The Red Conspiracy | Page 9

the effect that the French
Socialists are willing to continue to form a part of the Second
Internationale, provided that all those who are Socialists in name only
shall be excluded.
On May Day, 1919, the Socialists manoeuvered a general strike of all
labor in Paris for twenty-four hours. The press dispatches informed us
that the shut-down was virtually complete. Not a wheel was turning on
any of the transportation systems and taxicabs and omnibuses kept off
the streets. All restaurants and cafés were closed and guests in the
hotels went hungry if they had not supplied themselves with food
beforehand. Even the drug stores closed.
Theatres, music halls, and other resorts did not open. No newspapers
were published and periodic stoppages occurred in the postal and wire
services throughout the day. Industry on all sides was in a state of
complete inactivity, work being suspended by every class of labor.
There was considerable disorder and very many policemen and
civilians were injured.

In the elections of November, 1919, the Socialist vote increased to
1,750,000, a gain of 40 per cent over that of 1914. On the 1914 basis of
representation this would have given them 160 seats in the Chamber of
Deputies; but their representation was actually reduced from 105 to 55,
due to a new basis of representation and a new formation of districts.
The French Syndicalists, of the Labor Confederation, had 600,000
members before the war and now claim 1,500,000. They were
quiescent during the war, but their congresses of July, 1918, and
September, 1919, showed a "tendency to return to the traditional
revolutionary policy of French Syndicalism."
In Great Britain it was not until 1884, when the Social Democratic
Federation was organized by Henry M. Hyndman, that the Marxian
movement displayed any notable activity. Its progress at first was
extremely slow, but after the Independent Labor Party was formed in
1893 under the leadership of J. Keir Hardie with a view to carrying
Socialism into politics, the revolutionary doctrines spread much more
rapidly, "The Clarion" and "Labor Advocate," the two organs of the
Independent Labor Party, helping wonderfully in the work. In 1883 the
Fabian Society, an organization Socialistic in name and tendencies, was
founded by a group of middle class students. It rejected the Marxian
economies, and by means of lectures, pamphlets, and books advocated
practical measures of social reform. Among the leading English
Socialists of the more radical type have been Hyndman, Aveling,
Blatchford, Bax, Quelch, Leathan and Morris; while Shaw, Pease and
Webb were the leading members of the moderate Fabian Society.
The vast majority of English Socialists supported the government in the
World War, but the Labor Party, mostly Socialistic, during that time
engineered great strikes of the coal miners, dock workers and railroad
men. A press despatch dated London, April 21, 1919, says:
"The first gun in the long advertised campaign of Bolshevism in Britain
was fired at Sheffield, where the British Socialists' annual convention,
at its opening session passed a resolution urging the establishment of a
British soviet government.

"The resolution expresses all admiration for the workings of the soviet
system in Hungary and Bavaria. It declares war on the 'capitalist'
system in Britain, attacks the policy of the peace conference toward
Russia and favors the distribution of revolutionary propaganda in the
British army and navy."
During the summer and fall of 1919, Socialist and Bolshevist principles
continued to gain an ever-increasing and very serious hold on the
people of England and proved a serious menace to the government in
the general railway strike in October.
In Italy Socialism has been making steady progress for many years and
since the end of the World War has increased wonderfully in strength.
The party has greatly profited by the suffering and discontent due to the
war and especially by the failure of Italy to secure coveted territory
after all her sacrifices and the victory of the Allies. On April 10, 1919,
the Italian Socialists manoeuvered a very successful general strike in
Rome, but were prevented by the government forces from marching
through the streets in any considerable numbers. About the same time
disturbances were also engineered in many cities and towns of the
country, especially in Florence[3] and Milan. In the latter part of April,
1919, the Executive Committee of the Socialist party of Italy resolved
to sever its connection with the International Socialist Bureau and the
Berne Conference, in which there were many reactionary Socialists,
and to affiliate with the newly established Moscow International,
consisting of the various National groups of Socialists giving
whole-hearted support to Lenine and the Bolsheviki.
On July 21, 1919, Italian Socialists conducted a general strike against
the Russian blockade. Industrial prostration resulted in whole provinces
stopping all traffic and communication while Soviets were set up in
240 towns