For Germany's Former Communists, a Stunning Resurgence

[IndianaGreen]

For Germany's Former Communists, a Stunning Resurgence

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 16, 2008; Page A20

BERLIN -- Nineteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the old East German Communist Party is making a comeback.

Known these days simply as the Left, the ex-communists have broadened their appeal by playing to Germans' anxieties about globalization, wealth distribution and welfare cuts. After scraping along for years, the Left now draws the support of one in seven Germans, some polls show -- making it the third most popular party in the country and a potential kingmaker in next year's federal election.

The Left's rebound has stunned Germany's mainstream political parties, which had written off the ex-communists as a relic of the Cold War and long treated them as untouchable extremists. Instead, the Left has upended Germany's once stable political system, increasing the odds that it could come to power in a coalition government.

"After reunification, many pollsters predicted they would fade away," said Manfred Guellner, head of the Forsa research institute, a leading German pollster. "I've never been more uncertain about the future of German politics and the parties than I am now."

Most supporters of the Left live in economically struggling eastern Germany, where nostalgia remains strong for the years of communist rule. In the past several weeks, however, the party has won seats for the first time in regional parliaments in the western states of Hesse and Lower Saxony, as well as the city of Hamburg.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502081.html?referrer=emailarticlepg

[David__77]

1. It's the only consistently progressive party in Germany.

It's why more and more Social Democrats are realizing it's the right choice. The Left Party is a model of progressive coalition - it spans the left from communists to progressive social democrats, radical ecologists, gay and women's liberation activists... And the only reason the Social Democrats are making leftist noises is to keep their base for shifting to the Left Party.

[stimbox]

2. This is promising!

"The Left calls for a full restoration of welfare benefits that have been cut in recent years, a shorter workweek, a minimum national wage and a "wealth tax" on the personal assets of rich people. The party calls itself an alternative to 'unbridled capitalism'"

[Joe Chi Minh]

3. "....where nostalgia remains strong for the years of communist rule!!!!"

They must envy their parents and grandparents for the denied freedoms they had! That terrible Communist tyranny, when they weren't free to sleep under bridges, but had to have a job to go to! Oh, the misery!

This time round, methinks, they'll need to build a wall, not to prevent emigrants leaving the country, but to keep would-be immigrants out. I haven't laughed so long for ages!