Part 1 (2/2)
Its six conventions were largely devoted to the discussion of social and labor problems and it produced a lasting effect upon the Socialist Movement by impressing upon it a harmonious and world-wide character. By 1876 the International Workingmen's a.s.sociation was ruined by the quarrels that had taken place between the more moderate faction under the leaders.h.i.+p of Marx, and the anarchistic element under Bakunin. It had, however, by this time contributed wonderfully towards the spread of Socialism, for it had taught the working cla.s.ses of Europe the international nature both of their own grievances and of capitalism.
Closely rivaling the success of the International Workingmen's a.s.sociation in furthering the cause of Socialism was a book known as ”Capital,” an economic work the first volume of which was published in 1867 by Karl Marx. The author never lived to edit the second and third volumes, though after his death in London, March 14, 1883, they were published from his notes by Frederick Engels. This work, to which the Father of the Revolutionary Movement gave the German t.i.tle ”Das Kapital,” has long been known as the Bible of Socialism. Its systematized philosophic and economic doctrines besides having supplied the various national branches of the party with a common theory and program, in the main still const.i.tute the creed of the immense majority of the Socialists the world over. Though ”Capital” has suffered severely from the criticism of economists of many schools, and though not a few of its doctrines have been rejected by present-day Socialists, its powerful influence still persists to a very marked degree.
Supplementing this short historical sketch of the origin of the modern Socialist movement, short comments will be added concerning the Revolutionary organization in the different countries of the world.
In Germany the Socialist movement first took shape in 1862 under the influence of Ferdinand La.s.salle. It made comparatively slow progress until 1874 when the 450,000 Socialist voters returned ten members to the Reichstag. An attempt on the part of the German Government to suppress the movement failed, and henceforth the party under the leaders.h.i.+p of August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, George Von Vollmar, and Wilhelm Liebknecht steadily continued to grow in strength. Shortly before the outbreak of the World War the Socialists, besides occupying 110 seats in the Reichstag out of a total of 397, polled about 4,252,000 votes and published 158 papers, but a faction under the leaders.h.i.+p of Bernstein had made great progress in its endeavors to transform the Revolutionary organization into an opportunist party.
Most of the German Socialists supported the war and the majority of their members in the Reichstag voted for the war credits. Some, however, like Karl Liebknecht, the son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, opposed the imperial government and were imprisoned. Pressure, however, finally forced the government to release Liebknecht, who then delivered impa.s.sioned speeches throughout the country, stirring up the people against Kaiserism and the war profiteers and urging the soldiers to turn their weapons against the imperial government itself. While Liebknecht was defying the authorities, the naval forces mutinied at Kiel. The Socialists then called a general strike for November 11, 1918, as a prelude to the revolution. Scheidemann and Ebert had been supporting the government of Prince Max of Baden, the successor of Von Hertling, as chancellor of the empire, and had deprecated the idea of a revolution.
But when Scheidemann saw that the revolution was certainly coming and that he and his colleagues would probably be left stranded, he joined the movement with his powerful organization, stepped in and grasped the power. A national council of soldiers, sailors and workmen was formed at Berlin, but the provisional government was shaped by Scheidemann, Ebert and others of the majority Socialists by virtue of their excellent political machinery. The Ebert-Scheidemann government fought many a bitter struggle with growing radicalism. Their government represented the most moderate group of the Socialists and received the support of the Centerists and others because these were far more opposed to the Socialists of the extreme left, such as the Spartacan Communists.
Several revolts engineered by the Spartacans were put down with considerable bloodshed. In January, 1919, soon after the defeat of the Spartacides in Berlin, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, their leaders, were put to death, and their minority party seemed to diminish in strength. In the latter part of May, 1919, the majority Socialists of the reactionary Ebert-Scheidemann group were at first opposed to the signing of the Treaty of Paris, whereas the Spartacans, and also the Independent Socialists under the leaders.h.i.+p of Hugo Haase and Karl Kautsky, tried to force their opponents to sign it, so that the people of Germany might soon blame the ”reactionaries” for the humiliation, and rise in rebellion to overthrow them.
In Bavaria the anti-war sentiment spread rapidly, fostered by the efforts of Kurt Eisner. King Ludwig abdicated the throne on November 16, 1918, and Eisner took up the reins of power, forming a Socialist government. After a few weeks Eisner broke with the Ebert-Scheidemann government of Berlin, and soon after was a.s.sa.s.sinated. Not long after this the Bavarian communists imposed the Soviet form of government on the country, much to the dislike of many of the inhabitants, especially those living outside of Munich. The peasants of Bavaria rebelled against the communist-soviet government of Munich, which finally fell, after the Noske-Ebert-Scheidemann forces had marched against the city.
Very many years ago Socialists began to spread their doctrines as best they could in the realms of the Czar. Many a Marxian was arrested for attempting to undermine the Russian government and sent into exile in Siberia. The World War having broken out, Russia suffered terribly, and this suffering, especially of the ma.s.ses, caused great discontentment and made the people an easy prey to the revolutionary forces of Socialism. The bureaucratic Czarist regime finally broke down in March, 1917, as soon as the revolution started. Three main contending parties attempted to ride into power on the revolutionary tide; the Cadets, the Moderate Socialists (i.e., the Mensheviki, and Social Revolutionists) and the Bolsheviki or revolutionary Socialists. The Cadets were the first to gain the upper hand, but were soon swept away, for they strove to satisfy the soldiers, workers and peasants with abstract, political ideals. The Mensheviki and Social Revolutionists succeeded the Cadets.
The demand for a Const.i.tutent a.s.sembly was one of the main aspirations of the Russian Revolution. It was on the eve of its realization that Bolsheviki, in November, 1917, by a _coup d'etat_ seized the reins of power. The elections for the a.s.sembly took place after the Bolsheviki had gained the upper hand and the Bolsheviki were defeated. The Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly was actually convened in Petrograd in January, 1918, but the Bolsheviki dispersed the parliament at the point of the bayonet. Russia was then ruled by Lenine, head of the soviet system of government. The government was a ”dictators.h.i.+p of the proletariat,”
characterized by injustice, violence, oppression, and bloodshed, the Soviets being little more than tribunals of punishment and execution, instruments of terror in the hands of the Autocrat Lenine. The Bolshevist government has met with continual opposition from the opposing groups of Socialists in Russia and has been attacked by the Allies, princ.i.p.ally on the Archangel front and in the Gulf of Finland.
The Finns, Lithuanians, Poles, Czecho-Slovaks, Rumanians, Ukranians, and especially Admiral Kolchak's Siberian forces waged a relentless warfare against the Bolsheviki tyranny either for political reasons or to rescue the countless millions of Russians who suffered so terribly from the Lenine system of dictators.h.i.+p. By the latter part of February, 1920, the Lenine government seemed to be overcoming all military opposition.[A]
The Socialists in Austria-Hungary as far back as 1907 could count 1,121,948 votes and 58 newspapers. Shortly before the end of the World War the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell. Austria and Hungary separated from each other and each became a republic. Count Karolyi was head of the new Hungarian government, socialistic in tendency. In the early spring of 1919, when Hungary was being invaded by Czecho-Slovak troops, Italians and Rumanians, and was threatened with an invasion from the Allies Count Karolyi fled and the government fell into the hands of the radical Socialist, Bela Kun, who soon established intimate relations with the Bolshevist government at Moscow. One difficulty after another, however, especially the attacks of the Rumanians, soon taxed the strength of the crimson-red government; and in the summer of 1919 it succ.u.mbed to pressure brought to bear on it by the Allies.
Notwithstanding the Bolshevist propaganda carried on in Vienna, the Austrian government down to February, 1920, has resisted all inducements to adapt Bolshevism.
Modern Socialism in France was rather inactive previous to the outbreak of the Commune in 1871. Then, after the victory of the government forces over the revolutionists, many leaders of the Commune declared for Anarchism, but subsequently abandoned it as impracticable and devoted themselves to the propaganda of Marxian Socialism. After Jules Guesde and other communards were permitted to return to France, by the amnesty of 1879, the party at first developed considerable strength, but soon split up into several factions, with Guesde as the leader of the more radical wing and Jaures and Millerand at the head of the moderate parliamentarian group. In the election of May, 1914, the United Socialists under Jaures polled 1,357,192 votes, while the Radical Socialists and their allies in the Caillaux combination cast 2,227,176 votes. During the World War most of the Socialists, especially those in parliament, supported the government.
After the War the Longuet faction of the Socialist Party became the majority party, took over control of the great Paris Socialist daily L'Humanite and chose Cas.h.i.+n as editor. On April 6, 1919, a great demonstration took place in Paris in honor of Jaures, the Socialist leader of France, who had been a.s.sa.s.sinated at the beginning of the World War. This and the decisions taken at the Socialist party congress of the Federation of the Seine on March 13th, demonstrated the decided turn to the left that the Socialist Party had taken since its previous congress in October, 1918. In the demonstration, consisting, perhaps, of 50,000 Socialists, cries of ”Revolution!” ”Down with the War!” ”Down with Clemenceau!” ”Long live the Soviet!” and ”Long live Russia!” filled the air for three hours.
”The Call,” New York, May 19, 1919, thus comments:
”The Socialist papers for several days appeared uncensored, though every line breathed revolution. Most startling of all, there were as many soldiers as civilians marching.
”Seven days later the representatives of each Socialist local in the Department of the Seine met in convention to decide upon which of three resolutions they should recommend the coming national congress of the Socialist Party to adopt. The discussion was hot, and more or less revolved around the personalities of the three leaders, Albert Thomas, Right Socialist, Jean Longuet, Left Socialist, and F. Loriot, Communist or Bolshevist. Broadly speaking, the Thomas resolution based its faith upon present political action and future political power; the Longuet resolution advocated a third International, without indorsing the third International held in Moscow in March, and the Loriot resolution indorsed the Zimmerwald resolutions (against all wars) and recognized the existence of the Third International established by the Russian Bolshevik party.
”Most of the discussion hinged upon affairs in Russia with hoots of derision at every uncomplimentary mention of Bolshevism, until the speaker either had to take his seat or qualify his criticism of the Soviet republic.
”Both the Longuet and Loriot resolutions called the war the consequence of imperialistic anarchy and bourgeois ambition, both denounced the imposition upon Germany of an unjust, or Bismarckian, peace, such as was imposed upon France in 1871, and both mourned the a.s.sa.s.sination of Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and Kurt Eisner.
”The Longuet resolution was as strong in its declaration of solidarity with the Soviet republic of Russia as the Loriot resolution was in opposition to all annexation of the Sarre Valley by France.”
The National Congress of the Socialist parties of France was held from April 19 until April 22, 1919. A motion by M. Kienthaliens demanding the adhesion of French Socialists to the Internationale at Moscow, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Premier Lenin of the Bolshevist government polled only 270 votes. This resolution failed to pa.s.s probably because the Longuet majority faction desired the union of all the French Socialist parties.
The Congress adopted by a majority of 894 votes, a resolution offered by Jean Longuet to the effect that the French Socialists are willing to continue to form a part of the Second Internationale, provided that all those who are Socialists in name only shall be excluded.
On May Day, 1919, the Socialists manoeuvered a general strike of all labor in Paris for twenty-four hours. The press dispatches informed us that the shut-down was virtually complete. Not a wheel was turning on any of the transportation systems and taxicabs and omnibuses kept off the streets. All restaurants and cafes were closed and guests in the hotels went hungry if they had not supplied themselves with food beforehand. Even the drug stores closed.
Theatres, music halls, and other resorts did not open. No newspapers were published and periodic stoppages occurred in the postal and wire services throughout the day. Industry on all sides was in a state of complete inactivity, work being suspended by every cla.s.s of labor. There was considerable disorder and very many policemen and civilians were injured.
<script>