The transition from the ancient and mediæval civil wars to the modern revolution, the social revolution in the above-mentioned sense, forms the Reformation, which is already half mediæval and half modern. Still higher stands the English Revolution of the 17th century, till finally the great French Revolution gives the classical type of the Revolution, of which the risings of 1830 and 1848 are only a weak echo.
The Social Revolution, in the sense employed here, is a stage peculiar to the development of the capitalist Society and the capitalist State. It is not to be found before capitalism, because previously the political forms were too narrow and the social understanding top backward. It will disappear with capitalism, because capitalism can only be overcome by the proletariat, which, as the lowest of all classes, must use its supremacy in order to abolish class rule and classes altogether—that is, ipso facto, the possibility of all social revolution.
Now, however, arises a big question, a question which deeply agitates us to-day because of its enormous bearings on our practical attitude at the present day—viz., is the time for social revolutions already past or not? Are the political conditions already to hand which render possible the transition from capitalism to Socialism without a political revolution, and without the conquest of political power by the proletariat, or have we yet to look forward to a period of decisive struggles for the possession of this power—in other words, a period of revolutions? Does the conception of the social revolution belong to those obsolete ideas to which only thoughtless repeaters of worn-out ideas or demagogic adventurers, angling for the applause of the ignorant masses, cling, but which must be repudiated by every honourable up-to-date man, who observes the facts of modern society impartially?
That is the question. Certainly an important question, and one not to be got rid of with a few phrases.
We have seen that the social revolution is a product of particular historical conditions. It presupposes not only highly-strained class antagonisms, but also a great national State, which abolishes all provincial and communal privileges, and bases itself on a mode of production which equally has the effect of bringing all particularism to a common level; and, moreover, a State rendered powerful by a bureaucracy and militarism, a science of political economy, and a rapid pace of economic progress.
None of these factors of the Social Revolution has in the last decades been weakened; on the contrary, every one has been strengthened. Never was the pace of the economic development so quick. Scientific economics advances, if not in depth, at least, thanks to the Press, in popularity. Never was economic understanding so widely spread as to-day; never were the ruling classes, as well as the masses, able to see to such an extent the distant consequences of their activity and endeavours as to-day. That alone,
