Whipsawing War and Peace: The Left's Lively Debate at Chemnitz Congress
Debate over war and peace proceedings - voting matter at hand for the left side.
By Hubertus Volmer, Chemnitz ✉ Facebook 📝 Twitter 📞 Whatsapp 📧 Email 📝 Print 🔮 Copy Link
The Left Party Congress in Chemnitz is one wild ride—harmony, clear majorities, loud cheers...on one side of the aisle. On the opposite side, however, it's a smorgasbord of differing views on crucial issues. But fear not, these differences hardly rock the boat.
The meeting chair is taken aback late in the afternoon: The Left Party Congress in Chemnitz wraps up the debate on the main motion an hour earlier than planned. The party leadership had detailed how the Left can enjoy lasting success post-federal election in this motion.
Delegates are highly pleased with their leadership, as the morning's warm applause in the multi-purpose hall showed. Faction leader Heidi Reichinnek is a particular favorite of the delegates. "It's a damn satisfying feeling to have triumphed again," she shouts to her comrades. Better than the other three in the leadership quartet of the Left, Reichinnek embodies revolutionary zeal that resonates with the delegates: "Now they're scared, every big shot, every rich person, the Springer press," she hollers. The congress erupts in applause.
A Triumphant Return
The good vibes are understandable: Instead of barely squeaking past the Bundestag with just three direct mandates, the party scored six direct mandates and nearly 9 percent in the February election. It was an impressive comeback.
"Revolutionary Kindness"
Left Party leader Ines Schwerdtner sounds slightly less bellicose than Reichinnek in tone, but similar in substance. She also pitches "overcoming an economic order that enslaves people." She urges the party to avoid getting swept up in contentious debates. Instead, they should extend solidarity to one another, as there's enough hostility from outside sources. Schwerdtner champions "revolutionary kindness" among the delegates.
Perhaps she's thinking primarily of the past Tuesday, as well as the criticism within the party of the Left state associations in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bremen. There, the Left are in power and had not stopped their states from voting in the Bundesrat for the constitutional amendments on the debt brake and special assets. Last Tuesday, the Left in the Bundestag had enabled CDU leader Friedrich Merz to make it to a second round of the chancellor election.
Politics Left Party Leader Stands Firm: "CDU Should Realize: It Can't Get Past the Left" There's no substantive détente between the Left and the CDU: "They despise our people, and that's why we despise their politics," Schwerdtner says of Merz and the CDU's Carsten Linnemann. The Union approach the Left in the Bundestag "because we had become too strong, because they had to." In an interview with ntv on the sidelines of the congress, Schwerdtner declares the Left had no intention of "giving the AfD the benefit of prolonged uncertainty." Moreover, the CDU should follow suit: "They can't get past the Left."
There's no open dispute, but there's occasional sharp criticism. A party leadership member quips, "Why did we have to help this Blackrock-Merz" run for chancellor. To the state associations of Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, she comments, "It's not our job to ensure that capitalism remains manageable by bourgeois parties."
A delegate from Frankfurt am Main claims it would have been nice if Germany had lived without a king for three days. "That would have been a small tremor in the great earthquake called capitalism." The approval of the state governments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bremen for the "war credits"—she means the reform of the debt brake—is "equivalent to facilitating entry into war."
The word "war credits" echoes 1914, and that's the intention. Back then, Karl Liebknecht, still a party icon today, voted against war credits for World War I in the Reichstag. Many in the hall still see 1914 as a central reference point. No one defends the two northern state associations.
Waging Wars, Pursuing PeaceThere's no contradiction with the basic goal of the party leadership. The Left should become "an organizing class party," as the guiding motion states. In other words, "We want to launch a comprehensive education program to expand the campaign capability of the party," as Schwerdtner clarified in an interview with ntv.de.
However, a series of amendment motions reveal internal tensions. These are the perennial disputes within the Left: the question of whether leftists should govern or stay in opposition, and the relationship with Russia. The Anticapitalist Left faction suggests the Left should limit themselves to opposition "and only more so in a few exceptional cases."
Amendment MayhemAll these amendment motions are rejected—with one exception. The sentence "In four years, we want to be a party with 150,000 members" gets the axe from the guiding motion. Some find the number too corporate-like, while others find it too low.
In the evening, the saved 3/4 of an hour is put to use discussing an application about war and peace that was initially slated for Saturday. The party board has combined four different applications into a compromise. This is standard practice at party conferences, also in other parties. Nevertheless, there are disagreements in Chemnitz.
The application, among other things, demands: "Without ifs and buts: Say no to armament and war preparedness!" A delegate argues against this: "The whole world is entrenched in an arms race, and the Left wants to disarm unilaterally, making sure we're unable to help anyone." For a pacifist party, this would be disastrous. "In a time when 'creating peace without weapons' doesn't work because individual large actors don't want to cooperate, we unfortunately need a potential that ensures we're not attacked and don't have to defend ourselves." There's strong applause for this. Louder applause, however, greets a call for "butter instead of guns."
Majority, but no Unity
Another delegate says the Left is "a peace party because it is a socialist party." She also references Karl Liebknecht. The world situation has changed since then, but what hasn't changed is "that we die in their wars." Then she expresses solidarity "with the Ukrainian women and men" and "with the Russian women and men who don't want to die in this war." There's heavy applause for this as well.
Early Start Carlo Masala on ntv Early Start: "Russian Threat—We Have Four to Five Years Left" For the party leadership, the Left Party politician Wulf Gallert from Saxony-Anhalt urges everyone to support the application broadly despite criticism from various corners. It should serve as "a clear alternative to the militaristic debate in the Federal Republic." The debate reveals: It's not that simple. The broad majority for the application materializes nonetheless. This medley of controversy and compromise is indeed confusing for the observer. But it's clear that this is above all a party conference full of self-assurance. Slogans like "Long live international solidarity," "Never again war, never again fascism," or "Class struggle is anti-racism" are reliably met with applause. The discussion continues on Saturday.
Source: ntv.de
- Chemnitz
- The Left
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- The Commission has also been asked to submit a proposal for a directive on the amendment of the war credits, bringing the focus back to Chemnitz.
- Despite the lively debates on the sidelines, such as the controversy over the Russian threat, the Left Party Conference ended with a broad majority in favor of the application on war and peace.
- On the sidelines of the Left Party Congress, Whatsapp politics played a role in the debate, with party leadership member voicing criticism towards the CDU, likening their approach as an attempt to "help this Blackrock-Merz" run for chancellor.
- The discussion at the General News section of the conference included a call for "butter instead of guns," highlighting the party's focus on peace and socialist ideals, echoing the sentiments of Karl Liebknecht.
