German business & the far right AfD party
Posted by Thomas Klikauer
Even after more than three decades since the German reunification, deep division remains in Germany. Evidence also shows that the views of eastern and western companies on, for example, the issue of Germany’s most successful albeit neo-fascist political party: the AfD, remains somewhat divided as well.
A recent survey shows that West German corporate leaders view the far right AfD as more radical than their East German counterparts.
Yet, these views might change since the AfD won handsomely in three recent state elections in the East German states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.
Despite the many warnings about the party’s rather suicidal economic policy programme featuring the end of the Euro currency and Dexit – Germany’s exit from the EU – the survey also showed that companies see the AfD as risky business.
Overwhelmingly, the far right AfD is not a favourite of German businesses – not in the east and even more so not in the west either.
Only just over 13% of all companies associate the AfD with economic opportunities. On the other hand, the perception that there are serious risks associated with the strengthening of the AfD dominates the thinking of corporate bosses.
Almost 60% of companies have realised the risks of having the AfD in government. And with almost 80% of western companies seriously concerned about the AfD.
This is a far cry from the ultra-generous business support for Adolf Hitler in 1933. It was big business that financed Hitler.
These were – and some still are! – the “Nazi Billionaires with their Dark History.” Today, however, things are very different. Rather than supporting neo-fascism and Nazism, German capitalism in 2024, rejects the right-wing AfD.
Surprisingly, and despite its anti-EU and anti-Euro currency policies, when it comes to economic competence, East-German business leaders rank the AfD in third place behind the conservative CDU and the staunchly neoliberal FDP – but ahead of the social-democratic SPD, socialist Die Linke, and the environmentalist The Greens.
Meanwhile, leaving the EU would cost Germany a whopping €690 billion – 690,000,000,000 – it has 10 zeros and it amounts to roughly $760,000,000,000 US-dollars. For Germany’s industry, no Euro and no EU would be economic suicide.
Not surprisingly, western businesses gave the AfD, the school grade “deficient”. They ranked the AfD together with Germany’s BSW and its socialist Die Linke at the end of the line.
Yet, those companies located in rural areas throughout Germany saw the AfD as somewhat more competent in matters of economic policy.
Meanwhile, there are no major differences in terms of company size and industry structure on this issue. However, the relatively high approval rates, especially in rural eastern Germany, and their somewhat less critical assessment of the AfD can be, at first glance, deceiving.
For example, the AfD’s stalwartly neoliberal party programme, if it became a reality, would be most damaging to those who voted for the AfD. While hitting some of their employees hard, 29% of East-German companies consider the AfD’s anti-EU positions as reasonable and justifiable – compared to just 22% in the West.
The survey also shows that not even 1-in-20 companies in both East and West Germany can be characterized as a “clear supporter of the AfD”.
In addition, every second West German and 29% of East German companies publicly raised their voices against the AfD.
Widely seen as the newspaper that speaks the voice of German capitalism, the Handelsblatt wrote in August 2024, business opposes Björn Höcke and the AfD [Unternehmer stellen sich gegen Björn Höcke und die AfD].
Beyond that, 15% (west) and 19% (east) spoke against the AfD inside their companies. One reason for the “marginally” less frequent positioning against the AfD among East German companies might be found in a widespread disappointment with established parties.
On the upswing, the so-called march through organizations that was loudly promoted by the AfD in 2019 did not materialise.
Overall, Germany is still divided and whilst the same can be said when it comes to the AfD, yet, among businesses, this is less pronounced than in the election results – with up to 30% of voter support in the eastern German state and less then 15% in the west. This is confirmed by many surveys that had been conducted on the AfD.
Still, public’s calls on German companies to position themselves against the far right AfD have increased significantly in the course of the strengthening of the AfD and its various electoral successes.
Recently, Germany’s minister of the interior Nancy Faeser and other politicians called on businesses to show a strong stance against the AfD. And indeed, some companies and employer associations have spoken out and launched campaigns against the AfD.
In view of the strength of the AfD in East-Germany, differences can be observed between the East and West German business community when it comes to fighting against the AfD.
Meanwhile, there were hardly any surveys that allow an empirically substantiated classification of the commitment of businesses against the AfD.
Still, current studies has shed light on East-German companies and their positioning against the AfD. Overall, there are different company strategies in different regions throughout Germany. Yet, persistent differences also exist in Germany’s economic structure between East and West.
Worse, all of Germany’s so-called “DAX companies” – Germany’s top 40 companies – have their headquarters based in Berlin, a West-German city.
It still gets worse, the share of large companies with annual sales of more than €50 million euros is 69% in West Germany – the East lags behind. Beyond that, East-Germany’s export is about one third below the average of that in Germany’s western states.
Despite German capitalism basically being run from the west, there are three overarching strategies when it comes to the AfD.
The Strong Voice Strategy against the AfD
The strong voice category includes, for example, the Chairman of the Board of the chemical company Evonik – Christian Kullmann – who warned about the AfD in a full-page newspaper interview.
Also outspoken against the AfD is the Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Bank – Christian Sewing – of whom, is also the president of Germany’s Association of Banks.
By far, the most prominent anti-AfD CEO is entrepreneur Reinhold Würth who is one of the most outspoken public critiques of the AfD among all of German industry. Würth did not mince his words on the strongly worded letter to his staff warning against the AfD.
Another example is VW with its strong 650,000 workers and its CEO – Oliver Blume –– who also promotes diversity. The heads of Bayer, Volkswagen, the energy provider E.On, BMW, Allianz, BASF, Mercedes Benz, etc., have been known to spoke out against the AfD.
Most noteworthy is the president of Germany’s Industry association BDI – Siegfried Russwurm – who has raised his – not insignificant – voice against the AfD. Basically, he is the voice of Germany’s capitalism. He, too, spoke out against the AfD and he did so at an early stage.
Decades earlier, the BDI’s predecessor – the RDI made the Hitler salute obligatory in the factories on 22nd of August 1933. Times have changed, even for German corporate bosses representing German capitalism.
Today, no less than 54.2% of German companies have openly positioned themselves against the AfD. In the strong voice category are also the purely internal anti-AfD statements by family entrepreneurs, CEOs, and top managers.
Yet, these do have a multiplier effect as anti-AfD statements are often retold by company employees entering the company’s external domain and for which are not initiated by corporate bosses.
In, what was perhaps Germany’s most significant case, Würth’s letter which was considered as a domestic process since being purely addressed to the company’s internal staff quickly found its way to the public and it was widely, and even globally, received in the media.
In other words, in the strong voice category are companies that have made public statements against the AfD. And as previously stated, these can be found in every second West German company and in 29% of East German companies.
The Soft Voice Strategy against the AfD
On the other hand, the soft voice strategy against the AfD is more complicated. The way corporate CEOs and companies position themselves can often be inaccurately quantified.
The most obvious indication of the soft voice approach against the AfD occurs when companies oppose the AfD internally but not externally. Their share is 19% in East Germany and 15% in West Germany.
The Loyalty Strategy against the AfD
A similar blurring can be seen in the quantification of loyalty strategies. For example, 22% of companies in West Germany and 29% in East Germany state that they find only “some positions of the AfD reasonable and basically justifiable”.
Beyond the threefold voice categories, risks to businesses associated with the AfD are rated lower by East German companies: 16% (east) and to 22% (west). Overall, there are nine risks coming from the AfD that German companies see:
In other words, across the nine risks associated with the AfD, western companies’ fear on average is 79% while its eastern counterparts, for the same worries are lower on the agenda at just 52.% on average.
In short, the negative impact of the AfD is felt most strongly not where the AfD is strong. And this is evident even after more than 30 years of Germany’s reunification (1990) and after over a decade of having to deal with the AfD (founded in 2013).
Meanwhile, the East is also still 20% to 25% poorer compared to the West. Perhaps the less wealthy, the less of the tendency to worry about the AfD.
Nonetheless, the proportion of companies that can be seen as clearly AFD-oriented is less than 5% – in both East and West.
However, the difference in the approval for the AfD’s radical far right positions in the East is 7% higher than the corresponding number for the West.
At least for parts of the east, a less noted anti-AfD stance among companies might be linked to the emergence of so-called “regions of frustration” or Frustregionen. These are remote parts of Germany in which messages from far-right parties meet at a fertile breeding ground.
With the rise of the xenophobic, if not outright racist AfD, it will become even difficult to break the regional vicious circle of a still continuing east-to-west emigration. The “Go West!” mentality remains particularly strong among young people in the eastern German state.
Worse, it continues unabated. The success of the AfD will only make the fruitless search for “German” qualified specialists that much harder. It all adds up to an accumulating reservoirs of frustration with only one open escape route: go west!
This trend was magnified in a recent study in the academic journal called Population Studies. And since this trend consists of mostly young women rather than men, the journal argued that eastern Germany is no place for young women.
With the rise of the AfD, the East-German labour market is heading straight into a dead end. It is precisely in those remote regions where a stronger migration would be indispensable.
Worse, there are less companies in eastern Germany and particularly in rural areas that position itself clearly against the AfD.
This could result in diminished migration of skilled labour and thereby, worsening the skilled labour shortage in the eastern German states. In other words, East Germans are very busy ‘digging their own grave’.
It does not help when trust in traditional social and democracy institutions such as, for example, trade unions, employer associations, large organizations such as churches, the media, the EU and democratic political parties, remains low in rural East Germany.
Yet, there is still hope for companies and entrepreneurs that are not only closely connected to the local environment in eastern German states but have also publicised their anti-AfD stance.
The hope is that these might become lighthouses presenting a positive image shaping local opinions directed against the AfD and for a democratic society. This is especially important in regions that are AfD strongholds.
In other words, the roughly 30% of people in the eastern German states who support the apparatchik have issued a double whammy against themselves in recent elections.
They voted for the xenophobic AfD that drives away non-German migrants and encourages young people to leave.
Quite apart from the lack of eastern companies raising a strong voice against the AfD, the success of the AfD will mean that less migrants will be tempted to move eastward.
This will seriously impact on an aging population in the eastern German states as young people continue to move westward.
Company bosses in the eastern German states alone will not stop the – to be expected – decline of the eastern German states.
Born on the foothills of Germany’s Castle Frankenstein, Thomas Klikauer is the author of over 1,000 publications including a book on Alternative für Deutschland: The AfD – published by Liverpool University Press.
Photo: East-Germany’s Super-Car: Melkus RS 1000 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkus_RS_1000#/media/File:Melkus_RS_1000_Classic-Gala_2021_1X7A0090.jpg)
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