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Sahra Wagenknecht is still causing arguments among the left
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
It was a bitter defeat for the radical camp of Sahra Wagenknecht at the party congress at the weekend: Almost all of their confidants fell through in the election for the party leadership.
Only the Hessian Ali Al-Dailami was able to prevail as vice-chairman.
On the other hand, climate activists and trade union activists, the so-called left-wing movement, are now on the rise in the party.
Also included is the old East German reformer camp around parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch, which is hoping for a government alliance in the federal government.
In the Wagenknecht camp, the frustration over the defeat is now discharging.
Two prominent representatives within the party made their displeasure public on Facebook on Thursday afternoon.
His removal from the party executive was "not a normal removal," writes Harri Grünberg from Hessen.
"A whole wing has been ostracized from the party here," he complains.
It is painful that there is no longer any representative in the party executive who shows solidarity with the socialist countries of Latin America.
"The line of treating Russia and China in the same way as the imperialist USA and EU will hardly receive any counter pressure." Likewise, "a consistent peace policy" is now "dramatically weakened" in the party leadership.
In future, foreign policy on the left will only mean that there will be fewer arms exports, said Grünberg.
"Excessive fixation on supposed anti-racism"
The alliance that has now prevailed in the party consists of "government socialists" who are ready to sacrifice the left's foreign policy program for the government, and the left-wing movement, who are "left-wing liberal," according to the allegation.
In addition, Grünberg warns his party: You shouldn't lose people to the AfD and push them into the right corner if they don't share the left's anti-fascism.
This was done by the outgoing party leader Katja Kipping.
The left is now an urban »milieu party«.
Grünberg also belongs to the group of Wagenknecht's failed movement "Stand up".
Now he even threatens to found a new party.
He shared the thought of another comrade, "whether one should not think about a new party if all other possibilities are closed".
In the meantime, Grünberg has deleted his Facebook post and writes that it was poorly edited.
In terms of content, however, he does not distance himself from the article.
Ralf Krämer from the Wagenknecht camp, who also failed for the party executive, had expressed himself in a similar way in an internal Facebook group.
He made his text public on Thursday in a modified form.
In the closed group, he accuses the left-wing movement of "movement fetishism" and "excessive fixation on supposed anti-racism".
He warns that the left will lose the older voters and that the younger ones will marginalize others in the party because of intolerance.
Dispute over the "milieu question"
Finance politician Fabio de Masi had already published a criticism similar to that of Krämer and Grünberg on his website before the party congress and announced that he would no longer run for the Bundestag.
He too belongs to the Wagenknecht camp.
The controversy in the party over the "milieu question" has been simmering among the left for years.
Some warn of losing voters to the AfD if you focus too much on climate and anti-racism politics.
They gather around the ex-parliamentary group leader Wagenknecht.
The others in the party, on the other hand, fear that one could lose voters to the Greens or neglect a potential in society if the left does not raise its profile precisely on these issues.
You want to connect it to the social question.
At the weekend, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow and Janine Wissler were elected as the new party leaders at the digital party conference of the Left.
Neither of them belong to the Wagenknecht camp.
Most recently, however, they had emphasized that Wagenknecht should continue to play a role in the party.
From circles of the left-wing movement and the reformers it is said that the deselection of long-time comrades Krämer and Grünberg was not only political, but also personal.
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