Brief Information – Executive Board Meeting on November 14, 2009

By General Secretary Dietmar Bartsch

Party Chair Lothar Bisky, opening the meeting, observed that celebrations on the anniversary of the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, had relegated Crystal Night on November 9, 1938 and November 9, 1918, the climax of the German November Revolution, to the background of remembrance and historical reappraisal. This equally applied to those developments which brought about the actual process of opening the wall. "The lack of historicity displayed in remembering recent German history does only limited justice to the millions of GDR citizens who tackled the peaceful opening of the German Democratic Republic." "In these times,” Bisky continued, "we should also pay tribute to many statesmen and -women of those days and note that it was Hans Modrow with his Government of National Responsibility who became the bearer of hopes for a democratic development of the country.” This government honourably shouldered the task of "attending to a peaceful revolution while permanently seeing to its continued peacefulness." The warm applause greeting Bisky’s speech was equally a tribute to the person to whom it had referred – Hans Modrow, who was present at the meeting. Bisky’s brief speech can be read in German at ww.die-linke.de. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation on November 17 arranged a symposium on the 20th anniversary of forming the Modrow government.

After the conclusion of coalition talks between the Social Democratic Party and DIE LINKE, and the forming of a Land government in Brandenburg, the policies of that Land were a central point at the meeting as had been in October. Kerstin Kaiser, head of the negotiating team of DIE LINKE and floor leader in the Land assembly, and Stefan Ludwig, Executive Board member and member of the negotiating team, explained details of the coalition accord and its coming about. They also spoke on requisite debates in the Land branch, including those at four regional conferences and one Land congress, and answered a large number of questions by Board members. At the end of the discussion, the Board adopted a resolution saying "The Executive Board reaffirms the basic political orientations of DIE LINKE. The party opposes any dismantling of social services, retrenchment of employment, privatization, and steps to remove democracy. Rather, it stands for the re-municipalization of public utilities, socialization and the strengthening of participatory rights of employees. It advocates the extension of public services and public employment as practised in the Nordic countries. It stands for a genuine energy turnaround freeing our country from the dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power. It wants to implement an active policy against racism and fascism.”

As has been requested by the Brandenburg comrades, the Executive Board pledged to constructively accompany the policy of the party’s representatives in the Land government.

Next, the Board discussed party political education, confirmed its principles and targets and laid out for this purpose a fund of at least € 100,000 in the 2010 fiscal plan. The Board evidently consented to the demand of its member Harald Werner to develop what he called a socialist general education and requested Land executives to step up political education and training and provide requisite funds.

The Board took a number of decisions on preparing the Second Federal Congress of DIE LINKE in Rostock in May next year and heard a report on the work of the party’s statutory commission. Information about this work can be obtained from www.die-linke.de (in German).

Der Board called on all members and sympathizers of DIE LINKE to join in the protest march against the Nazi rally in Dresden on February 13, 2010, the 65th anniversary of the night when Dresden was laid in ruins shortly before the end of World War II. The Land branches are requested to provide requisite travel facilities to their members and to closely cooperate with local initiatives of the Linksjugend ['solid] and Die Linke.SDS youth and student organizations as well as with other alliances.

The Executive Board further

  • called on members and sympathizers to join in the traditional march in commemoration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht to the memorial in Berlin Friedrichsfelde, this time on January 10;

  • decided to hold a DIE LINKE Women’s Congress in Bielefeld from March 12-14;

  • acknowledged the party’s political schedule for next year envisaging, e.g. a conference with all district chairs on March 6, 2010. This schedule is being published and regularly updated under www.die-linke.de (in German);

  • took cognizance of an information on the pending new election of the DIE LINKE Federal Committee as provided in the party's statutes;

  • appointed Frank Spieth as the Executive Board's in-charge on health policy;

  • approved of a motion by the party’s Wiesbaden district committee to enhance support to the resistance to privatizing Die Bahn rail company.

With the party's Programme Commission meeting on November 23, the Executive Board decided to deal with the progress of the programme debate only at its meeting in December.