German Reunification Brought a Wave of Neoliberal Triumphalism — And a Social Disaster
In the last years before the Berlin Wall's fall, most opposition movements in East Germany sought a reformed, more democratic socialism. But the effect of reunification on October 3, 1990 was a wave of neoliberal triumphalism in both East and West — undermining the principles of social solidarity and pushing the Left into the wilderness.
Visitors walk past panels at an outdoor exhibition marking the upcoming 30 anniversary of German reunification, on September 17, 2020 in Potsdam, Germany. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
Today marks thirty years since German reunification. After the demise of the old East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR), its territory was effectively annexed to West Germany on October 3, 1990, with its entire economy and social system torn up and subordinated to Western capitalist norms. In previous years, even most opposition movements in East Germany had hoped for a reformed and democratized socialism. Yet the ultimate result of the upheavals of 1989–1990 was not just to sweep away the most incorrigible Stalinists, but to cast discredit over the whole idea of a noncapitalist society.
Thirty years on, the situation of the German left is weaker than any point since 1945, with the left-wing Die Linke never able to surpass 10 percent of the vote and the neoliberalized Social Democrats (SPD) reduced to junior partner in a grand coalition with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). Darko Vujica interviewed German researcher Ingar Solty on the reunification process, its enduring social effects in the former GDR, and how the legacy of 1989–1990 has undermined the German left’s ability to imagine a different society.
Darko Vujica
In your interview published in the June 2020 issue of Monthly Review, you gave a detailed account of German social democracy’s neoliberalization and opportunism in the 1990s, its betrayal of its working-class constituency, and how that betrayal and Angela Merkel’s administration of an increasingly insecure society has nurtured the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). You argued that the root cause of German neofascism was neoliberalism. But why did this betrayal happen? Was it inevitable? And how come the SPD was often part of a grand coalition with the CDU, serving them faithfully when needed? After all, this appears to be the reason for their electoral decline — and seems suicidal.
Ingar Solty
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