Left fights for survival - leaders ready to retreat
After the split and a devastating election result, the Left is fighting for survival. For years, there have been renewal demands from the sidelines. A working group is now supposed to find ways - possibly with a new leadership.
A leadership change is brewing in the Left this autumn. Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler, who have been co-chairing the party since 2022, have made it clear that they do not intend to cling to their chairs, according to a crisis meeting of the party executive with the state chairpersons in Berlin. A working group should prepare a plan for content, strategic, and personnel alignments with a focus on the federal party conference in Halle in October. It is important to ensure a proper process, it was said from party circles.
The Left received only 2.7 percent of the votes in the European election at the beginning of June - approximately half as many as five years ago. "The result of the European election was a heavy blow for the Left," it says in a resolution after the meeting for processing the election debacle. "In summary, we must acknowledge: Our election strategy did not succeed."
The party had already performed poorly at the federal election in 2021 and subsequent state elections. This week, former fraction leaders Gregor Gysi and Dietmar Bartsch called for "structural, political, and personnel renewal." The Saxony-Anhalt fraction leader Eva von Angern urged Wissler and Schirdewan not to stand for re-election at the party conference.
Assessing voter base, "dialogue offensive" to start
Wissler and Schirdewan have been co-chairing the party since 2022. Schirdewan had previously hinted that he was considering stepping down at the party conference. During the weekend meeting, there were self-critical voices from party chairpersons and state chairpersons that programmatic clarification processes had been left unaddressed, according to the resolution. The minutes summarize the weaknesses as follows: The Left tried to make social justice "central," as well as climate justice, peace, refugee policy, and criticism of arms politics central themes. However, foreign policy and migration dominated the media debate. Representatives of the Left were not able to break through. There was also criticism that Bartsch and his supporters had instigated a personal debate in public.
The Left lost one of its most prominent politicians, Sahra Wagenknecht, in October 2023 after years of internal conflict. She founded her own party, the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, and received 6.2 percent of the votes in the European election from nowhere. The Left noted in its resolution that around 430,000 BSW votes came from the Left.
In the future, the Left should "formulate more clearly how a humane migration policy looks as an alternative to a fortress policy." The party should also become more visible in peace politics. The Left must strengthen social justice as a core issue and sharpen its demands. The party plans to examine the changes in its voter base more closely, learn from successful left-wing parties in Europe, and network better with left-wing movements and alliances in Germany. Over the summer, a "dialogue offensive" is to start.
Janine Wissler and her co-chair Martin Schirdewan are leading the working group tasked with preparing a plan for the Left's revitalization, focusing on content, strategy, and personnel changes ahead of the party conference in October. Despite the challenges, Janine Wissler and her party have received criticism from within and outside the Left, including calls for renewal from former fraction leaders and state chairpersons.
