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BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM.
the people for liberty. Adopted by Socialists of all countries,
It represents the unity and fraternity of the races of men,
while the national banners represent hostility and war between
the different States.” Up to the present John Bull, “this
stupid animal,” does not seem to have grasped the beauty of
this theory of colours. When the red flag appears in meetings
and processions in England, it is almost always borne by
foreigners.
After the schism of the Hague, Eccarius and Hales
abandoned Marx. The most violent became Bakunists. The
great mass of the working men, limiting their views to the
present time and to the horizon of their island, remained
within the local movement of their trades unions. The
International has, however, instilled into them a sympathy for
revolutionary agitations abroad, and the idea of collective
ownership of the soil at home. It is said that they are now
becoming more Socialistic, and that they are rising to “ the
synthetical idea ; ” but it is not easy to measure the strength
of this underground evolution. “The Annual of Socialism”
{Jahrbuch der Sozialwissenschaft), of Dr. Ludwig Richter, in
reviewing the progress of Socialism in civilized countries in
1879, makes no mention of England, “because there is nothing
to tell about it.” • ®
Although the International was the outcome of German
Socialism, since it was Marx who formulated its principles
and created its organization, its influence in Germany has been
still less than in England. In speaking in former chapters of
Lassalle and Marx, we have sketched the growth of Socialistic
ideas in Germany ; we therefore need not recur to it again
The movement was too independent and too powerful to obev
the action of an association which had neither its head
quarters nor its roots in the country. Many working men’s
societies sent to the International good wishes and even
adhesions but they took from it neither their doctrines nor
tneir watchwords, f
founVa^peSSiÂrÎ'r" """""" >" E.gkW will b.
t [In a book. Die Rothe Internationale, by Dr. Zacher. Government
