“Is in the death zone” – how Sahra Wagenknecht led the German left to the abyss

It is a party-political war of attrition in Germany that could soon come to an end: since Sahra Wagenknecht announced in March that she would no longer be a candidate for the Left Party, there seems to be no stopping it. Allies and opponents of the party icon accuse each other of splitting the party. The mood is down. “It’s never been this bad,” it sounds internally.

The current bone of contention is attitudes towards the war in Ukraine and German arms supplies. How much the issue divides the party is now more apparent than with the ‘peace uprising’ organized by Wagenknecht at the end of February. The party leadership accused Wagenknecht of not clearly distinguishing itself from the right and refused to support the demonstration.

For some in the Wagenknecht camp, this amounted to a ban. For them it was the fall of man, the last proof that the party is beyond saving. “Any leftist who bans his own MPs from going to peace demonstrations needs psychological support,” says a member of the parliamentary group on t-online. If party leader Janine Wissler continues like this, “in 2025 the left will no longer exist in the Bundestag”.

The future of the left is at stake

Understandably, nerves are on edge. For the Left Party, which nearly made it to the Bundestag in 2021 and has since held nearly five percent in polls, everything is at stake: its internal unity, its status as a parliamentary group in the Bundestag, its future in the German party landscape. When Wagenknecht leaves, and with a bang, the Left Party threatens to fall into political insignificance.

However, the row over Ukraine’s policies is just the latest episode in years of conflict between the most prominent member of the left and the party leadership. But now the temporary climax has been reached: Wagenknecht has repeatedly toyed with the idea of ​​setting up a new party in recent weeks.

For example, in an interview with the “Rheinpfalz” in early March. There she announced that she would remain a member of the Left Party until the end of the 2025 election period at most. After that, she will either retire from politics and work as a publicist, or “there will be something new politically”.

«A new political force standing up for peace»

But this “politically new” could come much earlier: this year is considered the best time to create a Wagenknecht party. The math: 2024 is the election for the European Parliament, where there is no five percent hurdle. To get one of the 96 German mandates, about one percent of the vote is enough. A Wagenknecht party should be able to do that without any problems. So it would be the perfect stepping stone.

Wagenknecht friends have no doubt that this will happen: it will happen very soon. “The smartest and most socially responsible thing is to create a new political force that clearly advocates for peace,” says a member of the Bundestag parliamentary group. Wagenknecht himself is even more reserved, but has become more and more obvious lately. “Within the next nine months,” the decision will be made, Wagenknecht recently told ZDF.

Since then, the fronts between supporters and opponents have hardened. The center of the conflict is mainly the parliamentary group of the left, the parliamentary figurehead of the party. Wagenknecht has some confidants here who stay close to her.

A faction falls apart

The ongoing conflict paralyzes the faction. Frustration can be felt in conversations with MPs, but also resignation. “We are in the death zone,” a member of the parliamentary group described the mood. The party has lost credibility, so it’s no wonder voters turned out en masse.

Both sides are irreconcilable, they are now openly working against each other, faction meetings regularly turn into show battles between the camps. Opponents of Wagenknecht groan, many are frustrated and tired. Instead of being able to concentrate on technical work and thus ensure that the party returns to the Bundestag with a better result in 2025, everything revolves around Wagenknecht. A single person paralyzes the entire faction, yes, an entire faction.

The Wagenknecht camp, on the other hand, sees itself patronized by the party leadership. Party leaders Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan already regularly send their “foot troops” against the Wagenknecht people, either to isolate them in the parliamentary group or to publicly malign unpopular MPs, it is said behind closed doors.

The vibration for the WagenknExit

After all, the warring camps agree on one point: things cannot go on like this. “I have no political imagination about how things will ever get better,” says someone from the Wagenknecht camp. Something similar is heard from the other side: “The tablecloth has finally been cut.”

Meanwhile, prominent public voices are getting louder, calling for the two camps to be separated and for Wagenknecht to be banned from the left. “As soon as there are concrete steps towards the creation of a new party, there should be no more room for them in the party and the parliamentary group,” said Bernd Riexinger, a member of the Bundestag, on the portal “Pioneer “. Left party leader Wissler phrased it the same way, but she narrowed it down: “But we’re not there yet.”

Dietmar Bartsch, co-chair of the parliamentary group, who will most likely be the one who should calm the hurricane in the parliamentary group, also wants to wait and see. He has long been the subject of criticism for not succeeding. Instead, he continues to push for new cooperation between the camps.

“The way to lead the leftists out of the survey low can only mean: politics, politics, politics,” Bartsch told t-online. “Instead of discussing Sahra Wagenknecht, we should practice good parliamentary opposition policy, especially in view of the catastrophic traffic light policy.”

What is at stake for Members of the European Parliament

For the last step, which many Wagenknecht opponents in particular long for, it is mainly the party and faction leaders who shy away from it. They are all too aware of how devastating the consequences of an “exit from an auto-bid” can be for the party and parliamentary group, as well as for the political careers of their MPs.

If only three of the total of 39 members of the Bundestag were to leave the parliamentary group with Sahra Wagenknecht to embark on a new political adventure, it would have enormous consequences: the left would fall below the minimum number of 36 MPs required to form a parliament. a parliamentary group. In doing so, she would lose her privileged status and not only lose huge sums of money, for example to pay employees, but also the right to speak in parliament and the ability to introduce laws. The left in the Bundestag would be a thing of the past with a coup.

The gap left by Wagenknecht

What sounds like a nightmare scenario is anything but implausible. The parliamentary faction secretly expects at least five MPs who would exchange with Wagenknecht if the party were to be re-established. More than it takes to end faction status.

And yet there are certainly options for the left to avoid self-inflicted utter powerlessness. Both camps could try to be recognized as groups. Groups have rights similar to factions, so they can receive money for staff and offices. But the Bundestag must decide by resolution whether and to what rights they are entitled.

That has never happened before in the Bundestag

If that goes wrong, there remains an option that is also new for the Bundestag: the total of 39 MPs from the left and the Wagenknecht party will then be non-attached MPs. Lone warriors who would each have the right to speak in parliament. So far there are only four of them in the Bundestag in this legislature, so their number would increase tenfold. Actually an impractical option, but now conceivable for some members of the left. “That would be nice,” someone says ironically.

The day could soon come when Members of the European Parliament will have to make a decision. Because time is running out for Wagenknecht’s new party, the lists for the European elections will have to be drawn up in the coming months. So there is not much time left.

With a view to the next federal elections, one thing is already clear: without Wagenknecht, but with the ongoing dispute over her person, the chances of the Left Party returning to the Bundestag at all decrease. However, it is uncertain whether Wagenknecht’s new party can make it to parliament. It’s not enough for people to imagine voting for a party in polls, they have to actually do it.

In the worst case, neither the left nor the Wagenknecht party make it to the Bundestag. It would be an inglorious end. But one that seems increasingly likely.