Kulturkampf (The Struggle for Civilization)
Bismarck, who did not want to offend local interests and who left the army essentially autonomous, worried very much about the internal dangers to the new nation. What do I mean by "internal dangers?" Well, radicals, of course; and anyone else who might have been opposed to Bismarck's policies! He therefore sought to establish the supremacy of the state by moving against two apparently vulnerable groups likely to oppose Prussian policies: first the Catholic Church, and then the Socialist party. Bismarck moved first against the Catholic Church by launching a program rather grandiosely named the "Kulturkampf"—or the Struggle for Civilization—essentially an attack on the power of the largest Church in western Europe—and one that, not coincidentally, was closely aligned with Austrian power. The conflict—or struggle—with the Catholic Church centered on new laws requiring official German state approval of church appointments, state supervision of Catholic education even in seminaries, and the abolition of religious orders. Many of these measures were part of the secularization common throughout Europe, but others were an effort at "Germanization" intended to weaken anti-Prussian/pro-Austrian sentiment. Remember, many of the south German states that were absorbed into the Second Reich were heavily Catholic and traditionally sympathetic towards Austria, making them a formidable minority in the new Reich. Bismarck was determined to neutralize any potential threat from this quarter. The majority of these "Kulturkampf" laws were passed between 1873 and 1875—at a time when the Church appeared intransigently opposed to modern society; as a consequence, the measures won the support of National Liberals, industrialists, many conservative Lutherans, and a great proportion of the Left.
Despite this support, the Kulturkampf was not a success. The severity of the laws and the harshness with which they were carried out made martyrs of many priests and nuns. Bishops who were expelled under these laws fled abroad and into exile in friendly Roman Catholic countries. Instead of breaking the Catholic spirit, Bismarck had succeeded in rallying the Catholic population around the church. They were also increasingly expressing themselves politically—the Catholic Center Party steadily gained votes in Reichstag elections. The Kulturkampf had backfired.
Bismarck saw his chance to backpedal when the more flexible Leo XIII became pope in 1878. The Chancellor quickly sought an understanding with the Vatican—one in which he agreed to allow the most offensive laws to lapse in exchange for a relaxation of organized Catholic opposition. Mind you, it wasn't only the Catholics who were getting the better of Bismarck. Indeed, in the larger scheme of things, the chancellor had bigger fish to fry—the growing socialist contingent in Germany. Socialism itself did not offend Bismarck either in its attacks on laissez faire or in its emphasis upon the social role of the state, and he had gotten on well with the leading German socialist of the 1860s, Ferdinand Lassalle. But as socialists sought to win mass support following their attacks on autocracy, the military and nationalism seemed more dangerous. In 1878 two attempts to assassinate the Kaiser (neither by a socialist and neither successful) gave Bismarck his chance, and he called for laws repressing socialism.
The Reichstag refused to comply with Bismarck's order to come up with anti-socialist laws, however, and the election of 1878 was fought largely on that issue, with conservatives and the Center party gaining some seats. As a result, the Reichstag banned most socialist publications, prohibited socialist meetings except under police supervision, and forbade public collections for socialist causes. Stripped of their means of disseminating information; unable to meet without being under close police scrutiny or even being heckled; and unable to raise funds for their party, the German Social Democrats were now forced underground, and another important element of German society learned to hate and fear the German state. Within the Reichstag, however, socialists remained free to speak, and their party gained support with every election.
The abandonment of the Kulturkampf and the offensive against socialists were part of a larger realignment in German politics. Having preserved their strength, the conservatives and Catholics who had resisted the new Germany came to accept it, while liberals—torn between Bismarck's accomplishments and their old principles—grew weaker. Economic troubles, the effect of both the nation's rapid growth and a European agricultural depression, also helped forge a pro-Bismarck coalition more durable than any based on persecution. In 1879, demands for a higher tariff led both the Chancellor and the Reichstag to agree upon stronger protective tariffs on both manufactured and agricultural goods. The majority supporting that measure included Junker landlords, Rhineland industrialists, and the more nationalist liberals, split once again from the doctrinaire comrades. Bismarck was finding a formula to draw together the most powerful interest groups in German society in support of a conservative state under his strong leadership.