Is Pictures of the Socialistic Future Satire?

Instapundit linked to my recent excerpt from Eugen Richter's Pictures of the Socialistic Future, then posted the following update:

UPDATE: A reader emails that the quoted segment is satire. Nothing to that effect at EconLog, though.

It's true that the quote comes from a dystopian novel; I didn't mention it because I've discussed Richter's novel before.  But I don't agree that it's "satire."  Richter's was dead serious about this work of fiction.  His account is so closely tied to turn-of-the-century German politics that it's best read as a conditional forecast of the consequences of a socialist victory.

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