The Red Conspiracy | Page 6

published their "Communist Manifesto," a pamphlet that
has since been translated into almost all modern European languages
and has to this day remained the classical exposition of international
Socialism.
Karl Marx, the chief founder of the movement, was born of Jewish
parents at Treves, Germany, May 5, 1818. After studying at Jena, Bonn,
and Berlin, he became a private professor in 1841, and about a year
later assumed the editorship of the "Rhenish Gazette," a
democratic-liberal organ of Cologne, that was soon suppressed for its
radical utterances. In 1843 he moved to Paris where he became greatly
interested in the study of political economy and of early Socialistic

writings and where he subsequently made the acquaintance of
Frederick Engels, his inseparable companion and life-long friend.
Engels was born at Barmen, Rhenish Prussia, in 1820. He remained in
Germany until he had completed his military service, and then moved
to Manchester, England, where he engaged in the cotton business with
his father. In 1884, while traveling, he met Karl Marx, and was
banished with him from France in 1847, and expelled from Belgium in
1848, the very year that witnessed the appearance of the "Communist
Manifesto." Not long after this, Marx and Engels returned to Germany,
and were instrumental in fomenting a revolution in the Rhine Province
in 1849. The revolt having been suppressed in the same year, both men
sought refuge in England. Here Engels was the author of numerous
German books on Socialism and became best known by editing, after
Marx's death, the second and third volumes of the latter's works.
While in England Marx took up his abode in London where he became
the first president of the International Workingmen's Association,
whose influence was not limited to England, but extended to France,
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy,
Switzerland, Poland, and even the United States of America. The active
career of this association embraced a period of about eight years, from
1864 to 1872. Its six conventions were largely devoted to the
discussion of social and labor problems and it produced a lasting effect
upon the Socialist Movement by impressing upon it a harmonious and
world-wide character. By 1876 the International Workingmen's
Association was ruined by the quarrels that had taken place between the
more moderate faction under the leadership of Marx, and the
anarchistic element under Bakunin. It had, however, by this time
contributed wonderfully towards the spread of Socialism, for it had
taught the working classes of Europe the international nature both of
their own grievances and of capitalism.
Closely rivaling the success of the International Workingmen's
Association in furthering the cause of Socialism was a book known as
"Capital," an economic work the first volume of which was published
in 1867 by Karl Marx. The author never lived to edit the second and

third volumes, though after his death in London, March 14, 1883, they
were published from his notes by Frederick Engels. This work, to
which the Father of the Revolutionary Movement gave the German title
"Das Kapital," has long been known as the Bible of Socialism. Its
systematized philosophic and economic doctrines besides having
supplied the various national branches of the party with a common
theory and program, in the main still constitute the creed of the
immense majority of the Socialists the world over. Though "Capital"
has suffered severely from the criticism of economists of many schools,
and though not a few of its doctrines have been rejected by present-day
Socialists, its powerful influence still persists to a very marked degree.
Supplementing this short historical sketch of the origin of the modern
Socialist movement, short comments will be added concerning the
Revolutionary organization in the different countries of the world.
In Germany the Socialist movement first took shape in 1862 under the
influence of Ferdinand Lassalle. It made comparatively slow progress
until 1874 when the 450,000 Socialist voters returned ten members to
the Reichstag. An attempt on the part of the German Government to
suppress the movement failed, and henceforth the party under the
leadership of August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, George Von Vollmar, and
Wilhelm Liebknecht steadily continued to grow in strength. Shortly
before the outbreak of the World War the Socialists, besides occupying
110 seats in the Reichstag out of a total of 397, polled about 4,252,000
votes and published 158 papers, but a faction under the leadership of
Bernstein had made great progress in its endeavors to transform the
Revolutionary organization into an opportunist party.
Most of the German Socialists supported the war and the majority of
their members in the Reichstag voted for the war credits. Some,
however, like Karl Liebknecht, the son of Wilhelm Liebknecht,
opposed the imperial government and were imprisoned. Pressure,
however, finally forced the government to release Liebknecht, who
then delivered impassioned speeches throughout the