Speech by Martin Schulz, Party Chairman, at the Extraordinary SPD
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Berlin, 25 June 2017 140/17 Press release Speech by Martin Schulz, Party Chairman, At the extraordinary SPD party conference On 25 June 2017 in Dortmund Comrades, friends, guests! Welcome to the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s extraordinary party conference, at which we want to adopt our government programme for the next legislative period. It is a government programme that we have all worked on. We discussed this programme at all levels – passionately, and at times our debates were very heated. We have worked hard for two years so that today, we can adopt a programme that contains the very best policy approaches for our country and its future. Let me tell you – I am proud of our work and I am grateful to everyone who invested a great deal of work, strength and commitment in this process. I think that we will adopt a programme that we can be proud of. Before we adopt the programme, however, I would like to tell you a story, comrades. It is the story of asymmetrical demobilisation. In 2009, a well-known pollster gave Angela Merkel a piece of strategic advice: “Don’t say anything. Don’t take a stance on anything. Don’t commit to any concrete position.” I must admit, it was a successful strategy. Whilst we social democrats present policy proposals and take stances in all election campaigns, whilst we engage in public debates and discussion with our ideas, the other side remains silent – “Angela Merkel is there, that’s enough”. It was a successful model in 2009, and again in 2013 – but not in 2017! I am not telling this story simply by chance, the story of asymmetrical demobilisation. I am well aware of why I am telling it. Everyone should be fully aware of the implication when a centre of government, the headquarters of a governing party systematically decides to refuse to debate a country’s future, when it says: We’ll willingly accept the fact that people are not voting. On the contrary: “Let’s encourage this fall in voter turnout, because we know that declining voter participation has a negative impact on the others”. When the headquarters of a party and a centre of government systematically and intentionally encourages falling voter turnout as a campaign tactic, then in Berlin they may call it asymmetrical demobilisation, I call it an attack on democracy. Comrades, delegates, thank you for coming in such vast numbers, for we have 6,000 guests today, all of whom are ready to fight his election campaign with commitment, passion and strength. Since January, 20,000 people have joined the SPD. 20,000! The last time such a wave of new members joined was in 1998. The people who have joined us come from all of the regions in our country, they come from all groups of the population and from all generations. Many of them are engaging in politics for the first time, keen to work with all of us to get things moving, people who overcame any doubts they may have had and decided to go for it with all their heart, saying: I’m in! For many of them it is their first SPD party conference here in Halls of Westphalia. I would like to wish you a particularly warm welcome, new comrades! But why have so many joined us now, to get involved and work with us? I think it is because they, like all of us, sense that there is a profound reason to get to work now, to join us in our efforts now. An epochal change is taking place and we can all sense it. Which issues characterise this change? What is this change comprised of? First of all, we have the question of how we can draw on innovative technological and economic advancements to bring about social progress. Secondly, how can we ensure social cohesion in a time of rapid change, how do we create security amid this change whilst also guaranteeing justice. Thirdly, and I believe this to be key, we have the question of our continent’s destiny. It is about how we strengthen our democratic Europe. It is about how we guarantee peace in a world in which peace is at risk. Comrades, many people are grappling with these three large issues. And in view of these issues, many people want to become involved. Many have seen that a better future will not come about on its own. And they have chosen the social democrats. For our task has always been to safeguard people’s dignity in times of great upheaval, to shape progress and to make sure that the human being, the individual person, every man, woman and child is placed at the heart of this change and this progress. That – safeguarding human dignity as progress takes place – is the mission of social democracy, it is the SPD’s mission. During the period of industrialisation, our party stood up to the untamed forces of capitalism. But such untamed forces continue to exert an effect in the 21st century. However, today their impact is global. These forces destroy the environment. They speculate unscrupulously on the stock markets, for example on food. For they know that food shortages drive up prices for foodstuffs. This leads to some people’s hunger serving another people’s profit. What a perverse system we have to stand up to! They sell weapons and accept the fact that their ruthless exploitation destabilises entire regions. They willingly accept wars, crises and hunger as consequences of their action. The People’s Republic of China participates in this global development as much as the United States of America and, unfortunately, we Europeans as well. This kind of policy leads to migratory flows that will not stop, that are inhumane and that turn the Mediterranean into a mass grave. The power of maximising profit with no regard for the consequences is destroying human dignity. In the 21st century, the task incumbent upon social democracy is to civilise these forces. Our task is to tackle this change. Our task is to address this change, accept that it is happening and make it a positive development. Our fundamental values of freedom, justice and solidarity will serve as our compass as we do so. It is specifically because the world is moving faster, because it is changing from day to day, that we are standing by these fundamental values. Yes, sometimes people tell us that this is a bit old fashioned and somewhat antiquated. But no, quite the opposite, in a changing world, these basic values of freedom, justice and solidarity give us strength, direction and hope. Anyone who today tries to get by without a compass will lose their bearings. And if a person loses their bearings, they lose their future. But the CDU and the CSU want to muddle through. We have a different programme that we will be adopting today! In our time, we are facing a huge challenge in digitalisation. It is changing nearly all areas of our society, our lives and our daily routines. It will determine how we live. It already determines how we communicate. It will determine how we work, how we do business, how we shape freedom and democracy. We must all be clear about the fact that digitalisation is a political matter. Our aspiration must be to make sure that the technical progress brought by digitalisation also translates into social progress. Our aim must be to set limits where developments take the wrong direction, where unhindered commercialisation and also totalitarian trends undermine our social model, where people are objectified, made into data providers with ears. However, our aim must also be to seize the opportunities offered by digitalisation, opportunities for emancipation, participation and social advancement. In recent months, I have spoken to many creatives and I repeatedly heard them say: if you want digital start-ups in Germany to be successful then we need nothing less than a culture change in our country. If we engage with it in the right way, then digitalisation helps create new, well-paid and decent jobs. Then it helps people to better reconcile their family and work lives. Then it helps us to improve our healthcare system. Then it helps us to better connect cities and the countryside through better mobility. Then it helps us to create new opportunities for education. But we do not want to focus solely on what is technically possible or even on what generates the highest profit. No, also in this field, we want to place people and individuals, each and every one of us at the heart of the change. That is why I am so grateful to the unions, to the many committed colleagues active on works councils, who are currently engaging intensively in the debate about digitalisation and who are helping to move things in the right direction. For innovation is born most often in companies. We thus need to give employees a greater and not smaller say, for we want to show that it is possible to have a modern welfare state that can succeed in the digital age, too. And that is why it is wonderful that the whole leadership of German unions is with us, led by Reiner Hoffmann. So, innovation is born in companies. But in the digital age we need big initiatives. Our programme embodies this spirit of shaping the future by investing in it. We want to bring IT education to schools, vocational schools and ongoing training. We are thus going to ensure that our state infrastructure is no longer pushed to breaking point by efforts to save money; rather we will make sure that the investments needed are finally ploughed into our schools having proper buildings and modern equipment, enough teachers and sufficient social workers.