At the time these essays were written the Socialists in France were divided into several parties, representing the extremes of theory and action, and many of Jaurès's arguments are addressed more to his Socialist than to his non-Socialist opponents. Since then, however, a variety of reasons have made it possible for all factions to reunite in a single organisation. The International Congress at Amsterdam in 1904 devoted most of its time to a discussion of the question of method and ended by passing a resolution that proclaimed the principle of class-warfare in the dogmatic Marxist manner, and was in effect a censure of the French leader. Jaurès made an eloquent and spirited defence of his policy: he declared that he was willing to make any reasonable concession in the interest of party unity, but maintained that his tactics were the only practical ones. The Congress expressed a wish that the various French parties would reunite, and accordingly a joint-committee met during the winter to formulate a compromise agreement. In the meantime political conditions changed. The Combes
standard rate of wages and hours for every district, and this standard is at once applicable to State contracts. They also make annual reports on the conditions of labour, causes of unemployment, enforcement of the law, etc. Millerand also introduced, but did not succeed in getting passed, a bill to regulate industrial disputes, a moderate adaptation of compulsory arbitration on the New Zealand model.
