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In surveys, the Social Democrats in North Rhine-Westphalia are 17 percent.
The approval has never been lower.
At the party congress next weekend, a turnaround is to be heralded - with the first substantive accents for the state election in 2022 and Thomas Kutschaty as the designated top candidate.
In advance we asked six people who care about the party: How can it awaken to new life?
Erik Flügge - "Desire to shape the future"
Flügge is a publicist, comrade and head of the strategy consultancy "Squirrel & Nuts". He designed successful campaigns for many SPD candidates (especially in NRW).
Erik Flügge
Source: Ruprecht Stempell
“You win elections if you want to shape the future.
Take digitization, for example: It is not a problem for our society, it has huge potential.
We can solve things better and more precisely if we rely on data advantage.
If we accelerate digitization, we will also get a head start as an international business location.
To do that, you have to take people's fear away.
Digitization does not mean that everyone will lose their job.
It means change - and that should be for the better for everyone.
That means: looking at the new with fun and making sure that it is not just a few egoists that benefit from the change, but society as a whole. "
Karl-Heinz Endruschat - "Limiting Immigration"
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Endruschat is a social worker and was a social democrat in Essen. He left the party in 2020 disillusioned with its immigration policy, although he continues to regard social democracy as a home.
Karlheinz Endruschat
Source: pa / Geisler-Fotopress
“The SPD in NRW has slipped far to the left.
Their ignorance of the main concerns of the majority of the population is too great.
Above all, hardly anyone in the NRW-SPD wants to know anything about problems caused by immigration.
That city districts overturn, integration sometimes fails, immigration has to be limited is not an issue.
It could be done differently.
In Lower Saxony, the SPD focuses more on issues of internal security and immigration.
There she represents the Prime Minister.
In Denmark, too, Social Democrats are the head of government.
They combine a strong welfare state with immigration restrictions.
If the NRW-SPD followed suit, it could win elections.
And I could choose them. "
Nils Heisterhagen - "Work, Economy"
Heisterhagen is a book author, economist and is regarded in the SPD as a “party right”.
Nils Heisterhagen
Source: pa / Frank May
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“Political change begins with an honest analysis of what is: 17 percent for the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia are breathtakingly bad.
That's like 29 percent for the CSU in Bavaria.
How to get back
As a party of work, industry, economy.
About better competence values in business and the labor market.
The SPD has already organized structural change.
Now it is imminent again: the decarbonization and digitization of industry.
NRW has opportunities to benefit from it.
But the SPD must add the aspect of safe work to the reconciliation of economy and ecology.
And about new perspectives in research and development that will enable safe work in the future. "
Franz Meurer - "Plowing for Justice"
Meurer is a pastor, the social conscience of Cologne and the only prominent CDU member who confesses to frequently vote for the SPD.
Franz Meurer
Source: pa / Günther Ortmann
"Precisely because I've been a member of the CDU and, above all, of the CDU workforce for 52 years, I would like an SPD that focuses on social issues, that is committed to people in the engine room of society: nurses, police officers, cashiers, Facility manager.
Our country is not fair enough.
That is why I want an SPD that plows justice as a field of work with those committed to all parties.
I also advise the SPD not to emphasize too often how stupid the other parties are.
Nor should she publicly fight out internal disputes.
That doesn't work. "
Jessica Rosenthal - "Advancement through Education"
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Rosenthal is the federal chairwoman of the SPD youth “Jusos” from Bonn and a leading figure on the left of the party.
Jessica Rosenthal
Source: pa / dpa
“The SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia has had stormy times, so it is now all the more important that everyone pulls together.
We see once more in the Corona crisis: The “zip code” factor is far too often decisive for which life is possible - and which is not.
The Laschet government promised to digitize schools when it took office.
Shortly before his jump to Berlin, Laschet also left a heap of broken pieces in this regard.
The school chaos extends from the first grade to the government bench.
NRW needs a force that brings order to the chaos of the past few months.
I expect clear future concepts and the promise from the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia: advancement through education will be possible again.
As a child of the Ruhr area and the son of a railroad worker, Thomas Kutschaty knows what he is talking about. "
Karsten Rudolph - "Germany's Rescue"
Rudolph is a history professor, member of the historical commission of the SPD, member of parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Prof. Dr.
Karsten Rudolph
Source: Karsten Rudolph
“We are faced with a question of the century: How will the welfare state become future-proof in order to relieve the population of fear of decline and to give them confidence in the future?
In the pandemic, he was Germany's rescue.
He helped millions of people, for example through short-time work benefits and good hospitals.
The citizens saw him as a guarantor of existential security.
Your willingness to support him has grown.
But now the social security coffers are empty, the competition wants to curtail the welfare state.
Who, if not the SPD, should prevent this?
We need to clarify how people can be protected from relegation and unemployment in the future, in times of crisis and complicated employment.
Where should the initiative come from, if not from NRW, the social conscience of the republic? "
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