Cathedral socialism

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The term “ catheter socialism” was a term used mostly polemically and disparagingly for the ideas of a group of economists who, out of strategic motivation, advocated a state social policy towards the end of the 19th century in order to counteract revolutionary social democracy. Today, the term is also used in historical studies in a neutral way.

Word origin

The legal scholar and liberal politician Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim used the expression “ Kathedersozialismus” , first in an article in the national newspaper on December 7, 1871, and then in his 1872 book, Kathedersozialismus, to polemically characterize the professors of economics who at the time were vehemently committed to state social policy. At that time, “ catheter ” was the common name for the desk of a school or university teacher. The term alludes to the fact that the representatives of the catheter socialism at the time came from the academic milieu.

Representative

The group of university professors identified in this way was assigned to economists such as Gustav von Schmoller , Hans Delbrück , Lujo Brentano , Adolf Held , Werner Sombart and Adolph Wagner .

Representatives of this direction such as Gustav von Schönberg and Erwin Nasse founded the Society for Social Reform in 1901 . It supported measures to introduce social insurance . At the same time, she tried to influence the supporters of reformism , who advocated reshaping the state through reforms instead of revolution within the SPD . According to M. Rainer Lepsius' analysis of the German party system , however, there was a “moral boundary” between the bourgeois-denominational communities and the workers' movement , which caused the workers' movement to be isolated from the system.

Schumpeter stated that the quality of academic teaching had suffered as a result of the political turn of German economics to the social question and current issues of social and economic and social policy, which ultimately led to a value dispute within the Verein für Socialpolitik . In Schumpeter's view, it was less about an epistemological problem than about whether a political creed should replace a specialist economic qualification. But the association has produced an impressive series of 188 volumes on individual economic issues, partly through working groups or with the assistance of private scholars.

The then still social democratic politician Rosa Luxemburg noted in the 2nd edition of her work “Social Reform or Revolution?” That the same “Kathedersozialisten” had voted a few years later as members of the Reichstag for the extension of the Socialist Law . The professors, who, incidentally, also advocated protective tariffs, militarism, etc., “did not do an iota” for social reforms; Since then, the association has also dealt with crises , cartels and the like.

Evaluation and effect of the term “ Kathedersozialismus”

Joseph A. Schumpeter called this designation "an unsurpassable ineptitude", Rosa Luxemburg wrote: "The same gentlemen ironically described by the liberal Oppenheim as 'Kathedersozialisten'". Nevertheless, or perhaps because of it, this designation has established itself as a political catchphrase .

literature

  • Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim: Kathedersozialismus. Oppenheim, Berlin 1872 (2nd edition 1873)
  • Maurice Block : The quintessence of the catheter socialism . FA Herbig, Berlin 1878.
  • Adolf Fleischmann: The Sonneberg toy house industry and its trade. As a defense against the traveling students of the Katheder socialism in the national economy . Simion, Berlin 1883
  • Against the cathedral socialism . Hobbing, Berlin issue 1, 1909 to issue 4, 1911
  • Hans Gehrling: The socio-political views of the German free trade school , Fischer, Jena 1909 (= The scientific foundation of social policy in the dispute of principles between Manchesterism and Catholic socialism , Phil. Habil. Halle May 27, 1909)
  • Gustav Ruhland: Basic economic terms. Submitted to the international association for the study of the conditions of the middle class. An orientation table about free trade, socialism, catheter socialism and the organic conception of the middle class . Kairos, Berlin 1910
  • Against the Katheder socialism! Bismarck as the guiding star of social knowledge . Berlin 1911
  • Paul Kampffmeyer : From Cathedral Socialism to Cathedral Capitalism. An answer to Professor L. Bernhard's 'Undesirable Consequences of German Social Policy' . Gerisch & Cie, Ludwigshafen 1913
  • Hans Gehrig: The justification of the principle of social reform. A literary-historical investigation into Manchesterism and Catholic Socialism . Fischer, Jena 1914
  • Lujo Brentano: Has the 'Brentano System' collapsed? About cathedral socialism and old and new mercantilism . Reiss, Berlin 1918
  • Fritz Völkerling: The German Kathedersozialismus. Verlag die Wirtschaft, Berlin 1959.
  • Werner Krause: Werner Sombart's path from catheter socialism to fascism . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1962
  • Hans-Jürgen Scheler: Cathedral socialism and economic power. Free University of Berlin. 1973 (Berlin, FU, Department of Economics, dissertation from June 15, 1972).
  • Jürgen Backhaus (Ed.): Essays on Social Security and Taxation. Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner Reconsidered. metropolis  : Marburg 1997. ISBN 3-89518-139-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Printed in: Collection of Sources for the History of German Social Policy 1867 to 1914 , Section I: From the Founding of the Reich to the Imperial Social Message (1867–1881) , Volume 8: Basic Social Policy Issues in Public Discussion: Churches, Parties, Associations and Associations , edited by Ralf Stremmel, Florian Tennstedt and Gisela Fleckenstein, Darmstadt 2006, No. 31
  2. ^ Otto Ladendorf: Kathedersozialisten . Historical subject book. Catchwords. (1906)
  3. ^ M. Rainer Lepsius: Party system and social structure. On the problem of the democratization of German society. In: Democracy in Germany. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1993. ISBN 3-525-35763-X . P. 44.
  4. ↑ Joseph A. Schumpeter, (Elizabeth B. Schumpeter, ed.): History of economic analysis. Second part of the volume. Vandenhoeck Ruprecht Göttingen 1965. P. 980ff.
  5. ^ Rosa Luxemburg: Social Reform or Revolution? 2nd, revised and supplemented edition, Verlag der Leipziger Buchdruckerei, Leipzig 1908.
  6. ^ Rosa Luxemburg: Collected Works . Vol. 1 1893 to 1905. First half volume. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, p. 403 footnote 6.
  7. ↑ Joseph A. Schumpeter, (Elizabeth B. Schumpeter, ed.): History of economic analysis. Second part of the volume. Vandenhoeck Ruprecht Göttingen 1965. p. 977, editor's note.
  8. ^ Rosa Luxemburg: Social Reform or Revolution? In: Rosa Luxemburg: Collected Works . Vol. 1 1893 to 1905. First half volume. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, p. 403 footnote 6.