Hanoverian District (Weimar Republic)

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The Hanoverian Circle was a group of Marxist Young Socialists that formed in 1924 as an internal opposition to the nationalist -minded Hofgeismar Circle . Its leading representatives like Max Adler were close to Austromarxism . At times, Leonard Nelson also had a strong influence on the "Hanoverians" Jusos.

history

The criticism of the nationalist ideas of the "Hofgeismarer Kreis" had already started within the Young Socialists immediately after its formation. By the spring of 1924 the opposition had grown to such an extent that a consolidation of the oppositional currents seemed long overdue. An appeal was published in the journal “Sozialitische Politik und Wirtschaft” addressed to all young socialists of the German Reich who saw themselves as opponents of the “Hofgeismarer”. A conference was held in the small town of Hannoversch Münden in Lower Saxony for the weekend of Pentecost .

In addition to the orthodox Marxists , there was a second, quantitatively weaker, but qualitatively not to be underestimated, pillar of the Hanoverian Circle. The International Youth Association was a small, elitist organization, which was tailored to its founder Leonard Nelson , and therefore achieved a certain fame under the name " Nelson Association ". In contrast to Karl Marx, Nelson did not justify his idea of socialism through historical materialism , but developed the idea of ​​a universal legal ideal derived from human reason , based on equality and justice. However, he rejected “rule of the masses” and, in contrast to the ethical socialists in the SPD , was decidedly anti-democratic.

The Marxist Young Socialists, who formed the majority of the "Hanoverian Circle", saw the Weimar Republic as a "class state" whose right to exist was expressly denied. The idea of ​​a national community was resolutely rejected. The "Hanoverians" saw this ideology as mere propaganda on the part of employers to tame the working class . The Marxist Jusos resolutely advocated a revolution , which, however, did not necessarily have to be violent. Any form of identification with the nation was clearly rejected, as this would run counter to international solidarity among workers. Instead, the "United States of Europe" was called for as early as 1924. The relationship with the SPD was correspondingly difficult due to the rejection of parliamentary democracy .

At the Reich Conference of the Jusos in Jena in 1925 , the "Hanoverians" prevailed against the "Hofgeismarer" after bitter disputes. Until the dissolution of the Young Socialists by the SPD in 1931, the revolutionary Marxists set the tone. In the 1970s, a Hanoverian circle formed again on the left Juso wing .

literature

  • Stefan Jax: The Hofgeismar Circle of the Young Socialists and its aftermath in the Weimar period . Oer-Erkenschwick 1999.
  • Franz Walter : National Romanticism and Revolutionary Myth. Politics and ways of life in the early Weimar Young Socialism. Berlin 1986.