“A Communist Doesn’t Whine — He Shows His Teeth”
Theodor Bergmann, the last surviving member of the pre–World War II German Communist movement, spoke to Jacobin.
98 Articles by: Loren Balhorn
Loren Balhorn is editor in chief of Jacobin’s German-language edition.
Walling Off the Ivory Tower
The United States is home to some of the world’s leading universities, research institutes, and academic conferences. But non-US researchers are increasingly excluded from the centers of scholarly exchange — all because they can’t get a visa.
Going Red-Red-Green
The European elections marked a historic setback for the German left. Die Linke cochair Katja Kipping tells Jacobin how she plans to revive it.
The SPD Must Change Course or Die
The Social Democrats’ subordination to Angela Merkel has brought the German center-left to its knees. If the party wants to stop its voters from fleeing to the Greens and the far right, it needs to decide what side it’s on — and fight for it.
Can Anyone Save the SPD?
As its voter base collapses, Germany’s once-mass Social Democratic Party appears to be headed into the political abyss. To make things worse, its leaders think the answer lies in a further shift to the right.
Kreuzberg Against the Machine
How the West Berlin squatter scene produced Germany’s greatest rock band.
Social Democracy at Death’s Door
The European elections delivered a crushing blow to the German Social Democrats. Only a miracle can save them now.
The European Left in Disarray
As voters elect a new European Parliament, the Left is split between multiple “unity projects.” And none of them have a clear idea how to transform the EU.
May Day, Bloody May Day
On Berlin’s May Day 1929, the latent hostility between Social Democrats and Communists finally spilled over into bloodshed. A day meant to demonstrate workers’ unity instead showed tragic divisions in the face of rising Nazism.
The German Revolution’s Bloody End
The decisive battles of the German Revolution ended in March 1919 with the bloody crushing of the workers’ uprising. Why did it meet such a fate?
The World Revolution That Wasn’t
The Comintern was founded on this day in 1919 to carry revolution around the world. We are only now recovering from the legacy of its failure.
One, Two, Many Rosa Luxemburgs
On the 100th anniversary of her murder, Rosa Luxemburg’s incredible life provides us with a model — not necessarily of what to do, but of how to do it.
Booze and Socialism
German socialists knew the craze for schnapps was a plague on working-class life. They fought it by building their organizations around beer.
Germany’s European Empire
In today’s Germany, Wolfgang Streeck argues, politicians laud “Europe” — while quietly using EU structures to advance German national interests.
Joschka Fischer’s Long March
How the Green Party wunderkind transformed German capitalism, and with it, himself.
Germany’s 28-Hour Workweek
Last month German metal workers won the right to a 28-hour workweek — after going on strike to demand a better work-life balance.
No Corbyn in Sight
A membership surge in the German Social Democratic Party has sparked talks of a Corbyn-like transformation. But don’t get too excited just yet.
The Soviet Hippies
A look at counterculture behind the Iron Curtain.
Germany Is Not an Island
Germany’s elections show that the country is not insulated from a crisis-prone Europe, but part and parcel of it.
The Merkel Effect
As German elections loom this Sunday, cracks may be starting to show in Merkel’s radical centrist reign.