Part 31 (1/2)

”The National Council elects from the twenty-two members of the permanent Executive Committee the five party secretaries, whose functions are paid. It conducts the general propaganda, oversees the execution of party decisions, prepares for the Congresses, oversees the party press and the group in Parliament, and has the right to undertake all measures which the situation at the moment demands.”[206]

We see that the Socialist members of the national legislatures, both in Germany and France, are under the most rigid control, and we cannot doubt that if such control becomes impossible on account of legislation enacted by hostile governments, an entirely new form of organization will be devised by which the members of the Socialist Party can regain this power. Either this will be done, or the ”Socialist” Party which continues to exist in a form dictated by its enemies, will be Socialist in name only, and Socialists will reorganize--probably along the lines I have suggested.

It would seem, then, that neither by an attack from without or from within is the revolutionary character of Socialism or the essential unity of the Socialist organization to be destroyed.

The departure from the Party of individuals or factions that had not recognized its true nature, and were only there by some misunderstanding or by local or temporary circ.u.mstances is a necessary part of the process of growth. On the contrary, the Party is damaged only in case these individuals and factions remain in the organization and become a majority. The failure of those who represent the Party's fundamental principles to maintain control, might easily prove fatal; with the subordination of its principles the movement would disintegrate from within. In fact, the possibility of the deliberate wrecking of the Party in such circ.u.mstances, by enemies within its own ranks, has been pointed out and greatly feared by Liebknecht and other representative Socialists. This tendency, however, seems to be subsiding in those countries in which the movement is most highly developed, such as Germany and France.

FOOTNOTES:

[196] Quoted by Chairman Singer at the Congress of 1909.

[197] Quoted by _Vorwaerts_ (Berlin), Sept. 24, 1909.

[198] The proceedings of most of the German Party Congresses may be obtained through the _Vorwaerts_ (Berlin), those of the International and American Congresses from the Secretary of the Socialist Party, 180 Was.h.i.+ngton St., Chicago, Ill.

[199] Kautsky, ”Der Aufstand in Baden,” in the _Neue Zeit_, 1910, p.

624.

[200] The _Socialist Review_, April, 1909.

[201] The _Atlantic Monthly_, July, 1911.

[202] The _New York Call_, Jan. 6 and 8, 1912.

[203] The _New York Call_, Jan. 9, 1912.

[204] The _Socialist Review_ (London), April, 1909.

[205] ”Parlamentarismus und Demokratie,” 1911 edition, pp. 114-116.

[206] ”Parlamentarismus und Demokratie,” 1911 edition, pp. 14-15.

PART III

SOCIALISM IN ACTION

CHAPTER I

SOCIALISM AND THE ”CLa.s.s STRUGGLE”

Socialists have always taught that Socialism can develop only out of the full maturity of capitalism, and so favor the normal advance of capitalist industry and government and the reforms of capitalist collectivism--on their constructive side. But if capitalism in its highest form of ”State Socialism” is the only foundation upon which the Socialism can be built, it is at the same time that form of capitalism which will prevail when Socialism reaches maturity and is ready for decisive action; and it is, therefore, the very enemy against which the Socialist hosts will have been drilled and the Socialist tactics evolved.

The older capitalism, which professed to oppose all industrial activities of the government, must disappear, but it is not the object of attack, for the capitalists themselves will abandon it without Socialist intervention in any form. Socialists have urged on this evolution from the older to the newer capitalism by taking the field against the reactionaries, but they do not, as a rule, claim that by this action they are doing any more for Socialism than they are for progressive capitalism.

Socialism can only do what capitalism, after it has reached its culmination in State capitalism, leaves undone; namely, to take effective measures to establish equal opportunity and abolish cla.s.s government. To accomplish this, Socialists realize they must reckon with the resistance of every element of society that enjoys superior opportunities or profits from capitalist government, and they must know just which these elements are. It must be decided which of the non-privileged cla.s.ses are to be permanently relied upon in the fight for this great change, to what point each will be ready to go, and of what effective action it is capable. Next, the cla.s.ses upon which it is decided to rely must be brought together and organized. And, finally, the individual members of these cla.s.ses must be developed, by education and social struggles, until they are able to overcome the resistance of the cla.s.ses now in control of industry and government.

The popular conviction that the very _existence_ of social cla.s.ses is in complete contradiction with the principles of democracy, no amount of contrary teaching has been able to blot out. What has not been so clearly seen is the active and constant _resistance_ of the privileged cla.s.ses to popular government and industrial democracy, _i.e._ the cla.s.s struggle.