Labour Day & the Extreme Right in Germany

As far as electoral politics are concerned, Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been the only relevant far-right actor for quite a while now. However, a few more traditional splinter parties (that keep on splintering) survive, including the granddaddy of them all, the NPD.

For International Workers’ Day / Labour Day / May Day, these organisations often go for a spot of 1930s reenactment and try to organise marches or rallies, in a bid to put the national back in National Socialism or so. More often than not, these attempts fall flat (many more counter-demonstrators than comrades, legal restrictions, outright bans etc.).

With May Day upon us, anti-fascist magazine ‘Der rechte Rand’ has re-upped their coverage of last year’s parades. Even if you don’t read German, you may find the photos interesting. The unabashed appeal to the slogans and aesthetic of the original Nazis is something to behold.

First up: “Die Rechte” (The Right) , founded in in 2012. Early members were opposed to the DVU-NPD merger. Principally a small neo nazi organisation disguised as a party.

Next, ‘Der III. Weg’ (The Third Way). Completely unrelated to the book. For people who think that the NPD has become too soft. In fact, another neo nazi group that occasionally stands in elections.

And finally, ‘Neue Stärke’ (New Power), an even smaller breakaway from III. Weg (a fourth way?), formed by people who think they are too soft.

These groups or others like them may or may not be marching tomorrow. To put this into perspective, these events usually attract not more than a couple of hundred, and quite often only a couple of dozen activists. Like the (still much, much bigger) May Day rallies held by the unions and leftist groups, it is a ritual that looks more and more outdated with every passing year.

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