PRAISE FOR REVOLUTION AND OTHER WRITINGS: A POLITICAL READER If there were any justice in this world – at least as far as historical memory goes – then Gustav Landauer would be remembered, right along with Bakunin and Kropotkin, as one of anarchism's most brilliant and original theorists. Instead, history has abetted the crime of his murderers, burying his work in silence. With this anthology, Gabriel Kuhn has single-handed- ly redressed one of the cruelest gaps in Anglo-American anarchist litera- ture: the absence of almost any English translations of Landauer. – Jesse Cohn, author of Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation: Hermeneutics, Aesthetics, Politics Gustav Landauer was, without doubt, one of the brightest intellectual lights within the revolutionary circles of fin de siècle Europe. In this remarkable anthology, Gabriel Kuhn brings together an extensive and splendidly chosen collection of Landauer's most important writings, presenting them for the first time in English translation. With Landauer's ideas coming of age today perhaps more than ever before, Kuhn's work is a valuable and timely piece of scholarship, and one which should be required reading for anyone with an interest in radical social change. – James Horrox, author of A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement Kuhn's meticulously edited book revives not only the "spirit of freedom," as Gustav Landauer put it, necessary for a new society but also the spirited voice of a German Jewish anarchist too long quieted by the lack of Eng- lish-language translations. Ahead of his time in many ways, Landauer now speaks volumes in this collection of his political writings to the zeitgeist of our own day: revolution from below. His insistence on a communitar- ian anarchism of the head and heart, of thought and action, rings more relevant than ever too. And if you long, as Landauer did, to "turn your dreams of beauty into a desire for realization," you'll find no better guide than this book – a joy from start to finish. – Cindy Milstein, author of Anarchism and Its Aspirations and Institute for Anarchist Studies board member This collection of Gustav Landauer's political writings stands as a won- derful achievement. The detailed translations focus on works that have never before been available to an English speaking readership and the ideas contained in these works continue to resonate with contemporary anar- chist concerns. Landauer's thought remains a timely and prescient affirma- tion of an anti-authoritarian tradition that finds value not in dogmatic and hate-fuelled revolutionism, but rather finds inspiration in a soulful humility and a heart-felt compassion in the awareness of the imbrication of self and other. – Mark Huba, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia "[E]very Bavarian child at the age of 10 is going to know Walt Whitman by heart." This was the cornerstone of Landauer's educational system as a "people's delegate for culture and education" under the abortive Bavarian Revolution. His beautiful vision of a decentralized, cooperative, and hu- mane society was not extinguished by the brutal hands of the Bolsheviks who stifled his voice in the Workingmen's Internationals or even by the proto-Nazis who assassinated him. His voice, which stirred the kibbutz movement to practical achievement, is now available to English readers who don't want to wait for the supposed "laws of history" to bring about the Socialist Revolution. "Nothing can prevent the united consumers from working for themselves with the aid of mutual credit, from building facto- ries, workshops, houses for themselves, from acquiring land, nothing – if only they have a will and begin." – Chris Dunlap, Barbary Coast Publishing Collective GUSTAV LANDAUER REVOLUTION AND OTHER WRITINGS A POLITICAL READER Edited and Translated by Gabriel Kuhn Preface by Richard J.F. Day Revolution and Other Writings: A Political Reader Edited and translated by Gabriel Kuhn ISBN: 978-1-60486-054-2 LCCN: 2009901371 This edition copyright ©2010 PM Press All Rights Reserved PM Press PO Box 23912 Oakland, CA 94623 www.pmpress.org Published in the EU by The Merlin Press Ltd. 6 Crane Street Chambers, Crane Street, Pontypool NP4 6ND, Wales www.merlinpress.co.uk ISBN: 9780850366716 Layout by Daniel Meltzer Cover art by John Yates Printed in the USA, on recycled paper HE S T A T E IS A SOCIAL RELA T IONSHIP ; A CER T AIN “ way of people relating to one another. It can be Tdestroyed by creating new social relationships; i.e., by people relating to one another differently.” – Gustav Landauer 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: Landauer Today - Richard J.F. Day...........................................6 Editor’s Note - Gabriel Kuhn ...............................................................10 Introduction - Gabriel Kuhn with Siegbert Wolf ..............................18 4 Childhood and Youth Twenty-five Years Later: On the Jubilee of Wilhelm II .....................62 Early Anarchism Anarchism – Socialism ..........................................................................70 An Anarchist’s Response to the Kaiser’s Speech ................................75 A Few Words on Anarchism .................................................................79 Anarchic Thoughts on Anarchism .......................................................84 Through Separation to Community Through Separation to Community ....................................................94 Revolution Revolution ............................................................................................ 110 Socialist Hopes What Does the Socialist Bund Want? .............................................. 188 The Socialist Way ................................................................................ 191 The Settlement .................................................................................... 196 Socialist Beginning .............................................................................. 201 The Party .............................................................................................. 206 Weak Statesmen, Weaker People! ..................................................... 213 The Twelve Articles of the Socialist Bund, Second Version ........... 215 On War and Nationalism The Free Workers’ Council ................................................................. 218 The Abolition of War by the Self-Determination of the People: Questions to the German Workers ................................................... 222 Revolution, Nation, and War ............................................................. 230 Peace Treaty and Peace Administration: A Letter to Woodrow Wilson............................................................ 234 On America The 11th of November ....................................................................... 240 In Memory of Robert Reitzel ............................................................ 245 Tucker’s Revelation ............................................................................. 248 McNamara ........................................................................................... 255 From Mexico ........................................................................................ 261 Mexico .................................................................................................. 264 Opinion and Journalism Pieces The Petroleum World Monopoly ...................................................... 272 Do Not Learn Esperanto! .................................................................. 276 May 1 .................................................................................................... 280 Ferrer .................................................................................................... 286 Japan ...................................................................................................... 291 The Beilis Trial .................................................................................... 295 Letters Letter to Paul Eltzbacher (1900) ....................................................... 302 Letter to Julius Bab (1904) ................................................................. 304 Letter to Erich Mühsam (1907) ........................................................ 307 Letter to Max Nettlau (1911) ............................................................ 309 Letter to Bernhard Kampffmeyer (1912) ......................................... 312 Letter to Ludwig Berndl (1915) ........................................................ 314 Letter to Hugo Landauer (1917) ...................................................... 316 Letter to Martin Buber (1918) .......................................................... 319 Letter to Margarete Susman (1919) ................................................. 321 Postcard to Fritz Mauthner (1919) ................................................... 323 Letters and Telegrams to His Daughters (1919) ............................. 324 4 Bibliography German ................................................................................................. 328 English .................................................................................................. 339 Index ...................................................................................342 PREFACE: LANDAUER TODAY Richard J.F. Day HERE ’S A CLICHÉ ABOU T WA T CHING OU T WHA T YOU ASK FOR , since you may get it in a way that doesn’t quite please you. TA few years ago, I asked for more