Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut's darkly humourous novel recounting the story of an ill-prepared soldier and the grim reality of the Second World War.
A fourth-generation German-American
now living in easy circumstances
on Cape Cod
[and smoking too much],
who, as an American infantry scout
hors de combat,
as a prisoner of war,
witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany,
'The Florence of the Elbe,'
a long time ago,
and survived to tell the tale.
This is a novel
somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic
manner of tales
Economic euthanasia - Robert Kurz
A short article on the crisis of health care under capitalism in crisis by Robert Kurz.
Economic Euthanasia – Robert Kurz
The heyday of corruption and the end of corporatism - Robert Kurz
A short article by Robert Kurz on corporate corruption in the context of the decline of “corporatism”, with particular reference to Germany and the trade unions, the Works Committees and the Siemens scandal.
The more fictitious and speculative the capitalist valorization process becomes, the more brazenly corruption flourishes. If necessary, one eats a greasy sausage without any bread. Dietary recommendations are useless, because everything ends up the same; if they catch you, that is your bad luck.
Jerry building: Unholy relics of Nazi Germany - Jonathan Meades
Jonathan Meades documentary on the role of architecture and urban planning in entrenching the Nazi regime and perpetuating its ideology.
Filmed in 1994 this documentary analyses how the Nazi party used buildings as a crucial part of its project to build a new society. Going beyond the obvious obligatory Swastika's and explicitly propagandistic statues and murals to the very brickwork from holiday camps to the schools that trained doctors who would carry out experiments in the extermination camps.
The peasants war in Germany 1525-1526 - Ernest Belfort Bax
Belfort Bax's 1899 history of the peasants war in Germany: the largest popular uprising in Europe besides the French revolution.
The liberation of society from the state: What is communist anarchism? - Erich Mühsam
An introduction to anarchist commmunism by German anarchist Erich Mühsam.
Thousands of Coca Cola workers walk off the job
Submitted by working class s... on Jan 21 2013 21:28
Thousands of Coca Cola workers across Germany are staging a series of short term ‘warning’ strikes this week in protest over their wages. Workers at two factories in Bavaria walked out today, with a further 50 plants expected to follow suit later in the week.
The warning strikes generally last several hours, and are a common tactic used by German trade unions. They are the first step up on the pressure on employers in anticipation of the next round of wages negotiations. Workers are demanding a 6% pay-rise for all of Coca Cola’s 10,600 employees across Germany. The bosses are only prepared to offer a 2% rise.
Q - Luther Blissett
Set in the time of tremendous religious and political upheaval caused by the Reformation in Europe, Q begins with Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral -- a historical flash point which would completely disrupt European society. The novel traces the adventures and conflicts of two central characters as they travel across Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. One is an Anabaptist, a member of the most radical Protestant sect. These are the anarchists of the Reformation who revolted against Catholicism and the emerging Reformation church. The other is a Catholic spy and informer.
Prologue
Out of Europe, 1555
On the first page it says: In the fresco I’m one of the figures in the background.
The meticulous handwriting, no smudges, tiny. Names, places, dates, reflections. The notebook of the final fevered days.
The yellowed and decrepit letters, the dust of decades.
Columnism - Ulrike Meinhof
Ulrike Meinhof's critique of columnism from 1968.
The columnist functions as a pressure release valve. Columnists can write what they want the way they want. This creates the impression that any journalist can write what they want the way they want in their particular newspaper.
All power to the councils!: A documentary history of the German revolution of 1918–1919
Submitted by working class s... on Dec 24 2012 22:07
This definitive documentary history collects manifestos, speeches, articles, and letters from the German Revolution—Rosa Luxemburg, the Revolutionary Stewards, and Gustav Landauer amongst others—introduced and annotated by the editor. Many documents, such as the anarchist Erich Mühsam's comprehensive account of the Bavarian Council Republic, are presented here in English for the first time. The volume also includes materials from the Red Ruhr Army that repelled the reactionary Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the communist bandits that roamed Eastern Germany until 1921.
The German Revolution erupted out of the ashes of World War I, triggered by mutinying sailors refusing to be sacrificed in the final carnage of the war.
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