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Left Party (Germany) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Between 1990 and 2005 the party's PDS predecessor had been seen as the leftwing "party of the East", and whilst achieving minimal support in western Germany regularly won 15-25% of the vote in eastern Germany, entering coalition government (with the SPD) in two of eastern Germany's five states. At European level the PDS co-founded the European Left alliance of parties, and the Left Party is the largest party in the European Parliament's European United Left/Nordic Green Left parliamentary group. The party continues to win eastern voters by emphasizing political competence and refuses to be labelled as merely a "protest party," although certainly the party attracted millions of protest voters in the federal election, profiting from growing dissatisfaction with high unemployment and cutbacks in health insurance, unemployment benefits, and workers' rights. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Left_Party_(Germany)   (1972 words)

German federal election, 2005 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Both parties lost seats compared to 2002, as did the Greens, whilst only the Left Party (a partial successor of the Party of Democratic Socialism led by Gregor Gysi and former SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine) made significant gains. The leaders of the far left Party of Democratic Socialism (the "PDS") agreed to let candidates of the centre left Labour and Social Justice Party (the "WASG") run on their party list, leaving open the possible future option of a merger between the two parties. All three parties held conferences on November 14 (the CDU in Berlin, the CSU in Munich and the SPD in Karlsruhe) which voted to approve the deal. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/German_federal_election,_2005   (3171 words)

Divisions emerge in Germany's Left Party The decision is a slap in the face for the Left Party, which is in the process of fusing with the WASG and proposes to stand its own candidates in the Berlin election. The Left Party came into being at a congress in July 2005 when the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism—successor to the ruling Stalinist party of East Germany) renamed itself and opened up its ranks to members of the Election Alternative, which is based mainly in the west of Germany. The majority of the Left Party parliamentary faction is comprised of members of the former PDS, but there is little doubt that if faced with the loss of their lucrative parliamentary posts, the WASG deputies would switch their membership to the Left Party. www.wsws.org /articles/2006/mar2006/germ-m09.shtml   (1322 words)

Left wing Article, Leftwing Information   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) In politics, left-wing, politicalleft, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to thesegment of the political spectrum typically associated with anyof several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the United States sense of the word), or with opposition to right-wing politics. Many Greens deny that green politics is "on the left"; nonetheless, their economic policies can generally be considered left-wing,and when they have formed political coalitions (most notably in Germany, but also inlocal governments elsewhere), it has almost always been with groups that would generally be classified as being on the left. Some critics of the left also suggest that deconstructionism is not the only Nietzschean element in contemporary leftism, pointing to older, mistaken interpretations of Nietzscheas the font of moral relativism and the " God is dead " philosophy, both of which they see as characterizing the perceived nihilism of modern leftist politics. www.anoca.org /party/war/left_wing.html   (4979 words)

Germany: Elections see big victory for Left Party The Left Party was formed through a combination of the renamed PDS and members of the WASG (Work and Social Justice) party that had been formed last year. The success of the Left party was also important in limiting the advance of the neo-fascist NDP, although it was able to increase its vote from 266,000 to over 740,000, a clear warning of what could happen in the future if the labour movement fails to offer a serious alternative. Unfortunately the Left Party´s material was not always able to counter this, particularly in the city of Berlin where their local leaders are involved in carrying out social cuts and the worsening of wages and working conditions. www.socialistworld.net /eng/2005/09/20germany.html   (770 words)

Germany's Left Party adopts a reformist program The Left Party is unable to deal with this issue, because it seeks itself to foster new illusions in the social reformist perspective which has failed so miserably. According to the chairman of the party, Lothar Bisky, as expressed in his introductory speech, the mere presence of the Left Party in the German parliament (Bundestag) would be sufficient to force the other parties to adopt a more conciliatory social policy. The Left Party is clearly dedicated to the “vain effort to repair the capitalist order.” A large part of its election propaganda consists of assertions that their program is “realistic” and can be “financed.” By this it means that it can be carried out without interfering with capitalist relations. www.wsws.org /articles/2005/sep2005/germ-s05.shtml   (2626 words)

European Left - Information to the forthcoming national elections in Germany The main task of the one-day congress is to adopt the electoral manifesto of the party and to use the large media presence for starting into the real hot phase of the campaign toward the 18 September Bundestag elections. On 19 August, 2005 Lothar Bisky, chairman of the Left Party.PDS and Klaus Ernst, spokesman of the WASG, held a press conference to inform on the present situation in the merger process of the two organisations. The aim is the unification of people of the German Left from East and West with different social backgrounds and political experience into a strong new party which is fighting against the neo-liberal model of society, is strengthening civil protest and advancing alternative solutions. www.european-left.org /press/pressreleases/pr/elstatement.2005-08-30.4672331756   (913 words)

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | New left strikes chord in disillusioned east The party is the result of a merger earlier this year between east Germany's former Communist party and the Work and Social Justice party, a new group founded by disaffected activists from Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats. Germany's mainstream political parties have all heaped abuse on the Linkspartei, and in particular, the party's populist star candidate, Oskar Lafontaine. The party's other star candidate is Gregor Gysi, a sharp east German lawyer and the leader of the PDS, the former Communist party. www.guardian.co.uk /germany/article/0,2763,1561831,00.html   (934 words)

GERMANY: Spectre of the Left Rises The new Left Party has been formed at a critical juncture in post-war German history: the country's affluent and technologically powerful economy, the fifth largest in the world, has become one of the slowest growing in the euro currency zone. Germany's aging population (some 19 percent are 65 and above), combined with high chronic unemployment affecting some five million people or nearly 11percent of the workforce, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. This forced the coalition government of SPD and the Green Party to introduce significant cuts in the social welfare system, causing considerable disaffection among the general public and jeopardising the social and political consensus for which Germany was envied for decades. www.ipsnews.net /africa/interna.asp?idnews=29600   (1139 words)

Germany: Moves towards a new “left party”? The Schill party succeeded in largely picking up on the anger that existed against the the SPD, which was in office in Hamburg since the end of World War II, and which was involved in a number of corruption scandals. As long as the left does not succeed in putting forward an alternative, there is always the danger that by using anti-establishment slogans right wing, populist formations can exploit the anger and discontent that exists amongst large sections of the working class and youth. However, we are convinced that a new left party would need to adopt an action programme that marks an end to the neo-liberal agenda of the SPD at national, regional and local levels. www.socialistworld.net /eng/2004/04/01germany.html   (3351 words)

Germany: birth of left party|17Jul04|Socialist Worker   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) split in 1917 when the majority continued to support the war and a big minority broke to form a left wing party opposed to the slaughter. Key sections of the trade unions have called for a new party of the left, which is set to be founded at a conference in November. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the movement for a new party of the left in Germany. www.socialistworker.co.uk /article.php?article_id=898   (812 words)

CNN.com - Analysis: The new 'Left Party' in Germany - Jul 21, 2005 The new "Left Party" is a coalition of disillusioned former Social Democrats and the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). While Germany prepares for elections, the impact of Lafontaine and Gysi and their new "Left Party" is likely to have more impact on Germany's political direction than either of the two main parties would like to admit. Whatever the criticism from the mainstream parties, the Left Party is injecting new life into the usually rigid German political scene in the run-up to the elections this Autumn. edition.cnn.com /2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/germany.cooke   (674 words)

In Defence of Marxism - Hung parliament in Germany and Left Party advance - German elections express increasing Class ... The success of the left party has to be understood against the background of attacks on living standards and living conditions that have triggered off movements of social resistance over the last two years (mass demonstrations against the dismantling of the welfare state, Monday demos of the unemployed, especially in the East, strike movements, etc.). Though the Left party still has its bastions in the East, it has significantly advanced in the West, also, where its overall share was 4.9 percent. Being labelled as the “urchins” and “untouchables” by the other parliamentary parties, the Left Party will be presented with enormous opportunities for growth if they manage to put forward a clear socialist alternative and become what they have promised to be: a committed mouthpiece of trade unionists and all the underprivileged sections in society. www.marxist.com /hung-parliament-germany190905.htm   (1214 words)

Goodbye PDS, Hello "Left Party" | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 17.07.2005 By merging with Lafontaine's leftist splinter party, the PDS hope to turn The Left Party into a socialist force to be reckoned with should early elections go ahead in September, as widely anticipated. Germany's new leftist alliance could be a major thorn in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's side should Friday's confidence vote result in early elections, as support for the party surged to 11 percent in a recent poll. As Germany gears up for planned elections in September, parties big and small, old and new are dusting down their soap boxes and sprucing up their images in preparation for the battle ahead. www.dw-world.de /dw/article/0,1564,1651365,00.html   (588 words)

OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail The muddled result, with neither major party able to form a stable parliamentary majority, means that Germany will not be taking decisive action anytime soon to reform its unwieldy welfare state, which has helped bring it 11% unemployment and zero economic growth That will not be good for the world. The results mean that in retrospect Germany might have passed a tipping point about the time the country unified with its lost eastern states in 1990 after the collapse of communism. The Left Party, an amalgam of former East German Communists and erstwhile Social Democrats disaffected by Mr. www.opinionjournal.com /diary/?id=110007280   (1309 words)

Left Party Puts Rivals on Offensive | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 20.07.2005 Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: "Left Party" leaders Lothar Bisky (right) and Gregor GysiAnd then came "The Left Party." The former Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor to the SED party that ruled East Germany for almost 40 years, joined forces with the western-based Election Alternative for Social Justice (WASG). Party general-secretary Dirk Niebel doesn't believe statements by the SPD and the Greens that they wouldn't form a coalition with the "Left Party." Such a partnership, he told MDR Info radio, would be a step back "into the past." After much back and forth, Germany's reform communist PDS party on Sunday voted in favor of joining a new leftist alliance, and agreed to change their name, as expected, to The Left Party. www.dw-world.de /dw/article/0,1564,1653845,00.html   (852 words)

ABC News: Germany's Left Party Excluded From Talks   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) But rather than turning to the Left Party next to take them past the 50-percent mark and prevent conservatives led by Angela Merkel from taking power, Schroeder's party is wooing the pro-business Free Democrats, who have refused to agree to attend talks to seek common ground. The Left Party is considered untouchable for several reasons, some political and some personal. It was formed in the run-up to the election by the successors to the former East German communist party and a new group formed by renegade Social Democrats upset at Schroeder's attempts to reform the welfare state. abcnews.go.com /International/wireStory?id=1145414&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312   (369 words)

German Left Party Offering Alternative   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) The party's attacks on Schroeder's social welfare reform programs, its pledges to raise unemployment insurance and seek a minimum wage, coupled with a strong anti-war stance, has resonated with voters as Germany struggles with a 11.5 percent jobless rate and a stagnant economy. Party leader Oskar Lafontaine, a former Social Democratic chairman and finance minister, told some 300 delegates at a party congress Saturday that the Left Party was the only true leftist alternative. Among their other issues, the Left Party agreed to push to establish a $1,725 monthly minimum wage, decreasing taxes on low-income earners while increasing taxes for those with higher-incomes, and increase bonus payments for families with babies. www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/27/international/i132251D06.DTL   (457 words)

THE HANDSTAND The Left Party won 5.2 percent of the vote in North Rhine Westphalia, 5.3 percent in Hessen, 5.6 percent in Rheinland-Pfalz and a whopping 18.5 percent in Lafontaine's home state, Saarland. Petra Sitte, the party's leading candidate in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, is ecstatic at what she calls "a tremendous opportunity to gain a foothold in the West," adding that this was something her party would never have imagined possible in the years after reunification. Wolfgang Gehrcke, the party's state leader in the western state of Hessen, is already fantasizing about voting current governor Roland Koch out of office in 2008 with an alliance of his Left Party, the Social Democrats and the Green Party. www.thehandstand.org /archive/october2005/articles/theleft.htm   (1924 words)

Germany - Crisis of the SPD and the New "Left Party" Germany - Crisis of the SPD and the New "Left Party" Crisis of the SPD and the New "Left Party" The new “Left Party” - in gestation, at any rate in its present form - is to some extent the result of Gerhard Schröder’s initiative seeking an early general election by organizing his own defeat in a vote of confidence in the Bundestag. www.internationalviewpoint.org /article.php3?id_article=837   (2013 words)

Rise of new German left|27Aug05|Socialist Worker   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13) The new Linkspartei (left party) was formed by the merger of the WASG, itself a new left wing political force, and the PDS, the former East German Communist Party. He hoped to strangle the new left in its cradle, but the prospect of early elections forced a debate on cooperation between the WASG and the PDS. As the new Linkspartei emerged the SPD lurched to the left, attacking venture capitalists as “locusts”, promising to tax the rich and warning George Bush not to attack Iran. www.socialistworker.co.uk /article.php4?article_id=7194   (700 words)

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