To all Berliners
The insanity is the rent itself!
Leaflet as PDF (german/englisch)
Leaflet as PDF (german/turkish)
We do not even accept that we should pay money to be allowed to live in an apartment. We breathe the air without paying and that is the way we want to live. We are not interested in the purchase of apartments and houses – most of those we want to address, do not have the necessary cash. We are interested in the abolition of home ownership in principle, the abolition of the rent. The houses should belong to everyone and to no one, just as the ground on which they stand.
»But the houses are not just there like thin air, they have to be built! And somebody has to take care of the apartments! Everything breaks down now and then and at least the facade should be painted sometimes.«
We have discussed this objection for a long time and we came to the conclusion, that it requires organized brigades of construction workers and craftsmen to build the houses and do the repairs. These brigades will be a seed for the universal fraternization of humanity. What is today called a German, a Romanian, a Moroccan, an Afghan, a Nigerian or a Chilean is one in such brigades. Also, many women will enjoy this former male work and even children would like to help. The youth then will get a perspective. These people are fed by the community!
»And what if many new residents would like to move to Berlin? Especially if you do not have to pay anything, its gonna be like a magnet!«
More people need more apartments and you can build them. Catchword: Construction worker brigades! (Certainly, you have to take care of the necessary machines and resources needed for this kind of work as well.) Besides, the abolition of the rent will radiate immediately. Maybe you will not want to go that far in Swabia, but otherwise probably everywhere.
»Communism is reasonable, everyone grasps it. It is easy.
Communism is good for you, ask about it.«
(Bertolt Brecht)
»But who should implement this desirable abolition of the rent?«
Here we are pragmatic. For all we care, it can even be that Left Party, driven by its own solid youth and a bunch of high-spirited Trotskyists. (That is the way our lame reformists want it.) Or a Communist Party appears and leads the way. (This is how our proud Leninists want it.) Or through a general uprising in which rent payments are collectively stopped immediately. Let’s see if the police then dare to intervene on behalf of the interests of the property beasts. (That’s what our brave anarchists desire.)
»Can we start now?«
Sure we can. However, it will take some coordination and a lot of activity so that the isolated individuals gather together. And it requires general enlightenment. That will take some time. At least the homeless must be quartered immediately. We will have to make some space for them! As it happens, many stores and offices (those of the landlords for instance) are surprisingly superfluous, so there is enough space for everyone if you reorganize a little. There is, perhaps, also room in the affluent neighborhoods. But maybe nobody wants to live there.
»But so far, the tenants are even afraid to protest against the outrageous rent increases, be it by hanging a banner out of the window. Are we not just wimps after all?«
To this we say: always brave ahead! Individual initiatives are good, house assemblies too. However, it will probably need a lot more. The most determined actions will receive approval, but all half-hearted actions will be despised.
Imaginary Communist Party