International Marxists Group
The Gruppe Internationale Marxisten (short name: GIM ), German section of the Fourth International , was a small revolutionary Marxist ( Trotskyist ) party in the 1970s and 1980s.
development
The GIM published the newspaper was tun and, together with the Austrian sister organization Gruppe Revolutionäre Marxisten, continued the magazine Die Internationale , from which it derived its name. What to do appeared at different times in a monthly (1968 to May 1974), fortnightly (May 1974 to March 1976, May 1979 to 1986) or weekly (March 1976 to May 1979) rhythm; the edition fluctuated between 2200 (1982) and 9000 (1974) copies.
The GIM was founded in 1969 as a continuation of the German section of the Fourth International, which had not had an independent public existence since the early 1950s, but operated entryism in the SPD (previously it had appeared for a short time under the name of International Communists of Germany ). In the wake of the student movement and youth radicalization, the GIM founded the Revolutionary Communist Youth (RKJ) as a youth cadre organization in 1970 . The RKJ quickly found new supporters and was soon numerically stronger than the section itself; In 1972 it had about 400 members. In order to end the duplication of organizational structures resulting from numerous double memberships, both organizations merged at the turn of the year 1972/73 under the name Gruppe Internationale Marxisten.
Members of the old German section have included the from the KPD coming Willy Boepple , and Georg Jungclas from Hamburg (later Cologne), who even before 1933 the KPD and the (1902-1975) Left Opposition of the KPD had heard and the time of National Socialism survived as an exile in Denmark, finally Jakob Moneta , who, however , did not publicly acknowledge his membership as long as he held an outstanding position in the IG Metall, which was ruled by social democrats (Moneta was editor-in-chief of the trade union newspaper metall for a long time ).
The independent existence of the GIM ended in 1986 when it merged with the Communist Party of Germany / Marxist-Leninists to form the United Socialist Party . A minority of the GIM did not take part in this association and went to the Greens , where some of their supporters could briefly play a prominent role (on a regional scale). The same applies to the youth organization " Red Mole "
See also: Category: GIM member
Program
By advocating a socialist alternative based on council democracy and self-administration, the GIM demarcated itself just as sharply from Stalinism as it did from the small Maoist parties that dominated the radical left of the Federal Republic in the 1970s. Among other things, the party showed solidarity with international liberation and independence movements (see Inprekorr ) and fought against nationalist positions. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the GIM was considered part of the " New Left ". The GIM was the German section of the Fourth International. At times influencing the “New Left”, the GIM remained insignificant in the politics of the Federal Republic and without parliamentary representation.
Election results
- Federal Parliament election 1976: 4,767 (0.0%) of the second votes (in Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg) and 2035 first votes (in 12 constituencies)
- Election for the district assembly in Berlin-Kreuzberg 1985: Two members of the GIM stood for candidates on the AL list (25.5%), one was elected to the district assembly.
Membership numbers
| year | Number of members |
|---|---|
| 1969 | 30 (foundation) |
| 1971 | 450 |
| 1972-1976 | 600 |
| 1977-1979 | 500 |
| 1980 | 300 |
| 1981 | 250 |
| 1982 | 200 |
| 1983-1986 | 250 |
literature
- Peter Brandt, Rudolf Steinke: The group of international Marxists. In: Richard Stöss (Ed.): Party Handbook - The parties of the Federal Republic of Germany 1945–1980 (special edition - Volume 3). Opladen 1986, ISBN 3-531-11838-2 , pp. 1599-1647.
- Günther Gellrich: The GIM. On the politics and history of the group of international Marxists 1969-1986. With a foreword by Jakob Moneta . Neuer ISP-Verlag, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-929008-14-9 ( free download ).