Germany

Sol – Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (CWI Germany) mourns the death of National Committee member, Jan Horsthemke. We are sorry to announce that our Dortmund comrade and member of the Sol National Committee, Jan Horsthemke, decided […]

A debate in Germany over the Building Energy Act, the so-called “heat transition”, has been boiling up for weeks. The conservative CDU has announced that it will make the fight against this law an issue […]

With sustained strike action more would be possible! 500,000 workers took part in massive warning strikes. The turnout was higher than expected. 70,000 new members joined the ver.di trade union in the first three months […]

‘Traffic light’ government quarrels and quarrels and quarrels…. When the first ever three-party coalition formed a German government in autumn 2021, big words were said. It would be a “progress coalition” that would face the […]

Activists from Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (Sol – CWI in Germany), the Forum of Trade Union Lefts in Berlin, the International Commission of the IG Metall Berlin (metal workers’ trade union) and RIO (Revolutionary Internationalist Organisation), […]

On Monday, 27th March, tens of thousands railway and public sector workers came together in a “mega strike“. This action brought large parts of Germany’s public transport system to a halt. It was the first […]

At the start of this year, a new socialist youth organisation, Youth for Socialism (JfS), was founded in Germany by members of the Socialist Organisation – Solidarity (Sol, German section of the CWI), together with […]

Jonas Grampp is a member of the youth group of the Berlin region of the German Railway and Transport Union (EVG) and of the youth representative committee of DB Netz AG, the railway infrastructure division […]

While the ballot for unlimited strike action amongst the German postal workers saw a 85.9 percent yes vote for strike action over their 15 percent wage claim, public sector workers have stepped up their warning […]

A public appeal made in Germany for mass support for a ‘Manifesto for Peace’, calling for “a ceasefire and peace negotiations” to stop the war in Ukraine (published on February 10th), is one of the […]

The cost of living crisis has led to an increase in protests and workers’ strikes in a number of countries, most notably in the UK and France. Now Germany could join the ‘strike countries’. After […]

“Danger recognised – danger averted” was the intended message of last week’s German television and newspaper pictures. In what was probably the largest anti-terrorist operation in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, on […]

From 16 to 18 September, the successful second national conference of the Socialist Organisation Solidarity (Sol, the CWI in Germany) took place in Berlin, reports Jens Jaschik. Over the weekend, almost one hundred delegates and […]

In an opinion poll, 16 per cent of people in Germany said that because of the rising costs of living they have to do without one meal per day, another 13 per cent said they […]

The world has changed since the war in Ukraine began. Like the coronavirus – which not only shut down the world but also accelerated profound changes in economic, political and social relations – the war […]

In Germany the Left party DIE LINKE has been in a mounting crisis since the disastrous collapse in its vote in last September’s general election. The party saw a a fall in support since the […]

Russia’s war against Ukraine is a shock and, at the same time, a turning point, because for the first time, in a long time, the question of a military confrontation between great powers is concrete. […]

“Super motivating” was the comment of Christian, a nurse who joined the Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (Sol, CWI Germany) during the Berlin hospital strikes, about the Socialism Days organised by the Sol on the weekend of […]

For twenty-six days, nurses at the two largest public Berlin hospital chains, Charité and Vivantes, and the technical staff of the latter, have been on strike. More than 2,000 workers have joined the trade union […]

This has never happened before. On 26th September, ‘Super Election Day’, Berliners voted by 56 percent in a referendum in favour of the expropriation of the large real estate companies. This shows that when people […]

More than thirty organisations and initiatives had called for the demonstration “Together on the street – public instead of private” in Berlin, last Saturday, 18 September. Representatives from almost all movements and campaigns currently taking […]

Opinion polls in the last weeks before the September 26 German general election have shown rapid changes, especially for the two main contenders – the conservative christian democrat CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party […]

The extreme weather conditions of the last few days have reached unimaginable proportions in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as in Belgium, the Netherlands and other neighbouring countries. Up […]

In Germany, the Green party is riding a wave of popularity. Following the selection of Annalena Baerbock as its candidate for Chancellor (Prime Minister), it hit 28% in the opinion polls. Since 2019 the Greens […]

The parliamentary elections taking place in Germany at the end of September will mark an end of an era. Having governed in various government constellations since 2005, Angela Merkel is not standing again. Generally, the […]

Capitalism is increasingly reminiscent of what is called a ‘Royal Rumble’ in professional wrestling. In this sport what is happening in the ring becomes more and more confusing due to the arrival of more and […]

More than 1.5 million Berlin households have been dealt a blow by the Federal Constitutional Court. At the request of 284 Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) members of the […]

Two members of the Socialist Organisation Solidarity (CWI Germany) and two other left activists are on trial in Lemgo, Germany. They are facing accusations by State Security (the police department for “fighting against politically motivated […]

Young people in Germany have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the unfolding economic crisis. For young socialists, these are key issues around which to organise resistance against the various shortcomings of the […]

Germany’s Chancellor Merkel sounded the alarm. Combatting the Coronavirus is a “task of the century”, but the results of the consultation between the Federal government and the representatives of the regional states on 14 October […]

Public sector workers in Germany’s hospitals, kindergartens, civil service, refuse operations, as well as public transport workers, started ‘warning strikes’ in support of their wage demands. Ver.di, the public sector union, is demanding a 4.8% […]

The public campaigning of Socialist Organisation Solidarity (Sol, CWI in Germany) is, like all left organisations, greatly affected by the covid-19 crisis. We were involved in tenants’ protests and campaigns for free public transport. With […]

Below is the first of two articles on Germany and the covid-19 crisis. The second article, which will be published on Wednesday 15 April, will discuss the campaigning work of Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (CWI Germany) […]

Even during a global pandemic, profit is the top priority for capitalists. On the one hand, our freedom of movement is restricted, and, on the other hand, we are supposed to continue working with numerous […]

After dramatic election defeats last September in two East German federal state elections the leadership of Germany’s left party DIE LINKE opened a strategy debate in the run-up to a ‘Strategy Conference’ at the end […]

The racist murders of Hanau are part of a chain of right-wing terror attacks and racism. They are not caused by the sick brains of the individual perpetrators, but by a capitalist society that produces […]

Hardly a day goes by in Germany without a new announcement of job cuts, dismissals in car plants and components industry and in companies such as Thyssen-Krupp or Siemens. The planned loss of hundreds of […]

Germany has entered an unstable period in which economic, political and international developments can produce rapid changes. Already the first signs of this are visible economically and politically. Just recently fourteen hospital workers have been […]

For millions of people, the 1989 opening of the Berlin Wall was rightly celebrated as a great victory for democratic rights. But the build up to the official celebrations to mark its 30th anniversary have, […]

The September 1 state elections in the eastern German states of Brandenburg and Saxony saw a continuation of the decline of Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU) currently Germany’s ruling parties. The losses for […]

The results of the European elections, as well as the Bremen state and various local elections, on 26 May, will continue to stir up the German party system, increase political instability and pose the possibility […]

Much of the German media is understandably discussing the “historical event” that took place last weekend – last Sunday’s regional elections in Bavaria. The decline of both the CSU (Bavarian counterpart of Merkel’s Christian-Democrat CDU) […]

A year ago, on 24 September 2017, a right-wing populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), was elected to the German Bundestag (national parliament) for the first time. The AfD’s achievement in becoming the Bundestag’s […]

The pictures were shocking: Over five thousand rightists move through the city centre of Chemnitz, in the eastern German federal state of Saxony, last Monday, 27th August. Some of the crowd beat migrants, threw bottles […]

Germany is seeing its politically most unstable period since unification of East and West in 1990 and also the beginning of the end of the “Merkel era”.

After the federal elections held on 24 September 2017, it took almost exactly half a year for the new government to be sworn in. This is completely unprecedented in German post-war history. On top of […]

With one in four of all full time workers working over 40 hours a week in the UK, the notion of a proper “work life balance” to be able to spend more time with your […]

Around 1000 students took part in a school strike in Kassel, central Germany, on December 11, protesting against the deteriorating conditions in their schools and to fight for a better future. There were plenty of […]