Federation of Liberal Socialists

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The Federation of Liberal Socialists was a successor organization to the Free Workers' Union of Germany from 1947 to around 1970 (based in Berlin) and the then largest anarcho-syndicalist organization after the Second World War .

history

Former members of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union FAUD , which had been crushed by the National Socialists , founded the Federation of Liberal Socialists (FfS) at the Pentecost Congress in Darmstadt in 1947 . In 1948, the FfS had between 350 and 400 members (Hans Jürgen Degen, Anarchism in Germany ). From 1947 to 1949 the FfS published the magazine Die Internationale (4th episode). The largest groups were active in Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Hamburg and Wuppertal. The content and goals of the FfS were not to form an independent union like those of the earlier FAUD, rather the focus was on cultural-political actions and activities, together with the guild of libertarian book lovers and agitation of anarcho-syndicalist ideas in companies and with the magazine Die Freie Gesellschaft . According to its co-founder Willi Paul , the federation endeavored to “ not be a new party, but an independent, non-state-bound organization ” (quotation from: H. J. Degen, page 62 f.).

The FfS received international support from the Swedish Sveriges Arbetares Central Organization (SAC), the Basel Working Group of Liberal Socialists and the International Workers' Association (IAA). Rudolf Rocker , Helmut Rüdiger and Augustin Souchy were also sponsors ; the anarcho-syndicalist Werner Henneberger was actively involved . In Germany, Fritz Linow took part in the founding of the FfS, who had already worked as a labor law expert at FAUD before the Second World War; Willi Paul, who returned from captivity in 1946, and Georg Hepp, who formulated the goals and tasks for the second FfS Congress in May 1948. The Congress spoke out clearly against fascism , against all authoritarian oppression and tutelage, and against bureaucratic and centralist democratic politics. The Federation of Liberal Socialists advocated international understanding and peace as well as anti-militarist and social democratic actions. The conference of the libertarian movement held in Leipzig in 1948 was betrayed by a spy and all participants were arrested. A year later, over 270 anarcho-syndicalists and libertarian socialists were arrested again. The victims were not infrequently placed in former concentration camps , "thirty liberal socialists (were) in the Oranienburg – Sachsenhausen concentration camp for well over a year" (see: H. J. Degen, page 194).

The aim of the Federation of Liberal Socialists was to be able to work as a legal group in 1947. However, the Allied occupying powers refused permission to allow a legal organization. In 1947 the Munich FfS had twenty-seven members, the Berlin eighty and Cologne one hundred and thirteen. In the 1960s, the federation slowly dissolved and in 1970 the last local chapter in Munich ended its activities.

Our voice

From 1954 to 1956 the anarchist newsletter Our Voice was published , a joint edition of the Federation of Liberal Socialists and the Guild of Liberal Book Friends , the responsible editor and editor was Hans Weigl. The magazine Die Freie Gesellschaft served as a model and the content consisted mainly of articles from foreign libertarian magazines. Contributions by R. Rocker, Hedin Bengt and H. Rüdiger have been published, among others. The theories of liberal socialism and the attempt to change the mind of the population took center stage.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.syndikalismusforschung.info/faudarchiv.htm
  2. ↑ Author: Martin Veith. Section: The situation in post-war Germany and the founding of the FfS ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . SAC supported the FfS after the Second World War @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.anarchismus.at
  3. ^ Participation of R. Rocker, H. Rüdiger and A. Souchy in the historical Lexikons Bayern. Retrieved July 10, 2009