By mid-November Germany will almost certainly be governed by a “Grand Coalition” involving Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. The programme of this government is a foregone conclusion, the same old recipe of privatisations and cuts. For now the bosses are happy with this, but this government is preparing the ground for a greater radicalisation on the left similar to what we saw back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
There is
greater instability in Germany than ever before in post-war
history. Both big parties, the Social Democrats
(SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) lost considerably. The virtual deadlock
is caused by the fact that after a short and very polarised election campaign
both camps failed to get anywhere near a majority of seats.
Yesterday’s German
elections have produced what amounts to a hung parliament. There is a strong
element of class polarisation in German society, which is reflected in these
elections results. Of particular interest is the emergence of the Left Party,
which did very well in the historic bastions of the PDS but also picked up a
reasonable vote in what was the former “affluent” West.
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Schröder has dissolved the Bundestag and has called early elections for
September 18. Polls show a drastic fall in the SPD vote and the most
likely outcome seems a victory of the right wing Christian Democrats.
But on the left a new formation is emerging, the Left Alliance, made up
of the PDS (former Communist Party of East Germany) and the WASG, a
left split of disenchanted social democrats and trade unionists, and
the former leader of the left of the SPD, Oskar Lafontaine, is
preparing to be its main leader. The crisis of German capitalism is
preparing the ground for greater instability and a polarization of
German society.