Imperialism, Nationalism, Chauvinism Author(s): Hannah Arendt Source: The Review of Politics, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Oct., 1945), pp.

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betweenthe National The Inner Contradiction, and the ImperialPrinciples. is everything," said Cecil Rhodesand fell into despair; "Expansion for he saw every night overhead"vast worlds which we can never part of the universeto whichhe could not expand.1 He had reach," discoveredthe moving principleof the new, the imperialist era; and yet, at the same moment,he recognizedin a flash of wisdomits inherent insanity and contradiction of human conditions. Naturally, him fromexpanding. He had no neitherinsightnor sadnessprevented use for his flash of wisdomthat had led him far beyondhis normal with a marked whichwerethoseof an ambitious businessman capacities tendencytowardsmegalomania. is for a single "World politics is for a nation what megalomania 2 said person" EugenRichter(leaderof the German progressive party) at aboutthe samehistorical moment. But he gaineda Pyrrhic victory when, through his oppositionin the Reichstag,Bismarck's proposal to support of tradingand maritime in the foundation private companies and stationssuffereddefeat. It seemedas thoughnationalpoliticians or Gladstonein England, statesmen-like Eugen Richterin Germany, or Clemenceau in France-had lost touch with reality and did not realizethat trade and economicshad alreadyinvolved every nation in worldpolitics. The nationalprinciple had led into provincial ignorance, and the battle fought by sanity was lost. Businessmen who in politics,reasonably satisfied neverbeforehad been much interested as they were with the police function of the National State which them protectionof their property, decidedthat their new, guaranteed and that they were no affairs safeguarded longersufficiently expanding
1 S. Gertrude Millin, Rhodes. (London, 1933), p. 138. The whole quotation reads as follows: "These stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach! I would annex the planets if I could. I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far away." 2 Ernst Hasse, Deutsche Weltpolitik. 1897. In: Alldeutsche Flugschriften, no. 5,
p. 1.

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had to go into politics for business' sake. They earnestly believed that "patriotism in overseas possession is best carried out through "money-making" (Huebbe-Schleiden), that the national flag is a "commercialasset" (Rhodes) and they did their best to win the national representativesas business-partners. Even worse than corruption was the fact that the incorruptible became convinced that world politics was a working reality and not the megalomaniac product of imperialism. Since maritime stations and access to raw materialswere a necessity for all nations, they ended by secretly believing that annexation and expansion as such had to be aimed at for the sake of the nation. They were the first not to understand the fundamental difference between the old foundation of trade and maritime stations for trade's sake and the new policy of annexation and domination.3 They believed Cecil Rhodes when he told them to "wake up to the fact that you cannot live unless you have the trade of the world," "that your trade is the world, and your life is the world, and not England," and that this is why they "must deal with these questions of expansion and retention of the world." 4 Without willing it, sometimes even without knowing it, they became not only the accomplices of imperialist politics, but were the first to be blamed and exposed for their "imperialism." Such was the case of Clemenceau who in his desperate worry about the future of the French nation turned "imperialist" because he hoped that colonial manpower would protect French citizens against aggression. When, at the Peace table in 1918, during one of those short spells of antiimperialist eruptions of public opinion, he insisted that he did not care about anything as long as he could draft in French colonies and mobilize the "force noire" for the protection of France,5 he mobilized
3 Within the British Empire, we have to distinguish between the Maritime and Military Stations such as the Cape of Good Hope during the nineteenth century, the Settlements or Plantations such as Australia and the other dominions and the colonial Empire proper such as it was acquired after 1884, when the era of expansion began. Not only were, during the following decades, vast stretches of new territoriesand many millions of people added to the older colonial possessionsthat had been acquired through "fits of absentmindedness" or through "incidents of trade"; but these possessions themselves, such as British India, received a new political significance and a new kind of government. 4 Millin, op. cit., p. 175. 5 Cf. Lloyd George, David, Memoirs of the Peace Conference (Yale, 1939), I, 362ff. "M. Clemenceau seemed in his speech to demand an unlimited right of levying black troops to assist in the defence of French territory in Europe if France were attacked in the future by Germany. . . . M. Clemenceau said that if he could raise troops, that was all he wanted."

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schemes"of the only great public opinion against the "imperialistic Europeanpeople that did not have any. Comparedto this blind nationalism in its last desperate compromisstage, Britishimperialists, the of on the like Mandate looked ing guardians the selfsystem, determination of peoples,even thoughthey at once misusedit through the concept of "indirectrule" by which the British administrator "thepeople. . . not directlybut throughthe mediumof their governed
own tribal and local authorities."6

has methods of dominationClemenceau By adopting imperialist not saved, as we now fully realize,the Frenchnation from German aggression, althoughhis plan was followedup and carriedout by the famous phrasesof 1923, "Franceis FrenchGeneralStaff. Poincare's not a country of forty millions; she is a country of one hundred of Frenchnationalists and has been millions,"becamethe watchword for the recentlyrepeatedby GeneralDe Gaulle. This imperialism the very foundations sake of the nation has changedfundamentally a deadof Frenchrule overconquered peoplesand dealt,unknowingly, For the French what become a blow to have French, Empire. might ly in contrastto all other Europeannations,actuallyhave tried in our timesto buildan Empirein the old Romansense,to combineius with imperium. They alone have attemptedto develop the body politic of the nation itself into an imperial politicalstructure. They did not to the expandingaffairsof busileave the care of overseas possessions themas the resultof "theFrenchnationmarchbut conceived nessmen, they tried to ing . . . to spreadthe benefitsof Frenchcivilization;" the conquered peoplesinto the nationalbody by treating incorporate in the fraternity themas "both. . . brothers and . . . subjects-brothers and subjectsthat they are disciples of a commonFrenchcivilization, 7 This was the of French light and followersof French leading." reason for giving colored delegates seats in the French Parliament and of incorporating Algeriainto the mothercountry. That conquered and that Franceappearstoday were defeated all these attempts finally as an imperialist popupowerlike othersis partlydue to the European
6 Ernest Barker, Ideas and Ideals of the British Empire. (Cambridge, 1941), p. 69. 7 Ernest Barker, op. cit., p. 4. Cf. Also the very good introductoryremarkson the foundations of the French Empire in: The French Colonial Empire. Information Department Papers No. 25, publ. by The Royal Institute of International Affairs. (London, 1941), pp. 9ff. "The aim is to assimilate colonial peoples to the French people, or, where this is not possible in more primitive communities,to "associate" them, so that more and more the difference between la France metropole and la France
d'outremer shall be a geographical difference and not a fundamental one."

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lation in the colonies, the so-called French colonials, who were not but a multi-nationalclique of businessmenwith imperialEmpire-builders ist ambitions, and partly to those nationalists in France herself who considered the colonies as lands of soldiers and their populations as "a really economical form of gunfodder, turned out by mass-production methods." 8 Imperialism is not empire-buildingand expansion is not conquest. The imperial passion, old as history, time and again has spread culture and law to the four corners of the world. The conqueroreither wanted nothing but spoils and would leave the country after the looting; or he wanted to stay permanently and would then incorporate the conquered territory into the body politic and gradually assimilate the conquered population to the standard of the mother country. This type of conquest has led to all kinds of political structures-to empires in the more distant and to nations in the more recent past. At any rate, conquest was but the first step toward preparing a more permanent political structure. Conquest as well as empire-building, has fallen into disrepute during the last century for very good reasons. The new concept of the nation, born out of the French Revolution, was based upon the sovereignty of the people and its active consent to the government (le plebiscite de tous les jours) and it presupposed the existence of an
8 See: W. P. Crozier, "France and her 'Black Empire'," Nevn Republic, January 23, 1924. A similar attempt at brutal exploitation of overseas possessions for the sake of the nation had been made by the Netherlands in the Dutch East Indies after the defeat of Napoleon had restoredthe Dutch colonies to the much impoverishedmother country. By means of compulsory cultivation, the natives were reduced to slavery for the benefit of the Government in Holland. Multatuli's 'Max Havelaar', first published in the sixties of the last century, was aimed at the Governmentat home and not at the services abroad. (See: De Kat Angelino, Colonial Policy, Vol. II. The Dutch East Indies, (Chicago, 1931)). This system was quickly abandoned and Netherland Indies, in a sense, has become "the admiration of all colonizing nations." (See: Sir Hesketh Bell, Foreign Colonial Administrationin the Far East. (1928). Part I). The Dutch system has many similarities with the French brand of imperialism: the grant of European status to deserving natives, introductionof a European school system, etc., and has achieved the same though less violent result: a strong national movement among the subject people. In the present article we shall ignore both Dutch and Belgian imperialism.The first is a curious and changing mixture of French and English methods; in our context it is atypical because the Netherlands did not expand during the eighties, but only consolidated and modernized its old possessions. Belgium, on the other hand, would offer too unfair an example. Her expansion was first of all the expansion of her King personally, unchecked by any governmentor other control. The story of the Belgian Congo is sufficiently well known, but in its unequalled atrocity likewise atyptical for the initial stages of imperialism.

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indefinite number of equally sovereign national organizations. This meant in practical politics that wherever the nation appeared as conqueror, it aroused national consciousnessas well as desire for sovereignty among the conquered peoples, thereby defeating all genuine attempts at empire-building. The British "empire-builders" never

in includingtheir nearestneighbor,the Irish people,in the succeeded or the BritishCommonof eitherthe BritishEmpire structure far-flung The wealthof Nations. put their trust in conquest "empire-builders" but when after as a permanent methodof rule-and failed miserably; and welcomedas the last war Ireland was granted dominion-status it ended with a full-fledged memberinto the BritishCommonwealth, a new though less palpablefailure. The oldest British "possession" denouncedits dominion and the newestBritishdominionunilaterally status (in 1937), and severedall ties with the Englishnation by not in the war. The rule of permanentconquestsince it participating "theslumberto destroyher"9 had not so mucharoused failed "simply 10 it awakened nation as had ing geniusof imperialism" of the English the national resistanceof the Irish. The national structureof the and incorporaUnited Kingdom had madeimpossible quickassimilation never was British Commonwealth the tion of the conquered people; of Nations"but the heir of the United Kingdom a "Commonwealth the world; and the politicalbody of one nation dispersed throughout it was not, as can be seen by the Irish example,an imperialstructure in whose framework many and differentpeoples could live together the body politic between innercontradiction This and be contented.11 been obviousever of the nation and conquestas a politicaldevicehas
9 See Gilbert K. Chesterton, The Crimes of England (1915), pp. 57ff. 10 As Lord Salisbury put it, rejoicing over the defeat of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill. During the following twenty years of Conservative-and that was at that time Imperialist-policy (1885-1905), the English-Irish conflict was not only not solved but became much more acute. 11 For the historian,it still is a riddle why in the initial stages of national development the Tudors did not succeed in incorporating Ireland into England as the Valois had succeeded in incorporatingBrittany and Burgundy into France. It may be, however, that this process was brutally interrupted through the Cromwellian Government that treated the country as one great piece of booty to be divided among its servants. After the Cromwellian revolution, at any rate, which for the formation of the English nation was as crucial as the French Revolution became for the French, the United Kingdom had already lost the power of assimilationand integrationwhich the body politic of the nation has only in its initial stages but loses gradually with its maturing. What then follows is, indeed, one long sad story of "coercion (that) was not imposed that the people might live quietly but that people might die quietly" (Chesterton, op. cif., p. 60.). For a historical survey of the Irish question that includes the latest developments, compare the excellent unbiased study of Nicholas Mansergh, Britain and Ireland. In: Longman'sPamphlets on the British Commonwealth.(London, 1942).

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dream. It is due to sincethe grandiose failureof the Napoleonic rather considerations this experience than to merehumanitarian that has that time since has been condemned and played conquest officially buta minor of borderline rolein theadjustment conflicts. of The British havetriedto escapethis dangerous inconsistency modemattempts the conquered to ruleby leaving at imperial peoples theirown devices were law as far as culture, and concerned, religion Britishlaw and fromspreading by stayingaloof and by desisting culture.Thishashardly national from the natives developing prevented consciousness forsovereignty andclamoring andindependence-though it mighthaveretarded the process somewhat.It has, on the other consciousness of the new imperialist side, tremendously strengthened a fundamental, of manoverman. andnot onlytemporary, superiority of the subject the fight for freedom This, in turn, has embittered benefits of British peoplesand blindedthemto the unquestionable rule. From theveryaloofness of their their who"despite administrators for the in even natives as a some cases and genuine respect people, theirlove for them,. . . almostto a man,do not believe that they are or everwill be capable of governing withoutsuperthemselves 12 cannot to thattheyare be excluded vision," they help concluding andseparated fromthe restof mankind theBritish forever.Although at combining a national abroad attempt bodyat homewithan empire did not havethedesired strucof the consequences stabilizing imperial it hadserious for the of the mother structure ture, consequences political sake,they had to keepKing and House of country. For empire's bothof which are in contradiction to the freedevelopment of Lords, national but for the over needed rule sovereignty desperately subject to whom one couldnot givethe status of citizens.The result peoples wasthatthosewhofirstof all wereentitled to be British citizens had to remain British of all thesecompromises subjects.Thefinaloutcome andclever devices wasimperialism. cannot evenbe granted the extenuating circumstances Imperialism of being a mixtureof conquestand empire-building, althoughit falls back to the of the former old methods and always occasionally boastsof the grandeur of the latter. The old "breakers of law in India" of the lootingtypewhom andconquerors (Burke)werepirates the Indianpeopleshad reasonable hope to see leavesomeday. If
12 James Selwyn, South of the Congo, (New York, 1943), p. 326.

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of law,theymighthavebecome intomakers theyhadchanged empirein this andwould but the English nationwasnot interested builders; havesupported them. As it was,theywerefollowed hardly by an unto be of "the African series of whom administrators all wanted ending left an African," not a what who had outgrown although few, yet 13 to aid oncecalledtheir"boyhood-ideals" HaroldNicholson wanted themto "become a better African" 14-whatever thatmaymean. In the were not to and administrative any case,they "disposed apply of their of own country to the government backward political system
populations" 15 and failed consequently to tie the far-flung possessions of the British Crown to the English nation. In contrast to true imperial structures where the institutions of the mother country are in various ways integrated into the empire as a whole, it is characteristic of imperialism that national institutions remain separated from the colonial administration although in its initial stages they are allowed to exercise some control over it. It is to the salutary restraining of these institutions that we owe those benefits which, after all and despite everything, the non-European peoples have been able to derive from Western domination. But the colonial services themselves have never ceased to protest against the interference of the "unexperiencedmajority," namely the nation, that tries to press "the experienced minority," namely the imperialists, "in the direction of imitation," governing in accordancewith the general standards of justice and liberty at home.16 Here lies, incidentally, one of the many unhappy misunderstandings which still bar the way to adequate insight into the phenomenon of imperialism. The conscience of the nation, representedin parliament and free press, was equally representedby the colonial administrations of all European countries-be they England or France or Belgium or Germany. In England, however, in order to distinguish between the imperial government seated in London, and controlled by parliament, and local administrators or the white local population, this influence was called the "imperial factor," thereby crediting imperialism with those merits and remnants of justice which it eagerly tried to elimi13 These boyhood-ideals play a considerable role in the attitude of British administrators and officials when serving abroad. If they are taken seriously, they prepare for such tragedies as the life of Lawrence of Arabia. How they are developed and cultivated is very well described in Rudyard Kipling's Stalk_ and Company. 14 Ernest Barker, op. cit., p. 150. 15 Lord Cromer, "The Government of Subject Races." In: Edinburgh Review, January, 1908. 16 Lord Cromer, op. cit.

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nate.17 The political expression of the "imperial factor" in England was the concept that the natives are not only protected but in a way represented by the British, the Imperial Parliament.18 Here, the English come very close to the French experiment of empire-building, although they never went as far as giving actual representation to subject peoples. Nevertheless, they obviously hoped that the nation as a whole could act as their trustee, and it is true that it invariably has tried its best to prevent the worst. The imperial factor, therefore, should rightly be called the national factor in British imperialism;a factor which invariably came into conflict with the imperialists. The prayer which Cromer addressed to Lord Salisbury during his administrationof Egypt in 1896: "Save me from the English Departments"19 has been repeated over and over again until in the twenties of our century the nation and everything it stood for was openly blamed by the extreme imperialist party for the possible loss of India. The reason: tie government of India that "knew well enough that it would have to justify its existence and its policy before public opinion in England" felt itself not free to proceed to those measures of "administrativemassacre"20 which had been tried out immediately after the close of the last war in the form

17 The origin of this misnomeris quite clear in the history of British rule in South Africa. It is well known how-to take the most famous instance-local administrators, Cecil Rhodes and Jameson, involved the Imperial Government in the war against the Boers, much against its intentions. The situation was that "the Imperial Government In fact Rhodes, or rather Jameson, was absolute retained, indeed, nominal control.... ruler of a territorythree times the size of England, which could be administered'without waiting for the grudging assent or polite censure of the High Commissioner'." (See: Lovell, Reginal Ivan, The Struggle for South Africa, 1875-1899, (New York, 1934), p. 198). And what happens in territoriesin which the British Government has resigned its jurisdiction to the local European population that lacks all traditional and constitutional restraint of national States can best be seen in the tragic story of the South African Union since its independence, that is, since the time when the Imperial Parliament had no longer any right to interfere. 18 Cf. for instance the discussion in the House of Commons in May, 1908, between Charles Dilke and the Colonial Secretary. Dilke warned against giving self-government to the Crown colonies because this would result in a rule of the white planter over the colored worker. Whereupon he is answered that the natives, too, had a representation which is the English House of Commons. See: G. Zoepfl, "Kolonien und Kolonialpolitik." In: Handtooerterbuchder Staaisrtissenschaften.3. Auflage. 19 Lawrence J. Zetland, Lord Cromer (1932), p. 224. 20 A. Carthill, The Lost Dominion. 1924, pp. 41-42, 93.

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of "punitive forces" as a radical means of pacification.2l The same conflict between the national and the imperialist factor was characteristic of French rule. The Governor Generals appointed by the French Government in Paris were either subject to powerful pressureof French colonials as in Algeria, or they simply refused to carry out reforms in the treatment of natives, inspired as they were, by "the weak democratic principles of my Government,"in the words of the former associate of Petain, the Governor General of Madagascar, Leon Cayla. Everywhere, imperialist administrators felt that the control of the nation was an unbearableburden and an open threat to domination.22 And in this, the imperialistsare perfectly right and know the conditions of modem rule over subject peoples better than those who, on the one side, protest against government by decree and arbitrary bureaucracyand, on the other, hope to retain their possessions forever for the greater glory of the nation. Paradoxically the imperialists know that the body politic of the nation is not capable of empirebuilding. They are perfectly aware of the fact that the march of the nation and its conquest of peoples, if it is allowed to follow its own inherent law, ends with these peoples rising to nationhood themselves and defeating the conqueror. The French methods, therefore, which always tried to combine national aspirations with empire-buildinghave been mucl less successful than the English methods which, since the eighties of the last century, have been outright imperialistic,although restrained by the mother country that had retained its national democratic institutions.
21 Compare the great article on "France, Britain and the Arabs" which T. E. Lawrence wrote on this occasion in The Observer (August 8, 1920); ". . . There is a preliminary Arab success, the British reinforcementsgo out as a punitive force. They fight their way . . . to their objective, which is meanwhile bombardedby artillery, aeroplanes, or gunboats. Finally perhaps a village is burnt and the district pacified. It is odd that we don't use poison gas on these occasions. Bombing the houses is a patchy way of getting the women and children. ... By gas attacks the whole population of offending districts could be wiped out neatly; and as a method of governmentit would be no more immoral than the present system." (Quoted from: T. E. Lawrence, Letters, edited by David Garnett (New York, 1939), pp. 311 ff.) 22 The same conflict between national representativesand colonial administrators in Africa runs through the history of German imperialism. In 1897, Carl Peters was removed from his post and had to resign from the Governmentservice because of atrocities against the natives. The same thing happened to Governor Zimmerer.And in 1905, the tribal chiefs addressed their complaints for the first time to the Reichstag, with the threw them into jail and the German Government result that the colonial administrators intervened. See: P. Leutwein, (President of "Der Koloniale Volksbund"), Kaempfe urn Afrika. (Luebeck, 1936).

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and the Disintegration Imperialism of the National Body When imperialism enteredthe sceneof politicsduringthe scramble for Africa in the eighties of the last century,it was propagatedby businessmen, opposed fiercely by thosewhowerein powerand welcomed by a surprisingly large sectionof the educatedclasses. To the latter it appeared as a God-sentlife-saver, as a panaceafor all evils, as an of out all conflicts. it is true that imperialism in a And easy way sensehas not gone backon thesepromises; it has given a new lease of life to political and social structureswhich were even then quite obviouslyundermined by new social and political forces and which, under other circumstances, even without the interference of imperialist developments, it would hardly have needed two world wars to destroy. As it was, it conjuredaway all troublesand producedthat deceptivefeeling of security,so universalin pre-warEurope, from whichonly the most sensitivemindsescaped,like Peguy in Franceor Chesterton in England,who knewby instinctthat they lived in a world of hollow pretensesand that stabilitywas the worst pretenseof all, and who could only marvelat the miracleof longevity. The solution of the riddlewas imperialism and the answerto the fateful question the of nations allowedthis evil to spreaduntil why European comity was the everything destroyed, good as well as the bad, is that all knew well enough that their countrieswere in a secret governments state of disintegration, that the body politicwas being destroyed from time. within,and that they lived on borrowed firstas the panaceafor the Innocently enough,expansion appeared evil of excess capital productionand offered its remedyof capital increasedwealth producedby capitalexport.23 The tremendously istic productionunder a social systembased on maldistribution had that is, in the accumulation resultedin "oversaving," of capitalthat, withinthe framework of the existingnationalcapacityfor production
23 For this and the following compare J. A. Hobson, Imperialism,who already in 1905 gave a masterly analysis of the driving economic motives and of many of its political implications. When, in 1938, his early study was republished, Hobson was perfectly right in stating in his introductionto an unchanged text that this book is a real proof "that the chief perils and disturbances. . . of today . . . were all latent and discernible in the world of a generation ago . ." (p. v). Cf. Barker, op. cit., who in 1941 still calls the colonial Empire proper-not the dominions-"an exportation of English money."

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to idleness. This moneyactually was condemned and consumption, class ownedby a growing wassuperfluous, needed though by nobody the owners In thedecade which of somebodies. imperialism, preceded of this superfluous wealth had firsttriedthe way of foreigninvestcontrol. Thishadbrought ments without andwithout political expansion of financial aboutan unparalleled scandals, speculation orgy swindles, fromoverin the stock-markets. and gambling Big moneyresulting the for the wayand became the pioneer littlemoney, savingshowed in order of the littlefellow's result hardwork. Domestic enterprises, liketo keeppacewiththe highprofits of foreign turned investments, of number wiseto fraudulent an ever-growing and attracted methods out their in the of miraculous returns threw who money people hope the window. The Panamascandalin France,the Gruendungslosses in Germany wereclassical schwindel examples.Tremendous of The from the promises owners resulted of tremendous profits. littlemoney thatthe owners lost on sucha scaleandat sucha tempo of superfluous left alonein the field soon sawthemselves big capital Afterhaving in a sense, failedto transform wasa battlefield. which, of gamblers, the wholeof society into a community theywereagain to which. of from normal the excluded superfluous, process production aftersometurmoil, somewhat all otherclasses returned though quietly and embittered.24 impoverished of money, as suchis not imperialism and investment Export foreign device. As long doesnot necessarily as a political leadto expansion withstaking as the owners of superfluous werecontent "large capital thistendency of their in foreign lands" andalthough portions property 25 of nationalism," ran "counter to all past traditions they already theiralienation fromthe national wouldonly haveconfirmed body of parasites. in which Onlywhentheyappealed theyled theexistence afterthe initialstage of theirinvestments for government protection use of politics, did theireyesto the possible of gambling had opened In this life of the nation. the re-enter however, appeal, political they thatsince of bourgeois tradition the established society theyfollowed
24 For France compare George Lachapelle, Les Finances de la Troiseme Republique, (Paris, 1937) and D. W. Brogan, The Development of Modern France, (New York, 1940). For Germany, compare the interesting contemporarytestimonies, such as Max Wirth, Ceschichte der Handelskrisen, (1873), Chapter XV, and A. Schaeffle, "Der 'grosse Boersenkrach' des Jahres 1873." In: Zeitschriff fuer die gesamfe Slaaiswissenschaft, (1874), 30 Band. 25 J. A. Hobson, "Capitalismand Imperialismin South Africa." In: Contemporary Review, (London), 1900.

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its beginnings to use political for institutions had wanted exclusively the protection of property.It was the firstclass in historywhose as suchand that so aim,was ownership origin,as well as ultimate farhadbeensatisfied classof society without withbeingthe dominant to direct the rise rule. the of fortunate coincidence aspiring Through of thisclass the of property-holders andtheindustrial revolution, former into producers of production. had beentransformed and stimulators As long as theyfulfilled of modern which this basicfunction society is a community theirwealth of producers, hadan eminently essentially for the nationas a whole. The owners of superfunction important fluous thefirst thatno longer were section of theclass capital profiteered fromsomerealsocialfunction-even of an it be the function though in whom no the exploiting long employer-and consequently police runwouldhavebeenableto savefromthe wrath of the people. For this wrathrarelystrikesthose who derivetheir powerfrom some but it becomes necessary activity. It is not aroused by mereabuses, violentand implacable no at fulfills function as soon as profiteering theprofiteers andexploit all, eventhough mayhavelostall realpower then wasnot only escapefor the superfluous nobody.26Expansion fromthe menacing itself,butstillmorefor its owners capital prospect of remaining It savedthe bourand entirely superfluous parasitical. of maldistribution and gave a new geoisiefrom the consequences leaseof life to its ownership that when wealth could concept onlynow, no longer be usedas a factor of production within the national framewith the production idealof the comwork,had comeinto conflict as a whole. munity Olderthanthe superfluous wasanother of capiwealth by-product talistproduction. followThiswasthehuman thatevery debris crisis, of each would ing invariably upon period industrial growth, pereliminate fromproducing who wouldbecome manently persociety, for the community as the owners of idle andas superfluous manently to society wealth. That theywerean actualmenace had superfluous to populate for decades beenrecognized had helped and theirexport the dominions of Canada as wellas the UnitedStates. andAustralia erais thatthese twosuperfluous Thenewfactof theimperialist groups,
26 This has been conclusively demonstrated by Tocqueville with respect to the French aristocracy before the Revolution. The more the aristocracy lost its real power of governmentand administration,the more its privileges were hated by the people that no longer understood its very existence. See L'Andien Regime et la Revolution. Livre II, chapitre I.

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the owners of superfluous capital and the owners of superfluous working power, joined hands and left the country together. The concept of expansion, of exporting government power and of annexation of every territory in which nationals had invested either their wealth of their work seemed the only alternative to increasing losses of wealth and population. Imperialism with its idea of an unlimited expansion seemed to offer a never-ending remedy to an increasing and neverending evil.27 Ironically enough, the first country where superfluous wealth and superfluousmen were brought together was itself in a position in which only a miracle could save it. South Africa had been in British possession since the beginning of the century because it assured the maritime road to India. The opening of the Suez-canal, however, and the following administrative conquest of Egypt left the old trade station of the Cape without any greater importance. The British would, in all probability, have withdrawn from Africa as, before them, all European nations had withdrawn whenever their possessions and trade interests in India were liquidated. "As late as 1884 the British Government had still been willing to diminish its authority and influence in South Africa." 28 If any spot of the earth was threatened with becoming superfluous then, it was certainly South Africa. The second ironical (and almost symbolical) fact about the unexpected development of South Africa into "the culture-bed of Imperialism"29 lies in the very nature of its sudden attractiveness after it had lost all value for the Empire proper. In the seventies, diamond fields had been discovered and the eighties brought about the discovery of large gold mines. Gold became the god for the owners of superfluous wealth as well as for the superfluous men who came from the
27 These motives are especially prominent in German imperialism.Among the first activities of the "Alldeutsche Verband"-founded in 1891-were efforts to prevent German emigrants from changing their citizenship, and the first imperialist speech of Wilhelm II, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Reich, contained the following typical passage: "Aus dem Deutschen Reiche ist ein Weltreich geworden. Ueberall in fernen Teilen der Erde wohnen Tausende unserer Landsleute. . . . An Sie, meine Herren, tritt die ernste Pflicht heran, mir zu helfen, dieses groessere deutsche Reich auch fest an unser heimisches zu gliedern." 28 See the masterly study of C. W. De Kiewiet, A History of South Africa. Social and economic, (Oxford, 1941), p. 113. 29 E. H. Damce, The Victorian Illusion, (London, 1928), p. 164. "Africa, which had been included neither in the itinerary of Saxondom nor in the professional philosophers of imperial history, became the culture-bed of British imperialism."

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four corners of the earth;:"" preventing, with Government support, the development of all industries for the production of consumer goods,:' they established the first paradise of parasites whose lifeblood is gold.'3' Imperialism, the result of superfluous money and superfluous men, began its startling career by producing the most superfluous and the most unreal goods. It may still be doubtful whether the panacea of expansion would have been so great a temptation for national statesmen as it actually became, if it had offered its dangerous solutions only for those superfluous forces which, in any case, were already outside the pale of the body corporate of the nation. The curious weakness of national opposition to imperialism, the numerous inconsistencies and outright broken promises which were so characteristicof the behavior-patterns of modern national politics and which frequently have been ascribed to either opportunism or bribery33 have another and deeper motive. They sprang from the conviction that the national body itself was so deeply split into classes, that class-struggle was so universal a symptom of modern political life, that the very cohesion of the nation was utterly jeopardized. Expansion again appeared as a lifesaver if and insofar as it could deliver a common stake to the nation as a whole, and it is mainly for this reason that imperialists were allowed to become "parasites upon patriotism."34 Partly, of course, such hopes belong to the old vicious devices which try to overcome domestic conflicts by foreign adventures and conquests. The difference,however, is marked. Adventures in politics are by their very nature limited in time and space; they may succeed in overcoming conflicts temporarily, although as a rule they would even fail in that and rather tend to sharpen them. The imperialist adventure of expansion appearedfrom the very beginning as an eternal solution, because expansion was conceived as unlimited. Furthermore, imperialism did not even appear as an adventure in the usual sense,
30 See: Reginald Ivan Lovell, The Struggle for South Africa, 1875-1899. A study in economic imperialism,(New York, 1934). On the Uitlanders, p. 403. 31 See: Selwyn James, South of the Congo, (New York, 1943), pp. 333 ff. 32 See De Kiewiet, op. cit. Chapter VII. 33 The instances are too numerousto be quoted. Interestingin our context, furthermore, are only those in which the honesty of the persons involved is beyond doubt. Such for instance is the famous case of Gladstone who as the leader of the Liberal Party had promised to evacuate Egypt; when, however, his party came into power, the liberal governmentdid not evacuate. 34 J. A. Hobson, op. cit., p. 61.

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because it based itselflesson nationalist thanon the seemingly slogans of economic interests.Withina society solidbasis of clashing interests in whichthe common the been with common identified had good to be a possible interest as suchappeared common interest, expansion of the nationas a whole. Sinceeverybody had beenconvinced by theowning classes thateconomic anddominant interest andthepassion arethesoundbasisfor the bodypolitic, statesnational for'ownership menwereonlytoo easilypersuaded to yieldwhena common economic interest on the horizon of possibilities. appeared Thesethenare the reasons so cleara whynationalism developed towards the the inner of twoprincontradiction tendency imperialism, From the new movement of the ciples notwithstanding. very beginning and in all countries wouldpreach(and boast) of alike,imperialists theirbeing"beyond the parties," and claimto be the only ones to wouldattract and speakfor the nationas a whole. This language deludeprecisely thosepersons who still had somekind of political left and somefeelingfor patriotism.The cry for unityreidealism sembled the battlecries withwhichpeoples had been precisely always led to war;and yet, nobody in the universal detected and permanent instrument of unitythegerm of universal andpermanent war.35 The groupwhichengaged mostactively in the nationalist brand of imperialism mostefficiently to the businessman's and contributed confusion of imperialism withnationalism, werethe government offi35 The slogan "above the parties" has been repeated again and again in the course of the German imperialist movement. All Leagues, societies and groups propagating overseas expansion pretended to direct their appeals to "men of all parties," to "stand far removed from the strife of parties and represent only a national purpose"-as the President of the Kolonialverein Hohenlohe-Langenburgput it in 1884. (See: Mary E. Townsend, Origin of Modern Colonialism. (New York)). Likewise the official historian of the Pan-German League insists on its being "above the parties; this was and is a vital condition (for the League)." (See: Otto Bonhard, Ceschichte des alldeutschen Verbandes. (1920)). The first party to claim to be "above the parties" as a "Reichspartei" was the national-liberal party under the leadership of Ernst Bassermann. (See: Daniel Frymann (ps. for Heinrich Class), Wcnn ich der Kaiser nsaer'-Politische Wahrheiten und Notlendigkeiten. (1st ed. 1912.) The situation in England is far more complicated, although the disinterestof imperialist politicians in domestic politics is very marked and well known. (See for instance: Harold Nicolson, Curzon: The Last Phase. 1919-1925, (Boston-New York, 1934), p. 7). More importantthan this, more importanteven than such beyond-parties foundations as the Primrose League is the disturbing influence of imperialism upon the two-party system, which finally has led to the Front-Benches system. The "diminutionof the power of opposition" in Parliament and the increasing "power of the Cabinet as against the House of Commons"as "chiefly attributableto Imperialism"have been noted already by Hobson (op. cit., pp. 146 ff.). The working of this system has been described by Hilaire Belloc and Cecil Chesterton, The Party System. (London, 1911).

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cials. The national state has created, its functioning depending upon them, the civil servicesas a permanentbody of officialswho serve regardless of classes and regardlessof governmentchanges. Their professional honor and their self respect-especially in England and Germanyderived from their being servants of the nation as a whole. They constituted the only class that had a direct interest in supporting the fundamental claim of the State to independence from classes and factions. That the authority of the national state itself depends to a large degree on the economic independence and political neutrality of its civil servants has become obvious in recent times when the decline of nations invariably started with the corruption of its permanent servants and with the general conviction that these were in the pay-not of the state-but of the owning classes. At the close of the century, the owning classes had become dominant to a point where it was almost ridiculous for a state-employee to keep up the pretense of serving the nation. The disintegration into classes had left them somehow outside the social body and had forced them into forming a clique of their own. In the colonial services, they escaped the actual disintegration of the national body. In ruling foreign peoples in far-away countries, they could much better feel themselves to be heroic servants of the nation, as those "who by their services had glorified the British race,"36 than if they had stayed at home. The colonies were no longer simply "a vast system of outdoor relief for the upper classes" as James Mill still could correctly describe them; they were to become the very backbone of British nationalism which found in the domination of far countries and the rule over strange peoples the only way to serve British and nothing but British interests. The services actually believed that "the peculiar genius of each nation shows itself nowhere more clearly than in their system of dealing with subject races."37 The point is that only far from England or Germany or France, a national of these countries could be nothing but an Englishman or
36 As Lord Curzon put it at the unveiling of Lord Cromer's memorial tablet. See: Lawrence J. Zetland, Lord Cromer, (1932), p. 362. 37 In the words of Sir Hesketh Bell, former governor of Uganda, Northern Nigeria etc. See: Foreign Colonial Administration in the Far East, (1928), Part I, p. 300. The same sentimentsprevailed in the Dutch colonial services. "The highest task, the task without precedent is that which awaits the East Indian Civil Service official . . . it should be considered as the highest honor to serve in its ranks . . . the select body which fulfills the mission of Holland overseas." See: De Kat Angelino, Colonial Policy (Chicago, 1931), Vol II, p. 129.

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Germanor Frenchman.Within his own countryhe was so entangled in economicinterestsor social loyaltiesthat he felt actuallycloserto a member of his class in a foreign countrythan to a man of another a new lease on life and class in his own. Expansion gave nationalism thereforewas acceptedas an instrumentof national politics. This countries showsin how desperate a statethe European found themselves their institutions the how had bebefore start of imperialism; fragile come;howoutdatedtheirsocialsystemprovedin the face of the growwere ing capacityof man to produce. The means for preservation the than worse has in the the and too; end, remedy proved desperate evil which,incidentally, it did not cure. III Chauvinism and the BridgebetweenNationalism and Imperialism carriesout the decline of the nation. The more illImperialism of foreignpeoples (whichconfitted nationsare for the incorporation tradictsthe constitutionof their own body politic), all the more are they temptedto oppressthem. In theory,there is an abyss between nationalism in practice,it can and has been bridged. and imperialism; Ideologicallyspeaking,the bridgebetweenthem is called chauvinism. is an almostnautralproduct In contrastto imperialism, chauvinism of the nationalconceptinsofaras it springsdirectlyfrom the old idea beof the "national mission." It has a logical affinitywith expansion as cause a nation'smissionmight be interpreted precisely bringingits to for whateverreasons,have fortunate less light other, peoplesthat, mission. As long, left national been without a miraculously by history not the however,as this conceptdid ideologyof chaudevelop into vinism and remainedin the rathervague realm of national or even nationalistic pride, it frequentlyresultedin a high sense of responsifor the welfareof backward peoples. It producedthat type of bility in all the colonialservices, men whomone could find scattered particua take the who would British, fatherlyinterestin the peoplesthey larly were orderedto rule and who would easily assume the role of the therebyfulfilling in a manly fashion the gallant ideals dragonslayer, and dreamsof theirboyhood.38
38 For a magnificent example of this attitude. see Rudyard Kipling's tale "The Tomb of His Ancestors." The Dal's Work. (New York, 1898).

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The troublewith the "nationalmission"is that it impliesa holy a kind of divineorigin of the peopleand mission,that it presupposes that it claims "chosenness." Since, by its very definition,national divineelectioncan be grantedonly to one people,this conceptdestroys the idea of the unity of mankind which,basedon the divineorigin of with any doctrineof the divineoriginof peoples.39 man,is inconsistent Whetherthe existence of peoplesis explained throughnaturalinfluences or whether are the product of political considered (Herder) they as in the best Frenchtradition,under no circumstances organization shouldtheybe regarded as of divineorigin. Foronly as long as peoples are recognized to be the productof Man, can man remainthe creation of God. Any claimto divine mission-be it the German"Wesen an dem die Welt genesensoll," or the British"whiteman'sburden,"or "la missionde la Franceeternelle"or Polish Messianism-automatiof one people superhuman, and the members callymakesthe members of all otherssub-human. Chauvinism has been latent in nationalism ever since its conscious at the of the end beginnings eighteenthcentury. For a long time, it was to influencepracticalpolitics and led allowed however, hardly a kind of innocentdreamexistencein the mindsof romanticintellectuals, preciselybecauseits trend towardsexpansionof the nation was in itself a hopelessaffair. Up to the era of imperialism, chauvinist schemeswould be judged and condemnedfor their lack of realism. When Eugen Richterdenouncedworld politics as megalomania, he this absence of of common of moderabalance, sense, spokeup against tion whichhad so far been characteristic of chauvinist devicesonly. Chauvinism, however,markedthe nationalismof all imperialists from the beginning. This has muchto do with the fact that the suclasseswhichin one way or anotherwere alienatedfrom the perfluous normal destiniesof their countrymen, would discovertheir national wherethe simplefact of being feelingsfar away from the motherland the citizenof a European that it had countryassumedan importance held nowhereelse. It was not only Cecil Rhodeswho detectedwhat

39 Very typical are, in this respect, the recent remarksof Adolf Hitler on the subject: "God the Almighty has made our nation. By defending its very existence we are defending His work." Speech of January 30, 1945. Quoted from Nei' York Times, January 31, 1945.

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a "rare and lovely virtue" it was to be born an Englishman40 and it was not only Carl Peters who left his country and went to Africa for the outspoken purpose of becoming a member of a "master-race."41 Chauvinism was the result of experiencesthat had severed the national consciousness from the national soil, that had alienated nationalism from the country where the nation happened to live, that had shifted pride and loyalty of nationals from the visible achievements embodied in the whole of the national world and represented by its material as well as its spiritual aspects, to the qualities of the "soul" which every member through the accident of birth shared with every other member of the same people. This made possible the degrading identification of love for one's own self and love for one's nation. In the words of one of the last representativesof this chauvinist brand of imperialism, "Soul means race as seen from within, whereas race is the exterior of the soul."42 In other words, not Germany, or France, or England was the center of their pride and loyalty, but rather they themselves. Cecil Rhodes, convinced that he came from "the first race in the world," saw himself as the incarnation of Saxondom and expected to be remembered at least four thousand years,43 whereas the much less lucky Carl Peters, after being dismissed from the German colonial services for excessivecruelty, propagatedamong his countrymenthe development of Germandom to a "national race" whose incarnation he felt himself to be.44 This inherent arrogance of all chauvinists who would think of themselves-not as Germans, or Englishmen, or Frenchmen-but as the German, the Englishman, the Frenchman, made them not only prone to criticize their countries and countrymen according to the single yardstick of what this country and these countrymen owe to them, but formed the psychological basis for that stress of the "personal element" in colonial administration which characterized imperialists from the beginning and has later been transformedinto (or hidden by)
40 "If Rhodesdid not realizethe advantage of being Englishin blood and bone before he arrivedin Kimberly, he learntto appreciate it there ... it seemeda rare and lovely virtue." S. Gertrude Millin,op. cit., p. 15. 41 "Ichhattees sattunterdie Pariasgerechnet zu werden, undwollteeinemHerrenvolk angehoeren." im deutschen Schrifltum. Quotedafter: Paul Ritter,Kolonien (1936). 42 Alfred Rosenberg, Der My3hos des zuanzigsten Jahrhtiuderts, p. 22. 43 Millin,op. cii., p. 346. 44 Carl Peters,"Deutschtum als Rasse."In: Deutsche ed. Lohmeyer. Monatsschrift, Bd. VII, April, 1905.

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the regime of experts.45 Each of these administrators, once shipped abroad for domination purposes, condemned to the "artificial life (of a superior caste) removed from all the healthy restraint of ordinary European society," 46 could feel himself so much the incarnation of all his country's possible virtues as in an emergency this country's might would be compelled to back anything he personally stood forhis best or his worst, his beneficence as well as his malfeasance. Chauvinism in countries with overseas possessions would be essentially a severance of national sentiments from the national territory, but not from the state (in whose services more often than not the imperialists could be found). Chauvinism in those countries that aspired to continental empires and had no or only small overseas holdings was characterizedby severance of national loyalty from the state. This was the case in the so-called pan-movements-in pan-Germanism as well as pan-Slavism-both of which originated in nationality-states where the State was not even supposed to represent the sovereignty of the people but appeared as a supra-nationalbureaucraticmachinery whose authority was vested in the ruling houses. The oppressed peoples of Austria-Hungary became chauvinistic before they were given a chance to achieve nationhood, because the cautiously administered minimum of national freedom given to the nationalities amounted to nothing more and nothing better than the oppression of other nationalities. Over the exploitation of Czechs by Germans, of Slovaks by Hungarians, of Ruthenians by Poles rose the structure of the supranational state-as the supra-social state of the homogeneous nations was supposed to rise over the fissures of class-struggle. Since the dynasty put dynastic interests above all others, none of the numerous nationalities, not even the dominant ones, like the Ger45 Up to the times of Nazi-imperialism, history has known only one clear-cut case of domination in which the "personal element" was allowed complete 'freedom from control. This was the well-known case of the King of Belgium's business enterprise in the Belgian Congo which reduced the native population from between 20 and 40 millions in 1890 to 8,500,000 in 1911. (Cf. Selwyn James, op. cit., p. 305.) An early insight into the importance of the personal element in imperialist politics can be found in Lord Cromer's letters with respect to the situation in Egypt. ". . . the working of the whole machine depends, not on any written instrument,or, indeed, on anything which is tangible, but on the personal influence which the English Consul General can exert on the Khedive . .." (Letter to Lord Roseberry in 1886). One year earlier in a letter to Lord Granville (a Liberal) he was still dubious "whether it would be advisable to continue the present system of governmentin Egypt" precisely because "its working depends very greatly on the judgment and ability of a few individuals." Quoted from Zetland, op. cit., pp. 134, 219. 46 Hobson, op. cit.. pp. 150-151.

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in mans and Hungarians,could feel represented by it. Furthermore, this area of Europewhereeveryspot is a place of mixedpopulations, for through the lackof politicalrepresentation couldnot be compensated love of a homogeneously populatedteritory. Most of these peoples had neversucceededin strikingsuch deep roots in their soil as those of WesternEurope. Nationality,therefore, was alreadydivertedfrom to a it loose from the state absolutely certain cut when territory degree and becamea value in itself. The fact of being bom a German,a Czech,or a Slovak took the place of all other loyaltiesnormalin the of nationalstates. Used to living among other nationdevelopment alities and in constantcompetitive strugglewith them, their national consciousness itself would awakewith the stressingof personalvirtues rather than past or present common achievements which no body no could for which and politic living community represent adequately could.give adequatetestimony.47 This chauvinism, wide-spread among the nationalitiesin Austriatook the most formsin those two and aggressive Hungary, dangerous that had fellow-nationals of the borderlines the country-the beyond Germans and the Slavs.48 They becameadherents of expansion-not of theirown countries or Russia, but of the neighboring ones, Germany nationaloppression, the "mastership" they wereas willingto recognize
47 The Czechs are the exception that prove the rule. They were lucky to find and deserve praise to have listened to men who, like Masaryk, consciously stressed common history, common language and common spiritual achievements in order to achieve the transformationof their people into a nation in the genuine sense of the word. 48 It is a well-established fact that the pan-German aspirations of the German minority in Austria-Hungary were much more radical than those of the corresponding groups in Germany proper. The "Alldeulsche Verband" complains frequently about their aggressiveness,and the "exaggerations"of the Austrian movement. (Cf. Otto Bonhard, Ceschichle des alldeutschen Verbandes, (1920), pp. 58 if.) In 1913, the Alldeutsche Verein fuer die Ostmark published a program whose clear-cut aggressive aims at that time were almost unequaled; its main point was the "Aufrichtung eines . . . deutschen Mitteleuropa umfassenden einheitsstaatesauf arischer Grundlage . . . der.den Mittelpunkt des gesamten deutschen Lebens des Erdballs bildet und der mit allen Germanen-Staaten verbuendet ist." (Quoted from Eduard Pichl (alias Herwig), Georg Schoenerer, (1938), 6 Bde. Bd. VI, 375). Russian pan-Slavists recognized very early in 1870 that the destruction of AustriaHungary would be the best possible starting point of a pan-Slav federation or a panSlav Empire. (Cf. K. Staehlin, Geschichte Russlands von den Anfaengen bis zur 1923-1939. 5 Bde. Bd. IV/1, p. 282.) Gegenwrart. 49 "Das deutsche Volk (in Oesterreich) sezt seine Hoffnung nur noch auf das deutsche Reich," said a delegate in Austria's Parliament in 1888 (See Pichl, op. cit., V, pp. 60 if.). It is in the same vein that quite recently the Bulgarian Metropolitan of Sofia called upon "the Russian people (to) remembertheir messianic mission." (From a radio broadcast on October 17, 1944, quoted from Politics, January, 1945).

that would bring them national redemption as a gift.49 Used to

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of the big brother50 as they were and to bow under his superiority to at the expenseof othersand to assume prepared achievenationhood ruleoverweaker nationalities lackingthe good fortuneof a big brother in other words,was chaubeyondthe borderline. Their nationalism, vinisticfrom the very beginningand stimulated by dreamsof oppression.51 Living in territories where frontierswere not time-honored but had changed numeroustimes, their dreams of expansionwere unlimited These Slavs and these althoughclashingwith one another.52 Germanswere the first Europeanswho en masseand not in small groupsbecamechauvinistic. The secretof the successof the pan-movements fromwhichmodern racial imperialism has inheritedmore than from any other form of or chauvinism,53 lies in the solid mass-basis of people. imperialism Within the double monarchy the people were alreadyorganizedin a that as a rule could be realizedonly after the destrucbody corporate tion of the national body. Chauvinism, createdby the dissolution of the old trinity of people-territory-state was the naturalthough form of their nationalfeelings. Here weremassesat hand perverted who had not the slightest idea of the meaning of patria, not the of a commonlimited community vaguestnotion of the responsibility and no experience of politicalfreedom. They indeed were readyfor adventureand ripe for imperialist expansion. The chauviniststate of mind of the Germanminorities,scatteredas they were all over
50 Enthusiasm and admiration for Bismarck were unbounded among pan-German Austrians; and Slav peoples-they already at the time of the Crimean war, had been called the only reliable allies of the Czar (See: Staehlin, op. cit., V, p. 35)--were only too willing to help that 'die Oberhoheit des grossrussischenStammes ueber die ganze slawische Welt zur unanfechtbaren Tatsache werde," (as Dostoyevsky once put it, (Ibid.), p. 281.) 51 This is especially true for the German brand. "Nicht gleichberechtigt," said Schoenerer, "wollen wir werden mit jedem Juden, Bosniaker und Zigeuner. Wir wollen uns das Recht der Erstgeburtnicht rauben lassen." Pichl, op. cit., VI, pp. 355-56. 52 It was upon this situation that during the last war French politicians based their hopes of defeating German domination in Europe. "Ce qu'il faut opposer a la Confederation germanique, c'est la Confederation slave, autrement dit le Panslavisme organise." And: "II nous faut une revanche absolue de la race slave contre le germanisme."See: L. Leger, Le Panslavisme et l'intaretfranfais. (1917) It is obvious that we today witness an attempted revival of this policy with, however, much better chances of success. Whether this actually is in support of French interests or whether France does not rather put herself between the devil and the deep sea-remains to be seen. 53 Adolf Hitler has frankly recognized his indebtedness to the Austrian PanGermans. There is little reason to doubt his words when he says: "Ich erhielt (in Wien) die Grundlage fuer meine Weltanschauungim Grossen und eine politische Betrachtungsweise im Kleinen, die ich spaeter nur noch im Einzelnen zu ergaenzen brauchte, die mich aber nie mehr verliess." Mein Kampf, p. 137.

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Europe, was one of the main reasons that German imperialism chose the continental way of expansion rather than the way of colonial acquisitions.54 The "Germans abroad" were not only easy steppingstones for further expansion, they generated not only a comfortable smoke-screenof the right to national self-determination,but they also provided the very models for organization at home. Chauvinism may be the condition of continental or the result of over-seas imperialism. It is, at any rate, the only ism that prepares the nation or the people for expansion, induces it into that great adventure which essentially is beyond the possibilities of a national body politic and lures it, under the pretext of empire-building,into the ruin of imperialism. For the only limit in space of permanent expansion is destruction and its only limit in time is death.

54 For the early conception of colonial possessionson the continent see Ernst Hasse. Deutsche Poliik. Especially Heft 3: Deutsche Grenzpolitik, pp. 167 ff. and Heft 4: Die Zukunft des deutschen Volkstums, pp. 132 ff. (1907). The same subject was even more systematically dealt with by Reismann-Grosse. "Ueberseepolitik oder Festlandspolitik? 1905." In: Alldeutsche Fluvschriften. No. 22.