Gregor Gysi: Portrait of a Political Charmer

Gregor Gysi is to the recently renamed Left Party/PDS what Joschka Fischer is to the Greens or Gerhard Schröder to the Social Democrats: a political charmer as much as a party figurehead. The new party, the successor to the East German Communist Party, is pinning all its hopes for the coming election on the 57-year-old Berliner.

Although there are those who criticize the party's new course, not even the critics contest that without Gysi the Left Party/PDS would not have gotten anywhere near as much media attention as it has since its inception in late spring.

Thanks to Gysi's involvement, the party's prospects for the upcoming parliamentary elections are vastly improved. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor to the communist party in former East Germany, had established itself as a major party at state level in eastern Germany during the 1990s. However in the 2002 parliamentary elections, following Gysi's temporary withdrawal from politics due to an air-miles scandal, it fell short of the 5 percent threshold necessary for inclusion in the federal parliament.

His return to politics late last year was warmly welcomed by party rank and file. But still Gysi delayed his comeback for health reasons.

At home on the political stage

Now back in politics, Gysi has not lost his charm, and he's just as much in demand on German talk shows as ever before. Owing to his finely-honed rhetoric, he has been able to win affection in western Germany, where other PDS members have failed.

His charisma will serve him well in the alliance with former SPD chief Oskar Lafontaine. Opinion polls show that the two will win far more votes as allies than they would do individually.

Breaking from the past

Changing perceptions of East Germany remains a priority for Gysi.

"We need to learn to see East Germany as an opportunity for our nation," he said. "That means a change of mentality, a cultural change, and also a change in the media. We need a new zeitgeist."

Germans should not denounce everything associated with the former East Germany, he argues.

But Gysi's own past has come back to haunt him on several occasions. He was responsible for the transition of the former Communist Party into the PDS in 1990. For a number of years thereafter he had to fight accusations that he had worked for the Stasi, the East German Secret Police.

Some accuse Gysi of backing out of politics in 2002 when things turned tough for him. Gysi rebukes such claims.

"I went through a lot during my time in parliament: 11 years and countless attempts to get rid of me," he argues. "But I stayed. I don't give up that easily."