With the announcement that Olaf Scholz will lead Germany’s SPD into the 2021 elections, chances for a revival of social democracy in the heart of Europe appear grim. But prospects for the radical-left Die Linke aren’t looking much better, either — stalling hopes of a break with Christian Democratic dominance.
Hans-Christian Ströbele, one of Germany’s best-known Green politicians, passed away in August. He made his name denouncing the Nazis in postwar West Germany’s institutions, countering his country’s self-congratulation over its break with the past.
In Germany, at least 8,000 people go to jail each year for failing to pay public transit tickets. The relevant part of the criminal code was introduced under the Nazis — yet is still routinely used to imprison mostly poor non-payers.
Rooted in Germany's metalworks industries, IG Metall is one of the world's strongest trade unions. But the need for climate action is forcing it to take a more critical approach to the industries where its members work — and fight for a green transition that creates new kinds of high-paid, fulfilling jobs.
The death of cleaner Refat Süleyman at a Thyssenkrupp steel plant has put the spotlight on Germany’s exploitation of migrant workers. It’s also a story about deregulation — and how outsourcing is letting corporations cut corners on working conditions with impunity.
Germany's Green Party is polling in first place for September's federal election, spurring hopes of real action on the climate. But in the run-up to the vote, the party's leaders have spared no effort in boasting of their "pro-business" credentials — and their record in regional government shows they'll never challenge polluting corporations.
After years of stagnant poll numbers and declining electoral results, Germany's Die Linke party hopes that its new leadership team will return it to the promise of the 2000s. But as its social base in the former East fragments, the left-wing party doesn't just need a different marketing strategy — it needs to rebuild its roots in working-class life.
According to a leaked strategy paper, Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland sees socialist party Die Linke as a useful idiot that it can use to polarize society around culture-war issues. Die Linke shouldn’t play along.
Germany’s anti-antisemitism has failed to achieve its purported aim. Instead it has given license to proxy Israeli nationalism, fueled a rise in xenophobia, and compounded the challenge of addressing genuine antisemitism.
Tesla has announced plans for a nonunion factory in Berlin. Auto manufacturing going green was supposed to help workers, not hurt them.
Sunday’s German election saw a big shift toward right-wing parties. But while the Alternative für Deutschland piled up votes in the former East, socialist party Die Linke also made a major breakthrough.
On March 13, 1920, twelve million workers struck across Germany to block an attempted military coup. The successful resistance was organized by the workers’ councils — a form of grassroots democracy that allowed the masses to assert their own power.
For all its populist hues, Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland began in 2012 as a “party of professors” insisting on ordoliberal dogmas. Today, the conservative business elites who fed its rise are again in the headlines, now for pushing German judges to block aid to Europe’s hardest-hit economies.
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland came second in the European elections but fell short of expectations. Now its leadership is riven by conflicts both internal to the party and among the broader European far-right milieu.
Historian Katya Hoyer has caused a sensation with her new history of everyday life in East Germany. On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, she spoke to Jacobin about why that state failed — and why reunification didn’t live up to expectations.
Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz has been confirmed as Germany’s new chancellor. His grand coalition is off to a rocky start — and its call on Germans to swallow austerity is sure to make things worse.
Cologne University has canceled philosopher Nancy Fraser’s planned visiting professorship after learning she signed a pro-Palestine letter. In her first interview after the cancellation, Fraser says she won't let Germany stop her from standing up for Palestine.
The center-left victory in the German election three years ago was hailed as the rise of a progressive coalition. The government it created achieved little real progress — and it has now collapsed, without even completing its term in office.
The scenes of thousands of East Germans passing through the Berlin Wall crossing on November 9, 1989 are remembered as the end of the Cold War. But on November 4, almost a million had demonstrated for reform — and they wanted to create democratic socialism on East German soil.
East and West Germany reunified on October 3, 1990. But for most workers, the hopes of that day were dashed.