Dissident Marxism and Utopian Eco-Socialism in the German Democratic Republic

Download or read book Dissident Marxism and Utopian Eco-Socialism in the German Democratic Republic written by Alexander Amberger and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rudolf Bahro, Wolfgang Harich and Robert Havemann were probably the best-known critics of the DDR’s ruling Socialist Unity Party. Yet they saw themselves as Marxists, and their demands extended far beyond a democratisation of real socialism. When environmental issues became more important in the West in the 1970s, the Party treated it as an ideological manoeuvre of the class enemy. The three dissidents saw things differently: they combined socialism and ecology, adopting a utopian perspective frowned upon by the state. In doing so, they created political concepts that were unique for the Eastern Bloc. Alexander Amberger introduces them, relates them to each other, and poses the question of their relevance then and now.