I was born five years before the outbreak of the First World War in Imperial Germany, so the early influence on my development was the first world conflagration, which I survived in the north German city of Hanover. It was a time of great deprivation caused by the Allied Powers' naval blockade, food rationing and lack of shoe leather. We schoolchildren had to tramp barefoot around or wear wooden clogs.
I belong to a generation whose opinions were formed under the impact of fearful events abroad, by war news and deaths of close relatives on foreign fields.
During the years 1914-18 I became a convinced anti-militarist because I held the emperor and his entourage responsible for the war. My family belonged to the merchant middle class. As a child I was expected to accept the views of my elders. My enthusiasm for the new republic was dampened when the president, Ebert, and his minister of defence, Noske, both members of the governing Social Democratic Party, made use of reactionary officers to murder left wing socialists Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
In 1920, at the age of 11 years, I experienced virulent anti-Semitism at school and in the streets, events which made me aware of my origin. My first independent political act was my refusal to attend a welcoming rally, to hail the ex-field marshal, von Hindenburg, whom the city of Hanover was honouring in recognition of his war services including military defeat. I reasoned that a general who had been responsible for the deaths of millions ought not to be honoured in this fashion.
During the 1920s the Social Democratic and Communist parties organised a referendum to decide on the disowning of all royals, properties of the 'Hohenzollern' monarchy, the kings of Bavaria and Württemberg, various princes, dukes and landed property owning aristocrats all sworn enemies of the young republic. I, a 14 year old boy, urged my father to support this measure, to make that sector of the population powerless. His reply was typical for members of his class, 'I am a capitalist, a merchant. If I were to vote in favour of depriving all aristocrats of their wealth, I could not protest when "the Reds" will later disown me!' In 1938 it was not the Reds but the Nazis and their aristocratic collaborators who confiscated all he possessed and carted him off to a concentration camp.
I became aware of divisions in society, particularly during walks through Hanover, with its grimy tenements, poorly clad unemployed and scores of prostitutes.
By the time I settled in Hamburg at the age of 17 my sense of justice had driven me towards socialism. I also realised that there was more to organising society along socialist lines than sympathy for the underdog. I was introduced to the 'Weltbühne' circle, organised by that radical journal which published pacifist, anti-militarist, socialist and communist views. The journal advocated a united front against the growing menace of the Nazi movement.
I doubted the type of propaganda from Soviet Russia that 'socialism in one country' had been achieved. It appeared to be nonsensical to believe that the dispossession of 'Kulaks' and their deportation beyond the Ural mountains had made the USSR independent in the field of agriculture. In fact, vast tonnages of wheat had to be imported from the US, Canada and Argentina.
In 1928 I reached Canada entry into the US was restricted by means of an anti-German quota system. While I was working in Montreal, the New York stock market broke, not only ushering in the collapse of the American and Canadian economies but also causing a grave economic crisis in the German republic. If anybody ever had any doubts that the capitalist order was incapable of solving the world's economic and social problems, then witnessing the masses of unemployed and homeless people in New York City was living proof!
I remained on the North American continent for three years then I returned to Hanover and worked in my father's leather business. Then I joined the Social Democratic Party although I had no faith in the leadership of that mass organisation. I viewed with dismay the party's war with the Communists. These two parties commanded support of over 10 million voters. I became convinced that this strife between these two powerful organisations would facilitate a Nazi conquest of power and that a historic opportunity would be missed because of working class disunity.
Shortly after the Hitlerites had taken power in January 1933 I came into conflict with my father who ejected me from the family villa and deprived me of my livelihood. With borrowed money I went over the Dutch border in search of work. I failed to gain admission, the border police insisting that in the Netherlands too many Dutch unemployed were already seeking employment. The same fate awaited me in Belgium. Finally I landed in Cape Town, South Africa. I was 24 years old and had no knowledge of the conditions in the land of my refuge. Only 'Europeans' white skinned people were enfranchised. All others Africans, Coloureds, Indians and Malays were voteless and lived in racially segregated suburbs. In 1934 I joined the 'Lenin Club', a small group fighting the policies of the South African governing coalition. A great conflict of ideas arose when the Second World War was about to begin. The main theoretical exponent of the Fourth International in Cape Town argued that no socialist should volunteer for military service because participation in the coming military struggle constituted taking part in an imperialist war. I opposed this view. To my mind the greatest menace was the German Nazi attempt to spread their ideas by military conquest. In 1939 I was convinced that only armed resistance against the fascist power would bring about the defeat of Nazi Germany. I rejected the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact and the betrayal of Czechoslovakia. I resigned from the Lenin Club on the eve of war. On the day Paris fell to the invaders, 21 June 1940, I volunteered for military service in Cape Town. After returning to civilian life in March 1946 I became very active in the South African trade union movement. I was elected honourary treasurer of the Cape Town branch of the Distributive Workers Union, somewhat later national treasurer. I represented my union on the Trades and Labour Council who asked me to organise a branch of the Jewellery and Precious Metal Workers Union. I did that successfully in the capacity of branch secretary, later national secretary.
After my arrival in London in November 1985, I looked around for a political home. At first I joined the Labour Party but resigned because of my disagreement with the constant retreat of the leadership away from any semblance of socialist aims. At the age of 87 years I am still a firm believer in socialism. That faith arises from the recognition that there really exists no other alternative to capitalism. My realisation of the necessity to give expression to the social aspiration of working people everywhere led me to join the Socialist Workers Party.