through the alternating use of“proletariat”or“workingclass”as the preferred
term. Thus the SPD’sfounding document,the Eisenach Program of 1869, defines
the struggle for the liberation of the workingclass as the abolishment of wage
labor and classrule in the name of democracy. The GothaProgram of 1875 up-
holds the leadership role of the workingclass and concludes that,“the liberation
of labormust be the work of the workingclass.”Meanwhile, the Erfurt Program
of 1891 expands the party’shistorical mission by calling for“the liberation not
just of the proletarian but of the entire humanrace.”Convincedofthe imminent
demise of capitalism, it proposes to achievethesegoals through reformistrather
than revolutionary means.
After the October Revolution, however,and as part of the growingdivisions
within the European left afterWorld WarI,the status and function of the prole-
tariat becomes increasinglyprecarious,asevidencedbythe vacillation between
Arbeiterklasse(working class) andarbeitendesVolk(working people) in the three
Weimar-era programs. The 1919 foundingprogram of theUSPD (Independent So-
cial Democratic Party of Germany) stillcalls for“the creation ofarevolutionary
international of workers of all countries readyfor action”and determined to de-
feat the divisive forces of nationalism. The Görlitz Program of 1921 alreadydraws
on older notions of folk and community when describingthe SPD as“the party
of workingpeople in city and country.”Andthe Heidelberg Program of 1925 af-
firms the party’scommitmentto theWeimar Republic, concluding,“the demo-
craticrepublic is the best foundation for the liberation struggle of the working
class and thus for therealization of socialism.”²⁴The SPD’sgradual abandon-
ment of therevolutionary project in favorofactive participation ingovernment
comes into even clearer view throughacomparison to the 1918 founding docu-
ment of the KPD thatends onamilitant note:“Onward, proletarians!To battle!
Youare called to conqueraworldand fightagainstaworld. In this final class
struggle in world history,for the loftiestgoals of mankind, the wordtothe
enemymust be: thumb on the eyeand knee on the chest.”²⁵
To conclude: Marxist definitions of worker and proletarian mayhaveserved
as the basisofSocial Democratic party programs and undergone continuous re-
visions duringthe Second and Third Internationals.However,from the 1870sto
the 1930s, the discursive field marked by the term“proletarian”remained fluid
See Daniela Münkel, ed.,“Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit und Solidarität”.Die Programmgeschichte
der SozialdemokratischenPartei Deutschlands(Berlin:Vorwärts,2007), 388, 379, 372, 363, and
- Forahistory of the party that makes the disappearance of the proletariat its telos,see
FranzWalter,Die SPD.Vom Proletariat zur neuen Mitte(Berlin: AlexanderFest,2002).
Protokoll des Gründungsparteitags derKommunistischenPartei Deutschlands1918,https://
http://www.marxists.org/deutsch/geschichte/deutsch/kpd/1918/programm.htm,1March2017.
62 Chapter2