The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Address to an Assembly of the Federation for the Tripartite Structure of the Social Organism Protocol Record

[Emil Molt first gives an introduction about the state of the work of establishing works councils, which is not making much progress. Ernst Uehli presents the new weekly newspaper “Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus” (Threefolding of the Social Organism).]

Rudolf Steiner: If the threefolding of the social organism is to become what it must become, then it must work as a whole. It will not be possible, for example, to take any part, any link out of the whole structure of the threefold social order. It would not be possible, for example, to realize the economic part of this impulse at some time or other - in about the way it is contained in the so-called “program” - and to introduce it into the world in itself. That would not be possible. It is imperative to strive simultaneously for the three parts of the social organism to develop side by side. Just as in a natural organism one could never speak of creating the head or the chest first and then waiting for the other part to arise from the other limbs, so too can no part of the three-part social organism be tackled on its own. Therefore, just as the seed - which you have heard today has not yet borne very hopeful fruit - had emerged, but as the seed of the economic program through the idea of the works councils had emerged, it had to be borne in mind that the work should not be done only in the economic field in our sense, but that the universality should be taken into account. Therefore, while working for the works councils, the leadership of the Federation for the Tripartite Structure of the Social Organism decided, on the one hand, to gather around them personalities who were believed to be interested in creating and preparing for another link in the social organism: the spiritual link, the cultural link. And we tried to start by setting up a kind of cultural council – or whatever you want to call it. You will find a detailed account of what is actually being sought with this establishment of a cultural council in the call to establish a cultural council, as it has now been provisionally published and as it will probably be in your hands. So I will have little more to say to you about the matter today.

It was really possible to organize a kind of collaboration, a collaboration between a larger number of people. Those interested in the most diverse areas of intellectual life were repeatedly here together, and the ideas of such a cultural council were discussed. But then they also went into the individual work. Everyone tried to contribute, to gather the thoughts that had occurred to them in these smaller meetings – the thoughts that had occurred to the individual about reforms, about the transformation of intellectual life. And from this collaboration, like a final editorial board, the first version of this appeal for the establishment of a cultural council emerged.

The next step was to win over a larger group of people who, out of a sense of the needs of contemporary culture, would have joined in the call: Something must be done in the field of intellectual life in our very difficult times. - We then tried to approach this or that representative of intellectual life. It would be a very sad, indeed a very depressing chapter if one were to describe the details of the negotiations that took place in connection with the first figure of this call. Now, in these difficult times, it should be recognized that, above all, a renewal, a reorganization of intellectual life is necessary in the deepest sense, that is, insofar as it belongs to the social organism. This must be recognized, on the one hand, by the fundamental character that the intellectual life of cultured humanity has gradually taken on. It must be recognized, secondly, by how this intellectual life is administered today. That this intellectual life is the basis of what is actually happening today, which is presenting itself as confusion in the chaos of our culture and our entire civilization – this should actually be recognized.

We should recognize what fruits it has borne that for three to four centuries our intellectual life, especially in the form of schooling and education, has been repeatedly and repeatedly absorbed by the state organization. We should recognize that today we have hardly any sense of the innermost needs of intellectual life, which can only exist in the urge for a free shaping of this life. No feeling has been aroused by the fact that the absorption of spiritual life by the state was a decisive factor not only for the filling of posts and for external administration, but also for the content of this spiritual life itself. This could not be shown as clearly in the past as it is today, at the great turning points in the development of humanity that we are currently facing. Over the past three to four centuries, as important branches of our intellectual life have gradually been absorbed into state life, a form of our intellectual life has developed that is no longer capable of producing ideas that would have been a match for the facts, which are asserting themselves more and more powerfully, more and more extensively.

Thus it has come about that, wherever they were locked out of these or those foundations of intellectual life, thoughts were too short to control the facts, that these facts went their own way, came into their own momentum, and in the end it was the thoughtless facts into which man was no longer able to send thoughts, have brought about our terrible world catastrophe, in which we are still very much involved, and with regard to which we are only now entering decisive points, decisive stages.

Nothing shows the decline of our intellectual life more than the state of the proletariat, which is so significant for the movement of today's people. The leading circles, who have been leading up to now, feel with horror what revelations, what programs, what party maxims are emerging from the proletariat. In my book 'The Key Points of the Social Question', I wanted to point out the crucial point. I wanted to point out that the state of mind of the leading members of the proletariat today is nothing other than the legacy of the intellectual life of the bourgeoisie, of the leading, guiding circles.

Recently, two members of the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism who belong to workers' circles gave a lecture at a public meeting. This was followed by a discussion in which prominent figures of the proletariat, who were far to the left, intervened. I then spoke a few words, which amounted to saying that, in my opinion, these personalities, who were far to the left and belonged to communist circles, had nothing but the worst offshoots of the intellectual heritage of the leading and governing circles – which they were until now – in their speeches. I would like to say that one has never heard such bourgeois talk as was the case with these independent and communist personalities. They have learned this from their bourgeois ancestors. They had to learn it. And anyone who can look more deeply into the official development of our intellectual life, into the administration of our intellectual life, knows that this intellectual life has finally led to the complete withering away of intellectual production and that, where intellectual matters are concerned, nothing is left but empty phrases. We live in a world of empty phrases. There are still people who do not want to see these things. There are still people in Central Europe – it is hard to believe – who do not want to see these things, who still want to indulge in the illusions that have allowed them to numb themselves for so long, about rushing into self-inflicted destruction. Self-inflicted because they do not want to face what is without prejudice, because they only want to hold on to old habits of thinking and feeling.

The aim of a cultural council as it is conceived today must be a complete reorganization of the entire education and teaching system. I would like to say that something like this can be tackled on a small scale. It is to be tackled by setting up the so-called 'Waldorf School' here. This Waldorf School is to be brought into being by our friend Mr. Molt, initially for the children of the workers at Waldorf-Astoria. This school should be set up in such a way that the children between the ages of six and fifteen are taught not in the way that teaching has been conducted at this school level so far - out of the mere needs of the template state - but in a way that is appropriate to human nature between the ages of seven and fifteen, according to a thorough understanding of that human nature. What people have in mind as a so-called unified school that is not born out of anything other than human nature, which is a unity for all people, especially in these years, should underlie the entire structure of the Waldorf school. The whole structure of the Waldorf school should be based on this knowledge of what should grow with the human being in the world, and on this knowledge of how teaching should be structured. Teachers should work seriously to receive a pedagogy that is based on real anthropology, on a comprehensive anthropology. The task of these teachers is to educate the human being to develop the powers that lie within the human being, which must be cultivated during childhood, so that something can be avoided in the future that every observer of human nature, who has a knowledge of psychology, can see so clearly today.

Indeed, what is the most important and essential characteristic in the life of our time? What is it that weighs so heavily on our minds today as a major cultural concern? If we look at what prevails among people today, we find that most people today are what I would call “bent natures”: those people whose will and feeling and thinking are “bent” by the vicissitudes of life. Why are they “bent”? The reason is that our school education for children is such that the most important powers of the soul are not strengthened to such an extent that they can no longer be “bent” later on, that the human being is able to cope with life. This should be the concern when setting up a Waldorf school: to prepare the human being for life in such a way that the soul and emotional forces that can only be developed in childhood are developed so that the human being can cope with life. Everything that is to be taught in so-called subjects is only secondary. Everything that figures as a so-called subject will always be asked: How does it contribute to the development of the powers of the human soul? When is this and this, at what age should this or that be introduced to the child? Lessons should be taught from a comprehensive understanding of the human being. Then the people who come out of such a school will be able to stand strong in life. Not less, but more effort will be needed by the human being in the age that hopes for social organization - in contrast to the divisions into class differences and the like that existed before. Of course, what is today the middle school, grammar school, secondary school and so on would also have to be reorganized, and what should be completely different for the future if one wants to have people who are good for life; it would have to be raised to a higher level than the lower level of elementary school, and the reorganization would have to extend up to the highest levels of teaching, at least to the college level. You can find more details on how this is to be achieved in the appeal to found a cultural council.

As I said, you can do something on a small scale, like the Waldorf School, with someone who really has such a deep understanding, like our friend Mr. Molt, for what needs to be done in terms of threefolding. The individual can have a beneficial effect by doing such a foundation. But with such an individual foundation today, the necessary is not yet done. Today it is a matter of awakening the consciousness in people in the widest possible circle: that which can be intended for such a particular thing should become the common property of humanity if we do not want to sail into the downfall of European culture. Today it always looks as if one is merely putting some kind of fantasy before the world when one says: we are faced with the “either/or”. Either we must decide on great things, or we must familiarize ourselves with the thought that European civilization is sailing towards its destruction. Anyone who still does not believe in this “either/or” today simply does not understand the times. Today's call is not for our timidity, but for our courageous will. And here I must say: in view of everything that has been said about the transformation of spiritual life in the sense of threefolding, it is truly one of the most serious disappointments that now, after weeks of efforts, nothing more is available than the attempt at such an appeal, which has indeed found a number of signatures, but of course not nearly enough. Because what is to be done today must be well-founded in the broadest sense of the mass judgment. Only in this way can we move forward.

The negotiations have shown time and again that the old problem is also occurring in this matter: one person wants this, the other that; one person did not like a sentence, another did not like the stylization; one person finds it necessary to spend weeks discussing a matter. Yes, it must be said: the concerns that have been expressed, especially by this or that personality on whom we had counted in this cultural appeal, were of such a nature that they really proved how necessary the transformation of our intellectual life is. – There is nothing that shows the poor state of our intellectual life more than the intellectual life that has produced such objections as those that have been raised against us. That is why this cultural appeal must be discussed today.

You see, when we talk about what concerns humanity as a whole, what is so clearly shown by the whole configuration of our time that it concerns all of humanity, what do we learn? These days, I read in various Stuttgart newspapers a description of what the Waldorf School wants. This description was also contained in the local Social Democratic paper of the USPD, the “Sozialdemokrat”. The “Sozialdemokrat” could not help but make the following comment on this description, which was [objective]: The matter would be all very well, but it comes from factory owners, and we will not put up with that.

This is the state of mind of contemporary humanity. But this state of mind of contemporary humanity is particularly evident in what has been encountered in so-called “bourgeois” economics, namely the most enlightened economists at our university, the leading economists at our university.

I ask you to buy this issue, which is entitled “Das gelbe Blatt” (The Yellow Sheet) – the current issue. You will find an article by Professor Lujo Brentano about the entrepreneur. Of course, today the newspapers are everywhere reporting on Professor Brentano's article about the entrepreneur, as they are accustomed to doing based on their belief in authority. For our time, which according to its illusion is not one of blind faith in authority – it is more blindly faith in authority than Catholics ever were in relation to their church leaders in earlier times. But try to read this article by Professor Brentano on entrepreneurship with your common sense, emancipated from all this blind faith in authority. It is to be hoped that as many people as possible today will apply common sense to such things.

First of all, there is a definition of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is characterized in three points. And a concept of the entrepreneur is created, a concept that the luminary of economic science, Professor Brentano, ultimately uses to such an extent that the concept of the entrepreneur also includes the ordinary proletarian worker; because, according to Professor Brentano, the ordinary proletarian worker is the entrepreneur of his own labor, which he brings to market at his own risk and expense. Today our intellectual life is such that pure nonsense enjoys the greatest fame. Until we can fully grasp the full weight of this fact, we will not develop a sense of what is necessary. And until we develop this sense, we will not understand how much inner courage is required for this transformation of our intellectual life; how much is demanded by a truly fundamental renewal of our intellectual life, especially of our education and teaching.

Oh, I would give anything to have the gift of very different words and word coinages to make today's humanity aware of what one really had to achieve through a bloody struggle for life. Do you think it is easy to say such things as I had to say against a so-called luminary of today's science? If you say such a thing, everyone sees you as an angry rabble-rouser, as a person who must be silenced. And only the most sacred sense of duty can lead one to tell the truth about these things today. And this truth is serious, very serious. For what have we already achieved in the details?

I would like to recall the lecture I gave in Heilbronn on the threefold social organism, which Mr. Molt has already mentioned today. In the review of the “Heilbronner Zeitung” that Mr. Molt reported on, there are many things that do not interest me, because I am highly indifferent to what a line-pushing writer writes about what is spoken out of today's seriousness of life. But if this wordiness becomes a symptom of what lives in today's hearts and minds, then it needs to be considered a little. There it has yet such a wordy windbag managed to say that I have resorted to “the three old hits Freedom, Equality, Fraternity”. Well, this is how far this generation has come, that today one can freely say that these three great goods of humanity – freedom, equality, fraternity – are “hits”, that one can mock what is most sacred to people. One is reminded of the words of Hamlet: “Writing tablets, writing tablets, that one may write down, that one may smile and always smile and yet be a villain.” And one would like to say: writing tablets, so that one can be considered an educated person in the face of contemporary humanity and even be allowed to write in newspapers and still be allowed to mock the highest ideals of humanity in the most stupid way!

These things are rooted in our present-day culture; that they be seen, that what everyone who takes today's world seriously longs for, and that out of this longing develops that which in turn can result in a recovery of our social organism!

We are really on the verge of the catastrophe that is looming in the most diverse areas of life. What we need is to find the strength to draw upon our inner resources. We need to do everything we can, especially in view of the impending danger to Central Europe, to draw upon our innermost human powers. We need to let the danger to Central Europe become the impetus to do everything we can from our innermost being. Much will be taken from this Central Europe, it will be made very, very poor. And truly, one is repeatedly reminded of what one has already had to let sink in again and again from life, very, very bitterly: It was always a painful sight for me to see a young child here and there in more intimate circles during these war years, because then one had to feel: The old have at least something behind them, have a memory of something; but those who are now children are growing up in terrible times. And today, this feeling does not only come to mind through the general world situation; today it also comes to mind when one has to notice how sleepy humanity is in the face of what can be observed today. It must be observed how we are absolutely sailing into destruction if we do not start from such points of view, which I have been able to characterize here today, albeit very imperfectly, in just a few words.

Let me say it once again: Much will be taken from this Central Europe; it will be made very poor. It can only be saved if it draws on something that cannot be taken away: the innermost powers of the soul. And it is precisely the folk forces of this Central Europe that are capable of cultivating this innermost power of the soul. We have not cultivated it in Central Europe in recent decades – that is our great fault. Let us learn from necessity to cultivate it.

This is what comes to mind today when one wants to speak about something like the founding of a cultural council. It is from such serious foundations that this appeal for the founding of a cultural council is written. May its individual sentences be found good or bad; I do not care what these individual sentences are called - it is the spirit behind them that matters! And one would like to see this spirit recognized; to see how it cannot be grasped merely in the mind, but how it must be grasped as a stimulus to real action for a renewal, a transformation, a new creation of our spiritual life.

Lecture at an Assembly of the Federal Council for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism

Rudolf Steiner: I don't want to interfere with the debate for too long, because I think it is better if suggestions come from the most diverse sides today, which can then lead to further fruitful work. But I would like to say a few words at least to suggest what is needed to summarize what has already been very gratefully put forward by various speakers today and what will hopefully continue to be put forward in the course of this evening. Above all, it is a matter of such small circles, which, I might say, can work out of expertise, that such small circles, more or less small or large circles, are formed. But then it is a matter of ensuring that a certain merger of these circles, which must be organized, really does give rise to the cultural council, if we want to call it that; that the cultural council as such performs a kind of work, that small circles do not merely cause a fragmentation of the work. The words I have just spoken are not meant to be in any way opposed to the active work of the small groups, but I would just like to draw attention to the fact that a network of connections of the most diverse kinds must exist between these individual groups. We must never lose sight of the great tasks that actually have to occupy us in the whole threefold social order and in particular in one part of this threefold order, in the work of the cultural council.

You see, in order to really organize the work, we have to focus our attention on the main thing that matters at the present time. This main issue can be described symptomatically by this or that. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Unger emphasized a very harsh symptom, “the school compromise,” and similar compromises, but we actually have the opportunity everywhere to observe how such symptoms of a fundamental decline in our intellectual culture in particular are etched on people's faces. We are suffering today only from a very significant moment of decline in our intellectual life – that is the fragmentation, the atomization of our intellectual life. I beg you: there is actually not so much lack of people today who know the worst damage to our intellectual cultural life and also scourge it, but they remain alone, their circle does not care.

Take one case: it is indeed the case that the constitution of our technical universities, for example, has been castigated in a truly magnificent way by individual lecturers at these technical universities, who have pointed out how the constitution of these technical universities is actually something other than what they should be. There are some really excellent critiques of this impossible university system in the trade journals. But let's ask ourselves this question: Who is taking care of these things from the general public? - Something that should be known in the widest circles is written by individuals, and not even those who are fellow professionals read it. They subscribe to the journals, have them bound, put them in libraries – if they are industrious, they might make a card index so that they can find individual items when they need them – but on the whole these things are not written today to be read, but to gather dust in libraries. In this field, we have intellectual production, but no intellectual consumption. And so it happens that only the narrowest circles are aware of the damage to our cultural life, but that one is powerless to do anything to improve it.

There is an essay – I believe it is by Professor Riedler of the Technical University in Charlottenburg – that severely criticizes the damage caused by the technical universities in particular. Yes, once again, for the umpteenth time, something is being pointed out that is not only harmful with regard to the structure of the technical university, but is detrimental to our entire moral life. It is said that freedom of teaching and learning prevail at universities. People get carried away by the idea that when they move from secondary school to university, they enter the realm of freedom of teaching and learning. What, for example, does freedom of learning consist of? Well, it consists of buying the university program and finding in it: If you want to become an engineer, or if you want to become this or that, then you need this timetable; if you want to become a mechanical engineer, then you need this timetable, which you have to follow, otherwise you cannot pass the exam. — That is to say: on the one hand, the phrase 'freedom of learning' is elevated to a cultural element, but on the other hand, the most terrible learning compulsion is made reality. I could go on telling you how these people actually know what the damage to our cultural life is, and how they also express it, but there is no common ground for a, I would say, human discussion of the question, and people in the broadest circles do not care about it.

In general, I had to say that there are people in bourgeois life who do not know that trade unions exist and how they have worked, so there is no common field of discussion about our cultural damage. The cultural council would have to create something like that. That is, we would have to take care of what those who understand it have said about our cultural damage. We would have to collect all the criticism that exists, and we would be convinced: the most terrible criticism exists, for example, of how the economy is encroaching in a terrible way into intellectual life.

I will illustrate this with an example. You know that there are doctors of theology, doctors of medicine, doctors of philosophy, and now even doctors of engineering. But the technical colleges have invented a very special doctorate; they whisper this doctorate from ear to ear – it is the “Dr. mammoniae”. How does it come about? It comes about because the professors at the technical college, at the colleges in general, are paid extremely poorly, and because the state has very little money to pay its cultural workers. You can find them everywhere if you just look for them. In particular, the technical colleges and those colleges that have somewhat emancipated themselves from the old - yes, how should we describe them, with an “epithet ornans” - from the “old respectability”; they have their honorary doctor, for which you don't need to take an exam, very often set it up so that they send this honorary doctorate to the room of this or that rich man, an industrialist or commercial, on the condition that he makes an endowment in one direction or another for this university. And such doctors are called “doctores mammoniae” from mouth to ear. These “doctors of mammon” clearly show that something immoral is even crossing over from economic life into our intellectual life.

I could give you countless examples of this if only people wanted to be bothered with such things. The fact is that there is a terrible lack of interest in what is going on in the broadest circles, that it is necessary to ensure above all that people really get to know the damage. If people get to know the damage, then they will become open to the only solution to the problem. And for this solution to the problem, we must indeed win people over. That is our primary concern.

You see, one of those who has written quite strong reviews about the damage of the technical colleges shows how students come from secondary school with only a philological education – which was only aimed at a certain training of intellectual life, but not at a real education of the mind - so that the university has to take over the young people and use the first year, and sometimes even longer, to unlearn what they have absorbed in secondary school, so that they are better trained for what they will have to learn later in the actual technical colleges. A man like that, who sees this, wonders: how can this be remedied? Yes, he says to himself: those who know what the damage is, the technicians themselves, are not seen. You don't see them in parliament, you don't see them in public life. At most, they write for trade journals. They do not give their expert opinion for the public to see - nor does the public ask for it. You won't find the technicians where an expert opinion should be given. For example, one of the sighing people writes: “You don't find the technicians there, you only find the lawyers.” These are the stragglers of the old state system.

Some people are already aware of these issues and also highlight them, but there is currently no inclination to summarize them. And where does this critic, who actually has a fairly good knowledge of the prevailing problems, at least in his field, in the field of technical colleges, where does he summarize his judgment? He says: We, as professors at the technical colleges, are already sighing for the days of enlightened absolutism in the state. - Then he says: Yes, but who is enlightened, and who still puts up with absolutism today? - You see, that's where the saddest thing begins: people see that the conditions are untenable; they sigh for change. But they still look to the unitary state; and if they do not like the present form of the unitary state, they long for the restoration of the enlightened absolutism of the eighteenth century. There they believe in what they call the “strongmen” - this expression had somewhat penetrated into the audience during the war. Yes, and that is why it is important to show, starting from what we find today if we only look for it, that the only remedy is to break away from the state and really find our way into the threefold social organism. That is the answer to all these things.

The questions are being asked and have been asked – we just need to collect the material, so to speak. Therefore, it would be good if, above all, the positive material that is already available were collected, and small groups also looked at how people have already recognized and repeatedly criticized the situation here and there. From there, the starting point should be taken to justify the threefold social order. The only way to make progress is to say: Why we want the threefold social order is almost whistled from the rooftops, even if people plug their ears. But that is precisely what our public life is like today, our life spoiled by the plague of newspapers, we plug our ears to this, we know nothing of the world, we do not care about what is really there. That is what it is about, to gain interest in what is there, and then show people: we no longer need criticism, we only need to repeat the criticisms that are there. But we know the means that the others do not come up with: that is the threefold social organism, that is the position of intellectual life on its own ground and so on - how things are has been emphasized often enough here and in other places, so that you recognize them.

That, my dear friends, is what the organization must provide. This must lead to a situation in which what can be found by one group is communicated to the other groups, so that there is a lively exchange and unity among the groups in that they are all imbued with it: this is how today's historical answer to the big question must be given – which actually flows from the judgments that have always been there.

Then it is indeed the case that we are in a somewhat different situation with regard to the questions that arise here in the area of the cultural council than we are, for example, in the area of economics with works councils. In the economic sphere, the works councils are to be elected from the individual companies and are to create, so to speak, what can be called the socialization of economic life. So in the first phase, we will have to deal primarily with a works council made up of producers. This does not have to be the case with the cultural council. This is a matter concerning all of humanity. We might even do better if we don't just make the individual producers or the people who currently have the initiative in this or that field the main focus of this cultural council, but if we really proceed on a broader basis here, if we say: Fine, we listen to the small group of doctors on the one hand, but on the other hand to the other group that comes together, the group of patients. —So here, perhaps to a much greater extent, consumers come into consideration, especially in the field of cultural life.

You see, ultimately we have already had the most diverse experiences. We have approached teachers' circles, and one question keeps coming up: who will pay the teachers in the future? Yes, who pays them today? It really does not depend on the path that the money takes, which comes out of people's pockets, but on the fact that it only ends up with the one who has to eat from it. We will also find this in a different way than through the detour of the present state, the unitary state. Today, anyone who is involved in a profession is to a high degree biased in that profession. This must be corrected by those who are, so to speak, the consumers of that profession. And so I believe that if a large number of our intellectual consumers would pull themselves together, something much better would come out in some individual fields than if, in turn, those who are the producers pull themselves together. For this reason, Dr. Herberg's proposal is to be welcomed, because it may allow the consumers to have their say to a greater extent than the producers. That is how it will turn out in practice. The realization of the proposals will be quite good.

It would only be bad for certain professions – we have to be clear about that – to hear the producers, for example, the newspaper writers. You see, we could say some very strange things today to show how great the damage is in this area. For example, at a meeting this year, where it was a matter of considerable things, but which were not treated in a considerable way, there was also talk of how to remedy the slander of the press. During these deliberations, when the slander of the press was discussed, someone also stood up and said that a very strong correction of the press damage was indeed needed. For example, a large number of people tried to get to the bottom of the real events surrounding the killing of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in Berlin. A manifesto was written that – I don't want to say how many – signatures bore, with a description of this event. It was sent to the newspapers. No newspaper wanted to take it, no newspaper of the reactionary direction, no newspaper of the Social Democracy or the Communist Party and so on – it was simply not taken. That is a matter in itself, it is a mundane matter. But there was someone at this meeting who was a newspaper writer and he said: “Yes, that's not how it was.” And when he was cornered, he said: “Well, a journalist doesn't need to be braver than the government itself. The government itself didn't publish it – why should a journalist publish it?” There are many, many such stories. It is not very helpful to ask a newspaper writer about what should be happening in the press; instead, we should ask the people who are supposed to be reading it. Once again, it is the consumers who are concerned.

I do believe that we should draw attention to the fact that the Cultural Council is a matter for all of humanity. But above all, it is important that we do not place ourselves in this cultural council in order to “have also signed”, but that we also work in it, above all working on the development of that which has been most neglected and whose neglect has driven us most into the present situation.

In Berlin, a professors' association has been founded; a professor said in a speech: Oh, if only the time would come - those are roughly his words, they are not exaggerated - if only the time would come back when one did not have to worry about German politics, when one could just devote oneself to professorial work, when German politics was taken care of by the Hohenzollerns, who cared for us so fatherly, and the Prussian state. That is roughly the gist of a speech made by a group of professors at the University of Berlin. And the person who spoke in these terms is not some obscure individual, but the first professor of German literary history at the first German university, Gustav Roethe. And this was spoken in a circle chaired by Wil amowitz, the famous Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, admittedly the blasphemer of the Greek tragedians, but the Welt says, the one who first incorporated the Greek tragedians into the German language.

What I would particularly like to point out is that this interest in the whole of cultural life should not be neglected. Today you are a painter, today you are a professor or a shoemaker or a laundress or an Egyptologist or a lawyer or a pastor and so on, but you are only interested in what is pastoral, what is in the field of laundry, what is coffee gossip and the like, and not in the general affairs of humanity. They are happy if they don't have to deal with it. If we continue in this mood, we will not achieve a real cultural council. A real cultural council can only come about if we open the windows to the whole of human life as wide as possible, if we can really understand it, otherwise we will look at all the monstrous things that happen in the same way as we look at them now. Such monstrosities occur that two groups of people, the Social Democrats and the Center, unite, and that people look at this without being outraged by this monstrosity. They take it with a certain indifference, even though it means that nothing could be more strongly ridiculed than what would be a recovery of German intellectual life. Such things are quite simply there.

We have a nice example in the special edition of our newspaper that is at least symptomatically significant. You see, the current great man is Herr Erzberger. Well, some people already seem to be starting to care a little about this man, about this individual swarming around in today's political sky, but this concern does not go deep enough. It is said that the Landjäger (a special police force in the German state of Württemberg) appeared in Weimar and demanded Mr. Erzberger. When they were asked, “What do you want with him?” they replied, “We want to hang him.” A Württemberg newspaper responded somewhat brashly, although brashness is otherwise popular in other parts of Germany: “We want to hang him too, but a little lower!” The matter is beginning to dawn a little; people are beginning to realize what Germany has in this man. But anyway, take a look, there is a nice symptom described in our current special edition of the Federation for the Threefold Social Order. There you will find a record of the entry that Mr. Erzberger made in a kind of family album on June 14, 1919, the day it was announced that the terrible Treaty of Versailles had to be signed. On that day, this German “government furniture” wrote in a family album: “First get your act together, then drink and laugh!”

You see, I do not want to criticize these things here, because I want others to criticize them, but I want to point out that we will not make progress if we do not take care of these things, if we do not take care of them, especially if we do not go deep enough into our souls. We have to look deeply enough into our soul. If we just let these things pass us by like the images in a kaleidoscope – that soon the political kaleidoscope will be thrown together in such a way that there were images like Bethmann, Ludendorff and Hindenburg, then you shake a little, and other stones come, and if we now observe these kaleidoscopic images, if we behave like this, then we will never have what we need in the Cultural Council: a real power of transformation, a real power of renewal. But we can only get that into it if we overcome this terrible lack of interest around us, if we open the windows wide and take an interest in what our fellow human beings are doing. What is going on in this or that field? That is not difficult if you just don't shut yourself away in that terrible selfishness that can't get beyond what you're forced to take an interest in. If you can develop a little sense of freedom within yourself, then this sense of freedom will very soon be able to extend to opening the windows wide to what is happening in the world. And only by doing so is it possible to make progress.

That is what I wanted to draw attention to. Only when you pay proper attention to this will you find the organizational plan we need for a cultural council. But this organizational plan can only arise out of life itself, and this life will show that if we look at the individual damages, we will find from them a concrete observation of what is there. Those who want to do this or that must be particularly open to this. Today we must not swim in abstractions, but we must engage with the concrete. We have to get involved, for example, in saying to ourselves: how terrible it is that the denominations do business and conduct their various horse-trading with other groups of people, and so on and so forth. We have to concern ourselves with these things and bring them so deeply into the inner reaches of our soul that our inner emotional experiences are involved, that we do not pass by them indifferently.

In view of what has already been said here, I will only have a few supplementary comments. Above all, I would like to point out that anyone who is familiar with the essence of our anthroposophical movement is also deeply convinced that we must work on the basis of social progress in the present day. But despite this conviction, which, as I believe, should have become sufficiently widespread in the course of our almost twenty years of anthroposophical work, despite this conviction, work such as that characterized to you today and already - at least for the time being - set in motion would hardly have become necessary, or perhaps we should say, hardly have been considered, if from any other side the possibility would have offered itself to take into account what is necessary for humanity today in the field of work, concerning the connection between economic, legal and spiritual life, if it had been shown that the necessity of the time would really have been taken into account from another side. For subjective reasons to somehow fight over what is now intended, subjective reasons to impose on the necessary work in the spiritual movement the additional burden of work associated with these enterprises, subjective reasons do not exist. Reasons of any personal character cannot truly arise from what is at stake here. Not even such reasons could have had the slightest say in the step forward into the world, into the world of ideas, with the consequences of which the present undertakings are associated, with the step forward into the world of ideas with those social ideas that are expressed in my book 'The Key Points of the Social Question'. If one could somehow have limited the previous activity to the purely spiritual field, one would not have needed to add the social field; it would truly have been much more accommodating for what one could have desired for subjective reasons. Because, you see, following necessity, which has been the case here, does not allow us to have good experiences. And our friends know that I much prefer to speak from experience, from symptoms, rather than from any dogma.

From the many experiences that one has been able to have in recent times, I would like to emphasize something more remote. You see, the “Key Points of the Social Question” have already been translated into Nordic languages; they have recently also appeared in Italian; and they have attracted the attention of a—as I am assured—important sociologist in the Italian language as soon as they appeared. They are also about to be published in English in England itself. Something strange then occurred, which is quite symptomatic of what is still going on in our general world situation today and what is so extremely closely connected with the causes of the horrific events of the last four to five years. The English translation of the book “The Key Points of the Social Question” was completely corrected in the whole sentence. The task was to find a publisher in America for the printing of the book, given the special relationship that exists between England and America. And it turned out that the English publisher of the book, who was found at the time, also had a business in America that was even run by a man of the same name. The contract with the English company had already been signed. But it was not at all possible to think that the American company would also print the “key points of the social question” in America, just as it was intended to spread them in England. And yet, as soon as the complete sentence was available, when the paper was purchased for the English edition, when it was no longer a matter of anything but publishing the book, because it was only a matter of a branch company, came the strange news from the American company that they were in the process of publishing my anthroposophical works; in particular, my mystery dramas were to appear in English in America in the next few days. And one wonders now, if the same company comes up with a work of mine of a completely different kind, whether people will not say: Well, that can't be any good, because someone who writes mystery dramas and then a book on social issues, the mystery dramas must be of no use, so we won't buy them either.

With this motivation, I do not want to say for these reasons alone, but with this motivation, the American branch thwarted the plan, which was already on paper, which means a great deal today. The English company immediately backed down and was willing not to publish the book. Nevertheless, the book will be published in England in the next few days. There is no need to sleep in all areas. And even if an American company was initially hesitant, the book must still be published as quickly as possible.

I am only mentioning this because it is intended to show you something specific. Please do not think that I consider people of today with their sleepy souls so clever that I did not know that When a social book appears alongside the Mystery Dramas, such judgments are made. I know that such judgments are timely and self-evident today. So with such foresight, do not think that there is anything tempting about adding to the mere idealistic representation of these social ideas, which is at issue here, all that has been discussed this evening. That alone cannot be considered. Only what is necessary is at issue. And from all the various trends that have emerged from everything we have done since April 1919, here in Stuttgart in particular, the necessity for these ventures, which have been reported to you today, arises with an inner consistency of facts, and they are thoroughly practical in nature.

One could cite many examples to support the conclusion that such endeavors are necessary today. Not only those that have been reported on, but such endeavors would be necessary in all areas. Because, my dear friends, among all the things that could be said for the necessity of these endeavors, there is also one thing. It is not immediately appreciated in the right way, but it is something that one should turn one's gaze to when one has been involved in all that took place in the series of events that then came together and led to the terrible Central European collapse. Perhaps not the most noticeable for everyone, but no less significant, is the machinations of those routiniers, of whom I have spoken in public lectures, who still consider themselves to be seasoned practitioners, even though they could have learned. Because, my dear friends, if you want to find out what caused the collapse of Central Europe, you have to look not least at the business, namely industrial, routine people who spoke big, brash words, who knew how to say that this or that should be done to secure things or not. What they knew, based on their prejudices, was something monstrous, something that unfortunately very few people had the judgment or the ear to hear. The tone from which the business world of Central Europe spoke during these war events must not be continued, otherwise we will not only experience something like the collapse again, but we will experience much worse things. But that can of course also be said today: the very clever will know just as cleverly all that needs to be done for the future, just as the very clever knew during the heyday what needed to be done, where they said: we will win because we must win. I have often referred to these words, which could be heard passed on countless times.

All these things are also involved in the difficult decision that is at issue here. And many a prejudice must be overcome. It has already been pointed out today that it may shock the world that the whole series of undertakings is called “The Coming Day”. When the publisher Scherl once decided to call his newspapers “Der Tag”, he would have done so regardless. But I don't see why what Scherl might do out of inner embarrassment should not also be done out of truth. If Scherl had done it, it would certainly have been successful in certain circles. What matters is that work be done in the truth for once. In that case, one cannot take into consideration whether it shocks the world or not. The main thing is to do what must be done.

I hardly need to tell you, since I have been speaking to you for almost twenty years, about the great goals. I do not need to fear that there are many people among you who do not know that it takes a long time to gain an insight into the subject of spiritual science as it is meant here. I do not need to fear that there are many of you who will form an opinion after just one lecture. I am also not in a position to speak openly in a few words about the goals that apply to practical life. Those who have followed the matter with some devotion know what it is actually about in an ideal and spiritual sense. One could speak very, very spiritually to explain these goals. But that is not necessary at the moment. On the other hand, it is not necessary for me to explain at great length that everything that is opposed to amateurism and boastfulness in every field must be placed on the other side of the scales, for this is a matter of two scales: conscious professionalism and objectivity. It is not programs that are needed, but work – the work that arises precisely from the dedicated efforts of the people who are involved in such things.

You see, when Mr. Molt, at a time when it was already possible to see that our movement must also lead to such things, spoke in Dornach for the first time about centralizing the financing of our movement, I said in response to his words, which were so warmly and beautifully spoken at the time: “I must confess that I am less concerned about the procurement of funds, because these will, after all, be given more or less by the sensible people, because they will come to the conclusion that today, after all, we must work in a rational way, even in the economic field, that countless national treasures have been squandered in the last decades, so I am not even so much concerned about finding those personalities who can now utilize and exploit these funds in the right way.

Indeed, with these words I was able to tie in with something I said many years ago. You see, when we started doing dramatic performances back then, we had to keep a firm hand on the material in our purse. Because if you put your hand firmly on your wallet and don't let go, then you can, because it costs nothing, spout the most beautiful idealistic and mystical phrases, but the matter is in the purse and remains in the purse. And then people can say that the idealist is too mean to talk about money, and even meaner to give something of his money, this terrible mammon, which is better kept in his pocket, for his ideals, because “ideals are much too high to be defiled with this dirty mammon.” At first it worked. One could discuss whether one should pay the 50 pfennigs as an entrance fee for anthroposophical lectures in the early years. Because everywhere we heard from dear friends: anthroposophical lectures are much too high for us not to be delivered to us for free. - I am only telling facts! Then, however, came the years when dramas were to be performed. Then came the years in which dramas were to be performed. It was no longer possible to turn a blind eye to this “high idealism” that does not want to soil its ideals with the filthy lucre. Sometimes it was necessary to appeal to the sacrificial spirit of our friends. But at the time I said: Unfortunately, we are now condemned to touch on that corner of practical life that has been left to us, the corner of imitation or artistic [representation] of life - the image of life. Much rather – the sentence must be found in my lectures again – much rather, I said at the time, I would found a bank than a theater, not out of a preference for money, truly not, but because I realized that it would have to come to this, that the very outermost practice of life would have to be tackled for the necessities of our time. Now this necessary point in time has definitely arrived, and now the situation is such that there is no getting around the justification of practical things – for the reason that the practical people have suffered shipwreck everywhere.

Of course, saying this makes you look very important, because the practical people would prefer to mask the fact – even from themselves – that they are the ones who have brought us to our present situation; but they would prefer to muddle through.

Now, I said at the time in Dornach: Above all, we need people who can make use of the money. And then there comes a point – when you think about it – where you feel a great sense of responsibility. Because under the terrible mechanization of life, the initiative and alertness of the human soul life has indeed suffered so much in recent decades that it is extremely difficult to find the right people. We consider ourselves truly fortunate that we have now finally reached the point of finding people for individual branches of those activities that are necessary for us. People who are dedicated and truly immersed in our cause, who live for our cause as such and are inspired by the great ideals of humanity, and who of humanity, who have indeed introduced themselves to you, who can really connect with the idealistic spirit that we embrace, and who have the necessary dedication for a sober, practical grasp of the technical issues in every field. Because what matters is that we don't just put mysticism on one side of the scales and count on it to tip the scales in our favor; no, it's about balance. We must put expertise and objectivity on the other side of the scales. We must be truly sober practitioners. This must be seen.

You see, our task will be to calculate the future from the past with a fine instinct. Because in life, things cannot be done with programs. You can make the most beautiful programs in the spiritual, economic, and political fields. But making programs is always nonsense. What is important is to create realities in life that embrace such people, so that something living comes out of the joint activity of these people. It is very possible that if a number of people here form a circle, something quite different from what people could have dreamt of will have come into being in five years.

But for anything at all to come about in this way, it is necessary that the people united in this circle can and want to do real practical work. It depends on the individual personality. That is why it is not a cliché in the brochure that one of the tasks of these enterprises is to put people in such positions that their special individual abilities can come to light. This is what has been trampled underfoot, especially in the economic life of the last decades: human talents. What tipped the scales? The completely impersonal, which has been collected here and there into overall judgments about people from school reports, recommendations - all sorts of things that came out of grandstanding, of program words.

The point at issue is to create the possibility for a group of people to recognize the fruitful talents, so that they may draw from living life, not from program words, from faith, from dogmatics. The aim is to bring together people who create out of an ever-deepening insight into life; in short, people in whom one can have complete trust because one can have trust in their will, in their work, because one does not need to prescribe anything to them, but because one knows them, so that one knows that they will contribute what they have to contribute in complete freedom.

This is essentially what is connected with what is to happen here. And while in recent years the outer life has been built less and less on the human being, here it is precisely on the human being that this outer life is to be built - on the human being and on freedom. And it should be seen that the freedom - which, although not desired by some of our friends, was a reality here in this society, where there was no authority and no authority was claimed - that this system, this principle, is also carried into it is intended - into these economic enterprises, so that what happens, really happens through the combined strength of those who work together, and wherever productive life is, it is the living that should happen and not the execution of a dead program.

A few days ago I pointed out to you here something that is alive, but that, as something alive, must develop out of itself. I was a little surprised that friends here were so concerned about how to get this or that article speaking in our favor into this or that daily newspaper. The friends finally agreed that one cannot compromise with the parties, but it was not yet clear to them that one should not compromise with contemporary journalism either. They still wanted to sneak in here or there. Some of them did go down that road, and were thoroughly punished for it, but at least they learned something. They learned that the socialist tendency that remained produced all kinds of offshoots that were no less corrupt than what had fallen into the abyss.

And finally, the outward symptoms, well, you know! You see, an economic party is supposed to be the socialist one. Everything should arise from economic life. This socialist party has now even managed to get all kinds of members into the ruling circles. One of the most important economic areas has not been taken over by a solid or weakened or somehow kind of Marxist or socialist, but they have got used to letting the now most important branch of life, which underlies all the others , on which everything else depends, to be managed by Erzberger, who is certainly no Marxist and whose ability to reshape the Central European world even Helfferich had to educate this Central European world about. Today, it may not matter to anyone whether the language is 'Erzbergerian' or 'Helfferichian', but what is happening here is just one more example of how little the world is willing to learn. I believe that it will not learn much about the qualities of what has been said in “Erzbergerian” language, even if spoken in “Helfferichian”; for the world seems completely unwilling to understand that both belong to what has led us into misfortune. The things that are at issue today cannot be grasped in a “small-minded” way, but can only be grasped by drawing a little from the depths. And what has been said here today is connected with all these things.

I hope, my dear friends, that what I have added here as a few words in addition to what has been communicated to you from various sides will not be misunderstood. For certain reasons, I am prevented from saying many other words that I would have liked to have said in connection with these things. I hope that some of the things that are still causing me concern in the upsurge – I don't want to ignore mentioning this – will also be overcome very soon. But I believe that if as many of you as possible prove capable of standing on truly practical ground right now, something good will come out of this.

I would just like to add, because there may be talk from many sides that the matter has not been understood, I would just like to add what I did not actually want to talk about myself: that it is indeed necessary for the truly future-proof seeds that have been planted in the Waldorf school to be developed in a corresponding way in the various directions. Now, my dear friends, we will quite necessarily have to turn our attention to the economic side, because the economic side should support our spiritual side. But you cannot carry if you have nothing to carry. The main thing for us will always be that the spiritual be carried. We will try to find the harmony between the economic and the spiritual, and we will try especially to do so in the propagation through our publishing house, where we build the future from the past to the greatest extent. We have learned many lessons from the way in which anthroposophical literature has had to be disseminated in recent years, and we know very well that this book, 'The Key Points of the Social Question', has been distributed in 40,000 copies since the beginning of May last year, so for less than a year. People keep saying that the book is heavy and so on. And yet the fact remains that the book has received the favor of almost no journal or newspaper, and yet 40,000 copies of it have been sold. We know what not to count on with this book. So far, in terms of its distribution, we have not counted on what not to count on with this book. In the near future, ways and means will have to be sought to achieve what should be taken for granted. If a thousand copies of a book have been sold, there is no way of knowing whether fifty more will be sold in the next few years. But if 40,000 copies of a book have been sold, it is quite certain that 100,000 copies can be sold in a much shorter time if only the right ways and means are found. And in a similar way, we will have to truly divine from the past what is possible for the future in the most diverse fields. But everything depends on our cultivating the spiritual as such. For example, we must ensure that the spiritual can truly present itself to the world in its inner unity. It is truly no coincidence that we have recently endeavored to advance eurythmy – I would say from four to four weeks – and also to bring it before the public here and in Switzerland where possible. But it should be done in a much more comprehensive way. Something like this is also part of what happens in the Waldorf school in another area; we need a eurythmy as the center of artistic activity, we also need it in its representation through an independent area. And one thing is certain: even if we do not subtract what we want to give for the eurythmy school, for the cultivation of eurythmy, from what we otherwise want to put on the certificates, it will not be out of place to remember now that one must support the other. Things will certainly become clearer in the near future. It will become clear that what can be achieved, for example, by such an arts organization, in association with the publishing house, is also supported by what is to be achieved financially and economically. Such a building costs ten times as much today as it did relatively recently. In the face of such things, it is very important to do what is necessary before it is too late; to really bear in mind that under certain circumstances it may be impossible to build such a building for eurythmy in six months' time and to create binding art forms around it. But it would be necessary, especially here in southern Germany, here in Stuttgart as a central point for many things that would arise if one were to do something for this eurythmic art, which, precisely because of the nature of the means it chooses, the various artistic currents that actually all fail in the present because they still choose unsuitable means today, do not start from the right place, could fertilize. It cannot become a universal art, but it can show, as in a model, how to work, strive and live in other fields of artistic creation if you want to move forward.

I wanted to make these few remarks to explain and supplement what our friends here have said before you.

totaling M. 10,000,000 of the company “Der Kommende Tag”, a joint-stock company for the promotion of economic and spiritual values.

The joint-stock company THE COMING DAY was established by articles of association dated March 13, 1920, with its registered office in Stuttgart. The purpose of the company is the operation and financing of purely economic and spiritual-economic business and enterprises of all kinds, which will be oriented towards the anthroposophical world view, both in terms of their objectives and the way they are conducted, and which should be suitable for placing economic life on a healthy associative footing and shaping spiritual life in such a way that justified talents are brought into a position where they can be lived out in a socially fruitful way.

The company will differ from ordinary banking companies in that it will not only serve financial aspects, but the real operations themselves, which are supported by the financial. Therefore, capital will not be made available to other companies in the way that it is in ordinary banking, but rather from the factual points of view that come into consideration for an operation that is to be undertaken. The company will therefore have less the character of the lender and more that of the merchant who is in the know, who can realistically assess the scope of an operation to be financed and make practical arrangements for its execution. It will therefore be the case that the companies to be financed by the company will generally take the form of branches of the company. In this context, it will be important to focus, for example, on enterprises that are currently profitable in order to use their profits to support other enterprises that will only be able to bear economic fruit in the future and, above all, through the spiritual seed that is now being poured into them, which can only come to fruition after some time. The guiding principles for this will have to arise out of an insight into how the view of life that is provided by anthroposophy can be translated into economically fruitful action.

The leadership of the Society will start from the realization that economic activity can develop branches that may temporarily produce favorable results for the individual entrepreneur, but that have a destructive effect in the context of the social order. Many recent enterprises were oriented in this way. They were capitalized, and it was precisely this capitalization that undermined the social order. Such enterprises must be confronted by those that arise from healthy thinking and feeling. These can be integrated into the social order in a truly fruitful way. But they can only be supported by a social way of thinking that is inspired by anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. There is no doubt that enterprises such as those characterized here will initially only be able to overcome the social-technical and financial crises; on the other hand, they will face social difficulties as long as these, as the actual workers' question, still take the form that comes from the old mode of production, which is doomed to crisis. The workers who have a share in the new enterprises will, for instance, behave in exactly the same way towards 'wage' differences as they do towards enterprises of the old type. But in such matters, one must not underestimate how soon, under proper management, an enterprise of the kind characterized here must also have favorable social consequences. This will be seen. And the example will have a convincing effect. If a venture of this kind falters, then the workers who are involved in it will have their convictions with them when they are brought back into influence. For it is only by bringing the manual workers into line with the intellectual leaders of enterprises through a way of thinking that affects all classes of people that the forces of social destruction can be counteracted.

The company will endeavor to invest the capital at its disposal in productive values and in products for which there is a constant demand. It hopes that this will minimize the effects of financial crises.

The board of directors consists of the businessmen Konradin Haußer, Hans Kühn and Wilhelm Trommsdorff, all of Stuttgart; they are appointed by the supervisory board.

The Supervisory Board consists of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, as Chairman, Emil Molt, Stuttgart, as Deputy Chairman, Emil Leinhas, Stuttgart, as Secretary, Jose del Monte, Stuttgart, and Dr. Carl Unger, Stuttgart. The members of the Supervisory Board perform their duties on a voluntary basis.

The founders of the company are:
Konradin Haußer, Stuttgart
Hans Kühn, Stuttgart
Director Emil Leinhas, Stuttgart
Count Otto von Lerchenfeld, Köfering near Regensburg
Councillor of Commerce Emil Molt, Stuttgart
Manufacturer José del Monte, Stuttgart
Count Ludwig von Polzer-Hoditz, Gutau, Upper Austria
Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Dornach near Basel
Factory owner Dr.-Ing. Carl Unger, Stuttgart

With regard to net profit, the statutes stipulate that 5% of this be allocated to the statutory reserve fund until it reaches one tenth of the share capital; the supervisory board is authorized to order further reserves of any amount. Thereafter, a dividend shall be paid on the share capital, which shall represent an appropriate interest rate on the nominal value of the share capital, in line with the prevailing market conditions. The General Meeting shall decide on the remaining profit.

The initial capital stock is set at 300,000 marks, divided into 300 registered shares of 1000 marks each. It is intended to increase the capital stock substantially after the legal authorization has been granted.

Until then, in accordance with the resolution of the supervisory board of March 11, 1920, the issue of loan certificates up to the amount of 100,000,000 marks is planned under the following conditions:

1. The lenders receive loan certificates made out to the joint-stock company “Der Kommende Tag” or its order for a sum of not less than 1,000 marks.

2. The loan certificates shall bear interest at 5% on April 1 and October 1 of each year, be terminable by the lender by special agreement and transferable to third parties by endorsement. The transfer shall become legally binding on the company by entry in its register.

3. The company has the right at any time to convert the loan certificates into shares in any order in such a way that it allocates to the lenders newly issued shares of the same nominal value for the amount of the loan certificate rounded down to the nearest thousand, paying out any excess in cash. These new shares are entitled to dividends on an equal footing with the share capital. The regulation of the relationship between the voting rights of old and new shares is reserved for the General Meeting that will decide on the increase of the share capital.

4. If the loan certificates have not been converted into shares by April 1, 1922 at the request of the company, the company has the right to repay the loans according to a repayment plan to be determined by the general meeting.

The company hereby invites the takeover of loan certificates and requests that the completed and signed subscription form be returned to the joint-stock company “Der Kommende Tag”, Stuttgart, Champignystr. 17 (not registered).

Stuttgart, March 13, 1920.

Konradin Haußer Hans Kühn Wilhelm Trommsdorff
(as members of the board of directors)

Dr. Rudolf Steiner Emil Molt Emil Leinhas
José del Monte Dr. Ing. Carl Unger
(as members of the supervisory board).

THE COMING DAY AG Joint-stock company for the promotion of economic and spiritual values Board of Directors

Stuttgart, May 6, 1920
Champignystr. 17
Tel.: 2555, 2192 and 12103 (Waldorf)
Telegr. Adr.: Komtag
Postsch. Kto.: Stuttgart Nr. 19814.
Reichsbankgirokonto.

We would like to say a few words about the founding of our enterprises, which we were unable to do in the founding brochure. We presented our plans to the movement for the first time on Thursday, March 11, by having the various directors of the individual enterprises introduce themselves to an assembly and explain the foundations and prospects of their enterprises.

Dr. Steiner added an address to these individual presentations, a copy of which is hereby provided to you free of charge. We ask you to consider this, together with the following remarks, as a basis for what is necessary for many to place further trust in the company. This will be expressed above all in the subscription of larger amounts.

The whole plan of our enterprises is to some extent a step towards realizing the idea of threefolding, in that enterprises from the most diverse sectors have been brought together to work in the common interest and to work together. If, in time, it becomes possible to take control of the production of certain items, from raw materials through all the intermediate stages to the finished product, then dependence on external companies will be increasingly eliminated, especially if one is not dependent on the purchase of foreign raw materials. Supplying one's own factories is possible, for example, if the workers in the industrial areas are fed from the agricultural products and the latter in turn supply goods to agriculture in the form of agricultural machinery and the like. The surplus of goods will eventually be given to the consumers,

will have to be sold, which is why it is important to produce goods that will find lasting buyers, even if chaotic conditions arise for a long time. The novel economic system is therefore, in addition to the attitude that inspires all employees, above all that businesses in a wide range of sectors are united on an associative basis. In some cases, it has been possible to treat the companies as branches of the entire undertaking, so that they no longer have their own capital. In this case, the head of the company in question is, similar to the way it is required in the core areas, an administrator of capital who is only concerned with the production of goods. In some cases, however, this form of organization was not feasible, so that certain enterprises continued to work as independent legal entities under their previous name.

In order to balance the funds for the benefit of the whole, a financing institution has been created that is not a commercial enterprise itself, but serves the whole. The charitable character of the enterprise is preserved in that the dividend distribution will be appropriate to the times and can generally be within similar limits to the interest on the loans. Since the shares will not be listed on the stock exchange and are all registered shares, speculation with them is excluded, so that a market value is not an issue for the time being. The low share capital, which bothers many people, stems from the fact that the foundation could not be delayed any longer and that a foundation without imperial approval is only possible up to the now chosen amount of the share capital. An application for a significant increase in the share capital will be made as soon as possible in order to improve the ratio of the share capital to the loans taken out. The subscription of the loans is going so well that we can hope to have the total amount in hand in a short time. After the prospectus was published, it took no longer than two weeks for over 5 million marks to be subscribed.

Apart from the various projects currently in preparation or under negotiation, the sole proprietorships to date are as follows:

Der Kommende Tag A. G., Bank - department that handles the financing of the sole proprietorships.

Der Kommende Tag A. G., publishing house, which has affiliated a printing press.

Der Kommende Tag A. G., chemical works. Schw.[äbisch] Gmünd: This plant will deal with the production of pharmaceutical products in addition to the ongoing production of a barley-based baby food. Guldesmühle Dischingen, with an oil mill and agriculture as well as a sawmill. This corporate complex was voluntarily incorporated by the previous owners in order to be made subservient to our overall movement.

Sondelfingen Slate Works: In addition to the production of burnt lime, artificial stones are to be produced here, for which there is an enormous demand. The mining and delivery of raw slate to industrial plants is also being considered for the near future, because certain plants are using slate instead of coal.

E. C. Hunnius, Stuttgart: This is a trading company that makes purchases for our operations and conducts other commercial transactions.

Gebrüder Gmelin, Reutlingen: The owners of this company, which specializes in trading in agricultural machinery, have also joined our overall ventures.

The profitability of the enterprises is likely because several businesses have been taken over and are in full swing, and the strong hunger for goods will ensure immediate sales. At most, the publishing house could initially require a subsidy, which would have to be raised from the other businesses. Although the publishing house will produce several interesting publications, it will essentially depend on the progress of our entire movement. For the movement, however, the publishing house is not only an absolute necessity, but the only possible way to carry out propaganda in a business-like manner, so that we can hope that the local groups will support the publishing work with all their might. So while the publishing house will significantly advance the movement, the spread of the movement in turn benefits the publishing house the most.

As soon as possible, a research institute for physical, chemical and other scientific research work should also be set up. This enterprise will also initially yield nothing and must be supported by the others, although it should be noted that the expenses will not be too great. The work of this institute will contribute to bringing the results obtained using anthroposophically oriented research methods to public attention and thereby furthering our movement.

With the exception of the publishing house, which will establish branches in several non-German countries, the companies are all located in Württemberg because the current border difficulties, including those with the former federal states, represent insurmountable obstacles to smooth business. For this reason, the affiliation of companies not located in Württemberg is out of the question for the time being.

We hope that this has given you an overview of the background and intentions. You can see that the idea is not a cooperative one, but that the companies have come together on an associative basis.

THE COMING DAY
A.G. for the promotion of economic and spiritual values.
[Sign.] Kühn, K. Haußer

In Switzerland, the former Entente countries and the neutral states.

Covering letter from the founding committee of “Kommender Tag” Switzerland, in future “Futurum AG”, regarding the founding prospectus in May 1920.

The undersigned are turning to you with the request that you participate to the greatest extent possible in the share subscription of the joint-stock company “DER KOMMENDE TAG” that is in the process of being founded.

From the outset, the new enterprise should be given the direction of impact that is necessary to approach the tasks that have been set for it, and to which the personalities in its service are dedicated with all their hearts.

It is important that as many shares as possible are taken up by people who are familiar with our ideas and aspirations. Because the larger the share capital subscribed by our friends, the larger the amount that outsiders can participate with can be set. Each subscription from our ranks has not only a dead weight, but also the weight of the amount that can be raised from outside as a result.

The initial capital should amount to at least 500,000 francs. However, it must be increased many times over as quickly as possible. The goal that the founders of the enterprise have set themselves is a distant one. The supranational spiritual healing powers that created the GOETHEANUM must be endowed with the international economic potential to exert a real influence on the ailing economy of the present day.

The scope of the entire undertaking is such that the resources needed for it can only be accumulated over a long period of time. However, since the foundation cannot wait until a capital is available that is sufficient to achieve the set goals, the small initial capital and what is done with it in a way that inspires confidence should be the biggest advertising factor for bringing together the full amount of working capital.

Each of our friends who subscribes for one, ten, one hundred or more shares is giving the personalities who are putting themselves at the service of the economic impact of the spiritual-scientific impulses something to stand on. But precisely by supporting a healthy undertaking that is steering a safe course out of the threatening collapse, he is investing his money in a place where it not only receives an illusory sham cover, but the best cover from the central constructive forces of the social future society.

Dornach, May 1920.

The founding committee:
Dr. Rudolf Steiner,
Dr. Roman Boos, lawyer,
Ernest Etienne, engineer at the Banque Suisse des Chemins de Fer à Bâle, Ingénieur-Directeur des Travaux de Pusine Hydro-Electrique de Chancy Geneve,
Ernst Gimmi, merchant,
Arnold Ich, graduate in economics and engineering.

On the occasion of the handover of the factory to the joint-stock company “Der Kommende Tag”

[First, Carl Unger speaks about the decision to incorporate the company “Carl Unger Maschinenfabrik” in Hedelfingen into “Der Kommende Tag”. The wording was not written down.

Rudolf Steiner: My dearest attendees! As the chairman of the board of directors of the “Der Kommende Tag” stock company, it is my responsibility, in a sense, to hand over your work to this “Coming Day” in the sense in which Dr. Unger has characterized this handover to you. It is my responsibility, I say, to warmly welcome you on behalf of this stock company “Der Kommende Tag”.

Perhaps you know that the efforts – Dr. Unger has characterized them to you – that the efforts related to the idea of threefolding were to be intensively launched in Stuttgart and the surrounding area from April 1919, under the impression of what was seen as approaching from the great world catastrophe for German economic life. You know, of course, that at that time we had made every effort to prove and substantiate the ideas of threefolding, which is the only way that economic life could recover, to the broadest masses, so that something could have been undertaken from these broad masses, from the circles of the proletariat itself, to get this threefold social order, which is by no means a utopia but an eminently practical idea that could be realized every day, off the ground. If I may say a few words, and it seems to me perhaps not inappropriate at this moment, to share my personal impressions, since I have worked in an outstanding position to disseminate these ideas of threefolding, I believe that if we had been able to continue working in the same spirit as we began, then today we would be on a different footing. Believe me or not, we would be on a different footing. Of course, there is not enough time now to identify all the obstacles that have prevented us from continuing to work in the originally intended sense, but I can at least hint at some of them. It is my conviction that had we been given the opportunity to make the ideas of threefolding plausible to the broadest circles of the proletariat, we would have been on different ground today. If we had been able to carry out what we repeatedly presented to various circles of the proletariat last summer, for example, as our idea for the establishment of works councils, we would not have needed the joint-stock company “Der Kommende Tag” in the form in which it had to be founded. For threefolding is the way by which this could come about, so that economic life could really be sustained by the whole broad mass of the population.

But what has happened? While we were trying to gain the support of the broad masses, we were hindered – why should we not say it frankly when we are in a smaller circle – by the traditional leaders of the proletariat, the socialist leaders, who believed that we wanted something completely different, that we were trying to undermine them, that we were out to take their place in the unions and eat at the same table as them. Unfortunately, the proletariat is still unable to free itself from its leaders. But those who lead the proletariat – read the statement made by Professor Varga, because he is one of them, too, regarding the completely senseless establishment of the Hungarian Council of Ministers, where he explains what caused the whole thing to fail - if these leaders continue to pursue the course they have been pursuing for years, which of course the individual of you within the proletariat cannot fully understand today, then the entire civilized economic life will most certainly come to an end.

Now, you know that there are not only those leaders who guide the proletariat out of impractical ideas, but unfortunately, precisely because of these circumstances, there are also a great many bourgeois leaders who, precisely because of their follies, because of their impossible management of affairs because they only emerged from economic selfishness, which ultimately brought Europe into this decline, but they cannot see why it should not continue as it was, when they pushed the world into the catastrophe of murder and so on. These bourgeois leaders could have been gradually brought to realize this folly if the leaders of the proletariat had not found such willing followers in the broadest circles. I am not saying that one could have counted on these leaders of the bourgeoisie, but what was the idea with them? In the period when we started working, they were actually through — much more through than perhaps a single one of you believes; they were through and would have remained through if understanding for threefolding had been mustered. They came up because there was no understanding for the threefold order, and they came to the hope: Yes, if the proletariat follows these leaders and does not gain any understanding for the threefold order, because we had practical ideas, that is why the leaders of the bourgeoisie hated us. If we had come into the world as impractical people, they would have said: the fools, the utopians! and would not have bothered about us. But because they saw something practical, they hated us so much. And because we were abandoned by the broadest masses, who were seduced by their own leaders, it is understandable that those who were down got their heads above water. And the consequence was that at first the idea of threefolding could not be developed in the way we had envisaged. Of course, this does not mean that it loses some of its character of real practice, but it just has to be implemented differently. Because the idea is practical; it is the only saving idea.

And because it cannot be realized in reality by people as we tried to do it last year, we had to try it in a different way this year, and that is to found real associations, to start at some corner of social life. We must begin to establish individual aspects of the threefold social order. It will be difficult, but we must establish individual aspects. And the point is that we establish such associations that are not based on personal advantage, but that work now as one must imagine work must be done in a truly serious social community. [This is what] “Der Kommende Tag” means: we should work in such a way that we practically have to work in a truly social community. We will try to work in a small circle in such a way that in the service of the whole, to establish what needs to be done to establish an orderly spiritual life, to gradually democratize the community body and a healthy economic body, whether this can be tackled in this way. Since we have not been able to proceed as we should, for example in the factories, where we would have started from the real establishment of the works council, we must try, instead of what we were not allowed to do on a large scale – because people did not join forces to do so – we must do it, so to speak, on a small scale; but we will work with all our might to make it possible to do it on a small scale.

Dr. Unger has already explained to you how some of the concerns that were previously entrusted to his sole care are being transferred to the “Kommende Tag”. And I believe I can promise you that the transfer of the worries about this work to the “Coming Day” will be done with just as much dedicated work as has been done so far. You see, now that the “Coming Day” has to take over some of these worries, I think I can say that these are worries that should be taken off the shoulders of a single personality, because a single personality is no longer able to maintain any area of economic life in the face of world conditions, because this can only be done associatively. Now that this important step is to be taken, I may well say to you: We at “The Coming Day” are in a position to look around so that we do not do anything foolish. We cannot take on any work that is in a sorry state – we would like to, but we can't, because we have to continue our work fruitfully – and so we have to have a certain basis for everything we put together associatively.

Yes, you are of course familiar with the economic life from the angle that is available to you. That is how it was with the bourgeoisie. If they looked at it, they would see how difficult it is to integrate any one business into the whole organism of the entire economic life.

Then there is the responsibility that comes with taking on such a task, and things have to happen quickly. I ask: What were the foundations that allowed us to say that we could take on this task? Yes, the documentation for this is extremely difficult to obtain today. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is today to just enter the business world under responsibility and want to continue something that has already been made three-quarters impossible by the messed-up circumstances of our entire lives. You see, we have the only real basis for what I can tell you in a few words: We must build on the efficiency and strength of character of the previous manager, Dr. Ungers.

What do we know? We know much more precisely than could be gained from any annual balance sheet of a company or anything of the sort; we know because we know Dr. Unger inside and out, so to speak. We know that this business has been run in an exemplary manner in the sense of today's economy, that we can take responsibility for incorporating it into the measures of the “Coming Day”; and we knew that we could continue to run it, even in such a way that you will all be just as satisfied now under the new flag as you were before under the personal flag of Dr. Unger. We know this because, on the surface, nothing will change – nothing will change on the surface, but only the way the entire operation is integrated into the economy as a whole will have changed. We also know that if Dr. Unger is now in charge of this work on behalf of the “Kommende Tag,” it will be well managed, and we are convinced that it will be well managed in technical terms; because the work is, if I may use an Austrian expression, technically “cleanly” managed, so managed that one sees that there is working energy in it. The work is one that, today, when faced with the decision of whether to include it in the “Kommenden Tag”, makes it clear that it can be included; it is a work with which we can attempt to do something to restore economic life in an associative way. And what we want to do in the service of the general public should also benefit you. You will just have to familiarize yourself, as Dr. Unger already mentioned, with the idea that social work is to be done here, that you will have to take an interest in the way we work here, and that you can't achieve everything overnight. It is not least the fault of the circumstances in which the entire economy finds itself that we cannot immediately achieve everything that has been conceived. So I promise you that we will certainly try to gain your trust in every direction. We want to be collaborators, nothing else. We should not supervise anything, we want to work together with you, not only for the individual company, but for the social whole. In this sense, you will see that we will try to act, not just talk, although it will be quite difficult to act in the current confused state of economic life. So in this sense, we want to move forward, we want to have confidence that things will continue as they have done so far in the future.

A worker: If the socialization question would “march” under the present government, how about the joint-stock company of the “Coming Day”? Would it be out of the question, illusory?

Rudolf Steiner: Not true, it is self-evident that under the present government nothing desirable can be achieved. You see, for those who think practically, it is of course very important to realize that nothing desirable can be achieved under a government like the present one. But the much more important question is how, after such a long time, after November 1918, this government has become possible again under the present circumstances. And this question is not to be raised only today, but had to be raised by us long ago. It only reflects the impossible circumstances that are unfolding. Fun. We have fun behind us, fun, something that could have become important for international economic life as well. But who was there? Fehrenbach was there, Stinnes, Simons were there - all people who have grown out of the old circumstances completely. People who should have been removed from their positions long ago, because nothing sensible can come out of the minds of these people, all of whom are involved in the currents that led into the catastrophe. Recovery can only be brought about by bringing in new people – people who realize that they must not bring in the old ones again. For us, since we did not get through with the first way of presenting the ideas of threefolding, for us it is above all a matter of working to get the ideas of threefolding into as many minds as possible. Only then, when we have enough people who understand what needs to be done, only then can we make progress, and only then will we also have governments with whom we can work. Therefore, we must consider anything that brings down one government and lets another come to power as impractical, because a government is coming that will either do something nonsensical itself or bring in the old people, or we will hear the most ancient phrases, ideas, again raised that have proven their impossibility through the catastrophe of war.

For us, it is a matter of new people coming who understand and can do something themselves and who realize that the old ones must not be brought back. And to achieve something like that is not easily done with mere words – that has been shown. We had to resort to introducing something practical and economic. If we do something sensible with it, people will say: They can not only talk sensibly, but also do it, and we will have a means of awakening more understanding for our cause. We are not thinking of utopianism, but of the fact that what can be done must be done. If you think abstractly, you can say: As long as this government is in power, nothing sensible will be done, and with a different government, sensible things will happen even without “Kommenden Tag”. But “Kommenden Tag” wants to help create sensible things. Then he can step aside when he has helped to create sensible things.

But things are not always so that one has only an either/or. In free Switzerland, for example, one could not found such a “Free Waldorf School” as we have in Stuttgart. Because there, in free Switzerland, the law is so tightly knit that one cannot found such a school. But with us there is the possibility of wriggling through. So we don't just have a mere either-or, and so the “Kommende Tag” will also seek, with all the means left to us in the old circumstances, to use this remainder to make progress. We do not think: government gone, another government coming! - you won't get anywhere with that; but we think: you have to use the things that can still be used. The “Kommende Tag” is such a practical institution; it does not want to wait abstractly until the right government comes.

Another worker says a few words about what he thinks he has to say about the threefold order in connection with his reading of Zola's [book] “Work”.

Rudolf Steiner: Zola was not yet at the point where he could have created something positive. With Zola it was only criticism. At that time, people had not yet progressed to the point where they could have criticized. It took the circumstances to make it clear that something had to be done. Today we have to say: what people like Zola did must be changed today. There is no other way. At that time, the reactionary powers could continue to operate; now, they can only muddle through for a while. There is an absolute necessity for action. Some people see it differently, but we have to see the matter of threefolding as the right one. We cannot admit that it could be done better any other way.

to Walter Kühne in front of all the employees of the building at Champignystrasse 17

Dear attendees,

The Federation for the Threefold Social Organism is actually, I would say, the banner under which we are gathered here today, for what has now been created in Stuttgart has emerged from the anthroposophical movement via the Federation for the Threefold Social Organism. The Anthroposophical Movement is a spiritual movement; the means of its work are entirely in the realm of spiritual activity. And when the difficult situation in Central Europe gave rise to the need to create the Federation for the Threefold Social Order out of the anthroposophical spirit, a start was made on implementing the anthroposophical goals directly and immediately in everyday practice, in reality. This is an extraordinarily important, significant and responsible task. You are aware that the efforts of the Federation for the Threefold Social Organism have so far resulted in the Waldorf School and the economic enterprise “Der Kommende Tag”. The “Coming Day” as such has not yet had the opportunity to show the outside world how it wants to present itself to the public with a new work in the economic field, but with a work that comes from a new spirit. It will fulfill its goals if everyone who works with it is actively aware, really of what is actually supposed to happen; that something is supposed to happen out of a completely new spirit, for that, my dear attendees, one needs not only the slogan, the phrase “one wants to work out of a new spirit,” but for that one needs the will to work out of such a new spirit into everyday life and into business habits. And if people wanted to use the phrase “working in a new spirit” to maintain the old business practices and the whole old way of doing business, then the “day to come” would gradually be drawn into the very old and, of course, none of what is actually meant would be achieved. Do not think that what I have just said can be taken only superficially, for there are a great many enterprises in the world that make a big show of things and then simply drift into the most everyday old philistinism. And believe me, man's tendency not to let go of the old in his habits is extraordinarily great.

We see this particularly when we look at the socialist procedures in the very present, in the very latest times. The socialist movement has gradually taken on a form that can be characterized as follows: it is dominated by the most beautiful, immediately ear-catching slogans – and it is dominated by habits of life, by business habits, which truly go back far further in old philistinism and old conservatism than any of the basically reactionary parties. It does not help if one is not supposed to say such things in a moment when one has not exactly gathered for nothing; it only helps if one holds the truth before oneself, and therefore one must say: what is demanded of the time is precisely the opposite of what is mostly talked about by socialists today; it is to work out of a new spirit. How difficult this is – why should this not be said even in such a small circle – becomes apparent the moment one really wants to start working out of such a new spirit in practice. The “Coming Day” and the Federation for the Threefold Social Organism and everything connected with it should work out of such a new spirit. The Waldorf School has begun to work out of such a new spirit. You can understand that the greatest concern in setting up all these new affairs, which are so energetically demanded by the times, must be to find the right people for the job.

Now, you see, I stated in a public lecture a few days ago that Professor Eugen Varga, who would have had all the power as Minister of Economics of Council Hungary, was as clever as anyone could be, but he was hindered in his cleverness on the one hand that he is a bullish Marxist, and on the other hand, that he is a Central European professor. He admits that in an unnoticed part of his arguments, which he has published, it is above all important to put the right people in the right places. Today is basically my first time here, so I can only speak to some extent about the external conditions that have led to what is crystallizing here. But if we disregard everything that is here, then an example may be given which shows how difficult and troublesome the task is that I have just spoken to you about; the Federation for the Threefold Social Order can only do its truly extraordinary, comprehensive and far-reaching work if it has as many co-workers as possible. This spring, the idea was mooted of holding a course here that would provide a foundation for what a person who is not indoctrinated with socialist issues and armed with party slogans should really know when they go before the public to talk about what is needed in today's world. It was not, as was erroneously assumed, a course in public speaking, but rather something that should work in this direction. When the time came to select the people who were to take part in such a course, it turned out that the course could not be started because no suitable audience for such a course could be found in the area that was initially accessible to us. So, as you can see, we are already coming up against the obstacle that Professor Eugen Varga is talking about; because today it is the case that basically everyone believes that if they were appointed the next day by the most important authority to administer any other field, they would be the most suitable person for the job. But when it comes to finding the truly suitable personalities, that is, when one makes a serious effort out of empty phrases, then very little comes of these things. Those personalities who are here in Stuttgart themselves not only have their hands full today, but if they had ten times as many hands as they have – of course, two hands always require something else in a person – then they would still have plenty to do. All this points to the difficulties of working today, which are disguised in the most frivolous way by those people who lead party life in the field of all parties. Without being aware of this, one cannot work on such an undertaking as this.

We have shown that it is at least possible in a small circle to make a start where the aim is to work in an at least limited comprehensive sense from the spirit that is meant here. And it can be said that a small part of the tasks, which could only be achieved in part of its field, has so far been achieved in a comprehensible way by the Waldorf school teachers. There it was possible to find a number of people from the circle of the now existing skills who, in the field that has a certain outer limit, which I will describe in a moment, where in a certain area what is really meant has today, in a way that can be grasped. This could not yet be the case with the other things, because they have only existed for such a short time. What has been grasped and taken from the basis of the spiritual life that we cultivate has been grasped in a way that can be grasped today. There is no reason for anyone to become vain or proud about what has been decided, for there is still much to be done and only those who feel inadequate in the face of their immediate tasks will come to the right realization. You will have heard: There is a lack of understanding again where there should be understanding so far-reaching that the social organism has a threefold structure, where there should be understanding for the fact that, above all, spiritual life should be supported economically, there is a lack of understanding again in the widest circles today. There is an enormous amount to be done to bring understanding into the environment of today's humanity, so that one has to say: The Federation for the Threefold Social Organism has an enormous amount to do, for it is the inspirer and the real active force that is to work in everything that is to be founded in detail. What is to come from the Federation for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism, to which the other fields are spiritually, if not administratively, attached and for the sake of which they actually work, cannot be one-sidedly business-like, nor one-sidedly scientific, nor one-sidedly in any other direction, but must be completely be so that, every week, one discovers afresh the tasks that are set each week, for the person who leads the Federation for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism and those who help him must be people who have an extremely finely tuned, soul-social magnetic needle, the slightest deflection of which can be quickly noticed. Those who are to care for the Federation for Threefolding must have a fine sense for everything that is happening in social life today. Even if it is quite impossible to discuss things directly because they are often much too clumsy and too fleeting, one must still have a sense for the right thing to happen at the right moment, even if it seems to have no connection at all to what is happening.

The goal towards which the threefold social order should develop, my dear assembled friends, cannot be described in a few words, but I would like to hint at it with a few words. As you know, there were matters in the old world, which is much more gone than one thinks today, which is much more on the verge of extinction, in complete decline, than one thinks. In this old world there was what was called “diplomacy”. Diplomacy, ladies and gentlemen, has a name that, I would say, not only causes retching, but almost vomiting. Diplomacy has made its name, which is so not only by what it is supposed to be, but by what it has become, because it has been carried out behind closed doors, because it has worked with means that often had to shy away from the full light of the public. The Socialist parties, in particular during the war and up to the present, have not shown that they would have been able to put something new and honest in the place of the old dishonest diplomacy. On the contrary, anyone who has had the opportunity to observe how the Socialist leaders, must say: the habits, the bad, disgusting habits of the old diplomats have been greatly increased by the diplomats from the socialist parties, who began to pursue their diplomacy in the most diverse fields during the world war. One day, when the diplomatic disciples of the old dishonest diplomats are described, it will be a very dark chapter of history, showing how they have operated up to the present day; but the art of the little diplomat of the socialist parties also belongs precisely in the place of that which is completely ripe for destruction and that which is ripe for destruction in this direction. That which has matured in public life for the most complete downfall must be replaced by something that works in the full light of the public eye but at the same time is endowed with the qualities that the old diplomacy has gradually lost through its bad habits, but which in its better times, even if sometimes cultivated to a point of undesirable sophistication, it certainly excelled in. A knowledge of human nature that goes as far as observing the social soul processes – knowledge of groups of people, knowledge of human contexts, knowledge of human parties, knowledge of human instincts – all this belongs to the foundation from which the one who is to work in the right sense in what is meant by the League for the Threefold Social Organism is to work. This is something that must emerge from direct observation, from the most thorough knowledge of human nature, from the contemplation of the active forces in the present. This is what he must, I would say, keep fairly quiet in his bosom as the scope of the motives from which he must act. But then he must arrange what he does according to this knowledge of human nature, otherwise, if he does not arrange what he does according to this knowledge of human nature, then he simply speaks so that he is understood, as if he were standing in front of a forest of trees and speaking into them; for that is the characteristic, that today, basically, if something is to be effective in public that does not look like the public journalism of all parties or the public talk of all parties, so that when people listen or read, their souls behave like tumblers, so that they immediately straighten up when they hear the buzzwords, when they have fallen over. Today we live off the automatic machines of newspapers and public orators, but if you want to speak to people from a different direction, you speak as if to trees that do not hear. You can only penetrate them gradually if you try to apply a truly diplomatic art, which is honest, as has just been suggested. Nothing less than this must be the task of the League for the Threefold Social Organism, and all the fields of activity associated with it must set themselves this task. Nothing less than to take the place of the old diplomacy of public affairs, which is dying out and has come to mean dishonesty and evil.

Only out of this consciousness, not out of a program, not out of a set of abstract propositions, but out of the goodwill to appropriate people and groups of people as well as one can, can arise what the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism is actually supposed to do. If a possibility for working in such a direction does not arise, then the Federation for the Threefold Social Organism will be something that perishes, probably with all that belongs to it, and one will be able to say: We will have to wait a long time for humanity to mature before we can implement what is so urgently needed today. Those of you who are present today will be the first to realize that when one speaks as I have just done, one is speaking of realities; often one is told in response to these things: Yes, but if one sets such goals, then humanity will need decades or centuries.

One can hardly imagine a worse indictment of these people; for it proves nothing other than that people mean something quite different from what they actually say; it proves that they have not the slightest will to acquire insight into how, today - today! - this must be realized, how it is meant with such practical goals as we mean here. But we need helpers, not hundreds but thousands, tens of thousands. We need more and more helpers, and our work is only just beginning because a large part of our work consists of first having to look for the people who will do the work. We can only do the smallest part of our work because we have to spend most of our time looking for people to do it, even if it looks like we are doing something else.

All this I want to live as a guiding thought every day, every hour, every minute, every second, here where we want to work in the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism. The aims we have set ourselves are truly not too high; for there are no aims too high for that which is today tiny, like the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism, but which is destined to become outwardly great, truly great, infinitely great. The Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism is something that arouses opposition when three or four people get together, as has happened here in Stuttgart, to achieve its goals. The Federation for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism is something that causes a sensation and has a small following; when the three or four are joined by ten, then there are a few hundred who look to it; then, of necessity, something happens in these few hundred that makes them feel the old habits rising up in their inner soul life and that so and so many fall away again. Then, I might say, the small group of purposeful personalities, who stick together, must return to their old loneliness, continue to work, and then the opposition that arises turns into slanderous opposition, into furious enmity, and it must be worked on slowly and intensely, with the aim of winning over as many people as possible to the ideas. There comes a time – and we are in the midst of it; we have already passed through the other stages – there comes a time when one learns to sense what one really knows when one is immersed in practice. You see, after working for the anthroposophical movement for two decades, I can say that I have worked in the anthroposophical movement, in assemblies consisting of three, before assemblies consisting of three hundred, but also before assemblies consisting of three thousand and many more. What has become of the anthroposophical movement is what has become of it – certainly for many other reasons, but also for one reason: I have always counted on it, based on a certain life practice, that after you have been able to speak to a thousand people, you have found two with whom the matter has initially taken hold.

If you want to achieve something new, you will achieve nothing if you are optimistic about life; if you are pessimistic about life, if you let your courage sink because it is the case that out of a thousand you can win two, if you are pessimistic about life, if you are constantly under the impression that it is the case, you will achieve even less than nothing, you will make things even worse. The only thing possible is to feel everything that optimism and pessimism give us, but when it comes to moving from feeling to will, to not give a damn about whether the world is good or bad, but to do what one feels is one's duty; then, even if slowly or quickly, the world will become better. We must think of acting in such a way that the world can become better tomorrow. This is what must govern us as a new spirit. This new spirit arises much more from feeling, sensing, and wholeheartedly engaging with this whole impulse of will than from anything else; it certainly does not arise from empty phrases. We could draw up the most beautiful programs, put out the most beautiful brochures to the world, do everything possible that can be put together in words, we could do this in the seemingly most brilliant management; if we do not work ourselves out of this spirit in every hour, in every minute, in every second, we will achieve nothing through the most beautiful words, the most beautiful brochures, through everything we shall achieve nothing, for today we must fight with our hearts, not with the shrivelled and depraved hearts that are nowadays called hearts because they have been formed by all kinds of old world-views, but with hearts that are capable of really feeling the great impulses of the time and of acting on them with all their energy. Today it is a matter of working from this heart and being there for things from this heart.

Therefore, you must also have a heart for when – since the work here is being done out of a new spirit, to the extent that it is understood – everything changes, so to speak, down to the details of business practice – because if nothing changed, we would mess up the matter – and when someone somewhere comes along and says to something that is being practiced out of the new spirit: Yes, but someone who is an expert in the field and has looked at the field in the world, thinks that this is not right, is talking nonsense; because what has entered into all fields, what has become the spirit of all fields, has shown its impossibility through the world catastrophe, and everywhere practice, not just feeling and thinking, must become something completely different. Without understanding this, we will not make any progress.

And if I may emphasize something today, then it must be that I say: our federation for the threefold social order must work on its own education; it was born out of a world that loves a flood of phrases. Those who have to place themselves in it do not know how strong the power of this flood of phrases is, how strong the power of the old habits is that have led us into decline. And in our work, we must above all progress in freeing ourselves from the old flood of phrases and old bad habits. Only when what I mean is understood, when it is not taken in a way it should not be taken, will what is behind it be able to signify something for the actual goals of the movement for the threefold social order; for a word becomes a mere phrase not only when it is spoken heartlessly, but also when it is heard heartlessly. You can say the most impregnated words, those words in which there is still so much inside; if they are heard in such a way that you only hear the phrase in them and perhaps even translate this phrase into the old flood of phrases, then, then nothing comes of it. We can speak from experience here, because these are precisely the most important cases that come to us, that what is actually meant by our anthroposophical movement resonates in the world outside, but becomes something something quite different, something quite different, which has not only become a mere phrase, but has first become a mere phrase, then been re-prepared, so that the phrase has in turn become the slogan of something else.

For example, something is pronounced, people come into the anthroposophical movement – let's take a specific case – from some sect or other, they make what prevails in the anthroposophical movement into a phrase. Then they reshape it in the sense in which they mean it from the habits of their sect, then they speak or print it, and then the opponents come and fight against what has come into the world in this way, and then come those who say, “Yes, has been said here and there, you haven't refuted it at all - it hasn't been refuted because most of the time one has something to do with it, but not with what has nothing to do with it, because it has arisen on the path, as I have just described, [to refute]. But when it grows to such an extent that one finds the refutation necessary, then supporters and also opponents come and say: Yes, but you are polemicizing far too much, you are fighting far too much; one must work the positive; well, and so on, and so on.

Just recently someone said to me: I don't really like the fact that this is being fought with trumpeting children and house keys in one city, which was said in our defense; I'm only saying it because it was said: What you want is much too lofty to get involved in such things. Yes, you see, that is also the bad thing that comes from good supporters. What comes from good supporters in this regard comes because they have no way of

to replace the old diplomacy; because it is a matter of finding exactly the place, the point where one has to intervene, in order to possibly ignore scribblers and swine, but to take them into account at the right moment. It is a matter of doing the right thing at the right moment. Such well-meaning people, like the one I have just spoken of, are people who look at the world, but in the surrounding area of not very great expanse, spiritual walls arise and through these they do not see through; they talk all kinds of things that sound very nice, but they know nothing about the world. What is important is the good will to know about the world and to act accordingly, not out of some kind of instinctive urge to develop some kind of behavior, and therefore one must not turn into a phrase what I have actually said today that might resonate with something, but I would very much like very much that it penetrates a little into the hearts, that it penetrates from the heart into the most everyday work, and has an effect there; because only in this way will we achieve what can be achieved, what should be achieved through the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism and through everything that is connected with it.

You are sitting there, my dear attendees; by virtue of that you are part of the whole. I had to speak to you today; I could not help but speak to you about the difficulty of the task. Whether I have spoken rightly or wrongly does not depend on whether I have put my words this way or that today, but rather depends solely on whether each individual has the good will to be towards each individual as it should be in the sense of what has been expressed. When the reorganization of the old covenant for the threefold social organism was undertaken, I asked our dear friend Mr. Molt, who is essentially involved in the whole development of anthroposophical social work – the things are only ever in the invisible germ, actually already since the autumn of 1918 and only came to light in the spring of 1919 – I have asked Mr. Molt to take on the role of curator for the new federation, so that he can, firstly, find his way out of his connections with the present world, all those points from which our future work should be undertaken from, and because it is to be hoped that he, of all people, will continue to develop this will for renewal after he has become one of the first to work from here in the spirit of the threefold social order. Mr. Kühne has taken over the leadership of the newly founded Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism, and I have the prerequisite that what has been agreed with Mr. Kühne in long negotiations should be realized by his personality as the spirit of the new leadership of the federation. But, my dear attendees, only what is in the world, what is the best will of your curator, what is the urgent insight and good, best will of the secretary of the Federation for the Threefolding of the Social Organism, will be able to bear the right fruits, will be able to work in the right way on everything what is to be worked with - and what is related to us - should be worked with in a collegial way with all those who are leading in the Waldorf School, should be worked with in a collegial way with all those who are leading in the Anthroposophical Society, should be worked with in a collegial way should work together with all those who are to be involved in the “day to come”, should work together in a spirit of collegiality with all those who are new to our movement, with everything that is in the world, what the best will of the curator is, what urgent scientific and social training and impulsiveness and the best will of the secretary, it will only be able to bear fruit if each individual, in whatever position he is, is willing to adjust himself here so that these qualities, which I have just mentioned, find appropriate support in the collegial cooperation, in the comradely cooperation of all - all who sit here and will still sit here.

I would like to add a few words to the very last (Messrs. Molt, Kühne, Trommsdorff, Uehli had spoken in the meantime), for the reason that everything that is effective in our work should be stated with absolute clarity, which was the case when the Federation for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism was first founded, the work was shaped in its further development in such a way that at a certain point in time it became necessary for an organ of the Federation for the Threefold Order of the Social Organism to introduce the weekly journal “Threefold Order of the Social Organism”. Until now, this weekly journal, which we all long to see developed into a daily newspaper that works in our interest in the foreseeable future, was incorporated into the Federation for the Threefold Ordering of the Social Organism. And this was a matter of course inasmuch as it arose out of the work and was placed within it. But it is also a matter of course in the re-establishment of the Federation for the Threefold Social Organism – because here, after all, the real thing must always be taken into account – that Mr. Uehli's excellent work has had an, I would say, organ-forming effect. And this has led quite organically to the fact that in the future - this belongs to the reorganization - on the one hand, the management and so on will work propagandizing the ideas of the federation, so that this - the effectiveness of the federation for the and on the other hand, the management of the journal 'Threefolding of the Social Organism', which stands alone and is solely called upon to work together with the other management. Both things will thus in future be parallel organizations and will only have to work together in a collegial manner. It is also natural that the fields of work will expand, and that many things that were originally one current will split into several currents, requiring independent leaders. This is the remarkable thing about the geographical formation of countries: that a small river arises, all kinds of tributaries join it, and a large river arises from it, which flows into the sea. It must be the nature of such movements as ours that they also begin as small rivers, that tributaries flow to them from all over the world, but that they then split up and then, moving in parallel, work together and in this way work together in a collegial manner to flow into the great sea of the social construction of the future.

Rudolf Steiner: Dearly beloved! Allow me to say a few words in advance of our discussion this evening. The subject today will be to speak very specifically about the foundations that can be seen as absolutely practical outpourings of our anthroposophical movement: “Futurum” on the one hand, “The Coming Day” on the other. It may perhaps be recalled that these two foundations did not arise out of nothing, because we have just found that something like this had to happen now in this time of extreme need. It is true that it had to happen now; but on the other hand, it is also true that something like this would have been realized long ago if the possibility had existed. And it is a pity that it had to wait so long until the hardship taught people a few things about these things and until the difficulties that face such things have actually become almost insurmountable. My friends in Basel will remember a remark that I made in a lecture in Basel that now lies far behind us, which may have seemed grotesque to them at the time. I was speaking about the origins of our mystery plays. And I said at the time – of course, it was a thought that was not meant to be quite so paradoxical, paradoxical, accusing – that I would much rather found an anthroposophical bank than stage mystery plays at the highest level, that is, in the realm of purely artistic appearance. At that time, we were still living in a time when it was extremely difficult to make it understood that such a straight line leads from the highest spiritual healing processes into the most practical life. But I think the Basel friends who heard the lecture back then will remember how long it has been since I spoke of such a very practical foundation.

Now, however, it is a matter of the fact that we, having to go to such a foundation, needed the courage to really make something out of the whole anthroposophical way of thinking and attitude and also to make it understandable to the world that something like this must arise today out of the anthroposophical attitude, and in particular out of the education of thinking - including the most practical thinking - that arises out of observing anthroposophical feeling and imagining.

Now, however, things are such that, on the one hand, the facts speak a very eloquent language – for many countries, an all too eloquent language, because the decline is already so far advanced that people simply do not want to admit it. And of course – since not everything is coming to an end at once – it is impossible to admit the decline for a while. Right? Even if a person who used to have something to wear hardly has the opportunity to buy a suit anymore, he can still wear the old suits until they are shabby. And so you can believe that the decline is not yet here. You just wait until the evidence is provided by the suit you are still wearing becoming shabby. This is already the case with much of our economic life and even more so with our intellectual life – not to mention public life.

Now the task is to create something that is so well founded and so well thought out that it can be maintained through its very essence, through the will. But the matter is very difficult, and the work of those who want to devote themselves to these things is truly one that demands all possible dedication. And I would like to say this in advance because I would like to say something in particular that seems important to me.

I just want to add here that for the “Futurum” we have won Mr. Ith right from the start, who is trying with all his dedication to achieve through the “Futurum” what is to be achieved through this “Futurum”. And he will report to you this evening about the “Futurum” from precisely this point of view, and about the intentions and goals, about the next goals, from the point of view from which, at this moment, that is, I would like to say, on October 13, 1920, it must be spoken.

It is self-evident that such a report is only valuable when it comes from the person who is doing the work. A report as such, or even a brochure that is sent around, is only a small part of what is important; a brochure has only one meaning as an expression of what is being done. That is why we wanted to give you the report today, from the very person who heads “Futurum” here.

But there is one thing I would like to emphasize in particular. You see, we had to have the courage to base the whole reasoning of both “Futurum” and “The Day to Come” on anthroposophical principles, if I may put it that way. We must be able to make the world understand that the old economic thinking has been run down because this old economic thinking was only capable of carrying out its calculations to the extent that the approaches and results ranged from production to bringing the goods to market , and because the factor that belongs in these calculations has never been included – that is, what goes on in the minds of the people who work on producing the marketable goods, from the raw product to the finished product that was brought to market. That is what is going on in people's souls. And what is going on there, that was not so much looked at that it really, I would say, is just as much in an accounting context as the numbers that are in the books, in the accounting. But that was left out of the calculations. Our industrial economy only went as far as the completion of the market goods and ignored what was to be included, ignored the people.

And if today it were only a matter of getting the calculation right, which goes from raw products to market goods, then it would be possible to reach some kind of end relatively much faster.

All it would take is to bring the state fanatics [...] to their senses, and so on. But the one thing that has always been left out of the calculation is now making itself felt as a real factor in the turmoil throughout the civilized world and will continue to make itself felt if we refuse to include this factor, despite the fact that people do not want to admit it, who again and again overlook the language of facts that is so loud today.

It is important to keep pointing out the way in which the leading circles slept during the 19th century. What did the leading circles do after all? Statistics, and in a particularly ineffective way. What did they do, these leading circles? Let's say, for example, that they were concerned with founding pansophies, speaking theoretically of the supernatural worlds, all by themselves; they sat together, sometimes even in salons with mirrored windows. They were well heated. But where did the coal come from? As early as the 1940s, the British government established how this coal was mined, of course through statistics, which then revealed it. They published some very strange things, for example, in figures, but these were simply left out of the calculations. The figures showed, for example, that children as young as nine, ten, or eleven were were let down into the coal shafts in the morning before the sun rose, and were brought up in the evening after the sun had set; how men and women sat together by the coals that were thus brought to light, while the others conferred about general moral and lofty ideals. Down below, the naked men and naked women, which did not exactly contribute to the improvement of morality, were standing in the shafts; the children did not see sunlight at all during the whole week except for Sunday!

Now, these things have improved to a certain extent. But what needs to be done in this regard has not been done by those who could do it, and it still needs to be done. But the matter is being ignored. Worldviews are being forged by the stoves that are heated with the coals that are unearthed in this way, and people have no idea of the discrepancy that this creates in the world; they have no idea how the factor that is now rumbling in the world has been left out. The moral and spiritual aspects have been eliminated, but in reality they form a unity with the other.

Therefore, it is not just a matter of founding financial enterprises with a healthy way of thinking and perhaps thinking through how one can apply anthroposophy to practical life, but rather it is a matter of ensuring that such enterprises have a basis. And this support is only possible if those who are able to go with the anthroposophical movement form this support; the support must be in all those personalities who belong to the anthroposophical movement. We must work to ensure that something like the “Futurum” becomes well known in terms of its tendencies, in terms of its goals, that it is maintained by what is disseminated for the understanding of its principles by those who want to profess anthroposophy. Because anthroposophy is not just some theory, but anthroposophy means precisely the force that transforms the whole person and can prepare him to bear life as it must be borne if we want to move towards a possible future, not the barbarization of our entire civilization.

That is why we would like you to hear what is meant by the “Futurum”. Because it depends as much on the response it receives from the world as it does on the sensible attitude and sensible management of the “Futurum” affairs, whether something thrives.

That is why we wanted to ask Mr. Ith to enlighten us this evening about the next goals and the whole essence of “Futurum”.

[The following contributions are made: by Arnold Ich on the “Futurum”, Carl Unger on the “Kommenden Tag” and its operations, Pieter de Haan on experiences in Holland, Francke Fadum from Norway (notes illegible), Eugen Benkendörfer on the drawing of shares. As no questions are asked, Roman Boos closes the meeting with the words:]

Roman Boos: It seems that no more questions will be asked. I assume, therefore, that everyone knows what he has to do with his money.

Economic Society for the International Promotion of Economic and Spiritual Values, Dornach near Basel, concerning the issue of 5,350,000 francs of nominal new shares

Prospectus, October 31, 1920

Series A: preferred shares at Fr. 1,000.
Series B: shares at Fr. 500.
Series C: shares at Fr. 1,000.

Letters of this kind usually end up in the trash. The sensible person understands this. Because more often than not, they promise things that the interested parties have often enough experienced not being fulfilled. But here is a letter that wants to talk about a special kind of economic and financial foundation. One that wants to be so strongly and seriously rooted in the social plight of our time that the founders would like to choose a more effective way of communicating than a brochure. But initially no other way is possible, and so one would like to build on the insight of those who begin to read and are then determined by the seriousness of the matter to read further.

The increasingly difficult global economic situation today, which is leading entire areas of Europe towards decline (see appendix I on the global economic situation), demands new ideas and new economic initiatives that work just as effectively in positive development as the forces that are currently evident in the decline of our culture.

1. The activities of Futurum A.-G.

The company FUTURUM A.-G. (Economic Society for the International Furthering of Economic and Spiritual Values), founded on June 16, 1920, with its headquarters in Dornach, wants to take up its economic activity in the spirit of the positive development referred to above. In order to fulfill its task, it is necessary for FUTURUM A.-G. to expand indefinitely and gradually develop into the economic associations that must be striven for in an emerging economy.¹

The FUTURUM A.-G. should work as a single enterprise in the way that needs to happen on the broadest scale if our ailing economic life is to recover. This is possible only if the sins of omission of the present economy are seen through impartially and consciously avoided in an undertaking that is capable of unlimited expansion.

Today's mode of production is based on pure profit interest. Both the entrepreneur (capitalist) and the wage earner devote themselves to production only from the point of view of profit. Therefore, in reality, the satisfaction of general needs is becoming more and more dependent on the pursuit of profit, while it is the consumption needs that bring the spiritual and moral aspect into social life. They alone give the entire economic life a meaningful basis. Today, production is carried out for the sake of profit, and the needs of consumers are only taken into account insofar as they can be made subservient to the pursuit of personal gain. Economic activity in the sense of meeting needs is considered obsolete. Consideration of the socially harmful consequences of the arbitrary business and production activities of the capitalist and the wage laborer is considered inconvenient because these harmful consequences only become apparent later. We are now in the midst of such social consequences and should therefore be able to understand the real connections between cause and effect in economic life. As a result of not taking consumer needs into account in production, these same needs became, as it were, fair game. We are experiencing this realization today in the revolutionary needs of the masses, which express themselves in strikes, etc. One produces on a tolerable basis and as a reaction one produces the revolt of those needs that arise as the highest possible business profit and as high wages from the interest in profit. A healthy modern economy must be supported by a practical intellectual life that will not advise a production that is based on the result alone, but on a production that arises from the realization of the connection between consumer interests and social conditions. Such companies will not be less profitable than the present ones. They will, however, avoid production methods that are harmful to social life. Our present-day economy is impractical because the scientific knowledge of the present does not provide any insights into the understanding of social interrelations. The ideas emanating from the Goetheanum in Dornach produce such a practical economic way of thinking because they grasp the individual and social nature of the human being. The sins of omission in political economy to date are expressed in the 90% increase in the need for strikes between 1913 and 1919 (see Appendix I).

It is out of such considerations that FUTURUM A.-G. intends to commence its economic activity. The statutes state the purpose of the company as: “the establishment, financing and operation of purely economic and economically-intellectual (educational institutions, scientific research institutes, etc.) enterprises, as well as participation in such. Individual transactions may also be concluded for its own account or for the account of third parties. The company is authorized to establish branch offices in Switzerland and abroad.” This general formulation of the company's statutory purpose can, of course, say nothing about the way in which FUTURUM A.-G. positions itself in practical economic life and how it wishes to be distinguished from other production and financing companies.

1. It is not a company that has been founded for the sole purpose of fighting in today's economic battle in a forward-moving line and thus generating a particularly high dividend. It has been explained above how such ventures gradually erode the economic and, indirectly, their own foundations. Article 29 of the company statutes therefore states, among other things:

“A dividend shall be paid on the share capital which, in line with the prevailing monetary conditions, represents an appropriate interest payment on the nominal value of the share capital."

This provision enables the management to focus on building their companies in a financially sound manner that avoids creating social tensions. The subordination of all business matters to an authoritative dividend policy is thus avoided.

2. The FUTURUM A.G. wants to bring together all those reasonable personalities as shareholders in an economic working group in the form of a joint-stock company who, based on their practical experience, have come to the conclusion that an attempt at reconstruction in this time of crisis can only be based on new ideas, as represented by the threefold social order.

3. The Society seeks to distinguish itself from conventional financial institutions by placing economic and practical considerations rather than profit considerations at the forefront of its financing activities. In today's banking system, capital is only made available in return for high rates of return and extensive collateral (guarantees, pledges, etc.). The lender pays no attention to whether or not these returns are achieved through unsound economic practices. Even if the managers of the companies receiving financial support are unable to guarantee that the capital they borrow will be used appropriately due to a lack of efficiency, a loan will still be granted today as long as the pledged assets or the available guarantees sufficiently secure the loan amounts. FUTURUM A.-G. cannot therefore be characterized as a moneylender. Rather, it seeks to participate in the management of the associated companies as an active business partner. This initially requires a close business relationship between FUTURUM A.-G. and the financed companies. The latter will therefore generally take the form of branches or subsidiaries.

4. It is mainly a matter of financing those undertakings that are designed to place economic life on a healthy associative footing and shape intellectual life in such a way that legitimate talents are brought into a position in which they can be expressed in a socially fruitful way. Furthermore, enterprises such as laboratories, etc. must also be taken over out of social necessity. These can only bear economic fruit after some time and above all through the healthy ideas that are now being introduced into them. This requires that other enterprises be affiliated that are currently profitable and able to cover the temporary loss of the former.

5. In a company like FUTURUM A.G., the managers should receive information, in consultation with representatives of the intellectual life, about the social consequences of economic actions. The assessment of these social effects, together with the economic aspects, will then be decisive for the realization or rejection of a proposed business operation. In this way, the present-day economic principle, which judges an enterprise only by its profit, and which has led to the severe crisis, will be overcome.

6. The realization that economic activity can develop branches that, while temporarily producing favorable results for the individual entrepreneur, have a destructive effect in the context of the social order, is of extraordinary importance for the future. Therefore, in connection with the information on the current global economic situation (Appendix I), it may be said in the introduction that tensions have arisen during the 19th century from the prevailing cultural conditions and attitudes, which could not fail to lead to world wars and social crises.

Many of today's companies are geared towards such socially harmful aspects. On the one hand, the entrepreneur makes a profit out of them and, on the other, generates a loss in the form of social destructive forces that destroy the profits in the economy as a whole. These types of enterprises must therefore be counteracted by those that, based on sound economic thinking and social sensitivity, can be integrated into the social order in a truly fruitful way.

7. A company like FUTURUM A.-G. can initially only overcome the socio-technical and financial crises. But the social difficulties that still arise from the current economic system in the form of the workers' question will also disappear in a company of the kind described, if it is managed correctly.

The socially favorable consequences will practically arise, and the example will be convincing. If a company of this kind begins to falter, the participating workers will work with their convictions to restore its influence. Only by uniting the manual workers with the spiritual leaders of enterprises in one interest, through a way of thinking that affects all classes of people, can the social forces of destruction be counteracted. It is a basic condition for this that the spiritual aspirations be intimately connected with all material intentions.

II. The capital requirements of Futurum A.-G.

In order to approach a task as it has been characterized here, and to be able to carry constructive forces into today's time of crisis as a practical example, FUTURUM A.-G. needs suitable employees and insightful entrepreneurs who are looking for a way to connect their businesses with our corporation in some way. Above all, however, it requires large resources to enable the company to properly tackle its task. Only when it is able to expand without limit can the broad economic basis be gradually created, from which the network of economic associations must grow, placing people in the economic organism in a socially healthy way. The initial capital of FUTURUM A.-G., amounting to 650,000 francs, was raised by the founders within a month. This was to create a concrete basis for advertising the actual initial capital of 6,000,000 francs as coming from a company registered in the commercial register. The objection that a single entrepreneur is not capable of making a significant impact on the economy is unfounded. FUTURUM A.-G. has placed itself squarely in the practical economy with the aim of rapidly expanding and creating the economic instrument with which this impact is to be achieved. Those who want to use their money in a far-sighted way will participate in the subscription of shares in promising companies such as FUTURUM A.-G. and thus work together on the economic reconstruction. If short-sighted people believe that such economic views cannot bear financial fruit, they overlook the fact that clinging to previous economic methods is synonymous with increasing social decline, from which their capital will be destroyed sooner or later. While the consumption of goods continues uninterrupted, production is diminishing more and more as a result of social conflicts. This reduction in manufacturing will soon spread to raw materials and agricultural products, which still exist as reserves today. However, since the available mineral resources can only be added to the social organism through work, the increase in unwillingness to work means a constant decrease in reserves. How the immediate future develops depends on whether a new spirit takes the lead in the individual companies. The FUTURUM A.-G. call for the subscription of new shares is therefore a response to the need to give the company the momentum it needs to bring this spirit into economic life.

Board of Directors' resolution on the new share issue.

FUTURUM A.-G. can only develop its desired activities if it grows quickly and without limits. The Board of Directors has therefore decided to increase the company's capital in stages, with an initial capital increase from CHF 650,000 to CHF 6,000,000 to be carried out immediately after the entry in the Swiss Commercial Register on October 27, 1920. In order to ensure that the company's purpose, as intended by the founders, is carried out, the voting rights of the 650 founders' shares will be increased from one vote to 20 votes each with effect from January 15, 1921. At the same time, it was decided to issue 350 new shares at 1000 francs with the same voting rights, which can only be subscribed by the founding shareholders or brokered by them to new subscribers.

III. Business activities of FUTURUM A.-G.

Since its establishment on June 16, 1920, FUTURUM A.-G. has already developed a lively business activity by acquiring and continuing to operate the fully operational companies G. Holz scheiter & Cie., a knitwear factory in Basel, and Minerva A.-G., an umbrella handle and cane factory in Bönigen (near Interlaken), and continues to operate them for its own account. It also exploits a peat field in the Bernese Seeland as a contractor.

In addition to these production companies, FUTURUM A.-G. has its own trading department in Zurich and a wholesale business in tobacco products. The banking department at the company's headquarters in Dornach accepts funds in the form of loan notes, savings books or current accounts, and also handles asset management, currency exchange and securities transactions.

IV. Excerpt from the statutes of FUTURUM A.-G.

The founding of FUTURUM A.-G. (Economic Association for the International Advancement of Industrial and Cultural Interests) - FUTURUM S.-A. (Societé financière pour le développement international d'intérêts économiques, intellectuels et sociaux) - FUTURUM Co. Ltd. (Economic Association for the international advancement of industrial and cultural interests) - based in Dornach near Basel, was established on June 16, 1920 with a share capital of 650,000 Swiss francs.

The purpose of the company according to the statutes has already been mentioned on page 2 of this brochure.

The duration of the company is unlimited.

The capital stock of 650,000 francs is fully paid up. It is divided into 650 registered shares with a nominal value of 1000 francs each. The Board of Directors is authorized to increase the share capital by issuing new shares up to a maximum of CHF 6,000,000 and to determine the terms and conditions of the issue.

The Board of Directors, which according to the statutes should consist of 3-12 members, currently includes the following members:

Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, as Chairman.
Dr. Roman Boos, Dornach, as Vice Chairman.
Ernst Gimmi, Zurich, businessman, as Secretary.
Emest Etienne, Chaney-Genève, Chief Engineer of the Swiss Railway Bank, Basel.
Joh. Hirter, Bern, President of the Board of Directors of the Swiss National Bank, Bern.
Paul de Kalbermatten, Luchon (France), Chief Engineer.
Christian Krebs, Paris, Consul and Industrialist.
Fred. Tharaldsen, Christiania, Industrialist.

The members of the Board of Directors perform their duties on a voluntary basis. During their term of office, they must deposit at least one share of the company at a location to be determined by the Board of Directors.

The management consists of one or more persons, who are initially appointed by the founding General Assembly and subsequently by the Board of Directors. The following gentlemen are currently members of the management department:

Arnold Ith, economist and engineer from Schaffhausen in Basel.
Ernst Schaller, Dr. rer. pol. from Lucerne in Dornach.
Adolf Padrutt, businessman from Pagig (Graubünden) in Basel.

The auditors consist of two auditors and one deputy auditor. They are elected by the Annual General Meeting.

The Annual General Meeting is normally convened during the first six months after the end of the financial year. Extraordinary General Meetings are convened as and when required. The Annual General Meeting is convened by the Board of Directors, the management or the auditors. A General Meeting must also be convened if one or more shareholders whose votes represent at least 10% of the share capital request this in a signed petition to the Chairman of the Board of Directors or his deputy, stating the purpose. The invitation is sent by registered letter.

Resolutions of the General Meeting regarding:

1. amendments to the Articles of Association;
2. the reduction of the share capital;
3. the dissolution of the Company,

require a majority of two-thirds of the share capital represented at the vote for their validity. In addition, at least three quarters of the total share capital must be represented for a resolution to dissolve the company. If this is not the case, a second general meeting must be convened at least one month, but no later than forty days, after this date. The resolution of the two-thirds majority of the represented share capital is still legally valid in this second meeting even if less than three quarters of the total share capital is present.

Accounting: The financial year is the calendar year. Within the first four months of the financial year, the management must submit the closing balance sheet, the profit and loss statement and a report on the development of the company's assets and circumstances, together with its proposal for the distribution of the company's profits. The amount of depreciation and any reserves are determined by the board of directors.

The company's net profit is the surplus of assets over liabilities and is distributed in the following order:

1. Five percent shall be allocated to the reserve fund until it reaches or once again equals one tenth of the share capital.
2. The Board of Directors is authorized to allocate further reserves as it sees fit.
3. A dividend shall be paid on the share capital which, in line with prevailing monetary conditions, represents an appropriate return on the nominal value of the share capital.
4. The General Meeting shall decide on the appropriation of any remaining profit.
5. The dividend shall be paid after the balance sheet has been approved by the General Meeting.
6. The reserve fund is the company's working capital and does not bear interest. It serves to cover losses that cannot be offset against the annual profit.

The announcements of the company to the shareholders are made by a written letter and, as far as the legal requirements demand it, in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce.

Dornach, near Basel (Switzerland), October 31, 1920.
FUTURUM A.-G.
The Board of Directors

Enclosures with this prospectus:
1. The current global economic situation.
2. The economic situation of individual countries.
3. Terms and conditions of issue and subscription certificate.

Appendix I

to the prospectus of October 31, 1920,
by FUTURUM A.-G., Dornach (near Basel),
(Economic Society for the International Furtherance
of Economic and Spiritual Values).

The present world economic situation.

The hopes that many had placed in the economic and political-legal organization of the post-war period have not been fulfilled. The cultural conditions and attitudes of the 19th century gradually gave rise to the social tensions that led to the economic revolution resulting from the political crises of the world war. Today, this revolution in the form of the social question is looming ever larger over the nations. The general economic situation, as will be shown below on the basis of figures, is therefore, whether it is considered as the result of the war or other events, always the direct consequence of these cultural conditions and attitudes, which have developed more and more clearly in recent decades. Its characteristic symptoms are, on the one hand, a decline in the joy of work and in production, and on the other hand, general inflation, social conflicts and increasing debt.

The heavy debt burden that the war brought to individual states amounts to:
the Entente states £24,845 million or 626,590 million francs.
the Central Powers £14,070 million or 354,845 million francs.
the total war costs 38,915 million pounds or 1,000 billion francs.

National debt of various states at the end of 1919.

The following figures have been converted into Swiss francs on the basis of the coin parities.

This debt burden is accompanied by a reduction in the production of the most essential food and consumer goods, which gives rise to serious concerns. Thus, from 1913 to 1919, there was a reduction in:

With a more than tenfold increase in the debt burden of the individual states, production has decreased in all countries. This fact justifies the necessity of a huge increase in the burden on the population if the amortization and interest payments on these debts are to be carried out. Transportation, as a factor that serves production, has also suffered major losses. The war's shipping losses are calculated at 15 million tons, worth 40,000 million francs, and the operating and balance sheets of the railways in the various countries have resulted in billions of deficits in recent years. On the one hand, increasing demands are placed on the individual and the state through increasing debt, while on the other hand, their ability to perform is constantly being reduced as a result of decreasing production. This increase in debt and decrease in production results in increased wage demands from workers and growing capital needs of companies, to satisfy which ever larger loans must be taken out. Since, as a result of the decline in production, the credits granted are less and less backed by real values in the form of goods, they increasingly represent fictitious values (unbacked paper money in circulation, fictitious credits, etc.). The increase in unbacked banknotes in circulation and in national debt clearly shows the extent to which such fictitious values have to be used to cover the need for means of payment.

During the course of this year, the issue of paper money has increased further in the former belligerent states. The uninterrupted activity of the banknote press in Central Europe is well known. In addition to banknotes, Germany is now also issuing treasury bills in order to be able to conceal the enormous increase in the number of notes in circulation in the Reichsbank accounts by transferring some of them to these treasury bills. But even Italy could not wait for the success of its new government bond and had to issue a billion new banknotes at the beginning of this year to meet its current cash needs. The increase in national debt, the increase in paper money in circulation and the decline in production have a knock-on effect on the general cost of living, making it alarmingly more expensive. The percentage increase in inflation in the various countries can be seen from the following figures. The last year of peace, 1913, was taken as the base year, with a figure of 100.

The types of goods used to calculate the increase in inflation from 1913 to 1919/20 vary for the above countries. The figures given therefore cannot be compared directly with each other.

The following table contains the figures for the increase in prices in the individual states, converted to a common basis for comparison. The Swiss price compilations were used as the basis for calculation.

For the retail prices of the most important foodstuffs, the percentage increase compared to the pre-war period as the basis for calculation (100%) is:

Even if individual countries such as Switzerland and the United States of America show relatively favorable figures, it should be borne in mind that the global economic interdependence always ensures a certain degree of equalization. Because the more sustained the economic decline of a country is, the more intensively it will try to spread to economically healthier areas. Thus, in such times and in such countries, the national debts of countries facing economic decline, as listed above, mean the impossibility of continuing economic activity. In countries like England, whose economies are on the rise, the large national debts, which would mean economic ruin for Germany, for example, are much less significant. Nevertheless, this upward development in England will only continue as long as the economic decline in the rest of Europe does not undermine the demand for goods and the supply of necessary products for this country as well.

The trade balances in the individual states, the vast majority of which show an increasing surplus of imports over exports, also allow certain conclusions to be drawn about the state of the various national economies.

Trade balances.

Surplus of imports over exports in millions of francs!

These figures clearly show that the value of exported products is steadily decreasing in comparison to the value of goods imported from abroad. Therefore, a permanent increase in domestic income, at least equal to the surplus of imports over exports, must be created in order to cover this shortfall. If such coverage by creating the necessary national income is not possible, the means of payment must be raised by attacking the national wealth (savings) and by increasing debt (loans and banknote issuance). Such economic management must logically lead to decline. However, the fact that economic management must actually be carried out in this latter way today, because national income is not increasing to a corresponding extent, is clearly shown by the figures given on the decline in production and on the increase in the debt burden and banknotes in circulation. At the recent international finance conference in Brussels, for example, it was clearly stated that the national wealth of Switzerland, a country that was directly spared from the war, has suffered considerable losses since the pre-war period. The surrounding countries were not only forced to incur enormous debts on top of the huge income taxes, but they also had to attack the national wealth itself by legally ordering the surrender of assets. The collapse has thus been set in motion.

America, the huge creditor and supplier of raw materials to European countries, also has an interest in the economic situation of these countries, as shown by Europe's debt to America in mid-1920.

The seemingly solid economic area of America is also directly affected by the economic crisis, however, with labor unrest and strikes also constantly increasing in that part of the world.

In the United States of North America, the number of strikes and lockouts in 1919 amounted to 3,374, affecting more than 4,000,000 workers. The seven largest strikes there were:

1. Chicago stockyards strike, 65,000 men
2. Sympathy strike in favor of the Tacoma and Seattle machine workers, 50,000 men
3. Atlantic coast longshoremen strike, 100,000 men
4. Strike of the workers in the New York shipbuilding ports 100,000 men
5. Strike in the construction industry in Chicago 115,000 men
6. Massive strike of the steelworkers 367,000 men
7. Massive strike of the coal miners 435,000 men

An approximate idea of the decline in the joy of work and the increase in social conflicts can be gained from the total number of strike days in the most important countries in recent years:

1913 12,000,000 strike days
1918 5,000,000 strike

days (strikes were curtailed by the military dictatorship during the war and by the conscription of the male population into the armed forces).

1919: 1,341 conflicts with 22,750,000 strike days.

The total number of conflicts and strike days for 1920 will be significantly higher than for 1919.

These figures show that the desire to strike in 1919 was 89.8% greater than in 1913. The desire to strike is to be understood as the strikers' need for a means of expressing their general dissatisfaction with the existing social conditions. The following compilation, which only contains information about some of the major labor conflicts in the first half of 1920 and makes no claim to completeness, shows that the corresponding figures for 1920 will express an even greater desire to strike than in 1919.

America:
The two-month dockers' strike in Buenos Aires. The 100,000-strong railway strike in Brazil. Strike by railway workers in the United States of North America.

Asia:
strike by workers in the Japanese ironworks. (Loss of 10 million yen).
strike by 200,000 factory workers in India during the month of February. Various strikes by indigenous workers and Indo-European employees on the coffee and sugar plantations.

Europe:

Strike by Spanish railway workers in March.
Strike by Spanish metalworkers in April.
General strike in Spain.
Strike by Portuguese railway, postal, telegraph and telephone staff in March.
Major labor unrest in Poland.
General strike in Yugoslavia in April.
Strike by Romanian workers in the railway and tramway workshops. Railway strike in France. Italian railway strike. Italian agricultural and industrial workers' strike.
Italian general strike in February.
Italian general strike in April.

Switzerland:

Strike of Swiss construction workers.
Conflict between employees and employers in the Swiss hotel industry.
Major strike at the von Roll ironworks.
Wage dispute in the metal industry in Winterthur.
Imposition of a lockout at the Brown Boveri company in Baden.
Today, the movement among the entire working class is more serious than ever.

In Great Britain, after unsuccessful attempts at an agreement between the government and the miners' representatives, the miners' strike broke out on October 17, and it will only be possible to end it definitively after lengthy negotiations. The consequences of this strike for the English economy are particularly serious because numerous industries have been forced to stop working due to a lack of coal. The damage to the entire European economy can be gauged from the fact that, according to authentic estimates, the loss of coal production caused by the strike was estimated at around 15 million tons.

In Germany, in addition to ongoing workers' revolts, a momentous price war has begun between German mine workers, and in the Ruhr area, the socialization of German mining is already being demanded.

In France, the strikes resulting from the mass dismissal of workers in various French industries will soon take on a larger scale and more serious character. If the French mine owners do not accept the demands of the mine workers, a general strike of miners in France can be expected around mid-November.

In Italy, the revolutionary labor unrest in heavy industry has been temporarily resolved, but it was only one episode in the difficult struggle between the Italian bourgeois and socialist parties. That this struggle continues unabated today is proven by the ongoing strike unrest in all cities of Italy and the development of a project by the Italian labor federation for the control of Italian industry by the workers.

The Belgian trade union congress in Brussels recently decided on the gradual nationalization of all Belgian industry, with the railways, coal mines, banks, power plants, etc. to be the first to fall prey to communalization. In addition, the miners' general strike is imminent.

The strike unrest in America is causing constant disruptions to traffic and business in general, particularly in New York.

In addition to the ferment among the working classes of all countries, political events also indicate that what is currently happening in the cultural life of the individual states does not signify a constructive development, but rather a further sanctioning of the conditions and attitudes that led to the world war.

The consequences of the Polish-Russian war must be given a significance that deeply affects the current relationship between European states. In the south, the Adriatic problem and the Balkans question still await resolution. Personal sympathies and antipathies are irrelevant when it comes to assessing these events and their impact. In the case of the Russo-Polish war, the main thing is the economic and civilizational consequences that the outcome of this conflict must have for Europe. Likewise, D'Annunzio and his opponents, or the economic disputes in the Balkans, pale into insignificance compared to the great economic prospect of what should happen in the Adriatic and the Balkans to bring about the most fruitful exchange between the Orient and the Occident. Ireland is in a state of open revolt. In the East, the Bolshevik wave is spreading ever further and is already endangering the British possessions there, the mainstay of British world power. All these damages to our civilization cannot be resolved by measures in line with previous practice, but only by creations that form a basis for a healthy economic life.

• 1. Dr. Rudolf Steiner: The Key Points of the Social Question in Present and Future Necessities of Life. Verlag Geering, Basel. [Note in brochure]