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Gyurcsány’s leap in the dark

September 29th, 2011
Népszabadság’s columnist warns the former Socialist premier and party chairman that by “defecting” he might become an undesirable ally for the Socialists and therefore a burden on his new party.
“Is Ferenc Gyurcsány aware of what happened to Oskar Lafontaine,” the former chairman of the German Social Democrats, who left his party only to end up unwanted by the new force he helped establish? – ponders Endre Aczél in Népszabadság.
The divorce between the former party chairman and the Hungarian Socialist Party looks unavoidable (see BudaPost, September 26), and Aczél remarks that  the only party chairman who “defected” after losing his job in recent history was Oskar Lafontaine, co-founder of Linke, a left-wing party which gathered  disillusioned trade-unionists and former communists, largely based on the remains of the former governing Socialist Unity (Communist) Party of East Germany.
The difference is, Aczél points out, that Lafontaine had a considerable social base to rally behind his new party: all those who were losing out as a result of the austerity policies practised by the Social Democrats, ruling first in coalition with the small Liberal party and then with the Christian Democrats.
Gyurcsány, on the other hand, intends to move in the opposite direction: he finds the Socialist Party too rigidly entrenched in old style leftism and intends to set up a centrist force. But where does he hope to find the social background for a new political force? – Aczél asks, before reminding readers of Lafontaine’s sad fate. As soon as the new German leftist party became a potential coalition partner in local councils, it began to consider Lafontaine as a liability, because as a former defector, he was an obstacle to any future co-operation with the Social Democrats. (Lafontaine resigned as co-chairman of the party in early 2010, citing health reasons.)

Népszabadság’s columnist warns the former Socialist premier and party chairman that by “defecting” he might become an undesirable ally for the Socialists and therefore a burden on his new party.“Is Ferenc Gyurcsány aware of what happened to Oskar Lafontaine,” the former chairman of the German Social Democrats, who left his party only to end up unwanted by the new force he helped establish? – ponders Endre Aczél in Népszabadság.The divorce between the former party chairman and the Hungarian Socialist Party looks unavoidable (see BudaPost, September 26), and Aczél remarks that  the only party chairman who “defected” after losing his job in recent history was Oskar Lafontaine, co-founder of Linke, a left-wing party which gathered  disillusioned trade-unionists and former communists, largely based on the remains of the former governing Socialist Unity (Communist) Party of East Germany.The difference is, Aczél points out, that Lafontaine had a considerable social base to rally behind his new party: all those who were losing out as a result of the austerity policies practised by the Social Democrats, ruling first in coalition with the small Liberal party and then with the Christian Democrats. Gyurcsány, on the other hand, intends to move in the opposite direction: he finds the Socialist Party too rigidly entrenched in old style leftism and intends to set up a centrist force. But where does he hope to find the social background for a new political force? – Aczél asks, before reminding readers of Lafontaine’s sad fate. As soon as the new German leftist party became a potential coalition partner in local councils, it began to consider Lafontaine as a liability, because as a former defector, he was an obstacle to any future co-operation with the Social Democrats. (Lafontaine resigned as co-chairman of the party in early 2010, citing health reasons.)

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