The years of the first world war glorified Rathenau not only as a talented entrepreneur and organizer of production, but also as an original philosopher. The war forced the celebration to take a new look at Imperial leadership, the situation of workers, on the condition of education, health, and overall social-economic system of Germany.
His views on historical time, the role of Germany in the world and the factors that will ensure its dignified position, Rathenau outlined in the work "on the problems of the future." One of Rathenau's biographers believes that the General plan and a significant part of the book were created before the war (June-July 1914), with the initial plan providing for the following sections: Economics, ethics, politics. Etta Koolhaaz, on the other hand, believes that the idea of the book arose only in 1915, and the book itself was written mainly in 1916. The book was a milestone in the work of Rathenau, marked the beginning of the development of his theory of "new economy"," new state "and"new society". It was published in March 1917, when Germany and the world were experiencing dramatic events. Began turn in the consciousness of and diplomacy from war to peace, in Russia occurred bourgeois-democratic revolution, in Germany were brewing powerful antiwar speech. The work aroused great interest not only in Germany but also abroad. The priests in their sermons called it " the book of the soul." By 1925, the 70th edition was published. What was sensational about it?
Rathenau began his work with traditional ideas about the need for moral self-improvement, education of the people with the help of art in the spirit of abstract humanism and the wishes of the "good" bourgeois. The author then turned to serious problems of a socio-economic nature, including the requirements of restructuring the economy, changing attitudes towards the working class, as well as to such moral and ethnic problems as the eradication of idleness, laziness, luxury, unearned income and the like, disgracing people living in the era of civilization. The author did not hide the main purpose of the book: "to give a serious, scientific, convincing counter-version of Marxism," because the existing liberal concepts of social development can not fulfill this.
In the Preface, Rathenau arrogantly stated ," this book strikes dogmatic socialism right in the heart."
A great connoisseur of world literature and philosophical teachings, he could appreciate the attractive power of the ideas of socialism and the possibility of their implementation in Germany. It was difficult to challenge the socialist principle of universal equality on earth and not in heaven, the actual and not formal recognition of the rights to work, education, recreation, housing, etc.Rathenau opposed the socialist ideals of their views on the development of society. The book consists of three main sections: "Goal", "Path", "Will" - and conclusions. The largest number of pages is devoted to writing "Goals". The author sincerely believed that in the correct justification of the goal (now it is called the national idea) lies the power that can turn the world. In formulating the content of the" Goal", Rathenau made his arguments against socialism. Despite all his efforts, most historians believe, however, this section of the book is the weakest because of the many contradictions and uncertainty of the position of the author. And this opinion is fair.
The main thesis of the first section boils down to the fact that humanity should always have a goal that could mobilize it, all the forces of people to the end, to reveal their creative abilities for its implementation. In this regard, Rathenau, classifying himself as a liberal and opponents of socialism, in our opinion, sharply at odds with the liberals and rapidly converging with the ideals of the socialists. After all, liberals of all generations (including the present) in moral, moral and economic terms are fighting for complete independence from the state, from all restrictions, whatever kind they were and from whatever authorities did not come, to hysteria extolling the abstract principle of individual freedom. What universal goal could there be in a society divided into classes, parties with an institution of almost absolute monarchy, economically suffering from a lack of its own resources and the narrowness of the internal market. It is recognized by sociologists that democratic States naturally and objectively contribute to the rooting of human vices. Our reality demonstrates the growth of drug addiction, criminal crime, vagrancy, sexual perversions, etc.Psychological deviations have become a scourge of society of the end of the XX century precisely on the basis of the principle of individual freedom.
Rathenau resolutely denies the goals of the socialists-the satisfaction of the material needs of people by eliminating the exploitation of man by man, as the achievement of "earthly well-being", i.e. equality of people, can not transform the old society. Rathenau has repeatedly said that true transformative power is born only in the realm of ideas, in worldview, faith, transcendence. Now this thesis looks especially unconvincing, when all industrial countries, and especially Germany, put social problems (employment, high wages, state aid to the poor social strata and other social tasks) at the forefront of domestic policy, regardless of the party affiliation of legislators and performers. Moreover, these ideas were adopted by the opponents of democracy, and hence of freedom, as very convenient to justify the most crazy policy, of course, contrary to the true intentions of the humanist. The problem of the earthly arrangement of people has a very prosaic earthly origin. This state of Affairs cannot and will not be denied by people who sincerely and deeply believe in the existence of God, whether they are liberals or conservatives.
Rathenau's discussion of the transformative power of the idea does little to clarify the need to open a "path to freedom" (they are in fact unoriginal), since humanity, as long as it knows itself, is struggling with this concept of "freedom". Philosophers have long been interested in the category of freedom, and the most common definitions of it we find in Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, etc., and none of them Rathenau, of course, did not surpass. In our opinion, Rathenau gave a very vague, vague interpretation of" human freedom", which can be interpreted as a self-chosen and respected responsibility of each person towards society. A little later, Thomas Mann will note in his "Doctor Faust": "Freedom itself is internally contradictory, because it is forced, asserting itself, to limit the freedom of its opponents, and therefore, to cancel itself." And the heroes of this intellectual novel do not believe in the free structure of society, believing, like Rousseau, that the Golden age of freedom is in the past. Rathenau's arguments about freedom are even more difficult to understand.
Rathenau sincerely believed that not only a man can have a soul, but many people can have a single common "soul", which can be a "moral state".
"If men," Rathenau wrote, " realize the fact that they can obtain liberation by trusting the state as the embodiment of the moral common idea of the people of a given country, the way to their liberation is open." What a "moral state" should be, Rathenau did not specify, but in General his reasoning revolved around the idea of an enlightened sovereign or an enlightened elite. At the same time, Rathenau recognized that in modern society it is impossible to be absolutely free, so the process of "emancipation of the soul" of man can be accomplished only as a result of his great efforts; aimed at the destruction of dependence on nature and the endless improvement of human needs.
The way to human freedom, according to Rathenau, lies through "mechanization", understood by him as a form of material life of mankind, which unites the world into a forced Association, into a continuous common production and economy. "Mechanization" is identical with the capitalist system, it promotes the growth of productive forces. But having reached the highest level at the beginning of the XX century, it restricts freedom. "Mechanization,"Rathenau solemnly proclaimed," has fulfilled its primary purpose: the elimination of all want and poverty." This task is so simple that it should be solved not as an aesthetic measure, but as a "police duty". Rathenau recognized that the wealth created by people in the sweat of their brows, callously squandered, therefore, "if half of the wasted world's labor to direct in the right direction, every poor man in civilized countries would be fed, clothed, would have a home." "It is too late to talk about the economic root causes of waste," Rathenau said. " the task now is to recognize the shortcomings and try to develop an understanding that the consumption of goods is not a private matter, since commodities are available in limited quantities." To achieve freedom, Rathenau summed up, it is necessary to build a new society: "the time has come to build a 'mittelvelt' ('middle society') which will rest on the material and reach perfection in the sublime. The task already facing humanity, Rathenau wrote, is to spiritualize the mechanical order, to transform the blind play of forces into a "conscious, free, dignified cosmos."
Bourgeois reality, a society whose idol is money, did not quite suit Rathenau as an intellectual with high demands, who recognized the ability to work for the benefit of the "new society" as the main purpose of man. But the "new society" they proposed meant the submission of the masses to the "strong will" of which the state was the personification.
Some German authors, including such a famous scientist as Yu. Kuchinsky, believed that the ideas of Rathenau paved the way for fascism. In our opinion, this is not true, because Rathenau is much more separates from fascism than it has in common: he was never a racist, in the first place put economic relations, not political dictatorship, was opposed to all violence, especially terror, sincerely revered democracy.