VZCZCXRO2631
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHRL #1190/01 1231455
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031455Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2864
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001190 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2021 
TAGS: PGOV GM
SUBJECT: NEW GERMAN LEFT PARTY: ONE STEP FORWARD, ONE STEP 
BACK 
 
REF: 05 BERLIN 4131 
 
Classified By: Acting Pol Counselor John Lister.  Reason: 1.4(b) and (d 
) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  The merger of Germany's two largest leftist 
parties, the Left Party.PDS and the WASG (Electoral 
Alternative for Social Justice), is proceeding but with 
considerable difficulty.  The Berlin branch of the WASG 
appears determined to run against the PDS in fall state 
elections, despite a national WASG decision against such a 
step.  Divisions between defenders of the old East Germany 
and modernizers in the PDS are also raising concerns in the 
predominantly western WASG.  Leaders from both parties are 
pressing hard for the merger, which enjoys strong support in 
the PDS but is less popular in the WASG.  Whether the WASG 
can enforce national decisions without a schism is unclear. 
If the effort does succeed, the new Left Party could, once 
consolidated, pose a political challenge to the SPD.  End 
Summary. 
 
Left Party.PDS: Ideological Divisions Showing 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Latent tension between the PDS rank-and-file, largely 
made up of ex-members of the old East German Communist Party, 
and the modernizing leadership have grown in recent weeks as 
grass roots groups have sought to rehabilitate some aspects 
of the East German system.  These include efforts to present 
the Stasi as a "normal" intelligence agency and statements by 
PDS Chairman Emeritus Modrow (the last Communist leader of 
the East) arguing that West Germany shared responsibility for 
the wall and the deaths of escapees.  The debate on the issue 
was apparent at the April 29-30 PDS national convention, 
where Modrow repeated his thesis. Several younger party 
leaders spoke out strongly against any defense of "Stalinism" 
or efforts to blame the west for the GDR's human rights 
violations.  MdB Wolfgang Gehrcke acknowledged to the 
convention that there was a "feeling of division" within the 
party. 
 
¶3. (C) Party leaders admitted concern that this debate would 
harm merger efforts with the WASG.  The leader of the PDS in 
Saxony-Anhalt, Matthias Hoehn, told Embassy representatives 
the day before the convention that if Modrow were to raise 
his ideas at the convention it would create problems.  Hoehn 
believed that, although aging Communist cadres have lost 
permanent influence, they have become more militant in the 
party -- in part because of unhappiness with the merger 
process with the predominantly western WASG.  Since the 
convention, media have quoted Axel Troost, a member of the 
WASG executive, as saying that the debate in the WASG was 
"not helpful" and "offers no relief" for the merger process. 
 
 
WASG: 
 
¶4. (U) The larger problem for the merger comes from the WASG. 
 That party, originally a protest movement against the Hartz 
IV and Agenda 2010 reforms, unites a wide spectrum of 
far-left groups.  In eastern Germany, the party is generally 
quite small and much more radical than in the west.  Most 
notably, the Berlin WASG is dominated by a Trotskyite faction 
which decided to run against the PDS in state elections in 
September.  The WASG in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (M-VP) 
has also said it will run against the PDS.  Such a step is 
both a legal and political threat to the merger process and 
to the united PDS-WASG caucus in the Bundestag.  The PDS 
leadership hoped the WASG would take strong and definitive 
measures to block the Berlin WASG. 
 
¶5. (U) At the WASG convention, also held on April 29-30, the 
focus of debate was the merger and possible disciplinary 
action against the Berlin and M-VP branches.  Party Chairman 
and MdB Klaus Ernst and Bundestag caucus Chairman Lafontaine 
spoke passionately in favor of the merger.  Ernst said that 
WASG was doomed to irrelevance otherwise and called on 
delegates to block the Berlin and M-VP organizations.  Heated 
debate followed in which merger opponents received 
considerable applause.  Delegates voted by a clear though not 
overwhelming majority of 163-121 to reject the Berlin and 
M-VP plans, but the resolution's wording was not absolute. 
The party leadership was authorized "to examine and, if need 
be, to take all measures in order to make the will of the 
Convention felt."  The decision had two effects.  First, that 
same evening the Berlin WASG leader, Lucy Redler, said that 
the Berlin would not change its plans.  Second, the following 
morning three members of the WASG national executive resigned 
their positions in protest.  Their resignation statements -- 
sharply critical of party leader Oscar Lafontaine in 
particular -- received standing ovations.  These and many 
 
BERLIN 00001190  002 OF 002 
 
 
others, including some leaders, spoke out against the 
exclusion of dissident voices and the use of pressure tactics. 
 
¶6. (U) The party also approved a pro-merger resolution by the 
larger majority of 186-107, but that resolution was also 
conditional.  The WASG demanded "parity" in the merger with 
the much larger Left Party.PDS; said that differences should 
be "clearly marked" when the two parties failed to agree; and 
called for leadership rotation and a bar on simultaneously 
holding functions in the party and in parliament or 
government.  The WASG would like to bring other leftist 
groups -- particularly globalization critics -- into the 
merger process.  All these conditions/proposals are likely to 
be difficult for the PDS to accept. 
 
Leadership Challenge 
-------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) The leaders of both parties (Gregor Gysi and Lothar 
Bisky in the Left Party.PDS; Klaus Ernst, Ulrich Maurer and 
scar Lafontaine in the WASG) are solidly behind the merger 
project.  Gysi and Bisky will have the easier task -- the PDS 
is more organized, disciplined, and the lower ranks of the 
leadership also largely share their leaders' views.  The PDS 
rank-and-file also are more disciplined and (perhaps 
reflecting their SED past) more willing to do their leaders' 
bidding.  Ernst, Maurer, and Lafontaine are at the head of a 
much more disparate group.  Mid-level WASG functionaries have 
diverse political and professional backgrounds -- there are 
ex-SPDers, ex-Greens, labor union officials, long-time 
far-left politicos, and also a number of PDS dissidents in 
the eastern WASG.  The evidence of the just-concluded 
convention suggests that the leaders probably can bring most 
of the party into the new Left Party, but only at significant 
cost in membership and probably also after significant 
compromise from the PDS. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) The future of the WASG is anything but certain.  The 
convention saw a number of personal attacks on the leadership 
and far-reaching distrust of Bundestag members.  The chaotic 
and tense atmosphere was reminiscent of Germany's Green party 
in its founding days twenty years ago.  With the resignation 
of three members of the national executive, rumors of a 
schism are mounting.  Nonetheless, we would still say the 
odds favor a merger in some form -- though the WASG may lose 
some portion of its clientele in the process.  For example, 
the mass resignation of MdBs from the WASG and their 
adherence to the PDS has been discussed.  If a merger does 
happen, the new party will certainly require some months or 
years to consolidate its structures and leadership.  For this 
reason, leaders of both parties have told us the merger must 
be completed by summer 2007 -- well before the next federal 
elections and nearly a year before several important state 
elections in 2008.  If the merger is successful, the new Left 
Party could pose a significant challenge to the SPD by 
siphoning off left-wing voters.  Indeed, this already appears 
to have taken place in the 2005 Bundestag election.  End 
Comment. 
CLOUD