Germans, Socialism, Etc

 For whatever reason, this topic in the US of being anti-socialism has caught on as a defensive position in Germany.  I sat and pondered over this.

Whenever I think about the two topics (Germany, socialism)....I come to one of my favorite German movies....Goodbye Lenin (2003).

For those who haven't seen the movie...a brief description.  There is this East German mother who is having a negative-spiral with trust in the old East German socialist/communistic system.  She's worried over her son and daughter.  The movie starts about a week away from the Wall collapsing, with riots underway.  She has a fall....suffers from the concussion, and is out for several years (laying in a Berlin hospital).  

One day, the mother starts to show recovery and coming out of the episode.  Son and daughter are happy, then told that ten years that have passed will be a total shock to her as a local East German official.  If she finds out the truth of the DDR collapse....it'll kill her.  

So son and daughter move her back to the apartment....put up the old furniture, and run these nightly fake news episodes....acting as thought DDR still exists.  Mistakes start to occur, and the kids (both are nearly 25 to 30 years old)....decide to bring reality to mother....West Germany and capitalism has collapsed....West Germans are trying to cross the border to be in secure/safe East Germany (heavily dictated socialism) and East Germany has agreed to unification....bringing the Westies into the Easty system.

It was an entertaining movie with a five-star script.

So it leaves you wondering on this basic idea....the difference between East German and West German socialism?

I'm not a PhD guy or a Princeton historian, but I would cite the difference in three simple ways:

1.  To make a socialist system work....meaning 'free gifts/services' for the population...you need to make a product or service that sells beyond your border.  West Germans had no problem in achieving this.  East Germany basically had no product that sold in such a way.

So the East Germans split the profits (ever marginal in nature) and everyone was screwed.  The West Germans split the profits (via taxation) and everyone got some 'gift' that was valued in some way.  

2.  The East German population had to be told over and over....they were living the good life and it was the poor West Germans suffering under capitalism....working extra hours, and forever under pressure to achieve.

The West German population was basically told....well....nothing.  You didn't have to develop propaganda programs or TV dramatic pieces to lay down any fake chocolate topping over their brand of socialism.  

3.  The West German system was heavily built on industry and commerce surviving.  If you screwed them up to any degree....the whole socialism angle would fall apart and destroy the whole 'free gift' concept.  

For the East Germans....industry and commerce was developed to produce x-amount.  Beyond that....there was no purpose or desire.  If you were a tire producer and making 2,000 tires per day....it didn't matter on quality improvement, or producing 2,100 tires on the same day.  You did what you had to do....with nothing more than that.

Most East Germans around today (now 30 years)....will say there are certain elements of old East Germany that they long for (the trust in the job being there, as one example).  Some will cite safety and almost no crime.  

As for the past 30 years?  East Germans got around to accepting the West German capitalism/socialism model.  16.5 million people gradually got used to the new system.  

Life has progressed on.