Die Sozialistischen Monatshefte und die Akademikerdebatte in der deutschen Sozialdemokratie vor 1914: Die „Fälle“ Göhre, Schippel, Calwer und Hildebrand

Abstract

„The truth is that upon this point, as upon so many others, the intellectuals and the proletarians lack the capacity of mutual understanding.” That is how Robert Michels summarized in 1911 the outcome of the “cases” linked to the names of Paul Göhre, Max Schippel and Robert Calwer on which his “study of the oligarchical tendencies of modern democracy” was based. The facts that Göhre and Schippel gave up their parliamentary seats, that Calwer renounced his party membership in 1909 and that Gerhard Hildebrand, a former member of the National-Social Association, was excluded from the party in 1912, were part of the important ideological disputes within the SPD in Imperial Germany. As members of the staff of the Sozialistische Monatshefte, the “socialist academics” of the right wing of German Social Democracy saw themselves as pioneers in the fight for scientifical freedom, against constraint and uniformity. This essay means to illustrate through the “cases” of Göhre, Schippel, Calwer and Hildebrand the fierce disputes between “radicals” and “revisionists” which signified the open question: revolutionary cadre party on the one, democratic people’s party on the other hand.