Importance of the Fourth Estate

               Ferdinand Lassalle’s “the Working Man’s Programme” really typifies some of Lassalle’s socialist ideas which took place during a break out of revolution in Germany during the 1800’s. His ideas received a lot of pushback, which caused Ferdinand to do some prison time, but also moved him almost effortlessly to the leadership of the new forming political party at the head of the social working class at the time. In his address about the importance of the working class, or the “Fourth Estate”, he uses a great deal of well thought out rhetoric to address his audiences and time his speech appropriately.

                Lassalle’s goal is to convince his audience of the importance of having the working class be involved in the state, and that their involvement will better all people of all classes, not just the individual. Lassalle uses Marx’s ideas about social change as a basis of authority for his arguments. This is really interesting as he eventually pulls away from Marx and uses those ideas to compare and contrast to his view that the state itself can be the tool to bring social reform. This is a powerful technique as he is able to appeal to all his audience members by mentioning ideals from the thoughts of Marx and then making it more in line with what is already in place. Some would call this a cowardly approach to a revolutionary speech, but I think it is a clever way, a “sales tactic” if you will, type of approach to transfer enthusiasm about his ideas to his audience.

              

              There is a great deal of pathos in Ferdinand Lassalle’s speech, but I feel it is used in a different way than some of the usual ways rhetoricians of the revolutionary age used this appeal.  Instead of using it to the effect of stirring the crowd to action by building their emotions, he uses it to show how much he cares about his ideas, and how much he emotionally feels these ideas are needed in the state. This has an effect on an audience that respects Lassalle’s ethos. Those that see his passion are stirred to action not by direct feelings that were conjured up in them by Ferdinand’s words, but by Ferdinand’s own emotion for this topic. This is a common approach used in coaching sports and is very effective if the relationship with your audience is strong. “What’s important to you, is now important to us” is a phrase that sums up well how Lassalle used the pathetic appeal in this speech.

The Boy in Berlin

It was a beautiful, sunny summer day in Berlin. I remember counting my steps, lining up the edges of my shoes to the edges of the cobblestones along the path. My grandmother walked near me, in halting, slow steps. She said something. I shifted my gaze from my feet and asked, "Sorry I didn't hear you, what did you say?" She mentioned the row of graves we were walking past, the dates on the headstones. "It was probably a kindergarten class that got killed in an air-raid." she said quietly. With her comment, I looked up at the rows and rows of headstones in the cemetery. We were visiting the place where my great grandmother and great great grandmother were buried. We were there to film my grandpa talking about his past. He grew up in Berlin during WWII. He tells story after story of bombings, air-raid drills, and the scarcity of the food. He has lived in America since he was twenty, but he still has a bit of a German accent that hangs onto his W's. The life my grandfather has lived is completely different from the life that I have lived, yet I couldn't help but relate to him as I listened to his stories in the cemetery that day. His trials taught him strong morals like courage and hard work which he passed on to my father, who in turn passed them onto me. I haven't endured starvation or experienced a war, but the principles that my grandfather teach help me face the challenges in my life. The trials of each generation are never the same, but sometimes the lessons learned are.