2018-01-02, Steber, Martina

The importance of the Thatcher government’s success in the miners’ strike of 1984/1985 for the further course of industrial relations politics has often been underlined. This article argues that it was equally important for the ideological development of Conservatism: it was essential for the strengthening of Thatcherism as a particular strand of Conservative thought, culture and practice within the party and the wider realm of political culture. The miners’ strike was a keystone in the long-term Thatcherite project of shaping the political language employed in public discourse and hence in defining the categories in which people would conceive of the political world. By evoking ideas about the nation, society, the cold war and democracy Conservatives contextualised the miners’ strike and established a Conservative narrative of the events. The political language of Thatcherism was strengthened and popularised during the year of strike action. Here lies the lasting legacy of the miners’ strike.

2017, Steber, Martina

2015, Steber, Martina

2014-05-08, Steber, Martina, Gotto, Bernhard

When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933 they promised to create a new, harmonious society under the leadership of the Führer, Adolf Hitler. The concept of Volksgemeinschaft, lit. ‘the people’s community’, enshrined the Nazis’ vision of society. It was based on racist, social-Darwinist, anti-democratic, and nationalist thought. The regime defined who belonged to the National Socialist ‘community’ and who did not. Being accorded the status of belonging granted citizenship rights, access to the benefits of the welfare state, and opportunities of advancement. All those denied the privilege to belong lost their right to live. They were shamed, excluded, imprisoned, murdered. Volksgemeinschaft was the Nazis’ project of social engineering, to be realized by a plethora of means: state action, administrative procedure, party practice, propaganda, and individual initiative. It unleashed an enormous dynamism, which gave social change a particular direction. However, the Volksgemeinschaft concept was not strictly defined; it was marked by a plurality of meaning and emphasis which resulted in a range of readings in the Third Reich. Often, they stood in continuity to non-Nazi notions of Volksgemeinschaft prevalent in the Weimar Republic, which, however, now had to comply with the racist and social-Darwinist rationale of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft concept. In this way, Volksgemeinschaft drew people in. The book scrutinizes Volksgemeinschaft as the Nazis’ central vision of community, it engages with individual appropriations, examines projects of social engineering, analyzes the social dynamism unleashed, and shows how deeply private lives were affected by this murderous vision of society.

2017, Steber, Martina, Gotto, Bernhard

2017, Steber, Martina

2015, Steber, Martina

2017, Steber, Martina

2015, Bavaj, Riccardo, Steber, Martina

2015, Steber, Martina, Bavaj, Riccardo