Varia on Germany

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These manuscripts show that Engels intended to write a treatise on German history. He gave his attention to the subject on repeated occasions, particularly in 1873-74. He wrote to Wilhelm Liebknecht on January 27, 1874: “I wanted to write something on Germany for the Volksstaat, but to do so immersed myself into economic and statistical research so deeply that the result will probably be a booklet, if not a whole book.” Engels’ plan, however, remained unfulfilled. Apart from the preparatory materials, two draft manuscripts are extant. The first one is divided into two sections. The “Introduction. 1500-1789”, outlines the opening part of the planned work, in which Engels intended to trace German history up to the French Revolution. The second section of this manuscript, “ 1789-1815”, is a plan for the study of German history ofthat period. The second manuscript, entitled “Varia on Germany. 1789-1873”, deals mainly with the 19th century up to contemporary developments. Unlike the first one, this manuscript consists of separate notes unconnected chronologically and touching upon individual aspects of the historical development of Germany both in the period indicated by the title, and in earlier times.

Excerpts from Varia on Germany were published in English in V.O.K.S.- Bulletin, Nos. 11 and 12, Moscow-Riga, 1945, and in F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1956.

I. INTRODUCTION 1500-1789

1. Germany more and more fragmented and the centre weakened end of 15th century, with France and England already more or less centralised and the nation in the process of formation. This impossible in Germany because 1. feudalism developed later than in the countries that had suffered conquest;

2. Germany had French and Slavonic constituents and saw Italy as belonging to it and Rome as its centre—thus no national complex; 3. because, and this is the main thing, the individual provinces and groups of provinces were still utterly isolated from one another, no traffic, etc. (vid. Peasant War). The Hansa, the Rhenish League of Cities and Swabian League of Cities represented natural, but separate groups.

Ad I, 1. Spain, France, England end 15th century grown together into constituted national states. This consolidation epochmaking for 15th century (Spain—unification of the Catalan and Castilian nationalities; Portugal, the Iberian Holland, had established its right to a separate existence through its navigation; France—through the dynasty-allodium, which gradually absorbed the nation.— England (England only reached this stage after being forced to renounce its Quixotic plans for conquest of France— similar to Germany’s Roman campaigns—which would have bled it white, as the Roman campaigns had bled white Germany)—by the Wars of the Roses, which destroyed the nobility.—Germany would still have been centralised despite its economic desultoriness, indeed earlier (e.g., under the Ottos), had it not been for the fact 1) that the Roman emperorship, with its claim to world domination, ruled out the establishment of a national state and dissipated its energies on the Italian campaigns of conquest (after-effects in Austria until 1866!), in which German interests were continually betrayed, and 2) that the system of elective monarchy never permitted a merging of the nation with the imperial allodium but always—and particularly in the 15th, decisive, century—changed dynasties as soon as their allodium grew too great for the princes.— In France and Spain, too, there was economic fragmentation, overcome by force.

The “Kulturkampf” between the Emperor and the Pope in the Middle Ages split Germany and Italy (where the Pope was an obstacle to national unity and, at the same time, often apparently its champion, but in such a way that, e.g., Dante saw the saviour of Italy in the foreign Emperor) and, by 1500, the Pope had positioned himself right across Italy as the prince possessing the middle of the country, and made unity physically impossible.

2. Nevertheless, Germany would have grown into a single entity through the natural development of trade, the Germanisation of the Slavs and the loss of the French provinces and of Italy since the world trade route passed through Germany, had two decisive events not occurred to prevent this:

— 1) The German burghers made their revolution—which, in accordance with the spirit of the age, appeared in a religious form—the Reformation. But how lousy! Impossible without the imperial knights and the peasants; but all 3 estates prevented by conflicting interests: knights often the robbers of the towns (vid. Mangold von Eberstein) and oppressors of the peasants, and towns also peasant-bashers (Council of Ulm and peasants!); imperial knights rise up first, are left in the lurch by the burghers, perish; peasants rise up, are directly opposed by the burghers. At the same time, the bourgeois religious revolution so castrated that it appeals to the princes, and the latter are given the leadership. Ad 2, 1: Specifically theological-theoretical character of the German revolution of the 16th century. Predominant interest in things not of this world, abstraction from wretched reality—basis of subsequent theoretical superiority of the Germans from Leibniz to Hegel.

— 2) The world trade route removed from Germany, and Germany pushed into an isolated corner, whereby the power of the burghers broken, the Reformation ditto.

— 3) Result that cuius regio, eius religio, and that Germany actually disintegrated into a predominantly Protestant North, predominantly Catholic but very mixed Southwest, and exclusively Catholic Southeast. This already predetermined developments of 1740-1870 (Prussia, split between North and South, finally Little Germany and Austria). Opposite of France. Suppression of the Huguenots (vid. “Varia” p. 2).

3. Germany, once condemned industrially to passivity and setbacks, was bound to be more exposed to the influences of changing political factors than industrially active and progressive countries. (Develop this in general terms.) The split into 2 parties placed civil war on the agenda; enumeration of the wars up to 1648—civil war. French exploitation of the opportunity and the alliance with and payment of the Protestant princes and German mercenaries. Culminates in the Thirty Years War. Thirty Years War—Irishmen in Germany, Germans in Ireland, 1693 and 1806. Description of the devastation. Result: economically, socially, politically—losses to France; settlement by Sweden and Denmark in Germany; the guarantee-powers’ right of intervention; total collapse of the central power; right of rebellion against the Emperor, civil war and treason guaranteed by Europe to the German princes.

4. 1648-1789

a. Political condition. The German princes exploit the Peace of Westphalia by trying to outdo one another in selling themselves to foreign countries, and these—France, and also the princes— exploit Germany’s weakness in order gradually to appropriate all Germany’s French possessions and encircle Alsace. Historical right of France, and Teutons’ outcry about “robbery”. Unchanging nature of linguistic boundaries (vid. Menke) since circa A.D. 1000, except for the districts left of the Vosges. This the general situation. In particular: Rise of a rival power to Austria and the empire in the North: Prussia. Beginning of the realisation of the division into North and South. Critique of Prussian history. Frederick II.— Rise of Russia and Frederick II’s subjection to Russian policy.— Because of Prussia the civil wars now wars of rivalry between Austria and Prussia.

b. Economic matters. For all that, slow recovery from the consequences of the Thirty Years War and renewed crawling up of the burghers. Only the possession of infamous virtues made this revival possible in such circumstances. For all that, economic progress only made possible through political intervention—by the infamy of the princes and the money paid to them from abroad. This proves how deeply humiliated Germany was economically. This period the source of the patriarchal régime. After 1648, the state really called on to perform social functions and forced to assume them by financial embarrassment; where it failed to exercise them— stagnation (the Westphalian bishoprics). What a state of humiliation! And how lousy the state aid! In relation to the world market, purely passive; only as neutrals in great world wars (American and Revolutionary Wars until 1801) was anything to be earned. On the other hand, powerless against the robber states. (Thanks to the French Revolution this European disgrace eliminated.)

c. Literature and language utterly degenerate; theology wooden dogmatism; in other sciences Germany also in a state of degradation, yet rays of hope: J. Böhme (again, a sign of the philosophers to come), Kepler, Leibniz—again abstraction from the existing, the real. Bach.

d. State of Germany in 1789. a) Agriculture—peasant conditions. Serfdom, corporal punishment, dues, b) Industry—a sheer starvation affair, essentially manual labour, but in England already the beginnings of large-scale industry, and German industry, before it was even fully developed, doomed to die. c) Trade— passive, d) Social status of the burghers vis-à-vis nobility and government.—e) Political obstacle to development: fragmentation. Description as in Menke. Tolls, prevention of river traffic. FREE TRADE along internal borders forced through by dismemberment. Tolls chiefly urban consumption dues.

These princes, powerless to do good, even when enlightened— as Schubart’s patrons and Karl August—all were happy to join the Confederation of the Rhine, rather than fight a war. Invasion of 1806 the test, when it was a matter of life or death for them. Moreover, all of these 1,000 princes absolute monarchs, coarse, uneducated scoundrels, from whom no cooperation could be expected, moods always en masse (Schlözer). Trade in soldiers during American War.—Yet their worst atrocity was their mere existence. And alongside them, on the eastern frontier, Prussia in the North, Austria in the South, both greedily stretching out their hands for the territories—the only two that could have saved the situation, if only one of them was there, but whose inevitable rivalry made any such solution impossible. A sheer blind-alley, only from outside could help come—the French Revolution brought it. Only 2 signs of life: military skill, and also literature and philosophy and conscientious, objective scientific investigation, whereas in France, as early as 18th century, mainly partisan writings, albeit first-class ones—in Germany all this was a flight from reality into ideal regions. "Man" and the development of the language; 1700 barbarism, 1750 Lessing and Kant, soon Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder; Gluck, Händel, Mozart.

1789-1815

1. The German enclaves in Alsace-Lorraine, etc.—already half under French sovereignty—joined the French Revolution; thus an excuse for war. Prussia and Austria now suddenly united. Valmy. Defeat of linear tactics by massed artillery. Fleurus and Jemappes. Defeat of the Austrian cordon tactics? Capture of the left bank of the Rhine. Rejoicing of the peasants and the liberal towns could not be dispelled even by odd cases of extortion, or Napoleon’s bloodtaxes.— Peace of Amiens and the most important act of the Imperial Deputation—the dissolution of the Empire. Confederation of the Rhine. The abolition of small states by Napoleon unfortunately failed to go far enough. He, always revolutionary vis-à-vis the princes, would have gone further if the petty princes had not humbled themselves so abjectly before him. 1806, Napoleon’s error was not to have destroyed Prussia altogether.—Economic facts on Germany under the Continental Blockade.—This period of the utmost humiliation from abroad coincides with the heyday of literature and philosophy and the culmination of music in Beethoven.

VARIA ON GERMANY 1789-1873

Prussia: und sint Weletabi so wir Wilzi heizzent etc.

Prussian Army: hungry of old. Höpfner 1788-1806.—Scarcity of funds under Frederick William III. Embezzlement (1st and 9th Guard Artillery Comp, coats, 1842). Old harness in the armoury.— Frederick William III also peaceful, owing to need to summon the estates in the event of war.—1st turning-point 1848.—Waldersee and needle (gun). 2nd turning-point the mobilisation 1850 and finally the Italian War, army reorganisation, rejection of the old ways. Since 1864 much self-criticism and purely businesslike procedure. Nevertheless, total misunderstanding of the character of Prussian army organisation.—Tragi-comic conflict: the state must wage political wars, for distant interests that never arouse national enthusiasm, and to this end requires an army that is only any good for national defence and the offensives resulting immediately therefrom (1814 and 1870).—This conflict will be the downfall of the Prussian state and the Prussian army—probably in a war with Russia, which might last 4 years and would yield nothing but disease and shattered bones.

Jewish element absolutely vital to Germany; the Jews a class that stood even lower than the serfs, no homeland, no rights (cf. Gülich on Frederick William II), but free and because dependent on trade, an element of the future in themselves; therefore able to react while the mass unable to react to the pressure; also livelier and more active by nature than the Germans, rise under Napoleonic rule (Rothschild and the Elector of Hesse); soon after 1815 strong enough in North and West Germany to break the ghetto law where it had been imposed (Frankfurt); Börne and Heine; penetration into literature, especially the daily press; character of the Jewish man of letters to aim at immediate practical gain; character of the Jewish merchant, Polish and German tradition of petty swindling, only disappearing in the 2nd or 3rd generation — finally merging more and more, the Germans become Jewish and the Jews German.

German trading colonies abroad even before 1789, but only significant after 1814. Only since 1848 real lever for Germany’s entry into world trade, but then tremendously effective. Gradual growth. Character of the trading colonies until 1848—generally uneducated and ashamed of their country. (Mchr. English in 10 German dialects.) Inadequate protection (Weerth’s Mexican story and his experience with German diplomats in South America in general); German world trade language through the colonies and the Jews in Eastern Europe (details of these) and through Hamburg posts in Scandinavia. The fact that in trade, outside Romance Europe and at most the Levant, German goes further than French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, in short all languages except English. Now rapid expansion of German colonies—cf. the fear of the English in London itself.

Epigonic literature—starting as early as Heine—its mission the polishing of the language, much needed. This achieved in poetry; prose worse than ever.

General feeling 1859-63 on the left bank of the Rhine they were becoming French again—not wished for, not opposed, but they submitted and would also have voted for the inevitable. How much better, then, the Alsatians! — Utter lack of trust in Prussia on account of its attitude and powerlessness [18]59. In addition, reaction among German chauvinists against Bonapartist Rhenish cravings, Alsace and Lorraine German!

Schleswig Holstein—England’s eastern Ireland on account of cattle and butter imports, ruin of agriculture at the expense of cattle-raising, emigration, now still in its beginnings, the rest of North German marshlands facing the same fate.

Gold and silverware, jewellery considerable export from Hanau, Pforzheim, Gmünden, Berlin, etc. (K.Z.).

Prussian Rules concerning servants—not to be forgotten! And one-year volunteers in France.

During the Huguenot wars respect for the monarchy, as representing the nation, already so great that only the King was permitted, both legally and by public opinion, to make foreign alliances and engage foreign auxiliaries. The others always rebels and traitors. This never more evident than at the death of Henry III—when Henry IV, merely by virtue of the royal name, is able to achieve final victory.

The eventual suppression of Protestantism in France was no misfortune for France—teste Bayle, Voltaire and Diderot. Similarly, its suppression in Germany would not have been a disaster for Germany, but certainly for the world. It would have imposed the Catholic form of development of the Romance countries on Germany, and as the English form of development was also semi-Catholic and medieval (universities, etc., colleges, PUBLIC SCHOOLS are all Protestant monasteries), the entire Protestant German form of education (education at home or in private houses, students living out and choosing [courses of lectures]) would have been swept away and European intellectual development would have become infinitely uniform. France and England exploded prejudices of fact, Germany those of form, pattern. Hence, also, partly, the amorphous nature of everything German, till no w -criii bound up with great drawbacks, such as the fragmentation into small states, but a tremendous gain for the nation’s capacity for development, one that will bear its full fruits only in the future, when this one-sided stage has been passed.

Then: German Protestantism the only modern form of Christianity worth criticising. Catholicism, even in the 18th century, beneath criticism, object of polemics (what asses, therefore, are the Old Catholics!). The English having disintegrated into x sects, with no theological development, or one every step of which became fixed as a sect. The German alone has a theology and thus an object of criticism—historical, philological and philosophical. This supplied by Germany, impossible without German Protestantism and yet absolutely necessary. A religion such as Christianity is not destroyed by ridicule and invective alone; it also needs to be overcome scientifically, i.e., explained historically, which is beyond even the natural sciences.

Holland and Belgium, separated from Germany by the moors between the Rhine and North Sea, by the Ardennes and Venn in the South, play vis-à-vis Germany the role of Phoenicia vis-à-vis Palestine, and also the same lamentation as in the old prophets, customary in Germany.

Flanders from the partition of Verdun until after 1500 a part of France—hence the establishment of the French language— promoted by Flemish trade in the Middle Ages, when the merchants certainly spoke no Flemish with the Italian, etc., merchants. Now the Teutomaniacs are demanding the restoration of the Flemish language, which even the Dutch do not recognise as full-fledged; the Flemish movement of the priests! IT is TIME the Flemish finally had one language instead of 2, and that can only be French.

After the discovery of America, Germany’s agriculture, industry and trade a perpetual patient experimentation—agriculture vid. the many unsuccessful attempts in Langethal—industry everywhere and always things which, scarcely instituted, were forced off the world market—most striking example linen; on a small scale, e.g., the Wuppertal industry 1820-60—trade ditto. This only now placed on a normal footing.

Even in 1848 Germany’s main export still—human beings. 1) ordinary emigration. 2) prostitution: in East Prussia regular establishments of higher and lower status for training girls to be whores of every variety and FIT FOR ANYTHING—from the sailors’ brothel to the “educated” cavalier’s mistress and, on all sorts of false pretext, sent abroad where most of them first met their fate. Many of those in a better position accepted their lot, even sending their maquerelle tender letters of thanks, in which they always concealed their prostituted position, figuring as governesses, companions or as brilliantly married. Bergenroth was of the opinion that all this was impossible without the authorities—FOR A CONSIDERATION?—turning a blind eye; he says it was always very difficult to get hold of any tangible evidence in judicial inquiries. From Petersburg and Stockholm to Antwerp the entire Baltic and North Sea coast was supplied with East Prussian women.—3) the vagabond girls from the Vogelsberg area of Hesse and Nassau, who travelled around the fairs in England as BROOMGIRLS (the older ones also with barrel organs), but particularly those shipped to America as HURDY-GURDIES and making up the lowest stratum of prostitution there. 4) the young merchants of the Hansa and the Rhenish factory towns, later from Saxony and Berlin, too, and 5) then just beginning, later developing strongly, the chemists (the Liebig school in Giessen), with whores the chief export of the Grand Duchy of Hesse.—Emigrants to Holland from Westphalia—now common for Dutch to seek work in the Westphalian industrial areas.

The stinginess of the German governments, especially that of Prussia of 1815-70, apparent in everything: poor-quality dirty coinage; ditto banknotes; coarse office paper; writing-sand (all official documents a frightful sight); fat, clumsily carved stamps; everything coarse, not least the officials themselves. French, English, Belgian money, post-marks, banknotes, everything gave an impression of superiority from the outset.

The awkwardness of German for everyday use, together with its enormous facility in dealing with the most difficult topics is partly the cause—or a symptom?—of the fact that, in most disciplines, the Germans have the greatest men, whereas their mass production is unusually awful rubbish. Literature: the numerous solid second-rate poets in England, the brilliant mediocrity that fills almost all French literature, are almost entirely absent in Germany. Our second-rate writers hardly bear reading a generation later. Ditto philosophy: alongside Kant and Hegel—Herbart, Krug, Fries and finally Schopenhauer and Hartmann. The genius of the great ones finds its complement in the unthinking nature of the Educated Mass, thus no name is more spurious than that of the “nation of thinkers”. Ditto military literature. Only in things that are more or less independent of language is it any different, and second-rate people, too, important in Germany: natural sciences and particularly music. Our historical works unreadable.

The present so-called German Empire: The setting of the Nibelungs is Germany’s 2 greatest rivers, the Rhine and the Danube. It would seem unnatural to us if Worms, the home of Kriemhild and scene of Siegfrid’s deeds, were French. But is it any less unnatural for the Danube region to lie outside the German Empire, for Rüdiger of Bechelaren once again to be, as it were, a vassal of the Magyar Etzel? And how did Walther von der Vogelweide describe Germany: “Von der Elbe unz an den Rîn und hinwider unz an Ungerlant”—the Old German Austria is outside Germany, and the then non-German East Elbe region is the centre and focal point! And that calls itself a German Empire!