German Communist Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Communist Party of Germany (disambiguation).
Deutsche Kommunistische Partei
Leader
Founded 1968
Headquarters Hoffnungstrae 18, 45127 Essen
Political Ideology Communism,
Marxism-Leninism
International Affiliation None
European Affiliation Party of the European Left (observer)
European Parliament Group None
Colours Red
Website
www.dkp.deSee also Politics of Germany
Political parties
Elections
Communist Parties
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v • d • e
The German Communist Party (German: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, DKP) is a Marxist-Leninist Communist party in Germany.[1]Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Media
3 See also
4 Footnotes
5 External links
[edit]
History
It was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956.
The party remained on the political fringe, never winning more than 0.3% of the total votes in federal elections.[2] It had relatively greater localized support in the 1970s; it managed to get up to 2.2% in elections in the city state of Hamburg, up to 3.1% in elections in the city state in Bremen, and up to 2.7% in elections in Saarland.
During the Cold War, the DKP received most of its funds through covert transfers from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the East German ruling party.[1] Following German reunification, the DKP entered a steady decline.[1] As of 2008, its membership has dropped to some 4,000, less than a tenth of its pre-Unification strength. The average party member is 60 years old, and the party is practically bankrupt.[1]
Many members of the DKP left the party after the re-unification of Germany and joined the newly formed Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), a descendant of the SED. For the 2005 federal elections, the DKP endorsed the ticket of the Left Party, successor to the PDS.
The DKP received national public attention in early 2008 when Christel Wegner, elected to the parliament of Lower Saxony on the list of the Left Party as the first DKP state member of parliament, appeared to endorse the Berlin Wall, the Stasi and other aspects of the East German state in an interview. This caused embarrassment to the national Left Party leadership.[1] Wegner was subsequently expelled from the party's parliamentary group and denied having made the controversial endorsements a few days later.[3]
[edit]
Media
The party operates a weekly newspaper, unsere Zeit.
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Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Maoism
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The Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (German: Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands, MLPD) is an Anti-Revisionist Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, Communist political party in Germany without parliamentary representation. It was founded in 1982 by members of the Communist Workers Union of Germany (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund Deutschlands; KABD). The MLPD has long been the largest far-left grouping in Germany.
The MLPD has traditionally defined itself as Maoist in orientation, originating from the heritage of Maoism in the 1960s student movements. It declares the political and economical changes in most of the eastern European countries after the 20th Party Congress as treason to socialism. It refers to the ideas of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, some adherents oriented themselves also at Enver Hoxha after the Deng Xiaoping-era began in China.
It promotes the "Dictatorship of proletariat", before socialism can develop. This concept excludes the existence of the civil democratic order. So the MLPD wants to abolish the current German constitution and replace it with a new social order.
It participates in the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO).
The MLPD's youth movement is called Rebell (Rebel).
At the 1998 federal elections the party gained only 0.01 percent of the votes. In 2002 the MLPD didn't participate at the federal elections and called on people for boycott. The MLPD participated in the 2005 federal elections, generally positioning itself in campaigns as a radical alternative to the Left Party. The MLPD won 0.1 percent of the total votes cast. This marked a tenfold increase compared to the result of 1998, despite the competition through the Left Party.
Its strongest showing was in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, where it garnered 0.4 percent of the vote. [1].
Although some German labor unions declare a simultaneous membership in the labor union and the MLPD inadmissible, many members of the party are members of a labor union and even fulfill a task there. Thereby some MLPD members were already excluded from a labor union, among these the present chairman of the party Stefan Engel, who used to be a member of the IG Metall and is now a member of Ver.di.
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Communist Party of Germany (in German: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) is a political party in Germany, one of several who claim the KPD name. It was founded in Berlin in 1990.
The party chairman was Werner Schleese. He resigned in April 2006. The current chairman is Dieter Rolle.
KPD publishes a monthly newspaper, Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag). The youth wing is known as Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands (Young Communist League of Germany), which was founded 2002.
Ahead of the 2005 Bundestag elections, the party unsuccessfully appealed for an electoral union with the German Communist Party (DKP) and the Left Party. This provoked a split, resulting in the formation of the Communist Party of Germany (Bolshevik). KPD's line can be described as stalinist, with some influence from North Korean Juche and Songun doctrines, which are enthusiastically supported by the organisation. The party released no official membership numbers, according to estimates it has ca. 100 members.
[edit]
Electoral history
1990 Volkskammer: 8 819 votes (0.1%), stood in 12 out of 15 constituencies
2002 Bundestag
2004 Municipal elections in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In Zeitz the party got 1.9% and one seat in the municipal council.
2004 Landtag Thuringia: 0.2%
