Kreuzberg Against the Machine
How the West Berlin squatter scene produced Germany’s greatest rock band.
93 Articles by: Loren Balhorn
Loren Balhorn is editor-in-chief of Jacobin’s German-language edition
Social Democracy at Death’s Door
The European elections delivered a crushing blow to the German Social Democrats. Only a miracle can save them now.
The European Left in Disarray
As voters elect a new European Parliament, the Left is split between multiple “unity projects.” And none of them have a clear idea how to transform the EU.
May Day, Bloody May Day
On Berlin’s May Day 1929, the latent hostility between Social Democrats and Communists finally spilled over into bloodshed. A day meant to demonstrate workers’ unity instead showed tragic divisions in the face of rising Nazism.
The German Revolution’s Bloody End
The decisive battles of the German Revolution ended in March 1919 with the bloody crushing of the workers’ uprising. Why did it meet such a fate?
The World Revolution That Wasn’t
The Comintern was founded on this day in 1919 to carry revolution around the world. We are only now recovering from the legacy of its failure.
One, Two, Many Rosa Luxemburgs
On the 100th anniversary of her murder, Rosa Luxemburg’s incredible life provides us with a model — not necessarily of what to do, but of how to do it.
Booze and Socialism
German socialists knew the craze for schnapps was a plague on working-class life. They fought it by building their organizations around beer.
Germany’s European Empire
In today’s Germany, Wolfgang Streeck argues, politicians laud “Europe” — while quietly using EU structures to advance German national interests.
Joschka Fischer’s Long March
How the Green Party wunderkind transformed German capitalism, and with it, himself.
Germany’s 28-Hour Workweek
Last month German metal workers won the right to a 28-hour workweek — after going on strike to demand a better work-life balance.
No Corbyn in Sight
A membership surge in the German Social Democratic Party has sparked talks of a Corbyn-like transformation. But don’t get too excited just yet.
The Soviet Hippies
A look at counterculture behind the Iron Curtain.
Germany Is Not an Island
Germany’s elections show that the country is not insulated from a crisis-prone Europe, but part and parcel of it.
The Merkel Effect
As German elections loom this Sunday, cracks may be starting to show in Merkel’s radical centrist reign.
In the Belly of the Beast
German workers fighting for a fair contract with Amazon could transform the service sector on a global scale.
Die Linke’s Identity Crisis
With parliamentary elections looming this fall, the German left party is struggling to present itself as an exciting alternative to the status quo.
The Lost History of Antifa
72 years after the triumph over Nazism, we look back to postwar Germany, when socialists gave birth to Antifa.
Winning Power, Not Just Government
For twenty-five years, European left parties have joined broad coalition governments and come out with nothing to show for it.
After Tragedy and Farce: Martin Schulz
SPD leader Martin Schulz offers German voters more of the Third Way politics they hate in a shiny new package.