That the Social-Democratic party of Germany was sure to obtain 
a startling success at the general election of 1890 could not be 
doubted by any one who had followed the political development of 
that country for the last decade. In 1878 the German Socialists 
were placed under rigorous coercion laws,” in virtue of which all 
their newspapers had been suppressed, their meetings stopped or 
dissolved, their organisation annihilated, their every attempt to 
re-form it punished as a “secret society”, sentences summing up to 
more than a thousand years’ imprisonment having thus been 
pronounced against members of the party. Nevertheless, they 
succeeded in smuggling into the country, and regularly distribut- 
ing every week some 10,000 copies of their organ printed abroad, 
the Sozialdemokrat, and thousands upon thousands of pamphlets; 
they succeeded in penetrating into the German Parliament (nine 
members)* and into innumerable town councils, amongst others 
that of Berlin. The growing strength of the party was evident even 
to its most embittered enemies. 

Yet such a success as they have scored on the 20th February 
must surprise even the most sanguine among themselves. Twenty- 
one seats conquered: that is to say, in twenty electoral districts they 
proved stronger than all other parties put together. Fifty-eight 
second ballots, that is to say, in 58 districts they are either the 
strongest, or the strongest but one, of all parties which have put 
forward candidates, and the fresh election will finally decide 
between the two candidates who had the greatest number, while 
neither had the absolute majority of votes. As to the total number 
of Socialist votes given, we can only make an approximate 
estimate. In 1871 they summed up not more than 102,000; in 

1877, 493,000; in 1884, 550,000; in 1887, 763,000; in 1890, they 
cannot be less than 1,250,000, and may be considerably more. The 
strength of the party has increased in three years by at least 
60-70 per cent. 

In 1887 there were but three parties with more than a million 
voters, the National Liberals, 1,678,000; the Centre or Catholic 
party, 1,516,000; and the Conservatives, 1,147,000.* This time the 
Centre will hold its own, the Conservatives have lost a good deal, 
and the National Liberals have lost enormously. Thus the Socialists 
will still be outnumbered by the Centre, but they will either fully 
come up to, or outnumber, the National Liberals as well as the 
Conservatives. 

This election establishes a complete revolution in the state of 
parties in Germany. It will indeed inaugurate a new epoch in the 
history of that country. It marks the beginning of the end of the 
Bismarck period. The situation, at the present moment, is as 
follows. 

With his rescripts on labour legislation and international labour 
conferences, young William broke loose from his mentor Bis- 
marck.” The latter thought it prudent to give his young master 
plenty of rope, and to wait quietly until William II, had got 
himself into a mess with his hobby of playing the working man’s 
friend: then would be the time for Bismarck to step in as the deus 
ex machina” This time Bismarck did not care much how the 
elections went; an unmanageable Reichstag, to be dissolved as soon 
as the young Emperor had found out his mistake, would be rather 
an advantage to Bismarck, and considerable Socialist success might 
help to prepare a good cry to go to the country with when the 
time for dissolution arrived. And the wily Chancellor, this time, 
has indeed got a Reichstag that nobody will be able to manage. 
William II, will very soon find out the impossibility, for a man in 
his position, and with the present state of mind of both the landed 
aristocracy and the middle class, of carrying out even a shadow of 
the objects alluded to in his rescripts, while the elections have 
already convinced him that the working class of Germany will take 
anything he may offer them as an instalment, but will not give up 
one jot of their principles and demands, nor relax in their 
opposition against a Government which cannot live but by gagging 
the working majority of the people. 

2 Literally: a god from a machine (by which in ancient theatre gods ap- 
peared in the air); a person or thing that comes in the nick of time to solve 
difficulty.— Ed. 

The Elections of 1890 in Germany 5 

Thus, before long there will be a conflict between Emperor and 
Parliament; the Socialists will be accused, by all rival parties, with 
being the cause of it all; the new election cry will be there, ready 
made; and then Bismarck, having given the necessary lesson to his 
lord and master, will step in and dissolve. 

But then he will find that things have changed. The Socialist 
workmen will be stronger and more determined than ever. The 
aristocracy Bismarck never could rely on; they always considered 
him as a traitor to true Conservatism, and will be ready to throw 
him overboard as soon as the Emperor chooses to drop him. The 
middle class were his mainstay, but they have lost confidence in 
him. The little family quarrel between Bismarck and the Emperor 
has come to be publicly known. It has proved that Bismarck is no 
longer all-powerful, and that the Emperor is not proof against 
dangerous crotchets. In which of the two, then, is the German 
middle class Philistine to trust? The wise man is becoming 
powerless, and the powerful man proves to be unwise. In fact, the 
confidence in the stability of the order of things established in 
1871, a confidence which, as regards the German middle class, was 
unshakeable while old William reigned, Bismarck governed, and 
Moltke was at the head of the army—that confidence is gone, and 
gone for ever. The growing load of taxation, the high price of 
living caused by ridiculous import duties on everything, food as 
well as manufactured goods, the unbearable burden of military 
service, the constant and ever-renewed fear of war, and that a war 
of European dimensions, when 4-5 millions of Germans would 
have to take up arms—all this has done its work in alienating 
from the Government the peasant, the small tradesman, the 
workman, in fact the whole nation, with the exception of the few 
who profit by the State-created monopolies. All this would be 
borne, as inevitable, so long as old William, Moltke, and Bismarck 
formed a ruling triumvirate which seemed invincible. But now old 
William is dead, Moltke is pensioned off, and Bismarck has to face 
a young Emperor whom he himself filled with an unbounded 
vanity, who is consequently considering himself a second Frederick 
the Great, and is, after all, but a conceited coxcomb, eager to 
shake off the yoke of his Chancellor, and, withal, a plaything in 
the hands of court intriguers. With such a state of things, the 
immense pressure upon the people no longer is patiently borne; 
the old faith in the stability of things is gone; resistance, which 
formerly appeared hopeless, now becomes a necessity; and thus, 
unmanageable as this Reichstag seems, maybe it will be far less so 
than the next. 

Thus Bismarck very likely is miscalculating his game. If he 
dissolve, even the spectre rouge, the anti-Socialist cry, may fail him. 
But then he has one undoubted quality: reckless energy. If it suits 
him, he may provoke riots and try what effect a little “bleeding” 
may have. But then he ought not to forget that at least one-half of 
the German Socialists have passed through the army. There they 
have learned the discipline which has enabled them so far to 
withstand all provocation to riot. But there they have also learnt 
something more. 

Written between February 21 and Reproduced from the Newcastle 
March 1, 1890 Daily Chronicle 

Chronicle, No. 9945, March 3, 1890 and, 
with minor alterations, in the Berliner 
Volksblatt, No. 81, April 6, 1890