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202 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
socialist parliamentary tactics. "At what price does one
succeed in leading the people to the ballot boxes" he
asks in the first article. "Have the frankness to acknowledge,
gentlemen politicians, that it is by inculcating
this illusion, that in sending members to parliament the
people will succeed in freeing themselves and in bettering
their lot, that is to say, by telling them what one
knows to be an absolute lie. It is certainly not for the
pleasure of getting their education that the German people
give their pennies for parliamentary agitation. It is
because, from hearing
it
repeated each day by hundreds
of 'agitators,' they come to believe that truly by this
method they will be able to realize, in part at least, if not
completely, their hopes. Acknowledge it for once, politicians
of to-day, formerly socialists, that we may say
aloud what you think in silence : 'You are liars !' Yes,
liars, I insist upon the word, since you lie to the people
when you
tell them that they will better their lot by
sending you to parliament. You lie, for you yourselves,
but a few years since, have maintained absolutely the
contrary." (13)
What infuriated the anarchists was the amazing
growth of the socialist political parties. It was only
after The Hague congress that the socialist movement
was in reality free to begin
its actual work. With ideas
diametrically opposed to those of the anarchists, the socialists
set out to build up their national movements by
uniting the various elements in the labor world. There
were now devoted disciples of Marx in every country of
Europe, and in the next few years, in France, Belgium,
Holland, Norway, Sweden, and Germany, the foundations
were laid for the great national movements that
exist to-day. In France, Jules Guesde, Paul Lafargue,
and Gabriel Deville launched a socialist labor party in