Reformer Gets Top Party Post in E. Germany

The scandalized Communist Party elected a pro-democracy lawyer as its chairman Saturday and begged public forgiveness for leading East Germany into a crisis that “threatened our very existence.”

Gregor Gysi, a wry, 41-year-old Berliner, was the sole candidate in balloting that capped a marathon 17-hour emergency party congress. He won 95% of the vote from the 2,750 delegates.

The shattered party also decided to rename itself, eliminate its ruling Central Committee and Politburo and pursue a course of “democratic socialism” after 40 years of iron-fisted rule.

The rechristening and drafting of a new statute are to take place when the congress reconvenes Dec. 16.

Gysi told reporters after his election that the tasks now facing the tainted party are “insanely complicated.”

The party admitted having lost 600,000 members--one-quarter of its rolls--since October, when Eastern Europe’s bloodless revolution began to take hold here.

In just a few astonishing weeks, public cries for democracy stripped the Communists of their monopoly on power, opened borders that had been closed for 20 years and gave rise to new debate on the possible reunification of Germany.

What was intended to be an anti-reunification demonstration in East Berlin on Saturday instead turned into a pro-reunification rally when the yeas in the crowd of several hundred outnumbered the nays.

Revelations of widespread corruption and abuse of power among the Communist hierarchy have thus far landed seven former Politburo members in jail and have galvanized grass-roots movements demanding reform.

Former leader Erich Honecker, 77, remains under house arrest, and former Prime Minister Willi Stoph is among those jailed. No trial dates have been set.

“The party name and the functions of the general secretary and Central Committee are forever discredited,” said the official news agency ADN, the once obedient mouthpiece of the Communist rulers.

The Rev. Rainer Eppelmann, head of the opposition group Democratic Awakening, said the very term socialism has been “defiled.”

“No wonder people stick out their tongues at the mere mention of it,” he told the newspaper Jungewelt (Young World).

Gysi served as chief investigator for the 25-member working group that has run the party since Dec. 3, when the entire Politburo and Central Committee resigned.

He told the delegates that the extent of corruption within the party was “horrifying.”

The congress decided to formally apologize to East Germans for the thievery and mismanagement that have plunged the country into such deep economic as well as political turmoil.

“The party has a duty to sincerely apologize to the people for the former Communist leadership which led our country into this crisis, which threatens its very existence,” Gysi said.

Gysi, a divorced father of two, risked party expulsion by representing the opposition group New Forum when it successfully fought for legal recognition. At the time, the pro-democracy group was described as an “enemy of the state.”

New Forum, which now claims a membership of 200,000, did not issue any statement about Gysi’s election or the Communists’ promises of reforms.

Stripped of its constitutional monopoly, the party’s survival hinges on regaining public confidence by showing a willingness to work with opposition groups and rebuild its foundation.

So far, the party has not outlined any specifics about a new format. But its leaders, including Gysi, frequently speak of “democratic socialism” and a divorce from Stalinism.

Gysi, chairman of East Germany’s bar association, comes from a prominent Communist family. He is the first party leader not to automatically rule over the country. He is also the youngest leader of any socialist party in the East Bloc.

ADN described Gysi as “combative and courageous.”

His style is candid and occasionally ironic, although he sometimes mires himself in academic rhetoric. During his speech to party delegates, he referred at one point to “Stalinist administrative-socialistic socialism.”

Putting it more simply, Gysi said the party no longer wants to be an administrative party. Instead, he said, the party must learn how to win over voters with persuasive arguments.

“There are no miracles,” he said. “It comes about through a long process. It will only happen with new content, new people and very good arguments.

“That’s more difficult, but in the end, it’s a lot more interesting.”

Gysi echoed Prime Minister Hans Modrow in dismissing the question of German reunification. “I do not believe in reunification,” he said. “It serves no one, but rather endangers European stability.”

Instead, he said, East Germany must “start from the very beginning and practically rebuild our country from scratch.”

He declined to speculate about the party’s chances of regaining power through open elections.

“We’ll vote on May 6, and I don’t want to make pessimistic predictions,” Gysi said. “I’m not used to this, but I’ve learned from Western politicians that one doesn’t do that.”

At East Berlin’s Christmas Carnival in Alexanderplatz on Saturday, the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd seemed more interested in gingerbread houses and mulled wine than politics.