GERMANY—On 4 July, the 100th anniversary of the Nazi Party’s second conference in the German state of Thuringia, the far-right Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) held its federal party conference in a neighbouring city in the same state.
Putting the anti-fascist slogan “Never again is now” into practice, more than 17,000 anti-fascists blockaded every entrance to the venue, chanting “Hooray! Hooray! The Antifa is here today!”
Given the grim political climate in Germany, these protests are sorely needed. Increased military spending is leading to funding being stripped from health care, welfare, housing, youth clubs and museums. The postwar taboo—German rearmament—has been broken: Chancellor Friedrich Merz now speaks of making the German armed forces the “strongest conventional army in Europe”. His coalition government of the Christian Union and Social Democratic Party has taken the first step to reintroducing conscription for millions of young people.
Attacks on the working class are coming hard and fast: on 2 July, the government unveiled tax, pension and labour measures that included mandating a doctor’s note for all sick days and raising the retirement age to 70. The government also plans to extend the working day.
Then there is the racism. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt boasts of a “migration turnaround” under the new government, rejecting asylum seekers at the border, denying family reunion visas and increasing deportations. Last year, the government deported nearly 23,000 people, a number that will increase with the construction of deportation terminals at Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich airports.
The far right is flourishing under this increasingly authoritarian government. Having attracted the second-highest vote in last year’s federal election, 21 percent, the AfD is now leading the polls with 28 percent support. In Saxony-Anhalt, where a state election will be held next month, the party could form the first far-right government since the fall of the Third Reich.
None of this has happened without resistance. For months, activists have been organising in their neighbourhoods, universities and trade unions to blockade the AfD conference. In the host city of Erfurt, they knocked on 20,000 doors to build local support. On the day, 50,000 people mobilised in a colourful, jubilant wave. More than 17,000 blockaded the conference venue, preventing delegates from entering.
From more than 80 localities across Germany, and even neighbouring Austria, protesters descended on the conference venue from the earliest hours of the morning. Locals established the first and closest of the seventeen blockade points. Organiser Nicki Leiphold recounted in a press conference:
“When I got up yesterday at 4 in the morning, overtired, I looked out into the window of the apartment opposite mine. That was when I saw the first person putting on their yellow safety vest. And as our group stepped outside, we ran right into another group of people who were also there to resist. The streets were suddenly so full like they otherwise never are in Erfurt at that time. In the blockade, I sat next to a woman with a walker, next to a large group of professors, next to apprentices and high-school students. A married couple danced together in the blockade. An elderly man who told me he was afraid that fascists might come to power in Germany again stood upright in the blockade with me at 5am.”
After disembarking from dozens of buses on the outskirts of Erfurt, the Berlin contingent marched in our thousands across fields and along major roads to our blockade point on the A71 highway leading into the city. It quickly became a theatre for political discussion and debate. One socialist group, Socialism from Below, held a teach-in during the blockade to discuss resistance strategies to the far right.
Blockades are not a new tactic and have been organised by the group widersetzen (resist) to disrupt AfD events since 2024. This year, they were the largest yet. Despite our efforts, though, the conference started on time, unlike in previous years and despite our bigger numbers. This was because the 600 delegates were escorted into the venue at 2am by police. Coordinated by Thuringia’s Social Democratic Party Interior Minister Georg Maier, the authorities had learnt from previous years’ blockades.
On the one hand, this illustrates the strength of our side: the police even spoke of our “immovability”. On the other, it points to a limitation of the blockade tactic.
Widersetzen prioritises building the widest possible alliance to confront the far right, while rejecting broader debate about the most effective way to fight it. Accordingly, minimal argument was made for the blockade tactic, and political organisations with other perspectives were denied the right to have a visible presence at the actions. This weakens our side, as it prevents the sort of open debate that is needed about what fascism is and what sort of politics and action are needed to win—debates that maximise the movement’s chance of getting it right and give people a sense of ownership over their actions.
Inside the conference, the AfD presented itself as professional, unified, disciplined and ready to govern. The election of Stefan Möller, co-chairman of the Thuringian branch, to deputy co-leader represents a strengthening of the fascist sections of the party. He defends the “Thuringian way”, which he defines as “no moderation, no compromises”. This branch of the party is classified as right-wing extremist even by Germany’s domestic spy agency.
The AfD shows no signs of moderating its image as the party gets closer to power; instead, it has become more extreme. The symbolic choice of conference date is a case in point.
In the capital city of the AfD’s heartland state of Thuringia, where right-wing violence and racist hostility have become part of everyday life, the anti-fascist mobilisations provided an important counterweight.
Locals showed their solidarity with the protest through yard signs and snacks and drinks left for protesters in front yards. Residents waved to us and, in one nearby apartment building, almost every balcony was occupied by supporters, who passed a pot of coffee between them as they talked about the protests. In another building, a migrant family gathered at the window, wiping away tears. When we sang out to an elderly couple watching us from their front fence, they sang back enthusiastically.
The mass resistance to the AfD in Erfurt offered a message of hope to anti-fascists everywhere. It is crucial that we strengthen this movement.
