men the recognition of the folly and crime of war, and will bring to pass that peace and good-will among men prophesied so long ago. Would not that be a grand regeneration of this old world, nay, may I not say, a new creation, not less glorious than that earlier one," when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy"?

CHAPTER XII.

FERDINAND LASSALLE.

THE most interesting figure in the history of social democracy is incontestably Ferdinand Lassalle. In some respects he resembled Marx. He also was of Hebrew descent, and belonged to the higher classes of society. Both were interested in the welfare of the lower classes, and made sacrifices willingly in behalf of their cause. Both intended to become university professors, and there is not the shadow of a reason to doubt that both might have succeeded as such. Lassalle, the son of a wealthy wholesale merchant of Breslau, was born in 1825. His father wished him to devote himself to business, but Lassalle was too fond of his studies to consent. He went to the universities of Breslau and Berlin, where he devoted himself to philology and philosophy. His career as a student was brilliant in the extreme. The most distinguished men of the time were carried away with admiration. Wilhelm von Humboldt called him "Das Wunderkind"

"The Miraculous Child." His first literary work was an exposition of the "Philosophy of Heraclitus the Obscure."* "Before this book," to use the words of another, “Humboldt and the whole world bent

* "Die Philosophie Heracleitos des Dunkeln," 2 Bde. On account of his absorption in the celebrated Hatzfeldt case for eight years, it was not published until 1858.

the knee." Lassalle's second important work was one on a system of jurisprudence entitled, "The System of Acquired Rights"-"Das System der erworbenen Rechte" (2 Bde.). The great jurist Savigny called it the ablest legal book which had been written since, the sixteenth century. It was published in 1861. Before this, Lassalle had become interested in the case of the Countess von Hatzfeldt, the misused wife of a · wealthy but brutal man. While he was indulging in the most extravagant dissipation, she was obliged to live in cramped circumstances. The Countess had begun a suit against her husband for separation and alimony, but did not make much headway until Lassalle took charge of the case, in 1846. After an eight years' contest, he secured a brilliant triumph. The Countess, although over forty, was still beautiful, and Lassalle, in taking up her case, appears to have been actuated by the same motives as the knights-errant of an earlier period who went about redressing wrong and protecting the weak. The entire affair is illustrative of his fiery, romantic temperament.

It was in 1862 that Lassalle began his agitation in behalf of the laboring classes, an agitation which resulted in the formation of the German Social Democratic Party. Previous to his time, German laborers had been considered contented and peaceable. It had been thought that a working-men's party might be established in France or England, but that it was hopeless to attempt to move the phlegmatic German laborers. Lassalle's historical importance lies in the fact that he was able to work upon the laborers so powerfully as to arouse them to action. It is due to Lassalle above all others that German working-men's battalions, to use the social democratic expression, now

form the vanguard in the struggle for the emancipa-1 tion of labor.

Lassalle's writings did not advance materially the theory of social democracy. He drew from Rodbertus and Marx in his economic writings, but he clothed their thoughts in such manner as to enable ordinary laborers to understand them, and this they never could have done without such help. Even for an educated man their works are not easy reading; for the uneducated they are quite incomprehensible. Lassalle's speeches and pamphlets were eloquent sermons on texts taken from Marx. Lassalle gave to Ricardo's law of wages the designation, the iron law of wages, and expounded to the laborers its full significance, showing them how it inevitably forced wages down to a level just sufficient to enable them to live. He acknowledged that it was the key-stone of his system, and that his doctrines stood or fell with it.

Laborers were told that this law could be overthrown only by the abolition of the wages system. How Lassalle really thought this was to be accomplished is not so evident. He proposed to the laborers that government should aid them by the use of its credit to the extent of 100,000,000 of thalers, to establish co-operative associations for production; and a great deal of breath has been wasted to show the inadequacy of his proposed measures. Lassalle could not himself have supposed that so insignificant a matter as the granting of a small loan would solve the labor question. He recognized, however, that it was necessary to have some definite party programme to insure success in agitation, and could think of no better plan at the time than to work for universal suffrage and a government subsidy. He wrote to his

friend Rodbertus to the effect that he was willing to drop the latter plank in his platform, if something better could be suggested.* It would be going too far to say that he was positively insincere, for he might have thought that if government had voted the proposed credit of one hundred millions, it would have opened the way for other reforms. He might have regarded this modest proposal merely as an entering wedge.

Lassalle took this project of productive co-operative associations founded on government loans from Louis Blanc, with whose work he was well acquainted; indeed, as he began his agitation, he wrote to the French socialist, and requested some kind of an open letter of recognition which should give him credit with the laborers. We may get some clew to thoughts possibly lingering in the background, which Lassalle might have intended to express later by recalling the proposals of the Frenchman. Louis Blanc, as will be remembered, wished government to use its power of taxation to assist the social workshops with large advances of money, for which no interest was to be charged. No one was to be forced to join these ateliers sociaux. According to this scheme private manufacturers are allowed to continue their business as long as they choose. However, as no interest is paid for the government loans to the co

* Vide" Briefe von Lassalle und Carl Rodbertus-Jagetzow, mit einer Einleitung von Adolf Wagner" (Berlin, 1878), SS. 44, 67, 71, 72.

This matter was referred by Louis Blanc to Karl Blind, who advised him to not grant the request, as he had no faith in Lassalle, believing that he intended from the start to "sell out" to Bismarck. Vide article on Louis Blanc, in Die Gegenwart, 6. Januar, 1883.