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224 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
where the minor state of siege had been proclaimed.
The year 1886 was a sensational one. Nine of the socialists,
including Bebel, Dietz, Auer, Von Vollmar,
Frohme— all deputies— were charged with taking part in
a secret and illegal organization. All the accused were
sentenced to imprisonment for six or nine months, Bebel
and his parliamentary associates receiving the heavier
penalty. The Reichstag asked for reports upon the
working of the law. Again the discouraging news came
that the movement seemed to be growing faster than
ever before.
The crushing by repressive measures did not, however,
exhaust Bismarck's plans for annihilating the socialists.
At the same time he outlined an extraordinary program
for winning the support of the working classes. Early in
the eighties he proposed his great scheme of social legislation,
intended to improve radically
the lot of the toilers.
Compulsory insurance against accident, illness, invalidity,
and old age was instituted as a measure for giving
more security in life to the working classes. Insurance
against unemployment was also proposed, and Bismarck
declared that the State should guarantee to the
toilers the right to work. This began an era of immense
social reforms that actually wiped out some of the worst
slums in the great industrial centers, replaced them with
large and beautiful dwellings for the working classes, and
made over entire cities. The discussions in the Reichstag
now seemed to be largely concerned with the problem
of the working classes and with devising plans to
obliterate the influence of the socialists over the workers
and to induce them once more to ally themselves to the
monarchy and to the Junkers.
For some reason wholly mysterious to Bismarck, all
his measures against the socialists failed. Every assault