Outline Labor, Socialism and Politics to World War I
Pages 835-847
*The growing numbers of urban proletariat during the latter half of the 19th century turned to new institutions and ideologies to protect themselves from both private and public oppression. No longer did they rely on rioting in the streets to voice their grievances as they did prior to the revolutions of 1848.
A. Trade Unionism: Governments began to extend legal protection to unions during the second half of the 19th century.
1. This met with intense opposition from employers: laborers had to engage in long strikes to get their demands accepted
2. Initially, workers sought only improvement of wages and working conditions
B. Democracy and Political Parties
1. Democracy: All the major European states (with the exception of Russia) adopted broad-based electoral systems in the late 19th century
2. Politicians could no longer ignore workers, and discontented groups could now voice their grievances and advocate their programs within the institutions of government
3. Political Parties: mobilized the new voters
a. Socialist Parties
1) appealed to the workers because it was supposed to unite the working classes across national borders (problems were transnational)
2) in that sense, it opposed nationalism
b. the major questions for late-century socialist parties throughout Europe was whether the improvement of the lot of the working class would come about through revolution or democratic reform
C. Karl Marx and the First International
1. First International (International Working Men’s Association)
a. one of the first organized socialist groups
b. founded in 1864 by a group of British and French trade unionists
c. membership encompassed a vast array of radical political types, including socialists, anarchists, and Polish nationalists
d. in the inaugural address, Marx (surprisingly enough) supported and approved efforts by workers and trade unions to reform the conditions of labor within the existing political and economic processes
e. because of violence associated with socialism (e.g., the Paris Commune), government pressure forced the First International to disband in Europe in 1873
2. Marxism: emerged during the late 1860’s
a. single most important strand of socialism
b. Marx and his followers drove out anarchists and advocates of other forms of socialism
c. Advocated revolution to implement radical and complete change
D. Great Britain: Fabianism and Early Welfare Programs
1. Labour Party
a. founded in 1901 when the House of Lords (through Taff Vale decision) removed the legal protection previously accorded unions
1) in the elections of 1906, the new party sent 20 members to Parliament
2) goals did not yet include socialism
2. Fabian Society: founded in 1884, it was Britain’s most influential socialist group
a. as with most British socialists, Fabians favored democratic reform
b. wanted to rectify the problems of industry, expand ownership, and state direction of production (nationalization)
3. The government and the major political parties responded slowly to the pressures of British socialists and laborers
a. in 1908, the former protection of unions was restored
b. in 1909, David Lloyd George and a liberal ministry undertook a broad program of social legislation
1) National Insurance Act of 1911: provided unemployment benefits and health care
2) Parliament Act of 1911: allowed the House of Commons to override the legislative veto of the House of Lords
E. France: “Opportunism” Rejected
1. Two major socialist factions:
a. Socialists led by Jean Jaures: believed that socialists should cooperate with middle-class ministries to ensure the enactment of needed social legislation
b. Socialists led by Jules Guesde: advocated violent overthrow of the bourgeois government
2. The government attempted to unite socialists by appointing one (Alexander Millerand) to the cabinet in 1899
a. “opportunism”—socialist participation in bourgeois ministries
b. condemned by the Second International
3. Socialist Party of France
a. the factions united to gain representation in the Chamber of Deputies
b. by 1914, the Socialist Party was the second largest group in the Chamber
4. Confederation General du Travail (founded in 1895)
a. worker party that considered itself a rival to the socialist parties
b. favored direct action and the doctrines of syndicalism (e.g., general strike as a device for generating worker unity and power)
F. Germany: Social Democrats and Revisionism
1. German Social Democratic Party (SPD)
a. founded in 1875
b. initially, split between those that advocated reform and those that advocated revolution
c. kept Marxist socialism alive during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
d. Bismarck supported anti-socialist legislation
e. still, from the early 1880’s onward, the SPD steadily polled more and more votes in elections to the Reichstag
f. The Erfurt Program (1891)
1) declared the imminent doom of capitalism and the necessity of socialist ownership of the means of production
2) however, intended to pursue these goals through legal political participation
2. The debate over Revisionism
a. Eduard Bernstein: questioned whether Marx and his later orthodox followers were correct in their pessimistic appraisal of capitalism…also questioned the necessity of revolution (Evolutionary Socialism—1899)
b. pointed to conditions that did not meet Marxists’ expectations:
1) standard of living was on the rise
2) ownership of capitalist industry was becoming more widespread through stock holding
3) middle-class was growing
4) franchise meant that revolution might not be necessary to implement change
c. Bernstein’s doctrines were known as revisionism
d. SPD, while still calling for revolution, pursued a course of action similar to that advocated by Bernstein
G. Russia: Industrial Development and the Birth of Bolshevism
1. Witte’s program for industrial growth
a. under Tsar Nicholas II, Sergi Witte (finance minister) implemented an ambitious plan for industrialization between 1890 and 1904
b. Nicholas believed that only through industrialization could Russia maintain its European military position and diplomatic role
c. such rapid industrialization brought considerable social discontent:
1) landowners felt that foreign capitalists were earning too much of the profit
2) peasants saw their grain exports and tax payments finance development that did not measurably improve their lives
3) small, but significant, industrial proletariat emerged and faced poor working and living conditions
4) Russian agriculture was inefficient and peasants experienced extreme poverty
5) there were uprisings in both urban and agrarian areas
2. Political Factions that accompanied the economic development:
a. Social Revolutionary Party (founded in 1901)
1) membership and intellectual roots reached back to the Populists
2) opposed industrialism and looked to the communal life of rural Russia as a model for the future
b. Constitutional Democratic Party (founded in 1903)—Cadets
1) drew its membership from people who participated in the local councils called zemstovs
2) wanted a parliamentary regime with responsible ministries, civil liberties, and economic progress
c. Russian Social Democratic Party (founded in 1898)
1) adopted Marxist ideology
2) forced to function in exile
a) no representative institutions in Russia
b) small working class
3) Lenin
a) left Russia for Switzerland in 1900
b) wrote What is to be Done (1902)
1. rejected the notion that revolution would rise spontaneously from the proletariat (Marx)
2. instead, revolution must be fostered by a small group of “professional revolutionaries”
c) forced a split in the Russian Social Democratic Party
1. Bolsheviks: favored immediate revolution in Russia
a. led by an elite party (Communists)
b. alliance between the workers and the peasants
2. Mensheviks: believed that revolution could come only after Russia had developed a large proletariat
3. The Revolution of 1905 and Its Aftermath
a. Causes
1) social discontentment
2) Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War
3) “Bloody Sunday”: 100 petitioners were shot down in cold blood while attempting to peacefully present their grievances to the Tsar at his Winter Palace in St. Petersburg
b. During the next 10 months, revolutionary disturbances spread throughout Russia
1) Constitutional Democrats demanded political reform
2) Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries incited riots
3) in October 1905, strikes broke out in St. Petersburg, and for all practical purposes, worker groups (soviets) controlled the city
c. Results
1) Nicholas issued the October Manifesto which promised Russia constitutional government
2) in 1906, Nicholas established the Duma, a representative body with two chambers
3) however, the Tsar’s new finance minister, P.A. Stolypin, convinced Nicholas to dissolve the first Duma (too radical)
a) the second Duma was also dissolved
b) the third Duma, elected in late 1907 on the basis of a more conservative franchise, was easily manipulated by the Tsar and his minister
d. Rasputin: advisor to the Tsar (symbol of government corruption)
1) allegedly had the power to heal the Tsar’s hemophiliac son
2) the undue influence of this strange, uncouth man, continued social discontent, and conservative resistance to any further liberal reforms rendered the position and the policy of the Tsar uncertain after 1911