German Social Democracy. Six Lectures, with an Appendix on Social Democracy and the Woman Question in Germany, by Alys Russell.

First edition, second issue binding. 8vo (189 x 131mm). [1], xiv, 204, pp. Original navy ribbed cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt (tiny chip to spine, boards a trifle rubbed, bookplate removed from rear free endpaper, otherwise an excellent copy). London, Longmans, Green and Co.

Russell's first published book, written partly as the outcome of a visit to Berlin in 1895 with his first wife, Alys Pearsall Smith, whom he had married the previous year. Though sympathetic to the reformist aims of the German socialist movement, it included some trenchant and far-sighted criticisms of Marxist dogmas. It was written very much from the political perspective of classical liberalism, a position on which Russell would shift during his lifetime, particularly with his decision to join the Labour Party in 1915, ultimately standing as the Labour candidate for Chelsea in the 1922 and 1923 general elections.

The book is also significant for its Appendix, containing reflections by Alys Pearsall Smith on the specificity of the women's movement in Germany, highlighting the greater emphasis placed upon class consciousness in comparison to the suffrage movement in England and America.

Provenance: 1. Sir Hugo Hirst, 1st Baron Hirst (1863-1943), German-born British industrialist, with his bookplate to the front pastedown; 2. Professor Francis L Jackson, of the Department of Medical Bacteriology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with his book label to the front pastedown.

Stock Code: 228534