After fighting it in court and an international solidarity campaign, the outrageous electoral ban of the German Communist Party (DKP) by Germany’s Federal Election Committee has been overturned in the courts.
As Communist Party of Britain general secretary Rob Griffiths said at the time the "ban constitutes a blow to the democratic freedom of all Germans and a blow to the whole international communist movement worldwide. It must be condemned by all who value democracy”.
Many other Communist and Workers' parties rallied to defend the DKP and now the German Federal Constitutional Court has "granted the complaint of the German Communist Party against its non-admission to the Bundestag elections and the deprivation of its status as a political party."
A DKP press release states that:
The Federal Constitutional Court today rejected the attempt to endanger the existence of the German Communist Party (DKP) by bureaucratic means and to ban it from standing in the Bundestag elections.
The reasoning for the judgement is a slap in the face for the Federal Election Commissioner and also confirms that the DKP is an active political party, for example, reference is made to the DKP's rally on the 80th anniversary of the assault on the Soviet Union.
This decision is not only the result of our legal and political argumentation, but above all the result of the great national and international solidarity we have experienced. Especially the international solidarity has exceeded all our expectations. More than 50 communist and workers' parties, the World Peace Council, the World Federation of Democratic Youth and many progressive organisations have shown solidarity with us. This was a great demonstration of internationalism. Everywhere this attempt of reactionary forces was made public. MPs from sister parties made use of the EU-Parliament to support the DKP. We are proud to be part of this internationalist community. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts! This example shows how important solidarity is and what it can achieve.
For us, this solidarity and success are a mandate to go into the election campaign with all our strength, to fight for our political contents and for the strengthening of the DKP - now more than ever.
The victory for the DKP is also a small stage victory in the struggle against the dismantling of democratic rights, against the reactionary restructuring of the state – against this we have to continue to fight together.
Long live proletarian internationalism!