for radical change, indirectlygavecredencetothe other workers’movements, es-
pecially anarcho-syndicalism, from which the SPD separated officiallyinthe
Second International, and cast doubt on the determinist view of history promot-
ed in the name of scientific socialism.
The following examples servetoillustrate this close connection between the
nineteenth-century habitus of self-sacrifice and moral judgmentestablished in
the name of Marxism and Social Democracy.During his 1872 trial for hightrea-
son,Wilhelm Liebknecht proudlydeclared:“Ihavenever soughtmy own politi-
cal advantage; whenever there wasachoice betweenmy interests and principles,
Inever hesitated to sacrificemy interests. IfIamimpoverished after outrageous
harassments, there is no shame in it–no,Iamproud of it,because it is the most
tellingtestimonytomypolitical honor.”²⁷At the 1890 party convention in Halle,
he went on to formulateageneral theory of socialism basedonthis practice of
selflessness:
Do we not have what accounts for the powerofreligion, namelybelief in the highest ideals?
Does socialism not represent the highest morality:selflessness, sacrifice, and loveofhu-
manity?[...]Duringthe years of the Anti-Socialist Laws we happilymade the greatest sac-
rifice[...]simplytoservethe cause. In that sense it was religion, [ ...]the religion of human-
kind.It was the belief in the victory of everythinggood and of the idea: the unshakeable
conviction and the steadfast belief that justice must triumph and injustice disappear.We
will never lose this religion because it is one with socialism.²⁸Liebknecht invokes the ethos of individual sacrifice to present socialism as the
legitimate heir of religion, an argument that confirms his intellectual and emo-
tional formation in the nineteenth century.Insodoing,healsoshowcases the
virtue of humility and the ethos of suffering,includingtheir transformative ef-
fects. How thisreligious languagesometimes acquiredamore ecstatic tone
can be seen inacontribution by EmilBarth (1879–1941),ametalworker turned
council member, who was inspired by the revolutionary months in 1918/19tocall
for anauthenticallyChristian solidarity
not onlyanchored in the minds,but also in the hearts,the kind of solidarity that alone en-
titlesaman to call himselfasocialist,that withawareness and joy propels himto moveQuoted inWilhelm Liebknecht,Sein Leben undWirken,ed. Kurt Eisner,second enlargeded-
ition (Berlin:Vorwärts,1906),75.
Wilhelm Liebknecht,“Protokoll über dieVerhandlungen des Parteitages des Sozialdemokra-
tischen Partei Deutschlands,Halle an der Saale, 12–18 October 1890,”quoted in Brigitte Emig,
DieVeredelung des Arbeiters: Sozialdemokratie als Kulturbewegung(Frankfurt am Main: Campus,
1980), 94.
Emotional Socialism and Sentimental Masculinity 77