XII. FERDINAND LASSALLE 189 XIII. THE IDEAL OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 204 XIV. SOCIAL DEMOCRACY SINCE THE DEATH OF LASSALLE 211 XV. SOCIALISM OF THE CHAIR 235 XVI. CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM 245 INDEX 263 FRENCH AND GERMAN SOCIALISM IN MODERN TIMES. CHAPTER I. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE LABORING CLASSES. Communism and Socialism represent different and yet allied movements of theory and practice. They aim to improve the common lot of humanity, in particular that of the lower classes, in a radical manner and by the application of thoroughgoing measures. Now, when we utter the word improvement we indicate a desire to change, and consequently dissatisfaction with the state which is to be changed. This brings us at once to the common standing-ground of politico-economic reformers. They are one and all dissatisfied with the present condition of society. We have, therefore, in the first place, to examine the accusations which are brought against the social _régime_ of our time. Complaints against the methods of producing and distributing wealth are not new; complaints of such a character as we hear at present, however, have originated since the middle of the eighteenth century. Before the French Revolution, dissatisfaction with the then existing order of things had been expressed often enough, and had even led to rebellion; but the economic life of Christendom was then different from what it is now, and consequently the discontent and the proposed measures of reform were not of the same nature. While the study of the condition of the laboring classes in ancient times and the Middle Ages is highly profitable, it is not necessary to go farther back than the latter part of the eighteenth century to obtain a tolerably accurate notion of existing socialism and communism.