Socialism and Democracy in Europe Part 32

7. Scales of rates forming a minimum wage to be fixed by agreement between munic.i.p.alities and the working-cla.s.s corporations of industry, commerce, and agriculture.

8. Employers to be forbidden to make deductions from wages, as fines or otherwise. Workers to a.s.sist in framing special rules for workshops.

9. Inspection of workshops, mills, factories, mines, yards, public services, shops, etc., shall be carried out with reference to the conditions of work, hygiene, and safety, by inspectors elected by the workmen's unions, in concurrence with the State inspectors.

10. Extension of the industrial arbitration courts to all wage-workers of industry, commerce, and agriculture.

11. Convict labor to be treated as a State monopoly; the charge for all work done shall be the wage normally paid to trade-unionist workers.

12. Women to be forbidden by law to work for six weeks before confinement and for six weeks after.

(8) _Social Insurance against all Natural and Economic Risks_

1. Organization by the nation of a system of social insurance, applying to the whole ma.s.s of industrial, commercial, and agricultural workers, against the risks of sickness, accident, disability, old age, and unemployment.

2. The insurance funds to be found without drawing on wages; as a means towards this, limitation of the contribution drawn from the wage-workers to a third of the total contribution, the two other thirds to be provided by the State and the employers.

3. The law on workmen's accidents to be improved and applied without distinction or nationality.

4. The workers to take part in the control and administration of the insurance system.

(9) _Extension of the Domain and Public Services, Industrial and Agricultural, of State, Department, and Commune_

1. Nationalization of railways, mines, the Bank of France, insurance, the sugar refineries and sugar factories, the distilleries, and the great milling establishments.

2. Organization of public employment registries for the workers, with the a.s.sistance of the Bourses du Travail and the workmen's organizations: and abolition of the private registries.

3. State organization of agricultural banks.

4. Grants to rural communes to a.s.sist them to purchase agricultural machinery collectively, to acquire communal domains, worked under the control of the communes by unions of rural laborers, and to establish depots and entrepots.

5. Organization of communal services for lighting, water, common transport, construction, and public management of cheap dwellings.

6. Democratic administration of the public services, national and communal; organizations of workers to take part in their administration and control; all wage-earners in all public services to have the right of forming trade-unions.

7. National and communal service of public health, and strengthening of the laws which protect it--those on unhealthy dwellings, etc.

(10) _Policy of International Peace and Adaptation of the Military Organization to the Defense of the Country_

1. Subst.i.tution of a militia for the standing Army, and adoption of every measure, such as reductions of military service, leading up to it.

2. Remodeling and mitigation of the military penal code; abolition of disciplinary corps, and prohibition of the prolongation of military service by way of penalty.

3. Renunciation of all offensive war, no matter what its pretext.

4. Renunciation of every alliance not aimed exclusively at the maintenance of peace.

5. Renunciation of Colonial military expeditions; and in the present Colonies or Protectorates, withdrawn from the influence of missionaries and the military regime, development of inst.i.tutions to protect the natives.

3. BASIS OF THE UNITED SOCIALIST PARTY OF FRANCE

_Adopted January 13, 1905_

The representatives of the various Socialistic organizations of France: the revolutionary Socialist Labor Party, the Socialist Party of France, the French Socialist Party, the independent federations of Bouches-du-Rhone, of Bretagne, of Herault, of the Somme, and of l'Yonne, commanded by their respective parties and federations to form a union upon the basis indicated by the International Congress of Amsterdam, declare that the action of a unified party should be based upon the principles established by the International Congress, especially those held in France in 1900 and Amsterdam in 1904.

The divergence of views and the various interpretations of the tactics of the Socialists which have prevailed up to the present moment have been due to circ.u.mstances peculiar to France and to the absence of a general party organization.

The delegates declare their common desire to form a party based upon the cla.s.s war which, at the same time, will utilize to its profit the struggles of the laboring cla.s.ses and unite their action with that of a political party organized for the defense of the rights of the proletariat, whose interests will always rest in a party fundamentally and irreconcilably opposed to all the bourgeois cla.s.ses and to the state which is their instrument.

Therefore the delegates declare that their respective organizations are prepared to collaborate immediately in this work of the unification of all the Socialistic forces in France, upon the following basis, unanimously adopted:

1. The Socialist Party is a cla.s.s party which has for its aim the socialization of the means of production and exchange, that is to say, to transform the present capitalistic society into a collective or communistic society by means of the political and economic organization of the proletariat. By its aims, by its ideals, by the power which it employs, the Socialist Party, always seeking to realize the immediate reforms demanded by the working cla.s.s, is not a party of reforms, but a party of cla.s.s war and revolution.

2. The members of Parliament elected by the party form a unique group opposed to all the factions of the bourgeois parties. The Socialist group in Parliament must refuse to sustain all of those means which a.s.sure the domination of the bourgeoisie in government and their maintenance in power: must therefore refuse to vote for military appropriations, appropriations for colonial conquest, secret funds, and the budget.

Even in the most exceptional circ.u.mstances the Socialist members must not pledge the party without its consent.

In Parliament the Socialist group must consecrate itself to defending and extending the political liberties and rights of the working cla.s.ses and to the realization of those reforms which ameliorate the conditions of life in the struggle for existence of the working cla.s.s.

The deputies should always hold themselves at the disposition of the party, giving themselves to the general propaganda, the organization of the proletariat, and constantly working toward the ultimate goal of Socialism.

3. Every member of the legislature individually, as well as each militant Socialist, is subject to the control of his federation; all of the officials in all of the groups are subject to the central organization. In every case the national congress has the final jurisdiction over all party matters.

4. There shall be complete freedom of discussion in the press concerning questions of principle and policy, but the conduct of all the Socialist publications must be strictly in accord with the decisions of the national congress as interpreted by the executive committee of the party. Journals which are or may become the property of the party, either of the national party or of the federations, will naturally be placed under the management of authorities permanently established for that purpose by the party or the federations. Journals which are not the property of the party, but proclaim themselves as Socialistic, must conform strictly to the resolutions of the congress as interpreted by the proper party authorities, and they should insert all the official communications of the party and party notices, as they may be requested to do. The central committee of the party may remind such journals of the policies of the party, and if they are recalcitrant may propose to the congress that all intercourse between them and the party be broken.

5. Members of Parliament shall not be appointed members of the central committee, but they shall be represented on the central committee by a committee equal to one-tenth of the number of delegates, and in no case shall their representation be less than five. The Federation shall not appoint as delegates to the Central Committee "_militants_"

who reside within the limits of the Federation.

6. The party will take measures for insuring, on the part of the officials, respect for the mandates of the party, and will fix the amount of their a.s.sessment.

7. A congress charged with the definite organization of the party will be convened as soon as possible upon the basis of proportional representation fixed, first upon the number of members paying dues, and second upon the number of votes cast in the general elections of 1902.

III. GERMANY

1. POLITICAL PARTIES IN GERMANY

There are a great many "fractions" in German politics. But, following the Continental custom, they are all grouped into three divisions, the Left or Radical, Right or Conservative, and the Center. In Germany the Center is the Catholic or Clerical Party. The leading groups are as follows:

1. _Conservative._--The "German Conservatives" are the old tories; the "Free Conservatives" profess, but rarely show, a tendency toward liberal ideas, although they have, at intervals, opposed ministerial measures. The Conservatives are for the Government (Regierung) first, last, and all the time. They were a powerful factor under Bismarck and docile in his hands. Since his day they have suffered many defeats because of their reactionary policy. But the group still is the Kaiser's party, the stronghold of modern medievalism, opposed to radical reforms, and adhering to "the grace of G.o.d" policy of monarchism. Economically they are _junker_ and "big business." The anti-Socialist laws were the expression of their ideas as to Socialism and the way to quench it.

2. _National Liberal._--This party is not liberal, in the sense that England or America knows liberalism. It is really only a less conservative party than the extreme Right, although it began as the brilliant Progressist Party of the early '60's. It was triumphant in the Prussian Diet until Bismarck shattered it on his war policy. In the first Reichstag it had 116 members, nearly one-third of the whole.

But Bismarck needed it, got it, and left it quite as conservative as he wished. It voted for the anti-Socialist laws and for state insurance.