by the SPD-Green coalition federal government starting from 1999 would have to be abolished and the federal tax on assets, which had ceased in 1997, reintroduced. The draft programme would have to be discussed until the spring 2005. Historical accounts Pre-history/Association WASG The party emerged from the association "Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit e. V." which had been founded on 3 July 2004. The association itself had started as the merger of the groups Initiative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (mainly by Bavarian union representatives) and the Wahlalternative ("Electoral Alternative", founded by people in Northern and Western Germany). Both groups had been founded in reaction to the government politics as laid down in the Agenda 2010 programme of the governing "Red-Green" coalition, which they consider as too neoliberal. The first meeting of the Wahlalternative took place on 5 March 2004 in the Berlin headquarters of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB). The association had 4,056 members on 11 September 2004, the number rising to over 6,000 members shortly before Christmas 2004. The first organisation in one of the states was founded on 17 July 2004 in the Saarland; the first convention in North Rhine-Westphalia took place on 17 October 2004, and it was decided to take part in the 2005 regional elections in that state in spite of the party's unclear financial situation. The association WAsG e. V., the party's "birthplace", continued to exist along with the party; its future purpose had still not been determined. It may be transferred into a political foundation similar to the ones kept by other German political parties. News coverage The nascent party drew attention in the mass media because the foundation of a new left-wing party might have led to a schism in the SPD. Forerunners to such a development were the secession of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) during World War I, the foundation of the Greens (although these were not founded by disaffected SPD members) in the late 1970s, and the Democratic Socialists (DS) party founded by Karl-Heinz Hansen and Manfred Coppik in the early 1980s. Foundation The federal assembly in Nuremberg of the association WAsG e. V. (20 and 21 November 2004) decided to found a party, something that had never been ruled out as a possible outcome by members of the provisional leadership. After the strike vote among members in December 2004, the party was officially