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On the Development of Socialist Democracy in the German Democratic Republic

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On the Development of Socialist Democracy in the German Democratic Republic ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC by Raymond Bruce Cronrath B.A., Whitman College, 1963 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology @ RAYMOND BRUCE CRONRATH SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY October 1971 APPROVAL Name : Raymond Bruce Cronrath Degree : Master of Arts Title of Thesis: On the Development of Socialist Democracy in the German Democratic Republic Examining Comni ttee : Chairman: H. Hickerson Heribert Adam Senior Supervisor / Albert0 Ciria - 1 - J\. M. Kitchen Date Approved: OdCbe, 1y7 ) ABSTRACT The central question to be asked in this thesis is to what extent democracy in the German Democratic Republic is developing. As a pre-understanding, democracy is taken to mean a social system in which the members exercise a high degree of control over the conditions of their existence. The specific functions and forms of democracy in a given society can only be determined on the basis of a concrete analysis of the relationships of production and the concrete decision-making processes inherent therein. For this reason the economic reforms which began to be introduced in 1963 are of special interest. In the first chapter the reasons for these changes in light of the problems and contradictions of the previous administrative planning system are reviewed and the specific content of the reforms is established. The reforms constitute a certain decentral- izing redistribution of decision-making powers, though central planning has not been eliminated. Administrative relation- ships have been to a great extent replaced by economic relationships; feedback mechanisms, including the market, have been incorporated with an increased emphasis on commercial- ization and differentiated economic incentives. The reforms are consciously oriented to the increased rationality and efficiency of the production process in order to stimulate iii economic growth. In order to arrive at a sound socio-political evalua- tion of the reforms in the GDR, it is necessary to survey a few theoretical and interpretative approaches. From this, appropriate analytical categories as well as insights into the basic structures of the East German society and polity are derived. The socio-political implications of the economic reforms can best be understood in terms of the interrelation- ships and conflicting interests between three basic groups: the political elite, the economic-technological elite and the broad masses of workers and employees, Economic efficiency and progress are the basic legitimizing factor for the power and privileges of the elites. The reforms can thus far be interpreted as attempts to maintain and enhance this legiti- macy, while at the same time they would seem to constitute a certain power shift between the two elites. Democratization can initially be understood as the legitimization and control of decision-making and the bearers of decision-making power by means of a critical socialist public emanating essentially from the mass of the direct producers. Such a critical public was found to depend on, among other things, a certain minimum of autonomous control by the individual workers over basic material factors affect- ing their lives in the production process. An analysis of basic organs of decision-making and control from below and of the planning process shows that this minimum is indeed given, that moreover this minimum of democratic control and decision-making has been increased by the economic reforms and other changes implemented in conjunction therewith. The development of democracy in the GDR can thus be interpreted in terms of the contradictions between the authoritative decision-making of state and party and the critical discursive publics at the base. The latter are an integral and necessary element of the system without which the efficient functioning of the system would be gravely im- paired. The extension of critical public opinion and conse- quently public control into the spheres of central planning and political policy determination would constitute the further development of socialist democracy. Insofar as the necessary base for this is firmly established, it can be concluded that the development of socialist democracy in the German Democratic Republic has progressed considerably. The existence of spheres of authoritative decision making power and of privileged groups shows the extent to which socialist democracy must still develop as well as the specific factors that stand in the way of this development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the generous assistance and encouragement given me by Dr. Heribert Adam and Professor Alberto Ciria in the formulation of the problem dealt with in this thesis. To Dr. J. Martin Kitchen I wish to express my thanks for his constructive criticism and helpful suggestions. ~t is to my wife MonikaCronrathto whom I owe special thanks, for without her perseverance at the typewriter and patience during the long months of preparation this thesis would hardly have been possible. EXPLANATORY NOTE A note of explanation concerning the designation of sources in the footnotes and the translation of material from German to English is in order here. After the first citation of an author with only one work listed in the biblio- graphy, the normal footnoting procedure of using the abbreviation "OJ. -cit." has been followed. In cases where more than one work by the same author has been used, I have resorted to the use of abbreviated titles to avoid any confusion. All translations from German to English are without exception my own. This is in most cases, of course, unavoid- able, as no English translations exist. Concerning the works of Marx and Engels, many of which are available in English, I have made all my references to the German edition of the collected works as published by the Dietz Verlag, Berlin, GDR, and translated all quotations myself. There are two basic reasons for this procedure. For one, there is as yet no standard edition of the works of Marx and Engels in the English language. Had references to English translations been given, the reader would have been faced with the not so easy task of obtaining the same edition as would have been used by me. The German edition of the collected works is, however, generally available in larger libraries. Secondly, vii a comparison of the English translations available at present to the German original has shown that in many cases these translations are not as accurate as I consider necessary. In these instances, the only solution was to submit my own translations in the hope that translation accuracy could thereby be improved. In all translations I have laid major emphasis on the accurate translation of meaning rather than on stylistic considerations in English. For the sake of brevity, the German original has not been included. viii ABBREVIATIONS AGL Abteilungsgewerkschaftsleitung (Division Union Directorate) BGL Betriebsgewerkschaftsleitung (Plant Union Directorate) BGO Betriebsgewerkschaftsorganisation (Plant Union Organization) BKV Betriebskollektivvertrag (Plant Collective Contract) BRD ~undesrepublikDeutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) Comecon Council of Mutual Economic ~ssistance ~SSR Eeskoslovenskii ~ocialistick6Republika (Czecho- slovakian Socialist Republic) DDR Deutsche Demokratische Republik (See GDR) FDGB Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (Free German Union League) GDR German Democratic Republic KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany) MEW Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Werke NOSPL Das NeueOekonomische System der Planung und Leitung SBZ Sowjetische Besatzungszone (Soviet Zone of Occupation) SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany) SU Soviet Union USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics VEB Volkseigener Betrieb (People's-owned Plant) WB Vereinigung Volkseigener Betriebe (Association of People's-owned Plants) TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................. vi EXPLANATORY NOTE ................. vii ABBREVIATIONS ................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................. xi INTRODUCTION rn . 1 I. OUTLINE OF THE NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF PLANNING AND,MANAGEMENT AND ITS SOCIO- POLITICAL IMPORTANCE ........... A. The Problems of Dictatorial- Administrative Central Planning ... B. The New Economic System as Ration- alization of the Planning System and the Decentralization of Decision Making ........... C. Total-Societal Coordination Through Economic Levers ........... Notes to Chapter I ......... 11. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE REFORM DEVELOPMENT IN THE WEST ......... A. Totalitarianism Theory and the Reform Development ......... B. As Development Towards a Modern Industrial Society -- Convergence Theory ................ Notesto Chapter I1 ......... 111. LEFTIST CRITIQUE OF THE GDR-SOCIETY ... A. As Established Class Society ..... CHAPTER PAGE B. The Juxtaposition of Bureaucratic Domination and Socialist Democracy ............ Notes to Chapter I11 ...... IV. THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE SYSTEM: ITS EXTENT, NECESSITY AND LIMITATIONS A. Decision Making and Control From Below ............... B. ~ecisionMaking in the Planning Process .............. C. The Contradiction Between Authori- tative Central Organs and Discursive Publics ...... ...... Notes to Chapter IV BIBLIOGRAPHY .......... xii INTRODUCTION Although the socialist
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