Not so red
On 5 December, Bodo Ramelow became the first state premier in Germany from Die Linke, Germany’s Left Party, which is a composite of remnants of the old ruling party of East Germany and a left split (mainly in West Germany) from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 2005. He heads a three-way “red-red-green” coalition with the SPD and the Greens in Thuringia. There has been outcry from the German right against an alleged return of the old East German Stalinist dictatorship, which this isn’t. But, for Die Linke’s newer, more left-wing, post-Stalinist members, the prospects aren’t good. The...