Forum for Democratic Socialism

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The Forum Democratic Socialism (fds) was founded in 2002 under the name Forum Second Renewal (F2E) as a discussion forum of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), on July 16, 2005 it took on its current name. In 2007 the Forum for Democratic Socialism was reorganized in order to preserve the legacy of the Left Party.PDS as a network in the new party Die Linke and to participate in the debate about the direction of the party. It is a current in the party Die Linke, which is counted among the reform-oriented wing.

history

The Forum on the founded PDS - Party in 2002 in Gera . The focus of the party congress was the evaluation of the lost federal election in 2002 , in the result of which the PDS failed at the five percent hurdle and was only represented in the Bundestag by the two directly elected members of the Bundestag Gesine Lötzsch and Petra Pau . The party congress ended with a "shift to the left", which meant the sharp criticism of government participation and a stronger opposition course . Gabi Zimmer was elected as the new party leader.

Its original goal, as the Forum Democratic Socialism explains about itself, was "to develop viable projects for radical reform politics". Programmatically , the forum originally stood for the

“ To combine long-term democratic-socialist perspective with political action in the here and now and not to see it as a contradiction, as critics from left and right like to claim. We value the emphasis on democracy and civil rights , which distinguishes us from those who, when in doubt, vote for authoritarian politics or for welfare state populism . We want to shape globalization and the radically changing economy , not fight them. Precisely for this reason we know that some macroeconomic certainties that have been preserved for more than 30 years will be critically questioned without being puzzled by the monetarists ' only money matters . "

An open approach to government participation, a crossover discourse with undogmatic leftists , also in the SPD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , was a matter of course .

The Forum for Democratic Socialism conducted various courses and has published a regular newsletter to this day . Due to its discursive self-image, the forum did not have basic groups or anything like that. A coordination group alone arranged the work; it consisted of the MPs Udo Wolf , Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff , Matthias Höhn , the former head of the principle area of ​​the party executive committee, Thomas Falkner, Claudia Gohde and the former Bundestag candidate Sandra Brunner.

Reformed in 2007

Stefan Liebich

In February 2007, the Forum Democratic Socialism was founded by Stefan Liebich , the deputy chairman of the Left Party in the Berlin House of Representatives, with the appeal “So we dream with wide-awake reason: Imagine it's socialism, and nobody goes away!” (The Sentence comes from Christa Wolf ) filled with new content. From the point of view of the first signatories, this seemed necessary because, firstly, some of the clashes between different currents in the Left Party.PDS had ended and others had shifted, and secondly, especially with a view to the unification of Left Party.PDS and WASG. At a forum from March 2-4, 2007 in Berlin, this new direction was discussed and approved by more than a hundred people.

Self-image of the "new" forum

“We are democratic socialists and we want this new party. Because there is not only no alternative to the union of WASG and Linkspartei.PDS, no, it is also a huge opportunity. To have a strong presence at the federal level, to have parliamentary groups in state parliaments in the West as well, to be a serious left force in the municipalities - we will only open up this opportunity if we take this step in summer. Just getting together is not enough. The decisive factor for the success of the new left party will be what kind of party it will be: We want to change society and for it to campaign for stable, lasting majorities. We are in favor of democratic socialism becoming the basis of the politics of the new Left Party and a majority in this new Left Party. Because we believe that this can succeed, we want to help determine the direction of the party 'Die Linke' from within the new party. For this we want to take up the legacy of the PDS, so the equality of social and freedom rights is very important to us. "

By mid-June 2008, more than 580 signatures had been submitted for the appeal.

The participants of the forum in March 2007 agreed that they would be the network "Forum Democratic Socialism", that of Angelika Gramkow (MdL Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, member of the party executive), Caren Lay (MdL Saxony, deputy parliamentary group chairman, member of the party executive) and Stefan Liebich (managing director Sonja Kiesbauer, public relations Lena Schulz zur Wiesch) will continue to work in order to better network for their goals. There was controversy over whether a platform should be formed, which was left open in order not to reduce the number of supporters. Internal party critics, especially the anti-capitalist left and the socialist left , characterize it as a movement of realpolitical pragmatists and uncritical supporters of government participation. In addition to exposed representatives of the Reform Left network, there are also important representatives of intra-party associations such as AG Lisa , AG queer , BAG Basic Income , the emancipatory and undogmatic left, the IG company and trade union as well as numerous signatories who have not yet positioned themselves in current disputes.

The alliance is, on the one hand, a reaction, especially from members of the Left Party.PDS, to the fact that left Keynesian and traditional left currents have become stronger in the new Left Party, and on the other hand to the fact that WASG representatives in particular embraced democratic socialism during the formation of the new party Asked a question. While the Forum for Democratic Socialism is concerned on the one hand with preserving “the legacy of the PDS”, it also strives for what the Forum itself calls “modernization” of the Left Party.

In the new elections for the office of federal spokesman in June 2010, Stefan Liebich and Caren Lay did not run again. Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff , State Secretary in the Senate Department for Health, Environment and Consumer Protection in Berlin and Inga Nitz , a member of the Bremen Parliament, were elected as new federal spokespersons . Inga Nitz resigned from her position, which she had held since 2007, in March 2011. On November 30, 2013 Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg from Saxony, Julia Nüß from Schleswig-Holstein and the Berlin Bundestag member Stefan Liebich were elected as new federal spokesmen. Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg has been the FdS spokesperson since June 28, 2014 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Forum Democratic Socialism: Bringing Strategies Forward. (PDF) Retrieved October 19, 2016 .
  2. ^ FDS without speaker ( Memento of August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Lafontaines Linke , accessed on March 17, 2011