Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT
IN A shock decision on July 8, without any warning, Germany’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruled that the German Communist Party (DKP) was to lose its status as a political party.
This would have meant it not being eligible to contest the coming elections for the Bundestag, the federal parliament, on September 26. A number of other parties were also affected for various reasons.
In the FEC, parties with seats in the Bundestag are represented. Normally, decisions of the president of the FEC regarding the admittance of parties seeking to contest Bundestag and also European parliamentary elections are accepted.
NICK WRIGHT returns to Berlin and finds a city in darkness and political turmoil
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is pouring €11.5bn into the Kiev swamp, blocking Trump’s peace plan, and pushing Nato right up to Russia’s borders – no matter if it costs hundreds of thousands of lives, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
The decision highlights the tension between freedom of expression and the state’s role in shaping historical memory at former concentration camps, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
As the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia rebuilds support through anti-cuts campaigns, the government seeks to silence it before October’s parliamentary elections through liberal totalitarianism, reports JOHN CALLOW


