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Socialist Review Index (1993–1996) | Socialist Review 180 Contents
Dirk Harmann
Letters
Why did Kohl win?
From Socialist Review, No. 180, November 1994.
Copyright © Socialist Review.
Copied with thanks from the Socialist Review Archive.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
This autumn’s German general election was proposed to be a
turning point in German politics. But since August this year the
situation has crucially changed. The opinion polls suddenly showed a
10 percent lead for the ruling CDU led by Kohl. Since 1982 when Kohl
became chancellor the number of people living below the poverty line
has doubled to 4.6 million. Even the churches, normally a close ally
of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have criticised this
inequality inside society.
So what are the reasons for chancellor Kohl’s victory?
- The first reason is a huge media campaign in favour of
Kohl, organised by Leo Kirch (comparable with Rupert Murdoch in
Britain).
- A slight economic recovery which ‘shows successful
government policy’. But this boom only means an increase of the
bosses profits without creating new jobs.
- A polemical anti-socialist campaign against the left wing
parties which is reminiscent of the height of the cold war.
- But the most important reason is the right wing leadership
of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The Tony Blair-like party
leader R. Scharping tried to gain votes from the middle class
Liberal Democratic Party (FPD) instead of using the massive anger
inside the working class. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)
must show that it has broken with its undemocratic, Stalinist past
as the ruling party in the state capitalist German Democratic
Republic (GDR). It also has to demonstrate that this party is a real
socialist alternative and not another reformist opposition in
parliament.
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