The future of Germany’s Left party has hung in the balance since it sneaked into the national parliament last fall under a special provision for parties that win three or more seats. If three of its 39 representatives quit the party, Die Linke would lose its status as a parliamentary group and gain privileges for speaking times and committee participation. Party insiders say such resignations are a matter of when, not if, after a week of vicious public row over a speech in which former co-leader Sahra Wagenknecht accused the German government of “launching an unprecedented economic war against our most important. energy supplier”. Supporters of Wagenknecht, a controversial but prominent figure, are already hatching plans for a breakaway party to contest the 2024 European elections, German newspaper Taz reported this week. Such a split would likely spell the end of Die Linke, 15 years after it was founded in a merger between East Germany’s successor party Socialist Unity Party and former Social Democrats disillusioned with their party’s direction under Gerhard Schroeder and little less than a decade. after forming the largest opposition force in the 2013-17 term of the Bundestag. In her speech last Thursday, Wagenknecht called Chancellor Olaf Solz’s left-wing coalition “the stupidest government in Europe” for imposing sanctions on Russia, which supplied more than half of Germany’s gas needs before the start of war in the spring. “Yes, of course the war in Ukraine is a crime,” Wagenknecht said. “But how dumb is the idea that we can punish Putin by pushing millions of German families into poverty and ruining our economy while Gazprom makes record profits?” The speech was greeted with applause not only by the Linke leadership but also by representatives of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Wagenknecht no longer holds any official position in Die Linke, but was appointed as its sole speaker at the recent parliamentary meeting on the national climate budget. Before the speech, Die Linke parliamentary co-chair Dietmar Bartsch reportedly urged Wagenknecht to refrain from calling for the opening of Nord Stream 2, the Russian gas pipeline that was halted shortly before the invasion of Ukraine in February. While the 53-year-old did not mention Nord Stream 2, her comments about “economic warfare” proved incendiary. Although the German government has used similar language to describe its standoff with the Kremlin over natural gas deliveries, Wagenknecht suggested that the aggressive action in that conflict had been initiated by the West. “The position that the federal republic of Germany is leading an economic war against Russia reverses cause and effect,” said Bodo Ramelow, the Left Party’s state premier for Thuringia. “The phrase ‘US economic war against Russia’ is Kremlin propaganda,” said Martina Renner, former deputy leader of the left-wing party. While Die Linke has widely opposed the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine, it voted in favor of economic sanctions against Russia in May and a party conference in June condemned Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine as “imperialist”. The splits in the left party, which have existed since the founding of Die Linke, have become increasingly entrenched in recent years. The biggest and most bitter division is between reformers who see the party’s future in a space where different trade union and social justice movements overlap and those of the more traditional, nationalist left who rallied around Wagenknecht, who accuse what they call the “left of the way of life” that it betrays. the party’s traditional labor base. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. While the movement-oriented Bewegungslinke dominates Die Linke’s leadership, the Wagenknecht faction continues to make headlines, most recently calling for a revival of Cold War-era “Monday demonstrations” to protest rising energy prices. With the party’s parliamentary status in good balance, there have so far been few attempts to rock the boat in pursuit of an open conflict. Wagenknecht ended her speech by calling for the resignation of Finance Minister Robert Habeck. Instead, her contribution prompted the resignations of two high-profile members. Ulrich Schneider, the head of the German welfare union Der Paritätische, announced on Twitter on Monday that he had turned over his members to the party that allowed Wagenknecht to take the podium. “It was too much,” said Schneider, who heads Germany’s largest umbrella organization of self-help initiatives in health and social work. Fabio di Masi, a former Linke MP who remained its most prolific expert on finance even after quitting as an MP last year, said a day later that he would also surrender his members as he no longer wanted to bring responsibility for the “Sheer failure of key players in this party.” The draining of support is reflected at the base level. According to internal party figures seen by the Guardian, Die Linke lost more than 3,000 members – or 5.5% of its total membership – in the first half of this year. After winning 4.9% of the vote in federal elections last September, the left-wing party has failed to break the threshold in five consecutive state elections.
