Rudi Dutschke

Who was Rudi Dutschke?

Alfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated a long march through the institutions of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery. This was an idea he took up from his interpretation of Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt school of cultural Marxism. In the 1970s he followed through on this idea by joining the nascent Green movement.

In 1968, he survived an assassination attempt committed by Josef Bachmann, living for another 12 years until related health problems caused his death. Radical students blamed an anti-student campaign in the papers of the Axel Springer publishing empire for the assassination attempt. This led to attempts to blockade the distribution of Springer newspapers all over Germany, which in turn led to major street battles in many German cities.