Brief Information - Executive Board Meeting on February 27, 2010

By General Secretary Dietmar Bartsch

At the beginning of this meeting, the Executive Board expressed its deep respect for the parliamentary group members of DIE LINKE who at the recent Bundestag debate on Afghanistan carried tablets with the names of civilian victims of the Kunduz air strike. By this, and by voting against the extension of the German engagement in the Afghanistan war and the increase in troops, the group carried on the consistent course of DIE LINKE. In this context, the Board also thanked all party members and peace campaigners who joined the recent march against the Afghanistan war in Berlin.

The Executive Board stated its great satisfaction at the foiling of the planned march of old and new Nazis through Dresden on Feb.13 by thousands of anti-Fascists. A large number of party members, including many members of parliament and state assemblies, had stood in the forefront of the protesters. When it was learnt at the Board meeting that criminal proceedings are impending against members of DIE LINKE because of their participation in the blockade in Dresden, the Board expressed its solidarity with all persons concerned and urged the public prosecutor's office in Dresden to at once stay the proceedings which are partially based on complaints filed of all people by rightwing extremists. "Anti-Fascist commitment is not only a right but also a duty. The proceedings initiated against Petra Pau, André Hahn, Bodo Ramelow, Willi van Ooyen, and others are absurd," said a respective statement.

The Board further dealt with the present situation in Greece. It stated its solidarity with strikers there and expressed deep concern at the difficult situation in Greece being abused by financial magnates, the European Commission, and neo-liberal governments in EU countries for enforcing the retrenchment of social rights in Greece. Representatives of the European Left party are meeting in Athens this weekend to discuss leftist strategies against these attempts. This is why the Board's Chair Person, Lothar Bisky, who is EL President, was absent from the meeting.

Discussing domestic developments, the Board denounced the attacks by Free Democratic Party Chairman GuidoWesterwelle on recipients of Hartz IV welfare aid which were suited to stir social dissent. The recent Federal Constitutional Court judgement on Hartz IV has reinforced DIE LINKE party in its policy against the dismantlement of social services and social marginalization, for reasonably paid work, and minimum wages.

During the Dresden blockade, in its anti-war campaign and other activities, the party has shown again its capacity for successful common action, the Board stated. It is confident that this ability will stand its test also in the campaign for State Assembly elections in North Rhine Westphalia in May. All State branches have made concrete commitments to support the campaign on the spot. Thus the entire party is striving for its most important aim: to enter that State Assembly.

The current inner-party debates, naturally, were a subject of discussion at this Board meeting. The best way to tackle these developmental problems of the party will be building up its political influence and properly preparing the next Federal Party Congress which has been officially convened to the City Hall of Rostock on May 15-16. On the previous day a women's plenum will be held.

The preliminary agenda of the congress includes elections for the party's Executive Committee, the Federal Arbitration and Auditing Committees, and the discussion and adoption of the leading motion. The Board discussed the draft of this motion as well as motions on rules and regulations of the Congress ‘at the first reading'. These will be finalized at the Board's meeting in March.  A conference of district branch leaders of DIE LINKE has been slated for Kassel on April 24.

The Executive Board further

• Decided that the party will prepare and conduct a campaign on health policy.
• Approved of the fiscal plan for continuing the campaign to stop or undo the privatization of municipal enterprises. Both campaigns will be very much in the focus of the political activity of DIE LINKE.   
• Endorsed the financial plan for 2010 and the closing statement for the central election campaign budget covering elections for the European Parliament and the Bundestag in 2009, and the 2009 central election campaign donation drive which had yielded some 613,000 Euro.
• Heard reports by representatives of the Linksjugend[`solid] youth association and the Die Linke.SDS student union on their present work and future projects. It came out in support of the nation-wide education strike in 2010. It was decided to hold a conference on youth policy.
• Called on party members and sympathizers to join in the alliance against the neo-Nazi rally scheduled for Duisburg on March 27-28 and to support the actions against nuclear power on April 24. The latter include the forming of a human chain between the nuclear power stations at Krümmel and Brunsbüttel, and further actions at Ahaus, Neckarwestheim and Biblis.
• Approved of a motion for signing an open letter to the Federal Government initiated by the "Tax against poverty" campaign and which calls for introducing a tax on financial transactions.

The Executive Board and the Managing Executive Board, respectively, appropriated finances for the "2010 Festival of the Left", for support to the campaign against a referendum of the "We want to learn" initiative in Hamburg and for an Anti-Fascist Festival to be arranged by the Berlin branch of the Association of Victims of Persecution by the Nazi regime - Alliance of Anti-Fascists on May 9.

The Managing Executive Board decided to form a political education department at the Federal Headquarters of DIE LINKE to be headed by Heinz Hillebrand. Alexander Fischer was confirmed as the Executive Board's press spokesman.