MIA > Archive > Lassalle > Voices of Revolt
Written: As a speech in German, May 17th, 1863.
Published in English: 1927.
Translated by: Jakob Altmeier (presumed).
Source: Voices of Revolt: Speeches of Ferdinand Lassalle. International Publishers, first edition, 1927, New York, USA. 94 pages.
Transcription and Markup: Bill Wright for marxists.org, February, 2023
You German workers are funny fellows! When one addresses meetings of French and English workers, one tells them how they may remedy their sad situation; but, in talking to you, one must first make you see that your situation is a sad one. As long as you still have a piece of cheap sausage and a glass of beer, you are blind to your surroundings and do not even know that there is anything wrong! This is what comes of this damned frugality of yours! How — will be your answer — is not frugality a virtue? No doubt, in the eyes of the Christian preachers of morals, no doubt frugality is a virtue! Frugality is a virtue of the Hindu saint on his pillar, and of the Christian monk; but the virtue that is appreciated by the historian and the political economist is a far different one. Ask any political economist what is the greatest misfortune of a people and he will answer: to be over-frugal in its requirements! For its needs and requirements are the goads to its evolution and culture. . . .
The virtue of the present-day — the day of political economy — is to have as many needs as possible and to fulfill them in an honest and decent manner! Until you understand this fact I shall have preached to you in vain!
—From a speech delivered at Frankfort-on-the-Main, May 17, 1863
Last updated on 2 February 2023