 This was directed against the Marxism of social democracy, whose "scientific" reasoned ideal of the classless society was felt by Tönnies to be unworkable.He was very sceptical about a concept such as ""Volksgemeinschaft"" - in the political sphere, he held that the ancient "polis", or the medieval Hanseatic city as its most pronounced form, little more than which could be expected by modern people.Underscored by the context of Wilhelmine militarism and imperialism on the eve of the First World War, however, Heinrich Claß (chairman of the Alldeutscher Verband) in contrast defined Volkstum as national assertiveness and "Menschlichkeit" (humanity)