East German discontent: printer friendly version East German discontent Judy Dempsey/IHT IHT Thursday, September 09, 2004 Ex-communists riding the swell to polls BERLIN The philosopher turned politician who last year took the helm of the Party of Democratic Socialists, Eastern Germany's former communists, said Wednesday that the party could become the largest in state elections next week in the eastern part of the country, a possibility confirmed by the latest opinion polls. Lothar Bisky said in an interview that the party could pose a challenge to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats in this part of Germany as tensions increase between east and west over the direction of economic reform. Some polls indicate that the PDS could win a majority of the vote in Brandenburg. And in a warning to the German government, he said the younger generation of East Germans was supporting the parties of the extreme right. “They seem to have no perspective, no hope,” Bisky said. The PDS shares power with the Social Democrats in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and in Berlin. “We have a place in German politics,” Bisky said, "and in European Union politics as well. For the first time ever, the PDS last June won seven seats in the European Parliament.” Schröder gave a policy speech Wednesday to the Bundestag, or German Parliament, in which he defended the reforms, known as Hartz IV. The reforms, to be introduced next January, will cut unemployment benefits. Schröder insisted the changes were crucial for reducing unemployment, reforming the social welfare system and making Germany more competitive. But Bisky, 63, a former university professor, said the reforms were flawed. “Don't get me wrong. I am not against reforms as such. We are not a party for the sake of being a protest party. The point is that there are no jobs in Eastern Germany. There is no perspective. That's the problem with the Hartz IV. Jobs do not exist in East Germany. East Germany needs a new beginning. Hartz IV is not the solution. It hits at the small people and the very small businesses.” The official unemployment rate in the five East German states is 20 percent. Bisky, a pragmatist who was catapulted into power in October to rescue a party that managed to win only two seats in the Bundestag, is determined to reverse the trend. But he says he is not willing to play exclusively the East German card, knowing it will only sharpen the divide between east and west. As he himself explains, West Germans, especially those in the rust belt of the Ruhrgebiet - once the country's industrial powerhouse - are beginning to resent the complaints from the East Germans, especially given that the states that were part of the former East Germany have received a total of E160 billion from taxpayers since reunification 14 years ago. The West Germans, as Bisky admits, also dislike the weekly “Monday demonstrations” organized by the PDS to protest Schröder's reforms because West Germans are feeling the brunt as well. Yet, he adds, the demonstrations are the only way for East Germans to oppose the reforms he claims are an attack on the “small people.” “It is not only about the unemployed," Bisky said. Small and medium-size businesses in Eastern Germany "have a very hard time, so have the small workshops. There is no perspective. The youth have gone to western Germany to find work. The manufacturing base has been destroyed.” This is one of Bisky's biggest gripes. He deeply resents the way that the Treuhand, the agency charged with privatizing East German industry since reunification, restructured the region's economy. It closed down many of the enterprises or sold them to West German companies. The changes led to unprecedented unemployment in a part of the country that had never experienced such social insecurity. The government tried to compensate by offering generous unemployment benefits. Bisky acknowledges these benefits. “The point is, we did not have a say. We have today no manufacturing base. No perspective for the young people. No sense of hope. Do we have to go down on our knees to thank the government for the benefits? What we need is a new start,” he said. Bisky is unsure what that would entail in terms of creating more jobs or creating new industries. But if he is sure and worried about any one issue, it is the youth – in particular, its attraction to the extreme right. “Either the youth leave or else they join the extreme right,” Bisky said. “The extreme right is drawn even from middle-class families. We know this for a fact. And many are unemployed. They have no perspective. We keep fighting against this phenomenon,” he said. The PDS has had very little success in wooing the younger generation, a problem Bisky finds difficult to explain. The party's sustainability will depend on its ability to attract younger members. Of its 65,800 members, only 3.6 percent are under the age of 30. Those over 65 years old make up 60 percent of the party's membership. “I know it is a big problem,” he said. If the PDS pulls off such an election feat next week in Brandenburg, officials from Schröder's Social Democrats or Angela Merkel's opposition conservative Christian Democrats say they will pull together and consider forming coalitions again to keep the PDS from sharing power. Bisky knows this is a possibility. “Becoming the largest party does not mean that we become the winners,” he said. International Herald Tribune Copyright © 2004 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com