Basic Issues of the Social Question
GA 23
Preliminary Remarks Concerning the Purpose of this Book
[ 1 ] The contemporary social situation poses grave and comprehensive challenges. The demands which have arisen for new structures indicate that the solutions to these challenges must be sought in ways which have not been previously considered. Conditions being what they are, the time has perhaps come when attention will be paid to one whose experience in life obliges him to contend that thoughtlessness concerning the ways which have become necessary has resulted in social chaos. The arguments presented in this book are based on this opinion. They deal with the prerequisites for transforming the demands of a large part of contemporary humanity into purposeful social will. The formation of this will should not depend on whether the demands please some of us or not. They exist, and must be dealt with as social facts. This should be kept in mind by those whose position in life causes them to find distasteful the author's description of proletarian demands as something which must be reconciled by social will. The author wishes to speak only in accordance with the realities of contemporary life, insofar as his experience enables him to do so. He has seen the inevitable consequences of ignoring the facts which have unfolded in the life of modern man and of being blind to the necessity of a social will to deal with them.
[ 2 ] Self-styled experts in practical matters (what have come to be regarded as practical matters under the influence of routine) will, at first, be dissatisfied with the arguments presented in this book. But it is just such persons as these who should undergo a relearning process, for their ‘expertise’ has been proven by recent events to be absolutely erroneous and has led to disastrous consequences. They must learn to recognize many things as practical which have seemed to them to be eccentric idealism. They may be critical of the fact that the early parts of the book deal more with the spiritual life of modern mankind than with economics. The author is obliged however, from his personal knowledge of life, to take the position that the errors of the past will only multiply if the decision is not made to focus attention on modern mankind's spiritual life. Equally dissatisfied with what the author says in this book will be those who are continuously intoning clichés about mankind abandoning purely materialistic interests and turning to ‘the spirit’, to ‘idealism’, for he attaches little importance to the mere reference to ‘the spirit’ and talk about a nebulous spiritual world. He can only recognize a spirituality which constitutes the life substance of humanity. This manifests itself in the mastery of practical aspects as well as in the formulation of a conception of the world and of life which is capable of satisfying the needs of the soul. It is not a matter of knowing—or believing to know—about spirituality, but that it be a spirituality which is also applicable to the practical realities of everyday life, one which accompanies these everyday realities and is not a mere sideline reserved for the inner life of the soul. To the ‘spiritualists’ the arguments presented in this book will be too unspiritual, while to the ‘practical’ ones they will seem unrealistic. The author is of the opinion, however, that he may be useful to contemporary society in his way just because he does not share the impracticality of those persons who consider themselves to be practical, nor can he find any justification for the kind of talk about the ‘spirit’ that results in illusions.
[ 3 ] The ‘social question’ is spoken of in this book as an economic, a legal rights and a spiritual question. The author is convinced that the true nature of this question reveals itself in the requirements of the economic, rights and spiritual-cultural areas of society. The impulse for a healthy coordination of these three areas within the social organism can emerge from a recognition of this fact. During previous periods of human evolution social instincts saw to it that the three areas were integrated in society in a way which corresponded to human nature as it was then. At the present however, it is necessary for mankind to structure society by means of purposeful social will. Between those past epochs and the present there is a confusion of old instincts and modern consciousness which is no longer competent to deal with the demands of modern mankind, at least as far as those countries are concerned in which such a will is meaningful. Often the old instincts persist in what passes today for purposeful social thinking. This weakens thinking in relation to the tasks it must face. A more profound effort than has been hitherto supposed must be made by the men and women of the present in order to work their way free of what is no longer viable. How the economic, rights and spiritual areas are to be structured in a way which corresponds to the demands of modern society can, in the author's opinion, only be determined if sufficient good will is developed to recognize this fact. What the author believes is necessary concerning the shape such structures should take is submitted to contemporary judgement by means of this book. The author's wish is to provide a stimulus along a way which leads to social objectives that correspond to contemporary realities and necessities. For he believes that only such efforts can transcend emotionality and utopianism where social will is concerned.
If, in spite of this, some readers find elements of this book utopian, then the author would suggest they consider how often ideas concerning possible social developments are so completely divorced from reality that they degenerate into nonsense. For this reason, one is inclined to find utopias even in arguments which derive from reality and direct experience, as has been attempted in this book. One sees an argument as ‘abstract’ because only the habitual is ‘concrete’, and the concrete is abstract if it does not coincide with the habitual manner of thinking.1The author has purposely avoided confining himself to the customary political economic terminology. He knows exactly which are the passages a ‘specialist’ opinion will call amateurish. His form of expression was determined not only by his desire to address himself also to people who are not familiar with political and social scientific literature, but primarily because of his view that a new age will judge most of what is specialized in this literature, including its terminology, to be one-sided and inadequate. The author would remind those who feel that he should have referred to seemingly similar social ideas of others, that the points of departure and the ways described here, for which the author can thank decades of experience, are the essential points towards a practical realization of the given impulses, and not merely Chapter Four, the author had already committed himself to an attempt at practical realization when seemingly similar ideas in respect to one point or another had not yet been noticed.
[ 4 ] The author knows that strict followers of party programs will at first be unhappy with this book. Nevertheless, he is confident that many political party people will soon come to the conclusion that events have already far outstripped party programs and that a determination, independent of such programs, concerning the immediate objectives of social will is, above all, necessary.
April 1919
Rudolf Steiner
Vorbemerkungen über die Absicht dieser Schrift
[ 1 ] Das soziale Leben der Gegenwart stellt ernste, umfassende Aufgaben. Forderungen nach Neueinrichtungen in diesem Leben treten auf und zeigen, daß zur Lösung dieser Aufgaben Wege gesucht werden müssen, an die bisher nicht gedacht worden ist. Durch die Tatsachen der Gegenwart unterstützt, findet vielleicht heute schon derjenige Gehör, der, aus den Erfahrungen des Lebens heraus, sich zu der Meinung bekennen muß, daß dieses Nichtdenken an notwendig gewordene Wege in die soziale Verwirrung hineingetrieben hat. Auf der Grundlage einer solchen Meinung stehen die Ausführungen dieser Schrift. Sie möchten von dem sprechen, was geschehen sollte, um die Forderungen, die von einem großen Teile der Menschheit gegenwärtig gestellt werden, auf den Weg eines zielbewußten sozialen Wollens zu bringen. - Ob dem einen oder dem andern diese Forderungen gefallen oder nicht gefallen, davon sollte bei der Bildung eines solchen Wollens wenig abhängen. Sie sind da, und man muß mit ihnen als mit Tatsachen des sozialen Lebens rechnen. Das mögen diejenigen bedenken, die, aus ihrer persönlichen Lebenslage heraus, etwa finden, daß der Verfasser dieser Schrift in seiner Darstellung von den proletarischen Forderungen in einer Art spricht, die ihnen nicht gefällt, weil sie, nach ihrer Ansicht, zu einseitig auf diese Forderungen als auf etwas hinweist, mit dem das soziale Wollen rechnen muß. Der Verfasser aber möchte aus der vollen Wirklichkeit des gegenwärtigen Lebens heraus sprechen, soweit ihm dieses nach seiner Erkenntnis dieses Lebens möglich ist. Ihm stehen die verhängnisvollen Folgen vor Augen, die entstehen müssen, wenn man Tatsachen, die nun einmal aus dem Leben der neueren Menschheit sich erhoben haben, nicht sehen will; wenn man von einem sozialen Wollen nichts wissen will, das mit diesen Tatsachen rechnet.
[ 2 ] Wenig befriedigt von den Ausführungen des Verfassers werden auch zunächst Persönlichkeiten sein, die sich in der Weise als Lebenspraktiker ansehen, wie man unter dem Einflusse mancher liebgewordener Gewohnheiten die Vorstellung der Lebenspraxis heute nimmt. Sie werden finden, daß in dieser Schrift kein Lebenspraktiker spricht. Von diesen Persönlichkeiten glaubt der Verfasser, daß gerade sie werden gründlich umlernen müssen. Denn ihm erscheint ihre «Lebenspraxis» als dasjenige, was durch die Tatsachen, welche die Menschheit der Gegenwart hat erleben müssen, unbedingt als ein Irrtum erwiesen ist. Als derjenige Irrtum, der in unbegrenztem Umfange zu Verhängnissen geführt hat. Sie werden einsehen müssen, daß es notwendig ist, manches als praktisch anzuerkennen, das ihnen als verbohrter Idealismus erschienen ist. Mögen sie meinen, der Ausgangspunkt dieser Schrift sei deshalb verfehlt, weil in deren ersten Teilen weniger von dem Wirtschafts- und mehr von dem Geistesleben der neueren Menschheit gesprochen ist. Der Verfasser muß aus seiner Lebenserkenntnis heraus meinen, daß zu den begangenen Fehlern ungezählte weitere werden hinzugemacht werden, wenn man sich nicht entschließt, auf das Geistesleben der neueren Menschheit die sachgemäße Aufmerksamkeit zu wenden. - Auch diejenigen, welche in den verschiedensten Formen nur immer die Phrasen hervorbringen, die Menschheit müsse aus der Hingabe an rein materielle Interessen herauskommen und sich «zum Geiste», «zum Idealismus» wenden, werden an dem, was der Verfasser in dieser Schrift sagt, kein rechtes Gefallen finden. Denn er hält nicht viel von dem bloßen Hinweis auf «den Geist», von dem Reden über eine nebelhafte Geisteswelt. Er kann nur die Geistigkeit anerkennen, die der eigene Lebensinhalt des Menschen wird. Dieser erweist sich in der Bewältigung der praktischen Lebensaufgaben ebenso wirksam wie in der Bildung einer Welt- und Lebensanschauung, welche die seelischen Bedürfnisse befriedigt. Es kommt nicht darauf an, daß man von einer Geistigkeit weiß oder zu wissen glaubt, sondern darauf, daß dies eine Geistigkeit ist, die auch beim Erfassen der praktischen Lebenswirklichkeit zutage tritt. Eine solche begleitet diese Lebenswirklichkeit nicht als eine bloß für das innere Seelenwesen reservierte Nebenströmung. - So werden die Ausführungen dieser Schrift den «Geistigen» wohl zu ungeistig, den «Praktikern» zu lebensfremd erscheinen. Der Verfasser hat die Ansicht, daß er gerade deshalb dem Leben der Gegenwart werde in seiner Art dienen können, weil er der Lebensfremdheit manches Menschen, der sich heute für einen «Praktiker» hält, nicht zuneigt, und weil er auch demjenigen Reden vom «Geiste», das aus Worten Lebensillusionen schafft, keine Berechtigung zusprechen kann.
[ 3 ] Als eine Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Geistesfrage wird die «soziale Frage» in den Ausführungen dieser Schrift besprochen. Der Verfasser glaubt zu erkennen, wie aus den Forderungen des Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Geisteslebens die «wahre Gestalt» dieser Frage sich ergibt. Nur aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus können aber die Impulse kommen für eine gesunde Ausgestaltung dieser drei Lebensgebiete innerhalb der sozialen Ordnung. - In älteren Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung sorgten die sozialen Instinkte dafür, daß diese drei Gebiete in einer der Menschennatur damals entsprechenden Art sich im sozialen Gesamtleben gliederten. In der Gegenwart dieser Entwickelung steht man vor der Notwendigkeit, diese Gliederung durch zielbewußtes soziales Wollen zu erstreben. Zwischen jenen ältern Zeiten und der Gegenwart liegt für die Länder, die für ein solches Wollen zunächst in Betracht kommen, ein Durcheinanderwirken der alten Instinkte und der neueren Bewußtheit vor, das den Anforderungen der gegenwärtigen Menschheit nicht mehr gewachsen ist. In manchem, das man heute für zielbewußtes soziales Denken hält, leben aber noch die alten Instinkte fort. Das macht dieses Denken schwach gegenüber den fordernden Tatsachen. Gründlicher, als mancher sich vorstellt, muß der Mensch der Gegenwart sich aus dem herausarbeiten, das nicht mehr lebensfähig ist. Wie Wirtschafts-, Rechts- und Geistesleben im Sinne des von der neueren Zeit selbst geforderten gesunden sozialen Lebens sich gestalten sollen, das - so meint der Verfasser -kann sich nur dem ergeben, der den guten Willen entwickelt, das eben Ausgesprochene gelten zu lassen. Was der Verfasser glaubt, über eine solche notwendige Gestaltung sagen zu müssen, das möchte er dem Urteile der Gegenwart mit diesem Buche unterbreiten. Eine Anregung zu einem Wege nach sozialen Zielen, die der gegenwärtigen Lebenswirklichkeit und Lebensnotwendigkeit entsprechen, möchte der Verfasser geben. Denn er meint, daß nur ein solches Streben über Schwarmgeisterei und Utopismus auf dem Gebiete des sozialen Wollens hinausführen kann. Wer doch etwas Utopistisches in dieser Schrift findet, den möchte der Verfasser bitten, zu bedenken, wie stark man sich gegenwärtig mit manchen Vorstellungen, die man sich über eine mögliche Entwickelung der sozialen Verhältnisse macht, von dem wirklichen Leben entfernt und in Schwarmgeisterei verfällt. Deshalb sieht man das aus der wahren Wirklichkeit und Lebenserfahrung Geholte von der Art, wie es in dieser Schrift darzustellen versucht ist, als Utopie an. Mancher wird in dieser Darstellung deshalb etwas «Abstraktes» sehen, weil ihm «konkret» nur ist, was er zu denken gewohnt ist und «abstrakt» auch das Konkrete dann, wenn er nicht gewöhnt ist, es zu denken.1Der Verfasser hat bewusst vermieden, sich in seinen Ausführungen unbedingt an die in der volkswirtschaftlichen Literatur gebräuchlichen Ausdrücke zu halten. Er kennt genau die Stellen, von denen ein «fachmännisches» Urteil sagen wird, das sei dilettantisch. Ihn bestimmte zu seiner Ausdrucksweise aber nicht nur, dass er auch für Menschen sprechen möchte, denen die volks- und sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur ungeläufig ist, sondern vor allem die Ansicht, dass eine neue Zeit das meiste von dem einseitig und unzulänglich sogar schon in der Ausdrucksform wird erscheinen lassen, das in dieser Literatur als «fachmännisch» sich findet. Wer etwa meint, der Verfasser hätte auch hinweisen sollen ad die sozialen Ideen anderer, die in dem einen oder andern an das hier Dargestellte anzuklingen scheinen, den bitte ich zu bedenken, dass die Ausgangspunkte und die Wege der hier gekennzeichnet. Anschauung, welche der Verfasser einer jahrzehntelangen Lebenserfahrung zu verdanken glaubt, das Wesentliche bei der praktischen Verwirklichung der gegebenen Impulse sind und nicht etwa bloß so oder anders geartete Gedanken. Auch hat der Verfasser, wie man aus dem Abschnitt IV ersehen kann, für die praktische Verwirklichung sich schon einzusetzen versucht, als ähnlich scheinende Gedanken in Bezug auf das eine oder andere noch nicht bemerkt wurden.
[ 4 ] Daß stramm in Parteiprogramme eingespannte Köpfe mit den Aufstellungen des Verfassers zunächst unzufrieden sein werden, weiß er. Doch er glaubt, viele Parteimenschen werden recht bald zu der Überzeugung gelangen, daß die Tatsachen der Entwickelung schon weit über die Parteiprogramme hinausgewachsen sind, und daß ein von solchen Programmen unabhängiges Urteil über die nächsten Ziele des sozialen Wollens vor allem notwendig ist.
Anfang April 1919
Rudolf Steiner
Preliminary remarks on the purpose of this paper
[ 1 ] The social life of the present poses serious, comprehensive tasks. Demands for new arrangements in this life arise and show that ways must be sought to solve these tasks which have not been thought of so far. Supported by the facts of the present, those who, from the experiences of life, must confess to the opinion that this failure to think of ways that have become necessary has led to social confusion may already be heard today. The statements in this paper are based on such an opinion. They wish to speak of what should happen in order to bring the demands currently being made by a large part of humanity onto the path of a purposeful social will. - Whether one or the other likes or dislikes these demands should have little bearing on the formation of such a will. They are there, and one must reckon with them as facts of social life. This may be borne in mind by those who, from their own personal situation in life, find that the author of this paper speaks of the proletarian demands in a way that they do not like, because, in their opinion, it refers too one-sidedly to these demands as something with which the social will must reckon. The author, however, wishes to speak from the full reality of contemporary life, as far as this is possible according to his knowledge of this life. He is aware of the disastrous consequences that must arise if one does not want to see facts that have arisen from the life of recent humanity; if one does not want to know about a social will that reckons with these facts.
[ 2 ] Personalities who regard themselves as practitioners of life in the way in which the idea of the practice of life is taken today under the influence of some cherished habits will also first be less than satisfied with the author's remarks. You will find that no practitioner of life speaks in this writing. The author believes that it is precisely these personalities who will have to re-learn thoroughly. For to him their "practice of life" appears to be that which has been absolutely proved to be an error by the facts which mankind has had to experience in the present day. As that error which has led to unlimited disasters. You will have to realize that it is necessary to recognize as practical some things which to you appeared to be stubborn idealism. They may think that the starting point of this writing is mistaken because in its first parts there is less talk of the economic and more of the spiritual life of modern mankind. The author must think, from his knowledge of life, that innumerable other errors will be added to those committed if one does not decide to turn proper attention to the spiritual life of modern mankind. - Even those who, in the most varied forms, only ever produce the phrases that mankind must get out of its devotion to purely material interests and turn "to the spirit", "to idealism", will find no real pleasure in what the author says in this writing. For he does not think much of the mere reference to "the spirit", of talking about a nebulous spiritual world. He can only recognize the spirituality that becomes man's own purpose in life. This proves to be just as effective in mastering the practical tasks of life as in forming a view of the world and of life that satisfies the needs of the soul. The important thing is not that one knows or believes to know about a spirituality, but that this is a spirituality which also comes to light when grasping the practical reality of life. Such a spirituality does not accompany this reality of life as a secondary current reserved merely for the inner being of the soul. - Thus the explanations in this book will probably appear too unspiritual to the "spiritual" and too alien to the "practical". The author is of the opinion that he could serve contemporary life in his way precisely because he is not inclined towards the alienation from life of many people who consider themselves "practitioners" today, and because he cannot attribute any justification to talk of the "spirit" that creates illusions of life from words.
[ 3 ] The "social question" is discussed as an economic, legal and spiritual issue in this essay. The author believes he recognizes how the "true form" of this question arises from the demands of economic, legal and spiritual life. Only from this realization, however, can the impulses for a healthy shaping of these three areas of life within the social order come. - In earlier times of human development, social instincts ensured that these three areas were organized in social life as a whole in a way that corresponded to human nature at that time. In the present time of this development we are faced with the necessity of striving for this organization through purposeful social will. Between those older times and the present, in the countries that are initially considered for such a will, there is a confusion of the old instincts and the newer consciousness that is no longer up to the demands of present-day humanity. In many things that are today regarded as purposeful social thinking, however, the old instincts still live on. This makes this thinking weak in the face of the demanding facts. More thoroughly than many imagine, contemporary man must work his way out of that which is no longer viable. How economic, legal and intellectual life should be shaped in the sense of the healthy social life demanded by the modern age itself can - in the author's opinion - only be determined by those who develop the good will to accept what has just been said. What the author believes he must say about such a necessary organization is what he would like to present to the judgment of the present with this book. The author would like to give an inspiration for a path towards social goals that correspond to the present reality and necessity of life. For he believes that only such a pursuit can lead beyond swarming spirits and utopianism in the area of social will. The author would like to ask anyone who finds something utopian in this writing to consider how far one is currently distancing oneself from real life with some of the ideas one has about a possible development of social conditions and how far one is falling into the spirit of the swarm. That is why what is drawn from true reality and life experience in the way that is attempted to be presented in this paper is seen as utopia. Some people will see something "abstract" in this presentation, because to them "concrete" is only what they are used to thinking and "abstract" is also the concrete when they are not used to thinking it.1The author has deliberately avoided using the terms commonly used in economic literature in his explanations. He knows exactly the places where an "expert" judgment will say that this is dilettantish. However, his way of expressing himself was not only determined by the fact that he wanted to speak for people who are unfamiliar with the economic and social science literature, but above all by the view that a new era will make most of what is found in this literature as "professional" appear one-sided and inadequate even in the form of expression. For those who think that the author should also have referred to the social ideas of others, which in one way or another seem to echo what is presented here, I would ask you to consider that the starting points and the paths of the views characterized here are not the same. view, which the author believes he owes to decades of life experience, are the essentials in the practical realization of the given impulses and not merely thoughts of one kind or another. Also, as can be seen from section IV, the author has already tried to advocate practical realization when similar apparent thoughts in relation to one or the other had not yet been noticed.
[ 4 ] He knows that minds that are tightly bound up in party programs will initially be dissatisfied with the author's constellations. But he believes that many party people will soon come to the conviction that the facts of development have already grown far beyond the party programs, and that a judgment independent of such programs about the next goals of social will is above all necessary.
At the beginning of April 1919
Rudolf Steiner