Rolf van Raden

Zwischen Vorwurf und Vergessen - Die Volksfront als politische Konzeption

Summary: In August 2004 German chancellor Gerhard
Schröder accused the socialist PDS and the conservative CDU
of forming a new „Volksfront“ against the axe of social
security. In the discussion about this the concept of the historic
Peoples’ Front against fascism was not relevant. The article
analyzes the communist strategies against the Nazi regime and
explains how nationalist terminology could become part of the
fight against Hitler. The author argues that in the idea of the
Peoples’ Front an intersection of the marxist and the
nationalist discourse took place. Owing to this historic
experience, social protests today should be aware of the
consequences when using national and collective diction - not
because, but in spite of Schröders accusation.