Social milieu, political control and the grass roots of social democracy

The scale of the expansion of the socialist working-class movement is the more remarkable as it proceeded in spite of widespread antagonism and continuous harassment of its activities. During the period of the German empire to be a Social Democrat was to be regarded both as dangerous and amoral. Otto von Bismarck’s anti-socialist policy had originated in considerations of raison d’etat but a genuine fear of unrest and violent revolution arose with the growing strength of Social Democracy. Disregarding the large number of surviving craft enterprises, even within factory-dominated production there was a tendency to continue mores and forms of social organisation carried over from a more petty-bourgeois type of social milieu. In Bremen the Social Democratic organisation consisted of twelve districts, some of which were outside the area of the State of Bremen although they formed part of the constituency.