The Communist Legacy in East Germany
Since the Communists were fighting for the rights of the proletariat, they had concentrated on winning the support of the workers (Turner 70). Many things were done in order to gain this loyalty. For example, rewards were given to laborers who set new records in production, people were guaranteed employment, the cost of health care was taken care of by the comprehensive welfare state, and preference for admission to higher education was given to workers (Turner 71). Although these benefits may have been motivational, they soon were not enough for the East German workers. The Communist regime began to use more control and place more expectations on the workers. One way in which they did this was when “officials of the SED-controlled trade unions began to present workers with Soviet-style plant contracts” in 1951 (Turner 72). The conditions were unbearable and the people challenged them with protests and work stoppages. Some of the terms of the contracts included the workers’ “voluntary” commitment to increase output and government set production quotas as a way of determining pay (Turner 72). These quotas were revised in some instances because of the continued protest by the workers, but in others, things remained the same.
These reactions to the Communist policies showed that the workers, whose rights the Communists were fighting for, were not content with the policies and restrictions placed on labor. However, it was felt by the SED that the labor union had made “too many concessions to the workers in the past” (Turner 73). So, in 1952, at the second party conference, new guidelines were established which led to a “raising in quotas in the new plant contracts for 1953 and a resulting reduction of worker income” (Turner 73). The final straw for the East Germans was when a 10 percent increase of work quotas and a wage cut of the same percent were proposed (Turner 75). This escalated and led to an uprising on June 17, 1953, where many workers refused to pick up their tools. This uprising and the strikes by the workers demonstrated just how dissatisfied the East Germans were with the changes that the government was imposing on them. After all, Communism was supposed to benefit the workers, not make their jobs and lives more miserable. During the strike, the people made demands to the government in order to have some of the policies changed. However, instead of having these demands fulfilled, the SED declined all changes after the Soviets brought tanks into East Germany and stopped the uprising. Because of the unwillingness of the East German government to compromise with the people, there was a continued “mass exodus from the GDR” (Turner 67). The measures that the SED took to try to improve industry accelerated the fleeing from East to West Germany (Turner 73). This hurt the economy even more, caused even harsher conditions for the remaining workers, and as a result the country fell behind in its plan for industrialization (Turner 74).
With people constantly fleeing from the East to the West, there was a “costly drain on the Eastern economy, since most of those who left were young, skilled people. It also imposed limits on how much the regime could require of those who remained but had the ready option of leaving” (Turner 86). Their answer to this problem was the construction of the Berlin Wall, which began on August 13, 1961 (Turner 88). Sealing the East Germans from the West effected jobs in many ways. First of all, the construction of the wall “facilitated stabilization of the GDR” (Turner 95). This meant that the SED could be stricter with the people because the wall prevented them from leaving. Concerning jobs, the government could
Crack down on dissent without fear of such consequences. Slacking on the job in government-run enterprises became a punishable crime, and prison sentences were imposed upon some convicted of that offense, obviously as an example to others. In factories and other places of work throughout the GDR, the SED orchestrated “discussions” designed to identify malcontents and convince them of the error of their ways. Party activists began a campaign to effect “voluntary” increases in work quotas. . . (Turner 95)
This change in conduct towards the people effected the job conditions in that the workers did not have the options they had had earlier. Before the Berlin Wall was erected, dissatisfied people could opt to leave East Germany if conditions under the Communists were restrictive. They had the option to revolt, like in 1953. Now, however, that option of escape has been taken away, and the East Germans were at the mercy of the Communists. Another way that the Berlin Wall effected jobs is that it cut the East Germans from other possible places from which they could seek employment. For example, they could have gone to West Germany in search of better jobs. Turner stated that, “By the late 1950s . . . the Federal Republic was approaching full employment. With demand for labor outstripping supply at home, West Germany began recruiting ‘guest workers'” (111-112). These guest workers could have been the disgruntled East Germans had the Communists not taken away their opportunity for a possible better job and life.
One final thing that effected the job conditions and satisfaction of the East Germans was the Basic Treaty. This treaty allowed more contact between East and West Germans, particularly with family. This did not mean, however, that the people were free to travel back and forth at will. The contacts that the East Germans had with the West Germans “gave rise to unsettling problems for the SED regime as more and more East Germans learned at first hand, often from trusted persons, about the higher standard of material life and greater personal freedom in the West” (Turner 195). This higher standard of living resulted because the West German mark (DM) had more value and worth, and the West German workers were paid with this valuable money, while the East German workers were not. The Basic Treaty allowed the East Germans to see the true condition of East Germany in comparison with West Germany. The lack of correspondence and permission to travel between the East and West “made it difficult for East Germans not to notice the extent to which . . . their standard of living lagged far behind that of Germans in the Federal Republic” (Turner 70).
These three events had a profound effect on the job conditions and satisfaction of the East German workers during the Communist regime. The workers were obviously unsatisfied with the work conditions and demands, as was apparent by the uprising on June 17, 1953. With the help of the Soviet troops, though, the people’s hopes of any changes were smashed when the uprising was ended. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, and stood as a constant reminder to both the East and West Germans of their division. This not only meant separation from family, but the lack of opportunity to flee East Germany for a better, less dominated life in the West. This included the opportunity for better jobs, for which the West Germans needed people. The Basic Treaty of 1972 permitted some travel between the East and West, but the people were still not allowed to move at will. This openness let the people of East Germany see just how deprived they were and how poor their living conditions were in comparison to West Germany. Overall, the Communist regime of East Germany, while it claimed to strive for a classless Utopia denied the people of a chance to seek out a better way of life. They halted their protests and uprising, and did not even make any of the suggested changes concerning jobs and life in the East. Also, they built the Berlin Wall, so that the East Germans were not only separated from the West Germans by their government and living situations, but also physically. Finally, the Basic Treaty was signed in 1972, which may have seemed like a positive step in relations between the East and West, but in essence, let the East Germans see just how poor and pitiful they really were next to West Germany. Not only did these actions hurt the people’s morale, but it also hurt their opportunity to search for better jobs so that they could better provide for their families. Obviously, by looking at these events, the Communists deprived the East Germans of more than they gave them.
Works Cited
Ardagh, John. Germany and the Germans. Pp 328-358.
Turner, Henry Ashby Jr. Germany From Partition to Reunification. London: Yale University Press, 1992.
