Before 1st of May, a few members of our group visited Frankfurt at the invitation of the local communist group Aurora Räteaufbau. During the visit, we interviewed representatives of Aurora Räteaufbau and its affiliated revolutionary women’s organisation Aurora Frauenrat, discussing issues such as political organising, Palestine and feminism, as we feel it is important to network and exchange ideas with other political actors in building a communist movement for the 2020s.

First of all, thank you for having this interview with us. For starters could you please describe your group and what it does for those Finnish people who know nothing about it, what should they know about Aurora Räteaufbau and Aurora Frauenrat?

Aurora is a revolutionary communist group based in Frankfurt. We position ourselves within the Marxist tradition. Within our organization, diverse interpretations and adaptations of Marxism are embraced, and our primary task is to deliberate on what a communist stance should entail in Europe in the 21st century. However, despite these varying perspectives, we maintain unity in political practice.

There is a shared understanding among Marxists that a multitude of social problems and crises stem from the mechanisms of capitalism, prompting us to advocate for its abolition. For us, this entails the vigorous class struggle of workers against capitalists, aiming for a classless society.

Nevertheless, we recognize that oppression and injustice cannot be solely attributed to economic power dynamics. Hence, we believe in prioritizing and addressing various forms of oppression accordingly. Nonetheless, we emphasize the importance of imbuing all struggles against oppression with a class-struggle essence to effectively combat the daily injustices we face.

The Frauenrat, operating within Aurora’s structure, serves as a council dedicated to feminist causes. Comprising exclusively women, it acts as the primary feminist body within the group. While all of Aurora’s activities inherently embody feminist principles, the Frauenrat specifically coordinates actions and events for feminist causes. It also serves as a feminist corrective within the group and provides a safe space for FLINTA individuals (women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender people) to address patriarchal violence and related issues, including those within leftist circles.

For us Germany looks like a country full of different political groups and tendencies of leftist politics. We would be interested in hearing why did you decide to start an organisation of your own and how do you see it differing politically from other groups or tendencies? Are there some historical or contemporary political phenomenons that have influenced you or that influenced you in starting up your group?

Our organization was initiated by politically active comrades who were formerly involved in the autonomous sphere but recognized the need for alternative forms of organization. Overall, we perceive a sort of ”red wave” emerging in many places, indicating a renewed interest in less horizontally structured organizations.

In Germany, following the banning of the Communist Party with its significant historical legacy and the emergence of anti-authoritarian movements such as the events of ’68, the Autonomen, and the Antifa Movement, we identify a gap in our revolutionary history. Additionally, the anti-authoritarian, movement-oriented approaches to revolutionary politics have demonstrated certain limitations. The absence of continuity and a coherent guiding principle has resulted in numerous setbacks in the past. Presently, the prevalence of postmodern ideas concerning identity politics, coupled with a lack of organizational experience, repression, and a highly fragmented landscape, constitute the primary challenges.

While we do not oppose autonomy or movement-based politics per se, we recognize the necessity for a revolutionary party capable of uniting various struggles in a potent and resilient manner.

We distinguish ourselves from other leftist organizations on a substantive level by engaging in actions guided by our Marxist analysis of different situations. Through our practical endeavors, we assess the efficacy of our analyses and consider societal issues holistically, which identity politics within the left often neglect.

Moreover, there exists a pressing need for the organization and coordination of groups and struggles beyond the confines of individual cities. Hence, we maintain connections with other groups in the Rhein-Main area.

For our group, the key conclusion is the development of long-term plans and campaigns to ensure consistency.

During the time your organisation has been public, what have been your focuses for political work and how did you choose to work with these themes? How have these worked together with building your organisation?

We engage in a variety of political endeavors, participating in diverse forms of activism. Our primary focus revolves around significant dates of struggle such as May Day and International Women’s Day on March 8th. Additionally, we actively participate in antifascist activities. A cornerstone of our efforts is our political space—a venue where we organize and host public events, discussions, and more.

Moreover, we endeavor to articulate clear positions, develop theories, and assess them through practical application in our daily work. To facilitate this, we maintain the website gegenmacht.info, where we publish information about upcoming events, conduct interviews, and share texts on various subjects.

However, we also explicitly had some practical approaches that do not lie in the traditional policy areas. For example, we organized a small-scale flood relief campaign for affected areas in Rhineland-Palatinate. 

Either way, the absence of a larger organization prevents us from being successful in all essential fields. We are currently strong on the streets, but our connection to labor struggles or neighborhoods, for example, is only selective. 

For us with a perspective of following German politics through a left wing tense the political situation in Germany seems somewhat bleak but also is classically seen as inspiring with its vibrant antifascist culture and lively political subcultures. Whoever we rarely get a deeper perspective on issues in German society from a very analytical perspective. From the perspective of your groups, what are the current issues or ongoing struggles in Germany and do you see any ways they link up globally in struggles that are currently ongoing in Europe or especially outside of it?

Like many European countries, Germany is witnessing a significant shift towards the right. The current purportedly social-liberal-green government is widely criticized, exacerbating many social issues while advancing a substantial rearmament program. In contrast, the proto-fascist AfD enjoys considerable popularity, particularly in the eastern German states. Furthermore, the Left Party recently underwent a split, dividing into social-conservative and liberal factions. Overall, the current situation appears far from optimistic.

However, there are some grounds for cautious optimism. The capitalist crisis and inflation have spurred renewed militancy among trade unions, enabling them to achieve certain objectives last year. Additionally, discussions surrounding the 35-hour workweek hold promise, signaling a departure from previous stagnation.

Nevertheless, protests by farmers, against the government’s COVID-19 policies, and against war policies have often been infiltrated by (far-)right elements. The lack of organization and insufficient responses from the left have hindered the ability to undertake effective political action. Despite hopes for a significant ”hot autumn of protests” against the crisis and inflation, such a movement has unfortunately failed to materialize in many areas, remaining little more than a left-wing aspiration.

You describe Aurora Frauenrat as a revolutionary womens organisation. Could you explain to us what does this term mean for you and how do you see the role of a revolutionary womens organisation in this current political climate?

We recognize the imperative for a revolutionary women’s organization in the current political landscape.

There is a palpable shift towards the right, accompanied by an escalating reactionary portrayal of women in society.

The incidence of domestic violence against FLINTAs (women, lesbians, intersex, nonbinary, trans, and agender people) and femicides is steadily rising. Additionally, access to basic medical care and the right to bodily autonomy are increasingly restricted, exemplified by Germany’s abortion laws. Moreover, FLINTAs face structural discrimination in the labor market, as evidenced by the current cuts in funding for women’s shelters.

The prevailing system fails to safeguard our interests, compelling us to take matters into our own hands. As a revolutionary women’s organization, our mission is to unite in advocating for the rights of all FLINTAs and to take decisive action.

The women’s struggle is both international and indispensable. Whether supporting striking workers at the university hospital in Frankfurt, combating femicide, or providing practical assistance to survivors of sexualized violence, our work is multifaceted. Currently, we collaborate with other internationalist and feminist groups on key feminist dates of activism, including Safe Abortion Day, the Day against Violence against Women, and March 8th. On these occasions, we mobilize our anger onto the streets, drawing societal attention to these pressing issues. However, mobilization alone is insufficient. We are also committed to empowering FLINTAs to resist oppression. To this end, we provide educational opportunities to raise awareness of structural patriarchal violence and are establishing a network for feminist self-defense.

Furthermore, we recognize the necessity for a feminist corrective and the provision of safe spaces for FLINTAs within left-wing circles. Patriarchal ideologies permeate all spheres, including leftist contexts. Thus, it is crucial to have a forum for addressing patriarchal behaviors within our ranks and devising corrective measures. Our objective is to afford all comrades the opportunity to evolve into communist individuals and cultivate revolutionary consciousness. However, achieving this goal necessitates fostering a robust culture of solidarity, criticism, and self-critique, which, in the feminist sense, includes a feminist corrective.

Aurora Frauenrat has organised discussions around social reproduction, could you describe to us what have you done and what has been your political perspective surrounding it?

Indeed, on the occasion of Equal Care Day and March 8th, we focused on care work and global care chains. What did we accomplish?

On March 8th, our aim was to elevate care work as an international concern for society at large. We sought to amplify the voices of individuals in care work – or the reproductive sector in general – and enrich their perspectives. To achieve this, we conducted interviews with seven women from various facets of this field. Through these interviews, we shed light on the experiences of a hospital nurse, a mother, a midwife, an educator, a geriatric nurse, a social worker, and a professor specializing in care research.

To illuminate the global ramifications of care organization in Germany, we organized a film screening on Equal Care Day. Our objective was to illustrate how global care chains disrupt families in the Global South and create significant care deficits there. Additionally, we highlighted the deplorable working conditions and low wages endured by those employed in care work. To provide a comprehensive context, we prefaced the film with a presentation on global care chains by Prof. Dr. Helma Lutz, an esteemed researcher in this field.

Subsequently, we published the interviews with individuals from the caregiving sector on our website – gegenmacht.info. Furthermore, on March 8th, we raised awareness of this issue through speeches at the demonstration, which we actively participated in organizing.

Now, onto the rationale behind this focus on care:

Care work is an essential aspect of human and social existence, upon which every individual relies at some point in their lives. It is indispensable for the functioning of any society; children need nurturing, the sick and elderly require assistance. However, globally, care work is predominantly shouldered by FLINTAs. On average, FLINTAs dedicate four hours daily to care work, in addition to their paid employment, whereas men contribute less than half that time. Regrettably, tasks such as cleaning, cooking, childcare, and elderly care are often relegated to the realm of ”women’s work” in societal discourse. This dual burden of paid employment and care responsibilities places immense strain on FLINTAs, compounded by the often inadequate working conditions and meager wages prevalent in the care sector.

Moreover, how care is organized in Germany reverberates internationally. Affluent families, seeking to absolve themselves of care responsibilities, frequently enlist women from Eastern Europe and the Global South. These women often labor without contracts or social security, enduring exploitation in substandard working conditions amidst pervasive racism.

Consequently, within this capitalist system, certain groups evade their care duties entirely. This includes primarily men, the affluent, and even affluent white women who can afford to delegate their care work. Paradoxically, the discourse surrounding care is predominantly shaped by these very individuals. Rarely do we inquire of a 24-hour caregiver: ”What constitutes socially equitable care work? What are your aspirations and needs?” Yet, such dialogue is imperative for collectively determining the contours of meaningful care work.

When looking at Aurora Räteaufbau’s manifesto or founding text on your website, the amount of different kinds of political tendencies seem to mix all through out of it. How would you describe your group ideologically/politically and how do you conceptualise communist politics in the 2020’s?

In its inception, Aurora was primarily associated with the notion of organizing with greater seriousness as communists. The core tenets of class struggle, internationalism, and revolution were intended to be reinstated on the agenda. We aimed to move away from exhaustive, self-centered debates and harbored the idealistic aspiration of convening all pragmatic comrades around a single table.

However, much of this initial vision did not materialize as anticipated. The early forays onto the political stage swiftly highlighted the necessity of solidifying our ideological stance and organizational structure.

The manifesto was one of the first milestones in the discussion and has since been replaced by the political platform of Revolutionärer Aufbau. A clear development can already be seen in it – we have overcome certain teething troubles of our organization. 

And yet we still find it difficult to categorize ourselves clearly – also because we are convinced that there is no blueprint for a communist party of the 21st century in Europe. 

Around a year ago, you founded Revolutionärer Aufbau Rhein-Main together with groups from Mainz and Darmstadt. Where did the need to network with other groups in the region come from and has it been beneficial to the communist movement in the region? Apart from that, what kind of cooperation do you have with other political actors (internationally or within Germany)?

The Rhine-Main network stands as one of our most significant undertakings. Benefitting from the close proximity of the three cities, our groups, established around the same time, swiftly garnered influence and expanded both in terms of organizational capacity and practical impact.

As communists, our duty is to pursue a more advanced form of organization and contribute to its construction. Presently, we observe numerous compelling groups in Germany sharing a similar objective. Some are nascent, while others, although longer established, remain vibrant and dynamic.

Our mission entails accumulating local expertise, nurturing comrades in the struggle, and laying the groundwork for the establishment of a nationwide organization befitting its name.

Our struggle is fundamentally internationalist. We had a joint community center with turkish comrades, had the honor of welcoming the Zapatistas in Frankfurt, supported Kurdish demonstrations or gave lectures on the revolutionary struggle in the Philippines or Colombia. 

For the last six months Israel has been commiting a genocide in Gaza and accelerating the amount of repression in the occupied West Bank. Youre group recently published theses on the issue that is in Germany usually referred as the Middle-East conflict. Why did you see it important to publish these theses now and what kind of conclusions did you come to while working on them? How easy or hard was this process to work through and how did you manage with it?

First and foremost, crafting these theses posed significant challenges. Within our group, there exists a wide spectrum of positions and varying levels of knowledge on the topic, complicating efforts to establish a common standpoint. The complexity of internal negotiations was further compounded by pervasive feelings of hostility and mistrust within leftist circles.

For decades, a faction within the German left has unequivocally aligned itself with Israel, or even endorsed more extreme positions such as supporting US/NATO policies—although delving into the complete history of the anti-German movement is beyond our scope here. This dynamic occasionally renders Germany an inhospitable environment for internationalist politics. 

Our strategic positioning was driven by two primary objectives. Firstly, we sought to adopt a decisive stance on the conflict and the Zionist project, advocating a clear pro-Palestinian position, particularly within the German context.

But we also wanted to take a position critical of Hamas – especially in the international context – which we believe is missing in some debates. We do not want to understand this as a loss of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, but we also want to clearly show where bourgeois and/or Islamist positions without a class perspective lead to a reactionary dead end. Therefore the experience of the iranian revolution of 1979 was helpful. We would say that this has been successful in most aspects.