"Consequently, when war breaks out, there will be insurrectional communes in France on the day of mobilization, whereas in Germany, where it had been impossible to carry on the same propaganda, the workers will march, like one man, behind the emperor; with the result that France, just because she has a little more liberty than Germany, will be invaded, crushed, and dismembered."
And you trembled, in your patriotic hearts!
Reassure yourselves, gentlemen of the jury.
The Advocate-General, once again, is badly informed on the state of things abroad.
There is no propaganda, however subversive it may be, which the German government can prevent by repressive measures.
And of that I will give you a palpable proof.
THE "IRON BISMARCK'S" FAILURE
In 1878 there was at the head of the German government a man who was not without some reputation for strength. I have only to name-him, for you to admit that at once. His name was—Bismarck.
Alarmed at the progress of Social Democracy, which at the election of 1877 had received a million votes, he resolved to employ strong measures to stem the movement.
He forged against social democracy the most terrible laws—laws similar to those which in a moment of panic were forged in this country against the anarchists. They called them over there the "Iron Laws."
All the German socialist groups were obliged to disappear; the journals of the party ceased publication; it was forbidden under severe penalties to write in a journal or to pronounce on a public platform a word about socialism. Infractions of these laws were brought before the correctional courts, acting under administrative rule, which were simply machines for distributing years of imprisonment. Hundreds of active socialists were struck down: thousands of years of imprisonment were distributed; and with what result, gentlemen of the jury?
