The anticipated disaster has struck, and it was worse than predicted. The far-right ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) have achieved a chilling victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, winning almost 44% of the vote. The parties of the national coalition government received only 26% support. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’ Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is facing an existential crisis, while the Social Democrats (SPD) are already in the midst of one. It remains to be seen whether Merz will be able to hold on to his position after the upcoming elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania later this month.
The AfD will govern Saxony-Anhalt—if not immediately, then in the foreseeable future. It can count on the likelihood of defectors from the CDU. Even as a minority government, it can rely on the BSW’s tolerance. Even if a CDU-led government were to come into being through an unlikely coalition with the SPD, the Greens, the Left Party (Die Linke), and Sara Wageknecht’s BSW, the far right’s takeover of the government would merely be delayed under the current circumstances.
In Saxony-Anhalt, Die Linke has allowed itself to be dragged into the quagmire of those who cut social programs, arm the military, push for war, and serve the interests of the rich. It must break free from this and formulate a class-struggle-based, socialist alternative against the far right and the pro-capitalist parties.
Fascism in Saxony-Anhalt?
Many of those rightly fearing the real dangers posed by the AfD to workers and oppressed people have asked the question: Is fascism now on the cards in Saxony-Anhalt? No, not directly. There are many fascists in the AfD, and the party draws on elements of fascist politics. From the perspective of capital, however, the political situation requires neither the violent dismantling of parliamentary democracy, the left, and the unions, nor the merging of gangs of fascist thugs with the state apparatus.
Nor do the AfD’s structures or the political outlook of its voters lend themselves to such a course. It has no organized and armed masses behind it, instead relying on passive electoral support. Ultimately, the modern far right can happily seek to implement its racist and anti-worker agenda within the framework of the parliamentary system.
But this is no reason to let our guard down! Having the AfD in government means an acceleration and intensification of the shift toward authoritarianism that is already being driven by all the established parties. An AfD government would intensify attacks on migrants, queer people, women, and anti-fascists. To do so, it will use the instruments of the bourgeois state, such as the police, intelligence agencies, and the judiciary. And nazi thugs will feel emboldened by the election victory.
There is no reason to believe that the far right will automatically lose its “luster” once in government. The policies of the established parties are clearly directed against the interests of the majority of the population and are strangling every public budget to fund a massive buildup of military spending. An AfD state government in Saxony-Anhalt could claim that its hands are tied by the tight constraints of the federal budget and that it cannot fulfill its campaign promises.
Of course, regardless of this fact, the AfD would not “deliver” for working class people. Its economic and social agenda is to the right of the CDU’s. It would intensify cuts to social services. Indeed, many of its voters do not expect any social improvements from the AfD at all. For them, disappointment with the other parties is the central issue. Frustration and racist prejudices have, in some cases, turned into a spiteful attitude, because there is no vision of fighting for improvements through collective struggle. People seek to secure their own status by kicking those below them.
The far right is not a phantom that will simply disappear. The AfD’s election victory is pushing all established parties further to the right. The echoing of the AfD’s ideas across the establishment parties in turn only further strengthens them. The situation is serious, but it won’t get any better if Die Linke, by calling to stop the far right, resigns itself to propping up the broken establishment parties. This approach amounts to suicide out of fear of death.
The Left Must Fight
With a result of 8.6%, The Left Party lost more than two percentage points in Saxony-Anhalt, even though it is on the rise nationwide and has tens of thousands of new members. The decisive factor in its poor performance at the state level was that the party, led by its top candidate Eva van Angern, failed to offer an alternative to the establishment and instead presented itself as a junior partner to the hated CDU. In doing so, Die Linke ceded the role of the anti-establishment force to the AfD, while simultaneously failing to mobilize potential left-wing voters, especially among young people.
The strategy of accommodation adopted by the eastern state chapters and parts of the party leadership has failed spectacularly in Saxony-Anhalt. At the federal level, the Left Party is not perceived as a clear force against rearmament, militarism, and the war in Ukraine. Its representatives in the Bundesrat from Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania allowed the government’s rearmament program to pass. The party does not make it sufficiently clear that resistance to social cuts, price hikes, and job destruction must be linked to the fight against rearmament.
Another factor was the left-liberal campaign to cast second votes for the Greens. In the first-preference vote tally, Die Linke fared significantly better with 12% and was the only party besides the AfD to win direct seats. In Magdeburg’s 11th district, Mustafa Gröner secured 29.4% of the first votes and 12.6% of the second votes thanks to a massive campaign involving door-to-door canvassing and support from other state chapters.
This shows that Die Linke can build on its strengths in the east as well. Among under-18s polled in Saxony-Anhalt, it emerged as the strongest force with over 30%, ahead of the AfD, while all other parties trailed far behind. Many young people in the east are also ready to fight for their future. Die Linke must prove to them that it is the vehicle to do so.
The shift to the right can only be stopped if Die Linke takes on the task of being a genuine force for socialist change—not if it follows in the wake of the bourgeois parties by making concessions itself and “tolerating” antisocial, right-wing policies. To do this, it must actively engage in the struggles against social cuts and division and advocate a clear program. It must criticize the hesitant stance of the union leaderships, which are unwilling to organize a fight against the Merz-Klingbeil government’s attacks on healthcare, pensions, and protection against dismissal. It must highlight the connection between social cutbacks and military buildup, reject arms deliveries to Ukraine and the war rhetoric against Russia while clearly condemning Putin’s invasion, and take a stand against all imperialist powers.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, MatthiasK2007