Spiritual Science as a Foundation for Social Forms
GA 199
17 September 1920, Dornach
Address at the General Meeting of the Berlin Branch
After a relatively long period of time, I am able to speak to you again today. It came about because of the importance of the General Meeting convening today, and the opportunity of my current brief presence in Germany. It has certainly already occurred to you that there must be a connection between my long absence and the nature of the time in which we find ourselves. The relationship between the events of the times and the very slight activity—if it is even possible to speak of such—that I can afford, particularly for the Berlin Branch, must be obvious to you.
Before entering into the order of business for today's session, I would like to make a few preliminary remarks. First, I wish to remind you of certain words I spoke in the early spring of 1914 in a lecture cycle in Vienna, which were intended to point to what then ensued. It was then that I spoke words which have since been printed. The words I uttered at the time indicated that civilized humanity lives in a kind of social sickness, in a sort of social carcinoma or cancer; that the' whole way in which cultural, political, and economic matters are handled is such that it will undoubtedly lead to an outbreak of this creeping cancer, and that it will be bound to change from a chronic condition into an acute one. Of course, many clever people at that time took this statement, which I made out of a grief-stricken heart with regard to the immediate future, to be mere fantasy, an empty paraphrase of a pessimistic mood. At that time, the majority of people the world over naturally preferred listening to the sound of voices like the one, for example, of an official personage in the German Reichstag a short time after, who said that the relationships of the Central European governments to those of the other European countries were absolutely satisfactory, and that one could count on general lessening of tension in the near future. You may remember another remark made here in Berlin at a public session of the Reichstag—that the friendly, neighborly relations with the court at Petersburg were becoming more and more favorable, and that good relations with London existed as well, and so on. These were the words of “practical men,” while those who spoke of the spiritual world had to speak of a sickness, of a slowly growing carcinoma. Actually those who Claim to be practical men still speak the same way today, in absolutely the same way, although the results of their practicality have brought about the events of the most recent years. Such speaking continues, while what is brought forth from spiritual research and from social insight is either thrown to the winds or, as is the case in Germany, attacked. Furthermore, the worst is that what comes from spiritual research is being secretly persecuted and defamed, defamed in the worst way possible. Thus, anthroposophical spiritual science and everything connected with it today belongs among the most defamed matters in the world. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that today there already are a great number of souls who, out of the totality of the principles of spiritual science, have gained a feeling that only out of this science can arise what can save us from general disaster. One must say this today, even if foolish or malevolent people accuse one of vanity or ambition for saying such things.
I can say—and I wish to keep these introductory words brief—that the whole attitude, the whole manner of discussions that I had to take part in during the actual wartime has not been understood. With the year 1914, a time came when considerations in the ordinary sense had to cease and what was supposed to occur through words had to turn into actions. Humanity, however, is used to taking words in the sense of the journalistic style, not in the style that should enter into mankind particularly through spiritual science. Thus, many things have been misunderstood during the so called war years. Something that was of eminent importance to me was overlooked. It was probably known to most of you that before the first year of the war was over, I had a small book published, Gedanken waehrend der Zeit des Krieges (Thoughts During the Time of War).T1Contained in Aufsaetze ueber die Dreigliederung des Sozialen Organismus und zur Zeitlage; GA #24, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. It sold out rather quickly. If one would have considered the matter from the viewpoint from which, unfortunately, things are still considered today, despite the fact that the distress has become so great, it would have been a matter of course to publish a new edition. I opposed the printing of a new edition for the simple reason that the pamphlet had not fulfilled its task. This pamphlet—you can get hold of it again insofar as it is still available—was a question addressed to the German nation. It was not intended to be received in such a way as to lead one to assume the same tone which a great many members of the Central European countries had adopted during the war, and which is common today where surreptitious, poisonous defamations are leveled against anthroposophy. Nothing at all materialized of the expectation that I had concerning this pamphlet, the understanding that I had expected. A new edition would have been meaningful only if my expectation had been realized. So, it did not appear, but disappeared from public life, and in my opinion had to disappear. The proof of the lack of understanding given by this fact had to be taken very, very seriously. This was misunderstood in the same way many other utterances have been thoroughly misunderstood, utterances that were meant to elevate and ignite people's spirit in order to bring about what should have been made to prevail directly in Central Europe, namely, a re-enlivening of the spiritual life that had been manifest around the turn of the eighteenth century. Spiritual science is basically the revitalization of this spiritual life in the form it must take in modern humanity.
Take everything that is written in the different kinds of newspapers today, in popular literature and even scientific popular writings; take what is written in Koenigsberg or in Berlin, Vienna or in Graz, in Munich or in Stuttgart, and compare it with what is written today in Paris, Rome, London, Chicago or New York—you will find a great similarity. You will find the same keynote in it, the same spirit that must be overcome. On the other hand, if we seek another similarity and compare what is written today in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, or Bremen with what such great minds as Herder, Goethe, Fichte and Schiller once proclaimed, then we must say that it is fundamentally different. All the declamations using quotations of sentences by Fichte or even Goethe that have taken effect, all that has been produced in this manner, resembles more what has been written in Chicago, New York, London, Paris and Rome than the spirit of Herder, Fichte, Schiller and Goethe. The tidal wave that has flooded Central European life from the West has also swept away what should have lived an in us. Nothing of the old spirit could be detected in what was prevalent in the last decades. This had to be shown to the world when the catastrophe fell upon Central Europe, and wrenched itself from my soul in the form of my “Appeal to the German Nation and the Civilized World” which I wrote then. What was connected with this could not simply be continued, as it was in the earlier form familiar to you, up till 1914.
At that time I could not appeal on the basis of something which one had to believe one could appeal to after 1918. One could not appeal to what is the proof of the decline of the general civilization—distress. Since 1918, one had to believe that the distress which had come over Central Europe would awaken the souls and make them receptive to the language intended in my “Appeal to the German People and the Civilized World.” Certainly, the fostering of the Anthroposophical Movement could not go on as before. Earlier, one had to render the service which, naturally, always has to be rendered in the Anthroposophical Movement, and which has to be rendered today as well as in all future time: to foster the eternal in the human soul, the eternal which goes beyond birth and death and points beyond the merely sensory world into the supersensory world. Now one had to wait and see whether, from among the sleeping souls of the new civilization, souls would emerge here and there who really would have some understanding of what is meant by spiritual science. One could not yet appeal on the basis of circumstances brought about by the distress. Now, however, after 1918, the time had come when a quite different prerequisite had to be placed before the spiritual eye. Mankind could have realized where it had been led by the prevalence of materialism. For what we have experienced, what we continue to experience and will experience with more impact in the future, is the external karma of materialism in the cultural, political, and economic field. It is the consequence of neglect, because people do not wish to discover in themselves the active strength to foster the spiritual life in their souls. After the publication of the Appeal to the German People, the time came when it was, above all, important to work in a positive manner towards something factual. This arose purely out of the possibilities of life. I had to grasp the first hands reaching out to me, for each moment was precious. The first to reach out to me were from Stuttgart. It was a question of protecting and nurturing what could be fostered based on the initiative of some friends there. If mankind had understood at that time what was at stake, had it not failed even under the lesson taught by distress, it would have been enough to do something like this from one center, for it could have had an exemplary effect. But what happened?
In order that you can see how these matters must be understood, I would like to touch upon something else. Before I traveled in the spring of 1919 from Switzerland to Stuttgart for the first lecture tour, a well known pacifist came to me. Although he was willing to sign my Appeal to the German People, he hesitated and asked for more information about it. He asked me, “What are you counting on in Germany?” I believe he put it like this, “You are counting on the second revolution.” This was in the spring of 1919 and people in many quarters in Germany reckoned with a second revolution after the first one in the autumn of 1918. He believed that what was supposed to come into being in the world through the Threefold Social Organism was only a kind of vehicle, a stepping stone, for the impulses of the second revolution. I said, “No! This is not at all my opinion. First, because I do not believe that those people who might bring about a second revolution in Germany will be able to develop the slightest understanding for the true meaning of the Threefold Social Organism, as long as the old leaders are still active. Secondly, because I do not at all believe in a second revolution. Rather, I believe that this second revolution will consist of a kind of chronic infirmity and will not reach an acute outbreak. What I am simply and solely counting upon is that as many souls as possible will associate themselves with what is born out of spiritual depths, souls who will accept it impartially out of the necessity of the times, quite part from the intentions of the old leaders.” So, I did not reckon with those things that many people thought I was counting on. When I then arrived in Stuttgart, it stood to reason in a certain sense that the broad masses of people were addressed first. The broad masses of the people, though also partly paralyzed by the events of the war, were those who initially wished to hear something. In my innermost soul I knew how matters stood. For I knew that as long as the leaders who remain from the old days have the party leadership and the people firmly in hand—be they leaders of the parties to the right or the left, even those of the extreme left—nothing can be done with the people. But imagine what would have happened if I would have said that I was not in favor of addressing the masses. Nobody had to believe me, but if I had not addressed them, one would have said afterwards, “If only Steiner would have turned to the broad masses, everything would have turned out differently!” When one is dealing with realities, one must also give proof by means of realities. It had first to be proven by realities that out of all the left-wing parties, defamers and phrase-mongers would rise up against what was just beginning by means of the concept of three-foldness to be comprehended by the masses of the people. We were well on the way. One could say that within a few days we had won thousands of people. But it was just this comprehension of three-foldness by the great masses of people that drove the old leaders to their defamations and phrase-mongering. So it came about that from this side, seemingly at first, the ground was pulled from under our feet.
What could be hoped for from the other side? Well, it serves no purpose in regard to these matters to cling to illusions; the one and only thing that can help us in the present is to speak the truth. A leading personality who had come up in the party that called itself, by a strange interpretation of the words, "German Democratic Party," a person who had appeared at one of the meetings held at that time, said to me, “You know, if we were in a Position to let more people capable of explaining matters in this manner speak to the broad masses, then well and good—one could go along with it. But one pair of hands is not enough and we therefore rely temporarily more on firearms, on force. For the next fifteen to twenty years, it will still be necessary to keep the masses down.” This was essentially the predominant attitude of the Bourgeoisie; the other was the activity of the proletariat.
So there really remains nothing else but to take what can be drawn out of the spiritual foundations and to represent it in such a way that more and more people can be found who will receive it into their minds. Back of this, we must have something that was born out of this insight and should have been fostered. Before the war, this building was set up on the border of Switzerland, France and Germany in order to look out from Central Europe into the wide world, in particular towards the West, and received the name it must rightfully have, the name Goetheanum. For, in regard to spiritual matters, we are facing worldwide tasks! Today, we cannot face spiritual matters as we would merely personal matters. To do that would lead us into ruin. This is the reason I had to limit my activity during recent times to southern Germany and Switzerland. Truly, I am longing for times when the horizon of my activity can widen again, but this does not depend on myself alone. It depends, above all, on the understanding that people will show toward this activity. I may perhaps find the opportunity in the next few days to point to a number of things which pretend to be “understanding” and which proceed from certain quarters, which work more in an underground manner by means of counterfeiting of letters, falsifying interviews, by defamations and lies.
For the moment, what I have said was merely mentioned in order to point out the reasons why it was necessary for us to abandon our activity in Berlin temporarily; to indicate the circumstances that made it necessary to appeal also in regard to Berlin to what must be appealed to in this age. Have we not been active anthroposophically for almost two decades over a large territory? Were we not justified in hoping that people would be found that could carry on the work independently? Well, they were found. They were found here in Berlin, too. And with the help of these friends the attempt must be made, first of all, to continue the work in Berlin. For this purpose we have gathered together here. In the General Meeting, we shall have to decide how to continue the work here in Berlin.
Ansprache bei der Generalversammlung des Berliner Zweiges
[ 1 ] Nach verhältnismäßig langer Zeit kann ich heute wieder zu Ihnen sprechen. Die Wichtigkeit der heute abzuhaltenden Generalversammlung und die Gelegenheit meiner gegenwärtigen kurzen Anwesenheit in Deutschland bewirken dieses. Wir stehen ja in einer Zeit, deren Zusammenhang mit meiner längeren Abwesenheit Sie ganz gewiß schon überlegt haben. Der Zusammenhang zwischen den Zeitereignissen und der geringen Tätigkeit - wenn überhaupt von einer solchen zu sprechen ist —, die ich gerade für den Berliner Zweig entfalten kann, ist ja für Sie wohl offenkundig.
[ 2 ] Ich möchte, bevor wir in die geschäftsordnungsmäßige Behandlung unserer heutigen Tagesordnung eintreten, nur wenig vorausschicken. Ich möchte zunächst daran erinnern, wie ich im Frühfrühling des Jahres 1914 in einem Wiener Vortragszyklus Worte gesprochen habe, welche auf dasjenige hindeuten sollten, was dann kam. Dazumal sprach ich eben jene Worte, die ja seither in den Zyklusschriften gedruckt vorliegen. Ich sprach dazumal die Worte, daß die zivilisierte Menschheit in einer Art von gesellschaftlichem Krankheitsprozeß, in einer Art von gesellschaftlichem Karzinom oder Krebskrankheit lebt; daß die ganze Art und Weise, wie die geistigen, staatlichen und wirtschaftlichen Verhältnisse verlaufen, eine solche ist, daß es unbedingt zu einem Ausbruch dieser schleichenden Krebskrankheit kommen müsse, daß sie aus einem chronischen in einen akuten Zustand übergehen müsse. Selbstverständlich haben dazumal ganz kluge Leute einen solchen Ausspruch, der aus blutender Seele heraus auf die nächste Zukunft hindeutete, für eine Art Phantasterei gehalten, für ein phrasenhaftes Umschreiben einer pessimistischen Stimmung. Man hat ja natürlich dazumal in den weitesten Kreisen der Welt lieber gehört auf solche Stimmen wie diejenige, die etwas später sogar als diese zum Beispiel durch eine offizielle Persönlichkeit hier im Deutschen Reichstage erklungen ist, wo gesagt worden ist, daß die Beziehungen der mitteleuropäischen Regierungen zu den Regierungen der andern europäischen Länder durchaus befriedigende seien und daß man in der nächsten Zeit mit einer allgemeinen Entspannung zu rechnen habe. Sie erinnern sich vielleicht noch des andern Wortes, das dazumal in öffentlicher Reichstagsverhandlung hier in Berlin gesprochen worden ist: daß die freundnachbarlichen Beziehungen zum Petersburger Hofe sich immer günstiger und günstiger gestalten, daß auch gute Beziehungen zu London vorhanden seien und so weiter. So haben ja dazumal die Praktiker gesprochen, während diejenigen, die aus der geistigen Welt heraus sprachen, von einer Krankheit, von einem schleichenden Karzinom sprechen mußten. Im Grunde genommen wird auch heute noch so gesprochen, und zwar recht gründlich, von denjenigen, die sich noch immer als Praktiker dünken, trotzdem diese Praxis die Erfolge der letzten Jahre gebracht hat. Es wird noch immer so gesprochen. Und dasjenige, was an geistigen Untersuchungen hervorgeholt wird, auch &n sozialen Erkenntnissen, wird entweder in den Wind geschlagen oder, wie es ja in Deutschland der Fall ist, auf das allerhefligste angefeindet; noch dazu, was das Schlimmste ist, auf allen möglichen geheimen Wegen angefeindet und verleumdet, in schlimmster Weise verleumdet, so daß anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft, und was mit ihr zusammenhängt, heute vielleicht zu dem Allerverleumdetsten gehört, das überhaupt in der Welt sich geltend macht. Und dennoch ist vorauszusetzen, daß es heute schon eine Anzahl von Seelen gibt, welche aus der ganzen Haltung dieser anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft die Empfindung bekommen haben, daß aus ihr allein dasjenige hervorgehen kann, was zur Rettung aus dem allgemeinen Niedergang führen kann. Man muß das heute sagen, selbst dann, wenn die törichte oder böswillige Menschheit von irgendeiner Eitelkeit oder einem Ehrgeiz sprechen würde, aus denen heraus solche Dinge gesagt werden.
[ 3 ] Ich kann sagen — ich will diese einleitenden Worte kurz fassen -—, daß die ganze Haltung und die ganze Art der Auseinandersetzungen, wie ich sie während der eigentlichen Kriegszeit pflegen mußte, nicht verstanden worden sind. Es begann ja im Jahre 1914 eine Zeit, in der Betrachtungen im gewöhnlichen Sinne des Betrachtens aufhören mußten und in denen dasjenige, was durch Worte geschehen sollte, Taten zu werden hatte. Aber die Menschheit ist gewöhnt, Worte nach dem Sinne des Journalistenstils zu nehmen, und nicht nach jenem Stil, der gerade durch die Geisteswissenschaft in die Menschheit hineinkommen soll. So wurde denn gerade während der sogenannten Kriegsjahre vieles mißverstanden. Es wurde vor allen Dingen nicht hingesehen auf etwas, was ich für mich im eminentesten Sinne als wichtig empfand. Ich habe vor Ablauf des ersten Kriegsjahres, was ja den meisten bekannt sein wird, eine kleine Schrift erscheinen lassen: «Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges». Diese Schrift ist verhältnismäßig schnell verkauft worden. Und wenn man die Dinge von jenem Standpunkte aus zu betrachten gehabt hätte, von dem leider heute noch immer, trotzdem die Not so groß geworden ist, die Dinge betrachtet werden, so wäre es aus äußerlichen Gründen eine Selbstverständlichkeit gewesen, eine neue Auflage der ersten großen Auflage zu machen. Ich habe mich dieser neuen Auflage widersetzt aus dem einfachen Grunde, weil diese Schrift ihre Aufgabe nicht erfüllt hat. Diese Schrift — Sie können sie heute wieder zur Hand nehmen, sofern sie noch vorhanden ist - war eine Frage an das deutsche Volk. Diese Schrift durfte nicht etwa so aufgenommen werden, daß man sich dadurch verleiten ließ, in denselben Ton zu verfallen, in den sehr viele Angehörige der mitteleuropäischen Länder während des Krieges verfallen sind, und der heute gerade da, wo man mit heimlich schleichendem Gift Anthroposophie verleumdet, der gebräuchliche Ton ist. Aber von dem, was ich erwartet habe von dieser Schrift, als Verständnis erwartet habe, ist auch nicht das allermindeste eingetroffen. Nur dann, wenn es eingetroffen wäre, hätte es einen Sinn gehabt, diese Schrift in einer neuen Auflage erscheinen zu lassen. Sie erschien also nicht, sie verschwand aus dem öffentlichen Leben, mußte meiner Auffassung nach aus dem öffentlichen Leben verschwinden. Der Beweis des Unverständnisses, der dadurch geliefert war, mußte in einer gewissen Weise außerordentlich ernst genommen werden. So ist auch gerade manches gründlich mißverstanden worden, was ausgesprochen wurde, um die Geister zu erheben, um die Geister zu befeuern, um dasjenige zur Geltung zu bringen, was gerade in Mitteleuropa hätte zur Geltung kommen können: ein Wiederaufleben jenes Geisteslebens, das um die Wende des 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert durch Mitteleuropa gezogen ist. Im Grunde genommen ist Geisteswissenschaft das Wiederaufleben dieses Geisteslebens in derjenigen Form, in der es heute den Menschen gebracht werden muß.
[ 4 ] Nehmen Sie das, was heute in Zeitungen aller Schattierungen, in populären Schriften, auch in wissenschaftlich populären Schriften geschrieben wird, nehmen Sie das, was geschrieben wird in Königsberg oder Berlin, in Wien oder in Graz, in München oder Stuttgart, und vergleichen Sie es mit demjenigen, was in Paris, in Rom, in London, in Chicago, in New York heute geschrieben wird: Sie finden eine große Ähnlichkeit, Sie finden den gleichen Grundton darinnen, einen Geist, der überwunden werden muß. Fragen wir dagegen nach einer anderen Ähnlichkeit, fragen wir nach der Ähnlichkeit, die herrscht zwischen dem, was heute in Berlin, Wien, Dresden, Leipzig, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Bremen geschrieben wird, und dem, was einstmals Geister wie Herder, Goethe, Fichte, Schiller verkündeten, dann müssen wir sagen: Das ist grundverschieden. Und all die Deklamationen, die Platz gegriffen haben mit der Anführung von Fichteschen oder gar von Goetheschen Sätzen, all dasjenige, was da produziert worden ist, ähnelt mehr demjenigen, was in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Rom geschrieben wird, als dem Geiste von Herder, Fichte, Schiller, Goethe. Die Flutwelle, welche von Westen aus das mitteleuropäische Leben überschwemmt hat, hat auch dasjenige hinweggeschwemmt, was in uns leben sollte, und nichts war in dem, was in den letzten Jahrzehnten gelebt hat, von dem alten Geiste zu merken. Das mußte der Welt vor "Augen geführt werden, als die Katastrophe über Mitteleuropa hereingebrochen war, das entrang sich meiner Seele, als ich meinen «Aufruf an das Deutsche Volk und die Kulturwelt» verfaßte. Das, was damit verbunden war, konnte eben nicht bloß fortgesetzt werden, wie es früher in der Ihnen bekannten Form bis zum Jahre 1914 gepflogen werden mußte.
[ 5 ] Damals konnte ich nicht appellieren an eines, wovon man glauben mußte, daß man nach 1918 daran appellieren könne. Man konnte nicht appellieren an das, was der Beweis des Niederganges der allgemeinen Zivilisation ist, an die Not. Man mußte seit 1918 glauben, daß die Not, die über Mitteleuropa gekommen ist, die Seelen weckt, sie empfänglich macht für die Sprache, die gemeint war in dem «Aufruf an das Deutsche Volk und die Kulturwelt». Gewiß konnte es nicht so bleiben, daß die anthroposophische Bewegung gepflegt wurde wie früher. Früher hatte man denjenigen Dienst zu leisten, der selbstverständlich in der anthroposophischen Bewegung immer geleistet werden muß, der auch heute und in aller Zukunft geleistet werden muß: das Ewige in der Menschenseele zu pflegen, dasjenige, was über Geburt und Tod hinausgeht, was über die bloß sinnliche Welt hinausweist in die übersinnliche Welt. Und zu warten hatte man, ob nun aus den Seelen, aus den schlafenden Seelen der neueren Zivilisation da oder dort diejenigen Seelen hervorgehen, die in Wirklichkeit etwas verstehen von dem, was mit Geisteswissenschaft gemeint ist. Da konnte man noch nicht an den äußeren Beweis durch die Not appellieren. Nun aber, nach 1918, war die Zeit gekommen, in der etwas ganz anderes als Voraussetzung vor das geistige Auge gerückt werden mußte. Die Menschheit hätte einsehen können, wohin sie durch das Überhandnehmen des Materialismus gekommen war. Denn was wir erlebt haben und was wir fortdauernd erleben und in noch wuchtigerer Weise in der Zukunft erleben werden, das ist das äußere Karma des Materialismus auf dem geistigen, auf dem staatlichen, auf dem wirtschaftlichen Gebiete. Es ist die Folge der Unterlassung, die darin besteht, daß die Menschen nicht in sich die aktive Kraft finden wollten, in der Seele das Geistesleben zu pflegen. Da kam dann die Zeit nach der Verfassung dieses «Aufrufs an das Deutsche Volk und die Kulturwelt», wo es vor allen Dingen darauf ankam, in positiver Weise nach irgend etwas Tatsächlichem hinzuarbeiten. Das ergab sich rein aus den Lebensmöglichkeiten heraus. Ich mußte die ersten Hände ergreifen, die mir entgegenkamen, denn jeder Augenblick drängte. Ich mußte die ersten Hände ergreifen, die mir entgegenkamen: es waren diejenigen, die mir aus Stuttgart entgegenkamen. Da handelte es sich zunächst darum, dasjenige zu hegen und zu pflegen, was aus der Initiative einiger Freunde dort gehegt und gepflegt werden konnte. Hätte dazumal die Menschheit verstanden, um was es sich handelt, hätte sie nicht selbst unter der Lehre der Not versagt, dann hätte es genügt, von einem Zentrum aus so etwas zu machen, denn das hätte vorbildlich wirken können. Allein, was ist geschehen?
[ 6 ] Damit Sie sehen, wie die Dinge aufzufassen sind, möchte ich etwas berühren. Bevor ich im Frühling 1919 von der Schweiz aus nach Stuttgart zu der ersten Vortragstournee gefahren bin, kam ein weltbekannter Pazifist zu mir, der den «Aufruf an das Deutsche Volk und die Kulturwelt» unterschreiben wollte, aber etwas zögerte und noch einige Informationen über diesen Aufruf haben wollte. Er sagte mir dazumal: Auf was rechnen Sie eigentlich in Deutschland? — Ich glaube, so sagte er: Sie rechnen auf die zweite Revolution. — Es war Frühling 1919 und man rechnete in Deutschland damals vielfach auf die zweite Revolution nach der ersten vom Herbst 1918. Er glaubte, daß das, was durch die Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus in die Welt kommen soll, als eine Art Vehikel, als eine Art Weg benutzt werden sollte für das, was in den Impulsen einer zweiten Revolution liege. Ich sagte: Nein! Das ist durchaus nicht meine Meinung. Es ist durchaus nicht meine Meinung, erstens weil ich überhaupt nicht glaube, daß aus denjenigen Leuten, die etwa die zweite Revolution in Deutschland machen würden, irgendein Verständnis für die Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus in wahrem Sinne unmittelbar hervorgehen könnte, so lange die alten Führer da sind, und zweitens, sagte ich, weil ich überhaupt nicht an eine zweite Revolution glaube. Ich glaube vielmehr, daß diese zweite Revolution in einem chronischen Siechtum bestehen und nicht zu einem akuten Ausbruch kommen wird. Dasjenige, worauf ich einzig und allein rechne, ist, daß sich für das, was aus geistigen Untergründen heraus geboren wird, möglichst viele Seelen finden, die es unbefangen aufnehmen aus den Zeitnotwendigkeiten heraus, ganz abgesehen von dem, was durch die Intentionen der alten Führer geschieht. — Also ich rechnete nicht mit denjenigen Dingen, von denen vielfach geglaubt worden ist, daß ich mit ihnen rechne. Als ich dann nach Stuttgart kam, war es in einem gewissen Sinne selbstverständlich, daß zunächst die breiten Massen des Volkes angesprochen wurden. Diese breiten Massen des Volkes, obwohl auch vielfach gelähmt durch die Ereignisse des Krieges, waren diejenigen, die zunächst etwas hören sollten. In meiner innersten Seele wußte ich, wie die Dinge stehen; denn ich wußte, daß, solange die Führer, die aus der alten Zeit herüberragen — ob sie nun die Führer der rechtsstehenden oder die Führer der linksstehenden Parteien, auch der am weitesten linksstehenden, sind -, die Parteien fest in der Hand haben, die Menschen fest in der Hand haben, so lange mit den Menschen nichts anzufangen ist. Aber denken Sie doch, was geschehen wäre, wenn ich gesagt hätte, ich wäre nicht dafür, mich an die weiten Kreise des Volkes zu wenden. Es hätte mir niemand zu glauben gebraucht, aber wenn es. nicht geschehen wäre, so hätte man hinterher gesagt: Hätte er sich nur an die breiten Kreise des Volkes gewendet, dann wäre alles ganz anders geworden! — Wenn es sich um Wirklichkeiten handelt, muß man auch durch Wirklichkeiten beweisen. Und es mußte erst durch die Wirklichkeiten bewiesen werden, daß aus sämtlichen linksstehenden Parteien die Verleumder und Phrasenhelden sich auftaten gegen das, was durch die Dreigliederung eben anfing, den breitesten Massen des Volkes verständlich zu werden. Wir waren auf gutem Wege. Man darf sagen, wir haben von drei zu drei Tagen Tausende von Leuten gewonnen. Aber gerade das Verständnis, das von den breiten Massen des Volkes der Dreigliederung entgegengebracht wurde, gerade das war es, was die alten Führer zu ihren Verleumdungen, zu ihrem Phrasengedresche brachte, und so kam es, daß uns zunächst scheinbar auf dieser Seite der Boden unter den Füßen entzogen wurde.
[ 7 ] Und was war von der andern Seite zu hoffen? Nun, es nützt ja nichts, sich in diesen Dingen einen Nebel vor die Augen zu machen, sondern einzig und allein hilft uns in der Gegenwart, die Wahrheit zu sprechen. Mir sagte damals eine führende Persönlichkeit, die herausgewachsen war aus derjenigen Partei, die sich durch eine sonderbare Interpretation des Wortes «Deutsch-Demokratische» Partei nannte und nennt, die in einer jener Versammlungen erschien, die dazumal gehalten worden sind: Ja, wissen Sie, wenn wir in der Lage wären, mehr Leute vor den breiten Massen des Volkes reden zu lassen, die die Dinge in dieser Weise zum Verständnis bringen können, dann gut, dann könnte man ja mitmachen. Aber auf zwei Augen darf das nicht gestellt sein und deshalb verlassen wir uns vorläufig mehr auf die Schießgewehre, auf die Gewalt, und werden es noch für die nächsten fünfzehn bis zwanzig Jahre dahin bringen, die breiten Massen des Volkes damit niederzuhalten. — Das war im wesentlichen die herrschende Bourgeoisiegesinnung; das andere war die Proletarierwirtschaft.
[ 8 ] So bleibt denn eigentlich nichts anderes übrig als das, was aus geistigen Untergründen herausgeholt worden ist, eben in der Weise zu vertreten, daß sich immer mehr und mehr Menschen finden, in deren Köpfe die Sache hineingeht. Dahinter muß aber namentlich noch das stehen, was aus dem herausgeboren ist und hätte gepflegt werden sollen, das noch vor dem Krieg an die Grenze der Schweiz, Frankreichs und Deutschlands hingestellt worden ist, damit es von Mitteleuropa hinausschaut in die weite Welt, hinausschaut besonders nach dem Westen, und was dann auch seinen Namen erhalten hat, den es haben muß: den Namen des Goetheanum. Denn heute stehen wir in geistigen Dingen vor Weltaufgaben! Heute stehen wir vor geistigen Dingen nicht so wie vor etwa bloß persönlichen Angelegenheiten. Denn dieses Stehen vor geistigen Dingen wie vor persönlichen Angelegenheiten würde uns eben in den Ruin hineinführen. Das ist es schließlich, was meine Tätigkeit in der letzten Zeit auf Süddeutschland und die Schweiz beschränken mußte. Ich sehne mich wahrhaftig danach, daß auch eine andere Zeit wieder anbricht, wo der Horizont des Wirkens wiederum größer werden kann. Allein, das hängt ja nicht von mir allein ab, das hängt vor allen Dingen von dem Verständnis ab, das man der Sache entgegenbringt. Ich werde vielleicht noch in diesen Tagen Gelegenheit haben, auf einiges hinzuweisen von jener Art des Verstehens, die von gewissen Kreisen ausgeht, die mehr im Unterirdischen durch Brieffälschungen, durch Interviewfälschungen, durch Verleumdungen und Lügen arbeiten.
[ 9 ] Für jetzt sei das, was ich eben gesagt habe, nur gesagt, um hinzudeuten auf die Gründe, die es notwendig gemacht haben, daß die Berliner Tätigkeit von uns selber für eine Zeit verlassen werden mußte, um auf die Umstände hinzudeuten, die es notwendig machten, auch für Berlin zu appellieren an das, woran man eben appellieren mußte in dieser Zeit. Haben wir denn nicht durch fast zwei Jahrzehnte Anthroposophie über ein großes Territorium hin getrieben? Durfte man da nicht hoffen, daß sich Menschen finden würden, die selbständig weiterarbeiten? Sie haben sich auch gefunden. Sie haben sich auch hier in Berlin gefunden, und mit Hilfe dieser Freunde muß zunächst versucht werden, die Berliner Arbeit fortzusetzen. Zu diesem Zwecke sind wir hier zunächst zusammengekommen. In dieser Generalversammlung soll geurteilt werden über die Fortsetzung der Arbeit hier in Berlin.
Address at the General Assembly of the Berlin Branch
[ 1 ] After a relatively long period of time, I am now able to address you again. The importance of today's general meeting and the opportunity presented by my current brief stay in Germany have made this possible. We are, of course, living in times whose connection with my prolonged absence you have undoubtedly already considered. The connection between current events and the limited activities—if any—that I am currently able to carry out for the Berlin branch is, I am sure, obvious to you.
[ 2 ] Before we proceed with the agenda for today's meeting, I would like to say a few words. I would first like to remind you of the words I spoke in early spring 1914 during a series of lectures in Vienna, which were intended to foreshadow what was to come. At that time, I spoke the very words that have since been printed in the lecture series. I said then that civilized humanity was living in a kind of social disease process, in a kind of social carcinoma or cancer; that the whole way in which intellectual, political, and economic conditions were developing was such that this insidious cancerous disease must inevitably break out, that it must pass from a chronic to an acute state. Of course, at that time, very clever people considered such a statement, which pointed to the near future from a bleeding soul, to be a kind of fantasy, a phraseological rewriting of a pessimistic mood. At that time, of course, people in the widest circles of the world preferred to listen to voices such as those that were heard a little later, for example, from an official figure here in the German Reichstag, who said that the relations between the governments of Central Europe and the governments of other European countries were entirely satisfactory and that a general relaxation of tensions was to be expected in the near future. You may remember the other words that were spoken at the time in public Reichstag proceedings here in Berlin: that friendly relations with the court in St. Petersburg were becoming increasingly favorable, that good relations with London also existed, and so on. That is how the practitioners spoke at the time, while those who spoke from the intellectual world had to speak of a disease, of a creeping cancer. Basically, this is still how people speak today, and quite thoroughly, those who still consider themselves practitioners, even though this practice has brought the successes of recent years. People still speak this way. And what is brought to light by spiritual research, including social insights, is either dismissed or, as is the case in Germany, treated with the utmost hostility; what is worse, it is attacked and slandered in every possible secret way, slandered in the worst possible way, so that anthroposophically oriented spiritual science and everything connected with it, is perhaps today among the most slandered things in the world. And yet it must be assumed that there are already a number of souls who, from the whole attitude of this anthroposophically oriented spiritual science, have gained the feeling that it alone can bring forth what can lead to salvation from the general decline. This must be said today, even if foolish or malicious people speak of vanity or ambition as the motive behind such statements.
[ 3 ] I can say — I will keep these introductory words brief — that the whole attitude and the whole nature of the disputes I had to engage in during the actual war years have not been understood. The year 1914 marked the beginning of a period in which considerations in the usual sense of the word had to cease and in which what was to be accomplished through words had to become deeds. But humanity is accustomed to taking words in the sense of journalistic style, and not in the sense that spiritual science is trying to bring into humanity. Thus, during the so-called war years, much was misunderstood. Above all, no attention was paid to something that I felt was of the utmost importance. Before the end of the first year of the war, as most people will know, I published a small book entitled Thoughts During the War. This booklet sold relatively quickly. And if one had viewed things from the standpoint that unfortunately still prevails today, despite the fact that the need has become so great, it would have been self-evident for external reasons to publish a new edition of the first large edition. I opposed this new edition for the simple reason that this pamphlet did not fulfill its purpose. This pamphlet—you can pick it up again today, if you still have it—was a question to the German people. This book should not have been taken up in such a way that people were led to fall into the same tone that many members of the Central European countries fell into during the war, and which is now the common tone precisely where anthroposophy is being slandered with secretly creeping poison. But not even the slightest bit of what I expected from this writing, in terms of understanding, has come to pass. Only if it had been fulfilled would it have made sense to publish this book in a new edition. So it did not appear, it disappeared from public life, and in my opinion it had to disappear from public life. The proof of incomprehension that this provided had to be taken extremely seriously in a certain way. Thus, some of what was said to lift the spirits, to fire the spirits, to bring to bear what could have come to bear in Central Europe at that time, was thoroughly misunderstood: a revival of the spiritual life that swept through Central Europe at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. Basically, spiritual science is the revival of this spiritual life in the form in which it must be brought to people today.
[ 4 ] Take what is written today in newspapers of all shades, in popular writings, even in popular scientific writings, take what what is written in Königsberg or Berlin, in Vienna or Graz, in Munich or Stuttgart, and compare it with what is written today in Paris, Rome, London, Chicago, or New York: you will find a great similarity, you will find the same underlying tone, a spirit that must be overcome. If, on the other hand, we look for another similarity, if we look for the similarity that prevails between what is written today in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, and Bremen, and what was once proclaimed by minds such as Herder, Goethe, Fichte, and Schiller, then we must say: It is fundamentally different. And all the declamations that have gained ground with quotations from Fichte or even Goethe, everything that has been produced there, resembles more what is written in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, and Rome than the spirit of Herder, Fichte, Schiller, and Goethe. The tidal wave that swept across Central European life from the West also washed away what should have lived within us, and nothing of the old spirit was to be found in what has been lived in recent decades. This had to be brought to the world's attention when catastrophe struck Central Europe; it was torn from my soul when I wrote my “Appeal to the German People and the Cultural World.” What was connected with this could not simply be continued as it had been practiced in the form you know until 1914.
[ 5 ] At that time, I could not appeal to something that one had to believe could be appealed to after 1918. One could not appeal to what is proof of the decline of general civilization, to hardship. Since 1918, one had to believe that the hardship that had come upon Central Europe would awaken souls and make them receptive to the language that was meant in the “Appeal to the German People and the Civilized World.” Certainly, the anthroposophical movement could not continue to be cultivated as it had been in the past. In the past, it was necessary to perform the service that must always be performed in the anthroposophical movement, and that must also be performed today and in the future: to cultivate the eternal in the human soul, that which transcends birth and death, that which points beyond the merely sensory world to the supersensible world. And one had to wait and see whether souls would emerge from the sleeping souls of the newer civilization here and there who really understood what spiritual science meant. At that time, one could not yet appeal to external evidence provided by necessity. But now, after 1918, the time had come when something completely different had to be brought to the spiritual eye as a prerequisite. Humanity could have seen where the prevalence of materialism had led it. For what we have experienced and what we are continuing to experience, and will experience in an even more powerful way in the future, is the outer karma of materialism in the spiritual, political, and economic spheres. It is the consequence of a failure to find within ourselves the active power to cultivate spiritual life in our souls. Then came the time after the writing of this “Appeal to the German People and the Cultural World,” when it was above all important to work positively toward something real. This arose purely from the possibilities of life. I had to take the first hands that came my way, because every moment was pressing. I had to take the first hands that came my way: they were those that came to me from Stuttgart. The first task was to nurture and cultivate what could be nurtured and cultivated there on the initiative of a few friends. If humanity had understood what was at stake at that time, if it had not failed under the lessons of necessity, then it would have been enough to do something like this from one center, because that could have served as an example. But what happened?
[ 6 ] To help you understand how things should be understood, I would like to mention something. Before I left Switzerland for Stuttgart in the spring of 1919 for my first lecture tour, a world-renowned pacifist came to me who wanted to sign the “Appeal to the German People and the Cultural World,” but was somewhat hesitant and wanted some more information about this appeal. He said to me at the time: What are you actually counting on in Germany? — I believe he said: You are counting on the second revolution. It was spring 1919, and many people in Germany were expecting a second revolution after the first one in the fall of 1918. He believed that what was to come into the world through the threefold social order should be used as a kind of vehicle, a kind of path for what lay in the impulses of a second revolution. I said: No! That is not my opinion at all. It is not my opinion at all, firstly because I do not believe that any understanding of the threefold social organism in the true sense could emerge directly from those people who would bring about a second revolution in Germany, as long as the old leaders are still there, and secondly, I said, because I do not believe in a second revolution at all. I believe rather that this second revolution will consist of chronic decline and will not come to an acute outbreak. The only thing I am counting on is that as many souls as possible will be found who will accept what is born out of spiritual depths with an open mind, out of the necessities of the times, quite apart from what happens through the intentions of the old leaders. — So I did not count on those things that many believed I was counting on. When I came to Stuttgart, it was in a sense self-evident that the broad masses of the people would be addressed first. These broad masses of the people, although in many cases paralyzed by the events of the war, were the ones who should hear something first. In my heart of hearts, I knew how things stood; for I knew that as long as the leaders who had come over from the old days—whether they were the leaders of the right-wing parties or the leaders of the left-wing parties, even the most left-wing ones—had a firm grip on the parties and a firm grip on the people, nothing could be done with the people. But just think what would have happened if I had said that I was not in favor of addressing the broad masses of the people. No one would have had to believe me, but if I had not done so, people would have said afterwards: If only he had addressed the broad masses of the people, then everything would have turned out quite differently! — When it comes to realities, one must also prove them through realities. And it first had to be proven through realities that all the left-wing parties were full of slanderers and phrase-mongers who opposed what was just beginning to become understandable to the broadest masses of the people through the threefold social order. We were well on our way. It can be said that we won thousands of people every three days. But it was precisely the understanding that the broad masses of the people showed for the threefold social order that led the old leaders to their slander and their empty rhetoric, and so it came about that, at first, the ground beneath our feet seemed to be pulled out from under us.
[ 7 ] And what was there to hope for from the other side? Well, there is no point in clouding our vision in such matters; the only thing that helps us in the present is to speak the truth. A leading figure who had grown out of the party that called itself, and still calls itself, the “German Democratic” Party, appeared at one of the meetings held at that time and said to me: Yes, you know, if we were in a position to let more people speak to the broad masses of the people who can explain things in this way, then fine, then we could join in. But we cannot rely on that, and so for the time being we are relying more on guns, on violence, and we will continue to keep the broad masses of the people down for the next fifteen to twenty years. — That was essentially the prevailing bourgeois sentiment; the other was the proletarian economy.
[ 8 ] So there is really nothing left to do but to promote what has been brought out of the intellectual underground in such a way that more and more people will come to understand it. Behind this, however, there must still be what was born out of it and should have been cultivated, what was placed on the borders of Switzerland, France, and Germany even before the war, so that it could look out from Central Europe into the wide world, looking out especially toward the West, and what then also received the name it must have: the name Goetheanum. For today we are faced with world tasks in spiritual matters! Today we are faced with spiritual matters, not merely personal affairs. For to face spiritual matters as we would personal affairs would lead us to ruin. This is ultimately what has forced me to limit my activities in recent times to southern Germany and Switzerland. I truly long for a new era to dawn, when the horizon of our work can once again expand. However, that does not depend on me alone, but above all on the understanding that people bring to the matter. Perhaps I will have the opportunity in the next few days to point out some of the understanding that is coming from certain circles that are working more underground through forged letters, falsified interviews, slander, and lies.
[ 9 ] For now, let what I have just said serve only to indicate the reasons that made it necessary for us to abandon our activities in Berlin for a time, and to point to the circumstances that made it necessary to appeal to Berlin as well for what had to be appealed for at that time. Have we not been spreading anthroposophy over a large territory for almost two decades? Was it not reasonable to hope that people would be found who would continue the work independently? They have indeed been found. They have also been found here in Berlin, and with the help of these friends, we must first attempt to continue the work in Berlin. It is for this purpose that we have gathered here today. This general meeting will decide on the continuation of the work here in Berlin.