Results from the election campaign in Germany
- published on Friday 25th September -
in NEUE EINHEIT
The election campaign is over and an incredible flood of phrases
has come down on the people.
Most people are considering if they are to vote for somebody who
does them least harm. There is hardly any true conviction for the
parliament's parties. And we think that this is quite significant
for the character of the elections in general. They do not at all
provide a legitimation for anything and everything after the
election in the way the politicians imagine. The sole existence of a
mode for voting does not prove anything with regard to democracy.
Even the media which are closely connected with these parties talk
about the parties' distance. All the more is important what is to be
decided by these "elections". Many people feel that after these
elections the great "fleecing" will start, and there is indeed a lot
indicating this. A worldwide crisis of the much- extolled capitalist
system is knocking at the door. Therefore there is above all one
thing important: these elections do not provide a legitimation for
the extortionate measures following these elections.
Almost all parties portray themselves as "tax lowerer party", the
lowering of the "additional wages costs" being the first "deep
concern" of all of them. But it is not to be reckoned that even one
of these parties will be able to take serious steps or is even
willing to do so.
In this election campaign the SPD attacked and made promises
as, for example, reversing certain single decisions (higher taxes for
night work).
CDU, CSU and FDP have conducted a policy of favoring the rich, of
shifting the tax burden even more from the rich towards the poorer
and working strata. Possessors, state profiteers, speculators and
artists of tax deduction have profited from that and have in an
incredible way enriched themselves out of the long since
overindebted state purse (together with numerous politicians).
The SPD started a social agitation that during the last years the
rich virtually did no more pay any taxes whereas the share of the
income tax and the indirect taxes contributed by the bulk of the
population increased tremendously. And this is really a result of
the CDU/CSU and the FPD.
Although the matter has a decade-long prehistory in which also the
SPD is involved, only after 1990 it has extremely grown rampant.
Certainly it cannot be predominantly put down to the refusal of the
tax legislation in June, 1997, by the SPD.
But Kohl's government after all can point to what would result from
the SPD's policy, what would result, for example, from the
ecological programs in connection with the Greens, and that both
these parties are not interested at all in real lowering of taxes.
There is no indication at all that under the SPD anything in this
respect would improve, on the contrary: if you look at the
"ecological demands " of the SPD and the Greens it becomes clear
that in the background there are lurking bestial unsocial demands
which economically come up to total impoverishment of the less
well-off population, further desindustrialization, and which by
their consequences must lead to politically going backward and
depriving the population of its rights.
For a short moment this contradiction flared up when the Greens by
their demand to raise the gas price to 5 marks per litre laid open
their essence and a wave of indignation flooded the country. Most of
all, as it is, the tax lowering propaganda glossing things over all
the way gapes open with the real and fundamental program of the
Greens. All at once this demand made it clear to many people what
green policy means in concrete practice.
The Greens since then have conducted a hypocritical election
campaign in which they put their real essential demands to the
back and came up with a lot of social slogans ("relief for the small
and medium incomes", "lower social contributions", "make labor
cheaper again while raising net income"). In fact the Greens have
not only the 5-DM-demand in their pocket. In almost every realm,
by the so-called energy-conservation-legislation, they try to gag the
population with the exception of the really rich, to completely
restrict life by economic conditions and to make it just one big
prison within the state bureaucracy. Their protection of the
environment, their alleged care for nature is nothing but pretext.
It is from them that other parties as the SPD, but also the CDU and
the FDP have taken such programs with slight variations.
In the realm of house construction and renovation of old houses
and apartments they have proposals in their pocket which, exactly
as with the 5-DM-demand, make renting or upkeep an even much
more costly matter as compared to now. The poorer part of the
population would have to occupy itself with nothing but paying off
the debts and burdens. If one reproaches the Greens, who anyway
is to pay for all of that, they come up with the argument that a
social compensation should be created for cases of hardship, that
one could make an application somewhere. Crippling traffic
systems is on their agenda.
This will drive upwards the general level of prices. It has to be
investigated, by the way, why other revolutionary organisations
spare this ultra-reactionary substance of the Greens or even adapt
to it themselves. We, in any case, shall not have our tongue tied
about that. The SPD has taken almost all programmatic points of
the Greens in an adapted form. What kind of improvement such a
coalition after all will bring about? The population wants to get rid of
the old government, but as the alternative something is posing
which would fleece it even more, even something completely
unacceptable on principle.
S u c h a n e l e c t i o n i s a n e x t o r t i o n.
Suppression of important problems
In all of the latest discussions it struck how little importance was
attached to the question of state debt. No wonder, as all of the
parties are closely involved.
Contrary to the former promises by the CDU/CSU and the FDP
state debt has grown into gigantic dimensions during their term. In
view of the SPD now playing the role of the social prosecutor
because of the government's outrages one has, however, to remind
that it was the SPD which during the government of chancellor
Schmidt 1974-1982 started the horrendous state indebtedness.
The CDU during the time from 1982-1989 only slightly diminished
state debt. For its present dimension of at least 2,5 trillion DM the
German unification cannot serve as the predominant justification
because the government has wasted enormous tax yields giving
them to rich people and destroyed industry on a large scale which
defnitely could still have been modernized, but lay in the way of its
Western competitors.
The people in the new federal states know this, and therefore they
don't want to vote for the CDU again.
It is the famous intravenous drip on which the Ex-GDR is
dependent, which among others makes up the tremendous tax
burden. Everything is being done in order not to let come, as far as
possible, into the citizens' view the contradictions inherent to this
state's actions, in order to preserve the so-called stability, while the
substance of the whole country, of the whole nation is being
hollowed out.
The citizens of the new federal states by the way not only inherited
the support of the old German Federal Republic, but also the state
debts, already at the time of 1989 added up to about one thousand
billion DM (after already considerable parts of industry had been
shifted to abroad).
In its time of decay since about 1970 the GDR besides also was an
outspoken cheap supplier to West German companies. It was only
about 10 years before that there was the threat to West German
workers to shift the production to the GDR or to Poland, if they
would not keep quiet with their demands. This also is to be
concerned regarding the later decay of the GDR's industry.
Concerning the PDS, in their program many items are in line with
those of the Greens or of the SPD. One cannot realize that there is
any conception of improving the people's situation. Regarding their
main line this party really offers its services to these parties and
tries to present itself as a "model pupil" of the German
constitution. Only by stemming from the east it cannot be proved
that it is really able to perform the interests of people's
majority there. If SPD and Greens should form the government the
PDS will bear part of it when they will give the population a hard
time.
In the drawers of these parties (SPD, Greens) there are also laws
like the so called "emancipation of homo-sexuals" which mean an
utterly deep cut in the whole moral life but which are of no
importance in their election propaganda (with the exeption of very
particular election districts). If this is a part of these parties'
programs, why don't they openly offer this in their national
election propaganda? This affronting program which ties on extremly
reactionary traditions ( "Emancipation"? Not at all!), afterwards,
as it seems, shall be regarded as legitimated by the election. This
is a fraud, which is supposed to be shifted to the population.
We are thinking that at present there is no party which even
anyhow represents the fundamental interests of the majority in this
country or which represents an even anyhow sufficient concept.
We are thinking that the task of building such a party is still on
the agenda. The convulsions which are to expect after the elections
will make it clear to many people, that something new has to be
built here. At present you can only refuse to vote in an election of
this kind.
For the part of the smaller parties, most of them defend positions
which are close to those of the Greens, or which make up only one
single point, or they defend extreme rightist, historically
completely outdated positions and extremely dangerous and fascist
positions which may fall back on the whole country. They are
unacceptable. The last-named channel the despair about the
parliament's parties into a backward and destructive direction.
Fighting and de-camouflaging the points where they tie on, thereby
fighting their demagogy, will be one of the essential tasks for the
immediate future.
Gruppe Neue Einheit
25.9.98
Internet-Statement 8/ 98
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neue einheit
Zeitschrift fuer Politik. Oekonomie und Kultur
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