Socialist Mysticism, Mystical Socialism: Social Reform and Alternative Religiosity in the Decades Around 1900
Since the nineteenth century, religious and socialist movements have intersected in complex ways. Previous research has shown that socialist movements were often perceived as “heretical” and “mystical,” and that they overlapped with alternative religious movements such as Spiritualism and Theosophy. However, such connections remain largely unexplored in religious studies. The project fills this research gap by tracing the links between religion and socialism in the decades around 1900.
One sub-project by Konstantin Moser is dedicated to the transformation of Jewish messianism from Moses Hess (1812–1875) to Martin Buber (1878–1965), while the other sub-project by Felix Janina Gräsche focuses on the work of Gustav Landauer (1870–1919) and Hugo Ball (1886–1927). A doctoral project by Mikheil Kakabadze at the University of Stockholm, which deals with Ernst Bloch (1885–1977), is closely associated with the DFG project.
The “mystical” conceptions of “socialism” that can be found in the sources are explained in their religious-historical context, which opens up new perspectives on the authors’ work as well as on larger developments at the interface of religion and socialism. In addition, a critical analysis of the terms “socialism,” “mysticism,” “esotericism,” and “occultism” in contemporary social reform circles will make a critical contribution to the theoretical and terminological repertoire of religious studies.
The project is headed by Prof. Dr. Julian Strube.
Doctoral project by Konstantin Moser, M.A.
Metamorphoses of Messianism – An Entangled History between Jewish Saint-Simonism and Moses Hess in the Context of Socialist Religion
In the Vormärz period there were heated debates within the Jewish community about a “renewal” of Judaism, which were marked by the promise of emancipation, but also by uncertainty about what the phenomenon of “religion” actually meant in times of secularization. This period of social and intellectual upheaval also saw the emergence of early socialism in Germany and France, where various approaches were developed that sought to combine criticism of religion with the intention of returning it to its ‘original’ social, subversive content and creating a secular ‘new religion’.
In this context, I examine the work of Moses Hess (1812-1875), an early Jewish socialist, pioneer communist, and visionary of Zionism, who was active in many places, but who had a central domain of activity in Paris from 1853 onwards, after his escape from Germany. My thesis is that by reevaluating the French context, the background behind his messianic hope for the realization of a ‘social religion’ or ‘religion of the future’, which signaled the conclusion of the French Revolution, as well as the ‘resurrection’ of the Jewish people, can be presented in a light that does justice to its complexity – not least by taking into account the early socialist school of thought known as Saint-Simonism, which was very influential in France and had a significant impact on the religious search and debate about a ‘new religion’ after 1850. Based on Hess's contributions (among others) to the Saint-Simonian journal Revue philosophique et religieuse, as well as articles and manuscripts written in the context of his involvement with Freemasonry, which have received little attention to date, this project specifically investigates the significance of radical, alternative religious milieus in the Parisian underground for the development of Hess's ideas, which is unexpectedly linked to the messianic politicization of French Judaism during the Second Empire.
The transfer and exchange of ideas with French socialist intellectuals in exile, such as the Jewish Freemason and Saint-Simonian Gustave d'Eichthal, played a central role in revealing a way out of a lifelong conflict of Hess: to reconcile his two great passions, socialism and Judaism, which from the outset had had an ambivalent, at times hostile relationship with each other.
To the homepage of Konstantin Moser.
Doctoral project by Felix Janina Gräsche, Mag.Theol.
Critical Religiosity: On the Relationship between Mysticism and Socialism in Gustav Landauer and Hugo Ball
As part of the DFG project “Socialist Mysticism, Mystical Socialism,” the relationship between mysticism and socialism is being examined on the basis of the works of Gustav Landauer and Hugo Ball. The methodological focus is on historical reconstruction and critical analysis of the concepts and motifs
Gustav Landauer (1870–1919) was a socialist writer (“Die Revolution,” “Aufruf zum Sozialismus,” “Skepsis und Mystik,” editor of the magazine “Der Sozialist”) and political actor in the German Empire and the Munich Soviet Republic of 1919. As a Jew, he also studied medieval Christian mysticism (Meister Eckhart) and Hasidic mysticism.
Hugo Ball (1886–1927) is best known for his leading role in the emergence of the DADA art movement (founding the “Cabaret Voltaire” together with Emmy Hennings, “Galerie DADA”), his sound poems (“Karawane”) and as a biographer of Hermann Hesse. However, he also wrote political and theological works (“Zur Kritik der Deutschen Intelligenz” and “Byzantinisches Christentum: Three Lives of the Saints”), which are of particular interest for this study.
Both works contain references to mystical literature and the inclusion of mystical motifs, as well as a socialist-influenced critique of society. The research examines the interface between socialist thought and mystical religiosity in the critique of (bourgeois) society. It also examines the relationship between institutionalized religion and the state (German Empire and Weimar Republic), as well as the intellectual milieus in which Gustav Landauer and Hugo Ball moved (including Martin Buber, Margarete Susman, Erich Mühsam).
To the homepage of Felix Janina Gräsche.
Associated doctoral project of Mikheil Kakabadze, M.A. (Stockholm University)
Apocalypse, Religion, and Marxism in the 20th Century: Revolution and Revelation in the Work of Ernst Bloch.
Link to the project page