Open-air concerts are continually being given in the various public
squares of Berlin. The new Chancellor is going the right way to work to
make himself popular. In all the theatres there are two performances
on week-days, and three on Sundays, and these are all gratis. As a
matter of course, the theatres which our busy, industrious Community
inherited from the bourgeoisie have proved very inadequate in point of
number and size. It has hence been found necessary to supplement them
by the addition of various other large buildings. Amongst others, many
of the churches are now appropriated to this purpose. As regards the
latter, there are still to be found persons here and there who show
some scruples, and who somehow do not seem to be able to cut themselves
loose from old and deep-rooted superstitions. But it is perfectly clear
that the churches have become common property; and it is equally clear,
from the provisions of the law framed at the Erfurt Conference of
October, 1891, and subsequently adopted, that no common property can
be devoted to ecclesiastical or religious purposes.
Naturally, no other plays are given at the theatres than such as
represent the glories of the new order, and which keep the sordidness
of past capitalists and plunderers in lively remembrance. For any
considerable length of time there is, it must be confessed, an element
of monotony in this. But, anyhow, it shows up the rightness of our
principles, and this is sometimes very necessary.
At first, everyone was at liberty to go to any theatre, just wherever
and however he liked. But this senseless competition is now superceded
by a well-devised organisation of the people’s diversions. It was found
that the representations of classic, socialistic plays were made to
rows of empty seats, whereas in places where special artistes were
engaged, the spectators were packed like sardines. They used to fight
almost for the best places. Now all that is different, and the Town
Council distributes in rotation to the various theatrical managers the
pieces to be represented. The several managers dispose of the seats by
lottery to such spectators as have been apportioned to them for that
particular evening and play, thus following the plan introduced in 1889
at the socialistic Popular Free Theatre.
There is a saying, “Good luck in love, bad luck at play.” And we have
experienced the truth of this. As luck would have it, my wife and
I have lately, on three successive occasions, got such bad places
assigned to us through this lottery system that she could hear nothing,
and I found it just as impossible to see anything. She is a little hard
of hearing, and I am very short-sighted. Neither of these qualities is
in perfect harmony with the idea of social equality as illustrated by
the theatre.
Dancing is another of the diversions which are arranged every evening
by the city authorities. The entrance is on the same principle as in
the case of the theatres, and young and old are all equally entitled
to appear. The reform of the etiquette of dancing seemed, at first,
to present some few difficulties from a socialistic point of view.
This reform has, however, been carried out, and the equality of the
ladies is now thereby asserted that the choice of partners made by the
ladies alternates regularly with the choice made by the gentlemen.
Bebel says, indeed, that women have just the same right to seek that
men have to seek them. But the attempt to apply this principle to
dancing, by leaving it optional to each sex, in every single dance, to
solicit partners, had soon to be abandoned, as it was found that the
order of the dances was in danger of becoming involved in inextricable
entanglement.
Various interesting letters have appeared in the _Onward_, which
discuss, in a very exhaustive and subtle manner, the question whether,
in a socialised community, in the dance, such a thing is conceivable as
a “right” on the part of certain women to men; or _vice versâ_, a right
on the part of men to women? The equal obligation all round to labour,
as one lady points out in the _Onward_, clearly entitles all alike to
enjoy the same recompense. One part of this recompense is found in
joining in those dances which have been organised by the State. No lady
could find any pleasure in the dance without a partner of the other
sex, whilst it is even more apparent that no gentleman would dance
without a lady.
On the part of this lady, the practical solution of the difficulty
was suggested in the _Onward_, that for the future all partners at
dancing, irrespective of age, beauty, ugliness, and everything else, be
chosen by drawing lots. She contends that precisely as in a socialised
community there are no persons without work, and without shelter, so in
the same way there must never be any ladies at a dance without their
proper partners.
But a professor of Modern Natural Law has sent a letter to the paper
expressing the fear that, in process of time, this method of organising
the selection of partners in the dance might have unforeseen results
of an unpleasant kind. He fears it might in time lead to a demand for
the recognition of a right of marriage, to a demand that the State take
the regulation of marriage into its own hands, by a gigantic universal
raffle of men and women. He is strongly of opinion that, precisely
as a marriage-tie is a strictly private contract, made without the
intervention of any functionary whatever, so in the same way must a
temporary union between a lady and a gentleman in the dance preserve
the character of a private contract; and he deprecates the idea of any
master of the ceremonies meddling, either by lottery or in any other
way, with such engagements.
As a matter of fact though, I understand that a large number of ladies
take the view that a consistent social equality demands the abolition
of the differences between married and unmarried. These ladies have
lately joined the party of the Younkers, although in reality they
themselves are for the most part of a somewhat ripe age. Anyhow, the
extension of the right of voting to women may materially tend to add
strength to the Opposition at the approaching election.
Preparations are now being made for a speedy general election. The
vast number of calls which the preliminary arrangements for the new
socialistic State made upon the time and attention of the Government
did not admit of the elections taking place at an earlier date. The
right to vote is possessed by all persons of both sexes who have passed
their twentieth year. The system of election decided upon is the
so-called system of proportional election, which was adopted by the
Erfurt Conference in October, 1891. According to this system, large
electoral divisions, with several candidates, are constituted, and each
political party returns to Parliament a number of representatives in
proportion to the votes recorded for that particular party.