Table Of ContentTHE EMOTIONAL POLITICS OF THE
ALTERNATIVE LEFT
In the s, a multifaceted alternative scene developed in West
Germany. At the core of this leftist scene was a struggle for feelings
in a capitalist world that seemed to be devoid of any emotions.
Joachim C. Häberlen offers here a vivid account of these emotional
politics. The book discusses critiques of rationality and celebrations
of insanity as an alternative.It explores why capitalism made people
feel afraid and modern cities made people feel lonely. Readers are
takentoconsciousnessraisinggroups,nudeswimming atalternative
vacation camps, and into the squatted houses of the early s.
Häberlen drawsonakaleidoscopeofdifferentvoicestoexplorehow
West Germans became more concerned with their selves, their
feelings, and their bodies. By investigating how leftists tried to
transform themselves through emotional practices, Häberlen gives
usafreshperspectiveonafascinatingaspectofWestGermanhistory.
. ¨ is Assistant Professor of Modern Contin-
entalEuropeanHistoryattheUniversityofWarwick,whoseresearch
focusesonprotestmovementsandthehistoryofemotions.Heisthe
author of Vertrauen und Politik im Alltag: Die Arbeiterbewegung
in Leipzig und Lyon im Moment der Krise, –/ (),
numerousacademicarticles,andanessayonthepoliticsoffriendship
between Germans and refugees (Wie aus Fremden Freunde werden;
).HeeditedPoliticsofAuthenticSubjectivity:Counterculturesand
RadicalMovements acrossthe Iron Curtain, – ().
PETERBALDWIN, University ofCalifornia, LosAngeles
CHRISTOPHERCLARK, University of Cambridge
JAMES B. COLLINS, Georgetown University
MIA RODRÍGUEZ-SALGADO, LondonSchool ofEconomics
and Political Science
LYNDAL ROPER, University of Oxford
TIMOTHY SNYDER, Yale University
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THE EMOTIONAL POLITICS
OF THE ALTERNATIVE LEFT
–
West Germany,
JOACHIM C. HÄBERLEN
UniversityofWarwick
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Contents
List of Figures page vi
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction
Wholeness and Exuberance
Feelings against Reason
The Emotional Misery of Capitalism
Searching for Intimacy
Exuberance and Intensity
Conclusion
Primary Sources
Bibliography
Index
v
Figures
‘The small but fine difference between the capitalist (), the
orthodox-communist () and the alternative () way to
the sun, to freedom ...’ (radikal /, December /
January , .) page
‘The people in the state of the future’.
(Friedrich Eduard Bilz, Der Zukunftsstaat.)
Cover page of Politikon , November .
Cover page of Pflasterstrand , December .
‘Ten Years of Progress in Frankfurt’. (Rumpelstilzchen,
May .)
Cover page of The Unchaining of Desire.
‘A hot summer’. (Stilett , June , .)
‘The Plan’. (Subito , ca. May , .)
‘Graffiti’. (Stadtzeitung für Freiburg , March , .)
vi
Acknowledgements
Iamgratefultothenumerousfriends,colleaguesandinstitutionsthathave
supported me during researching and writing this book. The project took
off at the Centre for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute
for Human Development, Berlin, where I was lucky not only to benefit
from the generous financial support it offered, but also from the intellec-
tually inspiring environment. In particular, I wish to express my gratitude
to its director, Ute Frevert, to Margrit Pernau, Monique Scheer, Benno
Gammerl, Uffa Jensen, Daniel Brückenhaus, Philipp Nielsen, and to the
extremely helpful staff at the Institute. I finished the project at the
University of Warwick, which since then has become my academic home
duetofriendlyandwelcomingcolleagues. DiscussionsIhadwithClaudia
Stein(thoughsheremainsscepticalaboutallthefussregardingemotions),
Rebecca Earle, David Lambert, Ben Smith, Mark Knights, Mark Philp,
and Charles Walton have challenged me to think about theoretical
approaches to history. The transition to Warwick was also supported by
a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant by the European Union that
supported further archival research. I equally benefited from the oppor-
tunity to present my work at different conferences and colloquia, notably
at the University of Tübingen, the University of Sheffield, the Free
University Berlin, and the University of Basel. The discussions with the
participants of these colloquia were highly stimulating. I also made stu-
dents of my module on politics of protest in Europe read the manuscript.
The discussions we had about the project were indeed amongst the most
sophisticated,andsomecommentsandsuggestionsmadeitintothetext.It
speaks to the high quality of students at Warwick.
Mark Philp, Neil Gregor, Mathew Thomson, and Christiane Reinecke
readtheentirebookmanuscriptandprovidedmewithhelpfulcomments.
So did Moritz Föllmer and Jake Smith, with whom I had countless
discussion about the West German left and its sometimes weird but
vii
viii Acknowledgements
fascinatingpoliticalpractices.Thetwoanonymouspeerreviewersprovided
me with helpful comments to revise the manuscript.
Archivists at various places helped me by pointing me to sometimes
obscure publications, especially Punx at the Papiertiger Archiv in Berlin.
The hours spent in the small archive were always highlights of the week.
I’m also grateful to the former activists who talked to me about their
experiences. When I attended a meeting to commemorate the thirtieth
anniversary of the squatting movement of /, I was struck by the
profound sense of happiness I felt amongst those present. I don’t know if
those activists would agree with me, but it seemed to me that they had
done something right in their lives.
Introduction
In January , the West Berlin radical left-wing magazine radikal
published an article, entitled ‘subjective mishmash’, about the relation
between subjectivity and politics. Exploringthe entanglement and disen-
tanglement of political and personal issues within the radical left, the text
provides an intriguing perspective on the history of the West German left
since . According to the anonymous author, protestors in
‘regardedtheirpersonaldifficultiesasaresultofcapitalistsociety’.Students
went to the streets to demonstrate against the Vietnam War not only
because of a ‘rational and conscious, but also [because of] an emotional
solidarity with the fighting Vietnamese people’. Having learned from
Wilhelm Reich, a Freudian Marxist popular amongst student activists in
the revolt, that sexuality remained fundamentally repressed in a
capitalist society, activists were as much concerned with their orgasm as
with imperialist warfare. But by the early s, things changed, the
authorwrote.DieterDuhm’spopularbookon‘FearinCapitalism’,which
had already reached its th edition in , replaced Wilhelm Reich’s
work as common reading within the left. ‘Everyday, interpersonal fears’
rather than ‘sexual difficulties’ now dominated the conversations amongst
leftists,theradikalauthornoted.Thechangealsoaffectedhowleftistsdealt
with their personal difficulties. Whereas Reich and those student activists
following him had hoped that professional psychiatrists might provide
emotionalsupport,activistsnowsoughtto‘collectivelyliberatethemselves’
Anon.,‘statteinesForums:subjektiverMischmasch’,radikal(January–February),.
See Dieter Duhm, Angst im Kapitalismus: . Versuch der gesellschaftlichen Begründung
zwischenmenschlicher Angst in der kapitalistischen Warengesellschaft (Lampertheim: Küber, );
Wilhelm Reich, Der sexuelle Kampf der Jugend (Berlin: Verlag für Sexualpolitik, ); Wilhelm
Reich, Was ist Klassenbewusstsein? Ein Beitrag zur Diskussion über die Neuformierung der
Arbeiterbewegung (Kopenhagen: Verlag für Sexualpolitik, ); Reich, Die Funktion des
Orgasmus: Zur Psychopathologie und zur Soziologie des Geschlechtslebens (Amsterdam: Thomas de
Munter,);WilhelmReich,DiesexuelleRevolution(Frankfurta.M.:Fischer,).
