GERMANY Racism and anti-racism in Germany THE following article argues that the racist outrages in Hoyerswerda and elsewhere in Germany in recent weeks are planned actions by militant neo-Nazis rather than simply the work of confused youth. The author argues that to meet this threat a broad nationwide movement is needed to combat racism in all its forms. The article was first published in the November 1991 issue of Inprekorr, a monthly magazine produced by German supporters of the Fourth International.
organizational problem to increase the number of active thugs tenfold. In west Germany there are at least twice as many. A militant fascist mass movement has become a possibility.
In East Germany, Stalinism has left an ideological void, while in the West bourgeois democratic ideas are losing ground, except among the intelligentsia. Only the media disseminates such ideas in the working class, and they are at odds with people's daily experience.
The established social organizations have lost almost all real links with the unemployed, people on social security and above all with working class youth. Scarcely anyone really believes in God, while there is nobody to be found in the youth organizations of the political parties except careerist Yuppies. The trade union youth structures exist mainly on paper and are the servants of the enterprise council and union bureaucrats.
The beautiful ideas of equality, social security, solidarity, democratic co-management and opportunes for tie management and opportunities for the future have turned out to be mere dreams and only live on now as a vague feeling. The sick, the old, or the simply ill-adapted have no chance. Whoever cannot toe the factory line is out. People have no possibilities for influencing things, whether in the party, the union or the community. People are powerless; those above give orders, those below obey. "Struggle, Selection, Power"
Everybody thinks only of themselves, each struggles against all and only the ruthless succeed. "Struggle, Selection, Power" (Michael Kühnen) - this is the experience and true morality of capitalism. When the old ideologies break down, then this social natural religion breaks through. It is not democratic, but authoritarian, anti-solidarity and power-oriented; it is barbaric.
When classes or social layers see no alternative, when progressive ideas are no longer promoted and no countervailing experiences are provided by unions, parties or civil movements, then reactionary thinking breeds. It becomes rooted in the society, a consequence of the fact that socialist, or even merely radical democratic ideas are no longer a living force.
The two years since the fall of the Wall have been turbulent for the far right groups. Unexpectedly here was a united Germany, and they had contributed nothing to bringing about its existence. This threw them onto the defensive. They descended into their usual squabbling.
The strongest of these groups were the Republicans ("Republikaner"), who in the European elections of summer 1989 gained 2 million votes (7.1%) and fought to gain access to all the elected forums. The mutiny of the openly fascist wing. around the Bavarian regional deputy Neubauer, crippled this party for almost a year
HANS JÜRGEN SCHULZ
THE SEED which the teachers of our country have sown and are daily sowing has sprung to life" commented Margot Honecker in June 1989. She knew better, since even then 6% of East German youth identified themselves as on the radical right, while for a long time the Stasi [East German secret police] employed a team of skinheads. This was hardly the teachers' fault, but that of social reality, which undermined the teachers' credibility.
Since the beginning of April, when Jorge Gomondai was killed in Dresden, scarcely a night has passed in the new democratic and peace-loving Germany without arson attacks or physical assaults; 2,000 neo-Nazis marched on June 1 in Dresden and again on August 17 in Bayreuth, well protected by the police, and with little public outcry. This street terror took on a new quality with the outrage in Hoyerswerda (see IV no. 215) which forced German politicians and their acolytes — policemen, journalists, experts — to defend their country's good name abroad and express their consternation. Even then, however, we were warned not to over-react. The young people were, of course, aggressive, but it would be wise not to provoke them. These were not organized gangs, but merely drunken youth on the rampage. In any case they were not political and, furthermore, there were only a few of them...
The fact is that, in the meantime, refugees, foreigners or migrants are without accommodation throughout Germany and none of them can feel safe from intimidation and attack on the streets. Previously these things happened often, 14 The tide of ars on and murderous assaults, but now they are the rule everywhere. International Viewpoint #218 • December 9, the muggings and provocations, will ebb, but it can flood in again at any moment, since it comes from the depths of this society. It has to be combated at a fundamental level.
Reactionary, far right and openly fascist views are being widely expressed or at least tolerated. In Hoyerswerda, the terror was openly greeted, because nobody openly confronted it. They are less daring in the West, but the good citizens of Essen have invited skinheads to attack a refuge, so that they can make their neighbourhood "foreigner free". In Bremen the far right recently got 8% of the vote. In this case the votes came not from the petty bourgeoisie, but from workers and unemployed; that is, from precisely those social groups with whom we hope to change society. There is still a difference between the East, where an anti-fascist tradition remains strong despite everything, and the West. "Only" 21% of Easterners, as opposed to 38% of Westerners, feel "understanding" for far right tendencies. One in ten Germans thinks in a far right way, even if they they do not necessarily express this in voting. The figure is higher for the youth. Some 56% of the 16 to 18 year old age group agree with the statement "I am proud to be a German" Almost one in every five Germans thinks along authoritarian lines and wants a leader. One in every 20 is frankly fascistic. It is said that in East Germany there are only 1,500 young far right cadres, and this number has not altered since the fall of the Wall. This may be true, but they have some 15,000 open sympathizers while another 50,000 consider themselves "inclined" towards them - whatever that may mean. Thus, it is merely an 1991
GERMANY
100,000 march against racist attacks
MORE than 100,000 people attended anti-fasciat demonstrations In Germany on or around November 9, 1991. This time they were not only commemorating the "Reichskristalinacht" of 1938"1; they also wanted to protest against the fascist pogroms that had taken place in Hoyerswerda, Saarlouls and Greifswald and against a toughening of the laws restricting asylum.
Although some of the local demonstrations were quite large - 8,000 people in Hamburg and more than 50,000 In Berlin — It was mainly the leff that took to the streets. To a lesser extent this was also true of the demonstrations that took place after the pogrom In Hoyerswerda, a amall town in Saxony, where Immigrants had been attacked by fascists with the support of a substantial proportion of the local population.
There were also many young people on these demonstrations.
In many cases there were competing "official" and milltant demonstrations, as well as much political sectarianism. Thus In Hamburg there was a small protest where the head of the government Voscherau spoke and a second, supposedly "leftist" demonstration excluded people who it was considered might raise "anti-Zionist" positions. All this reduced the size of the turnout. Only in Saarland - an SPD stronghold where an immigrant has recently been murdered by fascists - did the social democrats organize a demonstration. Although a significant number of refugee organizations took part in preparing the demonstrations, there was little Immigrant presence on them. The exception was Berlin, whose strong Immigrant population is quite politicized. The "wait and see" attitude of Immigrants Is understandable enough since the left and the workers' movement are sometimes more willing than able to defend immigrants. The run-up to the demonstrations had already shown that the far left was, and is, unaware of the need to focus on immigrants - and especially immigrant youth — to build an anti-racist movement.
There Is almost no cooperation with the main political force among the immigrants, the mosques representing the moderate Islamic current. In spite of a declaration calling for self-defence against fascist attacks, the DGB trade union federation didn't try to mobilize in the factories, where racism Is quite strong among white workers. It too made no effort to mobilize Immigrant workers
In Hamburg and Hanover the Greens played a role in splitting the movement. In Hamburg they supported the demonstratlons called by the established parties, employers associations and so on. This demonstration, on November 7, brought out about 1,000 people, while the "radical" demonstration on the next day attracted about 8,000. The line taken by the Greens is attributable to their overall rightward drift, but also to the fact that they have lost most of their grassroots activists. They do not play a big role in the left committees that are still the main force mobilizing against the fascists. While the Greens' attitude does not much affect the size of demonstrations, it has a political impact given that this party has been seen as a delender of the Interests of immigrants and refugees by a large part of the population.
Two days aiter the demonstrations the ruling conservatives of the CDU/CSU demanded of the SPD in a report: "vote for a change in our constitution!" to limit the rights of asylum seekers, It has also been revealed that meetings of neo-Nazis to coordinate attacks on Immigrants had taken place in the framework of the state financed associations of people expelled from Eastern Europe after World War 2. In this climate we must do everything to create a coordination of antifascist forces. It is not the German people that is threatened by a flood of refugees. It is the leit and every democratic and trade union organization that is threatened by this racist and neo-Nazi flood. — David Müller and Winfried Wolf * cipal far right formations] have become stronger in the past two years, but have made no qualitative breakthrough; together they have no more than 30,000 members. The attempted unification of far right forces by the "German List" , rather than overcoming the splintering, has in fact created an additional organization with an uncertain fate.
The problem for all these groups is that their membership is chiefly drawn from bourgeois forces, concerned for their reputation; they want to express something politically, but are ill-adapted to longterm organizational work, while their willingness to make financial sacrifices is not unlimited. They have no independent social base, and are more like electoral blocs than parties. They can draw support from the widespread fascistic outlook, feeding off reactionary thinking and xenophobia.
Under favourable conditions, they might gain some 10% of the votes in an election. This electoral base is still timid and inactive. Mostly it votes for the established parties, chiefly the Christian Democrats. These latter, with the aid of the tabloid press, have whipped up terror with their thoughtless anti-refugee hysteria, and have thus strengthened the reactionary groundswell.
### Far right consolidates electoral support
Nonetheless, the far right parties have politically stabilized themselves, have consolidated their base and electoral support; this is already a significant change since the mid-'80s. They are present in the public mind as a political alternative and can achieve electoral successes at least — an example being Bremen.
The openly fascist groups are incomparably more dangerous. Unlike the established far right parties, they rest on an activist cadre, working amongst the working class youth, rather than directing propaganda and electoral appeals at it from outside.
They have more than 3,000 members, and their activity is based primarily on the skinheads. Official estimates say there are only 3,000 of them in Germany, but in fact there are at least 7,000, even if not all are fascist in thought and action. They are very undisciplined and it is difficult to get them into durable and firm structures. "We have difficulties in establishing an organizational structure" says neo-Nazi Worch. However to some extent in East Germany this has already changed. Up to 150 skinheads have been involved in joint before the big chief Schönhuber could get rid of it. Membership sank to below 15,000.
However, since the summer of last year the party has consolidated itself and now claims a (probably exaggerated) membership of 25,000. It is no longer able to organize mass events as it once could. On the electoral scene it remains by far the most important of such groups and has been able to reinforce its position in the past year. In the East its organization is weak and has scored no spectacular successes.
The NPD and DVU [the two other prinassaults in many towns; often they act for a whole day in a coordinated manner attacking specific targets, walking around with incendiary devices. Actions involving 20 to 30 people are commonplace.
This can no longer be described as sponta-
Co May 1991 a high-ranking east Ger. 15 neous.
GERMANY / AUSTRIA man police officer warned of the increasing terror. It would be organized "on conspiratorial lines" so that apparently independent and free acting groups would in reality be "organized and bound together" while larger actions would be thought out and prepared by "meetings of leaders. Up until now this has been denied, although the facts speak for themselves.
It is also clear that many attacks are carried out as imitations by sympathizers and small group. But this does not explain the systematic nature of the terror nor the choice of targets — dwellings of asylum seekers and foreigners — or why all the actions follow the same pattern. It seems that among the skinheads there are activist cores who whip up their associates, organize them for action and establish a level of discipline.
### Creating organization through action
The idea may be to create the organization through action. To do this they can rely on the broadly sympathetic environment. If such a plan were to succeed then we would find ourselves living and working in quite different conditions.
Their resonance is bigger than ever before. For the first time since the end of the Nazi period, there exists a militant fascist movement. Their actions are carried out in such a way that people will inevitably be killed or injured.
Things will not stand still. There is already evidence that arms are being stockpiled and that special groups are engaging in military training. Lists of "enemies of the people" are without doubt already being drawn up. Terror against political opponents and indiscriminate mass terror can intimidate the population, as was seen in the 1970s in Italy or Turkey.
The shock of the terror will above all be replied to by demonstrations and other such actions. This may result in restricting and perhaps reducing the public influence of the far right - but no more. In particular this will do nothing to halt the construction of the militant fascist gangs. The real problem is that the far right are appealing to and building among the working class youth, when the left and the social movements have lost more or less all their influence in this layer.
The fascist danger cannot only be met with protests. Furthermore, the use of legislation banning organizations, the favoured antidote of reformists and ex-
Stalinists, is useless. The fascists are the emergency reserves of the bourgeois state and will be protected by it. Furthermore, even if a group is banned, there is nothing to stop it reappearing in another guise. The whole history of the banning of West German Nazi organizations 16 shows this.
What is required is the construction of a broad, permanent coalition movement. It needs to be based on local initiatives and coordinations which can organize actions and mobilizations as well as build self-defence structures and do propaganda work.
This movement must in the first place oppose the xenophobic hysteria and address the roots of unemployment and homelessness.
It must centre its work on the most deprived neighbourhoods, work in the Polarization IN THE recent municipal elections in Vienna the social democrats lost their absolute majority, the traditional conservatives found themselves overtaken by the populist right FPÖ and the Greens won seats for the first time. However the electoral success of the progressive Green Alternative cannot be allowed to obscure the fact that the basic shift was towards the right. HERMANN DWORCZAK
HE social democrats' result was their worst since 1945. They lost 7.1% of their vote and retained an absolute majority of the seats only due to electoral arithmetic. The traditional Austrian bourgeois party, the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), meanwhile, suffered a debacle, losing 10.3% of its vote and seeing itself overtaken by the FPÖ. In 1987 the ÖVP had 28.4% to the FPÖ's 9.7%. This time they got 18.1% and 22.5% respectively. The Green Alternative got 4.7% and seven council seats. The Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) got less than 5,000 votes and lost its last seat at local government level.
The elections were dominated by the issue of immigration. The FPO launched a massive anti-immigrant campaign, the conservatives followed in the FPÖ's wake and the Social Democrats attempted to make the longest possible detour around the issue. Only the Green Alternative directly opposed the xenophobia, if not always with the necessary consistency.
As the head of the Green's list, Peter
Pilz put it thus when rejecting the infa-
International Viewpoint #218 • December 9, 1991 factories and seek an alliance with the immigrants. Campaigns should be organized starting out with a march against xenophobia on the lines of "don't touch my mate"!
It is not only a question of directly confronting the terrorist groups; thinking also needs to be changed. * 1. The reference here is to the slogan of the French SOS-Racisme campaign "Touche pas à mon pote". in Vienna slogan of "Foreigners Out" mous ("Ausländer Raus"): "but we are not a 'foreigners in' party"
Against this background the FPO succeeded in taking 45,000 votes from the Social Democrats. In traditional working class constituencies the FPO sometimes reached the 25% mark. The failures of the Social Democrats over the decades of their administration — in such basic areas as transport, health care, nursery care and housing construction and the lack of a public integration policy for immigrants — allowed xenophobia to act as a point of crystallization for all kinds of diffuse discontent.
The conservatives, who have already suffered severe setbacks in regional elections in the Steiermark and Oberösterreich, have been plunged into a fundamental crisis by the debacle in Vienna. Many observers believe that the the FPÖ is already running neck-and-neck with the ÖVP at the national level -which can only increase the pressure on the governing coalition of social democrats and conservatives.
A green and silver lining
The silver lining in this election was evidently the good score obtained by the Green Alternative.
The Greens' electoral efforts were very strongly marked by the crowd puller Peter Pilz, but the left was by no means invisible. Thus the well known trade unionist, Jean Margulies, is now on the city council. These elections have sharpened the polarization in Austria.
The social democratic/ conservative bloc is fraying. On the right the FPÖ, with its populist rabble rouser Jörg Haider, is gaining. On the left, the Green Alternative
- in which the members of the SOAL, the Austrian section of the Fourth International, participate - has the chance to become a pole of attraction for progressive people interested in social change. It is an open question if the chance will be taken.
The rise of
BELGIUM ttg1 24 0X the Vlaams
Blok
THE GENERALIZED breakthrough of the far right is the most striking feature of the Belgian general election of
November 24, 1991. VINCENT SCHELTIENS VINCENT SCHE TENS
HOSE, like the foreign press, who look at the results (in particular in Flanders, and above all Antwerp) from abroad can hardly hide their stupefaction. And yet, for anti-racists, they are not really a surprise. In the first place, all the ingredients for a breakthrough by the fascist and far right forces have been there for some time. Secondly, many bourgeois and Social Democratic politicians have played with racist demagogy in the hope of winning votes. Without success: for to copy is to reinforce the legitimacy of the original. Will the traditional parties now toughen their position on immigration? Or will they try to "resolve the problems of society" exploited by the far right? No, for a genuine solution more than ever presupposes radical change.
In Flanders, the far right Vlaams Blok increased its score from 3.0% in 1987 to 10.4%, its parliamentary representation being increased from two to twelve deputies. In the senate, the Blok took five seats (one in 1987).
To this is added a small army of provincial councillors. The most spectacular result was at Antwerp, where the Blok became the biggest party. In Brussels, the party was popular with the Flemish electors — only the CVP (the Christian democratic party, with Prime Minister Martens on its list) took a bigger share of the vote. With 10.4% of the vote across Flanders, the Blok has the automatic right to a ministerial post in the Flemish regional government, made up on a proportional basis.
The Vlaams Blok will not be the only far right party represented in Parliament. Brussels elected a representative of the francophone Front National to the chamber. The FN received 33,000 votes in the capital and had some impressive scores in other Walloon towns. This score is remarkable in that the NF, unlike the Vlaams Blok, was not the only far right party competing in the elections. There is a strong risk that its success could allow the FN to absorb the other fascist groups in the francophone part of the country.
This far right breakthrough is essentially an electoral phenomenon. These are fascist parties, but at this stage in their construction they try to give themselves a respectable image and to exploit simple themes; immigration, insecurity, nationalism and abortion.
An urban phenomenon
The Vlaams Blok are beginning to make gains in the rural areas. But it remains essentially an urban phenomenon, in the big and medium-sized towns, where the sectors of the working class who have been hardest hit by the austerity of the last ten years live. And this is the heart of the problem; the "brown plague" feeds on the crisis of growing social inequality.
These elections show that the vote for the Green parties is no barricade against the far right.
The Greens are not attracting the same popular vote. Their social programme is not sufficient. There is a deep void between the legitimate aspirations of the Greens to equality (the right to vote for immigrants) and the means they propose to eradicate racism. The Greens do not see the necessity of mass action against racism. Nor do they see the necessity of social demands which challenge the logic of the free market, the ultimate cause of the fascist upsurge.
The Social Democrats have been hardest hit by the far right breakthrough. That is not astonishing. They have collaborated in the management of the crisis, and have been incapable of changing in any way the situation of people in the poorest areas.
Where Social Democracy has failed to give people a perspective, a sentiment of solidarity and identity, the Vlaams Blok
Zechnung. Haitzinger has succeeded. The first reactions from the SP show that they have not understood the message; they call for "a resolute approach to the problem" and "a strong government" From this point of view, the far right breakthrough gives the bourgeoisie an argument for implementing its plans for a reinforcement of state power. Less democratic rights, and more racism, in the name of the struggle against the "brown tidal wave".
For now, the far right has the wind in its sails. This is also the result of the international conjuncture. With European economic and political unification, austerity is on the agenda everywhere. To this can be added the effects of the victory of capitalism in Eastern Europe. In the absence of a socialist alternative, nationalist tendencies are developing. The success of the FN, built on the simple fact of taking the name and symbolism of Le Pen's party in France, shows the ease with which organizations of this type can now win over a section of the public.
Building a blockade against the far right is not easy. There is a huge gap between understanding the necessity for a unified struggle and arriving at concrete and radical demands. In any case, the solution will surely not come from the proposal for a democratic front against the far right. Those who, by their policies, have paved the way for the far right are now calling on others to help them to sort out their problems.
The electorate have said "a plague on both your houses". Many are socially uprooted and ideologically in disarray. The only way to deal with this is to build a radical alternative, aimed at satisfying popular needs and creating jobs for all, coupled with political equality for Belgians and immigrants.
This is possible if the wealth thai exists for such a programme is taken from those who have it, and if the workers and youth are mobilized for these demands. There is 17 no other way. *
BRITAIN / FRANCE war recession. Thatcherism as an ideology was simply the concen-
Britain: Wave of trated essence of free marketism.
Society, she said, did not exist, there were only individuals and their families. The welfarist conracist attacks sensus of postwar British politics was rejected as utopian socialism. With the disappearance of much of traditional Brit-
THE election of the Conservatives ish industry, the expansion of the
(Tories) in 1979, when British fascist financial and service sectors and the reluctance of the unions and groups were at their strongest cut the
London. Their campaign theme was "rights for whites". They used the stabbing of a white youth by young Bangladeshis (after countless attacks of every sort on the Bangladeshi community in this area to win support.
This is a rather more subtle approach than in earlier fascist election campaigns and it served them well. Using the stabbing as a pretext they blamed the inadequate housing and lack of jobs on immigrants, tapping into anger and frustration in the white working class in one of
LIAM MAC UAID A T the time Thatcher made a famous speech in which she spoke of white British fears of being swamped by "alien cultures" and her crony Norman Tebbit wondered whether or not British Blacks and Asians supported the England cricket team. This racist undercurrent was accompanied by a barrage of antiEuropean rhetoric in the guise of attacks on the "Brussels bureaucrats". Neither was Thatcher averse to starting a small war when it might help with an election. The Malvinas war was the occasion for an unparalleled display of reactionary nationalism.
But now Thatcher has gone. The politics of the Labour leadership under Neil Kinnock are almost indistinguishable from those of Tory Prime Minister John Major. Unemployment is at least three million and rising in Britain's worst postthe Labour party to go on the offensive, a real atomization of British society took place. As the artificial, credit-based prosperity created in Thatcher's later years evaporates. it is the later years evaporates. It 1s the very people who thought they stood to gain the most who are now suffering most severely. All those who took her government's advice and took out loans to buy their own homes or set up their own businesses are now being punished by high interest rates, a steep decline in their earnings and big job losses in former boom areas.