death and annihilation to capitalism. All the attempts to guide the ship of capitalism by skilful tacking, by a cunning coöperation of church and school, safely between the Scylla of too low an intelligence which would be too great an impediment to exploitation and would make the proletarian even unfit as a beast of burden, and the Charybdis of an education which revolutionizes the minds of the exploited, enabling them to grasp their class-interests in their entirety and necessarily bringing destruction to capitalism, must end in dreary and hopeless failure. It is only the East Elbian[1] farmhands (who still may be, as was once said, the most stupid workers indeed and the best workers—for the junkers, be it noted) who largely furnish militarism with human material that can be commanded in herds without trouble, purely like slaves, but can be used to advantage in the army only with care and within certain limits, on account of an intelligence which is even too low for militarism.
- ↑ A word coined in Germany to describe those parts of Prussia situated east of the river Elbe, the home of the Prussian junkers. [Translator.]
