7-22-05,8:39am
An extraordinary session of the PDS 9th Congress taking place on 17 July, 2005 in Berlin has decided by 74,6% of the delegates elected (over 90% of the delegates present) to change the name of the party to 'The Left Party' (short form: 'The Left.'). Appending the acronym 'PDS' is possible. This can be decided either at the federal level -- as for example for the forthcoming Bundestag elections -- or by the party organisations of the federal states. For the necessary change of the statutes the consent of two thirds of the elected deputies was necessary.
PDS Chairman Lothar Bisky stressed in his speech at the congress:
'The proposal of changing the party's name means in its core: The Party of Democratic Socialism ventures a second departure!' He gave three reasons for that:
1. The great coalition of dismantling democracy and the welfare state, the advocates of unrestrained competition and militarization must be opposed by a strong left force presenting modern social and ecological alternatives.
2. The PDS will not participate in further splitting the German Left .
3. The PDS itself needs new impulses for having a lasting chance in the German political system. We have to turn the trend of fading membership figures, we need an anchor for the party in all parts of the country, we need a stable and influential group in the German Bundestag.
The WASG is a broad alliance of left forces -- disappointed left social democrats, trade-unionists, attac and other movement activists, former PDS members, communists and others, founded to resist the government policies of brutally dismantling the German welfare state, especially the 'Hartz laws' (named after the head of the responsible government commission).
To prevent the two left parties WASG and PDS from going to the forthcoming elections separately, thus taking from each other votes necessary to overcome the five- percent-barrier for entry into parliament, an agreement was reached to include WASG candidates into open lists of the PDS, as formal election alliances are forbidden by German election law. In a party referendum, 81.6% of the WASG members have approved this decision. But given still wide-spread aversions against the PDS in the West of Germany the WASG had requested to find a solution to leave the decision on the name of the candidates lists to the lander party organisations. This will now be possible. First lander conferences have already taken corresponding decisions. For instance the organisation in the federal state of Saxony, East Germany, will go into the election campaign as 'The Left Party -- PDS Saxony'. The organisation of Saarland, West Germany, decided on 'The Left Party of Saarland'.
The whole project has been boosted considerably by the announcement that Oskar Lafontaine, ex-chairman of the SPD, who left the federal government as vice-chancellor in 1999 and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), whose chairman he had been for years in the '90s, a month ago in a protest move against Schroeder's neo-liberal policies, entered the WASG and declared his readiness to serve as a candidate. Former PDS chairman Gregor Gysi declared his comeback into politics and was presented as frontrunner of the PDS in these elections.
Thus, unexpectedly, the chance has arisen to form a broad coalition of German left forces for these elections, that could quite possibly come out as the third force in parliament in front of the Greens and the Liberals. The polls are giving them a stable 10-12% of the vote, for East Germany even 30% - the position of the strongest party. This news has found considerable resonance in the public, with the other political parties and the media. A wave of new members is coming to both parties since the announcement of cooperation: 1000 to the PDS and about 4000 to the WASG, increasing its membership to around 10,000. Some speak of a historic opportunity to overcome the fragmentation of the German Left. The SPD and CDU are particularly upset, as a continuation of the present government course which is to be expected from the CDU even in a sharpened version in case of its predicted election victory, will result in further resistance of the people concerned and their organisations. Suddenly, they could have a strong voice in parliament, which is not the case now -- the two individual PDS deputies notwithstanding.
After the principal decisions have been taken by the two parties, the Left Party's lander organisations will elect the candidates' lists. The 2nd Session of the Left Party's 9th Congress, already convened for 27 August, 2005 will adopt the election manifesto. Its project has been presented to the public and the congress delegates at the end of this extraordinary session.
The decision on the change of name has also been taken with a view to the future. The two formations have agreed to examine the intersections of their positions in various fields, to sound out the chances of their merger into one party over a period of two years. After the national elections a joint commission is to be set up to discuss all further aspects of the unification project. The Left Party's membership will vote on it in a party referendum.
Thus, a considerable part of the German Left is going the first steps along a new path. As they are breaking new ground, there are big chances, but also no small risks. Important principles will be not to deny the results of last years' struggles and the grown identities of the partners, to find ways to compromise on issues with differing positions. But as the eldest delegate of the congress, 91 year old Hans Lauter, aptly quoted Marx: 'One step of real movement is more important than a dozen good programs.'
As far as the Left Party -- as PDS founding member of the Party of European Left (EL) -- is concerned, it is determined to keep all its cooperation and obligations in the international field fully intact.
