Germany's socialist Left Party is flying high
For months, the socialist
Left Party
has been rubbing its eyes in amazement: It won an unexpected 8.8% in the federal election in February, almost double its result in 2021. Since then, opinion polls have put it at around 10%, almost on a par with the environmentalist Greens (11%).
A brief flashback: At the end of 2024, polls put the party well below the five percent threshold needed for representation in the Bundestag.
The Left Party now has 64 lawmakers in the new Bundestag and still has to get used to its surprising success.
This is especially true for the 51 newcomers to the parliamentary group. Its parliamentary leader is Christian Görke, one of the few old hands. The 62-year-old is delighted with his new team.
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'We have great people in this new parliamentary group. They all bring a huge amount to the table and we now want to turn that into parliamentary activities,' he said in an interview with DW.
A spirit of optimism
The party leadership is convinced that this spirit of optimism will also be felt at the national party conference in Chemnitz in the eastern state of Saxony, which begins on Friday. "We want to decide on a strategic plan for how the Left will act in practice over the next three or four years," said
Jan van Aken
, who has been co-chairing the party with Ines Schwerdtner since October 2024.
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One of the main topics for debate will be the lack of affordable housing. The Left Party wants to push for a nationwide rent cap. It focused on this issue during the federal election campaign and was particularly successful with young people. At 25%, the party was the most successful with the 18 to 24 age group — on a par with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The Left and pacifism
"The Left is and will remain a party of peace, especially in times of increasing militarization,' reads the main motion for the conference.
"As a party, we stand unconditionally for international law and the protection of those who suffer from the wars of this world."
In future, however, the party wants to be more assertive with its own proposals for diplomatic solutions. This is especially true with regard to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
"The polls show that two out of three respondents want negotiations and a ceasefire," van Aken told DW.
"We are not getting through to the political decision-makers because they would rather talk about further arms deliveries than negotiations with Russia."
Van Aken accuses Western countries of "military tunnel vision" and has repeatedly called for what he sees as serious diplomatic initiatives. "We need to get China on board and those countries with which both we and the Russian regime have good relations, i.e., Brazil and South Africa," he said.
Van Aken is a former
United Nations
(UN) biological weapons inspector and is convinced that this war cannot be won militarily. "The billions in arms deliveries have not brought us one step closer to peace," he argued, while calling for stronger sanctions against Russia, particularly in the energy sector. As long as President Vladimir Putin can export liquid gas and oil, Russia's war chest will be constantly filled, so this must finally stop, van Aken demanded.
Left Party membership almost doubled
Controversial debates are hardly to be expected at the party conference in Chemnitz. The days of constant bickering are over following the departure of former Left Party icon Sahra Wagenknecht. The
Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance
(BSW), which she founded in 2024 and named after her, failed in the Bundestag elections.
Meanwhile, the Left Party has almost doubled its membership to 112,000 since the end of 2024.
Its new self-confidence is also reflected on the political stage. Although the Left Party is the smallest parliamentary group in the Bundestag, its influence in parliament grows. The best example of this was the election of the new Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz on May 6. The Christian Democrat fell short of the necessary majority in the first round.
To enable a second vote on the same day, two-thirds of MPs had to vote in favor. Merz's CDU/CSU parliamentary group therefore also had to hold talks with the Left Party, although the conservatives have long refused to cooperate with it.
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