"It is interesting and instructive as well to observe the difference of opinion existing in the different camps as to the successes obtained by the Socialists. The Progressists say, 'That is the reply to the Anti-Socialist Act.' An outand-out Progressist, Deputy Barth, writes in his journal, the Nation, as follows: -'A serious defeat of the upholders of the principle of the existing order of society—that is the result of the elections. We Liberals have lost the battle; the policy of Socialist promises has been victorious. It did not require much acuteness to discern the immense difficulties of our political position, wedged in between the masses, discontented with their economical position, and a Government which recognises as justified the "kernel" of this discontent, and which continually accuses previous legislation, in fact their predecessors in office, of having neglected their duties towards the discontented. State Socialism has given to Social Democracy that which in all times has given the greatest impetus to revolutionary movements the acknowledgment of the essential justice of the movement. That the power of the State was at the same time directed against the ugly shell, enclosing the justifiable "kernel " of Social Democratic teachings, has only contributed to foment in the movement the sense of social injustice. The policy of the Chancellor may now show how far he is able to fulfil the hopes he has raised. That the performances will fall immensely short of the expectations of the masses infected with Socialism, and that they will be exploited by the Social Democratic leaders with increasing success as small instalments of the Socialist demands, and also as concessions to the Social Democratic teachings, I do not doubt in the least. Finally, however, even the most reckless statesman will have to put a stop to his concessions to Socialism, and then we shall see whether the structure of the State is strong enough to withstand the disappointment of the greed that has been roused. Every step forward on the Socialist path makes a halt more difficult.'

"This opinion is in some points correct. The Imperial Government will not be able to shelve the question of social reform; Social Democracy will be led by the logic of events, and will force the State to grant larger and larger con

cessions.

"Somewhat amusing are the effusions of the Catholic Cologne People's Gazette. It states with great satisfaction that with the single exception of Mayence all the constituencies seriously contested by the Social Democrats were Protestant districts; against the Social Democratic storm-tide directed against the constitutional parties of all shades, the Ultramontane party, with the Catholic workmen, has stood like a rock in the sea.' After that the pious print puts

forward this nonsense :

6

"Bebel's new gospel of a life with little work and much pleasure, in contrast to the Biblical, "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," sounds certainly tempting enough to the ears of poor Catholic workmen ; but the great majority of them have common-sense enough to see that the dreams of the future Social Democratic State are bubbles, and that an attempt to realize them could only be made by a physical force revolution, and they have religious faith and Christian morality enough to turn away with disgust from the godlessness of

Social Democracy. But let the progress which Social Democracy has made of late, even in the Catholic districts, be a solemn warning to all whom it may concern, clergy and laity, to carefully nurse and foster the good spirit which still exists in a great part of the Catholic working class! Let them care for the spiritual and material well-being of the workmen and other families, very often in very needy circumstances, with zeal and self-sacrifice, and especially let them oppose to the so-called Socialist propaganda the Christian-Socialist Workmen's Associations.' The praise given to the 'Catholic workmen' must leave a tragic-comical effect on those acquainted with the state of affairs. If the Catholic workman goes with the priestly party, he does so simply because the miserable priestly education has never allowed any spark of intelligence to develop within him; he follows blindfold the commands of the 'black constabulary,' and this obedience of stupidity and ignorance these pious gentlemen call 'horror of the godlessness of Social Democracy.'

Scarcely less edifying from another point of view and as a rejoinder from the Party of Progress to the hopes expressed by Dr. Zacher that the Bismarckian reforms will cut the ground from under the feet of the Socialist agitators is the following extract from the strictly laissez-faire Weser Zeitung, published in Bremen :- The responsibility for the results of the elections rests solely with the representatives of the "social policy." The gravest warnings have been left unheeded. The adherents of the social policy in the press have sown discontent with the existing economical institutions; they have been preaching that with free competition only a few could obtain and enjoy the happy results of civilization, that the State had hitherto never fulfilled its duty of protecting the feeble, that henceforth the fulfilment of their duty ought to be demanded. Not in vain have the destitute masses, who make up four-fifths of the nation, been taught that only the self-seeking Liberals opposed the demands for security of existence against the economical disadvantages of accidents, old age, illness, and want of employment. Not in vain has it been preached at all streetcorners that the system of self-help was the war of all against all, in which "the drones flourish at the expense of the working bees," and in which the old workmen perish by the wayside. The seed has taken root. The masses are joining hands and organizing themselves, without committing the blunder of foolish pronunciamentos, to lift from its hinges the whole old order of things.' "Thus the Bremen paper. It is true all that has not been preached to 'no purpose,' but certainly not without cause Social Democrats may proudly claim that it was they who in alliance with facts forced Government and the ruling classes in Germany to acknowledge the necessity of social reforms. Things have come about as Social Democrats have predicted; their principles and demands are more and more justified as the facts are better understood. Thus, and by no other means, it is possible to understand why Social Democracy is indestructible, why no Coercion Act could check its rising tide. The social policy of the Government is very innocent of the electoral successes of Social Democracy; in Germany the mass of the population knows very well what the Social Democrats think of this kind of social reforms. The last Congress of

the German Social Democrats, held in 1883 in Copenhagen, has defined openly its position with regard to the social reform of the Imperial Government, and has declared that the so-called 'social reform' was only a means to lead the working men off the right path. We may safely say that the success of the Social Democrats means a defeat of the laissez-faire party as well as a defeat of the Imperial Government. The 550,000 votes cast on the 28th October for the Social Democrats, and cast by the intelligent working class of the large towns and industrial centres, are a protest against the one as well as the other. "The most prominent paper of the National Liberals, the Cologne Gazette, consoles its readers in every original style, trying to minimize the 'indisputable successes' of the Social Democrats. The same paper, which a day before the elections was calling upon the Government to apply the anti-Socialist law with the greatest rigour, now comes out as follows:-The one feature which is comforting, and in a certain sense even satisfactory, in the increase of Socialist votes and seats held by Social Democrats, is that unmistakably the idea has found favour with the Social Democrats that they must be national before everything else, that they can secure welfare and happiness only by co-operating in positive legislation with the efforts of the Government and the national parties. We do not hesitate to say that we think twenty Social Democrats in the Reichstag in a certain sense a lesser evil, if an evil at all, than five. As they are brought to co-operate with others, and, on the ground of the great number of voters they represent, can claim a serious consideration of the conditions to which they owe their election, the violent struggling against the powers that be will cease, and its place be taken by a recognition of the necessity of obtaining positive reforms by the aid of these powers. And we are glad to see that the Socialist party almost everywhere recognises that the National Liberals are much nearer to them than the Progressists. By declaring their readiness for social reform the National Liberals have recognised that the Socialist movement is justified in so far as it goes for reform, not revolution; whereas the Progressists might perhaps be willing to abolish the Anti-Socialist Act to spite the Government, but would oppose not only the revolutionary tendencies, but also the position and rightful claims of Social Democracy, allowing the police cutlass and the struggle for existence, the natural law of the extinction of the weakest, to settle these questions. The idea is perfectly right—and the more thoughtful Social Democrats see it—that their better friends in Parliament do not sit on the Radical benches next to them, but further on to the right, where social reforms are favourably regarded.'

"All the German papers which are not National Liberal ridicule this sermon, which apparently had no other purpose but to get the Social Democratic voters of Cologne to vote for the National Liberal candidate. Miracles would have to happen before the Social Democratic members would look to the 'right' side of the house for friends. They know no friendship but with their own cause."

FRANCE.

MONG all countries outside Germany, France takes the first place in the Socialist movement. It is there that Socialism put forth its first and most

manifold blossoms, and it was there that the first

attempts were made to put its theory into practice.

Since the time when the "Great Revolution" had proclaimed the principle of equality, the most various and often romantic systems cropped up-from Babeuf down to Louis Blanc--which all concerned themselves with the solution of this problem, until at length the “International" threw them all into the shade, and even went so far as to endeavour to demonstrate the practicability of its system to collective Europe. It is easy to understand how the "International" met with an astonishingly rapid extension on a soil so prepared for its reception; and it was probably in reliance on these successes and the specially favourable situation, presented in the year 1871, for the realization of its plans, that brought the Paris insurrection on the scene; at all events, the publications of its "General Council" at the time and afterwards scarcely leave a doubt as to its co-operation, and the Parisian Commune was intended to furnish the standard for the future organization of social political life in all civilized countries.*

* It is suggestive that our author has no word of commendation for the admirable moderation shown by the leaders of the Paris Commune, which for three months, according to the testimony of an English clergyman, governed the city better than it had ever been governed before, or of condemnation for the ferocious and sanguinary brutality with which it was suppressed. It is no wonder that French Socialists threaten much more drastic measures next time they get the upper hand.

A similar attempt in Lyons (on the 28th of September, 1871), in which, among others, the Russian Nihilist Bakunin was concerned, was, as we know, smothered in the germ. These events led to the promulgation of a special enactment (of the 14th of March, 1872), according to which every international association, having for its object incitement to strikes, abolition of property, of the family, of patriotism and religion, was forbidden, and any participation in such an association was threatened with fine and with imprisonment extending to five years.

In spite of this the movement of the workers, although at the outset on another basis, very soon became again observable, a result to which the International Exhibitions in Vienna, Philadelphia, and Paris, following close on one another, and attended by delegates deputed by the entire working population of Paris, in an eminent degree contributed.

From considerations of prudence, the movement was confined, to begin with, to a purely Trades Union basis, in order not to endanger the reorganization by premature interference on the part of the authorities.

The same character was still preserved also by the first General Congress of French Workmen, which sat in Paris from the 2nd to the 10th of October, 1876, at which already seventy unions and twenty-eight workmen's clubs, from thirty-nine towns, with a stated membership of a million workers, were represented by more than eight hundred delegates. At the opening of the Congress it was expressly insisted on that not principles of social politics, but the purely economical and practical interests of the working men, would engage the meetings, and the resolutions were framed accordingly, viz., the unhindered and most extensive development of Trades Unions (Chambres Syndicales) was demanded, involving the abolition of all legal limitations and the granting of personal legitimation, the recognition of complete autonomy in all questions affecting the workers, especially as regarded Co-operative Associations (for credit, production, and consumption), provident funds for sickness, accidents, want of work, and superannuation, technical instruction (schools of apprenticeship and industrial training), and the combination of all Trade Councils in one "Union Nationale," for the purpose of