The Left in Germany and the Crisis

Cornelia Hildebrandt / Anna Striethorst

General Situation in 2009

• Finance market crisis has not yet reached population but uncertainty about its real magnitude grows

• The negative results have reached only the “contract staff", temporary workers with a limited employer-employee relationship

• Short term measures for the coping of the crisis continue: reduced working time particularly in the branches that are important for structure such as automobile industry, electrical industry – we lost 50.000 working places in this part of economy(December 2009 = 3,5 Mio. unemployed )

• People feel that their own situation is better than the general

economic situation, even in spite of the crisis estimations are better than 2005 – this thesis confirms the Heitmeyer study “Deutsche Zustände”

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Important topics for the electionrls

The discourse of the crisis in regards to social justice has moved into the background, instead discourse of security

-> no policial experiments

Einschätzung der allgemeinen und der eigenen wirtschaftlichen Lage

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2008KW 20

KW22 KW24 KW 28 KW33 KW 37 KW41 KW43 KW47 KW50 2009KW 02

KW05 KW07 KW10 KW13 KW17 KW19 KW22 KW24 KW27 KW29 KW32 KW34 KW35 Sep 09KW 36

Sep 09KW37

Sep 09KW38

allgemeine Lage gut allgemeine Lage schlecht eigene Lage gut eigene Lage schlecht

Perception of crisis, own situation and economic future

01020304050607080

Apr 09 Mai 09 Jun 09 Jul 09 Aug 09 Sep 09

ich bin von der Krise persönlich nicht betroffen

„I worry about my economic future“ – 2009 51% approval, January 2010 only 43%

-> less fear of crisis

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Election campaigns• CDU: Crisis above all an economic crisis, light focus on

social and ecological questions • SPD: Tame election campaign in order to establish itself

as a potential coalition partner in case of a continued grand coalition – it was very unclear: workers? social climber?

• The FDP: „Who works must have more and achievement must be worthwhile“ + promoting itself as a civil rights party

• Greens: Aimed to become the third strongest party in parliament – linking of ecological, social and economic questions

• DIE LINKE: Promoted itself as a party for social justice and peace. Focus on social questions: neoliberal working-market-order: Hartz IV, pension in the age of 67, education and a retreat from Afghanistan

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Election Results

- 62,2 Mio. voters- Participation

2009: 70,8, (77,7% 2005)

- 3.556 candidates- 29 parties

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Election Results

• 33,8% CDU – worst result since 1949 • 23,0% SPD – loss of 6 Mio. votes (since 1998 loss of

half of the voters)• 14,6% FDP - good results• 10,7% Greens – good results• 11,9% LINKE – best result so far, in the Eastern

Länder LINKE is strongest or second strongest party • Surprisingly LINKE received 16 constituency

mandates

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rlsSitzverteilung

deutliche Mehrheit für schwarz-gelb

Shift of voters

From … to Union SPD FDP Linke Grüne

Non-voters Others

Union - -620.0001.110.

000 70.000 70.000 920.000 70.000

SPD 620.000 - 430.000 780.000 710.000

-1.640.00

0 270.000

FDP-1.110.000 -430.000 - -10.000 -20.000 120.000 40.000

Linke -70.000 -780.000 10.000 - -110.000 0 10.000

Grüne -70.000 -710.000 20.000 110.000 - 20.000 150.000

Non-voters -920.000

-1.640.000 -120.000 0 -20.000 - 0

Others -70.000 -270.000 -40.000 -10.000 -150.000 0 -

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No coalition has a majorityNo preference for red-red-green coalition

Trade Union Members dividedrls

Since 2005 moderate gains of DIE LINKE among trade union members

10% less for SPD, clear gains for FDP, CDU remains same

Consequences of elections for DIE LINKE

- For the first time no majority for the wide left

- DIE LINKE shares opposition with social democrats and Greens

- Other parties represent increasingly anti-neoliberal positions, e.g. SPD demands a minimum wage, longer pay of unemployment benefit, modification of Hartz IV laws

- But still no common left project – the relation of the left towards social democracy is unclear

Internal challenges of DIE LINKE after the elections

- DIE LINKE in the East is a governing party, in the West it remains in opposition

- Party is still in founding process, power vacuum after Bisky´s and Lafontaine´s retreat

- Dispute: DIE LINKE as an antineoliberal or anticapitalist party or party that is critical towards capitalism – crucial issues remain undecided such as stance towards private property, analysis of capitalism, participation in governments

- Discussion on stance towards SPD as a strategic partner and on organisation of party – basis democratic or rather democratic-centralistic

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Voters of the LeftGesamt

(11,9% LINKE-Wähler)West

(8,3% L-Wähler)Ost

(26,4 % L-Wähler)

Workers 17 12 31

Employees 12 8 29

Civil service 8 6 26

Self-employed

8 6 21

Basic school 12 9 28

GCSE 14 9 30

College 12 6 28

Under 30 10 23

30 – 44 9 26

45 – 59 10 33

Over 60 6 28

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The perception of the crisis within DIE LINKE

• All interpretations of the crisis are represented within the left:

Finance market crisis, economic crisis, crisis of neoliberalism, crisis of capitalism, new character of crisis as an interweaving crisis

• Parliamentary Group: Crisis is the heaviest economic crisis for 80 years. It has destroyed 50,000 jobs in Germany, in the metal industry and electrical industry more than 5% of jobs.

• Party executive committee: Crisis of the economic system which produces alone for the profit, structural crisis of the export economy Germany

• The worst has been prevented up to now by reduced working hours, by dismantling of extra hours and by changed statistics.

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Demands of DIE LINKE - economy and labour relations

Good work – general minimum wage of 10 euros

Protection against unfair dismissal

Taking back of the liberalisation of temporary workand subcontracted employment

A future fund of 100 billion euro that financesclimate and infrastructure projects

Publicly funded employment sector for 500.000people

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Demands of DIE LINKE - Social Security

• Lengthening of the short-time worker's money for a period of 36 months

• Lengthening of unemployment benefits for 24 months

• Increase of the unemployment benefit II (social help) to 500 euro

• New calculation of the social help for children – judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court demands reorganization

• Restoration of the old pension formula – connection to the

wage development

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Demands of DIE LINKE – Taxes and Banks

• Tax for those with property of more than 1 million euros – max. 5% = 80 million euro per year

• Rise of the inheritance tax and of the top rate of income tax

• Nationalization of the banking sector, taxation of financial transactions, ban of Hedgefonds and private equity societies, stock market sales tax

• DIE LINKE makes methods of the Government public: e.g., the Government paid 1.8 billion euro for a 25-percent portion of Commerzbank

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Valuation of Demands• Many demands which are raised now have already

been raised since 2005 – no change of the strategy but radicalization of demands

• There is a changed weighting in favor of the demands for a “future fund”

• Lack of demands which refer to the interweaving of the crises – there are no concrete projects in regards to a social-ecological transformation

• In order to develop concrete demands the questions of strategy and programme need to be tackled first

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Perspectives of a left alliance: what does the SPD?

Discourse on analysis of the crisis changes: Crisis is a crisis of the whole system of market radicalism

-> Regulation of the finance markets, keynesian attempts

-> Close alliance with the trade unions

-> popular demands for removal of university fees, wealth tax, stock market sales tax, a rise of the top rate of income tax

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Is a left alliance possible?

- There are certain overlaps between the demands of DIE LINKE and the SPD but there is no common left project

- People get active when they have the impression that their interests are concretely threatened -> difficult to organise protests against crisis

- Division of work: DIE LINKE - Social Justice, SPD - Justice of Chances

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Current challenges

Conservative-liberal coalition runs the risk tospeed up new privatization processes(budgetary situation), danger of dismantling ofsocial rights and employee's protection

-> Mobilization and radicalization of tradeunions and social movements with the result ofincreased tensions between these movements

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Consequences for DIE LINKE

-> DIE LINKE must learn to understand tensions within the left as a productive process of its renewal and become able to connect with trade unions and social movements -> The left needs an alternative project capable of hegemony for a social-ecological rebuilding in a solidary society

-> DIE LINKE must resolve its dispute about a range of open programmatic questions such as: growth and development, the social state in the 21st century, the role of collective security systems, the left in governments, social transformation

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Thank you for your attention!

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