The Local Chapter Chairman

The "Squirrel Campaign" was a success and Dieter Knappmann is visibly proud of the fact. What sounds so conspiratorial actually worked according to a very simple principle. Every SPD member in the local chapter in Gladbeck-Brauck was urged to recruit new members for the party in their own circles.

"You really approached everyone you knew and tried to convince them," says chapter chairman Knappmann. The plan worked. Following a wave of party departures three years ago, the local chapter in this working class neighborhood is proud to have swelled to 220 members in the meantime. There's also been a change in generations as more young people get involved in the party, Knappmann explains.

The SPD in Brauck is doing better than elsewhere, where many chapters have had to merge due to dwindling membership. It's all a question of roots and "whether you really want to be the advocate of the people," says the 60-year-old, who's been on the chapter's board for 33 years.

Running out of breath

Knappmann looks forward to the election campaign quite calmly. "Our philosophy is that it's actually always an election campaign," says Knappmann. "A lot of our activities were already planned before we knew there would be early elections. Now, they're taking place right during the campaign."

In Brauck, everything is ready "from the stands to the assignment of the polling stations." But here, like other parts of the Ruhr Basin, the core base is tired. Following a rapid string of European, municipal and state elections, the chapter sees itself campaigning for the fourth time in just over a year. "We are running out of breath," Knappmann adds.

Where's the fire?

Still, Knappmann thinks early elections are a good thing. For him, the ideal result would be a grand coalition between the SPD and the conservative opposition Christian Democrats. "That would be the only way to solve the societal problems," he says.

Knappmann says he doesn't understand other SPD members who turn away from the party because they claim they can no longer identify themselves with it. "We're not happy with everything, but you're either committed to the basic values of Social Democracy or you were just a follower anyway," says Knappmann.

Recalling an apt quote to describe the situation, the party chairman says, "Tradition is preserving the fire and not revering the ashes." At the moment, though, "there's no one to ignite that fire."