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THE BIRTH OF MODERN SOCIALISM
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control of Parliament— these and other subversive ideas
were germinating in all sections of the English labor
movement. It was a heroic period
— altogether the most
heroic period in the annals of toil— in which the most
advanced and varied revolutionary ideas were hurtling
in the air. The causes of the ruin that overcame this
magnificent beginning of a revolutionary working-class
movement cannot be dwelt upon here. Quarrels between
the leaders, the incoherence of their policies, and divisions
over the use of violence utterly wrecked a movement
that anticipated by thirty years the social democracy
of Germany. The tragic fiasco in 1848 was the beginning
of an appalling working-class reaction from years of
popular excesses and mob intoxications, from which the
wiser leadership of the German movement was careful to
steer clear. And, after '48, solemn and serious men settled
down to the quiet building of trade unions and
cooperatives. Revolutionary ideas were put aside, and
everywhere in England the responsible men of the movement
were pleading with the masses to confine themselves
to the practical work of education and organiza-
Although Germany was far behind England in
tion.
industrial
development and, consequently, also in workingclass
organization, the beginnings of a labor and socialist
movement were discernible. A brief but delightful
description of the early communist societies is
given by
Engels in his introduction to the Revelations sur le
Proces des Communistes. As early as 1836 there were
secret societies in Germany discussing socialist ideas. The
"League of the Just" became later the "League of the
Righteous," and that eventually developed into the
"Communist League." The membership cards read, "All
men are brothers." Karl Schapper, Heinrich Bauer, and