Labour and Social Justice Party

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Germany: Coat of Arms

This article is part of the series
Politics of Germany

The Labor and Social Justice Party (German: Arbeit & soziale Gerechtigkeit � Die Wahlalternative or WASG) is a new German political party. Founded in 2005 by activists disenchanted with the Social Democratic-Green government, it currently (as of June 2005) has 6,551 members, and ran for the first time in the 2005 state election of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state and a stronghold of the SPD, with pastor J�rgen Klute as its front-runner. It is organizing in all parts of Germany and plans to stand for the September 2005 federal election. The party is campaigning against what it considers "the neoliberal consensus" displayed by the governing centre-left political parties and the more conservative opposition alike. Some of its main issues are opposition to cuts in social benefits and to the favourable taxation of the wealthy. In the first few months of existence, it has received a large amount of news coverage, and had its first national convention on May 6-8, 2005.

Oskar Lafontaine, a former major figurehead of the SPD's left, joined the new party officially on June 18, 2005, and became their North Rhine-Westphalia frontrunner for the upcoming general election on September 18, after advocating also the electoral alliance with the PDS which the WASG and PDS leaderships in principle agreed to on 10 June, 2005.

Contents

1 Programmatic orientation

2 Historical accounts

2.1 Pre-history/Association WASG
2.2 News coverage
2.3 Foundation
2.4 Internal conflicts
2.5 Regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia
2.6 Lawsuit against the acronym ASG
2.7 Electoral alliance with the PDS

3 External links

Programmatic orientation

The draft programmatic orientation is strongly influenced by the memorandums of the Working group for Alternative Economical Politics which counts one of the party's leading figures, economist Axel Troost, among its members. The programme pleads for a policy that strenghtens domestic demand and centres around social justice; part of the programme is the return to a more progressive taxation. First and foremost, the tax breaks for big 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. Another recently founded party, RESPECT, could be seen as the party's British counterpart.

Programm f�r eine bessere Zukunft (Programme for a better future), in German

Historical accounts

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 2010 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 Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB).

The association had 4,056 members on 11 September, 2004, the number rose to over 6,000 members shortly before Christmas 2004. The first organisation in one of the states was founded on 13 July, 2004 in the Saarland; the first covention 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 exists 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 "Unabh�ngige Sozialdemokratische Partei" (USPD) 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.

Foundation

The federal assembly in Nuremberg 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 G�ttingen. The party's name came into being as Partei Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit � Die Wahlalternative (the acronym 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 J�rgen Klute of Herne 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 acronym ASG

According to a decision made by the District Court of D�sseldorf, the party was no longer allowed to officially use its acronym "ASG". The party had been sued by the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialp�dagogik und Gesellschaftsbild (ASG)".

Electoral alliance with the PDS

On 10 June, 2005, the leaderships of WASG and the Party of Democratic Socialism agreed to form an electoral alliance for the 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 is expected to benefit both parties, because the WASG is based primarily in western Germany, while the PDS, which is the successor to the East German communist party, is strongest in the east. Oskar Lafontaine, the former chairman of the incumbent Social Democratic Party, will be the coalition's lead candidate. It is not clear what name the alliance will use on the ballot: the PDS has suggested "United Left/PDS" but this has met with opposition from WASG[1].