ife, and passionately hostile to all
superiority. Through the constant secession of elements to which this
tone is antipathetic a kind of natural selection is constantly taking
place, and the political defencelessness of the transition period
favours disintegrating tendencies of foreign origin. The carving away
of ancient German territories works in the same direction. Apart from
the varying influence of the four strata already referred to, the
general tone will be set by the half-Slavonic lower classes of Middle
and North Germany, who have brought about and who control the existing
conditions, and by the other elements which have been assimilated to
these.

In place of German culture and German intellectuality we have a state
of things of which a foretaste already exists in parts of America and
of Eastern Europe. The fully socialized order, repelling all tutelage
through those strata which possess a special tradition, outlook and
mentality, has created its own form of civilization.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 10: Rathenau means that it cannot be entertained except on
the hypothesis of the profound _inward_ change, which is to be
discussed later on.]

[Footnote 11: _Kritik der dreifachen Revolution._ S. Fischer.]

[Footnote 12: The classes referred to are (1) the old aristocracy, (2)
the aristocracy of officialism, (3) that of traditional middle-class
culture; (4) the mass of what is called Socialism.]

[Footnote 13: L150 in pre-war values. By thrift, by co-operation, and
by the cheapness of the public services generally, a surprisingly high
standard of life could be maintained on this kind of income in pre-war
Germany.]

[Footnote 14: Aktualitaet; as, for instance, reference to current
topics.]

VII

Thoughtful and competent judges to whom I have submitted the foregoing
section of my work have said to me: This is Hell. That is perhaps
going too far, since those who will live in that generation and who
have themselves helped it into being will have become more or less
adapted to their circumstances.

A large part of the proletariat of to-day will certainly not be
daunted by the prospect, but will regard it as a distinct improvement
on their present situation. That is the terrible fact, a fact for
which we are responsible and for which we must atone, with what ruin
to German culture remains to be seen.

Who, in this Age of Mechanism, who on the side of the bourgeoisie, who
of our statesmen, our profess