The following article entitled "What needs to be done now?" and written by Patrick Köbele, leader of the German Communist Party was published in Unzere Zeit, the organ of the Party.
German Communist Party on election results in Saxony-Anhalt
The AfD has become the strongest party by a wide margin in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. High vote shares for the party are also expected in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. This is alarming and part of the reactionary-militaristic transformation of the state. Without addressing the causes of this development, dealing with it remains futile. The AfD emerged from the CDU, and it has been and continues to be strengthened by the war and crisis policies of the CDU, SPD, Greens, and FDP. It has also been strengthened by the Left Party's contradictory approach to these policies.
Anyone who wants to rightfully and consistently combat the rise of the AfD must fight the root causes of this political movement, not the majority of AfD voters. Their motivation is often a misguided agreement with the AfD's nationalist and racist positions. This agreement is fueled primarily by flawed conclusions drawn from the anxieties and fears surrounding the consequences of the war and crisis policies pursued by the parties dominant at the federal level. Any rapprochement with these nationalist and racist positions, as is being considered by some within the BSW (German Association of Social Welfare Organizations), is unacceptable.
Our central task remains the preparation and mobilization for the anti-war and social protests of the coming weeks. This includes supporting the fourth nationwide school strike on September 25th. It also involves mobilizing for and participating in the union actions on September 26th. And it includes mobilizing for and participating in the two peace demonstrations on October 3rd in Stuttgart and Berlin. Substantively, we must focus on the connection between war preparations and the social dismantling and erosion of democracy. The slogan "Strikable, not war-ready" is well-suited for this purpose.
We can use the concern and the demonstrations against the rise of the AfD for mobilization purposes if we identify the reasons for the AfD's rise. Without identifying these reasons, we leave the participants in these protests to the parties that essentially shape war and crisis policies.
We stand by our position: The foundation of anti-fascist politics is the slogan "Never again war – never again fascism." Specifically, this means that a fight against the rise of the AfD is impossible without fighting against the war and crisis policies of the CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, and AfD.