Die Linke Saxony

Founding

On 14-15 July 2007, the state branches of the Left Party (PDS) and the WASG merged in Chemnitz to form the Saxony branch of the Left Party. This followed a merger of the PDS and WASG at the federal level in Berlin on 16 June 2007. The merger was the culmination of a two-year process of cooperation, triggered by the snap federal election of 2005. The PDS, which by 2007 already had a long and turbulent history, and the WASG, which had emerged in connection with protests against the policies of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party, and especially against the passage of the so-called Hartz laws, were two very different partners. Drawing on their memories of previous mergers, key figures on both sides emphasized the importance of this union being conducted on an equal footing.^{[citation needed]}

History of the WASG Saxony

An Extraordinary Congress of the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) took place in Berlin on 8 and 9 December 1989. The crisis into which the then party and state leadership had led the country had made it inevitable, even if not all leading functionaries saw it that way. The party renamed itself SED-PDS and, from mid-January 1990, PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism).^{[citation needed]}

The break with Stalinism as a system was a key message of this party congress. In the three Saxon districts, initiative groups and other grassroots movements emerged in the autumn of 1989 and early 1990. These groups understood the transformation of the party as a process of renewal, drove it forward, assumed responsibility, replaced the old leadership, and, together with representatives of other parties and newly formed political movements, discussed the future of the country at round tables. With the developments in Plauen, Dresden, and Leipzig, Saxony had become the driving force behind the process in the GDR in the autumn of 1989, a process whose non-violence astonished the world. The PDS inherited a difficult legacy with the legal succession of the SED (a matter of controversy even within the party). Even before the establishment of a new state association of the party, the newly forming Saxon district associations faced two major challenges: they had to confront their responsibility—also for their predecessor party—and simultaneously undertake the process of renewal. To this end, a preparatory conference for the re-establishment of a Saxon state association of the PDS took place in Dresden on 30 June 1990.^{[citation needed]}

On 28/29 July 1990, the Saxony branch of the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) was founded in Leipzig at its first state delegates' conference. Klaus Bartl [de] (Chemnitz) was elected chairman, and Ronald Weckesser (Dresden), Achim Last (Löbau), and Volker Külow [de] (Leipzig) became his deputies. In the 1990 state election for the first Landtag of Saxony, the Left List.PDS, which was in an electoral alliance with the party "Die Nelken [de]" (The Carnations), the Communist Party of Germany of Saxony, the Marxist Youth Association, and the United Left, received 10.2% of the vote and thus 17 seats in the new parliament. Klaus Bartl became parliamentary group leader. At the second party congress on December 7, 1991, in Leipzig, Peter Porsch was elected party chairman. In the following years, an internal process of clarification took place. Reform-oriented and left-conservative forces came together, enabling them to act politically jointly. Two party conferences and countless regional activities accompanied the further process of renewal. At the Markkleeberg party conference on 6 March 1994, the PDS Saxony adopted its own fundamental program, "Life in Human Dignity," supported by all factions. However, the internal party clarification process was also marked by numerous bitter personal and substantive disputes between the three city associations of Leipzig (Dietmar Pellmann [de]), Chemnitz (Bartl), and Dresden (Ostrowski/Weckesser). In some cases, Peter Porsch, as state chairman, found it difficult to integrate the various factions.^{[citation needed]}

Following the 1994 state election, the PDS entered the new state parliament with 16.5% of the vote and 21 seats. Peter Porsch was elected parliamentary group leader. Also in 1994, the PDS, with Horst-Dieter Brähmig, secured the first mayoralty in the Federal Republic of Germany, in Hoyerswerda. In the 1999 state election, the party increased its share of the vote to 22.2%, entering the state parliament with 30 seats and thus becoming the second-largest parliamentary group and leading opposition party in the Saxon state parliament. Peter Porsch was again elected parliamentary group leader and state chairman, and in the autumn of 2000 was also elected deputy chairman of the PDS at the federal level. In 2001, Cornelia Ernst took over as state chairwoman. "Creative opposition" and "debt-free socialism" became the slogans that characterized the policies of the PDS in Saxony.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, the PDS presented the Alternative State Development Concept (ALEKSA). In the 2004 state election, information about the PDS's lead candidate Peter Porsch's collaboration with the Stasi reduced the results (23.6%). The PDS again became the second-largest parliamentary group in the Saxon State Parliament with 31 members. For the first time, it won four direct mandates in Leipzig, Chemnitz, and Hoyerswerda. Porsch again became parliamentary group leader. As a result of developments nationwide, the PDS Saxony also began to pursue cooperation with the WASG in 2005. In July 2007, the PDS and the WASG merged to form The Left Party. At the same time, André Hahn, the long-time parliamentary manager of the parliamentary group, assumed the chairmanship of The Left parliamentary group in the Saxon State Parliament.^{[citation needed]}

History of the PDS Saxony

On 3 July 2004, the association "Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice" (Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit) was founded at the Bonhoeffer House [de] in Berlin. From the outset, its stated goals included the establishment or transformation into a political party. Thirty-eight initiators from across Germany—including three from Saxony (Thomas Rudolph [de] and Roger Schaumberg, Leipzig; Bernd Rump [de], Dresden)—signed the founding declaration. This formal act of founding was preceded by the development of an electoral alternative and an initiative for labour and social justice. Since the spring of 2004, open meetings had also been held in Saxony under the auspices of the IG Metall trade union, where the development of a new political organization had been discussed. Werner Kempter, the IG Metall representative, was appointed as the state coordinator.^{[citation needed]}

On 2 June 2004, a working committee was established in Dresden, including Ulrich Stephan and Werner Kempter. Regional associations were set up in Leipzig, Dresden, the Chemnitz region, Freiberg, and Zwickau. Consultations between the various initiative groups led to the state meeting of the ASG Saxony in Chemnitz on 9 October 2004, and there to the founding of the WASG in Saxony. The executive committee, consisting of Michaela Ziegs, Petra Fischer, Monika Krüger, Werner Kempter, Manfred Hauser, Tilo Wirtz, and Christian Fischer, took over the further work. The WASG was particularly active in the demonstrations against Hartz IV, participating in protests against government policy with leaflet campaigns and vigils. At the same time, the public debate began regarding the party's fundamental political orientation and the first drafts of a basic political program..^{[citation needed]}

Following a membership vote in which the majority opted to transform the association into a political party, the WASG constituted itself as a party on 22 January 2005. The official founding of the Saxony state association took place at the WASG's first state party conference on 18 June 2005. Petra Fischer (Dresden), Manfred Hauser (Zwickau), Tilo Wirtz (Dresden), and Enrico Stange (Leipzig) were elected to the executive committee. The state party conference also addressed preparations for the upcoming federal elections on September 18, 2005. A motion from the Leipzig district association, which rejected the candidacy of WASG candidates on the PDS's open lists, was central to the discussions. That evening, the state party conference voted overwhelmingly in favor of this motion. In the weeks that followed, district associations were established almost across the entire state of Saxony: in Bautzen, Riesa-Großenhain, Plauen, Weißwasser, Zwickau, Meissen, Stollberg, Freiberg.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the party congress resolution of 18 June 2005, consultations between the PDS and WASG parties took place in Saxony following the final decision to hold early federal elections after the results of the Lower Saxony state elections in May 2005. The call from Oskar Lafontaine for both left-wing parties to join forces in the upcoming elections played a decisive role in these consultations. Following corresponding agreements at the federal level, these consultations led to a revision of the position adopted at the party congress and, consequently, to the candidacy of WASG candidates on open PDS lists in Saxony. On 3 December 2005, the state executive committees of both parties agreed to form a joint strategy group to prepare for a merger in Saxony, which was to be completed within 18 months. At two programmatic conventions on 7 October 2006, in Dresden and 21 January 2007, in Hof, progress was made toward a compromise and ultimately an agreement was reached.^{[citation needed]}

Party leaders: PDS Saxony and Die Linke Saxony

Parliamentary group leader in the Saxon Landtag

State Managing Director

State elections

Federal elections