NEWS
Article: From Reconstruction to People’s Property
The economic problems and achievements of the anti-fascist-democratic transformation in East Germany (1945–1949)
Article: Ahead by a whole decade
75th anniversary of the DDR: What we can learn and preserve from women’s emanicpation in East Germany
Article: The most revolutionary upheavals took place in the countryside
75th anniversary of the DDR: The significance of the land reform and cooperative movement in East German agriculture
EVENT: Non-Alignment and Socialism
Today, many argue that a new Cold War has begun between the USA and China. Since February 2022, it also appears as if a new group of non-aligned states might be emerging. How do these developments compare to the Cold War and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of the 20th century? How did the socialist states’ approach to anti-imperialism and the NAM during the last century? On 7 July 2023 we will be discussing with Indian historian and communist Vijay Prashad how non-alignment and anti-imperialism relate to the struggle for socialism – both in the past and present.
Dossier: What happened on 17 June 1953 in the GDR?
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the unrest during 17 June 1953 in the German Democratic Republic (“East Germany”). With this dossier of translated article excerpts, we want to shed light on significant aspects of the events and make them accessible to an international audience.
EVENT: WHY TALK ABOUT THE GDR?
We were invited by The People’s Forum in New York City to discuss the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and its enduring relevance for progressive movements today. In the two-session seminar, we covered the historical context in which the GDR was founded, the character of its planned economy, the functioning of its socialist democracy, and the significance of proletarian internationalism.
Event: The Land to Those Who Work It
On 24 October, we will diuscuss the third volume of our “Studies on the DDR” at an online event together with our partners at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. In conversation with Miguel Stedile of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) and Max from the IF DDR, we will place the experience of the DDR’s land reform and agricultural development in the context of today’s struggles for land and a better life for peasants.
“Plan together – work together – govern together!”
An examination of the theory and praxis of socialist democracy in the German Democratic Republic (DDR).
Dossier: The Founding of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
A dossier to mark the 80th anniversary of the unification of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in April 1946.
On the Question of Consciousness during Socialist Construction
In this article we explore the question of how people’s relationship to their own history changes during the transition from capitalism to socialism, and discuss this issue using concrete examples drawn from the experience of socialist development in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The Road to “Socialist Commodity Production”
In this article, we explore economic problems and debates in the DDR during the period of socialist construction (1950–1962). In the struggle against Western subversion and Yugoslav ideas of ‘self-managed socialism’, the DDR erected a foundational architecture for both its practical planning policy and the field of political economy.
Yes, the German Democratic Republic was socialist—and we have much to learn from it
A response to Die Linke leader Heidi Reichinnek that the GDR was not socialist and we have nothing to learn from it.
