The Socialism of to-day

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 835096955

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-28834

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Laveleye, Émile de

Title:: The Socialism of to-day

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Field & Tuer

Year of publication:: 1884

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XLIV, 331 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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4 92 THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. ject for the creation of a general insurance fund for disabled workmen, to be supported by the proceeds of the tobacco monopoly and by subscriptions levied from employers. The tax upon tobacco would thus become the patrimony of the poor, according to Herr Wagner’s expression. There could not, in fact, be a better tax than that which hits a harmful substance ; and since in France a fund and a palace have been founded for disabled soldiers, and, in England, one for disabled sailors, it is not easy to see why Germany should not do as much for disabled labourers ; for he who has passed his life in using some tool, or following the plough, is surely as worthy of interest as he who has devoted his days to the carrying of a gun or the loading of a cannon. I think the Chamber was wrong in rejecting Bismarck’s proposal, but those who main tained that the measure was essentially socialistic were per fectly right. In a lengthy speech delivered on the 3rd January, 1882, Bismarck said: “I have already explained the system which I am come to uphold, according to the instructions of His Majesty the Emperor. We wish to establish a state of things in which no one can say, ‘ I exist only to bear social burdens, and nobody takes thought of my fate.’ Our dynasty has for a long time been endeavouring to reach this object. Frederick the Great already described this mission in saying, ‘ I am king of the beggars,’ and he realized it in administering strict justice. Frederick William HI. gave freedom to the peasants. Our present sovereign is animated by the noble ambition to put a hand, in his old age, to the work of assuring to the least favoured and weakest of our fellow-citizens, if not the same rights that were seventy years ago granted to the peasantry, at least a decided amelioration in their condition, in order that these poor fellow-citizens may, in the future, feel assured that they can count upon the help of the State.” The whole theory of State Socialism and of “ a Socialist monarch ” is summed up in this passage. During these last years the camp of the Conservative Socialists has been broken up. Some have gone to swell the ranks of the “ Agrarians ; ” others, terrified at the progress of demagogic Socialism, have become retrograde Conservatives ;

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