Reportage
Die Linke is back from the dead – now the hard part
The German Left is resurgent. But will the party last? ‘Now we have to show people that we don't just talk, but also take action.’
“The Left Party: 8.8 percent,” the loudspeakers announce. Smiles break out, tears flow, jubilant hands rise up into the air, and people embrace each other. On Sunday, the Left Party achieved something that until a few weeks ago was deemed impossible, even within the party itself: it doubled its share of support. Now is the time to celebrate, but what will happen when the party dies down?
Jan van Aken, Heidi Reichinnek and Ines Schwerdtner are on the stage at the election night party, face-to-face with the cameras. “The Left is alive,” shouts party co-chair van Aken, ”and we have all of you to thank!” Party superstar Heidi Reichinnek is the third to speak, as a jubilant chorus rises from the audience: “Heidi, Heidi, Heidi!” “No, it’s not Heidi, it’s you who made this resurrection possible,” she immediately responds, clearly aware that the fervor around her person – some even call it a cult of personality – is not viewed favorably by all party members.
Although Schwerdtner, van Aken and Reichinnek are deliberately modest in their victory speeches and attribute their success to the efforts of the collective, as is fitting on election night, they are the ones who brought the Left Party back to life after it was thought to be dead.
Then it’s the turn of Tiktok (or rather meme) star Gregor Gysi to take the stage, accompanied by the techno beats of his alter ego DJ Gysi (an Internet phenomenon in his own right). “With our campaign focused on silver hair (Silberlocken, referring to the three veteran Left Party politicians, Gysi, Ramelow and Bartsch), we thought we would reach the media and some older people as well, but we didn't know how the young would react.” Even in old age, he still seems to enjoy the attention.
Gysi has always been a small celebrity; now he is a small big celebrity once again, and will probably soon be the oldest member of the Bundestag. He tells nd that he’s still thinking about what he’ll say in his “most senior member” speech. In any case, he says he will not be reading from Marx out loud, as has been rumored online, because such a speech must be statesmanlike and addressed to all citizens of the country.
The atmosphere in the hall is as exuberant as one can imagine after such a success. There is dancing, drinking and even wild smooching: it seems that success makes people want to party. However, one of the guests admits to us that he isn’t used to organizing campaign parties, as he has never been through a campaign in which there was any reason to rejoice during all his time in the Left Party. On this day, there will be no less than seven reasons to do so: in the hours after the election results are announced, the party crowd inside and outside the hall erupts in repeated cheers when the first results of the vote are announced. In addition to 8.8 percent of the party vote, the Left Party won one uninominal constituency after another: Lichtenberg, Friedrichshain, Treptow-Köpenick and Neukölln, all in Berlin, as well as Erfurt and Leipzig.
At 11:30 p.m., young people who had been unable to enter the hall because of the large crowd are still trying to get in. “We wanted to take a selfie with Heidi and Gregor,” they tell nd. Others had already gone to the various parties in the constituencies. “Neukölln has the best after-party!” someone shouts. The party is on, and fully indulged in. But what will happen in the medium term?
“On Tuesday, we will already meet as a parliamentary group. First of all, there will be many completely new people,” Ines Schwerdtner tells nd. Most of the newly elected Left Party MPs are entering parliament for the first time. They first have to familiarize themselves with the party's activities as a parliamentary group and as the opposition. “And then we will get to work. We will put pressure on the SPD and the Greens,” Schwerdtner says.
Heidi Reichinnek, talking at high speed as usual, explains to nd the precise ways in which their parliamentary group intends to apply this pressure: “Now we have to show people that we don't just talk, but also take action.” As part of its 100-day program, the Left Party first of all wants to bring before Parliament the issues it campaigned on, namely rents and prices: “We are organizing a joint conference of experts on the topic of a rent cap and a nationwide wealth tax and, most importantly, a summit on daycare centers.” The next federal Chancellor probably won't do that, Reichinnek says.
However, the biggest challenge for the party won’t be in Parliament. Since the beginning of the year, 28,000 new members have joined. Most of them are young and politically inexperienced, and some of those who wanted to join thanks to the hype on social media are probably not too firm in their leftist views. “We have already planned how to train these people and how to support them in organizing district circles,” Jan van Aken tells nd. Some of the district circles were effectively dead until recently, and have only been revived by new activists. “Now we have to retrain them on party work and on how to build a nationwide movement.”
And then there is the issue of internal squabbling. Since van Aken and Schwerdtner took up the role of co-chairs, there have been almost no open controversies. However, such quiet is normal before elections, as everyone knows that controversy and campaigning are a bad mix. Will van Aken, who styles himself as the chief diplomat, be able to keep things together after the elections? “Of course, there has also been grumbling and criticism in recent weeks, but all of that has remained within the party,” the co-chair says. Whenever a problem arose, he and Schwerdtner spoke with both sides: “We can clarify everything so that we can deal with it together.”
Article published in the German newspaper nd, a partner of il manifesto
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/la-festa-della-linke-un-partito-rigenerato-dai-nuovi-iscritti on 2025-02-25