IMG41

Politics, Russia, and Vladimir Lenin i

Ernst Mach devcloped a numbcr of abstract ethical, social, cconomic, and political opinions which hc expresscd from timc to timc beforc and during his mcmbcrship in thc Austrian Herrenhaus or Chambcr of Pccrs (1901-1913). A corncrstonc of Mach's social philosophy was his bclicf in thc morał progrcss of mankind. He was persuaded that cthi-cal individuals and a morał world order wcrc bccoming morę manifest on thc planet as a whole (1897):

Very, vcry gradually, howcver, as dvilization progresses, thc intercourse of men takes on gcntlcr forms. ... In the intercourse of nations, howevcr, thc old club ław still rcigns supremę. But sińce its rulc is ta.\ing the in-lellcctual, thc morał, and thc materiał rcsourccs of thc nations to thc ut-most and constitutcs scarcely less a yoke for thc victor tłian for thc van-quishcd, it must neccssarily grow morę and morę unendurabłe. . . . [ But ] herc as elacwhcrc, tłic cvil itsclf will awaken thc intcllectual 3nd cthical forces which arc destined to mitigate ii. Lei thc hatc of races and national-iiics run riot as it may, thc intercourse of nations will still incrcasc and grow morę intimatc.¹

Mach altcrcd Hcgcls optimism by argtiing that if the rational was not always thc rcal at least it would normally bccomc thc rcal (1912): "Howcver far the distance is from thcoretical understnnding to practi-cal conduct, still thc lattcr cannot in thc long run resist thc former."²

Mach shared much of thc "halfindividualism” and “half-socialism” of his friend Joscf Poppcr-Lynkcus. In thc individualistic "half" Mach supported pcrsonal freedom and 3 carefully circumscribcd “statc" au-rhority; in thc socialist "half” hc favored social and cconomic reforms which would Icad to a redistribution of wcalth but which would rc-quire a large mcasurc of "statc” intcrvcntion in order to help bring thc reforms about. The following quotations indicate thc first “half" of his position, Mach's lovc of freedom and fcar of thc “statc":

But how docs it comc, we must ask, that institutions so antiquatcd as the German gymnasiums could subsist so long in opposiuon to public opinion? The answer is simplc. The schcols wcrc first organized by the church; and sińce the Reformation they havc bccn in thc hands of thc statc.³

It is to be hoped that thc Americans will jcalously guard their schools and univcrsitics against thc influence of thc State.⁴

On the other hand, slavcry in a workers statc could be cvcn morę generał and oppressiue than under a monarchy or oligarchy.⁰

[One] must entertain gravc doubts as to thc rightncss of our method of cxcrcising justicc, which consists in making good one misery by a sccond, thc sccond bcing added to thc first by mcans of a proccss that is revoldng bccausc dclibcratc, crucl, and solcmn.⁰

[The same absurdity] is committed by thc statesman who regards thc individual as e.\isting soldy for thc sake of thc statc.⁷

Nowadays it is difficult for a frcc-thinking German to feel broihcrly affection for clcrical, Christian Socialist, or and-Semide Germans. For what bas a blank, empty Germandom to offer him dcvoid of German culture, or cvcn hostile to it? . . . Already nuincrous frcc thinking Germans stand eloser to frcc-thinking Czcchs, Jews, Frcnchmen. and Italians than to numerous other “Germans”. The rcsult of the current war of idcas will not favor this or that race or folk but al! pcoplcs.⁸

MaclTs humanitarian conccrn for "the working class," and his adop-tion of popular left-wing slogans of the day brought aspects of his thinking vcry near social holism and Marxist ideology.

The two classes that virtually hołd thc rcigns of power in the statc [arc] the jurists and theologians. . . .⁹

Today in Europc and America the namc and traditional form of skwery has ceased, but its esscncc, the robbery of the many by the few, persists.^lw

It thcrcforc cannot fail that one day this part of mankind, in just rccog nition of the situation, will consolidate against thcsc lords and masters and dcinand a morę purposeful and mutually satisfactory usc and division of our common wcalth.¹¹

The “colonial", i.c., profit-bringing, “actwity" of thc Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, but cspccially thc English, will constitutc, like thc religious and modern greed wars [Gełd^negeJ, thc most distastcful chapter of history for coming generations.¹*

*33

A