Main social law

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Rudolf Steiner names the following main social law which must underlie all human work if it is to prove beneficial to the social organism:

„The welfare of a totality of people working together is the greater, the less the individual claims the proceeds of his achievements for himself, that is, the more he gives away of these proceeds to his co-workers, and the more his own needs are satisfied not from his achievements but from the achievements of others.“ (Lit.:GA 34, p. 213)

The main social law as the basis of a healthy economic life

The main social law forms the basis for a healthy, fraternal economic life in the sense of social threefolding.

„All institutions within a totality of human beings which contradict this law must, in the long run, produce misery and distress somewhere - This principal law applies to social life with such exclusiveness and necessity as only any law of nature applies in relation to any certain sphere of natural effects. But we must not think that it is enough to regard this law as a general moral one, or to translate it into the idea that every man should work in the service of his fellow-men. No, in reality the law only lives as it should live if a totality of people succeeds in creating such institutions that no one can ever claim the fruits of his own labour for himself, but that these can, as far as possible, benefit the totality without remainder. He himself must in turn be sustained by the labour of his fellow men. What matters, then, is that working for one's fellow-men and earning a certain income are two quite separate things.“ (Lit.:GA 34, p. 213)

„For whoever really examines life can find that every human community which exists anywhere, or which has only ever existed, has two kinds of institutions. One of these two parts corresponds to this law, the other contradicts it. This is how it must be everywhere, regardless of whether people want it or not. For every totality would immediately disintegrate if the work of the individual did not flow into the whole. But human egoism has always thwarted this law. It has sought to extract as much as possible from the work of the individual. And only that which has emerged in this way from egoism has always resulted in hardship, poverty and misery.“ (Lit.:GA 34, p. 213f)

„It is clear that this law says nothing less than this: The less egoism, the greater is human welfare. In order to translate this law into reality, it is therefore necessary to deal with people who find their way out of egoism. But this is practically quite impossible if the measure of the weal and woe of the individual is determined by his work. He who works for himself must gradually fall into egoism. Only he who works entirely for others can gradually become an unegoistic worker.“ (Lit.:GA 34, p. 214)

Basic Sociological Law and Main Social Law

The second law formulated by Rudolf Steiner in this context is the "basic sociological law":

„Mankind strives in the beginning of cultural states for the emergence of social associations; the interest of the individual is first sacrificed to the interest of these associations; further development leads to the liberation of the individual from the interest of the associations and to the free development of the needs and powers of the individual.“ (Lit.:GA 31, p. 255f)

„And now, finally, something about what has been brought forward about the two social laws as I have formulated them, that of individualism and that of socialism[1]. I have formulated the one law in connection with the book by Ludwig Stein[2] [...] Now, anyone who can see through social contexts today knows - even if it looks different at first - that the person who manufactures a skirt for himself today does not actually produce it in reality. That he produces it - in an area where we have such a far-reaching division of labour today - is only an illusion, because what he produces is consumed by himself. But this law of social life is quite valid. Things are such that this law can only be consciously realised by those who break away from the associations and become individuals. These two things are perhaps contradictory in the abstract; in reality they demand each other and belong together. Individuality would first have to detach itself from the associations so that the social could realise itself out of individuality. That is the solution to the riddle in this case.“ (Lit.:GA 337b, p. 49ff)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ cf. basic sociological law
  2. ↑ Ludwig Stein (1859-1930): «Die soziale Frage im Lichte der Philosophie. Vorlesungen über Sozialphilosophie und ihre Geschichte», Stuttgart 1897
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