Left Socialism
As links socialism diverse currents in politics and political theory are called, which is beyond the left mainstream social democracy and communism see. They are often located between the main currents. In terms of content, left socialism is based on Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . Left socialists take the position that the two main currents have strayed too far from the founders of Marxism and their theories.
Origin and representatives
In the literature, the 1920s and 1930s are given as the period of origin. Left socialism represented the attempt, on the one hand, not to integrate into bourgeois-capitalist society, as happened from the left-wing socialist point of view with the SPD, but also not to submit to the “dictates of Moscow”, i.e. to follow the model of Soviet communism and to establish an educational dictatorship of the party. Left socialists were united by a radical rejection of Stalinism . The most important historical left socialist party in Germany was the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD), which existed from 1931 to 1945. Prominent members were the future Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt , the Saxon Prime Minister in the GDR Max Seydewitz and the SPD and USPD politician Georg Ledebour , who in the run-up to the SAPD had founded the Socialist Federation as a split from the USPD at the end of 1923 . The SAPD was part of the anti-fascist resistance, advocated a united front and also worked with Trotskyist groups.
An important left-wing socialist in the Federal Republic was Peter von Oertzen , who tried to build a left-wing socialist wing within the SPD. He was also the author of the left-wing socialist journal Socialist Politics . Leo Kofler and Wolfgang Abendroth are also assigned to left-wing socialism, as is the Socialist Office founded in 1969 with protagonists such as Elmar Altvater , Andreas Buro , Joachim Hirsch , Timm Kunstreich , Wolf-Dieter Narr and Klaus Vack .
When the SED was formed , there were also attempts to give the party a left-wing socialist profile. Because of the position between communism and social democracy, this opportunity presented itself. However, these tendencies were quickly suppressed by the ruling bureaucracy. At the beginning of the 1950s, a regular campaign against former SAPD members and other left-wing socialists finally took place in the SED. From then on, left socialism could only hold out in small circles. People like Robert Havemann or Rudolf Bahro can be assigned to these circles .
Similar ideas were represented in France by the Parti socialiste unifié , which existed between 1960 and 1989 , or by the Greek SYRIZA in its founding phase .
To what extent the party Die Linke is to be located in the tradition of left socialism is controversial in the literature. The strongest tendency towards left- wing socialism within the party is to be found in the socialist left movement , which includes left-wing trade unionists and former social democrats as well as Trotskyists. After the merger of PDS and WASG, the association WAsG e. V. converted into the Wolfgang Abendroth Foundation , named after the left-wing socialist political scientist .
literature
- Max Adler : Left Socialism. Necessary reflections on reformism and revolutionary socialism, Karlsbad 1933.
- Andreas Diers: Left Socialism. Origins and history 1917-1989, in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume II / 2010.
- Andreas Diers, Mark Schmitz: Keyword "Left Socialism", in: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism , Volume 8 / II, Column 1207-1218, Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2015.
- Christoph Jünke (Ed.): Left Socialism in Germany. Beyond social democracy and communism? VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-413-4 .
- Horst Klein: Marx Studies 1904-1923. Sources of left socialist theory development, in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement, Issue I / 2010.
- Klaus Kinner : German Communism and Left Socialism: Self-Understanding and Reality Volume 3 In War (1939-1945). Berlin 2009.
- Klaus Kinner: DIE LINKE - Legacy and Tradition 02: Roots of Left Socialism. Berlin 2010.
- Gregor Kritidis: Left Socialist Opposition in the Adenauer Era. A contribution to the early history of the Federal Republic of Germany . Offizin, Hannover 2008; ISBN 978-3-930345-61-8 .
- Ottokar Luban : Russian Bolsheviks and German Left Socialists on the eve of the German November Revolution. Relationships and influence , in: Yearbook for Historical Research on Communism 2009, pp. 283–298.
- Peretz Merchav: Left Socialism in Europe between the World Wars. Europaverlag, Vienna 1979, ISBN 978-3-203-50725-5 .
Web links
- Christoph Jünke: Report from the conference Beyond Social Democracy and Communism? On the history of the problem, program and topicality of left socialism of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation North Rhine-Westphalia from December 11th to 12th, 2009 in Duisburg.
- Christoph Jünke: The left re-formation 1954/55 and its failure 1957/58 , in: Socialist Hefts for Theory and Practice , No. 11, Cologne, September 2006 ( online version )
See also
- List of left socialist organizations in West Germany
- List of left-wing socialist newspapers and magazines in West Germany
Individual evidence
- ↑ As a forerunner z. B. the Austromarxist book series "Marx Studies", cf. Horst Klein: Marx Studies 1904-1923. Sources of left socialist theory development, in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Issue I / 2010.
- ↑ Gottfried Oy: Searching for traces of the New Left - The example of the Socialist Office and its magazine links (Sozialistische Zeitung (1969 to 1997)) ; rls-papers, publisher Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 7 ff. ( online as a PDF file ( memento of the original from October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and still not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
- ↑ Tom Strohschneider , Wolfgang Hübner, Lafontaines Linke, Berlin 2007, p. 229 f.
