Bundestag election: Leftists as “cool street kickers” in the election campaign

The left is fighting for its existence – and is in good spirits. “We are the cool street footballers in this election campaign,” shouted federal chairman and self-confessed St.Pauli fan Jan van Aken at a party conference in Berlin. “Let’s go out on the pitch, show that we can attack and that we can defend. Let’s win this game.”

The approximately 450 delegates who had gathered in a former post station with industrial charm cheered again and again – not only for van Aken, but also for his co-boss Ines Schwerdtner and MP Heidi Reichinnek, who with van Aken forms the top duo for the federal election. Unusually disciplined, they adopted the program for the federal election without much argument. And the meeting, which was planned to be the “shortest party conference in the history of the Left”, ended on time – but then with an enthusiastic encore at the “Internationale”.

“The left is back, it is more alive than it has been for a long time,” said van Aken in conclusion. “Our goal is crystal clear: at least five percent and three silver locks. We’ll do it.”

Below five percent in the polls

So the left is euphoric itself. However, five weeks before the federal election, the party is only polling at three to four percent, well below the five percent hurdle. The break with Sahra Wagenknecht a year ago weakened it – the Left only has 28 members in the Bundestag. Internally, the cracks in its handling of the Gaza and Ukraine wars have only been repaired with difficulty.

The party is encouraged because, according to van Aken, it has recorded 17,000 new members in the past few months. The Left now has more than 60,000 members again, said the chairman. Essentially, the party leadership argues: the left is simply indispensable. “We will definitely get into the Bundestag, because the left has never been as important as it is today,” said Schwerdtner.

Against the “fascist party”

Schwerdtner’s speech focused primarily on the right – which audibly mobilized people at the party conference. She assumed that the Union would also work with the AfD if necessary. Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) has ruled this out. Schwerdtner, however, said that Merz wanted to “cut the welfare state to pieces.” “And I don’t think it’s out of the question that he will ultimately get it through with the AfD, no matter what he claims before the election.”

The Left leader called the AfD “essentially a fascist party” and said: “Anyone who makes slightly modified Nazi slogans their campaign motto is a Nazi party.”

“The Greens have screwed up the climate issue”

Co-leader van Aken primarily targeted the SPD and the Greens. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) talked about a rent limit during the election campaign, but did not implement it in the government. The SPD and the Greens have also been talking about a wealth tax for years, but they have never delivered. The Greens did not take social aspects into account when it came to climate protection and “therefore screwed up this whole climate issue”. Only with pressure from the left would the SPD and the Greens make social promises, said van Aken.

He once again declared a rent cap to be the central issue. “We will enforce it because the people need it,” said the party leader.

Program on more than 60 pages

The adopted election program contains a whole catalog of individual demands on more than 60 pages. This includes the removal of VAT on basic foodstuffs, buses, trains and hygiene products. Cheaper energy for average consumers is to be financed through “energy solidarity for the rich”.

The party wants both a wealth tax and a wealth levy and believes “that there should be no billionaires.” She is in favor of higher income taxes for high earners and a higher inheritance tax. Pensions, child benefits and citizens’ benefits are to be improved and the minimum wage is to be increased to 15 euros. The Left wants to prevent the stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany. However, the demand for an immediate withdrawal from NATO in an amendment did not find a majority.

The East Berliner Gregor Gysi in particular mentioned the old self-image as an Eastern party. He said the East “was the stepchild of all previous federal governments.” He warned: “It’s time for a federal government to apologize for this. That would give a boost towards internal unity.”

Hope for direct mandates

Gysi is now 77 years old – but is a great hope for his party in this election. Together with long-time left-wing politicians Dietmar Bartsch and Bodo Ramelow, he started the “Silberlocke Mission”: All three want to win direct mandates. Three other leftists, including party leader Schwerdtner, also have a chance of winning direct mandates.

With three direct mandates, the Left could enter the Bundestag with a number of representatives via the so-called basic mandate clause, even if the party would remain below five percent of the second votes. That will succeed, said Bartsch. No vote for the left is wasted.