The Oppermanns (McNally Editions)

by Lion Feuchtwanger

“We have seen the proletariat let loose,” he proclaimed. “It was not a pretty sight. We have seen the substantial citizen let loose, the agriculturist and the militarist, and that was hideous. But all that will be a paradise compared to what we shall see when the petty bourgeois is let loose, the Nationalist Party men and their Leader.” “Do you really believe that, sir?” asked Gutwetter, gazing at him in friendly fashion with large, innocent eyes. “I have a different idea of it,” he added mildly. “I believe that the war was only a curtain-raiser. The century of the great conflict has just begun. It will be a century of destruction. The final generations of the white race will attack each other without mercy. The thunder will mate with the ocean, and fire with the earth. Man will have to develop brains with horns to cope with this struggle. Such will be the character, as I see it, of the future national state. A military power beyond conception, a judiciary power with severe, restrictive laws, and a school system to educate senseless brutes in the ecstasy of self-sacrifice; such is the outlook.” He spoke mildly, his carefully groomed head rose calm-featured from his coat, the childlike eyes looked dreamy.