While a conference and giant celebrations in the German capital marked the
fiftieth anniversary of the European Union, with heads of state from
Poland to Portugal attending, another meeting was being held in the west
of Germany, in the Ruhr valley city of Dortmund. Though almost totally
eclipsed by the ballyhoo in Berlin, it will also leave its mark in the
history books.

Actually it was two meetings, or congresses, with two hardworking days
spent in neighboring auditoriums, one with delegates from the "Left
Party.PDS," the other, also with nearly 400 delegates, from the WASG.
Both debated the same resolutions and statutes aiming toward their
unification into a single party. The parallel meetings were a major step
in the long process.

When these two parties hastily joined in an electoral alliance during the
last national elections in 2005, they achieved the very satisfactory
result of over 8 percent, meaning over 50 seats in the Bundestag. The
delegates there have been working and voting together ever since, in
opposition to the two ruling parties and their program of air force jets
in Afghanistan, reduced pensions, increased medical assistance fees and
college fees, draconically meager support for the jobless, and reduced
taxes for wealthy corporations. Outside the Bundestag, however, their
organizations have thus far remained separate, though usually friendly.

Once they merge and work as a single unit in all Germany, it is hoped,
they should have a much greater impact, with election totals of 10 percent
or more, which would make it more difficult to ignore them or bury their
positions in small print and brief, usually ineffective TV sound bites.

The WASG, the title stands for Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social
Security, was founded less than three years ago by militant trade
unionists, disgruntled Social Democrats, antiglobalists, and a few
Trotskyist groups. It is relatively small in number, with less than
10,000 members largely concentrated in western Germany. The PDS,
temporarily called The Left.PDS, has over 60,000 members. It is weak in
the West but gets votes of 20-25 percent in most areas of the former GDR,
where its predecessor party, the Socialist Unity Party, once ruled. To
achieve any importance, however, even to be sure of the five percentage
points required to get into the Bundestag safely, the merger of the two
was a clear if not always easy solution.

There have been many problems and hindrances. Most WASG members, but also
an angry minority in the Left.PDS, oppose pragmatic coalitions with the
Social Democrats, on the national level -- if ever the chance arises --
but also on the provincial level, where it has arisen, for example in
Berlin where, over five years ago, the Left.PDS joined with the stronger
Social Democrats to manage the city. The opponents of such coalitions
claim that the Left is forced into making far too many compromises, is
outmaneuvered by the stronger partner, is forced to cooperate in decisions
against the working population, and loses support in the process among its
own voters. The supporters of such coalitions, on the other hand, say it
is their responsibility to take office when the opportunity permits, and
much can be achieved in warding off worse evils and achieving some gains.
This dispute will now be carried on within the merged unity party. The
small WASG group in Berlin has angrily refused to go along with such a
coalition, opposed the Left.PDS in the last city elections, and is now
boycotting the party merger and forming a new little party of its own in
Berlin, in which a Trotskyist group predominates.

A second point of dispute: should the new party oppose all use of German
military forces outside of Germany, even when they are on UN peace
missions? Many in the militant wing of the Left.PDS, and nearly everyone
in the WASG, say, "No exceptions." Most UN missions are not really in the
interests of peace, they insist, and German soldiers should stay at home
for defensive purposes only, as determined in the West German
constitution.

Another dispute is about privatization of publicly owned utilities -- like
water and rail -- or housing. The WASG says, "No privatization. " Some in
the Left.PDS suggest possible exceptions, and local PDS politicians have
sometimes voted to privatize, as in Dresden, where public housing was sold
to private interests so as to pay off city deficits.

One other difficult question involves the view of history. Some PDS
militants refuse to negate everything in GDR history and maintain that a
genuine attempt at building socialism was made in East Germany -- which
failed not only because of its own mistakes and lack of democratic
institutions but also due to pressures from its Western enemies. Both its
achievements and its blunders should be objectively evaluated and
analyzed. But most of the leaders in the Left.PDS prefer to reject nearly
everything from the past, basically agreeing with -- or acceding to --
official government views largely equating the GDR with Stalinism, which
must be totally condemned, and often placing the GDR on the much the same
level as fascism. The WASG, made up largely of West Germans with little
or no experience in the inner workings of the GDR, leans toward this
latter position.

There are many problems and heated differences, less between the two
parties than within them. So there was a collective sigh of relief when
the two-day parallel conferences in Dortmund, while agreeing to postpone
some policy decisions, overwhelmingly supported the merger of the two
parties, with a common platform and statutes.

In April and May there will be a referendum of the membership of both
parties. If a large enough majority of the grass roots members approves
the merger, there will be a big unification congress in June, with final
ceremonies on June 16th. The leaders who currently come in question for a
future presidency are Lothar Bisky, the Left.PDS president and former dean
of a film college in the GDR, and Oskar Lafontaine, the militant West
German politician from Saarland who once led the Social Democratic Party
but quit when it turned to the right. This raises a problem, because the
PDS has always required a quota of at least 50 percent women in leadership
positions and as deputies. This has been achieved at all levels, and the
vice-presidents are women, but the very top is now open to debate.

The problems will continue, and the widespread euphoria which prevailed
after the electoral gains in 2005 has given way to more cautious feelings
and some skepticism, but there is still plenty of hope for establishing a
strong left in Germany, with the resulting support for leftwing parties in
both eastern and western Europe -- if only unity can overcome the many
differences.

At the start of the two day sessions a WASG leader, Katharina
Schwabedissen, said:

Our opponents are not here among us. Nor are they in the other room next
door. There are differences amongst us but not hostility. Our foes will
rub their hands with satisfaction if the Left fails now, but they will
tremble if this congress sends out a clear message. Capitalism will not
represent the end of history!

Axel Troost, another WASG leader, summed up:

We have thrown the whole party system into disorder. We have established
ourselves as partners of social movements and labor unions. We have
placed the subject of social justice on the agenda, especially in the
field of taxation. Together with the Left Party we will enlarge these
victories. In this way the first all-German left movement will grow,

And his WASG colleague Thomas Handel added:

The Social Democratic Party is no longer the party of social justice. The
decisions to raise the pension age to 67 and the planned tax cuts for the
concerns show that the large majority in that party are on the other side
of the barricades. The new Left will fill out the political vacuum and
fight for the interests of those people who work for wages and salaries,
for the socially handicapped, and for the senior citizens.

The name of the new party will be "Die Linke" -- "The Left."

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Victor Grossman, American journalist and author, is a resident of East
Berlin for many years. He is the author of Crossing the River: A Memoir of
the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany (University of
Massachusetts Press, 2003).