[237] To v. Kirchmann, in 1880.
[238] Dr. Carl Rodbertus-Jagetzow, _Schriften_ (Berlin, 1899), vol. iii,
pp. 172-4, 184.
[239] Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 104 f.
[240] Op. cit., vol. i, p. 99.
[241] Ibid., p. 173.
[242] Ibid., p. 176.
[243] Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 65.
[244] _Schriften_, vol. i, pp. 182-4.
[245] Ibid., pp. 182-4.
[246] Ibid., p. 72.
[247] _Schriften_, vol. iii, pp. 110-11.
[248] Ibid., p. 108.
[249] Op. cit., vol. i, p. 62.
[250] _Schriften_, vol. iv, p. 226.
[251] In _Towards the Understanding of Our Politico-Economic
Conditions_, part ii, n. 1.
[252] In _On Commercial Crises and the Mortgage Problem of the
Landowners_, quoted above (op. cit., vol. iii, p. 186).
[253] Op. cit., vol. iv, p. 233. It is interesting to note in this
connection how Rodbertus appears in practice as an extremely sober and
realistically-minded prophet of capitalist colonial policy, in the
manner of the present-day 'Pan-Germans', his moral ranting about the
unhappy fate of the working classes notwithstanding. In a footnote to
the above quotation, he writes: 'We can go on to glance briefly at the
importance of the opening up of Asia, in particular of China and Japan,
the richest markets in the world, and also of the maintenance of English
rule in India. It is to defer the solution of the social problem.' (The
eloquent avenger of the exploited ingenuously discloses the means by
which the profiteering exploiters can continue 'their stupid and
criminal error', their 'flagrant injustice' for as long as possible.)
'For the solution of this problem, the present lacks in unselfishness
and moral resolution no less than in intelligence.' (Rodbertus'
philosophical resignation is unparalleled!) 'Economic advantage cannot,
admittedly, constitute a legal title to intervention by force, but on
the other hand, a strict application of modern natural and international
law to all the nations of the world, whatever their state of
civilisation, is quite impracticable.' (A comparison with Dorine's words
in Molière's _Tartuffe_ is irresistible: 'Le ciel défend, de vraie,
certains contentements, mais il y a avec lui des accommodements.')--'Our
international law has grown from a civilisation of _Christian_ ethics,
and since all law is based upon reciprocity, it can only provide the
standard for relations between nations of the same civilisation. If it
is applied beyond these limits, it is sentiment rather than natural and
international law and the Indian atrocities should have cured us of it.
Christian Europe should rather partake of the spirit which made the
Greeks and the Romans regard all the other peoples of the world as
barbarians. The younger European nations might then regain the drive for
making world history which impelled the Ancients to spread their native
civilisation over the countries of the globe. They would reconquer Asia
for world history by _joint action_. Such common purpose and action
would in turn stimulate the greatest social progress, a firm foundation
of peace in Europe, a reduction of armies, a colonisation of Asia in the
ancient Roman style--in other words, a genuine solidarity of interests
in all walks of social life.' The vision of capitalist colonial
expansion inspires the prophet of the exploited and oppressed to almost
poetical flights, all the more remarkable for coming at a time when a
civilisation of Christian ethics accomplished such glorious exploits as
the Opium Wars against China and the Indian atrocities--that is to say,
the atrocities committed by the British in their bloody suppression of
the Indian Mutiny.--In his second _Letter on Social Problems_, in 1850,
Rodbertus had expressed the conviction that if society lacks the 'moral
resolution' necessary to solve the social question, in other words, to
change the distribution of wealth, history would be forced to 'use the
whip of revolution against it' (op. cit., vol. ii, p. 83). Eight years
later, however, the stalwart Prussian prefers to crack the whip of a
colonial policy of Christian ethics over the natives of the colonial
countries. It is, of course, what one might expect of the 'original
founder of scientific socialism in Germany' that he should also be a
warm supporter of militarism, and his phrase about the 'reduction of
armies' is but poetic licence in his verbal fireworks. In his essay _On
the Understanding of the Social Question_ he explains that the 'entire
national tax burden is perpetually gravitating towards the bottom,
sometimes in form of higher prices for wage goods, and sometimes in form
of lower money wages'. In this connection, he considers conscription
'under the aspect of a charge on the state', explaining that 'as far as
the working classes are concerned, it is nothing like a tax but rather a
confiscation of their entire income for many years'. He adds
immediately: 'To avoid misunderstanding I would point out that I am a
staunch supporter of our present military constitution (i.e. the
military constitution of counter-revolutionary Prussia)--although it may
be oppressive to the working classes and demand great financial
sacrifices from the propertied classes' (op. cit., vol. iii, p. 34).
That does not even sound like a lion's roar!
[254] _Schriften_, vol. iii, p. 182.
[255] Published already in 1845.
[256] _Schriften_, vol. iv, p. 231.
_CHAPTER XVII_