Germany: Die Linke electoral breakthrough

March 1, 2008 - Elections in Germany: Die Linke Further Challenges the Rules of the Political Game

http://www.spectrezine.org/weblog/?p=488

Hamburg: For the third time in the last few weeks, Die Linke (the Left, as the new party is called) has made an entrance into the Parliament of one of Germany’s western “Länder”. Die Linke (the Left) emerged as the real winner of last Sunday’s parliamentary election in the city-state of Hamburg. For the third time running in a few weeks, Oskar Lafontaine and Lothar Bisky’s party succeeded in winning more than the minimum 5% required in one of Germany’s western Länder. It now has eight seats in the Hamburg Parliament. The new electoral deal disrupts the political scene and looks to jeopardize negotiations toward the setting up of a coalition government to run the Hanseatic city. As in the Land of Hesse where real negotiations over the Land’s future executive have not even started yet, Die Linke’s share of parliamentary seats makes classical coalitions impossible, whether on the right between the CDU’s Christian Democrats and the FDP’s “Liberals” or on the left between the SPD’s Social Democrats and the Greens. Although it came in an easy first last Sunday, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was by far the greater loser of that election. Not only was its share of the vote down by three points but it also lost the absolute majority it had won in 2004, and it cannot rely on its traditional partner the FDP to supply the missing votes, for the FDP failed to get the minimum 5% required for a party to wint seats in Parliament. Ole von Beust, the incumbent Christian Democrat Bürgermeister (Mayor), made the first move and launched a charm offensive aimed at the Greens with whom he says he is ready to govern. But even though a far from negligible section of the Greens has come out in favour of opportunistic alliances (with either left or right parties as circumstances dictate), it will be difficult to draft a common platform that Grünen members could unanimously approve. The CDU’s leader might also turn to the SPD to form a grand coalition on the model of the ruling coalition in Berlin. But Social Democrats do not seem to be very keen on that option as they are currently struggling to make good the disastrous reflection of this “united front” at the national level on their image and on their credibility with their own voters. Especially so, as increasing social difficulties, a palpable loss in purchasing power, unprecedented and ever rising inequalities and social injustice have become much debated political issues over which the party is being increasingly called to account. There is no question that the climate of opinion has indeed contributed a lot to the success of Die Linke; the new party has been most vocal on these issues, which used to be the SPD’s core issues. The possibility that Die Linke might be called upon to support a regional coalition government without actually joining it, or even to participate in a regional coalition government, began to be the subject of debate even before the election results in Hamburg were known. The question so far had been a taboo subject. Kurt Beck himself, the SPD’s president, hinted for the first time at the possibility that he might negotiate in Hesse for Die Linke’s support without the new party - which results from a merger between the Linkspartei PDS and the Wahlalternative (WASG) - participating in the government. That would be the only way that he could have Andrea Ypsilanti, the SPD’s regional leader, elected Minister-President. Die Linke at once responded favourably to the proposal in order to eliminate Roland Koch, the far-right incumbent Minister-President. Nothing is certain as yet. But dividing lines are obviously shifting and the German press is buzzing with speculation over the possibility of triple alliances (between the SPD, the Grünen and Die Linke or between the CDU, the FDP and the Grünen), which would be the only way out of the political impasse, following the sudden emergence of Die Linke on the scene. The prospect of taking part in government at the regional, or even national level (after the next Bundestag election in September 2009) has come under debate within the new leftist party. The necessity for the party to shoulder governmental responsibility is generally set on a par with the need to stand firm on a number of basic demands like the bringing home of all the troops deployed in Afghanistan or the repeal of the Hartz IV package that left the jobless unprotected and liberalized the job market to an unprecedented degree. The ratification of the Lisbon treaty was another issue that imposed itself in the debate. In the Berlin Land, the only Land where Die Linke governs jointly with the SPD, the social-democrat Bürgermeister Klaus Wowereit would like the Berlin deputies in the Bundesrat (Parliament’s upper chamber) to vote for the treaty. The executive committee of the party’s Berlin branch had come out in favour of the now defunct Giscard constitution in its time and like Member of the European Parliament Sylvia Yvonne Kaufmann, author of a recently published plea for the new text, is said to be in favour of ratification. The prospect raises many protests in a movement where a majority of members opposed the former treaty: “That certainly is the best way to torpedo the party’s credibility”. They ask the Berlin executive committee not to make inconsistent decisions and to turn down Wovereit’s request even if it should jeopardize the future of the SPD-Die Linke coalition. Oskar Lafontaine himself stepped in and voiced his objections, saying that it was precisely the Linke’s responsibility never to depart from the naked truth, for which the party had gained credit, when all other parties kowtowed to free-market zealots. This article first appeared in French in L’Humanité, the French progressive daily, and was translated by Isabelle Metral.

March 14, 2008 | http://www.socialistworker.org/2008-1/665/665_06_LeftParty.shtml

AFTER YEARS of trying to shake the stigma of being a "regional" party that can only be successful in Eastern Germany, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), now known as "Die Linke" (the Left Party), is starting to significantly change the political landscape of the entire country.

Important state elections were held in the two Western German states of Lower Saxony and Hesse on January 27. The Left Party managed to get into both regional parliaments by gaining 7.1 percent of the vote in Lower Saxony and 5.1 percent in Hesse, thus clearing the "5 percent hurdle" (a rule that was introduced after the Second World War to prevent the political fragmentation witnessed earlier during the Weimar Republic).

While this may or may not change the immediate status quo for either state--the Christian Democrats remain the strongest party in Lower Saxony, and the election in Hesse resulted in a hung parliament, which may lead to a new election--the impact on German politics cannot be denied.

The recent electoral victories in large Western German states would have been unthinkable as little as four years ago. Key to the success was the collaboration in 2005 of the PDS with the then-newly founded Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (WASG, by its German abbreviation). In the 2005 federal elections, this coalition won 8.7 percent of the vote, more than double what the PDS was able to get in the previous federal election of 2002.

The WASG was mainly comprised of trade union representatives and ex-Social Democratic Party (SPD) members who became increasingly disgruntled with their former party's Tony Blair-like turn toward the "neue Mitte" (new center).

The corresponding neoliberal outlook associated with this turn by the SPD resulted in steep cuts in social benefits under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and a mass exodus of rank-and-file members who had a very different vision of what "social equity" should entail.

The PDS, on the other hand, is the successor of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled in the former GDR (East Germany) until 1990. There are undoubtedly still Stalinist remnants in the party. Others, including high-ranking party officials, like the European parliament member Andre Brie, would like to soften the party's critique of capitalism and give it a decidedly social democratic profile.

However, there are also vibrant Marxist currents in the party. One is centered on the publication Marx 21, put out by former members of the socialist group Linksruck, which disbanded last year and entered the Left Party.

The PDS-WASG coalition was made permanent in the summer of last year, when the new Left Party was born with about 70,000 members, the vast majority, about 60,000, coming from the PDS. That makes it the third-largest political party in Germany, behind the two mass parties: the SPD and Christian Democrats.

Along with the PDS-WASG fusion came the political heavyweight Oskar Lafontaine. Having lost a power struggle with Schröder inside the SPD and increasingly disgusted with how the SPD continued to betray social democratic principles, Lafontaine joined the WASG after a stint with the European global justice organization ATTAC.

While there is no doubt that a good deal of the success in Western Germany is due to the fact that Lafontaine is a household name in the West, it also comes at a cost. Lafontaine tries to portray himself as a left-winger and a champion of the disenfranchised, an image he fostered through his autobiography, My Heart Beats on the Left. The reality, however, is a little more checkered.

Lafontaine is actually a populist. Like most populists, he believes he understands what people think, and caters to their aspirations as well as their fears. Furthermore, he isn't afraid to play on people's most base instincts. This became evident when, during an electoral campaign stop in Chemnitz in 2005, he deliberately chose the historically charged word "fremdarbeiter" ("foreign worker") instead of the commonly used "gastarbeiter" ("guest worker") in a discussion on unemployment.

Not only was the message one of pure scapegoating (i.e., that you're currently unemployed because migrant workers are snatching up your jobs for lesser wages), but it had blatant racist connotations since the term "fremdarbeiter" was used for forced labor deported from occupied territories during the Third Reich. Though Lafontaine denied it, it was obvious that this message was directly aimed at attracting voters of the far-right National Democratic Party.

A closer look at Lafontaine's political record reveals more inconsistencies. In the late 1980s, he supported a reduction in weekly work hours, but only if wages were scaled back accordingly, which rightly brought him the scorn of trade unions.

In the early 1990s, he pushed his party to support more stringent changes to laws regarding asylum-seekers. He has since also supported the idea of establishing holding camps for refugees in Northern Africa. Baiting people with right populist rhetoric in times of economic uncertainty and high unemployment is thus nothing new to him.

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IT IS certainly refreshing that a new, viable political alternative to the degenerated Social Democratic Party is emerging on the left. The recent electoral results indicate that the Left Party will most likely change the political landscape for good and turn it into a five-party system.

What remains to be seen is whether the revolutionary current within the Left Party is strong enough to have a positive impact. Therefore, the final verdict on the Left Party is still out.

The case of Germany and the Left Party is obviously not unique. There are numerous examples of left alternatives trying to fill the political void created by rightward-moving social democratic and green parties the world over, from Denmark to Brazil.

With revolutionary forces typically being too small to fill this void themselves, coalitions with more mainstream, "broad left" organizations, such as Respect in Britain, have been formed. In Germany's case, this took the somewhat more permanent form of the Left Party, but the idea is the same.

Inevitably, when working with forces that are often a lot further to the right, political friction will occur. However, that fact alone should not discourage Marxists from entering these coalitions.

More important is whether the internal debate within the coalition or party is open and democratic, and individual currents are not being undermined or squeezed out. A harder question is where to draw the line, and not abandon core principles for the sake of keeping a coalition intact.

The approach of wanting to remain "pure" will most likely mean that one's revolutionary organization, which invariably wants to reach out to the working "masses," remains in political obscurity. Entering a "broad left" coalition or party, on the other hand, means one will most likely have to deal with political opportunists, such as Lafontaine.

No blueprint exists to determine where, when or how to construct a broad left coalition. Each situation has to be evaluated on an individual basis.

The dilemma is that in this period of political retreat, we are a far cry from finding a mass base for revolutionary politics. Until that trend changes, entering "broad left" formations can be a useful and indeed necessary interim strategy, as long as the long-term goal of building a truly revolutionary organization is not forgotten and is actively pursued.
Folko Mueller, Houston

From http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=2116

Reading my local daily “Granada Hoy” I found an article from the German news agency Efe about the city-state of Hamburg. First a quick geography lesson to set the scene, Hamburg has a population of 1.76 million in the city itself with about 4.5 million living in the metropolitan area; it is also one of the 16 states making up Federal Germany.

Yesterday (17 April) was not only a significant day for Hamburgers but for Germany as well. The Christian Democrat (CDU) and the Greens, that’s right the Greens, put the final seal on a coalition government to run the city state. Yes, Hamburgers are now officially black and green (sounds a bit like the one I saw in Burger King recently).

The Mayor, Christian Democrat Ole Van Beust said there did not have to be a polarization between concepts such as the economy and the environment or security and liberty, “This is not an experiment but an opportunity to discover new ways forward, which until now have not been possible”. The CDU regional president Michael Freytag said the coalition was the start of a marvellous friendship. Freytag said there had been around one hundred hours of negotiations, for the Greens the leader of the parliamentary group Christa Goetsch said they were very united around a more qualitative education system especially at primary level. The Greens regional president Anja Hajduck said the CDU has accepted the creation of a foundation to protect the ecology of the river Elbe and a new strategy to get more people using bicycles in the city. For his part the Greens candidate for Federal Chancellor Jürgen Trittin did not rule out the idea of CDU/Green coalition at national level saying that if he could get Angela Merkel to agree to a national minimum wage and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants why not.

From The Red Wombat Hole
http://communistwombat.blogspot.com/2008/04/goethe-and-die-gruenen.html

Monday, 21 April 2008
Goethe and Die Gruenen

On Wednesday, April 16, Goethe rose from his grave, had a quick breakfast and rewrote Faust. The new storyline is even better than the last - this time, there's no space for the Devil, his henchman, unrequited love or thunderous verse. Instead, the German Greens have taken the lead role, and signed a deal in blood worthy of Mephistopheles' jealousy.

The "Olive Greens" (as they have been known for some time in Germany, because of their support for German involvement in the occupation of Afghanistan) signed up for coalition government in Hamburg with the right-wing Christian Democtratic Union (CDU).

The move leaches the last colour from the fading activist-green blouses of the Greens - after losing popularity almost continually over the past few years, they are now polling only 9 percent, and look like a party in crisis.

A recent national Greens conference split three ways over support for troops in Afghanistan, many of the "Fundys" (those whose more radical politics made them seem like "fundamentalists" compared to the "moderate" "Realos") have long since left, and the German Greens have never looked more like an opportunist petit-bourgeois enviromental lobby group in search of affirmation than they do now.

The deal also lays the foundations for a more frightening possibility in the German federal elections next year. Having now established a regional partnership with the "Realos" of the Greens, Angela Merkel's CDU is better positioned to arrange a "Jamaica coalition" (Green = Green, CDU = Black, Free Democrats = Yellow) government in 2009.

While the CDU/ CSU conservatives were forced into a "Grand Coalition" with their arch-competitors the SPD after the last election, this time around it is possible that Merkel can form government and still dump the SPD. The SPD is suffering from the success of Die Linke and a bumbling leader in Kurt Beck, who has undermined the party's already wounded credibility further by first swearing "never, ever" to deal with Die Linke, and then changing his mind, and then changing it back again.

Worse yet, the SPD's Andrea Ypsilanti withdrew her candidacy for the premiership of Hesse last month after members of the SPD refused to support her governing with the "toleration" (the loosest possible support) of Die Linke in that state's parliament. While Die Linke remain open to working with the SPD, the bitter blood left over after Oskar Lafontaine - fomer national leader of the SPD - jumped ship and took a large part of the SPD-left with him, seem to be enough to prevent even the opportunist SPD from stomaching such a deal in the name of power. And this could cost them the Bundestag next year.

Merkel has now got the SPD in her sights, declaring them "unreliable", and the Greens - also losing significance in federal politics - appear keen to seem important, somehow, anyhow - even if that means forming a "Green-Black" government with a party that served as a half-way house for many Nazis after World War II.

To be honest, Merkel isn't far off the mark on the SPD's unreliability, as their electoral woes are continuing, and their polling is sliding dangerously. Central to this is the fact that, to their left, the new left-wing party Die Linke continues to rise, putting forward a real alternative to SPD-managed neoliberalism.

Die Linke is consistently polling 14%, but in some places Die Linke is outpolling the SPD - notably in Die Linke leader Oskar Lafontaine's home state of Saarland, where the SPD sit on a miserly 16 percent, while Die Linke have reached a whopping 29 percent!

Recently, "Red" Oskar Lafontaine - "the most dangerous man in Europe" according to British newspaper The Sun - has also called for parts of the Communist Manifesto to be included in Die Linke's program, and while Die Linke is only young - having been officially formed less than three years ago - their polling results, and the obvious attraction of a real left alternative in a sea of sameness and compromise, has placed them in a strong postion to push Germany to the left.

With their first party conference on May 24-5 in Cottbus, it will soon be decision time for Die Linke: can they work out a coherent policy and platform, maintain their political momentum and build a solid movement outside of electoral politics? Or will they succumb to the twin pressures of electoralism and sectarianism that seem to consume so much of the left?

More from the Wombats as it unfolds.
Posted by Red Wombat at 14:02