Hans Modrow on People's Property (Volkseigentum) and consciousness in the DDR

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/pers...
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.
ifddr.org/en/a...
---
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.
ifddr.org/ifddr/
---
You can find more about our work here:
Website: ifddr.org/en/h...
Twitter: / _ifddr
Facebook: / internationale-forschu...
#GDR #DDR

[@peternyc]

Public property is the core ingredient of socialism. Private property is the core ingredient of capitalism. To imagine that socialists in the 20th century didn't understand that their struggles were due to the fact that the international currency of trade was the dollar is profound. Had Keynes been strong enough to beat back Harry Dexter White's insistence on using the dollar, the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War. It is literally that simple. Market reforms were the US' plans all along. If you are a socialist country that needs to import from non socialist countries and those non socialist countries only take dollars, then you have to obtain dollars. Presto! Market reforms were born. At the local level, the market reforms were psychological mostly. They weren't responsible for the DDR's balance of payments. But in aggregate, by instituting market reforms at the local level meant that the nation as a whole was priming itself for the internal logic of private property. They made a Faustian bargain. It's so sad.