1880.] on Social Democracy in Germany. 419 



8. Complete self-government for all savings banks, relief associa- 

 tions, friendly societies, and clubs. 



These were the resolutions of the Congress of Gotha of May tho 

 27th, 1875, where 25,000 working men were represented. Liebknecht 

 and Geib represented one section, Hasenclever and Hasselmann an- 

 other, in the previous meeting wbich had settled the terms of tho 

 compromise. 



This manifesto contains the principles advocated by Marx, and 

 evidently assumes that the history of the world is simply the history 

 of a struggle between various classes, and that you have to upset the 

 economic structure of society to get a better society and a different 

 body politic. It may be well to note that Marx expressly declares 

 that " the arm of criticism does not stand in the place of the criticism 

 by arms. Material power must bo upset by material power, but 

 theories also become material power, when they sway the multitude. 

 Theories are capable of getting hold of the multitude when they are 

 demonstrated ad hominem, and they are demonstrated ad hominem 

 when they become radical. To be radical is to get at the root of a 

 matter. The root of man is man himself. The clear evidence in 

 favour of the radicalism of the German theory, and therefore of its prac- 

 tical vitality, is that it starts from a distinct positive superior view of 

 religion. The criticism of religion ends with the doctrine, that man 

 is the highest being for man, and therefore with the categorical order 

 to overthrow all relations in which man is a humbled, servile, aban- 

 doned, despicable being : relations which cannot be better described 

 than by the exclamation of a Frenchman on hearing of a proposed tax 

 on dogs : ' Poor dogs, you are going to be treated like men.' " 



The best proof of the influence of socialism is in the fact that in 

 Germany there are about twelve socialist members in Parliament, 

 whereas in the American Congress, in the Danish, Dutch, and 

 Belgian Parliaments, there is not a single professed socialist. 



On the 6th of March, 1880, Dr. Freilierr von Hertling said in the 

 Beichstag: "We were certainly surprised by the great results obtained 

 at the late elections by social democrats, but I believe that we 

 should go too far, if we took it for granted that all those who voted 

 for social democrats were conscious adherents of all their doctrines." 

 This does not mend matters. The return at the late election in 

 Hambui-g of an insignificant shoemaker, Hartmann, without any 

 organisation of the party, without committee, without funds, by an 

 overwhelming majority, can only be attributed to the fact, that at 

 Hamburg, as at Frankfort-am-Main, social democracy has wealthy 

 friends generously disposed towards it. 



Wherever socialism lifts its head, Germans are its apostles. 

 Eccarius, Becker, and Gogg, in Geneva (1873); Meyer and Hoflicher 

 accompany the bloody riots in New York ; at St. Louis, Fischer and 

 Kuhriem, who sends a telegram to Leipzig : " St. Louis, a town of 

 300,000 souls, is in our power! " In Switzerland the German cantons 



2 p 2 



