The likely new dual leadership of the Left is counting on disappointed voters from the SPD and the Greens to get the party out of its existential crisis. There are so many of them looking for an alternative, said former Bundestag member Jan van Aken in an interview with the German Press Agency. “The traffic light coalition gives us a penalty every day, we just have to score.”
The man from Hamburg spoke together with his party colleague Ines Schwerdtner from the Saxony-Anhalt regional association. Both are running as dual leaders to succeed Left Party leaders Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler, who are giving up their posts in October after a series of election defeats. After the split from Sahra Wagenknecht’s alliance, the party is only getting around three percent in nationwide polls.
“Revolutionary kindness”
Schwerdtner said that a new approach within the party was important: “I call it ‘revolutionary friendliness’. We will do it ruthlessly, even with voters from other parties. We will remain mercilessly friendly.” Van Aken agreed: “My motto in life has always been: make the world a better place and have fun.” The Left wants to “develop and convey a positive idea of the world, instead of just bad-mouthing everything like in a dark Voldemort world.” This refers to the fictional antagonist of the novel character Harry Potter.
In terms of content, van Aken and Schwerdtner want to keep the Left on the course of their predecessors. They reject arms deliveries to Ukraine and call for a negotiated peace. “But it is about a just peace, and what that is can only be defined by the people of Ukraine themselves,” said van Aken, a former UN bioweapons inspector. This differs from the position of the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance. “Everything I hear from BSW amounts to a dictated peace, and I reject that completely.”
“Nobody needs NATO”
Van Aken and Schwerdtner expressly support the Left’s basic program, which states: “We demand the dissolution of NATO and its replacement by a collective security system with Russia’s participation.” That is not possible at the moment because there is a lack of trust in Russia, said van Aken. “But we have to get back to that point.” A time frame of 30 years seems realistic. “Nobody needs NATO, it is not a community of values, but a tough alliance of power. We are in favor of strategic autonomy for the EU and for security to be considered in Europe.”
Schwerdtner also stuck to the Left’s demand that Germany must become climate neutral by 2035. “But time is running out, a lot has been missed, especially in transport and the renovation of housing,” said the 35-year-old journalist in the dpa double interview. “We have to convince people in much more concrete terms how it should happen.” The people who are responsible for CO2 are called upon to do so, and “not the working people.”
Border controls “must go”
Regarding the asylum debate, van Aken said: “We are in favour of abolishing these border controls in Germany. There is no illegal migration, we have anchored the right of asylum in the constitution and that is a good thing.” It is not migration that has caused social imbalance in the country, but “the policies of the traffic light coalition and the CDU”.
They are open to working with the CDU and BSW in Thuringia, for example, if this is the only way to prevent the AfD from participating in the government. “In terms of content, the Left has some overlap with the BSW in social issues,” said van Aken. “It would be emotionally understandable, but completely wrong, to say now: if necessary, we’ll do it with the CDU, but not with the BSW.”
“Don’t tremble on election night, celebrate”
The candidate duo is certain that the Left has passed its lowest point. “We will not stop at proclaiming a new beginning,” said Schwerdtner. “We will be measured by whether we put it into practice.” Van Aken added: “So many young people have joined the party. There is so much energy, so much fire burning. We just need to focus this energy.”
Five percent of the vote in the 2025 federal election was not enough for him, said van Aken. “I don’t want to tremble on election night, I want to celebrate.” In the 2021 election, the Left Party received 4.9 percent, but entered parliament with three direct mandates as a parliamentary group.
After the registration deadline, Schwerdtner and van Aken are the only known candidates for the leadership of the Left Party. The election will take place at the party conference in Halle in October.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240910-930-228016/1
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