Socialism and Democracy in Europe Part 11

[15] These sections declare that the employment, or abetting or instigating the employment, of any means of stopping or impeding railway traffic is a crime; and if it has been planned at a seditious meeting, the instigators are as liable to punishment as the authors of the crime, even if they did not intend to provoke the destruction of railway property. The penalties imposed are very severe.

[16] Placards displayed the bitterness of the men. "For our vengeance Briand will suffice" was read on the walls under flaming posters that quoted fiery sentences from Briand's earlier speeches.

[17] Viviani, Minister of Justice, resigned soon after the close of the strike. He did not agree with Briand in his efforts to pa.s.s a law making all railway strikes illegal. He said as long as railways were private property men had the right to strike, but not to destroy property.

[18] Before his resignation, the old-age pension bill had pa.s.sed the Senate and thus became a law. The Socialists supported the bill; but Guesde voted against it in spite of his party's instructions, because labor was charged with contributing to the fund. The syndicalists were also violently opposed to it because they believe the amount of the pension is too small.

[19] When in January, 1912, M. Poincare was appointed Prime Minister, he promptly invited Briand into his cabinet as vice-president and Millerand as Minister of War.

[20] The co-operative movement is spreading gradually throughout France. There are two kinds of societies--the Socialist and the independent. In 1896 there were 202 co-operative productive societies.

In 1907 there were 362. The following figures show the increase in the number of co-operative stores: 1902--1,641; 1903--1,683; 1906--1,994; 1907--2,166.

[21] The following table, compiled from the reports of the Minister of Labor, shows the growth of the labor-union movement:

Year Number of Number of Unions Members 1885 221 ...

1886 280 ...

1887 501 ...

1888 725 ...

1889 821 ...

1890 1,006 139,692 1891 1,250 205,152 1892 1,589 288,770 1893 1,926 402,125 1894 2,178 403,430 1895 2,163 419,781 1896 2,243 422,777 1898 2,324 437,739 1899 2,361 419,761 1900 2,685 491,647 1901 3,287 588,832 1902 3,679 614,173 1903 3,934 643,757 1904 4,227 715,576 1905 4,625 781,344 1906 4,857 836,134 1907 5,322 896,012 1908 5,524 957,102

[22] See _Journal of Political Economy_, March, 1909, for a comprehensive article on French labor unions by O.D. SKELTON.

[23] From the beginning there were two kinds of unions, named after the color of their membership cards. The "yellows" are those pursuing a policy of peace, and the "reds" are the militants.

[24] The following figures show the increase of strikes since the organization of the C.G.T.:

Years Average Average Number Number Average Number of Strikes of Strikers of Days Idle 1890-1898 379 71,961 1,163,478 1899-1907 855 214,660 3,992,976

[25] The doctrines of Syndicalism may be found in the writings of Georges Sorel. Also in the following: POUGET, _Les Bases du Syndicalisme_; GRIFFUELHS, _L'Action Syndicaliste_, and _Syndicalisme et Socialisme_; POUGET, _La Parti du Travail_; POTAUD and POUGET, _Comment nous ferons la Revolution_; PAUL LOUIS, _Syndicalisme contre l'etat_.

[26] POUGET, _The Basis of Trade Unionism_, a pamphlet issued in 1908.

[27] _Reflexions sur la Violence._

[28] See YVETOT, _A B C du Syndicalisme_, Chap. V. This pamphlet is issued by the C.G.T.

[29] Statement of Strike Committee C.G.T., 1899.

[30] "In every state, the army is for the property owner; in every European conflict, the working cla.s.s is duped and sacrificed for the benefit of the governing cla.s.s, the bourgeoisie, and the parasites.

Therefore the XVth Congress approves and extols every action the anti-military and anti-patriotic propaganda, even though it only compromises the situation of all cla.s.ses and all political parties."

See YVETOT, _A B C du Syndicalisme_, p. 84.

[31] Herve has written a history of France that has had considerable vogue as a text-book in the public schools. He begins with the significant year 1789; glorifies the violence, and praises the Socialistic manifestations and the heroism of the revolutionists, that have made the past century one of turmoil and perpetual commotion.

This book is a sample of the reading given into the hands of the children of the Republic. I was told, upon careful inquiry, that a large number of the primary and secondary school teachers are Socialists. Thiers, before he became President, while still a functionary of monarchy, objected to the establishment of government schools in every village, because, he said, he did not want "a red priest of Socialism in every town." To-day he would find these "red priests" everywhere. They have even organized _syndicats_ and joined the C.G.T.

[32] When I called upon him in the Prison Sante he told me that he was as sincerely opposed to military measures as ever; but that it would be a long time before the people would regard all mankind, rather than a single ethnic group, as the object of their patriotism. Pointing to the grim walls of his prison, he said, "Vive la Republique! Vive la Liberte!"

[33] Syndicalism and anti-militarism have spread to Spain and Italy.

But they have not found favor among the phlegmatic North-European countries.

[34] See STEHELIN, _Essais de Socialisme Munic.i.p.al_, 1901.

[35] See _Les Paysans et le Socialisme_, a speech delivered by Compere-Morel, in the Chamber of Deputies, December 6, 1909. Also published in pamphlet form by the Socialist Party.

CHAPTER VI

THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY

I

In Belgium the physical, political, and economic environment is suited to a symmetrical development of Socialism. It is a small country, "at the meeting-point of the three great European civilizations,"

Vandervelde, the leader of the Belgian Socialists, has pointed out.

And his boast is true that the Belgian Socialists have absorbed the leading characteristics of the social movement in each of these countries. "From England Belgian Socialists have learned self-help, and have copied their free and independent organizations, princ.i.p.ally in the form of co-operative societies. From Germany they have adopted the political tactics and the fundamental doctrines which were expressed for the first time in the 'Communist Manifesto.' From France they have taken their idealistic tendencies, and the integral conception of Socialism, considered as an extension of the revolutionary philosophy and as a new religion, an extension and a realization of Christianity."

This threefold growth would have been impossible if the environment had not been favorable. The Belgian population is congested into industrial towns that are thickly strewn over the country, like the suburbs of one vast manufacturing community. These working people have always been miserably housed and poorly fed. In 1903-05 a public inquiry into housing conditions was inst.i.tuted in Brussels. In the most congested portions of the city, 564 households, comprising 2,224 persons, lived in one-room tenements. The houses were in miserable condition.

The commission appointed after the riots of 1886 describes conditions that are little better than those that prevailed in England in 1830.

Even as late as 1902, out of 750,000 working men and women one-tenth only worked less than ten hours a day; the rest worked from ten to twelve hours. One-fourth of these working people had a wage of 2 francs (40 cents) a day, another fourth had 2 to 3 francs (40 to 60 cents) a day, and the upper section only 3.50 to 4.50 francs (70 cents to 90 cents) a day. The government inquiry in 1896 disclosed the following rate of wages:

170,000 persons received less than 2 fr. (40c.) a day.

172,000 persons received less than 2-3 fr. (40-60c.) a day.

160,000 persons received less than 3-4 fr. (60-80c.) a day.

102,000 persons received more than 4 fr. (80c.) a day.[1]

In the low countries where agriculture is the leading occupation, conditions are no better. The peasant is poor; the conditions of tenancy hard, though recent legislation has modified them somewhat in the tenant's favor; and the holdings small. Agricultural wages are very low. The men in the Flemish district receive an average of 1.63 francs (33 cents) a day, without board, or about .90 francs (18 cents) with board. The women receive 1.06 francs (21 cents) without board and .64 francs (12-1/2 cents) with board.[2]

Here, then, is a population of industrial and peasant workers who are barely able to make a living, who have little time and less opportunity for education and general development. The percentage of illiteracy is very great; and is equaled only by the most backward countries of southern Europe. In 1902, out of every 1,000 militiamen, 101 were entirely illiterate; in France, 46; in England, 37; in Holland, 23; in Switzerland, 20; in Denmark, .08; in Germany, .07. In 1909 Rowntree estimated the illiteracy in the four largest Belgian cities to be 11.75 per cent.; in the Flemish communes, 34.69 per cent.; and in the Walloon communes (excepting Liege), 17.34 per cent.

Outward circ.u.mstances have not been wanting to arouse this teeming population into violent discontent. The government for years paid no heed to their misery, and the Church, which is very powerful in Belgium, was content to distribute charity and consolation, and to admonish the employer to patriarchal care for his men.

The national status of the country is guaranteed by the powers; there is no fear of invasion and no need for the intolerable military burdens that weigh down the great countries of Europe. There have been no international complications. This little country, with its cl.u.s.ters of thriving towns, its mines, farms, and seaports, could settle down contentedly to its daily tasks like a large family.

The great manufacturers and industrial leaders took even less interest in the welfare of the working people than the state or the Church. No one seemed to care how the worker fared, and when he himself learned to care the first reactions were violent.

We will limit ourselves, in this inquiry, to the political development of the labor movement.

Belgium is a const.i.tutional monarchy. The Const.i.tution, provides for a parliament composed of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, both elected by the people, the Representatives by direct, the Senators by indirect, elections. The King has the veto power and the power to prorogue parliament. A general election follows prorogation, in which the whole membership of Senate and House are elected. The communes are governed by elective communal councils.

From the establishment of the const.i.tution, in 1831, there have been two leading political parties--the Clerical or Catholic, and the Liberal. The Clerical Party has been not merely conservative, it has been reactionary. It clings not only to monarchic prerogatives, but to ecclesiastical supremacy. This medieval policy it imposed upon school and government and Church. The party has until very recently been in the majority. It is strongest in the low counties, among the agricultural Flemings. When the activity of the Socialists and Radicals forced the question upon the country, a "left" wing of the party began to interest itself in the laboring man, through the traditional methods of the Church, rather than by means of state interference.

The Liberal Party is a protest, not only against the predominant influence of the Church in political affairs, but also against the financial policies of the Conservatives. The Liberals early espoused the cause of free schools, modified tariffs, greater local autonomy, and liberal election laws.