The SDS (German Socialist Student Federation) became known in this country, during the Easter demonstrations in Berlin and elsewhere, as the core of the "Extra-Parliamentary Opposition" in Germany. Thie anti-authoritarian movement started as a mandfestation of proteat against the general trend of restorative politica in post-war Germany and against developments in the university in particular: . the Vietnam war has exposed the contradiction/science and humanism as they are-taught at the university. The technological and econemic need for a higher output of intelligensia has led to a shorten- = ing of the length of studies and to expulsion from the university of those who do not complete their degree in this time, This measure directs itself against those students who have to earn a living while studying. (Only 20 per cent of students get grants in West Germany, and i for this reason, only 5 per cent come from working class homes.
The demand for the democratisation of the university institutions has met with considerable resistance from the authorities, both within and without the university, and they have used their administrative and bureaucratic positions for fighting liberalisation. More = and more students have realised that the SD5 was fighting for their common interests. As they joined the protest movement, they found themselves confronted with a rigid authoritarian structure. They came to understand that the conditions in the university was a reflection of the socio-economic state of capitalist society, and the world-wide conflict between revolution and counter-revolution became clear. The step from fighting the university authorities to fighting all irrational authority and thus becoming a general “anti-authoritarian movement" was an inevitable one.
The movement understands itself as being in & period of transition. It is obvious that the revolution cannot be achieved without the support of the masses of the working people. However, as the students! demands became more radical and their challenge more general, ever larger sections of society got involved in the fight against them. And since the machine of power, press and mass propaganda sre in the hands of the authorities, the students became more and more isolated from precisély the part of society whose support is vital to them - the working class. Yet, the students have been = successful in breaking the weakest link in the authoritarian system - the institution of the university. Other weak parts, like technical colleges,stagnent industries, etc., are the next steps on “the long march through the institutions",
Already, the movement has ceased to be confined to the. universities. Groups such as young workers and trade unionists, pupils and teachers are being drawn in increasing numbers. It is signifi-
= t +hetween GaE.
326
that many of the recent demonstrations took place in towns where there is no university. The Grand Coalition has done away with all possible opposition within Parliament and society haa taken a decisive step towards the rightfhe Extra-Parliamentary Opposition is the only opposition in West Germany and is growing in importance,
The anti-authoritarian movement is esscntially democratic. All organisational work is done in public and is subjected to criticism by all participants. Conspiratorial methods are considered useless, since the authorities and the police are bound to have agents amongst them. Sush methods would also be in contradiction to the aims of the movement -— an “anti-authoritarian movement" could hardly expect its members to accept decisions imposed on it by a leadership group, without the possibility of democratic’ discussion. Rudi Dutechke can be quoted as saying: “there are no chief ideologues, there is no unified line, there is no party." He, himself, became victim of the deliberate policy of the Springer press monopoly, who-have tried to personalise the movement, Ey representing Dutechke as leader of the movement and trying to show him as a half-crazy extremist, under the influence of East Berlin, they have avoided discussing the real causes of the students' widespread discontent. The spontaneous Easter demonstrations against the Springer presa, all over Germany, have proved Dutschke right and Springer wrong.
There is certainly no unified political line within the SDs. People who would, in Britain, spend most of their time fighting each other in "CP", "Trotskyist" or "Maoist" fractions, are able to cooperate on questions of action within the SDS, without any suppression of theoretical discussion. This was shown, for instance, by the discussion over participation in the Federal Elections next year, The argument for participation can be summarized as follows:
(1) The election would give the left a chance to raise issues
in such a way that the other parties would have to answer.
the left would thue geain a wide audience and could use the
campaign for baiiding prlitical consciousness.
(2) Discontent in West Germany is wide-spread since the
SPD ceased to form an opposition. The German voter should
be freed from the dilemm af again having to vote for a party
which he does not support only because it is the lesser
evil. <A united election campaign could even make the new
left party strong enough to become represented in Farlia-—
ment.
Here, however, the supporter of the election participation meets opposition. A party, even a new left party, can only be a reproduction of the difficulties of every bourgeois membership organisation. It would necessarily develop bureaucratic and authoritarian traite and therefore lose the ground that has been won by the anti-authoritarian movement. It would mean recognising the parliamentary system as being basically democratic, the implication being that one has only
33«
to change the parties to restore democracy. However, the institutions themselves become oligarchic and powerful, and only their abolition by the revolutionary movement can lead to democracy. The national conference of the SDS, two months ago, decided to adopt this second line, although it remains up te every individual to decide whether he will take part in the campaign for the new party. The SDS line is not bindin& for any of its members,
It is essential for the understanding of the movement to realise that it is opposed to authoritarian systems in both Bast and West Germany. Co-operation with East German organisations is possible to the extent to which these support and assist the students! struggle against the West German authorities. However,the SDS realised that the GDR is far from being democratic or socialist, although progress has been made towards fairer distribution of goods and better educational and social systema.
The ,anti-authoritarian movement has no fixed model of what/S88iety of the future should look like. It refuses to identify with the socalled "socialist bloc". The revolution has to ~produce something new: socialism which means democracy of the people. The fact that this has not yet been completely achieved anywhere does not mean that it cannot be the future. The conceptof the permanent revolution means criticising every aspect of society again and again until it has been changed for ’ the better.