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Candidates for the Left Chairmanship: Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, Janine Wissler
Photo: Frank May / dpa
Your Hessian regional association sent you for a greeting, says Janine Wissler at the beginning of her speech, and that is of course a huge understatement.
Of course, on this Saturday morning, Wissler didn't just come to the Thuringian town of Sömmerda for a few nice messages from the neighboring country.
It's about much more than that: Wissler wants to become a left boss.
In Sömmerda she appears in public for the first time with her partner of choice Susanne Hennig-Wellsow.
And that too at the party congress of the Thuringian comrades, in other words in the model country of left-wing pragmatists and government fans.
It's a home game for Hennig-Wellsow.
She is the Thuringian left boss, she leads the parliamentary group in the state parliament, she is considered the architect behind Red-Red-Green in Erfurt.
Wissler, on the other hand, although as a parliamentary group leader in Hesse himself with a lot of parliamentary experience, is something like the icon of the street fighters among the left.
Those comrades who believe that changes can best be brought about through protests, demonstrations and extra-parliamentary movements, and less through compromises among members of the parliament.
Skepticism in the East
Can a duo of these two women work as a left-wing leader in the year before the federal election?
That is one of the big questions that many comrades are asking themselves now.
Especially since in the absence of competition it is almost certain that the two will be chosen.
In any case, Sömmerda is a first test run for the left future model.
In the pragmatic East in particular, many scientists have been skeptical in recent years.
Because of her membership in the Trotskyist network Marx21, which has since dropped out.
Because of their reluctance to participate in government.
At the strategy conference of the left in Kassel in spring, Wissler said a sentence that still resonates among the comrades: "No higher being will save us, no god, no emperor and also no left-wing minister."
Shortly before, Hennig-Wellsow had spoken on the podium, the champion, so to speak, for as many left-wing ministries as possible.
"Other Society"
This time, Wissler refuses to make such a pointed remark.
But neither does she succumb to the temptation to fall into any government folklore.
The "dam break to the right", ie the election of the FDP man Thomas Kemmerich as short-term prime minister with votes from the AfD, has also been corrected, says Wissler, because so many people took to the streets against it.
The fact that Hennig-Wellsow threw a bouquet of flowers at Kemmerich's feet in the plenary session was an "anti-fascist symbol".
Wissler praises the activist moments of the Thuringians, less the concrete government policy.
She denounces everyday racism, also in the security authorities.
She calls for the expropriation of real estate companies and a change in the power and ownership structures.
It's a typical Wissler speech.
"The left has to be a party that supports concrete struggles, even for the smallest improvement," says Wissler.
"But the left must also be the party that says: we are an anti-capitalist party, we want a fundamentally different society."
"Dare more Thuringia"
Otherwise, there is seldom so much radical socialist vision on this day.
The main motion for the state party congress is entitled: "Thuringia: It doesn't matter who governs."
The outgoing party leader Katja Kipping, also visiting Sömmerda, is urgently promoting a replacement of the Union after the federal elections - i.e. an alliance with the SPD and the Greens.
And Hennig-Wellsow propagates the "Thuringian Way": it is about "success for the people", she says.
The left must understand "that we need an assertion perspective".
That means: government, also in Berlin.
This is not an open contradiction to what Wissler says.
But a completely different sound.
In general, the differences between Hennig-Wellsow and Wissler in Sömmerda are obvious.
Wissler is an excellent speaker, her combative language, her tough announcements have made her popular among the grassroots.
Wissler appeals to the heart of the left, it serves the longings of radicals and utopians - but it can also increasingly score with moderates.
She gets the loudest applause in Sömmerda.
Hennig-Wellsow, on the other hand, has a harder time on stage, she doesn't care much about emotionally charged appearances.
Nevertheless, she does not swear and makes herself heard in public.
Hennig-Wellsow has a clear focus, a clear plan for the federal election.
It represents the hopes of all those who want to finally take power in the Bund.
Demonstrative unity
Despite or maybe because of these differences, the new duo could be a great opportunity for the left.
When Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger took over the party in 2012 after a chaotic party congress, both were hardly known, inexperienced and not very prominent.
For a long time they hardly got through in public.
Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow would certainly have a better starting position.
At the same time, thanks to their different accents, the two are able to address broad sections of the party.
In Sömmerda, both strive for demonstrative unity.
They keep showing up side by side in the hall, smiling, and after Wissler's speech, Hennig-Wellsow hands her a bouquet of flowers.
In the best case for the left, the two succeed in forming a kind of internal party coalition and bringing together the quarreling groups and camps in the left and pragmatic wing.
But can they also organize an election campaign that does not lead to any confusion of attitudes among the left with a view to a red-red-green government perspective?
Question of strategy
In the end, that is also a central strategic question.
Sure, there are some unshakable hardliners on the left who would fundamentally reject any compromise.
But many left-wing parties are more afraid of messing up with the grassroots and at the same time weakening their negotiating position if they meet potential partners early on.
Others, however, see the urgent need to build trust in the SPD and the Greens in order to make coalition talks possible in the event of an election victory.
You want clear signals of willingness to talk instead of maximum demands.
It is a dilemma that both women will carry with them from now on.
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