UCSB Hist 133A, Fall 2006 (133a homepage)
19th Century Germany, Nov. 20, 2006

Prof. Marcuse (homepage)
marcuse@history.ucsb.edu

Announcements

• Q8 due; Web Option handout--questions?
• Sign-up sheet for submission date and oral presentations
• Dec. 6 (Wed.) : student presentations

Guiding Question

• Did (how did) Germany's unique "bourgeois culture" affect the history of the Kaiserreich?

Theory

• "Bourgeois revolution:" Marxist term for hypothetical development
• Actual historical developments: program of political liberalism vs. economic liberalism
• Who are the agents: "from below" vs. "from above;" how much democracy

Conditions for industrial capitalism:

1. removal of impediments to trade and competition
2. "free" markets for real estate and goods
3. ?equality of all citizens before the law
4. ?separation of church and state
5. laws governing production and commerce
6. emphasis on ability, not birth
7. feedback loop between consumers and producers

Conditions for democracy:

1. representatives of electorate
2. free elections
3. freedom of speech, of assembly, of association, of the press
4. equal access to public education
5. certain (cultural) attitude of all citizens to accept compromise and abide by rules

Heinrich Mann: Man of Straw discussion

• I'd like to discuss some of the relationships in this novel to see whether they support the postion of "Feudalization of the bourgeoisie," as opposed to "Embourgeoisiement of the aristocracy."
• We started out with a character map radiating out from Diederich, starting with his veteran father who used the easy post-1871 money to buy a rags-to-paper machine, and his buddy Göppel.
• Who represented the aristocracy?
• for background on the novel itself see the handout, which includes links to info on Mann.