Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 15:18:07 +0100 From: "Johannes Schneider" <Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net> Subject: Re: Post Oskar Scenario
- ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Burford <cburford at gn.apc.org> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 1999 12:25 AM Subject: Post Oskar Scenario
>At 08:32 15/03/99 +0100, Johannes wrote:
>
>> Chris Burford wrote
>>>That the new finance minister comes from Hesse also seems to be a
signal
of
>>>Schroeders determination to pay attention to electability in view of
the
>>>recent SPD losses there. And for that, it is necessary to be
cautious
>>>about what parts of capital can be taken on at any one time.
>>>
>>
>>There is another thing to be kept in mind with Eichel. Actually he is
one
of
>>Lafontaines boys. What he has been calling for in the past was pretty
much
>>in line with the SPD party programme ( and thus Lafontaine ). When he
still
>>was mayor of Kassel he got the nickname the 'Lafontaine of Kassel'.
>>Johannes
>
>
>I am puzzled by this, while I really appreciate the opportunity of
checking
>out these events in an international forum.
>
>Eichel, like a good party man, may have spoken up for the SPD party
>programme, but surely there are some differences between him and
>Lafontaine. He certainly doesn't talk and act like Lafontaine from what
I
>can make out of German television.
You are right he sounds much smoother than Lafontaine, but when you
listen
to what he has been saying instead of how he said, its sounds very close
to
Lafontaine. E.g. I dont think Eichel with antagonize the European
Central
Bank like Lafontaine did. But Lafontaine was counter-productive. Now
that he
has gone interest rates are going to be reduced in Euroland.
Certainly Eichel is much weaker than Lafontaine was inside the cabinet.
Furthermore he is coming in as the loser of the Hesse state parliament
elections. On the other hand Lafontaine is gone but the forces inside
the
SPD (and society as whole) that supported him did not disappear over
night.
Lets see who is going to be appointed as deputy minsiters under Eichel,
since Lafontaines co-workers Noe and Flassbeck left too.
>
>On a point in another post, I clearly agree that people should not tail
>behind the SPD of Lafontaine. I do not know enough about the PDS on the
>present situation to know how they place themselves, but in what sense
are
>they "Stalinist"? The expression can be a catch all of many negative
meanings.
OK, I have to admit this was intended as a sort of polemic and
provocation.
But nevertheless, the PDS is coming from a political tradition within
the
German workers movement that identified closely with Stalin and his
successors. Furthermore the main constituency of the PDS are people who
remember the political system of the GDR quite positively. Perhaps they
are
Stalinists in the same way the editors of the late 'Marxism Today' were.
Johannes
Thanks for your posts, Johannes, they're very interesting. One question I do have though, is how do you define *Stalinist*? Where are you coming from politically? Are you an independent marxist, bureaucratic collectivist, workers stater, flowing free and easy with the breeze,etc? Personally, my politics are close to the Fourth International but I'm relatively new to socialism and while I dont think that the fall of the GDR or the Soviet Union was a positvie development I still have questions about how the working classes in those countries could have organized to overthrow the bureacracies, given the political dictatorships that were in place there.
The PDS sounds like the Russian CP- lots of bureaucratic leftovers and not a lot of potential for independent politics. Boris Kagarlitsky had a negative article on the Russian CP and its role in Russia's current situation- I think that it was either in International Viewpoint or Green Left Weekly.
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