Stephan Peter holds dual American and German citizenship and moved to the U.S. in 1985. He is a Professor of Political Science at a college in Minneapolis, a member of the Twin Cities DSA Executive Committee, and a co-chair of the DSA International Commission. He travels to 'old Europe' regularly and maintains extensive political connections there.

In early Summer 2005 I had the opportunity to spend 3 ½ weeks in the so-called Saar-Lor-Lux region of Europe where Germany, France, and Luxemburg meet. My trip included excursions to Brussels and Berlin. Violà, les observations.

1. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Saarland state of Germany hosts a public forum ‘One World Saar.’ The Saarland is the tenth German state to hold such a forum. I register as a DSAer. The main speakers are Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, minister of Third World Development in the national government; Jo Leinen, member of the European Parliament from the Saarland; and state SPD chair Heiko Maas. Jo, who had been in Minneapolis for the DSA co-sponsored multilateralism event at the Humphrey Institute in Fall 2004, detects me in the audience. In his introductory remarks he spends two minutes commending DSA for its work in the U.S. in general and in particular Minnesota for the way it voted in the presidential elections. Not everyone in the U.S., he states, subscribes to the ‘Washington Consensus.’ Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul observes how the $ amount the U.S. military spends in Iraq in two months is equivalent to what the entire world community has pledged for development in Afghanistan for years to come. Heidi argues for a common European development policy which connects poverty to environmental and energy issues. She stresses U.N. reform as a major SPD and Party of European Socialists concern. The ‘one world forums’ are an SPD attempt to challenge its own social-democratic paternalism and to engage the NGO community on a state level. It’s an approach that views the main agent of change not to be the Socialist International with the Party of European Socialists at its core but rather a multi-faceted global progressive alliance of both party and NGO forces.

2. Oskar Lafontaine, former SPD party chair and vocal critic of Chancellor Schroeder’s policies, is on a book tour. I catch up with him in my and his hometown Dillingen where he reads from his latest book ‘Politik für alle’ [Politics for All]. He bemoans stagnating wages for employees, welfare state modernization at the expense of the socially weak, rising unemployment numbers, outsourcing, and the growing wage and income gap between rich and poor in Germany. He focuses on the corruption of language and thinking, how many Social Democrats, perhaps unthinkingly, use the language of the Right. When I approach him after the event, I’m surprised to find him inattentive - not realizing what the next few days would bring and where his mind must have been that evening.

3. Two days after Lafontaine’s talk state elections in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) are being held. The SPD books its lowest results in over 50 years since the state was formed following WWII. It is also the eleventh defeat in a row for Social Democrats in state elections. But NRW really matters. It is the SPD heartland - the party has governed there for over 30 years. It is also the industrial center of Germany where close to one third of the West Germans live. In the past, election results in this state foreshadowed election results on the national level. During election night, following the announcement of the results, Chancellor Schroeder stuns the political establishment by calling for early national elections in Fall 2005, one year earlier than scheduled. He cites the defeat of his party in NRW and the need to present clear policy choices to the voters in a situation characterized by gridlock since now most states are dominated by right-of-center governments while the federal government consists of a left-of-center coalition between the SPD and Greens. Constitutionally, Schroeder’s move is problematic since the chancellor cannot just dissolve parliament. Politically, Schroeder’s decision appears unilateral and a far cry from grass-roots democracy. Barely a hand full of party leaders were informed initially, certainly not the entire executive committee. Strategically, the move preempts a coup, or at least massive criticism from the party’s left and center, instead enforcing discipline and unity in the face of upcoming elections. In the following days Germany’s media attention switches from Schroeder to Lafontaine. Lafontaine announces he is leaving the SPD after 39 years of membership due to Schroeder’s neo-liberal policies. He urges the formation of a new progressive party to the left of the Social Democrats, modeled after the Italian ‘olive tree’ coalition. It would appeal to three constituencies: grass-roots voter initiatives as they sprung up in a number of West German states in the past two years that have attracted left-wing Social Democrats and progressive labor union people, the left wing within the Green Party, and the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) with its stronghold in former East Germany. Polls in June indicate this new Democratic Left/PDS alliance could receive between 6 and 10 percent of the vote in national elections and establish itself as the third largest party in the next national parliament. The SPD, suffering one of its deepest identity crises in history, only topped by persecution during the Nazi era and the disputes over war credits in 1916/17, appears poised for a historical defeat in the fall. Much will depend on three issues: will this new left force become a competitive political party or alliance in the months to come? will it be able to mobilize the increasing number of disgusted non-voters in recent years, many of them disgruntled Social Democrats? and how will ordinary Social Democrats interpret recent developments, if many in the party’s left wing emotionally regard this new left alliance not as competition but as friends?

4. Driving through the French border towns in the Lorraine province, billboards featuring Partie Socialiste posters urge ‘oui,’ voters should vote ‘yes’ to the new European Constitution which must be approved by all 25 EU member states. In Metz, capital city of Lorraine, a leading Socialist Party government official argues ‘non,’ accusing Jo Leinen, chair of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Committee, of neo-liberal tendencies. The French official declares his sympathies with Lafontaine’s anti-capitalist positions. Lafontaine campaigns in Paris for ‘non,’ Leinen for ‘oui.’ Hollande, the leader of the French PS for ‘oui,’ and long-time Mitterand confidant and former socialist prime minister Fabius for ‘non.’ In their last session before the French vote most members of the EU parliament in Brussels hold up signs stating ‘oui.’ Election night. The left wing of the socialist party, the communists and the extreme nationalists win: 55% of the French vote ‘non.’ The European Constitution is defeated. Television in Germany shows French Communist Party members celebrating with clenched fists and singing the ‘Internationale.’ Constitutional critics feel it will pave the way for Europe to become little more than a gigantic free trade zone and also facilitate the militarization of EU foreign policy. Supporters point to constitutional provisions that emphasize a social rather than a ‘free’ market economy as well as a social charter, including goals of full employment, social justice, equality between men and women, solidarity between the generations, and dialogue between employers and employees. The fact that this ‘constitution’ is several hundred pages long (compared to the few pages of the U.S. constitution) makes it all the more difficult to figure out what exactly it promises and regulates. During my travels I did not encounter one single person - politician or ordinary citizen - who claimed to have read the whole document.

5. The train from Luxemburg City to Brussels takes three hours. My destination: 98 Rue du Trone in downtown Brussels - the offices of the Party of European Socialists (PES). I do not expect to find a festive mood: the British Labor Party losses in the House of Commons, the disarray of the Polish Left, the split in the French Socialist Party, the almost certain defeat of German Social Democracy in the Fall 2005 election. Alexandra Pardal, political advisor, Office of the President, explains PES initiatives to improve U.S.-European relations, leading to a discussion of how socialists and progressives on both sides of the Atlantic might collaborate. Later on, Cathrine Bossenmeyer joins our conversation. She has helped build the ‘Global Progressive Forum’ (GPF) that was launched in November 2003 in Brussels by the PES, its Parliamentary Group in the European Parliament, and the Socialist International. Its motto reads: "reforming globalization by creating progressive communities for change." The GPF intends to go beyond parties and reach out to civil society. The focus is on world civil society, not merely Europe. Its website lists numerous progressive NGO’s that have participated in GPF activities. There are further initiatives, thematic partners and groups, with one effort on ‘poverty and environment’ relatively developed already. Collaboration here includes electronic communication through which position papers can be reshaped. This mode of contact and interchange may represent a meaningful way for organizations such as DSA to get involved. An important GPF event will be the September 2005 conference in Milan, Italy, which is expected to give new direction to future GPF activities. The GPF website is evolving and the forum’s structure and participation possibilities should become clearer in coming months: www.globalprogressiveforum.org

I’m quite surprised when told towards the end of our talk that someone in the office knows me. And there he is, Dr. Andreas Helle, political advisor to the PES. I had not seen or heard from him in over 20 years; in the 70s and 80s we worked together as members of the Young Socialist Student Club at Bielefeld University. He walks me over to the European Parliament complexes, just around the corner from the PES offices. On the upper floors of the parliament building, overlooking downtown Brussels, there may be in the neighborhood of 200+ offices accommodating socialist parliamentarians from 25 European countries. I talk to a number of Socialist faction staffers. Very soon my last copy of ‘Democratic Left’ is gone. Under the title ‘Social Europe: The Journal of the European Left’ social-democratic EU parliamentarians are publishing a new quarterly electronic journal, in English, to be accessed at: www.social-europe.com

6. Berlin. The view out the hotel room window: across the street a park, the former Gestapo headquarters. In one corner of the park the outdoor exhibition ‘Topography of Terror.’ Beyond, a large building - designed as Goering’s air force ministry. In the distance the ‘Reichstag’ with the new glass dome - host to the national parliament. No way to escape the past. The tall cranes surrounding the new central railway station. Berlin is readying itself for the 2006 world soccer cup. Surprisingly little news in the media on Bush, Iraq, terrorism. I visit offices of the SPD faction in the national parliament, and also the Willy Brandt Haus, the SPD headquarters. Those critical of Schroeder’s course argue that globalization and the party debate on globalization has allowed neo-liberalism to trump progressive social-democratic concepts such as economic democracy or redistribution. There is talk that the party intends to communicate its social and labor reforms more clearly and to cushion some of the harshest effects of these reforms on the poor. Will this be sufficient to save the ‘red-green’ coalition? At a Berlin train station I bump into my old friend Enrico Troebst, executive director of the Berlin August Bebel Society (Bebel was a towering figure in the SPD at the turn of the century). He describes the challenges to generate funding for this kind of educational work, and how party offices with paid staffers are struggling to survive in the face of stagnating party membership numbers. Leaving Berlin in a 150 mph bullet train, one legacy of the red-green project becomes apparent: wind mills everywhere. Germany accounts for over one third of the world’s wind-mill generated electricity today. Wind mills - the supplement to saying no to war with Iraq. And 120,000 jobs created by them.

7. On my very last day in ‘old Europe’ a meeting with Koba Krause, chair of the SPD local in Luxemburg City - one of the very few SPD locals that exist outside of Germany’s national borders. It hopes to continue the trans-Atlantic dialogue, which began last summer when I was invited to give a talk on DSA and U.S. politics at their meeting in Luxemburg City. I was impressed by this local’s European outlook and close ties to the Luxemburg Socialist Labor Party (LSAP), a coalition member in the current Luxemburg government. Up to six people are planning a visit to Minnesota and other areas in the U.S. from there. Details of their visit are currently being negotiated.

Progressive Politics in Europe A Frog’s-eye Perspective

Progressive Politics in Europe
A Frog’s-eye Perspective