The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Preliminary Remarks on the Purpose of this Book

[ 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