Shadows of the Wall ‐ the Postcommunist Pds and Perspectives of the Democratic Left In Germany 1

On October 16, 1994, the former Communist Party of the German Democratic Republic, the PDS, joined its postcommunist comrades in other Central and Eastern European countries to celebrate a remarkable electoral comeback. Although its total showings throughout Germany are not so impressive,* the very fact that it gained entrance to the Bundestug, the Federal Parliament, was something only a few political observers could have predicted a year or two ago. One has to agree with Timothy Garten Ash's remark that the PDS was the most interesting phenomenon in these elections. The former communist parties of Eastern and Central Europe today have at least one major feature in common: they are much more successful than any observer would have expected five years ago. In the case of the PDS, one must bear in mind the peculiarities of East Germany after 1989. Thus two parallel perspectives of comparison should be taken into consideration: the fate of other postcommunist parties in Eastern and Central Europe as well as the fate of communist parties in other Western democracies during the last five years.