Esoteric Lessons 1913–1923

GA 266III — Hildesheim

History of the Youth Circle V

Transition of the “League for the Threefold Social Order” to the “League for a Free Spiritual Life”¹

In No. 50 of the Dreigliederungs-Zeitung, the change of title of this weekly magazine² to “Anthroposophy, Weekly Journal for Free Spiritual Life” was announced and the reasons for this change were explained in detail. This was the first step toward a contemporary and appropriate reorganization of the foundations of the threefold social order movement. Another necessary step is the transition of the “League for the Threefold Social Order” into a “League for Spiritual Life.”

The threefold social order movement was initiated on the assumption that it would find a strong response because it captured the impulses that lie in the will of the times, of the new humanity as a whole. It did not find this response. As a result, its work in the future will extend to the area that is suitable as a preparation for a new cultural element, and this is a free spiritual life.

The Threefold Movement came into being when, in the spring of 1919, a number of prominent figures in Stuttgart who were members of the anthroposophical movement approached Dr. Steiner with a request for advice on rebuilding social life, which was being sought everywhere at that time. Dr. Steiner then wrote the well-known appeal “To the German People and the Cultural World!” which was endorsed by several hundred personalities from all walks of life and distributed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This led to the emergence of the Threefold Movement. It was based on ideas that Dr. Steiner had already presented in a number of lectures and which he set out in his book “The Social Question in the Present and the Future.”

When correctly understood, the threefold impulse cannot in any way be identified with or confused with any other social ideas. What it aims at lies in the tendencies of recent human development. It was only intended to clearly express what is emerging in a very general way from historical necessities. This impulse will work its way upward under circumstances that may be even more difficult than those we are currently experiencing, because it actually lives in the unconscious depths of today's human consciousness. We will see this, because many phenomena in the present already bear witness to it.

The threefold social order movement was never directed against the state. Rather, it sought to give it a secure foundation by placing spiritual life and economic life in a more correct relationship to it than has been the case to its own detriment as a result of recent developments.

Within the anthroposophical movement, attempts have been made to cultivate a spiritual life that is capable of giving the spiritual life of the present the impulses it needs for its further development. The threefold social order movement has not found sufficient response, but anthroposophy is widely understood in all circles, including those of the proletariat. For these reasons, we are retreating to the realm of free spiritual life, which has always been our domain and which belongs to the cultural task of the threefold social order movement. In this area, a practical start has been made with the founding of the “Free Waldorf School” in Stuttgart for the question of education, which is so important in the present day, and with the “Goetheanum, the Free University of Spiritual Science” for general cultural progress as such.

Due to the current state of the world, many people today feel a deep need for a new worldview that is in harmony with the spirit and nourishes the soul. Anthroposophy believes it can meet this need in a truly contemporary way. It is scientifically based as a worldview. It proves artistically fruitful in all areas. It leads to religious deepening and is effective in social terms. It has a comprehensive body of literature. The numerous writings of Dr. Rudolf Steiner have reached circulation figures that prove that there is widespread interest in anthroposophy.

If such a worldview movement is to prove fruitful for the progress of humanity, it must place itself fully in the public arena. It must be possible to discuss it in the broadest possible way and in an appropriate manner. The Society for Spiritual Science wants to create such a platform. It wants to provide a foundation on which new collaborators from all walks of life can stand in the freest manner possible. Periodical publications such as the weekly magazine Anthroposophie and the monthly magazine Die Drei are available for the tasks of the Society. A worldview movement such as the anthroposophical movement will prove all the more viable the more it is confronted with free, unbiased, neutral judgment and the more it itself offers its hand so that as many people as possible who are concerned with a new shaping of spiritual life can enter into a free relationship with it from their own life situation, experiences, and abilities. A dogmatic and unproductive following can only hinder it in its tasks. It need not shy away from struggle, but the struggle should be fought with spiritual weapons, not poisoned ones, with honest means, not with the opposite.

The League for a Free Spiritual Life wants to provide a framework for this. It will continue the beginnings of a movement for free schools that exist today and promote all efforts in the scientific, artistic, and social fields that are in the direction of a free spiritual life. This requires the cooperation of wider circles, both spiritually and financially.

Membership of the Association is acquired by registering with the undersigned Association leadership or with one of the local groups that are being formed and will be announced in this weekly publication. The membership fee is 25 marks per year. The local groups levy any additional charges necessary for their own needs.

The undersigned express their expectation that the Federation for Free Spiritual Life, which meets a widespread need of our time, will find a wide response in broad circles, so that a free spiritual life may prove to be a contemporary cultural element demanded by the world situation.

Ernst Uehli, as head of the Federation for Free Spiritual Life, Stuttgart, Champignystraße 17.
Rector Moritz Bartsch, Breslau, Gottschallstraße 8.
Michael Bauer, Breitbrunn am Ammersee.
Prof. Dr. phil. et jur. Hermann Beckh, Nuremberg, Marientorgraben 1.
Dr. phil. Herbert Hahn, teacher at the Free Waldorf School, Stuttgart, Kanonenweg 44.
Dr. med. Eugen Kolisko, teacher at the Free Waldorf School, Stuttgart, Kanonenweg 44.
General Director Emil Leinhas, Stuttgart, Champignystr. 17.
Commercial Councilor Emil Molt, Stuttgart, Spittelerstr. 8 Rudolf Meyer, Berlin SO 36, Kottbuser Ufer 25.
Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, Vienna VI, Köstlergasse 6/8.
Lic. theol. Dr. phil. Rittelmeyer, Berlin W 8, Kronenstraße 70.
Dr. phil. Walter Johannes Stein, teacher at the Free Waldorf School, Stuttgart, Kanonenweg 44.
E.A.K. Stockmeyer, teacher at the Free Waldorf School, Stuttgart, Kanonenweg 44.
Dr. ing. Carl Unger, Stuttgart, Werastraße 13.
Ludwig Werbeck, Hamburg, Holzdamm 34.
Prof. Dr. phil. H. Wohlbold, Munich, Adalberstraße 55.