25.11.2004

"The membership decides"

Christine Lehnert is a member of the Sozialistische Alternative (SAV), the German section of the Socialist Party's Committee for a new International (CWI). Like the Socialist Workers Party's German section Linksruck, the SAV had a handful of delegates at conference. Christine was delegated by the WASG Rostock in East Germany and stood as a candidate for the new executive, but was not elected

And I am not the only one, I think that became clear through other interventions and the applause I got. Many of the delegates are still a little hesitant to openly state their beliefs. But there are many who obviously agree that it is very important that you are open and honest about your belief system and that we need a clear alternative to the capitalist system.

The executive has other plans for the WASG.
I think it is correct that the executive is trying to hold back the organisation a little and that it does not appear too radical from the outside. But it is necessary to radically search for the reasons for today's problems and that radical answers will have to be found. We are in the middle of a process and the end is still open. I am very confident that many people who are joining the WASG are in search of a real alternative and for that reason I am optimistic that our ideas will find co-thinkers - even if that is not currently the majority. The WASG is an historic opportunity to build a new party of the left.

Still, the programmatic outlook of the WASG seems well to the right of Respect in Britain. But your comrades in the Socialist Party are refusing to participate.
I do not know enough about this. But the condition for us to support such unity projects is the possibility to have democratic input into the organisation. If that is not the case with Respect, then I presume this is the reason our comrades are not involved.

So, no problems in terms of choosing delegates for this conference, for example?
Well, the executive did try to influence the outcome a little bit. For example, in Rostock they 'recommended' two members as the must have-delegates. And exactly those two did not get elected, but two who were supposed to be prevented. The members still have the final word and nobody can stop such democratic decision making.