Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.

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PICTURES OF THE SOCIALISTIC FUTURE

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SOME PRESS NOTICES

“Herr Eugene Richter, the Radical member for Hagen in the German Imperial Parliament, is, as is well known, a sturdy opponent and acute critic of Socialism. He has embodied his views on the subject in a little volume freely adapted from Bebel, which has enjoyed immense popularity in Germany. It has now been skilfully translated with the sanction of the author. The volume professes to be a description of the coming socialistic revolution and its results, as described in the diary of an ardent Socialist, who gradually becomes disillusioned, and finally falls a victim to the counter revolution caused by internal anarchy and foreign invasion.”--_Times._

“Herr Richter’s work fairly states what would be the result of Socialism if men remain as they are now. It is of course open to his opponents to say that this is altogether an unwarrantable assumption, but if, and when it is made, the book must be pronounced as eminently reasonable. As a matter of fact, there could be no other end to Socialism than that which he sets forth.”--_Spectator._

“It tells the experiences of an ardent Socialist workman and his family in Berlin during the great coming revolution, and though it is not directly applicable to English conditions, English readers will find it interesting and suggestive.”--_Speaker._

“Socialists will gnash their teeth with exasperation as they read this book. Cool and almost invincible logic, and a powerful battery of stinging satire, is turned on to the Socialist in every page.”--_Daylight._

“Deserves to be read by every working man with a stiver to lose, as also by many well-meaning busybodies that rank considerably higher.”--_National Observer._

“This is a book which deserves the widest possible circulation throughout the length and breadth of the land, for it is a powerful antidote to an insidious political bane.”--_Broad Arrow._

“This will be a counter-irritant to the Bellamy remedies for Society, for it depicts the miseries of the socialistic régime and its final overthrow.”--_Sydney Morning Herald._

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & COMPANY, LTD.

PICTURES OF THE SOCIALISTIC FUTURE

(Freely adapted from Bebel)

BY
EUGENE RICHTER
MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL GERMAN PARLIAMENT

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION BY HENRY WRIGHT
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY T. MACKAY

CHEAP
EDITION

LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & COMPANY, LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE, 44 AND 45 RATHBONE PLACE
1912
_All Rights Reserved_

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FIRST EDITION, _August 1893_
SECOND EDITION, _February 1894_
CHEAP EDITION, _August 1907_, _May 1912_