ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at life in the ‘socialist ghetto’ in greater detail and assess the positive as well as the negative aspects which brought it into being. Critics in the party said that the Social Democratic Party failed to imbue the masses of its supporters, and a fortiori the uncommitted working class, with a socialist faith and failed to alert them sufficiently to the dangers to democracy presented by National Socialism. The expansion of parallel organisations, ranging from the pursuit of sport to chess, from radio amateurs to free-thinkers, had extended the area of activities subject to Social Democratic influence, but it had at the same time reduced the extent of socialist commitment from within the party organisation. The potential readership of trade union or trades councils administered libraries would, of course, extend far beyond the circle of the serious-minded and committed socialists.
