"Everyone always wants to be absolutely right"

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“We need you to build a better society that distributes taxes, income and wealth fairly.

Taking responsibility for people with millions and giving millions more. "

Social justice and world peace - two core themes of the party Die Linke also appear in this election commercial, supplemented by the points climate protection and migration.

On Saturday and Sunday, the comrades will decide on the election program at the party congress.

It could get complicated.

Timo Lehmann: »There were already two drafts by the former party chairmen Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, which were then revised by the new party chairmen Janine Wissel and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow. And then the comrades had a few months to diligently write amendments to these drafts. And there were several hundred pages of amendments. The party executive has already pre-sorted so that there are now only a hundred amendments. "

Janine Wissler, Die Linke co-party chairwoman: “A few became richer, but many became poorer.

Rents are exploding in the cities.

And that is why the left is needed as a party of justice and solidarity.

And that's why we're fighting for it: the left nationwide for the Bundestag election for a strong result, so that the left can move into the next Bundestag. "

That could be close.

At the beginning of March, the left was a good eight percent in the Sunday poll.

It has now leveled off at six, trailing behind the other five larger parties.

Where did the party lose its voters?

Timo Lehmann: »It has a problem in the east. This also has to do with the fact that older voters, the old SED supporters in GDR times, are now increasingly reaching an age threshold where they actually die and are no longer there. You can see that the left-wing associations in the east are much older than in the west, and really across the board. This even applies to Berlin, which, along with East Berlin, was also strongly supported by this old PDS-SED milieu. One can clearly see that a lot is being lost for the left, which it obviously cannot compensate for in the West with the new voter potential that it is trying to achieve. "

Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, co-party leader: “Of course it is right to criticize human rights violations in Russia and China.

But confrontation is not the same as communication and relaxation.

It is also clear that this will not be easy to achieve.

But every confrontation leads to another, and that is not the whole point. "

The relationship of the Left Party to NATO, to foreign missions of the Bundeswehr or even to Russia remains difficult for possible coalition partners.

Timo Lehmann: »When it comes to the relationship between the left and Russia, there are definitely similarities with the SPD or even with other parties in the East. However, there are also individual MPs who do not rely on relaxation with Russia, but simply blindly stand up to the human rights violations. They completely hide what is happening there. And these are positions that are not at all compatible. With the Greens there is no rudimentary discussion about that, the Greens are on a completely different line in relation to Russia and China. "

Bernd Riexinger, ex-co-party leader: »In a left-pluralist party you have to bring the common to the fore and create a framework in which the controversy is discussed and debated with all due respect and mutual tolerance and contributes to the further development of the left.

And maybe one more point, he needs unbroken optimism and the ability to work in a team. "

These are the ideals of the ex-co-party leader Bernd Riexinger in his resignation speech at the end of August.

However, it does not seem to work enough with collaborative teamwork - instead, the unity of the left suffers from internal disputes.

Timo Lehmann: »In general, the problem with this party - that's my impression from outside - is that everyone always wants to be absolutely right and always criticize the other as strongly as they would with other parties. Anyone who advocates migration or sexual minorities then immediately lost the workforce. For example, anyone who suggests that migration could not mean completely open borders around the world will be portrayed as racist. They fight each other in an absolutism that does not advance the left. And that is a problem of the discussion culture in this party. "