Workers' Councils

GA 331a — 21 May 1919, Stuttgart

Ways to Appropriate Socialization

Lecture for Stuttgart tram drivers

SOURCE INFORMATION: There is no transcript of this lecture, nor any minutes of the meeting, only a few notes jotted down by Rudolf Steiner in his notebook on the concept of his lecture and the subsequent discussion. The present text is an attempt at reconstruction based on these keywords and should therefore be regarded as incomplete and only authentic to a limited extent. The documents used are printed in Appendix I. The text passages taken from them are set in italics in the present text.

Rudolf Steiner: We have come together today to talk about the question of socialization. In social life, there is a fundamental law which states that what one produces oneself has value only for others; it is never the case that something has value for oneself, that one works only for oneself.

One must view human society without prejudice, with an understanding of its inner laws. And this understanding leads one to recognize two contrasting activities in economic life:

It is necessary that there be a person who conceives the machine and directs the work on it.
It is just as necessary that there be people who operate the machines, who work with them.

However, interest in both activities, this common ground that is necessary to produce a product, can only exist if there is something unifying in the trade itself, and that can only be art—the artistic skill with which everyone is involved in their work.

If we compare the current society with the society to which the proletariat aspires, they differ in three areas. Let us first consider our current society. We can identify the following typical characteristics: capital represents the economic power of the entrepreneur, economic constraints are decisive for the use of human labor, and the price of goods is the result of economic competition. Now let us take a look at the conditions in the society we are striving for. Spiritual leadership is based on trust, the use of labor on human rights, and the price of goods on human needs. The principle that must apply to the urgently needed reconstruction of society is that bridges of trust must be built everywhere. But this is only possible if the idea of the threefold social organism is understood as a guide for social practice.

Comrade Benzinger: Unfortunately, it is a fact that the idea of social threefolding is subject to fierce attacks. Among the ordinary proletariat, a certain understanding can be observed, but among their leaders, this understanding is completely lacking. Yes, they do not want to deal with this idea at all. And why do they not want to deal with it? They are too firmly entrenched in their habitual ways of thinking. And so I would like to ask the question: Can we not develop a council system ourselves, without the leaders?

Comrade Minder: In this context, I would like to recall a well-known proverb: It is not the worst fruits that the worms gnaw at. — We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated by these attacks, because it is precisely this resistance that will do good! For we all have the opportunity to put our ideas into practice; nothing is stopping us. I believe that there is no worker who cannot really understand these ideas of threefold social order. They understand what it is all about in practical terms. But when we listen to the agitators, they rarely say what the workers in the factory really want. They basically have no idea about the concerns of the ordinary worker. But we must make the ideas of threefold social order even more understandable to the workers! I have read the “Key Points” four, five, six times — and you always discover something new!

Comrade Dreher: I came to this meeting with a preconceived opinion, because I had read the articles in the Sozialdemokrat about Steiner and the threefold social order. They say that Steiner's theory would draw workers into spiritual spheres and thus make them lose sight of the necessary struggle. But now I must confess: after hearing Steiner, I can no longer maintain this preconceived opinion. This abundance of thoughts, which some of us have been able to experience in the course of this evening and will have to process properly in the coming days, really contains an extraordinary amount of new information. What Rudolf Steiner said this evening is something that everyone has been feeling for years, and they are unhappy because it has not yet been realized.

One often encounters the opinion that Steiner says how things should be, but does not show the way. I listened attentively to his lecture and tried to see if this was true. I asked myself whether it could be that he says nothing about the means and the way to realize the threefold social order. And I must say that he has hinted at and also stated a great deal about how, in his opinion, theory can be put into practice. Works councils play a central role in this. They must not function according to a template; they must not be reduced to mere decoration. Works councils are representatives of the workforce, through which they can exercise their right to co-determination. However, we workers still have a lot to learn, a great deal in fact. We lack the necessary training to manage a company. But that is not our fault, because we workers have been denied a proper education.

In connection with works councils, there has also been talk of economic councils on various occasions. In my opinion, these are organizational umbrella bodies for the works councils of various companies at regional and state level, which will ultimately culminate in a central economic council.

I disagree with the previous speaker who believes that Marx is closely related to Rudolf Steiner. Social problems cannot be solved with Marx, because he subscribes to a materialistic view of history. In my opinion, the main focus of social transformation lies in placing decisions on economic issues within the economic sphere and thus involving the workers themselves in the process. The revolution is only just beginning and is far from over. Today, our workers' committee at the tram company already has extensive rights. But more needs to be done in the direction of practical socialism. Works councils must be placed on an equal footing with employers. Employers will become plant managers, and their task will be to identify where the shoe pinches in the company.

Comrade Maier: I am pleased that the trade union associations are now also addressing the issue of socialization and considering how it can be implemented in practice. As far as our meeting today is concerned, we proletarians want to know how this matter of socialization is to be resolved. Essentially, I am not satisfied with Rudolf Steiner's remarks. I have not seen the path by which socialization is to be achieved. A transformation of society in the socialist sense is only feasible if the working class is united. But the bourgeoisie will not give an inch, not even a finger's breadth. It will do everything it can to find something that divides the working class. The works councils as they exist today must be abolished, because they are nothing more than a mere decoration. These works councils only make sense if genuine socialization has preceded them. What does that mean? We do not want a council system like the one in Russia. A council system that truly represents the interests of the proletariat has yet to be fought for Intellectual work must also be free. The greatest obstacle to genuine socialization is the difficult economic conditions created by the war. We are in the midst of a major economic crisis. How can this be seen? In the fact that entire families have to live in an apartment of only eight square meters. Only when such unjust conditions no longer exist will socialization be successfully completed.

In his closing remarks, Rudolf Steiner comments on the questions raised. He points out in particular how much the demand for nationalization of the means of production counteracts the development of an appropriate works council system and thus also makes genuine socialization impossible.