Emil Lederer · 1910
Lederer’s brief review examines Adler’s effort to recruit intellectuals to socialism through their cultural aspirations. It moves from the pamphlet’s purpose and argumentative strategy to an assessment of its theoretical character and possible political effects.
Der Agitation für den Sozialismus unter den Intellektuellen zu dienen, ist der Zweck dieser Broschüre.
English translation: To serve the agitation for socialism among the intellectuals is the purpose of this pamphlet.
Adler’s distinctive appeal, as Lederer presents it, goes beyond historical necessity and the economic insecurity of intellectuals under capitalism. It seeks to awaken their theoretical interest by arguing that socialism alone guarantees the unrestricted development of intellectual pursuits understood as conditions of their lives.
Er bemüht sich, die Bedeutung des Sozialismus als allgemeine Kulturbewegung klarzulegen und nachzuweisen, daß der Kapitalismus die freie Entfaltung der Persönlichkeit hemmt, die hingegen im sozialistischen Staat ihre volle Befriedigung werde finden können.
English translation: He endeavours to set forth the significance of socialism as a general cultural movement and to demonstrate that capitalism impedes the free unfolding of the personality, which, by contrast, will be able to find its full satisfaction in the socialist state.
The conceptual move is to present socialism as a general cultural movement and a promise of personal fulfillment. Lederer expects Adler’s arguments, supported by well-chosen quotations from Fichte, Marx, and others, to impress educated readers if the pamphlet reaches them. Yet he qualifies this favorable judgment: because the appeal foregrounds cultural advancement and educated people’s ideals rather than proletarian dictatorship and interests, its reasoning is not strictly historical-materialist. Its persuasive strength thus also marks a theoretical tension.
Lederer closes by identifying a concrete audience: the civil servants’ movement, already oriented toward class struggle more than it may recognize. The pamphlet could reinforce that orientation, provided it circulates sufficiently. The review’s significance lies in this connection between intellectual aspirations, political recruitment, and socialist theory: winning intellectuals matters both to socialist parties’ development and to socialism as theory and practice.
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