Brief Information – Executive Board Meeting on November 14, 2010
By General Secretary Dietmar Bartsch
Oskar Lafontaine informed the Executive Board, and on the same day, also the public – that he was going to return his seat in the Bundestag this week and would not run for a new term as Party Chairman at the Federal Congress of DIE LINKE in May. He would concentrate on his work as the party’s floor leader in the Saarland assembly, he said, adding that these decisions were exclusively motivated by health reasons. Lafontaine underwent a cancer operation in November last year. Cancer, he said, had been a distinct warning signal to him which one could not easily ignore.
The Board members stated their regret at Lafontaine’s decision which, naturally, had to be respected. They thanked him for the excellent contribution he has been rendering to this date to the formation and development of DIE LINKE and its policy. Parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi described Lafontaine as “an eminent political personality of Germany and Europe.” At a well-attended press conference Lafontaine and Gysi faced the media. Party Chairman Lothar Bisky was not present, because he attended the fresh inauguration of Bolivian President Evo Morales in Bolivia.
At the Executive Board meeting Oskar Lafontaine noted that the constantly growing political influence, the rising membership and splendid election results of DIE LINKE in the years since 2007 had proved its strategy correct and successful. “Whether a political strategy is right or not, is solely decided by the voters; they are the yardstick,” he said. DIE LINKE had a clear ‘brand essence’ so that people linked it to unequivocal political messages. He made it plain that part of this strategy is to participate in Land governments in East and West Germany provided that such participation does not involve retrenchments in the public service, privatizations, or cuts in social services. In Hesse, Hamburg, and Saarland the West German party, too, had shown that, given clear-cut premises, it was ready to take over government responsibility.
The Board was in agreement that the decisive challenge now facing the entire party is to lead a successful election campaign in North Rhine Westphalia in order to achieve the entry of DIE LINKE into the Land assembly in Düsseldorf in May. Another task of the Executive Board was to solidly prepare the Federal Party Congress in Rostock and soon submit proposals for the leadership structure and the filling of central leading positions. A meeting of the Managing Executive Board was called for January 25, and the Executive Board conferred on January 26. The Board once more pointed out that it expected the programme commission to prepare a draft party programme in February/March this year for discussion in the party and beyond.
In advance of the Rostock congress to meet on May 15 and 16, the Executive Board put the Party Chairmen, their deputies, and parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi in charge of presenting a draft leading motion. Gysi was requested to coordinate the drafting.
The Board further issued a statement on the next collective bargaining round in the public service supporting the demands of the workers and their unions and repeating its call for providing municipalities with adequate financial resources. It requested Land and regional party branches to support local protest actions of public servants and their unions starting in February.
DIE LINKE stands firm on its demand for the withdrawal of German forces from Afghanistan and opposes the planned troop reinforcement. The Board called on party members, in connection with the Afghanistan Conference in London on January 28, to spread the truth about that war and to join a demonstration of the peace movement on February 20 for pulling out the Bundeswehr troops.
Last year already the Board had called on party members to counter a neo-Nazi rally planned in Dresden on February 13. Now it additionally requests them to join in a nation-wide action to hang posters of the criminalized ‘Dresden-Nazifrei’ alliance at 4.00 p.m. on January 28.
The Executive Board heard guidelines on introducing a new application for online member administration. It also dealt with the work of the party newsletter editorial board and with the journey of a delegation to Cuba.
The Board supports events on “Political Ash Wednesday” in Wallerfangen, Saarland, and Passau-Tiefenbach, Bavaria, on February 17.
In view of current developments in the party, a meeting with district branch leaders slated for March 6 has been postponed to April 24, prospectively, following the settlement of requisite political and organizational issues.