On November 18, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) challenged in a Berlin Administrative Court the decision by the German secret service (Verfassungsschutz) to classify the SGP as a “left-wing extremist” organization. The court issued a ruling based explicitly on the assertion that the SGP’s call “for an egalitarian, democratic and socialist society” violates the German constitution. The far-reaching decision lays the basis for declaring unconstitutional the selling, distribution and reading of Marxist and socialist literature. The SGP will appeal this decision and mobilize opposition to the far-right danger and the attack on socialism.
Christoph Vandreier, the deputy chairman of the SGP, delivered this statement before the hearing of the SGP’s lawsuit on November 18. Vandreier warned that the ruling classes, not only in Germany but throughout the world, are turning to dictatorial measures in the face of a growing upsurge of the working class and the mounting popularity of socialism. The court’s ruling confirmed Vandreier’s warning. The court fully backed the Interior Ministry’s anti-democratic argument. It dismissed the SGP's lawsuit and ordered the party to pay court costs.
On 24 January 2019, Dr. Peer Stolle filed a lawsuit against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) Germany’s domestic secret service, in the Berlin administrative court.
The Ministry of the Interior responded to the SGP’s complaint with a 56-page statement. The response is not a legal argument but a diatribe against Marxism and every form of socialist, left-wing and progressive thought.
The court’s ruling against the Socialist Equality Party stands in the tradition of National Socialist ideological jurisprudence and Bismarck’s anti-socialist laws, and opens the door for the surveillance and suppression of all opposition to capitalism and arbitrary state power.
The Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK) passed a resolution Monday condemning the ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court, which on November 18, 2021, upheld the designation of the German security service of the German section of the ICFI as “left wing extremists”.
The left-wing daily newspaper junge Welt has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany because it has been under surveillance by the intelligence agencies for years and is listed in the "left-wing extremism" chapter of the secret service annual report.
The SGP’s complaint against its surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s secret service, is of great political importance, because the government wants to criminalize socialist ideas. Hundreds of WSWS readers and workers have quickly recognized this fact.
