Thus there can be no talk of an essential repudiation of nationalism on the part of theproletariat throughout the world. Discussion of the question concerns only a circle of kindred nations to which one does not want to see the principle of anti-nationalism applied. How such national groups are constituted is a question which it is not necessary for us here to determine, as I desire only to present the essential point in the national problem. You see that, with this discussion, I complete the circle of my thought, and return to that with which I began—the idea that there is, and apparently always will be, an antithesis around which, as around poles, human history circles, the social and the national. That is something which the proletariat should never forget.
"Πόλεμος πατὴρ πάντων."
War is the father of all things.
Can we draw lessons from this historical review of the social movement? I think we can, on many points; to show you what these lessons are will be my effort in this last lecture. Perhaps I may exert some influence upon the judgment of those who personally stand outside of the present social strife and desire to be merely passionless observers. And I shall be glad if, here and there among those actively engaged in the struggle, some shall be found who will recognise the justice of what I may say.
It seems to me that the first impression to be made upon anyone by quiet observation of the social movement must be that it is necessary and unavoidable. As a mountain torrent, after a thunder-storm, must dash down into the valley according to "iron, unchangeablelaw," so must the stream of social agitation pour itself onward. This is the first thing for us to understand, that something of great and historic importance is developing before our eyes; to recognise "that in all that happens and is accomplished in connection with this movement we are in the midst of a great process of world history which with elementary force takes hold of individuals and even nations, and concerning which it is as wrong short-sightedly to deny the fact as inadequately to struggle against it." (Lorenz von Stein.) Probably there are some who believe that the social movement is merely the malicious work of a few agitators, or that the social democracy has been "brought up by Bismarck," and the like; probably there are some who naturally are forced to the false idea that some medicine or charm can drive away this fatal poison out of the social body. What a delusion! What a lack of intelligence and insight as to the nature of all social history! If anything has resulted from my investigation I hope it is this—a recognition of the historic necessity of the social movement.
But we must advance to a furtheradmission—that the modern social movement, at least in its main features, exists necessarily as it is. Among these main features I include the object that it sets before itself, the socialistic ideal; also the means which it chooses for the accomplishment of this ideal,—class strife. I have already attempted to show you why these points must be allowed as the necessary result of existing conditions.
Now shall we who do not stand in the ranks of those who struggle for the new social order, shall we who only tremble for the permanence of that which seems to us necessary for the upholding of our civilisation—shall we be greatly pained and troubled at the present condition of things as thus shown?
I think it hardly necessary to excite ourselves over the "dangers" of any socialistic order of society in the future. We who know that all social order is only the expression of specific economic relations can face what comes with indifference; so long as these arrangements of economic life are not given up, especially so long as the character of the persons involved, is not completely changed, no power on earth, no party—be it ever so revolutionary—can succeed in establishing a newsocial order for humanity. And if these conditions are at any time fulfilled—then will be the time to look further.
But it is not this socialistic ideal of the future that principally causes anxiety to so many men. It is rather the form in which this ideal is striven for; it is that word of terror, uttered by Philistines both male and female—class strife.
I must acknowledge that for me this idea has in it nothing at all terrible, rather the opposite. Is it really true that, even if strife rules throughout society, man must give up entirely the hope of a further and successful development of humanity? Is it really true that all culture, all the noblest acquirements of the race, are endangered by that strife?
First let me dispel the delusion that "class strife" is identical with civil war, with petroleum, dynamite, the stiletto, and the barricades. The forms of class strife are many. Every trade union, every social-democratic election, every strike, is a manifestation of this strife. And it seems to me that such internal struggle, such conflict of different interests and ideas, is not only without danger to our civilisation, but on the contrary will be the sourceof much that is desirable. I think that the old proverb is true as applied even to social strife, "Πόλεμος πατὴρ πάντων." It is only through struggle that the most beautiful flowers of human existence bloom. It is only struggle that raises the great masses of the common people to a higher level of humanity. Whatever of culture is now forced upon the masses comes to them through struggle; the only warrant for the hope that they can be developed into new and higher forms of culture lies in the fact that they must rise through their efforts, that step by step they must fight for their rights. It is struggle alone that builds character and arouses enthusiasm, for nations as for classes. Let me remind you of a beautiful saying of Kant's, that expresses the same thought: "Thanks to nature for intolerance, for envious and emulous self-seeking, for the insatiable desire to have and to rule! Without this, all the desirable qualities of humanity would lie eternally undeveloped. Man wants peace, but Nature knows better what is necessary for him; she wants strife."
And why lose courage, as we see that even in social life struggle is the solution? To me this seems no reason for despair. I rejoice inthis law of the history of the world; that is a happy view of life which makes struggle as the central point of existence.
But we should never forget that as conflict is the developer of what is good, so it may also be the disturber and destroyer of all civilisation. It does not lead only and by necessity to a higher life, it is not necessarily the beginning of a new culture: it can also betoken the end of the old, and of all, human existence.
For this reason I think that we should never lose sight of two great ideas in this strife.
First, all social struggle should be determinedly within legal bounds. Thus only can the sanctity of the idea of right remain uninjured. Without this we plunge into chaos. Man must struggle in the name of right against that which he considers wrong, upon the basis of existing right. Man must respect this right because it has become right, and passes for such; and he must not forget that our fathers struggled not less intensely for that right which to-day we hold, and have had in heart not less enthusiasm than their sons for the right of the future. Only thus can a man awaken and sustain faith in that which at some future time shall be right.
This exhortation addresses itself in like manner to both parties in the struggle; to those who are now in power, not less than to those who are carrying on the social agitation.Intra muros peccatur et extra!There is sin within, as without, the walls.
The same is true of a second demand, which must be developed in the name of culture and humanity within these struggling parties, if the social strife is not to be a war of extermination. It must be carried on with proper weapons, not with poisoned arrows. How greatly have both sides been to blame in this respect! How difficult it is to keep out of the battle on the one side bitterness, mendacity, malice; on the other side brutality, derision, violence! How readily does the one opponent charge dishonour or bad motive against the other! How repellent, how offensive, too often, is the tone in which opinion is expressed! Must that be? Is that necessary for energetic assertion of one's standpoint? Does a man think that he loses anything by conceding that his opponent is an honourable man and by assuming that truth and honour will control in the dealings of his adversary? I do not think so. The man who placeshimself really in the struggle, who sees that in all historic strife is the germ of whatever occurs, should be able easily to conduct this strife in a noble way, to respect his opponent as a man, and to attribute to him motives no less pure than his own.
Then is not the social struggle, according to this idea of it, as necessary as a thunder-storm in a heavy atmosphere? He who sees in the struggle something artificial, produced by bad men, may perhaps attribute to the creator of the disturbance bad motives for this knavery, for this frivolous and malicious upsetting of social rest. But he who understands that the struggle arises necessarily out of the constitution of social life, and that it is only a warfare between two great principles, each of which has been, and must be, constituted by a combination of objective circumstances—he who looks at differences of idea as to the world and life which arise from the fact of different standpoints and which are the necessary occasion of differences in conditions of life—this one will come to the conviction that even his opponent stands on much the same grounds as he himself; that not personal baseness, but the compelling force of fate, has placed him in a position such that he mustbe an opponent. Then will it be easy, I think, to respect the other man, to refrain from suspicion and contempt, to battle with him openly and honourably. Shall we extol the Geneva Convention, which humanised warfare, as a fruit of advanced culture; and yet within our kingdom, like barbarians, without any consideration for the opponent, fly one upon another with dishonourable weapons?
In this the development of English social agitation can serve as a model. It points out to us how men may conduct in social life a moral and civilised warfare. Even upon the Continent, I hope, will the more humane form of struggle reach acceptance, if only because it springs of necessity from a deeper conception of what class strife really is. So long as the battle rages legally and honourably, we need not worry about the future of our civilisation.
Schiller's lines show how undisturbed we may be at the social struggle:
"A full life is what I want,And swinging and swaying, to and fro,Upon the rising and falling waves of fortune.For a man becomes stunted in quietness of life;Idleness and rest are the grave of energy.* * * * *But war develops strength.It raises all to a level above what is ordinary,It even gives courage to the cowardly."
"A full life is what I want,And swinging and swaying, to and fro,Upon the rising and falling waves of fortune.For a man becomes stunted in quietness of life;Idleness and rest are the grave of energy.
* * * * *
But war develops strength.It raises all to a level above what is ordinary,It even gives courage to the cowardly."
These tables contain the first attempt to make a synchronistic presentation of the most important dates in the modern social, that is, the proletarian, movement. We here specify these dates for the chief countries, England, France, Germany; and as well for the international activity of the working-men's movement. In addition, the most important occurrences in the development of capitalism and of social legislation, so far as they have relation of cause or effect with the social movement, are indicated in heavy type.
YEAR.ENGLAND.FRANCE.GERMANY.INTERNATIONAL.1750-1800Notable inventions of modern machinery:(1764-75. Spinning machine.1780. The puddling process.1785-90. The machine loom.1790. Steam engine.1799. Paper machine.)Rapid development of the great centres of industry. "Machine Riots." Petitions to forbid legally machines and manufactories, and to reintroduce theElizabethan trade ordinances.Laws for the protection of machines.1776Adam Smith(1723-90)."Wealth of Nations."1796Babeuf's conspiracy, or "The Equals."1800Robert Owen (1771-1858; chief writings: "A New View of Society," "Book of the New Moral World"). Enters the Dale manufactory at Lanark.Rigorous prohibition of combination.1808Charles Fourier's (1772-1837) first great book appears: "Théorie de quatre mouvements" (1822: "Théorie de l'unité universelle," 1824: "Le nouveau monde industriel et sociétaire").1813-1814Complete removal of the Elizabethan trade restrictions.1815-1832Struggle of the proletariat for political rights.1819The "Savannah" arrives at Liverpool.1821Saint Simon's (1760-1825) chief work, "Du Système Industriel," appears (1825: "Nouveau Christianisme").1825More liberal coalition law.Rise of the Trade Unions.1830Opening of the Manchester-Liverpool Railroad.1830-1848July Kingdom. Rapid economic development; "Enrichissez-vous, messieurs."1830-1832The movement of Bazard and Enfantin, the disciples of Saint Simon.1831Insurrection of the silk workers in Lyons: "Vivre en travaillant ou mourir en combattant."1833Beginnings of specific legislation for working-men.1834Grand national consolidated trade union, in the spirit of Robert Owen.Founding of the German Zollverein. Beginnings of national industry.1836Beginning of the "Journalistic" period of Fourierism under Victor Considerant. Appearance of the Christian socialists (De La Mennais); the "Icarian Communism" of Cabet (Voyage en Icarie, 1840).Beginning of the economic unions (Buchez, born 1796).The "Junger Deutschland" in Switzerland. "Bund der Gerechten"; with its central office in London after 1840.1837-1848The Chartist movement. Six points. Lovett. Feargus O'Connor.1839-1854Activity of Thomas Carlyle ("Past and Present," 1843), and the Christian socialists (Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes, J.D. Maurice).1839Louis Blanc (1813-1882): "Organisation du travail."1840Rowland Hill's penny postage is introduced. The telegraph is first applied to English railroads.Fullest development of anarchistic-communistic clubbism and conspiracy in "Société des Travailleurs egalitaires."P.J. Proudhon (1809-1865). "Qu'est-ce que la propriété?"1844The Pioneers of Rochdale.Loom riots in Langenbielau u. Peterswaldau; tumults of working-men in Breslau, Warmbrunn, and other places.1847The "Bund der Gerechten" changes itself into the "Bund der Kommunisten" and takes as its platform the "Communistic Manifesto," written by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Frederick Engels (1820-1895). "Proletarians of all lands, unite yourselves."1848The Paris "February Revolution."Proletarian representatives in the provisional government; Louis Blanc and Albert. 23. u. 24. VI., "June insurrection." The proletariat defeated in street fights.Communistic agitation on the Rhine, started by Karl Marx and associates. ("Neue Rheinische Zeitung," 1. VI. 48-19. V. 49). The German working-men's movement captured by the hand-workers. StefanBorn. W. Weitling.1850-1880England's position of industrial monopoly in the markets of the world.Rapid development of the trade unions.1850-1856Stern regulations of the various German governments and of the Confederation for the complete repression of the working-men's movement.Gradual founding of working-men's associations and "culture unions" (Schulze-Delitzsch).1851-1854Severe laws of Napoleon III. for the repression of all social agitation.1851Founding of the United Society of Machinists.First World's Exposition in London.1852The "League of Communists" dissolves.1862Deputation of working-men from Leipzig to the leaders of the national union in Berlin; "Honorary members!"1863Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1864; 1858, "Heraklit, der Dunkle"; 1861, "System der erworbenen Rechte"); 1. III.: "Offenes Antwortschreiben an das Central Kommittee zur Berufung eines allgemeinen deutscher Arbeiter-Kongresses zu Leipzig."23. V.: Founding of the general German working-men's movement by Lassalle. Disruption after Lassalle's death in the male line (Becker, J.B. von Schweitzer) andin the female line (Countess Hatzfeld).1864Founding of the International Working-Men's Association by the delegates of different nations at the World's Exposition in London. Inaugural address and a constitution by Karl Marx. He remains the veiled leader of the "International." The general office of the Society is in London.1865Beginnings of trade agitation; the tobacco workers; (1866 the printers).1867Bismarck forces the general, equal, secret, and direct ballot.Appearance of the first volume of "Capital" by Karl Marx.1868Founding of the "Alliance internationalde la démocratic sociale" by Michael Bakunin (1814-1876), with anarchistic tendencies in clear opposition to the Marxist ideas.1869Liberal trade regulation for the German Empire. Rapid development of capitalism, especially after the war.The founding of the "Social-Democratic Working-men's Party" at the Congress at Eisenach: the so-called "Ehrlichen." August Bebel (born 1840); Wilhelm Liebknecht (born 1826). Founding of the "Hirsch-Duncker" trade unions.The General Assembly of the German Catholic unions decides upon participation in the social movement from the Catholic standpoint.1871Trade-union act, supplemented in 1875, sanctions the trade-union agitation.The Paris Commune.1872Congress of the "I.A.A." at Hague. Exclusion of Bakunin and his faction, who yet for a time find a standing-place in the "Fédération juraissienne." Removal of the general office of the "I.A.A." to New York.1875Fusion of the followers of Lassalle with the Eisenachers at the congress in Gotha. The "compromise platform" of Gotha.1876First general French Working-Men's Congress at Paris.The "I.A.A." formally dissolves.1877The Ghent "World's Congress." Attempt for the reconciliation of the Bakunists and the Marxists miscarries. A general union of "International Socialism" is resolved upon by the Marxists, but does not come to importance.1879-1890Law concerning the socialists.Destruction of working-men's organizations. Removal of the strength of the agitation to other lands. ("Social-demokrat" in Zurich and London.)1878Founding of a conservative Christian Socialism by Stöcker.1879Working-Men's Congress in Marseilles for the first time gives power to the Collectivists.1880Working-Men's Congress in Havre; rupture between the moderates and the radicals. The latter constitute themselves as a "Parti ouvrier révolutionnaire socialiste français."1881Founding of the Social-Democratic Federation under the control of Marxian influence.1882Working-Men's Congress at St. Etienne. Division between the Possibilists and the "Guesdists." The former split, at a later time, into "Bronssists" ("Fédération des travailleurs socialiste de France"), Marxists, and "Allemanists" (Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire français).1883Founding of the Fabian Society.Beginning of governmental working-man's assurance; Insurance for the sick; 1884 Insurance against accident; 1890, Insurance for the sick and aged.1884A new "Syndicate" law favors the development of the trade-union movement.1885Founding of the "Société d'économie sociale" by Benoit Malon, the center of the "independent" socialists ("Parti socialiste independant").1886Founding of the "Fédération des syndicate" at the Congress at Lyons.1887Beginning of the "new Unionism;" the trade-union movement reaches lower strata of the working men with socialistic tendencies (JohnBurns, Tom Mann, Keir Hardie).Independent labor party.1889Two International Congresses of Working-men at Paris constituted by the "Possibilists" and the "Guesdists," proclaim as the salvation of the proletariat in general the legal enactment of an eight-hour day of work, and the celebration of May 1st as the working-men's holiday. (The first International Association Congress under the new enumeration.)1890The Trade-Union Congress in Liverpool endorses a legal establishment of the eight-hour work-day by a vote of 193 to 155.The first May festival of the proletariat in all civilized lands.The first International Miners' Congress at Jolimont.1890International Working-Men's Protection Conference in Berlin called by Kaiser Wilhelm II., attended by delegates from 13 nations.1891A new party programme for the Social-Democracy founded definitely upon Marxian principles: the so-called "Erfurt programme."Separation of the "independent" socialists of anarchistic tendency from the Social-Democracy.Second International Working-Men's Congress at Brussels.Exclusion of the Anarchists.Encyclical of Leo XIII., "Rerum novarum," defines the programme of all Catholic-social agitation.1892Congress of socialists at Marseilles resolves upon an agrarian programme with recognition of small peasantry holdings.First general trade-union Congress at Halberstadt.1893First Congress of the "Fédération de Bourses du Travail."The Social-Democracy comes out of the parliamentary elections as the strongest partyin Germany—with 1,786,738 votes.Third International Working-Men's Congress in Zurich; the English trade-unions deliberate officially in union with the continental socialists.1894The Trade-Union Congress at Norwich declares itself by a majority vote for a communization of the means of production.Beginning of a Democratic-Christian-Social agitation by Pastor Naumann (Die Hilfe).First International Weaver's Congress at Manchester.1896Fourth International Working-Men's Congress in London.