http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2177347,00.html

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
I hope the Social Democrats, who are in power in both of those states, decide to abandon Third Way economics and put full employment back at the top of their agenda, since high jobless rates in the eastern states have a lot to do with the far right's success there. The indifference to working people shown by third way types is fueling support for fascism.

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Meanwhile Berlin had elections the same day:

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On the other hand, the NPD have not been able to make inroads in Berlin. Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who wrested power from the conservatives in 2001, remains enormously popular, despite high unemployment and the city's enormous debt of 58 billion euros ($73 billion).

Once asked about the disastrous state of Berlin's finances, Wowi, as he is affectionately called by his supporters, memorably declared: 'Berlin may be poor. But it's sexy.'

Yesterday, Wowereit told cheering supporters, "I am happy that the people of Berlin have voted in favor of democracy and did not elect the NPD into the state's parliament."

His party's strong showing will now allow the Berlin mayor to form a ruling coalition of his choice, which could include either the Greens or the Left Party. Both the Greens and the Left Party, a mish-mash of former communists and leftist SPD defectors, won 13 percent of the vote each.

On Monday morning, Wowereit ruled out the possibility of a three-way, red-red-green coalition of the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens. "One should avoid such a constellation if possible. It would be too complicated," said Wowereit in an interview with the German news agency, DPA.

The Berlin mayor declined to say if he would continue governing with the Left Party in a red-red coalition or seek a new partnership with the Greens. "We have common ground with both parties," he said.

The Greens, which made gains of four percent from the last state elections in 2001, have said they have earned the mandate to govern with the Social Democrats, whereas voter support for the Left Party dropped dramatically from 22.6 percent to 13.4 percent.

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The only real protest parties were the Greens, FDP and NPD. All gained. The FDP went from 4.7% to 9.6%, winning 7 seats, but that's less newsworthy than the NPD's 6 seats. The Greens rose from 2.6% to 3.4%, still under the 5% threshold.

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Unfortunately for your theory, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the SPD is governing in coalition with the Left Party.

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But despite this, my understanding is that the Mecklenburg coalition has continued Third Way economics.

And Berlin proves part of my point. The fascists didn't do well there because the local government didn't leave(or give the perception of leaving)the jobless out in the cold in the name of "market values".

And the SPD would still be in power federally if only that stubborn reactionary Schroeder hadn't done the logical thing and put together a more leftward coalition with Die Linke and the Greens together. Instead, he threw his party on his sword to preserve the Third Way and the austerity policies that choice has preserved opened the door for the fascist revival we saw on Sunday.

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
the SPD would still be in power federally if only that stubborn reactionary Schroeder hadn't done the logical thing and put together a more leftward coalition with Die Linke and the Greens together. Instead, he threw his party on his sword to preserve the Third Way and the austerity policies that choice has preserved opened the door for the fascist revival we saw on Sunday.

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
my understanding is that the Mecklenburg coalition has continued Third Way economics.

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And Berlin proves part of my point. The fascists didn't do well there because the local government didn't leave(or give the perception of leaving)the jobless out in the cold in the name of "market values".

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I don't think that's it at all. Two-thirds of Berlin is the former West Berlin where support for the ex-Communists and for neo-Nazi parties has always been practically non-existent. Also, as capital of Germany, Berlin gets a lot more money invested in it and it being a big cosmopolitan city, it is not the kind of place where there is much support for xenophobic rightwing parties. It's like comparing support for the old Reform Party in Toronto compared to rural Alberta!

If you live in Berlin you are probably not as dissaffected as if you live in some rust-belt town in Mecklenberg-Vorpommern.

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But you feel a red-red-green coalition nationally would not have? You might be right, but perhaps you would explain why they would have had better luck on that than the Mecklenburg coalition.

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I do, because if the national governing coalition had been red-red-green, it would have had much more leeway to break with the Third Way than one or two SPD-led state governments, both of which probably feel contstrained by the continuing Schoederite control of the national SPD not to deviate from the Third Way approach.

And by the way, one thing people on this board may not be aware of is that the main reason Die Linke lost ground in the Berlin state election is that a new party, the WASG(the original name of Oskar Lafontaine's party)contested that election in protest of Die Linke's acquiescence in the SPD austerity program. That party cut heavily into Die Linke's vote.

I hope the Mecklenburg state government does the right thing and starts setting up massive public works programs to get people out of long-term unemployment status. It's worth bucking "market values" to stop a revival of fascism.

[ 20 September 2006: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]

[ 20 September 2006: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
the main reason Die Linke lost ground in the Berlin state election is that a new party, the WASG(the original name of Oskar Lafontaine's party)contested that election in protest of Die Linke's acquiescence in the SPD austerity program. That party cut heavily into Die Linke's vote.

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[ 20 September 2006: Message edited by: Wilf Day ]

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Originally posted by Ken Burch:
[QB]I hope the Mecklenburg state government does the right thing and starts setting up massive public works programs to get people out of long-term unemployment status. It's worth bucking "market values" to stop a revival of fascism.

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You've gotta remember that M-V is one of the poorer, somewhat agrarian, five eastern states that integrated with the BRD.

Since 1990, the BRD has infused massive amoounts into public works in the east from the Autobahn to building refurbishment to everything in-between.

Saxony, arguably the wealthiest former east German state, also had the NPD enter it's state parliament two years ago with 9.2% of the vote.

The Germany economy has been stagnant for many years, particularly in the east, and some of the electorate make unfortunate decisions.

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If 2.9% went to WASG, where did the other 6.3% go? SPD? Greens?

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Some to the Greens(in Berlin, there has been, for the last few state elections, a floating vote between Die Gruenen and PDS/WASG/Die Linke.)

The Greens lost a lost of votes to Die Linke when they let their "realo" faction take charge and, as the "fundi" faction saw it, gave far too much ground to the SPD. There were also people who could have comfortably supported either party but didn't support PDS/WASG/Die Linke because they couldn't get past the roots of the party in the old East German SED.

There were some who probably abstained in significant numbers as well, because they felt that Die Linke had "sold out" to the SPD and weren't trying to build a clearly socialist alternative.

I stand corrected on the totals, which indicate that WASG support must have dropped in the last days of the campaign, as it earlier looked from what I'd read as if WASG might make it into the Berlin state parliament on its own.

[ 21 September 2006: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]