This is the title of the report commissioned by the SPD (German Socialist Party) after the last general election (September 2017). The party - the oldest in Germanyobtained then 20.5 % of the votes, the worst result in its history. The candidate Martin Schulz had to resign, from agreement with the democratic logic in force in Europe. Before leaving and as a last service, he commissioned a study on the causes of the disaster. To ensure the objectivity of report, five experts in electoral sociology, outside the party (although close to the left), were chosen. During months of intense work they analyzed a huge amount of data and interviewed in depth more than a hundred people: party officials, elected officials, grassroots affiliates, outside experts.... In an unusual gesture of transparency, the report - more than a hundred pages long - is posted on the SPD website, accessible to everyone (https:// spd.de/aktuelles/news/aus-fehlern-ler-nen/11/06/2018/).

These are not good times for European socialist parties and the crisis of the left has been occupying analysts for years. Political formations that used to govern in their countries as from official document are losing members and voters in droves and are becoming minority groups at risk of disappearing (the accession of Pedro Sanchez to the Spanish Government, due to a fortunate coincidence, does not disprove the trend). This generalized decline can be attributed in good measure to the very success of social democracy: its historical demands have become a reality, making these parties or unions superfluous unless they find new objectives capable of recovering and mobilizing their followers.

When parties or candidates that seemed to have popular support fail at the polls, bad politicians usually put forward two justifications: either that they have not been able to communicate their message well proposal or -even worse, because they are arrogant- that the people have not understood their message. As if the electorate had not been up to the task of leaders they do not deserve.

The SPD confirms the general guideline . Moreover, as report shows, the SPD's own errors are serious and numerous. The new party chairman, Andrea Nahles, had a bitter pill to swallow when she presented the study at press conference in Berlin on June 11. Her body language clearly indicated that she was there out of inherited obligation. The conclusions reached by the experts are devastating, and a simple reading of the index is not to be sniffed at. It is enough to look at the chapter headings: From bearer of all hopes to tragic hero. How the campaign for a candidacy was lost in nothingness". A popular party without people". Shipwreck announced. Why the 2017 campaign had to fail". Unstoppable divorce. The leadership and the instructions of the party have been drifting dangerously apart". Giant lack of communication. When messages fall into the void." Fear of speaking up. When cowardice becomes an issue." Without trust nothing works. When loss of control erodes credibility." A question of justice. The SPD has an answer pending." "Where are the sympathizer groups: an ignored species". Rarely does an index so faithfully reflect the content of a publication.

It is difficult to find an election campaign so poorly planned and executed: late election of candidate, rivalry between the party leadership and candidate, lack of political strategy, poor communication, lack of conviction, passivity of the apparatus, no mobilization of the affiliates. Did the party not trust candidate and the latter did not believe in the program", concludes report. It seems that not even with a suicidal purpose could things have been worse.

The SPD has set an example by facing reality and calling a spade a spade, but it remains to be seen whether the apparatus has really learned its lesson. On page 76 of report we read: Who makes policy has to communicate. Without communication there is no successful politics. Whoever does not value communication cannot win elections. It's as simple as that. Andrea Nahles insisted that the management had taken good grade of these recommendations and would take them to internship with determination, but she was elusive in the face of questions from journalists. It was not the best way to present a change of course on the framework of a press conference.

The SPD, like so many other traditional European parties, needs profound reforms to emerge from its current prostration. Germany and Europe are better off with an SPD in tune: the vacuum caused by the collapse of the center parties -both on the right and on the left- could exacerbate citizens' disenchantment with democracy and give wings to populisms of one or the other sign. These movements are usually right in denouncing the deficiencies of the system, but their remedies are worse than the disease.