Split on the left?
Wagenknecht thinks about founding a party
Created: 11/30/2022, 11:24 am
By: Marcus Mäckler
Is in dispute with the left party: Sahra Wagenknecht.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Sahra Wagenknecht and the Left Party - that won't work anymore.
The question is not whether, but how to separate: Wagenknecht is publicly toying with the idea of founding a new party.
Munich – The role of admonisher doesn't really suit him, but who else should do it?
Of course there is a danger of a split, said Gregor Gysi in a recent interview, adding: "by whomever".
He then assured that he would do everything possible to prevent this.
There was also a meeting with Sahra Wagenknecht.
Gysi didn't say whether it did anything.
The left has been in a crisis for months that has many facets - the most dazzling is called Wagenknecht.
For a long time she was the face of the party, a loner, but she was gladly forgiven.
Then came the refugee crisis, Corona, Russia's attack on Ukraine, all topics on which Wagenknecht spoke diligently, just not in the interests of her party.
The alienation grew and has now reached a critical point.
It's like a very ailing marriage: You're still living together, but longing for a divorce.
The only question is who separates - and how.
Wagenknecht himself recently thought about taking a radical step
Wagenknecht himself recently thought about taking a radical step.
She hopes that “a party will emerge in Germany that can change government policy,” she said – and not just anywhere, but on Bild TV, which is hated by left-wingers.
Since then, there has been the possibility of founding a new party.
But the 53-year-old hesitates.
Still.
It's not that Wagenknecht is completely isolated - she also has passionate supporters, people who share her criticism of the aloofness of the "lifestyle left": Dieter Dehm, Sevim Dagdelen or Bayer Klaus Ernst.
It also appeals to many voters.
The “Spiegel” recently commissioned a survey on this.
Result: 30 percent of those questioned can imagine voting for a Wagenknecht party;
in the east, the former heartland of the left, it is even 49 percent.
The interest of the left and the AfD was particularly great – which is causing serious concern for the right.
But the left in particular poses a dilemma with the possible split.
Some fear that the party would then be finally done.
She is already losing one election after the other, what would happen if the Wagenknecht votes were missing?
The others say the opposite: Wagenknecht is responsible for the misery.
It just doesn't work with her anymore, according to the parliamentary group.
The fact that she called the Russia sanctions an "economic war" and the Greens the "most dangerous party" in the Bundestag was too much for many.
The common denominator is simply no longer there.
Wagenknecht could run with a new party in the 2024 European elections
A split would have immediate consequences for the faction.
39 MPs sit in the Bundestag.
If four or five of them went with Wagenknecht, the rest would lose faction status and with it many advantages.
About funds to pay employees.
They say four to five is realistic.
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For her part, Wagenknecht knows how great the risk is.
She experienced it herself.
Four years ago, she initiated the “Get Up” project, which saw itself as a left-wing collective movement.
But the fresh wind quickly evaporated and the whole thing failed.
If you ask leftists who see Wagenknecht critically, they like to refer to it.
Even now they lacked the infantry, it is said.
A new party doesn't just live from a face, it needs structures, a functioning team.
Team and Wagenknecht contradict each other, some say.
Structures are set up quickly, say the others.
One way that is apparently being discussed is this: Wagenknecht could run with a new party in the 2024 European elections.
If she got 0.5 percent of the votes, state funds would beckon, which would be a basis for the federal elections in the year after.
Tireless Gysi tries to prevent all this, after a split he only sees losers.
In general, he is not sure whether Wagenknecht wants to found a new company or whether others are pushing them to do so.
"I have the impression that she is undecided on this issue." But she won't be able to wait too long before making a decision.
BY MARCUS MÄCKLER
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