131214840-Carl-Schmitt

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verfassung declared them, "representatives of the entire people . . . bound only to their
consciences and not to any instructions" (article 21) was shared by Gustav Radbruch. 55
Writing in the first issue of Die Gesellschaft, Radbruch offered a general critique of
contemporary German political culture as "driving politics to religion." He meant that the
political parties had developed as tightly bound, programmatic interests incompatible with
the principles of parliamentarism. Arguing from a Social Democratic perspective, Radbruch
rejected the condemnation by Marxists like Schumpeter of parliamentary politics as a means
to further working-class interests and urged responsible participation in coalition
government. Only in coalitions can the divsion of power between capital and labor that
dominates our society receive a political expression. . . . One can also further the class
struggle at the negotiating table." 56 Still, Radbruch thought that parliament was a showplace.
"So long as it governs,'' he wrote in 1924, "then in reality, not parliament, but the interests
and voices of extraparliamentary circles that would like to gain influence on the parties,
which are extremely sensitive to pressure, rule." 57 More interesting than Radbruch's polemics
about the "grotesque show of every new governmental crisis" is his analysis of the
relationship between a statesman and a political program. The readiness to throw overboard
every program "when the idea of the state demands it" characterizes the statesman and
distinguishes him from the party politician, but the statesman can only emerge when he
enjoys the trust of his party. The best relationships between party leaders, and the
parliamentary party are built on trust, and so too is the relationship between the voters and
their representative: "The more politics ceases to be a simple matter of fulfilling party
demands, the more it takes place in the area of finely colored compromises, just that much
more impossible it becomes to make these clear to the voters, who are naturally party-voters
in their great majority, if there is not a personal basis for trust in their representatives in
parliament." 58 Under German political conditions, Radbruch argued, the office of
Reichspräsident took on a special importance:
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