What would have happened to Zohran Mamdani in the SPD Hamburg-Lohbrügge local branch? Suppose that the man, who had just been elected mayor of New York as a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist”, left-wing figure of hope, cheered, probably cheered too much again, this man would one day have opened at a general meeting, would have received his red party booklet, thank you, welcome, comrade, next item on the agenda – how would his story have continued?
:A “democratic socialist” as mayor
Just a year ago, Zohran Mamdani was a nobody, now the whiz kid is supposed to rule the world capital of capitalism. His success gives Democrats a realization.
Such fantasies can easily be created when you watch the documentary “Downstairs – In the Local Association,” which will be shown in cinemas in some German cities (and presumably also in many SPD local associations) starting this week. The film by Jan-Christoph Schultchen, himself a member of the party, describes the work at the grassroots level of German social democracy as it is: unromantic, laborious, slow. Tables are pushed together and pieces of paper with agenda items are distributed. Jusos cautiously complain that their applications make it to the state party conference, but are watered down to the point where they are no longer recognizable. The district delegate conference votes on 70 amendments to the program for the district elections that were previously decided in working groups, accompanied by “We have to put people at the center” speeches, in between there are pretzels and coffee from paper cups. “And then we’ve already got through the preamble.” Again, something that is being democratically eliminated. Applause.
Isn’t Hamburg the New York of Germany?
The stream of this film is currently running in one tab, and Zohran Mamdani’s Instagram channel is open in the other. So there are opposites: the downright lustful hostility to vision of German democracy, its endless smallness – and a political utopia in a retro look, with orange, curved “Zohran” lettering in the style of the 1970s and a crisis filter on the film footage. Difficult to compare, of course. But the word should have gotten around that liberal democracy is ultimately just as under pressure in Hamburg as it is in New York.
:Why is this so much fun?
Petting cats, visiting six New York clubs in one night, shooting a video in Arabic: Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign was one feel-good clip. A social media analysis.
Probably no party stands for belief in its procedures and institutions as much as the SPD, more so than the economic miracle parties CDU and CSU. Taking a deep look into the SPD, all the way down to the gears, is therefore not the worst idea for a film project. So you sit there and watch people who themselves sit there and stare at screens and no longer understand the country. At some point the result of the 2024 European elections will be announced and the comrades will quietly drink their white wine. Kevin Kühnert, then Secretary General, speaks on television about the result “that we have to work through together”. The party is now “at the bottom again,” says the local chairman. Then the old people get their pins for decades of membership; one of them still knew Willy Brandt as the mayor of Berlin.
The film is a bit like the SPD itself: gets involved with the “Internationale” and then manages its own idea. Promotes party work, but doesn’t sugarcoat it. Is very accurate. And sometimes you need a paper cup of coffee to stay focused while watching.
But yes, it’s worth it. You learn something about this company. For example, the scene of a Christmas party in the Bergedorf West local association, a prefabricated housing area built in the late 1960s, around the time that Mamdani’s lettering and film aesthetics allude to. Today, says a Juso member, the people active in the SPD are mainly people who benefited from the party in the sixties and eighties, “climbers” who have now become established. “They have the time and resources to get involved in their party.” And so a few young people with almost all brown or black skin sing something about Christ the Savior at the Christmas party, while the old people drink more from thermos flasks. The Jusos can shout “Alerta, Antifascista” at the demo, this is possible because the system is already set up for filtering and diluting in the internal party processes. Because the young ones have no chance against the older ones in terms of numbers anyway.
German parties make the small ones big, but at the same time they make the big ones small
That’s just “the reality of the German political system,” says a young man, “that things take time.” A party is “not a feel-good place”. That makes sense: Anyone who opens here doesn’t spread their arms, smile big and, like Mamdani, become mayor of a big city a few years later. German parties, and especially the SPD, which believes in structure and processes, make the small ones big, at the price of which they have to bring down the big ones. The member of the Bundestag and the Social Democratic Senator for Economic Affairs also sing Christmas carols in Bergedorf West and listen to their comrades in the same rounds telling them that the buses are not running.
At the Christmas party, Abdullah, around twenty years old, gets his party register. The future of the party probably looks something like this: a bit like Zohran Mamdani. How would that fare in the SPD?
Below – In the local club, Deutschland 2025 – Direction, camera and editing: Jan-Christoph Schultchen. Music: Bassel Hallak. Sound mixing: Holger Claßen. With: Ralf Stegner, Metin Hakverdi, Melanie Leonhard, Paul Veit. Barnsteiner, 80 minutes. Cinema release: November 6, 2025