WE HAVE decided to leave the Left Party and to create a new party. This was not an easy step for us to take.

The Left Party was our political home for many years, if not decades in some cases. Here, we met fellow campaigners, many of whom went on to become associates while others became friends.

We have spent evenings and weekends with them at party events and hit the campaign trail with them in the constituencies.

Leaving all of this behind is difficult — politically and personally.

If there had been a better option, we would have gladly taken it. Because we share a connection with so many of you, we would like to explain our decision.

The conflicts of recent years were about the political orientation of the Left Party. We argued repeatedly that the wrong priorities and a lack of concentration on social justice and peace were watering down the party’s profile.

We warned repeatedly that focusing on young, urban, activism-oriented milieus was driving away our traditional voters.

We tried repeatedly to prevent the downfall of the party by changing political direction. We did not succeed in this — and as a result the party’s success with voters diminished further.

The story of the Left Party since the European elections of 2019 is a story of political failure.

The party leaderships and the officials supporting them at federal-state level were determined not to discuss this failure critically under any circumstances.

No responsibility was taken, nor were any consequences drawn in terms of policy.

Instead, those who were critical of the direction taken by the party leadership were blamed for the results and further marginalised.

In light of this, we no longer see any place for our positions within the party.

One example was the peace rally held in February 2023. It was the largest peace rally in nearly 20 years.

Tens of thousands gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Although — and in particular because — around half the population rejects the government’s military approach, the entire political establishment throughout the country pushed back against the rally and discredited it.

Instead of supporting us in this row, the Left Party leadership stood shoulder to shoulder with the other parties: they accused the rally’s initiators of being open to co-operation with right-wing parties and groups and in doing so provided fuel for the accusations against us.

The political spaces available for us in the party became so small that we could no longer hold our heads high.

We know from our federal state branches that many members of the Left Party feel this way.

We want to create a new political home for them, too, in the new party. We do this out of deep conviction, for a party is not an end in itself. What drives us is the following:

We no longer wish to accept the current development of politics. The governing coalition’s devastating social policies are a heavy burden on the incomes and quality of life of large parts of the population.

German foreign policy provides weapons to war zones instead of lobbying for peace.

Conflicts escalate internationally, the emerging creation of blocs is a threat to world peace and will bring huge economic upheaval with it.

At the same time, calling out these political developments in public debate is increasingly being sanctioned and pilloried. Yet democracy needs diversity of opinion and open debate.

The government’s inability to deal with the crises of our time and the narrowing of acceptable opinion have helped the AfD surge upwards.

Many people simply no longer know how else to express their protest. In this situation, the Left Party no longer appears as a clearly recognisable opposition party, but rather as a wishy-washy “yes, but…” party.

This approach has seen it fade from public perception. Currently everything points to the party not being represented in the next Bundestag, while the AfD stands at over 20 per cent in opinion polls.

It is our responsibility to take the fight over the political direction and future of our country seriously again.

To this end, we want to create a new political force, a democratic voice for social justice, peace, reason and freedom.

We leave without any grudges or ill-will against our old party. We have put the conflict behind us.

We know that some of you were hoping for us to take this step, others will be disappointed and others still will now wait and see how the situation develops.

We say to all of you: we want to part like adults. A War of the Roses would damage us all.

The Left Party is not our political opponent. To the many of you with who we worked with closely for many years, we also say: we are open to conversations and would be delighted to welcome you to our party at a suitable time.
 
Sahra Wagenknecht (MP), Amira Mohamed Ali (MP), Christian Leye (MP), Lukas Schoen, Jonas Christopher Hoepken, Fadime Asci, Ali Al-Dailami (MP), Sevim Dagdelen (MP), John Lucas Dittrich, Klaus Ernst (MP), Andrej Hunko (MP), Zaklin Nastic (MP), Amid Rabieh, Jessica Tatti (MP), Alexander Ulrich (MP), Sabine Zimmermann.