Who owns the story?

New edition of “The Grapes of Wrath” affected by publication ban.

In 1993, the annotated edition of many texts from the Revolutionary Cells and Rote Zora was published by ID-Archiv, later ID-Verlag, which has not published any books for 20 years. The Grapes of Wrath is also long out of stock.

Today, the militant story and its texts, especially those by RZ and Rote Zora, are only partially known and activists therefore wanted to publish an expanded new edition by the Immergrün publishing house - a political decision, not a commercial one. However, Immergrün now received a letter from ID-Verlag GbR, which only exists as a legal shell, in which, with reference to their former “co-editorship” and “editorial work” on the RZ texts, any reprinting and use of the book title “The Grapes of Wrath” is prohibited.

Instead of justifying never republishing the book, the owners of ID Verlag want it to remain out of print. Civil copyright law is of course on your side. But who owns the story? Also those of the Revolutionary Cells and the Red Zora? Certainly not former left-wing radicals who want to screw a lid on it. Rather, it belongs to today's activists who have to find ways to further develop emancipatory politics in the fight against repression and reaction.

One of the owners of the ID-Archiv publishing house, the taz culture editor Andreas F., published almost at the same time as his letter to Immergrün an interview with the former RZ member Thomas K., who saved himself from going to prison through statements in court and a deal with the federal prosecutor's office. Fun fact: In the planned Evergreen edition of The Grapes of Wrath, the inglorious behavior of some RZ activists towards the judiciary should also be discussed in an appendix because it played a role in the end of the RZ. It is conceivable that this could be unpleasant for some people. Also that they want to suppress publication of this aspect of their story with the help of acquaintances who can bring copyright to justice.

What now? Fortunately, some of the Rote Zora texts contained in the fruits have been republished by Unrast Verlag, although without addressing the behavior of some Red Zora activists in court - ID Verlag did not take action.

A publication solution must and will be found for the texts of the Revolutionary Cells, which as such do not fall under ID-Verlag's copyright, and for a critical and solidarity-based review.