‘GRADE, WEIL ICH MICH ALS DEUTSCHEN FÜHLE’: THE PROGRESSIVE PATRIOTISM OF DIE WELTBÜHNE

Abstract

This article investigates the under-researched phenomenon of left-wing patriotism through the prism of the Weimar-era weekly journal Die Weltbühne. Drawing on my recently completed doctoral thesis on this subject, I argue that patriotism and nationalism must be understood as two separate concepts capable of being driven by contrasting political agendas. To this end, I first critically examine a handful of canonical studies of nationalism and patriotism, pointing out a pronounced tendency in scholarship both to equate the two and to undermine the basis for existence of any form of patriotism. I then trace the origins of left-wing German patriotism back to the early nineteenth century, briefly considering two texts by Heinrich Heine, Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen and Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland, before turning to my case study. Choosing a small but representative number of texts from the journal's expansive corpus, I set out the three pillars on which my analysis depends: regionalism, internationalism and socialism. In so doing, I demonstrate the need to revise our understanding both of the position of Die Weltbühne within Weimar journalism and of the potential of patriotism to serve progressive political ends.