The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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!

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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.

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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]

Occasioned by the handover of the José del Monte company to the “Coming Day”

[Eugen Benkendörfer greets those present and after an introduction, gives the floor to Rudolf Steiner.

Rudolf Steiner: Dear attendees! Now that Mr. Benkendörfer has informed you of the transfer of the Jose del Monte company to the 'Kommende Tag', I would like to warmly welcome you all as the chairman of the supervisory board of this 'Kommende Tag'. As a result of what has been accomplished, as Mr. Benkendörfer has informed you, and as has already been discussed to your satisfaction by your representatives, as I have heard to my great joy, you will begin to unite your work with that of the “Coming Day”.

I may perhaps assume that a large number of you have also participated in our endeavors in a social sense, in those endeavors that we began more than a year ago, after the end of the war had made it possible, based on anthroposophical spiritual science. We have also had the joy of seeing one of your representatives often present at our meetings and also hearing him speak at these meetings. Perhaps I may now just point out in a few words that these endeavors in the social sphere, which have grown out of anthroposophical spiritual science, were not only outwardly and thoroughly honestly meant, but that they were also carried by what I would like to call an inwardly honest conscientiousness. For you see, today, in these difficult times of general hardship, it is all too easy to say: I strive for this or that in social terms, I want this or that. It can be recognized that in most cases these intentions may be well-intentioned, that is, they come from those who, from their own lives, know this hardship, who are experiencing this hardship themselves, but one does not get anywhere with mere longing that “things should be better,” with mere words that “this or that must be done.” You can only get ahead if you also have the inner honest conscientiousness and the inner honest sense of responsibility to gain insight into how you can then remedy the social need, how you can advance socially in the service of general humanity. We started from this inner honest responsibility and from this inner honest conscientiousness when we first tried to speak to the entire labor force.

My esteemed audience, I would like to know in which period of time one could have hoped to find more approval for honest, conscientious and responsible social intentions than in the period following the war , which brought hardship and misery into the world, in the time when people in the widest circles could see what the lack of inner conscience and the lack of inner sense of responsibility can bring about in the world. Because basically, even if it is still hidden today in many ways, this war, which was followed by such hardship and misery, nevertheless emerged from the lack of inner sense of responsibility, from the lack of inner conscientiousness among those who should have had both. Because one had to realize, especially in the circles of the working population, that among the leaders who led into the war catastrophe, this inner sense of responsibility, this inner conscience was not present, is not present - also not among many, indeed among most of their successors who have survived the revolution in leading positions to this day – because one should have noticed this, we were allowed to believe that with honest words, but spoken out of insight, the hearts of the broadest circles of the working class could be won. And for me, I say this quite openly, for me, my esteemed audience, this proof has by no means failed to this day. I am of the opinion that these hearts can be won if only the right approach is found. Simply because it has to be done, because without this honest inner conscientiousness and without this honest insight into the situation, no progress can be made, no matter how beautiful the slogans the agitators use. It is a matter of objectivity, of conscientiousness, if progress is to be made, and it is a matter of an honest inner sense of responsibility.

Now, my esteemed audience, we then tried, without throwing dust in people's eyes, to address the works council issue in the way we had to think of it. We have also met with some approval. What has got in our way – and I don't want to attribute this to bad faith, but it must always be said – is the misunderstanding, even lack of understanding, that our efforts in the sense of the threefold social organism are met with by the socialist leadership. We can understand quite well what is actually at issue, and the masses will also understand it one day. But the leaders have managed to gradually empty our halls, or at least make them poorly attended. And we had to say to ourselves: we are not getting anywhere with mere words. We are not getting anywhere in the work that needs to be done in the service of the general public. And so we had to decide, because we were, so to speak, abandoned by the socialist leaders, to found an organization like Der Kommende Tag. This “day to come” should now gradually bring about the atmosphere of social life through its institutions, through the associative union of enterprises, which was actually meant back then when we started our work in April 1919. And we are convinced that we will perhaps be better able to convince the masses if they see what we are doing, despite the fact that they were discouraged from fully understanding us in terms of what we initially wanted to achieve with this crowd, entirely on our own, through the word, based on the will of this crowd. From such endeavors, which were truly motivated by honest inner responsibility and honest inner conscientiousness, as well as by the striving for insight into the true nature of the social situation and how the social future must be shaped, the “Day to Come” emerged. And we, who have been working for months towards this “Day to Come”, have been able to experience the great joy, as Mr. Benkendörfer has explained to you in recent weeks, and especially since last Saturday, that the associative life that the “Day to Come” wants to establish has now been joined by this company to which you dedicate your valuable work. And as you have already been informed, this “Coming Day” is not a joint-stock company like any other; this “Coming Day” is an assembly of personalities who now want to put into practice what they have promised to do socially when they have spoken to the masses in urgent words.

Of course, you cannot yet know with any inner certainty what will happen when you yourself, so to speak, launch your work into the endeavors of the “Day to Come”. But I can assure you, my esteemed audience, that this “day to come” will work with all its might to bring about a social future that must gradually provide a dignified existence for all people. Since we have not found the ear of the German working class in general, which we sought, we can now only appeal to a few through action. We will make every effort to ensure that you too can see that where we take action, we want to fulfill what was in our words.

We at “Kommender Tag” have had Mr. del Monte in our midst since the company was founded. We know that his attitude is fully in line with what we at “Kommender Tag” want and what I have just tried to explain to you in a few words. The other former partners of the del Monte company, Mr. Poch and Mr. Benkendörfer, have been part of our movement for many years. They have achieved much out of the spirit of this movement. And Mr. Benkendörfer is one of those personalities who perhaps best understand how, with active will, an economic enterprise such as the “Kommende Tag” must first transfer its threads to the free spiritual life. For social improvement is possible only if the free spiritual life, with the forces it must bring to the surface, can support economic life in an appropriate way. Social improvement is possible not through inflammatory slogans, but only if those forces of intellectual life that must be cultivated freely and independently can also devote themselves to economic life in an appropriate way, and are understood and accepted by economic life in the right way. That is the conviction of the “Coming Day”. Mr. Benkendörfer is imbued with this conviction. And as painful as it might be for the management and the employees of the Jos del Monte company to see Mr. Benkendörfer removed, at least in part, it must also be considered that Mr. Benkendörfer is now called upon to work at the most important post of the “Coming Day” in the sense of that which I have tried to explain to you. And since the Jose del Monte company now belongs to the “Coming Day,” Mr. Benkendörfer's labor, which is so beneficial to him, will also flow to this company in the future. And since we have come to appreciate and love the instructor of this company, Mr. Jos& del Monte himself, both as a person and as a worker, and since we have come to appreciate the other partner, Mr. Emil Poch, we are completely reassured that everything here will continue to develop in the same way, technically and otherwise, as it has done so far. And so we have no need to reproach ourselves for the fact that on the very day that we decided, for objective reasons, to accommodate the highly esteemed proposal of Mr. del Monte and the other shareholders to incorporate the Jose del Monte company into the “Kommenden Tag,” we also had to take away an important part of Mr. Benkendörfer's labor from this company at the same time.

But let me also say the following, because it is also a social truth and belongs to the social question - and until this is recognized, the social question and the social damage in the present cannot be properly addressed. On the day we merged with the Jose del Monte company, we had to take on most of Mr. Benkendörfer's highly valued employees. You may ask why we didn't just take on new employees and leave Mr. Benkendörfer with us. And to that I answer with that part of the social question which the discerning person today considers so important that he must keep repeating it: there are very few truly economically and intellectually capable personalities today; and when you need someone, you have to work hard to find someone you can use. The “Kommende Tag” is fortunate to have made such a find. It is certainly one of the things that can be called the social question that there are so few truly insightful and capable people in the present day. Anyone who has been forced to look for such people has suffered enough pain because there are so few such people in the present day. I can assure you: If there were a large number of people who did not just talk and “let themselves be employed”, if there were many people who did not just “let themselves be elected” here and there, but if there were many people who were fully committed to life, who also understood something of what they wanted to be part of in the right sense, then we would make faster progress in solving the social question, which is so urgently needed. Today, incompetence among leading people is one of the greatest social evils. That is part of the social question. And since this is still far too little known in the widest circles, it must be emphasized.

I have explained to you, my esteemed attendees, the attitude with which we want to unite with this company. I must leave it to you to recognize that what I have spoken to you is honest and sincere and borne of a sense of responsibility. We will endeavor to ensure that you recognize what you have not yet recognized. You will always have the opportunity to discuss anything that is close to your heart with the current and former directors and shareholders of the Jose del Monte company, who are still with us, with the new general director of “Der Kommende Tag”, Mr. Benkendörfer, and with the other members of “Der Kommende Tag” when the need arises. You will find that the “Coming Day” will endeavor to reintroduce humanity into the business world, which has gradually eliminated humanity from itself over time, which must once have passed, , provided that the “Kommende Tag” pursues it, to reintroduce humanity into business life, which has gradually eliminated humanity from itself over time, insofar as the “Kommende Tag” pursues it - that humanity that has an honest feeling, an honest desire for human work with every human being.

It is in this spirit that we take on the obligation that is imposed on us by our association with this company, and I can only hope that time will bring it about that you will be able to do more and more with us, whatever we can do, and that you will be convinced that what the Supervisory Board, the Board of Directors of the “Coming Day” present here today, may you have the opportunity - and we will endeavor to bring it about through our attitude - may you have the opportunity to find it true through our actions, what I was allowed to speak to you today.

[The introduction to the discussion by Eugen Benkendörfer, two unrecorded votes by laborers, and concluding words by Eugen Benkendörfer.]

Rudolf Steiner: My dear friends! We have asked you to come here today because we, as the supervisory board of the “Kommende Tag”, have to introduce Mr. Benkendörfer as the general director of the “Kommende Tag” and introduce him to you.

The circumstances as they have developed, partly the circumstances in the “Coming Day” itself, but also, in particular, the circumstances between the “Coming Day” and the anthroposophical and the other outside world, have made it necessary to create the position of general director of the “Coming Day”, and the supervisory board had to look around for a suitable person. And I have often said that this task of finding suitable personalities for these or those posts today, which is connected with a very, very extensive sense of responsibility and a very extensive necessity for insight into the most diverse circumstances, that it is extremely difficult to find personalities for such posts. We consider ourselves fortunate to have been able to win Mr. Benkendörfer for this position, and we share this joy and satisfaction with you, believing that this satisfaction will also arise for you to the highest degree over time through Mr. Benkendörfer's work with all of you.

On this occasion, however, it is my duty, having discussed the most fundamental tasks of both the “Coming Day” and the movements from which the “Coming Day” emerged with Mr. Benkendörfer on the occasion of his integration into the “Coming Day”, örfer on the occasion of his integration into the “Coming Day”, it is incumbent upon me to tell you something about the content of these conversations and other things that need to be said today in connection with them.

A real, fruitful development of the “Day to Come”, as we had conceived it, is only possible if the “Day to Come” can truly be seen as growing out of, and continually growing out of, both the entire anthroposophical movement and the threefold social order movement. Now I ask you to consider one thing that has arisen almost by itself here in Stuttgart, although only partially: something of a model, but only a model, since in the present circumstances many exemplary aspects, perhaps even the most important ones, cannot be present. But even if it is not the desirable threefold social order, there is still the model of a threefold social order. We have the movement, which we have concentrated in the Waldorf school, and it in turn stands in connection with the entire anthroposophical movement. This is, so to speak, the spiritual part of a threefold organism. Then there is the Federation for the Tripartite Structure of the Social Organism, which today is essentially only there for the propaganda of the one after which it is named, which has only preparatory work to do for the future, but which we must nevertheless, in a certain sense, take as a model for what must be called the state-legal part of the tripartite social organism.

Now it has often been emphasized that it is precisely through the threefoldness of the social organism that true, concrete unity is achieved, not the abstract unity that the abstract state has to represent. And so, of course, a close bond had to develop first between all that is our spiritual limb and the political-state-legal limb in the weekly journal “Threefold Social Organism”, which must, as it were, stretch its arm out to both sides. But everything that has been developed here in the Waldorf School, in the Anthroposophical Society, in the Federation for Threefolding, in the connection [with] the Threefolding newspaper, must in turn move the current to the actual economic part of our local Stuttgart organism, to the “Kommenden Tag”. One cannot really exist without the other.

When our friend Kühne was introduced, I spoke about some of the immediate tasks of the threefolding movement today. We must not forget that we are living in a very special time, in a time in which the speed of events has increased significantly compared to previous years. And the most harmful thing for us under all circumstances is to get up in the morning and bring with us from yesterday's habits the thoughts of yesterday and then still want to have an effect from these thoughts of yesterday on the morning of the next day. We see that precisely the terrible misery of the times is increasing everywhere outside of our movement; we see that the attacks against the anthroposophical movement are made out of yesterday's thoughts. Those people, who are mostly the opponents, cannot think anything other than what has been done to date, in thoughts that they construct from this.

But these thoughts are outdated. And we must come to terms with the fact that we must stand on the ground of new thoughts, especially in our movement, and that our thoughts themselves must be renewed in a relatively short time. I will say a few more words about what I mean by the latter.

We have just come from a staff meeting at the company that was previously the company of Jos€ del Montes, whose partners were: Mr. del Monte himself, our supervisory board member, Mr. Emil Poch, a member of the Anthroposophical Society, and Mr. Benkendörfer, who will now be the managing director of the “Coming Day”. Two workers spoke after Mr. Benkendörfer and I spoke at the staff meeting today. But everything that these two workers said is, for those who can evaluate such things, again something extraordinarily weighty for the assessment of the present world situation. One does not really get anywhere today if one cannot evaluate such things with all sharpness. What is discussed in the 'Key Points of the Social Question' is that the bridge between the leading classes of today's humanity and [the working classes, the actual proletariat] has actually been broken, and indeed broken by the fault of the leading classes, that one will be able to note on such an occasion with an extraordinarily heavy heart. You speak to the people, the people speak to you, and basically, a very different language is spoken most of the time. And the task, which is already hinted at in the “key points”, the task of building this bridge, must be solved. Because there is no answer to the social question without building this bridge, without the possibility of an understanding between the former ruling classes and the proletariat. And building this bridge is one of the most difficult tasks. It is a task that we should not lose sight of for a single hour, or even a single minute. Of course, these people speak in the most ancient phrases of social phrases, but these phrases are natural to them, have become elementary to them, they are their whole being. They have become hollowed out, mere human shells, hollowed out and stuffed with Marxist and similar phrases, now also with Bolshevist ones. These people carry this with them, they are armored by what basically resembles a human being, and they bring it forward.

In the course of modern development, we have come to a point where nothing has been done, and indeed, when individuals have made an effort – my efforts, for example, while teaching at the Workers' Education School in Berlin – when individuals have made an effort, they have been completely abandoned, especially by the leading circles. They were concerned with theater, with newspaper articles, with everything that was only in their class, which spoke a completely different language than what was spoken in the proletariat every evening in meetings; which not only speaks a different language but also leads a different life. I believe that intellectually, it still exists today, even more so than before, and that it was once starkly and physically evident to me in Berlin when, in the early years, when these things still had little significance, there was talk of the possibility of a small revolution. In West Berlin, some families felt compelled to keep their shutters down and their houses locked for a whole day. The locked house is what the leading classes basically do in the social movement. It is still the same today. Today, in this small circle, we must have no illusions about this. Because we, we, as this particular movement, must regard building this bridge as our special task.

And we must entertain absolutely no illusions about our own path. Above all, we must not entertain the illusion – and I consider this to be the most serious of all – that we can take our time. We don't have much time! Because anyone who looks at things not in the abstract but in the concrete knows that we are in a great hurry for our movement. And in turn, a works meeting like this is extremely characteristic of that. What do you think: the more factories we incorporate for the “Coming Day”, the greater the number of workers we get in the wake of the “Coming Day”, and they ask from their point of view - whether the question is about an old shopkeeper or something else - they ask from their point of view: What does the “day to come” want? - If we just sit on our curule chairs here and take our time with the whole three-folding movement, then the proletariat grows into our own movement in such a way that we have no possibility of getting along with it, no possibility of coming to any kind of understanding. Rather, we will simply come to the point, as I will describe it to you bluntly, that people will say: No matter how much the “Kommende Tag” emphasizes that its supervisory board members do not receive any royalties or profits, it will not be better for the workers either. - If we take our time, if we do not understand today that we do not have time, but that we have to act as quickly as possible, our movement will be in vain. We must not lose sight of this. Through everything we do, especially in this way, we are placing a new obligation on ourselves in the most serious way to act quickly. Because the bridge will be built in no other way than by winning over as quickly as possible those people we need from all classes of the population for our ideas.

My dear friends! Learn to be uncompromising in every way. We have not had good experiences in the past with the compromises that were supposed to be spun; we would only lose time in the future through all the compromises. It is necessary that we represent what we have to say with the same rigor in the world as I did yesterday in relation to Count Keyserling in the public lecture. If we listened to those voices telling us that people like Count Hermann Keyserling, who judges anthroposophy favorably, could be won over, then that would mean that we would give up on ourselves today; today the matter has already reached the point that we would give up on ourselves. On the other hand, what we are experiencing in Stuttgart shows that our ideas have the potential to attract many people. We just have to really commit our whole selves to it, because we must not let those people who come together simply drift apart again, but we have to keep them together. And we cannot use other people in our society, all those who act so sympathetically and always say: There is such and such a person, we want to win him over. — That is the kind of politics that is often practiced in our country, which has already done us harm and should not really be continued. Now we are at an important point in time, and we must not compromise, but stand by the position that I have often expressed in our threefolding newspaper: simply to put our ideas into as many heads as possible, quite independently of who the people are; if they want to come, we take them in. We cannot compromise on any point. We simply reject everything that people want to bring in. When the Federation for Threefolding began here – I have often explained the context – we started by going among the proletariat, and at first we actually had quite noticeable success. We then tried to use these efforts to get the works council issue off the ground, and we had to let the works council issue peter out, so to speak.

Now I do not particularly want to criticize the course of these efforts, that would take us too far today. These things will perhaps have to be examined from various angles in the near future, but I just want to mention that it is eminently damaging for us for internal reasons if we take up a movement or an effort and then let it fizzle out. Circumstances may force us to do so at some point, but then we must be sure that the circumstances of the time have compelled us. But we ourselves must do everything to ensure that a movement that has been sparked by us does not fizzle out.

But as I said, I don't blame anyone, I don't criticize anything, I'm just pointing out that we started the cultural council movement and let it fizzle out. I would like to point out that we were forced to initiate a matter - regardless of how it turns out - to gather sympathy rallies - it has fizzled out. It has been emphasized with rather strong words that the Threefolding Newspaper should be transformed into a daily newspaper as quickly as possible - the movement as such has so far fizzled out.

As long as we do not have the feeling that when we do something, it is imperative that what we do has consequences, that it must be followed up, as long as we do not have the feeling that we cannot leave anything undone, that we have to move everything forward as quickly as possible, our whole movement will still come to nothing. We must keep this in mind with all clarity. Today, we are faced with the necessity of introducing a new initiative into the Federation for the Threefold Social Order. The Federation for the Threefold Social Order must achieve on its own initiative what the aforementioned bridge achieves. To do this, it must truly represent modern diplomacy, as I mentioned when introducing Mr. Kühne. Today it is rather fruitless to talk about all kinds of utopian ideas about how things should be in the future in this or that area, how associations should be organized and the like. Of course, these things can also be discussed, but they are not the most important thing. The most important thing today is to address the real issues of the day and to deal with these real issues of the day.

We are not concerned with setting up many such things as the “Kommende Tag” is. If we have to set up such a thing, we will know how to set it up based on the circumstances. But there is no time today to fuss about how a business should look, how the proletariat should be treated, and the like. Today we are dealing with the most diverse aspirations. They are real. We are dealing with the aspirations, for example, of those workers who are completely on the side that in Germany are called the majority socialists; we are dealing with all sorts of other shades. From these shades arise the present-day conditions of public life. On the other hand, there are the aspirations of public life and those currents that are characterized, for example, by the ideal of Stinnes. He has spoken out, and many have heard what he does, and they can follow Stinnes's activities in many fields. From his point of view, there is nothing complicated about this, but rather something that has been very clearly thought out and clearly defined by him. Stinnes wants to create conditions in which the entire working class of Germany will one day be forced to bow down at his gates and beg for work. He wants to trust the conditions. He wants to create such circumstances that the proletariat will be forced – be it through grandiose lockouts and the like that precede them – to push through the conditions that will force the proletariat to beg for work at any price. That is the ideal Stinnes has proclaimed, and that he consciously implements from day to day. Others are not as ingenious as Stinnes, but they accomplish similar things and they know what they want.

We have to move within the context of what is happening. We have to look at the circumstances. I will soon be providing a short article for the third issue of the threefolding newspaper, if not for the very next one, in which I will show how characteristic it is for international social conditions, what nature has taken on the First International, the Second International and the Third International. Studying these first, second and third internationals of the labor movement is highly significant for assessing the unrest in the proletariat today. These are the realities of the present. It is interesting, and I will demonstrate, that the First, Second and Third Internationals relate to one another as follows: the First International, in which the [followers of Bakunin] broke away from Marx, was still somewhat influenced by the spiritual essence; the Second was merely political and parliamentary work; and the Third is merely economic work, with the expulsion of all parliamentary and all spiritual aspects. So that one can almost study the progression from the spiritual to the parliamentary, to the mere economic thinking, by studying the First, the Second and the Third International.

But my dear friends, what I am describing is alive in what is happening today, and one cannot speak into the world as if into a wall, but one must speak in such a way that one knows what is actually alive there. You have to tell people what “strikes” them. You cannot talk about what you talked about ten or two years ago. For example, when talking about unreality, one must talk about something like the English miners' strike, and one must point out how the behavior there shows how, at the most prominent point, there was such an unreal way of thinking that they wanted to settle a huge strike by simply suppressing it for the time being and laying the seeds for prolonged, periodically recurring new strikes. This can already be seen today from the course of events since then.

Today, it is not about dreaming up utopias about what a fully developed, tripartite social organism should be like. The Key Points of the Social Question do not talk about that either, and where it does, it is only by way of example. Today, we must familiarize ourselves with the most concrete realities, and we must learn to speak to people in a way that resonates with them. But, my dear friends, we can only do this if we are not isolated. If we are limited to the framework in which I myself can still speak today – I can actually only speak in a few places – then when Mr. Kühne and Dr. Wachsmuth speak, it is not enough, not nearly enough! What is important is to develop our new initiative above all in such a way that we can put forward a whole corps of spokesmen to the world, because if we do not have a corps of spokesmen, the few will be swallowed up, that is, their activity is of no use. Today, the situation is such that the few speakers are devoured if there is no corps of speakers. We must use our speeches to ensure that in the event of a crisis, the minds of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, for example, are already filled with thoughts that simply suggest that one could get over something like , let us say, if we now have del Monte's business, have Unger's business, that one day it would be the case that the material improvements that are often the only thing the workers understand today could not be given to the people. We have to get to the point where the people who are with us say: what they have told us makes so much sense to us that we would rather go with them than with the proletarian leaders. If we cannot manage to communicate with each other to such an extent, to speak the [workers'] language to such an extent that we can communicate [with them], then our work is in vain for the time being. We have to be able to get there – there is no other way than to become a body of minds. Because it is of no use if we represent our affairs individually, sporadically. We have to work on a large scale. It is absolutely essential that a large following, a large number of followers, be won in a relatively short time. And we must also keep them. We must not let them drift apart again. For example, we must not forget to draw a lesson from the fact that many months ago our threefolding newspaper had exactly the same 3000 readers that it still has today. It is the task of the Threefolding Federation to ensure that such a fact does not exist at all. We must take this task seriously. To do so, however, we must be particularly careful to avoid getting caught up in things from yesterday. We must plunge into the whole of contemporary life and work directly from the present. We cannot afford the luxury of theorizing that seeks to be universally valid. We must be clear about the fact that what we say today with full value may no longer be true tomorrow if we do not work.

What must we do today? At a meeting like the one we just attended, of course we have to say something; we cannot speak in empty phrases if we want to see the truth. But it will not be possible to make it come true if we do not work in such a way that we present ourselves as a cohesive body. It is up to us not just to say something, because just because we speak a truth does not make it a truth. A truth, to be of the kind that is spoken in social life, only becomes a truth when one can subsequently do what is said. Truth demands action now. It is not a truth of the kind that underlies the sphere of the will, such as the truths of natural science. It can be a truth today and a lie in eight weeks if one is not able to make it a truth. If one does not consider the inner life of social events, something that must happen through the threefold social organism cannot happen.

Through the publishing house, spiritual life in turn extends directly into the economic organism of the “coming day”. And so everything is interwoven with us.

So it is actually necessary that what works here in Stuttgart and then goes out is basically seen as one big unit, and that we do not fragment in any way, but rather embrace everything in our interest.

Above all, I would like to draw attention to one thing: what was inaugurated here in Stuttgart with the best of intentions could not, from the outset, be driven in such a way that it could be understood in the same way out in the world. Instead of always guiding those proletarians out in the world to whom we had the opportunity to speak – which would have been absolutely necessary for us – the local groups [of the federation] often considered it their task to center such things, which led to our local groups being absorbed, more or less temporarily, into the proletarian bodies in a disorganized manner – it was later withdrawn. We have to get rid of that habit. We can only successfully shape a completely new movement if we are unable to compromise on anything. When we spoke to proletarians, it was only meant in the sense that we wanted to win proletarians over by speaking to them. I have indicated this by the fact that basically I have not made a single compromise among proletarians, not even at the time when they were joining us. And the mistakes that have been made have also arisen from the compromisery that has been practiced among us.

I have actually spoken to you most of what I always think needs to be done for threefolding in general. I have pointed out points that need to be taken up again in some form. The whole threefolding movement must be taken in hand so intensively that we can turn the newspaper into a daily newspaper in the shortest possible time. The threefold social order movement must be promoted so intensively that a number of agitators – I have often said fifty – are trained, and equipped with the knowledge needed today to avoid spreading party slogans or political phrases among the people, but to speak about reality. Then we can withstand the opposition if all this can be developed. Something that is saturated with reality will have an effect, even if it is misunderstood at first. For us, it is only important to know that something is effective. Success, immediate success, is not what matters. But we must do what is necessary.

And then it is necessary, above all, that we familiarize ourselves with the smallest concrete – because the smallest thing is sometimes the seed of the greatest – political or economic movement in every class today. We must familiarize ourselves with the goals that are working today. And the aims are effective today in an enormous number [of people]. You have to pay attention to our discussions everywhere, so that gradually a judgment is spread, radiated, from our movement, which leads to every communist or whoever says: Threefolding thinks about the matter in this way, and the people of Threefolding say this and that about it. But this must be effectively represented to the world so that it is heard. These are the basic conditions of our society, and we must actually be able to point to something that is in line with them, that makes visible what we want, for example, with something like the “coming day”.

We need scientific institutes as quickly as possible, and we have to make it clear how these scientific or artistic institutes are connected to the whole social movement. Without scientific and artistic institutes affiliated with our “Coming Day”, whose content we can make understandable to the broadest circles of humanity, we will not get anywhere. We have to put something into the minds of the proletarians, so that what is inside them prevents them from talking to us only as they do today. Of course, one can argue with them. Why did they set up the programs of the proletariat differently at the time of the First International? Because there were still common ideas that all classes of people had. These ideas have long since become empty phrases, just as the German constitution was an empty phrase. It had universal, equal, and secret suffrage; the reality in Germany was that the only person who had anything to say was Bismarck. That was how far removed from reality the idea was. And that is basically still the case today.

Try to study what the reality was that was cooked up when the revolution broke out in Germany. Try to compare that with the ideas that prevailed at the time, and you will see that it was no different in November 1918. And today it is even worse in terms of the general ideas that are supposed to be at work.

We must be clear about the fact that the old ideas have been exhausted and that we cannot compromise with the supporters of the old ideas before the people come to us. Of course, one must do one's duty when the opportunity arises; even when such a man as Foreign Minister Simons, who himself emphasizes that he only sits in his chair with reluctance, who always talks about wanting to be released as soon as possible, even with such a personality who misunderstands the task of the time, when something like what happened with Simons occurs, one must do one's duty. But you must not be under any illusions. It is more important to be able to say that you have done your duty than to have to say that you have given in to hope. There are many things you have to do where you can't give in to hope, because things turn out quite differently today than what you can do about them. You have to do your duty on such occasions.

For us, it is about opening our eyes, about waking up in the morning to what the day brings, not to what we thought yesterday.

And you won't hold it against me for speaking so freely and frankly, but it is what Mr. Benkendörfer and I have repeatedly discussed over the past few days. And it should only characterize something extraordinary that Mr. Benkendörfer needs it, since he is really – you can be assured of that – taking up his position with all goodwill, with great prudence, with extraordinary business acumen, with full devotion to the anthroposophical and other matters, but that he needs to be supported by everyone. The person who stands here with such responsibility, as Mr. Benkendörfer will stand here with such responsibility, must be supported by the Anthroposophical Society, by the Federation for Threefolding, by the Waldorf School, by everything that is relevant to us; otherwise he can work like an angel and achieve nothing. If we allow certain disharmonies, such as those that have existed up to now, to continue to have an effect, then Mr. Benkendörfer will not be able to work any miracles here either. Then that which is so often evident in our movement, but which must be eradicated, will take full hold of our movement, and it will continue to rot.

What is necessary at the present time is for each and every one of us to reflect on the fact that we support Mr. Benkendörfer in the most energetic way possible. Prudence and a sense of responsibility must prevail here. But combined with this, there must be a relationship of mutual understanding and cooperation. In today's difficult times, everyone must really do their best, especially when a person who has found it so difficult to make up his mind to take on this post under the current circumstances has finally taken on this post. I know how difficult it has been for him. He did it solely out of the realization that our cause is a necessary one. This realization that our cause is a necessary one towered above everything else for him, above the belief that it could succeed out of the circumstances. Because at first this belief was not very strong, that it could succeed out of the circumstances in Stuttgart and elsewhere. But in the end, the necessity was recognized, and that means a great deal. And it was out of this realization of the necessity of our entire cause for the present, out of this realization, that Mr. Benkendörfer overcame all his doubts and will, under the terms, head the general management of the “Kommenden Tages”, which I, above all, as the result of the initiative of Mr. Molt Mr. Benkendörfer to take over the post under the conditions that I immediately pronounced as absolutely necessary, and which I can summarize in the words: The General Director has assumed full and absolute responsibility for what happens in the “Coming Day”. It is the task of the supervisory board to represent to the outside world, first to the Anthroposophical Society and then to the rest of the outside world, what happens in the “Kommende Tag”. But as things stand, it is not possible for the official affairs of the “Day to Come” to be arranged differently, with a general director standing here who bears the full, heavy responsibility with his whole person because he wants to bear it, because he recognizes the necessity of this bearing. In this sense, I myself, as chairman of the supervisory board, will always be confronted with Mr. Benkendörfer. I will never fail to think up on my own initiative what is necessary for any branch of our movement, to seek out the opportunities that may arise to do this or that, but I will never really do anything without first discussing it in detail with Mr. Benkendörfer, insofar as it is to become an official matter of “Kommenden Tages”. In this way, I indicate to you the direction that each individual matter must take. Each individual initiative cannot be paralyzed, but can be developed all the more if we remain aware that the person who, as managing director, is fully responsible for the position can count on the fact that we also take this responsibility into account, that we do not cause him difficulties with partial or other actions, but in the most blatant way, we honestly unload what we find out on our own initiative, so to speak, onto his responsibility.

This must be the direction, because that is the modality under which I myself asked Mr. Benkendörfer to respond to the proposal made by our dear friend, the curator of the Bund für Dreigliederung, vice-president of the supervisory board of “Kommendes Tag”, protector of the Freie Waldorfschule, Mr. Emil Molt. Mr. Molt's initiative led to the proposal. Mr. Benkendörfer initially only agreed to discuss Mr. Molt's suggestion, so the first modality was this: But in the future, it must not be otherwise than that this general manager assumes full responsibility and that he can carry this responsibility through the special probation of everything that lies in the area of all our individual companies. I ask that the latter be given particular consideration, because without that, we will not be able to move forward.

I myself am personally most deeply grateful to Mr. Benkendörfer for promising to take on this responsibility in this spirit. And I hope that it is possible for him to carry this responsibility by ensuring that these special circumstances are properly understood in the broadest circles of our anthroposophical movement, the Threefolding Federation, the independent Waldorf school and all that follows from it, so that he can carry the responsibility.

That is what I wanted to say to you as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at this important hour of the introduction of the new General Director.

I welcome our dear friend Benkendörfer as General Director of “The Day to Come”!

The purpose of the discussion is to reach an understanding about the tasks that are set in “Futurum AG” and that the gentlemen set for themselves. The basis for everything that is done in an external social relationship is the idea of the threefold social organism. This idea is not utopian; it is the most practical idea that can be thrown into life, but it encompasses all of life, and the first prerequisite for what can be achieved through threefolding is that it must take hold in as many people's minds as possible. Before the war, it would have been virtually impossible to come forward with the threefold social order; people thought everything could continue as it had been going before. The whole thing would have been seen as a fantasy. During the war, Wilson's utopian ideas emerged, which could not be realized by someone who was not really involved in economic life. The threefold social order was brought to the people of Central Europe in particular during the war, after Wilson's ideas became known. At that time, people were really only interested in victory or defeat. As far as the West was concerned, the war was definitely an economic war. We must not believe that we can somehow help economic life along by applying economic rules in the old way. The threefold social order had a much more international character during the war than it does now. The war arose from the fact that the big economic questions were decided not by economists but by politicians. The fundamental question is this: how can economic life be freed from the intervention of parliaments and governments? We must achieve the possibility of overcoming national borders economically. Despite the differences in language, the international would immediately arise. During the war, it would have been possible to think about promoting such an idea, directly as an economic experiment. After the war, the matter is much more difficult, because the national borders are much more closed than before due to the exchange rate situation. I then tried to initiate something from Stuttgart after the war ended. In Stuttgart, after the revolution had flared up a few more times and then got bogged down, it is now chronic and latent. It would have worked in Stuttgart if it should have worked only for obvious reasons. You need economically cohesive areas to propagate the threefold order. But of course you also need the population for that. In Württemberg, the propagation of the threefold social order went relatively quickly. At first, the Social Democratic leaders tolerated it, but when we became too strong, they stopped us by all possible means, so that it became impossible for us to implement the economic councils, which were to grow out of a kind of constituent assembly consisting of economists. We were then pushed into founding the Kommenden Tag. The Waldorf School is a spiritual undertaking. It would have been impossible to found a Waldorf School here, but it was possible in Württemberg. We tried to do it with the Kommenden Tag; this idea should also be realized in the Futurum. Now this is a purely provisional matter in relation to the threefold social order, because of course the threefold social order idea cannot be implemented on such a small scale. In Stuttgart, we can work quite differently. In Stuttgart, we started with ten million German marks. With these ten million German marks, we were able to acquire a number of businesses that are actually good businesses. Now the point is that something like the 'Kommende Tag' does not pay out profits like any other joint-stock company, but only profits that correspond to the respective percentage. If there is a surplus, it is used to help long-term enterprises and to create spiritual institutions. In Stuttgart, we are thinking of building several scientific institutes. In economic life, it is important to take into account things that may only become profitable after many years. All truly great economic things have emerged from such small things that have previously consumed money. In Germany, one works under different conditions because even the industrialists realize what it means to stand after the transformation, and one can say that success is there in a very short time. The “Kommende Tag” can, if it is supported and managed properly, become a large commercial enterprise. If we succeed in working in an exemplary manner, then I count on the effect of the example. I believe that our ideas will be able to establish themselves very quickly in economic life as soon as people see that they can be realized in practice.

If you have been following economic life since 1810, you will see that all the calamities are related to the fact that the monetary system has been emancipated from the actual economic life. Banking has increasingly taken the place of productive economic life. We cannot get out of the economic calamity if things continue like this. The point is that, while the monetary system must of course be retained, we must overcome the old methods of experience and their drawbacks, and we can do so on a small scale by ending the separation of the banking system from the rest of economic life. Here, once 'Futurum Ltd' is what it should be, an administration of the individual companies.

The “key points” were translated into English in May. This edition was discussed in all serious English newspapers. If the matter could have been pursued quickly in England at that time, speakers could have traveled there again, then something could have been done. We mainly lack people. At the same time, you can see that there is definitely an atmosphere in England that is conducive to such an economic re-establishment.

The most important thing for Futurum at the moment is to carry out the issue. We simply need these six million francs as quickly as possible so that we don't remain a so-called 'floundering company' and, above all, so that we can realize the idea of Futurum AG. To do this, it is necessary to make it clear to people: “If you have money, you must make that money fruitful.” It has ruined the world that everyone only wanted to gain interest from their possessions. In economic terms, this results in a lack of interest in the consumer. Today, the only thing that interests the business owner is the competitor. The world war has caused this. As long as economic life is built on seeing only the market side, it will go downhill. If the mere monetary system stops, [...] people start to take an interest in economic life, and things start to improve again. That is, as soon as people start pushing the banks together again with the rest of the economy, interest in the demand for any given article returns, and people start counting on the consumer again.

When any of us goes out, he must also gain economic experience. You can't really get to know the economy from what is available; you can only get to know it by trying to gain insight into the individual business sectors. These are the two main tasks: the realization of the issue and the gathering of experience.

The economy is still holding together like a skirt that can be worn for a while, but then it gets ragged, and it is only a matter of time before the Entente countries also start to get ragged, as has already happened in Central European countries. The point is that it is impossible to say what exactly “Futurum AG” wants. If Mr. X and Mr. Y join “Futurum AG”, then “Futurum AG” will want what Mr. X and Mr. Y want.

Rudolf Steiner asks for questions to be raised.

Hans Haas asks for information about the spread of the anthroposophical movement in different countries.

Rudolf Steiner: In Germany, the movement is quite widespread –

— see the 10000000 Marks of the Coming Day; one can also see this from the sales of Dr. Steiner's books.

the movement is spreading very strongly. In Germany the interest is very great, then comes Holland. I have the intention of going to Holland, after all I cannot go to the actual Entente countries myself. There is a great deal to be gained from Holland. In England a small group of our people has been working for a very short time. For the time being, things are moving slowly, but the 'key points' have been taken seriously. It will be possible to find much there in the way of preparation. I would be very happy if one or two of those involved could go there. There is a lot that could be done in America. In France, it depends on imponderables whether anything can be done there. But if I disregard France, I believe that something could possibly be done in Spain. But I don't know for sure. If I disregard the Romance-speaking areas, Switzerland seems to me to be the most difficult place to make headway. Switzerland suffers from conservatism. People here have no will to embrace something new. Switzerland is indifferent to material things; the most important thing for it is the monetary system.

Arnold Ith asks how propaganda work should be carried out according to the nature of different countries.

Rudolf Steiner explains that he will answer this question tomorrow.

Mr. Padrutt asks in what form the guiding principles should be expressed for the relatively small companies of “Futurum AG”.

Rudolf Steiner: We will gain a certain overview of the consumer base, so we will first try to expand the consumer base and then to understand it. We can take care of all our enterprises in the common consumer group. It is very good to have agricultural businesses on the one hand and industrial businesses on the other. In this way, one can achieve a balance of benefits. The idea is to have a range of different businesses that support each other in accordance with the principle of association. The ideal would be for the gentlemen to go out and look around to see what needs there are, and then the purchase of the businesses would be based on that. Of course, we cannot act on this yet.

In response to a question from Adolf Padrutt, Rudolf Steiner replies

that it is of no value to focus on just one industry. In the economy to date, the actual economic laws have been observed far too little. One of these laws is that in economic life one should work as little as possible for one's own account. See Stinnes.

For the threefold order, one must first create understanding, which is only possible by introducing people to the threefold order in a concise way. In some places, an understanding of an independent economic life separate from the state is beginning to emerge; however, people are still afraid of an independent spiritual life and it must be made clear to them that one cannot exist without the other. For example, you cannot educate practical people in state schools, you can only educate civil servants there. Preparatory schools for practical life (commercial schools, technical schools, etc.) only make sense if you have teachers there who only teach there for a while and then go out into practical life again, to be replaced by other practitioners. So there must be a constant exchange. Today, the calamity has broken out primarily in the economic sphere, and the sore point is that for about 150 years people have got into the habit of thinking only about economic life. Those who will now be working for “Futurum AG” are concerned with simply discussing the things that are contained in the key issues. If you look at the parliamentary reports, there is a lot of talk in the individual states about the introduction of the gold standard. A great deal of clever and ingenious thinking has been done for the introduction of the gold standard. In all these speeches in favor of the gold standard, there is one common thread: all the speakers were of the opinion that free trade would be significantly promoted by the introduction of the gold standard. The opposite was then the case later on. Those who spoke in favor of the introduction of the gold standard were all so-called practitioners, but in reality they were not involved in practical life at all. We have increasingly withdrawn from economic life. Once economic life is independent, national borders do not hinder anything. There were economic experts at Versailles, but their voice was not important because they had nothing to say.

Hans Haas asks how people will satisfy their greed for profit in the new economic life.

Rudolf Steiner: It is already very often the case that people only want money in order to have power. It is therefore important to make it clear to them that - if they have economic insight - none of their power escapes them. The only difficulty is that people collect money for their children and do not want this money to go to others. It must be made clear to them that the money will certainly be completely taxed away over the next ten years.

In Rudolf Steiner's view, the question Hans Haas has posed

At the Goetheanum, the threefold social order is fully implemented except in the legal sphere, which is of course missing. In the construction industry, everything that can be achieved has been achieved, if only we could still manage to get the workers to leave the trade unions. The aim must be to get people out of the trade unions, although this must be approached very carefully.

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Arnold Ith asks whether it could also be said in answer to this question that in the threefold social organism, people's selfishness is also restrained by the fact that everyone controls and is controlled by everyone else.

Rudolf Steiner replies that this can certainly be said; he notes that, for example, one should not get too involved in ethical questions during discussions. It is not about promising people a paradise, but making it clear to them that everything can only continue with the help of threefolding. Rudolf Steiner says that everything you need to know about how to propagate the threefold social order is contained in the key points. The hardest part is teaching today's proletarians these things.

In response to a question from Ernst Gimmi as to whether it would be beneficial to propagate among the proletarians today, Rudolf Steiner replies,

that everything is arranged for everyone. It is very important for 'Futurum AG' to make it clear to industrialists that they now have to communicate with the proletarians. What people are experiencing today in terms of social issues and Bolshevism stems simply from the fact that people have been disregarded everywhere; there is no longer any trust anywhere.

Question from Eduard Wirz: Which circles should be approached primarily for the issue?

Rudolf Steiner replies that now, those who have been recommended should be used more to reach others in Switzerland. In Holland, it will be necessary to initially approach people who can further pave the way; Mr. de Haan, in particular, comes into consideration here. In England, it is a matter of initially approaching Mr. Kaufmann for certain circles, and for other circles one must work with the help of certain members - Drury-Lavin, Collison. It is important that one speaks only for “Futurum AG” and does not say anything more about the Goetheanum - this applies to all gentlemen present, except Mr. Gimmi. The brochure is the main tool for propaganda. You will approach people with the brochure by explaining to them: It is important that you not only receive large sums of money, but also small ones.

Arnold Ith asks whether Rudolf Steiner thinks it is a good idea to work in only two or three countries for the time being, to which Rudolf Steiner replies,

that only five countries can be considered.

Arnold Ith says that the gentleman going to England might as well spend eight days in Paris.

Rudolf Steiner also believes that it might be possible to make preparations in Paris.

Ernst Schaller wonders what would happen if an Englishman came here and was worked with for about a fortnight, and then travelled back to England with one of the gentlemen present to work there. Eduard Wirz asks whether this could then be extended if each country were organized within itself. It is replied that this is already the case, to the extent that it is necessary, in that the threefolding groups and anthroposophical groups are there.

Rudolf Steiner remarks that Futurum AG should not be decentralized too much; it would be quite wrong to found anything other than at most branches abroad.

Eduard Wirz notes that the new issue of other companies is always very well organized, and that the question now is how best to carry out the issue of “Futurum AG”.

Rudolf Steiner says that we have to expect that the banks will not accommodate us. But we also have to organize the prospectus. One could find the most incredible ways to do this. Rudolf Steiner says that, for example, someone can be found in all Swiss cities who could do something for the prospectus.

Arnold Ith believes that the gentlemen present must be the main driving force, and that they must motivate people to take action.

Rudolf Steiner believes that the threefolding office is the basis for “Futurum AG”; for example, all the address material is stored there.

Arnold Ith asks whether the gentlemen present would be best distributed among the different countries.

Rudolf Steiner replies that this would depend on the wishes of the gentlemen concerned, but that Switzerland, England, Holland and America are important for the time being.

Ernst Gimmi notes that Mr. Dürler in St. Gallen could possibly be considered.

Rudolf Steiner says that initially all attention must be focused on the issue.

Eduard Wirz remarks that he would have liked to take on England personally, but believes that he is not yet sufficiently established there and will not be able to familiarize himself quickly enough because he has no connections there.

Rudolf Steiner thinks that Mr. Gimmi is definitely a candidate for England, but he still needs a companion. He notes that he does think something can be done in England, and that it would have gone better in August and September, but it also needs to be done now.

[After a speech by Emil Molt, Rudolf Steiner takes the floor:]

Rudolf Steiner: Ladies and Gentlemen! Today is the second time that I have had the honor of addressing you here. The first time was at the invitation of Mr. Molt, to speak about what I believed at the time to be necessary for the progress of humanity out of the great turmoil into which human aberration and its consequences, the terrible catastrophe of the world wars, had led us. Today I am to speak in the presence of the light-filled Christmas tree for the Christmas celebration. But please do not expect me to give you any of the usual Christmas speeches, which can still be heard so often in our time. I would feel like a dishonest person if I did that, and I would also have to believe that if you yourselves are true in your feelings, you cannot bring anything from your hearts to such an unctuous speech. For let us admit it to ourselves: what is often heard in Christmas speeches today seems as if an inertia that has been held for centuries, a kind of mental inertia, had held on to words that still held their validity for times long past, but which today, in view of the world situation in which we find ourselves, seem as if those who speak them would see nothing with open eyes of what is truly going on around us.

Christmas today – one may say it bluntly, I think – is basically something that, in the feelings of the great mass of people and also in the feelings of the few who until recently were called the upper ten thousand, should initially only be a memory, a memory of feelings, of inner forces that were once alive in humanity, which, however, and we will talk about this, deserve to be revived, revived in a new form, but which are not alive today.

When Christmas approaches, people today think - depending on whether they are more or less blessed with goods of fortune - of giving each other more or less precious gifts. They also think of lighting the Christmas tree and getting into some kind of mood, although they don't really know what it is supposed to be. But it wasn't always like that. And I would like to mention just one detail – one could mention many such things, but let us think of this one detail; in a certain way it also characterizes the other things that were associated with Christmas in earlier centuries.

We can look back to the areas that are also around Stuttgart, which go far up to Thuringia and Hesse, which go over to Baden and Alsace and further into France, which go down to Italy, over to Bavaria and so on. We can see this area by looking back in history, and a remarkable picture presents itself to us as we look ahead to the approaching Christmas season.

In most villages – since this area was even less interspersed with towns back then, I am talking about the 14th and 15th centuries – a group of young men was gathered from October onwards, and this group of young men was to learn roles in order to perform Christmas plays at the time of the consecration festival. The text of these Christmas plays was usually available in handwritten form from a particularly favored family in each locality; they held it sacred. No one knew who had written it, so far back in time were memories of these Christmas plays; but the text was held sacred. As early as October, the person in possession of this text, who was also held in particularly high esteem in the village in question, would gather the young men he thought suitable for the performance. In those days, such performances were not yet performed with women, but only with male youths, who also played female roles, the role of Mary and so on. So this group of young men was assembled and taught. Strange traditions have been preserved from this teaching, and from these traditions, these traditions, one can see the deep sentiment with which the Christmas season was imbued as it approached.

There was, for example, the strict regulation that all those who were to play along, that is, who were the learning students of a teacher – it was prescribed, forgive me for mentioning such a harsh regulation after all – that all of them were not allowed to go to their girlfriends during the whole time. We only have to go back to the old cultural conditions to understand what such a rule meant, but it was strictly adhered to by the people who were considered called to take part in something like this. A second rule was that during the entire time that the young men were rehearsing the Christmas play, they had to obey their teacher strictly. That was also a rule that would be extremely difficult to enforce today. We, at least, who are now endeavoring to perform these plays again in the Anthroposophical Society, can hardly carry out any of these provisions. As for the first provision, it refers to something that does not occur at all among anthroposophists, and as for the second provision, it would never be adhered to, because such obedience does not exist there. The third rule, on the other hand, is one that cannot be implemented in anthroposophical circles if we are to rehearse these plays today. This is because the third rule meant that you had to pay a fine if you forgot something and said it wrong during the performance. We couldn't implement that either, because no one would pay the fine.

So I just wanted to mention these individual provisions to show you what was possible back then, out of the sacred mood. Now, there is something we cannot do within the Anthroposophical Society either, where we have resumed the Christmas plays in many places, especially this year, for example in many places in Switzerland, where they were rediscovered, because they had gradually been forgotten in the 19th century and were no longer performed. However, there is one thing we cannot do either: the teacher, who rehearsed these festival plays with the group of young people, was joined, as was only natural in a time when Christianity was as alive as in the centuries I have spoken of, by the local clergy. Of course, we cannot achieve that either. Then the teachers joined them. As it turned out, we could achieve this more easily, and we also succeeded where these teachers in particular had grown out of our own ranks.

Now, I presented all this to you to give you a picture of what was approaching in the mood of the individual places when the holy Christmas season approached. For what were people actually preparing for? They were not preparing for the Christmas tree – that did not yet exist at the time, it is at most 150 years old, when it was first established –; people did not gather around the Christmas tree, but they gathered to commemorate in the mood, in the inner experience of the heart, what they imagined with the birth of Christ Jesus. That was indeed a very different, more vivid conception than it can be today. For people in those days had a different awareness of human dignity and human existence. They still lived quite differently with one another, so the Christmas message was still something for them.

In this Christmas message, we may remember today, there is indeed a deep democratic trait. Today, we have no right to emphasize this democratic trait from the official confessions. But then, if one wants to cultivate true Christianity, as it must first arise again in humanity, then, my dear audience, one perhaps has a right to mention precisely this democratic trait.

There were two prophecies regarding the birth of Jesus Christ. One was for those who, at that time, we can say, formed what we might call the proletariat, and the other was for the shepherds in the field who sensed in their hearts that a time had come that needed healing. And out of this mood arose the mood that was poured into their words: Revelation of the divine, of the spiritual, in the heights, and peace to the people on earth who are of good will. - A drawing closer of man to the spiritual, that is what was felt. And in this approach, something was seen that was to bring renewal and refreshment to humanity from the conditions that existed at that time and that seemed unbearable.

But there is not only this one proclamation for those who could be called the proletariat of that time, for the poor shepherds in the field. There is a second proclamation, that for the wise men, for the kings from the East, that is, for those who were at the top of humanity at that time, for those who were the opposite of the proletariat of that time. Just as the shepherds in the field received the Christmas proclamation in their own way, so they also received the wise kings in their own way. But both found themselves confronted by that which simply wanted to be the representative of the whole of humanity. And in the same way, on the one hand the shepherds in the field and on the other the wise kings from the East, sacrificed and worshiped this representative of the whole of humanity, of the pure humanity that knows no human distinction. In this is indicated in the Christmas proclamation the deeply democratic trait that runs through Christianity and which, despite the many centuries, has not been fully realized to this day, and which can only be realized if one maintains a proper sense of this general, purely human quality that lives in all people and that knows no human distinctions.

One might say that the three main festivals that humanity, Christian humanity, has celebrated over the centuries, in the time when they were still alive in thought and feeling, drew people's attention, one might say, to a threefold structure of the year.

Christmas speaks most to the feelings; it speaks to the feelings by directing them to what, in the highest sense, has poured itself out over the world as the impulse of democracy.

Easter should take hold of the human being's thoughts more, should point him more to spirituality and freedom, while Christmas should point more to equality among people, to the absence of differences, if one wants to work into the deepest part of the human being. Easter should stir in man that liberating feeling that overcomes him when he rises to the spiritual and when he gains an awareness that the spiritual must ultimately always triumph if the world is not to perish, over external material things. This resurrection of the spiritual out of the material is, after all, the Easter idea. When the soul can resurrect inwardly, then it actually experiences freedom by being able to put itself in the place of the spiritual.

And the idea of Pentecost points us to brotherhood. It is presented to us in such a way that we are made aware of how those who were called upon to proclaim Christianity at the time found the right tone to speak to all people in pure brotherhood, to approach all people. If we understand it correctly, it points to what we must feel inwardly if we want to achieve brotherhood in relation to the external, material life of humanity.

It is something ancient, rooted in the human spirit, which has always guided thought in the most diverse areas of life according to the threefold order. Today, my dear audience, we need this threefold order again to heal something in humanity, again to eradicate something unhealthy. Therefore, it was basically for the same reason that I spoke when I had the honor of addressing you for the first time, and that I would like to speak to you today.

We live in a time that is so ill that most people do not want to imagine their illness, partly out of convenience, partly perhaps even out of ill will, but mainly out of selfishness. It is indeed the case today that most people who are content with comfort are always satisfied when, out of the turmoil of the day, a little improvement appears here and there and they can see that not everything has fallen apart, that there and there is “a better economy”. But for those who can see through it, today's life is like that of a person who, three years ago, was still able to buy a suit, and wears this suit - even if it is a bit shabby, he can still wear it - but he cannot buy a new one. And because he can still wear this suit, he still believes himself to be in a possible situation in life. But it is in store for him that one day the suit can no longer be worn. Such is the case with today's conditions. We see how people are trying to patch them up, how they are applying all kinds of mixtures to improve things a little here and there and keep the old. But today's social life is like the skirt. The skirt can still be worn and this social life can continue for a while, but it will surely tear; it will not go on. And the fact that people somehow believe that it will continue is, ladies and gentlemen, a great illusion that people create for themselves by comfortably wanting to persist in the old and not wanting to approach what wants to be a real new creation, as the impulse of threefolding supposes.

It is not surprising that at first, after the idea of threefolding became known, the proletarian leaders not only ignored us, but even put all kinds of obstacles in our way. It is not surprising that everything that Mr. Molt has already described to you has happened. For today we see that the call for the threefold social order is countered by another threefold impulse. This other threefold impulse we may perhaps - even if it does not sound like the usual unctuous Christmas words - present to our souls. For it is precisely by looking a little into the present that we can find the strength that could really perhaps lead not only to the illusion of living in a possible situation as long as the skirt is not yet torn, but to acquiring a new skirt.

Today we see the world filled with a threefold order, but what a threefold order it is! You see, this fall in Dornach, in a more intensive way than was previously possible, we tried to show in a series of college courses how the spiritual life itself in science must be transformed, how it must be placed on its own feet if humanity is to be saved. We were able to show what should be taught in the future in the fields of the individual sciences, in the field of economics and practical life, so that the teachings can penetrate into life and become practice. What are our views on such matters today? Well, today we think entirely from the old conditions, and in this field in particular we are the most conservative of all. Of course, there are people who, in their own belief, have a very good opinion of the popularization of spiritual things. They found adult education colleges, adult education centers, public libraries, and so on. They make the people happy by bringing out among the people what has flourished in the universities and schools in those times that led us into the catastrophe. One feels extraordinarily comfortable when founding such libraries, such popular educational institutions among the people.

In this area, the impulse of threefolding that has emerged from anthroposophically oriented spiritual science must think quite differently. For anyone who is familiar with the circumstances is aware of something quite different. The situation is that the scientific approach and intellectual life cultivated in our schools today is of no use because it belongs to the declining world itself. And no social order, however well-intentioned, can do anything other than lead to decline and not to the dawn if it merely carries the intellectual life that is cultivated in schools today out into the world. For it is not a matter today of carrying out into the people that which is cultivated under the roofs of the university, that which is cultivated in secondary and primary schools, but rather of carrying a new spiritual life into the universities. A new spiritual life must first come into the universities, which can bring salvation to mankind. That is not the case there.

That is why, you see, spiritual science with its consequences, the threefold social order, is too radical for people today - too radical even for the proletarian leaders, who of course want to do nothing other than to conservatively place the old spiritual life in the heads of the people. What makes it difficult to work socially with such an endeavor?

There is the first link in today's threefold order, there is the sum of today's representatives of intellectual life, who, insofar as they deal with the matter at all, want to know nothing of such a renewal, but always emphasize that their old way of spreading Christianity must in turn become popular. And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is how the spiritual life as it is cultivated by anthroposophically oriented spiritual science was characterized by a representative of intellectual life who holds a professorship at a university: He said: First of all, for national reasons – these gentlemen are very fond of invoking national reasons – the people need the nourishing bread that comes from the pulpits, the nourishing bread that they are accustomed to seeing represented by the representatives of the confessions. Only then does it need the sweet. He describes what is attempted by spiritual science as sweet.

This is just one example. I could cite many more of the ways in which what is anthroposophical spiritual science is defamed from the lecterns of these teaching institutions. It is no wonder that the representatives of these teaching institutions react in this way to a movement that wants to bring something different under the roofs of these teaching institutions. For in a certain way, after all, the masters are stepped on, and then they squeal. That is the only explanation for this matter, after all, if one understands it. But it is necessary to understand that one needs an independent spiritual life in relation to the political and economic order. We need a spiritual life that works out of its own forces. And such a spiritual life, as far as it can be today, is anthroposophical spiritual science, through its inner essence, despite the fact that everywhere its throat is being cut. Anthroposophical spiritual science wants nothing more than to provide the pattern for the spiritual life that must come and that can only bring freedom to people. On the other hand, we see the other link in the present threefold social order: the representatives of intellectual life, who are today the most conservative people and would like to suppress all spiritual progress, especially that which can truly bring salvation.

And this first link in the present threefold division is joined by another, which is made up of politicians and statesmen and so on, who have still grown out of the old conditions - out of those old conditions that have brought about the terrible catastrophe over European civilization, through which millions and millions of people have been killed and crippled. They do not want to see that the only hope lies in the fact that new people are emerging from the broad masses, new people who have no connection with those who led into the catastrophe. And it is not the proletarian leaders who belong to these new people, because they are the ones who, like the others, only continue what led to the bloody catastrophes. No matter whether they are delivering speeches at labor meetings or sitting on such curule chairs and shouting abstractions into the world like the one on which Woodrow Wilson sat ; all these people, they want nothing that could bring salvation to humanity today, because they have completely outgrown the old with their thoughts, they only strive to preserve the old in some way.

One must not get hung up on words, my dear audience. Even the word “League of Nations,” which is now going around the world, should not create any illusions in us. A League of Nations can be something very good, something great and salutary, if it is rooted in those ideas that are needed to bring salvation to humanity, in the sense that I indicated when I had the honor of addressing you here almost two years ago. A League of Nations that would emanate from such people, who feel that way, would certainly be a League of Nations that could contribute something to the salvation of humanity. But such a League of Nations must proceed from quite new people, from people who grow out of the broad masses, who today may not even be noticed or, if they are noticed, are trampled to death – at least spiritually. But Leagues of Nations as they arise from the minds of old politicians, these are phrases, at most something Versailles or Geneva-like. And the Geneva spirit is nothing but a talking-shop that fails to take account of the realities of contemporary Europe, just as if one did not see the real conditions with one's eyes open. That is the second link in today's threefold division.

And the third link in today's tripartite division is made up of those people who want to hold on to the old economic system, who only ever think of galvanizing the old again. These are the people who have illusions about American credit to Europe, who have illusions about the possibility of improving the exchange rate situation according to old recipes, who do not want to see that the only thing that can bring salvation is what is called associative economic life in the sense of threefolding. I do not need to characterize it here today; it has often been characterized here and in other places.

We have a threefold order, but it is a threefold order of the negative, a threefold order of today's representatives of the spiritual life, of today's politicians and statesmen, of today's business people, who are working against the good of humanity. This threefold order must be replaced by the other threefold order. And anyone who thinks they can get through with small thoughts today is very much mistaken. Today it is only a matter of ideas that span the globe, while individual countries, especially after the war, have increasingly sought to erect Chinese and other walls around themselves. And while this pernicious game continues to be played, world conditions today cry out for the internationalization of economic life. And today we know that if we only want to ensure that there can be salvation under the influence of the internationality of economic life. Why keep putting a ban on anything that is to be introduced or exported? This only leads further into decline. Only the freedom of economic life is what can bring salvation and blessing to Europe and the whole of today's civilized world. And until the community of people in the world who have an understanding of the fact that such internationality must take hold, it will not get better. Today we have the task of bringing the impulse of threefolding into as many minds as possible.

When I left Switzerland last April to work here – called by friends in Stuttgart – in the sense of the threefold order, after the appeal “To the German People and to the Cultural World” was given to individuals to sign, a very well-known pacifist who had written extremely well during the war visited me. He did not want to put his name to the appeal without first having obtained more precise information about the intentions, which he thought he could not deduce from the appeal. The “key points” had not yet been published, and he told me, among other things, the following: “So you are going to Germany now. I can imagine that you are banking on the second revolution and you would like to pour into the Second German Revolution - the Second Russian Revolution was already over - that which is the meaning of threefolding. - I said: No, because firstly, I have no faith in the Second German Revolution; it will not be something acute, it will remain something chronic. And secondly, even if such a revolution should assert itself, not all the minds will have been removed from the same, which, despite all radicalism, want to continue to cultivate the old ideas among people. - I leave it to everyone to decide whether, in principle, both have not fully materialized.

Therefore, my dear attendees, I would like to say: He who today perceives the great Hydra, the snake that asserts itself as the false threefolding, he who sees this Hydra, this snake, in its real form, could already be pointed out that we in turn need a cure for the morbid conditions of civilized humanity. Therefore, it does us no good today to sit under the Christmas tree with its lights and just remember in an unctuous way what people used to celebrate when Christmas approached. Today we must turn our gaze, if I may say so, from the usual Christmas, from the Christmas of history, to the world Christmas. We must realize that we must live again in a mood in which we must see through what is there, that we must live again in a mood in which we acknowledge: Something must be born again, a spirit must embody itself within humanity. Today we can no longer imagine it figuratively, no, today we must imagine it in full reality. Today we do not need a frivolous radicalism, but we need the radicalism that was also present when Christianity entered the world. Today we need a world Christmas radicalism again. And we must say to ourselves: into this world, as it is around us – disintegrating, sick -, into this world something spiritual must come. And attention should be drawn to what should come as spiritual: to the threefold social order. This threefold social order should embody itself within humanity.

And so, as the world lies today, we can actually do no other than absorb the Christmas spirit into ourselves as a feeling for the future. One might say that the Christmas spirit as a world Christmas spirit has basically no truth today. It only has truth when we absorb it into ourselves as a sense of the future and let it permeate our hearts.

If we look at the Christmas tree in this way, we see its lights shining us into a future in which a possible Christmas will come again. For basically, we can only be in the Advent mood today, in the mood of expectation, and in that mood of expectation that demands deeds, devoted action from us, so that the World Christmas, that is, the outpouring of a new spiritual life into sick humanity, can happen again. We need the mood of Advent, and we need the mood that wants to awaken the strength within us to bring about this Christmas for the world.

But we will never come to this true Christmas mood if we just continue to recite the old, worn-out phrases about Christmas in an unctuous manner, but we will come to this true Christmas mood only if we look with clear spiritual eyes at what stands today as the false threefold division of the world, which is also a spiritual, a political-legal and an economic one. And we will only come to understand what the new Christmas can be for the world if each of us does our duty, if each of us seeks understanding of the world situation. We will only recognize it if we visualize the image that was so often presented to devout humanity in earlier times, so that this devout humanity felt much about this image: below the snake, the dragon, above the one who conquers this dragon. The snake, the dragon is there - the false threefold order is there, my dear attendees. From our hearts, from our intellects, from our understanding of the world situation, there must arise that which will crush the head of this snake. Then, when that happens, only then will Christmas be again. Therefore, today, anyone who lives sincerely and honestly in accordance with the aims of the threefold order cannot speak of anything other than the world Christmas that must be brought about through the efforts of people to achieve the right threefold order, as something healing, that crushes the head of the false, world-murderous threefold order, so that health may once again enter into the social life of humanity.

I would like to have said my admittedly inadequate words today so that the Christmas idea can live in us. But what they want is for these words to find their way to your hearts, so that this Christmas idea may arise in your hearts and the true threefolding may be present in the world, crushing the false threefolding, the dragon that is rearing its head ever more boldly and impudently in the world today.