The contemporary social situation
poses grave and comprehensive challenges. The demands which have arisen
for new structures indicate that the solutions to these challenges must
be sought in ways which have not been previously considered. Conditions
being what they are, the time has perhaps come when attention will be
paid to someone whose experience in life obliges him to contend that
thoughtlessness concerning the ways which have become necessary has
resulted in social chaos. The arguments presented in this book are based
on this opinion. They deal with the prerequisites for transforming the
demands of a large part of contemporary humanity into purposeful social
will. The formation of this will should not depend on whether the demands
please some of us or not. They exist and must be dealt with as social
facts. This should be kept in mind by those whose position in life causes
them to find distasteful the author's description of proletarian demands
as something which must be reconciled by social will. The author wishes
to speak only in accordance with the realities of contemporary life,
insofar as his experience enables him to do so. He has seen the
inevitable consequences of ignoring the facts which have unfolded in the
life of modern man and of being blind to the necessity of a social will
to deal with them.
Self-styled experts in practical
matters (what have come to be regarded as practical matters under the
influence of routine) will, at first, be dissatisfied with the arguments
presented in this book. But it is just such persons as these who should
undergo a relearning process, for their ‘expertise’ has been proven by
recent events to be absolutely erroneous and has led to disastrous
consequences. They must learn to recognize many things as practical which
have seemed to them to be eccentric idealism. They may be critical of the
fact that the early parts of the book deal more with the spiritual life
of modern humanity than with economics. The author is obliged however,
from his personal knowledge of life, to take the position that the errors
of the past will only multiply if the decision is not made to focus
attention on modern humanity's spiritual life. Equally dissatisfied with
what the author says in this book will be those who are continuously
intoning clichés about mankind abandoning purely materialistic interests
and turning to ‘the spirit,’ to ‘idealism,’ for he attaches little
importance to the mere reference to ‘the spirit’ and talk about a
nebulous spiritual world. He can only recognize a spirituality which
constitutes the living substance of humanity. This manifests itself in
the mastery of practical aspects as well as in the formulation of a
worldview and of life which is capable of satisfying the needs of the
soul. It is not a matter of knowing — or believing to know — about
spirituality, but that it be a spirituality which is also applicable to
the practical realities of everyday life, one which accompanies these
everyday realities and is not a mere sideline reserved for the inner life
of the soul. To the ‘spiritualists’ the arguments presented in this book
will be too unspiritual, while to the ‘practical’ ones they will seem
unrealistic. The author is of the opinion, however, that he may be useful
to contemporary society in his way just because he does not share the
impracticality of those persons who consider themselves to be practical,
nor can he find any justification for the kind of talk about the ‘spirit’
that results in illusions.
The social question is spoken of in
this book as an economic, a human rights and a spiritual-cultural
question. The author is convinced that the true nature of this question
reveals itself in the requirements of the economic, rights and
spiritual-cultural spheres of society. The impulse for a healthy
coordination of these three spheres within the social organism can emerge
from a recognition of this fact. During previous periods of human
evolution social instincts saw to it that the three areas were integrated
in society in a way which corresponded to human nature as it was then. At
the present however, it is necessary for mankind to structure society by
means of purposeful social will. Between those past epochs and the
present there is a confusion of old instincts and modern consciousness
which is no longer competent to deal with the demands of modern humanity,
at least as far as those countries are concerned in which such a will is
meaningful. Often the old instincts persist in what passes today for
purposeful social thinking. This weakens thinking in relation to the
tasks it must face. A more profound effort than has been hitherto
supposed must be made by the men and women of the present in order to
work their way free of what is no longer viable. How the economic, rights
and spiritual spheres are to be structured in a way which corresponds to
the demands of modern society can, in my opinion, only be determined if
sufficient good will is developed to recognize this fact. What I believe
is necessary concerning the shape such structures should take is
submitted to contemporary judgment by means of this book. My wish is to
provide a stimulus along a way which leads to social objectives that
correspond to contemporary realities and necessities. For I believe that
only such efforts can transcend emotions and utopias where social will is
concerned.
If, in spite of this, some readers
find elements of this book utopian, then the author would suggest they
consider how often ideas concerning possible social developments are so
completely divorced from reality that they degenerate into nonsense. For
this reason, one is inclined to find utopias even in arguments which
derive from reality and direct experience, as has been attempted in this
book. One sees an argument as ‘abstract’ because only the habitual is
‘concrete,’ and the concrete is abstract if it does not coincide with the
habitual manner of thinking.*
I realize that followers of strict
party programs will at first be unhappy with this book. Nevertheless, I
am confident that many political party members will soon come to the
conclusion that events have already far outstripped party programs and
that a determination, independent of such programs, concerning the
immediate objectives of social will is necessary.
April 1919,
Rudolf Steiner
[* I have purposely
avoided confining myself to the customary political economic terminology.
I know exactly which passages a ‘specialist’ opinion will call
amateurish. My form of expression was determined not only by my desire to
address myself also to people who are not familiar with political and
social scientific literature, but primarily because of my view that a new
age will judge most of what is specialized in this literature, including
its terminology. to be one-sided and inadequate. I would remind those who
feel that I should have referred to seemingly similar social ideas of
others, that the points of departure and the ways described here, for
which I can thank decades of experience, are the essential points towards
a practical realization of the given impulses, and not merely this or
that type of thinking. Furthermore, as can be gathered from Chapter Four.
I had already committed myself to an attempt at practical realization,
when seemingly similar ideas in respect to one point or another had not
yet been noticed.]