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Dispute over the correct wording: Left MP Sahra Wagenknecht
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Klaus W. Schmidt / imago images / Klaus W. Schmidt
Sympathy for the Russian government has long been at the core of the left.
That has changed since the illegal attack on Ukraine.
Parts of the party are struggling to find a new course, while others continue to object to what they see as blanket criticism of the Kremlin.
Immediately before the party conference in Erfurt, MP Sahra Wagenknecht is trying to de-escalate the situation.
Just last week, the prominent ex-group leader tabled an amendment to the party leadership's main proposal (SPIEGEL reported) that statements of solidarity with Ukraine should be deleted.
Wagenknecht's application and about 50 other delegates sparked heated discussions in the party.
Now Wagenknecht told SPIEGEL that he no longer wants to oppose the solidarity passage.
SPIEGEL has received your new application, and the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” had previously reported on it.
It is about the following passage: »Our solidarity is with the people in Ukraine who are suffering, who have to resist or who have to flee.
Our solidarity also belongs to the people in Russia who oppose the war, who desert and fear persecution for doing so;
the people who oppose war worldwide and support people on the run.«
»Deliberate falsification«
Wagenknecht told SPIEGEL that she had never intended to end solidarity with Ukraine, and accused critics of a "deliberate falsification" from the start.
She now hopes "that from now on there will be a discussion about what is really important to us: that the left does not go along with the unspeakable talk of the turning point".
In view of the Russian attack, Chancellor Scholz spoke of a "turning point" in February and announced, among other things, more spending on armaments.
However, the new application is not a clear distancing from Russia.
Furthermore, the group around Wagenknecht advocates the change of other passages of the main motion of the party leadership.
Among other things, the sentence "We condemn the criminal war of aggression by Russia in the strongest possible terms" should continue to be deleted.
The group behind the motion also wants to see formulations on Russia's "imperialist politics" and "nationalist, militaristic and autocratic great power ideology" deleted.
Equating the wars of Russia and the USA
Wagenknecht emphasizes that the motion wants to condemn the "struggle for power, profit and spheres of influence" in general - and therefore names the Russian war in Ukraine as well as the wars of the USA and its allies.
"The left should not lag behind the pope, who pointed out that 'NATO barking at Russia's door' is partly responsible for the outbreak of the war." .
At the party conference from Friday to Sunday, the left wants to completely renew itself after a series of electoral defeats and internal disputes.
The party leadership is to be completely re-elected once, including a new dual leadership.
The previous party leader Janine Wissler is standing for re-election.
In addition to her, the EU co-group leader Martin Schirdewan, the member of the Bundestag Heidi Reichinnek and the Saxon member of the Bundestag Sören Pellmann, who is close to Wagenknecht, are also applying for the presidency.
