Klaus Armbruster (Stuttgart1956) was this weekend at the CNT of Xixon and The Llegra of Oviedo/Uvieu to present ‘Anti-fascist action. History of a radical left movement’exhaustive work of the historian and activist Bernd Langerof which he is translator and co-editor.
Historical militant of anti-capitalist social movements, he has lived for 25 years in Bilbaowhere it is part of the Basque-German association Baskale.
How does a young person become politicized in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s?
He came to militancy a little after the student revolts of 1968, at the beginning of the 70s, through the youth movement. At that time, what had been called the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition was beginning to divide and the people who participated in it were taking different paths. On the one hand there are people who go to armed struggle, others to communist organizations, others bet on “the long march through the institutions” and join the left wing of the Social Democratic Party or found the Greens, and then there are those who we form the autonomous movement.
How did these young autonomous people from the FRG see the German Democratic Republic?
With little sympathy. It was not the socialism we believed in. He had a lot of authoritarianism and limits. There were young people from the Communist Party of the FRG who went to the GDR on vacation or to take courses, but we were not interested in that socialism, although we did not support the USA and NATO for that reason. I was only in the GDR once, and that was in 1989, shortly before the Wall was torn down.
The name “autonomous” was also very common in Italy. How were Italian and German autonomy similar and different?
Italy and Germany had in common the existence of armed communist organizations in the 70s, but in Italy there existed above all a very radical labor movement, with a strong base in the factories, which was something that did not occur in Germany, where all unionism It was and continues to be part of a social democratic center. In Germany the autonomous movement did not have that working class base. He was anti-fascist, with communist and anarchist tendencies, and gave great importance to environmentalism and the fight against nuclear power plants. The antinuclear movement was closely associated with the fight against militarism and the arms race, because behind energy for civil use it was known that nuclear weapons came. If you had the civilian technology you could make the weapons. The movement was very diverse and dedicated to many things. In the 80s and 90s there were even groups that practiced sabotage and widely distributed clandestine magazines that explained how to take down a high voltage tower. It also had a very macho side, a lot of resorting to paramilitary paraphernalia, helmets and balaclavas, which generated many contradictions in me.
“In Germany the autonomous movement did not have the workers base of Italy”
What was the anti-fascist movement like in those years?
The left-wing social democrats, the Greens and the unions were demonstrating against fascism, but one kilometer away. We, on the other hand, went where they were and confronted each other. If they wanted to hold a congress or a demonstration, our objective was to go there and prevent it. It was a very different fascism than today, which wears a suit and tie, is in the institutions and has an aspect of seriousness that it did not have in the 80s and 90s.
What was the interpretation of the failure of German anti-fascism in the 1930s?
Antifascist Action was founded in 1932 by the German Communist Party, just one year before Hitler’s victory. The German left took a long time to react to what was coming. The communists were right to criticize the social democratic leaders who repressed the German revolution in a very bloody way, but by calling the SPD “social fascist” they also offended and attacked their bases, and that made unity against the Nazis impossible. Furthermore, in 1939 Hitler and Stalin signed a pact and that ended up demoralizing the remaining militants. In 1944 there was an attempt to kill Hitler, but by fascist soldiers who saw the war as lost and wanted to save themselves by signing peace with the Allies.
Germany had in theory been denazified but once again fascism returns…
In theory, German fascism ended in 1945, but today we know that this was not the case. There was a fairly serious denazification process at the national, regional and local levels while it was under the supervision of the Allies, but that level of demand was lowered when it passed into German hands. Former Nazis, including from the SS, participated in the construction of the Army, others survived in the judiciary, and we even had two chancellors with a fascist past. In recent years we have even seen an infiltration of Nazis into the police. Many people find it difficult to see the new fascism because it has gained a lot of respectability and speaks very much like the traditional right.
How do you see the evolution of the German left with the breakup of Die Linke (The Left)?
Die Linke is going through a very deep crisis. It has no common position on almost anything. There are sectors that support Israel and NATO in the Ukrainian War. It’s hard for me to understand that a part of the left does it. The split, Sahra Wagenknecht’s party, calls itself left-wing but defends things about immigration that the fascists of Alternative for Germany could say. Today anti-capitalism is a very minority current on the German left.
The support for Zionism from a large part of the German left is surprising seen from Spain
In Germany there are people on the left who are very supportive of the Kurds or other peoples, but then they support Israel. It doesn’t have any consistency. A part of the left is very afraid of anti-Semitism and a new Holocaust, but at the same time an absolute lack of empathy with the suffering of the Palestinian people. It seems as if Israel has the right to speak on behalf of all Jews and all victims of the Holocaust, and that anyone who disagrees is an anti-Semite. In recent years, a pacifist Jewish organization was set up in Germany, and it was also described as anti-Semitic. Something similar happens with the war in Ukraine. You can condemn the Russian invasion and oppose Putin, but do not ignore NATO’s role in preparing for war. I have had problems with old friends who now support NATO.
To say goodbye, what do you think of the case of the unionists of La Switzerland?
It’s a scandal. It is an attack on a fundamental right that has cost decades of struggle and a lot of sacrifice to win. The unions have to move, because this goes with them. Breaking down unions is always their plan.
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