2011 State Elections in Germany

[DL]

Wasn't the Green Party initially created by dissidents in the SPD in the 80s who wanted a nuclear freeze and opposed the cruise missile?

[Middle-aged Europe]

Well, the Greens were actually founded by ex-communists (many of them former Maoists, actually) for the most part. A couple of former SPD members (and ex-CDU members) also participated. Most of the ex-CDU members soon left party again to found the more conservative ödp. And Claudia Roth, current co-chairwomen of the party, was originally a member of the then-youth organization of the FDP back in the 70s.

But the nuclear armament thing was certainly a major factor in the party's rise. Along with nuclear energy. The Greens are in fact still supporting the removal of all nuclear weapons from Germany. So do the SPD, the FDP, and the Left though... But the Greens were certainly the first to advocate for it during the Cold war.

[republicanism]

Well, the Greens were actually founded by ex-communists (many of them former Maoists, actually)

And to be even more accurate, most of them were member of one particular Maoist organization, the Kommunistischer Bund (KB).
Though I wouldn't go so far to say that they "found" the Greens. The Maoists were one of three or four important groups during the party building process.

[minionofmidas]

The Green Party was founded by Herbert Gruhl and August Haußleiter (and the GLU, a group of mostly Lower Saxon local ecology and antinuclear initiatives that fit the party's 80s profile much better. And Joseph Beuys, funnily enough). Gruhl was a CDU backbencher who discovered ecology issues in the 70s and fell out with his party as a result. Haußleiter was a "non-aligned" gadfly who over his long career occasionally flirted with the very far right. (He was actually vice chairman of the CSU in 1948-9 before quitting the party. )
The Lefty groups - Spontis and KB/KBW people, Trot is probably a better description than "Maoist" - got on board quite quickly though. Much to Gruhl's chagrin who quit, and whose people went on to found the ödp. Haußleiter died a Green Party member, but quite devoid of relevance, in 1989. He did actually co-edit the party til the end, but that's a) because he'd brought that thing into the party straight from his earlier club AUD b) part of why it never got much track even among the membership before a relaunch in the middle 90s.

Funny thing is... in the early 80s debate between Fundis and Realos... it was usually the people with a solid 70s far-left past who were the Realos. It's like... two currents crossed in 1980-3 and crossfertilized by happy coincidence. One was the isolated "hard" post-68ers track back to mainstream relevance, complete with throwing Maoist junk overboard and partly caused by feeling finally forced to choose between the Country and the RAF thanks to the Deutscher Herbst (and finding themselves choosing the Country). And the other is mainstream(-left) environmental and nuclear angst, trending towards an occasionally quite esoteric antipolitical left stance.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Jürgen Trittin, Reinhard Bütikofer, Winfried Kretschmann, and Krista Sager come to mind as examples for former Maoists.

That's the current co-leader of the Green Bundestag caucus, a former federal chairman of the party,  the current minister-president of Baden-Württemberg, and a former co-leader of the Green caucus.

[Tender Branson]

Recently seen in Berlin:



http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,779758,00.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

The picture on the right is of course the anti-NPD satire.

[Peter the Lefty]

Berlin

36% SPD
23% CDU
22% Greens
  8% Left
[/quote]
Wow.  Künast and the Greens have fallen behind the CDU for the first time in a while.  I guess we can take it that Wowereit will be easily re-elected then. 

[Franzl]

Berlin

36% SPD
23% CDU
22% Greens
  8% Left

Wow.  Künast and the Greens have fallen behind the CDU for the first time in a while.  I guess we can take it that Wowereit will be easily re-elected then. 
[/quote]

Oh certainly. The only question is whether he'll be able to choose his coalition partner or not. That's pretty close.

[Tender Branson]

Here´s another reason why the Left will get decimated in the coming state elections:

Germany's former communists hail Castro in birthday letter

The German Left Party hailed Fidel Castro and his socialist model in a letter sent to the Cuban leader to mark his 85th birthday, media reported on Saturday.

"You can look back proudly on your life of battles and successful action at the head of the Cuban revolution," Gesine Loetzsch and Klaus Ernst, leaders of the party which unites former communists of the defunct East Germany and leftists from the West, wrote in the letter.

"Under your direction, Cuba has remained faithful to its ideals and led a new social development ... Cuba was and is, for these reasons, a model and a reference point for many nations across the world," they said in the letter reproduced by the popular daily Bild and heavily criticised by rival parties.

"These people dream more about socialism than human rights or democracy, they have never distanced themselves from the worn-out concepts of the GDR," the official name of former East Germany, Elmar Brok of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union told Bild.

Fidel Castro, who handed power over to his brother Raul five years ago, celebrated his 85th birthday on August 13.

As Germany marked 50 years since the construction of the Berlin Wall last week, a Left Party youth magazine gave thanks on its front page to East Germany for having built what East Berlin then called the "anti-fascist protection wall" and "protecting peace in Europe".

http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/germany-s-former-communists-hail-castro-in-birthday-letter_170509.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

That's because both co-chairmen of the party are morons.

These things wouldn't happen under Gysi. But then again, Gysi probably knows very well why he doesn't want to become chairman of the party.

[ZuWo]

Here´s another reason why the Left will get decimated in the coming state elections:

Germany's former communists hail Castro in birthday letter

The German Left Party hailed Fidel Castro and his socialist model in a letter sent to the Cuban leader to mark his 85th birthday, media reported on Saturday.

"You can look back proudly on your life of battles and successful action at the head of the Cuban revolution," Gesine Loetzsch and Klaus Ernst, leaders of the party which unites former communists of the defunct East Germany and leftists from the West, wrote in the letter.

"Under your direction, Cuba has remained faithful to its ideals and led a new social development ... Cuba was and is, for these reasons, a model and a reference point for many nations across the world," they said in the letter reproduced by the popular daily Bild and heavily criticised by rival parties.

"These people dream more about socialism than human rights or democracy, they have never distanced themselves from the worn-out concepts of the GDR," the official name of former East Germany, Elmar Brok of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union told Bild.

Fidel Castro, who handed power over to his brother Raul five years ago, celebrated his 85th birthday on August 13.

As Germany marked 50 years since the construction of the Berlin Wall last week, a Left Party youth magazine gave thanks on its front page to East Germany for having built what East Berlin then called the "anti-fascist protection wall" and "protecting peace in Europe".

http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/germany-s-former-communists-hail-castro-in-birthday-letter_170509.html

And such a party has received almost 12% of the votes in the last German federal elections ...

[Tender Branson]

New Sachsen poll out today by Infratest dimap:

43% (+3) CDU
19%  (-2) Left
12% (+2) SPD
11% (+5) Greens
  6%  (-4) FDP
  5%  (-1) NPD
  4%  (-3) Others

Slight 49-47 majority for the CDU-FDP government.

[ZuWo]

New Sachsen poll out today by Infratest dimap:

43% (+3) CDU
19%  (-2) Left
12% (+2) SPD
11% (+5) Greens
  6%  (-4) FDP
  5%  (-1) NPD
  4%  (-3) Others

Slight 49-47 majority for the CDU-FDP government.

Pretty surprising. Not at all like the current national trend.

[Tender Branson]

New Sachsen poll out today by Infratest dimap:

43% (+3) CDU
19%  (-2) Left
12% (+2) SPD
11% (+5) Greens
  6%  (-4) FDP
  5%  (-1) NPD
  4%  (-3) Others

Slight 49-47 majority for the CDU-FDP government.

Pretty surprising. Not at all like the current national trend.

I think Gov. Tillich from the CDU is very popular there, which helps the party.

[DL]

I have neverbunderstood why Sachsen has been such a rightwing stronghold in post-reunification Germany. I believe it was a very leftwing area before Hitler and Liepzig and Dresden were socialist citadels. Why is this state such an outlier from the rest of the ex-DDR?

[Franzl]

And I get accused of hyperbole when I call Die Linke communists?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Electoral suicide is a remarkable thing.

I have neverbunderstood why Sachsen has been such a rightwing stronghold in post-reunification Germany. I believe it was a very leftwing area before Hitler and Liepzig and Dresden were socialist citadels. Why is this state such an outlier from the rest of the ex-DDR?

Over five decades of dictatorship does tend to change places, especially when one of them was as long-lasting and as thorough (for want of a better word) as the DDR. SPD strength in Saxony was based initially on hostility to the state's incorporation into the Prussian-led Empire as much as it was on class tension (even if early SPD strongholds in Saxony tending to be smaller industrial centres and rural-industrial areas does fit the usual pattern of early socialist success perfectly). The left was actually stronger there under the Kaiserreich than during Weimar. Later on, SPD strength was based on the remarkably deep organisation it managed to build in parts of Saxony; it's hard not to notice that the places there that kept giving high percentages to the SPD right up until the end (like Leipzig, but also some smaller towns like Freital) were the places where the SPD basically ran its own welfare state, while the places where the SPD collapsed (notably the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland) were places where there was little in the way of SPD organisation, and hadn't been much even during the years when they'd polled strongly there. A surprising amount of the SPD tradition managed to survive the Gestapo, but not the Stasi. Basically.

Also, you know, voting patterns in large parts of the ex-DDR are still shaped by who was in control early on. That's one reason why the SPD is quite strong in Brandenburg.

[minionofmidas]

I have neverbunderstood why Sachsen has been such a rightwing stronghold in post-reunification Germany. I believe it was a very leftwing area before Hitler and Liepzig and Dresden were socialist citadels. Why is this state such an outlier from the rest of the ex-DDR?

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2012202

If you map the areas where FRG tv reception was sh!tty, as opposed to nonexistent as done in the study, it conforms very well to the CDU's strongest areas in the east (apart from the Catholic Eichsfeld). Ie, Saxony exception right about Leipzig, and Lower Pomerania.

And what Al said, obviously. And patterns of opposition-by-withdrawal to the GDR also count. It was sort of a Prussian state to the Saxons. Oh, and have a look at GDR internal population trends. Apart from the general slight decline, you'll see an urbanizing trend and a mild south-to-north population shift. Rural/smalltown Saxony had a lot fewer inhabitants in 1989 than in 1945 - and in some parts of Saxony, that decline actually set in right around WWI. Of course, population losses over the last twenty years over much* of the ex-GDR are quite shocking, but at least, for most large cities (and the exceptions are mostly in Saxony) that's a decline from the all-time high.

*excempting the booming Berlin suburban ring... and from the late 90s/early 2000s on a number of major cities. With Dresden and Leipzig in the forefront. (But also Weimar, Erfurt, Rostock.)

[Insula Dei]

Here´s another reason why the Left will get decimated in the coming state elections:

Germany's former communists hail Castro in birthday letter

The German Left Party hailed Fidel Castro and his socialist model in a letter sent to the Cuban leader to mark his 85th birthday, media reported on Saturday.

"You can look back proudly on your life of battles and successful action at the head of the Cuban revolution," Gesine Loetzsch and Klaus Ernst, leaders of the party which unites former communists of the defunct East Germany and leftists from the West, wrote in the letter.

"Under your direction, Cuba has remained faithful to its ideals and led a new social development ... Cuba was and is, for these reasons, a model and a reference point for many nations across the world," they said in the letter reproduced by the popular daily Bild and heavily criticised by rival parties.

"These people dream more about socialism than human rights or democracy, they have never distanced themselves from the worn-out concepts of the GDR," the official name of former East Germany, Elmar Brok of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union told Bild.

Fidel Castro, who handed power over to his brother Raul five years ago, celebrated his 85th birthday on August 13.

As Germany marked 50 years since the construction of the Berlin Wall last week, a Left Party youth magazine gave thanks on its front page to East Germany for having built what East Berlin then called the "anti-fascist protection wall" and "protecting peace in Europe".

http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/germany-s-former-communists-hail-castro-in-birthday-letter_170509.html

You think that's some serious stuff? Steve Stevaert and parts of the social-democratic sp.a-elite are Fidel Castro's BFFs in Western Europe.

I remember a behind the screens documentary about Stevaert's 2004 campaign where they showed him playing host to the Cuban foreign minister. At the goodbye party, Stevaert's moronic assistant, who had been demonstrating his horrible incompetence troughout the documentary, offered the Cuban a present, quipping that they had wanted to buy him a FN (Liegeois weapons manufacturer) rifle 'because even Fidel knows that there could have been no Cuban revolution without these'. The whole room was staring in silent disbelief at the guy.

Steve also visits Cuba regularily, is a personal friend of the Castros and he and his friend Chokri Mahassine are  planning on organising the first music festival with western musicians since the 1950s in Cuba. (:or were doing so, as I don't know whether Chokri is still into the whole music festival organising thing after last week)

Keep in mind that these are mostly quite centrist people from the right-wing of one of the most moderate social-democratic parties in Europe. It just so happens they have good relations with the Cuban regime (, which is hardly as bad as some of you seem to think it is, in terms of dictatorships).

[minionofmidas]

It's just a mindless piece of tradition-keeping on the part of the PDS (now Left) headquarters. Some years the media notice and pretend to care / pretend that anybody should care. Other years they don't. Certainly happened under Gysi as well.

[Tender Branson]

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern poll by Forsa:

34% SPD
27% CDU
17% Left
  7% Greens
  5% FDP
  5% NPD
  5% Others

Brandenburg poll by Infratest dimap:

35% SPD
22% CDU
22% Left
11% Greens
  3% FDP
  7% Others

[Hans-im-Glück]

I do not think anyone has posted this yet.

The mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, will participate as the leading candidate of the SPD in the 2013 state election in Bavaria. He is the most popular politician in Bavaria. The CSU had in the last 50 year never so a strong opponent in the elections and is a little bit in panic.

The election will be very intersting I hope in the next days we see a poll from Bavaria.

[Tender Branson]

I do not think anyone has posted this yet.

The mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, will participate as the leading candidate of the SPD in the 2013 state election in Bavaria. He is the most popular politician in Bavaria. The CSU had in the last 50 year never so a strong opponent in the elections and is a little bit in panic.

The election will be very intersting I hope in the next days we see a poll from Bavaria.

OOOOOOhhhh, the CSU must be scared now .... !!!

As long as the Greens are at about 15-20% in Bavaria, the SPD is going nowhere I think.

[Tender Branson]

Believe it or not, here's the first M-V poll by Infratest dimap with a Red-Green majority:

36.0% SPD
26.0% CDU
17.0% Left
  8.0% Greens
  4.5% FDP
  4.5% NPD
  4.0% Others

Because FDP and NPD are below the 5% treshold, SPD-Greens have 44% vs. 43% for CDU-Left.