Between Reform and Revolution - German Socialism and Communism from 1840 to 1990

The powerful impact of Socialism and Communism on modern German history is the theme which is explored by the contributors to this volume. Whereas previous investigations have tended to focus on political, intellectual and biographical aspects, this book captures, for the first time, the methodological and thematic diversity and richness of current work on the history of the German working class and the political movements that emerged from it. Based on original contributions from U.S., British, and German scholars, this collection address a wide range of themes and problems.

List of contents

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

David E. Barclay and Eric D. Weitz

Chapter 1. Diagnosing the "German Misery": Radicalism and the Problem of National Character, 1830 to 1848

Warren Breckman

Chapter 2. Working-Class Politics at the Crossroads of Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism

Hermann Beck

Chapter 3. The Lassallean Labor Movement in Germany: Organization, Social Structure, and Associational Life in the 1860s

Toni Offermann

Chapter 4. Bürger and Workers: Liberalism and the Labor Movement in Germany, 1848 to 1914

Ralf Roth

Chapter 5. "Genossen und Genossinnen": Depictions of Gender, Militancy, and Organizing in the German Socialist Press, 1890-1914

Mary Jo Maynes

Chapter 6. The Social Democratic Electorate in Imperial Germany

Jonathan Sperber

Chapter 7. Latent Reformism and Socialist Utopia: The SPD in Göttingen, 1890 to 1920

Adelheid von Saldern

Chapter 8. A Social Republic? Social Democrats, Communists, and the Weimar Welfare State, 1919 to 1933

David F. Crew

Chapter 9. The Iron Front: Weimar Social Democracy between Tradition and Modernity

Donna Harsch

Chapter 10. Communism and the Public Spheres of Weimar Germany

Eric D. Weitz

Chapter 11. The Rise and Fall of Red Saxony

William Carl Mathews

Chapter 12. Cultural Socialism, the Public Sphere, and the Mass Form: Popular Culture and the Democratic Project, 1900 to 1934

Geoff Eley

Chapter 13. The Social Origins of Unity Sentiments in the German Socialist Underground, 1933 to 1936

Gerd-Rainer Horn

Chapter 14. Communist Resistance between Comintern Directives and Nazi Terror

Beatrix Herlemann

Chapter 15. Rethinking Social Democracy, the State, and Europe: Rudolf Hilferding in Exile, 1933 to 1941

David E. Barclay

Chapter 16. Ordnungsmacht and Mitbestimmung: The Postwar Labor Unions and the Politics of Reconstruction

Diethelm Prowe

Chapter 17. The Soviets, the German Left, and the Problem of "Sectarianism" in the Eastern Zone, 1945 to 1949

Norman Naimark

Chapter 18. Pronatalism, Nationbuilding, and Socialism: Population Policy in the SBZ/DDR, 1945 to 1960

Atina Grossmann

Chapter 19. German Social Democracy and European Unification, 1945 to 1955

Dietrich Orlow

Chapter 20. The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Everyday Life in the DDR in the 1950s

Anna-Sabine Ernst

Chapter 21. Social Democratic Gender Policies, the Working-Class Milieu, and the Culture of Domesticity in West

Germany in the 1950s and 1960s

Hanna Schissler

Chapter 22. Is the SPD Still a Labor Party? From "Community of Solidarity" to "Loosely Coupled Anarchy"

Peter Lösche

Chapter 23. Good-bye to All That: The Passing of German Communism and the Rise of a New New Left

Eric D. Weitz

Selective Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index

About the author

Eric D. Weitz is Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Summary

This book captures the methodological and thematic diversity and richness of current work on the history of the German working class and the political movements that emerged from it.

Additional text

"... a rich, complex, authoritative, scholarly survey of Germany's socialist heritage."  · The Midwest Book Review

"Can twenty-three essays present the history of German socialism and communism, as well as those movements' members, supporters, and policies in the context of social history? This fine collection comes close to achieving that difficult task ... A very high quality work."  · Central European History

"Certainly the best collection of essays on the SPD and KPD ... The editors and contributors ... have provided fresh intrepretations ... and have set a high standard for present and future scholars."  · H-Net Reviews

Report

"... a rich, complex, authoritative, scholarly survey of Germany's socialist heritage." · The Midwest Book Review
"Can twenty-three essays present the history of German socialism and communism, as well as those movements' members, supporters, and policies in the context of social history? This fine collection comes close to achieving that difficult task ... A very high quality work." · Central European History
"Certainly the best collection of essays on the SPD and KPD ... The editors and contributors ... have provided fresh intrepretations ... and have set a high standard for present and future scholars." · H-Net Reviews

Product details

• Assisted by: Barclay David E. Barclay (Editor), David E. Barclay (Editor), Eric D. Weitz (Editor)
• Publisher: GB Gardners Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.1998
• EAN: 9781571810007
• ISBN: 978-1-57181-000-7
• No. of pages: 596
• Weight: 802 g
• Illustrations: 12 Tabellen
• Series: No Series Linked
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; History (General)