Protest and Democracy in West Germany: Extra-Parliamentary Opposition and the Democratic Agenda

335 Pages·1988·36.44 MB·English

by  Rob Burns

PROTEST AND DEMOCRACY IN WEST GERMANY
Also by Rob Burns
THE QUEST FOR MODERNITY
Also by Wilfried van der Will
VORAUSSETZUNGEN UND MC>GLICHKEITEN EINER SYMBOLSPRACHE
1M WERK GERHART HAUPTMANNS
PlKARO HEUTE: Metamorphosen des Schelms
THE GERMAN NOVEL AND THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY (with the late R. H.
Thomas)
DER DEUTSCHE ROMAN UND DIE WOHLSTANDSGESELLSCHAFT
Also by Rob Burns and Wilfried van der Will
ARBEITERKULTURBEWEGUNG IN DER WEIMARER REPUBLIK (vol. I)
ARBEITERKULTURBEWEGUNG IN DER WEIMARER REPUBLIK: Texte-
Dokumente - Bilder (vol. 2)
Protest and Detnocracy
in West Gertnany
Extra-Parliamentary Opposition and the
Democratic Agenda
Rob Burns
Lecturer in German Studies
University of Warwick
and
Wilfried van der Will
Reader in German Studies
University of Birmingham
© Rob Burns and Wilfried van der Will 1988
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988978-0-333-46484-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended),
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33 -4 Alfred Place,
London WCIE 7DP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this pUblication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published 1988
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
Transferred to digital printing 1999
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Burns, Rob
Protest and democracy in West Germany:
extra-parliamentary opposition and the
democratic agenda.
I. Pressure groups-Germany (West)
History 2. Germany (West)-Politics
and government
I. Title II. Will, Wilfried van der
322.4'4'0943 Dd260.4
ISBN 978-1-349-19523-7 ISBN 978-1-349-19521-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19521-3
Contents
Preface vii
Glossary of Abbreviations and German Terms Vlll
Introduction: Changes in the Nature of the Political Terrain
after 1945 1
1 Critical Intellectuals as Extra-Par!iamentary Custodians of
Democracy 17
Connotations of the term Intellektueller 18
Intellectuals in the immediate post-war period 19
Intellectuals and the restoration of capitalist society in the
Federal Republic 30
Divisions in the intelligentsia and the critique of the
consolidated capitalist society 41
The intellectuals and the problem of the state 53
The reshaping of the intellectuals' critical role by the politics
of protest in the 1980s 64
2 The Protest for Peace: Opposition to Remilitarisation and
Nuclear Weapons (1950 to 1969) 72
Political campaigns against West German rearmament 73
Opposition to the atom bomb in the late 1950s 86
The extra-parliamentary movement for nuclear
disarmament (1960 to 1969) 91
3 The Anti-Authoritarian Student Movement (1965 to 1969):
a Caesura in the Political Discourse 99
The prehistory of student mobilisation 102
Phases in the development of the anti-authoritarian
movement 106
Theoretical positions of anti-authoritarianism 118
4 The Politics of the Women's Movement and the Cultural
Challenge of Feminism (1968 to 1985) 125
Historical outline of the women's issue up until 1968 125
The emergence of the new women's movement and its
political profile 135
Autonomous projects of the women's movement 145
The cultural projections of feminism 150
v
VI Contents
5 Citizens' Initiatives: Grassroots Democracy and the Growth
of Environmentalism in the 1970s and 1980s 164
Problems of definition 164
Typological possibilities 168
Politics of the locality 172
Defence of civil liberties 178
Ecology: environmental protection 183
Ecology: opposition to nuclear power 194
6 The Protest for Peace: Mass Opposition to Nuclear Arms
(1980 to 1986) 205
The 'rebellion of the minorities' (January 1980 to December
1981) 207
Consensus and consolidation: the peace movement as multi-
centred mass protest (January 1982 to October 1983) 218
Disobedience, dissent and despondency: the peace
movement in decline (Autumn 1983 to December 1986) 224
7 The Greens as the Parliamentary Tribune of Protest Politics 230
Reflections of the new social movements in the Greens'
political programme 231
Grassroots democracy as a new style of party politics 243
The Greens: oppositional fundamentalists or potential
partner in government? 256
Conclusion: Changes in the Nature of the Political Culture since
the Late 1960s 263
Notes and References 279
Chronology of Events 1945-1987 301
Select Bibliography 307
Index 315
Preface
This study is the result of close collaboration between the authors. It
originated in a Research Fellowship awarded to Rob Bums by the
Leverhulme Trust, whose financial support, together with the generous
sabbatical leave provisions of Warwick University, facilitated a year's
continuous research work in the Federal Republic. Likewise, Wilfried
van der Will is pleased to acknowledge the research funding he received
from the University of Birmingham. The Bundeszentrale fur politische
Bildung in Bonn and the following archives provided valuable assis
tance: the Referat Pressedokumentation of the Deutscher Bundestag in
Bonn, the Institut fur Zeitgeschichte in Munich, the Bundesarchiv in
Coblenz, the Bibliothek fur Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart, the Zentrum fur
alternative Medien in Frankfurt, the Zeitungsausschnittsarchiv and the
Institut fur Zeitungsforschung in Dortmund. The authors also benefited
greatly from discussions with numerous individuals in West Germany,
including Rudolf Bahro, Michael Ben, Peter Glotz, Petra Kelly, Ursula
Krechel, Roman Ritter, Michael Schneider, Uwe Timm, Heinrich
Vormweg and Martin Walser. We are especially grateful to Renate
Becker for making available to us her unpublished thesis on Die
literarische Darstellung weiblicher Subjektivitiit in der westdeutschen
Frauenliteratur der 70er und 80er Jahre. For their helpful comments on
various parts of the typescript our thanks are due to Volker Berghahn,
Michael Butler, Jon Clark, Rodney Hilton, Stephen Lamb, William
Paterson, Arrigo Subiotto and, in particular, to Jeremy Gaines and
David Hill. Finally, a special debt of gratitude is owed to Renate Plan
Hiibner, Bernd Vonbrunn and Pauline van der Will for their practical
help and constant encouragement.
While the Introduction and the Conclusion were formulated by both
authors together, the individual chapters were first written by one of the
authors before being amended and edited collaboratively. Rob Bums
originally wrote Chapters 2, 4 (with Renate Becker), 5,6 and 7; Wilfried
van der Will originally wrote Chapters I and 3. In conditions of such
close co-operation the authors must inevitably assume joint respon
sibility for the text of the book.
Leamington Spa and Birmingham ROB BURNS
WILFRIED VAN DER WILL
VB
Glossary of Abbreviations
and German Terms
Abbreviations
ADF Aktion Demokratischer Fortschritt (Action for Democratic
Progress)
APO Ausserparlamentarische Opposition (Extra-Parliamentary
Opposition)
AS/F Aktion Suhnezeichen/ Friedensdienste (Action for Reconcilia
tion/Services for Peace)
ASF Arbeitsgemeinschaft sozialdemokratischer Frauen (Council of
Social Democratic Women)
BBU Bundesverband Burgerinitiativen Umweltschutz (Federal
Association of Environmentalist Citizens' Initiatives)
BDF Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (League of German Women's
Associations)
BKA Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Office of Criminal Investigation)
CDU Christlich Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic
Union)
CSU Christlich-Soziale Union (Christian Social Union)
DDR Deutsche Demokratische Republik (GDR - German
Democratic Republic)
DFD Demokratischer Frauenbund Deutschland (Democratic
Women's League of Germany)
DFG Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft (German Peace Society)
DFI Demokratische Fraueninitiative (Democratic Women's
Initiative)
DGB Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (German Trade Union Federa
tion)
DKP Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (German Communist Party)
FDP Freie Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Free Democratic
Party of Germany)
JUSOS Jungsozialisten (Young Socialists)
KBW Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschlands (Communist
Federation of West Germany)
KoFAZ Komitee fur Frieden Abrustung und Zusammenarbeit (Com
mittee for Peace, Disarmament and Co-operation)
viii
Glossary IX
KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of
Germany)
NPD Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National
Democratic Party of Germany)
RAF Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction)
SDS Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (Socialist League of
German Students)
SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic
Party of Germany)
VS Verband deutscher Schriftsteller (Association of West German
Writers)
WFFB Westdeutsche Frauenfriedensbewegung (West German
Women's Peace Movement)
German terms
Basisdemokratie Grassroots democracy
Berufsverbot Ban on professional (usually civil service) employment
Bundesrat The second federal legislative chamber composed of
delegates from the Lander governments
Bundestag The federal parliament
Bundeswehr The federal army
Burgerinitiative Citizens' initiative or action group
Burgerliches Gesetzbuch Civil Code
Fraktion The parliamentary group of a political party
Grundgesetz Basic Law or federal constitution
K-Gruppen (Student) communist groups
Lander The ten federal states (Baden-Wiirttemberg, Bavaria, Bremen,
Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine Westphalia, Rhine
land Palatinate, Saarland, Schleswig Holstein) that make up the
Federal Republic, plus West Berlin
Nachrustung (Nuclear) arms' modernisation
Ostpolitik The policy of detente with the East, inaugurated under
Brandt's Chancellorship
Radikalenerlass Decree on Extremists
Rechtsstaat State founded in law
Soziale Marktwirtschaft Social market economy
Uberwachungsstaat Surveillance or 'Big Brother' state
Umweltbundesamt Federal Office for the Environment
Verfassungsfeind Enemy of the constitution