The Peasant War in Germany

entrepreneurs.  How,  then,  is  it  possible  that  the  bourgeoisie  has  not  conquered  political
power, that it behaves in so cowardly a manner toward the government?
It  is  the  misfortune  of  the  German  bourgeoisie  to  have  come  too  late  –  quite  in
accordance with the beloved German tradition. The period of its ascendancy coincides with
the time when the bourgeoisie of the other western European countries is politically on the
downward path. In England, the bourgeoisie could place its real representative, Bright, into
the government only by extending the franchise which in the long run is bound to put an
end to its very domination. In France, the bourgeoisie, which for two years only, 1849–50,
had  held  power  as  a  class  under  the  republican  régime,  was  able  to  continue  its  social
existence  only  by  transferring  its  power  to  Louis  Bonaparte  and  the  army.  Under  present
conditions  of  enormously  increased  interdependence  of  the  three  most  progressive
European countries, it is no more possible for the German bourgeoisie extensively to utilize
its  political  power  while  the  same  class  has  outlived  itself  in  England  and  France.  It  is  a
peculiarity of the bourgeoisie, distinguishing it from all other classes, that a point is being
reached  in  its  development  after  which  every  increase  in  its  power,  that  is,  every
enlargement  of  its  capital,  only  tends  to  make  it  more  and  more  incapable  of  retaining
political dominance. “Behind the big bourgeoisie stand the proletarians.” In the degree as
the  bourgeoisie  develops  its  industry,  its  commerce,  and  its  means  of  communication,  it
also  produces  the  proletariat.  At  a  certain  point,  which  must  not  necessarily  appear
simultaneously  and  on  the  same  stage  of  development  everywhere,  it  begins  to  note  that
this,  its  second  self,  has  outgrown  it.  From  then  on,  it  loses  the  power  for  exclusive
political dominance. It looks for allies with whom to share its authority, or to whom to cede
all power, as circumstances may demand.
In  Germany,  this  turning  point  came  for  the  bourgeoisie  as  early  as  1848.  The
bourgeoisie became frightened, not so much by the German, as by the French proletariat.
The  battle  of  June,  1848,  in  Paris,  showed  the  bourgeoisie  what  could  be  expected.  The
German  proletariat  was  restless  enough  to  prove  to  the  bourgeoisie  that  the  seed  of
revolution  had  been  sown  also  in  German  soil.  From  that  day,  the  edge  of  bourgeois
political action was broken. The bourgeoisie looked around for allies. It sold itself to them
regardless of price, and there it remains.
These allies are all of a reactionary turn. It is the king’s power, with his army and his
bureaucracy; it is the big feudal nobility; it is the smaller junker; it is even the clergy. The
bourgeoisie has made so many compacts and unions with all of them to save its dear skin,
that now it has nothing more to barter. And the more the proletariat developed, the more it
began  to  feel  as  a  class  and  to  act  as  one,  the  feebler  became  the  bourgeoisie.  When  the
astonishingly bad strategy of the Prussians triumphed over the astonishingly worse strategy
The Peasant War in Germany
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of  the  Austrians  at  Sadowa,  it  was  difficult  to  say  who  gave  a  deeper  sigh  of  relief,  the
Prussian bourgeois, who was a partner to the defeat at Sadowa, or his Austrian colleague.
Our upper middle-class of 1870 acted in the same fashion as did the moderate middle-
class of 1525. As to the small bourgeoisie, the master artisans and merchants, they remain
unchanged. They hope to climb up to the big bourgeoisie, and they are fearful lest they be
pushed down into the ranks of the proletariat. Between fear and hope, they will in times of
struggle seek to save their precious skin and to join the victors when the struggle is over.
Such is their nature.
The  social  and  political  activities  of  the  proletariat  have  kept  pace  with  the  rapid
growth of industry since 1848. The role of the German workers, as expressed in their trade
unions, their associations, political organisations and public meetings, at elections, and in
the  so-called  Reichstag,  is  alone  a  sufficient  indication  of  the  transformation  which  came
over Germany in the last twenty years. It is to the credit of the German workers that they
alone have managed to send workers and workers’ representatives into the Parliament – a
feat which neither the French nor the English had hitherto accomplished.
Still, even the proletariat shows some resemblance to 1525. The class of the population
which  entirely  and  permanently  depends  on  wages  is  now,  as  then,  a  minority  of  the
German  people.  This  class  is  also  compelled  to  seek  allies.  The  latter  can  be  found  only
among the petty bourgeoisie, the low grade proletariat of the cities, the small peasants, and
the wage-workers of the land.
The  petty  bourgeoisie  has  been  mentioned  above.  This  class  is  entirely  unreliable
except  when  a  victory  has  been  won.  Then  its  noise  in  the  beer  saloons  is  without  limit.
Nevertheless,  there  are  good  elements  among  it,  who,  of  their  own  accord,  follow  the
workers.
The  lumpenproletariat,  this  scum  of  the  decaying  elements  of  all  classes,  which
establishes  headquarters  in  all  the  big  cities,  is  the  worst  of  all  possible  allies.  It  is  an
absolutely  venal,  an  absolutely  brazen  crew.  If  the  French  workers,  in  the  course  of  the
Revolution,  inscribed  on  the  houses:  Mort  aux  voleurs!  (Death  to  the  thieves!)  and  even
shot down many, they did it, not out of enthusiasm for property, but because they rightly
considered it necessary to hold that band at arm’s length. Every leader of the workers who
utilises these gutter-proletarians as guards or supports, proves himself by this action alone a
traitor to the movement.
The small  peasants  (bigger peasants  belong  to  the bourgeoisie)  are  not homogeneous.
They  are  either  in  serfdom  bound  to  their  lords  and  masters,  and  inasmuch  as  the
bourgeoisie  has  failed  to  do  its  duty  in  freeing  those  people  from  serfdom,  it  will  not  be
The Peasant War in Germany
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