The Green Party (FRG) in the Assessments of the USSR Leadership, 1980–1987

Identificator

EDN: MAAVMP; УДК: 94+327.362

Authors

Bakshaev Maxim Vladimirovich, PhD in History, researcher, Vyatka State University. Russia, Kirov. ORCID: 0000-0001-6271-1308. ResearcherID: HIK-2285-2022. E-mail: randvmax@gmail.com

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №2 (42), 2026

Section

GENERAL HISTORY

Pages

86-95

Abstract

This article examines the policy regarding the contacts of the USSR with the Green Party of the FRG throughout the 1980s. The aim of the study is to trace the stages of the establishment of contacts between the Green Party of West Germany and Soviet party, state and public organizations. The source base of the study includes archival documents of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History and of the CIA electronic archive, memoirs of statesmen, and materials of the Soviet press. Conclusions are drawn about the mutual interest of the Greens and Soviet public organizations in formal ties. The Soviet public organizations established contacts with the German Greens before the party entered the Bundestag. Two most active phases of communication are distinguished within the period under review: 1) 1983–1984; 2) 1986–1987. It is noted that the rapprochement of the parties was facilitated by their joint condemnation of the American "Star Wars" plans, the advancement of the demand for an immediate halt to the arms race and nuclear explosions, the establishment of constructive cooperation between states in the political, economic, cultural, humanitarian and environmental spheres, and the condemnation of the U.S. reliance on force in resolving any issues in relations between states. Communication was hampered by the Greens' commitment to the concept of the equal responsibility of the USSR and the USA for the nuclear arms race and by the linkage of the question of peace and disarmament with the problem of human rights in Eastern Europe, which was characteristic of the new anti-war movements of the West in general. The "New Thinking" and the foreign-policy initiatives of the USSR under M. S. Gorbachev in the field of nuclear disarmament brought about the Greens' departure from the concept of the equal responsibility of the USSR and the USA for the arms race. The collapse of the USSR became an important factor in the deradicalization and liberalization of the ecological parties and in their movement away from an anti-bloc position towards a policy of strengthening Atlantic unity within the framework of NATO.

Keywords

The Green Party of the FRG the Soviet Peace Committee the Soviet Committee for European Security and Cooperation P. Kelly V. V. Zagladin

Recieved

15.05.2026

Published

20.08.2026

References

1. Basmanov M. I. Nekotorye obshchemetodologicheskie voprosy izucheniya social'nyh dvizhenij [Some General Methodological Issues of the Study of Social Movements] // Metodologicheskij seminar po voprosam teorii i praktiki kommunisticheskogo dvizheniya. Vyp. 1. Kommunisty i novoe v social'nyh dvizheniyah – A Methodological Seminar on the Theory and Practice of the Communist Movement. Is. 1. Communists and What Is New in Social Movements / ed. by M. I. Basmanov, G. G. Vodolazov, M. T. Meshcheryakov. M., Kafedra MKRD, Otdel vneshnepoliticheskoj deyatel'nosti KPSS NII AON pri CK KPSS, 1983. Pp. 18–29.
2. Beseda v CK KPSS [A Conversation at the Central Committee of the CPSU] // Pravda – Truth. 1986. Apr. 19. No. 109 (24731). P. 4.
3. Vdovichenko L. N. Al'ternativnoe dvizhenie v poiskah al'ternativ [The Alternative Movement in Search of Alternatives]. M., Mysl' (Thought), 1988. 190 p.
4. Vititnev S. F. Ekologicheskoe dvizhenie v FRG: genezis, ideologiya, funkcii : dis. … d-ra ist. nauk [The Ecological Movement in the FRG: Genesis, Ideology, Functions : dis. ... Doctor of History]. M., Moskovskij gosudarstvennyj oblastnoj universitet (Moscow State Regional University), 2004. 664 p.
5. Vstrecha s rukovodstvom partii "Zelenyh" [A Meeting with the Leadership of the Green Party] // Pravda – Truth. 1986. Nov. 13. No. 317 (24939). P. 2.
6. Gincberg L. I. Massovye demokraticheskie dvizheniya v FRG i partiya "Zelenyh" [Mass Democratic Movements in the FRG and the Green Party]. M., Nauka (Sciences), 1988. 256 p.
7. Dam'e V. V. Dvizhenie "Zelenyh" v FRG: ideologiya i politika (1970-e – seredina 1980-h gg.) : dis. … kand. ist. nauk [The Green Movement in the FRG: Ideology and Politics (the 1970s – Mid-1980s) : dis. ... PhD in History]. M., IVI AN SSSR, 1985. 290 p.
8. Dam'e V. V. Idejno-politicheskaya evolyuciya "Zelenyh" v FRG [The Ideological and Political Evolution of the Greens in the FRG] // Rabochij klass i sovremennyj mir – The Working Class and the Contemporary World. 1985. No. 1. Pp. 112–125.
9. Dam'e V. V. Ekologicheskie teorii "Zelenyh" v FRG [The Ecological Theories of the Greens in the FRG] // Ezhegodnik germanskoj istorii. 1984 – Yearbook of German History. 1984. M., Nauka (Sciences), 1985. Pp. 144–159.
10. Zarickij B. E. SShA i levye sily v Zapadnoj Evrope (70–80-e gg.) [The USA and the Leftist Forces in Western Europe (the 1970s–1980s)] // Voprosy istorii – Questions of History. 1988. No. 1. Pp. 32–48.
11. Istyagin L. G. Obshchestvenno-politicheskaya bor'ba v FRG po voprosam mira i bezopasnosti. 1949–1987 gg. [The Socio-Political Struggle in the FRG on Issues of Peace and Security. 1949–1987]. M., Nauka (Sciences), 1988. 166 p.
12. Krasin Yu. A. Rostki iz-pod asfal'ta: sinopsis simpoziuma Nauchnogo soveta AON pri CK KPSS i ION pri CK KPSS po problemam mirovogo revolyucionnogo processa (1977–1989) [Sprouts from under the Asphalt: A Synopsis of the Symposium of the Scientific Council of the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU and of the Institute of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU on the Problems of the World Revolutionary Process (1977–1989)]. M., Politicheskaya enciklopediya (Political Encyclopedia), 2022. 359 p.
13. Laptev I. D. Ekologicheskie dvizheniya [Ecological Movements] // Ne sopernichestvo, a sotrudnichestvo! Kommunisty i novoe v social'nyh dvizheniyah [Not Rivalry but Cooperation! Communists and What Is New in Social Movements] / ed. by Yu. A. Krasin. M., Politizdat, 1984. Pp. 53–81.
14. Lejbzon B. M. Kommunisty i novoe v social'nyh dvizheniyah [Communists and What Is New in Social Movements] // Metodologicheskij seminar po voprosam teorii i praktiki kommunisticheskogo dvizheniya. Vyp. 1. Kommunisty i novoe v social'nyh dvizheniyah [A Methodological Seminar on the Theory and Practice of the Communist Movement. Is. 1. Communists and What Is New in Social Movements] / ed. by M. I. Basmanov, G. G. Vodolazov, M. T. Meshcheryakov. M., Kafedra MKRD, Otdel vneshnepoliticheskoj deyatel'nosti KPSS NII AON pri CK KPSS, 1983. Pp. 4–18.
15. Mel'nichenko E. N. Novye demokraticheskie dvizheniya v razvityh kapitalisticheskih stranah (na materialah FRG) : dis. … kand. filos. nauk [New Democratic Movements in the Developed Capitalist Countries (Based on Materials of the FRG) : dis. ... PhD in Philosophy]. M., Kafedra MKD AON pri CK KPSS, 1987. 198 p.
16. Poh A. S., Truhan A. B. Partiya "Zelenyh" na politicheskoj arene FRG [The Green Party in the Political Arena of the FRG] // Rabochij klass i sovremennyj mir – The Working Class and the Contemporary World. 1983. No. 3. Pp. 149–155.
17. RSACH (Russian State Archive of Contemporary History). F. 5. Op. 90. D. 896.
18. RSACH. F. 5. Op. 89. D. 813.
19. Skorohodov V. A. et al. Ekologicheskie dvizheniya [Ecological Movements] // Massovye demokraticheskie dvizheniya: istoki i politicheskaya rol' [Mass Democratic Movements: Origins and Political Role]. M., Nauka (Sciences), 1988. Pp. 96–124.
20. Sovremennyj mir glazami "Zelenyh" [The Contemporary World through the Eyes of the Greens] / ed. by B. M. Maklyarsky. M., Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya (International Relations), 1987. 232 p.
21. Truhan A. B. Razvitie massovyh demokraticheskih dvizhenij v FRG v 70-h – nachale 80-h godov : dis. … kand. ist. nauk [The Development of Mass Democratic Movements in the FRG in the 1970s – Early 1980s : dis. ... PhD in History]. M., Institut mirovoj ekonomiki i mezhdunarodnyh otnoshenij (Institute of World Economy and International Relations), 1984. 230 p.
22. Ekologicheskie problemy kapitalisticheskogo goroda [The Ecological Problems of the Capitalist City] / ed. by A. I. Bel'chuk, B. M. Maklyarsky, O. N. Yanickij. M., Nauka (Sciences), 1985. 184 p.
23. Moscow Intervenes in a Policy Debate: The Case of Opposition to US Missiles in West Germany. An Intelligence Assessment. GI 84-10076. April 1984. P. 2. CIA FOIA. Available at: https://www.cia.gov/ readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00283R000500090003-1.pdf (date accessed: 20.03.2026).

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License