3. German Movement Decay Context At the end of the 19th century, the German workers movement had the reputation of being among the most powerful forces of its kind. However, this power had always been more fractured and complicated than both its reputation at the time and its subsequent retrospective romanticisation. From a history of splits and unions, ardent conflict and compromise, the SPD had emerged as one of the largest institutions of the working class.
Introduction The Marxist left in Britain, Germany, and perhaps Europe as a whole is in crisis. This is not a unique observation; it could even be considered a cliché. It should not be news to anyone here that Marxist organisations, whatever their flavour, are small and essentially irrelevant, aside from brief revivals on the back of spontaneous movements. To those of us familiar with the Marxist left, what remains is a social milieu, composed largely of students and academics, middle-class ideologues, and the rare tired worker, organised into small activist groupings1.
Who are we? Decay & Rebuilding is a communist and marxist educational project with the aim of combating sectarian and reductionist tendencies within the socialist movement. That means we do not accept the manner in which theoretical positions are posited as explanations of historical and political phenomena and view approaches which situate theory in this way – for example, a reductive approach to modes of production which stipulates class categories as uncomplicated social realities (ie.
This website is on its way! Max here, just putting this up to let you know that the website is live, and we’re ready to work on ideas for what to do with the September 2024 Decay and Rebuilding Summer School content.
Cheers!