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A big step forward towards left unity in Germany Photo: Arbeiterfotografie
While a conference and giant celebrations in the German capital marked the fiftieth anniversary of the European Union, with heads of state from Poland to Portugal attending, another meeting was being held in the west of Germany, in the Ruhr valley city of Dortmund. Though almost totally eclipsed by the ballyhoo in Berlin, it will also leave its mark in the history books. Actually it was two meetings, or congresses, with two hardworking days spent in neighboring auditoriums, one with delegates from the "Left Party.PDS," the other, also with nearly 400 delegates, from the WASG. Both debated the same resolutions and statutes aiming toward their unification into a single party. The parallel meetings were a major step in the long process. When these two parties hastily joined in an electoral alliance during the last national elections in 2005, they achieved the very satisfactory result of over 8 percent, meaning over 50 seats in the Bundestag. The delegates there have been working and voting together ever since, in opposition to the two ruling parties and their program of air force jets in Afghanistan, reduced pensions, increased medical assistance fees and college fees, draconically meager support for the jobless, and reduced taxes for wealthy corporations. Outside the Bundestag, however, their organizations have thus far remained separate, though usually friendly. Once they merge and work as a single unit in all Germany, it is hoped, they should have a much greater impact, with election totals of 10 percent or more, which would make it more difficult to ignore them or bury their positions in small print and brief, usually ineffective TV sound bites. The WASG, the title stands for Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Security, was founded less than three years ago by militant trade unionists, disgruntled Social Democrats, antiglobalists, and a few Trotskyist groups. It is relatively small in number, with less than 10,000 members largely concentrated in western Germany. The PDS, temporarily called The Left.PDS, has over 60,000 members. It is weak in the West but gets votes of 20-25 percent in most areas of the former GDR, where its predecessor party, the Socialist Unity Party, once ruled. To achieve any importance, however, even to be sure of the five percentage points required to get into the Bundestag safely, the merger of the two was a clear if not always easy solution. There have been many problems and hindrances. Most WASG members, but also an angry minority in the Left.PDS, oppose pragmatic coalitions with the Social Democrats, on the national level -- if ever the chance arises -- but also on the provincial level, where it has arisen, for example in Berlin where, over five years ago, the Left.PDS joined with the stronger Social Democrats to manage the ci