Walther on Socialism in Germany, 1879; now America

      Not long after C. F. W. Walther's addresses against Communism and Socialism were published, he commented in Der Lutheraner on conditions within his former fatherland, Germany, regarding the political situation there.  The following is an excerpt from Der Lutheraner, vol. 35 (1879), p. 6-7), translation, text in red by BackToLuther:

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As is well known, the socialists in Germany are now being vigorously attacked. What success this has, we read in a German paper, in which among other things the following is written:  

“From Berlin, the main hearth of the Social Democracy, the Nat.-Ztg. brings a report on the effect of the Socialist Law [of 1878 by Otto von Bismarck], which is different with the actual Social Democrats and with the large number of followers. On the whole, the swift and strict execution of the law had the effect of a cold stream of water. The followers, the many railroad officials and small artisans, etc., now swear with all their might that they have never belonged to Social Democracy, nor do they want to know anything about Communist ideas. Afraid and timid before the secret police, they no longer want to tolerate conversations about socialist topics in their favorite bars, and now talk only about the devastating effects of field mice, the stuffing of birds, etc. Only the Progress Party is still bravely scolded for having introduced freedom of trade and usury. The socialist workers were different.  

They, too, had become calm and quiet, the wild noise and the Workers' Marseillaise [Russian anthem, revolutionary song, tune of Marseillaise; German version] had fallen silent. But in the beginning they were boiling violently, and in a cosy circle they poured out their hearts and drank one glass of beer after another to their idol Hasselmann. Nothing touches them more painfully than the fact that now there are no more public meetings where the thousands can heat each other up and feed each other with new nourishment. They, too, are beginning to grow calmer. The Socialist Law,” concludes the report, “when applied according to the rules, will have an exceptionally salutary, calming and peace-awakening effect, which is what we want.” 

However gratifying these effects of the Socialist Law may be, in this way only the branches, not the roots, of socialism are cut off. If the poor are not better protected against the rich bloodsuckers and, above all, if God's Word does not come to rule again in Germany, socialism will break out again and again as a terrible boil of unbelief and rage all the more terribly in the bowels of the people.    W. [Walther]

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      As Germany was moving towards Socialism in the 1870s, so America is today.  One is reminded of the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Otto von Bismarck attempted to stem Socialism by political means, to which Walther warns that political means do not attack the root of Socialism, and Communism, – which is the complete rejection of God's Word in America.  Apart from God's Word, the nation is doomed to what Walther calls “a terrible boil of unbelief and rage.”  The current medical pandemic does not compare to the pandemic of Socialism in today's America.