The fact that we are meeting here at European level to inform each other about the resistance movements that are developing against the military, social and economic war in our countries is a very important step. For us, the growing loss of position by the Western imperialist states, in the face of the political and economic power of the countries of the South, is a decisive factor in the war being waged in Ukraine, which is used as a proxy war to attack China.

Our position can only be expressed through the coherence of our demand for „Negotiations now!“, in association with the initiatives taken by the countries of the South.

The „What is to be done?!“ network is a network that has been reconstituted since 2022 and brings together socialist forces, forces that have been ousted from the DIE LINKE party. All our various groups in the Länder – most of them being Karl-Liebknecht circles, in reference to the latter’s resistance to the war credits in 1914 – were initially formed as an internal opposition to the party. The „What is to be done?!” coordination circle is now composed of representatives of the majority of the Länder. Since the last party congress in 2022, we have committed ourselves to oppose the disastrous direction taken by the party’s leadership towards a co-management of the government’s imperialist war policy.

In our appeal to the Congress of May 6th, we called on the party leadership to do the following: “The party’s steering committee has not yet taken a clear stand against the economic war and sanctions, and it is only now that it is taking a stand against the supply of new weapons to Ukraine„. The Party leadership refused to join the largest and most important demonstration against the war organised by Sahra Wagenknecht and Alice Schwarzer, which brought together 30-40,000 citizens at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on last February 25th, and even denigrated this demonstration. This has taught us unequivocally that we need to find our own ways to build a genuine socialist policy at grassroots level.

Our federal government is dragging the people of our country into a spiral of warmongering and socio-political madness. Even the backbone of our current prosperity is not being spared. Medium-sized industry is being maintained, in order to continue the mad fight, already lost in advance and leading to self-destruction, all in order to maintain American hegemony over the world. The recession will soon hit our export-oriented country hard, but the long-term consequences are not even considered, nor the fact that the German recession is already having a negative impact on European countries.

In all this warlike hysteria, it is precisely the country responsible for two terrible world wars which is once again being given a ‚leadership role‘. This has recently been reflected in the large-scale „Air-Defender 2023“ manoeuvre, as well as in the EU’s military plans. Violating the founding agreement between NATO and Russia and deploying 4,000 German soldiers in Lithuania on a long-term basis does not pose a problem for the German government, just to mention a few examples.

The perpetuation and extension of the war are intended by the American government and its accomplices in Europe, against Russia, against China, in particular against the countries of the South that are breaking away from American financial imperialism. The capitalist crisis, which has worsened considerably in recent years, is being resolved by war. This trend leaves no room for financing neither our welfare state nor decent wages. Only one thing is really clear: the class struggle inherent in all policies bursts into the open. Thus, new political tasks and new possibilities fall to us, which, after decades of absence, raise the central question of the political organisation of the masses. „We demand that the basic interests of the population be put at the centre of a left-wing policy through the slogan „Heat, bread and peace“. We need a political force to defend democratic freedoms in our country, to ensure the proper functioning of our welfare state and to fight for peace„. (What is to be done?!, Newsletter 2)

We are a network under construction, and as such we are convinced that we can join many others on this path who share similar ideas to our democratic, left-wing, socialist or communist position, in order to develop a European network if possible. Let’s build a counterweight from the bottom up, so that we can once again avoid a „well-known spectre in Europe“!

Kathrin Otte on behalf ot the „What is to be done?!“ coordination committee