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Weekly Worker 554 Thursday November 25 2004
"For a socialist party"
Joachim
Bischoff was for many years one of the few West German members of the
national executive of the Party of Democratic Socialism, but left the
party at the beginning of the year to help set up the WASG. He was elected
onto the executive.
Why did you resign from the PDS?
Maybe it was my fault, but I was not able to convince the rest of the
PDS executive that something big was happening in society. As the PDS
is still very weak in the west of Germany, the organisation simply did
not realise the extent of the growing opposition in- and outside the governing
SPD. I became more and more of a nuisance to the leadership and finally
was not re-elected to the executive. I still tried to influence the discussion
inside the organisation, but I was not able to make them realise how explosive
the situation in the workplaces and trade unions was growing.
When the initial set up of the WASG was discussed in January 2004, my
decision was clear - I had to go with colleagues and friends from the
union and labour movement, with whom I had been working closely together
for the last 30 years.
The PDS has also lost a lot of support over its role in the couple
of states where it is part of the government coalition.
That was another reason for me to turn my back. In Berlin, the PDS has
openly taken part in breaking the Tarifvertrag (agreements over wages
and conditions) for all public sector workers. This was an outrageous
thing to do, particularly in a situation where the employees are under
such heavy attack in their workplaces and the general rollback of social
security and other rights. A socialist party that has taken part in those
attacks can simply not be taken seriously anymore.
Also, the PDS has made clear that it will carry out the rotten attacks
on the unemployed, known as Hartz IV laws which will come into force on
January 1. A truly socialist party must refuse to do this and, if necessary,
leave any government that attempts to force it to carry out such attacks.
The current majority in the WASG executive is against becoming a socialist
party.
There is no question, it must become an openly socialist organisation.
I was actually not sure if I should stand for election, because I am definitely
on the far left of the executive. In the organisation as a whole, purely
Kenysian ideas are definitely in the majority. Of course, such reforms
are necessary, but they are not enough.
Especially after the failure of state socialism in east Germany, we have
to ask how we can break the power of capital. And as long as I can openly
discuss the need for a democratic socialist transformation of society,
my place is in the WASG.
