Lies and violence for capitalist interests in Germany

There is a battle going on for the abandoned town of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia, middle Germany. The town is owned by Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk or RWE, a capitalist energy company that is famous for using dirty energy like brown coal. RWE bought the town Lützerath and plans on destroying it to mine. Here we see a classic case of how the capitalist state uses its police force against those who stand against the RWE and their greed for dirty energy. It also reminds us of the first Avatar movie in 2009. The RWE is very similar to the capitalistic; Resources Development Administration, that destroyed the home tree of the Na’vi people in the movie. Many activists are fighting against the RWE, but face police brutality and a government that is fully supportive of the RWE, despite the fact that greens are party of the German government.

Brown coal or lignite is mined in Germany, which is the largest supplier of the coal. Before 1990, the Stalinist: German Democratic Republic (DDR) used brown coal as its main resource to generate power. However it is also clear that brown coal is very toxic for humans. Various toxic heavy metals, including naturally occurring radioactive materials may be present in lignite which are left over in the coal fly ash produced from its combustion, further increasing health risks. This was ignored by capitalist interests who only care about cheap resources to make big profits. RWE is allowed to mine for brown coal until 2030, however for us and many activists this is too long. Germany must end its use of brown coal now!

Alliance 90/The Greens is the main green party in Germany. It was created out of the East-German: Alliance 90 and the West-German: the Greens. Despite its claims about willing to fight for a green future, the German greens have proven their loyalty to capitalism a long time ago. They joined the capitalist Schröder governments from 1998 until 2005. Nothing was done fundamentally to end neoliberal austerity. Worse, the greens were forced to accept deregulation and privatizations. This is why many leftists do not think the Alliance 90/The Greens is a genuine environmentalist party as it supports the capitalist system and stands with capitalists of the RWE against those who oppose them.

The media (which is loyal to the capitalist system) claims that the RWE has the right to the destroy the town of Lützerath because they own it. This is also the line of the Olaf Scholz government in Berlin. This capitalist government made up of social-democrats, greens and liberals is not left-wing and proofs this by standing with the RWE. However many activists lack a class consciousness and have illusions that by appealing to (capitalist) politicians, that they will stop the RWE and police brutality. The reality is that the police is told by politicians to attack the activists and clear the town for the RWE.

North Rhine-Westphalia is governed by a coalition of the conservatives and greens. This shows us that the German green party is by no means a party in opposition to capitalist pollution. By joining forces with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Alliance90/the Greens have once again proven their loyalty to govern under capitalism. They say that the RWE has a legal claim to destroy Lützerath and that they had to compromise with the conservatives. For us these claims are empty as they do not end the use of brown coal nor will it save Lützerath.

What is needed is the full nationalization of the RWE under workers self management. Also we need to nationalize the Deutsche Bank, who is investing massively in dirty energy like brown coal. We cannot trust politicians from the so called ”centre-left” to fight for the climate and working class people. Social-democrats and greens have proven that they are loyal to capitalist law and order by sending in the police to clear Lützerath. Revolutionary socialists call on The Left (Die Linke) to stop trying to make coalitions with the established pseudo-left-wing. Social-democrats and greens are not our allies in the struggle against pollution and climate change.

Socialist Alternative (ISA Germany) is calling for:

• Protecting the climate – Lützerath must remain.
• Immediate stop to lignite mining and decommissioning of coal-fired power plants
• Immediate shutdown of all nuclear power plants
• State investments in billions in the conversion of the energy supply to renewable energies
• Socialization and conversion of production to ecologically harmless and durable products
• Full continued payment of wages and new qualified jobs for all employees in companies that have to be closed for climate protection
• Joint struggle of employees and climate protectors
• Affordable mobility for everyone – reintroducing the 9-euro ticket, seats for everyone, massive expansion of public transport, local transport for free, speed limits on motorways
• Transfer the energy, auto industry, large corporations and banks into common ownership
• Democratic control and management by staff committees and working people
• Act globally against the destruction of the climate and environment

Expropriate the rich landlords and real estate

In Berlin, a majority called for the expropriation of large landowners and housing speculators. Although the capitalist media and establishment vilified the referendum on expropriation, over 56% voted in favour. A three year campaign resulted in this victory at the ballot. Socialist Alternative in Germany (International Socialist Alternative) participated in the referendum and calls on workers and  youth to keep fighting. Because if they trust capitalist politicians, then the outcome will be completely ignored. In the Netherlands there is also a housing crisis. Rents are sky high and house prices are on the rise. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam there have been protests and Socialist Alternative in the Netherlands participated in them.

For many working class people in Europe, it becomes too difficult to live in a major city or capital. The reasons are clear, house prices are high and rents also. Working class people cannot afford the housing prices or the rents. In the city of Amsterdam, renting a house can start with 700 and go up to 1500 euro’s a month. Since most Dutch workers earn a salary between 1800 and 2500 euro’s after taxes, many cannot afford to rent a house. Buying houses used to be more popular and possible. But Dutch houses have always been more expensive. In the Netherlands house prices rose with 17,8% compared to 2020. Since 2012, the prices for houses have increased with 78%.

Germany has the same problem. In the German capital of Berlin, few workers can afford a house of their own. Because the local government sold most houses to private landlords and speculators, rents have increased very hard since 2002. Ironically it was a ”left-wing” city government that sold off public houses to capitalists in order to increase funding for the capital. Revolutionary socialists have opposed this since the beginning. However social democrats of the Social-democratic Party of Germany, the ex-Stalinists of the Party of Democratic Socialism and the greens from Alliance 90/The Greens, decided to sell off houses rather then keeping them under state ownership.

This was a time of neoliberal dogmatism. State ownership of anything was called outdated and ineffective by free market fundamentalists. Social democrats and greens decided to go with this fundamentalist dogma and abandoned what little left-wing ideas they had. The former Stalinists who ruled East-Germany desperately wanted to proof that they could govern under capitalism. Under the leadership of Gregor Gysi, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) entered a coalition government with the right-wing social democrats and greens in Berlin. The PDS then agreed on selling public houses which was a huge outrage among workers. It led to a massive election defeat for the PDS.

In 2018, the results of the SPD, PDS and B90 decision was clear. Berlin became unaffordable for most working class Germans. A campaign was started to expropriate all large landlords who own more then 3.000 houses. The capitalist political parties and the media hated this campaign and opposed it. They used all dirty tricks to scare Berliners from voting YES. One lie was that poverty would increase if capitalist house owners would lose their property. The Social-democratic Party of Germany also opposed the expropriation idea. The Left Party (successor of the PDS) supported the YES camp as did the Alliance 90/The Greens, they were supported by the young social democrats who defied their mother party by joining the YES side.

On the NO camp was next to the SPD, the other parties of German capitalism. Christian democrats from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposed the expropriation as did the liberals of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Far-right nationalists of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) also stood by the NO camp and the landlords. The Left Party was able to win more support because they supported the popular referendum. By using socialist methods the YES campaign did win with 56% of all voters voting YES. The Left lost the parliamentary election, but won support in Berlin. This proofs that the party can win support and voters if they dare to oppose the establishment, which nationally the Left Party failed to do.

In the Netherlands, Socialist Alternative supported two major protests against house shortages and high rents. A reason for the housing crisis is the scrapping of old houses and replacing them with modern yet expensive homes. Old working class neighbourhoods are scrapped and replaced with homes too expensive for workers to live in. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam this policy is carried out with support from the established ”left-wing”, the Party of Labour (PvdA), GreenLeft and Socialist Party (SP). The SP maybe a junior member of the Amsterdam city government, but they are part of the ruling coalition and share co-responsibility.

We revolutionary socialists support the expropriation of landlords who own more then 3.000 houses. Compensation is to be paid on grounds of proven need. Most capitalists will not receive any compensation because most houses in Berlin are owned by only five real estate companies, who own thousands of homes. The German Democratic Republic had public houses with low rents. After Stalinist East Germany joined the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany, the city government of Berlin suddenly had many houses. They sold some to East Germans or starters in the 1990’s. But after 2002, the coalition of SPD/PDS/B90 decided to sell the remaining public homes to speculators and the real estate sector.

Under capitalism it is difficult if not impossible to force expropriation down on capitalists. The ruling class has build the system and they own most (if not all) elected politicians. We know that the candidate of the social democrats for the upcoming municipality election in Berlin, has clearly said that she does not support the expropriation. With the right-wing also refusing to carry out the demand of the referendum, it is clear that the real battle will be in the streets of the capital. This is why Socialist Alternative in both Germany and the Netherlands has participated in the battle for affordable homes and rents. For us the battle is linked to the global struggle of working class people, against the injustice that is the capitalist system!

New Lenin statue makes establishment very angry

The Marxist Leninist Party of Germany has installed a second hand statue of Vladimir Lenin outside her headquarters in Gelsenkirchen. This is the first time a Lenin statue is put up in West-Germany and the capitalist establishment is furious. The social-democratic mayor (SPD) had to make a You-Tube video, denouncing Lenin as this ”evil dictator” who does not deserve a statue. At the same time the hypocritical social-democrats do not oppose statues of German imperialism. There are enough monuments to the Kaisers and their criminal empire that led to the deaths of millions in WW1. Revolutionary socialists are not in favor of this statue. Because it is a product of Stalinism. The statue was build in Czechoslovakia in 1957 as part of the state enforced cult of personality. Vladimir Lenin always opposed this!

All regimes that based themselves on Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism) build statues to glorify the first leader of the Soviet-Union. Vladimir Lenin was already a semi-religious figure after his death in January 1924. During the Russian civil war, he was the icon of the revolution. Lenin allowed this to strengthen the Red Army to fight the counterrevolution. But by the end of the civil war, Lenin was not able to end the growing cult around himself. He was paralyzed by strokes and became mute by March 1923. Lenin also experienced partial paralysis on his right side and began exhibiting sensory aphasia. This meant that the icon of the revolution was unable to fight the growing bureaucracy that was represented by Stalin, Zinoview and Kamenev, the troika of the All-Union Communist Party.

By 1926, Stalin dumped his early allies who then sided with Trotsky. But it was too late to stop the Stalinist wing from taking over control. By the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution in 1927, the All-Union Communist Party had become a dictatorial top-down centralized party, that would not tolerate any criticism of its leaders and ideology. Stalin called this ”Marxism-Leninism”, we name it: Stalinism. This is because there is nothing Marxist or Leninist about Stalinist regimes. Both Marx and Lenin would have rejected the rule of state bureaucrats over workers. Also early 1923, Lenin was about to fight Stalin. He wanted the Man of Steel gone as General Secretary for his rudeness. Lenin’s third stroke prevented that, otherwise it is not sure of the party had become Stalinist.

Only a year after Lenin’s death, the first statue was constructed. It was however not a state initiative, local workers from Krasnodar funded the statue with their own money. After the complete Stalinist takeover, many more Lenin statues would be constructed. This was done to enforce the state dogma that socialism was build. Children were told that Stalin’s USSR was build upon Lenin’s ideas. His words became scripture and his brooks were printed in the millions. But workers who would use Lenin’s ideas were to be arrested and jailed. This is what members of the Left Opposition experienced after 1927. They were arrested and jailed. By the 1930’s, the anti-Stalinist Bolsheviks ended up first in the new Gulag camps because they remained loyal to Lenin, not Stalin!

From 1927 until 1956, Stalin was the messiah of the Soviet cult of personalities. The Man of Steel was portrayed as the most loyal follower of Lenin. Since there was no free media, workers could not learn the truth. Lenin did not liked Stalin, yet the state propaganda portrayed it so. Just before the German invasion in June 1941, Stalin was always next to Lenin in the propaganda. During the war, the government used Russian nationalism and the Soviet cult of its leaders was put aside. Socialist internationalism was replaced by great Russian chauvinism and love for czarist generals and icon who fought foreign invaders. After the victory of 1945, Stalin resumed the cult around himself and Lenin. This was copied by almost all countries who were Stalinized.

The secret speech of Nikita Khrushchev meant the end for the figure Joseph Stalin in the official Soviet propaganda. Between 1956 and 1961, Stalin disappeared from the Soviet-Union and its allies. His face was removed from monuments and the many statues were quietly relocated to state depots. Only in Georgia one large statue remained in Stalin’s birth place until 2010. Many Georgians were proud of Stalin and resisted destalinization by Nikita Khrushchev. The body of the ”Great Leader” was removed from Lenin’s Mausoleum in 1961, this marked the end of Stalin as part of the Soviet propaganda. It was not until the 21st century, that the chauvinist regime of Vladimir Putin would stimulate a return of the figure Stalin as a great Russian leader.

China and Albania rejected the destalinization. In their propaganda, Stalin remained a positive figure. The Party of Labour of Albania used Stalin next to Lenin, Engels and Marx on their emblem until 12 June 1991. Lenin became the only god of the Soviet-Union and other Stalinist nations. Because the removal of Stalin’s face did not end the dictatorial rule of his bureaucracy. The supporters of Khrushchev wanted Stalin gone, but not a return to the ideas of Lenin. That would mean an end to their privileges and absolute power. Therefore in essence, the regimes that supported destalinization remained Stalinist in political and economical senses. The ruling communist party leaders demanded total control and any criticism of them was suppressed until the late 1980’s in the USSR and Eastern Europe.

Ironically the western propaganda supports this idea of destalinization. They claim that Stalinism ended with the secret speech. However no explanation is given to what came after destalinization. The term: ”Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state” is used in Wikipedia for the period 1953-1991 in the Soviet-Union, but this is also incorrect. Political Stalinism in Europe and Russia became more moderate and less brutal. But that did not change the oppressive nature of the regimes and the abuse of workers rights. Today only North Korea is close to what a classic Stalinist state used to be. Cuba is the last example of a Khrushchev type Stalinist state. China and Vietnam with Laos have embraced state-capitalism and are now more nationalist dictatorships.

The Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) is a Stalinist party. They reject moderate Stalinism as revisionism of Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism). Although the MLPD does not walk with the picture of Stalin, they are loyal to his era. This is because the party has its origins in Maoism (Chinese Stalinism). Around 1970, a group of radical students was expelled from the German Communist Party, because they claimed that Khrushchev was restoring capitalism. These students supported Mao Zedong during the Sino-Soviet split. After Mao died and Deng Xiaoping came to power, the German Maoists rejected China. In 1982, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany was founded. They clam to fight for ”real socialism” meaning they reject the Soviet leadership after 1956 as ”bureaucratic revisionist”.

We revolutionary socialists do not agree with them. The bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet-Union started not after 1956, but right after the civil war in 1922. The war had killed 1.000.000 Bolsheviks and with the opening of the communist party to ex-czarist officials, a bureaucratization began. Many new members sought privileges and Stalin (as general secretary) granted this on the bases of loyalty. By 1927, the Stalinists were the biggest faction of the party. Khrushchev was one of them, totally loyal to Stalin. He led the purges in Ukraine and only wanted changes to save his own privileges. After the Cuban missile crisis (1961) the bureaucracy removed Khrushchev, because they felt his reforms went too far. They rallied around Leonid Brezhnev who became Soviet leader for 21 years.

The Lenin statue of the MLPD is not new. It is a second hand statue build in 1957 in Czechoslovakia. With the fall of the Stalinist regime in that country, the Lenin statue was removed and put in storage. In 2020 the MLPD bought it and placed it in front of their headquarters in Gelsenkirchen. What makes this so special is that Gelsenkirchen lies in West-Germany. This is the first Lenin statue build inside the Federal Republic of Germany and not on the former German Democratic Republic. Although the MLPD is right about capitalism and the abuse of workers, their vision of ”real socialism” is dubious. They know this and therefore do not use pictures of Stalin or Mao. Lenin and Marx are often seen in MLPD propaganda and with their criticism of (moderate) Stalinism, the party has attracted some supporters.

However the MLPD is not the socialist alternative German workers need. The Stalinist party is only 2.800 members strong and has a sectarian tendency for control. This is common for all communist parties based on the Stalinist tradition. They want to control movements and workers. Some Trotskyist groups also have this problem and we will not deny this fact. Bureaucratic control from above will not work as workers will soon walk away. What is needed are workers parties, instruments of workers themselves. Parties like the MLPD think that they are the vanguard, the ”revolutionary workers party”. They are not however as workers do not join them in masses. The Lenin statue set up in Gelsenkirchen has at least triggered the social democratic mayor in denouncing it. Social democrats hate Lenin and use any means to call him a ”dictator”.

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) should keeps its hypocritical mouth shut. Because they never raise any criticism of statues of German imperialists and emperors. There remain enough monuments to German imperialism. However when a tiny Stalinist party is setting up a Lenin statue inside their own HQ, then all alarms are on. The SPD even tried to use state force to remove the statue. However they failed as a German court ruled that the statue stands on private property. The SPD mayor then released a You-Tube video denouncing Vladimir Lenin as a ”dictator”.

Revolutionary socialists also reject the statue, but for different reasons.

The MLPD can claim that they have the right to honor Lenin.

They do not honor him by using a Stalinist relic.

Build by a regime that was anti-Lenin in so many ways!