Die Linke: Now What?
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- Published on Wednesday, 15 January 2020 23:18
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1978 ... January 16, 2020
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Die Linke: Now What?
Three Suggestions for a Left Strategy Discussion
Mario Candeias
Society is being transformed. The party system is in a state of upheaval. Parties continually find themselves in troubled waters, and Die Linke (The Left Party) is no exception. The future itself has become uncertain. In which direction should the party -- and society as a whole -- move? This is what is at stake. In such a dynamic situation, what strategies will clearly demonstrate Die Linke’s value. How can the party become effective socially? There is no blueprint for any of this. Of course, not everything has to be re-invented; we can draw from many existing approaches. But what is needed is a critical, forward-looking discussion about these approaches that is grounded in solidarity. To this end, the party is going to organize a strategy conference. This contribution is intended to provide stimulus for a party sharpening its profile by producing selected and exemplary conflicts of connective and social-ecological class politics, by providing a socialist perspective, and by developing clear project... proposals for a left government.
Our Starting Point: Three Poles Amidst Social Crisis
As in many other countries, Germany’s party system has been in turmoil since the onset of the major crisis. However, this situation is better than the relative stalemate of fully-developed (neoliberal) hegemony. New awakenings are taking place throughout Europe, just as in Germany. These upheavals are, without a doubt, highly dangerous. The direction that these dynamics take can be unpredictable, and they have already left many parties from all political camps in the dust. The most recent elections in eastern Germany and the European elections before them are a clear warning sign, though they do not represent the general tendency. The crisis at hand is, therefore, not restricted to Die Linke but is a broader social crisis that is transforming every party and several different countries.
A constellation has formed which can be described as a threefold polarization: the first pole is made up of the power bloc currently in office (and the capital factions that support it), or the "small power blocs" in the Länder (German federal states) (awarding the Prime Minister a bonus as a pillar of stability and to prevent the radical right party AfD from becoming the strongest party). The second pole is the Alternative for Germany (AfD), whose growth slowed down but which is strong and whose discourse is influential. It represents the real "challenger" to the government and the established parties in general. The third social pole stands for defence of a mode of living based on solidarity and democracy, as well as the ecological foundations of society (which became evident in Saxony as well, when 90 percent of participants at the #unteilbar -- #undivided -- demonstration in Dresden were from regional areas). This third pole has found representation in a political party, but unfortunately, Die Linke is not (or only partly) that party: the Greens (Die Grünen) are.
