Reactions to Political Events

Abstract

If, in spite of Kraus’s deep concern about the war it still can be said that he was relatively apolitical, it must first of all be pointed out that he did not see in the war the result of bad politics. Both the war and contemporary politics were to him rather symptoms of the same tragic state of human affairs. Contemporary politics, concerned with mere technicalities, was by far the less important of the two. He refused to subscribe to the ideals of any political organization, since he was, to be sure, willing to carry the responsibility for his own beliefs, but not for the proclamations and deeds of any organization. Besides, he did not expect health from curing symptoms; in any political situation, selfishness was bound to be paramount, as long as the basic moral energy on which Kraus concentrated his efforts was not better developed. Kraus retreated only slightly from this radically apolitical position when, at the beginning of the republican era, he admitted that smoothly running political affairs did make for smoother mechanics of life.¹