Long the home of exiled revolutionists, one of the strongholds of the several of whose congresses were held in Geneva, it was not until 1888 that a Social Democrate party was founded in Switzerland. To be sure, the Griitli Verein, had existed as a political working-class organization of a democratic-radical character since 1838. In 1901 it joined with the Social Democratic party, retaining its autonomy. The vote in 1911 was 120,000. This was increased somewhat in 1914 when 18 Socialists were elected to the National Council. The extensive unemployment due to the war caused a slight falling off in membership in 1915-16. The party maintained its pacifist position through out the war and worked constantly to secure similar action by other parties.
a congress held in Barcelona, June 1870, it was claimed that 40,000 members of the ((International° from Spain were repre sented. Owing to the disruptive influence of Bakounin this movement almost completely dis appeared. The present Socialist party was founded in 1879, but was not strong enough to hold a congress until 1888. In 1891 it received 5,000 votes. This vote was regularly increased until in 1910, when a coalition was made with the Liberals, 41,000 votes were polled, and Pablo Iglesias, long the most prominent member of the party, was elected to the Cortes. He was re-elected in 1912, when a further slight increase in the vote was secured.
The propaganda of Socialism was introduced into Sweden in 1881 by August Palm. In 1889, at the first trade union con vention held in Sweden, the program of the German Social Democrats was adopted and the unions have ever since formed the back bone of the Socialist movement. The party grew steadily in membership until 1909 When, as the result of the defeat in a general strike, it fell off from 112,693 to 60,813. The growth then began again and continued until 1915 when it was about 90,000. There have been sharp divisions in the party in recent years. The more radical section wished to conduct an active campaign for a republic which the con servatives opposed. This division climaxed in a split over the attitude of the party on the war. Whether this split will continue after the war cannot now be foretold. An election in 1915 resulted in 265,000 votes for the Socialists, and the election of 87 members of Parliament. This makes the Socialist party the strongest with 86 Conservatives and 45 Liberals in opposition. A powerful young Socialist
movement which works with the radical wing is one of the features of the Swedish move ment.
Australia.— The Australian labor move ment has been characterized as ((Socialism with out phrases)) and, while many Socialists would dispute the characterization, it has a large ele ment of truth. The Labor party, which has a majority in both houses of the federal Parlia ment and in two out of six state legislative assemblies and strong representation in all the others, does not declare for the socialization of industry. Indeed it specifically announces that it does not stand for the socialization of certain industries such as the retail trade. Yet is has gone much further toward the state ownership of industry than any other party and, during the war, went to great lengths in the nationalization of certain branches of the retail trade. The total vote of the Labor party is estimated at about 2,000,000. There is a small orthodox Socialist party in every state which keeps up a sharp criticism of the com promising character of the Labor party. The latter is a direct creation of the union move ment and is controlled more by the union con gresses than by any machinery of its own. During the war the party divided on the ques tion of conscription which was endorsed by many of the leaders, including Premier Hughes, but which was defeated by .a referendum. Since most of the opponents of the Labor party were conscriptionists this would indicate that a majority of the Labor party are in favor of a more radical program. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that the radical, more orthodox Socialist wing, fought conscription successfully.
China.— The Socialist movement in China, which had existed in a rather indefinite way for several years, sprung into sudden prominence when its leader, Sun Yat Sen, was elected as the first president of the short-lived republic, the Parliament of which also contained 30 Socialists. At this time the party had a power ful press, a wide spread organization and a program based upon that of international Socialism, modified to meet Chinese conditions. But the movement was manifestly exotic, de pendent largely upon foreign educated students, and went down when the rebellion was crushed by Yuan Shi Kai. It is difficult to tell how much of the movement remains, but there is certainly a strong organization working for Socialism in China.