The so-called coalition agreement builds up the formal basis for the unity of the three parties forming the new government led by the SPD. This was presented to the public on 24 November after much secrecy.
The head of this new government will be the notorious Olaf Scholz, the one who claimed the G20 summit in Hamburg would resemble the annual harbour birthday, the one who gave a whopping 47,000,000 euros to the owner of the "Cum-Ex" Warburg Bank, judicially defined as a criminal, the one who gave free rein to the Wirecard fraudsters. This gangster now joins ranks with the likes of the corrupt Helmut Kohl, who can at least be credited with respecting the Omerta, and the godfather of Hanover, Gerhard Schröder, who today places himself in the long tradition of the Russian Tsar's Foreign Legion. Reaction probably had no better supreme representative of German imperialism to offer.
The fact that these three parties are coming together corresponds to the necessities of German imperialism. What is necessary for reaction is the strategic transformation of the German monopoly capitalist system, the restructuring of the state and the entire infrastructure of monopoly capitalism, or transformation, as they themselves call it. The participation of the Greens in government is borne of the desperation of the petty bourgeoisie; within the so-called Union, too much infighting arose after Merkel's departure, a fragmentation that led them to this electoral defeat. The result is now before us.
Foreseeable is a rapid erosion of the social base of this government, especially the Greens and the SPD. The attempt to satisfy the increasingly desperate petty bourgeoisie through some progressive measures, such as the abolition of §219a and tax classes 3/5, as well as some pseudo-radicalism through, among other things, the legalisation of cannabis, will not keep the Greens' base quiet for long, especially their youth (the lowering of the voting age and driving licence at 16 won't help), who had an essential supporting role within the elections campaign. In the case of the SPD, something similar will happen. The increase in the minimum wage will quickly proved to be what it is, a trap that will actually lead to more poverty and oppression of the working class. This, along with "making the bureaucracy more effective", will greatly reduce the base of the SPD. Add to this the power struggles within the government, within the parliamentary factions and within the three parties. The fierce attacks on the working class will bring about great confrontations. Whether the new government and these conditions will really last for four years remains to be seen.
The crucial problem of German imperialism in its quest to develop into a superpower is to overcome the restrictions and limitations imposed on it after its defeat in the Second World War. This is the challenge with which every government of the German imperialist state must wrestle. The solution to this problem is the crucial question, the main hurdle standing in the way is the working class and people of Germany itself.
The coalition agreement itself will need a lot of adjustments, but nevertheless one can see the course of the new government in many concrete questions.
The preamble states: "Germany and Europe must re-establish their economic strength in the face of intensified global competition. ... It is also important to reduce social tensions in times of rapid change and to strengthen confidence in our democracy. ... Germany will only be able to act at the cutting edge if we modernise the state itself. We want to make state action faster and more effective and better prepared for future crises." The plan of reaction is clearly expressed here: carry out restructuring of the monopoly capitalist system in this country, but the adjustments in the current situation in questions of its economy, reorganising, restructuring, transforming, that will lead to the intensification of the class struggle, so their problem is how to handle the main contradiction in this country, the contradiction bourgeoisie-proletariat. Modernise, accelerate, make effective, i.e. centralise more. A process they intend to lead by exploiting the pandemic, the state of emergency and everything that has to do with it. Modernisation of the state is obviously necessary and concretely means overcoming federalism. Not overcoming federalism prevents the executive in Germany from playing its role. In the eyes of German imperialism, the EU is the tool, the format that allows Germany to gain its proper place in the sun in what they call the multilateral world. Effectiveness corresponds to real problems, the digital infrastructure, the digital state apparatus is absolutely backward in Germany and this government must change that. But what does making the state apparatus more effective mean? A contradiction with the bureaucracy, because the people who are too inefficient have to go, and the bureaucracy corresponds to a party, the CDU, a party of government power, which was created for the administration of the state, mainly pushed by Yankee imperialism after the Second World War. Now the CDU is no longer in government and the struggle of the bureaucrats will be channelled into the CDU.
"Securing our prosperity in globalisation is only possible if we continue to play in the top league economically and technically and unleash the innovative forces of our economy." Technical innovations are one thing, but economically simply means defending the monopoly position, defending the semi-colonies, defending the German position against other imperialist powers, here quite explicitly.
"The strength of our republic lies in its liberal diversity and in its democratic and social cohesion. ... We want to make their [the security agencies'] structures and cooperation more efficient." So for social cohesion, this is not directly promoted, but the repressive organs are to become more efficient and centralised.
"The great challenges of our time can only be overcome in international cooperation and together in a strong European Union. ... We want to increase the strategic sovereignty of the European Union by orienting our foreign, security, development and trade policies in a value-based manner and as a basis for common European interests." Strategic sovereignty is a central point, not of NATO, not in the alliance with the USA, but of the EU subordinated to German leadership. Admittedly, NATO and the USA are mentioned further on, but as an acknowledgement of the current state of affairs.
"Political education and democracy promotion are more in demand than ever, because pluralistic, liberal democracy is also under pressure in Germany." So the reaction acknowledges the crisis of bourgeois democracy and its extent seems alarmingly high. "More than ever" ... more than before and after the Second World War? More than after the annexation of the GDR and its "democracy-incapable" inhabitants? Their answer, besides the general ideological and political campaign against the people, is the impotent attempt to revive democracy: "We will set up and organise citizens' councils on concrete issues through the Bundestag." As if anyone seriously thought such monkey business was the defibrillator of democracy.
How important democracy and the constitution are to them is shown a little further on: "A trustworthy, universally applicable identity management as well as constitutional register modernisation are priorities." They know that what they are planning is obviously not legal, but they are planning it anyway, the more efficient, centralised population control.
The plans for the world of labour are massive: "We want to make it possible for all elder workers who are able and willing to do so to work at least until the regular retirement age." People should still be working in retirement, and to this end they are raising the minimum wage, promoting and developing mini-jobs. Instead of topping up because pensions aren't enough to live on, you can do a mini-job where you get 520 euros. "We increase the minimum wage and create a modern labour law that allows security and fairly negotiated flexibility." Modern equals flexible and that's why they create the minimum wage. Flexibility is also found in a general attack on the 8-hour day: "... create possibilities for deviation from the currently existing regulations of the Working Hours Act with regard to the maximum daily working hours ... (experimental spaces)."
They plan "to enter into a partial capital cover of the statutory pension insurance. This partial capital cover is to be ... professionally managed by an independent body under public law and invested globally. To this end, we will ... inject a capital stock of 10 billion euros from budgetary funds. ... We will also enable the German Pension Insurance to invest its reserves on the capital market in a regulated manner." So the pension is to become financial capital in the hands of the German state, as state monopoly capitalism, and invested mainly in German companies, for example semiconductor monopolies serving strategic interests of German imperialism, but also all over the world.
Many other aspects must and will certainly be discussed, but it is already foreseeable that the reaction has set itself tasks that it cannot solve, but will rather intensify the internal struggles. The planned ideological and political campaign against the people, intensified exploitation and oppression will lead to the intensification of the revolutionary situation in this country. The revolutionaries in this country will undermine and fight against these sinister plans of the reaction.
