From 1968 to 1989 and Back
Eastern Europe and West Germany’s New Left
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The liberal-democratic spirit of 1989 seems to deny the liberal-socialist spirit of 1968. With regard to the history of mentality, there is in reality a subtle connection between the two events. The new left in the West and dissidents in the East were for a time closer to one another than is remembered. They may have been unable to develop a common force to overcome their respective systems. Nonetheless – despite all the blindness and ideological blinders – they provided much of the ferment behind the upheavals.
(Osteuropa 7/2008, pp. 5–16)