Institute for Marxist Studies and Research

The Institute for Marxist Studies and Research (IMSF) was a Marxist think tank founded on December 5, 1968 in Frankfurt am Main , which was close to the DKP and closely linked with it. With the end of the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe after the revolutions in 1989 and the associated end of funding by the GDR , the organization was dissolved.

The IMSF

The first head of the IMSF was the DKP party board member Josef Schleifstein . His deputy was Heinz Jung , who replaced Schleifstein as head of the IMSF in 1981 and was promoted to the party board of the DKP in the same year. Jürgen Reusch and André Leisewitz became the new deputy heads of the IMSF .

The IMSF worked closely with the Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED , the Institute for International Politics and Economics of the GDR , the Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the CPSU , the Marx-Engels Foundation of the DKP, the Marxist Workers' Education (MAB) and the Marxist student union Spartacus together. The IMSF published the quarterly journal Marxismus Digest from January 1, 1970 to December 31, 1977 .

Scientific Advisory Board

To mark its 15th anniversary, a scientific advisory board was founded at the beginning of December 1983, replacing the advisory boards for the IMSF's publication series. The Scientific Advisory Board in 1983 included:

Wolfgang Abendroth , Hermann Bömer , Dieter Boris , Christoph Butterwegge , Frank Deppe , Heike Fleßner , Georg Fülberth , Jörg Huffschmid , Johanna Hund , Hans Jürgen Krysmanski , Lothar Peter , Jan Priewe , Hans Jörg Sandkühler , Josef Schleifstein, Angelina Sörgel , Robert Steigerwald , Kurt Steinhaus .

Later Wolfgang Abendroth and Kurt Steinhaus were replaced by Ursula Schumm-Garling and Martin Kutscha .

In 1988 the following fields of work existed:

Capitalism theory	Heinz Jung
Scientific and technical progress and social consequences	André Leisewitz
Economic analysis and economic theory	Jörg Goldberg
Conditions of reproduction of the working class	Eberhard Dähne
Social Movements and Trade Union Theory	Klaus Pickshaus
Way of life and consciousness of the working class	Kaspar Maase
Women's research	Alma Steinberg
Marx-Engels research	Winfried Schwarz

Center for Marxist Peace Research

In 1987 the Center for Marxist Peace Research was founded as a subsidiary department of the IMSF, which emerged from an IMSF working group. It was headed by Jürgen Reusch. From 1987 to 1989 its Scientific Board of Trustees included:

Wolfgang Bartels , Christoph Butterwegge , Peter Dietzel , Helga Genrich , Georg Grasnick , Bernd Greiner , Karl-Heinz Hansen , Wolfgang Hofkirchner , Hans Heinz Holz , Jörg Huffschmid , Jürgen Jürgens , Gerhard Kade , Lorenz Knorr , Hans Jürgen Krysmanski , Kurt Lund , Werner Pfennig , Wladimir W. Rasmerow , Fred Schmid .

Dissolution in 1989

With the turning point and the peaceful revolution in 1989, the SED no longer supported the DKP and its subsidiary organizations . The nine full-time employees were laid off. The institute was dissolved in 1989 and a registered association was founded, which publishes the " Z. Zeitschrift Marxistische Renewal ".

Publications

Marxist Studies. IMSF yearbook. 15 volumes. 1978-1989 ( online ).
Matriarchy and patriarchy. Frankfurt am Main 1986.
10 years of IMSF Marxist research for the labor movement . Printed by: Busse GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 1978, 109 pp.
IMSF 1968-1988. Areas of work Bibliography Event overview . Print: Schmoll Klug, Mörfelden 1988, 136 pp. ISBN 3-88807-062-7
Heinz Jung : Farewell to a reality. On the defeat of socialism and the departure of the GDR. A political diary from summer 1989 to autumn 1990. IMSF Research & Discussion 6. Frankfurt am Main 1990.

Web links

Literature from and about the IMSF in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

^ IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 11.
^ IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 11 f.
^ IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 13 f.
↑ Peter Schütt : What money I take, the song I sing . In: Die Zeit , June 5, 1990: "What the DKP has always denied, that is now confirmed by the writer Peter Schütt, himself a member of the party's federal executive committee from 1971 to 1989: from the beginning the West German communists were attached to the East Berlin drip."

[1] IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 11.

[2] IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 11 f.

[3] IMSF 1968-1998. Areas of activity Bibliography Overview of events , p. 13 f.

[4] Peter Schütt : What money I take, the song I sing . In: Die Zeit , June 5, 1990: "What the DKP has always denied, that is now confirmed by the writer Peter Schütt, himself a member of the party's federal executive committee from 1971 to 1989: from the beginning the West German communists were attached to the East Berlin drip."