By General Secretary Dietmar Bartsch
As this eventful and successful year of 2009 draws to its end, the Executive Board thanks all members and sympathizers of DIE LINKE for their efforts in that super election year. It wishes them relaxing Christmas holidays, and a peaceful and healthy New Year. A special salute plus wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Party Chair Oskar Lafontaine.
In view of the current flood of media reports against the party, the Board appeals to all responsible comrades to not fuel this campaign by their own speculations.
Lothar Bisky, Chairman of the European Left (EL), spoke on current developments of the EL, whose leading bodies as traditional will meet in Berlin in January 2010. DIE LINKE stated its solidarity with Kurdish democrats and condemned the ban on the DTP proclaimed by the Turkish constitutional court.
The Board stated its sadness at the demise of sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka and leftist economist Jörg Huffschmid. It recalled Hrdlicka’s presence as guest at the founding congress of DIE LINKE in June 2006.
In its current affairs debate, the Board covered a whole range of subjects which all make evident that the demands for social justice and the redistribution of wealth, for peace, and democratization must remain in the focus of the party’s policy. In a joint statement, the Executive Board and the Linksjugend [‘solid] youth association voice their scepticism at the so called World Climate Summit and come out for changing the political climate instead of continuing to keep eyes wide shut towards the future.
The statement says,”A real turnaround and a change from the window-dressing of the past years is not in sight… The logic of competing for locations and putting maximum return rates above long-term efforts to contain earth warming has remained unchanged. The Federal Government is engaged in the competition for diverting costs of the necessary turnaround. Being part of the problem, it ignores the extreme pressure for action and the high expectations of many people. Instead of making ambitious promises to curb CO2 emissions, self-styled climate chancellor Merkel barters the future away for short-term economic interests.”
Many members of DIE LINKE, its youth and student associations, including Board member Wolfgang Methling, have been taking part in protest actions in Copenhagen. The Board stated with satisfaction that Dong Energy has had to drop its plans of building a coal power station at Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In view of the German government’s disastrous policy, the Executive Board reiterated its demand for calling the Bundeswehr forces home from Afghanistan and ending the war now.
Regarding domestic affairs, the policy of the Christian Democrat-Free Democrat government has resulted e.g. in confronting DIE LINKE with new challenges such as problems pertaining to re-municipalization and to Land and local finances. These problems were discussed recently at a joint meeting of the leaders of the party’s state branches and parliamentary groups. The Board expresses its respect for the actions of Die Linke.SDS student association and many members and sympathizers of the party during the ongoing nation-wide university strike. Regarding developments in German Lands, the Board welcomes the successful legal action by the Berlin city government and ver.di services trade union federation against wage dumping practices of so called Christian unions. It heard a report from Bremen on the progress of a legal complaint against the government’s "debt brake”. It advises the Brandenburg state branch - the same as all other Land branches - to observe party resolutions and frankly deal with the political biographies of the party’s candidates for offices and mandates.
The Board calls on party members and sympathizers to come out in their numbers for the annual procession in Berlin commemorating Rosa Luxemburg und Karl Liebknecht on January 10, next year. It also requests them to join in the demonstration in Dresden on February 13 to confront a rally by neo-Nazis who plan to abuse the 65th anniversary of the bombing of that city for denying the crimes of the Nazi regime and presenting Nazi Germany as a victim of Word War II.
The Board urges the party’s Land and regional branches to support protest actions by employees of Schlecker drugstore chain. It reaffirmed its demand for strictly curbing labour leasing and for fully asserting the principle of equal pay for equal work. The Board also supports the alliance for a basic standard rate of € 500 and put Klaus Ernst, Frank Spieth, the party’s in-charge of public health affairs, and myself in charge of working out guidelines of action on health affairs by next February.
The Executive Board dealt in detail with how to further lead the inner-party debate on the programme of DIE LINKE. It urged the Programme Commission to present a draft new party programme by February/March next year. The subsequent debate to involve all members includes e.g. regional conferences in September/October 2010 and a Programme Convention in November of the same year. The aim is to adopt a new party programme at a Federal Congress in autumn 2011.
The Board further
heard the concluding report of the Federal Campaign Manager on the 2009 election campaigns,
decided to hold a conference on trade union policy in Bochum on April 16/17, 2010,
convened the traditional "Whitsun with DIE LINKE Party” rally for May 21-24,2010, at the European Youth Centre at Altenhof on Lake Werbellin.