phase of the question was touched, including the
means of obtaining the land from the present owners and of distributing
it among the peasants or of owning it collectively while allowing them
the right to cultivate it for their profit. On this subject, again,
Eccarius presented the views of Marx. To Bakounin, who expressed his
terror of the State, no matter of what character, Eccarius said "that
his relations with the French have doubtless communicated to him this
conception (for it appears that the French workingmen can never think of
the State without seeing a Napoleon appear, accompanied by a flock of
cannon), and he replied that the State can be reformed by the coming of
the working class into power. All great transformations have been
inaugurated by a change in the form of landed property. The allodial
system was replaced by the feudal system, the feudal system by modern
private ownership, and the social transformation to which the new state
of things tends will be inaugurated by the abolition of individual
property in land. As to compensations, that will depend on the
circumstances. If the transformation is made peacefully, the present
owners will be indemnified.... If the owners of slaves had yielded when
Lincoln was elected, they would have received a compensation for their
slaves. Their resistance led to the abolition of slavery without
compensation...."[15] The congress, after debating the question at
length, contented itself with voting the general proposition that
"society has the right to abolish private property in land and to make
land the property of the community."[16]

The last important question considered by the congress was that dealing
with trade unions. The debate aroused little interest, although
Liebknecht opened the discussion. He pointed out the great extension of
trade-union organization in England, Germany, and America, and he tried
to impress upon the congress the necessity for vastly extending this
form of solidarity. And, indeed, it seems to have been generally
admitted that trade-union organization was necessary. No practical
proposals were, however, made for actually developing such
organizations. The interesting part of the discussion came upon the
function of trade unionism in future society. The socialists were little
concerned as to what might happen to the trade unions in future society,
but Professor Hins outlined at that congress the program of the modern
syndicalists. It is, th