Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from German Socialism Ferdinand Lassalle: A Biographical History of German Socialistic Movements During This Century
Marx, Engels, and Liebknecht - spent years upon English soil, and made England a base of Operations, much to the disgust of the German authorities. The works and agitation of these men prove that their experience of England's free institutions only served to increase their dissatisfaction with the state of things prevailing at home, so that it is not too much to say that England has, innocently and indirectly, contributed very largely to the success of Socialistic! Propagandism in Germany. Now, however, the in?uence is reacting, as the study of the nomenclature of Socialists in England will plainly show.
Nowadays few subjects excite more controversy than does this of Socialism, and yet it seems still impossible to treat it in an impartial and strictly scientific spirit. Too many writers on Socialism show a disposition to use their pens as though they were broadswords rather than lancets. A great deal has been said and written in defence of Socialism and quite as much against it, but while the extremes have been followed times without number, the golden mean has far too seldom been found. It seems so natural to the average mind to regard a thing as either good or wholly bad, as either true or quite false, as either meriting full acceptance or complete rejection. This dogmatic spirit inevitably does great harm, and not the least serious result is that public judgment is warped and weighty questions do not receive the attention which they deserve. Yet another reason, how ever, why Socialism has not had justice done to it is the confusion of ideas that prevails on the subject. Nor is this confusion confined to the least informed part of the community. The fact that a leading London journal could a short time ago insist that Socialism under whatever guise it presents itself must be crushed with a heavy hand, proves that very curious notions exist even in educated circles. It may, indeed, be allowed that it is not altogether possible to draw a clear dividing-line between conventional and Socialistic economic principles. Social systems may be said to grow into one another as do barbarism and civilisation, and, moreover, it is nearly always easier to say what a thing is not than what it is Dr. Johnson recog nised this when asked to define poetry.
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