>> The SPD head in the south west state of
>> Baden Baden, which tends to be dominated by an alliance of the CDU and the
>> Greens, has called for "unverkrampft" exchanges with the PDS. I think that
>> means uninhibited or unconstrained.
>I would translate 'unverkrampft' as 'relaxed'.
>> Although the CDU is still trying to scare the SPD into avoiding all
>contact
>> with the PDS it appears that that restraint has gone and the SPD has
>> decided in its somewhat weakened condition that for tactical reasons alone
>> it must be able to bargain with the PDS as well as the CDU.
>I think this you got wrong. At the moment the SPD is not so much concerned
>about the PDS, but about itself. But in the last week some moderate CDU
>politicians started a discussion about stopping to demonize the PDS and
>treating it just as any other competing party.
Yes I think I can see that the SPD is likely to be concerned about itself. Perhaps debate about whether to ally with the PDS or the CDU eg in Brandenburg is a reflection of that rather than a cause. If some voices within the CDU consider it is no longer practical to label the PDS as repressive, that is the evidence that it may have got out of that ghetto.
>> Meanwhile I think I caught one suggestion that the SPD should have a
>> strategic alliance with the shrinking FDP. Although the FDP is very much a
>> party of economic liberalism, the formula was said to be based on an
>> understanding between its concepts of human rights and the more social
>> emphasis on human rights of the SPD.
>Strategic alliance with a party thats struggling for existence? That doesnt
>sound so clever to me.
I really could not get a sense whether this suggestion of an SPD FDP alliance was one lone voice or whether it represented anything more. I suppose only small merit for the SPD would be to try to reduce the tendency of FDP votes to go to the CDU. Was it in Saxony or Thuringia where the head of the FDP advised his members to vote CDU?
>Generally I would ask you not to overestimate the recent electoral successes
>of the PDS. In the east the PDS does not stand so much for 'socialism', but
>for 'social justice'. For a 'radical social democratic alliance' the PDS has
>to establish a solid base in the west as well. At the moment the PDS is more
>a regional protest party than a national social democratic alternative.
Yes and no. I can see the points you make, but presumably there are now some cities or at least councils in the West where the PDS together with some Lafontaine type SPD members could imagine themselves getting 20% of the vote if they were in alliance. I take the point that the PDS is not a party of state socialism. Nevertheless any focus of resistance to economic neo-liberalism is to be welcomed. Without having been a strong supporter of the previous East German regime, I nevertheless think that some reaffirmation of left wing goals from Eastern Europe is a confirmation that the fall of the Berlin Wall was not quite the total surrender of social principles that the West makes out.
Chris Burford
London