Introduction
The predominant outlook on the criticism of East Germany stems from the cold-war political propaganda that reached its heights in the 1950s to 1960s. Ideas such as totalitarianism, over-bureaucratization of the state, control over individuality and resource misallocation, can be seen as just superficial canonical buzzwords that parrot controlled narratives. This results in a mediocre analysis that seeks no accommodative evaluation. This article argues that contemporary political criticisms of East Germany are based on misrepresentations due to cold-war era propaganda.
Imposition of the idea of a totalitarian state
The idea of totalitarianism and democracy have in most ways diminished to mere jargons. The eastern commissioner under the former Angela Merkel’s government commenting about East German (ossi) people stated that, “We are dealing with people who are partly socialised under dictatorship in such a way that they have not arrived in democracy even after thirty years”.[1] This interesting statement sheds light on the criticism of East German model, as a system that was not a ‘true democracy’. Such despondent parroting of euphemisms that link the west and its allies as the harbingers of ‘freedom’, and ‘true democracy’ is not a new phenomenon. Conversely an antagonistic ‘totalitarian’ or ‘dictatorial’ red-herring is often thrown into the mix, in such ways that a neglected or distorted image of a historically complex country appears.
The western idea of democracy and freedom predominantly centres around the right to vote and elections with a multi-party system. This narrow conception negates other entitlements as an inherent quality of a democracy such as right to home, food, education, social equality, employment, dignity of work, etc. With such a constrained western idea of democracy in mind, it could be argued that socialist nations (including East Germany) were not truly democratic in spite of the fact that there were elections. Although there were five political parties in GDR (East Germany), all of the parties were subservient to the Socialist Unity Party [3]. The idea of a one-party dictatorship has elements of truth. However, only two third of seats in the parliament was occupied by party members and one third were by delegates from non-party mass organisations such as FDGB (trade union federation), DFD (Democratic German women’s organisation), the FDJ (the national youth organisation), and Kulturbund (the cultural association)[3]. It’s almost inconceivable to imagine contemporary democracies to have its parliament occupied by non-state organisations despite it, arguably being more democratic.
If we are to forgo the western definition of democratic freedom and to establish factors such as active say and participation as an adequate measure, then GDR would have tremendous claims to be a democracy. The most significant example is the Democratic regulatory body, ABI (Workers and Farmers Inspectorate), with branches in regional and district level to entire industrial sectors. This was a non-governmental citizen-led body that elected workers, villagers, farmers, etc. with the intention of inspection. They would often inspect the condition of state farms, health-care facilities, schools, factories and cultural facilities without warning and actively fight against bureaucratization, misreporting, waste of public property and inadequate working conditions[3]. The collective habit of questioning and active ground-level political participation in East Germany showed a democratic reality that transcended mere superficial right to vote. As such the people’s democratic rights in their localities were considerable and attempts to impose the idea of a totalitarian state is reductionism at best and malicious condemnation at worst.
Over- bureaucratization of the state
An often common criticism of centrally planned economies is the supposed over-bureaucratization and lack of individuality. An immediate analogy is drawn to an Orwellian nightmare state that controls human actions and human emotions. This contextually contorted argument fails to consider the other side i.e., capitalist states being liable to this argument, more so than socialist ones. The state institutions of West Germany had to handle financial cycles that alternate between boom and bust cycles or the market forecasting that had to calculate inefficient investment spending, fluctuating inflation rates and combat against market assigned prices[2]. This fundamentally made the bureaucracy in West Germany even more cumbersome than the centrally planned economy with its simpler financial systems[2]. Although many facets of society in GDR were administered by the state, the idea of bureaucracy being particular to the state is false. A formal police force is not required for policing, likewise a private enterprise/market force can also have its bureaucracy. The concept of a cumbersome bureaucracy is not an exception to socialist states and absolutely doesn’t escape capitalist states.
Control over individuality
The idea of control over individuality by the state can especially be attributed to fascistic or capitalist states. Herbert Marcuse’s, ‘one dimensional man’ explores the indirect/soft forms of control that is created through technological rationality in advanced industrial societies[5]. Through dominant caricatural ideas, narratives are controlled[5]. The reductionism of individualism to consumer ideals is an example of this phenomenon. Marcuse, who was also a Jewish survivor of Nazi Germany, observed the dictatorial nature of the United States, where he settled[5]. In West Germany, there was mass repression and communist witch hunts that were often omitted from narratives[2]. Conversely, many former Nazi party card-carrying members entered high positions within West Germany[6]. One could see the control over individuality by the Capitalist state through its reluctance to part with oppressive state structures (of nazi Germany) all the while cracking down on any political discourse that it deems dangerous to its ruling class. The argument of control over individuality is a form of propaganda through omission. A form of hyper focused criticism that puts hyper-normative standards to one group but fails to apply the same standards to others. Perspectives, that while liberal to one party, appear close-minded to the other. However, is East Germany deserving of such standards? There are several factors that show otherwise such as the high professional, economical and constitution independence for women [7], high democratic participation (in the previously mentioned argument), higher say in day-to-day affairs/workplace [3], higher solidarity and mutual care [3], etc., show a vastly different picture.
Resource misallocation
The association of consumer scarcity and socialist state, would make one evoke an image of long queues and empty aisles. This notion is applied to most communist states like China and the Soviet Union as well. Although exaggerated to most extent, unexpected shortages and unforeseen rises in raw materials was a phenomenon that occurred[3]. However, it was often exotic goods that predominantly faced scarcity or insufficient supply [2]. But, variety in products was often limited and individuals would frequently smuggle or import special products which were commonplace in West Germany[3]. Due to lower prices assigned to luxury products, the demands for the same would skyrocket.
Lower price and lower income translated into high social wage, which enabled high access to common goods for the entire population[3]. Subsidised food, interest-free loans for newlywed couples and stable prices for: rents, transportation, electricity are among the many privileges that an average German in GDR obtained[3]. Moreover, access to housing was also advanced where 100,000 to 110,000 homes/flats were constructed each year for 10 years from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s[4]. One of the most popular discourse surrounding scarcity of goods in Eastern Germany is the comparison in ownership of automobiles i.e, cars between the two German nations. There was a qualitative gap between the two countries, with West Germany having access to a higher variety and quantity of cars than its eastern counterpart. However, transportation ability was still extensive in the east owing to its robust public transportation system[4]. Similar to the previous argument, there is a phenomenon of contradiction between resource allocation that emphasises on ‘practicality’ over ‘exceptionality’. Higher access to common commodities/public transportation is preferred over niche products/cars. Beyond the mere rosy picture of a scarcity ridden-state, the reality shows a much more nuanced situation.
Conclusion
Distorted facts, mediocre portrayals, reductionist arguments, logical biases, etc., are some of the approaches through which political criticism of East Germany is often misrepresented. A steady lineage of these canonical facts that persisted during the cold-war period are passed down and inherited by the general public into the contemporary times.
A robust and considerate evaluation of a history that showed a nation with a fundamentally different societal system is difficult and often implausible to imagine. This difficulty to do so has tantamount to do with the nature of propaganda itself. One that consequently produces political echo-chambers that reinforce pre-existing ideas that are based on these controlled narratives and makes it impossible to imagine otherwise.
Bibliography
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- Beste, Ralf, et al. “From Dictatorship to Democracy: The Role Ex-Nazis Played in Early West Germany.” DER SPIEGEL, 6 Mar. 2012, www.spiegel.de/international/germany/from-dictatorship-to-democracy-the-role-ex-nazis-played-in-early-west-germany-a-810207.html.
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