A new “spirit of optimism” came up again and again in speeches at the Left party conference in Berlin on Saturday. Just a few months ago, there was no such approach.
Last year was a political nightmare for the party: in January, their former parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht founded her own eponymous party, then saw their EU representation halve to just 2.7%. The 2024 state elections were also a disaster, with the party losing its traditional hold in the east. His only state prime minister failed to survive in Thuringia, while he barely made it into the state parliament of Saxony and was expelled from Brandenburg altogether.
It was therefore no surprise that some people believed that the Left Party, so called left In Germany, there will be great success in the upcoming parliamentary elections on 23 February.
Renegade branch loses steam
But the tables seem to be turning: Polls show the Left party approaching the 5% hurdle needed to enter the Bundestag as the rebel Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) loses support. The change is likely due to a change in party leadership, with Jan van Aken and Ines Schwertner replacing Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdevan, who were unable to stop a steady decline in the party’s support.
The two, who were elected in October, had barely taken office when Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition collapsed the following month, forcing a vote of no-confidence, prompting him to call early elections. Without their now-estranged coalition partners, the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the environmentalist Green Party can no longer form a majority in the Bundestag.
Sharp criticism of SPD and Greens
After the government fell, the Left Party immediately presented an election program focused on social and economic policy, which has now been adopted at the party conference. He accused the SPD and the Greens of doing nothing to tackle the growing affordability crisis in recent years. “People realize that the Left Party is credibly fighting for social issues, no one else is doing it, we are the ones taking on the rich,” party co-leader Ines Schwertner told DW.
To reduce poverty he has proposed eliminating value-added taxes on basic foods, hygiene products and public transportation tickets. Currently, VAT on these goods is up to 19% – about one-fifth of their total price.
wealth tax to tackle inequality
To finance these plans, the party wants to increase state revenues with a gradual wealth tax: 1% for those with €1 million, 5% from €50 million and 12% from €1 billion.
“Millions of hard-working people have created this enormous wealth,” party co-leader Jan van Aken said at the party conference. “We have to bring it back so we can all live well again.” “There is enough money to use, it is just being misallocated,” he said.
The Left Party also wants to reform the debt brakes enshrined in the constitution, to allow Germany to borrow more again. This would make it possible to modernize the crumbling infrastructure with an additional €200 billion. Economically weak companies would also receive state support in exchange for long-term job guarantees and collective agreements, in addition to agreeing to maintain their locations in Germany.
Clear stance against the far right
The party also named the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as its main rival in the Bundestag elections. “Not an inch for the fascists,” Van Aken said, highlighting how many leftists came to RISA to demonstrate against the AfD party conference last week. “We on the left always oppose attempts to divide our society and incite against immigrants,” Van Aken said.
Van Aken, a former UN biological weapons inspector, also addressed Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine as a violation of international law: “We on the left are against all wars and stand for peace,” he said, But made a distinction between militarization and militarization. Other possible ways to end the conflict. “What we need in Ukraine is more diplomacy, not more weapons,” he said. “Without freedom and democracy in Ukraine, there will be no peace.”
elders to the rescue
The party’s patron, Gregor Gysi, was enthusiastically welcomed at the conference. Berliner celebrated his 77th birthday just last week and is once again running for a direct mandate, having already won from his constituency eight times. He, along with two other prominent elders of the Left party, has launched Mission Silverlock (“Mission Silver Locks”).
Their objective: to secure the re-entry of the Left Party into the Bundestag, even if it fails to reach the 5% hurdle, by seizing the details of German electoral law by which a party can still have at least three direct mandates. Can enter Parliament. The party has already benefited from this rule in the 2021 Bundestag elections.
Gisi has no doubts about defending his mandate and expects at least a 5% result for the party. Despite the loss of many voters in the BSW following the departure of Sahra Wagenknecht, co-chair Ines Schwertner is also confident. “We want to win back all the voters who once voted for the left party,” Schwertner told DW.
After years of internal disputes, the party is once again united and fighting for the same electoral goal. And Gysi also has a personal goal: If voters elect him once again, he will likely be the longest-serving member of the Bundestag – 32 years, barring a brief interruption. His dream is to open the first session of the next German Bundestag with a speech senior chairman (Chairman based on seniority), a tradition that comes with freedom from both content and time limits.
This article was originally published in German.
