First Step Toward a New Life : Not Unexpectedly, East Germans Vote Their Pocketbooks

East Germans voted themselves as far from communism and as close to Western democracy and affluence as they could in Sunday’s election. That was no surprise, but the margin of victory for Christian Democrats and other conservatives was.

The election was only the first step toward a new life for 12.2 million people who have spent 40 years as hostages to the Cold War. Unfortunately, the rest of the trip will be tougher.

It is an axiom of American politics that people vote their pocketbooks, and clearly that is the case for Germans as well. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, campaigning for the eastern version of his own party, talked directly into East German wallets. His message was that his party would not drag its feet reunifying a Germany divided since World War II, suggesting that in no time at all they would be sharing the material well-being of their Western relatives.

In the end, Social Democrats won only one-third more seats in the new East German Parliament than Communists, and so it appears that hoped-for affluence was not the only motive at work. The vote also put as much distance as possible between the voters and 40 years of communist rule that dictated every phase of life.

As with many celebrations, there will be hangovers. Kohl, who had other stunning good news Sunday with the bad showing of far-right Republican party candidates in Bavaria, must move fast to make good on his promises of prosperity. Exchanging one high-value West German mark for one low-value East German mark may be inflationary. Along with possible inflation, East Germans may face unemployment and other setbacks while they work their way out of the economic and intellectual dungeon of communism. Lothar de Maiziere, leader of East Germany’s Christian Democrats and top candidate for prime minister, is a human-rights lawyer who fended off Communist efforts to dominate the church. But jousting with a government and running one are two very different things and non-Communist East Germans have little practice in governance.

The elements of transition that are under their control will be difficult enough; much is beyond their control. The rest of Europe remains uneasy about a reunited Germany and may try to slow the process down. And how far the Soviet Union is willing to go to try to keep a unified Germany out of NATO is anybody’s guess.

Still, Sunday represented two steps forward: Creation of Europe’s newest democracy and soothing assurances from De Maiziere that Germany can and will live within its present borders. The global village could live with one step back another day.