Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989 Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945-1989 is a history of public protest in East Germany from the end of World War Two until the demise of the GDR in 1990. Gareth Dale, an active participant both in the citizens' movement and in the street protests of 1989, explores social movements in East Germany by: • Drawing upon interviews with participants and functionaries, as well as previously untapped archive materials. • Including detailed studies of the popular uprising of June 1953; industrial relations; youth subcultures; and the church-linked 'grassroots groups' of the 1980s. • Proposing novel interpretations of the 1953 uprising, of the 'socio-ethical' movements of the 1980s, and of the divergence between the 'citizens' move- ment' and the mass protests in the autumn of 1989. • Rebutting the dominant interpretation of 1989 as the consummation of the 'aborted revolution' of 1953. This lucid narrative history will be of particular interest to students of German Politics/History, European Politics and International Studies. Gareth Dale is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Wales, Swansea. His research interests include international migration, social theory and German politics. He has recently published a monograph entitled Between State Capitalism and Globalisation: The Collapse of the East German Economy. His other publications includeThe European Union and Migrant Labour(edited, with Mike Cole). Routledge Advances in European Politics 1 Russian Messianism 9 Democracy and Enlargement Third Rome, revolution, in Post-Communist Europe Communism and after The democratisation of the general Peter J.S. Duncan public in fifteen Central and Eastern European countries, 1991–1998 2 European Integration and the Christian W. Haerpfer Postmodern Condition Governance, democracy, identity 10Private Sector Involvement in Peter van Ham the Euro The power of ideas 3 Nationalism in Italian Stefan Collignon and Daniela Schwarzer Politics The stories of the Northern 11Europe League, 1980–2000 A Nietzschean perspective Damian Tambini Stefan Elbe 4 International Intervention in 12European Union and E-Voting the Balkans since 1995 Addressing the European Edited by Peter Siani-Davies Parliament’s internet voting challenge 5 Widening the European Edited by Alexander H. Trechsel and Union Fernando Mendez The politics of institutional change and reform 13European Union Council Edited by Bernard Steunenberg Presidencies A comparative perspective 6 Institutional Challenges in the Edited by Ole Elgström European Union Edited by Madeleine Hosli, Adrian van 14European Governance and Deemen and Mika Widgrén Supranational Institutions Making states comply 7 Europe Unbound Jonas Tallberg Enlarging and reshaping the boundaries of the European Union 15European Union, NATO Edited by Jan Zielonka and Russia Martin Smith and Graham Timmins 8 Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans 16Business, the State and Nationalism and the destruction Economic Policy of tradition The case of Italy Cathie Carmichael G. Grant Amyot 17Europeanization and 24 Governing Europe Transnational States Discourse, governmentality Comparing Nordic central and European integration governments William Walters and Jens Henrik Haahr Bengt Jacobsson, Per Lægreid and Ove K. Pedersen 25 Territory and Terror Conflicting nationalisms in the 18European Union Enlargement Basque country A comparative history Jan Mansvelt Beck Edited by Wolfram Kaiser and Jürgen Elvert 26 Multilateralism, German 19 Gibraltar Foreign Policy and British or Spanish? Central Europe Peter Gold Claus Hofhansel 20 Gendering Spanish 27 Popular Protest in East Democracy Germany, 1945–1989 Monica Threlfall, Christine Cousins and Gareth Dale Celia Valiente 28 Germany’s Foreign Policy 21 European Union Negotiations towards Poland and the Processes, networks and Czech Republic negotiations Ostpolitik revisited Edited by Ole Elgström and Christer Jönsson 29 Kosovo 22 Evaluating Euro- The politics of identity and space Mediterranean Relations Denisa Kostovicova Stephen C. Calleya 23 The Changing Face of European Identity A seven-nation study of (supra)national attachments Edited by Richard Robyn Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989 Gareth Dale First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2005 Gareth Dale All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN 0-714-65408-6 (Print Edition) For my parents Contents Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 PART I Mass movements in the GDR’s early years 7 1 The June 1953 uprising 9 2 Labour heritage and collective action, 1945–53 37 PART II Infra-political resistance and social movements, 1954–88 57 3 Techniques of domination, arts of resistance 59 4 Helsinki and Bohemia: emigration and youth rebellion 82 5 ‘Politics in the bell jar’: socio-ethical movements in the early 1980s 98 6 The formation of political opposition 120