Page:The Social General Strike - Arnold Roller (1912).djvu/4



A new idea, a new weapon of the struggling proletariat, has pushed itself vehemently to the front, and stands to-day on the bulletin of all discussions in the Labour movement. This idea, which forces itself everywhere upon the international proletariat, is that of the "General Strike." Until of late the general belief in the success of Parliamentarism has been unshaken amongst the working men.

The events and the results of the political condition of late years, however, soon made it clear to the international proletariat that nothing could be gained in this way, and it was obliged to look around for a new fighting method. Even where Parliamentarian Socialism had developed most, and where with every election victory and numerical increase—in Germany—its powerlessness was manifested, we hear, even in the reactionary camps of the Social Democratic Party, voices calling for a new tactic.

The idea of the General Strike, which so far has largely been ridiculed, and its propagators treated with slander and insult, has to be recognised now, and is being discussed in all national and international Labour Congresses; and a member of the German Social Democratic Party, Dr. Friedeberg, propagated this idea openly in the party.

The attitude of Social Democracy towards this idea, if it is not directly hostile, is in general, however, still very ambiguous; and all resolutions passed in its party congresses in regard to it, if they have not been directly hostile towards it, after long debates about the definition of the word, called only for a political "Mass Strike" for the purpose of gaining certain single demands, but always refused to deal with the General Strike as a means and way to a social revolution.

The name "General Strike," of course, admits of misunderstandings, because it is applied to different general acts. It is often used to designate the strike of all branches in one trade; for instance, the General Strike of the miners, when helpers and hoisting engineers, etc., are all out. Then it is used as General Strike of a city, i.e., "General Strike in Florence," or a General Strike in a whole country or province, for the purpose of gaining political rights, i.e., the right to vote, as in Belgium, or in Sweden.

The profoundest conception of the General Strike, however, the one pointing to a thorough change of the present system, a social revolution of the world, an entire new reorganisation, a demolition of the entire old system of all governments—is the one existing amongst the proletarians of the Latin race (Spain and Italy). For