I have been in the SPD for 20 years – initially involved, but for a long time only as a silent contributor. Until now. Is there still something going on between the two of us?
“That won’t happen with the SPD,” says the older man as he passes by, and because I don’t immediately understand what he means, he points to the poster that I’m about to attach to a lamppost. I’m standing on a ladder, my fingers feel frozen, the blue sky is deceptive, it’s one of those bitterly cold winter days. And I’m not well equipped, even though the email said: “Dress up thick because it’s supposed to be a little chilly.”
A sentence whose ambiguity only became apparent to me later.
You have to know: I’m a campaigning rookie. It’s the first time I’ve put up posters. I first had to have someone show me which holes to pull the cable ties through, so that although you tighten the upper ones, you only tighten the lower ones once you’ve pushed the poster high enough so that it’s hanging on the lamppost out of reach. In these times, SPD posters are only safe at high altitudes. Everything from 2.50 meters. Hence the ladder.
When the man had already moved on, I saw what he meant: I was about to hang the poster upside down. That won’t work with the SPD, he’s probably right. Even if I doubt that if the SPD loses the election it will be because of a poster that was hung upside down. but who knows that? In the end you always need a scapegoat.
Friends have asked why I do this to myself
Some of my friends asked me why I was doing this to myself after I told them that I had joined the SPD. That was in October 2003 and felt like a century ago. Back then I wrote a book about my first year in the party, it says: “Comrade offspring. How I wanted to change the world.” But it wasn’t the book alone that motivated me to become a party member. I wanted to get involved, do something and thought: If you really want to change something, you should join a party.
© Jens Oellermann
Nicol Ljubic
In October 2003, the young journalist Nicol Ljubic joined the SPD. He then wrote the book “Comrade Offspring” about his first year. How I wanted to change the world.” Like so many others, he became a dead file. Now, 20 years later, he asks himself: Is there still something going on between the two of us?
After all, it is the parties who, according to the Basic Law, have the task of helping to form the will of the people. It is the parties that make laws and ultimately determine which rules we live by. Going to demonstrations is good and important, but if you really want to have an influence, you have to go into politics, into parliaments, and after all there are not only federal and state parliaments, but also district councils and other local parliaments such as the district council assemblies (BVV ) in Berlin, where I live.
But instead of sitting in one of these parliaments and changing the world, in the years after I joined the SPD, I became a card-carrying member; I paid my membership fees, but nothing more. Because I lacked the will, the strength and conviction to be able to change something. I also had a daily routine: girlfriend, children, job. And if I’m honest, there was also the convenience. Of course, it’s more fun to meet friends, go to sports, read books or simply lie on the sofa in the evening and watch series than to suffer through party events.
The beginning of nothing good
Yes, and then… the world changed in ways I couldn’t have imagined back then. We live in times of war in Europe. A climate catastrophe is looming. Social debates are conducted with a sharpness that frightens me. When even a former federal minister calls for physical violence against refugees, it makes me feel sick to my stomach because language is always the beginning of everything. And the way we’re talking right now, it’s a start of nothing good.
And then there is democracy, which I have taken so much for granted throughout my life that I could never imagine that it would ever be questioned. But there are currently an alarming number of people who do it, who choose parties who only see our democracy as a means to an end: They want to be elected in order to abolish it. So it could be that we no longer recognize our society, perhaps even our world, at the end of this election year.
Convenience is no longer a solution
To make a long story short: For the first time I have the feeling that convenience is no longer a solution, that retreating into private life is no longer an option because it is irresponsible. Especially since I have children. I don’t want to lie to you in ten years and say that none of this was foreseeable.
That’s why I decided to give the SPD and myself another chance. I want to get involved politically, this time for real. After all, the SPD still provides the chancellor and also governs Berlin. I want to resurrect as a file corpse, attempt a revival as a comrade, and test whether I can really change something. In the next few weeks and months I would like to find out what options I have as a member: Can I influence political decisions? Maybe not change the world, but maybe change my neighborhood or district? At least a tiny bit?
There are four of us at my first get-together
The first point of contact for me is the local association, which in Berlin calls itself a department for whatever reason. My home is Department 14, Bötzowviertel, it is one of 13 departments in the Pankow district, which in turn is one of twelve districts in Berlin. One thing, I quickly realize, has not changed in the 20 years since I joined: the department is still happy about every member who decides to actively participate. There are four of us at my first get-together, which takes place on a Wednesday evening in the “Blaue Adria” restaurant. The doors are open to anyone who wants to take part. Because then there are very few who sacrifice their time for the party. That was the case when I joined 20 years ago, and it is no different today.
Even on the day of the poster there are only four of us. It’s a Saturday morning, a time I usually like to spend reading the newspaper on the sofa. But if you want to get involved politically, you have to get out of your comfort zone. This also quickly becomes clear to me. We divide into teams of two and take turns carrying the rather heavy ladder through the neighborhood and hanging up posters because there is a Bundestag by-election in Berlin. Later we meet with comrades from the neighboring district and help them put up posters. I’m briefly irritated by what the posters say: “Preserve poverty, fight prosperity,” but I’ve obviously just misread it; in reality it says: “Fight poverty, maintain prosperity.”
I feel like an outlaw
What you quickly learn as a comrade: There are few people outside the party who thank you for your commitment. It’s not like people cheer you when you campaign for the SPD. “You poor people!” says a passer-by when he sees us putting up posters. “Just stay away from me!” says another. I’m happy if we’re just ignored. You should really dress up as a comrade. I feel a bit like an outlaw with a strange hobby. Like I was wearing a frog costume. And I think: Something is wrong. Shouldn’t we be happy about everyone who stands up for democracy instead of lying on the sofa?
At the end I will have exercised myself properly and walked around for two hours, my feet will hurt, my fingers will have to thaw out again, I will have stepped in dog poop once – and yet the SPD will get 7.8 in the by-election percent lost. So it won’t be an easy task. And I have no idea what will be important: frustration tolerance. Perhaps it is the most important quality for people who want to get involved in politics. I’m excited to see how high my frustration tolerance will be and where my journey into politics will take me. So that there is no legend created later: I have never shaken the fence of the Chancellery.