Nomenclature
The term nomenklatura in Western parlance in socialist countries describes on the one hand a list of all leadership positions in party , administration, economy and society. This directory is an instrument for long-term personnel planning within the framework of the cadre policy typical of communist systems of rule . On the other hand, the term nomenklatura also referred to the entirety of the people who held these important leadership positions, i.e. the elites .
Origin of the word
Like the term nomenclature , nomenklatura is of Latin origin: Both terms come from nomenclatura ( nomen = name, clamare = gather ) and denote a list of names. While nomenclature is borrowed directly from Latin and is used in everyday language for lists of names and terms of all kinds, nomenclature comes from the Russian номенклатура . In West German parlance, nomenklatura was used exclusively in the direct or figurative sense for name directories of party political cadres . It was not used in the GDR.
Nomenklatura - the privileged class
The terms "nomenklatura" (as the set of officials) and "nomenclature cadres," come from the language of the SED for managers of all types. The term suggests that leadership and influence positions were filled only with those in the corresponding nomenclature as linientreu and were listed.
Such privileged groups are not an invention of actually existing socialism, but developed particularly well in this social formation. Leon Trotsky already spoke in exile in 1930 that there was a “new bourgeoisie” in Russia (in: “The Real Situation in Russia” 1930), which he did not align with the bureaucracy in party and state leadership. ("The kulak teamed up with the small industrialist to achieve the complete restoration of capitalism. And so an irreconcilable struggle for the distribution of the surplus product of labor began: who would dispose of it in the near future - the Soviet bureaucracy or the new bourgeoisie ? "he wrote in his work" Stalin ".) Milovan Đilas has memorialized the perversion of the idea of equality in Yugoslavia Josip Broz Titos with his book" Die Neue Klasse "(German 1958). After the collapse of the SED dictatorship in the GDR , the full extent of the new class society and the police-state spy system became clear, this finely interwoven mixture of privileges and fear , of bought and forced approval. The downfall of the socialist states of Eastern Europe was not least a consequence of this blatant contradiction between ideology and reality , of the basic rights granted on paper and the subjective impotence of ordinary citizens.
As a result of socialist class society the term "nomenklatura" got increasingly bitter, negative connotation and then stood for apparatchik and bigwigs State . Since the end of the communist dictatorships, language use has been largely limited to this meaning.
Nomenclature by state
Soviet Union
The term stands for the leadership cadres of the Soviet Union . The nomenklatura consisted exclusively of CPSU members who were active from a certain "middle" level of influence or management upwards. In principle, it was the elite of the Soviet Union, which ruled over all areas of the country and its population without exception.
German Democratic Republic
The various SED leaderships ( Politburo , Central Committee , district leaderships , etc.) and the GDR ministries created a system of nomenclature cadres based on the Soviet model, which were made up of members who were loyal to the line, who were particularly devoted to party discipline and who were specially trained in party schools . There was an exact nomenclature cadre ordinance in which the important management positions (several hundred) in the GDR were recorded. Before being appointed to such a position (1st secretaries of the SED district and district leaderships, general directors of the combines , ministers, state secretaries, rectors, directors of important institutes, leaders in the media, etc.), this personnel submission first had to be submitted by the Central Committee of the SED , that is, the corresponding department in the Central Committee, must be formally confirmed. The aim was to achieve the most complete control of public life possible. In such a system, the leadership positions could only be filled by SED members who were loyal to the line, with few exceptions. In order to achieve a position as a socialist leader, the nomenklaturkader candidate had to prove himself to be suitable in subordinate management functions and to prove himself politically. In addition, in later years for such positions according to the establishment plan , correctly "cadre development plan ", a university degree (if possible with a doctorate ) was essential, supplemented by attending the party school corresponding to the management level, such as the district party school and / or party college of the SED. Since the 1970s , real nomenclature cadre "dynasties" have grown out of the families of the original nomenclature cadre with increasing frequency. From 1983 the electronic "Central Cadre Data Storage" (ZKDS) was run by the Council of Ministers of the GDR .
MfS and nomenklatura
In 2014 it became known that Stasi chief Erich Mielke was collecting compromising material about members of the SED central committee in a secret filing called “Rote Nelke”.
The so far largely unknown files contain information about Stasi cooperation, but also Nazi charges, e.g. B. by Margot Honecker , Günter Mittag and Hermann Axen . The dossiers obtained show that not a few had unofficial relations with the MfS even before their function as nomenclature cadre. Before the ascent, they were checked by the MfS on behalf of the management department of the Central Committee. The MfS thus became the SED's personnel advisor. Many nomenclature cadres continued to work “officially” with the MfS after their rise. They informed the Stasi and, on the other hand, got information from the Stasi in order to steer their personnel policy in the interest of the SED. Ingeburg Lange, the Central Committee secretary responsible for women's issues, the Reichsbahn President Otto Arndt and the Minister of Construction Wolfgang Junker are named as examples in the files.
The phenomenon of these official partners of the MfS has so far been underestimated in research. They didn't just report. On the basis of the exchange of information with the MfS, after consultation with the MfS and the SED, they also made personnel decisions that could intervene in the biographies of citizens. So you had significantly more power than the average IM. The nomenclature cadres were the real rulers in the SED dictatorship.
Members of the nomenklatura
The nomenklatura in the GDR was composed as follows:
- The closest circle of top functionaries (around 30 people) included the members and candidates of the SED Politburo .
- Around 500–600 people are included in the narrower group of the nomenklatura.
- Including all senior, middle and lower functionaries of the SED, bloc parties , mass organizations , state institutions, culture and business, the nomenclature comprised around 250,000 people according to some statements, and around 339,000 people according to other statements.
Positions that belonged to the nomenklatura included:
- all full-time employees of the SED except office and house staff, all full-time and honorary employees of SED institutes and institutions except office and house staff
- all members of the central boards of the other bloc parties CDU , LDPD , NDPD , Peasant Party ( DBD ); all members of their district boards, the full-time employees of these parties except office and domestic staff, all full-time and voluntary employees of institutes and institutions of these parties except office and domestic staff
- all members of the central boards of the mass organizations such as FDGB , FDJ , DSF , DFD , GST etc., all members of the district boards of the GDR mass organizations, the full-time employees of these mass organizations except office and domestic staff, all full-time and honorary employees of institutes and institutions of the GDR mass organizations except office and house staff
- all members of the People's Chamber, the District Days, all leading full-time employees of the People's Chamber and the District Days
- all members of the Council of State of the GDR, the Council of Ministers of the GDR and the councils of the districts; all senior staff of the State Council, the Council of Ministers, the ministries, the district councils, the senior staff of institutes and institutions of the State Council, the Council of Ministers and the ministries
- All full-time employees of the MfS except office and house staff, the important volunteer employees of the MfS, all senior officers of the People's Police in officer rank (from major upwards), all senior full-time and honorary employees of the fighting groups of the working class in officer rank, all officers of the NVA in Rank major or higher
- all senior staff from universities, colleges, institutes and educational establishments, senior staff in the school system (from school principals upwards), senior staff in health care
- all company directors and senior staff of large companies
- everyone who has held managerial positions in professional and similar associations
- everyone who has received high awards.
literature
- Michael Voslensky : Nomenklatura. The ruling class of the Soviet Union, past and present. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Nymphenburger, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-485-00524-X .
- Susan Pethe, Christian Booß: The "Red Carnation" process. Secret files of the MfS on high SED functionaries. In: Christian Booß, Helmut Müller-Enbergs : The indiscreet society. Studies on the denunciation complex and on unofficial employees. Verlag Police Science, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-86676-384-5 , pp. 49-69.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article Nomenklatura. In: Everhard Holtmann (Ed.): Political Lexicon. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-486-24906-1 , p. 422.
- ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/erich-mielke-und-sein-geheimes-dossier-die-brisanten-akten-ueber-die-spitzengenossen/10775394.html ; http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/25-jahre-mauerfall/geheimarchiv-rote-nelke-stasi-bespitzelte-selbst-sed-spitzenfunktionaere_id_4178648.html
- ↑ Susan Pethe, Christian Booß: The "Red Carnation" process. Secret files of the MfS on high SED functionaries. In: Christian Booß, Helmut Müller-Enbergs : The indiscreet society. Studies on the denunciation complex and on unofficial employees. Verlag Police Science, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-86676-384-5 , pp. 49-69.
- ↑ a b Arnd Bauerkämper : The Social History of the GDR (= Encyclopedia of German History. Vol. 76). Oldenbourg, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57637-2 , p. 41.
- ↑ http://www.stasiopfer.de : Nomenclature cadre of the GDR dictatorship . Retrieved May 2, 2012.