Tens of thousands blockade AfD conference in mass show of anti-fascist resistance

Anti-racists marched through the city centre to the site of the conference—and, earlier that morning, eight blockades stopped traffic in every direction.

“As soon as it was announced that the AfD would be holding its conference in Erfurt, this became a priority,” protester Irmi told Socialist Worker. 

“Speaking to anti-racist activists in Erfurt, they tell me that they’ve knocked on more than 20,000 doors in the last month alone.

“But activists across the country have been building for it relentlessly—and you see the results today. 

“There are anti-fascists here from more than 80 different cities and towns.” 

The counter-demonstration was called by Widersetzen, a broad alliance that brings together civil society organisations, political parties, student groups and trade unions. 

There were banners from the Greens and the Labour-type SPD, the trade union Ver.di and Stand Up To Racism (Aufstehen gegen Rassismus). 

Widersetzen means both “resist” and “sit down”.

And that was part of a two-pronged approach on the day.

Activists blockaded major motorways into Erfurt.

Sophie, an anti-racist campaigner in the left wing Die Linke party was one of around 500 activists who set off on Friday, on an overnight bus from Munich to Erfurt, to take part in this action.

“At 5am, a few miles outside of Erfurt, we sat down in the middle of the motorway so we could stop any fascists trying to get to the conference,” she told Socialist Worker. 

The blockades did succeed in stopping some fascists from making it to conference.

However, many AfD delegates were already on the conference floor.

Shamefully, they were bussed in during the early hours of the morning with the help of the police.

So, although their conference went ahead, this will have been humiliating for them. 

Anti-fascists gathered at the train station, chanting, “Siamo tutti antifascisti”.

But the anger wasn’t directed at the AfD alone.

Stefan, a teacher from Hamburg, said there was rage against the cuts being pushed by Friedrich Merz’s right wing coalition government. 

“On the anti-fascist bloc, there were calls for an intifada against cuts, against attacks on workers pensions and wages,” he told Socialist Worker. “There is an anger at the system as a whole.” 

Chants of “Free, free Palestine” rang out along the route.

Paula, a student from the southern city of Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, said it was the Palestine movement that politicised her.

“Witnessing the ongoing genocide in Gaza, I knew I had to get involved,” she told Socialist Worker. 

“But I know I also have to be involved in the fight against the fascism of the AfD. That’s why I’m here today, because it’s important to make a stand, to show that we are all ready and willing to fight against fascism,” she said.

The AfD choosing Erfurt was provocative for two reasons.

First, Thuringia is home to Bjorn Hocke, the leader of the dominant fascist wing of the AfD—“Der Flügel”. 

Second, the conference was scheduled to start a hundred years to the day since the Nazis held their first conference after a failed coup.

In 1923, Hitler and the Nazis attempted to seize power in Bavaria. The party’s first public conference after that was in Weimar, a city less than fifteen miles from Erfurt, on 4 July 1926.

It’s part of a radicalisation to the right for the AfD. And that’s set to continue at conference. Among the arguments to be debated is the admission into the party of people previously excluded on account of affiliation to openly Nazi organisations. 

At a press conference on Friday, Suraj Mailitafi, a spokesperson for Widersetzen made clear what an AfD government would mean.

“If the AfD were to come to power, it would pose a danger for black people, for people of colour, for LGBT+ people, for women, for people with disabilities, for asylum seekers and refugees, for poor people, for Muslims and for Jews.”

In Saxony-Anhalt, another eastern state, the AfD are set to win a majority in September. 

But they are riding high in national polls, with some putting their support at 27 percent.

“The AfD is a threat to all of Germany, not just the east,” Stefan said.

Mass and militant mobilisations, like the one seen on Saturday, will need to be repeated.

But there will also need to be patient work in every community, school, university and workplace. 

Anti-racists will need to win the argument that the AfD are no friends of the working class—and the need to offer a true alternative to the rotten system as a whole.

There is every reason to think there’s an audience for this argument.

In the last year alone, Germany has seen not only mass mobilisations against the AfD, but 100,000 out on the streets against the genocide in Gaza and 50,000 school students out on strike, against a renewed drive to war.

Irma said that on her way to Erfurt, she talked to several people on the train who expressed an interest in socialism. “They were angry, and looking for answers. Some will be pulled by the AfD, but we can win more to our side,” she said.