The Left Saxony

The Left Saxony
Chairperson	Susanne Schaper Stefan Hartmann
Deputy	Kathrin Kagelmann Alexander Weiss
Treasurer	Andrea Kubank
Manager	Janina Pfau
Establishment date	14./15. July 2007 (Association of Left Party.PDS with WASG)
Place of foundation	Chemnitz
Headquarters	Kleiststrasse 10a 01129 Dresden
Landtag mandates	14/126
Number of members	8,284 (as of December 31, 2016)
Website	www.dielinke-sachsen.de

Die Linke Sachsen ( proper spelling DIE LINKE. Sachsen ; in the second official Saxon language Sorbian LĚWICA. Krajny zwjazk Sakska or LĚWICA. Sakska for short ) is the regional association of the party Die Linke in the Free State of Saxony . State chairmen are Susanne Schaper and Stefan Hartmann. The parliamentary group chairman in the Saxon state parliament is Rico Gebhardt .

At the end of 2016, Die Linke Sachsen was the largest regional association of this party in Germany.

history

founding

On 14./15. In July 2007 the regional associations of the left party PDS and the WASG merged in Chemnitz to form the regional association of the party Die Linke Sachsen. Before that, on June 16, 2007, the PDS and the WASG had merged in Berlin at the federal level to form the Left Party. This was preceded by a two-year process of cooperation that was triggered by the early federal elections in 2005. With the PDS, which was able to look back on a long and eventful history in 2007, and the WASG, which arose in connection with the protests against the government policy of the SPD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and especially against the adoption of the so-called Hartz laws two very different partners. Not least because of the memories of experiences with earlier associations, important actors on both sides attached great importance to establishing this association on an equal footing.

History of the PDS Saxony

On December 8th and 9th, 1989, an Extraordinary Party Congress of the SED took place in Berlin. The crisis into which the party and state leadership had led the country at the time had made it inevitable, even if not all leading functionaries saw it that way. The party was renamed SED-PDS and from mid-January 1990 PDS, Party of Democratic Socialism.

The break with Stalinism as a system was a message from this party congress. In the three districts of Saxony, initiative groups and other grassroots movements arose in autumn 1989 and early 1990, which understood and promoted the transformation of the party as a process of renewal, took on responsibility, replaced the old executives and at the round tables together with representatives of other parties and newly formed political parties Advised movements on the future of the country. Saxony - with the developments in Plauen, Dresden and Leipzig - had become the engine of the process in the GDR in autumn '89, the non-violence of which amazed the world. The PDS took on a difficult legacy with the legal succession of the SED (which was also controversial in the party). The newly formed Saxon district associations were faced with two major challenges even before the founding of a new state association of the party: They had to face responsibility - also for their predecessor party - and at the same time start renewal. For this purpose, a preparatory conference for the re-establishment of a Saxon regional association of the PDS took place on June 30, 1990 in Dresden.

On 28/29 In July 1990 the State Association of Saxony of the PDS was founded in Leipzig at the 1st State Delegate Conference. Klaus Bartl ( Chemnitz ) was elected chairman, Ronald Weckesser (Dresden), Achim Last (Löbau) and Volker Külow (Leipzig) became deputies. In the elections for the first Saxon state parliament , the LINKE LISTE.PDS , which is part of an electoral alliance with the party Die Nelken , the KPD Saxony, the Marxist Youth Association and the United Left , received 10.2% of the vote and thus 17 seats in the new state parliament. The parliamentary group chairman was Klaus Bartl. At the 2nd party conference on December 7, 1991 in Leipzig, Peter Porsch was elected party chairman. In the years that followed, there was an internal party clarification process. Reform-oriented and left-wing conservative forces came together so that they could act politically together. Two party conferences and countless regional activities accompanied the further renewal process. At the Markkleeberg party congress on March 6, 1994, the PDS Saxony gave itself its own basic program "Living in human dignity", supported by all currents. The internal party clarification process was also shaped by numerous tough personal and content-related disputes between the three city associations Leipzig (Pellmann), Chemnitz (Bartl) and Dresden (Ostrowski / Weckesser). In some cases, Peter Porsch, as state chairman, was only able to integrate the wings with great difficulty.

After the state elections in 1994 , the PDS moved into the new state parliament with 16.5% of the vote and 21 members. Peter Porsch was elected chairman of the parliamentary group. In 1994 the PDS was able to appoint Horst-Dieter Brähmig in Hoyerswerda for the first time in the Federal Republic of a Lord Mayor. For the 1999 state election , the party increased its share of the vote to 22.2%, moved into the state parliament with 30 members and thus became the second largest parliamentary group and the opposition leader in the Saxon state parliament. Peter Porsch was again parliamentary group leader and state chairman, and in autumn 2000 he was also elected deputy party chairman of the PDS at federal level. In 2001 Cornelia Ernst took over the office of state chairwoman. Formative opposition and debt-free socialism became the slogans that characterized the politics of the PDS Saxony.

In 2004 the PDS presented the alternative state development concept ALEKSA. In 2004, information about a Stasi cooperation of the PDS top candidate Peter Porsch diminished the results (23.6%). Again the PDS became the second largest parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament with 31 members. For the first time, she won four direct mandates in Leipzig, Chemnitz and Hoyerswerda. Porsch was again chairman of the parliamentary group. As a result of the nationwide development, the PDS Sachsen also set course for cooperation with the WASG in 2005. In July 2007 the PDS and the WASG united to form the Left Party. At the same time, André Hahn, the parliamentary manager of the parliamentary group for many years, took over the chairmanship of the parliamentary group Die Linke in the Saxon state parliament.

History of the WASG Saxony

On July 3rd, 2004 the association Wahlalternative Arbeit und Sozialeighigkeit e.V. was founded in the Bonhoeffer House in Berlin . V. founded, which counted the founding or conversion into a party to its statutory goals from the outset. 38 initiators from all over Germany - including three from Saxony ( Thomas Rudolph and Roger Schaumberg , Leipzig; Bernd Rump , Dresden) - signed the founding declaration. This formal founding act was preceded by the establishment of an electoral alternative and an initiative for work and social justice. Since the spring of 2004, open meetings had also taken place in Saxony under the umbrella of the IG Metall trade union , at which the development of a new political organization had been discussed. The representative of IG Metall, Werner Kempter, was appointed as the country coordinator.

On June 2, 2004, a working committee was founded in Dresden, which included Ulrich Stephan and Werner Kempter. Regional associations were set up in Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitzer Land, Freiberg and Zwickau. Consultations between the various initiative groups led to the state meeting of the ASG Saxony on October 9, 2004 in Chemnitz, where the WASG was founded in Saxony. The executive board, to which Michaela Ziegs, Petra Fischer, Monika Krüger, Werner Kempter, Manfred Hauser, Tilo Wirtz and Christian Fischer belonged, took over the further work. The WASG was mainly present at the demonstrations against Hartz IV , and participated in protests against government policy with leaflet campaigns and vigils. At the same time, the public discussion about the basic political orientation and the first drafts of a basic political program began.

After a membership decision in which the majority voted for the conversion of the association into a party, the WASG constituted itself as a party on January 22, 2005. The state association of Saxony was officially founded with the 1st state party congress of the WASG on June 18, 2005. Petra Fischer (Dresden), Manfred Hauser (Zwickau), Tilo Wirtz (Dresden) and Enrico Stange (Leipzig) were elected as members of the executive board . The state party congress also dealt with the preparation for the upcoming federal elections on September 18, 2005. The focus of the discussions was a motion by the Leipzig district association, which rejected a candidacy by WASG candidates on open lists of the PDS. In the evening the state party congress decided with a large majority in favor of this proposal. In the weeks that followed, district associations were established almost everywhere in Saxony: in Bautzen, Riesa-Großenhain, Plauen, Weißwasser, Zwickau, Meißen, Stollberg, Freiberg.

Despite the party congress resolution of June 18, 2005, after the final decision in favor of early federal elections as a result of the results of the state elections in Lower Saxony in May 2005, consultations between the two parties PDS and WASG also took place in Saxony. Oskar Lafontaine’s request to both left-wing parties to come together in the upcoming elections played a particularly decisive role. Following corresponding agreements at the federal level, these consultations led to a revision of the position adopted at the party congress and thus also in Saxony to the candidacy of WASG candidates on open lists of the PDS. On December 3, 2005, the state boards of both parties agreed to form an equal strategy group to prepare for a merger in Saxony, which should be completed within one and a half years. At two programmatic conventions on October 7, 2006 in Dresden and January 21, 2007 in Hof, rapprochement and finally agreement was achieved.

Organization and structure

The Left Saxony organizes itself in grassroots groups and in local associations. These each form district associations that are territorially congruent with the ten districts and the three independent cities. The highest organ is the state party congress, which is elected for two years. The most important governing bodies of the party are the state executive and the state council.

The party organization also includes working groups, working groups and forums in which members and non-members of the party with an interest in certain topics can officially come together. Such nationwide associations include the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft (LAG) Antifascist Politics, the LAG Companies & Trade Union, the LAG Civil Rights and Democracy, the LAG Peace and International Politics, the LAG Unconditional Basic Income , the Women's Working Group LISA , the Marxist Forum , the LAG Religion and Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften , the Forum for Democratic Socialism , the Socialist Left , the LAG Left Entrepreneurs, the LAG Senior Citizens. The youth also occupy an important position within the party with their regional youth day. All members of the regional association as well as party sympathizers up to the age of 27 can take part.

The Left Youth ('solid) is the party's state youth association. Within this association, the university association Die Linke.SDS exists as a working group.

Education associations affiliated with the party are the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, with headquarters in Leipzig and branches in Dresden and Chemnitz, the Municipal Political Forum Saxony , the youth education organization Saxony and the youth association “ Roter Baum ” .

OWUS Saxony is a party-affiliated, open business association.

Functionaries

Party chairmen: PDS Saxony and Die Linke Sachsen

Term of office	Surname	Party name
1990-1991	Klaus Bartl	PDS
1991-1995	Peter Porsch	PDS
1995-1997	Reinhard Lauter	PDS
1997-2001	Peter Porsch	PDS
2001-2009	Cornelia Ernst	PDS / The Left
2009-2017	Rico Gebhardt	The left
2017-2019	Antje Feiks	The left
since 2019	Susanne Schaper & Stefan Hartmann	The left

Group leader in the Saxon state parliament

Term of office	Surname
1990-1994	Klaus Bartl , Left List PDS
1994-2005	Peter Porsch , PDS parliamentary group
2005-2007	Peter Porsch, left parliamentary group, PDS
2007–2012	André Hahn , parliamentary group Die Linke
since 2012	Rico Gebhardt , parliamentary group Die Linke

Country Managing Director

Term of office	Surname
1991-1993	Martin Harnack
1993-1995	Ingrid Mattern
1995-1997	Michael Kretschmer
1997-1999	Ralf Eissler
1999-2009	Rico Gebhardt
2009-2017	Antje Feiks
2017-2019	Thomas Dudzak
since 2019	Janina Pfau

Results of the state elections

Results

State elections

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

'90

'94

'99

'04

'09

'14

'19

Results of the state elections
year	be right	Seats
1990 1	10.2%	17th
1994 2nd	16.5%	21st
1999 2nd	22.2%	30th
2004 2nd	23.6%	31
2009 3	20.6%	29
2014 3	18.9%	27
2019 3	10.4%	14th

1) as LL / PDS (“Left List - PDS”)
2) as PDS (“Party of Democratic Socialism”)
3) as Die Linke

literature

• Gero Neugebauer : The PDS in Saxony . In: Christian Demuth, Jakob Lempp : Parties in Saxony . be.bra Wissenschaft verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-937233-35-0 , pp. 121–144. (2nd edition 2007) ( online : special edition of the Saxon State Center for Political Education (2006))

Web links

• The Left Saxony
• The Left parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Oskar Niedermayer : Party members according to federal states. Federal Agency for Civic Education , July 8, 2017, accessed on August 25, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ALEKSA - Alternative State Development Concept for the Free State of Saxony (2004)
3. ^ Results of the state elections in Saxony