scholarly journals Comradely Critique

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110400
Author(s):  
Lukas Slothuus
Keyword(s):  
Good Faith ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
German Student ◽  
Private Correspondence ◽  
Common Purpose ◽  
The 1960S

What does it mean to disagree with people with whom you usually agree? How should political actors concerned with emancipation approach internal disagreement? In short, how should we go about critiquing not our enemies or adversaries but those with whom we share emancipatory visions? I outline the notion of comradely critique as a solution to these questions. I go through a series of examples of how and when critique should differ depending on its addressee, drawing on Jodi Dean’s figure of the comrade. I develop a contrast with its neighbours the ally and the partisan, thus identifying key elements of comradely critique: good faith, equal humanity, equal standing, solidarity, collaboration, common purpose and dispelling fatalism. I then analyse Theodor W. Adorno and Herbert Marcuse’s private correspondence on the 1960s German student movement as an illustration of (imperfect) comradely critique. I conclude by identifying a crucial tension about publicness and privateness.

scholarly journals Dissent in the Wirtschaftswunder: Historical Memory and the German Student Movement

Elements ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Student Movements ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
German Politics ◽  
German Student ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The 1960S

This paper deals with the West German student movement, which, like most student movements, was active in the 1960s and focused primarily on social issues. It attempts to interpret the critiques levied by the movement in relation to those events and thoughts which precededit.The author argues that there was a distinct rhetorical and philosophical connection betweeen the 68er-<em>Bewegung</em> and the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. This connection shapd the methods and goals of the student movement, which sought to integrate a process of comign to terms with the realities of Germany's fascist, anti-democratic past into the German mindset following the rich period of remarkable postwar economic development. These methods and influences, which are called "critical historical memory," are then argued to have been developed so as to bring to light the continued presence of fascistic tendencies in contemporary German politics, with the hope of coming to terms with the recent past.

scholarly journals Humour as a Guerrilla Tactic: The West German Student Movement's Mockery of the Establishment

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (S15) ◽  
pp. 115-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Teune
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
The West ◽  
German Student ◽  
The Face ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact

A small group within the German student movement of the 1960s expressed its critique of society in humorous protests that condensed the urge for a non-materialist, individualistic, and libertarian change. In the early phase of an emerging cycle of protest, Spassguerilla [fun guerrilla] contributed to shaping the face of the student movement, despite differences with the more traditional groups within that movement. In happenings, pamphlets, and judicial trials, humorous activists derided conventional ways of thinking and living. A responsive environment played a decisive role in shaping the image of the insurgents, thus reinforcing the impact of their actions and drawing in sympathizers.

scholarly journals O protagonismo da juventude estudantil alemã no Maio de 68 | The leading role of German students in the events of May 1968

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (42) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Oliveira Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
German Student ◽  
May 1968 ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

Com o 50° aniversário do chamado Maio de 68, este ensaio tem por objetivo sistematizar algumas características acerca da emergência e dinâmica do movimento estudantil nos anos 1960 na Berlim Ocidental, cidade palco central da Guerra Fria. Após discorrer sobre o contexto histórico de politização pela esquerda do movimento estudantil alemão e a dinâmica das manifestações estudantis, destacamos duas conclusões: 1) insurreições estudantis se opunham tanto à sociabilidade capitalista num tempo de expansão do capitalismo, à guerra norte-americana no Vietnã, como também ao silêncio diante do passado nazista, ao autoritarismo e à universidade não democrática; 2) a ausência de vínculo orgânico entre movimento estudantil e classe operária é em grande medida determinada pela adesão do movimento operário ao reformismo social-democrata alemão e ao passado nazista, que também contribui para dizimar lideranças comunistas e socialistas.Palavras-Chave: Maio 68; movimento estudantil; movimentos políticos; Berlim.  Abstract – With the 50th anniversary of the events of May 1968, this essay aims to systematize some characteristics of the emergence and dynamics of the student movement in the 1960s in West Berlin, the central stage of the Cold War. After discussing the historical context of politicization by the left of the German student movement and the dynamics of student demonstrations, we highlight two conclusions. First, that student insurrections were opposed both to capitalist sociability in a time of expansion of capitalism and the American war in Vietnam, and also to the silence in face of Germany’s Nazi past, authoritarianism, and undemocratic universities. Second, the absence of an organic link between the student movement and the working class was largely determined by the adherence of the workers’ movement to German Social-Democratic reformism and the Nazi past, which also contributed to decimate communist and socialist leaderships.Keywords: May 1968; student movement; political movements; Berlin.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 207-218
Author(s):  
Stefan J. Link
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Society ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Information Economy ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Mass Consumption ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Henry Ford ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Post Industrial

This concluding chapter explains that American-style postwar “Fordism” was only one pattern in the mottled global legacy left behind by Henry Ford. It was not the least ideological effect of American hegemony that in the 1960s modernization theory could universalize this unique historical arrangement — what can be called “high mass-consumption” — as the target of successful development itself. Responding to the crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, social scientists added a next phase: “Post-Fordism” or “post-industrial society” signaled deindustrialization to some and the promise of a “service and information economy” to others. What united these constructs was a thinking in sequential stages, a preoccupation with national patterns of development, and a theory of causation centered on self-generating forces. It has become clear that cycles of industrialization and deindustrialization are inseparable from concerted efforts to restructure the global division of labor, that productive dual-use technologies are fiercely contested by states and corporations alike, that investment and disinvestment cannot be dislodged from contests over the terms of globalization, and that capital has no autonomous power outside of the designs and struggles of political actors.

Politics as Victimhood, Victimhood as Politics

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 552-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Horwitz
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract:The victim has become among the most important identity positions in American politics. Victimhood is now a pivotal means by which individuals and groups see themselves and constitute themselves as political actors. Indeed, victimhood seems to have become a status that must be established before political claims can be advanced. Victimhood embodies the assertion that an individual or group has suffered wrongs that must be requited. What seems new is that wounded groups assert a self-righteous claim that they stand for something larger than their particular injury. The article explores how and why victimhood has become such a powerful theme in American politics. It suggests that victimhood as politics emerged from the contentious politics of the 1960s, specifically the civil rights movement and its aftermath. Key factors include the reaction to the minority rights and women’s movements, as well as internal dynamicswithinthe rights movements.

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