Out of the East : From PDS to Left Party in Unified Germany

240 Pages·2011·1.246 MB·English

by  David F. Patton

OUT of the EAST
(cid:83)
PDS
From to Left Party
in Unified Germany
DAVID F. PATTON
OUT OF THE EAST
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OUT OF THE EAST
From PDS to Left Party in Unifi ed Germany
DAVID F. PATTON
State University of New York Press
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Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2011 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact
State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Patton, David F., 1963–
Out of the east : from PDS to Left Party in unifi ed Germany.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3449-0 (hbk : alk. paper)
1. Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus (Germany)—History. 2. Linkspartei
(Germany)—History. 3. Political parties—Germany (East)—History. 4. Germany—Politics
and government—1990– I. Title. II. Title: From PDS to Left Party in unifi ed Germany.
JN3971.A98P37715 20011
324.243'074—dc22 2010023370
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CONTENTS
List of Tables vii
Preface ix
ONE Introduction 1
TWO The PDS in the New Germany 29

THREE Unifi cation, Descriptive Representation,
and the PDS 49
FOUR The Rise of the PDS 69
FIVE Normalization and Its Discontents 89
SIX From PDS to Left Party 119
Conclusion 149
Notes 159
Selected Bibliography 199
Index 217
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 PDS vote share in national elections in 1990 46
Table 5.1 PDS vote share (second ballot) in eastern state
elections in 1990s 94
Table 5.2 PDS vote share (second ballot) in Berlin regional
elections, 1990–2001 95
Table 5.3 PDS vote share (second ballot) in Bundestag elections,
1994–2002 113
Table 6.1 PDS/Left vote share (second ballot) in eastern state
elections in 2000s 122
Table 6.2 PDS membership, 1992–2006 135
Table 6.3 Left Party membership, 2007–2008 136
Table 6.4 PDS/Left vote share (second ballot) in western state
elections, 2003–2009 139
Table 6.5 Left Party.PDS/Left vote share in Bundestag elections,
2005–2009 141
vii
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PREFACE
As a graduate student in Berlin, I had the good fortune to witness fi rsthand
the wondrous events of 1989–1990 as East Germans peacefully toppled a
repressive communist regime and opened the door to national unifi cation.
I remember well the initial optimism and good will among Germans on
both sides of the former Iron Curtain; after four decades of living apart in
separate, antagonistic states, they seized the chance to come together within
one country. Willy Brandt, the former West German chancellor, captured
the sentiment well: “What belongs together will now grow together.” A few
dissident voices, such as that of the reconstituted former communist party of
East Germany, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), cautioned against
rapid unity in 1990, warning that the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)
was in effect annexing the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).
At the time, few listened to this populist message.
In 1997, I returned to the Federal Republic during a semester sabbatical
and encountered a very different mood. Gone was the initial unifi cation
euphoria, replaced by a sense in the east that the region had somehow
gotten the short end of the stick. The PDS had transformed itself into an
outspoken regional advocate and now had the backing of around one-fi fth
of the eastern electorate. No longer content in opposition, the party was
undertaking reforms—in the face of a good deal of internal opposition—
that would make it more attractive as a coalition partner. The mainstream
national parties had begun to rethink their earlier strategy of exclusion and
the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was preparing to govern with the party.
By choosing the PDS and Left Party as the focus of this study, I hoped to
not only shed light on an increasingly important German political party,
but illuminate how strategies of newcomer integration—in this case, the
incorporation of sixteen million East Germans, among them the fallen GDR
elites—affect regional protest and interest representation.
I would like to thank the following PDS and Left Party politicians for
taking time to meet with me for interviews: Günter Bärwolff, André Brie,
Michael Brie, Roland Claus, Gregor Gysi, Wolfram Friedersdorff, Wolf-
gang Gehrke, Hanno Hanisch, Uwe-Jens Heuer, Bernd Ihme, Horst Kahrs,
Rolf Kutzmutz, Manfred Müller, Petra Pau, Carsten Schatz, and Roland
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