It may seem paradoxical that an essentially autocratic and aristocratic state such as pre-World War I Germany—in today’s jargon, a right-wing dictatorship—should have led the way in introducing measures that are generally linked to socialism and the Left. But there is no paradox—even putting to one side Bismarck’s political motives. Believers in aristocracy and socialism share a faith in centralized rule, in rule by command rather than by voluntary cooperation.
