Another Step Towards Unity: The German Left

By Victor Grossman, Berlin

There was virtually untroubled joy in September, when
the new "Left", consisting of two cooperating parties,
received 4.2 million votes, 8.7 percent of the total,
enabling it to send the unprecedented number of 54
representatives to the Bundestag. But the road to unity
of the two had many bumps to overcome, and the weekend
congress of the Left Party-PDS in Dresden aimed at
overcoming many of them. The going was not always
smooth, but a big step forward was taken all the same.

The Dresden gathering involved one party to the desired
unification, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)
which had rechristened itself "The Left" (or, in the
East, "The Left-PDS"), a step demanded by the other
party, the Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social
Justice (WASG), if it were to agree to support a single
slate in the past elections. Up till now, this unity
for one slate had been basically an election strategy,
a very successful one, as it turned out, for it led to
the large united caucus in the Bundestag. But from the
beginning the ultimate aim was to form a single party,
incorporating the PDS, now called the Left Party or
Left Party-PDS, with its firmly-established apparatus
and strong voting support in East Germany (about 25
percent), and the newer, smaller, largely West German
WASG, with ist angry union men and wom,en , ist
disgruntled Social Democrats, and an assortment of
leftwing froupings. Both parties are vital ingredients.
A week ago, key leaders of both sides signed an
agreement on complete unification by July 2007. The
main function of the Dresden Congress was to approve
this agreement. It did just that, with enthusiasm, by
and large, for this should firmly establish a strong
left opposition on the German political map. Several
top leaders of the WASG, including its very popular
spokesperson Oskar Lafontaine, head of the Social
Democratic Party until he quit in disgust at its turn
to the right, were given a very warm welcome in
Dresden.

But the bumps in the process cannot be overlooked; some
could be quite hazardous. According to German electoral
law, if two parts of one electoral slate oppose each
other in even a single state election then their joint
presence in the Bundestag must be ended. And the small
but persistent WASG group in the city-state of Berlin,
with about 800 members, wants to do just that. In next
year’s state election it wants to oppose the Left-PDS,
as this party is called in Berlin, where it has 10,000
members. If the WASG members stick to this position
they could scuttle the entire unification plan in all
Germany. A somewhat similar situation threatens in the
northeastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

A big policy debate is involved. Those are the only two
states where the Left-PDS is in a ruling coalition, in
both cases together with the Social Democrats.
Especially in Berlin, as part of the government, the
PDS has been able to fight through a number of
improvements like cut-price tickets on public
transportation and cheap theater tickets for the
unemployed or for keeping some state-owned enterprises
like child care centers and public transportation from
being privatized. But it was also forced to join in
many unpopular decisions aimed at balancing the budget
of the bankrupt city: increasing hours and cutting
wages of city employees, for example. The 800 WASG
members ­ or most of them ­ oppose such compromises and
want the Left-PDS to quit the coalition government if
they are to support it next year. The PDS leaders say
this would lead to a far more conservative government
in the city with far worse conditions. Many personal
animosities are also involved; some WASG members had
quit the PDS because of its position on making
compromises.

Complicating the problem is the fact that within the
Left-PDS many members also oppose membership in
coalitions with the Social Democrats, who were
responsible for so many harsh laws during their
government years with the Greens from 1998 until this
fall, and who are evidently continuing the same anti-
labor, anti-jobless, anti-pensioner policies with their
new rightwing partners led by Angela Merkel.

Leaders of the Left-PDS like Gregor Gysi and its
chairman, Lothar Bisky, seem to be speculating on the
unified new "Left" party joining with Social Democrats
and perhaps the Greens in a new "socially-minded"
German government after the 2009 elections ­ or before
then if the present "grand coalition" falls apart.
There is a definite split between those who say we
should "get along as well as possible under the
prevailing circumstances in Germany, improving
conditions where we can - and when possible from
government positions" while others, basically the left-
wingers, say we must continue fighting against such
"prevailing circumstances" ­ in other words fight for
improvements but also keep fighting capitalism, which
can never solve basic problems.

This division is not between the WASG and the Left-PDS
but rather within the latter, and was clearly visible
at Dresden, though differences were largely patched up
for the time being. Indeed, it was Lafontaine from the
WASG who asked "since when are the Social Democrats
socially-minded?" We can never join with them, he
insisted, until they are willing to scrap their whole
program of soaking the poor, aiding the wealthy and
sending German soldiers all around the world where they
don’t belong.

This issue was not and could not be resolved in
Dresden, but did not lead to any serious split. There
were signs of discontent, however, including calls for
more transparency on the part of the leadership, which,
it was said, inclines to present ready-made decisions
for congresses to give their OK to, rather than
debating them democratically. The job of party manager,
a key post, was assigned to Dietmar Bartsch, for
example, although many held his weak strategy
responsible for the party’s election disaster in 2002.
He was voted in despite these reservations, but with a
slim vote of only 6- percent. An even bigger
embarrassment was the executive committee’s choice for
party treasurer, a man, till then relatively unknown to
the membership, who turned out to have had connections
with the "Stasi" when working in GDR foreign trade
offices. Better leadership should have made a less
controversial choice. In the end, although he got
percent of the vote, he asked to have his position
suspended until the records could be checked so at
least temporarily to avoid further embarrassment.

Differences among the members certainly remained, but
in the end many improvements were promised and positive
decisions made ­ on issues about which everyone agreed:
German soldiers must leave Afghanistan and clear out of
the German base in Uzbekistan; the tuition fees soon to
be charged at colleges and universities in what had
been free college education must be opposed;
cooperation must be sought with the many non-
governmental organizations fighting on a variety of
issues ­ globalization, the rights of labor, the
unemployed, the pensioners, the environmentalists, and
young members must be sought and brought into
leadership. The Left-PDS already has many positions as
mayor or town and city councilor, especially in eastern
Germany. It must increase this number and gain more
seats in coming elections in six German states in 2006,
and must learn to fight for people’s rights in these
positions even when fnancial support from the
government is sharply decreased.

Above all, the two parties, the Left-PDS and the WASG,
with their joint caucus of 54 seats in the Bundestag
and in alliance with many a battle outside the
government, must be ready for rough new attacks on the
living standards of most Germans. This, it was stated
many times, will cement their sense of togetherness and
make complete unification by 2007 a success.

Submitted to Portside