Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (AfG) was founded on December 21, 1951 as an Institute for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (IfG) and declared an Academy on December 21, 1976. Their seat was East Berlin.

The AfG was the most important social science research and training institution of the SED and the ideological-theoretical lead institution of the SED for all social science research and teaching in the GDR . She belonged to the area of ​​responsibility of the Central Committee Secretary for Science and was directly accountable to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED . In 1990 the AfG was dissolved after the end of the communist dictatorship in the GDR.

tasks

  • Justification and justification of the policy of the SED etc. a. through publications.
  • Participation in the preparation of SED party resolutions and participation in the program commission. To this end, the AfG prepared analyzes for the members of the SED leadership and prepared presentations for members of the Politburo, for plenary meetings of the Central Committee or for scientific conferences of the Central Committee.
  • Planning and controlling functions as the leading institution for social science research in the GDR (based on central short and long-term research plans). Through the AfG, the SED enforced its claim to leadership in terms of content and organization in the area of ​​social sciences. The AfG formulated generally binding social science doctrines and was organizationally at the top of the hierarchy of social science research institutions in the GDR.
  • Training of the nomenclature cadre or junior nomenclature cadre of the SED. The training took place in accordance with the nomenclature system and the management guidelines of the SED in a four-year course ( aspirant ). The degree was completed with the A doctorate. In addition to the scheduled direct aspiration, there was also the option of an unscheduled aspiration and the scheduled B aspiration. The delegation to study took place in accordance with the management guidelines and the nomenclature order of the Central Committee of the SED. Since the 1970s, the successful completion of a university degree, membership in the SED and several years of activity in party functions have been part of the admission requirements. The Central Committee's secretariat decided on the deployment of the graduates.
  • Information, documentation and publication activities. Due to the reorganization of the entire information and documentation system in the GDR in 1966, the AfG had been the "central office for information and documentation" for the subjects of philosophy and sociology since 1967 and published the relevant information services. For example, the Directorate for Information and Documentation u. a. Special monthly information materials are compiled for the party leadership. The AfG was responsible for the publication of the “ABC of Marxism-Leninism” as a permanent popular science series. In addition, the AfG was represented in all editorial offices of social science journals and on the advisory boards of the respective publishers as well as in the editorial collectives of the most important social science series. The AfG played a leading role in the development of binding university textbooks as well as propaganda materials for the SED.
  • Propagandist activity. This was one of the most urgent tasks, was carried out according to central planning and was accountable. The task was primarily performed through lectures and lectures at academic institutions, at the party schools of the SED and at educational institutions of the state apparatus, in particular the Ministry of the Interior, the National People's Army (NVA), the Ministry for State Security (MfS) and the various mass organizations of the GDR .
  • Maintaining international scientific contacts and cooperation, etc. a. with the AfG at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the corresponding institutions of other Eastern European countries.

organization structure

The AfG was headed by a rector and two prorectors (for research and for training and further education). The directorates u. a. for: management, international relations, information and documentation (including the extensive scientific library and - in cooperation with the relevant departments of the Central Committee - a place for evaluating the western press, radio and television). The rector of the AfG was appointed by the Central Committee of the SED.

The institutes formed the actual basic scientific structure of the AfG. There were institutes for Marxist-Leninist philosophy, for political economy, for scientific communism, for history, for the German and international labor movement, for sociology, for Marxist-Leninist cultural and art studies, for research on imperialism.

For their part, the institutes were subdivided into subject areas in which the research groups worked. The latter were not permanent establishments; their composition and tasks varied depending on the research planning and the current assignments of the party leadership. Professors, lecturers, senior research assistants, assistants and research assistants worked in each institute. The aspirants were directly involved in the work of the research groups.

The AfG was assigned to the AfG by the Scientific Councils (WR), which were formed in the GDR from 1969 as research-leading and coordinating bodies by resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED (from October 22, 1968): WR for Marxist-Leninist philosophy ; Council for Scientific Communism; WR for Political Economy of Socialism; WR for sociological research; WR for Marxist-Leninist cultural and art studies; WR for international labor movement (Marxism-Leninism).

Members of the AfG were also represented in other scientific councils and in other academies in the GDR.

The politburo member responsible for the academy was Kurt Hager .

Dissolution in 1990

At the beginning of the 1980s, the AfG had around 700 employees and aspirants at the end of 1989 . In April 1990, numerous employees had left the AfG or had been given early retirement. By resolution of the general assembly of employees, the AfG dropped the addition "at the Central Committee of the SED" in November 1989 and elected the head of the academy for the first time - Rolf Reissig . In 1990 the AfG was dissolved.

management

Directors and rectors of the IfG

  • Helene Berg from 1951 to 1961 (director)
  • Otto Reinhold from 1961 to 1976 (director)
  • Otto Reinhold from 1976 to November 1989 (Rector)

After Otto Reinhold's resignation, the employees elected Rolf Reissig as head of the company in November 1989 until it was dissolved in 1990.

Other members of the rectorate

  • Karl-Heinz Stiemerling (Vice Rector for Research until 1984)
  • Heinz Hümmler (Vice-Rector for Education and Training until 1984, then Vice-Rector for Research)
  • Ulrich Thiede (Vice Rector for Education and Training from 1984)
  • Joachim Heise (Head of the Rector's Office for Education and Training)

Otto Reinhold and the institute directors Erich Hahn and Hans Koch were also members of the SED Central Committee .

literature

  • Federal Ministry of the Interior (Ed.), GDR manual , article: Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (AfG) , 3rd completely revised and expanded edition, Berlin 1984, pp. 34–36
  • Andreas Herbst , Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler, Lexicon of Organizations and Institutions , Article: Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (AfG) , Reinbek near Hamburg 1994, pp. 41–45
  • Lothar Mertens : Red think tank? The Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (Studies on GDR Society), Münster-Hamburg-Berlin-Vienna-London-Zurich 2004 ( preview in the Google book search)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lothar Mertens : Red think tank? The Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED . LIT Verlag , Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-8034-6 .
  2. Stefania Maffeis: Between Science and Politics: Transformations of GDR Philosophy 1945 - 1993. Campus 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38437-5 , p. 69