Deutsche Welle: Lafontaine, the last charismatic of the Left

Oscar Lafontaine, the “man who would become chancellor”, is leaving German politics bitter. He was defeated by the times. Or from his own contradictions and weaknesses?

He described the apotheosis as “the grandson of Willy Brandt”, and was described as “the greatest political talent of his generation”. Others called him “Napoleon of Zaar”, either as a sign of admiration for his political instinct, or to ridicule his bigotry. Or was it not bigotry? Oscar Lafontaine himself has always wanted to stand out as a leader, as a lover of power, as a bon vivant of the Left. Whenever he was not allowed to excel in all these roles, he left solemnly. Was this the best solution? But let’s start from the beginning…

Child of a working family

The quarrel between France and Germany used to be the industrial area of ​​Saar. The backlog was resolved in 1957, when the local population decided in a referendum to join West Germany. French influence remained, the state of Zaar became a tourist destination for nature lovers and wine lovers, invisible to the central political scene. Until March 1985, when something unprecedented happened: at the age of 41, Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate Oscar Lafontaine won the local election in Zaar with 49.2%. He becomes prime minister with an absolute majority. And all this in a conservative state, in which the Christian Democrats (CDU) ruled for 27 consecutive years. “This has never happened before in the history of Federal Germany,” said SPD leader Willy Brandt. “Never before has a budding politician won an absolute majority, dethroning the government in elections.” In an unfavorable economic situation, in which unemployment in Zaar had climbed to 14%, Lafontaine’s eloquence and personal charisma win over voters. Even if the Greens make fun of him, calling him “Bla-Blafoden”.

He is Lafontaine himself, who was elected mayor of Saarbrücken in 1976, at the age of just 32. The youngest mayor in a state capital in post-war German history. A descendant of a working class family, he studied Physics at the University of Bonn on a scholarship. They say that he chose this university because only in Bonn he could be hosted by a friendly family. His humble origins, his skills, his first great successes in politics showed that Lafontaine would be the future of the SPD, and in fact with the blessings of the left wing of the party and the socialist youth, who had been sidelined by the “realist” Chancellor Helmut Smith. Dreams come true, ambitions grow. In Germany, cartoonists are beginning to portray Lafontaine in Napoleon’s typical double-breasted hat. But will “Napoleon of Zaar” be able to impose himself on such a tough opponent as the “chancellor of reunification” Helmut Kohl?

Elections in the shadow of Reunification

The 1990 election year begins with the best conditions for Oscar Lafontaine. In the local elections of Zaar he is re-elected with the impressive percentage of 54.4%. The SPD presidency is rushing to nominate him as a candidate for chancellor in the December elections. The rush is justified. Lafontaine needs time, argument and a lot of patience to oppose something convincing to Helmut Kohl’s triumphs. The Berlin Wall has collapsed, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) will soon be a thing of the past. Lafontaine runs to the neighborhoods to talk to people, investing in his personal talent. On April 25, the needs of the election campaign bring him to the working-class suburb of Milheim in Cologne. As the event ends, the unthinkable happens: a woman in the audience approaches Lafontaine, ostensibly to ask for an autograph, but in fact to attack him with a knife, which she had hidden in a bouquet of flowers. Doctors anticipate the worst, Lafontaine saves her “for a few millimeters”, although she has been seriously injured. “From that day on I always feel insecure whenever I am in the crowd,” the Social Democrat politician later confessed in an interview.

Time is pressing. Lafontaine returns to the race. Despite the dramatic moments he went through, he remains the same. But Germany has changed. Millions of East Germans are moving to West Germany, while infrastructure and state-owned enterprises in the East are collapsing. Cole tries to hold them back, promising “flowering landscapes” in a few years. They respond with the famous slogan “If the mark comes, we will stay. If it does not come, we will go find it!” (Kommt die D-Mark, bleiben wir, kommt sie nicht, geh’n wir zu ihr!) Kohl entices them with an unprecedented monetary reform: from July 1, they will be able to exchange the East German mark with the West German mark in incredible 1: 1 exchange rate for up to 4,000 marks, while the official exchange rate in January was 1: 5 and on the black market 1: 8. Prominent economists and the German Federal Reserve warn him not to dare, but Cole ignores them. Its criteria are political. If it is delayed, East Germany could be deserted, increasing the cost of reconstruction. And what will happen if the Russians decide to “intervene”?

Oscar Lafontaine invokes economic logic, warning that rebuilding East Germany will take decades. But in the festive atmosphere of reunion, “Napoleon of Zaar” looks like a grumpy guest who comes to spoil the party. Many consider him a small soul. “His French cuisine and Italian beaches are closer than his brothers in East Germany,” says Mariane Birtler, a human rights activist. “At that time they could not understand me,” Lafontaine would later say, taking stock. History will tell you that Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats won the 1990 election with 43.8% of the vote, compared to just 33.5% for the SPD.

Lafontaine and Schroeder, two inanimate friends

In 1994 it is Rudolf Sarping’s turn to be defeated by Helmut Kohl. Everyone draws their conclusions from the defeats. The Social Democrats conclude that a more centrist candidate is needed and choose Gerhard Schroeder for the 1998 election. It is impossible for him to try again as a candidate for chancellor. But he could try as the party’s informal No. 2. After all, Schroeder cannot win an election without the SPD’s left wing. “With the rich confidence that characterizes him, Lafontaine had believed that he could determine the fate of a government, even if he was not the head of it,” said Peter Glott, one of the “theorists” of social democracy.

Thus was born the myth of the Schroeder-Lafontaine political alliance. Together in the pre-election posters, in the political gatherings, in the holidays. In the 1998 election the SPD triumphed with 40.9%, Schroeder became the first Social Democrat chancellor after Helmut Schmidt and Lafontaine was named “Tsar of the Economy”. In the beginning, everything is going well, as the left-wing magazine Vorwarts reminds us, “with Lafontaine giving directions, launching tax reforms, recalling pension cuts imposed by the Cole government.”

On March 11, 1999, reporters awaited Chancellor Schroeder at a “relaxed” event with British Social Democrat guru Anthony Giddens. Schroeder does not show up. What happens; The news is quickly learned and causes a “political earthquake”: Oscar Lafontaine resigns from all political positions, even as an MP. Just like that. He invites reporters to his home in Saarbrücken and is photographed on the balcony cuddling with his son. It is “the image of the year”, according to DER SPIEGEL magazine. For Vorwarts, the main cause of the conflict was a “market control” package. Lafontaine will later write a book entitled “The Heart Beats Left”, arguing that Germany’s involvement in the NATO bombing of Kosovo was one of the reasons for his resignation. Many are outraged. “Throw away the leadership, as if it were no dirty clothes,” said former SPD leader Hans-Jochen Vogel. Reinhard Klimt, his confidant for many years and successor to Zaar’s prime minister, had a much simpler explanation: “He just gave it to him…”

The Left and the “Tuscan faction”

For some time Lafontaine has been busy writing and enduring vicious comments. The scandalous Bild gives him an entire column entitled “The heart beats left”. Some remind that he has received about one million euros from his book, with the same title. Here are the implications for a luxurious life of the former Ministry of Finance, although he is a leftist. In addition to starring in the so-called “Tuscan faction”. This is a group of Social Democrat MPs or ministers, who often vacation in Italy and love Italian cuisine. The references to the “Tuscan faction” contain an irony similar to the French comments on the “Caviar Left” in the time of François Mitterrand. But is it really such a sophisticated luxury to vacation in the Tuscan village of Kapanori as Lafontaine? Let it be.

But Oscar Lafontaine’s political career does not end here. After a long siege, the Democratic Socialist Party (PDS), the successor party to the East German Communist Party, will persuade him to work together to form a new left-wing party. It is the Left Party (Die Linke) that aspires to expand to the western states of Germany. And indeed he will succeed with the help of Lafontaine, who from 2009 onwards is constantly elected member of the local Parliament of Zaar. In 2011, Lafontaine caused another headline when his relationship with Sarah Wagenknecht, 26 years younger than the leader of the Left and former leader of the K.O. of the party.

And suddenly, on Thursday, Oscar Lafontaine leaves the Left Party. In 1999 it is repeated. Only this time he does not leave silently, but by denouncing methods and “frauds” in the party organs. It was preceded by internal party controversy in the run-up to the March 27 local elections in Zaar, with the majority rejecting Oscar Lafontaine’s “chosen ones” for the ballots. The whole spectacle does not seem very attractive to the voters and so in the polls the Left falls to 4% compared to 12.8% it had received in the 2017 elections. After such a turbulent life, the Suddeutsche Zeitung asks Oscar Lafontaine if he has regret something in his political career. And he answers: “Many times I wonder, maybe it would have been better if I had stayed in the SPD…”

Giannis Papadimitriou

Source: Deutsche Welle