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German Communist Party warns of continued attacks on democracy 50 years after state bans targeted left

SPYING and state repression continues in Germany some 50 years after a workplace ban which targeted leftists was introduced by the Social Democratic Party, communists warned today.

Resistance to increased militarisation and imperialist aggression against Russia and China has seen a “cold ban” on the German Communist Party (DKP) and restrictions placed on the left-wing daily newspaper Junge Welt, the party said.

The government also plans to further restrict democracy, it added, with a so-called radical restructure of the state under the new Social Democratic Party-Green-FDP coalition.

“The German state is undergoing reactionary restructuring with the tightening of police laws, attacks on democratic rights, militarisation and emergency testing in connection with the corona pandemic, among other things,” the DKP said. 

“German imperialism is increasing its aggressiveness to the outside world. This applies on a global scale, but also in the instrumentalisation of the EU, which under [German] leadership aims to serve its global demands,” it added.

A raft of new offences declared by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution aim to ensure loyalty to the state, according to the communists. 

The office stated that extremism begins when “resistance against the state is called” or when people try to “give the impression that the state is failing and doing nothing for the people.”

The government is arming itself against the people in a bid to stop them protesting against repressive measures as it tightens laws in defence of German capital, the DKP said.

“This must be opposed. The defence of fundamental democratic rights is now, more than ever, crucial. This is a mission that results from 50 years of fighting against occupational bans,” it added.

The party issued the warning on the 50th anniversary of the so-called Anti-Radical Decree which was introduced in what was then the Federal Republic of Germany on January 28 1972 by Chancellor Willy Brandt.

It aimed to restrict employment in the civil service to those that were considered to be members of or aligned to extremist groups in what the government said was a response to terrorism by the Red Army Faction.

But the German Communist Party (DKP) said the legislation was directed almost exclusively against leftists and mainly affected members, sympathisers and friends of its organisation.

“It was clear we were being watched,” the DKP said, claiming that the state and the secret service placed spies in its organisations.

But the law was defeated in the face of mass resistance and international solidarity. 

In 1987 the International Labour Organisation classed the law discrimination and in 1996 the European Court of Justice said that workplace bans violated Germany’s Basic Law.

By this time 1.4 million people had been screened across the country with 1,100 banned from entering the civil service or sacked. 

A total of 11,000 proceedings were initiated. For teachers alone, there were 2,200 disciplinary proceedings and 136 dismissals. Many of the cases were presided over by former Nazi judges.

Those who were impacted by the draconian legislation have not been compensated, with apologies only offered by the state decades later.

The DKP called for compensation for those affected by the ban and the reinstatement of pensions scrapped as a result of dismissals.

It also demanded the withdrawal of changes in police duties laws and attacks on the right to demonstrate.

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