Norman Brewer, Bremen
It took three things to trigger the historic and promising unity process between the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Justice (WASG), which was formed through last year's fight-back against the neoliberal slashing of the welfare state.
First was the 12th election lost by the governing "Red-Green" coalition — this time in Germany's largest state of North Rhine-Westphalia on May 22. The devastating loss cost the Social-Democratic Party-Green Coalition control over the second (state) chamber of parliament, and pushed Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to call an early federal election for September 18. Schroeder may also have been hoping that the left would not be able to get organised in time.
Second was the decision by prominent, entertaining and highly respected PDS leader Gregor Gysi to stand as a lead candidate, despite his triple heart attack last year and brain surgery in January.
Third was the resignation of long-term SPD leader Oskar Lafontaine from that party, and his agreement to join the WASG if a new left alliance was formed. Lafontaine and Gysi have had close discussions for some time.
While the WASG is new, it is strong in West Germany, where it was formed by unionists, left defectors from the SPD and activists from grassroots organisations. The PDS is strong in East Germany, where it polls 20-30%, but has much lower support in the west.
In Germany, parties need to get 5% of the vote to get parliamentary representation. This is one reason that Lafontaine made it clear that he wouldn't join the WASG unless the WASG and the PDS did not run against each other, as the parties did in North Rhine-Westphalia. The WASG won an unexpected 2.2% in that election, but cut the PDS vote down to 0.9%. The PDS is aware that it need to maintain 1.5% in the west to keep an overall 5%, something a left competitor could challenge.
After the WASG and the PDS announced they would run a united ticket under the name Left Party (Linkspartei.), and Lafontaine formally joined the WASG, the June 17 Forsa poll showed 9% support for the Left Party, making it the third-largest party in Germany, beating the Greens (polling 7%) and the right-wing Freedom Democratic Party (FDP) (polling 6%).
While the fascist National Party of Germany polled 9% in the September Saxony elections, in the two state elections since it has sunk like a stone, and has conceded it will not win representation. The SPD is polling a record low 26%. The poll gave the second-largest party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union, 49%, but this is expected to drop as the election campaign debates around welfare, workers' rights and neoliberal globalisation heat up.
The process is not without problems. The early election poses some electoral problems for the Left Party — because "purely electoral" alliances are prohibited, WASG members will have to stand on an open PDS list. This means the PDS will have to formally change its name. Negotiations over the name have been tense, as the PDS has insisted on having its name in the name of the new alliance, while WASG members have argued that, as a former Stalinist ruling party, the PDS name will turn away voters in the west. It was decided that states are free to add the phrase "PDS" and/or the state name to the federal ballots for that state.
Both parties still need to get members' approval of the deal. The PDS will need a two-thirds majority to agree at an upcoming conference to change its name. There is likely to be significant dissent. The WASG will need a simple majority in a ballot of its 7000 members, but there is likely to be strong opposition from members critical of the PDS's role in state governments, where it has implemented some austerity measures.
There is also an agreement that, as soon as the September elections are out of the way, the parties will discuss fusing into a united left party, a process that will take at least two years. The PDS will certainly press for the words democratic and socialist to be in a new name.
Already the new alliance, supported by almost the entire German left, has changed the political climate. Leading SPD ministers have began demanding higher wages, and "corrections" to last year's harsh welfare reform.
The Greens have tried to argue that they are the "modern Left Party". The name has huge resonance in this country, where 5 million are unemployed and neoliberal policy is biting hard. Some polls have indicated that 20% of Greens members are thinking of defecting to the Left Party.
[ For more information, visit the WASG at < http://www.W-A HREF="mailto:ASG.de"><ASG.de> and the PDS at <http://www.Sozialisten.de>.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.