Difficult (Re-)Alignments – Comparative Perspectives on Social Democracy and Religion from Late-nineteenth century to Interwar Germany and Britain

Abstract

The attitudes of British and German socialists vis-a-vis religion before the First World War has been described by one of the most eminent scholars in the field of the history of religion, Hugh McLeod, as being diametrically opposed – German socialists were largely secular, irreligious and anti-clerical whereas within British socialism, Christianity, especially dissenting Protestantism, was a far more important streak. In this article I would like to modulate the stark contrast contained in this commonly held view by looking at a slightly different time frame than McLeod, and by emphasizing more the ambiguities and uncertainties of that relationship between socialism and religion in both countries. It shall be argued that a longer-term positive relationship between religion and socialism in Britain can be juxtaposed with a rapprochement between the forces of religion and socialism in interwar Germany. Hence the article will provide a cross-country diachronic comparison of the relationship between religion and socialism in Britain and Germany. It will highlight, in particular, a common utopianism of religion and socialism, that could also be called utopianism of the social ethics of the Sermon on the Mount; attempts to forge socialism as new religion shall be examined on the subsequent pages.