Was Karl Marx an enemy of the constitution because he pointed out the contradiction between claims and reality? The “Junge Welt” doesn’t see it that way and sells carnations for freedom of the press.
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The label “left-wing extremist” is bad for business. At least that’s what the daily newspaper “Junge Welt”, which has been called this by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 1998, thinks. Every year, the Berlin-based newspaper appears in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and is monitored by intelligence services on this basis.
The publishing house 8. Mai GmbH, which publishes “Junge Welt”, is now taking action against this: in 2021 it sued the Federal Republic, and negotiations in the first instance will begin on Thursday before the Berlin Administrative Court. According to deputy editor-in-chief Nick Brauns in a letter to “nd”, they are willing to take the legal dispute through all instances if necessary. The “Junge Welt” sees several constitutionally guaranteed rights violated in secret service measures against a press organ: not only the freedom of trade, but also the freedom of the press and freedom of expression. In order to inform readers about the background to the negotiations, the newspaper produced a special edition in June with a high circulation, which was also included in other newspapers.
Is the “Young World” not just a journalistic product, but a “structure”? And the editorial team is a “group of people” that wants to bring about a revolution? This is what the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution claims. The “Junge Welt” sees it differently, as can be read in the lead article of the special issue: They are of the opinion that it is actually their thoughts that should be banned from the media landscape. And reminds us of a request from the left-wing faction in the Bundestag in 2021, which revealed that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution wants to specifically “deprive the newspaper of its breeding ground” through observation and stigmatization.
What unpopular thoughts are meant here? It is also advisable for other left-wing media and their audiences to take a closer look at this – even if they do not share the positions of the “Junge Welt”. Any institution that goes a little too far out of the window with its criticism of the status quo can be affected.
In the case of the “Junge Welt” this criticism has a system: the newspaper does not shy away from advertising that its analytical instrument is Marxism. This clear line is probably a particular thorn in the side of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. As is well known, Marxism is not only a scientific method, but also a revolutionary worldview that ultimately aims at overcoming class society. However, this does not mean that the “Young World”, because it argues in Marxist terms, has concrete subversive plans – and therefore does not mean that it is permissible to monitor them.
However, it can even be argued the other way around that Marxists are not against the constitution at all, but on the contrary take the rights enshrined in the Basic Law particularly seriously. In the sense of immanent criticism, they are traditionally not concerned with opposing the given with an abstract ideal, but rather with highlighting the contradiction between the demands and reality of bourgeois, capitalist society.
And unless you live your life with gigantic blinders on, this contradiction is difficult to overlook. The first section of the Basic Law reads: “Human dignity is inviolable. Respecting and protecting them is the obligation of all state power. But: does the state power really do that? To what extent can one even speak of dignity if one lives in poverty, has to fear for one’s residence status or is simply forced to sell one’s labor every day in an unfulfilling job?
A “free development of the personality,” as the Basic Law wants to guarantee in Article 2, is therefore only a wish. And how can all people be “equal before the law” if some white-collar criminals essentially buy their way out of court proceedings, while someone who cannot afford a public transport ticket has to serve a prison sentence for fare evasion?
It is these discrepancies between a society’s self-description and its reality that Marxist-oriented newspapers and periodicals, like the “Junge Welt”, report and argue in the interests of employees and pension and social welfare recipients, continually work on. Marxist positions and arguments can also be found in the “nd”. There is something paradoxical about branding them as unconstitutional simply because they hold a mirror up to society and point out class antagonism.
It becomes even more paradoxical when you realize that state institutions have always consciously ignored the constitution, according to the motto: “The Basic Law is welcome – but only if it suits us!” There are people like Arnold Schölzel in the special issue of “Junge Welt”, there are numerous examples: from the postal and telephone surveillance carried out since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in the ideological fight against socialism to the emergency laws of 1968 to the expansion of police laws and restrictions on freedom of assembly in the most recent one Past.
In 1949, Bundestag member Max Reimann from the KPD said when the Basic Law was announced: “We are not signing. However, the day will come when we communists will defend this Basic Law against those who have accepted it. This is actually how it happened. It is important to defend the right to such a defense.
At this point we will be informed about the course of the process. You can also find out more at: www.jungewelt.de/prozess
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