Basic social sciences course (GDR)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Social Sciences undergraduate degree was in the GDR mandatory for all students. In addition, from 1951 there was an institute for Marxism-Leninism at all universities and colleges , renamed the Section for Marxism-Leninism (ML) after the 3rd university reform in 1967 , or at least a department for ML . The original name was "Institute for Social Sciences". The institutions were responsible for the Marxist-Leninist education and training prescribed for all students, academic staff, doctoral candidates and university lecturers. With the end of the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe after the revolutions in 1989 , they were dissolved.

history

Beginnings

After universities reopened in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945, as part of the first university reform , "democratic courses" were held by politicians and academics with an anti-fascist-democratic tenor. University officers of the Red Army also gave lectures in this context.

In October 1946, an Institute for Dialectical Materialism was founded for the first time at a German university in Jena with the support of SMAD .

In December 1946, the universities of Leipzig , Jena and Rostock received the order No. 333 of the SMAD to establish social science faculties (Gewifak) for cadre training in this area. The three Gewifak accepted a total of 400 students in 1947/48, mostly students from working-class families. Based on the Soviet model, teachers were also to be trained for future basic social science studies for all students. Even before the GDR-wide introduction, the social sciences basic course became a compulsory part of the course at the University of Planning Economics at the instigation of the rector Eva Altmann .

Institute for Social Sciences

As part of the second higher education reform in 1951/52, the ordinance on the reorganization of higher education was published in February 1951. With central control by a State Secretariat for higher education, a. Introduced: a basic social science course as a compulsory subject for students of all disciplines in the GDR, under the supervision of a prorector for basic social studies. The success of teaching in the basics of Marxism-Leninism, political economy and dialectical and historical materialism (Diamat) should be checked by means of intermediate examinations at the end of each academic year and a final examination after four years. Social sciences institutes have been set up at all universities and colleges to carry out basic studies . They should be divided into sections for the fundamentals of ML, political economy and the 'Diamat'. Positions had to be created for an institute director, further professors, lecturers, assistants and assistant assistants. The professors and lecturers of the social sciences foundation course should be members of the teaching staff of the university. The SED had a basic organization at the institutes. Practically all university cadres in the institutes were members of the SED. In 1958, by order of the State Secretariat, the ML lecturers in the various faculties were formed into faculty departments .

Institute for Marxism-Leninism

In 1960 the institutes for social sciences were renamed institutes for Marxism-Leninism while maintaining their function .

Sections for Marxism-Leninism

The third university reform of the GDR with the aim of converting it to socialist universities was based on the resolutions of the 6th party congress of the SED in 1963. It was initiated in 1965 and implemented in 1968. At the universities and large colleges, the institute structures were replaced by sections (at smaller universities, the institutes remained). This is how sections for Marxism-Leninism came into being, headed by a section director. The sections were generally divided into three parts: Philosophical, Economic and Historical-Political Science. The order of the ML section of the University of Jena in 1968 demanded: The basic study as a center of class education must convey the ML in all components "systematically, partisan, practice-related and lively with a consistent discussion of modern imperialist ideology".

tasks

In the fall of 1951, a compulsory basic social science course of three to four years was introduced for all students at universities and colleges in the GDR without exception. This task was carried out by the social science institutes / departments, later the institutes / sections for ML. The courses took place in the form of presence-controlled seminars, colloquiums, consultations and lectures. In addition, there was compulsory reading of ML literature and controls through intermediate and main exams. Examinations that were definitely not passed meant the end of the course as well as subject examinations. In terms of content, the central curriculum in 1968 provided for: 60 lessons in the history of the labor movement in the first year, 75 hours in dialectical and historical materialism in the second year, 90 hours in political economy in the third year and 45 hours in scientific socialism in the fourth year. The details have been modified over the years. In 1971 a minimum of 300 hours was set, which was in effect until 1989. The current resolutions of the SED should also be presented regularly.

From 1958, on the way to a doctorate (A) , ML courses also had to be completed in the various fields. The scope should be three hours a week, after each year a performance check had to be carried out. Before the doctorate , as part of the doctoral procedure, proof of the acquired ML knowledge had to be submitted to an examination board of the ML section. In addition, employees of the IML reviewed the dissertation and z. B. checked for the obligatory evaluation of Soviet or Russian-language literature. IML staff were also present at the defense of the dissertations and asked their questions.

From 1969 onwards, each academic year began with an introductory week ( Red Week ) for which the IML was responsible: with short courses, seminars, organized self-study, presentation of current resolutions by the SED leadership and interpretation of the world situation.

Encouraged by the University of Jena in 1967, Marxist-Leninist Evening Schools (MLA) took place for professors and university lecturers from all disciplines . They represented the party apprenticeship year for non-party members and members of the other block parties. The MLA took place either monthly or as a group of retreat weeks with all-day events. At the same time, the senior IML employees shared information that was not intended for the general public. The resulting discussions, some of which were lively, made it possible to form an ideological picture of the participants and to write appropriate assessments. This also came to the attention of the management departments.

According to a directive of the Ministry of Higher Education and Technical Education from 1970, ML training should not only be the task of the relevant institutes, but should also be practiced by trained specialists as an integral part of their courses.

The academic staff ( middle class ) who did not belong to the university professors also had - mostly monthly - Marxist-Leninist seminars.

Employees who considered it necessary were given conditions for self-study of the literature of the 'classics' (Marx, Engels, Lenin), including the history of the labor movement and the CPSU , prior to academic graduation (e.g. after applying for Facultas Docendi) . This was followed by a consultation on the content and the conclusions to be drawn from it.

The ML institutes / sections were also ideological guiding institutions for non-university teaching activities in the corresponding territory: training courses and further education events in companies and other institutions, lecturer activity in the party teaching year of the SED.

The IML / sections of the universities also had to initiate and support the establishment of corresponding facilities in other universities : for example, the University of Jena, the Medical Academy Erfurt founded in 1954, the universities of music and architecture and construction in Weimar, and the University of Electrical Engineering in Ilmenau .

The IML had close connections to the study and management departments of universities and colleges.

In addition to their main teaching activity, IML employees also had to perform and publish research tasks.

Employee

The university cadres among the employees were graduated social scientists, graduated philosophers, graduated historians or had completed a similar degree. They had received their training at the relevant university institutes, but - especially the management cadre - often also at party-affiliated academic institutions. These included the Karl Marx Party College in Berlin, the Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the SED Central Committee , the Academy for Social Sciences at the SED Central Committee and the 'Franz Mehring Institute' at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig . There were also study trips to the Soviet Union for management cadres.

In 1953 there were a total of 66 ML teachers at the GDR universities. In 1969 the Jena section alone counted for ML 57, in 1989 it had 113 academic staff, including 11 professors and 18 university lecturers.

resolution

Introductory weeks took place at all universities in September 1989. With the Peaceful Revolution of 1989/90, the four-year ML undergraduate course was discontinued in late autumn / winter 1989. In an effort to create a new profile, the IML or parts of it were renamed independently : Section / Institute for Social Sciences, Sociology, Political Science, Civilization Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies.

On May 23, 1990, a telegram from the first freely elected GDR government was sent to all over 50 universities and colleges in the GDR, informing them of the decision to recall all professors for ML. The newly elected bodies of most universities had already undertaken activities in this direction beforehand. At the end of 1990 the governments of the new federal states officially notified their universities that the ML institutes would not be included in the new university structure . The liquidation notices for the dissolving institutes were followed by the dismissal certificates for the ML professors who still existed.

Other countries

In the universities of the Soviet Union and all other Eastern European countries, too, there were Marxist-Leninist institutes at their universities until the political upheavals of 1989 to 1991. They originated in 1921 in Soviet Russia , where the Council of People's Commissars under Lenin decreed the compulsory teaching of relevant political knowledge at the universities of the RSFSR. The term Marxism-Leninism was made mandatory by Stalin and the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1938 , as was its teaching at Soviet universities.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The university reform of the GDR , document of the University of Leipzig from 2009.
  2. ↑ Ulrike Seidel, Gerhard Müller, Mario Keßler : The development of the Institute for Dialectical Materialism of the FSU Jena . In: New beginning. The help of the Soviet Union with the opening of the FSU Jena . Ed .: Rector of the University of Jena. Jena 1977. p. 69.
  3. ↑ Gottfried Handel, Roland Köhler (ed.): SMAD documents on higher education and technical schools . Berlin 1975. p. 56.
  4. ^ Hagen Schwärzel, Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Altmann, Eva . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  5. ^ Regulations of the ML section dated September 1, 1968 , Jena University Archives, VA, No. 2170.
  6. ↑ Hans-Joachim Glemnitz: The history of the Marxist-Leninist basic studies and the section Marxism-Leninism at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena . (1st version, Ms.), Jena 1980; P. 79.
  7. ↑ Instruction No. 112 of the State Secretariat for Higher and Technical Schools on the Study of Marxism-Leninism by members of the next generation of academics from June 6, 1958 . In: The higher education system 7–8 / 1958. Appendix p. 57 f.
  8. ↑ Collective of authors: Overview of the history of Marxist-Leninist basic studies at the universities, colleges and technical schools of the GDR . Leipzig 1981, p. 126.
  9. ↑ Instruction No. 57 of the State Secretariat for Higher Education from October 1, 1954 in "Das Hochschulwesen" 11/1954, supplement p. 11 f.
  10. ↑ Michael Ploenus: ... as important as daily bread. The Jena Institute for Marxism-Leninism 1945-1990 . (= Publications of the Ettersberg Foundation). Böhlau-Verlag Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2007. ISBN 978-3-412-20010-7 , p. 49 f.
  11. ↑ M. Ploenus: ... as important as daily bread ; P. 241 f.
  12. ↑ Document No. 157 in: Herbert Gottwald, Michael Ploenus, Katja Rauchfuß: Aufbruch - Umbruch - New Beginning. The turning point at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena from 1988 to 1991. Hain-Verlag, Rudolstadt 2002. P. 243 f.
  13. ^ Positive list of the Thuringian Ministry of Science and Art from December 17, 1990. Jena University Archives, VA, No. 67.
  14. ↑ VI Lenin: On Science and Higher Education . Berlin 1969, p. 365 f.
  15. ↑ JWStalin: About dialectical and historical materialism . In: History of the CPSU (Bolsheviks). Short course. 5th edition, Berlin 1950.