Hans Modrow on socialist democracy in the GDR
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2022
- Hans Modrow (*1928), a machinist by training, served as a member of the People's Chamber of the German Democratic Republic for over 20 years before becoming the last chairman of the Council of Ministers in November 1989.
Hans Modrow (*1928), gelernter Maschinenschlosser, war über 20 Jahre lang Mitglied der Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, bevor er im November 1989 zum letzten Vorsitzenden des Ministerrats wurde.
Full interview: ifddr.org/person/hans-modrow
About IF DDR:
With its studies, IF DDR aims to contribute to current debates on social struggles, drawing on the conditions and experiences of #DDR socialism. For this purpose, we produce accessible historical and contemporary witness material. Initially, “Studies On The DDR” will provide the basis for an international exchange about the DDR by tracing the structure of this socialist state and its lived realities on the basis of selected aspects from everyday life.
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Mit ihren Studien möchte die IF DDR in Hinblick auf die Bedingungen und Erfahrungen des DDR-Sozialismus einen Beitrag zu aktuellen Debatten über soziale Kämpfe leisten. In verschiedenen Reihen bereitet sie hierfür historisches und Zeitzeug*Innen-Material in anschaulicher und verständlicher Weise Auf.
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Hope he still in good health.thanks for sharing.
Sadly, he's no longer with us, he passed away in February 2023 aged 95
It's a pity. He served in 2 Western parliaments, criticizes them as detached (correct), but doesn't acknowledge that political power is more democratic in these Western parliaments than it was in the GDR.
He simply could have said: "I don't like the Western parliaments. They are detached. But they are strong in the sense that power flows from elections through the parliament to the government. This is the one thing where they beat the GDR." He would have acknowledged what is there.
Agreed. Nothing about the structure or selection of the Volskammer was democratic. In appearance, the authorities attempted to present a "democracy of the proletariat," yet deliberately, through the DDR constitution, manifested a situation wherein the SED could never be out of leadership. A socialist democracy as Modrow envisages it can not exist under those conditions because, however "close to the people" the ministers may have been, the people could not punish, reward, or replace those ministers. If the DDR had allowed free and fair elections under a constitution that banned all fascist and expressly capitalist parties, Modrow might be able to make claims about a system of democracy existing there at all. I think there were some advantages to living in the DDR, but having a say in policy was definitely not one of them.
@@ciajim Agree. I find this thing about accountability the most fascinating. When I listen to interviews (here on youtube) with citizens rights advocates from the GDR, such as Bärbel Bohley, the main thing they criticize is the power monopoly of the SED.
Without a chance to lose elections, there will be no course correction, of any kind.
Socialist Democracy is an oxymoron.
Socialism is an extension of democracy to the working class. So no you’re wrong
Socialist democracy is redundant