The Last Revolutionaries: German Communists and Their Century

by Catherine Epstein

The Last Revolutionaries tells a story of unwavering political devotion: it follows the lives of German communists across the tumultuous twentieth century. Before 1945, German communists were political outcasts in the Weimar Republic and courageous resisters in Nazi Germany; they also suffered Stalin's Great Purges and struggled through emigration in countries hostile to communism. After World War II, they became leaders of East Germany, where they ran a dictatorial regime until they were swept out of power by the people's revolution of 1989.

In a compelling collective biography, Catherine Epstein conveys the hopes, fears, dreams, and disappointments of a generation that lived their political commitment. Focusing on eight individuals, The Last Revolutionaries shows how political ideology drove people's lives. Some of these communists, including the East German leaders Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, enjoyed great personal success. But others, including the purge victims Franz Dahlem and Karl Schirdewan, experienced devastating losses. And, as the book demonstrates, female and Jewish communists faced their own sets of difficulties in the movement to which they had given their all.

Drawing on previously inaccessible sources as well as extensive personal interviews, Epstein offers an unparalleled portrait of the most enduring and influential generation of Central European communists. In the service of their party, these communists experienced solidarity and betrayal, power and persecution, sacrifice and reward, triumph and defeat. At once sordid and poignant, theirs is the story of European communism--from the heroic excitement of its youth, to the bureaucratic authoritarianism of its middle age, to the sorry debacle of its death.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2003

Reviews

[Legens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, but the collective biography approach might not have been the best one: It lacks the personal immediacy of a biography while forgoing the comprehension of an analytical approach. Large parts of the book also seem devoted to producing the same outcome over and over: Contrary to earlier (not generally held) assumptions, Western exile or concentration camp experience did not make Old Communists more likely to hold heterodox views or challenge party authority than Soviet exile – rather the contrary. A valuable insight, but not worth reducing the first 60% or so of the book to it.
The latter part is more interesting, as it unearths some unconventional insights: Ulbricht’s rule was, in fact, more tekhnika-oriented (to use the Soviet term) than Honecker’s, whose coup then reinstalled the dominance of Stalinist-inspired politika (but with consumer goods instead of Ulbricht’s high-tech investments). Old Communists‘ biographies were part of a struggle for personal and political interpretation of the Communist past. The few Old Communists who survived long enough to see the united Germany were gracious losers of history, but still as loyal to their convictions as ever.
In the end, the book has one merit in which no new study can outdo it: Epstein actually conducted interviews with her surviving historical subjects in the mid-1990s which provide a valuable trove of first-hand sources on the German Communists of the 20th century.

[Kriegslok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books in English to examine the people who established and struggled to establish a communist state in Germany. From their emergance as a political force during Wimar, to their persecution and resistance during the Third Reich to their part in the birth of the DDR which was to prove not the end of their struggle but, for many, the continuation of a life of frustration and unfullfilled dreams. With access to DDR records, Old Communists personal archives and interviews with the few remaining key activists still alive at the time of her study Catherine Epstein has produced a vital historical record of the people who were the KPD and leter SED. Her work helps to clear away the sterotypical and victors history of the DDR. What emerges is a story of ordinary people caught up in extrodinary times who dedicated their lives to an idological system to which they gave themselves with a religious level of commitment and for the most part with very little in the way of personal gain and for many great personal loss. Epstein does not judge, nor does she shy away from the many failings of the people, the Party or the country, she attempts to understand the context in which events took place and the motivations and feelings of the then key players. Essential for anyone with an interest in the DDR, KPD or SED.