Political change is not possible with the SPD and Greens, argues Stefan Bornost. Translation by Kate Davison
According to new polls, a coalition of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and Greens would need the participation of the Left Party (Die Linke to form government. This has sparked a discussion in the Party about how to approach the question. In a recent interview with major television channel ZDF, the leader of the Party’s parliamentary caucus, Gregor Gysi, gave the impression that he believed a red-red-green coalition was a real possibility.
But another major Party figure, the former Berlin Senator and economics spokesman Harald Wolf, has contradicted this in a public response to the interview. That this discussion is taking place at all is a result of the weakness of the SPD opposition in the face of Angela Merkel’s CDU (Christian Democratic Union) government.
Steinbrück = Merkel
There is one reason for this weakness: the social democrats are currently unable to mobilize non-voters because SPD leader Peer Steinbrück has not distinguished himself from Merkel. In parliamentary votes on the Euro crisis, the freeze on public debt, and foreign interventions, both the SPD and the Greens have voted with the government – not for tactical reasons, but out of political conviction.
Following the election on 22 September, these parties will support moves to shift the public debt freeze onto the majority of the population, along with moves to bleed southern European countries dry in the interests of the (German) banks and to expand German military interventions around the globe.
Only the Left Party cares about the social good
If the Left Party is to avoid casting aside its entire party program along with its political direction of the past few years, then a governing coalition with the SPD and Greens on this political basis is not an option. On the contrary: alone the contemplation of such a coalition affords Steinbrück a credibility he does not deserve.
The most important overall statement of the Left Party’s election campaign – that a socially-oriented political program is not to be found with the SPD or Greens – is undermined through the suggestion that such a program might after all be possible with the Left Party as a coalition partner.
Alternating majorities
As an alternative to participation in such a government, Harald Wolf puts forward a politics of alternating majorities: the Left Party should vote for Steinbrück as Chancellor and then support progressive proposals on a case-by-case basis.
This could be a way forward, provided that the population’s hope for change for the better through an SPD-Greens coalition is great enough, and provided the Left Party commits absolutely to isolating itself in the event that an SPD-Greens government becomes an obstacle to such progressive change. It was on this basis that the Left Party voted SPD candidate Hannelore Kraft into office the state government of North-Rhein-Westphalia earlier this year (the SPD now has, in coalition with the Greens, an absolute majority in the NRW state parliament).
No hope in Steinbrück
The catch is that such hopes for change do not exist in the case of Steinbrück and co., which is precisely the problem for the SPD in this federal election campaign. If the Left Party supports Steinbrück in getting into office, it will have to immediately withdraw that support when it comes to the very first vote on the budget – or, alternatively, vote for measures that do not accord with the aims and program of the Left Party.
This would be a permanent acid test for the Left Party – like in North-Rhein-Westphalia, where the state caucus repeatedly comes up against the question of whether to support or spill the governing SPD-Greens coalition. In such a context, independent initiatives hardly get a look in.
Strengthen the Left Party
The Left Party would do well to stick closely to the baseline of its own election campaign, to put its own demands in the forefront, and to expose the other parties’ lack of credibility. Any offer to Steinbrück of participation in a coalition or support in the election to Chancellor only confuses the Party’s own supporters and gives the SPD a vote of confidence that it does not deserve.
From Marx21
