Working Papers WP 2009-03 Centre for German and European Studies
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Working Papers WP 2009-03 Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) Lyubava Shatokhina Social Foundations of the Emergence of Leftist Radical Groups Using Violence in Germany in the Second Half of 20th Century (a case study of the German Red Army Faction) WP 2009-03 2009 Bielefeld / St. Petersburg №3 ISSN 1860-5680 Working Papers WP 2009-03 Centre for German and European Studies Bielefeld University St. Petersburg State University Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) CGES Working Papers series includes publication of materials prepared within different activities of the Center for German and European Studies both in St. Petersburg and in Germany: CGES supported educational programmes, CGES research clusters and scientific dialogue. In accordance with the CGES mission, the Papers are dedicated to the interdisciplinary studies of different aspects of German and European societies. The paper contains the MA Thesis submitted in the framework of the MA Programme “Studies in European Societies” taught at the Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University with the support of the Centre for German and European Studies. This MA thesis was written under supervision of Dr. M. Kaiser and defended with distinction in the MA “Studies in European Societies” in June 2009. Lyubava Shatokhina graduated from Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University in 2007. After that she entered MA Programme “Studies in European Societies”. The area of her research interests is represented by the phenomenon of European counterculture and protest activity of the second half of 20th century. In 2009 she graduated from the faculty with distinction. She works as a coordinator of the social art festival for gender equality held in St. Petersburg Art -Sobes 2009 Contact: [email protected] © Zentrum für Deutschland- und ISSN 1860-5680 Europa Studien, 2009 1 Working Papers WP 2009-03 Centre for German and European Studies INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 3 THE RED ARMY FACTION EMERGENCE ........................................................................................ 10 HISTORICAL, POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL SETTINGS OF THE 1960ES IN WEST GERMANY AS A PART OF THE RAF SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS.............................................................................................................. 10 THE DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE POST WORLD WAR II PERIOD ...................................................... 12 INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SETTING OF THE RAF EMERGENCE .............................................................. 15 NATIONAL POLITICAL SETTING OF THE RAF EMERGENCE ....................................................................... 20 IDEOLOGICAL CONSTITUENT OF RAF EMERGENCE .................................................................................. 25 Marxism – Leninism............................................................................................................................ 26 Neo – Marxism.................................................................................................................................... 30 Revolutionary Ideas of the Third World.............................................................................................. 35 Ideological Trends Connected with the French May of the 1968 Events............................................ 38 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE ROTEN ARMY FRACTION EMERGENCE .................................................... 42 SOCIETAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF THE RED ARMY FACTION FORMATION ........................... 43 SOCIAL MILIEU CONCEPTS ........................................................................................................................ 43 THE 1968 GENERATION PERSPECTIVE ...................................................................................................... 44 The Phenomenon of 1968 Generation in the World Settings .............................................................. 45 The West German 1968 Generation.................................................................................................... 48 THE SOCIAL SPACE OF THE RAF EMERGENCE.......................................................................................... 52 The theory of Bourdieu ....................................................................................................................... 52 The implementation of Bourdie’s theory in analysis of the RAF formation........................................ 54 THE INDIVIDUAL SPACE OF THE RAF EMERGENCE .................................................................................. 58 The Life History Analysis.................................................................................................................... 58 The Hypothesis on the RAF’s Authoritarian Family Background ...................................................... 59 Psychoanalytical Perspective on the Biography of the RAF Members............................................... 61 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE SOCIETAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF THE RED ARMY FACTION FORMATION .. 67 THE RAF SELF PRESENTATION AND ARGUMENTATION OF THE REASONS BEHIND THE GROUP’S TERRORIST ACTIVITY....................................................................................................... 69 INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE RAF TEXTS ......................................................... 69 CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE SEVEN RAF’S COMMUNIQUÉ ....................................................................... 71 Communique as a Sample of Political Communication...................................................................... 71 The Structure of the Communiqués..................................................................................................... 72 The Analysis of the RAF’s Communiqués Content.............................................................................. 73 A Perception of the State and Existing Political Order by the RAF Members.................................... 74 B RAF’s Self-Perception and Identity................................................................................................ 75 C The Main Goal of the RAF .............................................................................................................. 77 D The Issues of Tactics and Strategy of the RAF’s Activity................................................................ 78 E The Baader-Meinhof Group’s Position on German and Global Political Situation and Concrete Historical Events................................................................................................................................. 80 Concluding Remarks on the RAF’s Communiqué Content ................................................................. 81 CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE RAF’S STATEMENTS ................................................................................... 82 The structure of the RAF Statements................................................................................................... 83 A The Issue of Self Identity in the RAF’s Statements .......................................................................... 83 B The Issue of the State System in the RAF’s Statements.................................................................... 85 C The Issue of Tactics in the RAF’s Statements.................................................................................. 86 D The Issue of Political Goals in the RAF’s Statements..................................................................... 88 Remarks on the Style of the RAF’s Statements.................................................................................... 89 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE GENERAL STRUCTURE AND IDEAS OF THE RAF TEXTS ......................... 90 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................... 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 97 2 Working Papers WP 2009-03 Centre for German and European Studies Introduction Political terrorism is increasingly recognized as one of the topical problems of modernity. The very notion that goes back to the French Revolution is one of the symbols of the last century and does not lose its position of the burning problem in academic debates till nowadays. As a result one can notice the growing awareness of need for profound research of the phenomenon. That is why the activity of terrorists, their goals and means, structure of their organizations and their motivations has received increasing attention within scholars of different branches of science. Literature in this area has dealt with the number of matters related to the phenomenon of political extremism, including the moral, tactical, political, social and historical aspects of the rather broad term of terrorism. This work is a part of a larger body of research on extreme cases of political participation, which in order to be less abstract deals with the specific type of political terrorism – the leftist radicalism of the second part of the 20th century. The very notion of political terrorism or usage of violence for political purposes is of the discrepant nature. A number of writers were trying to determine and describe the category of terrorism, its core and main features (Tilly