"What is necessary now is effort: systematic, slow, serious, obstinate, creative effort, with illegal organization and literature for preparing a revolutionary movement of the masses against their governments. It is not true that the French working class is incapable of carrying on systematic illegal action. It is false! The French have quickly accustomed themselves to the trenches; they will soon adapt themselves to the new conditions of illegal action and of preparation for a revolutionary movement of the masses.' The principal associate of Lenin in Switzerland during this period of incubation and propaganda was a naturalized GermanSwiss, Fritz Platten, who is said to be a Saxon Jew. He was secretary of the Swiss Social Democratic Party and had charge of the issuing of Bolshevik propagandist books and pamphlets in Switzerland and foreign countries. He and Lenin issued in Geneva a paper in Russian called the "Social-Demokrat." In the October, 1914, number (33) of this paper Lenin makes perfectly clear the attitude on the war which he would take. He was willing to turn his own country, Russia, over to German control for the sake of securing the defeat of the Czar. He says:

"In the present state of affairs it is impossible, from the point of view of the International proletariat, to say what would be the least evil to Socialism-the defeat of the Germans and Austrians, or the defeat of the Franco-RussianEnglish alliance. For us Russian Social Democrats there is no doubt that, from the point of view of the working classes and the oppressed masses of all the Russian peoples, the least evil would be the defeat of the Czarist monarchy." Except in industrial centers, like Basel and Zürich, the extreme Socialist Party has a relatively small following in Switzerland. It has practically no adherents in the mountainous districts. During the recent elections the Socialists gained a number of seats through a change in the electoral laws. For a long time it was thought that the extreme Socialist section would obtain control of the party and follow the dictates of the Executive Committee which pledged the party to join the Third (Moscow) International. The party was canvassed in detail on this question for about two months and then a referendum vote was taken, and to the general surprise there was a large majority against joining the Third International. There had been some scandal

in connection with the alleged bribing of the Swiss Socialist Grimm by Germany through Hoffman, and this probably had some influence.

During 1919 Switzerland was obliged to take a firm stand in the matter of being used as a center for Bolshevik propaganda in its world-wide campaign. In May there had arrived in Berne from Russia about a dozen emissaries to establish a regular legation under the direction of a Lettish Bolshevik, Jean Berzine. He established a bureau for propaganda which was taken charge of and developed the next month in Berne by a new Bolshevik agent named Lipnitski. A number of Swiss papers, specially German-Swiss, were flooded with propaganda news, telegrams, advertisements, all calculated both to forward the cause of the Soviet government and to undermine all other existing governments. The work included the establishment of a printing and publishing house for the circulating and exploiting of propaganda literature, especially under the direction of Platten. This developed, with the assistance of Herzog and other followers of Lenin among Swiss Socialists, to turn all economic discontent into revolutionary aspirations.

The Swiss government found that it was harboring a regular conspiracy against itself as well as against neighboring governments. It felt obliged, therefore, to expel the entire Bolshevik delegates from the country early in November, 1918, just before the Armistice.

CHAPTER IX

Socialism and Labor in Spain

The Federation of Employers in Catalonia started a lockout on November 3, 1919, on account of the exorbitant demands of labor, and in order to prevent a general strike. This lockout continued for nearly three months, ending in January. It showed that though the Socialists in Spain had gained, they were neither as practical nor as well organized as the Syndicalists, and also showed that the two groups were not in harmonious relations. The Syndicalists' Congress, in December, passed a resolution against the amalgamation of the Syndicalist organization, "Confederacion Natcional del travajo," with the Socialist organization "Union General De Trabajadores," but in favor of the absorption of the latter by the former.

The resolution also decreed that a manifesto be addressed to all the workmen in Spain, giving them three months in which to join the Syndicalist Confederacion, and should they fail to do so, they would be classed as blacklegs. (See the "Epoca” of Madrid, in "Political Review" of January 9, 1920.)

The main Barcelona strike was complicated by contemporaneous strikes through a great part of Spain, in a great variety of fields. Terrorism and bomb explosions ruled Barcelona for a time, but public service was not seriously interrupted. Strikes occurred in Madrid, Valencia, Vigo, in the mines of Almaden, and so forth.

As indications of Bolshevist propaganda in Spain, the "Figaro of Madrid publishes a letter from the Bolshevist Committee at Basle, dated October 4, 1919, making arrangements for supplying funds for Bolshevist work in western Europe. It further states that two German Bolshevist agents, Brockmann and Albrecht, well provided with funds, reached Portugal, and commenced operations in the Balkans, but were detected by the police, and passed into Spain. They approached the People's Institute (Socialist headquarters) in Madrid, but were repulsed. However, they found supporters amongst certain Spaniards, who acted as German agents during the war. ("Epoca," 18, of Madrid, in "Political Review," February 13, 1920.) The elections that have just taken place show that the Spaniards are gravitating to the two extremes. The revolutionary camp of the Syndicalists on the one hand, who practically kept out of the voting, and the

anti-revolutionary camp of reactionaries. The government openly characterized the Syndicalists as a criminal association. They seemed to have obtained the upper hand in Catalonia and northern Spain.

The Syndicalists issued a manifesto declaring that although the ultimate object of the organization was the complete overthrow of the State, as at present constituted, the abolition of the army and of frontiers, its immediate action demands the application of these principles, and although communism was its goal, it would reach out slowly and quietly. ("Sol." of Madrid, No. 31, in

"Political Review," January 16, 1920.)

The Employers' Federation refused to recognize the union of workmen, and issued a manifesto outlining the terms on which they would put back the men whom they had dismissed in the lockout.

The government, however, put an end to the lockout by ordering a resumption of work, and putting both parties in the wrong. It was a form of compulsory arbitration. Barcelona gradually

resumed its normal life during February. The fight between the Syndicalists and the Socialists, however, continued. The Socialist deputies, Saborit and Menendez, proclaimed themselves Syndicalists at a meeting in the People's Institute in Madrid. The bulk of the workmen in the industrial regions of the north are clearly Syndicalists, considering the Socialists as largely a party of theorists.

It

Until recently the Socialist Party had remained under their old leader, Pablo Iglesias, a lifelong Marxian, who was their sole representative in Parliament; but since the war, the body has changed hands. A Socialist Conference was held in the spring of 1919, in Madrid. It voted to remain attached to the Second International, and not to join the Third (Moscow) International, but it declared against any interference with Soviet Russia. sent representatives to the Berne and Luzerne Conferences of the Second International. The "Red" section, under Bonefacio. Martinez, has been constantly gaining strength, and it favors violent revolutionary tactics for the party. Such organizations as the Juventud Socialista of Madrid, and such publications as the "Red Wave" have adhered to the Left Wing.

It was the strikes of 1917 which gave Socialism its first popularity in Spain, and brought it into rather painful prominence. The General Workers' Union, and the General Confederation of

Labor in March, 1917, issued a manifesto declaring that unless the economic situation was relieved by legislation, a general strike was inevitable. Strikes were called during the summer, culminating in a railroad strike followed by a general strike. The government claimed that the object of this strike was the revolutionary overthrow of the State, and the army was used in industrial centers to break it up. In the course of the disorders several hundred workers were shot, and many of the leaders and the rank and file were arrested. Among these were Caballero, Anguiano, and Saborit, as well as the university professor, Bestiaro. These four men were nominated as candidates in December, 1917, in the municipal elections of Madrid. Although elected, their election was declared invalid by the government. They were re-elected in 1918, on the Socialist ticket, and the Cortez was forced to grant them complete amnesty. This triumph is considered to have inaugurated the real practical Socialist movement.