Dear members of the DIE LINKE party,
We have decided to leave DIE LINKE and build a new party. This step was not easy for us. After all, DIE LINKE was our political home for years or even decades. Here we met fellow campaigners, many of whom became companions and some friends. Together with them we spent evenings and weekends at party events and worked extra shifts in election campaigns. It is difficult for us to leave all this behind – politically and personally. If there had been a better way, we would have gladly taken it. Because we feel connected to many of you, we would like to explain our decision.
In recent years the political course of DIE LINKE has been a matter of conflict. Again and again we have argued that wrong priorities and the lack of focus on social justice and peace dilute the party’s profile. Time and again we have warned that the focus on urban, young, activist milieus is driving away our traditional voters. Time and again we have tried to halt the party’s decline by changing its political course. We were unsuccessful in doing so – and as a result the party had less and less success with the voters. DIE LINKE’s history since the 2019 European elections is a history of political failure. The respective party leaderships and the officials supporting them at the state level were determined not to discuss this failure critically under any circumstances. No responsibility was taken for it, nor were any substantial conclusions drawn from it. Rather, those who were critical of the party leadership’s course were identified as guilty for the results and further marginalised.
Against this background, we no longer see any margin for expressing our positions within the party. As an example, let us recall the “Uprising for Peace” of February 2023. It was the largest peace rally of the last almost 20 years. Tens of thousands gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Although, and precisely because, about half the population rejects the government’s military course, the country’s entire political establishment opposed and defamed the rally. Instead of supporting us in this confrontation, the leadership of DIE LINKE stood shoulder to shoulder with the other parties: it accused the initiators of the rally of being “open to the right” and thus provided the cue for accusations against us.
The political space for us in the party has become so small that we no longer fit in without bending our backs. We know from our regional associations that many members of DIE LINKE feel the same way. With the new party, we want to create a new political home for them, too.
We do this out of inner conviction, because a party is not an end in itself. What drives us: We do not want to accept the current political developments any longer. The socially devastating policies of the Ampel [Editor’s note: refers to the coalition of socio-democrats/socialists (red) liberals (yellow) and the Greens, commonly called Ampelkoalition: coalition of the traffic lights] are costing large sections of the population income and quality of life. Germany’s foreign policy is fuelling wars instead of trying to find solutions for peace. Internationally, conflicts are escalating, the emerging bloc formation is a threat to world peace and will bring massive economic distortions. At the same time, dissent against this political development is increasingly sanctioned and pilloried in public debate. But democracy needs diversity of opinion and open debate. The government’s inability to deal with the crises of our time and the narrowing of the accepted corridor of opinion have propelled the AfD to the top. Many people simply do not know how else to articulate their protest. In this situation, DIE LINKE no longer appears as a clearly recognisable opposition, but as a soft-spoken “Yes, but…” party. With this course, it has sunk below the perception threshold of the population. Currently, there is every indication that it will no longer be represented in the next Bundestag, while the AfD is polling at over 20 per cent. We have a responsibility to take the fight for the direction of politics and for the future of our country seriously again. For this, we want to build a new political force, a democratic voice for social justice, peace, reason and freedom.
We are leaving without grudges and without resentment against our old party. The conflict is over, as far as we are concerned. We know: Some of you have longed for this step, others will be disappointed and still others will now wait and see how things develop. To all of you we say: We want to separate like adults. A war of the roses would harm us all. The DIE LINKE party is not our political opponent. To the many of you with whom we have worked together for many years in a spirit of trust, we also say: we are ready for talks and would be happy to welcome you to our party at a suitable time.
Sahra Wagenknecht, Amira Mohamed Ali, Christian Leye, Lukas Schön, Jonas Christopher Höpken, Fadime Asci, Ali Al-Dailami, Sevim Dagdelen, John Lucas Dittrich, Klaus Ernst, Andrej Hunko, Zaklin Nastic, Amid Rabieh, Jessica Tatti, Alexander Ulrich, Sabine Zimmermann
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