Socialist Equality Party (Germany)

Last updated

Socialist Equality Party
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei
AbbreviationSGP
LeaderChristoph Vandreier
Honorary Chairman Ulrich Rippert
Founded1971;53 years ago (1971) [lower-alpha 1]
HeadquartersNeuenburger Straße 13, Berlin
Newspaper Sozialistische Welt-Website
Youth wing IYSSE
Membership (2021)Decrease2.svg 280 [2]
Ideology
Political position Far-left
International affiliation ICFI
Colors  Red
Bundestag
0 / 736
Bundesrat
0 / 69
Website
www.gleichheit.de OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Socialist Equality Party (German : Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, SGP) is a minor Trotskyist political party in Germany.

Contents

History

It was founded in 1971 as the Federation of Socialist Workers (Bund Sozialistischer Arbeiter) by West German supporters of Gerry Healy's Socialist Labour League and was renamed the Party for Social Equality, Section of the Fourth International (Partei für Soziale Gleichheit, Sektion der Vierten Internationale, PSG) in 1997.

On 18–19 February 2017, the party adopted its present name. [3]

Ideology

The party sees itself as the German section of the Fourth International in the tradition of Leon Trotsky. [4] The international umbrella group of the party is the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). [5] It has contacts to other member parties of the ICFI in England, the US, Sri Lanka, France, Canada and Australia.

The SGP is critical of trade unions (which it views as merely a tool of the labour aristocracy), social democrats, and Stalinist organisations. [6] The party takes an anti-nationalist and anti-capitalist stance. It supports the introduction of universal basic income. [7]

The SGP is classified as a left-wing extremist organization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and is as such under observation. [8]

Election results

Bundestag

YearVotes%Seats
1990 8260.0%0
1994 1,2850.0%0
1998 6,2260.0%0
2002 did not contest
2005 15,6050.0%0
2009 2,9570.0%0
2013 4,5640.0%0
2017 1,2910.0%0
2021 1,5350.0%0

European Parliament

ElectionVotes %Seats+/–EP Group
1989 7,7880.03 (#22)
0 / 81
New
1994 10,6780.03 (#28)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
1999 Did not contest
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
2004 25,7950.10 (#23)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
2009 9,6460.04 (#32)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
2014 8,9240.03 (#25)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
2019 5,2830.01 (#41)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0
2024 5,9230.01 (#35)
0 / 81
Steady2.svg 0

See also

Notes

  1. The party was founded in 1971 and changed its name in the 1990s, and again in February 2017. [1]

Related Research Articles

SGP may refer to:

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (PSG) is a French football club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Equality Party (Australia)</span> Trotskyist political party

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is an unregistered Trotskyist political party in Australia. The SEP was established in 2010 as the successor party to the Socialist Labour League, which was founded in 1972 as the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist International</span> Political international

The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of social democratic political parties and labour organisations.

The Jewish Social Democratic Party "Poale Zion", later renamed Jewish Socialist Workers Party Poale Zion in German Austria in the fall of 1921 and Jewish Communist Party of Austria, was a political party in Austria. The party published Freie Tribune 1919–1921. The party was part of the international Jewish Communist Union, the left wing of the Labour Zionist Poale Zion movement.

Ulrich Rippert is a German Trotskyist politician and journalist. He is party leader of the German party Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP). This party is a member of the International Committee of the Fourth International. Rippert is a member of the World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board. He is the father of two daughters and lives in Berlin.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is a public faction of the Fourth International founded in 1953. Today, two Trotskyist internationals claim to be the continuations of the ICFI; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Revolutionary Party in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Equality Party (United States)</span> Trotskyist political party in the United States

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is a Trotskyist political party in the United States. SEP first formed in 1964 as the American Committee for the Fourth International, created by expelled members of the Socialist Workers Party. SEP and its previous forms were associated with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), a Trotskyist political international.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourth International (post-reunification)</span> Trotskyist international founded in 1963

The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Equality Party (UK)</span> Trotskyist political party

The Socialist Equality Party is a Trotskyist political party in Britain. It is one of several Socialist Equality Parties affiliated with the International Committee of the Fourth International. The ICFI publishes daily news articles, perspectives and commentaries on the World Socialist Web Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Progressive Alliance</span> Political international

The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of progressive and social democratic political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Socialist International, of which many of its member parties are former or current members. The Progressive Alliance claims to have 140 participants from around the world.

The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name.

The Internationalist Communist Organisation was a Trotskyist political party in France. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Lambert</span> French Trotskyist leader

Pierre Lambert was a French Trotskyist leader, who for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste (CCI) which founded the Parti des Travailleurs.

Orthodox Trotskyism is a branch of Trotskyism which aims to adhere more closely to the philosophy, methods and positions of Leon Trotsky and the early Fourth International, Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx than other avowed Trotskyists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal basic income in Germany</span>

Universal basic income in Germany has been discussed since the 1970s, with emphasis placed on its unconditional dimension by 2003. The universal basic income concept has many definitions, such as Philippe Van Parijs', which described it as the income paid by the government, at a uniform level and regular intervals to each adult citizen and permanent residents of the country. The Basic Income Earth Network's criteria constitute one of the most popular proposals and they include: 1) income must be paid to individuals instead of households; 2) income should be paid irrespective of income from other sources; and, 3) it must be paid without requiring performance of any work.

The International Socialist Organisation is a Trotskyist group in Germany. It was established in December 2016 by the merger of the organizations International Socialist Left and the Revolutionary Socialist League. The group forms the section of the Fourth International in Germany. Members of the ISO work in the broad-based democratic socialist party Die Linke, and publish Sozialistische Zeitung.

Herta Gotthelf was a German journalist and politician (SPD).

V-Partei3, known officially as V-Partei³ – Party for Change, Vegetarians and Vegans, is a German political party that was founded in April 2016 in Munich, Bavaria. The principal focus of the party is animal rights and environmentalism. It is the sole political party in Germany devoted to encouraging the adoption of a plant-based diet. The party took part in the North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in 2017, and received 10,013 votes or 0.12% of the vote, far below the 5% threshold required to enter the State Landtag. Notable members of the party were actress Barbara Rütting and Axel Ritt, guitarist of the band Grave Digger, who joined in May 2017.

References

  1. "German ICFI section adopts new name". 28 February 2017.
  2. Richter, Philipp (2 September 2021). "Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, Vierte Internationale" [Socialist Equality Party, Fourth International]. bpd.de (in German). Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (BPD).
  3. "German ICFI section adopts new name". 28 February 2017.
  4. PSG: Fragen an die Partei für Soziale Gleichheit Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. World Socialist Web Site: Wer ist das IKVI? Archived 2 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. PSG: Wahlerklärungen 2005-2008 Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "SGP – Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei / Vierte Internationale – Grundeinkommen ist wählbar!". www.grundeinkommen-ist-waehlbar.de. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  8. "Verfassungsschutzbericht 2017". Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat. Retrieved 28 January 2020.

Further reading