Background: The situation in Poland in 1980 worried the GDR’s leadership. They feared growing protests there might spread to the GDR. This is background material prepared for agitators and propagandists in Rochlitz County, and is dated November 1980. It is intended to provide them background information to use in their conversations with workmates and friends. The source: The original in the library of Stiftung Archiv Parteien und Massenorganisationen in Berlin. The photocopy I am working from, alas, is missing the call number. Advice for the Propagandist and Agitator SED County Office Rochlitz November 1980 Counterrevolution has many faces! History teaches us: A declining class never leaves the stage of history voluntarily! Consistent with its nature, imperialism can never accept the existence of socialism. As long as imperialist states and forces exist, they will not stop trying to split and destroy the revolutionary movement through counterrevolution, to reverse the achievements of the working class and its allies, and above all to change the balance of power in their favor. How much tragedy and sacrificial struggle by the working class, how much horror, terror, and inhumanity of the class condemned to vanish is concealed behind the word counterrevolution? Murder, terror, and civil war — the open and most brutal form of counterrevolution. Let us remember: When for a brief historical moment the French proletariat seized power in 1871, the French bourgeoisie and reactionary Prussian militarism drowned the Paris Commune in a terrible bloodbath. 46 years later revolutionary workers and farmers under Lenin’s leadership stormed the Winter Palace to establish the first state of workers and farmers, ushering in a new epoch in human history. Immediately all the enemies of the proletariat, both domestically and internationally, took up the struggle. The Denikens and Koltschaks, the capitalist landlords and kulaks, supported by a counterrevolutionary army from 14 imperialist states, armed to the teeth, unleashed a terrible campaign of terror and civil war against the young Soviet power. When in 1918 the German working class began to shake the foundations of capitalism and the Junkers during the November Revolution by forming the Communist Party of Germany, counterrevolution struck back immediately. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the leaders of the revolution, were murdered. Let us recall: The bloody May of 1929 in Berlin, when Zörgiebel’s police shot at demonstrating workers, or The bloody assault on the Popular Front government in Spain in 1936, The murder and arson on the part of criminal elements and Western secret agencies in the GDR on 17 June 1953, The bestial murders committed by nationalist and Horty Fascist elements in Hungary in 1956, led by imperialist spies, The murder of President Allende and thousands of Chilean comrades and patriots during the Fascist Putsch prepared and guided with the help of the USA in 1975 [corrected by hand to 1973]. These are only a few of the murderous deeds of counterrevolution. Economic warfare and trading in human beings are a regular part of counterrevolution’s arsenal. Following the example of former colonial rulers, threats and sometimes grain blockades and economic blockades are used to suppress young national states and keep them subservient to imperialism. Export bans, economic embargoes, and economic sabotage were used by imperialist counterrevolution from the first day of the existence of socialist nations to the present day, ever attempting to disturb or throttle the economic development of socialist states. Let us remember: British Secretary of State Hower announced an economic blockade against the Soviet Union in 1919 in order to “starve” the country; The American and British occupation forces blocked the supply of Ruhr coal to the present GDR; The economic warfare, sabotage and other actions of West Germany against GDR when the borders were open (According to the Hamburg Economic Institute, the result was damages to the GDR of at least 100 billion marks); The pipe embargo against the Soviet Union during the Adenauer era; The US ban on grain sales to the Soviet Union; Carter’s economic embargo; The Olympic boycott, etc. Let us remember also the luring away of thousands of specialists from the GDR before 13 August 1961 [the date of the Berlin Wall]. Even today, with the express approval and support of the Bonn government, criminals unscrupulously misuse the travel and transit regulations to endanger the life and health of GDR citizens. Today, ideological diversion is the main form of counterrevolutionary attack on socialism. The official magazine “NATO-Letters,” Nr. 3/1976 speaks openly: “Alongside the three land fronts (central, southern, and northern) and the Atlantic front, there is a fifth — the ideological — front. That includes the daily flood of lies, slanders, and disinformation that pours down not only on the citizens of their own countries, but also on the socialist states. There are 9,500 radio stations and 14,502 television stations in the 5 leading imperialist nations alone. The official “Voice of America” broadcasts 8,000 hours a week in 36 languages. We remember the role of “Radio Liberty,” “Radio Free Europe,” “Deutsche Welle,” and the “Deutschlandfunk” during the counterrevolution of 1968 in Czechoslovakia or today in Poland! Lies and slanders against the socialist states and especially their Marxist-Leninist parties are intended to reduce the appeal of socialism and build anti-socialist views, making the liquidation of the socialist states appear to be a “humane and desirable goal.” Counterrevolution appeals to weak elements with slogans of a “better socialism,” “a pluralistic society,” “a socialism without communists, or of “independent trade unions” as a way of causing anti-socialist activities. Today, imperialist centers, especially in West Germany, are using such determined counterrevolutionaries of the notorious KOR Group like Kuron, Moczulski, and Walesa, who want a “Poland without communism.” Counterrevolution learned from its defeats in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Poland in 1970. It works now with long range, differentiated plans with various divisions of responsibility and various representatives. In close cooperation with imperialist secret services, reactionary clerical forces have worked out a three-step plan for Poland: Economic and political chaos will be caused by economic sabotage, strikes, and demands for higher wages; A new anti-communist opposition will be established in the form of “free and independent trade unions” as expressions of “true democracy,” along with the encouragement of nationalism and anti-Sovietism; Constant political pressure and threats of strikes aim at reducing and finally eliminating the influence of the party in the state and society. The result will be a “free, pluralistic democracy” in Poland. While Walesa and other counterrevolutionaries in Poland praise the “help” of the “free West,” the Revanchists of West Germany are already dreaming of how “Pommerania, Danzig,” and the rest of the “German eastern territories can be regained!” (“Welt am Sonntag,” 29.8.1980) That is the goal of counterrevolution in Poland! “Keeping the German Question open” and a refusal to recognize the citizenship of the GDR — these are the main weapons of West Germany’s imperialist counterrevolution against the GDR. The new SPD/FDP government follows the same imperialist ideas established by Adenauer. The goal is to liquidate socialism in the GDR and extend the rule of German imperialism to the Oder. That is clear from the following facts: “Keeping the German Question open” and promoting a so-called “unity of the German nation” as a way of incorporating the socialist GDR into the capitalist West Germany; Holding to a “Germany with the borders of 1937”; The arbitrary violations of the basic treaty between the GDR and West Germany, the Four-Power Agreement on West Berlin, the Transit Agreement between the GDR and West Germany, and the Final Act of Helsinki; Violations of the GDR’s borders; The refusal to recognize citizenship in the GDR; The September 1977 decision by the West German Supreme Court that “legalized” the criminal actions of organizations trading in human beings, even if it led to death; Policies of systematically and openly interfering in the internal affairs of the GDR and other socialist states, in violation of international law, and many other forms of psychological warfare against the GDR’s socialist order. Counterrevolution with its many faces is secret and dangerous, and demands our greatest political and ideological watchfulness. The facts are: Neither the policy of “Cordon sanitaire” (i.e., isolating the socialist nations) or of military “roll back”, nor attempts at extortion or “bridge building” could or will enable counterrevolution to stop the advance of socialism or turn back the wheel of history. Comrade Erich Honecker said clearly in his speech to party activists in Gera: The plans of domestic and international counterrevolution will not succeed in Poland, the GDR, or in any other socialist nation. Counterrevolution must realize that its bounds are west of the Elbe and Werra rivers. We communists in Rochlitz County give our word on that.   [Page copyright © 1999 by Randall Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.] Go to the East German Propaganda Page. Go to the German Propaganda Archive Home Page.