90 



BELGIUM. 



BOLIVIA. 



The congress met on the date set at the 

 Maison du Peuple, the hall of the Belgian Labor 

 party in Brussels. Every country in Europe 

 was represented, excepting Russia and Portugal. 

 In addition to the 188 Belgian delegates, 77 pre- 

 sented themselves from France, 42 from Ger- 

 many, 29 from Great Britain, 11 from Austria, 

 9 from Holland, 6 from the United States, 6 

 from Switzerland, 5 from Poland, 5 from Rou- 

 mania, 3 from Sweden and Norway, 3 from Den- 

 mark, 2 from Italy, 2 from Hungary, and 1 from 

 Spain. The Marxists, Blanquists, and Possibilists 

 of France were all strongly represented. Among* 

 the German delegates were the Social-Democratic 

 leaders Bebel, Liebknecht, and Singer. From 

 England came prominent Socialistic agitators 

 and also representatives of trades councils and 

 unions. The American delegates were pro- 

 nounced Socialists. Anarchists and Revolution- 

 ary parties were excluded. The speeches, limited 

 to' ten minutes, were translated immediately after 

 delivery for the benefit of all sections, and the 

 voting was by nationalities. The sessions ex- 

 tended over a week. The Marxists were in the 

 majority, but they showed a desire to frame the 

 resolutions in such a way as to be acceptable to 

 the British trade unionists, at whose suggestion 

 these international congresses were inaugurated. 

 Mr. Sanial, delegate of the Central Labor Union 

 of New York and of American Socialists gen- 

 erally, who described America as a country in 

 which misery is increasing so fast that it is be- 

 coming a hell for working men, urged the claims 

 of Chicago as the meeting-place for the next 

 congress; but Switzerland was selected by the 

 committee for the next regular congress, which 

 will be held in the first week of August, 1893. 

 In deference to the non - Socialistic English 

 unions, it was decided to leave the title of the 

 congress to be determined by that body. A 

 proposition that no person should be permitted 

 to attend as a delegate whose expenses were not 

 borne by the organization that he represented 

 was taken into favorable consideration. The 

 intention was announced of sending some dele- 

 gates from the Continent to the separate Socialist 

 congress that is to be held in Chicago in 1893. 

 It was resolved to organize a general interna- 

 tional demonstration in favor of an eight-hour 

 day, to take place on May 1, 1892. A resolution 

 inviting the Socialist and Labor parties of all 

 countries " to affirm in their programmes the 

 complete equality of the two sexes and to de- 

 mand the concession to women of the same po- 

 litical and civil rights as are enjoyed by men, 

 and the repeal of all laws placing women outside 

 public rights," was passed, with only three dis- 

 senting votes. The resolution in regard to labor- 

 protecting legislation brought out the differ- 

 ences of opinion between the Continental work- 

 men and the British delegates. Mr. Kazan, who 

 represented the Hebrew trade unions of the 

 United States, said : " We are not going to cringe 

 and fawn for legislation, but will extort it from 

 the capitalist class, and abolish the wage sys- 

 tem." The British members objected to amend- 

 ments embodying particular Socialistic demands, 

 and the congress finally adopted unanimously 

 the following resolution : 



This congress, recognizing the existence of a class 

 struggle, and convinced that as long as class rule pre- 



vails the emancipation of the working classes will be 

 impossible, declares that the laws enacted and the 

 decrees issued in various countries since the Paris 

 International Congress, held in 1889, do not in any 

 respect meet the aspirations of the workers. That 

 although the Berlin conference, as admitted by those 

 who themselves initiated it, met under the pressure 

 exerted by the international labor congresses, and 

 may therefore be regarded as an important concession 

 to public opinion, the results have demonstrated that 

 existing governments do not wish to effect necessary 

 reforms ; and that, on the other hand, the resolutions 

 of the Berlin conference have been used as a pretext 

 by certain manufacturing countries to arrest the de- 

 velopment of labor-protective legislation by invoking 

 the decisions of the Berlin conference and pointing 

 to the defects in the legislation of competing countries. 

 Moreover, this congress affirms that in cases in which 

 legislation is not defective, its application is allowed 

 to remain inoperative. 



For these reasons, this congress urges upon the 

 workers of all countries to agitate for the realization 

 of the programme laid down by the Paris congresses; 

 if only to make it clear to the workers that the gov- 

 erning and exploiting classes are hostile to legislation 

 effectively protecting the interests of labor. 



Whereas it is necessary to give to the international 

 labor movement a common impulse, especially in the 

 direction of protective labor legislation, therefore be 

 it resolved by this congress : 



(1) To organize in every country a permanent com- 

 mission of inquiry concerning the conditions of. labor 

 in its relation to working-class legislation. 



(2) To collect, collate, and exchange all necessary 

 information, with a view to the development and uni- 

 fication of all the said legislation. 



(3) This congress recommends the wage workers 

 of the whole world to unite their efforts against the 

 domination of capital, and, wherever they enjoy po- 

 litical rights, to exercise them with the object of gain- 

 ing their emancipation from wagedom. 



Declarations in condemnation of piece work 

 and of the subcontract system were approved. 

 Mr. Kazan was unable to obtain a clear declara- 

 tion from the congress on the Jewish question. 

 The committee recommended a resolution "con- 

 demning the anti-Semitic agitation as a device 

 of the capitalist class and of reactionary govern- 

 ments to divert the Socialist movement from its 

 course, and to sow division among the workers, 

 and affirming that the only way to achieve the 

 emancipation of the Jewish working classes was 

 to effect the amalgamation of the Socialist parties 

 in the respective countries." This was altered 

 on the motion of British delegates to read " the 

 amalgamation of the Socialist and Labor parties," 

 and at the suggestion of M. Argyriades, a French 

 delegate, who denounced Jewish banks and Jew- 

 ish financiers as oppressors of labor, an amend- 

 ment was accepted to the effect that the con- 

 gress "condemns both anti-Semitic and philo- 

 Semitic agitation." The resolution regarding , 

 militarism was a sweeping one in favor of uni- 

 versal disarmament and peace, condemning wars 

 and the maintenance of standing armies as a 

 device to bolster up the power of capitalism. 



BOLIVIA, a republic in South America. 

 The legislative power is vested in a Congress, 

 consisting in a Senate and a House of Repre- 

 sentatives, and the executive power in a Presi- 

 dent, elected for four years. Don Aniceto Arce 

 was made President in 1888. The country is 

 divided into 8 departments, each under the ad- 

 ministrative and military authority of a prefect 

 appointed by the President. 



