The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-10-13

! and impartial, we might almost saw ex-
hnusiye, work on Contemporary soeiahsm.
by JoHS RAE (Scribner's,. contsins a sup
pS~mental chapter In which the history
OF socialism proper. as distinguished from
state socialism from the sgrarisn social
ism OF Henry George. from Russian riihi'-
ism and from Anarchism u brought down
from 1901 to 1900. We purpose to avail
Ourselves % the valuabl material collected
for this chapter by the author. and slso 10
mark the differences. clearly Indicated by
him. bctween contemporary socialism and
a~narchism on the one hand. and nihili.m
on the other.
There is no doub, that during the last
decade OF the nineteenth century the So
cial Democrats. considered ~ a political
party. made a remarkable advance in
several Continental countries. and It IL
eaually certain that they evinced a stimuli
taneous growth in the moderation OF their
aim. and In 'he circum-pection OF their
m-ti.Uds. within th" ten wears mentioned
,he Socialist vote ~ the elections for the
German Reich-,ag has risen by Sc per cent
In $40 Il was I t.7 .OOp. In 1891 h was I .1Ss, 100.
while In isas II was 2.iaO! 0OO. or one third
OF the whole poll Nv means Of the vote
last named, tie party rr'urned ffty-sevrn
out OF the 397 membsg- Of The Reichstag.
and made the Socialist group the strongest
but one Of the fifteen groups which ait
and fight in that assembly. In France,
where the Socialists are more divided than
IN GERMANY. the ioin, Socialist vote was
only Of ,Oo AZ the parliamentary election or
1859. hut II rose 20 500 100 In 1907, and To
s,e .sss In 1898: the party now has thirty
eight seats in a Chamber 81 Ssi. and. . thing
hitherto unheard Of. oire Of the Socialist
deputies L. a member of the Cabinet iel-
sium, long indireren, 10 the movement.
gave a strong Socialist vote In 1894 NJ the
Arst general ~el,aaion held after universal
suffrage had been granted. and II has been
increasing hat vote ever since. AZ the
election in 1905. more than a third OF the
whole votes recorded were cast for Social
Democratic candidates, and twenty-nine
Socialists were returned 10 a Chamber
which contains iS2 deputies In all In
Italy nj the parliamentary election OF 1895
the Socialist vote wa Te.Oo. In 1900 IL was
|. MS .OOO: the number of deputies rose from
ri xteen to thirty-four Mr., Rae adds
that M the date when this edition 81 his
book was published lJsnuary, 1901 eleven
OF the parliamentary representatives IN
Austria were Socialists. IN Denmark. nine,
Ia Holland. four
, While the growth Of power exhibited
by these figures IL sufficiently striking. the
stimuli ansous growth In moderation II no
ls~s remarkable. On the European CON
tineni the responsibilities ~ succe-s. ia"
exisencie- OF a position Of practical i'm
portance. are rapidly stripping tho Social
Democrats 81 their former evolutionary
character. Verbally, indeed. they still
protest that their whole duty during the
brief survival OF -bosrgso,s- society. a.
they call the existing order OF things. Is
to prepare and accelerate the social revo-
luton which u to overthrow that society.
but, NJ a matter OF fact, they are nov ali
bu-ily promoting the social reforms which
they used to dcrpunce for retardlng In
stead Of fastening their regeneratins revo-
luton, whilo the younger spirits among
them, the mon Of the future, are beginning
Co evince n profound scepticism about the
whole revolution business. and 10 svow n
strong belief that the WORK Of progressive
social reform whio, they are nov pur-
suing IL itself the social revolution desired,
the social revolution realized according tn
Nature. way. who IL always fond of slow
tr transitions and averse 10 catastrophcs.
Ia Germany the Socialist party def
nitely broke with the extreme revolu-
tioni-ts among them AT the Erfurt Congress
In 1891. The extreme revolutionisis were
men who thought that the business OF the
rrvolutionists vas revolution. even In the
present, and that the conques OF the pub
lie powers. to which they all looked for~ ard
could only he effected. " AZ all. by plots
and conspdracie-, secret societies and In
attractions. Before the days of universal
outrage, Liebkneoht himself-the able
parliamentary leader whom the German
Socialists hme recently lost believed In
the~. tactics. as he confessed nj Erfurt
on the occasion named.
He wa then against all participation
IN parliamentary work because. before
the DAYS Of universal suffrage. little could
bc done for the social revolution by Par
liamentary means. But. when universal
,urrage was granted in 1871 ~ far A. elec-
tions for the German Reichstag are CON
c~rned 1T has not yet been granted At cleo
tsons for the Chamber Of Deputies In Prus-
ala. where n classified property qualihca-
ton for the franchise obtains the situation
obviously changed. Now weapons. new
t~articr.- said Iichknecht. IL was now
possible to accomplish the conquest OF
the public pnwcrs at tho elections. and.
a. the successive triumphs Of thu Socialists
therest seemed to establish his possibility
more and more clearly. the party have com"
gradually Ia ~renounce their old penchant for
revolutionary methods and TO declare
for parliamentary action alone. This step
vas finally taken at Erfurt In isei. when
IN. Congress expelled the extreme revo-
h~u,ionary rcmnan, from membership and
passed a resolution 10 the effect that hence
forth the Social Democratic party was
apoitinal and parliamentary party. Rev
oh,ionary methods said ~Liebknecht.
.were the methods Of the Anarchists and
the Anarchists had achieved nothing 10y
them but the alternating Of w~orkingmen,
You could put all the Anarchists Of Europe.
he said. into a pair Of police wagons. With
their ridiculous revolutionary phrases.
their s-nseless attempts at assassination
and their stupidities generally. they have
done nothing for the prolstariat and have
merely worked into the hands Of their al
y.rsari~s.- The example set by the Ger
man Social Democrats at Erfut IN 1871