Rudolf Meyer (publicist)

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Rudolf Hermann Meyer (born December 10, 1839 in Friedeberg , Neumark , † January 16, 1899 in Dessau ) was a German socially conservative publicist .

Rudolf (Rudolph) Hermann Meyer around 1879

Life

Meyer attended school in Kolberg and Stettin and studied from 1860 to 1864 in Berlin, first natural sciences , later history , philosophy and economics . In 1864/65 Meyer was a private tutor in Hungary, then a journalist in Berlin. He had been a close collaborator of Hermann Wagener since 1867 and published in his Berliner Revue . In 1872 both made the unsuccessful attempt to found a monarchical-national party with a strongly socially conservative accent. In 1874 he received his doctorate from the University of Jena with a thesis on "Socialism in Denmark". Since 1875 Meyer distanced himself from Otto von Bismarck out of disappointment with his liberal economic policy. He was active in the Conservative Party , but was expelled in 1876 because of "socialist tendencies". Meyer was the chief editor of the Berliner Revue (1870–1873). His book "Political founder and Corruption in Germany" (1877) was immediately banned and Meyer to one and a half years prison sentenced. Meyer fled to Austria , however, and worked there from 1877 to 1881 as the business editor of the newspaper "Vaterland". From 1881 to 1889 Meyer emigrated, first to the USA , then to Canada , where he successfully built up a farm. In 1889 he returned to Austria, worked as an agricultural advisor for large agrarians in Bohemia and Moravia and wrote again for the "Fatherland". Later (1892 to 1895) he wrote for the Marxist newspaper " Neue Zeit ". He had previously maintained personal and correspondence contacts with Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , Laura Lafargue and Karl Kautsky . In 1897 he was able to return to Germany.

Political ideas

Meyer represented a strictly religiously based social conservatism and Christian anti-capitalism. In addition to Wagener, Lorenz von Stein and Johann Karl Rodbertus exerted great influence on him. In his main work "The Emancipation Struggle of the Fourth Estate" he postulated the struggle against unrestrained economic liberalism as the main goal . Against the accumulation of capital, Meyer recommended comprehensive social legislation, land reform, a strict ban on usury and the establishment of state-owned enterprises. He also advocated a strengthening of the trade unions by granting the right to strike, as well as a statutory working time limit. He set his hopes not only in a coalition of interests of landowners, small businesses and workers, but also in the monarchy as a social kingdom in the sense of Lorenz von Stein. The hoped-for social reform should, as it were, be carried out from above by the ruling authorities of the state, the church and the possessing class, peacefully with the help of the fourth estate. The rights of the fourth estate were given priority to him, but at the same time the cultural achievements were to be preserved. In this sense Meyer was both social and conservative.

Fonts (selection)

  • The stock corporations. Handbook for bankers, actionaire and business people . 4 vols. Schindler, Berlin 1872–1873
  • The threatening development of socialism and the teaching of Lassalle. Berlin 1873
  • The rural worker question in Germany. Socialism - emigration - means against both . Schindler, Berlin 1873
  • Socialism in Denmark . Ringer & Sohn, Berlin 1875 (Phil. Diss. Jerna 1874)
  • The struggle for emancipation of the fourth estate . 2 vol., Schindler, Berlin 1874–1875
  • Political founders and corruption in Germany . Bidder, Berlin 1877
  • Letters and social-political articles by Johann Karl Rodbertus-Jagetzow . Ed. by Rudolph Meyer. 2 vols., Klein, Berlin 1880
  • Theory of socialism. Catholic socialism. The international. Germany. Schulze. Lassalle. Marx. The trade unions. The social conservatives. The workers press. Position of the governments on the social parties . Schindler, Berlin 1882
  • Homestead and other economic laws of the United States of America, Canada, Russia, China, India, Romania, Serbia and England. With previously unprinted letters from Jefferson and a draft of a new agricultural law. Ed. With introductory a. explanatory treatises by Rudolf Meyer . Bahr, Berlin / Görlitz 1883
  • Causes of American Competition. Results of a study tour of Counts Géza Andrassy through the United States. Edited by R. Meyer . Bahr, Berlin 1893
  • Capitalism fin de siècle . Verlag-Buchhandlung Austria, Vienna 1894
  • The sinking of the basic rent and its possible social and political questions . Vienna / Leipzig 1894
  • A hundred years of conservative politics and literature . Vienna and Leipzig 1895
  • Colonization of the unemployed. A new farming system . Vienna / Leipzig 1896

Article from Die Neue Zeit (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The spelling Rudolf or Rudolph appear on books . Which is the correct form of the name is still unknown.
  2. ^ Lothar Machtan: Meyer, Rudolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, p. 371 names two possible places of birth, namely also Schwarzsee Kreis Oststernberg . However, this is incorrect as the family database Kreise Arnswalde and Friedeberg (Neumark) shows.
  3. ^ Marie-Louise von Plessen : The effectiveness of the association for social politics from 1872 to 1890. Studies on the catheter and state socialism . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1975, p. 38
  4. ^ Family Marx private , pp. 112-113.
  5. ^ Marx excerpted this book (IISG Marx Engels Nachlass B 155 booklet CXXIX, beginning of June 1879, pp. 2–40: R. Meyer, Politische Gründer und die Corruption in Deutschland, 1877)
  6. ↑ Engels excerpted this book (IISG Marx Engels Nachlass J 34 Booklet IXX, 1878-1880 pp. 2–15: Rudolf Meyer, Politische Gründer 1877)
  7. ↑ The first volume is one of the missing ex-libris by Karl Marx (MEGA division IV vol. 32, p. 66).
  8. ↑ With a dedication from Meyer to Engels. MEGA Department IV Vol. 32, No. 555, p. 322.
  9. ↑ Also a gift from Meyer to Engels with a dedication. MEGA Department IV Vol. 32, No. 889, p. 460.
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyer, Rudolf Hermann; Meyer, Rudolph Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Friedeberg , Neumark
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1899
Place of death Dessau