The German Socialist Movement Before World War 1, Part II

And in Virginia, today . . .

I’m back to Carl Schorske’s history of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (“SPD”) leading up to World War I. The importance of this for me lies in the process that led from a political environment saturated with socialist influence like no other advanced industrial country before or since, to support for German participation in the first world war. How did that happen?

The scope of pre-war SPD influence in Germany, in terms of electoral performance and social organization, puts any U.S. party to shame. That included an iron grip on the trade unions, against which the U.S. labor movement pales by comparison.

An interesting figure from the period was Kurt Eisner, a writer and intellectual who tended to be radical in the field of foreign policy but incrementalist or ‘revisionist’ in domestic affairs. This is roughly where I am.

There wasn’t much room for splitting differences on foreign policy. Eisner among others saw inter-imperialist war on the horizon. A huge question among socialist parties was how to resist any possible war, including the use of the mass strike.

In those days, mass strikes in Europe were serious possibilities. Today if you call for a mass strike, you would be properly regarded as a nut. Then, such talk verged on insurrectionism. The SPD actually had the power to call a mass strike. My amateur reading of the history of those things, there were a few, is that they worked when staged on behalf of goals that commanded broad public support, like the right to vote. But to advance into socialist transformation, not so much. (Counter-arguments welcome.)

In the days of the anti-Vietnam war movement, direct actions against the U.S. defense establishment were met harshly. It doesn’t take much to imagine the reaction to bigger actions under conditions of war. Or, say, in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. Anybody remember “Watch what you say”?

In Europe, the “national question” raged within the socialist parties. Germany itself was torn between its desire to compete with the British and the French in empire-building, and the socialist disinclination to support such ventures. An important related issue was whether Germany should intervene against rising Bolshevism in Russia.

The SPD tried to propitiate national sentiment, after running against a buzzsaw of nationalist feeling in elections. It professed a determination to join defense of the German nation against foreign threats and seems to have over-compensated in that direction. It reminds me of parallel appeals by Democrats today. We can debate who should have done what and when, but the entire effort clearly did not work on any level. I could hardly endorse it.

There is a parallel now in the rising desire for a return to some kind of normality, or “the rule of law,” a slogan that sets my teeth on edge. We see disgusting exaltation of law enforcement bodies such as the FBI or CIA with execrable records on “the rule of law.” I’d like to get us out of the current insanity as much as anyone, so I’m not protesting too much. In this environment, “socialism beats fascism” does not apply as well as “liberalism beats authoritarianism.” That’s the main flow that we should go with.

Virginia presents an interesting case in point. It is narrowly Democratic, the only such remaining state from the old Confederacy. It’s all we can do to retain control of the state legislature (and reproductive rights) and have a realistic chance of dumping our Republican governor. Socialism isn’t beating fascism here.

I could see a point in promoting Marxist-socialist education in small groups, but none in mass agitation. An popular goal is “Medicare For All,” but isn’t it obvious that such a thing is not happening in any foreseeable U.S. Senate? It couldn’t even fly in very blue California and Vermont.

I’ll tell you something that could happen in Virginia. It’s defense and expansion of Medicaid, currently under dire threat from the MAGAs. The same goes in most any state.

Virginia does not have a relatively big public sector. It isn’t Massachusetts. There is a lot of dough that could be harvested from the “rich men north of Richmond” to perform all sorts of good works. Why aren’t we doing that?