the franchise to include women and those without property – as has already been mentioned, in the 19th century it was almost always assumed by both proponents and foes that socialism meant greater democracy. The divisions on the Left were less about democracy than about the speed and scope of the necessary changes, and about whether tactics should involve direct action by popular movements or be restricted to elected representatives of the working-class movement fighting for reform in parliaments. While there were many who were critical of the parliamentary path (believing, not unreasonably, that electoral victory gave one the right but not necessarily the power to govern), the bloody defeats endured by revolutionaries gave the parliamentary argument a growing credence. Initially, those committed to the electoral arena claimed an almost slavish devotion to Marxist orthodoxy – Germany’s Socialist Party theoretician Karl Kautsky was a classic example. But gradually there was a slippage as the give-and-take of parliamentary maneuvering and the difficulty of enacting reform in the face of bureaucratic and often military resistance led to a narrowing of political aims.
For the great social democratic parties of Europe (most prominently the German, French and British), World War One proved a watershed. Here was exactly the kind of conflict (a capitalist war fueled by nationalist posturing and the fight for markets and imperial influence) that socialism claimed to oppose. Yet party after party rallied around the flag, supporting a war that resulted in millions of young working-class soldiers dying or being maimed in the mud of the trenches. It was a shocking betrayal of the most fundamental socialist principles. The Bolsheviks in Russia, despite their increasing authoritarian tendencies, gained respect from socialists throughout Europe for their unflinching anti-war stand. Voting for the credits to fund the war became a kind of litmus test that shook up the world of socialists, provoking splits and resignations in many national parties. Anti-war activist James Ramsay Macdonald quit as head of the British Labour Party while the anti-war French socialist leader Jean Jaures was assassinated in 1914 by a militant French nationalist. The remaining leaders of the French socialists, including such previously uncompromising militants as Jules Guesde, were enlisted into the war effort.
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