Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:43:00.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rudolf Hilferding and the Application of the Political Economy of the Second International*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Harold James
Harold James
Affiliation:
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Second International's socialism saw itself as a moral force. That moral force served to maintain a precarious balance between politics conducted perforce within a national framework, and an internationalist rhetoric; between politics which in practice worked within an established system, and a theoretical rejection of that old society. The First World War broke one part of this precarious balance by demonstrating the impotence of the organized working class in stopping an imperialist conflict; but another pillar of marxist orthodoxy, economic dogma, remained for the marxist parties of the post-war world. That pillar was unshaken by the collapse of societies and politics in Central Europe; it held up an intellectual elite in the world of post-war socialist politics.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 1981 , pp. 847 - 869
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Lenin, V. I., Collected works, XXII (Moscow, 1964), p. 195.Google Scholar

2 Trotsky, Leon, My life, the rise and fall of a dictator (London, 1930),p. 178Google Scholar: ‘Hilferding remained a literary official in the service of the German party - and nothing more’; p. 179: ‘These people were not revolutionaries. Moreover, they represented a type that was farthest from that of the revolutionary. This expressed itself in everything - in their approach to subjects, in their political remarks and psychological appreciations, in their self-satisfaction.’

3 Quoted in Gottschalch, Wilfried, Strukturveränderungen der Gesellschaft und Politisches Handeln in der Lehre von Rudolf Hilferding (Berlin, 1962), p. 18.Google Scholar

4 Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Es Geschah in Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1951), p. 80.Google Scholar

5 Kolakowski, Leszek (transl. Falla, P. S.), Main currents of Marxism: its rise, growth, and dissolution. II. The golden age (Oxford, 1978), p. 303.Google Scholar

6 Editor's introduction in Sweezy, Paul M., Karl Marx and the close of his system by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and Böhm-Bawerk’s criticism of Marx by Rudolf Hilferding (London, 1949), p. xvi.Google Scholar

7 Gottschalch, Strukturveränderungen.

8 Rudolf Hilferding, ‘Das historische Problem’, in Zeitschrift für Politik, Dec. 1954, pp. 293–324.

9 Amsterdam International Instituut voor Sociale Geschiednis (IISG): Paul Hertz papers, XVIII: letter of Hertz to von Raumer, no date. See also Brüning, Heinrich, Briefe 1946–1960 (Stuttgart, 1974), p. 87Google Scholar: letter of Brüning to Hermann Pünder, June 1947.

10 eg. IISG, Kautsky papers, KD632, Hilferding to Karl Kautsky, 8 Sept. 1918.

11 Neumann, Sigmund, Die Parteien der Weimarer Republik (Stuttgart, 1970), pp. 32–6Google Scholar (originally published as Die politischen Parteien in Deutschland, Berlin, 1932).Google Scholar

12 Quoted in Kolb, Eberhard, Die Arbeiterräte in der deutschen Innenpolitik 1918–1919(Düsseldorf, 1962), p. 277.Google Scholar

13 Leber, Julius, Ein Mann geht seinen Weg (Berlin, 1952); Arthur Rosenberg (transl. I. F. D. Morrow and L. M. Sieveking), A history of the German Republic (1936).Google Scholar

14 Erich Eyck (transl. Hanson, H. P. and Waite, R. G. L.), A history of the Weimar Republic (Harvard. 1962) 1, 249–50.Google Scholar

15 See, for instance, Sturmthal, Adolf, The tragedy of European labour 1918–1939 (1944) (NewYork, 1943).Google Scholar

16 Kolb, Arbeiterräte, p. 341.

17 Hilferding, Rudolf, ‘Die Eigengesetzlichkeit der kapitalistischen Entwicklung’ in Harms, Bernhard (ed.), Kapital und Kapitalismus (Berlin, 1931), pp. 20–37.Google Scholar

18 Ibid. P. 21.

19 Ibid. p. 23. A more extended analysis is give in Hilferding, Rudolf, Das Finanzkapital. Eine Studie über die jüngste Entwicklung des Kapitalismus, Marx-Studien, III (Vienna, 1910; quoted from 1968 Frankfurt a.M. edition). On Gründergewinn see pp. 136–47.Google Scholar

20 Finanzkapital, p. 309.

21 Ibid. pp. 406–20. See also one of Hilferding’s earliest articles, ‘Der Funktionswechsel des Schutzzolles. Tendenz der modernen Handelspolitik’, in Neue Zeit, XXI/II (1902/1903), no. 35, 274–81.Google Scholar

22 For a more recent restatement of this view, see Neuburger, H. and Stokes, H. T., ‘German banks and German growth, 1883–1914: an empirical view’, in Journal of Economic History, XXXIV (1974). 710–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 Kautsky, Karl, ‘Gold, Papier und Ware’, in Neue Zeit, XXX/I (1911/1912), 845Google Scholar; see also Kautsky, Karl, ‘Finanzkapital und Krisen’, in Neue Zeit, XXIX/I (1910/1911), 764–72, 797–804, 838–46 and 874–83.Google Scholar

24 Finanzkapital, pp. 49–50.

25 Helfferich, Karl, Das Geld (Leipzig, 1923, 6th edn)Google Scholar; Knapp, G. F., Staatliche Theorie des Geldes (Munich, 1923,4th edn); Hilferding's criticisms of Knapp and Helfferich in Finanzkapital, pp. 48–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 Finanzkapital, p. 58.

27 Quoted Ibid. p. 55.

28 Ibid. p. 67.

29 This is Lenin's criticism of the Hilferding theory, Imperialism p. 195; Rosa Luxemburg shares this criticism: see p. 729 of her ‘Einführung in die Nationalökonomie’ in Gesammelte Werke, v (Berlin, 1975).Google Scholar

30 Finanzkapital, pp. 369–70.

31 Ibid. p. 371. For an example of Hilferding's continued adherence to this theory, see Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich: Hans Schäffer diary, ED 93/11, entry for 11 July 1931.

32 Finanzkapital, p. 374.

33 Ibid. p. 348.

34 Ibid. p. 399.

35 Ibid. pp. 391–2.

36 Ibid. p. 403: ‘A general cartel to control total production and thus avoid crisis is in fact economically rational, but socially and politically an impossibility, because it would break up as a result of those conflicts of interest which it would serve to accentuate.’

37 Hilferding, Rudolf, ‘Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Klassen?’, in Der Kampf, VIII (1915) no. 10, 321–9Google Scholar. On this theme, see Winkler, Henirich August, ‘Einleitende Bemerkungen zu Hilferdings Theorie des organisierten Kapitalismus’, in Winkler, H. A., (ed.), Organisierter Kapitalismus: Voraussetzungen und Anfänge (Göttingen, 1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38 Particularly Hilferding, Rudolf, ‘Politische Probleme zum Aufruf Wirths und zur Rede Silverbergs’, in Die Gesellschaft, III/II (1926), 289–302Google Scholar; see also Hilferding's speech at the Kiel Congress of the SPD in 1927 in Protokoll sozialdemokratischer Parteitag Kiel 1927 (Berlin, 1927).Google Scholar

39 Finanzkapital, p. 504.

40 Ibid. p. 507.

41 Ibid. p. 480.

42 Most clearly at the SPD Congress in Heidelberg in 1925: ‘The attainment of political democracy increases class tensions within civil society; political freedom, which the proletariat can and must use repeatedly comes into conflict with economic dependence.’ In Protokoll Sozialdemo-kratischer Parteitag Heidelberg1925 (Berlin, 1925), p. 275.Google Scholar

43 See Siegfried Aufhäuser at the Kiel congress, Kiel Protokoll, p. 200.

44 Hilferding, Rudolf, Für die neue Republik (Berlin, 1924), p. 2.Google Scholar

45 IISG Kautsky papers KD638, letter of Hilferding to Karl Kautsky 19 Oct, 1924.

46 Finanzkapital, p. 409.

47 Rudolf Hilferding, ‘Politische Probleme’.

48 See, for instance, Goldscheid, Rudolf, Staalssoziaiismus oder Staatskapitalismus. Ein finanzsozio-logischer Beitrag zur Lösung des Staatsschuldenproblems (Vienna, 1917)Google Scholar; Schumpeter, Joseph, Die Krise des Steuerstaates (Graz and Leipzig, 1918)Google Scholar; Hertz, Paul, ‘Umbau des Steuersystems’ in Dite Gesellschaft, VI/II (1929), 547–57.Google Scholar

49 Krohn, Claus-Dieter, ‘Helfferich contra Hilferding, Konservative Geldpolitik und die sozialen Folgen der deutschen Inflation, 1918–1923’, in Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Wirt-schaftsgeschichte, LXII (1975), 64.Google Scholar

50 Bundesarchiv Koblenz (BAK), R43I/1387: cabinet meeting of 10 Sept. 1922. Printed in Ermann, K. D. and Vogt, Martin (eds. ),Die Kabinette Stresemann I and II (Boppard, 1978), pp. 222–32.Google Scholar

51 Rudolf Hilferding, reveiw of Adolf Weber, Hat Schacht recht?, in Die Gesellschaft, V/I (1928), 181–2.Google Scholar

52 The clearest summaries of these plans are to be found in Netzband, K. B. and Widmaier, H. P., Währungs- und Finanzpolitik der Aera Luther 1923–25 (Tübingen, 1964)Google Scholar, though the work as a whole needs to be treated with caution. It represents an apologia for Hans Luther written by two of his assistants.

53 BAK R43I/278, discussion of 18 Aug. 1923; Kabinette Stresemann, pp. 23–33.

54 BAK, ten Hompel papers, 1 (ten Hompel MS memoirs).

55 See Economist, CCLXXII (29 Sept. 1979), 50.Google Scholar

56 IISG, Kautsky papers KD661, Hilferding to Karl Kautsky, 23 Sept. 1933.

57 See Stürmer, Michael, Koalition und Opposition in der Weimarer Republik 1924–1928 (Düsseldorf, 1967)Google Scholar; and Maurer, Ilse, Reichsfinanzen und grosse Koalition. Zur Geschichte des Reichskabinetts Müller 1928–1930 (Berlin and Frankfurt a.M., 1973).Google Scholar

58 IISG, Kautsky papers K.D642, Hilferding to Karl Kautsky, 8 Jan. 1926.

59 Quoted in Stein, Alexander, Rudolf Hilferding und die deutsche Arbeiterbewegung (Hamburg, 1946), p. 21.Google Scholar

60 In Deutscher Volkswirt (1929); Stolper’s articles were reprinted as a brochure, Ein Finanzplan. Vorschläge zur deutschen Finanzreform (Berlin, 1929).Google Scholar

61 Gerhard Colm and Hans Neisser (eds.), Kapitalbildung und Steuersystem. Verhandlungen und Gutachten der Konferenz von Eilsen (Berlin, 1930). The conference was held on 26–28 Oct. 1929.

62 Verordnung über die Errichtung der Deutschen Rentenbank, 15 Oct. 1923, (Reichsgesetzblatt 1923 I 963) § 17; and Bankgesetz, 30 Aug. 1924, (Reichsgesetzblatt 1924 II 135–246).

63 BAK R2/2452–2455; Law of 17 May 1929, (Reichsgesetzblatt 1929 I 95).

64 IISG, Paul Hertz papers, XIX, 23 Jan. 1948, letter of Hertz to Dr Heinrich von und zur Mühlen. See also the memoirs of one of the major opponents of the Loan within the SPD, Keil, Wilhelm, Erlebnisse eines Sozialdemokraten, II (Stuttgart, 1948), 354.Google Scholar

65 Stein, Rudolf Hilferding, p. 22.

66 Protokoll Sozialdemokratischer Parleitag Magdeburg 1929 (Berlin, 1929), p. 197.Google Scholar

67 BAK R2/2151, Reichsbank to Reichsfinanzministerium, 8 May 1929.

68 BAK R2/2455, Reichsbank to Reichsfinanzministerium, 26 Aug. 1929. For the DVP, see BAK R45 II/44: meeting of the Central Executive (Zentralvorstand) in Berlin, 14 Dec. 1929. Note the violent opposition of both the minister Curtius and also a leading DVP industrial representative, Cremer, to Schacht.

69 Brüning, Heinrich, Memoiren 1918–1934 (Stuttgart, 1970), pp. 115–16Google Scholar. On the accuracy of the Memoiren, see particularly Morsey, Rudolf, Zur Entstehung, Authentizität und Kritik von Brünings ‘Memoiren 1919–1934’,(Opladen, 1975)Google Scholar. But Brüning’s story is confirmed by Hans Schäffer, an unusually accurate commentator, who kept shorthand notes of all his major conversations. See, for instance, Munich Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) ED93/9, 26 June 1930, Schäffer diary entry.

70 See, for an example, IfZ ED93/18, meeting on 2 Jan. 1932.

71 IfZ, ZS145, Schwerin von Krosigk interview with Dr Freiherr von Siegler of the IfZ, 24 Apr. 1952.

72 IfZ, ED93/13.

73 Quoted in Sturrnthal, Tragedy, p. 75.

74 Woytinsky, W. in Die Arbeit, Zeitschrift für Gewerkschaftspolitik und Wirtschqftskunde, IX (Jan. 1932), esp. 26–8.Google Scholar

75 By Garvy, George, ‘ Keynes and the Economic Activists of Pre-Hitler Germany’, in Journal of Political Economy, LXXXIII (1975), 391–405CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Grotkopp, Wilhelm, Die grosse Krise, (Düsseldorf, 1954), particularly p. 246Google Scholar, although Grotkopp is more cautious than Garvy and stresses the traditionalism of many of the German reformers.

76 They were attacked by some of the SPD left-wingers. For correspondence on this, see the Woytinsky papers in the Archiv der sozialen Demokratie, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn.

77 Woytinsky, W.,’ Der Zusammenschluss Europas und der soziale Fortschritt’, Europa- Wirtschaft 1930 Heft 9, 401.Google Scholar

78 Woytinsky, W. in Volkswirtschaftliche Beilage des Betriebsrats, VIII, no. 9(26 Sept. 1931), 65Google Scholar; also Woytinsky, W., Die Internationale Hebung der Preise als ein Ausweg aus der Krise (Leipzig, 1931).Google Scholar

79 League of Nations, Interim Report of the Gold Delegation of the Financial Committee (Geneva, 7 Sept. 1930), p. 19.Google Scholar

80 Volkswirtschaftliche Beilage, VIII, no. 9 (26 Sept. 1931), 67.Google Scholar

81 Europa-Wirtschaft, III, no. 1 (Jan. 1932).Google Scholar

82 Grotkopp, Die grosse Krise, p. 69.

83 Rudolf Hilferding, ‘Der Zusammenbruch’ in Vorwärts (21 Sept. 1931).

84 Max Warburg, ‘Conclusions’ in MS Memoirs.

85 Bonn, M. J., The world Crisis, and the teaching of the Manchester school (1931) p. 23.Google Scholar

86 IISG, Paul Hertz papers, XVII, Hilferding to Hertz, 5 Mar. 1936.

87 IISG, Kautsky papers KD636. Hilferding to Karl Kautsky, 19 July, 1924.