Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Germany this week to demonstrate against the reactionary Alternative for Germany (AfD). This was provoked by a recent revelation by the liberal media outlet CORRECTIV, that AfD politicians, right-wing extremists and leading businessmen had met in secret in a hotel near Potsdam to discuss the mass deportation of migrants from Germany.
[Originally published in German at derfunke.de]
This report heralds the start of a year of elections in Germany. The AfD is currently the strongest party in the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, all of which will see state parliament elections in 2024. The AfD is also set to win big in the local elections in nine states and in the EU elections. These right-wing demagogues are tapping into and distorting real fears and concerns that many have over falling living standards for their own reactionary ends.
Germany’s biggest weekly magazine, Der Spiegel, has declared 2024 to be a “fateful year for democracy” in Germany. This shrill tone has been echoed by the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberals (FDP), as well as the largest opposition party, the right-wing CDU. Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) has warned that the AfD wants to “turn Germany into a state like Russia”. This from a representative of a government that is currently restricting our democratic rights when we demonstrate in favour of Palestine.
The same capitalist politicians that now decry the anti-democratic AfD, claimed earlier this year that right-wingers were infiltrating the explosive farmers’ protests against cuts to agricultural subsidies. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) then began scapegoating migrants and the unemployed, saying that it was no longer tolerable “for people to refuse to work for their money”. On top of this, the government is now cutting the budget for refugees.
Both the ruling coalition and the CDU/CSU feign outrage by the AfD and the Potsdam conspirators’ plans to deport migrants. And yet, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently stated: “We must finally deport people on a grand scale”. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has proudly announced that the government deported 16,430 people last year – 27 percent more than in 2022. Thanks to new, tougher deportation rules, the government will deport even more people in the coming period. The CDU has stated, however, that these measures do not go far enough, with CDU politician Thorsten Frei stating: “This law does not solve a single problem in relation to migration.”
The anti-AfD protests are just the prelude to the fight against reaction, racism and division / Image: Fridays For Future Munich, Twitter
Whilst themselves carrying out anti-migrant policies without recent precedent, these fine ‘democrats’ are demagogically and unblushingly attempting to capitalise on concerns about the rise of the AfD and the threat they pose to migrants. It is not hard to see why: these parties’ poll ratings are through the floor (SPD 13 percent, Greens 12 percent, FDP 4 percent) due to their austerity policies, which have exacerbated the problems of the working class. While food and housing are becoming more expensive, wages are falling, and the government is giving a blank cheque to the armaments industry.
But the capitalist class urgently needs a stable government. And so, the owners of Germany’s largest companies have thrown their weight behind the anti-AfD demonstrations. Their hypocrisy is as blatant as that of the government. While they make huge profits and receive billions in gifts from the government, the people are being asked to pay for it.
The rise of the right is inextricably linked to the policies of the CDU, FDP, Greens and SPD. The policies of all of these parties are dictated by the interests of the capitalists. They are all blaming the crisis on the working class.
While the German Trade Union Confederation has also mobilised for the demonstrations, the trade union leadership is toeing the line of these liberal demagogues. This is a mistake. The AfD benefits from this because it blurs the lines of the class struggle, allowing them to present themselves in false ‘anti-establishment’ colours.
We firmly oppose all hypocrites and demagogues, because they divide the working class and distract from the fight against capitalism. If the struggle against the AfD is to be successful, then we must also fight against the government, the CDU and the capitalist class as a whole.
The anti-AfD protests are just the prelude to the fight against reaction, racism and division. We are in favour of unleashing the class struggle and taking the protest from the streets into the workplaces. We need a strike movement to force the banks and corporations to pay. This should be the methods taken up by the trade unions against the profiteers, austerity policies, warmongering governments and racist division.
If you really want to fight the AfD, join the communists. Help build the forces of revolutionary communism and fight with us to put forward a programme of class struggle and socialist revolution.