Die Enteignung (‘The Expropriation’)

Die Enteignung (‘The Expropriation’) examines the structural transformation of West German agriculture after the Second World War from a perspective critical of capitalism. The term ‘expropriation’ here refers to the gradual proletarianization of small and medium-sized farmers: in 1950 there were still two million farms in West Germany; by 1975, this number had dwindled to 950,000, two-thirds of which were operated only as part-time or supplementary holdings. Many farms could no longer afford modern machinery. As a result, many farmers were left with no choice but to sell their own labour: increasingly, they worked as wage-dependent contract labourers – on land they still nominally owned. Die Enteignung explores the question of who truly profited from the industrialization of agriculture if it secured neither the livelihood of producers nor an affordable supply of food for the wider population.