun-
tary state insurance is, after all, but another form of self-
telp in insurance, and such insurance has, on the whole,
proved entirely inadequate to relieve the needs of the
vast masses of wage earners of our day. Comparing the net
results of the various forms of workingmen's insurance,
voluntary and involuntary, at the close of the nineteenth
century, M. Maurice Bellom remarks : " It is impossible
to refrain from an exclamation of astonishment and ad-
miration in reviewing the social results of compulsory in-
surance, . . , The diffusion of insurance which the
compulsory organization has caused, the pecuniary ad-
vantages which it has secured for the workers, the ease
with which it has enabled employers of labor to discharge
their liability, and finally the benefits of a better hygiene
which it has conferred on the entire community, have won
for the system of compulsory insurance the general recog-
nition of the numerous beneficiaries of that system." ^
Within the last few decades the conviction has grown in
some of the most advanced countries that the provision of
workingmen's insurance against unemployment, sickness,

' Journal de la SociiU de Siaiisligue de Paris, 19Q1, for June, July and

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

accidents and old age, is not a matter to be left to the m-
clinations or abilities of individuals, but a task to be
assumed by organized society as such ; that it is the duty
of the state to guarantee the existence of the invalids and
veterans of its industrial army at least as much as the
existence of the invalids and veterans of its military army
is now guaranteed.

The first official proclamation of this principle is prob-
ably that contained in the French constitution of 1848,
which declared "that the Republic should by fraternal
assistance assure the existence of its needy citizens."
"But," observes Edouard Vaillant,' "the victorious reac-
tion knew how to guard itself against all practical conse-
quences of its republican affirmations and declarations."

It was left to the imperial government of Germany to
inaugurate and enforce a general system of compulsory
state insurance with direct state aid. This revolutionary
measure in the domain of workingmen's insurance was
first announced in a famous message of Wilhelm I to the
German Diet, on November 17, 1881, and we quote from
it the following passage bearing on the subject : —

"Already in February of this year we expressed our con-
viction that the cure of our social maladies is not to be
found in the repression of the social democratic excesses
alone, but also in the promotion of the welfare of the work-
ing class. We consider it our Imperial duty once more to
urge the accomplishment of this task on the Diet. , . .

"In this sense the united governments will first re-
submit to the Diet the bill for insurance of workingmen
against accidents with such amendments as have been
1 in the discussions on the subject at your last
"Assurance Sociale," Paris, 1901, p. 7.

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE

261

Supplementary thereto a bill will be introduced
which has for its object the uniform organization of in-
dustrial insurance institutions in cases of sickness. But
also those who are incapacitated for work by reason of
old age or invalidity, have a well-founded claim on the
community to a higher degree of state aid than has here-
tofore been accorded them."

The first institution of compulsory state insurance of
workingmen established in Germany in pursuance of the
imperial message, was the insurance against sickness
created by the law of 1883 and repeatedly amended since.
Almost all industrial workers whose yearly earnings do
not exceed 2000 marks, and certain classes of commercial
and agricultural workers are brought under the provisions
of this law. The institution operates through the agency
of local sick benefit societies. The employers contribute
one third of the insurance funds and pay the expense of
administration, the employees pay the remaining two
thirds, the contributions in each case being proportionate
to the wages paid or earned.

The minimum aid fixed by law includes tree medicine
and medical attendance; a money indemnity equal to
three fourths of the daily wage, or half of the wage and
free hospital treatment; in case of death a cash benefit to
the widow or family of the deceased equal to twenty times
his daily wage; and sick relief to working women during
six weeks after confinement.

The German system of state insurance against accidents
was inidated by the law of 1884, That act is a radical
advance over the sick insurance law in that it specifically
recognizes the loss occasioned by accidents in the indus-
trial process as a legitimate part of the employer's operating

262

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

expenses, and places the entire burden of the insurance
against accidents on the employing class. Tlie affairs of
the institution are administered by the joint representatives
of the employers and employees, and the rates of insurance
are fixed with reference to the degree of the danger of the
several trades, and the efficiency of the safeguards adopted
by each particular employer. One of the most substantial
benefits of this system has been the greater care developed
by the employers of labor and the general decrease of acci-
dents to workingmen.

The system of accident insurance embraces practically
all wage workers whose yearly earnings do not exceed 3000
marks. The compensation includes free medical attend-
ance and a fixed allowance during the period of disability.
In cases of total disability the injured man receives an
annuity equal to two thirds of his wages, and in cases of
death an indemnity is paid to the surviving family.

The third measure of workingmen's insurance mentioned
in the imperial message, that of insurance against old age
and invalidity, was not realized till iSSg. The system dif-
fers from the two other forms of workingmen's insurance
in that it has been made a more distinct function of the
state as such. The old-age pension fund is administered
directly by the government, and the latter contributes 50
marks per year for each insured entitled to an annuity.
The remaining funds are contributed in equal portions
by the employers and employees. This form of insurance
is compulsory on every wage earner, sixteen years of age
and over, whose annual wages do not exceed 2000 marks.
The fund insures an annuity to each workingman after
he has become incapacitated for work, or has reached the
^e of seventy years. The amount of the pension is de-

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE 263

termined with reference to the average wages of the in-
sured, the minimum being 115 marks, and the maximum
about 450 marks per year.

All the three forms of workingmen's insurance are oper-
ated in conjunction with each other, and the main object
of the copious amendatory legislation on the subject has
been to combine them all into a harmonious and com-
plete system.

In comparison with the crude methods of voluntary in-
surance, the compulsory state insurance of Germany,
insufficient as it is, has proved a decided success.

In 1904 the number of German workingmen insured
against sickness was 11,418,446, and relief in that branch
of insurance was given in 4,642,679 cases, involving a total
expenditure of about 240,000,000 marks.

No less than 20,000,000 German workers were insured
against accidents in 1906, and about 14,000,000 persons
were insured against invalidity and old age in 1905.
The total amount of accident indemnity paid in the year
mentioned was 142,436,844 marks, while almost 160,000,-
000 marks were paid out in workingmen's pensions,
On January i, 1906, 934,983 invalid and aged working-
men were drawing pensions, and the receipts for that
year and purpose exceeded 210,000,000 marks, of which
the government had contributed about 38,000,000 marks.

In aU, the German empire has spent in the twenty-year
period, 1885-1905, the sum of about 5,000,000,000 marks
on workingmen's insurance.

The example of Germany has been partly followed by
Austria, which enacted laws for the insurance of its work-
ingmen against sickness in 1888, and against accidents in
1887. In Hungary the system of compulsory insurance

r 364 SOaALISM AND REFORM

against sickness was introduced in 1891. In Switzerland
the principle of compulsory state insurance of workingmen
was adopted in the form of an amendment to the federal
constitution. That amendment was adopted in 1890 on a
popular referendum, and read as follows: —

"The Confederation shall provide, by legislative en-
actment, for insurance against sickness and accidents,
account being taken of existing aid societies. It may
declare participation in insurance compulsory on all or on
certain specified categories of citizens."

When, however, a concrete legislative bill on compulsory
sick insurance was submitted to the referendum of the
people, it was rejected by a vote of 330,000 against 143,000,
on account of certain unpopular provisions, principally
with respect to the proportion of the contributions of the
insured.

In Norway a system of compulsory state insurance
against accidents was inaugurated in 1894, in Finland in
1895, in Italy in 1898, and in Holland and Sweden in 1901,
France has had a system of accident insurance since 1898,
and has very recently adopted a law providing for the
compulsory insurance of workingmen against invalidity
and old age. Similar institutions are in force in the colo-
nies of New Zealand, New South Wales and Victoria, In
Great Britain Parliament has recently established a gov-
ernment system of old-age pensions.

The main principles and methods of operation of these
institutions in the countries enumerated are substantially
similar to those of Germany, but some of them, notably
that of Austria, are more liberal in the amounts of the
benefits.

Denmark has the distinction of having the only national

■ WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE 265

system which somewhat approaches the ideal of state in-
surance against unemployment. It has recently adopted
a law regulating the methods of trade unions in the manage-
ment of funds for the relief of their members out of work,
and providing for regular state contributions toward such
funds. In Belgium, Switzerland and France, several mu-
nicipalities have introduced similar measures for the as-
sistance of unemployed working men.

In Belgium and Denmark, the subject of compulsory
state insurance of workingmen in one form or another is
of late being very strongly agitated, and the indications
are that these countries wiU soon fall into line with the
general progress of "social legislation."

The practical plan- of workingmen's insurance was first
formulated by the well-known Austrian statesman and
sociologist. Dr. Schaeffle, in 1867,' and was elaborated by
Professors Wagner, SchmoUer and the other representa-
tives of the school of social science known in Germany by
the general designation of "socialism of the chair" (Katke-
dersozialismus). But its practical realization and the
steady extension of its application is distinctly due to the
propaganda of modern socialism. The message of Em-
peror Wilhelm I quoted above, plainly admits that the
fear of the socialist movement was one of the government's
motives in inaugurating the era of social legislation, and
Prince Bismarck, the prime mover of the measure, was even
franker in his public utterances on the subject, as shown in
a previous chapter (Socialism and Law).

Factory legislation involves merely reforms in the rela-
tions between the individual employers and employees, but
social insurance is based on the recognition of the duties of
k ' Adolph Schaeffle, " Kapitalismua und Sozialismus."

I 266

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

the state as such towards its working-class citizens, ani
distinctly a socialistic idea. Factory legislation, there-
fore, may be forced from the government by a strong labor
movement, even if that movement has not reached the
consciousness of socialism; but social insurance can be
achieved, directlyor indirectly, only through the presence of
a well-defined and aggressive socialist movement. Ger-
many, the classical country of modern socialism, is also
the home of social insurance; in the United States, where
the trade-union movement is old and strong and the socialist
movement is new and comparatively weak, we have a con-
siderable number of factory laws, but not even the first
rudiments of social legislation. England was in this
respect similarly situated with the United States, until its
workingmen turned to socialism and socialist politics.
The English old-age pension system has been among the
first results of the change.

The socialists do not overrate the value of workingmen's
insurance. They do not consider it as a solution of the
social problem, nor even as a measure of adequate relief of
the more pressing needs of the working class. But they
see in it a potent lever for the elevation of the physical and
moral standard of the masses.

The uncertainty of the workingmen's life has probably a
more deteriorating effect on the morale of their class than
any other feature of their existence; it tends to make
them timid and conservative and inaccessible to the
movement for the elevation of then- class on a broad and
bold plane.

The effect of a comprehensive system of state insurance
is to remove from the minds of the workingmen the haunt-
mg dread born of uncertainty, and to develop in them a

WORKINGMEN'S INSURANCE 267

r certain sense of material security and intellectual independ-
ence.
The socialists, moreover, regard the system of compul-

, sory state insurance as a large step in the direction of the

social transformation of the modern individualistic state.

"In a socialist society," Edouard Vaillant predicts,

"social insurance will in its turn disappear in the higher

I forms of the social institutions based on equality and
solidarity, as they are tonday absorbing and transforming
the old institutions of public assistance and the partial
and incomplete experiments of private insurance. Charity,
public assistance and social insurance are the three suc-
cessive stages through which we have to pass before the
emancipation of the working class and the social republic
will render them useless.

" Under the capitalist regime it is only through social
insurance that the dignity of the workingman and the poor
can be safeguarded, and his legal rights, his guaranty
against all social risks and all misery, can be established
and maintained. And it is because of this, because the
time for the complete realization of the plan has arrived,
that we must concentrate all our eSorts on its establish-

And the socialists have never relaxed theu- efforts to

' "Assurance Sociale."

For detailed descriptions of the kinds, methods and results ot Work-
ingmen's Insurance, consult:^

William Franklin Willoughby, " Workingmen's Insurance," New
York. 1898.

John Graham Brooks, "Compulsory Insurance in Germany," Special
Report of United Stales Commissioner of Labor, Washington, 1B95.

Dr. Heiotich Herkner, "Die Arbeiterfrage," 4th revised and enlarged
I edition, Berlio, 190^.

268 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

improve and extend the existing system of state insurance.
In Germany and other countries in which the system has
been wholly or partly established, they work for the elimina-
tion of the workingmen's contributions to the insurance
funds on the theory that it is the duty of the state to insure
the life and existence of the worker, without curtailing his
wages for that purpose; they demand the raismg of the
benefits to an extent sufficient to meet the actual needs of
the sick, disabled and aged workers, and they urge the
extension of the system to cover the entire wage-earning
class.

In countries in which the system of compulsory state in-
surance for workingmen has not yet been introduced, the
socialists are its most ardent, often its sole advocates.

CHAPTER IV

THE POIITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS
Political Reform

In theory representative government is govemmraf
"of, for and by the people," and the modern politicaJ
machinery is an instrument for the expression and en-
forcement of the popular will.

But in most of the advanced modem countries the po-
litical actualities accord but poorly with these theoretical
ideals of democracy. As a rule it is not the great masses,
but the small privileged groups who dominate the govern-
ment. A large portion of the people are openly excluded
from all direct participation in politics, and for many of
those who nominally enjoy political rights, the exercise of
those rights is a mere illusion. The elected or appointed
public officials are but rarely the disinterested "servants"
of their constituents. More often they are the rulers of the
nation, exercising the fimctions of oflice for the promotion
of their own interests or those of their special class and in
hostility to the people. The constituents have but little
control over their "representatives," and the general
tendency of modem political development has been to
alienate the government from the people,

Mr. M. Ostrogorski, who has probably made the most
searching and exhaustive investigation of political institu-
tions and conditions in the two greatest democracies of our

270

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

day, England and the United States,' makes the alarming
but well -substantiated statement that in both countries the
political parties, which were originally devised for the reali-
zation of the wiil of the voting masses, have turned into ef-
fective instruments for the defeat of that very will. Politi-
cal parties have become political machines run by political
"bosses" on the principle early announced by a prominent
American politician, "To the victors belong the spoils."
The "victors," within the meaning of that maxim of
modern political ethics, are always the party bosses and
their henchmen, and the "spoils" are the public ofSces of
trust and confidence, the powers of popular government
and all its departments.

The professional politicians in the United States, in-
cluding officeholders and party bosses of all grades, have
developed into a distinct class. Mr. Ostrogorski estimates
their number at about 900,000^ i.e., about 6,5 per cent
of the voting population, and that class practically controls
the politics of the country and constitutes its government.
Only from one to ten per cent of the voters take part in the
primaries, and the large bulk of the votes in popular
elections is manipulated by the professional politicians,
either by means of the stultifying clap-trap methods of
modern American campaigning, or by direct personal
promises and influence, or by the still more direct method
of purchase. Mr. Ostrogorski makes the startling asser-
tion that more than 11 per cent of the American voters
sell their votes.

It is this perversion of popular government that has
given rise to the many modern movements of political re-

' M. Ostrogorski, "Democracy aad Political Parties," New York,

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

form, and as the vices of prevailing political conditions and
methods become more acute and apparent, these move-
ments grow in extension and intensity.

The main currents of all such political reform movements
may be said to proceed along three distinct lines.

The first of these is directed against the personal in-
competence or corruption of individual officeholders or
politicians. This is the so-called "good government"
movement, which sees the remedy for all political evils in
"putting good men into office." The movement by its
very nature is bound to be sporadic and ineffective. It is
most common in the large American cities, which are the
chronic prey of organized gangs of unscrupulous politi-
cians. When these political marauders, intoxicated with
power, become too shameless and aggressive, the decent
citizens, mostly of the "better classes," periodically rise
in revolt, and inaugurate a "good government" campaign.
If successful, they oust the corrupt officials, and elect men
of their own ranks in their stead. As a rule they do not
attempt any radical changes of the conditions which breed
and maintain corrupt political gangs in the cities, and
as a result their reform regimes are short lived, and soon
succumb to a new and more appalling state of political
I corruption. The recent histories of New York, Chicago,
' Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and St. Louis offer
abundant instances of such movements, and the pathetic
struggles and failures of the shortsighted good government
reforms of these cities have been graphically described by
Mr. Lincoln Steffens.'

The more important movements of political reform are
those concerned m the permanent improvements of politi-
» "The Shame of Che Cities," New York, 1904.

f 272

SOCIAUSM AND REFORM

cal institutions and methods. These movements have 1^^
their object the extension of the suffrage to classes still
excluded from it, or they aim to increase the political
powers of the people and to strengthen their control over
their chosen representatives. To the former class belong
the movements for the abohtion of all forms of restrictions
on adult manhood suffrage, and for the introduction of
woman suffrage; to the latter, the movements for the
direct election of all public officials, for the introduction
of the principle of initiative and referendum in legislation,
the system of proportional representation in government,
and the right of the constituents to recall their represent-
atives.

All these movements have of late made very consider-
able gains.

Universal Suffrage

The general principle of universal suffrage of all adult
male citizens has been pretty definitely established in
several countries, such as the United States, England,
France and Switzerland, for all political elections; in other
countries, such as Germany and Austria, it is limited to
parhamentary elections, while in the local elections in
these countries, and in ail elections in some other countries,
such as Belgium and Holland, the suffrage is qualified by
the age, property, education or social condition of the voter.
The domain of imiversal manhood suffrage is steadily
extending, and the struggles for the removal of all qualifica-
tions on such suffrage are assuming ever larger proportions,
especially in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Hungary.

As part of the general movement for suffrage exten-

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

273

^^ sta
^^H ' cia

sion, the movement for the enfranchisement of women has
also made large strides within the last generation. Not
only has that movement to-day numerous and energetic
adherents of both sexes all over the civilized world, but in
many countries it has already realized complete or partial
practical victories. The women of Finland enjoy the
"active" and the "passive" franchise (the right to vote
and to hold elective office) in all elections ui the same
manner as the men, and out of the 200 deputies in
the Finnish Diet, 19 are women. In Norway the tax-
paying or propertied women have votes in all parliamen-
tary and local elections. Women are completely enfran-
chised in New Zealand and in the Austrahan colonies of
South and West Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and
Queensland. In the fittle Isle of Man, which has its own
local parliament, women are likewise allowed to vote on
equal terms with men. In the other parts of Great Britain
and Ireland woman suffrage is restricted to certain elec-
tions for local offices. The Frenchmen have conferred on
their women the right to vote in elections for school trus-
tees, charity inspectors and members of the industrial
courts. In Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland
women are permitted to vote in certain local elections.

In the United States four states, Wyoming, Colorado,
Utah and Idaho, have extended to their female citizens the
rights of unrestricted suffrage, while most of the other
states allow their women to participate in the elections of
local school boards and other minor oEBcials.

Wyoming has had the longest experience with the insti-
tution of woman suffrage, which was introduced in that
state in 1868. In 1893 its legislature attested its appre-
ciation of the beneficial and ennobling effect of the instltu-

I 274 SOCIALISM AND REFORM ^^H

tion on the public life of the citizens of the state, in a con-
I current resolution, which among other things recited:
"That the possession and exercise of suffrage by the
women in Wyoming for the past quarter of a century has
wrought no harm and has done great good in many ways;
that it has largely aided in banishing crime, pauperism
and vice from the state, and that without any violent and
oppressive legislation; that it has secured peaceful and
orderly elections, good government and a remarkable
degree of civilization and good order,"

Of the remaining electoral reform movements, the first
in order of importance is probably that advocating the
I system of

Proportional Represenialian

Under the prevailing systems of election, the majority
party may sometimes monopolize all public offices while
the minority parties may have no representation at all.
Theoretically we may conceive of a situation where a
party representing a bare majority of the voters, say
51 per cent, evenly distributed aU over the country, may
carry every election and fill every seat in the state and
national legislatures and all other public offices of the coun-
try, while the remaining 49 per cent may have no represen-
tation and no voice in the administration at all. But
this applies only to countries in which an absolute ma-
jority of the votes cast is required for election. In countries
in which a mere plurality determines the elections, as in
■ the United States, we may well conceive a situation where
the voters are divided into three or more parties of ap-
prox,iniate]y equal strength, and the strongest of them,

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 2^$

representing perhaps 35 per cent of all voters, may control
the entire government. In actual practice, of course,
the party voters are never so evenly distributed, and a
strong minority party as a rule has some representation
in the government. But this representation is uncertain,
and the smaller parties are often left without any repre-
sentation. In the general national elections in the United
States in 1908, the total number of votes cast for all
parties was 14,882,132, Of these the Republican Party
received 7,677,544, the Democratic Party, 6,405,707, the
Socialist Party, 420,464, the Prohibition Party, 251,660,
the Independence Party, 83,628, the People's Party,
29,108, and the Socialist Labor Party, 14,021.

In the same elections 391 members of the House of
Representatives were chosen. Under a system of pro-
portional representation these members would have been
apportioned among the various parties as follows: —

Republicans
Democrats
Socialists
Prohibitionists
Independence Party
People's Party

391

As a matter of fact the House was composed of 219
Republicans and 172 Democrats, and none of the min or
parties had any representation whatever on it.

There are several methods by which the principle of pro-
portional representation may be applied to elections. The
one known as the "free list" or "quota plan" is the
r simplest and most commonly employed. This system

3^6 SOOALISM AND REFORM

presupposes large electoral districts and party nominations.
To illustrate its practical working let us take the case of a
city with 100,000 voters entitled to elect ten members of
Congress or other_ legislative body. Every ten thousand
voters of any political faith will thus be entitled to one
representative, and no political party polling at least that
number of votes will be entirely excluded from representa-
tion. Let us assume that there are four parties in the field.
Each of the parties may nominate ten candidates, but it
will serve the purpose if they nominate one or two more
than they expect to elect. The electoral ticket and the
votes cast for the different parlies will be as follows: —

This illustration presupposes a straight party vote, and

in that case candidates will be declared elected in the order

of their positions on the ballot, the positions having been

fixed by the respective parties. This is known as the

" block-vote." But the plan of proportional representation

i does not preclude the voter from expressing his preference

I for specific candidates of his party. The voter may be al-

I lowed to vote for the individual candidates of his choice,

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 277

and his vote will count both for the candidate and the party,
and he may be even allowed to vote on the cumulative sys-
tem, i.e., cast all of his ten votes for one candidate or distrib-
ute them among several candidates in such proportions as
he may choose. Where votes are counted for the candi-
date as well as for the party, each party will receive the
representation to which the total number of votes cast for
its ticket entitles it, and the candidates receiving the high-
est individual votes on the ticket will be declared elected.

The system of proportional representation has been
introduced in the parliamentary elections of Sweden, Fin-
land and Japan; it is being strongly urged in several other
countries for national elections, and is frequently applied
in local elections. Belgium has the curious system of
proportional representation based on the "single vote
plan" and combined with plural voting. The system is
the same as shown in our illustration, except that every
voter casts one vote which counts for the candidate des-
ignated by him on the ballot and for his party, and
except also that persons of property or college education
have the privilege of voting three separate ballots instead
of the one ballot allowed to the other citizens.

I The Referendum, Initiative and Right of Recall

If proportional representation is designed to give to
each political group of citizens a representation in govern-
ment in accordance with its numbers, the Referendum
seeks to maintain the representatives under the constant
control of their electors. By the "Referendum" is meant
the right to compel the legislature to submit to the vote
fii the entire people any law, ordinance or other question

r 278

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

to be adopted, ratified or rejected at the polls. Where
the referendum is in vogue, it is usually set in motion by
the petition of a certain number of voters, ordinarily from
five to ten per cent. If such petition is presented to the
legislature within a specified time after the passage of a
certain act or measure, say within two or three months, the
act or measure in question is submitted to a popular vote,
and the decision of the voters seals its fate. The Referen-
dum was introduced in Switzerland in the early part of the
nineteenth century, it was largely extended by the constitu-
tion of 1874, and has since become an established feature
in that progressive little republic. It has also been adopted
in four states of the Union, and it is the uniform method of
amending state constitutions in ail states but one. It is
also often resorted to in the local politics of many cities in
America, Europe and Australia.

The benefits of the Referendum as practiced in Switzer-
land are stated by Mr. John A. Hobson in this lan-
guage:—

"i. It provides a remedy for intentional or uninten-
tional misrepresentation on the part of elected legislatures
and secures laws conformable to the actual will of the
majority.

"2. It enhances the popular confidence in the stability
of law.

"3. It eliminates much waste of political energy by
enabling proposals of unknown value to be submitted
separately to a quantitative test."

Yet the greatest service of all is the training in the art
of self-government which the referendum gives. Says Mr.
Hobson : —

"It may indeed be questioned whether a people whose

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS

279

f direct contribution to self-government consists in a single
vote cast at intervals of several years, not for a policy or
even for a measure, but for a party or a personality, can
be or is capable of becoming a genuinely self-governing
people. Some amount of regular responsibility for con-
crete acts of conduct is surely as essential to the education
of a self-reliant people as of a self-reliant individual." '
L And Mr. Curti, for many years a member of the Swiss
' Parliament, sums up his own experience as follows : —
"I am certain that the Referendum has prevented but
little of the good we might have done, but it has averted
many evils if only by the fact that it always stood wamingly
fc before us. I should say that it does not condemn democ-
I racy to a standstill, despite its occasional retrogressive
I movements, but that it lends steadiness to progress itself." '
[ The Referendum, beneficial as its operations may be,
I is not eSective to secure the dommion of the popular will
I over the representative legislatures without the aid of
i another modem political weapon — the Popular Initia-
tive.

The Initiative is "the right of a certain percentage of
the voters, usually five to ten per cent, to propose a law,
ordinance or constitutional amendment for action by the
legislature or decision at the polls or both." * If the
proposed measure is acted upon favorably by the legisla-
ture, that disposes of it, but if the legislature fails to enact
it, it must be submitted to a popular vote for adoption or
rejection.

' Quoted from Equity, Philadelphia, for January, igoS.

' TliBodor Curti, "Die Resultate dcs Schweizerischen Referendums,"
Stuttgart, 1898, p. 48,
I ' "A Primer of Direct Legislation," The Arena, Trenton, New
kjersey, 1906, p. S.

S8o

SOaALISM AND REFORM

The Referendum alone is merely designed to prevent
mischievous legislation, for its workings are negative; the
Initiative enables the people to force positive legislation.
The Referendum and Initiative complement each other,
and in a majority of cases they have been adopted together
and as parts of the same political system.

The Right of Recall is the right of the constituents of
any public oflicial to withdraw him from office before the
expiration of his elective or appointive term. This right
is based on the theory that in a democracy every public
official is the agent of the people, and may be discharged
by the latter at any time and for any reason.

The Eight of Recall is usually exercised by a petition
for the removal of the objectionable representative or offi-
cial, signed by a large number of voters within the district
from which he has been elected. Upon stich petition new
elections are ordered, and the name of the objectionable
incumbent is submitted to the voters together with the
names of any new candidates, so as to give to the voters
the opportunity to retain him in office or to recall him.

The system has been introduced in Switzerland, in
several municipalities of the state of California, and re-
cently in the city of Seattle, Washington. It is not as
popular as the Referendum and the Initiative, and the
adoption of the latter often tends to make the measure
superfluous, at least so far as regards legislative repre-

The socialists advocate all political reforms which have
for their object the democratization of the modem state,
and that not only on account of their general desire for
political progress, but also for the special reason that such
reforms are indispensable for the progress and success of

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 28 1

the socialist movement. All restrictions on popular suf-
frage are primarily designed to disfranchise the property-
less working class, the main source of the political strength
of socialism, and all methods of disproportionate repre-
sentation work most disastrously on minority parties and
new political movements.
The social democrats of Germany under Lassalle's
I leadership entered the political arena with the motto of un-
restricted suSrage for all adult citizens, and that motto has
remained the battle cry of militant socialism in all coun-
tries of restricted suffrage. In Austria, Russia, Belgium
and Sweden, the socialists have been the leading spirits
of all movements for suffrage extension, and in other coun-
tries they have often been its sole champions.

Socialism and Woman Suffrage

A similarly unmistakable stand have the socialists
always maintained on the subject of woman suffrage.
"As soon as the Socialist Party was bom," attests Mrs.
Zetkin, " it adopted the demand of equal rights for man and
woman in its pohtical program. The social democracy
is the organization of woman suffrage par excellence in
Germany. In the many thousands of meetings in which
the party year after year proclaims its theories and explains
its program, the justice of woman suffrage is always em-
phasized. The proletarian movement of women especially
has repeatedly unfolded all over the empire an exclusive
propaganda in favor of the fullest and highest political
rights of the female sex. Bebel, von Vollmar and other
socialist representatives have time and time again made
earnest pleas for woman suffrage in the General German

' 382

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

Diet and in the different provincial diets. And t&e
democracy has not satisfied itself with mere talk in
of woman suffrage. It has repeatedly proposed pc
legislation on that subject. As the first and, up to the
present, the only political party of Germany, the Social
Democrats already in 1S95 offered a resolution in the Ira-
perial Diet which declared that all elections to Parliament
and to the provincial diets should be based on the universal,
equal, direct and secret vote of all adult citizenSj without
distinction of sex." '

For the socialist movement the demand for woman
suffrage is not a mere sentimental proposition of abstract
justice. The working woman has become so large and
important a factor in modem industrial life that the work-
ingman can hardly carry on his economic and politicaJ
struggles without her cooperation. For the upper and
middle class woman suffrage is a convenience and an
advantage; for the woman of the working class it is an
immediate material necessity.

It is for this reason that the breach between the bour-
geois "suffragists" and the working women advocates of
suffrage is constantly deepening. The suffragists of the
upper and middle classes favor woman suffrage qualified
by a property test because such test would not exclude them
from voting, and also because they regard such limited
suffrage as a partial victory for the general principle of
woman suffrage.

The proletarian suffragettes, on the other hand, see in
such qualified woman suffrage only a means of strengthen-
ing the political power of the possessing classes, thus cor-

' Clara Zetkin, "Zur Frage des Frauenwahlrecht?," Berlin, 1907,

THE POLITICAL REFORM MOVEMENTS 2S3

respondingly diminishing the political strength of the
property less working class.

The question of woman suffrage was thoroughly ex-
amined by the last International Socialist Congress held
at Stuttgart in 1907, and the resolution adopted on the
subject thus defines the socialist attitude towards the gen-
eral movement for woman suffrage : —

"It is the duty of socialist parties of all countries to
agitate most energetically for the introduction of imiversal
womanhood suffrage. The socialist parties repudiate
limited woman's suffrage 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 con-
ditioned 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 should not carry on this struggle for complete equal-
ity of right of 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."

ADUmiSTSATIVE HEFOKUS

In the last chapter we dealt with such reforms as affect
' primarily the character of government. Here we will con-
sider some reforms bearing on the functions of government
and the manner of their discharge, and for lack of a more
expressive term, we wilt designate these by the common
title of " administrative reforms."

Under this head we will examine three significant move-
ments of recent times: the movements for government
ownership of certain industries, for the shifting of the
burden of taxation on the possessing classes, and for the
abolition of standing armies. The three movements are
but loosely related among themselves, and the socialist
attitude to them is different in each case.

Government Owmrship

The movement for the transfer of ownership in certain
industries of a public or quasi-public nature, such as rail-
roads, telegraphs, telephones, street cars, waterworks and
gas works, to the central government or to municipal
governments, has made very substantial progress within
the last few decades, and its ideas have found very extended
application. Switzerland, Belgium and the Australian
colonies, Prussia and Russia own the greater part of the
railroads of those countries ; in Saxony all railroading
284

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 285

is government monopoly, and in Austria, Holland and
Norway the governments are gradually and steadily absorb-
ing the private lines. All of these countries began with
private ownership of the roads, and gradually transferred
such ownership to the government.
Still more marked is that process in the case of the tele-
I graph, "With the exception of the sale of the experimen-
I tal line from Washington to Baltimore," says Professor
Parsons, "no country has changed from public to private
I ownership, but every country in the world that began with
I private telegraphs has changed to public ownership, except
Bolivia, Canada, Cuba, Cyprus, Hawaii, Honduras and
I the United States." '

Germany, Bulgaria and some of the Australian colonies
introduced their first telephones as government monopolies,
and have retained them as such, while Great Britain,
Belgium, Austria, France, Switzerland, Sweden and
I Norway have acquired all or portions of the telephone
I systems of their country from the original private owners.
The field of municipal ownership is even more ex-
I tensive than that of national ownership. Municipal
I ownership of water and gas works is practically the rule
in most countries of Europe, and in the United States more
than half of the cities and towns own their own water-
works, and several cities have acquired their gas works.

Municipal street railways have received the largest
extension in Great Britain, where the municipalities own
and operate more than 40 per cent of the total mileage.
The movement for the transfer of all privately owned street
cars to the municipal governments has of late met with

' Frank Parsooa, "The City (or the People," Equity Series, Phila-
delphia, 19D1, p. 207.

286

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

more or less substantial success in all modem coun?

except the United States.

From the fact that socialism advocates the public owner-
ship of all means of production, and that its political pro-
gram demands the national ownership of railways and
telegraphs, and the municipal ownership of street cars
and gas and water works, the inference is often drawn that
the growth of government ownership as here described is a
direct or indirect achievement of the socialist movement.
This notion is as erroneous as it is widespread and popu-
lar. The socialists do not claim any credit for the pres-
ent-day institutions of government ownership, nor have
they any illusions as to their significance and benefits.
Government ownership under the present regime does not
represent an advanced phase of industrial development
or the climax of industrial concentration. It is in no sense
an installment of the socialist cooperative republic.

National ownership of railroads, telegraphs and tele-
phones has been in most cases introduced by the govern-
ments for reasons of military expediency or for the sake
of revenue. In other cases it was brought about as a con-
cession to the interests of the middle classes.

Similarly, municipal ownership, where not brought
about by a socialist administration, is as a rule but a de-
vice for municipal revenue. Government ownership, both
national and municipal, has some very decided advantages
over private ownership, and on the whole, it assures better
service to the public and better treatment of the employees.
But these advantages are to a large extent offset by the
fact that government ownership tends to strengthen the
powers of the modern class state, and to curtail the freedom
of combination and coalition on the part of the e

■ ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 287

What the socialists demand is not government owner-
ship, but public ownership, and the distinction is very
material under present conditions, as pointed out by
Professor Parsons, who says ; ~-

"Public ownership and government ownership are by
no means synonymous. Where legislative power is per-
verted to private piu-poses — where the spoils system
prevails and the offices are treated as private property —
where government is managed in the interests of a few
individuals or of a class, anything that is in the control of
the government is really private property, although it
may be called public property. If councils and legisla-
tures are masters instead of the people, they are likely to
use the streets and franchises for private gain instead of the
public good. If the government is a private monopoly,
everything m the hands of the government is a private
monopoly." '

In fact, the movement for the national or municipal
ownership of public utilities is the most striking illustra-
tion of a reform movement which may be revolutionary
or retrogressive according to the source from which it
emanates.

The socialists of all countries favor the municipaliza-
tion or nationalization of public utilities, but that only as
a measure to be carried out by an administration controlled
or at least strongly influenced by the working class.
Their demand for municipal or national ownership of the
industries mentioned is coupled with the further demand
for the democratic administration of those industries, and
for their management in the interests of the employees
and the public- On the other hand, the most reactionary
I ' "The City for the People," p. 17.

SOCULISM AND REFORM

capitalist governments may utilize it for the purpose oi
strengthening their grip on the pieople, and the middle-class
apostles of municipal or national ownership of the type
of Hearst or Bryan in the United States or the "radical"
bourgeois parties of Europe, see in it primarily a means of
decreasing the taxes of property owners and reducing the
rates of freight, transportation and communication for
the smaller business men.

In Germany, where the socialists have had ample oppor-
tunity to watch the practical workii^ of government
ownership, th^ passed judgment on the institution in the
following terse resolution adopted at their annual con-J
vention of 1 892 : — I

" State socialism, so-called, inasmuch as it aims at statel
ownership for fiscal purposes, seeks to substitute the state
for the pri\ate capitalist, and to confer on it the power to
subject the people to the double yoke of economic e^loi-
tation and political slavery."

Tax Reforms

The support of the modern state in all its branches, civfl
and military, involves the expenditure of immense funds,
and the problem of raising these funds has ever been the
hardest bone of contention between the governments and
the governed. All moneys tor the support of the govern-
ment necessarily come from the people in the form of taxes,
and the distribution of the burden of taxation among the
various classes of the population always depends on the
methods employed in its levying.

The two main contending methods of taxation are the
direct and the indirect. A direct tax is a tax imposed

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 289

the very person of the citizen who is expected to pay it,
and one that cannot be shifted by him; an indirect tax
is a tax on real estate or commodities, formally imposed on
the owner, manufacturer or merchant, but actually borne
by the tenant or consumer. Instances of the first class
are the poll tax, the income tax and the inheritance tax;
instances of the latter class are the real property tax, the
import duties on raw material or manufactm-ed goods of
foreign importation, and the excise duties on articles of
domestic manufacture, such as tobacco, liquors, etc.

The ruling classes and the modern state as a rule favor
the indirect tax, while the socialists have always been
strongly opposed to it.

"The indirect tax is the instrument through which the
bourgeoisie brings about the complete exemption from
taxation of capital, and burdens the poorer classes of
society with all the expenses of the state government,"
asserted Ferdinand Lassalle in his famous " Workingraen's
Program" hi 1862, and this conception is still the generally
accepted socialist view on the subject. The socialists have
always consistently advocated the system of direct taxa-
tion, and among the most universal planks of their practical
political programs are the demands for a progressive in-
come tax and a progressive inheritance tax.

A progressive income tax is a direct tax levied upon the
excess income of each citizen above a certain minimum,
and progressively graded according to the size of the in-
come. The tax has the merit of placing the onus of main-
taining the government upon the classes who derive the
greatest benefits from it and who can bear the burden with
the greatest ease.

In England the progressive income tax was first Intro-

l29o

SOaALlSM AND REFORM

duced in the period of the Napoleonic wars as a temporary
makeshift, but the system has since established itself in
the country firmly, and the revenue from that source was
almost ;£36,ooo,ooo in 1902. From England the progres-
sive income tax has spread to Italy, Switzerland, Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Holland and Australia.
France at present taxes only the incomes of corporations
and business associations, but a general and rather high
income tax is now proposed by the government. In the
United States a progressive income tax was in force, and
yielded excellent results during the closing years of tiie
Civil War, and until 1S72, when it was repealed. In 1S94,
a new income tax law was passed by Congress, but the
law was declared unconstitutional and void by the Supreme
Court, the far-reaching decision having been rendered by
a vote of 5 to 4, after one of the justices had changed his
expressed views on the question. Several states of the
Union, however, levy an income tax on their citizens.

A progressive inheritance tax is a tax on those acquiring
property by inheritance or by will. The tax is sometimes
levied only on collateral heirs, and usually it is progres-
sively graded either in accordance with the size of the in-
heritance or with the degree of remoteness of the relation-
ship between the deceased and the heir, or both.

The progressive inheritance tax, and especially the col-
lateral inheritance tax, furnish large parts of the state
revenues in most of the Australian colonies and in Switzer-
land, where the tax is in some cases as high as twenty per
cent of the estate. England, Germany, France, Austria,
Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland,
Russia, Roumania, Australia, Canada, and most of the
states of the Union, all have inheritance taxes, but in most

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

291

, the tax

of these countries except France and Australia
rate is rather insignificant.

Socialism does not consider the direct income and inher-
itance taxes within the frame of modern capitalist society
as a means of equalizing the distribution of wealth, but it
favors them as effective mstruments for the abolition of
indirect taxes, which diminish the purchasing power of
the working class and lower its standard of life.

The "Single Tax"

Another movement of tax reform which has developed
considerable strength within the last quarter of a century,
especially in the English-speaking countries, is that based
on the so-called Single-Tax theory.

The theory was first fully and clearly formulated by
Henry George in his famous work " Progress and Poverty,"
published in 1879, and it has since been elaborated and
restated in numerous books, pamphlets and periodicals.

The principal features of the proposed reform are tersely
stated by the originator of the movement himself in the
following language: —

"We propose to abolish all taxes save one single tax
levied on the value of land, irrespective of the value of
improvements in or on it.

"What we propose is not a tax on real estate, for real
estate includes improvements. Nor is it a tax on land, for
we would not tax all land, but only land having a value
irrespective of its improvements, and would tax that in
proportion to that value.

" Our tax involves the imposition of no new tax, since
we already tax land values in taxing real estate. To carry

SOCIAUSM AND REFORM

it out we have only to abolish all taxes save the tax on real

estate and to abolish all of that which now falls on build-
ings or improvements, leaving only that part of it whicfi
now falls on the value of the bare land. This we would
increase so as to take as nearly as may be the whole of the
economic rent, or what is sometimes styled the ' unearned
increment of land values.' " '

This single tax on land values is proposed by Mr. George
and his followers not merely as an improvement on the pre-
vailing methods of taxation, but as a cure of all social
evils of our times.

The root and source of all human poverty and misery,
" according to the conception of the single taxers, lies in the
fact that the valuable land in all civilized countries is
monopolized by a comparatively small class of landowners,
who appropriate all benefits derived from it, and impose a
high tax for its use and occupation in the form of rent.

This system makes it possible for a number of men to
hold large areas of land for speculative purposes, thus with-
drawing it from actual use. And as land is in the last
analysis the source of all wealth, the withholding of any
part of it results in the curtailment of wealth production
for the nation.

Furthermore, so long as land was free to all, everybody
could gain his subsistence by agriculture or by industrial
pursuits on a small scale, but so soon as land becomes
private property, it is only the man who can afford to pay
a high rent — the capitalist — who can engage in any
industry, while the poor man is compelled to sell his labor
for the best price obtainable.

t' Henry George in "Financial Reform Almanach" of England tor the
year 1891.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

293

And lastlyj 1

, bein

1 arbib

1 produ(

auction,

it draws from the profits of capital and wages of labor
alike, impoverishes both, gives rise to industrial crises,
and produces an unjust distribution of wealth which is
building up immense fortunes in the hands of a few while
the masses grow relatively poorer and poorer.

"The taxation of the processes and products of labor
on the one hand," says Mr. George, in the article already
mentioned, " and the insufficient taxation of land values
on the other, produces an unjust distribution of wealth
which is building up, in the hands of a few, fortunes more
monstrous than the world has ever before seen, while the
masses of our people are steadily becoming relatively
poorer. These taxes necessarily fall on the poor more
heavily than on the rich; by increasing prices, they neces-
sitate larger capital in all business, and consequently give
an advantage to large capitals ; and they give, and in some
cases are designed to give, special advantages and mo-
nopolies to combinations and trusts. On the other hand,
the insufficient taxation of land values enables men to
make large fortunes by land speculation and the increase
in ground values — fortunes which do not represent any
addition by them to the general wealth of the community,
but merely the appropriation by some of what the labor
of others creates.

"This unjust distribution of wealth develops on the one
hand a class idle and wasteful, because they are too rich,
and on the other band a class Idle and wasteful, because
they are too poor — it deprives men of capital and oppor-
tunities which would make them more efficient producers."

It is the conviction of the disciples of Henry George
that a single tax on land values as advocated by them would

294

SOCULISM AND REFORM

gradually lead to the abolition of private ownership
land.
The only country in which some general application of ■

the tax on land values has been attempted is New Zealand,
and while it is claimed by the friends of the reform that the
system has on the whole had a stimulating and beneficial
effect on the industries of the country and has succeeded
in curbing wild land speculation, predicted benefits of a
fundamental character have so far failed to materialize.
It must be added, however, in justice to the advocates o£
the measures, that the New Zealand system of land taxa-
tion is by no means a full application of the single-tax
theory. On the other hand, at least one of its principli
that of taxing vacant and unused land most heavily, has
of late found direct or indirect recognition in the systems
of taxation of several countries, states and municipalities.

The socialists have but little sympathy for the single-
tax theory. They do not agree with the economic premises
on which it is based, and they consider the proposed reform
as entirely impotent to cope with the evils which it seeks
to combat, and in some respects even as distinctly reac-
tionary.

The single-tax philosophy was evolved by Henry George
a generation ago in the then little developed far West,
and it is entirely adapted to the industrial conditions
which surrounded him at the time. It presupposes a
system of industry based mainly on agriculture and small
manufacture, and is sadly out of place in a system o£
gigantic factories.

Land values occupy but a secondary position in modem
industrial wealth. If the up-to-date large capitalist were
to be taxed on the value of his factory site to the full extent

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 29S

of its rental income, but be relieved from all taxes on the
factory buildings, implements, stock and other property
and income, he would practicaUy escape taxation. On
the other hand, an accessible or even free factory site would
not enable the propertyless wage worker to equip a costly
modern plant and to set up in business on his own account
in competition with his present employer. It is the private
ownership of the machine, even more than the private
ownership of land, that holds the working class in bondage.

The single taxer recognizes but one form of economic
exploitation — rent. The socialist, on the other hand,
asserts that the source of all exploitation is the "surplus
value" (the unpaid part of the workingman's labor) from
which all rent as well as interest and profit are derived.

The single taxer would abolish the landlord, the monop-
ohst of "land values," but continue the existence of the
capitalist and wage worker ; the socialist strives to wipe
out all class distinction and to introduce complete economic
equality. The single-tax theory professes to be an ab-
solute and scientific truth applicable to all ages and con-
ditions alike, while socialism professes to be a theory grow-
ing out of modern economic conditions, and expecting its
realization from the steadily growing concentration and
socialization of industry. The single taxer, lastly, is an
earnest supporter of the competitive system of industry,
while the socialist is as ardent a coHectivist.

Thus the two social theories difier very materially in
their views, aims, and methods.'

' Compare, Morris Hillquit, "HiEtory of Socialism in Ihe United
Stales," 4th Edition, New York, 1906, pp. 373, etc.; also A. M. Simons,
"Single Tai vs. Socialism," Chicago, 1899.

SOQALISM AND REFORM

Abolition of Standing Armies

One of the greatest evils of the modem state is the
standing army. Capitalist society cannot be maintained
without a host of soldiers. In their world-wide competi-
tive struggles, the capitalists of each coimtry strive not
only to preserve and extend their own markets, but also
to invade those of the rival nations and to conquer new
markets. This feature of the modern capitalist system
of production and exchange inevitably leads to clashes I
between competing nations, and the specter of war is ever
hovering among them. The modern capitalist state is
powerless without a strong army or navy. It must always
be ready for offensive and defensive military action, and it
must always make a display of military strength to curb
the bellicose designs of its neighbors. It must prepare for
war, if it wants war ; it must prepare for war, if it wants '
peace.

A strong army moreover has within recent times become j
essential to the maintenance of capitalist government for '
another reason and for another purpose. With the in-
creasing intensity of capitalist exploitation, the outbreaks
of revolt on the part of the working masses tend to become
more violent and frequent, and where these outbreaks are
of such a character that the local authorities are either
powerless to cope with them, or disinclined to interfere
with them, the army is the most effective instrument for
their suppression. To the capitalist government the army
is an organization for the protection of the ruling classes
from "all enemies, foreign and domestic," and the pro-
tection from "the domestic enemy" is often its more im-
portant function.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

Russia

1,500,000

France

746,000

Germany .

650,000

Great Britain

550,000

Austria

470,000

Italy ....

290,000

The vast dimensions of the standing armies of the most
powerful countries of Europe are shown by the following
figures : —

^^^* And even in the United States, which up to recent times
has been practically free from the curse of militarism, the
development of industry and foreign commerce and the
growth of the class struggles have of late years given rise
to a movement on the part of the ruling classes to increase
and strengthen the army and navy. The recent military
law of the United States Congress aims to consolidate the
federal troops and the various state militia organizations
into a standing army of 250,000 soldiers, while the agita-
tion for a huge navy is steadily increasing.

The military and naval organizations of the modem
states are an intolerable economic drain upon the nation.
The "Nouveau Manuel du Soldat," taking the statistics
of the year 1899 as the basis of calculation, figures the
loss of productive value caused by militarism in Europe
as follows : —

The total military expenses of the European powers for
1899 were $1,436,864,218. In the same year those coun-
tries had in the field 4,i69,32r men, who, if employed
at productive work, would produce every day, at an
average of only 60 cents per day per man, a total of
$2, 501, 592,6a Europe had in its armies 710,342 horses

SOaALISM AND REFORM

which could produce $284,136,80 per day at an aVa
production of 40 cents per day. The expenditures and
wasted productive values of the army upon that basis thus
amounted to $2,272,533,038 per year on the basis of 300'J
worliing days !

This burden hasvasUy grown since 1899. In Germany!
alone the military budget has increased from about '
920,000,000 marks in 1899 to i ,300,000,000 in 1906-1907.
Karl Liebknecht estimates the present total military cost of J
Europe at 13,000,000,000 marks, or about $3,250,000,0001
per year.'

The standing armies and the navies are besides a pro
li&c source of general bnitalization and demoralization c
the people.

By drafting the young men of the nation into the army, I
the state withdraws from tJic productive ranks of the pop- I
ulation its most vigorous and useful members, compels the I
rest of the people to support them in useless idleness during J
their protracted term of service, and at the expiration of tlie I
term it sets them adrift, often with crippled minds, cor- I
rupted morals and impaired social usefulness.

" When, after a satisfactory test, the young man becomes I
a soldier in the standing army," observes Vaillant, "he '
ceases to be a citizen. In order that he may become a
passive instrument in the hands of his superior, he is de-
prived of all civil functions and political rights upon enter-
ing the miUtary life. For him there is no right and no-
law. He is merely a thing of the military state. It is the
rule without exception, the rule established in order that it
may not be tempered by the possible humaneness of the

' Dr. Karl Liebknecht, '
08, p. 43.

lilitaiismus uad Antimilitarismus," Zurich,

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

299

superior officer. The military rule takes possession of the
young man and arbitrarily disposes of his actions, his
liberty, his life. If the brutality and arrogance of the
officer do not break his resistance and wOl, he is tried, con-
victed, sent to prison or to death by a court martial. This
is 'justice' for him, these are the tribunals where his
superiors, constituting themselves his judges and exe-
cutioners, take their revenge for his lack of discipline. In
fact, it is necessary that the army be entirely separated from
the people, so that it may serve against it, against the work-
ing class, as the police force and bodyguards of the capi-
talist class and the government. For this purpose, es-
pecially in an army through which all the children of the
working class pass, it is necessary that a discipline of terror
and of death steady the arm of the soldier in civil as well
as in foreign war." '

The rapid lempo of technical progress in all matters of
military organization and equipments leads to constant
revolutions in the system of armament and forces upon the
nations burdens which exhaust their material strength.
The governments of the principal countries of Europe
seem almost to have the sole function of securing and feed-
ing their soldiers, and the tremendous growth of the national
debts and indirect taxes necessitated by the standing armies
has brought many countries to the verge of national
bankruptcy. It was this state of affairs which compelled
the youthful czar of Russia in 1898 to emit his desperate
cry for universal limitation of armament, which was eu-
phemistically styled a "peace message," and it is this con-
dition of things which accounts for the modem "peace
conferences" of the governments.
! Edouard Vaillinl, "Suppression de I'Amiee Permanente," Paris, p. 12.

I 300

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

The working class, which furnishes the large bulk ofl
army and contributes the greater part of the funds for its
support, is naturally opposed to all wars and standing
armies, and the socialists, as the political spokesmen of
that class, have always carried on a strenuous propaganda
against wars and standing armies. But socialists have
but little enthusiasm for the official "peace conferences"
held under the auspices of the present governments.
The object of these conferences is not to abolish stand-
ing armies, but merely to decrease their size, and that not
below the point required for the suppression of the "do-
mestic enemy," the working class.

Socialism stands for the abolition of all wars and all
armies, but it recognizes that within the modem social sys-
tem this is an unattainable ideal. The practical socialist
program, therefore, advocates what the socialists consider
the next best step, — introduction of a national demo-
cratic militia system instead of that of the standing army.

There is but one country in the world in which that
system has found almost complete application, and that
Gjuntry naturally is the one that may be called the experi-
mental laboratory of all social reforms — Switzerland.

The militia system was introduced in Switzerland in
1874. Subsequently that system was supplemented by
the institutions of the Landwekr and Landslurm.

The militia proper, or the Elite, consists of all able-bodied
male citizens between the ages of twenty and thirty-two
years ; the Landwekr is composed of all men between the
ages of thirty-two and forty-four years, while all citizens,
between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, who for one
cause or another do not belong to either of the two classes,
constitute the Landsturm. J

ADMINISTFATIVE REFORMS

301

The cavalry exercises every year, all other corps of the
Elite, or active army, every two years, while the members
of the Landwehr are called under arms for the purpose of
military exercise and maneuvers once in four years. The
Federal Council of the republic is the head of the army.

In 1902 the total military forces of the Swiss militia
were as follows : 153,649 in the Elite, 88|8r3 in the Land-
wehr, and in the Landsturm, 43,368 soldiers under arms,
and 237,275 in the non-armed or auxiliary service. In
other words, the little republic with a population of about
3,000,000 had an active army of 285,830 trained men,
and in case of emergency could rely on 523,105 citizens for
its defense. And the total military budget of Switzerland
is less than thirty million francs per year.

The militia system of Switzerland is the socialist model
of existing military organization, though the socialists do
not consider it perfect, and strongly advocate certain im-
provements, especially the election of ofEicers and the mili-
tary education and training of the youth as part of the
general educational system.

The militia system has been criticised as too cumber-
some, irregular and scattered for offensive action, but in
the eyes of the socialists this feature is one of its greatest
merits. The militia is primarily an instrument for eelf-
defense, Just as the standing army is mainly an insllru-
ment of aggression.

But the principal virtue of a true democratic militia is
that it leaves the military power in the hands of the people
and prevents the ruling classes from turning it into a tool
of oppression and despotism. The only people that is
really free is an armed people, and the people as such can
be properly armed only under a general militia system.

SOaALlSM AND REFORM

' I ask you to observe," said Edouard Vaillant, speaking
in support of his bill for the introduction of the Swiss
militia system in France, before the Chamber of Deputies,
"that when we advocate the institution of militia, we do
not pretend to propose a measure of socialism. The militia
is the military organization of the city, which without dis-
tinction between military and civi! functions, has become
at once military and civil. It is the present city trans-
ferred to the camp, it is the citizen-soldier, and the soldier-
citizen, always a citizen in all his functions, be they mili-
■tary or civil." And again: —

"The armament of the people is the necessary comple-
ment to universal suffrage and to the development of a true
democracy. The militia has in all history been the in-
stitution of democracy, appearing with its victories, dis-
appearing with its defeats." '■

This positive side of the militia system, the arming and

training of all male citizens, makes the reform of almost

as great importance to the working class of the countries

free from standing armies as to the workingmen in the

, most military states.

' "Suppression de I'Arm^e Permanente," pp. aj, a6.

^^■sch

The alarming growth of crime and vice in modem times
has advanced a problem which society can no longer
ignore. Up to very recent years the views of the good and
virtuous people on the criminal and the prostitute were
exceedingly definite and simple. The one was a mali-
cious enemy of law and order, to be mercilessly run down
and punished for his deliberate malefactions ; the other was
a shameless creature, an outcast of society, to be loathed
and despised. And it is only within the last decades that
more sober views on the subject have begun to assert
themselves. The application of scientific methods to the
investigation of social phenomena was gradually extended
to the domain of crime and vice. Attempts were made to
discover their true nature, origin and causes and to devise
rational methods for checking their growth. The new
science of criminology was thus bom, and as is the case
with every social science, especially during the period of its
inception, several divergent schools of thought were soon
developed within it.

Of such modern schools of criminology the most popu-
larly known and most sensational is that established by
the famous Italian criminologist, Cesare Lombroso, the
school of "criminal anthropology." The main doctrine

304 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

of this school is that the criminal is distinguishable from
the normal human being by certain physical and psychic
peculiarities, which stamp him as an uotho deliquenle,
delinquent man or bom criminal.

These peculiarities are of an atavistic nature, and are
either inherited or gradually acquired through a, definite
process of physical degeneration. The proof of this
theory rests on the results of extensive investigations into
the family histories of numerous criminals, on physical
measurements and autopsies of delinquents, and on fine
observations of the general mental traits and moral con-
ceptions of the criminal classes. The habitual criminals,
according to these observations, as a rule spring from an
ancestry tainted with drunkenness, epilepsy and insanity;
they have no conception of right and wrong, and their
physical construction and appearance show a reversion
to the peculiarities of primitive men.

Lombroso's theories were extended by the brilliant
coterie of his disciples, and finally Dr. B. Tamowsky, of
the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy, transferred
them from the field of crime to that of vice. To the type
of the "bom criminal" was added that of the "born pros-
titute," both possessing largely the same characteristics.

The conception of the born criminal leads necessarily
to that of the incurable criminal, and the school of criminal
anthropology thus practically proclaims the hopelessness
and futility of all social attempts to curb crime and vice.
The doctrines of that school bear a close resemblance to
the pseudo-scientific arguments of the old-time advocates
of slavery and the modern opponents of woman's rights
— all of them seek a sanction for revolting social conditions
in the alleged physical inferiority of the vjctinqs of those

SOaAL REFORM

305

conditions, and all of them fail to take into account the
social and historical influences which contribute so largely
to the development and modification of the physical,
mental and moral type.

A substantial improvement on the one-sided views of
the school of Lombroso was introduced by the well-known
Italian criminologist and socialist leader, Enrico Ferri.'
Ferri admits the existence of a criminal type to be dis-
tinguished by physical symptoms, but he regards such
symptoms merely as evidence of pathological traits, in-
herited or acquired, which predispose the subject to a
career of crime. In his view such criminal inclinations are
by no means irresistible — they may be overcome by other
agencies. Ferri recognizes three main factors as causes of
crime; the physico-psychical constitution of the individual,
his natural environment, and his social environment.
He distinguishes five different classes of criminals : —

Born criminals, or persons with a hereditary taint

I predisposing them to crime;

. Insane criminals, or such who commit crimes while

f insane;

3. Criminals through passion;

4. Criminals through circumsiances, whose crimes are
I accidental and are due to their social surroundings, and

5. Habitual criminals, who have become such after the
first offense, through prison life and associations, and
through the relentless persecutions of organized society.

The last two classes, according to Ferri, embrace about
75 per cent of all criminals. But the criminals through
passion are also largely the products of the conditions of
the modem struggle for existence, and even the bom a
' "Crime as a Social PheriorDenon."

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

the insane criminal types are to a large extent developed
by social conditions.

"The anthropologist who recognizes the hereditary or
acquired biological anomalies of these criminals," says he,
"does not thereby deny the indirect social origin of the
greater part of these anomalies themselves." '

Similar views are held by many eminent criminolo-
gists, especially of the Italian school. The social cause of
crime is still more emphasized by the "positive school of
criminology," whose leading exponent is the well-known
German criminologist, Franz von Liszt. That school
does not ignore the individual characteristics of the crimi-
nal as a factor in the commission of crime, but it attributes
to them a secondary importance only,

"The individual conditions of crime are often the
direct products of its social conditions," observes von
Liszt. "The misery of the masses is the fertile soil not
only for the growth of crime itself, but also of that degen-
eration based on hereditary taint which in its turn again
leads to crime. . . . Every crime is the product on the
one hand of the peculiarities of the individual criminal,
and on the other, of the social conditions which surround
the criminal at the time of the deed — in other words,
it is the product of only one individual factor and of count-
less soc'iai factors."

And again : —

"It is an established fact that a protracted industrial
depression always results in the increase of crime generally,
and especially of offenses against property, principally
theft ; in the decrease of marriages and births of legitimate

' Enrico Ferri, "Kriminelle Anthropologje und Soiialismua," Neue
Zfit, 14th Year, Vol. II, No. 41,

SOaAL REFORM

307

children with a corresponding increase of illegitimate
births ; in the rise in the infantile death-rate, the increase
of suicides, the lowering of the average life and in a series of
other disquieting phenomena. A close examination would
show that the influence of industrial conditions on crimi-
nality is more far-reaching than commonly supposed.
Thus the geographical distribution of criminality in each
country is largely based on the industrial conditions of
the different sections of the country. . , . Thus also the
strong increase of offenses against property in December,
January and February may be accounted for by the de-
creased opportunities for work in the cold season and the
greater need of food, clothing and fuel. . , . The 'indus-
trial conditions,' whose favorable or unfavorable influence
on criminality must be primarily considered to-day, are the
general condition of the working classes, not only their
financial, but also their physical, mental, moral and politi-

I cal condition." '

I The socialists most generally adhere to the views of
von Liszt and the positive school of criminology.

Crime and vice do not owe their existence to the modem
capitalist society. Crimes against the person arc as old
as human passion, and crimes against property and the vice
of prostitution are probably as old as the institution of
private property. But if capitalism has not created crime
and vice, it has created the conditions for their wholesale
development and ever increasing extension. For if the
misery of the masses is the fertile soil of crime and vice,
capitalism is the hothouse of popular misery.

Whether crime and vice in their devastating triumphal

' Quoted by Paul Hirsch in "Verbrechen und Prostitution als soiiale
idtserscheinungen," ad Edition, Berlin, 1907, pp. la, 23.

308 SOaALISM AND REFORM

march brand the bodies and souls of their victims with
visible marks of infamy, and whether they choose their
victims in the prime of their lives, in their cradles or in
their mothers' wombs, is a matter of liltie moment: the
modern social relations are such that they cannot fail to
produce destitution and physical and mental degeneracy
and crime and vice as specific expressions of such destitu-
tion and degeneracy. All conditions surrounding the
modern workingman's family, and especially the family
of the most poorly paid workingman, tend to drive its
members to break the established social canons of law and
morality. The exhausting labor of the workingmen and
working women sap their physical and moral strength;
their helpless and hopeless condition in cases of unem-
ployment, sickness or physical disability render them des-
perate ; their repulsive " homes " rob them of the sustaining
influences of family life and drive them to drink and to the
rude life of the street ; the heartless treatment of their em-
ployers and of "organized society" as a whole makes them
morose and embittered; their misery is so deep, their
temptations are so strong, and their powers of resistance
so weak, that it should be a matter of surprise that so many
of them escape the clutches of crime or vice.

And just as the heartless system of exploitation breeds
crime and vice in the classes of the exploited, so does the
senseless system of competition and the headlong race
for profits breed the crimes so prevalent and growing in the
ranks of the exploiters themselves : fraud, bribery, corrup-
tion and numerous similar offenses.

Crime and vice cannot be entirely eliminated from the
capitalist system of society. They may be diminished, but
not by police measures nor by prison methods, not by

SOCIAL REFORM

309

"supervision nor by segregation, not by any system of
punishment or moral preaching, but by removing the worst
features of those social conditions that breed crime and
vice. The socialists are by no means indifferent to the
efforts to check the growth of crime and vice, but they recog-
nize the absolute impotency of purely penal reforms to
accomplish that end, and they see the only remedy against
the dreadful double scourge of human society in the
realization of their general program of industrial and
social reform.

I Intemperance

* Intemperance as such is not a modem problem. The use
and abuse of alcoholic drinks are as old as written history,
and the movement to combat the evil dates back several
centuries.

The first temperance society is said to have been founded
by Margrave Frederick V in 1600, and it is instructive to
learn that the noble members of that society were bound
by a pledge, good for two years, not to drink more than
seven bumpers of wine with any meal, nor more than four-
teen bumpers a day. They were, however, permitted to
quench any surplus of thirst with beer and to drink one
glass of whisky on the side. By this ideal of abstention
may be gauged the ordinary drinking habits of our fore-
fathers in the good old times when knighthood was in
flower.

But on the whole, drinking in those times seems to have
been the sport of the nobles rather than the vice of the

1 whisky

It was only with the advent of the cheap c

SOCIALISM AKD KOOSM

in the sixteenth century thaX_ Etrong alcobolir -^hi' n' 1 4|y S-
'becajnc accessible to the rising class of the jupletariat,
and since that time the dnnk habit among tbcworking
people has grown so enormously that alcohotism h^s be-
come a [.foblem of the modern labor movcmEnt.

The use of alcohol affects the poor much more injuri-
ously than the men of the wealthier classes, cvea tbougfa^ie
latter may be addicted lo it no less than the former, The^
ni-nourtshcd and weak organism of the workingman offeis
but little resistance to the ravishing eSects of alcohoL The
workingman will often succumb to a quantity of tbeLbo'££-r
age which will not disturb the equilibrium of a maJl.Q£ t**"
better-situated classes. ■

Moreover, the workingman's income is as a rule barej ^ ■
■nfficient to cover the necessaries of Bis IiTeT He can pro- ■
cure his drink only by depriving himself of more sub- ■
atanlial nourishment, thus undermining his body in two I
directions. I

On the whole it may be truthfully said that int^eper- I
ancc is one of the heaviest scourges of the working class ■
and one of the greatest obstacles to all progressive labor I
movements and to socialism. I

"^The excessive use of alcohol enfeebles and brulalizes I
large masses of the workingmen. It renders them incap- ■
able of study, training and organization, indifferent to I
the struggles of their class, and inaccessible to its aspira- I
tions and ideals. I

The alcoholic habits of the working class are deeply I
rooted in the material condition's of their lives. They are M
largely caused and stimulated by their industrial and social I
surroundings. fl

Mr. Emanuel Wurm, in an able report on Alcoholism I

^ '

SOCIAL REFORM 31 1

before the German Social Democratic Convention of 1907,'
mentions the following causes which combine to stimulate
drinking among the workers : —

1. The dwelling conditions of the poor.

Says Frederick Engels on this point : " Rctummg from
the factory, the workingman finds a home without any
comforts, damp, unattractive and filthy; he stands in
need of exhilaration ; he must have something to make his
work worth while, to make the prospects of the morrow
tolerable. . . . His social instinct can find satisfaction
only in the liquor saloon ; he has no other place to meet
his friends."

2. Mental exhaustion caused by overwork.

Modem factory work with its monotonous operations is
bound to produce a condition of mental fatigue from which
the worker is but too apt to seek refuge in alcoholic stimu-
lants.

3. Conditions of work creating an abnormal thirst.

Under this head come the industries in which the em-
ployees are forced to work under a high temperature, or in
which the shops are constantly filied with line particles
of dust, or in which the nature of the work generates offen-
sive fumes and gases.

4. Insufficient and unwholesome nourishment.

"The whisky habit is not the cause but the result of
misery," said Justus v, Liebig, as early as in 1860. " It is
an exception to the rule when a well -nourished man be-
comes addicted to whisky. But when a man earns less
than is required for the quantum of food necessary in

"Protokoll Ubec die Verhandlungen des Parteitaga der Sozialderao-
kratischen Parte! Deulschlands," abgehalten zu Essen, September, 1907,
pp. 345. olc.

312

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

order to restore his labor power, he is compelled by rigid
and inexorable necessity to seek refuge in whisky," '

The insufBcient nourishment of the workingman is due
to low wages, high food prices, and also to the unskillful
preparation of his food. The workingman's wife has as a
rule never bad an opportunity to cultivate the household
arts, and seldom has the time to practice them.

Various other causes contribute to develop the drink
habit among workingmen, most of them having their roots
in the modem industrial conditions. And as is the case
with almost all social evils of the day, the cause and effect
of alcoholism move in a seemingly unbreakable vicious
circle — misery causes drunkenness, drunkenness increases
misery.

For a long time the socialists of all countries were rather
indifferent to the temperance movement. They were fully
alive to the dangers of the evil habit for the working
class, but they had little faith in the cures offered by the
ideological temperance advocates. High taxes on spiritu-
ous liquors, wherever tried, have failed to check the drink-
ing evil and have only resulted in greater inroads on the
meager budget of the working families. Prohibition has
proved as impotent to cope with the evil, and as a rule
has only served to encourage smugglhig and illicit stills.
Nor were the socialists inclined to expect substantial
results from a purely moral crusade against alcoholism.
The generally accepted socialist view was that the evils
of alcoholism could be lessened only by the betterment
of the material conditions of the workers, and could be
removed only with the abolition of the wage system.

" As every other evil of the capitalist mode of production,
' Quoted by Wurin in report mentioned.

SOCIAL REFORM

313

alcoholism can be checked only to a certain extent through
the class struggle. It can disappear totally only with the
disappearance of the system which has created it and which
always reproduces it," declared Kautsky in 1891.

But of late the socialists of many countries have con-
siderably changed their views on the problem of alcoholism
and on the value of the modem temperance movements.
They have gradually come to realize that in the matter of
abstinence from or temperance in the use of alcoholic
drinks, the purely moral factors of will power and de-
termination play a large part. In their campaigns against
the drink evil they still lay the greater stress on the better-
ment of the material conditions of the workers, but they
also recognize the value of a purely educational propa-
ganda against the abuses of alcohol.
To the Social Democratic Party of Austria belongs the
. merit of having stated the proposition most clearly and
I tersely in a resolution adopted in 1903, and from which
I -we quote the following portion : —

[ " This convention declares that alcoholism has a disas-
trous effect on the physical and mental powers of the work-
' ing class, and that it is a strong obstacle to the organizing
I work of socialism. No means to remove the evils arising
I from alcoholism should, therefore, be neglected. . . .
I " The principal means in this struggle will always be the
I elevation of the material conditions of the proletariat, but
I a necessary supplement to this is the task of enlightening
I the workers on the effects of alcohol and of shattering their
1 prejudices in favor of the drinking habit."
I The socialists of Germany declare it to be the duty of
I organized labor to see to'it that theworkingmen, and espe-
[ cially their children, be enlightened by oral and written

314

SOCIALISM AND REFORM

propaganda on the dangers arising from the use of alcolud '
and the drink-treating habit.

A similar stand has been taken by the socialists of
Switzerland and Holland. In Sweden the socialist pro-
gram contains a plank demanding that the public schools
include in their curriculum a regular study course on the
evils of alcoholism. In Norway the Socialist Party de-
mands the imposition of heavy taxes on all alcoholic
beverages. In England the Labor Party favors the local
option system. In Belgium the socialists have banished
all alcoholic drinks from their numerous meeting places
and recreation halls, while the socialists of Finland demand
the imconditional prohibition of all manufacture and sale
of alcoholic drinks.

The socialists of the United States for the first time took
official notice of the alcohol problem at their national
convention of 1908, and expressed their views on the
subject in the following resolution : —

" We recognize the evils arising from the manufacture and
sale of alcoholic liquors, especially those which are adtil-
terated, and we declare that any excessive use of such
liquors by the working class postpones the day of the final
triumph of our cause. But we do not believe that alcohol-
ism can be cured by an extension of police powers under tfei
capitalistic system. Alcoholism is a disease, and it can be
cured best by the stopping of underfeeding, overwork and
underpay, which result from the present wage system."

The Housing of the Poor

The dwelling conditions of the working people, especially
a the large cities and in factory towns, present a problem

SOQAL REFORM

315

of growing importance. Herded together like sheep, large
families of human beings of all ages and sexes live in one
or two small squalid rooms, without sufficient air or Hght.
Here they cook, wash, dress, eat, sleep, quarrel and curse,
make merry and make love in the constant company of
each other and in an atraos])here of filth, irritation, cruelty
and misery. The congested tenements are not only pro-
lific sources of drunkenness, but also veritable breeding
places of sickness, and of all species of vice and crime.
The foul air of the "slum" dwellings is surcharged with the
germs of death; the dread white plague and all other
infectious diseases feed principally on the unfortunate
inhabitants of the tenements, and the mortality of the
children of this nether world is appalling. The miserable
surroundings of these "homes" drive the children into the
streets, the men into the liquor saloons and the women
into the arms of vice. Tenement life in the slums de-
moralizes the present generation of the workingmen, and
breeds a race of feeble, apathetic and cheerless men and
women which is the greatest menace to our progress and
civilization.

With the concentration of industries and the massing of
ever larger numbers of workingmen in the manufacturing
centers, the menace of popular congestion has within the
last generation become particularly apparent and acute.
Many movements for the reform of the housing conditions
of the poor have sprung up, many measures of relief have
been proposed.

The first impulse of the tenement-house reformers is to
go at the solution of the problem in what seems to be the
most direct way. They wish to physically destroy the
slum or to eradicate its worst evils ; to wash, sweep and

3l6 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

air the squalid rooms; to break through windows in their
dark walls to let in air and sunshine, and finally to dis-
tribute the uniortunate tenement dwellers over a wider
area by removing many of them from the congested spots
into the more cheerful, healthy and sunny suburbs.

These purely mechanical reforms have been tried and
I are being tried to-day in all of the worst slum centers of the
i world.

More than forty years ago Miss Octavia Hill of London
inaugurated a movement which has for its object the train-
ing of tenement dwellers in the habits of cleanliness, order
and decency in their households, and the movement has
found many enthusiastic adherents in some of the large
industrial cities of England, Scotland and the United
States.

Laws providing for the construction of tenement houses,
with better provisions for air, light and sanitary arrange-
ments, have of late been enacted in numerous countries.

" Model " tenements have been built in large numbers.
The Peabody fund and the Guinness trust in England, as
well as numerous other philanthropic institutions in almost
aJl advanced countries, have erected many thousands of
such "model" tenements.

Several great municipalities of England and Scotland
have attempted to provide for the housing of their poor
directly. They have purchased and torn down their
worst tenements and have erected in their stead sanitary
"dwelling houses, and let them to the poor at cost.

Finally, the movement for suburban development as a

cure for city congestion has also assumed large and ever

growing proportions. Almost every large industrial city is

■irteadily extending the radius of its surrounding rural

SOCIAL REFORM

317

territory as an outlet for its crowded population, and multi-
plying and improving its transit facilities.

All these measures have had a certain beneficial effect
on the housing conditions of the city poor. Separately and
collectively they have probably served to relieve the con-
gestion of the working population to some degree and to
make their conditions of life somewhat more tolerable, or
rather, without them these conditions might have grown
even more intolerable than they are to-day.

But weighing the positive achievements along these
lines of tenement-house reform, we caimot help being
disappointed at the meagemess of the results. The slums
of the world have not disappeared, nor have they on the
whole been appreciably improved anywhere. In compari-
son with the benefits derived, the time, energy and money
expended on those measures seem an almost unproductive
waste.

Sermons on household cleanliness and sanitation, as a
rule, fall on deaf ears where crowding and poverty me-
chanically produce filth and indifference.

The "model" tenements have on the whole proved a
great success for their philanthropic or commercial found-
ers, a success equal to from 5 to 10 per cent per annum on
their investments. But to the masses of the poor they
have brought but little rehef. The rents in new "model"
tenements are as a rule a trifle higher than those in the
ordinary ones, just high enough to allow the class of clerks
and other better-paid employees to take advantage of them
and to shut out those who most stand in need of dwelling
reform — ■ the poorest classes of workingmen.

The municipal experiments of demolishing the most
jdisreputable tenements and erecting new and better ones,

3l8 SOCIALISM AND REFORM

have also largely failed to accomplish the results hoped for.
But too often it has been found that the procedure resulted
only in the transfer of the slum center from one spot to
another. The evicted slum dwellers as a rule have settled
down among their nearest slum neighbors.

And as for suburban development — it also did not
and could not materially relieve the evil of congestion.
Suburban development means, in the first place, increased
means of communication between. the city and the suburb,
more lines of street cars and railways, and in the second
place, more buildings and business in the suburbs. The
principal beneficiaries of such reforms under present condi-
tions are, as a rule, the railroad companies, the property-
owners along the new lines of travel, the land speculators
dealing in suburban property, and incidentally also our
upper and lower middle classes, who furnish the bulk of
all suburban population.

The slum dwellers do not move to the suburbs, they
cannot move to the suburbs. The slum dwellers are the
hardest worked and poorest paid o£ the working class.
They have not the money to pay the fares to and from their
places of work, and they have not the time to spend on
travel. Mr. Jacob A. Riis has observed that the housing
problem is a transportation problem. That may be true
for the middle classes, for tke workingmen the housing
problem is not a transportation problem, but a wage
problem.

The trouble with the movement for tenement-house re-
form, as with all current reform movements, is that it
touches the surface, but not the root of the problem.
Under our system of civilization, the "slum" is not a
local or accidental abuse, but a social institution. Pov-

^M SOaAL REFORM 319

erty is the inevitable result of our industrial system, and
the slum is poverty's logical place of abode.

The first condition for the development of a slum district
is its proximity to the factory. The workingman, and
the poorer-paid workingman especially, is compelled to
live within walking distance of his place of work. The
price of land in such favored districts, then, naturally rises,
and the landowners find it to their best advantage to build
huge and cheap buildings occupying every available inch
of ground, and containing many small rooms. These
they let for exorbitantly high rent, and the workingman
tenant is compelled to crowd his family into as few rooms
as physically possible, and to secure one or more roomers
besides to help him pay the rent. Then an entire industry
adapted to the needs and means of the population develops
in the district. In the streets of the, slum, in its groceries,
eating houses and dry goods stores, the vilest and cheapest
of food stuffs and of other commodities converge from all
parts of the city and country. The slum is adjusted to the
entire household economy of its inhabitants and holds
them in its iron grip. It must persist as long as exploi-
tation and poverty continue.

The various reforms heretofore tried have some value as
temporary palliatives, and the socialists heartily favor them
as such. They advocate municipal construction of model
tenements to be let to workingmen at cost, and they advo-
cate suburban development through improved transit lines
to be built and operated by the city in the interest of the
traveling public and the employees. But they do not
expect substantial relief from such measures,

The slum evil can be relieved only by better wages and
shorter hours, it can be cured only by socialism.

APPENDIX

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT

Early History

Some writers on the subject include in the history of the 1
socialist movement all ancient and mediaeval manifesta-
tions of communistic thought and institutions. But as i
matter of fact the modem socialist movement has nothing
in common with the Utopias of Plato, Campanella and
More, or with the prehistoric tribal institutions, early I
Christian practices or the various sectarian communities
of the Middle Ages.

The political socialist movement of our day is primarily
a movement of the working class, and has for its object the
reconstruction of the present-day system of industry on the
basis of collective ownership of the tools of production.

The movement thus presupposes the existence of a
competitive individualist system of industry and of a wage-
earning class. In other words, modern socialism is
unthinkable without its antithesis — capitalism. Social-
ism is the child of the modern or "capitalist" system of
production. And more than that, it is the product of that
system at a certain advanced stage. The socialist move-
ment is a protest against the present industrial system,
hence it presupposes a state of development of that system
to a point where it has become oppressive; it involves a
criticism of the system, hence it implies a dissatisfaction

^m APPENDIX 321

with it; and finally, it offers a substitute for the present
system, hence it is predicated on the assumption of a state
of decline of the capitalist regime.

Thus while the beginnings of the present industrial
system may be traced back to the fifteenth or sixteenth
century of our era, the modern socialist movement is barely
more than a century old.

Socialism, like most other social theories and movements,
has passed through several stages of development before
reaching its modem aspect.

In its first phases it was primarily a humanitarian move-
ment, and its political rflle was but secondary and ind- ■
dental. 1

The early socialists saw only the evils of the new system \
of production; they did not penetrate into its historical I
significance and tendencies. The evils of the system ap- |
peared to them as arbitrary deviations from the "eternal
principles" of "natural law," justice and reason, and the 1
social system itself as a clumsy and malicious contrivance '
of the dominant powers in society. i

To the "unreasonable" and "unjust" social systems of
their times they opposed more or less fantastic schemes
of social organization of their own invention supposed to be ■
free from the abuses of modem civilization, and thereupon i
they appealed to humanity at large to test those schemes.

These social schemes were, as a rule, unfolded by their
authors by means of description of a fictitious country with
a mode of life and form of government to suit their own
ideas of justice and reason. The happy country thus de-
scribed was the Utopia (Greek for "Nowhere"), hence
the designation of that phase of the socialist movement
as " Utopian."

322

APPENDIX

One of the fruits of these theories was the organization
of the numerous communistic societies of the early part of
the last century. The Utopian socialists knew of no
reason why their plans of social organization should not^
work in a more limited sphere just as satisfactorily as c
a national scale, and they fondly hoped that they wouldj
gradually convert the entire world to their system by f
practical demonstration of its feasibility and benefits ii
a miniature society.

Another practical application of the Utopian socialist \
philosophy is to be found in the conspiratory revolutionary
societies which accompanied the socialist agitation of
several European countries, notably France, in the thirties
and forties of the nineteenth century. The object of these
societies was to capture the organs of government and to .
decree a socialist state of society, a perfectly sane and J
logical procedure from the point of view of men who be- I
lieved that systems of society could be created and altered I
at will.

As with every other movement it is, of course, impos-
sible to locate the exact starting point of modem social-
ism. In a general way, however, it may be said that the I
beginning of the modern socialist movement coincides
with the period of the great French Revolution.
' The first gleams of socialist philosophy appear in the
^orks of the pre-Revolutionary French philosophers of the
School of the Encyclopedists, notably in those of Jean i
Jacques Rousseau, who as early as in 1754 denounced
private property as the cause of all crimes.

But a much more definite and elaborate expression of the
Utopian socialist creed we find in the two works of Morelly:
" Naufrage des lies Flottantes ou la Basiliade" (The Ship-' '

APPENDIX 323

""wreck of the Floating Islands or Baailiade), 1753, and
"Code de la Nature" {Code of Nature), 1753. The
former is an Utopian novel in metrical form, and the latter
is a philosophic essay. Morelly is a keen and farseeing
critic of the industrial system of individualist competition,
and advocates a somewhat loose form of communism.

Next to Morelly, Gabriel Mably (1709-1785) must be',
mentioned among the early French socialist writere. Like '
Morelly, Mably advocated a social system based on the ,
community of property, with the difference, however, that
the state of Mably is highly centralized, both in the system
of production and distribution.

A more realistic note in the literature of the young
socialist speculation is introduced by the French lawyer,
Francois Boissel (1728-1807), whose "Catechisme du ,
Genre Humain" (Catechism of Mankind), which appeared ,
in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, contains the
first attempt at a scientific analysis of the modem mode
of production.

These three authors arc the principal exponents of
socialism in pre-RevoIutionary France. Their works are
purely theoretical, and they did not result in any socialist
activity.

The first direct step toward an active revolutionary
and socialist movement was made by Francois Noel
Babeuf (1760-1796). Babeuf, himself an active factor
in the great French Revolution, was by no means satisfied
with its accomplishments. "The Revolution," he argued,
"has proclaimed Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, but
equality is a mere sham unless it is social and economic as
well as political," With the aim of capturing the govern-
ment of France and establishing social and economic

324 APPENDIX

equality, he organized the famous Conspiracy of Equals.
The movement is said to have attained considerable
dimensions in Paris when it was detected in 1796-
\ Babeuf was convicted on the charge of treason, and be-
headed. Years later, Filippo Buonarotti, a friend and
disciple of Babeuf, published the history of the conspiracy
I and the program of the conspirators, and the work played
■ a large part in the movement of the secret socialist societies
of later years. _

/ Babeuf was the last representative of the eighteenth-J
century socialism. The beginning of the nineteenth cen-4
tury produced a series of socialist thinkers and workers
who have influenced the shaping of the present-day
socialist movement more directly than their predecessors.
■Of these, two are always mentioned together. They are J
Charles Henri Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier. I

' Saint-Simon is a teacher rather than a practical social I
reformer. The keynote to his philosophy is the demand'!
(that society be organized not on a political but on an in- I
pustrial basis. His last work, "Nouveau Christianisme" I
y{New Christianity) is the most complete exposition of I
(his social views, and contains the germs of the theory of I
I economic determinism which in the hands of Karl Marx I
subsequently became one of the most powerful weapons in I
' the arsenal of contemporary socialist philosophy, I

After the death of Saint-Simon his work was continued I
by a talented coterie of his disciples, prominent among 1
whom were Oiinde Rodrigue (1794-1851), Barthel^my I
P. Enfantin (1796-1864), Armand Bazard (1791-1S32), 1
I Auguste Comte, the father of positive philosophy, and I
L Terdinand de Lesseps, of the Suez Canal fame. The I
I iSaint-Simonian school at one time gained considerable 1

APPENDIX 325

influence in the intellectual circles of France, its organ, " Le
Globe," had a large circulation, and in the revolution of
1830 the Saint-Simonians played a not unimportant part.
But the movement ultimately split, principally on the
question of woman's rights. Under the leadership of
Enfantin the Saint-Simonian school developed a mystic
religious cult with certain unconventional practices in the
relation of the sexes, which led to the arrest of Enfantin
and his followers on the charge of immorality, and to the
inglorious end of the Saint-Simonian movement.

If Saint-Simon was the preacher of order and system,
Fourier may be called the apostle of harmony,

God created the entire universe on a harmonious plan,
reasons Fourier, hence there must be harmony between
everything in existence. Endowing human beings with
certain instincts and desires, God intended their free and
untrammeled exercise, and not their suppression, ^11
human instincts and desires are legitimate and useful
if existing society curbs the right of the citizen to fol
those instincts and desires, it is evidence of a defect
social system, not in the individual. Fourier advocates
the reorganization of society on the basis of autonomous
communities of from 1500 to 2000 members. These com-
munities, styled by him" phalanxes," are voluntary associ-
ations of citizens for the purpose of cooperative labor
and collective enjoyment, with ample provisions for the
choice of associates and occupations, variety of pursuits
and attractive surroundings of industries. The phalanxes
are not communistic enterprises, but rather partake of
the nature of modem joint-stock associations, in which
capital receives its reward as well as labor and "talent,"
it-Simon emphasizes the rights and importance of

326 APPENDIX

society, Fourier dwells principally on the rights of the
individual citizens as against organized society. The two
great Utopians may be said to be the prototypes of the two
dominant tendencies in the social theories of our times —
collectivism and individualism.

Chief among the French disciples of Fourier is Victor
Consid^rant, under whose leadership the Fourierist move-
ment attained some importance years after the master's
death. But even more influence than in France, the
philosophy of Fourier exercised in the United States of
America, where it counted among its most enthusiastic
adherents men like Albert Brisbane, Horace Greeley,
Parke Godwin, George Ripley, Charles A. Dana, Mar-
garet Fuller and other men and women prominent in
the world of letters.

In France, the home of Fourierism, but few attempts at
the practical realization of the system were made, but in
the United States over forty phalanxes were established
between 1840 and 1850, among them the famous Brook
Farm and the North American Phalanx. Of the socialist
writers and reformers of that period who have largely con-
tributed to the development of the modem socialist move-
ment, we must mention fitienne Cabet (1788-1856),
Louis Blanc (1S11-1882), Jean Lamennais (1782-1854)
and Pierre J. Proudhon {1809-1865).

Cabet's Utopian novel "Voyage en Icarie" (Voyage to
Icaria), published in 1842, gave rise to a popular movement
in favor of communism which at one time was said to
number several hundred thousands of adherents. The
movement resulted in the establishment of the "Icarian
communities" in the United States. The first of these
communities was established in Texas in 184S, and the

APPENDIX 327

last of the series perished in California almost half a cen-
tury later.

Louis Blanc, who first achieved fame through his work
"Organization du Travail" {Organization of Labor),
published in 1840, played an important part ip the French
revolution of 1848 as a member of the Provisional Com-
mittee. He was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the
famous decree of that committee recognizing the "right
to labor," and was indirectly responsible for the establish-
ment of the National Workshops, which under the post-
revolutionary administration of the French government
turned into a disastrous failure.

Lamennais is the father of Christian Socialism in France.
He early advocated the union of the Catholic church with
the growing socialist movement of the workingmcn. His
views were condemned by Pope Gregory XVI, and Lamen-
nais thereafter addressed his appeals directly to the people.
His "Paroles d'un Croyant" (Words of a Believer),
published in 1854, contains a burning indictment of the
selfish rich, and is full of tender sympathy for the disin- ,'
herited of the world. It was widely read by the working- !
men of his generation, and made a deep and lasting im-
pression on his countrymen.

Proudhon, the author of the famous "Qu'est-ce que la
Propri^te ?" (What is Property?) and "Contradictions
ficonomlques" (Economic Contradictions), may be said to
be the father of modem "communistic anarchism."

This review of early French socialism would not be
complete without a brief reference to the secret societies
which made their appearance immediately after the rev-
olution of 1830, and continued with varying degree of
strength and success for about ten years. The principal

328 APPENDIX 1

organizations of that cycle are the Sociiti des amis du
Peuple (Society of the Friends of the People), SociSti \
des droits de I'homme {Society of Human Rights), Soci6l4 j
des families (Society of Families), and SociitS des saisons
(Society of Seasons), and the most prominent leaders of
the movement were Louis Blanqui (1805-1S81), Armand j
1 Barbfes (1809-1870), Voyer d'Argcnjon (1771-1842) and ]
\ Filippo Buonarotti mentioned above. 1

■ j While the socialism of France during the first half of the ]
/last century was thus replete with various movements,
^schools and thinkers, the movement in England during ]
/ the corresponding period is practically represented by one |
\ name — Robert Owen,

The socialism of Owen differed from that of his French I
contemporaries just as much as the political and industrial J
conditions and national temperament and genius of Eng- i
land differed from those of France. I

Owen was primarily a practical business man, not a 1
philosopher, and still less a conspirator. His socialist
views were developed by his contact with actual industrial 1
conditions, more highly developed in England than in any
other European country, and they always bore the imprint
of that origin.

Owen's early activity in the field of social reform was
more of a philanthropic than revolutionary character: it
consisted in the long and patient work of improving the ]
conditions of his own employees in the Scotch manufactur- |
ing village of New Lanark, and in this he succeeded so 1
well that within one generation (from 1800 to 1824) the
former miserable village, with a degenerate and wretched
population, had become a model community of healthy,
mdustrious and happy men and women. j

APPENDIX 329

His revolutionary career may be said to date from 1817,
when upon the invitation of the committee of the As-
sociation for the Rehef of the Manufacturing and Laboring
Poor, he unfolded his views on the causes of poverty and
the needed social reforms. The gist of his views is that
widespread pauperism and popular misery are inseparable
from an industrial system based on free competition, and
that under such a system the increased productivity of
labor inevitably leads to the deterioration of the condition
of the working class.

He was a great believer in the influence of environment
on the formation of human character, and predicted that
improved material conditions of the laboring population
would result in the physical, intellectual and moral regen-
eration of the masses.

His activities as a socialist propagandist and experi-
menter extend over forty years, and are as variegated as in-
tense. He organized the famous New Harmony communi-
ties in the United States (1826-1828), and several similar
communities in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1832
he established the Equitable Banks for Labor Exchange,
a contrivance for the exchange of commodities by their
producers without the intervention of the profit-making
merchant and manufacturer, and several years later he
formed the Association of all Classes and Nations whose
members first applied the appellation of "socialists" to
themselves. He was indefatigable in the propaganda of
his creed m the United States as well as in England. He
delivered several lectures in the Hall of Representatives
at Washington, called an mtemational socialist congress in
New York, and presided over the first national convention
of English trade unions. He was largely responsible for

[330

APPENDIX

the introduction of the infant-school system, aiia
sidered the father of factory legislation.

Owen's influence was, however, mainly personal, and he
left no school or movement behind him.

In Germany the first manifestations of socialist thought
and activity are connected with the names of the cele-
brated philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1S14),
who in his " Geschlossener Handelstaai" (Closed Trading
State) advocates the state regulation of production and
distribution of goods, and the tailor Wilhelm Weitling
(1808-1871), who may be considered the connecting link
between present-day socialism and its earlier forms.

Weitling seems to have imbibed the theories of French
commimism in his early traveling days, but he instilled into
them the life and faith of the active propagandist and en-
thusiastic apostle. Like Owen he extended his activity to
all spheres of radical social reform known in his day, or-
ganizing cooperative enterprises, workingmen's study clubs,
a communistic settlement, trade-union organizations, etc.
His main theoretical works are : " Die Welt wie sie ist und
sein soUte" (The World as It is and as It Should Be), 1838,
"Die Garantien der Harmonic und Frciheit" (The Guar- ,
anties of Harmony and Freedom), 1842, and "Das Evan-
gelium des Armen Siinders" (Evangel of a Poor Sinner),
1846.

Weitling is the first socialist to make a more direct
appeal to the working class, although the modem socialist
conception of class struggle is still foreign to him. Weit-
ling's fields of activity were Switzerland and the United
States, but his influence also extended to Germany, Austria
and the colonies of German emigrants in other coun-
tries, i

APPENDIX 331

In tfie meantime, the industrial development of Europe
had proceeded with giant strides, and with it also the
scientific study of the character and tendencies of the exist-
ing industrial regime. The fantastic theories and hypoth-
eses of early socialism, liite those of so many other young
sciences, had to be greatly modified. Socialism had to
be given a new, more realistic and sounder foundation,
and this task was accomplished towards the middle of the
last century by the twin founders of modem socialism,
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Frederick Engels (1820-
1895)-

The socialism of the new school, known as Marxian or
Scientific socialism, proceeds on the theory that the social
and political structure of society at any given time and
place is not the result of the free and arbitrary choice of
men, but the logical outcome of a definite process of his-
torical development, and that the underlying structure of
such foundation is at all times the economic system upon
which society is organized.

As a logical sequence from these views it follows that
a form of society cannot be changed at any given time un-
less the economic development has made it ripe for the
change, and that the future of mankind must be looked
for, not in the ingenious schemes of mventive social
philosophers, but in the tendencies of economic develop-
ment.

The Marxian socialists base their hopes on the tendency
of modern industries towards centralization and socializa-
tion, the inadequacy and wastefulness of the individual
and competitive system of production, and the growing
revolt of the working classes against J
hardships involved in that system,

1332 APPENDIX

Modem socialists address themselves not so muci^ to the
humane sentiments of society at large as to the self-interests
of the working class, as the class primarily concerned in the
impending social change. They do not indulge in minia-
ture social experiments or in political conspiracies, but di-
rect their efforts towards the education and political and
industrial organization of the working class, so as to enable
that class to steer the ship of state from individualism into
collectivism, when the time shall be ripe for it, and to hasten
that time. I

This phase of the socialist movement may be said to date I
from the publication of the celebrated " Communist Mani-
festo." The "Manifesto" is a brief pamphlet written con-
jointly by Marx and Engels. It has since been translated
into almost all modern languages, and has remained to
this day the classical exposition of modern socialism.

The "Communist Manifesto" appeared in 184S. The 1
great revolutionary movement of that year and the long
period of European reaction following upon its defeat,
temporarily paralyzed the young socialist movement
inaugurated by Marx and his comrades. For almost
fifteen years the movement was confined to a few scattered
circles of "intellectuals" in the different countries of Eu-
rope and did not penetrate into the masses anywhere.
The general political and social awakening which marks
the beginning of the sixties of the last century in all princi-
pal countries of Europe and in the United States of Amer-
ica, did not pass without affecting the working classes.
A strong labor movement grew up in the most advanced
countries of Europe, and a large portion of it fell, under the
spiritual leadership of the socialists.

The first fruit of these renewed socialist and labor ac-

APPENDIX 333

tivities was the organization of the International Working-
men's Association {commonly styled the International)
in 1864. The International was organized in London by
some representative English trade unionists in conjunction
with a number of political refugees of various nationalities
with whom the capital of England was fairly teeming just
then. Its constitution and declaration of principles were
drafted by Karl Marx, and the latter instrument was a
concise exposition of the socialist philosophy winding up
with the declaration — " No rights without duties; no duties
without rights."

The International extended over England, France,
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Denmarti, Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Australia and the
United States of America, and at one time was considered
a great power in European politics. Its active career em-
braced a period of about eight years, from 1864 to 1872,
during which time it held six conventions. These con-
ventions were largely devoted to the discussion of social
and labor problems, and served to impress the socialist
movement of the world with a uniform and harmonious
character.

The dissolution of the organization was brought about
by a number of factors, not the least of which was the fate
of the Paris Commune.

The Commune, proclaimed in Paris on March 18, 187T,
in its inception had no connection whatever with the In-
ternational or the socialist agitation of the time. Its name
was not intended to imply any sympathy with the doctrines
of communism, but was merely meant to signify the com-
munal or municipal autonomy of Paris. The proclamation
of the Commune was a result of the revolt of the Parisians

334 APPENDIX

' i^inst the excessive centralization of government
France.

Originally the movement was rather conservative, but
in the course of the struggles between the Parisian Com-
munards and their Versaillian adversaries it became more
and more radical in character. The Parisian populace,
after the Prussian siege of 1870, consisted largely of work-
ingmen and small shopkeepers reduced to a state of extreme
poverty and suffering, while many of the wealthier citizens
fled from Paris after the proclamation of the Commune, to
seek protection from the national troops stationed at Ver-
sailles, The Commune, therefore, assumed the character
of a struggle between the Parisian proletariat and the
French bourgeoisie, and the International threw its entire
moral influence to the support of the former. When the
Commune was defeated, after a stormy existence of about
two months, the defeat and the general European moral
opprobrium which attached to the memory of the Parisian
revolt, strongly affected the standing of the International.

But the deciding blow to the life of the International
was dealt by the growing spirit of anarchism within its
ranks.

Up to about 1869 the Tnternational was under the undis-
puted control of the Marxian wing of socialism, but in the
later years of its existence the school of " communistic
anarchism " steadily gained ground in the councils of the
society under the leadership of the apostle of the new creed,
Michael Bakounin (1814-1876). Bakounin, a Russian by
birth and a revolutionist by temperament, had passed
through a very picturesque revolutionary career before .
he joined the International. He abominated the evolu-
tionary doctrines and "tame" methods of Marxian social-

APPENDIX 335

ism, and revolted against organization and discipline.
He advocated the immediate rising against tlie obnoxious
powers of modern civilization, and proclaimed the principle
of "complete individual liberty restrained only by natural
laws." He was eloquent, enthusiastic and magnetic,
and the desperate conditions of the laboring population
of Europe, especially in the Southern countries, furnished
a large and very receptive audience for his promises of
quick and easy salvation.

Anarchism threatened to become a power in the Inter-
national, and Marx and his friends decided to avert the
danger by sacrificing the organization. In 1S72 the seat
of its general council was transferred to New York, and
three years later the International was formally dissolved.

The International, however, had accomplished its
purpose, and during its activity the socialist movement of
Europe had developed to such dimensions that it became
impossible to confine it within the bounds of one central
organization. From this point we shall have to follow
the varying fortunes of the movement in the different
countries in which it has developed.

Chief among such countries is, of course,

Germany

In Germany the present-day socialist movement runs I
an unbroken chain from the days of the agitation of Ferdi-
nand Lassalle (1825-1864). Of extraordinary eloquence,
profound learning and indomitable energy, Lassalle was
probably the most powerful popular tribune produced by
the nineteenth century.
|.Hi5 active work in the cause of socialism is practically

confined to the last two years of his life. But during
short period he succeeded in thoroughly rousing the phleg-
matic working class of his country by his ringing speeches
and powerful writings. In his social views he was a dis-
ciple of Marx, but the principal issues of his agitation were
the demands for universal suffrage and for the establish-
ment of cooperative workshops with state credit.

In 1863 he organized the General Workingmen's As-
sociation, which at the time of its founder's death numbered
only 4610 members, but grew considerably in later years,
notwithstanding one serious schism within its ranks.

In the meanwhile a new socialist party, more stricdy
Marxian, was organized in 1869, under the leadership of
Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel, and the six years
following are marked by a bitter feud between the rival
organizations. The feud was terminated in 1875 by the
amalgamation of all socialist organizations at the Gotha
convention, and the present Social Democratic Party of
Germany was thus born. Since then the progress of the
socialist movement has been rapid and steady, and even
the imrelenting government persecution under the Excep-
tion Laws did not succeed in checking its growth. These
laws were designed to suppress all forms of socialist prop-
aganda, and their enforcement was attended by the im-
prisonment and exile of large numbers of the most active
socialists. They were enacted in 1878 after two attempts
by irresponsible individuals on the life of the Emperor, and
were abandoned in 1890 after their futility had been dem-
onstrated in practice. The growth of socialism in Ger-
many can be best appreciated by a comparison of the
socialist vote in the parliamentary elections of that country,
l-was 101,927 in 1871 and over three and one quarter

APPENDIX 337

millions in 1906. The Social Democratic Party of Ger-
many is to-day numerically the strongest political organi-
zation in the country.

France

If the socialist movement of Germany may be considered
a model of orderly and methodical growth, that of France
has had, on the contrary, a most bewildering and stormy
career.

With the fall of the Paris Commune the movement in
France had received a blow from which it recovered but
very slowly. For a number of years after 1871 the only
manifestation of socialist activity was to be found in the
students' circles organized by Gabriel Deville and Jules
Gufesde, and the main efforts of these circles were di-
rected towards the propaganda of socialism among the
trade unions. In these efforts they gained a partial suc-
cess in 1878 when the general trade-union congress of
Lyons pledged its support to some socialist candidates,
and several large trade organizations indorsed the entire
socialist program. The arrest of Gufesde and thirty-three
other labor leaders in 1879 for participation in a political
labor conference, and the brilliant defense of Gufesde on
that occasion, largely served to increase the sympathies
of the working population for socialism, and the general
trade-union congress of Marseilles, held in the same year,
unreservedly declared itself in favor of the movement.

But this declaration, made by the delegates under the
influence of the events immediately preceding the conven-
tion, did not seem to have the unanimous support of their
constituents. At the following convention, held in Havre in

338 APPENDIX I

1880, the discussion was resumed, and resulted in a split
The organized workingmen divided themselves into two
separate organizations distinguished from each other as
" collect! vists" and "cooperativists" respectively. And
the socialist movement in France has ever thereafter pro-
gressed through a process of alternate fusions and divisions,
The first schism in the ranks of the socialist movement
proper took place in 1882, when the strict adherents of
Marxian socialism, led by Jules Gu^sde, Paul Lafargue and
Gabriel Deville, separated from the Possibilisl or oppor-
tunist sociahsts, headed by Paul Brousse and Benoit
Malon. The former organized the Parti Ouvrier
(Labor Party), and the latter, the Federation Frangaise
des Travailleurs Socidisks Revolutionaires (French
Federation of Socialist Revolutionary Workingmen).
To these must be added the Parti Revolutionaire founded
by the veteran of the French Revolution, Blanqui, upon his
release from his last term of imprisonment in 1879, and J
after his death dkected by the well-known communard, ~
Edouard Vaillant.

The number of socialist parties was further augmented I
by a split within the ranks of the Possibilists, the more ]
radical wing of which organized an independent party in
1891 under the name of Parti Ouvrier Revolutionaire \
Sociatiste, and under the leadership of Allemane, and also
by the formation of numerous local groups of "independ- j
ent socialists" whose membership included such promi-
nent socialists as Etienne Millerand and Jean Jauifts.

The period between 1898 and igor is marked by efforts
to bring about the union of socialist forces. These efforts
were partly realized in 1900, when a national congress of all
French socialist parties and organizations was held in Paris. ,

APPENDIX 339

But in the meanwhile a new issue presented itself to the
socialists of France. The events attending the Dreyfus
agitation had forced sociaUsts to the front in national poli-
tics, and one independent socialist, fitienne Millerand,
was given a portfoUo in the cabinet of the new premier,
Waldeck-Rousseau. MiUerand's entry into the "bour-
geois" cabinet had the approval of the more liberal or
"opportunist" wing of the socialist movement under the
leadership of the eloquent Jean Jaurfes, but was strongly
condemned by the more orthodox faction headed by Jules
Gufesde. And on this new issue the socialist organizations
of France now grouped themselves. The "ministerialists"
combined into the Parti Socialisle Franfais, while the
"anti-ministerialists" united into the Parli Socialisle de
France. Both parties continued a separate though not
always antagonistic existence until 1905, when they united
into one, largely through the good services of the Inter-
national Socialist Congress held in Amsterdam in 1904.
The new party is the first in France to bring together all
of the more important socialist organizations under one
administration, although some minor groups of "inde-
pendent" socialists still remain in existence.

The first socialist campaign in parliamentary elections
in France was made in 1885, when the combined socialist
parties polled about 30,000' votes. The successive growth
of the socialist parliamentary vote is shown by the follow-
ing round figures : —

47,000
120,000

Russia

While the modem socialist movements in Germany and '
France, as well as in all other European countries, are
primarily economic in their character, and are supported
principally by the industrial working classes, the movement
in Russia was in its inception preponderatingly political
and ethical, and was represented principally by men and
women of the better-situated and cultured classes. This .
difference in the character of the movement is accounted |
for by the difference between the social and economic -I
conditions of that country and the rest of Europe at the
period of the birth of socialism in Russia. At a time when
the modem industrial riigime was fully developed, and the
system of representative government firmly established
in the other principal countries of Europe, Russia was a
purely agricultural country with a population of peasants
just liberated from serfdom, with no manufacturing class .
or industrial proletariat worth mentioning, and with an I
almost Asiatic form of autocratic government. The i
cialism of Russia was not the du-ect result of economic de- I
velopment, not a form of class struggle between the classes
of capitalists and workingmen : it was partly an expressioa
of poUtical revolt against absolute czarism, and partly a
reflex of the economic socialist theories with such modi-
fications as comported with the peculiar conditions of j
, Russia.

The first expressions of socialist thought in Rus^a |
coincide with the agitation for the emancipation of the
serfs, and its best-known representatives of that period
are a famous coterie of publicists and critics among whom
we must mention Alexander Herzen, an expatriated noble-

APPENDIX 341

man of considerable wealth, who conducted an active
agitation for Russian freedom from London principally
by means of his magazine Kolokol (Bell), and Nicholas
Chemyshefsky, the editor of the influential magazine
Sovremennik (Contemporary), who was deported to Si-
beria in the prime of his life, to return thence an old man
and a physical and mental wreck.

The next phase of the socialist movement in Russia is
that designated as "Nihilism," The word was coined by
the well-known novelist Ivan Turgenief as a term of ridicule
of the new current of Russian thought which developed
strongly around i860 to 1870, and whose main characteris-
tics were a crude materialism and the negation of all
established beliefs.

"Nihilism" was an intellectual rather than a political
or social movement, but its effect was to promote socialism
in two ways; it created a negative attitude towards the old
order of things in Russia, and it developed a thirst for posi-
tive knowledge among the youth of both sexes, driving
large numbers of them into the universities of Western
Europe, principally those of Switzerland, since they could
not quench that mtellectual thirst at home. These young
and receptive Russian students were powerfully attracted
by the awakening socialist movement of Western Europe,
and also came under the influence of their own exiled
countrymen, Michael Bakounin, Alexander Herzen and
Peter LavTofl', the foremost Russian representative of
scientific sociahsm at that time. The socialist sympathies
of these Russian students were so manifest that their
government finally took alarm, and in 1873 summarily
recalled them to their fatherland under pain of exile. The
eSect of the order was hardly gratifying to the government:

342 APPENDIX

the students returned in large numbers, but they returned;
as active socialist propagandists. I

At this stage of the movement Russian socialism was'
perfectly peaceful. The activities of the young propa-
gandists were principally educational ; their main effort was
to raise the intellectual level of the illiterate peasantry
composing the great bulk of the population. They spread
in the villages, settled among the peasants, whose habits,
language and even dress they tried to imitate, and con-
ducted the work of socialist propaganda side by side with
that of general education. But their activity provoked
severe government persecutions; the "political offenders"
were hounded down, executed, imprisoned or exiled to
Siberia, frequently without so much as the formality of
trial. Within five years the young movement found itself
practically checked: the socialist propagandists, reduced
in numbers and rendered desperate by the relentless and
cruel police persecution, abandoned the peaceful methods
of propaganda. A seeming accident determined the suc-
ceeding phase of Russian socialism.

In 1878 a young woman named Vera Sassulich shot at
General Trcpoff, the military commandant of St. Peters-
burg, as an act of revenge for his brutal treatment of a
political prisoner. Vera Sassuhch was placed on trial for
the offense, but was triumphantly acquitted by the jury
amid the plaudits of the better part of the population.
Encouraged by the success of Sassulich, deprived of all
means of peaceful activity, and rendered desperate by the
relentless police persecutions, the socialists turned to
methods of force and conspiracy.

A sudden and radical change took place in the Russian
revolutionary movement. The old type of peaceful propa-

APPENDIX 343

gandist and dreamer disappeared, and instead of him there
arose the sullen and determined terrorist. The Russian
socialists engaged in mortal combat with the autocratic
government, and the embodiment of that government, the
czar, in person. The struggle lasted but a few years, and
it was the strangest ever witnessed in history. A mere
handful of ideaJists, without substantial support on the part
of any class of the population, was arrayed against the
rulers of Russia, supported by a powerful police, a vast
army and unlimited resoiyces; and still the struggle was
fierce, just as fierce on the one side as on the other. The
"white terror" of the government was fully balanced by
the "red terror" of the revolutionists. The enthusiasm,
courage and ingenuity displayed by the Russian socialists,
men and women, during that period, defy comparison.
The annals of these few years of the movement are the
most romantic in the history of international sociahsm,
and are characterized by numerous political assassinations,
and by the imprisonment and execution of the most gifted
leaders of Russian socialism. The movement culminated
in the assassination of Czar Alexander II, and this triumph
of the first period of revolutionary terrorism in Russia
was also its end. The Russian revolutionists had expected
that the killing of the czar would be the signal for a general
revolt, but in this expectation they found themselves sorely
disappointed. The population of Russia was not ready
for a revolution at that time, and had but little sympathy
or understanding for the youthful socialists.

The Will of the People, the famous fighting organiza-
tion of the revolutionary terrorists, survived the assassi-
nation of Alexander II only a few years.

In the meanwhile, modem industrial conditions rapidly

344 APPENDIX

developed in Russia, and with them developed a new social

power, the class of factory workers.

Thus was prepared in Russia the soil for a socialist
movement after the pattern of Western Europe, and the
soil rapidly produced a plentiful harvest. Already in the
days of revolutionary terrorism a small group of Russian
socialists, headed by George Plekhanoff, Paul Axelrod and
Vera Sassulich, had based their hopes for the future of
Russian socialism in the nascent class of industrial workers,
and their propaganda kept pace with the growth and spread
of that class. In the early nineties of the last century,
official Russia, greatly to its surprise 'and dismay, found
itself confronted in all industrial centers by a well-organized ■
and radical labor movement, which refused to yield to
persecution or to be side tracked by governmental ruses.
The organized labor movement gave a new impetus to the
political socialist movement. The Social Democratic
Party, originally organized by Russian political exiles in
Switzerland, soon had a number of local committees in
various parts of Russia, and was reenforced by the organiza-
tions of the Jewish, Polish, Lettish and Armenian social
democrats. At the begirming of the present century, the
Social Democratic Party, secret and persecuted as it was,
had developed into a power of no mean proportions, and
during the most agitated days of the overt outbreak of the
Russian revolution, towards the end of 1905 and the be-
ginning of 1906, it was this party that led the movement.

With the revival of the socialist movement in Russia,
revolutionary terrorism, the natural child of unbridled
autocracy, gradually reappeared. This movement was at
first represented by a number of scattered groups, but in
1901 the large majority of them combined their forces and

APPENDIX 345

created the party of Socialist Revolutionists, which is re-
sponsible for the numerous political assassinations preced-
ing and accompanying the present war between the govern-
ment and the people of Russia, It is impossible at this
time to estimate the number of Russian subjects enhsted in
the ranks of socialism of one shade or another, but the fact
that the second Duma, elected on a restricted suffrage and
under government surveillance, had about one hundred
socialist members (social democrats, socialist revolutionists
and representatives of the Group of Toil), is eloquent
testimony to the immense spread and power of socialism

Austria

The socialist movement in Austria is closely linked with
that of Germany, so much so that in their earlier stages
the two movements are hardly differentiated. In the
famous convention of Eisenach, held in 1868, the Austrian
socialists were represented as well as their German com-
rades. But notwithstanding the common beginnings and
intellectual identity of socialism in the two countries, the
movement in Austria soon fell behind that of Germany.
There were many reasons for this phenomenon, chief
among them being the industrial backwardness of Austria,
and the difficulty of carrying on a systematic and uniform
propaganda of socialism among the many heterogeneous
nationalities constituting the Austrian Empire.

The beginnings of the socialist movement in Austria
appear In. 1867, when the Imperial Council granted a partial
right of assembly and association to the people of Austria.
.Two years later the movement was strong enough to force

the government to revoke its ban against socialist prop;
ganda by a most remarkable and unexpected demonstra-
tion on the streets of Vienna (December 13, 1869). The
r succeeding period (1870-1888) is principally noteworthy
I for the dissensions within the movement. The prac-
tical disfranchisement of the working class and the
brutal government persecution had bred among the more
radical workingmcn a spirit of embittered pessimism which
made them unusually susceptible to the propaganda of
anarchism, then in its prime all over Europe, and the main
work of Austrian social democracy during that period was
to combat the anarchist movement. The turning point
of the socialist movement in Austria may be considered the
Hainsfeld Congress {1888), which marked the final victory
of social democracy over anarchism in the Austrian labor
movement, and created a unified and well -organized party
which has since been making rapid and steady progress.
In the parliamentary elections of 1907, for the first time
held on the basis of universal suffrage, the Social Demo-
cratic Party polled over 1,000,000 votes, electing no less
than 87 deputies to the Reichsrat.

I
I

Notwithstanding the fact that England is the most in-
dustrial country of Europe, its socialist movement was
rather tardy in appearing and in its growth.

The organized socialist movement of England may be
dated from the formation of the Democratic Federation in
1881. The Federation, called into life by H. M. Hynd-
man, Herbert Burrows and a few other well-known social-
ists, was originally not of outspoken socialist views, but

■ APPENDIX 347

became so in 1883, when it was reorganized under the name
of Social Democratic Federation. The Federation has
ever since continued a somewhat uneventful existence, and
is to-day the orthodox representative of Marxian socialism
in England,

In 1893 another political party of socialism was founded,
principally through the efforts of Keir Hardie. The or-
ganization assumed the name of Independent Labor Party,
adopted a somewhat broader platform than that of the
Social Democratic Federation, and laid more stress on the
political side of the movement. But contrary to the
expectations of its founders, it did not acquire a much
larger following among the working classes of England
than the older organization.

Besides these two parties, the socialist movement of
England is also represented by the well-known Fabian
Society, founded in 1883, principally for the purpose of
educational propaganda along socialist lines. The society
has published a number of popular tracts on the main
aspects of theoretical socialism and has achieved consider-
able success in the field of municipal reform- The out-
spoken socialist organizations in England are not a factor
of great importance in the political life of the country,
but it would be a mistake to measure the strength of the
socialist movement in England only by its organized
portions.

The socialist sentiment in England largely expresses
itself in the radical or "new" trade unions. These trade
unions together with the Independent Labor Party and
the Fabian Society constitute the Labor Party, which has
32 representatives in the House of Commons. The Labor

■ Party has recently adopted a very radical declaration of

principles, and it Is the masses behind that party which
to-day must be considered as the main factor making for
socialism in England. i

lidy

The socialist movement in Italy antedates the Interna-
tional. When the latter split between the adherents of
Karl Marx and Michael Bakounin, the socialists of Italy,
like those of almost all southern and economically back-
ward countries, sided with Bakounin.

The first manifestation of socialist political activity
occurred in 1882, when several scattered socialist groups
united for the ensuing parliamentary elections and nomi-
nated candidates. The elections gave to the socialist
candidates about 50,000 votes, 4 per cent of the total vote
cast, and secured the return of two of them to parliament.
Encouraged by this success, the socialists of Italy organ-
ized a national Socialist Party in 1885, but the party made
little progress, and between government persecutions and
internal dissensions, it led a very precarious existence.

It was only in 1892 that a socialist party, after the
general European model, was organized in Italy, and since
that time the socialist movement in Italy has made large
and steady gains. In 1907 the party consisted of more
than I200 local groups with a total dues- paying member-
ship of over 38,000; it had 25 representatives in the
Chamber of Deputies, and had control of about 100
municipalities, besides having representatives in almost
all other of the most important cities and towns of the
kingdom. In 1904 the party polled 320,000 votes, about
one iifth of the total number of votes cast in the country.

APPENDIX 349

hae of the most remarkable features of the socialist
movement in Italy is its strength among the rural popula-
tion of the country, principally the farm laborers; the
membership of the Socialist Party is largely made up of
them. The Socialist Party also took the initiative in
organizing these laborers into an independent national
organization. In 1900 that organization numbered over
200,000 members. The organized socialist movement of
Italy is divided into several camps on questions of policy
and methods, but that does not seem to interfere with its
, work or progress.

Belgium and Holland

The history of socialism in Belgium and in Holland is so
much alike in many respects, that it may well be reviewed
together. In both countries the movement had its incep-
tion during the last years of the International ; in both
coimtries the split of the International in 1872 divided the
local movement into two hostile camps — the Marxists
and Bakuninists, or Social Democrats and Anarchists —
and in both the former finally prevailed.

Belgium possesses the stronger movement. The first
distinctly socialist political organization was founded in
1885 under the name of Socialist Labor Party of Belgium.
Notwithstanding the frequent dissensions and heated dis-
putes among the Belgian socialists, the movement has
made rapid progress. It has a large and influential press,
and a strong organization. In 1908 the party polled
about half a million votes and had 33 out of the 166
members of the Belgian Parliament,

The activity of the Belgian socialists is principally

marked by their repeated and embittered struggles fiar

universal suffrage, and by their successful organization of
cooperative enterprises.

The first political organization of socialism in Holland
was the Social Democratic Union, founded in 1878 ; but it
made but little progress until 1893, when the anarchistic
elements under the leadership of the eloquent Domela
Nieuvenhuis withdrew from it. The party is represented
in parliament by seven deputies, and its methods and
activity are practically those of the socialist movement of
Belgium, though on a smaller scale.

The Scandinavian Countries

Another group of countries whose socialist history may
be reviewed together, is that of Denmark, Sweden and
Norway. Of these, the movement of Denmark is the
oldest. It dates back to the days of the International, but
the present socialist organization of the country, the Social
Democratic Union, was founded in 1878. In 1889 the
Danish socialists elected one deputy to the Folkething
(parliament), out of a total of 114, and in 1907 the num-
ber of their representatives rose to 28. In that year the
party had over 35,000 dues-paying members and no less
than 25 daily papers; it was also very successful in local
politics, having elected over 850 councilors in different
towns and villages.

The movement in Sweden was initiated under Danish
influence, and grouped itself around three socialist papers,
the Social Democrat, published in Stockholm since 1885,
the Arbetel (Worker), established in Malmo hi 1887, and
the Ny Tid (New Times), founded in Gotheburg in

APPENDIX 351

1889, As in the case of Belgium and Holland, the main
activity of the Socialist Party was for years directed to-
wards the conquest of universal suffrage, and its cam-
paign in that behalf was as picturesque as it was ener-
getic and effective. The party has 15 representatives in
Parliament.

The socialist organization of Norway, the Norwegian
Labor Party, was organized in 1887, but it constituted
itself as a socialist political party only two years later. In
the elections to the Storthing in 1906, the party polled
about 45,000 votes and elected ten deputies; it also has
several hundred representatives in the various municipal
councils, a number of them being women.

The distinguishing feature of the socialist movement in
the three Scandinavian countries is its complete fusion
and unity with the trade-union organizations. In fact,
the organized working men of each of these countries up to
a very few years ago constituted but one party, operating
simultaneously or alternately on the economic and political
fields. The types and methods of the socialist movement
in the three countries are similar to such a point that joint
conferences or conventions of the socialists of Denmark,
Sweden and Norway are quite frequent.

United Slates

In the early part of the last century, the United States
was the chief theater of communistic experiments. The
disciples of Owen, Fourier, Weill ing and Cabet alike
sought the realization of their Utopian ideals on Ameri-
can soil, and during the decade 1840-1850, Fourierism in
America developed great strength, both as an intellectual

movemcDt and as a practical experiment. Among its ad-
herents were many persons of national reputation, such as
Horace Greeley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles A. Dana,
Albert Brisbane, Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, John
S. Dwight and William E. Channing. Among its ex-
periments the famous Brook Farm and the North American
Phalanx each lasted a number of years.

But modern political socialism made its first appearance
in the United States years after the Fourierist and other
Utopian socialist movements had died out, and there
seems to be no direct connection between that move-
ment and its early Utopian precursors. The present
socialist movement in America may be dated from 1868,
when the Social Party of New York and Vicinity was
organized. That party immediately after its formation
nominated an independent ticket, but its vote was very
insignificant, and the organization collapsed with its
failure at the polls. The Social Party of New York and
Vicmity was succeeded by the General German Labor
Association, which in 1869 became the first local organi-
zation or section of the International Workingmen's
Association. Between 1869 and 1872, additional "sec-
tions" of the International were organized in almost all
the principal industrial centers of the United States from
New York to San Francisco. The socialist movement
thus organized by the International at the time seemed so
promising, that the latter transferred its general council
to the United States, but after a few years, and especially
during the industrial crisis inaugurated by the collapse of
the Northern Pacific in 1873, the organization rapidly
disintegrated.
g^^ first socialist political party on a national scope

APPENDIX 3S3

oi^anized on American soil, was the Social Democratic

Workingmen's Party, called into life on the 4th day of
July, 1874. This party, together with several other then
existing socialist organizations, merged into the Working-
men's Party o( the United States in 1876. It was this
party, which had in the meanwhile changed its name to
Socialist Labor Party of North America, which main-
tained the undisputed hegemony in the socialist movement
during twenty-three years, and was largely instrumental
in laying the foundation of the present socialist movement
in this country. In 1892 the socialists of the United
States for the first time nominated a presidential ticket,
and they have since that time invariably adhered to the
policy of independent politics, steadfastly refusing to ally
themselves with any other political parties.

But notwithstanding the untiring efforts and persistent
propaganda of the Socialist Labor Party, the growth of
the socialist movement in the United States was exceed-
ingly slow and entirely out of keeping with that of the
movement in other countries. As a matter of fact, the
movement was largely borne by foreign workingmen,
principally Germans, and until the end of the last century
it did not succeed in acquiring a foothold in the broad
masses of the native population ; but during the last decade
a number of circumstances have combined to insure a
more favorable reception to the gospel of socialism in the
United States. The rapid industrial development of the
country, accompanied by the growth of gigantic trusts and
powerful labor unions, the growing intensity of the overt
struggles between capital and labor, and the collapse of
the populist and other reform movements, all served to
prepare the soil for the socialist seed. Alongside of the

^54 APFENDDC

Socialist Labor Party, largely built on the narrow lines of
a mere propaganda club, a new party, the Socialist
Party, sprang up, absorbing the greater part of ttie
members o£ the Socialist Labor Party, and attracting
large numbers of new converts, Americans of all parts of
the country, recruited principally from among the working
class. The Socialist Party has at this time (1909) about
3200 local organizations in the different states and terri-
tories of the Union, with a dues-paying membership of
I about 50,000. It polled a vote of 423,969 in the presi- 1
[ dential election of 1908. Its press consists of more I
I than fifty periodical publications in almost all languages I
i spoken in America. The socialists have no representation I
1 in the United States Congress, but they have lately con-
quered a number of seats in several state legislatures
and municipal councils.

The New International j

When the International Workingmen's Association was I
formally dissolved at Philadelphia on July 15, 1876, the I
last members of the expiring organization issued a proc- I
lamation of which the following is a part: — 1

'"The International is dead!' the bourgeoisie of all |
countries will again exclaim, and with ridicule and joy it j
will point to the proceedings of this convention as docu-
mentary proof of the defeat of the labor movement of the
world. Let us not be influenced by the cry of our ene-
mies I We have abandoned the organization of the In-
ternational for reasons arising from the present political
situation of Europe, but as a compensation for it we see
the principles of the organization recognized and defended
_ by the progressive workingmen of the entire civilized

^^b

APPENDIX 355

world. Let us give our fellow-workers in Europe a little
time to strengthen their national affairs, and they will
surely soon be in a position to remove the barriers between
themselves and the workingmen of other parts of the
world."

The statement was prophetic. Only thirteen years later
the first of the new series of international socialist and
labor congresses was held in Paris, and it was followed by
six more as follows; Brussels, 1891; Zurich, 1893; Lon-
don, i8g6; Paris, 1900; Amsterdam, 1904, and Stuttgart,
1907. And as the socialist movement grew and extended
steadily during that period, so did each succeeding congress
excel its predecessors in point of representation and gen-
eral strength. The first Paris congress was attended by
391 delegates (221 of them Frenchmen), representing 17
countries of Europe and the United States; the Stuttgart
congress was attended by about 1000 delegates, represent-
ing 35 distinct countries of all parts of the world.

At the London congress of 1896, it was resolved to try
the experiment of establishing a permanent International
Socialist Bureau with a responsible secretary, but the
practical realization of the plan was left to the succeeding
congress of 1900, which definitely created the Bureau and
prescribed its functions.

The International Socialist Bureau is now composed of
two representatives of the organized socialist movement in
each affiliated country. Its headquarters are located in
Brussels, Belgium, and are in charge of a permanent secre-
tary. The Bureau is the executive committee of the in-
ternational congresses, and meets at such times as its
business requires. In the intervals between its sessions it
transacts its business by correspondence.

356 APPENDIX

During the experimental period of its existence the In-
ternational Socialist Bureau seemed to hold out but scant
promise of accomplishing practical results for the socialist
movement. But within the last few years, the Inter-
national Socialist Bureau has rapidly adapted itself to the
needs of the movement, and to-day it is a useful and im-
portant factor in the socialist movement of the world. It
obtains and publishes from time to time valuable informa-
tion on the progress and conditions of the socialist and
labor movements of all countries; it advises on matters of
socialist legislative activity, and it organizes the interna-
tional congresses. The Bureau has established an archive
of the socialist movement and has collected a library of
socialist works, both of which are of the utmost impor-
tance to the students of socialism; and finally the Bureau
has often served as a medium for mutual assistance
between the socialist and labor movements of the dif-
ferent countries.

^H ^^^

Alcoholism ai a labor problem, 310.

Cathrein, Victor, 106, iij.

American Federation 1^ Labor, 339.

Central Union of Germui Societies

Anarchism, 16, 334, 3iS-

Anacele, Edouard, a^s-

Argenijon, Voyer d', 318.

Chsnning, William E., 351.

Army, uses of, 396.

Chemyshefsky, Nicholas. 341.

Aielrod, Paul, 344.

Cbild labor, 334, >3i-

City, the, under socialism, 13s.

Babeuf, Franfois Noel, 333.

Civiliiation, factors of, lao.

"Class," definition of, 153.

Class ethics, 53.

Ball, Sidney, 17, 94.

Class lines, vagueness of, 165, 1^7,

Barbts, Armand, 358.

Class struggle, the, S4. 60, 76, gsi

Bai, E. Bdfort, 13, 49, 65, 80.

doctrine of, 151; economic basis

Baiard. Ajmand, 334.

of. .57.

B^bel, August, 89, 90, .30, 131, 13s,

Commune, the. of Paris, 333, 337.

138, 180, a8i. 336.

Bellamy, Edward, .06.

Bellom, Maurice, 359.

passing of. a 8.

Bcnoist. Charles. 94.

Comte. Auguste, 33, 314.

Bentham, Jeremy, 37, 43. 93'

Conduct, human, 38.

Bettrand, Louis, 346, 347.

ConservatiTe Party, nature of, 163.

Besant, Annie, no, 143.

Considirant, Victor. 336.

Bismarck, Prince, 183, ig^. 163.

Cooperative Wholesale Sodely, Lim-

Blanc, Louis, 3J6, 317.

ited, 344.

BUnqui, Louis, 338, 338.

Crime and vice, 303.

BUss, William D. P., 33r.

Culture under socialism, 137.

Bluntschli, Johann K^ 93.

Curti, Theodor, 379.

Boissel, Fransms. 323.

Dana, Charles A., 316, 353.

Braun, Adolf, »i8.

Darwin, Charles, 46, 51.

Briand, Aristide, 1S9.

Darwin's theory of organic evolulioo.

Brisbane, Albert, 336, 353.

46. 47.

British Parliament, origin of, 150.

De leon, Daniel, 133.

Brooks, John Graham, 367.

Destrfe, Jules, 345. 346.

Brousse, Paul, 338.

Deviile, Gabriel, 94, 337. 338.

Buelow, Chancellor voo, r93.

Dewey, John, 36.

Buonarotti, Fitippo, 314, 3^8.

Dunckcr. Kale, 3:19.

Burgess, J. W., 31,93.

Dwight, John S., 353,

Bunis. John, 189.

Burrows. Herbert, 346.

Economic basis of party politics, 161,

163.
Edison, Thomas A., isi.

Cabet, Etiennc^ 336. 351.

Candolie, de, i»8.

Ely, Richard T., 30, 31, 33.

358

INDEX

Emi^oyers' funds for the relief of

workingmen, 257.
Enfantin, Bartheldmy P., 324, 325.
Engels, Frederick, 90, 91, 93, 98, 103,

IIS, 154, 155. 3". 331-
Esbjerg, municipal experiments in,

301.

Ethical ideal, 58, 65.

Ethical motive, 45.

Ethics, definitions of, 36, 37; bio-
logical school, 43; hedonistic or
Epicurean school, 4a, 45; intui-
tional school, 41, 45; school of
''natural laws," 41; theological
school, 40, 45; utilitarian school,
43; and law compared, 67, 69;
and socialism, 36, 65.

Factory reform, 215, a 18.

Ferri, Enrico, 305, 306.

Feudal laws, 77.

Feudal society, the, development of,
72, 76; nature of, 72, 75; class
struggles in, 76; dissolution of, 75.

Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 330.

Ford, Henry Jones, 148.

Fourier, Charles, 106, 132, 137, 324,
325. 326, 351.

Franklin, Charles Kendall, 64.

French parliament, origin of, 151.

French Revolution, 8.

Fuller, Margaret, 326, 352.

Genius, place of, in social progress,

121; fate of, imder capitalism,

127.
George, Henry, 291, 292, 293, 294.
Germany, Social Democratic Party of,

183.
Ghent, W. J., 161, 167.
Giddings, Franklin H., 93.
Godwin, Parke, 326.
Goes, F. V. d., 23.
"Good Government" movement,

271.
Government ownership, 284, 288.
Graham, William, 106, 115.
Greeley, Horace, 326, 352.
Gronlund, Laurence, 106, 136.
Grotius, Hugo, 41.
Gufesde, Jules, 337, 338, 339.
Guyot, Yves, 18.

Haeckel, Ernst, 50.

Hardie, Keir, 347.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 359.

Herkner, Heinrich, 226, aay, 267.

Herzen, Alexander, 340, 341.

Hill, Octavia, 316.

Hirsch, Paul, 307.

Hobson, John A., 226, 339, 234, 278,

279.
HofiFding, Harald, 37..
Housing problem, the, 3x4.
Hunter, Robert, 192.
Huxley, Thomas, 15, 59.
Hyndman, H. M., 346.

Ihering, Rudolph von, 69, 71.

Incentive in art, 124; in science^ 124;
to work, 128.

Indirect results of the socialist propa-
ganda, 193.

Indirect taxes, definition of, 289.

Individual genius as a factor of social
progress, 120; in public life, 123;
in science, 122; in industry, 121.

Individual initiative, scope of, 123.

Individual the, and society, 18, 24;
under socialism, 29.

Individualism, the system of, 12; in
industry, 24.

Industrial reforms, 214.

Initiative, definition of, 279.

Insurance of workingmen against
accidents, 261; sickness, 261.

Intellectuals, economic position of,
160.

Intemperance, 309.

International Workingmen's Associa-
tion, 85, 333, 334, 335.

Jaur^, Jean, 138, 190, 338, 339.
Jenks, Edward, 150, 151.

Kant, Immanuel, 41, 43, 45, 50.

Kari, J. K., 190.

Kautsky, Karl, 60, no, 116, 119, 132,

133, 188, 189, 313.
Kerr, Charles H., 196.
Kidd, Benjamin, 22.
Koehler, Oswald, no.
Kotlyarevski, S., 177.
Kropotkin, P., ao.

^H|^H^ INDEX 3S9 ^1

^^^•Labor Groups," 135-

Money under socialism, 118.

Labor mnvcmeDt, functions of, 9.

Moral conduct, meanizig oE, 54.

Labriola, Arturo, 13B, 139.

Moral sense, evolution of, 46.

Latargue, Paul, 74, 338.

Morelly, loS, 3aj. 323.

Lamennaig, Jean, 318, 317.

Morgan, Lewis H.. jo.

La Monte. Robert Rives, 56.

Morris, William, 106.

LassaUe, Ferdinand, 137, 179, 349.

"Municipal Sodaliam," 194,

=■8., =189, 335, 336.

Lavraff, Peter, 341-

Nieuvenhuis, Domcla, 350.

Lan, the substance of, 66; and ethics

"Nihilism," definition of, 341,

compared, S7.

Novikov, M. J., 22.

Letoy-Beaulieu, Paul, 94.

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 334.

Odin, A„ isa.

Liberal Patty, nature of. 163.

Old-age pensions, 262,

Liebig, Justus Von, 311, 3H.

Ostrogorski, M., 269, 270.

Licbknecht, Karl, agS.

Owen, Robert, loS, 33S, 329, 330, 351,

Liebicnecht, WUhelm. 107, 14J, 143,

173, '»'' ■8". 185. 336-

Parliaments under socialism, 139.

Lille, municipal eiptriraeats in, 199.

Parry, David M,, 29, 107.

Lindwurm, Arnold, 68.

Parsons, Frank, 283, 287.

Liszt, Frani von, 306, 307.

Parvus, 239.

Lloyd, Henry D., 30.

Patton, Francis L., 36.

Peel, Robert, 315, 218.

Loria, Achillc, Si, 8a, B3.

Phitosophy, socialist, 3.

Louis, Paul, 164, 171,

Plekhanoff, George, 344.

Luiemburg, Rosa, 229.

Political action, objections to, 171;

Mably, Gabriel. 106, 313.

Political alliances with the old parties

Macdonald, J. Ramsay, 35.

as a danger to the working dass,

Machinery, social effects of, aj.

176.

Maison du Peuple of Brussels, 246.

Political centralization, 133.

Mallock, W. H., 107.

Political parties, origin of. 146; in

Malon, Benoil, ..0, 139, ,4a. 338.

France, 1471 in Great Britain, 146;

Marx, Karl, ji, ja, 114, 115, '3', '34,

in the United States, 148, 165.

'55, 157. 179. 3=4, 331. 33", 333.

Political party, attributes of, 152.

335. 348.

Political reform movements, 140.

Politics, definition of, 144; in autoc-

Massachusetts Bill of Rights. 19.

racy, 144; in countries of consti-

"May Day" celebration, origin of,

tutional government, 145-

Menger, Anton, 93, 99. no. 135, 136,

140.

'37. '*'•

Production under socialism, mi.

"Middle Classes," economic position

of, 160.

Militarism, evils of, 297. 299.

Progrfe, cooperalive society, 247-

Militia, system of. in Switzerland, 300.

Progrpssive income lax, definition of.

MiUerand. Etienne, 187, 338. 335-

"Ministerialism" in socialist politics.

Progressive inheritance tax, defini-

'87. 190.

tion of, a9°-

ModemUw, nature of, 81.

"Proletariat," definition of, 155.

Monaichy. socialist view of, 137.

Proudhon. Pierre J., 326, 327.

^^Kjte ^^^I^^^^H

I TUdicol Patty, nature of, 164-

Socialism and the afcohud proUem,

Kae, John, 213.

313; and the cooperative move-

Reeve, SEdncy A„ 17.

ment, 353; and individualism, 19;

Referendum, deGnition of, ijj; Ini-

and single tai compared, 394.

tiative and Right of RecaU, 377,

Socialist ethics, 63. ^_

1 3S1 i limitatioos oi, 14s.

Socialist jurisprudence S7 ^^^|

Socialist Puty, composition of, 169; ^H

of, M9-

Republic, socialist view of, 137.

parliamenlary tactics, 181; politi- |

Kichtcr. Eugen, jg, 106.

cal tactics of, 174; poUtical £so-

"Right" and "Wrong" conduct.

wilh other parties, 179; political

meaning of, 6a, 63.

achievements of, 190.

' Right of Recall, definition of. >&>.

1 Hiis, JacobA., 3t8.

187.

Ripley, Geotge, 336, 35a.

Socialist reforms, and ''middle class"

' Ritchie, David G.. 96.

reforms compared, aoB; nature ol, '

Rocbdale Pioneeis, society of, 143-

ao7, 309. ^m

1 Sodbertus, Karl, 137.

Socialist state, the. 89, 98, 100, 105; ^^M

Rodrigue, Olindc, 334.

143; functions of. i4>; probatdB ^H

1 Rogers, Thorold,>i9.

^^1

Roman Empire, fall of, S.

Socialist working program, iqb, ^^M

Roubaii, mucicipia eiperiments in,

Society and the individual, 18. ^H

166.

Spargo, John, no, 330. ^H

Rouiseau, Jean Jacques, 14. 313.

Spencer, Herbert, 39, 37. 38, 44, 58, ^M

59, 60. 6r. ^m

Standing armies in Europe, 397. ^H

1 Saint-Simon, Charle* Henri. la, 137.

3»4, 3'5-

Sassulich, Vera, 343. 344-

attributes of, 93; functions of, iS. ^H

Scevola. Mudus. 33.

Steffens. Lincoln, 271. ^H

Schaeffle, Adolph, 115, 365.

Stephen, Leslie. 53. ^H

School children, feeding and clothing

Stem. J., rag. ^H

of. 197. 30I.

Stewart, Ira, iii, 333. ^^M

Schulze-Dditsch, 148. »49.

Slimer, Man. 15. 16. ^H

Scburi, Carl. 3og.

Struve, Peter, la. ^^M

Scottiah Co6peratiTe Wholesale So-

Suffrage, restrictions on, 170. ^^M

ciety. 344.

"Surplus Value," 157. ^H

Serwy. Victor, 351.

Seymour, Thomas D., nS. 137.

Tamowsky, B.. 304. ^^M

Shaw, G. Bernard, 110.

Tax reforms, 388. ^^^^^H

Shorter workday, aiS.

Thompson. Carl D„ loa. ^^^^^^M

1 Sidgwick, Henry, 37, 43, 6?.

Toiiueville, Alexis de, r46. ^^^^^^H

1 Simons. A. M.. 395.

Tortori. Alfredo. 71. ^^^^^H

"Single Tax," the, 391.

Trade-union movement, 336. ^^^^^H

1 Smith, Adam, 14, ii4-

Trade unions, function of, 337, >7^^^^|

1 Social classes in feudal society, 73.

Social development, laws of, 30.

pared. 336. ^M

L Soda) legislation, cause of, Sj ; na-

Transitional state, the, 98. 100. ^H

' ture of. 85.

Trusts, social effects of. id. ^^M

Turgenief, Ivan, 341. ^^M

^^^L Sodal utolaai, 106.

Turner, George, asj. ^H

INDEX

361

Universal Suffrage movement, 272.
Uomo deliquente, description of, 304.
"Utopian socialism," origin of, 321;
forms of, 333.

Vail, Charles H., 35.

Vaillant, Edouard, 260, 267, 298, 299,

302, 338.
Vollmar, Georg von, 281.
Value, socialist theory of, 156.
Vandervelde, ^mil, 245, 246.
Veblen, Thorstein, 35.
Viviani, 189.

Voluntary state insurance, 258.
Voaruii, the, 245.

Waldeck-Rousseau, 187, 339.
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 49, 51.
Ward, Lester F^ ax, 44, 5a, 120, 125,
128,

Wars, causes of, 61 ; moral effects of,

60.
Wealth as incentive to exertion, 124;

distribution of, 28, 116.
Weitling, Wilhdm, 106, 330, 351.
Williams, C. M., 50.
Willoughby, William F., 225, 226,

267.
Woman labor, 231; growth of, 233.
Woman Suffrage movement, 273,

281.
Workingmen's insurance, 254.
Working women, wages of, 233.
Wright, Carroll D., 92, 216, 217.
Wurm, Emanuel, 3x0, 3XX, 3x2.

Zadek, Dr. J., 221, 222.
Zerboglio, A., 79.
Zetkin, Clara, 281, 282.

j •

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