Last modified: 2006-09-23 by jarig bakker
Keywords: deutsche kommunistische partei | dkp | guevara: che | thämann: ernst |
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The DKP never had significant success in elections. In most elections to the federal parliament (Bundestag) and the state parliaments (Landtage) it only reached around 0.5% of the votes and never gained a seat in the parliaments. The already weakened party went into crisis in the second half of the eighties due to a fierce quarrel about the reform politics implemented by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union.
After German reunification the DKP lost its main financial source, the
East German SED. A certain consolidation of the
party has however been observed in the last years. The PDS
(the successor party of the SED) attracts now
many left-wing people, from the DKP and other groups. On the other hand
DKP members (or former members) gained seats in parliaments on a PDS
ticket.
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
Variants of this flag are the ones used most frequently by the DKP nowadays. They are mainly used during demonstrations, party conventions and the like.
Sources: Electronic mails from DKP party organizations (Hamburg,
Lower Saxony, Munich); Information from the party headquarters at Essen
(by phone); DKP website; DKP
Hamburg website; My own observations and photos during a recent demonstration
in Munich (Labour Day, 1st May 2001)
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
I have only seen this first variant on a photo from a party convention,
hanging there as a wall decoration. I do not know if this first variant
is also used as Knatterfahne - attached
to a flagstaff at the longer side.
Marcus Schmöger, 5 Jun 2002
In 2001, the DKP used a lot of the normal DKP flags. In 2002, this kind
of flag has almost disappeared. Instead they used a new vertical flag with
a portrait of Che Guevara.
Source: author's own observations at the 1st May 2002 demonstration
in Munich.
Marcus Schmöger, 12 Jun 2002
A second variant shows the logo on a white rectangle on the red field.
Although higher than wide, these flags are not hanging flags, but flags
attached to a flagstaff at the longer side [Knatterfahnen].
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
This variant is the frequently used one during demonstrations, carried
as a Knatterfahne.
Marcus Schmöger, 5 Jun 2002
A third variant is the same as the first variant,
but as a horizontal flag showing the logo in the canton.
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
In 2002 they used a new vertical flag, red with a red portrait of Che
Guevara in a white field in the canton, beneath this the inscription "DKP"
and "Deutsche Kommunistische Partei" (both in white).
Source: author's own observations at the 1st May 2002 demonstration
in Munich.
Marcus Schmöger, 12 Jun 2002
Quite recently (last year?) the Che portrait was adopted as a symbol
by the German DKP (German Communist Party), as reported by me 12 June 2002.
The flags they use (at least here in Munich) now almost always show Che,
which I found somewhat strange, as I regarded Che an icon of rather non-dogmatic
leftists, not the glamourboy of the old DKP stalinists.
Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 9 Apr 2003
The DKP also uses a red flag with a black and white portrait of Ernst
Thälmann, the legendary leader of the KPD in
the Weimar Republic, executed in 1944. This is
a provisional image, as I need a better Thälmann portrait.
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
The DKP also uses a red flag with hammer, sickle and red star, with
yellow inscription 'DKP' in the lower fly. The above image shows the reverse
(hoist on the right-hand side), as I do not know exactly how the obverse
looks like.
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001
This is probably a home-made, unofficial, party flag. I have seen it
only once on a photo in Internet.
Marcus Schmöger, 5 June 2002
The white flag with a distorted red star in the canton is not a new
flag [as it was formerly called on FOTW]. The distorted red star is
a symbol used by the DKP, and the flag was also used around 1990 by some
groups of the party. However, it never replaced the red
flag with the logo.
Marcus Schmöger, 19 May 2001