"Resolution on Government Participation of the Left", Adopted by the Annual Conference of Enhedslisten/the Red-Green Alliance, May 5, 2007

1. After 5 years of neo-liberal policies of the Anders Fogh Rasmussen Government, the consequences of these policies are becoming manifest. Cancer patients do not get the necessary treatment. Tainted food is not detected by the food control authorities because of cut-backs. Late trains due to the lack of investment in collective transport. Frustrated teachers, pupils and students experiencing deterioration within education. Public services under hard pressure and instructed all time to take up new tasks, with an economy disproportionately below developments in private consumption.
   
   
2. The tide is turning. The political project of the Government is gradually losing credibility. The Prime Minister Fogh knows that and his attempt to portray himself as a new kind of liberal – a liberal with a social face– is becoming more and more strained. The May 17 demonstrations and this autumn’s mobilisations against the austerity policies have contributed to creating a belief that an alternative to the Fogh Government is possible. At the same time the desire to have another government has been growing among people.
   
   
3. If the problems confronting Danish society are to be resolved, it is necessary not only to have a new government but to have fundamentally different policies. This government has been promoting xtremely neo-liberal policies. But former governments have also been promoting neo-liberal policies. They should be replaced by socialist policies. Under the headline “more society – less market” we have to take political initiatives that breach the logic of the existing political system in order to stop the steadily growing influence of market forces on every aspect of life. A situation must be created where Man comes before the market.
   
   
4. In a long range of areas a socialist government will pursue totally different policies from those promoted for decades by successive Social Democratic and bourgeois governments. This is especially true when it comes to welfare, an end to inequality, environmental and energy policies, the EU, NATO and the USA, the undermining of democratic rights, xenophobic policies towards asylum seekers and immigrants, the exploitation of developing countries and the so called “activist” foreign policy. A foreign policy which has made our country a belligerent occupying power and a frontline state promoting aggressive imperialist interests.
   
   
5. The Red Green Alliance prefers a socialist government, which is as loyal to ordinary people as the Government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been to the market forces. Of course the Red Green Alliance would like to be part of such a government. But realistically we should realize that there is no existing majority today in favour of such a government. The aim of the Red Green Alliance is to try to change this situation. Therefore it is imperative to us to keep a scope for action and not make political deals that diminish or limit our possibilities to solve this task.
   
   
6. This does not mean that the Red Green Alliance does not care about the day-to-day policies in Parliament or who is forming the Government. On this issue our political line is clear: We will always try to push developments as much as possible to the left. With the relative strength of the political parties at present, this means that we will prefer the leader of the Social Democrats to form a Government. And we will strive for this government to pursue policies that are as much to the left as possible. When the government has been formed, we will vote in favour of any improvement, as is our political line, but we will as well vote against any cut-backs. Our loyalty does not lie with any government but to struggle to defend the interests of ordinary people.
   
   
7. In the present situation, when the existing parliamentary possibilities will be to replace a neo-liberal rightwing Government with a Social Democratic led Government it should be the task of the Left – while at the same time defending the Social Democratic Government from attacks from the Right - to press for having as many political goals as possible fulfilled to the benefit of ordinary people. This is not decided by secret negotiations or by deals based on party strength in Parliament. Quite on the contrary it must be the task of the Left to relate to movements outside Parliament in order to create as huge a pressure as possible on a Social Democratic led Government to fulfil the aims of ordinary people. Aims which many of their own voters expect them to fulfil.
   
   
8. Progressive policies cannot be carried into effect without a strong popular movement and an interaction between the movements and the political parties who are going to implement them. Consequently the Red Green Alliance will work to have trade unions, educational organizations, tenants unions and other grass roots organizations coordinate their demands and activities at a national level. The Social Democrats, the Socialist People’s Party and the Red Green Alliance should be natural partners of the popular movements. But it is important for the movements to stay independent of the political parties. In return the political parties should clarify their positions with regard to the demands of the movements, just as they should enter into a dialogue with the movements on the policies of the parties in general. Via such an interaction between the parties and the movements a common binding basis could be developed for different policies and for a new government.
   
   
9. During this process the Red Green Alliance will put forward for discussion all its policies, and we will of course try to gain as road support as possible of our policies and of each of its elements. But clearly recognizing that one concrete step forward is much more valuable than dozens of programmes we will try all the time to find the best common denominator, which on one hand can unite the movements and on the other to press the policies of a new governments as much to the left as possible. This common denominator can not be established once and for all but will change with time – also as a consequence of our ability to mobilise and gain support of our political views within the movements.
   
   
10. There are real possibilities of removing the present Government and replacing it with a Social Democratic led Government at the next general elections. The left should do its utmost to contribute to this. But this will not happen by playing down the criticism of Social Democratic policies in the fields where they have copied the policies of the present neo-liberal Government. Neither will it happen by making previous agreements with the Social Democrats, which will actually mean that the resolution of important issues (such as for example the tax stop) will be postponed to a distant future. And it will certainly not happen, with the existing party strengths, by participating in a Social Democratic led government in which the left would have to take co-responsibility for all government policies. Quite on the contrary it will only blur the differences between right and left in Danish politics, thereby reducing the understanding of the necessity for a showdown with the present Fogh Government and its policies. At the same time it would lay the groundwork for a right-wing turn of the discontented if a Social Democratic Government does not meet popular expectations because seemingly there is no alternative to the left. This is why the Red Green Alliance – during a Social Democratic led Government as well – will be the alternative to the left!