New Left party rides high in polls

Christian-Democrats warn of post-communists; liberals see new threat

06/18/07 -- Berlin -- The new chiefs of the "Left", Lothar Bisky (65) and Oskar Lafontaine (63), want to change Germany completely. But the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU), the Social-Democrats, the liberal FDP, the Greens, and industry are all siding forcefully against the plans of the new party.

Sahra Wagenknecht, elected in the new federal executive with 75,2 percent, declared yesterday what the "Left" wants: "We need a party that will not let itself be weakened, or robbed of its credibility, by parliamentary deliberation and putative constraints. We will confront the neoliberal politics of the other parties, not at the government table, but through vocal opposition on the street."

Lafontaine wants to revive the "general strike" for this. His goal: "The Left must ask the question of the system [we live in]. It must say: Freedom through socialism."

Bottom line: These men and women want to really change Germany, radically. And therefore, resistance is stirring to the right of the new party.

The General-Secretary of the Social-Democratic SPD, Hubertus Heil, accused the Leftists of populism and denial of reality. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the program of the Leftists was a "guaranteed way into poverty". The Prime Minister of the state of Thüringen, Dieter Althaus of the CDU, warned: "One can not do politics with communists." FDP-leader Guido Westerwelle even sees a threat to the Federal Republic.

In an flash opinion poll, 24 percent of the surveyed Germans said they could vote for the Left.

[Full article]

[Source: Berliner Kurier]

--Translated By no-itsme

Go to original article:

http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-kurier/print/politik/175670.html