Whither Germany's LEFT Party?

Der Spiegelfechter attends a rally for Die LINKE (the Left party) and is appalled by what he finds:

"Ein sympathischer aber ebenso chaotischer Haufen aus Salon-Sozialisten, Gewerkschaftlern, Altkommunisten und enttäuschten Sozialdemokraten erwartet den Besucher, der in seiner ungeordneten, basisdemokratisch inspirierten Naivität zwar eine echte Alternative zum übrigen Parteiensystem darstellt, sich aber erst noch finden muss, bevor es an die Realpolitik geht."

He points out that the chaos reminds him of the early days of the Green Party, which, soon enough, learned the lessons of Realpolitik all too well.

In any event, the LEFT party is now being taken very seriously, even in the western states, and especially by the established Social Democrats (SPD).  The big brother on the left at first ignored the upstart LEFT party.  Then, as they saw disgruntled social democrats leave in droves to join the LEFT, they demonized them.  The SPD leadership still categorically refuses to cooperate with the LEFT party, but they now have adopted some the rhetoric from their rival.  In particular, the SPD has regained some momentum with a call for a minimum wage - one of the LEFT party's original demands.  Now the LEFT party is scoring points with its criticism of Germany's deeply unpopular mission in Afghanistan.

The question remains: can the LEFT party succeed as a pure opposition party that pulls the SPD to the left? Or can it govern on a national level, as it does in Berlin and some of the eastern states? 

It is interesting to see how the Western media has taken note of the LEFT party following its electoral successes in Hesse and Lower Saxony two weeks ago.  Columnist Stefan Theil is flabbergasted by the voodoo economics of the LEFT party in an op/ed piece which appears today the Dallas News:

Meanwhile, two in three Germans say they support at least some of the voodoo-economic, roll-back-the-reforms platform of a noisy new anti-globalization political party called Die Linke (The Left),        founded by former East German communists and Western left-wing populists.

Theil attributes the rise of the LEFT party to the education system in Germany, which teaches the Philosophy of Failure:

Many of these popular attitudes can be traced to state-mandated curricula in schools. It is there that economic lessons are taught that diverge substantially from the market-based principles on which the Western model is based. The phenomenon may hardly be unique to Europe, but in few places is it more obvious than in France and Germany. A biased view of economics feeds into many of the world's most vexing problems, from the growth of populism to the global rise of anti-American, anti-capitalist attitudes.

The Washington Times - the mouthpiece of the neoconservative establishment in Washington DC (and property of cult-leader Sun Myong Moon) -  likewise sounded the alarm about the LEFT party:

The trend is worrying German business. "The conservatives must stop allowing Oskar Lafontaine to dictate their agenda," said Patrick Adenauer, president of the Association of Independent Business Managers...One of the Left Party's leaders in Lower Saxony, Manfred Sohn, has called for a tax on private swimming pools and wrote in an article for a left-wing newspaper two years ago: "For 40 years East Germany was the more peaceful and socially just part of Germany."

The LEFT party is succeeding not because the schools are not teaching the glories of capitalism, but rather because blue collar workers have experienced the outcome of the "reforms" pushed through by the Social Democrats in the previous administration. Life is getting more difficult for their families, while a small managerial class is getting wealthier. The American mindset that it's your own fault if you aren't rich hasn't caught on in Germany, and may even be losing ground in the US. 

Comments

[erphschwester]

gestern sah ich einen bericht über die wahl in amerika. da zeigte ein schwarzer wahlhelfer aus tennessee (vietnamveteran und schwerbeschädigt) stolz auf die bilder seiner 5 kinder. alle hatten einen collegeabschluss. und er fragte: wer in seiner lage wohl von sich sagen könnte, dass er d a s geschafft habe.

meine eltern, beide kleine angestellte, hätten eine ebensolche wand haben können. all ihre vier kinder hatten diesseits der dreissig einen studienabschluss und beschenkten sie in der gleichen zeit mit sechs enkeln. sie hatten diese wand mit den bildern ihrer kinder nicht, weil sie es imgrunde ganz normal fanden.
das war die ddr.

ich frage mich, wer in gleicher lage im heutigen deutschland ähnliches von sich sagen kann und hernach immer noch die segnungen des kapitalismus preist.