{{short description|German politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Lucy Redler | image = Redler.jpg | caption = Redler | birth_name = <!-- if different --> | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1979|8|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Hann. Münden, Lower Saxony, West Germany (now Germany) | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Politician | years_active = | political_party = Die Linke | other_party = Socialist Alternative | spouse = | partner = | children = | website = }} '''Lucy Redler''' (born 17 August 1979) is a German politician, Socialist Alternative activist, and member of the Left Party. From 2005 to 2007, Redler served on the executive committee of the Berlin section of the Labor and Social Justice List (WASG), and she was its chief candidate in the 2006 Berlin state elections. The German media has given Redler the nickname "Red Lucy".<ref>{{cite web |first=Peter |last=Dausend |url=https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article203338/Lucy_und_ihre_Bande.html |title=Lucy und ihre Bande |work=Die Welt |date=11 March 2006 |access-date=16 October 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Allertz |title=Was will die rote Lucy? Gespräch mit der Rebellin Redler |location=Berlin |publisher=Edition Ost |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-360-01088-9 |url=https://www.sozialismus.info/?sid=2222 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014123107/https://www.sozialismus.info/?sid=2222 |archive-date=14 October 2007 }}</ref>
==Early life== Redler was born on 17 August 1979, in Hann. Münden, near Kassel, in Lower Saxony. She is the daughter of a social worker and a pediatric nurse. She first became active in politics through anti-fascist demonstrations. At the age of 15, she became involved with the group Youth against Racism in Europe, which was organized by the Trotskyist group Socialist Alternative (SAV) and other sections of the CWI. Redler studied political economy at the Hamburg University for Economy and Politics.<ref name="bio">"[http://www.lucy-redler.de/index.php?name=News&sid=6 Zur Person]", official campaign biography (28 July 2006).</ref>
==Political career== Remaining in Hamburg following her graduation, she became a local spokesperson for "Youth against War", an anti-Iraq War group close to the SAV.<ref>"[http://www.sozialismus.info/?sid=424 SchülerInnenstreik legt Hamburg lahm]" (25 March 2003)</ref> In the 2002 German federal elections, Redler ran in a Hamburg district as an SAV candidate for the Bundestag. In the 2004 Hamburg state election, she ran on the electoral list of ''Regenbogen'' ("Rainbow"), which was a local electoral alliance of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), Communist Party (DKP), and SAV.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.regenbogen-hamburg.de/index.php?id=161 |title=Lucy Redler |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518043019/http://www.regenbogen-hamburg.de/index.php?id=161 |archive-date=2009-05-18 |work=Regenbogen-Hamburg.de }}</ref>
In 2005, Redler moved to Berlin and became editor of the SAV newspaper, ''Solidarität''. In November of that year, she was elected to the executive committee of the WASG's Berlin section.<ref name="bio" /> She then ran as the head candidate of the WASG in the September 2006 Berlin state elections.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.lucy-redler.de/index.php?name=News&sid=35 |title=Tarifvertrag für die Charité – jetzt! |first=Lucy |last=Redler |date=28 August 2006 }}</ref> The Berlin WASG campaign was controversial, since its candidates directly challenged the slate of the PDS, which was allied with the WASG. Redler openly criticized the role of PDS politicians as participants in the state government.<ref>"[http://www.socialismtoday.org/100/germany.html Vital stage for the left in Germany]", ''Socialism Today'' (April–May 2006).</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Lucas |last1=Adler |first2=Ulrich |last2=Rippert |url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/wasg-n24.shtml |title=Germany: Election Alternative prepares for merger with Left Party |work=World Socialist Web Site |date=24 November 2006 }}</ref> In November 2006, she was elected to the National Committee of the WASG; however, seven months later, the organization voted to merge with the PDS and form the Left Party.
Critical of the terms of the WASG-PDS merger, Redler initially attempted to organize a group that was autonomous from the Left Party in Berlin, known as the Berlin Alternative for Solidarity and Justice (BASG).<ref>{{cite web |first=Katrin |last=Schoelkopf |url=http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article878757/Lucy_Redler_tritt_in_die_Linke_ein.html |title=Lucy Redler tritt in die Linke ein |work=Berlin Morgenpost |date=12 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522142828/http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article878757/Lucy_Redler_tritt_in_die_Linke_ein.html |archive-date=22 May 2011 }}</ref> However, in September 2008, the SAV instructed its East German and Berlin members to join the Left Party. Redler applied for membership in the party, which fueled controversy because of her past activities. The issue even appeared in the pages of major newspapers, such as ''Der Spiegel'', ''Die Welt'', and the ''Berliner Morgenpost''.<ref>{{cite news |first=Katharina |last=Peters |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/beitrittsstreit-linke-hadern-mit-der-roten-lucy-a-586933.html |title=Linke hadern mit der roten Lucy |work=Der Spiegel |date=28 October 2008 |access-date=16 October 2025 }}</ref><ref name="Die Welt">{{cite web |url=https://www.welt.de/berlin/article2644730/Linkspartei-Vize-kaempft-gegen-Redlers-Beitritt.html |title=Linkspartei-Vize kämpft gegen Redlers Beitritt |work=Welt Online |date=29 October 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Joachim |last=Fahrun |url=http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article967390/Linken_Streit_um_Lucy_Redler_eskaliert.html |title=Linken-Streit um Lucy Redler eskaliert |work=Berliner Morgenpost |date=30 October 2008 }}</ref> Because of opposition from some leaders of the Left Party, she was not accepted as a member of the party until August 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.die-linke-berlin.de/nc/politik/presse/detail/artikel/schiedskommission-gibt-einspruechen-statt/ |title=DIE LINKE. Berlin: Schiedskommission gibt Einsprüchen statt |access-date=2010-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412045043/http://www.die-linke-berlin.de/nc/politik/presse/detail/artikel/schiedskommission-gibt-einspruechen-statt/ |archive-date=2009-04-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,715152,00.html|title=Trotzkistin in der Linken: Die Rückkehr der roten Lucy|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=September 2010 |last1=Hengst |first1=Björn }}</ref> Since 2016, Redler has been a member of the ''Parteivorstand'' (National Executive Committee) of the Left Party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteistruktur/parteivorstand/2018-2020/mitglieder/redler-lucy/|title = DIE LINKE: Für Solidarität und soziale Gerechtigkeit!}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{in lang|de}} [http://www.sozialismus.info/?swid=9 SAV biography page] - includes articles by Redler *{{in lang|de}} [http://www.lucy-redler.de/index.php?name=News&sid=1 Official 2006 campaign website] *{{in lang|de}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ7WcJXndSw 2006 Redler campaign speech] at YouTube *{{in lang|en}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1a0vGEudGg Lucy Redler at Socialism 2006 (Part 1)] at YouTube *{{in lang|en}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCNwbMy65v4 Lucy Redler at Socialism 2006 (Part 2)] at YouTube *{{in lang|en}} [https://internationalsocialist.net/en/2016/12/our-activity-261 Lucy Redler on the campaign for nationalisation of housing corporations in Berlin 2019]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Redler, Lucy}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:People from Hann. Münden Category:Die Linke politicians Category:Committee for a Workers' International Category:21st-century German women politicians