The Left-Wing Positioning of the Liedermacher in the 1970s

The protagonists of the student movement underwent a process of politicization during the events of 1968/1969. A profound change in behavior and consciousness took place, which in turn influenced perspectives on careers and life in general. What had been a naïve nonconformity prior to 1968 became a more radical opposition as a result of the head-on conflict with the state. Student opposition was additionally given a sharper focus by the study of philosophy, particularly Marxism. The short euphoria of revolution, however, was followed by the hangover of political defeat. Some reacted to this by becoming dropouts or members of the RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion). Many others became supporters of a dual strategy by which one embraced the idea of — in the words of Rudi Dutschke — “a long march through the institutions.” These took part in the building of an “alternative” society, which in the coming years was to emerge from a network of various social projects at roots level including folk clubs and festivals. While convinced of what Ernst Bloch termed “die Invariante der Richtung” (the invariant direction) toward socialism, supporters were nonetheless prepared for a long, confrontative coexistence with “bourgeois society.”

The radicalization of the 1968 protagonists was particularly apparent in the folk and Liedermacher scene, which consciously positioned itself left of the SPD. Franz Josef Degenhardt, who had been a member of the SPD since 1961, was expelled from the Party in 1971 for siding with the DKP (Deutsche Kommunistische Partei) in the Schleswig-Holstein regional election.