PDS tail up (Neue Mitte in the doghouse)

[Johannes Schneider]

Chris Burford wrote:
> But if the Greens have also suffered in coalition with the SPD, and the
> left opposition to Schroeder has nowhere to go (until Lafontaine publishes
> his book?) the PDS looks more resilient in the east.
Of course the PDS is stronger than ever in the east.
> Despite Zizek's criticisms of the PDS's oppositon to NATO's war this
> appears to have done it no harm.
To the contrary. NATOs war was even more unpopular in the east than in the
west. Since the PDS was the only party in parliament to oppose the war, they
were the most visible force (to a wider public ) against it.
> Although it does not appear to have
> contested the election in Saarland,
The PDS contested and got 0.9%. Thats hardly an advance and highlights the
problem: Among others the PDS is a regional party of the east.
>in Brandenburg, around Berlin in the
> East, its vote went up 4.6% to 23.3%. What is really significant is that
> the local SPD after losing its overall majority and announcing it would be
> ready for a coalition, made clear that could be either with the PDS or the
> CDU.
At the moment it seems the PDS does not want to enter a coalition with the
Schröder-SPD. Obviously a tactical move: They think they can gain more from
opposition.
> As far as I could pick up the CDU was muted in its warnings about the SPD
> choosing the PDS, whereas last year they attacked the SPD for deciding to
> govern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the north of Berlin with the support of
> the PDS.
In the east no one is afraid of the PDS, its just a normal party like SPD
and CDU. Since the next state eletions are all in the east, the CDU cannot
gain anything by demonizing the PDS.
> Opinion polls show that in Brandenburg  a coalition by the SPD
> with the CDU (as in Berlin) would be somewhat more popular than one with
> the PDS, including for SPD voters, the difference is not overwhelming. It
> looks as if the SPD in a somewhat weaker position has deliberately decided
> to keep the option open of negotiating with the PDS. The anti-communism
> seems to have abated.
Using anti-communism against the PDS works only in the west. Personalities
are important in this case. The CDU chairman in Brandenburg is a former
general and on the right wing of the party. Lothar Bisky is among the
social-democratic reformers inside the PDS. And SPD Brandenburg governor
Manfred Stolpe is a former Stasi informer.
> There are further elections coming up in which the PDS may also be
> reasonably confident of improving its position.
>
> Lothar Bisky, its president, seemed relaxed on television tonight about
the
> prospects of a coalition in Brandenburg. If it stays outside and there is
> an SPD-CDU coalition, it is likely to benefit from protest votes. If it
has
> its first coalition with the SPD it could start having more of a pull on
> the left of the SPD and pick up votes at the next election as a surer
> alternative to the CDU.
It looks as if the PDS prefers to stay in opposition at the moment. The
coalition in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern forced a lot of compromise on them, so a
coalition is not so popular among the common PDS members.
> I would have thought in the east the SPD is likely to get squeezed
somewhat
> between the PDS and the CDU.
In the east only the PDS has a stable electoral base. All other parties
experienced a lot of up and downs in the elections.
> Incidentally I caught that the fascist DVU has as its main slogan 'German
> money for German people'. This thoroughly reactionary slogan is against
the
> interests of German capitalism which needs a large economy with a cheap
> foreign workforce, and substantial investment in developing the market in
> Poland and eastern Europe.
I dont think its as simple like that. To have a cheap foreign workforce
depends on the discrimination of the migrant workers. If they had full civil
rights they could much more easily fight for higher wages.
But whats more important is the ideological aspect of rascism. Since
capitalists are a tiny minority inside society capitalist rule is depending
on playing out different sections of the working class against each other.
Thats why in all imperialist countries scapegoating immigrants is constant
aspect of capitalist rule.
> The fact that they have chosen as their leader
> in Brandenburg a photogenic youngish woman suggests they are caught
between
> playing conventional electoral politics and thuggish fascist politics.
The DVU is a special case. Its more or less a one man show of one elderly
millionaire (Frey) who finances it all. It does not matter who they have
chosen as their frontrunner Frey decides everything by himself. Usually he
selcts people who are to dull to utter any consitent thought. Thats why they
always fall apart.
> Hopefully with the increase in the CDU vote, that party will not think it
> has to make many concessions to the politics of the DVU. The worst case
> scenario is that the DVU grows like their counterparts in Austria.
I dont think the DVU has that potential. More dangerous is the NPD. They
have started to organize the rascist mob in the east and now are even
considered by police as the only ones who can control them. Thats the main
reason why rascist attacks in the east have decreased in the last year.
> The PDS were prominently displaying posters against the fascists at their
> news conference this evening.
Thats the problem: The PDS is only displaying anti-fascist posters, but they
are not mobilizing against rascism. Its more easy to be anti-nazi, than
confronting consistently nationalist and rascist ideas.
Johannes