The Left (Germany)

The main predecessor of The Left was the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which emerged from the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany. In October 1989, facing increasing unpopularity, the SED replaced long-time leader Erich Honecker with Egon Krenz, who began a program of limited reforms, including the legalisation of opposition groups. He also loosened restrictions on travel between East and West Berlin, which inadvertently led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and his resignation. He was succeeded by Gregor Gysi, part of a group of reformers who supported the Peaceful Revolution. His ally Hans Modrow, the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers, became the de facto national leader. Seeking to change its image, the party expelled most of its former leadership, including Honecker and Krenz; the new government negotiated with opposition groups and arranged free elections. The SED adopted the name Party of Democratic Socialism and oriented itself as pro-democratic, socialist, and supportive of East German sovereignty. The party chose Modrow as its lead candidate for the March 1990 election. They were decisively defeated, finishing in third place with 16.4% of votes cast. The PDS was excluded from further political developments due to the aversion of the opposition, now in power, who considered them essentially tied to the dictatorship.[21]

After debuting with a meagre 2.4% nationwide in the 1990 federal election post-reunification, the PDS gained popularity throughout the 1990s as a protest party in the eastern states. By the 2000s, it was the second largest party in every eastern state legislature except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In the 1998 federal election, it won 5.1% of votes, enough to win seats outright without relying on direct constituencies as it had in 1994. Despite electoral successes, the PDS faced internal strife due to ideological disputes, a chronic decline in membership, and a near-complete lack of support in the western states (home to 85% of Germany's population).

A poster for The Left.PDS featuring Gregor Gysi and Oskar Lafontaine, posted in Berlin during the 2005 federal election.

In January 2005, a group of disaffected Social Democrats and trade unionists founded Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG), a left-wing party opposed to federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010 labour and welfare reforms. The party made a modest showing of 2.2% in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election in May, but failed to win seats. The election saw the incumbent SPD government defeated in a landslide, which was widely interpreted as a sign of the federal SPD's unpopularity. Chancellor Schröder subsequently called an early federal election to be held September.

WASG continued to gain members, prompting the PDS leadership to propose an alliance between the two parties. With the established eastern base of the PDS and WASG's potential for growth in the west, the parties hoped to enter the Bundestag together. They agreed to form an electoral pact, in which they would not run against one another in direct constituencies and would create joint electoral lists featuring candidates from both parties. They also agreed to unify into a single party in 2007. To symbolise the new relationship, the PDS renamed itself the Left Party.PDS (German: Linkspartei.PDS). The joint list ran under the name The Left.PDS (German: Die Linke.PDS), though in the western states, where the PDS was shunned for its association with the GDR, "PDS" was optional. The alliance's profile was greatly boosted when former federal Minister of Finance Oskar Lafontaine, who had left the SPD after the North Rhine-Westphalia election, joined WASG in June. He was chosen as the party's lead candidate for the federal election and shared the spotlight with Gregor Gysi of the PDS.

Polls early in the summer showed the unified Left list winning as much as 12 percent of the vote, and for a time it seemed possible the party would surge past the Greens and FDP and become the third-largest party in the Bundestag. During the campaign, the party was subject to frequent criticism. At one event, Oskar Lafontaine described Fremdarbeiter ("foreign workers", a term associated with the Nazi regime) as a threat to German labour. He claimed to have misspoken, but in an article published in Die Welt, a group of prominent German writers accused him of deliberately appealing to xenophobic and far-right voters.[22]

In the 2005 federal election, the Left.PDS easily passed the electoral threshold, winning 8.7% of the vote and 53 seats. It became the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. The result of the election was inconclusive; between the SPD, Greens, and Left.PDS, left-wing parties held a majority, but the SPD was unwilling to cooperate with the Left.PDS. The result was a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD.

Negotiations for a formal merger of the PDS and WASG continued through the next year until a final agreement was reached on 27 March 2007. The new party, called The Left (Die Linke), held its founding congress in Berlin on 16 June 2007. Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine were elected as co-leaders, while Gregor Gysi became leader of the party's Bundestag group.

The unified party quickly became a serious force in western Germany for the first time. It comfortably surpassed the electoral threshold in Bremen in 2007, and throughout 2008 won seats in Lower Saxony, Hesse and Hamburg. The "five-party system" in Germany was now a reality in the west as well as the east.

A string of electoral successes followed during the "super election year" of 2009. The Left achieved 7.5% in the European elections, confirming their enduring nationwide popularity. Six state elections were held throughout the year, and in each of them the party either surged ahead or consolidated earlier gains. They saw an upswing in Thuringia and Hesse and won seats for the first time in Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland. Oskar Lafontaine ran as the party's lead candidate in Saarland, leading the party to a massive success with 21.3% of the vote. In Saxony and Brandenburg, The Left's vote declined slightly, but it remained the second largest party in both states.

Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2009 federal election.

The electoral collapse of the Social Democratic Party in the federal election on 27 September 2009 saw The Left's vote surge to 11.9%, increasing its representation in the Bundestag from 54 to 76 seats, just under half as large as the SPD's parliamentary group. It became the second most popular party in the eastern states with 28.5%, while experiencing a breakthrough in the west with 8.3%. It was the most popular party in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, and won sixteen direct constituencies, the largest tally by a minor party in history. The Left nonetheless remained in opposition.

The Left won seats in the parliament of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in the May 2010 election. They now held seats in thirteen of Germany's sixteen states, only absent from three states in the traditionally conservative south.

In January 2010, Oskar Lafontaine announced that, due to his ongoing cancer treatment, he would not seek re-election to the party leadership at the upcoming party congress. At the congress in May, Lothar Bisky also chose not to nominate for re-election; Klaus Ernst and Gesine Lötzsch were elected as the party's new leaders.

Just a few weeks later, the SPD and Greens invited the Left to support their candidate for the 2010 presidential election, former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records Joachim Gauck. They suggested that this was an opportunity for the Left to leave their communist past behind them and show unconditional support for democracy.[23] However, the party refused to support him, highlighting his support of the War in Afghanistan and his attacks on their party.[24] They also rejected the conservative Christian Wulff, favourite of Chancellor Angela Merkel,[25] instead putting forward their own nominee, television journalist Luc Jochimsen.[26] The red-green camp reacted with disappointment.[27] SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel described The Left's position as "bizarre and embarrassing," stating that he was shocked that they would declare Joachim Gauck their enemy due to his investigation of GDR injustice.[28] The SPD and Greens expected the Left to support Gauck in the decisive third round of the election; however, after Jochimsen withdrew, most of the Left's delegates abstained.[27][29] Wulff was elected by an absolute majority.[30]

The party was isolated ahead of the March 2012 presidential election. The federal CDU/CSU–FDP government invited the SPD and Greens to agree on an all-party consensus candidate; The Left was excluded. Those invited eventually agreed to support Joachim Gauck. The Left again refused to support him.[31] SPD chair Sigmar Gabriel once again criticized the party, claiming they harboured "sympathy for the German Democratic Republic."[32][33] The Left put forward Beate Klarsfeld, a journalist and outspoken anti-fascist who had investigated numerous Nazi war criminals. She received 10.2% of the delegate votes. Gauck was elected in the first round with 80.4% of votes.

The Left's fortunes began to turn in 2011, and they suffered a string of setbacks and defeats through 2013, particularly in the western states. They failed to win seats in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, and suffered losses in Bremen, Berlin, and Saarland. Crucially, the party lost its seats in the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North-Rhine Westphalia, and Lower Saxony.

On 11 April 2012, Gesine Lötzsch resigned as party co-leader, citing medical conditions her husband was suffering. Klaus Ernst subsequently announced he would not seek re-election as leader at the party congress in June.[34] Katja Kipping, who had served as deputy leader since 2007, was elected as co-leader with 67.1% of votes. Bernd Riexinger was elected as the other co-leader with 53.5% of votes, winning a narrow contest against Dietmar Bartsch.[35]

Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2013 federal election.

In the 2013 federal election, The Left received 8.6% of the national vote and won 64 seats, a decline from 2009. However, due to the collapse of the FDP, they moved into third place. After the formation of a second grand coalition between the CDU and SPD, The Left became the leading party of the opposition.[36]

The party narrowly retained its seats in the Hessian state election held on the same day as the federal election. The Left suffered a major loss in Brandenburg in 2014, losing a third of its voteshare and falling to third place. Nonetheless, it continued as a junior partner under the SPD.

The 2014 Thuringian state election was the party's biggest success to date, achieving not only its best state election result (28.2%) but also forming the first coalition with one of its own members at the head. The party was able to negotiate a red-red-green coalition with the SPD and Greens, and Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag of Thuringia, becoming the first member of the party to serve as head of government of any German state.

The Left achieved modest gains in the city-states of Hamburg and Bremen in 2015. They suffered a loss in Saxony-Anhalt reminiscent of that in Brandenburg 18 months earlier earlier, falling to third place and losing a third of their voteshare. In September, the Left joined government in Berlin after the 2016 state election as the second-largest member of a coalition with the SPD and Greens.

Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2017 federal election.

In the 2017 federal election, The Left fell to fifth place due to the re-entry of the FDP in fourth place and the ascension of AfD to third place. The party suffered substantial losses in its traditional eastern heartland, but made a net gain nationally thanks to an improvement in the western states, rising to 9.2% of votes (up 0.6 points).

Throughout 2017, they failed to make a comeback to the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony, despite making gains in all three states. The party's slow decline in Saarland continued, winning 12.8% in March. In 2018, they defended their seats in Hesse. Kipping and Riexinger were re-elected for a third time at the party congress in 2018, winning 64.5% and 73.8% respectively.[37]

The Left had mixed results in 2019. In the European election, they declined to 5.5%, the worst result in a national election since the party's formation. In the Bremen state election held on the same day, the party made small gains, and joined a western state government for the first time in a coalition under the SPD and Greens. The Left suffered major losses in the Brandenburg and Saxony state elections held on 1 September, losing almost half its voteshare in each. As a result, The Left left the Brandenburg government, in which they had participated since 2009.

In October however, Bodo Ramelow led the party to its best ever result in the Thuringian state election, winning 31.0% and becoming the largest party in a state legislature for the first time, though his red-red-green government lost its majority. In February 2020, the FDP's Thomas Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with the support of AfD and the CDU, but immediately resigned due to widespread outrage. After a protracted government crisis, Ramelow was re-elected for a second term to lead a minority government.

In August 2020, Kipping and Riesinger announced they would not run for re-election as party co-chairs. As they were first elected in 2012, this announcement was in line with party regulations stating that no position should be held by the same person for more than eight years. Speculated potential successors include Thuringia branch leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow and Hessian parliamentary leader Janine Wissler.[38] A party congress was scheduled on 30 October to 1 November 2020, but was cancelled on 27 October due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[39] The party will instead hold a "decentralised" party congress in February 2021, in which a series of small conventions will submit delegates to take part in a digital conference.[40]

Concerning foreign policy, The Left calls for international disarmament, while ruling out any form of involvement of the Bundeswehr outside of Germany. The party calls for a replacement of NATO with a collective security system including Russia as a member country. They believe that German foreign policy should be strictly confined to the goals of civil diplomacy and cooperation, instead of confrontation.

The Left supports further debt cancellations for developing countries and increases in development aid, in collaboration with the United Nations, World Trade Organization, World Bank, and diverse bilateral treaties among countries. The party supports reform of the United Nations as long as it is aimed at a fair balance between developed and developing countries. The Left would have all American military bases within Germany, and if possible in the European Union, enacted within a binding treaty, dissolved. The Left welcomes the European process of integration, while opposing what it believes to be neoliberal policies in the European Union. The party strives for the democratisation of the EU institutions and a stronger role of the United Nations in international politics. The Left opposed both the War in Afghanistan and in Iraq,[41] as well as the Lisbon Treaty.[43]

The party has a mixed stance towards the Ukrainian crisis. Gregor Gysi has described Russia as "state capitalist", and the party has called the Russian annexation of Crimea and Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine "illegal". However, Gysi has noted that "older" elements of the party have a strong penchant for Russia and the Soviet Union.[44] The party declared in May 2014 that Ukraine should not receive any kind of support from Germany as long as there are fascists inside its government.[45] Some members of the party (like MP Andrej Hunko) are strong supporters of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic.[46]

The party has branches in all 16 states. As of 31 December 2018, the membership of the branches is as follows:[51]

State	Leader(s)	Members	% of women
Baden-Württemberg	Dirk Spöri Sahra Mirow	3,532	26.3%
Bavaria	Ates Gürpinar Eva Bulling-Schröter	3,417	27.8%
Berlin	Katina Schubert	7,861	41.7%
Brandenburg	Katharina Slanina Anja Mayer	5,802	43.6%
Bremen	Cornelia Barth Felix Pithan	624	31.1%
Hamburg	Olga Fritzsche David Stoop	1,639	31.6%
Hesse	Jan Schalauske Petra Heimer	3,255	28.1%
Lower Saxony	Heidi Reichinnek Lars Leopold	3,112	26.5%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Torsten Koplin Wenke Brüdgam	3,581	44.0%
North Rhine-Westphalia	Nina Eumann Christian Leye	8,183	29.3%
Rhineland-Palatinate	Katrin Werner Jochen Bülow	1,769	29.4%
Saarland	Thomas Lutze	2,124	34.9%
Saxony	Susanne Schaper Stefan Hartmann	7,988	43.2%
Saxony-Anhalt	Stefan Gebhardt	3,596	42.5%
Schleswig-Holstein	Marianne Kolter Hanno Knierim	1,298	31.4%
Thuringia	Susanne Hennig-Wellsow	4,224	42.6%
Total		62,016	36.4%

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, abbreviated as BfV or Verfassungsschutz) is the German federal domestic security agency, tasked with intelligence-gathering on threats concerning the democratic order, the existence and security of the federation or one of its states. This includes monitoring and reporting on suspected extremist groups and political parties. Members of The Left and groups within the party have been periodically monitored, sometimes leading to controversy. The Verfassungsschutz does not consider the party in its entirety extremist, but monitors several of its internal factions and groupings. According to the 2018 report, these are the Communist Platform, Socialist Left, working group AG Cuba Sí, the Anti-capitalist Left, Marxist Forum, and Gera Dialogue/Socalist Dialogue. The Verfassungsschutz also monitors Socialist Alternative and Marx21, which have links with the Anti-capitalist Left and Socialist Left, respectively.[54]

As evidence of extremism in The Left, the 2007 Verfassungsschutz report cites a June 2007 statement by Lothar Bisky stating that democratic socialism remains the party's goal: "We also still discuss the change of property and power relations [...]. We question the system." However, the report notes that in practice the parliamentary party appears as to act as a "reform-oriented" left force.[71]

In the past, The Left was under observation by all western German states; in January 2008, Saarland became the first to cease observation.[72] As of 2008, the authorities of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and Lower Saxony considered The Left in its entirety to be extremist.[73] In the five eastern states however, The Left is not under surveillance, as state constitutional authorities see no indication of anti-constitutional tendencies in the bulk of the party. However, Communist Platform is under observation in three eastern states.[74]

Surveillance of party members has been a point of controversy. Bodo Ramelow, a prominent Left politician in Thuringia, was under surveillance until a court ruling in January 2008 that this was illegal.[75][72] In January 2012, Der Spiegel reported that 27 of the party's 76 Bundestag members were under surveillance, as well as 11 of the party's members of various state parliaments. This included nearly the entirety of the party's Bundestag leadership, party co-leader Gesine Lötzsch and deputy leader Halina Wawzyniak, and Vice President of the Bundestag Petra Pau. Many of those under surveillance were not associated with acknowledged extremist factions of the party.[76][77] This surveillance was criticised by the SPD, Greens, and FDP; federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger described it as "intolerable".[78] In October 2013, the Federal Constitutional Court deemed the surveillance of Bundestag members unconstitutional,[79] and Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière subsequently declared that none of the party's Bundestag members would be placed under surveillance, even those affiliated with the factions considered extremist by the Verfassungsschutz.[80]

Both media and political scientists have discussed whether The Left should be considered extremist in nature.[81] Outlets including the BBC,[12] The Guardian[13] Euronews[14] and Der Spiegel[15] have described the party as "far-left". Among academics, there is a general consensus that at least some sections of the party are extremist. However, political scientist Richard Stöss states that they make up less than ten percent of the party membership, and compete for resources among themselves. As such, there is little risk of these groups becoming dominant and exerting major influence over the party's leadership and platform.[82] Eckhard Jesse states that, while The Left is far more accepting of the Basic Law than parties like the National Democratic Party of Germany, the presence of its extremist factions means the party overall represents a "soft left-wing extremism".[83]

The Left has also been characterised as left-wing populist[4] by researchers such as Cas Mudde[84] and Tilman Mayer.[85] Florian Hartleb states that the party is "social-populist".[86] According to Frank Decker, the party during the leadership of Oskar Lafontaine could be described as left-wing populist.[87]

In 2011, Bundestag deputy and later party co-leader Katja Kipping stated that she believed The Left needed "a double strategy [of] social-ecological restructuring plus left-wing populism" to become attractive to voters. She elaborated: "Left-wing populism means targeting those who are marginalized in our society in a targeted and pointed manner."[88]

The Left's position as the successor of the PDS and SED has made it subject to significant controversy and criticism, as well as claims that the party is sympathetic to the former GDR.[89] Prominent member Sahra Wagenknecht, who served as co-leader of the party's Bundestag group from 2015 to 2019, is well-known for her controversial statements on this issue. In a 2009 interview, she rejected the characterisation of East Germany as a dictatorship or injustice state (German: Unrechtsstaat).[90]

Other incidents include a walkout conducted in 2007 by the Left's delegation in the Landtag of Saxony during a German Unity Day ceremony[91] in protest of the presence of Joachim Gauck, former East German pro-democracy campaigner and later Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, who was the keynote speaker at the event.[92] The Left's state leader André Hahn claimed that Gauck did not deliver an "appropriate or balanced speech", arguing he had "an absolutely one-sided view of the GDR."[93]

Election year	# of constituency votes	# of party list votes	% of party list vote	# of overall seats won	+/−	Position	Government
2005	3,764,168	4,118,194	8.7[a]	54 / 614	52	4th	Opposition
2009	4,791,124	5,155,933	11.9	76 / 622	22	4th	Opposition
2013	3,585,178	3,755,699	8.6	64 / 631	12	3rd	Opposition
2017	3,966,035	4,296,762	9.2	69 / 709	5	5th	Opposition

^a As WASG and PDS