Exodus to the Left
Boris Kagarlitsky
The Moscow Times, 4 August 2005
For the orderly Germans, early elections like the ones planned for this September are something truly out of the ordinary. However, the biggest sensation is being caused not by the break in the normal schedule of elections or even in the practically inevitable defeat of the Social Democrats now in power. The German press has been madly discussing the appearance of a new party on the political scene, the Leftist Party, or LinksPartei, which, according to polls, has the support of 10 percent of the national electorate.
The new party sprang from the Party of Democratic Socialism, which was most successful in eastern Germany and won some surprising electoral victories in the early 1990s. Several months ago, no one would have gone on record saying that the Leftists would get enough votes nationwide to make it into the Bundestag. But today, the Leftist Party has a chance of becoming the third-largest party in Germany and the most important political force in eastern Germany, edging out not only the Social Democrats but the potential victors in the coming elections, the Christian Democrats, as well.
The party's huge jump in popularity reflects changes in the political atmosphere in Germany that have long been brewing beneath the surface.
In the mid-1990s, the demoralized leaders of the social-democratic movement in Western Europe finally gave up and put themselves at the mercy of the conservatives. Following the banal old adage "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," the leaders of left-wing parliamentary parties one after another turned into supporters of private enterprise and the free market. Basically, they decided that while keeping their old social-democratic label and core voters, they should take up the political and economic agenda of the right and become more or less identical to neo-liberal parties.
From the elite's point of view, a party of this sort would even have certain advantages over classical conservatives. It would mean the same people who should be defending the social safety net were dismantling it.
This upset voters who had long been loyal to the left, but this did not worry the leaders of the parties in Europe's parliaments. They reasoned that leftist voters had nowhere else to go, since they would never go right. Moreover, trade unions remained under the strict control of the party bureaucracy.
However, it turns out that the social-democratic electorate's patience has come to an end. Activists have abandoned Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's party en masse. The exodus was led by former minister and Social Democratic Party chair, Oskar Lafontaine. The disgruntled SPD members created a movement with the clunky name of Wahlalternative Arbeit und Soziale Gerechtigkeit, or WASG, often called the Labor and Social Justice Party in English. As the situation unfolded, Schroder decided to cut his losses and hold early elections. He hoped the WASG would not have time in the remaining two or three months to get organized. He hoped that the westerners who formed the party's core would never be able to come to an agreement with the easterners from the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor to the communist Socialist Unity Party, or SED, which ruled East Germany until 1989.
Schroder hoped in vain. The westerners and easterners merged as fast as they could. The PDS took on a new name, Linkspartei, and opened its party lists to WASG candidates. East met west.
The large-scale departure of union activists from Schroder's party reflects the growing political gap between the Social Democrats, who have snuggled up to neo-liberalism, and the organized labor movement. This means that the projects of leaders like Schroder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair no longer have any point.
While the Leftist Party has gotten a boost from the crisis in social democracy, it has nonetheless managed to create plenty of problems for itself. The PDS's performance in regional governments in eastern Germany has confused many of its supporters, as regional socialist ministers seem to be little different from their capitalist colleagues.
However, at the moment, voters seem more than happy to forgive the leftists for their faults as a way of punishing the SPD. The party's overhaul has spawned new hopes. Even many supporters who left the PDS are now returning to the fold.
Theoretically, the situation may not prove half bad for the Social Democrats. The voters they lose will not look further to the right, after all. Consequently, the Christian Democrats will not be able to get enough votes, even if taken together with the liberals, to form a coalition on their own. They will be forced to turn to the Social Democrats who remain in government to work together. Nothing is preventing this coalition from forming. Significant ideological differences have long ceased to exist between the Social Democrats and the right.
However, participation in this kind of coalition may spell political disaster for the Social Democrats in the future. The SPD will once again be forced to answer for the policies this government will likely pursue, policies that will undermine the social safety net. And the role of opposition force will go to the Leftists.
Copyright 2005 The Moscow Times
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