readily that real unity could be obtained only by the arms of Prussia and the exclusion of Austria. As early as 1859, in a brochure on the Italian War,[1] he unfolded the plan which Bismarck was to execute seven years later. Possibly at some future date unified Germany might be transformed peaceably into a national republican state, but in the meantime the domination of Prussia would be essential. This power, reactionary par excellence, was called to be the instrument for national union and for the emancipation of the working class, and that, through social royalty and state socialism.
Without attempting to give a comprehensive view of Lassalle's career,[2] it has seemed worth while to dwell at some length upon certain features of his work which were destined for a long while to influence the German Social Democrats. Particularly, his policy of combating the liberal bourgeoisie and of coquetting with the court was maintained in full vigor by Jean Baptista von Schweitzer, the president of the party from 1864 to 1872 and editor of the Socialdemokrat, the official organ of the movement. Schweitzer, like Lassalle, believed that if Bismarck could be prevailed upon to utilize the lower classes as a counterpoise to the obstreperous middle-class Progressives, the king out of the plenitude of his royal grace and benevolence might freely grant the fundamental demand of the General Association, universal suffrage in order to obtain state help for productive co-operative societies; and in this question of tactics Schweitzer went further than Lassalle in adopting a positively fawning attitude toward the Hohenzollern family and the aristocratic Prussian Minister-President. Early in January, 1865, a leading article in the Socialdemokrat indicated that the best solution of the Schleswig-Holstein problem would be the unconditional annexation of the disputed provinces to Prussia; and in a series of articles on "The Bismarck Ministry", running from January 27 to March 1, Schweitzer declared 'that the only two forces capable of dealing successfully with the question of national unification were the proletariat and the Prussian army. He spoke of
- ↑ Der Italienische Krieg und die Aufgabe Preussens: eine Stimme aus der Demokratie (pub. anonymously, 1859).
- ↑ The authoritative works on Lassalle's career are: Becker, Geschichte der Arbeiter-Agitation Ferdinand Lassalles (1874); Brandes, Ferdinand Lassalle: ein Literarisches Charakterbild (1877, Eng. trans. 1911); Dawson, German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle (1888); Bernstein, Ferdinand Lassalle as a Social Reformer (1893), and Ferdinand Lassalle und seine Bedeutung für die Arbeiter-Klasse (1904); and Harms, Ferdinand Lassalle und seine Bedeutung für die Deutsche Sozialdemokratie (1909).
