Things have become quiet around the SPD since the state elections. With 8.4 percent, it is now the smallest faction in parliament; it seems to have somehow settled into this role – for example, as a warning against extremism, legitimized by history. The SPD has little media penetration, especially in this political Munich with two attention magnets named Markus Söder and Hubert Aiwanger. Internally, however, things are currently quite loud in the SPD. It’s about the lessons from the election and the party’s increasingly scarce financial resources. That’s why, as one calls it, how one goes into the “fight for survival”.
There should still be an official review of the electoral defeat. Even though state leader Florian von Brunn has often remarked that it was “not a crushing defeat”, they had lost the least of all the traffic light parties. A party conference in November decided to establish a commission. Their report should be available soon. On this basis, from the end of April until the summer, seven regional conferences, one per district, will discuss the status and future of the SPD.
The Juso state executive is now sounding the alarm in a letter to the party leadership. The letter is available to the SZ. One suspects that it is “a matter of ticking off the regional conferences and then closing them quickly Business as usual In the format under consideration, the party leadership in particular receives a platform; it is probably intended that “only a very few members have a say at all.” The commission is not devoting itself to “content visions”, but only to future campaigns. The mood The party is “currently hopeless in many places”.
Now the Jusos’ criticism of Brunn and his co-leader Ronja Endres is almost a ritual, and there is always a lot of personal animosity involved. But there is also another issue that is causing unrest in the party: the SPD has to save a lot. Lower percentages in elections, fewer members, fewer donations – all of this affects the treasury. The annual budget must decrease by 15 percent in the medium term. An idea from a working group: “Make seven out of 31”, shrinking to just one SPD office per district. Which would sometimes affect venerable houses that survived the Nazi dictatorship, but now probably not the austerity measures. Other comrades whisper that the concept is being hatched secretly in Munich. And many fear a “vicious circle” – less presence, even less popularity.
“What helps us least is arguing,” says Florian von Brunn when asked about all of this. He confirms the need for savings, “it’s a question of responsibility to face it.” The procedure will be transparent, “no secrecy.” The commission and regional conferences, in turn, are “a very intensive process, which is what we can learn from the state elections.” Successful local politicians are there, expertise from outside and from political science, and the members will have their say in detail at the conferences. “I don’t believe in talking things out right from the start.”