Literature and Art in Socialistic Society.
When, in the new society, the young generation has come of age, the
further education will be every person’s own concern. Every one will
do whatever his inclinations and talents prompt him to do. Some will
devote themselves to one or another branch of the natural sciences
that will be more and more fully developed: Anthropology, zoology,
botany, mineralogy, geology, physics, chemistry, the prehistoric
sciences, etc. Others will take up history, etymology, or the history
of art. Some will become musicians, others artists, sculptors,
actors. In the future there will be neither “corporate” artists and
scientists nor corporate mechanics. Thousands of brilliant talents
that have so far been suppressed will develop and will prove their
knowledge and ability wherever an opportunity presents itself. There
will no longer be ~professional~ musicians, artists, actors and
scientists, but these will be all the more inspired by enthusiasm,
talent and genius. Their achievements are likely to excel present-day
achievements on these fields as vastly as the industrial, technical,
and agricultural achievements of future society will excel those of
modern society. An era of art and science will arise such as the
world has never known, and the achievements that will have created
it will be correspondingly great.
The coming renaissance of art that will result from the introduction
of conditions more worthy of human beings, has been foreseen by
no less a man than Richard Wagner, who expressed himself on this
subject as early as 1850, in his book on “Art and Revolution.” This
book is especially noteworthy because it was published right after
a revolution that had been beaten down and in which Wagner himself
participated. In this book, Wagner predicts what the future will
bring. He directly turns to the working class, who must help the
artists to establish true art. Among other things, he says: “When,
for ~the free human beings of the future~, it will no longer be
~the purpose of life~ to obtain the means of subsistence, but, as a
result of a new belief, or rather, ~knowledge~, they will be ~certain
of obtaining the means of subsistence in return for an appropriate
natural activity, when, in short, industry will no longer be our
mistress, but our servant, the true purpose of life will become the
enjoyment of life, and by education we will endeavor to make our
children capable of its real enjoyment. An education founded on the
exercise of strength and the care of physical beauty, will, owing to
the love for the child and the joy at the development of its beauty,
become a purely artistic one, and every human being will, in some
way, be a true artist. The diversity of natural inclinations will
develop the most manifold tendencies in an unthought of wealth.~”
This is a thoroughly Socialistic conception and coincides with our
description.
In the future, social life will become ever more public. Its trend of
development can be best judged by the completely altered position of
woman. Domestic life will be limited to what is absolutely essential,
while the desire for sociability will be given the widest field. Large
meeting halls for lectures and the discussion of public affairs--that
will in future be decided upon by the people at large--dining-halls,
reading-rooms, libraries, playgrounds, concerts, theaters, museums,
gymnasiums, public baths, parks and promenades, institutions of
education and learning, laboratories, etc., all splendidly equipped,
will afford ample opportunity for entertainment and sociability,
and will enable science and art to attain the highest degree of
development. In the same way the institutions for the care of the
sick, the infirm and the aged will meet the highest demands.
How petty will our present age seem in comparison! This fawning for
favors and good-will from above, this servile disposition, this
envious struggle against one another for the best place, carried
on by the lowest and most spiteful means, and, at the same time,
suppression of one’s true convictions, concealing of good qualities
that might displease those whose favor it sought, emasculation of
character, the feigning of opinions and feelings that one does
not possess--all these qualities that may be termed cowardice and
hypocrisy, are daily becoming more pronounced. Qualities that are
truly ennobling, self-confidence, independence and incorruptibility
of one’s opinions, are usually turned into faults and short-comings
under present-day conditions. Persons who cannot suppress these good
qualities are often ruined by them. Many are so accustomed to their
degradation that they do not even perceive it. The dog regards it as
a matter of course that he has a master who is sometimes ill-tempered
and whips him.
The altered conditions of social life will also thoroughly
revolutionize our literature. The theological literature, which
furnishes the largest number of works in the annual catalogues of
literary productions, will be eliminated, together with the judicial
literature. For the one there will be no more interest, and for the
other no need. The products that have reference to the struggles over
institutions of the state, will also be eliminated, because these
institutions will no longer exist. They will assume the character
of historical studies. The numerous literary products of a highly
superficial nature, which are just a proof of bad taste and sometimes
are made possible only by a sacrifice of the author’s pride, will
be dropped. Even from the present point of view, we may say that
four-fifths of all literary products might disappear from the market
~without a loss to one single interest of civilization~, so great
is the mass of superficial or harmful products and obvious trash on
the field of literature.
Fiction and the press will be affected in an equal measure. There is
nothing more superficial and insipid than the greater part of our
journalistic literature. If our standard of civilization were to be
estimated by the contents of our newspapers, it would be deemed a
low one, indeed. People and conditions are judged by the opinions
of past centuries that have long since been proven untenable by
science. A great many of our journalists are persons who, as Bismarck
correctly said, have missed their vocation, but whose standard of
education and salary are in keeping with the bourgeois interest in
their trade. Moreover, the newspapers, as well as a majority of the
magazines, have a very unworthy mission in their advertising sections,
and their reports of the money-market serve the same interests on a
different field. The material interest of the publishers determines
the contents. Modern fiction is, on an average, not much better
than journalistic literature. It cultivates the excesses of sexual
relations. It either renders homage to superficial enlightenment,
or to antiquated prejudice and superstition. The purpose is to let
the bourgeois world appear as the best of worlds, regardless of the
numerous short-comings that are, to some extent, admitted.
On this wide and important realm future society will have to clear
up thoroughly. Science, truth, beauty and the conflict of opinions
as to what is best, will alone control it. Every person of talent
and ability will be enabled to participate. The writer will no
longer depend upon the favor of the publisher, financial interest or
prejudice; he will depend upon the judgment of impartial experts whom
he will help to select and against whose decisions he may appeal to
the community--all of which is impossible to-day with a publisher or
the editor of a newspaper, who only take their private interest into
consideration. The naïve conception, that a difference of opinions
would be suppressed in a Socialistic community, can be maintained
only by those who consider the bourgeois world a perfect state of
society, and, out of hostility to Socialism, seek to slander and
belittle it. A society founded upon perfect, democratic equality,
will bear no oppression. ~Only perfect freedom of thought makes
uninterrupted progress possible, which is the principle of life for
society.~ It is a gross misrepresentation to depict bourgeois society
as a defender of real freedom of thought. Parties that represent the
interests of the ruling classes will only publish that in the press
which is not adverse to class interests, and woe to him who would
do otherwise! His social ruin is certain, as every one knows who
is acquainted with conditions. The writers know how the publishers
treat literary works that do not suit them. Finally, the press and
criminal laws betray what spirit dominates the ruling classes. True
freedom of thought appears to them as the most dangerous of all
evils.