Hatred becomes relief

Hatred becomes relief

There are still similarities in terms of content between the future Wagenknecht group and the old Left Party, which now needs to reposition itself. Above all, however, there is a major rift. If both sides share anything, it is relief at the end.

It is a first for the German Bundestag: a parliamentary group is disbanding in the middle of the legislative period. The previous 38 Left Party MPs will form two groups in future, as neither of them will be enough for a parliamentary group, neither the Wagenknecht group nor the remaining Left Party members. This requires five percent of MPs in the Bundestag - currently 37.

The left-wing parliamentary group has decided today to dissolve itself, with the group to be liquidated by December 6. As far as possible, the separation is to be carried out in a civilized manner. If only because of the 108 employees, as MPs from both sides repeatedly emphasize. Nevertheless, some of them will have to look for a new job: Groups receive less funding than parliamentary groups and can therefore afford fewer staff.

Even if there is still a degree of bewilderment, especially on the side of those left behind, relief seems to prevail. It is true that groups will not only have fewer employees and fewer parliamentary rights in future. But at least a years-long, agonizing dispute has come to an end.

"Inevitable in the end"

At the party conference in Göttingen in 2012, Gregor Gysi had already diagnosed that there was "hatred" in the parliamentary group. There is animosity and enmity in all parliamentary groups, says Jan Korte, the longstanding Left Party parliamentary group leader, in an interview with ntv.de. "The difference with us is the personal relentlessness and this strange longing for doom." For him, it is "a sad day". But at least a latent ongoing conflict has now been resolved. "In the end, the split in the party and parliamentary group was inevitable," says Klaus Ernst, Chairman of the Committee for Climate Protection and Energy - for now. He is likely to lose this post, as groups are not entitled to such offices.

Korte will remain in the Left Party, Ernst will belong to the Wagenknecht group. He signed the letter in which Wagenknecht and some of her supporters explained at the end of October why they wanted to leave the Left Party and form a new party. The reasons for the split are mainly substantive: "We have repeatedly tried to halt the decline of the party by changing its political course," the letter states. It accuses the left of "lacking focus on social justice and peace".

Yet these are precisely the issues on which the two groups actually have the strongest points of agreement. Korte also wants his party to be there for those "who get a shiver down their spine when a Social Democrat defense minister calls for war readiness". He also wants to "make policy for those who are exploited".

What actually is "left-wing"?

But there are two more points: The "Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance", as the association is called, wants to build a party that is a "voice for social justice, peace, reason and freedom". Wagenknecht has been railing against what she calls a "lifestyle left" for years. Not only did she find the campaigning for minorities, gender stars and climate protection annoying, she did not and does not see it as truly "left-wing". "There are reasons why the Left Party is hardly ever voted for by workers, pensioners, the socially disadvantaged or peace activists," says Alexander Ulrich, member of the Bundestag, who left the Left Party together with Wagenknecht. "Open borders for all, identity politics or a more radical climate policy will no longer score points, as almost all polls confirm."

Klaus Ernst is even clearer: "A policy of open borders is illusory and creates more problems than it solves," he says. With regard to climate policy, he sounds more like the FDP than the Greens: "There's no doubt that climate change is a major problem, but how do we deal with it? We think: through innovation and by not narrowing the corridor of possible solutions from the outset. And above all, not by making people's lives more and more expensive. Unfortunately, the left sees things differently."

And then there was the peace demonstration in February

Ernst's former parliamentary colleague Korte also confirms this dissent from the other direction: "We need trade union roots, roots in the companies as well as in the climate movement or in refugee work," he says. The way Wagenknecht talks about migrants has "nothing to do with the left".

From the point of view of many left-wingers who remain in the Left Party, it is Wagenknecht who is no longer "left-wing". Bundestag member Clara Bünger emphasizes: "The Left Party remains the only voice that is not moving to the right."

The accusation of having an unclear relationship with the far right was already made when Wagenknecht organized a rally together with publicist Alice Schwarzer in February to protest against arms deliveries to Ukraine, as right-wing extremists also took part. The Left Party unanimously rejects arms deliveries to Ukraine. What angered some in the party, however, was the impression that Wagenknecht was more critical of Ukraine than Russia.

"The tablecloth was cut"

It is possible that discussions about Russia at Left Party conferences will be somewhat less controversial in future and that the demand to replace NATO "with a collective security system involving Russia" will be removed from the party program at some point. Katja Kipping, then Senator for Social Affairs in Berlin, launched an initiative to this effect before she left politics. The former Left Party leader's reasoning: "At the latest after Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, which violated international law, with all the atrocities associated with it, including the abduction of thousands of children, we cannot pretend that this development did not happen." A future Wagenknecht party is likely to see things completely differently.

There are also major differences on the question of guilt. It is "these ten who have destroyed the parliamentary group", emphasizes Jan Korte with regard to the Wagenknecht group. Klaus Ernst also sees this very differently: "We would all have liked it not to have come to this and we fought for this internally for a long time. However, the party executive and other parts of the functionaries have repeatedly made it clear to us that they no longer want us and our positions in this party - so we left." Alexander Ulrich says that the decision by the federal executive in the summer that Sahra Wagenknecht should resign her seat in the Bundestag "was the last straw".

A fresh start as an "opportunity", a "historic chance"

The Left Party and Wagenknecht group agree that the split also has positive aspects. "We must see the dissolution of the parliamentary group as an opportunity to go into the future stronger and united," says Clara Bünger. "It is logical to go our separate ways when it comes to political positions that can no longer be reconciled and are far removed from my understanding of left-wing politics."

Sevim Dagdelen, a long-time confidante of Sahra Wagenknecht, even says that the founding of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance is "a historic opportunity to create a party that focuses on the real concerns of citizens". In the Bundestag, the new group wants to represent "the interests of the majority of the population for economic reason, consistent peace policy and social justice" instead of "getting lost in side issues like the Left", says Dagdelen.

Here you can already hear that the bitter dispute that has so far been waged within the Left Party is perhaps not quite over after all. In future, it could only be fought between two parties.

1. Sahra Wagenknecht, a key figure in the dissolved Left Party parliamentary group, has declared that her new alliance aims to be a "voice for social justice, peace, reason, and freedom," distancing herself from what she perceives as a "lifestyle left" that focuses on minorities, gender, and climate protection, which she feels is not genuinely "left-wing."
2. In the German Bundestag, the split between the former Left Party members and the Wagenknecht group has resulted in each side having insufficient MPs to form a parliamentary group, necessitating a reconfiguration of funding and staffing arrangements, as the Parties ORDNER require at least five percent of MPs to hold group status.

Source: www.ntv.de