2

the  socialism  of  to-day.
of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  no  one  rose  to  vote  in  favour
of  the  proposed  clause.  The  shorthand  report  shows  that  this
result  was  received  by  the  assembly  with  laughter.  Since  then
the  two  attempts  against  the  life  of  the  Emperor,  repeated  one
after  the  other  by  Hœdel  and  Nobiling,  forced  the  hand  of
the  Imperial  Parliament,  and  an  exceptional  law  of  draconic
severity  was  put  into  operation  against  Socialism.  During  the
course  of  the  debate.  Count  Eulenburg,  Minister  of  the  Interior
and  Prussian  Delegate  to  the  Federal  Council,  in  order  to
defend  the  object  of  the  law,  explained  very  clearly  the  ideas
actually  held  by  the  Socialist  party  in  Germany.  As  he  was
not  contradicted  by  those  members  of  the  Diet  who  represented
that  particular  shade  of  opinion,  we  may  assume  that  he
advanced  nothing  which  was  not  correct  on  all  points.
Before  1875,  there  existed  in  Germany  two  powerful
Socialist  associations.  The  first  was  called  the  General
Association  of  German  Working  Men  ”  {der  allgemeine  detitsche
Arbeiterverein).  Founded  by  Lassalle  in  1863,  it  afterwards
had  for  president  the  deputy  Schweizer,  and  then  the  deputy
Hasenclever.  Its  principal  centre  of  activity  was  North  Germany. ­
  The  second  was  the  »  Social-democratic  Working
Men’s  Party  ”  {die  Social-democratische  Arbeiterpartei),  led  by
two  well-known  deputies  of  the  Reichstag,  Herr  Bebel  and  Herr
Liebknecht.  Its  adherents  were  chiefly  in  Saxony  and  Southern
Germany.  The  first  took  into  account  the  ties  of  nationality,
and  claimed  the  intervention  of  the  State  in  order  to  bring
about  a  gradual  transformation  of  society  ;  the  second,  on  the
contrary,  expected  the  triumph  of  its  cause  only  from  a
revolutionary  movement.
These  two  associations  existed  for  a  long  time  in  open
hostility  towards  each  other  ;  less,  however,  from  the  difference
of  the  aims  they  had  in  view  than  in  consequence  of  personal
rivalry.  Nevertheless,  in  May,  1875,  at  the  Congress  of  Gotha,
they  amalgamated  under  the  title  of  the  “  Socialist  Working
Men’s  Party  of  Germany  ”  {Socialistische  Arbeiterpartei  Deutschlands). ­
  The  deputy  Hasenclever  was  nominated  president  ;
but  the  union  did  not  last  long,  or  was  never  complete,  for  as
early  as  the  month  of  August  following  a  separate  meeting  of