Rethinking Regime Stability
The Life Stories of “Loyal” East German Activists in the Early German Democratic Republic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16477481 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew I Port (Wayne State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 367-412 |
| Publication date | 2017-11-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0075-2800 • E-ISSN: 2196-6842 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/jbwg-2017-0014 |
| OpenAlex | W2781273081 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
In the early 1950s, East German officials at the storied Maxhütte steel mill in Thuringia collected short CVs or “life stories” ( Lebensläufe ) written by approximately 370 blue- and white-collar workers who had recently become Stakhanovite “activists”. These documents, which all contain the same basic biographical information about the authors – from their socioeconomic background to their political activities – shed light on a group that has received little systematic scholarly attention, namely, ostensibly loyal and ordinary East Germans at the grass roots. Their early support of the SED state and its economic goals ensured the longer-term stability of a largely unloved regime. These valuable documents thus provide important clues for understanding the puzzling political and economic viability of the German Democratic Republic
Democracy · Economic history · German · Political science · Political stability · Politics · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · State (computer science · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Demography · European history and politics · Gender Studies · German History and Society · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |