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Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance

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Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice
Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit
AbbreviationBSW
ChairpersonAmira Mohamed Ali
Sahra Wagenknecht
General SecretaryChristian Leye
Founders
Founded8 January 2024 (2024-01-08)
Split fromThe Left
HeadquartersKrausenstr. 9-10
10117 Berlin
Membership (September 2024)900[1]
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing to far-left[A]
European Parliament groupNon-Inscrits
Colours
  •   Purple
  •   Orange
Bundestag
10 / 736
Bundesrat
5 / 69
State Parliaments
47 / 1,898
European Parliament
6 / 96
Heads of State Governments
0 / 16
Website
bsw-vg.de Edit this at Wikidata
^ A: BSW is widely considered far-left[7] and a radical left party,[8] but is also described as hard left,[9] or left-conservative; the latter label is due to its conservative stances on cultural and ethical issues.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice (German: Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit [beː.ɛsˈveː], BSW) is a political party in Germany founded on 8 January 2024. It has been described as left-wing populist, left-wing nationalist, socialist, culturally conservative, socially conservative, Eurosceptic and far-left. The party is sceptical of green politics and support for Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, and has been described as Russophilic by critics, which BSW disclaims.[4][10][11]

The party originated as a split from the party The Left (Die Linke). In September 2023, Sahra Wagenknecht, Amira Mohamed Ali, Christian Leye, Lukas Schön, and several other long time Left party members announced their intention to form a new party.[12][13][14] It was subsequently joined by others including former Left party leader Klaus Ernst, Fabio De Masi, and former mayor of Düsseldorf Thomas Geisel. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance was officially founded in January with Wagenknecht and Mohamed Ali as its leaders. In February, they formed a group in the Bundestag.

The BSW contested its first elections in May. In June, the party won 6.1% of votes nationally in the European Parliament elections. In September, it won between 11% and 16% in three eastern state elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.[15]

History

[edit]

Background

[edit]
Namesake and central figure Sahra Wagenknecht in 2023

Wagenknecht, who has been described as a prominent left-wing politician,[16] was a member of The Left and its predecessors, such as the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS); her political positions are generally identified as left-wing populist.[17][18] Although she was co-leader of The Left from 2015 to 2019, conflict with other party members on topics, such as the German refugee policy, COVID-19 vaccination, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, had led to speculation since 2021 that she would leave The Left and found a new political party.[17]

Speculation increased in the run-up to the 2023 Hessian state election and the 2023 Bavarian state election on 8 October, in which The Left failed to reach the 5% electoral threshold while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged in both.[19] The success of the AfD led Wagenknecht to claim that a left-wing populist party could compete with the AfD while also respecting the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.[20]

Sahra Wagenknecht blames Die Linke's successive electoral failures (the party's national share of the vote having fallen from 12% in 2009 to 5% in 2021) on its emphasis on policies to combat sexist, racist or homophobic discrimination, to the detriment of economic issues. She argues for the primacy of the latter, in contrast to the intersectional approach of the party's leadership, which uses the term "classism" to refer to the social question as a form of discrimination, in the same way as sexism or racism. In her view, the working classes no longer recognize themselves in the discourse of the left, and are turning to the far-right AfD party as a receptacle for the protest vote.[21]

Association registration

[edit]

The association BSW – Für Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit e.V., based in Karlsruhe, was entered in the association register at the district court in Mannheim on 26 September 2023.[22] In mid-October, over fifty members of The Left submitted an application for Wagenknecht's exclusion from the party in order to prevent her from building a new party with the resources of The Left.[23]

Members of the party and political commentators blamed the ongoing speculation about the founding of a new party and the resulting breakup of the Left for its poor results in the state elections.[19] Martin Schirdewan, federal chairman of The Left and co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL, declared that the party would expel members who committed to the founding of a rival party by BSW.[24] The Federal Executive Board of The Left passed a resolution of incompatibility (Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss) with BSW.[25]

Shortly after the press conference was announced, a fake website was registered under www.bswpartei.de that presented itself as the official website of the party, using copyrighted imagery and Wagenknecht's office address in its imprint. Wagenknecht filed a criminal report against the website, which is now offline. It is still unclear who created it.[26]

Members of BSW in the German Bundestag want to continue working as a parliamentary group and have submitted a corresponding application to the President of the Bundestag. When the Wagenknecht Group was constituted in the Bundestag on 11 December 2023, Wagenknecht was elected its chairman, Klaus Ernst its deputy chairman, and Jessica Tatti its parliamentary managing director. The association also started being represented in the Berlin House of Representatives, by Alexander King, the Hamburg Parliament, by Metin Kaya and, the Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate by Andreas Hartenfels, a former member of Alliance 90/The Greens.

Party foundation

[edit]
SPD
KPD
SED
PDSWASG
Die Linke
BSW
The predecessors of the BSW. Wagenknecht was previously a member of SED, PDS and Die Linke.[27][17]

The party was officially founded on 8 January 2024, followed by a two hour long press conference.[28][29] This formation process saw the creation of a new website and the publishing of the first party manifesto for BSW. The party also named its lead candidates for the 2024 European Parliament election in Germany and announced that it had already created a full list of candidates due to be approved at the first party conference.[30]

The University of Potsdam developed a political test, BSW-O-Mat (name being a reference to the Wahl-O-Mat by the bpb), based on the first party manifesto. The test was released on the same day as the manifesto.[31][32]

It was announced on 1 December 2023 that the first party conference is planned to be held on 27 January 2024.[33] Ralph Suikat also commented at the time, that the association had thus far received an amount of donations in the seven figures,[34][35] this was later clarified to be 1.4 million Euros collected during the whole of 2023. The majority (90%) of which were small donations, only 12,000 € in total were donated from non-EU foreign countries, thereof 75 € in total from Russia.[36]

On 27 January 2024, the party held its first party conference and invited 450 of its founding members. The party elected its executive committee and formulated a draft program for the 2024 European Parliament election in Germany, which included criticisms of the European Union in its current form and demands for more decision-making power to the member states and significant restriction of migration to Germany.[37] The party won six seats, and saw particular strength in East Germany.[38]

2024 state elections in East Germany

[edit]

In September 2024, BSW faced its first large electoral test in Landtag elections in the states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia.[39] In Saxony and Thuringia, the BSW came in third place.[40] In Brandenburg, the BSW competed with largely unknown candidates. Although 13 BSW candidates were elected to the state parliament on September 22, their names were missing from the state party's homepage before and after the election.[41]

Intra-party structure

[edit]

The BSW has a unique organisation compared to other parties in Germany. Compared to its electoral performance, it has a small and intentionally limited membership base. Unlike other parties, BSW distinguishes between full members and "registered supporters". Applicants for membership must be vouched for by an existing member, and all applications must be approved by the party's federal executive board. The membership was initially capped at 450, most of them being close associates of Wagenknecht and party functionaries with the aim to build the party. In March 2024, the party had 17,000 registered supporters, 8,000 applications for membership, and 500 full members. The party aimed to have "no more than" 1,000 members by the end of the year, and only around 2,000 by the 2025 German federal election. At that time, Wagenknecht explained: "We just make sure that no one comes in who doesn't share our program or who would appear destructive and chaotic."[42][43]

Journalists were barred from the founding conferences of the state associations in Lower Saxony and Bremen.[44]

The first party executive elected in February 2024 is as follows:

Position Member(s)
Leaders
Deputy Leaders
  • Shervin Haghsheno
  • Amid Rabieh
  • Friederike Benda
General-Secretary
Federal Treasurer
  • Ralph Suikat
Federal Manager
  • Lukas Schön
Executive members

State branches

[edit]
State Chairpersons Founded Members State Parliament
 Baden-Württemberg Jessica Tatti
Manfred Hentz 		20 October 2024 54
 Bavaria Klaus Ernst
Irmgard Freihoffer 		16 November 2024 80
 Berlin[45] Alexander King
Josephine Thyrêt 		14 July 2024 81
 Brandenburg[46] Robert Crumbach 25 May 2024 40
 Bremen Christopher Schulze
Alper Iseri 		14 September 2024 24
 Hesse Ali Al-Dailami
Oliver Jeschonnek 		12 October 2024
 Lower Saxony Thorsten Renken
Holger Onken 		16 September 2024 62
 North Rhine-Westphalia Amid Rabieh
Jan Ristau 		7 September 2024 113
 Rhineland-Palatinate Sina Listmann
Alexander Ulrich 		22 September 2024 55
 Saarland[47] Astrid Schramm 22 March 2024 24
 Saxony[48] Sabine Zimmermann
Jörg Scheibe [de] 		24 February 2024 60
 Saxony-Anhalt John Lucas Dittrich
Thomas Schulze 		7 September 2024 46
 Thuringia[49][50] Katja Wolf
Steffen Schütz [de] 		15 March 2024 80

Ideology and platform

[edit]

Academic and media descriptions

[edit]

The BSW has been variously described as populist,[11][51] socialist,[4] economically socialist,[16] anti-capitalist,[52] cultural conservative,[5] social-conservative,[53] anti-immigration,[58] left-wing populist,[2] left-wing nationalist,[3] Eurosceptic,[6] and left-conservative.[16] The latter label is used in part due to its far-left economic positions and right-wing stances on some social issues,[59] which have been described by Wurthmann as being popular among anti-establishment and right-leaning voters.[60] Research by Wondreys, March, and Pytlas, published in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, classified BSW as a part of the European radical left, and noted that the party originates from the "reform communist" faction within Die Linke led by Wagenknecht, which was in conflict with the democratic socialist majority faction.[8]

In response to descriptions of the party as far right or socially right-wing, political scientist Thorsten Faas said that Wagenknecht was still a politician with a left-wing profile, even within the Left Party, and commented: "I would be a bit cautious about that, because it is of course a clearly left-wing project. This is certainly not a politician who represents a right-wing position."[61] Similarly, Aiko Wagner describes BSW as a "socio-economic left-wing and socio-cultural right-wing party", which he classifies as left-wing authoritarian.[62] Political scientist Thorsten Holzhauser classifies the party as syncretic, arguing that the party is not a classic left-wing or socialist party but represents, among others, some social-democratic, conservative and even ordoliberal positions.[63] Political scientist Hajo Funke rejects labelling BSW as either syncretic or right-wing, arguing that the party is "pragmatic, socially and economically left-wing, and peace-policy-oriented." Funke also questions the "left-wing conservative" label, arguing that the conservative positions of the BSW such as restrictive attitude towards immigration reflect "the consensus of the established democratic parties".[64]

Away from the right-left classification, the historian lko-Sascha Kowalczuk refers to the authoritarian idea of the state of the Wagenknecht party. Wagenknecht's political background as a communist determines the basic political ideas and goals of the BSW, which are anti-democratic.[65] The BSW strives for a strong, authoritarian state that "contains, patronizes and homogenizes society", Kowalczuk wrote. This would address people in Eastern Germany whose political ideas were embossed in GDR and characterized by the endorsement of a "strong state".[66]

On the left–right political spectrum, the party is widely regarded as a far-left party.[7][16][67][68] It is also described as hard left.[9] Some also consider it left-wing,[51][69] while others argue that the party is conservative on some cultural issues such as immigration;[59] this combination of stances has been compared to those of Old Left parties such as the Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).[16] Sarah Wagner, a lecturer in political science at Queen's University Belfast, and a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mannheim, who has studied Wagenknecht's political rise, commented: "We can't really say exactly how many people align themselves with left-conservative values. But what we can say is that it's a significant group. We have never seen this combination in a party in Germany before."[16] Carsten Linnemann (CDU) described Wagenknecht as a "left, and/or right-wing extremist" and a "communist". The Guardian described the party as "combining both leftwing and rightwing policies – campaigning on everything from more generous pensions and an increase in the minimum wage to constraining climate protection measures and toughening asylum regulations".[70]

Policies and political positions

[edit]

The political positions of the BSW include further restrictions on immigration, a plan for deglobalisation, opposition to green politics, ending military aid to Ukraine, and a negotiated settlement to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wagenknecht considers the BSW to stand primarily in opposition to Alliance 90/The Greens. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wagenknecht stated that her party is "obviously not right-wing", instead being left-wing in the sense of "striving for more social justice, good wages, decent pensions" and "a foreign policy that returns to the tradition of détente instead of relying more and more on the military card".[71] However, Wagenknecht omitted the label left-wing (links) within the name of the new party, saying that "many people today associate [it] with completely different content" and with "elitist debates", and that the BSW would appeal to a "broad spectrum of potential voters".[72] Wagenknecht felt that The Left had become socially liberal and what she called "left-lifestyle" rather than left-wing, and accused progressives in The Left of being "too focused on diet, pronouns, and the perception of racism" as opposed to "poverty and an ever-growing gap between rich and poor."[16][51]

The BSW supports economic interventionism and greater welfare social benefits, which are to be financed by the wealthy, while assets and inheritances should be spared.[73] Wagenknecht published a five-page manifesto that focused on issues like deteriorating bridges and roads, bad mobile phone reception, slow internet, and overwhelmed administrations. The party claims to represent the interests of "low earners" and supports "public welfare-oriented politics", where welfare would stand above "egoistic interests". BSW is strongly critical of growing social injustice, the power and influence of multinational corporations, and the German taxation system, which it decries as unfair. It calls for state intervention against market-dominating big companies and infringing "digital monopolists", which it identifies as Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple; it argues that large corporations undermine democracy and must be broken down. The party rejects market economy, denouncing it as a system that causes inflation, concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, as well as a system responsible for a situation where companies reach record dividends "while the queues in front of food banks become longer and longer". The party focuses on redistributive politics, stating that until now, "redistribution worked from the hard-working to the upper 10,000". As a solution, it proposes additional taxation of the wealthy, dissolution and decentralisation of large companies, and anti-lobbyism laws.[74]

The party's economic proposals include the demand to break away from the capitalist system, redistribution of wealth and economic interventionism. The main economic theme of the party is social justice - it presents itself as a defender of the poor and proposes social measures to protect the disadvantaged groups. It calls for an economically oriented towards "the common good", advocated a fair wage policy and extensive social security system. For BSW, the main reason behind current wealth inequality were neoliberal reforms and globalisation, which oriented the economy towards low-paid basic service jobs, which became the majority of the workers. This also marked the emergence of "knowledge societies" composed of elite universities' graduates, which do not experience economic hardship. According to BSW, markets and competition are no longer functioning, as "financial groups" consolidated power and have imposed their laws on society and "destroyed democracy". The party advocates a new economic system where the market would be severely limited, and where the groups that hitherto dominated it would be broken.[75]

Cultural issues

[edit]

The party is considered to have some culturally conservative stances, such as its opposition to immigration, scepticism of gender-inclusive language and trans rights.[76] The party presents its anti-immigration stance as a way to protect the German welfare state, arguing that it needs social solidarity to function that mass immigration could disturb. Wagenknecht argued: "The stronger the welfare state, the more of a sense of belonging there must be. Because if people have no connection to those who receive social benefits, then at some point they will refuse to pay for those benefits."[77]

Wagenknecht considers supporting immigration a "market liberal" stance rather than a left-wing one, arguing: "[t]he CDU of Angela Merkel stands for flexibility, economic liberalism, globalisation and high levels of migration, i.e. a policy that weakens cohesion and valuable mutual connections that previously offered people security and support". The party believes that immigration is exploitative as it represents a net loss for countries of origin, seeing it as a "convenient way for rich countries to cream off human resources". At the same time, the BSW argues that immigration lowers the quality of life in Germany due to not only welfare expenses, but also a lack of places in schools and housing. To Wagenknecht, the welfare state is based on citizens' loyalty and their willingness to pay taxes, and "if there is no longer any difference between citizens and non-citizens of a country, there is of course no longer any duty of a state to protect its population in a special manner". She argues that the result is a removal of welfare and social support.[78]

The party is highly critical of gender-inclusive modifications of the German language. Wagenknecht argued that while everyone "should live their own way", Germany has an issue where "people with a traditional family no longer feel valued and someone who is white, male and heterosexual almost has to apologize for it". She advocated a "gender ban" in schools and public institutions on example of the one enacted in Bavaria by Markus Söder, which enforces the usage of traditional German grammar in regards to gender.[79] The party is also against loosening regulations on legally changing one's gender; Wagenknecht believes that such a law "turns parents and children into guinea pigs for an ideology that only benefits the pharmaceutical lobby."[77]

Wagenknecht seeks to distance herself and her party from what she considers "lifestyle leftists" that focus on identity politics and "an attitude of moral superiority", at the cost of neglecting blue-collar workers and the poor. She argues that mainstream left-wing parties abandoned "globalisation losers", which she defines as workers disadvantaged by migration pressures and overseas market competition. Wagenknecht identifies this "lifestyle leftism" as the main reason behind the rise of right-wing populism in Europe:

Left liberal arrogance nurtures rightist gains of [political] territory. As noisier the rightist attacks, as more left liberals feel justified in their position. Nazis oppose migration? Thus, every critic of migration must be a crypto Nazi… [i]nstead of addressing … majorities with a programme attractive to them, [the] SPD and Left party have helped the AfD to electoral triumphs, turning it into the leading “workers’ party”. In an altogether submissive manner, they also accepted the Greens as intellectual and political avant-garde. This removed them [leftists] from any chance to win a majority on their own.[78]

The BSW accuses other left-wing parties of elitism and the "new education privilege", stating that they have become dominated by urban academia and no longer represent the lower socioeconomic classes of society. The party stresses solidarity, contrasting the "somewheres" - workers that feel attachment to particular states and regions - with "anywheres", the "globalised elites". The party puts an emphasis on traditional family values and regional identities, criticizing social progressivism as an extension of market-liberal policies that "weaken cohesion and valuable mutual connections that previously offered people security and support".[78]

China

[edit]

The party is described as pro-China.[80] The BSW also strongly supports the economic and industrial policies of the Chinese Communist Party, describing them as "an exemplary model for how to manage a national economy".[81] The BSW strongly criticizes the involvement of German troops in the South China Sea, opposing proposals to deploy ships there and calling for negotiations instead.

European Union and globalisation

[edit]

The party is highly skeptical of globalisation and European integration, criticizing the European Union as vulnerable to lobbying, undemocratic in its decision-making system, and economically unfair to the lower classes.[82]

Israel–Palestine conflict

[edit]

Amidst the Israel–Hamas war, Wagenknecht described the Gaza Strip as an "open-air prison".[83] In an August 2024 interview she stated "I will always defend Israel's right to exist. [Israel does have the right to defend itself against] Hamas and its terrible attack in October. But the campaign of destruction in the Gaza Strip has long ceased to be self-defence." She also stated that a ceasefire is needed.[84]

Political System

[edit]

In December 2024 Bundestag decided to better protect the Federal Constitutional Court against political attacks. For this purpose, the structure (16 judges and two senates) was incorporated into the basic law.[85] All parties (CDU/CSU, FDP, A90/Greens, SPD, The Left) voted for it, except for the right-wing AfD and the BSW.

The BSW argued that the "ruling parties" are afraid that they would be punished in the 2025 federal election and described the inclusion of the Bundeverfassungsgericht in the basic law, which can only be changed with a 2/3 majority, as "undemocratic".[86]

Renewable and nuclear energy

[edit]

BSW also focuses on energy policy, arguing that renewable energies alone will not suffice to cover the energy needs; the party proposes to invest in nuclear power plants in addition.[87] The party argues that while it is concerned about the environment, the German economy is industry-heavy and its energy supply cannot be secured through renewable energies and the usage of traditional fuels should be tolerated to some extent.[88]

Wagenknecht criticized the Scholz cabinet for depriving the German economy of the cheap Russian gas and providing no alternative sources of affordable energy; similarly, BSW is critical of the EU's heating law and plans to ban combustion engine cars - Wagenknecht described these policies as "an attack on citizens' wealth and property; it is poorly thought out, poorly crafted and useless in terms of climate policy". The party rejects environmental and green energy efforts which it considers to be "blind, haphazard eco-activism, which makes people's lives even more expensive but actually does nothing at all for the climate".[89]

Russia and Ukraine

[edit]

BSW's foreign policy has been labelled[90][91][92] and criticised[93][94][95] as Russophile,[91][90][92] which is denied by Wagenknecht.[11] On the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in February 2024, Wagenknecht commented: "The early death of Alexei Navalny is shocking. Even if it is still unclear exactly what Putin's critic died of. One thing is certain: Navalny was a victim of the autocratic system in today's Russia."[96]

BSW is also described as anti-NATO.[97] The BSW is critical of sending weapons to Ukraine and its supporters in the Russo-Ukrainian War, and blames NATO for escalating the conflict.[98] Wagenknecht argues that the war was provoked by ‘NATO expansionism’ and the ‘unwillingness of Western countries to respond to negotiation readiness by Putin’; BSW rejects sanctions against Russia as driving an economic crisis for the workers.[99] The party attacks NATO as a "militaristic, imperialist alliance par excellence".[100] In December 2024, Wagenknecht declared that she "condemns this war." She "considers politicians who start wars - and that also applies to Vladimir Putin - to be criminals."[101]

In the spring of 2024, in two interviews, Wagenknecht linked the peace negotiations she had called for between Ukraine and Russia with the proposal that the population in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories should vote on their nationality in a referendum supervised by the United Nations. She also outlined what a peace agreement could look like, and did not rule out security guarantees or a military obligation to provide Ukraine with military assistance if Russia were to break a peace agreement. She could imagine China, Turkey or France as guarantor powers. She also called for Gerhard Schröder's "line to the Russian president" to be used for negotiations.[102][103] In June 2024 she defended the absence of the BSW MPs from a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in the german federal parliament, she described the war in Ukraine as a "proxy war" between NATO and Russia.[104]

Election results

[edit]
See also: List of Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht politicians

European Parliament

[edit]
Election List leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2024 Fabio de Masi 2,453,652 6.17 (#6)
6 / 96
 New NI

State Parliaments (Landtage)

[edit]
State parliament Election Votes % Seats +/– Status
Brandenburg [a] 2024 202,343 13.5 (#3)
14 / 88
 Increase 14 SPD–BSW
Saxony [b] 2024 277,173 11.8 (#3)
15 / 120
 Increase 15 CDU–SPD
Thuringia [c] 2024 190,448 15.8 (#3)
15 / 88
 Increase 15 CDU–BSW-SPD

Results timeline

[edit]
Year Germany
DE 		European Union
EU 		Baden-Württemberg
BW		 Bavaria
BY		 Berlin
BE		 Brandenburg
BB 		Bremen (state)
HB		 Hamburg
HH		 Hesse
HE		 Lower Saxony
NI		 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
MV		 North Rhine-Westphalia
NW		 Rhineland-Palatinate
RP		 Saarland
SL		 Saxony
SN		 Saxony-Anhalt
ST		 Schleswig-Holstein
SH		 Thuringia
TH
2024 N/A 6.2 N/A N/A N/A 13.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 11.8 N/A N/A 15.8
2025 TBD    TBD    
Year Germany
DE 		European Union
EU 		Baden-Württemberg
BW		 Bavaria
BY		 Berlin
BE		 Brandenburg
BB 		Bremen (state)
HB		 Hamburg
HH		 Hesse
HE		 Lower Saxony
NI		 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
MV		 North Rhine-Westphalia
NW		 Rhineland-Palatinate
RP		 Saarland
SL		 Saxony
SN		 Saxony-Anhalt
ST		 Schleswig-Holstein
SH		 Thuringia
TH
Bold indicates best result to date.
  Present in legislature (in opposition)
  Junior coalition partner
  Senior coalition partner

Reactions

[edit]

The Left (Die Linke)

[edit]

Many members and activists within the party were relieved that Wagenknecht was leaving after months of hinting and speculation. Party members criticized BSW members of the Bundestag for not returning back their mandates they had won for The Left. Some politicians of The Left expressed disappointment at the behavior of Wagenknecht's followers.[105][106] Schirdewan said that he was "personally disappointed" with the defectors, who he said had damaged the party, and called on them to return their seats in the Bundestag to The Left.[60] The Left vice-chairman Lorenz Gösta Beutin described Wagenknecht's formation of the party as motivated by personal financial gain: "The millionaire Wagenknecht is founding a party for Wagenknecht in order to collect corporate donations for a Wagenknecht party."[107]

The council of Left Youth Solid, the youth wing of The Left, was pleased with Wagenknecht's exit from the party, stating: "Our fight has finally paid off: we were longingly awaiting her departure and called on the party to kick her out. The party can now begin the process of renewal."[107] The Left deputy parliamentary group leader Gesine Lötzsch said that a party founded by Wagenknecht should not be viewed as an opponent or enemy but as competition. She said they would look closely at how this party develops and what positions it takes up from the left. She added: "The real danger that I see is that our country is moving more and more to the right. If The Left parliamentary group no longer exists in the Bundestag, it will be even more difficult to stand against the governing coalition."[105]

Social Democratic Party (SPD)

[edit]

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) general secretary Kevin Kühnert commented that "Sahra Wagenknecht has been a very established one-woman opposition for 30 years. But there is not a single political measure that is linked to her political activity where something has become better for people", and added that as Wagenknecht is rarely present in the Bundestag, he is not too worried about her new party.[107]

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

[edit]

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which passed a resolution of incompatibility with both The Left and the AfD, discussed ways to deal with BSW. Wagenknecht offered to the CDU a coalition government if there was no majority without the AfD in the 2024 Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg state elections. The Brandenburg CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann said that they should wait and see the next developments, a position that was also reflected by the CDU in Thuringia. CDU deputy party leader Andreas Jung told Die Welt: "Anti-Americanism, proximity to Putin, and socialism are completely incompatible with our stance."[108] Former agriculture minister Julia Klöckner expressed her view that a resolution of incompatibility should also apply to BSW, while Lower Saxony CDU leader Sebastian Lechner stated that there was a need for clarification, as BSW cannot be subsumed under the CDU's incompatibility decision with The Left and AfD, and that Wagenknecht's new party would have to make its own decision. CDU chairman Friedrich Merz said that BSW could take votes from the AfD, while former president Joachim Gauck (who never was a CDU member) commented that BSW could also attract dissatisfied SPD voters.[108]

Alternative for Germany (AfD)

[edit]

After the announcement of BSW's formation, the Brandenburg branch of the AfD reportedly feared a loss of votes in eastern Germany for the September 2024 Brandenburg state election.[107]

Media

[edit]

In Germany, the Bild described Wagenknecht as a right-wing socialist, while Die Tageszeitung said that she promotes "socialism with a right-wing code".[109] Party researchers generally assume that BSW could challenge the AfD for votes due to its views about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and migration.[109] Deutschlandfunk commented: "For the AfD, a Wagenknecht party would be direct competition that could cost it a few percentage points and reduce its own voter potential among those disappointed by politics. Both the future Die Linke and the AfD lack charismatic figures like Wagenknecht."[98] T-Online commented that, alongside The Left and the AfD, BSW also posed a threat to the centre-right Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), with around 26% of FDP voters willing to consider the party. It argued that although the FDP and BSW are opposites on most issues, with the FDP standing for economic liberalism, the bases of both parties are critical of German migration policy.[110]

About BSW attracting AfD voters, Die Zeit stated: "Even if Wagenknecht wants to limit rather than promote immigration, she is not yet known to have openly racist and right-wing extremist attitudes and resentments. In this respect, it would be welcome if at least some of the AfD voters turned to a Wagenknecht party."[111] ' Similarly, Der Spiegel argued: "If the party is founded, the new movement could lure away voters from the AfD. That would not be a bad thing on the surface: left-wing populism à la Wagenknecht is still better than a party on the far right. That is why they are afraid of the new group there."[112] Handelsblatt commented that Wagenknecht could do what Merz has failed to do, namely "the halving of the AfD".[113]

In Britain, The Spectator questioned whether Wagenknecht would succeed with her party, citing the "element of the personality cult".[113] The Guardian stated that, along with the surge of far-right AfD in the polls, the rise of Wagenknecht's party signals rising discontent of the general population with the ruling Scholz cabinet, which Wagenknecht described as "the worst government in its history";[67] according to the polls, if an election were to take place in October 2023, BSW could win up to 20% of the national vote. The newspaper also commented that the new party puts The Left at risk of political irrelevance, as the party has long suffered from infighting and declining electoral returns. Political scientist Andrea Römmele described BSW as "an alternative to the Alternative for Germany", arguing that the party could claim support lost by The Left to the AfD in the new states. Political scientist Benjamin Höhne commented: "The niche BSW is opening up – stressing social justice, and at the same time ... [Wagenknecht] positioning herself in a more migration-sceptical way – has potential."[114] In Italy, the Corriere della Sera described BSW as the "mirror image of the AfD".[113]

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ (formerly part of East Germany)
  2. ^ (formerly part of East Germany)
  3. ^ (formerly part of East Germany)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Janz, Carsten; Wienand, Lars (19 September 2024). "Die wahre Herkunft der Wagenknecht-Millionen". T-Online (in German). Stanger wie Salingré gehören inzwischen zu den 900 Mitgliedern der Partei, die bei Neuaufnahmen sehr zögerlich agieren. [Stanger and Salingré are now among the party's 900 members who are very hesitant about new admissions.]
  2. ^ a b
  3. ^ a b
  4. ^ a b c
    • Alipour, Nick (24 October 2023). "Ziel Europawahl: Wagenknechts neue Partei will mit EU-Kritik triumphieren" [Aiming for the European elections: Wagenknecht's new party wants to triumph with EU criticism]. EURACTIV (in German). Translated by Carmen Diaz Rodriguez. Ihre Mischung aus sozialkonservativer und sozialistisch orientierter Wirtschaftspolitik sei bei Anti-Establishment- und rechten Wählern beliebt, sagte der Politikwissenschaftler Constantin Wurthmann kürzlich in einem Interview mit Euractiv. [Its mixture of socially conservative and socialist-oriented economic policy is popular with anti-establishment and right-wing voters, said political scientist Constantin Wurthmann in a recent interview with Euractiv.]
    • Binkowski, Rafael (25 October 2023). "Wagenknechts Partei wird vom Land aus gegründet" [Wagenknecht's party is founded from the countryside]. Staatsanzeiger (in German). Wagenknechts wirtschafts- und sozialpolitische Ansätze sind im Kern sozialistisch. [Wagenknecht's economic and social policy approaches are essentially socialist.]
    • Müller-Vogg, Hugo (8 January 2024). "Analyse von Hugo Müller-Vogg: Wagenknecht-Partei verschleiert mit schönen Worten, was sie wirklich mit uns vorhat" [Analysis by Hugo Müller-Vogg: Wagenknecht's party uses fine words to disguise what it really wants to do to us]. Focus (in German). Der neuen Partei das passende Etikett zu verpassen, ist nicht einfach. Man kann sie als linkskonservativ einstufen, ebenso als national und sozialistisch. [It is not easy to give the new party the right label. It can be categorised as left-wing conservative, nationalist or socialist.]
    • Schaller, Erwin (24 October 2023). "Stimmen zur neuen Wagenknecht-Partei" [Voices on the new Wagenknecht party]. Münchner Merkur (in German). Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023. Nationalismus scheint für Wagenknecht nicht mehr, wie bisher, der böse Gegner zu sein, sondern Mittel und Zweck, um Menschen für ihre Art von Sozialismus zu mobilisieren. National und sozialistisch, gepaart mit einer einzelnen Person als Dreh- und Angelpunkt, dazu noch eine Entourage aus im Bundestag bisher weitestgehend Ausgegrenzten, man könnte auch schreiben: Claqueuren, Spinnern und Querulanten. [For Wagenknecht, nationalism no longer seems to be the evil opponent, as before, but a means and an end to mobilise people for her kind of socialism. National and socialist, paired with a single person as the linchpin, plus an entourage of people who have so far been largely marginalised in the Bundestag: claqueurs, cranks and troublemakers.]
    • Koydl, Wolfgang (23 October 2023). "Sahra Wagenknechts neue Partei ist ein Ein-Frau-Projekt. Ohne sie verpufft es rückstandslos. Kommt das gut?" [Sahra Wagenknecht's new party is a one-woman project. Without her, it will fizzle out without a trace. Will that work?]. Die Weltwoche (in German). Hier national, dort sozialistisch – kein Wunder, dass die Medien Sahras Bündnis verschreckt dann doch lieber «linkskonservativ» nennen. [Nationalist here, socialist there - no wonder the media prefer to call Sahra's alliance "left-wing conservative" after all.]
    • Tutt, Cordula (23 October 2023). "Die Kritikerin des Kapitalismus" [The critic of capitalism]. Wirtschaftswoche (in German). Die Wirtschaftspolitik der neuen Partei dürfte nach innen eher sozialistisch ausgerichtet sein. „Soziale Gerechtigkeit" wollen zwar so ziemlich alle Parteien in Deutschland, doch verstehen sie Unterschiedliches. [The new party's economic policy is likely to be more socialist in nature. Although pretty much all parties in Germany want "social justice", they understand it differently.]
    • Foster, John (3 November 2023). "When Left is Right: The Sahra Wagenknecht Experience". The Battleground. To be fair, Wagenknecht is still a socialist. But what sort of socialism? The kind obsessively focused on questions of the national.
    • Casdorff, Stephan-Andreas (8 January 2024). "Sahra Wagenknecht gründet ihre Partei: Die Vergangenheit lässt grüßen" [Sahra Wagenknecht founds her party: The past sends its regards]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Dazu Wagenknecht mit ihrer Ausstrahlung, verbal-radikal sozialistisch, wenn es (ihr) passt, mit kühler Rhetorik gegen die da oben und die Ampel-Koalition – und es wird ungemütlich für Rechte und Linke. [Add to this Wagenknecht with her charisma, verbally radical socialist when it suits (her), with cool rhetoric against those up there and the traffic light coalition - and it gets uncomfortable for the right and the left.]
    • Quadbeck, Eva (12 September 2023). "Wagenknecht unter Zugzwang" [Wagenknecht under pressure to move]. RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (in German). Inhaltlich muss man sich eine solche Partei schillernd wie ihre Anführerin selbst vorstellen, wechselnd zwischen links- und rechtspopulistischen Tönen: national in der Außen- und Migrationspolitik, sozialistisch in der Sozial- und Wirtschaftspolitik, konservativ in der Gesellschaftspolitik und russlandfreundlich. [In terms of content, such a party must be as colourful as its leader herself, alternating between left-wing and right-wing populist tones: national in foreign and migration policy, socialist in social and economic policy, conservative in social policy and Russia-friendly.]
    • Lachniet, Manfred (1 September 2024). "Ohne Wagenknecht kaum eine Chance für die CDU". Neue Ruhr Zeitung (in German). Allein Sahra Wagenknechts nationalistische und sozialistische BSW scheint ein Partner für die CDU zu sein. [Only Sahra Wagenknecht's nationalist and socialist BSW seems to be a partner for the CDU.]
    • "Maaßen: "Wahlergebnis weit hinter den Erwartungen zurückgeblieben"". Junge Freiheit (in German). 2 September 2024. Die sozialistische Wagenknecht-Partei habe einen medialen Rückenwind genossen und verfüge über eine gänzlich andere organisatorische und finanzielle Ausgangssituation. [The socialist Wagenknecht party has enjoyed a media tailwind and has a completely different organisational and financial starting position.]
    • Eckner, Constantin (2 September 2024). "What the AfD's 'historic victory' means for Germany". The Spectator. The party was handed a boost by Sahra Wagenknecht's decision to quit the far-left party Die Linke and set up her own alliance. Wagenknecht's newly-formed outfit has adopted anti-immigration policies and promoted a rather conservative worldview. At the same time, Wagenknecht still represents socialist positions in socio-economic matters.
    • Mehrer, Angela; Puglierin, Jana (10 September 2024). "War, peace, and populism: How Germany's extremist parties are shaping its foreign policy debate". Note from Berlin. European Council on Foreign Relations. The socialist and culturally conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – only founded in January this year – came third in both states, winning more votes combined than the parties of the governing "traffic-light" coalition.
    • Anheier, Helmut K. (5 September 2024). "Will the German Center Hold?". Project Syndicate. Berlin. Such historical references probably carry little weight with AfD voters or those who cast ballots for the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a pro-Russian, anti-American socialist movement that is willfully oblivious to the atrocities committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's army in Ukraine.
    • Hoff, Henning (20 September 2024). "The Self-Declared "Stability Anchor" Looks Adrift". Internationale Politik. Berlin. The heated political situation, however, underpinned by strong showings in recent regional elections by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and, to a lesser extent, the new nationalist, pro-Russia, anti-immigration with socialist economic policies Sahra Wagenknecht Movement (BSW) has caused the government to act chaotically.
    • Stock, Oliver (14 October 2024). ""Bunte sozialistische Wundertüte": Was Unternehmer von Sahra Wagenknechts Wirtschaftsprogramm halten". Business Punk (in German). Wie jede sozialistische Partei möchte sich auch das BSW das Recht vorbehalten, selbst über Subventionen zu steuern, umzuverteilen und zu privilegieren. [Like every socialist party, the BSW also wants to reserve the right to control, redistribute and privilege through subsidies.]
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