ABSTRACT
The relationship of German socialism to democracy in the years between 1890 and 1933 was complex and contradictory. The more democratic Germany became, the more political room there would be for the working class to organize, to agitate, and to defend itself against the employers. In the Weimar Republic, the German labor movement split. The extreme left wing eventually constituted the German Communist party, which was completely hostile to the Weimar Republic and to the Social Democrats who supported it. The opening up of public life after 1918 seemed to provide an opportunity for a radical restructuring of the concepts and the practice of social welfare in Germany. In 1919, a left-wing socialist from Frankfurt observed that "in a fully developed socialist society, the system of 'care' would be realized for everyone by everyone."
