f Lassalle, on terms to which Marx
himself violently objected, none the less the leadership of the party
fell to those who accepted the teaching of Marx, and on that basis by
far the greatest Socialist Party of the world has been built up.
Nowhere else did the ideas of Marx hold such unquestioned supremacy:
nowhere else had they such a body of loyal adherents, such a host of
teachers and interpreters. Only on the question of agricultural land in
the freer political atmosphere of South Germany was there even a breath
of dissent. The revolt came from England in the person of Edward
Bernstein, who, exiled by Bismarck, took refuge in London, and was for
years intimately acquainted with the Fabian Society and its leaders.
Soon after his return to Germany he published in 1899 a volume
criticising Marxism,[45] and thence grew up the Revisionist movement for
free thought in Socialism which has attracted all the younger men, and
before the war had virtually, if not actually, obtained control over the
Social Democratic Party.

In England, and in Germany through Bernstein, I think the Fabian Society
may claim to have led the revolt. Elsewhere the revolt has come rather
in deeds than in words. In France, in Italy, and in Belgium and in other
European countries, a Socialist Party has grown up which amid greater
political opportunities has had to face the actual problems of modern
politics. These could not be solved by quotations from a German
philosopher, and liberty has been gained by force of circumstances.
Nevertheless in many countries, such as Russia and the United States,
even now, or at any rate until very recent years, the freedom of action
of Socialist parties has been impeded by excessive respect for the
opinions of the Founder, and Socialist thought has been sterilised,
because it was assumed that Marx had completed the philosophy of
Socialism, and the business of Socialists was not to think for
themselves, but merely to work for the realisation of his ideas.

* * * * *

But mere freedom was not enough. Something must be put in the place of
Marx. His English followers did not notice that he had indicated no
method, and devised no political machinery for the transition; or if
they noticed it they passed over the omission as a negligible detail. If
German Socialism would not suit, English Socialism had to be formulated
to take its place. This has been the life-work of the Fabian Society,
th