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The likely newcomers at the top: Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, state chairwoman in Thuringia, and Janine Wissler, federal vice-president
Photo: Frank May / dpa
Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger are still there.
Actually, after almost exactly eight years, the duo should end at the head of the Left Party.
Thanks to Corona, it has become a few more months.
First the June date for the party congress tipped, then the Left also stopped the second attempt at the end of October - three days before it should start.
But now the change of power should finally take place.
The federal meeting takes place digitally on Friday and Saturday, only the federal executive meets physically in the »Station Berlin«, formerly a post station, today a hip venue.
In addition to the dual leadership, the entire second row will also be re-elected: Federal Managing Director, Treasurer, Deputy Chairwoman.
There is a lot going on for the left in 2021: In Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow is vying for re-election, in Saxony-Anhalt you could prevent a new edition of the Kenya coalition, in Berlin you want to continue to govern.
And in the federal government, the left is showing interest in a center-left alliance.
Kipping and Riexinger are optimistic that their party will emerge from the party conference completely renewed and united.
The time of wing battles is over, a new phase is imminent, says Riexinger - and hopes that his successors have what it takes to unite.
"I would allow the new leadership that they have many who support them in the party."
But behind the scenes, leading comrades are already warning of quarrels.
Anyone who knows the pitfalls before the party congress understands how the left - still - ticks.
And what could be dangerous for her in the super election year.
Who will lead the party in the future?
In all probability, the Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian state chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow will take over the top positions.
Wissler, 39, leads the left-wing parliamentary group in Hesse.
She comes from the left wing of the party; before applying as party leader, she gave up her membership in the Trotskyist network "Marx21".
Wissler wants to open her party to ecological issues, but at the same time is not a fan of red-red-green - she has already held several talks in Hesse for such a government alliance.
Hennig-Wellsow, 43, however, is openly promoting red-red-green.
"I'm running so that we are prepared for a government when the opportunity arises," she told SPIEGEL last summer.
The optimism comes from experience: The real-left is considered to be the architect of the red-red-green government alliance in Thuringia.
As state and parliamentary group leader, she has her back there to Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow.
How well the two harmonize - and with what result the comrades equip them - also determines whether the left will continue to bob around at eight percent or move into a federal government for the first time in 2021.
Women have the difficult task of reconciling the party.
Which camps are there?
The conflict situation in the party has become more confusing in recent years.
Once the reformers in the East willing to govern and the sectarian left-wing radicals in the West faced each other, today the groups define themselves through their relationship to the AfD and the Greens.
Some, especially Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters, emphasize that a certain protest milieu has been lost to the AfD and that the left must take on this milieu.
The others warn of losing voters to the Greens if you do not make a name for yourself as a party on ecological and identity-political issues.
There should be something to both theses, but they are difficult to reconcile with one another for the strategic orientation of the left.
This dispute now plays a decisive role in several political areas and should always resonate at the party congress.
Shortly before the party congress, the prominent financial politician Fabio de Masi, who belongs to the Wagenknecht faction, dealt a blow to the party.
It had been known for months that he did not want to run for the Bundestag again.
In a post on his website he settled accounts with his party and was outraged that debates were overshadowed by questions of attitude.
How does it look in the second row?
A conflict was cleared up in advance with a complex operation.
In the camp of parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch there was dissatisfaction with federal managing director Jörg Schindler, a Kipping confidante.
This is said to have not managed past election campaigns well and paid too little attention to the grassroots in the municipalities.
Bartsch, who was once a federal manager himself, sent his office manager Thomas Westphal into the race.
Negotiations took place behind the scenes, and Westphal finally withdrew his candidacy.
A first small success for the not yet elected party chairmen, but also a signal from Bartsch that he is embarking on a new alliance.
"I welcome that very much because it sends out a signal of unity and departure," Wissler told SPIEGEL.
The election of the federal board will now be exciting.
Several members of the Bundestag are running for office.
Most recently, the party had once again argued over foreign policy.
The security policy spokesman Matthias Höhn started a discussion about whether the party should rethink some of its old beliefs.
The criticism was immediate and harsh.
His result in the election as deputy party chairman should be an indicator of how much the party tolerates such positions - and would therefore also be willing to compromise with possible government partners in the federal government.
How does the party congress work technically?
As before with the CDU in January, this party congress will also be completely digital, and the left also wants to have its board elections confirmed by postal vote.
In contrast to the conservatives, the party congress should not just be an election event.
"The CDU party conference was a talk show for me," says Federal Managing Director Jörg Schindler, "here are a few nice clips, there a few nice greetings."
Schindler promises that things will be significantly different on the left.
Each of the 600 or so delegates can log in from their home computer and have a say: “We owe that to the culture of debate in our party.” A tight one-and-a-half hour window is provided for the general debate on Friday, and another two hours for discussion of motions.
The elections for the new board will not take place until Saturday.
This makes the virtual party meeting more ambitious - and more vulnerable - than the previous Corona party conventions of the other parties.
The software not only has to ensure that everyone can overhear everything and vote.
The technicians must also prevent embarrassing dropouts and sound problems as far as possible.
At the end there is also the security question: The CDU reported that hacker attacks were successfully fended off during their party congress.
Schindler promises that they have "consulted with experts and strengthened protective measures".
An alternative server would be available in an emergency.
What role does Sahra Wagenknecht play?
Hennig-Wellsow recently stated in an interview when she was asked about Sahra Wagenknecht that she is not into arguments.
The problem: The undoubtedly clever and charismatic ex-parliamentary group leader has been looking for the dispute for 30 years.
Because of this, she was promoted from the party executive committee for the first time in 1995.
Since then, all attempts to get involved on the part of the party have failed.
From Gregor Gysi to Dietmar Bartsch and Katja Kipping.
Only Oskar Lafontaine made his peace with Wagenknecht and married her.
Wagenknecht had recently railed against his own party again - with a corresponding response.
She has many grassroots supporters and is the most prominent comrade.
In contrast, it has many enemies among the party’s officials.
The question now arises whether Hennig-Wellsow and Wissler can find a way to deal with it.
The new party leaders belong to the Kipping camp, but they are not personally enemies of Wagenknecht.
In their speeches at the party congress, they will probably address the issue indirectly and call for unity.
How long this will last remains to be seen.
Wagenknecht's expectations of the chairperson-designate, recently expressed in the SPIEGEL interview, can in any case be read as a threat not to remain silent for long: “I hope the new leadership does better than the old one.
That they will bring the party together again instead of just looking after their own camp. "
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