cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/70552672
But 44% of the vote for a party that is officially classified as “extreme right” is not normal. It is a black day for European democracy, even if it occurs in a small east German state.
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While Saxony-Anhalt (and Germany itself) may have dodged the worst outcome because the AfD won’t automatically fulfil its ambition of forming the first far-right state government in Germany since the Nazi era, there is no reason to assume it will be so lucky at the next election. Neither will other German states, such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in two weeks’ time, or other countries, such as France next year. No country is immune from the far right and, perhaps even more worryingly, no far-right party or politician is too extreme for political success (as the US has shown). We must therefore update our analyses and strategies.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/09/07/esuu-s07.html
The Nazis achieved a better result in a state election on only two occasions before Hitler’s coming to power in January 1933—in May 1932 in Oldenburg, with 48.4 percent, and June 1932 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, with 49 percent. In Anhalt (part of what is now Saxony-Anhalt), the Nazis secured 40.7 percent in April 1932 and formed one of the first Nazi-led state governments. In the Reichstag election in November 1932, the last before Hitler’s appointment as chancellor, the Nazis received 33.1 percent. Since the end of the Third Reich, no far-right party has ever again achieved a comparably high election result.
This result does not mean that every AfD voter is a Nazi. The AfD is not a fascist mass party. It is a product of the shift to the right across the entire bourgeois political spectrum and owes its rise to the degeneration of the trade unions and the parties that once claimed to represent the interests of the workers. They have betrayed the workers so often and so thoroughly that the AfD has been able to capitalise on the outrage and frustration this has caused.
Abandon logic. Think emotion. You will not succeed when viewing politics through the lens of logic and reason. Voters no longer trust polished candidates with well-reasoned and detailed policy proposals. It's so easy to write that crap with corporate consultants and then ignore it as soon as the polician wins.
Aside from the proud and overt racists, people don't vote for right wing parties based on policy analysis. Maybe only 5% of the voters actually vote this way. You probably don't vote this way. Very few voters ignore party and select candidates based on a detail analysis of their policy proposals. Most vote based on either party affiliation or vibes/emotion.
Voting for right wing populist parties is an act of rage, the political equivalent of flipping the table over. Voters have come to resent the empty promises of neoliberals, and at this point they deliberately vote for whichever crazy candidate will piss off the respectable upper crust of society the most.
Stop analyzing politics through logic, reason, and who has the objectively best policies. In the current environment, policies are seen as worthless. What matters are vibes and emotions.
When you tell someone voting for a right wing populist, "but this guy supports policies that will hurt you!" They think, "I've voted for the logical and right choice my entire life. I've voted based on policies again and again. I've been betrayed again and again. At this point I'm just going to vote for whoever seems to most anger the media, the corporate owned, intellectuals, and all other social elites."
This is also why there was a lot of overlap between Trump and Mamdani voters. A fair number of voters will at this point just vote for anyone who seems to most anger the corporate media.
Question is if the outrage is organic or bred and nurtured by online sources. Like Russia, China and others. Most people in Germany have it better than ever before. Especially in the eastern states.
They'll tell you Germany is failing and everything is going to shit but it never actually comes from their personal lives but from hearsay and their gut feeling.