Collective Conscience as the Fundamental Basis for a Morally Ordered Civil Society
The communist leaders of Eastern Europe had a knack for building monumental structures. From massive office and apartment towers in the style of “Soviet classical realism” to the various sculptures of brave World War II soldiers and anti-Nazi civilians commemorating communist heroism and victory, the architectural vestiges of communism are still very much visible across the East. Yet, in the anti-communist drives of the wildly capitalist post-Cold War atmosphere, many in the East have been busy tearing down these last remainders of their dark past.
For some reason, East Berlin proves to be a startling exception to the trend. The communist victory monuments and showpiece TV towers have not only been maintained after the collapse of the East German regime, the government and the people of the united Federal Republic have come to embrace them as symbols of reunification. Unlike in the other parts of the East, the communist past have not been simply and completely denounced in the negative superlatives of “utter oppression” and “thorough poverty.”
That is not to say that the Germans do not have a sense of reality like the other Eastern Europeans. Berlin was the absolute center stage of Cold War standoff in Europe, with large numbers of protests, demonstrations, escape attempts, persecutions, and executions related to the decade-old conflict. However, the Berliners have not forgotten that it was the Soviets who liberated their city from the Nazis, and it was also the Soviets who numerically suffered the most in the hands of the Nazi war machine.
All things have their positive and negative aspects, and it is necessary to separate the two, denouncing the negatives while praising the positives. While decades of American anti-communist propaganda have made speaking NOT critically about the Soviets as something practically political forbidden, here in the political heart of Germany where the detrimental effects of Cold War is much more deeply felt, there instead seems to be truly and widely accepted and practiced sense of objectivism in judging the events and actors of the past.
A short observation of everyday life here in Germany, and to a lesser extent, her southern brethren Austria, can make one feel that it is entrenched social practice for the public to automatically follow those values of objectively define what is right and wrong. The foreign traveler would be amazed to find that in major cities here, the suburban railways and subways do not have ticketed entrances. There are simply ticket machines on the train platforms and a few small machines to validate those tickets.
There are no one checking the tickets on the platforms and onboard the trains, and in smaller stations, there is not a single railway employee present. Riding the convenient trains halfway across the city without any valid ticket is easy (and if caught by spot-checkers, one can easily feign confusion and buy a ticket on the spot). At any “regular” country would have this system, the railway company would probably have to drive up enormous amount of cost to hire large numbers of spot-checkers if it is to get any ticket sales revenue at all.
But amazingly here in the German metropolis, one can easily spot locals who miss trains because they cannot buy the ticket from the platform machine fast enough. And they do so not because they are afraid of fines or other punishment, but because they objectively know that it is simply wrong and inappropriate to ride without a valid ticket. It is the same logic for keeping the communist symbols intact. What is positive must be preserved and practiced, even if individual or collective self-interest may narrow-minded say otherwise.
A “civil society” is, ideally, one in which all members can subject themselves to a certain standard of behaviors that can lead to smooth, productive functioning of social order. The standard, while not arbitrary, should also be enforced by a shared sense of conscience, in the form of an unwritten “social contract,” among the people rather than some form of top-down legal or armed coercion. The ability of the common citizen, rather than “wise” leaders, to, as a collective, objectively decide and put into practice the right and wrongs of everyday life is the first step in creating that lasting “social contract.”
For some reason, East Berlin proves to be a startling exception to the trend. The communist victory monuments and showpiece TV towers have not only been maintained after the collapse of the East German regime, the government and the people of the united Federal Republic have come to embrace them as symbols of reunification. Unlike in the other parts of the East, the communist past have not been simply and completely denounced in the negative superlatives of “utter oppression” and “thorough poverty.”
That is not to say that the Germans do not have a sense of reality like the other Eastern Europeans. Berlin was the absolute center stage of Cold War standoff in Europe, with large numbers of protests, demonstrations, escape attempts, persecutions, and executions related to the decade-old conflict. However, the Berliners have not forgotten that it was the Soviets who liberated their city from the Nazis, and it was also the Soviets who numerically suffered the most in the hands of the Nazi war machine.
All things have their positive and negative aspects, and it is necessary to separate the two, denouncing the negatives while praising the positives. While decades of American anti-communist propaganda have made speaking NOT critically about the Soviets as something practically political forbidden, here in the political heart of Germany where the detrimental effects of Cold War is much more deeply felt, there instead seems to be truly and widely accepted and practiced sense of objectivism in judging the events and actors of the past.
A short observation of everyday life here in Germany, and to a lesser extent, her southern brethren Austria, can make one feel that it is entrenched social practice for the public to automatically follow those values of objectively define what is right and wrong. The foreign traveler would be amazed to find that in major cities here, the suburban railways and subways do not have ticketed entrances. There are simply ticket machines on the train platforms and a few small machines to validate those tickets.
There are no one checking the tickets on the platforms and onboard the trains, and in smaller stations, there is not a single railway employee present. Riding the convenient trains halfway across the city without any valid ticket is easy (and if caught by spot-checkers, one can easily feign confusion and buy a ticket on the spot). At any “regular” country would have this system, the railway company would probably have to drive up enormous amount of cost to hire large numbers of spot-checkers if it is to get any ticket sales revenue at all.
But amazingly here in the German metropolis, one can easily spot locals who miss trains because they cannot buy the ticket from the platform machine fast enough. And they do so not because they are afraid of fines or other punishment, but because they objectively know that it is simply wrong and inappropriate to ride without a valid ticket. It is the same logic for keeping the communist symbols intact. What is positive must be preserved and practiced, even if individual or collective self-interest may narrow-minded say otherwise.
A “civil society” is, ideally, one in which all members can subject themselves to a certain standard of behaviors that can lead to smooth, productive functioning of social order. The standard, while not arbitrary, should also be enforced by a shared sense of conscience, in the form of an unwritten “social contract,” among the people rather than some form of top-down legal or armed coercion. The ability of the common citizen, rather than “wise” leaders, to, as a collective, objectively decide and put into practice the right and wrongs of everyday life is the first step in creating that lasting “social contract.”
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