standard of living, growing mass unemployment, work speedups, and social
The wage earners have already felt cuts.
the effects of this.
They knew that the
The SPD's "social capitalism be chi and to as a the t
Christian Democrat and liberal politicians were for a tough pro-employer policy in the crisis and for cuts at the expense of the masses. This fact marks the turn and bites the dust in West Germany Gerry FOLEY Few times in history has the electoral defeat of a Social Democratic party threatened such serious consequences for working people as the defeat of the West German SPD in the March 6 general elections.
The victory of the Christian Democrats and their liberal allies strengthens capitalist austerity drive against workers, not only in West Germany but throughout western Europe. It increases the threat of war, and hence the danger to the survival of many millions of people, if not humanity as a whole. It reinforces U.S. imperialism in its counteroffensive against the colonial revolution.
Immediately following the SPD debacle, Reagan made an aggressive speech March 8 aimed at both the Soviet Union and the Central American revolutionists. It obviously threatened an escalation of Washington's counteroffensive against liberation struggles, and of the military threats against the Soviet Union that go hand in hand with it.
The establishment of a hard right government in West Germany came at exactly the time Reagan needed a boost to get congress to accept the cost of increased American involvement on the side of the reactionary and murderous Central American regimes. l'his was, and renains, a crucial question for U.S. and world imperialism, since it has become clear in recent weeks that the Salvadoran army is faltering.
In its statement on the election results, the International Marxist Group (GIM), German section of the Fourth International, said:
"An iron triangle can now be forged between the Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl/ Strauss governments. The common program of all these regimes is austerity, mass unemployment, stepped-up mament, and military pressures on the Soviet Union. The fact that on the same day as the West German elections, France, the bourgeois parties got a majority in the municipal elections reinforces this perspective."
In West Germany considerable talk in the press and media about a return to the that is to a right-wing political climate and the Cold War.
The Christian won their second largest victory in history, getting just under an absolute ma-
In addition, their liberal allies, the Free German Party (FDP) got about 7%.
With the onset of the capitalist crisis, the FDP lined up clearly with the right, and a considerable proportion of its voters went over directly to the Christian Democrats. It is now clearly a right wing
Its score is explained to a large extent by second-preference votes from Christian Democrats anxious to assure that the party did not fall below the 5% for representation in parlia ment parliament
The victory of the right, the GIM statement said, marked "a real turn in Bonn. A period of thirteen years of SPDled governments and 17 years of governments in which the Social Democrats were a force has now definitely come to an end. The bourgeois-bloc government that took office in October 1982 will how have a free hand for four years."
However, the bourgeois victory could not bring a return of the sort of cap. italist stability that existed in the 1950s:
"The big majority for the bourgeois bloc in Bonn cannot be compared with the apparently similar electoral strength it had in the 1950s and 1960s. Then the bourgeois parties represented the boom. The growth of the economy was bringing everyone a higher living standard, shorter work hours, and longer vacations.
"The 1980s are a quite different period. They are bringing a decline in the is the index of the defeat the working people have suffered."
The Christian Democrat victory marked the total bankruptey of the "social" capitalism of the Social Democrats. After nearly a generation of SPD governments, unemployment has begun to rise dras-
In the March 10 issue of Was Tun, the paper of the GIM, Winifried Wolf wrote:
"In West Germany, the country that (former SPD chancelllor) Schmidt used to like to call "The German Model,' ployment has been growing at faster rate than it has on a world scale; it is mounting explosively. At the beginning of 1983, in comparison with 1970/ 71, the rate had grown by ten times. In comparison, with 1976-79, it had grown by three times."
At the time of the 1980 general elections, the poll conducted by the Mannheimer Forschungsgruppe Wahlen showed that 58% of the voters considered unemployment the main problem. ruary 1983, this had gone up to 88%.
64% of voters thought that guaranteeing the buying power of pensions was one of the most important issues; 57% included reducing the national debt among the main questions. three percent listed price stability as one of their main concerns. The environment was a major issue for only 48% of voters.
A majority of the voters were opposed to the stationing of more nuclear missles on German soil "regardless of what the
At the same time, most voters indicated greater confidence in the SPD on the issues of peace and the envi-
Thus, what the election results show is that the immediate worry about making a living had a greater influence on the decisions of voters than more remote threats, no matter how terrible.
The GIM statement noted:
"Geissler, the chief ideologist of the Christian Democrats, claimed: with the support of the workers....In fact, the Christian Democrats scored their biggest gains in former SPD strongholds. In Nordrhein-Westfalen, where the SPD got an absolute majority, the CDU is now the strongest party. Two million former SPD voters are estimated to have crossed over to the Christian Democrats, the SPD won just about nobody from
"On election night, (SPD representative ) Glotz said: The Christian Democrats won with their talk about an economic upswing.' That was one of the few true things the SPD said that evening. But it was only a half truth.
"In fact, the main issue in this election was the mass unemployment and not the missiles. The 19 million who voted for
3
The right swept 18 out of the 20 lence, with an attack on SP election the Christian Democrats, including the majority of wage earners, wanted to vote for an economic upturn.
"The Christian Democrats had said that an upturn was possible only under a Kohl government. This demagogy was backed up with threats of an investment strike and letters from bosses to their personnel calling on them to vote for the Christian Democrats, because if they did not win, there would be massive lay-offs.
"This campaign, however, successful only because the SPD offered
It also promised 'sacrifices' for the wage earners and a 'not so and concerns. The turn in Bonn must not be respected...it must be fought. needed is not 'constructive oppostion,' as the (SPD leader) Vogel says but hard and consistant resistance to Kohl and the capitalists, in the factories, the offices, in the streets, in front of NATO bases.
"Sixty-five percent of the population is against the U.S. missiles. Over half of the population is for a neutral West Ger.
The overwhelming majority of the population sees the fight against unemployment as the main issue.
"But this government will do nothing against unemployment. The stock markand because the Greens offered only a partial program."
The GIM statement concluded:
"March 6 was a defeat for the workers underestimate the effects of this on the social relationship of forces. geois bloc is determined to inflict severe defeats on the workers movement and the peace movement. The stationing of the missiles at the end of the year and the labor contract negotiations involving the demand for a 35 hour week may be the key battles. But it would be wrong to concentrate only on these 'big' queset zoomed up alright on March 7. But to tions.
drastic' austerity.
"With this policy, the SPD undermined its positions precisely where should have buttressed them.
specifically on the issue where it has traditionally had the advantage over the
Christian Democrats."
"Shortly before the elections, the polls indicated that 57% had the most confimade, they will mainly rationalize jobs
"Within a year there will be 3 million
In six months, new U.S.. missiles will be brought in. The majority of the population does not want that. This government was elected only be-
"Offensives by the right always look for weak points. So, the first targets may be the foreign workers and abortions
"All these battles are ahead of us. They were not decided by March 6. Social Democrats, Greens, and socialists must fight together against the missiles, unemcause there was no socialist alternative.... ployment and social cuts."
dence in the Christian Democrats' ability
"If everyone was saying that an austerity policy was necessary, then it would