The clarity

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The Clarity was a political periodical within and on the fringes of the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin , which appeared in the city from 1979 to 1980 and took different positions on the orientation of the mother party.

occasion

In those months, the inner-party opposition group criticized the SEW leadership and its daily newspaper Die Truth in particular:

  • the approval of the Biermann expulsion
  • approving the imprisonment of Rudolf Bahro in June 1978
  • not taking part in a large anti-nuclear demonstration in West Berlin
  • the lack of positioning against the use of nuclear energy
  • the Stalin reception (adulation) on the occasion of his 100th birthday in the party's daily newspaper Die Truth in December 1978
  • the refusal to discuss Eurocommunist ( Althusser ) or Italian (or Gramsci ) positions
  • the vote in the state election committee 1979 against the admission of the party candidacy of the Alternative List for Democracy and Environmental Protection (AL)
  • the commentary on the 1979 Prague trials against dissidents under Charter 77
  • the commentary on the invasion of the Soviet Union in December 1979 in Afghanistan
  • 80 S-Bahn employees resigned in January 1980

Content

The hectographed A5 magazines dealt specifically with events in the party executive committee and its secretaries, with reporting the truth and with political discussions specific to Berlin and worldwide. (The Truth editors paid a premium of DM 15 for politically correct letters to the editor.) The print run was 500, the booklets were given away and mailed. Because of the similar presentation, technical help was suspected from the Berlin Extra Service .

The clarity named specific names and events, but without surrendering “ comrades ” to the protection of the constitution . Those criticized were usually permanent party employees, of whom around one in ten still had their place of residence in "Berlin (capital of the GDR)". It was not a theoretical organ, even if references and sympathies with the French Eurocommunists were presented. From the point of view of the then party chairman Horst Schmitt, however, the clarity was controlled by agents of the protection of the constitution.

people

The head of the group of around 60 people was the economist and party secretary as well as party chairman Wolfgang Gukelberger; Other comrades-in-arms were Jürgen Elmen (party secretary in Spandau), Karl Geyer (KV and secretary in Charlottenburg) and Hannelore May (secretary in the PV), who had previously been active in the full-time party apparatus until November 1979. The following were involved by name: Sylvia Gramse (PV), Manfred Günther (KV Steglitz), Angelika Kalb (secretary and KV Tempelhof), Henry Kördel (PV), the economist Edwin Massalsky (KV Reinickendorf), the nurse and staff councilor Annette Schwarzenau , the Economist Edmund Weber (KV Neukölln) and Elisabeth Wenzel (KV Spandau); one of the Reichsbahners active in “Klarheit” was Wolfram Brandt (residential group 55), who also played a role in the “ 2nd Berlin Reichsbahnerstreik 1980 ”. The only party member who made his name public during the conspiratorial phase was Rainer Schwarzenau (KV Wedding), who was responsible for press law.

May 1980

It was clear to the rebels working undercover that they would not be able to stay “ underground ” for long. After a party expulsion procedure had been successfully carried out with the person responsible for clarity , most of the group members also left the party publicly collectively by submitting their membership cards to the party executive committee. They wanted to forestall an exclusion that would have made re-entry into a reformed party impossible. This took place with the publication of the Klarheit special edition of May 1980, which had been signed by 26 comrades. This Political Declaration was followed on May 27, 1980 by a “Public Exit Declaration ” signed by 25 other comrades, including Christoph Greski, Jürgen Jeske, Rainer Moltmann, Ursula Schmitz, Renate Schulz, Hajü Schulze and Bernhard Uhrig.

View of the party

On July 15, 1980, the informant Karl Wildberger (West Department), in coordination with Horst Schmitt, reported to SED man Paul Verner in writing about a meeting in the " Mehringhof ", at which Gukelberger in particular stood out - alongside Schwarzenau, Kördel, Gramse, Hallbauer and May The report to Verner shows advice from 150 people who intended to found a socialist initiative and who wanted to continue using the SEW to influence critical forces with the help of clarity . The Western Department seemed satisfied with the small number of Euro-Communist fighters and assumed (as it later turned out, rightly) that the “tactics of the party enemies were confused”.

Socialist Initiative (SI)

The “Socialist Initiative (SI)” group was founded as the successor organization. In September 1980 the internal information and discussion forum No. 1 appeared, in October 1982 the last issue No. 16. After these two years, the SI was dissolved. Some colleagues joined the Alternative List for Democracy and Environmental Protection (AL Berlin) . Although the newcomers there were viewed with skepticism and abused by many there as "revisionists", Gukelberger immediately got a job there. He had previously edited the magazine Moderne Zeiten (MOZ) with Ralf Fücks , Andreas Hallbauer (today: Die Linke ), Willfried Maier , Jochen Esser and Ulrich Schreiber - a magazine that the Eurocommunists should reconcile with the green alternatives, but not for a long time on the left market.

At the same time a group of similar names worked; it was called the Socialist Politics Initiative , was active from December 1981 to the end of 1982, published several pieces of information and was u. a. organized by Albert Statz , who also went to AL.

List of clarity issues

Seven regular issues were published, including a special issue and additional leaflets. 1/1979; 1/1980; 2/1980; 3/1980; 4/1980; Special edition = 5/1980; 6/1980. At the same time, after the extra service was discontinued, there was already Die Neue (socialist daily newspaper).

"The Clarity"

In December 1980 - after the Klarheit group had ended - another hectographed 12-page DIN A-5 sheet called Die Klarheit von SEW members ( free riders , so to speak , but definitely in the spirit of the founders) was published by Edwin Massalskys, Of which it was said, however, that he was not one of them, but only provided the address for making contact. The booklet pretended to have been written by members who, unlike the people of Die Klarheit , wanted to remain in the party under all circumstances, i.e. only wanted internal party discussion. The subjects of minimum exchange, Reichsbahner strike and “Revolution?” Were then touched upon.

Trivia

In May 1980, the well-known psychologist Klaus Holzkamp indirectly positioned himself at the “Volksuni” against the formation of “informal opposition groups” within “progressive organizations”.

literature

  • Thomas Klein: SEW - The West Berlin Unit Socialists. Links-Verlag, Berlin 2009.
  • Olav Teichert: The Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin. Investigation of the control of SEW by the SED. Dissertation. Kassel University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89958-994-8 .
  • The daily newspaper: SEW before the split. February 18, 1980.
  • To discuss socialist strategy. Considerations from former SEW members (excerpt from a presentation from a conference on July 11th and 12th, 1980) In: The argument . 124 1980, pp. 871-879.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ there are only estimated numbers of members: the party had about 7000 members at that time (including over 1000 Reichsbahner) and about 100 of them worked in the context of the clarity
  2. ↑ vg. Olav Teichert: SEW ... p. 127.
  3. ↑ cf. Shame judgments. In: The time . 2nd November 1979.
  4. ↑ The pass. In: Der Spiegel. 9/1980.
  5. ^ Olav Teichert: The Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin. Investigation of the control of SEW by the SED. Dissertation. Kassel University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89958-994-8 .
  6. ↑ see also: Hannes Schwenger: The willing helpers in West Berlin. In: Tagesspiegel . October 5, 2009.
  7. ↑ cf. Speech on the 15th of Primary on April 18, 1980.
  8. ↑ cf. Burkhard Jacob: stake in the flesh. History of the Socialist Unity Party in West Berlin . Bonn 2011, pp. 145–151.
  9. ↑ See: The Clarity (special edition), page 22
  10. ↑ from: Newer documents on SEW history (PDF; 17 kB) viewed on July 18, 2013.
  11. ↑ It is noticeable that after 33 years the paper still smells of Wofasept from the Bitterfeld Chemical Combine, which is probably Reichsbahn paper
  12. ↑ cf. The argument. H 123/1980.