A Resurgent Left: The triumphant return - but challenges persist
- Written by Martin Debes
- Reading Time: ~4 Min
Leftist Faction Gathers in Chemnitz: Huzzah, We Persevere! - Radical Left in Chemnitz Voices Opinion:
Amidst the massive, vibrant red stage stands the influencer with nearly 650,000 Instagram followers and over 17 million TikTok hearts. Heidi Reichinnek exclaims, "The Left is back!" And, "It feels so damn good to win again!"
Even though this may seem typical party conference rhetoric, Reichinnek's declaration is no exaggeration. The 37-year-old was the front-runner in a federal election campaign that not only kept The Left from crashing out of parliament as feared, but garnered an astonishing 8.8% of the votes. The Left Party, indeed, has returned.
Reichinnek leads a significantly expanded faction. Beyond her position, she's the new face of a party that had been declared politically dead mere months ago – and now brims with self-assuredness.
The Left has more than doubled
"We'll change this nation step by step," Reichinnek proclaims. "The rich are justifiably terrified. Because: "We intend to scrap a system that leaves the rich richer and the poor poorer." Such a system "offers nothing to democracy, absolutely nothing." And, yes, if that's radical – "then we're radical"!
Reichinnek's ability to attack and entertain also shines. Concluding her speech, she flashes a grin, extending her arms to embrace the entire auditorium. Dancing across the stage in a colorful gown, with nearly 450 delegates cheering, she's the embodiment of a rejuvenated party.
Although the official motto of the party conference is "Organize hope", the real one is: "Hooray, we're still alive!" The party, once sprung from the SED successor organization PDS and the SPD splinter group WASG, desires to finally embed itself in the political system.
To manage it, The Left is large enough. Awards party leader Ines Schwerdtner proudly, "We've doubled our membership numbers this year alone!" Approximately 55,000 people joined this year, increasing the total to nearly 113,000.
A substantial portion of the new members consists of young people - many women. The average age of the new recruits was 30. Additionally, more than 60 percent of the members come from the old Federal Republic. Consequently, says Schwerdtner, the party is "younger, more western, and more feminine."
RecENTLY, The Left has handled many things effectively. It presents a united front, even the old faction-party schism seems to be a thing of the past. The party primarily focuses on its core business: ideological criticism of capitalism plus practical, populist demands like the "rent cap." Otherwise, it attempts to resurrect its old PDS image as a caring party by offering home visits, social advice hours, and a heating cost calculator.
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The strategic position of power in the Berlin Parliament also comes into play. The 64 Left Party members of parliament, together with the 125 AfD members, occupy more than a third of the seats. They could potentially block decisions that require a two-thirds majority, which has already forced the Union into some uncomfortable situations - see the billion-dollar decision and the consequent chancellor election.
Following the failed first round of voting in the chancellor election, Friedrich Merz had to approach Reichinnek and Schwerdtner for assistance. Only with the help of The Left did it result in a shortened deadline for a quick second round of voting without AfD votes.
In short, everything could be going well for The Left at its party festival in Chemnitz, except for the longstanding dispute over Israel. The conflict has already torn apart the Berlin state association and has repeatedly caused disagreements with the youth association solid.
Just days prior, trade unionist Ulrike Eifler, who sits on the federal board, posted a map of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank with the caption #FreePalestine. Graphically, the borders of Israel were not visible, igniting controversial debate. Some interpreted it as a call for the annihilation of Israel.
The federal leadership reacted hastily on Thursday. "The party executive disassociates from any call, statement, or pictorial representation that denies the existence of Israel or promotes its annihilation," it stated in the resolution. It urged all party members to refrain from publishing similar representations and to swiftly delete any already posted.
However, as of Friday, Eifler's post was still live - and support could be seen in Chemnitz. A young delegate from Bavaria, for instance, stepped up to the podium, donning a kufiya and decrying that The Left fails to offer clear condemnation of "genocide." The resolution of the federal board was deemed "a solidarity declaration for an imperialistic, genocidal apartheid state" and "a disgrace" in general by the delegate.
While the response received only muted applause, it demonstrated that the conflict is far from over. Jan van Aken, co-chair of Schwerdtner, admitted that substantive debates were just beginning. The new party program is set to be decided in two years.
Until then, The Left must adapt to its role in the Bundestag. The decision to enable Merz's quick election, particularly among younger MPs, faced resistance and was critiqued on multiple occasions in Chemnitz. As such, how The Left will behave during the election of constitutional judges and the reform of the debt brake remains to be seen, should the Union approach them again.
The situation in the Bundesrat remains unclear. The fact that the two state governments in which The Left is involved agreed to open the debt brake for military expenditure caused resentment among the base and in the board, a situation that should not be repeated according to Schwerdtner in Chemnitz.
The party continues to waver between pragmatism, populism, and idealism. In Chemnitz, the class struggle against imperialism, militarism, and capitalism was repeatedly invoked, alongside ongoing hatred for "fascists" from the AfD and "right-wing chancellor" Merz. Interestingly, the "progressive legacy of the Soviet Union" was commended.
In the end, harmony prevailed at the party conference, carrying through to Saturday. Already, the focus is on upcoming elections - the municipal elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in September and the state elections next year in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
"The elections were just the beginning," declared Reichinnek. "The Left is not over. The Left is the future!"
- The Left Party
- Heidi Reichinnek
- Ines Schwerdtner
- AfD
- Friedrich Merz
- Israel
- SED
- The European Parliament has also expressed its concern at the ongoing situation in the Middle East, specifically in Gaza, with a policy-and-legislation motion that was passed recently.
- Despite the party's substantial expansion, internal politics within The Left Party continue to revolve around the longstanding dispute over Israel, particularly in relation to the significance of the phrase "#FreePalestine."
- Reichinnek, the party's front-runner, and Schwerdtner, its leader, have found themselves in a politically delicate position while dealing with the Israeli issue, as it has caused division among their members.
- In light of increasing competition in the political landscape, with the Left Party now occupying more than a third of the seats in the Berlin Parliament and the AfD, the party's politics and general news are being closely watched, particularly as it navigates the complexities of Israel's presence in the Middle East.
