g 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 country, stirring up the people
against Kaiserism and the war profiteers and urging the soldiers to turn
their weapons against the imperial government itself. While Liebknecht
was defying the authorities, the naval forces mutinied at Kiel. The
Socialists then called a general strike for November 11, 1918, as a
prelude to the revolution. Scheidemann and Ebert had been supporting the
government of Prince Max of Baden, the successor of Von Hertling, as
chancellor of the empire, and had deprecated the idea of a revolution.
But when Scheidemann saw that the revolution was certainly coming and
that he and his colleagues would probably be left stranded, he joined
the movement with his powerful organization, stepped in and grasped the
power. A national council of soldiers, sailors and workmen was formed at
Berlin, but the provisional government was shaped by Scheidemann, Ebert
and others of the majority Socialists by virtue of their excellent
political machinery. The Ebert-Scheidemann government fought many a
bitter struggle with growing radicalism. Their government represented
t