Spontaneous

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From the 1970s to the 1980s, Spontis were groups of left-wing political activists who saw themselves as successors to the extra-parliamentary opposition (APO) and the 68 movement .

Definition and demarcation

The Spontis considered the “ spontaneity of the masses” to be the revolutionary element of history. In this way, Spontis differentiated themselves from the K groups , who believed in the Leninist-Communist sense that the revolution needed an avant-garde party that had to take the lead in a better future. In contrast, the spontaneous approach was more “anti-authoritarian”. Accordingly, theoretical training and party building were not the order of the day, but rather “spontaneous”, nonetheless agreed actions in public. These should have an exemplary, imaginative and stirring character. In order to achieve this, the means of street theater were used to create a “left counter-milieu”. What is less well known is that classical agitation in the first phase also had a firm place in the repertoire of various spontaneous groups.

From company work to squatting - development

The "spontaneous scene" was widespread mainly in the student cities, especially in Münster , West Berlin , Konstanz and in Frankfurt am Main , where they formed the strongest parliamentary group in the student parliaments and the AStA at some universities under the same name Basic groups that were at times also a strong group in the Association of German Student Unions.

In the first phase, shortly after the disintegration of the SDS from around 1970, the Sponti groups still referred strongly to the labor movement as a revolutionary potential and undertook classic company work. A wave of “wild”, i.e. non-unionized, strikes in West Germany in 1969 and a wave of radical industrial struggles in Italy had raised hope that the unorganized and often poorly paid migrant workers would radicalize. The Spontis thus referred to the theory of the "mass worker" borrowed from Italian operaism . Various spontaneous groups tried to accelerate this process with operational interventions. Group names such as “Arbeitersache” in Munich or “Proletarian Front” in Hamburg bear testimony to this early worker orientation, the joint newspaper with the title “We want everything” referred to a slogan of Italian industrial struggles. Activities ranged from leaflets in front of the factory gates to indoor work, i.e. accepting factory jobs through spontaneous employees. However, when success was not immediately apparent, the impatience with the tedious work in the company grew - the Spontis turned to other forms of protest, for example in working-class neighborhoods.

With squatting , they fought for cheap housing and against property speculators, for example in Frankfurt's Westend against its restructuring into an insurance and banking district. Some squatting lasted up to 20 years. Many houses were later completely renovated and converted into expensive condominiums in posh residential areas. In the meantime, an interest in the preservation of old buildings had developed among the general public.

The mouthpiece of the Frankfurt Spontis was the magazine Pflasterstrand , their political organization was at times the Revolutionary Struggle . The celebrities who emerged from the Frankfurt spontaneous milieu include Joschka Fischer and Daniel Cohn-Bendit .

The Tunix Congress in Berlin in January 1978, which, shortly after the German Autumn , was attended by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people, is considered to be the later climax of the spontaneous movement and, at the same time, the beginning of its end .

The alternative movement emerged to a large extent from the spontaneous movement. The “ Autonomen ” were also significantly influenced by the content and culture of the Spontis . In the second half of the 1980s, a Frankfurt Sponti group led by Joschka Fischer took on a leading role in the then still radical opposition Greens and set them on a real course of compromises and government participation.

Spontaneous and their language

The so-called " Sponti-Sprüche " were very popular. They were invented by the Sponti scene itself or by publicists and ascribed to them. Hundreds of them were distributed in the media. B. “Freedom for Greenland! Away with the pack ice! ”Or“ Yesterday we were faced with an abyss. Today we are already a big step further. ”They are also attributed (partly belittling) acronyms and the shortening of nouns that have survived in youth culture circles , such as“ Konsti ”for Konstablerwache or“ Venti ”for fan.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sebastian Kasper: Under the slogan "Fight against work" - The operational interventions of the early spontaneous movement, in: Work - Movement - History. Journal for Historical Studies , Issue I / 2016.