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Favorites for the left chairmanship: Janine Wissler, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / DPA;
Jürgen Heinrich / imago images
Normally, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow looks pretty mellow in her public appearances.
But when the Thuringian left boss appeared before the press in Erfurt this Friday evening, everything was a little different.
"Look after me that I'm a little excited," says Hennig-Wellsow with a slightly trembling voice - and she also explains why: "I want to and will run for the chairmanship of Die Linke."
This makes Hennig-Wellsow the second comrade to go on the offensive with the left.
Almost exactly six hours earlier, the Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler had pushed forward.
At 11:56 a.m., she announced her readiness to run at the party congress in the fall via Twitter.
She had come to the conclusion "that I want to do that," wrote Wissler.
The fight for the successor to Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger was officially opened at that moment.
The two party leaders announced last week that they would not run again.
After eight years at the head of the left, it should now be over.
With Hennig-Wellsow and Wissler, exactly those two women who are also considered the favorites of the previous incumbents are now daring to move forward.
In fact, the Hessian and Thuringian women could embody exactly the new beginning that the comrades are desperately hoping for.
Wissler is 39 years old, Hennig-Wellsow 42 - two young women who will lead the left in the federal election next year.
Many leftists would like that.
Above all, however, the two are among the most prominent politicians in their party who, despite their age, have already gained a lot of experience.
Wissler has been the parliamentary group leader in the Hessian state parliament for eleven years.
As the front woman in a western German state, she led her rather radical regional association to parliament several times in a row.
A remarkable achievement for the West Left.
Wissler can speak well, she is not afraid of the media and even people who are not politically close to her within the party say of her that she is smart, always well prepared, and that she reaches the grassroots.
Her political talent and skills are as undisputed as it can be in a party where open dislike is still widespread.
A bouquet of flowers from Erfurt
Hennig-Wellsow is also considered to be assertive.
She made headlines nationwide in February when she threw a bouquet of flowers at the feet of the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich, who was elected by AfD votes for Thuringian short-term prime minister.
Behind Bodo Ramelow, meanwhile again head of government, she is one of the most important figures for the Thuringian coalition.
She is known for her confident appearances.
On this Friday too, despite all the tension, she tries to make clear statements: "I'm really up for it," she says about her application.
In Erfurt she is trusted that she can lead the party into a government alliance with the SPD and the Greens in Berlin.
Hennig-Wellsow emphasized that she was not talking about "absolutely having to govern".
But she also reminds us that she knows "how government works".
The aim is to remove the CDU from government responsibility in the federal government.
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Hennig-Wellsow in the Thuringian state parliament after she threw a bouquet of flowers at the feet of the newly elected scandal prime minister Thomas Kemmerich
Photo: Martin Schutt / DPA
However, both candidacies also involve risks.
The Left wants to defend its Prime Minister Ramelow in the vote in the spring in Thuringia.
Apart from the federal election, this is by far the most important decision for the comrades in the coming year.
Personnel changes in the regional association would come at an inopportune time - even if Hennig-Wellsow, as party leader, should not immediately turn his back on Erfurt.
She does not want to commit herself at the moment, nor does she rule out a candidacy for the Bundestag.
If, on the other hand, Hennig-Wellsow fails at the federal party conference, it will be weakened before the upcoming state election.
A danger that she now accepts.
Controversial Trotskyist Troop
Janine Wissler, as party leader, could also become a problem for the left.
This is mainly due to their proximity to "Marx21".
This organization still appears in the constitution protection report, which considers it to be extremist.
Within the left, critics speak of a political sect.
"Marx21" emerged from "Linksruck", a small group that was part of an international Trotskyist movement based in London and tried to gain a foothold in the Left and, at times, in the SPD.
One thing is clear: information about Marx21 is usually rather thin.
The group is criticized primarily because it distances itself from parliamentarism.
On the other hand, some members, including Wissler, have been working in party and parliaments for years.
But is that enough proof that everything is okay?
Doubts remain.
Attacks by political opponents are foreseeable.
In view of the general election, the question arises whether the two women could form a credible team at the top of the party.
While Hennig-Wellsow, as a pragmatist, stands for a clear course in government by the left, Wissler belongs to the left wing, which sees the party more as an opposition force and a parliamentary arm of movements.
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Wissler 2019 at the Political Ash Wednesday of the Left in Passau
Photo: Lino Mirgeler / dpa
The differences became particularly striking in March at the party's strategy conference in Kassel.
Hennig-Wellsow promoted left-wing creative power there on the podium.
Shortly thereafter, Wissler reported to the audience - with a pointed remark: "No higher being, no god, no emperor and no left-wing minister will save us."
The left must be a "fighting party", demanded the Hessin.
And: The party will "never agree to military operations".
If you take them at their word, that would be a knockout criterion for every red-red-green government.
On the other hand, when dozens of comrades recently insisted on maximum foreign policy demands such as the exit from NATO and the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr in a paper, Wissler's signature was missing.
From Wissler, you can hear that from some pragmatists who want to accept them that a coalition will not fail.
But can it also prepare the party for this?
At least it does not seem to have been established that the two women will actually end up being dual.
Hennig-Wellsow openly advertises it.
She is happy about Wissler's candidacy, she is available for a duo with Hessin, she says.
But it is said that Wissler should also be in greater contact with the Parliamentary Director Jan Korte, a proven reformer.
Irrespective of this, other possible applicants are traded who could shake up the field of candidates.
For example party vice Ali Al-Dailami, who is assigned to the camp around ex-parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht.
A consensus solution is apparently still a long way off.
In the powerful regional associations in the east, where the pragmatists have their strongholds, some of Hennig-Wellsow's advance seem taken by surprise.
In any case, Hennig-Wellsow is not a jointly coordinated personnel suggestion, which was searched for in several rounds on Thursday and Friday.
At least not yet.
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