当年德国共产党势力极其强大，而且与苏联在利益和政策方面都保持一致。 如今反对党则无疑就是那个是遭遇历史性大败的党派：无论是在人民怀念计划经济和国家社会主义的东德地区，还是在社会民主党党内反对派在与格哈特·施罗德的权力斗争中失利的西德地区，社会民主党都一败涂地。
But what a difference!  Then there was a powerful communist party, closely aligned with the interests and policies of the Soviet Union.  Now the party of protest is unambiguously the party of historical losers: in the East, of Germans who are nostalgic for the planned economy and society of state socialism; in the West, of critics of the SPD who lost a power struggle with Gerhard Schroeder.