A New Beginning

The party conference took place at a difficult time for the SPD. In opinion polls, the Social Democrats languish at a depressing 25 percent, nearly a historic low. At the same time, the party is beset by problems from all sides --the Left party has successfully snatched away Social Democratic issues and voters because the necessary reform of Germany's social welfare state under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder cost the SPD its political credibility as a leftist, social power -- even though the reforms were successful.

The party is also squeezed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, who have forgotten all their earlier market reform ambitions since they've been in government and now behave more like Social Democrats than the SPD itself. Over the last two years, that has plunged the SPD into doubts and near resignation.

The Hamburg party conference was meant to do one thing above all: to make a new beginning in order to gain self-confidence. Party chief Kurt Beck, who's been in office for over a year and a half, was responsible for it. He was considered a weak boss until just before Hamburg, but at the conference he established himself as the absolute No. 1. He proved that he is both skilled in tactics and projecting power. His public demeanor and elocution don't shine, but they show him as a down-to-earth politician. In any case, the party values his style. Whether it has an impact on Germany's voters has yet to be seen.

Moreover, the SPD passed a new party program in which it defined itself as the largest, left-wing, mainstream party. The Social Democrats profess the values of democratic socialism and want to make globalization humane and fair. Above all, they strive for a society in which everyone has the same opportunities for advancement -- a downright classic social democratic idea. The new program serves to boost self-affirmation within the party and it's meant to sharpen its profile outside the party.

As a party, the SPD also suffers from having to govern as part of a "grand coalition" in Berlin. It clearly suffers from the pragmatism of everyday politicis and its obvious inherent necessities. Nevertheless, in Hamburg, the Social Democrats strongly backed the Afghanistan policies of SPD member and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. They even endorsed the US-led anti-terror mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, which was not an easy step for a party with a peaceful tradition. Thus, they demonstrated an astonishing measure of foreign policy realism.

The SPD showed itself in unity, with the internal strife between its opposing wings relegated to the past. It rallied behind party chief Beck. With its party program, it gave itself a rather traditional left-wing profile -- and bid farewell to all the new directions, and even the "neue Mitte," the new middle way, it had long courted. The SPD is prepared to take up the battle -- against the Left party and also against Chancellor Merkel, who has so far remained vague and noncommittal on domestic issues but has nevertheless basked in the glow of political success.

After the Hamburg party conference, governing in the grand coalition is going to become more difficult -- not when it comes to foreign policy, but when it comes to domestic issues. The long campaign leading up to parliamentary elections in two years has begun.

DW-RADIO's Alexander Kudascheff is an expert on German domestic politics (ncy)