It has been widely recognized that the past has a tremendous impact upon political attitudes in the present. Accordingly, differences between people's attitudes toward “the left” in Eastern and Western Europe are usually explained by the effects of socialization on political preferences and people's understanding of the left-right ideological scale, as well as by country-specific post-socialist economic performances and the political role of former ruling parties in the new political landscape. The positive OKV memory of the GDR, and its rejection of social and political conditions in unified Germany, are a clear case in point.

The previous chapters studied OKV as a conglomerate of organizations united by their memory culture and their political habitus which, with some adaptations, reproduces GDR understandings of politics and patterns of action. In this chapter we will look at OKV as a part of the all-German political spectrum, and in particular at their attempts to link up with other leftist groups and parties, especially with Germany's most prominent radical left party, Die Linke, which grew out of the GDR's ruling party, SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands). Although the OKV officially claims to be nonpartisan, all associated organizations understand the OKV as being radical left in outlook. OKV members whom I interviewed stated their support for radical left parties, of which many of them are members.