Staunchly following the dictum of Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels – “it will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy, that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed” – today’s Neo-Nazis, camouflaged as the AfD, work tirelessly to undermine Germany’s democracy.

Yet Germany’s Neo-Nazis – officially and euphemistically labeled “populists” – do this not only through parliamentary elections. They also intervene in elections that take place in the world of work: elections for works councils.

At least since the “Failed Revolution” of 1918/19, German capital has understood that one preferred method of controlling workers was to incorporate trade unions – at least until Hitler destroyed the unions in 1933. 

Before that, capital had been “dealing” with rebellious workers in a somewhat similar manner: between 1919 and the late 1920s, many rebellious workers were executed by “bloodhound” Gustav Noske, while the vast majority were assimilated into the institutional machinery of capitalism.

Threatened by revolution at the end of World War I and unable to eliminate Germany’s then-revolutionary working class, German capital – with the generous help of the Social Democratic Party (Noske, Ebert, etc.) – offered unions and workers a legally secured place within the emerging system. 

It was just enough to pacify Germany’s more defiant workers. Meanwhile, it saved capitalism, the omnipotent and deeply reactionary state, and Germany’s ruling elites. All this was achieved by absorbing workers and trade unions into the state–capital apparatus. This gave birth to Germany’s works councils.

The setup worked well until Germany’s Nazis eliminated trade unions, torturing and killing trade unionists in SA dungeons and, not much later, in the newly created concentration camps – Dachau opened on 22 March 1933, KZ Osthofen on 1 May 1933 – the latter immortalized in Spencer Tracy’s Hollywood classic The Seventh Cross.

Before all this, the social-democratic system of labor relations had “almost” excluded trade unions from the workplace. This worked well – for capital. At its core, it set up industry-level collective bargaining between trade unions and employer federations. 

It exported, as much as possible, class conflict and strikes to outside the factory gate: workers no longer confronted their individual boss; instead, trade unions negotiated with employer federations at regional and industrial levels.

Meanwhile, officially “non-union” works councils inside the workplace took care of day-to-day affairs. This system was reintroduced after the Allied victory over Nazism during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Based on Germany’s labor law for works councils (Betriebsratsgesetz) and on collective bargaining law, what emerged was a kind of double structure of workers’ representation:

1. Works councils inside companies; and
2. External collective bargaining between trade unions and employers.

Yet trade union members continued to organize as Vertrauenspersonen (similar to shop stewards), forming workplace-based trade union structures.

Legally organized and highly regulated works councils are elected every four years by workers on the basis of being workers – not on the basis of trade union membership. In works council elections, workers vote as workers, not as union members, even when they are union members. German law – even German labor law – is paved with peculiarities, quirks, and oddities.

This is what the authoritarian and anti-democratic AfD seeks to exploit. The AfD attacks not only Germany’s parliaments; it also assails core labor-relations institutions such as works councils, seeking to undermine workers’ representation.

For some AfD apparatchiks, this may even be part of re-imagining Hitler’s Betriebsgemeinschaft – a Neo-Nazi workplace Volksgemeinschaft run by a Betriebsführer: a kind of mini-Führer dictating the workplace order. In AfD/Nazi mythology, this conjures up phantasmagorias of an imagined Aryan community working in harmony and for the benefit of Führer and Fatherland.

Ever since the creation of Germany’s latest – and most electorally successful – Neo-Nazi party, the AfD in 2013, it was only a matter of time until these neo-fascists would begin infiltrating not just workplaces but workplace organizations and labor-relations institutions.

The AfD’s assault on works councils, planned for early 2026, comes amid deeply worrying polling results. By mid-November, support for the AfD was at 26%, surpassing Germany’s conservatives (the CDU) at 25%. This made the AfD Germany’s strongest political party.

Given this, Germany’s trade unionists are vigorously debating a kind of “workplace firewall” against the “blue elephant” – the authoritarian AfD.

The concept of a “firewall” is simple: no cooperation with the AfD. Meanwhile, the term “blue elephant” focuses – wrongly – on the AfD’s self-invented, deceptive color-coding of “blue” rather than the traditional brown of Nazism (the brown shirts of Hitler’s SA). Thirdly, many see the neo-fascist AfD as an “elephant” – perhaps because of recent polling results.

Works council elections in many workplaces will be held under severe pressure from the right. With 26% public support for the AfD, Germany’s next works council elections – scheduled for spring 2026 – are already casting a long shadow.

Preparations have been underway for some time, including discussions about how to deal with elected representatives who – openly or secretly – support the AfD.

Many connect the upcoming elections to three recurring issues for workers:

• the supposedly “unstoppable” rise of the AfD;
• the success of right-wing populist propaganda; and
• the authoritarian tendencies among some wage-earners, making them easy targets for far-right messaging.

The fear is that the electoral advance of Germany’s far right could be reflected in the results of the upcoming works council elections.

This would pose a serious challenge for trade unions – regardless of whether right-wing extremists run openly. This challenge could come in three forms:

1. Open Fascism: AfD-branded lists or tickets (e.g., “AfD for Workers”).
2. Cunning Fascism: Lists using invented names such as “Zentrum.”
3. Hidden Fascism: AfD stooges joining pre-existing lists (e.g., pro-management lists or those of conservative Christian unions). Germany’s Christlicher Gewerkschaftsbund has 270,000 members.

Trade unionists across Germany are preparing strategically for the coming months. Works council elections were long considered routine tests of strength for the DGB unions – Germany’s peak association and its eight industrial unions.

But with the rise of the extreme right, established unions and works councils face a serious challenge: far-right crypto-unions and their lists for the 2026 elections.

The AfD already runs a right-wing “sham union” called Zentrum. The neo-fascist Zentrum has been building organizational structures inside companies for years. Fascism – whether neo-Fascism or Neo-Nazism – always means attacking trade unions and workers: from Mussolini’s Italy to Hitler’s SA torture dungeons, Franco’s Falange, Indonesia’s mass killings (1965–66), Pinochet’s Villa Grimaldi, and beyond.

Back in Germany, the rise of the AfD at the ballot box could be reflected in the upcoming works council elections in the form of increasing vote shares. There is clear discontent with Germany’s rigid labor system. The influence of the neo-fascists is far more pronounced today than in the 2022 works council elections. The AfD is determined to channel this anger.

Yet millions of working people inside companies are already waging defensive battles against the AfD. With 26% support, the AfD also faces 74% who reject it.

Facing “only” corporate power may soon become a luxury: the AfD will split works councils, giving workers a double adversary — the AfD (far-right ideology) and management (corporate profit). When not directly opposing unions and workers, AfD stooges can at least be expected to stab workers in the back.

Everywhere, works councils confront corporate demands for flexibility, restructuring, plant closures, unemployment, wage stagnation or decline, and a collective-bargaining system tilted toward corporate power.

Capital frequently demands wage cuts, often disguised as “zero rounds” – bargaining rounds in which workers receive no wage increase at all. Meanwhile, annual inflation – currently about 2.5% in Germany – pushes workers into a downward spiral.

To make matters worse, newly elected AfD works council members would help management justify wage stagnation or reductions and weaken works councils themselves.

None of this occurs in isolation from wider politics. The atrocities of the conservative-reactionary Merz government and his Gruselkabinett (“cabinet of horror”) show that Merz has the interests of the bourgeois state and corporate world at heart.

Merz’s pro-business and frequently dehumanizing, anti-union statements – euphemistically labeled “reform packages” – are intended to “revive” the German economy (currently in the longest recession of post-war history) while shifting power and money upwards.

The current de-industrialization and weakening of Germany’s labor-relations system – as corporations receive generous compensation – further deteriorate working conditions, reduce job security, and increase unemployment. Warren Buffet once put it candidly:

“There’s class warfare, all right,

but it’s my class, the rich class,

that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Meanwhile, resentment against the unemployed, the poor, and the marginalized is flourishing. This antipathy is being cultivated by Merz, the CDU, and the neo-fascist AfD.

To pro-business Merz, even Germany’s working-time law is no longer sacred. His eyes are fixed on eliminating the 8-hour day – legally secured since 1918.

Far-right demagogues exploit today’s economic discomfort to promote their ideology and the interests of German capital. The old tune of setting class against nation/race that moves attention away from class and capitalism is being replayed. Today, most of the social and economic harms created by neoliberal capitalism are blamed on migrants: the ultimate scapegoat.

It is authoritarian liberalism’s pointed strategy of setting “the weak against the strong – and the strong against the weak.” It appears that German capital’s traditional partner – the Social Democrats and their compliant trade unions – may no longer be capable of, or needed for, reconciling the conflict between labor and capital. The past compromises were achieved under the “threat” of socialist revolution – a threat that has vanished.

Instead of an impending revolution, what has changed in capital’s favor is the rise of the extreme right inside and outside companies. And it is getting worse: among those identifying as workers, a staggering 38% voted for the AfD in the 2025 Bundestag election – 17 percentage points higher than in 2021.

If 38% support for the AfD were reflected in next year’s works council elections, a 2/3 split (AfD 38%, DGB 62%) could occur.

This could paralyze Germany’s core workplace institution. It would mark another great victory for the AfD: the weakening – even crippling – of works councils and trade unions inside companies.

Worse, trade union and works-council capacity to act has long relied on the (often silent) support of workers inclined toward AfD ideology. And this is worsening.

Before the 2026 elections, the DGB unions face a fundamental dilemma: DGB candidates may not be able to win mandates without the (silent or explicit) support of AfD-leaning workers – even in companies where the AfD does not run its own list.

In other words, DGB unions face an almost unsolvable dilemma: their politics are based on the principle of “one company – one union.” This makes it necessary to integrate AfD-leaning voters while simultaneously neutralizing their far-right ideology to preserve the union’s ability to act.

In many companies, this may lead to a “stalemate”: a subtle non-aggression pact between unions, works councils, and democratic workers on one side — and authoritarian workers, the AfD, and corporate management on the other.

Worse, the “blue elephant” may not even be named. It may simply operate behind the scenes to undermine works councils.

In the past, many unions and works-council members believed they should stay out of politics. This credo is familiar to many full-time officials in Germany.

More troubling, there are early signs of obedience toward the AfD. This appears in one of Germany’s favorite concepts: vorauseilender Gehorsam – anticipatory obedience.

This kind of obedience demands that one adapts to what is presumed to be the wishes of an all-powerful authority, even before any order is given. Germans anticipate what such a ruler wants and act accordingly.

This has been masterfully illustrated in Carl Zuckmayer’s The Captain of Köpenick (1931) and in Heinrich Mann’s The Loyal Subject.

Some works councils already display this toward the AfD. On the website of a works council in a medium-sized company, one reads:

“It is completely unacceptable for trade unions to try to put pressure on works council members. A works council is committed to the workforce — not to the trade union. When officials try to influence decisions or force loyalty, they cross a red line. This undermines the independence of the board and contradicts the basic idea of co-determination.”

At least five issues are noteworthy here, revealing how a works council can be positioned against unions and for corporate management:

1. We Against Them: Unions are framed as outsiders exerting “pressure,” while the works council presents itself as standing firm.
2. Anti-Unionism: The anti-union stance is explicit: “not the trade union.”
3. Company Egoism: It appeals to Betriebsegoismus – pro-management attitudes that deny wider worker solidarity and ignore broader consequences.
4. Bossiness: The works council aligns itself with managerial selfishness; when unions insist on the big picture, they are accused of “crossing red lines.”
5. Co-Determination Turned Upside-Down: Co-determination is positioned against unions — even though unions created co-determination and works councils.

Even a single right-wing individual elected to a works council can shift the entire atmosphere. If a works council openly declares support for the AfD, the situation becomes precarious. Four key questions arise:

1. Will the 2026 elections run smoothly?
2. Will the right dare to run openly?
3. Will workers continue to support DGB unions?
4. Or will AfD apparatchiks posing as worker representatives gain ground?

The impact of the far right on works councils was demonstrated perfectly in the VW plant in Zwickau.

In 2018, André Krüger submitted a list titled “Bündnis freie Betriebsräte” (BfB, Alliance of Free Works Councils). AfD apparatchiks [Listen-Führer] Jörg Reichenbach and Lars Bochmann joined the list in 2022. The BfB won only two mandates — but contested the election. It had to be repeated. In the repeat vote, BfB won four seats; IG Metall won 33 of 37.

Challenging elections is popular among neo-fascists. Even Donald Trump does it. Lacking progressive policies, the AfD focuses on delegitimizing opponents. In the simplistic, anti-democratic worldview of the AfD, opponents are “enemies” to be destroyed – following Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt.

This must be kept in mind in the 2026 elections. The AfD will most likely follow U.S. right-wing demagogue and Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s dictum: “flood the zone with shit.” In short: saturate the public sphere with propaganda; throw enough dirt, and some will stick.

Right-wing extremists in Germany act similarly. They use every opportunity to denounce IG Metall works councils. This has intensified as AfD support has grown.

In 2022, elections went relatively well for most workers who elected IG Metall councils. The majority of works councils were spared organized far-right campaigns. Reactionary and neo-fascist potential did not translate into council seats.

But note: 2022 occurred thirteen years after the founding of the AfD’s Zentrum Automobil. According to its own claims, Zentrumhas “access” to a three-digit number of works councils – many of which act covertly, pushing AfD ideology without openly admitting affiliation.

Given the AfD’s success, it is safe to assume the AfD has access to a three-digit number of works-council members.

Progressive unions work tirelessly to close the floodgates.

In 2022, works council elections took place in 85.9% of German companies. IG Metall faced opposition from the “Christian Metal Union” (CGM) and the “Association of Independent Employees” (AuB) — both yellow unions. Neither won even 1% of seats.

Sadly, German law does not allow the exclusion of right-wing candidates – democracy permits anti-democrats to run on democratic ballots. This benefits the AfD, enabling the false claim that “once democratically elected, they must be democrats.”

The AfD’s strategy is aggressively directed against IG Metall and its representatives.

In 2022, Zentrum appeared only in the automotive sector in Baden-Württemberg and at BMW in Leipzig. But in 2026 there will be more camouflage lists and hidden AfD candidates. Many lists are simply labeled “alternative lists” — echoing Alternative für Deutschland.

The number of right-wing lists increased significantly from 2018 to 2022 – some loosely tied to far-right parties or pseudo-unions. Looking ahead, six developments can be expected in the 2026 elections:

1. SMEs: Many right-wing candidates will run in small and medium enterprises. Unions must monitor this closely.
2. External Support: With AfD networks providing ideological and propaganda support, far-right lists will spread to new industries and regions.
3. New Industries: Beyond metal and automotive, the public sector, energy-intensive industries, suppliers, and healthcare will face far-right infiltration.
4. AfD Aggression: The stronger Zentrum becomes, the more confrontational its behavior will grow.
5. Defectors: Some works-council members have defected to right-wing organizations; management often welcomes them, and they bring networks and experience.
6. Union Strength: DGB unions remain the strongest workers’ organizations in Germany – despite the far-right challenge.

But moods can change quickly. Perhaps the old slogan — “hold our position!” — may no longer be sufficient in 2026.

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