Miserable as the bourgeoisie appears in the political realm, it cannot be denied that as far as industry and commerce are concerned, the bourgeoisie fulfils its historic duty.The growth of industry and commerce mentioned already in the introduction to the second edition has been going on with even greater vigour.What has taken place in the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial region since 1869, is unprecedented for Germany, and it reminds one of the rapid growth in the English manufacturing districts at the beginning of this century.The same thing will happen in Saxony and Upper Silesia, in Berlin, Hanover, and the southern States.At last we have world trade, a really big industry, and a really modern bourgeoisie.But we have also had a real crisis, and we have a truly mighty proletariat.For the future historian of Germany, the battle roar of 1859-64 on the field of Spicheren, Mars la Tour, Sedan, and the rest, will be of much less importance than the unpretentious, quiet, and constantly forward-moving development of the German proletariat.Immediately after 1870, the German workers stood before a grave trial -- the Bonapartist war provocation and its natural sequence, the general national enthusiasm in Germany.The German workers did not allow themselves to be illusioned for a moment.Not a trace of national chauvinism made itself manifest among them.In the niidst of a mania for victory, they remained cool, demanding "equitable peace with the French Republic and no annexations," and not even the state of siege was in a position to silence them.No glory of battle, no phraseology of German "imperial magnificence" attracted them.Their sole aim remained the liberation of the entire European proletariat.We may say with full assurance that in no country have the workers stood such a difficult test with such splendid results.
The state of siege of wartime was followed by trials for treason, lèse majesté , and contempt of officers and by ever increasing police atrocities practised in peace time.The Volksstaat had three or four editors in prison simultaneously; the other papers, in the same ratio.Every known party speaker had to face court at least once a year, and was usually convicted.Deportations, confiscations, suppressions of meetings rapidly followed one another, but all to no avail.The place of every prisoner or deportee was immediately filled by another.For one suppressed gathering, two others were substituted, wearing out arbitrary police power in one locality after the other by endurance and strict conformity to the law.Persecution defeated its own purpose.Far from breaking the workers' party or even bending it, it attracted ever new recruits, and strengthened the organisation.In their struggle against the authorities and the individual bourgeois, the workers manifested an intellectual and moral superiority.Particularly in their conflicts with the employers of labour did they show that they, the workers, were now the educated class, while the capitalists were dupes.In their fights, a sense of humour prevailed, showing how sure they were of their cause, and how superior they felt.
A struggle thus conducted on historically prepared soil must yield great results.The success of the January (1874) elections stood out, unique in the history of the modern labour movement, and the astonishment aroused by them throughout Europe was perfectly deserved.
