The DDR and German Reunification

Thirty years on, German reunification is typically seen in the West as an almost mythical event in which western freedom and democracy finally triumphed over evil authoritarianism. East Germany is said to have been lifted from an oppressive nightmare into modern western prosperity. The reality, however, is not nearly so black and white. 

There is little doubt that the German Democratic Republic [DDR] was a deeply flawed state that was in practice authoritarian and largely undemocratic. The Stasi and Berlin Wall were testaments to its inherent weakness if nothing else, while its economy ultimately failed to keep pace with the capitalist west. Affected in part to massive US investment in the West and war reparations the East forked out which the West also absconded on. Despite its faults, however, the DDR did succeed in providing its citizens an unprecedented level of social security by guaranteeing employment and access to housing, transport, food, and other necessities. Healthcare was a constitutional right, and was free at the point of use and available to all. Poverty was effectively eliminated and the traditional social divisions which had defined German society up to that point ceased to exist. All children attended the same schools, and were not denied access to higher education on the basis of class or wealth. Owing to its foundation as a socialist republic based on the teachings of Marx and Lenin, workers were valued and respected by society and given comprehensive legal protections and rights by the state, while workplace democracy and the constitutional right to strike gave workers significant leverage to improve their own conditions. East Germany was also a pioneer in gender equality. Its abortion laws were some of the most progressive in the world, and the social stigma and financial hardship traditionally imposed on single mothers was greatly reduced. Childcare was provided by the state, and participation of women in the workplace was normalised. This allowed women to be free to pursue the career of their choice without dependence on a partner. Prior to 1990, 96.5% of East German women were either working or studying full-time, compared to only a fraction of that number in the West. 

Even when the end of one-party rule became inevitable, it was not a forgone conclusion that East Germany would be absorbed into the capitalist West. Reform of the socialist system was desired by many, with democracy, not necessarily capitalism, as the primary objective across society. The allure of reunification and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s promise of western capitalist investment turning the East into a ‘blooming landscape’ of opportunity and rising living standards proved too great a temptation for the citizens of the East to resist.

When reunification did come, it did not simply mean the introduction of western-style elections, outside investment, and the easing of travel restrictions. It meant the disintegration of an entire socioeconomic system over forty years in the making. Practically overnight, the public sector had all but collapsed from a lack of state support and competition with the global market. What remained was swiftly gobbled up by western capitalist vultures, eager to make a profit at the expense of eastern workers. Unemployment and emigration skyrocketed, while life expectancy and living standards plummeted. Workers who had previously been guaranteed a job found themselves destitute when their industries were forced to close. Housing security, previously guaranteed by the DDR, was put under threat by the new government’s policies.  Over a number of years, almost half a million homes in the East were seized with no compensation and awarded to the families of those who had fled west in previous decades, leaving hundreds of thousands of east Germans without a place to live. The East’s impressive stock of public housing was either sold into private hands or left to fall into dereliction, while gender equality was rolled back. Women lost their right to abortion on demand, and childcare became largely inaccessible. Women could no longer work or study on equal footing to men, and had the burden of being caretaker to their children thrust back upon them. Many of the East’s most prestigious institutes and academies were shut down, while universities had their social science departments purged for fear of socialist influence. Ordinary school teachers had to submit to political screening before being rehired, resulting in tens of thousands losing their jobs. 

In effect, the East was treated more like a colony of the West than an equal partner in a new Germany. Reunification was certainly positive in that it united a nation which ought to be together, but it was no doubt a step backwards and a relapse into capitalism. While it’s difficult to label the DDR as a success given its ultimate demise, it was a genuine attempt to achieve a society better than what we know today. The advances made by the DDR in economic and social equality were widely popular and more than worthy of replication. The flaws that ultimately brought it down were not based in ideology, but rather in a poisonous paranoia and mistrust resulting in over-centralised and authoritarian control. If we as socialists want to work to create a socialist society in the future, we can learn both from what the DDR did right as well as where it went wrong.