the possession of the ruling classes of the day. It is this one
thing, and one thing only, that explains the veneration in which
Marx is held throughout practically the whole Socialist move-
ment. It was he, who, more than anyone else, gave the working
class a sense of power, and imported into their efforts towards
organization and concerted resistance to the evils to which they
found themselves subject a conscious purpose not merely of
combating capitalism, but also of replacing it.
In the earlier article some account was given of the rise of Socialist parties in various European countries. This rise contin- ued at an increasing pace in later years, a great impetus having been given to the Socialist forces in almost all parts of Europe by the circumstances of the World War.
There was in 1921 in every industrialized country at least one Socialist party, possessing in the majority of cases a consider- able representation in its national Parliament. Indeed, in many countries there had come into being more than one Socialist par- ty ; for the process of unification of Socialist political forces which had been proceeding steadily up to the outbreak of the war gave place to a separatist tendency, which resulted in a regrouping of forces in most of the countries in which the movement was strong. The first cause of these divisions was the attitude of Socialists towards the outbreak of the World War. In almost all bellig- erent countries the Socialist parties became divided over the issues of the war. In some cases these divisions of opinion re- sulted in actual cleavages within the various parties; in others the parties held together, but acute divisions of opinion contin- ued inside them. These differences were greatly accentuated by the Russian revolutions of 1917, which inevitably exercised a very powerful influence on Socialist opinion throughout the world. Just as, in its earlier days as an organized political movement, Socialism always tended to look back to the Paris Commune of 1871, it now even more definitely looks back to the Russian revolutions of 1917, upon which the most acute divisions of opinion in the world of Socialism to-day are based. Any attempt, therefore, to analyze the forces at work in the Socialist movement of the various countries in 192 1 must begin by taking into account the new alignment of opinion caused by the Russian revolutions.
The first Russian revolution of 1917 was universally acclaimed by Socialists throughout the world. It meant for them the over- throw of Tsardom and the destruction of the most powerful and complete absolutist monarchy left in the world. Moreover, ref- ugees from Russia had played an important part in the Socialist movement in almost all countries in which it had become organ- ized. It was not the first of the Russian revolutions but the coup of Nov. 1917 that divided acutely the Socialists of the vari- ous countries. Everywhere the left wing of the Socialists acclaimed the Bolshevik Revolution, while the right wing was hostile to what it regarded as the overthrow of the "democratic" institu- tions which had been introduced under the Kerensky regime.
During the following years, from 1918-21, the differences with- in the Socialist ranks resulting from the Bolshevik Revolution were steadily accentuated. Under the auspices of the Russian Bolsheviks, or Communists as they now call themselves, with a definite reference back to The Communist Manifesto of 1847, a new international organization of Socialism, the Third or Mos- cow International, was inaugurated, and an appeal was made to the " proletariat " in all countries to rally to this new body, of which the fundamental ideas were the overthrow of the capitalist regime by the intensive prosecution of the class war, involving the use of force, and the assumption by the "proletariat" of dictatorship over Society during the " transitional period," which would be necessary both for the combating of the at- tempts of the " counter-revolution " to regain power, and for the laying of the foundations of a Socialist or Communist society free from class distinctions. During the years after the Bolshevik Revolution these Communist doctrines gradually spread over Europe, and resulted in the formation in most countries of Communist groups and parties of varying degrees of importance. Sometimes these began by working as groups within the existing Socialist parties, and sometimes they succeeded in winning over to their side a majority of the older Socialist parties, which thus
became Communist. In other cases, however, the Communists, unable to command a majority in the Socialist parties in other countries, founded new and rival parties of their own.
Thus in 1921 the position of European Socialism was extra- ordinarily complicated, as a reference to the state of affairs in a few of the principal countries will readily indicate. In France the Communists had succeeded in securing a majority in the ranks of the French Socialist party, and it had thereupon changed its name to the French Communist party. The minority, which refused to accept the change in name and policy, thereupon re- formed the Socialist party as a coalition of right wing and central elements. In Italy the Socialist party, which was throughout opposed to Italian participation in the war, at first affiliated to the Moscow International; but subsequently differences arose as to the strategy to be adopted, and these led to a split in the ranks of the party, the extreme Communists, who were in a minority, seceding and forming a Communist party of their own, while the right and centre, including many Communists, held together as the Italian Socialist party. In Germany the Social Democratic party split during the war. A majority sec- tion of the party supported the German Government in the prosecution of the war and voted war credits. Gradually a minority party formed, and finally the anti-war elements left the Social Democratic party and formed the Independent Social- ist party. After the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia two small Communist parties were also formed in Germany. In 1920 the majority of the Independent Socialist party resolved upon adhesion to the Moscow International and united with the Communist factions to form the German Communist party. The right wing of the Independent Socialist party continued in existence under the old name; and there were thus in Germany, in 1921, three distinct parties, Social Democrats or Majority Socialists, Independent Socialists, and Communists. In Great Britain the position was somewhat different; for political action was taken through the Labour party, a federation of trade unions, Socialist societies and kindred bodies. Of the Socialist societies, the British Socialist party, the direct descendant of the Social Democratic Federation, the earliest Socialist body in Great Brit- ain, affiliated to the Moscow International and became the nu- cleus of a Communist party which applied for affiliation to the Labour party, but was refused. The Independent Labour party, which, unlike the Labour party as a whole, was hostile to par- ticipation in the war, nevertheless remained affiliated to the Labour party. There were thus only two groups undertaking political action in Great Britain the Labour party, including the Independent Labour party, on the one hand, and the small, but militant, Communist party on the other.
These instances, drawn from a very much larger number, serve to illustrate the general character of the divisions which had arisen in the world Socialist movement since the Russian Revo- lutions of 191 7. As the movement has been divided nationally, so a division has taken place in the international organization of Socialism. Before the war most of the Socialist parties of the world were loosely held together by the Congresses of the " Sec- ond International," of which the first was held in 1889. Out of the Congresses developed the International Socialist Bureau, which was formed in 1900. The Bureau was unable to function effectively during the war, both because communications were to a large extent interrupted, and because of the differences of opinion between and among the various national sections. Various attempts were made to secure united action by all the national Socialist parties; but, in face of the opposition of the Governments and of internal differences, these produced little result, the attempt to call an International Socialist conference at Stockholm in 1918 breaking down. The Socialist parties of the Allied countries, however, held a number of conferences, and drew up a declaration of war aims, which exercised a certain influence. Immediately on the conclusion of hostilities steps were taken to convene a full International Socialist conference, and an attempt was made to reform the pre-war Socialist In- ternational. The reformed body, however, known as the " Sec- ond International," never became, in face of acute differences
