Broadening and Radicalising Solidarity, 1924–1932

Abstract

The years 1924–1928 have traditionally been described as a period of ‘relative stabilisation’ in the history of the Weimar Republic, as Germany during these years was saved from both substantial foreign political burdens and from further extreme domestic crises. However, as Detlev Peukert argues, an “illusion of domestic stabilisation” has prevailed despite the fact that the period was rife with significant social conflicts which could only be called stable when compared to the first and last years of the Republic.1 For the German Communist Party (KPD), the 1923 still-born October Revolution had had devastating consequences. The party was banned in Germany until 1 March 1924 and between September 1923 and April 1924 it had lost over 40 percent of its membership base.2 The social deprivation of the German workers remained high, however, and during the first months of 1924 a series of prolonged strikes hit the industrial areas of Germany3 In conjunction with this development, the Arbeiterhilfe found its new mission in the form of strike aid and support of all those living in destitution. The Arbeiterhilfe’s efforts after 1924 could be summarised as an attempt to broaden its articulations of solidarity, as women and children of the German working class were actively integrated into the Arbeiterhilfe’s articulations of solidarity.