By Gerald Lehner (Salzburg-Austria) - who worked with Leopold Kohr and wrote his biography
He was not a Zionist, he was not Jewish, but he thought about small nations, peoples and communities: a philosopher against mass society and an opponent of the Nazis.
The philosopher and national economist Leopold Kohr was born on 5 October 1909 in Oberndorf in the Austrian province of Salzburg.
He is the creator of the slogan "Small is beautiful", that was formulated by Kohr's pupil Friedrich Schumacher in 1973 in his famous book of that title.
Even back in the 50s and 60s, when everybody thought that continued growth of the economy can solve all the problems, Kohr was against it. He wanted people to go back to the human measure of things. Kohr and his theory provided many ideas for the later emergence of arising Green and Ecologist organisations.
His most important works were issued in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese and Welsh.
The End of the Big Ones
Already in September 1941 there was an article by Kohr issued in the New York magazine "The Commonweal".
The title of the article: "Disunion Now".
This was the first time he wrote against the national megalomania and for a Europe of cantons. Kohr's model was Switzerland, consisting of cantons, where Italien, French, German and Raetoroman speaking Swiss live together in relative harmony. According to Kohr the reason lies in the a high measure of local decentral autonomy. Otherwise these ethnic groups would have joined the - in Kohr's point of view - sick nationalism of their big national brothers.
Kohr saw that the national unification process dures in the past had only brought about imperial super powers which fought against each other.
At the beginning of the 50s Kohr completed his main work: "The Breakdown of Nations".
Only in 1957 the book was published in London, an evidence that Kohr's ideas pointed far into the future.
Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell
The basis of Kohr's theory is to be found in the Spanish civil war. Kohr served as a newspaper correspondent in Spain and wrote against the Franco Fascists and the Nazis. He shared his office with Ernest Hemingway and was an acquaintance of Eric Arthur Blair who later became George Orwell, the world famous author of "1984". The anarcho-syndicalistic opposition and resistance against Fascism inspired Kohr's theories. He became a strong opponent of Stalinism and Communism. In their struggle against Franco and Hitler Spain's anarchistic groups also fought any concentration of power in a central Marxist authority and demanded independence for villages, towns and regions.
In Kohr's point of view, human welfare stems not a from permanent economical growth but from a the return to the "human measure" or "the human scale". He was convinced that there is only one reason for social poverty: something (government, economy, company, institution) has grown too big.
He backed his theory with the example of the Dinosaurs which perished because of their size.
Each unification to an "as big as possible" unit is the first step to decay.
Another example he used in those days is the multi-national state of the USSR - today already fallen into small units.
A state should never have more than 12 to 15 million inhabitants, otherwise it will lose its good functionality. The contacts between the government and the people cease to be possible in an optimal way.
The "Anguilla-Project"
His enthusiasm for small states made him well-known as a fighter for their independence, notably of Wales and of Anguilla, a small Caribean island. Anguilla, approx. 300 km away from Puerto Rico, has 6500 inhabitants and stood together with the neighbour islands Nevis and St.Kitts under British administration.
In 1967 Anguilla declared its independence and closed the door to the British governor. At this time Kohr was a lecturer at the University of Puerto Rico and eager to help the Anguillans.
With the help of American and Canadian friends he organised a " state founding action" and drew the world's attention to Anguilla. Due to Kohr's strength and support the island prohibited the building of large structure of American hotels and of a port basis for the ships of Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate businessman.
The economic opportunities should develop in small steps and without megalomania. Nevertheless, after two years the "Anguilla Project" was stopped by the Wilson Government in London. Anguilla kept its own administration but again had a British governor.
In 1981 the island became finally independent.
Kohr's Origin
Kohr's ideas were influenced by his origins. He was proud of his background and his birthplace Oberndorf in the Austrian province of Salzburg. He never considered his original concept as global, continental or Austrian but always as "salzburgerisch" - "salzburgian". His "distance", his measure of all distances, was 22 Kilometres, the distance from Oberndorf to the city of Salzburg.
It was this consciousness of his origin and this pride which made him not a bourgeois but a cosmopolitan.
Adventurous Life
Kohr grew up in Oberndorf and attended the primary school and secondary school in Salzburg. At the Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna he studied Political Science and Law.
For political reasons he left Austria after Nazi German troops invaded Austria in March 1938.
Kohr first went to Paris and then managed to reach the USA on board of the ship "Bremen" in 1938. In the beginning he received help from a compatriot, the Oberndorf baker Lämmermeyer. Kohr faced many difficulties, especially financial ones. When doing heavy physical work in a Canadian goldmine he suffered from a sudden deafness.
But soon he built up contacts with American intellectuals and the Austrian diaspora.
In the "Free-Austria-Movement" ("Österreich-Frei-Bewegung") he fought together with bourgeois, left-wingers and Monarchists for the liberation of his native country from the Nazi terror. In his endeavours for Austria's freedom the influential journalist Kohr extolled to the rich cultural heritage of this small country in the heart of Europe.
Fighting the Nazis with the New York Times
Around Christmas time Kohr used the moving story of the Christmas carol "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" - "Silent Night, Holy Night" to illustrate this culture. This song was written in Oberndorf in the early 19th century by Franz Gruber and Josef Mohr. From Kohr's articles many US-Americans and Canadians learned where "Silent Night, Holy Night" originated: in Kohr's birthplace Oberndorf near the city of Salzburg.
Simultaneously he made known the cultural achievements of Austria and the country's will and wish to be independent. He called for a more intensive fight against the Nazis und wrote editorials for the "New York Times", the "Washington Post" and the "Los Angeles Times".
During the war he described in detail the biographic, social and economic backgrounds of Hitler and his henchmen. Oberndorf is only some 30 Kilometers away from Braunau, Hitler's hometown.
Coming Home
1943 Kohr began to lecture at well known universities in the USA, Puerto Rico and Great Britain.
1983 he received the alternative Nobel Prize, the Right Livelihood Award. His theories became more and more well known also among in the Austrian public.
In 1986 the "Leopold Kohr Academy" was founded in Neukirchen am Großvenediger. This institution is spreading Kohr's ideas successfully up to this day.
Kohr's contacts to his birthplace Oberndorf never ceased to exist. In summer 1993 he wanted to return to Oberndorf. He intended to rent an attic apartment in the Pension Salzachhof, Bruckenstraße. Before he was able to resettle in Oberndorf he died in his home in England on 26 February 1994.
Leopold Kohr was buried in the family grave in Oberndorf.
More information about Life and Works of Leopold Kohr are in 2 publications:
- Lehner, Gerald: Die Biographie des Philosophen und Ökonomen Leopold Kohr. Wien 1994.
- Small is Beautiful: Ausgewählte Schriften aus dem Gesamtwerk. Wien 1995.
- Leopold Kohr's close collaboration with "Resurgence" magazine, in its early years The Journal of the Fourth World, of which he was a co-founder in 1966, and to Fourth World Review from 1981 :
http://www.cesc.net
Links
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