Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 102

Continuing my commentary on the 29th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.

Regarding Steiner's relationship to fascism two points should be mentioned. The first is the attack by Adolf Hitler on Steiner and Steiner's Threefold Social Order in 1921. Steiner's proposed social reforms were decried as "one of the many completely Jewish methods of destroying the peoples’ normal state of mind"*. Hitler had a number of reasons for disliking Steiner. Steiner's Threefold Social Order was a real alternative at the time, and as such was a threat to Hitler's "national" socialism. Indeed every aspect of Steiner' philosophy is antithetical to Nazi fascism. This is evident in the second point:

"Which social forms can be the only acceptable ones if all social development is tending towards individualization? The answer cannot be too difficult. Any state or society that regards itself as an end in itself has to aim for control over the individual, regardless of the way in which such control is exercised, whether it be an absolutist, constitutional or republican manner. As long as the state no longer regards itself as an end in itself, but as a means towards an end, the principle of state control will no longer be emphasized. All arrangements will be made in such a way that the individual receives the greatest scope. The greatest ideal of the state will not be the control of anything. It will be a community that wants nothing for itself, everything for the individual."

This is Steiner writing in 1898, 35 years before Hitler took power in Germany. Contrast this with the basic description of fascism from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

"… fascism extolled the supreme sovereignty of the nation as an absolute. It demanded the revival of the spirit of the ancient polis (city-state), above all of Sparta with its discipline and total devotion to duty, and of the complete coordination of all intellectual and political thought and activities against modern individualism and scientific skepticism."***

Steiner flatly rejected the very premise of fascism. Little wonder the Anthroposophical Society in Germany was banned shortly after the Nazi's seized power.

* Hitler, Adolf. Völkische Beobachter. 15 Mar 1921.

** Steiner, Rudolf. Social and Political Science. Ed. Stephen Usher. Forest Row, UK: Sophia Books, 2003. Pages 32-33.

*** Kohn, Hans. "Fascism". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2002 ed. CD-ROM. New York: Britannica, 2002.