Resistance and Repetition: The Holocaust in the Art, Propaganda, and Political Discourse of Vietnam War Protests

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132
Author(s):  
Perry Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Repressed Memories ◽  
Trauma Memory ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of

The Western European protest movement against the American War in Vietnam stands out as something unique in contemporary history. Here finally, after all the senseless horrors of the twentieth century, reason speaks, demanding an end to Western atrocities against the poor South. But in the rosy fog of humanistic idealism and youthful revolution lies the unanswered question, why did this and not any other conflicts, before or after, render such an intense, widespread reaction? Taking Sweden as a case in point, this article employs the concepts of resistance, trauma, memory, and repetition to explore why the Vietnam movement came into being just as the buried history of the Holocaust resurfaced in a series of well-publicized trials of Nazi war criminals. It suggests that the protests of the radical young Leftists against American “imperialism” and “genocide” were informed by repressed memories of the Holocaust. The Swedish anti-war protests had unique and far-reaching consequences. The ruling Social Democratic Party, in order not to lose these younger Left wing voters to Communism, also engaged actively against the Vietnam War. And, somewhat baffling for a political party often criticized for close ties to Nazi Germany during WWII, its messaging used the same rhetoric as the Far Left, echoing Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda.

scholarly journals The Demobilization of Class Politics in Denmark: The Social Democratic Party’s Group-Based Appeals 1961–2004

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Thau
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
General Level ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Abstract In Denmark, as in other Western European countries, the working class does not vote for social democratic parties to the same extent as before. Yet, what role did the social democratic parties themselves play in the demobilization of class politics? Building on core ideas from public opinion literature, this article differs from the focus on party policy positions in previous work and, instead, focuses on the group-based appeals of the Social Democratic Party in Denmark. Based on a quantitative content analysis of party programs between 1961 and 2004, I find that, at the general level, class-related appeals have been replaced by appeals targeting non-economic groups. At the specific level, the class-related appeals that remain have increasingly been targeting businesses at the expense of traditional left-wing groups such as wage earners, tenants and pensioners. These findings support a widespread hypothesis that party strategy was crucial in the decline of class politics, but also suggests that future work on class mobilization should adopt a group-centered perspective.

scholarly journals Ferdinand Lassale and the General German Workers’ Association

2017 ◽  
pp. 261-278
Author(s):  
Natalia Papenko
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Xix Century

The article considers activity of particular representative of German socialistic movement – Ferdinand Lassalle. Historical figure of this person is connected with the history of German labor movement, the creation of first independent labor organization – the General German Workers’ Association (1863). Historical image of F. Lassalle was for the long time being brightened by historians one-sidedly, through ideological and personal difficulties with K. Marx and F. Engels. Unlike K.Marx, for whom a state and its structures where just superstructure, in other words – social and economic basis, for F.Lassale development of social formation is a natural historical process. K. Marx gambled on revolution, which had to destroy internal contradictions of the society, while F. Lassale gambled on parliament fighting, which, in his opinion, would discover the way to democratic transformations in society. F. Lassalle remains being bright, talented and discrepant person. Generally, his life and activity in the whole will have always been interesting for researchers. The whole of his life he was emphatically espousing the general, equal, straight right to vote, which, to his mind, would eliminate different problems of capitalist system and would promote building of democratic society. He was attracted by the idea of republic and democratic lawful state. F. Lassale had been studying problems of state and power, insisted on meaning of political institutions, role of human factor in history. He thought that constitution is a reflection of correlation of powers in fight for authority. That is why, by the means of agitation and popularization of democratic ideas he was trying to unite the labor movement to greater activity and to rally it. By the beginning of the 60th of XIX century he had been an adherent of democratic lawful state with the republican form of government. In the second half of the 60th he became a supporter of “social monarchy”. During his presidency at the General German Workers’ Association, the principles of authoritarianism were the dominating features of his activity. The General German Workers’ Association, which was created by him, afterwards facilitated the creation of German social democratic party.

Vernon Lidtke: A Tribute

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-201
Author(s):  
Gary D. Stark ◽  
Lawrence D. Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Labor Movement ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
German History ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Doctoral Graduates ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
The Social ◽  
Numerous Journal

On9 October 2001 Vernon Lidtke delivered his valedictory lecture at The Johns Hopkins University on the topic of “Die Abstrakten,” a left-wing group of artists in Germany during the Weimar Republic. With this address before an appreciative audience comprising students, colleagues, and friends, Vernon concluded almost forty years of a distinguished scholarly career in the field of modern European and German history. In his scholarship Vernon is most widely identified with the study of the German labor movement in general and especially the Social Democratic Party, on which subjects he has thus far published two major books along with numerous journal articles and chapters. His formal retirement from academic life was also marked a few months earlier by a testimonial dinner held in Baltimore and attended by a large proportion of the twenty-five doctoral graduates whose dissertations he had supervised over more than three decades at Johns Hopkins. On both occasions he was fondly remembered as an accomplished historian, an inspiring teacher, and a generous mentor. In this and the four essays that follow, some of his former students wish also to commemorate Vernon's scholarly and teaching career.

The Pink Triangle

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-162
Author(s):  
Craig Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Concentration Camps ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Gay Liberation ◽  
The West ◽  
German State ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nazi Persecution

This chapter is about how the memory of persecution decisively shaped 1970s homosexual politics. First, the chapter explores the ‘rediscovery’ of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, explaining how the model of the Holocaust was sometimes appropriated as part of this process. The chapter then shows how memory of this persecution, combined with the experience of contemporary discrimination, produced a profound alienation on the part of left-wing gay men from the West German state. Following an analysis of how the pink triangle became a transnational symbol, this chapter evaluates discourses of victimhood in gay liberation. Though the pink triangle was reclaimed from its origins as a badge of shame in the concentration camps, it never became an unequivocal symbol of pride. Finally, the chapter explores how, in the late 1970s, activists of all stripes, the commercial gay press, and the first openly gay parliamentary candidates coalesced around making the history of past persecution a central plank in their efforts to insert themselves into the West German mainstream.

scholarly journals Policy Change and Partisan Politics: Understanding Family Policy Differentiation in Two Similar Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León ◽  
Emmanuele Pavolini ◽  
Joan Miró ◽  
Antonino Sorrenti
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Case Design

Abstract This article looks at how different electoral competition dynamics can result in differentiated party positioning on childcare and family policy. Italy and Spain are compared using a most similar case design. The presence of women in politics, the socioeconomic profiles of the voters of the two main left-wing and right-wing Italian and Spanish parties, and opinions on traditional norms of motherhood explain different policy trajectories and higher incentives for the conservative party in Spain to converge toward the social democratic party in more progressive views of family policy.

‘Freedom of Discussion Inside the Party Is Absolutely Necessary’

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 104-128
Author(s):  
Florian Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Online Publication ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
World War ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
International Group ◽  
To Come ◽  
Rosa Luxemburg

Despite being ‘one of the most notable leaders of the German Communist movement’, Ernst Meyer (1887–1930) remains relatively unknown. Prior to the online publication of the author’s PhD dissertation – an extensive 666-page biography of Meyer – there existed beyond two short biographies – an informative political autobiography from Meyer’s wife Rosa Meyer-Leviné and an essay by Hermann Weber published in 1968 – and some recent texts from the author, no other publications dealing closely with his life and work. Of these, only Meyer-Leviné’s biography has been published in English. Meyer played a major role in the left wing of the German labour movement, beginning in 1908 when he joined the German Social-Democratic Party (spd) until his death over twenty years later. A friend and collaborator of Rosa Luxemburg, he was also one of the founding and leading members of the International Group and its successor, the Spartacus League, in which the radical, anti-war wing of Social Democracy organised itself after the outbreak of World War i. He represented both of these groups as a delegate to the international conferences of anti-war socialists at Zimmerwald (1915) and Kienthal (1916). Elected to the kpd’s Zentrale at the party’s founding conference, Meyer remained a member of the leadership almost continuously in the years to come, occupying various leading positions. He also represented the party at the Second and Fourth World-Congresses of the Communist International (1920 and 1922).

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