Our party is extending itself outward and expanding ever-more powerfully, and ever-larger masses of people are taking refuge under its banners, in the full realization that only our party guarantees the unqualified representation of the interests of the people. It is drawing one new region after another into the sphere of its political activity, and its field of operations is constantly widening. But with this enlargement of our party’s fighting terrain, the number and complexity of the tasks of our press are also increasing, along with the duties and political responsibilities of our press, especially at the present moment when on the political horizon of the autocratic empire next door to ours the thunderclouds of revolution are building and the flicker of lightning heralds the outbreak of a storm that will smash Russian absolutism to pieces, destroying the strongest bulwark of reaction in Europe. At such a moment one question presses itself forward: What task does our press have to fulfill? What is the proper way for it to serve as the leader and standard-bearer in the struggles of the day and to respond correctly to the demands that will confront it? It is especially fitting that the new editorial board, as it begins its work, should take up a serious question: What is our task? And how will we fulfill it to the extent that the available forces and resources permit?
Our tasks are primarily of two kinds—to bring new troops to our banner and to turn these new recruits into class-struggle fighters who will stand their ground in the difficult battles that await us, taking their position surely and firmly on the basis of Marx’s theory. The second task is almost harder than the first. The wretchedness and dreariness of our political situation in Germany, the leaden weight of feudal hangovers—which this new German Reich, in spite of its swiftly advancing industrialization has dragged along with it—the increasing burden of a militarist system that has been developed to the utmost and a foreign policy and naval construction policy that has imposed monstrous sacrifices in blood and money on us in exchange for worthless colonial wastelands, and in addition to that the absence of any large party advocating definite liberal-democratic principles. All these factors have produced even in bourgeois circles a general dissatisfaction with the political conditions [in Germany], and this provides a splendid field for recruitment, for our agitational campaigns to enlist new members. It is thus an actual fact, demonstrated to us not only by electoral statistics but also by the increased number of subscribers to our party press, that the breadth of our support has grown to a tremendous extent. However, this expansion of our influence does not correspond, as all sensible people will recognize, to a deepening of the theoretical level of our party. Our newly recruited supporters for the most part still carry with them strong remnants of their earlier conceptions, and the demands for their collaboration tend to monopolize them as soon as they join our ranks, so that very little time remains to them for political work on their own behalf, for going more deeply into the world of socialist concepts and ideas.
Our main task should be to try to help correct this lack of theoretical consolidation for the good of the newly recruited members, so as to make themselves a part of the Social Democratic proletariat and to be fully aware of themselves as class-struggle fighters who see the political events of the day from the proletarian class standpoint and have learned to understand them that way. The introduction to theoretical subtleties, educating the new recruits in the scientific teachings bequeathed to us by the great masters who preceded us—this can never be the primary task of a daily newspaper, which helps to lead the struggle in all areas, which must counter the positions held by every opponent of ours and must defend our own positions, and which, furthermore, must deal with new tasks that arise daily, events of the day of the most varied kind. This task [of theoretical education] properly belongs to our theoretical weekly Die Neue Zeit; however, it will be a good thing if we direct our attention toward printing editorials more frequently than has been done up to now—editorials that will not just make some passing references but will deal with various political situations and newly arising questions in their historical-economic context, explaining their significance and presenting them as examples of theory applied in practice. Special consideration should be given in this regard to the revolutionary movement in Russia.
Nevertheless, purely theoretical clarification will by no means be neglected. As soon as the new editorial board is running smoothly, the previous theoretical supplement of Vorwärts, which has seldom appeared in recent times, will again begin to appear more frequently—even if not every week.
And along with detailed critical commentaries on outstanding newly published literature in the fields of social science, history, politics, and belles lettres, we would also run short popular-science articles. Besides that, now and then [we would like] to arrange for critical commentary on particularly notable events in our party, and occasionally to offer brief critical commentary about the most important questions of principle and tactics that arise, so that our readers will obtain a definite picture—even if of course only on a restricted scale because of space limitations—of the intellectual life of our party press.
The union movement is acquiring ever-greater significance. In the immediate and direct economic conflict between capital and labor, we see more and more a mirror image of the class struggle of the proletariat as a whole. Battles involving principles of previously unsuspected dimension have developed out of the wage struggles of the past few decades. Not for the sake of winning higher wages or shorter hours alone does the goal-conscious proletariat of today, organized in unions and conscious of its purpose, come onto the field of battle. No, it is demanding recognition of the principle that the seller of labor power also must have a say in determining the price of labor power. But the employers as a class are determined to hold fast to the crude and long-outlived standpoint taken by rulers and slave-masters in bygone days, demanding that the government provide guarantees for the employers, who are also trying to make use of the legislative power [to serve their own interests]. And as economic development makes the individual capitalist more powerful, as capital organizes itself more tightly, the more it subjugates the state power to itself and manages to influence legislation more and more in its own favor, to that same extent do social struggles acquire ever-greater scope and strength, making clear to the most backward and shortsighted worker how little the union member can neglect the political movement and how little Social Democracy can neglect union organization. Thus, to demonstrate this over and over again with examples from the life of society—that will also be one of our primary tasks.
In order to make more space for the goals described above, reports about purely sensational matters should be kept to a minimum and abbreviated as much as possible.
At first, this program will be implemented bit by bit. The editorial board has been substantially altered as a result of the events of the last few weeks. Three members of the former editorial board have turned to new fields of activity, and three new people have joined the editorial team. In such cases, some time is always needed before a smoothly functioning collaboration is worked out. Besides that, the editorial board is not yet fully staffed. The necessary number of people has not yet been added to the board. But we all have the firm intention to apply our full strength to the tasks before us, and where there is firm will and determination, much can be accomplished.* But we also need the support of all the forces of intellect and spirit in our party, especially of the workers of Berlin. We count on their help.†