"Lafontaine is Not a German Haider"

The political scientist and party researcher Klaus Detterbeck teaches at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Magdeburg.

DW-WORLD: What chances do you give the new leftist alliance in the expedited Bundestag elections?

Klaus Detterbeck: I would put the chances relatively high. I would, however, differentiate between a short-term success for the Bundestag elections, and the long-term perspective, which I view more critically. In the short-term, the party has the opportunity to fill a vacuum which exists in the current competition between the parties.

For the voters in western Germany there has been no outlet to express frustrations with reform of the social welfare system, the effects of market liberalization. Here the party is filling a gap. In the long-term I see the problem that the alliance parties are actually quite heterogeneous, that both at the grassroots as well as the leadership level there are significant differences between the labor union members in the West and the old PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor of the communist party of East Germany) cadre in the East. The differences will be difficult to reconcile, both for the party platform and the political goals. What brings the groups together is the protest against social reforms. In the longer-term they will have a falling out.

So the Left Party is a protest party? What will define their constituency?

In the West it will doubtless be the disaffected stalwarts of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), just that unionized milieu from which the SPD drew its base over decades. In the East it will be the old PDS voters coming from various societal groupings. On the one side there is thus the protest voter trying to prevent the East from being treated as second-class, but there is also the old GDR cadre. It will definitely be a protest party. When we look to other countries, for example to Spain or Sweden, we also see similar leftist groupings, also heterogeneous, drawing their members from communists, greens, and leftist activists. They feed off of the protest against modernization and the liberalization of the welfare state.

There it functions on a long-term basis...

Yes, since it has to do with very pragmatic, loose alliances, which for the most part remain separate from one another and only come together for the election. This just won't work in Germany. The Left Party has to position itself. After the election, problems will surely develop, and so I see little chance that the party will remain together.

Is the SPD seriously threatened by this new alliance?

The SPD will definitely suffer losses at its base, the unionized milieu -- voters who may not have gone to the polls had this party not materialized. They must see their chance to express their anger and disappointment with the SPD government, a chance to make their frustration known. This is without doubt a threat for the SPD.

Is the SPD responding appropriately to this threat by attempting to slander the new alliance?

The SPD has always assumed it was the voice of the left, the voice of the traditional organized labor in the broadest sense. Now there has been for a long, long time a serious competition here. And the SPD shows an allergic reaction and is flip-flopping: on the one hand, it is trying to restore its social competence, the intention to more strongly articulate social justice. On the other hand they are trying to portray the new alliance as illegitimate. This is bound to come off badly for those voters disappointed by the Schröder government and will motivate them to keep their distance from the SPD. The SPD's strategy is thus not exactly helping them to woo back their base. But it is difficult to imagine what the SPD's options are at this point.

Continue reading to find out whether Lafontaine is fishing for voters on the extreme right.

Many are calling the new alliance populist. Is this justified?

The party is certainly populist in the sense that they rail against change and modernization without really wanting to, or rather being able to say, what they would do differently. It is a party that wants to excite tempers and encourage protest without being able to give answers. One could say that this is not necessarily the role of a new opposition party. It is a chance to express protest and it can lead the established parties to reconsider certain issues.

Gregor Gysi and Oskar Lafontaine, the former SPD chief, will act together as top candidates. Lafontaine in particular has been attacked by the SPD and the Greens. He was given the epithet of "German Haider (Austria's right-wing populist politician)," fishing for votes on the extreme right. What do you think of this accusation?

No, in my opinion you can't look at it that way. The charge goes back to a speech Lafontaine made, in which he spoke of "alien workers," a concept from the rightist camp. When one looks at the political development of Lafontaine, I don't think it's fair to speak of a rightist leaning or an attempt to court rightist voters. Lafontaine has always been a nonconformist, someone who has always taken positions not directly in line with that of his party. He is continuing with this. So the comparison with Haider is not justified.

But does Lafontaine really offer any sensible remedies?

Lafontaine has, since his retreat from the Federal Government, been constantly appealing to the public, whether in publications or in talk shows, spreading his view of things -- that is, a state control of the globalized economy. He has time and again been criticized, that his solutions are completely unrealistic. For himself and for the groupings he stands for, this is a reasonable answer to globalization. It is, however, in the current situation, no adequate response. It is impossible to see how a strong governmental, national control could be implemented at the European level. Should Lafontaine be asked to implement his policies in the real world, then his alliance would really dissolve quite quickly. But as an opposition party, as a protest party, such goals are legitimate. It is an opportunity for disgruntled voters to express that they do not agree with the course and the pace of the reforms. Thus the party fulfills a democratic function.

Steffen Leidel interviewed Klaus Detterbeck (jc)