Enlarge image
Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), Prime Minister of Thuringia
Photo: Annette Riedl / dpa
From Friday, 12 p.m. to Sunday, 3 p.m., the party conference of the left meets in Erfurt.
A total of 28.5 hours are planned for the meetings, in which the left will talk about its realignment after numerous election defeats and also want to determine a new party leadership.
According to the state of affairs, there will be little to be heard at the meeting from what is probably the most successful left-wing politician, Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow.
The party's only head of government was given just four minutes to speak in the marathon program, as Ramelow confirmed when asked by SPIEGEL.
That accounts for 0.23 percent of the total time of the party congress.
There is already resentment on the left about the party leadership's plans: Shouldn't we listen a little longer to a comrade who has repeatedly shown how the left can be successful?
Discussion about arms deliveries
"Since Bodo Ramelow's speech is part of the general debate, the speaking time is actually the same for all speakers," said a left-wing spokesman.
The length of the speaking time is "not an expression of low esteem", rather one is happy about Ramelow's participation.
"Since we have a very tight schedule, we have to limit speaking time in order to give many the right to speak," the spokesman continued.
The program is actually tight;
In addition to the re-election of the party leadership, the left basically wants to talk about its foreign policy, it should also be about the #MeToo debate in its own ranks, and the organization of the left is also up for debate.
The conference presidency can still make final changes to the schedules, it meets on Thursday evening.
Ramelow had co-signed a paper in which several representatives of the left-wing state governments are already complaining about a lack of support at the federal level.
The five-page letter is available to SPIEGEL.
"In the nationwide leadership bodies of the party, we sense an increasing disdain for political work in local politics, in state parliaments or in government responsibility at state level," it says.
Other supporters include Berlin's Senator for Culture, Klaus Lederer, and the Bremen parliamentary group leader, Sofia Leonidakis.
In the letter, the politicians complain that the left is sticking to principles, for example when it comes to arms deliveries to Ukraine.
“We see with concern that an attitude is spreading in the party that would rather sacrifice concrete change than the supposed clarity of its own position.” And further: “The narrowing of our peace policy debate to abstract principles is representative of a political style that we have to overcome.« Many people get the impression »that our own sensitivities are more important to us than the specific interests of people who need our support«.
