Scope for Agency and Political Options. The German Working-Class Movement and the Rise of Nazism

The article investigates the reactions of the working-class movement to the rise of Nazism. It begins with a discussion of the Preußenschlag, when the Social Democratic government of Prussia was disempowered by the Reich government in July 1932. These events are then put into the context of the soci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Politics, religion & ideology religion & ideology, 2013-09, Vol.14 (3), p.377-394
Main Author: Haberlen, Joachim C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Agency
Communism
Communists
Empowerment
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Government Agencies
Nazism
Political history
Political mobilization
Political Parties
Prussia
Radicalism
Social democratic parties
Trust
Working Class
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Summary:The article investigates the reactions of the working-class movement to the rise of Nazism. It begins with a discussion of the Preußenschlag, when the Social Democratic government of Prussia was disempowered by the Reich government in July 1932. These events are then put into the context of the social democrats' struggle for the defense of the Republic. The article argues that certain options for courses of actions, such as calling for mass activism in the streets, were not available to social democrats in moments of crisis because they were not part of their repertoire of political practices. Broadening the perspective, the article then analyzes both the communists' struggle against the Nazis, and their relations with social democrats. It argues that not only political goals separated social democrats from communists but even more importantly the radically different repertoires of their respective political practices. Finally, the article analyzes rank-and-file relations between communists and social democrats and highlights the deep distrust between them.
ISSN:2156-7689
2156-7697
DOI:10.1080/21567689.2013.820443