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'''The Left''' ({{lang-de|Die Linke}}), is a [[democratic socialist]] [[political party]] in [[Germany]]. ''The Left'' is the most [[left-wing politics|leftist]] party of the five factions represented in the [[Bundestag]]. The party is currently under observation by the German Federal Intelligence Agency, the [[Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz]], which asserts that members of the party associate with extremist groups in other countries.<ref>[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/293/487696/text/ Alle Linken-Abgeordneten unter Beobachtung], sueddeutsche.de, 15 September 2009, accessed 25 September 2009</ref>
'''The Left''' ({{lang-de|Die Linke}}), is a [[democratic socialist]] [[political party]] in [[Germany]]. ''The Left'' is the most [[left-wing politics|leftist]] party of the five factions represented in the [[Bundestag]]. The party is currently under observation by the German Federal Intelligence Agency, the [[Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz]], which asserts that members of the party associate with extremist groups in other countries.<ref>[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/293/487696/text/ Alle Linken-Abgeordneten unter Beobachtung], sueddeutsche.de, 15 September 2009, accessed 25 September 2009</ref>


The party was founded on June 16, 2007, as the merger of the [[The Left Party.PDS|Party of Democratic Socialism]] (PDS) &ndash; the successor of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED; the ruling party of [[East Germany]] until 1989) &ndash; and the [[Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative|Labour and Social Justice Electoral Alternative]] (WASG). Its leaders are [[Lothar Bisky]] and [[Oskar Lafontaine]]. In the [[Bundestag]] the party has 53 out of 612 seats (8.7%), making it the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. Internationally, The Left is a member of the [[Party of the European Left]], and is the largest party in the [[European United Left–Nordic Green Left|GUE/NGL]] grouping of the [[European Parliament]].
The party was founded on June 16, 2007, as the merger of the [[The Left Party.PDS|Party of Democratic Socialism]] (PDS) &ndash; the successor of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED; the ruling party of [[East Germany]] until 1989) &ndash; and the [[Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative|Labour and Social Justice Electoral Alternative]] (WASG). Its leaders are [[Lothar Bisky]] and [[Oskar Lafontaine]]. In the [[Bundestag]] the party has 76 out of 622 seats after polling 11.1% of the vote in the 2009 federal elections<ref>[http://www.election.de/cgi-bin/tab.pl?datafile=btw09.txt Wahl zum 17.Deutschen Bundestag am 27.September 2009 - vorläufiges Ergebnis]</ref>, making it the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. Internationally, The Left is a member of the [[Party of the European Left]], and is the largest party in the [[European United Left–Nordic Green Left|GUE/NGL]] grouping of the [[European Parliament]].


According to official party figures, the Left Party had 75,968 registered members as of December 2008.<ref name="members">"[http://die-linke.de/partei/fakten/mitgliederzahlen_mai_2008/ Mitgliederzahlen September 2008]" Die Linke website.</ref>
According to official party figures, the Left Party had 75,968 registered members as of December 2008.<ref name="members">"[http://die-linke.de/partei/fakten/mitgliederzahlen_mai_2008/ Mitgliederzahlen September 2008]" Die Linke website.</ref>

Revision as of 15:49, 1 October 2009

Template:Infobox German Political Party The Left (Template:Lang-de), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most leftist party of the five factions represented in the Bundestag. The party is currently under observation by the German Federal Intelligence Agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, which asserts that members of the party associate with extremist groups in other countries.[1]

The party was founded on June 16, 2007, as the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) – the successor of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED; the ruling party of East Germany until 1989) – and the Labour and Social Justice Electoral Alternative (WASG). Its leaders are Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine. In the Bundestag the party has 76 out of 622 seats after polling 11.1% of the vote in the 2009 federal elections[2], making it the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. Internationally, The Left is a member of the Party of the European Left, and is the largest party in the GUE/NGL grouping of the European Parliament.

According to official party figures, the Left Party had 75,968 registered members as of December 2008.[3]

History

The mass protests that forced the dismissal of East German head of state Erich Honecker in 1989 also empowered a younger generation of reform politicians in East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party who looked to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika as their model for political change. Reformers like politician Hans Modrow, attorney Gregor Gysi and dissidents like Rudolf Bahro soon began to reconstruct the political profile of the party. By the end of 1989, the last hardline members of the party's Central Committee had resigned, followed in 1990 by 95% of the SED's 2.3 million members.

The rump of the SED that remained was renamed as the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) at a special party congress in December 1989, to distance the reformed party from communism. Gregor Gysi became the new leader of the party. Initially, the party was known by the combination initials SED-PDS; this was dropped on February 4, 1990, after which the party was officially known as the PDS. By early 1990, the PDS was no longer a Marxist-Leninist party, though neo-marxist and communist minority factions continued to exist. On March 18, 1990, the PDS won 16.4% of the vote in the first free elections in the GDR, with the Alliance for Germany coalition, led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), winning 48%.

Gregor Gysi

Up to 2005

In the first all-German Bundestag elections in 1990, the PDS won only 2.4% of the nationwide vote, but through an exception to Germany's electoral law entered the Bundestag with 17 deputies led by Gregor Gysi. In the 1994 election, in spite of an aggressive anti-communist "Red Socks" campaign organised against the PDS by the then-ruling Christian Democrats aimed at scaring off voters, the PDS managed to increase its share to 4.4 percent, winning a plurality in four eastern electoral districts, and re-entered the Bundestag with an enlarged caucus of 30 deputies. In 1998, the party reached the high-water mark in its fortunes by electing 37 deputies with 5.1% of the national vote, thus surpassing the 5% threshold required for guaranteed federal representation and full parliamentary status. Gysi's resignation in 2000 after losing a policy debate with leftist factions brought conflict to the PDS. In the 2002 election, the share sank to 4.0%, and the party was able to seat only two back-benchers elected directly from their districts, Petra Pau and Gesine Lötzsch.

After the 2002 debacle, the PDS adopted a new, moderate program and re-installed long-time Gysi ally Lothar Bisky, as chairman. In the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, the PDS won 6.1% of the vote nationwide, its highest share at that time in a federal election. Its electoral base in the eastern German states continued to grow, where today it ranks with the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats as one of the region's three strongest parties. However, low membership and voter support in Germany's western states continued to plague the party until it formed an electoral alliance in July 2005 with the newly-formed Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG), a leftist faction largely consisting of dissident Social Democrats and trade union members.

Alliance with the WASG

File:Oskar Lafontaine.jpg
Oskar Lafontaine

After negotiations, the PDS and WASG agreed on terms for a combined ticket to compete in the 2005 federal elections and pledged to unify into a single left party in 2007. According to the pact, the parties did not compete against each another in any district. Instead, WASG candidates—including the former Social Democratic leader, Oskar Lafontaine—were nominated on the PDS electoral list. To symbolize the new relationship, the PDS changed its name to The Left Party/PDS, with the letters "PDS" optional in western states where many voters still regarded the PDS as an "eastern" party with personal and ideological links to the East German, communist SED regime.

The alliance provided a strong electoral base in the east and benefited from WASG's growing voter potential in the west. Gregor Gysi, returning to public life only months after brain surgery and two heart attacks, shared the spotlight with Lafontaine as co-leader of the party. Both politicians led The Left faction in the German Bundestag after the election.

Polls early in the summer showed the unified Left list winning as much as 12 percent of the vote, and for a time it seemed possible the party would surge past the established German Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party and become the third-strongest faction of the Bundestag. Alarmed by the Left's unexpected rise in the polls, Germany's mainstream politicians responded to Lafontaine and Gysi calling them "leftist populists" and "demagogues" and accused the party of flirting with neo-Nazi voters. A gaffe by Lafontaine, who described "foreign workers" as a threat in one speech early in the campaign, provided ammunition for charges that The Left was attempting to exploit German xenophobia and voters from the far right.

In spite of all this, in the 2005 elections the Left Party received 8.7% of the nationwide vote and won 53 seats in the German Bundestag. The process towards unification between Left Party.PDS and WASG went on until 2007. On March 27, 2007, they sealed their unification. The joint party's founding convention took place on 16 June.

Shortly before the unification, the Left Party/PDS had already entered the constituency of Bremen and was thus represented in a state legislature of former West Germany - something it had never accomplished as the PDS. In 2008, more electoral successes followed for The Left, which entered the state parliaments of Lower Saxony and Hessen and the senate of Hamburg.

In the 2009 elections to the European Parliament, the Left Party won 7.5% of the vote nationwide, continuing its steady upward trend at European elections (1994: 4.7%, 1999: 5.8%, 2004: 6.1%). In the 2009 state elections, the party gained an increased share of the popular vote in Thuringia, Hesse and Saarland (by 19.2% in the latter); a decline in the vote share took place in Saxony, though The Left retained second place.

Policies

The Left aims for democratic socialism. As a platform for left politics in the wake of globalization, The Left includes many different factions, ranging from communists to center-left social democrats.

The Left hasn't yet adopted its own party program. In March 2007, during the joint party convention of Left Party and WASG, a document outlining political principles was agreed on. In terms of fiscal policies, those include solidarity and more self-determination for workers, redistribution of wealth through different means including tax increases for corporations, big businesses and wealthy individuals, the rejection of privatization and the introduction of a minimum wage,[4] and more generally the overthrow of property and power structures in which, citing Karl Marx's aphorism, "man is a debased, enslaved, abandoned, despicable essence".[5]

Concerning foreign policy, The Left welcomes the European process of integration, while opposing all forms of militarism rising in the current political climate and the market-oriented policies of the European Union. The party strives for the democratization of the EU institutions and a stronger role of the United Nations in international politics. The Left opposed both the War in Afghanistan[4] and the Lisbon Treaty.[6]

Observation by Verfassungsschutz

Germany operates a system of "Verfassungsschutz" (Constitutional Protection) at both federal level (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV) and state level (Landesbehörden für Verfassungsschutz, LfV), which carries out domestic surveillance of actual and suspected activities which may threaten the "basic free and democratic order" ("freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung") at the core of the German constitution. The Left Party and some of its caucuses remain under observation by the BfV, listed in the annual Verfassungsschutzbericht under the heading "left-extremist tendencies and suspected cases". The 2007 report cites as evidence of the party's "extremism" Lothar Bisky's June 2007 statement that democratic socialism remains the party's goal: "We also still discuss the change of property and power relations ... We ask the 'system question'." However the report notes that in practice the parliamentary party appears as to act as a "reform-oriented" left force. In addition, the report cites "openly extremist groupings" within the party, notably the Marxist-Leninist Communist Platform, which in Sahra Wagenknecht has a representative on the 44-member Left Party executive.[7] Separately, a single Left MP, Bodo Ramelow, was under observation by the BfV, until a January 2008 court decision that this observation was illegal.[8] [9]

The Left is also under observation by 4 western CDU/CSU-governed states (Lower Saxony, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), from a total of 11 western states.[10] Saarland ceased observation of The Left in January 2008.[11] By contrast, in the 5 eastern states The Left is not under observation, with the local LfVs seeing no indication of anti-constitutional behaviour of the party as a whole. However the Communist Platform within The Left is under observation in 3 eastern states.[12]

Controversies

The Left Party's alleged avoidance of coming to terms with its past is a matter of public controversy in Germany.[13] For example in 2001, Gabi Zimmer, the head of the Left Party's predecessor PDS at the time, officially recognized the injustice of building the Berlin wall in 1961, but she rebuffed any claims to state an apology on behalf of the party.[14]

Elections and support

Party list results in the 2009 federal election, a high point in The Left's electoral history. The Left (in pink) received the most votes in numerous districts in East Germany, and came in second in Saarbrücken.

Through previous elections that the PDS contested, the Left Party holds seats in the state parliaments of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

In the May 2007 Bremen state election, seven party members were elected to the state parliament. This was the first breakthrough for the PDS-WASG in a former West German state.[15] The new Left Party continued to make gains in the western states following the January 2008 state elections in Lower Saxony and Hesse, as well as the February 2008 Hamburg state election.

As a result of the Hesse election results, state SPD leader Andrea Ypsilanti sought to form a minority government with the Greens, which would require the external support of the Left deputies. This would have been the first time that the Left formed any alliance with a government in a western state. The SPD and Left state parties ratified agreements for such an alliance. However, the move was controversial, since Ypsilanti had promised during the election not to work the Left Party. After months of debates and negotiations, the proposed government was scheduled to be brought to a vote in the Hessen Lantag on November 4, 2008. On the eve of the vote, four SPD deputies broke with party discipline and declared they would vote against Ypsilanti, effectively ending the possibility of a minority government.[16] As a result, new elections did take place in January 2009. Ypsilanti stepped down as the SPD's chief candidate, and she has been replaced by party deputy Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel.[17][18] In this election the Linke gained 0.3% on the result one year earlier (now 5.4%), staying in parliament (the SPD lost 13%, the Greens gained 6.2%)[19]

The Left contested an election in Bavaria for the first time in the September 2008 Bavaria state election. It garnered 4.3 percent of the vote, which was just short of the 5 percent necessary to win seats in the Landtag.

In the Saarland, Oskar Lafontaine's home state, the Left Party has out-polled the SPD with 24 percent support, but not the CDU. This is a first for the party in the west. Saarland will hold its next state election in August 2009.[20]

Ahead of the 2009 federal elections, the Left has approximately 12-15 percent support nationally, according to most polls.[21][22]

In October 2008 the Left Party nominated Tatort actor and activist Peter Sodann as their candidate for the 2009 presidential election.[23] Since the German president is chosen by the Bundesversammlung, consisting of all members of the Bundestag and an equal number of Bundesrat-selected delegates, Sodann did not win but he got 91 of the 1223 votes cast (the Linke had 90 delegates).

Lothar Bisky

Internal caucuses

The Left Party has a number of internal caucuses, most often referred to as platforms or forums.

  • The Anti-capitalist Left (Antikapitalistische Linke)[24] represents those critical of participation in coalition governments. They believe that government participation should be dependent on a set of minimum criteria (including no privatizations, no war involvement, and no cuts in social welfare spending). The grouping seeks to position the party firmly against any form of capitalism. Prominent representatives of this group are Sahra Wagenknecht, Tobias Pflüger, Cornelia Hirsch, and Ulla Jelpke.
  • The Communist Platform (Kommunistische Plattform, KPF) was originally formed as a tendency of the PDS. It is less critical of German Democratic Republic than other groupings, and it upholds orthodox Marxist positions. A "strategic goal" of the KPF is "building a new socialist society, using the positive experiences of real socialism and to learn from mistakes" [25] Its primary leader is Sahra Wagenknecht, who is on the National Committee of the Left Party. The Platform had around 850 members in 2007, according to the Verfassungsschutz[26] - around 1% of the total party membership.
  • The Reform Left Network (Netzwerk Reformlinke)[27] was originally formed in 2003 as a tendency in the PDS. It promotes social democratic positions and supports cooperation with the SPD and the Greens. A prominent member of the network is Petra Pau.
  • The Democratic Socialist Forum (Forum demokratischer Sozialismus)[29] is a democratic socialist faction that was originally part of the PDS. It supports continued participation in the state governments of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is most similar to the Reform Left Network.

In addition to the main platforms, a number of far-left groups have joined the Left Party since its formation, including Linksruck (now known as Marx21). Socialist Alternative members have sought to join, but the application for membership by Lucy Redler and others has been controversial. Other groups, such as the German Communist Party and the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany, have formed local alliances with the Left but have not joined the party.

References

  1. ^ Alle Linken-Abgeordneten unter Beobachtung, sueddeutsche.de, 15 September 2009, accessed 25 September 2009
  2. ^ Wahl zum 17.Deutschen Bundestag am 27.September 2009 - vorläufiges Ergebnis
  3. ^ "Mitgliederzahlen September 2008" Die Linke website.
  4. ^ a b Steve Rosenberg (2009-09-24). "German hard left set to gain ground". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  5. ^ "Our alternative: Social, democratic and peacemaking reforms to overcome capitalism" Programmatic Points, part III
  6. ^ "Bundestag paves way for Lisbon Treaty ratification". EurActive.com. 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  7. ^ Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007, Federal Ministry of the Interior.
  8. ^ Aktenzeichen: 20 K 3077/06, 20 K 6242/03
  9. ^ Beobachtung von Linkspartei-Politiker verboten, Welt Online, 17 January 2008, accessed 16 March 2008
  10. ^ Die Linke – keine Gefährdung für die Verfassung, tagesschau.de, 16. January 2008, accessed 16 March 2008
  11. ^ Beobachtung von Linkspartei-Politiker verboten, Welt Online, 17 January 2008, accessed 16 March 2008
  12. ^ Neue Linke verunsichert Verfassungsschützer, netzeitung.de, 18 June 2007, accessed 16 March 2008
  13. ^ Verdrängte Parteigeschichte: Plädoyer für eine Entzauberung der Linkspartei, spiegel.de, 25 September 2009, accessed 25 September 2009
  14. ^ [http://archiv2007.sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html/zid14369/bs1/n50 PDS wird Mauer als Unrecht bezeichnen - keine Entschuldigung], sozialisten.de, 14 June 2001, accessed 25 September 2009.
  15. ^ "Germany after the Bremen election," The Economist (17 May 2007).
  16. ^ "A mess in Hesse," The Economist (6 November 2008).
  17. ^ "Ypsilanti verzichtet auf Spitzenkandidatur," Der Spiegel (8 November 2008).
  18. ^ Christian Teevs, "Hessens Grüne schwenken auf Anti-CDU-Kurs," Der Spiegel (12 November 2008).
  19. ^ Landeswahlleiter, "Final Result of the election (Endgültiges Ergebnis der Landtagswahl)(PDF)," Staatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen(16 February 2009).
  20. ^ "Linkspartei überholt SPD erstmals im Westen," Der Spiegel (3 September 2008).
  21. ^ "Linkspartei im Aufwind," Der Spiegel (16 October 2008).
  22. ^ "SPD stürzt auf 20 Prozent," Der Spiegel (4 June 2008).
  23. ^ "Peter Sodann wäre ein Bundespräsident des Volkes," statement by Bisky, Gysi and Lafontaine (14 October 2008).
  24. ^ http://www.antikapitalistische-linke.de/
  25. ^ Beschluss der Landeskonferenz der Kommunistischen Plattform der Partei DIE LINKE des Landes Brandenburg vom 29.9.2007
  26. ^ Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007, p152, Federal Ministry of the Interior.
  27. ^ http://www.reformlinke.net/
  28. ^ http://www.emanzipatorische-linke.de/
  29. ^ http://www.forum-ds.de/

Literature

  • Hubertus Knabe, Honeckers Erben. Die Wahrheit über Die Linke. Propyläen, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-549-07329-2
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