United Left (East Germany)

The United Left (German: Vereinigte Linke) was an alliance of several leftist opposition groupings in the German Democratic Republic. Among them were Christian Socialists, Trotskyists, adherents of the Titoistic system of self-management and some SED-members, who were critical of their party's policy. It was founded on October 2, 1989, only a few weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The United Left demanded a reformation of socialism. Its goal was to create a free and democratic GDR. At the end of the year 1989 the party had 1500 members with focal points in Berlin and Halle. In contrast to other East German opposition groups, the United Left was less supported by Western governments and parties. There were also organizational problems and internal controversies between the different ideological tendencies within the United Left. Those are the main reasons the party never gained much attention in politics. At the first free elections in the GDR in March 1990 the United Left started together with "Die Nelken" ("The Carnations"), a Marxist party. The electoral alliance with the name "Aktionsbündnis Vereinigte Linke" gained 0.18% of the votes and one seat in the Volkskammer. The United Left fell apart in the years after German reunification, but some members were elected into the Bundestag through a party-list by the PDS or The Greens.