The authors blamed "hostile forces", with direct support and under the leadership of American agencies and the peoples' enemy and the warmongers in Bonn, for having organized an attempt for a "fascist coup" in the GDR in the period from 16 June 1953 to 22 June 1953. The authors admitted, however, that the party had failed to mobilize broad segments of the working class for a unified and offensive appearance against the provocation and for suppression of the coup on the 17th and 18th.