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PARTISAN REVIEW
VI.
In trying to risk a guess at the future impact of the peace move–
ment on the evolution of West German policy, we must bear in mind
the composition of that loosely organized movement from elements
that have been mobilized on this single issue on one side, and from
more firmly and permanently organized elements on the other. Now
that the day of stationing is past and nothing catastrophic has hap–
pened, we may expect much of the otherwise unorganized following
of the peace movement to dissipate - unless a major dramatic crisis
in Europe revives the sense of fear that generated it.
If
the interna–
tional situation remains more approximately normal, at least where
Europe is concerned, the "follow-up" will depend on the more
organized groups. Of those, the Communists will, in the absence of
access to a large, temporarily mobilized but basically non-political
crowd, be reduced to their normal isolation.
The "Green" party in turn seems to have passed its peak for in–
ternal reasons not connected with the peace issue. In the years since
it entered a number of German state parliaments and finally the fed–
eral parliament, it has not succeeded in deciding whether it wants to
be a parliamentary party, which implies readiness to conclude alli–
ances and make compromises with other parties, or to remain gov–
erned by an uncompromising extra-parliamentary faction . In one
state after another its best-known spokesmen are either removed
from office by the "fundamentalists" or retire in disgust. The Social
Democrats have accelerated this process by offering in some cases
substantial compromises on the ecological issues which originally
motivated the "Greens," while remaining firm on the principles of
parliamentary government. For a time, the "Greens" may have prof–
ited from their role as a radical element in the peace movement; but
the more the movement recedes from the front pages, the more they
have to stand on their own legs-which are shaky. No doubt they
will make an effort to keep the issue alive by a campaign for "neutral–
ism" - but the potential response in the Federal Republic remains
weak.
For judging the future effect of the "peace issue" in West Ger–
many, then, the crucial question appears to be the future policy and
role of the Social Democratic party - now the principal opposition
party, and still the largest organized party in the country. A number
of commentators have written as if, by voting against the stationing
