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and associations which buttress the State frombeneath. In the local community, from the smallvillage to the metropolis, we have a model of theState, most like to it yet more capable than theState of being controlled by public opinion andcollective will, because on a smaller scale.
But at the same time democracy aims toreconstruct the field of international relationscalled foreign politics. Mankind as a political unitis prepared by the economic interdependence of allnations which the English Free Traders were thefirst to discern as the great feature of a new time.Democracy aims at an international order wherepeace is organised and reconciled with equal rightsof all nations, great or small. Such an order wouldmean a world democracy. Every action in foreignpolitics ought to be judged by the question how fardoes it work for or against this great goal, which,far from being Utopian, will be reached in duetime.
In the economic field, even under the rule of thepresent day capitalistic system, the germs of socialdemocracy are to be observed. We have todistinguish three stages. First of all we have thetrades unions of employees and the federations ofemployers which, accepting the capitalistic system,fight about wages and hours, coming at the bestto some temporary agreements (Tarifvertrage ).Such a peace is an armed peace which preparesnew wars. But, seen from within, the tradesunions are cemented by the solidarity of themembers and therefore they are in this respectsupercapitalistic. In the second stage are formed