Red Saxony : election battles and the spectre of democracy in Germany 1860-1918 / James Retallack.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Retallack, James N., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy.

History.

Germany--Politics and government--1871-1918.

Germany.

Politics and government.

Germany--History--1871-1918.

Democracy--Germany--History--19th century.

Democracy--Germany--History--20th century.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 698 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Red Saxony throws new light on the reciprocal relationship between political modernization and authoritarianism in Germany over the span of six decades. Election battles were fought so fiercely in Imperial Germany because they reflected two kinds of democratization. Social democratization could not be stopped, but political democratization was opposed by many members of the German bourgeoisie. Frightened by the electoral success of the Social Democrats after 1871, anti-democrats deployed many strategies that flew in the face of electoral fairness. They battled socialists, liberals, and Jews at election time, but they also strove to rewrite the electoral rules of the game. Using a regional lens to rethink older assumptions about Germany's changing political culture, this volume focuses as much on contemporary Germans' perceptions of electoral fairness as on their experiences of voting. It devotes special attention to various semi-democratic voting systems whereby a general and equal suffrage (for the Reichstag) was combined with limited and unequal ones for local and regional parliaments. For the first time, democratization at all three tiers of governance and their reciprocal effects are considered together.

Contents:

1 On the Threshold of a New Age 20

Saxony's Modernization 20

Electoral Politics in the Old Key 30

"New Ideas are Filling the World" 39

2 The Possibilities of Liberal Reform 47

The Reichstag Elections of February 1867 47

Saxony and the North German Confederation 59

The Landtag Suffrage Reform of 1868 66

A "Liberal Era"? 81

3 Enemies of the Reich 92

The Rise of Saxon Social Democracy 92

Red Saxony? The Shock of January 1874 105

The Struggle Against Subversion 120

4 The Struggle Against Revolution 131

The National Context 131

Saxony's Contribution 135

In the Trenches 156

"Valid" "Not Valid" 171

5 Against Liberalism and the Jews 186

Liberalism Adrift 187

Conservatives and Radical Antisemites 198

6 Authoritarianism Under Siege 230

"1,427,298 Social Democratic Voters!" 230

Rowdy Business 244

Politics in an Off Key 259

7 Suffrage Reform as Coup d'État 270

"For Religion, Morality, and Order" 270

Throwing Down the Gauntlet 282

High Tide 305

8 "Red Saxony!" 318

High Stakes, 1903 318

A Way Forward? 342

9 Deflecting Democracy 359

"The Decent Opinion of Mankind" 360

Saxon Models 372

10 Crisis and Retrenchment 393

Power of the Street 394

Holding the Line, January 1907 411

11 Dance 435

A House Divided 436

Democracy in Disappearing Ink 460

12 Politics in a New Key 482

Praxis, October 1909 482

Perplexed 505

Casting Ballots, Casting Stones 519

13 Adrift 537

A Lost Half-Decade 537

Stirrings 538

Licking Wounds 551

Suffrage Reform: Right, Half Turn! 583

14 Democracy Deferred 593

The Crucible of War 593

The Curious Republic of Gondour 614

Conclusion: The Spectre of Democracy 616.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 639-679) and index.

ISBN:

0199668787

9780199668786

OCLC:

965339640