THE STRENGTH OF THE OLD STATE rested on three pillars: the
monarchistic state form, the civil service, and the army. The
revolution of 1918 eliminated the state form, disintegrated the
army, and delivered the civil service to party corruption. Thus the
most essential pillars of a so-called state authority were
shattered. State authority as such rests almost always on the three
elements which lie at the basis of all authority.
The first foundation for the creation of authority is always
provided by popularity. But an authority which rests solely on this
foundation is still extremely weak, uncertain, and shaky. Every
bearer of such an authority based purely on popularity must,
therefore, endeavor to improve and secure the foundation of this
authority by the creation of power. In power, therefore, in force,
we see the second foundation of all authority. It is already
considerably more stable and secure, but by no means always
stronger than the first. If popularity and force are combined, and
if in common they are able to survive for a certain time, an
authority on an even firmer basis can arise, the authority of
tradition. If finally, popularity, force, and tradition combine, an
authority may be regarded as unshakable.
Through the revolution this last case was completely excluded.
Indeed, there is no longer even an authority of tradition. With the
collapse of the old Reich, the elimination of the old state form,
the destruction of the former sovereign emblems and symbols of the
Reich, tradition was abruptly broken off. The consequence of this
was the gravest shaking of state authority.
Even the second pillar of state authority, force, was no longer
present. In order to carry out the revolution in the first place,
it was necessary to disintegrate the embodiment of the organized
force and power of the state, the army; indeed, it was necessary to
use the infected parts of the army itself as revolutionary fighting
elements. Even though the front-line armies had not succumbed to
this disintegration in a uniform degree, they, nevertheless, the
more they felt the glorious sites of their four and a half years of
heroic struggle behind them, were corroded more and more by the
homeland's acid of disorganization, and, arrived in the
demobilization organizations, likewise ended up in the confusion of
so-called voluntary obedience belonging to the epoch of the
soldiers' councils.
Naturally no authority could be based on these mutinous bands of
soldiers, who conceived of military service in terms of the
eight-hour day. And thus the second element, the element which
guarantees the firmness of authority, was also eliminated and the
revolution now possessed only the original element, popularity, on
which to build its authority. But this particular basis was
extremely uncertain. To be sure, the revolution succeeded in
shattering the old state structure with one mighty blow, but at
bottom only because the normal balance within the structure of our
people had already been eliminated by the war.
Every national body can be divided into three great classes: into
an extreme of the best humanity on the one hand, good in the sense
of possessing all virtues, especially distinguished by courage and
self-sacrifice; on the other hand, an extreme of the worst human
scum, bad in the sense that all selfish urges and vices are
present. Between the two extremes there lies a third class, the
great, broad, middle stratum, in which neither brilliant heroism
nor the basest criminal mentality is embodied.