[Labour Affairs Commentary.

The Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) is a new party in Germany representing the interests of German workers in economic and social policy and in foreign and defence affairs. Founded this year in 2024 in a breakaway from the main German left party ‘Die Linke’ because it found Die Linke’s capture by identity politics and globalist ideology was a failure to stand by German workers and their families. In recent provincial elections in eastern Germany the BSW has scored well over 10% and come third in three provinces: Thuringia (15.8%), Saxony (11.8%) and Brandenburg (13.5%). The other well-established insurgent party, the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) did even better, coming first in Thuringia with 32.8%. The federal government in Germany is run by the ‘traffic light coalition’: Social Democrats (Red), Liberal Democrats (Yellow), Greens (Green). They are an incompatible and quarrelsome group who have become deeply unpopular with the electorate. The main opposition party the Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union used to be a socially oriented party but has increasingly become globalist and neoliberal in outlook.

The BSW therefore occupies a political space in Germany that the Workers’ Party of Britain occupies in the United Kingdom. The AfD attracts a lot of young people of disaffected working class origin. However, it is split between economic liberals and conservative nationalists of varying tendencies and some of its prominent members have developed a habit of making unguarded and ill-judged statements about immigration. Despite its similar stance on friendly relations with Russia, the BSW has a working class oriented economic policy in opposition to the economic liberalism of the AfD and, although opposed to unrestricted immigration does not support mass removal of existing immigrant groups as some in the AfD appear to endorse. In a recent TV debate between Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) and Alice Weidel (AfD), Wagenknecht skilfully exploited these differences within the AfD to inflict considerable embarrassment on its leadership. There can be little doubt that any future success for the BSW will come partly at the expense of the AfD as its economic policy and responsible stand on foreign affairs, the EU and migration become better known by the electorate in both western and eastern Germany.]

Text of SW Newsletters—October 2024

[Clarifications in square brackets]

BSW Overview.

With its disastrous economic policy and the self-damaging sanctions against Russia, the ‘Traffic Light Coalition’ has now brought the German economy into the doldrums for the second year in a row. Chancellor Scholz’s grandly announced ‘economic miracle’ has long since turned into a pipe dream: Economic research institutes are predicting a decline of 0.1 per cent in economic growth. 

The consequences are far-reaching: due to the downturn, the state’s tax revenues will collapse in the coming years. The federal, state and local governments will have to make do with 58.1 billion euros less by 2028 than assumed in the spring. 

However, instead of tackling the root of the problem, the traffic light coalition is now fighting amongst themselves over how to plug the budget gap. 

We urgently need a turnaround in economic and energy policy: an end to the Russia sanctions, investment in infrastructure instead of rearmament and solid financing through fair taxation of large assets in favour of the skilled working class. [LA note: BSW is probably referring here to those workers who have gone through extensive vocational education mainly through an apprenticeship and who form the backbone of the working class in Germany].

The Recent State Elections and the Alternativ für Deutschland.

The state elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia were a slap in the face for the traffic light coalition. But instead of learning from their own mistakes and finally taking the interests of voters in Germany seriously, the traffic light parties [Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals] are once again just singing the familiar lament of populism, complaining pointlessly about the decisions of responsible voters. 

And that’s not all: now that the misguided government policy of recent years has made the AfD big, some politicians from the traffic light and CDU/CSU parties in the Bundestag want to initiate a ban procedure against the AfD. They seem to be following the motto: If we don’t like the election result, then we’ll simply ban it retrospectively.

This misguided move is grist to the mill of the AfD, which no longer has to talk about its anti-social political demands but can instead play the convenient role of victim. And the established parties can distract attention from their own political failures.  The voters deserve better.

That is why our chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht confronted Alice Weidel on WELT-TV and made it clear that, unlike us, the AfD is neither a party of peace nor a party of reason. On the subject of migration, Sahra Wagenknecht made it clear that although unregulated migration to Germany must be significantly reduced, the talk of Höcke and co. of obliging millions of immigrant families to ‘remigrate’ to their countries of origin or those of their ancestors is inhumane. It is especially unjust towards those who have arrived in Germany and have become a valued and integrated part of our society.

Great indignation about this from Björn Höcke [Chairman of AfD Thuringia]: In the TV duel with Alice Weidel, I referred to an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [a prominent ‘highbrow’ German national newspaper], according to which Mr Höcke said on the subject of remigration that we would ‘be able to live with 20 to 30 million fewer people in Germany without any problems’. That was wrong. Mr Höcke had actually spoken of 20 to 30 per cent. That is in fact ‘only’ 25 million. But did Mr Höcke really mean something completely different? In the video, I explain how the Höcke method works, why the Thuringian AfD leader, who was once supposed to be thrown out of his own party for being ‘too close to National Socialism’, has a real strategic problem [LA: in appealing to disaffected but non-racist voters] and why working with people like him is out of the question.

Differences between us and the AfD also became clear when it came to the economy: it goes without saying that performance and effort must be rewarded. This is precisely why, unlike the AfD with its blind faith in the market, we stand for policies in the interests of the working majority with good wages and pensions and are in favour of a strong welfare state that supports people who find themselves in need through no fault of their own. We fight for performance and tax justice and are against policies that ensure that the number of billionaires, who have generally inherited their wealth and not earned it, grows. 

And unlike the AfD, which is campaigning for even more armament and turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, we are a consistent peace party.

There can be no ‘business as usual’ in politics; the will of the voters must finally be reflected in government policy. We therefore also propose that a vote on the introduction of a pension system similar to that in Austria, where the average pensioner has 800 euros more per month in their wallet, be held at the same time as the general election. 

With this in mind, let’s continue to fight together for a better country!

Defence and Foreign Policy:

Enforce arms embargo on Israel instead of expanding arms exports! 

A clear majority of Germans are in favour of an arms embargo against Israel: 60 percent oppose arms exports to Israel, according to a recent Forsa survey. And the German government? While the Israeli army is burying the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip under rubble and ashes, bombing neighbourhoods and hospitals in Lebanon and firing on UN troops, the German government is even expanding its arms exports to Israel. Apparently, the SPD Chancellor and his traffic light coalition colleagues are as indifferent to the tens of thousands of dead civilians, including thousands of women and children, as they are to international humanitarian law. Instead of aiding and abetting war crimes with further arms deliveries to Israel, Mr Scholz should heed the wishes of the majority and finally impose an arms embargo on Israel. 

Against War with Russia:

In a reckless speech in the Bundestag last week, Friedrich Merz [LA: parliamentary leader of the Christian Democrats] effectively called for Germany to go to war against Russia. While the world’s largest military power, the USA, for good reasons has not lifted the range restriction on the use of US missiles, the CDU leader wants to deliver long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine after a 24-hour ultimatum to Russia and authorise attacks far into Russian territory. 

This is sheer madness! In the ARD [LA: major TV channel] interview, I explain why the BSW will only enter coalitions with the CDU if the state government takes a different position on relations with Russia from that of the Federal Government, why we reject the deployment of US medium-range missiles, which increases the nuclear risk for Germany, and why there can be no ‘business as usual’ on the issue of peace, education, internal security or the Covid enquiry.