MIA > Archive > Lassalle > Voices of Revolt
Written: As a speech in German, delivered October 14th, 1863.
Published in English: 1927.
Translated by: Jakob Altmeier (presumed).
Source: Voices of Revolt: Speeches of Ferdinand Lassalle. International Publishers, first edition, 1927, New York, USA. 94 pages.
Transcription and Markup: Bill Wright for marxists.org, February, 2023
Have you not heard the Volkszeitung[a] and the Berliner Reform recently disseminate with more energy than ever the rumor that I am in the service of the reaction, and can you not understand, by merely reading this wretched and awkward fabrication, how monstrous is the deception that is being practiced against you?
I shall reveal to you the reason for this deception, workers of Berlin! . . . The Progressive[b] bourgeoisie hate me and pick quarrels with me not because they fear that I am tainted with the principles of reaction, but on the contrary, because they fear that revolution will come from me! Not because I am reactionary in their eyes, but because I am revolutionary in their eyes! And as for the truth of the latter accusation — I have in the truthfulness of my soul admitted it a hundred times; whenever it was raised against me, I have admitted it in public gatherings, in my works, in my speeches, in fact, time and time again I have admitted it before the courts! . . .
. . . Once more, then, why do the Progressives not declare, as would be demanded by the truth, that they hate me and combat me as a revolutionary, because of the nature of their constitution? Why, on the contrary, do they constantly circulate among you the calumnious remark that I am in the service of the reaction?
The reason is very plain, it is as plain as it is base and outrageous!
The Progressives cannot accuse me of being a revolutionary in your presence. In your presence, as they well know, this accusation, which constitutes the true basis of their rage against me, would merely have the result of attaching the more firmly, whole masses of you, to me; and, therefore, these hypocrites turn their spear the other way and accuse me, in your presence, of serving the reaction, because they hate me as a revolutionary! . . .
Workers! You who are men, whose “yes” means “yes,” and whose “no” means “no,” what are you going to do with weathercocks of this improved type? What shall you do with men who are in favor of the Reform Act when they are in Frankfort among the Pan-Germans, and who are opposed to the Reform Act when they are in Berlin among the Prussians? What shall you do with tight-rope dancers who affect the black and yellow[c] colors in August, and the black and white[d] in October? What shall you do with men who are worse than weathercocks, since they change their direction even without encountering a blast! And yet, the situation of the German question has suffered no change on the part of the German princes since last August! They have not inaugurated the slightest new step that might be taken as a semblance of an excuse for this change of tack!
What shall you do with men who, in the most important national question, do not even know what they themselves want, and who, therefore, are all the less capable of telling you what you shall want? What use can you have for men who cannot even follow up a principle when it concerns our entire existence as a nation? What can you do with political children who — like children — love to imitate the great? With men who confuse a people’s policy with princes’ diplomacy, who aim at diplomatic acuteness and as a result — as is natural — are obliged to admit, in October, the downright stupidity of what they considered remarkably clever in August, still incurring the risk, however, of finding that in some other matter their astuteness in October was by no means superior to their folly in August?
How could you hope, workers, that you would ever be able to achieve the great interests of liberty in coöperation with such men of petty spirit, or to overcome the obstacles which can yield only to a supreme consistency of principle?
What, therefore, should prevent you from joining our ranks?
And are you, workers of Berlin, not obliged to take this step by the additional reason of our social program: the improvement of your social situation?
Which one of you, workers, could be so narrow-minded and so blind to his own interests as not to recognize the profound injustice of your class situation and the necessity of improving it?
—From An die Arbeiter Berlins (“To the Workers of Berlin”), a speech delivered in the name of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, on October 14, 1863.
[a] Volkszeitung: A political daily of democratic tendency which began appearing in Berlin, in April, 1853.
[b] Fortschrittspartei (“Progressive Party,” also called Fortschrittsmänner, “Men of Progress”): A liberal party founded in Prussia in 1861 and predominant in the Prussian Diet until 1866, when the National Liberal Party was formed from it.
[c] Black. Red and Gold: The colors proposed for the national German Flag by the Frankfort Assembly of 1848; symbolically, therefore, a liberal or progressive attitude in politics.
[d] Black, White and Red: The colors of the German national ensign since 1871; symbolically, therefore, an imperialistic and nationalistic attitude.
Last updated on 15 February 2023