The 1990s saw a boom in historical research on communism in Germany. In order to determine the relationship between utopia and reality in the history of communism, however, it is necessary to distinguish between two phenomena: on the one hand, the social movement constituted by a split from social democracy following the latter’s integration into the system that reacted to relations of exploitation and oppression in class society, and, on the other hand, the dictatorships in power which constituted “real socialism”. In recent research we find a turning away from conventional party and political history towards methods focusing on social history and an investigation of specific environments. In so doing, however, it has not yet been possible to determine clearly whether a communist subculture is to be considered part of an inter-factional labour movement culture or whether it constituted separate niche communities. Although the communist spectrum includes many side currents and splinter groups, it is usually being reduced to the Communist Party (KPD).