At the very height of the persecution, the journal of the party, printed in Switzerland, penetrated even into the German barracks; leaflets, similar to those which our comrade Gohier read to you, were secretly circulated in all quarters, the forbidden fruit being greedily devoured by the German workers. Never before had the propaganda been so strenuous or so fruitful.
When in 1890, after twelve years of persecution, the Emperor consulted the political barometer, he was terrified to find that instead of one million socialist votes it registered two million-and-a-half!
Then he did what you would have done in his place, Mr. Advocate-General. He repealed the "Iron Laws," and in so doing he showed to all the world that the most arbirtrary governments can do nothing against resolute men—men who are determined against all odds to propagate their ideas.
And what Bismarck could not prevent when Social Democracy was only in its infancy, do you think that the Emperor William will be able to prevent, now that there are three millions of socialist electors in Germany?
By temperament, and in order to avoid useless persecutions, the German social democrats have never shown any love for noisy demonstration of anti-patriotism, persuaded that their secret propaganda is quite as profitable to their cause as the more dangerous open propaganda. That is the reason why in our International Conventions, as well as in their own national conventions, the German socialists may at times appear somewhat timid in their attitude on anti-patriotism. But Emperor William is under no delusion on the subject. He knows to a marvel what the German workers think of him and of the German fatherland.
Moreover, a good many of our German comrades, especially among the younger ones, desire to see the social democracy take up a more combative, a more revolutionary attitude; they follow with interest, some of them with passion, our anti-patriotic propaganda in France.
