Coalition negotiations | The Berlin Left must dare to do more Mamdani

Successful with left-wing content: Zohran Mamdani and Elif Eralp won both elections - and now have to govern. Photo: left: AFP/JOHN NACION; right: IMAGO/Jörg Carstensen 25.7 percent, strongest party in the House of Representatives and the prospect of having a left-wing governing mayor in Elif Eralp for the first time: The Berlin Left is facing a historic opportunity. The exploratory paper with the SPD and the Greens promises socialization, 100,000 affordable apartments and neighborhood canteens. At the same time, the budget is to be consolidated until 2031. The real estate industry is announcing resistance.

The conflict is predetermined. Even a left-wing mayor cannot change ownership structures and public finances at will. It depends on the Greens and the SPD and would have to assert itself against legal and economic resistance. What is crucial is not only what reforms it decides on, but also whether, after five years, the forces that implement and defend changes are more strongly organized.

In New York, Mamdani of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is trying to push the boundaries of local government politics. His as yet untested approach offers Berlin ideas.

More than 100,000 volunteers supported Mamdani's election campaign and visited millions of homes. This should create permanent structures. On his second day in office, he founded the Office of Mass Engagement for direct citizen participation.

The Office of Worker Power followed in September under union organizer Tony Perlstein. It is intended to inform employees about rights, provide trade union contacts and promote organizing. It remains to be seen whether this will work.

More concrete is the support of tenant organization. According to the city administration, more than 100 city-supported tenants' associations had been created by the end of July. Organizers visited over 30,000 apartment doors in more than 700 buildings, conducted over 600 training sessions and offered more than 3,500 individual consultations. The “Talk to Tenants” campaign is particularly aimed at residents of houses whose owners repeatedly violate regulations or fail to make repairs.

This is the essence: the administration can not only sanction landlords, but also support tenants in organizing their interests themselves. Mamdani had to compromise; important promises are still unfulfilled. What is interesting is not a ready-made model of success, but rather the connection between state action and social self-organization.

The Berlin Left knows the problem: government participation can subordinate party life to everyday coalition life. Senators and parliamentary groups set the rhythm, party committees manage compromises. Social work is falling behind, the party primarily explains government policy.

Berlin has the prerequisites for a different path: a lively tenant movement, trade unions, migrant self-organizations and a long tradition of social struggles. Added to this is the increase in membership of the Left. At the end of 2024, the regional association had 8,303 members, and by mid-September 2026 it already had 19,020. Why not aim for 40,000 members in five years? However, the number would be of little value if new members only distributed campaign material. It would be crucial to anchor them in companies, neighborhoods, universities and initiatives.

This requires political education, local structures, support for labor disputes and networked rental initiatives. Independence also means publicly criticizing your own Senate. This may make coalition negotiations more difficult, but it can provide support for reforms. Anyone who only defends Senate decisions loses their political mission.

This becomes particularly clear when it comes to the corporatization of large housing groups. According to the exploratory paper, around 160,000 apartments are to become public property; a law could be available in 2028. Compensation, constitutional issues and funding will be contested. The companies defend their property rights and warn of the consequences for investments and housing construction. Their arguments must be examined, as well as their ability to use significant resources to exert political pressure.

Anyone who relies solely on reports, Senate resolutions and parliamentary negotiations for socialization makes the project vulnerable. The “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co” initiative has shown that tens of thousands can be mobilized for fundamental changes. It should also remain independent of a possible coalition and be able to represent its own demands.

The same applies to labor policy. Trade unions, works councils and collective bargaining agreements exist, but there is often a lack of enforcement. The Senate could control orders more strictly, prosecute violations and set higher standards as an employer. A Berlin worker power office would have to work closely with existing employee representatives, especially in barely organized sectors.

Neighborhood canteens could also be more than social policy offerings. If employees, users and neighborhoods have a say in their design, they can become public places where people not only eat cheaply, but also shape their district together.

In New York, Mamdani expanded multilingual legal information for migrants and used city protection options against the immigration authorities ICE. Here too, the administration combines authority with support for those affected.

In Berlin, mayor Elif Eralp would have to protect Jewish life from anti-Semitism and at the same time counteract racist exclusion of Palestinians and other migrant groups. Multilingual district assemblies, legal advice and participation in legislative proposals could strengthen self-organization.

The exploratory paper also calls for the right to vote for people without a German passport after five years of residence. Berlin cannot introduce it alone due to constitutional limits. Legally, the road is rocky: the Federal Constitutional Court tied the right to vote to German citizenship in 1990, and the state constitution would have to be changed with a two-thirds majority, i.e. not without the CDU.

Mamdani's course combines socialist organizing with compromise within the existing order. Its authorities must be judged by whether tenants and employees gain more influence.

This is also the challenge for Berlin: to combine government work and social organization in such a way that progress does not depend on the continued existence of a parliamentary majority. This requires a political language that makes conflicts of interest visible. Socialization is about ownership and power, collective bargaining violations are about the responsibility of companies, budget cuts are about priorities and alternatives. Credibility involves admitting your own mistakes and defeats.

A balance sheet after five years would therefore have to capture more than coalition promises that have been fulfilled: Are tenants' associations more influential, employees better organized, and people without a German passport more involved? Is the left anchored in companies and districts? Daring to do more Mamdani would mean not replacing government power with social self-organization, but rather using it to strengthen it. Whether this succeeds will be decided not only in the Red Town Hall, but also in the houses, businesses and neighborhoods of Berlin.

Other media have corporations or billionaires behind them. We have the nd.Genossenschaft and readers like you. That makes us independent and that’s exactly how we want to remain. But it also means: without you the calculation won't work. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year.

You can donate directly here, one-time or regularly, so that nd stays.