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unanimously adopted, Liebknecht said, according to the official minutes:
The party principles were formulated until the present time in a platform which was no longer up to date, and in its propositions and demands was in many ways defective; however, the party, in its further evolution, has kept to the true spirit, tilling the old forms with new meaning.
A revision of the platform, which before the anti-socialist legislation was already necessary, could no longer be delayed, and on Oct. 16, 1890, the party drew up at Halle the following resolution:
"In consideration of the fact that the party platform agreed upon by the unanimous congress at Gotha in 1875 has so excellently stood the test in the conflict of the last fifteen years, especially under the anti-socialist legislation, but notwithstanding which, as formulated by the early party congress, is no longer in all points equal to the demands of the times, the convention resolves that: The board of directors of the party be instructed to submit at the next convention a draft of a revision of the party platform and to make this draft public at least three months before the meeting of the next convention, in order that the party have sufficient time for examination."
I shall not again refer to the debate at Halle. The review which I gave of the old programme in my exposition of it in former years found no opposition; it was proven by universal agreement, however, that the old platform, which was a compromise platform, must be replaced by a new and better one. An old platform could not be plucked to pieces and criticised and the foundation of the new one laid in a more thorough manner than has happened to this in the last year and especially in the last three and a half months since the
