Action (magazine)

action
description	anarchist magazine
Area of ​​Expertise	for autonomous and social movements in Germany
language	German
publishing company	Self-published
First edition	1981
attitude	1988
Frequency of publication	irregular
Sold edition	2000 copies
editor	Editorial collective

Aktion was, according to the subtitle, an anarchist magazine, published from 1981 to 1988 with a total of 37 issues; 30 to 70 pages each and often title pages illustrated in color; first every two months, later irregularly with changing regional editors and a circulation of up to 2,500 copies.

Emergence

In 1981 the first issue of the magazine appeared in DIN A3 format and was to be operated by changing libertarian groups and regional editorial offices. The concept for the magazine was created in 1980 for libertarian initiatives and individuals in the Rhine-Main area. After a permanent editorial collective had emerged, Aktion was sold nationwide with two working editorial offices, one in Karlsruhe and another in Frankfurt / M. In addition to these editorial offices, others were later set up in Göttingen, Darmstadt, Moers and Hamburg. Due to internal conflicts, no issues were published from late 1983 to early 1985.

Alignment

Aktion saw itself as a forum for the social, anarchist and autonomous movements in Germany. In terms of content, Aktion was set up with a critical distance from Marxism-Leninism . In 1984/1985 the magazine formulated an anarchist basis against the armed struggle of the Red Army faction . “ We all have a vague anarchism in mind, but we are not traditional anarchists. For us, the terms Marxism, socialism and communism contain the state according to all their theories and practices and can therefore not be accepted by us as an intermediate stage ”(quote from: Radikal , No. 98, 1981). The readers were consequently informed that a clear separation had to be drawn between the “RAF” and the anarchists. A reorganization in 1984 led to a new phase with a stable financial basis and with the cooperation of the Libertarian Center , which was run by the magazine Aktion on July 1, 1985 in Kriegkstr. 38, Frankfurt / M. was co-founded. The focus of the magazine was among other things "Socio-historical development since the 19th century"; “Spain under the fascism of the Franco regime”; “Economy and Revolution” (No. 24, May 1986) and “Conscientious objection”; “Interview with Joschka Fischer”; “Underground cultural site”; "Hungary - 30 years since the revolution, part 2"; “Criticism of the Autonomous Street Fighters” (No. 26, January 1987). Internationally, Aktion took a critical stance towards the Warsaw Pact states, the socialist and "communist" states. An editorial meeting of the magazines Schwarze Anna and Aktion took place in Wuppertal between February 1st and 3rd, 1985 . A merger of the two publications and other anarchist journals should be discussed. After the meeting in Wuppertal, the "Aktion-Redaktion" announced that a cooperation could not be realized because of the great effort involved in editorial meetings, joint discussions of the articles and increased circulation.

Conflicts

As early as the late 1960s, more than six hundred (600) different libertarian magazines / newspapers are said to have appeared, none of which had a long publication period, except for B. the magazine Graswurzelrevolution . In No. 1 of May 1988 the Interim magazine read, “ The newspapers and magazines of the undogmatic left in the FRG come and go. (...) Some do not come into their own, many survive their political necessity. But it is precisely the short-lived nature and spontaneity of these left-wing media that make up their strength ”. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the number of anarchist activists is said to have decreased from 500 in 1975 to 200 in 1977. In the 1980s, too, many activists withdrew from the political activities of the anarchist scene due to the lack of prospects. There was no financial problem. It had been since 1984, e.g. B. in the event of the confiscation of an edition, a financial reserve has been built up for the production of two editions. However, the magazine Aktion failed in 1988 due to internal conflicts. a. through a rape discussion within the Frankfurt editorial team and the departure of employees. After the last issue, which focused on rape , the newspaper was closed. After ending was action from the " Anarchist-feminist autonomous newspaper continued" (AFAZ), but survived only two issues.

review

AFAZ announced in a circular, " We are formulating a society-wide claim to the self-administration of all means of production and reject any structures of rule by people over people but also over nature " (quoted from the leaflet by the AFAZ editorial team from 1989). In a review of the anarchist press in Germany, AFAZ found that there had been no newspaper / magazine in the Rhein-Main area for a long time and criticized the Sponti-Zeitung Pflasterstrand (circulation: 20,000) , which was founded in 1976, for being included in the "Green- bourgeois camp “was transferred; the " other newspaper " (AZ; circulation: 36,000) is said to have operated a "left lifestyle"; The city illustrated "appearance" (circulation: 24,000) and "Skyline" (circulation: 42,000) were dismissed because they allegedly made no political claim; The Frankfurter Frauenblatt , founded in 1978 (circulation: 1,300), was criticized as an opinion publication of the “left-bourgeois movement” . According to the AFAZ, the magazine “Aktion” is said to have been the “ STAR of the anarchos ”. Despite these criticisms, AFAZ itself did not have a long lifespan.

further reading

• G. Holzapfel, " On the beautiful dream of anarchy - on the reappropriation and reformulation of anarchism in the New Left "; Berlin 1984

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information and table of contents for the magazine Aktion
2. ^ Action in the archive of the library of the free
3. ↑ Cf. on this: Bernd Drücke, “ Between desk and street battle. Anarchism and Libertarian Press in East and West Germany ”; Verlag Klemm and Oelschläger, Ulm 1998. ISBN 3-932577-05-1
4. ↑ See on this: Holger Jenrich, “ Anarchist Presse in Deutschland, 1945 - 1985 ”, page 138. anyway-Verlag, Grafenau 1988. ISBN 3-922209-75-0