Social Democratic Party (SPD), Germany

Germany’s New Government Promises Renewed Attacks on Pensions and Working Hours
Two months after the federal elections, the SPD, the Greens, and the FDP have agreed to form a new government. It promises some reforms, but also new neoliberal measures and increased militarism.
Marco Helmbrecht
November 26, 2021Olaf Scholz: The Sinister Past of Germany’s Future Chancellor
Olaf Scholz has a good chance of becoming Germany's next chancellor. Why has the media largely ignored his problematic record?
Nathaniel Flakin
October 10, 2021In Berlin, 56% Voted to Expropriate Big Landlords
On Sunday, 56% of Berliners voted in favor of expropriating housing companies that own more than 3,000 units in the city. But a militant campaign will be needed to implement the voters’ will.
Nathaniel Flakin
September 27, 2021Is This the End for the German SPD?
The laughably garish party congress of the once mighty Social Democratic Party is a perfect metaphor for its continued decline.
Nathaniel Flakin
May 14, 2021Rosa Luxemburg at 150: No “Harmless Icon”
Rosa Luxemburg was born on March 5, 1871. She is often presented as a pacifist, a democrat, and an opponent of the Russian Revolution. None of this is true. She was a revolutionary communist.
Left Voice
March 5, 2021Was Rosa Luxemburg an Opponent of the Russian Revolution?
Rosa Luxemburg is often presented as an opponent of the Russian Revolution, but this is a deliberate misunderstanding. In fact, she was no more and no less than a critical Bolshevik.
Nathaniel Flakin
January 15, 2021A Poem To Leftists Who Object to Violence
As uprisings sweep the United States, there is a small minority of socialists who object to "violence," "looting," etc. We have published a number of articles about this — but really, this poem sums it up better than any article. It is about a revolutionary who wants to avoid damaging street lights at all costs.
Left Voice
June 8, 2020Bhaskar Sunkara’s “Socialist Manifesto”: Dreaming of Sweden
Following in the footsteps of Marx and Engels, the founding editor of Jacobin has released a manifesto about how to reach socialism. But instead of a bold vision for the future, this book offers borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 1970s.
Nathaniel Flakin
May 29, 2019Kautsky, Luxemburg, and Lenin in Light of the German Revolution
What can socialists today learn from Karl Kautsky? To answer this question, we need to see how his theories held up during the German Revolution of 1918. This presentation, part of an ongoing debate with Eric Blanc, Charlie Post, Mike Taber, and other socialists, was given at the Socialism in Our Time conference on April 14 in New York City.
Nathaniel Flakin
April 17, 2019The Politics of Red Rosa
On January 15, 1919, a group of Freikorps (German paramilitaries) murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. What they could not kill was the powerful ideas of the “red rose” of the world proletariat, Rosa Luxemburg.
Josefina L. Martínez
January 15, 2019