Eberhard Arnold

Extended Households and Communal Life

[Arnold, Eberhard and Emmy papers – P.M.S.]

[Draft Translation by Bruderhof Historical Archive]

EA 20/11

Extended Households and Communal Life

Ways of Giving Oneself to Community

By Eberhard Arnold

The appeal by Walter Koch and Karl Mennicke, which in several of our discussions in Berlin we felt was necessary following the Kapp Putsch, aims at a total dedication to the community of the nation and of all nations. There are many who regard this ultimate goal of human society as a far-off ideal to which they are unable to find a way. It must now be obvious to everyone what can be achieved by a united spirit without returning brute force with brute force. The common determination not to submit to the might of the sword was sufficient to shake off the armed force of the putschists. The mailed fist had to acknowledge defeat because it had come up against a spiritual wall of concerted resistance. The example of the Kapp Putsch days must not be forgotten. As long as a community is bound together by a clearly defined spirit, its will proves stronger than any force whatever. What we are lacking is spiritual strength, organic community, a uniting spirit, and a clear common will. If we were inwardly [geistig]¹ united concerning things greater and more positive than resistance to a military coup, we would prove superior to even stronger forces.

It is through a deepening of our spiritual life [Geistigkeit], an increased intensity of inward experiences [Geisteserlebnisse] that we are led toward community. Only strong communal experiences can bring us to dedicate ourselves to that community which embraces all. In truth, all people belong together, that is, provided they have found their own essence and real destiny. Therefore, the uniting spirit wants to gather all those who by their inner [inner] nature belong together. Leading together people in this way, people bound to each other by an inner [innerlich] tie and inner kinship, in no way means they are isolated from others who are not yet ready for such a union [p. 65]. Rather, the growing together which takes place in community life serves to strengthen and invigorate all our energies, and the more intensive the white heat of the innermost core of true community, the more extensive its effects and the greater the reach of its warmth and light. This, of course, requires live, burning logs whose common fire rekindles the embers ever anew and makes them shine out far into the distance. Only such live spirits can form such a community of the spirit that will have a far-reaching impact.²

It has often been observed that when people of great value become engaged to one another their inward [geistig] interests and creative energies are awakened to an unheard-of level of productivity as soon as the two find each other. With friendships of all kinds we can witness daily the generous enrichment which inwardly [geistig] moved people receive through the inspiration and deepening that comes to them from their friends. We all know from our own experience with families that are truly alive—how in the genuine community of their household, without being aware of it, we were inwardly [geistig] awakened and spurred on to fruitful action. Seeing these bright and powerful experiences of community against the dark background of worthless and dead marriages, of spiritless [geistlos] clubs and lifeless party coalitions, one is bound to see the issue very clearly.

What is lacking today is the organic freedom and oneness of the spirit of humanity. What alone can help us is a unified human soul, a unified human spirit. Humanity’s hope and future lies in the spirit. Humanity is destined to be an organism, a body with one spirit, one head, one soul, one heart. The longing to see humanity as such an integrated whole caused a leading spirit of our revolution to write: “Humanity, in the sense of a real complex of relations, a world society held together by external bonds and an inner [inner] attraction and urge surpassing national bounds, of course does not yet exist.”³ It is clear to him that particularly during “the high times of Christianity” this integral wholeness of humanity was felt very intensely and was experienced as a profound moral hope. Such an experience presupposes, however, that the concentration of humanity into the truly human takes place in the individual. “Humanity obtains its genuine existence from the humanness of the individual.”

That Gustav Landauer's influence is on the increase in socialist youth circles among the educated as well as among the proletarians should be received with deepest joy. He was execrably murdered by rampant soldiers for being an accursed agitator—he, this profound friend of German mysticism, this fighter for the spirit of a true national community. It is impossible to kill the truth, however [p. 66]. At no time while Gustav Landauer was alive did he assemble around himself such a large circle of friends gripped by his ideas as is now gathered around the core of what was his life's task. This spiritual current which is so strong among the young people of today has been described as anarchist communism, but anarchy must here be understood solely in the sense of an order that is organic in its structure, an order based on voluntary associations. As this movement sees it, the longed-for communist culture does not rest on some form of technology or on a certain method of satisfying human needs, but rather on the spirit of justice. The communal settlements which are aimed at and in part have already been begun in this country are to be built up into models of justice and of joyous work. It can be found everywhere: a perfectly clear longing that the spirit ruling over us should be that of community. It is the uniting spirit of common work. It is the creating and creative spirit of a love that unifies people. This is the spirit yearned for by these circles awakened to Gustav Landauer’s vision. There is no other movement that at first appears non-Christian where there is so much talk about spirit; no other movement where there is such a strong affirmation of life as constructive work for the coming time, as is the case with this group of communist anarchists. This is not at all about mere talk; the movement sees the spirit as a uniting awareness of inner [inner] fellowship, as a drive toward justice and integrated wholeness, socially impelled and socially rejoicing. The spirit thus experienced as the very quintessence of life can therefore signify nothing else but reality, effectivity, and praxis. It represents voluntariness and the desire to create, being bound and free at the same time, serenity and power, enthusiasm and bravery, will and deed. These revolutionaries committed to building up a new order recognize quite correctly that in the past there is nothing we have lacked more than such a spirit of community, a spirit guaranteeing social unity just as much as spiritual independence.

This recognition cannot but give us a deep sense of the decay characterizing our time, of the decline and downfall of civilization up until now, due to the fact that the essence of culture, the spirit that unites people, has almost everywhere been missing. Only a spiritual movement, carried by spirit-moved people, is able to bring about new conditions and relationships. Whereas in the previous and still prevailing economy marked by relentless competition everything has been oriented toward an egoistic individualism, in the new, cooperative order the spirit of communist individualism, the spirit of fellowship and social-mindedness, and work of a type that binds people together are to be the decisive factors. While Marxist socialism involves an organized centralization, the anarchist communists we have in mind aim at decentralization and [p. 67] an organic rebuilding that starts with the individual, that is, an organic decentralization. All human beings, as free individuals, personalities experienced as indivisible, should come to see that the spirit living within themselves calls for a fellowship of love and work done in common with others. This is why each of these people joins together with others to form voluntary associations, a federation of working people. These small associations of individuals should, in turn, amalgamate into larger organizations and coalitions. When this escalating process ultimately comes to a head, the result will be a federation of federations, covering the whole earth. This free federation of a new humanity, bound together by the spirit of fellowship instead of by the coercive order of a military or police state, would have correspondingly less work to do, the more comprehensive it became. This is because, as much as possible, the small and more narrowly confined federations should settle for themselves, in shared, communist life, all those questions which are of significance for the life of their particular circle. The spirit here experienced is opposed to capitalist mammonism just as much as to the economic interpretation of history practiced by the Social Democrats and their Marxist future state. That is why the anarchist communist has to fight on two fronts at once. Social unity and spiritual independence is his true rallying cry. His is the correct recognition that the heightened individualism implicit in becoming human leads to a communism of overflowing, all-embracing love. Therefore, as with the socialist idea in general, so also, in increased measure, the imperative question arises: who are to be the new people needed to build up this kingdom of a common spirit and of a new bond among us?

Gustav Landauer expects to find the salvation in true work that is filled, guided, and organized by a brotherly spirit free from greed, work that proves to be the deed of honest hands and the action of a pure, true spirit. What he envisions as the fundamental character of the future is work as spirit, provision, and companionship. Alongside the joy people feel in companionship and in showing consideration to one another, joy in their work should mean that people can feel their life in their work and thus find joy in living. “People need, above all, pleasure in the activity itself, the strong presence of their souls in the functions of their bodies.”⁴

This, however, truly demands the presence of that Spirit “linking all life with eternity, sanctifying our senses, making all bodily functions heavenly, every activity a joy, a cause for exuberance and exhilaration.”⁵ It should be clear to everybody that one cannot assure the presence of this Spirit [Geist] by simply moving out into the country [p. 68] and in a rural setting seeking to combine mental [geistig] and physical work. This much is true: humanity’s future must be in the country. It is and remains our task to cultivate the soil and to preserve the purity of the spirit. That the new rural culture wants to carry the inner life [Geistesleben] out into the countryside is a healthy idea. A life really in accord with human dignity will be achieved only if, side by side with our work on the land, we can build up a true inner culture [Geisteskultur] of genuine spiritual [geistig] interests. It is clear even now to every reasonable person that the best recreation, the best education, and the best training consist in a right alternation of mental [geistig] and physical work. Everything, of course, depends on what the content of this cultivation of the mind [Geistesbildung] which is to pervade rural life will be.

That the earth and its products should be common property is no doubt a prophetic demand of justice. The anarchist communists’ rallying cry that land and work must be newly experienced as something all people share in common is as much in accordance with the original destiny of humanity as is their call in regard to the spirit. That the land should be the common property and that work be the common task of all is more than a lofty ideal aiming at a reorganization of our condition. Land and spirit as the new demand of this revolutionary movement is but the age-old prophetic proclamation of that which alone can assure a healthy future for humanity. The divine Spirit voiced by the prophets pointed out ways by which to reach these goals that are indispensable for a life worthy of human beings; it showed how human egoism can be transformed into a common spirit, into love and devoted creative work. Only as the Holy Spirit of the living God can the yearned-for common spirit [Gemeingeist] be prevented from going from a spirit of companionship [Gemeinsamkeit] to a spirit of crudeness [Gemeinheit]. The Holy Spirit alone proves to be the uniting power of true community. God alone, as the personification of creative life, brings about the longed-for, ultimate unity of voluntariness and creative joy, of inner [inner] independence and social justice, of free self-determination and complete love. God's Spirit is that power which, as truth, separates the bad and incomplete from the good and genuine, and which, as love, calls forth the will and the deed of goodness. The effect of this Spirit can only be goodness and justice, peace and joy, self-control [cf. Gal. 6:22–23], and the capacity to bear and to achieve, because he can reveal nothing else but God's own nature. God's Spirit is the Spirit of life that awakens us; he is the Spirit of unity that binds us together, because he is the Spirit of divine life, the Spirit of the life that is in Jesus [p. 69].

We rejoice in the spiritual deepening which the anarchist communist elements bring to socialism. By their very nature they had to see through and unmask the ingredients in Marxism and materialism that are alien to the Spirit, so that Gustav Landauer was able to write: “Put a Philistine before Jesus, who in his richness and the abundance of his inexhaustible figure, in addition to what he means for the spirit and for life, is also a tremendous socialist—put a Philistine before the living Jesus on the cross and before a new machine for the transportation of people or goods: He will, if he is honest and not a cultural hypocrite, find this crucified human being to be a totally useless and superfluous phenomenon and go running after the machine. And yet! How much more this quiet, calm, suffering greatness of heart and spirit has truly moved than all the transport machines of these times! And yet! Where would all the transport machines of our times be without this great man—quiet, calm, and suffering on humanity’s cross! (Aufruf zum Sozialismus, pp. 47–48.)⁶

Jesus is indeed the new Spirit who makes new life possible for the human body, soul, and spirit, that new life which today’s humanity is thirsting after. While the socialists with their purely Marxist interpretation of history had to regard an organized centralization as the only possible future, and while the communist anarchist view has an organic decentralization as its goal, it is Jesus who brings that organic, central unity which they all seek, and which alone guarantees true unity and freedom. Through Jesus humanity becomes an organic body which needs him for its head.⁷ In him people experience themselves as an integral body of humanity, made into one by the one living Spirit. The unity of this body is assured by the fact that the free needs and the unhampered creative urges of all individuals are ruled by the same unified Spirit that animates them all. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [2 Cor. 3:17].

The living cells composing the body are drawn to each other and, joining together into larger cell groups, build up the living body. People who allow space for the deepest life within themselves become aware of the constructive and uniting action of the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit works in the most varied ways; he cannot restrict himself to one single type or to one fixed pattern. Here and there life communities composed of diverse kinds of people come into being. Taking the form of family groups, extended households, social work collectives in towns or, lastly, of rural settlements, these fellowships, as communities of the Spirit, life, work, and [p. 70] goods, have all things in common. Everything depends on how strongly the living, active Spirit of Christ will make himself felt in these gathered groups.

It is not one's awareness of the life and power of Christ that is most essential here but rather the reality and intensity of his influence. The tree is recognized by its fruit [Matt. 12:33]. The actual renewal of the individual by Christ gives form and shape to the personal as well as to the communal life. Where creative God-given love is displayed and proves itself in communal work, God is bound to be at the core and root of such a life. In so far as a circle is truly alive religiously, there can be no question of a permanent withdrawal or seclusion. The life of a family or extended household is healthy and strong only when its members direct their activity outwards and seek community also with other people. Just as the family is the primeval cell of the national community and as such has to be the cradle of a concentrated power, so also will an effective power emanate from every such extended family that is held together by a true spirit and have its impact upon the whole. Every such life community will seek the best for the city where it lives [cf. Jer. 29:7], and in the state it belongs to it will energetically stand and fight for the same organic expression of love and justice as has taken shape in its own midst. The more powerfully the spirit of unconditional love and community lives in such a circle, the greater the certainty that its members cannot possibly have a part in hatred and murder, warfare and bloodshed, even as part of the great outside world. Such a community will turn with instinctive sureness against all destructive force, against hostility and every false spirit, against disintegration and division, against filth of every kind, against wrong and injustice, against lying, hatred, and murder. Defense against, and victory over, deadly poisons is an essential function of life. Yet life with its supremely positive energy will never exhaust itself in such negative action. It performs work and creates values. It begets and gives birth; it awakens and shapes new life. Hence a living community expresses itself in advocating for the oppressed and disadvantaged, in solidarity with the proletariat, in developing all gifts and powers for the sake of the whole, and in the constructive power of a culture for all people, issuing from the Spirit of God [religiösen Geist, lit. religious Spirit]. Humanization as the unconditional will of love and the formative will of community is what it is all about.

Today our task of community takes on the form of a special [p. 71], historic task, called to positive action on behalf of the new proletarian culture and the new socialist or communist society. As individuals, as a family, and as extended households, we stand in the midst of this great social and international movement. The fact that in Christ we know ourselves to be lifted out of the world of hatred, force, and discord, and that we have been brought into the kingdom of his love and brotherliness, means for us the obligation to go out into and be effective within the public life of today in the same way, giving our utmost. Though the momentary prospect of success cannot determine or change our personal attitude to life, we do want to use every opportunity, large or small, to help bring about living conditions more fit for human beings and open the door to true life for as many people as possible. It depends on the particular gifts and calling of every individual whether the person wants to carry out this work of justice and peace by joining political parties or by educational methods, in free prophetic activity or by literary work. To overcome cold and subhuman egoism through the complete love of free human beings is a goal as practical as it is ultimate. It is the fulfillment of what it means to be human.

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¹ Geist in German and related words such as geistig can refer to both spiritual and mental domains.

² German capitalizes all nouns and thus does not make the same orthographical distinction as English does between divine Spirit and any other spirit. While the latter part of this article demonstrates that Arnold has surely been thinking of the Holy Spirit throughout, he initially uses the term Geist quite generally and in a way that is indistinguishable from its theological sense. Ultimately, whether spirit appears in uppercase or lowercase has been decided by the translators.

³ Gustav Landauer, “Aufruf zum Sozialismus (Teil 3),” https://www.anarchismus.at/anarchistische-klassiker/gustav-landauer/5914-gustav-landauer-aufruf-zum-sozialismus-teil-3. English translation taken from Gustav Landauer, “Call to Socialism,” https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/gustav-landauer-call-to-socialism, adjusted for gender-neutral language here and throughout.

⁴ Landauer, “Aufruf zum Sozialismus (Teil 3),” translated from the German. The other translation reads, “He needs, above all, pleasure in his activity itself, strong presence of his soul in the functions of his body.” Landauer, “Call.”

⁵ Gustav Landauer, “Aufruf zum Sozialismus (Teil 1),” https://www.anarchismus.at/anarchistische-klassiker/gustav-landauer/108-gustav-landauer-aufruf-zum-sozialismus-teil-1. Translation from Landauer, “Call.” Landauer’s claim is somewhat obscured in Arnold’s quote, namely, “There is no spirit linking all life with eternity. . .”—at least for the materialists that Landauer is speaking about. Nonetheless, while Landauer wants to reclaim spirit for anarchist socialism, his understanding of what this spirit is cannot be equated with the Spirit of the Christian tradition.

⁶ Gustav Landauer, “Aufruf zum Sozialismus (Teil 2),” https://www.anarchismus.at/anarchistische-klassiker/gustav-landauer/5913-gustav-landauer-aufruf-zum-sozialismus-teil-2, translated from German. The other translation begins, “Put such a plodder face to face with Jesus. . . .” Landauer, “Call.”

^{7 ­}Here Arnold draws on the biblical imagery of the church (replaced by humanity in this context) as Jesus’ body (see esp. 1 Cor. 12:12–27), of which Jesus is the head (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; cf. 1 Cor. 1:3).