Then, as now, the red socks were a campaign strategy deployed by Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s CDU party as a warning to voters lurching to the left in upcoming elections. “Return of the red socks”, “red socks campaign 2.0”, German media has blasted in recent days, harking back to a campaign strategy inspired by the derisory term in the former East Germany for particularly unpleasant communist party members. READ ALSO: What do Germany’s small parties stand for – and could they form part of the next coalition? Heirs of ex-East Germany’s communist party, the far-left Linke, with its anti-NATO stance and staunch opposition to military deployments abroad, was once dismissed as a fringe party. Scholz’s refusal to rule it out as a potential SPD coalition partner has only fuelled speculation.

Source: The Local September 16, 2021 03:22 UTC