"Die wirkliche Bewegung, welche den jetztigen Zustand aufhebt"

Sozialismuskonzepte und deutsche Arbeiterbewegung 1848-1920

Abstract

This article gives a short overview on the German labour movement from its beginnings to the 1920ies and shortly portraits the different concepts of socialism within the German social democratic party, Against the common misperception of a hegemonial, coherent and powerful concept of socialist politics in the past the article argues that even in their heyday the German labour movement did not have a clear concept of socialist politics, that the term socialism itself was an object of permanent discussions, Both the Marxist critique of utopian socialism and the overwhelming domination of the Prussian state often constrained these discussions about the political form of a postcapitalist society, The most interesting concept of socialism was not created by theoretical discussions among leftist intellectuals, but by political actions against the first world war, which ended with the German Revolution of 1918 and the rise of a powerful council movement This movement not only insisted on the principles of class war but practically overturned many authoritarian and state-dominated ideas of socialism which were common at that time,