Johann Plenge and “The Ideas of 1914.” Towards National Socialism?

As soon as 1914, Germany had to plan the provision of all available raw materials. This new reality of a planned economy had to be given a framework. A whole set of writings ensued which claimed the end of the liberal thought in the wake of the so-called “ideas of 1914”. Among others, J. Plenge (1874-1963), a Professor of Economics at Munster University, fueled this line of thinking and set out his very optimistic vision of the future. The war would pave the way to a new golden age under a planned (or “organized”) economy and lead Germany to socialism. How influential were actually the works of Plenge on his contemporaries? Plenge was a proponent of a third way between capitalism and socialism but he should not be considered as a forerunner of the economic organization of the nazi regime. And although Lenin was aware of his works, Plenge did not really influence the Bolshevik leader.