Agrarian conservatism in Germany
Romantic, reactionary ideology seeking a return to pastoral life.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Agrarian conservatism in Germany was a branch of conservative thought that initially lost ground before the Nazi Party came to power, but many of its adherents and the Bund der Landwirte (BdL) later supported or accommodated the Nazi regime. It grew out of an earlier "Reactionary" tradition, guided by Romantic ideals. Its followers felt bitter about Germany’s current state and longed to bring back a simpler, rural way of life. Landowning elites united under this vision by creating the Bund der Landwirte, an organization meant to defend what they saw as Germany’s true heritage and its most vital industry: farming.
- known_for
- Rejection of Enlightenment thought, nostalgia for pre-Enlightenment agrarian society, opposition to the German Republic, and initial support for or accommodation of the Third Reich
Lore & Background
German agrarian conservatives rejected the newly-emergent habit of constantly questioning the status quo that followed the Aufklärung. They insisted that 'enlightened' thought was dominated by perverse skepticism, immorality, and the undermining of authority. By the late nineteenth century, the conservative ideology had fragmented, and some conservatives adopted Romantic views, composing their dictums with strong senses of nostalgia. Agrarian conservatives expressed both bitterness for the present condition of the German state and a yearning for a return to a more organic, pastoral sense of life.
Reader's Guide
Agrarian conservatism in Germany is significant as a distinct branch of reactionary conservatism that sought not to preserve the current status quo but to replace it with an earlier, idealized agrarian society. Its adherents, ranging from revolutionary conservatives like Oswald Spengler to Junkers like Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, united in their lust for the destruction of the German Republic and hope for a pre-Enlightenment society. The ideology was outlawed under Hitler and the Third Reich, but figures like Friedrich Reck continued its mantle. Its legacy lies in its radical opposition to both liberal democracy and Nazism, and in its influence on the 20 July plot to kill Hitler. The ideology underscores the tension within conservatism between preserving order and actively seeking to overturn a despised present.
Did You Know?
- Agrarian conservatives formed the Bund der Landwirte (BdL) to represent Germany's farming sector.
- Influential figures included Junker landowners and conservative intellectuals who championed rural traditionalism.
- Many agrarian conservatives and the BdL initially supported or accommodated the Nazi regime.
- Friedrich Reck's Diary of a Man in Despair is a critique of Nazi ideology, not a catalog of the worldview of agrarian conservatives.
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