Translated and introduced by Ben Fowkes
The German Left and the Weimar Republic illuminates the history of the political left by presenting a wide range of documents on various aspects of socialist and communist activity in Germany. Separate chapters deal with the policy of Social Democracy in and out of government, the attempts of the Communist Party to overthrow the Weimar Republic, and then later to oppose it. Later chapters move away from the political scene to treat the attitudes of the parties to key social issues, in particular questions of gender and sexuality. The book concludes with a presentation of documents on various groups of socialist and communist dissidents. Many of the documents are made accessible for the first time, and each chapter begins with an original introduction indicating the current state of research.
Biographical note
Readership
Table of contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
General Introduction
Chapter 1 Social Democracy in Government: Measures of Reform in Theory and Practice
Chapter 2 The Council Idea: Workers’ Councils and Factory Councils
Chapter 3 Communism and Insurrection
Chapter 4 In Defence of Democracy
Chapter 5 The Weimar Left Between Opposition and Coalition: Varied Strategies
Chapter 6 The Moscow Connection: The KPD and the Comintern
Chapter 7 Socialism and Foreign Policy
Chapter 8 The Search for Democracy in the Armed Forces
Chapter 9 Questions of Gender and Sexual Politics
Chapter 10 Long-term Political Objectives: Similarities and Differences
Chapter 11 The Parties, their Supporters and the Proletarian Milieu
Chapter 12 Parties and Groups of the Dissident Left
Bibliography
Index
