It is good to hear serious arguments from within other countries from Hinrich and Johannes.
Hinrich probably will wish to continue to ignore my comments, ironically in the context of this thread, because I held a similar position on the war in Kosovo to that of Ken Livinstone, the left of centre Mayor of London.
But even though there is obviously some truth in Johannes's remarks about the likelihood of budget cuts and the electoral electoral calculations of the SPD and PDS, the PDS surely has a wider agenda than Johannes suggests. Essentially it is Gramscian agenda to win ideological hegemony. Yes the PDS will be pressurised to be a responsible party, and I am not aware that its leadership of the local councils in Berlin is thought to be incompetent, but there is also a mischievous, subversive quality to its initiatives.
Yes the SPD may be expecting no more money if it wins the mayorship, at least for speculative land development. But in the broadest terms finance capital may well be willing to compromise with the social and cultural engineering of a left of centre regional government as a price for relative social peace. And aren't subventions still going to the Neue Laender to the tune of 50 billion DM a year or have I got that wrong? Some compensatory budget moves to support Berlin are quite possible.
The CDU strategy appears today to be one of strongly attacking the SPD for accepting any support from the desecendants of the SED and builders of the Wall. Down with the Red Socks! This is to distract from the basis of the withdrawal of the SPD from the Grand Coalition on the grounds of the massive bank debts that have been run up under Diepgen's leadership in conjunction with speculative capital.
It seems very possible the CDU will draft Schaeuble, the succesor to Kohl as party leader, until he too got caught up in the secret donations affair. I doubt however that the PDS decision to field Gysi is primarily defensive. It is almost certainly an offensive move to seize Gramscian leadership not of a government imposing cuts (which the PDS is under no obligation to join) but of the whole Gramscian terrain of battle.
Chris Burford
London
At 13/06/01 14:36 +0200, Johannes wrote:
>Hinrich Kuhls quoted:
>
> >
> > "... Die Erleichterung, dass es in Berlin endlich zu einer neuen
> > politischen Mehrheit kommt, bedeutet nicht, dass große Hoffnungen in einen
> > politischen Neuanfang gerechtfertigt sind. Die trostlose Sanierungsaufgabe
> > besteht darin, die Bevölkerung für eine Fortführung des Sparkurses zu
> > gewinnen, damit eine Privatisierung der Bankgesellschaft Berlin möglich
> > wird.
> >
>
>Since this is the key passage from the Sozialismus editorial here is a rough
>translation:
>
>"The relief over the fact that there will be a new political majority in
>Berlin, does not mean great expectations of a fresh start are justified. The
>bleak task of consolidating the budget means to win over the population for
>a continuation of budget cuts in order to make a privatisation of
>Bankgesellschaft Berlin possible."
>
>One has to keep in mind for who Sozialismus is catering: the lower ranks of
>the union beaurocracy having symphatizing with the PDS. This clientele has
>to be prepared that a government participation by the PDS does not mean
>budget expanison in a Keynesian style but the continuation of the strict
>auterity policy began by the conservatives. In return for advertising this
>bleak perspective the PDS is promised to become part of the 'respectable'
>parties. In this respect the anti-communist camapign by conservatives is
>functional as well: It puts pressure on the PDS to proof they are a
>'responsible' political force. The best way they can do this is to defend
>the continuation of austerity policies.
>
>Perhaps there is something to rejoice for all the PDS bureaucrats who are
>going to be awarded jobs in the Berlin administration for containing social
>protest against budget cuts, but for all those who have to bear the effects
>of those cuts there is little to rejoice.
>
>Below is an excerpt from a WSWS article showing the readiness of the PDS of
>becoming 'respectable'. Full text at:
>http://wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/berl-j09.shtml
>Johannes
>
>
>"The SPD is striving to establish a coalition with the Green Party and the
>PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism-formerly the Stalinist Socialist Unity
>Party) and has made clear that its main task will be to consolidate the
>state budget with a strict policy of cuts. Amongst other measures, the SPD
>is planning to save 150 million marks at the city's three universities.
>
>When the finance speaker of the CDU fraction, Alexander Kaczmarek, sought to
>justify a policy of privatisation with the words, "The events at the BGB
>show that the city is a poor employer", a speaker for the SPD retorted that
>such remarks were "cynical". Meanwhile the SPD is considering selling off
>the city's 83 swimming pools, in addition to privatising state-owned housing
>societies and the Benjamin Franklin clinic.
>
>Both the Green Party and the PDS have signalled their readiness to support
>such cuts. The chairman of the PDS fraction in the Berlin parliament, Harald
>Wolf, emphasised at a press conference that in light of the parlous
>financial situation, there was no alternative to "deep and painful cuts in
>all areas". The increased debt of 9.6 billion marks "exceeds all previous
>dimensions," said Wolf.
>
>Should the SPD "seriously be ready to make a new beginning in the city " the
>PDS "would not evade its responsibilities," Wolf continued. Then it would be
>necessary to discuss, without taboos, "what, if anything, the city can
>afford".
>
>Targets for cuts include cultural institutions as well as two university
>clinics. The change in government, according to Wolf, is required to create
>the necessary acceptance in the population at large for such "painful cuts".
>
>When he was asked how it was possible to reconcile such a position with the
>PDS's previous opposition to the "slash and burn policies of the Senate", he
>replied that the PDS "had never ruled out the prospect of consolidating the
>budget".