The Campaign State: Communist Mobilizations for the East German Countryside, 1945–1990

Communist regimes are defined by dictatorial power, state planning, and active propaganda machines. In The Campaign State, Gregory Witkowski explores the intersection of these three elements in East Germany by focusing on mass mobilizations. He dissects the anatomy of campaigns and argues that while mass mobilizations are often perceived as symbols of strength, they also indicate underlying systemic weaknesses. By focusing on the ability of regimes to mobilize individuals to transform society, he explains both the durability and the ultimate demise of the German Democratic Republic. This study seamlessly blends an analysis of top-down campaign initiatives with the influence of such mobilizations on the grassroots level. For more than thirty years, East German leaders doggedly extended such mobilization efforts, yet complete success remained elusive. Witkowski reveals how local leaders, campaign participants, and peasants acted in ways both compliant and noncompliant with party goals to create societal change. Campaigns became a ubiquitous part of life under communist rule. Witkowski shows that such mobilizations were initially an integral part of state-planning efforts and only later became ritualized, as party portrayals of goals and accomplishments diverged from East Germans' lived experience. He argues that incessant campaigns exposed a substantial gap between rhetoric and reality in the German Democratic Republic that undermined the regime's legitimacy. This valuable and original study will appeal to scholars and students of German history, Communism, and state planning.

Gregory R. Witkowski is a historian and associate professor of philanthropic studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He is coeditor of German Philanthropy in Transatlantic Perspective.

"Witkowski has succeeded in showing how social, economic, and cultural goals of the party in implementing its agricultural policies ran contrary to the state's ability to meet such goals––both due to its own adherence to Marxism-Leninism and the bureaucratic inefficiencies imbedded in its centralized state bureaucracy. Particularly impressive is his extensive use of oral history interviews that are not merely anecdotal decoration, but rather illustrate different experiences among participants in the campaigns."—Jon Berndt Olsen, author of Tailoring Truth: Politicizing the Past and Negotiating Memory in East Germany, 1945–1990
"The Campaign State is a meticulously researched account of the use of mobilization campaigns in the German Democratic Republic. These campaigns were a central feature of Communist regimes as they attempted to implement wildly ambitious plans with limited resources, often in the face of resistance from local populations. The campaigns were stop-gap measures used to override traditional sources of authority, especially in the countryside during the collectivization of agriculture, and install in their place trusted working class cadres. This important book demonstrates for the first time the essential place of these mobilizations in Communist rule both as a symbol of the state's power and a reflection of the state's inability to translate utopian plans into reality. -Lynne Viola, University of Toronto
"This study makes an important addition to the analysis of Communist governance by emphasizing that the German Democratic Republic was a 'campaign state' which utilized mass mobilizations to achieve a fundamental transformation of society. Exploring a neglected subject, Witkowski focuses on the collectivization of agriculture that created a large scale, machine aided form of food production."—Konrad H. Jarausch, author of Out of Ashes: A New History of Europe in the Twentieth Century
"Greg Witkowski's new book provides a fresh interpretation of how the East German state showcased its identity as a new political regime, with a particular view toward the transformation of the countryside. In so doing, he reveals how the regime's mobilization campaigns and various social engineering projects beyond the cities reflected the inner dynamics-and limitations-of the German Democratic Republic's fateful 'campaign state.'"—Paul Betts, Oxford University
"A beautifully realized blend of macro and micro history. Witkowski convincingly shows us the evolution of practice as the East German 'campaign state' encounters a stubborn countryside. Essential reading for understanding 'real-existing' socialism."—James C. Scott, Yale University