This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com մենամյա ՈՐՍՆԻ ա) 20837 ARTES SCIENTIA LIBRARY VERITAS OF THE UNIVERSITY MICHIGAN OF R2 TIEBOR SI -QURRISPENINSULAMAMENAM 94JBUSONG 148 276 2534 A43 1 - 4 , MY YEARS OF EXILE REMINISCENCES OF A SOCIALIST MY YEARS OF EXILE REMINISCENCES OF A SOCIALIST BY EDUARD BERNSTEIN TRANSLATED BY BERNARD MIALL NEW YORK HARCOURT , BRACE AND HOWE 1921 Morrison Soria ! AUTHOR'S PREFACE T the request of the editor of the Weisse Blätter , René Schickele , I decided , in the late autumn A of 1915 , to place on record a few reminiscences of my years of wandering and exile . These reminiscences made their first appearance in the above periodical , and now , with the kind permission of the editor , for which I take this opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks , I offer them in volume form to the reading public , with a few supplementary remarks and editorial revisions . My principal thought , in writing these chapters , as I remarked at the time of their first appearance , and repeat to - day , was to record my impressions of the peoples whose countries have given me a temporary refuge . At the same time I have also made passing allusion to the circumstances which caused me to make the acquaintance of these peoples and countries . And , further , it seemed to me not amiss to add , from time to time , and by the way , a few touches of self - portraiture . For I have made no attempt to produce a learned or instructive volume which should possess an objective value , but have only sought to give utterance to personal impressions and experiences , and , for good or ill , to tell something of the character of the writer . Reminiscences are fragments of our lives , and it is not easy to relate incidents which are closely connected with the develop ment of one's own character without reference to the latter . 5 429234 6 AUTHOR'S PREFACE These reminiscences begin with the journey which in 1878 led to my leaving my country for over twenty years . The first pages tell of a journey made by many , which was not accompanied by any events that could of them selves excite the reader's interest . My justification for speaking of it resides , I think , in the fact that the most 1 important part of this journey to the South was made in a fashion unknown to the present generation . It made a very deep impression on me , which lives in my memory even to - day , and I can only hope that I have succeeded 5 in conveying something of this impression to my reader . NOTE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION I must ask my English and American readers to remember that the chapters of this book were written and first published , as was the book itself , during the war , when the military censorship was in force and national prejudices and worse were running very high . ED . B. 1 BERLIN SCHÖNEBERG , September 1920 . CONTENTS СНАР . PAGE I. ACROSS THE ST . GOTTHARD IN 1378 9 II . IN AND ABOUT LUGANO THIRTY YEARS AGO 28 III . A BITTER WINTER IN LUGANO . 54 IV . IN ZÜRICH 69 V. LIFE AND WORK IN ZÜRICH 91 VI . SECRET CONGRESSES AND BANISHMENT FROM SWITZERLAND 124 VII . VISITS TO , AND EXILE IN , LONDON . 150 VIII . LONDON PECULIARITIES AND ENGLISH CHAR ACTERISTICS 174 IX . ENGELS ' HOUSE AND HIS “ EVENINGS " 196 X. THE SOCIALIST INTELLECTUALS IN ENGLAND 221 XI . THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE , AND THE PROLE TARIAN SOCIALIST IN ENGLAND 250 INDEX 283 7 9 MY YEARS OF EXILE CHAPTER I ACROSS THE ST . GOTTHARD IN 1878 N the late summer of 1878 Karl Höchberg - since deceased — inquired whether I should care to I accompany him on his travels as secretary on the staff of the Socialist periodical , Die Zukunft , of which he was then the publisher . It was an enticing offer for one who , like myself , had done very little travelling , and except for a visit to Vienna , in the summer of 1872 , had so far seen nothing of foreign countries . So I set aside the material considerations which might have deterred me : the danger of giving up a safe , and — in respect of my requirements — a sufficiently well - paid post in a bank in exchange for a position which would prob ably be only a temporary one ; and I accepted . Höch berg , who was compelled , owing to a chronic affection of the lungs , to seek a warmer climate , wrote to me saying that he was going in the first place to Lugano , and that he would expect me there . My knowledge of the beautiful city on the banks of the Ceresio was at that time extremely slight . But the mere sound of the word had a magical effect upon me , and I joyfully set forth , on the 12th October 1878 , on the journey which was to take me for the first time into Switzerland . But I had no foreboding that this journey was also to exile me from my native country , and the city of my birth , Berlin , for more than twenty years . 9 10 MY YEARS OF EXILE The journey to Basle occupied two nights and a day ; the day I spent in Frankfort - on - the - Main , in order to visit , at Höchberg's wish , his family and two of his friends . One of these friends — who died only recently —was well known , as a sociologist and politician , to the people's party ; this was Dr. Karl Flesch , a town councillor , a deputy to the Landtag , and a newly fledged barrister : the other was G. Schnapper - Arndt , a man of letters , whose knowledge of social politics was the fruit of a mass of valuable research work . My visit to Frankfort was made as pleasant as could be by these two gentlemen , as well as by Höchberg's family — which did not prevent my passing the second night of my journey , as well as the first , absolutely without sleep . But I slept on the third night . On the morning of the 14th October we came to Basle , and thence we proceeded by way of Olten to Lucerne . From Lucerne we had to take the boat to Flüelen , and thence we set forth by diligence over the St. Gotthard Pass , for the St. Gotthard Railway was then only in course of construction . Fortunately so , I may say , for I had to thank this circumstance for one of the most beautiful memories of my life . My first impression of Switzerland , obtained through the window of the railway carriage , and later from the deck of the steamer , was something of a disillusion . The morning was cold , wet , and misty , and the lower slopes of the Alps , through which we were then travelling , -and which since then , with their wealth of alluring and constantly changing landscapes , have become , for me , an ever - renewed source of rapturous delight , —by no means came up to the conceptions of the Swiss mountains which my imagination had painted for me . So far my eye was completely unable to form an estimate of mountain and valley , and because the apparent height of the mountains did not correspond with my anticipa ACROSS THE ST . GOTTHARD IN 1878 11 tions , the beauties of their wooded slopes , and the charm of their surrounding plains and meadows , escaped me . Consequently the Rigi and even Pilatus fell short of my expectations , and my disillusion was of course in creased by the fact that the highest peaks of these mountains were hidden in cloud . Owing to the dullness of the day even the Lake of the Four Cantons was not seen all at once in its full beauty . But when we had left Beckenried and Gersau behind us the weather suddenly cleared , and near Brunnen , as the steamer entered the last limb of the lake — the Urner section the lake was suddenly unrolled before me , shining with the most wonderful blue , and surrounded by the ever aspiring mountains , with the mighty Uri - Rotstock and the Bristenstock in the background . So enchanting was the picture that only one thing was lacking to raise the exaltation that took possession of me to the highest conceivable degree : the sympathetic human soul beside me , to whom I could have expressed all that filled my mind and struggled for release . Although the vessel was well filled with passengers I had not made any close acquaintance among them , which was less their fault than mine , and on my part it was assuredly due less to any lack of goodwill than to a lack of social dexterity . To strike up a conversation with a fellow traveller , or for that matter with any stranger , is to me almost always a matter of insuperable difficulty . And in those days especially I belonged to that category of travellers which I am to - day in the habit of calling the passive category . I am not aware whether any one has anticipated me in making this division , but at the risk of repeating what has already been said I should like here in passing to remark that of all the many classes of travellers two in particular may be sharply distinguished : they are , the active travellers and the passive travellers . The 12 MY YEARS OF EXILE first are the true artists of travel : they know every thing worth knowing about the journey they are about to make , and they see everything that repays a glance . They find their way about everywhere and at all times , as easily as possible , and they contrive to manage their fellow - travellers as it suits their wishes or their needs .