In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

STRIKES 223
As if this were contrary to Keynes's intentions, the essay then goes on to
argue that his concept of capitalism, rather than following the nineteenth-century
model, comes close to a new type of socialism which is
already practiced by the German Social Democratic Party: "Coming up
with many varieties of capitalism, Keynes, like Moliere's bourgeois gentleman,
apparently does not know that he speaks almost socialist prose,
or else he pretends to be ignorant in order to avoid criticism." In the end,
Vorwarts feels so strongly obliged to discover a difference between Social
Democratic politics and Keynes's new style of economic thought, that it
reverts to the most traditional discourse of class struggle: "In reality,
Keynes's tame capitalism is nothing other than socialism without any
great ideals or perspectives-in other words, without the essence of
proletarian socialism ... Socialism is not merely an economic question,
an issue of 'more equitable material distribution.' It is likewise a question
of the rise of the masses toward self-determination and freedom of
choice, even in the economic sector. The masses yearn not only for
greater satisfaction of their material needs but also for a new social order
whose harmony will consist in the lack of class distinctions. The authentic
goal of socialism is the abolition of classes, the classless society."
Meanwhile, the British coal miners are learning that economic reality has
no place for such utopian hopes.
Related Entries
Airplanes, Assembly Lines, Employees, Engineers, League of Nations,
Murder, Stars, Timepieces, Individuality vs. Collectivity, Individuality =
Collectivity (Leader)
References
Berliner Volks-Zeitung.
Chronik 1926: Tag fur Tag in Wort und Bild. Dortmund, 1985.
Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life. New York, 1991.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1926). Munich, 1941.
R. A. C. Parker, Das zwanzigste jahrhundert, I: 1918-1945. Frankfurt, 1967.
Robert Skidelsky, john Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Savior, 1920-1937.
New York, 1994.