The new dual leadership has been elected – Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan are to lead the left out of the crisis. Now it’s a question of whether they get their content-related positions through.
At the end of its federal party conference in Erfurt today, the left wants to stake out its line on Russia, the Ukraine war and NATO. Due to lack of time, voting on the topic was postponed to the last day of the meeting, as the election of the 26-member board took longer than expected.
The new top duo has already been elected: the previous party leader Janine Wissler and the European politician Martin Schirdewan. The party hopes that they will give them a fresh start after electoral defeats and disputes.
Wagenknecht’s position does not find a majority
“We understood as leftists,” said Schirdewan on Saturday evening. “We are back.” More than before, the left will take care of the “bread and butter issues” that move people – such as exploding energy and food prices and high rents. Wissler said she looks forward to working with Schirdewan. “We know and we like each other. And we know where we want to go.”
The consultations on the foreign policy positions of the left with a view to Russia and the Ukraine war were interrupted on Saturday. There was only one interim result: the motion of a group around the Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht, which emphasized NATO’s joint responsibility in the run-up to the Ukraine war, did not find a majority among the delegates. The board’s motion also criticizes NATO, but clearly assigns the blame for the war to Russia. The Russian leadership is accused of imperialist policies.
It’s about the basics
For the left, this is a fundamental dispute. Before the Russian attack on Ukraine in February, many in the party expressed sympathy for Russian interests. The valid party program demands the dissolution of NATO, which should be replaced by a “collective security system with the participation of Russia”. Now the motion of the party leadership, for which Wissler also campaigned, says: “We are committed to a global peace order that includes all actors in the long term, even if this currently seems impossible due to the Russian attack on Ukraine.”
The approximately 570 delegates are to vote on the motion as a whole on Sunday, for which there are still a few requests for changes. They have been meeting in the Thuringian state capital since Friday. The party lost votes not only in the federal elections, but also in the most recent state elections. In addition, internal disputes and allegations of sexism shook the party.
Source: Stern
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