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Franz Mehring and the Problems of Liberal Social Reform, in Bismarckian Germany 1884–90: The Origins of Radical Marxism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 December 2008
Extract
The purpose of this article is to analyze, using the example of Franz Mehring, the growing cleavage between German left-liberalism and social democracy in the 1880s. Due in part to the radicalization produced by Bismarck's anti-socialist law of 1878 to 1890, Marxism was firmly established within the German socialist movement in the 1880s. The reverse of that process, the growing ideological and political rigidity of left-liberalism, is less well treated. In this article, I will outline the program of social reform proposed by the then left-liberal journalist, Franz Mehring, to German liberalism in an effort to build a coalition of middle-class and working-class democratic forces in Imperial Germany. Mehring's failure was instructive both for his own intellectual and political development and for what it tells us about the relationship between social democracy and liberalism in Germany.
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References
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18. “Der Leipziger Hochverratsprozess,” Weser-Zeitung, no. 12502 of Oct. 25, 1881; “Deutsches Reich,” nos. 12865, 12755 of Oct. 26 and July 8, 1882.
19. “Zur Kritik des Unfallversicherungsgesetzes,” Weser-Zeitung, nos. 12278, 12280 of Mar. 13 and 15, 1881; “Die liberale Partei und die Arbeiter,” no. 10958, morning ed. of July 20, 1877. On Bismarck's social policy see Vogel, pp. 22–29, 67–89, 132–73; Lidtke, pp. 158–64; Sheehan, Brentano, p. 77; Bartel, pp. 1089–106.
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24. Neither Engels nor Bebel had much faith in the prospects of the Democratic Party. See Letters Bebel to Engels of Nov. 24, 1884 and Engels to Bebel of Dec. 11–12, 1884 in Bebel, pp. 198–99; also Ratz, pp. 16–22; Höhle, pp. 171–73; Seeber and Wittwer, pp. 105–13.
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26. “Über Demokratie und Verwandtes,” DB 2, no. 1 (01 31, 1885).Google Scholar Höhle doubts that Mehring wrote this article, but it is clear that he did, or at least accepted its thesis, from his reprinting part of it in the Berliner Volks-Zeitung years later. See “Über bürgerliche Demokratie,” Berliner Volks-Zeitung (hereafter BVZ) 36, no. 60, 1st ed. of 03 12, 1887.Google Scholar See also Seeber, pp. 146–48.
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29. “Zur Kritik der Arbeiterbewegung,” BVZ 33, no. 204 of 09 9, 1885Google Scholar. For socialist reaction to Viereck's “opportunism,” see Lidtke pp. 210–12.
30. Mehring had written a long, sympathetic, mostly uncritical review of Marx on his death in 1883. Before that his knowledge of Marxism was slight, although even here he did not discuss such basic categories of orthodox Marxism as class struggle, the materialist concept of history, the stages of historical development, or the base-superstructure schema, all of which he would come to accept in the course of the 1880s as Marx began to influence his political journalism more and more. See “Karl Marx,” Weser-Zeitung, no. 13011, morning ed. of Mar 22, 1883; no. 13020, morning ed. of Apr. 1, 1883; no. 13021, noon ed. of Apr. 2, 1883. Also Lidtke, p. 158; Vogel, p. 157.
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32. “Über die Gründbedingung sozialer Reformen,” op. cit.; “Freiheit und Sozialreform,” DB 1, no. 2 of 07 5, 1884Google Scholar; “Einiges über Rodbertus,” DB 2, no. 20 of 05 21, 1885Google Scholar; “Zur politische Psychologie der arbeitenden Klassen,” DB 1, no. 2 of 07 5, 1884.Google Scholar
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49. As early as November 1885, Mehring had become involved in a polemic with Eugen Richter's Freisinnige Zeitung because Richter had expressly rejected Mehring's call for an active liberal social policy. Mehring's reply had been cautious, merely expressing the hope that the Freisinnige Party would be ready to support “workers’ protective legislation in the sense of the old Progressive Party program.” See the articles listed in n. 28. When writing on the liberals’ lack of a social policy, Mehring's favorite strategy was to base himself on the social program of the Progressives under Waldeck, Franz Ziegler, and Duncker and to lament that the social demands of the old party were diluted in the Freisinn. See “Arbeiterschutz und Fortschrittspartei,” BVZ 35, no. 67, 1st ed. of 03 20, 1887Google Scholar; “Auch ein ‘Ton,’” 35, no. 293, 1st ed.09 1, 1887Google Scholar; “Freisinninge Sozialpolitik,” 36, no. 278, 1st ed. of 11 23, 1888Google Scholar. For Richter's social views see Sheehan, Liberalism, p. 206.
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