> No doubt its critics will see this as a further step in the PDS
> accommodating itself the possibility of working parallel with the Social
> Democratic Party.
Chris, what else do you think it is? Why should the PDS leadership raise this issue now? Beside from historians no one is interested in the issue at all. It is mostly a signal to its own membership that the times of confrontation with Social Democracy are over.
>
> The presentation is in general historical and philosphical terms. I am not
> confident I understand the nuances behind the formulations.
>
I think you got the meaning quite well. Sahra Wagenknecht one of the leading persons inside the PDS Communist platform has criticised the declaration sharply and called it a 'gesture of submission', opposed by a majority of the PDS members. http://de.news.yahoo.com/010420/12/1jlhr.html The Communist Platform has published a declaratton saying the intention is to 'drive out certain members out of the party' and the unification of SPD and KPD was a 'historic neccessity'. Zimmer's and Pau's apology is a 'insult to those PDS members who participated in the antifascist reconstruction'. The Communist Platform declaration is published in today's junge welt: http://www.jungewelt.de/2001/04-20/012.shtml junge welt commentaries: http://www.jungewelt.de/2001/04-20/017.shtml http://www.jungewelt.de/2001/04-19/002.shtml
Johannes
For reference I am attaching the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung report from yesterday:
Social Democrats Receive an Apology
By Johannes Leithäuser
BERLIN. The Party of Democratic Socialism -- the successor to the East German communist rulers -- apologized on Wednesday for the forced union of the Communist Party of Germany (KDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) that took place in the Soviet occupation zone 55 years ago.
PDS leader Gabi Zimmer and Berlin Chairwoman Petra Pau insisted that the apology was not being made in an attempt to pave the way for greater cooperation, coalition or union with the Social Democratic Party. But Ms. Pau did say that the Social Democratic chairman in Berlin, Peter Strieder, had called for the apology.
The issue in question reaches back into the time when Germany lay in ruins after World War II. The Soviet Union decided in the weeks after the war in May 1945 to allow antifacist parties to form in their zone of occupation. These parties, which included the Communist Party of Germany and the Social Democratic Party, then formed an alliance in July, in part because of the country's huge problems. However, political clashes between the two parties ensued with the Communists trying unsuccessfully to dominate the Social Democrats.
A series of elections followed in Europe, including local voting in the Allies' western zones. The results showed that the Communists were unable to make any gains against their Social Democratic rivals. The Communist leadership responded by organizing a quick and forced unification of the two parties in the Soviet zone. The union occurred in April 1946, giving birth to the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which would eventually rule East Germany, from its founding in 1949 to its demise in 1989.
Ms. Zimmer said the declaration was intended to put an end to mutual recriminations between the two current parties and clear the way for meaningful dialogue.
The written apology is titled "55 Years Ago: Forced and Persecuted" and describes the "enforced merger of the KPD and SPD and the persecution of Social Democrats by the SED." The written declaration links the apology for the merger with an apology made by the SED at its "destalinization conference" in the revolutionary winter of 1989-90. At that extraordinary meeting, Ms. Zimmer and Ms. Pau said, the SED "apologized to the East German people for the SED's former leaders taking our country into a crisis that threatened its existence."
They said the foundation of the SED was "brought about using political deception, duress and repression."
SPD General Secretary Franz Müntefering said the PDS had "fulfilled a long-standing, justified demand by the SPD." The "gesture of apology" came "just as late as it was necessary" and was "a step in the right direction," he said.