Political Obligations of German Youth: Speech before the Members of the University Ring of the German Spirit in Würzburg, 26th February 1924

Abstract

The publication is a translation of the speech Politische Pflichten der deutschen Jugend (Political Obligations of German Youth) addressed by Oswald Spengler to the students. It addresses the issues regarding Germany’s political future at the time. This address took place in 1924, at the very beginning of that relatively prosperous period which later became known in the country’s historiography as the "Golden Twenties." The speech covers a wide range of cultural, economic, domestic political, and international issues that Germany faced after the First World War. Despite the signs of stabilization that had emerged, Spengler expresses profound alarm and concern regarding the situation in the country. He analyses the consequences of the war and notes the decline of the state's significance on the world stage and domestic autonomy, the increasing economic, political, and ideological influence of foreign powers, and the inability of the national German movement to counter it. By pointing to the weakness, incompetence, and self-interest of political leaders, and criticizing national narcissism and a narrow political horizon, Spengler insists on the necessity of seriously learning the art of politics and offers the youth a program of action which, in his conviction, was to lead to a genuine revival of the country. The translation is based on the collection Politische Schriften (Political works) of 1934. In this publication, Spengler included twice as many references to the second volume of his work Der Untergang des Abendlandes: Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte (The Decline of the Western World) as in the first edition of the speech, which appeared in 1924. In the preface to the collection, he emphasized that the references in the text are given for a revised version of the famous two-volume book.