THE LEFT (GERMANY)

(Redirected from Left Party (Germany))

'The Left' ( or ''DIE LINKE.'') is a German political party that came into being on 16 June 2007 as a merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) (previously known as the SED, the governing party of the former German Democratic Republic) and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG). Its leaders are Oskar Lafontaine and Lothar Bisky.
As of June 2007, the party has 71,800 members (60,300 came from PDS and 11,500 from WASG), making it the fourth largest political party in Germany [1]. In the first week after the unification, there were about 2,500 new members. The party is also represented in the Bundestag, where it is the fourth largest faction (of five represented), holding 8.8% of the seats. The electoral strongholds of the party are located in the states which were previously part of communist East Germany, where also the large majority of its members come from.
Internationally, The Left is a member of the Party of the European Left and is the largest party in the European United Left/Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament.

Contents

External links

External links

★ Die-Linke.de (in German)

★ Programmatic Points (in English - 500 KB PDF)

★ Ingar Solty: Transformation of the German Political System and European Historical Responsibility of the German Left Party, Das Argument 271, 3/2007, pp. 329-47, in German

★ Victor Grossman: A Huge Step Towards Left Unity in Germany, Monthly Review Zine

★ Ingo Schmidt: The Left Opposition in Germany. Why is the Left So Weak When So Many Look For Political Alternatives?, in Monthly Review, May 2007