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German Culture Past and Present
"The following pages aim at giving a general view of the social and intellectual life of Germany from the end of the mediæval period to modern times."
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1915
40 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Ernest Belfort Bax
184 books8 followersErnest Belfort Bax (23 July 1854 – 26 November 1926) was an English socialist journalist and philosopher, associated with the Social Democratic Federation (SDF).
Born into a nonconformist religious family in Leamington, he was first introduced to Marxism while studying philosophy in Germany. He combined Karl Marx's ideas with those of Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer and Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann. Keen to explore possible metaphysical and ethical implications of socialism, he came to describe a "religion of socialism" as a means to overcome the dichotomy between the personal and the social, and also that between the cognitive and the emotional. He saw this as a replacement for organised religion, and was a fervent atheist, keen to free workers from what he saw as the moralism of the middle-class.
Bax moved to Berlin and worked as a journalist on the Evening Standard. On his return to England in 1882, he joined the SDF, but grew disillusioned and in 1885 left to form the Socialist League with William Morris. After anarchists gained control of the League, he rejoined the SDF, and became the chief theoretician, and editor of the party paper Justice. He opposed the party's participation in the Labour Representation Committee, and eventually persuaded them to leave.
Almost throughout his life, he saw economic conditions as ripe for socialism, but felt this progress was delayed by a lack of education of the working class. Bax supported Karl Kautsky over Eduard Bernstein, but Kautsky had little time for what he saw as Bax's utopianism, and supported Theodore Rothstein's efforts to spread a more orthodox Marxism in the SDF.
Initially very anti-nationalist, Bax came to support the British in World War I, but by this point he was concentrating on his career as a barrister and did little political work.
Bax was an ardent anti feminist since, according to Bax, feminism was a part of the "anti-man crusade". According to Bax, "anti-man crusades" were responsible for "anti-man laws" during the time of men-only voting in England. Bax wrote many articles in The New Age and elsewhere about English laws partial to women against men, and women's privileged position before the law, and expressed his view that women's suffrage would unfairly tip the balance of power to women. In 1908 he wrote The Legal Subjection of Men as a response to John Stuart Mill's 1869 essay "The Subjection of Women." In 1913 he published an essay, The Fraud of Feminism, detailing feminism's adverse effects. Section titles included "The Anti-Man Crusade", "The 'Chivalry' Fake", "Always The 'Injured Innocent'", and "Some Feminist Lies and Fallacies".
Bax died in London.
More: http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/
http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/b...
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://ernestbelfortbax.com/2014/01/2...
Born into a nonconformist religious family in Leamington, he was first introduced to Marxism while studying philosophy in Germany. He combined Karl Marx's ideas with those of Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer and Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann. Keen to explore possible metaphysical and ethical implications of socialism, he came to describe a "religion of socialism" as a means to overcome the dichotomy between the personal and the social, and also that between the cognitive and the emotional. He saw this as a replacement for organised religion, and was a fervent atheist, keen to free workers from what he saw as the moralism of the middle-class.
Bax moved to Berlin and worked as a journalist on the Evening Standard. On his return to England in 1882, he joined the SDF, but grew disillusioned and in 1885 left to form the Socialist League with William Morris. After anarchists gained control of the League, he rejoined the SDF, and became the chief theoretician, and editor of the party paper Justice. He opposed the party's participation in the Labour Representation Committee, and eventually persuaded them to leave.
Almost throughout his life, he saw economic conditions as ripe for socialism, but felt this progress was delayed by a lack of education of the working class. Bax supported Karl Kautsky over Eduard Bernstein, but Kautsky had little time for what he saw as Bax's utopianism, and supported Theodore Rothstein's efforts to spread a more orthodox Marxism in the SDF.
Initially very anti-nationalist, Bax came to support the British in World War I, but by this point he was concentrating on his career as a barrister and did little political work.
Bax was an ardent anti feminist since, according to Bax, feminism was a part of the "anti-man crusade". According to Bax, "anti-man crusades" were responsible for "anti-man laws" during the time of men-only voting in England. Bax wrote many articles in The New Age and elsewhere about English laws partial to women against men, and women's privileged position before the law, and expressed his view that women's suffrage would unfairly tip the balance of power to women. In 1908 he wrote The Legal Subjection of Men as a response to John Stuart Mill's 1869 essay "The Subjection of Women." In 1913 he published an essay, The Fraud of Feminism, detailing feminism's adverse effects. Section titles included "The Anti-Man Crusade", "The 'Chivalry' Fake", "Always The 'Injured Innocent'", and "Some Feminist Lies and Fallacies".
Bax died in London.
More: http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/
http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/b...
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://ernestbelfortbax.com/2014/01/2...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 9, 2016
Very well written, this is a short but comprehensive history of, mostly, the Reformation movement in Germany under Martin Luther.
The great thing is that the author doesn't shy away from shining an unfavorable light on Luther, pointing out his hypocrisy and short-sightedness.
The last part of the book rushes through most of the 19th century, the formation of the Prussian empire, and the author basically gives the reader a piece of his mind regarding Prussia´s dictatorial aggressiveness and how it tainted the Germans. Considering this was written in 1915, he had no idea how far the Germans were going to take it in little over a decade.
Reading early 20th century accounts of Germany and the way it was perceived, Hitler's ascendancy doesn't seem to be surprising at all. The stage was being set and all the anti-Semitic feelings had already been sown.
The great thing is that the author doesn't shy away from shining an unfavorable light on Luther, pointing out his hypocrisy and short-sightedness.
The last part of the book rushes through most of the 19th century, the formation of the Prussian empire, and the author basically gives the reader a piece of his mind regarding Prussia´s dictatorial aggressiveness and how it tainted the Germans. Considering this was written in 1915, he had no idea how far the Germans were going to take it in little over a decade.
Reading early 20th century accounts of Germany and the way it was perceived, Hitler's ascendancy doesn't seem to be surprising at all. The stage was being set and all the anti-Semitic feelings had already been sown.
February 4, 2016
“From the last quarter of the eighteenth century onwards it may truly be said of Germany that education is not only more generally diffused than in any other country of Europe, but…is cultivated with an earnest and systematic devotion not met with to an equal extent among other nations.”
-- Written in 1915 by Ernest Belfort Bax
“Every town of any importance throughout the German States is liberally provided in the matter of libraries, museums, and art collections, while its special institutions, music schools, etc., are famous throughout the world. Every, even moderately sized, German town has its theatre, which includes also opera, in which a high scale of all-around excellence is attained, hardly equaled in any other country. In fact, it is not too much to say that for long Germany was foremost in the vanguard of educational, intellectual, and artistic progress.”
-- 1915
"Is then, it may be asked, the railing of public opinion and the Press of Great Britain and other countries outside Germany and Austria, against the Germany of the present day, and the jeers at the term "German culture" wholly unjustified and the result of national or anti-German prejudice? That there has been much foolish vituperative abuse of the whole German nation and of everything German indiscriminately in the Press of this and some other countries is undoubtedly true."
--1915
I find the last quote interesting because it shows that German cultural accomplishments were well known and highly regarded even then
-- Written in 1915 by Ernest Belfort Bax
“Every town of any importance throughout the German States is liberally provided in the matter of libraries, museums, and art collections, while its special institutions, music schools, etc., are famous throughout the world. Every, even moderately sized, German town has its theatre, which includes also opera, in which a high scale of all-around excellence is attained, hardly equaled in any other country. In fact, it is not too much to say that for long Germany was foremost in the vanguard of educational, intellectual, and artistic progress.”
-- 1915
"Is then, it may be asked, the railing of public opinion and the Press of Great Britain and other countries outside Germany and Austria, against the Germany of the present day, and the jeers at the term "German culture" wholly unjustified and the result of national or anti-German prejudice? That there has been much foolish vituperative abuse of the whole German nation and of everything German indiscriminately in the Press of this and some other countries is undoubtedly true."
--1915
I find the last quote interesting because it shows that German cultural accomplishments were well known and highly regarded even then
May 24, 2013
not a bad summary. although I'm not sure what the point of the book was
January 10, 2016
If you are interested in German Culture, you will enjoy this book - I did!
August 30, 2023
A text which should have been called "Early Central-European Reformation" focuses only on reformatory developments and popular revolts while under servitude. Timelines and maps would have helped in a better understanding of the text. Aside from the countless repetitions, there are also quite a few misunderstandings.
Already in the Introduction the author presents the view that a belief took hold that "Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire and his successor Friedrich III should right all wrongs; should establish the empire in universal justice and peace; and, in short, should be the forerunner of the kingdom of Christ on earth, upon whom the hopes of the German people were cast." The author seems to think that the German people were unaware of the fact that emperors serve their own interests first and rarely those of the people. Without a bibliography and with sparse footnotes it is impossible to trace back which source the author used to add this mistaken belief to his own book.
Also in the Introduction, the author mentions "the transition from the barbaric civilization of the Middle Ages to the beginnings of the civilization of the modern world", thereby perpetuating the common myth that the Middle Ages were barbaric and the modern times were not and that these two epochs were clearly delineated.
Chapter IV gives a description of a German town in the 16th century, but this is not much different from the same description it would have been in even earlier centuries or perhaps up to the 19th century. Also why it should be German only and not Bohemian or Austrian or Swiss or Lotharingian is unclear. It seems the author is giving a preamble to a life under socialist ideals, which perhaps was an ulterior motive in writing this book.
It appears that the author, apart from the poorly chosen title, has used sources which he did not evidence their veracity himself, hence this work is for historical purposes only.
Available on Project Gutenberg.
Already in the Introduction the author presents the view that a belief took hold that "Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire and his successor Friedrich III should right all wrongs; should establish the empire in universal justice and peace; and, in short, should be the forerunner of the kingdom of Christ on earth, upon whom the hopes of the German people were cast." The author seems to think that the German people were unaware of the fact that emperors serve their own interests first and rarely those of the people. Without a bibliography and with sparse footnotes it is impossible to trace back which source the author used to add this mistaken belief to his own book.
Also in the Introduction, the author mentions "the transition from the barbaric civilization of the Middle Ages to the beginnings of the civilization of the modern world", thereby perpetuating the common myth that the Middle Ages were barbaric and the modern times were not and that these two epochs were clearly delineated.
Chapter IV gives a description of a German town in the 16th century, but this is not much different from the same description it would have been in even earlier centuries or perhaps up to the 19th century. Also why it should be German only and not Bohemian or Austrian or Swiss or Lotharingian is unclear. It seems the author is giving a preamble to a life under socialist ideals, which perhaps was an ulterior motive in writing this book.
It appears that the author, apart from the poorly chosen title, has used sources which he did not evidence their veracity himself, hence this work is for historical purposes only.
Available on Project Gutenberg.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews