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A Prussian Socialism? Wichard von Moellendorff and the Dilemmas of Economic Planning in Germany, 1918–19
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 December 2008
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In the wake of Germany's military defeat in 1918, social and economic programs that previously could have been left to academicians or party theoreticians suddenly acquired a new urgency and immediacy. One of the more interesting—and controversial—of these was an ambitious proposal by the engineer Wichard von Moellendorff, who served in 1918 and 1919 as Under State Secretary in the Reich Economics Office (later the Economics Ministry), to redesign the entire edifice of the German economy through the implementation of a system of economic “collectivism” or “planning” (Gemeinwirtschaft or Planwirtschaft). With the assistance of his superiors, the right-wing Social Democrats August Müller and Rudolf Wissell, Moellendorff endeavored to institutionalize his plans in the months after the November Revolution, until a negative cabinet decision in July 1919 precipitated his resignation.
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References
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34. See Moellendorff's conferences with his coworkers in the Reich Economics Office: “Niederschrift der Besprechung vom 20. November 1918” and “Niederschrift der Besprechung vom 21. November 1918,” both in BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 160; “Niederschrift der Besprechung vom 22. November 1918,” BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 155. See also his notes of conferences between Nov. 23 and Dec. 10, 1918, in BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 78; and “Niederschrift des Ergebnisses aus den Besprechungen zwischen dem 23.November und 5. Dezember 1918,” BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 153.
35. “Denkschrift des Reichswhtschaftsamts über seine Tätigkeit seit Mitte November 1918” (Dec. 30, 1918), p. 3, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 152.
36. “Denkschrift zur Frage der praktischen Sozialisierung” (Jan. 4, 1919) and “Denkschrift zur Neuregelung der Reichsbehorden” (Jan. 4,1919), both in BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 152. See also Honhart, “Revolution,” p. 94, and Biechele, “Kampf,” p. 79.
37. “Entwurf eines Reich-Gesetzes über Energiewirtschaft” (Jan. 14, 1919), “Erste Vorschläge für ein Reichskohlengesetz” and “Erste Vorschläge für ein Reichs-Elektrizitätsgesetz,” all in BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 167.
38. “Stenogramm einer Aussprache des Unterstaatssekretärs v. Moellendorff in der Lessing-Hochschule vom 4. Februar 1919,” BA: NL Rudolf Wissell, I/12/859–62. These remarks were reprinted under the title “Die Gemeinwirtschaft” in Der Geist der neuen Volksgemeinschaft: Eine Denkschrift für das deutsche Volk, ed. Heimatdienst, Zentrale für (Berlin, 1919), pp. 52–55.Google Scholar
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40. Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” pp. 103–9. On the various currents of opinion within the German Democratic Party, see Albertin, Lothar, Liberalismus und Demokratie am Anfang der Weimarer Republik: Eine vergleichende Analyse der Deutschen Demokratischen Partei und der Deutschen Volkspartei (Düsseldorf, 1972), esp. pp. 293–308.Google Scholar
41. Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 121–22; Ernst Trendelenburg to Moellendorff, Feb. 8, 1919, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 154.
42. Wissell, Rudolf to Moellendorff, Feb. 14, 1919, BA: NL Wissell, IV/22/3305.Google Scholar On Wissell, see Bach, Otto, ed., Rudolf Wissell: Ein Leben für soziale Gerechtigkeit, 2nd ed. (Berlin-Grunewald, 1959), and Barclay, “Social Politics and Social Reform.”Google Scholar
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44. Schulze, Hagen, ed., Akten der Reiehskanzlei, Weimarer Republik: Das Kabinett Scheidemann,13. Februar bis 20. Juni 1919 (Boppard am Rhein, 1971), pp. xlv, 10n.;Google Scholar Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” pp. 153–56; Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 130–35.
45. Wissell to Carl Legien, Mar. 4, 1919, BA: NL Wissell, II/18/1856.
46. Texts of the two bills can be found, inter alia, in Heilfron, Eduard, ed., Die deutsche Nationalversammlung im Jahre 1919 in ihrer Arbeit für den Aufbau des neuen deutschen Volksstaates, 9 vols. (Berlin, 1919–1920), 3: 1336–37n.Google Scholar
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49. See the correspondence between Wissell and the Socialization Commission in Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam: NL Karl Kautsky, G13/22, 12, 23, 4–5, 10, as well as the discussion of these matters in Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 146–48.
50. The text of the potash law can be found in Heilfron, ed., Nationalversammlung, 4: 2639–40. For a consideration of the Mar.–Apr. “Socialization Laws” from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, see Brehme, Gerhard, Die sogenannte Sozialisierungsgesetzgebung der Weimarer Republik (Berlin/DDR, 1960), pp. 51–98.Google Scholar
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52. Moellendorff's remarks can be found in a document reprinted in Feldman, Gerald D. and Homburg, Heidrun, Industrie und Inflation: Studien und Dokumente zur Politik der deutschen Unternehmer 1916–1923 (Hamburg, 1977), p. 212.Google Scholar
53. “Zweiter Monatsbericht des Reichswirtschaftsministeriums für die Zeit vom 16. März bis 15. April 1919” (Apr. 25, 1919), pp. 2, 9–10, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 168 (another copy in BA: Bestand R 43 I/1126: 79–88). See also the discussion in Feldman, Iron and Steel, pp. 105, 187–89.
54. The bill languished in the Committee of States for several months and was finally withdrawn in August, after Wissell's resignation (Schulze, ed., Kabinett Scheidemann, pp. 371–72n.). See also Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” p. 164; “Zweiter Monatsbericht des Reichswirtschaftsministeriums,” p. 10; “Dritter Monatsbericht des Reichswirtschaftsministeriums für die Zeit vom 16. April bis 15. Mai 1919” (May 28, 1919), pp. 1–2, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 168 (another copy in BA: R 43 I/1126: 150–62); “Entwurf eines Reichsausschusses für das Papierfach,” in Veröffentlichungen des Rekhsverbands der deutschen Industrie, no. 2 (June 1919), pp. 28–29.
55. “Niederschrift der vorbereitenden Sitzung des Düngestickstoff-Ausschusses am 18. Juni 1919, nachmittags 4 Uhr” and “Niederschrift der konstituierenden Sitzung des Düngestickstoff-Ausschusses am 30. Juni 1919, nachmittags 4 Uhr im Reichswirtschaftsministerium,” BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 160; “4. Monatsbericht des Reichswirtschaftsministeriums für die Zeit vom 16. Mai 1919 bis 15. Juni 1919” (June 26, 1919), pp. 2, 14, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 168 (another copy in BA: R 43 I/1126: 272–84).
56. “Selbstverwaltungskörper,” Veröffentlichungen des Rekhsverbands der deutschen Industrie, no. 2 (June 1919), p. 11.
57. The minutes of this meeting are reprinted in Feldman and Homburg, Industrie und Inflation, pp. 210–17; see also the discussion in Feldman, Iron and Steel, pp. 105–8. Among Moellendorff's most embittered industrial critics were iron wares industrialists in the Elberfeld area, who reacted with extreme hostility to the Economics Ministry's efforts in May and June to establish an Export Control Sub-Bureau there. See ibid., p. 107; see also the harshly polemical tone of the speeches reproduced in Verband zur Wanning der gemeinsamen Interessen der deutschen Kleineisen- und Waffen-Industrie, Elberfeld, Sitz, Bericht über die Verhandlungen der deutschen Kleineisen- und Waffen-Industrie zwecks Zusatnmenschluss der gesamten Kleineisen- und Waffen-Industrie und über die Stellungnahme zu den Plänen des Reichswirtschqftsministeriums über die Planwirtschaft und die Gründung einer Aussenhandelsnebenstelle in Elberfeld (Elberfeld, n.d. [1919]Google Scholar copy in Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, Cologne: Sammlung Oskar Funcke, Kasten 1). On the other hand, Moellendorff could count on a rather friendly reception from leaders of the highly organized chemical industry, such as Julius Bueb of the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (who had known him during the war) or Franz Oppenheim of Agfa. Carl Duisberg of Bayer, however, was less enthusiastic, noting that Moellendorff “was far too theoretical and kept his head in the clouds too much.” Bueb to Duisberg, Feb. 6, 1919; Oppenheim to Duisberg, Feb. 15, 1919; and Duisberg to Oppenheim, Feb. 19, 1919, all in Bayer-Archiv, Leverkusen: Autographensammlung Carl Duisberg.
58. “Bericht über die Frage der Selbstverwaltungskörper: 12. Juni 1919/Berlin,” Veröffentlkhungen des Rekhsverbands der deutschen Industrie, no. 3 (July 1919), pp. 4–13. Moellendorff's speech is reprinted in Moellendorff, Konservativer Sozialismus, pp. 125–40, and Rudolf Wissell and Wichard von Moellendorff, Wirtschaftliche Selbstverwaltung: Zwei Kundgebungen des Reichswirtschqftsministeriutns (Jena, 1919), pp. 17–30.
59. “Bericht über die Frage der Selbstverwaltungskörper,” pp. 21, 25. See also Maier, Recasting Bourgeois Europe, pp. 145–46.
60. Kraemer to Moellendorff, July 2, 1919, BA: NL Moellendorff, no. 153.
61. Feldman, Gerald D., “The Collapse of the Steel Works Association, 1912–1919: A Case Study in the Operation of German ‘Collective Capitalism,’” in Sozialgeschichte Heute: Festschrift für Hans Rosenberg zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. Wehler, Hans-Ulrich (Göttingen, 1974), p. 585. See also the discussion in Feldman, Iron and Steel, pp. 104–5.Google Scholar
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63. II. Kongress, pp. 180–86.
64. Ibid., pp. 221–22; see also Maier, Recasting Bourgeois Europe, p. 143.
65. Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” p. 152.
66. Schulze, ed., Kabinett Scheidemann, pp. xlvi, 264–65, 268–71; Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 155–57,164. See also Georg Gothein, “Aus meiner politischen Arbeit,” p. 86, BA: NL Georg Gothein, no. 12.
67. Schulze, ed., Kabinett Scheidemann, p. 272n. The memorandum and economic program can be found ibid., pp. 272–89; both documents, as well as various legislative guidelines attached to them, are also reprinted in Wissell, Praktische Wirtschaftspolitik, pp. 97–123.
68. Schulze, ed., Kabinett Scheidemann, pp. 275, 279–80. Emphasis in original.
69. Ibid., pp. 281,284–89; Wissell, Praktische Wirtschaftspolitik, pp. 113–23. The memorandum and the program have been discussed in a variety of places; but see Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” pp. 172–78; Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 160–66; Biechele, “Kampf,” pp. 192–95, and the older treatments in Redlich, “German Economic Planning,” pp. 328–30, and Bowen, Corporative State, pp. 190–95.
70. Schulze, ed., Kabinett Scheidemann, pp. 289–97.
71. Bernhard, Georg, “Der Aufbau,” Vossische Zeitung, 05 26, 1919 (morning ed.);Google ScholarSteinmann-Bucher, Arnold, Sozialisierung? (Berlin, 1919), p. 170.Google Scholar
72. For example, see “Bericht über eine Konferenz des Hansabundes am 28. März 1919, in welcher festgestellt werden sollte, ob und welche Wege vorhanden sind, die unter Aufrechterhaltung der privatwirtschaftlichen Grundlagen der Gesamtwirtschaft denjenigen Zielen möglichst Rechnung tragen, welche die Arbeiterkreise mit der Sozialisierung anstreben,” BA: R 13 I/283: 74–80.
73. Roselius, Gegen die Zwangswirtschaft.
74. Curt Köhler to Reich Cabinet, June 20, 1919, BA: R 43 I/1146: 168–69. See also the complaints of the Hansa-Bund in BA: R 43 I/1189:18, as well as the numerous letters to the Reich government from various local chambers of commerce and similar organizations in BA: R 43 I/1146. Some important leaders of the chemical industry—who, as was already noted, tended to give Moellendorff a friendly hearing—were highly critical of the behavior both of the Hansa-Bund and of the economic liberals in the Scheidemann cabinet. For example, Rudolf Frank of the Association for the Maintenance of the Interests of the Chemical Industry of Germany (Verein zur Wahrung der Interessen der chemischen Industrie Deutschlands) noted in early June that “If the Hansa-Bund would work against Herr Moellendorff and criticize him objectively, it would be perfectly entitled to do so. But to attack an opponent in such an unbelievably purely personal, malicious, and unfair way … is simply crude.” Frank went on to denounce Dernburg and Gothein, “who work entirely in the interest of commerce against industry.” Frank to Carl Duisberg, June 8, 1919, Bayer-Archiv, Leverkusen: Autographensammlung Carl Duisberg.
75. Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des Parteitags der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands abgehalten in Weimar vom 10. bis 15. Juni 1919 (Berlin, 1919), p. 364.Google Scholar Most of this speech is reproduced in Wissell, Rudolf, “Wir kommen doch wieder hoch!” Sozialistische Monatshefte 25 (07 7, 1919): 597–605.Google Scholar
76. See the discussion in Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” pp. 182–83; Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 172–78; and Breitman, Richard David, “Socialism and the Parliamentary System in Germany 1918–1932: The Political Strategy of the German Social Democratic Party Leaders” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1975), pp. 110–11.Google Scholar For a critical contemporary view of the congress, see Singer, Kurt, “Sozialdemokratische Wirtschaftspolitik,” Wirtschaftsdienst 4, no. 25 (06 20, 1919): 465–66.Google Scholar
77. Baumeister, Albert, a prominent unionist, wrote to Wissell on June 17: “Your speech at the party congress has evoked lively and agreeable comment among our comrades, and it will long remain the subject of spirited discussion” (BA: NL Wissell, II/16/ 1119). The historian Arthur Rosenberg later noted that in his Weimar speech Wissell “saw very clearly the state of affairs in Germany at that time.”Google ScholarRosenberg, Arthur, A History of the German Republic, trans. Ian Morrow, F. D. and Sieveking, L. Marie (London, 1936), p. 126.Google Scholar
78. Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 184–85.
79. Protokoll der Verhandlungen des zehnten Kongresses der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands: Abgehalten zu Nümberg vom 30. Juni bis 5. Juli 1919 (Berlin, 1919), pp. 523–61;Google Scholar see also the discussions in Honhart, “Revolution,” pp. 181–83, and Breitman, “Socialism,” p. 112.
80. “Entwurf einer Erklärung der Reichsregierung auf die Interpellation Arnstadt und Genossen,” BA: R 43 I/1350: 135–53, and “Zur Frage der Wirtschaftspolitik,” BA: R 43 I/1350: 117–331.
81. BA: R 43 I/1350: 90; Wissell to Ebert, July 12, 1919, BA: NL Wissell, m/20/ 2851–55.
82. Honhart, “Revolution,” chap, vi; Breitman, “Socialism,” pp. 114–22; Feldman, Iron and Steel, pp. 108, 130–40, 187–209.
83. Honhart, “Revolution,” chap. vi.
84. Breitman, “Socialism,” p. 114.
85. On Moellendorff's later life, see Bowen, Corporative State, pp. 204–6, and especially Schmid, “Moellendorff,” pp. 181–86.
86. Fritz Rathenau to Wissell, July 18, 1919, BA: NL Wissell, II/17/1712–13.
87. Relations between Walther Rathenau and Moellendorff had been deteriorating for some time prior to 1919 (Burchardt, “Rohstoffbewirtschaftung,” p. 189, and Schmid, “Moellendorff,” p. 183). Among other things, they differed over who should get credit for the KRA. Then Wissell had criticized Rathenau's views in a National Assembly speech in March, and Rathenau had fired off an angry “open letter” in the Saalezeitung of Apr. 7, to which Moellendorff had replied in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on Apr. 20 (morning ed.). Documents concerning this affair can be found in BA: R 43 I/2111; it is also described in Albertin, Liberalismus, p. 305n., and Maier, Recasting Bourgeois Europe, p. 159.
88. Landauer, Karl, “Die Planwirtschaft: Ein Nachwort zu Parteitagsdebatte,” Die Neue Zeit 39, pt. 1, no. 11 (12 10, 1920): 253–55;Google ScholarLandauer, Carl, European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements from the Industrial Revolution to Hitler's Seizure of Power, 2 vols. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1959), 1: 844–45.Google Scholar See also the exchange between Sachs, Max, “Planwirtschaft und Sozialisierung,” Die Neue Zeit 39, pt. 1, no. 19 (02 4,1921): 448–53,Google Scholar and Landauer, Karl, “Nochmals zur Frage der Planwirtschaft,” Die Neue Zeit 39, pt. 1, no. 20 (02 11, 1921): 472–75.Google Scholar On the relationship between “guild” ideas and the gemeinwirtschqftlich views of Rathenau, Moellendorff, and Wissell, see Heimann, Eduard, “Die Sozialisierung,” Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 45 (1918–1919): 540–57.Google Scholar
89. Schieck, “Wirtschaftspolitik,” p. 165.
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