It was to have appeared in Berlin in the autumn of 1933, but the frightful catastrophe which happened in Germany-and which today threatens ever more and more to grow into a world catastrophe-put an abrupt end there to all free discussion of social problems. This work was originally intended for a German circle of readers. Here are the paths that must be traveled, the mountains that must be climbed, the voices that must be harkened to, and the vistas that must engage our continued gaze, if free men are to inhabit our planet. However, the outstanding merit of this work is the clarity with which the avenues of freedom are outlined. We are ruled, even now, by all the civilizations and cultures that have ever reigned and held sway on the planet.Įach succeeding chapter will reveal, with growing insight, how the present is related, bound and guided by all our yesterdays. The reader comprehending its pages will enjoy a clear insight of world problems as the events of each succeeding reference reflect that sum total of the political, economic and social forces of all the centuries. Those whoĬherish freedom cannot afford to fail in availing themselves of the opportunity to make a long and careful study of these pages they contain the message of the century. Also, the reader has presented to him the political and strong-arm organizations that are ever present to destroy. This volume sets forth the requisites for the necessary soil that fosters true culture. This releases “a natural instinct that impels them to virtuous conduct and restrains them from vice, which instinct they call honor.”
Culture is the quintessence of an environment that creates free men, well born, well educated, associating with decent company.
How can such a process go forward in forms that will afford a shared and responsible freedom for all? Our answer is: Culture. Man longs to be free, hopes for security, experiences new joys at the opening of every new vista that promises a greater release of the physical, intellectual and emotional life. The resultant value of this process of research is culture. The Rocker Publications Committee is committed to an unbroken and never-swerving devotion to the faith that man’s salvation must be mined out of the depths of life itself. The Greeks believed that by reasoning man could solve life’s problems, including the chaos and ills that ever surround the advancing steps of the pioneers of the leaders of each new Age. The darkened horizon, added to enforced meditation that comes to those who care and to a part of society that will never relinquish hope for a better and surer tomorrow, seems to necessitate a re-examination of possible solutions in the realm of culture. This mental state of the world has come about because the race of men on earth have lost their confidence in the old solutions for the present and immediate ills that threaten the very continued existence of our institutions and-of man himself. In some sections of our society we notice a revival of cults, in other parts there is a definite return to faiths and mysticisms carrying varying hope and longing, combined in many instances with deep and unexamined superstition. Humanity seems to detect rumblings deep-seated and widespread that portend potential disaster for our commg tomorrows. The whole framework of society the world over is creaking. Thoughtful men and women are ill at ease at this hour.
The Goal and Aspirations of the Rocker Publications Committee This work is dedicated to Milly Witcop-Rocker my wife, my friend, my comrade in all these years of struggle for freedom and social justice. All-caps is annoying but these are a stylistic choice on the author’s part and it should be preserved. As such, this neither a regular paragraph with sentences nor a epigraph quote section. It seems this is a stylistic choice on part of the author as it is present in both the Black Rose version and the Rocker Publication Committee version. TO FUTURE EDITORS: Please do not format out the all-caps topics section at the beginning of each paragraph.