Labour and Social Justice Party
Encyclopedia
Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative was a German political party founded in 2005 by activists disenchanted with the ruling Red-Green coalition
government. On 16 June 2007 WASG merged with The Left Party.PDS to form the new united party The Left
(Die Linke). At the time of its merger with The Left Party.PDS, party membership stood at about 11,600 members.
The party ran for the first time in the 2005 state election
of North Rhine-Westphalia
, Germany's most populous state and a stronghold of the governing Social Democratic Party of Germany
(SPD), with pastor Jürgen Klute as its front-runner. The party campaigned against what it considered "the neoliberal
consensus" displayed by the governing centre-left
political parties and the more conservative opposition alike. Some of its main issues were opposition to cuts in social benefits and to the favourable taxation of the wealthy. In the first few months of existence, it received a large amount of news coverage, and had its first national convention from 6 May until 8 May 2005.
Oskar Lafontaine
, a former major figure on the SPD left, joined the new party officially on 18 June 2005, and became their North Rhine-Westphalia
frontrunner for the general election
on September 18. As the necessary steps to a fusion with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) could not fast enough be taken, he advocated for an electoral alliance with WASG members on the PDS's list, to which the WASG and PDS leaderships in principle agreed on 10 June 2005. The title of this list was The Left Party.PDS, which to this end - as a matter of formality - was adopted by the PDS as its new name, because changing a name is comparatively easy-going.
The anticipated fusion was later put into official existence, with the WASG and The Left Party.PDS merging on 16 June 2007 to a party called simply The Left
(Die Linke) or also, colloquially, "the Left Party" (without ".PDS").
s of the Working group for Alternative Economical Politics which counted one of the party's leading figures, economist Axel Troost, among its members. The programme pleaded for a policy that strengthens domestic demand and centres around social justice
; part of the programme is the return to a more progressive tax
ation. First and foremost, the tax breaks for large corporations and high incomes introduced by the SPD-Green
coalition federal government starting from 1999 would have to be reverted and the federal tax on assets, which had ceased in 1997, reintroduced. The draft programme would have to be discussed until the spring 2005.
programme of the governing "Red-Green" coalition, which they consider as too neoliberal. The first meeting of the Wahlalternative took place on 5 March 2004 in the Berlin
headquarters of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB).
The association had 4,056 members on 11 September 2004, the number rising to over 6,000 members shortly before Christmas
2004. The first organisation in one of the states was founded on 17 July 2004 in the Saarland
; the first convention in North Rhine-Westphalia
took place on 17 October 2004, and it was decided to take part in the 2005 regional elections in that state in spite of the party's unclear financial situation.
The association WAsG e. V., the party's "birthplace", continues to exist along with the party; its future purpose has still not been determined. It may be transferred into a political foundation similar to the ones kept by other German political parties.
) during World War I
, the foundation of the leftist Greens
(although these were not founded by disaffected SPD members) in the late 1970s, and the Demokratische Sozialisten (DS) founded by Karl-Heinz Hansen und Manfred Coppik in the early 1980s.
of the association WAsG e. V. (20 and 21 November 2004) decided to found a party, something that had never been ruled out as a possible outcome by members of the provisional leadership. After the strike vote among members in December 2004, the party was officially founded on 22 January 2005 in Göttingen
. The party's name came into being as Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative (the abbreviation ASG later had to be changed to WASG, due to a lawsuit). The party will take part in the German general election in 2005; it hopes to attract disaffected voters and nonvoters alike by offering them a real electoral alternative.
was the leading candidate of a 40-person-ticket.
In this regional election the WASG reached 2.2% of the votes cast (approximately 182,000 votes).
After the crushing defeat of his SPD in the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Chancellor Schröder had declared the intention of going for a general election as soon as possible, avoiding the completion of the regular term – which was to run until September 2006 – by the device of failing a Motion of Confidence vote, which took place on 1 July 2005. However, there are major constitutional issues which are to be settled by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
. According to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
, which incorporates lessons learned from the failed Weimar Republic
, the Bundestag
cannot dissolve itself or be dissolved by a political representative ahead of schedule, except under very rare circumstances.
While the WASG had hoped to gain a large enough membership and to raise enough money for an election campaign by the originally scheduled election date (some time in September 2006), it was now faced with the difficulty of an early election one year ahead of schedule – occurring on the date of 18 September 2005. Polls predicted an election result of at most 3% for the new party, well below the electoral threshold of 5%. In that situation, the idea of an electoral coalition with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), jointly led by Oskar Lafontaine
and Gregor Gysi
, was put forward by Oskar Lafontaine.
On 10 June 2005, the leaderships of WASG and the PDS agreed to form an electoral alliance for the then-upcoming federal elections
in September 2005. According to the agreement, the parties will not compete against one another in any district and will have a joint manifesto. This was intended to benefit both parties, because the WASG is based primarily in western Germany, while the PDS, which is the successor to the East German Socialist Unity Party
(SED), is strongest in the East. Oskar Lafontaine, the former chairman of the incumbent SPD, was the WASG's lead candidate.
After a multitude of initial problems due to the somewhat restrictive German electoral law, the PDS re-christened itself as Die Linkspartei. (The Left Party) and appeared on the ballot as either Die Linkspartei.PDS – in the Eastern states – or Die Linkspartei. – in the Western states – in line with the WASG's wishes. WASG candidates appeared on those electoral lists.
As of 5 July 2005, the coalition was on 30% in the polls in the East (level with the CDU there), and 11% nationally.
In the Federal Election the Left Party gained 8.7 % of the votes and 54 Members of the Bundestag, including 12 of the WASG.
In March 2006, however, divisions emerged between the WASG and the PDS – now The Left Party.PDS – in Berlin and the East more generally, in the run-up to state elections, due to the continuing involvement of the PDS with the SPD in coalition governments which were instituting cut-backs. The WASG Berlin, against advice or pressure from the national party leadership, announced its intention to run separate lists in Berlin against the PDS. The WASG list won 2.9% of the vote in the 17 September elections. The Left Party.PDS share of the vote dropped from 22.6% in 2001 to 13.4% . The fusion process brought a significant loss in party memberships of WASG.
Red-green alliance
In politics, a red-green alliance is an alliance of "red" social-democratic or democratic socialist parties with "green" environmentalist parties. The alliance is often based on common left political views, especially a shared distrust of corporate or capitalist institutions...
government. On 16 June 2007 WASG merged with The Left Party.PDS to form the new united party The Left
The Left (Germany)
The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....
(Die Linke). At the time of its merger with The Left Party.PDS, party membership stood at about 11,600 members.
The party ran for the first time in the 2005 state election
North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005
The North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005, was conducted on May 22, 2005, to elect members to the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany...
of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, Germany's most populous state and a stronghold of the governing Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(SPD), with pastor Jürgen Klute as its front-runner. The party campaigned against what it considered "the neoliberal
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
consensus" displayed by the governing centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
political parties and the more conservative opposition alike. Some of its main issues were opposition to cuts in social benefits and to the favourable taxation of the wealthy. In the first few months of existence, it received a large amount of news coverage, and had its first national convention from 6 May until 8 May 2005.
Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine is a German politician, former German finance minister, former chairman of the Social Democratic Party and former Minister-President of the state of Saarland. Since 2007 he was co-chairman of The Left...
, a former major figure on the SPD left, joined the new party officially on 18 June 2005, and became their North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
frontrunner for the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
on September 18. As the necessary steps to a fusion with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) could not fast enough be taken, he advocated for an electoral alliance with WASG members on the PDS's list, to which the WASG and PDS leaderships in principle agreed on 10 June 2005. The title of this list was The Left Party.PDS, which to this end - as a matter of formality - was adopted by the PDS as its new name, because changing a name is comparatively easy-going.
The anticipated fusion was later put into official existence, with the WASG and The Left Party.PDS merging on 16 June 2007 to a party called simply The Left
The Left (Germany)
The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....
(Die Linke) or also, colloquially, "the Left Party" (without ".PDS").
Programmatic orientation
The draft programmatic orientation was strongly influenced by the memorandumMemorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
s of the Working group for Alternative Economical Politics which counted one of the party's leading figures, economist Axel Troost, among its members. The programme pleaded for a policy that strengthens domestic demand and centres around social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
; part of the programme is the return to a more progressive tax
Progressive tax
A progressive tax is a tax by which the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. "Progressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from low to high, where the average tax rate is less than the marginal tax rate...
ation. First and foremost, the tax breaks for large corporations and high incomes introduced by the SPD-Green
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
coalition federal government starting from 1999 would have to be reverted and the federal tax on assets, which had ceased in 1997, reintroduced. The draft programme would have to be discussed until the spring 2005.
Pre-history/Association WASG
The party emerged from the association "Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit e. V." which had been founded on 3 July 2004. The association itself had started as the merger of the groups Initiative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (mainly by Bavarian union representatives) and the Wahlalternative ("Electoral Alternative", founded by people in Northern and Western Germany). Both groups had been founded in reaction to the government politics as laid down in the Agenda 2010Agenda 2010
The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government which are aimed at reforming the German social system and labour market. The declared aim of Agenda 2010 is to improve economic growth and thus reduce unemployment....
programme of the governing "Red-Green" coalition, which they consider as too neoliberal. The first meeting of the Wahlalternative took place on 5 March 2004 in the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
headquarters of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB).
The association had 4,056 members on 11 September 2004, the number rising to over 6,000 members shortly before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
2004. The first organisation in one of the states was founded on 17 July 2004 in the Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
; the first convention in North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
took place on 17 October 2004, and it was decided to take part in the 2005 regional elections in that state in spite of the party's unclear financial situation.
The association WAsG e. V., the party's "birthplace", continues to exist along with the party; its future purpose has still not been determined. It may be transferred into a political foundation similar to the ones kept by other German political parties.
News coverage
The nascent party drew attention in the mass media because the foundation of a new leftist party might lead to a schism of the SPD. Forerunners to such a development were the secession of the "Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands" (USPDIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
) during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the foundation of the leftist Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
(although these were not founded by disaffected SPD members) in the late 1970s, and the Demokratische Sozialisten (DS) founded by Karl-Heinz Hansen und Manfred Coppik in the early 1980s.
Foundation
The federal assembly in NurembergNuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
of the association WAsG e. V. (20 and 21 November 2004) decided to found a party, something that had never been ruled out as a possible outcome by members of the provisional leadership. After the strike vote among members in December 2004, the party was officially founded on 22 January 2005 in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
. The party's name came into being as Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative (the abbreviation ASG later had to be changed to WASG, due to a lawsuit). The party will take part in the German general election in 2005; it hopes to attract disaffected voters and nonvoters alike by offering them a real electoral alternative.
Internal conflicts
There is a lot of controversy about the new party's political orientation among its members. While some would like to establish it as a purely leftist party of socialist inclination, many others, especially union representatives and ex-SPD-members, aim to provide a home also for social conservatives and religious people who believe in a strong welfare state. The argument escalated in February 2005 (shortly after the party's foundation) but could be soothed through a compromise that was satisfactory for everyone. The compromise calls for a strict accord with welfare state orientation without excluding more socialist-minded members from the party.Regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia
The party decided to take part in the regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, on 22 May 2005. Eligibility was ensured in all regional counties, and pastor Jürgen Klute of HerneHerne, Germany
Herne is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.- History :Like most other cities in the region Herne was a tiny village until the 19th century...
was the leading candidate of a 40-person-ticket.
In this regional election the WASG reached 2.2% of the votes cast (approximately 182,000 votes).
Lawsuit against the abbreviation ASG
According to a decision made by the District Court of Düsseldorf, the party was no longer allowed to officially use its abbreviation "ASG". The party had been sued by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialpädagogik und Gesellschaftsbild (ASG). As a result the abbreviation WASG" has been unofficially adopted – with an equally unofficial slight reordering of the words in its name to fit the new abbreviation.Electoral alliance with the PDS
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
. According to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
, which incorporates lessons learned from the failed Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
cannot dissolve itself or be dissolved by a political representative ahead of schedule, except under very rare circumstances.
While the WASG had hoped to gain a large enough membership and to raise enough money for an election campaign by the originally scheduled election date (some time in September 2006), it was now faced with the difficulty of an early election one year ahead of schedule – occurring on the date of 18 September 2005. Polls predicted an election result of at most 3% for the new party, well below the electoral threshold of 5%. In that situation, the idea of an electoral coalition with the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), jointly led by Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine is a German politician, former German finance minister, former chairman of the Social Democratic Party and former Minister-President of the state of Saarland. Since 2007 he was co-chairman of The Left...
and Gregor Gysi
Gregor Gysi
Dr. Gregor Gysi is a German attorney and key politician of the socialist left-wing political party The Left . He played an important role in the end of communist rule in East Germany in 1989, and was a main figure in the post-reunification Party of Democratic Socialism...
, was put forward by Oskar Lafontaine.
On 10 June 2005, the leaderships of WASG and the PDS agreed to form an electoral alliance for the then-upcoming federal elections
German federal election, 2005
German federal elections took place on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th German Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany. They became necessary after a motion of confidence in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder failed on 1 July...
in September 2005. According to the agreement, the parties will not compete against one another in any district and will have a joint manifesto. This was intended to benefit both parties, because the WASG is based primarily in western Germany, while the PDS, which is the successor to the East German Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
(SED), is strongest in the East. Oskar Lafontaine, the former chairman of the incumbent SPD, was the WASG's lead candidate.
After a multitude of initial problems due to the somewhat restrictive German electoral law, the PDS re-christened itself as Die Linkspartei. (The Left Party) and appeared on the ballot as either Die Linkspartei.PDS – in the Eastern states – or Die Linkspartei. – in the Western states – in line with the WASG's wishes. WASG candidates appeared on those electoral lists.
As of 5 July 2005, the coalition was on 30% in the polls in the East (level with the CDU there), and 11% nationally.
In the Federal Election the Left Party gained 8.7 % of the votes and 54 Members of the Bundestag, including 12 of the WASG.
In March 2006, however, divisions emerged between the WASG and the PDS – now The Left Party.PDS – in Berlin and the East more generally, in the run-up to state elections, due to the continuing involvement of the PDS with the SPD in coalition governments which were instituting cut-backs. The WASG Berlin, against advice or pressure from the national party leadership, announced its intention to run separate lists in Berlin against the PDS. The WASG list won 2.9% of the vote in the 17 September elections. The Left Party.PDS share of the vote dropped from 22.6% in 2001 to 13.4% . The fusion process brought a significant loss in party memberships of WASG.
External links
- Homepage of the WASG, in German
- Homepage from the beginnings as registered association WASG e.V., in German
- Homepage of the Left parliamentary party, including MPs from Linkspartei.PDS and WASG, in German
- Working group for Alternative Economical Politics (Memorandum-Gruppe), in German
- Homepage of the WASG in North Rhine-Westphalia, in German
- Homepage of the front-runner for the German regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia in May 2005, pastor Jürgen Klute, in German