Austerity or Death #2
The glasses clinked together with a bright, cheerful ring.
“You’re still so young. I wonder if you’ve ever even tasted wine before,” he said, raising the glass to his lips.
“Just once. During the Great War when I was a child, I worked at a factory. The workers pooled their money to buy a bottle, and I only got a sip.”
“I see… And how did it taste?”
“How else? Bitter. Sour.”
I had been twelve or thirteen at the time. What did I know about flavor? Even now, the wine touching my lips felt unfamiliar.
“Do you drink often?”
“When you go to university, you end up drinking whether you like it or not. I don’t particularly enjoy it, though.”
“You attended university as well?”
“The Party sent me. About five years ago.”
“Was it funded by Moscow?”
“Probably.”
The Comintern had been financially supporting every socialist and communist force across Europe since its founding.
“It’s strange that a foreign government would pay the tuition of a German citizen rather than the German state itself.”
“Because in the end, the compromise called ‘welfare’ doesn’t bring prosperity and happiness to all people.”
“…May I ask you one thing?”
“Go ahead. No need to be so formal.”
I decided to drop the formalities and speak to the Chancellor plainly.
“What is democracy to you, Representative Heinz?”
His voice was low and heavy, as if something were lodged in his throat.
“I’ve always been curious. Communists constantly talk about democracy. Yet to communists, ‘democracy for the upper class’ is not democracy at all. I simply cannot understand that statement. Democracy does not exist solely for the upper class, the lower class, or any single class. Democracy exists for the nation and its people. Therefore, it does not favor any particular class. It is a system in which every class, every institution, and every power checks and monitors the others so that too much authority does not concentrate in one place. That is what democracy truly is.”
Slowly but clearly, Brüning laid out his thoughts.
“It is only natural that democracy reflects the will of the majority. But blindly following the majority’s opinion is dangerous, because the public sometimes—very often, in fact—makes the wrong choice. Always obeying the will of the masses, the will of the people, can become ‘tyranny of the majority.’ It is an act that drives the nation toward ruin. You and the Communist Party, by rejecting this austerity measure, are pushing Germany down the path of long-term bankruptcy. So let me ask you this: if the German people, that majority, demand discrimination and persecution against the Bohemians and Poles living within Germany, is that too part of ‘democracy’?”
“First of all, Chancellor, your understanding of ‘majority’ is mistaken.”
What is he even talking about…
“Mehrheit—majority—doesn’t refer to some special class, ethnicity, or anything like that. It’s simply the majority. The ordinary people of Germany and the world. It has nothing to do with gender, age, race, or origin. Just the majority. And what is Demokratie? It is the kratos—power—of the demos, the people. What exactly is wrong with the people becoming sovereign and exercising power? That is democracy.”
“But what I mean is that the people have far too great a chance of making the wrong choice. Demagogues like Hitler exist everywhere, and they will always try to manipulate the people with their silver tongues and monopolize power if given the chance. Following the opinion of the people is important, but the people must not control everything. That is why the separation of powers exists, is it not?”
“So you’re saying that simply dividing power and having each branch check the others is enough to call it democracy? The problem lies in the system itself. While we legislators, your administrators, and the judges in the courts keep each other in check, at this very moment the capitalists who monopolize all economic power are assaulting and exploiting the powerless majority. What kind of democracy is that? It’s simply a modern form of slavery.”
As I spoke, the bitter taste of the wine rose up from the back of my throat.
“Ugh…”
“Yes, the tyranny of capital… I will grant you that. So in the end, what you and the Communist Party are advocating is the abolition of private property, correct?”
“Well, that’s where it begins.”
I swallowed the bitterness as best I could and took another sip. Brüning laughed heartily in response.
“I don’t see how democracy can be found in those words. What exactly does the abolition of private property mean?”
“Exactly what it says. Factories, businesses, the means of production—they would be owned not by some other entity, but by the workers who labor within them.”
“Property is part of life. Suppose a man tills a field, sows seeds, and harvests grain. That grain is his property, is it not?”
“Of course.”
“The abolition of private property means that the product of labor belongs not to the producer, but to the nation, to everyone. Every person has the right to own what they themselves produce. If the state, a neighbor, or another individual holds the right to own and control the fruits of someone else’s labor, then that person’s life is being controlled. Where exactly is the freedom in that process? If there is no individual freedom, what use is democracy?”
“Is that so? Then let me ask you something. You know I worked in a factory for quite a long time, yes? Suppose a worker in that factory produces a single tool. Who does that tool belong to?”
“Naturally…”
Brüning began to answer as if it were obvious, then hesitated. Of course he knew. He must have realized how absurd his own previous statement sounded.
“It belongs to the factory. It doesn’t belong to the worker who made it. More precisely, it belongs to the factory owner. The factory owner is controlling the worker’s life quite effectively, wouldn’t you say?”
“…But that is the result of the contract the worker entered into with the factory.”
“So that makes it acceptable?”
“Is not a contract the foundation of all human relationships?”
“If we follow that logic, the system in which an individual contracts with the state—‘I will contribute my products to society for the public good’—is also a kind of contract. Yet you seem to think that one is problematic.”
“…”
This was the trap that those who spoke of both capitalism and democracy fell into so easily.
“Besides, socialism is not about taking everything from individuals and dividing it all equally.”
That would be practically impossible to begin with…
“Personal property and private property are two different concepts. Personal property refers to one’s own body, home, family, clothes, books—things like that. The things I need to live my life. Communism does not touch those. Of course, the process of producing them might be affected. But capitalists and aristocrats own dozens of houses, each hundreds of square meters, while I don’t even have one. I genuinely don’t have a house. What do you think about that?”
“That is…”
“Actually, that’s not the important part… Anyway, socialism does not interfere with personal property. What it seeks to abolish is private property. Private property means the means of production. Things that can generate value through human labor. Factories, land, that sort of thing. Those are the targets of abolition. Why? Because if the means of production belong to an individual, that individual will inevitably require the labor power of others to create value with them. Then the ‘private property’ produced by those means belongs not to the person who created it—the worker—but to the owner of the means of production, the capitalist. That is why I call it exploitation.”
A pleasant dizziness was beginning to creep in. So this is what being drunk feels like. I’m twenty-four years old and still not used to it.
“Ugh, I’m getting dizzy. What proof is this wine?”
“It’s not particularly strong… Are you drunk?”
“No? Drunk? Me?”
I feel perfectly fine. Or do I? Maybe I am drunk. I can’t really tell.
“Still, I should head back before midnight.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of keeping you here that long. I simply wanted an honest conversation.”
The Chancellor spoke as he refilled my glass.
“Then what you are advocating, Representative Heinz, is the abolition of all classes?”
“Class… yes, you could call it the abolition of class. More precisely, the abolition of social status. By ensuring that everyone equally possesses the means of production, we eliminate the inequality between those who own them and those who do not…”
“Did you know that the state is formed through a contract between the people? Every individual enters into a great communal contract for a more peaceful and secure life, enjoying corresponding rights and bearing corresponding duties.”
“I know. Rousseau’s social contract.”
“As society grows larger, as the assets to be managed and the individuals to be protected increase, the state comes to rely more heavily on specific figures and bureaucrats. Rule by the majority is fine. But it is too idealistic. Russia may look like paradise to you, but who knows when that unstable and precarious system will become rigid and distorted by capable and greedy bureaucrats. Social ownership requires management, and management requires a bureaucracy.”
“Bureaucracy is inevitable. That is precisely why people’s councils, the Soviets, are so important. Bureaucrats must not be controlled by the center but by the people. Through the councils, the equal decision-making of the people and workers is directly reflected in policy. Bureaucratization ultimately comes from the monopoly of information. If the decision-making system itself is carried out by the people, what information could possibly be hidden?”
“Then national security would become extremely vulnerable. Especially in Germany, which would face immediate threats from the Western powers. If all information is made public, what could the state possibly conceal? It would be like drawing a straight path for them to invade.”
“That is why a revolution not only in Germany but across the entire world is crucial. The reason Russia supports workers worldwide through the Comintern is to spread communism.”
I took a large gulp.
“The solidarity of the working class is far stronger than you think, Chancellor. We are not merely beings who are sacrificed and exploited. If a revolution breaks out in Germany, the West will of course invade. But even in the West, there are people and workers living under constant exploitation and oppression. Whether in politics or academia, they are people who have no time to think of anything else because of the struggle to survive. The people have already been enlightened once by the revolutions in Russia and Spain. If the freedom of the workers blossoms in Germany, the industrial heart of the world, even the people of the most conservative nations will not stand still.”
I should stop drinking now.
“As I have said many times, what I and the communists value most is the equal right of all people to self-determination. Communism is a system that ensures no one’s freedom to pursue happiness is violated. That is why I cast my vote against the measure. First, because my supporters and the people who gave me their votes demanded it. Second, because Germany’s reconstruction must be carried out not by capitalists who care only about filling their own bellies, but by the workers and people who actually build this country.”
I set the empty glass down on the table with a clink. The red wine looked especially vivid tonight. Ah, now even my eyes were playing tricks. I was going to suffer tomorrow…
“…I see.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I slowly prepared to stand.
“Thank you very much for this conversation today, Chancellor.”
“No, thank you, Representative Heinz. You are a frightening person. One might say your words are magic that steals souls.”
“It is not my words, but the vision of communism—centered on dismantling unequal structures of production and liberating the people—that draws people’s hearts.”
“Nevertheless, I still cannot agree with what you have said. History does not flow only in rosy directions.”
“I know that too. That is why we believe in struggle rather than prayer, isn’t it?”
I staggered slightly as I gathered my coat and rose from my seat.
“Good night, Chancellor. See you on Monday.”
“Yes, until Monday, Representative Heinz. Shall I have someone accompany you?”
“No need. The last train hasn’t left yet. Good night!”
There was still some time before the final train, but I needed to hurry.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
Taking the cool autumn wind brushing against my face as a remedy for the alcohol, I headed toward Frankfurt station.