Is there a real extreme right-wing danger in Germany? The author is of the opinion that there are neo-fascist phenomena. After enumerating such events, he criticizes the opportunism of the press in belittling such phenomena. He describes the groups in contemporary Germany that can be termed as neo-fascist and the specific characteristics of their operation. Today, these groups are at the stage of assessing the mood and the article describes some of the methods of that testing. He also discusses some of the causes of the spreading of extreme rightism, especially those which in the former GDR prepared the ground for neo-fascism.
Category Archives: Former issues
The future of politically oriented art pieces in public space – Resolutions and minutes of the Budapest City Council on
Society and crime
The criminology specialist reviews the recent crime statistics and tries to find the causes of the dramatic upswing in the wave of crimes. In addition to the evident connections between multiple disadvantage and crime, he surveys the psychological types of family influences promoting crime, the crisis of institutions and the changes of social values with special regard to the radical growth of value of material wealth.
New German nationalism, great power chauvinism and revanchism
The author discusses the psychological causes of the current extreme right-wing tendencies in contemporary Germany. He underlines the role played by increased social tensions (and the consequential increase in disappointment) in the gaining ground of right-wing trends. He stresses the need for making fine distinctions when analysing the causes of racism and chauvinism. (See e.g. the difference between great power, conquering chauvinism and the chauvinism of crisis stricken groups aimed at excluding competition.) He sees the means countering extreme right-wing attitudes in the extension of direct democracy. He calls attention to the fact that the ideas of "people" or "people's power" can be interpreted both democratically and nationalistically: and the future will greatly depend on which of these two will win.
From class struggle to struggle without clases
This social philosophical analysis started out from the questioning of the existence of classes. He differentiates between and juxtaposes the "economic" and "social" approaches to class relations and analyses the mistaken alternative which has taken the dual tradition of economist (social democratic) and overpoliticised (Leninist) form. He re-formulates the Marxist thesis that class is a sensible category only as a relationship and states that the idea of the working class is inseparable from the presence of the workers,' movement. From this he deducts the thesis the "class party" is contradictory in itself. He too, considers as the essence of modern capitalism the fact that it exists as a world system, as the division of the different societies on the basis of their development is a basic precondition of the reproduction of capital. As a consequence, he denies the existence of "world bourgeoisie" and "world proletariat", as even the struggle of interests in the world system is waged in the form of the struggle of nations.