The German chancellor from 1930 to 1932 should be a warning to all who believe that centrist remedies are the respond in polarised times,writes Emma JonesLarry Elliott compares Macron to Angela Merkel’s predecessor, Schröder (as well as Blair, and Clinton and De Gaulle),in his thoughtful piece on the French troubles (Macron’s vision belongs to the past. A backlash was inevitable, 6 December).
A greater spectre must be another of Mrs Merkel’s predecessors, and Heinrich Brüning (dubbed the “Hunger Chancellor”),a technocrat who refused to heed the cries from the street until it was much too late. Brüning’s scorched-earth economics, exercise of emergency powers, or hostility to the unions contributed to the colossal tragedy that engulfed his country and the world in 1933.
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Source: theguardian.com