Karl August Wittfogel
Encyclopedia
Karl August Wittfogel was a German-American playwright
, historian
, and sinologist. Originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany
, after the Second World War Wittfogel was an equally fierce anticommunist.
, in Lüchow
, Province of Hanover
. Wittfogel left school in 1914. He studied philosophy, history, sociology, geography at Leipzig University and also in Munich, Berlin and Rostock and in 1919 again in Berlin. From 1921 he studied sinology in Leipzig. In between Wittfogel was drafted into a Signal Corps Unit (Fernmeldeeinheit) in 1917
Before the First World War, he was the leader of the Lüneburg Wandervogel
group. In 1918, he set up the Lüneburg local of the radical Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
(USPD). In 1920, he joined the Communist Party of Germany
(KPD). Wittfogel met Karl Korsch
in 1920 and was invited to the 1923 conference that helped establish the Institute for Social Research
and from 1925 to 1933 was a member of the Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the Frankfurter Universität in 1928. All the time Wittfogel was an active and faithful member of the communist party and a vocal critic of all its enemies. When Hitler came to power
in 1933, Wittfogel tried to escape to Switzerland, but was arrested and interned in prisons and concentration camps. An international outcry led to his freedom in 1934.
He left Germany for England and then the United States. Wittfogel's belief in the Soviet Union was destroyed with the Hitler-Stalin alliance
, and he began to hate the totalitarian, "asiatic" nature of Russian and Chinese Communism from Lenin to Mao. He turned against his old comrades and denounced some of them, as well as American scholars such as Owen Lattimore
, at the McCarran Committee hearings in 1951. He came to believe that the state-owned economies of the Soviet bloc inevitably led to despotic governments even more oppressive than those of "traditional Asia" and that those regimes were the greatest threat to the future of all mankind.
Anthropologist Esther Schiff Goldfrank
became Wittfogel's wife in 1940. Wittfogel held academic positions at Columbia University
from 1939 and was professor for Chinese history at the University of Washington
from 1947 to 1966. He died on May 25, 1988.
Berlin Proletarian Theatre, and "Red Soldiers", "The Man Who Has an Idea", "The Mother", "The Refugee", "The Skyscraper" and "Who is the Biggest Fool?", all of which were published by Malik. Wittfogel declined an offer to become the dramatic producer of the revolutionary Volksbühne (People's Stage) in Berlin, because he wanted to concentrate on his academic studies. He published some long Hegelian essays on aesthetics and literature in Die Linkskurve, journal of the Association of Proletarian Revolutionary Writers, and was a member of its editorial staff from April 1930.
on China
and India
's "hydraulic-bureaucratic official-state" and building on Marx's sceptical view of the Asiatic Mode of Production
, Wittfogel came up with an analysis of Oriental despotism
which emphasized the role of irrigation works, the bureaucratic structures needed to maintain them and the impact that these had on society, coining the term "hydraulic empire
" to describe the system. In his view, many societies, mainly in Asia, relied heavily on the building of large-scale irrigation works. To do this, the state had to organize forced labor from the population at large. This required a large and complex bureaucracy staffed by competent and literate officials. This structure was uniquely placed to also crush civil society and any other force capable of mobilizing against the state. Such a state would inevitably be despotic, powerful, stable and wealthy.
Barrington Moore, George Lichtheim
and especially Pierre Vidal-Naquet
are among the noted scientists who wrote on Wittfogel. F. Tökei, Gianni Sofri, Maurice Godelier
and Wittfogel's estranged pupil Lawrence Krader
, then Maoist F. Kramer or Claus Leggewie/Helmut Raich concentrated on the concept. Two Berlin leaders of the SDS student movement, Rudi Dutschke
and Bernd Rabehl, have published on these themes. Then East German dissident Rudolf Bahro later said that his Alternative in Eastern Europe was based on ideas of Wittfogel, but because of the latter's later anti-communism, Wittfogel could not be mentioned by name. Bahro's later ecological ideas, recounted in From Red to Green and elsewhere were likewise inspired by Wittfogel's geographical determinism.
The Review of Politics : The Historical Position of Communist China: Doctrine and Reality, University of Notre Dame Press (1954)
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, and sinologist. Originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
, after the Second World War Wittfogel was an equally fierce anticommunist.
Biography
Karl August Wittfogel was born 6 September 1896 at WoltersdorfWoltersdorf, Lower Saxony
Woltersdorf is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.The municipality Woltersdorf includes the villages Woltersdorf, Klein Breese, Lichtenberg and Thurau....
, in Lüchow
Lüchow
Lüchow is a city in northeastern Lower Saxony, in Germany. It is the seat of the Samtgemeinde Lüchow , and is the capital of the district Lüchow-Dannenberg. Situated approximately 13 km north of Salzwedel, Lüchow is located on the German Framework Road...
, Province of Hanover
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation...
. Wittfogel left school in 1914. He studied philosophy, history, sociology, geography at Leipzig University and also in Munich, Berlin and Rostock and in 1919 again in Berlin. From 1921 he studied sinology in Leipzig. In between Wittfogel was drafted into a Signal Corps Unit (Fernmeldeeinheit) in 1917
Before the First World War, he was the leader of the Lüneburg Wandervogel
German Youth Movement
The German Youth Movement is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement included German Scouting and the Wandervogel...
group. In 1918, he set up the Lüneburg local of the radical Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
(USPD). In 1920, he joined the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(KPD). Wittfogel met Karl Korsch
Karl Korsch
-Biography:Korsch was born in Tostedt, near Hamburg, to Carl August Korsch, a secretary at the cantonal court and his wife Therese. In 1898 the family moved to Meiningen, Thuringia and Korsch senior attained the position of a managing clerk in a bank...
in 1920 and was invited to the 1923 conference that helped establish the Institute for Social Research
Institute for Social Research
The Institute for Social Research is a research organization for sociology and continental philosophy, best known as the institutional home of the Frankfurt School and critical theory....
and from 1925 to 1933 was a member of the Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the Frankfurter Universität in 1928. All the time Wittfogel was an active and faithful member of the communist party and a vocal critic of all its enemies. When Hitler came to power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933, Wittfogel tried to escape to Switzerland, but was arrested and interned in prisons and concentration camps. An international outcry led to his freedom in 1934.
He left Germany for England and then the United States. Wittfogel's belief in the Soviet Union was destroyed with the Hitler-Stalin alliance
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, and he began to hate the totalitarian, "asiatic" nature of Russian and Chinese Communism from Lenin to Mao. He turned against his old comrades and denounced some of them, as well as American scholars such as Owen Lattimore
Owen Lattimore
Owen Lattimore was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of Central Asia, especially Mongolia. In the 1930s he was editor of Pacific Affairs, a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and then taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1938 to 1963...
, at the McCarran Committee hearings in 1951. He came to believe that the state-owned economies of the Soviet bloc inevitably led to despotic governments even more oppressive than those of "traditional Asia" and that those regimes were the greatest threat to the future of all mankind.
Anthropologist Esther Schiff Goldfrank
Esther Schiff Goldfrank
Esther Schiff Goldfrank, 1896–1997, was an anthropologist of the famous German-American Schiff family. She had studied with Franz Boas and specialized in the Pueblo Indians. She worked closely with Elsie Clews Parsons and also with Ruth Benedict on the Blackfoot...
became Wittfogel's wife in 1940. Wittfogel held academic positions at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
from 1939 and was professor for Chinese history at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
from 1947 to 1966. He died on May 25, 1988.
Playwright
In the early 1920s, Wittfogel wrote a number of communist, but also somewhat expressionistic, plays: "The Cripple", performed with other short plays on October 14, 1920 at Erwin Piscator'sErwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
Berlin Proletarian Theatre, and "Red Soldiers", "The Man Who Has an Idea", "The Mother", "The Refugee", "The Skyscraper" and "Who is the Biggest Fool?", all of which were published by Malik. Wittfogel declined an offer to become the dramatic producer of the revolutionary Volksbühne (People's Stage) in Berlin, because he wanted to concentrate on his academic studies. He published some long Hegelian essays on aesthetics and literature in Die Linkskurve, journal of the Association of Proletarian Revolutionary Writers, and was a member of its editorial staff from April 1930.
The Asiatic Mode of Production
Wittfogel is best known for his monumental work Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power, first published in 1957. Starting from a Marxist analysis of the ideas of Max WeberMax Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
on China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's "hydraulic-bureaucratic official-state" and building on Marx's sceptical view of the Asiatic Mode of Production
Asiatic mode of production
The theory of the Asiatic mode of production was devised by Karl Marx around the early 1850s. The essence of the theory has been described as "[the] suggestion .....
, Wittfogel came up with an analysis of Oriental despotism
Oriental despotism
Oriental despotism is a term used to describe a despotic form of government that opposes the western tradition. Historically, the term's meaning has varied and today it is hardly ever used at all, largely because of all the issues surrounding the concept of orientalism.- Origins in Ancient Greece...
which emphasized the role of irrigation works, the bureaucratic structures needed to maintain them and the impact that these had on society, coining the term "hydraulic empire
Hydraulic empire
A hydraulic empire is a social or government structure which maintains power and control through exclusive control over access to water...
" to describe the system. In his view, many societies, mainly in Asia, relied heavily on the building of large-scale irrigation works. To do this, the state had to organize forced labor from the population at large. This required a large and complex bureaucracy staffed by competent and literate officials. This structure was uniquely placed to also crush civil society and any other force capable of mobilizing against the state. Such a state would inevitably be despotic, powerful, stable and wealthy.
Barrington Moore, George Lichtheim
George Lichtheim
George Lichtheim was a German-born intellectual whose works focused on the history and theory of socialism and Marxism. He defined himself as a socialist and stated in a 1964 letter to the New York Review of Books that "I am not a liberal and never have been...
and especially Pierre Vidal-Naquet
Pierre Vidal-Naquet
Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet was a French historian who began teaching at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in 1969....
are among the noted scientists who wrote on Wittfogel. F. Tökei, Gianni Sofri, Maurice Godelier
Maurice Godelier
Born in Cambrai, France in 28 February 1934, Maurice Godelier is one of the most influential names in French anthropology. Directeur d'études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales...
and Wittfogel's estranged pupil Lawrence Krader
Lawrence Krader
Lawrence Krader was an important American socialist anthropologist and ethnologist. At the Philosophy Department of the City College of New York from 1936 onwards he studied Aristotle with Abraham Edel, Leibniz with Philipp P. Wiener and mathematical logic and linguistics with Alfred Tarski...
, then Maoist F. Kramer or Claus Leggewie/Helmut Raich concentrated on the concept. Two Berlin leaders of the SDS student movement, Rudi Dutschke
Rudi Dutschke
Alfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated 'a long march through the institutions' of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery...
and Bernd Rabehl, have published on these themes. Then East German dissident Rudolf Bahro later said that his Alternative in Eastern Europe was based on ideas of Wittfogel, but because of the latter's later anti-communism, Wittfogel could not be mentioned by name. Bahro's later ecological ideas, recounted in From Red to Green and elsewhere were likewise inspired by Wittfogel's geographical determinism.
Selected Works (in German)
- Vom Urkommunismus bis zur proletarischen Revolution, Eine Skizze der Entwicklung der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft, 1. Teil: Urkommunismus und Feudalismus, Verlag Junge Garde, Berlin C 2, 1922, 79 p.
- Die Wissenschaft der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Eine marxistische Untersuchung, Malik, Berlin, 1922
- Geschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Von ihren Anfängen bis zur Schwelle der großen Revolution, Malik, Wien, 1924
- Das erwachende China, Ein Abriß der Geschichte und der gegenwärtigen Probleme Chinas, AGIS Verlag, Wien, 1926
- Shanghai- Kanton, Vereinigung Internationale Verlags-Anstalten, Berlin, 1927
- Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Chinas, Versuch der wissenschaftlichen Analyse einer großen asiatischen Agrargesellschaft, Hirschfeld, Leipzig, 1931, XXIV, 767 P. (=Schriften des Instituts für Sozialforschung der Universität Frankfurt am Main, No. 3)
- Die natürlichen Ursachen der Wirtschaftsgeschichte, in: Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, 67, 1932, pp. 466-492, 597-609, 711-731.
- Die Theorie der orientalischen Gesellschaft, in: Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, Alcan, Paris, 1938
Interviews
- “Conversations with Wittfogel”. Telos 43 (Spring 1980). Telos Press, New York.
Plays
- Julius Haidvogel (= K. A. Wittfogel), Der Krüppel (The Cripple). in: Der Gegner, Vol. 2, Nr. 4, Malik, Berlin, 1920, p. 94ff..
- Rote Soldaten. Politische Tragödie in fünf Akten (Red Soldiers), Malik, Berlin, 1921
- Der Mann der eine Idee hat. Erotisches Schauspiel in vier Akten (The Man Who Has an Idea), Malik, Berlin, 1922, and 1933
- Die Mutter - Der Flüchtling. Zwei Einakter (The Mother & The Refugee, 2 one-act plays, Malik, Berlin, 1922
- Wer ist der Dümmste? Eine Frage an das Schicksal in einem Vorspiel und vier Akten. (Who is the Biggest Fool?), Malik, Berlin, 1923
- Gustav von Wangenheim, Da liegt der Hund begraben und andere Stücke, Aus dem Repertoire der Truppe 31, Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg, 1974
- Der Wolkenkratzer. Amerikanischer Sketch (The Skyscraper), Malik, 1924
Works (in English)
- The Foundations and Stages of Chinese Economic History, Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Alcan, Paris, 4, 1935, p. 26-60.
- New Light on Chinese Society; An Investigation of China's Socio-Economic Structure, Institute of Pacific Relations, New York, 1938
- The Society of Prehistoric China, Alcan, Paris, 1939
- Meteorological Records from the Divination Inscriptions of Shang, American Geographical Society (1940)
- Public Office in the Liao Dynasty and the Chinese Examination System ..., Harvard-Yenching Institute (1947)
- With Feng Chia-sheng et al., History of Chinese Society, Liao, 907-1125, American Philosophical Society, Transactions. Distributed by the Macmillan Co., New York, 1949
- With Chia-shêng Fêng and Karl H. Menges, History of Chinese society : Liao (907-1125). Appendix V, Qara-Khitay 1949
- Russia and Asia : Problems of Contemporary Area Studies and International Relations, 1950
- Asia's Freedom...and the Land Question 1950
- The influence of Leninism-Stalinism on China, 1951?
The Review of Politics : The Historical Position of Communist China: Doctrine and Reality, University of Notre Dame Press (1954)
- Mao Tse-tung, Liberator or Destroyer of the Chinese Peasants?, Free Trade Union Committee, American Federation of Labor, New York, 1955
- The Hydraulic Civilizations Chicago, 1956
- Oriental Despotism; a Comparative Study of Total Power Yale University Press, 1957
- Class Structure and Total Power in Oriental Despotism, 1960
- Results and Problems of the Study of Oriental Despotism 1969
- Chinese Society : An Historical Survey, 1957
- The New Men, Hong Kong, 1958?
- Food and Society in China and India, New York, 1959
- Peking's "Independence (1959)
- The Marxist View of Russian Society and Revolution, 1960
- Viewer's Guide to From Marx to Mao, University of Washington (1960)
- The Legend of Maoism, 1960?
- Class Structure and Total Power in Oriental Despotism, 1960
- A Stronger Oriental Despotism 1960
- The Russian and Chinese Revolutions : A Socio-Historical Comparison 1961
- The Marxist View of China China Quarterly, 1962
- Agrarian Problems and the Moscow-Peking Axis, 1962
- A Short History of Chinese Communism, University of Washington, 1964
- The Chinese Red Guards and the "Lin Piao Line, American-Asian Educational Exchange, Inc. (1967)
- Results and Problems of the Study of Oriental Despotism 1969
- Agriculture: a Key to the Understanding of Chinese Society, Past and Present, Australian National University Press, 1970
- Communist and Non-Communist Agrarian Systems, with Special Reference to the U.S.S.R. and Communist China, a Comparative Approach Univ. of Washington Press, Seattle, 1971
- The Hydraulic Approach to Pre-spanish Mesoamerica, Austin, 1972
- Some Remarks on Mao's Handling of Concepts and Problems of Dialectics, University of Washington. Far Eastern and Russian Institute, not dated
On Wittfogel
- G. L. Ulmen, The Science of Society, Towards an Understanding of the Life and Work of Karl August Wittfogel, Mouton, The Hague, 1978
- G. L. Ulmen, ed., Society and History, Essays in Honor of Karl August Wittfogel, Mouton, The Hague, 1978, ISBN 9027977763