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Prussianism and Socialism (‹See Tfd›German: Preußentum und Sozialismus [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩tuːm ʔʊnt zotsi̯aˈlɪsmʊs]), is a 1919 book by Oswald Spengler originally based on notes intended for the second volume of The Decline of the West, in which he argues that German socialism is the correct socialism in contrast to English socialism.[1] In his view, correct socialism has a much more "national" spirit.[2]
Spengler responded to the claim that socialism's rise in Germany had not begun with the Marxist rebellions of 1918 to 1919, but rather in 1914 when Germany waged war, uniting the German nation in a national struggle that he claimed was based on socialistic Prussian characteristics, including creativity, discipline, concern for the greater good, productivity, and self-sacrifice.[3] Spengler claimed that these socialistic Prussian qualities were present across Germany and stated that the merger of German nationalism with this form of socialism while resisting Marxist and internationalist socialism would be in the interests of Germany.[4]
Spengler's Prussian socialism was popular amongst some Germans, especially some revolutionaries who had distanced themselves from traditional conservatism.[4] His notions of Prussian socialism influenced Nazism and the Conservative Revolutionary movement.[5]
- ^ Lewis, B.J. (2017) Spengler's Prussian Socialism Archived 28 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine. European Review, Academia Europaea,25 (3). pp. 479–93. ISSN 1062-7987, University of Sheffield
- ^ Campbell, Joan (14 July 2014). Joy in Work, German Work: The National Debate, 1800-1945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400860371.
- ^ Eric D. Weitz. Weimar Germany: promise and tragedy. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press, 2007. pp. 336-337.
- ^ a b Eric D. Weitz. Weimar Germany: promise and tragedy. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press, 2007. p. 337.
- ^ Heinrich August Winkler, Alexander Sager. Germany: The Long Road West. English edition. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 414.