The GDR - A workers' paradise?

The GDR - A workers' paradise?

1. STATE SOCIALISM

   • The entire population was given basic security in housing, employment and welfare
     • Everyone was entitled to educational opportunities
       • Peasants' and workers' faculties were set up to aid the more vulnerable members of society.
         • Efforts were made to help women enter the workforce eg nurseries attached to factories.
         • Working class children were given help advancing at the cost of middle-class children.
           • However this imbalance was addressed in the 1960s, with talents and skills becoming prized over background
     • Everyone who could work had a job - in fact, you could be punished for being unemployed.
       • All workers had to be part of the FGDB (Free German Trade Federation)
         • This provided legal protection, arbitration and organised holidays, but also reported all subversive activity.
   • Factories had their own hospitals, flats and nurseries.
     • Schoolchildren spent one day a week at a production plant
       • Factories had 'wall of fame workers' to encourage high production - eg Adolf Hennecke who exceeded his work norm 387%
         • However, workers were also punished for failing to meet their norms.
   • Only the state could give promotions, so to advance you had to have special training available only to political conformists.

2. YOUTH AND EDUCATION

   • Only officially sanctioned youth organisations were permitted.
     • Joining the FDJ (ages 14-25) was vital for anyone who wanted educational advancement or a job.
       • The Pioneers were a younger branch of the FDJ for 6-14 year olds, offering educational, cultural and sports programmes
       • A university education was blocked to dissidents, and those from dissident families - even just outspoken Christians
         • Dissident youths were punished - in 1959, 15 youths were arrested for shouting publicly about wanting elements of western culture such as rock 'n' roll
         • Most who failed to join youth organisations did so because of religious reasons.
     • All private schools were abolished.
       • Marxist-Leninism was a compulsory subject.
     • The Jugendweihe, a secular state ceremony, replaced confirmation.

3. WOMEN'S SITUATION

   • The GDR constitution of 1949 guarunteed equal women's rights before the law.
   • Since the 1968 constitution said that work was a duty, 87% of women had a job outside the home
     • The 1965 New Family Code said that men should take on their share of housework
       • However, women still had shorter work hours and had to take 'housework days off.'
         • They also generally had lower-paid, unskilled jobs.
     • State nurseries, after-school provision and factory creches aided this.
   • The rates of divorce and children born outside marriage rose - this shows that women had more freedom and economic independence.
     • However, the rates of marriage and remarriage were also high, showing that many women needed the economic support.

4. CHURCH

   • The church was one hindrance to state socialism, as it presented a forum for opposition to the GDR.
     • Ulbricht tried to weaken the churches throughout the 1950s by removing the church influence in education.
       • The Young Christian Organisation was made illegal.
       • However, the Church still ran old people's homes, childcare centres and hosptials
       • In 1958, it was agreed that the Church would be allowed to exist and that the state would accept religious freedom.
         • In 1969, an East German Church was founded within the state.
       • Any Church leaders who spoke out, such as Otto Dibelius, Bishop of Berlin, were subjected to repeated harassment.

5. CULTURE

   • Art and literature were all monitored.
     • Western music, literature and art were dismissed as decadent.
   • All culture was subject to censorship.
     • Many writers left for the FRG.
     • All literature had a political agenda.
       • The exception was Church publications.

6. IMPACT

   • By 1955, the GDR was the wealthiest country in the Soviet bloc.
     • However, it never really competed with, let alone surpassed the FRG.
       • The GDR's economy was growing at 3% through the 1960s. The FRG's was growing at 8% in the 1950s.
   • Those at the bottom of the social ladder had more opportunities in the GDR.
     • Those higher up found life harder.

7. INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE

   • By 1949, 60% of heavy industry had been collectivised. By the late 1950s, all energy production and major iudustries were collectivised.
     • This allowed labour and machinery to be exploited to the full, however, the original 7000 large farm estates were more efficient than the small farms they were divided up into.
       • 15,000 farmers left for the FRG rather than join collective farms
         • Collectivisation led to food shortages leading to rationing of goods such as milk and butter
         • Farmers received low prices for their crops and were fined for late deliveries - led to disctontentment
     • SAGs were plants that produced goods specifically for the USSR; there were 213, including some of the most important chemical and engineering plants.
       • VEBs, public-owned enterprises, successfully comprised 76% of industrial production
     • The first 5-year plan of 1950 doubled industrial output.
       • However, the second 5-year plan failed to increase regional specialisation as intended and was abandoned.
         • The 7-year plan adopted instead aimed to increase production of chemicals, engineered goods and energy. Ulbricht announced that under its influence, the GDR would outstrop the GDR.
           • However this was totally unrealistic and the plan was abandoned in 1962 after an economic downturn.
     • Problems
       • Little attention was paid to supply and demand.
         • In order to produce enough, managers lowered standards, encouraging poor workmanship.
           • Wages were also kept low.
             • People were discontented at the lack of focus on consumer goods.
               • In 1963, the New Economic Plan aimed to increase consumer good production and allow some decentralisation.
                 • However, in 1968, this approach was abandoned after the Prague Spring in favour of more centralisation.