Between State Capitalism and Globalisation

The Collapse of the East German Economy

Bibliographic Data

ID9799055
AuthorsDavid Childs (0000-0001-6218-8131, University of Nottingham, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume120
Issue488
Pages1107-1108
Publication date2005-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cei384
OpenAlexW2021833865
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Between State Capitalism and Globalisation: The Collapse of the East German Economy, by Gareth Dale (Bern: Peter Lang, 2004; pp. 371. £40). This book starts with an interesting preface and then rapidly degenerates into nearly a hundred pages with little mention of the DDR economy and its collapse. The introduction and chapters one and two are mainly devoted to theories of economic and political development based on ‘the theory of “bureaucratic state capitalism”’ (p. 39). It would have been better to have made the preface the introduction and to have cut out most of the introduction and the first two chapters. There would have been some justification for outlining Soviet economic theories and Soviet reality and in asking to what extent that influenced post-war policy in the Soviet Zone/DDR. Dale admires the ‘terrible grandeur’ (p. 91) of Soviet breakneck industrialisation which enabled the USSR to defeat the German military. But there is no mention of the enormous help from the USA and Britain, their military efforts, successful espionage, and Hitler's blunders. Chapter 3 takes us over some familiar territory on the origins of the Cold War. What happened was due to an ‘element of mutual misunderstanding’ (p. 109) between the USSR and the USA, Soviet economic inferiority and the fact that ‘both sides feared that recently-gained influence or territory could be lost’ (p. 109). Dale inclines to the view that Stalin did not want a Communist Germany but rather a neutral, united Germany (p. 117). Dale mentions too many names, from Bukharin, Hilferding and Hobbs, to Locke, Ricardo and Witte. Trotsky and Marx get far more space than Willy Brandt, Genscher, Teltschik, and Mielke, and almost as much as Helmut Kohl; yert George Bush, US Secretary of State James Baker, Alexander Ducek, Rainer Eppelmann, Bärbel Bohley, Oskar Lafontaine, Margaret Thatcher and Lech Walesa are missing. The author appears to want to prove his credentials by quoting Lev Bronstein, the man with the pince-nez, Tony Cliff, ‘the British-Palestinian Marxist’ (p. 18), and Colin Barker, ‘another British Marxist’ (p. 32), who gets six pages to himself with no mention of the DDR. Many named are not explained. Dale also clutters his book with long sentences. There are sentences with 72 words (p. 30), 78 words (p. 31), and 82 words (pp. 22–23). They have nothing to do with the DDR. A list of abbreviations would have been useful. Once Dale gets to his theme, the book improves. In chapter 3 he outlines the contradictions in Soviet policy towards Germany in the immediate post-war period. The raping and looting by Soviet troops and the official reparations policy led to anti-Soviet feelings even among local Communists (p. 131). There is some useful material, in chapter 6, on East Germany's attempt to build up its micro-electronics industry, and on KoKo (pp. 205–7), the shadowy body involved in covert trading operations, industrial espionage, smuggling, and much more, in the West. In chapter 8 he covers the revolution in the DDR recalling how the West German political leadership, including Helmut Kohl (at first), feared the mass exodus of East Germans after Hungary opened its frontier to the West. Western banks, the Japanese key among them, were worried about the effect of this emigration on the DDR's ability to repay its loans (p. 259). With its financial dependence on Western banks and with Moscow's lack of support for repression, the Communist leadership was doomed. Much has been made of the poor economic conditions in East Germany after reunification and Kohl's promise of ‘blossoming landscapes’, but, as Dale points out, there have been major investments in the automobile, micro-electronics and bio-technology (p. 299). The railways compare well with those in Britain. Although unemployment remains high, many are much better off than they would have been—the millions of pensioners, for instance. Once they got the opportunity, East German consumers helped to kill off their own firms by buying West German products rather than those produced locally. Another factor, unmentioned, was the breakdown of East Germany's economic relations with its former Soviet bloc partners. They too preferred to shop in the West. Dale rightly criticises the ‘breakneck privatisation’ (p. 317) of the East German economy, giving some telling examples. In spite of the weaknesses outlined above, the book contains some good material and thoughtful comments. Some of the best pages are those related to the wheeling and dealing of West German firms and members of the West German elite with Honecker and his colleagues

Bureaucracy · Capitalism · Communism · Economic history · Espionage · German · Globalization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · State capitalism · European history and politics · History · Law

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