Communist People's Newspaper

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Communist People's Newspaper

description political newspaper
language German
publishing company Publishing house communism and class struggle ( Germany )
First edition July 1973
attitude 23rd December 1982
Frequency of publication weekly
Sold edition 5400 copies
editor Central Committee of the Communist League of West Germany
ISSN (print) 0720-8898

The Communist People's Newspaper (KVZ) was the central organ of the Communist League of West Germany . It appeared (weekly for most of its existence) from July 1973 to the end of 1982 and was used exclusively for the organization's agitation and propaganda . A typical issue of the KVZ had a volume of 16 five-column pages in a single newspaper book and appeared in a small newspaper format in monochrome in modern newspaper printing.

precursor

Its predecessors included the Truth of the Communist League of Bremen , the Arbeiter-Zeitung of the Communist Group Mannheim / Heidelberg and other central organs of the communist groups and leagues that founded the Communist League of West Germany in June 1973. These newspapers were discontinued as independent publications with the appearance of the KVZ , but some were still distributed as local supplements.

History of publication

KVZ No. 12 1977
KVZ No. 51 1982 (last edition)

The first edition of the Communist People's Newspaper came out shortly after the KBW was founded in June 1973. Competing organizations registered with schadenfreude that the second number of the CPC could only appear in late summer before the start of the semester. Until the number 22/1974 the central organ appeared regularly every fortnight, after that until it was discontinued in 1982 as a weekly newspaper. The first edition had a print run of 25,000 copies (mentioned later). Due to intensive street sales at agitation and propaganda stands in public places and in pedestrian zones, in front of large companies, in universities and partly in teachers' rooms, in connection with a certain curiosity effect in the population, the print run indicated in the imprint rose to over by the turn of the year 1974/75 50,000 copies. The number of actually sold CPC but never exceeded 33,000. After that, the circulation continued to decrease to 40,000 (27/1975), which it remained until the 26/1976 issue. From no. 27/1976 onwards the print run was given as 32,000, from no. 29/1979 onwards, no more print runs were given in the imprint.

The communist people's newspaper was initially produced in the Heidelberg area. The first responsible editor was Willfried Maier . In September 1976 he and two other editors were "exposed as the main representative of a bourgeois line in the KBW" and removed from their offices. His successor was Hans-Jörg Hager , who was replaced by Martin Fochler after his sudden departure at the end of June 1978 . As a result of the split in the KBW in July 1980, it became necessary to fill the executive editor post with Lutz Plümer . Bernhard Peters was editor-in-chief from issue 40/1980 . After leaving the KBW, Friedemann Bleicher was his successor and remained so until the newspaper was closed.

From No. 50 of December 16, 1976, the KVZ appeared with a new layout (among other things, the lower case was not used in the title) and in three regional editions (North, Central and South) with their own editorial offices in Hanover, Cologne and Munich. The central editorial office was still based in Mannheim until the KBW moved to the newly acquired headquarters in Frankfurt am Main in April 1977.

The Communist People's Newspaper appeared with 20 instead of the usual 16 pages from No. 20/1978. In the summer of 1978 the CPC was divided into 38 (later 39) district editions, which differed from the other editions of the same region only on a few pages. The newspaper now consisted of a central and a regional section and parts that were produced at the district and later district group level. At the same time, an international news chain was set up with foreign offices in Brussels, Rome, London and Vienna. In 1979 a branch was added in Paris. Even before that there was a KVZ correspondent network of comrades who, for example, had spent a prison sentence for a demonstration offense , the radical decree or an offered teaching position abroad, with branches in Beijing , Sydney or Aarhus . The regional and district editorial offices as well as the offices of the foreign correspondents had modern data transmission devices, which made it possible to send articles ready for printing to the head office in Frankfurt. Even before the KBW split up in the summer of 1980, three to four district editions had to be combined into a total of twelve district group editions due to the decreasing number of copies sold by the KVZ . With the loss of around a third of the members who founded the Bund Westdeutscher Kommunisten in September 1980 and after further withdrawals, the number of articles that were written for the newspaper fell considerably. Eventually the message chain also collapsed.

In addition to price increases, the last two years of the CPC brought other changes, such as the introduction of a letters to the editor at the beginning of 1981 with the possibility of political discussion and the renunciation of the name central organ . Instead, the KVZ called itself from No. 24 of June 12, 1981, a weekly newspaper and only appeared in one central edition. Authors no longer necessarily had to belong to the KBW and a vacancy in the editorial team was also offered to non-members. The CPC adopted for lack of money also third-party advertisements, u. a. of " ourselves ", which led to protests from readers. The change of the CPZ from a central organ of a communist party to a discussion magazine of the left was not appreciated by the readers. The circulation fell steadily and at the beginning of October 1982 the discontinuation of the two KBW publications was announced: Changes to the CPC and “Communism and Class Struggle” / At the end of the year, the focus on one periodical becomes inevitable . The last issue of the KVZ appeared on December 23, 1982, with which the municipality was announced as the successor magazine on the front page .

subjects

The newspaper served as a pure party newspaper exclusively for agitation and propaganda for the Communist League of West Germany. It was missing some of the parts of the newspaper that would otherwise appear in communist newspapers that only serve " entertainment ".

The first edition from July 1973 had the message “ Breshnew bei Nixon ” as a lead story on page 1 , and there were also reports of strikes and the currency crisis . In the newspaper section “Strike Reports”, further correspondence from various companies followed on several pages. On p. 7 there was a report on a “popular movement against the bombing site ” (near Nordhorn ). Over the next few years , the CPC presented in detail further “popular struggles” against the use of nuclear energy under “capitalist conditions” .

The report on the KBW's founding conference took up a lot of space . In the next few years the KVZ provided regular information in a section entitled “From the Organization” about the constant growth of the KBW through the establishment of new local groups, but also about the “ battle between two lines ” in the organization. Large parts of the party life remained hidden from the readers of the KVZ .

In the part "Liberation struggles of the oppressed peoples" was u. a. reported on Indochina and Vietnam . In 1975 there were articles about numerous liberation movements from Aden to Zimbabwe . The KBW campaigned particularly intensively for groups that wanted to conquer political power by force of arms. For several years from 1976 the support of the ZANU was in the foreground for the KBW , from 1978 on the solidarity with the " Democratic Kampuchea ", through which the KBW politically isolated itself.

In "International Class Struggles" from the first issue on strikes in various countries were reported. a. a factory occupation in France. This resulted in the following unshakable worldview for the next few years: The turmoil in the world is intensifying .

“Building Socialism” was the name of another column in which articles often appeared on the People's Republic of China , where the CPZ had several correspondents over the years. There was less coverage of Albania and other socialist states such as the “ Democratic People's Republic of Korea ” and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . Here one was often content with reprints from publications of the countries concerned.

Another article in the first issue dealt with the competing organization “ Communist Party of Germany ” and its campaign “Hands off the KPD”. Further articles on ideological demarcation from other K groups followed in the next few years.

The newspaper had no actual cultural page. Occasionally current books, films, and art exhibitions, especially when popularly believed to be progressive, have been criticized for being in fact reactionary because they "denied class contradiction" or discouraged revolution. An example of a “trench warfare” in the CPZ in the early days was the discussion as to whether the film Viva Zapata! by Elia Kazan was a progressive work. After all, it wasn't him.

The articles had a maximum length of one page. Fundamental articles or presentations by the secretary of the KBW or the Communist Party of China could be dealt with on up to two pages. The monthly theoretical organ Communism and Class Struggle was available for longer contributions .

To the diction of the KVZ : Since 1976 the broken-up French whore Bardot has been fighting against the "bloodthirsty seal slaughterers" , pension law in the sense of the final solution , who wants to claim that Ehrenberg is not a desk killer, insurance swindler, thief, fence, minister of forced labor, blackmailer and wage pusher, final dissolver and death helper of finance capital? .

Some editions were confiscated because statements in articles violated the law.

effect

The articles did not have a major impact on the formation of public opinion. However, they were closely monitored by the central organs of the competing K groups , especially the workers' struggle of the Communist League , and were frequently commented on sharply. In the section on agitation in the chapter on left-wing extremism , the reports on the protection of the constitution often briefly refer to prominent passages in CPC articles. In the Beijing Rundschau press review , articles from the CPZ were not reprinted, in contrast to contributions from some other central organs of pro-Chinese groups.

Some articles (for example the “Buback obituary”) led to criminal proceedings against the authors, those responsible for press law or the seller of the newspaper, or to the confiscation of the issue in question.

successor

The paper was discontinued without replacement; the commune is considered the successor to the theoretical body of the KBW Communism and Class Struggle , which was also discontinued at the end of 1982 (1.1983, ff.)

statistics

newspaper

Body: Communist League of West Germany, the Central Committee (from No. 48 of 27 November 1981. National Board) Verlag
publishing communism and class struggle (JCC) Ernst Ehlert; Druck
Caro-Druck, Plankstadt; from 1977 Frankfurt am Main Date of publication
1st volume no. 1 (July) 1973 to 10th volume no. 51 (23 December) 1982 Alternating publication date
: (initially) Thursday; Monday; Friday (from No. 24 of June 12, 1981) Sales price
(initially) DM 0.50, DM 0.70 (from summer 1979), DM 1.00 (from 1/1981), DM 1.80 (from 1 / 1982) edition
circulation: 25,000 (1973); 30,000; 54,000 (high 1974/75, of which only 33,000 were sold); 40,000 (from 27/1975); 32,000 (from 27/1976 to 28/1979). Number of copies sold: 23,599 (autumn 1978); 16,485 (fall 1979); 7,300 (May 1981); 5,400 (December 1981); last less than 3,000 table of contents

  • Alphabetical index of the years 1973 and 1974 , Mannheim (Verlag Kühl) 1975, 47 pages

Authors

Leading editors
Willfried Maier , Hans-Jörg Hager , Martin Fochler , Lutz Plümer , Bernhard Peters , Friedemann Bleicher

Authors
Gerd Koenen (also foreign correspondent); Eberhard Kempf , Victor Pfaff (mainly legal articles), Joscha Schmierer (from mid-1976 with first name Hans-Gerhart )

Foreign
Correspondent Barbara Gentikow (Aarhus); Uwe Kräuter , Jochen Noth , Thomas Heberer (all Beijing); Matthias Tomczak (Sydney)

motto

"Proletarians of all countries and oppressed peoples, unite!", From No. 50/1976 additionally "Proletarians of all countries, unite!"

literature

  • Constitutional Protection Reports (for) 1973–1982
  • Jürgen Bacia: Communist Federation of West Germany. In: Richard Stöss (Ed.): Party Handbook. Volume 2. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1984, ISBN 3-531-11592-8 , pp. 1648-62; "KVZ" pp. 1649, 1652, 1654, 1660f.
  • Gerd Koenen: The red decade. Our little German cultural revolution 1967–1977. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-462-02985-1 , "KVZ" pp. 420, 427, 437, 460f.
  • Andreas Kühn: Stalin's grandsons, Mao's sons. The living environment of the K groups in the Federal Republic of the 1970s. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-593-37865-5 .

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ mao-projekt.de
  2. ↑ The editor in charge initially assumed that "in the worst case scenario" 10% would be returned
  3. ^ The KBW only published this in articles in the CPC or Communism and Class Struggle , which dealt with the situation of the organization
  4. ↑ Student geek : "Komische Volkszeitung"
  5. ↑ Burkhart (von) Braunbehrens (* 1941 in Freiburg, 1961 to 1971 studied sociology, Romance studies and art history, active in the SDS and in the student movement since 1965, after 1976 industrial worker, works council, retraining to offset printer, since 1982 painter, graphic artist) and Eckart Riehle
  6. ↑ Right measure at the right time. Liquidating the right line in editorial work . In: KVZ , No. 38, September 23, 1976, p. 15; Struggle of the masses always. “Bourgeois headquarters” in the KBW was exposed . In: Berliner Extra-Dienst , No. 85 / X, October 29, 1976, pp. 7–8
  7. ↑ from KVZ , No. 38, 23 September 1976
  8. ↑ from KVZ , No. 26, June 26, 1978
  9. ↑ from KVZ , No. 14, April 8, 1982
  10. ↑ The headquarters of the central editorial office of the KVZ was from No. 20 on May 16, 1977 in Frankfurt am Main
  11. ↑ After the split in the fall of 1980, again reduced to 16 pages
  12. ^ Advertisement in KVZ No. 8, February 26, 1982, p. 4, on this letter to the editor in No. 16, April 23, 1982, p. 4
  13. ↑ KVZ No. 40 of October 8, 1984, p. 4
  14. ↑ There were also no photos of scantily clad young women, as was customary at the beginning in the DKP's party newspaper Our Time , on whose journalistic line Der Spiegel (No. 15/1969, pp. 86-87) noted under the title “Pop and Politics”: "With a mixture of pop and politics, crime fiction and culture, fashion and motor, the organ wants to take up the fight against the" rulers of this country "."
  15. ↑ JS (Joscha Schmierer), The turmoil in the world is increasing. Political report by the Secretary to the Central Committee, October 13th . In: KVZ , No. 5, October 24, 1973, pp. 12-13
  16. ↑ Uwe Kräuter, In China, the workers are the masters of the factories: Visit to the General Beijing Hosiery Factory: The cultural revolution has consolidated workers' power and accelerated the development of production . In: KVZ , No. 1, January 9, 1975, p. 8; WM (the editor-in-chief), The Constitution of the People's Republic of China: A Constitution of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat . In: KVZ , No. 6, February 13, 1975, p. 9
  17. ^ BV Heidelberg, Viva Zapata! A revolutionary film . In: KVZ , No. 1, January 9, 1975, p. 16; -GS-, Viva Zapata, at least not revolutionary . In: KVZ , No. 2, January 16, 1975, [p. 16]; Viva Zapata! Counter-criticism . In: KVZ , No. 3, January 23, 1975, p. 16 and finally: WD “Viva Zapata!” - continuation of a dispute. the Mexican Revolution - the film - the criticism of the comrades . In: KVZ , No. 4, January 30, 1975, p. 16
  18. ↑ (anon) "Artful" excitement about "seal slaughterers" . In: KVZ , No. 22, May 29, 1978, p. 9
  19. ↑ KVZ No. 29, July 18, 1977, p. 4 (Z-Red.)
  20. ↑ (Z-Red.) In: KVZ , No. 36, September 5, 1977, p. 9
  21. ↑ for example (author unknown) police murder of Günter Routhier . In: KVZ , No. 13, June 26, 1974, p. 16
  22. ↑ for example the class struggle of the Communist League of Austria
  23. ↑ Buback shot - there's reasons enough, but what good is that already . In: KVZ , No. 15, April 14, 1977, p. 9
  24. ↑ KVZ No. 31 or 32/1979
  25. ↑ Communism and Class Struggle 9/1980, p. 3