Geraer Dialog / Socialist Dialog

Geraer Dialog / Sozialistischer Dialog ( GD / SD ) is a movement within the party Die Linke . Its name goes back to the Gera PDS party conference in October 2002. It was there that left forces in the PDS were able to prevail for the first time. Shortly after the party congress, the interest group changed its name to Socialist Dialogue . As of December 31, 2014 DIE LINKE had around 60,550 members. Almost 4,000 of these belonged to such currents and networks. According to the 2017 report for the Protection of the Constitution, there are no reliable numbers of members. It is described as one of the smaller alliances within the Left Party.

founding

When it became more and more apparent within the party that the realpolitical wing in the form of the reform left network , which according to the Gera Dialogue stands for a departure from Marxism and for the social market economy , could regain a majority in the party, a reaction was formed then the Gera Dialogue on February 1, 2003 in Berlin. Subsequently, the reform left network was formed in the same month. Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann , a member of the Bundestag for the PDS at the time , who has been a member of the SPD since 2009, described the establishment of the Gera Dialogue as a “step forward into the past”.

Political influence

Despite numerous efforts and a brisk influx of members, the Gera Dialogue at the Berlin Special Party Conference (also known as the Tempodrom Party Conference ) on June 28, 2003, had no influence, the realpolitical wing was better able to assert itself. As a result, some representatives of the more left wing were not re-elected to the new party executive committee.

After this debacle and the party program adopted at the end of 2003, there was a lively discussion within the Gera Dialogue on how to proceed. On the one hand, the Gera Dialogue was renamed the Socialist Dialogue / Gera Dialogue , on the other hand, the trend now also focused on working more outwards and not just inside the PDS. As a result of these debates, there were numerous withdrawals from the PDS and the Socialist Dialogue, because many viewed the Left Party project as a socialist party as a failure.

Subsequently, the socialist dialogue stabilized and actively participated in a left-wing party education program with the WASG . Today the Socialist Dialogue / Geraer Dialogue is a recognized intra-party association in the party Die Linke .

Assessment of the constitution protection authority

In its 2008 report, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution describes the GD / SD as the “reservoir for extremist forces” in the Left Party . This assessment is specifically justified with the general assembly on February 9, 2008 in Kassel , which decided to campaign for Marxism in terms of content. The 2014 report on the Protection of the Constitution says: "The Geraer / Socialist Dialogue is committed to strengthening and spreading the Marxist-socialist positions in the party and calls for a fundamental change in the direction of social development towards socialism". The reports in the following years made similar comments.

The Gera Dialogue has been observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for years, as have a number of individual party members or MPs. It is assumed that DIE LINKE has never lost sight of the goal of “revolutionary overcoming of capitalism and the establishment of a socialist society” and that it is a “reservoir for extremist forces”. In view of such concerns, a civil servant in Thuringia found himself unable to continue to work as a civil servant under the Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow, who was a member of DIE LINKE .

swell

1. ^ Günter Hayn: Party of functionaries. In: THE LEAF. June 22, 2015, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report 2017. In: verfassungsschutz.de. Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, p. 158 , accessed on June 14, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Red Alert: Extremists Have Infiltrated Germany's Left Party, Authorities Warn. In: Spiegel Online. May 14, 2008, accessed June 14, 2019 . 
4. ^ Protection of the Constitution: Secret service observes 25 left-wing MPs. In: Spiegel Online. June 2, 2013, accessed June 14, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Wolfgang Huebner: Gera as Weltanschauung - The party left tries to organize itself. February 2003, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on August 26, 2015 . 
6. ^ Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann: Founding meeting of the reform left network in and at the PDS. February 16, 2003, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Ekkehard Lieberam : PDS in the Tempodrom - Back behind Gera. In: SoZ - Socialist Newspaper. August 2003, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Robin Alexander: PDS not against red-red. In: taz. June 30, 2003, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
9. ↑ New start with old men. In: our zeit - newspaper of the DKP. July 4, 2003, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
10. ^ Constitutional Protection Report from 2008 (preliminary version) ( Memento of June 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) p. 149.
11. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report 2014. Federal Ministry of the Interior, p. 191 , accessed on August 26, 2015 . 
12. ^ Tilman Steffen: Left: A party under observation. In: The time. January 23, 2012, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
13. ^ Peter Carstens: Left Party and the Protection of the Constitution - "The GDR is our future". In: FAZ.net. January 24, 2012, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
14. ↑ Jochen Traut: Prosperity in the GDR. In: Cicero. September 17, 2008, accessed August 26, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Eike Kellermann: Official defies left-wing head of government Ramelow - "My oath is violated". In: Der Tagesspiegel. April 8, 2014, accessed August 26, 2015 .