The Paradox of Democracy
I continued without pause. “And while we’re on the subject, let’s also talk about the means of revolution. Yes, revolution involves violence. But is revolution the only means that mobilizes violence? If we’re keeping score, then the unpaid labor, unemployment, starvation, and child workers that this capitalist system forces upon people—are those not violence? These too are undeniable acts of violence by the state against its citizens. You might argue that it’s not state violence but the violence of capitalists, yet that only creates more problems. Because the one who allows those capitalists to freely inflict violence on workers and the people is none other than you, Mr. Chancellor.”
Structural violence. In the midst of the Great Depression, with unemployment skyrocketing, this argument would land with even greater force.
“Moreover, revolution is not the act of a small group of revolutionaries destroying constitutional order. It is the oppressed and exploited people themselves rising up to reclaim the democratic power that was granted to them. In the end, those who stormed the Bastille were not revolutionaries but enraged citizens who toppled the outdated absolute monarchy. And in Russia, the organization of the Petrograd Soviet after the revolution was not carried out on the orders of Lenin or Trotsky, the leading figures of the revolution, but by the will of the people themselves. If, as you claim, Mr. Chancellor, revolution is nothing more than a coup d’état by a minority, then why are our Communist Party and Workers’ Party working so hard—even going so far as to enter this government directly? It is to awaken the masses and call for their liberation. As you yourself said, Germany is a democratic nation, is it not? Constitutional order is certainly important, but what matters more is the will of the people. After all, the constitution exists solely to protect the dignity and safeguard the German people. By that logic, revolution can be seen as the most democratic act in the world.”
In the end, my argument converged on a single conclusion.
“So, if the time comes—if the workers are truly filled with rage, if they demand that you step down and hand power over to the will of the people—will you, Mr. Chancellor, be prepared to peacefully transfer authority to those enraged masses and withdraw? The Russian Communist Party is ready. The Spanish Communist Party is ready. And of course, I and my comrades in the Workers’ and Communist Parties are ready as well. I’m quite curious whether you, Mr. Chancellor, who call yourselves more ‘democratic’ than the communists, are truly prepared to do the same.”
With that, my statement was complete. I had effectively seized the shield of “democracy” that the National Front—the centrist-right coalition—had been using to attack communist ideals. The question now extended from whether the Chancellor was the representative of the people or the guardian of the privileged. As a result, the value of democracy, which the three parties of the National Front (the Centre Party, the Democratic Party, and the People’s Party) so loudly championed, lay in shattered pieces.
“That is all.”
I finally set down the microphone. Then I waited for Brüning’s response. Only now did I feel that I had spoken well against that seasoned politician. He silently polished his glasses, then picked up the microphone.
And then—
“...I have listened carefully. You seem to have resolved my questions with remarkable clarity. I will conclude my remarks here.”
He set the microphone down. In other words… he had no intention of refuting me any further.
Had I won?
The moment he stepped down from the podium, the assembly hall erupted in an instant.
“My God… Heinz!”
“W-what?”
“You have refuted the Chancellor! You defeated him with logic!”
“Down with hollow democracy! Power to the people!”
The communist delegates rose from their seats as if on cue.
“Liberation! Liberation!”
“Condemn the destroyers of revolution! The people shall rise! Long live the revolution!”
Liberation and revolution. It seemed I had brilliantly proven the very paradox of democracy and the justification for revolution that the party members had so desperately longed for.
“Magnificent!”
Then a voice I had never heard before rang out.
“You are truly the voice of the workers! At a time like this, what use are party lines!”
A Social Democratic deputy had stood up. Why was the SPD—?
“Krischpin! What are you doing? Sit down!”
“I will not, Wels. What Germany needs now is not the party’s ambiguous stance, but the action of the workers!”
Had the SPD also collapsed alongside the Chancellor’s defeat? An open split in party lines was unfolding right before our eyes. For us, it was a golden opportunity.
“Heinz! Heinz!”
While the left unified and rose as one, the Chancellor and the National Front had become like sitting ducks on the Rhine—no, the Main. Of course they had. They must have realized that the “democracy” they had fought so hard to protect was in fact the very path that would destroy it.
Even the deputies who tried to offer some rebuttal fell silent like mute fools the moment they saw Brüning slumped helplessly in the chancellor’s seat. This was my first taste of victory on such a grand scale, and it was incredibly sweet.
“Th-that destroyer! She’s a thief trying to steal our property!”
“What are you waiting for? Drag out that Russian red’s lackey right now!”
The National People’s Party, as expected, hurled jeers and pointed fingers at me.
“Shut your mouths, you irresponsible rats!”
“Are you scared of revolution, you cowards?”
“Don’t be fooled! They’re just dressing up robbery as democracy!”
“They want to take our family’s wealth? Drag down those subversive elements!”
It was only a matter of time before a full-blown shouting match broke out. They must have felt an existential terror. After all, the Chancellor who was supposed to protect their interests had been defeated by logic, and I had won.
“You intend to turn Germany into a dictatorship of idiots!”
“What are you babbling about, you parasites who have exploited the people for centuries?”
“It’s all an illusion, an illusion! Germany isn’t some children’s fairy tale!”
“Your unjust and rotten power is the real illusion!”
I didn’t even need to add another word. We had nothing to fear anymore. Even Hitler, who had been glaring at me like I was an insect, now looked at our side with eyes filled not with rage but with unease. It was quite a sight.
When the clash between left and right deputies threatened to turn into an outright brawl, the chairman hastily declared a recess and dissolution, bringing the incident to a close for the time being.
-----
“Just what on earth were you thinking, Chancellor?”
That afternoon, at the National Front’s temporary headquarters.
“What were you thinking! When that little girl spouted her sophistry about pseudo-democracy and structural violence, why didn’t you press her harder?”
Hermann Dietrich, the sharp-featured Vice Chancellor from the Democratic Party (DDP), was pressing the Chancellor aggressively. The room was a chaotic mess of cigarette smoke and raised voices, but the two heads of the cabinet—Chancellor Brüning and Vice Chancellor Dietrich—had lost their composure and weren’t even trying to regain control of the situation.
“He’s right, Chancellor,” said Ludwig Kaas, the current leader of Brüning’s own Centre Party. “Consider what happened to our Centre Party’s position the moment you stepped down from that podium.”
“We’ve been thrown straight into the gutter. The dignity of our coalition, the authority of the Reichstag, the constitutional order—everything! Why did you just stand there and accept it?”
Dietrich poured out his words, unable to comprehend.
“You talked about a council or whatever, but don’t you know that infringing on private property is clearly unconstitutional? If you had simply recited a single constitutional clause, you could have shut that red’s mouth! Why did you meekly accept her logic and step down? Tomorrow morning’s newspapers will be filled with articles proclaiming that girl’s victory. What on earth happened here?”
“Everyone, calm down first! Do you think I wanted things to turn out this way?” Brüning, slumped in his chair with his forehead in his hand, suddenly shouted back. “I understand your frustration. I know this action of mine has become a major liability for the party! I’m troubled by it too. Just give me some time.”
He sighed deeply and stared blankly at the heavily overcast Frankfurt sky.
“Were you not chosen as the representative of our three parties (the Centre Party, the Democratic Party, and the People’s Party) to stand in the Chancellor’s seat? This was your responsibility, so we at least deserve an explanation for why you failed to fulfill it.”
“Very well. Then tell me—where in her logic should I have attacked?”
After Dietrich’s relentless questioning, Brüning finally answered.
“No, how can you even ask that… You should have emphasized the violent nature of the revolution she spoke of!”
“Did you not listen properly? She said, ‘Revolution is temporary violence, but the current system is permanent violence against the people.’ So suppose I had recited the constitutional provisions that define the powers of parliament. Wouldn’t that have been the same as telling the nine million unemployed watching us from in front of the parliament building, demanding bread and jobs, ‘Even if you starve to death, it’s perfectly legal under the constitution, so just endure it’? Do we engage in politics to save the country, or to save the people?”
“That’s…”
In the end, even Dietrich was left speechless, able only to stare at Brüning with resentful eyes. After all, it was simply the paradox of democracy—that the state exists for the people, and the law exists for the people.
“Even so, couldn’t you have sufficiently refuted the part about human selfishness? You could have cited how all official trade and transactions between the West and Russia were severed after the Russian Revolution, and explained that communism only leads to isolation and stagnation.”
Julius Curtius, the Foreign Minister from the People’s Party (DVP), spoke up.
“In that case, it would be difficult to claim that this economic crisis sweeping the entire world is better than her so-called ‘communist society.’ If I had said, ‘If we just wait, the invisible hand will eventually normalize the market,’ wouldn’t that be less a policy and more a religious delusion?”
It was none other than his own theory that was now tying the feet of the argument he had intended to use against me.
“So you’re saying she’s right? Are you suggesting the Chancellor is going to surrender to the communists?”
Dietrich still sounded unconvinced.
“That’s not it. It’s just… a kind of deadlock. In the end, our logic cannot refute the accusation that the democracy we—and you—have tried so hard to protect is in fact oppressing the true owners of democracy: the people themselves.”
“Then what do you propose we do! Are we just supposed to sit back and watch as those bastards overthrow the state, isolate this country, and bring it to ruin?”
“That’s… not it. It’s not, but…”
In the end, only two choices remained for him and his cabinet: to surrender the victory of democracy to the communists for the sake of logical consistency, or to accept the inherent contradiction of destroying democracy in order to protect it.