The endeavors of social democracy are aimed at the practical realization of the radical theories of modern socialism and communism. According to these theories the present system of production is uneconomical, and must be rejected as an unjust exploitation of labor by capital. Labor is to be emancipated from capital; private capital is the be converted into collective capital; individual production, regulated by competition, is to be converted into systematic cooperative production; and the individual is to be absolved in society. The social democratic movement differs greatly from all humanitarian movements in that it proceeds from the assumption that the amelioration of the condition of the working classes is impossible on the basis of the present social system, and can only be attained by the social revolution spoken of. This social revolution is to be effected by the cooperation of the working classes of all states, with the simultaneous subversion of the existing constitutions. The movement has especially taken this revolutionary and international character since the foundation of the International Working Men's Association in London, in September, 1864.... It is, in fact, a question of breaking away from the legal development of civilized states, and of the complete subversion of the prevailing system of property. The organization of the proletariat, the destruction of the existing order of state and society, and the establishment of the socialistic community and the socialistic state by organized proletariat -- these are the avowed aims of social democracy. The well-organized socialistic agitation, carried on by speech and writings with passionate energy, is in accord with these ends. This agitation seeks to disseminate amongst the poor and less educated classes of the population, discontent with their lot as well as the conviction that under the present regime their condition is hopeless and to excite them as the "disinherited: to envy and hatred of the upper classes. The moral and religious convction which hold society together are shattered; reverence and piety are ridiculed; the legal notions of the masses are confused; and respect for the law is destroyed. The most odious attacks and abuse which are levelled at the German Empire and its institutions -- at royalty and the army, whose glorious history is slandered -- give the socialist agitation in this country a specifically antinational stamp; for its estranges the minds of the people from native customs and from the Fatherland. The representations which are given, both by spoken and written word, of former revolutionary desires and passions, and to dispose the masses to acts of violence.... The law of self-preservation, therefore, compels the state and society to oppose the social democratic movement with decision; and, above all, the state is bound to protect the legal system which is threatened by social democracy, and to put restraints upon socialistic agitation. True, thought cannot be repressed by external compulsion; the movements of minds can only be overcome in intellectual combat. Still, when such movements take wrong ways and threaten to become destructive, the means for their extension can and should be taken away by legal means. The socialistic agitation, as carried on for years, is a continual appeal to violence and to the passions of the masses with a view to the subversion of state and social order. The state can check such an enterprise as this, by depriving social democracy of its most important means of agitation, and by destroying its organization; and it must do this unless it is willing to surrender its existence, and unless there is to grow up amongst the population the conviction either that the state is impotent, or that the aims of social democracy are justifiable.... Social democracy has declared war against the state and society, and has proclaimed their subversion to be its aim. It has thus forsaken the ground of equal right for all, and it cannot complain if the law should only be exercised in its favor to the xtent consistent with the security and order of the state.