European Tribune - Comments - Countdown Germany: Day -7 (2nd Edition)

Countdown Germany: Day -7 (2nd Edition) | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Some rather naive questions (none / 0)

Labour and the Liberals... A coalition was never on the cards.

Well DUH - they had FPFP. Proportional elections force coalition thinking. (BTW, historically, there has been a Liberla-Labour coalition.)

I don't know if the social liberals (PS tendance droite) have large enough numbers to get into a second round

Well, maybe this time the social socialists get a candidate into the second round, and PS tendance droite will refrain from sabotage!

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Sep 12th, 2005 at 05:43:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

sabotage? (none / 0)

The left in much of Europe has a problem with an increasing divide between its moderate and left wings. The problem for the moderates is that the hard left people are likely to bolt to any available hard left party rather than vote for them. The problem for the lefties is that given the choice between something like the Linkspartei, the Trotskyists, or Respect - and the mainstream right, many on the center left see the latter as a lesser evil.

It's a major problem, but it is no more sabotage for people like myself to oppose the hard left than it is for you to oppose people like Blair. But cheer up, it could be worse - think of the old divide between the Communists and the Socialists.

by MarekNYC on Mon Sep 12th, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: sabotage? (none / 0)

I'm sorry Marek that you took this on yourself - I'm actually more tolerant, that about 'sabotage' was an insufficiently ironic jibe intended for Ben to imply that the left side of the PS can feel the same about the right side re: lost election chances as vice versa :-)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Sep 12th, 2005 at 02:46:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: sabotage? (none / 0)

I agree with you, except for the very last sentence. The situation in France (and, from the look of it, in Germany) is just as bad as it was in the early 20th century. It's exactly the same divide coming up today.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Sep 12th, 2005 at 05:03:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: sabotage? (none / 0)

Well we don't want to literally kill each other. The life expectancy of Menesheviks under Lenin and my old compatriot Feliks wasn't too good. Roza and Karl didn't live that long under Ebert and co. On the other hand if you're saying pre WWI, then yes. The divide between the Bernstein types and the Luksemburg ones or between the PPS and the SDKPiL was pretty ugly in Germany and Poland respectively. (Just to name the two Roza was directly involved in.)

by MarekNYC on Mon Sep 12th, 2005 at 08:46:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: sabotage? (none / 0)

Roza and Karl didn't live that long under Ebert and co.

Well that's true, but as far as I know, their deaths weren't due to anything Ebert & co did :-)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Tue Sep 13th, 2005 at 05:31:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Countdown Germany: Day -7 (2nd Edition) | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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